Heart Tracks - Which Fruit?

 "There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death."  Proverbs 14:12...."When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate."  Genesis 3:6 (Italics are mine)  "Eve was drawn to the good, not the evil side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."  John Bevere...."We are drunk on the spirit of delusion."  James Robison

I have not yet read, but have heard author and preacher John Bevere talk of his newest book, Good Or God?  Now, we have often spoken of how we take or settle for what is good over His best.  But Bevere takes us much deeper than that.  He speaks of how much of what we would define as "good" is not only not good, but finds it home in the heart of hell.  The example of satan with Eve in the garden springs out at us.  Look at the words used to describe the fruit forbidden them by the Father.  It was GOOD to the taste, a DELIGHT to the eyes, and DESIRABLE to the mind and senses.  There did not appear to be anything at all evil about it. Yet when Eve was seduced by the reasoning of the devil, making it her own reasoning, her actions, the pursuit of what seemed to be good, resulted in the fall of man, the entrance of sin and death into the world, and a curse upon humankind that we remain powerless to remove of ourselves.  All because of the choice of what seemed GOOD!

Several years ago I heard the evangelist James Robison say of both the church and the world that we are "drunk on a spirit of delusion and deception."  That truth is seen everywhere both within and outside of the church.  As concerns the world, it may seem obvious, but not so much the church, and the fact that we say not so much gives proof to what Robison spoke.  We need only examine all the rationalizations made by His people in choosing to ignore and disobey His revealed word, and on every level of life; from relationships to stewardship.  We so easily embrace impurity because we're convinced there is much good in that embrace. Some years ago someone in my church came and told me that they and their mate had prayed about a matter and that the Lord had given them permission to disregard something clearly spoken in His Word.  The reason for the disregard seemed good and sensible to them, but in the end, they, like Eve, were eating not from the Tree of Life, but from their perspective.  The good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  I have pastored for more than 30 years now and have seen countless numbers of His people make this same kind of choice in what seems to be good....and the end, one way or another, has always been "death" in some form for them.

Recently I saw an entry in a pastor's forum where a man wrote in effect, "Scripture is important, but it is not the final authority." Now, I know that it's God who is the full authority in all things, but I also know He does not contradict His revealed Word.  If that truth has not been settled in our hearts, then we can easily mistake the voice of the enemy for His voice.  What is good is no longer defined by Him, but by us and the enemy and this opens a floodgate of destruction upon the church. Destruction that we are right now seeing among us.

Bevere asks, "If Eve could be deceived in her perfect environment, how much more can the enemy deceive us in our imperfect, fallen one?"  I saw or heard somewhere that the only defense against deception is to live in the fullness of His Presence.  This means to live and eat only and always of the fruit of the Tree of Life.  Every day, we have the choice of which fruit we will be eating.  Which choice are we being drawn to?  That which comes from the good side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, or that which grows from He who is the Tree of Life?  Which fruit do we hold in our hand right now?  Into which are we ready to bite?

Blessings,
Pastor O