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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – SEPTEMBER 24

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The Commandments of God,

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Part 3:

“Love Not The World!”

To read Part 1, click here…JULY 28 (The Commandments of God, Part 1: The True Light Now Shineth!)

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“Love not the world,

neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world,

the love of the Father is not in him. 

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,

and the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life,

is not of the Father,

but is of the world. 

And the world passeth away,

and the lust thereof:

but he that doeth the will of God

abideth for ever.”

1st John 2:15-17

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There are many groups as well as many individuals who claim that they keep the 10 Commandments. “Yes, my church keeps the Ten Commandments”, is a boast often heard!

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But what many of these persons or churches do not consider is that if I cannot even keep the first Commandment, then speaking of the other nine is absolutely futile!

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So, let’s examine this first Commandment…“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me!”

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Ten Commandments – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License 4.0

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THE 3 CARDINAL SINS OF MANKIND

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Now let’s look at this commandment in the light of today’s signature passage… 

“Love not the world,

neither the things that are in the world.

If any man love the world,

the love of the Father is not in him. 

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,

and the lust of the eyes,

and the pride of life,

is not of the Father,

but is of the world. 

And the world passeth away,

and the lust thereof:

but he that doeth the will of God

abideth for ever.”

1st John 2:15-17

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Now this above passage from 1st John really says a mouthful, doesn’t it? “All that is in the world…the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world!”

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Moses Breaks Tables of the Law – by G. Dore – Wikimedia – US Public Domain

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AN IDOLATROUS WORLD!

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What many do not consider is that we now live in a world in which the Devil, who is the “god of this world”, has multiplied the many selfish attributes of his evil character, making idolatry an almost impossible sin to overcome!

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This antichrist-world-system is literally dripping in sins! Just think about it! Just consider how many of today’s worldly aspects have one or more of these three basic sins interwoven within!

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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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SPORTS AND THE PRIDE OF WAR

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For instance, take the area of sports.

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Just how much pride is involved in the desire to beat one’s enemy.

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Yes, sports is merely a game of war.

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And pride is fully interwoven into the battles of life.

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And this is not even taking into account the other sins of the flesh involved in competition with others, such as selfishness, violence, and indifference!

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Osmar Schindler – David and Goliath – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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FASHIONS AND PRIDE AND LUST

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Or what about the wearing of clothes? How much pride is involved in keeping up with the latest fashions? Or what about the sensuality of many of the current fashions? That would be the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes!

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Yes, today’s fashions incorporate all three sins rolled into one package! 

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Store window mannequins – Wikimedia – Share-alike License 3.0

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HOMES, THE OBJECT of PRIDE

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And what about our homes?

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How much pride is connected with our homes?

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Or what about our coveting the impressive homes of others?

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That would be the lusts of the eyes!

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Hearst Castle – Wikipedia – GNU Free Documentation License

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TELEVISION AND THE 3 SINS

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When we watch TV, we just do not realize how often these three great sins are acted out by the actors!

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And as we behold all this evil, our hearts are unwittingly embracing these sins!

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$1,000’s SPENT ON IMPRESSIVE CARS

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The same principles apply to our fashionable vehicles!

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Christians often spend thousands extra, so as to have an impressive automobile!

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Behold the advertisements for cars! Pride is one of the big selling points! Some well-dressed, prestigiously attractive person gets into a dazzling vehicle and smoothly glides down some beautiful highway…“This could be you!”, is the unspoken message of such an ad!

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Rolls Royce 200EX ‘Ghost’ – Flickr – The Car Spy – cropped image – Wikimedia Share-alike license

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PROUD ACCOMPLISHMENTS

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Or when our children outperform other children, does not our heart naturally lift itself up in pride?

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Young business people – Cropped Photo – Wikimedia – the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

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PROUD OVER OUR CAREERS

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Or what about our high-paying jobs and careers?

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Don’t we revel when we can boast of our status.

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Are we not just a little like the proud rooster crowing of his dominance, or a princely strutting peacock, thinking, “All eyes are on me”?  

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Rooster Crowing – Hahn Fredenbaum – cropped image – Wikimedia Commons – Share-alike License

Peacock – cropped image – Wikimedia – the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

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LUSTS OF THE FLESH

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What about our fleshly desire for delicious foods?

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Do we not lust for tasty foods which we know are not the best for our health?

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Crab cakes, sweet potato french fries, cole slaw, tartar sauce, Cola – cropped image – Wikimedia – Share-alike License

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PRIDE IN MUSIC

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Take the area of music. How much pride is involved with music?

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Doesn’t it fill us with pride to have others realize just how discriminating we are in our choices of music?

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Pride, pride, pride!

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Music Song Singer – cropped/darkened image – Wikimedia – C.C. Share-alike License

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SENSUALITY IN MUSIC

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Or what about sensual music?

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The lust of the flesh is interwoven into much of today’s music!

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8 musicians motion blur experimental digital photography by Rick Doble. – cropped image – Wikimedia – C.C. GNU License

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PRIDE OVER FAMILY

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Or when we get our family all dressed up and proudly display them before others?

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Yes, quite often, our human pride even rears itself up on these occasions!

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The Garden Bench – James Tissot – Wikipaintings

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THE 3 SINS BETWEEN THE LINES

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And if we could really analyze our daily conversations with others, we might be embarrassed to discover just how much pride, lust, and greed are hidden between the lines of our daily communication!

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The Phone Call – Wikimedia – Public Domain

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EXAMINE OURSELVES!

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Well, these are just a few areas of life.

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But if we would examine the other areas of our life, we would be appalled to realize just how much of the three great sins are interwoven into our daily lives!

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Even our charitable acts can be a great source of pride!

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Am I Proud! NARA Poster – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain

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“JUDGE YE NOT, AND YE SHALL NOT BE JUDGED!”

Luke 6:37

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We humans are not even aware at how often we judge all those we encounter each day.

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It’s as natural as breathing, this proud world, to judge others by our own standards!

Drunk Panhandler – Wikipedia – Public-Domain

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“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me!” 

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And so, as we look at the 1st Commandment, we begin to realize that we have many gods!

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Our lives are filled with idolatry!

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We understand that we have feet of clay too, just like the great unwashed multitudes!

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Mall Market culture – Jakarta – Wikimedia – share-alike-lic.

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OUR HEARTS DECEITFULLY WICKED!

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Now the point to all this is that our lives are filled with all sorts of idolatry!

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We are just not aware of it! As the Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked! Who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9

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Yes, each and every human has a deceitful and wicked heart.

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And so, by nature, we just are not aware of how wickedly selfish our motives really are!

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ABOVE PICTURE: Battle for the heart – www.signsofheaven.org

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JESUS GAVE HIMSELF AN EXAMPLE

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Now in contrast to this sin-filled world, the Holy One of God came down to walk through this evil world, giving us an example of total goodness, purity and love! He was wholly selfless! There was not even a trace of one those three sins in Him!

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And His life was also given as an example for us to follow!

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And the invitation goes out to us, even as it went out to His original disciples… “Come and follow Me!”

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ABOVE STAR-CHART (constellations found on Wikipedia and Bible constellations drawn in by this website) – Sign of the Son of Man – www.theheavensdeclare.net – Not for commercial uses

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COME FOLLOW ME!

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Once we really look squarely at the truth of just how selfish and lustful and proud we are, then we might truly wish to follow our Messiah Lord.

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And He will lovingly and tenderly lead us out of this lustful, sinful world and up the Heaven-ward pathway of holiness, which goes up, up, up, to the Celestial City of God!

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Jesus Discourses with His Disciples – James Tissot – by Brooklyn Museum – by Wikipedia – Public Domain

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TO READ PART 4, CLICK HERE…

March 18 (The Commandments of God, Part 4: “Christians & The Old Testament Law”)

Moses – Ten Commandments – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to put away my desire to seek after the things of the world. Let me become like Paul who was totally devoted to serving Thee…

Praying Hands – Otto Greiner – Wikimedia – bassenge.com – Cropped image – Public Domain

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READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read…“November 21 (2nd Commandment & Images)”, or you can also read this shorter article…“September 19th (Dawn of the Dead, Part 4: Earthly Mammon!)”

Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

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EARTH: PLANET OF REST

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Counting the Sun as the 1st heavenly sphere, the Earth is the 4th heavenly sphere. If we extend our theory (and it’s just a theory) that God created our solar system to correspond to the commandments, the Sun corresponding to the 1st Commandment, then Planet Earth would correspond to the 4th Commandment: the Seventh-day Sabbath.

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And so, on the very planet that corresponds to the commandment that exalts the idea of “peace” and “rest”, there exists very little peace. And very little rest. Ironic, isn’t it? 

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Globeblack – wikimedia – public domain

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FOR FURTHER STUDY:

Planet of Rest: “What is the True Sabbath?”

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TOMORROW…

SEPTEMBER 25 (Eternal Torment? Part 13: Tophet NOW!)

Brooklyn Museum – The Rich Man In Hell – James Tissot – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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20+ MINUTE AUDIO JEREMIAH STUDY

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL. 

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THIS IS STUDY #632 PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…

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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.com – Public Domain

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Those who are interested in using photos on this page may click on the provided image credit link below each photo, to get to Wikimedia Commons for various licensing names, details, and tags, and all other necessary info on any particular photo.