Imagine You’re In The Garden Of Eden

The Excellent Book says “ But the Lord God warned him, You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die. “ God warned Adam what would happen if he ate the fruit. Adam & Eve ate the fruit anyway and now we are all here dying in many ways, the major one being the death of a loved one that brings sorrow, grief and pain. But there was another death in the garden that I don’t hear spoken about. Death of belief in God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, to be clear.

I believe that was the death that then led to Adam & Eve believing they won’t die, their eyes will be opened, they will be like God, and they will know good and evil. That death led to Eve and her raggedy self, believing that the fruit would also be good for food, after all it appeared delightful to her eyes, it would make her wise and so she ate the fruit. And because it was so “good” with all these features, she gave her husband. She thought she knew, but did she? Because of the suffering we are suffering in this world, please allow me to call Adam what I’m about to call him. Eve thought she knew and dummy Adam followed his raggedy wife.

Things started to change for them and not in a good way. They realised they were naked. Death of vulnerability. As if not enough, Adam introduced the lack of accountability that is rampant in this world. Some of my sisters may specifically say the lack of accountability especially in men. I will let you be the jury on that. Death of personal responsibility. Eve too, blamed the serpent. My brothers, is this why some women don't say sorry? When God came to check on them, the Excellent Book says “they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden…”

Meaning instead of seeing God like Adam used to, now he couldn’t see him. Death of face-to-face communication with God because of sin. Then they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord, among some trees. Death of sanity! How are you going to hide from God who sees everything, in plain sight and behind a tree! Death of sanity means its right there through raggedy Adam, in fact they don't deserve capital letters, adam and eve, that death of the mind began. It was also death of wisdom that these raggedy people didn’t realise they already had but I’ll come to this in a bit.

The Excellent Book continues to say, God called out to adam and asked him “Where are you? ”adam basically said he heard the sound of God, he was afraid because he was naked, so he hid himself. Death of answering questions precisely & succinctly. The answer should have been, I’m behind the tree, but remember death of the mind had occurred. Adam had never been afraid. When he didn’t believe in God, he ate the fruit and began to be afraid. Death of boldness, fearlessness and peace.

For my brothers specifically, I would say that was also the death of clarity, confidence and everything you strive for as a man. Now, my brothers are not sure of themselves, they’re scared to do this or that, they’re not sure, they’re filled with doubt. Should we really be surprised at the state of the world when it comes to men. My brothers please don’t think I’m coming for you. What I’m saying is, for everything you struggle with, Adam is the root and he did you wrong.

I have lots to say about what eve has done to me and my sisters. What I can say for my sisters specifically, the death of fearlessness led to death of our self-esteem, so lack of confidence just like men. I know the poor choices I have made as a result of not having esteem for myself. It's not hard to see how this is affecting my sisters, start from social media, it will give you an idea.

I haven’t finished with the hiding from the presence of God that these raggedy people decided to do among the trees. Shortly before writing this, I watched the online stream for the church I attend, and I continue to see a worrying pattern. The pews seem to be emptier. (I’m out of town and the local church I attend is being renovated so we had a Zoom service).

That hiding from the presence of God was the death of a personal relationship with God and death of a desire/ inkling to even have a personal relationship with God. Have you ever been in a relationship with someone, romantic or platonic and you decided to hide from them? If you hide from them- you don’t answer their calls, messages, fb pokes, DMs etc, what does that say? Again, I’ll let you be the jury.

Here is the thing about hiding from the presence of God. It also brought death of genuineness and one source of false religion, I believe. False in that there is no personal relationship with God, which is why going to church doesn’t mean everything, because people go for all sorts of reasons. They go perhaps because they feel an external expectation to go, it’s a tick box exercise- I did my religious duty, out of appearances/obligation-I have to show up, I’m the pastor, elder, (insert position here). Meaning, someone can go to church and hide from the presence of God in plane sight just as adam and eve did. This is also why we must not judge either way- bad or good. What you see is not always what it is.

Now the permanent online congregants (and I’m not talking about the ones who can’t make it because of illness and such situations) may be excited to see this because you may be thinking I’m advocating that you don’t need to go to church, since what you see is not always what it is. It’s not about me or you, what I or you think. It's not about“ I don’t see anything bad/wrong/harmful”, because it’s not about “I” as in me, my perception, thoughts etc, ultimately (and trust me I know church hurt that can deter you from e.g. going to your usual place of worship) it’s about what did “God say” and then doing it so help us Jesus.

We are in this place of so many deaths, far more than I could ever list, because death kills everything. And it all traces back to one moment: when Adam and Eve didn’t ask the right question. "If I eat this fruit, am I eating it in obedience to God?" In what we are choosing to do (which turns out to be everything), are we doing it in obedience to God? That’s always the question. Help us Jesus and deliver us from the lies we hear.

So how did raggedy adam and eve get caught up in lies that result in the world we live in today? This is the part that I need your close attention to. I pray you see it the way I’ve just seen it in this moment as I look at the verse in the Excellent Book.

Come back tomorrow for part 2 or check the blog list to see if its been published. Alternatively, subscribe so you can get a notification, when it comes out.