Perhaps you’ve heard the cliché “the oldest lie in the book” referring sometimes to “the check’s in the mail” but “the oldest lie in the book” is literally in the Book of Beginnings, the book of Genesis. It is spoken by the “father of lies”, satan.

Satan’s opening line, posed as a question (Gen 3:1), sets up his intentional deception. “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” The question introduces doubt into paradise. The crafty devil proceeds to infer that God is a liar, contradicting the very word of the Lord God Almighty! (Gen 3:4-5) “You will not surely die,” speaks the serpent, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Here the devil infers that God is holding back something ‘good’ from Adam and Eve, which is a tricky assault on the loving nature of God.

So do you feel God is holding back something ‘good’ from you? Do you feel He doesn’t really love you because your life is in a shambles? Then, you my friend, as the rest of humanity to one degree or another, have bought a lie from the pit of hell!

The truth is “God is love”! (1 John 4:8) The truth is “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John 3:16) The truth is God has so much for you (John 10:10) but you are refusing it by refusing to believe in His perfect love! You see, if you allow the devil to steal the truth from you by believing his lie, you are in fact rejecting the truth! The devil cheated Adam and Eve out of paradise.

What is the devil stealing from you?

The truth is God offers the precious gift of eternal life to all who believe that through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross and His resurrection, we now have access to the Eternal Father of Life. (John 1:12) (Heb 4:16) But if you don’t believe that, you won’t approach the throne of grace!

The truth is “He who did not spare His own Son [Jesus Christ], but delivered Him up for us all [on the cross], how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” The truth is “Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17)

So do you want the good from the Father of lights or the trash the “father of lies” peddles?

God offered the “Tree of Life” in the garden. The liar tempted them to choose the forbidden fruit from the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. Choosing fruit from the wrong tree brought spiritual death, spiritual separation from their Creator. Today Christ again offers us the “Tree of Life”, but the devil is still trying to get us to choose forbidden fruit over the expressed will of God, to keep us separated from God, from the “Tree of Life”. Which tree do you choose? If you choose wrongly, why do you blame God? His will is clearly made known in the Bible.

God offers eternal life in His Kingdom of light and love. The liar offers nothing but momentary, fleeting carnal pleasures and would not even offer that if it weren’t an enticement to lure you into sin. The devil hates you!

But God loves you! Do you believe that? Or do you believe what a liar is whispering, “God doesn’t love you because He is withholding (fill in the blank) from you!”

The truth is God has a perfect plan for your life. Have you received that perfect plan or are you choosing your imperfect, faulty will? Do you really think you know better than God Almighty? Are you saying in fact “Has God indeed said?” and questioning His Word, justifying your sin with “Well, God didn’t really mean that…”

THE TRUTH vs the lie

Let’s remove the questions, the doubt, the confusion that the liar seeks to inject.

Yes, God indeed HAS said NOT to even dabble in witchcraft and astrology. (Deu 18:10-12) Do fortunetellers and astrology columns hold more allure for you than the Holy Word of God? Repent!

Yes, God indeed HAS said NOT to bow down to idols but you have an altar to Mary, some saint, or Buddha, giving a deceiving spirit legal domain in your life. The word of God says “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy…Salvation is of the Lord!” (Jonah 2:8-9) (Deu 7:26) Throw out your idols! (1 John 5:21)

Yes, God indeed HAS said that intimate relationships outside the sanctity of marriage are sinful. (1 Cor 6:13-18) But the lie is hyped in pop culture and media with lines like this: “This can’t be wrong when it feels so right.” Following that lie may have brought some momentary pleasure but the rotten fruit is mistrust, broken relationships, a loss of purity, possible disease, and wrecked relationships. Yet God offers the best: joyful intimacy in marriage. The devil offers meaningless sex.

Yes, God indeed HAS said that homosexuality is an abomination! (Lev 18:22-23) (Rom 1:27-28) The liar has an intensive PR campaign going to confuse the issue. Why is this an area that the enemy wants to confuse? For starters, it’ll keep you out of heaven! There are NO homosexuals in the Kingdom of God! (Rev 22:15) You can never be who God really made you to be, if you are living in this perverse lifestyle. There is a demonic spirit of perversion that propagates this abomination. Cry out to God to forgive you and deliver you and reveal to you who He created you to be in Christ! Otherwise, the devil has robbed you of your destiny!

ONE WAY

Yes, God indeed HAS said there is ONLY ONE WAY to return back into right relationship with your Creator. (John 3:18) (John 14:6) (Rom 8:9) (Acts 4:10-12) Neither Mohammed, nor allah, nor Mary, nor buddha can give you eternal life with the Father. Jesus Christ is truly the ONLY WAY! And that truth flies in the face of the popular sentiment of “I’m okay, you’re okay’. If you do not receive the forgiveness which Christ purchased for you on Calvary, you’re not okay! You are not pure before a perfect God! That’s the bad news. But you don’t have to stay in your sorry condition. You have the choice! The good news, the gospel, is that Jesus Christ’s shed blood paid for your salvation and sanctification and healing! Now stop doing it your damning way. It really hasn’t worked so far so why do you continue on your destructive path? (The number one tune in hell just might be, “I did it my way!”) Do it God’s way. Believe in Jesus Christ and proclaim with your mouth, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” (Roman 10:9-11)

Recently I spoke with someone who asked me how I knew the gospel of Jesus Christ was true. I responded passionately, “He is the Truth!” When you encounter Jesus Christ, you face the Truth itself. So do you really want to know the Truth? If yes, great because God Himself wants you to know the Truth, His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, if you are sincere in a prayer to God to reveal the truth to you, He will do so. Seek the Lord with all your heart. Read the Book of John in the Bible.  (John 1) The Lord will meet you there.