The Ten Commandments, The Law of God, Revisited, 5, 6

Honor your mother and Father
Thou shalt not kill.

"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."{Exodus 20:12}

Here is God's plan for the Family. Children grow, leave their Mother and Father, join together and become one.

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." {Genesis 2:24}

And so the cycle goes. But it is important to realize that Children are a gift from God.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." {Psalm 127:3-5}

Also in Psalms...

"Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel." {Psalm 128:1-6}

This is why it is so outrageous, whenever you hear of a Parent abusing their own Children. A Child is the most precious gift one can have. You need to teach them all things. How you teach them, is how they will go.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." {Proverbs 22:6}

However, be aware of this one thing. If you lead by example, they will follow. They will do more like you DO, than that of what you say.

Then they will grow, and they will find another. They will become one with them. In turn, in your later years, when you need help, it has always been God's plan, that your Children will be there for YOU. Man created Nursing Homes. Man created ways to avoid this obligation. God's plan is Family is the most import thing here on earth, next to doing His Will.

Some read this, and they may even teach it to their Children. See, God says you Honor me and Obey me. Men also read this and say to their Wives, see, God says you submit to me and do whatever I say. That's not true. None of it.

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.

Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged." {Colossians 3:18-21}

So lets look at this. Also in Ephesians..

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." {Ephesians 6:1-4}

Husbands and Wives are what? Yup. One flesh. We are to love and respect each other. Is Man the head of the house? Yup. No doubt about it. But that means that MAN is responsible for all in the House. He is responsible for his Wife, and his Children. Wives? Equal to the husband? Yup. They are. They are to raise the Children and care for the house. I know, I know, some of you may not like that. But that is because you misunderstand the meaning.

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" {Ephesians 5:25}

The Wife is the Mother of your greatest gift, obviously I'm talking to the Men here, your Children. She is to be loved and Honored. She should not have to go out there in the world and deal with the things YOU, as the Husband should be doing. You should be out there, toiling and sweating, working hard, to supply for your family.

This is also the reason God did not invent day care. It was never his intent to send your Child off to strangers to raise. But I understand, again, we live in a 24/7 society, and money is needed to simply survive. If the Man is unable to earn enough, then the Woman is forced to help out in that area. But that was NEVER God's intent.

Then, God commands the Child to honor their Father and Mother. To Obey them because, believe it or not, for the most part, they know better than you. First, they gave you life. That alone, like with God Himself, should be worthy of your honor. Second, they care for your every need. Perhaps not your every want, but your every need. Now that you have grown, it's your turn to care for them.

But then God commands the Parent, to honor their Children. Treat them with love and kindness. Teach them the ways they should go, according to the Will and Word of God. Then, when they grow, they will not have deep seated anger or hatred towards you.

"He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." (Mark 7:6-13}

So what does that mean? Nursing Homes, money, private care. Etc. Instead of meeting our obligations according to God, we created loop holes. Jesus said, that is not good enough. We need to meet our obligations.

Just like all the rest of the Commandments given to us by God, these are not to make our lives more difficult, but to make our lives easier and to keep us from the snares of the devil. Honor your Father and Mother, for God says, that is the right thing to do. But make no mistake about it, Parents, you are to honor your kids, and Husbands and Wives, each other. The Family is the most important thing to God. It should be to us as well.

"Thou shalt not kill."{Exodus 20:13}

First, the translation here is poor. It should be, Thou shalt not commit Murder. We kill things all the day long. Weeds, Trees, Mosquitoes, Ants, Animals for food, etc. What God is concerned about in this Commandment, is the taking of an innocent Human life. In Genesis 9:1-6

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." 

So you see, God makes a very clear distinction between two things here. First, the killing of anything but man, is OK with God. He gave us all things to meet our needs. He also is the one that set up the Death Penalty. "He who sheds man's blood, shall by man, his blood will be shed." That is how important God sees the life of Human Beings. Remember, in Genesis 1:26, God tells us this.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

We are made in the imagine of God. Our Mind, the thing that makes us, us. Our intelligence, Will, Emotions, Desires, Reasoning, ETC. fashioned after God the Father. Our flesh, after Jesus, the flesh of God. Then our Soul. What lives on when the flesh dies, after the Holy Spirit. Three, yet one.

Now remember, we all sin and come short of the glory of God. We were so evil that God sought to destroy us all and start over, until He found Noah faithful. He sets up this Death Penalty, this cost for innocent life, AFTER the flood. He, in essence, tells Noah, Hey, I'm not going to destroy Human life anymore, so YOU are not going to do it either. My paraphrase of course.

There are four primary ways to end a human life.

Premeditated Murder
Justified Killings
Accidental Death
Abortion, Yes Abortion is the Murder of an innocent life.

In Pslams...

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee." {Psalm 139:13-18}

Remember, God made us. He created us. He created YOU. You were fashioned per God's Will. You are, the way you are, for a reason. You are the most important thing on Earth to God. YOU are.

Premeditated Murder

In Numbers...

"And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.

But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die; Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth him." {Numbers 35:16-21, 22-29, 30-31}

Pretty clear cut here. If you murder someone intentionally, for the purpose of them dying, you are guilty of Murder, and God says, you should be put to death.

Accidental Death

"But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait, Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments: And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.

But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled; And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings."

So God understands, stuff happens. He understand that you may place yourself in a position that you cause the death of another, unintentionally. By accident. So he set up the Trail by Jury system.

"Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death."

So what is this City of Refuge thing? Lets say you are driving down the road. A child, say 9 years old, darts out in front of you. You are doing everything right. Going the speed limit. Wearing your seat belt. Being observant. But the child runs right in front of your car. There is absolutely NOTHING you can do. You strike that child with your car, and you kill that child.

Now the police come, investigate, and find you innocent of any wrong doing. You are not even arrested for anything. There was nothing you could have done to prevent that death of the child. I can not even imagine that. You are indeed innocent. However, the family of that child, may not be forgiving towards you. They may indeed seek to kill you, even though it was an accident. So God set up cities, where someone in this type of situation, could go to escape the wrath of the family of the lost loved ones. If they killed you, would they be guilty of Murder? Of course. You are innocent. So they would be arrested and charged with Murder and would indeed be guilty and worthy of death themselves. That would not change the fact you are dead already.

So God, in His wisdom, set up places that you could go, free from this, some may even say understandable, wrath of the Mother and Father of the child you killed. So you would not be Murdered yourself. In today's world, you may have to take it upon yourself to move. I would. Far away from the family of the child I struck. Even though I would be guiltless.

God understand, and makes a very CLEAR distinction between Accidental Death and Murder. He also lets us know, that the taking of the life of a Murderer, IS a justifiable killing.

Abortion.

It is said, for every 1,000 live births in the U.S., 219 pregnancies end with a murdered child, through Abortion. Yes, Abortion IS the Murder of an innocent life. I understand some do not want to accept that. I understand that we had a group of people in Black Robes, in the Sixties, say that a woman can "chose" to Murder her child. That doesn't make it right. Just because something is legal in the country, doesn't mean it's OK. No one has the "right" to Murder an innocent child. No one.

God knows you, before you are you. You are YOU, because God said so. Remember the five steps of an Anointed Life? God foreknows you, sets up a destiny, a plan and purpose for you, calls you to accept it, justifies you, and then glorifies you.

We talked about this before. You are fashioned according to God' Will. Remember...

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." {Psalm 139:13-16}

You are created the way God wants you to be. You have blue eyes, brown eyes, you are this tall, you are Right Handed, Left. You are the way you are, because God fashioned you that way, for a reason. When does life begin? I say BEFORE conception. No doubt, at conception. You are a plan. Then conception happens, you become physical life.

Think about this. We are all born into sin. We all sin and fall sort of the Glory of God. Now picture that child that has not been born yet. It is Murdered before they get the chance to be born. They are completely Sinless. They are PURE. Completely innocent. God takes this very seriously. In Exodus...

"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine." {Exodus 21:22-25}

So accidental death of an unborn Child is even punishable according to God. Of course, if the intent IS to harm the unborn, then one is guilty of Murder. Here is one of those passages that is constantly misunderstood. In many cases, is taught incorrectly.

"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

God is talking about an unborn Child here. God says that if men strive to hurt a woman with Child, or does so with the intent to harm that Child, they are guilty of the Murder of the most innocent of life. If they interfere with God's plan, then the price is simple. If God said, you will have two legs and two arms, and man interferes with that, causing the child to be born with only one arm, then the one that caused it, is required to give up theirs. That is how important that God sees the unborn. His greatest gift to us, save Salvation itself, is Children. Of course Abortion is Murder. The Murder of the most innocent of all life.

Next time we will be discussing Commandments 7 "Thou shalt not commit adultery." and 8 "Thou shalt not steal." You may be surprised to find that you may be guilty of both. The only way to insure that you are forgiven of these, and all Sin, is to be Adopted into the Family of God.

Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you been adopted into the Family of God? If not, say this Prayer. Right now. Wherever you may be. Say it in your own words, and do not doubt in your heart. God will hear you. He will send the Spirit of Life to you. Let us Pray..

"Oh heavenly Father, Lord God. I am a sinner. I know this. I know there is nothing I can do to change that. But I know you can. I accept Jesus's sacrifice for me. I repent my sins. Please send the Spirit of Adoption into my life. Help me to get to know the real you. Save me. Please. In the name of Jesus, Amen!"

That's it. It really is that simple. Now go tell someone what you have just done. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." {Romans 10:9} You need to find a Church that God leads you to, and be Baptized the way Jesus said to be. You are now a Child of God. A new Creature. You "have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." {Colossians 3:10}

If you want to tell me, or comment, question, give testimonials, or just say "Hi," the Email is opntalk@gmail.com

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. {2 Corinthians 13}

Until next time, be Blessed, be a Blessing, and Jesus IS Lord..