What's Different in the Ten Commandments of the Catholic Church?

Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church has a different set of the Ten Commandments than the Holy Bible has?  It is true.  The normal person will never find this out unless they open their Bible and place it beside the Catholic book, "A Catechism for Adults".  As you read through the following list of the Ten Commandments of the Roman Catholic Church, see if you can find where the difference is:

1.  I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.  (Exodus 20:2,3)

2.  Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)

3.  Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.  (Exodus 20:8)

4.  Honor thy father and thy mother.  (Exodus 20:12)

5.  Thou shalt not kill.  (Exodus 20:13)

6.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.  (Exodus 20:14)

7.  Thou shalt not steal.  (Exodus 20:15)

8.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.  (Exodus 20:16)

9.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.  (Exodus 20:17)

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.  (Exodus 20:17)

If you look closely at the first two commandments above, you will see a rather large gap between Exodus 20:2 & 3 and Exodus 20:7.  When you look in the Holy Bible, you will see that the Roman Catholic Church has "conveniently" left out, Exodus 20:4 & 5 which says, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..."

Why would the Catholic Church make these changes?  The Catholic Church has through the centuries practiced idolatry by making "carved images" of Mary and Jesus Christ, and instructing their followers to "bow down" to them.  Unfortunately, unless the person who is a practicing Catholic really studies their Bible - they will never find this "false teaching" being taught by their church.

So, when I found this out, I still had a problem because even though they removed the 2nd Commandment, they were still able to have ten Commandments.  How was this possible?  Again, you must look at Exodus in your Bible and then look at their list of the Ten Commandments in order to find this error.  Look closely at the 9th Commandment and the 10th Commandment above.  You will find that the Roman Catholic Church has taken the 10th Commandment and divided it into two parts - thus creating their own "Ten Commandments".

For those of you who don't know what the correct list of the Ten Commandments is, here they are taken directly from the Holy Bible:

1.  I am the Lord your God.  You shall have no other gods before Me.  (Exodus 20:2,3)

2.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;  you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, is a jealous God.  (Exodus 20:4,5)

3.  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.  (Exodus 20:7)

4.  Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, in it you shall do no work. (Exodus 20:8-11)

5.  Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.  (Exodus 20:12)

6.  You shall not murder.  (Exodus 20:13)

7.  You shall not commit adultery.  (Exodus 20:14)

8.  You shall not steal.  (Exodus 20:15)

9.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  (Exodus 20:16)

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
(Exodus 20:17)

One other thing to note is the 4th Commandment regarding the 7th day Sabbath Day.  If you take some time to look back in history, you will find that again it was the Romans who moved the Lord's holy Sabbath Day from Saturday to Sunday. 

The Roman Catholics will even take credit for this change today!  In their book, "A Catechism for Adults" on page 115 under "Note #1" it states, "The Church (meaning the Roman Catholic Church) changed the Lord's Day from Saturday to Sunday because our Lord rose from the dead on Sunday and the Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday."  Unfortunately, they fail to see that Jesus Christ RESTED in the grave on HIS Sabbath Day!  And, as soon as the Sabbath was over, HE AROSE!!  As His followers, we are to also rest on HIS HOLY DAY - Saturday, the seventh day of the week.  Jesus called Himself, "the Lord of the Sabbath".  It belongs to Him (not the Roman Catholic Church or any other denomination), and therefore, we have no authority to move it to another day.

In closing, ALWAYS be diligent to study the accuracy of what your spiritual leaders are teaching you.  As I have just shown above, it is easy for a person to be deceived and to believe false teachings unless that person stays in God's Word, the Bible, on a daily basis. 

Is Jesus Christ God or the Son of God?

So many are confused about Who Jesus Christ really is.  Part of this confusion lies in the way He is said to be "God", and yet, referred to as "the Son of God".  If He is the Son of God, then how can He still be "God"?

Almighty God, our Creator, became the Son of God when He chose to become a tiny cell Himself and implanted Himself in the womb of a virgin girl named Mary.  Mary, at that time, became a surrogate mother - carrying the embryo of the Creator and King of the universe in her womb!

The Roman Catholics believe that because Mary carried the sinless "Son of God" in her womb - then that means she had to be sinless as well.  That is not true as there is only one entity in this world Who is without sin, and that is God Himself - Jesus Christ.  The way that Mary was able to still be a sinner but give birth to the sinless Son of God is because of the way God has designed the placenta in a pregnant woman.  The placenta blocks the mother's blood from getting to the baby, and only lets the nutrients filter through to feed him/her.  Many believe that God somehow had a sexual relationship with Mary to produce "God the Son".  That is not true!  Just as God was able to form the first Adam from the dust of the earth in Genesis 1-3, He was also able to form the "Second Adam" by wrapping flesh around Himself and implanting Himself as an embryo into Mary's womb.

Because God at this time took on flesh and blood, was born of a human, and was given a human Name, Jesus, He is therefore referred to as "The Son of God".   It does not mean that God had a baby boy.  It means that God Himself WAS the baby boy, named Jesus!  

So, what does this mean to us today?  Well, Almighty God, our Creator, made us for the express purpose of  having a relationship with Him.  Because He is the Creator, He laid down some rules (Commandments) for us to live by.  His moral law is summed up in what we call "The Ten Commandments".  God says that "we have all sinned" (Romans 3:23).  Sin is lawlessness or being without law. (I John 3:4)  In other words, every person ever born has broken God's law by disobeying it, rebelling against it, and thereby turning their backs on God Himself.  Ask yourself, "Have I ever lied?  Have I ever stolen anything - big or little?  Have I ever lusted after a man or a woman? (God says you have committed adultery in your heart, if you have.)

Because we have disobeyed and rebelled against Him and His law, turning our backs against Him - He says we have brought His wrath down on ourselves. The penalty for our sin and disobedience is DEATH in the lake of fire.  But, because God Almighty loves us so much - He decided to take the suffering and death meant for us, upon Himself so that we could live.  If you have ever seen Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of Christ", that really shows how angry God is at our choice to rebel against Him and His goodness to us!  We are all in BIG trouble with the God of the universe, because He came back to life after He was crucified - and now stands ready to be our Judge in the Day of Judgment after we die.

At that time, the Book of Life will be opened.  Those who have chosen to repent of their sin (turn away from sinning and turning their backs on this world), and have given their lives back to Jesus Christ and chosen to follow Him - their names will be in the Book of Life.  John 3:36 says, "He who believes in the Son (that Jesus is God in the flesh) has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son (that Jesus is God in the flesh) shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

If we don't repent of our sins and choose to give our lives to Jesus Christ,  there will be a Judgment Day after we die when we will stand before God Almighty - Jesus Christ Himself.  At that time, we can try to explain to Him just why we chose to continue to sin against Him - after all He did for us.  If we think He is angry at us now, just wait until we see His anger on that Day of Judgment for not caring that He suffered and died for us so that we could have life, along with every good thing that we are enjoying on earth today.

If you should die in your sleep tonight, the next Person you will see when you wake up will be Jesus Christ as your Judge.  Are you prepared to meet your God in person?  If not, get on your knees before Him right now and ask His forgiveness for your sin and rebellion against Him.  Then tell Him that you give your life to Him to follow Him as your Lord and Master from this day forward.  If you do that, you can know that your name is now recorded down in the Book of Life!  Then go and get yourself a copy of the Bible.  Start reading the book of John, and obey what you read.  I look forward to meeting you in Heaven one of these days!

There's a chorus that says:

"After all He's done for me, After all He's done for me;
"How can I do less than give Him my best, and live for Him completely;
"After all He's done for me."