Commandments and Laws, Part 2

SIN...what a small word for something that is a BIG thing to GOD. Sin is breaking GODs laws and commandments. And for GOD to forgive us we must repent of sin. I John 3:4 "Everyone who sins breaks the law, in fact, sin is lawlessness. "Fearing the Lord is to have a deep respect and reverence for the authority of GOD, obeying his laws and commandments.
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the master: Fear God and keep his commandments."
The 10 Commandments: Book of Exodus Chapter 20 Verses 1-17#1: "You shall have no other gods before me" - how does this apply to you personally? Do you live by GODs word, obeying each of His commandments and laws? Do you study His word daily? Do you praise, sing and worship Him daily? Do you rely on GOD for all of your needs?
#2: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." - This means dont worship the sun, moon, stars, the trees, any animal (cows, eagles, snakes, etc) and dont worship what is in the sea, like whales, dolphins, etc. Do not make an image (a carving, stone, picture) and sit before it or kneel to it or bow down to it. Read also Leviticus 26:1, John 4:23 and John 4:24.
#3: "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your GOD, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." - Good reference verse's are Matthew 5:34-35, Matthew 23:9 and Matthew 7:21.
#4: "Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy." - this one commandment is worth taking the time to study in depth. do you really know what the true Sabbath day is? Is it Sunday or is it Saturday...you might be surprised at the answer if you study history and the Catholic religion some. A couple of good reference verses are Leviticus 23:3, and Genesis 2:2-3. GOD sanctified and blessed the 7th Day and rested on it...we are to do the same. In Exodus 23: 10-12 is the Sabbath Laws. "For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed." Do you ever wonder why so many Americans and people of other lands are so stressed and tired all the time? What would it look like for us to follow GODs laws and to truly obey and take the Sabbath that HE created for us?
Check these sites out: http://www.sabbathseventhday.net/ and http://www.sabbathtruth.com/ http://sabbath.org/ and http://www.sabbath-day.net/ and http://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html and http://mcdonaldroad.org/bible/sabbath/exam6.html
#5: "Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your GOD is giving you." - good reference verses are: Ephesians 6:1-3. The father is the head of the family and all children need solid walls of discipline and rules to define their world so the character lessons they learn at home will last them all their life.
#6: "You shall not murder." - Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 5:21-22. He takes it further stating that even Anger towards your fellow brethren is a sin. We are to leave also revenge to GOD as it is not our place to correct, or judge or get even with..read Romans 12:19.
#7: "You shall not commit adultery." - good reference verses to this are: Genesis 2:18, Ephesians 5:25-28, I Corinthians 6:18-20. Sex and marriage are ordained by GOD as He created man to be incomplete without woman and vise versa. GOD did not create Adam and Adam, He created Adam and Eve (woman). The marriage union is a Holy union and is likened to the same relationship between Jesus and His bride, the church. There are specific commands given to both husband and wife on how to treat each other, to have a good marriage. The lesson of a good marriage is to teach us faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Even in the marriage vows it says "Let no one take apart what GOD has brought together," so for those who deliberately go out of their way to hurt someone else's marriage either by lies, or wooing one spouse away from the other, or an affair, you are breaking GODs 7th Commandment and are sinning.
#8: "You shall not steal." - Read I Corinthians 6:9-10 for reference. Stealing covers alot of things, theft of property not your own, consficating other humans possessions in the name of communism, shoplifting, cheating on a test or in your business dealings, false advertising and more.
#9: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." - read Matthew 5:11 and John 8:44. Be honest in all you do, say and think. Don't talk about a neighbor behind their back with your neighbor next door for what can not be said in front of the one you talk of is in secret and most times what is said in secret is rumor, false words against that one (lies), and only causes the ones talking to sin before their GOD.
#10: "You shall not covet your neighbors house. You shall not covet your neighbors wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Ever heard of the phrase "keeping up with the joneses," this would fit with the 10th commandment as neighbors for some reason feel the need to compete with each other for shinier, bigger, better material stuff which has no place in the kingdom of Heaven anyway. Dont go out and buy stuff when you dont need it...it is just junk filling up space anyway. You dont need a brand new car/truck...just one that is reliable and does not break down all the time...used is fine as long as it is reliable. Same goes with appliances and electronics...if what you have works...why replace it just because the neighbor went out and bought this really huge big screen TV?!! And the last few words of this verse...notice how it says "or anything that belongs to your neighbor"...that means all and anything that is in that persons home and land, whether that is their spouse, servants, animals, clothing, vehicles, etc.
These same 10 Commandments are repeated in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, Verses 7-21. If they are important enough for our LORD to have them written down in His word more than once then perhaps it is for our best that we obey them.

Commandments and Laws

Our very first commandment that GOD gave to all of us is to have NO other gods before Him. In review of Exodus, Chapter 20, Verse 3; GOD tells us this. "You shall have no other gods before me." Now what does this mean exactly. Lets review a little biblical history. You will need to read the book of Exodus to get the whole historical view but in Chapter 32 of Exodus we find because Moses was gone so long the people of Israel went to his brother Aaron and asked Aaron to make them gods who will go before us. Aaron had the people bring him their gold and he cast them an idol "a golden calf" - which is a physical, material object. Not only were the Israelites breaking the first commandment but also the second commandment. Unfortunately, even that long ago, there were "false gods", and "idols", that people worshiped. Many of the religions today are from these very own false gods worshiped so long ago. Have you truly studied the religions and where they originated from and why? Have you compared these religions with the one true GOD of Abraham in your search for faith, or are you blindly following others? Lets look at some of these religions, and though no offense is meant to any who are of a different religion, perhaps this will help you in your search for faith in the one true GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Hinduism and Brahmanism: originated in northern India in about 950 BC. They consider cows as sacred, as they do rivers. Most believe in reincarnation. They do not believe in killing anything, not even a bug. They are vegetarians as believe eating meat leads to cannabalism. Their chief god is: Brahma (the creator), whereas, Vishnu (is the preserver) and Siva (is the destroyer of evil) There are cults within Hinduism known as, the cult of Vishnu and the cult of Shiva and they believe that the universe is populated by a multitude of gods. The horned god and phallic worship of the Indus Valley civilization was the forerunner of the now worship of Shiva. Shiva worship is known to have been around as early as 500 to 200 BC. Vishnu is regarded as the supreme god and all other gods are secondary manifestations. Krishna (also of the Hindu religion) is the supreme personal god and they practise a very ascetic lifestyle, vegetarianism and devotion to the Hindu god Krishna as attaining enlightment spiritually. Some websites for you to research the Hinduism religion are listed below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/hinduism/terms.html
http://hinduism.about.com
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr.htm
There are other religions like: Taoism, Animalism,Confucianism, Buddhism...they all, though some aspects of the religion itself seem harmless, therein, lies the deception that Satan has handed out. For there can only be one true GOD, it is the GOD of Abraham, not the god of Vishnu, Shakti, Shiva, Buddha, or Baal, or any of the others.Some other websites to review: http://www.shivashakti.com/ and http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/shakti.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal and http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/baal.html
Wont you take the time to really study where the true GOD of Abraham is? Is HE a myth, or as our Bible states, the one and only GOD we are to worship? I pray you find the one true GOD of Abraham and that your faith grows.

Delilah and Samson

Delilah....a biblical name of uncertain origin meaning "slender, delicate," though the Hebrew meaning is "One who weakened or uprooted or impoverished." I believe the Hebrew meaning is more applicable to Delilah for the bible tells us after learning Samson's secret, she was the one who brought about his weakened state after his hair was shorn.Some background on Delilah shows she was a Philistine living in the Valley of Sorek. This valley is one of the largest and most important drainage basins in the Judean hills and is the border between the ancient Philistines and the Tribe of Dan of Israel. Today this water way is adjacent to the Tel-Aviv/Jerusalem railway and mainly serves as a tourist attraction.To see a map of this valley go to this site:http://www.bible-history.com/geography/maps/map_philistine_valley_sorek.htmlPhilistines were known to be very materialistic people and looked down on anyone who was not like them. I believe Delilah, being a Philistine, and her name possibly implying slender of build and delicate, that she was considered a "beauty" in her time and she knew it and used that to her advantage. It is even possible she was a prostitute or woman of loose morals during that time, as it seems Samson was experienced with women and had many "under his belt" during the time he lived. I believe Delilah was selfish, and that she only took care of herself, not worrying about her family, friends, or even the man (Samson) she was suppose to have loved. Samson was very blind to Delilah's real personality I think because she was so pretty and gave him what he wanted when he wanted it.Delilah was the female version of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. She betrayed Samson accepting money in return for leading the Philistine men to him while he slept so she could have his head shorn of his long hair to weaken him. The philistine men took him after this and blinded him and beat him, leaving him very weak. Delilah was a very mean, heartless woman.Please go also to these three websites to view some information on the Philistines:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philistinismhttp://people.cornell.edu/pages/bel9/Bible.htmlhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=272&letter=PBonus note: Samson is a descendant of Abraham and Sarah. Samson's father was Manoah, his grandfather was Dan, great grandfather was Jacob, and gg grandfather was Isaac, who is the son of Abraham and Sarah.

Shem, Ham and Japeth

Genesis 10:32 "These are the clans of Noah's sons according to their lines of descent within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood."

Ever wonder just which of these sons you might be descended from, because it will be one of the three. But which one? We may never know, as genealogy, takes alot of time, research, and patience. Sometimes you might get lucky and find a part of your family line that has already been well researched and you can follow it back for many years...other times, mostly, it is very slow going and you bump into alot of "tree stumps" along the way.I will share this from what I have researched so far and let you study it on your own. I am going to take you back to the year that Shem was born, which from records I have seen, say it is in the Jewish Calender year of 1558, which to us modern humans, is 2203 BCE. To read up on this history click on these links:
http://www.kolbecenter.org/bernhoft_iccc3.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_Noah


So assuming you can take your lineage back far enough to what race of people you come from should tell you a little bit about your family tree as well as what son of Noah you come from. Now there are those of us, like myself, who are so mixed, that we can probably say we come from two of the sons of Noah, if not three. Look for my post in Jan. 2009 that goes into more detail with the sons of Noah and how they repopulated the earth.

Genesis 10:1 "This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japeth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood."