Jesus said these words which reveal the depths of spiritual darkness in our natural hearts which is the “darkness… upon the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2):

Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

God created this darkness, but the depth of the spiritual darkness in the first Adam’s heart in us is something we all find out in a progressive manner as God brings “to light the hidden things of darkness” (Isa 45:7, Rom 8:6,20, Pro 14:29, Joh 8:3-12):

1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

We share this spiritual dark pit with other creatures of God, and He also brings them to our attention at the appointed time for His purposes. Within these relationships with others, deeper dynamics of this darkness are revealed to us:

Gen 3:11 And he [God] said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
Gen 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Adam’s statement suggests that if Eve were not there he would not have done this evil deed. Eve’s answer to God reveals the same suggestion as far as the role of the serpent is concerned. It is clear that Adam and Eve did not know the depths of the darkness in their own hearts at this stage. Their lips could not fully express the hidden mysteries of God’s work in their lives. This is also what the book of Job so beautifully captures for our learning:

Job 2:10 But he [Job] said unto her [his wife], Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Confessions and expressions with our lips are quite inadequate and not in sync with our carnal heart. Hypocrisy is just one more deception in this deep pit in our natural hearts which is part of the carnal ways of the first Adam. Naturally our tongue is “an unruly evil” (Jas 3:1-8):

Jas 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

The natural heart in Adam did not become like this on its own as many falsely propagate. God knows the natural heart as He made it marred and full of conceit, deceit and also desperately wicked:

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Jer 18:4 (a) And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter:…

This marred spiritual heart of darkness is also shared by others whom God created and is using to show “how great is that darkness”. Within this process we, like Adam and Eve, naturally point to other’s evil as if our darkness is somehow different from that of others. The beam of this deception in our own eye obstructs our vision of our own deceitful heart as we cannot see we are part of a ‘congregation of hypocrites’ all carnality is the same spiritual dark pit!

Mat 7:5 Thou hypocrite [Greek: hupokrite], first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Job 15:34 For the congregation of hypocrites [Hebrew: chaneph] shall be desolate [vain and devoid of truth and spirit life], and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

The word ‘hypocrite’ is translated from the Hebrew chaneph, which has corruption at its root in the Hebrew. In Greek the word is hupokrite which means ‘to pretend think[ing] himself to be something, when he is nothing’:

Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.

After Adam and Eve transgressed the commandment of God in their hearts, the ‘motions of sin’, which include hypocrisy, started to be exposed in their actions and in the confessions of their lips (Rom 7:5). In the story of Job, he is described as a “perfect and upright [man], and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). However, then his heart is systematically exposed (also the hearts of his comforters when they all blame and accuse others as more evil than themselves). We first struggle to associate with the Pharisee and the older brother of the prodigal son who confessed with their lips that they ‘deserve’ much better than those sinners out there (Luk 15:11-32; Luk 18:9-14). We all see ourselves as more righteous in our own eyes which temporally serves as a spiritual gourd shielding and blinding us, but we cannot see the destructive worms, like hypocrisy, within (Jon 4:5-7):

Job 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

We naturally try to justify ourselves and find fault with others whom God actually sends on our way to help us in this discovery and revealing of our own evil. In this process we cannot see that the opening of a curtain or the tearing of the veil lets in light and healing or salvation (Heb 10:19-20, Isa 1:6):

Pro 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.

In our dark pit or prison of spiritual blindness, we actually condemn God and His ways of bringing us under another’s rule which He appoints for our benefit (Eph 1:11, Psa 22:28, Psa 115:3, Pro 16:4,9, Pro 19:21, Dan 4:17). It is through a progression of events in our life that we all discover the depths of our own natural or carnal mind and what this spiritual darkness is all about. In the story of Adam and Eve, this ongoing spiritual process is beautifully typified for us. God sent the serpent, and Adam and Eve found a rapport with his words and ways of thinking. By God’s design, Adam and Eve (and all of us) share the same dark spiritual “pit” (‘prison’) with this serpent, the devil, “from the beginning” (Rev 11:7, Rev 20:1-3):

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Their one-mindedness with the serpent was revealed, and this worldly spirit in them was exposed by the way they first thought of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first Adam and his wife had the same pride and lusts as the serpent and those in the world, even before they outwardly took and ate of the fruit of that tree:

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

The Word of God confirms this evil one-mindedness by describing mankind in Adam as a beast “whose coming is after the working of Satan” made with the other beasts on the sixth day of creation by God (2Th 2:3-12, Gen 1:24-31):

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Spiritually, the first man Adam has some clearly defined beastly characteristics:

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

These three beasts were also shown in the same types of a lion, a bear and a leopard in Daniel’s ‘vision by night’. There was also a fourth beast which Daniel described as “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly”, yet diverse from the other three:

Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse [separate] from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

He is described as ‘diverse’ which means this fourth beast is not the carnal mind, but he shares the same spiritual “deep” darkness of the carnality in mankind. The seven heads and the ten horns also typify the comprehensiveness of the evil pride and ruling lusts within all in the first Adam. This is all part of this fourth beast, the “great red dragon”:

Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

As we know this darkness in the heart of Adam was shared by his wife Eve who typifies the unfaithful wife in this case. It is recorded that she first became entangled in the conversation with the serpent, which was another spirit than the spirit of God. This disobedience to God’s spirit and His commandments is known as spiritual whoredom or adultery:

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Adam “listened to his wife” which also gives us the picture of how natural man follows the harlot without spiritual discernment and discretion (Gen 3:17, Pro 5:20-23). The spiritual harlot, called Babylon in the Scriptures, shares this same dark pit with all in the first Adam as she rules and “sits upon many (dark) waters” of “the deep” and “upon a scarlet coloured beast” in us (Gen 1:2, Ecc 3:18, Rev 13):

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Adam and Eve wanted God to judge the other’s heresies before theirs, which is so common to the natural mind which thinks that judgment is for someone else and something which can be avoided. Judgment is actually beneficial, and even more if it is done in this life:

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

When the knowledge of this truth of God’s fiery judgments is unveiled to us, we complain and contend with God, like Job in type, as the time we must spend in this fire seems like it is never ending – bottomless:

Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Rev 6:10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

God is sending His angels to give us the key to understand more and more how deep or “great is that darkness” and how much evil is locked inside that should be dealt with by the fire of God:

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded [Greek aorist tense], and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

His wisdom ‘from above’ gives us the patience to endure His work in us, as we see that all the evil and darkness in all natural hearts (mind/heaven) is actually totally under God’s control as He mercifully brings His chastening grace (Eph 2:8-10, Tit 2:11-12):

Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

The natural man is a hypocrite and not spiritual at all and in no position as yet to even judge himself righteously. Only those in the “last Adam”are given the spirit and mind of Christ to judge “all things” as we know nothing by ourselves. We are learning to appreciate God’s ‘hands’ and instruments in our lives as He builds and strengthens His gift of faith in us through His grace:

1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

1Co 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
1Co 4:4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

[The next part in this series can be found here. The author may be reached at glgroenewald@gmail.com for comments or questions.]

[Detailed studies and emails written relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the www.iswasandwillbe.com website, including:]

What is a Disciple? What is Required of a Disciple?
Satan and the Carnal Mind
What is Godly Repentance?
Rebuking a Brother
Know My Sin

Is Luk 16:9 speaking about our time, “when it (MAMMON) fails” How shall we act to be received in the everlasting tents?    G____

Hi G____,
Thank you for your question.
You ask:
“Is Luk 16:9 speaking about our time, “when it (MAMMON) fails” How shall we act to be received in the everlasting tents?”  
These are Christ’s words, and here is what Christ said of His words:

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

So clearly, these are Christ’s words, and are “speaking about our time,” and ” This generation will not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”
Here now is the verse of which you inquire:

Luk 16:8  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Luk 16:9  And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

This is the chapter with the parable of the unjust steward. The message of that parable is the fact that the unjust steward used the “mammon of this world” to buy himself friends who would take him into their care when he was cast out of his stewardship.
Christ is not encouraging us to be unjust stewards. What He is encouraging us to do is to love our enemies and do good to all men, so that when we are cast out we, too, will be well received by those who have seen how we live by what we teach, and who have come to see that what we teach are “the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“How shall we act to be received into everlasting tents?” The most wonderful thing about being in Christ is that you are finally open and honest with all men and all women in every situation. You finally have peace of mind in every situation. The way you act to be received into everlasting abodes when you are cast out of their synagogues, is you act like you should always be acting.

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

You act like Christ, and you follow His doctrine at all times:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

The whole Christian world refuses to “do the things that I say.” Some even teach that Christ’s words were never intended for us, in spite of these words of the apostle Paul:

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome word s, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
1Ti 6:4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
1Ti 6:5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Those who see no need for the words of Christ, will not be able to enter into everlasting [ Greek, aionian – a period of time] abodes, but then neither will they have to concern themselves with “being cast out.” They will fit in very well with those who are of the synagogue of Satan who say they are [ spiritual] Jews, but are not.”

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [ is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [ is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [ and] not in the letter; whose praise [ is] not of men, but of God.

The book of Revelation is addressed to the Gentile churches of Asia, and are they told these words:

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and [ I know] the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

There are several examples of those in scripture who “made friends of the mammon of this world” and were “received into aionian abodes” during their time of “being cast out.” Abraham befriended both Pharaoh and Abimelech. Isaac did the same. While they were both cast out, they were still treated well by those who had cast them out. David befriended Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and when God’s rejected anointed cast David out by attempting to nail David to the wall with a spear, David’s friendship with Jonathan served David well. Christ Himself had befriended several well placed women of substance, and while He was never received by the leaders of the synagogues, these women supported the ministry of Christ and His disciples:

Luk 8:1  And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
Luk 8:2  And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
Luk 8:3  And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Paul had a nephew who was able to overhear the conspirators who took an oath not to eat or drink until they had taken Paul’s life.

Act 23:12  And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
Act 23:13  And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.
Act 23:14  And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.
Act 23:15  Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
Act 23:16  And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.

This young man had access to the leaders of this world and was in a position to help to save Paul’s life:

Act 23:17  Then Paul called one of the centurions unto [ him], and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him.
Act 23:18  So he took him, and brought [ him] to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto [ him], and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee.
Act 23:19  Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went [ with him] aside privately, and asked [ him], What is that thou hast to tell me?
Act 23:20  And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly.
Act 23:21  But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.

I hope this helps you to see that it is by obeying Christ, loving our enemies and by doing good to all men, that we are “cast out” of Babylon’s fellowship, and at the same time we are “making friends of the mammon of this world.” It is also by ” consenting to wholesome word s, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;” that we enter into tents for a ‘period of time,’ which ‘period of time’ is really the root meaning of the Greek word ‘aion.’ 
It is the “doctrine which is according to godliness,” which defines the “wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those words are found through out the gospels and through out the New Testament. It is those words which have “made of twain one new man, in Christ.”

Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off [ from Israel] are made nigh [ to the spiritual household of Israel] by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition [ between us];
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [ even] the law of commandments [ contained] in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

 It is those words of Christ which tell us what we are to do to enter into aionian abodes when we are cast out of the synagogues of Babylon.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike