Prominent charismatic leaders seek to raise awareness about the importance of the Ten Commandments
Fueled by the recent Supreme Court decision that barred the display of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses, a commission has been formed with a mission to bring the Decalogue back to the conscience of America.
The Ten Commandments Commission, formed the day after the June 27 ruling, was launched with a threefold purpose, said commission chairman Myles Munroe.
“We want to restore the values of the principles contained in these commandments back to our postmodern society; replace the Ten Commandments back to the consciousness of society; and challenge the powers that be to reconsider the decisions being made,” said Munroe, a best-selling author and pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, one of the largest churches in the Caribbean.
The commission was launched at the International Charismatic Bible Ministries convention in Tulsa, Okla., where Munroe urged fellow Christian leaders to join his efforts, and where Roni Wexler, commission president and CEO, unveiled the commission’s Ten Commandments pin (www.tencommandmentspin.com).
Munroe says the pin, which displays the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, was designed to make a statement: that “collectively, we can make a difference.”
“Democracy works on numbers, and we believe that there are a lot more people who are for the Ten Commandments than against them,” Munroe said. “We want to rally millions of people to not only take a stand but to do it in a unified way.”
“The slogan here is, ‘If we can’t wear it in public and on buildings, we can wear it on the building of God, which is our bodies,'” Wexler added.
The commission hopes to educate the charismatic community by “getting people to understand what we are standing against and identify themselves with a symbol,” Wexler said. That symbol is the Ten Commandments pin.
Washington, D.C-based motivational speaker Charles Phillips says the battle is not only against ignorance, but also darkness. “I think that this movement through the Supreme Court was not just to take away the Ten Commandments from … public places,” said Phillips, the commission’s spokesman. “I think it’s also a part of the devil’s strategy to remove God from the consciousness of people.”
Phillips said the group’s efforts are not politically motivated. “Right now we’re just trying to make a statement,” he said. “We’re simply emphasizing the fact that we can display the Word of God, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Mark J. Chironna, commission board member, hopes to see a renewed appreciation for the values embodied by the Ten Commandments. “Those values have to be once again appreciated and understood for a generation that has really been so numbed by situational ethics,” he said. “History proves that when nations do not embrace those kinds of values, they end up being destroyed. If we ignore God, we ignore Him to our own detriment.”
Chironna, pastor of The Master’s Touch International Church in Orlando, Fla., says his church plans to be a part of The Ten Commandments Day, which the commission has declared for Feb. 5.
“I feel that every pastor everywhere on that day should include in their sermon the message of the Ten Commandments, which is bringing the Word of God back to the nations,” Wexler said.
America cannot afford to ignore this discussion, explained Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that specializes in constitutional law. “I think the idea of getting the Ten Commandments out of the context of a painting on the wall, into the reality of what the Ten Commandments stand for is important,” said Sekulow, whose firm has defended more Ten Commandment cases than any other in the country.
“We need to come together on this,” Wexler stressed. “So it’s Jew and Gentile, black and white. It’s everybody coming together, holding hands and saying enough is enough.”
Suzy Richardson
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