9th Commandment

                                                       NINTH COMMANDMENT

    Do you believe the Ten Commandments are the Law of God? If so, do you
recall the Ninth Commandment? To refresh your memory, the Ninth Commandment
states "Thou shalt not bear false witness  against thy neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)
It's very unfortunate that this commandment is so easily broken by those of us who
claim to be Christians. Worse yet, many of our church leaders are the worst
violators. You may not like this sermon, but if you are honest, you must admit that
you have probably violated this commandment many times because you had a
"gut" (emotional) reaction to something. You didn't check for any facts whatsoever,
and committed the sin of breaking one of the Ten Commandments. I pray you will
do better in the future.

    This is not my opinion, but something I have had to suffer through often, usually
several times a week. I am not on other lists except one that is a personal horse
and general information list. It does not carry many forwards, which is the usual
manner that the commandment breakers are sent to me. While these ill-advised
messages are annoying and irritating, it is the damage they do by spreading outright
lies and generating hatred towards others. Yes, I said hatred, because that is exactly
what they do. They intimate that you must agree with their message or you are less
of an American or a traitor.

    Remember, we are talking about a Godly commandment, not anybody's opinion
or differing conclusions. This is not about politics unless you consider the Ten
Commandments to be politics. These sinful messages forwarded over the internet
are all about politics, however. They all attack opponents of the "other" political
party. The only such messages I receive are from one political party, so they are
all completely one-sided. They lack any truth, so frequently I can almost say they
are continual lies. These messages also break the law because they are slanderous
and libelous. So..... all you forwarders, you are breaking a Commandment AND the
Civil Laws of our nation. So much for your Christian vows and your understanding
of the United States Constitution.

    How easy to sin when your emotions rule and you can take a shot at someone or
something you disagree with. After you perpetuate lies, you can never reach all the
people who accepted your information as truth. You may ask that your sins be forgiven
and covered with Christ's shed blood. but how many times do you think that should
be necessary? Remember, all sins are equally bad. Just because you aren't breaking
other Commandments such as stealing or infidelity doesn't mean you can ignore the
other Commandments.

    No matter your status in life, forwarding these poisonous messages is a sin that
widely distributes total lack of truth. It is usually character assassination, and contains
not one factual word of truth. So much for your Christian commitment. I am amazed
that pastors and church leaders are guilty of breaking this Commandment repeatedly.
You do understand, I pray, that this is a form of apostate "teaching", and another easy
way for Satan to participate in your religious services?

    Whether you in principle agree with these messages because you believe anything
goes in an effort to win, this type of activity is still a SIN. God does not condone any
sin to prevent anything, just as Christ never taught it was okay to cheat in money to be
successful. Just because you think it is okay to spread lies because you claim the
"other side or person" is not telling the truth, it is still breaking the Ninth Commandment,
and you are sinning. You are actually trying to cast your blame for the sin on the other
side or person.

    Now for all those who reply, "But, I didn't know or realize this is a sin". If you ever really
read scripture, you would see that we are warned about this more than 50 times. We are
warned about idle gossip, false accusations, outright lies and apostate statements. These
warnings come in both the Old and New Testaments, beginning in the Book of Exodus in
the Old Testament and running right through the New Testament's Book of Revelation.
How could any professing Christian miss all these warnings?

    The carnal man loves titillating information, and these fake stories reflect the emotional
desire to "learn" about opponents' weaknesses or failures. So many of these fake stories
come in similar format, and that should clue in the reader. The messages are usually "sent"
by someone you would accept as a true patriot: a retired military officer or supposed church
leader. The writer of the message is also posed as a proven warrior, also frequently a retired
veteran. The worst of these messages came in a previous presidential campaign, when a
group of "patriotic veterans" calling themselves "swift boaters" lied about the Democratic
candidate. A team of truth seekers visited the area in question and found two truths: the
swift boaters had lied, and some natives were paid to give false testimony. The false
information played a role in that election's outcome.

    Now I will give you a "heads up" on a clever new ploy that will probably be hitting your
email a bit later in the election campaign. This will be a conspiracy lie considered the final
necessary step towards victory. The claim will be made that the president will fake an
assassination attempt so he can declare martial law. Then he will cancel the election to
insure he will serve four more years. This, of course, is a last gasp effort. Will you buy into
this message as you probably did in past messages of character assassination? Will your
pastor perpetuate this message?

    It is difficult for me to accept the fact that so many supposed Christians not only choose
to accept these fake messages, but pass them on as truth. Are we all so lazy and emotionally
immature as Christians that we are denying our responsibilities and vow to accept Christ's
offer of salvation, which carries with it the presence of the Holy Spirit? By accepting Christ's
offer, we receive the presence of the Holy Spirit--the very power of God--to assist us in
following Christ's teaching. We pay no money and are only expected to use the free gifts
of the Spirit given to us. Tell me reading and understanding scripture is too difficult. Tell me
you don't have time to refute the false messages instead of PASSING THEM ON.

    I pray you will revisit the Ninth Commandment and recommit yourself to salvation, because
I don't believe your original commitment will hold water. And, you may want to revisit the
Parable of the Talents, where you accept the directions of the wealthy man to cheat and
steal, if necessary, to make a profit. If you accepted this explanation, you are wasting your
time trying to be a Christian. Don't like my chastisement? Just hit "delete", and I won't bother
your conscience any more.

Rev. Walbear