The Great Deceiver

Tonight, as I was reading my babies their bedtime story, I suddenly remembered a status one of my friends had put up on facebook about the fall of man. It all started with a fable. Here's a recap of the story of "The Gingerbread Man"...

An old woman bakes a gingerbread man cookie. She lovingly gives him eyes, a mouth, a nose, and little buttons. She bakes him until he is perfectly done, but when she opens the door to the oven he jumps out and runs away. As he is running, he arrogantly cries out at everyone who tries to catch him, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." Finally, he comes to a river, something he knows he can't cross himself. A hungry fox is lying in wait, and offers to help the gingerbread man. He says, "Climb onto my tail and I will swim you across," so the gingerbread man does. But the water is getting too deep, so he says, "Climb onto my back and I will swim you across," so the gingerbread man climbs to the safety of the fox's back. The water begins to get even deeper, so the fox tells the gingerbread man, "Climb onto my nose and I will swim you across." Thinking he is safe, the gingerbread man does as he is told. They safely reach the other side of the river, but once they get there the fox very easily gobbles up the gingerbread man because he was right where the fox wanted him. And as the story said, "That was the end of the gingerbread man."

You probably see where I'm going with this. The old woman representing God, our loving creator, the gingerbread man is us, arrogantly running from Him to control our own lives, and the wolf representing the great deceiver himself. I love this story because it represents exactly how it is that Satan works. He is not the little devil sitting on our shoulder while the angel is on the other. "If Satan can trap and deceive our parents that walked in perfection, Adam and Eve, what makes you think he can't trap and ensnare us?" And we are not even going to get into how he had deceived the other angels who were cast from Heaven with him before man was even created. Let's just take a minute to let that settle in. Take a minute to really turn it over in your mind, in your heart, let it's words do a work in your life. When I first read this I thought, wow, I never thought about it that way before, then it began to speak to me in many different ways. How many times, when we are walking spiritually with God do we feel "protected"? Yet, Adam and Eve walked physically with our Creator, they spoke with Him face-to-face. They were still deceived by Satan. They had spiritual perfection, a sinless, physical relationship with God. Exactly what God designed us for. And yet, when Satan came to Eve she did not recognize his deception. And here we are, sinful, separated from God, surrounded by false teachings in our churches, surrounded by Christians living everything but a Christian life, but certainly we are smarter than Satan. Aren't we? Satan was able to turn angels and God's own perfect, sinless creation against God. Where do you think we fit into all of this? Are we beyond the deception of the Great Deceiver? Do we recognize the things that Satan has gotten his hands into? "Be smart, recognize the bait and the hidden hook. Renew your minds..."You can read through the Fall of Man in Genesis 3:1-24. The thing that strikes me most about Satan's deception of Eve was how he used God. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it (NIV) God created food for us, to nourish us, for our enjoyment. And, surely, He wants us to be like Him? Right? Do you know what the Scriptures say for every aspect of your life? Not just what you have been taught. Do you know what they truly say? Do you know what God's will is for your life? Not just what you feel. Do you know what His will actually is?Would you be able to recognize Satan if he came to you, not in darkness, but as an imitator of the light?

Ephesians 6:10-18
¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.