The Tree of Life

Kristine Ferriman

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” -Genesis 2:9

In the Garden of Eden it is said there were two very important trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit of the tree of good and evil is a representative of the impulsive or reflexive submission to God’s law vs the endowment of moral autonomy (Genesis 3:22). It is the ability to choose and discern good from evil autonomously. By contrast, the the tree of life represents God’s love through Christ.

The Fruit of That Tree

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding… She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.” -Proverbs 1:13, 18

Food, Plant, Fruit, Ingredient, Storage basket, Natural foods, Tableware, Basket, Staple food, CuisineEating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil allows us our free will. It gives us the ability to choose for ourselves. The fruit of the tree of life represents the steps we take in accepting God’s love and the atonement. Things like baptism, receiving the Holy Spirit, being endowment, etc.

Lehi’s desire was to share the fruit of the tree of life (1 Nephi 2:50-53 RAV, 8:11-12 OPV). This expresses Lehi’s desire to share the knowledge of God’s love and saving Grace through Christ’s atonement. In this we eat of the tree with God’s blessing. And, with that Grace we are moved to partake in God’s saving ordinances (Jacob 3:8 RAV, 4:7 OPV, James 2:17-18).

Can We Eat of the Fruit Now?

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” -Proverbs 11:30

Food, Plant, Fruit, Staple food, Natural foods, Tree, Produce, Superfood, Apple, Tints and shadesMy answer to this question, “can we eat the fruit now,” is an unequivocal yes! The fruit is available to us today and through the atonement. By eating of the fruit of the Spirit we, in the flesh, eat of the fruit in the saving ordinances. In our continued faith we can partake of the fruit of that tree. And, no matter where we each are in our journey and faith, the fruit is always available to each of us who have a desire to partake.

Without eating from the tree of knowledge we can never partake of the tree of life. When God gives us the fruit of these trees we should partake in righteousness. By doing so we may receive all the Father has through the Son, which is to say we become who we’ve always been; who we truly are.

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations… Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” -Revelation 22:2, 14

You are Worthy of God’s Love

David Ferriman

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” -1 John 4:16b

Humanity seems to be searching for something. In general, people feel lost. As we accumulate more material wealth, it seems that the hole we are trying to fill just gets bigger. How do we fill this hole in our lives? These feelings of loss, of emptiness, of loneliness; they come from the depth of our souls.

Mormon Kabbalah teaches us that we are not merely physical beings, we were first spirits. We were born in the flesh, and then corrupted by it. There is no material gain we can achieve that will fill the void in our spirits. Only Jesus Christ can do this.

Three Great Lies

The greatest failing of evil is that it is based on fear rather than on the Gospel. This is why the spiritual hole gets bigger as humanity puts material gain over spiritual gains. There are three lies we must defeat, and we can do this through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

1. We are not worthy.

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” –the mortal Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:26)

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” –the mortal Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:48)

“Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” –the resurrected Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 5:92 RAV, 12:48 OPV)

Human body, Gesture, Happy, Finger, Petal, Close-up, Heart, Carmine, Symmetry, MagentaWe are taught that there are limits to what we can and cannot do. This life, we have been told, is too hard. Yet with God, all things are possible! When we are taught that we shouldn’t expect to see angels, we won’t – we don’t have the faith.

We cannot say we are a religion of miracles then teach that we shouldn’t to expect the miracle. This makes no sense. We should be telling each other every week that we CAN do it. We CAN see angels, we ARE good enough to be Christ’s.

2. It’s us vs them in a depraved and evil world.

And let everyone esteem their brother and sister as themselves and practice virtue and holiness before me. And again I say unto you: Let everyone esteem their brother as and sister as themselves.” –Jesus Christ (Doctrines of the Saints 24:31-32)

“But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” – Paul (Romans 14: 10)

“For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” –John (1 John 3:11)

Font, Wood, Pebble, Rock, Carmine, Metal, Number, Natural foods, Fashion accessory, CircleSatan would have us believe that Earth life is brother against brother, sister against sister. If we fight our human family we won’t fight evil. There is no “them” that’s out to get us unless we go out and create enemies. We should love all of our neighbors, whether they be atheists, Muslims, or even other Christians. Those that do attack us, we turn the other cheek.

Those that are against us have been taught the same lie – us vs. them. Don’t feed the lie, defeat it with love; love of self, and love for all others. Not only are you worthy, you are not alone – they too are worthy. We all need Christ’s grace to grow. Know that God is with you, and he has created a place for you to belong, and if you haven’t figured out where that is, it’s likely right here with us.

3. Satan/evil isn’t real or doesn’t exist.

Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.” – The Lord Speaking to Joseph Smith Jr. (Avahr 14:22)

Footwear, Leg, Flash photography, Wood, Road surface, Sunlight, Grey, Asphalt, Grass, FloorSatan is fine with people believing in God. History has shown that humans will kill each other over our various gods. But Satan doesn’t want people to know he is real. He will tell us that he doesn’t exist, that he is an abstract idea.

These lies are told to take away our hope. It creates a false idea that God holds us back, when in truth God is always leading us forward. We just cannot always see the bigger picture. We are His children and He loves us. Men and women are that they might have joy (2 Nephi 1:115 OPV, 2:25 RAV).

The Greatest Truth

You are not alone. You are a Child of God; male and female, made in the image of our Heavenly Parents. Do not lose hope, have faith and fill your doubts and fears with the Spirit of God. God has a plan for you. The fact that you found this message and are reading it shows that He guided you to a place where you could learn of Him and be reminded of His divine love for you. You are worthy of God’s love. Never forget.