Month: September 2019

Coveting someone or something that does not belong to you gives birth to sin. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6). The woman “saw” with her “eyes,” which built up an inward “desire,” prompting her to “take” the fruit (meaning she touched it and did not die; the serpent must be telling the truth) and finally doing what God forbad – she “ate.”

At this point, sin still has not affected mankind but for one final and fatal step. Adam, who was with her, who was to “tend” and “keep” the garden and protect the woman from harm, failed! He consummated that failure when “he ate” also. Uh oh! “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). Temptation turned into sin and the pending curses on creation were born.

After the blame game takes place in Genesis 3:12-13 (man blames woman, woman blames serpent) of who said and did what, God lays down the hammer on creation – starting first with the serpent. “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life” (Genesis 3:14).

The Hebrew root word for serpent translates to be a snake, which is now cursed to its belly. In addition, note how all cattle and every beast is also cursed with the snake. What is the curse? Death. “All the days of your life” means time is now ticking on the number of days left to live. The first recorded death was an animal sacrifice (innocent blood shed for atonement of sin) recorded in Genesis 3:21 where God made tunics of skin (in place of fig leaves in Genesis 3:7) to cover Adam and his wife.

All life will “surely die” (physical death) because of sin and return to the dust of the earth. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 states, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.” Unfortunately Adam and the woman disobeyed God, and in doing so, a physical death would become their curse also. But God had a backup plan for such disobedience.

Next post: Satan’s Curse Is The Woman
Previous post: Choices Have Consequences

NOTE: The preceding excerpt was taken from the book, “God on Climate Change: Worshipping creation instead of the Creator” by Jim Wear (the author of this blog)… available in paperback at Amazon.

Choices have consequences. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). A command is handed down by God to man (Hebrew root name for Adam) that if you do this one thing, “you shall surely die.” Adam was smart enough to understand that death was some kind of punishment for disobedience, even though he had not experienced it.

In Genesis 2:9 we are told about two specific trees: the “tree of life” that is only for those granted eternal life (Genesis 3:22; Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14) and the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” that leads to death. God told Adam that he could freely eat from every tree, which included the “tree of life,” but do not eat from the “tree of death” (quotes added to point out the two options). Innocence and immortality would soon be shattered by one man. Additionally, all of creation was created through, for and by Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16), and served as a backdrop for a bigger purpose – good versus evil. That purpose will be discussed later.

When God put Adam in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it along with instructions not to eat from the tree of knowledge, Eve did not exist. Remember the game where someone whispers in your ear what to say to the next person? The story gets twisted almost immediately. “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’” (Genesis 3:1)?

Who is speaking through the serpent to the woman? Revelation 12:9 gives us a big clue: “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” We will discuss later more details about the origin and destiny of Satan, but for the purpose here, the speaking of the serpent was a diabolic miracle, just as the speaking of Balaam’s donkey was a divine miracle (Numbers 22:28).

Note how Satan twisted God’s word, casting doubt upon the woman. “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). God said they could eat from every tree (with one exception). Satan said to the woman, in effect, “Since God said to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over every living thing, how come you can’t eat from any tree you want? Clearly you must have heard it wrong from your husband?” A marriage counselor Satan is not. Give him an inch in your life and he takes a foot. Now the woman starts to second-guess what her husband told her about the tree of knowledge.

The woman’s response to the serpent in Genesis 3:2-3: “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” The translation from God to Adam, then from Adam to the woman (she had no formal name yet) and then add in Satan’s distorted lies and you have a recipe for disaster.

Where did God say, “You shall not touch the fruit of knowledge?” Even more importantly, where did God say, “You shall die immediately if you touch or eat the fruit of knowledge?” The woman’s belief that if she even touched the tree’s fruit, death was imminent, inferred that the conversation with the serpent took place well away from “the tree which is in the midst of the garden.” In the original Hebrew language, the woman’s interpretation of “die” in Genesis 3:3 meant immediate death, whereas God said in Genesis 2:17 that “you shall surely die,” meaning the process of physically dying would begin, as witnessed in Adam’s life, dying at the ripe age of 930 (Genesis 5:5).

It gets even more twisted. “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:4-5). Satan responded by telling the woman, “You will not surely die,” which was a lie but in her mind he meant she would not die immediately, which was cunningly true!

Is it possible that Adam embellished God’s instructions to the woman? Yes. He did have free will, but without the knowledge of good and evil. Is it possible that the woman misunderstood what Adam told her and/or added her own embellishments? Yes. She also had free will, but without the knowledge of good and evil. Again, I’m reminded of innocent children sitting in a circle of chairs whispering what has been said from one ear to the next. The story will not be the same come full circle. Whatever happened in the translation from God to the woman, it was done with innocence and without sin. But that strategic move by the serpent to tempt the woman first, thinking she was the weaker of the two, would ultimately be Satan’s downfall when God imposes a curse.

Next post: Disobedience Begets Sin & Curse of Death
Previous post: God’s Will for Creation Does Not Change

NOTE: The preceding excerpt was taken from the book, “God on Climate Change: Worshipping creation instead of the Creator” by Jim Wear (the author of this blog)… available in paperback at Amazon.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

This scripture verse is a bombshell on many levels and everyone should leverage it’s words and tap into their divine destiny. Building wealth is done with knowledge, wisdom and leverage.

First, it can not be overstated that our Creator “knew” you and I before we were even formed in the belly of our mother. The Hebrew root word used here is used only one time in the entire Old Testament Bible (used one time in New Testament). It literally means that God is able “to ascertain by seeing” and “appoint.” God, through His wisdom, has foreknowledge of every person before birth.

Without stating the obvious, God is the source of all life, physical and eternal. Death is a result of sin. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). No one will ever convince me that abortion is a choice for life (though when it deals with the life of the mother, exceptions are understandable). But I digress, stick with me here.

Ever heard of the story of a man stuck on his roof as the flood waters keep rising and a boat came by three times to save him? Each time he refused stating God will save him. He drowned and when asking God in heaven why He allowed him to die, God in His wisdom said I sent three different boats to save you. God was using humans to save humans. Let that sink in, pun intended.

Real life consequences of what could have been hits home for me. I lost my wife 11 months ago to breast cancer. I hate cancer. It is a death sentence for millions. Now think about this notion. Of the 60 million abortions since 1973 in America, what if God had “appointed” just one of those souls to be the answer for cancer? With foreknowledge, that child would grow up and cure cancer. My wife could still be with me today. We will never know because we flushed millions of lives down the toilet.

I have a strange feeling if I ask God why He took my wife so early in life from me, He would say I sent the answer already for your wife and many others to be cured and America threw it away due to eyes on self. Ouch!

As a real life tangible consequence of aborting 60 million souls (all who God knew before being formed in the belly), America should easily now have over 400 million people contributing to our society and building wealth. That is 60 million people who will never invent new technology, buy a car (or two), a home, invest in the stock market, pay taxes and shore up social security for other Americans.

Secondly before birth, God has sanctified us (“to be set apart”) for this life to do His will, not ours. In other words, we have a holy divine destiny and if we pursue it, God will bless us in order for us to be a blessing to others. Of course, “free will” means you can ignore His will, to your detriment on many levels.

And lastly before birth, God ordains each person with gift or gifts. In the case of Jeremiah, the gift of prophecy. The root meaning for “ordained” has several layers what God has in store for you and I. It means: to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter, stretch out, and extend. Wow!

Now go leverage this knowledge and wisdom from God and reach your destiny.

NEXT: Biblical Leverage 4 Wealth (2 of 15) – Purpose