I believe this to be the most controversial subject within the religious and Christian community and that is a understatement. It is my prayer that, as you are reading this, it will stir up some unrest in you that you may consider if you are participating in a life style that is harming you in any way. You will notice that I have made a distinction between religion verses Christianity. Religion is any system of belief in worship ritual or anything that induces one to devotion or dedication to any thing that has no vital living relationship with Jesus Christ. Let’s not be naive, if you look at this definition, there are many things being sought after in this way by many people. Christianity is a word in it self. It means, a follower of a living Jesus and what He tells us to do.

Over the many years that I have heard the gospel, there have been more teachings on sin and different types of sin, and how they are manifested in our lives to the point of sickening repetition. Even though what they are saying is obvious and true, we have to deal with the core of sin and its origin, not with the fruits of it.

The word for sin in the Greek is harmatano: meaning, erring, missing the mark, losing our allotment and not sharing in a prize. There are many references in the bible on the fruits of sin. We will refer to what Paul the Apostle says about it, as he talks to the Galatians people in chapter 5:19-21 “now the works or fruits of the flesh that become obvious are, immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger ill temper, selfishness, divisions, party spirits, sects with peculiar opinions, (meaning heresies) envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

The definitions of these can be defined much further because; we are constantly being tempted to surrender our freedom by not seeing ourselves as God sees us as pure in His sight.

It has been preached and taught in too many areas of so-called Christian settings, that if you have these things operating in your life, you can’t go to heaven and live with God in eternity. This interpretation is so far from the truth that at times, as I hear and see this belief being taught and operating in Christians lives, it just makes me grieved and disgusted. This is nothing more then false interpretation of scripture. It is necessary that the Holy Spirit takes us back through our false teachings and erases the blackboards of our hearts, so He can put truth back into our thinking processes. I have found it so much easier to reach non-saved people, who have no preconceived ideas, and they will receive the Lord into their hearts and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord because of their non-religious beliefs.

When we accepted Jesus in to our hearts, we have already received a down payment of our inheritance. Therefore, while we are now in our mortal bodies, we need to be functioning God’s inheritance that He has given us. The kingdom of God starts the day you make Jesus your Savior. This concept of starting to receive our inheritance when we die and go to heaven is not scripturally based. When we get to heaven, we will then receive our full inheritance, which is the new body that we will receive for eternity. God made us to be rewarded daily. By making us believe that we have to wait until we get to heaven to be rewarded, it robs us of the spiritual strength and intense passion we need to live the Christian life in God’s love and favor now.

This concept of sinning began back in the Garden of Eden. In Genesis chapter 2 and 3: God told Adam that he could enjoy all the trees in the Garden, but of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he could not eat. If he did, he would surely die. The story goes on to say that, a serpent came to Eve and tempted her to eat from this tree. She said to the serpent. “God said if we eat from the tree or even touch it we would surely die.” The serpent said, “you won’t die, but you will be (as gods,) knowing good and evil.” She swallowed the bait, ate, and got her husband to eat. The serpent told her the truth when he told her that her eyes would be open and she would know the difference between good and evil. However, he did lie when he told her she would be like God because, she was already like God and didn’t know it. What really happened, her and Adam became a god unto themselves. The word serpent is defined in the Hebrew as a whisper, magical spell or being enchanted. We know that these are the characteristics of Satan and we need to know how he tries to operate in our lives, so we can identify his tactics. What happened was Eve didn’t recognize who was talking to her and in reality; she was having a séance with Satan.

They erred and disobeying God by eating from this tree, but when they ate, they became infected with the disease that causes sin. God never wanted His creation to have a sin conscious awareness of right and wrong in their lives, and know that there was a Devil and his ways of evil.

They did not die physically, but their soul was contaminated. In chapter 2 of Genesis, it says that when God made Adam from the dust of the ground, He breathed into him a healthy and perfect living soul. He had healthy thinking and a total receptive capacity to receive and enjoy his relationship with God. He had no concept of guilt and saw himself as God saw him, perfect and complete. Before this atrocity took place, it was natural and customary for Adam and Eve to walk with God in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. Cool of the day does not mean when it cooled off in the afternoon.

The word for cool in the Hebrew is RUWACH: a Spirit presence like a wind or breathe that would weave back and forth into their beings. Adam lived with an overwhelming anticipation when God showed up. Their oneness and openness in the Spirit gave Adam a quick understanding of God’s thoughts. He was totally naked in God’s sight and he was unashamed. God intentions have not changed. He wants the same relationship with us today. When Adam ate from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and disobeyed God, he decided to take fig leaves, sow them together, and make aprons for Eve and himself to cover their shame and nakedness. When God showed up, he hid. God said “Adam where are you?” Adam answered, “I was naked, I heard the sound of you walking in the Garden, and I was afraid, so I hid myself.” God said, “Who told you, you were naked? Did you eat from the tree I told you not to eat from?” Adam said, “The woman you gave me made me eat from it.” God then said to the woman. “What have you done?” Eve said, “The serpent outwitted and deceived me and I ate.”

Here is where the problem starts. The first thing that happened, they shifted the responsibility by not taking responsibility for their actions. They hid in the darkness and focused on their shame and for the first time they were aware of their nakedness. They didn’t want to come clean and trust God’s forgiving grace and love. You will also notice that God asked Adam “who told you, you were naked.” Since they now had the disease of being aware of good and evil, they were now susceptible to being condemned by the Devil. I hope we realize where condemnation comes from. The scripture tells us that he is the accuser of the brethren. If Adam and Eve would have run to the Lord and confessed their disobedience, God would have forgiven them and it would have been over. We have the same tendencies to hide from God and handle our own deficiencies the same way today.

Since we inherited our fallen nature from Adam, the only way we could be restored back to God was to become born again receive the finished work of Jesus dying on the cross. Scripture tells us that the blood He shed on the cross washes away our sin and restores our capacity to interact with Him because He becomes our life. Our soul still needs constant care and protection, because, it is susceptible to being contaminated and influenced by stinking thinking and false interpretation of scripture. When this happens, there are things taught and said that put a doubt in our thinking of how much God really loves us. I call them, conditional love themes.

Now if we received our fallen diseased nature from Adam, whom did Adam receive his nature from after he disobeyed God? Pretty obvious, who else but Satan himself. Scripture tells us that Satan had one of the loftiest places in the kingdom of God, because he was in charge of worship in the heavenly realm. He decided that he was more powerful then God and because of pride he revolted against Him and he was cast out of heaven with many more who decided to follow him. This word pride means to be swelled up with self. Be come high minded and arrogant. In another words, he thought he had arrived and didn’t need God anymore.

Let’s try to describe, what an atrocity really took place when we inherited our fallen nature from Adam our grrrrrrrrrrrreat.... Grandfather. I have never in the forty years that I have endeavored to walk in the admonition of the Lord, heard so much noise and confusion as I have in the spiritual world today. You can understand why so many people today want to talk to psychics and have séances with the dead and search into spiritual concepts as never before. The pressures of life are so great and uncertain and the need is so great, that people are looking everywhere to escape from intolerable conditions and trying to hide their condition in all manner of self-indulged pleasures. Therefore, we see everybody making up all their fig leaf aprons as Adam to cover their nakedness and shame. This is the disease that we are talking about; it’s focusing our attention on self and us finding our own ways of delivering ourselves and planning our own lives. It’s pride, the core of the fruits of sin in its many grotesque forms and disguises. As long as we continue to focus on the fruits of sin, the more shame we will live in and we will be focusing on our lack, deficiencies and see our nakedness.

Sin in its true form can only be exposed, by us allowing the Holy Spirit to show it too us with our spiritual eyes. It is a cancer of the soul. Only the blood of the cross and our minds being wash by the water of the true interpretation of God’s word, can keep our souls stay safe and healthy. This relationship has to be based on a covenant relationship with God and the faith of Jesus. Let’s try now to expose the true nature of sin and its grotesque manifestations and how it works. We find ourselves today in an environment that we’re living in where; we are constantly making decisions of what we believe to be right or wrong. Some of us have a more intense passion of living moral standards then others. When Adam disobeyed God, he brought this right and wrong concept and condition into the human equation of life. It makes no difference if you are a Christian or not, this condition exists for all of humanity.

As born again Christians we should realize that it is only what God thinks, that is important. His plan of restoring and maintaining a relationship with man must be our main priority of life.

All truth comes from God the Father, through Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit. There is NO Hope for Mankind Other Then This.

This for us as Christians has to be so engrafted into our souls that it actually becomes a part of our being. This is what keeps our soul healthy and alive to walk in holiness before the Lord. Scripture tells us that we have to live a life of constantly lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ and by so doing this; He will pull us closer to Himself.

Let’s look at us between two opposing forces that are seeking after our affections. God on one side and the Devil on the other and we are being influenced by both. My question to you is (whom) are you listening too? The Devil is the prince and ruler of the world system. This is where he was cast down to when he was thrown out of heaven. No right-minded person unless he is a devil worshipper and there definitely are those, would want to be a slave to the Devil in any shape or form, or be following his advice. Let me make my self perfectly clear on this point. If you are not hungering and thirsting after God and walking in revelation knowledge of His ways, you are being deceived.

We earlier described in this article the fruits of sin. Paul the Apostle said that those that have these fruits at work in their lives could not inherit the kingdom of God. This is true, but he was not talking about a place, but a condition of our hearts. We who are Christian have already received the down payment of our inheritance. What happens is, because of our lack of commitment to God and our soul is not being maintained because, we are being deceived by lies and half-truths of the enemy. Satan’s main characteristic’s with the disease of pride is, he is the father of lies. All he can do is lie. Satan takes no prisoners. Anything that is important to God like His children, he is out to totally destroy. He will do it directly, but he operates very subtly over a period of time. He weaves his web, strand by strand like a spider. Deception is his game. The bible says he comes as an angel of light.

In the world we live in, the moral fiber of this country is being destroyed like a virus day by day. One lie built upon another. Man in his unregenerate unsaved fallen nature is a slave to sin. What is a real concern to me is how much false doctrine is being taught within the Christian community. God’s intention was to keep His body safe by putting a protected hedge around them as He did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. That is what the Garden means, a protected hedge.

I have heard too much false doctrine coming from the pulpits of so-called born again believers. I believe the Devil has some real strongholds and has come as an angel of light and is deceiving many, in many congregations. I know that this is a very serious statement, but we know this can happen. Scripture tells us in Rev.3: 12 that the church at Pergamum had Satan enthroned in some area of their assembly. Let’s not be naive and live like ostriches with our heads in the sand. You thing Satan doesn’t have his demons and top generals in church settings. If he could sneak into the Garden of Eden and deceive Adam and Eve because their guard was down, he will and is operating in the same way today.

This subtle deception can be seen if, it’s our intention to walk in holiness before the Lord. Now remember all deceptions are built on lies. The reasons why liars can’t inherit the kingdom of God is because, they have a lying spirit deceiving them. Remember the definition of sin. It’s erring, missing the mark, losing our allotment and not sharing in a prize. What does it mean to walk in holiness? Let’s define it from scripture. It means we are hearing God in our spirit telling us that we are clean and wholly purified in His sight.

In 11Peter3:13-14 he gives us this principle, he says, “we should have an attitude of looking for Jesus’ return as new heavens, and a new earth as God has promised us. When Jesus returns He wants to find His children knowing that they stand in a secure position within Him. He says we should not be judging ourselves and looking at our nakedness or being controlled by shame. If we are looking at ourselves as He sees us, then we will be secure, and we will be at peace with great confidence, free from fears, agitating passions and moral conflicts.”

Peter was stating here that we are God’s new heavens, when His power is totally at work in our being. We separately and corporately are His body. The realm of heaven is in us and we are to be functioning in it. Living in shame which is caused by fear as Adam did when he said that he was afraid, when God showed up in the garden to talk to him. He felt like this because he was focusing on his nakedness. He had lost his concept of how God loved him, which was with out conditions. Unless our relationship and walk in the Holy Spirit is deep rooted, the constant bombardment from all areas of life erodes our thought life and we lose this healthy opinion that God has of us. Some where in our thinking we have been lied to into believing that now that we have met Christ and He is our savior, as long as we go to church and fulfill our so called Christian duties, this will protect us from a sin conscience awareness. This cannot be any farther from the truth.

The real threat in some of our born again Christian communities is, we are still teaching laws and rules of measuring up attitudes and focusing on our nakedness or behavior. Now speaking from a worldly perspective, let’s define how our moral fiber in America is being eroded. I am barely touching on the moral decay with these examples.

Over forty some years ago, they had the Donna reed show on TV. The censers had to make a rating decision whether they could televise a segment that told of her being divorced on the series. Those were some of the tough ratings going on in those days. I know this is hard to believe compared with what we are seeing as ratings today. The depravity and the filth in movies and on TV cannot even compare. It’s as if a dark cloud has covered our minds and we have no more righteous indignation in out lives. Holiness? Where is it? Partial birth abortion. Taking a live fetus partially out of the birth canal and sucking out its brain to kill it, so it can be more easily removed. Plain murder an abomination in God’s sight. Holiness? Where is it? Taking the Ten Commandments out of public buildings because it violates the law of separation of church and state. Holiness? Where is it? Rights for homosexuals and lesbians to be able to marry and raise children. Holiness? Where is it? Let’s look at one of the biggest atrocities ever displayed on the planet. The holocaust, Hitler with his demented mind and under the influence of demonic forces killed six million Jews in one of the most grotesque manners ever seen on the planet. This is not counting six million poles and other ethnic people. Have you ever seen some of the documentary films of the slaughtered and burnt bodies, not even talking about the starving people who were still alive? Holiness? Where is it?

We now see how the cancer of sin operates in our lives and the grotesque ways it manifests itself. Go back and read the verses that describe the fruits of sin and you can see everything from strife to idolatry. You say, “ there is no idolatry going on in my life.” Well idolatry os nothing more then putting something in God’s place in your life. How about yourself. To me when I realized this in my own life, I was very thankful to the Lord for pointing this out to me. I didn’t take it as a guilt trip but as a word of wisdom of an area that I had to watch, so it would not take root in my life. I hope you are not having a hard time believing what I have just said. Do you have any idolatry or strife going on in your life?

Kind of a wide variance to be put into the same category of these two traits of strife and idolatry stopping you from inheriting the kingdom. Therefore, we can see that we must deal with the disease that can cause these symptoms to manifest themselves.

As God kids we need to be going through a constant purification process by the Holy Spirit daily by an intimate and trusting relationship with Him. In this way, He can keep us protected in our minds from being deceived by the enemy.

God’s whole intention is to show His children that He is a loving Father. Knowing this, you have to have brain damage to not want this love from God with all your heart or you are being deceived big time. For us to allow this to love relationship to happen there is something we have to learn to do. Paul in his writings to the Corinthians in 11Cor: 17-18 says this. “ We need to come out from among unbelievers and separate ourselves and touch not the unclean thing and then God will be able to receive us kindly and treat us with favor. In turn, He will be a Father to us and we will be His sons and daughters.”

Let me spend a moment to define what was just said. We wouldn’t be hanging out with unbelievers if our souls weren’t sick from sin. We have to let the Lord heal our unbelieving hearts. It isn’t that God has something against us because we are soul sick. He isn’t saying get your act cleaned up or I can’t love you, as I have heard taught in the Christian community for too many years. If we decide intentionally or in laziness not to want to be healthy people, this holds back the healing hand of the Lord to be all He wants to be in our lives. If we are deceived as Adam and are working out our own way of reaching God or living in our own self-righteousness, we put God at a distance and He can’t support us as He wishes. Since Adam decided to put fig aprons on, he departed from God’s protective hedge. God in His love for him made him coats to wear as he went his way, to do his own thing. We’re still acting the same way. This scripture tells us to not touch unclean things. I don’t want to touch any unclean things. Do you? In the book of Colossians, Paul was sharing a concept that explains how susceptible we are to becoming deceived. This is a deception of the enemy to distract us from God’s instructions of how to stay healthy and let Him be a Father to us.

In chapter 2: he says. “Let no one act as an umpire and tell you that you are unfit to inherit the prize. Don’t live a life as if you still belong to the world. You are still living by rules and regulations of externalism. Such as don’t handle this, don’t taste that, and don’t touch them. There is no eternal life in these practices. These rules all lead to death as they are being acted upon. They have no eternal life connected to them. If you live by these standards, you are following human precepts and doctrines. These practices to the natural eye look like they are a wise way of living, but their is no value in changing our behavior and walking in the admonition of the Lord.” What we have here is a perfect example of using fig leafs to make aprons to cover our nakedness as Adam and Eve did. I said earlier that there is a difference between religion and Christianity. Religion in its true sense is a worship of self and nothing more then fig leaf apron making to cover our shame, which is man’s concept of reaching up for God in his own efforts.

In this portion of scripture he uses terms as don’t touch, taste and handle. The disease of sin starts in our thought life. It’s a process of being deceived as Adam and Eve was deceived. As we said earlier, like a spider weaving his web. The word taste means to experience good or bad the word touch means to attach oneself to, as a relationship. The word handle means to injure and manipulate. Putting it all together it reads. Eve was deceived because she flirted with the idea of disobeying God by the beauty of the tree. Therefore, the serpent got her attention. She flirted with this judgmental principle of good and bad. She touched. She then went into the second phase by tasting when she was decided to take up a relationship with the serpent by having a conversation with him. Finally, she got manipulated and injured. She handled and this became her injury. The conclusion, she put a wall between herself and God and her passionate walk with Him was severed.

The greatest injury of life that we need to guard against is this happening to us today because nothing has changed. When we focus on our faults and mistakes that we make in our lives and do not allow the Holy Spirit to lavish His total favor and acceptance as a loving friend in our thoughts and emotions, we participate with the shame-based entity of demonic influence with in our arenas of life as Adam and Eve did.

The Devil still wants us to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. How does he do this? For non-saved people, thinking in terms of our behavior in right and wrong concepts is the only way they can think. However, for the born again Christian, this is a dis-grace. Meaning we separate ourselves from the grace of God and we cannot experience His love, forgiveness and the power to grow and maintain our relationship with Him. The reason being, we focus on our sin base nature that died with Christ on the cross. God took it from us the day we were saved; we continually dig up that old stinking rotted corpse from the grave. Scripture tells us that when we received Jesus into our hearts, we became a new creation; old ways of thinking should have been put away. Scripture goes on to say that, we received the mind of Christ. This should be basic stuff to us, who have been saved many years ago.

To the new Christian, once they recognize this, it is a joy to have this weight lifted from their minds. If we would just teach the love of God and realize what it means to be justified people in His sight, there would be more of God’s kids hungering and thirsting after Him. In many places in the scriptures it states that the justified, us the born again believer, must live by faith. Romans 14:23 states, “anything that is not from a faith foundation is sin.” This is a far different concept of looking at sin from an outward behavioral view. We can’t restore the already rotten fruit behavior of sin out of the branches of our lives. It’s our hearts that have to be changed, where the root or issues of life are formed. This is where the Holy Spirit operates from to bring us the presence of God. This is what grows healthy fruit or behavior in our lives.

It’s us having this relationship that stops us from being tempted to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil. In the Garden of Eden, there also was the Tree of Life. In Adams fallen condition he could not eat from the Tree of Life. We know or should know that the Tree of Life is God Himself. Because we have been restored by accepting Jesus into our lives, we can now eat from the Tree of Life. We can now bolding come to the throne of grace and ask the Lord for the things He promised us and to continue to function in our inheritance as He always intended.