Anatomy of a Lie

Anatomy of a Lie

Genesis 3: Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”

⁴ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 

============

 

Harmony existed between GOD, man and woman. GOD had HIS two trees, man and woman had their millions of trees. GOD could eat from HIS trees, man and woman and animals could eat from an endless variety. Satan, took the form of a serpent, probably to hide from being seen. He did not approach the man, rather he approached the woman.

 

My Observations:

• Satan started his lie by questioning GOD in a way that creates doubt.
• Eve, added words to what was told to her.
• Satan capitalized on her misunderstanding by telling her something that was not true.

 

Let me start off by saying that GOD has not revealed all that HE is to humans. I have to go to the end mankind to explain the beginning of the fall. In the end, Satan “was” sentenced to eternal death and GOD sealed up his fate in a scroll that could only be opened by a sinless human. Satan was thrown out of heaven to earth.

 

I believe this is where our story picks up. Satan wanted to ruin “all” humans, starting with the first. His plan probably included staying around the garden and controlling the humans with lies. This is not written, but fits the way Satan operates. Satan’s entire motive was to “be” GOD and to take over. If he could get the humans to fall, then he would accomplish getting all humans!

 

Challenge:

• Why does GOD clarify the conversation between Eve and Satan to Moses?
• Have you ever wanted something so badly that you were willing to lie?
• Are you being lied to regarding your worth, or if GOD loves you?

Rare Action

Rare Action

1 Corinthians 5: ^12-13 After all, it is none of my business to judge outsiders. God will judge them. But should you not judge the members of your own fellowship? As the scripture says, “Remove the evil person from your group.”

 

============

 

My meetings usually ran smooth, but this one wasn’t going so well. I had a guy who insisted on interrupting and asking antagonizing questions. Usually my approach was to request to hold questions until the end, but this was not going to happen with this guy. I stopped the meeting and told him to leave.

 

• There have been rare times when I had to kick someone out.
• There have been rare times when I needed to let someone go.
• There have been rare times when I exceeded the capacity for patience and had to tell a person to leave.

 

Paul addressed a person, perhaps a self-acclaimed church leader, who was boastful about his sexual escapades. He implies that the guy also acted greedy, worshipped idols, slandered people, was a drunkard and a thief. It seemed like the guy was not going to surrender his life to following JESUS any time soon. The best thing to do was to tell him to leave.

 

• GOD wants me to be able to tell a disrupter to leave.
• GOD wants me to recognize when a person is not following CHRIST but serving their own lusts.
• GOD wants me to remove the evil person from the group as a rare but necessary action.

 

Judge not lest you be judged still applies when considering kicking someone out of a fellowship. I mean, any group can segregate themselves and make up rules to keep their fellowship looking and acting like themselves.

 

That is not what is going on here. In a diverse group of people, there may be a person who clearly is not following JESUS and is harmful to spreading HIS message of love and forgiveness. Such a person is spreading evil versus love. This person needs to be removed from the group. I am grateful GOD forgives and restores.

 

• Do you have a person who is being disruptive in your group?
• Has that person exceeded everyone’s patience regarding the love of CHRIST?
• Is the person spreading evil and focused only on worldly conversations?
• Will you prayerfully remove this person and hope he or she will be restored by GOD someday?