An Actual Tree of Life?—Of Course! (The Genesis Series, Part 13)

A single eye fixed on Jesus Christ is going to be essential to successfully navigate the very last days of this world as we know it.  When Jesus returns for His church—an event commonly known as the Rapture where the BORN AGAIN meet Jesus Christ in the clouds—the world’s condition will be very dire, and the children of God will be right in the middle of it. The global uncertainty, violence, wickedness, and chaos will overflow the cup.  A single eye is essential.  Matthew 6:22-24:

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Dear visitor, have you yet to be BORN AGAIN? Are you prepared to meet your God?  In just a moment, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will be BORN AGAIN—born a very real second time, this time of the Spirit of God—and it will happen in mere moments. Jesus makes this crucial statement in John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.   

Today, all of the sins you have ever committed will be washed away by Christ’s cleansing blood.  You will be pristine clean.  Today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, the bigger the better.   You will be free.  Your eternal soul is in your very own hand, even its eternal disposition.  This is the choice upon which your entire future hinges.  Ready to make your choice? Here is the prompt I promised:  Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:8-9:

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:22-24:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

GOD SAID, Romans 11:15-18:

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

MAN SAID: You can’t possibly expect me to believe in a Biblical fairytale—crazy things like creation, Paradise, Adam and Eve, or a “Tree of Life!”  It’s ridiculous! I have evolved into a masterpiece of wisdom!  From what, you ask?! Well, get this: My first cousin was a mushroom!  And my father, a monkey!  Cool, right?

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1233 that will once again certify the pure and incontrovertible veracity of God’s beautiful Book, the majority-text Holy Bible.  All of these faith-building features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and to be used as a platform from which to convince the gainsayer.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.

Thank you for visiting.  May God’s face shine upon you with Light and Truth. 

The marvels of God’s beautiful Book are beyond commentary.  In His Holy Bible, we find the mind of God, displayed in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and it is, by necessity, an ever-expanding revelation.  When one approaches with clean hands, a pure heart, and with an ear bowed down—fully down to the ground—the Book is open.  I have learned to say, “I don’t know everything about anything,”  but instead “I am knowing it.” 

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 13.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

Genesis 2:8-9:

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:22-24:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Bible detractors are looking for “God-inspired truths” in the book of Genesis, how about the amazing Tree of Life?

From the GodSaidManSaid feature, “God’s Imprimatur and the Olive Tree:”

Could there be any truth to the phenomenal story that there was actually a tree of life that, if you ate of it, you would live forever?  Can we find a remnant of that tree?  Does the Bible give valuable pointers to which tree it was?  Man has been enamored with such an idea since the beginning of time.  It is the quest for our original immortal roots. 

It is interesting to note that God did not remove the Tree of Life from the earth after man had sinned, but instead set Cherubims to protect it from man.  After Adam and Eve had cast off the Word of God, they were cast out of Paradise.  It was at that point that they, their offspring, and all the elements of earth became subject to the law of sin and death, known in science as the second law of thermodynamics.  This law means that all things go from order to disorder—from life to death.  This curse affects everything.

The massive changes caused by the curse of sin and death affected all of creation and would also have affected the Tree of Life. 

In this feature, we will not prove emphatically which tree was once the Tree of Life, but rather, we will provide the spiritual and physical rationale that strongly supports the idea of such a marvelous record in the Word of God—a record much maligned by carnal skeptics and ridiculed as a fairy tale. 

While searching for this miraculous tree we find in scriptures, in history, and in science, one tree stands as a giant above all others, even while enduring the life-ending curse of sin.  This proverbial tree is the olive tree. 

In the Holy Word of God, there is no tree like the olive.  After the great flood, Noah knew that the waters were drying up from the earth when the dove he released returned to the ark with an olive leaf in its mouth.  The olive leaf or branch today is the symbol of hope.  Ancient law forbids the destruction of any olive tree, even if it belongs to an enemy.  The olive tree and its oil are endorsed hundreds of times in the Word of God.   It was olive oil that fueled the holy flame that burned continually before the veil of God’s most holy place (Exodus 27:20).  Once a year, on the day of Atonement, the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies, beyond the veil.  The two doors at the entrance were made of the wood of the olive tree (I Kings 6:32).  Above the ark of the covenant, which was the spiritual center of the tabernacle of God, were the wings of two Cherubims, also made of the olive tree (I Kings 6:23-28).  Thus, the verse in Psalm 57:1 and many others:

Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

Hosea 14:6 reads:

His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.

Zechariah 4:11-14 reads:

11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

The sweet psalmist of Israel wrote in Psalm 52:8:

But I am ever like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.

In James 5:14, the elders in the house of God are directed to anoint the sick with oil and pray the prayer of faith.

Even salvation itself and entrance into the body of Christ are compared to the olive tree in Romans 11:16-18:

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

There is no tree in the scriptures like the glorious olive. 

Medical science continues to uncover the tremendous marvels of this God-endorsed tree.  The following excerpts are from an article published in Energy Times titled, “Olive Leaf Extract: Nature’s Antibiotic: 

The source of olive leaf’s strength is a phenolic compound called oleuropein, the active ingredient extracted from the leaves of olive trees.  According to Dr. James R. Privitera in the article titled Olive Leaf Extract: A New/Old Healing Bonanza for Mankind (NutriScreen), oleuropein works in a number of ways.  Importantly, it interferes with the critical amino acid production that is essential for viruses and bacteria to thrive, and directly penetrates infected cells to stop viral replication. 

Dr. Morton Walker notes in his book, Olive Leaf Extract (Kensington), that olive leaf can greatly help strengthen the immune system and fight all types of infections such as HIV, Epstein-Barr, herpes, the flu, sore throats, and chronic sinusitis. 

Again, the article reads:

Today, the Hungarian government has adopted olive leaf extract for its Medicare system as its official anti-infectious disease remedy.  Walker reports in Olive Leaf Extract that Dr. Robert Lyons, OMD, MS, of the Robert Lyons Clinic in Budapest, has been critical in developing innovative treatments in Central Europe, including the use of olive leaf extract. 

Lyons conducted an extensive clinical study on 500 patients with a variety of infections such as tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, herpes, and bacterial skin infections.  After being treated with olive leaf extract, the rate of improvement and recovery was approximately 98 percent.  All patients were found to have a strengthened immune system and no side effects were recorded.

Finally, this news about HIV:

Olive leaf extract is a natural source of substances known as protease inhibitors, which may help people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS.  In the Spring 1996 issue of Positive Health News, Mark Konlee states that protease inhibitors are rapidly changing the lives of people with AIDS who experienced difficulty taking the drug called AZT.  Olive leaf extract, combined with drugs called immune modulators, has produced positive effects for people with AIDS.

In one case study, Konlee reports that an AIDS sufferer reduced his viral load from 160,000 organisms per mL of blood down to 30,000 in two weeks.  After 11 weeks, the patient’s viral load was reduced to 692.  A viral load decrease this dramatic is rarely (if ever) attained through the use of AZT alone. 

In another case, a person with HIV found his viral load dropped from 37,000 to 19,500 in three-and-a-half months while taking olive leaf, a significant development.  (Of course, if you suffer from AIDS, consult a health practitioner and do not stop taking your medication.) [End of quote]

The following excerpt is from the publication Better Nutrition:

Relatively new to the modern American botanical scene is Olea europaea, or olive leaf.  For centuries, the olive tree has been revered as the “tree of life.”  In this century, most of us know it as an international symbol of peace, and as the source of a healthful and delicious culinary oil.  Additionally, it seems the leaf of the olive tree may well have significant value as an immune-enhancing herb. 

The world is familiar with the famous Mediterranean diet.  A large percentage of the dieter’s calories in this way of eating are from fats, and in the Mediterranean diet, the principle fat is olive oil.  The general results are a healthy heart and trim body, plus so much more. 

Stacks of scientific information continue to pour in touting the powers of the products of the olive tree.  An excerpt from an article in People magazine follows:

In a recent study at the Athens School of Public Health, women who ate olive oil more than once a day had a 25 percent lower risk of breast cancer than women who had it only once.  In Spain, researchers at the Escuela Nacional de Sanidad found that women who consumed the most olive oil were 40 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who ate the least. 

Why?  For one thing, olive oil is rich in a group of antioxidants called polyphenols, which seem to fend off heart disease and cancer.  It also teems with substances called squalenes, which in animal studies have slowed the growth of colon, lung, and skin cancers, according to Chin Rao, a researcher at the American Health Foundation.  Japanese physicians now use a purified form of squalenes to boost the tumor-killing ability of chemotherapy. “As far as food goes,” says Rao, “olive oil appears to be the only significant source.” [End of quote]

Oleuropein (ah-leh-YOUR-ah-peen), a compound found in the olive tree and isolated from its leaf, is credited with the phenomenal long life of the olive tree, which is said to be able to live for thousands of years.  This bitter compound protects against nearly every insect and bacterial predator. 

In the test tube, olive leaf extract has been found to be effective against nearly 90 viruses, retroviruses, bacterium, parasites, yeasts, protozoans, fungi, molds, and other microbes and diseases.  Just a few that you may be familiar with are anthrax, botulism, chicken pox, chlamydia, Ebola, Hepatitis A, B, and C, and more. 

Based on patient and physician reports, olive leaf extract, which researchers claim is not a cure but an immune system booster, is reported effective in helping the body fight nearly 125 conditions. 

Could this olive tree, whose fame spans all of time, have been the original Tree of Life that sat in the middle of the Garden of God?  Could today’s olive tree be the remnant of this Tree of Life?  We have cited many Biblical pointers, but cannot answer “yes” emphatically. But we can emphatically answer “yes” to whether there was once such a Tree of Life in the Paradise of God—because the Word of God declares it.  Those who are washed in the blood of Christ shall see this tree again.  Jesus Christ declares in Revelation 22:1-2:

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Excerpts from the June 2013 feature, “Unexpected Benefits of Olive Leaf Extract,” in Life Extension magazine follow:

Important Precaution The proven blood pressure-lowering effects of olive leaf extract are potent enough to warrant caution if you are taking prescription blood pressure drugs.  If you are on blood pressure medication, it''s essential that you speak to your prescriber before starting supplementation.

 

 

 

 

 

Scientists have isolated the unique molecule that provides olive oil with its multitude of health and life-extending benefits.  Known as oleuropein, it is the polyphenol that can help lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure, prevent cancer, protect against oxidative damage, and help guard against cognitive decline.  Oleuropein provides the distinctive tangy, pungent, almost bitter flavor found in high-quality extra virgin olive oils.  It’s also responsible for most of olive oil’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and disease-fighting characteristics.  In fact, when oleuropein was given to animals with tumors, the tumors completely regressed and disappeared in 9 to 12 days.

The olive tree (olea europaea) produces oleuropein abundantly in its leaves as well as in the olive fruit itself, and special processing techniques now allow for the extraction of a stable, standardized form of oleuropein.  That means that consumers can have access to one of the most beneficial components of olive oil without the necessity of consuming excessive amounts of olive oil.

Olive leaf extracts and their oleuropein constituents are best known for their blood pressure-lowering effects, but the latest studies reveal their health benefits extend well beyond that.  Additional anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties offer promise in fighting atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and even arthritis. 

Blood Pressure

One particularly fascinating study was conducted among identical twins with borderline hypertension (blood pressure in the range of 120-139 mmHg [millimeter of mercury] over 80-89 mmHg).  Studies of identical twins virtually eliminate genetic variations which may impact study results.  After 8 weeks, placebo recipients showed no change in blood pressure from baseline, but patients supplemented with 1,000 mg/day of olive leaf extract dropped their pressures by a mean of 11 mmHg systolic and 4 mmHg diastolic.  The supplemented patients experienced significant reductions in LDL cholesterol. 

Arterial Health

Polyphenol compounds found in olive leaves have been shown to help directly prevent the formation of arterial plaques (and thereby reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke) in two ways.  First, they reduce the production and activity of a series of “adhesion molecules.”  These substances cause white blood cells and platelets to stick to arterial walls, resulting in early plaque formation.  Second, they reduce platelet aggregation (clumping) by multiple mechanisms, which reduces the risk that tiny clots will form at sites of plaque to produce a stroke or a heart attack. 

Diabetes

In a dramatic head-to-head study, diabetic rats were treated with either olive leaf extract or glyburide (Diabeta®), a common glucose-lowering drug.  By the end of the study, the antidiabetic effects of the extract proved superior to those of the drug. 

One intriguing study showed that when lab rats were fed a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet, they developed all the signs of metabolic syndrome (excessive abdominal fat, hypertension, abnormal lipid profile, and impaired glucose tolerance).  But when animals were fed that unhealthy diet along with olive leaf extracts, virtually all of the metabolic abnormalities improved or, in some cases, normalized. 

Human studies reveal that supplementing with 500 mg of olive leaf extract once daily resulted in significant reductions in hemoglobin A1clevels, the standard marker of long-term exposure to elevated blood sugar in diabetic people.  Supplementation also lowered fasting plasma insulin levels, an important point because chronic insulin elevations may contribute to diabetics’ higher cancer risks. 

Cancer

Oleuropein and olive leaf extracts have numerous other mechanisms of action against cancer:

⦁ They help prevent inflammation, another major promoter of tumor growth.

⦁ In breast cancer cells specifically, oleuropein reduces malignant cells’ ability to respond to estrogen, the female hormone that many breast cancer cells depend on for their survival. 

⦁ Oleuropein inhibits the production of the “protein-melting” enzymes that cancer cells need in order to invade healthy tissues and metastasize to distant parts of the body.

These mechanisms have now been shown in laboratory and animal studies to reduce the rates of occurrence, and subsequent development, of a broad variety of cancers, including those of the brain, head and neck, breast, liver, bladder, prostate, and skin, as well as leukemia. 

In one especially vivid study, mice with a high spontaneous cancer rate were orally supplemented with oleuropein.  The tumors completely regressed and disappeared in 9 to 12 days.  When the tumors were examined before they vanished, they were found to have a disordered, crumbly consistency, and no cancer cells remained alive within. 

Neuroprotection

Olive extracts help protect the brain and central nervous system from the destruction brought on by strokes and age-related degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.  They accomplish this by suppressing inflammation and reducing the damage done by oxidative stress. 

Researchers found a number of positive effects in animals that were pre-treated with olive leaf extract and then induced with a stroke.  Compared with untreated animals, the treated animals experienced a sharp reduction in markers of oxidation and an increase in normal cellular antioxidant systems.  Microscopic examination of brain tissue revealed a similar decline in injury to brain cells and up to a 55% decrease in the volume of dying brain tissue.  Similar results are shown in experimental spinal cord injury in animals pretreated with oleuropein.

Arthritis

Olive leaves and their extracts have long been used in the Mediterranean as folk remedies for arthritis.  Now, scientific evidence has proven that olive leaf extracts can, in fact, interfere with the development of several different kinds of arthritis, including gout, rheumatoid arthritis, and osteoarthritis. 

Oleuropein has also been found to help prevent and treat symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis.  When administered at the earliest sign of arthritis in animal models, oleuropein prevented symptoms from developing and also produced marked improvement in the microscopic appearance of joint tissue from affected animals.  When administered after arthritis was fully developed, there was significant improvement in inflammatory changes to joints, compared with untreated animals.

Oleuropein had similar benefits on osteoarthritis.

Summary

The Mediterranean diet reduces your risk for virtually every condition associated with aging.

Now, scientific evidence has shown that these extracts have a remarkable impact on blood pressure and heart disease—and they can help protect against other age-related chronic conditions as well.  Convincing evidence now shows that oleuropein-rich olive leaf extracts help prevent many of the underlying factors leading to diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, and arthritis. 

Extra-virgin olive oil and olive leaf extract should be considered an important component of one’s health and longevity program.  [End of quotes]

From the GodSaidManSaid feature “Spiritual/Physical Connectivity and the Olive Tree:”

GodSaidManSaid lists a host of marvelous life-extending medical benefits enjoyed by those who embrace God’s serious endorsement of His olive tree. The January 2018 issue of Life Extension magazine reports on some of the latest research on olive oil.  The front-page headline reads, “Olive Oil Can Extend Human Lifespans.”  According to the feature story by C. Faloon titled, “Surprising Discoveries about Olive Oil,” extra virgin olive oil increases lifespan and also decreases the risk of heart attack and stroke exponentially:

The high oleic acid (monounsaturated fat) content of olives was initially thought to be the main source of olive oil’s health benefits.  Today, more researchers contend that the health benefits stem from olive oil’s high polyphenol content which includes: oleuropein, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol.

Increasing evidence suggests that the polyphenol hydroxytyrosolshould be given the most credit as it makes up approximately 50% of extra virgin olive oil’s total polyphenol content.

In 2017, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study that evaluated the effects of hydroxytyrosol on a cohort of 1,851 men and women. 

To measure hydroxytyrosol ingestion, urinary levels of its metabolite (homovanilly alcohol) were measured. 

Results showed that higher urinary levels of homovanilly alcohol resulted in sharply lower risks of cardiovascular events and mortality. 

Compared to those in the lowest quintile, individuals in the third or higher quintile levels of homovanilly alcohol had at least 56% reduced risk of a cardiovascular event (heart attack, stroke, or death from cardiovascular cause).  In addition, subjects in the highest quintile of homovanilly alcohol had, on average, 9.5 years longer life after the age of 65. 

The highest urinary levels of homovanilly alcohol were obtained by subjects whose intervention included a traditional Mediterranean diet with the addition of extra virgin olive oil.

According to Faloon, extra virgin olive oil also reduces risk for Alzheimer’s:

Research on olive oil has been primarily focused on its cardiovascular support.  However, a growing amount of research in the last decade has shown that it also reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. 

The researchers concluded that extra virgin olive oil extended a beneficial effect on all major characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease, including behavior and neuropathology. 

To test their neuropathology, all major biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (beta-amyloid, tau proteins, and synaptophysin) were recorded. 

Beta-amyloid and tau are deleterious proteins that, through many mechanisms, cause cellular dysfunction and death.  Synaptophysin is a protein marker of synaptic integrity. 

The research found that in the mice fed extra virgin olive oil, there was a significant decrease in these deleterious proteins and an increase in the beneficial synaptophysin. 

The researchers credited these beneficial effects to extra virgin olive oil’s ability to increase autophagy.

Autophagy is how cells rid themselves of debris that interferes with normal healthy cellular function. 

Bone is exceptionally important in the elderly, and according to the article, God’s olive oil can make a measurable difference:

A fracture in the hip has a higher mortality rate than all other fractures in the elderly.  The incidence of hip fractures is increasing yearly by 1%-3% in most regions of the world. 

A meta-analysis of three studies revealed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a 21% reduced risk of hip fractures.

In an additional study, a key component of the Mediterranean diet, extra virgin olive oil, was tested against a diet high in nuts, or a low-fat diet, on 870 subjects ages 55-80 with high risk of cardiovascular disease. The subjects were monitored over a media follow-up on 8.9 years, during which 114 cases of osteoporosis-related fractures occurred. 

Subjects who integrated the highest amounts of extra virgin olive oil into their diet had a 51% lower risk of fracture. 

Under the subhead, “Additional Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet and Extra Virgin Olive Oil,” are the following excerpts:

In a double-blind placebo-controlled study on 41 adult women, extra virgin olive oil was able to increase the weight loss effect of an energy restricted diet.  A control group of 20 women was selected to eat a daily high-fat breakfast with added soybean oil, and an intervention group of 21 women received a high-fat breakfast with the addition of extra virgin olive oil. 

After nine weeks, the average weight loss in the 21 women that received the breakfast with extra virgin olive oil was approximately 80% higher than the control group.  Diastolic blood pressure decreased by an average of 5.1 mmHg, and pro-inflammatory cytokines were also reduced in the group that received the extra virgin olive oil.

Faloon concludes:

A growing amount of research shows that extra virgin olive oil and adherence to a Mediterranean diet dramatically reduces stroke and heart attack risk. 

Those who ingest the highest amount of an olive polyphenol called hydroxytyrosol were shown to live 9.5 years longer (after age 65).  These findings were published in 2017. [End of quotes]

The olive tree and all its fruits come highly endorsed by God.  Thousands of years after the Word of God was penned, medical science begins to understand why, and the spiritual/physical connectivity is glorious to the childlike. [End of quotes]

These final excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Undeniable Proof—Every Jot & Every Tittle (XLVII):”

God instructed Moses to pen the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, of which Genesis is the first.  The Genesis record was not hand-me-down accounts passed from one generation to the next, but God’s direct, hands-on eyewitness report.  Ancient, non-Biblical societal records exist that were handed down from generation to generation, which makes them garbled, but they do retain amazing similarities:

The following excerpts are from Halley’s Bible Handbook:

The particular spot which tradition has fixed as the site of the Garden of Eden is a group of mounds, 12 miles south of Ur, known as Eridu (Abu Sharem).  It was the home of “Adapa”, the Babylonian Adam.  The Weld Prism says the first two kings in history reigned at Eridu.

Ancient Babylonian inscriptions say, “Near Eridu was a garden, in which was a mysterious Sacred Tree, a Tree of Life, planted by the gods, whose roots were deep, while its branches reached to heaven, protected by guardian spirits, and no man enters.”

The ruins of Eridu were excavated by Hall and Thompson, of the British Museum, 1918-19.  They found indications that it had been a prosperous city, revered as the Orignal Home of Man.

The region around Eridu, excavations have revealed, was densely populated in the earliest known ages of history, and was for centuries the dominating Center of the World; a region where many of the oldest and most valuable inscriptions have been found.

Early Babylonian inscriptions abound in references to a “tree of life”, from which man was driven, by the influence of an evil spirit personified in a serpent, and to which he was prevented from returning by guardian cherubs.

Among the information on these tablets is a story of “Adapa”, so strikingly parallel to the Biblical story of Adam, that he is called the Babylonian Adam.—“Adapa, the seed of mankind,”—“the wise man of Eridu,”—“blameless,”—then he “offended the gods,”—“through knowledge,”—then he “became mortal,”—“food of life he ate not,”—“sickness he imposed on the people,”—the gods said, “he shall not rest,”—they clothed him with a mourning garment.”  See Price’s Monuments and the Old Testament.

Other traditions of the fall of man include the Persian: our first parents, innocent, virtuous, and happy, lived in a Garden, where there was a Tree of Immortality, until an evil spirit in the form of a Serpent appeared. [End of quotes]

Something so bizarre as immortality—something so fantastical as the tree of life—is clearly presented on the pages of God’s Holy Word.  Ancient societal records say yes, and today’s medical science just begins to confirm. 

For the children of God, the ultimate Tree of Life stood atop Calvary’s hill, and on it, hung suspended between heaven and earth, the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, who cleanseth us from all sin. 

I Peter 2:24:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Because of the Cross (the tree) of Jesus Christ, salvation is ours, and once again we will see—and this time eat of—the marvelous Tree of Life. Revelation 2:7:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Revelation 22:14:

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Be of good cheer, child of God!  God’s Word is true and righteous altogether—miracles and all—and a place to build a life that will last forever.

GOD SAID, Genesis 2:8-9:

8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

GOD SAID, Genesis 3:22-24:

22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

GOD SAID, Romans 11:15-18:

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

MAN SAID: You can’t possibly expect me to believe in a Biblical fairytale—crazy things like creation, Paradise, Adam and Eve, or a “Tree of Life!”  It’s ridiculous! I have evolved into a masterpiece of wisdom!  From what, you ask?! Well, get this: My first cousin was a mushroom!  And my father, a monkey!  Cool, right?

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “God’s Imprimatur and the Olive Tree”

GodSaidManSaid, “Spiritual/Connectivity and the Olive Tree”

GodSaidManSaid, “Undeniable Proof—Every Jot & Every Tittle (XLVII)”

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