Immortality Keeps on Knocking - Part 2 (It Happened on the Inside)

Everything is built upon a foundation and that goes for physical structures and spiritual ones as well.  Psalms 11:3:

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

What is the foundation that God’s Word speaks of?  Jesus spoke of a foundation in Matthew 7:24-27:

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

God’s Word is the rock—the foundation of abundant, even eternal, life.  I Corinthians 3:11:

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Revelation 19:13 speaks of Jesus Christ, and it states “and his name is called The Word of God.”  The Word of God is life’s foundation. 

Satan’s MO is to kill, steal, and destroy.  He is a dead spirit and his pleasures are found in destruction.  He is a liar and the father of lies.  Satan knows right well that God’s Word is the foundation and source of all life, so it is his mission to destroy it in the hearts of men that he might have his way with them. 

Are you building your life on a true foundation?  Have you been born again?  Are you ready for a brand new life?  Are you ready to repent of your sins and surrender your life to Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory?  Are you ready for the power to live a vibrant and clean life?  Then, today is your day of salvation.  Today will be the best day of your life and tomorrow will be better.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  Don’t let Satan have his way with you.  Now for today’s subject. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:16-17:

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:22-24:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

GOD SAID, Romans 5:12:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

GOD SAID, Romans 5:21:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

MAN SAID:  Adam’s 930 years, Methuselah’s 969 years, and Noah’s 950 years, plus the idea of Adam and Eve’s original immortality is farcical. 

Now THE RECORD.  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid.  This is feature article 623 that will once again prove the full inerrancy of the Holy Bible.  All of these features are archived on this site in text and streaming audio for the edification of the Saints and as ammunition in the battle for the souls of men.  Use the tools available on this site for ministry.  Use the search bar above to find the information you need.  Use the “Tell-A-Friend” feature above to send a particular message (Gospel tract) to someone you love.  Use the podcast feature to download all the messages on this site to your iPod.  Thank you for coming.  May the face of our God shine upon you and your family with Light and Truth. 

God’s Word is true and righteous altogether—every single word, miraculous and bizarre alike.  Every commandment and precept is perfect.  Every comforting word is sure, reaching deep into the soul. Skeptics are howling at such bold statements, but howling will not change truth.  In part one of this three-part series on immortality, we addressed two Bible pronouncements that have been at the center of much academic ridicule for centuries:

1.       Adam and Eve were created to live forever, but as a result of Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden tree, they and all their progeny became partakers of sin and death. 

2.       During the 1656 years from Adam to the global flood, the average life-span of man was 911 years. 

In Feature One, we established the scientific functionality of the Biblical concept of immortality and mans's life-span being 911 average years.  If you have not visited last week''s feature, we recommend that you stop now and review it.  We’ll wait for you here. 

The day that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they died spiritually with mortal death following years later.  And the very same day they ate of the fruit, they were booted out of paradise.  Biologically, they appeared the same as they were five minutes before they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, but something very spiritual and very deadly happened on the inside.  Part two will begin an explaination of things that happened on the inside that began this terrible cascade of death.  Whether the deadly tree had something physically harmful in its fruit is not stated, but something eternally deadly was in the deed.  The passage in Genesis quoted earlier tells us that Adam and Eve were banned from eating from the Tree of the Life, which assured their death; however, keep in mind that they still lived to over 900 years of age. 

After the flood that took place in the days of Noah, life was shortened to a promised 120 years (Genesis 6:3), and then finally set at threescore years and ten in Psalms 90:10:

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

What perpetrated this steady demise was something taking place on the inside as well as something taking place on the outside.  This feature will focus on the inside of Adam and Eve. 

Let’s once again review Genesis 2:16-17:

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

The name of the deadly tree for Adam and Eve is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Prior to our great-grandparents’ disobedience, they had no knowledge of good or evil.  A Biblical definition of sin is found in James 4:17:

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Consider Romans 3:20:

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 5:13:

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

With the knowledge of good and evil came the law of sin and death, which science knows as the second law of thermodynamics. 

Biologically, Adam and Eve appeared the same as they did before sin, but something happened on the inside. 

Consider the totally new mental and emotional changes Adam and Eve experienced immediately after the fall.  Genesis 3:7-12:

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

• They knew they were naked.  They now had the knowledge of good and evil. 
• They were guilty and ashamed and tried to cover their nakedness with fig leaves.
• They were afraid and hid themselves from God.  Jesus said in John 3:19-21:
  19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
  20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
  21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
• Adam implicates God and Eve in his fallen condition.  Eve places her blame on the serpent.

Something was happening on the inside. 

Adam and Eve’s new spiritual condition is a dead one, as is the condition of all of their offspring.  Concerning salvation and sin, Ephesians 2:1 reads:

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins:

All of us were spiritually stillborn.  The Psalmist writes, 51:5:

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Ephesians 2:5:

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

In order to escape the bondage of death and sin, we needed to be born again—born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God. 

The spirit of eternal life no longer dwelt in Adam and Eve; consequently, they could not pass it on.  Instead, Satan’s carnaldom now resides. 

Something happened on the inside.  Check out the following short list of spiritual conditions now taking place on the inside that pre-sin Adam and Eve never knew:

• The knowledge of good and evil;
• Guilt;
• Shame;
• Fear;
• Accusatory nature;
• Uncertainty;
• Wrath;
• Stress;
• Sorrow;
• Condemnation;
• Regret;
• Bitterness;
• Slothfulness;
• Hatred;
• Complaining;
• Envy;
• Grudges;
• Negative thoughts;
• Lust;
• Unforgiveness;
• And so on.

All of these traits cause physical death.  It’s true that immortality was lost, but these spiritual conditions also directly shorten natural life and the quality of life.  Adam and Eve appeared to be the same biologically as they were before sin, but something was happening on the inside.  Consider the following research concerning what is taking place on the inside:

According to Dr. Jordan S. Rubin in his book The Maker’s Diet, sudden stress is the most common “trigger” for fatal heart attacks.  You cannot afford fear and stress.  The results are deadly.  The Word of God spends considerable time teaching its adherents the supernatural power of shifting fear and stress, and even easily handling sudden fear.  Modern science is just beginning to understand the truly debilitating workings of fear and stress.  Techniques for relief are fully and repetitively recorded in the Holy Bible and are just recently beginning to be understood.  How could these ancient writers have known, thousands of years ago, the intricacies of psychology’s latest discoveries?  The answer is, of course, that the words of the Bible are the Words of God, the Creator, who fully understands the make-up of man. 

Stress participates in a myriad of physical as well as psychological disorders.  Consider the following:

March 22, 2004 WebMD, “Anger, frustration, and other mental stress can trigger abnormal heart rhythms that may lead to sudden death, new research shows.” 

Under the heading “Bad Attitude,” October 2003 Better Nutrition magazine, “Researchers have consistently suggested that people with negative attitudes suffer significantly higher rates of stress, depression, and disease.”

September 24, 2003 WebMD, “As if life isn’t stressful enough, Swedish researchers say that being under stress may double a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.”

June 16, 2003 WebMD, a headline reads, “How Stress Causes Miscarriage.”  The final paragraph of the feature reads, “But more immediately, he says his finding offers more proof of the hazards of emotional stress on pregnancy.  ‘We now know the effects of stress (on the fetus) are very real and produce a specific physiologic reaction in the uterus,’ he tells WebMD, ‘So you really need to reduce it whatever way you can.”  [End of quote]

In the book Deadly Emotions, Dr. Don Colbert, M.D., writes, “According to the American Institute of Stress, between 75 and 90 percent of all visits to primary-care physicians result from stress-related disorders.” [End of quote]  Dr. Colbert also reports that 2.4 million adults in the United States are affected by panic attacks.  (I assure you that the numbers are skyrocketing during these tumultuous times.)

Stress is a killer and God’s plan for shifting stress is truly life and life more abundantly.  Coming unto God in prayer and mixing the Word of God with faith yields phenomenal results.  Concerning prayer, a subhead in a March 2006 article in the magaizine First reads, “The silent dialogue proven to reduce stress-hormone levels by 40%—and melt away 36% more body fat.”  The following is an excerpt from that article:

To understand the mechanism behind the miracle, we turned to world-renowned expert Harry G. Koening, M.D., of Duke Univeristy and coauthor of The Healing Power of Prayer (Baker Books, 2003).  “An ongoing dialogue with a higher power calms the amygdala, the brain’s stress-serenity command center,” he explains.  “It also increases activity of the brain’s soothing alpha waves.  This prevents the adrenal glands from releasing a flood of harmful cortisol.”  In fact, a study from the Shimane Institute of Health Science in Japan found that this type of calming activity reduced cortisol by up to an astounding 40 percent. 

That can translate into major weight loss, maintains Shawn Talbot, PH.D., author of The Cortisol Connection (Hunter House, 2002):  “In my research, those who reduced cortisol by 20 percent lost nine times more weight, including 18 percent more body fat and 9 percent more belly fat.”  [End of quote]

Stress unchecked is a killer.  In a Newsweek article titled “Stress,” the lead paragraph states, “A whole new body of research shows the damage stress wreaks on the body: not just heart disease and ulcers, but loss of memory, diminished immune function, and even a particular type of obesity.” [End of quote]

A headline of a feature article on WebMD cited new findings from research conducted by Johns Hopkins University and it read, “Irritability, Griping, and Anger Hasten Heart Disease.”  The following paragraphs are from that article:

Although previous studies have pointed to a link between anger and heart disease later in life, researchers say it’s the first time anger has been shown to affect the risk of heart problems before age 55.  In fact, men who said they expressed or concealed their anger, became irritable, or engaged in gripe sessions were five times more likely to have an early heart attack than their calmer counterparts. 

“In this study, hot tempers predicted disease long before traditional risk factors like diabetes and hypertension became apparent,” says study author Patricia P. Chang, M.D., a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University, in a news release.  Her study appears in today’s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Irritable, complaining, griping, angry individuals are 500% more likely to have an early heart attack.  Be careful what you speak because you will eat the fruit from your lips.  Proverbs 18:20:

A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. 

Ladies Home Journal, in an article about mental well-being:

Yet, medical researchers estimate that more than  75 percent of the thoughts we have every day are negative or counterproductive, working against us instead of supporting our well-being and happiness.  What we tell ourselves about ourselves and our lives day after day has a tremendous effect on shaping our reality—for good or bad. 

It is now known that bone marrow produces white and red blood cells prolifically when one focuses on happy, positive thoughts (words).  When negative, destructive thoughts (words) are doted upon, the bone marrow’s production is inhibited.  White blood cells kill disease and red blood cells bring oxygen and life.  We are made out of words (thoughts), therefore the human body as well as all of creation responds to them. 

Fear, another major deleterious emotion, delivers far-reaching debilitating results.  When faith is absent, the spirit of fear resides.  This world’s population is laden with phobias because of the spirit of fear.  The great news is that there is a very real and powerful solution. 

Stress and fears are doors—enormous doors—through which Satan finds easy access into the lives of mankind.  In order to enjoy great and glorious success, these doors must be slammed shut with authority, and the secret of that authority is found in the Holy Bible. 

GodSaidManSaid addressed research concerning the subject of erasing memory several years ago.  Psychology Today, in its March/April 2012 issue, under the heading “Wiping the Slate,” is updating scientific progress. 

We are all troubled by certain memories.  A schoolyard bully.  A heart-wrenching breakup.  The loss of a loved one.  But, if you could forget parts of your past, would you really want to?  What would that mean for who you are? 

Such questions are the stuff of science fiction—but not for long.  In the last few years, there has been a huge body of work on the neural mechanisms of fear memories, writes University of Michigan neuroscientist Stephen Maren in a recent review in Neutron.  “There is now considerable evidence that they can be erased.”

Scientists have already developed drugs that can delete memories in rats, but figuring out how to target them is “the holy grail,” says Maren.  “We don’t want to just erase the day in your life when this thing happened.” 

Even taking the emotional sting out of traumatic memories has its risks.  Remorse keeps behavior in check.  Without it, people could do terrible things without any fear of crippling regret.  And the pain of violence is part of what motivates victims to prosecute assailants. [End of quote]

Science is searching for the answers but will find that God’s Word is already there with the solution.  How miraculous and marvelous that God, via the born-again transformation, has removed the bad effects (guilt, shame, and trauma of bad memories) without destroying the education of the memory.  For example, the stove is hot.  Don’t touch it!

At the point of being born-again, an entire spiritual, mental, and physical transformation begins at light speed and continues until we see Jesus face-to-face, at which time we will be perfected.  Concerning our salvation, II Corinthians 5:17 reads:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When one is born-again, God erases the guilt and the shame, even the ownership, without losing the educational benefit. [End of quote]

The above was a short sampling of things happening on the inside as the result of eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God cautioned Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:17:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

In an act of unbelief and disobedience, Eve ate and Adam followed.  That day, they died spiritually, were banned from the Tree of Life, cast out of Paradise and things began happening on the inside that continued to yield deadly results.  Next week, God willing, something happened on the outside.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:16-17:

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:22-24:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

GOD SAID, Romans 5:12:

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

GOD SAID, Romans 5:21:

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

MAN SAID:  Adam’s 930 years, Methuselah’s 969 years, and Noah’s 950 years, plus the idea of Adam and Eve’s original immortality is farcical. 

Now, you have THE RECORD. 

 

 

 

References

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