9/15/2017 THE DEVIL AND HIS OLD TRICKS: SATAN'S TACTICS IN THE GARDEN AND HOW HE STILL USES THEM TODAYRead NowSatan has always been working against God's people since the beginning of time itself. In the Garden of Eden, Satan took on the form of a serpent (snake) to tempt Eve. After she fell for it, sin was released into the world, changing it forever. Unfortunately, Satan is still working. In this post, I will give you a short recap of the serpent's exchange with Eve in the book of Genesis. Next I will clarify why the church identifies the serpent as Satan. Lastly, I will show you what tactics Satan used to tempt Eve and how they're still being used today. A SUMMATION OF THE SERPENT'S EXCHANGEIn Genesis, God creates the heavens and the Earth as well as Adam and Eve. During the part of Genesis we will focus on, Eve (who is referred to as "woman" until after this exchange) is tempted to eat the fruit by the serpent. Before God created the woman, He gives Adam a few commandments to live by, namely what he can and can't eat. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:16-17 After this, God makes Adam a helper, the woman who would later be named "Eve" meaning "source of life." When gathering food for them to eat, the woman is approached by a serpent. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Genesis 3:1 He goes on to tell her that God doesn't want her eating of the tree because he "know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)." Eve, who did initially tell the serpent that God said the couple couldn't eat or touch the fruit of the tree without dying, saw that it was good for fruit, nice to look at, and would maker her wise, so she feeds it to her husband. After eating, they both realize they are naked and hide from God. God ends up finding out about what the two did and God gives a number of curses. FOR THE SERPENTGod curses the serpent to "go on his belly" for the rest of his life" and He says the serpent and humans will be enemies out to destroy each other (Genesis 3:14-15). FOR EVE/WOMANKINDGod says women would have great sorrow in birthing children and that the husband would rule over her (Genesis 16). FOR ADAM/MANKINDGod curses the ground and says Adam will encounter thorns and thistles that will make it difficult to grow. He also says that Adam will return to the dust because that is what he is made from (Genesis3:17-19). WHY THE SERPENT IS THE DEVILMany people take issue with the church claiming that Satan is the serpent in this story. They take issue with this because they probably haven't examined the scriptures throughout the Bible about Satan to see that the serpent and Satan have very similar characteristics. 1. The serpent is described in Genesis 3:1 as "subtile." The dictionary defines this word as "clever or dexterous." Here are a few more verses about Satan that parallel with this description:
2. There are other verses in the Bible that identify Satan as a serpent and a dragon: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Revelation 12:9 3. Paul says in Romans that God will bruise Satan under our feet, drawing parallels to God's curse in the Garden of Eden when He says humans will bruise the head of the serpent. "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you. Amen." Romans 16:20 4. Only animals influenced by a supernatural being can talk. We see only one other example of an animal talking. This example is Balaam's donkey. In Number 22, the donkey is influenced by the angel of the LORD. The donkey actually speaks to Balaam and asks why Balaam continues to beat it. We know that Satan was once an angel, so he would likely have the same abilities as that angels have. THE DEVILS TACTICS IN THE GARDEN AND |
IN THE GARDENSatan tells Eve that God won't let her die if she eats the fruit. He continues on to say that God just doesn't want Eve or Adam eating the fruit because they will become "as gods" and that their eyes would be opened. | IN MODERN TIMESPeople are always willing to step on whoever they need to to come to power. We also see a sort of abandonment from logic when people get too wrapped up in pursuing wisdom and other forms of information. |
MISINTERPRETING GOD'S WORD
IN THE GARDENThis is pretty interesting, and I never caught it in the Biblical narrative until recently. If you look closely at Genesis 2:17 and Genesis 3:3, you will see discrepancies. Even though God says eating of the tree will result in death, Eve says eating or even touching it will lead to death. This is a misinterpretation of God's word (or ignoring what He said entirely). This is partially an assumption. We don't know if Adam tells Eve this afterward to deter her from touching the fruit, but it is clearly not what God says. | MODERN TIMESThis happens so often. People scour the Bible for a verse that fits their narrative while ignoring the context of the passage they are reading from. For example, when Trump instituted the temporary ban on "illegal" immigrants, people quoted Leviticus 19:33 which says we should not mistreat a foreigner in our land. However, if they were to read further in Leviticus 19:34, they would learn that the Bible says foreigners living among us should be treated as our native-born. This includes taxation and following the legal pathways to reside in the country legally. |
NEGATING GOD'S WORD
IN THE GARDENThe serpent tells the woman "Ye shall not surely die (Genesis 3:4). This goes directly against what God actually says in Genesis 2:17 when He says "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Satan negates the words of God to Eve. | IN MODERN TIMESThere are thousands who are influenced by the Devil to negate God's word. Other religions, mainly Islam, allege that the gospels do not expose the real Jesus. The Devil, in my opinion, influences people to believe a man born 500 years after Christ instead of his disciples and their companions who wrote the gospels. |
PLACING BLAME ON OTHERS
IN THE GARDENThe story makes it clear that no one wants to take the fall for eating the fruit. When Adam is questioned, he says "the woman thou gavest me (Genesis 3:12) gave him the fruit. While this is true, Adam likely had never seen the fruit before as he was not allowed to eat it. There is no suggestion that he even questioned it. Eve places the blame on the serpent saying he "beguiled me" and I ate. While Eve takes blame for eating it initially, she also blames the serpent. Although it is clear the serpent is partially to blame, the decision to eat was made by both Adam and Eve. | IN MODERN TIMESWe consistently see examples of people refusing to take the blame for something they had a hand in causing. It is important for every responsible party to step up and take the blame for whatever it is they did wrong. For example, say two children are throwing ball outside. One child says "I bet you can't throw it at the house without missing the windows." If the other takes the bet and breaks the window, there are two people to blame. Although it was the child who threw the ball who broke the window, the other "beguiled" him to do so as well. |
PLACING BLAME ON GOD
IN THE GARDENThis one is up to a bit of interpretation, but it seems plain to me that Adam blames God, in a way, for this exchange. In Genesis 3:12, Adam says "And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat." Why did Adam have to identify Eve as "the woman THOU gavest me?" If we understand Genesis correctly, Eve was the only woman on Earth. Why didn't he just blame Eve? | IN MODERN TIMESEver since the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, more and more people blame God for His lack of intervention in tragedies like these. People blame God when they don't get the diagnosis they want, when their loved ones pass away, and so on. There is no doubt that the Devil plays advocate in this. We see this in Job when Job's friends try to say God is to blame and that Job wasn't up to God's standards when we know that Satan was responsible for Job's woes. |
CONCLUSION
IF YOU'D LIKE TO TRUST JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, PLEASE CLICK "DETAILS" BELOW THE COMMENT FORM FOR MORE INFORMATION.
- Admit to God that you are a sinner
(Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). - Repent, turning away from your sin
(Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:9). - Believe that Jesus is God's Son and accept God's gift of forgiveness from sin
(Romans 5:8; Acts 4:12; John 3:16; John 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:11-13). - Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord
(Romans 10:9-10,13).
HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN
God is a perfect being who designed each and every one of us. He is sinless, good, and perfect. However, after Eve ate that apple, sin was released into the world and, as a result, everyone was born into sin and everyone does wrong. Only those without sin can enter into Heaven. But don't worry, Jesus came down to Earth and paid your sin debt do you could go to Heaven. Jesus is our salvation and offers us a way to Heaven. A way to live with Him forever. Here is what you have to do:
A—ADMIT
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