10C (part 3): First Commandment, part b: No Other Gods

Ashera/wikipedia.com

The 10 Commandments series continues...

Christian tradition considers part of the First Commandment:

You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3

No idols. No false gods. 

The mother of all the other commandments.

A good case is made in the video below:

( reference: https://youtu.be/HA1Xgm2rit0 )

As this post is being written, we are in the middle of pandemic--the coronavirus. In response, countries underwent a lock-down.

Many are suffering. Our lives are disrupted. Not only from the virus. But especially from the economic fall out.

Yet, this experience has revealed our many idols, which have been taken from us:

Money - as the stock market crashed, many jobs lost, businesses closed

Celebrities - as theaters and stadiums are closed, gatherings limited, denying our favorite stars a platform

Vanity - as hair salons and other services are closed

Nature - as many parks have been closed or have limited visitation

Education - as schools closed and campuses locked down

...

The list goes on.

So in our day of violence and injustice and lawlessness, our idols have been revealed. And they are impotent--false gods.

Billy Graham preached about such a time, an evil time, from the Scripture text in Habakkuk 1:

Habakkuk’s Complaint:

2-  How long, Lord, must I call for help,

    but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”

    but you do not save?

3 - Why do you make me look at injustice?

    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4  - Therefore the law is paralyzed,

    and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

    so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer:

5 -Look at the nations and watch—

    and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

    that you would not believe,

    even if you were told.

( reference: https://youtu.be/rZ9ek7DBsTU )

“I don’t put my trust in Washington.
I don’t put my trust in the United Nations,
I don’t put my trust in my self.
I don’t put trust in my money.
I put my trust in Jesus Christ.”

This leads us back to the First Commandment:

And there is no God apart from me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

    there is none but me.

Isaiah 45:21

Stay safe. Stay well. And keep looking up.

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Previous post in series:

10C (part 1) - The Ten Commandments  (2019)

10C (part 2) - First Commandment: God and Liberty (2020)

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photo: Ashera/wikipedia.com

PPP (part 1) - All Men are Liars

Proverb Scroll/wikipeida.com

Remember this childhood taunt on the playground?

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Nose as long as a telephone wire.

[ reference: Liar Liar ]

And how many have heard this joke?

How to tell a politician is lying...his lips move. 

[ reference:  How to tell...]

And there is much said about this in Psalms and Proverbs about Politics.

Here we go....

Psalms:

King David once said -

I said in my haste,
All men are liars.
Psalm 116:11 (KJV)

And I've heard it said, after giving it a lot of thought, many of us come to that same conclusion -

Everybody lies

So did House, the surly doctor in the TV series named after his character, House (2004 - 2012).

(reference: https://youtu.be/CZR2k5c_198 )

"It's a basic truth of the human condition
that everybody lies. 

The only variable is about what."

Indeed that's a proverb. And there's many like them.

Proverbs:

King David's son Solomon gave this nugget -

The lip of truth shall be established for ever:
but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Proverbs 12:19 (KJV)

But what about this moment? The politically expedient.

Politics:

We've seen this play out in the various types of media. Below is a clip that could be the playbook for many a politician from the old movie, A Guide for the Married Man (1967)

It is described as: A man gives his co-worker a series of lessons on how to cheat on one's wife without being caught. 

Like who are going believe, me or your lying eyes as shown in this scene below:

(reference: https://youtu.be/4pmBC_CrQS4 )

Deny, Deny, Deny

In thousands of years, human nature hasn't change.

And as King Solomon once said:

...
and there is no new thing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV)

And the words from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah about lying are just as true today.

For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

Isaiah 59:3 (KJV)

The song below contain those words of the prophet as a lament, but also hope as offered in the Gospel:

( reference: https://youtu.be/62p_JWGBRlM    )

Here are the full lyrics from the The Liberated Wailing Wall - I Am Not Ashamed

* The Arm of the Lord

* I Am Not Ashamed

And as our country is so divided and evil seems to be unleashed, a look at Psalms and Proverbs along side Politics can illuminate the Sign of the Times as well offer some hope for troubling days.

So begins the new thread ...

PPP - Psalms, Proverbs and Politics

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Similar posts in this series:

Biblia Files (part 1) - Thru the Bible (2013)

Biblia Files (part 2) - What is the Bible Basically About? (2013)

Biblia Files (part 3) - Gideon - weakness, warts and all (2013) 
   
Biblia Files (part 4) - Holy Hyperlinks (2014)

Biblia Files (part 5) - Waiting .... (2014)
  

Biblia Files (part 6) - Crowns and Frowns (2015)

Biblia Files (part 7) - Follow Me (2017)

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Photo: Proverb Scroll/wikipeida.com

Dr. Who and World War Two - VE Day is coming.

Sixty-five years ago, May 8, 1945 was VE Day - Victory in Europe. It marked the beginning of the end of World War Two.

For this milestone, I put together a tribute garnered from BBC's Dr. Who, the longest running Sci-Fi program in the world.

"The Doctor," a Time Lord, regularly regenerates into different incarnations as he travels through time and space, usually with a mortal female companion. His vehicle, the TARDIS, resembles an old fashioned British Police Box, which is bigger on the inside that the outside. Oh, the marvels of science fiction.

Two 2005 episodes, "The Empty Child" and its sequel "The Doctor Dances", are set in Great Britain during the onslaught of World War Two. The TARDIS lands the ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, and his companion Rose Tyler from 21st century London, back in London of 1941 during the Blitz.

The Doctor and Rose encounter a young woman, Nancy, who recently lost a close member of her family. Scavenging for food during the air raids, while most Londoners are in their bomb shelters, Nancy cares for many children, left orphans by the war.

In this following scene from "The Empty Child," the Doctor commends Nancy for their tenacity, during a time which Sir Winston Churchill had described as "their finest hour."



In this following clip of the second part, "The Doctor Dances," Rose, who as a time traveller knows that VE Day is coming, offers Nancy encouragement.



In these episode clips, I saw a Christian allegory for our present times.

We feel the fury of the enemy dropping bombs of cruel hate all about to dishearten us, defeat us, demoralize us, and destroy everything that is good in this life. At times, there appears no deliverance or escape from the evil in this world and no end to the assaults of the enemy.

But we know Someone greater than a fictional Time Lord - the Lord of time and space, Creator of the universe. And He has already written the future:

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Isaiah 46:9,10 (King James Version)
He is engaged in this long war between good and evil in human history. And to encourage us, He tells us how it will all end - He wins!

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isaiah 25:8, 9 (King James Version)
His VE Day - Victory over Everything - is coming when -

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.
Hebrews 2:8 (King James Version)
As we endure the Blitz of these present spiritual battles and tribulations in this world, may His finest hour be lived through us by the power of His Spirit.


photo from wikipedia: TARDIS