Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). It has been taught that God arranged for the snake to lie to Eve and caused the fall of mankind. The story goes a little like this: Man was innocent and did not know that God was good. God needing to be known as good could find no other way to be good than to invent sin. Sin is in God’s divine plan and is according to His will. God did not just have a plan for the redemption of mankind, but planned to curse mankind and, to prove how good He is, sent His Son to rescue us. The proof is, “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.’” (Genesis 3:22a).

Where is it written that Adam did not know good? And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:10). And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:12). And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:24). Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth” (Genesis 1:26). And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food (Genesis 1:29). God gave Adam and Eve dominion over what was good and gave to them good to eat. It is that mankind did not know good and evil, because he knew not evil.

In what way is sin enlightening? “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). Evil dwells in darkness and will not come into the light. The evil deeds (sin) cause men to love darkness and does not show them the good in God. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:33-34). Would a God that made man both good and evil speak those words? But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice (Romans 7:17-19). Because of the sin that dwells within, Paul said, “… what is good I do not find.” Sin does not lead one to know good.

What causes a man of God, called and anointed, to teach something that is one hundred percent opposite from truth? Satan wants man to believe that it is not evil to follow him and to sin is not evil. If sin is God’s will, so that we will know God as good, then sin is not sin; sin is just another reality that we can choose and still be walking in God’s will and plan for our life. Sin is even good because it enlightens those that need good. Light is easier to see in the dark. Those that need to be good can find their goodness easier when they are among the evil darkness. That message has found its way into doctrine (what is taught). When the story is heard without knowing the outcome, it sounds like it is true. Nothing is outside of God’s control; God does allow evil (the freewill to choose) but God is good and did not need evil to be good.

A pastor told of a man that confessed of being homosexual. The drive to be with another man was overwhelming. The man also confessed that men that he had trusted had raped him when he was innocent. Because of the damage that was done to him, he was tormented by a desire that he did not want. The same thing happens when someone we trust mixes a lie with the truth. Damage is done to us if we believe the lie and retell it as truth. That is why a man of God, anointed and ordained, will teach something that is not truth, because someone planted it in him. God is just and looks at our heart. God takes us where we are and uses us while we are learning and growing.

How did God show mankind that He was good? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:16-17). If God did not plan sin and send evil so we could know Him as good, why did He plan redemption before the creation? Is prophecy of God? Where does the prophet get the word? From God! God knew through prophecy (knowledge of what would be) that mankind would need redemption. God created mankind knowing that, when tempted, mankind would sin. Jesus was sent to save and not to condemn. Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world because mankind would sin and not so that mankind could sin. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). Did God create sin so that grace could abound? No! It was an act of love, and not an act of evil, that shows mankind that God is good.

© 2007 Tim D. Coulter Sr.