[Rick Shabi] Last week, the Governor of Louisiana signed into law a requirement that the Ten Commandments be prominently displayed in every classroom in the state. That includes college classrooms. Immediately, as might be expected, the American Civil Liberties Union said they would file a lawsuit against the state. The Governor's response, "I can't wait to be sued." How do you feel about this? How do you feel about the Ten Commandments? Do you believe that God still expects us to keep those commandments?

All around us, we see people searching for answers to the mess that our nation has become. Some rightly sense and know that the answers are in God. That's why major newsmakers like Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Joe Rogan are talking about religion, asking, "Why are we here on earth? What does the Bible say about our future?" They're asking some good questions. Others, though, in what has become the norm in America, react in anger to anything that has to do with God, morality, or for that matter, self-control. Louisiana has taken a stand and is ready to stand in the gap and remind people of God and the law and order He brings. It's a good first step.

The issue of displaying the Ten Commandments reminds me of some instruction that a loving God who wants people to be happy and enjoy the blessings of life gave to mankind millennia ago. In Deuteronomy 5, the Ten Commandments are listed. In the very next chapter, He lovingly instructs, when He says, "These words, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

"Make them visible," God says, "make them part of your daily life." Remind yourself of God and the right way to live. His words are the way of life. He gave us instructions on how to live, and Jesus Christ lived that way when He was on earth. There's wisdom in those laws, which form the basis of every legal system of every successful nation that has ever been on earth. Take your Bible out and look at them. You find the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Maybe some of you are saying, "But didn't Christ do away with those commandments? Weren't they nailed to the cross with Him?" You might have been told that, but that is not what He said.

Look at what He, Himself, said in the Sermon on the Mount. You find it in Matthew 5:17-18. There He says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them." Yet many think or have been taught that the Ten Commandments have been abolished. Next week, we'll delve more into that subject to show you the truth right from your Bible. But today, we see, we have a responsibility to be living by God's ways if we want a happy, successful, meaningful life. And parents, you have a responsibility to teach your children sound values, training them in the way to live. That includes self-restraint, self-control, and doing the right thing.

Remember, Jesus Christ said, deny yourself and follow Him. Part of following Him is learning to say no to the wrong way. If we turn away from God and His way, He warns us that sorrow and destruction will follow unless we return to Him. Make no mistake about it. America and the English-speaking nations of this world are all on the path to destruction because we have departed from God. In the aftermath of some landmark Supreme Court decisions that in effect outlawed God, society has suffered through increasing crime, violence, social unrest, and a breakdown in morality and family.

Back in the 1950s, America was a very different place than it is today. It had its problems, which it would face over the coming decades, but prosperity was increasing and America had become the leading world power. During this time, most families went to church, knew God, were taught sound moral principles at home based on those Ten Commandments, and schools opened the day with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to America, a formal prayer, and some even had a Bible reading each day. God was present at the beginning of every day for many American students. God was right there. He was front and center just as He instructed it to be.

Then, on June 25, 1962, that's 62 years ago this week, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that outlawed formal prayer in schools, citing the separation of church and state. There was a large outcry among the public over this decision. This 1962 ruling was the first step in removing God from our daily lives. Some will say it's a coincidence, but in the latter 1960s, after this ruling, crime rates in America escalated dramatically. By the presidential election year of 1968, riots and violence broke out as the country was divided over the Vietnam War. Nothing like it had been seen before in America.

A couple decades later, in 1980, the Supreme Court took another step to remove God from before the nation's eyes when they ruled against a Kentucky Law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms. They claimed that this law violated the separation of church and state. Public prayer was also outlawed. The nation has paid a price for these actions, and they will pay a steeper price in the future. America violated a biblical principle in those Supreme Court decisions. As the nation turned against God, the decline in America began.

Today it's worse than ever, as what is promoted in schools, media, and by our national leaders is atrocious and not of God. It is of Satan, and it is absolutely misguided. Satan entices through lust to get us to turn from God. There's a proverb in the Bible about a young man who knows better but still goes on to fulfill his sexual lust. He yields to societal pressures. Let's notice it in Proverbs 7:21-23, "With her enticing speech, she caused him to yield. With her flattering lips, she seduced him. Immediately, he went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life."

America, this continual moving away from God will cost you your life, and it will bring about the destruction of this nation. The Bible says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The Bible instructs us to turn to God and live. If we don't, all the advantages, all the wealth, all the freedoms of speech, religion, and choice will disappear. Evil will rule over you where we should rule over it. You will lose all you had. Louisiana, good for you to reinstate the Ten Commandments. But there has to be more than just displaying God's way. We need to live by those commandments just as Christ said.

You don't need to wait for your state to bring God back into the classroom. You do it. Open your Bibles and read those commandments. Look at them, contemplate them, and ask God to open your mind to understand His Word. You can turn back to God and teach your children the way to happy, productive, and meaningful lives. But you need to know exactly what God teaches about what those commandments mean and how to apply them into your lives.