SATAN THE GREAT DECEIVER
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?” The woman replied that God had permitted them to eat from the trees of the garden, except the one in the midst of it, “lest you die.” Then the serpent spoke again, “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.” (Genesis 3:1–5)
From the very first temptation, Satan revealed his method. He does not always shout; he whispers. He does not begin with open rebellion but with subtle suggestion. He does not come with horns and fire, but as a voice that seems reasonable. His plan in the garden was to turn Eve’s heart away from trust in her Creator, to make her believe that God was withholding something good. And from that day, he has been doing the same to every soul that ever drew breath.
He began with a question—“Has God indeed said?” It sounds innocent, but it is deadly. Before Eve ever reached for the fruit, she had already reached for doubt. The first seed of sin was not in the hand but in the heart. The serpent’s question took her eyes off all the trees God had given and fixed them on the one she could not have. That is the way deception always begins.
How often the same voice whispers today. It comes to a weary believer and says, “If God really loved you, would He let you suffer like this?” It speaks to the young and says, “If God were truly good, why would He forbid what feels so right?” And so, with one question, the heart begins to doubt the goodness of God. Yet the truth is the opposite—God withholds nothing that is good. “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). Every command of God flows from His love. Every “thou shalt not” is a hand stretched out to keep us from harm. When the Lord says “No,” it is because He longs to say “Yes” to something higher, purer, and eternal.
God’s prohibitions are protections, His warnings are expressions of mercy. The devil says that God is holding out on you, but the Bible says He is pouring out blessings upon you. When we start to doubt God’s heart, temptation is already winning the battle.
Then the serpent went further. He denied the truth of God’s warning. “You will not surely die,” he said. With those words, he called God a liar. It was as if he said, “You can break His law and be fine. There are no real consequences.” That lie has filled the world with ruin. People sin thinking they will escape the harvest. Yet the Bible still says, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Sin always carries its death. It may not come at once, but it comes surely. It kills purity, peace, and fellowship with God. A man once raised a small snake as a pet, letting it coil around his arm. When it grew large, he still trusted it. One night, it wrapped itself around him and crushed him to death. What he had played with became the thing that destroyed him. Sin is that serpent. It looks harmless at first, but it never stays small.
A little boy once told his Sunday School teacher, “Sin is anything you like doing that’s fun.” That’s how many see it. But the devil’s fun is like a credit card—you play now and pay later. God’s Word tells the truth about sin. The devil hides the bill until the pleasure fades. When you hear that inner voice saying, “No one will know, it won’t hurt, you’ll be fine,” remember—you are hearing the oldest lie on earth.
Finally, Satan distorted God’s purpose. He told Eve that God was trying to keep her from enlightenment, from being “like God.” He implied that God was selfish and small, guarding His position out of jealousy. But what a twisted lie that was! God had already made man and woman in His image. They were already like Him in the ways that matter—able to love, to choose, to worship, to walk with Him in fellowship. Satan offered them what they already had, only with rebellion added.
This is the heart of deception: it makes God’s commands look like chains when they are wings. The truth is that obedience is freedom. “You shall know the truth,” Jesus said, “and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The world says freedom is doing what you please; the Lord says freedom is pleasing the One who made you. His commandments are not burdens but blessings.
Yet the devil keeps telling men and women that they can be their own gods. He whispers that they can run their own lives and define their own truth. But only one man ever lived sinlessly, and His name is Jesus. The devil says God is cruel; the cross says God is love. The devil says God wants to rob you; Calvary says God wants to redeem you.
Satan’s lies haven’t changed. He still says, “God isn’t good, sin isn’t bad, and you’ll be happier without Him.” But Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). The first Adam believed the serpent’s lie and brought death. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, met the serpent in the wilderness, stood upon the written Word, and brought life. When Satan said, “Has God indeed said?” Eve doubted and fell. When he said to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God,” the Lord answered, “It is written.” That is how the deceiver is overcome—by clinging to what God has spoken.
Today the same serpent still whispers, still questions, still deceives. But there is One who cannot lie. There is One whose every word is truth, whose every purpose is love, whose every command is life. His name is Jesus. In Him, every lie is exposed, every wound can be healed, and every soul can be made whole again.
Do not listen to the deceiver. Listen to the Shepherd who calls you by name. He is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. And when you walk with Him, the serpent’s whisper loses its power forever.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
