What Is Wrong With Us?

We are corrupt at the very core.

What I am going to present to you today is something different. A different way to look at the world, and humanity. Something different than the legalism around us.

As Christians we are taught and have come to understand a view of God, Scripture and the World based upon a legalistic view point.

God is a judge. We are guilty. We break God’s Law. We face punishment. God paid the price for us.

We see this in scripture and it is true. It cannot be denied that this is the way things are.

But…

There is another view which comes from the Bible that is equally true and does not contradict the legal view. But, brings balance.

That is a medical or health view.

We are all infected with a spiritual plague.

It’s that simple.

Let’s go back in time.

God created everything and called it “Good” (Gen. 1)

That implies that there was an evil present.

God Himself says that he created evil (Isa 45:7)

It was a by-product of the creation. God made everything “Good” and then contained Evil, elsewhere.

Evil remained contained as long as creation stayed with God.

God created everything out of Love. He wanted His creation to love him back. But forced love is not true love. So He gave His creation free will.

Free will requires a choice. No choice, no freedom. So, He planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in His Garden. That was the choice for Man.

But, what about the Angels? They obviously had free will also or else how did Satan fall? He wanted to be as the most high God. He wanted to usurp the throne. He thought he could do better than God. (Isa 14:12-15)

The moment Satan believed this, the evil contained elsewhere came upon Him and he became corrupt.

A plague.

A spiritual plague which corrupted him to the utter core.

He then went to corrupt other spiritual beings in God’s Kingdom, leading to a rebellion and a fall.

This led to Satan trying to corrupt Adam and Eve, and succeeding.

This led to a corruption of all humans throughout time. A spreading plague. It spreads in the world and in us.

Our sins we commit are symptoms of this plague.

What does the Bible say?

First, we are taught by Paul that we have a corrupted nature. That God gave us His Law to show us that we cannot obey and that something is wrong with us and we need a savior. (Romans)

Anyone alive who has ever tried to follow God’s Law, and has read the Bible, knows we have a corrupted nature. We sin because of it. We are tempted by Satan in our flesh and we sin because of it. (James 1:13-14)

We can look in the Old Testament and see that there is a pre- occupation with leprosy. (Lev. 13 and 14)

It is a terrible disease. But there are many bad diseases in the world. Why is this one so condemned and warned about?

Lepers were forced to live away from others crying “Unclean” to keep people away. They could not enter the Temple. They dwelt in the garbage dump outside the city. This is a picture of Hell and the fallen who are there. (Gehenna)

So lepers and leprosy play a major role in showing us what hell is and who dwells there.

But, why? Why pick on these poor sick people?

Because leprosy is a picture of the spiritual plague which infects all of us. It is a picture of our corrupted fallen state and the sins which come from it. It shows that we are walking dead, full of rotting flesh, stinking and waiting to die.

When Satan fell, it came upon him. When Adam and Eve fell it came upon them and all of us.

The scriptures speak more of it when we see that the plague is compared to mold. (Lev. 13-14)

We are given instructions on dealing with the plague or mold in a house or garments.

Wash them and set them aside. Then, if the plague returns, burn the garment. (Lev. 13:51-52)

A perfect picture of God washing this world with water in the Flood, and setting it aside prepared for fire if the plague returns. Which it definitely has. (2 Peter 3:6-13)

We are corrupt and do what we do because of this corrupting spiritual plague which infects us.

The Pharisees will say “But. you are just giving people an excuse to sin and not feel shame. They are “sick”, not guilty of wrong doing.”

No. I’m not creating a heresy. It’s what the Bible teaches. Our guilt comes from rejecting Christ. Our guilt comes from continuing in Satan’s rebellion despite God’s attempts to save us from it.

But, our corrupted nature and the sin which comes from it is definitely the result of a spiritual plague of some sort.

Jesus Christ plainly states that he came to heal us. His whole mission is based upon healing us from this corruption and our sins which come from it. He seeks to set us free from Satan’s power, if we choose. He seeks to make things right. (Luke 4:16-21)

His miracles were often about healing people of ailments which spoke of spiritual things. Leprosy, blindness, demon possession.

Even His Blood shed for us is shown to be a cleansing force against sin and the corruption which plagues us. (Rom 5:9, 1 John 1:7)

He spoke against the religious leaders who made life harder on people instead of teaching the truth of love and compassion. They taught a legalistic “God is the Judge, Obey the Law” view.

Their doctrine was false and corrupt according to the Lord. A leaven or yeast which corrupts doctrine. Legalism. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. (Matt. 16:5-12, Gal. 5:9)

He did not come to condemn the World, but that through Him we might be saved. (John 3:17)

Saved from what?

Our Sin, Satan and Hell/the Lake of Fire.

Which brings us full circle.

Why Hell/ The Lake of Fire?

Because it is the holding place for the spiritual plague. It is the holding place for evil. Just like in the beginning. It is prepared for Satan and his angels. (Matt. 25:41)

It’s a quarantine.

God cannot let Satan and all of those who have followed him and who are infected with the corruption into eternity. Or else all of eternity will be corrupted like our present reality.

The Creation must be completely burned with fire and all those filled with the corruption, who refused to be washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb; must be contained in the Lake of Fire. (Rev. 20:15)

God’s Judgement does not come upon the sick and plagued. It comes upon those who have joined in Satan’s rebellion and refused to be washed or cleansed and saved. (Rev. 19:20)

Those who refuse to confess that Jesus is the Lord. The true King. (Romans 10:9-10)

I realize that this view is hard for those who choose to follow the doctrine of the Pharisees, of today and in Jesus time.

But, it helps us with compassion when we view people as sick instead of guilty. When we see a plague which manifests in sins and evil insanity, instead of seeing wicked sinners worthy of death and damnation.

Imagine what this view would have done to Western Civilization. Our legal system, and punishments. Our prisons and how we treat people. Our kings and how they run their kingdoms. Our bosses and how they treat the workers. How does a legalistic Pharisee type view impact them?

Satan is the God of this world, and Jesus called the Pharisees the children of the devil, because of their doctrine. Doesn’t a legalistic view with zero compassion match the view Satan and his angels and demons would have of God? Because that is their future. Legalism is the doctrine of devils. (2 Cor. 4:4, John 8:44-47)

But, that is not the future of humans who turn to the Lord.

Why would Pharisees and those who think like them and follow them teach this legalistic doctrine of devils?

Because they want to think ill of their neighbors and brethren. They want to lay judgement on the sinners and the poor, while they sit in the best seats in their churches. They want to control others and torment them. They want to grow rich, on the backs of their brothers. Just as the demons teach them.

I’m sure the Pharisees will run to their Hebrew and Greek dictionaries and their commentaries on ancient culture, in order to prove me wrong.

How dare I speak of plagues. How dare I speak of compassion.

It must be heresy!

It’s the difference between a God who wants to kill us and punish us. Or a God who wants to save us and heal us.

It’s the difference between legalism and love. Between Grace and faith or a works based system.

Jesus is coming soon, and when he comes He does not ask if you obeyed God’s law.

He asks what you did to the least of these thy brethren. (Matthew 25)

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Photo from pexels, edited by author.