June 11 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE EIGHT COMMANDMENT. “Thou shalt not steal.” Exo. 20:15; Lev. 19:11; Deut. 5:19, KJV.
“Both public and private sins are included in this prohibition. The eighth commandment condemns MAN-STEALING and SLAVE-DEALING [in all its different forms], and forbids WARS OF CONQUEST [all world wars were for conquest of other nations and peoples].
“It condemns theft and robbery.
“It demands STRICT INTEGRITY in the minutest details of the the AFFAIRS OF LIFE.
“It forbids OVERREACHING in trade [any business transaction], and requires the payment of JUST debts and wages.
“It declares that every attempt to ADVANTAGE oneself by the IGNORANCE, WEAKNESS of MISFORTUNE of another, is registered as FRAUD in the books of heaven.” E.G.White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 308, 309.
“Thou shalt not steal’ was written by the finger of God
Yet how much UNDERHAND STEALING OF AFFECTIONS is practiced and excused. A deceptive courtship is maintained, private communications are kept up. . . . To trifle with hearts is a CRIME of no small magnitude the sight of a Holy God. As we deal with our fellowmen in PETTY DISHONESTY so will we deal with God. Men who persist in a course of dishonesty will carry out their principles until they CHEAT THEIR OWN SOULS and lose heaven and eternal life.” Ibid, Adventist Home, pp. 57, 392.
Such is God’s all-seeing eye that sees through the lens of His law magnified by the Holy Spirit! NMF