As It Was In The Beginning...Part 1

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

(Luke 17:26 K.JV)

Most of us are aware that Noah was an ancient man who lived on the earth before the Great Flood many thousands of years ago. A man that received a revelatory word from God that a disastrous event was imminent and that certain preparations were required for accurate positioning before the event occurred. The account of Noah's interaction with God can be found in the Book of Genesis. Genesis is the "Book of Beginnings" and so for the sake of this writing lets paraphrase the above scripture.

And as it was in "the beginning", so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

Luke 17:26 [paraphrase]

My desire in paraphrasing this particular passage is to aid us in discovering that all that occurred "in the beginning" has profound revelatory implications on us positioned at the end of the age. As Paul, the apostle told us when speaking of the ancient tribe of lsrael:

Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of world are come.
(1 Corinthians to: 11 KJV)

He was telling us that all of the situations and circumstances that the ancients faced and either lived through or died within, happened for our benefit. They occurred for a reason: These are not just cute bible stories designed to entertain us. There purpose is to train us and reveal to us not only what to do, but even more importantly what not to do at the end of the age. With that as a premise, let's look at the deception in the beginning for insight to our current positions.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
2 Corinthians 1 t:3 (K.JV)

The definition of deceive1 is:
1. To cause to believe what is not true; mislead.

2. To catch by guile; ensnare.

Synonyms: deceive, mislead, beguile, delude

Synonyms are words, which have the same or very nearly the same meaning as another. The synonyms listed above are for the word deceive and will give us great insight into the operation of deception and hopefully prepare us not to be deceived. They are all verbs and in essence mean: to lead another into error, danger, or a disadvantageous position and for the most part by underhanded means. As we study the definitions of these synonyms

and apply them to an actual case of deception, we should begin to gain an understanding into how deception operates and how to prevent its operation within our own lives and seasons.

1Merriam- Webster's 2001

Notice:
To deceive involves the deliberate concealment and/or the misrepresentation of the truth.

To mislead means to lead one in the wrong direction or into error of thought or action.

To beguile suggests deceiving or misleading by means of pleasant or alluring methods.

To delude is to mislead to the point where a person is unaole to tell the truth from a falsehood and hence be unable to form sound judgments or make accurate decisions.

For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgressmn.

I Timothy 2:13-14 (KJV)

Eve was deceived. That seems a simple enough approach to the Word of God. We all know the story; Adam and Eve were in the garden and the serpent subtlety convinces Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and she somehow, explanation unknown, convinces Adam to do the same. This is a pretty standard textbook explanation of the "fall" of man. Yes, Eve was deceived. To say contrary would be to deny the Biblical account.

But how was Eve deceived?

This should be of the utmost importance to us, the "end time" seekers of the truth. Because, if she who was in the Garden of God, and communicated with God, in what may have been a face to face relationship or at the very least, in an "uncorrupted environment" not cluttered with so many voices, could be deceived,..then we who have not seen Him and rely upon our faith to live and communicate with Him, had better take heed to the example.

Jesus on at least seven occasions, while describing the events that will surround the "end time" people, warned of deception as being the very device that the enemies of God would use to mislead the people of God from receiving their inheritance. It should be noted at this juncture that the Ancients that died in the wilderness didn't enter the Promised Land nor receive their inheritance. For us as the "end-time" Israel of God, the potential of history repeating itself is very real and requires a definitive and accurate response on our parts to avoid the same fate as our predecessors.

Paul warned us of deception at least twelve times and many of those spoke directly to the
"end time" church. John, in his 1st epistle, warned us, "Let no man deceive you"2. And
deception is the main weapon used in Revelation; that causes the masses to take the mark that condemns without any hope of relief. Forever banished from the presence of God3. We had better come to a fuller understanding of what happened to Eve, or we too stand the chance of being deceived!

2 1 John 3:7
3 Revelation 13: 12-17, Revelation 20:4

But what really happened in the garden with Eve?

Without rewriting the entire account, please bear with my abridgment of the events.

In the beginning God does His "big bang" thing and the world and everything in it is created. Done deal. He then makes man. Adam, in His image and likeness, and tells him to subdue and take dominion over the entire environment4. The only thing God tells Adam he can't do is to eat from a certain tree in the midst of the garden. If he does, that day he would die5. Then God gave Adam: Eve, with the same rules as Adam. Subdue, take dominion, but don't eat of the tree in the midst. Simple enough...so you would think, but...

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the

LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,

Ye 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: 3 But of the fruit

of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not

eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Genesis 3:1-3 (KJV)

Bam. . . Out pops the serpent!

Notice first how the serpent approaches Eve:

"Yo woman, didn't God say you could not eat of every tree in the garden? "

Remember that in order to deceive there will be a deliberate concealment and/or a misrepresentation of the truth. In this interaction, the serpent's implied meaning was of course all of the trees in the garden. He was attempting to prod her into just reaching out and grabbing a piece of fruit and taking a bite. But Eve wasn't that gullible. She stood her ground like any well-trained Christian would do.

"No sir buddy", she replied. "God said we could eat of every tree of the garden, except for that one there. He told us that we couldn't eat that one, in fact we can't even touch it, because if we do, we won't see another day. We'll die!" [para]

Yes, Eve did stand her ground. But she was in error.

God never told her anything about touching that particular tree. Whether she surmised that herself, or possibly Adam relayed incorrect information to her in order to try and impart the importance of not eating from that tree, we don't know. But regardless now she arrived at that conclusion, it was that statement, which opened the door for further conversation with the serpent and hence the wheels of deception to begin their deadly spin.

4 Genesis 1:27-28 5 Genesis 2: 16-17

What apparently happened to Eve in the garden is that the serpent (Lucifer, the Devil) knew the truth of what God had said. He understood much more of the details than Eve did. It is in the twisting of God's Word that he entraps her. Because of Eve's response to the Serpent, he knew that she misunderstood what the Father had actually said. God had told them not to eat of that tree, but she told the serpent that they weren't even allowed to touch it! That was not true. In fact, they were commanded by God to dress6 the trees of the garden. You cannot dress a tree without touching it! But when the­ serpent realized that she did not understand the truth, he was then able to beguile her.

What the serpent did to Eve began as deception. He started by misrepresenting the truth; "had not God said". He started leading her to a place of second guessing what she had been tolld. When she revealed her ignorance to the truth, "neither shall ye touch it'", the serpent then began to beguile her. Remember that to beguile means to deceive or mislead by means of pleasant or alluring methods.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil...

Genesis 3:4-5 (KJV)

"Yo Eve, eat this and you'll be just like God, wouldn't that be fun?"

[para]

The serpent began by appealing to her natural senses; "your eyes will be opened". He led her to believe that she wasn't seeing something. That God was hiding something from her. This aroused her natural curiosity. The word used here as eye is the word ayin, and though it means the physical eye itself, it also by analogy speaks of the eye as a fountain that allows for the perceiving of the landscape. That speaks of the ability to see "the big picture". Which ties together with the serpents statement that then they would be as gods. What's interesting is that he told her that she would then know "good and evil". As if she knew what that was! But I am sure he made it sound like something that she would really enjoy!

At this point Eve begins to succumb to the power of suggestion. She is now moving into the position of being deluded. To delude is to mislead to the point where a person is unable to tell the truth from a falsehood and is unable to form sound judgments.

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.
Genesis 3:6 (KJV)

It was over! She had been led the full route. What started out as a seemingly well-meaning error had now progressed to a place that cost her and Adam their position of favor in the garden of God.

6 Genesis 2: 15

John spoke of this same scenario as it applies to the "Body of Christ".

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

1 John 2: I 6 (KJV)

Good for food = lust of the flesh

Pleasant to the eyes = lust of the eyes

Be desired to make wise = pride of life

Paul also gave us further insight into the dilemma that Eve was faced with. She had allowed her natural fleshly desires to take over her thought processes. She may not have known the consequences of her actions, but that did not relieve her from having to experience them.

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Galatians 5:17 (KJV)

In the end, it was her theological error that initially caused her resolve to weaken and her position of standing on what God had said to wane. That was the power of the serpent.

Who (God) hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Colossians 1: 13 (KJV)

This particular verse tells us that we were translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of Gods Son, Jesus. What needs to be pointed out is that we were not translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His Son. It was the power of darkness!

What is the power of darkness? The word power is the Greek word exousia and it speaks of a delegated influence that is tied directly to a legal environment. Much like a police officer has the right to arrest a lawbreaker. He comes in the delegated position of authority. He is not the law, but the legal representative of the governing body. In this realm of existence it speaks of those who are under the delegated influence of darkness.

delegate1 - to entrust authority to another; a person chosen t represent others

What is darkness? Darkness refers back to the "darkness of error". Darkness to the "darkness of error". It is revealing to us that our being in error about the things of God, may open a door for a delegated influence to affect our daily lives and this is what happened to Eve in the garden. Lucifer knew the truths of Gods command and in twisting the Word, he entraps her.

Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken

with the words of thy mouth.

Proverbs 6:2 (KJV)

dark2- ignorance, secretive, absence of light; being in a period of stagnation or decline

1,2 Websters-Merriam

Could this be telling us, that no matter how well meaning you are with the words that you speak, they will be the very evidence or tools that are used to hold you in an environment that you truly don't wish to be in, a trap? Had Eve just stuck with what God had said, is it possible, that would have been enough resistance to cause the serpent to flee from her?

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you.
(James 4:7 KJV)

Submit, the Greek word hupotasso, means ‘to subordinate oneself to’. It means to be submissive to an authority (God) to the point that your reflex in any given situation is to obey. Much like being a child in a kitchen. You were told that the stove was hot, but in your naiveté you reach out and touch the hot burner. In your reflexive response you pull your hand away. You don't continue to hold it upon the burner, unless of course you suffer from a mental handicap or enjoy the pain and smell of burnt flesh! In this case James is saying, condition your response (your reflexive response) in any circumstance to one of total reliance upon God.

The obvious struggle within the Body of Christ today seems to center around the next clause in James discourse.

Resist!

Modern ecclesiastical definitions of 'resist' are built upon and around a warfare/military mentality. It is an inaccurate doctrine that concludes that we must ti Jht the devil at ever corner at the risk of being defeated. The warfare doctrine is an erroneous tenet that breeds fear rather than faith withm the Body of Christ and furthermore negates the finished work of Jesus the Christ. It is a doctrinal view that elevates the devil to a position co-equal to Christ and therefore to a position of supremacy. This in itself should be enough for any believer to dismiss it as false, but that has not been the case. Currently the warfare doctrine pervades the entire Body on all levels and across all denominational lines. At the core of the doctrine is a suggestion that the devil is an all encompassing being and that he has the ability to affect change in any environment; both natural and spiritua1. It also has been presented that he can kill or injure the believer at will. This is absolutely absurd!

The word resist that James utilizes is antihistemi and means ‘to stand against’. It is a combination of two words: anti and histemi.

Anti is defined as ‘being opposite to, instead or because of’. It is often used in composition with other words to denote a contrast. In simplest form it can be seen as the difference between black and white. White stands out over black, it is in contrast. It presents a picture of one being opposite to. In this passage it tells us to be opposite of the devil.

Histemi in its simplest form means ‘to stand’. It also means ‘to set one's self against, to withstand, to resist or oppose’.

It is easy to understand how a military type of doctrinal position could be propagated from these particular words. The phrase to set one's self against can present a mental picture of one in a combative posture. But there is also alternative imagery that the same phrase can invoke. One of the many definitions of the word set is to become fixed or firm or solid. This definition is more scripturally accurate. The inherent issue with the military platform is its insistence on an offensive posture rather a defensive one. It is presented from an attacking point of view rather than a standing one. It appears that the purpose in this attacking posture is one of self preservation rather than one of laying down your life for the kingdom. There are multiple scriptures that relate to this position.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

(Matthew 5:38-39 KJV)

In contrast to the warfare doctrine, Jesus dispels the attack posture in this passage. In this particular discourse he utilizes past doctrinal positions to transition the believer into the new order. He begins by saying "Ye have heard that it hath been said". In other words, "This is how it used to be done". Just by virtue of that one statement, Jesus nullifies that entire retaliatory position. In essence, he says "we won't be doing it that way anymore". The current warfare doctrines appear contrary to Jesus’ teaching. The self-preservation mentality of "spiritual warfare" seems designed more towards self-gratification rather than kingdom summation or prophetic fulfillment.

It has surfaced that one of the intentions of the spiritual warfare camp is to rid the world of evil or at the very least control its boundaries. But as stated by Jesus in the above passage: Ye are not to resist evil. What! Jesus tells us that when evil appears in our path, don't try and stop it. In fact, he presents a response to evil manifested that few modern Christians would even consider. He says to respond by allowing the evil to come against the believer again. If they slap you, offer them the other cheek. What if they slap you again? Repeat step one!

Solomon wrote:

I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked:

for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

(Ecclesiastes 3: 17 KJV)

Could there be a purpose to the evil that we as mere mortals cannot fathom?

Paul wrote in Romans:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

(Romans 12:19-21 K.JV)

Paul tells us that we are not to move into vengeance. The word vengeance is defined as punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense. But in place of vengeance we are to make a place for wrath. Wrath is defined as Gods righteous judgment. The word place is the word topos. It is the same word we get topography from. Topography is the study and charting of physical features of a place or region. In this case the actual place is a moment in time. What Paul is telling us is that if we respond as Jesus has told us to, an actual spot is created that God will judge the offender for.

Jesus said that offences must occur and that there would be divine retribution on the offenders.

"Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come,

but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!"
Matthew 18:7(NKJ)