Two Trees and a Thief

 Two Trees and a Thief – Bill Perkins – www.compass.org “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 In Satan’s futile 6000-year attempt to wage war against God, his strategy has never changed. Knowing he could never conquer God, he turned his hatred and rage to the nextbest option—to steal God’s greatest treasure—the pinnacle of God’s Creation. In one continual flow the entire Bible reveals God’s unyielding, passionate love for His special creation—the human race. Humans are uniquely crafted in His image, by Himand for Him. And Satan knows it. So when Satan enticed Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, he knew the interlock between God and humans was permanently shattered by sin. For Satan, it must haveseemed like “game over” and “mission accomplished.” When the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was eaten, mankind’s innocence was lost and the entire human race was infected with sin. But there was a second tree in the Garden—The Tree of Life. Eating its fruit would result in immortality. In God's great mercy He sent the Cherubim to guard this tree so that Adam and Eve would not “take also from the tree of life,and eat, and live forever” in that sinful condition. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, andeat, and live forever”… So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Gen. 3:22,24 To be locked in a state of sin, and to be immortal, would have forever separated humans from God. Satan would have completed his theft of the human race. But God immediatelyrevealed a coming Savior. The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, anddust you will eat all the days of your life; And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Gen. 3:14-15 Prior to this pronouncement, Satan had no knowledge of a Messiah. He had no clue a Savior could both fulfill the payment of death for sin and allow fallen humans to be drawnback into a love relationship with God. This revelation of a coming Messiah was good news for Adam and Eve, but it must have enraged Satan. So Satan expanded his strategy to try to prevent the Messiah from accomplishing God’s Will. He raged against Israel, the Messiah’s bloodline, inflicting war and death. Hekilled untold numbers of babies in Egypt and then again in Bethlehem. But all his efforts were to no avail. The Messiah was born. In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, Satan tried to deter Him, through powerful and demonic temptations, to abandon His mission. But Satan lost badly. Fast forward to the Garden of Gethsemane located due east of the Temple Mount on the lower part of Mount of Olives. It was there Satan threw every evil and demonic weapon he had at Jesus trying to break His will to go forward and carry out God’s plan of redemption at the cross. This causedJesus so much consternation that He literally sweated blood. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. Luke 22:44 Jesus knew there was only One Way to redeem His beloved humans. He knew that if He faltered, the human race was doomed forever. Thankfully He endured paying the price ofblood atonement. If the Cross seemed like a victory to Satan, it was short lived. Three days later the ultimate victory was accomplished. Through Christ’s shed blood, life conquered death and immortality was offered to the human race through believing by faith in God’s Messiah. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1John 5:4 Satan’s so evil that despite knowing he’s lost the ultimate battle, he’s continued his attack on the human race for the last 2000 years. His favorite targets are Jews andChristians. The ones he can’t kill or maim through wars, violence, disease, etc., he tries desperately to prevent from entering into God’s redemptive relationship by perverting theGospel: “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, sothat they will not believe and be saved.” Luke 8:11-12 "…in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the imageof God." 2Cor. 4:4 But the Gospel continues to go forward, and God is still building His Church. And now, as the stage appears to be set for God’s conclusion of this long struggle, Satan still has one last strategic plan to complete his theft of the human race and robGod of “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” (Eph 1:8) If he could hijack human life, corrupt the image of God in it, and then make it immortal, much of God’s priceless treasure could still be permanently stolen. And the groundworkhas been laid. Transhumanism is one of Satan's most chilling concepts and is rapidly being introduced into our world today. Here's a concise definition: “The Transhumanist Movement, also known as H+ is an intellectual, cultural and political movement that supports technological enhancements in the human body through theuse of genetics, robotics, synthetic biology, AI technology among others to modify the physiology, psyche, memory and progeny of a human being and ultimately achieve immortality on earth, (a procedure they believe can be reached within the next decade) wherebyhuman consciousness can be uploaded into a robot, cyborg or possibly, a human clone.”(1) This is Satan at his best—promising a way to heaven without having to account to a righteous God. And it’s not hard to see his agenda unfolding around us. Millions and millionsof people have been injected with a drug that scientists now admit alters the God-designed DNA. If DNA is God’s image imprinted in every cell in our body, a specifically designed blueprint for each individual, then changing that in any way is an abomination to Him. And if technology can be integrated with our humanity and uploaded to a robot, we can be legally “owned” by the patent holders.(2) And that means a person can be owned bythe likes of Gates, Schwab, Soros… and ultimately Satan. Part human and part machine, man would become immortal in the most terrifying way. They are working hard to make this come about in years, not decades. So there it is, the second tree. Having infected the world with sin from the beginning through the fruit of the first Tree, Satan is now determined, at the end, to stealthe fruit of the second Tree, immortality. We are seeing the seismic clash of these powers in our world today and watching our country reel under this evil agenda. But as Believers, we are first and foremost citizensof a kingdom, not a country. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Col. 1:13 This last furious attack by Satan will be met with God’s wrath being poured out in full measure during the coming 7-year Tribulation. Satan will lose yet again as he is crushed and bound before his ultimate sentencing to hell at the end of the Millennium. Trying to steal what is God’s is never a good idea. “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die." Ezek. 18:4 For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. Psa. 37:28 But for those of us who were rescued out of Satan’s attempted coup by the priceless blood of Christ, we have a different ending. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himselfwill be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Rev. 21:3-4 God will never relinquish His treasure. For us Believers He's preserved the Tree of Life in a future Garden . . . Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Rev. 22:14 CQLJ! SP VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM