The Allure of Knowledge Outside of God

You’ve heard it said that knowledge is power. That statement is often attributed to Francis Bacon, though no actual occurrence of this statement is found in his published writing. Regardless of authorship, most of us agree with the concept. Knowledge is of great benefit to us, and provides us with an advantage over someone who does not. 

Knowledge is worth pursuing, right? But the acquisition of it can be tricky business. I point to the book of Genesis as Exhibit A.

Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

This is what most people refer to as “the original sin” incident. Verse 6 (the number six generally represents mankind) tells us that all Eve wanted to do was become wise. But when one picks apart the sin, there’s a lot to come away with:

1. Eve listened to Satan instead of trusting God’s admonition, and believed Satan’s mis-characterization of God’s intention.
2. Eve trusted her own judgment, having determined the fruit had qualities similar to the other fruit, which made it acceptable to consume.
3. Eve desired knowledge that was not offered to her by God, dismissing His caution that it would be harmful to her.
4. Eve believed the knowledge she pursued by choice would elevate her to the same status as God.
5. Eve shared that knowledge with Adam, so he suffered, too.

What a powerful lie that ol’ serpent delivered! Eve, you won’t die. You’ll become God. The terrible impact of her life-altering choice cannot be overstated. Yet, could all of humanity really be punished for something as seemingly benign as desiring knowledge outside of God? That’s a pretty extreme consequence, isn’t it? Knowledge wasn’t power. It was death.

Our enemy has been running the same con ever since. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the summary of common “religions” in practice today and identify the common thread. These religions, I believe, represent a gradual separation of the “herd” by Satan. Bonus points for getting us to hate each other over the differences in doctrine.

• Buddhism has a defined path to Nirvana, which is the practitioner’s ultimate goal. It’s their release from the cycle of death (and rebirth) described as perfect happiness. Reaching Nirvana is completely dependent on one’s self, through actions, self-evaluation, and meditation.
• Taoism says there is no God who created and controls the universe. The universe springs from the Tao, and the Tao impersonally guides things on their way. Taoists have the ultimate goal of becoming “one” with creation.
• Paganism/Wicca involves the elevation of nature to the level of God or Goddess. Many are polytheistic and engage in witchcraft or magical practices. Pagans have absolute sovereignty when making life choices. They reject anything that looks like Abrahamic faith, including Hell. Some believe in Ancestor worship, some believe in reincarnation, and most believe in an afterlife in Summerland, Asgard, or the Celtic Otherworld. Anything goes, except for Judeo-Christian God, and Heaven, or Hell. They often put Mother Earth/Father Sky in the center of their spirituality.
• Intellectualism is characterized by the self-driven pursuit of knowledge. Intellectuals tend to favor scientific disciplines, relying on the published or widely accepted knowledge for philosophical and moral guidance. It’s self-directed; and often atheist.
• Hinduism says there are four goals in life that it’s acceptable to pursue: desire/passion, wealth/power, duty to self or the greater good, and finally freedom from death/rebirth. These are each driven by the individual, and flavors of Hinduism include monotheism, pantheism, polytheism and other positions. The Hindi decides what God is, or isn’t.
• Satanism is an outright in-your-face mockery of God, in which practitioners worship the enemy, and despise God.
• Islam has five pillars. The first is the professing of faith: one professes there is only one God, which many Christians can easily accept. However, the corollary to this is that Muhammed is the only true messenger of God. He wrote the Quran himself over a period of years, claiming the knowledge came from Gabriel. This is in sharp contrast to the Bible, with many authors over many lifetimes. Muhammed had five wives, in opposition to his stated limit of four wives in the Quran. His wives include a girl of 8-9 years old, and the divorced wife of his adopted son. He claimed it was to fulfill God’s word; the attitude is inconsistent with ignoring God’s word about marital limits.
• Gnosticism (definition is “having knowledge”) is comprised of ancient religious concepts which originated in the first century AD among early Christian and Jewish sects. Perhaps this was the first alluring knowledge offered to tempt the early church, after Jesus. Gnostics focused on personal spiritual knowledge over orthodox teachings and authority. Salvation is said to come from direct knowledge of the “supreme divinity,” delivered through intuitive insight. Gnostics think a flawed and evil demiurge created the material universe, which trapped the “divine spark” within it. Many Gnostic favor “illusion and enlightenment” over “sin and repentance.”
  

Though the summaries are generalized, you can probably spot the common theme, right? In many of these systems, the knowledge and actions are what gets one to their “final” destination or spiritual state. They each claim that knowledge gained outside of God’s word results in the elevation of one’s life to some ultimate state. Eve, you won’t die. You’ll become God.

It’s the same con, run by Satan, for millennia. And his goal is to separate us from God.

I’m not bashing people who believe something different than I do. But I am compelled to share with you what I believe God is telling me, and which I’m doing my best to explain. This ancient con is perilous to you and me. It goes way beyond the story of Eve in the Garden; let me show you how.

I need to back up a little, in order to get to the point. Throughout early adulthood, I sought knowledge from whatever source seemed hip, and though I often found what seemed like the answer to the mystery of life, the discoveries never really satisfied. Biblical scripture seemed dry, lifeless, and irrelevant to me, so that was an automatic no-go. Eventually, I came around and gave my life to Christ. But even then, Bible study just wasn’t captivating. Whatever, I said to myself, I’m saved. But more recently, I started to question my salvation, and my commitment to my faith.

Becoming aware of a sense of urgency in life (at the ripe age of 49), I asked God what I could do for His kingdom, suggesting study of His word as an offering. He blessed my request, and I began to see something more than just the printed words on the pages of scripture. When I learned the concept of types and shadows in scripture, it completely blew my mind. A floodgate was opened, and my mind whirled with information that was poured out faster than I could handle.

Today I realize that one could literally study scripture every single day, all day long, for a lifetime – and still not capture all the wisdom contained therein. There’s no need to seek spiritual knowledge outside of God’s word. That alone will keep us busy for ages. Actually, even just the first book of the Bible is enough to keep me busy. And it’s the perfect book with which to begin, as it tells us exactly what to expect from the beginning of mankind, through the end of the age.

Isiaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

What do we read about in the first three chapters? There was creation, a guy and gal in a nice garden with God, followed by sin and then the pair getting kicked out of Eden. Simple enough.

But I applied the principle of types and shadows, and this is what jumped out at me. Eve represents (us) the beloved of Adam (Christ). What if her story is also the story of us being lured away from God, by Satan, with his sneaky promise that knowledge pursued outside of God will elevate us to the status of God, Himself? Eve, you won’t die. You’ll become God.

But that was a lie, and the knowledge they gained proved to be fatal.

I’m not suggesting we disable the internet, stop pursuing a cure for cancer, cease all scientific exploration, burn books on philosophy, and then crawl back to caves and fire. God gave us, uniquely, a spark of creativity for a reason. Knowledge is wonderful to acquire and apply, as long as we don’t get bamboozled into believing it replaces spiritual knowledge. Knowledge isn’t power. It’s a responsibility.

So why are we conditioned to push our children into higher education, where they are systematically and relentlessly divested of anything as old-fashioned and limiting as the Bible, with its absolute morality? We send them to places where they are promised that the knowledge they gain in school will make them special. They’re force-fed the idea that knowledge will elevate them to a state far superior to those souls fettered by religious constructs. Eve, you won’t die. You’ll become God.

By all means we should encourage young adults to pursue knowledge in a field of study about which they are passionate. We also must help them understand the value of genuine and focused spiritual study. And, when it comes to spiritual knowledge, we must encourage them to carefully vet the sources from which they’re getting it. University professors. Apocrypha. The World Wide Web. Numerology. Tarot Cards. YouTube. Media. Cultural studies. Friends. Drug-induced visions. Social media. Junior college. Self-help Books. Dreams. Family members.

Even churches.

Satan is still doing his level best to steal the Bride of Christ through knowledge that’s disguised as spiritual, but has not been offered by God. If you don’t believe me, take a look at this chart with a proposed evolution of world religions. There’s clearly a divide-and-conquer strategy in play. You can view the file here.

Knowledge of God is found in God’s word. We need to eat from the trees that have been offered to us by God, and not repeat this original sin.

1. Eve listened to Satan instead of trusting God’s admonition, and believed Satan’s mis-characterization of God’s intention. We should trust in God’s pure love for us.
2. Eve trusted her own judgment, having determined the fruit had qualities similar to the other fruit, which made it acceptable to consume. We should not accept knowledge that sounds spiritual, but isn’t from God.
3. Eve desired knowledge that was not offered to her by God, dismissing His caution that it would be harmful to her. We should trust God’s to teach us in His timing.
4. Eve believed the knowledge she pursued by choice would elevate her to the same status as God. We should accept that we will never be God.
5. Eve shared that knowledge with Adam, so he suffered, too. We should be very careful to not share ungodly ideas with others.

The spiritual knowledge I have pursued and gained in the past couple of years has been life changing for me. But, no matter how much I have learned, I understand that it will never, ever elevate me to the status of God. Even when the knowledge we pursue is Godly, if we lack humility, we start down a very slippery slope to pride. That’s not godly, at all.

I see prideful behavior in many of the videos and social media posts among the Watchmen community. Each person asserts a particular revelation has been given to them by God. Often, those revelations are absolute opposition to a revelation that came from a different person with a similar assertion about its source. It worries me to the point of reluctance to share what I’ve been learning. Never, EVER do I want to be in a place where I say something about God that isn’t truth. Take everything to God in prayer.

In closing, let me show you some Biblical examples of the pursuit of knowledge:

Job. Pursued his own salvation through strictly following God’s laws, and even added to his sacrifices, believing it would make him even more acceptable to God. He added his own knowledge. It was disastrous, and only improved when he acknowledged God’s supreme, yet incomprehensible, authority. His friends ran their mouths about God’s nature, adding their own opinions to the discourse, and made God angry.

Pharisees. Famous for pursuing knowledge themselves, adding volumes of complication to God’s law and completely rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. Brood of vipers. Told they were the offspring of Satan.

Solomon. Asked God for wisdom. It was granted and all were amazed at his understanding. Eventually, he understood that all of his accomplishments and pursuits were…vanity.

Three Wise Men. Looked in scripture to pursue the knowledge of God and his Messiah. They were rewarded by coming face to face with Jesus.

Think about that.