One Ohio Pastor, Ten Commandments of the Bible, 113,000 signs and a lawsuit

By Clem Boyd

 What was the Rev. Ken Johnson thinking? As leader of the Adams County, Ohio, Ministerial Association, did he really expect the American Civil Liberties Union to allow the local school board to post the Ten Commandments at four new public schools in 1997?

"I just didn't think anybody in the county would be against the Ten Commandments," Johnson said. "Christians, Muslims and Jews all respect the Ten Commandmentsof the Bible; I didn't think we'd have any problems."

Berry Baker, a 55-year-old communications equipment installer from Peebles, Ohio, saw the Ten Commandments and complained to the school board in 1998. The ACLU filed suit in February 1999.

That was just the beginning for Johnson. The ministerial association decided to hold a public meeting to discuss the lawsuit-and 600 residents showed up.

"We saw there was a lot more support (to fight this) than just among the ministers," Johnson said. "That's the reason we formed Adams County for the Ten Commandments (ACTC)."

Johnson founded ACTC with fellow ministers Tom Claibourne, Ron Stephens and Doug Ferguson. They created a yard sign which reads "We Stand for the Ten Commandments" to raise money for the school board's legal defense. It wasn't long before the idea caught on nationwide. As of Oct. 3, 2000, ACTC had a list of shipped 113,000 signs to 47 states and Puerto Rico, especially Ohio and Kentucky.

Johnson, who also opposed a casino-gambling initiative in Ohio and serves as president of Citizens for Community Values of Adams County, said he sees many positive results from ACTC's efforts.

"When 1,600 people show up for a school board meeting over a cause, that's pulling the community together," he said. "Plus, most of my interviews are with the secular press, so a lot of people are learning about the Ten Commandments of the Bible."

As a co-defendant with the other ministers in the suit, Johnson said this effort is about taking a stand.

"I'm in Adams County, and we fight for what we believe," he said. "When we first heard about the lawsuit, I thought, 'Oh, no!', but then I began to see that bad can be turned for good. If this suit was never filed, we wouldn't be sending Ten Commandment signs all over the nation."

The above is a great article originally published in the Focus on the Family Magazine several years ago. Pastor Ken Johnson is no longer distributing yard signs. For yard signs, click on the pictures below:

Bible Ten Commandments List

Deuteronomy 4:13

And he announced to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words, and he wrote them on two stone tablets.

Deuteronomy 4:40

And you will keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, so that it may be well with you and with your sons after you so that you may be long-lived in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all your days.

How long shall we obey the Commandments, and will they become no longer valid or obeyed?

Deuteronomy 7:9-13 - Special Bible List Commandments Verse

9 And you shall know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps the covenant and mercy with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and who repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them utterly. And he will not delay with those who hate him; to their face he will repay them. 11 And you will keep the commandments and the statutes and these judgments that I command you today to do. 12 And it shall be, whenever you hear all these statutes and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will guard closely for you the covenant and the mercy as he swore to your fathers, 13 and he will love you and bless you and multiply you, and he will bless the progeny of your belly and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the herds of your oxen and the flocks of your sheep, in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.

List of the Ten Commandents

A list of the Ten Commandments can be found in the Bible, Deuteronomy Chapter 5. The below instructions follow the listing of the Commandments.

Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.


Deuteronomy 6:7
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Moses

The Love of God and of neighbor is the summary of the law and prophets.
Mark 12:28-34
28     And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29     And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30     And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31     And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32     And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33     And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34     And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

The understanding of love and of the commandments gives one great understanding: "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God."

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15

Happy are those doing His commands that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of the life - Revelation 22:14

Ten Commandments Day Observe it in May.

Pictures of The Ten Commandments of Moses