Soulofmine looked into the garden.  It certainly didn’t look like the terrible place that so many had warned him about.  In fact, the garden was quite beautiful.  A path outlined by tall colorful flowers made it's way across a blanket of green grass.  The leaves on the trees were thick and green and covered with sweet smelling blossoms.  Yet, in this place a creature was supposed to live…a wicked beast who was said to have fathered all that was hideous and evil…a serpent whose venom brought forth rot and decay, not only of the flesh, but of the soul; a serpent whose bite meant death.

“But if this serpent did exist,” Soulofmine thought, “He certainly wasn’t anywhere around this part of the garden.  No doubt he lived in the deeper, darker parts; that, after all, would fit his nature.  Besides, the garden was huge and the chances of crossing the serpent’s path seemed against all obvious odds.”  With these thoughts, Soulofmine stepped into the garden...not to go very far...but just to take a look around.

The colors of the flowers all around were incredible. It looked as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky scattering it's pieces all over the garden.  Over to the left was a particular kind of vine Soulofmine had never seen; it had tiny, lavender flowers growing out of a thick nest of green, velvet-like leaves.  However,  just ahead and over to the right, looking a little out of place, was what seemed to be an old dead stump.  “Was that something carved into it?” Soulofmine had to take a closer look.  “Yes, it was!”  There were names...in fact, hundreds, maybe thousands of names carved into the huge dead stump.  Soulofmine began to feel more at ease; apparently many others had been here too.  Surprisingly, Soulofmine found that someone had already engraved his name into the stump as well.

As Soulofmine journeyed further down the path the flowers appeared to be getting darker.  “It must be because they’re in the shade,” Soulofmine thought.  “Better have a closer look.”  Soulofmine continued down the path, so amazed at all the new things he was experiencing, so caught up in his desire to see more and go further, that he had failed to notice the radical changes that were taking place as he traveled deeper and deeper into the garden.  The beautiful, blossoming trees, which had appeared to have been arranged by a professional gardener, had given way to what looked like a jungle, moss covering the many thick gnarled branches. Tall, coarse weeds had choked out and replaced the flowers that had once been along the path’s edge, and the path itself had narrowed and now was almost undetectable.

“What was that?!” A limb on a nearby tree bobbed up and down calling Soulofmine back to reality.  Though he couldn’t see what it was, something had moved either off of, on to, or across that limb.  Soulofmine looked around; fear began to set in.  "Over there!  Straight ahead!”   Another limb was moving.  Soulofmine still couldn’t see anything, but by the faint movement of the leaves along the length of the limb, it was obvious that it was a serpent.  Soulofmine began to tremble. His heart throbbed as if it were going to explode from his chest.  He watched the limb intently, his eyes scanning fearfully back and forth.  Whatever it was, it was no longer moving.  “Wait!  What is that?” Soulofmine noticed what at a distance appeared to be two small, golden berries just inches apart from one another.  “Eyes!  The serpent was watching him!”

What had been invisible to Soulofmine before, now began to take form.  It's long serpentine body seemed to be molded to, even part of, the limb that supported it.  Soulofmine watched as the serpent raised it’s head and hissed at him…or was it laughing?  Soulofmine began to feel a burning sensation on the back of his neck.  He grabbed his neck and looked at his hand…blood!  He had been bitten!  “But when? There was never any pain. How long had the serpent been following him? Perhaps even from the very beginning!”

Soulofmine needed help!  He began to remember what others had told him; only one could provide the anti-venom he would need to overcome the serpent’s venom.  He must find Him in order to live…but how?  Soulofmine turned in circles searching for the path that would lead him out of the garden…it was gone...he had no sense of direction. Soulofmine was lost!

Spiritual Application

This story is meant to represent the life of each individual; you could actually substitute your name for the name “Soulofmine” as it represents your own soul.  The Garden represents sin in each of our lives (which is often so attractive to us), and how people often travel deeper and deeper into it as their conscience becomes increasingly hardened and insensitive to their sin.

The Serpent in this story represents Satan.  The Bible tells us in Genesis chapter three about his fatal strike in the Garden of Eden which has affected us all as sin, like a deadly poison, has been passed on from generation to generation. Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” 

The Bible tells us that we come into this world spiritually dead to God (Ephesians 2:1,2) since we all live under the curse of sin and sin separates man from God.  Therefore, The Stump represents spiritual death; and The initials in the stump belong to all who have not been set free from their sin through faith in Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says that “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”  In the story, Soulofmine did not even recognize the sinful state that he was in (that he had been bitten) until he was deep into his journey.  The belief that God will accept us just as we are is a common deception among men. Satan would have you believe that you are a good person, and it is only natural for a person to believe this since every person has some sort of moral code that they live by.  As long as you don’t violate your own moral limitations then you will naturally feel as if you are living a good life; but the real question is:  Does your moral code meet God’s standards?  Let’s look at a few verses of scripture to get the answer:

“Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” Ecclesiastes 7:20.

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” Isaiah 64:6.

“There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God” Romans 3:10-11.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.

The Bible makes it clear that we have all sinned, and that the wages for our sin is death (Romans 6:23).  Death is like a dark veil that you can’t see beyond, but one that we all will inevitably have to pass through. What awaits you on the other side of the veil depends upon your relationship with the living God.  The person who appeals to his or her own “goodness” will be judged by the Law, which no man is able to keep (Romans 3:19,20).  That person will find that he or she falls eternally short of God’s perfect holiness and righteousness and will be sentenced to eternal separation from God in a place of punishment called Hell (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).

However, the person who recognizes that he or she is a sinner, according to God’s word, and appeals to Christ to be forgiven of their sins, asking Him to be their Lord and Savior, will be saved.  God no longer judges that person by the Law, but they are placed under God’s grace.  Just as the animal sacrifices (which ultimately pointed toward Christ's atonement) were performed under the Old Covenant (Old Testament) as a substitute for the individuals who had sinned, Jesus Christ, the perfect Lamb of God, died in our place so that we might have life in Him (Hebrews 9 and 10).  When we entrust our life to him, He saves us, not on the basis of our good works, but on the basis of what He has done for us (Ephesians 2:1-9).  His perfect righteousness is then imputed to us so that we can also stand as righteous before God.

To summarize this story, each of us has been poisoned by the fatal strike of Satan. His bite released the venom (sin) that has brought spiritual death to every person (Ephesians 2: 1,2).  The perfect work of Jesus Christ (His sinless life, sacrificial death and resurrection to life again) is the only “anti-venom” that can save us.  Jesus said in John 14:6  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”  If you are not already a child of God (1 John 3:9,10), the way this story ends depends on your decision to either call upon Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or to continue to reject Him.  There is no in-between.  God’s word plainly states, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” I John 5:12.