AND NOW, A WORD FROM ADAM

Adam, the very first man on this speck of dust hurtling around the sun, has something to say. Let’s lend him an ear.

THE BEGINNING

My eyes opened. I looked upon an environment filled with an array of beautiful colours. It is as if I instantly knew who and what I was as I observed the lushness of a variety of trees and the fruit thereon. There were sections between the trees where colourful plants and herbs of all kinds grew, ready to be harvested. A thought registered in my mind. I was in the Garden of Eden.

I became conscious of a sense of individuality about me and an even greater awareness that I was not alone. And then I saw Him. I did not know fear as I would later, but for now my only emotion was gladness and joy. There was a gentle authority in His voice when He started speaking and as His words came to my hearing I knew that this was my creator. He said He brought me into existence for His pleasure and to have constant fellowship with Him. And then He showed me all the animal creatures He had made and asked me to name them all, which I did. He smiled, as if bemused by my creativeness.

The next thing He told me was that He was giving me authority over the whole earth and everything therein. He also told me that I may eat the fruit of all the trees except for a certain tree in the midst of the garden, the fruit of which was strictly forbidden for me to eat and that I would die should I eat thereof. I wondered about the meaning of death, but knew I had to obey the Creator’s command concerning this particular tree.

Suddenly, I was gone. When I came to there stood before me another creature, just like me, but very pleasing to the eye. I don’t know why, but my heart skipped a beat and I felt weak at the knees. Then the Creator told me who she was and that we were to multiply and bring forth many just like us. I named her Eve. We became as one. She was to become the mother of all human creatures on earth.

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

For the next few days we frolicked and played in that beautiful place. We enjoyed each other’s company immensely as we explored the garden, eventually gravitating to the middle thereof. My wife looked up at the forbidden tree, not noticing the serpent that had sidled up to her. He started discussing the merits of the fruit of that tree with her and assured her that nothing would become of us if we partook thereof and that it would open a new dimension to our existence. My wife believed him and plucked from the tree, took a bite and handed it to me to do the same. I was a bit apprehensive, remembering the Creator’s words. Surely, I thought, the woman given to me by the Creator knew best – and why would that God-created serpent mislead us? So I ate of the fruit.

And then a strange thing came over both of us. We suddenly saw that we were naked, something we had not noticed before. A brand new emotion added itself to my inner being – something called fear. The words of warning from the Creator flashed through my mind. My heart pounded in my chest. We were in serious trouble. I just knew we had to hide. That serpent removed himself from the scene – and so did we.

What I feared most happened. The voice of the Creator rang through my ears. He looked upon us as if He knew that we had transgressed. I tried to blame my wife, to no avail. We listened as He pronounced judgement upon us and the serpent. The penalty was death and eternal damnation. There was nothing we could do to restore our standing with the Creator.

THE PENALTY

I later ruminated over the situation and figured that if we could pay the penalty by dying physically and coming back to life again, we would be able to reclaim our former status. There was only one very big problem. Who would raise us from the dead? Besides, we were spiritual beings wrapped in flesh and bones and only the Creator had charge over our spirits. In fact, we were spiritually cut off from Him, having put on a new nature imposed upon us by a fallen angel, Satan. By deceit, our God-given dominion over the earth was snatched by him. For some reason we preferred to fall in line with the evil side of good and evil. The knowledge we gained from eating the fruit of that forbidden tree would be a condition inherent in our offspring. Nevertheless, remorsefully, we would never forget from where we came.

We tried to instil our knowledge of God in our children, but the overwhelming trend for them was to do their own thing. Our first son, Cain, murdered our second son, Abel. Over the centuries, as nations were formed from the many children born into this world, things grew worse. However, a handful of individuals did manage to walk righteously before God and they were marked for some kind of redemption at a future date known only by the Creator. About seventeen hundred years after my wife and I first opened our eyes on this planet, human creatures had become so wicked in their ways that God destroyed all of them except for eight individuals, namely, Noah and his family. They were to restart the human race – and, once again, Satan had to recruit new human agents to continue on his destructive course against the human race made in the image of God.

During the centuries that followed, millions more were obliterated from the earth either directly by the Creator or by a chosen race of people assigned to carry out the judgement.

YOUR WORLD

I know I’m no longer alive to write any of this, but I’m representative of the spirit of man and responsible for your downfall, so for the sake of continuity, I will proceed. I could, of course, hand the pen over to my wife, Eve. She knows as much as I do, but I’m still annoyed with her.

You, the readers, live in an advanced age filled with modern technology and your minds are in total captivity to what it represents. Without it you would be lost. At least in my age we had time to think about the reality of our situation.

Perhaps you should switch yourself off from everything around you for a few moments and do some serious thinking. Earlier on I mentioned that it would be impossible for me to pay the penalty for my transgression, for if did not have the power to raise myself from the dead and restore my relationship with God.

Well, I have some good news. There was a second Adam – one who was without sin and who had the power to raise himself from the dead because of who he was and still is. His name is Jesus Christ, the very Word of God made flesh. He did, in fact, do just that. He died to pay that penalty on behalf of mankind and raised himself from the dead so that all could be made righteous and live in perfect relationship with God.

I, the first Adam, plunged all of you into darkness. Jesus, the second Adam, pulled all of you out of darkness into his marvellous Light. There’s an open invitation from him to you. He is waiting for you at the Cross – the only entrance to redemption for all.

You need but one thing only – and that is to believe who he says he is. It is entirely up to you.

Thank you for your time.

WORD OF THANKS

On behalf of all readers I want to thank Adam for paying us a visit and laying it on the line for us.