True Lies

“A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.” – William Blake.

Genesis 2:16-17: And the Lord God commanded the man “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” This is the commandment that the Lord God gave Adam regarding the tree of good and evil. God cannot lie! Hebrews 6:18 says that it is impossible for God to lie. Yes, we serve a God who is Holy and true and there is no unrighteousness in Him – Psalms 92:15. Here we see God commanding Adam not to eat of its fruit or else he will surely die.

Later in chapter 3:4, the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die”. John 8:44 says that ‘there is no truth in the devil. He is a liar and the father of all lies’. Satan is a liar…he lies to swallow you into his den of liars. He had to instigate a plan to pull man away from God in the Garden of Eden. His only weapon in hand was the great lie which he executed and unfortunately won the victory. Man fell for the devil’s fleece.

The last two paragraphs talk about two distinct statements made by invariably the most contradictory characters; the Most Holy and the most evil! One declaring death for disobedience and the other denying it. What happened in the end is something that we need to delve into. Man transgressed. But whose declaration came true? God told man that he would die and satan told he wouldn’t. Did man die when he disobeyed? The most shocking and something that you least wanted to hear is yet to come! Unlike God told and like satan told, man didn’t die.

Did God lie? In this case, yes! Did satan tell the truth? In this case, yes again! Please don’t get mad at me…if that is what you thought, read on. Satan is a deceiver. He wants bad things to happen to us. We are God’s creation, the work of His own hands. Satan would want us to turn against God because we are God’s most precious possessions. On the other hand God wants good to happen to us. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son”. We could see how God displays a sacrificial love on man. If we look into the benefits of satan’s truth in this context, man believed satan’s truth and what did he ultimately attain? Separation from God and His blessings. It’s better to believe God and live with him than to obey satan and separate ourselves from God.

To summarize, what God meant was not physical death. God warned Adam about “spiritual death” i.e. separation from God or friendship with the devil. That’s why when man sinned he actually didn’t die but suffered pain more than death because of his separation from God. On the other hand, what satan meant was physical death which he ruled out, hiding the real truth behind which is spiritual death. Man fell for his malice and rejected God. To reemphasize, God cannot lie! Even what appears to be a lie from God is actually the truth. It’s up to us to obey or disobey his commandments. The same applies for satan…what may appear to be the truth from the devil is always a lie. It could never benefit us and would only take us away from God.

Satan biggest tool today is camouflaging the real truth. Whenever I counsel the youth, they tend to justify their sinful life and I wonder how well satan has hidden what is supposed to be truth. Dear all, watch out…satan’s on prowl. The world and its charm are so compromising that we would never know until we fall deep down. Better to believe God and suffer for a while than to believe the devil and suffer forever.

Dear Jesus, help me to cling to you whatever may happen. May my ears be attentive to you and not to the lies of the devil. Amen.