In Matthew 16:23 Jesus tells the world exactly how Satan gets inside the heart of man and stays there.  In the majority of cases, Satan’s fulfills his (Satan’s) will from within man’s Mission Control Center–his mind.  Satan accomplishes this task simply by giving man what he wants.  Man wants total control of everything about his life.  Adam and Eve are perfect examples of how the devil (enemy) deceives salvation seekers into turning away from God’s Biblical commands and to his (Satan’s) any-way-you-want-it scriptural smorgasbord.

The unchurched world, having never read God’s written word and never having heard it from His true apostles, belongs to Satan outright from early on.  The so-called “Christian world” has unwittingly submitted to Satan while believing that they are following the Biblical God.  This deception is made possible by Satan’s false prophets whom his parishioners pay to tell them what they want to hear.  These “ministers of righteousness,” on orders from the “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:13-15), tell churchman that he cannot resist sinning, that sinning is “small stuff,” and that he is not to sweat the small stuff because a periodic “forgive me” does the trick.  In other words: THE FIX IS IN–THANK YOU LORD JESUS.  The church’s “hirelings” (Jn. 10:12,13) drive home this “truth” with each sermon.  Isaiah had the same problem (Isa. 30:10).  Never underestimate the devil’s absolute control over professing Christendom.  Only a life-long Isaiah 28:9-13 Bible study plan can illuminate this Truth and reveal how to overcome it.  James 4:7 tells us to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

The fact that the devil is vitally interested in turning man away from the “things of God” and to the “things of man” (Mat. 16:23) raises the question: What are the things of man?  The simple answer is: anything that satisfies man’s desire for self-satisfaction.  Jesus accused Satan of caring only about the “things of man.”  Scripturally speaking, the “things of man” are collectively called “PRIDE”–placing man’s will over God’s Scripturally proclaimed will.  Man’s will is to do, say and think that which pleases him; God’s will is for man to do, say and think that which pleases Him (God).  God’s will is for man to obey His Law.  God calls failure to do so,”SIN”:  “To transgress the Law is sin; for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW” (1 Jn.3:4).  The Lord’s Law consists of every Word found in the Holy Bible.  Jesus said that in order to enter into His Father’s kingdom man must “… live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).  He also said that man will be judged by those same Words (Jn. 12:44-50).  Note in verse 50 that EVERY WORD IN THE BIBLE IS A COMMAND, not an option.  Contrary to universal church opinion, this includes commandment #4.  God issues commands; man either obeys them and lives, or disobeys them and dies.

SIN IS PRIDE MANIFESTED.  PRIDE IS IDOLATRY INTERNALIZED.  SIN IS THE END RESULT OF IDOLATRY.  To sin is to reject God’s expressed will and to embrace one’s own will–the “things of man.”
Adam and Eve were poster children for pride/idolatry anciently.  Today’s Catholic/Protestant Church System is the latter day result of their Edenic rebellion–the result of man choosing his own will over the will of God.  All men are given this choice.

Jesus of Nazareth had the freedom to chose His will over the Father’s will in every instance.  Recall that on the night before His death He asked the Father if He (Jesus) could fulfill His (God’s) will without going to the cross.  God’s will was for Him to be tortured beyond human reasoning, then to die a most horrendous death from a spear rammed into His heart while hanging on a wooden stake.  Read Did Jesus Die on a Cross?  Key word–Cross.  Knowing what the Father commanded of Him, He said: “Not My will, but Your will be done” (Mat. 26:39,42).  When churchman sins he crucifies Christ again, and again, and again (Heb. 6:6).  Churchman brags that he can repeatedly crucify the One Who supposedly saved him, then repent as he falls to sleep following four hours of t.v. watching.  He can then go to sleep knowing that all is well.  As the Lord said, there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth when multiplied billions of Sinners Saved By Grace learn the Truth.

In order to have any chance for a future with the Lord, salvation seekers must realize that the Lord’s rules for walking the salvation path are found in the Holy Bible, not in church doctrine.  Read Hope and Salvation.  Key word–Hope.  The Bible tells us everything we need to know, believe and do in order to qualify for eternal life which will be awarded upon the return of Jesus Christ.  Jacob’s ladder is the perfect illustration of the ascending steps we must take to in order to arrive at the place where we can receive salvation from the One Who awaits us there.  Let us turn to Genesis 28 and begin a short study of this ultimately important, yet totally rejected aspect of salvation.

Recall that Jacob was a slick, lying, cunning, conniving shyster who was on the run from his brother whom he had conned out of the family birth-right that belonged to Isaac’s firstborn son–Esau.  In a dream Jacob saw a stairway reaching up into heaven.  Standing at the top of the stairway was the Lord God.  Jacob recognized that the stairway was “… the gate(way) to heaven” (vs 17).  A gate is not where one needs to go, but rather the opening to where he needs to go.  The stairway (gateway) identified to Jacob what he had to do in order to join God at a future date.  There were a number of steps beginning at just above ground level and reaching into God’s presence, which He would later identify as His Kingdom (Mat. 6:33).  God was telling Jacob that he had many steps (of obedience) to take before he could join God on His level of holiness and righteousness which must be reached in order to spend eternity with the Godhead.  As Romans 5:21 and 6:22 make abundantly clear, THE END RESULT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS IS ETERNAL LIFE.  There is no righteousness and holiness where sin exists.  God made this command clear in the first and most important commandment: “YOU WILL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE (BESIDE) ME.”  This includes man’s most personal and powerful god–himself.

The Almighty was showing Jacob that in order to receive eternal life he had to climb the stairs leading up to where He (God) is spiritually.  Read 1 John 2:6,29; 3:3-10 and Revelation 3:21.  These Truths are refuted, denied and rejected by the whole of professing Christendom.  Only God’s Elect believe and obey them.  Only those who do so will be saved (1 Pet. 4:17,18).  Proud, arrogant Jacob would have to climb the Lord’s stairs in order to join Him in the hereafter.  We are no better than Jacob.  We, too, must humble ourselves before God–and climb.  We must allow Him to burn off all of our chaff, leaving only pure wheat for Him to use as He wills.  Chaff (sin) loaded man cannot climb Jacob’s stairway.

The problem is that man is unwilling to give up his pride and self-serving life-style.  Therefore he has twisted, altered and spun the Lord’s Words to justify his (man’s) desire for self-direction.  And of course, Satan is always there to lend him a hand while making his parishioners believe that they are being led by the Biblical God.  Read Bait and Switch.  Key word–Bait.

The idolatrous (old) man must die totally and permanently.  God must be ALLOWED to then create a totally new man, a man having the character of God Himself and His human Son, Jesus of Nazareth.  Sin/pride/idolatry/iniquity (Lawlessness) separate us from God (Isa. 59:2), which prevents Him from manifesting Himself in us, which is the true meaning of conversion.  May we all be approaching the final step on God’s stairway, thereby becoming one with Him.  Only those who do so will be welcomed into His kingdom.  Jesus said only a few would do so (Mat. 7:13,14).  He also said that many are called to spend eternity with Him, but few would be chosen for having answered His call.  Won’t you be one of the chosen few?  In order to live WITH Jesus in that future life one must live LIKE Him in this life.  Read 1 John 2:6 and all of chapter 3.   L.J.