The bitter harvest of human pain did not sprout from ignorance but from rebellion. This truth, buried beneath modern conveniences and intellectual arrogance, echoes from the earliest pages of Scripture: “In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die ” (Genesis 2:17). Not a metaphor. Not an allegory. A divine verdict that still shapes the anatomy of human struggle. Yet, mankind, like a rebellious son with inherited deafness, continues to eat.
The world is not in disarray because God hid Himself. Romans 1:20 makes that emphatically clear: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” The Creator never withdrew; it is humanity that departed. Like Adam and Eve, we have all, in some way, reached for the forbidden. We’ve chosen knowledge over wisdom, reason over revelation, and rights over righteousness. And we are dying by our own choices.
Dr. Tony Evans once remarked, “ God will let you have your way if you insist on it, but you won’t like what you get.” This is the story of Eden. And it is the story of us. Our generation, more than any before, is eating fruit that looks right but leads to rot. We call it freedom, but it is enslavement. We baptize sin with psychology, culture, and rights, then wonder why peace keeps escaping our grasp like mist through fingers.
Genesis is not an ancient myth—it is a mirror. We see ourselves in Cain’s defiance, in Lamech’s arrogance, in Adam’s silence, and Eve’s curiosity. We see a spiral, a multiplication of decay, all traced to one fatal choice: ignoring divine instruction. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome often says, “ The Word of God is not a suggestion; it is the map of life. To disregard it is to walk into darkness with confidence.”
Even the first murder was not committed in the shadows of ignorance but in full view of God’s prior warning. Cain did not just kill Abel; he murdered the chance to commune with God in innocence. And in that act, the brotherhood of humanity suffered its first fracture. Sin, like yeast, permeated the dough of existence. And from then, as the Bible says, “ every imagination of man’s heart was evil continually” (Genesis 6:5).
Every generation since Eden has tried to redefine morality. But truth cannot be edited. It is not democratic. God’s decrees do not bend to culture. Bishop David Oyedepo once thundered, “ Truth is eternal. You don’t break the truth; you only break yourself against it .” That is why the way that “ seems right to a man” ends in death—not just physical death, but spiritual disconnection, moral chaos, and generational sorrow.
This disconnection is not philosophical—it is tangible. It bleeds into every sector of life: family, government, religion, and culture. What seemed like harmless progress has become compounded confusion. As it was with Cain, rebellion begets fear. Fear begets violence. Violence begets insecurity. And the cycle deepens. Man becomes judge, jury, and god in his own court. Yet the soul remains thirsty.
Even the earth groans under this disobedience. As the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:22, “ We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Trees, waters, and winds mourn silently as man lives like he owns what he was only meant to tend.
God did not make a machine. He created a living, breathing world with volitional beings—humans capable of choice and consequence. That is why no sin is private. Not one. Like a pebble in a pond, its ripples disturb far shores. Juanita Bynum warned, “ When you touch sin, it touches your generation. It is not just about you; it’s about those coming after you.”
There is, however, hope in the God of mercy. While judgment is just, His heart leans toward reconciliation. The blood of Jesus—unlike Abel’s blood that cried out for vengeance—still speaks mercy. Yet, mercy cannot nullify principle. The wages of sin remain death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
Let no one be deceived. Galatians 6:7 states it plainly: “ Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” We are sowing. Nations, churches, individuals—everyone is sowing. And harvests do not lie. What seems right will soon show itself.
So, the question is not whether God has spoken. He has. The question is whether we will listen. The modern mind is often too sophisticated to kneel, too learned to repent, and too proud to obey. But Eden warns us: one decision can alter destiny. And Proverbs haunts us: “ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
The gospel is not just about salvation from sin—it is about restoration to truth. It is an invitation to reverse the curse of Eden by embracing the obedience of Christ. For only in Him do we find what Adam lost: communion, covering, and eternal purpose.
History, both sacred and secular, confirms this: mankind cannot lead itself. Without divine direction, we devolve into chaos. What looks like progress may be painted decay. And what feels like liberty may be shackles in disguise.
God’s truth is not restrictive—it is redemptive. Eden may be behind us, but the Tree of Life is still ahead. The road to it is paved with repentance, not resistance. As the preacher once said, “ Every man who ignores God’s voice eventually hears the echo of his own ruin .”
Let us then, while it is still called today, hear Him. Before the fruit deceives again. Before what seems right becomes our downfall.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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