The Devil (who is also called the serpent in the Bible) also knows about mankind's freedom to choose. The Devil consistently operates by slyly getting people to doubt the accuracy and integrity of God's Word. The Devil encourages mankind to subtly change God's Word so that the Word, as God gave it, no longer exists. The Devil operates in "shades of gray." The Devil wants you to choose something close to the truth rather than the true Word.
Genesis 2:16-17
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.
Black and White - Clearly laid out to believe.
Genesis 3:1
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?
The first thing the Devil did when he approached Eve was to question the accuracy of God's Word. He has not changed his methods since that day. The first assault on our believing is always to question God's Word. "Did God really say that?" Now we have free will. We can choose, as Jesus Christ did, to answer with "It is written!" and reject the attempt to question the truth of God's Word by clearly re-stating, word for word, what God's Word says. But Eve did not do that. She considered the question posed by the Devil and attempted to privately interpret what God meant. By considering the question she was already operating in shades of gray.
Genesis 3:2
And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Close? Yes. Accurate? NO! God had said "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat." Eve left out the word "freely." If you omit a word from the Word of God you no longer have the true Word. And as is true today, when you omit freedom you add law. Look what she did next . . .
Genesis 3:3
But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
. . .
Accurate? NO! God did not say anything about touching the tree. She omitted "freely" and she added a rule: "no touching." Shades of gray. The Word no longer exists.
Genesis 3:3
But of the fruit of the tree
which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not
eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.
Finally, Eve changed the absolute, black and white truth of God's Word to a maybe, perhaps, lest ye die. The Word of God no longer exists. It is today, as it was then, a matter of life and death. God says, "Do this and live. Do that and die." The Devil says "Are you sure? Maybe you won't die?"
The pattern is the same today. The Devil got Eve to question God's Word. Eve considered the question that the Devil proposed. Then Eve omitted a word from God's Word. Then Eve added to God's Word, and finally she changed the absolute to a perhaps. This is the spiraling road downward. Whenever the Devil attacks men and women of God he always leads them down this road. He tries to get you to question the integrity of God's Word and then change it so that the Word no longer exists. Once he has gotten you to this point, he can then come out in black and white and contradict God's Word and you will accept it.
Genesis 3:4
And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die:
A direct, black and white, contradiction!
Genesis 2:17b "thou shalt surely die."
- God's words
Genesis 3:4b "thou shalt not surely
die." - The Devil's words
Somebody has got to be a liar.
Either God or the Devil. (The answer is: the Devil) God's Word
always lays out the truth in black and white terms. Here are
the choices. But then God also always tells you what the right choice
is. Choose life! You have freedom to choose. You know
the choices. And you know what is the right choice. I just
love the simplicity of God's Word.
Genesis 30:15
See, I have set before thee this
day life and good, and death and evil;
Gee! What a hard choice. Which one do you think God wants you to choose?
Genesis 30:16
In that I command thee this day
to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments
and his statutes and his judgments, that thou
mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy
God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
OK, choice number one: Love God, Walk His Word, Live, Multiply, God will bless you.
Genesis 30:17-18
But if thine heart turn away,
so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other
gods, and serve them;
I denounce unto you this day,
that ye shall surely perish,
and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither
thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Choice number two: Turn away, Don't hear, Get drawn away [remember Eve and shades of gray?], Worship other gods, Serve other gods, Perish, Not prolonged days.
Well, just in case you are having a hard time making up your mind and deciding which you should choose, God will give you a clue:
Genesis 30:19
I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live:
The Word of God is wonderfully
simple. Here is life. Here is death. Choose life!
Joshua set before the tribes
of Israel this same choice after they settled the promised land:
Joshua 24:14-15
Now therefore fear the Lord,
and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve
ye the Lord.
And if it seem evil unto you
to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom
ye will serve; whether the gods which your
fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the
gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.
Freedom to choose is a wonderful
right. God has presented the options in black and white and
told you what the correct choice is. Life or death? Choose
Life. The Word of God is simple as is the choice. As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord.