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Family Tree of Life
by
Phil Maxwell February 26, 2002
I’ve been fascinated during the last few years as my dad has scoured the
world assembling our family tree. He’s put together volumes of statistics,
relationships, and photos documenting our earthly bloodline back hundreds of
years. He’s also located, communicated with, and even met a number of distant
and previously unknown relatives through this venture, which seems to be one the
better rewards for him.
As fascinating as all that can be, my interest goes to another family tree, the
family of God. Whereas every angle my dad searches traces back through dead
relatives to an eventual halt, this family tree is much simpler. For one thing,
it contains no dead relatives – all members are still living. Though many are
not presently walking amongst the people of this world, I’m assured of my
eventual gathering with them. In the meantime, my focus goes towards those who
are here in this world, and I’m very determined to get to know all of them
possible and be joined together as the family we are.
Another thing about my family tree is that even though it traces back much
further than my earthly bloodline could ever be traced, it is a very simple
chart. At the top is Yahweh, my Father and God, the Creator of all things. Next
to and under Him is Yahshua, my Lord and Savior, to whom Yahweh has given all
power and authority. The really unique thing about this family tree is that it
has no uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, etc.; Yahweh is the Father of all.
All other members of His family are His children, brethren to one another. This
even includes Yahshua, who is no less my brother even though – by His own
merit and the Father’s appointment – He is also the Head of all His
brethren, as Joseph was to his brethren.
Now, my dad spends a lot of time tracing and verifying who actually branches out
from what bloodlines, thereby proving who is and isn’t truly of the same
family. My task is different in method, but not in effect – the idea in either
case is to identify and verify true relatives. I don’t need to search out
records of dead people to find distant relatives; I just need to identify those
who are truly Yahshua’s brethren and the children of Yahweh.
Many who falsely claim this birthright complicate my task, but they are becoming
increasingly easy to recognize. I’ve also found a number who, though making no
such claims, seem to bear family attributes. Time will bring the true spiritual
affinity of these to light, too, because the rapidly approaching tribulation
coming upon this world will declare which of two spiritual families everyone’s
family tree is headed by, be it Yahweh or the devil.
Until this gray area is dissipated, there’s plenty to do with regard to all
those who claim to be born of the Spirit of God, as many are liars. They
aren’t that hard to distinguish, though. My dad and those he’s met consider
common ancestry enough to receive one another as family, and I see it no
different. My brethren are those born of my Father’s Spirit, just like me, and
we receive each other accordingly. We share and honor the same God and Father
and the same hope of salvation from this life through our Brother and Lord,
Yahshua. All other considerations are secondary, whether acknowledged as such or
not.
I’m searching out my spiritual family tree, the Tree of Life, so all that
matters is whether or not someone is joined to that tree by spiritual heritage.
Either Yahweh is their God and Father, or He is not. Either Yahshua is their
Lord and Savior, or He is not. They are either born of AND being led by His
Spirit, or not. Ah, but how does one prove such things? Evidences include:
1. The children of Yahweh are those who both hear and follow Yahshua’s
voice alone. Yahshua’s voice is the truth, and vice-versa. All those snared
by sin in this world need the truth in order to be free, which means that
truth and their own desires are going to have numerous conflicts on the road
to perfection. Those truly born of the Spirit of Truth, however, will
consistently manifest their spirit by submitting to the Truth, even when it
impugns or otherwise threatens them.
2. Yahshua’s disciples also prove themselves by loving each other as Yahshua
commanded. Show me a man who calls Yahshua Lord who gives freely of themselves
when another has a greater need, and I’ll show you someone who’s name
probably ought to be written on one of the branches of Yahweh’s family tree
of life. They consider their reward as a part of the kingdom of heaven to be
of greater value than anything of this life, and so they seek it and God’s
righteousness first when given a choice.
3. Yahshua’s disciples know their place in the family tree of life, too.
Heeding Yahshua’s warnings, they don’t follow after others as a means of
being connected to the Head of that tree, for their spiritual heritage comes
directly by way of the Father through Christ. There is only one Mediator
between God and man, the man Yahshua the Messiah, and the children of God know
this. They affiliate themselves with others only to the extent that it
doesn’t impose upon their direct accountability to Christ. True brothers
don’t seek to be lords or subjects of one another, though they do seek to
benefit each other whenever and however possible. A brother is a brother
because he is born of the same Father, and no other reason.
It would seem that my approach to outlining this living family tree
effectively eliminates most of those who call Yahshua ‘Lord’, but I’m
still hopefully pursuing the task. Along the way, I resist those who would seek
to gain undue authority over me, as well as those who would relegate their own
responsibilities to Christ to me. I also turn away from those who place a price
on the truth, abandoning it whenever the costs get too high for them. Sadly,
they are unfit for the kingdom.
Mostly, I watch out for those who practice deception and manipulation under the
banner of godly love and righteousness. We’ve been most sternly warned about
these wolves in sheep’s clothing. They carefully measure their sacrifices
while extracting ever-greater sacrifices from their devotees, all the while
seeking to build dominions headed by themselves, not Christ. Upon close
scrutiny, their true spirit is generally manifested whenever true-sacrifices are
called for – such glory seekers seldom give anything without the hope of
gaining something in return. They seek the fleeting glory of others as they
deceive by dispensing cheap flattery, appealing to the unsuspecting with a false
sense of importance and empowerment. Like Nebuchadnezzar, no matter how much
their words give glory to the true God of heaven, their true aim is always
self-promotion, even and especially when they seek to promote the true saints
under
them. They gather like the tares bundled for burning, and that is a fire I’d
just as soon avoid.
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