How many of us are comfortable in admitting you don’t know something? In a conference room with your boss and a few work collegues, are you comfortable admitting you don’t know what they are talking about? It seems the more knowledgable we become, the stronger the apprehension to admit we are clueless about something. We fabricate answers or make up lies to prevent others from finding out, we have no knowledge about the topic. Why is there such a pressure to be knowledgeable? This Societal construct, has created an invisible burden, that weighs on the person who doesn’t know. It also burdens the people that have the knowledge. You can’t win. People who don’t know or have little knowledge (education), are looked at as stupid, ignorant and simple. Eventually they become the focus of course gesture and disdain. Those who are well schooled in education and worldly knowledge, are constantly under pressure to always have an educated answer and opinion on any topic. This is to prevent them from being looked at as ignorant and then ostracized from the conversation.

What is so wrong with not knowing everyting? Nothing! Do you want to know who told us something was wrong with it? Read the following verse;

Genesis 3:4-5

⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

⁵ 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.

In the beginning of man, our down fall was based on the very desire that is destroying society. The ‘Need to Know’. Adam and Eve were both content and at rest in God’s presence, lacking nothing. Until they were convinced, by the serpent, that there was more they did not know and needed to know. Hidden knowledge that they were missing out on that could make them more enlightened. Man sinned when they aquired that knowledge and it is that knowledge that has killed men ever since.

This current society is being pushed into the direction of collecting more and more data, to satisfy the desire to know. No data is off limits, personal, private, government secured information is expected to all be revealed. What is this thirst to know everything? Why are pepole so hungry to invade privacy just to know and expose?

It goes back to the intentions of the serpent. His purpose of assisting man in gaining knowledge was not to help them become like God, but to enslave them in sin. When men attained the knowledge of good and evil, it gave the devil a foot hold, to influence men through their flesh to do evil. His goal is to separate God from his creation that he loves.

(NB: He is doing this by proving to God that mankind is not worthy of the love and position God granted Adam and Eve back then, even today through Jesus Christ. It is the position he coveted as an arch angel, ‘Son’s of God’, direct inheriters of God’s Kingdom.)

Therefore incresing their knowledge in doing good, would make man more like God who is good, which is counter intuitive. So his purpose for man gaining knowledge was not for them to do good. I believe the following verses explains why the serpent (satan), needed Adam and Eve to acquire this secret knowledge of good and evil;

Romans 8: 5-9

⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

 

Galatians 5: 19-21

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

²⁰ Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

²¹ Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

It would have made no sense to influence Adam and Eve to do anything prior to the apple, because they would not conciously know it was bad. Their innocence of what was right and wrong, would have shielded them from God’s judgement. A good example are the actions of a 1 1/2 year to 2 year old child. They knock things over, hit people, bite, throw valuable items etc., without any knowledge that what they are doing is wrong. Parents don’t eternally judge or punish their kids at that age for their actions, because they are not conciously aware that what they are doing is bad or wrong. Adam and Eve lived in that same reality in the garden of Eden. This is why their nakedness never registered to them as something to be ashamed of or hidden. They were not aware of fleshly lusts and temptations. The serpent knew God would not judge or punish his children for their actions, unless they conciously violated his word. That day in the garden of Eden, the serpent went fishing. The bait was the forbidden knowledge, the hook was disobedience (sin) and the line is our flesh and emotions that is manipulated to keep us tethered to sin. How many fishing expeditions baited with forbidden knowledge, have we fell for that led us into sin?

The truth is Adam and Eve’s lack of that knowledge (good and evil), is what protected them from sin and God’s judgement. Now man is born with the innate knowledge of good and evil, without the understanding, wisdom and self control. I searched the scriptures to see what the bible said about knowledge and there are too many verses for me to list. The verses that struck out to me are as follows;

Proverbs 3:7

⁷ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Proverbs 4:7

⁷ Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

Proverbs 1:7

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Hosea 4:6-7

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

⁷ As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.

Psalms 119:66

⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

Proverbs 24:5

⁵ A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

Proverbs 15:14

¹⁴ The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

Proverbs 12:1

Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

This is just a fraction of the verses I found in the bible that speak of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. The bible is littered with instruction and guidance  from some of the most influential prophets and teachers, pleading with us to to acquire God’s knowledge and grow in understanding. In Hosea the verse above, it clearly states that God’s people perish because of their lack of knowledge. If you continue in that chapter you will see that the prophet was recording the decline of Israel into carnal sin and idolatry. God was abandoning them in their sin, because they no longer adhered to his laws. When you lean on your own carnal knowledge and understanding, you are led into sin and destruction. Much like America today, that has abandoned the word of God, to the point of denying his existence. This is all done, so they can morally condone their fleshly desires that run contrary to the word of God.

To summize the devil uses his anti Christ world’s system to pervert carnal knowledge, so that people that rely on it, are led away into sin and bondage. The mob morality rules today, which is led by carnal emotions and fleshly lusts. This is why we have so many confusing genders, male and female role reversals, animal and human love, also the budding acceptance of pedophilia. The bible says the carnal mind has enmity toward God the creator, who knows how his creation should function. Today the world system rejects God’s word (knowledge) and his instruction.

Now that we have aquired the knowledge of good and evil, God knew he had to provide us with a tool to manage such knowledge, so that we don’t corrupt ourselves. That tool is the bible, his word. It contains his Godly wisdom, understanding and instruction, needed to govern our lives to do good, exactly like our Father in heaven. God sent his Son and his word as a life line of knowledge to help humanity escape spiritual death. If we would receive the good knowledge of the word from God, the creator, we will gain understanding making us wise in our decisions and lifestyle. Life would be much more peaceful, loving and fair if the instruction in the word of God was adhered to by every government, business and person in the world. The word of God is knowledge, born from the understanding and wisdom of God, of which we don’t have the mental capacity to comprehend. People forget he created the tree of good and evil in the garden of Eden, so he must know how to eat of its fruit and not be corrupted. Why not follow his instruction? See the following bible verses, wisdom from God;

Ephesians 2:10

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Matthew 5:16

¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The purpose of knowing good and evil, is to be able to choose good over evil not vise versa. Ephesians 2:10 clearly states that as christians, we are born again to do good works. It even goes further by saying that it is what God before ordained, or pre-ordained, that we should walk in good works. The word ordained means;

ORDAINED:

• to invest officially (by the laying on of hands ), with ministerial or priestly authority
• to establish or order by appointment decree or law
• destined

Matthew 5:16 tells us why we were pre-ordained to do good works. So that through our good works, God in heaven may be glorified. That should be the desire of every Christian. To live a life of obedience to the word of God, bringing Glory and Honor to our Father in heaven. That even in the midst of a world filled with false wisdom, catering to our carnal lusts, we chose to reject satans knowledge and through Christ follow the word of our God in Heaven.

Now that we’ve delved into the fact that humanity (Adam and Eve) were better off knowing less, rejecting the hidden and forbidden knowledge to rely on the word of God. We can move on to how and why, we should welcome the unknown, living in this fallen world. All God has done to reconcile with his creation, is based on enlightening us, as to what is the truth, verses lies, in this matrix of ideologies we live in today. Truths, such as; God really does love humanity and does not hate man! Is contrary to what the world’s knowledge of God portrays. Carnal wordly knowledge blames God for allowing all the hurt and pain in this world. Some theorize that there is no God and we are the product of primordial slime. Others accept the fallen angel satan as god and the Creator as our enemy.  So many ideologies and schools of thought, why? How? Consider this sinario which most men will be familiar with, no offense ladies. Bob’s wife sends him to a drug store to pickup her medication and describes it as the. “The one in the blue box”. When you arrrive there are sixteen choices in that section that all have blue on the box. The correct box is there, but the probability of making the rignt choice is considerably diminished because of all the look alikes. It creates confusion. That’s the deceptive practice the devil has employed in this world. He first attacked the Word of God’s foundation as being the only truth, and introduced the knowledge that truth is relative, so its based on what you believe. Once he began getting people to question their belief in God, he provided other ideologies that were similar to the theistic frame work. This lead to several ways to get to God in heaven, several religions, outside of accepting Christ. When that was not enough, he created the idea that God was a bad God because of the condition of the world, which led to people choosing not to believe in God. They did not want to have anything to do with a God that bad and began believing on humanity to right the wrongs on earth. Then finally he rallied the disgruntled people to his ideology of anti-Christ, anti-God then satanism.

The approach the devil is taking is the same approach he took in the garden of Eden. If the truth of God was the only option available for you to believe in, it would be hard for him to convince you to do evil. If he proposed several options causing confusion, then you would have to rely on your own logic to figure out what is the right choice, verses what is the bad choice. He already knows that we lack the full wisdom of God’s word, to correctly process what is right and what is wrong. Just as Eve did in the garden, she tried to process whether the fruit was good to eat and was it worth gaining the forbidden knowledge of good and evil to be like God. Not understanding the ramifications of her choice, Adam followed her into sin and damned humanity. The devil’s used this tactic again and again. Pushing us to rely on our own knowledge and wisdom instead of God’s.

Proverbs 3:5

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Solomon the wisest man alive gave us advice not to be fooled by our own wisdom. It is tainted and has been since the fall of man. Tainted by our emotions, and carnality that is easily manipulated by satan’s world system. He hid the truth of God’s word in a miriad of ideologies, just like Bob’s wife’s medicine hidden among the 16 boxes. The only way Bob does not make the wrong choice, is to go back to his wife for more details, ask for more specifics he will need, to decipher which is the right box. Same thing for us as Christians we need to go back to God’s word (the source), for more knowledge and understanding. It is the only way we decipher the truth of what is right and what is wrong, amongst the lies. This is why the word of God stresses that we as believers seek knowledge, understanding and wisdom. The goal is to be as Christ was when satan tempted him. At no point was satan able to get Christ to contemplate or apply his earthly knowledge in response to his temptations. Christ quoted the word of God to him, because it is perfect and without fault.  That is why we need to know more of it and hide it in our hearts. It truly acts as a shield that guards our hearts and minds from making the wrong decisions, as we go through life trying to do good.

Even though we walk, talk and live in a carnal world, we need to learn to be lead by the spirit. What does that mean? That means our physical senses and worldly knowledge should not govern what we do, where we go or how we act. King David, known as the man after God’s own heart, left us with his play book for walking in the spirit. See what he says below about the word and its application in his life;

Pslams 119:98-109

⁹⁸ Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

¹⁰¹ I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

¹⁰² I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

¹⁰³ How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

¹⁰⁴ Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

¹⁰⁵ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

¹⁰⁶ I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

¹⁰⁷ I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word.

¹⁰⁸ Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.

¹⁰⁹ My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.

These verses are powerful in providing guidance to us in our walk with Christ. King David was not concerned about worldly knowledge or understanding, he consistently relied on the word (judgements/law) of God. King David commented that the word of God was a lamp unto his feet, suggesting that our journey in this world is dark and only the word of God can illuminate our path so we can see where to go. What we try to do is see into the darkness, instead of following the lighted path. In verse 109 King David reminds us our souls (logic centers) are in our hands. In other words the choice is ours to choose the lighted path the word of God sets forth. How he succeeded was keeping the law of God front and center in his thoughts at all times. In doing so he was able to do the following meditating only on the words of God;

• Outwit his enemies.
• Become smarter than his teachers. (I assume being Jewish he was assigned Rabbis/teachers to instruct him on the law of God)
• Gain self control and prevent himself from doing evil.
• Develop the ability to decipher right from wrong and learn to hate false ways.

If this is what we are able to receive from just these 12 verses, wouldn’t you like to know what else is available to us in the 150 chapters David wrote. Consider that there are also other books, inspired by God and written by influential prophets in the bible. The point is our goal should be to gain knowledge and wisdom from the words of God and not from the world. We should use the word of God to shape the world around us, by changing our actions to reject evil ways and do good. This will require us to resist the forbidden knowledge that is forced upon us every day from birth, through the radio, television, Godless people,school system, family, books, etc. Our minds should be as innocent to worldly wisdom and information as children are as kids. How do we do this, when some may argue they already feel corrupted by worldly beliefs and ideologies? It’s like second nature to me to think carnally, what do I do? The word says by renewing our minds with the word of God daily. Gaining knowledge in the word and replacing the carnal wisdom with Godly understanding.

Romans 12:1-2

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Here we see in order to enter a Christian walk with Christ, in what I call the ‘unknown zone‘, we are to daily sacrifice our bodies to God. Why? It is the one thing this world’s system uses to derail us from the will of God, which is to choose good over evil. Our emotions, our flesh and our egoes derived from worldly experiences and logic, is the weapon used against our souls that yearn to offer reasonable service to God. That word reasonalble, means logical, sensible, well thought out. Being a living sacrifice is not automatic as a Christian. It requires you to have a concious investment in gaining self control over your flesh and emotions in order to surrender your body to fulfill God’s will. How can this be done? Self control does not come from your own will power. It comes from the  renewing of your mind, by chaning our beliefs and perceptions with the word of God. The power is in the word, consume more knowledge of the word and gain understanding. The more you consume, the more you understand, the faster you mature in your faith, the stronger your ability to gain self control over your body and the easier it becomes to walk in God’s wisdom.

Continued in Part II.

The Ideology of the Unknown! “How to Live In It As a Christian” Part II