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Silently He hovered over a formless empty world, as a painter would stand before a blank piece of canvas. He focused all wisdom and creativity, opened His mouth and birthed an explosion of matter and energy.
Let there be light, echoed throughout the universe, bathing all it touched in brilliant color. God poured Himself out. When finished, He looked over His labor of love. With joy He signed his name and decreed, all that I have made is very good!
God looked within, reflected upon His own character, and created man in His own image (Gen 1:27). Bending down on hands and knees, He picked up handfuls of dust and meticulously formed a head, arms and legs. With foreknowledge of the joy and suffering this act would bring, God pressed His lips against mans and breathed into its lungs the Spirit of Life.
The first thing Adam knew were the eternal eyes of his Maker. His Provider who would nourish him spiritually and physically. Creating a garden with trees bearing lush fruit, God said, I give you every seedbearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food (Gen. 1:29). The breath of the living God sustained in Adam by living food. A glorious world, unmarred with sickness, disease and death.
Satan watched in horror as the black universe was lit up with the brightness of Gods perfection. In spite of the dark pride in his heart, he bowed his head, humbled by the display of his Enemys raw power. Suns and planets bursting into brilliant light all around him. Light devouring the darkness.
Envy consumed him. Satan wants to be God. Everything he does springs from that desire. He hated the beauty and the majesty of what God had made, especially man and woman, for they were created in the image of his Enemy.
And so began the ancient drama. Adam and Eve making the fatal mistake of eating from the hand of their enemy. Satan became mans new Master and Provider. A mastership that could not be broken except by the death of the Painters Son.
Today Satan has an agenda for mankind's absolute domination. One look at this world and it would appear that he has achieved his goal. Our hospitals are filled with people in pain and suffering. Billions of dollars are spent in search for answers to rampant health problems plaguing the planet. Yet disease marches on at an alarming rate. Food is spiked with poisonous preservatives and additives. Farmers forced to be competitive under worldeconomic pressures, load the soil with chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. God appointed man to be steward of creation. Man has bitterly failed.
God created food to be a blessing not a curse; to heal not to destroy; to bring health not sickness.
Remnants of Eden can be still be found buried within the earth. The humble carrot displays the character of God. Betacarotene, vitamin C, folic acid, calcium, phosphorous, potassium, enzymes, and a wealth of trace minerals. All insuring a body vibrant with life. The nutritiousness of food was no accident, but by grand design. A design that has been marred by death.
The New Eden
Welcome to the Valley of the Shadow of Death. There was a time when this valley was lush with green. The warm summer breezes saturated with the fragrance of flowers that blanketed the hills. Vivid purples, blues and yellowsa sea of delicate color lit up by a noonday sun. A babbling clear stream where animals would come and drink. A garden paradiseEden.
This beauty has been traded for monoliths of human achievement. Lifeless rock. Babylon. And our path must enter into her belly. Remnants of Eden can still be found forcing its way though the cracks in the pavement. Those small bits of green will remind us as we walk this dismal path. Remind us of hope. Of a day to come. But for now, we shall travel though sickness, disease, mucus, cancer, toxins, pollution, addiction, moral decay, media, mental illness, transfatty acids, sexual perversion, greed and technology. A bleak desolate land.
How can we live in such a place and be untouched? He shall guide our path to the answer. We have not been left alone. We have been equipped with instruments of protection and power. Even though we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, we shall fear no evil. For He is with us. A table of provision has been prepared for us in the presence of our Enemy. Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. And one day when He comes, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
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