The Birth Of Mammon pt 1

There’s a not so old saying that “Money makes the world go round”, made popular by a 1972 musical staring Lisa Minnelli and Joel Grey. And since the fall of Adam, this saying indeed, rings true in the world we live in today. The quality of life, and very often... life itself, is determined by the quantity of cash we are able to command.

Before the ‘Fall’, man shared what seemed like an almost seamless relationship with the LORD, in the Garden Of Eden. GOD and Adam were so ‘one’ that sometimes, you couldn’t tell where one began and where the other one ended. Adam was so in sync with the LORD that they did all things as one. Adam flowed in an unending move of the Spirit almost as if he were a kind of an extension of the Godhead, in the truest sense...as he was given complete dominion over the earth and everything in it. 

Note that in Genesis 2:19 it says: And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Did you catch that? When it came time for Adam to name the animals, Adam instinctively understood that he wasn’t responsible for the responsibility he was given. He only played a part in something GOD wanted to do in him, for him, and through him. He didn’t have to wander about on some painstaking safari to tediously hunt, find, and somehow catalog, all the untold myriads of creatures in creation…and then rack and push his...yes, anointed...but still, human brain, to its breaking point, to figure out what all those animals were and what in the heck to name them all.  

Indeed, Adam innately understood that if the LORD wanted him to do something...anything, that it was the LORD doing the thing—in him, required of him...and that as in all things, Adam only played a part of something that GOD Himself was doing. Adam was fashioned to understand that it wasn’t up to him. It was never up to him. It was always up the GOD. For, as a fish is at home in the ocean, and the bird is at home in the crest of the sky, so Adam was created to be at home in the ‘rest’ and to let GOD be GOD…in all things.(Selah)

And so, in Adam’s indigenous move of the Spirit with GOD, he patiently rested...waiting on GOD to make the first move—or to move him. And the LORD did. GOD had the animals, sea creatures, fowls of the air, insects, (opportunities, opened doors, etc…) to present themselves to Adam. Then, Adam depended upon the wisdom the LORD gave (and not his own understanding) to get the job done.

Ahhh, but it goes even deeper than that. The text actually says “…and brought them (the animals) unto Adam to see what he would call them.” Did you see that? “to see what he would call them”??!! The LORD himself didn’t know what Adam would call the animals. He endued Adam with the same power, authority, and wisdom that He Himself operated in; but just as importantly, GOD also endowed him with the same…creativity. Man was ordained to operate creatively as an extension of GOD Himself. When we are being creative by the Spirit, sometimes, not even the LORD knows what we will create, as we are literally—creatively birthing something from nothing, by the same Spirit—the way He does.

This is the place of Eden which is translated “Pleasure”. When we ‘work’ by the Spirit, or we co-labor with GOD...in all things. In Him, we are creative...inventive…innovative. We create art, music, ideas, approaches, architectures, systems (of all kinds), etc...This is the place where we were meant to live, thrive, and have our being. It is in this place that ‘work’ is truly...a pleasure.

But then, something terrible…something unthinkable happened on the day that Adam sinned. The guilt of his sin, robbed him of his liberty to have faith in GOD, anymore. He no longer felt worthy to look to GOD to bless him, or even do things for him. He felt an insatiable need to make up for his terrible sin and weaknesses. He was now besieged by what felt like an irresistible impulse to earn his own way, in order to find refudge from his newly born yet, torturous conscience. 

But, that’s not the worst of it. The worst part is, that in the same moment that Adam’s tormenting conscience was born, his human spirit, the very part of him that connected him to GOD...died. Yes. Adam’s spirit died, in that very moment.

For, GOD said to Adam in Gen 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  

Adam’s sin had severed his connection with GOD. As a result, it killed his human spirit. He could feel the emptiness in his now dead, spirit; the emptiness that would come to characterize and drive humanity deeper into the darkness—in frantic search for what was lost, on this day.

Now, everything was different. Everything. But, the LORD immediately picked Himself up and encouraged Himself by setting forth the first phases of an amazing plan of redemption and salvation—using the animal sacrifice system as a model in preparation for Jesus. 

But Adam...he never recovered. He never got over it. For when Adam lost GOD, he lost...everything. And he was acutely aware of everything he had lost. Because now, he was shut out from Paradise...shut out from Eden—or the PLEASURE of co-laboring with GOD. Indeed, Adam was now shut out from the very presence of GOD, Himself...the only thing that gave his life meaning and satisfaction. Now, what was once given freely, Adam now had to toil for, to earn his way for , to work for…by the sweat of his brow. 

What’s more...now, something had to die as payment…for him to continue in a relationship with GOD, which was now reduced to something distant, shadowy, and cold by former comparison. Now, he had to sacrifice something as a fee for GOD’s favor, His blessing, and even His help. Now, everything had changed. Everything.

And this…this...is where Mammon was born.

-to be continued-

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