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EARTH IS A BATTLEFIELD[br]with Scott Christiansen
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SCOTT CHRISTIANSEN[br]Author, Planet In Distress
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I'm sitting beside the Sabbath[br]Trail, which is this really cool trail,
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that starts and ends at the Washington[br]Seventh-day Adventist Church,
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in Washington, New Hampshire,
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which is the first[br]Seventh-day Adventist church,
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the oldest Seventh-day Adventist church.
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And this is a trail that[br]winds through the woods
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for about a mile, it's got[br]twenty-two separate stops on it,
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each of which has a part in tracing the[br]Sabbath through the Bible, through the ages.
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If you ever get a chance to[br]visit, I highly recommend it.
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For our purposes, this trail [br]is an ideal spot to continue
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our look at the selfishness paradigm.
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We have to wait to see a pure expression[br]of the loving-kindness paradigm,
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God's paradigm --[br]we won't see that until heaven.
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But today, even though Satan[br]has twisted things around severely,
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God, as master designer of[br]the earth, can still be seen.
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The author Ellen White, in[br]the book Desire of Ages,
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talks about how there's[br]both good and evil in the world,
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and we can see God in nature still.
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Where the only thing that is,[br]or can completely be, evil,
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is the hearts of those humans[br]who decide to be wholly evil.
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And here is what she says[br]on page twenty of her book:
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she says, "Now sin has[br]marred God's perfect work,
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yet that handwriting remains.
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Even now, all created things[br]declare the glory of His excellence.
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There is nothing, save the selfish[br]heart of man, that lives unto itself.
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No bird that cleaves the air, nor[br]animal that moves upon the ground,
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but ministers to some other life.
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There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly[br]blade of grass but has its ministry.
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Every tree and shrub and leaf[br]pours forth that element of life
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without which neither[br]man nor animal could live.
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And man and animal, in turn, minister to[br]the life of the tree and shrub and leaf.
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The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold[br]their beauty in blessing to the world,
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the sun sheds its light to[br]gladden a thousand worlds.
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The ocean, itself the source of[br]all of our springs and fountains,
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receives the streams from[br]every land, but takes to give.
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The mists ascending from its bosom[br]fall in showers to water the earth,
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that it may bring forth and bud."
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So, we can even still see God in His earth.
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And we can see Him, even in the soil,[br]if you'll remember video number one.
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The soil is full of micro-organisms, there[br]are probably literally billions of them
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in a handful.
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And while there is war[br]going on in our soil,
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and war going on at[br]every level all around us,
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so also is there a little cooperation, a[br]little sharing, a little passing of blessings.
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We see a little bit of that[br]paradigm -- God's paradigm.
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We can see bacteria capturing nitrogen from[br]the air to make it available to plants,
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who then provide the bacteria with[br]nutrients, and fungus in the soil,
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the filaments of fungus cycle[br]nutrients and enhance plant life.
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Plants provide food to the[br]fungus; symbiotic relationships.
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So even though the tapestry of[br]creation is tattered and faded,
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we can still catch a glimpse[br]of God's paradigm in it.
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And in catching this glimpse, we can better[br]understand that He wants us to return
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to a much, much better world[br]than the one that we now live in.
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But, for now we're here, in the midst[br]of this war between Christ and Satan,
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this pitched battle, which started in[br]heaven and will soon end, praise the Lord,
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here on Earth.
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And this war has been[br]raging without pause.
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And we're going to look at[br]a couple of the skirmishes
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between these paradigms we've been[br]talking about, as recorded in the Bible.
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We'll start with the temptation of[br]Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden,
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in Genesis 3:3 and 4.
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Satan cleverly offered to Adam[br]and Eve an alternate paradigm,
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disguised though it was.
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To this first couple, who had[br]everything, he offered more.
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He told them that God was a liar.
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And he told them that by disobeying Him,[br]they would receive the amazing thing
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He was keeping from them, and[br]that they would become like gods,
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knowing good and evil.
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Well, they fell for it. And they were[br]ashamed, they were appalled,
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and they were incredibly[br]sorrowful as a result.
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God then pronounced a broad-ranging[br]curse in Genesis 3:14 through 19.
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But within that curse, is[br]something very, very interesting.
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He put enmity between us and Satan.
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I read this to say in part, that God[br]gave us the ability to resist Satan,
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who had just conquered us.
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Our friend in Maine, Arnet Mathers,[br]who has studied this deeply,
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and he concludes that[br]Satan didn't see that coming.
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That our ability to resist him after he[br]conquered us, was a surprise to him.
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That perspective gives us a sense[br]of just how dynamic this war was,
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and is.
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Next, going to the book of Job, we[br]see Satan claiming that Job serves God
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only through selfishness, and[br]asserting that Job follows God
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only because God has[br]blessed him, and protected him.
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Note that Satan is accusing God of employing[br]the selfishness paradigm to get followers.
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Wow!
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God responds by saying that He[br]will remove His protection from Job.
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And eventually, Satan takes[br]everything from Job except his life.
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But even though Job regrets his[br]being born, he does not curse God.
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Satan and his paradigm[br]were defeated, soundly,
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and God restored to Job what he had lost.
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But the Bible's ultimate hand to hand[br]combat between Christ and Satan,
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the ultimate clash of paradigms?
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That's what we're going to look at in[br]the next and last video in this series.
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It's fascinating.
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Join me.