By Sam Adeoye
SIN
If there is anything that has held so many people under the bondage of religion and religious manipulations in the world more than ever before, it is the word Sin. The word creates so much fear in people, coupled with the false believe that whoever commits sin will be punished in the everlasting fire.
But what many people failed to realise is the fact that the everlasting burning fire is not waiting for the day of judgment to come, it is already here; the Volcano we see today and we are screaming about and looking at as one of the many wonders of God is the Lake of Fire the Apostle John talked about in the book of Revelation.
I’m going to break some walls and shake some tables; trust me, at the end of it all, some people are going to be disappointed and even hate me for the rest of their lives. That’s comforting, that’s the prove that I’m saying the truth; fulfilling the word of Jesus Christ in Matthew 10:22 where He said; “all men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” I’m much more comforting when He said in Luke 6:22-23 that “blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”
So, for those that will read this and feel uncomfortable with the truths, I have no apology, the truth must be told every time, all the time; for you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free was what Jesus Christ said. Which also means if you don’t know the truth, you remain in bondage; and to be in bondage, there must be someone or something that put you in the bondage and kept you in there; which could be a person, your ignorance or your stupidity. Either ways, you’re in bondage because you did not know what you supposed to know. And God made this clear in Hosea 4:6 saying; “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.”
In as much as God will not destroy any Man because of sin, be rest assured that the lack of knowledge is more than enough to destroy anyone regardless of whom the person is.
Let me also make it clear that this post is not a liberty for anyone to live his or her life carelessly; but at the same time, many people live in denial. Even though we were being told on a daily basis to keep away from sin, majority of the people still get involved in such and somehow are still so quick to condemn others or act to be more perfect and saint.
The first time the word Sin was mentioned in the Bible was in Genesis 4:7 where God said to Cain; “if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” What is at the door had not entered into the house; and what had not entered into the house cannot be considered as something that is part of the house. The sin lies at the door God said it had not entered.
I’ve heard so many preachers and teachers of the laws both in the church and in Islam clamming that Adam brought sin into the world when he ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden. That was not true. But before we explore that, let’s look at the kind of human beings Adam and Eve were before they ate the fruit.
In Genesis 2:9 it was said that; “out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And in Genesis 2:15-17 it was said that; “then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “of every tree of the Garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
“The day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die” God said, not the day you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will commit sin. Now, if this record is valid, then Hosea 4:6 where the same God said; “my people are destroyed for lack of KNOWLEDGE. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me…” is incorrect. Because you cannot deny someone access to knowledge and still punish the person for not having knowledge.
What is knowledge? Knowledge is information, facts, acquaintance, familiarity, awareness, understanding and comprehension. A person without knowledge therefore; is a person considered to be…
Ignorant: unaware, uninformed, badly informed, rude, bad-mannered, ill-mannered, impolite, ill-bred
Illiterate: uneducated, uninformed, not conversant, untaught
Unlettered,
Uneducated: inexpert, amateurish, untrained, unqualified, inexperienced, unskillful
For a second, imagine what kind of Human Being Adam and Eve were before eating the fruit. They are what we knew today as Zombie. Having no mind or brain to decide what is good and best for themselves. They were limited in functionality. They were restricted to some certain level of creation. Now, the Lord did not send them out of the Garden because they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, no. God sent them out of the Garden because…
God did not want them to be like Him
He doesn’t want them to eat of the tree of life
He doesn’t want them to live forever
These God made clear in Genesis 3:22-24 saying; “behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” – therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The existence of Sin in the world has nothing to do with Adam and Eve eating the fruit in the Garden. I said earlier regarding what God said to Cain that “what is at the door had not entered into the house; and what had not entered into the house cannot be considered as something that is part of the house. The sin lies at the door God said it had not entered.
Favouritism is the reasons why there is sin in the world today and it began with God in Genesis 4:2-5 where it was said that; “now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.”
The Lord having respect for Abel and his offering and not respecting Cain and his offering, made Cain to became very angry with his brother and have his countenance fell. And in Genesis 4:8-12 it was said that; “now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
God’s inappropriate act between Cain and Abel led to the first act of murder in the Earth and for those that understand spiritual principles; sharing blood is the gate way to the world of the spirit. The moment the blood of Abel hit the ground, the doors to the spirit world was opened and now the spirit beings can descended to the earth, manifest in the physical and do whatever they want with mankind, and in Genesis 6:1-7 it was said that; “now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Cain’s act of killing his brother opened the spiritual doors for the sons of God to come into the earth and marry the daughters of men and have children. The sons of God are the ones that brought sin into the world not fruit that Adam and Eve ate.
Now, the word Sin in Hebrew means “chatta’ah” and in Greek “chatta’th” meaning “an offense” something habitual
Offense: is a crime that breaks a particular law and requires a particular punishment.
Habitual: a habitual action, state or way of behaving is one that someone usually does or has, especially one that is considered to be typical or character of them. Therefore, until an act become habitual, I mean until something becomes the state, way of behavior or your character it is not a sin.
Now, the reason why God sent Jesus Christ to the world and die for the sin of man is simply because, what the sons of God started, only the son of God can end it; because no other persons have the ability to know or see what is of God; and Jesus made this clear when He said in John 5:19 that; “most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”
Now, the worse that can happen to you as a person is to be and live your life without knowledge, which many religion had taking away from the majority of us and Jesus Christ made us to understand this in Luke 11:46-52 that the last set of people to trust when we needed to acquire the knowledge are the lawyers which today are considered as the religious leaders saying; “woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. In fact, you bear witness that you approve the deeds of your fathers; for they indeed killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”
Lack of knowledge is the reason why people commit sin; it is the same reason why people perish. And the reason why Jesus Christ came and die for the sin of mankind not for the sins of Christians; is so that with or without knowledge, mankind will be free from perishing since some individuals had made it their point of duty to keep mankind away from the knowledge of the truth.
Christ had paid for any offense we might commit as a result of breaking laws or not been knowledgeable about certain aspects of the law; that was why Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that “for He “God”; hath made him “Christ” to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him “God”.
Jesus Christ Himself made it clear to us in Mark 3:28 saying “verily I say unto you, all SINS shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme”
Let’s explore other versions of the Bible for more clarity…
NKJV: “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter;
NIV: Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter,
GNT: “I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins and all the evil things they may say.
MSG: “Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.
When Jesus Christ said in Matthew 23:31-36 that; “therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. What this simply means is that, in as long as the blood of the innocent Human Beings had been shed on the earth, vengeance; spiritual wickedness invasion will continue to elude the earth. So before you lift your fingers to kill another Human Being, think of the consequences of your actions.
Just as the blood of Abel is crying for vengeance, so also is the blood of the innocents that had been killed on a daily basis and as Apostle Paul said in Hebrews 12:22-24 that; “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ might be speaking better things; but it’s speaking better thing only for those who ignorantly committed an offense not those that deliberately committed an offense; that was why Apostle Paul asked in Romans 6:1 that; “what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” he continued in Romans 6:8-14 saying; “now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Though we are protected under the law by Christ becoming the law for us, but there is still a need for us to be careful with our habits and characters, including how we do things, how we say things, how we see other people and how we treat other people.
When you see or hear people so quick to make mention of the word Sin and use it as a tool to condemn, judge or control other people; just know that they don’t know what they are talking about.
Let me clear this lack of truth that had led so many people into errors, lack and wants. Jesus Christ did not die for you to have peace. If you don’t know that before, know it now. This is one fact the Pastors and the church will never tell. But hear it from Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 10:34-39 saying; “do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
I’m sure you can testify to the fact that these are happening already. Bus should in case the New King James Version is too hard for you to understand, let’s read The Message Bible that says; “don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut – make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law – cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me. “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.”
So, if you are committed to serving God and your life is filled with troubles and no peace from the home end, please be sure that you had not committed any sin, neither is anything wrong with you, and no Satan, Devils, Witches, Wizards or enemies is after your life. You’re only fulfilling the scripture.
Now, stop thinking that because you serve God, God must bless you or because Jesus died on the cross you must prosper. Far be it. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins not for your prosperity. If you want to prosper, get up and do something reasonable with your life.
However, Jesus Christ gave us some principles that we can explore.
In Matthew 13:11-12 Jesus answered and said to them, “because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. He repeated the same in Matthew 25:29 saying; “for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”
Majority of us believe that before we can do something great we have to have great amount of money to jumpstart it. That is not true. The wealthy people in the world are making their money from the poorest people in the world; from the founders of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, to the founder of TikTok Zhang Yiming, to Bill Gate, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Aliko Dangote, Elon Musk, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu, Julia Kock, Alice Walton, Folorunsho Alakija to mention few. All of these people are making their money and wealth from ordinary people as you called them. So, stop wasting the little resources you have. Put it to use and work with it until you can begin to generate more with it.
In Mark 12:41-44 Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.”
I know so many people had turned this to a principle of giving tithe, offerings or giving towards building or any kinds of projects in the church. But that is not what the verse is all about. The verse is all about you not been intimidated by what some people have that you don’t have. The woman would have sat back in her house lamenting that the place is only for the rich and wealthy not the poor like her. But instead, she pushed herself and made her present count. Stop been intimidated by what people has that you don’t have. Make the best use of what you have. If fairly used clothes is all you can afford now, wear it with pride. Keep it clean, well ironed and make sure that your hair is in place, your shoe is well clean and your appearance is un-denied. Stop looking down on yourself; and if there is anyone that wants to short you down based on your dressings, short the person down so quickly. Dress to impress yourself not anyone; it’s never a sin.
In Luke 6:45 Jesus said; “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Make it a point of duty to develop positive habits towards people and things. Speak good about people and things always. Speak good things about yourself always. Now, you cannot be speaking good things about yourself and be speaking bad things about others; doing that is you sowing good seeds with one hand and pouring acid on the seed sown with another hand. Don’t be the destroyer of your own self.
In Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
What is covetousness? Covetousness is greed, greediness, materialism, acquisitiveness, avariciousness, cupidity, selfishness, rapacity, meanness, miserliness. These and many more are the habitual action, state or way of behaving is one that someone usually does or has, one that is considered to be typical or character of a person and these are the sin/sins.
Thank you
- Sam Adeoye lives in Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached on +234-803-772-3500