All the Law and the Prophets hang upon two general commandments – Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. Picture a tree planted in righteousness with its roots firmly planted deeply into the Cornerstone of Jesus Christ which gives us a sure foundation – those that truly call upon the name of Jesus Christ shall depart from iniquity. As they do, their obedience will branch out again and again, continually bearing fruit in every season. (Note: If they AREN’T departing from iniquity, then you know they were taught “another Jesus” that Paul warned so strongly about, so share the truth with them!)
If you love God, you will keep His commandments from the heart and not merely as an outward religious action. You fulfill the commandment to love your neighbor when you walk in obedience of the Law with the heart attitude that each person is God’s special creation and deserve the utmost respect and cherishing, whether it’s the unborn child in the womb to the homeless man on the sidewalk to the single mom struggling to provide for her child to the stable traditional family unit that’s wearing a mask of perfection while fighting behind closed doors to the rich and famous that are secretly feeling more lonely than an isolated polar bear on a floating iceberg.
God’s standard is having one rule of Law regardless of Jew or stranger, showing equality and justice for all. The commandments of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David & Jesus Christ treat ALL with honor and value life, both male and female, unborn and young and old, rich or poor, regardless what denomination or country you cling to. We are to do the same.
Care for the widow whose husband is no longer around to change a lightbulb for her. Give an orphan a safe place to land, be it a friend’s home after school or on weekends that is filled with love and peace or the full extent of adoption. Treat refugees as equal because the Israelites were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. Help someone pick up the mess when their grocery bag ruptures and their items go rolling away. Treat the elderly with honor, recognizing the immense wisdom they have to impart to those who will take the time to listen and learn even as physical capabilities wane away with age. Obey the commandments on how to handle our finances so that we never develop a selfish & idolizing LOVE for money but rather use the wealth and prosperity that WILL come when we obey His commandments and His voice to bless others. Uphold justice for those who don’t have the strength, resources, or voice to possess justice for themselves. Rescue others out of bondage to foreigners, be it financial debt at exorbitant interest charges, physical or sexual enslavement, employment under evil taskmasters, etc. Families, both biological and spiritual, take responsibility for your extended family members instead of hoofing that responsibility onto the government or even onto a single family member that is being crushed by the load. Owe no man anything but love. Walk in an attitude of forgiveness, never taking offense (and quickly releasing it the moment it attempts to crop up) for the opposite of offense is honor, kindness, peace, joy.
So many are familiar with the Golden Rule – “Do onto others what you would have them do unto you.” But how many know the REST of that verse? Matt 7:12 – “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” This commandment only works if you actually love and accept yourself. If you do not love yourself, you cannot demonstrate true love anyone else. Rather it will flow out with strings attached that will make others feel controlled, manipulated, or causing them harm.
If you reject yourself at your innermost core, you will reject others. If you feel judgmental and anxious inside, you will impose those feelings upon others creating an environment of chaos everywhere you go. The thing about “negative energy” is that it acts like a black hole, sucking everything into it. Sin, literal and spiritual parasites, & every evil thing thrives in the absence of life and light. The Bible warns us not to make friends with angry people lest we learn their ways and develop snares to our souls. Anger is a fruit of bitterness/unforgiveness. If we aren’t forgiving others, our Heavenly Father won’t forgive us!
To work the way God designed, loving your neighbor requires loving yourself the way that God loves you – unconditionally! Accepting the YOU that God created you to be – not who culture or parents say you have to be, the identity God wrote in your heavenly books before you were even born, accepting the grace that God has extended to you to be whole in His eyes without needing to be perfect in man’s eyes. Utilizing the power and authority and free will He has bestowed upon you to remove the snares the devil has trapped you in, BELIEVING that all power and authority has been given upon you to trample upon serpents and scorpions (symbolic pictures of demons – those that bite with the mouth and those that sting from behind) and NOTHING shall by any means harm you (Lk 10:19).
The British empire & colonies had justice systems that were originally based upon the Bible & God’s commandments, which produced the fruit of wealth and stability in their lands. When British colonies were overthrown or surrendered, other religions and justice standards came in that defied God’s standards. Corruption & chaos increased as blessings upon that land and economies decreased. If you look at America’s economy since President Trump has come into power, a president who has consistently chased after restoring righteousness, honor, and God’s standards in the land despite the immense opposition from the Democrats, we have seen their economy steadily improve on all fronts for all ethnic groups and genders. Despite all the emotional vitriol spewed in the media trying to convince us otherwise, God will not be mocked – what we sow, we will reap. The statistics declare God’s truth to be so.
When we truly love our neighbor simply because God said to and not with the ulterior motive of selfish gain, we build stronger communities that can weather the strongest of storms together. We have less mental illness and addictions brought on by lack of nurturing, isolation & loneliness, lack of support & poor self-image. There is less poverty because obedience to God’s commandments and the Fear of the LORD will naturally bring prosperity. Workplaces will be healthier as we live out a servant attitude that builds up our neighbor, community, and country instead of the dog-eat-dog environments that push the ultimate goal of climbing the corporate ladder. The overall health of communities will improve as stress, poverty, and broken relationships decrease. Marriages will be healthier with less divorce, poverty, and strife as they discover the peace that comes with living out Godly order in the home that is birthed out of love instead of domination and control. There will be less war and political conflicts because when our ways please the LORD, He makes even our enemies to be at peace with us.
We have heard much in the prophetic circles about the 7 mountain mandate, to bring God’s Kingdom into all areas of the earth and not merely inside the 4 walls of the church palaces, which by the way hidden within the names in Amos 1, He warns He will bring fire to. The key to successfully making God’s Law honourable in every sector of culture without running the vision into the many ditches out there is living out God’s commandments, and not religion, in all those 7 mountains. We will influence others through the success and prosperity that rests upon our own lives & families as living proof that we know a better Way – God’s Ways!
We must not DOMINATE, lest we turn “God’s ways” into yet another twisted form of religious dictatorship. The Catholic church with their Pope tried that and their results are not something I would relish to replicate. Constantine tried that, with the consequences still being felt in our day over a millennium away from his decisions. We must INFLUENCE by being walking, living epistles of the power and manifested promises of the Word of God dwelling within us, discipling the next generation to walk faithfully also.
Johnny Enlow recently released a prophetic word on Feb 4th, 2020 (https://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=29736&fbclid=IwAR1mb-PWcfMiAY6EENRijYfdtL_LBIulYLlWr2DRLch3lrSzgiFndgRjFUM) with a detail that caught my attention. He was referring to the upcoming presidential elections in about a year’s time when he mentioned that we can vote, we can pray, and/or we can love. The first two can be self-righteous, but loving our neighbor requires we lay down our SELF in order to put others first.
What leapt out at me is that loving your neighbor as yourself as per Biblical definition is the key to dismantling the rampant problem of self-righteousness that has plagued much of the religious church culture. Whether real or worn as a mask to hide the bottomless pit of shame they suffer in drives those who need God’s love the most away from the Church System. Unfortunately, because most associate Jesus with the Church System, they are also being driven away from the freedom and restoration that Jesus Christ brings.
A recent example. I had a rare opportunity to eat alone at Harvey’s without any children surrounding me. Behind me in line was a 78-yr old man who had popped by to grab a snack and regain his strength after his walk around the strip mall before heading home. The cashier offered him free onion rings because they had messed up a drive-through order and would have to throw them out anyway. He gratefully accepted. As he walked past my table, I blurted out without thinking, “It’s wonderful to see the elderly still being honored in this generation.” After all, it’s considered a borderline criminal offence these days to acknowledge someone as elderly! I’ve been sharply criticized too many times to count for breaking that cultural taboo!
Thankfully, God knew what that man needed to hear, opening the door for him to sit down next to me and share about his broken life and feel heard. I acknowledged he wasn’t alone, sharing various testimonies about my own struggles but also the power of God that saved my lives, the lives of my children, and my marriage. He asked me what religion I was because he had never heard of such stories yet knew I was “religious” by my lingo. “I worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus Christ taught about in the Holy Bible.” He snorted at the juxtaposition of my comment with his beliefs and experiences. Although he had been raised in a United Church, he never heard nor saw the power of the God they hypocritically talked about and refused to step inside a church ever again once he was old enough to make his own decisions. Sadly, he also tossed out his Bible at the same time, leaving him floundering against the devil’s vicious attacks.
I apologized for his church and church leadership’s rebellion against God’s word and representation of Almighty God as an impotent, washed up deaf and dumb god that had caused him and his shattered family so much pain over the last 70 years. Then I challenged him to throw out the theology he had been taught by religion and rediscover the God of the Bible by cracking open his Bible and start reading it from the beginning, just like any other book. The God who spoke Creation into the world and healed the sick of EVERY sickness and disease still exists today, still willing to forgive every sin we bring to Him, as he heard by my own testimonies. I suggested he ask out loud the God of the Bible, the One True God that is greater than any other god of any other religion, to speak to him and confirm who He is and that He still exists and can still speak to us today! He left without any decision one way or another, but a lie had been confronted that night and a seed planted in its place. Some plant, some water, but it is the Most High God that gives the increase.
Get out of the safety of the pew, the deceptive complacency of churchianity, read your Bible for yourself and apply it lock, stock, and barrel. Then, go be a walking testimony of the God of the Bible wherever you go as you love on your neighbors all around you. We have ALL been sinners, broken and need a savior that can make the broken whole again. Once we grasp the reality of God’s goodness and freedom that God has given us, experiencing the awesome feeling of a clean soul, sharing our own lives with others isn’t as scary as the devil makes it look. We will be motivated to share that freedom with others!
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