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In the beginning God told man “don't touch, don't taste” of the enemy. They had free rein of everything in the garden to enjoy except, “
don't touch, don't taste” of the enemy's thinking as the fruit of it was not good. In fact as they would later find out after constructing a whole world and society out of it, it was completely rotten! In other words, He didn't want them to swallow his lies or let him ruin their perfect thinking, he was a tree of good and evil. The pair only knew good at that point, and they understood well God's law, but they rebelliously bit into the tainted mind of Satan anyway and everything changed! The eyes of their spirit closed in death and their bodies and souls took over their existence and they would now be led by flesh and blood in place of their spirit. You see,
as a result of the eyes of our spirit being closed, natural Adamic people, descendants of fallen man grow up thinking where our physical bodies are is where we are. We have been shaped and trained through the world's knowledge to think this way. Let me explain. When in our perfect state as we thought about something our minds engaged our spirits and as spirit people that is where our spirit and soul would be. We didn't have boundaries originally. On the other hand, in our fallen state our minds engage our soul influenced by our flesh, and so we think we are where our bodies are. But …, God who is a Spirit still sees us as being where our mind is!
Romans 8:9 tells us we should be led by our spirits.
9 But you (speaking to the born again new creatures) are not in the flesh but in the Spirit (this spirit should be a lower case), if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (We really want to be His!)
Side Note: There was no punctuation in the original scripts or capitalization either for that matter, so what we have today has been translated through the doctrine of that time.
When God told Adam and Eve to not touch or taste of Satan He did not mean to keep their bodies from him, He meant do not let their mind connect or make contact
forming a link or cord to his mind that would pull them into his presence. He did not want them to experience Satan's thinking and rebel against His laws. He knew the enemy's thinking, his mindset would sway their taste for the Kingdom way causing them to develop a taste for evil and create in them a nature like his as well. This is exactly what they did however so mankind has like Adam and Eve fixed their minds on evil, being fascinated by the sinister side of things ever since.
After breaking God's law their morals and instincts began to reflect Satan's wicked heart and mind and not the mind of God. As a result today's newspapers and magazines make big money and gain many readers printing biographies of serial killers and rapists, outlining the gory details of murders etc. Man, behind closed doors gobbles it up! They pore over the news! Theaters are packed by movies featuring evil and sinister scenes exposing the dark side of humanity. Let's face it, man is drawn to evil and a mind tainted with the world's knowledge will wrap itself around these scenarios keeping him
out of God's rest, out of His Kingdom, out of His will and will actually put them in gross places they didn't set out or intend to be!
Romans 8:8 reveals a sad fact.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (it is impossible for carnal man).
Pretty clever trick on the enemy's part, because what is in man's mind is where their hearts are and where their hearts are is where their soul is and where their souls end up is where they are in God's eyes! Not God's plan for our bodies to dictate what we do! He meant for man's spirit to lead their souls through the advice of the Holy Spirit and direct their lives to an existence filled with joy, eternal peace and righteousness.
Romans 8:6
6 For to be carnally minded is death (led by our bodies and satisfying its desires), but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 14:17
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking (or satisfying the flesh), but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (God's Spirit connected to ours brings order, harmony, peace and joy).
God created mankind to
be spirits that have a soul just like Him, but were also given bodies to adapt them to live and function on earth. After the rebellion and death of their eternal spirits however man was born to die. This suited Satan well! Now this
altered race of mankind would be easy targets for his host of evil spirits to enter and function through their bodies. They do this by entering through man's mind, thereby shaping the desire of his heart and soul to do their bidding or carry out their orders.
Romans 8:5
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit (should be a small s), the things of the Spirit. (God's Spirit!)
Solomon warned us in Proverbs 23:7.
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” (Satan says, “eat of my knowledge, drink of my wisdom to feed and guide your minds and let my spirits of addiction control your bodies”) he says to you, but his heart is not with you. (Satan does not love he possesses!)
James 3:15 says:
15 This wisdom (Satan offers) does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
God therefore wrote His laws on the hearts and minds of
born again man for easy access to help keep them in the Kingdom, in His will and in His Rest.
Romans 8:4 explains:
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (small s).
You see a spirit led by a mind filled with God's knowledge, a heart full of love for the Lord and a desire for His Kingdom will lead our soul and bodies to the
safety, shelter and peace of God's rest through obeying the laws of God, but a soul led by a mind full of the world's knowledge, drawn to evil and desiring the world's pleasures will leave us in stress, anxiety and fear in this dangerous society! Everything in it has been designed to pull mankind from God's rest where all the wonderful promises of God are. Psychology actually teaches we must understand evil for self-preservation so we will not be misled by an evil person or overlook a potentially dangerous situation. They say understanding evil deeply can serve as a kind of inoculation against it and you may agree, but that is how twisted the world's knowledge has made us and how diabolically against truth that logic is!
Philippians 4:8 says plainly,
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (the true components of a healthy mind).
Adam and Eve didn't understand Satan's heart was full of his own desire to be like God and rule earth.
Isaiah 14:13-14 explains the heart of the one that owns this world.
13 For you (Satan or Lucifer) have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount (Sion) of the congregation (God's church) on the farthest sides of the north (or rule and influence God's creation);
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
Now let us look at what happens when the enemy enters a man's heart and mind as we read the account of the King of Tyre from Ezekiel 28.
Ezekiel 28:1-10
1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods (full of pride and arrogance), in the midst of the seas (the sea of humanity),’ yet you are a man (he was carnal minded), and not a god, though you set your heart as the heart of a god
3 (Behold, you are wiser than Daniel (whom God chose to make wise)! There is no secret that can be hidden from you!
4 With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself, and gathered gold and silver into your treasuries;
5 By your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches),” (Being rich made him powerful he thought.)
6 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,
7 Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor (proving he could not cover himself for safety or control his own destiny).
8 They shall throw you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the midst of the seas (if he were a god he would be eternal).
9 “Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god’? But you shall be a man, and not a god, in the hand of him who slays you.
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of aliens; for I have spoken,” says the Lord God.’ ” (When the Lord declares something, that is how it will be!)
The above was an account of a man that was possessed by Satan himself. A man that by the world's standards had all things! Then the Lord speaks to the devil that is in this man.
Ezekiel 28:13-17 God addresses the devil in King Tyre.
13 You were in Eden (we know the king of Tyre was not in the garden), the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created (we can see God is not speaking to a human).
14 “You were the anointed cherub (he was an angel) who covers (he was created to cover man and earth); I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God (he was on Sion, Mt Hermon); you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones (he was to watch over and intercede for God's government).
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you (when we sin it brings an immediate alteration).
16 “By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you (his end is already a fact in God's rest), O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones (he was no longer the covering for God's government or His people).
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom (the very knowledge Eve chose and the world was built on) for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings (exposed your plans and evil intent against God and all creation), that they might gaze at you (see you for who you really are).
So the point I am trying to make is, the fruit Satan fed man in the garden established a morbid curiosity in him concerning evil in their minds and hearts. They were filled with thoughts and desires that would
establish a kingdom on earth to his liking and far from God's. As Adam and Eve's descendants we too are born with this nature and we have the instincts that go with it! That is why hours are happily spent by many playing video games featuring witchcraft, war and crime and these subjects are the most watched programming on TV and in theaters as well. Horror movies, featuring the macabre and gruesome nature of Satan and the evil demonic hosts that follow his command is what will draw the biggest audience! Let's face it, mankind loves the dark side, the evil side of things! He happily wraps his mind around accounts of child abuse, murder, car wrecks, violence of any kind! There is a fascination surrounding the dark side of the supernatural! Seances, mediums, or fortune tellers are sought by many to direct their lives and make their decisions. This includes many of the rich and famous of this world! Now, remembering where our minds are is where God sees us as being, are we mesmerized by these ones? Can you see why He says stay separate? Don't touch? Don't taste? He wants us to change, He wants all creation to change, but it starts with man.
Romans 12:2
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (this is so important to our success), that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
God has given us much advice in scripture as to how to renew our minds and get on the road to restoration. Now we can see why He says to take our thoughts captive! Why He tells us we should not want to be like those of the world, or be a people that quarrel and argue with one another. This is because it creates an atmosphere the enemy is very comfortable in.
James 3:16 says,
16 For where envy (emulation, wanting to be like someone, only better) and self-seeking (self-centered, all about us) exist, confusion (arguments etc.) and every evil thing are there (that is why Satan encourages these traits and offers us things that enhance our evil nature further).
II Corinthians 10:5 gives us a big clue as to how to fight these inclinations.
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (Another very important scripture for us to memorize!)
He says to think good things, pure things, things praiseworthy. God has given us a way to bring our minds back in line with His knowledge and into the order and harmony of His law that the rest of the universe adheres to. As Eve led Adam to passover from God's Kingdom to Satan's world through the enemy's lying words “you can be like God”, so God gives us the opportunity to turn things around by
being reborn through His Word to change our nature back to His image!
I Peter 1:23
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed (Satan) but incorruptible, through the word of God (Jesus) which lives and abides forever,
You see, Jesus was the embodiment of God's Word. It is God's word that He used to create the perfection of the beginning.
John 1:1-4
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Colossians 1:16
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
God's people are so blessed to be reborn through Him! There is neither gender, nationality, status in life nor our past that can hinder this wonderful gift, it's offered to all peoples! We are offered a new identity!
John 15:5
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (He is to new Israel, Abraham's Seed, the new species, born through Him, what Father God was to old Israel).
We must be connected to Him and these connections or cords guide the way, keep us safe, hold us together.
Hosea 11:4
4 I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.
In the book of Enoch the 7th from Adam we see a better explanation of the cords.
Enoch 61:2-3
2 And I asked the angel, saying unto him: 'Why have those angels taken these cords and gone off?' And he said unto me: 'They have gone to measure (see what amount of what is needed).'
3 And the angel who went with me said unto me: 'They shall bring the measures (the amount needed to be victorious) of the righteous, and the ropes of the righteous to the righteous, that they may stay (support, like with a rope or cord) themselves on the name of the Lord of Spirits for ever and ever.
But you know, like everything God does Satan tries to duplicate or copy to be successful in accomplishing his plan to take over creation and be its god. Instead of God's angels placing cords from paradise to those on earth to uplift and edify, giving them measures of strength, faith etc. Satan's evil ones
connect cords of iniquity and evil soul ties to themselves to pull mankind down, to make them their puppets!
Enoch 15:3 shows us the origin of these evil ones:
3 Wherefore have ye left the high, holy and eternal heaven and lain with women, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men and taken to yourselves wives, and done like the children of earth, and begotten giants as your sons.
Genesis 6:1-2 speaks of this also.
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God (His angels) saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
Genesis 6:6-7 reveals God's reaction to this.
6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
God destroyed His creation all but what was on the ark of Noah: Eight people and two of each species of animal. The evil angels themselves were taken captive by God and are awaiting judgment day. The human side of their offspring died in the floodwaters, but the part of them that was angel
lived as spirits through the destruction, but they like their parents were evil.
Enoch 15:6-12
6 But you were formerly spiritual, living the eternal life, and immortal for all generations of the world (speaking to the wicked angels that fathered these spirits).
7 And therefore I have not appointed wives for you; for as the spiritual ones of the heaven, in heaven is their dwelling (they were not created to live on earth, heaven was their home).
8 And now the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh (or angel and man), shall be called evil spirits upon the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling.
9 Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies (left their bodies as the flood rose); because they are born from men, and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin (the explanation of where these evil spirits came from); they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called.
10 As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth (like man), on the earth shall be their dwelling. (So much for the doctrine claiming when people died they went to heaven!)
11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble (Eve wanted evil, evil we have!); they take no food, but nevertheless hunger and thirst, and cause offenses (this is where the spirit of addiction comes from, they can never be satisfied).
12 And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. (Had the women not given in to the angels this race of beings would never have been born!)
This is the reason they fight mankind so hard. They were not a part of God's original creation and are misfits. They are not welcome in heaven or on earth. They are spirits, and have no physical body to live on earth so they have invaded the bodies of man and animals. They cannot function on the planet without something to live through! Can you see their desperation to win this battle? They need the wicked to survive for them to exist! God's people are a terrible threat to them as they refuse to do their bidding. Darkness cannot handle light!
Ephesians 6:12 shows these spirits again.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (or in the spirit realm).
God's angels bind us to those in Paradise sending measures of faith, wisdom, revelation and love, Satan's evil ones on the other hand bind man with soul ties and cords of iniquity to themselves, especially those spirits that occupied the bodies of the dead that were connected to them in life. Some of them have plagued families for generations and feel they have a right to do so! If people do not have proper
covering from leadership, God's government they are wide open to their attack! If a man is not born again they do have legal right.
Luke 11:24-26
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places (has no body to live through), seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house (the household of the deceased) from which I came.’ (That family member may have passed on but his relatives remain.)
25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order (perhaps a born again member of the household).
26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (This is why we must understand the supernatural.)
It is these spirits that influence man's nature and attitudes! Good people, bad devils! Mankind would have remained legally prisoners forever to these evil spirits because of our sin had Christ not died to
set us free!
Luke 4:18-21
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (Jesus), because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (And it was!)
John 8:36 tells us,
36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (God has decreed it!)
I John 3:8 shows us a part of God's plans for restoration.
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. (Bringing a glorious victory to not just man but all creation!)
Revelation 16:14 shows us the final battle.
14 For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth (world's systems) and of the whole world (world's people), to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
So in closing, who will Satan be gathering for his use? Those whose minds are in the world, those who let their thoughts wander to things not of God. Their lifestyle may even appear godly to man, but these evil spirits will recognize easily a nature they can relate to and attach their cords to. But here is our comfort and another glimpse of victory.
I John 5:18-20
18 We know that whoever is born of God (baptized through the Word) does not sin (His blood covers them); but he who has been born of God keeps himself (practices self-control), and the wicked one does not touch him (these will not respond to the lure of Satan).
19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. (This is why we must separate from it!)
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding (His knowledge), that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Closing scripture, I Thessalonians 5:23,
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify (set aside) you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (So we will be victorious in the battle of the minds!)