TULIP GEMS

THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

 

 

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”  (Exodus 20:16)

 

 

The Ninth Commandment, like the Third, is dealing with our speech.  The Third has reference to God; the Ninth has reference to our neighbor.  We are required to speak truly to (and about) both God and our fellow man.

 

The Ninth Commandment forbids whatever is untrue, or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name.  The Ninth Commandment forbids false witness in a court of law.   Ditto with gossip and slander.

 

We are not permitted to injure are neighbor's good name.  How much less are we permitted to aid evil men to steal his property, rape his wife, and kill him or his children? We owe no truth to evil men if it will aid them in their crime.

 

 

 

AIDING AND ABETTING CRIMINALS WITH TRUTH

 

 

God found no fault with Abraham (Genesis 12) Isaac (Genesis 26) the Hebrew midwives (Exodus 1) or Rahab (Joshua 2) when they withheld truth, in order to save innocent lives.  Rather, God blessed them for doing it.

 

“By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.”  (Hebrews 11:31)

 

“Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?”  (James 2:25)

 

In order to save the innocent lives of the two Hebrew spies, Rahab had to betray her own evil Canaanite king and mislead his soldiers.  To tell the truth of the Hebrews' whereabouts would be to aid evil men to commit murder.

 

Rahab could not expose two innocent men to death on the pretext that truth is required in all situations.  She could not expect God to deliver two men whom she herself refused to deliver.  To be on God's side meant withholding truth.

 

The example of the Hebrew spies brings another important point to mind.  Both Moses (Numbers 13) and Joshua (Joshua 2) made use of spies.  Spying on an ungodly enemy is not wrong.  Neither is deception in warfare (Joshua 8).

 

 

 

TRUTH AND PRIVACY

 

 

The Ninth Commandment does not require a surrender of privacy.  The Founding Fathers of America recognized this.

 

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution declared that no man "shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself."  He may confess, or choose to testify, in his own behalf.

 

But he cannot be forced to be a witness against himself.  Neither can he be asked questions extraneous to the case at hand.  Therefore, Christians should oppose the use of the lie detector.

 

Why oppose it?  The person being questioned in a lie detector test can be made to testify to extraneous matters.  His privacy is thus invaded.

 

 

 

FALSE PROPHETS

 

 

False Prophets bear false witness against their neighbor.  They teach false ways of salvation.  Their false testimony results in the eternal damnation of both themselves and their followers.

 

Hindu Gurus, Buddhist Monks, Druids, every Pope from Emperor Constantine to the present, Mohammed, Karl Marx and Adolph Hitler are all false prophets.  So is any teacher who rejects salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ alone.

 

Those "Christians" who neglect to teach the whole counsel of God are guilty of the blood of other men.  The Apostle Paul declared:

 

“Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”  (Acts 20:27)

 

The Apostle Paul preached repentance (Acts 20:21) as well as faith.  He preached both election and reprobation (Romans 9).  He preached God's absolute control of all events through predestination (Romans 8-9 and Ephesians 1).

 

He taught that the Ten Commandments still apply today (though never as a way of salvation).  This can clearly be seen in the following verses:

 

 

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”  (Romans 3:31)

 

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”  (Romans 7:12)

 

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.  Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”  (Ephesians 6:1-3)

 

 

Therefore, those "Christian" pastors, evangelists, missionaries and teachers who do not preach repentance, both election and reprobation, absolute predestination and the Ten Commandments are false prophets.

 

They are guilty of the blood of others.  They have no Gospel because they have no Law on which the Gospel is based.  They cannot heal with the Gospel until they first wound with the Law.  The Gospel is good news about Jesus Christ.

 

God saves sinners.  Not God plus man's good works or faith.  Salvation is of the LORD -- from beginning to end.  To God be the glory.  All Antinomian (anti-Law) and Arminian (anti-Calvinist) preachers are false prophets.

 

They may not be false to the same degree that pagan false prophets are.  They may be sincere.  But in the final analysis, they are guilty of the blood of men.  They withhold truth and thus bear false witness against their neighbor.

 

 

The Tenth Commandment