The most basic concept leading to the establishment of freedom in America is that, “Men are endowed with certain unalienable rights.” But immediately following is the recognition that declaring rights is one thing but preserving and protecting them is quite another. What good does it do, when one is face-to-face with a pistol-carrying thug, to declare, “I have an unalienable right to my life and property?” No thief or murderer will be deterred by that declaration. Hence, the Founders knew there must be a basic set of laws given to declare what actions are illegal and perhaps what the punishment will be for breaking those laws. In other words, without law there is no protection of rights.
William Blackstone wrote that the Creator knew the necessity of law in protecting rights. Said he:
“… but as He is also a Being of infinite wisdom. He has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the nature of things … These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such, among others, are these principles: that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to everyone his due.”
Blackstone also said it was necessary for God to disclose these laws to man by direct revelation:
“The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found upon comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man’s felicity.” ( The Five Thousand Year Leap, pp. 131-132)
What Is Materialism?
Dr. Skousen explains:
“Materialism is an effort to explain everything which exists in terms of the dust of the earth. Materialism says that from the common clay has sprung spontaneously all that we behold about us, and that it was done without God and without design. It says that there is nothing divine about life — that it is merely a phenomenon which bubbled up out of some primeval swamp, and that since then all forms of life have developed as the products of accumulated accident. It says that jungle law is natural law and therefore preferable to the morals and ethics on which men have built civilization. It says that religious beliefs are the enemy of society and must be destroyed.”
Materialism forms the basis of the thinking and teaching of Karl Marx.
Of the recent issue in Alabama with reference to the Ten Commandments, John Eidsmoe explains the issue is between materialism and Creator-declared law for the protection of rights:
” The symbolic portrayal could not be more graphic. In the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery stands a 5,280 lb granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments, with various quotations from America’s founding fathers on the monument’s four sides. Just a few blocks away, in front of the Federal Court House, stands a sculpture of Themis, the Greek goddess of law and justice. The Ten Commandments monument was financed entirely with private donations; Themis was paid for by federal funds. And yet, Themis is guarded by federal officers, while U.S. District Court Myron Thompson has ruled that the Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the Judicial Building rotunda.” (Eidsmoe, “A Call to Stand with Chief Justice Moore”, 2003)
What is there about the Ten Commandments that creates such fear and animosity among materialists, even to the point of issuing judicial rulings which violate the people’s sense of justice, equality, and morality? This is not a new battle. Here are excerpts from a radio speech given by Dr. W. Cleon Skousen in 1952 entitled “Why Do Materialists Fear the Ten Commandments?”
“One of the things that the followers of Marx say they despise is the Judaic-Christian code. So what is this code which the followers of Marx so vigorously oppose? Briefly, it could be described as the ideals which are built around the Ten Commandments. Let us analyze them briefly and determine why the materialist feels that they [the Ten Commandments] keep us from being swept away by the violent political revolution which the materialists are advocating.
The First Commandment
“For example, the first commandment asks us to draw close to our creator, to acknowledge Him and worship Him. While in school I remember that our chemistry professor told us that the major premise of science is accepting the fact that there is order and intelligent design in the universe. In fact, he pointed out that the mission of the scientist is to explore and discover the engineering principles followed by the Master Architect so that these can be used as a blessing for mankind. In other words, the very foundation of science is the recognition of God’s existence.
“However, the followers of Marx are so desperately anxious to overthrow this recognition of God that they have denied there is any design in the universe. They refuse to admit that there is order, law or an intelligent creator behind the phenomena of nature. They say all of these things are the product of cumulated accident. These materialists claim to glorify the name of science and to march under its banner, but in their anxiety to discredit and repudiate God, they have openly denied the very things which science has demonstrated.
The Second Commandment
“The second commandment requires that we shall not create or worship false Gods. The Marxian materialist has created a false God by worshiping himself. He says, ‘The turning point of history will be when man becomes aware that the only God of man is man himself.’ The history of the Marxian materialists will reveal that they follow the ancient pagan practice of worshiping one another.
The Third Commandment
” The third commandment says, ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.’ Many people have thought that this merely means that the name of God should not be used in profanity — but this is not what frightens the materialist. There is a far deeper meaning in this commandment. For example, the sanctity of the judicial oath of the United States of America is circumscribed by this third commandment in the Judaic code.
“When a man stands in a court room and says, ‘I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God,’ he should remember the injunction of the Almighty that the name of God is not to be taken in vain. In other words, we are to hold these oaths and covenants sacred and conscientiously fulfill them. The followers of Marx know that obedience to the third commandment is a source of great strength in the American pattern of free government.
“If each man honored every sacred promise made in the name of deity our courts would provide a hundred times more justice, our business life would be a great deal more honest, the administration of public affairs would be a great deal more efficient.
The Fourth Commandment
“The fourth commandment says we shall perform all necessary labors during six days of the week, but the seventh shall be set aside for attending Church, serving our fellow men in need, and studying the word of God. These are the things which make the Sabbath day a holy day. We may not appreciate it, but the followers of Marx know that it is the institution of Sabbath-day worship which keeps the Hebrew and Christian cultures healthy. Therefore, one of the first things the Marxian materialists did when they came into power in Russia was to abolish the Sabbath day.
“But the effectiveness of the Sabbath can also be lost by just simply turning it from a holy day to a holiday.
“By adopting the ancient heathen practice of using the Sabbath for hunting, fishing, feasting,sports, and entertaining we completely nullify its design and purpose. For example, tonight there are lonely people in this land. There are the poor, the sick, the aged, and those who are just lonely. God intended that these should be visited and their wants relieved; that the discouraged should be made bright by the young and the strong and the healthy who come with courage and good cheer. James said this was the most important part of pure religion.
“And because of our failure to reserve any part of the Sabbath to study the word of God, we are rapidly becoming a nation of ignorant Christians. We know so little about the word of God that we cannot detect true doctrine from false, and when we have deep, difficult personal problems we seldom turn to the advice and counsel of our Creator for their solution. To that extent we are falling for the snare of the materialist and violating a commandment which the materialist has openly recognized as being part of our strength.
The Fifth Commandment
“The fifth commandment was designed by God to sustain the integrity of the family. In it the Lord commanded: ‘Honor thy father and thy mother.’
“Life is a strange combination of circumstances. When children are tiny, helpless and dependent, their parents are in a position to give them love or abuse, nourishment or neglect, depending upon their inclinations. But in later years those same parents feel the ravages of time and become as little children themselves, and it is the offspring who are then in a position to love or neglect, depending upon their inclinations.
“Strong family solidarity is part of our religious strength and part of our national strength, but it is despised by the materialist. Marx and Engels wrote in their Manifesto that they stood for ‘the abolition of the family.’ Immediately after the revolution, Lenin attempted to wipe out the family pattern of life, but social disease and social disorder forced the regime to reverse itself.
The Sixth Commandment
“The sixth commandment says thou shalt not kill. The Mosaic code made the sanctity of human life extremely important. However, the Marxian materialist has described human life as no more sacred than that of a ‘centipede, a caterpillar, or a pig.’ In fact, an important part of the materialist philosophy is to ‘kill off the opposition.’
“To recognize the rights of others and the sanctity of human life is part of our strength. The spread of murder bolsters materialism and gangsterism. It weakens Americanism and the security of all free nations. That is why a loving Father gave us the Sixth Commandment in his plan for happy living.
The Seventh Commandment
“The seventh commandment was to maintain the integrity of marriage and the home. ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ saith the Lord.
“God knew that an immoral nation is a weak nation and on the other hand the materialists fear moral discipline in their enemies because they know it is a source of great strength. Those who oppose the forces of freedom in the earth encourage immorality. It destroyed Rome. It could destroy us.
“Moral fidelity is a habit, not an instinct. It must be carefully built up over the years by personal discipline. It is a wonderful thing for a boy and girl to kneel at the marriage altar, and as they take each other by the hand to make their vows, know that they have both kept themselves in reserve for each other. That even before they met they honored one another by obeying God’s commandment to remain morally clean. Out of such devotion and personal discipline, purity, peace and happy families are built.
The Eighth Commandment
“The eighth commandment says, ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ This is but a part of our religious code of ethics which the materialist ridicules. In his attitude toward such things, the materialist considers himself very practical. Instead of saying, ‘thou shalt not steal’ his commandment says, ‘Thou shalt not get caught stealing.’
The Ninth Commandment
“The ninth commandment says that we should not lie or bear false witness against our neighbors, and as a friend of mine once said, ‘You shouldn’t even tell all the truth about your neighbors!’ There are enough troubles and heartaches in the world without compounding more.
“But the materialist openly takes an opposite position. Some of them who have broken away from materialistic regimes testify that the national pastime among their former associates was to tear down comrades and build one’s self on the ruins of one’s neighbors.
The Tenth Commandment
“The tenth commandment says that we should obtain things from the fruits of our own labors. If we see a house, a car, or something else which another man owns, we are not to sit down and figure out how we can cheat him out of it. That is what God calls ‘coveting thy neighbor’s goods.’ Instead we should go out and work for the thing we desire.
“To desire good things is not a sin, but to acquire them by extorting them from a neighbor, is. While God says to respect the property of others, the materialists have taught for over a century that the object of human existence is the acquisition of loot and power; that the strong man should never be content, never be satisfied; whatever good thing the other man has he should want it and strive to obtain it. The gaining of spoils, the accumulation of wealth and the concentration of power became their watchword.” (From CD entitled: The Works of W. Cleon Skousen, 1998)
So by studying the Ten Commandments we are able to more fully appreciate why the materialist hates them and why the psychologist will say this is basically because of his fear of them. The Ten Commandments represent one source of our strength and a code of opposition to materialistic aims.
Of course, these words of God will not be accepted by the materialist for they condemn him. Karl Marx said, “fight religion.” God says, “live religion.” Our creator knows that this is the key to our happiness, it is the key to our security, it is the key to our freedom and national independence. It is time the Ten Commandments had a better place in our schools, in our court rooms, and in our lives. These are the things which make us strong. They are the things we possess which the opponents of freedom fear.
