“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, NKJV).
The words, “take ... in vain,” mean that we must not to misuse or abuse God's name in any way. The English phrase, “take ... in vain,” is translated from a Hebrew word nawsaw (“lift,” “carry,” “take”) and the word shawv (“desolation,” “destructiveness,” “uselessness,” “evil”). So this phrase means “taking up God's name insincerely,” “applying God's name for useless, destructive, evil purposes,” “bearing His name without any good and useful intent,” “thinking little or nothing of God’s name,” or “treating His name as worthless.” And a “name,” in those days, was not just a label. It referred to the whole of God’s attributes, including God’s authority, will, desires and character. Whenever one speaks, teaches, prophesies or does any deeds in God's name, either implying or directly stating that it is according to God’s will, or even uses one of God’s names to suggest that God’s authority stands behind one’s words or deeds, or merely uses His name to draw attention to one’s words, one actually declares that God Himself has endorsed, caused or commanded those words or deeds. And, because God hears and sees all that one says or does, and knows the real motives of one’s spirit, saying or doing anything in God’s name is a very weighty matter! For one is declaring that one is actually and literally uttering words or doing deeds directly through the almighty Creator’s personal will, power and authority. Whether one’s words or deeds are good or evil, they will be attributed to God in a way that makes implications about God’s character. They will either glorify or slander God, since there is not much one can say or do in any neutral way, without either a positive nor negative spiritual intent.
Therefore, above all, God’s third-order laws forbid anyone to say anything, teach anything, prophesy anything or do anything in God’s name, in any way that can possibly be associated with God, unless the real God Himself has actually, explicitly and directly commanded one to say, teach, prophesy or do it. For, if we say, teach, prophesy or do anything which not fully and entirely according to God’s will—if we speak, teach, prophesy or do anything which is even slightly wrong, while we bear His name in any way—we will cause people to think God endorsed our wrong words or deeds, and this will influence their perception of God, cause them to make false judgments about God’s attributes and character. Even if our words or deeds are not truly and fully said or done according to God’s will, so they fail to be effective, those who hear our words or see our deeds will think God failed to make His words or deeds effective. So they will think God is weak or does not even exist. All who falsely use God’s name make the people think God is either a fool, is evil, has no power to make His words or deeds effective, or does not exist at all. Yet the real omniscient, omnipotent God never fails. He always succeeds at literally everything He wills to do. His words and deeds are always effective, even in terrifyingly awesome ways. And every word or deed God says or does is absolutely perfect.
Now some abuse this command by condemning the failed attempts of those trying to obey the words of the human gods of their churches. Many fake preachers will claim their false words are true and from God, but the only reason their false teachings are not effective in the lives of their people is because those people do not obey their lies correctly, or without enough so-called “faith.” But the reality is that those preachers know nothing about God and never truly speak or act in God’s name. We know this because we have actual records of many prophets, apostles and common members of God’s true church of Israel who genuinely heard God, whose spirits actually learned the words of God, who is a Spirit, as God spoke directly to their spirits. Then those men and women proclaimed real truth and did real deeds in God’s name, according to God’s genuine will, in a way that gave us a true and accurate understanding of our real God’s attributes, character and will. Throughout history, from the days of Adam and Eve, it has always been possible for all God’s elect children to actually speak words and do deeds in God’s name, in the name of Jesus, who is one with God our Father.
To speak, teach, prophesy or do anything falsely in God’s name will invariably end up causing false impressions about God. Bearing God’s name, as Jews or Christians, while spreading false doctrines or while doing useless and sometimes outright evil works, will always cause others to think God is a liar, or useless, or outright evil, or does not actually exist. Taking God’s name “in vain” is slandering God’s good name, which is a sin that the church calls “blasphemy.” And, if one utters false or evil words in God’s name, or pretends to do any deeds in God’s name, though God has not commanded one to do those deeds, one commits a third-order sin, which is one of the worst kinds of sins. For God established these third-order laws as a much higher priority than all the other orders of His laws listed below it in the Ten Commandments. Thus, “taking the name of Yahweh your God in vain,” especially by teaching or prophesying false words in His name, or by doing works in His name when He did not command those works, is a worse sin than murder, since murder is regulated by the sixthorder laws, with a far lower priority in God’s eyes than His third-order laws. And this makes perfect sense. For some false preachers have taught false doctrines, and have broken these third-order laws, in ways that have actually resulted in the murdering of millions of innocent lives through their lies.
This is not an insignificant commandment. And it does not solely involve using one of God’s names in expletives unnecessarily when one is angry, such as when one stubs one’s toe. Yes, using one of God’s names as a swear word is abusing or misusing God’s name too, and it does indeed break the third-order laws of God, but in an extremely minor way. For there are different degrees of sin, or various weights of sin, assigned to each of the laws within the order of laws related to each of the archetypal Ten Commandments. So some of the third-order laws are not as critical as others, and offences against some third-order laws do not warrant as much condemnation from God as other third-order laws. Furthermore, if a misuse of God’s name is unintentional or done in ignorance, as it usually is among non-believers and marginal believers, or when one acts through anger, that sin is instantly and easily forgivable, like all other unintentional sins. If even a true believer utters God’s name in anger, or as a swear word, or in an impulsive lie, or in a compelled false oath, it is usually a minor sin and easy to repent from it. However, God’s own intended meaning of the third archetypal commandment, in its position bearing a very high priority, is primarily to forbid extremely evil sins.
The very worst offences against God’s third-order laws are acts of teaching or prophesying any kind of false or erroneous message in God’s name. For this, there was a maximum penalty of death. These third-order laws were primarily intended to regulate against teachings and prophecies which falsely claimed to bear God’s endorsement or authority. For, as we have seen throughout history, many false teachings and false prophecies have led multitudes of deceived souls, even whole nations, to commit the most vile and wicked sins imaginable, all in the name of God. False churches, and nations that have been influenced by false churches, have persecuted, plundered, tortured, raped and murdered countless innocent souls for millenniums. As a consequence, the false teachings and false prophecies spewing from foul mouths of psychopathic church gods have slandered God’s name in all the earth.
False teachings and false prophecies led Israel and Judah into heresies which caused great injustice and ignored the plight of the needy souls in their lands, eventually leading them into a kind of false worship which included child sacrifices at sexual orgies. Thus, God had no choice but to destroy His corrupted church priesthood of Israel and Judah, sending the survivors into captivity until the entire wicked and deceived generation died off. Due to false doctrines and false prophecies, many so-called “Christian” churches terrorized, oppressed, tortured and murdered countless innocent souls with complete impunity, and did all this in God’s name. They oppressed and murdered at will, without anyone able to effectively restore justice to their lands. The Roman Catholic church has oppressed, ridiculed, dehumanized, persecuted, tortured and murdered Jews for centuries, all based on their very false doctrines of replacement theology. Then they murdered countless Muslim, Christian and pagan souls in their crusades, all due to false prophecies about the return of Christ after a thousand years, and based on other false doctrines. Then many Protestant churches adopted her false teachings too, and became the daughters of that great harlot. So God has assigned her and her numerous daughter churches to death and complete destruction during the end times. For, to this day, based on false doctrines and false prophecies, churches still oppress and cause deaths, even to little children. For instance, through ridiculous false teachings, which cause souls to reject essential medications and medical procedures for their flesh—even though God granted us this knowledge and the resources in His natural creation for such things, for our own good—parents actually murder their own children!
I hope some begin to see how critical it is to fulfill God’s third-order laws. It is very important to God, and to us, that we teach perfectly correct doctrines and apply them rightly, as God Himself wants them to be applied. For we have absolutely no right to our own opinions, no right to decide which spiritual and physical principles we deem to be good, no right to choose which of God’s laws we will deem to be correct, nor how we serve God and whom we will serve in God’s creation. We are not to pick and choose which ones we want to save, reject or replace according to our own invented moral principles, and no right to choose how we apply any moral principles. For not one of us is truly knowledgeable or wise, and all our ways that stray from God’s true ways cause only harm.
In reality, we all need to accept that only God created all spiritual and physical existence, and He created all existence to function most effectively according the spiritual and physical principles He created when He created all else. Then, through in His creations and His Law, as well as through the whispering of His Holy Spirit to our own spirits, He continuously reveals His truths and wisest ways to apply those principles in every unique circumstance. So, for our own good, and for the good of all, it is always best for our spirits to heed God and do what He says. It is always expedient for us to seek God’s opinion first, then ignore all opposing opinions, whether those other opinions come from angels, demons, self-exalting human gods or any other entities. For we have no right to any contrary opinions, only the right to hear and apply God’s wise, beneficial, right opinions. Therefore, we are to teach, prophecy and do all things in God’s name, but always according to His will alone. And anyone who strays from God’s opinion, from God’s own interpretation of His own words in the Bible, or from anything else He reveals through His Holy Spirit or His creation, does indeed commit a great sin that potentially will cause great injustice, even many deaths of the innocent. Anyone who falsely claims to have received a word of teaching or prophesy directly from God, commits a very serious sin, which can result in very harmful or even deadly effects. And, if one becomes so spiritually dead that one’s inner conscience of the spirit no longer feels and fears those harmful or deadly effects, God has already handed that one over to delusions, because one’s heart did not love the truth. But make no mistake; the harmful or deadly effects of one’s lies will surely find one out, with vengeance.
If a preacher claims that God Himself has endorsed and upholds what he says or does—as a pastor or priest claiming to represent God, even if he does not directly claim to speak or act in God’s name, but also refuses to admit that his words or deeds are merely human thoughts and opinions—then he is actually implying and indirectly declaring that anyone who does not heed his words, or anyone who stops or hinders his deeds, is rebelling against God Himself. But, if God Himself does not truly teach, train and endorse that preacher, God does not consider any words or deeds which oppose that preacher to be a rebellion against Himself. And that false preacher is basically exalting himself to a status of a god who rules over the real God. That false preacher seems to think he can decide what God should judge to be either right or wrong. And, by doing this, that false preacher is committing egregious blasphemy, drawing near to the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against God’s Holy Spirit.
If a man is a true teaching elder, he will indicate or imply when he is not speaking or acting in God’s name, when he is offering his own opinion or some other human being’s opinion, when he is doing something based on his own decisions or the decisions of a human authority. A true teaching elder will admit his fallibility and sin, his own lack of authority before God, man and God’s creation. He will not lie to others or himself, but have a humble and sober estimation of himself, knowing that he knows nothing of consequence, and that God alone is wise. And, when a true teaching elder actually speaks or acts in God’s name, he will say so, then also be able to give sound reasoning for his words or deeds, since Jesus invariably provides sound reasoning when He gives us any command to speak or act in His name. That true teaching elder will indicate the true godly purposes for saying or doing whatever Jesus has called him to say or do, based on God’s own interpretation of God’s own words.
If we consider all the harm and death perpetrated through the false use of God's name in false words and evil deeds—all the times in which ruthless, wicked souls have joined God’s name to their sinful words and deeds, just to add a false sense of unauthorized authority to their own evil beliefs or sins, to their fake prophecies, self-serving teachings or psychopathic deeds—it is enough sorrow to bring a soul to death. If we examine all the suffering and deaths caused by those sins, we will zealously try to be very careful to use God’s name rightly. For false teachers and false prophets have been defining a false character of God every time they spoke lies or did evil in His name. And now the world has developed an extremely distorted, vile perception of Jesus, the God of Israel, or do not believe He even exists at all. Those fake preachers and prophets have turned more souls into atheists than all the “evangelism” of all the atheists has ever been able to do throughout history. Those church liars have utterly slandered God’s good name in every corner of the world. Now let all our words and deeds be said or done truly in God's name, to thoroughly, correctly and accurately reflect God’s genuine will.
What if some man might falsely claim to be a policeman, but does so for evil purposes. If others think he is a real policeman, they will assume that he speaks and acts according to the will of a governing authority. So that man will gain a level of perceived authority, and this will enable him to cause some people to do what he tells them to do. Yet, most of the time, a man who lies about being a policeman will cause those people to assist him in accomplishing evil intentions, or will be the victims of his evil motives. And, as that fake policeman abuses the name of a governing authority, a name he does not truly have the right to use, he will also slander the good name of that governing authority. Then this may cause the people to think badly about the whole police force and the whole governing authority, unless the real police and governing authority soundly denounce that fake policeman’s bogus credentials and strive to stop him from speaking or acting in their name. The same holds true for the real policemen, those actually hired and appointed by a governing authority, who are actually commissioned to speak and act in the name of the authority, if they betray the will of the good authority they represent. If a real policeman does not speak or act according the will of the real governing authority, that governing authority must deny that he truly speaks or acts in their name, then stop that policeman from continuing to act against their will. Otherwise, that one rogue policeman may severely slander the good name of that governing authority. All agents of every governing authority on earth belong to God. God’s Word (Rom. 13:1-7) declares that government authorities “are priestly servants of God” (λειτουργοὶ θεοῦ εἰσιν), and each individual government authority “is a household slave of God” (θεοῦ διάκονός ἐστιν). Therefore, if any agent in any kind of governing authority is not saying or doing God’s will, we must share in Christ’s work of undoing the works of the devil, and stop that fake servant of God from continuing in one’s evil works. So too, in the church, we all share in Christ’s work of opposing false teachings and prophecies, and evil deeds.
It is clear that every governing authority must publicly expose and stop anyone who speaks or acts falsely in their name. Yet God is the highest authority in all lands on earth, the King of all rulers, the Owner, Master and Lord of all the earth. Therefore, everyone in every government must serve God by serving the people in a just and loving way. And, to do this, a government must maintain the trust of the people. But, to maintain that trust, all who speak and act in that government’s name must say and do all they say and do justly, according to God’s will, since God’s will is the general will of the people, because God’s will is just and for their own good. Likewise, every individual member of God’s one and only true church of Israel serves as a priest representing God to the world, guarding the integrity and purity of God’s name, administering justice by serving and protecting God’s entire creation, and shares in Christ’s work to undo the works of the devil. Thus, everyone God has joined to His true church is also a policeman of sorts, duty-bound to serve and protect the people through one’s loving, just, wise words and deeds, in ways that seldom need to terrorize the flesh with worldly threats to injure or kill the flesh. Therefore, we conclude that God, and all the members of His true church, all the awakened elect, all true Jews and true Christians, must expose every false Jew and every false Christian, then stop their lies and evil deeds falsely done in God’s name. We must do this for the sakes of all other souls. For we are duty-bound to expose and stop false words and evil deeds. It is even more urgent to expose and stop those who falsely claim to be higher authorities, who will falsely claim to have been granted God’s authority to lead and command the people in God’s name.
This book is being written during a time when many fake churches stand behind a fake president of the United States, a man whom they willingly chose to rule over them, though God clearly did not choose that man, a demonic criminal and liar, Trump. Now let us remember that the real Jesus will fulfill this Old Covenant law of God through His true church: “You may indeed set a [secular ruler] over you whom [Yahweh] your God will choose . One from among your brothers you shall set as [secular ruler] over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother” (Deut. 17:15, ESV). Democracy was born of the concepts and principles outlined in God’s Law, as they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So a true church will vote for a “brother,” for any elect of God who truly serve God by humbly serving the people according to God’s wise, just and loving will, anyone who lays down his life for the welfare of his brothers and sisters in the land. And God’s main criticism that He has consistently voiced against false governments and fake churches is that they behave haughtily, “by crushing My people, by grinding the face of the poor” (Is. 3:15, ESV). Yet churches today have abundantly proved themselves to be haughty and arrogant to the core, by “crushing” so many innocent souls belonging to God, by “grinding the face of the poor,” by choosing psychopaths like Trump. Now let that “foreigner,” that self-serving, ruthless, unloving, thieving, cheating, vile, immoral, lying, slandering “foreigner” and arrogant God-hater, who does the most ruthless and unjust deeds possible, especially to the “poor” and “strangers” (immigrants), be rebuked and cast out. For those false churches chose him because they love the lie, because the false teachings and fake prophecies of their spiritually adulterous preachers tickle their ears of flesh. So God did indeed allow this criminal president to be elected through those false churches, but for a purpose, to expose those churches as His enemies, as mere spiritual prostitutes whom He has handed over to delusions. And this also means that the real God has begun a process of destroying those false churches as well.
This kind of thing is what the third-order laws of God are all about, and why God set the maximum penalty for any intentional abuse of His good name to be the death penalty. For false teachings and fake prophecies can indeed be incredibly harmful, even in a way that turns the true elect away from God altogether, and away from His wise ways, even away from love itself. Vain abuses of God’s good and loving name not only slander God, but make the whole land loveless and unjust. So this third commandment forbids extremely serious sins with far-reaching evil effects. These third-order laws maintain the authority of a just and loving God, if properly and correctly applied, according to His loving and just will. If the people allow anyone to misuse and abuse God's name, allow anyone to establish a false authority, it will allow that false authority to work great evil, even as people think they are serving God. Then the people will also perceive God's character wrongly. So the people will worship a false god, a god whose name and character is associated with evil, with false teachings and fake prophecies. If we allow some to break these third-order laws, it leads to idolatry and every other kind of evil under the sun. If lies are taught or prophesied, how can the people know, trust or love the real God? Therefore, God set these third-order laws in a position of a much higher priority than His commandments against murder and adultery, and God has always treated this sin of abusing or misusing His name so seriously that the maximum punishment for committing this sin is not only physical death, but also a second and eternal death in hell. If most murderers go to hell, how will any false preachers or fake prophets, whom God always judges more strictly, escape eternal damnation?
Even if the sinner who misuses God's name is one of God’s elect, this commandment states that God “will not hold him guiltless.” If, after a relatively minor sin like murder, it is incredibly difficult to truly repent into the truth, and bear genuine spiritual fruits of repentance among the living victims of the murdered one, how much more difficult is it to truly repent into the truth and bear spiritual fruits of repentance after committing this far greater sin of teaching slanderous false doctrines or uttering fake prophecies that defame the very name of God, that make good look evil and evil look good? And should God easily forgive such a great sin, which causes so much suffering and death in this world? Very often the victims of a sin against these third-order laws will suffer from its stranglehold on their lives all their lives, and feel the evil effects of this sin through multiple generations. In fact, the deadly effects of some false doctrines that were invented and preached two thousand years ago are still bearing their deadly effects to this very day. Considering this, should God hold one guiltless for misusing and abusing the authority of His name, by teaching lies in His name and slandering His character, if it has caused more widespread harm and death than a million murders and a million acts of adultery, even an evil lasting centuries, producing many generations of victims? One false teacher can cause countless people to think and do very wrong things, all falsely in God’s name, and also prevent many of the elect from ever truly knowing God's just and loving will. Through all the false teachings, false prophecies and the resulting sinful deeds, the people will derive a false perception of the real God, then commit idolatry and forfeit any real faith in the real God and His real truth. So how can anyone easily dismiss this as a “little sin,” and focus more on the lesser sins of the flesh like murder and adultery? In fact, now that churches do not concern themselves with seeking the truth, they will gladly accept murderers and adulterers as their spiritual guides and as their secular leaders.
If someone misuses or abuses the name of a human authority to do evil, that human authority will not consider that one to be guiltless. Rather, the human authority will swiftly punish that one, in order to guard the integrity of their human authority’s name. And most churches strongly agree with this policy, since they know chaos will ensue if such a policy is not upheld. Yet those same churches refuse to consider anyone to be guiltless if one misuses and abuses the name of the King of all kings, the most authoritative Teacher and Judge in existence, the Lord of lords, our Creator and God. Do they not see the deadly chaos which has always resulted from this negligence, throughout all history?
Of course, false churches get away with allowing false teachings and false prophecies by obscuring and distracting from the real truth. For instance, if we say true churches must carefully and diligently guard God’s real truth, they point out how churches once sent out psychopathic Inquisitors who hunted down so-called “heretics,” including true Christians, so they could ruthlessly torture and kill those often innocent souls, as well as plunder their possessions. So they use false, psychopathic churches as “straw men” to “prove” us wrong. And those churches that sent out Inquisitors were clearly false churches who blatantly taught false doctrines and broke the third-order laws in the most sinful ways possible. Then many “heretics” they killed were those striving to carefully and diligently guard God’s real truth, in the same way we do. In reality, the only penalty the New Covenant Law of Christ allows for “heretics” is expulsion from the church (see Mat. 10:14; 15:14; 18:15-20; Rom. 16:17; I Cor. 5:13; II Thes. 3:6; II Tim. 3:5; Titus 3:10). And God never allows us to torture, murder or plunder anyone. So it is clear that those psychopathic, murdering Inquisitors acted falsely in the name of God, in ways that broke God’s third-order laws, which are the laws Jesus came to fulfill in us and through us by His Holy Spirit’s teaching of our individual elect spirits. Yet the false churches today insist that they do not want to argue about the teachings of God because they never want to see the Inquisition occur again. Then they claim to be more loving and wise than those Inquisitors, even as they too break God’s third-order laws in the very same ways the Inquisitors did, and while they cause as much suffering, harm and death, albeit more indirectly. Thus, when false churches use the example of the Inquisition, it is merely to obscure, befuddle, confuse and distract, so none will see how they share in the sins of the Inquisition. Yet all true Christians bear the duty to undue the works of the devil, to guard the truths of God, for the sakes of God’s people and all of His creation. And, since today’s false churches condemn the Inquisition, yet still cling to some of the very same false teachings that were used by that Inquisition to murder innocent souls, then add many other false teachings that cause untold grief, harm and death in more indirect ways, and since they still refuse to accept or guard the real truths taught in God’s Word, today’s false churches are one in mind, purpose and condemnation with all those false churches who sent out the Inquisitors to murder the innocent.
Once we understand how God’s principal intention for the archetypal third commandment was to forbid false teachings and fake prophecies, we also begin to realize how God’s third order laws include a host of laws governing every individual in His church of Israel. Some these laws include:
• “Hear, O Israel: [Yahweh] our God, [Yahweh] is one. You shall love [Yahweh] your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might . And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart . [First notice how the ‘words’ that God commands to each individual member of the church relates to the command to ‘love Yahweh your God.’ Then we must realize that the phrase, ‘these words,’ refers to God’s Ten Commandments, which many Jews call ‘the Ten Words,’ and these ‘Ten Words’ represent God’s whole Law.] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise [Here we see how every parent, especially every father, is commanded to teach God’s ‘words,’ the true and accurate meaning of Scriptures, to one’s children. And a parent is to do this in an informal way at any time, relating the true meaning to everyday events in their lives.]” (Deut. 6:4-7, ESV).
• [Here God addressed the Aaronic priesthood, the “royal priesthood” of believers. Therefore, this is to be fulfilled by Christ’s true church, by all true Christians. In particular, this commandment is to be fulfilled by the teaching elders of the church of Israel, by teaching real truth.] “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that [Yahweh] has spoken to them by Moses” (Lev. 10:10-11, ESV).