Mankind Required to Choose

Next Part Receiving Spiritual Knowledge

Once Adam and Eve were given a foundational level of knowledge and education, circumstances almost immediately required them to make a choice. They would be held accountable for their choice.

While 6,000 years have passed, nothing has changed for those of this generation—and for you who are reading this book. We too must choose. Let’s consider their choice and ours.

Consider this direct instruction to our original parents: “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the TREE OF LIFE also in the midst of the garden, and the TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL” (Gen. 2:8-9).

It is important to repeat that God warned Adam that eating of the second tree would bring death. Notice again: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). God explained, “...for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return” (Gen 3:19). The choice was clear and the original parents of mankind had no excuse for claiming that they did not understand it. This well-known—but little-understood—account in the Garden of Eden holds an absolutely vital key, unlocking all that is wrong with the world today—including why its misuse of sex.

The account records that Adam and Eve made a fateful—and ultimately disastrous—choice. Genesis 3:1-24 next records this: “Now the serpent [Satan] was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made” (Gen 3:1).

The world is ignorant of an enormous truth overarching everything that happens among the nations. Revelation 12:9 states, “Satan...deceives the whole world.” II Corinthians 4:4 adds to this that he is “the god of this world.” These passages reveal the devil to be cunning, clever—and very subtle in manner—which is what made him so effective in his appeal to Eve. Satan’s role will be discussed at some length here. (I have written various booklets explaining much more about the prehistory of this great fallen spirit being, his methods and devices, and his influence on civilization.)

Continuing with the Genesis account: “And he said unto the woman, Yes, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said unto the woman, You shall NOT surely die” (Gen 4:1-4).

The devil lied to Eve. Not only did she believe him but she was also able to lead Adam into sin with her. Satan told them, “You shall not die”—in other words, “you have immortal souls.” This same cunning serpent has been lying to mankind ever since!—and it has continued believing him!

Satan continued, “For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (Gen 4:5-7).

The devil got these first two human beings to reject—to disbelieve!—God’s warning in Genesis 2:16-17. His deceit brought these adult children to believe that they no longer needed to listen to their Parent. Human nature entered. Thrust from the garden, they were forced to fend for themselves.

Satan convinced Adam and Eve that they could become “gods” (the Hebrew used here is also Elohim) by appealing to their human pride—their vanity. He convinced them that their minds were complete apart from God. Seduced by false arguments, they believed him and took God’s prerogative to define right and wrong for themselves. Their initially perfect human minds became corrupted by vanity, which seized them and changed their thinking to believe that they were above receiving instruction from God.

Fateful Decision

The Genesis 3:1-24 account represents a truly fateful decision. Mankind—in the person of Adam and Eve—was faced with a great choice between God’s Way, which leads to eternal life, or the devil’s, which leads to death.

Human beings are not born instinctively knowing everything necessary to operate successfully throughout their lives. They must acquire ever more knowledge as they grow older and as more demands are placed upon them.

All knowledge that men may obtain falls into two categories: (1) the physical knowledge of how to work with matter and physical things, and (2) the spiritual knowledge necessary to develop personal relationships with both God and their fellow man. All knowledge is either physical or spiritual in nature. There are no other categories . All physical knowledge is acquired through the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. People understand that they must acquire a certain amount of useful knowledge and keep adding to it throughout their lives. They must master one or more skills en route to a career. They must learn to eat, ride a bike, play a piano, drive a nail, cut the grass, get dressed, drive a car, and many other things. To function as adults requires a vast array of different kinds of physical knowledge. Of course, this is not hard to understand. Most adults recognize that no one can succeed in life without a certain amount of basic knowledge. Today, people need more knowledge than ever to survive in an increasingly complex world.

But there is a hidden problem in all of this—and it is big! The physical knowledge that we have described has not been sufficient—or of the RIGHT KIND—for mankind to be able to solve the great problems afflicting all the nations of the world. For instance, man is utterly incapable of achieving world peace, wiping out famine and hunger, eradicating disease, correcting the fundamental errors of modern education, or successfully addressing and defeating global warming. These are but a few of the many kinds of global troubles and challenges that the greatest thinkers on earth have been at a loss to overcome—to truly permanently solve.

Far-reaching Result

After God created Adam and Eve, we saw that He presented them with an all-important choice—a critical decision to take one of two clear paths set before them.

We also saw that Genesis 3:1-8 contains the account of Adam and Eve’s fateful decision. Again—and this is infinitely more than a bedtime Bible story—they listened to the serpent and chose the wrong tree! This wrong decision carried grave implications far beyond what most today could even begin to dream. By not choosing the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve cut themselves off from the Spirit of God. They were left incomplete, totally incapable of receiving, understanding or forming spiritual thoughts. They cut themselves off from the vitally important MISSING DIMENSION to spiritual understanding of God’s purpose—to the path of character-building and to the correct solutions to humanity’s problems.

Here is what happened next: “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:22-24).

God denied Adam and Eve access to His presence in their lives and access to His Spirit. While this was never His intention, it is the result of the choice they made. God originally intended to give this first couple His Spirit—His very Divine Nature. His Spirit would have joined with the spirit in man to form a newly begotten life in each of them—and in all mankind to follow.

Comprehend this central point of God’s purpose. He still intends that all human beings ultimately receive His Holy Spirit. He wants this Spirit to eventually enter every mind. Now let’s learn what role this additional spirit component plays, and how it works with the separate spirit in man that exists in all human beings.

Here is what the apostle Paul wrote: “THE SPIRIT [the Holy Spirit] itself bears witness with OUR SPIRIT [spirit in man], that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17).