Live from Salt Lake City, Utah, this is HOTM FULL CIRCLE, and I’m your host, Shawn McCraney.
Show 16: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Part III
We’re talking about understanding the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s kind of interesting that in the scope of all God does, He gives human beings a choice.
This is a fundamental stance we take here at the Great News Network – that of choice – and because of this focus, we find that most of our biggest critics are those who embrace Reformed Theology, lit by the man Augustine, systematized by the man called Calvin, and promulgated by millions of Christians today.
Just like active members of the LDS church being able to be His Children while being deluded by the teachings of their founder Joseph Smith, I have a similar view of Reformed believers – they follow Calvin but stand individually before God irrespective of this error, with Him judging their heart.
That said, I would directly state without any hesitation that Reformed theology as taught by Calvin, and promoted by Reformed apologists today, is one of the most sinister and diabolical takes on the faith imaginable. Why? How?
Understand clearly, that apparently well-meaning men like Jeff Durbin of Apologia Church, James White who is on his board, and Matt Slick, who I actually enjoy as a human being but am stunned by his views, all ardently stand upon the following:
Reformed Theology Beliefs
Reformed Theology says:
- Everything has been determined by God before the foundations of the world.
- There is no such thing as free will – everything has been determined in advance, and none of us have the ability to choose anything.
- All people are spiritually dead in sin, and no human being has the capacity to seek God in any way, shape, or form.
Therefore:
- God MUST elect those whom He alone chooses to save, and this election is not based on anything about the individual chosen – not their potential, not their goodness, not their evil, not their personality – nothing at all about us. God simply has determined who He will save and who He will not.
- All God chooses not to save or elect will, after this life, go to a burning hell forevermore and suffer eternally and literally in its flames.
- Yeshua only paid for the sins of those God chose to elect from the beginning, not for the sins of the world.
- God is pleased by the fact that He has chosen to simply elect “some,” and He is actually glorified by the fact that He sends the rest to suffer in flames forever because this evidences His justice while those He elects evidence His Mercy.
Finally:
- Once God elects someone, they are unable to reject His election and are forevermore saved.
My Response to Reformed Theology
Friends, men like James White, Jeff Durbin, and Matt Slick literally BELIEVE THESE THINGS and TEACH THESE THINGS and criticize all souls who challenge these horrific, out-of-context, man-made views, claiming that they are derived from the whole of scripture.
Worst of all, there is a massive audience of people around the world who literally view God and scripture through this smoky lens.
And while I love Jeff, James, and Matt as human beings – truly, I do not hate anyone – they perpetuate one of the most evil representations of God through one of the most twisted views of scripture imaginable.
The interesting thing about these dinosaurs of errant biblical exegesis is when you listen to them, you cannot help but notice a few constants:
- They almost always take a simple passage of scripture and spend ten minutes explaining how to NOT trust what it says!
- Whenever you differ with them, their standard response is, “You just don’t understand.”
I’m not kidding!
What that tells me is Reformed theology, which is very much like the Trinity, MUST be taught, and that the farm boy or girl sitting in the hay and reading the Bible would never ever arrive at these twisted conclusions on their own when led of the Spirit.
Do I think that Reformed believers are earnest? No more earnest than a devout Latter-Day Saint who too embraces the teachings of men taught to them.
Do I think God loves them? Of course. Do I think they seek God? I hope. But they certainly seek a God who loves in a very different way than the God I have come to see and understand and the God the whole of the Bible depicts.
Two Trees and Choice
All of this serves as a preface to more discussion now about the two trees.
Here at the Great News Network, we stridently maintain that doctrinal errancy does not carry the importance that most religionists maintain it bears.
Why? Five words. Ready?
“God looks upon the heart.”
This means the heart of every single human being who enters the heavenly realm, irrespective of the right or nonsensical doctrines they accepted and promoted in life, will be assessed by their respective heart.
This is made possible by the finished work of His Son.
Does doctrine matter and have an influence on the human heart? It does for some – and this is the danger of doctrine being false.
The false teachings of Reformed thinkers often make them in the image of their founder and cause them to be mean and even ruthless.
The false teachings of Mormonism often make the LDS in the image of their founder – proud and materialistic.
Truly, human beings often bear the resemblance in their person of the idol they pursue.
But seekers of YAHAVAH in spirit and truth would never, ever allow a man-made doctrine like Calvinism or Mormonism to sway them from the faith and love the Spirit moves them to seek.
This is where doctrinal and practical errancy cannot possibly overcome such, and when their hearts are examined, we submit this view will be proven true.
Test all things by the fruit of the Spirit, folks. See how embracing any doctrine contributes to your heart before the living God and toward Man.
If it makes you indifferent to the lost, arrogant in your learning, or proud in any way; if it promotes Law over love, lust over submission to the Spirit, dogma, or denominational demands, consider its fruit.
The Great News vs. The Good News
Before we push deeper into understanding the two trees tonight, I want to explain why we promote “The Great News” over what is biblically described as the Good News.
For starters, the Great News is described in scripture, but it is often overlooked by readers because the scripture was written to people still operating under what was called the Good News, which tends to overshadow the Great News on earth today.
“The Great News is described in scripture, but it is often overlooked by readers because the scripture was written to people still operating under what we call the Good News.”
What Was the Good News?
It comes from the Greek evangelion, which means “good message.”
It speaks to “the information” or news of salvation that had come to earth in the Lord Yeshua and was preached by Him and His apostles first to His own people (who were promised this salvation upon repentance and faith) and then to Gentiles in that age who received it by faith alone.
The Gospel is foundational to the Great News as it shows the means by which YAHAVAH fulfilled His promise to the Nation of Israel and the means by which God was reconciled to the world.
Without the Gospel, there would never be any Great News, and so reading and understanding all that occurred to bring the Gospel forth (Old Testament) and to apply it to Israel in that day (Apostolic Record) is central to understanding the Great News under which the world now exists and operates.
Once that age of the Gospel was fulfilled, in full, first through the implementation of the Law and the Prophets, and the Son of Man fulfilling all elements of such perfectly, offering up Himself for the sins of the World, dying, being buried, rising again after three days, ascending to His Father, and returning for His Bride as promised, with all the events of Revelation happening in and around that event as described by even secular historians, the entire world shifted, once and for all, into the age in which all human beings now live.
And it is from this position that we share what can only be described as, The Great News.
Why?
Because the efficacious work of Christ for the world – past, present, and future – is in place and operational.
Hell has been cast into the Lake of Fire; Satan (the accuser of men) too; and spiritual death, sin introduced by Adam, and all the obstacles given us through the acts of our first parents have been spiritually reset.
Here is the clincher – all of these things bless people today whether they believe and receive it or not.
See, the Nation of Israel (under the Law and having the very presence of God with them and leading them with signs, miracles, and wonders) were required to believe in the chosen Messiah if they wanted to:
- Be saved from the covered place (Sheol/hell), which was a reality before Yeshua’s finished work consummated at His return.
- Be saved from the approaching day of wrath they were repeatedly warned about by the Prophets, John the Baptist, Yeshua, and His apostles.
That is why the News was Good – it offered them a Good and fair escape, all things considered, but it was entirely predicated on them receiving, repenting, and following the Messiah in faith.
But the power of Christ’s work, who is called the Last Adam by Paul, for the whole world, has taken the former economy under Satan, Adam and Eve, the
Law, Prophets and Apostles, and spiritual death and reconciled the whole world forevermore to our Maker.
And that is Great News. And it is entirely predicated on His UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for us all – WHILE – get this – WHILE still offering all people the opportunity to be adopted into His family that resides in a heavenly Kingdom above.
The Great News
The Great News is that while all souls – believers and not – have been reconciled to God by Christ and who, at death, enter into a heavenly realm void of stripes and pain – ONLY those who choose to seek God in spirit and truth and individually choose to submit themselves to His will, ways, and Spirit, will enter the Kingdom called the New Jerusalem above.
So, what does life look like here on earth in the face of the fulfilled work of Christ for all humankind?
We can answer this by starting off with asking, “What did the second Adam (whom Paul identified as Christ) do in the vein of that title?”
He brought the world’s human inhabitants back into the Garden of Eden, spiritually. This is the best way to see life today for the entire human race.
It is not a physical reconciliation – the New Jerusalem and the New Earth and the New Heaven are entirely spiritual.
So physical pain and evil and death remain. But the reconciliation of Christ had a complete victory over spiritual death and spiritual powers, and in this way, God reigns as Paul describes Him to be, “all in all.”
The Resurrection
Listen to what Paul actually says in 1 Corinthians 15 in describing the resurrection:
1 Corinthians 15:23
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection, then those that were His at His coming (this was His Bride, folks, taken in 70 AD). Then Paul adds:
1 Corinthians 15:24
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
(That was the total victory, folks. It occurred when He returned and took His Bride.)
Then Paul adds:
1 Corinthians 15:25
For He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
(This occurred between the time of His ascension until the time of His return, folks.)
1 Corinthians 15:26
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
(Spiritual death, folks. Physical death will always be a fact of human existence, but He overcame spiritual death!)
1 Corinthians 15:27
For (or because) he has put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he (God) is excepted, which did put all things under him.
And then the big one. Ready?
1 Corinthians 15:28
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
That is the age we have lived in for nearly two thousand years, my brothers and sisters.
It is the age of the Great News as God is now all in all.
Summary of the Great News
In summary of this, and this summary will generate questions and resistances, but in summary of this, we can now say:
Yeshua returned, took His Bride, and overcame all elements imposed upon us Spiritually by Adam. God has ever since been all in all, and Yeshua has left His side as mediator. The world has been completely reconciled to YAHAVAH, which means:
- Satan is overcome.
- Sin is paid in full.
- Spiritual death no longer reigns.
- All have been reconciled to the Father.
- All have been restored spiritually to the state of Adam and Eve in the Garden.
(And here is the tough one for people to grasp)
- All of this occurred at His return when first His Bride was resurrected, and so was the world spiritually, through Him and His victory.
This means all have been resurrected to new life, which means all have the spirit God breathed into Adam within them! And this means:
- All of us are, like Adam and Eve, freely choosing to eat from one of two trees over the course of our mortal existences – from the Tree of Life (which grants us entry into the Kingdom above both here and after this life, which is where God and Christ dwell and are the Light thereof) or the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (which leads to an existence outside the Kingdom walls where God and Christ do not dwell and do not go).
That is GREAT news for believers and, frankly, for the world itself. And this ought to be the message we freely share with all people.
The message is not one of fear but one of unconditional love.
It is a message of freedom of choice.
It is a message based on God’s victory through His Son and not one of failure.
But most importantly, it is founded on sound biblical exegesis and upon the Good News Yeshua introduced to the world.
- It extols free will.
- It evidences His Great Love.
- His Victory for us all.
- And it brings hope to every believer that all who walk in disorder are being called.
Today, we are not so much seeking to be born from above as much as we are seeking to discover His presence in us calling for us to believe.
It’s almost a case of semantics, but it is an important distinction because it shows His victory, His continued adoration for free will, and His unconditional love.
The Two Trees
God gave Adam and Eve a choice – that is the basis of there being two trees – and upon this original setup in the garden, everything else falls into place.
With all of that in mind, let’s turn our attention to the forbidden fruit from the TOKOGAE, which God says “leads to death” (and again, I suggest that death should be defined as anywhere outside the will and ways of God and His Kingdom).
Just like a believer today might see life here without a direct relationship to God as being dead.
Knowledge of Good and Evil
Remember, the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is SINGULAR – it is “the FRUIT” of Knowledge of Good and Evil (not FRUITS), and so the KNOWLEDGE is from both sides of the coin, tainting the FRUIT forevermore.
To me, this suggests that the knowledge given intermingles Good and Evil in every bite, allowing it all to lead to death, and this accords with what Yeshua said in Matthew 7, starting at verse 15:
Matthew 7:15-20
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
In other words, all the fruit eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of GOOD and EVIL must be seen as bad fruit, because when it is taken in hand and used in place of God’s direct leading, it will fail to bring anyone to real life, even if some of the flavor and nutrients are considered good in the short run (or in this life).
So, before we open the phone lines, lets take a glimpse at a chart to help explain this all in a more workable way.
We’ll begin showing some of the fruit from eating from the Tree of Life as compared to the TOKOGAE.
