CREATURE VERSUS CREATOR
Chapter
One
INCREASING
VERSUS DECREASING (PART I)
“In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth”
How great and
vast is the marvelous creation of Almighty God! It comprises the entire
universe and all the living creatures in it. “All
things were made by him: and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
(John 1:3) Everything God created, He made perfect. And when He completed His
creation upon this planet earth, “God saw every thing
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the
morning were the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)
How tragic to
see the great destruction wrought upon God’s perfect creation by His creatures
rebelling against Him and disobeying their Creator God. CREATURES THAT REBEL
AGAINST THEIR CREATOR DO IT UNTO THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION. Therefore it would
greatly behoove each of us human creatures to cease rebelling against Almighty
God. You need to open your heart fully to God to allow Him to show you all the
ways you rebel against Him and then diligently seek His Help in ceasing all
your rebellion against Him. Living in obedience to your Creator God will be
the very best life you can have. Therefore that is the wisest thing for you to
do.
[Dear Reader, each time
you come to this green print, it is a powerful prayer. So please open your
heart to Almighty God your Creator, and pray these prayers aloud to Him, in all
earnestness and sincerity. If you will do so, God will work miracles in your
life.]
“Almighty
God, I now choose to fully open my heart to Thee, My Creator, for the purpose
of Thee showing to me all the ways I rebel against Thee. Also please show me
what an awful sin that rebellion is, and give me a desire and the will to cease
it. Thank Thee, Lord God, for hearing and answering this prayer of mine.
Amen.”
With God as my
Helper, in this book I want to describe the main ways in which creatures rebel
against their Creator. So let’s first look at the start of that rebellion as
recorded in the Holy Bible, God’s Everlasting Truth that will never pass away.
“The anointed cherub that coverth”
Likely
the cherub, Lucifer, was the greatest, most powerful, and most magnificent creature
that God created. “Son of man, take up a lamentation
upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest
up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the
garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and
the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald,
and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Thou art the anointed
cherub that coverth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain
of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou
wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till
iniquity was found in thee.” (Ezekiel 28:12~15)
This
is speaking of Lucifer, to one of his sons, the king of Tyrus. It
is difficult for us mere humans to perceive of the great beauty and ability of
Lucifer and of the high position he held in his original estate. The above
scriptures say that he was covered with many precious stones and gold for beauty.
Some people, who know the Bible better than me, say that Lucifer was a flying,
horned serpent. Now, our natural fear of serpents often causes us to regard
them as ugly. But the graceful, flowing, fluid-like movement of the serpent is
unmatched by any other creature. And in his original state, the beauty of that
horned serpent, Lucifer, far exceeded the beauty of all the other created
beings.
The
“tabrets” and “pipes” likely refer to apparatuses for making music, created by
God right into this living creature to make the most beautiful sounding music
intended for God’s pleasure and possibly also for the pleasure of other
creatures in Heaven. Thus created as the greatest musician among all the
creatures, in his present fallen state the ol’ devil is still a great musician.
And much of the “music” presently sounding forth on this planet earth comes
from the devil and it gives glory to him while robbing the Creator of that
glory. Also, much of the devil’s music is disguised as “Christian” music,
played and sung by Christians, even in churches. This greatly glorifies the
devil. Shame on you, if you don’t know God well enough to discern what music
comes from His enemy.
“Almighty God, please help me to know Thee well enough to be able
to discern what music is from Thee and what music is from Thy archenemy, the
devil. Teach me this, I pray. I also pray for all other people to be filled
with this knowledge and discernment. Teach us how destructive the devil’s music
is, and please help us all to shun the devil’s music. Amen.”
In
his perfect state, Lucifer walked up and down in the midst of stones of fire,
apparently in Heaven. (Verse 14) That is why some present-day devil worshippers
do exactly the same thing; walk on beds of red-hot coals, protected from harm
by the devil.
“Thou art the anointed cherub that coverth.” (Verse
14) I believe that Lucifer “covered” and guarded God’s Throne. You may ask,
“From what did he guard it?” I do not know if there was anything in God’s
creation then, from which God needed to protect His Throne. Possibly God had
Lucifer “covering” and guarding His Throne, simply as a ceremonial guard; in a
similar way as it is common for earthly kings and government leaders to have a
ceremonial guard because it looks prestigious.
“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.” (Verse
12) In all aspects, Lucifer was greater than any other created being and was
placed in a position higher than any other creature, just under the Godhead. He
was the apex of all God’s creatures, the sum total of wisdom and beauty in a
creature. Furthermore, He could have forever held that position of
being the greatest creature. He did not have to work one bit to gain that
position. He never had to strive for it. It was simply bestowed upon him by his
Creator as an act of creation. So a most important question is, “Just where did
he go wrong? How did he become a rebellious, mean, God-hating devil, doomed to
everlasting torments without any hope of reprieve?”
Simply put, the
answer is, “He simply got out of place.”
“I will be like the most High”
“How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut
down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the
most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit.” (Isaiah 14:12~15)
Lucifer
decided to (and attempted to) leave his first estate (his God created and God
ordained estate), and to rise up higher than the place ordained for him by his
Creator. Basically, that was the first thing he did
wrong in regard to his Creator. A most important part of his attempted rising
was that he attempted to be like God. “I will be like
the most High.” Some people carelessly teach that Lucifer tried to be greater
than God. But God’s Holy Word doesn’t say that. It says he declared that he
would be like the most High. In all the great wisdom given to Lucifer by
his Creator and in his close association with Almighty God, he knew for certain
that no creature could ever be greater than the
Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent Creator God. So he didn’t attempt to do
the impossible. Instead, he set out to be like God.
Please read and
study the Bible carefully and in minute detail. Then accept it at face
value and believe it to be totally accurate. Lucifer did set out to ascend
into heaven, to exalt his throne above the stars of God, and to ascend
above the heights of the clouds. But in regard to the Most High God,
Lucifer declared that he would be like Him. And by doing so, he stepped
out of place in rebellion against his Creator and thereby reaped a most tragic
judgment and fate. From this account given in Isaiah 14, I conclude that
Lucifer was the first creature to rebel against his Creator. And he did so
by deciding to rise up out of his God ordained estate into a higher one. He
sure would have been wise to stay in his place, wouldn’t he?
“Yes Sir, he
sure would have.”
It sure was
stupid of him, not to just be satisfied and content with being the greatest
created being ever, wasn’t it?
“Yes sir, it
sure was.”
Please
seriously consider what I have said about Lucifer and whether you consider me
to be accurate in accessing exactly what he did. It is most essential for us to
have an accurate Biblical knowledge of the exact nature of this very first
rebellion of any creature against our Creator God.
“Lord
God, please give me Thy wisdom and teach me all I should know about Lucifer’s
rebellion against Thee, his Creator. Teach me just how wrong and rebellious it
was of him to decide to rise up out of his God ordained estate and attempt to
be like the Most High God. Help me to completely understand exactly what is
basically involved when Thy creatures rebel against Thee. Amen.”
“Ye shall be as gods”
After Lucifer
became God’s enemy the devil, let’s look at what he then said when he first
came and tempted mankind to also disobey his Creator. “Now the serpent was more subtil 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: 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. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die: 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 3:1~5)
The subtil
serpent starts his speech with “Yea.” He
presents a positive, optimistic approach in his deceiving, which is also
characteristic of the speech of his sons and daughters. After softening up the
woman’s heart with these smooth words, he then lies to her by “promising” her, “Ye shall not surely die,” if ye eat of the forbidden
fruit. And among other things he tells her, “Ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Lucifer
disobeyed God by attempting to rise up and be like Him. Now, he tempts the
woman by telling her that she and Adam can be like God, by disobeying
God their Creator. Sometimes the devil lies. Sometime he speaks the truth (out
of necessity or when it benefits his cause to do so). And sometimes his speech
is a mixture of lies and truth. Which of these 3 do you think is the case when
he said, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”?
Was Satan lying to Eve? The best place to find the answer to that question is
in God’s Word.
“And
the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
evil.” (Genesis 3:22) The Lord God clearly confirms
that man in his fallen state has now become as One of the Holy Trinity. God
also tells exactly how those fallen humans have become like Him; “to know good and evil.” Therefore, I believe that the
serpent told the truth when he told Eve that she and Adam would be as gods, if
they would only disobey God by eating of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil. So now in their fallen state, human creatures have the ability to do
something that they didn’t have the ability to do in their perfect state; i.e. rise
up out of their God ordained first estate and become great like God.
Mankind was not created with this ability. Rather man gained that ability by
disobeying his Creator and by rebelling against his Creator. Please store
that important fact in your mind, keep it there, and always be aware of
that truth as you live your life here on the earth.
“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil”
We need to know
exactly what this tree is, because it provides the first and most basic
choice for man to choose to disobey his Creator. I believe that most of
“education,” especially “higher education,” is the knowledge of good and evil
that God forbade Adam and Eve to partake of. I do not believe that
the basic 3 R’s, reading, ‘riting (writing), and ‘rithmatic (arithmetic), are
part of the knowledge of good and evil. Because God gave us His written Word, I
believe it is good if we are literate enough to read it well. God used men to
pen the words of His Bible. Therefore I think it is appropriate that we be able
to write. And simple math is helpful and somewhat necessary in the lifestyle
that God ordained for us, and it is also used in the Bible. Therefore I do not
believe that it is wrong in God’s Sight for us to learn reading, writing, and
basic math. I also believe it is important for us to study and know man’s
history, especially history recorded by God in the Bible.
I
believe that all humans since Adam and Eve have had the tree of knowledge of
good and evil before them and have had the choice of partaking or not partaking
of its fruit. I also believe that all down through the ages, our Creator’s
command still stands, forbidding us to eat of the fruit of that tree. And I
believe that each and every time that someone eats of that fruit, it is sinful
rebellion against their Creator, just as it was sinful for Adam and Eve to eat
of it.
There are 3
basic reasons why I believe that most of higher education is the knowledge
of good and evil that God forbids us to eat. Would you please think seriously
on these reasons I give.
1 “The
knowledge of good and evil” is a most appropriate definition of
education. In getting an education, one learns good things and evil things. In
a nutshell, it is as simple as that.
2 Higher
education enables a human to rise up and be like God. Man, whom God created and
placed in the Garden of Eden to till that garden and to keep it, has since
risen up ever so high. He can now even go far into outer space. And presently,
the rapid advances he makes yearly and even monthly in most areas of science,
engineering, medicine, and like fields, are mind-boggling beyond belief.
Because of these unbelievably high plateaus he has reached, man has truly risen
up to be like God. The devil told Eve, “ye shall be as
gods.” Then God confirmed, “the man is become as
one of us.” And the basic key to man rising up and being
able to accomplish so many unbelievable, God-like feats, is that of devouring
as much knowledge of good and evil as he possibly can. In order to rise up and
be like God, man’s first priority is to go for all the education he can get.
Open your eyes
and ears to be alert to what has been said about education and knowledge down
thru the ages and what is being said about it now. “Knowledge, that which
advances civilization.” “Knowledge, the creation and advancement of civilization.”
That means that it enables man to rise up out of his created estate and advance
to something much higher. “Education is only a ladder to gather fruit from the
tree of knowledge, not the fruit itself.” That quote openly connects education
to the tree of knowledge. Be alert and you will likely hear and read such
things about education and knowledge. (I do not have the sources of any of the
above quotes.)
“Ever learning”
In a State of
the Union address (27 January 1998, I think), President Clinton said that the
information age is the education age, and that education is to start at birth
and to continue for a lifetime. That statement places utmost importance upon
gluttonously devouring the knowledge of good and evil for one’s entire life. I
think it was in the 1970’s when we first began hearing a lot about the
necessity of education continuing for all one’s lifetime. And as man becomes
more intent upon rising, the more emphasis he will put on devouring the
knowledge of good and evil non-stop, from birth till death. In his insane,
destructive quest to rise up and become as great as possible, the human
creature is most intent on being as disobedient as possible to his Creator’s
very first command to him. “But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.” (Genesis 2:17)
When a human
creature sets himself on rising, normally the first step he takes is to strive
to get the most and best education possible, to enable him to rise. There are a
few exceptions. Often no education is necessary in order to rise up and become
a sports “god.” In a lot of cases, all that is required for that is just the
physical ability. Other naturally endowed talents, such as musical abilities or
leadership abilities, allow one to rise with little or no education. Some
people are given a risen status for free by “inheriting an empire.” But in most
areas where we rise, education is necessary. Think of the great efforts and
much time and money that your parents put into your education from the time you
were small. You came to exert those efforts on your own as you grew up. Then
you put forth the same great efforts to see that your children got the best
education possible. The much life energy you expended on education was not
toward the goal of having sufficient food, clothing, and shelter. Rather it was
toward the goal of rising up to be as great as possible. And the human creature
typically starts that climb, by getting all the education that he possibly can.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it.”
“Thou shalt surely die”
3 “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.” (Genesis 2:17) This is the third
reason I believe that this forbidden knowledge of good and evil is higher
education. The more educated man becomes and thereby “advances his
civilization” (a lie), the more destruction and death he brings onto this
planet. You can readily see that for yourself. A foremost and top priority, in
using the knowledge of good and evil, is to use it to build weapons of war. You
well know how war machinery has become more & more destructive all down
through history. And that trend will continue till the end of time. “Thou shalt surely die.”
We pollute the
land, water, and air with an untold number of poisonous substances man learned
to make by diligently studying the knowledge of good and evil. “Thou shalt surely die.” We learn to cover with
concrete and asphalt, the earth God created to bring forth our food. “Thou shalt surely die.” We learn to build a society
(world) that runs to and fro (Daniel 12:4). This frenzy results in much death,
injury, and destruction from many traffic and transportation accidents on land,
water, and in the air. “Thou shalt surely die.” Emphasis
on gaining and using higher education causes an ever-increasing fast pace of
life, literally destroying people’s sanity and bringing on early death. “Thou shalt surely die.”
I could fill a
book with more examples similar to the above. But there is no need to bore you
with that, because you can readily see a world full of such examples around
you. Any time you see or hear of any large, man made, death-dealing problem
such as traffic and transportation accidents, explosions in factories,
poisonous gases escaping, large man made structures collapsing on people, etc.;
just think on how much knowledge of good and evil was necessary for man to
learn how to build those machines, large structures, and substances that
brought the cause of that “death” into existence. Think on the impossibility of
that problem occurring as late as 1800, or 1900, or 1950. Think on how much
more potential death and destruction man brings upon himself as he rises higher
and higher. It would be wise for mankind to say, “Stop the merry-go-round! I
want to get off!” But we will not do that because we love the sin of rising so
much. We will madly continue to rise to our total destruction. “Thou shalt surely die.”
Desirous-to-rise,
degenerate mankind puts the nicest titles on this sinful rebellion of rising by
calling it “progress,” “advancement,” etc., and proclaiming it to be necessary
to better mankind and his civilization. We speak most favorably of it because
we fervently love rising up to be as “God-like” as possible. It is a lie to
call it “progress.” Even Christian believers will proclaim it to be God’s
blessings to us. I believe that is a lie. In reality, it is the act of the
creature forsaking His Creator God, running away from Him, and heading straight
to his own destruction as fast as possible. What a fervent, intense love the
majority of the human race has for disobeying our Creator’s very first command
to us. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Had the human creature always
obeyed that first and only command his Creator issued to him, there would have
been no need for the many additional commands God has given us in the Bible.
Also, we could have always lived in absolute perfection. How each of us needs a
heart totally desirous to obey that first and most important command, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.”
These 3
thoughts relating the knowledge of good and evil to higher education are simply
products of my imperfect mind. But I do believe I have the mind of Christ
concerning them. So please think seriously on them and consider their validity.
I firmly believe that higher education is the exact same knowledge of good and
evil that God forbad His human creatures to partake of. I believe that all down
through the ages of time on this earth, it has still always been just as
forbidden for people to eat of the knowledge of good and evil as it was in the
Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve fell. I believe that much of what goes wrong
with the human race stems from people eating of knowledge of good and evil. So
I ask you to seriously seek God’s wisdom concerning this very first command He
gave to mankind and seek to know exactly how this command presently relates to
you.
“Heavenly
Father, please teach me the full meaning of this first command that Thou gavest
to the human race. Didst Thou give that command to Adam and Eve only? Or does
it also apply to me now? If Thou art presently commanding me not to eat of the
knowledge of good and evil, then please tell me that so I will know it without
any doubt. Also, please show me exactly what is the knowledge of good and evil.
Is it higher education, as Brother Richard believes it is? Please clearly show
me these things and give me a heart to be totally obedient to Thee, concerning
them. Amen.”
“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend”
The
very first step in the creature rebelling against his Creator is the thought
of, and then the attempted deed of, rising up higher than his God ordained
position (estate), and striving to be like God, not in
holiness, purity, and such, but in power, might, glory, and such. “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but
left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 6) Please
think hard on just exactly what Lucifer did, and then on what Eve did. They desired
to be like God and then set out to be like Him. Those factual
happenings are foundational truths concerning rebellion of the
creature against his Creator God. And a most clear knowledge and thorough
understanding of them are direly essential if you have any desire at all to be
pleasing to your Creator.
“Heavenly
Father, please help me to fully understand where is the very start of rebellion
against Thee, in the heart of Thy creatures. Also please help me to know and
understand my own heart and to know everything in it that is in conflict with
Thee. I pray this prayer for all other people also. Amen.”
“I must
decrease.” (John 3:30) Almost 2,000 years ago, John the
Baptist proclaimed that decreasing was a must for him. Deeply
consider how that the desire to decrease is the farthest thing from the minds
of most people. Instead, we all tend to live and breathe with the goal of
rising up to be as great as possible. We spend all the energy and effort we
possibly can toward that end. The foremost goal (the very heartbeat) of the
human race is to “increase” and rise up to be as great as we can. Rising up
out of our God ordained estate is the basic foundation to all rebellion against
God. So please be well aware of that and think on it as you diligently
study your Bible and as you read this book about warring against your Creator.
The desire to
rise, and then the decision to rise, was the first step in the rebellion by
Lucifer and the angels, and by the first two humans. The desire to rise
and striving to rise are the root cause of all the vast sinful misery on
this planet and even throughout the universe. With a God-given burden and a
broken heart over all the suffering and wrong on this earth, for over 3 decades
now, in fasting, praying, and weeping, I have sought from my Creator the
knowledge of what is the most basic, root cause of all that has gone wrong in
God’s perfect creation. And God has taught me that it is this, the creature
deciding to leave his Creator-ordained estate for the purpose of rising up
higher. So if you want to lay the ax to the root of the greatest problem,
the greatest wrong that exists, then ask God to give you victory over your
desire to rise up higher than is pleasing to your Creator.
“Heavenly
Father, I now ask Thee for that victory. Please show me all the desires of
rising that exist in my heart that are not pleasing to Thee. Please make me
aware that they are sinful rebellion against Thee and by Thy Unlimited Power,
please give me total victory over them. I pray that all other people also will
desire to be saved from the sin of rising. Amen.”
You can readily
observe mankind’s furious endeavors to be as great a creature as possible. You
know how true that is of your own self. You can easily see it in most all the
people with whom you mingle. And with present-day, worldwide media, you have a
bird’s eye view of it going on all over this planet. In almost every kind of
work and play, people push themselves to the limit to be the greatest in
whatever endeavor they choose. People value rising up to be great, more than
they value their own lives. So, in fields such as sports and daredevil
events (especially those involving the powerful, fast machines produced from
the knowledge of good and evil), the whole world is littered with the
destruction and carnage of human injuries and deaths, many of which occur just
in practice and training for the ball game, car race, etc. The most successful
of the human creatures who set themselves to rising in some intellectual area
(education, the arts, entertainment, business, politics, etc.) are plagued with
drunkenness, drug addition, insanity, stress related diseases, early deaths,
suicides, murder, and such. “Thou shalt surely
die.” (Genesis 2:17)
People kill
themselves just in the quest of that higher education. I read of university
entrance exams in China back about 1900. Hundreds of young adults gathered at
the examination places. To take the exam, each student went into an individual
cubicle about the size of a phone booth and was required to stay in it until
examination time ended about 3 days later. Their dreams of rising hinged on how
well they did on that 3-day test. The pressure on them was so great that when
test time ended in 3 days, there were always a few of those young adults dead
in their cubicles. “Thou shalt surely die.”
Just the other
day (June 2,003), I listened to a radio commentator telling how that presently
the mad quest for the knowledge of good and evil in India is killing many
students there. Their high grades on national exams are so important that many
students commit suicide if they don’t do well. “The day before results were
announced, a New Delhi girl hanged herself by her scarf, leaving a note saying
that she was sure she had failed. The southern state of Kerala has both the
highest literacy rate and the highest suicide rate with 9 students killing
themselves the day the 10th grade results were released. In fact, a
study by “The Week” magazine shows in India about 4,000 students kill
themselves each year.” That is an awful lot of young precious souls, dearly
loved by their Creator and He is not willing that a one of them perish in a mad
quest for the knowledge of good and evil.
All the 3
decades I have lived in Japan, I regularly hear of Japanese teenagers “cracking
up,” going crazy from the pressure parents and teachers put on them to excel in
education. Some Japanese teens commit suicide because of that excessive
pressure put on them to devour all the knowledge of good and evil they possibly
can, because they are pressured to rise, pressured to be the best, pressured to
be Number One by sinfully proud parents and teachers. “Thou
shalt surely die.” The following is an article from the “Yomiuri”
newspaper.
“SAITAMA—Two
middle school girls, aged 15 and 14, died Monday after they apparently jumped
from the sixth floor of a parking tower of the Daiei supermarket in Kuki,
Saitama Prefecture, police said.
“According
to the police, the two girls were found lying in a pool of blood in a parking
lot on the west side of the building by a 30-year-old man on the way to his
office about 5:50 a.m. The man reportedly heard the sound of an impact and
looked back and saw the girls. They were taken to a nearby hospital, where both
later died. They were classmates at a public school in the city.
“Police
found two rucksacks containing textbooks believed to belong to the girls and a
plastic bag on the rooftop of the parking building.
“The
girls had written dozens of pages about their worries about family and school
in a B5 size notebook titled, ‘Our school life—H13.11.11’ (11 November 2001)
and found in the bag. They wrote: ‘I’m too exhausted to live’; ‘Because I’ve
already decided to die, I want to try doing something I’ve never done before’;
and ‘I want to live freely,’ police said.
“Police
believe the girls intended to commit suicide by jumping from the building.”
“I’m
too exhausted to live.” “I want to live freely.” After penning those words, the
two girls jumped to their deaths on the hard pavement 6 stories below. Those
deaths are the result of parents, teachers, and society force-feeding their
small ones the knowledge of good and evil in order to have them rise up as high
as possible. “Thou shalt surely die.” And
all the people, who so pressured those two, precious, young 14 and
15-year-old Japanese girls, will stand in Judgment before their Creator as
MURDERERS! And if you do not believe that last statement is true,
you will certainly be made aware of its truth when you stand before your
Creator in Judgment.
I
read one news report of a Japanese high school boy murdering his father,
mother, and grandmother because of the great pressure his mother was putting on
him to study as much and as hard as possible. He bashed his mother’s head in
with a baseball bat as she slept. When that awakened his father and his father
exploded at him with, “You’re crazy!” then he killed his father in like manner.
Then, when the ruckus awakened grandma upstairs and she came stumbling down the
stairs to see what it was all about, the boy killed her. Later, he said he
killed her because he felt sorry for her if she remained there in that
traumatic mess. So, in pity for her, he put her out of her misery. His father
rightly accused the boy by exclaiming, “You’re crazy!” And what drove the boy
crazy was his parents’ undue pressure on him to devour all the knowledge of
good and evil he possible could. He later clearly told the authorities that was
the reason he started that murdering spree and killed 3 of his family members.
After
committing that horrible act in the middle of the night, he couldn’t bear to
stay there in that house full of death. So he just went out to a little park
area nearby and sat there alone till morning came, his young life in such
miserable shambles because he had been so greatly pressured to eat all of the
knowledge of good and evil he could. Come morning, a couple of his classmates
(boys) saw him there on their way to school and called on him to come on to
school. He replied that he couldn’t because he had killed his parents and
grandmother. They heartily laughed at him for cracking such a joke. He assured
them he wasn’t joking and told them to go look for themselves. So they went to
his house, looked inside, and were plenty shocked at the death scene. They then
ran to school, told some teachers, who called the police. The news article said
the school’s teachers and parents soon held meetings to determine what to do to
prevent such.
Well,
I can tell them exactly what they can do to prevent such death; obey
their Creator’s command: “But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. We would all
do well to listen to our Creator’s serious warning at the end of that command, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.”
Back
about 2,001, I heard a news report here in Japan that, nationwide in Japan,
about 200,000 young people, most in their early 20’s, were doing absolutely
nothing with their lives. The reason was that they had been pushed so hard to
excel in studying, sports, and such, by their parents, as long as their parents
had “absolute” control over them. Then, when those young people reached
adulthood and got out from under that iron fist of slavery to “rising,” many
of them were so tired of the rat race that they just “retired,” and
did nothing for some few years.
The
yellow race of human creatures seems to just have an insanely mad quest for the
knowledge of good and evil ingrained into their beings. It appears that they
got the worst dose of it and the black race was blessed with the least dose of
it, with the white race in between. Leaders of other nations, such as the U.S.,
regularly talk of the need to imitate the “excellent” Japanese education system
because of the results it gets in “raising people up” and making them excel. Beware
that it gets those results by pushing them to the limit, and even beyond the
limit, pushing them to insanity, suicide, and murder in large numbers. So
as you gaze upward in admiration at the “risen” achievers, by all means,
don’t fail to look down at the casualties, the ones who lost their minds
or committed suicide in their mad quest for knowledge, or who resorted to
murder because they were pushed so hard to devour knowledge and to rise. Look down
at those 14 and 15-year-old girls, lying on that pavement in a pool of their
blood because they were too tired to live at that young age. Look down
on that high school boy, sitting alone in that park from about 2 AM to 8 AM or
so, his young life such a hopeless mess because he had murdered 3 family
members, apparently everyone who lived in his house. What we need are some
government leaders with enough sense in their heads to call on their citizens
to obey their Creator. “But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it.”
Nations
intent on rising will quickly make a certain amount of education compulsory.
They rob their citizens of the freedom to choose not to eat of the knowledge of
good and evil, making it a crime to refrain from eating of it. I believe that
they are entirely out of place in doing that, and that God is displeased with
it. In Christian nations, it has typically been good Christian leaders who
brought about compulsory education. I believe they did so out of good motives,
first of all wanting everyone to be able to read God’s Holy Bible. They did not
have the foresight to see that highly literate people would produce such a mass
of books, magazines, newspapers, catalogs, comics, and all kinds of writings;
that they would then no longer find time to read the Bible. That is most
tragic.
We sacrifice
our own lives; kill our own selves by the sin of worshipping “Self” as a false,
idol god. All worship requires sacrifice, and how appalling it is to observe
masses of people laying their own selves on the altar of this false god to have
their very lives wiped out by the overwhelmingly powerfully destructive forces
of “rising” and by this false, idol god of “Self” that is a murdering god. How
tragic it is to see many people push their children so hard to get knowledge
that those young people kill themselves. How sad and tragic it is to see that
masses have forsaken their Creator God and have exchanged Him for such a killer
of a false god. “Thou shalt surely die.” May
God open all our eyes to see just how terribly destructive is the idolatry of
worshipping “Self,” worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. “And worshipped and served the creature more than the
Creator.”
“Heavenly
Father, please open my eyes and give me clear, spiritual vision to perceive all
the destruction that stems from people striving to rise up and be great. Help
me to know just how awful a murderer is this idol god of “Self.” And please
save me from the sin of worshipping this false god. Help me to truly worship my
Creator, and to worship Thee ALONE. I pray this prayer for all other people
also. Amen.”
Oh how the
lives destroyed by this false god are so greatly praised and glorified by
people who worship “Self” and worship “rising/increasing.” In early February
2003 when President Bush spoke at a memorial service for the destroyed souls
aboard the space shuttle Columbia, he said, “They are heroes in man’s quest for
knowledge. They knew the risks and accepted the challenge.”
Just look how
clearly and proudly he stated man’s rebellion against God. God commanded, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it.” (Genesis 2:17) But President Bush pronounced
people heroes for disobeying this first command of our Creator.
“They knew the
risks,” the President of the most highly risen nation on earth proudly
declares. Sure they knew the risks, because God long ago plainly told them
exactly what the risks were. “FOR IN THE DAY THAT THOU
EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.” You too, had better read
that promise of your Creator and be well aware of its Truth and convinced of
the risks of disobeying that first command in Genesis 2:17. If you eat of the
knowledge of good and evil, it will kill you. That is exactly what the
risks are.
“And accepted
the challenge,” crows the President in his pomp and pride. Yesiree, they
accepted the challenge, just as Eve accepted the challenge in Genesis Chapter
3, and as most every human creature since her has also accepted the challenge.
And when God scattered the body parts of that Columbia crew over many, vast
miles of the President’s home state of Texas, they lost in their challenge.
Their Creator won! Glory to God for that! And their Creator proved to them in
the most concrete way possible, the truth of His promise in Genesis 2:17, “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.”
God has proved
the validity of those words to each and every human creature that has lived to
rise up and be great, instead of living to decrease and to glorify his or her
Creator. And if you are living for the purpose of rising up to be the greatest
god you possibly can, you are soon to be killed by your own false god of
“Self,” making this promise into concrete reality to you. “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.” All creatures lose when they challenge their Creator by
rebelling against Him. So rest assured that you will just add your name
to a long list of losers, when you set out to rise up and be as great as
possible.
After the space
shuttle, Challenger, blew up in January l986, President Reagan addressed the
nation and plainly told everyone that those destroyed lives would not cause us
to discontinue any of our space exploration. He was very firm in saying our
nation would press on with it, full steam. He was telling his Creator that his
nation was set on rising up to be as great as possible, and we will give no
thought to stopping that sinful rebellion against our Creator just because a
few lives are destroyed by it. He made it very plain, that we as a nation had
no intention at all, of obeying our Creator’s first command to mankind in
Genesis 2:17. That is the main reason mankind is in the mess it is in today.
Death and destruction is our lot for this disobedience. God promised that, and
we can never get around it.
When President
Clinton addressed the nation and declared that education is to begin at birth
and continue for all of one’s life; in sinful, rebellious pride, he was telling
our Creator that was just how blatantly our nation intends to disobey God’s
very first commandment forbidding eating of the knowledge of good and evil.
Proud creatures, set on rising, boldly declare to their Creator they have no
intention of staying in their God ordained estate but rather intend to rise
just as highly as all the knowledge of good and evil will take them. How
pitiful they are, as they head straight for destruction. “Thou shalt surely die.” May God give you sense
enough not to be like them.
“Heavenly
Father, please save me from destroying myself. Please teach me all the facets
of Thy promise of death to those who eat of the knowledge of good and evil. Was
that warning for Adam and Eve only? Did it just mean that they would become
spiritually dead creatures, and that a sentence of physical death would be set
about in their bodies? Or does that warning also apply to me now? Does it mean
that I will kill myself by chasing after the knowledge of good and evil? Please
teach me just how this warning applies to me right now and help me to fully
heed it. Please save me from turning a deaf ear to this most important warning
of Thine. I pray for all other people to come to a full knowledge of this
warning and to heed it. Amen.”
“He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow”
It always
amazes me at how prone we are to think that we can avoid that which our Creator
promises us we will reap from our sowing. An increase of sorrow is a certain
harvest for all who increase knowledge. And you will never get around that, no
matter how much greater than your Creator you think you are. “And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and
folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. For in much wisdom is
much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:17&18)
On reading my
comments on this scripture in my first edition of this book, a soul-winning
fundamental Christian friend of mine sat me down and explained to me that I was
dead wrong in the way I interpreted this scripture. She said that wise King
Solomon was referring to our knowledge of our sinful heart, and that the more
we come to know how sinful we are, the more sorrowful we will become over our
sinful condition. Ha! Ha! Lady, it just ain’t nowheres in that text there in
Ecclesiastes 1:12~18. There is no honest way anyone can get her twisted meaning
out of that text. And I fear that she will be plenty sorrowful herself, come
Judgment Day when her Creator sets her deceitful heart straight on this matter.
Just a few
paragraphs back, I gave you some most “sorrowful” examples of Chinese youth
dropping dead under the pressure of university entrance exams, many students in
India committing suicide from the pressure of education, 2 Japanese girls
committing suicide because they were so pressured to increase knowledge, and
one Japanese boy murdering all 3 of his family members for the same reason.
Folks, that is a lot of sorrow. And the world is full of many such real life
examples. May God work in all our hearts a truly Godly sorrow over our sin of
loving to “rise” up out of our God-created estate and may He give us much
sorrow over our love of the sin of devouring the knowledge of good and evil.
And may He help us to repent of these sins and forsake them. “He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.”
“Heavenly
Father, please convince me of the truth of one increasing sorrow as one
increases knowledge. If there is anything wrong with rising and with seeking
much higher education, please reveal that to me and help me to avoid that
wrong. Please help me to do Thy Will relating to these matters. I pray these
things for all other people also.
Amen.”
“Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them
not”
In the early
1970’s, I sat listening to a mother talking about her 4-year-old son’s
potential. “One just doesn’t know what he will become. He may become
President.” How her face glowed with pride as she dreamed dreams of rising
for her son. She was a low-middle class American woman, living in a trailer
(mobile home). But how thrilling it was to her, to dream of her son breaking
those shackles and possibly becoming President of the United States. But just a
few weeks later, she was in tears, telling how the results of her son’s
kindergarten I.Q. test showed him to be slightly mentally retarded.
Oh, how the
creature’s heart is filled with such sinful, selfish pride when he achieves his
goals of rising. But what great pain, suffering, and misery that comes from
this sinful effort to “rise/increase” when he fails. What bitter heartbreak,
disappointment, and despair the creature plunges into when expectations aren’t
met and he fails to rise up to his desired goal. Still the creature endures it
all simply because he is so intent on worshipping the gods of “Self” and
“Rising,” and he pursues those false, idol gods with all his being. That is the
sin of idolatry. May God give us a heart to recognize this sin, and then to
truly repent of it, and forsake it. May He help us to sincerely pray, “I must decrease.”
“Heavenly
Father, please teach me how much of this sin is in my heart. Please give me
discernment to recognize it. Give me godly sorrow over it. Create in me a heart
truly repentant of the sin of self-worship. And by Thy Power, help me to
forsake this sin. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
Nations that
rise first and fastest typically exert much effort in helping backward nations
to rise. Throughout the world, “good” people set on the sin of rising, commonly
succumb to many additional sins such as lying, cheating, deceiving, betraying,
breaking all kinds of rules, and such. “Bad” people set on rising know no
reserve, as they steal, kill, make war, commit genocide, etc., all for the
sinful, selfish cause of becoming as great as possible. (I’m trying to be brief
here to keep from boring you with a lot of examples. So please think on the extent
of the above things that have gone on all over this world since Adam and Eve
first disobeyed their Creator, and what misery and destruction those sins have
wrought on God’s created human race.)
This
“rising/increasing” on the part of the human creature has constantly and
steadily gained momentum since Adam and Eve fell. It is greatly aided by every
“advancement” man is able to achieve by constantly eating of the knowledge of
good and evil. Each advancement, each new discovery, each new invention, gives
man greater leverage, power, and ability to rise up higher. Just a few, short
years ago, awesome feats that were then thought impossible for humans to ever
accomplish are now common, everyday practices that have long ceased to cause
excitement or to attract undue attention. And now that man has risen so highly
by gorging himself on much knowledge of good and evil, with faces all aglow
with a lethal dose of sinful, selfish pride, many people regularly proclaim
that there is absolutely no limit to what man can do! Nothing is impossible for
him! He can do anything! So man proclaims. Therefore he has become omnipotent
in his own eyes. What about, in God’s Eyes? “Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” And what has God
decreed to be the end result of man’s great accomplishment of becoming like
God? “THOU SHALT SURELY DIE.”
“After their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers”
Consider what
great demand there is for those who aid and abet this rising, all the teachers,
instructors, professors, trainers, coaches, advisers, councilors, consultants,
managers, and such. There is a great multitude of professions in a vast number
of fields with goals of teaching, training, and aiding in every way possible,
masses of people to “rise” and “increase” without limit. The best of the
teachers, professors, coaches, and all other professions, that assist people in
“rising,” are set on a high pedestal and are praised, worshipped, and idolized
for their great ability to aid lower humans in “increasing.”
People who set
themselves on “rising,” must naturally put faith in themselves, trust in and
have confidence in their own abilities. This naturally weakens their faith in
their Creator. Those many and varied “teachers” have a main goal of making people
into creatures who have faith in themselves. “Believe in yourself.” “Believe
you can do it!” “Have faith in yourself.” “Have confidence in yourself.” Such
ego inflating epitaphs echo repetitiously throughout the earth as those
professionals train the hearts and minds of younger and lower people to have faith in their own selves.
“Without
him (Christ) I can do nothing.” “Have faith in God.” Such
Bible teaching is not considered. Their Creator is pushed out of the picture.
Faith in Him is weakened or completely destroyed. The Creator becomes unneeded
and then undesired by the creature that is set on rising. More and more, the
creature becomes his own god. “And worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator.” What an awful sin this
self-worship is.
“Almighty
God, please show me the true condition of my own heart concerning self worship.
Show me the extent of it in my life and how guilty I am of it. Help me to recognize this sin, repent of it,
and forsake it. Please help me to worship and serve my Creator alone. I pray
this for all other people also. Amen.”
“I will exalt my throne”
When the
creature, angel or human, first makes the decision in his heart to rise, I
believe he thereby commits the sin of self-worship, which is idolatry. With
that decision to rise, he thinks better of himself than he should. He thinks a
higher position is more appropriate for him than his God ordained estate. That thinking
alone is sinful rebellion against the Creator. That thinking alone
is the sin of idolatry, worshipping self instead of the Creator and loving
something greater and higher than the creature’s God ordained estate.
I
believe that this is the very foundation of all idolatry; the creature becoming
dissatisfied with the estate designated for him by his Creator.
Instead, he wants to do better and rise up higher. He wants to become as much
like God as he possibly can. “I will be like the most
High.” “Ye shall be as gods.” I believe sin starts with idolatry, the idolatry
of a creature worshipping his own self instead of worshipping his
Creator. I believe Lucifer committed that sin of idolatry when he decided to
rise. I believe Eve also committed that sin of idolatry when she decided to
partake of the forbidden fruit in order to be like God. “And worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator.” Sinful
creatures are noted for worshipping a vast number of other creatures. But
the very first creature they worship is almost always their own self.
Therefore the
first of the 10 commandments is; “Thou shalt have no
other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) The
main idol in most every human heart is Self. If you are desirous to have
no other god before your Creator, then start by getting rid of the god of Self.
Many Christians think that becoming a Christian automatically brings them into
obedience to this first commandment. They have believed on the One True God Who
is their Creator. They are not a member of any false religion or cult. They do
not make idols of sticks and stones and bow down to those images of “things”
and worship them. Therefore they think that equals complete obedience to the
first commandment. But all too often, Self remains on the throne in many
Christians’ lives and thereby they live in idolatry.
“Heavenly
Father, if Self is on the throne in my life, please reveal that to me and help
me to get rid of that idol. Help me to truly have no other gods before Thee, my
Creator. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me”
After
enthroning Self as God, next the creature often worships another creature,
fallen angel and/or fallen human. When any human creature “rises/increases,”
there follows the natural tendency of lower human creatures around him or her
to look up to, admire, adore, praise, worship, and idolize that
human. They also come to desire to rise up in the same way themselves. This is
the sin of idolatry. Sin and idolatry never would have existed had all
creatures remained in their created estate, their first estate. What horrible
disasters follow when creatures set themselves on rising. Today, “risen”
creatures all over the world are worshipped by the masses as idols. The word
“idol” is not only boldly and widely used in the entertainment world in
referring to another human creature, but it is also used in many other areas
where the human creature strives to excel and to rise. Therefore when you
achieve your goal of rising, you will “naturally” be the cause of other human
creatures committing the sin of worshipping you. What extensive sin and
idolatry results when the human creature has no desire to decrease, but instead
exerts maximum effort to “rise/increase.” “I must
decrease.”
“Heavenly
Father, please teach me the reality of this. Please show me how that I will be
the cause of other people committing the sin of idolatry if I strive for and
reach a highly risen status. Please save me from causing others to commit such
sin. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
“I
must decrease.” We would think that Christian believers would be
desirous to go in this direction. But it is sad to see that many who profess to
love God are going all out to “rise/increase.” During my lifetime, I have
observed the body of Christ coming to love “rising” more and more. Preachers
cease to preach and warn against it, and turn to praising it as a blessing from
God. Think how important the goal of “rising” is to you. Consider how much your
mind and deeds are occupied with “rising.” Recall how important it was to your
parents for you to “rise,” and how important it is to you for your children to
“rise.” Consider how much you have petitioned God in prayer to help you “rise,”
praying for a better house, better car, a pay raise, promotion, higher paying
job, and such, when you already have sufficient food, clothing, and shelter.
During my
lifetime, I have observed in the church, the demise of fiery preaching on
Heaven-Hell, holiness-sin, repentance, godly living, and such important eternal
matters. And I saw it get replaced with much “Christian teaching” relating to
“rising,” how to get the most out of this life, and such. Consider how much is
taught from pulpits about how to better one’s self in this life in relation to
“position” and “things of this world.” Radio and TV preachers, Christian
writers, Christian schools, colleges, and universities are known to preach,
teach, and exalt rising. As Christians meet to pray, just listen to them
request prayer for an upcoming ballgame, for a good test score at school, for a
pay raise, promotion, for excelling in all kinds of competition, and such.
Listen to them petition God to help them to “rise.” Most such praying stems
from the sinful idolatry of self-worship and is displeasing to God. We should rather
be pleading with Him to help us to decrease. “I must
decrease.”
“Lord
Jesus, please help me to decrease. Show me where my prayer life is selfish, and
help me to stop praying things that are not pleasing to Thee. Help all the
desires of my heart to glorify Thee. I pray this for all other Christians also.
Amen.”
“Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of
his own lusts”
Lucifer had no
tempter to tempt him to do wrong. That is a most important point. So
please think on it. Lucifer was apparently the highest creature God created. He
had his own throne in Heaven (Isaiah 14:13). And with no one to tempt him to do
wrong, of his own free will and volition, he still chose to get out of his God
ordained place and to “rise.” Lucifer set that thought and desire into motion
while he was still a perfect and sinless creature. And he did it all on his
own, without any help from any outside tempter. That is significant. So
don’t forget it.
Eve had a
tempter who tempted her to disobey God’s only command to her. But if there had
been no one to tempt Adam and Eve, would they have sooner or later on their
own, chosen to disobey God’s one command to them? We do not know. But I believe
that would have been possible, even likely. Lucifer chose to do wrong,
apparently entirely on his own without any outside influence. So the human
creature could have likely done the same. No doubt the devil now constantly
stays busy tempting all humans to rise up out of their Creator ordained estate.
But that desire can also arise in any human heart without any influence from
the tempter. You and I are duty bound to our Creator to quench that desire,
turn a deaf ear to it, and instead, we should desire to decrease. “I must decrease.”
We are so prone
to shirk our duty to do right with the attitude, “the devil made me do it.”
When God asked Eve why she had done wrong, she replied, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13) Though the
tempter did tempt her, Eve still had the choice of turning a deaf ear to his
temptation and doing right. But Eve also considered her own heart’s desire to
“rise.” “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.” (Genesis
3:6) Along with temptation from an outside source, Eve also yielded to her own
heart’s desire.
Your
own desire concerning “rising” is a much more important
factor than the enemy’s temptation. That’s because your Creator can
easily give you victory over the enemy’s enticements, if you desire that
victory. Your unquenchable thirst for rising up and being as great as possible
comes not as much from the enemy as it does from you. You, of your own free
will and choosing, make the decision to set your heart upon rising. And you are
responsible for the consequences that will come from it.
“Heavenly
Father, if that is true, please teach that to me. Help me to understand what a
grave matter this is and how heavy is my responsibility to guard my heart’s
desires. May they always be right and pleasing to Thee, my Creator. Amen.”
“Ye take too much upon you”
When Lucifer
considered rising and then made up his mind to rise, he may have done so in
part because he was thinking on the additional “good” he would be able to do,
were he in a higher, more powerful position, “like the
most High”. Also, Eve may have chosen to rise, partly due to considering
the possibility of accomplishing more “good” by being like God, higher and more
powerful. “I shall be as a god. Think of all the good and wonderful things I
could do.” Selfishness may not have been the only reason Lucifer and Eve made
the decision to be disobedient to God. The desire to do more “good” may have
played a large role in their decisions.
That is
speculation on my part and not taught in the Bible. And you may think I am
being too easy on Lucifer’s sin and Eve’s sin when I say that. But here is one
main reason I consider it. I look at the present-day masses of “good” people
whose goal in rising is to accomplish more and greater things they consider to
be “good.” The goal of higher education is an excellent example of this. The
human race puts such importance on it for the “good” they can achieve
through gaining much knowledge of good and evil. But the surest result
is destruction and death, from powerful weapons of war we learn to build, from
the deadly chemicals, radiation, and many other such destructive things we
learn to produce and use by pursuing the knowledge of good.
Along with
that, look at another evil face of higher education. Its facilities come to
completely shut out our Creator God. They set up the knowledge of good and evil
and the humans who devour it, as the only gods to be worshipped. And they come
to deny the existence of our Creator. I believe that higher education puts
forth more effort toward shutting the Creator out of His creation, than any
other endeavor on the face of this earth. Seriously and honestly consider if
you do not observe the same thing about it.
Upon reading my
first edition of this book, many Christians were shocked and alarmed at me
attacking higher education as bad. A Christian man and wife told me God’s
command forbidding eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was given
to Adam and Eve only, forbidding them to eat from a certain tree there in the
Garden of Eden. Therefore this command is irrelevant to all people, after Adam
and Eve fell and were driven out of the Garden. Those 2 Christians proclaimed
to me that the tree of knowledge of good and evil has not been available to
mankind, to partake of its fruit, since Adam and Eve were driven out of the
Garden of Eden. What a cop out! Because they love rising, they simply relegated
this most important command to ancient history, and made it of no relation to
all “rising” humans since Adam and Eve fell. What a bold and brash lie! Some
Christians asked me to consider the large number of “great” Christians who have
been vigorously in favor of education, pushing to make it compulsory in their
nations, building Christian colleges and universities, and such. And these
shocked readers of my book sincerely asked me, “Could all these great
Christians be wrong about that?”
You had better
believe they could all be wrong about that. Lucifer started out much greater
than the sum of all “believers” down through all the ages. “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty…Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created.” (Ezekiel
28:12&15) Still, this perfect and
greatest creature made the mistake of wanting to “better” himself. Eve was also
created in perfection. Still she made the tragic mistake of wanting to rise up
and be as a god. That perfect cherub and that perfect human made the mistake of
rising. Therefore, I readily believe that the greatest giants of the Christian
faith down through this New Testament age can easily be mistaken by wanting to
“raise” up many people by means of higher education. Don’t make the mistake of
setting any degenerate human on a pedestal of perfection, or even a pedestal of
near perfection. None of us come close to perfection in this life. Don’t
ever forget that all creatures are fallible. The Holy Bible is perfect.
Make it your Absolute Guide, and fully believe it when it warns, “for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.”
Study Christian
history in Europe and America from about the 1600’s and see the many warnings
by “great” Christians associated with higher education (colleges and
universities). Read their clear warnings of the damnation and such that would
be brought upon the souls of those who study in those institutions, if and when
those institutions depart from God and educate those minds in “knowledge” only,
without teaching them about their Creator. (I have read many such warnings, but
haven’t saved any, and now need some to insert here. So if you have any good
ones, reader, please send me some, with the time, place, and source documented
as well as possible. Thank you.)
If you want
wisdom, study the Bible and then study history instead of eating of the
knowledge of good and evil. Study how that so many universities in Europe and
America gave a prominent place to teaching the Bible when they were founded.
Study the history of those universities steadily moving God to a “back burner”
and then entirely closing Him out of their campuses. Study how they then turned
into cesspools of evil, sin, immorality, atheism, and such. When creatures,
even Christian creatures, set themselves on rising, they very quickly reach a
point where the Creator will not be a part of it, and those rising creatures
replace the One True God with the false god of Self. Yessire, you had better
well believe that Christian “giants” could well be mistaken when they favor the
knowledge of good and evil. Eve certainly was wrong to eat of it. And I believe
that all of her descendents are also wrong to eat of it. “I believed, and therefore I have spoken.”
In 1970, I
visited a newly founded Bible college in the U.S. to hear a friend of mine
preach in its chapel. After chapel, I fellowshipped with my preacher friend and
4 men in charge of this new Bible college, that was only about 3 years old. I
listened to those men talk about the small number of students enrolled there
(about 70, I think), and of the administration’s efforts to get more students.
But as they tried to get more young people in their church denomination to
attend this Bible college, the young people replied that they wanted to study
secular courses (the knowledge of good and evil) that were not offered there.
So the administration personnel were now busy trying to expand the curriculum
to include much more than Bible teaching, in order to get additional students
to enroll.
That
denomination had made the decision to build that Bible college for the
purpose of teaching the Bible to young Christians in order to train them to be
preachers, Bible teachers, etc. That was the “speech” they had used as they
campaigned to get enough churches in that denomination to shell out the money
needed to build that college. But with the mortar hardly set and the paint
hardly dry, they had decided to add much teaching of the knowledge of good and
evil because so very few people wanted to study the Bible. Teaching the Bible
at that college quickly ceased to be their number one goal. It immediately
got replaced with the goal of getting plenty of students. And in order to get
them, we must give them what they want. Their Christian parents didn’t raise
those children on the Bible back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Instead they raised
them on the TV, the world, and on RISING, and such. So now at college age,
their children don’t want the Bible. They want the knowledge of good and evil
so they may rise more. So that Bible colleges quickly changes to give them what
they want. It is either that, or have just a small handful of students.
Typically
the progression continues at such a college, yielding to student demands to
give them the sports, fun, social life, and sin that the students want. And God
is steadily walked out to the back gate and then kicked completely out. You
have seen similar progressions happen in Christian colleges and universities
that you have observed first hand. You have also watched them change the name
of the institute to remove all religious connotation from it. And while Bible
teaching continues to be offered, they become quieter and quieter about it and
louder and louder about the knowledge of good and evil and the “worldly” things
they offer. The devil goes all out to shut God out of institutions of higher
learning, secular or religious. And he is plenty successful in doing so,
because the people who build those institutions often do so because they have
their minds on rising and on raising up other people. Also many of the students
who enter those schools are set on rising. And one just does not have to rise
up very high to alienate himself from his Creator. Truly, we take too much upon
ourselves when we want to “rise” in order to do more “good.” We would do much
more good by decreasing. “I must decrease.”
“Heavenly Father, please open my eyes to the true nature of
“Christian” higher education. Please help me to see all the “selfish” motives
associated with it. Help me to see the historical significance of many
“Christian” colleges and universities steadily turning from God as time goes
by. Teach me just exactly how wrong we are to want to “rise up” as highly as
possible in order to do good. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
I
believe the field of medical science is another clear example of man striving to
“rise” in order to do more “good.” I have nothing against the many, good
medical personnel who work hard and long with great dedication to help ailing
people. There is so much about many of them that I deeply admire and respect.
But one main goal of the medical profession is to “progress,” in order to do
more “good.” And pursuing that goal turns it into a god. Human doctors
replace the Great Physician (our Creator), as people quickly turn to the
idolatry of first seeking healing from human doctors instead of first
seeking divine healing from God. “Yet in his disease he
sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” (II Chronicles 16:12) In
that statement, I can detect much jealousy on the part of our Creator. “For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” (Exodus
34:14)
I
see great sin and evil spreading in “medicine” as it not only makes itself into
an idol god that wants to be the only healer of all man’s diseases, but also
begins to murder unborn babies (for the “good” of the mother and for the “good”
of society, of course). Next comes the murdering of the elderly, frail, and
hopelessly sick (for the “good” of their families and for the “good” of
society, of course). All these sinful atrocities are pushed onto us for the “good”
they do. Of course! That is a direct and definite result of
eating of the knowledge of good and evil. Perfect Eve was in
favor of eating of it, likely thinking of all the good that could come
from it. Many great Christian leaders down through the years have favored it
for the good they see in it. “Ye take too much
upon you.” Personally, I keep my own ears and mind on our Creator’s
warning: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die.” And I am totally convinced that I receive much
wisdom from my Creator by paying rapt attention to this warning. Therefore I
urge you to heed it also.
“Heavenly Father, I do want to heed this warning of Thine. Please
show me all areas in my life where I am not heeding this warning and help me to
do right toward Thee in all those areas. I pray this for all other people also.
Amen.”
Look
at the medical profession now doing such abominable things as “changing a
person’s gender” with surgery and hormones, and altering the human body in many
other major ways. With the frightening abilities that medical science
has gained from much knowledge of good and evil, its personnel (and law making
government leaders) now find themselves faced with perplexing decisions that no
God-fearing person wants to make. That is because those high decisions
regarding human life belong to our Creator only, and not to human creatures.
Therefore we would do well to leave those decisions up to Him. We would do well
to cease to rise. We would do well to cease to eat of knowledge. We would do
well to strive to decrease. “I must decrease.”
“And, behold, it was very good”
The
first estate that God created for His angels, Cherubims, seraphims, and all the
Heavenly hosts, was a state of perfection. But because Lucifer and a host of
angels chose to rise, chains in everlasting fire and darkness await them. How
foolish of them to desire to and attempt to rise up above perfection.
God created the first two humans perfect and created a perfect estate for them
to live in. How foolish and stupid it was of those first two people to want to
rise up higher than perfection. Lucifer and Eve should have been
content with their original, created state of perfection and should have stayed
there. To rise up out of that God ordained estate is to head straight to
destruction.
When John the Baptist
beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, it was just natural for John to proclaim, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
All of us should be admonished by those words. It would behoove you and I to
behold our Creator’s great glory by many long hours of studying His Holy Bible
that reveals Him to us, by believing every word of that Bible, by communing
with our Creator in many hours of prayer, and by observing His glorious
creation. When we come to know Him well, we will know that we should glory in
Him, and glory in Him alone. We will desire that He increase in our life. And
it will naturally follow that decreasing is the only proper thing for us to do.
We should believe all that the Bible teaches about the importance of us being
lowly and humble creatures during this life. And with God’s Help, we should
strive to be such, by striving to decrease.
“For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.” (Luke
9:48) Believe what Christ said here, and make it your life’s goal to be the
“least” person while living on this earth. If you will do that, then you will
be great for all eternity. May God help us to strive for this true
greatness by seeking to decrease and to be the “least” in this life.
“Heavenly Father, please help me to decrease. Please help me to
seek to be the “least” person in this life. Help me to be humble and lowly.
Please show me just how greatly these things in a believer’s life give glory to
Thee. And by Thy Power, please help me to achieve them. I pray these things for
all other people also. Amen.”
(This is the end of Chapter l of CREATURE
VERSUS CREATOR)
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