Have You Bought the Lie?
Have you surrendered to “the lie”? The apostle Paul wrote in his second letter to the Christians at Thessalonica about those who reject the truth, “God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” (v. 2:11)
Again, in his message to the saints at Rome, he spoke about those who “exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” (v. 2:25) What is “the lie” and why is it so important for Christians to understand? You must revisit the Garden of Eden in order to begin to comprehend this reality. Creation was completed, the man and woman were stationed there, and sin was only in the spiritual realm, i.e. Satan’s rebellion. Adam and Eve were given access to everything except the fruit on the tree in the middle of the garden. One simple prohibition—only one negative rule! Yet, it was here that the devil tempted them to sin. Genesis 3:1-7 records the sad account of man’s mortgaging of his dominion over the earth. In a single act of disobedience, Adam surrendered his trust to Satan. How was the deceiver able to do it? He appealed to the most basic attribute of man’s nature: pride. “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. 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.’” (Genesis 3:4-5) Those five words, YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, were enough to tempt them, and the enemy of our souls continues the same approach. Actually, Satan himself was tempted to rebel by the same thought. Isaiah quoted the devil as proclaiming, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:14) Man in his ignorant pride can be deceived into believing the lie that he is free to run his own life, make up his own rules. No! God is the Creator. He made us. We did not make ourselves. He made the rules and revealed them in His Word. Of course, we do possess the will to disobey and sin (and reap the consequences).
Sin cera, Erik
Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.