TULIP GEMS

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

 

 “Thou shalt not steal”  (Exodus 20:15 )

 

Stealing is taking what does not belong to you.  The owner does not want to sell it, nor give it, to you.  Stealing is theft.  It includes unlawful taking of property, titles, people, or even the affections of another person's spouse.

 

The Eighth Commandment is designed to protect private property.  If God did not approve of private ownership of property, there would be no reason for the command, “Thou shalt not steal”.

 

COMMUNIST MANIFESTO

 

In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engel advocated that drastic measures be put in force immediately following a successful Communist revolution, including:

 

(1) The abolition of private property and inheritance rights;

 

(2) The redistribution of wealth through heavy, progressive income taxes;

 

(3) A central state bank to control all credit and to manipulate the nation's currency;

 

(4) Government control of all means of communication and transportation;

 

(5) Government ownership of all means of production (factories, farms, mines, power plants, etc.) and all natural resources;

 

(6) The abolition of unemployment through social welfare programs;

 

(7) The redistribution of the population (from cities to rural areas and vice versa);

 

(8) Mandatory state-sponsored and state-supported education.

 

The Manifesto closed with a stirring call to battle: “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working men of the world, unite!”[1]

 

 

AMERICA, LAND OF THE FREE?

 

A cursory reading of the above will reveal how far Marxism has penetrated America and much of the “free world”.  Socialism (mild Communism) is in -- limited, constitutional government, by the people and for the people, is out.

 

Theft is the order of the day.  Income taxes “rob from the rich to give to the poor”.  In reality, they give billions to elite rulers around the world to spend on military hardware and national police that keep them in power.

 

The American Constitution made no provision for an income tax.  Tariffs on trade supported the Federal Government.  It was not until 1913 that an income tax was instituted.  At first, it was just on corporations and wealthy individuals.

 

Now, virtually every American works through April to support the Federal Govt.  The worker then keeps his or her wages the rest of the year.  In other words, he or she gives Uncle Sam about 1/3 of his or her pay in Income and FICA taxes.

 

THEFT OF MINDS

 

Public education steals the minds of children away from the God of the Bible.  Evolution, sex education (without the necessity of the marriage bond) situation ethics, homosexual alternative lifestyles and abortion are all taught as normal.

 

The Bible is banned.  So is public prayer.  Children are robbed of a moral education based on the Ten Commandments.  Parents are robbed of much of their authority and influence over their children.

 

Communism is one gigantic form of theft.  In Russia and China, whole populations and classes of property owners were exterminated and their property "nationalized".   Communists are thieves.  They are not alone.

 

ISLAMIC THEFT

 

The Islamic re-writing of the history of Jerusalem and of the “Palestinian” people is a gigantic form of theft.[2]  It is used to win world support for their theft of the Jewish homeland -- a land God gave to the Hebrews.[3]

 

“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”  (Genesis 15:18)

 

“And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

 

And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

 

And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.”   (Genesis 35:10-12)

 

 

VATICAN THEFT

 

Catholics often call the Pope "the Holy Father."  Not only is this blasphemy, it is also theft.  It is an unlawful taking of a title that only belongs to God the Father in Heaven, according to our Lord Jesus, when he condemned the religious leaders of His day:

 

“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.”  (Matthew 23:9)

 

The Vatican's claim to be the one true Church of Christ is also false.  It is stealing from true Christians what rightly belongs to them.  From John the Baptist until now, there has always existed Bible-believing, Baptist brethren.

 

The Catholics called them Anabaptists (Rebaptizers) and Cathari (Puritans) 1200 years before the Protestant Reformation.  Many of these brethren were believers in God's Sovereign Grace (Waldenses, Lollards, Particular Baptists).

 

THE BIBLE REMEDY FOR THEFT

 

Stealing, like all other sins, needs to be repented of if there is to be forgiveness from God through the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.”  (Ephesians 4:28)

 

 

 

 The Eighth Commandment and Inflation

 

NOTES:

 

[1] George T. Thompson and Jerry Combee, WORLD HISTORY AND CULTURES In Christian Perspective (A Beka Book Publications: Pensacola, Florida, Second Edition, 1997) p. 425.

 

 

[2] Ramon Bennett, PHILISTINE: The Great Deception (Arm of Salvation: Jerusalem, Israel, 1995) pp. 125-197.

 

[3] Ibid. pp. 126-129.