Most things we purchase in life have an assumed guarantee. That would be why businesses have a return department. These departments are kept very busy during the Christmas shopping season. Someone’s shirt didn’t fit. Someone got the wrong item. Well, you get the picture.

Did you ever stop to think that God gives guarantees? He sure does. Let’s take a look at only a few.

To our very first parents, Adam and Eve, God told them the following.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

They ate it. Now we all die. Unless the Rapture comes first, I, and you, are going to die. That’s a guarantee from God and we can ‘take it to the bank.’

He said in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (Two guarantees)

Adam and Eve eating “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” was a sin. Our original parents died, and we have all been dying since then. We have covered that. The good news is that God guarantees eternal life to all who come to Him “through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

God said in Revelation 22:7, 12 and 20 that “I come quickly,” meaning that He is going to return and it will happen suddenly. That is a guarantee. He is coming back.

One more, and there are many, many others. In Genesis 12:3 God says, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” This again is another guarantee, and this is where I’ll park my horse for a while. We need to think about this. (Two guarantees)

I will be 69 years old shortly. I have seen Israel regathered in my lifetime and made into a great nation. May 14th will mark 68 years that Israel has come from a people who became a nation, literally, overnight, and the clock is ticking. Every other nation, to my knowledge, is against her, just as God said it would be, and the world is getting darker every day.

Did you catch what I said about “every other nation?” That includes the United States of America. That is one thing I never thought I would witness, but in reality, God guaranteed it would happen, and it has.

This is chilling. Sin brings death. Jesus is coming back. All nations against Israel are in it up to their neck. We are now siding with Israel’s enemies and are therefore numbered among them.

The national leaders who are running our country at this time have sold us down the river. Their greed, stupidity, and evil hearts have placed everyone in the crosshairs of God’s judgement.

Do not think for one minute that because we are a Christian nation that God will make an exception with us. He will not. For one thing, we are no longer a Christian nation. For another, we have been blessed more than any nation in history and have more responsibility toward God to do what’s right than any other nation. We are going down, and it isn’t going to be pretty.

“But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)

When you put Genesis 12:3 and this verse (Luke 12:48) side by side, then consider our current rebellious position with God and Israel, there can be only one outcome; i.e. severe judgment.

Throughout our society, by way of our actions and even our laws, we have spit in the face of Almighty God, then laughed about it as we go our way.

Our government, entertainment, sports, education, families, businesses, churches and private citizenry have all turned against God. Many in our government and even religious organizations have openly turned against Israel.

In my opinion, the only thing keeping us from collapsing economically is that God is waiting to remove His Holy Spirit first, then a judgment this world can’t even imagine will roll into town.

“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7)

I am referring specifically to the Rapture, and I strongly believe that “the one who now holds it back” is none other than the Holy Spirit. God will first remove His Church (the bride of Christ), and then He will unleash judgment upon the earth. Since every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will not be removed without the Church (the bride of Christ) He indwells.

The following verses are very clear that every believer is indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

“Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” (John 6:27)

“Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” (Ephesians 1:13)

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30)

Our being sealed by the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of our eternal security (OSAS) and that the Holy Spirit will never leave us. Jesus will come for His bride prior to the time of Tribulation. Then the Church, along with the one spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 (the Holy Spirit), will leave earth and proceed to Heaven. That day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30) will culminate in our being transported to Heaven.

Once the Church (the bride) is gone, of course the Holy Spirit is gone who holds back evil (2 Thessalonians 2:7), then God will allow evil to be turned loose upon mankind. If that weren’t enough, God also will cast judgment of His own upon mankind while He is dealing with Israel.

All of this is guaranteed to take place. It is going to happen. We need to be ready.

Grant Phillips

In Exodus 20:1-17 God provides what we call The Ten Commandments to Israel. These commandments should be adhered to by not just Israel, but all mankind.

It seems our country has decided that we have outgrown the commandments of God however, and we are more than capable of doing it “our way.” By the way, these are not suggestions. They are God’s commands to all of us.

First of all I want to reiterate that the Church (true Christians) is not under the Law (Romans 10:4). We are under grace and our model of living is Jesus Christ. We are under the law of Christ and Jesus states it very simply when He said,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”” (Mark 12:30-31)

This is the greatest summation of the Ten Commandments we’ll ever hear and the solution for a fallen world. It is also where every child of God should strive to be in their respective life.

Christians have satisfied the Law, not in their own righteousness, but through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Law has no power over those who are in Christ, because He has kept the Law on our behalf. We are now under His grace because of His work.

Now, let’s look at these ten commands of God briefly. What if everyone honored the Law, in particular the Ten Commandments?

1.     Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Would that mean that everyone would worship God and God only? I guess it would.

Then there would be no Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Paganism, Mysticism, Gnosticism, Mormonism, Islamism, and all the other ‘isms” would there? Every people and nation would worship God and Him only.

The one true God demands no other gods before Him. Obviously, we haven’t been paying attention.

2.     Thou shalt have no idols.

Of course if God is our only God, we would certainly not worship any idols of any kind now would we? There would be no substitutes for us, only the one real God.

The world’s religious followers can come up with many false idols to bow to, so what would ours be in these United States?

Naming just one, the first thing that comes to mind is the grand TV, the bigger the better. Is it a sin to own a television set? No. The sin comes in what we allow to come from it and placing what comes out of it before God. The sin comes in letting it control our lives instead of God.

Anything we place before God in importance is an idol.

3.     Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

All frivolous usage of God’s name, such as cursing, in any form would not be heard. His name would be revered above all else.

Nothing should set our nerves on edge more than hearing the name of God, such as ‘Jesus’ or ‘Jesus Christ’ taken in vain as a curse expression. Yet, this sacrilege of His holy name occurs all the time.

Another way to take God’s name in vain is to misrepresent Him, for example; perverting the Gospel.

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another (heteros – different) gospel, which is not another (allos – same); but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7)

4.     Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

For the Church, Sunday would always be a special day we set aside just for God, remembering all He has done for us.

I am always reminded of the churches that cancel their services so everyone can watch the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. Some, instead of canceling their service, have a big Super Bowl party right in the church building.

5.     Honor thy father and thy mother.

That would sure eliminate ‘back-talk’ or ‘sassing.’

I have never seen so much disrespect shown by so many children toward their parents as I have in these days we live in. I’m also referring to adult children.

Who is to blame for this? The parents are to blame for allowing it to start in the first place and then allowing it to continue.

6.     Thou shalt not murder.

My goodness, what would the homicide division of the police departments do with themselves?

7.     Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Now that’s a novel thought for marriage.

8.     Thou shalt not steal.

Wait a minute! The police department isn’t going to have anyone left if we keep this up.

9.     Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

So much for gossip. We can’t even talk over the backyard fence anymore?

10.                        Thou shalt not covet.

You mean be satisfied with what we have?

Summation

What if this is how people throughout the world lived? During the Millennium, this is exactly how it will be. Now that’s something to look forward to!

Our world is falling apart at the seams. Just in this country alone, we can look at these Ten Commandments and see that we have really made a mess of things. There isn’t one area in our society that isn’t affected by the violation of one or more of these commandments.

Yet, we think we know more than God. In addition to that, people actually think that politicians will solve all our problems. Wake up people! They have caused most of them! The real culprit though is a hard heart. Jesus said:

“… Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27)

If this were actually practiced by all of us who claim Jesus as our Savior and Lord, it could make a huge impact on our society. What if we just listened to God for once and did it His way?

What if God were the only one we serve? He is a loving God, and we would reflect His love.

What if we placed nothing before Him? God would always come first and foremost in our lives?

What if we never defamed His holy name in any way whatsoever? It sure were eliminate a lot of vile talk and misrepresentation of the Gospel.

What if we faithfully honored one day and set it aside just to worship Him? We could truly rest and be spiritually rejuvenated.

What if we always honored our father and mother? We would have children who grow to be adults with character.

What if we never murdered? Think of the millions of lives that would be shown the ultimate respect of living.

What if we never committed adultery? Wow! There would be many more happy families, and no STDs.

What if we never stole? None of us would have to lock our doors at night.

What if we never spoke negatively of another person? A lot of folks wouldn’t have anything to say.

What if we would not covet? Is it possible to be satisfied with what I have?

The day will come when all of the ‘what ifs’ will come true, but it isn’t today unfortunately. Beware though, for the day of the Lord is coming. Afterwards, we will know what it is like to live as God intends us to live. In the meantime, even though we often fail, we should let Jesus live through us. Only He can and did fulfill all Ten of the Commandments.

Grant Phillips