It is bewildering, isn’t it, that more than two thousand years after the death of Jesus Christ, Christians continue to display dismal ignorance regarding the conditions for man to have eternal life. It follows that Christians have not derived the necessary benefits from the Mission. The fact remains that the events in the Garden of Eden necessitated the Mission of Jesus Christ. Christians must take note of the fact that Satan had his purpose for tempting Adam. Of course, he did not just stop at that. He took it upon himself to confuse the generality of the true understanding of the implications of the events. To hit the nail on the head, Christians vehemently believe that the forbidden fruit was nothing else other than sexual relations. This is strange because the Bible is quite explicit on this.
The Bible tells us the purpose for which the LORD GOD created man. “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26. It is noted that following the creation of man, the Bible tells us in Genesis 1:28, “GOD blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and every living creature that moves on the ground.’ “It is obvious from this passage that the LORD GOD accords priority to man producing and filling up the earth over man fulfilling his purpose in creation. The only natural way for husband and wife to be fruitful, increase in number, and contribute to filling the world is through sexual relations without any hindrance to procreation.
That rules out an abortion, family planning, sexual relations between a man and a man, a woman and another woman, and between human beings and animals. The horrific sexual practice by people described as gay cannot be from GOD. Otherwise, He would not have destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. If these were from GOD, He would act against His interest. Namely, that man should be fruitful, increase in number, fill the earth, and subdue it.
The LORD GOD is not equivocal in any way. In addition, there is no shred of evidence, however, that the LORD GOD imposed a moratorium or prohibited sexual activity between husband and wife at any point in time. On the contrary, the LORD GOD accorded priority to sexual activity above everything else. What, then, was the forbidden fruit? We shall get to that in its good time. We have now come to the important task we set for ourselves: To establish the conditions for Adam and Eve to live in the Garden of GOD in Paradise.
From there, we shall establish that it is the same condition Jesus Christ says we must fulfill before entering the kingdom of GOD. It follows then that nothing has changed. The LORD GOD does not change. He says: “I, the LORD, do not change.” Malachi 3:6. On the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, a spiritual cult named Gloriavale Christian Community closed itself off from the rest of the arena in 1969.
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Founded with the aid of the self-styled and self-named Australian nonsecular leader Hopeful Christian – who was convicted and jailed on three costs of an indecent sexual attack of a young female in 1995 – the 500-robust community was run in line with a strict and oppressive interpretation of fundamental Christianity. Women had to cool their heads, display no flesh in order now not to tempt sin from the menfolk, do all of the homework, publish to their husbands, and start as many infants as they could.
Eight years ago, Lilia Tarawa – granddaughter of Hopeful Christian – escaped with her family into what she had constantly believed to be the evil, wicked international. This is an extract from her memoir about her existence inside the cult.
“Take out your Bibles.”
Every day started with a Bible reading. I lifted my desk lid and removed the thick King James Bible that was issued to me. It turned into an old e-book that was rebound inside the community print save. I stroked the stupid red cover and held the book to my nose. I loved the musty odor of the pages.
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“We’re reading from Hebrews thirteen:17,” Peter pointed to the boy closest to him. “Nathan, study one verse, and then others continue around the room.”
THE TREES
First, we want to establish the location of the Garden of Eden. The Bible says: “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of GOD.” Revelation 2:7. Since the Garden of Eden is spiritual, Adam was, therefore, Spirit.
The first thing we want to know about respecting the trees is what life meant in the first tree and what death meant in that commandment to Adam regarding the second tree. If Adam had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life, he would not have died spiritually in the Garden of Eden. Rather, he would have lived forever. Something must be in that tree that would have given eternal life to Adam. Let us find it out.
What do we know about eternal life? Jesus Christ says: “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the SON to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. We know then that only the ALMIGHTY GOD is the source of eternal life. We can establish the following facts:
1. Eternal Life is inherent in the LORD GOD.
2. The LORD GOD grants eternal life. Otherwise, you can’t have it.
Also, Jesus Christ says in John 4:24 that the LORD GOD is Spirit. In addition, Paul says: “For since the creation of GOD’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and Divine Nature — have been seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20. In addition, the Bible says: “We also know that the Son of GOD has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true GOD and eternal life.” 1 John 5:20. We can then say of the LORD GOD that:
GOD is Spirit GOD is Divine GOD is Eternal Life
Respecting Adam,
Adam in Spirit + Fruit of Life –> Eternal Life
It becomes obvious then that the fruit of life is the Divine Nature of GOD.
This means that by eating the fruit of life, the LORD GOD becomes Part of man. The spirit man becomes born of Spirit.
Jesus Christ says the Spirit of man is born of the Spirit of GOD. John 3:5&6.
Peter says that we participate in the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4
Paul says that we each become a temple of the Living God 2 Corinthians 6:16.
Therefore, life in the first fruit means Eternal Life with the LORD GOD or, in other words, life in the kingdom of GOD.
The second tree was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The LORD GOD commanded Adam not to eat from this tree, or else he would die. It seems this tree was the converse of the former one. The one gives life; the other brings death. Let us remind ourselves that we have just established that Adam was in spirit existence in the Garden of Eden. For Adam, activity in spirit existence was life with the LORD GOD. Therefore, death in the commandment meant death or the end of activity in the spiritual reality with the LORD GOD. This resulted in life with Satan in the physical nature of flesh and blood, a life doomed for destruction. Let us conclude parallel to those we arrived at regarding the fruit of life.
Adam in the Spirit + Fruit of knowledge of good and evil –> Life in flesh and blood in the world Satan rules
Also, by eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, Satan became Part of man. By eating it, the man was born of Satan, the firstborn.
The next thing we want to know about the two trees is what each represented. The Tree of Life represents life in the spiritual and partaking in Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4), resulting in eternal life. The converse of that, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, represented death in the spiritual and total exclusion from Divine Nature and eternal life.
The third thing we want to know about these two special trees is their point of difference. The second tree should give us a clue, as it was descriptive enough. This tree offered personal knowledge. We have already established that these two trees were the converse of one another. If the tree that provided intimate knowledge of good and evil was satanic and meant spiritual death, the converse of that, the tree of life, was for divine knowledge of good and evil besides eternal life.
We can now sum everything up and say that if Adam had eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life, he would have embraced Divine Nature and thereby allowed the Spirit of the LORD GOD to endow him with the knowledge of good and evil and influence his decisions in choosing good or bad. This would have resulted in unity and eternal life in the spiritual with the LORD GOD. On the other hand, Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and gained instant familiarity with the total exclusion of the influence of the LORD GOD. This was a rejection of Divine Nature and eternal life. All of these resulted in unity with Satan in flesh and blood in the domain of Satan.
ETERNAL LIFE
From what we have been saying about the trees, we can establish the conditions man must fulfill to have Eternal Life. Really and truly, there are only two: 1. Man must have an active life in the spiritual. 2. Man must participate in the Divine Nature. Eternal life is a spiritual affair. As has been established, death in that commandment to Adam was death to eternal life in the spiritual. Sadly, it follows that man is flesh and blood and remains dead in the process of eternal life. Therefore, eternal life is out of consideration for a man in flesh and blood. The Bible says: “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” 1 Corinthians 15:50. But there is still hope for rectification for man. The sole purpose of the Mission of Jesus Christ is to revive the man in the Spirit and, all other things being equal, come to eternal life.
THE REASON WHY ADAM DIED IN THE GARDEN
In complete disregard of what the Bible says, many are always too ready to say that Adam died in the Garden of Eden because he disobeyed. But this is what the Bible says: “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life…..Genesis 3:17-19.
However, regarding the death in the Garden or the banishment, the Bible says: “And the LORD GOD said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.’ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.” Genesis 3:22&23. It becomes crystal clear that Adam had to die in the Garden of Eden because he possessed personal and divine knowledge of good and evil. Intimate knowledge of good and bad leads to self-righteousness. On the other hand, religious knowledge of good and bad leaders is important to the righteousness of GOD. We shall now show from the Bible that this is the same as the teaching of Jesus Christ.
JESUS CHRIST SETS THE CONDITION.
Jesus Christ says: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20. The Bible says in Philippians 3:6 that a Pharisee is faultless in observing the Law. In this regard, the Pharisees were the limit of human achievement. The righteousness that will surpass that is the righteousness of GOD. Jesus Christ also says: “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:26&27.
On his Part, Paul says: “By this Gospel, you are saved if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:2. Part of his teaching is: “But now a righteousness from GOD apart from the Law has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:21&22. We shall have time to elaborate on the testimony of the Law and the Prophets on another occasion. It is sufficient to know that the Law refers to the Books of Moses and the Psalms.
It follows then that your belief in Jesus Christ must earn for you the righteousness of GOD. If it doesn’t, Jesus says you are a foolish builder. Paul says that you have believed in vain. This is the same condition that would have resulted had Adam eaten the fruit of life. The LORD GOD does not change. As the condition for man to have eternal life was in the beginning, it is now, and always shall it be. Q.E.D.
Given this, it is most curious that the importance and significance of the Tree of Life have not been properly grasped or evaluated by most Christians. For a man, eating the fruit of the Tree of Life is the sine qua non for eternal life in the kingdom of GOD. This means that Part of the LORD GOD would become Part of man. It was for Adam in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, so it is still for us today, and always shall it be. We shall fully explain how Jesus Christ came into the show in its good time.
The man now lives in flesh and blood without any opportunity for eternal life. It is unfortunate that in ignorance, Christians still nurse the hope that by their obedience to the Law and strict adherence to their lists of dos and don’ts, they shall be righteous enough to enter into the kingdom of GOD. Surely, they shall find themselves in fool’s paradise.
The Bible says: “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” Galatians 5:4. We shall explain in detail the grace of salvation later. “No one is justified before God by the law because ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ “Habakkuk prophesied Galatians 3:11. That the righteous will live by faith: “But the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4
The Bible tells us about Noah: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with GOD.” Genesis 6:9. Noah, of course, had no access to divine knowledge of good and evil. He inherited, as we all do, personal knowledge from Adam. As we have shown from the Bible, that is incompatible with life in the kingdom of GOD. We must have the righteousness of GOD.
Due to the death of Adam in the Garden of Eden, the fruit of the Tree of Life is no longer accessible to man. Jesus Christ says: “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” John 3:5. This is a technical language for the practical details. When properly done, baptism in water unites one with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. Romans 6:3-10; Colossians 2:12. That one is born of water. Jesus Christ resurrected into the Spiritual. Being born of water implies forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with the Father, and returning to life in the spiritual. One can now be taken of the Spirit or led by the Spirit to do the will of GOD. That one has eaten the fruit of a life that Adam did not eat. Nothing has changed.
SUMMARY
It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of these two trees. Immediately after the creation of man, the issue that confronted him was that of the two trees in the middle of the Garden. It is not by coincidence that the Bible ends on the case of the fruit of life. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14. The Book of Revelation is highly symbolical: Washing of robes is baptism in water, and the city is, of course, the Kingdom of GOD. We shall, therefore, give the trees the attention they deserve by going over that aspect at the next opportunity. All the same, let us summarize what has been presented here. The Garden of Eden was in Paradise. Rev. 2:7. Therefore, Adam was a spirit. He was passive in his physical nature of flesh and blood. The two fruits were the opposite of one another.
THE FRUIT OF LIFE
1 This fruit was the Divine Nature of GOD.
2. Life here meant eternal life in the spiritual nature.
3. If Adam had eaten it, Part of the LORD GOD would have become Part of the spirit man, leading to unity.
4. In that case, a man in his spiritual nature is born of the Spirit of GOD. (This will happen only after man has been revived in his Spirit through Jesus Christ. Then man is born again, born the second time.)
5. The Spirit of God leads a man to be active in his spiritual nature to do the will of GOD and have the righteousness of GOD. The same condition Jesus Christ advocates.
THE FRUIT OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
1. This fruit was satanic.
2. Death in the commandment meant death in the spiritual nature, resulting in life in flesh and blood. Also, it was death to eternal life.
3. Adam ate this, and Part of Satan became Part of man in flesh and blood. This led to unity between Satan and man.
4. Man is born of Satan: the first birth.
5. A man active in his physical nature of flesh and blood does his will. His obedience to the Law and his list of dos and don’ts earned him self-righteousness. Like the righteousness of the Pharisee and the teachers of the Law, The circumstance For man To Have everlasting life.