The Forbidden Fruit
The "NATURAL MEN" not only dislikes any restrictions, the tendency is to want, to have and do the opposite. He desires, covets that which is forbidden.
Have you noticed how little children become very restless under any form of control? Even at a young age, they begin to struggle against parental authority and seek to push the limits. That is human sinful nature! Wise parents will not give in, but will rather set limits and house rules. Home government insures the safety and happiness of its inmates. Children are far happier under some form of restraint, rather than no restraint at all. Where there are no rules there will be anarchy.
What was it?
The "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" - The tree not just the fruit, must of looked very fair and attractive. Perhaps the fruit had an enticing smell. Have you noticed that we tend to be drawn by the smell of food more so than the looks of it? The brain retain the smell and the taste of food so much so that even at a distance we are either drawn to the food or repelled by the smell of it.
The forbidden fruit must have been very delicious to the taste as well. How many food articles do you know that smell good and taste delicious but do not agree with you? They may give you stomachaches, headaches, or worse? I am specially referring to cakes, candies, unhealthy pastries and desserts of all sorts. It often amazes me how children want those things even more so than their favorite dish. Wise mothers will make a food menu and select the healthiest and best meals for the family.
Things to avoid:
§ Excessive condiment, some spices are literally not healthy.
§ Sugar, should never be the first ingredient - best if is organic pure cane sugar, if used at all. Sugar leads to teeth decay and weakening of the immune system.
§ Junk food such as chips, candy and treats, are usually loaded with salt, sugar, or both, artificial coloring and artificial preservatives. Worse yet, junk food has excitotoxin to enhance flavor. Animal fat as stated in(Lev. 3:17) - leads to cholesterol build up and skin cancer. Candy Bars - primary ingredients are usually sugar and milk - this combination is poisonous to our bodies. Preservatives, artificial coloring and flavor, unhealthy chocolate, caffeine.
§ Cakes and Pastries, most if not all are made of processed and refined flower - poor nutrition. Baking powder, triglycerides - animal fat, liquor or vinegar - unnatural and unhealthy.
§ Ice Cream, milk with excessive fat and sugar - produces alcohol during digestion. Preservatives, coloring, and unhealthy ingredients. Dairy ice cream should not be eaten [the best ice cream is home made from frozen fruit].
§ Soft Drinks, even fruit juices when consumed in excess will lead to hypoglycemic disorder. Soft drinks have carbonated water- proven to be cancer producing. Other ingredients usually are: sugar, coloring, preservatives, caffeine - nerve irritant and addictive, other addictive substances.
§ Hard liquor, even root beer has small dozes of alcohol, Beer is unhealthy to your intestines and contain plenty of alcohol. Alcohol destroys your liver - leads to cirrhosis, your pancreas - leads to diabetes, and destruction of brain cells!
§ Smoking and drugs, becoming addicted to these vices is easy. Breaking the addition is very difficult and in some cases not possible unless there is Divine help.
A second opinion on the subject is to be found here:
Much more could be said about "the forbidden fruit" most people agree and common sense would conclude that we could do without these harmful products.
"Through the intemperance begun at home, the digestive organs first become weakened, and soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. Unhealthy conditions are established, and there is a craving for more stimulating food. Tea and coffee produce an immediate effect. Under the influence of these poisons the nervous system is excited, and in some cases, for the time being, the intellect seems to be invigorated, the imagination more vivid. Because these stimulants produce such agreeable results, many conclude that they really need them; but there is always a reaction. The nervous system has borrowed power from its future resources for present use, and all this temporary invigoration is followed by a corresponding depression. The suddenness of the relief obtained from tea and coffee, is evidence that what seems to be strength is only nervous excitement, and consequently must be an injury to the system." E.G.White - Counsels to Better Health 31.2
"Many who would hesitate to place liquor to a neighbor's lips, will engage in the raising of hops, and thus lend their influence against the temperance cause. I cannot see how, in the light of the law of God, Christians can conscientiously engage in the raising of hops or in the manufacture of wine and cider for the market." IBID, 32.2
"I have often heard people say, "Oh! This is only sweet cider. It is perfectly harmless, and even healthful." Several quarts, perhaps gallons, are carried home. For a few days it is sweet; then fermentation begins. The sharp taste makes it all the more acceptable to many palates, and the lover of sweet wine and cider is loath to admit that his favorite beverage ever becomes hard and sour. IBID, 32.3
Intoxication is just as really produced by wine and cider as by stronger drinks, and it is the worst kind of inebriation. The passions are more perverse; the transformation of character is greater, more determined and obstinate. A few quarts of cider or wine may awaken a taste for stronger drinks, and in many cases those who have become confirmed drunkards have thus laid the foundation of the drinking habit. IBID, 32.4
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1Corinthians 6:16,17
The Divine Antidote
In Genesis 3:15 we read: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
What is this scripture speaking of? Not just enmity between man kind and snakes. In fact there is a great many folks who like them well enough to have them as pets. I do not recommend this for some snakes have been know to become dangerous, strangling their owners or children. We should at the very least respect its presence. Awareness is the better word. Many are poisonous. DANGER! The above scripture speaks of something beyond the physical enmity. It speaks of spiritual separation. It speaks of a promise that some day there would be a seed or descendent of Eve who would bring about a deadly wound on the great serpent, the Devil, who used the snake in the Garden of Eden, to deceive and snare Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and thus transgressing God’s command, leading Adam to transgress also,and bringing a curse upon humanity.
This seed is none else than “Jesus Christ – The only begotten of the Father”(John 3:16) - the only antidote for the sinful nature we are born with. The Son of the living God ( John1:34; 3:18) overcame the Devil, death and is alive forever more.(1Corinthians 15:1-57) Man can’t regenerate himself, though he may improve in behavior, he can not transform his innermost nature without Divine intervention.The words of Jesus, “you must be born again”( John 3:3,5), are the greatest words in human history! To us is the promise, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:14-17.
"Significance of Christ's Victory.--After His baptism, Christ was led of the Spirit into the wilderness. He had taken humanity upon Himself, and Satan boasted that he would overcome Him, as he had overcome the strong men of the past ages, and he assailed Him with the temptations that had caused man's downfall. It was in this world that the great conflict between Christ and Satan was to be decided. If the tempter could succeed in overcoming Christ in even one point, the world must be left to perish. Satan would have power to bruise the heel of the Son of God; but the seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent's head: Christ was to baffle the prince of the powers of darkness. For forty days Christ fasted in the wilderness. What is the significance of this fasting? Was there anything in the character of the Son of God that required such great humiliation and suffering? No, He was sinless. All this humiliation and keen anguish were endured for the sake of fallen man, and never can we comprehend the grievous character of the sin of indulging perverted appetite except as we comprehend the spiritual meaning of the long fast of the Son of God. Never can we understand the strength and bondage of appetite until we discern the character of the Saviour's conflict in overcoming Satan, and thus placing man on vantage ground, where through the merit of the blood of Christ, he may be able to resist the powers of darkness, and overcome in his own behalf." Temperance, 275.1
"After this long fast, Christ was in a famishing condition, and in His weakness Satan assailed Him with the fiercest temptations. "The devil said unto him, If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread." Satan represented himself as the messenger of God, claiming that God had seen the willingness of the Saviour to place His feet in the path of self-denial, and that He was not required to suffer further humiliation and pain, but might be released from the terrible conflict that was before Him as the Redeemer of the world. He tried to persuade Him that God designed only to test His fidelity, that now His loyalty was fully manifest, and He was at liberty to use His divine power to relieve His necessities. But Christ discerned the temptation, and declared, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." IBID, 275.2
" When tempted to the unlawful gratification of appetite, you should remember the example of Christ, and stand firm, overcoming as Christ overcame. You should answer, saying, "Thus saith the Lord," and in this way settle the question forever with the prince of darkness. If you parley with temptation, and use your own words, feeling self-sufficient, full of self-importance, you will be overcome. The weapons which Christ used were the words of God, "It is written;" and if you wield the sword of the Spirit, you also may come off victorious through the merit of your Redeemer." IBID, 276.1
"Satan More Successful With Man.--The three leading temptations by which man is beset were endured by the Son of God. He refused to yield to the enemy on the point of appetite, ambition, and the love of the world. But Satan is more successful when assailing the human heart. Through inducing men to yield to his temptations, he can get control of them. And through no class of temptations does he achieve greater success than through those addressed to the appetite. If he can control the appetite, he can control the whole man." Temperance, 276.2
"There are but two powers that control the minds of men-- the power of God and the power of Satan. Christ is man's Creator and Redeemer; Satan is man's enemy and destroyer. He who has given himself to God will build himself up for the glory of God, in body, soul, and spirit. He who has given himself to the control of Satan tears himself down. Many a man sells reason for a glass of liquor, and becomes a menace to his family, his neighborhood, and his country. His children hide when he comes home, and his discouraged wife fears to meet him, for he greets her with cruel blows. He spends his money for strong drink, while his wife and children suffer for the necessities of life." IBID, 276.3
"Satan leads the victims of appetite to deeds of violence. The liquor drinker is a man of fierce and easily excited passions, and any trivial excuse is made a cause for quarrel; and when under the influence of passion, the drunkard will not spare his best friend. How often do we hear of murder and deeds of violence, and find that their chief source is the liquor habit." IBID, 277.1
A second opinion on the subject is to be found here: http://herculescummings.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/the-origin-of-the-snake-in-the-garden-of-eden/
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." 3 John 1:2
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. . . . Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . . Even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Adam's fall in the Garden of Eden caused all to sin; but in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ drank the bitter cup of suffering and death, that whosoever believes in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life. {ST, June 13, 1900 par. 6}
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