(99420,1,'2020-01-05 21:52:16','2020-01-05 19:52:16','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. The difference between the two is that compliance obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while obedience is profound, it yields an allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses  or citing technical statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings do as they please, but not only that, He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when pleasing God pleases us absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 21:52:16','2020-01-05 19:52:16','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99421,1,'2020-01-05 21:59:22','2020-01-05 19:59:22','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings do as they please, but not only that, He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when pleasing God pleases us absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 21:59:22','2020-01-05 19:59:22','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99424,1,'2020-01-05 22:17:56','2020-01-05 20:17:56','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99365} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1102014686_univ_lsr_xl-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99365\"/><figcaption>The Parable of the Prodigal Son</figcaption></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The parable of the prodigal Son is one of the default go-to stories for Christians when we seek to underscore the unconditional love of God as immaculately epitomized by the Father in the parable.  At face value the unconditional love of the Father is the key deliverable of the story as narrated by Jesus. However, an up-close assimilation of the not only the content but the ingenuity behind the fictitious narrative illuminates the fact that while the unconditional love of the Father remains the key deliverable of the narrative, the gist of the story is not in the story but elsewhere. Keep reading. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>The Parable of the Lost Son: Luke 15:11-32</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>10 Take Aways</h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:list {\"ordered\":true} -->\n<ol><li>A true story requires a mere narration  without any thought investment from the story teller, a fictitious story presents thoughtful detail informed by the sensitivity of the story teller to the inner affairs of humanity. In this regard a real life story would be deficient of necessary detail to underscore the profoundness of God’s love.</li><li>The fictitious narrative gives Jesus latitude to embed detail in the story that serves to teach and assert the principle of the parable, detail that would not be guaranteed in a real life story.</li><li>The triangulation around the psychology of a rebellious and repentant son, the grumpy elderly brothers’ attitude towards the Father and the younger brother, the steadfast and unconditional love of the Father, present a profound prism which establishes the beauty of the unconditional love of God as real as the ugly estate of human rebellion, jealousy and repentance. </li><li>Christ poignantly unveils the psychology of a rebellious sinner, repentant sinner, jealous brother, not only their mere actions which would leave us conjecturing about motive and disposition, but  delves compassionately into their inner thoughts and psyches. Through parading the deep psychologies of human struggles and thought, Christ powerfully lays bare His inner thoughts as a creator, feelings and emotions, the sum disposition of a loving God who is not far removed but rather up-close to the external and internal struggles of humanity. Christ is on a compelling pedestal to tell the story as He is God-man tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Hebrews 4:15)</li><li>How profound is the story? it is so profound, it shouts the unconditional and amazing love of God not only through its content but more powerfully through its crafty construction and  the ingenuity behind narrative. </li><li>To grasp only the deliverable of the content of the story is to miss the bigger picture by a mile for there are many parables and real life incidents in and outside the Bible that powerfully uphold the undying love of God. The main takeaway of the story is not the story, but the motive behind the creativity and innovation of the story which is to demonstrate not only the omniscience of God but His immaculate relevance to the diverse and intricate complexes of humanity. The real essence of the story is not the story but the undying love, the compassion and all-detailed disposition of the story teller as captured not in the content of the story as it were, but in the divine construction of the story. </li><li>The intentional piecing together of the fictitious pieces of the imaginary scenario and characters to craft the parable is where the profoundness of the parable lies. The thinking behind the story, the consideration of what to include and exclude in the narrative is where lies the redemptive beauty of God and the hope for all mankind. </li><li>By default the story projects the unconditional love of the Father, however a detailed zooming in into the narrative creativity and ingenuity projects a high definition display of the closeness of God to humanity, His thoughtful concern with what we would classify as minutiae in the affairs of humanity is profoundly reassuring. Through the parable Jesus projects  demonstrable intimate knowledge and remedy for human woes of sin, rebellion, licentiousness, guilt, shame, repentance, jealous, disappointment, etc. There is nothing that we go through that shocks God, He is not even shocked by our sinfulness. His arms are ever open to meet us even at the very point where and when we are embarrassed by our failures and  have given up on ourselves. </li><li>The profundity is in the rotundity of the narrator\'s consciousness of the complex struggles, failures, frailties, regrets and the very potentials of human beings. This fact presents a radical station of a God whose disposition to humanity is not that of mere sympathy but sheer empathy, whose thrust is not merely supportive but decisively victorious.  In Jesus we have a God who is not only touched with the feeling of our infirmities but is more acquainted with our true situations more than we are, and more than we are prepared to face the fact.</li><li>Ultimately, the hope and salvation for humanity lies is not in our weak, unreliable and sometimes questionable love for God,  our hope and redemption lies not in How much we love God but in How much God loves us. We can rest assured that the foundation of our salvation is  the solid Rock, a more reliable basis that what our frail humanness could ever assure. </li></ol>\n<!-- /wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\n        Romans 8:38–39\n\n                    \n            \n\n    </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“For I am sure that neither \ndeath nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to \ncome, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all \ncreation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ \nJesus our Lord.”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','When Fiction is more Powerful than Reality','','inherit','closed','closed','','99364-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:17:56','2020-01-05 20:17:56','',99364,'https://expound.org.za/99364-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99425,1,'2020-01-05 22:23:11','2020-01-05 20:23:11','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99365} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1102014686_univ_lsr_xl-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99365\"/><figcaption>The Parable of the Prodigal Son</figcaption></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The parable of the prodigal Son is one of the default go-to stories for Christians when we seek to underscore the unconditional love of God as immaculately epitomized by the Father in the parable.  At face value the unconditional love of the Father is the key deliverable of the story as narrated by Jesus. However, an up-close assimilation of the not only the content but the ingenuity behind the fictitious narrative illuminates the fact that while the unconditional love of the Father remains the key deliverable of the narrative, the gist of the story is not in the story but elsewhere. Keep reading. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>The Parable of the Lost Son: Luke 15:11-32</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>10 Take Aways</h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:list {\"ordered\":true} -->\n<ol><li>A true story requires a mere narration  without any thought investment from the story teller, a fictitious story presents thoughtful detail informed by the sensitivity of the story teller to the inner affairs of humanity. In this regard a real life story would be deficient of necessary detail to underscore the profoundness of God’s love.</li><li>The fictitious narrative gives Jesus latitude to embed detail in the story that serves to teach and assert the principle of the parable, detail that would not be guaranteed in a real life story.</li><li>The triangulation around the psychology of a rebellious and repentant son, the grumpy elderly brothers’ attitude towards the Father and the younger brother, the steadfast and unconditional love of the Father, present a profound prism which establishes the beauty of the unconditional love of God as real as the ugly estate of human rebellion, jealousy and repentance. </li><li>Christ poignantly unveils the psychology of a rebellious sinner, repentant sinner, jealous brother, not only their mere actions which would leave us conjecturing about motive and disposition, but  delves compassionately into their inner thoughts and psyches. Through parading the deep psychologies of human struggles and thought, Christ powerfully lays bare His inner thoughts as a creator, feelings and emotions, the sum disposition of a loving God who is not far removed but rather up-close to the external and internal struggles of humanity. Christ is on a compelling pedestal to tell the story as He is God-man tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Hebrews 4:15)</li><li>How profound is the story? it is so profound, it shouts the unconditional and amazing love of God not only through its content but more powerfully through its crafty construction and  the ingenuity behind narrative. </li><li>To grasp only the deliverable of the content of the story is to miss the bigger picture by a mile for there are many parables and real life incidents in and outside the Bible that powerfully uphold the undying love of God. The main takeaway of the story is not the story, but the motive behind the creativity and innovation of the story which is to demonstrate not only the omniscience of God but His immaculate relevance to the diverse and intricate complexes of humanity. The real essence of the story is not the story but the undying love, the compassion and all-detailed disposition of the story teller as captured not in the content of the story as it were, but in the divine construction of the story. </li><li>The intentional piecing together of the fictitious pieces of the imaginary scenario and characters to craft the parable is where the profoundness of the parable lies. The thinking behind the story, the consideration of what to include and exclude in the narrative is where lies the redemptive beauty of God and the hope for all mankind. </li><li>By default the story projects the unconditional love of the Father, however a detailed zooming in into the narrative creativity and ingenuity projects a high definition display of the closeness of God to humanity, His thoughtful concern with what we would classify as minutiae in the affairs of humanity is profoundly reassuring. Through the parable Jesus projects  demonstrable intimate knowledge and remedy for human woes of sin, rebellion, licentiousness, guilt, shame, repentance, jealous, disappointment, etc. There is nothing that we go through that shocks God, He is not even shocked by our sinfulness. His arms are ever open to meet us even at the very point where and when we are embarrassed by our failures and  have given up on ourselves. </li><li>The profundity is in the rotundity of the narrator\'s consciousness of the complex struggles, failures, frailties, regrets and the very potentials of human beings. This fact presents a radical station of a God whose disposition to humanity is not that of mere sympathy but sheer empathy, whose thrust is not merely supportive but decisively victorious.  In Jesus we have a God who is not only touched with the feeling of our infirmities but is more acquainted with our true situations more than we are, and more than we are prepared to face the fact.</li><li>Ultimately, the hope and salvation for humanity lies is not in our weak, unreliable and sometimes questionable love for God,  our hope and redemption lies not in How much we love God but in How much God loves us. We can rest assured that the foundation of our salvation is  the solid Rock, a more stable and reliable basis than what our frail humanness could ever collectively  assure. </li></ol>\n<!-- /wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\n        Romans 8:38–39\n\n                    \n            \n\n    </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“For I am sure that neither \ndeath nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to \ncome, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all \ncreation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ \nJesus our Lord.”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','When Fiction is more Powerful than Reality','','inherit','closed','closed','','99364-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:23:11','2020-01-05 20:23:11','',99364,'https://expound.org.za/99364-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99423,1,'2020-01-05 22:02:29','2020-01-05 20:02:29','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:02:29','2020-01-05 20:02:29','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99426,1,'2020-01-05 22:44:57','2020-01-05 20:44:57','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:44:57','2020-01-05 20:44:57','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99427,1,'2020-01-05 22:46:10','2020-01-05 20:46:10','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:46:10','2020-01-05 20:46:10','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99428,1,'2020-01-05 22:50:03','2020-01-05 20:50:03','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:50:03','2020-01-05 20:50:03','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99429,1,'2020-01-05 22:59:05','2020-01-05 20:59:05','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. <br/>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 22:59:05','2020-01-05 20:59:05','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99430,1,'2020-01-05 23:00:47','2020-01-05 21:00:47','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <br/>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 23:00:47','2020-01-05 21:00:47','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99431,1,'2020-01-05 23:03:19','2020-01-05 21:03:19','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe their are wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at the level of compliance and obedience. If sin is the this is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between the compliance is obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that  criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was way deeper that what all those factors could proffer.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-05 23:03:19','2020-01-05 21:03:19','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99432,1,'2020-01-06 06:26:47','2020-01-06 04:26:47','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all other valid  extrinsic reasons for not succumbing to the temptation. \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death, it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 06:26:47','2020-01-06 04:26:47','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99433,1,'2020-01-06 06:29:28','2020-01-06 04:29:28','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br/>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all other valid  extrinsic reasons for not succumbing to the temptation. \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.  \n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 06:29:28','2020-01-06 04:29:28','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99434,1,'2020-01-06 06:32:21','2020-01-06 04:32:21','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99365} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1102014686_univ_lsr_xl-1024x512.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99365\"/><figcaption>The Parable of the Prodigal Son</figcaption></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The parable of the prodigal Son is one of the default go-to stories for Christians when we seek to underscore the unconditional love of God as immaculately epitomized by the Father in the parable.  At face value the unconditional love of the Father is the key deliverable of the story as narrated by Jesus. However, an up-close assimilation of the not only the content but the ingenuity behind the fictitious narrative illuminates the fact that while the unconditional love of the Father remains the key deliverable of the narrative, the gist of the story is not in the story but elsewhere. Keep reading. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>The Parable of the Lost Son: Luke 15:11-32</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>10 Take Aways</h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:list {\"ordered\":true} -->\n<ol><li>A true story requires a mere narration  without any thought investment from the story teller, a fictitious story presents thoughtful detail informed by the sensitivity of the story teller to the inner affairs of humanity. In this regard a real life story would be deficient of necessary detail to underscore the profoundness of God’s love.</li><li>The fictitious narrative gives Jesus latitude to embed detail in the story that serves to teach and assert the principle of the parable, detail that would not be guaranteed in a real life story.</li><li>The triangulation around the psychology of a rebellious and repentant son, the grumpy elderly brothers’ attitude towards the Father and the younger brother, the steadfast and unconditional love of the Father, present a profound prism which establishes the beauty of the unconditional love of God as real as the ugly estate of human rebellion, jealousy and repentance. </li><li>Christ poignantly unveils the psychology of a rebellious sinner, repentant sinner, jealous brother, not only their mere actions which would leave us conjecturing about motive and disposition, but  delves compassionately into their inner thoughts and psyches. Through parading the deep psychologies of human struggles and thought, Christ powerfully lays bare His inner thoughts as a creator, feelings and emotions, the sum disposition of a loving God who is not far removed but rather up-close to the external and internal struggles of humanity. Christ is on a compelling pedestal to tell the story as He is God-man tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Hebrews 4:15)</li><li>How profound is the story? it is so profound, it shouts the unconditional and amazing love of God not only through its content but more powerfully through its crafty construction and  the ingenuity behind narrative. </li><li>To grasp only the deliverable of the content of the story is to miss the bigger picture by a mile for there are many parables and real life incidents in and outside the Bible that powerfully uphold the undying love of God. The main takeaway of the story is not the story, but the motive behind the creativity and innovation of the story which is to demonstrate not only the omniscience of God but His immaculate relevance to the diverse and intricate complexes of humanity. The real essence of the story is not the story but the undying love, the compassion and all-detailed disposition of the story teller as captured not in the content of the story as it were, but in the divine construction of the story. </li><li>The intentional piecing together of the fictitious pieces of the imaginary scenario and characters to craft the parable is where the profoundness of the parable lies. The thinking behind the story, the consideration of what to include and exclude in the narrative is where lies the redemptive beauty of God and the hope for all mankind. </li><li>By default the story projects the unconditional love of the Father, however a detailed zooming in into the narrative creativity and ingenuity projects a high definition display of the closeness of God to humanity, His thoughtful concern with what we would classify as minutiae in the affairs of humanity is profoundly reassuring. Through the parable Jesus projects  demonstrable intimate knowledge and remedy for human woes of sin, rebellion, licentiousness, guilt, shame, repentance, jealous, disappointment, etc. There is nothing that we go through that shocks God, He is not even shocked by our sinfulness. His arms are ever open to meet us even at the very point where and when we are embarrassed by our failures and  have given up on ourselves. </li><li>The profundity is in the rotundity of the narrator\'s consciousness of the complex struggles, failures, frailties, regrets and the very potentials of human beings. This fact presents a radical station of a God whose disposition to humanity is not that of mere sympathy but sheer empathy, whose thrust is not merely supportive but decisively victorious.  In Jesus we have a God who is not only touched with the feeling of our infirmities but is more acquainted with our true situations more than we are, and more than we are prepared to face the fact.</li><li>Ultimately, the hope and salvation for humanity lies is not in our weak, unreliable and sometimes questionable love for God,  our hope and redemption lies not in how much we love God but in how much God loves us. We can rest assured that the foundation of our salvation is  the solid Rock, a more stable and reliable basis than what our frail humanness could ever collectively  assure. </li></ol>\n<!-- /wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\n        Romans 8:38–39\n\n                    \n            \n\n    </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“For I am sure that neither \ndeath nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to \ncome, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all \ncreation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ \nJesus our Lord.”</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','When Fiction is more Powerful than Reality','','inherit','closed','closed','','99364-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 06:32:21','2020-01-06 04:32:21','',99364,'https://expound.org.za/99364-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99435,1,'2020-01-06 07:04:26','2020-01-06 05:04:26','','Inner page: About','','inherit','closed','closed','','6435-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 07:04:26','2020-01-06 05:04:26','',6435,'https://expound.org.za/6435-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99446,1,'2020-01-06 09:27:17','2020-01-06 07:27:17','','Christian Blog','Riveting inspirational and life-transforming insights.','inherit','open','closed','','logo_3','','','2020-01-18 10:40:12','2020-01-18 08:40:12','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logo_3.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99436,1,'2020-01-06 07:24:06','2020-01-06 05:24:06','','Logo','','inherit','open','closed','','logo-3','','','2020-01-06 07:24:06','2020-01-06 05:24:06','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Logo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99437,1,'2020-01-06 07:28:24','2020-01-06 05:28:24','','small_logo_final2','','inherit','open','closed','','small_logo_final2','','','2020-01-06 07:28:24','2020-01-06 05:28:24','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/small_logo_final2.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99688,1,'2020-02-05 08:46:42','2020-02-05 06:46:42','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99600} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/grow-up.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99600\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I am aware that the subject of purposeful living is a tired causeway for motivational speakers. Notwithstanding, the difference between bubblegum-motivational-talk and the word of God is that skin-deep motivational talk can get you excited and the next morning when you check as to why you are excited you will struggle to pin your excitement on any solid base. However with the word of God, you will get uplifted, challenged and inspired and your “why” base will remain sustainably intact. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2> Potential Versus Purpose </h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Let me open with this quote: <br>\nAs the will of man cooperates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings. (Our Father Cares page 308)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One of the draw cards of motivational talk is the, “achieve your potential” mantra. However, the life of Christ teaches a radical concept about life. Jesus did not achieve His potential, however He achieved His purpose within the 33 and a half years He spent on planet earth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>Jesus did not achieve His potential but He achieved His purpose.  </h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus could have potentially been a great ruler of Jews if He wanted to pursue that but He did not exhaust his potential in that line because He did not pursue that. He could have pursued His full potential as a healer and set up a ministry to do much healing work for at least 40 to 50 years or so but He did not pursue that and therefore He did not achieve His potential in that. Generally Jesus did not achieve His true potential because He had not come to achieve any potential but rather to accomplish a specific purpose.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is the point of departure, when the human will is aligned to the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. “Omni”  means “all”, “potent” means “power” or “powerful”. In other words, when the will of a human being is aligned to the will of God there is no limit to what the human being can achieve. If you understand the import of the foregoing then you would understand that even two thousand years would not suffice for one to achieve their true potential because once the human will is aligned to the will of God the possibilities can not even be quantified. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Anchor Verse: John 17:4  “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”<br>\nThis Jesus said just before he was crucified. He could look back into His life and work and confidently say, “I have finished the work which you gave me to do”. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Also, at the apex of his  earthly ministry while hanging on the cross and shouldering the frightful mass and weight of the iniquities of the human race, He declared that He had finished the work God had given Him to do. <br>\nAt 33 years Jesus could look at His life and work and declare that He was done with His purpose on earth. This fact alone is profoundly instructive on purposeful living. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Do you know how this was possible for Christ? It was possible because at the age of 12 Jesus already knew His purpose. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Luke chapter 2 verse 48-49 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father\'s business?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> What do you want to be when you grow up? </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Most people will be quick to dismiss the sterling success and accomplishments of Christ in the short time He was down here as mere outworking of His limitless divinity. Christ however demystified this notion when addressing his disciples: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>John 14:12 <br>\nVerily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So friend, there is actually no excuse for mediocrity in any front. Jesus promised that we can do it so long as we plug to the same power He was plugged to. As we are soon to discover, poverty, a poor background, inhibiting socio-political factors, rejection etc did not stop Jesus and thus they can not and should not stop me and you.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Let’s look at the odds that were staked against Jesus when He achieved His mission: </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> 1. Poverty </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus came from a poor family. <br>\nLuke 2:24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Remember that according to Leviticus 12:8, for the ritual Mary and Joseph were performing upon the birth of a male first born child the ideal sacrifice model was a lamb for the burnt offering and either a dove or pigeon for the sin offering. The sacrifice model brought according to Luke 2:24 was an insignia of poverty. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong> Chances are high me and you have more resources and opportunities that Jesus had in any grind and drive of life</strong>.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h2> Jesus hailed from the ghetto </h2> <br> In John 1: 43-46, Philip is interacting with Nathaniel and draws the attention of Nathaniel to the Messiah from Nazareth whom Moses in the law and the scribes have written about, Nathaniel’s reaction is, “What good can come of Nazareth”. To give context to Nathaniel\'s reaction, studies indicate that Nazareth was a community notorious for poverty, crime and violence, a slum or Ghetto if you like, and this was Jesus’ hood.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So Jesus did not hail from some opulent or leafy suburb and this proves the fact that your address of birth is not necessarily your destiny and neither can it hinder  your dreams and drive if you are determined to achieve your purpose. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus was born in the era when Jews were under Roman rule. Do you know what that means, it means “apartheid”, or imperialism (colonialism) if you like it, did not stop him. <br> We can not be previously disadvantaged, currently disadvantaged and forever disadvantaged. Somewhere we must have what it takes to break the vicious cycle.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2>Jesus had no family support </h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Oh by the way, Jesus did not have family support in his mission. John 7:4 declares that he was rejected neither did His brethren believe him. Jesus’ family thought their very own was a huge embarrassment and disgrace to the family. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Going with this:  Jesus was embarrassingly rejected home and away.  John 6:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The religious leaders dismissed Him as the son of Joseph. By asserting his sonship to Joseph they were casting aspersions on His divine birth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the book of Luke, other than Simeon and prophetess Anna (Luke Chapter 1) who acknowledged the messiahship of the baby Jesus in the temple, the first entities to acknowledge Jesus’ holiness were demons (Luke 4:34). The take home: none of the excruciating rejection from the very race He had come to save discouraged Jesus. He trudged on and accomplished His purposes regardless.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus did not enjoy church support. As a matter of fact, He  ultimately left the church and started a new church in the upper room. The church He had referred to as as “my house” (Mathew 21:13) He later distanced himself from it. “Look, your house is left unto you desolate.” Mathew 23:38</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Jesus had no funding </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One scribe admired what Christ was doing and verbalized that he would like to follow Christ. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:20)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><p>Do know what that means? It means Jesus had no funding for His start up. However that did not stop Him. How many a young person out there are languishing in lack of purpose and decisiveness in their enterprises and the default let off is, “Only if I could get funding. You can’t seek to use some one else’s yield (harvest) as seed for your untried and tested dreams. Funding is for scaling. It can not be scaled before it is. You scale what is already established. Even the notion of “seed” funding has its place. Back to the spiritual import: Little is much when God is in it. “Oh But I’ve got nothing…”, you say. God loves working with nothing. In fact He has a track record of achieving wonders with “Nothing”. At one time He stepped onto nothing and spoke to nothing and through that our world came to be. Oh and God does know how to put “nothing” to good use. Ask Elder Job. When God had finished creating planet earth do you know upon what He hung it? “Nothing\". Job 26:7 [He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.]<br> If you’ve got nothing, that\'s great, God says, bring it, and you will see what we can do with it. </p>\n\n<h3> How Jesus scaled from a one-man-band, to a start-up, right up to a global blue chip without funding, presents profound universal and timeless life principles to be studied through endless ages.</h3>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading -->\n<h2> Against All Odds </h2>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<p> [signinlocker id=\"99515\"] </p>\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>What can you achieve with 30 years of preparation/planning and 3 and half years of execution!</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus’ sterling accomplishments are beyond enumeration. However the 5 below are enough home work for us when we appreciate them in cognizance of the fact  that He achieved these, against all odds. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:list {\"ordered\":true} -->\n<ol><li>Jesus turned the world upside down. In a world with over 7 billion people more than 2 billion of these are Christians. You have over 2 billion people called by the name of a man who lived down here only for 33 and a half years and had no biological offspring to see to His legacy and posterity. When Jesus said that many would  come in His name and cast demons and ultimately He would reject them and tell them He never knew them (Mathew 24;5), He was not a celebrity. He was not an Instagram influencer. He had no followers on Facebook neither did He have a Twitter handle. He came and changed the world in an era when there were no cars and means of mass communication. He worked from the ground up and achieved His goals against all odds.</li><li>Jesus trained 11 disciples successfully. Notwithstanding that the team He worked with did not get the object of his mission until He died, resurrected and left for heaven, Jesus had the wisdom and the grace to identify men that had the potential to grow and transform and be similarly on fire for the gospel as their master was. Jesus had a strategy for His 3 and a half years of public ministry and what would happen when He was no longer down here and that worked to the dot.</li><li>Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, preached, taught and reached out to outcasts and the downcast. While He had a very short span of time for His ministry, He was never too busy to meet human needs. </li><li>He conquered sin. Hebrews 4:15: \"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.\"<br> Never was He at any point tempted to be impatient or to cut corners on the basis of the weight of his mission and its urgency. He  had normal “down time” as me and you in that He also got tired and retired to sleep when He needed to.</li><li>Lastly: He died for us. Jesus accomplished the complex mission of avoiding murder while committing to die for us without being suicidal about it. This is a hard saying. If you were to ask Jesus what He wanted to be when He grew up His dream was neither to be a pilot nor an engineer, or whatever the lucrative mainstream career paths were for that time. His dream was to die. He ultimately accomplished that. On the very cross before He gave up His spirit He declared, “It is Finished”. That meant quite a mouthful and part of what it meant was that His earthly mission had been accomplished. </li></ol>\n<!-- /wp:list -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When He said “It is finished the essence of Isiah Chapter 53 had been accomplished. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>Isiah Chapter 53 </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n1.Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>When I grow up </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When I grow up, I want to own a big car, when I grow up I want to own that big house and live with my big happy family. When I group I want to obtain a prestigious qualification and excel in fronts academic and professional.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>But to grow up I need to grow down and become as humble as a child. To grow up I need to aim higher than that. To grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need to aim higher than the clouds. To grow up I need to aim higher than the crowds.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When I grow up I want to deal with bigger things. Forget politics, terrorism and global warming. When I grow up I want to deal with bigger things. I want to fight sin, I want to conquer lust and pride and ultimately, through Christ I want to conquer death. Ultimately, I would like to have an interview with  death and pose a question, death where is your sting. When I grow up I want to deal with real issues. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>But to grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need grow down and be as humble as a child. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When I grow up I want to go places. I mean real places. Forget table mountain, Dubai and the Grand Canyon. When I grow up I want to go up, fly across the sun, scale neptune and explore orion. When I grow up I want to go planets. When I grow up I want to follow the Lamb wheresoever He goes. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>But to grow up I must realize that I am destined for greatness. <br>To grow up I need to aim higher than high. To grow up I need to bury all excuses. To grow up I need to realize that my time is now. To grow up I must realize that “Yes I can”. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>What do you want to be when you, Finally; grow up?</h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<p>[/signinlocker]</p>','What Do you Want to be When you Grow Up?','','inherit','closed','closed','','99597-revision-v1','','','2020-02-05 08:46:42','2020-02-05 06:46:42','',99597,'https://expound.org.za/99597-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99439,1,'2020-01-06 09:21:24','2020-01-06 07:21:24','','logo_3_small','','inherit','open','closed','','logo_3_small','','','2020-01-06 09:21:24','2020-01-06 07:21:24','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logo_3_small.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99440,1,'2020-01-06 09:21:57','2020-01-06 07:21:57','https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-logo_3_small.png','cropped-logo_3_small.png','','inherit','open','closed','','cropped-logo_3_small-png','','','2020-01-06 09:21:57','2020-01-06 07:21:57','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-logo_3_small.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99694,1,'2020-02-08 18:15:58','2020-02-08 16:15:58','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99699} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/expound-quotable-quote-qoute-on-evelution-and-creation-1.png\" alt=\"The Only True Concept of Evolution\" class=\"wp-image-99699\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>The only true concept of evolution is the degeneration where in humans become inhuman.</h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->','The Only True Concept of Evolution','','publish','open','open','','the-only-true-concept-of-evolution','','','2020-02-08 18:26:26','2020-02-08 16:26:26','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99694',0,'post','',0),(99442,1,'2020-01-06 09:23:57','2020-01-06 07:23:57','','X_logo','','inherit','open','closed','','x_logo','','','2020-01-06 09:23:57','2020-01-06 07:23:57','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/X_logo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99443,1,'2020-01-06 09:24:21','2020-01-06 07:24:21','https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-X_logo.png','cropped-X_logo.png','','inherit','open','closed','','cropped-x_logo-png','','','2020-01-06 09:24:21','2020-01-06 07:24:21','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-X_logo.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99690,1,'2020-02-08 18:09:07','2020-02-08 16:09:07','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99691} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JESUS-AND-ENTREPRNEURSHIP-PURPOSE-DRIVEN-LIFE.png\" alt=\"Jesus and Purposeful Living\" class=\"wp-image-99691\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> How Jesus scaled from a one-man-band, to a start-up, right up to a global blue chip without funding, presents profound universal and timeless life principles to be studied through endless ages.</h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->','Jesus and Purposeful Living','','publish','open','open','','jesus-and-purposeful-living','','','2020-02-08 18:12:52','2020-02-08 16:12:52','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99690',0,'post','',0),(99691,1,'2020-02-08 18:08:28','2020-02-08 16:08:28','','JESUS-AND-ENTREPRNEURSHIP-PURPOSE-DRIVEN-LIFE','','inherit','open','closed','','jesus-and-entreprneurship-purpose-driven-life','','','2020-02-08 18:08:28','2020-02-08 16:08:28','',99690,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JESUS-AND-ENTREPRNEURSHIP-PURPOSE-DRIVEN-LIFE.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99692,1,'2020-02-08 18:09:07','2020-02-08 16:09:07','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99691} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JESUS-AND-ENTREPRNEURSHIP-PURPOSE-DRIVEN-LIFE.png\" alt=\"Jesus and Purposeful Living\" class=\"wp-image-99691\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','Jesus and Purposeful Living','','inherit','closed','closed','','99690-revision-v1','','','2020-02-08 18:09:07','2020-02-08 16:09:07','',99690,'https://expound.org.za/99690-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99693,1,'2020-02-08 18:12:47','2020-02-08 16:12:47','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99691} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/JESUS-AND-ENTREPRNEURSHIP-PURPOSE-DRIVEN-LIFE.png\" alt=\"Jesus and Purposeful Living\" class=\"wp-image-99691\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> How Jesus scaled from a one-man-band, to a start-up, right up to a global blue chip without funding, presents profound universal and timeless life principles to be studied through endless ages.</h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->','Jesus and Purposeful Living','','inherit','closed','closed','','99690-revision-v1','','','2020-02-08 18:12:47','2020-02-08 16:12:47','',99690,'https://expound.org.za/99690-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99447,1,'2020-01-06 18:46:54','2020-01-06 16:46:54','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing to offer of his own </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all other valid  extrinsic reasons for not succumbing to the temptation.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 18:46:54','2020-01-06 16:46:54','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99448,1,'2020-01-06 18:50:59','2020-01-06 16:50:59','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing of his own to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all other valid  extrinsic reasons for not succumbing to the temptation.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want to us to do right. He wants to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-06 18:50:59','2020-01-06 16:50:59','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99449,1,'2020-01-06 19:33:33','2020-01-06 17:33:33','','main banner','','inherit','open','closed','','main-banner','','','2020-01-06 19:33:33','2020-01-06 17:33:33','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/main-banner.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99453,1,'2020-01-06 21:20:33','2020-01-06 19:20:33','','seo_specialist_workplace-optimized','','inherit','open','closed','','cs-4','','','2020-01-06 21:20:41','2020-01-06 19:20:41','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cs-4.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(99452,1,'2020-01-06 20:40:14','2020-01-06 18:40:14','','main3','','inherit','open','closed','','main3','','','2020-01-06 20:40:14','2020-01-06 18:40:14','',0,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/main3.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99700,1,'2020-02-08 18:25:28','2020-02-08 16:25:28','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99699} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/expound-quotable-quote-qoute-on-evelution-and-creation-1.png\" alt=\"The Only True Concept of Evolution\" class=\"wp-image-99699\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>The only true concept of evolution is the degeneration where in humans become inhuman.</h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->','The Only True Concept of Evolution','','inherit','closed','closed','','99694-revision-v1','','','2020-02-08 18:25:28','2020-02-08 16:25:28','',99694,'https://expound.org.za/99694-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99695,1,'2020-02-08 18:14:36','2020-02-08 16:14:36','','expound-quotable-quote-qoute-on-evelution-and-creation','','inherit','open','closed','','expound-quotable-quote-qoute-on-evelution-and-creation','','','2020-02-08 18:14:36','2020-02-08 16:14:36','',99694,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/expound-quotable-quote-qoute-on-evelution-and-creation.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99455,1,'2020-01-08 18:03:54','2020-01-08 16:03:54','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that will surely empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that can be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity as captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing of his own to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they won\'t surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Now, not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether He succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the self-destructs , all He cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is exigent and necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. He was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, this is the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as imaginary freedom. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all other valid  extrinsic reasons for not succumbing to the temptation.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want us to do right. He wants us to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He wants even from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. The program of salvation does not seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: Come now and let us reason together. God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-08 18:03:54','2020-01-08 16:03:54','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99456,1,'2020-01-10 21:11:24','2020-01-10 19:11:24','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex he decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying he is coming from planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension; a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a [signinlocker id=\"99515\"] symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between his legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in his “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Awesome as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in a sense God pleaded, “Awesome as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<p>[/signinlocker]</p>','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','publish','open','open','','job-chapter-1-part-1','','','2020-02-04 06:33:51','2020-02-04 04:33:51','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99456',0,'post','',1),(99457,1,'2020-01-10 21:11:00','2020-01-10 19:11:00','','the bible','','inherit','open','closed','','the-bible','','','2020-01-10 21:11:22','2020-01-10 19:11:22','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(99458,1,'2020-01-10 21:11:24','2020-01-10 19:11:24','<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be slotted after 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were somethings deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-10 21:11:24','2020-01-10 19:11:24','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99459,1,'2020-01-10 21:12:59','2020-01-10 19:12:59','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be slotted after 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were somethings deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-10 21:12:59','2020-01-10 19:12:59','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99460,1,'2020-01-10 21:13:43','2020-01-10 19:13:43','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be slotted after 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were somethings deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-10 21:13:43','2020-01-10 19:13:43','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99466,1,'2020-01-11 06:25:38','2020-01-11 04:25:38','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were some things deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:25:38','2020-01-11 04:25:38','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99461,1,'2020-01-10 21:14:57','2020-01-10 19:14:57','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were somethings deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-10 21:14:57','2020-01-10 19:14:57','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99462,1,'2020-01-10 21:15:41','2020-01-10 19:15:41','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of the human history. According to the various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1 I kept feeling that there were some things deep captured in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> In Moses Eyes Job’s net worth is material, in God’s eyes Job’s net worth is spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantified the net worth of Job in material terms. <br>\n3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. <br>\nMaybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-10 21:15:41','2020-01-10 19:15:41','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99469,1,'2020-01-11 06:34:13','2020-01-11 04:34:13','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Maybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:34:13','2020-01-11 04:34:13','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99468,1,'2020-01-11 06:33:18','2020-01-11 04:33:18','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n1 Samuel 16:7<br/>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Maybe this is a no brainier, but the real factor to consider is which of the perspectives do we allow either consciously or subconsciously to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness fo God’s view and value of us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of the fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot thats stems from that verse but for this post I just want to focus on this fact: While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. <br>\nSimply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had been summoned too. He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing else. While he can surely  devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> Satan Suffers from a Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated He was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>\nIn a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming the planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion to Him through disobedience. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. In a sense God “forces” Satan to put his proverbial tail between the legs and chew his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; He doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists Satan suffers from self-concept Illiteracy, he has no accurate sense of his power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:33:18','2020-01-11 04:33:18','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99465,1,'2020-01-11 06:23:02','2020-01-11 04:23:02','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that can empower us in our quest for godliness. There are profound lessons that to be drawn from the account of the fall of humanity captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>5 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing of his own to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they would not surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether he succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the soul simply self-destructs. All he cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. Hi did not possess, he was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing what was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, the angle illuminates the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as some form of freedom, albeit imaginary. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined, fatally, by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a living cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all those other valid extraneous reasons for not succumbing to the temptation.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want us to do right. He wants us to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He desires from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. Therefore, the program of salvation does not primarily seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: \"Come now and let us reason together.\" God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:23:02','2020-01-11 04:23:02','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99472,1,'2020-01-11 06:43:28','2020-01-11 04:43:28','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming for planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between the legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept Illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:43:28','2020-01-11 04:43:28','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99471,1,'2020-01-11 06:43:16','2020-01-11 04:43:16','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming for planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between the legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept Illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan get to know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job is not far fetched if you think about it. <br> The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:43:16','2020-01-11 04:43:16','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99473,1,'2020-01-11 06:45:19','2020-01-11 04:45:19','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming for planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing a despicable Prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between the legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept Illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 06:45:19','2020-01-11 04:45:19','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99474,1,'2020-01-11 07:22:31','2020-01-11 05:22:31','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming for planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between the legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in His “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept Illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Innocent as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in sense God pleaded, “Innocent as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 07:22:31','2020-01-11 05:22:31','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99475,1,'2020-01-11 07:26:15','2020-01-11 05:26:15','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex, He decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying He is coming for planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not  forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between his legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in his “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Awesome as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in a sense God pleaded, “Awesome as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 07:26:15','2020-01-11 05:26:15','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99476,1,'2020-01-11 07:31:28','2020-01-11 05:31:28','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex he decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying he is coming from planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension; a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between his legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in his “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Awesome as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in a sense God pleaded, “Awesome as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 07:31:28','2020-01-11 05:31:28','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99478,1,'2020-01-11 08:11:49','2020-01-11 06:11:49','<img class=\"alignnone wp-image-99356 size-full\" src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bride-bread.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" />\n\nIn seeking to address the framing question the point of departure is to problematize the binary interpretation of biblical texts that seeks to say its either A or B. It could be AB or K, or A and B etc. Dynamic and contextual biblical interpretation is not the same thing as attempting to “relativise” or render as subjective the objective import of scripture.\n\nWith regards to the biblical bride symbol, A major problem lies in fixing the bride symbol to the church or to city exclusively when the application of the symbol is fluid and dynamic.\n\nJerusalem is the capital of the kingdom (dominion) of God (Christ). The problem with equating Jerusalem with the bride across all contexts is in that in Rev 21 it is the Kingship of Christ over the entire universe, and not just his groom status over the earthly bride; that is being established. His death on the cross marked a new dispensation even among unfallen intelligent beings as his death brought to light to the entire universe the true malicious and treacherous character and operative of Satan.\n\nTo the angels and the unfallen worlds the cry, “It is finished,” had a deep significance. It was for them as well as for us that the great work of redemption had been accomplished. They with us share the fruits of Christ\'s victory. DA 758.2\n\nSo the city is thus a perfect epitome of universal dominion, the great controversy plays out for the great part on planet earth yet it has cosmic ramifications. Angels and other beings have been watching keenly.\n\nOn that grand scale as captured in Rev 21 the groom thus should “marry” Jerusalem as the epitome of universal rulership. In that scope the church bride-ship would be inappropriate as it would be exclusionary.\n\nNonetheless, in the context of Christ’s disposition to humanity (the church) He indeed presents Himself as the groom and the church as the bride.\n\nWe should not approach scripture with a binary mindset that says its either or. For example if we say the bride is either the church or the city then we reduce the import of scripture to suit limited interpretive theorems. Such an approach wrecks the profundity and rotundity of biblical text whose meaning is objective yet fluid and whose transcendency is not mutually exclusive to its incontrovertible immanence.\n\nThe bride is both the city and the church contingent on context and the the scope of the great controversy under spotlight in that given context.\n\nSome symbolism is categoric (very clear), yet some is implied.\n<blockquote>2 Corinthians 11:2:\nFor I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.</blockquote>\nIf Paul is “presenting” us, the church as betrothed to one Husband Christ, what are we? If Christ in this context is the husband to whom the pure virgin (the church) is being presented, what is the identity of the that being presented to Christ in this analogy? Guest? Not quite. In this context the church is the bride.\n\nConsider the following:\n<blockquote>(Ephesians 5:23-25; see EGW on ch. 7:9). God the Husband of His Church—God is the husband of His church. The church is the bride, the Lamb\'s wife. Every true believer is a part of the body of Christ. Christ regards unfaithfulness shown to Him by His people as the unfaithfulness of a wife to her husband. We are to remember that we are members of Christ\'s body (Letter 39, 1902). 7BC 985.9\nConduct Befitting the Bride of a King—The church is the bride, the Lamb\'s wife. She should keep herself pure, sanctified, holy. Never should she indulge in any foolishness; for she is the bride of a King. Yet she does not realize her exalted position. If she understood this, she would be all-glorious within (Letter 177, 1901). 7BC 986.1\n(Chs. 3:4; 7:14; 16:15.) Clean Garments—The church is the bride of Christ, and her members are to yoke up with their Leader. God warns us not to defile our garments (Letter 123a, 1898). 7BC 986.2</blockquote>\nEphesians 5:25-27\nHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.\n\nIt is no mere philosophical injunction that the love husbands should exude for their wives is equated to that which Christ has demonstrated for the church. The “bride-ship” or “wife-ship” of the church in this context is not only categorically established but is poignantly employed to assert the defining principles of unconditional love and selflessness.\n\nNotwithstanding the foregoing, In the following contexts the bride-ship of Jerusalem however can not be missed.\n\nRevelation 21:2\n<blockquote>And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.\n\nRevelation 22:17\nThe Spirit and the bride say, \"Come \" And let the one who hears say, \"Come \" And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.</blockquote>\nIf the both the Spirit and the Bride are saying come to the church the church can not be both the caller and the called.\nThe symbol of the city of Jerusalem as the bride is categoric in those specific contexts.\n\nTo infer that in the context of the given texts in revelation the bride is the church is to apply interpretive acrobatics.\nAnd to confute the bride-ship of the church as presented in other cited contexts is the very praxis of eisegesis. (infusing inventive meanings into scripture as apposed to gathering meaning from scripture (exegesis)).\n\nIn establishing the bride symbol as the city it is helpful to underscore that the groom is not entering a solemn union with mere gold furnished walls and celestial infrastructure. The groom’s (Christ) union with the city derives meaning only in the fundament and the constituency that Jerusalem represents. Marrying Jerusalem represents the genesis or rather the resumption of the harmonious sovereign and universal rulership. If the earthly church is not an interested party and stakeholder in that (city) establishment then the union is of no relevance to the earthly church. In the context of the bride symbol as the city, the redemptive import of that prophecy must not be eclipsed by the empty pageantry of non-salvific hemerneutics or exegesis.\nSuch parochial interpretations that relegate the station of the earthly church in the context of Rev 21 dangerously leave the church justifiably feeling like a jilted lover.\n\nSo the view that the bride is the city is sustained by the bible clearly in certain contexts as much as the view that the church is the bride is indubitably established in certain contexts.\n\nThe interpretive ballyhoo ensues when the mind attempts to systematize and intellectualize, which inevitably becomes an attempt to diffuse and to humanize.\n\nIf we can abandon the mono-dimensional binary approach and its attendant antics such as seeking to solve for X, as if the bible is a corpus of algebraic monoliths, and the associative penchant to reconcile (where there is neither conflict nor cognitive dissonance) we would be helped a great deal.\n\nThe object of the bible is redemptive and not academic. Across all dynamic employments of the bride symbol as the city or the church the salvific deliverable in never lost.\nIn both contexts the bride is subject to an unconditionally loving groom. Thus, the reader of the text must ready herself for the union either as a guest or bride.\n\nUltimately, God is in charge, truth will triumph over evil and all candidates of the future kingdom must now prepare themselves thoroughly for the grand and solemn occasion.\n\nWe should embrace the beautiful tension for example in that Jesus resurrected Himself (John 10:18), Jesus was resurrected by God the Father (Acts 2:24), the Spirit of God resurrected Jesus (Rom 8:11) and that an Angel was sent by God to resurrect Jesus. ( DA 779.2)\nThere is no conflict whatsoever in the above until one begins to attempt solving for X and fractionating the import of scripture whose transcendency is not mutually unintelligible with its immanence.','Reflections on the Symbolism of the Biblical Bride. Is it the City or the Church?','','inherit','closed','closed','','99353-revision-v1','','','2020-01-11 08:11:49','2020-01-11 06:11:49','',99353,'https://expound.org.za/99353-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99480,1,'2020-01-12 21:32:39','2020-01-12 19:32:39','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99481} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quote-about-the-Bigness-of-God.png\" alt=\"God is bigger than what we CANNOT think nor imagine!  _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99481\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','How big is God?','','publish','open','open','','how-big-is-god','','','2020-01-12 21:38:31','2020-01-12 19:38:31','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99480',0,'post','',0),(99481,1,'2020-01-12 21:31:19','2020-01-12 19:31:19','','Quote-about-the-Bigness-of-God','','inherit','open','closed','','quote-about-the-bigness-of-god','','','2020-01-12 21:32:31','2020-01-12 19:32:31','',99480,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quote-about-the-Bigness-of-God.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99482,1,'2020-01-12 21:32:39','2020-01-12 19:32:39','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99481} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quote-about-the-Bigness-of-God.png\" alt=\"God is bigger than what we CANNOT think nor imagine!  _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99481\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','','','inherit','closed','closed','','99480-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:32:39','2020-01-12 19:32:39','',99480,'https://expound.org.za/99480-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99483,1,'2020-01-12 21:34:31','2020-01-12 19:34:31','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99481} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quote-about-the-Bigness-of-God.png\" alt=\"God is bigger than what we CANNOT think nor imagine!  _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99481\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','How big is God?','','inherit','closed','closed','','99480-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:34:31','2020-01-12 19:34:31','',99480,'https://expound.org.za/99480-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99484,1,'2020-01-12 21:38:22','2020-01-12 19:38:22','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99485} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-sin.png\" alt=\"Sin is more deadly than death. Death can’t separate you from God. Sin can! and eternally so if there is no repentance.   (Romans 8:38, Romans 6:23)\" class=\"wp-image-99485\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','The Power of Sin','','publish','open','open','','the-power-of-sin','','','2020-01-12 21:38:25','2020-01-12 19:38:25','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99484',0,'post','',0),(99485,1,'2020-01-12 21:37:18','2020-01-12 19:37:18','','Quotable-quote-about-sin','','inherit','open','closed','','quotable-quote-about-sin','','','2020-01-12 21:37:36','2020-01-12 19:37:36','',99484,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-sin.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99486,1,'2020-01-12 21:38:22','2020-01-12 19:38:22','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99485} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-sin.png\" alt=\"Sin is more deadly than death. Death can’t separate you from God. Sin can! and eternally so if there is no repentance.   (Romans 8:38, Romans 6:23)\" class=\"wp-image-99485\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','The Power of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99484-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:38:22','2020-01-12 19:38:22','',99484,'https://expound.org.za/99484-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99487,1,'2020-01-12 21:41:45','2020-01-12 19:41:45','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99488,\"linkDestination\":\"attachment\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https://expound.org.za/?attachment_id=99488#main\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotes-about-the-Fear-of-God.png\" alt=\"The Fear of God is ultimate courage.\" class=\"wp-image-99488\"/></a></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','The Fear of God','','publish','open','open','','the-fear-of-god','','','2020-01-12 21:42:22','2020-01-12 19:42:22','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99487',0,'post','',0),(99488,1,'2020-01-12 21:40:36','2020-01-12 19:40:36','','Quotes-about-the-Fear-of-God','','inherit','open','closed','','quotes-about-the-fear-of-god','','','2020-01-12 21:40:36','2020-01-12 19:40:36','',99487,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotes-about-the-Fear-of-God.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99489,1,'2020-01-12 21:41:45','2020-01-12 19:41:45','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99488,\"linkDestination\":\"attachment\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https://expound.org.za/?attachment_id=99488#main\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotes-about-the-Fear-of-God.png\" alt=\"The Fear of God is ultimate courage.\" class=\"wp-image-99488\"/></a></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','The Fear of God','','inherit','closed','closed','','99487-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:41:45','2020-01-12 19:41:45','',99487,'https://expound.org.za/99487-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99491,1,'2020-01-12 21:46:39','2020-01-12 19:46:39','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99492} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-the-power-of-God.png\" alt=\"God has the capacity to look at the future retrospectively.  _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99492\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','God and the Future','','publish','open','open','','god-and-the-future','','','2020-01-12 21:46:42','2020-01-12 19:46:42','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99491',0,'post','',0),(99492,1,'2020-01-12 21:45:51','2020-01-12 19:45:51','','Quotable-quote-about-the-power-of-God','','inherit','open','closed','','quotable-quote-about-the-power-of-god','','','2020-01-12 21:45:51','2020-01-12 19:45:51','',99491,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-the-power-of-God.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99493,1,'2020-01-12 21:46:39','2020-01-12 19:46:39','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99492} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-quote-about-the-power-of-God.png\" alt=\"God has the capacity to look at the future retrospectively.  _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99492\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','God and the Future','','inherit','closed','closed','','99491-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:46:39','2020-01-12 19:46:39','',99491,'https://expound.org.za/99491-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99494,1,'2020-01-12 21:50:01','2020-01-12 19:50:01','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99495} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-Quote-about-change.png\" alt=\"Change is good if it is good change. _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99495\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','Good change is good','','publish','open','open','','good-change-is-good','','','2020-01-12 22:00:03','2020-01-12 20:00:03','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99494',0,'post','',0),(99495,1,'2020-01-12 21:49:31','2020-01-12 19:49:31','','Quotable-Quote-about-change','','inherit','open','closed','','quotable-quote-about-change','','','2020-01-12 21:49:31','2020-01-12 19:49:31','',99494,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-Quote-about-change.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99496,1,'2020-01-12 21:50:01','2020-01-12 19:50:01','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99495} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-Quote-about-change.png\" alt=\"Change is good if it is good change. _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99495\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','Good Change is Good','','inherit','closed','closed','','99494-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:50:01','2020-01-12 19:50:01','',99494,'https://expound.org.za/99494-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99497,1,'2020-01-12 21:51:56','2020-01-12 19:51:56','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99498} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Gods-biddings-are-His-enablings.png\" alt=\"God\'s biddings are his enablings. \" class=\"wp-image-99498\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','God\'s biddings are his enablings','','publish','open','open','','gods-biddings-are-his-enablings','','','2020-01-12 21:52:00','2020-01-12 19:52:00','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99497',0,'post','',0),(99498,1,'2020-01-12 21:51:26','2020-01-12 19:51:26','','Gods-biddings-are-His-enablings','','inherit','open','closed','','gods-biddings-are-his-enablings','','','2020-01-12 21:51:26','2020-01-12 19:51:26','',99497,'https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Gods-biddings-are-His-enablings.png',0,'attachment','image/png',0),(99499,1,'2020-01-12 21:51:56','2020-01-12 19:51:56','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99498} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Gods-biddings-are-His-enablings.png\" alt=\"God\'s biddings are his enablings. \" class=\"wp-image-99498\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','God\'s biddings are his enablings','','inherit','closed','closed','','99497-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:51:56','2020-01-12 19:51:56','',99497,'https://expound.org.za/99497-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99882,1,'2020-03-18 17:23:25','2020-03-18 15:23:25','<!-- wp:gallery {\"ids\":[99880]} -->\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/expound-quotables-God-whispers-to-us-through-our-pleasures-cs-lewis-1-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"99880\" data-link=\"https://expound.org.za/?attachment_id=99880#main\" class=\"wp-image-99880\"/></figure></li></ul>\n<!-- /wp:gallery -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>So, the Covid-19 Corona Virus is gripping the\nwhole world with every country declaring travel bans on the left, right and a\ncenter that can no longer hold. God doesn’t waste a crisis and already there\nare a few lessons we can draw from the pandemic. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Things can change pretty fast </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>If there is one thing,we can’t miss from this\npandemic is that things can get bad pretty fast.&nbsp; Worldometers <a href=\"https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/\">https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/</a>\npublishes live stats on the spread of Covid-19 and one piece of data that\nstruck my mind was showing how South Africa had a double up of cases in a\nsingle day.&nbsp; The, “It won’t happen to me”\nattitude is the chief reason why people do not prepare even for imminent\ndisaster. Over the past weeks we have transitioned from making jokes and\ncirculating memes about the impact of the Coronavirus in China and Europe, to\nscampering for some essentials after discovering that we did have critical essentials\nlike masks, gloves and sanitizers etc. Of course, situations vary as some were\nable to stock up on these before time. Nonetheless, the bottom-line is that we\nwere generally caught under-prepared for a crisis we watched unfold in clear\nview. It reminds me of the scenario where Jesus had consistently told his\ndisciples about his death and that he would be raised up the after 3 days. Following\nhis crucifixion on a Friday Jesus resurrected on the Sunday morning. The\ndisciples heard about His resurrection from Mary Magdalene.&nbsp; Peter and John &nbsp;literally ran to grave. (John 20: 1-9) They\ncould not believe what had happened as relayed by Mary and they were surprised\nyet Jesus had made this plain to them beforehand. The disciples were surprised\nwhen it arrived. This paints a pitiful picture of the condition of humanity and\nsadly some Christians who will be “surprised” by the second coming of Christ\nwhen they have always preached it. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<h3> 2. God has no struggle in getting our attention </h3>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Clearly, God has no struggle in getting our\nattention. This is not the first time the world is plagued by a pandemic but\nthere is something unique about Covid-19. The virus spreads very quickly and\neasily even though it is not exactly airborne. Money, class, race or religion\nare completely irrelevant in this case. The swoop of Covid-19 is\nindiscriminate. Once more, all of us are unmistakably reminded of our\nfragilities and susceptibility. There is not much room to debate the existence\nof God and to indulge in unyielding academic arguments about God and religion.\nThe topmost priority of every soul that still breathes is survival, chances of\nwhich can easily range between slim and none in a very short space of time. In\na nutshell, if there is one thing we could all agree on, it is that people need\nthe Lord. This calls for introspection on where each person stands with God and\nwhether or not whatever anchors we have installed in our lives can hold.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is something profound the Psalmist says\nin Psalm 119: 67-71. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but\nnow I obey your word. 68 You are good, and what you do is good;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; teach me your decrees. 69 Though the\narrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. 70\nTheir hearts are callous and unfeeling,&nbsp;\nbut I delight in your law. 71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that\nI might learn your decrees.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<h3> 3. Vanity of vanities </h3>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>With most public and pleasure-seeking\nactivities called off, it is perhaps great time reflect on what really matters.\nThis is not to say all public gatherings have no place in our human fabric\nhowever the salient take away from this situation is that when all is said and\ndone, everything is vanity (perishable) including mortal life itself. At the\nthreat of tragedy no one clutches at straws for their wealth, education, power\nand influence. The rallying call in face of danger is to clutch at straws for\nnothing else but dear life. While the life we have for now is just but mist (now\nit’s here and now is gone) real life, embedded with true meaning and eternality\nis found in none other than Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the\nlife. The idea of vanity of vanities as articulated by the wisest of all men\n(Solomon) does not seek to rubbish everything else in life and call for human\nbeings to be hermits. Rather, it is a call to get our often lopsided priorities\nstraight. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 4.God always speaks </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>C.S. Lewis captured this thought succinctly. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks\nto us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pains. It is His megaphone to\nrouse a dead world.” C.S. Lewis</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<h3> 5. There is hope </h3>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>We have been educated that Covid-19 hits\nhardest those with weak immunity systems and we know that one way of effectively\ncompromising your immune system is to worry, to stress or to be anxious hence\nthe parting shot from Philippians 4:6-7 is apt: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Do not be anxious about anything, but in\nevery situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your\nrequests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will\nguard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Lessons and Undying Hope from the Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic','','inherit','closed','closed','','99879-revision-v1','','','2020-03-18 17:23:25','2020-03-18 15:23:25','',99879,'https://expound.org.za/99879-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99501,1,'2020-01-12 21:53:25','2020-01-12 19:53:25',' ','','','publish','closed','closed','','99501','','','2020-12-19 14:06:04','2020-12-19 12:06:04','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?p=99501',11,'nav_menu_item','',0),(99502,1,'2020-01-12 21:59:47','2020-01-12 19:59:47','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99495} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Quotable-Quote-about-change.png\" alt=\"Change is good if it is good change. _Gugulethu Nyoni\" class=\"wp-image-99495\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->','Good change is good','','inherit','closed','closed','','99494-revision-v1','','','2020-01-12 21:59:47','2020-01-12 19:59:47','',99494,'https://expound.org.za/99494-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99593,2,'2020-01-30 06:35:13','2020-01-30 04:35:13','<span style=\"color: #003366;\">There are beautiful thoughts that only come to my mind when I think about you</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">And when I think about you, only beautiful thoughts come to mind.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Darling, this love is not blind</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">But, it turns out, I am.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I can only trace traits of beauty from your flaws.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Your imperfect nose,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Your naturally crooked eyebrows,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Your not so pretty toes.</span>\n\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">In a world where you\'ve been conditioned to think your reflection is the farthest thing from perfection -</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Know, you come pretty close;</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">As close as I want to be with you,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Tight as a tide tied to the ocean.</span>\n\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">My darling, you are perfection</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">The crown of creation.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I\'d be a fool not to make the God that created you the centre of my attention.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Such an able God can undoubtedly do anything.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I hear Him walking on air-waves every time you open your mouth to sing.</span>\n\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">When He turned water into wine, the water did not disappear</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">It was intertwined with mine thoughts of you</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">And turned into salty sea water that streams down my cheeks at every thought of you.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Many times, this God,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">He speaks to me,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">In my dreams, through His word</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Through your heart, sometimes even through art.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I\'ve heard your name escape His lips about a thousand times,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">But, being dull of hearing and often inattentive,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I am hardly ever certain of the instructions.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">It proves how much more time I need to spend with Him</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Before even desiring to spend forever with a jewel precious to Him as you are.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">If ever He permits us to be, I pray that you allow the clumsy words staggering out of my trembling lips into your heart,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I pray that they stay there,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">And my lips never grow tired of uttering them,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Or become too eloquent at the art of spoken word</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">Lest the words spoken lose meaning and promises made become broken.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">For now, my darling,</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I\'ll wait impatiently and listen more attentively when God speaks.</span>\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\">I pray you do too.</span>\n\n<span style=\"color: #003366;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Loud-Ink Dlamini</span>\n<img class=\"wp-image-99571 aligncenter\" src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/photo-1516967124798-10656f7dca28-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"90\" height=\"135\"></span><!--more-->','A.D.D','','inherit','closed','closed','','99564-revision-v1','','','2020-01-30 06:35:13','2020-01-30 04:35:13','',99564,'https://expound.org.za/99564-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99505,2,'2020-01-13 16:24:49','2020-01-13 14:24:49','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex he decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying he is coming from planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension; a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between his legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in his “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Awesome as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in a sense God pleaded, “Awesome as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-13 16:24:49','2020-01-13 14:24:49','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99511,1,'2020-01-16 00:24:55','2020-01-15 22:24:55','','Sign In Locker','','inherit','closed','closed','','99510-autosave-v1','','','2020-01-16 00:24:55','2020-01-15 22:24:55','',99510,'https://expound.org.za/99510-autosave-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99518,1,'2020-01-16 06:24:37','2020-01-16 04:24:37','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99457} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/the-bible.jpg\" alt=\"Job chapter 1 exegesis\" class=\"wp-image-99457\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The book of Job belongs to the early epochs of human history. According to various chronological bible event outlines the book of Job can be located after the 8th chapter of Genesis.  </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As I was reading through Job Chapter 1, I struggled to ward off the feeling that there were some hidden treasures in the text that I was missing by a stretch.  So, I went over the chapter a number of times. The following are what came out of the not necessarily exhaustive and yet beautiful excursion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>In the Author\'s  Eyes (Moses) Job’s Net Worth is Material, in God’s Eyes Job’s Net Worth is Spiritual </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 3 , it is Moses the author of the book of Job speaking, (Job 1:3) Moses enumerates and quantifies the net worth of Job in material terms. <br> 3&nbsp;His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 8 it is God speaking and He also takes time to quantity and qualify Job’s net worth. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>8&nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The radical and striking difference between God’s perspective and the author’s perspective is hard to miss. In Moses terms, Job’s net worth is material, in God’s terms Job’s net worth is spiritual.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>God does not esteem nor value humanity the way humans do. The circularized  and corrosively materialistic society we live in esteems humans on the basis of material factors and prosperity indices. On the other end,God has another view. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>\"But the Lord said to Samuel, \'Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”</p><cite>1 Samuel 16:7</cite></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<p>[signinlocker id=\"99515\"]</p>\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br> Perhaps the above is a no brainier, but the key question to consider is, which of the perspectives do we allow (either consciously or subconsciously), to impact our life trajectories? God’s view or the world’s view? The answer to that lies in the matter of where we belong. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Look at John 17: 14-16 </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.  16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Jesus and His faithful disciples were in this world but not of this world. If we are heaven ward our lives will be shaped by our consciousness of God’s view and How much He values us else we will wander and pander to the dictates and expectations of fellow earthlings. God is the only being with an accurate concept of who we are and what we are worth. At the cross, He did not over spend, He paid the exact price commensurate with the value of each soul. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3> The Devil is not the Opposite-Equal of God </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 6: 6&nbsp;Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There is a lot that stems from that verse but for this scope I just want to focus on this fact: </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:quote -->\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>While in terms of character indeed the Devil represents every thing that God stands against however Satan is not necessarily the opposite of God in matters of magnitude and strength. Many people tend to confuse the Devil as the opposite-equal of God. When we practice juxtaposing opposites we think light versus darkness, tall versus short, big versus small, etc. It does not necessarily follow that Satan is the opposite of God in the nomenclature of opposites. God has no opposite in terms of size and magnitude. He simply has not match. </p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><br>Simply: the devil is not an equal of God hence when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord Satan came also among them. Just like all other beings coming to present themselves Satan had also come to submit, albeit in his perverted and subverted way. Nonetheless, He came to God, God did not go to him. His original place is that of service to God and nothing more. While he can surely devour, His power must never be overstated and in the presence of Jesus Satan stands no smidgen of a chance. Remember he actually purported to ascend above and set his throne above that of God but as a matter of fact He was cast down. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:heading {\"level\":3} -->\n<h3>Like all Megalomaniacs Satan Suffers from a Chronic Self-Concept Illiteracy </h3>\n<!-- /wp:heading -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse  7: &nbsp;And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Verse 7 is interesting. Satan could have simply stated that he was coming from planet earth: period. But in his maladjusted quest to flex he decided to go ballistic about the detail of his territorial latitude and liberties. His response explicitly references lateral dominion (“to and fro”), and vertical dominion (“up and down”). <br>In a nutshell Satan is saying he is coming from planet (earth); a planet he has since captured since Adam handed the dominion over to him through disobedience to God. A planet he has absolute  control in and over and by extension; a planet where everyone does his bidding as opposed to the will of God. Do not forget that in the bible times and language to walk to and fro in a sense of surveying the land is a symbol of dominion. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3:17 “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.”  In the case in point Abraham was to, “walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it” for God would give the land to him (dominion). The devil is thus posturing as a despicable prince of darkness with unlimited to access to planet earth until God calls His attention to Job. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In verse 10 Satan charges God for putting a hedge around Job. Here is something from Satan that we can say “Amen” to. God places Satan in a position where he has to put his proverbial tail between his legs and eat his own words by inadvertently confessing that actually; he doesn’t have unlimited control as implied in his “up and down”, “to and fro” vainglorious rave. Like all megalomaniacs, egomaniacs and narcissists; Satan suffers from a chronic self-concept illiteracy. He has no accurate sense of his realistic power and control. He claimed unfettered and undeterred vertical and horizontal spherical dominion yet he had to confess failure to access the life of a mere individual whom God had protected. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> God is Awesome as Charged </h3>\nIn verse 10 Satan continues, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” What does the Church say? “Amen”. <br>\nIt is profound that God did not deny these allegations. So friend, it is true that God blesses the work of our hands, and our substance will be increased by Him in the land. To the allegations Satan leveled to God, in a sense God pleaded, “Awesome as Charged”.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Here is a question to ponder: How did Satan know that God had put a hedge around Job? The notion that Satan had actually attempted to harm Job prior to this encounter is not far fetched if you think about it. <br>The additional take home is therefore that: <strong>God protects His own</strong>. The Devil had to ask for permission to rattle Job. In fact in verse 11 He asked God to harm Job as he (we can safely presume) had failed. This sets the stage for a more dramatic unfolding of the Devil’s hideous scheme from whence we can observe the wondrous power and sovereignty of God: themes we uncover in Part 2 of Job Chapter 1 mini series. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<p>[/signinlocker]</p>','Job Chapter 1 (Part 1)','','inherit','closed','closed','','99456-revision-v1','','','2020-01-16 06:24:37','2020-01-16 04:24:37','',99456,'https://expound.org.za/99456-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99509,1,'2020-01-16 00:31:37','2020-01-15 22:31:37','','','','publish','closed','closed','','99509','','','2020-01-16 00:31:37','2020-01-15 22:31:37','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?post_type=content-locker&#038;p=99509',0,'content-locker','',0),(99510,1,'2020-01-16 00:24:43','2020-01-15 22:24:43','','Sign In Locker','','publish','closed','closed','','sign-in-locker','','','2020-01-16 00:24:43','2020-01-15 22:24:43','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?post_type=content-locker&#038;p=99510',0,'content-locker','',0),(99514,1,'2020-01-16 00:31:46','2020-01-15 22:31:46','','','','inherit','closed','closed','','99509-autosave-v1','','','2020-01-16 00:31:46','2020-01-15 22:31:46','',99509,'https://expound.org.za/99509-autosave-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(99515,1,'2020-01-16 00:32:24','2020-01-15 22:32:24','','Sign In Locker Main','','publish','closed','closed','','sign-in-locker-2','','','2020-03-15 11:02:32','2020-03-15 09:02:32','',0,'https://expound.org.za/?post_type=content-locker&#038;p=99515',0,'content-locker','',0),(99516,1,'2020-01-16 00:32:53','2020-01-15 22:32:53','<!-- wp:image {\"id\":99397} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img src=\"https://expound.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/ANATONY-OF-SIN.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-99397\"/></figure>\n<!-- /wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><p>After creation the beauty and the poetry of a cosmology in sync with the desires and plans of the creator is disrupted by the misguided actions of Eve and the willful disobedience of Adam. A cursory read presents a face value cause-and-effect prose yet a nuanced exploration of the details of the  events illuminates crucial insights that reveal why we keep falling for evil when we know its cancerous nature and consequences. The post presents 6 trenchant lessons from the account of the fall of humanity captured in Genesis chapter 3. </p>\n\n[signinlocker id=\"99515\"]\n</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Genesis 3: 3-8</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>3 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? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8 And they heard the voice 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 amongst the trees of the garden.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>6 Lessons from the fall of Adam and Eve</strong></p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 1. Satan has nothing of his own to offer </h3>\n\nThe devil did not rock up with his own combo of fruits. He would have made a better argument if he had came with his own fruits that he would have created himself. However, the hideous foe deceived Eve to believe that He had a better offer  off God’s own provisions. Fact: The devil has no power to create, his destructive power lies in manipulating that which God has created. There is no form or derivative of sin that does not involve a perversion of the good that God has created. All things come from God and the devil\'s plan is to get us to self-destruct merely by crossing the line either through premature access, misapplication, misuse, or abuse of the good things God has created. It is wise to obey the creator that to allow a mere creature to serenade our senses into thinking that He has something better to offer off the gifts God has already set for the ultimate pleasure and benefit of His creatures.\n<br>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<br/> <h3> 2.The Devil works with half truths which are whole lies </h3>\n<b> The three half truths and whole lies: </b> <br/>\n\na) \"You will not surely die (Gen 3:4)\". The pair did not die at that self same point in time. The claim that they would not surely die was a half truth in that perverted sense but it was in essence a whole lie in the sense that ultimately they died. <br> b) \"Your eyes will be opened\" (Gen 3:5). The pair’s eyes were opened as they, for the first time, began to see their own nakedness but as it would surely turn out, this was a half truth. In essence, from the point of the fall, human physiological vision deteriorated and this marked the genesis of both literal and spiritual blindness. <br> c) \"You will be like gods\" (Gen 5:5). This was a half truth in that for the first time Adam and Eve knew both good and evil, a reality which until the point of sin had been a preserve of an all-knowing God. Notwithstanding, this was a whole lie considering that as the two were created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were already like God, also through disobedience; Adam and Eve, and as all humanity would be, became less like God, in fact more unlike God.</p>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 3. The Devil is the Project Manager of All Evil </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Every time we want to do something out of sync with God’s standards we ought to understand that the devil is the arch instigator of rebellion and disobedience. Yes we have our own personal sovereignty to make decisions to determine our courses of actions as free moral beings. We even do have 100% capacity to disobey even if the devil were absent otherwise we would not be free moral beings. A free moral being not only has liberty to disobey but has the capacity to do so genuinely and thoroughly. Not withstanding the foregoing, in the context of the great controversy we find ourselves in, every human being, except for Adam and Eve that came from the hand of God; is birthed in iniquity and is thus born with a predisposition to sin. Additionally, all Adam’s posterity comes with an inherently evil nature the genesis of which was the Devil’s initiative. So while our free will is intact, we are not without influence from both God and Satan to exercise our free will in either of the two diametrically opposed trajectories.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The essence of the foregoing is that sin is the proprietary enterprise of Satan. While every free moral being has the capacity to disobey on their own terms, Satan owns and holds valid claims to the intellectual property and the patent of sin. This is why in the object lesson of the sanctuary all confessed sins are not merely excused, but essentially allotted to the Devil.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>To ultimately die for your own sins culminates from effectively and successfully contesting Satan’s patent of sin and upholding your brand of wickedness as the groundbreaking brain child of the stellar ingenuity of your wretchedness. This is a contestation you can easily and ostensibly win because the devil will still win through not disagreeing with you. He does not care whether he succeeds at destroying the soul himself or the soul simply self-destructs. All he cares about is that the soul is destroyed.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>I submit then that in this milieu, polarized by contestations of good and evil at cosmic levels; it is not enough to be conscious of what you are and what you want, it is imperative to interrogate your very want premise. In other words, why do you want what you want? What engenders your desires? Where from is your desiring conceived?</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the state of demon possession, the demoniac seemed to have wanted to dwell in the grave yard, to walk around naked, he had a fleeting swoop of seemingly unfettered freedom as he broke the chains that bound him. It is necessitous to note that the demoniac was demon possessed as opposed to him possessing demons. Hi did not possess, he was possessed. Only when Jesus set him free did it dawn that all along he had been doing what was the bidding of another force. He had not been living a life that he desired for himself but that which the devil desired on his behalf. If you consider this closely, the angle illuminates the sorry and dreary state of every willful sinner who conceives slavery to sin as some form of freedom, albeit imaginary. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power.  He is not his own.  He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.  He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for his mind is under the control of Satan.  While he flatters himself that he is following the dictates of his own judgment, he obeys the will of the prince of darkness.  Christ came to break the shackles of sin-slavery from the soul.  „If the Son therefore shall make ye free, ye shall be free indeed.‟  „The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus‟ sets us „free from the law of sin and death‟” The Desire of Ages, 466.3</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Whether we acknowledge it or not, the devil is the project manager of all evil enterprise and he has reward for all who serve him:  The  thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. But Jesus has come come that we might have life, and that we might have it more  abundantly. (John 10:10)</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3>  4. The biggest fraud in the Cosmos </h3>\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"align\":\"left\"} -->\n<p style=\"text-align:left\">a) The devil told Eve that they would be like gods through the knowledge of good and evil. He did not disclose to them that unlike God who knows both good and evil as an Omniscient God, for humanity to  know sin is to be ruined, fatally, by sin. God can survive the knowledge sin but humanity can not. The devil did not disclose this part of the dreary offer. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p><strong>Lesson.</strong> The devil  lures and seeks to destroy by offering  elevation without balance, altitude without aptitude,  power without character, tenacity without capacity. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 5. The nucleus of sin </h3>\n\nEve knew it was wrong to partake of the forbidden fruit but she did not indeed believe it the act would be wrong. She lived at the level of compliance and not obedience.<br> Most of us know the wrongs that are wrong, but we hardly believe that the wrongs are surely wrong. The only reason we can go on and do that which we clearly know is wrong is that we know at an informational level it is wrong but we have not internalized to the level of commitment the fact that it is wrong. Like Eve, the biggest mistake we make, which keeps us vulnerable to fall is that we live at a level of compliance and not obedience. If sin is a state, then the foregoing element is the capital, if sin is a snake this is the head, if sin is a living cell, this is the nucleus. The difference between compliance and obedience is that the former (compliance) obtains for the technical satisfaction of set rules while the later (obedience) is profound, it yields an unbreakable allegiance even in the absence of rules. Hence Joseph’s remarkable and defining consternation in Genesis 39:9. Joseph exclaimed: \"How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?\". \nJoseph resisted the temptation without quoting verses or citing technicality statutes that criminalize susceptibility to the offer at hand. His operative for resisting sin was not technical but relational. He did not only know that adultery was wrong, he strongly believed it was wrong. He would rather die than do it. It disgusted him, it was unthinkable to him. He would not do it on the basis of the injury it would cause to his relationship with God. His disdain and disgust for sin had nothing to do with making it to heaven and being a good example in society. It was intrinsically deeper than the collective bearing of all those other valid extraneous reasons for not succumbing to the temptation.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>“In the work of redemption there is no compulsion.  No external force is employed.  Under the influence of the Spirit of God, man is left free to choose whom he will serve.  In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom.  The expulsion of sin is the act of the soul itself” The Desire of Ages, 466.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:html -->\n<h3> 6. God does not want us to do right. He wants us to want to do right. </h3>\n\nIt is imperative to note that God has no struggle whatsoever with getting whatever He desires from His creatures. He has ordered the suns, moons and stars in their magnificent and vast tracks and all His created objects obey His will to the dot. Not withstanding, God created human beings for fellowship with Himself and for this particular reason human beings are endowed with genuine free will even at the risk of pain on the part of the creator Himself. This means that humans not only have the latitude to disobey but are verily capacitated to do so if so they please. Therefore, the program of salvation does not primarily seek to get us to do right. Firstly, God would have easily programmed humanity to simply adhere to the His explicit and implicit will without any ounce of resistance from the creatures. Secondly, God has no pleasure in a relationship of technical and impersonal compliance with any of His intelligent beings. In Isiah 1:18, He invites: \"Come now and let us reason together.\" God is not seeking any robotic allegiance from His creatures. He is an infinitely intelligent and omnipotent being and just like none of us would enjoy a robotic relationship no matter how adherent and compliant the other party would be,  God thus seeks deeper relations with His creatures. Thus, God does not merely want us to do right, He wants us to want to do right. In fact any robotic relationship is either a relationship hardly, or hardly a relationship. \nGod has no problem with a free human being who takes a decision to sin. Free moral beings are meant to do what they want. However God has a problem with a well and adequately informed human being who has been equipped to choose right and chooses a path of disobedience. It is this disjuncture and disconnect that is problematic. \n\n<br/> <p>\n<blockquote> And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:18) </blockquote>\n</p>\n<br/>\n\nThe focus of salvation is therefore the rehabilitation of the will faculty and not merely whipping into the strait and narrow way the mechanics of our erroneous deeds and acts. Free moral agents are designed to make their own decisions and to do as they please else they are not free moral beings. God as an engineer is happy to see His beings do as they please. However, God as a holy engineer who created human beings as free moral beings molded in His image, seeks to to have the free moral beings not only do as they please,but He longs and aims to have His free moral beings please as He pleases. In other words, God is happy to see us live as we will, as long as our will is aligned with His perfect will. This is not for any other reason except that it is only within the will of God that the joy and happiness of humanity blossoms and is sustained and secured. Therefore, God as a creator and as an engineer is focused on fine-tuning the will premise of humanity such that out of the reclaimed and wholesome heart bursts forth sound decision making that is in harmony with the will of God and which inevitably yields right doing. This is the win-win ideal that God is aiming at, when for us human beings pleasing God equals pleasing ourselves absolutely, and does not subvert nor undercut our God-granted moral freedoms.\n<!-- /wp:html -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lastly: take note: The willful commission of sin is the genesis of your end, the construction of your destruction. To sin is to self destruct. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), it is not that God will kill you. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Sin is more powerful than death. Death can’t separate us from God (Romans 8:38). However, Sin can, and eternally so if we do not repent and turn wholly to God. </p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>May we be challenged to graduate from a non committal, vulnerable, weak and vacillating christian experience that is compliant at best and yet revolting in essence, and rather gravitate to a quality of Christianity that is authentic, heartfelt and  deeply relational.</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->\n\n<p>[/signinlocker]</p>','The Anatomy of Sin','','inherit','closed','closed','','99388-revision-v1','','','2020-01-16 00:32:53','2020-01-15 22:32:53','',99388,'https://expound.org.za/99388-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0);
