Paradise Lost: When and How Would It Be Regained?

The Lord God Almighty knew Adam and Eve had disobeyed Him. The immediate effect of disobedience is guilt, and when guilt writs large and left untreated like a festering wound brings self-condemnation. If you have already condemned yourself in your conscience in the human spirit, you resort to three defense mechanisms: offer excuses, rationalize your disobedience and, or pass the buck. Our First Father Adam taught us how to do this and we his children haven't changed much. Have we? Rather than own up and ask for the forgiveness of his disobedience from his Maker, he passed the buck: the woman you gave to be with me made me do it and so I did it. Would you and I have behaved differently in Adam's shoes? I doubt, because see how far you and I have gone in our disobedience before His saving Hands and Grace brought us back to our senses? Many are still quarreling with their Maker today but as God Almighty declare: Woe-literary curse or condemnation-to any human being who quarrels with his Maker (Isaiah 45:9).

Did God do anything bad by complementing Adam with Eve as his soul mate? Both of them agreed that Adam needed someone like him after he had tried to bond with other creatures and none could be compared to and with him. He even named Eve, so why did Adam throw it at the face of the Lord God? The beginning of buck-passing as Eve too had a scape-goat: the serpent deceived me. By the time the serpent was confronted, God Almighty had to confront His arch-enemy, the once Angelic creature known as Lucifer now Satan. In apportioning punishment to the three culprits and disobedient creatures: Adam, Eve and Serpent/Satan, God chose to reverse the order of the trios' comeuppance. The gavel of Eternal Justice was lowered first on the Serpent and it consisted of two parts and the charges read: Count 1: “That you Serpent having been created by God Almighty, willfully, and knowingly yielded your body out to Satan for deception, and thereby committed an eternal offense punishable by death; 2: That you Serpent, having known, and privy to the commandment that God Almighty gave to Adam and Eve; that they should not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil; deceived them contrary to God's commandment, and thereby committing an eternal treasonable sin punishable by death.” The Serpent is the animal in the flesh, which would henceforth eat dust all the days of his life and the Serpent, is also the fallen angelic being, who is Satan would henceforth become an eternal enemy to the woman she deceived and her children for all generations until the appointed Time of the Lord known as the Day when Satan and his demons would finally be dispatched to where they eternally belong; the Lake of Fire already prepared for them (Genesis 1:5' Mathew 25: 41).

But knowing that Eve was deceived and was NOT the original sinner-this is very important-God's Eternal Justice demands she must be redeemed alongside her children. Satan was not bargaining for this act of God is cutting Eve a slack. The commission of a crime, even in secular affairs often take into consideration the roles played by all the defendants during the actual commission of the crime. For example, let's take the case of murder; the prosecution will want to know who pulled the trigger, who supplied the murder weapon, who disposed of the body of the victim and in the United States where jury trial is popular, you don't have to have legal experience to sit on a jury. The roles of someone, who didn't know his colleagues were planning a murder but innocently drove them out of the murder scene, would be considered during jury deliberations. Was the murder planned before-premeditated-or it was a random act or a mistake? The person who pulled the trigger and the numbers of shots fired would receive harsher punishment compared with the get-away driver out of the murder scene. And lawyers and people in the criminal justice system have other determinants but the whole idea is that there are certain things that are basic to the common senses of rationalized human beings. This is why we have jury trial here in the United States. Where did human beings get these ideas from in the first place? From The Great Source: Lord God Almighty, the repository of Wisdom.

The Lord God knew why Satan tempted Adam and Eve: so they could be like him and his fallen angels: eternally lost and no hope of redemption forever. If Satan and his angels sinned and were banished from Edenic Presence of God, it stands to reason that the God of Justice must also punish Adam and Eve with Eternal punishment. And if God did otherwise; Satan and his demons have the right to appeal to the Eternal Throne of God's Justice. After all, would the God of Justice pervert justice and show partiality? (Isaiah 30: 18; Amos 5:15). Many in the world today see the Lord God Almighty as a dictator who could do and undo, flout His laws and set aside His commandments, because He is God answerable to no one. That is not God Almighty of the Holy Bible. We have established it here in this column in past discourses with copious Bible references what God could do and what He could not do, even though He is Most Powerful and Sovereign. While His Eternal Love motivates Him to love Adam and Eve- including you and I their children, -similarly, His Eternal Justice also motivate Him to punish disobedience. Because the Sovereign Lord of the heavens and the universe, the creator of Satan and his demons know the beginning to the end, His love for Adam and Eve had already motivated Him to enter into a testament or an agreement-(Bible scholars call it a covenant)-with the generic Man He created in Gen 1: 26 and 28 that “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground,” and so “God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

In addition to God's Eternal Love and Justice should also be added His Eternal Sincerity. Would the Eternal God not be able to keep His promises? Can God Almighty lie? Yes, Adam and Eve would die physically for disobeying God, but that will only be the first death (Revelation 20: 14). But the Second Death is coming. Since Eve was the one deceived, she must face painful reproduction as the bearer of the Son of Man (Our Lord Jesus Christ) who would be coming later to fix Satan. For Adam, he wasn't deceived for he said it as much himself; the reason I disobeyed you Lord is because of Eve-I love her so much-perhaps more than you. He was punished with hardship and all his powers over the fish of the sea, birds of the air and the cattle on the ground were suspended. Then God straighten out Adam; I created the woman to complement you and not to control you “…your desire shall be for your husband and he will rule over you “(Genesis 3: 16). What God Almighty was saying to Adam went something like what He said years later: “Love your wife, cherish her, take care of her listen carefully to what she says but DO WHAT I TELL YOU,” (Exodus 23: 22). The New Revised Standard Version rendered it this way: “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Never are we to do what anyone says no matter how we like, love, appreciate, revere and respect the person, a mere mortal like you, BUT ONLY GOD ALMIGHTY ARE WE TO OBEY, period! Feminists and misogynists may misconstrue this but what God Almighty is saying is that Man and Woman (Husband and Wife) should so love each other to the extent that they-husband and wife-will make Him-God Almighty- the final arbiter on EVERY ISSUES OF LIFE. The idea is modeled after the Trinity: God +Son+ Holy Spirit=One the sane with us: Man (Husband) + Woman (Wife) +Triune God Head = One. This is the patterned family relationship that God Almighty created us for and He still maintains that till today. You see, in any family where the Wife controls and wants to dominate her Husband, Satan is in control. Similarly, in any family where the Husband wants to dominate and controls everything without the wife's input, Satan is in charge (James 3:14-18). (We have plenty to say about these and many more in the coming months, weeks and years in this column).

There were sing and song in the camp of Satan and his fallen angels the day Adam and Eve fell. Satan hoped to achieve three things with his victory over Adam and Eve; first, he would be able to control the earth that God gave to Adam and Eve and their children which Satan achieved, albeit temporarily. Second, Satan would be able to enter into negotiation with God over the final judgment of hell and punishment; and finally, Satan and his demons could now call themselves gods and goddesses on earth which they could not be in the heavens, again rather temporarily till the Day (Mathew 25: 41). Like a kidnapper holding his hostage(s) as bargaining chips, Satan demands for blood as the price God must pay for Satan to release the human race from his den. “Every soul that sins must die,” is the verdict of the Eternal God; Lucifer and his demons sinned in heaven before human beings were created and so died. Similarly, Adam and Eve, and by extension, you and I and every human soul that has ever lived and will live on earth sinned/sins and will also die. This is why every soul has an appointment with Death. But the same Eternal Judge who made the law also says; “Without the shedding of blood, there won't be forgiveness of sin.” In other words, if no human soul wishes not to die, he/she has to pay the price of bringing blood that has not been polluted with sin to pay the price for living eternally. Adam and Eve, including you and I don't have the blood to pay for our ransom to Satan who is our kidnapper.

So what would God do? Satan's victory was cut shut by God's announcement of war instead of opening up negotiations with Satan. This scenario plays itself out constantly here in the United States; a deranged gunman kidnaps a fellow civilian and makes some requests using his hostage(s) as bargaining chips. The local police call in the FBI and we watch on live television how events unfold. If the SWAT teams want to be violent, the kidnapper threatens to kill his hostages. What do most authorities do? Open up negotiations and promise to acquiesce to the kidnapper's demands. In law enforcement world, you want to make sure that the lives of innocent citizens are safe, but more importantly your plan is to rescue the hostages and make sure they are alive and unhurt. Satan was the first kidnapper in the world and the whole human race-Adam and Eve, and you and I-were Satan's hostages. But unlike the FBI, the SWAT teams and the local police who traditionally open up line of negotiations to secure the release of human hostage(s) peacefully, the Lord God who is the Sovereign Lord of everything doesn't negotiate. He told Satan, the kidnapper, “No negotiations but “… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring F14 and hers; he will crush F15 your head, and you will strike his heel,” (Genesis 3: 15). You want blood, Satan, yes you will get the blood you ask for but that blood will be your downfall. I will rescue those human hostages at my own time, place and terms,” God told Satan. Adam and Eve were driven out and the Gates of Eden were shut on their face and thus Paradise Lost temporarily to Adam and Eve, and all their children, including you, and I, and the human race (Hebrews 9: 22).

The fight and spiritual warfare began in earnest. Satan commenced the counter offensive almost immediately. Who among the children of my hostages; Adam and Eve would come and free them as God just said? Satan must be wondering. That was why Satan went after Abel and got his brother to murder him. He deployed all the denizens of his Darkness to make sure anyone suspected as the rescuer should be taken out: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, Elisha, Daniel etc. (Galatian 3: 22). Apostle Paul referred this scenario to the “whole world being a prisoner of Satan from the time of Adam). Because the Sovereign Lord is a God of War (Deuteronomy 4:34), He is also a time-scheduled God and so all those years when Satan was fidgeting and looking for the Rescuer, God had His plan close to His chest. His children had been kidnapped-Adam and Eve and by extension you and I-and He loved His children so much that Satan and his demons were completely flabbergasted that God Almighty became the Rescuer Himself. This is awesome. Then One Day, “… a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars,” (Revelation 12:1). Almost simultaneously, “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads,” (Revelation 12: 3). Now there would be trouble, because this is a real war, a showdown, two heavyweights were set to clash; God Almighty moved by Eternal Love to rescue His children taken as hostages by Satan and Satan the Kidnapper, who expected God Almighty to negotiate and accede to his requests so they could work things out and nobody would get hurt, instead God Almighty wanted to take the risk of deadly rescue operation. Who would lose: Satan, the Kidnapper or God Almighty, the Great Rescuer? Find out next week.

WORLD PROPHECY: This is huge! Something of global importance, an earth-shattering event and a cosmic occurrence is in the offing in the world. I don't know what it is but the Holy Bible has predicted it and we shall all see it with our very eyes soon. This event is part of end-time prophecy and it's about to take place very, very soon in the next 12 to 24 months. I don't know what it is; I repeat again, I wasn't shown what it is but again, it's HUGE. The whole world will be shocked; from the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun; from the East to the West; from the South to the North, the planet earth is about to witness a catastrophic event. The Divine Hand of God Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and the universe, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is about to intervene in the affairs of humanity. The world media, the commentariat, the scientists, the astrologers, the men and women of earthly wisdom and their ilk will be talking their heads out but will not be able to explain but those who know the True God will be unshaken and unperturbed. What is it? I wasn't shown but was only told (Luke 21:11 & 25).

ISSUE OF THE WEEK: TO YOU ALL CHRIST- HATERS, CHRISTIAN BASHERS AND CHRISTIANEMIES

How do you convince someone to believe in Hope when he says he doesn't dream? Which vision will you instill in the mind and heart of those that are spiritually blind? How many African-American crusaders for racial equality in the '60s fervently believed that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had actually climbed the Mountain Top, even though he said he may not be there with us, but he visited and saw the mountain top before us all? King's somnambulistic appearance on the Mountain Top was not fortuitous, neither was it a serendipitous experience, but what he saw he knew he saw, but only he saw and experienced it. When it finally came to pass, like Moses and Elijah who eventually stepped their feet on the Mountain (Mathew 17: 3), King had been on the Mountain before the rest of us 42 years ago. That is how the spiritual world operates; in a continuum undivided by time and space. The material world operates in opposite, but only those who are given the grace to operate in both worlds can read the signs of the times (Mathew 16: 1-3).

As the world opens itself more and more to the cesspit of moral degeneration and sin, and people are mired in spiritual asphyxiation, iniquity abounds. As you trawl the Internet and flit the cyber world and social media, you are bombarded by avalanche of anti-Christian rhetoric and bashing. Those of us who have chosen to exercise our right to believe in that Jewish Rabbi, who walked the face of the earth He created two thousand years ago; and reasoned with the reasons He came to the earth, are derided and called all sorts of names. We have become the poster children of brainwashing; the lobotomized zombies of His neo-traducers and haters, bereft of independent analytical thinking; sheepish sissies that should be pitied, and seriously in need of rescue. But what did this Jesus Christ say or do that rankle His haters, and us His followers? What is in the Bible that draws the ire of Christian-bashers? In the academy, part of the tradition in knowledge discovery is the capacity to develop a dialectical mind; a Hegelian approach to seek for evidence in any received knowledge. Although Christianity is not of the esoteric world, but largely of the spiritual, which obscures approach via the five senses, yet the Word of Life which we hold as the words of the Eternal Alone makes perfect sense. It draws us constantly to the spiritual dimension as part of the constitution of the human life, yet it is also a tool for living. As members of the Homo sapiens, we are reminded that there is more to us than to eat, have sex, amass wealth, procreate, and enjoy life and that is it!

Every human being that has ever been born and has ever walked on the face of this planet earth will confess that, there is “something” that is more to this natural self when the curtain is drawn on our temporary sojourn here. There is a greater one in each of us that distinguishes us from the lower animals, even though we may not be able to place our hands on that thing, yet a void exists in each and every human heart constantly gnawing and yearning to be filled with this “thing,” or greater one.” The very existence of evil confirms the distinct evidence of a Greater One after our inevitable passage. When we reach the period of life and the Grim Reaper knocks, which is not why, or how but when, we feel so belittled, appear jaded and suddenly realize this place is not our permanent abode after all. Suddenly, those who refuse to dream now begin to summon Hope, but since Hope doesn't capitulate to wealth, sex exploits, procreation, libidinous excesses, political power, intellectual braininess, the vanities of earthly prestige, sophomoric adulation and inanity, they see themselves plunging into eternity with perplexed eeriness. Because Hope is the only vehicle segueing anyone from the secular to the spiritual, there are those of us who have chosen to anchor our Hereafter in the Eternal Hands of the Rabbi Jesus. Try as the Christ-haters in the world may traduce, malign and badmouth this Sinless Man who ever lived, and those of us who believed in Him, incredibly all His teachings actually work.

If you are in doubt of the tremendous power of this Jewish Man to transform life, give hope to the hopeless, recycle hitherto wasted lives, uplift people from the dust to the nadir of prominence, there is a proof: Me. And there are other countless lives like mine around the world whose lives have been transformed by this Rabbi. Ask the dope dealer tired of life and was looking for suicide to end it all and Hope emerged. Inquire of the former tart who has been rejected and had lost it but was told to give Hope a trial and is today recycled fully and has reason to live. Pay a visit to the penitentiaries and see the changed lives this Jewish Rabbi has touched, because they chose to invest their eternal safety into His hands. Visit the hospices and hospitals, where hope had hitherto taken flight and suddenly those bedridden and ravaged by diseases had the wisdom to call on Jesus and Hope returned. Space will not permit me to recount the transforming powers of Hope to kill cancers, destroy terminal diseases, give babies to sobbing mothers already counted as losers, open the eyes of the blind, deliver the spiritually-bound, the demon-infested souls and unchains the confused and provide succor to the afflicted.

All you Christ-haters and Christian-bashers, know and hear it here loud and clear; those of us who put our eternal destinies into the secured and safe Hands of Jesus Christ are not zanies; we think straight and are upright, we are intellectually catholic and broadminded, because we have tried Him and He is what He says He is. That is the evidence of serious quest for Truth. We are not losers. Give Him a try, chance Him with your life and see His great Hand of deliverance. And I will leave you with this real life event; in an Australian University some time ago, a popular professor was pounding the podium and shouting that there is no God. He's an atheist and as you too have taken swipe at all that is Godly, he too was also bad-mouthing Jesus Christ, the King of kings. Then a woman walked into the auditorium and raised her finger to ask a question from Professor Atheist. “Sir, you said there is no God, Jesus Christ was a figment and the Holy Bible was full of fables, for the moment let us agree with you. But I believe in God and Jesus Christ, and as a Christ follower, I believe He's what he says He's is. If I die and later found out on the Other Side that He's a figment and I had been deceived, while here on earth, I won't lose much, because the Bible never says anyone who put trust and faith in Jesus Christ will be punished. So to me as a Christ believer, it is a Win-Win situation. But supposing when you get to the Other side and find out that truly God exists, Jesus Christ is what He says He is and the Bible, after all is the book of life, what will you do Mr. Atheist?” So the same I am asking you all Christ-haters and Christianemies, the same question that poor woman asked the Australian Prof Atheist. What will you do on the Other Side? The choice is yours!

THIS WEEK'S LETTERS:
My dear brother in Christ, I sincerely appreciate and have been spiritually and richly blessed by your postings of late. I must however confess that I'm not very comfortable with a phrase in the introductory part of your last posting, precisely: 'So why are some human beings following a fellow human being to tell them about God and heaven...?' I want to believe we all (ministers of the gospel), took off where the apostles of old stopped, as they also took off where our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ stopped and handed over to them. 'Then said Jesus to them again, "Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you' (John 20:21). 'Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...' (Matt. 28:19-20). So sir, I believe that by extension, this includes present day ministers and those to come after us if His coming tarries. Till He comes, some human beings will continue to tell other fellow human beings about God and heaven sir. For instance, what you are doing on the internet presently is teaching people about God and heaven, except you want to prove me wrong, and many will continue to be taught. 'For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? But how shall they preach, except they be sent?' (Romans 10:13-15). Please do not see me as judging your teaching/preaching. I only want establish that we still have genuine ministers, worthy to be followed and emulated, they may be few though. If there are none worthy, then you and I are in trouble. I rest my case sir.

----Pastor Isaac Ojo-Eleka, Founding Pastor and President, Power in the Word Teaching Ministry, Ikeja, Lagos; and True Disciples Bible College, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, western Nigeria

Thank you my dear Pastor Ojo-Eleka for your observation. The reference was not to believers but to religionists and followers of man-made religions and denominations of the world. Like I explained in that piece, religion is human being's idea of how to worship God, while Christianity is God revealing Himself to us through His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. It was in that contextual reference that your apt observation should be understood. I wholeheartedly agree with you, human beings, whose eyes have been opened; are the true guardians of the Gospel and harbingers of the Good News. This is the heartbeat of God and angels are not allowed to preach the Good News but you and I, so I knew the angle you are coming from, but my sentence should be contextualized.

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Brother Moshood, I love reading your article each time I open up nigeriaworld.com; I have been missing some of these articles. Please send me your website to search all the missing ones or your book if you have written one on this fall of man. I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will continue to guide you and enrich you with wisdom and understanding to reach the lost souls. Thank you.

----Mr. Jimi Klementi. Mansfield, TX USA.
Dear Mr. Klementi, you can search the Nigeria world website for our previous articles and now that I have your email address, I will include you in my database. Thanks

==============. A very blessed morning to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I always enjoy column, May God grant you more anointing to educate public on the mystery of the kingdom of God. Please can you enlighten me on this Bible verse: “You either press into it or you are pressed out of it; make your choice; Luke 16: 16-17. Thank you for your services to the kingdom of God---Mr. Benjamin Olaleye, Dallas, TX, USA.

What Our Lord Jesus Christ was saying here was that before John the Baptist appeared to prepare the Way for God Almighty to come physically in Our Lord Jesus Christ to save the children of Adam and Eve from the Great Kidnaper, Satan; every person, who desired to be free, had been struggling but could not overcome Satan. The kingdom of God or heaven was suffering violence, because every human being from the time Adam and Eve fell till the coming of Jesus Christ were held by the demon of Death against their will, except Enoch, Moses and Elijah-three children of Adam and Eve who didn't taste physical death-but everyone, with no exception, including those who shouldn't be held but were held anyway, albeit against their will. These “righteous” children of Adam and Eve were all waiting for the Messiah-the Lord Jesus Christ as promised by God in Genesis 3:15b.It took war to flush Satan and his rebellious demons out of heaven and so it would take another war to finally flush them out again from the earth once and for all (Rev.20: 7-10). Make no mistake about it, my brother, we're currently at war; a spiritual war is raging over the souls of every human being on earth and as Our Lord Jesus Christ said in that verse you requested explanation, those of us who have chosen to fight on the side of the Truth know how intense and ferocious this cosmic war is, but unfortunately, many people on earth today are clueless about this raging war. Every human being must fight over their soul between God Almighty and Satan, period! No middle ground.

P.S: We thank all our readers and those that have been writing to us about clarifications and explanations about Bible verses and other issues, please keep the letters coming. If we haven't used your letter, please be patient with us, we will but also know that space constraint too is important. In addition, please when you send us email, lets know where you're writing from, because we can't display your email publicly so if you can disclose your location, it will help us to use your letter faster and attend to you spiritual questions.

Thanks brethren.
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*Dr Fayemiwo is author, publisher and CEO, Alternative Lifestyle Communication, DBA and an adjunct lecturer in African History & Media Studies at the City Colleges of Chicago in Illinois, USA.