A three-leaf clover is commonly called a shamrock. and a solid green shamrock is recognized in the Western world, especially where the Irish have left their mark, as the symbol for St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Day, because Patrick used the shamrock, according to tradition, to teach us about God. I'd like to address three important questions about this matter of shamrocks on this St. Patrick's Day holiday devotional. Number one, what does tradition tell us that Patrick taught? And is that tradition credible? Well, tradition dating back 500 years ago claims that St. Patrick used the three-leaf clover to teach the Trinity. Each leaf represents one of the three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and they are connected at the stem as one. The first record of this tradition, as far as I could find, goes back about 500 years ago. But that was nearly 1,000 years after the death of St. Patrick, who died in the 5th or 6th century. And yet the claim made 500 years ago was that this had already been a tradition for generations, going back to St. Patrick's Day. We may never know for sure, but it certainly is true that it has given people a visual for understanding 1 John 5, 7. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. and the corrupt new Bible versions delete that text, by the way. You won't find it in your NIV, ESV, or the legacy substandard versions. So let's address our next related question. Number two, the claim that the shamrock three-leaf clover isn't really a good illustration of the Trinity to begin with. Well, that's true. And it's true about using water, solid, liquid, and gas, or any other illustration of the Trinity. They are all bad in the sense that it's absurd and silly to think that any illustration would fully give us an accurate illustration of the Trinity. But apply that logic to any illustration of God. Is it a fully accurate illustration to talk about God having wings and feathers, as the psalmist does? Obviously not. Well, you say, that's a metaphor. Exactly. And no one is claiming that a three-leaf clover or that water can fully 100% accurately illustrate the Trinity. But it certainly helps us to grasp the reality of the triunity of the Godhead, even as we make note of all the threes in creation that show us the triunity in creation, and that would include the three-leaf clover. Interestingly, as we discuss the three leaves of Patrick's shamrock, we then come to the third question. Why do Roman Catholics seem to use four-leaf clovers? For good luck, as their symbol for Patrick. Well, you might have noticed that Roman Catholics are very superstitious and pagan. Few Roman Catholics emphasize biblical doctrine or even emphasize God and Jesus very much. So just as the typical Roman Catholic spends most of their time confessing their sins to another sinner in a costume they call Father, and they recognize him as a priest even though there's no priesthood in the New Testament church, And even as the typical Roman Catholic spends most of their time in prayer talking to a false version of Mary or praying to the saints or even angels, so the Roman Catholic adopts the superstition of luck and the four-leaf clover that symbolizes that superstition over the three-leaf shamrock representing the Trinity. and the secular world has no problem playing along as they enjoy the drunken parties with the green beer and all the other carnal nonsense that goes along with the typical St. Patrick's Day festivities. The important point to all of this is to recognize that the real Patrick wasn't a drunk and there's no record of his ever being drunk or taking part in drunken parties. Patrick, as we pointed out in previous holiday devotionals, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and spent his life reaching the Irish for Christ. He was an Anglo-Roman born in Wales, England. To Patrick, it was all about Jesus. So let's follow that example and keep it about Jesus, second person of the triune Godhead, the son of God who died to save us and rose bodily from the dead in order to justify us freely forever and for his glory.