"You surely will not die!"

Have you ever realized what the very first false philosophy that came into the world was? And did you ever think about the fact that it has existed till this day with greater and greater strength? Did you ever consider that this same infernal idea is the most popular error on earth? Finally, did you know that this darkest of lies stands today as the foundation for almost every other evil in existence!

'What are you talking about?' It might not have alarmed you before—because of its great popularity and universally assumed foundation—but it affects you every day, and will ruin you if you do not understand it properly, and reject it categorically.

The idea that she would not die for her sin was first suggested to Eve by the 'Father of lies', and when she consented to its soothing appeal it became 'original sin.' The guilt and evil of this original sin lies deeper than a mere denial of the fact that God said "in the day that you eat from it you will surely die" (Gen. 2:17); and is even deeper than the denial of the truth that "the soul who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). The wickedness of committing this original sin by Eve, Adam, and everyone else, lies in the fact that it denies God's integrity and entire moral Government. This sin is not in denying that God will punish all sin with death because he supposedly doesn't like disobedience and is selfishly going to stomp out any enemy of His when they slight His feelings. This is a great mistake and is why many people are overcome with temptation. But again, this original sin consists in denying that God is a perfectly good and holy King of the Universe (heaven and earth); and that as such He must punish every sin, in every creature, with the death of torment and separation from Him (if they do not repent of and walk by loving-faith in Him and His will before their time of trial upon this earth ends). It is a flat denial that God is just. And because it is a denial that He is just, it is a denial that He is good enough to care about upholding the vital interests of His grand kingdom. Who can grasp the extent of these interests!

We can see three major things that this original sin is thus fatally guilty of:

1. It claims that God is not just and true to His holy law that He has given for our good and the highest well-being of heaven and earth;

2. That He is not just to His character in executing the good law that He swore would be carried out—which would make Him a liar;

3. And as we have seen, it would claim that God is not just to His vast kingdom of obedient servants, because He would then make no distinction between preferring their obedience to disobedience, and would not give a suitable punishment for evil so that all forms of crime and unrighteousness would be feared and greatly prevented.

People sin because they deceive themselves into thinking that it is not as serious as these points reveal, and then they estimate their action by the very limited effects that they see result. They judge their actions by mere outward effects and accepted standards, and not by due consideration of all things as they really are as above outlined. But God judges people's hearts by their motives and their refusal to really live as if He is who He really is, and does what He must and says He must do. These are no fleeting thoughts. They are no speculations. And who even takes the time to ponder them? Well God will judge us not merely for neglecting to meditate upon them, but for neglecting to live each moment consistently with these truths, or basing all our actions upon them as our foundation for action. People get awakened to God when these truths come to their minds with force to move them. But they only are 'born of God' when their hearts and lives are actually it of the spirit of heaven, whose sentiments and actions are in full accord with these truths, and whose character is as God's. (1 John 4:7-8; 2:29-3:10; Romans 8:1-17; Galatians 5:19-24; etc.)

Mark what God has said only after you realize that these truths are all assumed in every statement He gives us:

"He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:14-15)

"Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who does righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who does sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning." (1 John 3:7-8)

"The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)

"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him... the one who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John. 2:15, 17)

"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by character children of wrath, even as the rest." (Ephesians 2:3)

"For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." (Ephesians. 5:5-6)

"But he who doubts is damned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." (Romans 14:23)

"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 5:29)

My friend, God has not given these words to you as a lie. "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment... then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment." (2 Peter 2) Eve, and all those following her example, thought that because she was not immediately sentenced and punished for her sin that God would not do it as He said. People do not realize that life on earth is a short time of trial, in which God gives us an unknown time to live and change. He demonstrated His patient love for us in not punishing us immediately after our sin. But even though He is not waiting for people to sin so that He can immediately destroy them in His wrath, nevertheless when we sin, or fail to love, or to have faith, or neglect His will, or gratify our lust, or even if we are covetous, the impartial Judge of the universe has taken note of your lawlessness (1 John. 3:4), and will be compelled to assign you the place of all wrong-doers if you do not forsake all your sins and lovingly submit to Him before your short time on earth ends, according to wise allotment. (Romans 2:2-16; Ezekiel 18:24-32)

Will you believe the soothing and popular testimony of the Serpent, the world, and your experience (the flesh)? or will you say God is true and I will not live another moment in contradiction to Him?

"'For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,' declares the Lord God.

'Therefore repent and live.'" (Ezk. 18)

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