THREE SINS

by Robert D. Steffens, January 2005

FIRST SIN
        There are three areas in the bible, concerning sin, that should be of great interest to all Christians. Much of organized Christianity is based on and concerned with the three sins, without seeking or understanding the truth of any one. The first of the three, is the sin of creation which is dubbed with the title of "original sin;" of this all mankind is guilty. This is of course, the eating of an apple, which caused a curse by God. The bible does not mention or support any concept of something called "original sin."
        The Spiritual Man, Adam and his counterpart Eve, were in the Garden of Eden. They were surrounded with all the goodness that God could give them, somewhat as we would think of as heaven. There was no such thing as the act of sex, propagation, multiplication, or death in that garden. Their Spiritual Bodies had eternal life. It was desire for carnal knowledge and lust of the flesh that brought about that which is referred to as the eating of the apple. This is called the fall of man. Adam and Eve lived in the perfection and pureness of God. The act to pursue their desire for the knowledge of good and evil, produced the two polarity system known as manifestation. Their choice to know good and evil caused them to fall short of what God is, in perfection and pureness and righteousness, or in other words to take their focus off God. Sin is falling short of God, or missing the mark, therefore they sinned.
        If the true and accurate description of the act was written in the bible, that alone would have kept the bible off many bookshelves and made it an object of dissension among purists. Perhaps by God using an apple as a symbol, that was so far fetched, that He figured anyone would be able to figure out what was really meant. This act that they chose, causes conception which is the basis of multiplication and it also caused them as Spiritual beings to be evicted from God's garden and sent into the manifested material world, inside physical flesh bodies.
        Multiplication, uncontrolled would cause mass disorder and population problems that we couldn't even imagine. In God's wisdom, He eventually set a 120 year lifespan as the norm, and death as the blessing to balance this problem. Of course there are many other factors which assist in preventing most people from reaching the 120 years. Eve's act could be more clearly described: "the enemy gave to her, and she ate, then she gave me also to eat". For this God said: I will put enmity (hatred, hostility) between the enemy's seed and Eve's seed. The Greek word for seed is spermatos. This set up the stage called "world" for the play called "good and evil". The first act of that play was the struggle between the enemy and Eve's seed, performed as Cain versus Adam and Eve's seed, Abel. This struggle, with different players, continues today. For the enemy's part, God said to the serpent; on thy breast and belly thou shalt go. For Eve's part, God greatly multiplied her pains and her groanings: "in pain thou shalt bring forth children, and thy submission shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee." For Adam's part, God cursed the ground in his labors, "in pain shalt thou eat of it, thorns and thistles will it bring forth and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread."

        This, then is the act of missing the mark that we all are guilty of which is defined by religion as "original sin". None of us would be here in physical body without it. The act of sex and conception was necessary for all mankind that has ever been physically manifested on earth, with the one exception being the Son of God, Jesus Christ, which was born of a virgin, and was without sin.
        It would stand to reason that if this is the sin that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ to redeem all mankind for, and assuming Jesus was successful and as He stated "I will remember your sins no more," and therefore we were forgiven,
then; Why do women still experience pain in childbirth? Why does man still struggle in sweat in the ground among thorns and thistles for bread? Why does the serpent still crawl on his belly? And why is there still hostility between Satan and God? Since these things still all exist, it would indicate that Jesus failed on the cross OR that He came for another reason.

SECOND SIN
        The second of the three great sins, is when the House of Jacob, being the 12 tribe nations of Jacob, which made up the whole House of Israel, breached or violated the Old Contract. That was the contract that the House of Israel became one of the parties to, when they were being led out of Egypt and into the desert. It must be noted that they, the people of the House of Israel, were in the desert away from all other peoples. Although the number was great, there were NONE other than the House of Israel in the desert with them. Perhaps it was God's wisdom to take them into the desert for the conception of this contract. Had He not done that, it would not be clear to the following generations who the parties of the contract were, and confusion and error would allow the belief that it was a contract with ALL mankind, and NOT JUST the HOUSE of ISRAEL, that was in the desert, at that time.
        Two important parts to a contract are, 1. Who are the parties, and 2. What are the terms?  The parties are 1. God, and 2. The House of Jacob, which is the children/seed of Jacob/Israel.
Ex 19:3 "And Moses went up to the mount of God, and God called him out of the mountain, saying, These things shalt thou say to the House of Jacob, and thou shalt report them to the children of Israel."
Ex 19:8 "And all the people answered with one accord, and said, All things that God has spoken, we will do and hearken to: and Moses reported these words to God."
Ex 24:3 "And Moses went in and related to the people all the words of God and the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient."
Ex 24:7 "And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people, and they said, All things whatsoever the Lord has spoken we will do and hearken therein."
        The terms are found in Ex 20:2-17, Ex 21:1 to 23:33 which include the ten commandments and the laws. No sooner than Moses had gone up on the mountain, the people became impatient and made a false god to worship.
Ex 32:1-6 "And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people combined against Aaron, and said to him, 'Arise and make us gods who shall go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us forth out of the land of Egypt - we do not know what is become of him.' 2 And Aaron says to them, 'Take off the golden ear-rings which are in the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.' 3 And all the people took off the golden ear-rings that were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received them at their hands, and formed them with a graving tool; and he made them a molten calf, and said, 'These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.' 5 And Aaron having seen it built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation saying, 'To-morrow is a feast of the Lord.' 6 And having risen early on the morrow, he offered whole burnt-offerings, and offered a peace-offering; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."
Ex 32:7-10 God becomes angry and threatens to consume them.
Ex 32:11-13 Moses speaks to God on behalf of the Israelites, asking Him to cease from thy wrathful anger, and be merciful to the sin of His people.
Ex 32:14 God withdraws His wrath.
Ex 32:26-29 Moses administers punishment.
Ex 33:17 God gives them a second chance.
Ex 34:10-28, 35:2-19 God renewed the contract
        Rest of Exodus, thru Leviticus, thru Numbers 10 Israel complies and receives more instruction from God.
        Numbers 11 and on and on and on: Israel complains and murmurs, and starts turning away from God and committing all kinds of sin.
        The majority of the rest of the Old Testament is of the Israelites rebelling against God and God lamenting over His Adulterous bride. Thus Israel had breached the contract with God. Mixed in with the stiff-necked Israelites sinning and their captivities is the prophecy that God will send a Savior to redeem (save) the Israelites. They had sinned; the wages of sin are death and God wanted to prevent that, as 144,000 of this group of peoples make up the Body of the Christ of which Jesus is the Head and this is the creative force that causes God's design and order of the universe to be manifested. God so loved this order and design and manifestation, that He wanted it to continue, so He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to redeem these peoples that were lost in sin because they breached the contract. They were the lost sheep of Israel that Jesus said He came for and ONLY for them.
        In the New Contract, prophecy was fulfilled, Jesus did come and make the Atonement and redeem Israel. A new contract, with the same people, is drawn up. Hebrews 8:8-12  "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not  in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 and they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord": for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
        God promised; that He would scatter them throughout the countries, among the heathen, and they would forget who they were, and He would give them a new name after His own name. Is it possible the new name is Christians? This was accomplished along with the captivities which helped to confuse and hide God's plan from the enemies and the Israelites themselves. Many of the Israelites escaped up over the Caucasus mountains, and went into Greece and Italy and throughout Europe on up to the Isles in Britain, Ireland, Denmark (used to be Danmark) etc. where the flags of the 12 tribes of Jacob are flown to this very day. There is so much evidence, if only one would choose to look. Most Christian religions teach that Adam and Eve ate the apple, giving us "original sin" and Jesus came to redeem all mankind. Jesus told the woman at the well to "Go and sin no more". If Jesus came for the sin of the apple, why haven't we stopped having sex and procreating? Why didn't we stop this sin, as the woman at the well was told to do? If we stopped this sin, in a period of 120 years, there would no longer be toil, pain or death. Perhaps Jesus meant what He said: "I have not come except for the lost sheep of the House of Israel." Perhaps He redeemed us from our breech of contract that we refused to adhere to, and God gave us a new contract, so this manifestation known as world would continue for all mankind. If the creative force of God, called Christ, with the body, made up of Israel, were to disappear, the manifestation of world would disappear along with them. Perhaps it is God's desire that this order/design/manifestation continue.

THIRD SIN
        What could be termed the third great sin is that, we as the House of Israel are to believe that Jesus came to redeem us, and do the things that God has commanded us to do, such as seek God's face and obey the commandments and laws. When we don't, we miss the mark, which is sin. Along with that, is our responsibility to be a light unto the world. When we conduct our lives properly and realize who we are (God's chosen, Israelites), the light will shine brightly for the whole world to see. Then the rest of the peoples will see that light, and do as prophesied in Jeremiah 12:16 "And it shall be, if they will indeed learn the way of my people, to swear by my name, saying, The Lord lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall that nation be built in the midst of my people." It is difficult to ascertain what that means completely, but one should be very comfortable putting it in God's hands. It doesn't say they will or will not, be re-born from above, as Israelites, or Spiritual beings. It does seem to imply they will receive the blessings that God is bestowing upon the House of Jacob, that is believing in Him, and calling upon His name, during the body experience here, on earth, during this life time. Provision beyond that are up to God, and it appears He hasn't chosen to tell us (yet).

        The First Sin regards the whole physical flesh manifested world. There was sex, conception, birth (multiplication), pain, sweat and toil, death. All were conceived, and all die. This began with Adam and Eve and continues today. It was not altered or changed one bit by Jesus going to the cross. This will change again when Christ returns and we are all changed in the twinkling of an eye. There will no longer be sex and conception. The dispensation of ALL, lies in God's hands.

        The Second Sin regards the parties of the contract between God and ONLY the House of Jacob, that the creative force of God may continue. This, however is not a conscious action or awareness of these peoples during embodiment, on earth. It was the repair of the breach of contract that had caused our Spiritual separation from God. This separation was ended when Jesus went to the cross and redeemed the House of Jacob. We are forgiven. He will remember our sins no more.

        The Third Sin  regards ALL. Anyone in the world that chooses to learn the ways of God's children, and to swear by God's name, the Lord lives, can obtain the same blessings that God provides for His children, that believe in Jesus Christ, here on earth. I think of it as GOD'S BILLBOARD. For instance,

        We just had a tremendous Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, off Indonesia. Many people were killed, possibly over 220,000. To one that is paying attention, since the news media would definitely NOT point it out, it appears that those that chose to call upon the name of the Lord were saved. In case after case, there are examples of people over there calling upon the name of the Lord, and they are still here to tell their story. I'm certain that there were also some that may have called on the name of the Lord, too late. After a wave washes you five miles out to sea, that may be a very precarious time to get to know the Lord. It may (or may not) seem to be a time when He replies, "I never knew you". There are also many that have chosen not to call upon the name of the Lord, that did not perish. They have chosen to ignore or be enemies of God. I have pondered deeply and seriously as to what to do in response to help those surviving. If we go in to help them, we are being told by their officials that we are not to evangelize and tell them about Christ, that this is just for survival only, that we may help. Also, we may send money, as long as it is not connected with the love of, or service to God. It seems to me, the predicament they are in, is because they did NOT choose to call upon the true Lord in the first place, and if we go in, and can't tell them about the Lord, aren't we leaving them in the same predicament, as though, we didn't go in to help? It seems there are many of those that don't profess to know the Lord that are helping them. Hollywood even had a Tsunami relief concert. I can't judge if they are doing it out of the love of God of for some other reason, but that's for God to know.
        In another way, it seems God has given us a billboard before our eyes, but He can't make us read it. There was a recent situation in Utah with some skiers. There were signs warning that if they went beyond a certain point "YOU COULD DIE". They chose to go around the signs; there was an avalanche; they died. Yes, it's extremely unfortunate as we don't like to see anyone die. In that hazardous area, there are maybe 120 people trying to dig through the snow, endangering their own lives, due to the decision of those skiers. It's so hard for us to let someone perish. It is unthinkable for us to leave the bodies, preserved in ice, to remain, until the dangers of the snow have subsided due to melting. That is of course, unless we can't find them, then a decision to wait until the snow melts, would be acceptable. For now, we assume that one or two may still be alive, and even if it causes half a dozen rescuers, that didn't gamble, and go beyond the warning sign, to lose their lives, we search.
        We can only say that they gambled that maybe the sign was wrong and that they wouldn't really die. Isn't this just like the people hit by the Tsunami, that gambled that maybe they would be OK even if they didn't call upon the name of the
true Lord? Surely they wouldn't die. But they did. They perished. Had they known for sure, they probably would have made a different choice.
        Let us look at the situation from an exaggerated view. Suppose the warning sign was in the ocean where the depth was over 1000 feet. If the sign read: "Anyone swimming here with over 100 feet of tractor chain wrapped around them could DIE," once a person knew the weight of 100 feet of tractor chain, we probably wouldn't have any gamblers, because it's too much a certainty that the sign is correct. But if a couple people did venture that they could beat the odds, what would be the extent of the rescuers. Would we send divers down, or a remote controlled vehicle to retrieve their bodies? Would 120 people be there in boats trying to help? Perhaps we would just declare: "the odds were too certain, there is nothing we can do". If that's the case, then our response relies upon the odds of the gamble and not upon love, and the better the odds of  defying the warning and not dying, the more we help. With the skiers, the odds weren't certain, there was a good possibility that they would make it down the hill. Therefore, we search.

        With the Tsunami victims, many people that don't call upon the Lord, still live long productive lives. The odds of survival were even greater, in fact much greater than with the skiers. Therefore we want to send millions and millions of dollars, and storehouses of food and water, and materials to rebuild, to those that didn't then and don't now, call upon the name of the Lord. We want to give them more material world than they even had before the Tsunami. We want to take them out of their third world plight of not receiving the blessings of God that they didn't receive, because they didn't form their government under Godly principles, and because they called upon the name of other gods than the Lord God Almighty who sent His only begotten Son.
        Basically, aren't we sharing the blessings given to us by our God, with those that choose to be enemies of our God? And on top of that , as we share them, we are told not to speak of our God that gave us these blessings to share. We may soon tire of this.
        Perhaps, we could assist them in setting up the government of their countries under Godly principles and teach them to call upon the name of the Lord, as the founders and settlers of America did, before the next disaster strikes. Wouldn't that be like them choosing to not go beyond the sign warning that they could die, or not swimming in the ocean with over 100 pounds of tractor chain. If we can't convince them of the certainty, and they refuse to read God's billboard, we will just have to let them perish, and join the rescue parties to hunt for their dead bodies.
        This is the lesson that many Christian denominations teach, to "know the Lord", by praying to accept Him. Once you accept the Lord, you are in, and it's a done deal. Of course if that person should come to church and add to the collection plate, or buy "our" books and tapes, that's even better. As one radio minister stated: "If He doesn't have your purse, He doesn't have you".
        Whether it is right or wrong, there should be more to it, than this one act of acceptance. God said: "If you will learn the ways of my people". The sad fact is, that currently, that doesn't require much, as God's people aren't doing as they are supposed to do, including not even knowing who they are, themselves. For those who choose to learn the ways of God's people, a good start would be to follow what God told His people to do in 2Chronicles 7:14 "then if my people, on whom my name is called, should repent, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, I also will hear from heaven, and I will be merciful to their sins, and I will heal their land." This says they should repent, and pray, and seek God's face, and turn from their evil ways. Along with this they should follow God's commandments and laws, and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
        One of the greatest blessing that was brought about by the Tsunami, was the testimony of a minister that was over there, running an orphanage. It was in a phone call where his faith would shame most so-called Christians. He stood near the orphanage, and looking at the wave coming toward him, he shouted: "Lord God Almighty, I know you command the wind and the waves, and you said that if we call upon your name, that you would hear us, and I ask that in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior, you command this wave to stop!" And, he said, the wave slowed down, and didn't come into the orphanage. Then they got the children into a boat; the water was six inches from coming over the side. With all the children in the boat, they headed into the second wave; the boat went up on a 45 degree angle, and up onto the top of the wave. They went with the current, until it slowed, then took the boat to one of the streets above water level and let the children out, turned around and went back to see if they could find any survivors. Earlier, he stood in the orphanage, and told his wife, "I know if I stand here, the water will not come into this room, but for the safety of the children, I will go with them". He and his wife and the children in the orphanage were all safe. The building they left behind was completely wiped out.
        I don't know the race of that man, but I don't think it matters. He knew what God's word said, and he called on the name of the Lord, and the Lord heard him, and answered, and he was saved, here, now, in this life time. Psalm 107:6,13,19,20,28 says,  "Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and He saved them out of their distresses." That's some powerful stuff. How many of us have that much faith? I can't help but wonder if those skiers cried to the Lord.