Hansel and Gretel

 

The 12 Tribes of Israel were scattered to the "north and isles of the sea" (Isaiah 11:11). In a generation or two they completely forgot who they were. Having no Scriptures and no prophets to guide them, the elders would tell stories to their grandchildren. One of the stories the Brothers Grimm were able to record was a tale about two lost children, Hansel and his sister Gretel. 

"Hansel and Gretel" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Grimms' Fairy Tales. Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch who lives in a house made of bread, cake, and sugar.

Hansel and Gretel is a classic fairy tale about two poor siblings who outsmart an evil witch living in a house made of sweets. Facing starvation, the children are abandoned in the woods, find a candy house, defeat their captor, and return home rich. 

The Abandonment in the Woods

Poverty and the Stepmother: A poor woodcutter and his second wife face a severe famine. The cruel stepmother convinces her weak husband to lose the children in the deep forest so they will not all starve. 
The First Attempt: Hansel and Gretel overhear the plot. Hansel sneaks out to fill his pockets with shiny white pebbles. The next day, he drops them along the path, allowing the children to follow the moonlight and safely return home. 
The Second Attempt:
Locked inside the house next time, Hansel cannot gather pebbles and instead drops breadcrumbs. When they are left in the forest again, hungry birds eat the crumb trail, leaving Hansel and Gretel truly lost.
 

The Gingerbread House and the Witch

Finding the House: After wandering for days, the starving children find a cottage made entirely of bread, cake, and sugar, with windows of clear sugar. 
The Trap: An old woman invites them in with sweet food, but she is actually a wicked, cannibalistic witch with red eyes who traps children to cook and eat them. 
Imprisonment: The witch locks Hansel in a tiny cage to fatten him up and forces Gretel to do chores. Each day she asks Hansel to stick out his finger to feel if he is fat yet. Hansel tricks her poor eyesight by holding out a thin chicken bone instead. 

The Escape and Return Home

Defeating the Witch: Growing impatient, the witch decides to bake Hansel anyway. She heats her large oven and tells Gretel to check if the fire is hot. Gretel pretends she does not know how, tricking the witch into leaning close to the opening. 
Freedom and Treasure: Gretel quickly shoves the witch into the oven and slams the iron door shut, burning her to death. Gretel frees Hansel, and they fill their pockets with the witch's pearls and diamonds. 
Happy Reunion: Crossing a body of water with the help of a friendly duck or swan, they reach home to find the cruel stepmother has died. Their overjoyed father embraces them, and their newfound wealth ensures they never suffer hunger again.

The story of Hansel and Gretel parallels the biblical narrative of the Fall of Man, the temptation in the wilderness, and ultimate redemption. Here is a biblical analogy of the classic fairy tale.

The Wilderness of Sin

Hansel and Gretel are cast out into a dark, unforgiving forest because of famine and a scarcity of bread. This mirrors humanity’s exile from the Garden of Eden into a fallen world full of spiritual famine, thorns, and hardships. The children represent humanity—vulnerable, lost, and separated from the safety of their true home.

The White Pebbles and the Fallen Crumbs

To find their way back, Hansel relies on his own wisdom, dropping white stones that shine in the moonlight. These stones represent the Law or the prophets—divine markers provided to guide lost souls through the darkness. However, when the children rely on breadcrumbs during their second abandonment, the birds of the air devour them. This reflects Jesus' Parable of the Sower, where the wicked one comes and snatches away the word sown in the heart, leaving humanity entirely lost in the wilderness of sin.

The House of Temptation

Deep in the forest, the children discover a house made of bread, cake, and sugar. This is the ultimate deception of the Enemy, echoing Satan’s temptation of Eve in Eden and Jesus in the wilderness. The witch’s house appeals directly to the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." It promises immediate satisfaction for their physical hunger but masks a deadly trap.

The Witch as the Deceiver

The old witch embodies Satan, transforming herself into an angel of light by offering hospitality and comfort, only to reveal her true nature as a roaring lion seeking whom she may devour. She imprisons Hansel to fatten him up, symbolizing how sin enslaves the human spirit and prepares it for destruction. Hansel’s blindness and reliance on a dry bone to trick the witch represents humanity's spiritual blindness under the captivity of sin, saved only by a deceptive semblance of death.

The Trial by Fire and Divine Deliverance

The climax takes place at the oven, a biblical symbol of judgment, trial, and refinement. Gretel, initially the weaker sibling, undergoes a spiritual awakening. Utilizing divine wisdom rather than physical strength, she thwarts the enemy and pushes the witch into her own fiery furnace—paralleling how evil ultimately consumes itself and how the lake of fire awaits the great Deceiver.

The Return Home with Riches

Having conquered the enemy, the children find the witch's house filled with pearls and precious stones. They cross a great body of water with the help of a white duck—reminiscent of Noah’s dove or the parting of the Red Sea—signifying baptism and safe passage from death to life. They return to their father, who welcomes them with open arms, having grieved their absence. This final reunion mirrors the ultimate restoration of humanity to God the Father, returning from the wilderness of the world clothed in the riches of righteousness.

 

Learn more about how God uses even fairy tales to show His love for His children. You Are Cordially Invited to Renew Your Strength Bible Study Group... https://mlf1070.blogspot.com/2021/01/renew.html 

 

The First Man

 

 

Was Adam created as the first human being? There is only one race... the human race, but where did the different skin colors come from? 

For the people who insist that Adam was the "first man," and all humans descended from him, let's examine that claim from Scripture. Genesis 2 is the second creation account, it shifts from the creation of male and female humans to a specific individual. He is first called ha-adam ("the man"), but eventually, it sheds the definite article to become his official proper name, Adam. 

 

Why was Adam called "the man"? Adam was created to be the progenitor of Jesus Christ. There were other people living on the earth long before Adam. Scripture tells us Adam's son, Cain, took a wife from the land of Nod.

When we understand that Genesis 1 was the creation of non-Adamites, then we learn why there are different skin colors. Paul and Luke's 

reference to Adam as the "first man" and Christ is the "last man" does not negate the creation of humans in Genesis 1. If we take "the last man" literally, then where did you and I come from?

 

• 1 Corinthians 15:45 ("The first man Adam became a living being"): In this passage, Paul explicitly names Adam as the  beginning of Adamite history. Paul uses this biological reality to contrast Adam with Jesus Christ, whom he calls "the last Adam" or "the second man". While the first Adam brought physical life (and subsequently, sin and death) to his descendants, the last Adam (Christ) brings spiritual, eternal life to those who believe. 
• Acts 17:26 ("From one man He made all the nations"): Speaking to Greek philosophers at the Areopagus in Athens, Paul applies this theology to global history. He argues that regardless of culture, geography, or ethnicity, every single nation originates from the exact same genetic root. The Genesis 1 people and the Genesis 2 people have the same Creator.

The Bible is like a large jig-saw puzzle. You must fit the pieces together in the right place or context. In Acts 17:26, Luke is writing about Paul's message to the Athenians. Paul said from one man He (God) made all nations, some translations say "one blood." God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Since Abraham is a descendant of Adam, that statement applies to both Adam and Abraham. 

 

What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden? 

 

Family Tree

 

 

The Family Tree of Jacob/Israel is one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible. It is very sad that so many Christians are deceived about this family and the promises God made to Israel. 

 

The country named Israel is not the Israel of the Bible. Judah is only one twelfth of the House of Israel. God's promise is to all 12 sons and their descendants.

YAHWEH established Jacob/Israel"s family through four women—Leah, Rahel, Bilhah, and Zilpah. Each played a unique role in the unfolding of YAHWEH's covenant plan, and through the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel nations were established.

The nations (plural) of Israel did not begin with twelve sons born to one woman. Understanding who each son came through provides valuable context for many of the events, blessings, and prophecies recorded throughout Scripture. Jacob's sons became 12 Tribes that grew so large they are Nations today. 

Their stories remind us that YAHWEH often works through imperfect families to accomplish His perfect purposes. What may seem complicated to us was never beyond His sovereign plan. Churchanity teaches that the Jews are "God's Chosen People" and the 12 tribes of Israel disappeared from history. That belief makes God a liar and His promise to Abraham null and void. 

As the return of Jesus/YAHSHUA draws closer every day, God is revealing the true Israel to His called out ones. Israel was never lost to God, He knows exactly who they are and where they are. As a truth seeker, you need to know who is true Israel and who is the counterfeit Israel.

Many saints in times past have preserved records of the wanderings of the 12 Tribes of Israel and their final destinations.

Learn More

 

 

 

Wolves In Sheep's Clothing

 

Jesus said He sends us out as Sheep among Wolves.

Wolves eat (destroy) Sheep. It's their nature, it's what they do. Wolves run in packs with an Alpha Wolf in charge.

One of the most ravenous wolf packs is the Organized Religion Pack. They gained access to the Sheepfold by fraud and deceit. The corruption of the Church is a kind of moral decay... a kind of greed... a kind of desperate grasp for power. These corruptions do not need to affect Christians who come out and are not partakers of Her sins. ~ Revelations 18:4  

“Wolves are not ruled by God's law. They are ruled by the alpha-wolf's policy. Individual wolves can do anything not prohibited by the alpha-wolf. They can do anything they can get away with doing. To the wolf - breaking sheep law or the alpha-wolf's policy only becomes serious if caught. Getting caught is everything.” ~ Quote by Richard K. Hoskins
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“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ~Jeremiah 23:1
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Many wolves are dressed in sheep's clothing. Don't be fooled by their disguises. If they are a Pastor of a 501(c)3 Church, be very careful - Wolves eat (fleece) Sheep. ~ Matthew 7:13-15. If they control the flock with fear, guilt, and shame, if they demand 10% of your income every week, if they live a lavish lifestyle, if they need a 747 jet plane "to do the Lord's work," if they teach a message of eternal torture ... they are wolves.

There are white, yellow, brown, and black wolves. They run in packs and fiercely defend their territories. The oldest and most vicious wolf pack is the Roman Catholic Wolves (10+ million killed just in Europe alone from 1618–1648). The Reformation Wolves divided their territory into Denominational Wolves, Non-Denominational Wolves, Prosperity Wolves, Anti-Law Wolves, and One-and-Only Wolves. They harm more Sheep than the Roman Wolf pack.

The Wolf Bible school system teaches little Lambs what to think, not how to think. They have done a good job of turning a whole generation of Christians into blind allegiance to Church instead of the Kingdom of God that the Good Shepherd preached. Wolves are not afraid of you owning a Bible, they fear you might understand it. From such people turn away. 

Beware of false prophets (preachers) who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit ~ Matthew 7:13-15. Not by their denomination, or how large their flock is, or how well they speak, or how many books they have written, or what religious title they give themselves, but by their fruit. 

What Fruit? The Fruit of the Spirit... love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. ~ Matthew 10:16

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 

Therefore you shall be perfect (perfected, complete), just as your Father in heaven is perfect. ~ Matthew 5:43-48. We should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ. ~ Ephesians 4:14-16  

 

Jesus is the only person qualified to give you the unvarnished truth. In Matthew 15:14 Jesus uses "The blind leading the blind" as an idiom to describe religious leaders who are ignorant or unqualified to give advice or direction to someone who is equally uninformed. It highlights the danger of relying on guidance from preachers and teachers who lack the necessary wisdom, skills, or knowledge to rightly divide the word of truth. ~ 2 Timothy 2:15 

 

To Be Safe From Wolves, Follow The Good Shepherd