Our Relationship with the Earth
by Tara Chapman
November 2008
There seems to be a prevailing belief among nearly all those who call themselves Christians--not only Catholics and Protestants, but also those in the true Church--that if an individual seeks to live in harmony with the earth, that the person must be worshiping Mother Earth--worshiping the creation rather than the Creator--our Father and His Son in the heavens. Is this true? Are Christians then supposed to not care about Earth and how it is treated? Is it okay to cut down as many trees as we please and to drill for as much petroleum as we want and mine as much coal as we see fit and to grow crops according to whatever method we see as right and do whatever else we want with Earth, no matter what the consequences?
Listen up carefully! Pagans and mother earth worshipers do not know the truth. They do not worship the God of Israel, the Creator God. They do not know the Father nor the Son. They have the sense, however, to see how we are to live in harmony with the earth. They wrongly worship the creation as if the creation IS the creator. It's much like the evolutionary belief that the creation created itself. They worship "the goddess." Let's get one thing straight from the beginning. The earth is NOT a goddess to be worshiped, though it is given female characteristics and a female personification. For example, James 5:13 says, And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. The earth did NOT create itself. God created the earth, and HE is to be worshiped as the Creator. The seventh day (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) was made as a special day to rest (sabbath) and to worship God and REMEMBER that He created everything that there is (Gen. 2:2-3; Ex. 20:8-11). If you are not a baptized child of God and part of God's Church, then please read those two scriptures before continuing. Catholics and Protestants (and Orthodox), please read the two scriptures to see that you are not hallowing the correct day of the week.
Often when a person is living a lifestyle that he (or she) should not be living, rather than confessing that he is wrong and should repent (turn away and do it differently), he seeks excuses and/or points the finger at someone else to make himself look like the righteous one. This is EXACTLY what is happening and what has been happening for quite some many years as scientists keep warning about global warming, habitat destruction, overlogging, pollution, endangered species, etc.
I get a few mainstream Christian newsletters in order to kind of keep up with what's going on. They are so wrong in their theology, and the more time goes on, the more I realize that mainstream Christendom is, in many ways, more evil than the general population. One of the things is that they never cease trying to debunk global warming. They simply do not want to accept it. And even those who are finally accepting the FACT that we're experiencing global warming are now saying, "But, man is not primarily responsible for it."
The carnal hearted person never wants to take responsibility for his wrongdoings. It's just too hard for him to change his ways, or he simply does not wish to do so. Then, there's the finger-pointing and name-calling. Anyone who takes a stand for protecting animals or trees or anything else earth-related gets labeled: tree-hugger, mother earth worshiper, hippie, and who knows what else
Before I go any further, I'd like to add a note here to any Catholic or Protestant who is reading this and has been guilty of defending their careless ways of trashing the earth and serving material possessions and taking up for those who do and may have labeled others mother earth worshipers who are not: You are HYPOCRITES. It's bad enough to [often wrongly] accuse someone of worshiping the earth, but it's really bad when you yourselves are heathen/pagan worshipers. Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Jan. 1 and other Catholic holidays are ALL heathen holidays and have no place in the Kingdom of God. The "immortal soul," ever-burning hell, going to heaven when one dies, and trinity are ALL heathen doctrines and do not accurately describe God and His plan of salvation as taught in the bible. So, the next time you think about mislabeling someone, you may want to EXAMINE yourself and the scriptures and make sure you are in the right.
Everything on this planet, inorganic and organic, comes FROM the earth itself. Everything. The earth IS a mother. It births or brings forth everything. The earth was created BY God. It didn't create itself. BUT, God did make the earth to operate as a mother, pre-programmed to work according to certain laws. AND everything that He has created that the earth brings forth (be it minerals, plants, animals, man, air, water, etc.) is pre-programmed to work according to certain laws. It's like a computer and computer programming, really. WE are computers, with our brain being the central processing unit (cpu) full with memory, processor speed (how fast we can access information--our stored thoughts), hard drive for storage, automatic processes, updates, etc. We need appropriate maintenance, cooling (like fans in computers), cleaning, organizing, etc. We need protection from viruses, parasites (worms), and other "bugs." The computers man has made need the same. God's technology (the application of scientific knowledge) is the most advanced in the universe, and the two God-beings have created everything in the universe. Man makes things, rather than creates. Man must use things that are already created.
Just as our man-made computers will only work efficiently if we take proper care of them and follow the instructions, our OWN bodies will only work efficiently if we take proper care of them and follow the law. The earth works the same way. It is pre-programmed to work perfectly and efficiently, IF we take proper care of it and follow the law given by the Creator. This should be simple enough, right? It should be simple enough for the United States, since nearly every American home has at least one bible. We have the instruction book. We have been endowed with intelligence so that we can observe the animals, plants, and minerals, air, and water around us. AND if we as a nation agree to be under God's authority, then we all have FREEDOM so that we can have plenty of time for creative innovations. But, wait....we gave that up when we said we didn't want God, anymore, didn't we? We don't really have freedom in this nation, anymore, do we? We made a horrible mistake and sinned greatly, didn't we? We should be on our knees praying for mercy and forgiveness! They say the United States is free, but no one is fooling people like me. There's not even such a thing as freedom, unless a person is under God's authority only. When we have a man-made government that does not recognize God's law, then we don't have freedom. Period. We're in big trouble in this nation, and most people don't have the slightest clue as to how it all happened. One thing is for sure--MOST people are not ready to take any of the blame themselves. Imagine that. But, it IS our fault. This is what happens when we turn our back on God as a nation and choose to do things as we see right in our own eyes. WE have done this to ourselves, and we're going to pay for it.
The earth is being destroyed by our sinful practices.
And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. ~Revelation 11:18
God does not want us to destroy the earth. This earth is soooo old. None of us know exactly how old it is. Satan had dominion over the earth at a time before man did, and whatever he was doing was destroying the earth, too. The best theory scientists have offered is that a large meteor, comet, or asteroid hit the earth. This, they say, would have caused massive death (of the dinosaurs, plants, and other animal creatures), great tsunamis that would have crashed and flooded the land masses and caused dust and other particles to fly high up in the air, blocking the sunlight for at least weeks but possibly decades or centuries. This is definitely consistent with the biblical information that we have. When God re-made the earth and created man and a few other things (study the 1st chapter of Genesis, where some things were created, but most were made, because it was made from things already created), the earth was in a wasted condition in vs 2 and covered with water. The first thing God said was "Let there be light," showing that the sunlight was indeed blocked out. God had to fix things. It was a mess!
When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them instructions on how to properly tend to things. He never intended for human beings to trash out and destroy the earth. He just had finished reconstructing things after the fall of the one (often referred to as "Lucifer") who became known as Satan. Is it any different several thousand years later--today? Is it okay now for us to trash the planet, since the "new" has worn off for humans? Since it's been a few thousand years since the creation of Adam and Eve and the reconstruction of the earth, is it now all right to destroy the earth so that we can feed our flesh with the lusts of petroleum-based plastic, fibers, drugs, and food? (Disease and pollution) Feed our flesh with the lust of sex with multiple partners and the same sex? (Disease, infertility, child sacrifice, and birth defects) Feed our flesh with the lust of murder and rape and dangerous drugs? (Death, disease, depression) Feed our flesh with high-scale warfare and with ever-worsening images on screens and ever-worsening audio? I HATE what we've done. We have done abominations in the sight of our Creator. And according to the bible, people will only become more careless and more bloodthirsty, to the point that if Christ did not return, NO FLESH would survive. People would totally annihilate all flesh (Matthew 24:22). ALL flesh. That means humans and animals. Everything would be dead. The planet itself would be dead.
So, what IS the proper relationship we should have with the earth? How does the relationship in which God desires us to have with the earth differ from that which pagan, mother-earth-worshiping people have? How should we treat the earth, and what is the earth's purpose for us while we live out a life in fleshly tabernacles (bodies)?
Man has a body of flesh and a spirit mind. Man doesn't have a spirit body to house the spirit mind, so he's not immortal. The mind is of no use without a living body. A man has to have a spirit mind, a body to house it, and life flowing through the body (breath). I'll use the analogy of a computer again. A computer's cpu cannot operate without the housing and being plugged into a life source. A computer has to have the cpu (mind), a housing (body), and a life source, such as electricity ("breath"). In order to be immortal, a person must not only have an immortal spirit (mind/processing unit), but he must also have an immortal spiritual body to house the mind/processing unit. And of course, he must have the actual POWER--the life source or "breath."
Our Father God has a Spirit mind and a Spirit body, and together they make up HIM. His Son sits on His right hand (His co-pilot. I was a student pilot when I was 17 years old. It was so much fun to fly. I sat in the main seat as the pilot, and my instructor sat at my right hand as co-pilot. That's how it is with aviation. The captain pilot sits on the left, and the co-pilot sits on the right.) It was the Son--the One who talked to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and others, and the One Who became known as Jesus--who spoke the commands in the first chapter of Genesis. The Father's co-pilot is our Creator.
Just as God has a Spirit, man also has a spirit, and every animal has a spirit. There are different spirits--different levels of power and intelligence. God has the most intelligent spirit, and it is an immortal spirit. God gave man a spirit, with intelligence much like God has. Man was made in God's image--both mind and spirit, BUT God put limits on man. He gave man a mortal body and a mortal spirit. Animals have mortal bodies and mortal spirits. Different animals have differing levels of intelligence. But, there is NO other creature on the earth like unto man. Even the smartest animals, such as apes, monkeys, and dolphins do not come close to our intelligence. We were indeed made in God's image. BUT, our bodies will die just as all the other animals.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the spirit of man goeth upward, and whether the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth? ~Ecclesiastes 3:19-21
God DOES indeed take the spirits of man (their cpus, we could say) and keeps them stored for resurrection. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. ~Ecc. 12:7 I can assure you, though, that there are none of mankind in the heavens rejoicing after their deaths. The bible makes it clear that men are mortal and do not go to heaven when they die, nor to an ever-burning fire of torment. See my study on the subject of the false "immortal soul" doctrine on my articles page. What DOES happen is what the bible says: the earthly body returns to the earth, and God takes the spirit to file it. We're much like computers. When the power or switch is "killed" to a computer, it is "dead," until it's powered back up--resurrected to "life." Most people are familiar with the hibernation/sleep mode that computers have. We sleep, too. Death is a more serious sleep-like state, just as computers still have the potential of being resurrected--turned back on, powered-up--we also have the potential of being resurrected....and we all will be, at one time or another.
Man is currently on a quest for immortality--his way, rather than God's way. He wants to be immortal while in a sinful state, which is quite horrendous to me. I understand that they're planning to have computers that are more intelligent than man in just a few years. And with nanotechnology, they plan to link together computer and man. We are living in the last days leading up to Christ's return. There is just no telling for sure how much longer we have. But, I know God will not let it go long enough for man to become immortal in his sinful state.
God doesn't reveal in His Word whether he files any animal spirits for later resurrection. Maybe He does, maybe He doesn't. Like Solomon stated, "Who knows?"
As stated in Ecc. 3:20; 12:7 and Genesis 2:7, God created man's body from the dust of the earth. YES, it is true that the earth is our mother. Everything fleshly is born from the earth. Everything physical is made up of dust. And everything physical returns to the dust. You see, the pagan mother-earth religions have some truth to them. And, I'm going to explain this more in detail, and then I'm going to end it with a question.
The sun is often at the center of worship. This is because without the sun, there would be no physical life. Plants are at the very bottom of the "food chain." They are given life by the LIGHT of the sun. The plants use this light to make their own food. Then, herbivorous animals and man comes along and eats the plants. Carnivorous animals and man eat the herbivorous animals. When anything dies, it returns to the earth, and then that same material goes on to be something else. Everything is made up of energy. The earth continually recycles everything. We die, and then life springs forth from the earth, where dead things decayed. This is the truth part to the reincarnation/immortality belief. The problem is that this only applies to the physical material. When I die, my spirit isn't reincarnated into an animal or other person. God takes my spirit. But who knows what all happens to my flesh.
Christmas and Easter, as they are now called, is the worship of the sun's cycle at the winter solstice and spring equinox. This is the worship of the PHYSICAL things. This is the worship of objects of creation, which were created to keep us physically alive. Christmas and Easter are not days to worship the Creator. We are to worship the Creator on the days He instructed us to, and we are not to worship the creation. Those of us who worship on the seventh day sabbath REMEMBER on that day that our Creator made creation for us and we are to THANK HIM for those things--not worship those things.
So far we know why the sun is worshiped--because it's the LIGHT that gives LIFE (physical life)--and why the belief of immortality/reincarnation is believed.
The moon is also often worshiped. The moon is also very important in the lives of plants, animals, and man. Different phases of the moon has different effects on the germination and growth of plants. I recommend you do some research sometime on "lunar gardening." The moon affects tides. It affects animal behavior. It also affects human behavior. That's how we got the word "lunatic," for example, because during the full moon, it's reported that there is more crazy behavior. My sister is a nurse and has told me that the ER is busier on a full moon. I have read, however, that there doesn't seem to be statistical evidence for all this. BUT, I think it's because of light pollution. There aren't many places inhabited where light pollution doesn't affect people now. There is TOO much artificial light. More births are supposed to occur around a full moon, but with everyone as messed up as they are, this too is hard to determine. The word "month" comes from moon and so does "menstrual." A woman's menstrual cycle should be in tune with the moon. But, this only works properly when a woman is on the right schedule and lives away from light pollution. Menstruation should commence at the new moon, and ovulation should occur around the full moon. Imagine if the whole earth lived according to God's way, and we lived naturally. Marriages could be planned perfectly. Everyone would know when a woman was unclean, when she was fertile, etc. Everybody would be on the same page. There would be no confusion!!! Just as with the sun, the moon is a GIFT from God, created for signs and times (Gen. 1:14-18). When there's a new moon, we should take time to thank God for a new month. Many pagans are more "in tune" with moon cycles, but unfortunately they worship the creation rather than thank the Creator for the creation.
You see, God made the earth as a mother. God made the man as a provider, protector, leader, and instructor. God made the woman as a nourisher and nurturer. In God's law, women are given to men as wives. The woman is considered property. There is nothing wrong with this, if the woman is loved by her husband. In other words, if the man provides and protects his wife and children and leads and instructs them, then what is the big deal? Men can write a woman a bill of divorcement, but the woman can do no such thing. He owns her, not the other way around. This does not mean that a woman must be stuck with an evil man. If he doesn't do his job, then he forfeits his ownership.
Women are incubators for a man's children. Conception takes place inside the womb of the mother. The mother births the children. She then nourishes the children from her very own body after birth (or is designed and supposed to, anyway).
God wanted children. But, he didn't want to automatically beget millions of immortal sons. He didn't want millions of pre-programmed clones. He wanted to give freedom of choice. He chose to use the earth as the physical mother for man. He created a spirit much like his own for man, he formed the body for the man from the dust of the earth, and he breathed the breath of life into the man. Male represents spiritual, while female represents physical.
Notice the similarity between the words "spirit" and "sperm." Both start with "sp" and have an 'r' as 4th letter. Sperm comes from a word meaning "seed." In God's Word, we often see sperm called "seed." I John 3:9 says: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. So, in the bible BOTH sperm and spirit are called "seed." The Greek word for seed is:
sperma (sper'-mah)
4691
seed, offspring
So, the Spirit is seed. Indeed, all throughout, we are told that we are begotten with God's spirit. It's a spiritual conception.
With SPIRIT, no female is needed. God is spiritual. The 5th commandment says honor our father and mother. I've seen people teach over and over that teh first four commandments apply to God and that the last give apply to our neighbor. But, the fifth commandment first and foremost applies to God as our Father. What about our mother? The honor of the mother is for nourishing and nurturing us. That's the role of mothers. And the fathers are supposed to play the more spiritual role. Truly, that's how God made us--the roles for men and women.
King David, with whom I can greatly relate in many ways, understood the same thing I understand. He spent a lot of time observing things around him, especially during all the time he spent shepherding, and a lot of time studying and meditating on God's law, and he realized the earth is our mother. He wrote in Psalm 139:15: My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Not too long ago, that always sounded strange to me. We know David was formed in his mother's womb. He even said so himself in verse 13: For thou has possessed my reins: thou has covered me in my mother's womb. Why does he make the strange comment in verse 15? We know he wasn't literally made down in the earth. God created him. He chose to use earthly materials to create him. And it's all pre-programmed. DNA has instructions for everything ahead of time. God--either the Father or His co-pilot Son--doesn't personally "knit" us together. He doesn't personally know every person on this planet. He set it all in motion, and things can run on their own. God only personally intervenes in what he so chooses at any given time. Most people who have ever lived have not been born with God's Spirit attached to their cpu (brain/mind). At some point in time, when they're called to see God's truth, and when they're baptized, people then receive God's Spirit, and they THEN become a son of God and of course then personally known by their new Father. Up until that time, they're only sons of man (sons of ground/earth) with a mortal spirit. The earth is our "mother," literally. We're all made of EARTH--dust. FLESH, physical. God doesn't need a female to give spiritual birth. He begot Jesus in the very beginning. But, to make something physical, He uses something physical which gives birth.
Isaiah 66:8-9 says: Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth [or "a land"] be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God. I recommend you to search throughout the bible on "brought forth," to see how often God inspired the biblical writers to describe the earth giving birth to plants and such. The earth's graves will bring forth people--some to a physical resurrection and some to a spiritual resurrection. Whereas God's Spirit is comparable to sperm, the earth can be likened to a womb or egg. I think it's sad that so many are fooled into choosing the earthly things rather than the spiritual things--"Mother Earth" over God. But, it's a truth that God gives us the earth for our physical birth and our nourishment--the same things we as mothers do. But, the earth can only nourish our PHYSICAL bodies. Only God can nourish and nurture our SPIRITUAL side.
The earth is also slightly oval. It's stretched at the center (equator), and the poles are slightly flat. Oval comes from the latin word for "egg-shaped"--ovalis, which comes from the Latin ovum, meaning "egg." In a biology textbook, you'd find that the male has sperm and a female has ova (plural for ovum). Every moon (month)--menstrual cycle--an ovum (sometimes two) ripens in a woman's ovaries ("egg keeper" from the Latin word "ovary," literally meaning "a bird's ovary." (It should be recognized that -ary (-aries, like "air") pertains to the air, where the birds have dominion. Remember, an aviary is a place where people keep birds. Aviation pertains to flying.) In female mammals and women the two ovaries inside the body are the "egg keepers." Usually, the two ovaries take turns each month releasing an egg. One more interesting thing of which to take note is that sperm are not visible to man's naked eye, just as spirits are not visible to our naked eyes. A woman's egg, however, is big enough to be visible to our naked eyes (though in normal circumstances, we'd never see the eggs, since they're inside the body.) With the advent of the microscope and telescope, we can now see all sorts of things that were not visible beforehand.
In heathen religions we see a hatred and degradation of women. An example is Buddhism's "yin and yang," where the yin is male--heavenly and warm--and yang is female--earthly and cold. Male is seen as good, and female is seen as evil. Some nations, such as China and India, degrade females and even set out to kill baby girls. As a teen, I worked as a desk clerk for awhile at a Indian/Hindi-owned hotel. They followed the Hinduism religion. Well, I was stunned to discover that one of the women in the family was pregnant with a girl (they used ultrasound sonography) and that the mother-in-law of the woman, upon finding out, pushed her daughter-in-law down a flight of stairs, in hopes of killing the baby. That sounded like a good way to kill the poor woman, too. Thankfully, the woman caught herself. But, this does goes on, and it goes on a lot more in those nations.
Yet, isn't it hypocritical to degrade women, because "female" represents physical and earthly things, all while worshiping the creation in thoughts and action? Isn't it hypocritical to degrade women, who are also made in the image of God, but to serve physical lusts? Isn't child sacrifice a slap in the face to our Creator? Isn't women degradation a slap in the face to our Creator? Isn't keeping heathen holidays a slap in the face to our Creator?
Every false religion in some way worships the creation or material things. Even evolutionists believe that creation created itself and that we're still evolving. Now tell me...just HOW do you suppose humans are to evolve any higher (to God status) in our current SINFUL state? It will NEVER happen. It's a lie. The only evolving changes any of us (human, animal, and plant) are doing are NEGATIVE. The only genetic changes that are taking places are BAD mutations. We're wiping ourselves out, literally. We have so many diseased conditions, and we're losing so many of our plants and animals. We have madness (neurological illness), infertility, cancer, heart disease, crazed animals, diseased and over-invaded crops, spontaneous abortions (miscarriage), and so many more problems, all just as prophesied in Deuteronomy chapter 28. Yet, we have the greatest IDIOTS who are foolish enough to claim we've evolved and are still evolving. GET REAL, ALREADY. Are they serious? Yeah, we're evolving all right. We're evolving toward a DEAD earth, because we've greatly rejected our Creator's law for us. The only way anyone is going to achieve God status is if God Himself inserts his seed inside the person, or in other words if He begets a person with His Spirit. And still after that, the person must develop and mature and not prematurely abort.
Our Creator did make the earth as a mother for us. If our Creator's law of love is followed correctly, the earth is a sustainable place to live. Oh, what JOY it would be to live on this beautiful, life-giving planet if everyone would follow our Creator's law. It would be the best thing we could get on a physical level.
But, you know something? The physical isn't good enough for me. That's why I don't participate in the heathen religions. I don't want to worship the creation--mother earth and anything created on it, nor any created thing in the heavens--because I know that all physical life DIES, and there is NO HOPE without resurrection. We are NOT immortal. I want to be Spiritual. I want to be a child of the Most High God. Can you imagine being a CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD? There is no greater being in the entire universe (however big that must be and growing) than my Spiritual Father. I'm one of his begotten children! I have joy in my heart because of this. I have hope after death. I have faith that I'll be resurrected upon my Lord's return to this earth (my Father's firstborn Son's return--His co-pilot).
I'm a child of God. Jesus himself identified Himself as a son of God AND as a son of man. Do you know what "man" means? The name God gave to the first man was Adam. "Adam" and "man" mean the same thing. They literally mean "ground." Nice, huh? Have you ever noticed the similarity between the words humus and human? Humus is the decomposed organic matter in soil. Humus literally means, "earth, ground, soil." Man is classified taxonomically as Homo sapien. Again, "homo" means ground. We are children of the earth. Children of the ground. The ground is our mother.
As a matter of fact, I believe the words maternal and matter and material are etymologically related. Maternal deals with motherhood. Matter is derived from the Latin materia, meaning "substance from which something is made." And perhaps it's no coincidence that women tend to be more materialistic, while men tend to be more spiritual. Now, notice something else. Paternal deals with fatherhood. Notice its relation with patent. The earliest root known of patent is from circa 1376, meaning "open letter or document from some authority." In 1675, it was used to mean "to obtain right to land," and it was first recorded to mean "copyright an invention" in 1822 (etymonline.com). Remember what I said about a man's ownership of his wife. Remember that God MADE and OWNS the earth. He has a PATENT on this MATTER we call earth.
Do you get what I'm saying? The Father MADE the "mother." The mother is TEMPORARY and PHYSICAL. These physical EARTHLY bodies (read 1 Corinthians chapter 15) are temporary, just as the earth is temporary. The new earth is a spiritual earth.
Honoring our mother (earth) and taking care of it is part of the 5th commandment, just as honoring our mother who birthed us personally. It seems that most, if not all, people totally miss the whole truth of the 5th commandment. I don't know how many times I've heard through my life, by both apostate christians and by Christians in the Church of God, that the first four commandments pertain to God and the last six pertain to man. This just isn't fully accurate. The 5th commandment FIRST pertains to God and the earth. Our human parents are only a TYPE of God and the earth. (And the same thing can be said of other commandments after the 5th, that they also pertain to God).
Let's look at the actual 5th commandment, found in Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16:
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
(Note: That verse could just as easily be translated as "earth" rather than "land." Both earth and land are translated from the same Hebrew word erets throughout the old testament. It might be that the translators didn't use the best word in some cases.) So, it could read: Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the earth which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Do you see the TRUTH? Honor thy Father (God) and thy mother (earth/land). The mother feeds us, and God GAVE us the mother. He created the mother, and he OWNS the mother and gave it to us to nourish us.
But, we won't be living on the land very much longer, if we don't REPENT and honor our Father who created us and honor our mother, which we're TRASHING and KILLING, and so we're killing ourselves. If a mother trashes out her body by eating nothing but crap and taking toxic drugs, then her milk is going to be inferior and perhaps dangerous to the child she nurses. She may not even properly produce milk. Her breasts may dry up. The child will either die or have to drink another mother's milk (or the milk of an animal). Do you ever wonder why we're spending billions of dollars on space travel? Why did we land a robot on Mars to check things out to see whether life could be supported there? Do you think people are looking for another mother, because this earth is being trashed and its "milk" is drying up? Mars wasn't created by God to be sustainable for men. We're adams (mankind)--EARTHLY. We're not Martians!
In heathen creation-worshiping religions, temple prostitution is common. This is mentioned in the bible, but what the bible does not explain is the heathen's reasoning for doing this. True Christians realize that the heathen holidays and other heathen beliefs and practices that were adopted by the Whore/Harlot church (Catholic) and her daughter whores (Protestant) center around worship of creation and sex and fertility. But, do most true Christians realize WHY this is so? Do you most Christians realize why heathen religions have frequently used temple prostitution (even now, though not as rampant as in past times)? They believe that the vagina is a temple for the gods.
The truth is that the vagina is a symbolic temple for what is symbolic of Spirit. Remember that sperm represents spirit. When a man ejaculates his seed/sperm into a woman's vagina, he's "planting" or "sowing" his seed there. It's interesting that vagina is the Latin word meaning "sheath." What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you think of a sheath? Is it a sword? That's the first thing I think of when I hear the word "sheath." If the vagina is a sheath, then what is the sword? The penis is symbolic of a sword. And it transports the sperm (representing spirit). Ephesians 6:17 talks of the "sword of the spirit:"
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The "word of God" here refers to the Spirit, not the sword. It's true that "Spirit" is the object of a preposition, BUT the prepositional phrase is followed by the word "which." If I said, "I have a basket of blueberries, which are high in antioxidants," I have made a grammatically correct sentence. "Basket of blueberries" is my prepositional phrase, and yet the blueberries are what contain the antioxidants--not the basket. If I said, "The bowl of cherries broke," then we're talking about the bowl breaking, rather than the object of the preposition--cherries. But when you have "which" after a prepositional phrase, the "which" defines the object of the preposition. So, the word of God is NOT referring to the sword like so many people think. The word of God is referring to the Spirit.
To further prove this, I'll let Jesus' own words speak:
And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. ~Luke 8:4-15
Jesus told a parable. The word parable comes from the same root as our word comparison. A parable is a short story about something used as a comparison to explain something. But, most people do not understand Jesus' parables, as he said himself. He said that the seed is the word of God. The Greek word used here is not spermas but rather sporos, because he was using a PLANT comparison. But, the point is the same.
So the "penis of the sperm" is symbolic of the "sword of the spirit." The vagina is a sheath ("to cover with a hollow thing") for the sword, or symbolically it is a temple for the spirit.
Now, we can make sense of how Satan twisted the truth into a sickening practice. Furthermore, when a man and woman have sex, people often call it intercourse, but this is very misleading. A coming together or "coitus" occurs, but intercourse doesn't occur, unless the woman GIVES BACK to the man. Intercourse implies an EXCHANGE. When the man plants his seed, he should expect to get something back--the fruit of his labor. Around nine months later, if the woman was fertile and sperm fertilized an egg, the woman should give birth. She bears the child FOR HER HUSBAND and she is to NOURISH the child for him. The best way for a woman to truly finish intercourse with her husband is for him to receive the child at birth. Unfortunately, in the United States and many other Israelite nations, another man stands there at the woman's vagina at the time of birth to receive the child. This is an abomination. No man has any business between the legs of another man's wife and has no business uncovering her nakedness and absolutely no business receiving the woman's gift to her husband--the child or fruit of her womb. To make matters worse, these men take the child off to have deadly poisons injected into the child after birth. Women apparently often become emotionally attached to the person who catches her child at birth, and couples who have hospital births have much higher rates of divorce after birth than those who birth at home. In addition, women have much higher rates of post-partum depression. The male gynecologist-attended vaginal hospital births that dominate US births is a sickening adulterous abomination. It disgusts me that women participate in such a filthy ritual and lets another man mess around with her genitals during pregnancy, birth, and throughout her life all in the name of "health." It's the new age temple prostitution, and it's sick.
People have thrown out and ignored the fact that sex and birth are closely related. It's taboo to even mention such. Well, I guess when Israel (US) predominately uses male gynecologists/obstetricians to receive the newly born child in the father's place, the only way to justify such a horrible wrongdoing is to DENY the facts. In the beginning God intended for Adam to receive his children. Who else was there to catch the baby, except for Eve herself, right? Hmmm....anyway, I leave that for you to ponder.
I was the first one to touch all three children whom I've birthed, before they emerged fully from the birth canal. My firstborn son was caught by my husband--the son's father--with the assistance of a midwife. The subsequent two sons were caught by my husband only, and he feels honored that he rightfully received his children--the fruit of my womb--each of whom he sowed. Right after receiving each child, my husband handed me the child to nurse. This is vital, not only to the child, but it's vital to the life of the mother in order to release oxytocin to make the womb contract and properly separate the placenta and shrink the womb to prevent hemorrhage. In today's hospitals, they give the woman a fake (synthetic) hormone and take the baby to abuse it with poisons and separation from the mother.
After God made Adam and then made Eve from Adam, He told them what they could eat. Just as a human father is supposed to hand his child to his wife so that she can nourish him (or her), God FIRST planted a garden/park (paradise--park and paradise are related words) and THEN put the man in it (Gen. 2:8). He gave the man to the mother so that "she" could nourish him.
Satan has twisted this so much so that people who claim to worship God flip out if someone calls the earth our mother and suggests we treat it with honor and care. And yet, the VERY PEOPLE who go nutty over this DENY God's way of living by their actions by their creation-worshiping holidays, their use of males other than husbands to receive their children at birth, their breaking of God's agricultural laws, withholding sex from their spouses or making sex a boring event, their love of material ("motherly") things, etc.
I want to go back to the Greek word sperma. We are ALL spermas. Sper is spirit. Ma is earth. So, we are all sper mas. We even learned this in biology class, did we not? There's a children's book I read to my five year old son sometimes called Life Before Birth, and it explains how a man's sperm makes the decision of whether a boy or girl is conceived. Some sperma have an x and y chromosomes (boy), and some sperma have two x's (girl). So, if you are a man, you are an xy sper ma (A male spirit-earth). If you are a woman, you are an xx sper ma (a female spirit earth).
Do you ever wonder how Jesus managed to never sin? God had to carefully choose the mother. He wanted to find a woman who was very devoted to God and kept his law. She probably came from two parents who were both the same way. In other words, she had good genetics--physical and spiritual. He also needed to be sure that the man who reared Jesus was Godly--not for genetic purposes but for upbringing purposes. Jesus was not conceived with a sperma. He was conceived with full Spirit. His paternal genetics was full God-Spirit. No ma, or in other words no earth. He received from his maternal genetics the sperma DNA from Mary's mother and her father. Every person receives a set of chromosomes from both his (or her) mother and his father. Since Mary followed all the physical health laws and all the spiritual laws, she had strong genetics. Jesus' paternal genetics were not only PERFECT and SINLESS, but they would have also been DOMINANT over Mary's genes. You surely remember learning about dominant and recessive genes. God's plan was sure to work. Jesus had full God-Spirit DNA from his Father, and he had a quarter sper/spirit DNA from his mother and a quarter ma/earth DNA from his mother. This was enough that he'd be born in an earthly body and would be exposed to all the earthly/fleshly temptations, but it was little enough that he would prevail with full victory. At Jesus' birth, either Joseph--his earthly father--or Mary would have received him.
God did give us spiritual laws, but He also gave us physical laws telling us how to take care of our physical bodies and the earth (the agricultural laws). We are expected to follow these laws. It doesn't mean we worship our bodies or our mother's body (earth). It means that we are following God's law and that we love and honor Him and love and honor the earth and ourselves. We are to love the planet on which we live and to love our own selves. As long as we're physical and live on a physical planet, we will have physical laws to follow.
Another common practice among heathen religions was (and is) child sacrifice. This is Satan's way of twisting the truth once again. God gave His Son as a sacrifice for mankind. BUT, the key here is that it was not forced. Jesus willingly laid down His life. And something else that should be pointed out is that according to the book of Jasher (mentioned in Josh. 10:13 & 2 Sam. 1:8) Isaac was an adult and willingly agreed to be sacrificed by his father Abraham. Jasher records him at the age of 40, if I remember correctly. Whether this is accurate or not, God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. God has NEVER required child sacrifice, and quite the contrary, he HATES it. There is plenty of scripture that bears this out, including Deut. 12:31. But Satan has twisted this, too, and heathen religions sacrifice their children, especially firstborn children. In God's law, though, firstborn children were to be dedicated to God to be used in His service--NOT sacrificed to death. Abortion is the most popular new age child sacrifice.
God is the Creator of sex, birth, earth, etc. These things are good. If we follow HIS law, there is nothing wrong with any of these things, but our hope should be set on spiritual things. But, just as eating spiritual food doesn't nullify God's physical dietary laws, worshiping God and setting our minds on heavenly things does not nullify God's physical agricultural laws. We're not to trash our physical bodies. We're not to trash our physical mother that God gave us.
On the Sabbath (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown), we are supposed to REMEMBER creation. We are supposed to rest as God rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2-3; Exo. 20:8-11). It's a day to worship our Creator and to thank Him for creation. God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. This was on the sixth day. The seventh day started in the evening, and what better time to have sex? Of course, any and every day is good for it (aside from the time of uncleanness each month), but I think a husband and wife ought to have a very special time each sabbath night. Is not that the best way to celebrate the creation of marriage? If every married couple kept the sabbath holy and made that night each week special and romantic in their marriage (I mean go all out), I think divorce would be almost impossible.
During the daylight portion of the Sabbath there should always be time devoted to appreciating the earth He gave to us and thank Him for the many blessings He has bestowed upon us. How BLESSED we are to be loved by God so much to be given the opportunity to become His children, and how blessed we are that He gave us a physical mother to nourish us during our stay in these temporary physical tabernacles. Our physical bodies are temporary, and so is this earth. One day it will be burned into oblivion, and those who chose to worship the physical rather than to worship God will also be burned into oblivion.
Those who claim to worship God and yet deny that He has laws pertaining to the mother earth and the children of the earth are hypocrites in that they are worshiping the material rather than God, all the while claiming to do the opposite. The people are trashing out the earth and saying it doesn't matter are breaking the laws of the very God they claim to worship.
I heard part of a sermon by a minister of one of the churches of God. He denied global warming, and he referred to those who want to preserve the earth as "ecofreaks." He said that the earth is made to "take care of" the pollution and other horrid things we're doing to it.
My most holy God made this earth in a magnificent way, and the children of the earth are also made in a magnificent way. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made." It's truly awesome. YES, God gave the earth and its children ways of processing and cleaning up pollutants. He gives the dew and the rain to clean the air. He gives the plants to absorb the carbon dioxide. He gives the scavengers and decomposers to break down things. He gives us perfectly designed immune systems to protect us from viruses, bacteria, and fungi. He gives us wonderful digestive systems to properly break down foods and absorb what we need and evacuate the wastes. The earth and its children have many wonderful systems and processes. Our human bodies have 12 complete systems that work together. It's AWESOME. BUT.....yes, there's a but:
God also set laws on everything. There are laws pertaining to everything on this planet. He gave mankind law. When any law is broken, it throws a wrench into the machine. It throws everything off. Where any law is transgressed, balance is lost. Our bodies do a magnificent job of preventing and fighting bacteria and viruses. It does a fantastic job of metabolizing toxic metals. It does a wonderful job of sending oxygen to all our cells. It CAN DO many, many things all perfectly, unless a law has been transgressed, either by ourselves or others. If I eat pork morning, noon, and night every day for a month, do you think my body will "take care of" it, and I'll be in super health at the end of the month? If I get a vaccine every day for a month, will I be doing marvelously at the end of the month? If I have sex with a different stranger every day for a month, will I be fairing fabulously at the end of the month? What if I worked hard without a break every day for a whole month? What if I drank some blood every day for a month? What if I started smoking a 20-pack of tobacco cigarettes every day for a month? Would I be doing as well at the end of the month as I had before the month began? What if I started dissecting roadkill every day for a month? What if I ate a mainstream diet every day for a month? What if I started defecating in an uncovered bucket in the corner of my bathroom (and undumped and unburied) every day for a month? What if I replaced all the water I drink every day with soda for a month? Would my body just "take care of" it?????? Would everything be hunky-dory? Would God be pleased? Would I be just as healthy as today (I'm not doing any of the aforementioned suggestions now)?
Soooo....is it okay to wipe out nearly a quarter million trees each day? Is it okay to pump out millions of gallons of petroleum each day? Is it okay to dump chemicals and sewage into our rivers? It is okay to spray toxic chemicals on our crops? Does it not matter that we never let the land rest? Are GM crops harmless? Can the earth "take care of" all the non-biodegradable petroleum-based plastics, fabrics, and other toxic trash we're producing?
Does global warming, acid rain, invasive species, cancer-ridden people and animals, heart-diseased people, queer people, murderous people, infertile animals and people, crazed animals, allergies, and all the other horrid fruit being brought forth not indicate that the earth is NOT "taking care of" all the sins that we're committing????????
The earth and its children are bound by laws, so even though the earth and its children are created magnificently, THEY CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH ABUSE!!!!!!!! There comes a time when they CAN NO LONGER "TAKE CARE OF" IT!!!!!!!
LET'S HONOR OUR FATHER AND OUR MOTHER SO THAT YOUR DAYS MAY BE LONG UPON THE EARTH WHICH OUR CREATOR HAS GIVEN US.
AMEN.