Apples

Some butterflies enjoy fruit. This Viceroy discovered the apple hanging less than 30 minutes after it was first hung in the tree.



Question Mark butterflies also enjoy apple. This one was offered a slice of apple and decided it was supper time.

Many people have been taught that Eve ate an apple in the Garden of Eden. Truth is, we don't know if she ate any apples or not. I assume there were apple trees in the Garden of Eden. Apples are mentioned nine times in the bible, but not actually mentioned as growing in the Garden of Eden.

But what Eve did eat was the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That tree was growing in the middle of the garden. Before God made Eve, God had told Adam not to eat from that tree.

The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was never named.

The crafty serpent asked Eve ... uh ... let's stop a minute. Have you thought about what life must have been like for Even to calmly stand and talk to the serpent? First, it talked to her. About that time I'd be checking myself into a mental hospital. She just calmly carried on a conversation with the serpent.

The Bible tells us that Eve ate of the fruit and also gave some to Adam. Now I used to think of this as Adam not knowing where the fruit came from but I realized after reading this historical account again (Genesis 2 and 3) that the account reads, "She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it". So obviously Adam knew what was going on.

Like his mode of operation, the serpent told a bit of truth, "For when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". He also added in a bit of untruth, "You will not surely die".

Satan is a whiz at taking a bit of truth and mixing it in with a bit of untruth to make the whole thing untrue. He also deceives me the same way he deceived Eve.

After eating of the fruit, Adam and Eve did know good and evil.

Adam and Eve used the same means of defending themselves that we still use today.

Adam's excuse: When God asked Adam, "Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?", Adam responded, "It's not my fault, it's all your/her fault". Oh, you want the Bible's words? "The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it." Translation: YOU gave her to me (it's your fault) and SHE gave it to me (and it's her fault too) (and it's not my fault at all, I'm the victim).

Eve's excuse: When God asked Eve, "What is this you have done?" she responded, "I was deceived, it's not my fault, it's all his fault". Reading the NIV it's worded, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate".

So I have several lessons to remember when I see an apple:
1. It wasn't an apple in the Garden of Eden that Eve and Adam ate.
2. Satan uses truth and mixes it with a lie. Truth + lie = all lie
3. It's never the other person's fault when I make a bad decision. It's my fault.
4. I need to love God so much and have a good relationship with him so that I will never want to disobey God.

Caterpillars; Socialize or Fight? Christians; Fellowship or Fight?

IO Moth caterpillars Automeris io socialize; they tend to stay in a group the first week or two of life. Gold Rim (Polydamas) Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars Battus polydamas behave the same way. Several species of butterflies and moths stay together.

Then there are the Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus and Palamedes Swallowtail Papilio palamedes butterfly caterpillars. Wow! While working at our butterfly farm a couple of years ago, I watched these caterpillars behaving in a very different manner. When more than one caterpillar climbed onto the same leaf, they were not happy to be together. Quite often one caterpillar would force its head underneath the side of another caterpillar, lift sharply, and simply flip the other caterpillar off the leaf onto the ground! After watching this happen dozens of times, I started naturally calling them my 'little bulldozers'. The rascals.



These two species of swallowtail caterpillars remind me of how we, as Christians, often 'work together’. We tend to fight each other rather than fight our true enemy. We become sidetracked and focus on little things that we differ upon rather than focus on Jesus, the big 'thing' we agree upon.



For example:

Christians find themselves gossiping, sometimes excusing their gossip as ‘prayer requests’. “We need to add so-and- so to our prayer list because he/she is blah blah blah.” Instead, we should simply pray for them and, when possible, to help them.

Christians tell other Christians that they vote for the wrong party rather than spending time encouraging each other to pray for wisdom and for our government officials and to vote after praying to God for this wisdom.

Christians criticize fellow Christians … we aren’t as near as faithful about praying for them as we are about sharing ‘prayer requests’ (gossip) and (with the wrong attitude) ‘teaching or instructing’ them.



We should be praying for them and reaching out to help instead! Some things are better not added to prayer lists in detail.

Praying brings a double benefit; first, we’re talking with God AND bringing to our attention the one who needs help. It brings the person we’re paying for to our attention and as a result we often think of ways we can help them.

So how do I recognize these and other ways Christians fight each other instead of our enemies? I’ve heard myself say and do the very things that I would expect from an enemy; rather than from one who is supposed to be standing firmly by the side of a fellow Christian.

We don't do these things intentionally or to cause problems for our brothers and sisters. We do them without realizing the damage we can cause. We don't realize that we are allowing Satan to use us as his tool when we speak against our brothers and sisters. We can pray for them and help them, we can disagree in a positive method; we only need to stop and think before speaking.

I, as a Christian, should spend my energy fighting our true enemy rather than causing problems (unintentionally or intentionally) for others. I should be fighting the ‘powers of this dark world and spiritual forces of evil’instead!

Too many battles and too much persecution are caused by fellow Christians rather than by the enemy, Satan.

Ephesians 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.