UNTANGLED: God's good news may be better than you think

By Mike Rose

Perhaps the title of this book, Untangled, has stirred your curiosity. In most situations, tangles are bothersome at best. In others, they can be downright dangerous!
Our Granddaughters, Macy and Peyton, have beautiful long hair. I have witnessed many tears over the years as my wife, Deenie (aka "Mamie"), has combed out the painful tangles.
In our Southeast Alaska waters, hungry and curious whales occasionally find themselves tangled in commercial fishing nets. Some entangled whales are set free by people specially trained to deliver them while other whales will swim throughout the rest of their lives tangled and encumbered. Not long ago, a humpback whale made it all the way from Southeast Alaska to Hawaii dragging a large commercial fishing net buoy!
Unfortunately, in this same way, many Christians are living their lives unknowingly entangled and burdened. The weight of religion, tradition, and inaccurate Bible teachings have caused many believers to experience lives of frustration where they should be experiencing lives of freedom!
Perhaps you've heard the saying, "You don't know what you don't know." Many of the teachings I will share in the following pages are lessons from my own journey of becoming untangled that I wish I would have learned forty-five years ago.
Through this book, I pray the Holy Spirit will free you from the tangles of accusation and condemnation and usher you into the fullness of life that Christ paid for you to experience! I pray that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation will fill you and bless you with valuable insights for living your life in joyful alignment with God's will for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9798885676298

Book preview

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Untangled: God’s Good News May Be Better Than You Think

Copyright © 2022 Tetelestai Ministries.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Requests for permission should be directed to

www.TetelestaiMinistries.com

Published by Tetelestai Ministries, Portland

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked TPT are from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com.

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.™

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Editor: Pauline Wick

Book design: Rachel Plyler

Cover design: 99Designs

ISBN: 9798885676298

First Edition: November 2022

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

TWO TREES

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

THE COVENANT OF LAW

THE NEW COVENANT

THE MESS WITH MIXTURE

SIN-CONSCIOUS OR GOD-CONSCIOUS?

RED LETTER ALERT

WELCOME HOLY SPIRIT

FOLLOW THE LEADER

STOLEN TREASURES

SPIRIT DISCOVERY

IDENTITY THEFT

introduction

Perhaps the title of this book, Untangled, has stirred your curiosity. In most situations, tangles are bothersome at best. In others, they can be downright dangerous!

Our Granddaughters, Macy and Peyton, have beautiful long hair. I have witnessed many tears over the years as my wife, Deenie (aka Mamie), has combed out the painful tangles.

In our Southeast Alaska waters, hungry and curious whales occasionally find themselves tangled in commercial fishing nets. Some entangled whales are set free by people specially trained to deliver them while other whales will swim throughout the rest of their lives tangled and encumbered. Not long ago, a humpback whale made it all the way from Southeast Alaska to Hawaii dragging a large commercial fishing net buoy!

Unfortunately, in this same way, many Christians are living their lives unknowingly entangled and burdened. The weight of religion, tradition, and inaccurate Bible teachings have caused many believers to experience lives of frustration where they should be experiencing lives of freedom!

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, You don’t know what you don’t know. Many of the teachings I will share in the following pages are lessons from my own journey of becoming untangled that I wish I would have learned forty-five years ago.

Through this book, I pray the Holy Spirit will free you from the tangles of accusation and condemnation and usher you into the fullness of life that Christ paid for you to experience! I pray that the Spirit of wisdom and revelation will fill you and bless you with valuable insights for living your life in joyful alignment with God’s will for you.

Deenie and I have pastored the Juneau Christian Center in Juneau, Alaska for thirty-five years. We have two sons with families of their own: Benjamin and Heather and Justin and Whitney. They have blessed us with five grandchildren.

ONE

TWO TREES

The devil did not tempt Adam and Eve to steal, to lie, to kill or to commit adultery; he tempted them to live independent of God. - Bob Jones, Sr.

It seems appropriate for us to start at the beginning with Adam and Eve and two trees.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there, he put the man he had formed.

And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:8-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

Very early in the existence of Adam and Eve, they became familiar with two trees in the garden. The Lord God created every tree in the garden and they were all pleasant to the sight and good for food. Still, scripture directs us to focus on the two trees in the center of the garden. Often, when scripture calls special attention to something in a verse, it’s because there is a deeper meaning to explore.

When we consider the tree of life, we might certainly think of Jesus, who is called the prince of life (Acts 3:15). Jesus said of himself, I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25) and later, I’m the way the truth, and the life (John 14:6). John also wrote of Jesus that in Him was life and the life was the light of the world (John 1:4). I’m not going out on a limb here to say that the tree of life represents Jesus.

Let’s consider the other tree in the center of the garden: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. While the name of this tree sounds good and noble, it’s obviously not a good tree. Before Eve was created, God commanded Adam not to eat from that tree.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Genesis 2:16-17

Why would God put the tree with poisonous fruit smack dab in the middle of the garden without childproofing it? It’s obvious that our freedom of choice is important to our Heavenly Father. Without the freedom to reject him, we are powerless to choose him. Our obedience is a choice.

POISON IS NO PICNIC

Eating poisoned food is no picnic, I have firsthand experience. Early on in our marriage, my young bride, Deenie, fixed a large portion of delicious lasagna. It was in a big aluminum container and each time we wanted leftovers, she would reheat all the lasagna in that big aluminum pan.

One night, Deenie drove with a friend to another city to eat out, and before she left, she reheated the lasagna for me. It was the fourth time it had been reheated. The lasagna looked good and tasted good, but an hour later, I was not feeling good. I came home from unloading a truck and soon became violently ill. I will not discuss the nauseating details, but I called the elders of the church because I thought I was dying. They came, they prayed, and I lived.

Deenie and I didn’t know that reheating the food in that aluminum pan multiple times would make the food toxic and dangerous to eat. There is no way I would have eaten that food had I known it would poison me.

Why would Adam and Eve eat something after they were warned by God that it would kill them?

THE TEMPTATION

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’

Genesis 3:1

After creation is recorded in Genesis, the author refers to God as the Lord God. The purpose for the addition of the word Lord is to keep man aware of the need to honor God’s position of Lordship over them.

By contrast, in this significant exchange, Eve and the serpent simply refer to him as God.

And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’

Genesis 3:2-3

Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 3:4-5

Eve knew what God had said regarding the tree. The devil’s line of reasoning implies that God was not telling them the truth and that he was holding out on them.

Eve was being tempted to become more like God. What