Faith and the Lack of Knowledge

By Sam Sammzki

Faith has been misunderstood by all who lead us. In this book, I expose that and explain the faith that God wanted Adam and Eve and the rest of us to live by.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973648147

Sam Sammzki

As a young man I backslide and then fell into the criminal underworld. It was here I would make a living as a career criminal—mainly drug dealing and as a fraud artist. After a decade of living up life God redirected my path when I was arrested with about a kilogram of cocaine. In prison I began to fall in love with God, and then in love with Bible commentaries, and then with writing. I now use my unique insight to help those who want to fall in love with God deeper.

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Copyright © 2019 Sam Sammzki.

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Unless otherwise cited scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-4813-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-4814-7 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/19/2018

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1     Understanding Faith Failing

Chapter 2     With Faith Multiplied, What Will Be Possible?

Chapter 3     Was The Garden Of Eden Really Paradise?

Chapter 4     How God’s Gifts Have Been Stolen By The Thief

Chapter 5     How God’s Voice Has Been Stolen

Chapter 6     How To Use Parables

Chapter 7     How Presumptions Counterfeit Discernment

Chapter 8     What Are Thoughts?

Chapter 9     The Sanctified Inner Voice

Chapter 10   How Growth Can Become Unstoppable

Chapter 11   A New Heart

Chapter 12   Am I Violating The New Covenant?

Chapter 13   The Fake World Versus The Authentic God

Chapter 14   The Lack Of Knowledge In Apologetics

Chapter 15   The Hero’s Journey Foretelling

Chapter 16   Back To The Burning Bush: The Beginning Of

The Hero’s Journey

Chapter 17   Parable Of Homosexuality

Conclusion

The Lack of Knowledge

INTRODUCTION

The Lord God gave man a moral command, saying, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die (Genesis 2:16–17). Satan presented a moral problem when he subtly manipulated Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4–5). Though they knew the answer was not to eat, that left Adam and Eve without the knowledge of good and evil, lacking this moral knowledge, with a choice to make: trust in God and obey him—or believe Satan’s manipulating words and go his way. Most of the time it is hard to choose when we are told what is right and cannot comprehend the reasoning behind it. Being in a lack of moral knowledge and facing the problem presented in this story, Adam and Eve could not comprehend the truth and were left to make a choice without all the puzzle pieces. When this happens to us, we all know how it usually turns out—and the younger we are, the worse it is for us. I have heard it said, Knowledge is power. Did Adam and Eve have the knowledge of good and evil before Satan tempted them? Never was an answer we were told without the knowledge to understand it meant to be power.

My studies reveal that this first story about humanity in the Bible—the story of Adam and Eve—has been misunderstood by many scholars, teachers, preachers, and rabbis alike. This is because this story tries to demonstrate to us how to deal with the lack of knowledge. Since they are the ones educating us, we have fallen prey to their misinterpretation. Consequently, many of us have failed to grasp the gravity of God’s Word. If more churches and synagogues understood this history-changing event, many of them would look and feel very different, because it is paramount to know how a story begins in order to understand what it means. Sadly, because of this theological blunder, people have often misunderstood their purpose for being born, but not anymore.

The ancients of the Bible called standing in the lack of knowledge faith. I sometimes wonder why so many scholars seem blinded to the true meaning of the story of Adam and Eve. I also wonder what the ramifications to the world will be once the church and synagogues understand the first story of humankind.

What caused the mishap? Context! Looking at the story within a proper context is difficult. This complicates the interpretation of the story. However, the proper context is quite simple: one must look at the world without having the knowledge of good and evil. Everyone is trying to explain the meaning of this story with the knowledge of good and evil without even considering the ramifications it has on the context—but only when we see the story through the eyes of our first two parents who didn’t have the knowledge of good and evil can we begin to understand the story for what it is: the impetus of faith. This is the definition of faith the apostle Paul practiced, the writer of the book of Hebrews practiced and taught, Abraham and Moses lived, and all the other saints in the Old Testament and New Testament lived. Some Old Testament saints knew this definition explicitly, especially Moses, Hosea, Isaiah, and Habakkuk. All Old and New Testament saints practiced it implicitly. It is this definition of faith that I proclaim in this book—the kind of faith that enables us to trust and obey God even when we don’t understand, given the unique circumstances into which we will be placed.

Expositors believe that all Adam and Eve needed to know was to say no to Satan. These troubled expositors of the Bible point to the fact that for children to obey a command given to them, they do not have to understand the command. Satan has convinced many expositors of the Word to hide the definition of faith. Only someone who looks at this story having the knowledge of good and evil can come up with this solution. However, this argument is just fool’s gold and only corrupts the entire concept of faith that Moses, the writer of this story, is trying to teach. Instead, we should look at it from this perspective: when children do not understand their parents’ command and obey them anyhow, isn’t it because they have not lost faith in their parents? It would have been the same with Adam and Eve, but they lost faith in God and consequently in his command. The answer is not No, Satan! The answer is this: even when we do not understand why God wants something from us, we should do what he wants—keep faith in him and his commands. We need to obey even when we cannot understand God’s commands.

Enough about fool’s gold—let’s talk about faith that is more precious than gold. To describe the whole definition of faith and its nuances we will have to start where no one has started before, and that is in the garden of Eden. There are so many explanations about what this story means given by pseudo theologians that we will have to spend a few chapters here so that the rebuttal to two thousand years of eisegesis is comprehensive and final. We will also go through most of the Bible from Abraham, who is the church’s example, to Moses, Sampson, David, and many others to do a proper parallel with the garden of Eden story—so that you will finally see, and not be blind or only see when it does not matter anymore.

As you detox from all the false teachings you may have heard in your church or synagogue, as we go through chapter to chapter, you will begin to see how God has been loving you all your life, and how all people on the earth whether Christian or not, whether rich or poor, from the least to the greatest (Hebrews 8:11), are the proof we are living under the new covenant. From a homeless person who sleeps on our streets to a king and queen in a palace—they all are guided by the old covenant laws (from their consciences) without knowing it. Again, many theologians have missed this. If you are a theologian, I do not dislike you—but this book is very dense in a theology that you may be unaware of. However, because you are a theologian, you can determine whether it is valid theology—that is your job.

This book has been by accident, anti-establishment. It is not anti-establishment because I dislike authority but because practicing the faith nuances I will be discussing in this book turned me into a pariah in the church’s view. As a result, the establishment has attacked me relentlessly, whether in private or in public. When the establishment hears how irrelevant their leadership may be since all a person needs is faith, I think many will do anything possible to prevent themselves from losing their authority. It is these same people in authority who have shepherded over the disaster that the church has become. It seems every day, whether in the news or just around our local areas, churches are teaching massive doctrinal errors. Churches are closing. Leaders are being accused of using the church to build a personal fortune. Church members believe that sin is not only acceptable to God but that God desires them to practice it. Priests are accused of having sex with children, clergy, or parishioners—and the list goes on and on.

Even though I have read hundreds of books on Christianity and more than one hundred Christian commentaries, it was very difficult for me to reach the right information so I could fall deeply in love with God. Why? Because there is so much misinformation coming from so many of our religious leaders and theologians. It seems to me that Christianity has become a theology. I argue that God does not intend for the righteous to live by theologies! No! The righteous will live by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4). And countless religious leaders have an incorrect definition of faith—knowledge is power! If we want to move mountains with our faith, how can we do that if we do not understand its true definition in all its nuances? I believe part of the answer to our problems as a church, synagogue, people, and country is an accurate understanding of the lack of knowledge—the ancients called that understanding faith. Faith starts by obeying God even when we don’t know or understand what He is doing. Another word for that is trust.

Understanding the Emotions of Faith

A proper understanding of faith does not have to be limited to being just a defensive weapon. Faith is also offensive and needs to be used to attack the lies of Satan. That cannot happen when the lack of knowledge scares us. Believe me: every time I enter that place, fear tries to overtake me. But when I remember that I am here because God wants the best for me and that trusting him brings me good, I get excited. The insecurity we will experience because of our lack of knowledge (especially as we first start to stand here consciously) will pale in comparison with the growth we will experience as we put our faith in God and the blessing of realizing God is always there with us—what could be better than that?

Name the top three worst things you have had to face in your life, and I can almost guarantee you were in a lack of knowledge. (Maybe you said something like I don’t know what to do! Or you said, Why is this happening to me? These phrases are synonymous with being in a lack of knowledge.) Did you not come out of those challenges a stronger person? Of course, you did. We need to strongly seek these occasions for that reason, because that is where God trains our faith. Satan knows this. The last thing Satan wants is a stronger Christian, so he will try to convince us to fall in the lack of knowledge, but we must stand.

Faith and the New Covenant

Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. (Jeremiah 31:31–34)

The new covenant is supposed to be a better covenant for faith to work in, and it is—although it may not always seem so. The law, including the story of Adam and Eve, is written on our hearts. We have the entire law of God written on our hearts so we can be guided by our consciences. Many dispute that this new covenant has even started, but Jesus in the New Testament made it clear that he initiated it: And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood’ (Luke 22:20).

Using insights into Jeremiah’s prophecy quoted above, in this book I will also show how many people do not know new covenant doctrine (even including some rabbis and preachers and teachers in churches and synagogues), people who are probably not even religious as Paul noticed in the book of Romans: For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves (Romans 2:14).

How can these people live according to the very sophisticated doctrines in the Law of Moses without a teacher—the very teacher Jeremiah claims will not be needed? The Law of Moses contains the definition of faith! When non-Christians express pure love for something, whether love for their children, their spouses, or just the love of learning, they express the Law of Moses. How are they living the Law of Moses without knowing the Law of Moses? When this is revealed to them, that they validate the Law of Moses all the time—it can become a tutor to bring them to Christ and help invalidate all the sin that is there too. Because of their conscience, based on the law, they learn that they cannot always obey the law completely. Thus, they see their need for a Savior. The apostle John discusses this new covenant here:

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. (1 John 2:27)

I am not criticizing teachers, but believers need to depend on the leading of the Holy Spirit more than on people. Saint John and all the apostles taught in a way as not to create dependence on themselves. I do not see this type of teaching in the church or synagogue today.

As an explorer of this new covenant, I have found that it is so often only partially understood—or not understood at all. That has been a great help to me, because so many rabbinic and Christian scholars have no idea how this new covenant works; it has given me a great deal of time to assess how the uneducated are succeeding in it so well. The writing on the heart that Jeremiah describes is a synonym to our English word instinct; we do not even know that we are programmed to do it—we just do it, or we feel bad that we did not do it—and we judge according to it.

I stumbled across this completely by accident, but also in this book we are going to test the reliability of the Bible by paralleling your heart and the difficulties your heart has had in this life with the Bible. If Jeremiah is telling the truth—and obviously I believe he is—then it should be easy to parallel the heart of every human with the Bible. Wow—who can write like that? God wrote his Word in such a way that we would experience, as a test for our hearts, the fact that we can corroborate his Word only with our hearts. We no longer need to parallel the Bible with ancient manuscripts to prove its accuracy.

Now I’m going to help you envision your life—the life you have lived with all the struggles that your heart and mind have gone through—by helping you see parallels with the lives of the people in the Bible and through my own life. This book describes a lot of the frustrations I have experienced in my own life, and with religious leaders and how God has taught me his words. I hope to put to rest the idea that the new covenant has not been initiated. I hope to demonstrate how faith works within it and brings you out of a lack of knowledge about the power it contains when understood properly. The new covenant was designed to make standing in a lack of knowledge easier, and that is where this book starts. That is what this book is about. What is the lack of knowledge? The lack of knowledge is not ignorance (as your religious leaders may be telling you), and it cannot be corrected, most of the time, by studying—or studying the law. The lack of knowledge is what the ancients called faith. We will travel through the lack of knowledge in the rest of this book.

CHAPTER 1

UNDERSTANDING FAITH FAILING

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

One time I got home from work and the key to my house wouldn’t work, leaving me stuck out in the cold of an Alaskan winter. If this has ever happened to you—or if you have ever lost your keys—you will be able to understand the feeling I am trying to communicate. It is not a pleasant feeling, and the cold makes it worse. Losing your keys can be so frustrating!

A key to understanding is even more important. The key to understanding this story is recognizing that God is trying to communicate the formula of faith, the key to understanding the entire Bible, and how we will all be tested in the same way as people we read about in the Bible. Without the