And then we all agreed that the way to answer Satan is in Scripture
words.
I think Sharley was right in saying that the first beginning of the sin in
the Garden of Eden was when Eve _listened_ to the serpent--lent her ear to
one who dared to ask such a question as "Hath God said?" The next step in
the road which led away from God, Eve took when she _answered_ that daring
question; the next, when she _believed_ the lie of the serpent, instead of
the word of God.
The devil is a liar, and when he spoke to Eve he tried to make her think
that God was not so good to His creatures as He might be, for He would not
allow them to have the very best thing in the garden--that forbidden fruit.
The great enemy of God envied His creatures their happy place where they
received everything from Him, and were dependent upon Him for everything;
and God allowed the man and woman whom He had made, to be proved; and, when
weighed in the balance, they were found WANTING. And so we read in God's
book how "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
As Eve gave her confidence to the serpent, she lost confidence in God, and
went on to believe that when _God_ had said, "In the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die," and the _serpent_ said, "Ye shall not
surely die," it was the serpent that spoke the truth. How dreadful it was
for God's creatures to look to the devil for happiness, to give up God who
created them, and take Satan for their master!
Instead of happiness they found only shame and misery.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331