Thursday, July 19, 2018

Some people don’t believe in Satan.  Because he is the master of deception he dupes people in that fashion.  Satan uses their wisdom to blind them.  Remember the scene in the Garden and Satan’s conversation with Eve?

“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied.  “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”  “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5

The first thing Eve should have noticed was that speaking reptile!  Perhaps there was communication with all living beings then?  I know that I’m not believing a “serpent” even if he told me, “I won’t bite”!  If “reptile” means “snake,” I was raised in Oklahoma where a good one was a dead one.  Upon spotting a snake my grandmother’s philosophy was, “Grab the hoe and kill it!”  Very sound advice, although there are laws today against such actions.

Notice the devil’s first words.  No courteous “Hello, how are you.”  Straight to the point with a statement questioning God’s decision, mixed with a whopper lie.  If questioned about his lying inferences, Satan would probably have shrugged it off with a sarcastic reply and a smug look.  That is still being practiced today!  Satan was setting Eve up for a fall.  Notice, silent Adam is there, but not present!

Poor Eve, her reply is pathetic.  She doesn’t have her facts straight.  When you’re mesmerized, whatever “smarts” you have, disappears.  Notice how quick Satan jumps on Eve’s use of the word “die.”  His response is, “You won’t die!  God knows that your eyes will be opened . . . and you will be like God.”  Wow!  One bite and you are promoted to God’s level!  What an opportunity to be the mother of future generations that will follow in her footsteps!  What a legacy!

Satan convinces us, in different ways, that he knows God better than we do.  He is the world’s best at introducing a falsehood and it being accepted as truth.  That continues to be practiced today.  Once done, all he needs to do is sit back and watch us run with it.  Mankind is good at believing things from the devil are original thoughts of wisdom which we have developed.  Some accept those ideas as being from god.  They are.  Not Yahweh God, but the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)!

So often we are more like mother Eve and papa Adam than we think!  We live in our own garden!

“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