In the Western world mankind celebrates diversity, the expression of one’s self and independence. You must be allowed to choose for YOURSELF what is right and wrong, people say. Human nature does not want anyone telling it what to do.
The first two humans, Adam and Eve, bought into this philosophy. Satan wanted to make them think that God was harsh, squelching their individuality. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). You can rely on yourself, he told them in essence. You don’t need God!
Herbert W. Armstrong wrote in Mystery of the Ages that when Adam chose to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, “[H]E rejected reliance on God and chose the course ofSELF-reliance.” Adam opted for “independence.” What he did not realize was that the tree he chose would not give him independence—it would actually cause him to beHELD CAPTIVE. Eating from the tree of life, conversely, would have led him to reliance on God and God’s Holy Spirit.
Mr. Armstrong wrote in A World Held Captive, “Once [Adam] succumbed to Satan’sWAY of choosing to ‘do his own thing,’ in rebellion against a deliberate command of God, he became spiritually the property of Satan. … All humanity came out of Adam and Eve. The present world was FOUNDED in them. The WORLD has ever since been HELD CAPTIVE!” If we choose to “do our own thing” and rebel against God’s authority and government, then we are in danger of becoming “spiritually the property of Satan” and being HELD CAPTIVE by him!
Satan’s deception was so ingenious—disguising world captivity as do your own thing, be independent, no one can tell you what to do! Little does man realize that he is being influenced and even manipulated by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).
This point is clearly made in 2 Peter 2, discussing false ministers inspired by Satan: “While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants [SLAVES] of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage”(verse 19).
If you told man that he would soon be dependent on a higher power, he would be insulted. But the astounding fact is, he IS ruled by Satan now and doesn’t even know it (2 Corinthians 4:4).
God gave man 6,000 years to prove that he could not make it “all by himself,” that he could not be “independent.” Resulting conditions will get so bad that God will have to intervene in man’s affairs to ensure that he does not annihilate himself! This is pictured by the Feast of Trumpets.
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