Manna Ministries (NI)
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Copyright © Manna Ministries (NI) 2010.
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Senior Teaching Elder: L D Smith, Manna Ministries. This publication is sent out free of charge, subject to the condition that it shall not; by any way of trade or otherwise; be lent, re-sold, hired out,or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent.
Written and sent out from the United Kingdom by Manna Ministries
Introduction
Iniquity is the absence of moral or spiritual values, one who chooses the dark powers (wickedness) freely with or without realization of what they are doing or induling in, for ignorance is not innocence nor is arrogance any justification for not knowing the facts, for out of the heart comes all evil which is in direct defiance of all that is Holy and good, for man was born into iniquity, and he was conceived in sin, for out of the heart that is the mind of man comes all evil thoughts, murder, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and slanders.
For anyone to come to any understanding of how the spirit of iniquity works, you must come to an understanding of how you think, for your thinking shall determine your spiritual destination, the only way for man to understand how the spirit of iniquity operates within his heart is through the scriptures the word of God, and the best place to start is at the beginning, the book of Genesis.
The question! who is man? man is the handiwork of the Lord God he is the crowning glory of his creation, created by the every hands of God himself, man has a body (his flesh) which shall be resurrected and stand before God in the great day of his judgement to receive either grace through Christ Jesus or to be cast from this presence because of his unrepented sin, man also has a spirit and a soul which are immortal and belong to God, and shall return to God at the death of the body (flesh)(eccl c12:v7; ezek c18:v4), man has a duty to the Lord God for he is his creator, thus man's chief purpose is to 'Glorify his Creator', man was created in a natural and moral likeness to God (gen c9:v26; 1cor c11:v7), but when he sinned he lost the moral likeness, (jam c3:v9), for no longer was he sinless, no longer could he walk in unbroken fellowship with the Lord God.
Man who was made a little lower than the angel, yet the Lord gave him dominion over the earth, making him responsible for the welfare of the animals and the planet, but what happened to Adam at the fall would see a curse come not only to Adam but all creation, the answer lies in chapter2 verse 16 of Genesis, “the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, from any tree within the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die”, Adam was given the rigth from God to choose, he was given 'free-will'.
Through man's freewill the Lord God gives us the choice to 'choose', Adam made the wrong choice, instead of trusting in his creator he allowed satan the enemy of the Lord God to instill into his mind (heart) thoughts of rebellion, that would corrupt his heart placing satan upon the throne of his life.
Satan used the very thing that caused him to rebel against the 'Authority of the Lord God', his egotism (self), the giving birth to pride the most destructive element within the universe, for pride goes before destruction (prov 16:v18),it was a breach of the essence of God, when Adam and Eve fell into sin on that terrible day, they not only lost their fellowship with the Lord God, but they also lost their shepherd, (the Lord God) and sheep without a shepherd will always find away to die, this is why the Lord Jesus addressed the people as “sheep”, for without the Lord God's guidance you have no hope of 'Eternal Life', once you reject to trust in the 'Word of God' you will have sealed your fate for all 'Eternity', through your own “free will”, your own choice, you will have taken the same path as Adam, the path that leads to 'Death', so if we our to learn through Adam's foolishness, the lesson of how not to rebel and show ingratitude against the Lord and his Word, then we must come to understand that the Lord means what he says and says what he means, God commanded that they shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, one simple request for their own protection, for the Lord God knew that from the moment they disobey his word they would through their own choosing open a portal to hell and physical and spiritual death.
For all that glitters is not gold, when satan presents sin he presents it as pleasant, and iniquity as good fruit to eat, by doing this he is emptying your subconscious mind from the consequences of sin, for the wages of sin is death, and the result of iniquity is bondage, a life of misery, what was the lie of satan ,”your eyes shall be opened”, but their eyes where already open, they where opened to the things of God for Adam's conscious mind was only filled with God and all that is good, physically and spiritually to all that was 'Good', it was not the Lords intention for Adam (man) to know 'Evil', for he created man in “His image and His likeness”, and to this present day the believer in Christ Jesus must be transformed into His likeness and have His attitude instilled within their hearts by the Holy spirit, (phil c2).
When the Lord God created man he was perfect, no sin nor iniquity was found within him, man was created with the nature of the Lord God, for Adam we are told walked with God and if he (Adam) had any iniquity within him, it would have been impossible for him to have fellowship with the Lord God who is Holy and cannot look upon sin (hab c1:v13), satan knew that if he could open the minds of Adam and Eve to evil by means of iniquity he would instill within them his nature thus becoming their master and destroying the relationship they had with the Lord God, note that the word “knowledge” concerning the tree of good and evil in Hebrew is “da'ath” which can mean cunning, (clever at deceiving), and in Genesis we are told that the serpent (satan) was more cunning (in a bad sense) than any beast of the field which the Lord God created, but what also is of interest is that the word 'da'ath' can also mean “wittingly” meaning intentionally, we know that the Lord God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the midst of His garden, for Eden was called the garden of the Lord (gen c13:v10), one can only come to the conclusion that the Lord who is Omniscience knew that Adam would disobey his word, thus the tree of knowledge of good and evil would fulfil its role of 1.revealing the nature of satan to man, one of corruption and wickedness (evil), and 2. the death blow to satan for his rebellion against the Lord God (through the seed of the woman gen c3) and 3. the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus , through whom would come reconciliation between God and man, the restoration of worship in truth and spirit.
Adam (man) was to worship the Lord God with thanks giving and praise, for this is man's chief purpose, Adam had no need for the knowledge of evil for he had the knowledge of God who was a holy God, and the dominion over creation, he also had the knowledge (the intellect) to name the animals, hence the reason for the Lord God forbidding the eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of 'good and evil', for two reasons 1. it was a covenant of faith, “faith” in believing and trusting in His word, as it is also for the child of God to this day, believing within your heart (mind and soul) that what the Lord God says he means, for there are no shadows in Him, it is faith that the Lord God delights in, it is faith that is pleasing to him, it is faith which is a sweet aroma to His nostrils, and it is faith that has within it 'life or death','blessing or cursing', for by loving the Lord God through faith, enables the child of God to obey His word, (rom c10:v6-10), 2. Adam had no need to know about 'evil', yet Eve believed that by eating of the tree of knowledge she would receive wisdom, thus she coveted the fruit instead of the Lord God, but wisdom only comes from the fear (reverence) of the Lord that is through Holiness, at the moment Adam eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil he became 'conscious' of 'iniquity' (unrighteousness) and through this awareness of iniquity 'fear' filled his heart, hence he hid from the Lord, for no longer did Adam reflect the character of God, but that of satan, first he blamed the woman then he blamed the Lord, not once did he seek forgiveness nor did he feel any need to repentance, his conscious (mind) had become corrupted, no longer did the Lord God occupy his conscious mind, but was pushed into the deep recession of his conscious mind, that is to the subconscious.
Man has the same problem today as Adam and Eve, even within what is called the christian church, there is an ignorance of the word of God and a disrespect for his Holiness, Eve was deceived because her husband did not take his headship, but the church has no such excuse for Christ is its head and he takes his headship, as for Adam and Eve they became the children of wrath, polluting all creation, two trees in the midst of the garden, one the tree of life the other can be called the tree of 'conscience', did Adam forsake the knowledge of God since this was the only knowledge that he knew or would ever need to know, for the knowledge of the Lord God is one of purity, love and perfection, and where evil could not be found! the Lord knew about evil but evil was not in his nature, Adam was one in God within all areas of his life, for the Lord God said himself; that all was good within the garden; but Adam took a step back from the Lord God and allowed iniquity to take root within his conscious mind (heart and soul), he was only asked to do one simple thing, and that was not to eat from the tree of knowledge, you may eat from all the other trees but do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, one simple command, but alas iniquity was flourishing within the mind (heart and soul)of Eve long before she eat of the forbidding fruit, the biggest mistake that many do to this day, is the same as what Eve did within the garden of the Lord, she got into dialogue with a deceiver who Is the “father of lies”, they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Only one simple command, one request and that was given for their own protection, could the Lord God have stopped Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of good and evil,the answer is no! this may alarm many, but remember that the Lord God had given Adam “freewill” Adam was given the right to “choose” for better or for worst, the Lord God could not go back on his word, for no lie or empty promise is found within the thoughts or mouth of the Father of Lights, the attack upon Adam and Eve by satan was not primary an attack on them, it was a attack upon the foundation of God's Throne, God's spirit (God's breath, is man's rational soul and is the seat of his spiritual affections towards God, (spirituality), it is this spirit within man that gives him the ability to choose over the conscious mind (flesh the carnal mind, man's corrupt fallen nature) for the conscious mind influences his behaviour his thoughts and his motives, it is to man's conscious mind which is termed within the scriptures as the “old man”, the fleshly man, thus a man's conscious mind is not his best companion, since it is egocentric, thus satan through the spirit of iniquity can influence man's physical and spiritual life to the point of destruction, it is the conscious mind which is the “carnal mind”, the carnal man has been deceived into believing that the conscious mind of man (the corrupted heart and soul which has become irrational through man's fall from grace) makes better decisions than the subconscious mind (is our conscience, our sense of right or wrong), yet the subconscious mind of man is the rational part of man mind, that which brings man unto conviction of sin and the need for repentance, the subconscious mind of man is the residence of the 'Holy spirit', the life giving spirit of God, the subconscious mind is the link between the soul and the spirit, hence we are told within the scriptures to keep our hearts (minds) with all diligence! for from it flows the spring of life, (prov 4:23).
Note that the new age movement believe that the subconscious mind is the door way to a higher spiritual dimension; in which they can receive divine knowledge and power, but what knowledge and whose power who is the source, to all that worship the Lord Christ Jesus this door way is forbidden for he is the door that leads to rigtheousness, but to those who stand outside of biblical teaching they can open a portal to evil, for as the fruit of the Holy spirit is given to the children of God to transform them into the image of Christ, so the spirit of iniquity also gives its fruit to those who are perishing, not to free them, but to put them into bondage, to blind their mind so that they shall never come to spiritual truth, look again at what the new age movement believes, they can receive divine knowledge and power, remember Eve in the garden of the Lord, what did satan say to her, for God knows that in the day you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, did Eve become as God, the answer is No! she nor Adam became omnipresent, where they omnipotent were they omniscient, Adam and Eve became like God in the sense that they became aware of 'evil', thus they crippled their souls and corrupted their spirit rendering themselves earth bound.
Iniquity is the absence of moral and spiritual values, how then did satan tempt Eve to eat of the forbidden tree, the answer is through 'seduction', through the 'spirit of iniquity', which is a 'perverse spirit', satan fooled Eve into believing that the Lord God was a lair and was holding them back from better things, that he was using them for his own amusement, he norished within her vanity worthless ego, he deceived her through her own self importance, he work on her conscious mind, he knew that the spirit of God was strong but that the flesh was weak, and he destroyed them through their own weakness of the flesh (their conscious mind), thus instilling within them what the world calls 'the human spirit', (ego) the spirit of iniquity, perversity (ps51:5), from the moment that Eve was convinced that by eating of the forbidden tree was right within her conscious mind, a veil covered her spiritual eyes and likewise Adam when he took from his wife and eat the forbidden fruit he allowed his spiritual eyes to be blinded and he did it knowingly, thence when they broke God command and eat from the forbidden tree their eyes where opened to the truth, thus they became spiritually naked and hid from the presence of the Lord God who was 'spirit'.
It is the flesh (man's nature that has been corrupted by iniquity) for the flesh (human nature, 'self' the soul heart and mind) became carnal not the Holy spirit,which is the breath that made man a living soul), it is the flesh which does what is right in its own eyes, Eve bears witness to this fact, for when she was deceived into eating from the forbidden tree she look at the tree and saw it as good for food (the lust of the flesh) it was also a delight to the eyes (the lust of the eyes) and that the tree was desirable to make one wise (the lust of pride), why did Adam eat when he had a close fellowship with the Lord God, the answer to this question can only be answered through the scriptures, we know that satan was the “Guardian Angel of God Throne”, we know he was created beautiful and we know that he was created perfect in wisdom, yet we know that he was flawed, we no that he mistook the Lord God's meekness for a weakness, and that this flaw within him would be his downfall, the name satan mean 'adversary'that is the enemy of the Lord God, he wanted God's position, not yours! now I could be wrong in what I am about to write, but I believe in my spirit that instead of trying to find excuse or ways to work things out which are satisfactory to our minds let us be honest to the scriptures and try to rightly dived the scriptures, let us be open to the scriptures to what they are revealing, first of all we find that satan is not the worlds enemy, (2cor c4:v4) he is foremost the Lord God's enemy, (rev c12) if you are a natural minded person (a carnal minded person) you have nothing to fear from satan, granted he will not give you an easy time for love is not in his nature, (attributes) therefore knownly or unknownly you already belong to him, for he is the 'god of this world', and you have given over your soul to him, but if you are a “born again christian” then he is your enemy and he seeks to destroy your christian walk, and I emphasis your christian walk, for it is your attitude as a christian towards the Lord God and others that will determine the out come of your salvation, so we know that satan is the enemy of God, and his creation, we know that because of his actions there was war in heaven, we know that the Lords handiwork was attacked resulting in creation being cursed through man's lack of trust (faith) towards the spoken word of God, we know that iniquity originated from satan, we know that the mystery of iniquity is at work throughout the world and particularly within what is called the christian church, remember what Paul said; for the “mystery” of iniquity is at work, mystery means to lie hidden, a secret, if sin causes physical death then iniquity causes spiritual death, (isa c59:v2), it is clear from what the scriptures say that iniquity is working away within the world but that it is at it's busiest within the church, therefore we can be assured that the spirit of iniquity who is also called the spirit of this world and the spirit of antichrist seeks to destroy the foundation of God's word, (the Holy bible).
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