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3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be contrary to your husband,
but he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
(ESV)
Blatant evil is not our greatest threat as believers; it is deceptive evil wrapped in a package of truth.
But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3 HCSB
It’s easy to judge evil based on what is visible. But when we look at Scripture, we find the most potent evil being done under a shadow of deception. Judas disguised his evil actions of betrayal through friendship and even handed Jesus over with a kiss. The central threat to the early church movement was the deception of false teachers who came into the church with half-truths. The whole world will be awestruck as they follow the beast of Revelation.
Yes, evil is still evil. We should stand up against all forms: murder, hate, rape, theft, violence, etc. But just think… what’s worse than murder? Someone who pretends to be your best friend and then stabs you in the back. What’s worse than kidnapping? A person who “grooms” a family with kindness in order to kidnap their child and sell that young boy or girl to the highest bidder in the sex trafficking industry. That’s a distilled type of evil we cannot fully understand. Satan produces workers that act just like him. Deceit, craftiness, and trickery are always his first priority.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul compares the church at Corinth to Eve. They have been deceived and seduced, pulled away from Christ. The false teachers who came in among them were sophisticated and full of knowledge. They claimed to be closer to God than any other. They received the praise and awe of those around them. But worst of all, their teachings were 90% truth and 10% compromise. Paul knew that the 10% was enough to unhinge believers from their simple faith in Jesus.
Consider, these false teachers (or false apostles) were not just “good people” with misguided theology. They were emissaries of Satan!
For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will be according to their works.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 HCSB
Disguise – to change appearance; to masquerade, to transform.
How will we know if they are in disguise? How will we recognize them? The simple answer is… by their fruit! If you know what the real thing looks like, you will always be able to spot the fake.