Good VS. Evil: Two Trees Determine Your Future

In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam two possible futures.

Adam could eat of every tree of the garden, including the Tree of Life, or Adam could choose independence from God and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Both trees carried distinctive futures within. God told Adam not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or he would die. That is a pretty bleak future, but Adam didn’t believe God. Adam chose to believe the serpent. He chose his future.

As we look at the world in which we live, it is obvious that most are still eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. How can we know? We know because darkness, death, and corruption are still being harvested in ever-increasing amounts. Independence from God has a bleak future attached to it.

 The knowledge of good and evil can be understood in how we evaluate our lives and circumstances. We either “feel good” or we “feel bad.” Were such feelings a gauge of how we were doing before Adam’s sin? Wouldn’t life in the Garden be a continual state of joy and peace? Feelings have become so important in today’s culture that we are constantly worried about our own and everyone else’s. Laws are being written to protect people’s feelings! This is life from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What about our opinions? We either like something or we don’t like it. Before sin, wouldn’t everything God created be good and worthy of our admiration?

We can be happy or sad. Were these emotions a part of God’s creation, or are they a result of Adam’s choice?

We can be healthy or sick. The sickness option did not exist before sin.

Once you start to see the reality of “good and evil,” you realize that we are often still eating of the wrong tree and filling our futures with the results.

In the world of good and evil, our senses usually rule us. Our emotions need to be fed, soothed, and indulged. Our concept of right and wrong changes from generation to generation. Everything in the world of good and evil is subject to change. As a result, there is no standard of truth to which we look, and as individuals and as a society we are harvesting the corruption of Adam’s sin. Futures are being determined based on feelings, emotions, and ever-changing morality. And then many will wonder, Why did God let this happen to me?

 If we are going to shape our futures according to the goodness of God, then we must choose the Tree of Life. It alone offers the future God wants for His children. What is “life”? How can we know we are eating from that tree?

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).

If Adam and Eve had valued knowing God over knowing good and evil, we would be living in a different world. But let’s make it more personal. If we would value knowing Him over our senses, feelings, likes, dislikes, and emotions, we would harvest the abundant life and future that He desires for us.

There is a difference between truth and facts. I am going to speak of facts that are not based in eternal truth, but rather in the ever-changing, partial knowledge of our culture and society, that is, facts that come from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Even in the world of science, things which were facts 50 years ago are no longer facts today. In my lifetime, eggs for breakfast have been good, not good, healthy, dangerous, okay, suspect, and good again. I’m not sure what the “facts” are as I write this. I could offer many such examples of what science has declared evil and then later declared good. Or what has been a fact and now is a myth.

The same can be said for morality. What was considered a mental disorder a few decades ago is now considered normal, and those who believe that certain behaviors or lifestyles are abnormal are now classified as the ones with the problem.

 A few years ago, I noticed a growth in my ear, so I went to a dermatologist to have it checked. He did a biopsy and determined it was skin cancer. He told me I would need surgery to get it all out, and due to the damage that would occur from surgery, I would then need plastic surgery. These were facts. He could scientifically show me the test results.

Many years ago, my first born was declared dead in the womb. I was shown the medical evidence and the doctor proclaimed, “The fetus is dead.” These were facts supported by medical evidence.

I once had a large kidney stone, and after an MRI I was told that it was too large to pass normally and would have to be removed by a procedure. This was a “fact.”

In each case, the Spirit of God rose up within me and declared, “NO!” There was something in me that was greater than the facts and greater than the knowledge of good and evil. Truth rose up within me, and the truth is that by His stripes I was healed (see Isa. 53:5). Truth is superior to transitory facts. But you must know the truth and it must be a foundation of your life if you are going to be able to let truth shape your future.

I was miraculously healed from skin cancer in my ear with no further medical treatment. My son was born perfectly healthy in spite of the “fact” that he was dead in the womb. The kidney stone passed with no pain two days after the verdict from the doctor. Truth will always be superior to the facts the world has to offer. The future you desire is a product of truth, not the world’s facts. Jesus spoke to this incredible revelation:

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32).

Only God’s truth can make you free. The Tree of Life was a tree of truth, not ever-changing facts and opinions. So many are in bondage today because their source for the future offers no freedom at all.

I encourage you to stop and meditate on this verse and the truths in this article. Your future is contained in two trees. The tree you choose to eat from is what will be in your heart, and as we have seen, out of your heart springs your future.

Truth is the knowledge of God, the Tree of Life. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You” (John 17:3).

We are either living our lives according to the Tree of Life, which is the knowledge of God, or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is the world of our senses, emotions, and “facts.” The knowledge and application of God’s truth is a potential future. It is a future filled with life, peace, joy, and increase. Living in the world of “good and evil” will never unlock the promises of God. It will keep you trapped in the cycle of loss, sickness, and lack.

The foundation on which we have built our lives will determine the potential of the future. So many well-meaning Christians live in the world of good and evil, feelings, emotions, and facts. They even relate to God as Job did. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away” is a perfect example of eating from the wrong tree. Can you see the problem? Job later repented of his ignorance (see Job 42:1-6).

Consider the reaction of Adam and Eve once they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Let’s look at the results that continue to impact all of us on a daily basis.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:7-12).

Let’s go through this passage and look at the various concepts that are revealed. If you are really interested in your future, you should pay attention.

What were they seeing before? They saw the Garden. They saw the trees. They saw the serpent. They saw each other. In what way were their eyes opened? After eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they began to see with natural, carnal eyes that viewed things as either good or evil. Nothing really changed but their perception.

Their new vision or perception of evil created the need for covering their nakedness. They had been naked before (perhaps their bodies shone with the glory of the Lord and now that glory had departed), but now their perception of evil required a “work” to cover it.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God.

Communion between God and man was at the heart of God’s creation. He made man in His image in order to have fellowship on a level that was impossible with angels and animals. The sound of God’s voice should have been the most stimulating, joy-producing, and peace-giving sound ever. But because of their perception of good and evil, Adam and Eve hid themselves. This is mind boggling. God hadn’t changed. But the knowledge of good and evil had changed their perception of God. That confused perception remains to this day and, sadly, is a part of many theologies in the church.

Fear entered the human race, and sadly it began with fear of God Himself. Living according to the knowledge of good and evil will always distort your image of God. All human fears were birthed from the first fear in the Garden. Just as the truth will make us free, the lies of the knowledge of good and evil will make us slaves to fear.

This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. The knowledge of good and evil immediately created the need to deal with guilt. Besides sewing fig leaves, Adam felt the need to blame someone else for his mistake. Deflecting blame for our mistakes and failures is a common trait of living from the wrong tree. And what is incredible is that Adam not only blamed Eve, but he also blamed God. “It was this woman’s fault, and You gave her to me.” Do you see it? Adam’s guilt needed someone to blame, and who better to blame than God! And many are still blaming God today. The clichés I discussed earlier in this book are simply various ways of blaming God. They are symptoms of the knowledge of good and evil.

Once we become aware of our unconscious dependence on “good and evil” for the way we live, it can be shocking. It explains why so many are living in difficult and dramatic situations with little hope for a better future. There is no future of blessing in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

The future that God has in His heart for His children will never be built on the “facts” of the world or the knowledge of good and evil. His future for your life will only come from a foundation of life and truth. Jesus declared that He was the only way, truth, and life.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

He is now the Tree of Life for all who will believe and receive Him. Coming to the Father includes coming into the abundant life and potential that God had purposed for us from before time began.

Until His truth is alive in our hearts, we will continue to indulge our feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, and the ever-changing facts all around us. A Christian may be born again and have the Spirit of God living within, but if that Christian doesn’t live from the Spirit, his future is limited to what the world offers. And the world will always offer the two-edged sword of good and evil. is no life in that tree, only the roller coaster of natural living in a fallen world.

Let Go of the Popcorn

Before moving to Chile where we spent many years as missionaries, we spent ten months in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, to study Spanish. Our lives there were more “rustic” and filled with new things. It was an adventure we will never forget.

One day when returning from a long walk to the market, we entered our home and I immediately saw something moving on the floor. I moved closer and saw that a piece of popcorn was on the floor. I love popcorn. This piece had apparently escaped my last feeding frenzy. However, the popcorn was moving. It was actually spinning in circles. I had never seen spinning popcorn before, so I bent over to get a better look. I saw an incredible scene of five tiny ants, all one behind the other, carrying the popcorn while a sixth ant was standing on top. I could imagine that the ant on top was the leader, and in his tiny ant voice was shouting instructions and encouragement to the ants working below him. “Keep it up guys, you’re doing great!” “We’re making good time!” But what the ants failed to realize is that for all their effort, they were going in circles. Each ant was following the ant in front, and the result was a lot of ant energy spent and no progress toward the goal. I sent the whole group to ant heaven, and then took some time to think about the moral of the story.

How many live their lives going in circles? They are fulfilling the principles of effort, teamwork, and submission to authority, but they are going nowhere. Their future is limited. Someone needs to let go of the popcorn and take a look around.

God’s heart for your future is not an endless cycle of circles. Think of the man lying at the pool of Bethesda in John 5. He had been there for 38 years! Was that the future that God had for him, or was he simply holding on to the popcorn because that was all he knew?

Think of blind Bartimaeus who had been a blind beggar his entire life. Was that all that God had for him? What changed his future?

God who lives within you is a changer of futures! Remember that God had a purpose and grace for you from before time began:

[He] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began (2 Timothy 1:9).

Even when we think we are doing everything right, we may be missing God’s purpose for our lives. When I was growing up it was considered normal and right to go to college after high school. I didn’t have a vision for college, and once there I quickly lost my way due to all of the influences around me. But I was convinced that this was what was expected in order to be successful in life. It was my “popcorn” for the future.

I came to a place of frustration and began to search for a deeper meaning for my life. It was early in my third year of college that I was born again and began to discover a more eternal purpose for my life. My future changed the moment I ate from the Tree of Life (Jesus). I didn’t instantly know then what I know now, but my pursuit of things eternal has unfolded into a life of purpose and blessing.

I am not suggesting that all routine is bad. I am a person who enjoys routine. I am more productive with routine. But my routine has been shaped by letting go of the popcorn of human expectation many times over the years.

Leaving college in my senior year may have seemed foolish, but I knew my future was no longer tied to that “popcorn.” When I enrolled in Bible college, I had very little money. It was not the routine I would have preferred. Getting married while in Bible college when I only had a part-time job was a giant step of faith for my wife. Going to Mexico as hopeful missionaries after having been married only eight months was a major life lesson. Taking my family of five to Guatemala and Chile for twelve and a half years was no normal routine. Was everything perfect and without challenges in each of those seasons? No. But as I look back from my current vantage point, I can see that I was eating from the Tree of Life. I was pursuing God more than I was satisfied with the knowledge of good and evil, logic, human wisdom, and “safety.” The future of that 20-year-old college kid is now my past, but I was allowing God to give me something I would have never received if I hadn’t let go of the popcorn of cultural routine.

Today, by God’s grace, I have influence through Charis Bible College and Andrew Wommack Ministries that goes around the world. My present was only made possible by not settling for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil but rather choosing the Tree of Life.

As we begin to substitute God’s truth for the world’s facts, we are laying a foundation for building our lives. Truth is the unchanging nature of God. Truth is found in the words that come from His mouth. Truth is the person of Jesus. Truth includes the benefits of redemption and all the promises of God. Truth is the only foundation for a future of blessing.

Health flows from the truth that by His stripes you were healed (see 1 Pet. 2:24). True love flows from God’s truth concerning marriage and sexual intimacy. Peace and joy flow from the truth of knowing God. Faith flows from hearing God. Authority over the enemy flows from our new identity in Him.

Everything that men and women want, and may not even know that they want, comes from the Tree of Life. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil has carried us to where we are today, with a world full of mental illness, sickness, poverty, injustice, war, crime, confusion, and heartache. It carries a future of pain, bitterness, and anger. We see it on the news every day.

You can take charge of your future if you are willing to. There is grace for you to cooperate with God’s purpose for your life. You don’t have to be a missionary like I was. You are free to live the dream that God put in your heart from before time began! It is possible that some of you may not have even found the dream yet. The knowledge of good and evil has hidden the Tree of Life. But it is still there in the person of Jesus. You can begin your new future today!