When we read the account of the temptation and eventual fall of Adam and Eve, we see the devil’s trick, and he hasn’t changed in the 6000+ years since.  He hasn’t needed to change; we still fall for the same trick. He uses three insidious lies that we fail to recognize and manage.

When I played baseball in high school, I could hit anybody’s fastball – no matter how hard they threw it, but I could corkscrew myself right into the ground in the batter’s box trying to hit it. The sad part is that I would still do that even when I knew the upcoming pitch was a curve ball.  I knew it was coming but fell for it every time.

Such is the case with the devil’s tricks to derail us in our walk of obedience. He hasn’t changed his strategy since the beginning of time, so we need to know his scheme, look for it, and respond accordingly.

The Devil’s Three Lies

In Genesis 3:1-7, the devil successfully lures Adam and Eve into disobedience against God.  The three lies he told them are the same three lies he tells us today.

1.  “Did God actually say…?”  (Genesis 3:1)

Our footing for belief and practice is God’s Word.  If the devil can cause us to doubt God’s Word, then our footing is shaky and we will soon fall.  Today, the Bible is no longer viewed as an authoritative book, and it is mostly banned from the public conversation.

If the devil removes God’s Word from the equation, then authority is “up for grabs.”  We can become our own authority, or some other lesser authority can take the Bible’s place. 

That is EXACTLY what has happened in our society, and sadly even in some churches, the Bible is little more than a historical relic which we encase as an artifact of our past.

We are in the mess we are because we have stopped believing God said what He said.  We need to once again, know, believe, and LIVE the Bible.

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2.  “You will not surely die…”  (Genesis 3:4)

The devil wants is to believe that God will not do what God has said He will do.  We see this demonstrated several ways in our lives. 

First, we live in fear and doubt because we do not believe the promises of God on our behalf. 

Second, because we do not believe those promises, we seek our own solutions to our problems and miss out on God’s blessings along the way. 

Then third, we live in disobedience because we could never believe (read with sarcastic tone) that loving God would ever hurt us, since He just wants us happy.

Fourth, we live without a sense of a holy God who must punish sin and who will one day vindicate His name. 

God is who He says He is, and He WILL do what He said He will do.  Never mistake God’s delay for God’s approval.  Never believe that just because your sin “didn’t hurt you,” that consequences will not eventually follow.

3.  “You will be like God…” (Genesis 3:5)

Without God’s Word as our authority and without a healthy fear of a holy God, the devil has set the stage for us to become our own Sovereign, the captain of our own ship, the master of our own soul.  While they would never verbalize such a belief, many live as though they know better than God how to manage their lives.

Our culture has replaced the fear of God with individualism, and Christians have fallen into the same trap.  We have swung at the devil’s curve ball and we are soon to strike out if don’t wise up. 

We hear such mantras as

each person has the right to decide what’s right for themselves

who am I to tell another person how to live their lives

what’s good for me may not be good for someone else

Those sound innocent enough and very palatable, but they camouflage in the devil’s lie that we can be like God. 

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There are many issues in our culture today that need the truth of God interjected into the conversation.  We ARE the salt and we ARE the light.  The world will continue in darkness if we continue to wear the lampshade of the devil’s lies and keep our salt in the salt shaker.

I finally learned to hit a curve ball when a coach challenged me to wait for it, and hit it right back where it came from.  When I learned to do that, I took great delight in watching pitchers duck, scramble, or get hit with the batted ball that I lined right back to them

Don’t strike out.  You know the devil’s curveball is coming. Hit it right back at him and choose to believe and obey God and His Word.