Saved From All Things Mortal Part 4

THE DAY

Recently I had a dream where the world was cheering on “death” not knowing death was in disguise.   

Can you see “this great dragon-the ancient serpent, called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world-….”? (Revelation 12:9)

We can see the evidence of his works and influence and confusion. Unmistakably the days are evil.
 

“Then the dragon became angry at the woman, and declared war against the rest of her children- all who keep God’s commandments and confess that they belong to Jesus.” Revelation 12:17.
 

We see the woman (Israel) in these days.  We see the rest of her children, those of Judeo Christian faith labeled as haters and old fashioned, and close minded because we believe in what God has said and believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.

We see there is only a narrow door in which we can pass through into heaven, which is Jesus Christ, but the rest of world believes in a highway to heaven but that board road leads straight to hell.  

Jesus said,  “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.  But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Why do you think it is difficult?  We live in a world that thrives on values and understandings that are the opposite of God.  We see what the liberal world calls “progress” but it isn't "progress" but leads to slavery and condemnation of people's souls.
 
Who is greater? Who has the most influence?  The one who is the world? Our flesh? Or the one who's Spirit that live in us?

Who redeems our days in the end?  What will deem them of any worth?

Surely it is not ourselves or the one who is the world.  For it is only by Holy Spirit is their life, peace, assurance and redeeming fruit.   We can't control what happens in the world but we can walk in the path of the goodness of God seeing and submitting to our need in Him..  

We see the darkness but imagine if you and I still walked in the darkness and evil of this world?  Let us use the darkness as a thorny hedge to keep us on course.  And when we see no path to walk let us sit, seek and listen until God comes along side and leads our us beside instances of calming waters and green pastures.

  

Let us remember God the Father has kept perfect count of each second knowing that exact moment He will send His Son, the day when we, the believers of Christ, will be transformed from our mortal bodies of Adam to immortal bodies of Christ.  And the nagging of this earthly body will be swallowed up in death and we will finally be rid of all the weaknesses of the flesh FOREVER!

Let us remember God has made it possible to be saved from all things related to the mortal even death.

1 Corinthians 15:48-58 “Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.  What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.  Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

Amen! Amen! Amen!

Saved From All Things Mortal Part 3

It is difficult for us to even imagine the original mindset God gave Adam and Eve because of the familiarity of the former mindset and daily exposure of this world.

  

Maybe this might help.  I don’t know the inspiration of the Vulcan species in the fictional universe of Star Trek but imagine being a Vulcan in the world of humans.  Vulcans strive to live by reason and logic with no emphasis on the emotional or fleshly desire.  How would you perceive human understanding and logic if you were a Vulcan?   What would a Vulcan base “human” logic upon?  They might not even see “human” logic as even logical because of where the logic comes from. 
 

Some still confused and manipulated and pulled by the opinions of the world might construe that this inherited knowledge from Adam and Eve as “sound” but what kind of wisdom is that?  Is it wisdom to take the word of man over the word of God? You want to place your life in a man’s hand or God’s hand?  Which one gives you eternal life?  Which one returns to the earth as dust?

The body was never designed to be the source of guidance and leading of one’s life.  If the body had been, God would have designed the body to use the knowledge of good and evil in a “productive” manner and not how it immediately became and has become… perverse in every way.

In taking the sentiment from J.R.R. Tolkien about the ring and I translate it to the flesh.

“Understand, my friend. I would use the flesh from a desire to do good… but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”

The knowledge of good and evil within humanity has turned everything upside down and sideways.   Take just the simple desired principle of love in this day and age.  How does the world define love? Is love defined the same way God defines love?
 

God defines love as this: “Love is patient and kind, not jealous, boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way.  Love is not irritable and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.  Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

How does the world define love?  Is it in those things listed?  Do people expect those things from others but not the other way around to give?  Do they really believe in commitment? Is love just a friendship with benefits?  Does love include in sickness?  Does love include “poorer”?   Does it include loss? Does it continually bring up the past? Does it keep score? Is it jealous and untrustworthy?  Does it compete and compare? Is it selfish/self serving? Is love just when it’s convenient? Is love for the selected few or everyone?  Is love based only on physical pleasure?  Is love materialistic?  Is love conditional? 
     

Feet solely standing on “the knowledge of good and evil in the human understanding has brought a great deal of irrational thinking into this world and even the church.  False teachers are popping up all over the place.  It has brought a lot of devastation to souls and loss into the world.  The pile of irrational thinking is so immense it has become a tower and monument of the foolishness of man.  A great pile of litter to be burned.  AND the further things go in this world of corrupt thinking the more foolishness and dangerous and hostile to the things of God. 

It comes down to this truth.  God was always to be the one guiding and directing the human vessel.   

Proverbs 3:5-6 says:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Romans says, “When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done.  Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.  They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful.  They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents.  They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving.  They are fully aware of God’s death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway.  And worst yet, they encourage others to do them, too.” (1:28-32)

The soul controlled and yoked by flesh is condemned because the works of the flesh end in death/hell. The soul controlled and yoked by the flesh seeks to be commended by the temporal things of this life not by God.

Romans 5:18-19
“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation of all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.  For just as through disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

Adam and Eve brought death to the human race but Jesus brought life and eternal life in heaven for those who choose to trust in Him.  They are made righteous by Jesus’ obedience to the God Father.   Jesus, Alpha and Omega-the beginning and end, makes right what Adam made wrong.  Jesus is a life-giving Spirit.(1 Corinthians 15:45)

Romans 8:5-8 
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

I find life is a journey that one wishes had constant puppet strings tied to the fingers of God.  I find as a Christian, when one doesn’t abide in the Spirit of Christ, the flesh goes right off to war. 

Galatians 5:17-18
“The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law.”

The heart, if not transfixed on God, goes digging like some undisciplined bloodhound under gravestones we had purposefully stayed away from.   It puts its nose where it doesn’t belong. It digs up the past.  It comes back and accuses us of intentions we hadn’t thought of.  It brings us burdens in which we were never meant to carry.  It even tries to persuade us to sit on prideful thoughts like a fool.  The flesh loves to crown us in our circumstances, failures and shortcomings and have its court jester point and make fun.  Thank God he took what had been harden, stubborn, foolish, and arrogant and changes it into something we might call “good”. Thank God he uses what is imperfect to show it’s not us… but Him.  Thank God he is greater then our hearts.

“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” 1 John 3:20-21

And I suspect we all fall into using candlelight instead of what our house is now wired to as Christians.  We all see dimly at times forgetting we have a source of sight within us that is better then what our eyes can comprehend, see and perceive.  We let the eyes haze and drape shadowy themes over the soul… we let the ears play uninspiring soundtracks into our day -yes, the Spirit is willing but the body is weak. 
 

I have never honestly thought of it this way, but the Spirit showed me that when we are not guided/directed by the Holy Spirit -the sinful nature of the flesh/body goes after the changed Christian heart (Ezekiel 11:19).  It’s like a person who has had an organ transplant and has to take anti rejection medication so the organ isn’t rejected but in the Christian’s case the anti-rejection medication for the changed heart is the Spirit of Christ.  The Spirit of Christ keeps the changed heart empowered for it can no longer be empowered by the flesh or the things of this world but God Himself who has unlimited resources to inspire and build sole confidence in Him.   

Saved From All Things Mortal Part 2

Did Eve and Adam disobey God? Of course they did!  But did Eve and Adam eat the forbidden fruit in “the understanding of evil”?  Most likely, the answer is “no”.   It was more a sin of omission or oversight.  In God’s eyes however a sin is a sin and God gave them consequences for their act of disobedience.

Let’s look at Genesis 3 more closely.  Imagine having a “conscience” with no scruples or awareness of good or evil or who is Holy and who is Evil.  

Here is naked Eve without a care in the Garden of Eden and here comes Satan in a disguise.  He is in a disguise that would make most people want to grab a shovel or run the opposite direction but not Eve.  Satan doesn’t come as some cuddly, fluffy animal but a cold slithery snake.  Eve, unafraid, gives the “Serpent” a grand tour around the garden and before she knows it, Satan leads her into his trap to have her and Adam eat the forbidden fruit of good and evil. 

Considering Adam and Eve’s mindset, Satan might as well been a hungry fox in a chicken coop with two fat blind chickens. 

We know Eve eats the fruit from the forbidden tree, gives some to her husband, and before they know it they are stringing fig leaves together to cover what they deem the more “private” areas of the their body, hiding from God and pointing accusing fingers.  Adam sulks.  Eve... now fearful is staying as far as she can away from the snake she just had lunch with a few moments before.

No wonder why God says, “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15

Talk about the mind job… Talk about saying bye bye to Kansas. Talk about tumbling down the rabbit hole.

The Knowledge of Good and Evil 
Satan accomplished these things that day.

• First, he managed to have Adam and Eve to become instruments of evil by having them disobey God.
•  Second, like a pregnant woman whom is a drug addict passes her addiction to her baby, the forbidden fruit did not just poison Eve and Adam’s conscious’ but every generation since.
• Third, the fruit set up a “logic or reasoning” dictated by the severely ill equipped understanding of flesh.  Man and women took the knowledge of good and evil and started defining it by the instincts of the flesh. 
•  Fourth, Satan unknowingly destined a greater system of prudence in the Spirit-filled believer, knowing the predisposition/bias of the flesh. (What the enemy intended for evil God turned to good.)   

This knowledge of good and evil that pulses through our weak and ill-equipped helms of the human understanding - ultimately causes all men and women to sin and violate what they know as good and right.  One might say, the make-up of our “system” was unable to digest or process the knowledge (of good and evil) in a constructive means and the output came out corrupted. 
  

The body made a corrupt law of it’s own.  This law continues until this day, where we see people and culture deliberately disregarding and violating and putting down what God put in place for stability and prosperity of the soul.  The law of sin has become a cancer to society… a cancer- society is willing to let spread allowing it to destroy itself.  It’s as if society- by accepted one evil has caused-welcomed “six” more evils- more hideous then the first. 

The book of Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"   

The human heart also has to do with the understanding of the heart.  That is why the bible tells us to not depend on our own understanding for even though the heart has been changed in the Christian the "human" understanding is still corrupt. 
 We know from our unchristian past, the sinful ways of the flesh that echo and resonate in the world became the counsel over our lives until Christ came into our life- changing our heart and giving us His Spirit.  WE, humanity, were appointed by the Father God to care for and populate the earth but we became slaves to the ways of the corrupt/wicked understanding of the flesh until we sincerely surrendered our lives before God and accepted Christ.

Galatians 4:1-7

 “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.  But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”  Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

  

Saved From All Things Mortal Part 1

Ephesians 1:3-14

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us acceptable in the beloved.  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth- in Him.  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.  In Him you are trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Adam and Eve

(Genesis 3) Some may want to argue that Eve ate the forbidden fruit out of some evil and selfish desire but how could she if she had no concept of what was good and evil until after she ate of the forbidden fruit?  And since she did not know evil how could she on act upon “evil” reasoning in her disobedience?

 Adam and Eve had nothing to base evil upon.  They didn’t know what was “selfishness”.   They didn’t understand what a lie was.  They had no comprehension of what it meant to be deceived or to deceive.

Genesis 3:6-7 says: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.  She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.

The word “wise” in translation is “to have insight, understanding, comprehension, and to act prudently”.

So what kind of conscious did Adam and Eve have before they ate of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil?  I found this word in the concordance as I was studying: “Scruple.”

Scruple is a feeling of doubt or hesitation with regard to the morality or propriety of a course of action.  Having reservations, second thoughts, misgivings or reluctance.  Hesitate or to be reluctant to do something that one thinks may be wrong.

I believe God had me “zero in” on this word “scruple” because he was showing me, even thought Adam and Eve had “consciousness” they had a consciousness that wasn’t “scrupled”.  They had no reservations, second thoughts, misgivings, or reluctance.  They lacked the understanding and insight to act prudently.  There was no wickedness in their heart.

Didn’t Eve say to Satan, “God says we must not eat it or even touch it, or we will die”?

My question is:  “Was she parroting what she had been told?”  Can a person repeat something without any conviction or real understanding?  Can a person be proficient in reading text but not comprehend what they have read?   

Can a child parrot a curse word without knowing it is a curse word?

We must look at Eve as “innocent” or “simpleminded” in her understanding.   Eve is approached by Satan- “one of the shrewdest of all the creatures the LORD God had made.” (Genesis 3:1) Satan “directs” her to the fruit she has ignored up to this point.  Eve evaluates the fruit by what she knows of fruit.  It looks fresh and delicious.   Satan speaks of “good and evil” but she doesn’t know or understand what is “good and evil.”

Is the simple minded Eve curious? Were Adam and Eve creatures of curiosity?  Are children curious? Do they touch things and examine things?  Do they ask curious questions?  Obviously if she saw the fruit was pleasant to her eyes and the tree was good for food, she was “inquisitive” in her observations.  Isn’t that how Satan gets many people hooked and ensnared, he uses their curiosity.  What we might consider “common sense” doesn’t seem to be there in Eve’s case. 

Satan also used one other thing against Adam and Eve; he used their lack of fear towards God.  If Adam and Eve, were as indifferent, innocent, and unapologetically sincere as I perceive and we compound that with the lack of knowledge of good and evil- How would they fear God? They would know God as their creator but would they have “wisdom” of Him being Holy?  Where does “wisdom” BEGIN?

    

 Proverbs 9:10 says,

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Where is the fear? Where is the wisdom? Where is the knowledge of God being Holy? Where is the understanding of God being “supreme ruler over” all creation?