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More than 125 districts in the country were affected by Naxalism. The influence of the government extended only as far as the reach of Naxalism. The youth were particularly impacted by this issue, and we made concerted efforts to integrate them into mainstream society. Over the past decade, more than 8,000 Naxalites have renounced violence. Today, the number of districts facing Naxalism has decreased to fewer than 20. Similarly, the northeastern region was plagued by separatism and violence. In the last decade, our government has facilitated 10 major peace agreements, leading over 10,000 individuals to lay down their arms and join the mainstream. - PM @narendramodi

Walking in His Spiritual Enlightenment 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest on me. Weakness makes us imperfect. Weakness is the flaw in perfection. With it, we are deemed as sheep to be slaughtered because weakness will lead us into temptation. Once tempted, many of us are like Eve, clueless about what to do next except to fall into it. Temptation is nothing to be desired as it is nothing but evil. Hence, Jesus taught us to pray that our Father will not lead us into Temptation but will deliver us from the evil one. Jesus further warned us to: "Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak." That is, our bodies are weak, and whatever we hope to achieve is different from what we can achieve. We can have the best intentions, but they are hard to fulfil because of our inherent flaws: weakness. It is like having an underpowered car that does not allow us to go the extra mile. Having an underpowered car is not a big issue as long as it gets us somewhere. However, having weakness means we have a low resistance to temptation. If ever we fall in, we fall into the pit of no return. Then, it can be a treacherous issue. Eve was one of many being clueless when tempted. Even great men like David and wise men like Solomon were clueless, too. If not, they would not have fallen into sin. We must understand that only if there is a need, then there is a desire. It is similar to the phenomenon of hunger. If a man is hungry, he will naturally desire to eat. If not, he might not be tempted to eat. Likewise, a weakness is like a hunger that opens our appetite to temptation. Paul understood the struggle when he said, "For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do." Nevertheless, it is absurd to hear from Paul, a ruthless man of command and control who has little control over his weakness. That is, weakness is not limited to the non-achievers or losers, who are undetermined or foolish, but it transcends to the superb, mighty, wise, or ruthless. Therefore, no matter who we are or where we are in life, we are plagued with weaknesses at our level of competency, so we do not do the good we want but the evil we do not wish to do. At this instance in the epistle of Romans, Paul was quick to dismiss his responsibility for his weakness by saying, "And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me that does it." Paul disassociated his sinful behaviour as if it had nothing to do with him but the sin living in him. We can link his behaviour to that of Adam, who told GOD, "The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it." Indirectly, Adam was blaming GOD for the woman He gave him for inducing him to eat from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil and causing him to disobey Him. He was an innocent party, and whatever happened had nothing to do with him as he was caught in the web of decision-making, of which none was his. From Adam, we can see the birth of man's weakness, and after Jesus was crucified, died and risen, Apostle Paul still held on to the Adamic weakness of the attitude that it has nothing to do with me. Paul was as clueless as Adam. Indeed, Adam did not make any decisions on his own except to give all the animals and his women their names. He had all the decisions made for him. GOD chose the woman for him as his companion, and the woman chose the fruit that he should eat. Even though GOD had warned him against eating the forbidden fruit, Adam made no reservations about eating it as his woman gave it to him. He had no reason to doubt the woman that GOD gave him would do him harm. Even if he did not trust GOD, he would not doubt her, who is the DNA of his bone and flesh. Adam trusted Eve and listened to all the decisions she made. He did not utter a word during the conversation between the Serpent and his woman as he watched passively beside her. He did not clarify the misconception when the Serpent distorted the truth. He left her to assume wrongly as the Serpent misled her. When Eve gave him the forbidden fruit, Adam could have rejected it, but he did not because he, like many, could not say no to their flesh. In other words, Adam was the sheep, and his woman was his shepherd. Is there anything wrong with that? Yes, when we listen to the wrong voice and do not do what is right, our whole life will be a mistake. GOD told Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it." The moral is that we must do right if we want to straighten our lives, and it is more than not doing wrong. Adam did not do anything wrong. He did not take the forbidden fruit, but it was given to him as one of the fruits of the garden. Therefore, he was clueless about what went wrong when GOD questioned him when he went into hiding. Only Eve had the answer, and that is, the Serpent deceived her. Therefore, contrary to the belief of many, Adam was punished because he ate the forbidden fruit, but that is only the secondary reason. The main reason GOD said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat." The issue is not about eating but listening, which causes the outcome, which is man's downfall. The voice he obeyed determined his action, resulting in his fate. Listening to the wrong voice was the first step of a thousand miles in the wrong direction. The difference can be between life and death. Despite being warned, why did Adam do it? Adam was stuck in a tug-of-war between GOD's restriction and his woman's inducement. Between the two of them, he had to choose one, and he chose his woman. There was little of a choice. It was either he betrayed GOD, his creator and provider, or himself, as the woman was his bone and flesh. From then till now, little has changed. Many men will still choose themselves over GOD, succumbing to their flesh within or without, causing themselves much grief. David and Solomon were among one of them. Despite their greatness, they could not control their flesh. Therefore, it is not without reason when Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple." Therefore, without the element of hate for anyone, including ourselves, who will turn our ears away from GOD's instruction, we cannot be Jesus's disciples. Adam could not do it for GOD, but approximately 2000 years and 21 generations later, a man did it for GOD. He was Abraham, and he listened to GOD faithfully to the extent of even sacrificing his only flesh and blood, his son. For him, GOD was also willing to sacrifice His Son, so through Abraham's lineage came Jesus. Therefore, because of Abraham through Jesus, we become a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvellous light. Hence, anyone who wants to have life must eat his flesh and drink his blood. The implication is that Christ's DNA is in His flesh and blood, and to eat his flesh and drink his blood is to take on His DNA of obedience and listen to GOD. Therefore, the blood of Christ proves its effectiveness once we are willing to listen. After the fall of man, there is a change in plan. The woman took on a new role and became a separate entity from Adam. She was given a name, Eve, to signify the change. Before that, all the animals were given names except Eve because she existed as an integral part of Adam as she came from his rib. She was his extension of him and, figuratively speaking, like his tail, following wherever he went. She did not exist as an individual. After the fall, GOD switched Eve's role from one dictating Adam to one submitting to him. For that reason, GOD said to Eve, "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." If Eve had been submitting to Adam and not ruling over him, that statement would be redundant. It is like asking a child to clean his room when the room has been cleaned. Eve was no longer the voice that Adam listened to. In the new spiritual structure, Eve's voice has been replaced because GOD ordained Adam to rule over Eve, and Eve has to listen to Adam. The new voice will be of Adam's new flesh, not Eve, but his fallen nature. And this voice is passed on to us like an inheritance. We know of it from the next scene of Cain and Abel's offerings. GOD mentioned that sin is crouching at Cain's door, desiring him. What does sin desire Cain to do? It desires Cain to steal, kill and destroy, which is the modus operandi of Satan. The next thing we know, Cain killed Abel. From this, we know sin as his inner voice manages to convince Cain to kill. Cain did not manage to master the compulsion of his sinful nature, which led him to be punished. GOD has a reason to use the Serpent as the personification of Satan and Eve, the flesh, to show how the spiritual world connects to a man in the relationship between Satan, the flesh, and man. As depicted in the book of Genesis, the Serpent never once spoke to Adam directly, only to his woman. Many might take this for granted, as that is how things happen. Do not take any details for granted, as secrets of enlightenment might be hidden behind them. The puzzling thing is that when God asked Adam about what had happened, Adam was clueless even when he was with Eve during the whole conversation with the Serpent, as if the conversation between them was viewed from him. Only Eve had the answer. What can we infer from them? Could it be possible there is a gatekeeper between God and man or Satan and man? The gatekeeper of the physical man is his spiritual man, who decodes, translates, and understands all spiritual matters. Though the physical man might be clueless about the spiritual happenings, the spiritual man understands because spiritual issues must be spiritually discerned. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians, "The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Therefore, it is possible that Eve, before the fall, was the personification of 'Adam's spiritual man' as the Serpent, Satan. Thus, whatever happened, Eve seemed to know better than Adam. Furthermore, in the Epistle of Romans, Paul wrote, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Apostle Paul did not write: the Spirit Himself testifies with us that we are GOD's children. He understood the sequence, and when GOD speaks, it is from His Spirit to our spirit. The physical aspect of the man might not be aware of the happening. It is like what happened to Peter when Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by My Father in heaven." Apostle Peter must have been clueless about what he said on the spur of the moment until Jesus enlightened him. GOD talks to us and guides us literally in ways we do not know. Therefore, Jesus said, "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say. For at that time, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say." GOD's voice is the power within us, giving us the knowledge to defeat our enemies by not falling into temptation so we do not do what we do not want to. Therefore, Paul delights in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties because one word from GOD will change his situation and even his life. For when I am weak, then I am strong. Prayer: Father, thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to dwell in me, so I am no longer a spiritual orphan. I will be able to discern spiritually the things of God and walk according to God's power and strength. Whether I turn to the right or the left, my ears will hear Your command within me: "This is the way. Walk in it." My ways will be pleasing to you, and I will never be clueless in the face of temptation. Amen.

The Temptation Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The purpose of the Bible: Not love To romanticists, the Bible is a love story between God and man because God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. This statement becomes the foundation of a Christian's faith, a faith founded on sacrificial love. However, this self-sacrificing statement has been perverted, with many cult teachings arising from it. The truth in everything is like a fine line, which nothing can be added or taken out of it. Anything out of the line is a perversion of the truth. It is like the Serpent expounding on the good of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, emphasising the gain and diluting the consequence. When the truth gets distorted, it is no longer the truth. The first lesson: The temptation As much as we wish it were love, the unfortunate truth is that the Bible's priority is not love but something else. We can see that the Bible did not state its beginning with the proclamation of love and that GOD is love and His love for the world. The central focus of the beginning was GOD's creations, and immediately after that, the scene jumps forward to the temptation. Through the temptation, GOD gave man his first performance report. Regardless of the reasons for failure, he is not good enough and cannot be trusted to uphold the standards of heaven. In other words, man was put on a scale and weighed and found to be wanting. If GOD had no intention of weighing the man's heart to know how the weightage was His Word in him, then He would not have let the Serpent in. No one allows a snake into the house unless one is rearing it. If GOD had no other purpose for the Serpent, then He did not need to fortify it with extra cunningness and the ability to speak human language. GOD does not create useless things, and the Serpent would never have been created in the first place for no reason. Nothing would happen if GOD did not want it to happen. GOD does not work on hindsight but foresight because He knows the end from the beginning. Therefore, it was not man's misfortunate to have met with the Serpent but GOD's divine plan. Temptation, the essence of the Bible Understanding the law of the first mention and the subsequent events reveals that temptation has greater relevance, priority, and significance in the Bible than in other mentions. Temptation is the determinant for all that follows in the Bible. That is to mean that without it, the Bible has no purpose, and GOD has no value. Though temptation might seem like the cause of man's downfall, the truth is that it is man's weakness. Without being tempted, man does not know his weakness and his need for a saviour. If a man has no part to play in the fall, then GOD would be seen as unreasonable to impose the death penalty on an innocent party. Therefore, we cannot look at things on the surface. As much as we must examine the cup on the outside, we must also examine the cup on the inside. On the outside, it is the Serpent's fault, but on the inside, it is man's weakness to resist temptation. Therefore, he is being punished for his weakness and non-compliance. Often, the issue is more than skin deep; we need to look deeper beyond the facade. If we cannot identify the problem, then we are not applying the right medicine to the situation. As it takes two hands to clap, so we cannot be partial. If not, we would be solving the symptoms rather than the root cause. Understanding issues well is essential because it affects our salvation or ending. Temptation, our best friend Without a doubt, love warms the heart and gives strength to the heavy-laden. However, love cannot help solve any problem. Therefore, we should not be too infatuated with love. All of us have temptations to fight, and fighting temptation must be our sole purpose in life. It is the crux of the Bible. After the creation, GOD could have started the Bible with a more positive outlook, with man growing in wisdom and stature as Jesus did, but He did not. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, starts with a double tragedy, where Adam and Eve are being cast out of Eden, and Cain kills his brother, Abel. All happened because they could not resist their temptations: one to disobey and the other to kill. It is interesting to note that the voice of the temptress disappeared after the fall of man. Before the fall, the voice of the temptress came from the Serpent, a being outside of man. After its first grand appearance in Genesis, it no longer reappeared. It does not mean that it no longer exists, but the voice of the Serpent has become the voice of sin existing beside man. It is as tangible as the Serpent talking to Eve in that small voice that is constantly talking to us like our best friend. To be precise, sin is residing at the doorstep, desiring to become the soulmate, trusted advisor and counsellor to those who would listen. GOD's strict instruction is: If we refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at our door; it desires us, but we must master it. Mastering sin, avoiding temptation Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then, you will prosper and succeed in all you do. Mastering sin was GOD's first instruction to the firstborn of the fallen man, Cain, and through him, it becomes the central message to us as the descendants of the fallen man, Adam. Therefore, it is the focus of the Bible. Hence, it is the erroneous thinking of many that they are made for a higher purpose or to do extraordinary things. The only thing GOD wants of us is not to conquer the world but to conquer our fallen selves, mastering sin and the desire to do evil. The Bible is fundamentally written as a manual for sin management, more than a love story. If we can manage sin well, we will be highly favoured by GOD. With GOD with us, nothing can stand against us. If we are willing to fight the battle within ourselves so that we will not sin against GOD, He will fight the external battles for us. By paraphrasing what Joshua said, if we do not sin against GOD, we will prosper and succeed in all we do. Therefore, we must start our first step right by mastering sin, and we will be a thousand steps in the right direction, walking in blessedness. If not, we will be walking on cursed ground, as Cain did, where the ground no longer yields its produce in whatever we do. Our worst enemy: Ourselves Ecclesiastes 9:12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them. If life does not do us well, we think the world and everyone are against us, like the current of the stream pushing us downstream or like the ground producing thorns and thistles instead of the fruit of our labour. It is far from the truth. The truth is we are our worst enemy. By falling into temptation, by listening to the wrong voice within and without, we plague ourselves with many sorrows. We will be like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare when we are entangled in temptation. Even David, who was strong enough to overcome Goliath, bigger and stronger than him, had no strength to resist his sinful desire for Bathsheba. Even Solomon, with his great wisdom, was no match for his foolish desire to please his foreign wives and concubines in idol worship. No one caused the downfall of David or Solomon but themselves. GOD was with them, and nothing was more powerful than them to topple them except themselves. There was no greater evil force against them except themselves. Therefore, when things do not work well with us, we do not need to look far from ourselves. If we are willing to change, all will be forgiven, and our predicament will change. Nothing can hold us back from the blessings of GOD except ourselves. GOD puts a hedge around those who love Him, and no evil can touch them. If we resist temptation and do not sin against GOD, we will never fall into any cruel net or trap in a snare. Guaranteed. The unfortunate truth Ideally, if we do not fall into temptation, we will not be ensnared in an evil time. However, this is easier said than done because the one thing we miscalculated is our uncontrollable and untameable flesh, or fallen nature, has little resistance to temptation. Therefore, David found comfort in what he should not be seeing, and Solomon in doing what he should not be doing. If they felt their actions were out of character, they would have turned away immediately, as Joseph did when Potiphar's wife seduced him. Instead, they let their choice lead them deeper into their indulgence. As stated in the epistle of James, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Therefore, no one led them to their bad endings except themselves. Remember, though the lips of the temptress drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword. The Bible does not try to discredit David and Solomon but states that even great and mighty men fall under temptation, so we must be very mindful. All are tempted, no exception. Temptation is not limited to man but to all, including the angels and Son of GOD, Jesus. We know that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and the Serpent tempted Adam and Eve. We have never heard of the temptation of Satan. It is not stated but deduced. If the angels were not tempted, then how would they fall? There must be a seducer before one can be seduced, and there must be a cheater before one can be cheated. From the effect, we know there must be a cause, as there is no smoke without fire. Satan, like David, looked too long at something that did not belong to him. Then, he said in his heart, "I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Highest." With that thought, Satan fell into temptation and fell out with GOD. He led one-third of the angels away as his fallen angels to form his so-called kingdom of darkness when GOD cast them out of heaven. GOD's love, no entry permit to heaven When Adam fell, he was cast out of Eden with Eve, and when Satan fell, he was cast out of heaven with his fallen angels. Only Jesus, the Son of GOD, made it through the temptations in complete obedience to GOD. For His steadfastness, He is rewarded in heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him. GOD the Father loves the Son, but His ascension to the throne was not pathed with love but tragic. To meet the demands of heaven, He was like a rose trampled under the feet of sin. Nothing came free or easy for Him. Therefore, GOD's love is not our entry permit to heaven. His love is our strength, support and comfort, like a pair of loving hands holding on to ours as we go through the painful progress of dying to our fallen nature by resisting temptation and sinning no more. However, this love will get us nowhere if we refuse to master sin. GOD's promise The message is clear: If we cannot stop sinning, we cannot master sin, and we cannot overcome temptation. At the end of the Bible, Revelation, GOD promises, 'To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.' What we should overcome is a question mark. By context, we must also overcome what Jesus has overcome. Jesus has overcome sin, temptation, and the world, so we must do the same. The message of temptation started in Genesis, GOD, ends in Revelation, promising those who overcome temptations to share with Him the throne of heaven. That is His demand: we must stop sinning and not be contented that our sins are forgiven. There is no compromise on that. Conclusion As in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to plead with God to keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil. Indirectly, Jesus is telling us that GOD wants us tested through temptation that leads us to evil, as happened to the first man, Adam. If GOD has no such intention, then the statement in the prayer is redundant. Jesus understands the Father's heart, so He wants us to seek leniency. Therefore, as we walk through life's journey, let us be fully aware that we are set up to be tested. Let us hold firmly to GOD's Word and never turn to the right or left of it. Only then will we be like Jesus, avoiding the deadly traps of temptation. Prayer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom comes, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give me this day my daily bread. And forgive me of my debts, as I also have forgiven my debtors. And lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one. GOD, have mercy on me because I am weak in the face of temptation. Please give me an extra anointing of the Holy Spirit so I will be strengthened to stand against my temptress by mastering sin. I want the right to sit with Jesus on His throne as He sat down with the Father on His throne. Amen

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Our decisions are not good enough. As the heavens are higher than the earth, GOD's ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As much as we want to walk in wisdom and understanding so as not to walk foolishly, there is a limit to our sound judgement, keen discernment and deep comprehension. When we make good decisions, we move forward to success, and when we make bad decisions, we move backwards to failure. Many times, we move backwards more than we move forward. GOD has made known to us that we are nowhere knowing how to make good decisions. If we can, then there is no need to trust Him with all our hearts and wait for GOD to act. We are capable of acting for ourselves. Between GOD's wisdom and our wisdom is between heaven and earth. That is to mean the wisest of us are still fools to Him. To say it offensively, we are retarded compared to GOD. We do not do what we should; instead, we do what we should not. Instead of listening to good advice, we listen to bad. In Jesus's opinion, we do not know what we are doing. We are like blind men in the darkness, groping about and not prospering in our ways. To sum it up, we are nothing more than blind, confused and mad. Despite stating so clearly, only those with wisdom will agree, while the foolish have no idea. We have the minds of sheep and not a serpent. GOD understands we have the minds of sheep and not of the Serpent. If Adam and Eve were shrewd enough, they would not be deceived by the Serpent. The fact that they had been deceived proves that they did not have sharp acumen. In other words, Eve did not know she was like a fish caught in a cruel net or a bird trapped in a snare, so she was ensnared in the evil that was beyond her to free herself. Many might think that Eve was plain unlucky to be deceived by the Serpent. She was not unlucky but targeted. No one goes to war without a strategy, and the Serpent was no exception. The Serpent knew that GOD's Word was not alive in Eve because GOD did not speak to her directly. When GOD told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it, he would surely die, He told it to Adam alone because during then Eve was not created. She was created after GOD warned Adam. We have to question the rationale of GOD's action. Why? Won't it be better if GOD were to warn both of them together? What is the purpose of telling one and not the other? We become the weak link when GOD's Word is not alive in us. What Eve knew was secondhand information from Adam. That became the weak link that caused the downfall of man. It was like the Telephone or Chinese whispers game in which messages are whispered from one person to another. Errors typically accumulate in the retelling, resulting in an erroneous message being passed down. Eve lacked the rationale behind the forbidden fruit, so the Serpent could confuse her understanding. Adam could have been the second line of defence to the fall since he was given the word. He did not uphold GOD's Word because of his love for his flesh and bone, and he accommodated her decision. Eve was his missing rib, and only with her, he felt complete. Therefore, whenever she went, he would follow, and whatever she did, he would do likewise. Man was not made to be alone as God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper." Ironically, the helper GOD gave Adam, besides other things, helped him to fall into sin.  It is no one's fault that many are like Eve, having a compromised understanding as GOD's Word is not alive in them. Therefore, they can be misled or deceived. Many times, GOD is oversold like some commodity which is not Him. Like some marketing products, GOD is packaged and promoted as a miracle drug of great promise. Unbeknown to the naive, GOD does not give out big promises without terms and conditions unless those are common to all. Nothing is as easy as it sounds. Like Eve, we are unable to know the exact meaning of the words once they are stretched, twisted, and rearranged. Flesh-pleasing decisions If not Eve, we could be like Adam, who followed his instincts rather than the Word, pleasing his flesh instead of GOD. Before the fall of man, Adam's flesh was Eve. To please her, he listened to her despite GOD's warning. As they were one flesh, whatever she wanted was whatever he wanted. Listening to her more than to GOD, he ate what she fed him, which resulted in his downfall. After the fall, man's flesh is no longer his woman but his fallen nature. Therefore, whoever listens to his fallen nature will fall as Adam did. After the fall, man and woman no longer exist as one entity. They became separate entities, with Adam giving Eve her name, signifying her autonomy. She was no longer nameless, and neither was Mrs. Adam but Eve. She stood by her own identity and style of thinking. That moment was like an independent day, where Eve gained independence from Adam to signify man's independence from GOD. Man's decisions: Lose-Lose From the actions of Adam and Eve, we can derive two decision-making patterns. One is like Eve, who tried to be smart with reason and logic but could not outsmart her deceiver. The other is like Adam, who disregarded the facts and figures to follow the desire of his heart, living for what feels good. Not knowing what feels good might not be good at all. Either think like Adam or Eve; no one is a winner. That is the sad fate of man; his mind cannot go through intense mental gymnastics to recognise the truth. Therefore, many are, like Eve, easy targets for scams and deceits and fall away from the truth. As much as they cannot trust their mind to reason out correctly, they also cannot trust their heart to feel the right thing to do.  GOD's decisions: Win-Win If we could realise how impaired we are in our minds and hearts, we would be shaking our heads. Adam and Eve are a representation of us, and through them, we know we cannot rationalise well. Therefore, many suffer from making the wrong decisions due to bad judgments. Hence, we need GOD to guide us in making good judgments and sound decisions. For this reason, GOD wants us to trust in the LORD with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding; in all our ways, we must acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight. In short, we must not trust ourselves in heart or mind to make proper judgments. As long as we surrender our will to GOD, acknowledge that He is omniscient, and await His decision, He will lead us in the right direction. Hence, we should not make rash decisions based on FOMO (fear of missing out). Instead, we must seek GOD out in all that we do. Even young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Prisoners to bad decisions Everything might sound straightforward. It is not. The complexity of the matter is that even though we know what we must do, only a few know how to act accordingly because no man is free to do as he wishes. We are all prisoners of our fallen nature. Simply put, we are the prisoners of our addictions and compulsion nature where there is no escape. Therefore, the saying - a leopard never changes its spots. That's the reality that many cannot understand. We cannot change ourselves, and neither can we change others. If we cannot agree with the statement, we can try to change our family members and see the futility of our efforts. The only way to change a leopard's spots is to de-skin it and give it a new coat. That is where Jesus comes in. Jesus is the new coat, and He will provide us with His coat of righteousness. If we want to change, we must endure the anguish of being, metaphorically, de-skin. In other words, we must be circumcised, not physically but spiritually, by cutting away the filth of the fallen, sinful human nature. Only then will we be transformed to be GOD's new creations. We will not be a leopard that never changes its spot but a lamb without blemish. The condition for good decisions To put it another way, without the circumcision of our flesh, we are not meeting the terms and conditions of GOD's contract, making His blessing invalid to us. He will not be our help in times of need. Remember, when we say the sinner's prayer, we agree to turn from our sins and invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives. To turn from our sins means we will sin no more. To invite Jesus to come into our hearts and lives means it is no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. Our lives will no longer be under our control but under Christ's as our Lord. To do that, we must die for Christ to live within us. We must crucify our flesh. If not, we cannot fulfil our part of the agreement with GOD, making the contract with Him void. Therefore, many Christians are holding onto a non-binding contract because they refuse to crucify their flesh. GOD goes by the book even if He is love. Only when we fulfil the contract will it take effect. Only then will we be the brides of Christ. If not, we will be the foolish virgins that Christ will deny as His. First step of good decision: Stop sinning Getting the first step right is paramount, and without it, nothing we do for GOD does matter. To put it differently, if not, all that we do for Him is a waste of time. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and that step is to sin no more. Only when we master our fallen nature will we sin no more than we can move towards GOD. Those who cannot stop sinning will forever be at point zero, the starting point. If we persist in sinning, then we will be on a journey of a thousand miles in the wrong direction, away from GOD.  Stop sinning sets us free from blind spots. No one ever plans to fail by doing the wrong thing, and no one ever intentionally sin so that they will go to hell. Like the rich man who died at the same time as Lazarus, he did not know that he would go to Hades and be in torment. If he had known, he would have done things differently. Therefore, he wanted Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his father's house to warn his five brothers of the existence of Hades. Many are like the rich man, not knowing what they are doing until it is too late. They cannot see the reality of Hades, evil and sin because all these words do not exist in their vocabulary. They are people of the world, having the mindset of it and not seeing anything beyond that. Therefore, many are like frogs in a pot, not knowing that they are slowly being boiled to death. Living in sin is not repulsive under our fallen nature but instead enjoyable, just as promiscuity is more pleasurable than faithfulness. Why have one when we can have many? Therefore, GOD makes us suffer under sin, so we will know the consequences of sin and seek Him. However, many will not learn, living like fools in paradise. Only when we seek Him will He open our eyes to the knowledge that sin is hideous, repulsive and grotesque. It not only turns us into beasts but also robs us of a fulfilling relationship with our soulmate, GOD. There is nothing to gain from fooling with sin but everything to lose. If we are rich, we might be like the rich man, realising too late that his wealth could do nothing for him in Hades. It would have been better if he had been a beggar like Lazarus. Being poor would deprive many of the opportunities to sin and every opportunity to seek GOD and ensure their salvation. Therefore, no one should despise the poor but instead, be good to them. After everyone's death, there will be a turn of events, like in the story of the rich man and Lazarus; the rich will end up in Hades suffering, and the poor will be in paradise enjoying. If the rich had been good to the poor, the poor would pray night and day, seeking GOD for their salvation. Would GOD not listen to those who mourn for the salvation of their benefactors? The solution: Blindfold ourselves and trust GOD Unless GOD is willing, no one escapes the blindness that plagues the world; no amount of fallen wisdom, understanding, or intuition will do. Therefore, it is futile to trust our hearts and lean on our understanding to lead us to a straight path. It is like an ant trying to move a mountain. As natural men, we will not be able to comprehend the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are nonsensical to us, as ants cannot understand rocket science, and we cannot understand higher wisdom that leads to life because they are spiritually discerned. We need to trust GOD by blindfolding ourselves and follow Him wherever He leads. Then, we can safely say we always make good choices and are on the journey to eternal prosperity. Prayer: GOD, I acknowledge that you are the Lord of lords and the King of kings. I submit my mind and heart to you. Lead me and guide me according to your way so that I will find eternal success. Amen.