Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Many have claimed the title of Jesus Christ. Matthew 24, part 3.


Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

As I mentioned in a recent post, there have been over 30, throughout the years, that have claimed the title of Jesus Christ. They have followed by thousands in some cases, but this is something more.

Revelation 13:11-14 NASB (11) Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. (12) He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. (13) He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. (14) And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

Do not let this get past you, for in it you see a lamb, with two horns. This should ring some bells.

Who is The Lamb, we believers recognize? (Rev 5:6) Jesus Christ of course, but when seen He is the lamb “as it had been slain.” John never describes horns on our Jesus, so He is never seen as an offensive personality. That will all change when you see him in Revelation 19, where He comes, riding a white horse, and has a sword coming out of his mouth.

What can you perceive from this lamb with two horns? That he is a representation, a false Jesus that will initially seem just like our Jesus Christ. The horns always represent war or violence, therefore, this false Jesus is coming with the intent of deception and violence. As I have stated before, Islam believes this man to be the enforcer of Sharia. Assuming you have your eyes open, then you should be aware of the level of deadly violence that infests Sharia law, and it is directed primarily at infidels (those outside of Islam), and women.

Revelation 20:1-3 KJV And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Revelation 12:17 KJV And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

            Revelation 12:17 and 20:1-3, are both clearly referring to Satan, but is that the only references to a dragon that we have in scripture? Not at all.

Revelation 13:2-4 KJV And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (3) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. (4) And they worshiped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

            Clarifying takes a little time, and a mind that is willing to look past tradition.

Revelation 13:2 tells us of a multi-headed beast, “and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”

What is this beast? 
The four heads represent four heads of authority. Because there is one body it demonstrates some form of unity, with one central goal, but did you notice that each head is different, indicating that they will be a destructive force and never attain cohesiveness (This is what we see in Nebuchadnezzar's dream where the toes are made of clay and iron).

There is only one thing on this earth that fully takes on these characteristics, and it is Islam.

The lack of cohesiveness is demonstrated by their hatred of each other as Sunni and Shia Muslims consistently try to blow each other up. Islam does give them a common, vile hatred, as prescribed in the Qur’an, and that is to kill infidels, defined as anyone not aligning with Islam.

Revelation 13:3 CEV  One of its heads seemed to have been fatally wounded, but now it was well. Everyone on earth marveled at this beast,

I cannot begin to number the theories I have heard on what this is supposed to be. Many thought it was President Kennedy, or a Catholic Pope that was to be assassinated. That is not it at all. Islam became united under one central religious authority called the Rashidun caliphate in 632 AD. This eventually became the Ottoman Empire that ruled over the Middle East, northern African continent, and much of Eastern Europe, until its defeat and dissolution in 1922. This is the head that was wounded, and the world thought it was dead.

Islam regained some life with the Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in 1928, “the Muslim Brotherhood started as a religious social organization; preaching Islam, teaching the illiterate, setting up hospitals and even launching commercial enterprises. As its influence grew, it began to oppose British rule in Egypt, starting in 1936. Many Egyptian nationalists accuse the Muslim Brotherhood of violent killings during this period. After the Arab defeat in the First Arab-Israeli war, the Egyptian government dissolved the organization and arrested its members. The Muslim Brotherhood supported the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, but after being implicated in an attempted assassination of Egypt's president it was once again banned and repressed.” (From Wikipedia)

Islam existed, in the mind of the modernized world, as only a sleeping religion, until the Islamic revolution, or Iranian Revolution of 1979. This was when the US Embassy in Iran, was taken hostage. Islam, the head that was dead, has been alive ever since.

Verse 4 of Revelation 13 states, “And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast:” If the “they” here are the followers of Islam, then who do they, in unity, worship? Allah. Is it possible that Allah is little more than a powerful and destructive fallen angel, certainly. Where would this “dragon” obtain such global authority? This kind of logic tends to make Islam the beast. Therefore, what we have is a demonic spirit giving power to a religious ideology.

Note the wording of Revelation 13:11-14, “he spoke as a dragon.”

This is now a singular entity, the false prophet, a pseudo Christ if you will (a lamb with two horns). Islam calls him - `Îsâ Ibn Maryam ( Arabic: عيسى, translit.: ʿĪsā ), known as Jesus in the New Testament, is considered to be a Messenger of God and al-Masih (the Messiah) in Islam[1][2]:30 who was sent to guide the Children of Israel (banī isrā'īl) with a new scripture, al-Injīl (the Gospel).(From Wikipedia) This man did not die on the cross, and he is not the son of God. He is however, a Jew, of the lineage of Aaron and therefore entitled to be a priest, giving access to the temple. He is a Muslim, and a follower of Allah. He will defer to the Mahdi, and be able to do signs and wonders as Elijah did.

Things are moving so fast. If you are a believer, a follower of Christ, are you aware that Muslims are coming  to Christ in rapid numbers. He appears to them in their dreams, and they describe knowing precisely who He is. They are generally led to followers of Christ, much like Paul was led to Ananias after the road to Damascus incident.

If you do not know this Jesus Christ personally, ask him to make himself real to you. Ask him  into your life, and He will come and change you from the inside out. What is to come may seem exciting to some, but it is not. It will be a time of wrath upon those that remain upon the earth. There only one hope and his name is Jesus.

Wars, We are surrounded by them. Matthew 24 Part 2.

Part 2
Matthew 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Syria is still an active war zone, but all those be-headings have become commonplace and boring, beside that, there are powerful people who want all this destruction, or it would not be happening. Syrian President Bashar recently threatened Israel with a missile attack, to which Israel replied, that they would wipe Damascus off the map. The oddity here is that prophecy tells us that Damascus will be utterly destroyed and uninhabitable; that can only happen if a nuclear weapon is used. The other news we are painfully aware of is the Ukraine. (The land of Gog)
Isaiah 17:1 LITV The burden of Damascus: Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruined heap.
Matthew 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:”We have been talking about this.
Pestilence – Think bugs, flies, frogs, and in general, pests; plagues fall under this category as well. As of last year, the world is seeing a rise in the Bubonic plague and it is coming from multiple fronts such as Asia, Mexico, and Madagascar. In March of 2013, Egypt was swarmed with over 30 million locusts. Moreover, Guinea is now suffering from a deadly outbreak of Ebola. To make matters worse, A major French biomedical research body, the Pasteur Institute, have launched an investigation into the disappearance of some 2,300 test tubes containing samples of the deadly SARS virus.

How about famine? 

  • UN calls for $2 billion to help combat hunger in Sahel.  
  • North Korea: fears of food shortages outside Pyongyang as distribution fails; 
  • Pakistan’s Impending Famine 
This list could go on forever.

Let’s look at earthquakes for a moment. The USGS reports: 7 Days, Magnitude 4.5+ Worldwide 92 earthquakes -Updated: 2014-04-27 19:58:45 UTC-07:00Showing event times using Local System Time (UTC-07:00)
Matthew 24:8 tells us that,  "All these are the beginning of sorrows."
The Complete Jewish Bible calls it birth pains. If a woman goes into labor she will experience birth pains. To the woman that only means one thing, the baby is on the way; to the church and Israel, it means that Jesus Christ is on his way.

Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
He was not talking in parables here, Jesus said these things to his, Jewish, disciples, and his words were stated in a manner that they understood. What would have given them the understanding; early childhood teachings from the Torah, Jewish tradition, and the context of Jesus response. 

Only moments before Jesus indicated that there would be nations involved with wars; so the context is those outside of Judaism. Sadly, this takes on meanings other than family turning against family. Islam has two specific goals; to eliminate the great Satan, America, and the little Satan, Israel.

Israel will have armies encompassed about it. Enemies will attack the city, women will be raped, and the men will be slain.
  • Ezekiel 7:24 NASB 'Therefore, I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned.
  • Ezekiel 38:8-12 NASB "After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste; but its people were brought out from the nations, and they are living securely, all of them. (9) "You will go up, you will come like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you." (10) 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It will come about on that day, that thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil plan, (11) and you will say, 'I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will go against those who are at rest, that live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, (12) to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world.
Matthew 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
  • Mark 13:12,13 and Luke 21:16 convey the reality of brother betraying brother, and children rising up again their parents to put them to death. Why would that happen? I am not sure this answers the question, but I am going to give to you anyway. "You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved". If Islam is the primary aggressor, then you should  understand that they focus their hate primarily toward Christians and Jews, but also against any outside of Islam, so Jews, and those who take on the name of Jesus Christ as their own will be targeted.
The word, that this version translated “offended,” is the Greek word skandalizō. It is the basis for our English word, to scandalize. It means to entrap, trip, or stumble. Lastly it can mean, make to offend. The word “betray” is the Greek word paradidōmi and means to surrender, yield up, bring forth or betray.
If we do a rewrite of the sentence using the alternate wording, it looks like this:
And then shall many be stumbled, and shall surrender one another, and shall hate one another.
Do you realize that this sounds like the events that happened in Europe when the Nazis came into power. People began to hand their Jewish neighbors over to the Nazis, apparently not caring what would become of them. This is not Nazi Germany we are talking about, but it seems logical to think that we could be talking about Jews handing over other Jews to invading nations in the last days.  I cannot imagine what Jews would hope to gain by doing that. Israel is a multicultural nation, and a large part are Muslims. Therefore, it is only fair to consider the possibility that this is referring to Muslims pointing out the Jews they know to invading forces. Look at the Sura's I have copied below. (The last days really encompasses the last seven years on earth before Jesus comes back.)
If Israel is being attacked by Muslims, and I believe they will be, even the Jewish traitors will only be given one option, convert or die. To convert, during this time period, is to turn your back on God forever, choosing to follow Satan to his demise. But this may help us to understand.
Sura 2:65, 7:116 O Muslims, Jews are a treacherous & deceitful people over whom lies the curse & anger of Allah. They permitted what Allah forbade, with lame excuses; therefore, He cursed & turned them into apes & pigs. Sura 9:30 Jews & Christians are perverse. Allah himself fights against them. Fight against Jews & kill them even Trees & Rocks will cry out that there are Jews hiding behind them, so Muslims must come & kill them. Sura 4:160 For wicked Jews, Allah has prepared a painful doom.
All this that I have described applies to the time after the rapture of the church. The wrath that is an integrated aspect of the seven years following the rapture, has little to  do with the church, but applies to the nations and Israel.
I suggest you give your life to Christ, not so much because it could be thought of as an insurance policy, but a relationship with the creator, and a rest knowing that you will spend your eternity in his comfort and care. Accept Jesus Christ into your life, ask him to make himself real to you, and he will.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

These questions come up far to often. Matthew 24 dissected. Part 1

Matthew 24 is not the end of all argument, but it is the one place where, when asked, Jesus responded directly to the questions that His disciples asked, and they asked about the destruction of the temple, and when He would physically return to the earth and set up His kingdom. This was not a bizarre or freakish concept in their minds, every learned Jew understood that the Messiah would eventually set up His eternal kingdom and make thing right. Neither did Jesus argue with them that their theology was wrong, He merely answered their question.
Why is any of this important to us? Because everything He spoke of is happening already. We are in the last of days.
As I sat in our men's ministry meeting this A.M., our men's pastor, speaking highly about "The Story" that we are going to be doing, said, the body of Christ is seriously lacking in their knowledge of God's word. You can see it in the questions that we ask. We are good at doing stuff, like parking lot detail, or passing out offering baskets, but can we adequately lead bible study and keep our tradition and opinion out of it?
I am going to be upfront with you on this, it pains me to sit in some of these meetings, because, for some reason we do not want to understand the bible, and it is rare to find a "teacher" that does.
Matthew 24:1And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
The disciples, proud of their heritage and the temple, pointed them out to Jesus. I am sure he was aware of them. They represented something completely to him. He also knew what was soon to happen to the temple.
Jesus responded to them.
Mat 24:2And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
This response is directly related to them pointing out the temple to Jesus, but it eludes to something more. This was literally fulfilled in 70A.D. Jerusalem was under the rule of Titus and most attribute the destruction of the temple directly to Rome, but that was not the case. While it is true that there were troops, operating under Roman banners, it is documented by both Josephus and Tacitus, that the majority of troops were conscripts from the Assyrian nations, and had an open and vile hatred of the Jews. This will come into play later on as we define other aspects of end times prophecy.
1 Kings 9:7-9 NIV then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. (8) This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?' (9) People will answer, 'Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them--that is why the LORD brought all this disaster on them.'"
Daniel 9:26 NIV After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
Mat 24:3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Tell us, when shall these things be?” Anyone who had spent time looking at the lives of the disciples knows that they had a very Jewish mindset, so it is necessary for your understanding to consider this when trying to understand Jesus response to them.
Jesus seemed to have a direct connection to the Father (and so do we as believers) so what He is saying is clear and concise.
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The question may well be two separate questions. In general, the Christian community seems to confuse Christ's return for His bride, with His last return to the earth. On the day of His return He will touch down on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and on that day, He will come prepared for war. When He comes for His bride He will meet them in the air and does not touch down.
Mat 24:4,5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Why would he say that? Just a partial list off Wikipedia gives the names of 32. Some of these I recognize. But think about the ridiculousness of something like this. An example: would be David Koresh. His teachings included him propagating children with the wives of other men who were involved in the cult. That would not happen!
This becomes hugely important if you realize that Islam has their own version of Jesus. He has some similar properties. The following is from Wikipedia, about the Islamic Jesus.
  • The belief that Jesus is a prophet is required in Islam
  • He is the son of Mary, not God (Allah)
  • According to the Quran, Jesus, although appearing to have been crucified, was not killed by crucifixion or by any other means; instead, "Allah raised him unto Himself"
  • To aid in his ministry to the Jewish people, Jesus was given the ability to perform miracles (such as healing the blind, bringing dead people back to life, call fire down from the heavens, and cause it to rain where there has been none), all by the permission of Allah rather than of his own power.
  • Jesus is considered a Muslim (i.e., one who submits to the will of Allah), as he preached that his followers should adopt the "straight path" as commanded by Allah. (In other words, all must become Islamic and follow Sharia.)
  • Muslims believe that Jesus will return to earth near the Day of Judgment to restore justice and to defeat al-Masih ad-Dajjal ("the false messiah", also known as the Antichrist). (Odd how they too have an understanding of the end times pattern. This “false messiah” Islam looks for, is the opposition to Jesus Christ. They believe that the Antichrist is our Jesus. If you use the perspective that they serve the father of lies, then you might be able to comprehend why they are in opposition.)
  • The Jesus of Islam will be a Jew
  • A priest of the lineage of Abraham.
  • He will defer to the Mahdi. (The Mahdi is there awaited savior. He is the 12th or hidden imam, and several have already declared that he is speaking through them. It is said that he will return on a white horse. This is the same white horse that we see in Revelation 19, and it is the only scripture in our bible that they believe is true.)
  • He will be the enforcer of Sharia.
If all this is true, and there is someone who will take this role, then this makes all the sense in the world, and the ones that will be the primary targets of this deception will be the knowledgeable Jews. We happen to think of these as the religious of Israel.
Ask Jesus to make himself real to and watch what happens. Should you decide that you need him, ask him into your life and he will come.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

“The Story” chapter 1 - From creation to Noah. Genesis 1-3. Prep for bible study.

Many years ago, I shared the teaching responsibility of a men’s Bible study. The entire church was interrupted by the Pastor, who felt we needed to walk everyone through Rick Warren’s The Story, a pathetic overview of the Bible. You would be right if you got the sense that I was disgusted. Since we each had a copy of this book, I made some notes that might assist me in teaching and put them on my website. This was posted in 2014 when I did not use the Grammarly program to check my grammar. After a recent check of my statistics, I saw that someone had pulled up this excessive rant, prompting me to fix it. If you invested the time to read all 18 pages, I am chopping this up and extending it by one chapter. 

Because “The Story” covers many subjects quickly, it is difficult to do a focused bible study when dealing with many topics over 11 chapters. That being said, I will attempt to focus on one aspect at a time.

Genesis 1

God creates heaven and earth

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1 LSV)

  • (The Literal Standard version italicized the word “the” as it was added for continuity. Removal of such a simple word tends to show that the creation was a process, and we are still involved in that process until the end of the 1000-year reign.)

Why is it important to know how things began?

Perhaps because it shows original intent, or, once everything goes bad, it demonstrates that the creator has a plan.

God creates man in his own image, blesses him

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness! Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the flying creatures of the sky, over the livestock, over the whole earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the land.”
(Genesis 1:26 TLV)

Several things dominate this passage.

  • Then God said,”

Ah, but to whom?

If we work off the assumption that God, like Allah, is a standalone entity, then this makes no sense. The writer has to be referring to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Knowing that I am writing these notes to followers of Christ, then it seems safe to believe that you understand that God is a triune entity and that Jesus Christ – the Word of God – has made himself known to us in the body of a man.

  • Let us make man in our image, in our likeness”

In unity, from the beginning of time, there have been three.

How does that affect how I understand creation?

It does not, unless, as I consider what the image of God was, I began to understand that this has little to do with a physical body, and is focused more on the character and attributes of the creator.

The Apostle John makes it very clear that Jesus was right there in the beginning.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

Jesus indicates that the Holy Spirit was there.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 KJV

And,

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:”
(John 15:26 KJV)

As for making “man in our image, and likeness.”

Paul wrote, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about man when he said,

“…You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.” (Ephesians 4:24 CEV)

The Hebrew word for image tselem - conveys multiple possibilities. Tseh’-lem – From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol:

If man was only a shadow, then he is not an exacting duplicate of God but a mere representation, something that vaguely resembles the creator. Seeing as man is made in all three aspects (shade, resemblance, and representative figure), how could you pin down one specific thing to define what the man looked like without a body

The point to this, the overarching theme I see hereis that God created someone that was so much like him that it would be ridiculous to think that this man did not walk in constant communication with the Father

I am stunned by God as he opens my eyes, and I begin to see things I have never seen before. Examples of this would be: Jesus, the last Adam, created in the image of God, and untainted by the sin prevalent in the world, walked this earth, in full view of the disciples, in perfect communion with the Father. The other is Enoch. Enoch learned how to walk in perfect harmony with the Father and walked off the earth. This freedom of communication is the atmosphere that Adam was placed in.

 Genesis 2

The book, The Story asks the question:

Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

One of the things that run through my mind as I look at the events of man's creation is: if the human is so closely and intimately made in God’s image and apparently placed here so that God would have someone to talk with, what separates us, and makes us something other than mere slaves?

The answer to that question has freedom written all over it.

We are free to choose whom we will love and how we will respond when love is shown to us. The other side of this coin is how God will continue to respond to us, even when we break off communication.

Man had complete knowledge of good, for that is part of the character of God, as is love, but he had no knowledge of bad; there was nothing inhibiting or tainting man’s relationship with the creator.

So man was free to exhibit love toward God or ignore Him. Certainly, the fruit of that tree was a test, but what you don't see or know is how many years were they able to ignore it? 

Man is placed in the garden, and the fruit of the tree of knowledge is the only forbidden thing.

Then Adonai Elohim took the man and gave him rest in the Garden of Eden in order to cultivate and watch over it.  (16)  Then Adonai Elohim commanded the man saying, “From all the trees of the garden, you are most welcome to eat.  (17)  But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you must not eat. For when you eat from it, you most assuredly will die!” Genesis 2:15-17 TLV 

Man only has one demand placed upon him; do not eat the fruit of that tree!

Does it get any better than this?

Well, yes. Having an intimate union with God is, even in God’s mind, not enough, and so God made a woman for him. 

 Genesis 3

The serpent deceives Eve

Now the serpent was more cunning than any creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Is it true that God has said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?' " Genesis 3:1 AFV 

My pastor recently said, “we don't know where Adam was during this time.” Oh really!

Adam was standing right there, watching the entire process, hearing everything the dragon said, and never said a word in defiance.

Now the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a thing of lust for the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for imparting wisdom. So she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband who was with her and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves loin-coverings.” (Genesis 3:6-7 TLV)

Adam was very clear about what God had told him, and there were NO issues with his memory, and he is alone with the animals. Adam, in time, of course, after she was cloned from his rib, told Eve about the only rule they had, and there is no doubt in my mind she understood what he said and where that information came from. But keep in mind that deception is a twisting of the truth, and those who are not established in their relationship with the Father seem to be the quickest to fall.

How does that explain Adam being sucked into this?

It does not, but what it does demonstrate is that God has to be consistent with His actions. (We will see God demonstrating His intent and character throughout the Old Testament. He says to both Noah, and then Abram. God typically said “as for me”, indicating that no matter what happens I will uphold my end of this contract.)

I have heard pathetic explanations about the fall of man in the garden, told in so many perverted ways, and none of them make any sense to me.

Adam has, at this point, demonstrated selfishness and defiance for the first time and he did what he wanted. In contrast, Jesus told us that He only did what the Father told him. Think about the alternatives. Adam heard those words from God and knows full well that Eve will die, and he watched her bite wholeheartedly into that fruit without wincing.

Could God make another Eve, as He had made the first one?

Well certainly, but there is a huge issue with the man trusting what the Father had said, and he had just demonstrated that he didn't trust God anymore.

Here is a tainted human piece of logic. God, on the other hand, can use any or all methods of death to fulfill His promise; and lacking specific information, we do not know if Adam fully understood what those words concerning death meant.

Also think about how it appears that nothing had ever been killed before God did it, and it might be an entirely new concept to them. For all Adam knows she could merely drop dead in the next few seconds. Oh, they died, as both, immediately in their spirits, as the lights of this open communication with the Father went out, and they began to deteriorate immediately in ways they slowly began to perceive.

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” (Genesis 3:21 NASB)

Some, you would think, prefer an angry, vengeful God, and this would have been a good time for it, if that was his character, but he does not pour out His hot anger on them. What we do see is that God is entirely consistent with His nature and character, and this is something that we need to perceive as we read about the events of creation and the beginnings of man.

At this point, (I may have seen this in “The Story” but I indicated that it was a caption from the NIV. I have four versions of the NIV and none of them say this.) the next segment shows God arraigning them as though they had been convicted in a criminal court.

Watch what happens, and I will show you differently.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
(Genesis 3:8-10 TNIV)

God is not arraigning anyone. In fact, He is acting completely within his unchangeable character; He is acting in love toward that, which is a replica of him, and showing them respect; but there is one huge change, and the only ones demonstrating the effects of the change that sin brought, is His creation as suddenly the man, who had been naked and not ashamed, is now hiding, not only from God but from each other as well.

And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" (Genesis 3:11 TNIV)

I fully expect Adam to understand what is being said because God spoke directly to the man. But it is a peculiar statement, at best, if God did not expect Eve to know the rules. You see, the problem is that He did expect her to know, not like an angry father, who expected you to somehow absorb his thought processes. God told Adam, who had dominion over the earth and was, therefore, God's representative here on earth, and Adam conveyed this information to Eve. As far as God was concerned, she had been told and there could be no excuses. Well, that sounds harsh, and if it was like that then a full and brutal punishment would be in order; but that IS NOT what God did. He showed mercy, grace, and punishment by upholding His word.

I suppose many generations of misunderstanding and tradition have taught us that God is always ready to strike us down, but what if what we see here is God merely asking questions and reasonable questions at that. (Try to maintain one clear thing here, you are not getting anything past God, and He already knows the answer before He asks, so lying is not an appropriate response.)

Did Eve just stand there dumbfounded as she listened to God's word to them?

We do not know, but the hesitation allowed for the newly found damage to manifest in Adam when He said:

The man answered, “That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.(Genesis 3:12 GW)

Well, that was pathetic. Now we see something close to what I deem anger.

One of the things you cannot deny is that God can and does get angry, but at whom?

The serpent is cursed

So the LORD God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.” (Genesis 3:14 GW)

There is good news and bad news.

The promised seed

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.” [Gal. 4:4.]
(Genesis 3:15 AMP)

Enmity? Webster's dictionary tells us that it is “The quality of being an enemy; the opposite of friendship; ill will; hatred; unfriendly dispositions; malevolence.”

In short, Satan hates us.

But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law.”
(Galatians 4:4 MSG)

None of this caught God by surprise.

How would you have played a game of chess, over a period of years, with such vast dimensions, all the way out to the last winning move, without putting tremendous thought into it?

(It is possible that God had this all mapped out in his head in seconds.)

Giving His “representative figurethe freedom to make choices almost makes you think that there had to have been an alternate plan, or was this the plan from the very beginning. Apparently, God did not intend to let such a destructive force run havoc, not against Him and His creation for all eternity; that would have been contrary to the original design and out of character.

While there may be a good chewing out going on here, there is also the God I have come to understand, giving Eve the hope that her seed will be the one that brings the enemy his defeat.

The new way of life Adam and Eve brought upon themselves will soon be filled with pain, murder, jealousy, and the promise of hope, much like the covenant God made with Abraham.

Expelled from paradise, the repercussions of man’s selfishness permeated everything, and the death clock immediately began counting down; under the limitations of that clock and now recorded time, two sons are born.

There are many horrid aspects to consider.

The outcome of their sin, that God continues to discuss: such as pain in childbirth, and Adam now having to toil to get the land to produce. But I refuse to believe that they did not have an understanding of what God was talking about when he speaks of crushing and bruising, or as He kills the animals necessary to make the clothing they needed. God made clothing for them. He did it in such a manner that they, too, would know-how and understand the implications behind what He did. This is not made explicit in scripture, but enough clues are given that allow us to ascertain what God did, for in a short time, we will see both Cain and Abel making sacrifices. One son does it right and is accepted, and the other turns his jealousy inward, with a devastating result.


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