“And He (the Lord God) placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
– Genesis 3:24
When the Lord God saw that man had accessed that which was forbidden by Him, He locked away the gates and barred entry into the garden of Eden. It wasn’t because He wanted to deny them entry forever (for otherwise Jesus would not have had to come to the earth and painstakingly made a way for us to get to the Tree of Life), but because HE wanted to protect man from the demonic forces that could potentially enter through that gateway. You might wonder how that is possible. Here’s how:
Eden lay at the border of the spirit world. It was the first point of entry for entities that existed beyond, that wanted to enter the earth which is the Lord’s marvelous creation. The fallen were forbidden and cast away from heaven but they could enter Eden.
Satan was there, right at the point of entry but not a step further because that was as far as he could go. From here, he was able to entice Eve into the trap that he had laid for her. He whispered in her ears,
“Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant”. But she did not know that the dead were there and that his guests were in the depths of hell.
-Proverbs 9:17,18
It was a crafty plan and it worked. Seduction and then destruction were on his mind then and they remain so even now. These have been his main weapons throughout history. He seduces so he could deceive. Deception is what awaited Eve. She did not know what to expect, and whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t losing everything she had had until that moment. Her and Adam’s willful act of disobedience meant that the fall was now official, the gates were breached, security fell, and the veil between the worlds was torn. As all this happened, another veil fell silently separating man and God.
We too are like Eve in a lot of ways. Naive, we presume that we are equipped to meet the enemy head on in spiritual warfare. But until we know the enemy’s craft and guile, we cannot win. Granted, the grace of our Lord has already made us victorious through His sacrifice on The Cross. But do we really profess that victory and practice it in every aspect of our lives? Are we completely victorious in the battles that we fight?
Popular media portrays the devil as a two horned guy or sometimes a goat headed human. Whatever he may look like be, he never reveals his true identity to his victims. Eve never saw his true self. He charmed his way into her life. When he presented himself as a sensitive, supportive and friendly creature, she gave in. Oh, she was all in! That was her fall and her undoing.
——————
The con was complete. It was a devious plan, one that he was confident would work and it worked out very well. The devil and his hordes could now enter our world at will.
Herein lies an obvious question. Why would the LORD God who is merciful and compassionate, allow this heinous act in the first place? Shouldn’t he have stood by the gates and guarded Eve when Adam couldn’t or didn’t? Why did HE allow this?
The simple and unpopular answer is, it is a choice. It is singularly the most unique ability presented to every human being when he or she is born in this world.
A choice is a gift from God. Man was created with the ability to choose for himself. The human ability to choose is very much like the Garden of Eden itself – a territory that has been exclusively given to use as they see fit. Neither deity nor demon can enter this territory without first being invited in. All they can do is to beckon and entice us so that we would invite them in. But man chose wrong. He believed the lie that he need not be satisfied with the riches he had been given and ventured to see for himself what lay beyond.
The dream world can be likened to Eden – a buffer zone, a zone of your own choice. What you permit, enters. Permission could come from a variety of factors, which we will delve into later chapters God willing. Now, let us get back to Eden.
What was Satan doing in Eden in the first place? What was his need to be there?
The answer lies in the fact that he had been stripped of his position and cast out from heaven. People who are disgracefully removed from positions of power and influence, often observe who replaces them. They then conceive all sorts of cunning schemes to do whatever they can to try and weasel back into that place to gain their former glory. Failing that, they deceive their successor and supplant them. We see this treachery all the time in our political and corporate worlds.
Man was one of the chief ways for the devil to get back his lost glory, or so he thought. In a way he did get some glory, the glory he stole from man because God had blessed Adam and Eve with blessings that had a great promise in them- dominion over the earth. And if there is one trait of the devil that we can identify with absolute certainty, it is his lust for power.
For he said in his heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
-Isaiah 14: 13, 14
Pay attention to all the ‘I wills’. Learning about his long-harbored intentions is certainly interesting, but there is a little more to the story in the garden.
The Word of God metaphorically compares the human soul to a walled garden (Song of Solomon 4:12, 13; Numbers 24: 6; Isaiah 58:11).
You are a garden of Eden. Your soul is a garden. There are many such references scattered all over The Bible. It also points out that our soul, is a hedged garden. A Spirit being from another world cannot enter our world unless and otherwise the entry seal is tampered with. This seal has been or can be broken in certain ways: the sin that entered through Adam and Eve which has been carried through over generations; the sins of an individual during their lifetime; the practice of witchcraft and sorcery which can hound not just the person targeted at but also the person who practices it. This is a curse that can be passed on by a person’s bloodline through generations. Witchcraft and sorcery are entry points for the enemy and once he gains admission, it is a highway for him.
The result of his gaining entry could manifest in a person in different ways depending on the level up to which the devil has gained access. Think of it like an elevator in a skyscraper. He weasels his way in through the lowest levels which includes a person’s dream dimension and slowly gains access to the higher levels like his intellect and reason, eventually taking possession of his soul and his whole life, never stopping until he drags that soul into the pits of eternal torment alongside him. That is the naked truth of Satan’s deception.
The consequences of his gaining entry while a person is still living on this earth, manifests itself in different ways. These manifestations in the body, soul and the spirit would be a study for another chapter.
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