Two Ways of Life
God knew what Adam and Eve would eventually do, and as always Satan was right there to speed along the process. God provided all the physical food that Adam and Eve could choose to eat. The two trees in the midst of the garden symbolized the great lesson in life that mankind must come to learn. One tree was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them not to partake of that tree, for in doing so they would die.
When God told them they would die, He wasn’t referring to an instant death, nor was it about an eventual physical death, which is simply a part of the physical body aging, wearing down, and then dying. Instead, it was about the consequences of sin – death with no more life ever again. God states the same thing in Ezekiel 18 when He says that the soul (living person) that sins shall die. He is not saying one who sins will simply grow old and die, but if you don’t sin that you will keep living. The apostle Paul explained that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Every person’s physical body will cease to exist, but after this there are resurrections to life – some into age-lasting spirit life and others into a second physical life.
Death that results from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is about sin and penalty of eternal death. This tree is about a basic choice in life, which is the one Adam and Eve made as a result of “their own” thinking. They elevated “their thinking” to that which is god-like. That is why this kind of thinking is also referred to in scripture as adultery (spiritual) and idolatry (spiritual). The reason is because this kind of thinking “leaves a faithful relationship” with God to do something (adultery) that defiles that relationship and disobeys the laws of God. It is about making a choice in life that contradicts (disobeys) God’s instruction of the one and only true way of life to be lived – His righteous way of life.
Adam and Eve chose to partake (eat) of a way that God had instructed them they should not partake of because He knew the bad result it would produce in their life; therefore, He warned them against it, just as any parent would do. He was revealing that it would hurt and lead to death, which is worse than just dying physically. Sin infects the mind and leads to spiritual sickness. It distorts the thinking process and pollutes soundness of mind. Sin is the choice to disobey God – to ignore God’s instruction of how to live life that produces all that is good. It is idolatry (against God), for it “raises up” one’s own thinking of doing things different from what God has given.
Once Adam and Eve sinned by making a choice that it was good, in their own eyes (their own choices and reasoning), to partake of what God said they should not, they polluted their own minds – their reasoning. They distorted their thinking and their mind became infected spiritually. God then removed them from the garden and cut off their access to the tree of life – access to God’s continuing education, spirit, and personal relationship with Him. God made a comparison of their sin, explaining that they made themselves “as God” when they began to decide for themselves what was right and wrong in life, instead of looking to Him who alone can reveal the truth of such things.
All mankind (except Jesus Christ) has followed the same path ever since – deciding for themselves what is right and what is wrong. The more the world has grown in population, and now with the addition of great technology, the greater the confusion has multiplied exponentially (massive Babylon) in all aspects of life. This overflowing level of confusion has produced all the different, opposing, and oppressive governments (spiritual Assyria) of the world, and their sins and confusion are exemplified by the disunity of the un-United Nations. This kind of thinking has also produced massive confusion in all aspects of religious ideas and practices where everyone believes (reasons, decides, and judges) that “their way” (of belief) is good and right and all others are not – not like theirs.
All such confusion in life is the “fruit” of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This thinking produces “curses in life” simply because they are the wrong choices from wrong thinking that produces bad fruit. That is why God told Israel over and over to make what would seem to be a simple choice – to choose life or death – blessings or cursings. Choosing God’s way produces blessings and leads to age-lasting life. Choosing to “decide our own ways” of what is right and wrong will produce “curses” in life and lead to eternal death. It is really that basic and that simple, but it requires access to God’s spirit and the access of God’s mind being opened to us to see it. Yet there are many (once called and having received of God’s spirit into their life) who have gone astray in this age because they have forgotten the basis by which such a mind (God’s mind) can continue in us. It is by always rejecting the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and always yielding to the desire and choice of partaking of the tree of life.
Satan’s Influence on Family
This matter of turning against God’s one true way of life and one “true way of thinking” (in unity with God’s word – revelatory thought – thinking) began with Satan, who was first created as Lucifer (light bringer). Once he began thinking (choosing and deciding) against God, he polluted his spirit mind. God says of him in Ezekiel 28 that he had been created perfect in “all his ways” (that were fully in unity and harmony with God) until sin (opposition to God’s way) was manifest in him. Satan was then cast out of the mountain of God – away from God’s government, away from the progressive revelations and teaching from God, and away from a continuing relationship with God. This is just as Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and separated from an ongoing relationship with God.
Lucifer was created with a spirit-mind, and once “that kind of mind” turns in thinking against God, it will not (cannot) return to its previous state, as it is spirit in composition. Once it decides (chooses) to think differently from God, that mind is set toalways think differently. Such a spirit-mind that is set against God has no desire, nor ever will, to return to God’s way.
Mankind is created differently. Our mind is of a physical composition with an essence of spirit life in it that gives us the ability to think, reason, and remember, but such a mind can be changed in thinking (transformed) after sin and pollution has entered into it. This can only be accomplished by God’s spirit working in the mind on a continual basis by one’s own desire and choice for such a transformation to be accomplished in themselves. Any person having human life who chooses sin as “their way of thinking” and refuses to repent cannot be changed by God’s spirit. In time, the merciful thing for such a mind (living being) is that it ceases to exist – eternal death – never to have life again.
Once Lucifer chose to “think differently” from God’s way, God said to him, “You have corrupted (polluted, destroyed) your wisdom” – the mind and thinking God gave to him in the beginning (Ez. 28:17). God also revealed His merciful conclusion to such thinking of Satan once he has fulfilled the complete purpose of his part in the aiding of the creation of Elohim. The very thing that had been the basis for the reason Satan rebelled is the very thing that “his ways” have helped to serve in creating: God’s Family. Once God’s Family is well set and the purpose of Satan’s continuing existence has ended, God states to him, “I will destroy you,” and “I will bring you to ashes upon the earth,” and “never will you be (exist) any more” (vs. 16, 18-19).
Lucifer began the process of the destruction of much of God’s angelic family once he turned “in thinking” away from God’s one true way of life. Satan became jealous upon learning of God’s plan and purpose for the creation of Elohim. From the beginning, when God began to work with mankind, Satan quickly struck out by turning the first two humans to “their own thinking” and away from God’s. This sin of Adam and Eve brought automatic curses to human life, which are the fruits of disobedience to God. Blessings in life are the fruits of obedience. It is just that basic and just that simple. It is the “plain truth.”
Blessings and Cursings
This brings us full circle back to the beginning of human life and the structure of the family. After sin entered into the life of the first married couple (the first two parents), curses of human life entered into the human family. As it was stated in the beginning, after they were created, Adam and Eve were not left to themselves to have to figure out (decide for themselves) how to live. Their Creator educated them, taught and instructed them how to live life. Yet they chose to be “left to themselves” to figure out how “they wanted” (preferred) to live their lives. Basic human nature does not like anyone telling it how to live or how to do things. This is evident throughout life. It is a common problem in the work place where employees resist instruction and direction from their superiors. It is often common in children and their response to parents and teachers.
This attitude actually permeates all life. It exists in the classroom, community, government, businesses, home, and pretty much everywhere two or more people are together. People choose to govern their own life in their own way. Above all, they do not want an ultimate authority in their life – they do not want God to govern their life: “The carnal mind (thinking, judging, deciding all matters from one’s own reasoning) is enmity against God (an enemy, one that works and fights against God), for it is not subject to the law (way, truth, mind) of God and neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). People do not want to answer to anyone! We want things our own way. Such is the struggle of life. Such is the struggle in marriage and family until individuals begin tosee the true freedoms, peace, and joy that can come through seeking God’s ways to govern their life, rather than themselves thinking they know best or someone else knows better (wrong influences).
The blessings in life are the fruit of obedience to God’s laws and way of life. They can come in no other way. The more of God’s way that one lives, the more their life is blessed. There are laws in motion that produce blessings when obeyed and curses when disobeyed; therefore, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s way they brought upon themselves curses in life. They were then forbidden to receive the continual supply of spiritual guidance they had before they sinned. These curses began to put stress and division upon the family – the very first family – and upon all that have followed since.
Although God calls His Church out of this world, all still live in it and suffer in it until the time of the restitution of all things – in the Millennium – when blessings can begin to be poured out because of a rapid growing worldwide obedience to God. We still suffer as a result of our sins, both past (though forgiven, the mind often carries long lasting penalties because of damage done to it) and present. At the same time, however, we are growing spiritually and learning to overcome (conquer) the world (world’s ways) as we come into greater oneness (unity and harmony) with God’s way. Our mind is being healed spiritually as we are learning to “think differently,” learning to “think right.” As we do, our relationships in life become more blessed (fruitful) and we grow in experiencing greater joy, fullness, and excitement for life and in sharing life with others who are themselves growing in the same manner. That which is of a spiritual relationship is next to impossible to share with others except that we live and give God’s way of life toward them, which often can produce a good result back, but because of human nature it generally doesn’t go far. This vast difference is often experienced when a family member no longer continues in fellowship with God and that in turn minimizes what can then be shared from that point forward. The spiritual aspect of the relationship ceases and all that follows is purely physical. These things obviously have great impact on marriage and family.
We are suffering more in this world that is against God (at enmity against God) because of the affects of the curses of disobedience that are so great and growing so fast at this time. All suffering should not be attributed to Satan, but to the sick system of Babylon he created. This world is not blessed and the blessings God did give to the scattered nations of Israel over the past several decades at the end-time, because of His promise to do so, have been fully removed as of 2008. Western Europe, Israel, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States have plummeted into a quagmire of curses in life and in living that are multiplying at an incredible pace. As a result of this process of highly accelerated sins and curses in the world around us, God’s people are suffering right along with it, but even more so because we are fighting against it. However, we are also being blessed more than ever in God’s Church with that which is spiritual, in growing in unity and agreement with God – our minds being transformed more quickly than ever. Such conditions lend themselves to such potential spiritually.
So while the world is accelerating in experiencing curses of life due to accelerating sin in life, in large part with the aid of modern technology, God’s Church is being blessed to accelerate in spiritual growth and strength through the transformation of the mind being restored to a right unity with God. This process during this stage of technology and escalation of sin around us can be somewhat of a quandary for some. It can become more difficult for a person to separate and make a distinction between the experience of suffering due to rapidly multiplying curses and resulting stresses that are in the world around us and the spiritual struggle of experiencing a more rapid transformation that God can utilize more powerfully in our creation process. Such times as these lend themselves to such opportunities to make great strides and changes spiritually – in the mind – in our thinking, but it is not an easy experience. The more we experience this, the more prone we can become to becoming spiritually weary, and so the task before us at this time – just before Christ’s return – is to “keep at the task before us!” This is the time to strengthen family and draw closer together as family – in physical family where we can, and especially in the spiritual family.
The stresses in this world are rapidly accelerating and multiplying at a horrendous pace. This is the time to press forward as never before. This is not the time to let up, let down, or become weary of fighting this fight, nor is it the time to let any doubt begin to creep in because of how worn out we can begin to feel and due to the stresses that hang on and even often grow – if we allow that to happen. Such must be battled against – on a spiritual plane. Our focus must be more on God and His power to deliver us – in faith – and not relying of self.
Understanding what happened to Adam and Eve, how and why it happened, will help us embrace more fully what God is starting to restore in family, as He brings “the family” out of bondage. It is beginning with us!
[Pt. 3 will continue next week]
The Church of God - Preparing for the Kingdom of God