Test Blog

41. The Curse of the Creators In our last post, we looked at the possibility that Adam and Eve bought into Satan's lie (belief?) that the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could bestow the ex nihilo power, the power to create out of nothing. So what was the result...other than their realizing they were naked? God curses them, right? Actually, no. God doesn't curse them. He curses the serpent. And he curses the ground as part of the man's punishment. A curse isn't even involved in the women's punishment. So what was their punishment? To the man, he says: "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you..." To the woman, He says: "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children." Man is a co-creator with God in bringing forth plants from the ground. Man plants and harvests, b

40. The Fall of Man You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. —Genesis 3:4 In our last post, we discovered that 2nd Temple Judaism * has Satan telling Eve that the power to create worlds resided in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Whether or not he believes this himself, he certainly tries to convince Eve: He ate of this tree and created the world, but to you He says, Do not eat from it, so that you will not create other worlds. Everyone hates his fellow craftsman. Hurry and eat from the tree, before He creates other worlds, that will rule you. —Genesis Rabbah 19:4 (Jewish Commentary) In Genesis, we read Eve's response: When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate. —Genesis 3:6 The Hebrew word translated "wisdom" in

39. Lucifer's Revenge "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through thy mouth words to deceive him." —Apocalypse of Moses 16:5 The ASA often claims there was no connection between Satan and the serpent in the Garden of Eden until Christian sources in the 1st century AD. But as you can see from the above quote, they've overlooked 2nd temple Judaism. The following is the oldest text to identify the serpent in the garden with Satan: But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it. —Wisdom 2:24 In another Second Temple text, Satan sees the Messiah and say, Truly this is the Messiah, who will  bruise me . —Pesikta Rabbati 3:6 Others describe the actual possession: He took the serpent as a garment. 3 Baruch 9:7*  Christianity confirmed Second Temple Judaism He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar an

38. The Fall of Lucifer, part 4 The demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss. " Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" —Luke 8:31 & Matthew 8:29 “The Abyss...a place demons are terrified of (Luke 8:31) and where they know they will eventually be sent. This likely means it is another name for Gehenna or it is a bottomless pit in Gehenna. According to Rev 9:2-10, this pit is currently inhabited by some sort of scorpion men. Because it seems rather unlike God to randomly create creatures He then locks in an abyss to unleash on mankind during the Tribulation, it is my assumption that they joined Lucifer's revolt, and unlike Lucifer (who was free to wander the Earth), the scorpion men were punished immediately and locked in the abyss. Perhaps you've heard that Revelation's mythic imagery is symbolic for missiles, nuclear warheads, and other weapons of mass destruction because the apostle John lacked the vocabulary to de

37. The Fall of Lucifer, part 3 "...the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." — Matthew 25:41b Just what happened at the Fall of Lucifer, beyond his being cast out of heaven? Likely, Gehenna (aka the eternal fire / lake of fire) was created. You won't see this word in English Bibles as it is always translated "hell." Get this: Sheol (Hebrew) / Hades (Greek) / Hell (Anglo-Saxon) = the land of the dead. They are the same place in different languages. Gehenna = Lake of Fire Gehenna / Lake of Fire does NOT = Sheol/Hades/Hell. Death and the Hades/Hell are thrown into Gehenna/Lake of Fire and destroyed. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. — Revelation 20:14 Hell (the Land of the Dead) is a temporary place where humans go when they die. Jesus even went there when he died (Luke 23:43). There is a chasm that separates the righteous from the unrighteous, and the pleasant side is sometimes called Paradise or Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:1

36. The Fall of Lucifer, part 2 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. —Ezekiel 28:14-15 In the phrase, "guardian cherub" (or "cherub that covers" depending on the translation), the Hebrew word translated "guardian" or "covers" means "to block" and "stop the approach." In Nahum 2:5, the same words is translated "defense" while describing the city's walls. So if this is a description of Lucifer, it means his job was to defend God's throne. Scholars differ on whether Ezekiel 28 (which starts out as a prophecy against the king of Tyre) shifts to a condemnation of Lucifer during his revolt. The use of words like "cherub" and one who walked in "Eden" and on the "mount of God" lend great credence to