Godly Ministries

Godly Ministries
yhwh@godlyministries.org

                                           IN ADAM ALL SHALL DIE

 Adam and Eve are the parents of all mankind. God created Adam in His own image and after His likeness. Both man and woman are created in God's image. Since God created man and woman in His image, it is clear that God had the intention that they be like Him. Not only did God want people to look like Him physically, but He created us to have His character. In order for human beings to develop godly character, it was necessary for God to give them the ability to choose to do right or wrong. The authority to decide what is right and what is wrong belongs only to God. Men and women are however; free to make their choice to either obey God by living according to His will or to disobey God by doing what God identifies as sin. God was generous by giving Adam and Eve everything they could ever want in the beautiful surroundings of the Garden of Eden where they lived. There was only one restriction. Adam and his wife, Eve could not partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Tree of Life was in the midst of the garden. They could eat of that tree freely, as well as all of the rest of the trees in the garden. The Garden of Eden was very pleasant to the eyes. It had multiple rivers of clean waters and many different kinds of trees bearing tasty food. God told Adam before Eve was created, "but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it in dying you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17 NET) Adam and Eve, the parents of all human beings, chose to die. God created all living creatures to reproduce their own kind. Therefore, all people were born into sin through Adam and Eve. From birth, the law of sin and death plagues every human being into living a sinful life which leads to an inescapable death.

Adam and Eve passed on the sin nature to all of their children, who in turn passed it on to their children into infinity. Having inherited our sinful nature when born, we will sin. There is no way we can avoid it. We may not sin with every choice we make, but our nature will bend us toward satisfying an inner lust to do wrong.

Now let's examine carefully what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam had a place to live where he wanted for nothing. God told him to "dress and keep" the garden. He had dominion over everything. He was in control. The animals obeyed Adam. There were no wild animals to attack him. He had all of the food he could eat. Clean water was all around him. Beauty surrounded him in every direction. All of his needs and wants were fulfilled. There were no thorns or thistles in the ground. Notice that God gave instructions to Adam regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil before Eve was created. This is an interesting fact that no one seems to mention. Let's deal with it now. God depended on Adam to teach his wife everything God had taught him. Adam was responsible for his wife. He was obligated to teach her to avoid the forbidden tree. How well did he teach her? Did Satan choose to approach Eve instead of Adam because he knew Adam just casually mentioned the instructions regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? How did Adam feel about God's restrictions about the forbidden tree? Could it be that Adam resented being told that he couldn't partake of the forbidden tree? Could that have led him to give Eve instructions regarding the forbidden tree in such a way that she perceived his resentment toward God for being restricted from partaking of it? These are very interesting questions. The answers to these questions have a lot to do with what transpired in the Garden of Eden.

Let's look at the possibilities. If Adam's mind operated in curiosity about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would have asked himself many times what was it about that tree that made it so special that he couldn't have it? A typical day would be Adam playing around the garden; enjoying himself and feeling thankful to God for all of his blessings...then he would look at the forbidden tree. Hmmm, that tree; if it wasn't for that tree, I would have everything. Why can't I have everything? It's not fun to have everything, except one thing. These thoughts must have visited Adam's mind. When that is the case, the thing you can't have becomes more important than everything you do have. In addition, there was Eve, who must have wondered how it would be to touch the tree. Notice what she told Satan, "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has indeed said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" (Genesis 3:3 NET) God didn't say not to touch it. He simply said not to eat of it. The implication is that God must have confirmed to Eve what Adam said about not eating of the forbidden tree. Maybe she asked God about it to be sure that He said not to eat of it. If she did, that would suggest her attraction to it. How would it feel to touch it? No, I have to stay away from it. I can't even go near it. These thoughts must have been flowing through her mind each time she went in the midst of the garden. The Tree of Life was in the middle of the garden too. They could eat that one. They had to see the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil each time they saw the Tree of Life. Both were in the middle of the garden; perhaps right next to each other. "...The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9 NET) For Eve to tell Satan that God said "neither shall you touch it" lets us know that she was tempted to touch it even before Satan enhanced her desire to have it. She was already thinking about it. That made Satan's job a lot easier. Eve had planted the seed of temptation in her mind through her desire; all Satan had to do was germinate it to grow into the evil fruit of disobedience to God. In studying the attitude of Eve versus the attitude of Adam, I conclude that Eve's disobedience was founded on curiosity about what God was trying to keep from her regarding the forbidden tree; but Adam's disobedience was founded on resentment that God would dare keep something from him. After all, he was Adam. He deserved everything, not everything but one tree. As a result, Eve was actually deceived by Satan. However, Adam was not deceived. Adam blatantly disobeyed God. "And Adam was not deceived; but the woman came to be in transgression by being deceived." (1Timothy 2:14 NET)

The fact is these two trees were symbolic. The Tree of Life represented eternal life with God. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represented death. God was using these two symbolic trees to teach Adam and Eve that if they partook of the Tree of Life, they would trust God to decide what is wrong or right; and as a result they would obey Him and enjoy eternal life with God. Contrarily, if they chose to partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they would decide for themselves what they felt was right or wrong. They would obey God if they agreed with Him and disobey Him if they disagreed with Him; and as a result they would follow Satan to their death. Satan knows his fate is death in the lake of fire; therefore his intention is to lead as many people as he can to go with him to suffer that same fate. The death tree is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil because partaking of it will not cause you to do evil each time. Sometimes you will do well. Other times you will do evil. This tree produces a way of life that is mixed up. The trees were put in the middle of the garden representing being the center of your life. What is your life centered on? Either it is centered on obeying God or doing your own thing. God showed His love for Adam and Eve first by creating them. Next his love was expressed by provided them with everything they wanted and needed. Lastly, He gave them the freedom and opportunity to love Him back by choosing to trust and obey Him. He had to allow them to be exposed to Satan so they could compare his way with God's way to see which way they preferred to live. They chose the way contrary to God. It doesn't matter whether the fall of man is expressed as Adam and Eve went their own way or if it is said Adam and Eve chose Satan's way. Any way that is in opposition to God's way is wrong. It makes no difference who you blame. When God challenged Adam about sinning, Adam blamed Eve. When God questioned Eve about sinning, she blamed the serpent... and the serpent didn't have a leg to stand on.

If we understand how Satan operates, we can be on alert not to be overtaken by him. Satan was on earth before Adam and Eve were created. He observed God as He brought light back to the earth and gave the earth life forms. Satan watched Adam close enough to know what made him tick. God told Adam and Eve to replenish the earth. This tells us the earth existed before the book of Genesis. "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth...'" (Genesis 1:28 NET) The first chapter of Genesis describes a re-creation of the earth. Satan existed a long time before people were created. He focuses in on our weaknesses and uses them to lead us into sin.

What did Satan see in Adam? Adam was very smart. God made him intelligent and capable. He named all of the animals. He had the capacity to learn quickly. He had skills and abilities. This is evidenced by God telling him to keep and dress the garden. He was to dominate all creatures on the earth. Adam had the ability to reason. Adam realized that he was the boss. He enjoyed God's goodness. God gave him everything he wanted. All his needs were provided. Lastly, God gave him the ultimate gift in taking his rib and creating a help meet for him. Adam was so excited that he called her "woman." He loved her dearly. He became closer to her than he did to God. It is easy for a man in Adam's position to feel important. He can feel "entitled". I have a sense that Adam didn't appreciate being restricted from deciding what was right and wrong as symbolized by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He controlled the whole Garden of Eden perfectly. Surely that should prove that he was capable of deciding for himself what was good for him and what was evil. Satan saw this weakness.

What did Satan observe in Eve? Eve was taught everything by Adam to establish and strengthen their marital relationship. She saw Adam as quite capable. Her husband was the king in the Garden of Eden. He had command over all of the animals and he dressed and kept the garden. He was in full control. She was proud of Adam. He treated her like a queen. He was very responsive to her desires. They had it all! She saw that she and her husband made a great team. She had the same capabilities that he enjoyed. God created her equal to her husband. She too was very intelligent. When Adam explained to her not to partake of the forbidden fruit, she wondered why God didn't entrust Adam to that as He did everything else. What was so special about deciding what is right and what is wrong? God made both her and her husband with the ability to reason. They could work together and figure out anything. They were both smart. Why would God give us everything except this one privilege? Eve must have thought this curiously. I want to investigate, she felt in her heart. Satan saw this weakness.

God wants us to trust Him. If He says something, He wants us to believe it to be true. Investigating is fine if it is based on God's laws. We investigate to prove God is right, not to prove He is wrong. God tells us in His word to prove all things; but it is always starting from the viewpoint of God being right and you investigate to show what He said is true. Satan did just the opposite with Eve. He suggested that God was lying; then he invited Eve to investigate to find out for herself that what God said was not true. Eve drew her conclusion on what "appeared" right from a physical stand point. Satan knew he had her. Adam knew better, but his pride and arrogance led him to go along with his wife. I also think Adam loved Eve more than he loved God. Like so many human beings, we can get so caught up in the physical things that God blesses us with so much that we forget God was the one who made it possible. We love the gift more than the gift giver. Adam felt he and his wife were entitled to decide for themselves what was right or wrong. The Devil influenced them to feel deprived. He convinced them that God was unfair. Satan projected that instead of God asking Adam and Eve to have blind faith in His word, God should have trusted their ability to reason, investigate and find out for themselves using their intelligent minds to determine what is right or wrong. Satan does the same thing to people today. How many people choose to live contrary to biblical teaching? They experiment with same sex marriage, living together out of wedlock, having children without marriage etc. They say that lifestyle is "right" for them.

Now let's take a look at Satan. Who is Satan? God did not create a devil. Everything God created was good. Satan was created as Lucifer the light bringer. He was God's best angel; perfect in all his ways. "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you." (Ezekiel 28:15 NET) Satan was convinced that he was "all of that" so he believed that he should be god. He felt more deserving to rule from God's throne than God. He was so talented. He sang so beautifully that all of the rest of the angels and the great heavenly host had to stop everything that they were doing to hear his lovely voice. He wrote magnificent songs. He played wonderfully on musical instruments. His beauty was awesome. The other angels found pleasure in staring at him to behold his luminous wonder. He was the topic of many conversations on beauty, talent and intelligence. He was highly respected in heaven. His wings covered the throne of God. The other angels looked up to him. He was the highest ranking angel. He was adored. Unfortunately, Satan let all of this go to his head. He began to compare himself with God. In his judgment, God was lacking. He felt he was smarter, better looking, more talented, more charming, and had better ideas on how things should be done. His persuasive nature caused one third of the angels to agree with him that he should take over the throne of God. They staged a "Satan for god" campaign in heaven that led to a war between Satan and his demons versus Michael the archangel with the righteous angels of God. Consequently, Satan and his demons were defeated and cast down to the earth. Lucifer's named was changed to Satan the adversary. Instead of being able to bring light, he now can only project darkness. Hence, in the book of Genesis, God had to bring light back to the earth and perform a re-creation. Satan was jealous of God. Observing God creating Adam, Satan knew he was being replaced on a physical level. Adam would have dominion over the earth instead of Satan. The fact that the angels rejoiced when God created the earth implies that they were going to rule it under the leadership of Lucifer. Apparently, Lucifer didn't appreciate being ruler over one planet when he felt he could rule the whole universe. This initiated his change in attitude toward his maker. I'm sure he thought this to himself: I know God has to see how fantastic I am. It's too obvious to miss. I'm not going to accept him giving me this little ol’ stinky planet Earth. Since He disrespected me by having the nerve to offer me authority over just one little planet, I'll show him whose boss by taking everything! I deserve it anyway. "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I will cast you down to the ground..." (Ezekiel 28:17 NET) With all of his wisdom, Satan forgot that God didn't create anything greater than Himself.

We have considered the viewpoints of all the parties involved in the Garden of Eden; Satan, Adam and Eve. Finally, let's see it from God's point of view. God is the eternal. He created all things. He has full power over all that He created. He is love. He enjoys creating good things. One day God decided to create His first angel. He planned how this angel would look. He chose to give him certain talents and abilities. He gave him intelligence and wit. He even blessed him with a charming, influential personality. God gave this beautiful angel the name Lucifer. He was the best that God was capable of creating in angelic form. At first Lucifer and God were friends. They shared very much together. They communed with each other daily. When God wanted to hear music, I'm sure Lucifer obliged by writing great sounding songs and singing them with a voice that could bring tears to the eyes of even the hardest heart. After God created the other angels, Lucifer had a fan club. The entire great heavenly host was moved by the creativity of Lucifer. He was not only riveting in artistry, but also in beauty. Lucifer's beauty must have been complimented multiple times each day. Lucifer was breathtakingly beautiful. God gave him everything. He had it all. God came up with the idea to give Lucifer a special gift. God created a planet called Earth for Lucifer and one third of the angels in heaven to rule over. They were to essentially "dress and keep Earth." God was probably going to see how well they did with Earth and then expand their responsibilities to greater horizons. However, Lucifer was not happy to start small with the hope of advancement. He felt that he deserved to rule the whole universe right then. So he griped and complained to the one third of the angels on earth with him, until he finally persuaded all of them to revolt against God. So they planned a sneak attack on heaven. Lucifer led his army of angels toward heaven to overthrow God's throne. "For you have said in your heart, 'I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north'". (Isaiah 14:13 NET) God loved His number one angel. I'm sure the mutiny hurt God deeply. Lucifer became Satan and was thrown back to earth where he has been ever since. Satan's angels became demons. They too were slung down to earth along with Satan where they remain today. God lost his favorite angel and a third more in this rebellion. Nobody can stop God from progressing. God in His wisdom always has a back up plan. He would make man and woman to carry out His will. They would be created physical with the opportunity to become a spirit being if they chose life. If they chose death, God would redeem them by sacrificing His only begotten son. God's will would be done one way or another. He would be successful no matter what. Satan and his demons would not stop God's plan; and neither could man and woman. God is omniscient.

Both man, woman and Satan and his demons are intelligent beings capable of choosing to take right or wrong actions. Being all wise, God established blessings for making the right choice and curses for making the wrong choice. "Do not be deceived. God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." (Galatians 6:7 NET) Because Satan and his demons are spirits, they will never be resurrected. God purposely created people physical and therefore able to be resurrected. Satan lost the battle with the archangel Michael, so what better way to get revenge on God than to influence people to turn against Him. Satan entered the Garden of Eden and possessed a serpent. His intentions were to use Eve's curiosity, vanity and desire to cause her to doubt God and sin. First, he started with a question to open her up so she would let her guard down. This is a perfect way to suck someone into a trap. Satan spoke like God by keeping his reference basic with the words "eating of the tree", but Eve zeroed in on the fruit in response to Satan's question. She immediately commented specifically about eating the fruit. This is evidence that Eve had been lusting for that fruit before Satan tempted her. It's hard to be tempted about something you don't want. Eve wanted that fruit. She had been thinking about it; wondering how it would feel in her hands. That is why she mentioned not touching it. Satan had her reeled in. Now it was time to deliver the knock out punch. Satan called God a liar. Next, he suggested that God was unfair by trying to keep something from Adam and Eve that they should have, because it was so good. Notice the parallels between God with Adam and Eve and God with Satan. In both cases God loved them dearly, gave them everything, created them with great capabilities, and ended up losing them due to their lust for more. All Satan did was instill in Adam and Eve the exact same attitude he had himself. God didn't owe either of them anything. Yet, they had the nerve to be ungrateful. Eve satisfied her curiosity by investigating the fruit. She looked at it. She handled it. It was pleasant to her eyes, and that wasn't all. Satan told her it would make her wise just like God. Again we see the parallel. Satan wanted to be God. So he convinced Eve that partaking of this fruit would make her equal with God in wisdom. Eve saw the fruit was good food. It feels good to sin. Sin is pleasurable. That is what makes it so attractive. Sin gratifies you with sensations of pleasure, good feeling, fun, enjoyment, thrills, and satisfaction. Adam was nearby while all of this was going on. When Eve concluded her thorough investigation of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, she ate the fruit and gave it to Adam within arm's reach. "...she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate." (Genesis 3:6 NET) Adam was close enough to touch her. He could have intervened, but he didn't because he agreed with what was going on. This is proof that Adam felt that God shouldn't have kept this tree away from him. Adam wanted to eat from the tree too, but his motive was slightly different than Eve's. He knew better. Eve didn't. Eve actually believed Satan's lie. Adam knew Satan was lying, but he didn't care. He was cocky. His attitude was: I do what I want to do. If I am good enough to dress and keep the garden, then I'm smart enough to decide what is right and wrong for me. I don't need God telling me what to do. This is the same attitude of the world leaders today and the general population. Sin spread to us.

Consequently, God had to punish Adam, Eve, Satan and the demons. Sin causes death. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23 NET) God spoke to Adam first as He was sizing up the situation. He asked that infamous question. "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat? (Genesis 3:11 NET) For the first time Adam and Eve experienced fear. Things had changed for them. Before the fall, they would embrace God, now they were hiding from Him. Notice God's first question was "who told you that you were naked?" God knew Satan had struck. Adam took no responsibility for himself, but rather blamed God for giving him Eve by saying, "the woman whom YOU gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." (Genesis 3:12 NET) The inference is that it was God's fault that this whole thing happened. After all, if God had not given Adam his wife Eve, this terrible thing would not have occurred. Adam gave himself more than one escape. If God wouldn't accept the blame, then his statement left Eve at fault. Either way, he made it clear that it wasn't his fault. So God went to Eve to get an explanation. Eve admitted she was tricked. The serpent did it. Well, at least they didn't lie. Some people get caught doing wrong and then lie to cover it up. Perhaps they knew lying to God would be useless. So why try?

Now God pronounces the sentences on the violators. God gave out the punishment in order of the path of sin. First, the serpent was cursed above all species of animals. He initially stood upon his feet and walked upright, but now he was charged to move upon his belly and eat dirt all of his life. Every serpent would suffer this fate from then on through reproduction. Also the woman would produce a seed, which would destroy the seed of the serpent. This is the promise that Christ would come. Second, Eve was cursed to have pain in childbirth. In addition, she would desire her husband, who would now rule over her. Is this why so many men have a double standard? Is this why so many women long to get married? It wasn't until the fall of man that God mentioned for a man to rule over his wife. Finally, God came to Adam. Adam's curse was to work the ground for all that he needed to keep himself alive. The ground would be cursed with thorns and thistles. The work would be hard. Adam would sweat and tire trying to support himself and his family. The ground would not be continually productive all year. It would be just the opposite of how it was when he kept the Garden of Eden. Oh, what a change! God passed a sentence on the Devil too. Satan and his demons will be punished at the end of the world; when God will cast them into the lake of fire prepared for them. Their immortality will be taken away and they will cease to exist. "Who alone has immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach..." (1Timothy 6:16 NET) God gives immortality to whom he pleases. He is the only true immortal being. The rebellion of Satan and his demons will cost them their immortality. God gave it. He will take it away. They were created to live forever. What a great loss! Realizing that Satan and his demons have eternal life within themselves, experiencing death is the most severe punishment they could receive. They will face death. Having already lived for millions of years, being in heaven with God in bliss and then being restricted to earth; being cast into the lake of fire to die is a tragic end for Satan and his demons. God will be avenged. "...'Vengeance is mine! I will recompense', says the Lord." (Romans 6:19 NET) God was teaching the lesson of cause and effect to Satan, his demons, Adam and Eve.

In the beginning God created all of his creatures to reproduce their own kind. When sin entered into the world, the tame nature of the animals changed to become ferocious. The nature of Adam and Eve changed too. Before the fall of man, Adam trusted Eve, and they both fellowshipped with God. The implication is that God, Adam and Eve spent time walking and socializing together in the Garden of Eden. However, notice how they hid from God when sin entered the picture. Also for the first time in history, they experienced fear. They were afraid to face God. They were also ashamed. They saw each other's nakedness. They were embarrassed, so they sewed fig leaves together to hide their nakedness. At first Adam and Eve were naked before each other and it was pleasant. They saw each other's naked bodies, but it was okay because they knew they could be open with one another. They knew that they could trust each other. Being open; standing naked before each other was good. They enjoyed their intimacy. Adam and Eve were one. They could talk; sharing their innermost secrets, thoughts, feelings, desires, needs, plans etc. and feel safe. It was clear that they would be there for each other. Adam and Eve were secure in their relationship. One saw nothing inside of the other that was harmful, deceptive or selfish. This is the kind of relationship that sin damaged. After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam did not trust Eve or vice versa. They both knew they couldn't be trusted. They proved that they couldn't be trusted. God trusted them not to disobey Him, but they both did. How can you trust someone who disobeys their own creator? If you won't obey your own God, your spouse certainly cannot trust you to do the right thing regarding your marriage. They saw that fact about each other. It felt bad. The intimacy was gone. Selfishness took over. It was every man for himself. That is why it was so easy for Adam to blame Eve. Instead of protecting her, he had to look out for himself, because if he didn't, he couldn't be sure Eve would back him up. Eve saw that Adam was out for himself, so that left her to fin for herself. Therefore, she did what she had to do to protect herself. Both of them saw sin in the other. Sin separated them not only from God, but from each other. Sin destroys everything it touches. The irony of it is initially it was so good. When they first ate the fruit, it appeared to be "good food". They enjoyed it. They felt that they had done the right thing. They had given themselves this new authority to decide what was right and what was wrong. They were equal to God in their minds. Sin had built them up so high. Now the bottom had fallen out. Eve realized she had been deceived. Adam realized he had made the biggest mistake of his life. The devil was gone. He possessed the serpent until he accomplished his goal, then he left. Everyone had received their sentence of punishment. Now they had to pay for what they did. They all had to adjust to life outside of the Garden of Eden. God put them out of the garden so they would not partake of the Tree of Life. Their life had changed. It was drastically different than it was before. The change would affect their children for all generations to come.

The seed principle of multiplication became evident when Adam and Eve had children. Adam and Eve brought forth their firstborn son. They named him Cain. Next, they had Abel. It didn't take long to see that sinful parents will produce sinful children. Cain was the tiller of the ground. Abel was the shepherd of the sheep. They both knew God's laws, and therefore made sacrifices unto the Lord. Even though all people are born into sin, the evidence of sin in some people is more profound than in others. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23 NET) Cain was more susceptible to the pull of sin than Abel. Cain was selfish. When Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to God, the kind of sacrifice each one brought revealed their attitude toward God. Abel brought the best of his flock to sacrifice to God, as well as the fat. Abel brought the first of his increase. He didn't wait until he had paid off all of his expenses and then hand God the remaining leftovers. He gave God the first of his profits; suggesting that he really credited God for his prosperity. However, Cain was different. Cain brought God an offering of fruit. Fruit is of much less value than an animal. It was probably fruit that Cain didn't want anyhow. So instead of throwing it away, he just sacrificed it to God. The implication is that he didn't want to make a sacrifice to God in the first place. He was doing it out of obligation rather than a willing desire. Needless to say, God refused Cain's offering, but accepted Abel's offering right away. Cain must have known how to please God, yet he chose not to. He obviously felt that he worked the ground all day long; laboring hard for a profit and did not owe God anything. After all, he was the one doing all of the work. Cain was earning his living by the sweat of his brow. What was God doing for him? Why should he have to make a sacrifice to the Lord? Our attitudes show in our actions. In fact, they produce our actions. After seeing God accept his brother's offering and reject his, Cain was angry with God. Though it's true we are born into sin and therefore are naturally prone to do so, we can resist sin too. God gave this message to Cain. "If you do well, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not well, sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it!" (Genesis 4:7 NET) We can fight against our naturally inborn sin nature. Abel was born with the same sin nature that Cain had, yet he brought an excellent sacrifice to God. Why? It all boils down to attitude. Abel wanted to give God his sacrifice. He must have felt grateful to God. Cain gave himself credit for his own accomplishments and wanted to keep the best of his profits for himself. Can this be the key to why some people are more susceptible to sin than others? Notice that the people who are grateful to God and give Him credit for all that they possess, are less prone to submit to sin; but the people who are selfish and feel that they earned all they have by themselves, are the ones who have the strongest evidence of sin in their lives.

Sin feeds on sin. When someone is casual about sinning, they get deeper and deeper in their sin. They commit more sins and greater sins. Their minds also become callous about the sin. For example, why was Cain angry with God? He was jealous because God accepted Abel's fine offering. Cain could have corrected himself by coming back later with an appropriate offering that he knew was pleasing to God. That would have solved the problem, but that would mean he would have to give God something he wanted to keep for himself. Sin encourages selfishness. Cain was not going to give up anything. He chose rather to direct his anger toward his brother Abel. So while they were conversing in the field, Cain killed Abel. He killed him because his own deeds were evil, while Abel's deeds were good. Sin will lead you to be jealous of someone who is doing right, especially if that person is prospering better than you. If Abel had been evil too, Cain would have been pleased with him; because they both would have been rejected by God. Since Abel was good and Cain knew he couldn't stop Abel from being good, he murdered him. Cain could have resisted evil temptation and chose to do well, but he didn't want to. At the same time, he couldn't stand someone righteous outdoing him either. First it was a small sin of giving God a lousy sacrifice, and then it grew into murder. Sin multiplies in your life when you practice it. It's like a seed that grows into a full blown tree.

Sin affects all those around you. Think what Adam and Eve must have felt when they found out their oldest son had killed his brother. Eve felt the pain of a mother who lost her child. Adam felt the guilt of knowing he had not been deceived into sin; but actually chose to sin out of arrogance and pride. Now that sin had passed on to his son who became the first murderer. Most parents feel worse about something bad affecting their children, than it affecting them. Adam and Eve must have regretted their decision to disobey God many times in their hearts. I’m sure they felt, if they could only do it over, they would. If they just had a second chance... These thoughts must have gone through their minds thousands of times. Things had gotten worse due to them having to see their children suffering because they chose to partake of the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve realized that what they did would pass sin on to all generations. That should have been a great burden for them to bear. Parents love their children and want the best for them, but Adam and Eve could only pass on the worse with sin.

Now God had to punish Cain for murdering Abel. The seed of sin was still germinating in Cain. He was doing nothing to try to stop or control it. He tried to lie to God about knowing the whereabouts of his brother, but he couldn't escape the judgment of the Almighty. Like most people caught up in sin, Cain felt his punishment was too great for him to bear. Cain committed the most terrible sin you can do to another human being. What could be worse than murder? Yet he felt God was being too harsh in his sentence of punishment. Sin will lead you to feel sorry for yourself for being caught, have the nerve to want mercy and actually believe God is unfair with his judgment.

Remember it is not just the seed principle of being born into sin that we as humans have to deal with, it is the Devil too. Our sinful nature bends us toward sin, and then Satan comes along to enhance our chances of succumbing. He generally does it by tempting us with what we want. He transmits his thoughts into our minds like a radio tunes in to the airwaves. He knows what we like. He spends much time observing us as we go along in life. However, God told Cain that he could rule over sin. The same message is for us today. We can indeed resist our human sinful nature and the outside influence from Satan as well. How? God makes it possible. If we go to him in prayer asking Him for His help, He is willing to assist us in living righteously. God wants us to live in righteousness. He enjoys it when we come to Him, confessing our sins and acknowledging that we need His help to overcome and have victory over evil. In the Old Testament, Jesus had not yet come to die for the sins of the world. So God was dealing with only isolated people whom He chose to do His will. The world as a whole was lost. God would choose a certain person to give His Holy Spirit to for carrying out His will. David was one such person. Abel was too. When David sinned with Bathsheba, he asked God not to take His Holy Spirit away from him. David knew he had something special inside of him enabling him to keep God's laws. Realize that having God's Holy Spirit doesn't force you to be righteous. It just prods you to live God's way. It acts as an influence, much like Satan does, except for good rather than evil, but the final decision is yours whether to follow the Holy Spirit or Satan. Cain didn't have God's Holy Spirit. He had to struggle on his own to defeat Satan if he wanted to, but God was offering him a chance to receive His help when He told him to rule over his sin. All Cain had to do was confess his sin, humble himself, repent of his sin and ask God to help him by giving him "The Helper", which is the Holy Spirit. Cain failed to do this. He wasn't interested in doing God's will. His mind was full of himself. He was filled with selfishness. God cannot give you His Holy Spirit until you humble yourself before Him and repent of your sins. God wasn't being unfair to the world's population by only giving a few selected people His Holy Spirit during the period before Christ was crucified and resurrected. Adam and Eve had sinned and their children automatically received their nature. Therefore the punishment had to play itself out. Nevertheless, God wasn't going to let Satan interfere with His righteous plan for all mankind. So he chose a select few, gave them His Holy Spirit and led them to do His will. The world as a whole had to wait until Jesus Christ would come to save them. God would fix it so everyone from Adam until the second coming of Christ will have an opportunity for salvation. We can compare the lives of those who have God's Holy Spirit and the affect sin has on them versus those without God's Holy Spirit and the affect sin has on their lives.

Now that sin has entered this world, it is here to stay. God will create a new heaven and a new earth without sin at the second coming of Christ. Until then, people will continue to reproduce the sinful nature in their children. We can only produce like kind, so our children will be born sinful. There is cause and effect from our actions. God is allowing human beings to experience the choice Adam and Eve made with its consequences. We should learn from the results of our decisions the best way to live. Nevertheless, we can't blame our sins solely on Adam and Eve. Consider God's message to Cain about ruling over sin; Cain wasn't interested in ruling over sin. He made the decision to continue in sin when he could have repented. Some people do the same thing today.

Sin multiples. Two people sinned initially. Now billions of people are subject to sin. Every human being born into this life has to struggle with the sin nature. Sin also multiples in another way. If you let your sin nature have its way, you will find yourself sinning more and more. A person who succumbs to their sinful nature without resistance will never keep their sinful actions at a minimal level. Sin encourages more sin. Let's use a thief as an example. The first time the thief steals, the thought enters his mind to steal. It appeals to him. He decides to do it. He experiences a little nervousness. He feels his heart pumping faster. He sees the designer sunglasses that he saw in a magazine, while he is shopping in a store. He touches them and places them on his face. He checks the mirror to see how he looks. Wow, the sunglasses look great on him! He ignores the three hundred dollar price tag. He looks around to see if anyone is watching him. All of the salesclerks are busy with other customers. He slyly slips the sunglasses in his bag where there are items that he has already purchased. He tries on a few more pairs of glasses to throw off suspicion. Afterwards, he heads for the door. He feels the satisfaction of having a pair of sunglasses that he didn't have to pay for. He saved a lot of money. He feels good. He starts wearing them right away. Everyone compliments him on looking like a celebrity. This is the life! The seed has been planted in his mind to be a thief. It will grow. He will steal again, and again. It is easier each time he does it. He is not as nervous as he first was. Soon he steals bigger and more expensive things. Sin will expand. He was so successful at stealing that he is confident that he can get away with cheating, lying, and deception. He cheats on the tests at school because he doesn't feel like studying after playing video games all night. He lies to his parents about his whereabouts because he knows they wouldn't approve of the crowd he is with and what they are doing. He has a phony identification card that says he is twenty-one when he is really only seventeen. Sin pulls you deeper and deeper in its hole. Sin will make you feel guilty. Therefore, you will try to justify your actions or do something good to make up for your wrong doing. Our thief will probably mow the lawn of the elderly lady next door without charge to make himself feel like a good guy. He will be sure to tell everyone else that he mowed her lawn for free too, so he can build a reputation of being a good guy. He might point at someone else who is a drug pusher and say "at least I'm not a drug pusher. I might steal a little and a few other minor things, but nothing big like that". Your sin is always small in your eyes. The guilt that sin causes will always influence you to try to find someone else doing something worse than the sin you commit. You will compare yourself with them and feel better. That is the hypocrisy of unrestrained sin. It prevents you from repenting, but you have to find ingenious ways to convince yourself that you are good anyway.

Now that we have seen how sin operates within someone who offers no restraint, let's consider a righteous man who struggled with sin. David was referred to as a man after God's own heart. He was a righteous man, but he had weaknesses that he had to overcome. David had God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit will prod you to keep His laws. It will bring God's word to your mind to help keep you clean, but you can overrule it. The Holy Spirit is the power to overcome sin if you follow its lead. David was the king of Israel. His desire for multiple wives lets us know that he had a problem with lust. For the record, later in life, he did mature in the Holy Spirit so much that he ended up with just one wife after all. One night when David should have been out with his military fighting a war, he was standing on a balcony overlooking the city. His eyes wandered to the dwelling of a beautiful woman bathing herself. He had clear eyeshot of her bathroom. He watched as the water flowed down her gorgeous body from her towel into the tub. He became filled with desire as she soaped herself from head to toe. As she rinsed the soap from her body, David got the best view of a woman that he just had to have. So he inquired about who this attractive woman was. He found out she was the wife of one of his best soldiers. By this time, David was so engulfed in lust that her marital status didn't make any difference to him. He summoned her to his kingdom were she spent the night with him. Later, she sent him the message that she was pregnant. Ooops! David's first mistake was not being where he was supposed to be. He would not have been on the balcony had he been with his military at the time kings went out to war. This is when Satan planted the seed of sin in his mind to stay behind. David already had a sexual weakness in his character. Even though he was a godly man, he chose not to restrain it; being king and living in a society where men could marry more than one woman. Nevertheless, he always dealt with single women. Bathsheba was married. David knew it was sinful to have her, but the fact that he never restrained himself before then, made it difficult to do so. He had built a habit of not restraining himself with the single women, which set him up to fail in his encounter with a married woman. He had always married the single women, but he couldn't marry Bathsheba. The Holy Spirit brought God's word to David's mind, but the habit he had built caused him to be weak. Sin prevailed. David resisted the Holy Spirit to satisfy his lust. David was in trouble. He was known as a righteous king. He had a reputation to uphold. He was the father of the child of a married woman. He had to come up with a plan to make it look right. Now the seed of sin was growing in David's mind due to fear. David decided to make Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, think he was the father of the unborn child. Bathsheba and her husband would have relations and he would think he got her pregnant. David allowed Uriah to come home to his wife. Uriah slept outside with the other soldiers to be honorable. David's plan failed. Sin produced its evil fruit in David's mind when he decided to have Uriah killed. King David had the captain of the military take Uriah to the deadliest battleground to desert him, guaranteeing his death. It worked. This is proof that the Holy Spirit is only effective when you follow its lead and obey the laws of God. It won't take control of you and make you obey God. It will remind you of God's word and stir up your conscience. You have to take it from there. Righteous people do sin. They don't have to. They have the power not to, but the power has to be used. You can choose not to use it. If you begin to use it, it makes you stronger to resist sin. There is a man I know who secretly struggled with pornography before he became a Christian. He enjoyed it and didn't try to change. Then he became a Christian, after learning about the love of Christ. He knew he had to repent. He had been viewing pornography for years and it was a habit. How could he be set free? He explained to me that he received God’s Holy Spirit in faith. So, he confessed his addiction to God, asking for His help for deliverance. At first, he was tempted to view pornography, but he tapped in to the Holy Spirit. It wasn't easy, but he stayed with the leading of the Holy Spirit to resist the temptation. Each time he felt the temptation, he tapped in to the Holy Spirit again. As time went by, the pull of sin was weaker and weaker. The Holy Spirit, through use, became stronger and stronger until he got to the point where he is not even tempted anymore to view pornography. The strength of the Holy Spirit is in its use. You step out in faith. Using the Holy Spirit is guaranteed victory.

There is something obvious between a righteous man who sins and an unrighteous man who sins. It comes out in the end. The righteous man repents. God wasn't pleased with David and He sent Nathan the prophet to let him know it. This brought David back to his senses. The Holy Spirit was able to do its work again without resistance. David was truly remorseful. He married Bathsheba. God had to punish David to show him the seriousness of his sin. The child became sick and died. David repented and God forgave him. An unrighteous man rarely repents. He usually gets deeper in his sin trying to make himself appear good while continuing to sin. The righteous have to struggle with sin as do the unrighteous. When the righteous fail to submit to the Holy Spirit, it is hard to tell them from the unrighteous. The more you submit to the Holy Spirit in life, the stronger it becomes. Conversely, the more you succumb to sin, the stronger its pull on your flesh becomes. Sinners don't even have the Holy Spirit, so they are really prone to sin. The Holy Spirit within a person will become stronger as the person uses its power to resist sin so much, until they will not struggle with a particular sin anymore in time. They will overcome and conquer that sin in their lives. However, Satan will always continue to seduce you with other sins.

The danger of sin is that it can start like the flame of a lighted match and continue to increase into an uncontrollable conflagration. Because of this fact, God had to destroy the earth by a flood. What started out as a sin from Adam and Eve has through the bloodlines, spread throughout the entire earth. The thoughts and deeds of people were constantly evil all the time. Men did not keep the standard of God, but rather lived in the way that was pleasing to them. God set the standard for marriage as a holy union for one man and one woman. Cain was the first murderer; and through his lineage a man named Lamech was born. Lamech changed God's standard to become the first man who had two wives. This sinful act became a common practice among men. Governments and kingdoms adopted this custom which is still in existence today some places around the globe. Some religions even teach, while pointing to the bible as evidence, that it is okay for a man to have more than one wife. These denominations use Abraham, David and Solomon as examples of righteous men who took multiple wives. They ignore the standard set by God when he created Adam and gave him Eve as a wife. God had the opportunity to give Adam multiple wives. He could have set polygamy as the standard of righteous living if it were so. He didn't because he intended for marriage to be exclusive. Marriage is an intimate relationship. When a man and woman come together in marriage with God as the center, their relationship becomes a type of Christ and His church. Each spouse has a feeling of being special. The trust, intimacy and bond in this kind of marriage reach a level not possible with multiple spouses. Being someone's only love is the best. God always gives us His best.

Satan will come into the mind of a man who has a lust problem to influence him to be so conceited that he feels he deserves to have multiple wives. I remember years ago an African man told me that in some parts of Africa, a man's wealth is revealed by how many wives he has. Therefore, rich men take more and more wives as their wealth increases to show everyone their level of prosperity. In a polygamous marriage, a woman is reduced to the position of property. She becomes a thing rather than a person. We can look at the life of Jacob to see how Leah fought with Rachel over who would receive the most attention from their shared husband. Polygamy opens up the door for confusion, jealousy and contention in the home. Satan is a master at misusing bible scripture to prove a lie. People already have the pull of sin in their nature, and then Satan comes along adding his pressure by tempting them, using their own desires to accomplish his goal. Many of the men who are members of a religious sect that practice polygamy will say their lifestyle has nothing to do with sex, but I haven't seen one of them restrict himself to having relations with just one of his wives. It is also interesting that when asked if any of their wives can have another husband, the answer is always an angry "no". If polygamy is so great, why is there anger when it is suggested for their wives to take another husband? Whether they admit it or not, the core sins that lead to polygamy are lust and conceit.

Why would righteous men fall into this trap? Society has a great affect on people. If someone is born into a society where polygamy is an accepted norm, that person will likely follow the customs of the society they live in. By the time Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon were born, polygamy had become very popular. Not every man practiced it, but many did. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of righteous people to find out how God wants His people to live, and to live according to His laws. Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon and some others failed to do this. It is important to know that just because a righteous person practices something, does not mean it is right in the eyes of God. Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon are examples of men who were righteous, but who failed to keep God's marital laws. We can study the lives of these men and see how they suffered as a result of their sin of polygamy. All of them had trouble with their wives, children or home life. Their punishment was reaping what they sowed. Polygamy like so many sins, looks good on the outside, but causes much pain on the inside. For instance, Abraham had to put away Hagar and his firstborn son, Ishmael whom he loved. This must have been quite painful for Abraham, but his wife Sarah wasn't going to live with her handmaid, Hagar any longer. Showing his love for his firstborn son, Abraham inquired to God about his future. Jacob had to suffer with Rachel, the woman he truly loved, not being able to bear children, while her sister had no problem doing so. I'm sure Jacob spent many days and nights with her worrying him about not having a child. David had a son named Absalom who turned against him and tried to take over the kingdom. David suffered the pain of mutiny from his own son whom he loved dearly. Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Reading it will reveal a man who is contemplating suicide. Suddenly, polygamy doesn't sound so appealing; when you actually study the lives of men who practice it. The pull of sin can inspire laws to be instituted in the government of a country. Many people in high political positions enact laws that are sinful. As a result, society may condone a lifestyle that is contrary to the ways of God. Sin is passed down from generation to generation and is reflected in the laws of man. In the case of polygamy, Satan simply led some righteous men to become so influenced by the society they lived in, that they put the laws of man above the laws of God. Unfortunately, their mistakes are now being used by some religious groups to justify the sin of polygamy.

Someone once said that you can tell a lot about a people by just looking at their laws. The laws that govern a country, state or city is a reflection of the people who live there. Government officials make laws according to their way of thinking. "For as he thinks in his heart. so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7 NET) Citizens will not generally live in a place where they don't like the laws if they can move to another place. So the laws tell you what quality of people live in that place. The generational sin nature from Adam and Eve can be traced and is evident in people via some of ours laws today. The United States of America, which is known to the world as the number one Christian country, has laws in some states that legalize gambling. There is no direct command in the bible that says you shall not gamble, but we must also keep the spirit of the law. Considering the principles that the law of God is founded on, gambling is contrary to righteous living. Gambling is established on the principle of getting something for nothing. It encourages the attitude not to work for money but rather to win it. Most winners in gambling always say the first thing they are going to do is quit their jobs. The word of God teaches us to earn our living through working. Working for your money builds character. It teaches responsibility. Gambling also violates the godly principle of treating others as you would have them treat you. No gambler would ever give someone one thousand dollars for only one dollar. Yet, they will spend one dollar and expect to receive one thousand dollars in return. I heard a gambler who won five hundred dollars and complained that the payoff should have been higher than it was, even though she only spent one dollar for the ticket. This is proof of how gambling destroys character. It influences ingratitude. Some gamblers have gotten angry because someone else won the grand prize of a million dollars and they only won twenty-five thousand dollars, but they only spent a dollar for the ticket. Logically, if you only spent one dollar for a ticket, any winning over a dollar is a plus. Most people who gamble will not become addicted to it, but there are ones who do. Their story is one of horror. The gambling casinos pretend to help those who say they need to stop gambling so much. There was a number on a casino card that a gambler could call if they wanted help to stop gambling excessively. I know of a woman who called. She reported to me that all they do is ask you what you as a gambler want them to do. They ask the gambler if he wants them to say no to him when he tries to gamble at craps, or come over to stop him if he begins to use the slot machine. If the gambler says he wants them to stop him, when he comes into the casino to gamble, they simply ask him if he is sure he wants to gamble. If he says he wants to, they still allow him to gamble. This prevention tactic is a joke. The people who become addicted have been known to lose their house, car, job, family and all the savings they had. Even those who don't become addicted will sometimes gamble up money they needed to pay a bill or use as carfare home. I have been asked by gamblers for money to get home from the casino when I was hired to drive a charter bus on a casino route. Gamblers used to ask me could they use my cell phone to call home because they lost all their money and didn't even have enough left to put in a pay phone. I asked some gamblers why they gamble. They all say they like the excitement or they play because they win a lot. Gambling is deceptive. The odds of winning are about 3 million to one. With those kinds of odds, you are not winning a lot. You might think you are, but you are being deceived. I challenged the gamblers who think that they win a lot to do this test. I told them keep a one year record of your gambling habits. Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle of the paper. On the left, put the heading "Money Played" and on the right, put the heading "Winnings". Each time you gamble, at the end of the day, record how much money you spent gambling. Put the answer under the column "Money Played". When you win some money, record the amount you won in the column "Winnings". I told them if they win and play back some or all of their winnings, they have to record the amount they played back as "Money Played". After keeping this record for one year, I told them that I guarantee that the "Money Played" column would be three times greater than the amount in the "Winnings" column. I told them I don't even have to look at their record to tell them what the outcome is going to be. I challenged them to prove me wrong by doing this test. No gambler has taken my challenge. This is proof to me that something in their minds tells them that if they did, their eyes would be opened and they would feel like a fool. A woman came on television bragging about being a "diamond card holder". The people in this category receive kudos from the casino, such as, an occasional free lunch, invitations to parties, an exclusive room to gamble in and free trips to places like Las Vegas. When asked what you have to do to become a diamond card holder, her reply was, "You have to lose ten thousand dollars". After hearing this statement, I can also say that gambling affects your common sense. Even if it takes five years to lose ten thousand dollars gambling, that is still a significant amount of money. Most of the people who gamble are in the lower income brackets. It would make more sense to save up ten thousand dollars, than to lose it from gambling. Gambling causes the rich to get richer and the poor to become poorer. We can easily see evidence of the sin nature in gambling; some words that come to mind are: deception, greed, addiction, irresponsibility, foolishness and unclear thinking. Yet, more and more states are turning to gambling as a means to balance the deficit in their budget. Finally, Donald Trump, owner of the most popular casinos, was asked by a reporter, "Do you gamble?" Mr. Trump reacted as if he was insulted and said, "Absolutely not!" His response should be a wake up call for all who gamble, but the seed of sin continues to multiply throughout the generations.

Perhaps the saddest reflection of our sin nature is in abortion. Sin doesn't discriminate in age, race, class or sex. Every human being is born into sin. Like a deadly disease, its affect is more evident in some than others, but the end is always death. It's ironic that murder is illegal in our nation, but abortion is not. Abortion is planned and orchestrated just like murder, but because it is committed on an unborn child, our laws say it is legal. The devil has instilled in the minds of some who defend abortion that the unborn child is not a child yet. The argument is when life begins. This reminds me of the events in the Garden of Eden. Satan comes along and challenges the standard set by God. He instills in Adam's and Eve's mind that they can experiment to find out what is right themselves, rather than accepting what God has presented as true. So many years ago, before abortion was in vogue, it was understood that once a woman was pregnant, there was a baby in her womb. Satan has influenced the position that an embryo is not a baby. Others go as far to say a fetus in not a baby. When does life begin? God is the life giver, not the doctors who earn high profits performing abortions. One doctor came on television that had just started his own practice. Things were moving kind of slow and he was having a hard time making ends meet. A colleague told him to pick up his business by giving abortions. After taking this advice, the doctor's income and profits were so great that he decided to discontinue all the other services he was providing initially and just do abortions. Restricting his practice to doing only abortions, this doctor became wealthy. Certainly, doctors who earn a great living from abortions can not be trusted to tell the truth about when life begins. Growth is a good sign of life. Science proves that once the sperm and ovum are united, the union of such immediately starts to grow through a process of change. The heart of the child (embryo) starts to beat shortly thereafter. Life begins when the sperm and ovum meet. The embryo has no physical appearance of being human, yet it lives. It continues to grow through stages until human features begin to form. The fourteen chromosomes from the father, as well as the fourteen chromosomes from the mother are all passed into the child's D.N.A. The physical history of both parents is received by the child, and will determine how the child looks. When you study childbirth from conception to the actual birth of the child, it is so exciting. You finish knowing that there is a divine creator who planned and controls it all. The physical features, talents and abilities passed down from generations of both parents are in the genes of the baby. The parents also pass on the sin nature. This sin nature has led the lawmakers to allow parents to legally end the lives of one million unborn children every year. God told Jeremiah that he knew him before he was formed in the womb. God knows all the children that have been aborted. God had plans for Jeremiah's life even before he was born. How many of these aborted children did God plan to become doctors, nurses, inventors, ministers, statesmen, artists, attorneys, scientists and so many other things that could have changed the world by curing diseases, coming up with a solution for economic problems, or unifying the different races, religions and countries into peaceful cooperation. You never know if the child you aborted was the one who would have made the biggest difference in this world for the better. Many mothers who abort their baby report having nightmares where a baby is crying or some similar experience. Feelings of guilt usually result in the heart of the mother of an aborted baby. Many of the bad stories about abortions are not aired publicly. The truth is abortion is big business and any publicity that would interfere with trade is suppressed.

Another issue regarding abortion is the racial and economic divide. Percentage wise, the vast majority of abortions are performed on Black and Spanish young women who are in low income brackets. Many of them have little or only basic education. They don't have the knowledge of the dangers that abortion has on their health. Some have had multiple abortions; for example, an eighteen year old woman who has had three abortions since age twelve. Most of them are repeating the same lifestyles they were raised under: a single mother. Later, some have found that when they do want to have a child, they cannot because of the affect that the abortion had on their young body. Planned Parenthood clinics are more numerous in low income, minority neighborhoods. Sin is so destructive. Some women use abortion as a form of birth control. Abortion treats a baby like a thing, rather than a human being. The child is reduced to being a piece of property. Most of the relationships that produce the children who are aborted are between a young teenage boy and a young teenage girl. They don't love each other, but are driven by lust and a desire to belong to someone special. Most of the girls are seeking that love they missed from their father not being a part of their lives. Most of the boys are overwhelmed by puberty, its pull on their body and trying to prove their manhood. They want to be a man, but don't know how. Becoming the father of a child gives them that sense of manhood they seek. The sin of fornication leads to the sin of abortion. One sin multiplies into two sins and continues.

It all started with Satan. God created him to be a holy, righteous angel. His attitude caused him to change into a rebellious, evil and revengeful devil. He was the best that God was capable of creating in angel form. He had beauty, talent and intelligence. He shared a friendship with God in heaven. He had it all. Ironically, God gave him what was meant to be a great gift. God created planet Earth. The angels rejoiced at its completion. They knew God made it for them, but they didn't know the details. God told them that they would inhabit the earth and watch over the creatures on the earth at that time. Most likely the creatures were dinosaurs. Lucifer, whose name was changed to Satan, thought God was going to allow him to rule from earth over the whole universe. It's possible that God might have ultimately planned that, but He wanted to start one third of His angels out small, to see how they would do, before He awarded them more responsibility. Lucifer was not impressed. He felt that he was too good to be reduced to just one planet compared to the whole universe. In fact, his attitude was that he could rule the universe better than God. When God showed Satan that he was no competition for him, Satan and his demons were cast back to the earth. Being the genius that He is, God figured out a plan for a physical creature to do what he initially assigned Satan to do. Because he was physical, if he failed like Satan did, he would simply die. If he succeeded, God would grant him immortality. Satan realized that he was being replaced. He became jealous of the physical being that God called man. Therefore, he decided to influence man and woman to serve him as their god, rather than God the creator. Satan managed to fill the first man and woman with the same prideful attitude that he had. They fell for it. Adam knew better, but was arrogant. Eve was actually deceived. God told them that they would surely die.

Satan cannot reproduce. Spirit beings are individually created by God without reproductive ability. Spirit beings were created with the intention of living forever. God alone has immortality within Him. He gives immortality to whom He pleases. When Satan and one third of the angels rebelled against God, He came up with a better plan to carry out His purpose. He is allowing Satan and his demons to remain alive to see His entire plan come to pass. At the Last Day, they will be thrown into the lake of fire. Evil will cease to exist. God will take immortality away from Satan and his demons. Their payment for sinning is eternal death.

Man and woman can reproduce. Together, they can have children that receive their D.N.A., which contain the history of the lineage of their parents in their genes. Unfortunately, the parents also pass their sinful nature to their children too. As the people multiply, so does the amount of sin in the world. An increase in the population causes an increase in sin. Sin also multiplies in a different way. When you commit one sin, you are more prone to commit that same sin more and more. Sin also multiplies another way. When you commit one sin, it leads you to commit another kind of sin, until you are committing multiple sins regularly. If a person refuses to repent of their sins, they will be cast into the lake of fire with Satan and his demons. They shall surely die. Death is the payment for sin.

God created two beings with the intention for both of them to live forever. The first was a spirit being; perfect in all his ways. The second was a physical being. God made man physical so that if he fell from grace, God could redeem him. People can only reproduce other sinful people. Consequently, sin has multiplied over all the earth. Sin increases within each person. The first world had to be destroyed by a flood, because the thought and actions of people were only sinful continuously. Our creator is sinless. He knows no sin. It is impossible for Him to sin. He cannot allow our sins to go unpunished, because He is a God of justice. Realizing that sin multiplies and increases, the only solution is death. The nature of a thing is what it is. Snakes have a snakish nature. Rats have the nature of a rat. A dog cannot have the nature of a bird. We are what we are. Men and women have a sinful nature that we inherited from Adam and Eve, but ultimately from Satan. Satan created sin. He is the father of all evil. Since the Garden of Eden every child is born with a death sentence upon him that is unescapable. It must be paid. Sin is serious. It is not a light thing. Someone had to die for our sins. Since we committed our sins, we had to pay for them. We couldn't change our nature to comply with the laws of God, so we were all doomed. Our fate was sealed. Satan was jealous of people for replacing him, so he tricked them into choosing the same fate that he knew he had to face. His desire was to hurt God, cause God’s plan to fail and above all defeat Him. Choosing to follow Satan over God actually made Satan our God. Anything you put before God becomes a god to you. People who sin are serving Satan as their god. All human beings were without hope and death was our reward.

God in his wisdom had a plan to redeem us. We could not help ourselves. Our sins required us to die. However, the love of God saved us. Christ came to die so that we could live. His resurrection opened the door for us to have eternal life. The Holy Spirit can change our nature.

In order to teach His people His ways, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments which are the foundation of "the law". The Ten Commandments are the heart of the law. The first four commandments teach us how to love God and the last six teach us how to love other people. "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:40 NET) The Ten Commandments are divided into two parts, called the two greatest commandments. The first four commandments comprise the greatest commandment, and the last six comprise the second greatest commandment. The Ten Commandments were etched in stone with the finger of God. God chose to inspire people to write everything else in the bible except The Ten Commandments. Why? God wrote The Ten Commandments himself (twice) to be the foundation upon which everything else in the bible is built. This is proof of the permanence of The Ten Commandments. When Moses broke the first writing of The Ten Commandments, God rewrote The Ten Commandments on the new stone tablets that Moses cut out from the rock. Nevertheless there is still controversy among Christians about The Ten Commandments being "done away". First of all, would you do away with something that God wrote with His own finger? No! It should be pretty valuable to you since God penned it with His own finger. Secondly, Jesus did not destroy the law. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17 NET) Christians who think The Ten Commandments are done away with say Christ fulfilled the law by living righteously so we don't have to, but that would be freeing us to sin. We were sinning before Christ came, so there would be no change in our lives. Other Christians say Christ fulfilled the law by throwing it away, yet Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law. What would be the difference in the result of throwing it away versus destroying it? Jesus Christ fulfilled the law by keeping the law, and teaching others to keep the law too. He set the example of what we are to do. He even enhanced the law by teaching that we are not only to keep the law in action and in deed, but in spirit. We must think within the law. Our thoughts are to be clean. In other words, not only should you not commit adultery, but you must not look at someone with lust in your heart. Many people sin in their minds without actually carrying out the sinful activity. Christ teaches that we must not do the sinful act or think the sinful thought. The truth of the matter is that The Ten Commandments reveal the character of God and will be in effect for all eternity. Another point is if The Ten Commandments have been done away, then today's Christians can commit adultery, steal, lie, cheat, murder, put idol gods before the real God, use profanity in our speech, fornicate, have sex with animals and any other vile thing you can think of to do that is wrong...and all of it would not matter to God because Jesus Christ died for our sins. Yes, Jesus Christ died for our sins, so that we could repent of our sins and walk in the newness of life away from sin. We are to imitate Christ. Christ was sinless. We also should be striving to live a sinless life as well. The wages of sin is death. Wages are the payment you get for doing something. The gift of God is eternal life. Jesus came that we might have the abundant life. It's all about overcoming sin and developing holy, righteous character.

Let's get to know the man God chose to give His law to His people. Who was Moses? Moses was born into the tribe of Levi, which is the tribe God chose as the priesthood to Israel. There are parallels to the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. An order from the government went out to kill all the baby boys two and under when Jesus was born. Similarly, an order to kill the Hebrew boy babies was in affect when Moses was born. His mother hid him as long as she could to protect his life. When she could no longer hide him, she placed him in a basket and sent it floating down the river. Moses' sister watched as the daughter of Pharaoh took the basket from the water and found a baby boy inside. Moses' sister used this opportunity to suggest to Pharaoh's daughter that she allow a Hebrew woman to raise the child for her. Receiving approval, she brought her mother to be chosen by Pharaoh's daughter to raise Moses. Therefore, Moses was raised by his biological mother, while officially being a prince in Pharaoh's kingdom as his daughter's son. Moses enjoyed the best of everything as prince of Egypt, but his heart was with his people who were slaves to the Egyptians.

Moses' life changed when he defended one of his kinsmen. An Egyptian was endangering the life of a Hebrew when Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian. A witness to the crime revealed it to Pharaoh who ordered Moses to be killed. Moses left Egypt to preserve his life. He fled to the land of Midian where he found peace and love. He married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian. Jethro hired Moses to tend his sheep. Moses spent many years as shepherd of the sheep. One day Moses went upon a mountain while tending the sheep. He saw a fire burning a bush, but the bush did not burn up. Moses had to get a closer look at this sight. As he approached the bush, he heard the voice of God. Moses received a call from God to deliver the children of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. God's charge for Moses to return to Egypt was frightening. Moses was afraid that Pharaoh would kill him if he returned to Egypt. His fear caused him to make excuses for God to send someone else. Moses was self conscious about his slow speech. Some people speculate that Moses had a stuttering problem. God would not accept this problem as an excuse. After Moses continued to resist, God made him feel more comfortable by suggesting his brother Aaron as his helper. Aaron would do the speaking for Moses, but Moses was to be the leader. Moses finally acquiesced. Moses was insecure after leaving Egypt. Initially, while in Egypt, he was cocky. He was prince, so he was the big boss man. He liked to give orders and tell people what to do. His fall from grace in Egypt changed him. Now all he saw was his inadequacies.

Moses' fear subsided when God assured him that the Pharaoh who wanted to kill him was dead. Aaron and Moses went to Egypt to tell the Hebrew slaves that their deliverance had come. The slaves were elated. They believed Moses and saw him as the great deliverer. Now Moses had to face the new Pharaoh. Moses requested the release of the slaves so they could go and keep a feast to their Lord. Of course Pharaoh would not allow his slaves to go free, but instead he arrogantly increased their labor to punish them more. The slaves began to doubt Moses and complained that he did nothing but cause Pharaoh to hurt them. God told Moses that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh so that he would not let the slaves go; for the purpose of allowing God to do signs and wonders to prove that He was the one and only true, living God. God used the opportunity to 1)turn Aaron's rod to a serpent 2)turn the Nile River into blood 3)cause frogs to invade the land and homes of the Egyptians 4)cause lice to come upon the people and their cattle 5)cause flies to come upon the Egyptians 6)cause the Egyptian's livestock to become diseased and to die 7)cause the ashes from Moses' hand to turn to boils that came upon the skin of the Egyptians and their animals 8)cause hail and fire to rain down upon the earth killing the trees, people and animals outside 9)cause locust to eat all the vegetation, so numerous that they covered the whole ground 10)cause thick darkness to cover the whole land of Egypt; such darkness that no one could see another person 11)cause the death of all the firstborn of livestock and people. God proved through these miracles that He was the real God and all the gods of the Egyptians were nothing but idols. Pharaoh set the slaves free.

After four hundred and thirty years the Hebrew slaves left Egypt. They borrowed silver, gold and precious stones from the Egyptians who gave them everything they asked for just to get rid of them. The Hebrews would soon be known to the world as the children of Israel. They journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land on a path that should have only taken forty days. Instead because of their sins, it took forty years. Meanwhile, Pharaoh came to his senses and wondered why he had let his slave labor cease. He gathered his army and chased after the children of Israel to bring them back to Egypt. As a result, God performed one of His greatest miracles: the parting of the Red Sea. God caused the waters of the Red Sea to divide on either side as a wall, so that the children of Israel could walk through on dry land. Pharaoh commanded his army to pursue the children of Israel into the Red Sea that was now parted, but as soon as the children of Israel were safe on the other side, the wind that was holding up the water on either side ceased; causing the river to return to its natural state. Pharaoh's entire army drowned as he watched from the shore of the Red Sea. He returned to Egypt alone and defeated.

The Ten Commandments

Finally, God commanded Moses to bring the children of Israel to Mt. Sinai to receive His laws. God had already performed miracle after miracle before the eyes of the children of Israel. Now he wanted to become intimate with them by revealing His character. His presentation was like a stage show with all of the special effects included. God descended upon Mt. Sinai as fire which caused the mountain to quake. Next, smoke ascended from the mountain. Then, a thick cloud covered Mt. Sinai. Thunder was heard all around the mountain. Lightening flashed brightly in every direction upon the mountain. The people heard an exceedingly loud sound of a trumpet. This was the setting for the Ten Commandments. God must have felt that the Ten Commandments were something very special to do all of these wonders in His presentation of the Ten Commandments to the people. This doesn't appear to be something that He wanted to be "done away with" at a later date. The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God etched in stone. God spoke and wrote The Ten Commandments simultaneously. Let's focus on each one.

First, "I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:2-3 NET) Here, God identifies himself as their God. He reminds them that they were slaves before He freed them. Then He lets them know that He must be their only God and that no other God is greater than He. God's people are not to put anything before their jealous God. They are to love God more than anything or anybody in their lives. They are to have a God first attitude each day. If God is more important to you than yourself, you will do whatever pleases Him.

Second, "You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth." (Exodus 20:4 NET) This is an extension of the first commandment. God is telling them that all other gods are idols that people make with their hearts and hands. They are not to fashion any god with their hands, nor are they to have an emotional attachment to any other god except their God who freed them from the bondage of the Egyptians. They are not to bow down to idols, serve or worship idols. A statue is an idol. A cross is an idol. God called Himself a jealous God who visits the iniquity of fathers of those who hate Him to the third and fourth generations. In contrast, He shows mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments. We can see God mentioning that He expected His Ten Commandments to be kept for thousands of generations by people who love Him. God's people express their love for Him by keeping His commandments.

Third, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7 NET) God is commanding that we respect His name as holy. His name represents Him. We are to hold His name in the highest honor. It is a sin to use the word "damn" with God's name in front of it. We must not use short forms of His name casually either, such as, "golly, gee, geez etc." Hold God's name in the highest honor. Treat it as something special and important.

Fourth, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8 NET) God has given us a particular day of rest that is the same day that he rested from creating in the beginning. We can't choose another day. God specifically said 'six days shall you labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God'. He doesn't stop there either. He goes on to explain that you are not to do any work, neither those under your authority are to do any work. God made it impossible for us to get it wrong when He said 'for in six days God made the heavens, earth, sea and all things and rested the seventh day'. (He said seventh twice) Next he identifies the seventh day as the Sabbath by saying therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. I don't know how He could make it any clearer. Arguments have arisen that it doesn't matter what day you keep, as long as you rest one day. God is perfect. Why would a perfect God repeat the word "seventh" day twice if He would accept any day as the Sabbath? Look at the way God explained it. There is more explanation about the fourth commandment than any other commandment and by God Himself. Isn't that interesting? Why is there such a careful explanation about the fourth commandment? God could have said 'keep a day as a Sabbath for rest each week', but He didn't. He said 'keep the seventh day as the Sabbath each week. The article "the" was used regarding the Sabbath, suggesting a particular day. The article "a" suggests any day. Researching the history of the Sabbath will reveal that God never changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. The change was made by men. There is no authorization by God anywhere in the bible to support a change of the Sabbath day. Jesus kept the seventh day. All the righteous people in the bible kept the seventh day as the Sabbath. Finally, the fourth commandment is the only commandment that starts with the word "remember". Could it be that God knew we would forget?

Fifth, "Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you." (Exodus 20:12 NET) This is called the first commandment with a promise. God promises long life to all who give honor to their parents. As a child you honor your parents by obeying them. You also keep their rules when they are not with you, so everyone will know that you respect your parents. When your friends see that you respect your parents, they will respect them too. As an adult you honor your parents by respecting their views and advice even when you disagree. You can give them gifts on occasion and take them out sometimes to show them that you care about them.

Sixth, "You shall not murder." (Exodus 20:13 NET) Murder and killing are two different things. Murder indicates premeditated intent. You might have to kill someone in self defense. Self defense is not a sin. God is saying don't take someone's life with malice in your heart. Jesus Christ enhanced this commandment with the Sermon on the Mount, by teaching if you have anger in you heart against your brother that is the spirit of murder. Don't let yourself stay angry more than a day. God tells us to release our anger before we go to bed. This will not be hard if you allow God to take vengeance on your enemies, rather than handling the matter yourself. Be quick to forgive others who wrong you. Most people who murder lack self control.

Seventh, "You shall not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14 NET) Fidelity is commanded by God in a marriage. Jesus Christ enhanced this commandment with the Sermon on the Mount, by teaching if you look at someone with lust in your heart that is adultery. Infidelity has been the cause of many marriages ending in divorce. Adultery causes pain. It destroys the trust in a marriage. Anyone who is in love with their spouse is glad that this seventh commandment is still in effect and is not done away.

Eighth, "You shall not steal." (Exodus 20:15 NET) God commands us not to take anything that belongs to someone else. Stealing applies to identity theft, robbing a bank or individual, cheating a blind person out of their money, burglary, shoplifting and taking something of value that you did not pay for.

Ninth, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16 NET) One of the seven things God hates the most is a liar. God commands us not to lie to anyone and not to lie on anyone. So many people today are casual about telling lies. God hated lying in biblical times and does today too. Make it a practice to tell the truth all the time. In cases where someone else's feelings are concerned, rather than lying to keep from hurting their feelings, just think of a way to tell the truth tactfully.

Tenth, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's." (Exodus 20:17 NET) If you break this commandment, you will probably also break the eighth commandment. Wanting something that belongs to someone else so much that it produces feelings of jealousy, temptation to steal or resentment because you don't have what they have is coveting. God commands against this kind of desire. A person steals because they covet first. Coveting leads to stealing. When you see something you want that belongs to someone else, once you decide that you are going to have it, you are coveting. The feeling, thought and lust within you that causes you to steal is coveting. Prevent coveting by being grateful for what you have and faithful that God will bless you with anything you want if you live right.

These are God's Ten Commandments, written with His own finger and etched in stone; as well as spoken by Him in a voice as loud as a trumpet. This is the part of "the law" that cannot be changed. These laws reflect God's character. They also reveal God's expectations of us and how we are to live. These Ten Commandments are the foundation of the law and the prophets that Jesus referred to. Further proof that the Ten Commandments are eternal is in the New Testament when the rich, young ruler asked Jesus what to do to obtain eternal life. Notice that Jesus responded by quoting The Ten Commandments. "...But if you desire to enter into life, keep the commandments...Which?..." (Matthew 19:17-19 NET) Jesus then stated six of the Ten Commandments to answer the question about receiving salvation. Why would Jesus equate the Ten Commandments with eternal life, which is salvation; if keeping the Ten Commandments had nothing to do with eternal life? Surely, if the Ten Commandments were done away, Jesus would not have equated them with salvation. Look at the question the rich, young ruler asked Jesus. He didn't ask Him, "What are the Ten Commandments?" He asked Him what he could do to obtain eternal life. The answer Jesus gave him proves that the Ten Commandments are still in effect in the New Testament and forever. However, there is another part of the law.

There are sacrificial rituals that the children of Israel had to perform that were a part of "the law". These sacrifices were made due to the sins of the people. They were to be performed to impress upon the minds of the people that there must be a blood sacrifice made for them each time they committed a sin. Animals were taken for the shedding of their blood as a sacrifice for their sins. The people would bring their sacrificial animal to the priest and the priest would perform the ritual of cutting the animal to shed its blood on the altar. These animals were serving as an example of what Jesus Christ would do as our sacrificial lamb. The blood of animals could never remove the sins of the people. The ritual of the sacrifice was to make the people aware of their need for a savior to die for their sins. "...in offering these sacrifices year by year, there is a remembrance of sins." (Hebrews 10:3 NET) Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God without blemish, who sacrificed His life once to atone for the sins of every human being that ever lived. Jesus Christ created all people; therefore His life is greater than the lives of all people combined. When Jesus Christ came, died and was resurrected, there was no longer any need for animal sacrifices to continue for the sins of the people; because Jesus had shed His blood for the remission of our sins forever. These sacrifices are the part of "the law" that was done away, not the Ten Commandments.

Another part of "the law" was the laws that governed the children of Israel under the leadership of Moses as the judge of Israel. After being freed by God from Egypt as slaves, the children of Israel became an independent body of people under the leadership of Moses. Therefore, Moses penned laws to establish order in the day to day activities of the people. These laws served as a kind of constitution for the children of Israel while Moses was their judge. This is the other part of "the law" that was done away, not the Ten Commandments. When the twelve tribes of Israel broke up and went their separate ways, the nation ended and so did the laws that governed that nation.

The Law that Was Done Away

Now let's take a look at the part of "the law" that was done away since Christ is come. "Now where remission of these is, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices for sin." (Hebrews 10:18 NET) When Jesus our true sacrifice for remission of our sins came, the animal sacrifices ceased. These are the sacrificial laws: the Burnt Offering, the Grain Offering, the Peace Offering, the Sin Offering, the Trespass Offering, the Freewill Offering, the Propitiatory Offering, the Wave Offering, the Heave Offering, the Votive (Vow) Offering and the Drink Offering. A Freewill Offering is any of the previously mentioned offerings that are not mandatory. Any individual who wanted to could voluntarily make these sacrifices. The Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering are Propitiatory Offerings that are required to enable a person to enter into communion and fellowship with God. In any sacrifice, the burnt part belongs to God. The smoke from the burning of the sacrifice rises toward heaven, representing God receiving the sacrifice.

Sacrificing animals to God started in the book of Genesis with Noah. After all life on earth had been destroyed by the flood, Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed every clean animal and bird as a Burnt Offering to God. When the Lord smelled the soothing aroma, He promised to never again curse the ground on account of man, nor ever again destroy every living thing as he did with the flood. The relationship between Noah's sacrifice and the law of Burnt Offering can easily be seen. The sacrifice which Noah made was the basis for the covenantal promise of God to never destroy all life upon the earth again by a flood. God's promise had nothing to do with the goodness of man, but rather His appreciation for the Burnt Offering that Noah sacrificed. Consider that Noah and the seven other people on the ark with him still had a sinful nature. The implication is that the Burnt Offering was a means of avoiding God's wrath and obtaining favor from God. This suggests that even though people are born with a sinful nature which causes them to sin, they can receive God's blessings and forgiveness for sins as a result of a Burnt Offering. Another example is when Abraham was told to sacrifice his son Isaac. God intervened before he could slay Isaac, providing a ram instead for the sacrifice. We can learn from this that God will accept an animal as our substitute for a sacrificial offering. Isaac didn't die because God provided an animal to take his place. Likewise, when someone is bringing their animal to the priest for a sacrifice, they realize that the animal is dying in their place, just as the ram died in Isaac's place. Let's consider each kind of sacrificial offering to see their similarities and differences. There are five major types of sacrificial offerings, three others that spring from the Peace Offering and one that can be combined with any Freewill Offering. The first offering was the Burnt Offering and spoke to us of consecration. The second offering was the Grain Offering which reflects commitment. The third offering is the Peace Offering which typifies communion. The fourth offering was the Sin Offering that pictures confession. The fifth offering is the Trespass Offering representing cleansing.

1) Burnt Offering-this offering was entirely consumed upon the altar and its smoke was to rise toward heaven, unlike the other sacrifices which were only partially burned up. Burnt Offerings were always the very first offering made each day. This offering was based on the individual's economic standing in society. If he owned a herd, the offering was to be a bullock. If he did not own a herd, but did have a flock, then his offering was to be a sheep or goat. If the individual owned neither herd nor flock, then his offering had to be a bird, such as a turtledove or pigeon. Mary, the mother of our savior, offered two turtledoves for the Burnt Offering and two pigeons for the Sin Offering regarding her purification after the birth of Jesus; which indicates she and her husband Joseph were poor and of low social standing. The offering from the herd or flock had to be without blemish. This offering was an act of worship to God. God's acceptance of the Burnt Offering meant the individual was accepted by God. The individual had to offer the Burnt Offering to God by placing his hand upon the animal and killing it himself, representing his willingness to lay down his life in submission to God's will. The priest would then sprinkle the blood from the sacrifice against the sides and base of the altar, representing life being poured out on the altar, because the blood is the life. Next the individual had to skin the animal and cut it into pieces. The skin was not burnt and served as a memorial of the death of the animal sacrificed. The skin was given to the priest to be sold as their portion of the sacrifice. It represented a robe of righteousness. The priest put the head and fat of the animal on the altar. The individual washed the inner parts and legs of the animal with water before it was placed on the altar by the priest. The animal was inspected to insure that it had no blemishes and would be a perfect sacrifice. The animal was then burnt up. The purpose of the Burnt Offering was a voluntary act of worship (a Freewill Offering), as atonement for unintentional sin, and as an expression of devotion and complete surrender to God. The Burnt Offering is a sweet savor unto the Lord. The altar for the offerings was made of acacia wood, overlaid with bronze. It was eight feet square and over four feet high. When entering the courtyard of the tabernacle through the gate, the altar would be the first thing you would see. The ash heap where the ashes from the altar are placed would be to the left of the altar. Between the altar and the tabernacle doorway was the bronze laver where the priest would cleanse himself. After you pass the bronze laver, there was the doorway to the tabernacle. Since the altar was located at the approach of the tabernacle, the sacrifices enabled people to draw near to God who dwelt in the tabernacle. The Burnt Offering was the most common of all animal sacrifices. It was performed every morning and evening and more often on Sabbath days. All of the Burnt Offering belonged to God.

2) Grain Offering-this offering is called by several names, Grain, Wheat or Meal Offering. Unlike the other offerings, no meat is offered, but rather fine flour, wheat or barley. This offering, like the Burnt Offering, was a Freewill Offering of sweet savor unto the Lord. Freewill Offerings were not mandatory. This offering could be offered by itself or with a Burnt or Peace Offering. If offered with a Burnt Offering, it would be offered on the altar while the Burnt Offering was still burning. The Grain Offering would be placed on top of the Burnt Offering. If offered with a Peace Offering, while the Grain Offering was burning on the altar, the Peace Offering would be placed on top of the Grain Offering. It could be offered publicly or privately. The three public Grain Offerings were the twelve loaves of shewbread, the Omer (sheaf of wheat) on the second day of the Passover, and the two wave loaves at the Pentecost. The four private Grain Offerings were the uncooked flour, bread baked in an oven, bread prepared on a griddle, and bread cooked in a pan and were offered by the high priest at the consecration of the priests in substitution of a sin offering in cases of poverty and that of jealousy. In this offering, the flour consisting of grain, olive oil, wine and salt was the main ingredient, which was partly vegetable and partly mineral; representing the bread of life, who is Jesus. It had to be of the highest quality; fully ground and highly sifted, free from any coarseness, unevenness, and empty husks. The mill stones must grind the wheat into an absolute fineness, representing Christ's suffering and perfect character. Oil was then poured upon the flour as an anointing, representing the Holy Spirit. Oil had to be on and inside the cakes, representing the outward working of the Holy Spirit as well as the indwelling working of the Holy Spirit. There must be Frankincense on the offering burning in a censor to emit the fragrant smoke to God. Salt was added to every sacrifice. Salt has a purifying influence, representing how Christ purifies our lives. It represented the covenant relationship the individual had with God. Salt is a symbol for incorruption. To offer the Grain Offering to God, the individual came to the door of the tabernacle after preparing the offering within the perimeters God instructed and presented it to the priest. There was no ceremony. The priest would take the Grain Offering, grab a handful of the grain or cakes, and then burn it on the altar. The part of the Grain Offering that burned on the altar is called a "thing most holy". The remaining grain or cakes belonged to the priest. This priest's portion of the Grain Offering was called the memorial portion. The priest would eat it in the court of the tabernacle. The purpose of the Grain Offering was an act of voluntary worship to God (Freewill Offering), to show devotion to God and to show recognition for God's goodness and provisions. If the priest was offering the Grain Offering for himself, the entire Grain Offering went to God; any leftover portions had to be burned. There is a big difference between the Burnt Offering and the Grain Offering. First of all there is no blood shed in the Grain Offering because no animal is sacrificed. The Grain offering is not a blood sacrifice, meaning no animal's blood had to be shed for the offering. The Burnt Offering was for atonement of sins and seeking divine favor and therefore was a blood sacrifice, so the rules for the offering are stricter. For sinful man to involve himself in any action toward atonement for his sins would defile the sacrifice. No one can add anything to the sacrifice for atonement of sins just as no one can add to the work of Christ for atonement of our sins. On the other hand, the Grain Offering gives more freedom of choice to the individual making the sacrificial offering. They can offer it cooked, uncooked, baked, grilled, in the form of cakes or just the grain itself, because the Grain Offering was performed to worship God, not for atonement. It acknowledged that God was the great provider for all needs, wants and life itself. The Grain Offering praised God for the "daily bread" that He provided for His people. People cannot contribute to their redemption, but they do work in growing the crops by which God sustains their life. Hence, the human freedom of choice is evident in the Grain Offering in a way not allowed in the Burnt Offering. There were ingredients that were prohibited in preparing the Grain Offering. The first was leaven. The reason leaven was prohibited could be that leaven "puffs up" the dough when added to the grain. The children of Israel also left Egypt without leavening their bread in the Exodus. "Puffed up" represents pride and conceit in our human nature. Leaven also represents corruption. Some biblical references to leaven are: the leaven of hypocrisy, the leaven of pride, the leaven of false teaching, the leaven of sin and the leaven of self indulgence. The Grain Offering had salt as an ingredient to represent incorruption; therefore leaven representing corruption could not be used. Another prohibited ingredient in the Grain Offering was honey. Honey represents things that are attractive, pleasing and sweet to the flesh of natural man. In addition, when honey is burned, it ferments, turns sour and emits a fragrance that is quite different from burning incense. Most of the Grain Offering belonged to the priest; only a handful belonged to God which burned on the altar.

3) Drink Offering-this offering was a measure of fermented wine that could be poured out over any existing offering, especially the Grain Offering. A Drink Offering is a Freewill Offering. It represented joy, vigor and refreshment. The wine used had to be pure, not watered down and had to be of high quality. The Drink Offering pitcher was made of pure gold. While the animal sacrifice was burning, the Drink Offering was poured out upon the sacrificial animal for a sweet aroma to God. The Drink Offering is also referred to as a libation. The pouring out of the Drink Offering represents our willingness to pour out ourselves as a complete sacrifice to God.

4) Peace Offering-this offering is a Freewill Offering of sweet savor to the Lord and could be a male or female animal. No bird could be used. This offering was known by other names such as, Praise Offering, Thanksgiving Offering, and Saving Offering. The Peace Offering was similar to the Burnt Offering in that the animal was killed at the door of the tabernacle by the individual offering the sacrifice, except only the fatty portions were burned on the altar, which included the fat covering the inner parts, fat tail, the kidneys and the lobe of the liver. As in all burnt offerings, it was an offer "made by fire unto the Lord", meaning the portion of the animal that was burnt on the altar belonged to God. The animal’s blood was collected and poured around the edges of the altar. The meat from the Peace Offering was shared by the individual who was doing the offering along with his family. It was thought to be a friendship meal with God and was therefore sometimes called the Fellowship Offering. The participants had to cleanse themselves before the meal and change their garments. The purpose of the Peace Offering was to give thanks and praise to God by sharing a meal with Him. Any animal, without defect, from a herd of flock could be used for the Peace Offering. Usually oxen, sheep or goats were used as Peace Offerings. Leaven and unleavened bread were also offered in addition to the animal that was being sacrificed. Oil had to be used in all bread for the Peace Offering. When the Peace Offering was performed in conjunction with the Burnt and Grain Offerings, they all had to be burned with the same fire in this order: The Burnt Offering on bottom, the Grain Offering on top of the Burnt Offering and the Peace Offering on top of the Grain Offering. All three would burn together on the altar. All the parties shared in the Peace Offering. The priest had his portion, God had His portion and the remaining portion of meat was eaten by the family who was offering the sacrificial animal.

5) Wave Offering-the high priest also had a portion from the Peace Offering. The high priest received the breast of the animal being sacrificed for the Peace Offering to be used as a Wave Offering. A Wave Offering is moved horizontally above the altar representing Christ ruling the earth.

6) Heave Offering-the officiating priest had a portion from the Peace Offering too. The officiating priest received the right foreleg of the animal being sacrificed for the Peace Offering to be used as a Heave Offering. The shoulder (right foreleg) of the animal is considered the best part. A Heave Offering is moved vertically above the altar representing Christ as ruler of heaven. If the purpose of the Peace Offering was for a thanksgiving sacrifice, the individual offering the animal as a sacrifice and his family were to eat their entire portion of the meat the same day of the offering and no leftovers were allowed. If the purpose for the Peace Offering was for a Vow Offering or Freewill Offering, the individual and his family offering the animal as a sacrifice had to eat their portion of the meat the same day and the next day, but any meat remaining on the third day had to be burned. Both the Wave Offering and the Heave Offering are sanctified, which means set apart for holy use.

7) Votive Offering-this offering was performed to fulfill a vow that was made to God. It was the same as the Peace Offering, but the individual who was sacrificing the animal was doing it to keep a vow that he had promised God. The only difference between this offering and the regular Peace Offering was the intent for the offering.

8) Sin Offering-this offering was compulsory and is not a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord. It was the most important of all sacrifices. The Sin Offering was sometimes called the Guilt Offering. It was for atonement of the whole person who was the offender. It symbolized general redemption. The Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering fit together. In fact, it can be difficult to tell the difference between them. The Burnt, Grain, and Peace Offerings were already known by the Israelites. Since the commandments and ordinances came through the Law of Moses, violations of the commandments and ordinances had to be dealt with in a new manner. Hence, the Sin and Trespass Offerings were added to the sacrificial system in order for the Israelite to deal with his guilt. These two mandatory offerings were negative offerings, whereas the previous three voluntary offerings were positive offerings. Many of us like the voluntary offerings and would like to stop right there but, as the consecrated, committed Christian walks through life in communion with Christ, he will sin. We cannot go on ignoring our sins as if they didn't exist. Sin is a serious offense to the character and nature of God. Therefore, we must deal with our sins to get God's blessings for life and service. The Sin and Trespass Offerings are performed for sins of ignorance. These are sins that were committed unwittingly. The opposite kind of sin was referred to as a "sin with the high hand" clearly indicating a sin committed due to a rebellious spirit. The "sin with a raised fist or high hand" was dealt with severely. "But the one who acts presumptuously...the same blasphemes the Lord...that one shall be cut off from among his people." (Numbers 15:30 NET) He despised God's word and his iniquity is placed upon him (instead of the sacrificial animal). The punishment for this kind of rebellious sin was death by stoning. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.'" (Numbers 15:35 NET) Conversely, a sin of ignorance was a violation of some of God's commandments or an ordinance, a violation of the holy things, or an inadvertent violation against a neighbor. Even though the sin was committed out of ignorance, the offender is still guilty of the sin. Ignorance of the law does not make the violation of the law a righteous act. Contrary to today's laws created by man, with God's laws the sinner is always guilty and atonement must be made for all sin. The Sin Offering dealt with the person's sinful nature, whereas the trespass offering only made atonement for one special offense. The Sin Offering is a blood sacrifice. Every spot of blood from a Sin Offering wasted on garment conveyed defilement. Therefore all vessels used for this sacrifice had to be broken or scoured. The type of animal offered in the Sin Offering depended upon the level of severity of the sin, which was based on the rank of the person who had sinned. If the high priest sinned, he had to sacrifice a bullock. If the whole congregation sinned unintentionally, a bullock also was sacrificed. If a ruler sinned, a male goat had to be sacrificed. A female goat would be sacrificed for the sin of an individual. In the cases of poor people sinning, the sacrifice would be a turtle dove or young pigeon. Those who were the poorest among the people could bring one tenth ephah of fine flour as their sacrifice. The Sin Offering was provided to deal with a sin against the commandment of the Lord. These sins are called "sins of commission". The spiritual leader of the children of Israel was the high priest. He represented Christ. If the high priest sinned, that was considered the greatest sin of all. God deals with the leadership first. If the leadership is wrong, the fellowship can never be right. There are three emphases regarding the Sin Offering. The first is blameless identity. The Sin Offering for a high priest would be a bullock without blemish representing Jesus Christ our perfect sacrifice. The priest would place his hands on the head of the bullock to symbolically transfer his sins to the bullock. Jesus bore our sins in his body on a tree. The second emphasis is on blood atonement. For the high priest to be atoned, blood of the bullock was sprinkled seven times before the veil of the sanctuary. The blood is purposely placed upon the horns of the altar of incense to make atonement for the soul. Thirdly, the bullock becomes a burnt sacrifice. The fat and inward parts are removed and burned upon the altar. In life, we must be willing to give God the things that He requires of us because they belong to Him. The priest received no portion of the Sin Offering. Any remaining parts of the bullock were taken outside the camp where the ashes were thrown when the Sin Offering was for the high priest or the whole congregation. Otherwise, when the Sin Offering was for all others, the remaining parts had to be eaten within the court of the tabernacle. There was no portion of the Sin Offering to be received by anyone for whom the offering was being made.

9) Trespass Offering-this offering was compulsory and was not a sweet savor unto the Lord. A trespass is a sin of ignorance when someone oversteps a boundary unintentionally. This offering is for violations regarding things we forget to do, are forbidden to do or are formidable to the believer. One big difference between the Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering is that the Trespass Offering requires retribution from the offender. Contrary to the Sin Offering, a male ram was usually used in the Trespass Offerings. The Trespass Offering was used to atone for specific transgressions where restitution was possible. The violation was usually fraud. For example, if the offender had unwittingly cheated another person, a ransom that was equal to the same value of the amount taken plus one fifth would be given to the priest in advance; then the same amount would be repaid to the former property owner. The offender therefore, would have repaid twice the amount of what he had taken plus forty percent. Lepers who were healed often had to perform Trespass Offerings because leprosy was considered a wrong to the whole congregation. One "forgotten sin" which requires a Trespass Offering is the sin of silence or omission. For example, if you see a person committing a crime and you fail to report it to the authorities, you were silent in the matter when you could have helped the police to nap a criminal. You omitted to do what you should have done. Retribution would be in order for the victim from you. Another "forgotten sin" would be touching a dead body or coming into contact with someone who had touched a dead body. This sin would make you unclean and in need of atonement via the Trespass Offering. The last "forgotten sin" is swearing by making an oath which you fail to keep. Anything you say you must mean and follow up with the appropriate action. When you fail to do so, the Trespass Offering is in order. An example of a "forbidden sin" is going into the temple to use one of the utensils that only the priest can handle because they have been consecrated to the Lord. You are forbidden to be there and forbidden to use the utensils. You have defiled the utensils and must perform the Trespass Offering. An example of a "formidable sin" is lying to your neighbor. Once it’s realized that you lied, a relationship is damaged and often other people are brought into the situation when the person you lied to shares his hurt with someone else. Things like this can cause division in a church body. The Trespass Offering was instituted for occasions such as these. Sometimes the offender was required to pay a twenty percent fine for restitution to the person they hurt. Cleansing was required of the offender. The sacrificial animal had to be killed and burned in the same manner as with the Sin Offering, except each time the remaining portion of the animal for the priest had to be eaten within the court of the tabernacle. The offender never received a portion of the sacrificial animal in the Trespass Offering.

When more than one kind of offering was performed, the sacrifices had to be done in a certain order of sequence: 1)the Sin or Trespass Offering 2)the Burnt Offering 3)the Peace Offering, Grain Offering and Drink Offering. This order of sequence depicts the spiritual significance of the sacrificial system. First, sin had to be dealt with by the Sin or Trespass Offering. Second, the individual had to commit himself completely to God by the Burnt or Grain Offering. Third, the individual had to establish fellowship and communion between himself, the priest and the Lord by the Peace, Grain or Drink Offering. The Sin and Trespass Offerings were sacrifices of expiation. The Burnt and Grain Offerings were sacrifices of consecration and the Peace Offering was sacrificed for communion. There were daily offerings for the children of Israel. The priest offered one lamb at the morning service and one lamb at the evening service. On the seventh day weekly Sabbath, the priest offered two more additional lambs at the morning service. There were also seven annual holy days, called high days, which were Sabbaths. These seven annual Sabbath days were like the weekly Sabbath day, but they could fall on any day of the week. The annual Sabbath days were treated like the seventh day Sabbath. On a high day, besides the regular daily offerings, the priest offered two additional lambs at the morning service and multiple additional sacrifices for the day. The name of the seven annual holy days, (high days) are as follows: 1) the first day of the Days of Unleavened Bread 2) the seventh or (sometimes called) the last day of the Days of Unleavened Bread 3) the Pentecost or (sometimes called) the Feast of Weeks 4) the Feast of Trumpets 5) the Day of Atonement 6) the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles and 7) the Last Great Day. These are all special Sabbath days that are celebrated as festivals each year. Each of these festivals outline God's plan of salvation for mankind. Because each type of animal sacrifice represented a role Jesus Christ would play as our sacrificial lamb, and the annual holy days represented God's plan for our salvation, the animal sacrifices were increased on the high days. This has also caused some confusion, because when the animal sacrifices ceased, some people erroneously believe that the high days also ceased. We must understand that the only reason the animal sacrifices ceased, is because the sacrificial animal represented Christ on the cross being sacrificed for our sins. The children of Israel had to continue to perform sacrificial offerings daily because the blood of animals could never atone for the sins of man. Yet, God required the animal sacrifices to show people the seriousness of their sins and to make them aware that they needed a savior to come to die for their sins. The offerings foreshadowed Jesus Christ. Therefore, when Christ came and died once for our sins, we did not need to sacrifice the animals that represented Him. His blood paid it all. All our sins were atoned by the blood of Jesus Christ. So the animal sacrifices ceased. However, the annual holy days did not cease, because they represent God's plan of salvation for all mankind. Before Christ, the animal sacrifices were enhanced on the holy days, due to the special meaning of the days. After His crucifixion and resurrection, the sacrifices stopped, but the annual Sabbaths continue. If we look at the meaning of each of the annual Sabbath days, we will understand God's plan better and why we should still be keeping these high Sabbath days. There are seven annual festivals outlining God's salvation plan.

The Seven Annual Festivals

1) The Passover-the Passover is when the children of Israel were freed from Egypt by the mighty hand of God after all the Egyptian firstborn man and beast died. The death angel "passed over" the houses of the children of Israel so their firstborn children and cattle were saved alive. Due to the sins of all people in the world, a just God who is sinless requires blood to be shed to atone for our trespasses. Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb that atoned for the sins of the whole world by shedding His blood on the cross. Since the blood is the life, somebody had to die for our sins. Christ's blood had to be poured out so that we could live. Jesus lived a sinless life. He created all human beings, so His life is greater than all of our lives combined. Now that He has resurrected and ascended to heaven, we have an opportunity to have eternal life in God's kingdom. This annual Passover festival is to be kept each year at the appointed time to commemorate how God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery and most of all to remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for atonement of our sins. The Passover is not a Sabbath day. Therefore, you can work on the Passover.

2)Days of Unleavened Bread-the Days of Unleavened Bread reminds us of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt after borrowing silver and gold from the Egyptians. God's people came out of slavery with great wealth. They spoiled the Egyptians. God not only brought them out of Egyptian slavery, but He brought them out in a big way. God told them to leave immediately; not taking time to put leavening in their bread. Coming out of Egypt meant coming out of sin. During this period leavening represents sin. This festival lasts seven days. The first day is a Sabbath day and the last day of the seven days is also a Sabbath day. No work is to be done on these two Sabbath high days during the Days of Unleavened Bread. God's people are to remove all leavening from their dwellings during this festival. No baking soda, baking powder, self rising flour or anything that is used to make dough rise is to remain in your house. All food is to be prepared without leavening. Everything eaten during the Days of Unleavened Bread must be unleavened, even if you eat at a restaurant. The Days of Unleavened Bread depict getting sin out of your life. All of God's annual festivals and His seventh day Sabbath begin at sunset and end at sunset within twenty four hours.

3) Pentecost-Pentecost is the beginning of the New Testament church. On this day the Holy Spirit rested upon the disciples as "cloven tongues" like a mighty wind. They were given the gift of speaking in various tongues, which are languages. Pentecost comes from the word "fifty". This festival is a Sabbath high day where no work is to be done. It is called the Pentecost because it is always fifty days after the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks because it is always seven complete weeks from the weekly Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. The Pentecost pictures the time God gave power to His disciples to start the New Testament church. This is the day the Holy Spirit was given to the leaders in God's church to empower them to do great signs and wonders. Receiving the Holy Spirit is having the seed of God abiding inside of you. You become a child of God via the Holy Spirit. The Pentecost or Feast of Weeks represents the New Testament church that Christ will return to this earth to receive to Himself at His second coming. The Pentecost is a high Sabbath day. Each Sabbath day is a day of rest. No work is to be done. The Pentecost also represents the "first fruits" in the spiritual harvest of Christ. These "first fruits" are the Christians who will meet Christ on the clouds at His second coming. They will rule with Christ on the earth in the kingdom of God.

4) Feast of Trumpets-the Feast of Trumpets is the time when Jesus Christ our savior will return to this earth for His church. We will see Him riding on the clouds with His angels as they return to earth to gather His people. The second coming of Christ will take place at the seventh trump. The seventh trumpet will sound from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise (resurrect from the dead) first, then the true saints of God who are still alive will be snatched up to the clouds where the whole church will be with Christ. This time is rapidly approaching. Every true Christian that ever lived throughout history that is among the "first fruits" will stand with Jesus Christ on the sea of glass. Jesus will then descend to earth and stand upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The Feast of Trumpets proves that Jesus has plans to keep His promise to return to earth to receive His church as He said He would. The second coming of Christ will be the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets. Every Christian should be anticipating the world events that will lead to the end of the world and the beginning of God's kingdom on this earth. The Feast of Trumpets is a high Sabbath day of rest. No work is to be done on this day.

5) Day of Atonement-the Day of Atonement is the time when Satan and his demons will be put away. All sin will cease. God's kingdom will be ruling the earth. Satan and his demons will be restrained from influencing sin. They will be placed in the bottomless pit. God knows that Satan is the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. He started all sin. He led Adam and Eve to commit the sin that changed their nature which caused all of their descendants to be born into sin. Our sinful nature is due to Satan. The demons are due to Satan. All sin is due to Satan. The Day of Atonement is the time when we will have peace. There will no longer be a struggle with Satan trying to get us to do wrong. We won't have to resist his influence, because he won't be able to reach us. The only influence we will have is God's Holy Spirit leading us to do right. This day is a high Sabbath day where no work is to be done.

6) Feast of Tabernacles-the Feast of Tabernacles will be the best time on this earth. The earth will bring forth great abundance during this time. Everything will be at its best. The earth will be filled with peace, joy and love. God's way will be the norm. Jesus will be our king. He will be reigning and the earth will reflect the happiness that His righteous authority brings. Everyone will be healthy. Children will live to be one hundred years old. The human lifespan will have no limits. The righteous people who were among the "first fruits" will be spirit beings ruling with Christ. The humans who are under the rule of Christ and His "first fruits" represent the great harvest of souls who will have their opportunity to enter God's kingdom at the Last Day. God set His plan of salvation based on the harvest time for crops. Jesus Christ was the first of the "first fruits". He ascended to heaven on the Wave Sheaf Offering day. Those who are the "first fruits" at the second coming of Christ will receive immortality on the sea of glass, after either being raised from their graves in a resurrection or if still alive when Christ returns, will be snatched up to the clouds where Christ is. The rest of the human beings who survive the great tribulation will be ruled over by Christ and His "first fruits" in the kingdom of God. The evil people who attack Christ as he returns to this earth will be killed instantly. The Feast of Tabernacles depicts the time in the future when the earth will be at its best. The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles is a Sabbath high day of rest where no work is to be done. The Feast of Tabernacles is a seven day festival. The book of Revelation states that the Feast of Tabernacles will even be kept in the world tomorrow when Jesus is reigning on this earth.

7)Last Great Day-the Last Great Day is the final day that outlines God's plan of salvation for His people listed in the Old Testament book of Leviticus in the twenty-third chapter. On the Last Great Day all of the people who lived from Adam and Eve up until when Jesus Christ returns to reign on this earth; who were not called to understand the true gospel, will be resurrected and taught God's ways. Some people died never hearing the name of Jesus Christ. All people that ever lived will be given their opportunity to learn the true gospel and to either receive salvation or reject it. Also, on the Last Great Day, God's white throne judgment will take place resulting in Satan, his demons and all of the incorrigible people being cast into the lake of fire to burn up. They will cease to exist. God will take away the immortality of Satan and his demons. The bible is clear that God alone has immortality. He gives immortality to whom He pleases. He can take it away too, if He pleases. The casting of all evil ones into the lake of fire is the second death to which there is no resurrection. Sin will be no more for all eternity. All the human beings who were not cast into the lake of fire will at this time receive immortality. The earth will be populated with all righteous spirit beings. God the Father will relocate His throne from heaven to earth to be with Jesus Christ. The New Jerusalem will be the headquarters of God's throne. God's plan of salvation for people will be complete. The Last Great Day is a Sabbath high day where no work is to be done.

When you understand the seven annual Holy Days and what they mean, you can see why so many animal sacrifices were done on these days. The annual festivals are very special to God and His people. Knowing what these seven festivals represent give you much greater understanding of God's word and His plan of salvation for everyone who has ever lived. God didn't forget anything or anybody, but has opened His kingdom to all. Everyone has a fair opportunity to be saved and to spend eternity with Jesus Christ and God the Father. Just like the Ten Commandments cannot be obsolete, neither can the seven annual Holy Days. Actually, the majority of the annual festivals, four out of seven, have yet to be fulfilled. Considering that, how can they be done away or obsolete? The Ten Commandments represent the character of God. How can they be done away? As we read the whole bible, research God's word, reject our prejudices so we can understand it, obey His laws, study the bible diligently, fast, pray, meditate and open our minds and hearts to receive the truth, we will increase in revelation of God.

What is commonly known as the Law of Moses is divided into three parts. 1) The Ten Commandments which contain the laws of divine institution and establishment. This is the moral law or Bill Of Rights for God's people. 2) The Ordinances which are the spiritual codes, including the doctrine of Christ. These were designed to present Christ as the only savior. Included in these ordinances is both a "shadow" doctrine of Christ and doctrine of salvation. These ideas are presented in the descriptions of the Tabernacle, Holy Days, Levitical Offerings, and the daily activity of the priesthood. 3) The Judgments which were the social codes included the divine laws of establishment applied to social living. These codes dealt with: diet, sanitation, quarantine, soil conservation, taxation, military service, honeymoons, divorce, slavery, inheritances and everything involving relationships between the people. The Law of Moses is called the Book of the Covenant. A written addendum was added to the law. The Law of Moses is comprehensive and far reaching. Remember, the Law of Moses is actually God's law that He gave to Moses for the people. The law was given to Israel, not the Gentiles. God started with the Israelites, but the Gentiles would be grafted in later if they repented of their sins and accepted Christ as their savior. Jesus Christ fulfilled The Ten Commandments by living an impeccably, perfect life. He fulfilled The Ordinances by His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. The Judgments were fulfilled by Jesus during His life on earth. He lived under divine institutions and establishment. The Christians of today are under a superior law of spirituality. We have the Holy Spirit within us to help us keep the laws. The children of Israel could learn the laws but were powerless to keep them daily because they did not have the Holy Spirit. The laws were a constant reminder to them of their need of a savior. Nevertheless, knowing the law could not provide justification for anyone. The Israelites could not receive life by knowing the law. It reminded them of their sins and the fact that they deserved to die because they were sinful. Knowing the law could not give the Israelites the Holy Spirit that is the seed of God. The law could not solve the problem of the sin nature. While there were laws of varying degrees of punishment and fear of punishment helps to keep people in line, the law did nothing to provide victory over sin. The Ten Commandments provide laws of human freedom and a divine standard to which a person can compare himself, along with his actions to recognize that he is a sinner who needs a savior. The Ordinances were designed to communicate God's grace in both salvation and restoration to fellowship. The Judgments or social codes are designed to provide a true concept of a national function and freedom under the laws of divine establishment. The Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is a just, righteous God of judgment. One sin is punishable by death. We were born into sin. Our sins have brought the death penalty upon us that must be satisfied. God cannot change His law. Therefore, the justice of God was satisfied when Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross. This made it possible for God to reconcile the believer to Himself and to impute righteousness to the believer. When we receive God's Holy Spirit, we become His children. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the information provided in the bible and preached by God's apostles to give us the facts about God's provisions for us. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross was predetermined by God the Father and Jesus Christ. The animal sacrifices that were made as a "shadow" of the true Lamb of God (Jesus Christ), were certain to be replaced by and discontinued when Christ died on the cross. The animal sacrifices were proof that the savior would come. Jesus Christ was known in the Old Testament by different names which revealed who He was to His people. Many people don't realize that the God of the Old Testament is really Jesus Christ; before he was born of the Virgin Mary. God the Father has never had physical contact with people. Everything the Father does, He does through His son, Jesus. In the Old Testament, Jesus was known as: Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, I Am and many other names that reveal His character and capabilities. He knew He would come later in the New Testament as Jesus Christ, but He wanted the people to know who He was then too.

The Whole Story

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were created for the purpose of replacing Satan. Satan was given the planet Earth as a gift, along with one third of the angels. They were to dress and keep the Earth. At first, the angels rejoiced when God created the Earth because they knew it was God's gift to them. They were being offered rulership over the creatures on the Earth. I personally believe the Earth was populated with the dinosaurs at that time. God created the Earth, the greenery, the dinosaurs, trees for food and water to drink. He was allowing Satan, then called Lucifer, to expand their horizons. Lucifer must have expected God to give him Earth as his headquarters to rule over the entire universe. Instead, he found out God was limiting his rulership only to Earth and its inhabitants. Lucifer was so accustomed to being praised for his beauty, wisdom, talent, personality and capabilities that he felt cheated. How could God limit him to this one tiny planet in the whole vast universe? His ungratefulness led to rebellion. He was lifted up because of his beauty. He became filled with pride. He convinced the one third of the angels on Earth with him that God had been unfair to all of them. This may have taken millions of years. In time, he succeeded in turning one third of the angels against God. They revolted and made war with God in heaven. Of course the two thirds of the good angels in heaven defeated Lucifer, now named Satan, and his angels, now called demons. Satan and his demons were slung right back to Earth. The name Lucifer means "light bringer". Now Satan can only bring darkness. That is why in the book of Genesis, God said "Let there be light". If you read further, you will notice this light was not the sun. The sun and moon were created after this light. This light is the light of God. Since Satan is no longer the light bringer, God had to bring His light to the Earth. After God re-created the Earth, He came up with plan "B". Satan ruling the Earth was plan "A". Satan ungratefully forfeited this opportunity. God came up with a better plan. He would create a physical being that could become a spirit being if he chose to live according to the laws of God. This way, if man (the physical being) decided to rebel against God, he would simply die a physical death and lose his opportunity to become a spirit being. God is so fantastic that He always outdoes Himself. His second plan is better than His first plan. Human beings have a greater opportunity than Satan did. We can actually become part of God's family. If Satan had not sinned, he would have ruled Earth as head of one third of the angels. I'm sure God probably would have expanded his territory to include more of the universe in time. However, Satan would have always remained a righteous angel and no more. On the other hand, people who receive God's Holy Spirit and endure until the end will become the children of God, equal with Christ. Anyone who has God's Holy Spirit is joint heir with Jesus Christ. That is absolutely phenomenal! God is infinite. God is always growing. As a result He keeps getting better and better. His next plan will always be better than His last plan. Satan knows that God is offering human beings something greater than he was offered. Therefore, he is jealous of people. In his jealousy, Satan came up with a plan of his own. Since God gave dominion of the Earth to man. Satan would trick man into giving it back to him. Having observed Adam and Eve long enough to know everything he needed to do his dirty work, Satan approached Eve. Eve partook of the forbidden fruit in deception, becoming the first sinner. Adam partook of the forbidden fruit in cognizance. He saw the first sinner, his wife, disobey God, but he participated in the same disobedience. Their sin was rejection of God's command; which caused death. Instantly, Satan regained rulership of the Earth. He stole it from Adam and Eve. Now Adam and Eve would be subject to satanic influence. From then on, both men and women would have the sin nature. God created Adam and Eve without the sin nature, but they sinned and caused themselves to have the sin nature. Satan is a lot smarter than any person. He has existed for millions of years. Satan has seen and experienced things we don't even know about. As intelligent as people are, we have never been to the very bottom of the ocean. We have never been to the other planets in our galaxy. Satan knows all of these things that we have yet to discover. The only hope that Adam and Eve had to defeat Satan in the Garden of Eden was with God. The same thing applies to people of today. We will never outsmart Satan. We cannot compete with him. God is the only means for our victory over sin. If we try to overcome our sin nature alone, we will surely fail. We have our sinful nature to overcome and Satan too. God is absolutely just and righteous. He cannot have a relationship with sinful man and woman. If He compromised on His integrity just for us, He would not be God. Therefore, our sins have to be judged and the sentence of death had to be paid. Either we had to pay it or God had to come up with a plan. God the Father and Jesus Christ came up with the ingenious plan of salvation for all mankind. God put enmity between Satan and Eve, and between her seed and his seed. He will bruise Satan's head, but Satan will only be able to bruise His heel. This "seed of the woman" is Jesus Christ being born via a virgin. The sin nature is passed down through the male. God formed man's body to be the seed planter. God formed woman's body to be the earth that cultivates the seed received by the man. The baby is the fruit of the womb. Christ was not born of a human male-female relationship; therefore He was able to avoid that result of the curse on mankind. The Lamb of God had to be without spot or blemish. Satan bruised Christ's heel when Christ was crucified and died on the cross. At the second advent of Christ, Satan's head will be bruised. He will no longer rule the Earth. Christ will rule the Earth. Satan will be bound for one thousand years and eventually cast into the lake of fire prepared for him and his demons.

How does Moses' law fit into the plan of God? It was simply one of the many ways that Jesus Christ revealed Himself to mankind. After the fall of man, Jesus was revealed as the "seed of the woman". In the Old Testament, the Law of Moses revealed Christ through the rituals of the animal sacrifices which served as a shadow until Christ should come. The Levitical offerings were witnessed by rituals. The Burnt Offerings taught propitiation, with emphasis on the word of Christ as the Lamb of God. The Meal Offering revealed the person of Christ on the cross. The Peace Offering taught about the barrier between God and man being removed. Each sacrifice, whether it was a male or female animal, libations or grain; represented some characteristic of Jesus Christ and the many roles that He plays in our lives as our redeemer. We have learned that the Law of Moses is really the law of God. God was the one who gave these laws to Moses for the people to keep. All the offerings continued to be sacrificed daily; the compulsory Sin and Trespass Offerings by requirement and the other voluntary offerings by choice. They needed to be offered each day because no animal could ever atone for the sins of people. When Christ was offered as the Lamb of God, these sacrifices ceased because the real atonement had come. As long as Israel was an independent nation, the ordinances regarding the priesthood serving as a liaison between God and the people were necessary as a revelation of Christ. The priest represented Christ. The Israelites were God's chosen people. The descriptions on how the tabernacle was to be constructed to reflect the area around God's throne was a revelation of how heaven looks. All these things pointed to Christ. Now that Christ is resurrected and sits at the right hand of God as our high priest and savior, there is no need for an earthly priesthood. Christ our high priest in heaven fulfills the role as the liaison that allows us to go straight to the Father with our confession of sins to be forgiven. The blood of Jesus atones for our sins today, tomorrow and forevermore. Therefore, these ordinances are no longer needed. The judgments regarding social conduct, such as, military service, divorce, taxation and inheritances were necessary as long as Israel was an independent state. These laws served as their constitution. When the twelve tribes continued to break apart and went their separate ways, the nation ceased to exist, ending this part of the Law of Moses. The parts of the law of Moses that are done away are the ones that Jesus Christ has fulfilled by His birth, life, crucifixion, ascension and seat in heaven as our high priest and savior.

Jesus Christ kept The Ten Commandments and requires us to keep them too. He told us if we love Him we will prove it by keeping His commandments. The Ten Commandments are not done away, but will forever be in effect for eternity. They show us our sins, but they do not give us the power to remove our sins. The Ten Commandments make us aware of God's expectations of our character and how He desires for us to live that we be a perfect reflection of Him. Now that Christ has come and given us the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have the power to keep all ten of his commandments daily. The Law of Moses revealed Jesus to His people in many ways. Now that we know Him, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to be like Him. The sin nature that we received from our parents is being replaced with God’s nature via the Holy Spirit living inside us. We have become new creatures in Christ. The Law of Moses is the Old Testament that has past. It was based on the physical. Now we have a new convenant with God that is based on the spiritual.

            WE ARE SAVED BY THE BLOOD AND RESURRECTION

The blood of cattle and goats could never suffice to cover our sins. They were just a reminder that we had sin in our lives that needed to be rectified. We needed a special sacrifice. Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb. God is such a just, righteous and holy God that one of our sins is enough to receive the sentence of death. All of God's earthly creation reproduces after its own kind. Therefore, when Adam and Eve sinned, all of their descendents inherited the same sin nature that they had. Consequently, all people since then have had the propensity to sin. As a result, all human beings have earned the death sentence. We had to die for ours sins; but God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only son to pay the debt we owed. Now we who accept the gift of salvation by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins, resurrected from the dead and now sits on the right hand of God as our high priest and savior shall be saved. Salvation is a gift from God, and each believer receives another gift that is associated with salvation. When we believe and repent of all our sins, we can ask God to give us His Holy Spirit, which will be our helper to overcome the sinful nature we acquired. The blood is the life. Jesus Christ was the blood sacrifice for all who ever lived from Adam until the second coming of Christ. His blood was shed on the cross at Calvary for the remission of our sins. He was then raised from the dead by God the Father and ascended to heaven as the first of the "first fruits". This made it possible for us to also inherit eternal life in God's kingdom as His children. The Holy Spirit is the seed of God that grows inside the believer and imparts God's nature to the believer. Eventually, the sinful human nature is overcome by the godly nature. It is a growth process that takes time and effort. The Holy Spirit is our guide to developing God's holy, righteous character.

When God the Father and God the son collaborated on the plan of salvation for all mankind, they had to choose the right woman to bear Jesus Christ. Who was Mary? Mary was the virtuous woman that God chose to mother His son. Physically, God had to choose a virgin to be the mother of Jesus. Joseph and Mary did not have sexual relations until after Jesus was born, even though they were already married. It could be no mistake that God was the Father and not man. The sin nature is passed on through the seed of man via his sperm. Jesus Christ as the son of God bypassed this and was without sin. The seed of God via His Holy Spirit was given to Christ in unlimited measure at conception. Mary was a woman with godly character. She lived a wholesome life. She respected God's laws and kept them. She was a woman of great faith. Mary believed God. Notice her reaction to the message from the angel of the Lord about her pregnancy with Christ. "But Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?" (Luke 1:34 NET) The angel explained how God went about siring Jesus in Mary's womb. "And the angel answered and said to her, 'the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; and for this reason, the Holy One being begotten in you shall be called the son of God'." (Luke 1:35 NET) Mary immediately acquiesced. "And Mary said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word'..." (Luke 1:38 NET) Mary rose up the next morning excitedly to visit Elizabeth, her cousin, who was to give birth to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the forerunner for Jesus Christ.

Now let's consider the other side of the story. Mary's experience being pregnant with Jesus was not all excitement. Realize the culture she was living in at that time. Mary was a single woman who was carrying a child. Think of how she was treated when she began to show her pregnancy. No woman had ever been pregnant without a man fathering her child. How many people believed her story? Probably none, except those who knew the prophecy of the coming of the Lord. Could that be the reason she journeyed to be with Elizabeth for the first three months of her pregnancy? Maybe she needed the support from her cousin to bear the insults of others. In their culture, a woman was considered a whore if she became pregnant out of wedlock. Mary could see the sneers on the faces of those passing by. She could hear the murmuring behind her back. She noticed how a place that was filled with commotion suddenly became quiet when she entered the room. Some people may have been bold enough to call her out her name and spit in her face. Who knows what she went through? I know she suffered. Joseph was engaged to her and even he suspected she had been sleeping with another man. He must have thought she was trying to get him to take care of another man's child. His thoughts were to secretly "put her away". This proves that Joseph assumed, like everybody else, that Mary was guilty of indiscretion. Mary had a hard time until she and Joseph married. Even then, some people more than likely believed that Joseph proposed marriage out of sympathy more than love. Many people probably felt Mary was lucky that Joseph chose to take away her shame. Can you imagine the number of women who asked Mary who was actually the father of her baby; only to have her answer by telling them it was God? I'm sure she was called a liar more than a few times. Think of the jealousy she had to put up with from other women who felt they should have been chosen by God to mother His child instead of Mary. She had to be a strong woman to endure all of this. Under the circumstances, she was a candidate for being stoned. In those days, if you were found guilty of a sin that was overt, the whole town came together to stone you to death. This suggests that Mary had a strong family backing her up. Joseph must have spoken up for her many times. A man's word held more weight than a woman's word during biblical times. Mary's father must have come to her defense against the people in the town as well. Of course God had angels protecting Mary to make certain no harm would come to our unborn savior too. How did the men react toward Mary? If Joseph was a just man who wanted to be discreet about calling off the engagement, think of how the carnal men acted. They would have assumed she was loose anyway, so they would not hesitate to ask her to bed. Imagine how many men must have offered her money, whispering for her to meet them some place. There always have been people who are unscrupulous. Others simply don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. Mary didn't have it easy.

Contrarily, there were people who knew about the prophecies that Christ would come. They were expecting Him. When the news spread that there was a virgin who was pregnant, great joy must have filled the hearts of the believers. I can see them putting all of the prophecies together to ascertain if Jesus fit the bill. This was Mary's support group. They kept Mary from being stoned to death. They could prove by the prophecies that Mary was telling the truth about being a pregnant virgin. Because of them, Mary was able to receive the honor her virginity commanded. In addition, she received special treatment as the chosen mother to the Messiah. Mary had to deal with the contrast of being put on a pedestal by some and rejected as a whore by others. Either way she was the talk of the town. Being the mother of a "fatherless" child brought her great popularity. Mary had to keep her mind focused on the word of God and how blessed she was to be the mother of Jesus Christ the son of God. In her salutation to God when she met with her cousin Elizabeth, Mary praised God for choosing her to be Christ's mother. She spoke as if she realized if God had been like most human beings, He would have chosen a rich woman of royalty to be the mother of Jesus. If the average person were God, they would have ignored Mary; for she was poor, of no special reputation and had no peculiar talents. Her best asset was her character. She was humble, very familiar with God's word, obedient and willing to suffer for God to do His will in her life. Whatever she had to suffer to endure, it would all be worth it. God's rewards for obedience to His will are great beyond any earthly trouble you have to go through to be blessed. Mary knew as the mother of Jesus, she would go down in history. What an honor!

God also wanted an upright man to be the surrogate father of Jesus. He chose Mary knowing that she was already engaged to Joseph. Those who didn't believe the "pregnant virgin" story would view Joseph as the real father of Jesus or at least the one who took on the responsibility of being the husband of a loose woman. One of the reasons God chose Mary is because of Joseph. He was just as interested in who would be the earthly father of His son as He was the mother. Mary and Joseph were chosen as a couple. Joseph was a just man, which he proved by not wanting to make a public display of Mary when she announced her pregnancy to him. Imagine the expression on his face when Mary informed him that she was pregnant by God. He wasn't going to hear it. God intervened by giving Joseph the dream that revealed Mary was telling the truth. "But as he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord, appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, because that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit'." (Matthew 1:20 NET) Joseph obeyed God. "And when Joseph was awakened from his sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded, and took his wife to wed." (Matthew 1:24 NET) We can see Joseph had some of the same characteristics as Mary. He knew God. He was obedient to God's word. He was righteous. Joseph also showed himself as sensitive. He cared for Mary's reputation, even though he thought she was not a virgin. Most men would have wanted to punish Mary by going public with her unwed pregnancy. They would have enjoyed humiliating her for revenge. Joseph was considerate even before the angel's message. Joseph was a great choice for the earthly father of Jesus.

There is another side of the story for Joseph too. Many men probably looked to Joseph as a fool. Why marry a whore? Everyone knew Mary was pregnant. Joseph claimed not to be the father of her child. Joseph could hear laughter as he walked by a group of men. He was more than likely teased and called a "sucker". Some men might have treated him like he was stupid or dumb assuming he was too weak to stand up for himself. Prostitutes may have approached him telling him that he should marry them instead of Mary. Joseph really exhibited character when he married Mary and waited nine months before consummating their marriage. "But he did not have sexual relations with her until after she had given birth to her son..." (Matthew 1:25 NET) This was a great sacrifice for a man who was initially suspicious of infidelity. Joseph had respect for God and His will. If Joseph had relations with his wife before Jesus was born, many would have believed that Joseph was the real father of Jesus. Some still believed that. "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary and His brothers James and Joses and Simon and Judas?" (Matthew 13:55 NET) They saw that Jesus had more knowledge than being the son of Joseph would afford Him, but they still couldn't believe the virgin birth. Therefore they became offended at Jesus. Notice also that Mary did not remain a virgin. She had four sons that were named. She also had daughters. She is no longer "the virgin Mary". When Jesus was born, Joseph did sire his own children with Mary. He became a father in his own right. Joseph was uneducated, but he had a trade as a carpenter. He also taught Jesus this trade. A carpenter is a high paying trade in today's world. Most carpenters would likely be classified as middle class in America. However, Joseph must have had difficulty finding work because he was of low income as proven by the offering given for Mary's purification after giving birth to Jesus. "And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:24 NET) This offering depicted poverty. The well to do people offered lambs, goats or bulls. Maybe carpentry wasn't in demand in their town. Like Mary, the most outstanding thing about Joseph was his character.

Joseph and Mary were the perfect couple to raise Jesus. They both were self sacrificing people who were willing to suffer that the will of God be done. Jesus had the same attitude. Joseph apparently died when Jesus became of age. Jesus worked as a carpenter until he started His ministry. He more than likely became the head of the household and took care of His mother and His sisters. Notice the bible no longer mentions Joseph after Jesus grows up. I believe this suggests that he died and as was the custom at that time, the oldest son, Jesus, took over the family’s carpentry business.

Now let’s talk about Jesus. Jesus had to be God in order to be qualified to save all mankind. Because He was God, His life was more valuable than all the lives of human beings that He created combined. Jesus also had to be human so that He could break the curse of Adam. It was necessary for God to be born a man to get the job done right. God the Father and God the Son both collaborated on the plan of salvation for all mankind. Jesus as the Son of God volunteered to be our sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered for the remission of our sins. The Father and Son knew Jesus would have to suffer. His blood would have to be shed. “Now almost all things are purified with blood according to the law, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” (Hebrews 9:22 NET) Think of the love both God the Father and Son has for us. Their love for us is beyond our human comprehension. Jesus made a huge sacrifice. Not only did He give up His earthly life to die on the cross, but look at the life He had to leave to come to this earth. Jesus was living in heaven. He had royalty. He was rich. He had divine power. The bible gives some descriptions of heaven. We know it is a beautiful place. It is far better than Earth and even with all its problems, Earth has some very beautiful places too. Since spiritual things are infinitely better than physical things, we can determine that heaven has music that uplifts your spirit into joy. The angels who sing must have a voice that captivates better than the most popular singer that ever lived on this earth. The music the angels compose must be greater than our most proficient songwriter. I look at the architecture on this earth and stare at some of the most magnificent buildings erected by people, such as the Taj Mahal. I find them breath-taking, but the architecture in heaven is above all we can imagine. Jesus had to leave this kind of lifestyle.

Also consider the divinity He had to give up. After becoming human He could experience physical pain. He became acquainted with hunger and thirst. He had to learn things. He had to work for His living. All of this was new to Him. He had to endure human bodily functions which He never did when He was a spirit being. To add insult to injury, He had to allow Himself to be humiliated by the same human beings that He created. I dare to imagine that it must be harder to deal with pain, hunger and thirst if you were used to being an all powerful spirit being who lived eternally and then became human, than it is when born human never having been immortal. Jesus had it worst than any human will ever experience. He had to be tempted with everything any human could want, yet without sin. This was the only way He could truly be our savior. He had to be able to understand every sin Satan throws at each person that ever lived, which manifests in our thoughts and feelings; so He could overcome them to defeat Satan. Now there is no sin that we can be tempted with that Christ cannot sympathize with us about. “For we do not have a high priest who cannot empathize with our weaknesses, but one Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our temptations; yet He was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NET) Jesus made it possible for us to be without sin in the eyes of God too. Jesus had the Holy Spirit without limits dwelling inside him. When we repent of our sins and receive God’s Holy Spirit, we get a small measure of the Holy Spirit which grows within us as we continue to pray, study the bible, obey God’s law, fast on occasion and meditate on God’s word. As the Holy Spirit grows inside us, we develop more and more of God’s holy, righteous character. Soon the Holy Spirit becomes so big within us that we can overcome our human nature and have God’s nature ruling inside us.

Let us now focus on God the Father. Father God created all things through Christ Jesus. They work as a team. Jesus will do nothing unless the Father acquiesces. God the Father is righteous and holy. He cannot go against His law. He is perfect and cannot change His character. His perfect law is a reflection of His character. He is His word. Therefore, because the law states if we sin, we must die; shortly after each human being is born and old enough to know right from wrong, we all deserve the death penalty for our sins. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 NET) Father God could have been mean, as many people erroneously depict Him as being, by saying that all humans must be destroyed because they turned against Him for Satan. So let them die without hope. He didn’t say or do that. He loved us so much that He and Christ got together and came up with an ingenious plan to overcome Satan and save the human race. God the Father has the same character and similar personality as Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus said if you have seen Him, you have seen Father God. “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen Me, has seen the Father; why then do you say, Show us the Father’.” (John 14:9 NET) Father God has gotten a bad reputation as being harsh and unmerciful, but that is a misunderstanding people have because they don’t study the bible. Father God is just like Jesus. He is kind, generous, gracious and merciful, but He cannot and will not allow anyone to violate His laws without the mandatory penalty. Otherwise, He would be an unjust God. If Father God was so “easy” regarding His laws that anybody could do anything sinful at anytime and all He would do is dismiss His laws and forgive them, people would take advantage of His lax in enforcing His laws and just sin all the time without restraint. The evidence that this is true can be seen in how people treat the laws in our civil government. Any law that is not enforced, such as jay walking, is violated constantly by many people, but the laws that result in severe punishment when broken are violated by only a few. Furthermore, if Father God was willing to dismiss His laws to be merciful to anybody who carelessly sinned, it would suggest that His laws were not important. Father God demands respect. He could not ignore His laws and the punishment for breaking them. Adam and Eve sinned after being taught right from wrong. The punishment for sinning is death. They brought death upon themselves when they sinned in disobedience to God. They were created to live forever on this Earth. Their sin caused them to die physically. We cannot, as their children, escape the physical death, but Jesus fixed it so we can live forever spiritually. The Holy Spirit is the power of God the Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is God’s seed which identifies those who have it as the children of God.

It needs to be considered how God the Father must have felt when His Son was being crucified. As a father, how do you think Father God handled watching His innocent son being tortured? God loves His son ultimately. We as sinners deserved to receive everything that happened to Jesus. It should have happened to us instead. Father God watched as His sinless Son was stricken with whips causing His skin to tear open releasing blood after each stroke. He saw the soldiers take the crown of thorns and force it into the head of Christ causing more blood. Jesus was beaten so bad that He couldn’t even be recognized as a human being on sight. God the Father saw the nails being inserted into the feet and hands of Jesus. He witnessed the soldier piercing Jesus in the side. Father God saw all of this, but knew He couldn’t intervene. Why? Because He loved you and me just as much as He loved His Son Jesus. God knew He had to let all these things happen to Jesus to pay the penalty so the law could be satisfied and we could be free. It is so terrible some people actually believe that Father God is mean. Father God proved His love for all people by being willing to sacrifice the Son He loved most, and Jesus agreed to do it. There is no greater love than what the Father and Son give to us daily.

Jesus Christ had existed forever. Now He had to face death. Again, I think it was harder for Jesus because of the fact that He lived first as an all powerful spirit being before being subjected to humanity. Consider how so many people dread knowing one day they will die. We hate the thought of dying. We cry at funerals. Of course Jesus didn’t fear death because He knew what would happen. Many humans fear death because they don’t really know what to expect when they die. There are so many stories about ghosts, goblins and ghouls. People are afraid of burning in hell. Jesus knew it would simply be likened to sleeping. He even referred to Lazarus as sleeping when He knew Lazarus had died. Even though Jesus knew not to believe the stories many people are afraid of regarding death, He still had never been unconscious. He would experience the unconsciousness of death for the first and last time. “For the living know that they shall die; but the dead do not know anything…” (Ecclesiastes 9:5 NET) Jesus will never die again. As He was hanging on the cross in severe pain, realizing He was going to die, He had to trust His Father to take over from there. Father God had to allow Jesus to stay dead for three days and three nights. He then had to resurrect Jesus on time. When Jesus died on the cross he commended His spirit and the remainder of the work to God the Father.

When Jesus died, the devil thought he had won. He figured he had beat Jesus and would rule the earth forever. The demons were swarming around the cross taunting Jesus as he was dying. Satan and his demons were so glad to see Jesus Christ close His eyes in death. Little did they know that God the Father and Christ Jesus had planned the way of salvation so cleverly that even Satan and his demons cooperated with them without even knowing it. They didn’t realize Father God would raise Christ from the grave to make the way for all human beings to enter God’s kingdom in like fashion. Had Satan and his demons knew the plan of God, they would never have allowed Christ to be crucified. God the Father and His son Jesus Christ out-smarted the devil and his demons. This proves Satan and his demons are no match for Father God and Jesus Christ. There is no parity between the God family and Satan and his demons. Satan is not equal to God by any means. Satan and his demons can only do what God the Father or Son tells them to do or allows them to do.

Jesus Christ’s shed blood paid for our sins. Jesus Christ’s resurrection opened the way for us to follow Him into the kingdom of God. The veil in the temple was ripped into to open the throne of God to all people who repent of their sins and receive God’s Holy Spirit. Before the death of Jesus, the veil in the temple separated the Holy of Holies from access to the people. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year and he had be cleansed before he could enter. The Holy of Holies represents God’s throne which is the most holy place in the universe. Christ’s death ripped this veil allowing us to come to God’s throne as holy people in His eyes. The holiness of Christ now belongs to His people. Everything that Christ is in the eyes of God, we now are, if we have repented of our sins and received God’s Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord! Everything Christ has, we have too. All power in heaven and Earth is Christ’s…and ours. Phenomenal! No one should ever accuse God the Father as being mean and judgmental. Who can deny the love Jesus Christ has for all mankind? This is the gospel and it is indeed good news.

God did not create Adam to be sinful. Adam was created to be good. Adam had a good relationship with God. Apparently he and God talked together and even went for walks in the garden of Eden. Adam and God were friends. God had always intended to create a woman as a companion for Adam. This is evidenced by the fact of the animals being created on the fifth day of the week and man being created on the sixth day. Adam surely noticed when he was naming all the animals as God presented them to him, that each of the animals were in pairs. The male animals all had a female counterpart as a mate. God did this deliberately to show Adam that he was without a help mate. Adam did not find any animal that could compliment him. When Adam finished naming the last animal, God said it is not good for man to be alone. God knew what He was going to do. I once heard a male minister say, “Man was made, but woman was formed!” Of course he was referring to the difference in the body structure of men in comparison to women. Man was made from the dust of the ground, but woman was taken from the rib of man and formed into a shape that men find very attractive. Ain’t God a good God! (smile)

Adam and Eve did not have a sin nature initially. God had big plans for them. They were to dress and keep the garden. They had a good life. The Garden of Eden was beautiful to behold with trees bearing tasty fruit, clean water rivers, animals that were tame, plenty food to eat, beauty everywhere you looked. Adam and Eve had dominion over it all. What a blessing. I believe, knowing God, that if Adam and Eve had never sinned that God would have offered them more responsibility, perhaps authority to rule other planets. Instead they chose to listen to Satan whose primary intend was to steal authority over the Earth from Adam. God gave Adam dominion over the Earth and its inhabitants. Satan tricked Eve and influenced Adam successfully and stole authority from them. Now the kingdoms of this world belong to him. He revealed this when he told Jesus to fall down and worship him and receive all the kingdoms of the world as a reward. Jesus didn’t dispute the claim Satan made that the kingdoms of this world were his to give to anyone he wanted. Jesus just told Satan that He would not worship anyone but God the Father. The bible does refer to Satan as the god of this world. Satan is the evil influence behind all the world governments that exist today. Satan is leading the world leaders into a one world global government, loosely joined together, that will challenge Jesus Christ when He returns to this Earth for His church at the second coming.

A child is born into this world via his mother not having any sense of right and wrong. Nevertheless, at conception he has received the sin nature. We call it human nature to make it sound better. God created each animal to produce its own kind. Likewise, God created people to also procreate their likeness. Adam and Eve are the parents of all human beings. They acquired the sin nature after their association with Satan, so we received it through their bloodline. Even those of us who have God’s Holy Spirit and live a righteous life will pass the sin nature on to our children. The sin nature is a natural process that passes on physically. The Holy Spirit is not passed on physically. Each individual must choose to repent of their sins and receive the Holy Spirit spiritually. The good thing is the spirit supersedes the physical. Therefore, once you receive God’s Holy Spirit, if you allow it to direct you daily by obeying God’s laws, you will eventually overcome your human nature and put it into subjection.

Everything happens in the mind. Every human being receives the sin nature at birth. It can’t be detected in a newborn baby, but as the toddler becomes older you can get glimpses of it. Gradually, once the child is about five years old, you will see it clearly. Parents that have more than one child know human nature well. Satan transmits his evil influences via the air into our minds, much like a tower transmits signals to a radio. Like a radio, our mind is the receiver. We receive Satan’s influences as thoughts. Thoughts of lust, pride, anger etc. come into our minds daily. Satan is the vile broadcaster. Due to our sinful nature, we have a bend toward tuning our minds into his station. Sometimes an inappropriate thought might “pop” into our idle mind. Other times we may be prompted to think something devilish from what we hear someone say in conversation, or from what we see on television or read in a magazine or book. There are Satanic influences all around us. Notice how television commercials have changed over the years. When I was younger, there was a television commercial about a candy bar. The commercial’s message was to buy the candy bar and share it with your friend to show you cared. Now today’s candy bar commercials have a message to tell your friends go buy their own candy bars so you can eat yours without sharing it. The same is true of the fast food restaurants. The message is always the product tastes so good that you don’t want to share it, so tell everybody to buy their own. These messages are subtly Satanic. God wants us to share. Satan is using these commercials to influence people to be selfish. His message is don’t care about anybody but yourself. Each time you view one of these commercials, Satan plants a seed of selfishness in your mind without you even realizing it.

The entertainment industry is dominated with Satanic influence. Fashion, music, movies etc. have all turned to sex as their theme. Satan knows that men are easily prone to be sexual so he has women models wearing very revealing clothing, some with hardly any material at all, appearing that the dress is wearing the woman rather than the woman wearing the dress. You see 10% dress and 90% skin when you view so many women on entertainment shows. Everybody seems to be selling sex. It’s everywhere you look: magazines, newspapers, television, movies, music and in public places such as restaurants, theatres, trains, buses, school, work and walking down the street or in parks and the beach.

As a result, many men view women as sex objects. It is difficult for a man to respect you as a lady if his mind is on sex each time he looks in your direction. Even a Christian man would struggle not to lust for a scantily dressed woman within eye’s view. Through using these tactics, Satan has increased fornication and adultery in our society. How many modern movies have you seen that don’t have a scene involving illicit sex?

Satanic influence has affected our social life. Many teenage girls think they are supposed to sleep with a guy that they date. Girls who “don’t do it” are taunted by other girls and the boys treat her as if she cheated them out of something that they were supposed to get. There is so much pressure on teenagers to engage in premarital sex that Christian parents must be their child’s support team. Having good Christian friends at church in the same age group can be very valuable. Teens need to talk to someone they feel can understand what they are going through. A mother and father who knows about the sin nature being transferred through the bloodline should take precaution to began teaching and instilling God’s laws in the mind of their child at birth. God admonishes us as His people to see to it that our children know Him. As your child learns how to walk and talk, they should also be learning about the will of the Lord. They are never too young to learn. Teaching them early will head Satan’s influence off at the pass.

Young boys are also drawn to join gangs. So much danger surrounds our children today. A child who is growing up in a high crime neighborhood might be tempted to join a gang just for protection from being beaten up. A former co-worker of mine told me her friend had a son who told his mother to buy him a gun. Of course she refused. Later he told his mother that he needed to join a gang. His mother demanded that he stay out of gangs. Finally he explained to his mother that either she was going to buy him a gun to protect himself or she would be responsible for him being killed if she didn’t allow him to join a gang. Some mothers have had to send their son down south or to another city to live with relatives to keep them alive. Other mothers have had to bury their sons because he was trying to be a “good boy”. Teenage gangsters hate to see a boy who is making high grades or working on a job after school. They get jealous because they don’t want to study to make high grades, work for a living or do anything constructive. Another teenager’s success makes them look bad, so they get mad and want to kill him. Too many children are growing up with so much anger in their hearts about not having a father in the home, not having the same opportunities available to them as some others have and being poor. Satan feeds the anger in their hearts until they become unmerciful and selfish. They began to believe that the whole world owes them something. Therefore, they don’t have a conscience when they do something heinous to get what they feel they deserve. It doesn’t matter who gets hurt in the process. Killing someone doesn’t phase them because they are dead too…on the inside.

The question comes up, “how do you reach someone who is so lost?” The answer is always love. It is difficult to love the unlovable, but that is the only cure for their broken heart. They have feelings, but they will never admit it because it hurts so bad and they don’t want to show any weakness. Living in a high crime neighborhood teaches you to be tough. Never let anybody know you are hurting. Act like you don’t care about anything. Pretend nothing bothers you. It’s all a front. There is a lot of emotion going on inside these children, they just don’t show it. God’s love can stop the hurt. It might take some time, but many who are lost can be found.

Satan has had his affect on the churches of today as well. Many churches have lost the power of God. They allow sin to thrive in their church. Sadly, some ministers have a wife and a girlfriend too. There are reports of pastors who are fathering children out of wedlock. Big scandals about priests molesting children have saturated the news in recent years. Secretly, many Christian men are hooked on pornography that they view on their home computers. I can remember a former client of mine who confided in me that she was married to the most popular minister that graduated from a well known seminary. She told me he would preach the best sermon you ever wanted to hear, come home afterwards and beat her. Nobody would believe her when she finally started divulging his uncontrollable rage. The people could not accept the different image she was portraying of him. It took her years to get the courage to even tell anybody about her ordeal. The reaction she received from those who knew him was “you must be mistaken”, “that can’t be true”, “you are lying on him”, “you are hallucinating” etc. She eventually got strong enough to leave him. She did start seeing a psychiatrist to get over the trauma the situation had caused her. Satan is a powerful enemy, but God is the all powerful who never loses a battle.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross and resurrected from the grave, He gave us the power to overcome everything that this life, Satan and his demons, our family and friends, ourselves, our employers or business, school or anything else can bestow upon us. Our God is an awesome God.

So how does God’s Holy Spirit work? Some people misunderstand Christians. People who never go to church, but have heard the general concept of Christianity can be very hard on a Christian who has failed to do something within the laws of God. At times their judgment can be harsh and unfair. When a person has been living in sin all of their lives, and has the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, often they are very excited. They have learned something new and it’s such good news. They realize this is a life changing situation. They want to hear more about Jesus. They like going to church. Their love for the pastor and church people is new. They start out on their way walking in the Christian life. They are full of questions about what they can do or can’t do. They want to make sure they keep the rules. Everything is fine while they are in church, but the challenge is when they are not. They will spend the first few weeks trying to live a perfect life and then it happens. They will commit a sin. Somebody who doesn’t go to church will see it and knowing that their friend became a Christian a few weeks back, they will criticize them by saying, “What! You are supposed to be a Christian, how could you do that?” This is the new Christian’s nightmare. They thought they didn’t have to worry about the old habits and temptations anymore. They expected that all their problems would be gone. After all they are now children of the Most High. What happened? They are embarrassed in front of their friend to whom they bragged saying they were a Christian now. They told their friend that they couldn’t go the same places they used to or do the things they used to do. Now that same friend has a chance to really rub it in their face that they haven’t change a bit. It’s not uncommon for them to hear, “I knew that Christian mess wasn’t going to work. You might as well keep hanging with me. You’re no better than I am. That church isn’t doing you any good.” This experience can be devastating to a new Christian who really doesn’t understand the way the Holy Spirit works. Some new Christians have actually stop going to church under these circumstances. We must understand the Holy Spirit does change our character, but it takes a lot of time. When we first receive God’s Holy Spirit, we have a small measure of God’s nature inside our spirit. Basically, we are still almost just as carnal, as far as our character is concerned, as we were the moment before we received it. There is no instantaneous change into perfection. You will still have the same temptations, habits and basic attitude that you had before you received the Holy Spirit. It is a growth process. That small amount of Holy Spirit that dwells inside your spirit will grow little by little as you become more like Christ. It needs food to grow. In order for the Holy Spirit to grow inside you, you must read the bible, hear the spoken word of God via sermons, keep the laws of God that you are familiar with and pray daily. Become more and more familiar with God’s law, and the more you learn, the more responsible you are to keep them. Additionally, meditating on God’s word, having bible study and fasting on occasion can really aid in spiritual growth. This is all spiritual food. Also realizing you will make mistakes can reduce the pressure of being concerned about what others think about you. Focus on what God thinks of you. He loves you despite yourself. God knows you are likely to make mistakes. He understands you are new at the Christian walk. God forgives. He wants you to have the right attitude though. This is a controversial issue. Some pastors teach the blood of Jesus gives you license to sin. They say you can sin as much as you want because Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, has died for your sins for all eternity. I thoroughly disagree with the teaching that the perfect sacrifice of Christ is a license to sin. Jesus Christ did not suffer like He did and die on the cross for you to continue living in sin. You were living in sin before He died. He suffered and died for you to walk in the newness of life. He will forgive you for your sins if you repent; but the idea is for you to be like Him and Jesus is without sin. “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” (Ephesians 5:1 NET) We are to copy Jesus Christ who knew no sin. Therefore, the teaching some pastors have regarding the license to sin is erroneous and sinful. It is a trick of Satan to make a mockery of the sacrifice of Christ. This must be understood. Just as Satan deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden, he is still practicing deceit on God’s people today. We are obligated to study to show ourselves approved. I tell people all the time, when a minister teaches you something, always check the bible to see if what is being taught is correct. Unfortunately, I know for a fact some ministers are preaching unbiblical doctrine. There are those who are teaching unbiblical because they were taught incorrectly themselves. They assumed they had the right teaching so they teach what they were taught. Contrarily, I know of some ministers who know the truth, but deliberately teach unbiblical doctrine for their own selfish purposes. God holds His people responsible for finding out the truth. “Diligently study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of the truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15 NET) Every new Christian and those of us who are the “meat eaters” of the word of God can sin. What is important is your attitude toward your sins. Do you feel neutral toward sinning? If you have the attitude that you don’t care whether you sin or not because “God is going to forgive you anyway so what difference does it make.” You are being influenced by Satan. Your attitude as a true Christian who loves the Lord can only be “I feel bad when I sin. I try not to sin, but I am grateful that if I do sin God is merciful enough to forgive me as often as I need.” Furthermore, when God forgives you for a sin, you should have no intention of ever doing that sin again. Our relationship with God is all about love. He loved us first and we learn how to love Him back by studying His word, obeying His laws and imitating His son. The Holy Spirit grows within us continuously imparting Godly character to us more and more in our walk in the narrow way of righteousness. Consequently, we can never be nonchalant about sinning. Our love for God inspires us to want to please Him. Living a righteous life is pleasing to God. God hates sin.

On the other hand, there are Christians who are just the opposite of the license to sin ones. They project that they never sin. They have a “holier than thou” attitude. They feel superior to people of other religions, such as Jews or Muslims. Some of them like to argue about religion. These Christians see themselves as right and everyone else as wrong. They will fuss with other Christians about the differences in denominational beliefs. Of course their religious beliefs are right and yours is wrong. I am reminded of a former client of mine who told me to change the station on the radio that I was listening to because she was “sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost” and therefore would not listen to the non-gospel music on the radio that was playing. I politely changed the station to the gospel music that she requested, as I was thinking about Jesus actually touching people who were unclean to heal them. I said to myself, “I am glad Jesus wasn’t so sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost that He couldn’t touch a leper so he could be cleansed and healed.” I considered leprosy was a disease that no one wanted to be near for fear they would become diseased too. Music playing on a radio is intangible. Yet this woman was too holy to listen to non-gospel music. There have been periods in my life when I only listened to gospel music too. My rule applied when I was alone, but if I came into the presence of someone listening to their own radio, I would never ask them to change the station. Each time I have observed the type of Christian that is too holy to do wrong, I have found them to be hypocrites. After multiple similar experiences with this woman, I remember coming into contact with about three separate people, on three different occasions who were conversing in my presence about a “mean and evil” woman that they had spent an unpleasant moment with. In each case another person who was listening to their complaints asked “is that the woman who says she is sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost?” None of these people knew I had the same experience with this woman. I remained silent throughout their conversation about her. Every person I heard speaking of this woman said she was “mean and evil”. Needless to say that is not a good report. A Christian should not have to tell someone they are sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. People should know that by the way you live. It should show in the way you treat people. Your kindness should be a good witness for you having God’s spirit. Since everyone this woman came into contact with (including me) was left with the impression that this woman could use some people skills, what does that say about her god? If I didn’t know God, would I want to know Him after being with her? Absolutely not! Christians are the only representation of God that some people will ever have. Satan uses some “holier than thou” Christians to turn people off from the church and desiring to have a relationship with God. It’s fair to say that any Christian can fail from time to time. That’s understood; but when a Christian has carried themselves in such a negative way for years and has built a reputation of being “mean and evil” to multiple people, that Christian is a hypocrite. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in your character. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23 NET) Notice the fruit of kindness. The “holier than thou” Christian is unkind and puffed up. They consistently talk about themselves and how righteous they are. They tell you how many days per week they go to church, how they read their bible during the lunch break at work and how often they pray per day. Their whole conversation is mostly about them but they do throw God’s name in there once in a while. They will tell you how you should live too. They will tell you what you should stop doing and what to start doing. Of course only members of their church have it right. So you must change your life and go to their church in order to be saved. This prideful and conceited attitude is not a sign of the Holy Spirit. “…every good tree produces good fruit, but a corrupt tree produces evil fruit.” (Matthew 7:17 NET) God will judge us by the fruit that we bear. We as Christians can observe the fruit in our lives to measure if we are producing the Godly fruit of righteousness or the evil fruit of hypocrisy. The license to sin Christian and the holier than thou Christian both must repent.

It’s not necessary to put on airs to be a good Christian. Christians should take their walk with God as the most important undertaking in their lives. We should be serious about our relationship with God, but at the same time it should be enjoyable. Remember one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is joy. These fruit are evidence that you have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. You should see each fruit developing in your character throughout your life. You might start off as a baby Christian without patience. As you grow in godliness, you will see yourself becoming patient. Later you might see yourself developing self-control. Maybe you were kind before you became a Christian, but you will see a better, higher quality of kindness in your character. The kindness you had before you became a Christian might have been selfish kindness based on what you expected to receive for being kind to someone, but the type of kindness via the Holy Spirit is always unselfish. The Holy Spirit will continue to grow, lead, guide and direct you as long as you stay submitted to it by obeying God. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is for you to develop the holy, righteous character of God. Your goal as a Christian is to be like God.

The Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ living in us. It is His power inside our spirit. It is our helper. Christians must study the bible diligently to be certain that we are living according to God’s will. Never should any Christian go without reading the bible themselves. Some Christians trust ministers so much they take for granted, because a minister has a degree in theology, that they know the bible well and everything they preach is truth. Not so. First of all, we must understand different seminaries teach different philosophies. Each denomination has its own beliefs. Unfortunately some religions disagree vehemently with others. I think the only thing we all agree on is that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Everything else seems to be debatable. Knowing these things, we can expect opposition. I teach people to read the bible for themselves. God holds you responsible for knowing Him. You must have a personal relationship with God. That is only possible with intimacy. Intimacy comes with personal contact. You can’t obtain that going through a minister. You have to get it going one on one with God. God is His word. The bible is the word of God. Therefore, the bible is God. Every Christian should be learning under a minister that they trust. It is necessary to trust your pastor, but don’t make a God of your pastor. You should check everything your pastor says by looking up the pertinent scriptures to confirm the words spoken are the word of God. A true pastor will not be offended by this. In fact, it should be encouraged. Your spiritual life depends on it.

Many Christians lost their physical life because they did not read the bible for themselves. Remember the Jim Jones Christians? They trusted their pastor so much that he could do no wrong in their eyes. They loved him dearly. They loved him too much. Their love for him caused them to ignore him drifting from the word of God. Anybody who was reading the bible themselves who had Jim Jones as their pastor, would have known to separate from his teachings. On the other hand, if you never read the bible yourself, you are prone to believe whatever a minister tells you is in it. Under those circumstances, the minister who is the most eloquent will draw you into his web. The bible even teaches us to look at the fruit a person bears. If Jim Jones was having sex with the attractive young girls and some even said he had relations with the men too, that is unrighteous living. That would have been the flashing red light in a bible readers mind to get out of there as fast as possible. See how dangerous it is to just listen to what a minister says without reading and studying the bible yourself? It cost the followers of Jim Jones their lives.

Another example are the Waco, Texas religious group called the Davidians. They put their pastor on the level of God. Christians are to never have another God before the Holy One. “You shall have no other gods before Me.“ (Exodus 20:3 NET) This command applies to your pastor too. I have experienced so many Christians who love their pastor more than they love God. You can blaspheme the name of God in their presence with no reaction from them, but if you say one slightly negative thing about their pastor, even if it’s true, they will argue you down in his defense. Christians must be careful not to make an idol of their pastor. I surmise the people who are guilty of doing this are the ones who fail to develop a personal relationship with God through bible reading, prayer and meditation. Their whole relationship with God is through their pastor. Consequently, they begin to see their pastor as God. Some women even become attracted to their pastor due to the high respect, power, prestige and income their pastor commands. So often that ends up in an adulterous scandal. All of this can be avoided simply by having a one on one personal relationship with God on your own. Your pastor should be like a shepherd. A shepherd leads the way to the promised land, but your bible is the map. Follow your map to make sure your shepherd is always on the right path. If your pastor veers off the path, you stay on the path with the bible as your guide. Jesus is the way. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the father except through Me.” (John 14:6 NET) A pastor is very important in your walk with God, especially since he or she is called and chosen by God; but they are not infallible. Factually, many pastors would stay out of trouble if they were not treated with the celebrity that many of them receive. The cloth should be honored. It is important to make sure your honor to the cloth is the proper respect without losing the realization that a pastor is still human with faults and frailties too. Having an appropriate attitude toward a pastor is healthy for the office and the parishioners.

Now we understand the Holy Spirit is so great that it can take the bloodline of sinful nature passed down from our first parents, Adam and Eve, and with your submission, bring everything about you that is ungodly into alliance with the Almighty. It is so powerful that it can turn the worst sinner into the best Christian provided he repents of his sins and follows its lead. However, there is still a battle for the mind in every Christian. Satan will not release a Christian from his clutches easily. He will fight for you. His intention is to re-gain control of your mind and you. The battle we as Christians have with Satan is not just for new Christians. It is a lifetime battle that we must fight until the second coming of Christ. Depending on your focus, the battle gets easier as you grow in Godly character. You will overcome sins that used to give you problems. Suddenly you will notice they don’t bother you anymore. You will see yourself progressing in living like Christ. You will experience the joy that comes with being one with He who created all that exists. You will be glad to be a Christian.

The truth of the matter is God is teaching us how to love. Our entire relationship with God is centered around learning to love. First we must learn to love God. Everything starts with God. He is the beginning and the end. If we learn to love in the right order, we will be on our way to perfection as Christians. Most people make the mistake of loving themselves first. If you do this, it will cause you to become selfish. You will be too selfish to love God or others in the right way. Jesus Christ is our perfect example. Let’s look at how He loved. Take into consideration God the Father spoke the word and Jesus Christ performed the action. The Father said. “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26 NET) So Jesus took of the dust of the ground and made the first human man. Notice human beings were made after the God kind. Animals are made after the animal kind. It is important to take note of the fact that when God made people, He had reproducing Himself in mind. We look like Him, except in physical form. He is spiritual. This alone implies God had big plans for humans. The fact is God wanted a family. He desired sons and daughters. We were created to be members of God’s family. Who could ask for anything more? God is the creator of the whole universe. Everything that exists is because He created it. You can’t get any better than God, and yet He wants you to be His relative. God created the heavens and the Earth. He placed the first male human in the garden. God made the Garden of Eden with everything a person could ever want. It was beautiful to behold. It had clean water lakes, rivers and waterfalls. There was nutritious food everywhere. The trees and grass were beautiful green. The air was clean. In contrast, it is just as important what was not in the garden. The Garden of Eden was pollution free: no air, water, soil, traffic or population pollution. Everything was perfect. Some people say the Garden of Eden was in heaven, but the bible mentions some familiar rivers on this Earth and describes the surrounding area of Eden, which implies its location being in the approximate area of Egypt and the Middle East. God showed His love for humans by creating such a beautiful home for Adam and Eve to live. Realize that God had no obligation to do this. He could have created a dump and put Adam and Eve there to live in as their home. Love prompts the Lover to give His best gifts to His beloved. Hence, the Garden of Eden with all its beauty was the dwelling place for the first human beings. Both men and women would agree that God showed His love in the way He constructed each body of the sexes to be attractive to the other. We can see the thought process of women compliments that of men and vice versa. That is God’s love showing. If you meditate on this, you can see how God has shown His love for mankind in so many different ways that are too numerous to count. Most of them we are so used to that we take them for granted. Of course the greatest expression of His love was the sacrifice of Christ. God had every reason to cut us off when we turned against Him for Satan. After He had been such a blessing to Adam and Eve, they still sided with the enemy. Furthermore, it was insulting how Satan went about getting the parents of the human race to sin. His ploy was, “God is lying to keep something good from you.” To even suggest such is preposterous. Yet God didn’t stop loving us. In all this God was setting an example for us to follow His lead. He intends for us to love Him as He has loved us. He wants us to love one another as He has loved us. Our relationship with God is the greatest love story ever told. From Adam all the way up to the second coming of Christ, our love story is being written. The bible refers to the church as the bride of Christ to confirm this love story. Today’s people are a product of generations of the sinful bloodline. We sin. Yet God lovingly causes the sun to rise each morning. Someone blasphemes His name, but God sends the rain to water the crops for us to eat at the harvest and year around. Some call themselves Christian but go behind closed doors and commit evil acts. God sees and forgives. God is teaching us how to love each day. If we study the bible, internalize His word and obey His laws, we can love God according to His will. We can love others with the same commitment in which we love ourselves. God’s love is selfless. Outside of God, we might love, but it is selfish love. In order to please God, we have to love like Him. This requires that we deny ourselves and receive His godly nature. The Holy Spirit is the tool God uses to impart His holy, righteous character to His people. We must receive it willingly and we must continue to daily submit to it after we receive it. Only then can we keep the love of God dwelling in our spirit to lead us to think as God thinks, so we may speak as God speaks, resulting in us living as God lives. It is no forced issue. We can quench the Holy Spirit inside of us by consistent, daily and willful disobedience to God’s word. This will result in the unpardonable sin which cannot be repented of. Don’t worry. If you are concerned about whether or not you have committed the unpardonable sin, that is proof that you have not. For if you committed the unpardonable sin, you would not care if you did. Your entire spirit would reject all that is God. The vast majority of mankind will never reach that point. So even when we sin, which God hates, He is so loving that as long as we repent in sincerity, He always forgives us and gives us another chance to start over with a clean slate.

The Christian’s goal should be to please God everyday. This is achieved through loving conduct toward God and your fellow man. Christians want to please God because we love Him. Therefore, we don’t view keeping God’s laws as a chore. As a Christian you should have a desire to keep God’s laws simply because you know He likes it. Under these circumstances, keeping the ten commandments are not burdensome. The ten commandments are the foundation of the law. The law reveals to us what sin is. Otherwise, we would not be able to distinguish right from wrong. God did not leave it up to us to decide what is right and what is wrong. He told us via the ten commandments. So the ten commandments are necessary because they identify what is sin in the eyes of God. When we obey them, we stay in the righteous way. It is important to know the word of God by internalizing it. The word of God is your sword in battle against the angels of darkness. Demons are fallen angels. They were once good angels, but they turned from God and sided with Satan. Satan was at one time God’s best angel, but his pride and vanity caused him to rebel against his loving Creator. Christians must be cognizant of how Satan works, so we can understand how the Holy Spirit guides us in our effort to defeat him.

For example, many Christians were sexually active before they came into the knowledge of the laws of God against fornication. Depending upon the intensity of your sex drive, after becoming a Christian, you may find your body pulling you to have pre-marital sex again. This is where the Holy Spirit can help you. Previously, when you looked at someone of the opposite sex that attracted you, perhaps you began to lust. Satan would then fill your mind with the necessary thoughts to get you to act upon your lust to lead you into fornication. However, now when you find yourself in this situation, the Holy Spirit will kick in with thoughts of scripture pouring into your mind. You would think of the scriptures that deal with fornication. You would remember the warnings God spoke of in His word. The stories of bible characters will come into your mind who had to deal with this same kind of temptation. You might remember Joseph and how Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. Joseph overcame by leaving the premises. Joseph was very handsome and smart too. He was wealthy. He was a shrewd businessman. Many women find men with those attributes attractive. You might be a Christian man or woman with all or some of the same attributes that Joseph had. People of the opposite sex will approach you with ungodly suggestions. Expect this and prepare to win. The Holy Spirit will only put into your mind what you feed it with. If you don’t study God’s word, how can the Holy Spirit bring the scriptures to your mind? Every Christian is admonished to read the bible, have bible study, pray everyday, meditate on the word of God and fast on occasion. If you do all these things regularly as a way of life, the Holy Spirit will be strong within you. You will be able to defeat any temptation the devil can bring your way. It is also necessary to go to church each week. Christians need to hear sermons, which are the spoken word of God from His ministers. We also need to fellowship with other Christians of like mind. There is strength in numbers. We all need the support we get from our church friends. Whatever problem you have, there is someone in the church who either is going through the same thing or who has been through it and overcome it. So help for you is always available. Nevertheless, be careful who you choose as a friend to confide in, because Satan also encourages some people who are not serious about serving God to come to church just to socialize, hear good music, find a mate, gossip or stir up trouble. Look at the fruit of the people you choose as friends within any church you choose to attend. Once you become familiar with the bible, you should be able to identify the hypocrites from the true children of God. Always choose a church that has a pastor whom you feel comfortable approaching to talk about anything you desire. Pray about everything and ask God to lead you in the right direction and to the right person to help you. God will answer your prayers. Be sincere when you talk to God. Be open to God, knowing that He cares for you. The examples given in the bible often depict a servant of God praying for one hour. My recommendation to every Christian is to pray at least one full hour each day about everything and everybody. It feels good and it brings you closer to God. You will began to feel a kinship with God in time. You will understand why Jesus said call Him “our Father”. Pray to God the Father instead of Jesus. Jesus instructed us to do so. When Jesus was crucified, the moment He died, the veil in the temple was torn into. This means we now have direct access to God the Father. So talk to your dear Father in prayer, knowing that He hears you. It’s a wonderful thing to know that you are a child of the King. Your Father created the whole universe. That makes you pretty special.

Jesus Christ referred to the Holy Spirit as our helper. It helps Christians by bringing the word of God to their remembrance. It also helps you by causing you to feel guilty when you do wrong. The guilt is not to punish you as much as it is to lead you to repentance. God is not willing that anyone should be lost. He desires for everyone to be saved. Even so, He will not force you to do right. He gives us free will to obey Him or to do evil. He informs us of the consequences of either choice. If you end up in the Lake of Fire, God did not throw you in there; you chose to be there. You will have only yourself to blame, because God will do everything He can to save you. However, He needs your cooperation. You can either spend eternity with God in absolute bliss or you can burn up and die in the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is called the second death from which there is no resurrection.

Once we receive God’s Holy Spirit we become members of the God family. Initially we are God’s sons and daughters while on this earthly realm. God’s plan of salvation for all mankind blesses our lives now and in the future. Right now as Christians we can live a guilt free life. We don’t have to wait until the resurrection to be rid of the guilt of sin that we inherited from birth. We are free now. Sin has no power to trap us. Death has lost its sting. The grave has no victory over us because we are God’s children. The process of salvation is similar to our physical transition from our mother’s womb. First, the baby is conceived by the union of the sperm and ovum. Likewise, when we sincerely repent of all our sins and ask God to give us His Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is conceived within our spirit. We then have God’s seed within us. We become His children at that moment just as a fetus is the child of his mother while inside her womb. Baptism represents the dying of the old man of sin and the resurrection into the newness of life. This is why the correct method of baptism is to be completely immersed into the water as a liquid grave, and then pulled back up; signifying the resurrection from the dead. Secondly, the baby is nourished by the mother’s body due to its attachment to the mother. As long as the baby stays within the mother’s womb, it will grow and be cared for. Similarly, a Christian is connected to Christ via the Holy Spirit. We nourish the Holy Spirit by feeding it the word of God. The church acts as a mother to God’s children. Christians must read the bible regularly for spiritual food. The pastor of your church is responsible for shepherding you down the narrow path of righteousness. The church should be a great support group for every Christian. Each Christian is responsible for studying the bible so they will have the necessary knowledge to ascertain whether any minister is preaching truth or teaching them correctly. Our walk with God requires prayer asking Him to keep us on the right path daily and to reveal anything to us that we need to know to be successful in our relationship with Him. Your prayers can enhance your understanding of the bible when you ask for the right things with a sincere heart. As long as a Christian stays within the right environment via the church and has avid bible study, they will grow and be cared for. Thirdly, the baby is born. During childbirth, the fetus emerges from its mother’s womb. It is strong enough now to make it on its own. The baby has reached its destiny. Correspondingly, a Christian will emerge from this physical life into a spiritual life at the second coming of Christ. We will have reached our destiny. At that time we will not only be children of God but He will make us kings and priests too. God has big plans for us. His plan of salvation for Christians is exceedingly, abundantly above all we can ask or think.

God is creating a Holy nation and a royal priesthood via His Holy Spirit. We are His sheep. We are His children. We are His servants. God plays many roles in our lives. Jesus Christ is now sitting at the right hand of God the Father as our great High Priest and Savior. In the Old Testament the priests administered the sacrificing of animals for the sins of the children of Israel. Now when we sin, Jesus Christ’s blood serves as remission for all our sins. Jesus Christ created all people. Therefore, when He died one time on the cross and shed His blood for our sins, His sacrifice is enough to cover the sins of all people throughout eternity. God the Father resurrected Jesus from the dead so that we too could follow His lead and be resurrected when Christ returns to this Earth for his church. God has an ingenious plan to save us. When you meditate on the depth of God’s plan of salvation for all mankind, you will find it so complete, so extensive that it is mind boggling. The human mind simply cannot contain it.

At the second coming of Christ every Christian will receive their reward. We all who endure until the end will receive salvation, but our rewards depend on our level of accomplishments. Some Christians will have a higher rank than others because they lived a higher quality of life. Jesus depicted this in a few of His parables. The parable of the sower of seeds displays the true Christians who endure until the end as the seed that fell upon the good ground. Notice they all feel on good ground where they could produce, but they produced different amounts of fruit. Jesus Christ will look at your life and give you the reward you earned based on how you lived this life. Some Christians will receive the thirty-fold reward. Others will receive the sixty-fold reward, but the ones who really applied themselves and lovingly committed to pleasing God will receive the hundred-fold reward.

The Holy Spirit will try to get you to the hundred-fold level, but it can only succeed if you consistently submit to it by rejecting your own desires when they are contrary to what God wants for you. Jesus Christ set the example when he was about to be seized for crucifixion. He sweated drops of blood due to the tremendous stress He was under. He prayed to Father God asking could the plan of salvation be accomplished some way other than Him having to go through the agony of the cross. He didn’t want to suffer the severe punishment if He didn’t have to, but He was willing to if there was no other way. So He said “not as I will, but Father let your will be done“. We as Christians must strive to have this attitude in all things. It requires that we consistently give up our selfishness throughout our lifetime and that is the hardest thing for a human being to do. However, if we succeed in doing it, we will produce the hundred-fold fruit and can look forward to receiving the hundred-fold blessing as our reward when we see Christ again.

All people are born in sin. We cannot avoid that due to the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve when they fell in the Garden of Eden. God created His creatures to produce their own kind so we received our sin nature through our bloodline. Nevertheless, God loved us so much that He comprised an ingenious plan to save us from our sins and create a holy nation and a chosen generation. God desired to have a family. He wanted children. Therefore, He created the human race in His own image and after His likeness. He knew we had to develop holy, righteous character in order to be like Him, so He made us physical first; with the potential to become spiritual. Consequently if we rejected Him and chose to be evil, we would die. On the other hand, if we received Him, obeyed His laws and developed His character, He would make us immortal like Him. God’s tremendous plan of salvation for all mankind involves blessing anyone who chooses to become His child (when they repent of their sins and receive His Holy Spirit) with eternal life in bliss in His glorious kingdom. Jesus Christ the son of God, our high priest and savior, died for us so we could live like Him. His Holy Spirit eradicates our sinful nature and gives us Godly nature. Now we are truly God’s children. Christ will return to this Earth for us. God will have His family and we will have joy for all eternity. Hallelujah!

BIBLE STUDY TOPIC: Is Having More Than One Wife a Sin?

     There are religions that teach that men can have multiple wives. Others teach that monogamy is the only relationship for marriage. I want to tell the truth about this subject from every angle to get to the bottom of the matter, so the God of the bible can be revealed.      
     The best place to start is at the beginning. God doesn't do anything without a purpose and anytime God commands you to do something, He gives you the ability to get the job done. God is just and fair. In the book of Genesis, we see God created us in His own image and after His likeness. Adam was created first. Now came the time for man to have a help meet that was comparable to him. So God put Adam, the man, to sleep, took out his rib and formed woman. Adam said "she is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones". Genesis 2:23  Read Genesis 1:26-28 Notice it says "God said, Let Us make man in Our image and after Our likeness and let THEM HAVE DOMINION..." Realize it DOESN'T say let HIM (Adam) have dominion, it says let THEM (Adam and Eve) have dominion. The word man in this scripture is referring to both men and women having dominion over all things in the Earth. God was putting Eve on an equal level with Adam. In the Strong's concordance you will find the word man in this scripture means "a human being". Look it up for yourself. It is number 120 in the Hebrew dictionary part of Strong's concordance. 
     I have heard some ministers say woman was not made in the image of God. That is a lie. Both men and women are made in God's image. So anyone who says women are not equal to men is lying. God said woman is equal to man. It is important to get the equality of men and women straight from the beginning, because many cultures teach that a woman is less than a man and that is why women are treated with disrespect. They are reduced to the level of merchandise to be bought, sold or traded, as if they are not even human in some instances. Obviously, this is contrary to the way God initially established the relationship between men and women. So Genesis 1:26 proves that God created woman to have equal dominion over all the things in the Earth with man.  
     Adam named his wife Eve, because she is mother of ALL LIVING. Genesis 3:20 God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Genesis 1:28 Now let's make an observation. Both Adam and Eve are equal in the eyes of God. God gave Adam just one wife. God told Adam and Eve to replenish the Earth, not just the Garden of Eden, not just the city of Jerusalem, not just the state of Israel, but the whole entire planet. God is wise. Knowing that He told Adam and Eve to populate the Earth, He still only gave Adam one wife. If any man ever had an excuse for having multiple wives, it was Adam, considering he was commanded to populate the Earth. Yet, an intelligent God gave him just one wife to get the job done. Now, if Adam didn't need more than one wife, neither does any other man. Actions speak louder than words. God established the marriage relationship to be monogamous. That's action. God could have given Adam many wives, BUT HE DID NOT. We also know that God didn't create other wives for Adam that are not recorded in the bible, because Adam said Eve was the mother of "all living".  So that destroys the argument that people use saying polygamy was needed to populate the Earth to keep the human race from becoming extinct. Adam did not need more than one wife to populate the Earth or God would have given him many wives and He didn't. Adam and Eve had more children, which were not mentioned by name in the bible. Adam and Eve's sons had to marry their sisters. Brothers and sisters were allowed to marry, until the Earth was populated enough for that not to be necessary anymore.
     The first mention of polygamy was Lamech, who took two wives. Genesis 4:19-24 Notice what kind of man he was. Pompous and prideful, he felt he was too good to settle for one woman, so he had to have two. This same attitude is what drives the other men who follow his example of having multiple wives. 
     The Earth had a worldwide flood. A preacher of righteousness, named Noah, built the Ark to save the lives of the male and female of each kind of animal, along with him, his wife, his three sons and their three wives. Again, notice each of the men in the Ark only had ONE WIFE. So the world we now live in was initially populated by monogamy. God again set the example at the beginning with monogamous marriages.
     Abraham was a righteous man who was called the father of the faithful and a friend of God. He had one wife. God promised him that he would make his descendents as numerous as the stars. Sarah, his wife, was barren. Abraham and his wife waited over ten years for God to keep His promise for Sarah to have a child, but nothing happened. In desperation, Sarah decided to give her handmaid to Abraham as a wife to bear a child through her. Genesis 16:1-9 THIS WAS NOT GOD'S WILL. Hagar, Sarah's handmaid gave birth to Abraham's firstborn son, Ishmael. Now Abraham had two wives. They just about drove Abraham crazy. You can read the story about the headaches and heartaches Abraham received from having more than one wife. These women fought and fussed for about fifteen years, until Isaac was born to Sarah. Genesis 21:1-12 Abraham divorced Hagar and sent her away by command of God. Now Abraham had just ONE wife. Genesis 23:2 Years later, after Sarah's death, Abraham married Keturah. Genesis 25:1 Later, Abraham died. Genesis 25:8 The life of Abraham shows us that God will allow us to make mistakes. We will suffer for our mistakes. Having more than one wife is not as glamourous as it is made out to be. Polygamy is a sin. The men who advocate polygamy say, "well God still blessed Abraham even though he had more than one wife." God also blesses us today even though we sin. Look at the sin in this world. God has every reason to destroy the world now, but we are still here and doing well. God sends a message to everyone who sins. "I will not let you mock Me. You will reap what you sow." Galatians 6:7
     Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived in pagan lands where people served idol gods. These governments had laws permitting a man to have multiple wives, but we can see from the beginning that God did not establish it to be so. However, just like in today's society, God's people were erroneously influenced by the people in the land where they dwelt. That is why God consistently told His people not to marry outside of their religion and not to seek to do things the way the heathen did. Abraham and Jacob had more than one wife, but both men only wanted one wife. Abraham's wife in desperation to have a son, told him to take a second wife and Jacob was initially deceived by his father in law to marry two wives. Afterwards, his two wives in desperation to have children, told him to take an additional wife for each. Isaac only had one wife for all his lifetime. May you be blessed like Isaac and Rebekah! Some righteous men did marry according to what God estabished at the beginning, but others did not. Jacob also suffered the heartaches and headaches that come with having multiple wives. Genesis chapters 29 and 30 has his story of unpeace in his home. Jacob's son, Joseph became Head of Egypt, so the Hebrews settled there. After the death of Joseph, a Pharoah emerged who decided to enslave the Hebrews for about 400 years. 
     Moses was called by God to deliver the Hebrews and make of them a nation to be known as Israel, named after Jacob, Abraham's grandson. Now Israel was becoming an independent nation and was beginning to establish its own laws. Some Egyptians became afraid when God caused the plagues to come upon Egypt and they converted to the true God of Israel. They left Egypt with the Hebrews. Exodus 12:37-38 Some of them already had multiple wives. While in Egypt, the Hebrews were slaves. The marriage of slaves have to be treated differently from the marriages of freemen, because slaves are considered property paid for by their master. Some strong male slaves were given more than one female slave to breed with, in the hopes that his genes would produce more strong male slaves. A male slave's wife could be sold to another master. Each of his children could be sold to different masters. Slavery breaks up marriages and causes problems in families. Some male slaves were given multiple wives by their Egyptian master. The master could do whatever he wanted with his slaves. God had to deal with these pre-existing circumstances when the children of Israel became a nation. Keep in mind that women were not treated as equals to men; even though God established them to be so from the beginning. Basically, a woman was either 1)single and living with her father 2)married and living with her husband as a full time housewife or 3)practicing prostitution. Women did not have rights. Each woman was dependent on some man in her life. Every married man was the sole provider for his wife and children. Every father had to support his daughter until she was married. If her father died, the oldest son in the family or next male of kin had to support her. The only independent women were the prostitutes. So God had to make laws to deal with the men who were given multiple wives while they were slaves to the Egyptians. The women who were taken as the second or additional wives had to be protected. If monogamy was enforced, the additional wives would have had to be put away with no place to go. Men preferred to marry a virgin. Once a woman was married, being no longer a virgin; if she was put away by her husband, it was difficult for her to find another husband. If her father couldn't afford to take her back into his house, she was forced into prostitution for survival.  
     Some of the Hebrews learned a trade while working under their master in Egypt. They used their skills to start a business. Some were carpenters, locksmiths, tent makers, jewelry makers etc., but other slaves never acquired a skill to earn a living. All they could do was labor, so they sold themselves to other Hebrews to be slaves. Some parents sold their children to be slaves to their kinsmen. 
     After the Israelites left Egypt, God gave them laws regarding servitude. No Hebrew could force his kinsman to be a slave for life. If you bought a Hebrew slave, because he was your kinsman, you had to limit his servitude to you for no more than seven years. Exodus 21:1-11 Some men would buy a female slave and decide to marry her. Later, they  would marry a freewoman too. So God had to deal with that problem by making a law to protect the female slave. Because a slave is considered property paid for by the master, it was impossible to keep the master from having sex with his female slaves. Again, God does not advocate polygamy, but He had to make laws to deal with these consequential conditions. Unfortunately, after these laws regarding protecting multiple wives in servitude were established by God in Exodus 21:1-11, Moses also established more laws in Deuteronony 21:10-17 because some of the freemen Israelites began to take more than one wife too; even marrying women from enemy lands. 
     God hates slavery. The Israelites had been slaves for 400 years and He freed them. God doesn't want ANY RACE of people to be slaves. Deuteronomy 23:15-16 Slavery and polygamy are man made relationships inspired by Satan. God allows people to do wrong. He also allows people to suffer for the wrong that they do. You would think that the children of Israel would detest slavery, after having been slaves themselves for 400 years; but what did they do? They started selling themselves as slaves to their kinsmen. Slavery had become a part of their system. It had taken over their minds. Therefore, shortly after God freed them from being slaves to the Egyptians, they sold themselves into slavery to their countrymen. Monogamy could not be enforced until slavery was abolished.
     One of the favorite examples that men who practice polygamy like to use as an excuse for having multiple wives is David and his son Solomon. For David, they say 2Samuel 12:7-8 says God "blessed" David with his master's wives; therefore they claim God is for polygamy, but if you read that scripture, it is saying God gave David the kingdom that he promised to take from Saul. Saul had multiple wives; so as his successor, David inherited those wives, the throne and the nations that Saul ruled. God told David if these things had not been enough, He would have given him other blessings too. (such and such things) It doesn't say God would have given David more wives, as the men who advocate polygamy claim that it says. 1King 11:1-3 As far as Solomon is concerned, he had one thousand wives and concubines, but read the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon is the author of this book and he appears to be contemplating suicide. He is very depressed and feels like life has no meaning. Ecclesiastes 2:7-10 Solomon had all the beautiful women in the world to satisfy his sexual appetites. He was handsome, powerful, the wealthiest man in the world, had a charming personality and all the material possessions one could want; yet despite having all his multiple wives he said, "All is Vanity" signifying nothing. He has a message for all the men who think multiple wives is so exciting. Read it: Ecclesiastes 12:13  
     There are some women who have been brainwashed into thinking they are doing God's will by allowing themselves to be one of the wives of a man who has multiple wives. These men are filled with pride and lust. Malachi 2:13-15 The apostle Paul has a message for the wives of polygamists. 2Timothy 3:2-7 Ironically, the men in the bible who had more than one wife were the sole supporter of all their wives and their children. A man could only have as many wives as he could afford to feed and clothe etc. I find it ludicrous that the modern polygamist can't even afford the lifestyle they claim the bible gives them the right to enjoy. Abraham, David, Jacob and Solomon had the money to take care of all the women and children they had, without sending their wives out to work to help them take care of their other wives. Now, if the men today want multiple wives and they want to use the bible to justify it, why aren't they the sole providers of their household, like the men in the bible were? You see the hypocrisy in these men. They try to twist God's word to convince everyone that they are righteous in having multiple wives, yet they aren't faithful to the lifestyle as depicted in the bible by being the sole provider for their family. The man is the head of the family. Yet, they throw their responsibility to support the family on the women, enabling themselves a lifestyle they know they cannot afford.  
     Finally, the strongest proof that having more than one wife is a sin are the laws of God. God's laws supercede culture and time. When you have to break God's laws to engage in a relationship or activity, you are sinning and that relationship or activity is sinful. The multiple wives lifestyle is laden with pride, selfishness, lust, coveting and adultery.     
     When you are trying to figure out whether something is against God's will or not, you have to first know God. God is His word and His character is revealed in His laws. Jesus said the ten commandments are the foundation of the law and the prophets. All of God's laws are based on the ten commandments. With that in mind, let's look at the "many wives" lifestyle. 
     A man who is married to one woman and seeks to take another wife is already in violation of the seventh commandment. Jesus said, "if a man looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery in his heart." Need I say more? Any woman who looks at a married man and desires to be his wife is in violation of the tenth commandment which states, "you shall not covet ANYTHING that is your neighbor's." A man belongs to his wife and a woman belongs to her husband. Case closed. Therefore, the polygamous lifestyle is a lifestyle based on sin. Sin is the transgression of God's law. Breaking any of the ten commandments is a sin. Polygamy is a sin. Having multiple wives, plural marriages, multiple marriages etc. is a sin. 
     Can you honestly say that lust and pride are not the underlying reasons for a man to want more than one wife? For certain, lust and pride ARE the reasons for such! Is lust a sin? Yes. Is pride a sin? Definitely. James 1:14-15 Psalms 59:12
     Let's take it even futher. Do you think the first wife really wants  her husband to have another wife? Absolutely not! Wanting something and going along with it because you feel like you have to, are two different things. If you have ever been in love with someone, you know how you would feel if that person became intimate with anybody other than you. So the "many wives" lifestyle is based on selfishness, which is a sin. The man who practices it, doesn't care about his wife's feelings. As long as he is having fun, he could care less if she is hurting. That is not true love. Therefore, the lifestyle is not based on true love. The lifestyle is also based on hypocrisy. For an example, just ask any man who has more than one wife, since he has more than one wife, if his wife can have more than one husband, and see his reaction. I guarantee you, he will become highly indignant and emphatically tell you, "NO, she cannot!" That's hypocritical; he can issue it out, but he can't take it. He doesn't want to bear the pain that it brings, yet he can put his wife through it and think nothing of it. See the pride and insensitivity in that attitude. He sees himself as more important than his wife. He degrades women.
     So we can clearly see that the "more than one wife" lifestyle is indeed sinful and therefore against God's will. God does not want us to sin. God is against sin. Sin not repented of will lead you to the Lake of Fire. 
     God permitted men having multiple wives in the Old Testament because He inherited that problem when the Hebrews came out of slavery from the Egyptians. Some of the Egyptian masters had given their Hebrew male slaves more than one wife for breeding. Other Hebrews sold themselves to their kinsmen as slaves because they didn't have a trade to earn a living after leaving Egypt. Also, some of the Egyptians converted to serving the true God of Israel, after they saw the plagues come upon Egypt. They left Egypt with the Hebrews and brought their multiple wives with them. God couldn't throw the women who were additional wives out in the street, so He simply made laws to protect the women from being abused in the marriage. The righteous men in the bible who had many wives were basically living a righteous life, but they committed the sin of polygamy, which they were punished for. Therefore, they received the blessings for living righteously overall, but they suffered for their sin of polygamy.
     God has given you the freedom to choose to do right or to sin. It's up to you. However, He tells you that you will reap what you sow. 
     It's true, in the Old Testament, some righteous men had multiple wives, and they were SINNING WHEN THEY DID IT. Having more than one wife is a sin. The bible gives direct instructions in the New Testament that a man is only to have one wife. 1Timothy 3:2 and 1Timothy 3:12 Once you read all of the qualifications for these church leaders, you will realize all Christians are to have these qualities, not just the church leaders. However, the church leaders are required to have these qualities on a higher level than the other Christians. So all Christians are to have only one wife or husband.     

BIBLE STUDY TOPIC: Does God Exist?

BIBLE STUDY TOPIC: Are People Burning in Hell for Eternity?

BIBLE STUDY TOPIC: Church Offices and Qualifications

      There are offices in the church which people in leadership roles occupy for service. The bible gives us guidelines to follow when appointing individuals to these positions of authority. Churches must stay within the parameters of God's word to choose the right quality of people to oversee the flock.
     Failure to do so has caused numerous problems in some ministries. As a result, the church as a whole has suffered a loss of respect in the minds of some people. Clergymen have been exposed in the news as pedophiles, sex addicts, thieves, adulterers, homosexuals and even for fathering children out of wedlock. These things should not be. The church belongs to God. God has charged that there is a difference between the clean and the unclean. Ezekiel 22:26, Ezekiel 44:23 You cannot live an unclean life and still be clean. God requires His people to be clean whether they are in leadership roles or just members of the body. We are to live a clean and wholesome life.
     People in leadership positions in the church have an even greater requirement to live holy. Let's review the biblical qualifications of the major offices and positions in all the churches that respect God as their Head.
     1Corinthians 12:28 tells us the structure of the church offices in the order of rank. The apostles are the highest ranking individuals in the church. An apostle basically oversees the church to be sure everything is being done according to the word of God. The apostle has tremendous responsibility and must have the knowledge to serve in all the lesser positions when in church planting endeavors. When an apostle plants a church, he starts off with nothing but the word of God. He has to organize a means for a gathering of the people to form a church. Many of the apostles in the bible used their power to perform miracles, signs and wonders to bring the people into the church. Acts 5:12-16 In fact, the apostle Paul cited miracle working power via the holy spirit as a necessary qualification to be an apostle. 2Corinthians 12:12 It is a "sign" of an apostle. Apostles must be able to work miracles and handle all the responsibilities of a church from top to bottom. Apostles perform miralces, signs and wonders via the power of the Holy Spirit.There are false ministers who can perform miracles, but they do it through sorcery, which is demonic. Don't be fooled. God's ministers have righteous character and are committed to obeying God's laws as defined in the bible. As the top leader in the church, apostles have to be able to serve in any capacity that needs to be filled until they can appoint someone who meets the biblical qualifications for said office . It is their responsibility to make everything run decently and in order. Apostles have the power to appoint others to church offices because they are charged with building the church. They must grow the church. They must check up on the people holding other offices in the church to be sure they are meeting the criteria of carrying out the responsibilites of their position in the church adequately. Apostles are responsible for correction of anyone who is not exemplifying a righteous lifestyle according to the word of God. The word of God teaches removal of anyone who refuses to live within the laws of God. 1Corinthians 5:9-13 Of course this is not popular in today's world, but many churches have strayed away from God by adjusting themselves to be pleasing to the world, rather than abiding by the word of God. An apostle should be interested in growing the church, but not at the expense of sacrificing the laws of God. Keeping the laws of God is more important than increasing in numbers. An apostle must remember that it is God who gives the increase and not the apostle's efforts. In summary, an apostle is responsible for every aspect of the function of the church from its inception to its operations and the execution of its administration.
     The second highest position is prophet. The main function of a prophet is to deliver a specific message to the people that he received from God. Judges 6:8 All throughout the bible prophets were sent by God to tell the people what to do and what was going to happen in the future. Prophets receive special revelations from God regarding the divine message they are to give to God's people. God is perfect and cannot make a mistake. Therefore the message of the prophet is infallible. Some prophets also have the power to perform miracles. A true prophet sent by God can be identified because everything he prophesy must come to pass 100%. He cannot be wrong even once. This is how to tell a true prophet from a false one. All prophets of God obey His laws. Sometimes God sends His prophets to give a peculiar message to a nation and other times it can be to one individual. In summary, a prophet lives a righteous life according to God's laws. He receives a divine revelation from God to give a particular message to a group or an individual to do a certain thing; or he reveals what is going to happen in the future.   
     The offices of teacher, pastor, bishop, evangelist etc. are the third highest rank in the church. Ministers that hold these offices are responsible for administering the word of God to the people. Pastors and bishops commit to a certain church that they head. They perform the duties for that church body much like a C.E.O. does in a business. An evangelist usually does not commit to one church, but either travels to preach from church to church or incorporates a way to reach the masses of people with the word of God. A teacher is the same as a pastor, but has a much smaller group which usually meets in a home or private facility. 1Timothy 3:1-13 All ministers of God live a wholesome life. A deacon assists the pastor in the operations of the church.
     Everyone God calls to serve in an office in His church must be a believer in the word of God and practice obeying all His laws. They must view the bible as true and acknowledge it as God's word. They must be of high moral character. Leaders in the church have to be the best in the body of the church.
     In order to lead you must be better than the ones you lead. You have to know more than average about the word of God and you should have the experience in the application of God's word to your life so as to be able to instruct others in how to apply God's word to their life in a way that pleases God and edifies the church. Leadership roles in the church are important and carry a lot of responsibility in the eyes of God. Ministers set the direction in which the church will go and must be led by God.  AG