The Two Trees Within by Ross Shultz - HTML preview

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In The Beginning

Have you ever noticed that on the sixth day God created man in His image, and in His image He created him, male and female? The ‘him’ that God created was both male and female according to the first chapter of Genesis. In the second chapter after the seventh day, that was sanctified, the Lord rested, then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and then planted a garden and placed the man He had formed there. So we see that a man was created and God rested, then after His rest He formed man, planted a garden and placed His formed man in it and then named him Adam.

So God did plant a garden in Eden, and there also was the Tree of Life along with the tree of knowledge. The Lord commanded the Man saying. “of every tree of the garden you may eat freely; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

After naming all the creatures He had formed, God caused a sleep to come upon Adam. From a rib He made woman and brought her to the Man. At a time later the cunning serpent said to the woman; “Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” The woman responded back that they may eat, but not only should they not eat of the tree of knowledge, but are not even to touch it. Then the serpent said to the woman; “you will not surely die.” The serpent went on to say; “for God knows that in the day that you shall eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The woman when she saw that the fruit smelled good and was pleasant in every way, took of the fruit and ate and gave also to her husband, and he ate. At that time both of their eyes were opened, (they had surely died), and they saw that they were naked. Trying to cover their nakedness with leaves sewed with their own hands. When later that evening God called to Adam and he then ran and hid because he was naked and thought he could hide from God. “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat?” Adam spoke back; “the woman you gave, gave to me, and I ate.” And the woman said; “the serpent deceived me and I ate.” (passing the blame, knowledge)

After God had cursed the ground and clothed them, the Lord God said; “behold the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. Unless he put out his hand and take also of the Tree of Life…” God drove him out of the Garden.

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I do not want to sit here and say that the story of the genesis of man is not real, it most likely is; but the true purpose of God giving the story to us, is to show an important allegoric message of who, maybe I should say what man is, again better said, the Man within.

The word Adam means dust or clay, the first, and represents the Spirit,and woman means servant or stranger, and Eve means to declare or show, and both woman and Eve represent the soul.

Before anyone gets offended, I’m not speaking about the flesh man of Adam and his wife, I’d just like to briefly talk on the subject of the inner man and the wholeness of his true Life.

Adam is the genesis of man, and in reality represents you and me, man/woman living on earth today. Adam and his evolution, is paralleled by our own lives, our beginning, our decisions, our independence, our struggles, and so-on, but it also shows us that God has never left us in spite of what we have done. Jesus, the last Adam, is also a parallel, that God didn’t forsake us, but made intervention to rescue us from ourselves through Jesus, the Christ of God. That is that we can eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life.

The Garden of Eden is truly a reality today, we live in the shadow of it, none have strayed far from the garden, for God has kept it attainable to all. Yes, we did and continue thus far to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but by giving up our indepen-dence, we can then not only live in the shadow of the Garden, but actually live in it, and walk with God, eating from the Tree of Life.

Will we continue to live and even worship these idols we call religion, with its’ good deeds, rituals, programs, and all their money-making schemes, or will we heed Gods’ voice, give up our man made images, and run to that which God has given to us from the beginning? Jesus was hung on the tree, therefore making that provision that God has promised, when our own efforts are aborted, we can then, cling to the cross, (the Tree of Life).

Can our good efforts and good deeds save us from ourselves, the world, its’ systems? NO. No matter how many institutions, and worthy projects, whether it be governments, schools, religions, or any other tower that we build unto our self, can maintain us or qualify us in walking with God with our head, feet or hands, (the flesh). Good deeds have not and never will maintain us, nor please the Father of Grace and Love. Only when all is given up, that is the work of our flesh, will we heed Gods’ voice, while still living on this earth, that we can then apprehend the Tree of Life. Only a laid down life will cleave to that Tree, whether it be the one in the Garden or the one Jesus was hung naked on, both are now the same. No knowledge, nor the tree that it came from, nor any ‘good deed’, will ever change the nature of man. But one life given and hung on that other Tree can.

God created one man and one man only and called him Adam. For Adam was in the image of God and was with Him through all eternity, (before the planets was made) being formed at this point and placed on earth. And Adam walked with God; they were one with each other. The flesh at this point was not separated from the Father, but had a complete and total relationship with God; they were truly one. The Man at this time in his life was somewhat like a mirror, that is to say he was with God, dependent, and that is all he knew, God. Subduing the land and having dominion over all the earth and all that is in it, and upon it. But didn’t have his’ own personality, character, temperament, or demeanor, but that of God’s. He was lonely, and I’m speaking of his earth life, so God took a rib from his male/female body and formed him a wife, Eve, called his soul; for God was the beauty of Adam, and Adam was the beauty of Eve. They walked in harmony together in the garden with no restrictions but one, not to eat of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil. No wrong could be done, there was no shame in anything that the Man and his wife did, for their nakedness is the symbol of their purity, oneness with each other and with God; they were truly married.

Our soul is our companion, as Eve was at Adams’ side, so shall it be with you and I. This thing called ‘church’, for many centuries, has taught that our soul will spend eternity in Heaven, or even taught, maybe hell. Jesus spoke from the cross His last words and said; “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit,” which is the same Spirit that God gave Adam, so It went back to God from which it came and belonged. Exactly what is and will happen to each and every one of us. If and when our spirit and our soul are united in one flesh, as spoken in Ephesians chapter five, they too, both will be one as it was before Eve gave of the fruit and her husband ate. The scriptures speaks of marriage as a uniting of the Spirit, of man,(Adam), and his soul, (Eve), coming together as one. This union brings the soul of man, his personality, character, temperament, and demeanor, into that reverence, obedience, and intimacy with his spirit that came from God, and has always belonged to God. This is exactly what happened in the life of Jesus, He laid down His life, that is the soul-ish realm, the things of this world, to be completely with the Father, entertaining no thoughts of His own, and had no submission to the things of this earth, except what He heard from the Father about. Ephesians chapter five, verse thirty-two; “This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and His church. Never-the-less let each one of you….” So the Apostle Paul was telling us this, the previous verse, was spoken in a mystery, concerning man and wife, but never-the-less we can apply them both ways.

So the many scriptures that speak of the wife or the woman to be in submission to her husband, or to keep quiet, etc., they are teaching that the soul, (Eve), is to come under the headship of the Spirit, (Adam), and at this point the two are one as it was and is with the Christ and the Father. Our soul is to be our companion, not that woman at the tree of knowledge that is seducing and compelling us to take of the world, (of good and evil), and its’ independence. Our soul and spirit were made to unite in marriage as one with the spirit as the head of our feelings, (our soul,) having that companionship with the Father as it was meant from the beginning.

Let’s not get sidetracked here, I’m not talking about the flesh husband and wife, or man and woman, I’m concentrating on the allegoric, spiritual message the scriptures give to those that have ears to hear. Every person born, male or female has an inner man and inner woman which are within each of us, spirit and soul. Since we’ve all been mistakenly taught that the soul is eternal, and it very well might be if united with the spirit, it is at this time that one might want to open up his heart to receive a more accurate perception of a deeper meaning belonging to us from the scripture. The she’s and the hers’ in the books of the bible, are a representation of the soul, that is the personality of mankind, and the him’s and the he’s, are the spirit of every person. For example; when the woman is not permitted to speak in the church, and to keep silent, or the woman is not to hold authority over the man, or the woman is to only pray with her head covered etc., the scripture is speaking of the soul, which is our feelings, attitudes etc., and are not to speak or hold any authority over the Holy Spirit speaking through that person. Each one of us has a contaminated personality that been taught to each one with prides and prejudices, instilled individually to us through our environment and growing process. Therefore, when speaking the things of God, our soul, or could say opinions should be kept to ourselves, and in our prayer life we are not to ask amiss or to consume it on our flesh, but to become under the submission of our Creator, God. Submission is not an action that man can do, nor is it an effort to put forth, it comes naturally in a marriage where the two have become one.

You know, we all want what we think is right for ourselves and those that we love, but each and every decision we make most likely comes from the ‘knowledge’ that we’ve accumulated from the experiences of life and growing up through trials and errors. And we have all been persistent in our efforts that were born before us, our forefathers, that at this place and point in the life of mankind, we know of nothing else but these efforts that are called idols. That is to say; our ‘right and wrong’ has never brought man to that close intimate relationship that he had in the Garden before we contaminated ourselves with the fruit of ‘knowledge’. I’m not jabberin’ about what some man named Adam did, I’m talking about what you and I are doing, eating of that same fruit. Our spirit is born-again, but our soul can be deceived. Every day, every thought, we are faced with the decision, the choice, of whether we shall choose to soulish (Eve, or the woman),realm of the mind of man, or the heart of every yearning spirit (Adam, or the man within),to cling to the Tree that Jesus was hung on. Are we to justify ourselves, or fall into the arms of Love and Grace? If ‘good deeds’ is what maintains us, then stick to the tree of knowledge, but if one wants that worriless, non-struggling life, we will then put down that idol called ‘effort and good deeds’ and then cleave to the cross which is the Tree of Life, where nothing else matters but the things of God, Love, Grace, and Mercy. Here we are called into just ‘being’, not the ‘doing’ that has been fed to us through centuries of man-made religion. God, plain and simple, just wants a relationship with us, where we are at in this walk of life. Why would we wait until we think we’ll deserve it (His love) before we bask in the relationship that all already can have?

You know, I feel like a fool trying to explain something this simple, but that’s what this man-made religious crap has fed us for so long. That every people, world-wide, has fell into the trap, or better said bondage, of each and every religious belief that man is supposed to do something, just about anything that some head-master can invent to keep us under his rule, so that the egos of a few can be stroked. God is not looking for ‘good men and women’, but the purpose of the reason that He created us to begin with; a relationship with Him. Will He see the Son when He looks into our heart?