Which Tree are You Eating From?

Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die.”
Genesis 3:1-13
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’.”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Most everyone has probably heard of this account in Genesis of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. For some people, this seems like nothing more than a silly story that was read to them in Sunday School when they were children, and has since been discarded as they have moved into the “real” world of adult life. Some regard it as an antiquated myth. Some regard it as simply an allegory that can be used to teach spiritual principles, but has no basis in historical fact. I believe that if we are to make sense out of life, we have to take this account seriously, and understand it as fact, not allegory, myth, or fiction. If you dig into what is really being said here, and understand the implications of it, the world starts to make a lot more sense. Let’s look at it for a few minutes.
First, they had access to every tree but one. They had everything they needed. They did not need the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. What is it about us humans that make us want what we can’t have, even when what we have is perfectly adequate? They had access to the Tree of Life. The Scripture nowhere says that they ever ate the fruit from that tree before they ate the fruit from the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. They may or may not have. We don’t know. But it appears that they did not. They were prevented from eating the fruit from the Tree of Life after they had eaten the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Two good questions could be asked here: Why did God put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden in the first place? The second question could be: Why did God allow the serpent (who we know is Satan, the fallen angel who rebelled against God, the father of lies, taking the form of a serpent) into the garden to tempt the man and the woman?
In order to answer those questions, we must understand the nature of God. The Scripture tells us that God is love, God is light, and God is truth. God as love desires to be loved. Love that is never challenged is not love. Love can only be real love if the option to not love exists. Real love is a choice of the will. It is not a feeling. If the choice of not loving did not exist, then real love could not exist. There is no such thing as coerced love. God gave the man and woman every reason to love Him and obey Him. Obey Him because He is truth. But He left the choice up to them. That is why the test was necessary.
Another good question is: Why was the evil tree called “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”? To that I say, it is not necessary to know evil. We can get along perfectly well without it. God is the ultimate judge of what is right and wrong. By taking from this tree, what man in essence is saying is, “I choose to decide this for myself. Let me figure out what is right and wrong.” In other words, “I will judge myself.” This is the way people still act. It is no different.
Notice that Satan misrepresented what God told them. God did not say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden.” That has been his tactic from the beginning. He wants people to believe that God is harsh and unreasonable. He wants us to think God is withholding something good from us. When people intentionally twist other people’s words, or take them out of context to make it seem like they are saying something that they did not say, they are following the influence of the Devil. Politicians do this all the time, especially during a campaign. People have all kinds of wrong ideas about what God is like, and all of it originates from the Devil, the father of lies.
Eve proved that she did not misunderstand God by correcting the Serpent. However, she did add something to it, “and you must not touch it.” It was probably a good idea for them not to touch it, but God did not say that. God does not need our help. He does not need for us to add to His Word. When we add to it, we distort it. Eve was already falling under the spell of the devil before she partook of the forbidden fruit. She was starting to twist things, just like he does. We should always be on guard against what we are allowing to influence our thought life. Sin often does not  appear in a blatantly obvious manner. It is subtle. The influence at first seems minor and insignificant. But once the lie takes root, it begins to grow. It does not need to been pruned. It must be eradicated.
Again, Satan contradicts what God said, and makes it seem like God had a reason to fear that by eating of this fruit the humans will become equal with God. This is ridiculous. To this day, some cults teach that we can ascend to Godhood. This is heresy. “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Here is the temptation to intellectual pride, which runs rampant in our culture. Intellectual pride blinds a man to the goodness of God. There is certainly nothing wrong with being intelligent. The problem is that we become proud of our intellect, and we become know it all’s who won’t listen to anything that contradicts our own opinions. Does this sound familiar? It seems like people don’t know how to have a civil discussion with someone they disagree with anymore without being insulting and rude.
The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye. There was nothing hideous and disgusting about the fruit from this tree. It probably looked much like the fruit from the other trees. I am speculating here, based on the wording. There was probably nothing hideous looking about the serpent either. He was probably beautiful. We have this notion, mostly based on movies and stories, that the devil, and demons are hideous and evil looking. If this were really true, then real evil would be very obvious to everyone. There is nothing in the Bible to substantiate this idea. Evil can often appeal to our physical senses. It can even appear beautiful, just as this fruit appealed to Eve’s physical senses. What appeals to us should not be what motivates our decision making process. Our decision making process has to be grounded in obedience to what God says, not how we feel. The only power Satan has is the power of the lie.
Adam was right there with his wife, and he just went along with her. He did not have to. That foolish and rebellious act plummeted mankind into sin and death. Even a person who does not understand all this from the Biblical perspective cannot help feel, as we read and watch the news of the world, and read history, that something is dreadfully wrong with this world. Mankind is full of hate and murder.
I was working at IBM on September 11, 2001 when the hijacked airliners were crashed into the World Trade Center towers. We watched the TV screens in horror. A lot of people around at the time were asking, “What is wrong with the world?” It caught people’s attention for a while. But, after a time, many people became complacent again, and don’t think about it much. At the time, at work it seemed to be the subject of discussion and debate every day for a long time. I can’t think of any other time in my life when I have heard people around me getting into these discussions on such a regular basis. Things just don’t seem to make sense anymore. It seems like we may be facing the very real threat of self-annihilation.
We face the threat of nations in conflict, but on another level there is a very real threat from tension that exists between people groups with radically different interpretations of reality. Our beliefs and ideologies are in conflict and world tensions are mounting as a result of this.
The truth of the matter is that the “What’s wrong with the world?” question can be answered right here in this so-called “antiquated story” from Genesis. Contrary to what some people believe, and what is commonly taught through humanistic anthropology, this is not a myth. It is the factual account of how the human race really began. When we read this and take it seriously, things begin to make a lot more sense. It explains why we are the way we are. It lines up with reality. It lines up with human life as we really witness it. The problem with ideology is that it is theoretical. I don’t know whether you have noticed it or not, but we do not live in a theoretical world.
When we study the Genesis account of creation, we learn that things can be explained in a manner that makes a lot more sense than the theories about human behavior that are offered to us from psychology and anthropology. The human heart is in a state of rebellion against God. All the evil, hate and murder in the world is just a by-product of that.
—-Man was created in the image of God. Man was intended to be a reflection of the character and nature of God. God created a race of beings who were like Himself, then He put them in charge of His created order. The writer of Psalms puts it like this:
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swims the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:4-9 NIV)
This is the Biblical order of creation. Man is lower than the celestial beings (angels and demons) but higher than the animal kingdom. Man is the caretaker of the planet. This is in direct opposition to the idea that has become popular since the advent of evolutionist thought, namely that humans are nothing more than highly evolved animals. Granted, the basic form of the human skeleton is similar to that of some primates, but beyond that the differences are so vast that the issue of that vague similarity becomes a moot point to any thinking person that is open to the truth. That is like saying a Lexus is nothing more than a highly evolved Matchbox toy car.
“The Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.”
The phrase “from the dust of the ground” is translated from two words, “aphar” which can mean dust, clay, earth, or mud. The second word is “adamdam” and is translated “ground”. This is very similar to the word that is translated “man”. The word for man is “adam”. That is where we get the name Adam. Adam can literally be translated “the man”. Adam is the “dirt man”. Coming to the realization that we are all just animated dirt that owe our very lives to God has a way of humbling me, and doing away with my pride. We are all one God-given breath away from returning to dirt.
The Hebrew word that is translated “breathed” is the word “naphach” and can literally be translated “inflate” or “blow hard”. So the image we have here in the original language is that of a man being formed out of lifeless clay, or dirt. Then, he becomes inflated, and animated by the breath of God. It puts me in mind of someone blowing up a balloon. Before the balloon is inflated, it is just a lifeless piece of rubber. Once it is inflated, it takes on life and character. The balloon is useless without the air! Man is nothing without the breath of God.
I have heard many people throughout the course of my life ask the following question, or some variation of it: “If there really is a God, why does He allow all the suffering in the world? If He is all powerful, why doesn’t He do something about it?”
If the Word of God did not exist, if we did not have the Scriptures to reveal to us the things that have been recorded about God’s works throughout history, then this would be a legitimate question. If all we had to base our understanding on was what we are able to learn with our physical senses, then this question would be a good one. But this is not the case.
God has intervened in the affairs of man throughout the course of history, and in those interventions His actions have been to reveal His ultimate plan and purpose to us. God has called man throughout the ages to pass on, initially in narrative form, then in writing, these truths from generation to generation since the beginning of time. For anyone who cares to study the history of the way in which the Scriptures were passed on and recorded from generation to generation through the Scribes, and the meticulous care they took to ensure accuracy, this is fascinating. God has NOT left us without an explanation. He has orchestrated the events throughout history to reveal Himself to us, and then have those accounts passed on in narrative form, then recorded in writing. Josh McDowell does a very good job of explaining this in his work, “Evidence that Demands a Verdict”. I highly recommend reading it.
The reason that the world is in such a mess is not because God does not care, or is unwilling to intervene. He has in fact intervened many times. The world is in a mess because man has chosen to rebel against God, and has misused his authority over the earth.
I initially discussed the significance of two trees, the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. One might ask, “Why were those two trees put there?” The garden had lots of other trees, trees that were “pleasing to the eye, and good for food”. Why not just leave it at that?” The man and the woman could have eaten from those trees and had what they needed to sustain themselves. Why did God have to complicate things?
The regular trees in the garden represent the things in life that we need to survive. We need certain things to sustain our physical existence, food being one of the primary ones. Many people wish to live their lives pretending that these trees (the regular trees) are the only ones they need to be concerned with. Many people spend their entire lives just working and trying to have their need for food, clothes and shelter met in a grand way. But there is more to life than these regular trees can provide. Jesus put it this way:
So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” Or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows you need them. (Matthew 6: 31-32 NIV)
Why do worry and fret over the things that only these “regular” trees can provide (the things we all need to survive)? This is what drives this world’s system, the need for survival. There are plenty of these trees in the garden. There are plenty of resources in this worlds system to enable you to get what you need, if you put forth the effort. Why do you do all this, and not trust God, who is really the only one you should be focused on anyway? He already knows what you need, and will provide it for you if you put Him first. (DBV—Daniel Bryant Version!)
As much as the people who try so hard to deny God’s existence want to believe that these regular trees are the only ones we need to be concerned with, this is simply not true. People and societies all throughout history have always been concerned with moral and ethical issues. That is why governments exist, and why in every society some sort of judicial system exists to punish those who break the laws that govern that society’s life. While the laws and judicial systems vary greatly from society to society, the fact that they exist is proof that man cannot exist without some system of morals and ethics, keeping society from chaos.
If man were merely a highly evolved animal, morals and ethics would not matter at all. The only thing that would matter would be eating, sleeping and reproducing, which is basically what you see in the animal kingdom. If “survival of the fittest” was what really controlled our existence, it would not matter if I killed my neighbor to get his gas grill and pickup truck! But we know that morals and ethics do matter. The people in society’s academic hierarchy who try so hard to hold to the flawed evolutionary idea, and still try to maintain some mystical idea of man’s virtue are self-deceived and propagating ideas that are not even consistent or logical. We have to contend with the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil whether we like it or not. They cannot be ignored. Every man will ultimately decide for himself which of these two trees he is going to feed on.
One of the things I find interesting about these two trees is that they were placed in the middle of the garden. Something that is in the middle cannot be ignored. At the core of every man’s life is how he chooses to respond to these two trees, and which of the two trees he chooses to feed on. They cannot be ignored. To not feed on the Tree of Life is to feed on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It has to be one or the other.
First, let’s look at the Tree of Life. What does this tree represent? In a word, dependence. Dependence is not a popular idea in our culture. One of the founding documents of the United States is the Declaration of Independence. That document was written by our founding fathers to declare that this country was declaring its separation from England, and would not exist as a British colony. This was a good kind of independence.
Unfortunately, however because the idea of independence is such a powerful influence in our culture, many people have been sold the lie that we, as individuals can really live independently. We have the right to do what we want, right? The truth of the matter is that none of us are independent. By nature, we are dependent on each other, and ultimately, on God.
As much as we like to think of ourselves as independent and in control of our own destiny, the whole idea is total nonsense. You live in a house or apartment that has running water and electricity. You are dependent on thousands of people who work for the water and power companies for these basic things we take for granted. Unless you live on a self-sustaining farm, you depend on thousands of people who are involved in the process of bringing all the items you need to the local grocery store. I could go on with more examples, but I think you get my point. You are NOT independent!
We live on a planet that is one of nine in this solar system. (I still count Pluto!) This planet is rotating at an astronomical rate of speed, and, along with all the other planets, it is orbiting around the sun. The whole solar system is moving through the galaxy, which is also moving through the universe. It seems to me that if there were not some supernatural power controlling all of this, a huge cosmic crash would be inevitable. That blows the whole idea of independence out of the water. We have no control over what happens to this planet as it moves through space. Our sudden annihilation would be a very real threat, apart from the control of God over creation.
The Tree of Life was placed in the Garden as a way of showing man that he could choose to believe what God said, eat from its fruit, and have eternal life. In choosing to believe God, man would have acknowledged this relationship of dependence.
When my son was a little boy, he got mad at me for something. I can’t even remember now what it was. He said, “I am going to run away!” I said, “Go ahead. Mommy and I will miss you when you are gone. I guess we will never see you again.” Well, at that particular moment he was not mad at Mommy, he was mad at me. He did not want to lose Mommy. I guess he did not realize it was a package deal. Running away from me meant running away from Mommy as well. He soon changed his mind. Independence did not seem so appealing. We think we can run away from God and survive on our own. It hasn’t turned out so well, has it? You can’t have “Mother Earth” without “Father God”. It is a package deal as well!
So with that in mind, let’s look at the other tree. The name of this tree has always intrigued me. “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” If it is a tree of “knowledge”, it has to be good, right? Or so goes the thinking of man. Isn’t knowledge always a desirable thing? Don’t we hear from the time we are old enough to understand that we need knowledge to be successful in life? “Knowledge is power” as the saying goes. We need to learn, to make good grades in school, to get accepted into good colleges, so we can have degrees to prove we are experts in some field. We then use these degrees to enter the workplace. We want to get a good paying job doing work that satisfies us, or start our own business. Then we will be a success in life!
Actually, it is not knowledge in, and of itself. It is a specific kind of knowledge. It is the kind of knowledge that seeks to seat mankind on his own throne, and make him the judge of what is right and wrong.
There is a fallacy in the way of thinking that knowledge is all power to get what we want and need. Don’t misunderstand me. I am all for getting a good education. I encouraged my kids to study hard and make good grades, like a good parent is supposed to. But knowledge in and of itself is not enough. Knowledge in the sense that it is currently understood by our society, namely acquiring a lot of correct, factual data, does not necessarily guarantee real learning is taking place. Being able to regurgitate lots of information might help you to win Jeopardy, but it does not mean you have learned anything. Real learning changes you. Knowledge without learning does not change you. All it does is clutter your mind with a lot of useless information, all of which you will forget if you live long enough. Wisdom, on the other hand, is knowing how to use knowledge the right way.
Notice the content of the knowledge this tree provides. Knowing good and evil. Don’t we need to know good and evil? Don’t we need to know how to judge between what is good, and what is evil? It is not so much that we need to know how to distinguish between good and evil. The problem here is that we make ourselves the judges. We usurp the authority of God and take matters into our own hands. Right and wrong, good and evil becomes a subjective matter. We each decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, good and evil. There is no objective authority. What is perfectly acceptable in one society, may be deemed unacceptable and inappropriate in another. This is true even within societies where one group of people adhere to one ideology, and another group within the same society to another. Who decides who is right? The simplest, and most unpopular answer to that question is God. We need to listen to God, and believe what He says about good and evil. Then, we are relieved of the job. God is good, and there is never any reason to not believe Him. If we believe God, and do what He says, He is never going to tell us to do something evil. So, if you believe God, and obey Him, in knowing what is good and what is evil, the matter has already been settled. If you know God, you know good by default. You do not need to know evil. It is not necessary.
Next, notice what the Scripture says about the fruit from this tree. It appeals to our physical senses. If all we base our decisions on is what appeals to our physical senses, we are in big trouble! Our senses get us into trouble because they are attracted to things that God has forbidden. By trusting in her own judgement, and ignoring what God said, the woman brought ruin onto the human race. Eve was the mother of all living. Her husband, who was responsible for sharing with her what God had said, was right there with her, and he did not lift a finger to stop her. He was just as much guilty, if not more so than her. Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. The image of God in them was marred by sin. They then produced children in their image. That is the meaning of Original Sin.
Everyone has some basic ideas about things they believe are right and wrong. This is why the sense of justice wells up inside of us when we see something wrong going on. That is why we enjoy watching vigilante movies, or reading vigilante novels. We want to see the “bad guys” get what they have coming to them. This sense of justice is proof that we are made in the image of God (even though that image has been distorted). God is a God of justice. If we were merely highly evolved animals, this sense of justice would serve no useful purpose. The problem, as I have stated, is that now that sense of right and wrong is subjective, and what constitutes right and wrong varies from individual to individual, from society to society. Men that are in maximum security prisons for such crimes as bank robbery and even murder will harass and sometimes even kill other inmates who are locked up for crimes such as child molestation. Even within the criminal community there is the sense that some things are more heinous than others. When we rely on no other standard than our own conscience to determine what we believe to be right and wrong, it becomes totally subjective. Any society made up of people who are deciding morality on an individual basis is anarchy.
I was driving to work one morning and I saw a sign on the back of a van that read, “Caution! Show dogs on board! Please do not tailgate!” In the area I have to drive to get to work, many people on the highway seem to get into some stress crazed madness that causes them to drive with reckless abandonment, perpetually putting themselves and everyone around them in danger. Some people drive like they are playing a video game rather than piloting a two ton can of steal in which they could die very quickly. When I read the sign, I thought to myself, “Maybe I will put a bumper sticker on my car that reads, ‘Caution, beings made in the image of God onboard!” The caffeine crazed maniacs on the road don’t care what your bumper sticker says. But to the man in the van, the sign was a way of showing that he believed that taking precautions around show dogs was the right thing to do, and that other motorists should feel the same way, and play it safe around his precious cargo. Not that I disagree with him. I certainly don’t want to be the cause of an accident that ends the lives of show dogs, or any other living thing for that matter, but in giving this warning by way of his bumper sticker, this man is expressing the assumption that other motorists share his views on the importance of his dogs, when, in fact, many of them probably do not.
We cannot rely on subjective interpretations of right and wrong. This is the SIN that results from partaking of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the essence of what is wrong with man’s system of things. This is the answer to why the world is in such a mess. This is why nations are at war with one another. Our cultures are based on beliefs and ideologies that are all very subjective and in conflict. This is the reason for the forthcoming world tribulation. People groups are in conflict, and these conflicts are escalating to global proportions now that we are nearing the end of this age. Mass communication through the World Wide Web and rapid transportation systems have brought all these people groups together into a global community.
The bottom line is this: Man was created by God, inflated with the very life essence of God, the breath of God, and given a free will to live in either one of two ways:
The first way is the way of belief and trust, the Tree of Life. Man had no reason to not believe God. He placed them in the perfect environment and provided for their every need. He made life pleasant and enjoyable. He communicated with them, and made Himself available to them. They had absolutely no reason to believe anything other than that God is good and He can be trusted.
The second way is the way of deception, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Deception can come from what seems like the most unlikely places. I wish all the liars in the world could be easily identified by having horns on their heads and pointy tails. Unfortunately, it is not that easy:
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made.”
This same thought is reiterated in the New Testament:
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 NIV).
What seems strange to me about this scene in Genesis is the fact that a snake was actually talking to Eve. The Scripture does not indicate that there was anything unusual about this. We know from reading Genesis that many things changed in the created order as a result of the fall of man. Man was cursed and the created order was also thrown out of sync. Man’s fall brought a curse upon the created order:
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:19-44 NIV)
God cursed the serpent and changed its physical form as a result:
“So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field: on your belly you shall go. And you shall eat dust all the days of your life.”
We have no clue as to what form the serpent took before the curse, but it was obviously changed. And the Scripture seems to indicate that man’s ability to communicate with animals at that point was on a level above that which was possible after the fall. That is why, to Eve, there was nothing unusual about a serpent talking to her. Personally, I think that it is possible that humans could communicate with animals verbally before the fall, but I admit this is speculation on my part. I am not stating this as a fact.
The point is that the temptation came from a source that did not seem threatening or out of the ordinary to her at the time. However, although the source of the temptation did not seem threatening or out of the ordinary, the fact that the message the tempter brought contradicted what God had said to them should have been reason enough for her to reject it immediately. The lesson we should learn from this: Do not contemplate disobedience. When we even contemplate it, we are giving the devil a foothold. Remember I said earlier, that to eat from the Tree of Life, you accept your dependence on God, and you believe what He says. Because He is good, there is never any reason to doubt what He says.
Satan never comes to us in a form that is so blatantly obvious that we immediately reject him. He comes to us in a manner that seems reasonable. At the core, what he does is lie about God, and God’s character. As a result of this, he plants seeds of doubt. These seeds sprout mistrust in God, and the plant that grows is rebellion.
My daughter asked me a question at the dinner table once. “Daddy, what if a person does not believe in God or the Devil?” To which I responded: “The Devil does not care if you believe in him or not. All that matters to him is that you do not believe God. His goal is to lie about God and make you doubt God’s word. If he can succeed at that, it doesn’t matter to him how he has to go about doing it.”
The lie takes many different forms, but the goal is always the same: to make us believe lies about God, and to doubt Him. Satan wants us to believe that, for some reason God is trying to trick us, and keep something better from us. It is really all nonsense, but mankind has fallen for it from the very beginning.
So the big question boils down to this: Which tree are YOU eating from? Are you following God, seeking to know Him in a real way, and believing in His Word? Or, are you trying to do it your own way? Do you use your own understanding of right and wrong to judge yourself and others? Stop eating from the wrong tree! The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has poison fruit that will kill you. It will infect everything and everyone around you as it drains the life out of you!
The fruit from the Tree of Life is sweet. You can taste its fruit right now by asking Jesus Christ to forgive your sins, and be your Lord and Savior. Confess all your sins to Him and ask Him to come into your heart and help you to live your life in a way that is pleasing to Him, and by His grace to repent and turn the whole mess of life around and go back home to your Heavenly Father!