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What man has believed of the "Serpent" God
has made, the very opposite will prove to be true. 1 Th. 5:21 "Prove
all things; hold fast that which is good". If it so be he is
defended justly, then he will rise again the third day according to the
scriptures, and according to the scriptures--the third chapter of
Genesis.
So let us investigate these charges against
him that have caused all religions to call him such evil names such as:
deceiver, the Devil and Satan. This time let us not judge so hastily
against something God had made. Genesis 1:31 "And God saw every
thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good".
The question here is, shall we look at things the way God saw them or
believe the way man see's them? For only one chapter later after God
saw every thing that he had made was very good, man saw something
God had made that was very bad. Because in the first verse of the
third chapter of Genesis, all religions from the Bible say the most
injurious things about the Serpent God had made. Who shall we
believe? God, or man. If we see it the way God saw it, that
everything he had made was very good, which would include the
Serpent, then God's statements are true, for they are in conformity to
fact. But if we believe the way man saw it, that the Serpent was the
cause of all the evil in the world, then God is a liar. Romans 3:4
"let God be true, but every man a liar".
Now this was no ordinary serpent, for this
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord
God had made. The word "subtil" used to mean "precise", to
characterized by very fine mental distinctions, with sharpness of
perception and analysis, which are all good qualities to show the way to
truth. But somewhere along the line they out dated those meanings of
precise to emphasized on crafty, wily, and cunning, to fit the Serpent the
way man saw him. For it didn't look right to hold such great
meanings in the word "subtil" that described the Serpent.
The Serpent is accused of tempting the
woman to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So let us
examine this to see if he was tempting, or correcting.
It is written, "out of the ground
made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and
good for food: the tree of life (also) in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of knowledge of good and evil".
Now the comma after the statement "the tree
of life also in the midst of the garden", (comma) is separating the
tree of life from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, because the
"also" in that statement is referring back to the trees that are pleasant
to the sight and good for food. The last part of the sentence after
the comma, was just to mention another tree that is called, the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. But only the tree of life is
specified to be in the midst of the garden. Now the woman said, the
tree in the midst of the garden is the one God had said, "ye shall not eat
of it". But God said, "of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, thou shall not eat of it".
Now all the trees that God made to
grow was pleasant to the sight, and good for food. But a
tree of knowledge of good and evil would not be pleasant to the sight, and
good for food, and therefore could not be a tree God made to grow, but a
tree man made to grow from believing the Serpent God had made was
tempting. Therefore this is the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
Now the Serpent first spoke to inquire of
her understanding of the trees. Seeing she had it wrong, he spoke
the second time to correct her. Job 33:14 "For God speaketh once,
yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not" And so the Serpent
spoke once, yea twice, but man perceived it not that it was Christ who
spoke in his stead. For this cause, Isaiah 53:7 "He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth".
Now after the woman considered what the
Serpent had said, she gave the tree a second look. "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. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked". Now before they ate of the tree of life in the
midst of the garden, they were both naked and were not ashamed. Just
as the religions are today, before they know of this error. For they
are naked to the fact they are holding good for evil and are not
ashamed. But after they are corrected of this error, their eyes will
be opened, and they will know they are naked of the truth, and will begin
to do something about it. Then they will hear the voice of the Lord
God from the words of God and not from man.
After God had asked them questions, and
upon hearing their answers, this is what God said, "because thou hast
harkened 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". Now God did not say, "hast eaten of the
tree, of which I commanded thee not", but, "of which I
commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not eat of it". Now when God had
asked Adam before, "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I comanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The
woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did
eat". Now the tree the woman gave him to eat was the tree in the
midst of the garden, which is a tree God commanded they may freely
eat. The man now thinking he ate of the tree that he should not eat
of, blamed the woman for it. Therefore God rightfully said, "Because
thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
which I commanded thee, (comma) saying, (comma) Thou shalt not eat
of it: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life": And
that is, divisions and afflictions shall the words of God bring forth to
the people for as long as they continue to believe the Serpent was
tempting.
Out of the Serpent's roots will come the
knowledge and causes which produces a fruitful Bible, nothing being
contrary to reason. For it is knowledge alone that clears the mind
of all perturbations. Would not to be lost in error create
them? Then it is evident the truth was crossed in the third chapter
of Genesis, for it was in this chapter alone that man brought sin and
Satan upon himself from choosing a base meaning in one word
"subtil", and reflected a corrupt meaning to the Serpent God had
made. God said, "That make a man an offender for a word, and
lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just
for a thing of nought". The "thing of nought" meaning, "no
devil". This is verified in the New Testament, for the words of God
say, "I have not a devil".
It is known that opposites are generated
out of opposites. It has also happened from first thoughts by the
appearance of things. As it was believed for thousands of years that
the sun went around the earth, when actually the very opposite was true,
yet the sun was right before their eyes all the time, just as the words
have been right before their eyes all the time.
In man's first reading of God's words, it
has appeared that the Serpent was the cause of sin and the Devil.
Since this belief of the Serpent has stood for thousands of years, it is
certainly worth taking a second look at this evil that is still hanging
over the human race. For as a doctor must get to the core of the
cause to cure, it is here we must get to the core of the Serpent's
cause. For to imagine a devil in God's Garden of Eden might be the
real blasphemy against God. Even the religions are baffled over this
for they say, "here we face the greatest of all mysteries, the most
significant of all secrets, the most unanswerable of all questions.
How could God--who is all-powerful, all-Holy, and all-loving--have created
evil, or permitted the Devil to create it"? This statement was made
by Billy Graham.
It is the judgment of things the world
holds as true which are not true that makes the world wretched.
Consider this affliction brought upon the world because of the judgment of
one incident from the beginning of man's education of God. First we
blamed the Serpent, the Devil, then Adam and Eve for the fall of
mankind.
The teachings in Epictetus tell us "Never
to lay the blame on others, but on ourselves, that is, on our own
judgments. To accuse others for one's own misfortunes is a sign of
want of education; to accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun;
to accuse neither oneself or others shows that one's education is
complete".
Did not anybody think it strange, that if
the Serpent was the cause of all this sin in the world, as they say, why
would God grant the Serpent final victory over man. For He said to
the Serpent. "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel". Now God asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree and he blamed
the woman. God asked the woman, "What is this thou hast done"?
and the woman blamed the Serpent. But God did not ask the Serpent
"Why did you do this"? and give him a chance to explain, for God
knew he was trying to reprove them from their error. Nor did God
punish the Serpent as the religions assume. For it is they that
esteem the Serpent strickened, smitten of God and afflicted. Because
the Serpent took his stand for truth to correct them, God knew he would be
cursed. How many men down through the ages who took their stand for
truth could this be said of them. "Because thou has done this thou
are cursed". for God did not say to the Serpent, "I curse
you". It was man that cursed and despised the Serpent. And
this is written for the Serpent's defense. "He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we
hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him
not. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for
our inquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he
hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand". So the Serpent was once
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look again shall he
appear the second time without sin unto salvation. "So shall he
sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that
which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not
heard shall they consider". Jesus said "And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted
up". St. Matthew 12:33 "Either make the tree good, and his fruit
good: or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt:
for the tree is known by his fruit". The choice is yours. So
was he the deceiver in the Garden of Eden, which then makes the tree
corrupt, and the fruit corrupt? Or was is Christ who spoke up for
their correction, which now makes the tree good and his fruit good?
It is said many times, in many different ways, in the words of God,
to get rid of the devil. The choice is still yours. But if
there was such a thing as a deceiver, it would be they who taught such a
corruptible thing as a devil in God's Garden of Paradise.
© 2006 Philosophy
Paradise