Evil Spirits in the Old Testament and Satan

This is from a personal study I have done on the origins of evil, evil spirits, and Satan from the Holy Scripture in the Old Testament. I intend to post one I am doing on New Testament statements regarding demons, evil spirits, spirits of infirmity, Satan, etc. I hope it will be by my next post. My intention here is to reveal what the Bible says about these things and then to show the origins of much pagan Christian thinking on these things as compared to Scripture and truth from research. Much of what most people believe does not come from personal study of Scripture but from what we have been told to believe.
I believe it is EACH Christian's responsibility to dig in, and hunt for truth.
I however, also realize the Bible is not a manual of all of God's thoughts, though I believe it provides us "the Story" and He inspired it, but without the Holy Spirit enlightening a man's heart and mind, he can dig all he wants to in it, and still miss "the story."
God wrote it, so He must interpret it to us, His story for us, and our story and how it relates to us individually and corporately. So is the Bible inerrant? Yes! and No.
Man has introduced a lot of presuppositions to it, by translations and definitions, it is inerrant in as much as God reveals the truth to us of it by the Holy Spirit. He is our teacher, and not other men or even ourselves.
I hope you will enjoy, as this is a Word Study and cannot be refuted based on what is just written here in the listing of Scripture I dug up by just hunting for the words pertaining to these things, the letter of it. Of course, Christians live by the Spirit and not the letter. I used E-Sword for my entire study, and Strong's Hebrew.
Let us begin this journey together.

Judge 9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:

Did this evil spirit decide to do something on it’s own volition? No, God sent an evil spirit.

1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Where did this spirit come from? From the Lord that’s where.

1 Samuel 16:15 And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Again in the Old Testament where did this one come from.... from God

1 Samuel 16:16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.

Again we are shown this evil spirit was from God.

1 Samuel 16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

Again, the evil spirit was from God..

1 Samuel 18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

Again the evil spirit was from God

1 Samuel 19:9 And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

Again, the evil spirit from the Lord.

1 Kings 22:23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

The Lord put a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets and the Lord spoke evil concerning them.

1 Kings 22:20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.

1 Kings 22:21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.

1 Kings 22:22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Note, the evil spirit is an entity but just like in Job, he offers to work for the Lord, and God tells him to do so.

1 Kings 22:23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

In all the cases above the word for spirit is the same word for wind...ruach in the Hebrew

The Hebrew words for "evil" and "spirit" is this.

H7451
רעה רע
ra‛ râ‛âh
rah, raw-aw'
From H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: - adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief, (-vous), misery, naught (-ty), noisome, + not please, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong. [Including feminine ra’ah; as adjective or noun.]


H7307
רוּח
rûach
roo'-akh
From H7306; wind; by resemblance breath, that is, a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions): - air, anger, blast, breath, X cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, X vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).

Now if what we see here is God sending and dispatching these EVIL SPIRITS to do His bidding, was this a willed act of God or the evil spirits will and power to act without God. God of course willed it so!

Thus I ask? Did the serpent in the garden (merely a beast of the field though more cunning then the others) speak on his own volition and will, or did God make the serpent speak as He did Balaam’s ass. (donkey)? I only bring this question to you to ponder the significance of it, as no where does it say in the description of the account of Creation and Man's Fall, in these Genesis passages that the Devil was present as traditionally taught. We must not add to the Word by presuppositions.

Let’s see so far we have seen that God is ALL powerful and NOTHING TAKES PLACE in these OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES THAT GOD WAS NOT THE SOURCE, THE WILL AND THE POWER OF...

Now that we looked at that, let’s look at where we first hear of those who called upon the name of the Lord.

Genesis 4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Now Scripture tells us this: Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Genesis 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

Hebrew for Son is
H1121
בּן
bên
bane
From H1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like H1, H251, etc.): - + afflicted, age, [Ahoh-] [Ammon-] [Hachmon-] [Lev-]ite, [anoint-]ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, [Assyr-] [Babylon-] [Egypt-] [Grec-]ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant[-est], whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.

Hebrew for God as used in this passage in the Old Testament is
H430
אלהים
'ĕlôhı̂ym
el-o-heem'
Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.

Now let’s look at the Hebrew where God intends to say ANGEL or ANGELS

H4397
מלאך
mal'âk
mal-awk'
From an unused root meaning to dispatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): - ambassador, angel, king, messenger.
Every passage in the Old Testament does not use, Ben Elohim for angels instead it uses Malak. So how did these Sons of God in Job become Angels... lies of tradition. Men’s vain imaginations that’s how. The Word of God is clear here.


Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Now we see that these Sons of God came to "present themselves" before the Lord each time in the passages above, no where does it say they are ANGELS.

Deuteronomy shows us who they were that were to present themselves before the LORD.

Deuteronomy 31:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and "present yourselves" in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Where did God dwell at this time? In the Tabernacle of the Lord, in the Holy of Holies. So I ask Biblically who were the Sons of God in Job..?

They were those who CALLED UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD... Who were they in Deuteronomy... Moses and Joshua... The Two Witnesses perhaps in Revelation.. as well? Just a thought.

So it is settled from these Scriptures, there is a breath of God- life giving- that He can breathe - Ruach, basically to create or give life to, which does that which He sets it out to do, either to do evil - breath, life, spirit or even to lie- spirit, life breath- or perhaps, even fall as men did?

Does that sound unscriptural to you?
Well I have news for you:

Col 1:16 For by him were ALL things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Most folks miss the last part of that verse - FOR HIM. Nothing creates itself without God, not even evil is created without God willing it so and creating it.

God says in Isaiah...
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Same word here is used for EVIL in the Hebrew that is used in all the previous passages that speak of “evil” spirits

Yet those in the "cemetaries" (seminaries) the lear-ned churchmen and those with carnal minds refuse yet to see God is ALL POWERFUL AND ONLY HIS WILL BE DONE and that He creates evil.
Instead they have created two beings that can WILL themselves to become evil and will to do evil by their own will. Sorry it's not Scriptural. Let the Word of God stand true and all men be called liars! Only God has and ever will;have free will, at least that is how I came to see it...Scripturally.

The WORD OF GOD SAYS SO, time after time in Scripture.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Were not these of the Old Testament calling upon the name of the Lord and being led by the Spirit of the Lord by His ever present fire over the tabernacle? Yes! they were the Sons of God.. who presented themselves before the Lord. Yet men of corrupt minds have yet twisted the Word of God to come up with vain imaginations.

Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God.

Phillipians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the Sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

1 Johnn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Where is Satan first mentioned in the Old Testament?
Here is the meaning of the Hebrew word according to Strong.

H7854
שׂטן
śâṭân
saw-tawn'
From H7853; an opponent; especially (with the article prefixed) Satan, the arch enemy of good: - adversary, Satan, withstand.

I want you to see how MEN those who do the translation of these words, can’t but fail to add their interpretative comments alongside the plain meaning of the Word. As you see in the italics above, why don't they just stick with the direct translation of the word, without telling us "how it is to be applied?"

The Word in Hebrew means OPPONENT or ADVERSARY... nothing else, no all powerful entity that can do anything outside of the WILL OF GOD or otherwise. We won’t find a Him in Hebrew thought or teaching of the Old Testament. Instead what we find is after Israel became paganized with Hellenistic teachings during their assimilations with the Canaanites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and alas Hellenist Jews and Zoroastrianism by the time of Jesus, this concept became deeply rooted into some sects of Israel, especially the Pharisees and their teachings, that this ADVERSARY was a separate God against the God of the Universe, once again MAN’S VAIN IMAGINATIONS. The Pharisees had come to believe in Dualism. by pollution of God's truth, and even ancient Israel was already developing a worship of pagan demons, as we will see in my later writings on this subject.

Let’s read of the instances of ADVERSARY – or SATAN in the OLD TESTAMENT.
1Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Doesn’t look here as if old "slew foot" had much to do, other than walking around to and fro across the landscape of the earth. It doesn't seem he was very busy at this time doing any evil on his own volition or WILL

NOTE NOW GOD SETS THIS UP BY TELLING THIS ADVERSARY THESE WORDS...

Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Note he will not oppose God, it opposes man.. so he is not some adversary of God, but of MEN, in this case he will become Jobs adversary.

Let’s look at this conversation carefully with the care of a man who loves the Word of God.

Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

So this Adversary, makes a suggestion as usual.. for God to do something against this man in this case- Job, to oppose Job’s reverence for God..
God can do no evil but He creates evil,
He then can dispatch that evil to do that ONLY for which He sends it to do.

Just as we read in earlier passages. Note God gives this Adversary of Job, the power to do this thing for which God has enticed this evil to do and still retains the power of life and death for Himself, He gives him only power to do things that are of the Natural Law.. or the evil of other men first.
Somewhere in this time of the Sons of God presenting themselves before the Lord of Heaven and Earth, these are the children of Israel, as we have already seen perhaps even Moses and Joshua...not Angels , while presenting themselves to the Lord... there is this scene that takes place in the unseen between God and this Adversary of MEN, that has nothing to do until now, and God as always, is about to give him a job to do on Job..

Let us continue herein this story so many have demised so much out of other then TRUTH.
Job 1:13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
Job 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
Job 1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

This was a man, that understood something about God, that many do not, that God creates evil, but he still loves us and is not out to ETERNALLY DESTROY us.

Now let’s go on in this drama, I think we can clearly demise that none of these things above came as a result of some supernatural being by his own will and volition but that which is ADVERSARY AGAINST MEN is often other men, and the natural laws of this earth, and God’s Fire which all through the Old Testament represents His presence among men– the Fire of God, Could this tell us something about God, that He was making it clear to Job, that He was still present in all of this “adversarial” chaos in his life.

Job 1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
He was not about to charge God with doing the evil, for God cannot do evil, but He can create evil which he has, and uses spirits, nature and other men to do EVIL that He sends, He is the only power in the Universe and no one or anything can act without Him. He gives Ruach, to all His creation. The breath of life. He is CREATOR.

Note now something, He never says that these Natural Law things happen at the hand of some evil spirit, no these things are created by God as the Natural Evil we all can encounter in our lives that act in opposition to our peace, joy and happiness and then there is the EVIL of OTHER MEN. THEY ARE ADVERSARIAL NOT TO GOD BUT TO MEN AS ONLY.
These ADVERSARIAL THINGS THAT GOD HAS CREATED- keep us humble before God, so that our hearts will not be lifted up. We are all subject to these.

In these we fear, all of us, because they are random and at times and seem to make no sense, but God knows, He created these natural adversaries of men- Satan (ADVERSARIAL COMPONENTS OF LIFE) and evil spirits, other men and nature as we will see. Let’s list just a few mentioned here.
* Other Men, doing evil against us.. in this case Sabeans who came across them, slew his servants
* The fire of God is fallen from heaven
Note the Fire of God doing something here but it won’t destroy Job. It kills his presence of some of his wealth, his sheep and the servants and consumed them. “Our God is a consuming fire.”
*Now the Chaldeans, men once again who do the evil. They took his camels and killed more of his servants. The servants are getting the greatest whack from this, they are being killed, and the passage doesn’t tell us whether they were good men or bad men.
* Now a great wind comes from the wilderness and destroys his very house and the young men die. Now we have others dying with no mention of being good or evil young men, they just end up victims in this drama in this.
* This was natural law of evil in the earth as well, the work of God’s plan of adversarial things within the earth to oppose men, not Himself.

Let’s continue with the story:

Again on a similar occasion we see into the unseen, and God once again has the same previous conversation with the Adversary of Job and (Men) and once again we see this adversary- evil against men, with nothing to do, but go to and fro across the landscape of the land.

Here comes the second accusation and test.
God incites by speaking of His servant Job once again.

Job 2:3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

We clearly see, where the power from which all these things was coming from and how they took place, THOU MOVEDST ME against him (Job) to DESTROY HIM Without CAUSE.
This adversary, can only ask God to do things or suggest to God things to be done, it is powerless to do so by it's own volition or will.

Had not others been destroyed in all this adversarial drama what about the servants of Job and the young men? Would God do this if they had no chance of eternal life and all things came to a close at a men’s death? Surely not. This would be far removed from the "God is love" description of Himself given in I John. At least in my frail opinion, but I could be wrong, depends on how Scripture defines love and from what I know of that description, of God, this would be contrary to that.
Once again we know nothing to little about these men and the young men but that they are caught up in this heavenly drama upon earth and one man- Job, they are purely casualities by association. Nothing pertaining to them being good or evil is told us here in Scripture other then they were slain. Would cast off people to eternal damnation forever and ever, just because they fell into this game plan.
I think no, but yes people can and will die, though we don't know if they were good or evil people. Does good and evil have anything to do with us being saved?

This adversarial drama goes like this now:
Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
We still see though God has created evil He determines how far and to what extent it is to be used. He still holds the power of life and death.
Now let’s see if this is not another natural law of evil in the world that God created.
* Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
So now for the very first time. This adversary actual takes a hand in the undoing of Job... SICKNESS, harm to His human body.
Illness we can truly say, is this adversarial personal touch upon Job, all the other events were from natural evil God has placed in our world, and God sending down His fire upon the earth. This time we actually hear that this sickness that comes upon Job is from the hand of this adversary but once again, are we speaking of an entity, or just the fact that God breathes life into viruses, germs and bacteria?. Could it be that old age, and viruses, and germs, etc. are this ADVERSARY TO US AS WELL?

But whence and how was this adversary able to accomplish this? Was this adversary able to do this by it's own volition or Will. No!
Once again God told it what it could do, and couldn’t do. Amazing isn’t it, men has created some power,an entity they wish to give personal volition to, who runs his own little world as a god with bunches of fallen angels he rules over. They are saying that it is greater then God that it opposes God, which no where in these passages have we seen it be an adversary or in opposition to God but to Men in this case Job. ALL BY THE WILL OF THE CREATOR. No kingdom where this it rules, or calls the shots, or tells other evil spirits what to do or how to do it. Ah! the vain imaginations of men!

All within God’s will and purposes.

This adversary could only make accusation after being told what to consider by God, and then only could it make suggestion on what to do but God enables this adversary to do only what He has purposed, and restricts it from just doing at will anything else, it has no volition or will of it’s own.

We see God is still the all powerful Creator of heaven and earth and man, woman child and animal, other spirits, angels, and even the adversarial components of this life. All of his created beings and creation is and exist that he gave LIFE to by HIS WILL AND POWER ONLY.. No man didn't disobey and bring evil into the world, nor did the devil, disobey and introduce evil into the world. God created evil as well as good.

Job 1:22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

He was not about to charge God with doing the evil, for God cannot do evil, but He can create evil which he has, and uses spirits to do EVIL that He sends, He is the only power in the Universe and no one or anything can act without Him. He gives Ruach, to all His creation. The breath of life. He is CREATOR.


So with the end of Job’s story we see that though God brought about all this evil, in the terms of men's understanding of good and evil, for without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit this is all a men can percieve things in terms of good or evil.
This is the sad state of the carnal mind. Only when one recieves the mind of Christ by grace can one understand these things, and gradually be ridded of thinking as the world thinks. You mind must be transformed first by God to see truth.

God meant for Job’s good, most of us look to the restoration of all the things (physical and material), but what most miss is the most important message in this book. Job's Spiritual Gain multiplication of understanding God the CREATOR.
His mind was renewed, he saw things as never before, He saw God, the All POWERFUL and ALL LOVING CREATOR OF ALL THINGS!

Job in the beginning was righteous among men, but God had to show Him that He God is righteous, and that NOTHING IS OUTSIDE OF HIS POWER OR HIS CREATING IT...God had to show Him His Righteousness and Justice which is always made of mercy and compassion, God is love. In the end and these things came about for His purposes and Will for Job's life. Spiritual Riches.,don't focus on what he got back in materials things, it was what he gained in a transformed mind to see God was the blessing. God by inspriation of the Holy Spirit puts these flashly-carnal things in Scripture on purpose. To confuse those who thinking they see, are blind, and thinking they hear, are deaf. Most people read right over the spiritual riches God provided to Job.

Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,

Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Job 42:3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.

Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
THIS ONE VERSE IS THE MIND OF JOB TRANSFORMED TO SEE THE GLORY OF GOD and beyond the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Note when a man comes to see God as He truly is, He will fall down on His knees and repent of his finite mind and thought of God who is love, and his heart will seek Him then and only Hi, who is worthy of ALL GLORY!

Job alas sees beyond the temporal which most make their judgment of God on, their concepts of evil and good, but Job comes to the end, seeing the MAJESTY AND POWER OF THE ONE AND ONLY ONE TRUE GOD.....and there are none others before them

So in this study that took me about three hours to put together from my OWN RESEARCH, I pray that Christians will get it right.

GOD IS ALL POWERFUL and NO EVIL SPIRIT OR ADVERSARIAL EVENT CAN COME INTO YOUR LIFE THAT THE VERY WILL OF GOD IS NOT INVOLVED IN... GIVE GOD GLORY and this concoction of men’s vain imaginations of a supreme omniscient being they wish to call SATAN who willed himself to become evil and wills and does evil by it's choices, is none existent...cast it off as anathema.
Oh yes, there are evil spirits and even adversarial acts against our well being, but God knows it for behind it ALL we will find His WILL ..His love and grace for ALL OF HIS CREATION.

For these things that Job went through, are but for the grace that God sends our way, which appear as evil and adversarial but for us to come to the place of Job, so that we might say.. I have heard of thee, by the hearing of the ear: BUT NOW MINE EYES SEETH THEE!

Let All glory go to the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit for which God has so graciously given us and whereby HE saves us and WILL SAVE ALL MEN.
Why? because the Word of God tells us He wills it so, and God's will is, the only one with WILL... Men or evil spirits or Satan have NONE to lift their hearts up and be God.

HE IS ALL POWERFUL AND GOD IS LOVE

Joseph Black D. D.

What We Can Learn From Esther

I spent sometime listening to one of my favorite individuals who has a teaching ministry. He is a professor at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Oviedo, Florida.
His name is Dr. Steve Brown. I have mentioned Steve before in an article.
I don't necessarily agree with everything Steve has to say, but I don't know of anyone that I do. I do as always take the good, and throw away the bad. Whenever we speak, God reveals truths and then there is often our own opinions, subjective views and more involved. It is by listening we can build upon a foundation of truths and formulate what God has in store for us to learn, and by sincere study of scripture, so that we might know his will and to gain the mind of Christ, so that we may be transformed in our thinking from the ways of this world.

Steve tells a story that I have to share about the days Clinton was caught having illicit sex with his intern Monica Lewinsky. There was a mother sitting near by and a Rabbi when the Rabbi overheard the mother say, "What do I tell my children, how do I tell them what "The President has done"? The rabbi sitting nearby speaks up and says to her, tell them about the men of the Bible - David, Abraham, Jacob, Jeremiah, Hosea and others.

Steve thought at that moment about Peter the hypocrite in the New Testament as well and of course himself.

Esther is a book of lessons for us about evil. We can learn from it, now that the Gospel story has been told in the New Testament.
What is the lesson here for Christians?
The first lesson is that one has to know what evil is before they can ever recognize good.
We as believers often forget from whence we have fallen. Where we are in the secret places that only the Father knows about, our past, present or future.

Where evil lies at our doorstep, and we must not forget when we come together to fellowship, the reason that the pagans aren't standing beside us, in our presence isn't we are good, but that He is good. Thus we as believers know evil, because we first saw it in ourselves and then we saw what we deserved and found Him who didn't deserve what we did, who paid the price we could not pay. No, we stand in fellowship as a believer only when we have first seen our own reflection in the mirror of evil and then partaken of the Grace of God.

The religious are never saved, until they have kissed the demons of their own evil will they ever come to recognize the need for a Saviour. We can't get better, for there is no good in us in the first place. Only the resurrected life of Jesus Christ transforms us as He lives His life out through us. Christ in you, is the hope of glory.

The book of Esther offers us important lessons that we must know about evil.

First, we are not former beggars, but present beggars that have been given bread.

If we look into evil in the book of Esther we see that often the most evil people are God's own people. This story as well doesn't ring well with the religious for it is full of evil by God's own people and by the enemy of God's own people.

Remember the prostitute who had sinned much was forgiven much in the New Testament.

The religious do not see their own failure but think because of their works righteousness they are good. They look down on those who have had the joy of finding a Saviour, knowing their own demons and how much they needed deliverance and found it. They love much because of it. Those with little love for others and only themselves must first kiss the demon of their own lives before they too will realize the Grace of God.

Let's look at some key things in Esther.
We have a young lady who is Jewish one of God's chosen people, whose cousin, Mordecai decides to take her in as his one of his family to raise her because of parental absence. She is described as absolutely beautiful.
She is taken before the king because of her beauty and her being a virgin, so that the King can choose his new harem and one to become Queen in replacing his Ex.

The King is doing this because he is irate with his wife for acting like a Gloria Steinhem. She over ruled his authority when he asked her to basically to come over to his party that he was holding for himself and some good old buddies. He wanted to show off her beauty. Who knows to what extent in that day and age.
She refused to go and do as he asked, she had her own thing going. She was having her own little party with the girls. She was an "independent woman".
The king was so upset about her actions and afraid that other women would follow, he made it an edict that "the man should be master of his home". This edict was passed to all the men of his kingdom.
Reaction, not response.
Men! Can you remember a time when we have we been guilty of that before?
We have to set down the rules to the wife or else, we often feel. So, we go on our high horse that "we're the boss!" "Do what I say or I will replace you"
Does that sound familiar in America?

Anyway, the King in his vengeance toward his wife sets out to have all the beautiful virgin women in his kingdom brought to him to be part of his harem and to come before him.
Esther is brought in, made a part of his Harem of Virgins, but she does more than that she seduces the king greater than all the others in his harem to become more than just a harem girl. She makes it to the top (she is the successful kind of girl who knows how to get to the top) and she becomes the Queen. She gains his favor over all the rest.
She never tells the King until the end of the story that she is one of God's people- the Jews, and keeps it hidden until the perfect timing of God.

Sensuality and lack of testimony are two sins we can point out right away when we want to sit in the chair of judgement of others sins.

We soon find a close partner or advisor of the King, Haman who is not Jewish, who wants to kill off all the Jews, especially Mordecai, who would not pay him the respect he felt he deserved and desired. Mordecai just wouldnt bow down in his presence.
Evil again comes in to play it's part to this story.
Haman plans and he convinces the King to send out a decree against all the Jews for purpose of their death and destruction. He makes the old, their a threat to your rule argument, they aren't like us, they believe differently, talk differently and at differently. We can't have that.
Mordecai goes into mourning and makes a big noise about it while covered in sack cloth and ashes. The Jewish people follow suit.
Esther ask why? She gets her servant to get the answer from her people, then proceeds to plan how she might get before the King a hearing when not invited to save her people and Mordecai, which was a very serious thing to do to go before the king uninvited with an issue, and if the king didn't hold out his scepter to you the law was death. It would be like jumping over the fence at the Whitehouse and running across the Whitehouse lawn just to go tell the President something. You are going to die, I guarantee before you reached the doorstep you would catch a bullet in the back.
Only because of her beauty does she earn the Kings favor in the situation and he extends his scepter to her, whereby she proceeds to ask the King if he and her and Haman will attend a party she is going to give in honor of Haman. They come, then she plans a second party like the first where the Kings agrees he will attend along with Haman and just her again, because she so pleased the King at this first one.

Haman is jubilant over his special relationship with the two. On his leaving he runs across Mordecai again and it inflames him with more anger, then he goes home on a bragging binge about you guessed it, himself.
Anger comes easy while intoxicated and bragging does to. I never met a drunk that didn't think they were six foot tall and bullet proof.
I too in my day of drinking the cup while it was red, would feel the same way.

Anyway, Haman's family tells him to build a gallows in the morning and have Mordecai hung on it, then go to the party. So he built the special hanging place for Mordecai that day.
That evening King Xerses (Ahasuerus) is trying to go to sleep so he ask for a boring book basically to have read to him until he would fall asleep, he hears "the chronicles", which aren't the biblical book we are familiar with, but his own kingdoms records and he reads the story about Mordecai, saving his life at a point in time from a plot by two of his doormen to kill him. So the king asks, was this man ever honored for being the hero he was in saving his life? The answer of course was, "No"!
So on the next morning Haman goes to see the king, he goes there with the intent purpose of asking for permission to hang Mordecai. Haman, the one that has plotted against God's people and desires nothing more than like Hitler tried, to wipe out the entire race of Jews (God's only chosen under the Old Covenant), because of his hatred of Mordecai who doesn't give him the honor he wants from all men walks in and he is asked a question by the King.
"What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?
Haman thinking egotistically as usual, thinks the King is talking about him, and goes on to name all kinds of things that would enrich "him" personally that the king should do. At the last moment, he finds out all the robes and finest horses he suggested be given to such a man- thinking he is the man, aren't at all to go to him, but to Mordecai. He is left mourning and covering his head.

The second party starts that day that Esther had planned and Haman comes over to drink some wine with Esther and the King. Esther reveals to the king that she is Jewish and that someone has planned to kill her and her people the Jews. She then reveals it is Haman. Not only does this get the Kings anger going being more than a little intoxicated, but he walks out into the garden only to find on his return, Haman has fallen across the couch onto Esther's lap to beg for mercy, and the King believes he is assaulting her, so he calls for Haman's death immediately.
Haman ends up dying on the very gallows that he had built at his home for Mordecai and the other Jews. The rest of the story is on how the king removes any threat for the Jewish people and how he honors Esther, her uncle Mordecai and the Jews.

I have told you bits and pieces because my motivation is to get you to read your Bible, and to read this book, it is a wonderful story if you don't read it through religious eyes.
Read it in light of the New Covenant of God's grace and election of all that believe that are now His chosen people. For there is neither Jew nor Greek, bondsman or freeman nor male nor female, for we are all one in Christ.

I would like you to read it so that you might see 3 key points made here about evil.

I want you to read it to understand who we are in Christ, who we were before we came to know him, and the extent of tribulation we will face as believers from evil, and the outcome of the battle we find ourselves in.

Haman's persistence to destroy all the Jews is because Mordecai won't honor him.
So, lesson one- We learn of the persistent and horrible nature of evil. Esther 3:6
When you go back you find Haman is a direct descent from the Agatite, who had been historically "bad to the bone". They were persistent in evil.

Evil is always persistent and horrible. It is especially for God's people, because if we won't honor the evil found in this world, we will find ourselves pursued by the enemy. He cares way too much for himself to not have you enrolled in his little wicked army. So thus, through much tribulation we enter the Kingdom of God.

Lesson Two - evil has always been directed at God's people.

It is persistent to steal, kill and destroy His people.

The very last lesson to know is that persistent protection is always there from God our Father, in His timing and in His way.

Look at Esther 4:14 and 10:3.

The Father in the worst of our circumstances already has a plan with a good outcome.

Jesus came to us individually in the worst of who we are and what we have done. Then the Father doesn't quit at that, he persist in making all things for those that love God, work to the good. Patience and knowing who we really are, evil people who deserve nothing but destruction like the rest of mankind, and knowing salvation doesn't come from us but from God our Father through Jesus Christ. He is our deliverer.
Evil will not quit in this world until Jesus returns, evil will not quit persisting after us, it will not be appeased until it can conquer our spirits and raise the flesh to it's self centered position one again.
Evil is often found with God's people, but he restores us as He did any of these that we read of in the Old Testament or the New.
It will always persist after those that are His, which "we are now His chosen", "His royal priesthood".
The facts are that the enemy Satan, and the world and the flesh they combined have it out for you, if you are a Christian.
The facts are that in this day and age, as Corrie ten Boom said, "persecution of Christians is greater today than even we can find described in the book of Revelations." She knew this, she had traveled and seen the persecution of our brothers and sisters in nations like China, Saudi Arabia and more. She too had known persecution in her life time as a Jew under Hitler and then as a Christian.

The final most important fact to know is to recall that the battle has already been won by our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ and the final facts of the wars' outcome are known.

Let us look at Colossians 2:9-15 and Revelations 20:10

Present Truth
... for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power:
in whom ye were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us:and he hath taken it out that way, nailing it to the cross; having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Future Truth

.. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Now my hope is that you have kissed your own demons and recognize that they for you as a believer hold no power over your life, for your life is now hidden in Christ Jesus with God the Father. Covered by His blood, set free by his death and most importantly His resurrected life within us, we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus who gave his life for you and me.
A life to the grave and a life to resurrection.
Evil awaits every corner, no one is safe from it on their own. Our only victory lies in the hope within us, Christ who comes to live in us through the person of the Holy Spirit.
Don't laugh, don't judge others when you see them overtaken by evil. We love to make comments as Protestants about what is going on in the Catholic church with the priest, but don't forget we have our own, Jimmy Swaggerts and Jim Bakers and other men that have fallen prey to the lure of evil.
Kiss the demons in your own life (see yourself in a mirror), and then find deliverance from God from the evil that awaits and lurks around every corner to steal, kill and destroy, For without the Father's mercy and grace, you too will fail.
Evil is persistent, but God's deliverance and plan for us is more persistent, as the "victory has already been won".
Fall into the arms of Jesus, and know this, though we are just beggars at the table like all men, God has given us bread to eat, and wine to drink - his life for us.
Eat of Him and drink of Him who will come to sup with you, if you but just answer the door to His knocking on your heart. His promises are ours, and when we read the Old Testament in light of knowing the New Covenant of Grace, it becomes a story for us all to read and to learn from. It is a shadow and just a story until you know Christ and then there is so much gold in the simple story of a beautiful girl that we can learn from. We must remember we have to know the enemy to defeat it. Evil is our enemy, and God's holiness, His righteousness and His truth given to us freely who do not deserve it, are our only weapons against this dark world we live in.


Dr. J.

Salvation - A Better Explanation

The other day I was reading some material on the Internet and came across a link to a website which I want to reference here. I want to especially reference the page on salvation. Here it is

http://www.thehousetops.com/Salvation.htm

I am also going to take the privilege of repeating here what is written, as this is one of the best explanations, of salvation I have read in quite sometime. The reason, quite sometime ago, I had concluded that prayer formulas and prayer recitals to "get people saved" were a farce. This is not Biblical salvation, it is formulated, in the ideals of a work salvation, and makes a man responsible for his salvation rather than God. Thus because of this many have been confused by Universalism and Predestination.

Most people forget that salvation relies soley on the "sovereignty of a Sovereign God. So here below you will find a well written summation of how salvation really takes place.

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF AND BASIC FOUNDATIONS FOR

THE DOCTRINE OF SALVATION

One of the most distorted and misunderstood doctrines of the Christian Church is the Doctrine of Salvation. The two aspects of this doctrine that have been targeted by the gates of hell are:

The Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone (i.e. How the soul of the sinner is made righteous in the eyes of a Holy God) and

The Born Again Experience (i.e. How the unregenerate sinner becomes a new creation child of God.)

It is the latter that we shall look at first of all.

Born Again - What Is It?

Many sincere believers have been taught that a person is born again because they have "made a decision for Jesus" or because they "said the sinners' prayer". None of these things is true and cannot be supported by scripture. Yet, these myths are entrenched in the minds of many Christians and form the basis of much well intentioned but misguided attempts at evangelism.

The Garden of Eden

In order to obtain a proper perspective of this scenario, we'll start at the very beginning. In the beginning God purposed to make man in his own image. God created Adam and subsequently took one of Adam's ribs and made (or, "built") a woman. God placed them in the Garden of Eden and put two particular trees in the Garden among the other trees.

The Covenant of Works

Before this He gave the man commandment concerning the two trees, especially the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was told that he was allowed, or authorized, to eat of any of the trees of the garden, even the tree of life, but he was not authorized to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because in the day he ate thereof he would surely die. If the Lord God says "thou mayest freely" do something, then you are authorized to do that thing. The opposite of "thou mayest freely" do is "thou shalt not" do.

If Adam obeyed, he and his offspring would live. But in the day he ate of the forbidden tree, he would surely die and, in that he was the representative head of the race, all would die in him. God's covenant was made with Adam before Eve was created.

17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

God entered into an agreement with Adam that we may call the Covenant of Works. Adam was placed in the garden on a probationary basis. He was not holy or righteous but rather innocent. If he passed the test he would live and receive the attributes of life, namely holiness and righteousness. But if he failed the test, in the day that he failed he would surely die. He would enter into a process of death where dying he would die. Every faculty of Adam would die. The first result of his disobedience was that he died spiritually. Dying, he began to die and his death and death process would be passed on to all his posterity. All who are presently in Adam are dead and dying. Their moral and spiritual faculties and every aspect of their being, that would render them pleasing to God is now under the control and dominion of death.

Ever since Adam sinned and was cast out of Eden, there is no turning back. For Adam and Eve there was only a glimpse of a promise to come in their being clothed with "coats of skins" and being informed of a coming seed of the woman. Note the powerful typology in the opening scenes of earth's redemptive history. Adam and Eve sought to clothe themselves in fig leaves. God rejected this and He Himself made them "coats of skins and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). This prefigured the truth that would be fully revealed in the New Testament that man can contribute nothing towards his salvation and acceptance with God. Salvation is of God and He does all the work of redemption. As the man who attempted to attend the wedding banquet without being dressed in a wedding garment found out, you just can't come dressed as you please. You must be dressed in the divinely designated garment. You must be dressed in a garment that the Lord has authorized. If the Lord Himself does not clothe you, you are not clothed.

So Adam was authorized to eat of every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ever since Adam failed to keep the covenant of works, God has dealt with man on the basis of the covenant of faith. Both covenants have existed side by side throughout the millennia. The covenant of works was contained in the Mosaic Law and the righteousness (obtained by means ) of the law spoke on this wise:

5. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. [Romans 10]

The root of the covenant of faith is contained in the promise of a "seed" to come who shall bruise the head of the serpent. Over time, this was progressively revealed to be the Son of David, the Messiah. It was eventually revealed that the Messiah was actually God manifest in the flesh and that all the promises of the Old Testament are in Him yea and Amen. He was both the fullness of the promises and the completeness of their fulfillment. The Old Testament believers looked forward to the Cross through the darkened shadows of the law and the Tabernacle.

Not everyone in Israel of old was a believer. Only a certain remnant was counted as being the Israel of God. But this was not yet revealed as the realization of this awaited the fullness of time. This remnant was known by different names but in effect, they were the elect whom the Lord reserved unto himself in every generation. Right there in the camp of Israel, during the earthly ministry of our Lord, there was to be found the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It was the latter that confronted the Lord Jesus in His earthly ministry. Their job is to defend the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and to cause its principles to become mainstream - as they are today.

The scribes and the Pharisees sought then and still seek in our day, to "make void the Word of God" in order to introduce the doctrines of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which center around human potential and an exalted notion of the abilities of fallen men and fallen minds. The notion that "ye shall be as gods" eventually mutates itself into "you can do that which historically only God could have done". Throughout the ministry of the apostles, certain men consistently sought to defile the Church with their false doctrines based on the concept of works along with subtle variations of the theme. They knew full well who the Lord Jesus was. They knew He was the promised Seed of the woman and the Lord knew that they were the promised seed of the serpent.

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Before we go any further, let us establish from the mouth of at least two or three witnesses that they both recognized each other.

Witness I - Matthew 21:33-39

33. Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him

This parable speaks directly of the scribes and the Pharisees (v.45). The householder (v.33) represents the heavenly Father. The vineyard is the house of Israel, the tower is the ministry of the prophets, priests and kings, which correspond to God-ordained ministry of the New Testament era. The husbandmen are those who had the responsibility to tend the vineyard until the return of the householder. The problem is that even from that time, they wanted the vineyard for themselves. The satanic plot was to "seize on his inheritance" and turn it into their own. They carried out phase one of their plan in the crucifixion of the heir and are in the process of carrying out the final phase. The entire process from casting out the Son, to slaying him and seizing the inheritance is known in our day as Zionism. The final stage is the exaltation of the man of sin as CEO of planet earth - Their chosen heir.

The deception is that the piece of real estate in Palestine that they seized, is actually the work of God, when in fact it is the setting up of their own kingdom under the name of the State of Israel - which is not to be confused with the nation of Israel and the Israel of God. The members of the State of Israel are called Israelis and the members of the nation are called Israelites - the sons of Jacob. It is from the nation that the remnant, spoken of from as far back as the days of Moses and Elijah, are called. To this day, unknown to most in the International Community, a God-fearing remnant of Jews in Palestine resists the setting up of the Zionist State. They refuse to bow the knee to Baal or to kiss him.

What a shameful rebuke to the so-called Christian Right who have aligned themselves with the very ones the Lord refers to as being "those wicked men" whom, upon His return, He shall "miserably destroy" (Matthew 21:41). The mad, delusional hypocrisy of the Zionist husbandmen and their "Christian" counterparts is described in Luke 20:16 where, upon hearing that the Lord of the Vineyard will destroy the wicked husbandmen, they cried out "God forbid." They are appealing to the very God they are in rebellion against to assist them in their rebellion. If it were not so tragic it would be hilarious. In fact, within the context of Psalm 2, verse 4 shows that the Lord agrees that their madness is hilarious. The Zionist State is a vain imagination.

Witness II - Rabbi Nicodemus, member of the ruling Sanhedrin (John 3)

1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

The words of Nicodemus are a clear testimony against the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus frankly admits that "we know" that you came from God. We know that the householder sent you. We know that you are the heir. But Nicodemus was among the elect of God, the true Israel of God, and this marked him out for salvation.

Witness III - the Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:44)

44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

(Matthew 13:36b-40)

36. Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

For further insight into the Zionist State please see "For Zion's Sake".

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So, picking up where we left off, the covenant was made with Adam and, seeing it was not good for man to be alone, God made Eve, brought her to the man and they both lived in the garden for a period of time without sin. The serpent struck up a carefully planned subtle conversation with the woman and introduced a form of biblical analysis and interpretation that was later to become known as higher criticism. He convinced her that what God had said was not to be taken seriously, in this case the part about surely dying.

The Fall of Man

The woman paid attention to the serpent and became the first victim of Luciferian hypnotism when she actually began to "see" what was not really there, much like the average follower of the commandments of men today:

6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. [Genesis 3]

Notice three things.

[1]The serpent did not approach the man first.

[2]The woman was willing to act independently of her husband.

[3]The man was willing to stand by and let the woman do her thing.

[4]The woman gave heed and began to "see" the goodness, pleasantness and wisdom of the very thing that would eventually destroy her.

Now think. When Eve ate of the fruit of the tree, what happened? The answer is - nothing happened. Why not?

Because Adam was the God-ordained head of the race and he contained the seed of posterity in his loins. [Adam was the 'federal' head of the race, in the sense that he was the divinely appointed representative of mankind. The word 'federal' comes from a root word meaning 'treaty' or covenant and when God made the covenant with Adam, all his posterity was included in that covenant for good or evil. We would have been the beneficiaries of Adam's obedience if he had obeyed. However, when Adam sinned, we all broke the covenant in Adam and became guilty before God.] In other words, the whole human race was in the loins of Adam, not Eve. You may say that Eve supplied the garden, ground, or fertile soil and Adam supplied the seed. Only after Adam took of the fruit and "did eat" did they feel the effects of sin. You see the first Adam was a type and shadow of the Last Adam, the Adam to come. Even after Eve ate of the fruit, Adam could have used his authority to redeem the woman because the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. But he chose to enter into sin with his deceived wife. Just as the Last Adam is the Door, the first Adam acted as a spiritual door as well. Eve was not a door, only Adam was. So it was only when Adam sinned that "the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." [v7].

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PLEASE NOTE: You are in error if you attempt to "make yourself." You are in serious error if you believe you must initiate the process of your being saved or born again. God will reject your fig leaf attempts because He considers it a do-it-yourself form of salvation.

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The Principle of Doorways

That Adam was a door is attested to in the following passages in Romans 5:

12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13. (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

The awesomeness of God's wisdom is that the very principle that made Adam a door is the same principle that made Christ a door as well. The power and authority that death was given over the children of Adam is paralleled and surpassed by the power and authority that grace is now given over the children of God in Christ Jesus. Being a door it was through Adam that "sin entered". Now that sin entered, sin in turn became a door and through sin (by one man's offense) death entered and death then immediately passed upon all men, because all men were in Adam. "In Adam" we all died and will continue to die.

That's why religion is of the devil. Because religion will have you do lots of "good" works and "good" and sincere things for others and do "good" things to please and appease God, but it never attempts to remove you from being spiritually located "in Adam". Once you are located spiritually in Adam you are dead and will continue to die. A bad tree CANNOT bring forth good fruit. While in Adam, NO ONE can produce anything that is acceptable to God - NOT EVEN FAITH. Why? Because the dimension known as "in Adam" is a dimension of death and of the fruit of sin and death. The only thing that Adam and those in Adam can bring forth, are variations of the theme of sin and death. Those who are unwilling to see this need to check their egos at the door. May I remind you that saving faith is a fruit of the Spirit and the unregenerate have not the Spirit of Christ. So how can the unregenerate have faith in order to be saved?

Not only was Adam a door, but after Adam sinned and sin entered into the world through Adam, sin then became a door and allowed death to enter in [v12]. Death passed upon all men. In other words all men are now under the strict dominion of sin and death. How? Because Adam had the dominion franchise and he handed it over to sin and death. So now according to vv14 & 17 above, death reigned and according to v 21 below sin reigned. Not only did sin reign, it reigned "unto death," which means the reign of sin was absolute. No one can turn sin aside from its termination point. Sin's terminus is death. Sin will reign in the life until the objective is achieved, and the goal of sin is to deliver all who are in Adam to the state of death and eternal damnation. Even believers must face the penalty of sin and die. Thankfully we have already done so in Christ. We have all died in Christ, so the goal of sin was fulfilled in our Lord's death and, because the penalty was paid, both sin and death have lost their power to reign over us. Having passed through death in Christ, grace now reigns through Him.

21. That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Concept of Reigning

I'm not sure we understand the concept of "reigning". In the spirit world, when someone or something reigns over you, it means that you are in absolutely no position to do other than that which your sovereign desires. This is not a democratic condition of being. It is an autocratic, despotic, bondage condition of soul. You are serving a master. You are yoked to a master. Your choices are a reflection of his wishes and desires. What the master wants is what you want and you are not free to have any desire contrary to your master. Sin is not an option it is a pervasive condition of soul. Consider the Word of God in Ephesians 2:

1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

And in Titus 3:

3. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

While in Adam, that is, in our unsaved, unregenerate condition, we served the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were in bondage to sin and Satan and we are exhorted in Galatians 5:1 not to be entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Technically, the bondage referred to here is bondage to the law and the demands of the law. Because it was the law that gave sin it's power over us and it was sin that gave death its sting, as Paul said in I Corinthians 15:56. But the bottom line is that sin holds supreme sway over the whole soul of the unregenerate. Hold that thought because it is a critical factor in understanding why the doctrine of "free will" is such a heresy. A flesh flattering heresy, but a despicable heresy nevertheless. Please remember that the soul is made up of mind, will and emotions. Technically, man does not have free will, but he is responsible for his actions. The common definition and understanding of what free will is, is totally unbiblical. Freedom is the ability to do as one pleases without compulsion or coercion. Will anyone claim that sinful man in free from compulsion? Sinful unregenerate men and women are continually fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and serving divers lusts and pleasures.

They are slaves to the desires and demands of the flesh.

Several passages such as Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1, call them 'captives' or 'prisoners'. How can your will be a captive prisoner and still be 'free'? The 'free will' is so popular that people, religious and otherwise, treat it like a truth you dare not challenge. Yet ask them if they have ever studied how the soul makes decisions and choices and they'll most likely tell you they have not. But, sadly, this is how many approach doctrine. This heresy attempts to prove that, though Adam was sent into exile, he still retained some semblance of his past sovereignty and some inherent ability to reenter the garden on his own and eat from the tree of life.

Under Sin

But Paul refutes this by establishing that both Jew and Gentile are under sin (Romans 3:9). We assert that the state of being "under sin" is to be under the authority and influence of the guilt and power of sin. It means that sin has complete dominion over the soul. Let's take a look at some of the ways in which this word "under" (Gr. hupo) is used in the New Testament. We'll begin with Matthew 8:

9. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

Just as this centurion understood the principle of authority and what it entails, just so sin, as a slave master, has authority over the soul of the unregenerate. Sin is able to say to its servants, as it were, "do this or do that" and the soul has no choice but to do it. Ephesians 2:3 says that "we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." The things that we said and did while in the world, were the expressions of our master's wishes. Our "conversation" was spent "fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Let's look at another passage from Matthew 11:7:

7. And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

You may agree that reeds do not shake themselves. While in the flesh, in our unregenerate state, we were at the mercy of the motions of sins just as the reed is at the mercy of the motion of the wind. Just as the reed in our Lord's statement above was under the influence and control of the wind, we too were at the mercy of the motions of sin in our members because we were "under the law" (Romans 6:14-15)

14. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

That which gave sin its power was the law. Let's look at Romans 7:

14. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

So we see that the law gave sin its power and we were totally sold under (the influence of) sin as a bondslave to the dictates of a tyrannical master. Let's look at Galatians 3:

22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Herein lies the problem. Everyone is locked up under the dominion of sin. All those in Adam are now dwelling in Adam's house, the house of bondage. We have full "freedom" to move about, but only within the confines of the "house". We may freely move from room to room. To the untrained eye, this looks like we have "free will" to do whatsoever we please. It even appears as though we have the ability to choose between good and evil. The sad part is that that illusion of "choice" is deceptively false while yet appearing to be true. The truth is that sinners do not have the ability to choose between good and evil. It is in bondage to sin and evil. If we look more closely we shall see that the "good" we think sinners have the "freedom" to choose is not that kind or quality of good that originates with God. It is actually the variety of "good" that our first parents partook of when they ate of that fateful tree. It is still a variation of "good" that leads to death.

So all that are in Adam are still within the house of bondage and all who are within the house are forever barred from reentering the garden where grows the tree of life. Seeing they have no access to that tree, they cannot make a decision to move towards the tree, no matter what "the world's most beloved evangelist" may say. The sinner's ability extends to within the house and they have no ability whatsoever to extend their reach beyond the house of bondage. All of the faculties of the unsaved are under the dominion of sin and death, so all of their choices will be limited to and by the boundaries of sin and death. As sinners we had absolutely no strength to choose life. Life needed to reach down and choose us. We were prisoners in a graveyard known as Adam. As the song says, we were sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore; slowly sinking deep within, sinking to rise no more; It was love that lifted us from the angry waves. The only thing with the song is that we did not cry out for help. The Lord called out to us. We called Him because He first called us. Consider John 5:

25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

This verse is not speaking of the resurrection morning, although verse 29 is. Verse 25 is speaking of the effectual call that causes the unregenerate (the dead) to hear the voice of the Son of God and be quickened to life (Ephesians 2:1-9). This is as a result of nothing more that the sovereign choice of Almighty God. Being quickened, the soul is only now able to "see" or recognize the Son and, as a result it is able to exercise faith in Christ resulting in its being justified

1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5)

Let's take a closer look at Galatians 3:22 and the passages which follow it:

22. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Before we were born again (regenerated), we were "shut up" in the house of bondage and the only way out was through faith. But the dead cannot exercise faith. So the only way out of the house of bondage and into Christ, is through the agency and operation of the Spirit of God. The wind which blows where it listeth, sovereignly quickens those whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world, at the time appointed by the Father for them to be added to the church. At that time, they shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live. The only way out of the house is to be called out and carried out by the Spirit of God. While all may receive a general call, only the elect receive an effectual call - a call that results in them hearing the voice of the Son of God. The general call may be referred to simply as a call, but the effectual call is referred to as being chosen. Not all men receive the inward call. If you have the inward call, then blessed are your ears for they hear and blessed are your eyes for they see because many are called, but few are chosen.

But What About Romans 10:9-10?

We need to underscore this point. The ability to see and hear the Son is not part of the inherent faculties of the flesh of unregenerate men. The flesh of man cannot recognize that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God except on a purely intellectual level. Furthermore, the flesh of man cannot say that Jesus Christ is Lord except on a religiously superficial level. Flesh and blood simply CANNOT reveal this to you. And no man can progress beyond his vision. You cannot enter into that which you cannot see (John 3:3,5). That's why we assert "that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (I Corinthians 12:3). Show me someone who truly confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and I'll show you someone who has already been quickened by the Spirit and given power (authority) to become a child of God. That's why assertions to the contrary that the soul is born again because the sinner first "confessed" Jesus with his mouth and, in the power of his flesh, "believed" in his heart, are taking the scripture out of context. In the first place the book of Romans was written to those who are saints by calling.

9. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

How can the unregenerate soul be illuminated with the knowledge of the resurrection? Is it Biblically correct to say to the unsaved that "the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;"? Is it not closer to the truth to assert with the Holy Spirit in Romans 3 that

13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

Is the book of Romans contradicting the book of Romans? Do we expect the carnal mind, which is enmity with God, to bring forth fruit of the lips that is pleasing to God? A bad tree CANNOT bear good fruit regardless of what religious human tradition may say. We need to ask God for the understanding of what happened in Eden when our first parents ate of that tree. From the day that our parents ate of the fruit of that tree, we have never been able to bring forth good fruit.

Let's do a study on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

May the Lord give us a fuller understanding of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Let's take a look at the Scripture in Genesis 2:

16. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

What is one of the most important words in v17? Is it the word "tree", the word "knowledge", the word "good", the word "evil", the word "surely," or the word "die"? While all of these words have their significance, you may be surprised to know that one of the most important words in that verse is the word "and." It explains the danger and the power of the tree. Lack of understanding of the power and significance of this word also explains why some teach that man has some "good" left in him. They are right and yet they are perilously wrong. You see, man does have some good left in him after the Fall, but the "good" he has, comes from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That kind of "goodness" was a component of the tree and Adam partook of the substance or, fruit, of the tree. In scripture the word "fruit" is used to represent a person's nature and inherent characteristics as expressed in their behavior and conversation. In other words, your fruit is expressed in how you order your conversation.

And this was Eve's error. She did not understand that it was a tree of the experiential knowledge of good AND evil. Ever since man ate of the tree, he was bound to the tree. All of man's conversation in all of its forms and expressions are but variations of the theme of "good and evil". The "good" on the tree is not to be confused with that specie of goodness that pleases or flows from God. The goodness of the tree was and is a variety of good that is actually on the same continuum as evil. It was a diluted form of evil. A socially acceptable and politically correct form of evil. It was a specie of good that would eventually become acceptable to the religious mind down through the ages but which would be classified by the Holy God as being "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Just as Eve could not have been convinced of its danger, just so there are those in our day who are convinced that man is able to activate that form of goodness in making a "decision for Jesus." But, apart from the intervening grace of God, many of these churchgoers will surely die. Unless, in spite of themselves, God steps in and changes their garments from fig leaves to coats of skins, they shall surely die even though they may be casting out devils, prophesying in His name (Matthew 7:22-23) or telling others to make a decision for Jesus.

So please understand the significance of the tree. Whichever part of the tree you eat from YOU WILL SURELY DIE. Even though Eve focused on the apparent goodness, pleasantness and wisdom of the tree and partook of the tree on the basis of its goodness, they still both died when Adam did the same. Satan approached Eve first because there was the possibility that NOTHING would have happened when Eve ate. When she ate and nothing happened, it left Adam wide open to doubt the clear Word of God. In other words, he laid the foundation for a dangerous practice that is common in our day and that is to judge the truthfulness of the Word of God based on our experiences and the experiences of those around us.

The Babylonian harlot system [mother and daughters] is based on the supremacy of the traditions of their organizations over and above the Word of God. The whole Babylonian system is based on, "Yea, hath God said?" It is a tendency to rearrange and reinterpret the clear meaning of the Word of God. That's why our Lord referred to the scribes and the Pharisees as children of the devil (Matthew 13:38 etc.). They were continuing the age-old enmity and practice of casting doubt on the truth of God's word and they did this by reinterpreting the Word of God in a way that was contrary to sound doctrine. In the time of our Lord's earthly ministry, they were the interpreters of the law. Their spiritual and philosophical offspring are with us to this day, interpreting the law in such a way as to ensure the destabilization of the social order and the banishment of Almighty God from the fabric and function of society.

What Eve and her spiritual children do not understand is that the tree is the tree of the knowledge of good AND evil. In other words, whatever manifestation of good that may be derived from the tree or from the unregenerate human heart, is eternally YOKED to evil. it is not good OR evil, it is good AND evil. In other words, whenever we attempt to exercise that kind of good it is ALWAYS accompanied by evil, EVEN THOUGH THE EVIL MAY BE IN A HIGHLY DILUTED FORM appearing to be good and being highly acclaimed by men (Luke 16:15). Is there Scriptural grounds for such an assertion? Much in every way. Please consider the passage from Romans 7:

21. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Notice Paul said that this condition was a law. A spiritual law cannot be broken. The spiritual law is, that when we, in the power of the flesh, would do good evil is present. Not that Paul was necessarily unregenerate when he had these experiences, but if it was true of a believer, it is certainly true of the ungodly. All who are in Adam are partaking of that tree. All of the goodness of men is a manifestation of that tree. All of man's good social and religious causes are based on their partaking of the philosophical principles of that tree. The tree has never ceased to exist. Its branches and fruit have never disappeared from the earth; it has simply changed form and taken on a spiritual dimension.

It is the philosophical principle behind the luciferian concept of Yin and Yang; action and reaction. It is the hidden concept behind the "force" of the occult indoctrination Star Wars series. Just as there is only ONE tree, there is only ONE force. Just as there is a good side and an evil side to the one tree, there is a light side and a dark side to the one force. It is the Luciferian principle of dualism which teaches that both Satan and God are equal but opposite forces and that God needs Satan in order to exist. Those who have eaten of the tree, especially those who have gone through the different degrees and steps of initiation in the secret societies, are convinced of this lie to the point of strong delusion.

It is a variation of the theme of pantheism which teaches that all is God and God is all. This is reflected in such rock and roll concepts as "everything is everything". It is a lie that is palatable to the unregenerate heart because, to those in darkness, it just seems right. This is what moved Solomon to warn that there is a "way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

The tree also represents independent action based on independent thinking. Apart from blatant rebellion against God, this kind of thinking has spawned religious doctrines such as the lie that man is able on his own to turn to Christ in faith even while still spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Some may argue - "Then why does God command men to repent?" In order to show both our impotence and the glory of His grace. Unregenerate sinners CANNOT repent of their sins. Anyone of us who has actually repented has done so by the grace and goodness of God and God alone. God quickened us even while we were dead in trespasses and sins. We initiated nothing. It was all the work of God and God alone.

Fear God and Give Him the Glory

The Way of the Tree of Life

When Adam sinned, he was banished from the Garden and denied reentry. Please remember that Adam is also a type of the flesh, the adamic nature. God "placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." The flaming sword "turned every way". There is NO WAY for the Adamic nature to have returned. But apart from that, the Adamic nature has absolutely no inclination or desire to return to the Garden. In every man, the adamic nature has gone "to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). There is no part of the adamic nature that is interested in seeking or finding God.

Romans 3 explains what it means to be in the grip of the adamic nature, or in other words, "under sin" (v. 9).

10. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15. Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16. Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17. And the way of peace have they not known:
18. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

The religious romantic notion of the adamic nature still retaining some semblance or vestige of goodness just is not supported by Scripture. It is as ignorant and unlearned as the men of the world who claim to have faith in human nature. It can only find support in the egos of fallen men with darkened minds. For someone to believe that the adamic nature, with its inherent deep seated animosity towards God, can turn and "give its heart" to the very God it hates, they would have to have years of religious training to arrive at that delusion. I've come to the conclusion that the main activity of many Bible Schools and Colleges is that "they all slumber and sleep".

What part of the word "none" ( v. 11) don't they understand? No unregenerate soul is "seeking after God". Not one. Those who appear to be seeking fall into two neat categories:

[1]The soul only appears to be seeking God when in fact it is seeking after its own concept of God made in its own image. That's why many end up in such religious ditches as Watchtower and Catholicism and be quite content to live with the secret guilt and uncertainty. Diagnosis? The secret of the "seeker" may be found in Proverbs 18.

1. Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
2. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

Notice how he "separated himself". Jude 19 says that they who separate themselves are "sensual, having not the spirit." Notice again how he is intermeddling with all kinds of wisdom. His is an eclectic approach. He'll try anything once and he's aided and abetted by those well meaning but ignorant Christians who suggest that he "try Jesus". Many times its on this basis that people "give their hearts" to the Lord. The gospel of Christ is not a consumer product. It is not part of a buffet table of choices that you can sample at your leisure. It is the good news of what God has done in Christ and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus is proclaimed to all but offered only to a few. That's why we need to fear God.

Next, having been banished from the Garden, the adamic nature has dragged man and taken him as a willing captive out of the way. No tree can bear two different kinds of fruit. The adamic nature cannot take you out of the way and yet take you into the Way at the same time. Seeing that man has become unprofitable, he cannot possibly bring himself to accomplish such a profitable thing as turning to the Lord. You can't be profitable and unprofitable at the same time. Again we see that there is none that doeth good. How can such a being do such a good thing as actually giving his heart to the Lord? Bottom line? Neither Adam nor his offspring can or desire to, enter into the kingdom of God. At least not on God's terms.

[2]The second category are those souls which are in fact seeking God and these are those who, as we shall establish, have been touched by God and a work of redemption has begun in their hearts. They are the workmanship of God.

John 1:12

Let me be the first to admit that I once belonged to the "give your heart to Jesus" camp. That is, until the Lord began to speak to me about the Doctrine of Salvation and just how the soul becomes righteous in the eyes of God. I began to see the true condition of the fallen soul and man's utter inability to help himself and utter unwillingness to seek help on God's terms. That's what being "out of the way" and going "his own way" means. Adam, according to Proverbs 14:14, is a "backslider in heart;" he is filled with his own ways. If Adam actually "gives his heart to Jesus" and begins to "go to church," he becomes a tare who hears the Word but has no root in himself, doesn't understand the Word and is choked with thorns and thistles. Why is this? He does not have the power to become a son of God.

John 1:12 says that "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God". The adamic mind, which has gone away backwards, tends to read this backwards to mean that if you receive Christ as your Lord and Savior, then He will give you the power to become a child of God. That's not the intent of the passage at all. What the passage is saying is that, should you see anyone receive the Lord, it is because He gave them the authority or, right to do this. In other words, their receiving Him is not the CAUSE of their having power to become the sons of God. Their receiving Him is the RESULT of having previously been given the power, or authority to become a child of God. Please don't confuse the CAUSE with the EFFECT. It's all a matter of authorization. No one is allowed to enter the King's presence without authorization. Adam cannot reenter the Garden without authorization. He does not have the right to do so. Adam has no more "right to the tree of life" (Revelation 22:14). Only the elect have this right. Anyone seen approaching the tree of life was given the right to do so.

My Disciples Indeed

Let's look at another example of interpreting "backward". Let's look at a passage in John 8:

31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

It almost appears as though the Lord is saying that if you continue in my Word, then I will make you my disciples. But that's not the intent of the passage. What the Lord is telling them is that His Word acts like a filter and only those who are truly His disciples, or His disciples indeed, can actually continue in His Word. Remember John 6?

60. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
61. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
62. What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
63. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
64. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
65. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
66. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
67. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

You see, our Lord applied the filter and "from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him". Why was this? Because it was not "given" to them to continue. They were not authorized to continue with the Lord. You see you can be a disciple but not a disciple indeed. You can be a virgin, but not a virgin indeed. You can be a regular in a Christian church but not a Christian indeed and this will be made plain when the deadliest filter of all is applied which will result in the falling away. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord is saying Lord, Lord indeed.

Look further on down in John 8 and you'll see the same principle of "if you were, then you would" all over again. We do what we do because of who we are and a bad tree CANNOT bring forth good fruit. Observe the principle in verse 39: "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." Also: in verse 42: "If God were your Father, ye would love me".

Power To Become

A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit and a spiritually dead sinner cannot "give his or her heart" to the Lord. A bad tree cannot be or become anything but a bad tree with bad fruit. A sinner cannot "receive him" regardless of what many say in their well-meaning tracts that they hand out to sinners. Recently I read one of these tracts which ended by suggesting that the new birth may be obtained by saying a certain prayer. The tract quoted John 1:12 as proof that this magick formula works if you would just say the words and mean it. Unfortunately this advice goes contrary to sound doctrine and is in direct contradiction to the very passage quoted. It makes your salvation dependent on human sincerity and not on the work of God in the soul.

12. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Notice how the thought of "receiving Him" is parallel to " "believing on His name". To receive is to believe and to believe is to receive. In case you still do not accept our teaching on receiving Him only because you were authorized to do so, let us look at another witness. Remember, it is our position that receiving the Lord is as a direct result of the Spirit of the Lord having previously done something in the heart of the sinner. There is no such teaching in the Word as the Lord standing by helplessly waiting to be asked into the heart and hoping that the sinner will let Him save him. Revelation 3:20 was written to the church as a warning to those still holding to Babylonian teachings and traditions to hear His voice and "come out of her my people" (Revelation 18:4).

As proof that receiving Him, which is the same as believing Him, is as a result of a work of God in the heart, a work of regeneration, we cite Ephesians 2

8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The faith that is needed to "receive Him" is a work of grace wrought in the heart by the Wind which bloweth where it listeth. It is "not of ourselves". Where will we get it from? The flesh can't have or exercise faith. Even if the Lord were to give faith to the flesh, it wouldn't know what to do with it because faith is a blessed gift from another dimension. It is the gift of God. Someone can place an expensive piece of advanced machinery in your hands right now and if it is something, the likes of which you've never seen before, you won't know where and how to begin to use it and what to do with it. Just so with the gift of faith.

Is God Helpless?

The Lord isn't standing by helplessly wishing sinners would make a decision for Him. Look closely and you will see that this version of God is weak and helpless. This version of God cannot enforce His own will in His own universe. Which reader would tolerate not being able to enforce their own will in their own house? Teenager giving trouble? Being rude and rebellious? Which parent would tolerate not being able to lay down the law and impose their will? Yet many gladly and willingly dethrone Almighty God because that point of view happens to be widespread and popular. If God is helpless, how can He give us power to become? We'll be just as helpless as He is, seeing we were created in His image. If God is helpless, then how can we be sure that He can actually get us into heaven? What, because He said so? If He is helpless, His words are meaningless. They are the words of someone who means well but isn't sure He's able to get the job done.

Our God Reigns. He's Not helpless. The Voice (word) of the Lord is Powerful.

Our Lord is not standing by helplessly hoping and wishing. Neither is He waiting for the adamic nature to turn and suddenly cease its animosity towards Him. Not possible. So by an act of divine grace, "the wind blows where it listeth" and sovereignly "creates" a new person in the inner man according to that which was "before ordained" in the eternal counsels of God. This is usually as a result of the hearing of the Word of God - the very foolishness of preaching. The regenerated heart is now able to recognize the truth of God's Word; now able to "see" the kingdom as a result of which it is able to enter the kingdom of God. The truly regenerated are "born from above" (John 3:3 lit.) It is as a result of an act that originated from above. Only those who are His workmanship can find it in their hearts to believe on the Son. Because only they have "seen the Son", which is the same as "seeing the kingdom". (cf. John 3:3 with John 6:40).

40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

But, according to this verse, to believe on the Son you would have to have first seen Him. How can a spiritually dead person accomplish this great feat? Truth is he can't. Something has to happen first and that something is a work which has to be done on the eyes of the soul. This work is done only after God has regenerated the heart and brought forth a new creation. What is this work? Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And what is one of these blessings? The answer is found in Matthew 13.

16. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Ever since the garden of Eden fiasco when Eve thought she "saw", from the day Adam ate of the fruit of the tree mankind has been spiritually blind. One of those spiritual blessings therefore, is the ability to perceive spiritual truth. That's why in the parable of the sower, those who do not understand the Word of God are not part of the kingdom. They are not born again. The filter was applied. Your eyes can perceive spiritual truth only as a result of being blessed by the new birth. As the inward man is recreated in righteousness and true holiness, the eyes of the understanding are enlightened. This enlightening is both a crisis and a process. It's a walk on that Way. In other words, you would have entered upon the path of the just (Proverbs 4) which culminates in the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.

18. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.

Making A Decision For Jesus?

Let's look at how Babylonian concepts have infiltrated the Church and caused so many to read the Word of God backwards and say and teach the exact opposite to what the Word actually says. If you are reading the word of God backwards, your soul is still going away backwards except for the grace of God. We've read John 1:12, now let's read verse 13 which identifies those who received Him. Verse 13 first tells us ways in which it is impossible to receive the Lord and all of these ways that God says are not possible are the very ways that many in the Church are teaching others to be born again.

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Which were "born again" "NOT of blood" (that is, not by entering the second time into his mothers womb and being born).

Which were "born again" NOT "of the will of the flesh" (that is, the unregenerate human having only their flesh to work with, cannot use the flesh as a decision making tool to cause him to be born again. The flesh, being itself "enmity against God, .....is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:6-7) and therefore not only will not but CANNOT make any decision for Jesus. To be carnally minded is death. The carnal mind is a flesh-controlled mind and a mind influenced by death will never make a choice for life, no more than darkness will, or can, make a choice for light.)

Which were "born again" NOT of "the will of man" (Please remember that we use the will to make choices. This verse plainly states that the person was born again NOT BY THE WILL OF MAN.) What could be clearer? In other words, a person who is truly born again (i.e. from above) was NOT born again because he or she made a decision for Jesus. What is Biblical is that from eternity

JESUS MADE A DECISION FOR YOU

If you are saved, you are saved not because of saying the so-called sinner's prayer, or because of giving your heart to Jesus, you are saved in spite of it.

Let's ask the Lord to tell us Himself: John 15:16

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,

and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

How Is A Person Born Again?

To answer this question we may need to touch upon what is called the Ordo Salutis or, the Order of Salvation - the order in which Salvation takes place.

Seeing that to be born again is to be born from above, it means that the born again experience is of heavenly origin. It must be. If your salvation began with something you did, such as saying a sinner's prayer, offering your own faith to God, or some act of yours,

YOU ARE NOT SAVED.

The gospel is the proclamation of what God has already done for us in Christ Jesus. You do NOTHING. You are the recipient of the grace and favor of Almighty God. This grace works a work in your heart that supernaturally causes you to be born again at the pleasure of Almighty God at the time appointed from all eternity. Whether you like it or not, you will be born again "when it pleases God to reveal His Son in you."

The act of being born again is an act where we are supernaturally quickened by the grace and Spirit of God upon hearing of the Word of Christ. This quickening results in our regeneration and translation from the realm of spiritual death to the place of being spiritually alive in Christ Jesus.

1. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2. Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Lazarus Come Forth!

The Lord sovereignly quickened us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

He Did This Even Without Our Asking Him

He woke us up by recreating the inward man and blessing the eyes and ears of the hidden man of the heart with the ability to see and hear. Remember that we were busy being the enemies of God. Some of us were (some still are) bound up in false religions that suited our flesh. We were chosen not because we were better than the rest, but we were elected to salvation for His great love wherewith He loved us. US, not the whole of mankind - regardless of what these same people have told you that John 3:16 means. The popular interpretation of John 3:16 is part of the cosmic rebellion that is seeking to establish the lie that God means well but He just can't make the grade; He just can't seem to get the job done because so many people that He really, really wants to save are going to hell. This filthy lie teaches that God is in a quandary and must continually resort to contingencies and Plans B, C, D, E, F, etc. This is a blasphemous lie. If God had determined to save all men, then all men would be saved. He simply would have to step up to the gravesite of their lives and call their names. If He should do that, what would stop them from coming forth? Free will?

But our Lord never determined to save all men. The atonement of Christ was meant to secure the salvation of the elect. Who are the elect? They are defined by our Lord as, "all that the Father giveth me." "Thine they were" (John 17:6).

35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
41. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
42. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?
43. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves.
44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
45. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

The Jews could not understand His words and they began to murmur at Him. Then He (v.43) "answered and said unto them" that they should not fuss and complain because the truth is that only if they were the elect could they have come to Him. Verse 45 reveals a truth that the elect receive, or come to Christ because unknown to them, while they were dead in sins, the Father was teaching them and causing them to hear. That's why true evangelism does not need the element of begging and pleading and singing "Just As I Am" for the 167th time - Oh sinner won't you come, won't you please come, please, please? Those methods are not part of preaching the "evangel". The gospel is to be PROCLAIMED. there is no need for manmade methods and there is certainly no need for gimmicks. Those who have been taught of God shall hear and come. Otherwise you will find yourself inviting and drawing in a mixt multitude made up mostly of tares instead of those whom the Father is drawing.

When our Lord stood at the grave of Lazarus, there was no begging and pleading. There was no sense of divine helplessness. Our Lord knew that Lazarus would have come forth because He knew it was the Father's will to raise Lazarus up. In fact so NOT helpless was He that He waited until the situation was beyond hope. But He understood that the calling of the elect was and is an expression of the glory of the Father. The whole Lazarus event was a type of the redemption of the elect. It was allowed in order to be an object lesson to those to come. The glory of God is always linked to the kingdom and the power. There is no hint of helplessness. When our Lord stood at the grave of Lazarus, it was expedient that He called Lazarus by name lest the entire gravesite were to rise from the dead. But Lazarus was called by name because he was elected to come forth from among the dead ones.

Was Lazarus able to make any form of contribution to his being raised from the dead (salvation)? He was at the mercy of the call. He was totally dependent upon the power of the call as expressed by the Word of God's power. After he came from the grave, he was then at the mercy of the skill of those whose job it was to remove the grave clothes from his body and the napkin from his face. Their job (ministry) was to loose him and let him go. This is the purpose of all God-ordained ministry - to loose you and let you go. To ensure that you enter into the process known as sanctification or the removal of the clothes (old manner of life) spotted by the flesh with the smell of death on them. This is the true character and nature of true ministry.

Many ministries are not keen on having that napkin removed from your face. That napkin is doing two things at once, maybe three, maybe four: it is blinding your vision and dulling your hearing. It is even blocking your mouth thereby preventing you from having both sustenance and speech; and it is covering your nose or, your ability to discern. I smell a rat. Why would so many preachers condone this state of affairs? In this condition you merely have the illusion of being fed. Ever wonder why so many churchgoers have not shown any sign of growth after all these years? Many presume that their fleshly self-enjoyment is actually spiritual growth. They deceive themselves in this because of their tendency to compare themselves among themselves and many pastors love to have it so. These are your foolish virgins, for this activity is not wise.

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The response of the foolish virgin is - brother Michael, I hear what you're saying but I don't know about that. I still believe the old way even though I don't have Scripture to back it up.

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Saul ,Saul

Ever considered the account of the conversion of the apostle Paul? When did Saul of Tarsus ever say the sinner's prayer? When did He ever give his heart to Jesus? He had absolutely no intention "giving his heart" to the Lord. He was intent on destroying the sect called Christianity. What happened? A sovereign move of God upon his heart had him asking what he must do next in the service of the Lord.

The Cleansing of Cornelius

In Acts 10, we read of the account of Peter being called to the home of Cornelius. Obviously, God had already begun a work in the heart of Cornelius because the unregenerate do not care to send to hear the word of the Lord. Further evidence that the Father had already begun to teach Cornelius is found in that it was God who drew Cornelius to Peter's attention. The Lord was about to grant salvation to His "other sheep" (John 10:16) among the Gentiles (Matthew 12:21). Another point worthy of consideration is that the Lord spoke to Peter and described Cornelius and his household as being "what God hath cleansed" (Acts 10:15). Peter was coming in on the tail end of the conversion process. When does it say that Cornelius gave his heart to the Lord? In fact, the Word of God testifies to the sovereign act of God in stepping in and saving Cornelius without any need of a sinner's prayer.

The Bible reveals that "Peter opened his mouth" and began to proclaim the Word of the gospel and, "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word." Obviously "them which heard the word" were already born again even before Peter finished his sermon. They were most likely born again (unknown to themselves) even before Peter went to their home (Note: "what God hath cleansed".) We know they were born again before the Holy Ghost fell on them because the Old testament pattern is that the holy anointing oil is never to be poured out on the flesh of man nor to be put on any stranger (Exodus 30: 21-33). Moses is instructed to place the oil on the priests only after they had washed (v.21). Just so upon Cornelius and his house was the Holy Ghost poured only after they had been cleansed. Being "cleansed" is another way of portraying the born again experience which is the supernatural act of God whereby the soul experiences the "washing of regeneration".

The Ordo Salutis

Therefore the order of salvation must begin with God. The Father must have first elected you from the foundation of the world. He would have identified you as one whom He has known from the foundation of the world. He would have entered into a covenant with the Son who would take the responsibility to become flesh, be born under the law and to perfectly fulfill the demands of the law on behalf of the elect. Let us consider John 17:

1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
3. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
5. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
7. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
8. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
9. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

First things first- we must have belonged to the Father from before the foundation of the world. Not that we were existing before the world began; not that we were saved before the world began; but that we were marked out for salvation before the world began and it was determined in the counsels of eternity that we, who were separated from our mother's womb, would respond to God's call at the appointed time, that is - "when it pleased God" (Jeremiah 1:4-5; Galatians 1:15-16).

Dear reader - Are YOU Born Again?

I have to say this sums it up for my theology on salvation as well.

Upon hearing what is written here, do you exclaim you are a Christian, because you go to church, you were christened as a beleiver in a certain denomination, you ran down the aisle - to say a sinner's prayer. Did you follow a formula to salvation, did you join a church? Are you a Christian because of all the good works you think you are doing? None of these things can give you assurance you are saved.

It is the work of God, that brings salvation, and only His act upon your heart will create the removal of blindness, and deafness to hear truth.

Some would say if God has chosen the few, then why should we preach the Gospel? The reason is, we don't know who those few are until Jesus comes, therefore we are to preach the Good News, it is up to the Father what He does with it. "So shall my word be, it shall go forth and not return to me void". When the Word is preached, the person God has already cleansed and saved will recieve it with God given faith. The tare may hear what is said, but his/her eyes and ears of understanding will remain closed.

Just as the Pharisees, some of the disciples, and many religious people today. They remain in blindness to the truth.

Thus it is the Father who chooses, it is our calling to only proclaim the Gospel as the elect to all mankind, the rest of the work is God's sovereign choice, His Word will go forth and to whom he has willed to open their eyes and heart it will. Many are called but only a few are chosen.

Now, there should be no pride at all left in a person, once he comes to realize, not only is his initial salvation dependent of God's call, but his sanctification and his coming to glory is all dependent on God. For whom the Lord calls, shall be saved. Thus this is one reason I believe in eternal salvation, because if one is truly called and chosen of God, by God, for God, will not God complete that for which He was responsible for in the first place? What can separate us, from the love of Christ. Paul answers that with the declaration of NOTHING.

The chosen we won't know until Jesus comes, because Satan can disguise himself even as an angel of light.

True righteousness and holiness is hard to distinguish especially when Babylon and so many of her ministers, try to define what these things are with the ideas of what is good defined by the traditions of men. Many of these are just new laws and definitions of laws and works one must do to prove they are a Christian. I can promise you the end thereof is death. Anything added to Christ and His work alone, is evil!

Most often, true righteousness and holiness will be contrary to the ideas of men and Satans ministers or their group assessment of what that is.

Often, they will want to point fingers at you in their judgement, as the religious did in Jesus time.

They told Jesus the things he did were by the power of the devil. He with one quick stroke of His Word shut that argument down. Often times in this ministry which my Father gave me, and I can't resist Him, I have been called many names by the religious, and been accused of many things by the religious. I know who my Savior is and who my is Lord, Jesus Christ, and no man can tell me different.

Even Jesus said, when the rich young ruler called him good, He responded "only God is good." He did so to make the above point about what men call good isn't really good, only God is good. He also stated this to draw attention to the fact that He was God, manifest in the flesh. The living Son of God, who is good.

All good rest in God only.

All other good is as the writer states is "evil" disquised. Thus, our good is as filthy rags before God.

If you have been living as a "good" person, this doesn't insure you are born again. If you think your good works, church attendance, membership, education, ecclesiastical title or anything else YOU have done insures you are saved, you are DEAD wrong and your own salvation is lost in the quagmire of men's imaginations and teachings. Only the work of Christ in the shedding of His blood,the resurrection, and the giving of the Holy Spirit insures salvation. This is His gift, and only He can open your eyes and ears of understanding to recieve that you mouth can confess and belief can be put into your heart. Only He can save, not by you willing it, but His willing it so!

Don't let what men call good keep you from Him who is "the only true good". God alone.

Only God is good.

Oh! Christian if you will only understand this, you will cease from works that lead to unrighteousness and will be doing the works of God by His Spirit. Even sanctification is something you can't will, it is His Spirit within you that wills it, and makes it come to pass, if you are His.

Fear God and give Him glory!

Dr. J.