Everything was fine at first once God created all that existed, including men and women.
He would come to the perfect garden He made for Adam and Eve and fellowship with them.
He also would give them instructions on how they could have the perfect life for eternity.

We do not know how long it took for Eve to begin thinking she had the right to make the
major decisions. They could have been in the garden for millions of  years since they were
immortal at first. Regardless, there came a time when Eve began noticing that the fruit of the
tree God forbade them to eat looked delicious. It did not matter that she already had
everything perfect; she suddenly began to feel that she had to eat that fruit. The great
enemy of mankind, Satan, just had to give her a little encouragement to eat the fruit even
though God had warned her that if she did she would die.

That first bite was so delicious she was excited and wanted to convince her husband to eat
this fruit also. It did not seem to take too much of an effort to get Adam to go along with her
rebellion. Eve was right! God was wrong. The fruit was delicious and they did not die after all.

Foolish human beings. Little did they know that they were already spiritually dead; nothing
would ever be the same for them as long as they lived on earth. They would know pain,
heartache, alienation between human beings, pride, jealousy, greed, hatred, jealousy,
coveting, deceit, lies and all the ugly sins that destroy the joy of living.

Their fatal mistake became obvious to them as they heard God walking in the garden. Once
they looked forward to seeing their Creator; now they hid in terror knowing that they were
alienated from God.

God had a promise for Satan in Genesis 3:15. "And I will put enmity Between you and the
woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall
bruise His heel.” The promised seed of the woman was God's Word, Jesus, who would take
on flesh, Jesus. He would keep God's Law perfectly on our behalf. He would die to pay the
price for our sins. Those, who put their trust in Him as their only hope, would be given
forgiveness and eternal life.

One would think that this would resolve the enmity between God and mankind. After all, the
gift of God's Son is free and life giving. The problem is that mankind was not trapped in sin.
Men and women want to create their own gods, do their own thing and run their lives
according to their understanding. They create their new religions where they often worship
what God has made rather than God. They decide to worship their own preferred prophets
rather than honor the Word of God, Jesus. Most people never seem to learn that to turn
their backs on God's Word means that they will spend an eternity in agony with no hope ever
again. Only a few will wisely come to God in repentance, humbly offering themselves to Him
as they claim Jesus for their salvation.  

We cannot help the majority who are determined to believe in their own religious ideas
instead of accepting God's Word, the Bible. Our hearts are heavy as we think of the many
rejecting the only hope God offers fallen mankind. Yet, we are writing these lessons to help
you, who are open to what God has to say to you, a new life, a new joy, new peace in your
hearts, new love and new confidence.

If you are interested in what the Omniscient Creator has to teach you, be sure to read all the
lessons that are offered here for your instruction. If you turn your backs on God's Word, you
should know what we are told in Hebrews 10:31. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God." He is the Omnipotent One and has the final say.

God uses all of His power to enrich the lives of those who love Him; He uses the same
power to punish those who choose other religions that appeal to them more. We will see what
this means in the next lesson.

ONLY ONE HOPE
There are many religious writings, many religions, many false
prophets. How can you know the truth?

God has given you all the evidence you need to know that the Bible
is the Word of God alone. We are going to include some evidence
that you cannot refute.

If you read all the lessons, if you really examine all the evidence,
please feel free to write to me and I will discuss it with you. We
know there are some of you too afraid to examine everything so
you will just write foul language that proves you are alienated from
God. We are sorry for you because you will stand before God as
one of those who rejected the only way to eternal life.

Contact us at joshualives@aol.com. We hope you have God' hope.