This is what God has put on my heart and filled it with and now the words of that heart and the meditations of this mind are commanded to offer this reflection on His Word. This is “The Great Lie”- You will not die! Do you know these words? Following Satan’s question posed to Eve “Did God really say you cannot eat from any tree?” Eve responded as she had been directed by Adam in sharing God’s command, “We can eat from every tree but one; the one set in the middle of us all. We must not even touch it lest we know death.” Then Satan proposed The Great Lie: You will not die.” I find it interesting that in such a place of perfection in its infancy, the only word of death comes not in experience with it but the forecast of it due to an act of disobedience. In the midst of all that is right and good, the admonition of God protected them from all manner of harm and evil. Yes, it had to be a choice because God is love but it was right and good for God to protect Adam and Eve so that they could live with an awareness of what could be. What kind of God would God be if he never warned them of the danger which stood in the middle of it all? It was not meant to be a central focus like the “proverbial elephant in the room.” But, it was also not intended to be a surprise as if God had set a trap to watch His creation fall before His very eyes. Of course, this is what Satan intended to happen as he watched creation unfold at the command of God. That creation culminated in the bringing to life Adam and Eve, the very image of the Godhead in the flesh: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are life and they are the evidence that there is life in each tomorrow until there is no more tomorrow when life will then never cease. As mighty ones of God we are called to live in the “eternal tomorrow which begins today” where the trees of life bear fruit in the eternal season of fruitbearing. That “eternal tomorrow today” begins as we proclaim “in sin we will surely die unless we seek the salvation of the Lord.” On our own we speak of death and the elimination of a time when the possibility that there will be no more “next generation” left on earth becomes a very real one. “The Great Lie” is a proposal for that very reality.

Take an honest look at the current culture and climate proposed in today’s world and especially in this nation as it relates to race, gender, birth rights, individual economies and religious freedom. What are the consequences of this proposal if allowed to continue and grow? Is it not the elimination of the “next generation.” A generation that grows naturally in response to the command of God made visible in creation is what is intended to be our “next generation.” But, if there is a “0” population growth due to binary and genderless or same-sex relationships or due to poverty and misguided healthcare which foster damage to our bodies with unproven vaccines (which need an “over time” evaluation) or to the fostering of violence as the dissolution to the 2nd Amendment rights granted in the Constitution or the breakdown of our education systems and curriculum then what future is there? And let me take a moment for the Commonwealth of Kentucky where “Amendment 2” is not about “the right to bear arms” but “the right to bear, or more truthfully, the right to not bear, children.” What are we saying about such a lethal weapon as the confirmation of killing the unborn up to and beyond full term births as is proposed in a few states as a national agenda platform?

Are we so consumed with “my” right that we are blinded now to the truth which stands against “The Great Lie”? Of course, we will die in the flesh and we can actually make the choice to take the future put into our hands and end it with us. Look at the servant who buried his future in the ground for fear of losing it instead of trusting the belief the master had in him. He lost it all. He ceased to exist for the future. He was buried in his own past. Mighty ones of God, we will surely die but we shall live in Jesus as the Christ. It is by faith in Him alone that we not only not worry about tomorrow but that we live as if we are already in the midst of the tomorrow that shall never end which is of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. But, if we choose to act as if we are a god of our own making and validation, then we shall also die into a tomorrow we would rather never face today. It is a tomorrow where death, dying, sorrowing, crying, hungering, thirsting and desiring for our wants over our needs exist in painful reality for an eternity. What shall we choose this day? Joshua declared “We will serve the Lord our God.” What shall we say? Shall it be “We will fill our mouths with faith and faithfulness and declare the way of the Lord as our own by letting Him fully into our hearts and be filled to overflowing with faith, hope and love? Let mercy and grace abound. Let forgiveness and forgiving be our calling cards to share the gospel of peace and eternal life. Let us bow down and worship the Lord who is the God of all whether the “all” confess it or not. For one day is coming when “every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess and be determined by that confession to which eternal tomorrow shall be ours by Jesus the Christ whose name and reality will be undeniable.” He is our true next generation of life- life in the spirit of truth, the only truth which can truly set us free. I cast my vote for Him. How about you?