FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Todd Gaddis

rather than Creator. Most of the time he concocts a palatable blend of truth and error. When the situation demands it, however, he resorts to blatant lies. In fact, Jesus called him “ a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). He told his first lie in the garden, assuring Eve that she would “not surely die” when she ate the forbidden fruit. Thus, they partook, and the Devil got caught in a lie. “They did die on the day they ate. Their bodies began to die physically ; their deterioration would be slow but inevitable. They died spiritually, in that they were separated from God. They would also die eternally unless God were to intervene.” 4 As effective as it was, deception was not the only arrow Satan pulled from the quiver on that day of destruction. He also introduced doubt , resorting to an attack on the very words of God. He asked, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). In other words, “How do you know those were the words of God? Are you certain of their meaning? After all, you weren’t even there when they were spoken.” Eve loosely paraphrased the words of God (compare Genesis 2:16,17 with 3:2,3), a move that no doubt emboldened the serpent. Satan continued to feed Eve’s insecurity by leading her to believe that God was deceiving and keeping something good from her and her husband. He said , “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Observe the adversary’s strategy. Rather than allude to the hundreds of beautiful trees available to them, the Devil steered Eve toward the only one off limits, a tactic he continues to use. Satan knows that if he can get us to focus on the one thing we lack, he can steal any joy derived from what we do have. Eve became the first, but certainly not the last, to fall victim to this scheme. Clouded and confused by Satan’s deception and doubt, she was overcome by desire . When Eve “saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining

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