The Ten Commandments 2022, The Law of God, 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 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 that family is the most important 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 let's look at this. Also in Ephesians.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your father and mother this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction 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, his children, and yes, himself. 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

Your 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 daycare. 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 about and 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 loopholes. 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. 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 day long. Weeds, trees, mosquitoes, ants, animals for food, etc. What God is concerned about in this Commandment, is the taking of innocent human life. In Genesis 9:1-6

"And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.  And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." 

So you see, God makes a very clear distinction between the two things here. First, the killing of anything but man is OK with God. He gave us all the 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.

"Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”"

We are made in the image of God. Our mind is 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. 

There are four primary ways to end human life.

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

In Psalms...

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you." 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...

"But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died, or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him." Numbers 35:16-21

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.

Justifiable Killing

A justifiable killing is anything Commanded by God. The killing of a murderer. The killing of a sinner of other sins. In war sanctioned by God. This sort of thing. 

Accidental Death

"But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait  or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places." Numbers 35:22-29

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

"If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness." Numbers 35:30

So what is this City of Refuge thing? Let's 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 wrongdoing. You are not even arrested for anything. There was nothing you could have done to prevent the 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, the 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 understands 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 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 "choose" 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 and calls you to accept it, justifies you, and then glorifies you.

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

""For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you."" Psalm 139:13-18

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...

"When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine." Exodus 21:22-25

So the 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 are constantly misunderstood. In many cases, is taught incorrectly.

"But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, 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 do 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 ensure 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 believed He rose from the dead. 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 you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall 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!!