The Sin Within!

Genesis 3:8-10

"And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

The problem of mankind can be traced all the way back to the garden of Eden, I love this testimony in Genesis because it helps me to understand the core issues that have plagued us since God blew His breath into the dust that was Adam and gave Him life.

The issue is obedience to God's word or the serpent's word, who also deceives the whole world. The cards are really stacked up against those who want to do what is right, to obey the voice of God and not the devil's or man's voice. It's really pretty simple, if you do what is right you will be blessed, if you do what is wrong you will be cursed, oppressed, laden down with sins and you will never know what it means to really live.

We know the story but do we meditate on it? Do we learn from it? So that we don't make the same mistake that Adam and Eve did. Because of the fall of man, we are born with a fallen nature, disconnected from the One who created us, so we need to be reconnected to our Creator and become a partaker of His Divine Nature!

After the sin of Adam and Eve (which was to disobey a direct command from God), they were separated from God and sin entered them, they were corrupted, made unclean, and evil entered into their soul. God still loved them but they had to pay the consequences for their sin, and the same thing happens today. Adam and Eve heard the voice of God and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, how many times have you ran away from the Lord? Not wanting to face correction, or judgement because of something you said or did that was wrong. Sin caused them to be afraid, fearful of a Just, Righteous, Holy, and Loving God, who just want's a relationship with His creation.

It's very easy to go along with the world and do what they do, and live like they live, as if there was no God, many try very hard to make God just go away. They don't want His Presence, His Light, His Truth, or His Love. Just like Paul prophesied, in the last days men would be lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. Sad, but inevitable, which is why God brings His judgements!

The carnal mind cannot comprehend the level of spiritual warfare that goes on every single day for the minds of men, and what the devil does to keep people blind and oblivious to what's really going on this world.

You know the phrase, 'you are, what you eat'. Sin is like that saying, but instead of feeding your body to satiate your hunger pains, when you indulge yourself with sin you are feeding your soul pure evil. And when sin enters you it's hard to get it out of you!

You know the story of the two wolves? Here it is!

There’s a story of the two wolves in Cherokee culture in which a grandfather teaches his grandson an important life lesson.

The grandfather tells his grandson that there is a battle going on inside all of us. It is a battle between two wolves that live inside us.

He says, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ that live inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thinks about it for a while and says, “Which wolf wins?”

The grandfather replies, “The one you feed”.

If you sow to please the flesh you will die, but if you sow to please the Spirit you will inherit eternal life!

In Jesus Name,

Tyrone

No Shame!

While I was meditating and praying one morning I heard the Holy Spirit say, "He Was Crucified Naked." A word of knowledge, and I had been wondering if Jesus was actually crucified with or without a covering over His private area. The Lord answered my question! And I believe what I heard!

Many others have also researched this topic and found that the Roman way of crucifixion was to strip the one being crucified of ALL clothing, leaving them completely naked and exposed. Even if you don't believe that the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus, the image on the shroud shows a man that was crucified and only his hands are covering his pelvic area.

A quote from a blog I read say's this:

"[Bishop St.] Melito, the second century AD bishop of Sardis, wrote in his sermon on the passion of Christ: ‘The Sovereign has been made unrecognizable by his naked body, and is not even allowed a garment to keep him from view.’ Because people of his day had witnessed crucifixions, Melito knew that the victims were executed without clothing” (Lexham Bible Dictionary)."

The scriptures also tell us that roman soldiers divided up His clothing and cast lots for them, however, the scripture does not explicitly say that Jesus was completely naked. But one would ask if the Roman way of crucifixion was to strip the person of all clothing leaving them naked, why would they treat Jesus any different? The scriptures tell us plainly He was treated worse than a common criminal! Even Barabbas, a notorious prisoner was treated better!

King David who was also a prophet, prophesied in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 22:16-18

"For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots."

Matthew 27:32-35

"Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross. And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”

For a more in-depth look at the topic at hand you can read this short blog post found here:

https://catholicconvert.com/blog/2017/04/12/was-jesus-naked-when-crucified/

Another topic I want to insert in this post is that of shame, was Jesus ashamed of being exposed on the cross? His mother was right there, John the disciple whom Jesus loved was right there, Mary Magdalene and Salome were near the cross, along with some other women disciples who stood at a distance watching, possibly Joanna, and Susanna, etc...., and it's very likely they could see everything that was going on.

I have been dealing with a lot of shame over the years, ashamed of different aspects of my life when I should be bold and confident. Ashamed to speak up when something is wrong, ashamed to proclaim the name of Jesus and speak His word boldly, ashamed of my anointing and talents as if I should dumb down so that I won't be perceived as trying to be better than someone else.

I was even ashamed to say I'm a Christian! Likely some oppression I received from my childhood and the devil will use whatever evil we have in us to hinder us from the abundant life that Jesus promised us.

But thank God saints that we have a friend in Jesus! A deliverer who set's us free from all the bondage that sin causes and the strongholds of the devil that oppress our minds and souls!

I personally believe that Jesus had NO shame! And why do I believe that? Because the scriptures tell us He was tempted in every way but was without sin, and Jesus Himself said that satan had nothing (evil) in Him! And shame is definitely a consequence of sin, or could even be generational, cultural, and totally evil!

Hebrews 4:15

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Jesus was a perfect man!)

John 14:30

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." 

Jesus was like Adam and Eve before the fall! Can we become like the man Jesus who was God manifested in the flesh? YES WE CAN! 

If you believe it, you can receive it! The scriptures admonish us to walk as Christ walked and Jesus Himself said we could become like our Teacher!

Luke 6:40

"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher."

Genesis 2:25

"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were NOT ASHAMED."

In His Service

Tyrone

He Was With Her!

Genesis 3:6-7

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings."

The first deception and sin of man. This one act of disobedience led to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the glorious garden of Eden, and caused every subsequent human born to be spiritually disconnected and separated from the One True God.

I thank God for this testimony in Genesis because it helps us to see how easy it is to fall from grace and be deceived by a fallen angel who hates us and God.

What I would like to point out though is that all the evil power that satan wields to deceive man, would have been negated with a simple, NO! And to make matters worse, Adam, who God made to take care of His creation was right there with his wife and didn't say or do anything to stop the deception!

We can see the same type of immaturity in some men today who let their wives rule over them and they don't fight or stand up for themselves or their family!

All Adam had to do was say, wait a minute Eve, I remember what God said:

Genesis 2:15-17

"Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

That's why it's so important to have the word of God in our hearts and minds, it's the truth that keeps us from falling into deception and sin. If you obey the word of God and put into practice the teachings of Jesus Christ you will be able to resist the devil, and stand against his lies.

Of course God knew what would happen, but He allowed this situation to occur to test Adam and Eve, they had a choice to obey the command of God or take into their hearts and minds the lies of satan. They made the wrong choice!

Thankfully God also had a plan before the foundation of this world, JESUS! It's because of the Lord and Savior that we can be reconciled to God and be free from sin and death.

So let us make the right choice today, let us choose life instead of death!

In Jesus,
Tyrone

The Wages Of Sin Is Death (Original Sin?)

Romans 6:20-23

"For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I have been struggling for months to understand what really happened in the garden of Eden and what actually passed to us because of the sin of Adam and Eve. My problem was with the doctrine of "Original Sin", stating that the SIN of Adam and Eve passed to us and all mankind is BORN IN SIN, meaning every baby that's born into this world is utterly depraved, sinful, and wicked.

There is no scripture that tells us this and I asked myself if this is true then the millions of babies that are aborted, still born, or die after a few months of life ect.... should go to Hell and be eternally separated from God, children who die should go to Hell as well according to the original sin doctrine. But don't we see Jesus saying, "suffer not the children to come unto me, for theirs IS the kingdom?" There has to be an explanation for the state we are born in, so what is it according to scripture?

I have begun to understand that because of Adam and Eve's sin, each soul that enters the body of a fetus inside the mothers womb is spiritually dead, because this is what happened to Adam and Eve AFTER the fall, their spirits were separated from God. Even though they were still physically alive, their souls were cut off from the Holy Spirit and life of God, and they died spiritually. When Adam and Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel this spiritual death and separation of the soul from God was passed on to them, but NOT the sin Adam and Eve committed themselves. Cain committed his own sin when he killed his brother Abel, and the curse of death spread to him because of his sin.

Ezekiel 18:20

"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

We can understand from these scriptures that we did not inherit the original sin of Adam and Eve,  but we suffer the consequences of their sin.

Romans 5:12-14

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—  (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come."

What is sin? 1st John 3:4

"Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."

Sin is something that you practice, commit, or do according to the scriptures, and this means that an infant cannot sin because it's an action not an inherited substance. If we were born in sin, then we could not commit, or practice sin, because we would already be sinners and would have no choice to obey the laws of God.

I can understand that even though an infant has not committed any sin, done good or evil, their soul is still spiritually dead and born under the law of sin and death. At some point this infant will grow up and commit a sin, then the curse of death will spread to them. If they die in their sins without being born again or receiving the free gift of salvation, their soul will be sent to Hell where they will await the judgement of the Lord and if their name is not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life they will be cast into the lake of fire and eternally separated from God, (the second death).

1st Corinthians 15:20-22

"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."

 If we remain in Adam our souls will die, but if we are baptized into Christ our souls will be made alive through the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit as He comes to indwell our bodies.

Romans 8:11

"But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."

Romans 5:18-19

"Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous."

I have learned that every soul born on the face of this earth needs Jesus, must be born again, and needs to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. The only way we can be reconciled back to God is to accept His free gift of salvation, and understand that God sent His Son Jesus to set us free from the law of sin and death that came into this world through Adam and Eve.

I welcome any additions, revelations, questions, or insights to this message because I am still learning, praying, and fasting about this very deep spiritual subject, which has been hard to understand.

Abiding In His Love,
Tyrone