because I'm being by some folks um so yeah last session we We examined some thoughts and I threw out some things that people could consider outlandish and then I supported it through text and then opened the conversation up and for example uh I told everybody Enoch was dead and folks was you know they almost fell out their chair and I supported it through all of the texts asked all of the questions and interrogated the the text thoroughly and still stand on the fact that all the evidence in the tech say so uh so we went through an expository if you would and that same thing we are going to venture to do uh today so what I would like to do uh is first just share that uh I thank everybody for for being here today I'm also supremely thankful that uh the God of all creation has Us in good health and spirits and if you're not in good health and spirits I uh pray that you feel better um and what we are going to do today is we're going to go into a thought that you may have looked into or peered into before it may have not crossed your mind but we're going to look at the trees in the garden and some of this that we are going to examine today is my own personal study and some of this is going to be uh hopefully if it works out a little bit of a engagement so we'll do a little bit of um if it works out with the controls here we may do a small breakout group as we get started so what I normally do is uh start out with the topic that we're discussing and then we'll kind of go into um the agenda so you can see I don't think this thing is going to let me do breakout I don't know so we'll go into a little bit the agenda uh so what we're going to be looking at today is trees in the garden uh the Bible uses this meta language and when I say meta normally anything that is meta essentially it means that which is above or that which is above the physical so if you think about metaphysics you're just saying that which is above the physical level that you that you use or meta language metal language is really concerned with uh the language that is above just regular language like you know things mean this but then it also has a different application with some of the words that is used uh our agenda is that uh I'll spend a few moments doing the introduction and framing uh we will look at a opening Psalms which will be Psalms chapter 1 of if I have a volunteer who has interest in Reading um you can assist in the reading capacity uh after that we will do if the the the system allows me I think I may have had to set it up ahead of time but if it allows we do a breakout and the breakout is essentially uh you know kind of breaking into groups for a few minutes and sharing your thoughts with the group on the trees in the garden because that's what we are going to uh look at and examine then I'll go into about a 65 minute lecture I try not to ever go past 60s 5 75 minutes if people are really really paying attention I may go 90 minutes but generally I don't try to talk that long the text will be supportive um if we if you want to stay on till midnight I don't care I mean most I will and I'll be up but questions and feedback and it we'll close out with a prayer uh any thoughts on any of that before we get started anybody have any thoughts or concerns at all anybody worried okay anybody scared okay all right everybody all right Hallelujah all righty so I also I enjoy starting out with objectives so the objectives essentially is saying when I design this content what was I trying to articulate through um this presentation and while we are looking at the trees in the garden and this is the discourse that I'm sharing the trees in the garden while we are looking at that my concern in terms of the objectives is to identify and explain the symbolic meanings of the trees in the Garden of Eden particularly the tree of knowledge and good and evil uh and their significance in biblical theology uh yes sir brother posi yeah apologies uh wanted to get your permission is it acceptable to screenshot this I know it's intellectual property oh you can certainly screenshot it fair enough yes yes yes yeah intellectual property I I have these uh waning views about that um this meeting is being recorded so one of the course objectives like the key thing that I want you to have a takeaway from is to identify and explain the symbolic meaning of the trees in the garden particularly the tree of uh life we'll look at a little bit I won't spend much time on that uh in a tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and then thank you dear um and then the the significance in biblical theology uh the next thing that I want to convey like at the end of this that you should be like oh that's what he was trying to express explore how trees are used as a metaphor for governments experiencing uh Power pride and divine judgment we're going to look a little bit at that and then the third is to analyze the narrative surrounding the trees and discuss a little bit about Free Will Temptation and the consequences of human choices uh there are some things that I will share on a surface level but I won't have the ability to go deeply into it so if there are like questions or concerns about it there a few things I'll share on the surface level but I just won't go too deep into it um I'll mention it because this this thought really while you are essentially uh experiencing let's say a snapshot and a snapshot is if you ever watched the news and they interview somebody for like 30 minutes and then they get this 12 second clip and they say oh man our neighborhood is really messed up we need to and then the whole interview was about you know 20 minutes in this sense this entire thought took years to compile and draw such conclusions and in 65 minutes you're not going to get the depth of what I'm trying to express but the intent is to provoke study that that's one of the main things that I always try to do uh provoke study I want people to be able to be uh encouraged uh and even I'm using the word provoked in a u a good sense I want to provoke you to uh to study because there's a lot to study in the Bible I mean I'm I'm continually discovering things and I've been up there for studying for a number of years all right in terms of our Norms uh just so everybody's clear on the decorum uh there be opportunities to speak so I encourage people step up step back so uh you know this is not completely while I will do a lecture it's not completely U designed to be a monologue uh One mic so obviously people can't all talk at the same time so you know if you want to raise your hand fine if you you know I think it's enough people that we can have decorum uh raise your hand I'll ackn knowledge or Etc um don't yuck my yum we have that's the same we do in training like if you think it's really really good and somebody else think it's disgusting it's not you don't have to like ah I think that's the stupidest thing in the world that's not necessary to say uh if you want to say it as I close and you say man I'm I think that was the whole thing was stupid and let's have a discussion about it I'm open to that uh be bold be brief uh so ideally don't try to talk for like 30 minutes I mean we all have to um share the opportunity to be in each other's midst all hands in so this is not a spectator sport you may hear me say that uh I don't necessarily enjoy people on the sidelines I know some people are more quiet and reserved that's fine and you may hear various names or titles used for God you are you are under no pressure to do the same so if you hear the word Yeshua and you're like what in the world is that it is a Hebrew name for Jesus uh it's it's you know you can look all into it but it's essentially it's a Hebrew name for the man who died buried and resurrected so if you feel scared and you don't want to say that name or any version of Yeshua or whatever have you you don't have to feel pressured to do so right so I don't know where everybody's levels of Engagement are um few other Norms if you hear things that you are not familiar with then you are welcome to ask questions here or in private uh sometimes people don't like asking questions this is why Nicodemus came in private he was like I want everybody know I'm asking this question so that's fine you can uh follow up and ask questions uh additionally different people are from different places with different understandings so we are not here to cast dispersions on your level of understanding so if you I don't understand nothing near talking I'm not here to cast dispersion on where you are in terms of your understanding but I I do enjoy sharing information to help cultivate and develop and gr and then the last part I'll say is there's no special version of the Bible in use here so honestly you could decide that you want to read the NIV what I'm getting ready to convey is not going to change no matter what you read unless it's like I don't know the New World Translation where they take a lot of things out I don't know um so I'm not you know whoever assists in reading or if you are reading different things generally speaking you're going to grasp the same concept once we finished any thoughts on any of that before we move right okay like that and I think Pamela your mic might be open who's I don't somebody's mic is open I don't know that um not mine oh I got it all right so uh couple other things disclaimer the views and Concepts expressed in this study are that of Zak Moshe and my takeaway and study from scripture okay this is me studying and presenting what I have drawn a conclusion on you are not required to have the same view your questions and opposition are both welcome I really encourage people to challenge the notion if they if you feel like I don't know I don't know what he I don't know what he's talking about then you know studying whether here or another circuit uh bring up your thoughts and and we can discuss those I'm open for that so uh for me is this is the conclusion that I've drawn from the time I've put in studying this concept and uh there are some points that I'm still refining in whole totality of it but um I think it's a rock solid case so if uh we are looking at the trees in the garden uh I did talk about the agenda just kind of going backwards the introduction to framing which we just finished uh the opening Psalm we're getting ready to do if I can have a reader um if the system allows me to set in the breakout groups we'll do that and then we'll jump into the lecture after that so would somebody do the kind courtesy of reading Psalms chapter 1 is that possible I got it yes sir all right I'm just reading out the new King James version yes sir verse one blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of Sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful but his Delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season whose Leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does shall prosper the ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind drives away therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the Judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous for the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly Shall Perish Hallelujah so that will serve as are open in prayer if somebody has a protest about that then uh you know you can open up with prayer if you so desire but one of the things I want to bring to note is that the man that is referred to in this opening Psalm is going to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water let's keep that in mind as an opening thought as we frame uh our course of discourse this evening all righty with that being said we are going to dive into the trees in in the garden understanding the Biblical language its principles and application of terms now if it is all the same I'm going to separate into random breakout groups and ins said random breakout groups we have a framing question so it should be about enough for four different groups I'll pop uh I'll pop in and out of uh a few different groups and the question the framing question we're going to start out with is how are trees how are trees spoken of in the Bible and we're going to split into groups to address that notion or question how are trees spoken about in the Bible we'll have about 12 minutes to look at that uh question what about 10 minutes and then we'll report out so how are trees spoken of in the Bible that is the question so we're going to uh separate uh into breakout groups uh if you are in the background like randomly listening versus being engaged actually to definitely get off the bench you're being called into the game so um how are trees referred to in the Bible so I'm going to uh open out the breakout groups and it should uh I think should randomly assign you to go in one and then you can go ahead and uh join as uh you see on your screen so how are trees spoken of in the Bible so you can just randomly join whatever group you assigned and then just kind of jump on with the conversation I'll pop in and out of the rooms but um it says watch out it goes watch out for Sheet's clothing um and that you'll be able to understand the measure of I guess righteousness to the fruit that they bear um so you know I would say the trees can be used as a measure of status when it comes to righteousness or possibly like cold um because those derive at least in the understanding that I had the fruit derives from their measure of righteousness of with god um so that's one of the ways I feel like trees are use in the uh in biblical text okay okay very good point I I never considered that um yeah looking at looking at what trees represent so you have you have your seed your chosen seed that gets buried and it goes through the trauma of rooting breaking its shell and rooting it has absolute need of water nutrients and ultimately sunlight and it is expected to produce and not all trees are fruiting trees but to produce something that it was accountable for so when I just and this is just surface me thinking um it sounds like the it sounds like the expected growth of of man um and then there's an accountability so there's a judgment um you know Yeshua cursed the tree the Fig Tree because we um Our Roots right what we are rooted in our production and whether or not we're productive even yahusha or um I think everyone here knows yahusha even yahusha cursing the tree that was unproductive right when it was supposed to be productive and so those things in my mind are all somewhat connected in trees being representative not just of peoples like people groups but also individuals because well yeah all the stuff I mentioned and I'll write that on the notes amen amen um when the brother was speaking and he mentioned about um prophetes go ahead people people being um trees I thought about when the Messiah healed the blindness of that one person and he act what did he see and he said he saw men like trees I believe if I'm getting the scripture correct but it was actually the the angels that he was seeing he was seeing into the into the heavens and for him I think it's significant that that word was used to describe their stature that they were called as trees if I'm getting that if I'm remembering it correctly I believe that's in Luke okay on write that down um and I think what you said about Statue is actually really interesting because now you have me thinking about the um Cedars of Lebanon right which are also used as reference for the greatness that is oftentimes an opposition to um why do I mention that I think we have a tendency to look at other nations and think them as nothing but every nation every people group has been assigned um a place and there is Beauty and esteem in the position that you're supposed to be in so let me mark down and if you can find that scripture that you were mentioning that way I can just add it to the notes would be fantastic um um I believe that they understood what a tree's purpose was so they could understand how that applies in their life so um I don't know if anybody wants to add on to that or should we pivot and go to another another point or something else I think when you uh look at the metaphor uh there's uh there's several different things that the scripture does um as far as metaphors and you know and the way that it addresses certain C situation circumstances and things like that and I think he um I think Mori was giv us a hint as to where he was going um I could be wrong but when you read the first uh when you read the first verse uh first chapter of H Psalms and he says uh and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water I believe the direction in which he's may be going in is that the scriptures are referring to trees as men and you will find that reference uh in several different places uh within the scripture all I already agree on that because I was I'm right now just kind of just casually reading through uh The Book of Ezekiel and I stumbling on chapter 31 and I was talking about Egypt but it's talking about Assyria the Empire of ass as a great cedar tree and I'm like well these people aren't like literal trees so it had to been talking about the people and so that's kind of right on par with what you just mentioned Zane just about the trees are seen as people um and you know I guess there you know what a tree's function is an Empire or a man can also be seen as the like I don't know if anybody has any uh anything to add on I mean I can read a little bit of that chapter what I was talking about um from Ezekiel um I'll read a little bit yeah I think I think that'd be good okay so I'm reading out of Book of Ezekiel believe that comes after Lamentations chapter 31 um and I'll just read I'll read a few verses I'll start at verse one um title of it says Egypt cut down like a great tree so verse one now it came to pass in the 11th year in the third month on the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man say to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his multitude whom are you like in your greatness indeed Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon with fine branches that shaded the forest and of high stature and its top was among the thick bows it's a pull from a tree not something that's dead something dead not supposed to be hung on it and that even makes me think about holidays and stuff you know just go ahead no it was just thoughts but go ahead I'm sorry I was considering the tree hey Elder Moses and that um the trees are to be rooted in in good soil so when you plant the seed it's supposed to have that nut nutrients in order to be able to grow up strong and to be able to support the fruit that is going to come off of it whether it be good fruit or bad fruit so it's but it all starts in the soil it is to be rooted and grounded like that tree that was talked about in Psalms 1 um that is supposed to be planted and have that nutrition um and that water supply and that Source um in order to grow uh the fruit that is needed uh to be successful well if you are watching this here people are still in their breakout groups I did a pop in to see where they are they will be in breakout groups for about two more minutes and then we will join back in shortly um um Nebuchadnezzar right that's one of the dreams that he had about this big tree that had all these birds living in it and the the interpretation of the dream was that he was that tree and how nations were being supported by him um so that's what came to my mind as far as trees representing um persons and kingdoms because he was the king he was a king hey and that was Daniel 4 it looks like thank [Music] you did you get kicked out of the room did I jump out too early oh they getting ready to close in a few seconds anyway [Music] about 40 seconds there how's the weather down down there weather horic so much weather all around all the weather you could want [Music] all right it looks like we are all back uh I would definitely take a few representatives from each group we won't go way too far in detail but uh if I get a couple Representatives uh out of the group to share what you were discussing maybe one or two points one or two people and then we will uh report out anybody oh I you know um I believe probably um Trayvon wants to speak had some powerful stuff to say go ahead Trayvon you got the floor discussion in the chat I mean in MTH I said I can't give you the particular verse but it spoke of watching out for false prophet for sheeping and one of the ways that recognize them is about the fruit that they bear so um in regards to just understanding how trees use metap my understanding we can determine based view people of Holiness and like righteousness by the fruit in which they bear or you know I guess in a more not worldly sense but I guess in a way that they care C and of as well but just looking at how they use it in this particular chapter um as a of Hess and rightousness thank you uh NAA yes give me one moment please just want to post the stuff so if I miss anything it's all fully mapped out um so some of the items that we noted um that trees are needed for sacrifices to Kindle the fire for us to make sacrifice of the most high representative of Nations and people um Visa Daniel chapter 4 um trees represent us we either produce fruit or do not inter cursed um in Mark chapter 8 verse 22 through 2 uh a blind man was given his sight and he said I see men like trees referencing malakim of great stature um trees praise and sing songs of um praise as referenced in Psalms chapter 96 uh verse2 trees caught abson by the hair and prevented his Escape in 2 Samuel 189 trees were the structure of the temple overlaid in gold and trees were also used in the building of Noah's Ark they also uh were used in elicit Worship in a whole Litany of uh scriptural references that are in the chat if anybody wants to follow up with those thank you very thorough thank you and then uh Jordan yes sir Shalom um just keeping it simple you know we looked at uh Genesis chapter 2 verse 9 and how there is the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil they're in the center of of Garden of Eden um and you know those can also represent even though they might not be people they could be um we'll learn tonight but they also I think represent the choice um between good and evil and then there's also you know I mentioned in in in our group chat just about Ezekiel chapter 31 um how trees were talked about uh for the nation of uh the Empire of Assyria and how um that tree's function was uh how it served the other nations that were under it and so um there's a lot of elements that a tree can represent but I do believe like the the intended audience they understood the trees function because they lived in an agrarian society and so they knew the operations and functions of a tree and I yield thank you and then uh fosi you'll be our last one yes sir yeah um some something else um we discussed in the in the breakout room um looking comparatively at at trees and what they do and and and us because um you know there is a there there is a pattern that is seen throughout creation um with man and and animals and and trees uh we we spoke about the life cycle of a tree uh the seed uh being buried and uh it coming up um breaking through the ground but we also spoke about the functionality of a tree um liken un to us uh to be perfected and the accountability ultimately of that tree being assessed or judged like Yeshua did the um the Fig Tree um the curse Came Upon it because it failed to do what it was meant to do um it's its obvious functionality or lack thereof and that's pretty consistent with us um and and and as I mentioned um also trees outside of algae give are the second greatest oxygen givers for the Earth uh and reflecting that back on Israel we are to be Torah observant so that we can be an example for the rest of the Nations um to be perfected um something that a number of the Malika failed to do and therefore um the punishment that awaits them so there is a very close connection between man and trees uh more specifically uh yahweh's the apple of yahweh's ey which is Israel and in trees the expectations that are upon them and I yield oh thank you thank you that's some apples in the background nice crisp apples all right so uh it seems that uh We've covered at least in a breakout a decent amount of things and I like to to uh share the space and not as assume that people don't have any working knowledge of the topic of discussion so I appreciate everyone's participation some of this content will be duplicative of what you just shared some of it will be revelatory in a way that uh it may be a new discovery for you so one of our framing questions in terms of what are the trees in the garden I like to start out with a framing questions and and you'll see a few of them but the purpose of a framing question is to guide the focus of a discussion or inquiry by defining the context and the setting the direction for exploration and understanding right so sometimes when I'm uh leading or facilitating a session I think those in Atlanta just saw that experience where we're talking about how do you form belief like how do you develop your own belief system and you know if we leave it up to uh you know our parents and society as we were taught as I mentioned in Atlanta a few weeks ago we would be still putting uh our tooth under a pillow and waiting for a little 6in fairy because someone told us that we're going to get money dropped off and we formed a belief on on that some people form a belief that they were a superhero and they they really kind of you know got all their muscles and they you know some people formed the belief that they were going to be a superstar NBA player so and my point in saying that is that I me a discussion is always important uh because it does set the context um and the direction of our discussion so a few framing questions that we are going to look at um and this is uh like a picture but what would you say that this image is what is this image a family tree a family tree right and when we think about that why why is the word tree used why is that word even used right uh this here is a picture of a Navy fighter jet and I would ask the question what is the key difference between the Navy and the Army what is the difference between a navy and Army and generally one would say that okay well the army they fight on the ground and the Navy they fight in the water I believe right in the Air Force why the Navy has a jet they still have Jets but you know they normally fight in the water or they take the the folks who are in the water and they kind of deploy some of them from shorter distances for fueling purposes what is the difference between the Navy and the Army right or if we thought about the key difference between algebra and geometry geometry is not algebra algebra is not arithmetic arithmetic is not trigonometry each one has a different function and they all uh for example trigonometry um or calculus for example May deal with low calculation so if you're building a structure you calculate how much low can go on here while geometry deals with shapes and algebra deals with uh equations right so spreadsheets if you ever worked on a Microsoft uh office or Microsoft Excel more importantly or Google spread or Google uh sheets those spreadsheets are designed around algebra and algebraic functions so if you understand algebra uh it's totally different than geometry which is totally different than trigonometry and then we think about science right so what is the key difference between chemistry and biology well biology in chemistry are two different types of Sciences and they're used uh in two different General types of ways so when you think about these aspects if you were answered or said in your mind that all of these are branches you are correct that's one of the difference between the Navy and the Army the Navy is a branch of the army the AR uh the the Marines is a branch of the army the Air Force is a branch of the army biology is a branch of science and chemistry is a branch of science geometry is a branch of what math or mathematics right and because it's a branch of mathematics why is it totally different than calculus now I may have some of the same formulas at a base level but the higher you go is totally different so we think about the branches I'd often ask this thought is this is part of our framing question branches are called branches because they represent different Pathways of knowledge that extend from a common root of understanding branches are called branches because they represent different Pathways of knowledge that extend from a common root of understanding so as long as we're still talking mathematics the common understanding is that we're talking about at a still and you know I don't perform calculus right but at a still base level you have to rooted in arithmetic because if you don't understand arithmetic you cannot understand the deeper uh science and when I say science it just means knowledge right you cannot understand the deeper knowledge of mathematics if you don't understand arithmetic multiplication is based on arithmetic like the adding and subtracting of numbers multiplication just speeds the process up so instead of saying 2 plus 2 plus 2 plus 2 plus 2 is 10 five times to is 10 right and calculus is a common root right same thing with uh the Navy and the Army right the Army fights on land the Navy fights in the water but the common roote is war you kill and decimate whoever the opposition is I mean you can figure out a crafty way to do it invent a submarine go underwater to destroy them run on the land with Spears and guns but the same root understanding is that you are trying to you know decimate the the people that you're at odds with so about branches uh one key thought about branches is that branches are diverse in terms of their Pathways so when you think about the branches and their Pathways uh branches signify various fields of knowledge stemming from a central discipline or point of origin so I just mentioned about war like the point of origin is still beat the other person you just have to decide we want to you know if you're you're attacking somebody who has a fleet of ships you know they're going to do something on water before they get to where you are on land and if you have a fleet of ships then you want to stop them as soon as possible and you have to come up with cunning ways to do so so diverse Pathways so these branches of knowledge right and then specialization so each branch focuses on specific aspects of questions within the broader subject of discipline so while you may have some science or or some math involved in science like chemistry generally science is a totally different kind of discipline Than Mathematics generally speaking uh but you know there's a degree of specialization in terms of couple more things about branches branches represent interconnectedness branches can overlap and inform each other reflecting complexity and knowledge so you can blend science and math together you can blend chemistry with food or you can bring chemistry with some other and you can blend these together because the knowledge can overlap right branches also represent growth and development like branches of a tree these areas expand as new discoveries are made and knowledge evolves and this is important to Note new discoveries are made and knowledge evolves and if you've ever watched a tree grow or if you ever had a weed around your home or on your property that weed starts out as this little thing you like I'll cut that down next week and it rains a couple times you leave it it's like it's really like a goodness and now it's so much more difficult to attend because it grew and it expanded right and that's the way knowledge uh and new discoveries do you layer one new thought on top of another new thought and it opens up these new corridors and that expands your knowledge set so if there are so many types of branches what is or what are the trees I'm making the statement that science is a branch or science is a or or let me say chemistry is a branch that is on the tree of science I'm making that statement I'm making a statement that arithmetic and calculus are branches that are on a tree that exist also and you take any discipline War you know mental capacities uh you know all of the sort data these are all branches and I'm asking what is the tree or what are the trees that these branches sit on what are the trees and these are to me this is an important framing question and again the framing question is designed to like articulate a point in terms of our context and framing of our discussion so concept one that we are going to look at the trees in the garden represent knowledges the trees in the Gard in the baret or the Genesis or in Eden represent knowledges and our burdens of proof are going to start at Genesis chapter 2 and if I can get someone to read we'll start at verse eight Genesis chap 2 and verse 8 and I'm making the articulation that these trees represent knowledges science is a knowledge the better you are off at science and I'm going to tell you I read Benjamin Franklin's autobiography read it years ago I'm I like autobiographies as a genre of books and when he went to Britain and London into the United Kingdom after he did a science experiment they thought the man was a deity they thought he descended from out of the sky because he channeled electricity and began to start an entire Revolution with what knowledges knowledges and I'm making the statement that the trees in the garden and particularly one that we're going to look at represent knowledges particularly one that we're going to look at so if someone could take the liberty of reading we're going to start at Genesis chap 2 and verse 8 Genesis 2 and verse 8 I'll take it if no one no one else does waiting on that TS to pop out but uh go ahead you can take it jayen for the next one all right I like that look on your face Jaylen look like you pondering something go ahead sir all right verse eight the Lord God planted a garden Eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he whom he had formed so notice this because I I'm giv ready to make a couple of thoughts and assertions right he planted a garden Eastward in Eden now some of the things we're going to read I'm GNA I'm going to say this and I'm I'm not going to try to expound or prove it but some of the things we're going to read I'm just ask some questions about right so he planted a Garden Eastward in Eden now the garden was not in the whole world he didn't say that it said it was Eastward in Eden and if you do a left history you can find out generally Eden is in a certain place that is in the uh what they call the Middle East now but keep going if you verse n and out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is Pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of of the knowledge of Good and Evil so now to the reader if you read it carefully it almost seems as if the tree to grow every tree that is Pleasant to the site because every tree doesn't produce food right now if you look at some trees and you driving down you know a Beltway or in a forest and they turn orange and the leaves and it is magnificent to look upon you can't eat off of it right poison ivy you can't eat off of it but some just they look that's a magnificent looking tree right some were good for food and then it seems to separate these other ones the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of what the knowledge of Good and Evil the knowledge of Good and Evil okay so we're going to explore that thought a little more verse 10 now a river went out of Eden to water the garden and from there it parted and became four riverheads all right so we can skip down to verse 15 then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree in the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you shall not eat for in that day that you eat of it shall you surely die you shall surely die so I'm convinced that when Adam was created he was an adult but in his conscience he was a child right like I just think I don't think he had the like if you like chasti a child for doing wrong they don't have the Consciousness necessarily to determine right from wrong like a child does like so I think in his child he in his in his although he was an intelligent creature in his adult he had the power to name uh animals I'm not sure all what he knew or how long it took him to even name the animals I'm not sure that the first day he was created he could have built a boat out of the wood or the of the trees like Noah did I'm not sure that that was possible but here it's letting us know that he told him of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat and I'm saying in that Garden there were apple trees there were orange trees there were pear trees and there was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and there was the Tree of Life there just some trees that was pretty to look at verse 17 if you want or did you read 17 already yes I can read it again oh if you read it then uh let's skip [Music] down oh no that's good if you read it we'll stop at 17 Okay so the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the tree of life now let's skip over to chapter three and let's look at verse one and we're going to read down to verse eight if you would Genesis chapter 3 and verse 1-8 I got it yes sir you want the TS whatever don't make me all right um Genesis 3 uh verse one and it says and the nahash or the serpent was more cra than all the lives of the field which Yahweh Elohim had made and he said to the woman it is is it true that Elohim has said do not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said to the nahash we are to eat of the fruit of the Trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden Elohim has said do not eat of it nor touch it l you die and then nahash said to the woman you shall certainly not die for Elohim knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes shall be open and you shall be like Elohim knowing good and evil and the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise and she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave to her husband with her and he ate and then the eyes of both of them were were open and they knew that they were naked and they solded fig leaves together and made loin coverings for themselves okay so and many of us have read this before but I'm always asking the question what in the world is happening their eyes were open they already had eyes and their eyes were already open that's how they saw the all the things that were created but here I'm making this statement that one there were different trees in the garden so you could have a maple tree for whatever reason this Divine entity that we call God made a tree that bleeds maple syrup and I'm thankful for that because I love maple syrup okay then he made another tree that produces a pear and a pear doesn't look like a pineapple and a pineapple doesn't look like a apple and it's so many different species of apples you got your Macintosh you got your red apple you got your Pink Ladies you got your Galas all these were in the garden and then there was this other tree called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and why is it called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil because I'm convinced that it was the tree of knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of knowledge of Good and Evil now when we read it I was taught years ago many many years ago that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil was the serpent the devil well the Bible doesn't say that it said the serpent convinced the woman to consume of the tree it didn't say that the serpent was the tree it never said that we can lead with our own understanding and read that into the text but the text does not say that I'm not convinced that the serpent was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil I don't believe that I believe that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil was a tree not lital of knowledge of Good and Evil that's it and I'll expound a little more on that so it was one tree in the garden called this tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the man was told and apparently he told the woman and we don't know I mentioned this to a brother a couple days ago we don't know how long it took him to took her to convince him to consume the tree we don't know because the text doesn't say anybody who's married knows that your wife may talk to you in year 17 and try to convince you for 200 years to do something if you've been married long enough oh you never you don't listen to my ideas and you don't respect where I'm coming coming from and you always trying to control me women get into that so she could have just kept talking to Adam and talking to him and talking to him talking to him and and Year to all right woman all right we're gonna do it your way and now he consumed to the tree of knowledge and Gil that's possible the text doesn't say that so I'm taking a liberty but the text doesn't say that so we don't know how long it took him we don't know if he did it in day one or did it in day 300 after she we don't know it seems like it was all the same day but I don't necessarily view it like that right I don't know how long it took however the tree was desired to make one wise and it was good for food and pleasant to the eyes keep these thoughts in mind because we're going to explore this thought a little more now if we look up the word uh used for tree and knowledge we're going to look up this word used for knowledge if it uh populates for us we're going to look up this word that's used for knowledge uh in the uh strongs or the Blue Letter Bible and this word used for knowledge here strongs H 1847 the and this word used for knowledge is the Hebrew word de right and it means knowledge knowledge perception skill discernment understanding and wisdom it was the tree that could alter your perception alter your discernment alter your understanding affect your wisdom and that's what the enemy promised her because God do know that the day you eat of it you gonna be like him well we know we know that the almighty is aware of Good and Evil but Adam wasn't it doesn't seem like he knew anything about evil it just doesn't seem that way doesn't seem that he knew anything about wrong it seemed as if he knew good because whatever was created was good so this word knowledge is not a mystical word it says it literally gives the word knowledge and this great Sharon decides to stop and start when it wants to and it just literally gives the word knowledge uh in its use so as we look at this we'll look at this thought here what is the tree of knowledge and good and evil and uh what do we know about it so here's a few things that we know about it and you can you can kick back after we're done right it is not the devil the woman speaks to the serpent the woman is persuaded to eat of the tree from the serpent the serpent is not the tree in the narrative the tree is here the serpent is here if the serpent was the tree then she should have just talked to the serpent she didn't have to go consume anything the tree is not literal and and and this is you know my understanding the text neither the tree or the fruit of the tree should be taken as literal In this passage and if you take it as literal then when uh you know the Messiah said that every tree shall bring forth you shall know it by it thee by a fruited bear then you need to take literally that when you see a person you consider doing the right thing it's apples coming out of his body parts and you know that that's not the case so you know that it's not literal that that term wasn't meant to be literal and then this is something that's interesting to notice the tree did not disappear the tree of the tree of life it was a flame of fire put around it that man couldn't access it but it never said anything happen to the tree a good Eagle why why why why did it say that it was cut down and burnt in the fire and it disappeared so I'm making the assertion that there's no indication that there's no clear indication that the tree disappeared after it was consumed leading to the concept that it is still available its seeds have only spread and if a seed of a tree spreads then it could be planted somewhere else and grow up somewhere else and I'm also saying it's not literal right but it never said the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil disappeared this part of the slide did not load okay show anyway all right so the word tree in the text uses uh the Hebrew word uh AZ or it's pronounced as like AZ like the the um ion and the zadi in Hebrew right and we're going to look at that and it the word means tree wood Timber stock plank stalk stick Gallows trees pieces of wood Gallow firewood Cedarwood right so let's let's investigate this narrative a little deeper from my Hebrew pictographs the Hebrew word tree uses Hebrew letters i in and zii notice this this is really really interesting what do I I in andii represent so for those who are into the Hebrew pictograph the ion here represent to what see to see or to what exp experience notice this and what does the zadi represent the desire are to need something so the enemy offered Eve the opportunity to experience her desire sh and did she experience her desire did she consume of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil now notice I'm going back to this thought that there are different branches there are branches of science there are branches of the military there are branches of uh arithmetic there just a bunch of trees and these aren't me necessarily to be literal but I want to show you uh this notion here right oh it does the same thing all right think about this what can you do with the knowledge of sex what could you do with it you can decide at the young age of 18 I think I should get married and you can get married and you can have a relationship with your spouse and you can produce children you can have a loving family or guess what it's just knowledge you can use that same knowledge to manipulate 12 13 14 15 year old girls who don't have fathers in their home who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and you can run a prostitution ring all up and down the East Coast because once you learn to manipulate a man or a woman's body at a young age and they don't understand it that knowledge can be used for what good or evil it can be used either way but guess what it's just knowledge that's all it is think about the sex right like you have people who have taken the knowledge of sex and decided you know what we can create this this thing that allows you to still break the command of the Creator and put this thing on your body so you don't got to deal with the consequences of it because it's just knowledge that's all is and they've used their knowledge to do what evil think about drugs what can you do with the knowledge of chemistry we can cure diabetes let's get together and make some holistic cupcakes and muffins that when you eat it because you like eating cupcakes and muffins it has some great substances in it and it helps your organs and your blood sugar lower or you can take that same knowledge distribute methamphetamines and Percocets through out the east and west coast ship it down from Mexico and this the chemistry of how you going to chop it up and mix it with certain substances is going to addict people for the rest of their life and they're going to fight you're going to control their will you will be able to control their very willp power with what knowledge the knowledge of what good and evil evil now chemistry there's a tree in the garden there is a tree in the garden called science and I'm certain that Adam could have ate off that tree and learn the Sciences astronomy seeing stars and you know the Moon is in phases and he studied the sciences and he taught them to his children and if you notice when you read The Narrative if you stop reading the Bible as like some novel and start reading it Adam had a son named Cain Cain had a son and his son started to build cities what in the world do you need a city for but his sons became artifices of brass and music Industries in those Industries imagine the first time they heard a flute play and people like what is that sound hey man if you want to get some of that sound you got to come over here and buy one of these trees from me I killed my brother for a tree and I'm going take that same knowledge and I'm going sell it to you and now you got a city because more people cities are for Commerce people who live in a country you know if you live fire off now there's no not even a store near you you drive 30 miles to a store so chemistry is a knowledge military a war as I said what is the difference between algebra geometry chemistry biology it's all knowledge and this knowledge is built on I'm articulating the trees that are in the garden in one particular tree the knowledge of Good and Evil taught you how to use some of the other trees that were in the garden The Sciences and the maths and the rest of it just taught you how to use them in ways that you weren't normally accustomed to you can just use it for evil or you can use it for good because you can take that same knowledge of war and destroy the bully Nation like Moses and Joshua did because they were Idol worshippers who had been uh convicted of doing Injustice and Almighty set them straight so our first point is that these knowledges are really just literally the knowledge of Good and Evil now us ourselves we are all evil self deceived Liars all of us and there's nothing good about ourselves the moment we get some knowledge and we G to use it the wrong way that's the way that you know after the fall or even whatever you know the Free Will that's in us that is inside us and what should we take away from the first major point that we looked at James chapter 1 and4 the Book of James chapter 1 and verse 14 and here in James chap 1 and 14 he says but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of what his own lust and enticed so I would probably even argue and I'm throwing this out there and you can look at it because I'm I'm I'm almost to the point of making a full argument about this and I again like when I say this I don't what I do not want you to hear I do not want you to hear me say that there is no devil I don't I don't want you to hear me say that some of y'all gonna hear it anyway but I'm not making that statement I'm not saying that there is no devil this is what I am saying the serpent in the beish sheet or the Genesis carries all the same properties of an evil heart a evil mind and evil desire the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field the Bible never said the serpent was a beast of the field now you ever seen a chameleon you ever seen a grasshopper that blends in that's a real subtle subtle clever creature the serpent or in one estimation the mind is desperately wicked Above All Things who can know it the the heart is deceitful Above All Things who can know it possesses the same faculties as the serpent in the garden and I'm still not saying there is no devil I'm saying the serpent in the garden the way that it was viewed in Antiquity the Ancients the serpent was the mind of man and the mind of man was driven to fulfill his own desire versus being obedient to the will of the Creator well that's that's exactly why the Messiah told Peter get thee behind me who Satan why because you don't want your friend to die but your friend had to die to redeem the world but think about when you have to convince your conscience I know I shouldn't be doing this no all right I'm G just do it this one time nobody going to know that's the same properties as what's happened in Genesis and James said every man is drawn away of his own lust he's tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust the almighty don't cause you to go sin he don't so our first look at the tree of knowledge of good and EV I'm not I'm not going on the whole diet tribe about the serpent we can talk about it a different time I'm just saying it has the same of the same properties and I'm still not saying there is no devil so the Devil exist whatever it is however it presents itself the adversary you know the ancient Hebrews didn't really have a immediate concept of the devil really until they came out of Babylon the way we conr it today however however the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil I'm making the assertion that it's literally just knowledge and knowledge like all knowledges can be used one of two different ways one of two different ways you can use it for good or you can use it for evil they had the opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life and become able to live in perpetuity but they chose to eat from a tree that opened their eyes and oh my goodness we we don't have no clothes on how how would you even know that so that's our first thought trees in the garden so for those who are just joined uh we are looking at the trees in the garden the trees in the garden and the very first tree that we looked at was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the way that we looked at the tree is that trees represent knowledge and particularly the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil represented literally just the knowledge of Good and Evil that's it wasn't nothing special just the knowledge of and there were other trees in the garden I mean fruit trees pear trees all that was stuff there were too but science and math and chemistry and War I think all of that was in the garden now that's my viewpoint you can fuss with me after it's over all right number two concept two trees represent I should have made an alteration to this but the trees in the garden represent governments so Babylon for example was an ancient government Babylon is considered what is modern day I believe Iraq might be Iran but I think it's modern day Iraq is what what was called Babylon the ancient Bon which came out of er of the chales that was ran by a few different Empires but nebesar Nebuchadnezzar they were multiple kings that were Kings of Babylon and then when you read you know I think in Jeremiah like Nebuchadnezzar his son and his son son like we at some point we can go through the history of all of that but Babylon let's look at Daniel chapter 4 in verses 1- 15 so another tree or another way the Bible describes trees and and you kind of brought this out a little earlier but Daniel 4 and verse 1-15 if somebody can pick it up I got it so uh Danel chapter 4 verse one uh and Nebuchadnezzar The Sovereign to uh The Sovereign to all people Nations and languages that dwelt in all the Earth peace be increased to you I thought it good I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders which the most high Allah has worked for me how great are his signs and how Mighty his wonders his Reign is an everlasting Reign and his rulership is from generation to generation I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in my home and prospering in my Palace I saw a dream and it frightened me and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head alarm me so I issued a decree to bring in all the wise ones of Bab before me to make known to me the interpretation of the dream so The Magicians the astrologers the casine the divers came in and I related the dream to them but it interpretation they did not make known to me and at last Danel whose name is Bel Bazar according to the name of my Allah came before me in him is the spirit of the set aart elim so I related the dream to him saying Bazar chief of The Magicians because I show because I know that the spirit of the Copart Elohim is in you and no secret is too difficult for you explain to me the visions of my dream that I have seen and its interpretation now the visions of my head on my bed were these I looked and I saw a tree in the midst of the earth and its height great the tree became great and strong and its height reached to the heavens and it it was visible to the ends of all the Earth its leaves were lovely and its fruit plenty and in and in it was food for all the Beast of the Fe field found shade under it and the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches and All Flesh was fled from in the visions of my head on my bed I looked and saw a watcher even a set aart one coming down from the heavens he cried aloud and said this Hew down the tree and cut cut off branches strip strip off his leaves and Scatter its fruit let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from his branches but leave the stump of its roots in the earth even with a band of iron and bronze in tender grass of the field and let it be wet with the Dew of the heavens and let his portion be with the beast on the grass of the Earth all right so we see that Nebuchadnezzar who was king of Babylon and you know for those who are familiar with history Nebuchadnezzar was an actual King he actually ruled over the Empire right and history Bears this out so this isn't some madeup account that somebody put inside the Bible to mislead us uh there's histories that bear this out right and he had this dream and he saw this tree that grew and grew stronger and his height reached heaven and it was big in all the sight of the Earth right so this dream was later interpreted if you can read 177 and then skip down to 19 to 23 verse 17 this matter is by the decree of the Watchers and the command by the word of the set aart ones so that the living know that the most high is ruler in the reign of men and gives it to whomever he wishes and sets it over the lowest of men so now he uh he's approach he uh approach Daniel who was essentially in his government cabinet and in his government cabinet Daniel begins to explain that there's a mighty power in heaven that can give you the interpretation of the dream and in verse 19- 23 if you can read Daniel explains the dream to him in verse 19 then Daniel whose name was Bazar was stunned for a short time and his thoughts alarmed him The Sovereign responded and said B do not let the do not let the dream ORS interpretation alarm you Bazar answered and said my master the dream is to those who hate you and its interpretation to your enemies the tree you saw which became great and strong the what you saw because we reading this the tree that you saw it became what it became great and strong uhuh whose height reached to the heavens and was visible to all the Earth whose leaves were lovely and his fruit plenty and in it food for all under which the Beast of the field dwelt and on whose branches the birds of the heaven sat it is it is you oh Sovereign for you have become great and strong and your greatness has grown and has reached to the heavens and your rulership to the end of the Earth So Daniel makes the Declaration to the king that this great tree that you saw is you it's it's you and not it wasn't him as a person per se like part of it was him as a person but he was the leader of a nation and an Empire and a government and that government had conquered a decent part of the known world at that time so he said the tree that you saw in the dream it's you and in another study we can start to look and more deeper at the language that's being made that the leaves were Fair we could talk about that in another study the fruit thereof was much we can talk about that the profit that was generated of Babylon I mean I have a history book I'm hoping we can get into it a little bit oh boy this camera all right but anyways it won't show because I got this thing in the background but ancient near East History Society and economy I want to get into it a little bit if we can um we may not have the time we'll see um however the other part that it expresses about this uh tree was that the files of Heaven had their habitation and generally I mean we can look at it another time but generally those files of Heaven Wasn't really talking about birds I talking about these other vulture-like governments who made pray of the people and that's another text sometimes it was talking about something different but you can you can the higher lofty ones also like the princes and the people who uh made merchandise of the people also lived in Babylon I mean Babylon was a major Empire it was it was what it was comparable to like America in its Heyday uh maybe it's still in its Heyday or any M Britain in its Heyday it was really really notable Empire but he told him that he was the tree and essentially that that tree was going to be cut down but the stump was going to be left and ultimately it was going to grow back up for a period of time Ezekiel chapter 31 I think Jordan text me this week and uh we were talking and I told him you know the trees in the garden was coming coming up and he was like man I just read this in Ezekiel and I'm like yes you're right let's see what the prophet Ezekiel said about EGP Egypt and Assyria now we'll look at uh Ezekiel chapter 31 he talks about Egypt and Assyria and the way that he articulates this Egypt and Assyria is that they were also considered trees and notice where they were geographically located as is as it is articulated in Ezekiel so uh Ezekiel chapter 31 and if somebody can pick it up at verse one and we'll read down you I'll take it zekel verse one now it came to pass in the 11th year in the third month on the first day of the month that the word of the Lord came to me saying son of man say to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his multitude whom are you like in your greatness indeed Assyria was like a cedar in Lebanon with fine branches that shaded the forest and of high stature and its top was among the thick bows the waters made it grow underground Waters gave it it height with their Rivers running around the place where it was planted and sent out rivulets to all the trees of the field therefore its height was exalted above all the trees of the field its bows were multiplied and its branches became long because of the abundance of water as it sent them out all the birds of the heavens made their nest in its bows under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young and in its shadow all great Nations made made it their home verse 7 thus it was beautiful in greatness and in the length of its branches because its roots reached to Abundant Waters the cedars in the in in the garden of God could not hide it the fur trees were not like its bows and the chestnut trees were not like its bre branches no tree in the garden of God was like it in Beauty I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches so that all the trees of Eden envied it that were in the garden of god notice the language that's being how in the world did this tree get even placed anywhere near the garden of God Egypt didn't exist or Assyria didn't exist at that time but what is kind of pointing out to us is that it was no tree in the garden of God or in Eden let's say that was comparable to this tree there a bunch of trees in the garden and what is a nation built upon I'm still G to make the assertion that a nation or a government is built on knowledge geographic location is important too because obviously if you buy the N River and you know how to manipulate the water Pathways and everybody else don't have water then look you just control all the water supply it's a knowledge that allows you to do that you can't build a government without knowledge if you're a senator or a congressman or a city council member in a city or town or jurisdiction you still need knowledge and this is how a government is built so these Empires began to have certain knowledges they began to flourish in their Nation they had the knowledge of economy and Science and they attracted the brightest minds and they became their priest and their priest began to articulate the the visions that the people had and see these different signs in the sky and people say hey well come talk to one of our our priests or or susers or divers and he's going to interpret this for you all that was built on knowledge and this Assyria was compared to a tree in the Garden of Eden right keep reading verse n if you will verse 9 I made it beautiful with the multitude of branches so that all all the trees in Eden envied it that were in the garden of God so when I take this to be I'm still saying that the base of all government or trees are knowledge and these branches of knowledge and not that there were nations in the Garden of Eden I don't con see that that's what they expressing here but it is also expressing here that if you compared it to the knowledges and you compared it to the tree that are in the garden there was no comparing because the way that the text articulates these other trees is every nation technically is in God's garden and he decides whether he want to chop him down or let him grow up for a period of time because he's King of Kings and What like master of Master of Lord of lords so he's the one who controls all of the Nations he's the authority over them right so this is kind of what it is expressing keep going if you would verse 10 therefore thus says the Lord God because you have increased in height and it set its top among the thick bows and its heart was lifted up in its height therefore I would deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the Nations and he shall surely deal with it I have driven it out for its wickedness and Aliens the most terrible of the Nations have cut it down and left it its branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys its bows lie broken by all the rivers of the land and all the peoples of the Earth have gone from under its shadow and left it on its ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens and all the beasts of the field will come to its branches so that no trees by the waters May ever again exalt themselves for their height nor set their tops among the thick bows that no tree which drinks water May ever be high enough to reach up to them for they have all been delivered to death to the depths of the earth of among the children of men who go down to the pit so essentially saying to Assyria well actually Ezekiel is talking to Egypt and he's telling Egypt hey man did y'all not see what happened to Assyria because who came to crush Assyria Nebuchadnezzar and nebesar of Babylon they came and decimated the Assyrians then Egypt came up who came to crush the Egyptians and I'm not talking about the modern day Egypt the Babylonians crushed the Egyptians Nebuchadnezzar wasn't playing with them and then who came and crushed Babylon the Persians and the mes and who came to crush them the Greeks and who came to crush them the Romans and who came to crush them the Britains and if you look at through history the Bible lays it all out perfectly of all the empires decided to step up and are we great it's by our power and our might and Almighty said hey man didn't y'all pay attention what happened to these other nations that befell before you I will chop you down just like one of them and how does he use Nations to chop down Nations because he's the king of kings Nebuchadnezzar was a great king great in in terms of expansiveness so here he's making this statement that the Egyptian was like a tree or the Assyrian was like a tree in the garden right and that tree represented government you read how Daniel represented or Nebuchadnezzar represented the head of the government now he wasn't the tree by itself per se because he couldn't be that he wasn't the whole government of Babylon but he controlled it and ruled it and gave it edicts and decrees let's skip down it because I think you'all get the point here and then we can move on um that ultimately that tree was concluded in verse uh 18 if you can read Verse 18 verse 18 to which of the trees 16 yeah keep just start at 16 sorry okay verse 16 I made the nation shake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Hell together with those who descended into the pit and all the trees of Eden the choice and best of Lebanon all that drink water were comforted in the depths of the earth they also went down to hell with it with those slain By The Sword and those who were its strong arm dwelt in its Shadows among the Nations Verse 18 to which of the trees in Eden will you be likened in glory and greatness yet you shall be brought down with the Trees of Eden to the depths of the earth you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain By The Sword this is pharaoh and all his multitude says the Lord God and I'm making the claim that the knowledge that helps you build an Empire existed in the garden in Genesis I don't believe that the Pharaoh and the Babylonian and the Assyrian were in the Garden of Eden I don't think that that's what it's saying I think that what it's saying is that all of these governments are still in control of the one who planted a garden in Eden which was the King of Kings the almighty and just like the Assyrian fell he's warning the Egyptian so I'm going read I'm not going to read all of 32 but I'll make a point here because I want us to pay attention to this other language that's being used because we'll we'll go back into this in the future we're almost done and and Ezekiel chap 32 it says in verse two it says son of man take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say unto him thou are like a young Lion of the Nations and thou are like as a whale in the seas and thou camest forth with thy rivers and troubles the waters with thy feet and Foust uh and Foust their Rivers thus sayith the Almighty I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people and they shall bring thee upon my net then I will leave thee upon the land and I will cast thee forth in an open field and will cause the files of Heaven to remain upon thee and I will F the Beast of the whole earth with thee so now he's calling Pharaoh not a tree in the Garden of Eden he's calling him a well in the sea notice the biblical language so we see this well well Yeshua Nazareth called Herod a fox John called the Messiah a lamb now was the Messiah a four-footed animal that took away the sins of the world was he walking around like like a sheep no no it's language okay so Pharaoh is now a whale and he said I'mma cast a net around you and drag you out into dry land have you ever seen a whale on dry land they can't survive and you see all the pray of the air and that's what happened to the Egyptian all the other nations came in and made benefit off of their fall and this is an example that all nations should take a look at couple other things we're going to look at in Matthew chap 13:31 it says another Parable put he forth notice this saying the Kingdom of Heaven is like un to a what a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sold in his field verse 32 which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and become a what tree or a government so that the birds of the air come enlarge in the branches thereof so the Kingdom of Heaven is like a tree is a government so one way is just the knowledges another way knowledges are all built all governments are built on knowledge you can't you can't build any government without without knowledge you just can't you got you can't lead people without knowledge you the blind leading the blind these these kind of Concepts go together and then one other thought I'll skip the one in Micah actually I'll paraphrase the one in Micah every government that was destroyed by the Creator whether it was the amorites and the Hittites Etc because they were making deceitful gain they were exercising violence and they were destroying people who were poor and everyone he caused them to take out because of that so little note couple other thoughts that we'll look at uh you've heard this text before John chapter 15 verse one I am the True Vine my father the husband uh now a tree a Vine a branch a shrub all of these kind of have the same connotation every branch that is in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that bear fruit he purchases it that it may bring forth more fruit so again part of this is another study but if you've ever experienced the trouble of walking in this way of trying to do right he will get really close to you and clip off either you a part of you or somebody really close to you so you can bear more fruit he purges it and if you you study husbandry if you cut off one leaf that's close to another Leaf then that the nutrients that was going to that other Leaf help the plant that is still left grow more intentionally I've lost a lot of friends walking this walk I mean people I loved people my wife loved people who we nursed their children or you know when they were born that we had to go get people who took children because couples split up and couples who we've been through a lot of things in all of this time but the purging helped us bring forth more fruit now ye are clean to The Words which I've spoken to you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it be in the vine so if you ever cut a a branch off of a Vine or a branch off of a tree it's going to die I mean it has to stay connected so abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me I am the vine and ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him shall bring forth much fruit and without me ye can do nothing this ideal of fruit and branches and trees and this kind of carries the connotation which we can't totally get into for a s of time that yes part of you is a branch and you're a branch and you could also be considered a tree in some biblical language uh Isaiah 8 oh sorry Isaiah 5 and I'll kind of read through a little bit of this I I'll paraphrase it we don't have to look into it but in Isaiah it talked about that the almighty creator of all heaven and earth planted a Vineyard and the vineyard brought forth wild grapes and he thought to destroy that Vineyard and then he said he turned around and said Son of Man or Isaiah The Vineyard is the whole house of the House of Israel and Judah ask them to do the right thing bring forth fruit and they went and messed it all up they were disobedient they were growing all over the place and I had to cut them and purge them and put them back in the right order because that's how I want it to be all right last notion uh trees the trees in the garden in the Bible are also considered to be places of idolatry connected to the priest and commerce places of idolatry connect connected to the priest and commerce so Jeremiah chapter 17 uh why this is here you can ignore this bam let's press the delete on it see look at that live edit bam all right so Jeremiah chapter 17 uh verse 1 through3 if somebody can grab that we have a couple more and I am committing to stay under this 6 65 minutes I think I said uh Jeremiah CH 17: 1 through3 three anybody want to read I'll take it yes sir verse one uh Jeremiah chter 17 the sin of Judah is written with a pin of iron with the point of a diamond is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars while their children remember their their altars and their wooden images by the green trees on the high hills oh my mountain in the field I will give as plunder your wealth all your treasures and your high places of sin within all your borders so he mentions if you're reading it it says there uh altars on the high hills and other text it says your Groves and your green trees why is it mentioned in these green trees in this text let's also look at 2 Chronicles chapter 34 because I want to bring out a point that's being made 2 Chronicles chapter 34 and verse 7 if somebody can get that 2 Chronicles 34 verse 7 I got it verse seven when he had broken down the altars and the wooden images had beaten the carved images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel he returned to Jerusalem but notice he's cutting down these altars these Groves these images notice notice this so now we're going to take a brief tour and this will go kind of quickly but uh Exodus 34 and vers vers 10 Exodus 34 and: 10 and we're going to look up this one word and then we will be out of here Exodus 34 and verse 10 through 13 I can grab that one 34 yes sir okay all right so Exodus 3410 and it reads and he said see I am making a covenant before all your people I am going to do wonders such as have not been done in all the Earth nor in any nation and all the people among whom you are whom you are sh and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of Yahweh for what I'm doing with you is awesome guard what I command you today see I'm driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and The Hite and the perizzite and the hwite and the yite guard yourself lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going lest it be a snare in your midst but break down their Slaughter places and smash their pillars and cut down their Ash so notice he said break down their images cut down their Groves and their images and altars now when you look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 and5 it brings out this same point so I want to look up this word what were the Groves that he brings to bring out so you look at this text Deuteronomy it talks about these Groves right and part of this Groves I'm going to look this word up so you can see I'm going look up okay so we're going to look up this word Groves that's used uh you may also read altars or some other way that is viewed in the text but this Groves that you read in Exodus or you read in Kings and talk about these people who serve BM in the Groves when you look up the word Groves in the text one thing that it is pointing out is this word here notice strongs H 842 Ash Asher so this word Asher points back to this deity that was being served in the woods as a tree and it was the god of aarte which was a Canaanite god or Ash Asher which was a Babylonian God and because the people cycle the same deities and worships over and over it was the images the these sacred trees and when you read it the Phoenicians had the god the Babylonians had it and it was always connected to Commerce and how do we know that these deities were connected with Commerce because we can always read Israel wasn't just worshiping like oh let me forsake the one who parted the Red Sea to go worship this little statue in a corner that's not what they were doing they were serving the idols of other nations through priest and the exercises of the priest the same way it happens today so if you ever seen this uh documentary I think it's uh called Good Hair anybody ever seen that documentary called good hair is that the one with Chris Rock Chris Rock that's who it is Chris Rock in that film do you notice the women were having their hair cut off to sell his weave anybody remember remember that they were cutting their hair off to sell as weave but the religious rights that they were attached to told them that this is part of what the deity wants you to do make yourself bald cut your hair off while when they got the hair off of these long hair if you consider you know whatever National atlete that is beautiful beautiful women they took the hair and processed it to sell it to as weave and the worship of that deity was attached to Commerce that's how they work part and parcel so you have to think that if Israel was worshiping because they were told that they were gonna serve other gods wood and stone right wood tree think about like okay well somebody was making money off of this like I'm if I'm going to tell people to cut these like if you got to buy my idol and the idol is going to help you grow your Wheat Farm over there and back in your land then you got to buy my idol that mean I need to grow more trees and the more people I can convince to buy my idol the more trees I need to have to cut down and sail into the Craftsman notice this in in uh what is this uh Acts chapter 16 that there was a woman that was following Paul and say oh these men are men of God and Men of the most high and they follow Paul around Paul rebuked the woman and cast that Spirit out of her and notice that the men who were her Masters said they had made much gain by her divination so the deity was always attached to Commerce think about it like this see if we can share this screen again screen do the right thing all right screen's not doing the right thing all right think about it like this the screen might be sharing might not be shared okay let's do it one more time share screen bam all right think about it like this the trees in the midst of the garden now all of us have had experience with worshiping a tree and I remember somebody said oh I don't bow down in no Christmas tree and somebody else asked cunningly then how you get the present down there because you got to bend down to do it now when you read in Isaiah chapter 66 they talking about people one tree in the midst of the garden that they hiding behind if you read in Jeremiah chapter what 17 or Jeremiah chapter 10 it talks about that they cut out a tree and decorated with all these now I don't necessarily believe that that's talking about directly the Christmas tree because the Christmas tree was an invention by the Germanic tribes but the thought carried through all deities now I'm attaching this last thought before we close out that the trees in the garden or the way that the Bible referred to trees were also attached to idolatry and commerce so when you look up the word Groves it goes back to this deity called asth and that deity was worshiped not just with objects with Commerce attached to it and how do we know that the same thing is happening today even our money reads in say that again even the money reads in God we trust and God was a minor deity of Fortune in Commerce oh yeah and the commerce was attached to the worship and people don't see that the worship and the Commerce work hand in hand so the reason why yesterday they had a bunch of people selling Halloween is because the people who control the chocolate factories and the distribution companies they make a lot of profit during this time why wouldn't you want kids buying masks and dressing up like demons and cops and nurses and man come get this candy because when they get candy they're being the gods of the land or the priest they make a lot of money or for the profits let me ask you hold on we're almost closing up the the Christmas tree also now I'm telling you that's direct devil worship worshiping celebrating Christmas is direct devil worship if you don't believe it look it up right Google it YouTube it look where it come from saturnalia and all the rest of the deities but it's also attached to Commerce and they also attached it to religious worship because they told you Christmas was Jesus's birthday when Christmas was the de of Saturn Alia and it's attached to religious worship and commerce and some type of object with a three in tandem make profits for the empires so these trees in the garden they're more than just uh a notion of what the text is explaining it's a lot that the Bible's covering in that and we have to dig deeper to find out you know what the the mysteries of what the text is discovering because again that face value you know you just read it and glance over it and uh you might not consider it deeply uh so I'm going to pause there and uh say hallelujah it is 9:02 I think I did about 65 minutes according to my timer I don't know if anybody else time I got a minute and 40 seconds left so did what I said I was gonna do I try to do that for y'all um so any thoughts I want to open the floor up for any thoughts questions uh disagreement I thought I saw my beloved brother Herman on there but he disappeared on me did he brother disappeared right here I'm right here oh my bad how you doing good sir I had I had to float through the screen man how you doing how the family doing blessed man tired but blessed man appreciate you man the day cometh man where I'm G help liberate you out of your job man I don't know how but I'm working on a master plan I don't think we need to be at work Friday we should our our businesses our our Biblical Iran businesses should shut down about 12 o'clock and we go do us and we have to you know be burning oursel out a pleasure to see you good brother um Jaylen you had a question on the floor well I had just more of a thought um that I just wanted to add to the conversation and sketch your thought so um U so you you hear so when you we hear about like how we would go go and have to worship wood and stone right so when I think about that wood a lot of people actually think that uh are you here some people say that the wood would stand for like Christianity or symbolizing almost the cross you hear some people say that like the the stone would be Islam or Cobblestone what however you want to look at it but when I think so if let's just say you're following that logic right if you look at Christianity a lot of it deals with Commerce as well um and so you know they they they are linked in with the government who give them funds but teaching certain things things right and then you also have them um who are falsely teach are they they're Ming this concept of the uh of the tithe right to get people to bring that in um so I just that that's just another thought that I had just to add on to what you were saying as well yeah I would I would say that um the the worship the the text and uh like wood and stone it could apply to like Islam I mean if you look at Islam hard enough the pilgrimage to to Mecca that they're supposed to take and this cabala Stone which is supposed to be a meteorite that fell out the sky and all the rest of right no they definitely worshiping a stone that fell out the sky like then they gotta kiss it and do all this weird stuff I mean so yeah but the the way that the worship was done then it was definitely attached to some type of deity it was definitely attached to Commerce and it was the way that the machine operated and when I gave the example about that film good hair like you know we stayed in Cuba for a while I mean there the deity Santa Gia or something like that I I don't know it that well but um they we would see people wearing all white you know like I like oh man all Cubans seem to wear all white on Sunday and then next time I went I'm like man there's a lot of people wearing all white now they wearing them all days of the week and then no when you get initiated into that spiritual Voodoo stuff with they do is you have to wear all white for a year so whoever's selling white clothes I'm like oh yeah you got these white clothes you see what I'm saying it's attached to Commerce so people were making profit off of this and you wanted to keep the perpetuation of the ideal going because it stood for you to generate Revenue so yeah that's that was the the uh thought behind it uh Jordan so uh uh this is kind of a simple question kind of going back to uh when you talking about trees's knowledge um I mean you just kind of blew my mind with tonight's teaching cuz you know how I viewed um you know what the trees represented but anyways um would you say keep your mind man I don't want to blow your mind up man it's gonna be useful keep expanding my mind Hallelujah expand my mind uh my question with is um with the the knowledge that you mentioned you know I never really thought about like that you know the different different trees like a tree of math and a tree of government and stuff would you say say those the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life with those have been books or those have been other people who knew had this wisdom that they want that they were seeking after no I just look at it like it's literally just information the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is just information I don't call the tree of life that per se the tree of life I I don't I wouldn't say that that's just information uh I think the tree of life is more about holistic obedience because if you ate from holistic obedience you would have obtained eternal life that's the way I view that but the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil I just think it was information and and all information can be used in two different ways if you learn enough about business or you learn love about taxes you can cheat on your taxes or and and evade the IRS you learn enough about security systems you can clip the system and go rob a bank I mean it's just it's knowledge and all of it can be used or or another way to say it's just information and information can always be used in two different ways and when it said in the day you eat it you shall be like God knowing good and evil like I think it literally was just the knowledge or the information and they acquired that information now they knew evil also and they knew good and then now they have to decide daily which one to apply and we have to do the same thing and I I'll give an example I think we were dealing with a client um and there's a text in the Apocrypha that says sin sticketh close to buying and selling and there was this thing going on one of the clients when I was like I'm up all night just look I don't I don't want to I don't want to do nothing that even blur the line but sometimes if it's like ah it's money to gain the Mind want to wrestle and I'm like I don't want to wrestle about this I don't I don't want to do but the information I think it was information I don't but I don't think it was books I think I think it was just pure information okay how it how it presented itself I'm still I I'm still trying to ah just say exactly like because they ate of you know something but I think they they consumed information that can be viewed in two ways and now they looked at everything else in those two ways that's the way I conceive oh oh look at the babies okay sorry himman I I don't see the kids that often uh Zia yes ma'am yes I I I definitely appreciate your uh the uh study tonight and I just wanted to say to Rah for it appreciate it so much but a few things that I was considering is that you know the the fact that all these pagan holidays um are directly correlated with the various Industries and so if we begin to disect them like if we go to Thanksgiving you know people grow turkeys and hams all year to do what make their greatest amount of money during the Thanksgiving season where you going to you know sell turkeys give away turkeys the same thing with hams and you know the certain other things that are all around this specific holiday decoration so on and so forth and then we go to uh Christmas it's the same thing bunch of decorations toys festivities movies are even made to do what sell during that time and um even with that um the deities also have like rituals that if you uh do these things you're supposed to gain some type of blessing so for example with uh Christmas you have the mistletoe so if you kiss up under the mistletoe then you're supposed to receive some type of a blessing you know then we go to uh Janice or January or uh uh New Year you know during that time if you boil and eat black ey peas now you're supposed to receive some type of a fortune and then you roll around to uh uh uh Valentine's Day dealing with romance if you do these things with Cupid you know which is which is a god also then you're supposed to receive love and so all these things come all these different deities they come with some type of um blessing of a fortune or blessing of some type of lust within the heart you know that a person may have within their hearts and so I think the importance of just looking at uh you know these trees in the garden and the function of these Groves these altars these uhh Pagan rituals that were set up that the Kings you know you brought out the Kings you brought out the government basically and we know that the King is over the government so that the government itself was supposed to put down like any time that there was a righteous King that came in like King Ahab what did he do what did they do they destroyed the Groves they destroyed the altars they destroyed the places in which the people were practicing these witchcraft which in return destroyed that industry destroyed those those ways in which they making money and putting people to work to do things that were opposite of the most high because we know that a lot of times um people will do things for the sake of being able to take care of themselves but we know as a people of the most high that we don't need to rely on things that are contrary to the most high to make Commerce I remember years ago a brother asked he said you know if you wanted to go into a business do you think it would be okay to sell Christmas trees and it's like you know why would we get in I mean Christmas trees are not evergreen tree that's you know that's a tree that was made by the most high right but it's the fact that you're making it for the purpose of selling it to perpetuate a holiday that's contrary to the most high that is wicked so you know with that I digress I I I really appreciate it turning the court over to you NAA can you hear me yes TOA um firstly TOA for bringing the lesson out um I really appreciate it and you definitely have me thinking in some different ways um I think especially what was most poignant to me was the first section kind of talking about uh the tree and the garden right I think that's the one that you knew would be the most salacious right that would have everyone's ears itching a little bit um but it really rang true to me in several ways I'm not you know going to throw everything out the window but I think one of the things that you said that was really point it to me was kind of this concept of knowledge being the actual you know the actual get or the actual prize um and everyone if you would just take your hats of conjecture and put them on with me that way because I know this is being recorded this is just all conjecture from old n's perspective right but you think about this tree this tree of you know the knowledge of Good and Evil literally could have just been an apple tree but what is good good and evil right up to that point yahweh's word was the only instruction that anyone had and so the way that you lived was the way that he told you to live the proposition that there was another way to do things instantly like it literally could have just been an apple not you know but the moment that you pluck and that you touch the tree that's when you gain the knowledge of evil because you're now operating in it it kind of made me think about that moment you know and every young person's life where up to a certain point your parents are like superheroes they're like Gods to you you know you know I can't transgress I mean there is no other way except the way that Mom and Dad tell you and then that magical moment when you kind of start thinking to yourself like oh I don't have to do that let me try it out and see what happens I remember um I had an assignment due once and up to that point it was like you know I was homeschooled so you know my mom was the teacher you know I have to do all these assignments I have this whole thing and then one day I was like What if I just didn't do the essay so she's like where's that essay I was like yeah I'm not going to do it and she's like excuse me I'm not going to do it and she's like okay and um you know it was so freeing for a moment until the consequences bore down on me and but it did open up this knowledge within me that I'd never had before so now moving into other spes in life right there's a choice am I going to do do what I need to do or am I not going to do what I need to do and one may say that you know obviously that should have happened earlier obviously you can always do what you want to do but up until that point I really hadn't thought in that way you know it was just whatever the instructions are it is a thing that has to get done and now unfortunately that's not the way that life is you know there's always a choice but there's always consequences to those choices too so just the proposition that maybe it was just you know just a suggestion that you don't have to do things you don't have to follow the instructions that you were given literally they could have done any other thing um but as long as it's not what the most high said then that introduces evil and it introduces it into everything because like you said with the tree of math or whatever the case may be there is a function for the things that are given to you and the very instant that you decide to take whatever those things are outside of the function that you were instructed to use them for and literally they can be used for anything suddenly now you have introduced the knowledge of evil into those things so anyway like I said all conjecture but definitely has me thinking about some stuff um I want to read the rest of the Genesis account and possibly do some thought experiments to try to understand as well you know kind of what you were saying about um the serpent or the Nishan right being as U more subtle than any creature of the field right and some thought experien to see if it's not what I think it is how might the rest of that uh account am my understanding the rest of that account kind of ship and change so anyway thanks for introducing it and uh yeah I yield thank you some uh some good points made there U yeah I give this account of when you're around children and you know if you see a child from the time that they're you know 10 days old or three weeks old or two months whenever you come across the child and you see the child in the house they start to crawl they start to walk and they about 3 years old and four years old and 5 years old and six at some point given that the the social context is different it's still a point that I'm I'm withdrawing out of it at some point if you try to go in the bathroom on a child at like five or six or maybe even 4 it's some cognition that kicks in their mind don't come in here I don't have no clothes on I where did you learn that at now you see us walking around whoever the US you know adults are with clothes on so you know but kids you know they walk around naked because they don't have no conscience of they don't have any conscience that being naked is incorrect I mean in in essence right but there's this one day it almost seems like it just happens at four years old they're like I don't have clothes on where did you get that idea from who told you you was naked I mean I've literally experienced that with my own children like hey we got to start responding differently to these beings we created because now they know what we know which is just like now they want to be dressed all of the time now I don't want you to see me like this man we saw you when you was born but that Progressive that I think that that is essentially what I'm thinking happened to Adam so to speak but some they consumed in some extra inform oh my goodness now we know something but to your point it is also that Disobedience that opened up that Corridor for them Hallelujah any thoughts uh now you quiet people on the line like jaman Nick and Joshua and Pamela I'm not even sure if I've met Pamela have I met Pamela I don't know okay this is Pamela do you live in DC Pamela yes I do oh good okay we've leaston yes uh great lesson it took me um uh the the uh kind of took me to the Book of Enoch when you spoke about knowledge um where the uh falling some parts of Enoch where they was where he was talking about the falling uh which had something to do with no um how they uh each fallen angel or angels have gifts and so they use their gifts I guess when they fail um for evil when they taught man uh mankind uh how to make weapons um makeup jewelry and all that sort of thing that's that's where your lesson kind of took me when you started talking about the knowledge part because I never looked at it like that and because I read The Book of Enoch last year you know it just popped in my head like wow that's deep because you can use your gift in error or wrong or for evil certainly speaking of some of uh what is it the folks that read Palm readers y you look at what gift do they have you know was it of Prophecy or you know but they use it for the other level of reading your palms and that sort of thing and dealing with these cards and stuff like that and uh yeah so I just wanted to throw that out a little bit oh good point um I think you know we read about the early chapter of Genesis they start taking that knowledge and start manufacturing tools and equipment and Cain and his descendants was not using that information the same way that they were supposed to use it right using it to plunder and Destroy and when you read The Narrative slowly it says and the Earth was corrupt in violence in those days they were taking that information [Music] and you know if i' if the first spear that I made out of some piece of metal man this thing cut me when I was making it what if I could use it to cut somebody else now I want to go take somebody's field over that's right and it promoted the violence of it good point good point Thank you habani anybody else any thoughts questions comments disagreements Jamon my guy Jordan you gota wait man I gota hear from Shalom um this is Joshua Joshua yes sir um I don't mind being silent or sharing but um it's a lot of intelligent people on the call so I figured you know they can they can share their thoughts but um I've just been pondering man I've been going through some significant challenges in my personal life and um you know in the beginning when you asked the question about you know the significance of trees in the scripture um one of the things we talked about in our breakout room and I've just been thinking about this whole time is just you know the the all of the metaphors the spiritual metaphors that we get from trees you know bearing fruit and being rooted and just all the different examples that we read and one particular thing I've been pondering in regards to my own walk is how you know trees withstand the seasons um you know summer spring winter fall they they withstand it all they stay rooted and they continue to grow throughout the process and it's not a vast growth growth is not like you come back in a month and the tree is grown 10 feet it's something that you see over the process of a long period of time that shows longevity and you know I've just been sitting here just allowing the information that you guys sharing to kind of go forth and I'm picking it apart but just thinking to myself how I can and um learn from some of some of the the basic qualities of Nature and apply them to my walk and apply them to my life and um to create better outcomes for myself and you know I was just appreciative of you know being around the Misha and just listening to scripture and and being able to gleam some things from it that I feel like is helping me to grow in a positive way and now you no hell yeah that's encourage vir so thank you for sharing that anybody else hey shalom shalom this is R yeah I just wanted to say I'm enjoying everything that's being spoken to I for this beautiful lesson just wanted to make sure I said that Shalom to everybody hope everybody's enjoying their Shabbat thus far oh yes yes man you look like you about to touch the mic man go ahead not I don't got too much I just want to just you know thank you know say thank you for you know bringing forth this message and um I really appreciated the whole thing but especially just looking at the aspect of the trees representing governments and um and then all the historical context that she brought with it that was really good and something I want to meditate on and look more into so pretty much this is are you're muted right now I can't hear if you're speaking that part right there this book called the ancient near East uh History Society and economy um there there are a few different uh kind of books on the ancient near East but I was at the library and I was looking a little more deeper and I was I didn't have time today but I wanted to go into how the it would took me way off my point but how the gods were the priest and politicians so to speak of the land and how they control the economies and how those economies uh also attached to different rituals and practices and this book goes into some of that but one of the things that we looked at a little bit was and uh can you see that at all yes sir and here it says already in 614 BC the mes of CRA Xerxes uh um umatar in Babylon in the Babylonian Chronicle had invaded the Assyrian cities so we're talking about Assyria and how it fell and this is how the prophet Ezekiel was talk was talking to Egypt and saying hey man take note of that tree right so we're talking about governments right uh had invaded Assyria conquering tarb ISU and then Asher and then which was brutally sat now nebesar which was Nebuchadnezzar's son or one of Nebuchadnezzar's Sons moved North to help cyos Xerxes but reached Asher after The Siege nonetheless the Babylonian King sealed an alliance with the median King and returned to Babylonia two years after two years later 612 BC the two armies attacked Nineveh which was the city city for uh the chief city of Assyria the two armies meaning the army of the mes and the armies of the Babylonians attacked Nineveh for the final blow on Assyria now notice that the the Egyptians in Ezekiel 31 the Pharaoh was being told don't you remember how big Assyria was now if we go earlier in the same book and it talked about the flourishing Empire of Assyria I mean it lays no exaggeration on bore to point out how well the Assyrian economy was doing so they attacked the the final blow for Assyria after three months of Siege the Assyrian Capital was taken sacked and destroyed SAR ishon died during The Siege the mes returned to land uh returned to the land but nebesar still had the strength to march to nabia or nasaba and Conquer it the Syrian Court sought refuge in heran there in ashure ubit number thei who uh whose name recall the founder of the middle Assyrian kingdom was made made king of a deteriorating Empire in 610 BC the mes and Babylonians reached heran and conquered aser ubil and his Egyptian allies retreated to the Euphrates so they went on and destroyed the Assyrian Empire and that's exactly what Ezekiel said happened and that's the same thing that was going to happen to the Egyptians so I won't bore you with all of the history but this this book is a a pretty good resource um yeah before dealing with the egyp to the West yeah so the the there's this other book that I went to the library to look up because I I found the book in another resource you know you I used to go to library all the time back in the day the person had to go to the basement and they were gone for like 30 minutes looking for this book when they came back the book was about this big it was old and Dusty and if I opened it I felt like it was going to fall apart so I took a few pictures of it I didn't post them in the study but it began to talk about these nations and I wanted to go more into the history of it but I also wanted to respect the time of uh the study this evening so but yeah the Nations the governments trees in the garden something to look into and there's a bunch of other texts I just left off the table I think the three concepts I just want to point people in the direction and uh see what they uh what they come up with in terms thought yeah uh Jordan you had something else a little earlier yeah I was trying to get in before you know I probably couldn't get in anymore tonight but um uh again just want to say thank you for being a to put this this class on I know it takes a lot of time to uh make something like this happen but once again thank you I'm very appreciative of it uh I just want to make a comment of very very simple you that's that's me but um like this study this class now for me helps me take on a new meaning of I think Romans 12 and 2 about the renewing of your mind um and how it has to come through I guess accumulation of knowledge and so that was like a a prayer I had this morning like you how do I renew my mind and so you know you kind of lay on the groundwork of just acquiring different levels of knowledge um that's how you're able to renew your mind and to have your mind redirected in a sense from you know maybe evil or bad thoughts to what is good to align myself with the most High yah's um thinking so to out for that and I was a really appreciative of the class well I'll tell you what happened uh I like to see Jam's face he's on the line but I tell you what happened to be honest to you Jordan I was hanging out with this new brother I met named jaman and we were kicking it about something we just had a lot of we just hanging out that week and we just talking about a lot of different stuff and I wrote this whole series because we ended our eight-week series about the 20th of uh September I wrote this entire series of what was supposed to be this 12we series I lost a sheet of paper I just found it earlier today I wrote it in a notebook and tucked it in the hanging out with your mind I lost the sheet of paper not because of him but I lost the sheet of paper week one was guard your heart week two was shame in your conscience week three was repentance week four was the hearten heart week five was open discussion then we was GNA jump into the Misunderstood Bible text three and four we did one and two I misplaced it so I had to come up with a whole new 12we session and this was going to be the first one when I I was like oh we I I'll do this and then I find the thing to today on the day we supposed to do the session and uh I'm actually in Pittsburgh today we came to look at a roof uh with some brothers who closed on a a building and uh said oh we come check it out but uh yeah I found that study today that that series and I'm like ah but this particular one I think I started putting together back in like 2015 and put it down and picked it back up and put it back down and just kept adding to it but I decided to revisit it because um it's so to me at least and again other people may disagree but when I started to look at that that knowledge of Good and Evil was information and you can consume all information in two different ways it started to just hit home a little different and I even just point out that the serpent whatever else it is I'm not going to argue against but the ancient uh people of antiquity View your mind when they and I I couldn't pull up the resource I have this couple of these old old books about Antiquity they looked at the serpent as your mind or your conscience that's how they looked at it and again I don't think it's excluded or limited to that but it makes a heck of an argument it makes a heck of an argument because like Nia was saying a little while ago when you start thinking about all the evil you want to do and you'll justify to yourself it's more subtle than any beast of the field now it's not calling the serpent a beast of the field it's just trickier I mean in the Creator got some tricky animals if you look at a fox very tricky animal you look at a chameleon a very tricky animal a snake is even a you know it's slick it's a lot of just cunning creatures that he created because that's the way he made them but he's saying that the serpent whatever that is again I'm not limited it to I'm not saying it's exclusively your mind I'm saying it's a lot of parallels in text that point out man your mind will convince you to do some wicked stuff and justify it and the more you try to the way your conscience works is this you can either like uh push-ups or bench pressing or you can be better and strengthen your conscience or you can keep decimating it and destroy your conscience and once you destroy it you go do anything I can't imagine how a man could sleep with another man's wife like David did and any other man who did it I'm not blaming him I don't I never seen basba but I've seen some pretty women I'm like oh get it bro don't think you should do that but I I can say as a man like I get how your mind LED you in that direction I don't agree with you but I get how your mind could take you there and then justify yourself and then send that man out to war say man go home and lay with your wife man because now it's more subtle than any beast of the field now again I'm not saying that the devil don't exist I just think it's a heck of an argument the way ancients viewed it so yes J you came off mic you gonna say something no no you said you want to see my face oh yeah it's good to see you man yeah you too man oh yeah I appreciate you too yes sir anybody else any thoughts Hest nice to see you oh yeah just to comment off what you just said it kind of sound like as far as you know how people everything like something negative happens they try to blame the devil for it but the scriptures give us the authority to cast down every thought and Imagination that exalts himself against the knowledge of yah so we were given the authority to actually cast it down so a lot of people today they have an issue if something terrible happens they say it's the devil I think that's just the cliche that people use today in ignorance honestly because um we were given the authority to cast down those thoughts and Imagination so this is interesting right and I beheld Satan fall and you can cast down imaginations like they both you know they just the parallels itself something into your mind that shouldn't be done you could wrestle for a second and then your higher conscience convict you to like yeah man don't don't even think about stuff like that because the Ancients if they thought about something like evil stealing a robbing their neighbor they would put sackcloth on and cover their self in ashes at the thought of foolishness but just like you mentioned casting down your imaginations the text also said I beheld Satan fall from and again I'm not saying that some entity did not fall from somewhere in some realm that I don't live in that's I'm not saying that that didn't happen that's not my point I'm just saying it makes a e in parallel to the mind and this is why when you read in Deuteronomy it said talk about this law meditated in it day and night when you wake up when you walk by the way it has to always be in your mind because if it's not in your mind like that you gonna de ve off to the left and well I'mma just do it this one time like no I'm going just S one time but we know a little 11 11 the whole lump and then sudden you can't stop doing it and you lose control of your will and then you no good to anybody Jaylen go ahead sir no I just wanted to add add on to that you know uh the psalm says that you know it also says that you know you delight yourself in the almighty and he and he uh he'll give you the desires of your heart so that tells me that there's a there there it's a conscious decision whether your the desires of your heart are of the most high or if it's a wickedness so that that that should say even more of a of a of another thought to another level to it because we we you can decide what the desires of your heart are so yeah you can decide a man if you investigate him you can see who put him there because you know one I I remember looking at uh kids who became adults or adults who I talked to and they talked about their childhood man I just love basketball I think that's what God's giving me my purpose on the planet man the Creator don't care about no basketball he just don't he don't care about football you a pray about winning the game he that's not his concern but since you were dribbling the ball since the time you were young or boxing playing football and your dad throwing you the ball your mom kept putting you all these aou programs that desire got in your heart and now you think you should be the next LeBron James somebody put that there and you could take that out and put a new desire in your heart and you it has to be cultivated I hear some people like oh I can't live like this you can put that in your mind and live like that it it it works cultivate it works it totally works oh Nick is that Nicolai or is that another Nick hey h yeah that's Nikolai I called you last week man I was up in Buffalo man no way oh man bro I'm coming back to uh Sunday I'll be there for a little while man I was gonna try to see your face oh nice man yeah let's do it um yeah I was I just got back from Florida and my phone broke so I had no phone for a week and that was fun okay okay yeah so I'm gonna go visit n call him and see if they come man because his sheep his sheep don't come when I call man just listen to his voice for sure man I tried it did not work it looked at me like I was crazy go ahead though bro no excellent excellent tonight man um never really thought about the trees as knowledge you know but like you know I'm kind of imagine them as like metaphysical knowledge you know like you know things knowledge exists right but it's doesn't have to be physical um yeah definitely opened up my eyes um been meaning to jump on Genesis especially because you know I think it was uh what after sukot you supposed to start over the Torah cycle again so I was like oh perfect timing perfect timing oh yeah yeah yeah encouraging peace to you and your family too thank you you too well uh any