The Ten Commandments

by Doug Perry, www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com
(download printable PDF file here)
If there is no real persecution of Christians in America and Jesus said the more you are like Him the more you will be persecuted, then there must not be very many real Christians in America. See any logic problems there? Do you think Jesus was kidding?

So ... my goal is to bring persecution as quickly as possible by saying whatever I have to say to get Christians to start fully and completely acting like Christ. That will require lots of people who are willing to fearlessly take a stand and STOP CONFORMING TO THE WORLD. I've been blowing the trumpet and a few have gathered, but then I didn't have the lung capacity and wisdom I have now - and probably the willingness to do what it takes. I think the time is coming when somebody is going to blow the trumpet REALLY loud. If not me then someone else. Probably LOTS of people.

There's a fire burning in me that is just getting hotter. Some stuff is coming out of me right now that is so harsh I'm going to need folks with lots of love around me to temper it.

For example, it occurs to me that the "church" as we know it has a personality, dysfunctional and disjointed as it is, it has certain trends and behaviors that you could define as a personality. I've done a lot of work in the area of organizational theory and believe that groups have a personality that can be defined and diagnosed. Maybe the same methods you would use to convict and witness to an individual would work on a group.

Anyway, that which we call 'church', if it is really off track according to God's Law, should be showing bad fruit. Using Ray Comfort's method of showing people their sinfulness using the Ten Commandments, let's take a look.  (And understand this is HIGHLY abbreviated, we could write a book on the stats and examples for each one!)

Worship no other gods before me.
Comfy, Sunday-only Jesus is NOT the same God. Purpose Driven Jesus is NOT the same God of our Fathers! Worshipping the pastor because he has a book deal or worshipping the denomination, structure, money, or even ideology (Calvin, KJV 1611, Pope) is putting other gods before HIM. GUILTY.

Do not make idols or worship them.
Your heart is where you spend your time and money. According to the stats, the Western church loves themselves most of all and their buildings and comforts. We spend many times more hours worshipping TV than we do God Almighty. We cancel Sunday services to watch the Super Bowl, for Pete's sake! GUILTY.

Do not use the name of your God irreverently or in vain.
To justify ANY stupid thing we want to do, we assure people that we can be trusted since we hear from God. Touch not God's annointed! Whatever just came out of this or that prophet's mouth must have been the voice of God - they have a new DVD out and speak at conferences all over the world! We have pastors, bishops, popes that stand in for God and speak on His behalf - with or without His approval - taking His Name and authority as their own. GUILTY.

Observe the Sabbath.
Where to even start? I don't even know how off track we are here, but Sunday better be more about GOD than FOOTBALL, I can tell you that! Can you legitimately say that all it takes to "observe the Sabbath" is two hours sitting in a pew? The Narrow Path can't possibly be THAT narrow!! GUILTY.

Honor your father and mother.
This means respect them and their feelings but it also means that we are to bring them honor. We have converted our churches into places that displace and insult our elders. "Their music isn't loud enough. Their style isn't hip enough. Their faith isn't deep enough. Their God isn't cool enough. They need to get with the program and see that the wave of the future is bigger and louder and younger and with more feelings. If not, then we're going to have to leave them behind." We have not brought them honor and glory. We have prostituted or murdered the churches they built. We have lost traction on evangelism, missions, and every other emphasis that Jesus cares about. But we have a churches so big that they need to meet in a stadium! GUILTY.

Do not murder.
What does this mean except that we kill someone so that we can gain something. Maybe it's not what we MEANT to do, but we still let them die so that we could have some advantage. Or worse yet, so we could have their stuff. At any given moment 200 MILLION Brothers and Sisters live on the very edge of starvation. Billions have died without Christ. But we have REALLY shiny new cars and churches that meet in stadiums. We sacrifice millions every month to keep our comforts. It's not like we didn't know. We see starving children on TV and sponsor ONE for $30 - out of an average per capita income of tens of thousands PLUS TRILLIONS of dollars of assets between us. We should know better than to think we're making a dent in the problem without some more sacrifice than that. We're intentionally letting them die to keep from having to share our stuff.  GUILTY.

Do not commit adultery.
We cheat on the Bridegroom and our First Love through programs and fads and ecumenical movements that yoke us with those opposed to God. We have laid down with other religions, with the "world", with governments, with culture, with TV, with Hollywood, with Wall Street, with Sony Records. We lay down with everything EXCEPT God! (Not to mention that 50% of clergy regularly use porn.) GUILTY.

Do not steal.
The 'church' loses more to fraud and embezzlement to trusted people inside the organization ($16B) than it spends on foreign missions ($15B). We regularly try to get little old ladies to send their last dollar so we can buy a Bentley or a new plane or build a big building. And we tell them God is going to bless their blind faith in us. See #6 - if we're to share with each as they have need, then we HAVE to steal from the Brethren in other places in order to sustain our standard of living! GUILTY.

Do not lie.
Our denominations regularly falsify progress reports and spending projections. We spent BILLIONS on plans to reach the entire world with the gospel by 2000. We barely even kept up with population growth! No apologies, no explanations, just a renewed emphasis for more money. This doesn't even touch on all the snake oil salesmen pretending to be ministers of the Gospel that nobody seems to be willing to shut down and contend for the faith. Worst of all, we tell the world that this structure that we've built was Jesus' idea when it's really about our own egos and greed and selfishness. GUILTY.

Do not covet.
Did you read any of the ones above? We TEACH pastors to want bigger churches. We train MEN OF GOD to judge their effectiveness and worth on how many people want to come hear them speak. We TRAIN them in seminaries how to administrate effective building campaigns and fund growth. America is the ULTIMATE incarnation of coveting - and the 'church' is INDISTINGUISHABLE from culture. GUILTY.

We're not just doing this stuff a LITTLE BIT. We're talking about BILLIONS of people injured by this and TRILLIONS of dollars of assets being misdirected, wasted or stolen!! The lost potential in human souls in incalculable. Somebody is going to have to answer for this at the final judgement.

Copyright Doug Perry 2005. Use freely - without charge and without changes.
Link to: www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com