Bethel Fellowship International

This is the Chinese character for “love.”

Love is the remedy for what ails.

Jesus was asked, “Which is the greatest commandment?” He answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

He continued, “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Imagine, “all the law!” Webster defines this word as “all the rules of conduct established and enforced by the authority, legislation or custom of a given community.” Nations around the world have made laws by which, if people abide, citizens are protected from outside influence. Now look at this definition of the original Greek words for “all” and “law.”

The Greek word for “all” is “hol-os” from which we get our English word “whole.” It simply means all, whole, complete. It can’t get any easier to understand than that. Elementary education teaches that “all means all.” This word “all,” I believe includes all nations, for what nation is there on this globe that has no law? Some laws are out- right crazy, yes, self-centered, biased, dangerous, discriminatory and incomprehensi- ble, but nonetheless, they are laws made to protect.

The Greek word for “law” is “no-mos.” It means principle, regulation or law through the idea of prescriptive usage. Let’s say “prescriptive” again. “P-r-e-s-c-r-i-p-t-i-v-e.” When you’re sick and not feeling well a visit to the doctor is in order. He will “pre- scribe” something to cure your ills. It’s medication that relieves a person from illness. It’s medication that, when taken as prescribed, will restore a person.

The world is sick, very sick, indeed. Nations, cities, towns and towns are sick. Why? They have not been taking the prescribed medication!

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law.”

Paul warned Timothy, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away.”

Eugene Peterson says it this way: “Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated, windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of relig- ion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.”

None of the kinds of people in the list above love God or their neighbor. They love only themselves. They are narcissistic.

We try so hard to solve conflict in our communities with our hammers of h-a-t-e, an- other four-letter word! We’ve got to start taking God’s prescribed medicine right now, or else! Renus Cabe, a World War II veteran who fought on the island of Iwo Jima in the Pacific arena taught us in Bible school, “L-O-V-E melts what a hammer cannot break.”

Speaking of prescriptions — There is one that was written some 4,000 years ago that contained ten medications. They are called The Ten Commandments.

Harper’s Bible Dictionary says of these commandments: “In function the Ten Com- mandments can be compared to ten posts supporting the fence separating the viable community from marauding beasts of disorder, confusion, and bloodshed howling out- side the pale (fence). Of all the statutes needed to regulate the life of the community, these ten were deemed essential beyond all others. Should any one of these ten fence posts collapse, chaos could break in and wreak havoc in the community.”

Some places of public institution have torn-up and thrown away this life-saving prescription, and as a result marauding beasts of disorder, confusion and bloodshed have crossed over into our communities. And we wonder, Why?

Pin the prescription in your heart! Teach it to your children and grandchildren! It will cure all societal ills!

The Ten Commandments

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, ass nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Ten Commandments mini-version

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

–nils olson