Thou Shall Not Kill

God told Adam and Eve NOT to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They didn’t listen to Him and brought confusion and death to the whole world.

The problem today is that men and women don’t know how to recognize the difference between good and evil.
Even when a person knows in his mind that his behavior is self-destructive and harmful, this knowledge has no power to stop him from doing it. Just knowing our problems and addictions does not give us the power to control or stop them.

A knowledge of biblical teachings is NOT enough. The more we read the Bible we see how far away we are from living a true Christian life.

We possess negative characteristics such as envy, pride, anger, impatience, intemperance, and selfishness. We covet others and we think of helping ourselves before helping anyone else.

The problem is that these characteristics are part of our character, which is a part of our mind and heart that nobody can see with human eyes. It is very dangerous to think we are Christians if we still possess any of these negative characteristics in our heart, because others may not see them, and because they don’t see them, we think they are not important and we might lose our salvation by believing we are Christians when we really are NOT.

The only way to be sure of our salvation is to have Christ in our hearts and minds. If we invite Jesus to live within us, do you think He will stay if we still hold on to negative feelings and if we still become offended by others?

NO. Jesus cannot and will not live in the heart of anyone who holds on to any negative characteristic. When we invite Jesus into our hearts He brings His power to cleanse us and make us “new creatures”, and He gives us the power to live a life of peace, joy and love. As long as He remains in us we will enjoy the true Christian experience. With Jesus in our heart, we will be able to overcome all temptations and weaknesses through His strength. A thousand will fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand and it will not affect us if Jesus is with us.

The early Christians went singing to their deaths because they were comforted by the divine presence.
If you ask Jesus to come and stay in your heart you will be able to overcome EVERY temptation, no matter how difficult it may seem to you.

If you don’t believe that, then you need to ask God for the gift of faith, to be prepared for the final battle against good and evil on our planet.

Historically, what has happened when man separates himself from God and takes matters into his own hands? He fails miserably. The Bible is full of examples: Cain, bringing his own offering to God; King Saul seeking advice from a witch; Peter attacking the Roman soldiers with a sword to protect Jesus; you and I doing things our way and forgetting about God when times are tough.

In 1914 God’s church was put to a test. A test to see if they were grounded upon principles and truth, or to see of they were surviving in their own human strength and not God’s strength.

When I think of all the commandments the hardest one to break is, “Thou shalt not kill”. Murder has been considered the greatest of sins throughout history. Any other crime can be rectified, but when someone is dead there is no bringing him back. I don’t think any of us would consider it a Christian act to kill someone else. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand that killing is wrong and that there is no excuse or justification for killing someone else.

God is “the creator” of the universe. God is life. God is love. God wants man to live forever with Him in peace and harmony. Killing is NOT from God and can never be an acceptable practice for anyone claiming to be a Christian especially in our modern day when knowledge is much greater than centuries ago.

Jesus came to Earth to reveal the Father and His will. Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace”. How is it possible then for certain so-called Christians to say that killing is “justifiable” in certain circumstances? It is justifiable to those doing the killing, but their victims will likely fail to see the justification.

This is a self-contradictory behavior that is completely opposite to the principles of faith. How can Jesus say, “love your enemies” and how can some false Christians say, “kill your brother” in time of war?

NO religious system or group, which encourages war, can claim spiritual authority without the blatant hypocrisy that has made atheists of many honest men.

When man’s conscience is dulled he is unable to distinguish between right and wrong. His conscience is determined by the principles to which he is committed. To maintain spiritual progress there can be NO wavering from principle, or the individual will fall back into sin.

If it is wrong to kill another human being, that principle can allow NO exceptions, regardless how emotionally appealing the arguments may be used to justify the exception. Therefore a society that accepts capital punishment will always have a problem with murder. Both are products of the same kind of reasoning. To the murderer, the killing of the victim is also a justifiable exception.

Once a principle is broken, its mutated form spreads like cancer. A society or a group that supports killing, whether in war, or by abortion, or by the legal system, cannot at the same time effectively stop “criminal” killing. To kill is to kill is to kill; there is no escaping the fact. The decision to kill or not to kill is a basic issue in the path to real power. But this simple step has not been understood by most of the world’s population including its governments.

The big problem in the world is that of spiritual blindness. The issue of “right and wrong” in our society focuses on the lower levels of understanding and morality. Little children must be taught that dangerous behaviors are “wrong”, but as they grow older discernment should replace this.

Whether it is wrong to kill other human beings may be a moral dilemma at lower levels of the conscious mind; at higher levels the very question is ridiculous.

When the SDA church decided to support the First World War and every war after that in the last 100 years, they broke the sacred trust given to them by God. Only those precious, faithful souls who rather would have died than go against God’s principles stayed strong in the test and received peace as they were sacrificed before firing squads, tortured to death in prison camps and were rejected by their friends and family as traitors. Those souls who had the Holy Spirit living in their hearts and who refused to be contaminated by sin, (like Daniel and his friends in Babylon), stood firm and will see Jesus coming in the clouds of heaven with their reward: eternal life.

Blessed are the peacemakers, says Jesus. Jesus wants to give you His peace today. In the middle of sickness and crime and sin, He invites you to give Him your stress and take His peace that passes understanding.

Is it your goal to have peace in your heart whatever the cost? Very few people are genuinely committed to peace as a realistic goal. In their private lives people prefebeing “right” at whatever the cost to relationships or themselves. A self-justified position is the real enemy of peace. When man looks for solutions out of force, no peaceful resolutions are possible.

Thousands of faithful men and women stood faithful to the truth during the First World War, but were persecuted by their own family and friends in the SDA church. Many of the SDA members betrayed the faithful ones by reporting them to the Gestapo or Secret Police so they would be thrown in jail or be killed as martyrs. The same force that has always persecuted God’s children inspired that spirit of persecution.

It was from that time on that the faithful ones could no longer conscientiously sustain their former brethren with their tithes, offerings, and membership.

I’m sure you know many nice SDA members who say that they would never kill anyone, BUT do they realize that by their membership and giving offerings and tithes to the SDA church, they are supporting an organization that excuses killing in wars and by performing abortions?

Any sin is separation from God. If you are joined to an organization that does not practice God’s will, it is a very dangerous position to be in. You are playing with your eternal life.

Even members of the SDA Reform Church must be careful as individual Christians. The organization has remained faithful to God’s principles but the question is: Are YOU faithful to God’s principles?

Belonging to the Reform Church and keeping negative characteristics in your heart will not save you. Only Jesus saves if He is in your heart. Jesus will give you the power to remain faithful even unto death.

You must decide today. Are you ready to maintain a strong spiritual connection with GOD? It is up to you. You can have the power to overcome sin and to remain faithful no matter what happens and no matter who tells you to do otherwise.

Remember: God is love. He will never change. Will you?
AMEN.

John McTavish, Canada