The Fall of Adam.

The Fall of Adam - by P.K.Odendaal - 26 June 2011.

I get some questions from time to time - specially from non-believers - who ask why God could not have foreseen that Adam would fall or whether is was an experiment that went horribly wrong.

Of course it is neither of these and I wish to discuss this in a logical and simple way, although I must say from the start that there are also other aspects of this that we do not know, for God also had other considerations which He did not tell us of or which we may not understand.

To get to grips with this, we should first look at the fall of Israel as a nation which will give us some insight into the fall of Adam.

The facts of Israel as a woman, is that God married her and that he wanted to gather he under His wings as a hen gathers her chickens - now that is real close. (see Luke 13:34)

Israel however had other plans and a free will and drifted into idol worshop with their golden calf (Ex. 32:4), and whoredom as in Num 14:33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

There are also many other instances of this.

Eventually, God had to give her a bill of divorce : Jer 3:8  And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. v:9  And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

This error was due to their free will and was expected as anyone with a free will will sin as we have seen with the angels who rebelled against God even before Adam was created. A third of them rebelled against God and went into damnation.

If you take anyone into a house of sin with enough time and money, liquor and women or whatever other distraction we may conjure up, chances are about 100% that he/she will sin. So sinning with free will is a given and God knew it even better than we do.
However, God wanted mankind to have free will so that He can have a friend likened unto Himself who could, with Him, enjoy creation and enjoy God. It was so important to God to give mankind free will, even although He knew man would sin. The only thing he needed to do then was to send His Son for their sins, which He knew He would do. If one reads about the fall of Adam one sees that God immediately had a plan to save man and one gets the impression that God all along had that plan, even before Adam sinned. Gen 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (This is a reference to the crucifixion of Christ)

Returning to Israel. God had to leave Israel for a moment to save the gentiles and then return to them again as Paul so aptly describes.

Rom 11:11  I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. v:12  Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? v:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (In part means - God also had other considerations)

Now we are ready to return to Adam and the able words of John Wesley will tell the story more fully.

'Was it not easy for the Almighty to prevent it ? - He certainly did foresee the whole ... But it was known to Him, at the same time, that it was best, upon the whole, not to prevent it. He knew that ... the evil resulting from the former was not as the good resulting from the latter, - not worthy to be compared to it. He saw that to permit the fall of the first man was far best for mankind in general; that abundantly more good than evil would accrue to the posterity of Adam by his fall; that if 'sin abounded' thereby over all the earth, yet grace 'would much more abound'; yea, and that to every individual of the human race, unless it was his own choice ...

.. Mankind in general have gained, by the fall of Adam, a capacity for attaining more holiness and happiness on earth than it would have been possible for them to attain if Adam had not fallen.
Unless all the partakers of human nature had received that deadly wound in Adam, it would not have been needful for the Son of God to take our nature upon Him ... there would have been no room for that amazing display of the Son of God's love to mankind .. It could not then have been said, to the astonishment of the hosts of heaven 'God so love the world that He gave His Son.'

... What is the necessary consequence of this? It is this : There could then have been no such thing as faith in God thus loving the world, giving His only son for us men, and for our salvation ... the whole privilege of justification by faith could have had no existence'

My own words : As we know from the duality of life on earth, that after Adam ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that good and evil would co-exist on earth, and it is for us to prevail over evil.

Just so free will and sin will co-exist, but we must choose.

Fasting

WHAT IS A FAST?

Fasting is part of the Christian faith life. In a fast, one chooses for a set time to do without something that is hard to do without, in order to focus on spiritual growth. It refers to the denial of the needs of the flesh in order to enhance our spirit and get closer to God. Fasting should also increase the power of prayer manifold. By us putting even our most basic urges and needs into a lower priority than the task at hand, we can put our whole selves into it.

Lord, make me an Instrument of Your Peace

The Peace Prayer of St. Francis apparently dates from the early part of this century, and was found in Normandy in 1915, written on the back of a holy card of St. Francis, from which the name comes. It takes a true and tested Christian, to write something like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
when there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Radical Obedience to God

Luke 5:1-7 &  John 14:15

Jesus said 'if you love Me, you will obey Me'.

Your obedience to God's Word in your life is the most important step in fulfilling your destiny and finding His blessing.

Obedience is not always an easy task. The choice of obedience can make you nervous, uncomfortable and even unpopular with others. However your decision to obey the Holy Spirit's leading in your life on a daily basis is your platform to true success.

After spending all day trying to catch fish in the river, Peter and his men were about to give up. That very moment, Jesus turned up on the scene and asked him to cast his net one more time on the other side. Peter was understandably hesitant. He was an experienced fisherman who had been trying all day.

However, he chose to obey the word of the Lord.

Noah chose to obey God despite never seeing rain. Abraham chose to obey God and took Isaac to the point of sacrifice until God stepped in. The rich young man, whom Jesus told so sell all his things and join them, couldn't obey. What an opportunity did he not give up! If only he knew.

God requires radical obedience from you. He asks you to heed His words and obey them. Follow His precepts. Apply His principles and allow the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Your obedience is the greatest expression of your love for God.

Bethink yourselves.

Bethink yourselves - Leo Tolstoi - abstracts.
Article by P.K.Odendaal

Well, I take my hat off for Leo Tolstoi, who was not afraid to tell the Russian rulers what we are afraid to tell our rulers.

Just a few of his statements to bring us back to earth and to our mission. He gets the name of the words from a citation of Jesus Christ. Tolstoi knew very well that war was not about who was right, but rather about who was left.

All over Russia, from the Palace to the remotest village, the pastors of Churches, calling themselves Christians, appeal to that God who has enjoined love to one's enemies - to the God of Love Himself - to help the work of the devil to further the slaughter of men.

Let everyman interrupt the work he has begun and ask himself : Who am I? From whence have I appeared, and in what consists my destiny? And having answered these questions, according to the answer decide whether that which thou doest is in conformity with thy destiny.

This unfortunate and entangled young man (The Tsar) ... confidently thanks and blesses the troops whom he call his own for murder in defence of lands which with yet less right he calls his own.
... but how can a believing Christian ... take a gun, or stand by a cannon, and aim at a crowd of his fellow-men, desiring to kill as many of them as possible ?

If there be a God, He will not ask me whether I retained Chi-nam-po with its timber shores, or Port Arthur or even that conglomeration which is called the Russian Empire (from being taken by the Japannese in that war), which He did not confide to my care, but He will ask me what I have done with that life He put at my disposal; - did I use it for the purpose for which it was predestined, and under the conditions for fulfilling which it was intrsusted to me? Have I fulfilled His law?

Therefore, for a religious man there is no question as to whether many or few men act as he does (resisting war and maybe getting shot for not participating in it), or of what may happen to him if he does that which he should do. He knows that besides life and death nothing can happen, and that life and death are in the hands of God whom he obeys.

I cannot act otherwise than as God demands of me, and that therefore I as a man can neither directly nor indirectly, nor by helping, nor by inciting to it, participate in war; I cannot, I do not wish to, and I will not.

The Bible - spiritual value

The Bible:

This Book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of Salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.

It’s doctrines are holy, it’s precepts are binding, its histories are true and it’s decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword & the Christian’s character.

Here paradise is restored, heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed.

Christ is the grand subject, our good it’s design and the glory of God it’s end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure.

It is given to you in life, will be opened at the judgment and be remembered Forever.

It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour and condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.