Are we repeating history?
Look back and see…..flawed human nature has not changed since Adam was first tempted in the garden by two others who were likewise tempted to disobey their Creator for purely selfish reasons. The angel who became satan, was a once magnificent cherub, not the kind depicted in Catholic art as babies with wings, (can’t imagine where that came from) but mighty guardians assigned to responsible posts by God’s direction. (Gen 3:22-24) As a “covering cherub” in the garden of Eden, he was right there observing what was going on and being tempted by his own desire for worship, to take the humans away from their God and trick them into giving worship to him.
Ezekiel 28:12-17…
“This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says:
“You were the model of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eʹden, the garden of God.
You were adorned with every precious stone . . . . .
14 I assigned you as the anointed covering cherub.
You were on the holy mountain of God, and you walked about among fiery stones.
15 You were faultless in your ways from the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 …You became filled with violence, and you began to sin. . . .
17 Your heart became haughty because of your beauty.
You corrupted your wisdom because of your own glorious splendor”….
He wanted lower creatures who could see him as a god, because his fellow angels were equal in power and no doubt as magnificent as he was…..here was his opportunity to “be like God” and to exercise his own power over others.
James made an interesting statement that can apply to all of God’s intelligent children….
”When under trial, let no one say: “I am being tried by God.” For with evil things God cannot be tried, nor does he himself try anyone. 14 But each one is tried by being drawn out and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then the desire, when it has become fertile, gives birth to sin; in turn sin, when it has been carried out, brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15)
And so it goes…..all satan has to do is produce an environment that fosters the wrong desires…..make suggestions, or plant seeds of doubt…..and humanity is his. Whether that is a desire for wealth or prominence…or a desire of the sexual kind, any wrong desire fostered will lead to sin and we know that it results in death.
This is why history keep repeating because Satan has no new tricks…the old ones work so well for him, and have done so since Eden. Christ’s disciples know how to identify the steps that lead to sin and avoid what causes it. e.g. Jesus said…
”You heard that it was said: ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who keeps on looking at a woman so as to have a passion for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”…..so Jesus tells us what leads to sin so that we can “nip” any wrong desire “in the bud” and prevent a serious outcome.
A diabetic would not go shopping in a candy store, so if we know what our weaknesses are, we can take prayerful steps to avoid making that first move towards carrying out a wrong desire.
Our environment is important and what we feed our minds is also a factor. Immorality is rife in the world and Christians know that God’s moral standards do not alter, no matter what the world is doing….keeping free of improper entertainment that fosters wrong desires helps to keep our minds from descending into immorality before our bodies do. It also fosters violence so that we become immune to its shock value.
Children are raised on a steady diet of gory violence in the games they play and think nothing of it.
It is interesting to me that combat ready jet pilots are trained with videos that are just like the games that are played online…designed to dehumanize the enemy and to make taking human Ives in reality, like a wicked game.
We need to be awake as to who is ruling this world (1 John 5:19) and that he has an insatiable appetite for more victims. (1 Pet 5:8)
