More than one trick!

If you are like me, you know there is a lot to say about sales representatives. With their state-of-the-art presentations and well-polished scripts, they can convince you to buy their product or service within a few minutes. There’s nothing bad with buying what might benefit you but truth be told, there are many things that we would have never bought, had we not had a chance to speak to them. Often times, we give in to their persuasion and buy overly priced products or services that we do not even need. We usually regret our decision after the deal is done and sealed. The unfortunate part is it is usually too late to reverse the transactions. As we sink in debt and guilt, they will be rejoicing over their commissions that just went up!

It took me a while to learn to say no to the sales pitches. Took me even longer to realize that we do not need to master resisting physical sales pitches but also spiritual ones. The very same way that the sales reps work is the same way Satan works at times. And without realizing it, we allow him to sell his ideas to us.

A little bit about Satan…

It’s no secret that the devil is a liar; We have heard it many times. John 8:44 tells us that his native language is lies (not English, Shona or Spanish), for he is a liar and the father of lies. Considering the majority of us know that he is the father of lies, why then o we keep falling into his traps.  Shouldn’t it be easy to recognize lies and resist temptations?

There’s more than one answer to this question. And  Genesis 3 reveals one of the reasons why we fall into his traps every day. The revelation from Genesis 3, is a weapon that we need to use every day.

The Revelation…

One of the greatest lessons from Genesis 3 is that Satan is a deceiver. Besides being the father of lies, one of his greatest tactics is deceit. What does this mean? And how different is it from being a liar?

Lies vs Deceit

Lies are simple- they are not truths. With lies, it’s as simple as someone telling you 1+1=3. But deceit is more complex. Deceit can be done with or without lies. And without lies, it’s not easy to tell you are being deceived. Here is a simple example; Jill can tell you that John threatened to kill him. This might be 100% true. With such limited information, John is painted as the bad guy. But if Jill does not also tell that John only made the threat after he(Jill) raped John’s daughter, held him and his family hostage and threatened to kill them if a ransom wasn’t paid, then Jill has deceived you.

One can deceive with or without lying as long as the objective to be misled is met. A deceiver makes you believe in the wrong things. He/she misleads, betrays and plays.

Genesis 3:1-5 The Fall 

1 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’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The liar used a different tactic…

In Genesis 3, the devil did not come to Eve with a bunch of lies.  In one of his statements, Satan told Eve that if she ate the forbidden fruit, her eyes would be opened. In his exact words, he said, “ God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened,…“

This statement was 100% true. God is an all knowing-God. So the effects of eating the forbidden fruit were no secret to him. Gen 3:7 confirms that after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened for real.

Satan continued to say“…,  and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And this was also 100% true. Gen 3:22 says,” And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.”  After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God acknowledged that they became like one of them, knowing good and evil.

Satan also told Eve that if they ate of the fruit tree that was in the middle of the garden they would not die. This was not true but if this statement was taken literally, Satan could have defended himself by saying that he was referrring to instant physical death. Adam had been told that if you eat of the tree you will die. And right there before him, stood his wife, who had taken the first bite of the fruit and she was still blinking and talking. Had Adam resisted to eat, Satan could have convinced Adam by saying look at your wife, she ate the fruit and she is still alive.

Everything that the enemy said in pursuing the two to eat the forbidden fruit was not as important as what he did not say. The knowledge that the enemy held on to was what was more important. Satan came and presented his “sales pitch” so he could DECEIVE  Adam and Eve into disobeying God. He did not tell them that after eating the forbidden fruit they would be become dead men walking! He did not tell them that even though they’d still be alive, they would die instantly in their spirits. He did not tell them that they would lose their privilege to constantly live in the presence of God. What he didn’t tell them is that in addition to instant spiritual death, physical death would eventually come and there was no way they could escape it. What Satan didn’t tell them was that, with the power of knowing what is good and bad, their innocence will be gone and they would realize their nakedness. He didn’t tell them they’d have to find ways to cover their nakedness. He didn’t tell them that, their good life would come to an end. Neither did he tell them they’d be thrown away from God’s presence. Nothing was mentioned about the punishment that’d come as a result of sin. What the enemy didn’t tell them is that even though they would be like God, they would not be God and they would be chased far away from God.

Satan successfully achieved his goal by manipulating the truth. He spoke about 80% of God’s words and added  about 20% of lies. He deceived them!

In Genesis 3:5, Satan does not win mainly by lying. He is the father of lies, who also knows how to use different weaponry. He understands how humans operate. He knows the weaknesses of the human spirit quite well. His temptation was a mission to change Eve’s trust in God’s goodness. Once he had successfully instilled doubt in her, he succeeded in getting Eve to question God. And that eventually led Eve to disobey God. He is still doing the same to us today.

Satan is cunning. He will use different tricks, schemes, people, and situations to make you doubt the existence and goodness of God. And if you are not careful, you will be deceived!

Satan does not always come to us with blatant lies. He can deceive us without a single lie. He is also able to deceive us by presenting half-truths but not THE WHOLE TRUTH. It is our responsibility to discern when the truth has been tweaked. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.