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Adam was blessed with the highest and most noble ministry of worshipping
God in the Garden of Eden. No doubt when God came down in the cool of
the day Adam ministered to Him. It is most likely that it was also at
that time daily when God brought the animals to Adam to be named. God
could have done that work but He lovingly deferred the ministry to His
created, beloved Adam. How incredibly intelligent Adam must have been
to name thousands of species. It would also have taken a long, long time
but of what was there to be concerned? Time was to be enjoyed for fellowship.
As time went by Adam saw that all the animals and birds had mates but
"there was not found a help meet for him." It is evident that
Adam was alone with God in the Garden a very long time before Eve was
made. Adam was given two responsibilities by the Lord. To "dress"
the garden and to "keep" the garden. The word "keep"
in all of its meaning would have made Adam a "watchman" to be
on the alert. This clearly reveals that the Lord had fully instructed
Adam concerning Satan and his devices. Adam was to keep the garden from
being invaded. His failure to do so once Eve came along is evident. He
obviously neglected to clearly instruct this new wife concerning the enemy
and his attempts at invading the garden. That Eve was drawn towards the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil shows that she was not fully equipped
to deal with the situation, for the "serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field...." Adam had given the serpent its name because
of its cleverness and subtlety. This was not in a bad sense because all
that God saw that He had created was "good." The serpent was,
no doubt possessed by Satan, who then deceived Eve . Jesus warning in
John's Gospel declares: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it." (Jn 8:44)
Paul the apostle speaks of the serpent beguiling Even through its subtlety.
"But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ." (2Cor11:3) Herein is the essence of all that happened
to Eve and herein is the danger to every believer: that our MINDS should
be corrupted from the SIMPLICITY that is in Christ. The moment that anybody
tries to make the word or Christ in any wise complex, let the warning
flag go up. There are so many wicked men with beguiling subtlety to lead
people away from the truth: the pure, simple truth of Christ. Adam's failure
to be a true watchman over the garden and a watchman over his wife is
the same failure of men in the church today Paul is very clear when he
says, "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave
any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person
of Christ; Lest satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant
of his devices." (2Cor 2: 10,11) The word "DEVICES" is"noema"
in the Greek and means "MIND THOUGHTS." In other words, we are
not ignorant of satan's mind thoughts. He plants thoughts in the mind
by cunning, crafty suggestion but he cannot read the thoughts of your
mind. It is the business of men and fathers to set up a hedge about their
garden and to instruct their families and loved ones against the devices
of the devil whilst we get on with the real work and ministry that the
Lord has given us: fellowship with Him. Think of how many ways the enemy
comes in with his DEVICES to corrupt the minds of wives and families who
men have not protected and instructed. What a responsibility.
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The
Shekinah/Kalibu team would like to thank all those responsible for the successful
loading and departure of the container. Our grateful thanks to Russell from
Mail It in Toledo who drove through ice and snow to deliver items to West
Lafayette on Feb 22nd. Thank you to all those at Camp Tecumseh and West
Lafayette who stored and loaded everything. The container is due to arrive
in Malawi on April 28th.