May 1, 2012 (written April 7,
2008)
From: Dad, Grandpa etc.
Richard M. Pratt
Re: The Ten Commandments
Exactly two months right to the day
after Israel had left Egypt they came to the foot of Mt. Sinai, and there
Israel camped before the mount. (Grandma and I spent two days there. It’s a
wild and rugged area of tall and craggy, rocky mountains and sandy valley
bottoms with but little vegetation. And such as the there is, is the same dusty
grey as the terrain. Very desolate and barren. St. Kathrines’ monastery is at
the base of the mountain, the oldest monastery in the world, established there
in the sixth century A.D. a small spring of water makes life possible there.)
Here Moses hoped to do great things
for Israel. He hoped to bring this band of recently freed slaves into some
semblance of order. Try to imagine two million people just freed from two
hundred years or more of slavery suddenly receiving their freedom. They must
have indeed been a wild and rowdy bunch, very difficult to lead if they could
be led at all, moaning and complaining about every thing from the sand and heat
to what they were going to eat and drink. The Lord said unto them thru Moses:
“the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, thus shalt thou say to
the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; ye have seen what I did
unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you unto
myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant;
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the
earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy
nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
And Moses came and called for the
elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the
Lord commanded him...and the Lord said unto Moses, lo, I come unto thee in a
thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee
forever... And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord
said unto Moses, go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and
let them wash their clothes,
and be ready against the third day:
for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people
upon Mt. Sinai.
The third day came - the people
were dressed in their best but when the mountain began to shake and belch forth
smoke the people were too afraid to meet the Lord and begged Moses to intercede
for them. Exodous 19:6-17
After being instructed by the Lord,
Moses went down to the people and revealed to them as he had been instructed
“THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: which in a simplified form and easy to understand are as
follows: (read them in full in the Bible, Exodus chapter 20)
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. (choose to
love God)
2. Thou shalt not make any graven image.
3. Take not the name of God in vain.
4. Keep the Sabbath day holy.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not lie.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
~ 2 ~
Is this the first time the world
had been exposed to these basic laws? Of course not! For they are the very basis
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Sabbath is mentioned right in the beginning.
“And on the Sabbath Day God ended his work which he had made.....and God
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” Genesis 2:1-2
“Our Father Adam taught these
things. And many have believed and become the sons (and daughters) of God, and
many have believed not and have perished in their sins.
And what did Father Adam teach?
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion and the gift
of the Holy Ghost. “And Adam was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was
carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought
forth out of the water, and thus he was baptized and the Spirit of God
descended upon him, thus he was born of the spirit, and became quickened in the
inner man....behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become
my sons (and daughters) amen.”
Were the ten commandments taught?
Of course else how could Cain be guilty of murder? Where no law is given no sin
can be committed nor punishment affixed. Were the ten commandments all of God’s
commandments? Of course not. They are the basic laws. The laws of the
Priesthood are not mentioned there-in.
I frequently, when teaching the ten
commandments, invite the class to try and add ten more that are not already
included in the ten. I’ve never had a class that could do it. But here are a
few more most of which belong to the Priesthood and the ordinances and
covenants there of:
11. The law of tithing.
12. The law of the fast and offerings.
13. Pray always lest ye be deceived.(Read grandma’s
dream start bottom of page 30 in her autobiography.)
14. The law of eternal marriage.
15. The commandment to have children.
16. The law of obedience to God and his agents.
17. Temple work.
18. Genealogy.
19. YOU add......
20. YOU add......( remember most any that you can think of
are already part of the original ones.)
Of course there are the civil laws
that the Lord gave as to how they were to govern themselves and to this day in
a corrupted form are the basic civil laws of all nations.
Apparently the Lord was trying to
make another people like the “People of Enoch”. And in a small measure
succeeded in the case of Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders
of Israel, they went up on a high mountain: “and they saw the God of Israel:
and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as
it were the body of heaven in its clearness and upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand:” ABSOLUTELY SAW GOD. Exodus 24: 9-11. Moses was
then commanded of the Lord to go up into a high mountain and there for forty
days and forty nights he fasted and prayed and was taught face to face by the
Lord. (No man can fast that long without food and water and live. In fact
fifteen days is about the limit for the strongest of men.) But the Lord
strengthened him and bore him up that he with the Lord (Jesus) are the only
ones two fast from food and water that long and still survive. And Moses was
still strong enough to come down off the mountain carrying two heavy stones
engraven on both sides by the finger of the Lord.)
~ 3 ~
Only to discover that during that
forty days the camp had reverted to the devilish doctrine and worship of a
golden calf and totally immersing themselves in carnality and all the sins of
sensuality.
Moses threw the plates of stone
down in disgust, breaking them, and ordering the execution of three thousand
men who appear to have been the ring leaders of all this corruption. And after
three days, having gotten the camp back in order, he again ascended the
mountain for another forty days of fasting and receiving instructions as to
what to do next.
Again he received two tablets of
stone engraven by the finger of the Lord. But alas they did not contain the
same instructions as the first. For they had contained the laws and covenants
pertaining to the Melchizedek Priesthood including all the temple ceremonies
for the living including eternal marriage. The second set of plates contained
the laws and rites of the Aaronic Priesthood which for the most part pertain
only to mortal life.
However it appears that a few of
the stalwarts such as Joshua and the seventy elders and a few other faithfuls
did receive all their ordinances of the Higher Priesthood in the Portable
Temple which the Lord commanded them to build and was called
the Tabernacle, later used as the model for Solomon’s temple build of precious
stones, wood, and gold. The basic dimensions being exactly twice that of the
tabernacle.
The next forty years, because they
had spurned the Celestial law of God, was spent wandering in the wilderness
while all over age twenty had died or been killed by enemies and several times
by the Lord visiting upon them plagues, and phenomena of nature. The new
generation were of course taught the gospel as far as the Aaronic Priesthood
could take them which would have included baptism by immersion but not
confirmation. Remember when the Lord went out when John was baptizing in Jordan
that the confirmation was not performed except in the case of Jesus when the
Holy Ghost appeared and the Father spoke from Heaven saying, “Behold my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3: 13-17
Now lets take a look at each of th
ten commandments.
1. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.
Yet men have worshiped everything under the sun and including the sun. and some
of todays God’s include, the basics of life, careers, education, recreation
(this one perhaps has the most devotees), sexuality, animals of all kinds and
of course money. In short about any physical thing is worshiped by
someone.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of
the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
commandments.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in
vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that is in thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Note: the Sabbath is
perhaps considered one of the least of the commandments yet one of the most
important, the one most often broken.
~ 4 ~
The
person who breaks the Sabbath day has also broken the first three commandments.
That person has broken the commandment by placing other “Gods, Gods” of his own
making, imaginary or real before God the Father. They may have graven images,
such as a camper, a boat, or joy riding etc. etc. None of these are bad when
used at the proper time.
Thou
shalt not take the name of God in vain is much more than just swearing. It’s
breaking any and every covenant we have made with God from baptism on. And oh
how easy it is to break the Sabbath unthinkingly. Example: a few Sundays ago I
was preparing to go to the regular Sabbath meetings. I went to discard some
junk into the waste basket most of us keep under the sink, only to find it over
flowing ( I believe someone else is using it besides me for it is always full!)
I grabbed it to take it out and dump it in the canister on the back porch, I
could have had it returned in two minutes. Then the thought hit me, “Sabbath
breaker! You would be a violator of one of my Father’s holy laws. And I thought
NO WAY!” I laid the waste in the sink and took it out Monday. Five years ago I
would have taken it out. Perhaps that’s why I’ve lived nearly one hundred years
that I might learn to keep that day specified by God as the Sabbath holy. Now I
even buy my groceries at Allen’s for it’s a grocery store I know of that is
closed on Sunday. Where were the five foolish virgins when the doors to the wedding
feast were closed in their faces? Perhaps they were getting their last bargains
at the shopping areas open on Sunday. (I know the scriptures says they were
asleep, same thing.)
Well
that’s the first four and they are all about your relationship with God. The
last six are your relationship with your fellow beings.
5. Honor thy Father and
thy Mother that thy days may be
long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ( note this is the first
commandment with a promise).
In
this sad day of broken homes, deserting parents, often untruthful and
unfaithful we honor our parents by being obedient to God even if our mortal
parents don’t like it. For that is the only way you can honor them and by so
doing your days may be long upon the land and you may influence delinquent
parents to repent and do like wise.
In many Islamic countries it
is still legal for a father to kill his son or daughter if they have violated
Islamic law. I had a young friend some thirty years ago, a student from Iran
who converted to the church. I had the privilege of being his Bishop and at the
appropriate time took him to the Salt Lake Temple for his endowments. Several
times it was announced that he was the first Iranian in modern times to receive
these sacred ordinances.
When
it came time to go home to Iran. He explained the dilemma he was in. If he told
his father he had left Islam, his father would kill him. I couldn’t believe it. Well he solved the
problem by seeking asylum in the United States and is currently a highly
respected professor in an Eastern university. His name is BiJan Sawdstmand.
6. Thou shalt not kill. Oh how my heart bled for the little seven year old
girl abused and murdered last week in Salt Lake city by a young man. Especially
did I sorrow for him. And the eternal suffering he will experience.
7. Thou shalt not
commit adultery. (Nor anything like unto it. To tamper with and
divert the source of life to sensuality is second to murder in seriousness
before our Heavenly Father.)
8. Thou shalt not
steal. (My heart goes out to the
petty thieves. If you’re going to be a thief be a big one the penalty is the
same!)
9. Thou shalt not bare
false witness against thy
neighbor. (Or anyone else!)
10. Thou shalt not
covet...anything that belongs to
others.
Come
follow me the Savior said, for my burden is light and easy to bear, any other
course brings eternal regrets. Choose
with me to follow Jesus Christ our Lord and redeemer! I love you all.
My
love,
Dad,
Grandpa, etc Richard M Pratt
