Genesis, chapter 3, verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle 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? Notice again how the Word of God does not prove things, it declares and reveals them. In this case, the reality of the devil in the form of a serpent. After the devil's rebellion against and subsequent judgment by God, he became the master deceiver and liar. Is Satan the supreme wicked psychopath, believing he is able to defeat the Lord? But how many show that they are being deceived by him, especially those in governments, because they mock his existence as they reject the warning of Psalm 2? Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. But how many know this deceiver exists, but have sold their souls to him for temporary power, power they hope lasts longer, but they know, like the devil, that their time is short. But notice how you need the New Testament to correctly understand who this implacable enemy of God and man is. Even the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 20 verse 2, And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Dare I ask, who is behind the unending attack against the truth of the Bible and that it is the unique and only written word of God to man? For what is a better way to conceal the truth of who you are than to assault and seek to destroy and diminish the truth of the one book that reveals you correctly? For how many mock the historical reality of this chapter and event despite what Paul uses it for in warning the believers in Corinth? 2 Corinthians 11 verses 2 and 3. How much of God's good creation has he used to deceive her children? What creatures are less subtle than the serpent? An opossum? Does the devil labor to suppress the truth and unrighteousness that he is a creature of God, like so many listening to one of his master lies? Evolution? Notice the subtlety of the devil in posing a seemingly innocent question containing a lie that, as the father of lies, he knows is not true. The devil is not only the father of lies, but the first one to add to, and take away from the Word of God. He adds the word not and changes the second person singular pronoun thou to the plural ye. He assaults the goodness of God and the wise order of God by these two assaults on the precise Word of God in one subtle statement. How many who mock the precise these and ye's of the authorized version refuse to hear his subtle, lying, and deceptive tongue when they do so? Notice who the serpent approaches with his subtle question. Eve. Should I be sobered at how the order of God has been assaulted and continues to be assaulted? Yes. Should I be surprised? No. The father of disorder has been at it since the Garden of Eden. How successful has he been? Non-binary, anyone? Genesis 3 verse 2, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. What if Eve had said, I must ask Adam about this, since what thou art saying to me is not what he said to me? When we think we can answer subtle assaults against the truth of the Word of God without the help of the Bridegroom Jesus, are we not acting like Eve? Does what I am hearing or reading agree with what Jesus says? Verse 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. It is dangerous to listen to the devil, because thou will find thyself doing what he so subtly does, adding to and changing the Word of God. Since this serpent can do this, why can't I? There was nothing in the command given to Adam, not Adam and Eve, about not touching it. Why does Eve not name the tree of good and evil? Why does she add the word lest? Genesis 3 verses 4 and 5, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Notice, once the devil has gotten Eve to add to, change, and even question the Word of God, it is not hard for him to flatly deny its truth. and blatantly assault the character of God in daring to try and limit man with any prohibitions. How many who have listened to the lies of the devil, thinking they know better than God, have done what the devil told Eve would not take place. They have died. For Eve already knew what was good, not to eat from the tree of good and evil. And what was evil, to eat from it. But Eve and then Adam became the first empiricists. putting observation before the truth of the Word of God. Verse 6, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. Putting science or empiricism, or what we see with our eyes, before the truth of the Word of God has a long history. It began in the Garden of Eden. Verse 7, And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Shame came in with sin. How has sin warped men's minds when they support and defend things they should be ashamed of? The first lost works righteousness sinners were Adam and Eve. Verse 8, And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. Sinner man will even use God's creation to foolishly attempt to hide from God. Is the demonic lie of evolution not an example of this? Genesis 3 verse 9, And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? Notice who is the first seeker. not sinner man seeking God, but the God who has been sinned against seeking his works, righteousness, hiding sinners. But also notice who God speaks to first, not the serpent, not Eve, but Adam. You can all try to disrupt the order I have put in my creation, but I will not follow your example. Genesis 3 verses 11 and 12, and he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree? Or have I commended thee, that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. Notice what God does not say. He does not say, who told you that you were naked, but who told thee that thou was naked. God knew who he gave his command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of God, good and evil, too. Adam, not Eve. But how soon is the depravity of sin heard, and Adam blaming both God and Eve for his sin? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. If thou hadst given me Eve, I would not have eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How many books could be filled with the excuses we all make for our sins, even blaming God rather than crying out, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Genesis 3 verses 17 to 19. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Man doubts he is born dead in trespasses and sins, yet is constantly confronted with the consequences of sin and refuses to see them correctly, and that the gospel of God is our only hope of deliverance from it unless God sets us free from our blindness and bondage. How long would it take to adequately exegete the truths derivable from this ignored chapter of the Bible?