The Apple Myth, Truth part 3

One of the greatest misconceptions of the Bible is that Adam and Eve were so overcome by the desire for the forbidden fruit that they decided to disobey God. It simply did not happen that way. Creation was not that fragile, and the first family was not fighting the same internal struggle that we deal with every day. One more point, the Bible does not say that the fruit was an apple, but that is not so important right now.

The devil is not very original. He uses the same tactics with us today that he used in the beginning; however, his tactic – The Lie – is so subtle that we do not even recognize it at the first reading. Let’s follow along. In the beginning…

God was good – in the eyes of the first family – and evil was bad. The barrier to disobedience was enormous, and it had to be removed before Eve would even think of that which was bad. The barrier was GOD, so the enemy had to get Him out of the way. This is how he did it:

"…Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" Gen 3:1
Lie #1: Has God really said anything?

“…You surely will not die!” Gen 3:4
Lie #2: If God did say something, He lied!

"For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Gen 3:5
Lie #3: God lied because He wants to keep something good from you.

Summation: God must not be good, and that thing He was keeping from you is not really bad.

Now after this we see Eve’s new perspective: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food… Gen 3:6

Before the enemy’s lies God was good and sin was bad. After “The Lie”, God was perceived as bad, or less than good, and that which was bad became good. Communion was broken with God, man died spiritually and the compass of his soul and body now received all of its so-called truth from the world. This accurately describes the inclination of the unsaved world today.

When God gives our sprits new birth through Jesus we still have to deal with a body that is oriented towards the world. Our souls – mind & emotions – are caught in the crossfire between the lies of this world, what our flesh feels to be true and the The Truth that now resides in our spirits.

This awkward position is a terror to new believers because they do not understand what has just happened to them, and it is too often the source of a low-grade depression in older believers who find themselves trapped in the same realization that Asaph was in. (Ps 73).

Like Asaph, we can only come out of the haze when we come to the truth of God’s Word, and because the world and our bodies do not take a break from trying to contradict God we cannot afford to take a break from His presence or His Word.

Here are some encouraging truths that will sustain us in this battle.

• God sees us as being perfectly forgiven for all time – because we are completely forgiven - even though He is still perfecting us. Heb 10:14
• The inner battle that we have is common to all Christians, even to the Apostle Paul. 1 Pet 5:8-10; Rom 7:15
• Believing that GOD IS GOOD is the sentry at the door of our hearts that saves us from many attacks. Rom 8:28-39
• There is no condemnation for us while we are in this process of practical transformation. Rom 8:1
  

In my upcoming posts I hope to show you that the enemy uses the same simple attack today as with Eve. However, we can build a fortress of truth concerning how good and powerful God is on our behalf. This is our encouragement. He loves us, He is good, He is God.