THE FIERY FLYING BRAZEN SERPENT

THE FLYING FIERY SERPENT OF LIFE

KEY VERSES: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

  Many theologians see the brazen serpent as symbolic of Jesus on the cross. Strike that image from your mind! I contend that it represents three events: (1) The Serpent dead in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, (2) Judas Iscariot dead in his hanging tree, and finally (3) Satan’s demise! Satan had entered into the docile Serpent, making him a Beast – a four-footed animal of a lower form than men.
  The Serpent’s punishment because of his cunning was threefold: (1) cursed, (2) made a creeping thing (Gen 3:14), and (3) will die when its head is crushed by the heel of the Messiah (Gen 3:15).

Scripture is all about the death of the “serpent” – Satan – whose head that the heel of Jesus would crush to save mankind!
  Scripture is not so much about Jesus’s death because Jesus was only “asleep” for three days, as Jesus’s Holy Ghost delivered all the sins of mankind to the Devil himself in Hell (Ephes 4:7-10). Jesus spoke of death as sleep (Mat 9:24) which Paul confirmed (1 Cor 15:18).
  Jesus did not die, as he thought of death. He died as the world thinks of it! Likewise, Satan’s death is not fully understood. It was Satan who was defeated on the cross, and Judas Iscariot, hanging on his tree (Mat 27:5). Not by coincidence, Paul referred to the Holy Cross as Jesus hanged on his “tree” (Acts 5:30).
  Jesus’s death by crucifixion was the victory celebration of Satan hanging on his tree in the form of Judas who Satan had entered in; just as he had entered into the Serpent (Luke 22:3). There is only one other being that Satan animated to do his will. That is the Beast – the Antichrist. (Rev 11:7).
  Just as Jesus merely slept, Satan’s death on his tree was merely his flesh dying in the body of Judas. His spirit will die in the end! (Rev 20:10). Just as God has three substances – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in that passage Lucifer’s Unholy Trinity is identified: The father of sinners – the Devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet.
  That brazen serpent on his pole represented a dead Serpent in his tree, Judas hanging from his tree, and all the Unholy Trinity burning in the fiery lake!
  Jesus said, “Marvel not; ye must be born again” (John 3:7), then clarified that with the example of the lifeless serpent on the pole (key verses).  Trusting the Lord for salvation is not seeing a lifeless Jesus on his “tree” but the Satan Judas on his hanging tree!
  What kind of serpent poisoned and killed the unbelieving Jews? Scripture identifies that dead snake as “a fiery serpent:”

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.  (Num 21:8-9)

   

  People have envisioned the fiery serpent as a gliding snake as in Egypt, a Pterosaur, a flying squirrel, or a seraph, from the Hebrew nomenclature. I accept the latter. “Seraph” means, “"the burning one"/"serpent" (Wikipedia; “seraph”). The word for “serpent” is seraph in the Hebrew five times, including the phrase “fiery flying serpent.” Rather than a snake on the pole, it was a seraph because scripture identifies it as such.
  Lucifer” means “light-bringing” (ibid; “Lucifer”), and thusly fits “fiery seraph” quite well.  Now examine what Isaiah saw:

Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. (Isaiah 14:29)

  In the phrase, “serpent’s root” the Hebrew word is “nachash” – the same word used for the cunning Serpent in Genesis 3:1. The seraph “serpent” was from the “root” of the old Serpent. It seems that the brazen “fiery flying serpent” was Lucifer’s embodiment as a seraph whose lifeless image on the pole, or tree, caused the Hebrews to trust God for salvation. Seraphs had four wings and four faces and “wheels” to fly (Ezek 1:10).
   That description identifies the four “beasts” from the Book of Revelation.

It can be concluded that the brazen serpent on the pole did represent all aspects of Satan as dead. They came to believe what John saw in his Revelation. When Christians look on Jesus’s “pole,” they should see the Serpent dead on the Wisdom Tree, Judas dead hanging from his tree, and the three of the four beasts of the apocalypse dead in the fiery pit.
  Who is the fourth “beasts? “Certainly not a beast! Theologians believe that the four “beasts” represent (1) the face of Jesus, (2) the face of fallen Lucifer, (3) the new world government, and (4) Lucifer in human form, or the Antichrist (WUAS Internet Bible Studies). It would seem from Revelation that that the four “beasts” represent Jesus defeating the Unholy Trinity as identified previously!
  It is clear that the brazen serpent represents Jesus alive but the Devil dead in all his substances. To be born again, is understanding that Satan will die a fiery death, as it appeared with the brightness of sun shining on the brass serpent, and that Jesus’s death signified a dead Serpent!
  Graven images of God was forbidden by the Second Prescription (Exod 20:4), and the First Prescription that there must be no other gods in God’s face (Exod 20:3).
  Well, one of the faces of the seraph surely represented God. But an image of God must not be made. The other three faces symbolized the Unholy Trinity. As such, God had the brazen serpent that Moses had made broken into pieces:

He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4)

  The Hebrews made an idol out of the brazen serpent on the pole.  Rather than seeing the face of God, they saw the “faces” of the Unholy Trinity. Who is “the face of God?” Jesus – the Angel of God with whom Jacob wrestled and by grace won the match (Gen 3:10).
  For some, the seraph on his pole, had covered the face of Jesus with one wing while still exposing the Unholy Trinity with his other tree wings not covering their faces. Satan showed his three faces unexposed, and the Hebrews came to worship the Creature rather than the Creator – Jesus!
  There is one other passage wherein the “fiery flying serpent” is mentioned. Perhaps the reader, as myself, will study that passage for further insight:

The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. (Isaiah 30:6)

  In summary, how can the old creatures (us) be born again? We must not see Jesus dead, but alive because he has risen. We must see the Serpent entirely, in all his aspects, in the fiery pit, and understand that Jesus’s “death” signified that, and that in the end, the flying seraph (serpent) will be cast into the fiery lake; thus, the “fiery flying serpent” that Isaiah saw!

WALL BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION

  The philosophy of the United States is “separation of Church and State.” That is not in the U.S. Constitution, but people everywhere except that idea as factual. Why would anyone want separation of Church and State? As always, to keep God out of governing.
  First off, “State” is, “A body of persons constituting a special class in a society” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). In the context of governing bodies, the term “estate” is used for clarity. Estate means “a social or political class” (Ibid). The government of France (French Ancien Régime), for instance, under the house of Capet, had three estates: (1) The clergy, (2) nobles, and (3) commoners.
  The power of each estate was designated by their numbers. Obviously, the clergy had the greatest influence because of the Roman Catholic Church. The second estate, even the King, paid tribute to the Pope, and the Pope’s blessing was required for many major governmental actions.
  France had the Estates-General Assembly which included the three estates. The numbers of each estate were disproportional to their rank. The clergy was the most elite, followed by the nobility. The “masses” or commoners were the bulk of the population, but the least franchised. It was an unfair government, and the French Revolution ended it in France.
  In England, it merely dissolved as the nobility gained power over the clergy when Roman Catholicism was rejected. With more time, the monarchy gave way to the people who are represented by Parliament.
  From the early 1600s until after the American Revolution, the United States Anglican, Catholic, and Congregational Churches held power in many of the colonies. Some “state churches” continued to exist for a time after the Constitution was written. In summary, America did not reject Christianity, but the Church Estate – the power of the established church – not Christianity in general. For instance, the Anglican Church jailed some for failure to attend or support the church, and the church parishes were the governing bodies that taxed all the people in the parishes.
  For some who were not members, that continued “taxation without representation” until after the Revolution. The Baptists did not like that because their preachers preached illegally and were jailed. Thomas Jefferson came to their aid. However, the Baptist cause was never included as law. However, “separation of church and state” has become the law of the land, both in the minds of the people, and specifically of the government!
  Why so? The government still endeavors to be the First Estate which at one time belonged to the clergy. Note that the American government is a democratic-republic. “Democratic” to favor the commoners, and a “republic” to include the educated and landed gentry. Today in America, the Estates-General is extant, but the power system has changed: The first estate is the U.S. government, the second estate is the liberal church, and the third estate is still the common people. The conservative legislators and clergy have little representation in government.
  In France, conservatism was destroyed, as was the Protestant and Catholic churches. The commoners were convinced that they were in charge, but it turned out that the Jacobins (liberal socialists) were. They murdered all who disagreed with their evil government which presented itself as fair!
  A new class of government came into existence: (1) the liberal elitists, (2) the duped commoners, and (3) the liberalized church. The numbers of the elite increased as did the commoners, but the church died out, and was replaced with the Cult of Reason whose goddess was Libertas.
  As in France, the United States has as a state religion - Reason whose goddess, Lady Liberty, stands in New York Harbor. Liberty not only is a towering idol, but also represents the secular religion of the United States. Lady Liberty testifies to whose God the government recognizes. The masses have been fooled again; liberty takes precedence even with Christians, over religion because “separation of church and state” has been engrained into the minds of easily duped people.
  Like the northern kingdom, Israel, which God destroyed because of two gods, if things do not change, the United States will be decimated by God as with Israel.
  Americans claim to be Christian, but Liberty always outweighs God in American affairs. Even Christians have no trouble voting for those who would behead their children in the womb as wicked France beheaded the innocent with the guillotine.
  Israelites passed their infants through fire to appease their false gods. They burned them alive! Many millions of babies are burned alive in the United States withy saline abortions. For what? Sexual liberty. Americans want to fornicate with impunity and the assurance that they do not need to be accountable is the freedom to kill their own offspring.
  The United States has become much like the wicked French First Republic and much like wicked Israel under their last king, Ahaz. The prophet Isaiah told them of a new type of govern\ment and a new type of king:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isa 9:6-7)

  Jesus will be King! For Christians, he should already be the governing authority. His government is the Doctrine of God: “Shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things” (Titus 9:10). In other words, Christians should not care what Liberty speaks, because idols can’t speak! Elitists put words in their idol’s mouth… words against God as always.
  Be clear… democracies nor republics are the government of God. One type of Monarchy is with Christ as King!  “The government will be upon his (Christ’s) shoulders,” and it is to be governed as such: “To establish it (the kingdom) with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.
  The will of Democrats and Republicans will be disregarded, and certainly the Marxists to whom God is no more than and inebriant to keep would-be zealots docile. The left fears, “the zeal of the Lord of hosts,” as Isaiah saw beforehand.
  The Will of God is that the Doctrine of Christ be in this new type of government, and it is to be patterned after the Kingdom of David, of course after his repentance, wherein Jesus is the true King, and governors are merely men “after God’s own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).

Paul tells of that righteous government wherein Jesus is King:

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. (Heb 8:10)

  To validate that, Jesus said, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Mat 6:10). How should Christians vote? God’s Will. What is God’s Will? God’s Laws which he prescribed for good health in the Ten Commandments.
  The U.S. Constitution has a preamble. So does God’s “Constitution:” First Part: Remove yourself from a wicked nation, second part: “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing;” and the third part: “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:1-3).

For Israel, that meant to abandon Baal and belong to God. For Americans, that means to abandon Libertas and return to King Jesus!
  The most foolish thing that I have ever heard from a Christian is the rant about separation of church and state! God cannot be separated from that which belongs to Him. Israel tried that time and time again, and was destroyed because of their infidelity to God. America, fans of “Jeopardy,” may themselves be in jeopardy!
  A corollary to that idiocy is that laws cannot be based on morality! What law is NOT based on morality? The question is, Whose morality? Is it Miss Liberty’s or is it the morality commanded by God?
  Discerning people should understand that all laws are covered in the Bible; even inheritance and laws of safety and sanitation! God thought of everything! He even dictated traditional marriage only, and pro-life as the rule of Law. He even thought of equality, and the fairness of government to the commoners. Likewise, God thought of a financial umbrella to those truly in need – the orphans and older widows who could not support themselves.
  It is all there in the Law of God; all that government and elitists need to do is hearken unto God and not “Eves” as Adam did. (Eve’s of course would be radical feminists and those who bow down to their goddess, Lilith – women who are the likes of the screech owl in the Bible; Isa 34:14).
  As with Obama care, Jonathan Gruber said that they, "depended on the stupidity of the American voter," for it's passage. Evil empires depend on the foolishness of so-called "reasonable" people for their plots. Foolish people do not consider God's Will when voting for deceptive "serpents," and do their own will instead.

ON REASON AND LOGIC

REASON AND LOGIC: Blessing of Curse?

  Reasoning is merely cognition – using the mind to process knowledge – so that it will have utility in life. Reasoning is how people exist in their environment. Intellect is the ability to use the knowledge, apply it, and come to conclusions.
  Logic is the process inferring from some idea to concluding the truth. Truth should be the ultimate goal of everyone, but to be honest, people most often come to conclusions which are biased. Why? Because that is easier, often more appealing, and provides comfort to those who are intellectually challenged. People in general would rathe live a lie because falsehoods are less stressful.
  God’s ultimate truth was essentially, displease Me by dishonoring My Will and you will die. Because people do what they want to do, their reasoning is short-circuited. Because they are not willing to conform to the standards set by God, they rationalize in many ways: (1) God is not real, (2) God would not be so punitive, (3) God’s grace relieves me of responsibility, (4) God operated differently in olden times before Jesus, (5) or even, disrespect for God because pleasure is more appealing than contentment. The latter was the sin of Adam and Eve.
  They knew God, believed in Him, realized that they were created, but thought God would not care if they pleasured that one time. As such, they were irreverent to God’s Will, and died. Satan used their limited knowledge-base against them. All they knew before sin was goodness: good light (Gen 1:4), good things which were visible (Gen 1:10), good plant life (Gen 1:12), good sun and moon (Gen 1:18), good oceanic and avian animals (Gen 1:21), good land living animals – even creeping things like serpents (Gen 1:25), and also men and women (Gen 1:26-27).
  The totality of all the creation was “very good.” (Gen 1:31). On the seventh day, God rested from all the good things He had made. Since God made everything, and no one else, “only God is good” (Mark 10:18) in which Jesus implied that he Is God. The Jews used faulty reasoning, as sin blinded them. They knew that God was one substance that was invisible. They had been punished repeatedly for not understanding that. Through conditioning, God convinced them that there is only one God.

Then there comes Jesus, implying that he is God. The inference that the Jews made was that this mere tradesman was not God! Then throughout Jesus’s ministry, they ignored fact after fact, and finally in the end, their conclusion was that Jesus is not God. Then they killed him for their presumption. Their faulty reasoning and poor logic killed God, at least for a short time, as Jesus demonstrated to them again, that indeed, he is God. Even after the resurrection, Jews whose logic had failed them, still disbelieved… and they do to this day.
  God made two other good things. They are what I call, “Decision Trees.” The two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden were for mankind to use their reasoning. It was God’s way of judging their allegiance. Actually, it was God’s way for them to decide to whom they would have allegiance. By eating of one of the two trees, decided who was their true “god.” Eating of the Tree of Life was allowable, and eating of that tree inferred immortality because eating of that tree was good, and that inferred God’s goodness.
  Eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil provided a second choice. It provided pleasurable things which appeased the bodies of the two. Adam saw that Eve did not die after eating, and concluded that since she didn’t die, he would not… so he ate. Adam’s logic was flawed because his knowledge base was limited. He didn’t understand death! Most people still do not or they would do something about it.
  Death is isolation from God, and loss of His Spirit from the human soul. It leaves the body alone to face perishing for eternity without a chance for reprieve, all the while suffering.
  Logical people would choose immortality over perishing forever. However, many “free-thinkers” have limited knowledge. They deny what they cannot see nor understand. Their inference is that an invisible God does not exist, and an unseen place is mythological. Why? They have a limited knowledge base. They fail to see the unseen. It can be detected, but it takes a special type of vision to see into the unseen.
  Scripture likens that ability to a “sea of glass” (Rev 4:6, 15:2). To see through that glass, it must be transparent. Children have the ability to see God when adults cannot. We are to be as the little children, Jesus said (Mat 18:3).
  Seeing the unseen is conversion, as Jesus indicated. Children merely accept things unseen because they do not rely only on logic. They are known for making an inference, and accepting it without proof. Children, therefore, are not held accountable for things they cannot understand.
  On the other hand, adults are accountable. Adam and Eve were two different cases: Eve was as the “child” since God had not revealed the crime nor the punishment to her. She innocently believed the deception of the Serpent. Adam, however, knew the crime and punishment, but ate anyway. He made God out to be the liar when it was the Serpent all the time!
  Adam heard God’s Voice, but nowhere does scripture say that he saw God. Adam and Eve both saw the Serpent as he was both real and invisible. But one thing they missed with their limited knowledge. That was not a real snake but Lucifer posing as one. They believed something which was not real because it seemed so real to them!
  Many Muslims believe that Judas Iscariot is Isa (Jesus). Jesus - the Tree of Life - died on a tree (cross), and right before that, Judas died on his tree by hanging. Jesus’s sacrifice set Christians free from deception, sin, and even death. Judas’s tree merely set him free from guilt, but he still paid the penalty of death. He still did not understand, that Jesus would have forgiven him, and could not because Satan was residing in Judas just as in the Serpent of the forbidden tree (Luke 22:3).
  The Serpent lied but told much truth. Everything he said was truthful but one thing: they would indeed die! Eve looked at the Serpent’s arguments: everything is “good” as it was, and they would no longer be in the image of God, but “as gods” themselves. There was even truth to them becoming “as gods” because they did gain more of the knowledge of God.
  God knew “good” and He knew “evil.” Lucifer had been evil before, and God condemned him to death; not that moment, but his immortality was struck from him. The Serpent knew death because he was more cunning than any of the beasts. (Gen 3:1). Why? He had the knowledge of evil because Lucifer was in the animal.
  Theretofore Adam and Eve knew only what they saw, and all that they saw was good. Their knowledge base was missing the knowledge of evil. They did gain more knowledge, and their reference increased to good and evil, hence the name of the tree.
  Before they ate, they had no knowledge of evil, so they trusted the Serpent for which they had tangible evidence. Eve thought God had said, neither touch the tree. (Gen 3:3). Eve did not have the totality of God’s Will because God had told Adam, not her. She didn’t have all the facts. People never do, but merely think that they have all the knowledge. We find out later, that is pride, as it was with Lucifer.
  People still like to think like that! By denying the unseen and God’s Existence, they magnify their knowledge over the omniscience of God. They indeed become “as gods” but in their own minds. They live the lie instilled by the Serpent of old. They think they are thinking freely, but their cognition has been clouded by self-worth, or better yet, self-aggrandizement.
  Logic and reason were chaotic from the Serpent. It was organized deception, with the recipients proud of their conclusions, until at least, the truth struck them. Then they covered themselves with fig leaves as wrong people still do. When people find that they have fell for scams, many in their pride, cover their foolishness. I do that often as well when I make mistakes! You do too.
  Eve thought that it was important to actually touch the tree for tangible proof since that would provide more evidence. The Serpent made the inference that she would not die, and what did she do? Asked for more evidence. It should have been enough that God said, “Do not eat, or you will die!” Children would generally believe that, but not Eve. She had to try it. Adam needed more evidence, and Eve did not seem to die!
  “Evidence” is tricky. Scatomas are when things are not as they truly exist. On time, I saw in my mind’s eye that I was the first car between me and the mortal accident. I could actually envision that! However, it turned out that there was another car between me and the accident victim. My “evidence” was dismissed because “smart me” didn’t see things that really happened, but how I wanted to see them. I wanted to be the most credible witness, but my scatoma made me unreliable!
  “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Conversion is the implication that what we see is not all that there is! People have always believed that physical things exist, but had no knowledge that atoms made up physical things because they were too microscopic to see. Some proposed that atoms existed. That was faith. The invention of the microscope proved their implication as true.
  The unseen may exist as well. In fact, I believe that it has been detected, but still not recognized because of inherent bias. I believe that the measurement of what is called “antimatter” is evidence of the unseen realm. Because scientists do not have the knowledge of God, they fail to believe their own discovery.
  Now back to the two trees: Not only were they certainly real trees, but metaphorical trees as well. The Tree of Life is a metaphor for God (Rev 22:2) with the visible tree trunk, leaves, and fruit; metaphors for Jesus. The twelve fruits of the tree are the Doctrine of God.
  The forbidden tree is also metaphoric as well as real. It must have been a fig tree, but that’s besides the point. Being evil and deceptive, it represents the Beast and his many fruits from the law of sin. They appear to be good fruits but they are evil. The Serpent was how Lucifer appeared to mankind in the beginning. The “Wisdom Tree” which I call “The Philosophy Tree” presents good and true knowledge co-mingled with evil. It takes God’s Word to discern what is truth and what is not.
  Free-thinkers are not free in their thinking, but are delusional. Their knowledge base is incomplete and corrupted. Their thoughts include the false knowledge of the world. Conversion to faith in God and the unseen reveals more truth than is in the limited knowledge base of so-called “free-thinkers.” Jesus refers to conversion as being set free from deception, and says that “the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). What truth is that? That there is much more than meets the eyes, and that your knowledge is pitifully limited by the evidence of only the things of the world.
  That should be enough. The evidence for God is the creation (Ephes 3:9; Col 1:16), yet people still do not believe it was created… although Albert Einstein and Michio Kaku concluded that it was! True believers can see through that sea of glass and see God on his throne. I cannot see God face-to-face, but I see the evidence that He is real. Not only can I see God in the creation, but also in the evidence from scripture. The Bible is internally consistent throughout, and the main thread is that there are things unseen, and that Christians will exist for eternity in that unseen place!
  Logic is that all existence did not just happen, but was planned, powered, materialized from nothing, and was ordered. It is illogical to see existence and credit it to chance.
  The implication is that God created it all, and what we see is evidence for God because that is what makes a god. Logic reveals to me that people are the fittest, and God served and preserved them from themselves, and will continue to do so in the future. Yes, God has a plan for us (Jer 29:11). Things are going according to His plan for the prophets have revealed in advance God’s Plan for us. He knew Israel’s and Judah’s fate, and he knows the sinners’ fates and the fates of Christians, but ironically, it was not by fate, but by faith in God’s Plan!

PLANTS AS METAPHORS

KEY VERSE: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found. (Hos 14:8)

  Ever since I asked the question about Adam, “Why dress and keep the Garden of Eden” (Gen 2:7), as God takes care of the Garden? It came to me that alive trees and such are metaphors for “living souls” (Gen 2:7). “Dress and keep” can also be translated as, “serve and preserve.” That is the Greatest Commandment – to love God and others.
  That interpretation was validated to me one day. I had visualized trees as men standing in the Garden of Eden. Later on, when I read about blind Bartimaeus in the intermediary stage between total blindness and complete sight, he saw “men as trees walking” (Mark 8:24). Since then, I see trees and vines as metaphors for people and nations.
  Of course, there is the parable of the fig tree (Mat 24) to reinforce that, and also the parable of wheat and tares (Mat 13). God speaks in parables and uses metaphors to explain His Words.
  In the key verse, the tribe of “Ephraim,” representing the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), is like a green fir tree. Fir trees are tall, even exceeding 250 feet. Their cones stand erect, and are the source of their seed and reproduction. The grandiose height reaches toward the heaven, and the cones point toward heaven. The fir tree seems to represent God’s Way and growth, remembering that in the Garden, living things could multiply.
  The Abrahamic Covenant had Israel as the party to live His Way, and multiply all over the Earth. Ephraim’s was a party to that as one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The key verse reads, “From me is thy fruit found.” Ephraim was to be one of the “cones” of the twelve “fir trees” of the Abrahamic Covenant, or what became the Covenant of Grace. In fact, God restored the tribe of Ephraim to the Covenant by grace although they did not deserve it.
  Of course, the fir tree not only represents the tribe of Israel and the nation of Israel, but also disobedient people. God’s grace extended to all “fir trees” which had the potential to spread His Word, of which the cones are metaphoric.
  The Garden of Eden was surely surrounded by a protective “hedge” as cherubim guarded the only entrance (Gen 3:24). Why a hedge? Because God put a hedge of safety around Job (Job 1:10; 3:23). God served and preserved Job from the evil ones. Adam, it seems, was made a royal priest to the living souls who were yet to be animated with flesh and bones. Now read about the vision that Isaiah saw:

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down…  For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant… (Isa 5:5a,7a)

  Hosea saw Israel as a fir tree. Isaiah saw the nation of Israel as a vineyard, obviously full of vines bearing fruit. On the other hand, Judah was already a “pleasant plant.” Note that the Garden of Eden teamed with life, and was “very good” (Gen 1:31). However, Judah was merely “pleasant” and Israel was growing toward pleasantness.
  Theretofore, Israel, as Job, had been protected by a hedge of safety. God had created Israel just as he had the Garden of Eden. The Garden was very good, but its hedge was removed, and the Garden became as the world. It was exposed to the consequences of sin: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field… (Gen 3:17b; 18).
  Of course, in the end, Israel (the Garden of Eden) will be trodden down, and replaced (Rev 21). Jerusalem – the foundation of peace – will regain its peaceful existence as it was when a Garden. (I’ve written much about Israel being the location of the Garden of Eden many times because that’s where scripture places it.)
  Israel, as God’s vineyard, will become quite a pleasant plant when God treads that nation down in the end, and makes it teeming with vitality and pleasantry again.
  In a flash, I saw trees and plants as men and vineyards as whosoever God loves even though they are not righteous. However, to understand that metaphor took much time to consider.
  Scripture cannot just be read hurriedly, but must be slowly consumed for its delicious “flavor.” The Word is pleasant in that it offers hope. Readers must “taste” the flavor of the fir nuts and the grapes to understand the reward!

EATING OF THE FRUIT OF LIES

KEY VERSES: Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. (Hosea 10:13) So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off. (Hosea 10:15)

  The works of sin are always the same; people trust their own way and depend on the strength of the powerful. In the key verses, that’s the sin of Israel. The northern portion of David’s nation quit depending on God, and depended on their own and their wicked king’s devices. With God’s protection removed due to the wickedness of Israel, their last king was deposed and they became a vassal state of Assyria. 

  The man Israel (Jacob) wrestled with God and God let him win. When the country, Israel, wrestled with God, God allowed Assyria to win. Jacob had the right sinew of his thigh marked, resulting in a limp, and here we see Israel limping along until they got so limp that they fell! 

  They depended on Baal and their wicked kings for safety rather than God. The key verses should bring to mind another story – the original sin.

The serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? …And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die… 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. (Gen 3:1,3,5)

  Adam and Eve did a wicked thing; they depended on their own newly acquired knowledge and ate forbidden fruit, just as Israel did as related in the key verses. Their king became the Serpent, who by the way, will become “king” for a time in the apocalypse. If the Serpent was their “king,” who was their god? It turns out that Adam and Eve who had limited knowledge that made them proud, became “gods” themselves; not really gods, but they perceived themselves that way.

  By the end of the kings in Israel, everyone did what was right in their own eyes, as they always had, “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Jud 17:6). They didn’t need a king on Earth or in Heaven because the people of Israel became their own kings and gods. There is nothing new under the sun - Israel’s sin was Adam’s and Eve’s sin. They did not need God! 

  We find in Genesis 3 that Adam and Eve were cut-off from God. Sin separates men from God because sin replaces “the Great I AM” with the pretenders, “I want TO BE.” When God tired of Israel’s harlotry with Baalim, because of its great wickedness, their king and the nation Israel was cut-off just as with Adam and Eve. Like them, Israel, because God is merciful, would limp along for centuries and be restored in 1948 when Judah and Israel again became the nation of Israel. That is in accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant.

  Israel had “eaten of the fruit of lies,” just as Eve had. Eve played the harlot to the Serpent even in the face of God who Adam represented. Israel is “the harlot Babylon” in the Book of Revelation, who God would make fit to be His bride again. Prophecy is being fulfilled, as the bride (Israel) is being prepared for the wedding with Jesus. That will come during the Great Tribulation.

  Shalamanezer, came up against Samaria (Israel) and conquered (2 Kings 18:9). Israel, thereafter, was under the law of sin and the doctrine of Shalamanezer who is a type of Serpent. It seems that Shalamanezer represents the Beast (Antichrist) who will come from the Middle East to rule over his global empire. My contention is that Shalamanezer represents Islam, and Isa, their Antichrist, will be king for awhile until God tires of the “harlot Israel” again. It seems Israel is a fickle harlot, she returns to her trade often but like Mary Magdalene, will become a faithful servant to God.

  The Antichurch – liberal Protestantism, the Unholy Roman Empire, and Islam will be the “Baalim” that the world will have as a prostitute. Protestants need to quit looking at Catholics as the harlot. They will be part of Baal’s brothel themselves! They too will do what is right in their own eyes as if there is no King. 

  Hosea did not write much but what he saw, but it had great bearing on the demise of wicked Israel, and the demise of the world which too will be cleansed from its harlotry (Rev 21).  

  Christians are easily deceived, just as innocent Eve! We still see that today when Christians vote for the unrighteous when there are righteous men available. It pains me to see Christians vote for economic issues over godly things. They fail to recognize that if they trust God, then they will need no “king” to provide. In Kentucky, a large number of Christians voted against a Christian pro-life governor for the antithesis of him – a spendthrift abortion proponent. Do they really think God will honor Kentucky and its people who have turned their faces from God as the Israelites did? 

  They have “eaten the fruit of lies” just as Eve and the Israelites. When will naïve children turn from their wicked ways? “I was deceived by the Democrat propaganda machine,” will be no excuse. Eve tried that and it didn’t work for her. Israel used that excuse and it still was not acceptable!

HARD BUT HONORABLE LOVE

  Sons and daughters often get angry with their siblings and parents. We all know those who have, and have done so ourselves.  The perception is often that parents or siblings do not care much about the sons, daughters, or other family members.  
  “Perceptions” are abstract mental pictures which are not founded on actual events. Now if the truth was known, parents have things of which to be ashamed that are actual events where anger is due.  It seems paradoxical that often blame is for something not done. Everyone deserves responsibility for their actions, and to suffer the consequences.
  The parent may feel abandoned. He (or she) knows that he is not wrong in this instance, and knows no one else is either. Most anger is a result of two things: (1) misunderstanding the motives of others, or (2) feeling under attack by others. Both reactions are based on perceptions. Anger because of misperceptions are called “presumptuous sins.” Jesus was killed by an angry mob because they presumed that he had sinned. He was accused of claiming that He is God, and that was disrespectful to the Father in Heaven.

Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. (Psalm19:30).

  “Presumptuous sins” are those which take liberties with the facts. The sinner “presumes” wrong on the part of another. In other words, it’s anger which is not fact-based and that makes it irrational! “Anger” is an irrational response to a reasonable action of another. The angry person feels as if he or she is under attack even when that’s not the case.
  The presumptuous sin of the angry Jewish mob was unknowingly killing their own Father in Heaven. Of course, God did not die, but He experienced death on the Cross with His Flesh. Right before Jesus died because of presumptuous sin, he was in agony for God’s children. Jesus wept on behalf of the Father for rebellious and unloving children who had dishonored Him.
  The Father was on the Holy Cross as well - still loving his many sons and daughters, even as his firstborn Son died on the Cross. Presumptuous sin killed the Father’s Spirit:

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree. (Deut 21:18-22)

  Note that Jesus did none of those things but he was accused of them all! Those false accusations – irrational thoughts – killed Jesus, but God in three “substances” was on that Cross. Angry people struck at God through the flesh of His Son. Those accusations, since Jesus Is God, were against the Father. Jesus’s flesh bore the pain of his Father.
  The Father should have been angry at the angry irrational mob, but he wasn’t. “For the Father so loved all His children, that He gave His own Flesh, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish.” (John 3:16 rephrased). That’s how much God loves His children even though they were angry and hung him on a “tree” to die for presumed sins!  That’s also how much Christian fathers love their sons and daughters!
  Christian fathers, when faced with angry rebellious children, still love them so! However, Christian fathers agonize at their alien thinking. Even when they believe the one who loves them so much is a jerk, the “Jerk” still loves them with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength!
  Why should children respect their parents? Because most parents love them intensely! Good parenting is tolerating the childhood insolence, rebelliousness, and apathy which most children have, and still maintain their intense love!
  Look at God’s notion of parental respect: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee” (Exod 20:12). There are no ifs, ands, or buts. Honoring parents is expected behavior for entering into Heaven. The promise therein is eternal life in the heavenly promised land.
  Why did the angry mob hang Jesus on the Holy Tree and murder him? They presumed that He was a liar; that he was really not the Father. The angry mob dishonored their spiritual Father, and where are they now? There is no record that any repented, and if that’s the case, they are spiritually dead and in torment this moment.
  Unresolved anger not only will cause spiritual death in the end, but angry people are not having a full-life when alive. Anger is living in a self-created Hell. The mind torments angry people by making them feel justified with their anger but missing out on contentment and brotherly, fatherly, and motherly love.  Angry people are not joyful, and can only be content for the moment.
  No one is immune to anger! Recently, I argued with a confessed communist and atheist. I thought I had won the discussion because the man was quite angry and called me names. I had a right to be angry, and I became angry! However,  I lost the case because as a godly man, I should have been long-suffering, kind, and compassionate. I was not! Because I became angry, that ungodly man “won” the argument (Actually we both lost it because the sinner and the saint responded the same way. God could not distinguish the difference between the two of us.)
  When any Christian becomes angry for presumptuous notions, God cannot tell the difference between them and the sinners.
  For myself, two weeks have gone by, and I still feel bad with the anger I had. That lack of joy will be gone until I meet that man again and make amends. According to scripture, it does not matter who was right or wrong; a godly man has a responsibility to reconcile:

But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother (father, mother, or anyone) without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, “Raca” (no longer of value), shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, “Thou fool,” shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother (father, mother, brother, sister, or anyone), and then come and offer thy gift. (Mat 5:22-24)

  Note that it did not matter who did the wrong. Let alone presumed to do the wrong. Reconciliation is required to serve the Lord regardless of fault! Those who killed the Father’s Flesh, killed the Father’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit was on the “tree” as well, and when God’s Flesh died, Jesus “gave up the Ghost.” The Father agonized for His Son, and Christian father’s agonize for theirs when their sons or daughters are wrong!
  You are probably thinking, Well, Jesus did no wrong! That is right; he was presumed to be a sinner. The angry mob would not listen to reason. As Jews, the Father had told them in advance, that the Messiah would come and die for them. Jesus took on the sins of the world on their behalf. For a few hours, God sinned, not for the pleasure of it, but for the agony of his misled children.

Good fathers agonize for the wrongs of their children because they too, as God, love them so! Even right children are wrong if they cannot forgive and forget – be compassionate and kind to one another.
  Good Christian father’s think of the hereafter. Will his children be loving and forgiving, or will they go the way of the mob?
  Christian mothers do that as well. The commandment says to “honour your father and mother,” without any pre-conditions. It does not say, “honour if they are always perfect, don’t do wrong things, make poor decision, or get angry themselves;” it just says to “honour.”
  On behalf of mothers, I might add, they deserve a double-portion of understanding. They undergo so much agony at birth that they should be relieved of any more agony. The mother of my firstborn was in agonizing labor for 36 hours just to birth my son. That should have been enough, and she deserves honor!
  Any agony that I caused my mother, I still regret. Sometimes I cannot live with the thoughts of the mental abuse, even once, which I caused my wonderful imperfect mother. I wish that she was here so that I could tell of my love for her, but I cannot. However, those with living parents still have that opportunity!
  I dishonored my father one time. I still remember the time of my discontent. I regret that I ever did that to my hard-working father, but it can’t be undone. I would give anything to hear his gentle voice again!
  I was often ashamed of my Mom’s hillbilly accent. Sometimes, I wished that she would just be silent and save me embarrassment. Well, God did that for my selfish reasons; my Mom had a stroke and could not talk at all.  I got what I wanted, but now I merely want my Mom back, talking or not. I have regrets and so will you! I can’t altar my poor performance as a son, but you sons and daughters with living brothers, sisters, parents, friends, and even enemies can! You must for God to give you a long life in Heaven.
  Sometimes good parents must correct those they love. My own Dad did that and my Father in Heaven still does? Why? Because it hurts to see the love gone.

The Deception of Hatred

  This is not political but the nature of men. People hate others without even realizing that they are hating. Deception is the tool of instilling hatred. Most people think they are loving. However, love does not come easily; it is the hardest work that anyone can ever do!

How people perceive love is that it is an emotion. Of course, emotion is a response to a stimulus, but without the stimulus it is difficult to emote a feeling.

  It’s easy to feel emotion for a loved one, but how can emotion be felt for an enemy? Of course, it is in practice that hating enemies is acceptable behavior. Who could not hate a child abuser? They are easy to hate, and consequently are most difficult to love! However, loving people must love those who are easy to hate or they by default join the haters.

  Is it acceptable to hate anyone? Most find it easy to hate Adolph Hitler. What if Hitler has repented of his atrocities as evil Peter the Great of Russia did on his deathbed? Does that make hated people easier to love? If Hitler had publicly repented in his bunker, would the world still hate him? Surely, they would!

  That’s because people think of hatred from an emotional standpoint. It seems okay to hate Hitler-types because of what they have done. That’s because people are rightfully emotional. They feel hatred for the individuals because of their atrocious behavior. Because of bad behaviors, love becomes even harder work.

  From a psychological standpoint “love” is an attraction to something. “Lust,” on the other hand, is a strong desire to have something. Love is the fulfillment of lust. For instance, a man may want to be with a woman so intensely (lust) that he desires perpetual habitation (love). Lust is the stimulus and love is the response. Of course, without emotion, then sex is the only response.

  Who could possibly lust after evil people? Only those attracted to their evil behavior. Secularists accept some amount of evil as normal behavior. It depends on whose metrics for acceptable behavior is used. In the humanistic world of Nazi-era Germany, evil behavior became acceptable because a new norm was established. People there were either so self-absorbed that they were apathetic to the plight of others, or their basic instinct for evil allowed them to accept new standards of morality. Even Henrich Himmler was considered “humane” by some of his peers at that time because he sought ways to “humanely” kill the Jews.

  Himmler’s idea of “humane” was to take the lives of Jews without them knowing they were dying. That was the original sin, if you remember.

  Satan knew that the rebellion in the hearts of Adam and Eve would kill them in the long haul, but he deceived them into thinking that they would not! Eve ate and Adam saw that she still lived, so he ate as well. Mortal death would come later, but spiritual death was spontaneous. They would have spiritually died if it were not for God’s grace, but the consequence of sin was still there. They died at an old age, although before they would never have died. The Serpent killed them “humanely” without them even knowing it!
  It seems that killing humanely is an acceptable norm even today. Millions of babies are “safely aborted.” Himmler would have liked that phrase as he “humanely euthanized” Jews and dissidents. Nazis established new norms; it became acceptable to humanely kill pregnant women, the handicapped, the mentally incapacitated, the Jews, then finally anyone who disagreed with their type of “humane” immorality. The Serpent was there in the Third Reich, and he remains alive to this day. The New World order envisioned by socialists of all creeds, remains extant to this day. Indeed, Hitler’s thousand-year Reich is more than an old dream; it is more alive than ever.
  In Hitlerian Germany, the socialist idea about the people was implemented. Rather than uses the Marxists terms “masses” and “comrades,” National Socialists (Nazis) used the term “Völker” for the German people as a group. Their ploy was concern for the masses. The Third Reich began as a democratic-republic. Americans have been taught that democracies are idealistic. As with anything, it has its good points and it’s bad!
  Cruel autocracies are generated from democracies; that is when power is vested in the majority of the common people to the chagrin of the minority viewpoint. Jews, in the Third Reich, were the minority. The German government, supported by the majority, were cruel to the minority. That’s the way socialism works!
  In Germany, the volks (majority of ordinary people) of the Third Reich set a new standard for morality. Since everyone already hated the Jews it was easy to nationalize and democratize hatred. Western society as well as the Mid-east and Russia hated the Jews, as did many in England.
Ultimately, hatred is the opposite of love. Ultimate love is the desire that none should perish, either here or in eternity (John 3:16). Ultimate hatred is wishing that all humans perish as some environmentalist imply, and nominal hatred is desiring that some should perish from the face of the Earth and even from Heaven. Anger arouses that hatred.
  Anger is derived from the desire to be emancipated from any type of authority or interference. The “ego” is the world belonging to every person. In that small world, each person is king or queen, god or goddess, or even prince and princess. When another “god” infringes on their little personal kingdoms, the wrath of their narcissistic god seeks revenge on the infringing “god.” Other “gods” who have the audacity to challenge your “god’s” ego, makes your ego angry, and the super-ego comes to its protection. The battle of the “gods” ensues and the weapon of mutual destruction is hatred.
  Each person, in their own little worlds, create governments for their little “kingdoms.” The rules protect the “gods” of those individual little kingdoms, and removes the rights of anyone alien to their self-governed worlds.
  That’s why people hate God and others. He and they intrude on many of those personal realms. The kings of those little kingdoms are you all. The rule therein is that it is okay to hate anyone who trespasses against you. That’s why it is so important for the grace to, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Mat 6:12).
  People hate God because He trespasses into their self-imposed realm. People hate others because others trespass into their little kingdoms, wherein they anoint themselves kings, queens, gods, goddesses, and masters. Some individuals hate God and all the people of the world.
  There is a saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Those who think alike and have common enemies develop superficial “friendships.”
  The masses, volks, citizens of democracies, etc. group together so as to hate together because unity is their strength! They all hate the notion of God then elect other peoples to hate. Because of God, Jews and Christians are hated: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake” (Mat 10:22a). Progressive Democrats (democrat-socialists) group together because the enemy of their enemy is their friend. Progressives elected God as Public Enemy #1 and zealots for God are enemy number two.
  Socialists all agree on who the enemies are, although they may hate each other as well. There is no love among haters; they merely tolerate the hatred of each other because the hated is directed to the same recipients! The Church is traditional Judeo-Christians. “Progressive” is movement away from traditional institutions. Socialists want to tear down Israel and Christianity. As such, they conglomerate like a flurry of flies on the feces of hatred on bullying butt-holes. They may hate each other, but they hate tradition even more!
  The rules on that corporate narcissistic empire is one: It’s okay to hate haters because our idea of hatred differs from that on their world. Karl Popper defined that paradox of hatred as follows, but gave it a more reputable name:

The Paradox of Tolerance: “We should… claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.” (Popper, Karl, The Open Society and Its Enemies, volume 1, The Spell of Plato, 1945 (Routledge, United Kingdom (1 volume 2013 Princeton ed.)

  That is the governing idea of more progressive thought championed by George Soros, the emperor of that Dark Deep State of the millions of haters. They require a way to police their most important decree, and that is:

Policing the Paradox of Tolerance: “We should claim the right to suppress them, if necessary, even by force;” ibid).

  The first method of suppression, is to castigate them. “I hate conservatives, Christians, Jews, and so forth,” is too obvious. A more refined and refrained way is to call them “haters,” “bigots,” “racists,” and so forth. Another is to create a new language that others must speak to separate themselves from traditionists. Even words such as “women” and “alien” are struck from progressive lexicons so as to identify those who are labeled as intolerant! The new language is based on a new morality (sic).
  The “intolerant” are those who fail to speak the new language and buy into the new rules. Those who fail to progress away from institutions are labeled in an Orwellian fashion as “intolerant” and deserving of hatred! As such, the doctrine of sin and vain philosophy has replaced the Law of God and the Doctrine of Christ. Just as the “positive Christianity” of the Nazi religious state, the progressive western church has become the neo-Nazi positive Christianity in that hell and punishment is the ultimate intolerance. It’s not okay to say wrong is wrong because that is hatred in the eyes of the Neo-Nazis.
  Remember, it’s okay for them to hate to create a super empire where only “tolerant and humane” citizens exist.
  The Paradox of Tolerance is the least tolerant of all doctrines and progressive hatred for those who disagree is the new norm. The government of the apocalypse has arrived. Buying and selling to those not progressive has recently been severely limited just as John the Revelator wrote!
  This New Age of hidden hatred has a solution. It is the Paradox of Love:

The Paradox of Love: Love those who hate you. (I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Mat 5:44).

  God wins the war. We can let him fight it on our behalf. We must not hate back, but let God dump the hot coals on their heads! How can Christians assist God in the battle against Him and His Doctrine? Don’t hate back! Our weapon is one:

Policing the Paradox of Love: “Show kindness and mercy to one another;” (Zech 12:9)