Need-to-know information about public enemy number one: "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." (Genesis 3:1). Al Qaida has nothing compared to this crafty creature who is bent on not only destroying our lives in this age, but preventing us from entering the age to come. Deceit and violence are his key tactics.
Apparently we have an enemy well acquainted with our weakness as well as with the words and thoughts of God. In the garden of Eden, he was well aware of God's prohibition concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thus craftily made his appeal to human desire for equality with God. Stirring a lust for greatness, coupled with the desire of the eyes, proved to be a lethal combination for our first parents. A fateful fall resulted from which humanity has never recovered. And yet a seed of hope is found in this cataclysmic fall from grace:
"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed ; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15)
Spiritual warfare would be unceasing between devilish descendants and humans, but a certain "He" was destined from the beginning to bruise or crush the head of the evil one even as His own heel would be bruised in an evil effort to thwart the redemptive plan of the Creator.
The need-to-know information concerning the craftiness of our number one public enemy is vital. He will unceasingly appeal to our lust for greatness and satisfaction. He will stop at nothing in his obsession over our destruction. Like a modern-day terrorist organization, he will fight us on our own soil as well as from a distance. But we are not destined for defeat. The simplest of tactics is overwhelmingly effective: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7).
We are not pawns torn between domination by our Creator or our enemy; we are free-thinking, intelligent beings who have one inalienable right: choice. It is ultimately a personal choice to listen to the luring offer of the enemy, or to resist and embrace the perfect law and word of our Creator. It is a choice, and it is ours alone to make. Standing before the Holy One and blaming the evil one for influencing our choice will be no more effective than it was in the garden of paradise in the beginning.
Our most sacred privilege this day is that of choice. The stakes are incredibly high; literally life or death. Choose wisely.
Steve
Apparently we have an enemy well acquainted with our weakness as well as with the words and thoughts of God. In the garden of Eden, he was well aware of God's prohibition concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thus craftily made his appeal to human desire for equality with God. Stirring a lust for greatness, coupled with the desire of the eyes, proved to be a lethal combination for our first parents. A fateful fall resulted from which humanity has never recovered. And yet a seed of hope is found in this cataclysmic fall from grace:
"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed ; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15)
Spiritual warfare would be unceasing between devilish descendants and humans, but a certain "He" was destined from the beginning to bruise or crush the head of the evil one even as His own heel would be bruised in an evil effort to thwart the redemptive plan of the Creator.
The need-to-know information concerning the craftiness of our number one public enemy is vital. He will unceasingly appeal to our lust for greatness and satisfaction. He will stop at nothing in his obsession over our destruction. Like a modern-day terrorist organization, he will fight us on our own soil as well as from a distance. But we are not destined for defeat. The simplest of tactics is overwhelmingly effective: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7).
We are not pawns torn between domination by our Creator or our enemy; we are free-thinking, intelligent beings who have one inalienable right: choice. It is ultimately a personal choice to listen to the luring offer of the enemy, or to resist and embrace the perfect law and word of our Creator. It is a choice, and it is ours alone to make. Standing before the Holy One and blaming the evil one for influencing our choice will be no more effective than it was in the garden of paradise in the beginning.
Our most sacred privilege this day is that of choice. The stakes are incredibly high; literally life or death. Choose wisely.
Steve
posted by steve @ 7:35 AM
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