tree of life

Which tree are you climbing?

/ E Bishop Wooten / Leave a comment

I saw a quote by a charismatic preacher in Colorado named Ted Garner where he said that humans are in one of two trees; the tree of knowledge of good and evil and tree of Life. The first tree is external where we try to live life from the outside in. For example, we try to keep God’s commandments legalistically, This can result in having a harder life, feeling like we are doing it out of own efforts, and can make us more judgmental towards others.

If we are in the tree of life, we are living life from the inside out. This is also called the life hidden with Christ in God. Everything feels more natural in this tree. We are more focused, and everything just falls into place. Jesus even said if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all else would be added.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil is man’s attempt to eat of the forbidden fruit, which is questioning God and trying to be God. The man in this tree will probably value science over true religion, with the former leading to an actual worship of scientific knowledge.

Life will feel harder if we are in the tree of knowledge. Not that knowledge in and of itself is a bad thing, since it takes knowledge to do anything. This may sound like a prosperity gospel, but life wasn’t meant to be hard or a struggle.

Why is the tree of life so hard to get into if it promises so many blessings? Because humans over complicate things when all God asks us to do is trust Him. Every time we doubt God and trust in our own faculties we take a bite out of the forbidden fruit.

In the Beginning

/ E Bishop Wooten / Leave a comment

Genesis 1:1. . .”The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good.“

The beginning of man is similar to the creation of the planet earth; that is, without form and full of darkness and God hovering over us, waiting for us to invite Him to be a part of our lives. I have heard it said that water is a symbol for matter. Our bodies are 70% water, so our bodies exist as a solid form of water. When we are baptized in “water”, the Spirit of God merges with the spirit of man.

God said the light was good, but until the light is received, all we have is darkness. Life will not make any sense. We will have toil and hardships as we struggle to get back into that perfect utopia that we were created to live in with God.

You can’t really prove God exists. This is why intellectual types prefer science to religion and struggle with anything that simply rests in faith. The whole act of trying to “figure God out” is eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of life is simply believing that God exists, no matter what name we give Him (or gender), and resting peacefully in Him.

The only way to prove that the things of God are true is to seek “Him” out for ourselves and have a direct experience with the Holy Spirit. When this happens, our lives change and we won’t be able to deny that there is something bigger than us out there. Not even that far out there either.

Apart from the direct experience with the Creator, we can experience the life hidden with Christ in God by having fellowship with other believers. I usually feel like I am in a whole different world when I attend some church related gatherings. It is the same when I listen to inspirational music or watch faith-based programming on Pureflix.

Jesus said “by their fruit you will know them”. Whenever I see churches giving out food and clothing to people that lack these things, it is also proof that my faith is true. The community that the world seeks and desperately needs can only be found when it is centered around God and His truth that is contained in the Holy Scriptures.