Articles
Moving The Landmarks
Within the words of the Old Law, the Israelites were forbidden from acting in ways that demonstrated dishonesty and outright fraud. One law specifically stated, “You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess” (Deut. 19:14). At Mount Ebal, where all the curses were pronounced, it was said there, “Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark” (Deut. 27:17). Even within the book of Proverbs we find the prohibition, “Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set” (Prov. 22:28), and, “Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you” (Prov. 23:10, 11).
In Adam Clarke's commentary, he notes, "Before the extensive use of fences, landed property was marked out by stones or posts, set up so as to ascertain the divisions of family estates. It was easy to remove one of these landmarks, and set it in a different place; and thus the dishonest man enlarged his own estate by contracting that of his neighbor." (Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, commentary on Deut. 19:14.) Matthew Henry, in commenting on this same verse, titled the section that followed "A law against frauds" and stated, "This, without doubt, is a moral precept, and still binding, and to us it forbids…The invading of any man's right, and taking to ourselves that which is not our own, by any fraudulent arts or practices, as by forging, concealing, destroying, or altering deeds and writings… Though the land-marks were set by the hand of man, yet he was a thief and a robber by the law of God that removed them" (Matthew Henry, The Matthew Henry Commentary.)
These men noted the root problem with moving landmarks: dishonesty. One who would move a landmark is someone who desired to obtain something dishonestly, and had no reservation against lying or cheating to achieve what he desired. The problem with this thought and subsequent action is that it didn't change the reality of the boundaries that were set; though others might be deceived for generations to come, God knew the truth, and God condemned such deceiving acts by law.
Though we do not live by the Old Law today, the principle of this particular law is one we would do well to heed, even today, for there are some consequences of such an act that apply in similar circumstances and situations that have taken place regarding man's handling of God's laws.
It Is An Act of Fraud. As Matthew Henry correctly pointed out, moving a landmark is an act of fraud. It leaves the impression by all who see it afterwards that a piece of land is the possession of one man when, in reality, it is not. By definition, fraud is "deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage" (Random House Unabridged Dictionary), and that is exactly the case when a landmark is moved.
But, friends and brethren, is it any less a fraud when men move the landmark of God's word regarding what is required of us to obtain forgiveness and salvation? When God's word outlines the requirements of men in order to be forgiven, and man comes along and writes religious creed books or other 'official' church papers that say something differently, how is this any less fraudulent? It is most certainly "deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage." By these creeds and religious writings, men are led to believe they have gained something extremely valuable — forgiveness and eternal life — by simply moving the landmark of God's word back a little from where it had been established.
Consider: Where God has said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16), man says, "You only have to believe in order to be saved"; where God has said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), man says, "You do not have to repent to be forgiven of your sins"; where Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21), man says, "Just pray the Sinner's Prayer and you can call Jesus your Savior"; where God said, “baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21, NASB), man says, "Baptism is not necessary for salvation."
In all of the above-cited cases, man has moved the landmark of God's boundary between forgiveness and condemnation, and those who are deceived are led to believe they have obtained something of great value.
They have not.
It Does Not Alter The Truth of the Matter. When a man moved one of the ancient landmarks, he may have convinced himself and any who would see that landmark afterwards that his property was larger than what it actually was; as stated earlier, that deception may have endured for many generations to follow, even. But the reality is, it didn't change the truth of the matter. In God's eyes, those boundaries did not change; the man who moved it changed. The sin was not simply a matter of a stone's geographical location changing, but the deception that was perpetrated on others.
Friends and brethren, when man moves the landmark of God's will regarding our salvation, many generations have, in fact, been deceived by the changes wrought by the pen of scholarly men, but it does not change the truth that God requires certain things of man in order to be saved. Man could write thousands of articles asserting that man may obtain salvation in some other way than what God stated [and he has] but, my friend, it doesn't change the truth. What God said still stands as the truth because He said it (cf. John 17:17), and it will be by the words of our Lord we will be judged (John 12:48), not the creeds of men. We may choose to continue believing the deception, but we will regret having done so when we stand before the Judge, in the end.
It Is An Act Lacking Love. Moving a landmark demonstrated that the one who moved it did not really love his neighbor as he loved himself (cf. Lev. 19:18) because he would not want to defraud himself! No one wants to cheat self out of anything of value, and that is no truer than when we speak of forgiveness and eternal life in heaven!
The apostle Paul wrote by inspiration, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” (Rom. 13:10), and especially in the matter of forgiveness and our eternal salvation, there is no clearer demonstration of a lack of love than perpetrating this fraud on mankind by telling him he is saved when, in fact, he is not! When we deceive our fellow man into thinking he has obtained salvation when God said otherwise, we are not demonstrating love at all!
While you may be thinking that it is 'lacking love' to point out the false messages that have been preached and taught by mainstream religious organizations, I beg to differ! I could not, in all honesty, say I loved my neighbor if I did not try to correct this great fraud!
If someone pointed out that you had been deceived by a moved landmark, wouldn't you want to know? —— Steven Harper
