Everyone anywhere near the age of spiritual accountability knows what the word “test” means. But just to set the record straight, I will provide the Webster’s New Concise Dictionary of the English Language’s definition of the word “TEST.” To test means: to subject to an examination or proof/ to try/ an examination or observation to determine the real nature of something–to prove or disprove its value or validity/ a standard or evaluation.

In order for a test to be a valid it must have a pattern or standard with which to compare. In the spiritual realm there is only one standard–God’s Holy Bible in which He speaks to the subject of testing nineteen times using the word “TRY.” This does not include the number of times He uses words such as triest, trieth and trying relative His examination (trying) of the hearts of those who claim to be His people. In other words, GOD DOES NOT TAKE OUR WORD FOR ANYTHING. NOR DIES HE ACCEPT GOOD INTENTIONS. WE MUST PROVE OURSELVES TO BE WHAT HE COMMANDS US TO BE–HIS OBEDIENT DISCIPLES. OTHERWISE WE ARE ALL WORDS AND NO WORKS, ALL MOUTH AND NO SPIRITUAL MUSCLE, OR AS WE SAY IN TEXAS, ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE. To which I would add: ALL CHRISTIAN AND NO CHRIST, ALL COVER AND NO BOOK: ALL RIGHT AND NO RIGHTEOUSNESS.

As a man like all other men, and having been given the most important and most painful commission in the history of mankind, Jesus was tested and tried like no other man. The stress He was under was so powerful that He asked the Father if there was any other way to do what had to be done. There was not. In such anguish was He that He sweated great drops of blood just thinking about what was about to happen to Him. JESUS CHRIST WAS BEING TRIED,/TESTED. If He had failed the test, man would be without a Savior and God would have to spend eternity alone. Everything Jesus did was a public testimony declaring who and what He was relative to the Father. His life was a public declaration of his character. His beating and crucifixion was the ultimate public statement of who and what He was. To join Him in paradise, our lives must reflect that same character. Read Luke 22:41-44.

God tests/tries all who desire to become part of His church family. His tests fall into two categories: personal and public. He tests us by comparing our lives to His Ten Commandment Law. Eight of His commandments are private/personal in nature, meaning that they are dealt with inwardly. People around us do not know what is going on within us. Eight of God’s commandments deal with our internal spiritual condition.

However, there are two commandments by which God forces us to publicly proclaim to the world around us where we stand with the Lord. Those two TEST COMMANDMENTS are numbers two and four. These commandments were designed by the Lord to force us to openly bear witness to our standing with Him. They prove who and what we are relative to HIS LAW BY WHICH HE RULES HIS PEOPLE. Our reaction to these two commandments tells everyone, INCLUDING THE LORD, where we stand with Him. If we do not obey those two commandments we are telling the world, including worldly church people, that WE STAND WITH THEM IN DEFIANCE OF OUR CREATOR WHOM WE AND THEY CLAIM TO BE OUR GOD. This is the ultimate definition of HYPOCRISY–CLAIMING TO BE CHRISTIANS WHILE REJECTING THE WORDS OF THE ONE WE CLAIM TO BE CHRIST OUR SAVIOR.

Commandment number two deals with IDOLATRY–which the Lord defines as having “other gods before (beside) Me”–CHURCH SYMBOLS. Anything used in the worship of Him is, to Him, a god that one has placed between Him (the Lord) and the person. It does not matter how the person views such things as crosses, fish symbols, statues, pictures, carvings, beads, hand gestures, movies, flags, etc. The only opinion that matters is His, and He states that anything made by man that in any way involves man’s worship of Him is an abomination to Him. God is here stating that He is totally sufficient; HE NEITHER NEEDS NOR TOLERATES HELP OF ANY KIND FROM ANY PERSON.

Religious symbols are things that PEOPLE AROUND US OR WE OURSELVES CAN SEE. Church people know what He said about man-made idols/symbols. When confronted with God’s Word the usual response is, “but that’s not why I do it.” GOD DOES NOT CARE WHY WE HAVE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS OR WHAT WE DO WITH THEM NO MATTER HOW RELIGIOUS THEY CLAIM TO BE–HE SAID WE ARE NOT HAVE THEM–PERIOD. He did not add, UNLESS WE HAVE A GOOD REASON. The fact of the religious matter is that CHURCHMAN COULD NOT CARE LESS WHAT GOD SAYS IN THE BOOK THEY ALL HAVE LYING ON THEIR COFFEE TABLES, THE BOOK THEY CARRY TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY MEET WITH OTHERS TO WORSHIP THEIR GOD–THE SUN ON HIS DAY–SUNDAY. Read Religious Symbols, key word Symbols.

The most loudly-proclaimed NON-VERBAL STATEMENT relative to our obedience to God is how we deal with His SABBATH COMMANDMENT. This Law is so important to Him that He declared it to be the true Christian’s SIGN to the world that he indeed belongs to and obeys Him. Read Exodus 31:12-18 where He made a SPECIAL COVENANT with His people that requires us to proclaim to the world that WE ARE HIS SANCTIFIED PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM ALL OTHERS AMD DEC;ARED TP BE HIS VERY ELECT, PECULIAR, HOLY, RIGHTEOUS KINGDOM OF PRIESTS.

To see what God wants the world to see in us read Exodus 19:5, Leviticus 11:44,45, Deuteronomy 14:2;26:18, Titus 2:14 and First Peter 1:15,16; 2:9. Notice that God’s New Testament saints and His Old Testament saints are fraternal twins. Both were/are required to obey His Law and to live as SIGNS to the rest of the world, specifically the church world, that we belong to Him, that we are in no way like them. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 where He promises us that if we will strictly obey Him He will place us high above all other people, that He will make us the head and not the tail, that He will exalt us over them and show them how special we are to Him (Deut. 28:13).

Satan knows that he only has to convince people to break one commandment in order to separate them from God (Jam. 1:10/Isa. 59:2). He also knows about the Lord’s test commandments by which He forces us to publicly prove our allegiance to Him for all others to see. We do not routinely speak to most of the people around us or have face-to-face relationships with them. But THEY SEE WHAT WE DO. Our acts of defiance tells them that we are hypocrites. Ask the drunk in the alley or the whore on the street corner or the atheist what day is God’s Sabbath. They know. When they see those who claim to be His people OPENLY DEFYING HIM they view the church hypocrite as worse than themselves. And the Biblical Truth of the matter is–THEY ARE RIGHT. In James 4:17 we are told that IF WE KNOW TO DO RIGHT AND DO NOT DO IT, THAT IS FOR US A SIN. The atheist does not know to do right. From God’s point of view, that makes the church sinner worse than the atheist.

A perfect example of having-the-information-but-not-being-able-to-pass-a-test-on-it took place in one of my college sociology classes. My tests were hard. I used “fill in the blank” questions while other professors used multiple choice and true-false questions. After my first test in this class one of my students approached me wondering why he made such a bad grade on it. I asked him how much time he spent studying for the test. His response answered his question. He said, “Oh, about ten minutes.” You get the picture. He actually believed that he could just go through the routine motions and pass my test. Sound familiar? It should, for it describes the attitude of some 2 1/2 billion church goers today.

Do not be fooled by the swill coming from the world’s pulpits which deceives the world’s church people into believing that they are saved, born again and rapture-ready–not one word of which is true. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. The first 13 and 14 verses respectively tells us what being right with God looks like. Those verses tell us WHAT GOD WANTS YOUR LIFE TO BE LIKE AND WILL MAKE IT THAT WAY IF YOU OBEY HIM. The rest of the respective chapters tells us what being wrong with Him looks like. To determine where you stand with the Almighty, compare what you have read to your life and the lives of the world’s people, including church people. If your life does not match verses 13 and 14, you are not right with God and are headed for what is written in the rest of the respective chapters. This is not me speaking to you; this is the Holy Spirit speaking to you through me. We are living in the “beginning of sorrows” Jesus warned about in Matthew 14:4-8. Read what is coming in the near future using the key word–Civil. L.J.