THE TEN COMMANDMENTS TODAY - PART 9

NINTH COMMANDMENT:  Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Even though people keep their distance from the commandments concerning stealing, adultery and murder, they consider these more serious or important than bearing false witness, but they are not. 

When we listen to, testify to, or pass on, either consciously or unconsciously, rumors or reports, speculations, or things that someone said that someone else said, we are bearing false witness.  We may not know what the truth is but we pass it on anyways. 

We may misunderstand what someone is saying or do not fully understand the reason this information is coming to us but we take it in and pass it on, maybe only to be noticed or to feel we are contributing to a common cause; it still does not make it right, even if it is true.

Sometimes we pass on information, true or not, to get back at someone who we dislike or for revenge.  We may not be killing someone but what we are doing is destroying their character or reputation.  The old adage comes into play here.  “If you cannot say something good about someone, do not say anything at all.” 

Once something comes out of your mouth, it cannot be taken back.

Those who knowingly speak or act out things that are untrue are considered liars. 

False witness has been done many times in court, even after swearing on a bible.  Each person on earth will be held accountable for their actions at the Judgment Bar of God and it will not be treated as a small thing.

According to the scriptures, anything that, in its nature is untrue or is meant to deceive is a lie.  Those who believe in false doctrines believe a lie and if they pass that on they are also guilty of lying.  In other words, to teach true doctrine is to tell the truth and to teach false doctrine is to lie.

1 John 2: 4, 21-22

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

If you belong to the true church and you say you believe in Jesus Christ and His commandments, and then in your actions and your life, you do not reflect or live it, you are lying and bearing false witness.

Do not bear false witness because you are here on earth, in this body, to work out your own salvation.  Every decision you make does not go unrecorded or unnoticed.  It is a requisite to be honest in your thoughts, actions and dealing with your fellow men. 

Those who are honest in heart will readily accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and its truths.

When talking about civil law, the Lord has given us instructions about finding honest people who do not bear false witness and act true in judging, or making laws for the benefit and freedom of all people.  They must have integrity and truth in them.

Doctrine and Covenants 98: 10 

10 Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.

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THE VALUE OF THE SCRIPTURES TODAY

What are Scriptures?

Any message that comes from God to man, whether written or spoken, by the power of the Holy Ghost is scripture.

Doctrine and Covenants 68: 2-4

2 And, behold, and lo, this is an ensample unto all those who were ordained unto this priesthood, whose mission is appointed unto them to go forth—

3 And this is the ensample unto them, that they shall speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost.

4 And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall be the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.

Scriptures are here to guide us in our earthly test or journey. 

They teach us how to live according to Eternal principles and laws.

Living Prophets Are Not Usually Listened To.

Here is a summary of the parable of the rich man and the beggar.  Luke 16: 19-31

The Savior gave a parable about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, who laid at his gates, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. 

Lazarus died and the Angels took him to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man died also and was buried.

The rich man was now in Spirit Prison or Hell and looked up to Abraham and asked him to have mercy on him. 

Abraham told him that he had received the good things of life and Lazarus received evil things, now it was reversed.  He said there was a gulf fixed between them which neither could pass.

Then the rich man said that he had brethren still alive and asked that they be sent a warning so they would not end up like him.

Abraham told him, they have Moses and the prophets, who are living, let them hear them. 

The rich man said they would not listen to Moses, but if someone from the dead came from the dead and told them, they would repent. 

Abraham said, No, if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, who are with them, they will not listen to those who rose or spoke from the dead.

Today.

The world is in that situation today.  There is a Living Prophet Today; he is President Thomas S. Monson, President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

The Lord has restored His church and His Gospel in its fulness to the earth.

The Book of Mormon is that restored gospel. 

The writers of the Book of Mormon were all prophets.  

Each writer was a descendant of Lehi who was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and with Jeremiah, another prophet, had called repentance to the people of Jerusalem.

They were angry with Lehi and Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah left to Egypt with some of the righteous. 

Lehi being warned of danger was instructed by the Lord to leave Jerusalem and was told that he would be led to a Land of Promise in the Americas. 

They were instructed to keep a record. 

It was kept from 600 B.C. to 421 A.D. of the wars and the sacred things that had happened to their civilization during this thousand year period. 

It was made on gold plates.  Gold was plentiful in that day, so they used it to record the records.  This would insure that the record would last through a long period of time to come out of the ground for us today.

The Lord sees the end from the beginning and prepared this record for us in the Latter Days.

This record was not recorded specifically for them, but was written by inspiration from the Lord to prophets during that time period, who are now dead, to come forth, in this day to us.  

This makes it scripture.  It is a companion with the Bible, not a replacement.

Those prophets are saying to us, listen to us and learn what we went through so you do not have to repeat our mistakes. 

It also tells us of the many blessings that they received from the Lord.

This is especially true when the Savior, just after His resurrection, appeared to the people in the Americas and gave them His gospel.

He told them they were the “Other sheep” he had mentioned to the Jews during his ministry, that He would go to.

In Jerusalem He said:

John 10: 16

16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

And He told them in the Americas as recorded in the Book of Mormon:

3 Nephi 15: 21

21 And verily I say unto you, that ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

This living prophet spoken of above receives revelation from the Lord for the direction of His church and the world today.

The Lord has revealed that President Thomas Spencer Monson is not only the prophet of this church, but is the prophet to the whole earth. 

The mission of Latter Day church is to spread the Restored Gospel and gather Israel again from the four quarters of the earth before the Lord’s Second Coming.

For further research go to www.lds.org

Comments are welcome.