
By Christopher Young,
Contributing Writer,

Photos BY Chris Young
Driving down Bailey Avenue, Ward 3 on one side, Ward 7 on the other, the sign prominently displaying The Ten Commandments caught my eye; enough so that I turned around and went back to snap a photo. At the bottom of the sign in smaller font is the name Auther Farmer, along with a phone number. Farmer returned my call and after a brief chat, he agreed to meet for coffee.
When he arrived at Urban Foxes on North Street for coffee Saturday, January 18, 2024, he said he’d had enough coffee already that morning and invited me to take a ride with him. For the next two hours we rode the streets of Jackson, checking up on his signs.
He claims to be 58, but sure doesn’t look it, and lives in the Alta Woods neighborhood with his wife of eighteen years. Energetic, in touch with the community, a generous spirit, and dedicated to the Word. He is a member of New Horizon Church International on Ellis Avenue, a plumber and a pastor of two churches in Kilmichael – a town of 639 people per Census data – 102 miles due north of Jackson. The two churches are New Horizon Church where his grandfather pastored for over forty years, and Lindsey Spring Missionary Baptist Church. “It’s got to be over 127 years old now, maybe even 130,” he said.

As we rode, he shared the story of The Ten Commandments signs, now numbering seven – some zip-tied to existing fences, other singles, and other ones doubled that can be viewed from two streets simultaneously. His goal for this year is to bring that number seven up to ten. Depending on the type of sign needed for any given location, he spends between $120 and $400+ depending on if he needs posts and wood or plywood.
The idea was catapulted forward in a conversation he had with the one and only James Meredith, a couple of years ago.
“Mr. Meredith told me that The Ten Commandments would fix any broken society. We sure are broken. I had already put up one banner, but talking to him gave me more energy. I look at it like my job is to put out His word, God will take care of the rest of it. They might be headed to do something wrong and look up and see that sign that say, ‘Thy Shall Not Kill,’ and God takes over from there.”
His signs can be found in high traffic areas at Belvedere and McDowell, N. State and Culley at the Salvation Army Family Store, Hwy 18 and Greenway near Lowes, Bailey and Maple, Watkins and Beasley, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Maple Street. One additional sign is at Vorhees and Robinson almost right across from Provine High School, in front of a residence where they are trying to help battered women and disabled veterans – which is supported by former Mississippi State football and Superbowl winner Tyrone Keys.

His banner was flapping in the wind at N. State St. and Culley Drive, so he stopped to secure it with some zip ties, and I asked him more about what is driving him on this mission. “You know, back in the Old Testament, God was telling those people they didn’t need a king like those other countries. He was telling them, don’t do this stuff, let me be your King. So again, He’s telling us – let me be your God and have no other god before me. That’s the way He wants us to go. Even with the way our bodies are designed, He knows what we need. Now too many are taking other things over God, listening to others’ instructions. So, whatever you are going through, He’s telling us that He is the one to fix it. He tells us to not want other people’s stuff. We don’t know what we want. I tell people that your mind is desperate, wicked and deceitful. He knows what satisfies us more than we do. He’s saying, let me give you what you want, don’t be taking other people’s stuff. He tells us flat out that He will give us the desires of our hearts.”
The word purpose kept coming to mind – single purpose. Farmer said, “Yes, it’s like advertising. People advertise everything, and advertising is big business, that’s how they sell stuff. If people see it enough, they might want to grab a hold to it.” He says he’s received about ten phone calls over the last two years, since he started, positive calls. “I post it on Facebook whenever I put up a new sign – sometimes I get over 1,000 views and likes.”
Bishop Ronnie Crudup, Sr., senior pastor of New Horizon Church International, was pleased to share something with The Mississippi Link newspaper about Farmer. “He’s real, he’s authentic – it’s who he is – a wonderful Christian man that goes out of his way to help others, I’ve known him for nearly twenty years. The mission that he is doing with The Ten Commandment signs has a power about it.”
Power indeed. One man, a devout Christian man, doing his part to help us change – to help us remember. For Farmer it couldn’t be more simple – “These signs have a purpose – God’s word is live, active and never-ending. Like a mustard seed, I’m just doing my part by sowing. God will give the increase.”
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