By Sara Ronnevik

In an age of aggressive lies, it can feel overwhelming to know what is true. There are false ideologies in the world and there are lies posing as new versions of Christianity. Understanding and dismantling every false worldview seems like a daunting task. But today, I am going to give you a tool that will simplify the work of being a lie detector. This tool is called “The Serpent’s Lie.” If you understand the first lie ever told to mankind, you will be able to recognize it in every false belief system. And I hope that you will be able to use your understanding of this lie when evaluating various ideas within our culture. So, let’s take a close look at it.

God’s first command for Adam and Eve was this:

You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17 NIV)

Then along came the devil, in the form of a serpent and he told a lie. But he did not start with a straight-up lie. He started out by casting doubt on God’s Word, and by making Eve feel like the victim of a slight injustice.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (Genesis 3:1-5 NIV)

When the serpent asked “Did God really say…?” he then added to God’s command. He asked if God had put all the trees off limits, when really, God had only put one tree off limits. Eve correctly stated that only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden was forbidden, but then she added ‘and you must not touch it’ which was not part of God’s first command.  She was wavering under the spell of the serpent’s faux sympathy. Remember that. There is always false sympathy involved with deception. Think of Ursula the Sea Witch singing “Poor Unfortunate Souls” to Ariel. This song is the perfect picture of the devil’s persuasive techniques. Ursula does not care at all about poor unfortunate souls. She wants to destroy them. The devil is the same way. First he will try to convince us that God is not fair, and that he can show us a better way. Then if we are decieved, he will lead us away from the safety of God’s good boundaries (Truth and Reality) and into a false freedom (A Lie) which always turns out to be a death trap.

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

This is THE lie. When you start looking for it, you will see that this lie is everywhere. You will not die. There are no consequences. You will be like God. You will decide what is good and evil. Not God, not his Word. You. Wonderful, enlightened, You.

This lie is in every false religion from ancient pagan idol worship to gnosticism. And it continues to sprout new heads in every generation. This lie is easy to detect in the currently popular heresy called progressive Christianity. Progressive Christians are really into their own divinity. They talk much more about the divine in humanity than they do about the true character of God. They decide what is right and wrong in regards to moral law which is the same as whatever is cool with the culture. But it is important to note that in false religions, including distortions of Christianity, morality is not lost. It is switched. Good and Evil are labels that are still applied, but they are used according to human desires rather than according to God’s Word.

The most common moral swap today is that personal holiness, especially in the realm of sexuality, is swapped out for culturally popular moral movements. Be skeptical when progressives pretend that they are free because they have set aside Biblical teachings about sex and marriage. In the past twenty-five years or so, I have seen individuals, colleges, churches and para-church institutions slide away from Biblical teaching on sex and marriage. But usually, they substitute those moral standards with a pursuit of righteousness via social justice work or environmentalism. They still want to save the world, save humanity, and save themselves, which calls for moral action. But they have settled on a ‘new’ works-based, human-powered way of getting there that does not require that they face the sin in their own body.

So, to review these pages from the Devil’s playbook:

STEP ONE: SOW SEEDS OF DOUBT

• Make God look mean, unfair or irrelevant.
• Feign sympathy and make your charge feel like a victim.

STEP TWO: STRAIGHT-UP LIE. DENY CONSEQUENCES AND PROMISE ENLIGHTENMENT.

• You will be like God.
• You will know Good and Evil.

If you are confused by a friend, a pastor, a popular podcaster or author, church or any other Christian organization and find yourself wondering if they are wobbling off the rails, watch for this pattern:

DOUBT
Are they casting doubt on the clear, historic teaching of Scripture in any way? Are they asking “Hath God really said…??” (You have to use the good old KJV for this question).

DENYING CONSEQUENCES
Are they giving off universalist vibes or questioning whether there could possibly be any such thing as an eternal divine judgment for unrepentant sinners?

ENLIGHTENMENT
Are they claiming to have a new, enlightened framework for understanding reality or the Bible? Are they affirming a new moral code that looks suspiciously like what the world says is good, lacks the costly grace of the cross, and comes with a new set of legalistic requirements?

If you notice these patterns, be aware, and do not follow. As we are instructed in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Psalm 119:118-120

You reject all who stray from your decrees,

 For their deceitfulness is in vain.

All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross;

Therefore, I love you statues.

My flesh trembles in fear of you;

I stand in awe of your laws.

Is My Favorite Influencer Going Progressive – with Alisa Childers