| Vol. IV Number 43 | November 5, 2000 |
The Bible tells us of two trees that were planted in the midst of the Garden of Eden. The first tree was the Tree of Life and the second was the Tree of Knowledge. Adam and Eve had a choice of which tree to eat. They thought that they only had a choice between life and knowledge. They never thought or considered that the Lord didn't want to hide anything from them, but wanted to give them a choice.
Genesis 3:1-24
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
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.
14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
The two trees that were in the midst of the Garden of Eden were very alike in that they both had fruit, both had knowledge, and both determined the ultimate destiny of the one who ate the fruit. The Tree of Knowledge would give knowledge of good and evil. The Tree of life would give knowledge of life and probably also the knowledge of good and evil. Whereas the Tree of Knowledge only gave knowledge of good and evil, the Tree of Life gave the whole spectrum of both life and knowledge. The choice was between getting the whole knowledge or just the knowledge of good and evil. Needless to say, Adam and Eve choose to eat of the tree that only gave them a small portion of the story and thus paid the consequences for their decision.
God gave Adam and Eve a choice. They had a choice between gaining the knowledge of good and evil or the whole knowledge of life. They had the choice between the full knowledge of the Lord and or only the knowledge of good and evil. As with most people, Adam and Eve made a choice of choosing just a portion of the whole knowledge. On Tuesday we will choose electors to the Electoral College. the majority of people think that they are electing a president, but they are in reality electing electors to the Electoral College. Pennsylvania has 23 Electoral votes and the winner takes all 23 votes. That is why the candidates are pushing so hard for Pennsylvania. In other words, if there is just a 200 vote difference in Pennsylvania, the winner will still get all 23 votes!
The choices that people make are a lot of times based on partial information. Like the candidates only will tell you what they want you to know. This is the same tactic that Satan used in the Garden of Eden when he was talking to Eve about the Tree of Knowledge. He didn't say anything about the Tree of Life, or the benefits of eating the Tree of Life. All he did was lie about the Lord and what the consequences would be. By eating the Tree of Knowledge man now has a desire to do evil, whereas if Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Life their desire would be to do good. The consequences of their actions affected all of the human race.
The choice for the president will determine the course of the nation for the next 4 years and most likely the next 15 - 20 years. For instance the prosperity that we are seeing today actually comes from the tax cuts that were instituted by the Reagan administration. So on Tuesday go out and vote carefully for the one who supports life.
3014 E Street Philadelphia, PA 19134 Church Office Phone: (215) 634-3637 Published by: Rev. LeRoy D. Cressy (215) 535-4037
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Copyright © 2000 LeRoy D. Cressy
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