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The "Adam's Apple" - A Deadly Affliction (Article 17-14)
The Adam’s Apple is found in both men and women. For men, they show up more prominently as a bony cartilage that’s wrapped around the larynx. Also known as the laryngeal prominence, the Adam's Apple sits right on top of the thyroid gland, so the area is fittingly called the thyroid cartilage. Although Adam's Apples are found in both genders, they show up more prominently in men. They do so as a chunk of bony cartilage that's wrapped around the larynx. Boys and girls all start out with similarly sized thyroid cartilage, however, this changes during puberty. The boys' Adam's Apples become noticeably bigger, and their voices change as their testosterone levels increase, thus usually giving them a deeper voice.
Spiritual Connection
In Hebrew, the name “Adam” means “Man”, while the Hebrew word “Apple” means “swollen”. When brought together, we learn that the term “Adam’s Apple” means “swollen man”. From a science perspective this sounds amusing and doesn’t elicit any thoughts of concern; however, from a scriptural and spiritual perspective, it's representative of deadly and incurable affliction. The affliction is called "pride." In symbolic terms, the Adam's Apple represents the "puffed-up" nature we all possess. It's nature that relies on and believes in the "self" to determine what is best for ourselves and others relative to our fleshly desires. Our puffed-up, self-righteous and self-serving nature was the demise of our divine parents and all the seed from which it sprang. With it came man's utter and eternal separation man from God, and a loud and boisterous tongue from which poison is spewed from the heart. Our pride manifests into a dark and evil spirit - a satanic spirit and not the Spirit of Christ. Oh, how we should turn to Christ to remove the poison that resonates in our heart and drips from our tongues. For our call to be one with God is to have the "Spirit of Christ" reign over our soul and no other.
The Perfect Apple Seed
Like all fruit, apples originate with a seed, and if successful, grow into an apple tree. It then bears more apples of the same type. Well, I suspect you already know that apple fruit reproduction is a cyclic occurrence. The main point is that no tree can grow except the seed it came. We know from science though that fruit seeds (like all seeds) can be genetically altered and with it the creation of a different variety of fruit. We too come from seed. The seed of God. We know this to be true because God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;…” (Genesis 1:26). Like a tree that cannot grow except the seed from which it came, man cannot grow differently from the seed it sprang. We are designed to be like God in both terms of image and likeness. From this, we were created to know, understand, and be able to commune with God. Unfortunately, the man was altered – not genetically, but rather spiritually. As a result, man appears and acts in very different ways than God.
The Poisoned Apple Seed
When Satan, who had been cast out of heaven for his "pride," whose whole nature is "pride," and whose whole being is “pride,” spoke his words of temptation into Eve’s ear, the words in it carried the very poison of hell. And when Eve listened and began to entertain the thoughts of being "a God". The poison entered her soul and every aspect of her being. With this came her complete and eternal destruction. It forever changed her and destroyed her knowledge of who she was relative to God and her need for God. She then spewed the hellish poison into Adam’s ear. He too met the same fate. With this emerged the “self.” Up to the point of their demise, our divine parents had no sense of themselves. They only saw and heard God, for He resided in their souls and reigned over their lives. After they took the poison they, for the first time since their existence, noticed themselves. Before this point “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). But after they consumed the poison, their eyes were opened and they "noticed their nakedness and became afraid" (Genesis 2 and 3). They were plunged into darkness and from that point on, bore sickly seed which could not be adequately nourished and had no light.
The Corrupted Apple Seed
No tree can grow except the seed from which it sprang. From Adam and Eve sprang a seed that was corrupted to its very root and with it, the most terrible of all consequences: the passing of the poisonous seed of pride to all generations to follow. All the wretchedness of this world; its wars and bloodshed; its selfishness and suffering; all its ambitions, jealousies and greed; its broken hearts, broken relationships and embittered lives; our fleshly addictions; and our daily unhappiness and discontent stem from either our hellish pride or that of others. It is was Adam's disobedience and the subsequent consequence of pride that evicted God from man's soul, and with it, the loss of His reign over his life. Man was plunged into an eternal darkness and as a result, the loss of his way.
Despite It All, God Never Abandoned Us
Despite our disobedience, God never abandoned us, for He loves us and stays with us, with an everlasting yearn to have us back under His protection: “…let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). The hopeless struggle against the workings of pride and the resulting “self” has cast us into an eternal state of despair and misery. The poison of pride altered our being and existence, and with it corrupted and poison seed. A seed which can bear no good fruit. A seed which can only bear more corrupt and poisonous fruit. A seed that opposes the gospel. A seed that opposes Jesus Christ. A seed that opposes the Holy Spirit. A seed that opposes our Holy and Loving Father. Our only hope for a cure is to wash with the blood of the precious Lamb.
It Is By Way of Pride We Are Lost, But It Is By Way of Pride We are Found
No tree can grow except the seed from which it sprang. Through all its existence it can only live with the life that was the seed that gave it being. The effects of the poison in us cannot be cured, except by one doctor – Jesus Christ. It is from truly understanding this basic truth can we begin to understand how important Christ’s redemption is to us. Before Christ, we were terminally ill but now with Christ, we can be cured and with it, have hope for eternal life. A life free of pain, suffering, jealousies, anger, anxiety, hurt, and broken hearts. It is pride that made our understanding of redemption possible. It is pride that made it possible to understand the importance of humility – our lost understanding of who we are in relation to God and our need for Him in all things. It is pride that has given us the ability to realize that Christ’s greatest gift was His restoring of humility back into the world, thus showing us the path to salvation. It is pride that gives us our insight into the need of redemption and that our redemption depends on our knowledge of the terrible truth from which we exist. It is pride that gives us the understanding that it is only by way of taking on Christ's humble spirit that we can truly see and understand that He is who He says He is. It is pride that gives us understanding that it is only by way of taking on Christ's humble spirit can we know that our loving and Heavenly Father fulfills all that He promises. It is pride that separated us from our Creator, but it is pride which now shows us the way back to Him. How? It is pride that brings us to the end of ourselves and it is at this point that most will turn to God for help.
The Healthy Apple Seed
No tree can grow except the seed from which it sprang. The hopeless struggle against the workings of self and pride has cast us into an eternal darkness and with it, despair. How spiritually fitting the derivation of the name “Adam’s Apple.” The Adam’s Apple reminds daily of the hellish poison and consequences of our pride, and that it is our pride that alters our being and existence. We are swollen and sickly from its effects, and it’s the source of every ailment from which we suffer. Our only hope for a cure is to be washed with the blood of the precious Lamb. It is only by Christ’s cleansing blood that we can be grafted into the true vine (John 15:1) and with it, once again have the seed from which we were originally intended to possess. The swollen spirit which is the cause of all our ailments will dissipate and with it, the sickness it brings.
Yes, it is true. No tree can grow except the seed from which it sprang.