Lift Him Up Don't Pull Him Down: The Eternal Importance of Never Momentarily Taking Our Lord's Name In Vain.

By Debra Pedrow

God, Jesus, Christ, and Jesus Christ are positive and loving names. Names that demand the highest regard of human respect our finite minds can conceive. These names should never be used as trash words. Yet, we trash them daily when we use The Name incorrectly in any unloving or unholy manner. This improper way of speech includes expressing pleasure while using their names in a common way; turning them into something so dirty, smelly or smashed, they are unrecognizable as the true deity they reveal.

God is kept first in this book, anchored to the fact that His holy name should never be dishonored in any verbal or written form. Information is confirmed biblically and will help to clarify:
Who the name of God is.
What we are wrongly expressing by misusing His name.
When it is appropriate to speak God’s name.
Where the irreverent offenses are taking place.
How we are desecrating the holiness of His name.
Why we should stop all profane references.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: May 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483427522

Book preview

LIFT HIM UP

DON’T

PULL HIM DOWN

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The eternal importance of never momentarily taking our Lord’s name in vain.

DEBRA PEDROW

Copyright © 2015 Debra Pedrow.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2753-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-2752-2 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 03/30/2015

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

Chapter 1   It’s All Trash

Chapter 2   @#*!

Chapter 3   What’s in a Name?

Chapter 4   Worth Repeating

Chapter 5   Popular or Polluting?

Chapter 6   God’s Word

Chapter 7   Polar Opposites

Leader’s Guide

Scriptures quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, INC.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. ‘Scriptures and additional materials quoted are from the Good News Bible © 1994 published by the Bible Societies/HarperCollins Publishers Ltd UK, Good News Bible© American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992. Used with permission.’ www.americanbible.org. The World English Bible (WEB) n.d. 18 July 2014 < http://www.ebible.org/web/EXO20.htm>. American Standard, Exodus 20. murtonsys.com. n.d.18 July 2018 < http://murtonsys.com/bibledatabase/htmlc/asv/exodus_20.html>. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) From Common English Bible ©2011 Common English Bible. Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. King James Bible Online. kingjamesbibleonline.org. n.d. 18 July 2014 < http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus-Chapter-20/>. Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission (www.Lockman.org) Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. GOD’S WORD is a copyrighted work of God’s Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God’s Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

Front cover photo: Joy Pedrow Ministries @ joypedrow.com

Back cover author photo: Anna Jo Noviello

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The purpose, the planning, the process, the pages; all created through and for, praising His presence.

Acknowledgements

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I love you, husband John.

Thank you, to those who were part of the discovery discussion group: Amy, Betsey, Bob, Cheryl, Cory, Frienda, John, Joy, Mary Jo, Tom, and Will. I appreciate your willingness to help and the fact that you devoted personal time to my project. The comments and suggestions you each made were well thought out and taken to heart.

Thank you, Dennis, for answering my texted questions. You always replied quickly and casually. I believe your scholarly Christian background affords that to you. Something I strive for.

Thank you, Cheryl, for saying Yes. Your positive response required hours of reading, and helping to organize the discovery discussion group. God’s gift of your Christian knowledge is shared through you everyday to others. I am grateful you shared it with me.

Joy, my joy. How could I have allowed myself to doubt? What a beautiful text you wrote to me: If God has placed the desire to publish and promote this book and give honor to His name, then you have to do it. If you don’t, you’re not following God’s plan for your life. He gave you passions for a reason. I love you, mom. Joy, your message was perfectly timed. Thank you for your encouragement, your time and talents, your effort and your text. I love you, daughter Joy.

Preface

Christians know it is a hard battle to stay close to God, in a world full of mistrust and social judgement about His Word. That is why it is so important to continually read and study scripture. Sometimes Christians fool ourselves into believing we have total understanding of certain biblical truths, after we hear a sermon or two preached on a particular topic. But, most topics aren’t that simple. It takes more scripture, deeper explanations, and a wider understanding to bring total focus to a specific subject matter.

If someone gifted this book to you, take it as a blessing. Lift Him Up don’t Pull Him Down was written with a passion to honor God. Offering a better understanding of one specific, perfect commandment He bestowed to us. Focusing on this one particular commandment—which is increasingly over looked and broken in today’s society—will bring awareness to how breaking it can easily be avoided. And our refrain gives God the respect He deserves.

Quite often, this defined commandment is misunderstood and consequently broken even in a Christian environment. We too often incorrectly accept our culture as truth over the Word of God. Acceptance of worldly opinions avoids the understanding of how breaking this particular commandment could possibly hurt The Name above all names. The Name that should never be used in blasphemy. Have you figured out which commandment I am referring to?

God is kept first in this book, anchored to the fact that His holy name should never be dishonored in any verbal or written form. Keeping that truth in mind, information is confirmed biblically and will help to clarify:

• Who the name of God is.

• What we are wrongly expressing by misusing His name.

• When it is appropriate to speak God’s name.

• Where the irreverent offenses are taking place.

• How we are desecrating the holiness of His name.

• Why we should stop all profane references.

A problem arose in how to write accurate, inappropriate examples of misusing the names God, Jesus, and Jesus Christ, without dishonoring their definitions. The written names had to be displayed in a way the reader could interpret the misuse, so they would understand exactly how not to misuse them. Yet I needed to refrain from using them in vain, in order to keep the essence of these specific names holy. After consulting with my home pastor, it was decided the following substitutions will be used as the improper fill-ins for The Names:

• G** (pronounced jē)

• J**** (pronounced jā)

• J**** C***** (pronounced jā sē).

Please note when the writing of our deity’s names are shared inappropriately, the above substitutions are used to represent them, without being profane.

Let’s see how the Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary defines our God.

God -

noun: the Being perfect in power, wisdom and goodness, who is worshipped as creator and ruler of the universe.

The Being perfect in power. Creator. This definition alone should suffice that total respect and honor are due His name. But then this would be a very short book if I stopped my writing here, so allow me to further explain the goal for this book.

If you are a new Christian, inside these pages you will discover truths about our very real God. He grieves when we dishonor him, yet continues to display His deep love for us through His divine grace. I pray you will feel the presence of His grace.

grace -

noun: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification

Unmerited divine assistance. This means by His choice, God is giving us blessings, even though we do nothing to deserve them.

For established Christians, I hope you delight in realizing points you already know as truth, but also glean fresh knowledge on a topic you may never have really attempted to study.

Scripture is used throughout, giving root to the explanations of core points. History about a few of the chosen men inspired to write parts of the Bible, is given to celebrate the depth and importance of following God’s Word.

In Exodus 20:1-17, God reveals His Ten Commandments for the first time. They are also listed completely again, in Deuteronomy 5. God gave us Ten Commandments as instructions for morality, but Lift Him Up don’t Pull Him Down emphasizes only one of His loving commandments. You know the one I’m talking about.

You will read no preaching against praising fake gods here, as the first commandment states. No instructions forbidding golden idols are