He had only one job: TO OBEY GOD. Adam was created in the image and likeness of God, meaning that he was perfect from a physical standpoint after receiving the breath of life and becoming a living soul. Adam was in the physical mold of the spirit God. However, the resemblance ended there. God’s mind was perfect. Not so with Adam, whose mind was blank. From the instant he received life Adam was a free moral agent, meaning that he had choices to make and would be told which options to embrace and which to reject because they would be explained to him by His Maker. He was to embrace what God told him to do and to reject any other voice that might come his way.

Like the angels before him, Adam had a choice as to which voice to entertain, evaluate and obey. And like them, he obeyed the wrong voice. As noted in the previous posting, that voice belonged to Satan the Serpent who knows that to get man to follow him he needs only to tell him, “You are in charge; make right and wrong what you want them to be.” The original member of the Church of Eden, at the urging of his wife, listened to the first twisting of God’s Gospel and created the first denomination based on false “good news.” From that time forward, each generation would be introduced to Satan’s version of God’s Truth. The Apostle Paul would later tell the churches of Galatia that the Gospel they were obeying was not actually another Gospel, but rather a perversion of God’s true Gospel (1:6-9). Today those versions are called “church doctrine,” which vary according to the will of those who embrace them who comprise the hundreds of denominations into which Satan has divided his two-headed church.

According to Satan’s version of the Gospel, salvation-seeking man can become like the true Gods, able to decide for himself what is good and what is evil (Gen.3:22). All he has to do is believe the words of the devil and reject the Words of his Creator. With extremely rare exception, Adam’s descendants have done exactly that. The hundreds of denominations within “the church” are proof that the desire to replace God has not waned over the six millennia since the Eden catastrophe. Man continues to play God (commit idolatry) in the name of the very God he claims to serve. For proof, take the phone book test. Only Satan could create such an abomination, place God’s name on it, lure billions of people into embracing it and deceive billions into believing that God is the creator of it. As Jesus said, Satan has deceived the whole world (Rev. 12:9). And that was 2000 years ago. His numbers have grown exponentially since then.

As I have noted before, if not for various physical obstructions, I could stand in my back yard and see three churches, each of them different, each calling itself a different name, each proclaiming different “truths,” each claiming to be God’s lone instrument for spreading His Truth throughout the world. The only thing they have in common is the rejection of God’s Word, along with the only one in the area speaking and writing it. I have literally had people hide from me in public out of fear that I might speak to them and others would see it. If it wasn’t so tragic it would be humorous. SATAN IS LAUGHING. GOD IS NOT. He is pouring out His wrath on sinning mankind as a prelude (“the beginning of sorrows”–Mat. 24:8) to the soon-coming Tribulation period. Read The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Key word–Tribulation.

God gave Adam a few commands that he was to obey, saying: “… of every tree in the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat ….” (Gen. 2:16,17). The first instruction God gave to the first man was about the two trees in the midst of the garden. Notice that Adam could have, and should have, eaten of the tree of life which stood next to the tree of death. One tree was God’s preference for mankind, the other was Satan’s preference for mankind. God considered His good tree–bad tree instruction to be the most critical instruction of all. Remember that He had given Adam permission to eat of EVERY TREE IN THE GARDEN. This included the tree of life. His first instruction involved Adam’s freedom of choice, the most important choice he and his descendants would make.

Six thousand years later man has that same choice to make. Unfortunately, as Jesus prophesied, few make the correct choice. When God instructed Adam concerning the two trees He revealed the truth about obedience and its end result (read Romans 5:21 and 6:22). In essence, He was teaching mankind about His Gospel–the good news about the coming Kingdom of God on earth–and His family who will rule the earth and the universe forever. This is the first instance of God talking to mankind. And what was He telling him about? THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HOW TO ENTER IT.

Recall that, following His baptism and entrance into His ministry, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching THE GOSPEL (GOOD NEWS) OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. He would spend the remainder of His life telling us how to enter it, then would give His life to empower us to do so. Read The Message of the Cross. Key word–Cross. In Eden, God was offering Adam the necessary power to resist Satan’s temptations by eating of the Tree of Life (Rev. 3:21). Adam chose to eat of the tree of death. Why? Because he took the word of Satan and rejected the Word of God. Sound familiar? It should, for Satan’s words flow from millions of pulpits every sun god day and all other days from televisions, radios, movies, c.d’s, books, etc. Satan has numerous outlets for the spreading of his perverted version of God’s Gospel that came on the scene not long after the founding of the Church of God on the Day of Pentecost 31 A.D. By the time Paul came on the scene Satan’s gospel had gained control over the majority of church people. His “Have it your way, it’s all good” message had already infected most of the people in the church and has remained in full force ever since. Read the series concerning the goats within God’s sheepfold. Key word–Goats.

Concerning the various venues God and Satan have for spreading their respective truths, Satan has hundreds, but God has only one–His Holy Bible. Isn’t it strange that man believes science and history books and will swear that what is written in them is undeniable truth. These books have no effect on man’s eternity. But those same people will reject the parts of the Bible that do not fit their various “truths.” Ironically, this is the same Bible they carry to church every sun god day while claiming that what is written in it affects their eternity. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SATAN.

The Bible does not stop telling us about the two trees in the Book of Genesis. In the last book of the Bible, God says, “To him that overcomes (Satan’s temptations), I will allow to eat of the TREE OF LIFE, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” (Rev. 2:7). If we eat of this tree we will live in a godly paradise for eternity. In Revelation 22:2 God prophesies the future of New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven where she now awaits her descent into the Kingdom of God. Here it is written: “In the midst of the street of it (Jerusalem), and on either side of the river, there (will be) the TREE OF LIFE which (will) bear twelve types of fruit and (will) yield her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree (will be) for the healing of the nations.”

Note it: IN THE FUTURE THE TREE OF LIFE, WHICH SALVATION-SEEKING MAN REJECTS, WILL ONE DAY HEAL THE NATIONS. The nations will need healing after having dined on the tree of death for thousands of years, choosing to go their own way and making their own rules of life. Doing so separated them from God (Isa. 59:2).

While the Book of Genesis reveals the foundation of this world; Revelation reveals its future. Since the creation of man, the vast majority of mankind has eaten of the tree of death. We are now suffering the final stages of the spiritual illness that man has embraced by dining on the wrong tree. But God sent Jesus Christ who will one day rule the universe and will feed man from the tree of life. Those who dined on that tree in this life will help Him teach the nations the Truths they rejected in this life.

But we are living in the now. Now we are choosing to dine from either the tree of life or the tree of death. Will you choose the fruit of life and rise to meet Jesus upon His return? Or will you have to wait for the second resurrection? Read The Three Resurrections. L.J.