Their Commandments

About a month ago, a man called for some advice and encouragement, as “my life has spun out of control.” As we spoke on the phone, I began writing down things he was saying that “mattered” to him … mainly this had to do with what others thought about him. After about an hour, I realized that what I was writing down were the “laws” he was living by. I rephrased them a small bit so that he could see the true nature of each law he was seeking to obey. I then put them into an email and sent them to him. He called it “shock therapy,” and said that he was so stunned by seeing his laws written down that he began weeping and then laughing at himself. “It was quite a freeing and cathartic experience!”

These were his laws.

I. You must live for their happiness.

II. You must never trust your own thoughts/intuitions/heart, but allow them to think their thoughts through your brain, and feel only what they deem appropriate for you to feel.

III. Their judgment and evaluation is the voice of God for you.

IV. You must see every conflict and every painful circumstance in your life as your fault, and God’s punishment.

V. You are never to believe or feel that you are worthy of love.

VI. Fear and guilt prove that you are humbly walking in reality.

VII. Peace or, God-forbid, happiness, prove that you are arrogant and walking in unreality.

VIII. Christ’s suffering on the cross was insufficient payment for what you did … and they will decide what payments you must make and for how long.

IX. What they want for you is good; what you want for yourself is evil.

X. You are forever to be defined by your past failures.

My prayer for you is that you would refuse to submit to Their Commandments and remember what Jesus said: My yoke is easy and my burden is light. So, if it isn’t “easy and light,” it didn’t come from God. +

I am off for Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand. Some of the places we will be working aren’t exactly friendly to Christians or Americans, so, when you think about it, please pray for us. The main purpose of this trip is to begin taking over a Foundation that specializes in rescuing girls who have been sold into sexual-slavery, and seeing to it that they are educated and equipped for a far, far better life. Will write about the trip when I return, sometime during the first week of August.


Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2008