Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)
Programme: Anamnesis Prayer Meeting (Week 3_Day 1)
Date: Monday, 22nd November, 2021
Speaker: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.” (Gen. 1:11-13). The botany world was born or created on the third day and this was done under a light that existed before the sunlight.
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:12). There are grasses that do not yield seed. Grasses are in categories, and they are probably uncountable. It is clear from the scripture above that God categorizes the world of botany into three: grass, herbs yielding seed and tree yielding fruits. The grasses are not higher than the herb yielding seed because not all grasses can be consumed or eaten.
Corn is a vegetable that has the full content for its seed when mature. A mature corn comes from an herb. A mature corn is older than a fresh corn. The fresh corn is more of pure vegetable than the matured corn. God kept seeds in fruits so that those seeds can be planted and grown into a tree; so, seedtime and harvest time is in continuum.
Some vegetarians have attached piety to the botany world, claiming that meat is evil. They back up their claim saying that Apostle Paul said we should abstain from meat (1 Tim. 4:3). We ought to receive meat with thanksgiving.
It is not clearly stated in scripture that Adam was a vegetarian or herbivorous (Gen. 2:7-9,16-17). However, we were taught in elementary education that man is omnivorous, that is, he can eat both vegetables and flesh. Carnivorous animals like lions eat flesh only; they are proud and fierce. Omnivorous animals are not so harmful, they do not possess such wrath in their personality. Wrath is a wicked thing. Carnivorous animals are tearers or eaters of flesh and it is not easy to dialogue with them.
Though Adam was responsible for taking care of the garden in Eden and naming the animals, he was not brutal or fierce in relating with them. Adam was botanical or herbivorous in nature because of the power or high life of the living soul he had. The fact that Adam was herbivorous in nature does not mean that he could not eat meat. So Adam did not abstain from meat by sheer religion or will, God conditioned him to live by the (fruits of the) tree. God gave Adam the commandment on which tree to eat and which one not to eat.
Adam did not begin with eating grasses, he was eating of the trees created in Genesis 1 on the third day of creation. This means that he was not really herbivorous in nature; he could survive on fruits alone. Adam was surviving more than any herbivorous animal by eating fruits alone. No other herbivorous animal can survive by eating fruits alone, they are eaters of vegetables with seed and grasses. So Adam was a fruit man and he was in a higher state of aligning with botany alone. A fruit man is a type of a clean man.
Adam’s body was not a fallen body like our bodies today. So Adam’s body could survive by fruits alone. The body of herbivores can naturally survive without meat. Though Adam was more than animals that are strictly herbivores, he could survive by fruits alone in the garden. Right now, no one on earth can survive by eating fruits alone. This is because the body today is not conditioned to survive on fruits alone.
The things in a seed are not in a fruit. There’s a lot of fiber in corns. The protein composition in corn is different from that contained in fruits. Also, there is a different composition of protein that is contained in the body of an animal. It is the same way calories (or carbohydrates) exist in different forms in different foods. Thus, we see God put things together. Animals that feed on fruits and herbs are purer than others. God called some animals clean and some others unclean (Gen. 7:2). God gave preference to the clean animals; and they are more in number.
Clean animals are those that carry a lower level of curse in comparison to the rest. "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” (Gen. 3:14). The use of the phrase “…cursed above all…” here tells us that cattle have some curse on it. The arrangement of animals in an increasing order of their curse-load goes thus: clean animals, cattle, beast, then the serpent. The serpent is more cursed than every beast of the field. The serpent has a different nature; it can eat grass, meat, and fruits. In terms of consumption, it behaves like a man. Serpents are omnivorous, and they are deadly.
From the holy chart of creation in Genesis, we can see that some animals were in a better state than the rest. After the fall, animals became unclean but some were still clean despite the curse. God knew the curse would come and made provisions for those animals. There is hardly any herbivorous animal that would see a man from afar and attack him or begin to plot how to eat the man. This is because man is not meat for him.
On the other hand, carnivorous animals would go after anything that is flesh. This tells us the bodies of all carnivorous animals cannot survive without flesh. The botanical world was not reserved for them. Carnivorous animals cannot feed on the botanical world and live. However, birds like hen or dove can live on seed corn or grains. These birds are clean birds. God gave instructions in the book of Leviticus concerning the kind of birds that can be eaten and those that should not (Lev. 11:13). The birds that God commanded the children of Israel not to eat were carnivorous.
Adam was surviving by fruits in the garden. He had the capacity to survive by eating fruits until sin came. When Adam sinned, he fell into another state that could not survive by fruits only. Apart from the fact that there was no curse without sin, God placed powers on man’s body when He created him. Man’s body was so high that it could rejuvenate itself and fruit was enough as it was just an additive to keep him going. Our Lord Jesus could have been living strictly on fruits as well.
Through Adam’s fall, our souls fell and should be made clean. We will lose our carnal ability when we are cleansed. However, it will take the seven Spirits of the Lord to change our soul’s nature or to cleanse us (Isa. 11:1-3). Neglecting the inward man and focusing on meeting people’s needs alone is flesh; and that was what Israel asked for. God gave Israel manna for forty years. It means that they were herbivores, but they wanted and requested for flesh, so God sent them quails.
“But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.” (Isa. 11:4-7). The lambs are the weak of the earth, while the wolves are the wicked ones whose program God would slay and reprove the equity of the earth. Before the lion can eat straw like the ox, it would have been made clean. This clean state is an herbivorous state. God wants to return the soul of mankind to the fields where it will marry the botanical world. God will take us from grass to herbs, and then to trees.
The soul of man went into a carnivorous state as a result of the fall. However, all will be converted back to God's original state or design in the last days. Adam reflected this original nature. Abstaining from meat by pious arrangement is a voluntary humility that does not translate to anything before God. The inner nature of a man cannot be changed by an outward means.
God wants a conversion from “moving things” to “staying things”. Moving things signify instability or lack of foundation and that’s what Satan provides. God’s food allocation are things that have roots and hold the ground, they have foundation. Scriptures often refer to the people of God as the sheep and flock of God. No other animal can flock like a sheep. All herbivorous animals flock, including the vicious ones. For example, as strong as buffaloes are, they flock. This shows that they have humility. A leopard on the other hand flocks alone, it is very selfish. As large as elephants are, they also flock. An elephant is lost when it is alone. Anything that eats straw flocks. Straw promotes unity and community. Elephants eat fruits, grasses, seeds and can live as long as two hundred (200) years. Their body is conditioned to live by what they eat.
God wants our souls. So when we come to God, He calls us as a flock and changes our diet. This was what He wanted to do to the children of Israel but it was difficult. God gathered them together and was feeding them. Thus, the law of flocking is written with botanical food. There's something about grasses, it restores the soul. Fruits also have something they do to us. All botanical food has something it ministers to the soul.
There is the pasture of Christ, the pasture of the Father (or everlasting life), then the pasture of the Godhead (or Eternal Life). Eternal life is God's grain and His tree. There is something grains does to the soul as it ministers to the body. From the mechanism of nutrition in the outward man, we can understand the importance of spiritual meal. The things that are seen explains the things that are not seen.
When God wants to clean a man, He changes his diet. When God brings the diet of the fields (i.e., greens, vegetables, and trees), He is calling the people into reconciliation. He is gathering them together to dwell as one. People can only dwell together by the change in their diet.
In Eternal Life, there is the season of feeding on grain. When the Israelites first entered into the Land of Promise, they ate the first corn of the land. This first corn was an old corn. It was more than a vegetable, it was a full corn. God made them eat a full corn diet; it was like a manna. In that same year, they ate the fruit of the land (Josh. 5:11-12).
Months determine the seasons and the celebrations in Israel. The celebration in the seventh month begins with the blowing of the trumpet, which is a call for the fruits of the land. There are celebrations in the first and seventh month: one calls for seed, and the other calls for fruit. The season of seed moves until the season of fruit comes. The feasts of the Lord are centered around crops and not animals. God celebrates things that grow from the earth. Man is likened to things that grow from the earth. On two occasions in the bible, Jesus used corn and seeds of trees to illustrate the Kingdom of God (Luke 6:1-16). God is particular about these two things because these are the only meals that call for the gathering of flock.
The Israelites angered God when they asked for flesh (Num. 11:4-6); they did not understand the intent of God. They offended the program of salvation. They did not understand that their bodies were quickened when they lived on corn alone. The wilderness was higher than the promised land in terms of God's commitment to that season. The promised land is higher in terms of ordinance. This was so because the people were carnal. If Israel had obeyed the laws of God excellently, they would have experienced much more. So they lived below the promise. Flesh caused the Israelites trouble, it introduced fat. Moses wrote to them that they would eat fat and forget the laws of God (Deut. 31:20).
The hidden manna is the corn of the promised land. We have to be herbivores in nature to properly participate in that land; our carnality must be drained. A divine man is a man that is high in cleanness; he is a high clean man. Iniquity is another meal which we must hate. A divine man is one that will reject everything iniquity would supply. The woman in the book of Revelation was supplying food sacrificed to idols to an everlasting Church; that was iniquity (Rev. 2:14,20).
God feeds a man with hidden manna so that the projection or thoughts of Eternal Life can be born in him, just like in the natural where we are unable to think and comprehend well if we don't eat good food. We feed on the hidden manna so we can comprehend Eternal Life and eventually have it. We need the utterance of the world to come to understand Eternal Life; this utterance is in the meal. The purpose of the hidden manna is to project the hope of Eternal Life such that it will become real to us.
Grains and fruits have their compositions. God did not allow Adam and Eve to eat of the Tree of Life because they had eaten of another tree (Gen. 3:22). If they had eaten of the Tree of Life, they would have lived forever, with a different life operating in them.
The bedrock of Immortality is in the golden pot; the golden pot which is a belly. The manna is in the golden pot which is the belly of Jesus. It is the belly of salvation that keeps the hidden manna. The hidden manna deposits the secret life of immortality (in its raw form) deep down in the soul.
Trees are high, while seeds are low. Seeds are meals of a lower height in Eternal Life, compared to a meal of high stature (the meat of a tree). Israel was promoted from eating the fruit of the ground to a higher meal (corn), and was later introduced to a much higher meal (fruits) than what they ate the first month.
The nutrients in fruits are different from the composition of the ones which are in seeds. The content of life stored in a fruit came from a tree. The fruits serve as food. So a tree gives food by bearing fruits. As seen in the scripture, Jesus had need of food and wanted to eat from the fig tree. He cursed the fig tree because He found no fruits on it but leaves.
If there is a tree, manna or corn, then there has to be rain. Rain gives meals. Rain is a teacher. There is no fruit meal, without its rain. If the eternal waters are not falling, there would be no fruits for us to eat. It is not any kind of soul that can eat Eternal Life, it must be a soul that has overcome (Rev. 2:7). Eternal Life cannot be given to just anyone. Eternal Life was not given to us at New Birth, neither is it given in heaven. Eternal Life is a ministry. New Testament ministry stretches from Christ to Eternal ministry. Eternal ministration takes place on the throne and it administers Eternal Life or strength.
It is not any kind of vessel that can eat Eternal Life, it must be a vessel meant for it. If a man has not arrived at the stature of this vessel, he cannot partake of Eternal Life. What would prepare the soul to partake of Eternal Life is mercy. After the love of God, there is a mercy unto Eternal Life that would make us reach Eternal Life (Jude 1:21). It is a mercy that enables a man to be caught up to God and His throne (Rev. 12:5). To be caught up is to be raptured in the soul. We cannot partake of Eternal Life except we are caught up, and we cannot be caught up except we are first made everlasting. A man who has only attained Christ cannot be caught up. It is only an everlasting man who will not refuse the mercy or power that catches up when it comes. Such a man will allow the power to operate.
“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” (Rev. 3:8). This open door is for to be caught up. This Church had done all the work (of Christ and the Father) and a door was opened before them. This open door is a gate. So the purpose of the key of David is to enable one to be seized by force; it is the key to being caught up to God. We ought to be caught up from everlasting life to Eternal Life.