It strikes me that we all fall prey at times, to this methodology from the enemy. It’s not unlike Pilot’s question to Jesus: “what is truth”. Of course Satan even used this method of deception against Jesus. Satan obviously has a highly inflated opinion of himself: to ever have thought that he could best Jesus with his deceptive methods. But he gets his confidence by besting man. Man actually follows his lead possibly all too often. He began with besting Eve and Adam with his logic, even when the only word of God that existed for Adam was simple to understand. There was no scripture in those days, but there was The Word of God, and He said:

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (NASB1995)

God had given Adam a kingdom over which to rule.

Genesis 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (NASB1995)

As you read Genesis you can readily see that this was the sum total of Adam’s instruction from God, which was important enough for His Spirit to later have recorded, yet Satan attacked what were these very plain Words of God given for Adam and Eve’s successful life upon earth. Adam had obviously shared God’s teaching or instruction with Eve. So considering the fact that God’s instruction was so plain and simple, one would think that Satan had a very difficult job on his hand should he desire to wrest the kingdom that God had given to Adam from him. Yet, as we read it is obvious that his deception of man was so easy, and unfortunately that fact has not changed. Satan twisted God’s Word, and he gained control of earth by enslaving mankind.

As we further analyze what happened here, we can see a couple of things made clearer. The problem was that Adam did not believe God over the circumstance presented, and that possibly because he did not understand that Word. Consider the word “die”. God was obviously talking spiritual death. Adam obviously didn’t care to get God’s meaning. He could have asked God: “what do you mean by die”? 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (NASB1995)

The lie, was just as simple as God’s Word, but it was accepted by Eve, even in light of the risk that God had placed on disobedience. How could that happen? To die — Death should instill fear, but it didn’t — Why? One reason could be that no death had yet occurred and it therefore had no significance, or no fear factor. But I don’t think that to be the entire case. When Adam ate the fruit he was truly deceived by the circumstance and by his not knowing what God meant by die. He knew that Eve had eaten the fruit, and she had not died. That deceptive circumstance could have been the cause of Adam not believing God. Man it seems will always have a reason in his own mind for His sin. But even so this does not explain why Eve had eaten the fruit.

I was at our community pool one day with Ellen and I was in a conversation with Bob. There is more than one Bob in my life. This Bob is a known atheist in our community and this discussion was about God’s existence. Bob in order to prove his point got out of the pool and lifted his eyes and his hands to heaven and said in a fairly loud voice if there is a God may he strike me dead right now. He smugly got back in the pool, and I’m sure thought that he had won the argument. Any bystander may have been just that easily convinced. I thought a lot of thoughts following that incident, but the truth is that Bob’s prayer will be answered as he prayed it to God. In fact Spiritually speaking Bob may have lost all chance — he may have closed the book of life without his name having been written on its pages right there at that moment. If he does come to repentance it will only be by God’s Grace, and what I had told Bob will also come to reality, for I said: “Bob, one day you will bow your knees before Jesus and declare that He is Lord, I just hope that it is not too late for you.

You see Bob believes that because God did not strike him dead at that very moment that he is right. He ignores the fact that it is not his perceived truth, but God’s truth, which will come to pass. Circumstance, is often considered to confirm truth, when in fact God’s word to us is the final say on the truth, which will actually rule in the end.

So why did Eve eat of the fruit? I believe that the serpent, who was very subtle took the fruit from the tree of good and evil and took a bite (he was the Bob in the Genesis account) the serpent knowing that he could not die, his fate had already been sealed, so, it is probable that after having taken this bite then: 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

We don’t really know, but I believe, Satan used the same circumstance as did Bob to twist God’s truth, and to take what God said out of the context in which He had stated it. For Adam truly did know that Eve had eaten the fruit.

Obviously God was speaking of spiritual death and not physical. Satan’s spiritual death was already sealed, and he knew that he could not ever die. His lot as a fallen angelic being is to live eternally in hell, which certainly seems to have been his chosen fate. Scripture tells us that man was not created for hell, so why would any man allow Satan’s lies and circumstance to overrule God’s Word?

We can see evidence of the word of God being twisted every day. That evidence is seen both outside and inside the Church. It is seen in Atheism as well as in the doctrinal disputes which exist within the Church of Jesus. Those, which He established based upon truth, which are to be transferred to us through His Spirit, another comforter, who would lead us into all truth. If this daily walk with God is not happening in our life; then we are all too easily deceived into accepting a twisted truth. Peter said that Paul: speaking about these things as he does in all of his letters. In which there are some things that are difficult to understand, which the untaught and unstable [who have fallen into error] twist [and] misinterpret, just as [they do] the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16 (AMP)

One might ask: “how can men who dedicate their lives to the study of the word get it so wrong even to the point of their destruction”? The Holy Spirit within us and them is the teacher. If we rely on the wisdom of man over the wisdom of God through His Spirit; then we become deceived. Satan is in the deception business. God is in the truth. Jesus told us that from His time forward men will worship God in Spirit and truth.

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (KJV)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).