THE CATTAIL!!!

‘Cattail’ photo by Chicago Camera Slinger on Unsplash.  

I’ve always been fascinated by cattails!  How about you?  (See photo above).  You grab the soft brown seed head, which looks like a cat’s tail, squish it and out comes an average of 220,000 seeds in a cottony fluff!  Each seed is connected to a fine bristly hair that helps it fly through the air or float on water.  Believe it or not, this fun fluff can be used as insulation in your jacket, in a pillow or to make a soft bed!  (See photo below).  

The cattail has been nicknamed, ‘The super Wal-Mart of the swamp’, ‘A virtual gold mine of survival utility’!  Is it any wonder?  They contain at least 8 food products, 3 Medicinals and 12 other uses.   And they are everywhere!  Anywhere you find year-round standing water or wet soil along rivers, lakes and ponds you can usually find cattails. They grow 6-7 feet tall from what is called a rhizome, a horizontal underground plant stem that produces roots below and shoots above.  One rhizome can send out shoots and root systems for 100 stalks in a 10-foot diameter!  That means, there is plenty to eat.  Rhizomes are edible!  They are packed with starchy carbohydrates,
proteins and nutrients.   Heino Eisner on Unsplash.

f you want to learn more about this edible plant, click on the following link:
‘The Many Uses of Cattails’.https://youtu.be/BIaGnlr6Bc0?si=hgvbJ9J5A-10XLyw

Too good to be true?
It is and it isn’t.  Parts of the cattail are edible, but there is a new version of what looks like cattails invading our countries aquatic wetlands.  It is poisonous!  Fortunately, the real, edible cattail has the ‘cat’s tail’ seed head, the poisonous one does not.  As with all wild edibles, positive identification is essential. If you are not sure, do not eat it.  

This is another spiritual metaphor.  Didn’t Jesus warn us regarding false prophets?  He said, ‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.’  Matthew 7:15-16.  (He could have said, ‘They are poisonous!’) 

And the Apostle John wrote, ‘Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.’ 1 John 4:1.

Again the Apostle Peter wrote, ‘But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.’  2 Peter 2:1.

Like discerning which plants are edible, we need to discern who we listen to and especially who we follow! After all, history records many disastrous consequences of following false prophets.
David Koresh called himself a prophet.  He had one hundred and thirty followers living with him in the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, at the start of the 1993 siege. Many died or were injured when the FBI raided their compound.   

Remember Jonestown?  It was called an ‘apocalyptic cult’.  More than 900 people, many of them children, died in a mass murder-suicide in 1978 by drinking cyanide-laced punch at the order of cult leader Jim Jones who claimed according to the FBI, he was the reincarnation of Christ.

How do you protect yourself?  Know your scriptures!  Read Proverbs 4; Get Wisdom!
‘Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Proverbs 4:5-7.  

BE CAREFUL, BE WISE.
YOUR LIFE MAY DEPEND ON IT.