Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Question (05/24/12)
-
TITLE: How Sharp Is Your Sword? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
05/30/12 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
The political environment at that time (and since) has given reason to question the veracity of what government spokespersons convey to the people.
Satan and Ephesians 6:12 forces of evil have capitalized on this concept and have had considerable success destroying marital and parental authority that God established for the home and family.
Abraham Lincoln said that whatever the home environment was at any given time would determine the stability of the nation.
Without authority and respect for it, no institution in which Man is involved can function properly. The abuse of authority invites rebellion.
Satan was well aware of this when he interacted with the woman in the Garden of Eden.
The woman’s first mistake was entertaining conversation with the devil.
When the devil first approached the woman in the Garden, she had not yet received a fallen nature that is inherently predisposed to finding the deceptive argument(s) of the devil appealing. She was not yet, by nature, hostile (Romans 8:7) towards God or the things of God, as we are when we come into the world today.
Although she had a relationship with God and lived in a perfect environment, she wanted more! She did not have the discernment to recognize the voice or the motivation of the devil (John 10:5).
Many who claim to be Christians today do not have the spiritual discernment to recognize the “voice of the devil.”
As in the garden, the devil usually chooses to speak through some mediator in order to conceal his identity and diabolical objective(s) (2Cor. 11:14).
The devil has a plan of destruction for every soul that God creates for His glory (1Peter 5:8).
The devils first move was to test the woman’s knowledge of the spoken Word of God. Assessing an intended target is always a wise choice prior to engagement.
In Genesis 3:1 we find the devil asking the woman, “Indeed did God say, “You shall not eat from any tree of the Garden?”, tactfully raising the issue of veracity concerning the Messenger and the message.
The woman demonstrated that she did have a knowledge of God’s spoken Word by clarifying that God had said that she and Adam could eat from any tree except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Initially, it appeared that the woman was going to pass the knowledge test, but revealed her vulnerability when she added to what God had said by including the prohibition of “touching” the fruit, as well.
Instead of presenting the Word, as is, and allowing the convicting power of God the Holy Spirit to do its Work (Mathew 4), believers are notorious for adding to what is said in an attempt to bolster the impact of a passage.
This results in such believers becoming casualties of their own devices, as they come to believe their own folly.
Adding to Scripture is what “religion” is all about!
When the “additions” inevitably backfire, it exposes those who promote them as liars (Proverbs 30:6), causing irreparable damage to their credibility.
In the case of the woman, this enables the devil to promote his deception when she (before eating it) “touched” the apple and found that she did not suffer any ill consequences.
This perhaps gave the illusion of credibility to the devil’s lie (Gen. 3:4).
The devil led the woman to believe that by eating the forbidden fruit, she and Adam would greatly benefit from it (Gen. 3:5).
The final act took place when she found the fruit to be desirable to the eyes (most satanic traps are), believing it to be the means to become like God.
When she took the fruit into her hands, she discovered that her religious additive of touching was not true.
However, it was she and not God that said that it was forbidden to “touch” the fruit.
Being very deceived (1Timothy 2:14), she then ate of the fruit.
A sharp sword (accurate knowledge of God’s Word) cuts to the bone (gets to the central issue) with minimum effort, providing its trained handler (2Timothy 2:15) with accurate and specific guidance.
There is a chain that connects our daily lives with the Word of God, but a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The links of negligence, ignorance, rejection, and/or questioning the Word of God will place our post salvation spiritual lives in jeopardy.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
God bless~
Yet, I wonder if t could be accused of violating its own principle?
She touched the fruit before taking it and eating it? Chapter and verse.
Near the middle I found your message starting to get a little complex and would hate to have some people just skim over it because they can't fully understand it. Perhaps if you expanded just on one or two points it wouldn't be as overwhelming for some. Because of the word limit you weren't able to explain yourself as fully as you did in the beginning.
I still enjoyed this and like it when an article makes me stop and think or want to pull out my Bible to read more.