January 13, 2017
1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
JESUS CHRIST is speaking. We are to worship him, and not some man. JESUS is the God of this earth. One of Satan's top ten lies "Follow the Prophet" comes to mind as a way to create a false god. Good luck following the winner of the "oldest living apostle contest".
This does not preclude the possibility of other gods. JESUS does have parents, the male and female who make up the Most High GOD. Right now we need to be laser-focused on CHRIST. He has his own equally great spouse. For now we need to prove we can acknowledge that without JESUS we all go to Hell forever, even Eagle Scouts.
2. "Thou shalt not make any graven image..."
This would seem to include art depicting GOD, since he is in heaven. But Deseret Book makes a tidy profit on various Christi.
3. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain."
This has nothing to do with profanity, and everything to do with falsely portraying that you have information directly from the LORD. For example, every President of the LDS church starting with Brigham Young. Joseph Smith is the only LDS church President not to break the second commandment.
Joseph also said "I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm, and yet deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance to the poor, that the long, smooth-faced hypocrite."
4. "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."
The best way I know to make the Sabbath unholy is to spend 3 hours every Sunday, in a building paid for by tithing money that was supposed to be used for poor people. If the Mormon church used those buildings as homeless shelters the rest of the week, then we could have some evidence that it was "the church of JESUS CHRIST". As long as it wastes donated money on thousands of edifices that are only used a few hours, we can be sure it is not operating with the LORD's approval.
Steve Christiansen, who was tragically killed by Mark Hoffman, used to tell his ward members "if we understood the gospel, we would not have to show up on Sunday, we would be out helping people."
5. "Honor thy Father and thy Mother, that thy days may be long on the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee."
A commandment with a promise. It does not mean all good children will live to be 100. It means that as a people (Jews, Mormons, Americans) you will be exterminated if you violate this commandment often enough and long enough.This promise is also unconditional, meaning you have to honor your parents whether they are good or bad. Feel free to disrespect the people who raised you, and see if GOD is a GOD of His word. I know of children who think themselves equal to or better than their parents...the LORD does not care. He is testing you to see if you can be humble enough and grateful enough to do right by your parents, even if they make you mad at times.
The desecration of this commandment, in my opinion, is the reason that America will be destroyed before the second coming of the SAVIOR.