Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:1-5
Did you know most lies have a very high percentage of truth in them? It's true. Satan knows that, and that's one the biggest tools that he uses to deceive people. In order to make a lie believable, all you have to do is add some truth to it. if you convince someone about the small piece that is true, they will believe the entire lie based on only that one little truth.
That's how Satan deceived Even in the garden of Eden. There are 2 main things he did in his sales pitch to Eve that were truly genius:
- he made her doubt. When Eve said they would die from eating from the tree, Satan's immediate response was: "really? die? isn't that a bit extreme?"
Don't we use that a lot today? Honestly, I use it all the time at work when I'm trying to convince someone to do something. Even if I'm not sure about something, my immediate reaction to someone who seems really confident about something is to say: "really?". The main purpose is simply to get them to doubt. Why? Because I know that if I can get someone to doubt, it will make them less confident, and less secure about their position. As soon they doubt their position, it opens up a small window for me to present my view, and the chances are higher they may believe my argument. I assure you that the tactic works very well. That's what Satan did to Eve to deceive her. All he had to do was cause just a little bit of doubt. As soon as he said that, she must have thought to herself: wow! That really is pretty extreme. would I really die just by eating this?
As soon as he got Eve into that vulnerable state, he immediately threw in his argument, which was believable because it actually contained a little bit of truth. He said:
- You will not die! You will be like God, knowing good and evil.
See how he did that? he mixed lies right in with truth, all in the same sentence....it was genius. He knew the only piece Eve would focus on is the true part, that she will "know good and evil". After all, isn't that the definition of the fruit of that tree? Satan convinced Eve to disobey the only direct order from God by telling her a lie that was mixed with a little bit of truth.
We hear these lies mixed with truth all the time, don't we? how could a God allow people to go through the pain that they do....isn't He a God of love? See that? It's convincing, isn't it? the true part of the statement is that "God is love"....which is the only part that people focus on, and since that specific statement is true, it makes them believe the lie that went with it. It's genius.
Today, let's be aware of the things we hear. Let's make sure to compare the whole argument that we hear with the truth from the Bible. That way, we will not be deceived by a lie that contains a piece of truth the way Eve was deceived long ago.
