One of the most important concepts in Scripture is that of choice. We are free to choose to either love our Creator, or reject Him. To obey Him or rebel against Him. And there are consequences, of course, for all of the decisions we make.
These, too, are outlined in the Torah. Deuteronomy/Bemidbar 30 says, “…I have laid before you this day life and blessing, or death and cursing. Therefore choose life, that you and your descendants might live.” Yes, one could say that such a choice is in fact a test, but it is an “open Book” test! Both His requirements, and their consequences, are clearly laid out for us.
Those who have begun to return to an honest study of Scripture as Written (as opposed to what we have “heard it said” it might mean) — those who, like the Bereans, study for themselves — are increasingly realizing that it is not enough just to pay lip service to Him, to claim “I love Him,” but then not to do what He says. After all, Yahuchanon (John) 14:15 says so clearly, “If you love Me, keep My commands.” What those who “preach another Jesus” evidently do not understand is that our choice to follow Him and obey Him must include that related choice to “do what He says” as well, since (Luke 6:46, I John 2:4, Matthew) we are neither liars, nor ignorant of Him.
What is so important to understand is that this choice works both ways. We cannot claim that we “know Him”, or “love Him”, or much less that we FOLLOW Him if we will not keep His commands, His “teaching and instruction”. In legal terminology, is called making a “choice of law,” and it is an interesting example of one of those rare cases where the definition that even a lawyer would understand is utterly consistent with Scripture. It is exactly what our Savior teaches over and over again, via so many examples, in so many different ways. When we choose a Master, we must also accept the rules for His house. And when rebel, by choosing instead a DIFFERENT set of rules, we should know that He may exile us from the house — as Scripture also makes so clear!
I suspect most readers here can think of a dozen examples from Scripture of the same concept — from Yahoshua’s (Joshua’s) famous statement, to Eliyahu (Elijah) and the admonition to serve either YHVH or Baal, to Yahushua the Messiah’s teachings that we cannot serve two Masters. But what is perhaps surprising to most people living in “post-Constitutional” Amerika is that the choice there is just as stark, but it is “hidden in plain sight”, like it is in almost all of “the world” today. We can, and indeed, HAVE for the most part, “traded our birthright for a cup of pottage.”
Do you wonder why certain protections, once written into the Bill of Rights as inviolable prohibitions on the central government (things like the Right to ‘keep and bear arms’, or freedom of worship, or assembly, or speech; never MIND illegal searches if you try to travel!) simply no longer seem to apply to “Caesar’s property”?
Do you wonder why the “common law” specified in the Constitution has been replaced for most “persons” by the “Uniform Commercial Code”?
Do you wonder why the Constitution literally prohibits paper “money”, and specifies that “no thing but gold and silver” coin may be made into “tender”, but the world’s reserve currency is now a dishonest ‘fiat’ currency that YHVH Himself calls an “abomination”?
Every word in quotations in those questions above is a specific legal term, and they are associated with a “choice of Law.” Every word has a specific meaning in “law”, as defined by legal dictionaries like Black‘s or Bouvier’s, and they may be quite different from what “non-lawyers THINK they mean, or common dictionaries like Webster’s proclaim! There is a reason that we are warned against the deception of the Adversary, and the fact that he twists the meaning of words to his own ends.
When we choose Who we serve – we make a “choice of law”. His…or something else. And the converse is true as well! To reject His Truth, and walk in rebellion to Him, is to chose “torah-less-ness”, or lawlessness”.
YHVH promises blessings to those who keep His commandments, while Caesar offers “benefits” to his servants. Do not be fooled by any apparent resemblance. And is the “law done away with,” as so many of those state-licensed ‘churches’ try to claim? Our True Savior says otherwise, since “heaven and earth” still seem to exist, and not so much as one “yod or tiddle” will pass otherwise.
What confuses many is the fact that we truly DO have such a choice, and it is stark. If the “Law of the Land” in America is – or was – the Constitution, based in turn on the principles of Scripture, then what happened to it? The simple answer is that our fruit reveals our “choice of law”, as do the explicit contracts, agreements, and vows that we make. Choose this day Whom you will serve. Choose carefully.
