“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. 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 3:1-5)
Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden and succeeded in his mission to get her and her husband to sin. And this happened despite the fact that Adam and Eve had intimate fellowship with God. As we look around our world today, we see the devil still tempting humans and on a worldwide scale, primarily through the Internet and social media but also through broadcast media and just daily life. He tells lies and half truths to billions of people and he does it non-stop. He aims to lead all people into sin and keep them in unbelief by convincing them that the path to real happiness is through fulfilling the lusts of the eyes and of the flesh. Real happiness, he preaches comes through fame, fortune, and feasting, not from faith or obedience to God.
Many Christians fall under the sway of his lies for they are spoken not by a snake, but people many admire, the cultural idols and icons of our day: professional athletes, politicians, scientists, scholars, talking heads, and Hollywood celebrities. Sometimes it seems even we Christians trust and worship them more than we trust and worship Jesus.
We believers are called into a Spiritual conflict. In this war, we do not use cultural, social, or political means that are espoused by so many credentialed academics, politicians, and experts who lack faith in Jesus. As we learn from Genesis 3, our adversary Satan the devil is crafty and cunning. He tempts us with lies and half truths just as he did with Eve. He tempted her to question the Word of God, convinced her that what the Lord had said about death resulting from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a lie. He appealed to Eve’s pride. She desired to be like God, to know all things. And so did Adam. And so do we all.
Sin is a failure to believe that God is trustworthy and true. We believers must be on our guard through prayer and fellowship with other believers. We must be in the Word of God every day because to fight the spiritual battle we are in, we cannot ignore what God has said. We must place our trust and faith in Him alone. And teach others to do the same. The Lord God, unlike Satan, is always true to His word.