What Do These Things Have In Common? -By Joe Dauda

A Fence, A Gun, An Army, A Padlock, And A Car Alarm System?

If all men obeyed just one of God’s Ten Commandments — the 8th — there will be no need for spending on all of the above and no need for several other related expenses because these things all exist mostly to prevent people from trying to steal something, either from an individual, or from a community, or from a nation.

Thou Shalt Not Steal means everything in your possession either belongs to you or is being kept in trust for the owner, or was lost and found and you are in the process of seeking for the owner to return it to them.

If such a world existed, hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars would be saved and available for food and health and housing and education and good roads. If no single human being in the world was interested in stealing what does not belong to them:

There would not have been slavery;
No kidnapping;
No piracy of people’s intellectual property like books and songs;
No need for car alarm systems;
No need for spending on security doors;
No need for high security fences; perimeter fences will just be fine
No need for burglary proof metal bars;
No need for expensive gates;
No need for gatemen;
No need for Vigilante groups to stop local thieves;
No need for CCTV;
No stolen elections by politicians;
No need for police and police cars and guns used in chasing armed robbers;
No need for passwords;
No need for cyber security systems;
No need for bullet proof bullion vans;
No need for. . . you can fill in the blanks.

Globally, security infrastructure and security systems cost hundreds of billions of dollars — every year. Defense budgets are traditionally the highest in most countries.

Why is that the case?

It’s because, if you do not secure your property or the resources in your country, someone else with superior weapons will come and take it. But taking what does not belong to you is a violation of the 8th Commandment.

Before Boko Haram took over Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State and hoisted their flag there, my brother used to teach Physics at the Government Secondary School. Today, because of the poor level of education he witnessed first hand, he has become the author of arguably the best Physics Calculation Textbook in Nigeria. This book was written over a 7-year period to enable the dullest student excel in Physics — if they care to read the book. I personally think that book should have been titled Physics For Dummies, just like a book I once saw in the library titled Guitar For Dummies, which was written to teach basic skills for those interested in learning to play the guitar. My brother’s book was so well written a certain rich criminal has gone ahead to produce copies illegally (perhaps in China) and is now selling them all over the place and reaping where he did not sow. But my brother’s highly acclaimed book is not the burden of this piece. . .

While he was still a physics teacher at GSS Shiroro, I once visited my brother at his base. This was almost 20 years ago. One thing I noticed at Shiroro town was that motorcycles were carelessly parked around the market area and my brother explained to me that what I was seeing was real: people parked their motorcycles at the market and went home, believing it will still be there whenever they decided to come for it. Now, the Gbagyi people, who populated Shiroro at the time, are known to be generally honest; for this reason, while I was impressed by the discovery of the odd lifestyle of Shiroro residents, I wasn’t absolutely flabbergasted.

The point here is that, simply because stealing was not common in Shiroro town, the people felt confident enough to park their motorcycles wherever they wanted and go home. Can you imagine that kind of thing happening all over Nigeria?

Think about living in a world where nobody broke the 8th commandment. If you mistakenly lose your phone or a bundle of cash, you just relax and wait, knowing that a certain radio station will soon make an announcement informing you that someone had found a phone or a pile of cash and the owner should come (with no need of proof of ownership) to collect.

Now imagine a world where you were also sure nobody will break the 9th commandment by backbiting you or gossipping against you or openly bearing false witness against you. When people whisper behind your back, you are not disturbed: you know they are either planning a surprise birthday party for you or discussing who among them will let you know that you have been nominated to serve as Chairperson for the Committee of Friends in a forthcoming wedding ceremony. You are sure they wouldn’t say anything bad about you unfairly because they are all committed to obeying the 9th commandment.

How nice would that be?

None of us can imagine that.

But what God has in mind in the new earth is even better than what I have tried to portray above. If every human being obeyed all of the Ten Commandments, life will be too sweet. And when you remove death from such a community by giving its members perfect health, good food, and eternal life, the joy of such existence is simply mind boggling.

Do you now sympathize with God’s Ten Commandments and His insistence that we must keep them in order to inherit eternal life?

God is not being Bossy, even though He has all the right to be. All these commandments are for our good. And God definitely does not want policemen and padlocks and things like that in the new earth. Fortunately, there will be no such things because there will be no covetous person in the kingdom of God, let alone an actual thief.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators . . .
Nor thieves, nor covetous . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Every person that is permitted to partake in the new earth must first have shown full sympathy for the Ten Commandments of God.

Please visit:

10LoveCommandments.com

And show your support for God’s good and righteous commandments by deciding to keep them. The grace of God is sufficient for you.

Revelation 22:14
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Revelation 21:25
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

Isaiah 66:22-23
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Extra:
It was after saving the Israelites from Pharaoh’s bondage that God gave them the Ten Commandments. So you see? The commandments are not for sinners who don’t know God and who are still in bondage to sin: the commandments were given to the people of God AFTER they had been delivered. It is for members of the kingdom only; none whose sins are not yet forgiven can keep the commandments to the glory of God because our righteous acts (without first being forgiven) are like filthy rags before God.

If your sins have been forgiven by being washed in the blood of the Lamb, your righteous acts are not in vain: God accepts them.

1 Peter 2:5
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

10LoveCommandments.com

1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

1 John 2:4
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Wondering where to read the Ten Commandments in the Bible? Just check out Exodus 20:1-17.

Thanks for reading through.

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