Culture series: "Good is Evil and Evil is Good" What women are facing in this culture

We as humans, in our own hearts, and minds, are able, and willing to justify anything that we deem necessary to our perceived happiness or survival. We lie to ourselves, and others, and even to God. We, with a great deal of time and effort, fabricate dreams and visions that are tailored to justify and benefit our own selfish and ambitious purposes. The level of depravity in these areas goes way beyond our scope of control and understanding. So that left to our own ways, we are always doomed to failure in our perception of true equity and the reality of our true identity.

What do women face in this age?  They face the same things that we all have had to deal with from the beginning.  The very things that they face today, started in Eden, and those things have plagued mankind ever since those first moments.

Desire, fear, and sensuality are the main ingredients to the temptations that caused them to fall, and we shall explore these ingredients, and see that they are as active today as they were at the moment of their beginning.

When we examine the account of the fall, we can see those ingredients at work, and the progression of the temptations involved.  How did the desire, fear, and sensuality play a part in the temptations that she faced?  How was her perception affected by those things?

What was the first thing that Satan said to the woman?  His beginning statement was a very leading twist of the truth.  Evidently he wanted her to state Gods first law, so that he could successfully twist the information into a temptation.  No one knows if this was the first lie told by Satan, but it was certainly the first lie that Eve had ever heard, and when she saw that the tree was good for food (desire, and sensuality), and that it was a delight to the eyes (sensuality), and that the tree was desirable to make one wise (desire for personal power) she ate it.  Satan had inferred that God had withheld the fruit of the tree purposely to keep them from learning the knowledge, and becoming gods themselves. While a person who is familiar with God's goodness would see these statements by Satan to be the lies that they are, still in a human heart it is obvious to see that desire, sensuality, and fear of deprivation were very real, and working in the hearts of both Eve, and Adam.

Even though the parts that Eve and Adam played in this tragic scene were quite different, the outcome of condemnation was equal, and the same. Eve was entirely deceived by the devil, and was in a state of complete deception, meaning that she was confused at that point as to what was right or wrong, or real, and unreal.  She was convinced by Satan that she would not die, and that God was not telling them the real reason why He had withheld the fruit of the tree from them.   Even though Eve was told a lie, she still had a conscience choice to believe the lie, or hold to Gods directive, and because desire, sensuality, and fear of deprivation were working against her in this case, she chose the lie, and at that moment in her heart she had become convinced that the evil was good, and the good was evil, and made the fatal choice.  Having trouble deciding whether or not to eat a piece of fruit may seem to us to be an insignificant dilemma,  but to her at that moment it was an extremely difficult struggle with her feelings, desires, and fears.  Considering the fact that her desire was fueled by the sensuality of the moment (knowing that she would be able to taste something new, and beautiful) was very powerful.  Also she had to deal with the fear of being deprived of something that would make her wise, which is an extremely powerful fear, because we as humans desire knowledge, and wisdom above many things. So we see that Satan had successfully damaged her perception to the point that she was able to disregard a very simple, and direct commandment of the Lord, which clearly had a penalty of death.

What was the deciding factor in her moment of failure?  The answer is Doubt, her enemy was able to make her doubt the truth, and was actually able to make her believe a lie, because of the desire, sensuality, and fear that was used with the lie to make it seem true.

Even though Adam was not decieved, he consciencely decided to listen to his wife rather than obey the Lord's commandment, he proved by his actions that he loved his wife more than the Lord, and he actually possesed the greater guilt in the matter, nevertheless both Adam and Eve had sealed their destiny in those moments.

So even though these ingredients of desire, sensual pleasure, and fear are not evil things in themselves, they can be used against us to cause our perceptions to be twisted.

How does the enemy use these same ingredients to create temptations in our present day, in this culture?  What are some of the lies that appear to be good?  What are some aspects of the truth that are made to look like lies? We will explore a couple to see what has happened to this culture and how far it has fallen from reality.

Lets start with desire, it is not wrong to desire something, unless we desire the wrong thing.  What are some of the examples of things that can be desired? Food, Money, a house, land, profession (career), car, husband, children, social acceptance, knowledge, wisdom, family, fellowship, many other things could be named, these are just a few, and seem to be the primary choices of things that are desired, also it is important to understand that none of these things that are listed are wrong or "evil" in themselves, and it is not wrong to desire any one of these things.  But where we get into trouble is when these things keep us from practicing the truth, they can cause us to compromise with falsehood, and choose what is unwise, and ungodly.

What is an example of desiring the wrong thing?  Are there things that are bad for us to even want?  Yes there are things that are not wise to desire for the simple reason that they are (according to the scriptures) ungodly, and destructive in nature. Some of them are: excessive wealth (greediness), an unbelieving (wicked) husband, materialism (wanting things in excess),  sexual activities before marriage, excessive use of alcohol, use of unlawful intoxicants, gluttony, and vanity.  These are just some of the obvious things that should be avoided by the believer that seeks to be a disciple of Christ.

How do we get into trouble by wanting something that is not considered evil in itself? For instance, sex in itself is not an evil thing, but if it is practiced before marriage it becomes an extremely evil destructive thing, because that kind of behavior is forbidden by God, and those who practice that behavior will be judged as fornicators, and will not see life.  But this was an easy example of how it is wrong to want something that is not evil in itself.  What is an example of a more difficult situation, that may even seem to be ok?

A career is not an evil thing in itself, but what happens when a woman that is married, and has a career, and wants to have the nice things that money can buy, and also have children. Her time that should be spent maintaining her home, and children, and her relationship with her husband is now split between them, and her career.  It is a very difficult situation, and creates conflicts in priorities. What has happened?  She is forced to dump her children off to be raised by other people so that she can work in her career, and make extra money so that she can buy the things she wants, and/or thinks she needs. Because of her decision to have a career, she is forced to neglect her children, her home, and her husband in order that she can have the things she wants, or thinks she needs.  This becomes a great sin for her, not because a career is evil, but because the career has caused her to compromise with falsehood and practice evil.

If a man is lazy and neglectful, and does not work hard, and provide for his family, the Apostle Paul said that a man like this has denied the faith, and is worse than a unbeliever.  Also by the same token, a woman who is married with children, and she works outside the home, and neglects her duties of raising her children and training them in the knowledge, and discipline of the Lord, and neglects her home, and does not provide a positive atmosphere of love and support for her husband, then she has herself denied the faith, and is worse than a unbeliever.  The scriptures call her the keeper of the home, but if she denies her place, then she has denied the faith, and God's will for her life. The career is not evil in itself, but for her it has become an extremely evil thing, and will destroy her life, and send her on a path of sorrow, and eventual destruction.

In this example Satan is using the same ingredients of temptation that he used to destroy Eve so long ago.  How are the ingredients of desire, sensuality, and fear of deprivation at work in this example?  A career can look very appealing, it can give a person money, position, influence, and gratification, in short it can be very desirable.  It can provide a lot of extra money that can be used to buy all sorts of wonderful things to enjoy (encouraging sensuality), and if it is a thing to be greatly desired, then the fear of being deprived of it can be a very powerful influence for deception.

Because of the influences of these basic ingredients of temptation, the enemy has caused her to make a fatal choice, and has bent her perception so that she is deceived into thinking that evil is good, and good is evil.  Even though this sort of teaching is considered sound doctrine in the scriptures, many religious organizations do not encourage it because of their financial agenda.  If the women work too then the organization makes more money because 10% of the money from two people working is a lot more than a single income home.  Thus they show their compromise with evil because of their desire to have more.  So we can see how these ingredients wind up destroying many people because the people are not trained in righteousness.

What does the scripture say?  What does the Spirit of truth dictate?  What are the correct choices for the godly woman according to this example.  The answers to these questions are very clear in the scriptures.

In Titus chapter two Paul is exhorting the older women to be good examples for the younger women, and show them how to love their children, and their husbands, to be workers at home.  Why?  Because creating a loving environment for her husband, and children, and training her children in the discipline, and knowledge of the Lord, and maintaining the home in order for it to have a nurturing atmosphere, is a full time job.

This is Gods will for her life, but in order to fulfill it, she must entrust herself to God, and to her husband, and be satisfied with the income that her husband can provide, and in this situation the fear of being deprived of anything she thinks she needs or deserves can be a huge stumbling block.  In fact this fear can cause us to reject the truth, and actually cause us to chose the more self serving path.  But Jesus did not give us an example of self satisfaction, and self fulfillment did He?  No, He gave us an example of self sacrifice, which is true love, the kind of love it takes to be the keeper of the home that Paul describes.

Making the right choices is a matter of choosing to obey God, and choosing to keep his commandments no matter what the cost.  Do you want a loving home, and a good relationship with your husband, and your children to grow up and serve the Lord in purity?  Then you need to obey the Lord, and do what's right, ignoring all fear, and desires, and sensuality.  Doing what the Lord wants is probably the hardest thing you will ever have to do, but it has great spiritual reward that will last forever.

Do not give into the fear, desire, and sensuality that causes us to stumble, do not be influenced by this self-serving culture that will not see life, because they have rejected the truth, and live the lie in all its ignorance, and blindness.

Be the woman that God wants you to be, be a good example to the other women, and be a good witness for the Lords truth.

Scripture references: Gen. 3:1-6, Titus 2:1-5,  1Peter 3:1-6,  Eph. 5:22-24,  Eph. 5:33,  Prov. 31:10-31