Commandment No. 6 DO NOT COMMIT MURDER

Commandment No. 6     Do Not Commit Murder

Our study module on Commandment No. 6 tackles anger management.  

Murder Stems from Anger

²¹ You have heard that our ancestors were told, “You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.” ²² But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. MATTHEW 5 nlt

Direct and release anger at a neighbor and gentleness flees, peace is gone, respect is put out, love is put out, joy is put out, hate develops...

¹⁵ Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 1 JOHN 3

You may be water-baptized but if you release anger at a neighbor, your anointing as a love-agent and soul-winner is suspended. You revert to dead status and backslide to nothingness in the sight of God. You are disconnected from the Power Source and rendered impotent. You become easy prey to the demonic forces—until you do spiritual detoxification.

Chinese proverb says, “It is easy to dodge a spear in the daylight, but it is difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark.”

If your neighbor responds to your anger with anger, then both of you become easy prey—no different to a pig that is tied up; Lucifer’s butchers can do with you according to their whims. The Judgment will hold the two of you liable for bringing yourselves into such a situation. 

Insulting a neighbor or calling him names out of anger is one way of releasing anger at him. Thus, God says:

²² Again [you have heard it said that] anyone who says to his brother Raca! [Aramaic meaning “Spit!”] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But [I say] anyone who says You fool! will be in danger of the fire of hell. MATTHEW 5

Release anger at a neighbor and the bullet train to murder is switched on. Conversely, do away with anger and murder is done away with.

Murder is the crime of killing a neighbor deliberately and not in self-defense. Deliberately spells p-r-e-m-e-d-i-t-a-t-i-o-n. Encarta defines premeditation as “contemplation of intended crime: thinking about and planning a crime beforehand, rather than acting on impulse in a moment of passion or mindlessness.”

Cain committed the first murder among men. His anger led him to kill Abel.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” GENESIS 4

Older Protestant translations of the Bible, those based on the Vulgate and Roman Catholic translations, usually list Commandment No. 6 as Do not kill. It inculcates an undertone that killing is absolutely and unconditionally prohibited; that under no circumstance or occasion does God permit anyone to kill. That is inaccurate and misleading. The commandment used the Hebrew retzach (meaning “murder”), not harog (meaning “kill”). Therefore the correct translation is DO NOT COMMIT MURDER. It confirms our God-given right to defend our lives and if necessary, to kill in self-defense; also, to defend a neighbor’s life and, if necessary, to kill his attacker.  

Killing in self-defense is not murder; suicide and child abortion are.[1] 

The commandment tells us not to kill any innocent person for any reason whatsoever. Collateral damage should be avoided at all cost. Murder is forbidden because it patronizes Lucifer, the first murderer and sinner (John 8:44). It aborts God’s wonderful plans for the victim. The outcome is irreversible. To murderers, God has this to say: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.”

¹⁶ Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. LEVITICUS 19

⁷ Do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. EXODUS 23

The Old Testament says:

³⁰ [The murderer must] be put to death… ³¹ Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be put to death. NUMBERS 35

⁷ The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge this evil from among you. DEUTERONOMY 17

But the new covenant has deferred the practice of putting sinners to death (John 8:7). God is a God of second chances and He has chosen to sit on His throne of grace. He wants the murderers restored, not condemned. He is allowing them to live longer that they might do spiritual detoxification and practice anger management.

³⁰ I will judge each of you, O people of Isra’el, according to your actions, says the Sovereign Lord. Repent, and turn from your sins. Don’t let them destroy you.  ³¹ Put all your rebellion behind you, and find yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O people of Isra’el? ³² I don’t want you to die, says the Sovereign Lord. Turn back and live! EZEKIEL 18 nlt

What if no spiritual detoxification is made? What if the murderers continue in their murderous ways? Then the curse of God would cling to them in this lifetime and hereafter.

²⁴ Cursed is the man who [murders] his neighbor. ²⁵ Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person. DEUTERONOMY 27

⁸ The murderers… their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the Second Death. REVELATION 21 

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[1] Prophet Job’s wife saw Leviticus 24:16 as an instant solution to her husband’s plight. So she told him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Of course, it was an indirect way of committing suicide—not the correct solution to any problem. Committing suicide is no different to submitting to euthanasia or going amok or committing murder—all of them abort God’s wonderful plan for the person that is killed.

    You might think you could escape your situation on earth by ending your life. Yet it would be like jumping from the frying pan to the fire. Why? Because you would die in a state of sin. You would be thrown into the Second Death and locked in solitary, in a pit whose scalding heat is worse than that of a burning furnace—to suffer like you have never suffered before.

    Ending your life to escape an earthly problem is like dropping out of school simply because you don’t know the answer to a homework. It’s very foolish really. The simple way out is to find the answer. Study the problem thoroughly. Read about it. Know the options available to you then ask God for inspiration and guidance on which option to take. Or let the capable solve the problem for you. And learn how he does it so that next time you will know what to do.