Remembrance Day

Amid the cries of anguish past ascending from the war torn earth

Our freedoms smile, what our response? What corollary consequence?

One human soul worth treasures great; one beating heart the war doth take

Loss binds its cords, our sinews strain beneath the agonizing pain;

a father, daughter, son no more; oh how can we endure?

This freedom is a costly scent that envelopes our residence

A freedom paid in crimson red, our sons and daughters, fathers bled

Our freedoms smile; what our response? A silent tick of reminiscence?

Teach us oh ye times of yore, what can we do to dab the sores

of those who suffer on yonder shores in struggle for our freedom?

Is there a way that we can help; assure a soul, touch a heart?

What wilt thou teach us battles fought…..that precious jewels hear our thoughts?

A trumpet sounds, a signal’s sent; let’s rally ‘round our soldiers went

Let’s shower on our sons and daughters inscription from our hands; paper gifts that can be handled, tangible evidence of our care; visible reminders to our loved ones our yearnings for their fare.

We thank you sons and daughters too; Dad and Mom, we’re proud of you

You love us with your very souls, the price you pay worth more than gold.

Thank you for the freedoms gained amid so dear your worthy pains.

Love to you all, amen.

Please accept my apology!

What will God do?

Remembering God’s character

What God says – happens!

Adam & Eve heeded the voice of the serpent (Satan) and disobeyed God. The first human sin! So, just what is this thing we call – sin? Sin is choosing what is contrary to God. Thinking, speaking or action – whatever is contrary to God & His Word, is sin. Remember what man & woman were created for? They were created for God’s pleasure.

Revelations 4:11 – “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.”  

God gave mankind freedom. They could choose to love Him and enjoy fellowship with Him or they could decide to rebel and do what they wanted to do.....though God warned them that disobedience would bring death.  

Genesis 2:16-17 – “And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.”

Throughout these lessons we have learned that there are consequences for the choices we make. God had revealed to Adam & Eve the consequence of disobeying Him.

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Gen 3:8-19 

“And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. 9 And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14 And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

We read about the very sad consequences that came as a result of their disobedience/sin. But did you notice how sin had affected Adam & Eve already? Verse 11 & 12; God confronts Adam with the question: Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to? What was Adam’s reply? Did he ‘fess up? No. He played the “blame game”! And at first it looks like he blamed Eve. But read it again. Who was he really blaming? The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. Adam blamed God! He refused to accept the responsibility for his own choice. It was all God’s fault! How often we do that today! I have heard it (yes, at times I have said it too); ‘Why did you (God) allow that to happen? I am in this predicament because of you!’ Hey folks, so often we are just like Adam & Eve – playing the blame game; being the victim. We don’t like to ‘fess up and take responsibility for our actions/choices. Sin was born in the hearts of Adam and Eve and the result of their choice has befallen their off-spring (all of us). Genesis 3:20 “And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

 Yes, Eve responded much the same way Adam did except she directs her blame towards the serpent. And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Sin had its full affect on Eve too. Eve played the blame game. It wasn’t “her fault”; it was the serpent’s fault.

Let’s see how God deals with the man, the woman & the serpent. Maybe He will forgive and forget, after-all, God is love, right? Maybe He will simply dismiss the whole circumstance, after-all, man is weak and easily deceived.

God directs His attention to the serpent. At that point, I wonder if Adam & Eve were breathing a little easier.....or not. What do you think? And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. The serpent was cursed. It would have to crawl on its belly and breathe in the dust of the earth. It would forever be an enemy between it and the woman; and between her seed and its seed. The seed will bruise the serpents head, and the serpent will bruise his heel.

God then turns His attention to Eve. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. A lot of pain for Eve in bearing children. And now, her husband became her ruler. Obviously that was not so before they sinned.

Then God turned to Adam. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” God cursed the ground because of Adam’s rebellion/sin. From that point on Adam would have to work real hard for food. Prior to his choice to disregard God’s Word, all things were provided freely for them, food included. It was plentiful and abundant. Now, he would have to deal with thorns and thistles; having to weed and water his garden day after day. He will have to sweat it out to make ends meet. And this he would do until.....DEATH! Till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Hey, wait a minute. God said that in the day he eats of it, he will surely die. But is God now changing His mind? Adam didn’t die that very day.....or did he?

We will find out in the next lesson; and try to understand also why the God of Love did not just forgive and forget.

  God is eternal.

God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present at one time.

Everything God created was – very good!

God made man in His own image.

God communicates with man.

God abundantly met every need that man had.

God made the earth to be inhabited.

Satan is our enemy

 Sin has consequences

Satan Victorius?

Yes! Satan gained a victory here didn’t he?  

Listen to what God says about Satan:

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,

Let’s look at the definition of “devour”.

DEVOUR

1: to eat up greedily or ravenously 2: to use up or destroy as if by eating 3: to prey upon 4: to enjoy avidly

Satan is greedy & destructive when it comes to trying to keep you from believing God or trying to destroy the fellowship you have with God. He will use any lie & distraction possible to keep you in the dark, blinded from the truth.

Satan is our enemy and a dangerous one at that. The Word of God says:

Ephesians 6:12 

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Satan makes promises to satisfy our hearts with temporal pleasures. Did you catch that? TEMPORAL PLEASURES – they are only temporary and they never fill the void we have in our hearts.

The consequence of Adam & Eve’s choice; their decision to disregard God’s Word; to reject a pure, beautiful, perfect world to experiment with a forbidden one; brought the fruits of that forbidden world upon their plate......and ours!

So far in these lessons we have learned that:

God is eternal.

God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present at one time.

What God says – happens!

Everything God created was – very good!

God made man in His own image.

God communicates with man.

God abundantly met every need that man had.

God made the earth to be inhabited.

Now we need to add another

Satan is our enemy

Adam and Eve could have said to Satan: ‘No, what you are saying is wrong. God told us that if we eat from this tree, we will die; and we choose to believe Him.’ Adam & Eve had been given the freedom to choose, and they chose to believe Satan’s lie.

Genesis 3:6-8 

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden.

A few things to notice:

~ Adam was “with” Eve during this time. Verse 6 says that Eve gave the fruit to her husband with her and he did eat.

~ Their eyes were opened and realizing they were naked they sewed fig-leaves together and made aprons for themselves.

~ They hid themselves from God

Here we are given some of the effects of eating that forbidden fruit.

From the moment they were created, God met every need that Adam and Eve had. They never had to fend for themselves. It was God’s will to provide everything for them. All they had to do (if you want to call it – ‘had to do’) was to “enjoy” what God gave. But now we see something different don’t we? Instead of depending on God for clothing, they took it upon themselves to provide for themselves. They “depended upon themselves”! They looked for an answer to their dilemma in themselves, no longer trusting in their Creator for a solution. And what about the clothing they made for themselves - sufficient to meet their need? A bunch of leaves sewn together! How long do you suppose that would have lasted? The decision Adam & Eve made now caused them to look to themselves for their needs and away from God. Something happened when their “eyes were opened”.....they no longer “saw” their Creator with eyes of trust.

They hid themselves from God. They were afraid of God. Can you imagine being in a wonderful relationship with your Creator who had provided everything you needed and everything made was ‘very good’; to have enjoyed perfect fellowship with Him, walking with Him in the peacefulness of that beautiful garden, not a care in the world.....and then suddenly feel scared when He was around? Let’s consider God’s feelings here. How must have He felt to find His creation hiding from Him? He loved them and enjoyed their fellowship, companionship and friendship. How it must have hurt Him to see them experiencing the woes of “fear”. Fear and doubt now reigned in their hearts. Their choice to believe Satan’s lie; to disregard the Word of God brought some serious woes into their lives didn’t it?

What will God do now? We will see in the next lesson.

Satan, Adam & Eve

So, God has dealt with Satan. Now let’s move on with the story of Adam and Eve. Before we learn about that, however, let’s look back at how well God cared for and provided for them in the Garden of Eden. But first, a short reminder.

So far in these lessons we have learned that:

God is eternal.

God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere present at one time.

What God says – happens!

Everything God created was – very good!

God made man in His own image.

God communicates with man.

God abundantly met every need that man had.

God made the earth to be inhabited.

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Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…..”

Did you catch that? Every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food! Fact is, Adam and Eve were situated among a forest of beautiful trees producing all the food they would ever need and want. They were abundantly provided for! God reserved only one tree for Himself.

It was very evident that God was committed to the care and support of Adam and Eve. God could have done anything He wanted with His creation, and look at what he chose - To be good and kind and generous!

Rev 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

For whose glory were all things created? For God’s glory! So, in giving Adam and Eve the freedom to choose, (remember, God reserved one tree for Himself and commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of it) it was not God’s desire that they run off now and follow their own agenda. (We can eat whatever we want, ha, ha, ha, haha, ha). No, their agenda as created beings were to give glory and honor and power to their Creator because He is so good and kind, generous and loving.  Nevertheless, God left the choice up to Adam and Eve.  

How does a person give glory and honor and power to God? How does a child honor his/her father? Look at the 2 following responses and tell me which one would honor the father?

“I know you said not to, but I am going to eat it anyhow.”

“I sure would love to eat that fruit, but since you said “no” I won’t.”

Which response do you think gives honor to the father? Point is, people honor God by choosing to submit to God’s will; by yielding to God’s Word. God receives glory when people freely make humble and submissive choices to follow God’s will. But this is where things really get exciting because God has stated that when we humble ourselves to God’s will, we will be exalted in due time. 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

Once again we see the goodness of God. He rewards mankind when they wilfully choose to humble themselves to Him and His Word. It has always been true that when people fit into God’s plan for them, they find the greatest happiness, fulfillment and reality. Are not these the things we seek? So it was for Adam and Eve.

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So where are we at and what do we see? We see Adam and Eve walking with God in the garden and being on intimate terms with Him. And at this time, Lucifer had been cast out of heaven and his name changed to Satan (the deceiver). He hates God and anyone who would follow Him.

Read how God describes Satan.

John 8:44 “......He was a murderer from the beginning, and stands not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Pseudos is the original Greek word that means lie. Its definition means – a conscious and intentional falsehood.

Have you ever seen cartoon pictures showing Satan as a red devil with horns and a pitch-fork standing in flames and having a mischievous grin on his face? That is a falsehood; a deception; a lie! Listen to what God reveals to us about Satan. 2 Corinthians 11:14 “And no marvel; for even Satan fashioned himself into an angel of light.” That’s right. Satan wants everybody to think he is “Mr. Niceguy”. He masquerades around and tries to mimic God and catch people in his net of deception. He wants to lead them straight into the lake of fire, which is his own destiny. Satan loves “religion”! In that realm he can traverse and really fool people. He closely imitates the truth but mingles in his lies. For those of you who think that God and religion are synonymous, you have been deceived. People who are not willing to find the truth in God’s Word will be easily fooled. Satan cannot be trusted because he is an imposter, a counterfeit, a teller of deliberate falsehoods. Satan probably has a good laugh when he finds people thinking he is a red horned devil with a pitchfork. As long as they look on him as a cartoon figure, he is no threat to them. But folks, he is one of your greatest threats! If you are serious about your destiny, you will find the truth in God and in His Word.

So the scene before us has Eve and Adam and Satan obviously very near the fruit-tree God forbade them to eat of. Satan approached Eve in the embodiment of a snake. (Now that doesn’t sound very logical does it? It actually sounds Hollywoodish – something a computer could manufacture on a screen, but in reality? Come on)! That is the type of thinking that does a person in right at the get-go. In our sophisticated and civilized society today, that’s exactly what Satan wants you to think – how could that be true?....it is not logical! But that isn’t even a remote question in the life of a tribal person who has lived his/her life in the uttermost parts of this earth. I think they recognize the truth of the spiritual realm much more readily than we do. I know men who have heard evil spirits calling out their names in remote mountain rice fields where nobody but they were present. They told me they have seen dogs actually speaking to them. We only see that in kiddie cartoons on T.V.  These men shake in fear when walking down the trail at night; not fear of others, but of evil spirits who can harm them and make them sick even to death. Remember what God says about Lucifer, how that he was full of wisdom and the most beautiful angel in heaven? (I am going to underline some key words in the following verses so you can gain an understanding of who we are up against).

Ezekiel 28:12-15 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was in thee; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth: and I set thee, so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee.”

The Word of God does not tell us that he lost his wisdom or beauty when he was cast out of heaven. He was no longer perfect in his ways when unrighteousness was found in him. Satan lost his heavenly position (and will one day be cast into the lake of fire). He is still a very smart and powerful spirit. The Word of God says that there was a war in heaven. Satan and a large number of angels revolted against God. They were defeated and cast out of heaven to the earth.

Rev 12:7-9 “And there was war in Heaven. Michael and his angels warring against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels warred, (8) but did not prevail. Nor was place found for them in Heaven any more. (9)  And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Just by mention that there was a war in heaven means they had spiritual power to fight. Satan and his evil spirits (commonly referred to as demons) do have power. And if they can get you to dismiss them as illogical mythical beings, they have succeeded to deceive you and lead you further down “their path” of destruction. Satan is smart and “deceives the whole world”.

Now back to the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?”

It is amazing that there is no record that Eve seems surprised that a serpent could talk. Who knows? Maybe some could! Or maybe she was still enjoying the pleasures of all of God’s wonderful creations that she figured a talking serpent was simply another one of them. God’s Word does not reveal to us Eve’s reaction other than that she spoke with the serpent.

Okay. So what actually just took place here? Did you catch what Satan did with just one simple question? Satan approached Eve with a question about God. (Milestone # 1) Satan is not afraid to talk about God, but when he does, he has an agenda. With Eve, he planted a seed of “doubt” in her mind. First he misconstrued God’s prohibition – Did God really say you can’t eat of any tree of the garden? God said they should not eat of just one tree, not all the trees.

Genesis 3:2-3 “And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Hmmm, here we find an interesting statement made by Eve. We know God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but He never mentioned anything about touching it. Eve added a little bit to God’s Word. Why she did so, we don’t know, but we always get ourselves into trouble when we try to add a little bit to God’s Word. When we do that, we misconstrue what God intends for us to know. So, Satan managed to misconstrue God’s command and then he got Eve to misrepresent what God had actually commanded. It may seem like such a little unimportant blurb, but it was just another step towards failure.

Satan questioned God’s Word, planting doubt in Eve’s mind and then he outright denies God’s Word, blatantly accusing God of lying. Listen to what he says to Eve now:

Genesis 3:4-5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.”

Secondly, the lie. Satan plainly declares the total opposite of what God said would happen if that fruit were eaten. God said, you will die. Satan said, no you won’t. Satan mentions what Eve could have by eating the forbidden fruit, but he does so in such a way as to accuse God of with-holding something good from Eve. “.....ye shall be as God....” (Milestone # 2) That is the whole crux of the issue right there isn’t it? That is what Satan has fed mankind with throughout all ages – for man to be their own god! That is what Satan deceived Eve with and has never ceased trying to deceive mankind with that lie down through time... (god is in you; your source of life is from within you; look inside yourself for all you need; you are the king of your castle; you are your source of life; the answer to life comes from within yourself; you are your own god; you are god, etc, etc, etc).  

If Satan can get us to question God’s goodness, he has a firm deceptive foot in our minds. If you go back in Genesis and read all that God created and how awesomely He provided ALL that man would ever need, there is no reason to question His goodness. But how often do we do that these days? And who is the originator behind all those questions do you think?

Thirdly, Satan mixes truth with error. (Milestone # 3) Satan did a little adding to God’s Word himself didn’t he? “....for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.” It was true that their eyes would be opened knowing good and evil, but it was false that they would be as God.

This is why I think Satan loves the realm of religion. People are religious because they’ve been lied to. They’ve been told they can be their own god and religion is their playing field. That is where they can make up all their rules and regulations for achieving their own kind of nirvana – enlightenment – the place where gods dwell. In that realm (religion) Satan rules and can mix things up creating his own deceptive recipes, falsifying God’s Word and leading mankind down the spiral of physical & spiritual destruction.  

Worshipping the one true God has absolutely nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with relationship and fellowship and glorifying God!

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

Satan victorious? We will find out in the next lesson.