The Tree of Knowledge Replanted

PETER

Good morning, Your Honor. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. Today it's time to talk about that big hairy spider.

A ripple of nervous laughter. Somewhere in the second row, Jonathan visibly tenses.

And I apologize to those of you with spider phobias. Actually, the spider I'm speaking of doesn't even have legs. But I'll get to that.

I've told you about moments when my eyes were opened to the prophecies of God. I want you to remember something first: prophecy is the proof God gives of His own existence. No one else can do what He does.

He gestures to the exhibit monitor and reads the verse aloud.

So that's a whole lot. Says He's God and none other. We know that. He tells the whole story from beginning to end and tells us things that have not even yet happened. That's prophecy.

It would take a whole other trial to walk you through how badly psychics and religious predictions fail by comparison. Actually I would really enjoy that. Because the bible stands alone. God's foreknowledge is the one thing that has never once failed the test.

That matters, because what I came to see wasn't only that Jesus' nine words were cloaked in mystery until our day. At least one more. A very specific prophecy — sealed until the end of time itself. If I can show you that it is now unsealed, it goes a long way toward proving everything I've argued in this trial.

And it connects to something we've already discussed. The cloud.

Now — everything I've shown you so far comes down to this: Israel replanted May 14, 1948. The Tree of Knowledge replanted thirty-eight days later. The idea that 1948 was the key to all of it seemed almost too simple.

Then again — I'm a simple man. So here we are. Trying to understand Bible prophecy without three degrees in theology.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

Keep it moving, counselor. Your thesis isn't a complicated one.

Peter nods, unbothered, and lets the interruption become momentum rather than a stumble.

PETER

Yes, Your Honor.

He softens.

Now I want to tell you about something that hit me even harder, a few weeks later. I have a small cabin in Northern Ontario. I was lying outside on a plastic lounge chair — you know the kind where the back snaps out of place half of the time when you lean back on it.

One girl nods and points right at Peter. He got it.

Anyway that night there was a sky full of stars, just a hint of the northern lights on the horizon. I was thinking about the majesty of what God has created.

And into that quiet came a colder thought. Satan doesn't create. He counterfeits. Everything God does, Satan builds a knockoff of. And a mystery I thought I'd solved a decade or more earlier suddenly changed my entire view of the final battle between God and Satan.

It's a passage I had written about. Made TV shows about. Made videos about. Quoted in movies. And that night, lying under those stars, I realized I might be totally wrong.

PETER

I had always said: look at our amazing increase in knowledge. It was obvious in my own life. I mean I know more now than I did when I was five years old.

A beat, almost wistful.

How many of us wish we were five again? Running through sprinklers on a summer day, not a care in the world.

Anyway. My point is, mankind as a whole has gone through the same experience. From the Stone Age to the Iron Age. Now it's faster still. Airplanes. Space travel. The internet. Knowledge increasing. Sure. I thought I had it nailed. It seemed straightforward — the same story running from Fred Flintstone's day to ours.

But that night, staring at the stars, I realized something. Why would a fact this simple — this obvious — need to be shut up and sealed until the end of time?

He lets that question sit, unanswered, for a long moment.

By the late 1800s, people knew invisible microorganisms caused infectious disease. A century before, physicians were still blaming disease on “bad air.” That's true of every generation in human history. Knowledge always increases. That was never the mystery.

He has the full attention of the room now. Even the gallery has gone still, sensing something is about to be unsealed.

PETER

Let me be clear, I am not a Hebrew scholar. My Hebrew begins and ends with shalom and mazel tov — and I'm honestly not sure I'm pronouncing either one correctly. I can't even roll my tongue the right way.

A few jurors laugh quietly. One shakes his head, smiling.

So I did what any first-year seminary student does. I looked it up in Strong's Concordance — the most widely used Hebrew and Greek reference in the history of Bible study.

Most of the jurors now have pens or phones ready, as if they sense notes are about to matter.

There's a phrase buried in that verse. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. It comes down to the word “knowledge.”

Every occurrence in the Old Testament of the word “know” — every single one — traces back to one root.

Okay follow along with me now. It's just a bit of a word journey.

That's the word behind almost a thousand uses across the Old Testament. Knowing a fact. Knowing a person. Knowing God. It's everywhere. A friend of mine is a mechanic. You take your car into his shop. He knows engines. That's step one. He's not a stranger to what's under the hood. That's yada. Just knowing, in general.

PETER

But there's a different and more specific form of that word — a noun, not a verb. Not “to know.” Knowledge itself.

Ninety-three times. Still common. Still the kind of word you'd expect in a book about wisdom or learning. Before you came to my friend's garage, people told you: “That guy has real knowledge of cars.” Now it's not just that he knows things — he possesses something. A body of understanding. That's da'ath. Knowledge as a thing you can point to and say, “he has that.”

PETER

But the original Hebrew doesn't stop there. There's a third form.

Before you ever got to my friend's shop, took it to a few places, but your car had a problem nobody in town could figure out. Finally, one of them said, “There's only one guy who has THE knowledge to fix that.” Not knowledge in general anymore. Not “a knowledgeable mechanic.” THE knowledge. The one exact thing that solves the one exact problem. Nobody else has it. Just him.

Peter walks slowly back to his podium. He looks to the Special Master. Wright returns his gaze with arched eyebrows, saying nothing. He studied at Hebrew University, Peter knows. He already knows what it says.

PETER

You see in the Hebrew it's not one word. It's two words fused into one phrase. Ha is “the.” And da'ath is “knowledge.” Hadda'ath. THE knowledge.

So what? Well what phrase did Daniel use? Remember, Daniel didn't choose this word. It was told to him by an angel.

He didn't use knowledge he used — “THE knowledge”. A phrase that appears exactly seven times in the Old Testament.

Well I thought that should make it easier to track down. And boy was I shocked!

That phrase changed my entire view of Bible prophecy in the last days. It reveals something none of us saw coming. Something long buried. Look at the monitor for the first occurrence.

It's another reason that you're here today. It's why this trial has started where it has. Check this out.

Peter lets the pause stretch, longer than feels comfortable. He moves slowly toward the jury, giving the silence room to work on them.

PETER

We know what happened next. The serpent told Eve that if she took from that tree, her eyes would be opened. That she would be like God. That she would have THE knowledge. She took it. Adam took it. And in one of the most devastating moments in all of Scripture, God Himself confirmed it. Turn to the monitor again.

PETER

This is perhaps the most staggering sentence in all of Scripture — not because of what man did, but because of what God confirmed.

He didn't say the serpent lied. He didn't say you only think you have this knowledge. He said: the man has become like one of Us. The divine plural — Us — is the same voice that spoke in Genesis 1:26: Let Us make man in Our image. Now that same council reconvenes in alarm. And the verdict from the throne room of heaven itself is this: the knowledge is real. The transformation is real. Something has fundamentally changed.

Notice what God does not do. He does not pause to comfort. He does not reassure. He acts — immediately, urgently — because a second crisis looms. If the man now possesses the knowledge of good and evil, and if he were also to reach out and take from the Tree of Life — he would live forever in this state. An immortal being, equipped with divine knowledge, but separated from God. The consequences would be irreversible.

The expulsion from the Garden was not punishment alone. It was emergency containment.

And Satan knew exactly what he had done.

Adam and Eve fell because they reached for THE knowledge. And God had to act. Ultimately it meant He had to send His Son into the world to defeat sin and death.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

We're not going to break into a revival meeting are we?

Peter shakes his head no. Does not take his eyes off the jurors. They look a little shell-shocked. He looks at the gallery — same reaction. He looks toward the Special Master, who won't quite meet his eyes, and seems suddenly very interested in his pencil. Peter walks back to the podium and doesn't speak again for a long moment.

PETER

But here's what I want you to notice. The tree stayed. The Bible never says it was gone. In fact we barely ever hear of it.

The next time hadda'ath appears in Scripture, we've left the garden entirely. Centuries have passed. And God reaches down and gives THE knowledge to a craftsman. Not a king. Not a prophet. A man who works with his hands — to build something for the glory of God.

PETER

That's not a guy fixing your car. The knowledge was never neutral. It was always about who held it, and what they built with it.

He pauses again. The room has gone very quiet.

PETER

The fifth and sixth occurrences — same verse. Hosea 4:6. God speaking directly to His own people.

Peter pauses, then walks slowly back toward his notes, giving the jury a moment to sit with what they've just heard before he moves them forward again.

PETER

Now we come to the seventh and final usage. Two hundred years later we get to the passage in Daniel.

PETER

Now let's just run through some points here.

Peter counts them out on his fingers as he goes.

This was a sealed prophecy.

It literally could not be revealed until the time of the end.

Because the replanted digital tree of knowledge did not exist.

Peter looks intently into the eyes of each juror, gauging their reaction. Stunned, for sure.

PETER

Seven occurrences. One word. One thread. From the garden, to the fall. From the Temple craftsman, to the prophet. From God's own definition of knowing Him, to His people's rejection of it. And then — sealed. Hidden. Until a generation that would finally understand what THE knowledge meant.

He turns to face the jury directly.

We are that very people that both Jesus and Daniel were talking directly to.

You say, “I've never heard this before.” Well I hadn't either that night I saw a whole lot of stars in the skies. Many of us, myself included, thought it was just talking about knowledge in general. And, yes our knowledge is increasing. But let's look at that verse one more time.

But to me this is what absolutely proves the complete accuracy of the Word of God.

PETER

Daniel 12:4 — same word. Same root. Strong's H7235. Not increase like a pay raise. Not increase like a rising tide. Not like everything I've learned since I was five. Multiply — like the stars of heaven. Like the sand on the seashore. That is the word the angel used. THE knowledge shall multiply like the sand on the seashore.

A long silence. Wright doesn't reach for a rebuttal this time.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

I read Strong's the same way you did. I never—

He stops himself. Straightens.

Continue, counselor.

Even the designers of the massive data center in Utah named it Cascade. An explosion of knowledge that cannot be stopped. World Wide Web of Iron. Humming around the clock on megawatts pulled straight off the grid. Processing one hundred thousand trillion calculations per second.

Well that can't be too hard.

He raises the fingers on his right hand and looks towards Robert, the foreman of the jury.

PETER

Robert, please give me a one Mississippi count.

On cue Peter starts counting as fast as he can.

PETER

One. Two.

Yeah I would have to admit my knowledge is not competing with Cascade's speed.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

Are we timing you now, counselor, or is this part of the evidence?

Light laughter from the gallery. Peter grins, conceding the point.

PETER

Fair, Your Honor. I'll spare us both.

A beat, and he's serious again.

Three words really. “The” “Knowledge” and “Rabah”.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

You're asking me to follow a single word through seven verses across two thousand years of Scripture, and land on whatever this is?

A pause. He glances down at the open folder in front of him, then back up at Peter.

That's quite a journey.

Every camera in the room seems to lean in with him. The lens finds Peter's face in close-up.

PETER

It took Daniel by surprise too, Your Honor. He didn't understand a word of it. He just wrote it down. Which, honestly, is how I felt the first hundred times I read this passage.

The angel told Daniel to seal it, because the world it described didn't exist yet. Not for Jeremiah. Not for the Apostles. Not for the Reformers. Not even for me — ten years ago, standing in front of a television camera, doing what I thought was a pretty good job explaining Bible prophecy. I couldn't see it. Because I was looking for knowledge to increase. My knowledge. Your knowledge. Human knowledge.

And I'm not so sure mine is even actually increasing. My kids will confirm that.

A few jurors smile despite themselves.

And that's worth one final thought. Is my knowledge increasing like the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore? Can I run one hundred thousand trillion calculations a second?

A beat.

But something else can. Something coming alive that most of us still think is just a machine. Every search you run. Every message you send. Every purchase. Every location. All of it captured. Compiled. Vacuumed up and organized into something that knows you — not just facts about you.

Peter looks directly at the jury now. Not performing. Just stating a fact.

The spider is a serpent. He knows you by name too.

A long beat. Somewhere in the gallery, a chair shifts.

As surely as Satan knew Adam and Eve by name — Satan knows yours. And he is learning more about you every single day. Every one of us, in this room.

Over a third of the prophecies we will cover in these nine hearings is about this tree. It's a tale of two trees. Israel — God's fig tree. Born May 14, 1948. And the tree of knowledge — the digital mind that grew into the World Wide Web — and I mean, give me a break with that name. Someone sat in a meeting, said “World Wide Web” out loud, and everyone just nodded, as if they knew exactly what they were naming. Born the same year. From the same ground. Both of them growing. One toward the Kingdom. One toward somewhere else.

But there is a substantial gulf between the two.

He lifts his Bible slightly, almost like a shield.

Greater is He who is in those who believe than any serpent.

Special Master Wright leans forward in his seat, almost imperceptibly.

PETER

By weakness and defeat, He won a glorious crown — and trod all His foes beneath His feet by being trodden down.

People always ask me: what about someone in the jungle who's never heard of Christ? I trust God's mercy for that because I know every person on earth gets their chance.

But I think now you're starting to see that you may not be one of those people. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Every camera in the room has zoomed in tight on Peter's face.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

Wrap it up, counselor. I'm going to give you a little more rope to hang yourself on. You're perilously close to the moment the jury is excused and I become the jury.

The doors burst open. Armed agents move fast, in formation, knocking the bailiff flat. Screams from the gallery. Jurors flatten themselves against their seats. The agents don't stop at the rail — they go straight for the bench.

Wright doesn't flinch. He's already reaching for the white noise switch before the first agent reaches him.

The lead agent leans in close, one hand flat on the bench, speaking low and hard. Wright doesn't lean away. He waits him out.

In the jury box, Robert half-rises — like he might do something. The juror beside him grips his arm. Sits him back down.

The agent straightens. Says something final. Something meant to end it.

Wright reaches down. Turns off the white noise.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

I'm not approving of what he is saying. But given the evidence, he has earned the right to say it.

He points to the door. Doesn't raise his voice again. Doesn't need to. The bailiff — back on his feet, jaw tight — moves the agents out. They go.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

I suggest you make it brief, counselor.

The cameras stay dark. The room stays dim. Peter steps back from the podium until he can see both the jury and the gallery at once.

PETER

I'm not afraid of them. Do you honestly believe they're the ones who determine what happens next? They're not.

But that brings the question to you. You've heard plenty of evidence already. We still have eight hearings to go. I have more of my story to tell, and I believe the proof will be conclusive.

But here's the hard, cold truth. No amount of proof I can give you will do it. This was never about what you know in your head. It's about what you believe in your heart — that Jesus died for your sins, rose from the dead, and offers salvation to everyone who simply believes.

Another long moment passes. Nobody in the gallery moves.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we'll end it for the day. I urge you — look up what this counselor has said. Because if I'm following him correctly, it simply cannot be true.

A pause. He looks down at the folder still open in front of him. He does not close it.

I will not be checking in on it further.

He looks out at the room — jurors still tense, the gallery still murmuring.

SPECIAL MASTER WRIGHT

And let me be clear about something, for the record. Whoever sent those men overstepped. By a long shot. This is still my courtroom. I'll be addressing this with their superiors, as the special master of this court.

He straightens his papers. His hands aren't quite steady. He notices. Flattens them on the desk until they are.

Despite all this ruckus, my wife and I are leaving on a pre-scheduled vacation. Hearing Two will resume upon our return.

A beat.

We're going to a film festival.

A beat.

And I am hoping she will share her popcorn.

A ripple of uncertain laughter — grateful for the release, not sure it's earned. Peter doesn't laugh. He's watching Wright's hand, still resting on the folder he never closed.

BAILIFF

All rise.

As the room begins to stand, the doors burst open again. More than a dozen agents. They move past Wright without a glance. They go straight for Peter.

They reach Peter. One takes his arm. Cold metal closes around his wrist.

End of Satan’s 5th Countermove  ·  End of Hearing One