Back in the garden, everything is perfect. We are in love with our God, each other and we live in an environment that is gorgeous beyond belief. Then it happens, that evil presence who would divide heaven makes his way into the garden. That liar, he deliberately tricks us into doubting God's Word and he gives false hope and promises. Worse yet, he suckers us into putting our head before our heart. Instead of relying on God and His word, we rely on our own wits and what we perceive in this world, and we are deceived. Oh were we deceived, and our relationship with God was changed because of what we did, and we became men of thinking instead of men of heart. And sin and death entered the world, and we realized we were naked. God makes the first "sacrifice" and animals are killed for their skins to cover our nakedness. To cover our sin. From then on, Man's sin can only be covered by the blood and death of an innocent.

God's Lover, Man, has been abducted and is in bondage. Man is held by the power of death, Man is slave to the influence of sin. God is greatly grieved.

But look...listen...right then and there God promises the unbelievable...the unthinkable...even though Man was unfaithful, even though he chose another lover, God promises to send a hero to rescue us (see Genesis 3:15).

The planet survives but the new stage is quite different.

+ Rain and rainbows
+ Hot & cold and the earth has seasons
+ The death penalty for murder becomes mandatory
+ Man's life span is shortened to 120 years**
+ The animals, birds and fish fear Man, for God makes:

Then something miraculous happens, after thousands of years of allowing Man to try to do things on his own, and hundreds of years of what seemed like silence, God sends in the hero. And the hero is God, Himself. How does He do it? He enters the world as a child! An innocent, weak, poopy diaper baby, born into a modest family in a small village called Bethlehem just as it was foretold many hundreds of years ago. What good is a child against the world, with it's Roman Army and all? What good is a child against Satan and all the forces of darkness?

Watch...watch as this child grows to be a man. A man like no other in history. The stories He tells of heaven and hell, of God's Kingdom, all with such authority, well, it's just as if...as if He had been there Himself. He is called a teacher and a great healer. Look, the blind can see, leprosy is cured, and evil spirits flee at His command. He even raises the dead. Some see Him as the Son of God. But He sets Himself strong and hard against certain sects of society so there are some who distrust Him. They get so annoyed they soon set out to destroy Him. First they try to discredit Him. When that doesn't work they falsely accuse Him, but it's not enough, so they set out to kill. They hang Him on a cross and He dies. What a waste.

But wait...that's it! That's why He came, to die, and to reconcile the world back to Himself. He was the ultimate innocent, the perfect sacrifice for His Beloved, Man, just as it was promised way back in Genesis. And die He did but He did something else, something far greater, something no one else had ever done before, something no one else has been able to repeat since, He rose up from the dead.

There...that's the turning point of all life! And in doing so He proved His claims were exactly as He said. He was who He said He was: The Son of The Living God. He freed Man from the bondage of death. He freed Man from the slavery of sin. Just as important, He freed man's heart to follow God again. Man is free, and there is hope, if he chooses to call on the name of Jesus The Christ. For without Him, there is no hope.

Satan started this war when he rebelled against God. It wasn't our war in the beginning, but Satan and his thugs have done their best to drag us into it. Man chose to be a part of it when he disobeyed. God drew a simple line. Adam and Eve crossed it, and like it or not, as their heirs, we are all a part of it. So what do we do? What can we do? It's so simple, all God asks is for you to give your heart to Christ. That's it?

Yes! Then what? Here's where it gets tough, for we are ordered to carry on with the war, moment by moment, day by day, battle by battle until He returns. But He warns us to be prepared; Satan doesn't play fair:

Satan still has most of Man utterly confused. Other religions, I mean who's right and wrong in all this? Well, it's pretty easy to see God made sacrifice for sin mandatory. Could that be why we see some sort of sacrifice system on all continents of the ancient world? And although many cultures stooped to using people for sacrifice, notice, Buddha didn't die for you. None of the "gods" in the Hindu system died for you. Mohammad? Nope he didn't either. In fact there is only one in history who died specifically for you and that is the Messiah spoken of in Genesis 3:15, Psalm 22 and Isaiah Chapter 53. Understand, that heaven and hell aren't made up of the good and the bad, (we are all bad!) this is the battle line; you are either for Christ; you have the awesome privilege and ability to be able to personally know Him, thank Him, and to join Him...or you are flat out against Him. There is no in between. So...