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However long Lucifer had dominion over the earth, we don’t know. What
we do know is that at some point, the following occurred:

“You were the model of perfection,full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you…”
(Ezek. 28:12,13)

“You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were
on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.You were
blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was
found in you.” (Ezek. 28:14,15)

“So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you,
O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.Your heart became proud
on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your
splendor. So I threw you to the earth…” (Ezek. 28:16,17)

“How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You
have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You
said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the
stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost
heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)

“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and
they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient
serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was
hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” (Rev. 12:7-9)

“The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken.
The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it
is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again. In that day the Lord will
punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They
will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in
prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be abashed, the sun
ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and
before its elders, gloriously.” (Isaiah 24:19-23)

In other words, there was a war in heaven. Lucifer, his angels and the kings of the
earth (at that time) attempted to take over the throne of God.The heavens and earth
were shaken like little rag dolls and everything on it was immediately destroyed,
Lucifer was cast to earth and his angels were locked in dungeons (where they still
remain) to await their fate (2 Peter 2:4).

In the chaos of this great battle, as just mentioned…the heavens and earth were
plunged into total chaos and darkness…

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We left off with the idea of God giving Lucifer dominion over a newly
created earth, somewhere back in eternity past…somewhere called “the
beginning”. Lucifer was created full of wisdom and beauty (Ezek. 28:12).
We know from the Bible that, while his power is limited, he does have
power that we humans don’t possess. In fact, it’s probably safe to say
that his power is far greater than that of any other created being…but
still, far behind the power of God. He has a limited knowledge of the
future. And we know he likes to mimic God…

When Adam was created, he (Adam) was given dominion over the earth
(Gen. 1:26). He did nothing to earn it…it was a gift from God. It is reasonable
to conclude that Lucifer was given that same gift of earthly dominion back
in “the beginning”, as God’s highly favored angel. With his limited knowledge
of the future, together with the great power that God gave him, it is not
unreasonable to speculate that the pre-historic world was “created” by
Lucifer in an attempt to mimic what God had planned for the future…an
earth inhabited by a creation that was created by himself, in his own image,
and filled with his own Spirit. At the same time, perhaps God created the
pre-historic world for Lucifer.

It’s easy enough to imagine Lucifer attempting to mimic God’s creation
of animals and coming up with dinosaurs…and attempting to copy a man
and getting the “primitive” caveman. Neither of the two are nearly as complex
or sophisticated as the animals or human beings created by God in Genesis,
assuming, of course, that scientific theory is correct.

It’s also just as possible that God created them for Lucifer…knowing that
in our day, we would be consuming their remains as our primary source of
fuel…for without the dinosaurs of pre-historic times, there would be no oil.

Lucifer’s “world” consisted of dinosaurs and cavemen…at least, in the
beginning. I suppose it’s virtually impossible to tell how far they advanced
as time passed. If science is correct, then his dominion over this world
lasted for millions, or even tens of millions of years…maybe longer. Could
Lucifer’s world have advanced to the point of our own? Or even beyond?

Sure! Why not? Does that mean it did? Nope. Just that it could have.
That could possibly explain some of the mysterious ancient “nuclear reactor”
types of constructions…or the ancient “air strips” that we’ve all heard stories
about. At any rate, this world existed long enough to provide us with enough
fossil fuel to “modernize” transportation in our own world up to the present
day, and into the future…

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

I truly believe that a lot of that the negativity the Christian faith faces today is
because so many people, including Christians, don’t really understand the grace
of God and what salvation is really all about! For instance….

When a pastor stands behind a pulpit and condemns his congregation for the
very same things that HE’S doing, people get a little unhinged! We’re all in the
same boat, folks. We’re all sinners…the only difference between
heaven and hell is Jesus. It’s not because of OUR actions, but because of HIS!

Christians aren’t perfect either. We have been made perfect (in God’s eyes) through
what Jesus did on the cross. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not the rules
and regulations we follow (or fail to follow). It’s our standing before God. Either
we stand for ourselves and face condemnation, or we let Jesus stand in our place
and find acceptance. We are either enemies of God, or sons of God (John 1:12,
Gal. 3:26)…there’s no in between.

The Bible stirs up a lot of questions…but it’s because of our lack of understanding,
rather than any flaw in the Bible! That’s the purpose of this newsletter…to help you
better understand some of the things in the Book! 

What I’d like to do, is go back to the very beginning one more time…and take you
on a fascinating journey that will help open your eyes to just how much God loves
you! It will help answer some of the questions you may have about a lot of things…

Have you ever stopped to think about the apparent conflict between creation and
science? Those who believe in creation, generally believe that the earth and everything
on it were created in seven days…and that people have been populating it for around
6000 years. They believe the scientific data that claims the earth is millions of years
old is either incorrect, or a conspiracy to replace God’s creation…that either the
dinosaur never really existed, or that it did exist, but died out somewhere in the
beginning…like during Noah’s flood.

Science, of course, even though there is no evidence to support it, tends to follow
the idea of evolution. What if the truth is somewhere in between? Now, when I
ask that question, let me be clear that I most definitely believe in the Bible account.
The thing is, I also believe it’s often misunderstood and mis-interpreted!

God created science and gave us the ability to reason. Even though they may
appear to be at odds, they actually support each other, when we take the time
to take a closer look at what really happened!

Have you ever stopped to think about the first time Jesus is mentioned in the Bible?
Do you know where it is? Do you understand the concept of the Trinity, or does
it just seem really hard to grasp for some reason? Do you realize that the Old
Testament is just as much about Jesus as the New Testament? He’s all over the
place in the OT….ya just have to know where to look! 

Would you walk with me, through the book of Genesis? The place where it all
started? I promise you, it won’t be nearly as boring as you may think! Join me,
won’t ya? If fact, if you would, feel free to invite your friends along, too!

Many blessings!

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Genesis (coming soon!), please sign up below for the free newsletter!

Just to pick up on where we left off…

We would have to perfectly follow God’s Law, every single day of our
lives, without stumbling at even one point, in order to enter heaven by
our own righteousness. Let’s look at some of those…

“You shall not murder.” (Ex. 20:13)

Now, you may be thinking the same thing I would be thinking if I didn’t
know better…I haven’t killed ANYONE! For that matter, I’ve never even
MAIMED anyone! Score one for me! 

So far so good…until you get to the book of Matthew!

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not
murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell
you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to
judgment.” (Matt. 5:21)

Oh boy…well, there goes that one! Who hasn’t been angry with a brother
or sister? Doesn’t have to be your biological brother or sister…any brother
or sister will do. In fact, if you read the whole chapter, it can be rather
disturbing (and humbling) if you’re depending on your own righteousness to
get you into heaven. I could go on and drag this thing out a bit, but go read
it for yourself.

It talks about turning the other cheek…which many of us have done on
many occasions. But we’ve all NOT turned the other cheek on many
OTHER occasions. It talks about giving away all our stuff…if somebody
wants your shirt, give him your coat too…give to the one that asks you,
and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you…EVER!

Nope. We can’t keep the Law the way God meant for it to be kept. As
time goes on, you’ll learn that the Law wasn’t given to us for us to follow.
God knew, like he knew with Adam…that we wouldn’t be able to keep
it, before he ever gave it to us. Instead, it was given for a far greater reason,
which we’ll get to shortly.

For now, though, just understand that your own righteousness will never
get you Home…

Many blessings…

My apologies for not posting anything in awhile, but I’ve been working
on a new study on the book of Genesis. Most people think of the Old
Testament as the less important section of the Bible…and I suppose, in
some ways, that may be true to some degree. After all, salvation is found
in the section with the red letters!

At the same time, there is some TOTALLY AWESOME stuff in the Old
Testament! The entire Bible, from the first page to the last, is about one
person…Jesus! God’s plan is evident from the very beginning, and every
thing from the Old Testament (even as far back as Genesis) points to
Jesus!

How about this?

“In the beginning….”  (Gen. 1:1)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and
the End.” (Rev. 22:13)

Jesus in the very first verse of the Bible! Jesus is like a pair of bookends
with the rest of the Bible in the middle! The Beginning and the End…

Or how bout this?

“In the beginning God…” (Gen. 1:1)

There he is…mentioned again, already! Back to back Jesus stuff!

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9 NIV)

“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30 KJV)

“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” (1 John 5:7 KJV)

“…God was manifest in the flesh…” (1 Tim. 3:16 KJV)

As a historical record alone, the Old Testament can be really dry and
boring at times…full of excitement and all kinds of other stuff at other
times. But it always points to Jesus….

Now, I don’t want to promise that I’m going to try to do a study on the
entire Old Testament, but I will promise a neat little study on the book of
Genesis…and we’ll see where it leads! And while Genesis is the very first
book of the Bible, hence the first book of the Old Testament, don’t be
surprised when you find yourself taking a New Testament point of view
of the Old Testament!

I’ve been setting up a series of letters that you can receive directly to your
inbox if you like (that’s where I’ve been “hiding”), so you won’t miss out on
any of the posts. If you’d like to sign up for it (it’s totally free) simply go to
http://imonlywood.blinkweb.com
and leave your name and email address (be sure to look for your confirmation
letter). Of course, you’re name and email will never be sold, rented or given
to anyone for any purpose, and you’re free to unsubscribe at any time, should
you choose to do so! As always, you are more than welcome to follow along
here, as well!

If you would, ask your friends to join us…I PROMISE it’s gonna be a most
fascinating journey…..

It’s interesting to take notice of the fact that the enemy often tries to duplicate the things of God. This, in itself, is an entirely different study that could easily stand on its own and take a fair amount of time to cover. For the moment, if you will, simply consider this: God gave Adam dominion over the earth and everything in it. A perfect creation for a perfect creation! At the same time, God gave Adam another great gift…the gift of work. It wasn’t a tiresome thing. It wasn’t tedious or burdensome. It was a blessing.

When Adam fell, he passed on his God-given right to dominion over the earth to the devil. Whether he intended to do so or not, when Adam took the bite of the forbidden fruit, he also gave over his “birthright” to Satan, much like Esau gave over his birthright to Jacob (Gen. 25:29-34). At that point in time, a new “system” was born. We might call it the “world system”. Again, this is a tremendous study all on its own, so for the sake of keeping on the subject at hand, that’s all I’ll say about it for now! 

What it comes down to is this…God gave us the earth…and the enemy created upon the earth, a “world system”. While God gave us WORK, the enemy gave us, as a part of his system, this thing we call “business”… which is simply the work God gave us, with a twist!

“Business” is not necessarily a bad thing by itself. God allowed it to come to pass, and even uses it to fulfill His purpose. At the same time, it is NOT the WORK He gave us! It’s a substitute…an imitation of the blessing! Look at the word, itself…BUSIness. Busy-ness. It’s meant to keep us busy. Too busy for God, too busy for family and too busy for self. If the enemy can keep us too busy to do God’s work…

Wow!

Our problem is that we make business our work, instead of making our work our business. We forget that business is just something that we do to pass time while we’re here on earth. Once we leave here, our business will be forgotten. It’s our WORK that will stand the test of time.

I realize that some of the things you’ve read in these posts might seem a little strange or new to you. It may even sound a little crazy. But consider this:

“…my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)

And even more so…

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 3:18)

You see, this is simply one aspect of “the message of the cross”, because it was on the cross that we were redeemed from the curse of Adam and set free! This is the POWER OF GOD for us who are being saved!

We have each been given gifts and talents…desires and passions…each a gift from God to use in the performance of our work! The problem is that we’ve been brought up in a world that teaches us that “business” is to be our work. That’s why we’re tired, and stressed out. That’s why we don’t have time for God, our families or ourselves! That’s why we’re not being fulfilled! Because we’re chasing our “business”, rather than doing our work!

“…for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” (Rom. 11:29)

His gifts and his call are IRREVOCABLE! You will NEVER be satisified or truly free until you use His gifts to follow His call on your life, whatever that may be!

Next time we’ll look at why this happens, and then we’ll move on to where this is all leading. Believe it or not, these lessons have actually been your introduction to overcoming debt in your life….   

I’m getting ready to shift gears a little here, but before I do, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at where all this began and how we got in this mess to start with. When Adam was in the garden of Eden, and he took a big bite of that forbidden fruit, God made this statement:

“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”  (Gen. 3:19)

Because of that one statement, coupled with Paul’s statement that if a man isn’t willing to work, he won’t eat (2 Thes 3:10), mankind, in general, has fallen prey to the mistaken belief  that he has to “earn a living”. There are a couple of crucial things that the general population of mankind has overlooked.

One of the first and most important is this:

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Gen 2:15)

God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to WORK it and TAKE CARE of it BEFORE Adam took the condemning bite! It was God’s plan all along for Adam to WORK! That’s one of the reasons he was created…to WORK! Man was created to WORK! But here’s the thing…the work Adam was
given to do was given to him as a blessing…a gift!

(Just a little side-note here: Isn’t it interesting that God created Adam to be a GARDENER? Like Father, like son (John 15:1). (After all, who “planted” the Garden of Eden? Gen. 1:11,12) Isn’t it also interesting that the world as we know it began in a garden (Eden), entered the current fallen state in a garden, and was redeemed in a garden (Gethsemane) by another gardener (Jesus)? (I feel myself getting off on a tangent here, but I can’t help it cuz it’s SO FREAKIN AWESOME!) 

Just as our road to redemption led to the garden of Gethsemane, isn’t it interesting that after the crucifixion, Jesus was buried (or “planted”?) in a new tomb “IN THE GARDEN” (John 19:41)? Isn’t it also interesting that when Mary went to the tomb and found it empty, she began crying,  thinking someone had stolen the body of the Jesus, when, in fact, he was now risen? But that’s not the interesting part…THIS is:

“He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” THINKING HE WAS THE GARDENER, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” (John 20:15)

Now, why in the world would Mary have thought he was the gardener? BECAUSE HE WAS AND STILL IS THE GARDENER!

“It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” (Luke 13:19)

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24)

Folks, we serve the Master Gardener of all creation…THE seed of all we are or ever have been or ever will be…the Master gardener of ALL creation! But we’re afraid to rely on him to provide for our needs! And just as Adam was the “seed” of all mankind, Jesus is the “seed” for all the children of God!

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
(John 1:12,13)

I realize that a good part of this post has absolutely nothing to do with the subject at hand, but it needed saying, just because it’s so incredible! Can’t you see the PLAN? The DESIGN? None of it was a mistake! Not the creation of man, not the fall of man, not where it started or ended or even HOW it started or ended. It was all PLANNED! Gardener, garden (God, the Father). Gardener, garden (Adam in Eden). Gardener, garden (Jesus in Gethsemane). We are the fruit of the garden of the world, folks! We are the fruit of God, the fruit of Adam, and finally, the fruit of Jesus. We are the harvest that God has been waiting for to get ripe!

The Gardener is NOT going to do harm to His own fruit! He WILL provide the soil, the fertilizer, the water, the pruning, the Sonshine and whatever else we need in order to reach our time of harvest! Whew! WOW!!

“Let EVERYTHING that has breath praise the Lord!” WOW!! And why not? He is, after all, the gardener!

Well, I don’t apologize for getting off the subject, here…and I promise that the next post will pick up where I originally planned to go today…unless He changes my plans for me again… 

I think that all too often, we depend on ourselves and our own abilities to provide for ourselves and our families, rather than depending on God to provide. This, in itself, is a big part of the problem. The first question that comes to mind, is this: Would you rather recieve the benefits of the riches that you, yourself can create, or the benefits of the riches of God (Phil. 4:19)?

Before I go on too far, let me make one thing clear…there is nothing wrong with working at a “job”, if that’s what you were created to do! I read of an elderly man that passed away a few years ago, who spent his last years working as a greeter at Walmart (this story was in a national newspaper). When he left this world, there was a big article on how much he was loved and how he would be missed.

Again, this story of the “unknown” Walmart greeter was in a NATIONAL newspaper! Hundreds of customers reportedly attended his funeral. If you love your job the way this man obviously loved his, then you’re in the right place! If you don’t, then this is my second question: WHY ARE YOU THERE?

I don’t believe this man was depending on the riches of Walmart for his provision. I believe he was depending on the riches of God….and, true to His word, the Lord provided. I believe he was living out Colossians 3:23:

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters…”

Most of us work to please our human masters (so we can retain our meager paychecks), rather than fulfilling our purpose and receiving from the riches of God’s storehouse. The purpose of the elderly Walmart greeter was not to work at Walmart…but to touch people’s lives. And that he did. He simply used Walmart as a tool to carry it out.

A famous theologian was once speaking on creation having the purpose of giving God glory. A skeptic asked, “How, for instance, would an earthworm give God glory?” The theologian replied, “By doing what God put it here to do.”

There are people that are fantastic artists that work in a factory. There are people that write great songs working in construction. There are people that have a gift for cooking or serving that work behind a desk.

It’s no wonder that so many are unhappy…we’re so consumed with “earning a living” that we aren’t fulfilling our purpose! There’s nothing wrong with factory work…IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE PUT HERE TO DO! There’s nothing wrong with construction or working behind a desk…IF THAT’S WHAT YOU WERE PUT HERE TO DO!

When you do what you were put here to do, there’s less stress in your life. You’re far happier. You’re likely to be just as successful, if not more so. What’s then is the problem? (This is another entire study in itself) It’s a lack of faith. We don’t think God will provide for us while we follow our dreams and passions, so we take matters into our own hands and try to make our own way. Instead of working for the Lord, we end up working a Just Over Broke, in misery. The thing is, who do you suppose put those dreams, passions and abilities in you to begin with?? If God gave you these abilities and desires, don’t you think He’ll stand behind you while you pursue them?

Before I leave you today, I’ve got something special coming for you with the next post! If you get the opportunity, PLEASE, PLEASE find a few minutes for it…I think it will be a tremendous blessing!

Adam – The Origin of “The World”

Ok, on to the next thing we, as Christians, need to understand: Adam and the origin of “the world.” (I’m trying to put this thing into some semblence of order, at least in the beginning, because each of these concepts is very important to understand on your path to finding your freedom in Jesus!) With the creation of Adam, we also saw something else come into existance…the world. Now when I say that, it’s important for you to understand that I’m not speaking of the earth because the earth was created long before Adam (feel free to check out my post on Adam and dinosaurs!). But I’m referring to the world…or the world system.

The Bible is very clear that there is an earth ON which we live…and the world IN which we live. One, the earth (and everything in it), is God’s. The other, the world (or the world system), also ultimately belongs to God…but, He gave control of it to Adam who, in turn, gave it over to satan. When Adam drew his first breath, so did the world system…the system that dictates how people live together on this earth. Adam, being the first member of the world was the “mentor” of this system, so to speak. In fact, at the time, Adam WAS the world system in its entirity! In the beginning, before Adam ate the forbidden fruit, it was a world that followed God and His principles. It was a Godly world.

Then, as we know, Adam ate the fruit and fell from grace. In doing so, he took the entire world system with him! Adam chose to follow the system of the serpent, rather than the system God had in place…so that the entire world system, as it grew, was raised under the watchful eye of the fallen Lucifer. And we wonder why we have the problems we have! Between Adam and satan, the infant world system really had no hope of being anything other than what it is today…a fallen system, filled with fallen people with the whole thing going to hell in a handbasket! If you can imagine a fallen Adam and a fallen angel raising a child together, then you can imagine what kind of messed up kid you’d have. The sad thing is, you don’t have to imagine it, you’re living in it!

From the time of the fall, until the time of Jesus, mankind had about 4000 to corrupt this fallen system even further. By the time Jesus showed up to save the day, the world was solidly entrenched in it’s misguided, satan-inspired, man-taught way of doing things. These are powerful words, and they had 4000 to cement their power in the world system: tradition, ceremony, religion, education, medicine (just to name a few). Now, some of these things aren’t necessarily bad things. But when you incorporate them into a fallen world system, a creature arises that’s really very difficult to kill…and it’s a very dangerous creature because it’s one we’re all so familiar with…it’s the world we live in.

Now, when Jesus was born into the world…like Adam, he brought with him a new world system…the kingdom of God! The thing is, for 4000 years people have been living (and learning to live) according to the world system. Now along comes this young man that starts spouting off stuff that’s the exact, complete, direct OPPOSITE of what mankind has been so deeply ingrained by. Quick example using money: the world teaches you to gather all you can as quickly as you can…Jesus tells you to give it all away. Money is power. Jesus is power. Directly opposing viewpoints, two separate kingdoms.

The problem is this: they both exist at the same time and in the same place. Right here. Right now. On earth. You can’t see them, because they aren’t objects or places. They are SYSTEMS. And they SEEM like they’re both mixed up together. It’s no wonder we get confused! And here we are trying to live in both places…in both systems…at once…and it’s not working. It’ll never work. Because the two kingdoms are so directly opposite, they will never mix. Matthew 6:24. You can’t serve both God and mammon (the world system). But that’s exactly what we try to do because we don’t even realize there are two kingdoms, much less being able to distinguish one from the other!

To help clarify what I’m trying to say, if you took a shovel full of dirt from your yard, and mixed it with a shovel full of dirt from my yard, it would be impossible for us to ever distinguish or separate your dirt from mine. Thankfully, while it’s difficult sometimes, it’s not impossible to distinguish the two kingdoms in which we live today. Sometimes it’s quite easy…sometimes it seems nearly impossible. But it’s not. Keep in mind that with God, all things are possible! (Matt. 19:26)

We’ll go into this a little deeper as time goes on, but for now, please try to renew your mind a little. Understand that we are living in two directly opposing kingdoms at the same time…two that often appear as one, on the surface. This is a very important step to finding your freedom in Jesus and understanding some of the trials you may be going through today, and even more important when it comes to taking some of the necessary steps to finding your freedom.

In the next post, I’ll be offering you some Bible verses that will hopefully help demonstrate this powerful truth to some degree. For now, though, please keep in mind two things so far: we have to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Without that, we’ll never understand that there are two kingdoms existing on our planet today. The world, or the world system (the kingdom of darkness) and the kingdom of God. Two very important truths.

Until next time…many blessings!

THE ORIGIN OF MAN-ADAM

For now, closing remarks on the origin of man…(I know you’re thankful…lol)

How long did Adam live in the paradise garden? Nobody knows. Nobody except Adam and God. How did he spend his days? Chatting with his Creator, tending the garden, getting to know the creature that was now his wife, playing with the lions…enjoying his perfect world.

Then, at some point, Adam goofed. He ate of the one fruit that was off limits. And everything came undone. The spiritual connection with God was broken. Sin, sickness, death, decay entered the world. The dominion that he once enjoyed over all the earth and everything in it was handed over to his tempter, the serpent…that ol’ devil, Satan. Adam, along with his bride, was kicked out of the garden…and so began a new life. The one that you and I are familiar with.

You can blame Adam if you like, but you or I would have eventually done the same thing. You can blame Eve if you like, but Adam was standing right there when she took her bite (Gen. 3:6). It’s interesting to note that it wasn’t until Adam had taken a bite that their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. After all, it was Adam that was commanded by God not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Maybe he was curious. Maybe he was just gullible or trying to impress his wife. Or maybe he was just being man.

Even more likely, maybe…just maybe it was God’s plan all along. There is so much packed into these first three chapters of God’s story. Hopefully, as time allows, we can explore some of it together. For now, though, take a few minutes to ponder on Adam. Try to imagine what it must have been like, this garden experience. In the beginning…and again at the end.

Paradise.

Paradise shattered.

With God, as one. Apart from God, separated by sin. From king of the world, serving the King of kings to, as Paul writes, a slave to sin. Man, what a fall!

You think Adam at some point wished he could take that bite back? Kind of like we wish we could take back some of the things we do? Sure, he did. Probably fairly often. You think he ever felt guilty? Kind of like we do sometimes? Probably. But while God wouldn’t let Adam take back his bite…just like He doesn’t allow us to take back our mistakes…He did something better. For Adam and us. He offered salvation and redemption through His Son, Jesus Christ…and He forgave His creation.

I’m just another Adam. So are you. Don’t be so hard on the poor guy. God forgave him. Can you? And if you can forgive the Adam that screwed up your Garden of Eden, then you should be able to forgive the Adam that screws up everything you live with today…the one that lives inside of you. Do you know what God did when Adam ate the forbidden fruit? Even before He kicked Adam out of the garden, do you know what God did?

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” (Gen. 3:21).

He forgave Adam. He made him garments of skin and clothed him. With His very own hands God made Adam and Eve garments of skin and clothed them. He provided what Adam needed. Why? Because, in spite of the ol’ boy’s sin…God still loved His creation.

So, tell me “Adam”…what makes you think God can’t love you?