This is a three part series that will examine the lost art of believing with the heart. This first article will address the qualities in the human species that birthed a jealousy in satan that led to his downfall. The second article will demonstrate why we are so disconnected from who God created us to be. And the final article will look at what I believe is the single most important key to understanding our full potential as physical and spiritual beings: the human heart.
During the most recent series that I published at Jacob’s Ladder titled, [s]atanic Obstacles to Human Ingenuity, I attempted to appeal to the human mind, and for some, it was the deathbed of their minds. This was, perhaps, the most important series of articles that I have ever published. In fact, I cannot overemphasize the urgency of the messages that I delivered, because over the centuries the satanic forces have choreographed a very cunning plan to strip us of our destiny; which is to operate in a realm that reflects the image and likeness of God Almighty.
In the beginning when God created Adam, he fused into his biological makeup the potential to be like Him...In other words, we were manufactured with divine qualities:
26.And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27.So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them (Genesis
Here in the first chapter of God’s message to humanity, He gives us an extraordinary depiction of Adam’s, and by extension, our, vast potential. And I use the word ‘potential’ here to refer to the upper limits of human ability, not simply one person’s dormant ability to reach higher levels of achievement. There is a distinction between the men and women who successfully landed Neil Armstrong on the moon and returned him safely to earth or the men and women who successfully unleashed nature’s fury in the atomic bomb and the men who reached the pinnacle of human ingenuity.
Splitting the atom and traveling through space are among the most remarkable achievements of modern society; however, they do not compare with Enoch escaping death; Noah building an oceangoing vessel with no formal training in physics; Nimrod’s discovery of the physics secret of ingress and egress to and from Heaven; or the ability of the ancient alchemist to transform the molecular structure of one substance to another; e.g. see Exodus 7 when the magicians of Egypt duplicated Aaron’s miracle of converting a wooden staff into a serpent.
Those who can transcend death, as Enoch did; spontaneously create massive, industrial structures with no formal training, as Noah did; convert the structure of one substance to another, as the ancient, Egyptian wise men did; and perhaps, the greatest human achievement of all, discover how to travel back and forth into eternity, are bumping up against the limits of human ability.
If satan simply had to entertain the fact that humans have a remarkable capacity to achieve, his ego would have never been bruised to the point of rebellion. According Psalm 8, we know that humans were made a little lower than the angels: 4.What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5.For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6.Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet (Psalm 8:4-6). However, it is verse six of Psalm 8 and Genesis 1:26 that I believe caused a destructive jealousy to lodge in lucifer’s heart. God entrusted his human creation to carry the mantle of his image and likeness, along with granting us dominion of all things in the earth.
Despite the charge that was given to Adam to take dominion over God’s creation, his ability to discover, achieve and invent was not on par with the angelic host. However, I believe that satan considered not only the fact that God had given man dominion over His creation, but he also reflected on the fact that God also created Adam and Eve in His image and after His likeness, as well as gave them the nearly 'magical' power to procreate. I believe that it was these characteristics of Adam that caused satan’s tumble into perdition.
Since satan was dethroned from being like God, he has made every attempt to dethrone mankind from being like God. [his] motivation of destroying God’s image in us, has compelled him to employ a highly deceptive strategy that has been so effective, many of us no longer see the demarcation between our current state of being and what God said that we are supposed to be. And this is one of the greatest deceptions of all – that one does not recognize the urgent need to rediscover the charge that God gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
To draw a parallel to the previous series at Jacob's Ladder, titled [satanic] Obstacles to Human Ingenuity, the devil understands that in order to blind us from seeing who we really are, as humans first and then as Christians, he has had to control what we consume intellectually and spiritually for thousands of years. In fact, he has been so cunning that he once controlled his entire domain from the church at Pergamos in the book of Revelation:
12.And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; 13.I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth (Revelation 2:12-13).
Each time I read the letter to the church at Pergamos, I wonder how much damage has satan caused in local churches today by either, erecting his own headquarters, or dispatching one of his demon followers to divert the church’s path away from a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. However, notwithstanding the devil’s cunning scheme to limit our walk with Christ, those who have been blessed to have their physical and spiritual senses of perception tuned into the voice of God, they are less likely to fall into satan’s snare.
…to be continued
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