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Talking Trees August 3, 2010 • By Ed Wrather I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1:6-8 NKJV.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? - Galatians 3:1-3 NKJV.
When I was about four years old I watched the Foreman Scotty television show, which was locally produced and viewed primarily in Oklahoma. Here's a link that will give you some more information about Foreman Scotty http://www.foremanscottyskids.com/ One of my favorite things about the show was the talking tree. It looked like a real tree, but it could talk, and because of that I decided that some trees can talk. My sister tried to convince me that it was not true and that trees cannot talk. When she was unsuccessful with her deprogramming effort she told our parents. They too attempted to tell me that trees are unable to talk; however, I refused to believe them, because I had seen a talking tree with my own eyes on the television set. Eventually they gave up trying to tell me the truth about talking trees, and I am not sure when I finally realized that trees really cannot talk; but it took a year or two.
In the spiritual world, there are some talking trees as in; there are some who spew out what they call spiritual truths, which are not true. The apostle Paul was continually encountering deceivers and found that many of the Galatians were believers in talking trees. The deceivers spewed out their lies, as if they were true and the Galatians believed the lies. The deceivers of the Galatians were the Judaizers, who were saying to the Galatians to go ahead and accept Christ, but you have to add this, this, and this to it to be saved.
Paul is saying that the Judaizers were trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ and pull the Galatians away to a Gospel that is entirely different. If a person comes to Jesus for salvation, but at the same time believes it is necessary and plans to be circumcised, plans to keep the Sabbath, the feast days, the rituals as part of their salvation are they saved? Many are trying to do the same thing today. Back then it was the Gospel plus Moses. Now it is “the Gospel” plus any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations. You cannot be saved “unless (Acts 15:1)” …is their message (Acts 15:1: And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”). That "unless" usually includes joining their group and obeying their rules.
Here is the secret talking tree trimmer that many never tell you about, and it is found in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” So, the next time you encounter a talking tree saying that you can only be saved if in addition to believing upon Jesus you have to do this, or that, or some other thing; cut the tree down with Ephesians 2:8-9. I no longer believe in talking trees, and I hope that you will come to know the truth about them too.
 Visitor Comments (2) In Response to Debby's Comment Posted By WRATHER on August 7, 2010 Thank you Debby for taking time to share! I would ask that you consider the Council at Jerusalem of Acts 15. The summation of the Council and instruction to the Gentiles was this in Acts 15:28-29, "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well."
You may keep the feast days and find it meaningful but there is no command for us as Gentile Christians or even as Jewish Christians to do so. re: talking trees devotional Posted By DLMILLION on August 6, 2010 hello. i read your devotional on this subject and i just had to write back to explain what i believe. i am a messianic believer, who very much believes in the Messiah as my only means of salvation. but, i also believe that we are to follow God's commands that are now supposed to be written on our hearts. i also believe that we have to go back to our Hebraic roots to understand what the Bible means in some instances. Our Messiah, Yeshua, (Jesus) said, "I did not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill(or establish)it." And "not one jot or tittle will pass away from the Law until ALL has been fulfilled." "ALL" has not been fulfilled yet, because the heavens and earth are still here. I do not believe that the Law saves us, but, i do believe that we are to walk in His ways. Yeshua himself taught the Law when he spoke to the people in Matthew chapters 5-7. The New Testament had not even been written yet. And Gentiles had never been under the Law of God, so what we were set free from, was the law of sin and death. Not God's Law. I believe we are 'freed' to follow His Law, not the law of this world. Also, no Jewish person or Jesus, would do a paganistic holiday, like Christmas, (read how Christmas started in history), or Easter and the Easter Bunny. These things were adopted into the church to help win over the pagans. So, in essence, the Church was led astray. God does not command us to keep Christmas or Easter, but, He does command certain Feasts. I believe we have 'Americanized' Jesus, to fit our own little mold of what we want Him to be. He was a Jew. He followed Jewish beliefs. Not from the "ORAL" Torah, but, from the "Written" Torah. I do not believe that the Law or commands have anything to do with salvation, but i do believe they have everything to do with "OBEDIENCE". I do not wish to offend anyone, but, I believe that when I prayed for God to open my eyes to HIS truth, and not MAN's truth, He was faithful to do that. And I want to live my life faithful to Him, by not conforming to this world, but by conforming to His ways. I read your devotionals all the time, and I truly believe you are a man of God. But, we have to get back to the First real Church, not divided, or set apart from each other. God did not intend for us to have all these denominations. And you know yourself, that most of them are man-made religions. Ours, is not a Religion, it is a way of life. We live it, walk it, talk it. James said, "show me your faith WITHOUT works and I will show you My faith BY my works." I believe we will be judged by the Torah. Not legalistically, but by what it says. Also, Jesus said, "if you don't believe Moses, you won't believe me." And "as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be". The Old Testament goes right along with the New. The OLD was not done away with, it was improved. The New did not cancel out the Old. God's word is forever. Just because 'people' break the covenants all the time, does not mean that God doesn't keep His covenant with us. Weren't we grafted into the Olive Tree? Shouldn't we change our lives to follow HIS rules and regulations? The Word also says, "sin is the transgresssion of the Law". Without the Law there would be no sin. So, if the Law was done away with, then, so was sin. There is no more sin, if that's the case. And we know that's not so when we look at ourselves and this world. I think there are a lot of crackpots out there, and false prophets and we have to be careful not to take the word of anyone. I say, if they cannot back up what they say with God's word, then, it 'aint true. Paul is hard to understand if you don't know his history or his culture. If you hear Paul from a Hebrew mind set, he is easy to understand, but, scripture has also been twisted and manipulated to be what man wants it to be. If I have not spoken the truth in this, please tell me. But, I was raised in the church, and never understood most of the old testament until I got out of the religious system. I am no longer a spectator sitting in the audience on a pew, but, I am trying to be a 'doer' of the Word. I never knew what I was supposed to do after I got saved, except witness to others. And how was I supposed to live my life? There were a lot of unanswered question for me. I could never be faithful to go to church every Sunday or Wed. I would fall in and out. Now, i look forward to going to Bible study and being a participant, hearing, keeping and doing. I love the Feasts of the Lord. I love Passover for what it was meant to be. It's not just a social gathering anymore. It's a privilege to show respect and awe for my Messiah. I hope that you will look into some of this and see if it's the truth or not. I believe time is short and that God is calling people to return to the REAL Church. HIS Church. I love you in Messiah Yeshua, our Lord, the only son of the Living God and the only way to salvation........Shalom, Debby Where did we come from? How shall we live? What happens after we die? In the Bible, God provides us with helpful clues. We may not know whether or not we are wanted by the police unless we ask; however, we need have no doubt about our being wanted by God. God wants you! Do you really know Jesus? Or, are you just going through the motions?
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