Rich's Website

[_Doctor Scratch]

Based on what I'm seeing here, it looks like Simon has never even read Criddle's work. He's just swallowing whatever it was that Dr. Peterson said.

[_rich kelsey]

I also write about Christianity, infact, my Christian end-time book has over 60,000 words on the subject.

For those interested, here is a sample of one of my Christian works found on my site's homepage:

Through the Door and Into His Image

Rich Kelsey

It is written,

"God is love."[1]

He has our best interests in mind.

The eternal paradise our Creator has in store for us is worth more than any suffering we may go through in life. To sense His character, all we need to do is look into our own hearts because we were created in His image. The way we lovingly treat a spouse is a model of the spiritual relationship we will one day share with God.

With the devil out of the way and sin no longer hindering us and the curse we now suffer rescinded, mankind will one day experience the wonderful eternal life that God intended. For some of us, we need to do a little soul-searching and pray a simple prayer to ensure that we find this life.

In the Old Testament book of Isaiah the Father is pleading with us:

“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isa. 1:18).

God understands that

“all have sinned.”[2]

He wants us to understand our need for redemption. Look at the opening words to our text:

“Come now.”

What other option do we have? Our heavenly Father desires us to step into the legal position Christ’s sacrifice has made possible.

Jesus cried out,

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9).

Jesus himself never sinned, yet he allowed himself to be tortured and killed as a blood-atonement for us. He willingly went through that suffering for our redemption.[3]

If we choose not to come through the door of Christ into the saving grace of God, we will remain in sin in a legal sense, bear­ing the weight of our own transgressions on the day of judgment.

Without Christ,

“it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31).

There is no work we can do to bring salvation to ourselves other than accept Jesus as Savior. He paid the price of our salvation when he was put to death on the cross.

God may expect more from us after we have been weaned from the milk[4] of His Word.

When we are ready for stronger meat.

However, the seed[5] must first be conceived—we must be born again before we can grow.[6]

A simple prayer is all that is necessary for us to step from sure death into eternal life and have all of our sins washed away. With one prayer, we can have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us.

When we pray this salvation prayer, we step into the new covenant[7] in Christ’s blood.

That gives us certain promises. One of these promises is that our sins will be removed as far from us as the east is from the west,[8] never to be mentioned again!

Our transgressions (in a legal sense) were placed upon Jesus at the time of his death.

“Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.” (Rom. 4:8).

Have faith in this promise.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus said,

“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).

If you aren’t sure that you have salvation—kneel at the cross and repent from your sins. Pray this simple prayer:

“Jesus, you gave your life to redeem me. My sins were laid upon you. You were crucified for my iniquity! I accept and receive your sacrifice. I claim salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus Said,

“Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again’”(John 3:6–7).

The Beginning of Knowledge

Once we are redeemed through Christ’s atonement, we are sanctified; that is, we are set apart as a clean vessel fit for use in God’s house. As we seek the heart and mind of Christ, we become enlightened. We see the world in a new light. We have understand­ing that far surpasses the wicked—we possess true wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

The fear of divine judgment[9] is the beginning of out journey. Then, as we progress in our relationship with Christ, the love of God moves our hearts.

Perfect love drives out fear.[10]

If we fall into sin, we simply pray and ask God for grace. We pick ourselves up, turn ourselves around, and appropriate the grace (unmerited favor) we have found in Christ. The more trouble we have in our walk, the more grace God has to cover our transgres­sions. God knows that we are in a fallen state. God knows that our hearts are wicked. Nevertheless, He is asking us to mature spiritu­ally and put away the deeds of the flesh.

Praying and confessing our shortcomings eases a troubled mind. It clears the path for an honest and open fellowship with Christ. A wise individual entering into a relationship with a spouse does not tear down their house with lack of trust and deceit; neither should the Christian with Jesus. Everything we need to walk righteously with God has been provided; if any man sins, we have a

“mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

Feasting On Christ

Jesus said:

I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever. (John 6:53–58)

Most Christians understand this verse to represent the new covenant[11] we have in Jesus Christ. Christ’s flesh and blood is represented by bread and wine during communion.

Christians partaking in this covenant are symbolically eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood. While that understanding applies to this text, this passage also expresses a more profound illustration.

Jesus likened his person to the bread that came down from heaven. Israel ate bread from heaven in the wilderness for forty years. When the dew evaporated at the beginning of the day, a small frosting of manna was left. Israel gathered this bread from the ground. God was providing nourishment through super­natural means for His children. Christians are called to consume Christ spiritually in this New Covenant. We are to live by him. Jesus is the blueprint.

It’s interesting that the manna/bread tasted like wafers made with honey. That’s what the little scroll in the book of Revelation is similar to:

“I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour” (Rev. 10:10).

The volume of the book is written of Christ. Christians are called to feed on the Word; Christians are to feed on Jesus. We are called to partake of every aspect of Christ—his flesh, his blood, his suffering, and his death. The saying “you are what you eat” also applies in spiritual matters.

The Passover Lamb

The Passover Lamb from the Old Testament is a symbol representing Jesus Christ. God spoke unto Moses and instituted the Passover feast. Every household of Israel dwelling in the land of Egypt was commanded to take a lamb and roast it with fi re and season the lamb with bitter herbs. This lamb was to be consumed entirely by the people. What they could not eat that night was to be burned. The blood of this lamb was to be put upon the doorposts of every house.

At the midnight hour, the angel of the LORD would pass through Egypt, and those children who had been faithful to God’s call would be saved from the plague that was to bring death in the land. The faithful children who had the lamb’s blood upon their doorposts and had fed upon the lamb in its entirety were sanctified. These children were set apart from the disobedient ones. This is what God is calling us to do figuratively: we are to feed upon the Lamb of God so we might be set apart from the children of disobedience.

Please notice that this sacrificial lamb was to be prepared with bitter herbs. In like manner Jesus Christ was a

“man of sorrows.”[12]

Jesus

“learned obedience from what he suffered.”[13]

A servant is not greater than his master is—

“Therefore, holy broth­ers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house” (Heb. 3:1–2).

Let us also be faithful in our calling.

Jesus Christ

“offered himself unblemished to God”[14]

because Christ’s life was a life devoted to holiness.

That is what our Father desires from us: not an outward pretentious parade of holiness with cer­emonial robes and images, but holiness that comes from the heart, manifested in our deeds.

The Purpose for Humans

Envision our heavenly Father, sharing his glory with His angels, yet in His heart longing for beings He could experience a deeper relationship with. Because of His longing for communion with mature children, there came a day when He set forth to create humankind.

It was out of love that God desired to make children who would love Him back sincerely. Our Father wanted His chil­dren to know with hands-on experience why they trust in Him. His desire was for sons and daughters who would love Him from the very depths of their hearts. That kind of understanding could only come about through learning.

God understood that to get genuine love back, He had to give His created children free will. He also knew that with this freedom of choice, some of the children—the disobedient ones—would not care for him. However, freedom is paramount in God’s plan and the key to the success of the whole program.

Our faith must be tested, decisions must be made, and what we do must have real consequences in order for us to develop the desired value. That value is to love God out of sincere hearts, knowing He has our best interests in mind and to never question that fact again as we grow in God throughout eternity.

Understanding that there are two roads one could travel, let’s take the higher way.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:24–25).

The Word of God is expressing that we are no longer to live like we did before we accepted Jesus as our Savior. [15]

As a new creation in Christ through the new birth, our goal is eternal life.

(For an informative read concerning the fall of man: The Mortgage of the Earth to Satan) http://richkelsey.org/CHAPTER%20ONE.htm


ENDNOTES:

[1] 1 John 4:8 NIV

[2] Rom. 3:23 NIV

[3] “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Eph. 1:7 NIV).

[4] “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it” (1 Cor.

3:2 NIV).

[5] If we have sown spiritual seed among you . . .” (1 Cor. 9:11 NIV).

[6] “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Cor. 3:6

NIV).

[7] “By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete” (Heb.

8:13 NIV).

[8] Ps. 103:12 NIV

[9] 2 Cor. 5:10–11 NIV

[10] 1 John 4:18 NIV

[11] “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15 NIV).

[12] Isa. 53:3 NIV

[13] Heb. 5:8 NIV

[14] Heb. 9:14 NIV

[15] “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:10–12 NIV).

[_rich kelsey]

Here is another work of mine which has nothing to do with Mormonism:

MY NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

Rich Kelsey


I was born in Renton, Washington, in 1955. I grew up in the 1960s. The culture of the day consisted of pure godless heathenism: black-light posters, hippies, sex, drugs and rock and roll. People in my world were not thinking or talking about God.

Also, not only did teachers from elementary school throughout high school never convey the idea of God to me; they reinforced the prevailing concept in the media that God did not exist. For example: a headline from the New York Times read:

“God is Dead.”

I was 11 years old when I saw that headline. I did not read the article. The article explained that many professors of religion no longer believed in God. Yet, having only seen the headline, this young soul thought that maybe there was a god at one time but he had died? So, basically during my formative years, I had little to no understanding of spiritual things.

Then, when I was 16, my older brother died in a car wreck. He was 18. My brother had just graduated from high school. I was devastated. As mentioned, at this point in my life I did not believe in God and I was certainly not sure if Jesus ever existed as a historical person. I had yet to figure out what life was about and this was the first time I was confronted with death.

I was so distraught that, for a while I quit going to school, because I could not handle the emotional problems I was experiencing when seeing some of my brother’s old friends.

I remember praying to God for the first time in my life saying:

“If there is a God and You have taken my brother to Hell, then that’s where I want to go.”

Then, I decided to try to contact my brother. I though that maybe now he existed on another plane.

The first night that I got a response, one little ball of light came swirling into my bedroom. It was just floating around in midair for a few seconds; then it flew right out through the wall. As the weeks passed, at times, my room was filled with little glowing lights.

Soon thereafter, weird things began to happen: I started being attacked by invisible beings! I would be lying in bed and what felt like a man would jump on me and wrestle with me. It felt like superman had fallen straight down upon me from some distance above.

Then, the unthinkable happened:

One morning I woke up. I looked outside through the window into the backyard. It was a beautiful summer day. I remember thinking about going to the park later that day.

Right before I got out of bed superman hit me again; like a man falling out of the sky. I heard the bedsprings screech. This time the wind was knocked out of me and my muscles tensed up. I could not move or breathe.

It gets worse:

I felt those little lights swirl right into me. I felt spiritually defiled. I believe demons entered my body. I also heard perverted sounding music; (evidently demons have music in their realm).

At this point my spirit left my body. But, at the same time, I was still on the bed. I found myself in outer space traveling (I guess) at the speed of light; what seemed odd was there weren't any stars. I was headed for a gate that looked like the Alcoholics Anonymous symbol. (At this point in my life I had never seen the symbol). It consists of three pyramids stacked so that there is an opening in the center.

I believe this was the gate leading to hell/outer darkness??? And, I was heading right toward the center of the gate! I got the impression that I was going to be banished from God's presence forever. It was the worst thing I could have ever imagined; but this was no dream.

I thought, maybe if I cried out to God, He would help me? So, I tried to say the word

“God.”

Remember, the wind had been knocked out of me and my muscles were all cramped up; I can’t move. I’m both on the bed and on my way to hell.

I can’t utter a word. Finally, I think; I’ll focus all of my effort to just spit out the syllable

“G.”

I was desperately trying to start by saying,

“GAW.”

Then, right before I was about to lose consciousness from being unable to breathe, finally at the top of my lungs, out of my mouth came the name,

“Jesus.”

The demons left. I got up, went upstairs, and washed my face, hanging my head over the kitchen sink, thinking:

"what an odd way to start the day."

What was so weird: I had tried to say GAW, or God, with every ounce of my strength. Not Jesus! Yet the name Jesus came out of my mouth.

I went from being agnostic, to a man who believed in demons, Jesus, God, and what I think may have been hell, all in one morning; with no one preaching to me.

This experience is what started me on a path to try to figure out what’s going on in life. Since then, I have found answers from the Bible which make sense out of the trouble I experienced that morning and my deliverance in Christ's name.

Over the years I have been reluctant to share this story for many reasons:

1. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that demons entered my body. Even though it was only for a few minutes.

2. I was concerned that people would not believe me.

3. I was concerned that I would be labeled as a fanatic, or a person suffering from delusion.

4. I was/am concerned that it might discredit my written works which have been established through years of careful study.

Well, I'm older now; this experience took place 40 years ago; so, I've had a lot of time to think it over. I made the decision to make this story known because I know it happened — Satan and/or demons tried to kill me. They showed their hand. Now I'm in the fight; I'm not going to be silent anymore.

One thing is clear: the name Jesus delivered me. Yet, at age 16, I had yet to learn anything about Jesus Christ.

When I got off of my bed that morning and walked upstairs to the kitchen I was not thinking:

"There's power in the name of Jesus."

I was not thinking:

"God is good."

The truth is: I was scared. I was confused. I still didn't know anything about God. I had never read word one from the Bible. At the time, I certainly did not equate Christ's victory over sin and/or death on the cross with the reason I was given his name; because I had yet to learn about any of these things!

This Near Death Experience was just the first step of my journey in search of answers to life's questions. I have come a long way in the 40 years since.

Perhaps God let me experience this 'trip to hell's gate and back' for a reason. Maybe it is so I can tell the world about it?

What have I learned:

Demons exist.

Jesus delivers.

God is real.

A Thousand Points of Darkness:

Satan deceives the nations. The devil has had thousands of years to refine his approach to man. He has seen what methods have brought results and he has witnessed what tactics have failed. From the very beginning Satan understood that he needed to keep the light of truth from shining on his prey. If people could see that it was really him who was goading them to take certain pathways in life, they would never walk down those paths.

The devil endeavors to bring the whole world into rebellion against God. In a vain attempt to forgo the inevitable Satan and his demon host are fighting down to the last hour. As the final curtain of human history is drawing to a close, will the devil look across the vast sea of humanity that he had duped into following him? If so, what will he see in their faces?

Will he see men and women who were proud that they gave their eternal lives to bolster his image? Or will his followers mock him in derision when they finally see things clearly? The Bible paints a picture of the devil as he awaits his judgment, it portrays his followers marveling over him saying,

“Is this the one who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the one who made the world a desolate place, who overthrew its cities…?” (Isa. 14:16-17, author paraphrase)

Satan will go down in history as having conceived and carried out the worst plan ever! Instead of staying within the Creator’s good graces and enjoying an eternal paradise in God’s presence, Satan along with all of his followers will have hell to pay. The words to the song,

“I did it my way”

will have no redeeming value on judgment day. On that day many tormented souls will be lamenting over their rebellious attitudes. Undoubtedly throngs of human souls standing before the judgment seat will be thinking about the decisions they made that put them at odds with God, wishing beyond hope that they had yielded to the truth of the gospel that could have saved them.

[_cafe crema]

Don't the fine folks at FAIR or Mormon.org believe themselves to be "just presenting the truth"? They don't offer any more of a "balanced view" than Rich does, nor do they present links to sites that are critical of the Church. Yet, you think they are okay.

They aren't attacking. They are defending.

No attacks = no need for defense.

Or as was said at the start of this:

It's okay when Mormons do it. Otherwise, it's an outrage!

[_Valorius]

"You can catch more flies (and friends) with sugar than with vinegar."

It's honey, not sugar!

(And it's "flies" not "flies (and friends)".) See, now, that wasn't so hard, was it? Speaking in a polite tone of voice, giving the speaker the benefit of the doubt, and correcting him quietly (with a simple period) rather than publicly (with an eja- I mean exclamation mark), and not allowing yourself to get side-tracked by an irrelevancy. See how much better you are becoming already, as a result of following my advice. For your next exercise, you should focus on the actual point of a post rather than spelling, grammar, and proverbial exactness. I have confidence you can do this, if you will sincerely apply yourself, despite the truth of the old adage, "You can lead an ass to water, but you can't make him think."

[_Valorius]

I am no bully. I just want Rich to promote his own little brand/sect/denomination and leave the rest alone.

I didn't say you were some common 'bully'. I said you are behaving as I might expect an 'impotent bully' to behave. I doubt Rich will follow your demands, because your demands lack power, i.e. you are impotent to change Rich, using your current methods. You should have skipped most of your impotent rejoinders; you should have focused on the central issues, and attempted direct answers rather than links, to questions posed to you. Sigh, you should have taken my advice. "You can catch more maggots with cream than you can with salt-water."

[_rich kelsey]

For those interested, here is another work from my site on Christianity, and while many may not see things exactly as I do, most people enjoy reading this. It is infomative: it tells the same old story, but from a new perspective:

THE MORTGAGE OF THE EARTH TO SATAN

Rich Kelsey


In the glorious days when God created the earth,

“all the angels shouted for joy.”1

The Spirit of God2 hovered over this world like a loving mother hen over her young. God saved His most precious creation for last: He made man from the dust of the earth and woman from man. He set them in a beautiful garden with no threat of anything to hurt them. The temperature didn’t get too cold at night, and instead of rain,3 heavy dew covered the ground every morning—Adam and Eve were living in Paradise. God visited them in the garden in the cool of the day. We can only imagine what a wonderful relationship they were building.

God told Adam to

“be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it”4

—in other words, to have children and dominate the planet. But Adam was also in paradise to learn. He and his wife were there to be shaped into the image and likeness of God. Just as a man desires his wife to become of the same mind, to trust and cherish him, God was looking for such a companion in mankind.

The Creator had every good intention toward His children. Mankind was given an awesome opportunity. The primary rule that God laid down in paradise was

“You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:17).

Day by day, Adam and Eve grew in wisdom and knowledge. They were maturing, learning about life, and developing character. They grew to know and love each other.

Satan’s Folly

The Scriptures record this about Satan:

“You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you” (Ezek. 28:15).

The word wickedness literally means “lawlessness.” Satan violated God’s laws. Before his disobedience, he was called Lucifer. The word Lucifer has beautiful connotations; it means

“morning star” (Isa. 14:12).

He was “the bright and shining one.”

Lucifer may have been in existence long before earth was created, standing in an exalted position before the courts of the Most High. One day among countless days, this unblemished entity carefully considered the order of things in heaven. He wondered about the Creator’s code of right and wrong. Curiosity began to rule in Lucifer’s mind, and he may have been thinking,

“I wonder what it would be like if only things were different?”

He was obsessed with what was happening on earth. Lucifer came to understand that God, who dispenses justice and judgment without bias,5 was to give his mature sons and daughters the reward of their own6 merit. He came to the startling realization that one day, men and women would be exalted in position above him.

Envision Lucifer in heaven, pacing back and forth, brainstorming, thinking about how to maintain his position at the center of God’s creation and to restrain mankind to a lower level. He began masterminding how to bring God’s children out of divine favor. Pride became a factor in his decision making. Lucifer was in heaven, in glory, yet he was never tried in the fires of temptation and tested in the day of adversity like mankind would be. He had never learned the virtues of trusting God.

Before his transgression, it was written of him,

“You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you” (Ezek. 28:14).

God had appointed Lucifer and all the angels7 to protect men. Angels were to watch over people to keep them out of harm’s way. The more Lucifer thought about his own standing and the ultimate position of mankind, the more he became depressed. Since he was perfect in beauty, in his mind he was the one to be admired among God’s creation, not lowly man. The thought of Adam and Eve being exalted above him seemed unbearable. So he set a trap. The word Satan means

“to ambush in quiet”

as one patiently lies in wait for his prey. Satan is also called the devil, which means

“to pierce through”

as with a weapon.

The devil, haunted by his own pride, questioned God’s supremacy. Satan in his heart said:

“I will raise my throne above the stars of God . . . I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa. 14:13,14).

He started to hate God. Imagine that! The very God of love, Satan learned to hate.

Satan threw caution to the wind. This sly devil deceived many of the angels. Then he set his sights on mankind. If he could get people to display the same distrust in God that he did, this might overthrow God’s authority. Satan could then become “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The Fall of Man

Satan waited in paradise for the perfect moment to strike. Adam was away from Eve, unaware that his wife was in trouble. Eve was probably gazing at the fruit on that mysterious tree from which her husband told her not to eat when a serpent spoke to her.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made” (Gen. 3:1).

If the devil had spoken through a seething red dragon with horns on its head,8 he probably would have alarmed Eve. But no, the devil wanted to make Eve comfortable. So he spoke to her through a beautiful serpent. He said to the woman,

“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1).

Eve answered:

We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, But God did say “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” (Gen. 3:2b–3)

Then Satan brought out the hook. He said:

You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:4–5)

The devil made the false claim that Eve would be like God if only she disobeyed His command. Satan alleged that God was holding Eve back from her true glory so He could dominate her. Satan convinced Eve that the God of love did not have her best interests in mind. If Eve had thought about the serpent’s question logically, she might have had doubts. Why was this lowly creature9 instructing her? She could have answered the serpent,

“Let me talk it over with my husband first.”

After all, the tree wasn’t going anywhere.

Instead, she got caught up by the serpent’s charm and took a drastic leap of faith in what he said.10 She took the fruit and swallowed the bait. She bought into Satan’s scheme, and her eyes were opened. The devil had approached the one with the least knowledge, and Eve got swindled. She didn’t get what Satan promised her; she lost everything! However, Satan was on his way to fulfilling his dream.

Do you know why the devil approached Eve and not Adam? Because Adam had a stronger relationship with God than Eve did. It was Adam11 whom God instructed how to manage paradise, what fruit to eat and what not. That was secondhand information to Eve, but Adam had heard it straight from God. Eve didn’t have all her facts straight when she argued her case with the serpent. God had not told Adam he would die if he touched the fruit.

Now came the real challenge: if Adam would also question the Creator’s laws and violate his Father’s only rule, then he, too, would disobey God’s instructions. God had told Adam to subdue and conquer the earth, to take possession of it, and to stand as ruler. Adam was the Father’s firstborn human son, and he would hold the birthright, 12 the deed to the planet. This deed is what Satan was after.

Adam, Why Did You Do It?

What possible motive would cause Adam to disobey God? The Scriptures clearly indicate,

“Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived” (1 Tim. 2:14).

Therefore, we can’t maintain that Satan or Eve deceived Adam. Why in the world would Adam eat the forbidden fruit?

The answer is in Gen. 3:12:

“The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’”

If Eve had lied to Adam and he had believed the lie, then he would have been deceived. However, the Scripture cannot be ignored. Let’s think for a moment. We know Eve gave Adam the fruit, but if she didn’t deceive Adam, then how did she convince him to eat it?

Envision Eve with the fruit still in her hand, the juice dripping down her chin, waiting to become like God, closing her eyes in anxious expectation only to hear the serpent’s mocking laughter. Envision Eve falling to the ground, weeping, shivering in terror as the full impact of the situation hit her. Think about the grief Eve was suffering. Let’s consider the magnitude of anguish her soul was going through. She was scared and became desperate. She knew the moment her eyes were opened that she was now different from her husband. She had a full understanding of the mess she was in.

Picture loving Adam coming back to the garden after exploring the surrounding terrain only to find Eve in an emotional fit. Think about the grief that Adam faced when he realized God would separate the two of them. When Eve tearfully looked Adam in the face, asking him not to abandon her to God’s judgment, giving him the fruit, and begging him to eat it,13 Adam was faced with a decision. Adam chose to side with the one he loved the most. Unfortunately, Adam loved Eve more than God.

Keep in mind that neither Satan nor the foolish angels14 nor Adam fully understood the roles they were playing. Adam played right into the devil’s scheme. He reinforced the idea that God cannot be trusted because Adam did not trust God with the fate of his wife’s soul.

Adam Turned His Back on God

Having abandoned his faith in God’s discretion, Adam set out to keep his wife from dealing with God all by herself. He took the fruit from the woman’s hand and ate it. Suddenly his eyes were opened, and he realized the full tragedy of his situation. This was a dark moment in the history of mankind.

Satan had put before Adam, the head of the Father’s creation, circumstances that caused him to exhibit distrust in the Creator. Satan won! Our original parents trusted the devil and his ways over those of a holy God. The devil forced open a trial when he got man to follow his lead in transgressing God’s laws, and the devil got his due. God granted an appointed time15 for Satan to govern the earth; this season is actually a great benefit in our maturing process. Now all creation understands that a world where evil is allowed is a world filled with violence, lies, anguish, sorrow, and death. What a stark contrast to the paradise God originally provided for us in which to learn!

Eve had never heard a lie before the father of lies showed up at her door. People were not created to die. Nothing was to be hurt on God’s holy mountain. Oh, how things have changed! The devil is ruling the world. Does that mean God is a victim? No, it means the devil, the foolish angels, and those who follow Satan to the pit16 are victims of their own making. In this world, we fashion ourselves either to God’s glory or after our own lusts.

If it weren’t for Lucifer’s fall and the fall of man that followed, all creation never would have seen this grand display of evil. Wise people who can see the snare of evil lying in wait for the scornful have a wonderful opportunity. They can choose to submit to God and practice holiness in an evil world. With their faith tested by the devil, the rewards will be much greater than if Adam and Eve had never fallen.

However, all this evil needs to come to an end. Although the end sometimes justifies the means, in this case, the means are unacceptable. Judgment must be recompensed for the righteous. A loving Father should stop this, right? Yes, but due legal process must be followed in order for this conflict to go down in the records as being won fairly.

Satan gained

“the power of death”17

over man. He also gained the position18 Adam held. Adam forfeited his right to subdue the earth when he made the decision to follow Eve in the transgression. Now Adam was no longer the dominant one—the devil was. The devil had mankind and many foolish angels backing him19 in this insurrection; therefore the earth was delivered into his hand for a season. Forcing men and angels to comply with God’s program was out of the question. The devil won the right to rule hands down. God, being fair, is now watching from the sidelines. Yet he is not far from any one of us.

After the fall, God drove mankind from Paradise. Satan was given great authority over this creation. With the curse in effect, death began its reign. If we have trouble understanding this, one look at what happened in the following three chapters of Genesis confirms this premise:

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5).

Mankind soon became so corrupt that God sent a great flood to remove them from the face of the earth. Only Noah and his family who went into the Ark survived to see the post-flood earth cleansed from that evil generation. However, even those eight who were saved possessed fallen natures. To this day, the human race is still a far cry from the state God intended and called us to in the Garden.

What about the Almighty Creator and His quest for children to be made into His image?

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” (Rom. 8:19).

Isn’t this what earth was created for, so God could raise sons and daughters to maturity? The answer is

“yes.”

However, God is just. Instead of stopping the devil’s insurrection, He is using it to teach us.

God’s original plan—to raise men to maturity and let them trust and love Him out of free will, then to reward the good with His glory—is still being fulfilled. But it takes effort to go against the winds of adversity. Few people exert that kind of integrity. Those who do, God will not forsake. Our Father is still waiting for the harvest of His children.

Therefore, God worked with fallen man and brought about a system of ordinances for the children who loved Him; these individuals would reject the devil and his ways.

The Sacrificial Lamb

The main ordinance our Father put into action was the lamb sacrifice. For man to escape the wrath brought about by the transgression of God’s laws, the sacrifice of a lamb was implemented. Those who laid hands on these lambs, imputing their sins to the animals in a symbolic act of faith, then offering those lambs up to God in sacrifice, were counted worthy to receive the true Lamb of God—Jesus Christ—whose offering20 would be manifest in due time.

For more on this subject: Through the Door and Into His Imagehttp://richkelsey.org/through_the_door__and_into_his_i.htm


ENDNOTES

Chapter 1
The Mortgage of the Earth to Satan
1 Job 38:7 NIV
2 Gen. 1:2 NIV
3 Gen. 2:5 NIV
4 Gen. 1:28 NIV
5 “. . . there is no favoritism with him” (Eph. 6:9 NIV).
6 “God “will give to each person according to what he has done” (Rom. 2:6
NIV).
7 “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inheritsalvation?” (Heb. 1:14 NIV)
8 Rev. 12:3 NIV
9 Gen. 1:28b NIV
10 “Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning” (2 Cor. 11:3 NIV).
11 Gen. 2:16a NIV
12 “(3) The eldest son succeeded to the official authority of the father” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).
13 “. . . you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it . . .’” (Gen. 3:17 NIV).
14 2 Pet. 2:4 NIV
15 Matt. 8:29 NIV
16 Isa. 14:15 NIV
17 Heb. 2:14c NIV
18 “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:8 NIV).
19 Jude 6 NIV
20 “his life a guilt offering” (Isa. 53:10 NIV).

[_Buffalo]

Yes he is.

It could probably be successfully argued that of all the people who have posted in this thread, you know the least about Mormonism.

[Guest]

Yes he is.

It could probably be successfully argued that of all the people who have posted in this thread, you know the least about Mormonism.

Claiming that I am completly ignorant about Mormonism is just one of the reasons I find no credibility in what that man says.

Here is what a well respected author on Mormonism said about me:

.............

"I'm taking my ball and going home." (Jimi Hendrix)

[_Simon Belmont]

Claiming that I am completly ignorant about Mormonism is just one of the reasons I find no credibility in what that man says.

You have shown, time and again, that you know very little about my faith.

Here is what a well respected author on Mormonism said about me:

Who? Source?

Are you going to address my criticism about your links section, or are you the only one allowed to criticize?