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By Alan Buske
I was watching my cat romp in our fenced backyard
the other day. The yard is big and interesting enough, and
contains all kinds of flowers, shrubs, and trees - everything a
cat could possibly want. Still, every once in awhile, he tried to
get over the fence just to see what was on the other side.
Isn't that how we humans are, too? God outlined via
his Torah (the first five Books of Moses in the Old Testament)
exactly how He wanted us to live. Since the very beginning, we
have refused to abide by it! Back in Adam's day, there was only
one Commandment: Don't eat from the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. But Adam chose to "jump the fence" and, consequently,
placed us all in bondage to Satan. Later, to help man deal with
the situation he'd gotten himself into, God gave him the Torah -
His teaching and instruction - to live by in an ungodly world.
Yet man chose to "jump the fence" again. Man was grievously
sinning as Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the 10 laws so, in
anger, he broke them and went back up to receive them once more.
Each time Israel went over the fence God gave them over to the
bondage of sin; each time they repented, He took them back. Over
time, the Rabbis added more and more laws to restrict Israel from
going over the fence. Jesus came and restored Torah, tearing down
those restrictive inner fences, once again giving us back the
freedom in Torah - but, what do we want to do? Get rid of the
fence altogether!
It seems Man is simply incapable of sticking to the
rules - and as a result, he is suffering. As man has become more
secular and immoral, more laws have had to be added to keep him
in check. Because of it, we've become entangled in a man-made
tangled web of government-mandated laws.
Most people don't realize it, but the Constitution
and Bill of Rights on which our country was founded, are based on
the Torah - God's original teaching and instruction! All rules,
all laws were written to protect us from ourselves and from each
other (just like my backyard fence is there to protect my cat
from the dangers of the outside world). But, as with God's laws,
we've more than just "jumped the fence"; we've gone way overboard
and abused those rights and freedoms, and are well on our way to
getting run over and squashed on Satan's sin-filled freeway - all
in the name of "doing our own thing".
In modern day America where we have thrown God out
of our schools, along with prayer and Bible reading, we have
raised several generations who not only don't want anything godly
in their lives, but they hate any form of godliness and are
embracing the occult, instead! We are not only condoning
occultism and pagan "religions", but everything else that God
calls an abomination: homosexuality, idolatry, bigotry, adultery,
etc.
These days we are even seeing major denominations
splitting over whether to ordain homosexuals. (Am I the only one
seeing Satan's work in this?) Lying, stealing, and murder are
condoned in the cases where the perpetrator might have had a bad
childhood, or is able to plead temporary insanity. Good is now
bad, and bad is now good - all in the name of "tolerance". The
world seems to be turned upside down!
Flip Wilson, on his weekly show years ago, used to
say: "The devil made me do it!" Unfortunately, the rest of this
country has adopted that attitude over the years. Is it,
therefore, any wonder that no one is taking responsibility for
his own actions? I really think this country is in a moral
decline at light speed because people have turned away from God.
Christianity has blatantly (and mistakenly) said that God's Law
(His Torah, His teaching and instruction) has been done away
with! Jesus said in Matthew 5:16-18, "Do not think that I have
come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them."
Christians have not stood together against lawless
legislation in this country because of apathy; because of,
perhaps, too much wealth (who needs God when things are good?);
and because of the lack of understanding of God's Word in their
lives. Some feel that, because they "believe" they are saved, and
are therefore free to do whatever they want, and can still get to
heaven. Well, they might have the life insurance policy, but they
forgot to read the small print! Jesus said that, in the end times
the path would be very narrow. Believers need to know exactly
what the Word says, and then HEED it. I once heard someone say,
"the Ten Commandments are NOT Ten Suggestions!" Satan himself
knows what God's Word says, and he believes in Jesus - and he
trembles because he knows how the Book ends! "Even the devils
believe and tremble." We should, too....
An old adage says, "Those who will not be ruled by
God, will be ruled by tyrants." I fear for our great country
because so many have chosen to live outside Torah and God's Word.
The bottom line is: law and order are necessary for the
preservation of a society or a nation; otherwise the result is
anarchy. Many nations have built their societies on oppressive
laws which were ungodly, man-devised laws from the beginning.
This always has led, and will continue to lead, to rebellion. If
there is no lawgiver above man, then every man becomes a law unto
himself; this is total anarchy, and it never works. The only
right way to set up laws is to first ask the Lawmaker Himself how
He would do it.
Martin Luther once said: "I am much afraid that
schools will prove to be great gates of hell unless they
diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving
them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child
where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in
which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must
become corrupt!"
We have, unfortunately, become that corrupt society
that Martin Luther feared. We have taken Gods' word out of the
school system and made it a crime to put it back in; and we have,
for decades, been teaching the religion of a godless creation
called "evolution" (that we are only a product of chance and not
design). Worst of all, we have turned our backs on God
Himself.
In Deuteronomy 6 God said: And these words, which I
command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach
them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when
you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you
lie down and when you rise up.
One of our founding fathers said that our
Constitution would only work for a moral people. The same goes
for Torah. From Genesis to Deuteronomy, one can see a progressive
increase in laws as Israel continually veered off into immorality
and idolatry. Finally, at Mt. Sinai, they were given their
"Constitution" and "Bill of Rights" via the Ten Commandments, to
live a life separate from the world's governments - to be set
apart. By the time of Messiah, so many Rabbinic, man-made laws
were in place they had lost sight of the Spirit of the Law.
That's what Jesus came to help them (and us) understand.
Jesus tore down the fences of legalism that had
been set up inside Torah. He taught people to get back to the
spiritual heart of Torah, which was to love God with all your
heart and soul, and to love your fellow man as yourself. Love is
the fulfilling of the Law. God Himself gave us the power to do
these things via the indwelling of His own Spirit. "I will write
my laws on their hearts." Jer 31: 31-33.
Some true, godly wisdom can be found in Proverbs
28:1-9:
- The wicked man flees though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- When a country is rebellious, it has many
rulers, but a man of understanding and knowledge maintains
order.
- A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a
driving rain that leaves no crops.
- Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law resist them.
- Evil men do not understand justice, but
those who seek the LORD understand it fully.
- Better a poor man whose walk is blameless
than a rich man whose ways are perverse.
- He who keeps the law is a discerning son,
but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.
- He who increases his wealth by exorbitant
interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the
poor.
- If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are
detestable.
God gave us His Torah - His original teaching and instructions - to keep us safe and on His path. Man inserted legalism and consequently bound himself into a "works for salvation" frenzy. But, thanks to the Son, that bondage has been broken; thanks to His death on the cross as the final Sin Offering, we now have real freedom! Yeshua removed the legalism that had been set up inside Torah, and provided an easier way for us to gain eternal life. While this does not give anyone "carte blanche" to sin on purpose, it liberates us in the knowledge that, if we do "back slide", all we need to do is repent. No blood sacrifices needed anymore; no "works" to perform. Once we have accepted Yeshua into our hearts, the Holy Spirit shows us how - and convicts us - to live a Godly life.
Still, we need to remember that true freedom does include certain rules and regulations. These rules and regulations, of course, take us back to God's original teaching and instruction, and are explicitly outlined in the Ten Commandments - which are part of God's Torah.
I am not advocating mandatory Torah observance; I am advocating an obedience to God's original, pre-legalistic instructions that were meant to keep man safe and happy and on God's path. Just like my backyard that is fenced to keep the cat in for his own good, God's teaching and instruction still contains certain boundaries for us, His wondrous creation. Those who truly know God's Word and choose to walk within Torah via the Holy Spirit will eventually lose that driving desire to "go over the fence" where sin, death, bondage, and slavery to Satan reside.
And THAT is true freedom from bondage!
Proverbs 16:25: There is a way that seems right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
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