Black Friday: The Ultimate Coveting!

My husband and I were discussing why today is called "Black Friday". When we thought about the word, "black", it made us think of darkness. As Christians when we think of darkness, we think of sin or the Prince of Darkness - Satan.

So, let's take a minute today and think about Satan's description. He comes to "lie, steal and destroy." Satan's first assault on us is to get us to doubt God's Word. In Genesis 3:1, he approached Eve with the thought, "Did God indeed say?" So today, Black Friday, he comes to us and asks us "Did God indeed say - 'Thou shall not covet'?" Then he proceeds to put in front of our eyes all the things that the world goes after for their source of happiness in life. We fall for this lie by thinking that God does love us and He certainly wants "good things" for us, etc. Just like Eve, before you know it - we have rationalized away God's Word on our lives!

Satan's next characteristic is to steal. How many millions of Americans are out in the stores today spending money that they don't have by putting it on credit cards? I was taught when I was young that if I didn't have money to pay for something and I took it anyways - I was stealing it!! If you've got the money tucked away to pay off that credit card immediately, then I wouldn't call that stealing. But if you are getting something, KNOWING you don't have the money for it and probably don't have the money to pay off your credit card - that is called "stealing" and it is breaking another one of God's Ten Commandments!

Satan's ultimate purpose in life is to destroy YOU! So, he is lying to people today, he is stealing from people today, and when this is all over with - he will have destroyed many lives today because of the debt they have just added to the already heavy economic load they are trying to carry.

As Christians, God has called us "OUT of the darkness, into His marvelous light"! (I Peter 2:9)Hear what God has to say about "Black Friday" in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17: "What fellowship has light with darkness? .....What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For YOU are the temple of the living God. .....Therefore, Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."

We are called by God to be the "light of the world" (Matt. 5:14) Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Letting our lights shine in today's darkness, means being bold enough to take a stand and to be different from the world around us. Don't "turn off" your light by joining the darkness around you and living in disobedience to your God and His Word!

"Not Under Law But Under Grace"

This title is taken from Romans 6:14 which says, "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."  Many of our preachers are falsely teaching that this means we no longer have to "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy".  However, as far as the other 9 commandments - somehow they still want us to keep them.  You know, the ones that say "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, etc."

I John 3:4 states that "...sin is lawlessness." We can re-state the above verse to say, "For lawlessness will not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." As Christians, we are now expected to be law-keepers instead of being law-breakers!

About a month ago, my husband and I took a trip back to Ohio to visit our relatives.  On the way, we stopped at a rest area.  In a glass box on a wall were posted the "Rules of this Rest Area".  There were about 20 rules that were listed.  Do you think that my husband and I took the time to stand there and read all 20 rules to make sure we weren't breaking any of them?  Of course not!  Why?  Because we are "law-keepers" and not "law-breakers".  We believe in obeying the law and that means we are no longer "under it".  In a way, we are actually ABOVE the law when we become law-keepers!  We don't have to worry about stopping at stop signs, red lights, vandelizing rest areas, etc. etc.  We automatically do it because we want to obey the law.  

However, the ones who are "law-breakers" and who don't want to obey the law - they are the ones who are "under the law".  They are the lawless ones who need to worry about those 20 rules listed at that rest area, and they are the ones who need to worry about running the red lights, not stopping at stop signs, breaking the 10 Commandments, etc.

Obeying God's laws - the 10 commandments, will never give us eternal life.  That only comes by turning our lives over to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  At that time, His grace saves us.  However, something is very wrong if as a Christian - we don't love the Lord enough to desire to walk in obedience to ALL of HIS laws, which also includes keeping HIS Sabbath Day (Saturday - the 7th day) holy and set apart from the world. Something is also wrong, if Christians continue to debate and try to find reasons to NOT be obedient to His Laws!  Let us never forget that Christ gave His all for us.  How can we not give our all for Him?

The Sabbath Day: Holy or Profane?

The other day I was watching a Christian program on TV which really clarified for me what the difference is between something that is "Holy" and something that is "Common". The analogy that the speaker gave was this:  God created our sun to have a "Common" purpose in our galaxy.  However, if we should decide to worship the sun and make the sun holy - we would be committing idolatry because God did not create the sun for worship.

Let's apply this analogy to the 4th Commandment - to remember the 7th Day Sabbath and keep it holy.  (See Exodus 20:10)  God the Creater made the first day of the week for us to work.  He created it as a "common" day.  He did not create the first day of the week for worship!  However, if we decide to make it a day of worship, (a holy day) - then we also are committing idolatry.  We have just taken something God created as "Common" and we have made it "Holy" (set apart for worship)! 

In Numbers 26:61 it says, "And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered profane fire before the Lord."
Leviticus 10:1-3 says, "Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.  So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.  And Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what the Lord spoke, saying:  "By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified."

Worshipping on the first day of the week makes that a "profane worship day".  Why?  Because as the above verse states:  God has not commanded us to worship on that day.  But the opposite is also true when we take the 7th Day Sabbath (Saturday), which God has commanded us to keep holy - and we make it a "common/profane day"!  We are now guilty of idolatry as well as disobedience to a holy God - and we think we can still ask God to "bless us"?

The Apostasy and Moral Relativism

There's been alot of preaching lately about the dangers of "moral relativism".  The dictionary defines "moral" as: "pertinent to right and wrong conduct".  It also defines "relativism" as: "dependent on relation to something else, not absolute."  In other words, moral relativism means there is no absolute truth, no absolute right and wrong.  Everything is relative to each other.


What's surprising to me is the fact that these very same ministers of the Gospel who preach against moral relativism are guilty of teaching and practicing it themselves!  Here's an example when they are approached with the truth from God's Word that the 4th Commandment has never been done away with.  The 4th Commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy".  Exodus 20:10 further states, "But the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do no work...." That sure sounds like an "absolute truth" statement!  Here is where the moral relativism comes in when Christians say to me, "Well, it doesn't really matter which day of the week we worship God.  We can worship Him any day of the week."  The truth is that they say this to excuse themselves from not being obedient to God and His Word!


Let's take a look at some other examples from the Bible where God's people tried the "relativism approach" with our holy God.  The first one to come to mind is in the Garden of Eden.  God told Adam there was ONE tree he was not to eat from.  The serpent basically told Eve, "Does it really matter if you eat from that tree or from any other tree in this garden?"  He used the "relativism approach" on Eve, and we know the punishment that came from approaching God with that attitude, don't we?


A few months ago, I wrote a post regarding Naaman, the leper in 2 Kings 5:1-12.  He was told by a man of God to go to the Jordan River and dip seven times and he would be cleansed of his leprousy.  However, in verse 12 Naaman asks, "Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?  Could I not wash in them and be clean?"  This is a really good example of "Moral Relativism".  Naaman was saying as Christians do today, that it really doesn't matter to God what river I dip in - as long as I dip myself in a river.  It's the same as saying, "It doesn't really matter to God what day I keep as the Sabbath Day - just as long as I take a sabbath day."


Sadly, our churches have let moral relativism take over so much that not only are the Ten Commandments no longer honored and respected, but God Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ is no longer Supreme in our church services and our lives.  Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  Jesus is the Absolute Truth, the Absolute Way, and the Absolute Life!  There is NO OTHER WAY to God the Father.  One last warning given by Jesus in Matt. 7:13 & 14 says, "Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."  Let me challenge you with with this last question:  Just how difficult and narrow is your way of life as a Christian?  If you are not living a difficult and narrow life, then there is only one other way of life you can be living.....think about it!!

Once Saved - Always Saved? True or False?

Here is what God says in Ezekiel 18:21 about the "righteous man":

"When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity (sin), and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live?  ALL the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die." 

In Ezekiel 18:25, God says the following about the "wicked man":

"If a wicked man turns from all his sins (lawlessness) which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live." 

If our preachers say that the righteous man can "commit iniquity" and still live, (which goes against God's Word in Ez. 18) - then preachers MUST also BE CONSISTENT when it comes to the verses on the wicked man.  They would then have to say if the wicked man "turns from all his sins" - he would still die  (which goes against God's Word in Ez. 18).  Our preachers cannot change the verses about the righteous man without also changing the verses regarding the wicked man!  This goes completely against the practice of good Bible teaching.

So, what is righteousness?  Verse 25 above tells us that when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness, "keeps all My statutes (laws)" and does "what is lawful and right", he is considered righteous and will live.  If you do what is "lawful", you must have a set of "laws" to live by.  The set of laws God has given us are His statutes, the Ten Commandments.  However, if we are being taught in our churches that God's law has "been done away with", that means our preachers are actually teaching us to be unrighteous people!

It's interesting that I John 3:4 states that "Sin is lawlessness".  Lawlessness means "we are not under law" because there is no law.  Hmmm - where have I heard that one before?

Before I close, I want to clarify that we cannot earn our salvation by good works or by keeping God's laws.  Jesus Christ purchased our salvation through His blood which was shed on the cross for us.  If we choose to accept this gift of salvation, it also means we choosing to turn our lives over to Christ and His laws which He expects us to obey.  We are taught that salvation is a "free gift", but even that is a false teaching!  It cost Jesus Christ His very life, and He tells us that if we accept His gift of salvation - it will cost us our lives as well!

In conclusion, God's Word tells us that the theology that teaches us "Once Saved - Always Saved" is a false teaching.  It not only does away with our need to obey God's laws, but it also takes away "the fear of the Lord" from before our eyes.  Solomon gave his conclusion in Ecclesiastes 12:13,14:  "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all.  For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."