Ten Commandments Twice Removed - Shelton & Quinn

As way of introduction to the book The Ten Commandments Twice Removed by Danny Shelton and Shelley Quinn I am posting some links to other's view about this book and the campaign. I will later post several quotes from the book and my responses to some of the books content. First this from the Washingon Post By Michelle Boorstein

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 6, 2006; Page B05

Are you one of the 135,000-plus people who were handed a free book about the Ten Commandments this week at a Washington Metro stop or street corner?

If so, you were part of a $3.2 million campaign by an Illinois-based radio and television ministry that calls itself a "mending broken people network." You also got a glimpse into what religious people across the spectrum are calling the Ten Commandments movement, a patchwork of groups who agree that America needs to focus on Old Testament morals -- but not much else.

The movement is a response to recent legislation and court rulings across the country relating to the display of the Ten Commandments, which appear in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy and are considered by some to be inappropriate for display on public property. The loose coalition includes evangelical Christian, Baptist and Pentecostal leaders, as well as Seventh-day Adventists and Jews, all of whom would like to see the Decalogue get a little more respect.

It also includes the Three Angels Broadcasting Network, the organization that started giving away 270,000 copies of the book "Ten Commandments Twice Removed" on Thursday. The ministry, a growing offshoot of the Adventist church, said it hoped to draw 10,000 people last night and today to "Ten Commandments Weekend," an event at the D.C. Armory featuring music and sermons about the commandments.

Ozark Angel blog writes:

Bearing False Witness Door to Door

I hear a knock on the door last Saturday, and standing before me on my front step are two gentlemen carrying paperback books about the Ten Commandments.

The younger of the two men did all the talking while his buddy, an older man who was obviously nervous about this door-to-door thing, stood smiling throughout his partner's narrative. I was treated to a well-rehearsed story that began . . .

"Of course, you know that the ten commandments have been removed from the schools and that the pledge of allegiance is no longer recited in the classroom. There has been a concerted effort to remove prayer and God from the schools . . . "

It was somewhere about here when I interrupted the young man to tell him that I was a public school teacher…

And Sellers S. Crain, Jr. of Rivergate church writes the following:

Interestingly, I received a copy of a new book last week, The Ten Commandments Twice Removed, written by Danny Shelton and Shelley Quinn which takes advantage of the recent publicity afforded the ten commandment controversy. While on the surface it pretends to be defending the right of the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public places, it appears that its real main purpose is to promote the observance of the Sabbath Day. The authors claim that the Ten Commandments were not part of the "ordinances" that were nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14), and therefore the fourth commandment "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" is still bound on Christians today.

The authors of this volume cite many New Testament references, quotes from Jesus Himself, in their attempt to prove their thesis (Matthew 5:18; 21-23; 27-28; 24:15-24). In doing so these authors fail to understand that while Jesus lived and died under the old law, He fulfilled that law upon His death and ushered in a new covenant. Jesus said that "For assuredly, I say unto you, till heaven and earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18). This means that the law, which included the Ten Commandments, would stand only so long as it remained unfulfilled. After His resurrection Jesus said, "These are the words (those in the text just cited; emphasis added) which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me" (Luke 24:44). The three divisions of the Old Testament mentioned are inclusive of the entire Old Testament and were those recognized by the Jews. Jesus said all of the law would remain in effect until it was fulfilled in its entirety, and upon His resurrection He said that had been accomplished.

Quoting from the prophet Jeremiah, the author of the book of Hebrews made it clear that the Old Testament covenant in its entirety had been abolished, and it had been replaced by a more comprehensive covenant which included all people (8:6-13). Other New Testament passages can be cited to prove the cessation of the old covenant (Ephesians 2:12-16; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 9:15-17; 10:1-4). These passages are proof positive that the entire old covenant was nailed to the cross when Christ died, therefore we are no longer under the Ten Commandments.

This being said, I must add that I am not opposed to the Ten Commandments being displayed in public places. They have long been a symbol of this nation's legal heritage and of its desire to be a nation founded upon the principle of law. With many others in our nation, I do fear the erosion of our constitutional rights as Christians, and I am concerned that there is an all out assault upon Christianity alone today. No other religion today in this nation is confronted with the constant bombardment of negative publicity that is being directed at our founder, Jesus Christ, and at the religion He founded (Matthew 16:13-19). "And do this; knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed" (Romans 13:11).