Within the first eleven verses of Exodus 20 we find half of God’s Ten Commandment Law. This is the same Law that is found on the walls of many of those who, while professing to be His children, refuse to obey the Law by which He governs those who are truly His people–the Ten Commandments. The few who obey Him (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14) He calls His Very Elect because their obedience will lead them to eternal life. God’s Law is His love letter by which He tells seekers of righteousness and holiness (Rom. 5:21; 6:22) how to live this life in such a way as to qualify to spend eternity with Him in the paradise Jesus will create on earth known as The Kingdom of God. Note in the Romans reference that THE END RESULT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS IS ETERNAL LIFE. Faith does not equate to righteousness and holiness and does not result in salvation. Faith plus WORKS OF FAITH (OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW) DO RESULT IN SALVATION. Read James chapter two and The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom.

The irony of what we are about to study is that the church’s most neglected commandments concern the believer’s relationship with God and Christ Themselves. The other five commandments deal with one’s relationship with his fellow man. The problem is that unless one gets the first five commandments right, the others do not matter. As this series will bring to light, the vast majority (I’m guessing 99%) of professing Christendom fails miserably when it comes to their relationship with Father and Son. Let us now use God’s “fine print” to prove this Biblical Truth.

In commandment #1 the Almighty commands that we have no other gods before (beside) Him. One’s true God is one’s Lord and Master. In John 13:13 Jesus is telling His disciples that He is their LORD AND MASTER whom they, as His SERVANTS, MUST OBEY (Rom. 6:16). Today, we who have made ourselves servants to the Lord (Master) must obey His Law of Life. Otherwise, He is our Lord/Master in name only. A true servant knows that his time and energy are not his own. In the spiritual realm, a true servant is not his own possession, but is rather “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23) and is owned by the One Who purchased Him with His own life.

The slave’s Owner commands that he “redeem the time” he has been allotted in this life (Eph. 5:16/ Col. 4:5). A servant reveals his allegiance to His Master by how he spends his free time. In the spiritual realm a true servant of God does not waste time on other “gods.” The Lord taught me this lesson in a very dramatic way that I have written and spoken about on several occasions. Therefore, I will be brief. I loved watching sports, cop shows, etc. on t.v. until I realized that the Lord’s command to “redeem the time” was directed at me (Eph. 5:16/ Col. 4:5). In those references He calls those who redeem their available time “wise” and those who waste such time “fools.” I had been a fool. Upon my request, the patient Lord took 100% of my desire for such time-wasting stuff away in an instant, literally in mid-step while I was on my way to watch a prize fight on t.v. Anyone who spends most of his free time on things other than God’s Word, prayer, meditation, etc. serves gods other than the Biblical God. A true child of God wants only to please His Lord, to be one with Him, to “walk” with Him in agreement with Him (Amos 3:3). Everything else becomes of much lesser value. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these (necessary) things will be added unto you. Not to my surprise, I have found this to be true.

Everything we do, say, etc. begins in the heart (mind). What we voluntarily allow to remain in our minds we find ourselves mentally revisiting whenever time allows us to do so. Such things become our gods, masters, lords with whom we want to spend our time BECAUSE IT IS FROM THOSE GODS THAT WE RECEIVE PLEASURE. Questions we need to ask ourselves are these: Which do I look most forward to doing each evening–spending two hours in God’s Word or spending two hours watching prime time t.v? Do I know more about the t.v. schedule than about God’s end-time prophecies? Before the digital age, the most read book in the United States was the T.V. GUIDE. The information found in that book continues to dominate the attention of the American people. The difference is that today it arrives in digital form on the screen which commands most of man’s free time. I can speak with authority on this subject for I was once a voluntary victim of that time-consuming beast.

God’s people derive their pleasure from being in His presence, learning from Him, praying to Him, hearing His “voice,” etc. Knowing that their time here is limited, they waste none of it watching t.v., staring into their hand-held substitute brains, reading novels, magazines, etc. In the eyes of the Biblical God, man’s gods are those things to which he voluntarily grants his free time. How man uses that time reveals to the Lord His place in their lives. For most people He is nowhere near #1 on their priority list. The typical churchite joyfully GRANTS hours to his secular gods for every minute he SACRIFICES to the One Who supposedly saved him. When the Lord says NO OTHER GODS, that is exactly what He means. His “NO” means no, nada, nunca, kaput, no mas.

The reason for the Truths written about above revolves around Satan’s “ALL FAITH–NO WORKS” message his messengers repeatedly deliver to their congregations. Their total emphasis on God’s “headlines” and their total disregard for His “fine print” scratches billions of itching ears on the devil’s sun god day when they are assured that the fix is in, that all they need to do is believe and repent. Oh, and don’t forget to tithe. I received a letter from a woman who chastised me for believing that salvation depended on obedience to God’s Word. Faith, she maintained, was all that was needed. After all, Jesus died to take care of everything else. In reality, she was speaking for the vast majority of church people.

For this reason the Lord commands true salvation seekers to “Come out of her (“the church”) my people, touch not that unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). Upon reading the passage one will learn that most of those whom God calls “My people,” are HIS PEOPLE IN NAME ONLY. It is only after they come out of Satan’s Catholic/Protestant Religious System that He will indeed be their God and they will be His sons and daughters. This Truth is brought out in John 8:31 where Jesus is speaking to people who “believed in Him.” To them He said: “IF you CONTINUE in (to obey) My Word, THEN you will be My disciples INDEED.” Their belief in Him as God’s Son was not enough. They had to believe and obey His Word. Upon hearing more of His word, those who “believed in Him” picked up stones with which to kill Him. They revered Him but hated His Word. He said that BELIEVERS WOULD BE JUDGED, NOT BY HIM, BUT BY HIS WORDS (Jn. 12:48). Read Who Are God’s People. Key word–People.

Today, those who “believe in Him” but have other gods whom they place “before” Him in terms of priority. They bow at the feet of those gods and absorb what they (the gods) insert into their minds. I know super religious people who spend hours each day watching true crime shows on television. However, they won’t give God even ten minutes out of their day. Evidently that’s what Sunday (and only Sunday) is for. Professional sports owns Sunday while college sports owns God’s Holy Sabbath Day, commonly known as Saturday. The other five days are also owned by the world. Celebrity talk shows, soap operas, cooking shows, courtroom situations, crime shows, situation comedies, etc. own television 24/7 the other five days of the week. Television owns all days. The Biblical God and Christ are left out. But, you may ask, what about the church’s gods and christs?

The gods and saviors of “the church” and their followers have their allotted time in religious man’s busy schedule, especially on the Day of the Sun God–Sunday. From 10:00 until 12:00 each Sunday morning religion salvation hucksters rule the airwaves in service to their various gods and saviors whom they serve by offering such prizes as instant salvation and rebirth, a secret rapture, heavenly mansions built along streets of gold where they will lounge in comfort while strumming harps while the rest of mankind is enduring the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. etc., etc. etc. And Satan smiles. L.J.