I can't take the credit for the following post... I found this on the Bill Johnson website. This really put things in perspective for me. I have read this a few times as there is a lot to take in. Please share your thoughts after you read this post, I would love to hear them.
Most of us are acutely aware that we live in a world at war. But the war is not over power, land or money, or even good and evil. It is over something even more basic. The war is over truth, and the battlefield is the mind of every person. This war began in heaven, when Satan was cast down, but we were implicated in it by Adam and Eve--not merely when they ate the forbidden fruit, but when they decided to trust in a lie over God's truth. Eating the fruit was merely evidence that they had believed the enemy's lie. When you believe a lie, you empower the liar - agreeing with the devil empowers him. This becomes his license to kill, steal, and destroy. When Adam and Eve did so they denied God's truth, which amounted to cutting off the branch on which there were sitting. Adam and Eve literally fell, but it happened when they decided to abandon God's perspective for a distortion. Romans 1:18-21 describes the fall of man explicitly as a fall from the truth:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Paul says that the reality of God's eternal power and nature are "clearly seen" in the visible realm. That phrase literally means "seen from above." When Adam and Eve fell, they fell from God's perspective on reality. Before they "suppressed the truth", they had unbroken access to the truth of God's nature and His intentions for history. Paul also says that "what may be known of God [was] manifest in them." This implies that, because they were made in the image of God, they could look at each other and see what God was like. But when they suppressed the truth of who God was, their own image was distorted, separating them from their identity and purpose. From this point on, the human race inherited a distorted perspective on reality and history.
Now that the breach of sin has been healed by the Cross, we as believers must allow the testimonies of God to teach us the truth that was lost to Adam and Eve--both His plan for history, and our identity and role in His-story. God's plan for mankind has never changed, because He has not changed.
