The Ten Commandments

Today the United States of America is facing destruction as a nation. Spiritual, moral and social life are in a state of disintegration. The cause of national disintegration and the solution for recovery are clearly stated in the Word of God. In fact, they are closely related to a subject with which many people are familiar but about which they know little — the Ten Commandments, or the Decalogue (Exodus 20:1017).

Occasionally, young people find themselves in a position where they are required to memorise the Ten Commandments. They may even receive a gold star in Sunday School for this “achievement.” On the other hand, there are those in this country who have never been near a Sunday School, do not attend a church, and may not even have a Bible, but are knowledgeable regarding the Decalogue. It is amazing that people can occasionally quote almost verbatim something that is found in this passage, even though they have never looked at Exodus 20. Therefore, generally in this country today, there is some understanding of, or at least familiarity with the Ten Commandments.

Now, for many people, the last five commandments are about the only system of morality known, and these principles are lodged in the right lobe as part of their norms and standards. What is generally not understood is that all ten of the commandments are a summary of God’s principles pertaining to freedom. Each of these commandments is backed up by a series of divine laws which were given for the protection and happiness of both believers in Jesus Christ and of unbelievers. Even though the Mosaic Law is not our modus operandi today, the commandments have always applied to the human race in general.

The Decalogue summarises a system of “spirituality-morality” — not one or the other, but a combination of both. I am not referring here to spirituality in its technical sense of being filled with then Holy Spirit but in a more general sense of relationship with God. The first five commandments declare the principle of spirituality, or the possibility of establishing a relationship with God; the last five apply to man’s relationship toward his fellow man. To the Jews of the generation of Moses to whom the law was given, theses things were pertinent because theirs was a generation of believers; to subsequent generations, the commandments have become principles of morality without the concept of relationship with God.

However, the Ten Commandments are not a set of specific, detailed laws. but are the principles God has set forth for the protection of life, liberty and property of a people within a national entity. When a nation operates under these divine norms and standards, the result is individual freedom and happiness and national stability and prosperity. No group of people can survive as a national entity without a basic system of spirituality-morality; and where these commandments and principles found in them are violated by a maximum number of people, that nation will be destroyed.

The dispersion of the nation of Judah in 586 BC was the result of this very principle. For forty years prior to their fall, the prophet Jeremiah continually warned the people of the consequences of negative volition (Jeremiah 11). He taught Bible doctrine every day; but the people were negative to his teaching, and their rejection of God’s provision for the protection of their freedom led to their personal and national destruction. The people became so totally saturated with degeneracy that they destroyed first their souls and finally their nation.

Freedom in our own nation is being destroyed today because the principles of spirituality-morality are being subverted by our enemies and rejected by our citizenry in general. This is part of the angelic conflict. There is always a Satanic attack on a nation involved in great missionary activity. The Devil knows, even if many believers do not, that there must be freedom if the gospel is to be proclaimed and Bible doctrine is to be communicated. A national entity operating under God’s principles is always the object of Satanic attack.

As in Jeremiah’s day (Jeremiah 11:9), so in our day, the Satanic attack is manifested through a conspiracy — the Communist conspiracy — which is dedicated to the total destruction in individual freedom and national sovereignty. Yet God, in His grace, always continues to warn of such disaster right up to the “fifth cycle of discipline” — military defeat and dispersion. He did so in Judah in Jeremiah’s day, and He is doing so in the United States of America in our day! No conspiracy can ever succeed unless the people of a nation first go negative to the principles laid down by God, for human freedom can be established and preserved only when the nation follow His principles.

The influence of the decalogue

The United States of America was founded upon these principles, and although they are under severe attack in our country today, our history is a testimony of God’s gracious provision. We have not only been successful as a nation, but our national entity has had tremendous impact on history. The reason can be attributed to the fact that in the past this nation has adhered to the principles found in the Decalogue. In the function of a nation, there are certain principles that must be followed and carefully guarded, for they are absolutely necessary for the establishment and survival of freedom. Therefore,. I shall list some ways in which the Ten Commandments have had a great influence upon our own national entity.

The concept of Privacy and Private Property. Both of these are mentioned specifically in the Decalogue and are protected by the divine laws declared in the Ten Commandments. Any attempt to invade the privacy or the property of an individual is destructive to freedom and to the proper function of a national entity. Today we have a tragic breakdown in law; therefore, the protection of privacy and property is being eroded and the law is being subverted to promote socialism. The very essence of socialism is an invasion of privacy and private property. Socialism, when carried to the extreme, results in the types of government which exists today in Communist countries. It is anti-God, anti-Christian and anti-Biblical.

You can immediately see that when a nation promotes anti-divine principles and makes those principles a part of its legislative laws, then socialism becomes the law of the land. Socialism not only destroys freedom in a nation, it eventually destroys the national entity itself, for it is international in its scope and denies the principle of nationalism as designed by God. The Word of God sanctions the concept of national entities for the preservation of the human race.

The Concept of Right Man and Right Woman. Divine Institutions #2 and #3, Marriage and Family, are protected by the principles in the Decalogue. Both of these institutions were designed by God for the protection of the right man-right woman relationship and for the instruction and protection of the children resulting from that relationship.

The Concept of Military. One of the great objectives of the Mosaic Law is to provide a stabilised population of young men who are willing to defend not only their right woman, but every right woman for every right man in a nation. A strong military is absolutely essential for the protection of the freedom of a nation. The Ten Commandments provide a phenomenal basis for establishing a stabilised military organisation made up of men who have an understanding of the basic concepts of authority that make military teamwork a success — men who have the moral courage to go out and vigorously defeat and neutralise the enemy to the point of unconditional surrender, annihilation, or both!

Of course, some of you are already thinking, “What about ‘Thou shalt not kill’?” As we shall see in our exegetical study of the sixth commandment, the word for “kill” should be translated “murder”; therefore, it has nothing to do with military life. To kill the enemy as a military representative of your country is not only compatible with the plan of God, but is commanded and should be done “as unto the Lord.” There is no Biblical support for the position of a “conscientious objector.” There is no Biblical support for the born-again believer to stay out of military service!

It is true that our military services are under severe attack today, and they are not what they used to be. This situation could be drastically changed if the military were made up of a preponderance of believers with Bible doctrine or even unbelievers with the principles of the divine institutions in their right lobes. Remember, the principles contained in the Decalogue are for both the believer and the unbeliever. The Biblical principle in fighting a war calls for the defeat of the enemy, and that entails killing and neutralising the enemy. This is Bible doctrine! You do not stop wars by playing games with the enemy; you stop wars by KILLING THE ENEMY!

Now, I want you to understand something: fighting in the military is the basic system for preserving freedom in the Devil’s world. In spite of man’s efforts for peace, there will be warfare until the Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Matt. 24:6; Mark 13:7; Luke 21:9). You cannot stop wars by being a peacenik; you cannot stop wars by disarmament. The only way to stop war is to be ready for war; and adequate preparation demands a strong military!

The Jews in the Old Testament had the greatest military record of any national entity in the ancient world, with then possible exception of the Assyrians. In fact, it was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Hosts, the Commander of the Armies, who gave the orders for the Jewish Army to fight and defeat, and in some instances, to annihilate the enemy. It was through the principles which the God of Israel gave to Moses that the Jews developed that phenomenal character which is so necessary to be successful militarily. A man must have a lot of character to fight and die for his country and to do it right. Such character is built upon the principles of freedom found in the Ten Commandments. This is not to say that a lot of immoral killings do not happen in war — they do! However, killing the enemy is not one of them!

The principle of the Decalogue

While the Ten Commandments were given specifically to the Jews as Codex I of the Mosaic Law, and while they also fulfill the spiritual purpose of proving that man is a sinner and needs a saviour (Gal. 3:19-25), the principles contained in these divine laws are designed to protect the human race from self-destruction and to perpetuate the human race during the course of the angelic conflict. Absolute and unchanging, they have been given to insure freedom for evangelism in every generation and to provide a FRAMEWORK for human happiness. Now, keeping the Mosaic Law in itself is not happiness. The Law merely provides a “house” where happiness can live and be sustained.

The Decalogue was not intended as a set of prohibitions by which sin is defined. The Biblical definition of sin is much greater and more extensive (Cf. Prov, 6:16-35; Col. 3:5-10; Eph. 5:1-6). In stating a set of principles of freedom, it is inevitable that certain prohibitions will parallel certain sins, for these sins are an encroachment upon freedom. Since the Decalogue sets up a summary of laws dealing with principles of protection, the last five commandments mention specific forms of sin. However, these relate not only to overt acts of sin but to principles of sin as well. Remember, we are dealing with the Decalogue IN PRINCIPLE! We are dealing with principles which, when adhered to, stabilise a nation.

Now, in order to understand the principles for freedom contained in the Decalogue, it is necessary to study them exegetically, beginning with verse 1 of Exodus 20.

Freedom verses slavery

AND GOD SPAKE ALL OF THESE WORDS, SAYING (Exodus 20:1). The first thing that we notice is that the Decalogue did not come from Moses but from God. Moses simply had the privilege of being God’s spokesman. The Hebrew verb for “spake” indicates that these words are categorically correct, that their order is logical, and therefore, the principles involved are vital to the survival of any national entity. Remember that these principles were given to a people who had just been set free to establish their own nation. A stabilised nation must be preceded by stabilised souls, and the Decalogue was given for that very purpose. The phrase, “God spake,” establishes the commandments as divine laws with God as the Source.

Moses began to speak the commandments unto the people by first citing the Source. The verb “saying” in the Hebrew means “to bring to light.” It was God’s purpose to bring to light certain standards, certain principles which in summary provide protection for the human race as it is involved in the angelic conflict. The Ten Commandments were never given to the Jews until they came OUT OF SLAVERY. Therefore, the Ten Commandments are for a people who have freedom. These laws of freedom were designed to keep the Jews from going back into slavery. Jeremiah referred to the “Covenant” in Chapter 11 because he was God’s spokesman to warn Judah of impending national disaster. The breaking of the Covenant was the breaking of the Decalogue — God’s principles for human freedom and prosperity. Had the Jews observed these commandments, they would have preserved their freedom; but because they ignored these principles and broke the Covenant, national disintegration resulted, and they went back into slavery in 586 BC.

It is important to note that soul slavery precedes physical slavery. When a maximum number of people in a national entity are in emotional revolt of the soul, the nation is destroyed. Emotional revolt of the soul is the result of negative volition to God’s norms and standards. It leads to “scar tissue” of the soul and to the acceptance of false norms and standards. Therefore, the first principle that must be understood in this context is that the Decalogue is for people who possess physical freedom.

Every “Thou shalt not” is a challenge to FREE WILL, which means that once you have physical freedom, you can, by your own volition, use of abuse that freedom. If you maintain your freedom, you have great inner happiness; but, if you abuse this freedom, you will not only become a slave to emotion under emotional revolt of the soul, but a physical slave under the fifth cycle of discipline. Therefore, the whole purpose of the Ten Commandments is to show you the principles by which the freedom of your soul can be maintained; this individual freedom in turn provides the objectivity necessary to protect the freedom of your nation.

The Gauge of Freedom. The second point about the Mosaic Law which must be understood is that the Decalogue is a standard, a gauge, which measures personal and national status with regard to freedom. When these principles come under attack, the very foundation of freedom is undermined. It is God’s way of letting people know the condition of their soul regarding the four Divine Institutions (Volition, Marriage, Family and Nationalism). These institutions have been designed by God for both the believer and the unbeliever, and the Ten Commandments are the provision for the protection of both.

God, the Source of Freedom. I AM THE LORD THY GOD, WHICH HAVE BROUGHT THEE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE (Ex. 20:2). In the Hebrew there is no verb in this verse. The “am,” in italics, has been inserted, and is misleading. In the correct declaration, “I, the Lord thy God,” God is not establishing His existence, but is establishing Himself as the Source. Since His existence is assumed, no verb is needed. Although the first commandment, in actuality, is given in verse 3, the principle is contained in verse 2.

The Source of all human freedom is God Himself; and God, in His grace, sets up laws to protect freedom, laws to punish violation of freedom and laws regarding self-enslavement. Basic enslavement in human life, as taught in Romans 6, occurs in the soul, and believers are commanded to avoid soul enslavement: “Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ....” This means being controlled by the old sin nature, and that is basic soul enslavement “… but yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (verse 13). This is basic freedom and is achieved by making Bible doctrine in the heart or right lobe the authority of the soul. It is what goes on in the soul that determines freedom or slavery, and soul activity in turn influences the overt activity of the individual and the nation.

There is a historical principle that is borne out in the rise and fall of nations. This principle is that no nation ever becomes enslaved until first a maximum number of people in that nation undergo emotional revolt of the soul; and soul slavery, unless reversed by Bible doctrine, leads to physical slavery. No nation is conquered by an enemy unless destruction of individual souls occurs first. A large number of people in our country today are in soul slavery. If this soul slavery continues, it will only be a matter of time before the enemies of this country, both internal and external, destroy it and deliver its people into literal slavery!

The phrase, “the Lord thy God,” in Exodus 20:2 is very interesting because it is made up of two words — the Tetragrammaton, which we will simply call “Jehovah,” and the noun, “Elohim.” Since “Elohim” refers to essence, it is in the plural. The Tetragrammaton never refers to more than one Person at a time. It could refer to the Father, to the Son or to the Holy Spirit, the context of the passage determining the reference. The God of Israel is Jesus Christ; therefore, “I, the Lord thy God, Jesus Christ,” gave these commandments to Moses. The Lord Jesus Christ personally taught the Ten Commandments. Later on, great portions of the Mosaic Law were taught by angels (Gal. 3:19).

Neither the gospel nor evangelism was the issue in this passage because the people of the nation were already saved. But I will tell you what was the issue — FREEDOM! The verb “have brought out” is a Hebrew word which means that the Jews were caused to go forth, or to be delivered from slavery. Their freedom was an established fact! The principle comes out in the literal rendition: “I have caused you to go forth out of the land of Egypt.” They didn’t earn their freedom; they didn’t deserve it; they didn’t work for it — it was the GRACE OF GOD!

Jewish freedom began at the Passover, which portrays salvation. The blood shed by the physical death of the lamb taught, through representative analogy, the spiritual death of Christ: “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18,19). Christ suffered spiritual death when He was judged for the sins of the world. The Old Testament believers looked forward to the cross, while today we look back to the cross; but for both, salvation is BY FAITH.

The whole structure of the commandments, therefore, was designed for people who were free, who had the ability to use their free will. This introduces a category, the Doctrine of Human Freedom.

Human freedom

Freedom Demands Responsibility. Responsibility is necessary for freedom to be maintained. The Mosaic Law connotes responsibility. In slavery, the Jews could not function as a nation. Once free from physical slavery, the Jews had the responsibility of not only exercising their freedom, but also of protecting and maintaining their freedom.

Human Freedom Is a Primary Factor in the Resolving of the Angelic Conflict. Human volition must be intact to accept or reject Christ as saviour. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ requires the non-meritorious function of volition.

Human Freedom Gives Opportunity for Relationship with God. Through the operation of human freedom, God in His grace gives man the opportunity to have a relationship with Himself. This is turn gives meaning, purpose and definition to life. All true purpose in life must be related to God.

God Has Designed Laws for the Protection of Freedom in the Angelic Conflict. Without divine provision for the stability of the soul, man is no match for Satan, “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). Without God’s principles for maintaining freedom, there would be no norms or standards to guide the soul and no restraints on the old sin nature; and that would result in the old sin nature’s dictating to the soul (emotional revolt of the soul).

Now, legalism is the greatest enemy of all of God’s grace provisions, and the Decalogue has been distorted and abused by legalism. Legalism is Satanic in origin and is part of Satan’s strategy in the angelic conflict to destroy the true purpose of the Ten Commandments, and in this way destroy human volition. A true understanding of the function of the Decalogue will free you from some of the legalistic traps and self-righteous attitudes that have existed historically during the Church Age, not to mention all the legalism prior to the Church Age!

All Sin, Known or Unknown Involves the Action of the Volition. The only way you can avoid deliberately sinning is to have your volition removed from your soul; and this is impossible, unless you are an idiot. Let’s look at the problem of original sin. In the Garden the Lord Jesus Christ held Bible class every day for the man and the woman. Subsequent events reveal that Adam understood the issue involved in God’s commandment, “Thou shalt not eat,” given in Genesis 2:17, but that the woman did not. After the woman sinned, as recorded in Genesis 3:13, she said, “The serpent beguiled me ....” Hers was an unknown sin, as it were. The Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 2:14 warns the believer of false teachers who beguile unstable souls. Since the serpent beguiled the woman, it is evident that she had developed an unstable soul in innocence. Even under perfect condition, with Jesus Christ doing the teaching, one of the assembly of two was not always tuning in!

Read carefully Genesis 3:6: “She TOOK of the fruit ....” Even though she did not understand what she was doing, her volition was involved. Adam, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing. The fact that both were involved in the sin is stated clearly in 1 Timothy 2:14; but there was a difference: the woman was deceived, but Adam deliberately sinned. How did they sin without an old sin nature? Mechanically, there was only one way — through their volition. Volition operated in both souls: both sinned, one knowingly, one unknowingly, but both willingly. This principle is that all sin, known or unknown, involves action of the volition. The original sin of Adam and the woman was negative volition. They did not possess and old sin nature; yet the sin nature, once acquired, never produces sin apart from volition — NEVER! So, every imperative, every commandment implies the operation of volition.

Volition and Human Freedom Are the Basis of the Function of True Love. There are three categories of love: Category One — love toward God; Category Two — love toward right man-right woman; Category Three — love toward friends. The principle of Category Two love is illustrated by the relationship between right man-right woman. Now the man is the aggressor, and the initiation of love must come from his volition. A lot of men say, “I’m not naturally aggressive; I’m kind of a milk toast type.” If you have free will and a normal soul, you are an aggressor! All you need is that spark — right woman — and you will want to initiate.

By contrast, a woman is designed to respond, but the response of love must come from HER VOLITION! True love cannot be coerced; it must be freely given. The right man must provide for the right woman both freedom and privacy. In aggression, the right man protects the freedom of the right woman to respond. Now a woman can be very aggressive in responding to a man, but that does not mean that she is manly. It means that her volition has been protected, and she is free to respond. Ignorance of this principle leads some men to destroy the volition of the right woman by demanding love. The enslavement of a woman’s volition destroys her capacity for love.

Human Freedom Is the Basis for Determining Human Maturity. Human maturity is taking full responsibility for one’s decisions. God has designed the right lobe, the heart, as the authority of the soul. The right lobe of the soul contains conscience and is the storage area for norms and standards. Under the emotional revolt of the soul, the function of the right lobe is destroyed and the emotions rule the soul under the dictates of the old sin nature. When the emotions rule the soul, individual responsibility is lost, as is capacity for objective thinking.

Volition Is the Issue in Salvation. The reason volition is the determining factor is that everything else has been provided. Salvation was designed by God the Father (John 4:34), is revealed by God the Holy Spirit (1 Cor, 2:10), and was purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ through His work on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24; 1 John 2:2; 3:16). Yet salvation is optional. Whether a person is saved or not depends on the attitude of his free will. Positive volition is: “He that BELIEVETH on the Son hath everlasting life”; negative volition is: “he that believeth NOT the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

Human Freedom Is Protected by God’s Prohibitions. “Thou shalt not” is not a tyrannical expression of God’s will; rather it has been given by God in His grace for the protection of the freedom of your soul and the freedom of your nation.

The first commandment: Exodus 20:3

The first commandment is where liberty begins: THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME; or, literally, THERE SHALL NOT BE TO YOU ANY OTHER GODS BEYOND ME. Notice the change in translation. What is actually being said is that there is room for only One at the top, and that place is occupied by the God of Israel, Jesus Christ. This is no way detracts from the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus Christ, the revealed Member of the Godhead, is the Creator and saviour of the universe as well as the God of Israel. The protection and proper exercise of freedom demands recognition that the God of Israel is alone at the top. The verb translated “Thou shalt have no” literally means “There shall not be.” This, then is not a THOU SHALT NOT commandment, but rather THERE SHALL NOT BE other gods. The reference is to the prohibition of idolatry.

Soul Idolatry. The first commandment is dealing with idolatry in the soul, while the second commandment deals with overt idolatry. The principle is this: freedom begins in the soul. The Jews did not suddenly decide to manufacture a calf in the desert while Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Decalogue from Jesus Christ; they had that calf in their minds from the day they walked out of Egypt. Their bodies were free, but their souls were not. God freed the bodies of the Jews; but God could not free their souls because that requires individual volition. “Operation Golden Calf” demonstrated that the Jews of the Exodus generation had not freed themselves from idolatry: they had idolatry in their souls. Their souls were in emotional revolt, and they were ruled by their emotions instead of being ruled by their right lobe where divine norms and standards are stored.

The right lobe has been designed by God as the authority of the soul. Slavery of the soul is a part of the emotional revolt of the soul; such slavery is the most subtle slavery in the world. It is the result of the old sin nature’s dictating to the emotions rather than the emotions being under the authority of the right lobe. When the emotions are responding to the old sin nature, the soul becomes enslaved. There are three categories of emotional revolt: (1) mental attitude sins, such as fear or guilt reaction; (2) lust pattern, such as approbation or power lust; and (3) human good, such as pseudo-brotherly love or social action, or any combination of the three — all of which are an abomination to the Lord!

God has set up a “squad” in the soul of every normal human being and has designed the right lobe as “squad leader.” The right lobe contains the conscience, the memory centre and frame of reference. The left lobe is subordinate to it, as is self-consciousness, volition, emotion, and above all, the old sin nature. When a people go contrary to God’s establishment of the basic authority in their own souls, they will reject every authority in life.

Comparison Between Moses’ and Jeremiah’s Generation. The two greatest men of the Old Testament, Moses and Jeremiah, showed their greatness under conditions of total adversity, for their ministries were to people who were physically free but were enslaved in their souls. The slavery of the soul inevitably leads to the slavery of the body. The conditions that existed with the Exodus generation as they came out of slavery were similar to conditions that existed with Jeremiah’s generation as it went back into slavery. The Jews spent forty years wandering in the desert to get into the land — from 1440 to 1400 BC; likewise, the Jews spent forty years in Jeremiah’s day getting out of the land — from 626 to 586 BC. It took a decadent generation forty years to get into the land, and it took a decadent generation forty years to get out of the land!

After providing physical freedom for the Jews of the Exodus generation, God offered them, through the Mosaic Law, the blueprint for freedom in their souls. However, God is a “Gentleman,” and He does not interfere with human volition. He does provide information whereby human volition can respond and become free. The Mosaic Law was designed to free the souls of the Jews; thereby their freed souls would be compatible with their freed bodies. But it depended of course on their individual volition. Until these principles were understood, the Jews could not enter the land.

Even though Moses constantly taught them the Law, the Jews of the Exodus generation never understood it as principles of freedom. As a result, they remained in soul slavery for forty years after their physical liberation. That, and their failure in the sphere of the faith-rest technique, were the two reasons why that generation, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, never went into the land.

The next generation of Jews who went into the land lived in freedom as a nation through the provisions of the Decalogue, referred to subsequently by Jeremiah as the “Covenant.” But through idolatry they gradually enslaved their souls, until in Jeremiah’s day, too, the Jews were free of body but enslaved of soul. The overt manifestation of soul slavery was the same in both generations — idolatry. In the Exodus generation, it was revealed by “Operation Golden Calf”; and in Jeremiah’s generation, it was revealed by “Operation Baal.”

Both forty-year periods were characterised by the constant pouring out of God’s grace; in fact, both periods of time could be called eras of “super grace.” But through the constant rejection of doctrine in Jeremiah’s day, the nation returned to slavery from which the Lord had previously delivered it in grace.

Freedom Through Doctrine. The Jews were the nation of people appointed by God to receive the gospel from Him and transmit it to Gentile peoples. They were His people chosen for this purpose, and, in this sense, they were His possession. Keep this in mind when we later encounter the passage, “I the Lord thy God am a JEALOUS God.” Jealousy is a sin, and God does not sin. Jealousy in reference to God is an expression of possessiveness based upon the fact that God is free. If you are going to respond to God, you must be free to do so. God is possessive of your freedom. When God says, “No other gods beyond me,” God is saying, “Beyond me there is nothing.” This means that God stands there with His arms open, but you have to be free to come, as it were, into His arms.

So, in order to maintain freedom, the Source of its origin — God — must be recognised. The principle is also clearly stated in John 8:32: AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH (DOCTRINE), AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. Here is the other side of the coin. These words appear (erroneously used) on at least one building of every campus I have ever been on. Other famous quotes around the campus always seem to cite the source — Shakespear, Ben Johnson, or some other one. But the source of John 8:32 is never cited. Who said it? Jesus Christ said it! He also gave the first commandment to Moses. Knowing the truth and having the soul freed by Bible doctrine, whether it be from the slave market of sin for the unbeliever, or from the Mosaic Law for the believer, are one and the same with the commandment, “There shall not be to you other gods beyond me.”

You, as a citizen of the United States of America, are twice blessed: you have freedom of soul in what is still a free country, and freedom of body, although this freedom is rapidly being destroyed. You have the freedom to take in Bible doctrine; and no matter what adversity you may face, Bible doctrine is your source of strength and stability. Bible doctrine can never be separated from the soul nor the soul from doctrine when you are functioning daily under GAP (the “grace apparatus for perception”). No matter what happens to your body, your soul cannot be touched. Martin Luther expressed this so beautifully in that great hymn, “A Mighty Fortress”: “… the body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still!” The Word of God lives and abides forever (1 Pet, 1:23)! No nation ever survives the violation of God’s principles. “There shall not be to you other gods beyond me.” This is a nation’s protection against slavery.

Summary of the first commandment. By way of summary, this commandment recognises human volition, which is the basis for maintaining freedom — by knowledge of the truth. The commandments were not given to the Jews until after God had freed them physically. The national entity must operate on the basis of personal freedom, which means personal privacy: “There shall not be TO YOU (there is your personal freedom) other gods beyond me.” Freedom of the national entity depends upon the freedom of all within that entity to make the choice between God and other gods, as well as upon a maximum number making the RIGHT choice. “Other gods,” in context, indicates that there can be false gods in the minds of people, which, being beyond God, are nothing.

False Gods Versus the True God. False concepts, and actually false gods, are always created by the soul in slavery and are the direct result of the emotional revolt of the soul. When the soul revolts against what God has designed, that soul is looking beyond God for something else. And what is there? NOTHING! If there is nothing beyond God, and people in emotional revolt go beyond God, they go into nothing. Once they are in nothing, they must draw upon a figment of the emotion of the soul; and, since the emotion does not contain knowledge, doctrine or character (the emotion is designed to appreciate these things), anything that originates from the emotion is revolt is false. It is soul slavery!

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, reiterates this concept when he declares, “… we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Cor. 8:4). Now, since an idol is nothing, who tries to pick up nothing and do something with it? Satan does, of course! This is the Devil’s communion table of 1 Corinthians 10:19-21.

The phrase, “beyond me” (Ex. 20:2), emphasises that when you walk past God, you have rejected Category One love, and therefore, you have rejected God. Mental idolatry (soul idolatry) or soul slavery is actually unfaithfulness or rejection of Category One love. This is why idolatry is called “spiritual adultery.” The negative form of the prohibition emphasises the same issue that was made in the original sin. In the Garden, it was “Thou shalt not eat.” In the first commandment, it is “There shall not be to you any other gods beyond me.” Freedom in the Garden depended upon observing a negative prohibition; and freedom in a national entity depends upon observing a negative prohibition. When man broke the divine law in the Garden, rulership of the world went to Satan and his angelic followers; and when a maximum number of people in a nation breaks God’s divine laws, that nation comes under the control of Satanic doctrines. Negative prohibitions give the opportunity for the daily exercise of free will, which is crucial to the resolving of the angelic conflict. Therefore, the first commandment is directly related to the angelic conflict — in fact, all of the commandments are, but especially the first one.

The Basis of Freedom in the Church Age. Believers in both the Jewish Age and the Church Age are set free from slavery to sin and Satan by faith in Christ (Psalm 2:12; John 8:36). But while the Mosaic Law was the basis for living in freedom in the previous dispensation, the basis of freedom for the believer-priest in the Church Age is the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, which is unique to this dispensation. Three verses bring out this principle.

First, Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast, therefore in the liberty (freedom) wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Interestingly enough, the “yoke of bondage” includes the Mosaic Law. How is the Law converted to bondage? Through legalism! The Law was given in grace, but legalism converts grace into something which was not intended. Legalism, therefore, makes the Lw a system of works for salvation rather than principles for freedom.

Next, compare the above passage with Galatians 3:1-6: “… Received ye the Holy Spirit by the works of the law ..: (verse 2)? “Of course you didn’t,” says Paul. Now compare this with the fantastic passage found in Romans 8:1-4, which is the “Magna Carta” of the believer in this dispensation:

There is therefor now no condemnation (judgment) to them which are in Christ Jesus … For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh (old sin nature), God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin (a sin offering), condemned sin in the flesh; That the righteousness of (demanded by) the law (the righteousness demanded by the Law is a freedom righteousness) might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after (according to) the flesh, but after (according to) the Spirit.

Now we have been given, as believer-priests in the Church Age, the ministry of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the law. When I say the Law is fulfilled, I do not mean keeping six commandments out of the ten, or keeping any of the ten; I am talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in providing freedom!

Since the first two commandments have to do with the prohibition of mental idolatry, or soul slavery, let us examine categorically the doctrine of idolatry, taking the pertinent aspects of the subject given us in other passages of the Word of God.

The doctrine of idolatry

1. Idolatry, mental or overt, is forbidden (Ex. 20:2,4,23; 23:24; Deut. 4:28; 5:7; 6:14; 7:16; 8:19).

2. Idolatry is an attack upon Category One love, and substitutes it for the worship of “nothings” (other gods) (Cf. also Jer. 3:8-10; Ezek. 16:23-43; 23:24-28; Rev. 17:1-5).

3. Soul slavery, or mental idolatry, precedes the overt practice of idolatry. The practice of overt idolatry does not occur unless there is first soul slavery (Ex. 20>3,4; Judg. 2:10-13; Ezek. 14:7).

4. Idolatry also results from rejection of Christ as saviour. This produces scar tissue on the left bank of the soul and emotional revolt of the soul (Romans 1:18-25).

5. Demons (fallen angels) operate through idols and idolatry (Zechariah 10:2).

6. Therefore, idolatry is the Devil’s communion table (1 Corinthians 10:19-21).

7. Since idolatry is associated with emotional revolt of the soul, it produces a psychotic condition. The fear psychosis of idolatry is described in Jeremiah 50:38.

8. Idolatry goes hand-in-hand with the sexual sins of the phallic cult. It separates right man from right woman, as it did with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s right woman was in soul slavery, while Jeremiah had a free soul; therefore, God commanded him to forget about her and to have nothing more to do with her. She had gone to the Ball sanctuaries and had involved herself in indiscriminate sex acts, which are part of the phallic cult (Ezek. 22:3-18; 23:37-49; many passages in Jeremiah; 1 Cor. 6:9).

9. Idolatry causes both national disnitegration and national judgment (Isa, 2:8, 18020; 21:9; 36:18-20; 37:12-19; Jer. 2:27-30; 3:6-11; 7:17-20; Ezek. 6:4-6). Freedom of the soul is lost first; then follows the loss of the freedom of the body. Here is the pattern” the unbeliever hears the gospel presented clearly and rejects Christ as saviour. The believer hears accurate Bible doctrine, but he rejects God’s provision for him in time. In both cases, scar tissue begins to accumulate on the soul, and a vacuum is created into which false doctrine is drawn; the result is emotional revolt of the soul and soul slavery. The phallic cult is but one expression of this.

Negative volition also develops toward right man-right woman. God has designed one tight man for one right woman, and this relationship was designed to bring great happiness. The soul in slavery has moved beyond God and is therefore not interested in God’s design of right man-right woman. This was the case with Jeremiah’s right woman. She rejected Jeremiah and went to the mountains and to the places beneath the green trees where, in the name of Baal, she and others practiced all kinds of sex perversions. She rejected Category One love as well as Category Two love (right man-right woman); therefore, she rejected the only man who could fulfill her. On the other side of Category One and Category Two love there is nothing. Therefore, in her futile search for happiness, she tried to fill this nothingness with dope, drink, and all manner of sublimation in order to stand up under the group sex and other perverted practices.

When you walk out beyond the Lord, you may be walking out on your right man or woman, your right church, your right country — even your right money and material things — into nothingness and self-induced misery!

The second commandment: Exodus 20:4-6

THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, OR ANY LIKENESS OF ANY THING THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE, OR THAT IS IN EARTH BENEATH, OR THAT IS IN THE WATER UNDER THE EARTH (verse 4). THOU SHALT NOT BOW DOWN THYSELF TO THEM, NOR SERVE THEM; FOR I, THE LORD THY GOD AM A JEALOUS GOD, VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN UNTO THE THIRD GENERATION OF THEM THAT HATE ME (verse 5); AND SHOWING MERCY UNTO THOUSANDS OF THEM THAT LOVE ME, AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS (verse 6).

The Pattern of Slavery. This is a rather long passage, and it deals with some very important doctrine. “Make” in verse 4 means “to construct something out of something” — that is, out of existing materials. In this case, reference would be to the manufacturing of idols out of such materials as wood, metal or bone (idols of these materials have come down to us from the ancient world). The word “graven” indicates that the materials used were formed into something of one of the types now mentioned: the “likeness of anything which is in heaven above or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

The various graven images, under the “any likeness” category, included many things, such as angels, birds, snakes and people — often in combination. The Philistines, for example, worshipped a fish god, called Dagon, which they carved into a form that was half fish, half human. Also. every ancient people involved in the practice of idolatry worshipped the female form. They called this form anything from Venus and Aphrodite to Ishtar or Ashtaroth, which is the name mentioned in the Old Testament.

In verse 5, the verb “to bow down” is reflexive, the concept being that you do this yourself. You practice idolatry because your soul is in slavery, and the volition of your soul is acting in obedience to your soul slavery. Your free will operates according to a pattern of slavery, and in this pattern, you actually bow down to a carved form that either you yourself or some other person, perhaps of inferior intellect, has carved out for the purpose. The idiocy of this is the slavery of it! By bowing down of your own free will, you have enslaved yourself.

The next phrase says, “nor serve them.” This verb is in the passive voice, meaning “to be caused to be enslaved,” or “to receive enslavement.” The principle is that when people by their own volition practice idolatry, their body becomes subservient to an enslaved soul. Enslavement of the soul leads to enslavement of the body. That is why a degenerate or an emotionally enslaved people, such as those in Jeremiah’s day, always, invariably, without exception, had some form of overt manifestation of their soul slavery. In our sophisticated society, our idols are sometimes a little more difficult to recognise; but, of course, we still have them.

God’s Possessiveness. The passage continues with “for I the Lord am a jealous God.” The word “jealous” in the Hebrew means “to permit no rival.” Now this word has two connotations: one, the well-known mental attitude sin of jealousy, and the other, a reference to proper possessiveness. Here, of course, it refers to possessiveness. God’s possessiveness is based on the fact that He has purchased every believer from the slave market of sin.

With one exception, all men are born into slavery because all men are born with an old sin nature (Rom. 5:12). The one exception is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was born free, without an old sin nature (virgin birth), and as a free Man was qualified to purchase our freedom. He did do by paying for our sins on the cross (Gal. 3:13). We are born the first time into slavery, but by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are born again into freedom (John 8:36).

The Believer, God’s Possession in the Church Age. In the Church Age, one of the thirty-six assets you receive at the point of salvation is union with Christ, and that union is eternal! Christianity is based on that relationship. As believers, each of us in one with Christ (John 14:20; Ephesians 2:6); therefore, Christ possesses us. In fact, we are said to be His possession (Eph. 1:14). This connotes the exclusiveness of Category One love. But the fact that God loves us with a perfect love does not in any way guarantee our response. Since Category One love is exclusive, grace demands maximum capacity for love response. The capacity to love comes through a grace principle — the operation of the “grace apparatus for perception.” Bible doctrine, communicated by a pastor-teacher, is taken into the left lobe where it is understood through the filling of the Holy Spirit. It is then transferred by faith to the human spirit where it is stored as residual doctrine. From the human spirit it is cycled to the right lobe. Capacity to love comes through Bible doctrine in the human spirit and in the right lobe.

We should be thankful, then, for God’s possessiveness, for it includes His faithfulness, the provision of doctrine and happiness for us as believers. But it is impossible to respond to God’s perfect love when under soul slavery. You cannot bow down to idols and at the same time respond to God.

Judgment of Negative Volition. In the next phrase of Exodus 20:5, God states a principle connected with His possessiveness: “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” In order to understand this principle, it is necessary to look first at the last four words in the verse — “them that hate me.” Soul slavery causes the believer to “hate” God. The word “hate” is used for negative volition. Rejection of God’s love is negative volition toward doctrine. Although God loves us with a perfect love, He will not violate the volition of the individual. However, He states very clearly in His Word that such negative volition (iniquity) will be visited unto the third and fourth generation.

The word “visiting” indicates a divine law and really means “to punish”: “punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children down to the third and fourth generation.” But note the qualifying phrase, “of them that hate me.” The Hebrew of “hate” indicates that a father hates, then his son hates, and so on down the line, each generation DOING ITS OWN HATING! In other words, a father’s hate does not cause the fourth generation to be punished; each generation must do its own hating (Deut. 24:16). What this passage is saying is that the negative volition never goes past four generations, or the human race would be wiped out. If you have four generations of negative volition, there is going to be a break.

Because of much general confusion on this point, let’s look at the doctrine of the four-generation curse.

The four-generation curse

1. The doctrine is directly stated in the Decalogue itself (Ex. 20:4-6; also Deut. 5:8-10).

2. The four-generation curse as a part of the rejection of God’s grace (Ex. 34:6,7; Num. 14:18). You will never have the four-generation curse where people respond to grace.

3. The mechanics of the four-generation curse are given in Proverbs 30:11-17.

4. The four-generation curse cannot be understood apart from the law of culpability (Deut. 24:16; Jer. 31:29,30). Children are not responsible for their parents’ sins without culpability of their own.

5. The principle of God’s fairness to children is given in Deuteronomy 21:15-17. It is incompatible with God’s character for Him to be unfair. God is sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, immutability and veracity, and it is impossible for a righteous and a just God to be anything other than His essence. Immutability and veracity add up to fairness.

6. A principle existed in the Old Testament times which is not in effect during the Church Age — namely, maximum discipline for a negative or rebellious son. There were some teenagers who would never accept authority and were permanently in a state of rebellion. They were put on trial, and if convicted, were executed (capital punishment). They were part of a revolution, and revolution is never condoned by God. The war fought to establish America as a free, independent nation was a war for independence and was not based upon revolutionary principles.

7. Bible doctrine breaks the four-generation curse (Deut. 6:4-13). “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God (Elohim) is one Lord (Jehovah)” (verse 4). “Elohim” is plural, indicating that the Jews believed in the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are coequal and coeternal, possessing the same essence. When all three are mentioned together, the word “Elohim” (our God) is used. When one Person specifically is mentioned, the word “Jehovah” (Lord) is used. “The Lord our God is one Lord” refers to Jesus Christ as the God of Israel. There is only one Lord in the sense of the King or Ruler of Israel.

“And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart ...” Why the heart? The heart refers to the right lobe and is the authority of the soul. “… with all thy soul...” You cannot love God with your soul until the commander of the soul loves because it is the right lobe that contains doctrine and all that is necessary for capacity to love. “… and with all thy might” — literally, “all thy excess (verse 5). This is Bible doctrine producing to maximum capacity in the life.

“And these words I command thee this day, shall be ...” WHERE? In your emotions? NO! The emotions do not contain doctrine! “These words … shall be in your HEART (right lobe)” (verse 6). “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (verse 7). The intake of Bible doctrine should be a part of your daily routine at home!

“And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes” (verse 8). A frontlet was a phylactery which the Jews carried around the head; they just pulled it out, unrolled it, read it. It was the original Jewish training aid.

“And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on the gates” (verse 9), a place where everyone could see it, talk about it, and think about it. This is one of several passages that shows how doctrine breaks the four-generation curse (Cf. also Deut. 7:9; Psa. 100:5; Jer. 31:15,16).

8. In the Millennium. maximum knowledge of doctrine breaks the four-generation curse (Jer. 31:29-34). In this passage Jeremiah looks ahead to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, at which time the four-generation curse will be broken under the New Covenant to Israel. The personal reign of Jesus Christ on earth will give the world the greatest freedom it has ever known.

9. In the time of Jeremiah, the four-generation curse on idolatry reached its peak, and the fifth cycle of discipline was administered (Jer. 16:10-13).

The Manufacture of Grace. Continuing now with the second commandment, in verse 6 of Exodus 20, we see the grace of God toward those who break away: “showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” The word “showing” does not mean “to show,” but rather “to manufacture something out of something else”; and in this passage it means to manufacture grace out of the character of God. Grace is manufactured as doctrine is taken in, understood, transferred by faith to the human spirit, and cycled into the right lobe of the soul — the function of GAP.

The Hebrew word here is actually not “Mercy,” by grace: “manufacture GRACE unto thousands of them that love me.” The word “love” is the basic Hebrew word for “love,” but here it refers to the constant presence and reception of doctrine in that right lobe. “Keep” is better translated “to guard.” Therefore, this portion should read: “manufacturing grace unto thousands of them that keep on loving me, and keep on guarding my commandments.” How do you guard the commandments? Bu keeping a system of morality? No! You guard them through the continuous intake of doctrine as you establish the right lobe as the authority of your soul!

The third commandment: Exodus 20:7

We shall look at this commandment as it stands in the English and then examine it exegetically from the Hebrew. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN; FOR THE LORD THY GOD WILL NOT HOLD HIM GUILTLESS THAT TAKETH HIS NAME IN VAIN. More accurately translated, “thou shalt not take” should read, “you shall not lift up.” The lifting up implies purpose, as in the lifting up of the sins of the world upon Christ on the cross. In the present context, it is used for the lifting up of the voice against God. The Hebrew for “in vain” means “for worthlessness or wickedness,” or “for an evil purpose,” and includes false testimony in the name of God in a court of law or in any phase of life. Thus, the commandment does not have anything to do with exclamations, and it covers far more than profanity.

It refers to claiming God as one’s witness that what one says is true, when in fact it is not. The prohibition involves using the name of God to cover a lie, such as, “May God strike me dead”; or, “God is my witness.” It also covers the attachment of God’s name to some project or action that someone would like to see undertaken or adopted by claiming that “It is God’s will.”

An understanding of the principle involved in this commandment contributes greatly to the preservation of human freedom. It is designed to keep people free from being falsely accused or convicted, or erroneously coerced into some action by bringing in God’s name. God’s name is rightly and legitimately used in prayer, praise, thanksgiving, love response toward God on the part of a believer, and doctrinal communication. We might add worship to the list, although basically, worship is listening to the communication of doctrine.

In the phrase, “the Lord will not hold him guiltless,” the verb “guiltless” is actually “to acquit.” The Lord will not acquit him that takes His name in vain! In the framework of the Decalogue, this indicates that when a maximum number of people in a national entity habitually take the name of the Lord in vain, national disintegration follows.

The fourth commandment: Exodus 20:8-11

The fourth commandment, dealing with the Sabbath, has been the basis for the creation of great confusion and false doctrinal ideology, both in the Jewish Age and in the Church Age. The first thing that must be settled is the fact that the Sabbath (meaning “rest or cessation”) is Saturday; it is the seventh day of the week, while Sunday is the first day of the week.

How, then, you ask, did we begin worshipping on Sunday? The first day of the week was Resurrection Day; the day the Church began, Pentecost, fifty days later, was on a Sunday; and finally, the Bible tells us to assemble together for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Col. 2:16,17).

The fourth commandment reads: REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY (Ex. 20:8). “Remember” connotes exercise of the right lobe, the memory centre. It is a thinking verb, not an action or doing verb. On the Sabbath, the Jews were instructed to manufacture grace and grace orientation by calling on doctrine in the memory centre and keeping it in the frame of reference. The object of the verb “remember” is the Sabbath day. As we have already noted, the Hebrew word for “Sabbath” means “to rest.” The phrase, “to keep it holy,” is literally, “to set it apart.” They were commanded to set aside Saturday, the seventh day, in order to do something they didn’t do on any other day — REST. The principle in view here is that freedom demands rest and meditation. You cannot have freedom when you stop thinking. Let’s look at the doctrine of the Sabbath categorically.

The doctrine of the Sabbath

The Sabbath Teaches Grace (Gen. 2:2,3). The original creation of the earth was instantaneous at a point in eternity past (Gen. 1:1). The Creator was the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:3; Col. 1:16). Because of the angelic conflict, the original earth became “without form and void.” The earth was restored by God the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2), but Jesus Christ did the creating. On the seventh day, God rested, having done or provided everything needed by man. Did He rest because He was tired? No! He rested because there was nothing left to be done!

Since man had received everything by grace in only six days, and nothing could be added to it, God rested on the seventh day to commemorate the grace principle. The Sabbath was to be observed by the Jews to remind them that they, too, had received everything by God’s grace. Observance of the Sabbath was designed to teach grace orientation in a day when the canon of scripture was not yet complete.

Two Sabbaths for the Believer. The first of these is the TEMPORAL SABBATH and pertains to the believer’s life on earth. It refers to the faith-rest technique, spoken of in Hebrews 3:11, and the moment-by-moment Sabbath of Hebrews 4:1-7. Since individual Old Testament believers were only rarely and for special functions indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the faith-rest technique was for them the basis for spirituality (Heb.11). They were to rest on the promises of God, claiming them, along with doctrine and divine principles as given in the scripture.

In the Church Age, every believer is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation, and the filling of the Holy Spirit is the basis for spirituality in this dispensation (Eph. 5:18; 1 John 1:9). In the Jewish Age, the Holy Spirit was not yet given (universally) because Jesus Christ was not yet glorified (John 7:39).

The second Sabbath for the individual believer is the ETERNAL SABBATH — the believer in eternity — and it becomes the possession of each believer at the moment of salvation. This is recorded in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

The Sabbath of Israel a Memorial to the Grace of God (Deut. 5:12-15; Lev. 23:3; Isa. 58:11-14). Therefore, the principle of the Sabbath was instituted as the fourth commandment. The Jews were specifically commanded TO THINK and NOT TO WORK. “Remember” means to think and to draw upon the resources of the right lobe. Therefore, it is a command that the right lobe control the soul, and this control is the basis for freedom. One of the primary factors in the doctrine of freedom is the ability to think. So God says, “You work hard for six days, during which time you may do some thinking; but set aside the seventh day as the DAY FOR THINKING.”

The Jews were to do no work on the seventh day in recognition and commemoration of God’s grace. Under God’s plan, He does the work, and the believer receives the benefit. Jesus Christ purchased salvation in toto, and we cannot earn it or work for it, for “it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8,9). Since all blessing in time has been provided for in God’s plan, not working on the seventh day was a very wonderful way to bring home this lesson!

The fourth commandment also contains a principle related to the necessity of periodic rest for the body and a change in pace and routine for the individual. Remember, the Decalogue is designed for both the believer and the unbeliever. The believer receives direct blessing from God, for he belongs to God, while the unbeliever receives indirect blessing through the recognition of divine principles. The unbeliever is not going to sit down and think about doctrine because he has none; but he can sit down and rest his body. This commandment is designed to protect physical health as well as soul stability, both of which are necessary for the protection of freedom.

The Principle of the Sabbatical Year. The Sabbatical year belonged solely to the Age of Israel and has no counterpart in the Church Age (Ex. 23:10,11; Lev. 25:3,4; 26:3-6). It is not part of the Decalogue. Under the agricultural economy, the Jews were to stop all agricultural production in order to give the people and the land a rest, and to live off the production of the previous six years of work. It was essentially a test of their faith-rest capacity. The question was, could they trust God to provide for them in the seventh year? The Jews failed the test! For 490 years they failed to observe the Sabbatical year. This added up to a total of seventy Sabbatical years, and God based the length of their fifth cycle of national discipline on this figure of missed Sabbaths (586 to 516 BC).

The Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8-24). As another feature of the Sabbath concept, the Year of Jubilee was also designed by God to teach grace to the nation Israel. It, too, is non-operational during the Church Age. After they had observed seven Sabbath years during a forty-nine-year period, the Jews were commanded on the fiftieth year, the Year of Jubilee, to return all real estate to the original owner, to free all slaves, and to return all businesses to their former owners. In short, everything reverted to the status of ownership that had existed fifty years previously.

Also, anyone working under some bondage system was freed immediately, and whatever portion of land had been allotted to him by tribe and by the system was returned to him. The principle taught by observance of the Year of Jubilee was that everything acquired was theirs on a lease basis. It was God’s way of teaching the nation Israel to depend upon Him and His plan for all things.

Profaning the Sabbath. This was associated with idolatry and the apostasy of the Jews (Ezek. 23:37-39). Sabbath violation, which occurred after the restoration of the Jewish nation in the land, is discussed in Nehemiah 13:15-21.

The Sabbath in the Church Age. Believers in this dispensation are not under the laws pertaining to Sabbath observance. These have been set aside since the beginning of the Church Age (the Book of Galatians; Col. 2:16,17). Now, back to the fourth commandment in Exodus 20:9.

Orientation to the Grace of God. SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOUR, AND DO ALL THY WORK. The “six days” include Sunday through Friday. “Shalt thou labour” is an expression of serving or working very hard. One cannot read into the phrase any provision for loafing on the job, but rather a command to keep on working hard and to do all your work. The word for “do” is one that is found throughout the rest of the commandments. Literally in the Hebrew is connotes “manufacturing something out of something else.” It means that whatever your abilities are, your talent, your skills, your profession, out of these abilities you “manufacture” labour or work. It also means that you make a profit or wage from these abilities.

BUT (conjunction of contrast) THE SEVENTH DAY (IS) THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD: (IN IT) THOU SHALT NOT SO ANY WORK … (verse 10). (“Is” and “in it” are not in the original.) “Thou shalt not do any work” is a negative which means that whatever their talents, abilities, skills or professions, they were not to use these on that day of the week. All work was to stop on the Sabbath day for the purpose of orienting to the grace of God.

… THOU, NOR THY SON, NOR THY DAUGHTER, THY MANSERVANT. NOR THEY MAIDSERVANT, NOR THY CATTLE, NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES. Not only the adults were to stop work, but also the children, the servants, the cattle (oxen for plowing in an agricultural economy) and the strangers were to rest. No one worked on the Sabbath. The basis of this commandment is given in the next verse.

FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS, AND RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY … (verse 11). As has been previously noted, in the beginning, when God created heaven and earth, He did so in an instant of time. The word “created” in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew word “bara,” which means “to create something out of nothing.” The word “made” in Exodus 20:11 is the Hebrew word “asah,” which means to manufacture something out of something else.” “Made” refers to a restoration and not an original creation. In six days the Lord restored heaven — that is, the first heaven (the atmosphere around the earth), the earth, and the seas and all that is within them. The earth had been in existence for millions or even billions of years. The length of time that elapsed between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 is unknown. Archeologically, it is categorised as “prehistoric times.”

… AND RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY .… The sense of the word “rest” is not so much that of “resting” as “cessation of activity.” On the seventh day, God stopped providing because He had already provided everything .… WHEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH DAY AND HALLOWED IT. The word “blessed” indicates that God pronounced it a source of blessing or intensity of happiness. This one day of rest each week is not only a principle of blessing, it is also a principle of freedom. Freedom and blessing go together; you cannot have one without the other. The word “hallow” means “to set apart”; and the verb tense in the Hebrew indicates that this setting apart would last for a long time — in fact, for the remainder of human history.

The fifth commandment: Exodus 20:12

Respect for authority. The fifth commandment is contained in a single verse, as is true of all the last six principles of the Decalogue. In the English we read:

HONOUR THEY FATHER AND THY MOTHER: THAT THEY DAYS MAY BE LONG UPON THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE. The word “honour” is the key to understanding this commandment. It refers to respect for the AUTHORITY of your father and your mother. This is not a commandment to love your parents or even to respect their person, but it is a commandment TO RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITY. The capacity to love develops with maturity. The primary responsibility of parents is not to win the love and affection of their children, but to instruct and teach them — not sparing the rod — thereby to establish parental authority.

Although the fifth commandment commands children to respect parental authority, that authority must be exercised justly and fairly. Respectfulness in the home is a part of the general principle of the necessity for the establishment of and respect for authority. It must be learned early in life, firstly in the family, so that later it will be applied to the teacher, the athletic coach, the law officer, the drill instructor, and so on.

The fifth commandment forms the basis for the whole Biblical principle that no one can have freedom and happiness in life without learning respect for authority. Only those who themselves learned respect for authority are ever qualified to exercise authority. The principle of authority exists in every facet of life and is designed for the protection of individual and national freedom. When there is general loss of respect for authority on a national scale, disintegration and destruction of that national entity will surely follow!

It is a tragedy to launch a person into adult life without a concept of respect for authority. If your parents did not use or establish their authority when you were young, then you are really behind the eight ball. Now God gave everyone the right of protection from the standpoint of anatomy. The real you is in the soul; and just as the cranium is the protective casing for the anatomical structures in which the soul functions, so also has the gluteus maximus been provided for the administration of discipline and the establishment of authority. Children should be spanked there. “Honour thy father and thy mother” commands respect; it therefore implies parental responsibility as well.

Our nation has declined and degenerated in every possible way. One of the most basic of the destructive influences existing in our country is the concept of permissiveness in rearing children; furthermore, there are many efforts to encourage young people to reject the authority of their parents. Unless children are taught respect for authority and the principles of freedom it protects, they will destroy their freedom. This pattern of self-destructiveness was very evident in Jeremiah’s day, and the same pattern is becoming increasingly evident in our day. The “hippie” movement in this country is a sign of national suicide.

The enemies of our nation are hard at work seeking to destroy all aspects of authority, for they know that a generation that does not recognise authority can never resist Communist conquest, and in fact, the present generation seems willing to bring it about. The conspirators, as is so clearly stated in “Jeremiah,” always have their dupes running about and doing their errands. Divine Institution #3, the Family, is the basic authority-teaching institution in a national entity. There can be no freedom apart from recognition and respect of the various structures of authority. There cannot be happiness apart from conditions of freedom in which there is respect for authority.

Next, the word “that” introduces a purpose clause, after which follows the word “days.” The latter word is used to indicate a life span. “That thy days may be long” means that in general, life span in a national entity is shortened when authority is not rejected. but longevity is granted to those who learn respect for authority, first from parents.

Finally, this verse concludes with “upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The verb “to give” in the Hebrew is a continuous action and indicates that God is its ultimate source and authority. The verse ends with the Lord’s giving a land, but it starts with the principle of authority. There is no freedom in the land given by the Lord unless there is enforcement of authority and respect for authority. God has established the right lobe as the authority of the soul, the right man as the authority in marriage, the parents as the authority in the family, and objective law as the authority in a nation. These structures of authority have been designed by God for the preservation of freedom during the course of the angelic conflict.

Therefore, in summary, the concept being taught by this commandment is that when those in a national entity begin life with concepts of authority, they will live their life in a free nation. When principles of authority are taught and learned early in life, in the family, a pattern is established throughout life that will protect individual and national freedom.

The sixth commandment: Exodus 20:13

The Prohibition of Murder. In the English. this commandment reads: THOU SHALT NOT KILL. However, the Hebrew word in this verse is “ratsach,” which does not mean “to kill,” but “to murder,” and there is a vast difference between killing and murder. The correct translation, therefore, is THOU SHALT NOT MURDER (Cf. Matthew 19:18). Murder denotes homicide!

Once again we have a commandment designed for the protection of freedom. Did you ever notice that if you are dead you cannot exercise your volition? Amazing, isn’t it? This commandment deals with the crime of murder; it prohibits murder. It is a restraint on the operation of every old sin nature, and civilised society is preserved by the observation of this commandment. The Word of God calls for capital punishment for the violation of this commandment (Gen. 9:6; Lev. 24:17; Rom. 13:1-4). The prohibition of murder is designed for the preservation of Divine Institution #1 — Volition. In committing murder, you are depriving another of his life and freedom. The operation of free will is the basic issue in the angelic conflict, and the Decalogue is designed to protect every free will during the course of the angelic conflict.

Salvation by faith in Christ requires non-meritorious exercise of free will, and free will is cut off abruptly by an act of murder. Those of you who have received Christ as saviour are possessors of eternal life. Your position in Christ required an act of free will, as positive volition expressed itself through faith. You are no longer under condemnation; you are on your way to heaven. You are going to a place of perfect happiness where there is no more sorrow, no more tears, no more pain, no more death, the old things are passed away. When you die you will be absent from the body and face to face with the Lord. Since you had to be alive to receive Christ as saviour, somewhere along the line someone observed this commandment!

Observation of this prohibition is basic to human liberty and to the function of civilised society. Suppose that every time you got angry at someone, you killed him. His freedom would be wiped out. Suppose you were to get angry and kill a thousand people in one year. There would be a thousand people who no longer possessed freedom. How can people live close together, get angry at each other and still survive? Because of the divine law, “Thou shalt not commit ‘homicide’ “ — that is how!

Murder and killing are two entirely different Biblical concepts. Murder is prohibited by the Word of God, whereas killing IN DEFENSE of one’s own person or nation is sanctioned by the Word of God and is absolutely necessary in many instances for the preservation of freedom. If our country is to survive as a free and independent nation, this principle must be understood!

The seventh commandment: Exodus 20:14

The Protection of Marriage. Once again we have a commandment designed for our protection: THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. Let us reiterate here a principle of which we should never lose sight of in our study of the Ten Commandments. The Decalogue is the “Magna Carta of Human Freedom,” and as such includes certain prohibitions that must be recognised if freedom is to be preserved. All of the commandments are designed either to sponsor, to maintain o to protect freedom. This particular commandment is for the protection of the privacy and the freedom of the relationship between the right man and the right woman. Divine Institution #3, Family, is protected by the commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” Divine Institution #1, Volition, or individual freedom, is protected by the commandment, “Thou shalt not murder.” Now we will focus on Divine Institution #2, Marriage.

It is difficult in this day of apostasy for many people to realise that God has designed just one man for one woman. The seventh commandment has been given to protect every right man and right woman, even before they meet, and to protect their relationship after they marry. In order to understand the principles involved, let’s look categorically at the doctrine of adultery.

The doctrine of adultery

1. Adultery is prohibited by the Word of God (Ex. 20:14; Deut. 5:18).

2. Mental adultery is also condemned (Matt. 5:27,28).

3. Adultery produces “scar tissue” on the right bank of the soul (Prov. 6:32; Eph. 4:19).

4. Adultery carries certain laws of punishment, such as frustration, and leads to certain forms of slavery. Adultery is one of the manifestations of both sublimation and emotional revolt of the soul. This principle is taught by the use of a Greek noun translated “greediness” in Ephesians 4:19 and “covetousness” in Ephesians 5:3, and means a “frantic search for happiness”; it indicates the built-in punishment that goes with adultery.

5. Adultery has a destructive effect on the body of both male and female, as well as on the soul (1 Cor. 6:13-18). Promiscuity results in male impotence and inability to enjoy fully the right woman for whom he was designed. Promiscuity results in female frigidity, or the antithesis, nymphomania, and destroys the woman’s ability to respond to the right man and to receive from him the fulfillment for which she was designed. Now this may come as a shock to some, but God is the Author of sex, and as such, he has laid down rules to protect the happiness for which it was designed.

6. Adultery is a bona fide basis for divorce (Matt. 5:32; 19:9; Luke 16:18). The resultant scar tissue on the soul destroys mental and physical compatibility between husband and wife (Deut. 24:4).

7. Adultery is used in the Bible to describe both apostasy and negative volition toward Bible doctrine (Jer. 3:8-10; Ezek. 16:23-43; 23:24-28; Rev. 17:1-5).

8. Marriage is the sanctification of Category Two love (1 Thess. 4:3,4; Heb. 13:4).

9. The glory of Category Two love is presented by analogy as in 1 Corinthians 11:7 and Ephesians 5:25-31. The analogy in 1 Corinthians 11 is that just as the Edification Complex completes the soul of the believer, so the right man completes the right woman. The right woman becomes the glory of the right man just as the Edification Complex in the soul of the believer becomes the glory of the Lord. The Edification Complex of the soul is built upon doctrine that has been taken into the left lobe, understood and transferred to the human spirit.

As doctrine builds up in the human spirit and is cycled up to the right lobe, a structure is erected which when completed consists of five “floors”: (1) grace orientation; (2) mastery of the details of life; (3) relaxed mental attitude, or a mental attitude free from mental attitude sins; (4) capacity to love in three categories of love: Category One, toward God; Category Two, toward right man-right woman; and Category Three, toward friends; (5) Inner happiness. In Ephesians 5:25-31, the relationship between right man and right woman is analogous to the relationship between Christ and the Church.

10. This point is the application of Category Two love to the single person, and we will take this up under ten points.

Category Two Love and the Single Person

1. The right man and the right woman were designed for each other by God in eternity past. Therefore, there exists, with one exception, for each person an opposite number of divine design.

2. The exception is a rare case of celibacy or supreme sacrifice designed by God for maximum concentration and production (21 Cor. 95).

3. Every believer will eventually meet his opposite number. God will bring this person to you at the right time — His time (Gen. 2:18-22).

4. However, there is no benefit in meeting your opposite number unless you have waited on the Lord, have the capacity to love, and have freedom from scar tissue and emotional revolt of the soul. The inhale of Bible doctrine removes scar tissue and stabilises the soul.

5. Your life and conduct must be based on the knowledge that there exists for you a right person designed by God. No other person will do; there is no substitute.

6. Fornication or adultery is accepting a cheap substitute in order to gratify a biological or emotional urge.

7. Divine viewpoint plus the faith-rest technique recognises this principle and “flees” from fornication (1 Cor. 6:18).

8. Fornication builds scar tissue on the right bank of the soul. Fornication also forms part of the emotional revolt of the soul. Therefore, fornication becomes an enemy of the right man-right woman relationship and is prohibited in strong terms (Eph. 5:3).

9. Maximum benefit from Category Two love comes from the Edification Complex of the soul.

10. The Edification Complex gives maximum capacity to love and maximum ability to express that love in sex through marriage.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery” is designed for the protection of freedom and happiness in Category Two love. God’s design in Category Two love is under severe attack today through the promotion of promiscuity and drugs.

The eighth commandment: Exodus 20:15

The Right of Private Property. The next commandment, THOU SHALT NOT STEAL, is for the protection of private property. It establishes the divinely given right of the individual to own personal property and possessions, and it limits the role of government to the protection of this property. The concept of privacy and private property is basic to the survival of individual liberty, and this commandment is another of God’s provisions for the protection of the human race during the course of the angelic conflict.

Stealing, then, is a violation of your privacy and your right to own property. This commandment says that if you don’t have a right to a certain piece of property, keep your hands off — it doesn’t belong to you! If you steal something, you are encroaching on someone else’s freedom. When this occurs on a national scale, there is anarchy and consequently a destruction of all freedom.

A nation that goes beyond God’s principles for the protection of human freedom is opening the door to Satanic doctrine; and when these false doctrines are accepted, freedom is destroyed. Both socialism and Communism are characterised by the destruction of privacy and property. The concept of government ownership of property is contrary to the Word of God, as is the concept of revolution. A revolution seeks the destruction of the divine institutions, whereas the American War of Independence was fought to restore the divine institutions.

The Hebrew word for “steal” refers not only to stealing something that you can carry off, but to steal something you cannot carry off. Under an agricultural economy, that means property, and today it would include industry. The government does not have the right to own your property, nor does the government have the right to interfere with industry, much less own industry. The sanctity of private property is one of the most basic concepts of freedom. Therefore, at any time the government gets into industry or business, a nation is already in industrial slavery. We are in industrial slavery today in this nation because the government has violated this commandment through taxation of industry, through pressure upon industry and through legislation against industry. The result of such practices is economic disaster.

God has set up divine laws to regulate the economy of nations, and these laws are defined under the concept of free enterprise. When a government rejects God’s principles for the regulation of economy, the result is national self-destruction. When a government attempts to superimpose its own laws over God’s divine laws, that government is on its way out. The role of government is to protect the operation of the four divine institutional; but when this concept is rejected and the government assumes the role of regulating and controlling the operation of the divine institutions, personal freedom and national sovereignty are destroyed.

The ninth commandment: Exodus 20:16

THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR. The first principle that must be understood is the concept of “thy neighbour.” “Thy neighbour” does not refer to the person next door but to persons of the same national entity, and might be translated “fellow citizen.” “Thy neighbour” recognises that law must exist in the framework of national entities, and any law that breaks over the boundaries of a national entity is an attack upon freedom. Therefore, the United Nations has no legal jurisdiction under God (Gen. 10:32). Any time you have a United Nations organisation trying to pass or enforce laws, you are witnessing a concept forbidden by the Word of God and actively promoted by Satan. Satan is the author of internationalism. God has ordained the principle of national entities for the protection of human freedom (Acts 17:26), and national law must exist within the national entity and must never overlap into another national entity. Every nation must have its own law with its jurisdiction limited to that national entity.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness” means “to answer as a false witness,” “to give testimony under law.” No nation can function without objectivity in law. The principle of objectivity in law demands that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The person must be demonstrated guilty through proper laws of evidence furnished through accurate testimony in court. The guilt of the defendant must be established apart from hearsay. Evidence is gathered through testimony, and that testimony must be proved. Correct administration of law demands truthful evidence, and evidence demands truth upon which to make a judgment. Literally, then, this commandment would read: “Thou shalt not answer (in a court of law) against your fellow citizens as a false witness.”

Law based on Biblical principles does not encroach upon freedom; it preserves freedom. Many of our laws today are an encroachment upon freedom and privacy rather than the protection of them, which again points out the intensity of the angelic conflict in our nation.

The final commandment in the “Magna Carta of Freedom” establishes the individual’s rights of privacy, property, person and possessions.

The tenth commandment: Exodus 20:17

THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOUR’S HOUSE, THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOUR’S WIFE, NOT HIS MANSERVANT, NOR HIS MAIDSERVANT, NOR HIS OX, NOR HIS ASS, NOR ANYTHING THAT IS THY NEIGHBOUR’S ."To covet” means “to desire.” This commandment forbids the coveting of the property, the persons or the personal status of other citizens in a national entity, or of their businesses or assets or of anything belonging to fellow citizens.

The tenth commandment was the basis for Paul’s discovering the old sin nature. How did Paul find out about it from this doctrine? In Romans 7:7 he writes, “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Paul is saying, “I would not have known the existence of the principle of the sin nature were it not for the tenth commandment.”

Every member of the human race is born with an old sin nature. When the first man and woman exercised negative volition to the single prohibition of God in the Garden , they died spiritually and acquired an old sin nature, which is nor passed down through the male in procreation. “” by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin; and so death (spiritual) passed upon all men … (Rom. 5:12). The one exception to this is the humanity of Christ through the virgin birth. The essence of the sin nature is characterised by an area of weakness which produces personal sin (Heb. 12:1); an area of strength which produces human good, declared to be as “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6); a lust pattern; and trends toward asceticism and lasciviousness.

The fact that man is born with a sin nature excludes his own good works as a means of salvation. Man can produce only relative righteousness, and God demands absolute righteousness. Also, God’s perfect justice demands that a penalty be paid for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ paid this penalty (1 John 2:2) when He bore all the sins of every sin nature on the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). Therefore, sins are not the issue in salvation, for they have been judged once and for all in Christ, and the justice of God the Father has been satisfied.

The issue that the unbeliever faces is whether to stand on his own good works or to accept the finished work of Jesus Christ. The scripture clearly declares that there is no salvation outside the work and Person of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). The plan of God is always characterised by God’s doing all the work and man’s receiving the benefit. Salvation is a gift of God, not of human works, and is appropriated by FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (Eph. 2:8,9). Grace found a way to redeem man from the slave market of sin, and that way is to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ...” (Acts 16:31).

In studying the Ten Commandments, Paul discovered, as we have seen, that they were designed as principles of freedom. The tenth commandment forbids covetousness because, when unchecked, it destroys individual freedom. Covetousness is an expression of the lust pattern of the old sin nature; and when the lust pattern is allowed to control the soul, emotional revolt of the soul results. When a maximum number of people in a national entity are under the emotional revolt of the soul, freedom is destroyed.

So, as has been repeatedly emphasised, the Ten Commandments were given by God for the promotion, the maintenance and the protection of freedom. They are a part of the Word of God, which lives and abides forever. In every generation the commandments have formed the basis for human freedom in spite of every conspiracy formed against them. These principles are the very foundation upon which America was built, and they constitute a marvelous heritage. Today these principles are being rejected by us as a people and undermined by those dedicated to our destruction as a free nation.

As a result of their rejection of the principles of freedom, the Exodus generation wandered in the desert for forty years, never able to claim the Land designed for them by God. Jeremiah’s generation broke the Covenant and ignored the existence of a conspiracy, and their nation was destroyed. Our freedom as individuals and our independence as a nation rests upon first the understanding and then the application of God’s principles of human freedom. Only then can the effectiveness of any conspiracy formed against us be neutralised!

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Glossary

ANGELIC CONFLICT. The unseen conflict in which the forces of Satan are warring against the forces of God.

DIVINE INSTITUTIONS. The principles set up by God under the laws of divine establishment for the perpetuation of the human race: (1) Volition (free will, the basis of freedom); (2) Marriage (stabiliser of the human race); (3) Family (basis for orderly society); (4) Nationalism (basis for protection of rights, privacy and freedom).

EDIFICATION COMPLEX OF THE SOUL (ECS). The immaterial “structure” is the soul of a mature believer; the foundation is doctrine stored in the human spirit. Composed of five “floors”: grace orientation; relaxed mental attitude; mastery of the details of life; capacity to love God, right man or right woman and friends; inner happiness.

EMOTIONAL REVOLT OF THE SOUL. The condition that occurs when the emotion dominates the mentality instead of responding to it. This is contrary to the divine order in which the heart or right lobe should control the soul.

FAITH-REST TECHNIQUE. Mixing the promises and doctrines of God with faith; i.e. believing God, God’s Word (Heb. 4:1,2). Thinking divine viewpoint. The faith-rest technique is exploited to the maximum only in the supergrace life.

FIFTH CYCLE OF DISCIPLINE. Destruction of a nation due to maximum rejection of Biblical principles (Lev. 26:27-31). Five cycles of discipline: Lev. 26:14-39.

GRACE. All that God is free to do for man on the basis of the propitiatory work of Christ on the Cross. The title of God’s Plan for mankind.

GRACE APPARATUS FOR PERCEPTION (GAP). The divine provision for spiritual growth and advancement, whereby EVERY believer can understand EVERY doctrine, regardless of education or human IQ.

HEART. The dominant or right lobe of the mentality of the soul, designated by the Greek word KARDIA (heart).

LEGALISM. Man’s futile attempt to gain salvation, spirituality or the approbation of God through human good.

OLD SIN NATURE. The source of human sin, good and evil. Genetically formed, it originated as a direct result of Adam’s first sin, and resides in the cell structure of the human body (Rom. 6:6,7,15,18). While both male and female are carriers, the sin nature is transmitted only through the twenty-three male chromosomes in the male sperm that fertilises the female ovum (Gen. 5:3). At the physical birth of every individual, Adam’s original sin is imputed to the old sin nature (Rom. 5:12), resulting in both spiritual death and sovereignty of the sin nature over human life (Rom. 6:12).

RIGHT LOBE. The dominant lobe of the mentality of the soul, designated by the Greek word KARDIA (heart). The right lobe contains five areas: frame of reference with memory centre (final storage place for all knowledge and the basis for advanced future knowledge); conscience (norms and standards); vocabulary, in which categories are formed; viewpoint (utilisation of vocabulary, conscience and frame of reference); and a “launching pad” for the application of doctrine to experience. The left lobe or mind (NOUS), is the perceptive lobe and the staging area for knowledge.

RIGHT MAN-RIGHT WOMAN. The concept that God has designed one specific man for one specific woman. Each member of the human race has a right opposite number, except in special cases in which a person has the gift of celibacy.

SCAR TISSUE OF THE SOUL. The concept of the “hardening of the heart” or right lobe. A stage of reversionism in which the believer becomes entrenched in some form of negative volition through reactor factors in the soul, leading to a frantic search for happiness, the intensification of he original reactor factors, emotional revolt of the soul, and confirmed negative volition toward Bible doctrine. This opens a vacuum in the soul (Eph. 4:17), which fills the left (perceptive) lobe with doctrines of demons and/or evil. The results are the blackout of doctrine in the left lobe, the accumulation of scar tissue on the right lobe or hardness of heart (Eph. 4:18), and total lack of capacity toward God.

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