Temptation in the Garden

aww ~ 9/21/11
non-subject: that lie
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Today is the first day of autumn, or fall - whichever one prefers to call it.

The "Fall." I think of Adam and Eve in the Garden, in Paradise. I was taught and believed for decades that Eve believed a lie given to her by the beautiful being that the Bible calls the serpent.

What was that lie? That if she ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that she would be like God, knowing good and evil.

Who could resist that? Certainly not me. I don't blame her for checking that one out.

But the actual Fall of mankind that brought death to the earth? Adam was to blame for that. He could have resisted Eve's tempting offer.

But again, who could resist such a thing? Humans are fascinated with evil. If not fascinated, at least intrigued.

The Way taught that technically the original sin was "high treason." Adam had dominion over all the earth; but then in one fell swoop, he delivered that power to the serpent, the devil, the adversary, the father of lies.

What was the action that caused that transfer of power? What was it that Adam did that was so horrendous as to curse the land and sea and all life?

Doctor had taught that perhaps it was the act of masturbation; more specifically the motivation behind the act - Adam and Eve meeting their own sexual needs instead of meeting each other's needs. Doctor taught that the Hebrew words in the Genesis Garden of Eden story, that some of those words were sexual in nature. Desire. Fruit. And I don't recall what else at the moment.

Now, in February, 1996, Doctor was dead. He died in 1985...of cancer. Us believers in the Household didn't speak of his cancer. It was never announced what Doctor died from, at least that I recall. I asked leadership and they told me he died of cancer, something to do with his eyes. That's all I knew. I didn't ask anymore.

It didn't matter what Doctor died from; he had lived a full life standing for God and His Word. Doctor was our father in the Word; he had fed us that Word of life and taught us how to read it for ourselves and how the scripture interprets itself.

Now, in February, 1996, Rev. Martindale is the president of The Way. He became president in 1982. We could call ministers by their first names in more informal Household settings. I knew Rev. Martindale as Craig and as Rev. Martindale. He'd been the director of the Way Corps when I was in-residence. For me, Craig was a better teacher than Doctor. I loved Craig, like a student loves a teacher, like a disciple loves their trainer.

Now, in 1996, The Way is finally replacing its old class series that Doctor had taught back in the late 1960s. The Power For Abundant Living series was being replaced with The Way of Abundance and Power series. But Craig said it wasn't "replacing" the old; nothing could replace what Doctor had done. The new series built upon the old.

Now, in February, 1996, as I sit in the home in Morganton, North Carolina, I hear Rev. Martindale's take on the original sin as he expounds it over the T.V. screen from the video that plays The Way's new Foundational Class on The Way of Abundance and Power.

The adversary would like nothing better than to steal the Word from people. The first night our Class was supposed to start, western North Carolina was shut down in a snow storm. My dad had died that same day. The opening session for the Class was postponed. The adversary is always trying to steal the Word by controlling the weather or circumstances. He is the god of this world and we have to always be vigilant to not let him get a foothold through any crack in our hedge of believing.

I don't recall in which session Craig expounded about the original sin. Maybe it was session 3?

Using the scriptures with translations of Hebrew words, Craig unfolds Genesis, Chapter Three. From what Craig could work from the Word, the act that led to high treason wasn't masturbation; it was homosexuality. Eve had a lesbian relationship with the devil who had taken the form of a beautiful woman. Adam partook by condoning the two lovers, watched and getting off on the performance.

Rev. Martindale displays a copy of Micheal Angelo's "Temptation and Fall" painting from the Sistene Chapel. There it is, in full color. The serpent in the form of a woman handing Eve the fruit. Surely this had been a teaching in the past that had gotten muddled through the millennia - a hidden treasure.

Craig didn't teach it as absolute, or maybe my ears didn't hear it as absolute. Craig preached though that it was there; it was in the Word - this lesbian affair between the serpent and Eve. If we didn't see it right away, just keep working the Word and we would see it.

But, I had my doubts. I didn't mention my doubts. I'd just keep the teaching on the back burner and keep working the Word, like Craig said.

Some nine years later, in 2004 and 2005, I learn that in 1996 Craig was having sex with multiple women other than his wife - multiple times, and had been doing so since at least a decade before. Supposedly his then wife knew and supposedly condoned such. Some nine years later, in 2004 and 2005, I learn that this sex beyond marriage had been an inner teaching among top leaders, among those who could handle it on a spiritual level. And that Doctor too had taught it and lived it.

I wonder how that inner circle of The Way would have fared with the temptations in the Garden?
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