Life is a web of critical points. It's a web because it represents a complex tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which an individual must find a route. The points are critical first of all because they represent areas of change; change that will either derail or transform you depending on how properly they are connected. A Critical Point therefore is a stage in your life where you must choose between options, or where circumstances place a decision on you that must either push you forward or derail you. Because these points exist in a web-like formation, the journey through life therefore is not a straight line. There are valleys, mountains and thorns along the way. You are bound to encounter twists, turns and meanders as you navigate through the dark allay of life. Each turn, twist and valley represents a critical point.

But it was not originally designed that way by God. The journey through life was supposed to follow a straight line. God created man to show forth His Glory. Man therefore was created perfect, sinless, and in the image of God. In order words, God wanted man to reflect Himself, to have regular uninhibited fellowship with Him. The journey through life was not supposed to be a struggle. Man did not have to toil and sweat to provide for his sustenance. What to eat, what to wear, where to live, and other bodily comforts were meant to be for the asking. There was no need to worry about how to outdo others. Competition, if any would only have been to provide for the general good. You see, competition arises because of man's craze for materialism and inordinate ambition to create a divide between the rich and the poor and in the process dominate one another and the world. Man would not have had any safety concerns since all, including animals of all types were supposed to dwell together in peace. The garden at Eden was carved out as a Paradise on earth meant to last forever where the only duty of man would have been to worship God in His Holiness.

The euphoria lasted but a short while. Satan, whom the Bible describes as the prince of this world, apparently quite envious of the enviable position of man devised a strategy to halt the collective destiny of man. By telling half truths about the tree of knowledge of good and evil he succeeded in dropping some evil deposits on the mind of Eve. You see, man has a free will. He's not going to be forced or coerced by God to stick to the divine arrangement if he does not want to. Obviously enticed by the prospect of being like God - the half truth Satan told Eve, Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam, who apparently had surrendered his leadership responsibilities on a platter of forbidden fruits. God drove them out of Eden but not before He reversed the tranquility, peace and abundance they enjoyed while there.

The consequences of this action are very devastating. Firstly, the soil would no longer produce fruit without effort, but man would have to toil by the sweat of his brow to provide for his family.(Genesis 3:17-19) Still another consequence was that childbirth for the woman would include pain and sorrow. Not only that, henceforth woman would be subservient to the man (Genesis 3:16). Another was that Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden. One reason for this was that in the Garden of Eden was the tree of life, and anyone who ate of this tree would continue to have eternal life. This brings us to the most tragic consequence of Adam's sin, death! (Romans 5:12) From the time of Adam and Eve's sin, they became mortal and began to die physically. But not only did they die physically, they died spiritually.

These consequences set the tone for the journey through life for all of us today. The "soil" refers to your means of sustenance. It's not going to be for the asking anymore. People now have to fight, kill and outsmart one another to survive. Competition and unhealthy rivalry become the order of the day. The disproportionate distribution of means of livelihood, especially natural resources has caused man to dig deeper into their trenches in a renewed attempt to unseat one another. What you hear these days are wars and rumors of war.

Life then becomes survival of the fittest. These days hard work is not a virtue. Supplanting, cutting corners, and "God-fatherism" are acceptable means to get to the top. Some even resort to external diabolical assistance to undo one another. A culture where ill-gotten wealth is a mark of statesmanship, and those that perfect these acts are celebrated as geniuses leaves no room for personal sacrifice and hard work. Therefore everybody rushes to get to the top by any means necessary, thereby further widening the gulf between the rich and the poor. When a society segments people into classes based on a perceived affinity to wealth, and therefore exalts the "haves" to high heavens while relegating the "have-nots", it generates fear and limits creativity while creating a class of praise singers. The rich want to do anything to stay that way, if that means keeping the poor continually impoverished, so be it. The poor on the other hand is struggling to get rich, and if he does not succeed, to ensure that the rich does not sleep with his two eyes close at night. That these acts are progressing in a geometrical proportion is a pointer to the fact men had died and are continuing to die spiritually as a consequence of this sin. When the conscience of a person is numbed, you find him being forcefully attracted to evil in place of good. The result is that he consistently places his life at the disposal of Satan, his master. Or how do you explain why someone would resort to child pornography or prostitution to make a living. Some, not wanting to be outdone, become professional hired assassins or kidnappers. Many kill to remain professional politicians not to serve, but because that is a great opportunity to dip their dirty hands into the government till. The society suddenly becomes "civilized" that nothing offends our sensibilities anymore. The very acts that caused Sodom and Gomorrah to be burnt to rubbles are being touted as alternative life styles in our days. It's no more about virtue, it's about something, anything that offers high rewards in dollars and pound.

The birth pang symbolically refers to the pain and agony people not only women are exposed to as the shield of tranquility and peace, once the hallmark of the life at Eden, is being ripped off as a consequence of sin. What you see these days are strange sicknesses that even the best trained doctors have no clue about their prognosis. Gradually but steadily, climatic and other biological factors force down life expectancy. What you hear as a "ripe old age" these days is nothing beyond 75 years. Many things that would have been to our comfort are becoming poisons to our bodies. As diseases ravage our bodies, mankind remains helpless.

There's one key aspect of the consequences of sin that is not discussed frequently these days because it's not politically correct. God's verdict to Eve, apart from the birth pains was that she would be subject to her husband for the rest of her life. Apparently Eve was created originally to exercise more independence and perhaps operate at the same level as Adam. But with the fall came a re-arrangement of that earlier plan. One of the major reasons, if you trace very carefully, why many homes are broken is because of this singular factor. There is struggle of leadership in the home. This is not surprising. Satan wants any opportunity to upset the plan of God. Once the divine plan is upturned, because there can not be a leadership vacuum, Satan therefore imposes his ragtag arrangement, always a negation of the plan of God for mankind. What you see from then on is chaos, finally leading to divorce. He knows one of the easiest ways to cause disaffection at homes is to instigate the woman against the divine familial arrangement. Any home where the wife ignores the headship role of the husband is heading to destruction. In fact, any home where the wife aims to operate at the same level of authority with the husband is sick. It might look beautiful from the outside. You would never know until they let you into their lives. That is one of the key reasons why the rate of divorce is getting higher by day and you have many single parents with attendant dire consequences. The argument these days is that there is role reversal because more and more women are entering the workforce and becoming professionals with high paying jobs, thereby shouldering financial responsibilities of their families. I don't see how this differs from women of old who have to toil from morning till evening in the farm and still come back to take care of their homes without usurping the authority of their husbands.

These unwholesome acts and circumstances set roadblocks on the paths of the few who eagerly seek their means of survival in the old fashioned honest ways. These roadblocks constitute critical points in your journey through life. There are twists, turns and meanders. Each twist, turn and meander represents a Critical Point in the life of a man.

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