In His discourse about the end times in Matthew 24 (ESV), Jesus warns us several times to not be deceived (vv. 4, 11, 24). This is apparently a very important issue in the time before He returns, which is the time in which we now live.

Deception was an important part of why the first woman, Eve, sinned against the God who created her. She was led astray by the serpent, who was the devil, according to Revelation 12:9, where it also says that he came down to earth and sea in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short (v. 12). The devil has not changed his tricks. By having a closer look at the very first deception, we can get a better idea of its elements and thus how we can live a prepared life.

Eve

The story of the fall of humanity, beginning with Adam and Eve, is told in Genesis 3:1–7. According to The Reformation Study Bible (Student Edition) this is what happened: “Satan tempts Eve by emphasizing God’s prohibition, not His provision; reducing God’s command to a question; casting doubt upon God’s sincerity and defaming His motives; and denying the truthfulness of His threat. The woman gradually yields to Satan’s denials and half-truths.”

I would like to distill this process down to two important elements: first, his appeal to feelings or emotions; and second, Eve’s listening to someone other than God. Being aware that these elements are part of every deception will help us not be led astray.

Feelings

We were made in God’s image with feelings and emotions, but, in this fallen world, our feelings have become a mixed blessing. Emotions are powerful. We cannot see, taste, or touch them, but we are constantly affected by their forceful presence and the incredible influence they have over us. They are able to alter how we view our day, other people, and even the past events of our lives. Temptations often start with emotions and, when we act upon them, we often fall into sin.

In Genesis 3:6, we see feelings getting the upper hand for Eve: “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 . . .” (italics mine).

In our culture, feelings are elevated to a very high level, even holding ethical value: If something feels good, it must be good. This culture has also infected some churches where it is more important that you are in touch with your feelings—that you feel saved, or feel spiritual, or feel that you will go to heaven—than what the Bible has to say about it. In the world around us, examples are plentiful and getting more and more extreme, such as, if you feel like a girl in a boy’s body today, then you are a girl today. If you feel differently tomorrow, you are different tomorrow. You are what you feel.

Arguably the most powerful emotion is fear. Fearful people are easy to manipulate. The devil knows that they are easy to deceive, but God knows it, too. Perhaps that is why God the Father and Jesus say, “Do not fear” 365 times in the Bible—one for every day! Be alert when fear mongering arises in the media, by people who call themselves scientists, or even your friends. Keep your common sense and sense of reality and read your Bible. How did the serpent use fear to tempt Eve? He distorted the words of God in order to make her doubt God’s goodness.

Fear is the basis of many other negative emotions such as pride, discouragement, despair, jealousy, anger, and even depression. The devil is in the business of infusing the world with negative emotions in order to cause division among God’s people or make them feel hopeless when bad things happen. It is our responsibility to identify what we are telling ourselves or believing from others, and bring it to God in prayer (2 Cor. 10:5). It’s living out the first commandment—to love him with all our heart, mind, and strength—and to give everything (our worries, our fears, our feelings) to Him. See Philippians 4:8 for a list of what should be occupying our thoughts in a wholesome, God-honoring way.

We should seek Him, live for Him, and trust Him enough that what He is saying in His Word is the truth. Jesus died on the cross and won the battle against the devil. All we need to do is accept His gift, join Him, and make sure we stay as close to Him as possible. God is more than willing to make “the path of life” known to you and “in his presence there is fullness of joy” (Ps. 16:11). He knows exactly how we feel and how to heal us, and that will make us a lot less susceptible to deception.

Listening to Others

Let’s look at the serpent’s conversation with Eve in Genesis 3. He successfully engages her with a provocative question, twisting God’s words into a half-truth: “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” This comes with a suggestion of knowledge about what God has said. Eve thinks she should answer it because she thinks she knows better. But at the same time, the question also generates feelings of doubt in her mind about the Lord’s intentions and character.

Eve is not familiar enough with God’s words and probably thinks she’s defending Him when she answers with another twist of His words: “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’” (v. 2, italics mine). But even if you think you’re good because you listen to sermons all day or only read books about the Bible, you can be put on the wrong path without the proper knowledge of God’s Word. And just like with Eve, it can lead us by half-truths into temptations and deceptions.

A modern version of this kind of question is asking children in their phase of puberty if they think it’s normal to feel confused about their gender sometimes. Like Eve, they won’t have a good answer and the seeds of “gender-doubt” are sown, which can be cultivated for the devil’s purposes.

Those of us who may not be quickly led astray by feelings can still be tricked into believing what others say and buy into the lies that have been incorporated in our cultural thinking. A glaring example is the elevation of science. Science is often pitted against faith in God, as if it knows more than God and that we should trust it completely. However, it is dangerous to assume that scientific research is always unbiased and fact-based. In our culture, it wants to make us comfortable with death, with self-imposed mental conformity, with self-censorship, and with a divisive fear of our fellow man. We must be alert to how naturalistic thinking poisons our culture. We should be aware and prepared to combat blind faith in the scientific majority.

Being misled by other people’s words is happening to us all the time; our memories are not perfect and we experience things differently. So how do we ever know the truth? The devil quoted God to Eve and she took the bait. The jews at Berea, however, did not even take Paul and Silas at their word, although they were very trustworthy sources. Acts 17:11 tells us: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” So don’t believe everything, not even when presented with a lot of convincing science. Rather, check everything you hear with God’s very own words in the Bible. Only believe what God says.

Conclusion

This is a call for discernment, a prompt to believe absolutely nothing until you have personally checked it with the Bible and prayed about it. If you think there are issues not addressed in the Bible, you are underestimating the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to be our counselor in any situation, if we remember to pray. And the Bible is God’s living Word because of it.

There is nothing new under the sun anyway (read Ecclesiastes and Proverbs); that is also why we can learn from Eve’s fall. Do as Paul advises in Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” When you search the Scriptures, you will find Jesus because they testify of Him. When you come to Him, He will develop a loving relationship with you, and He will give you everything you need to belong to Him, to set you free, and to have everlasting life with Him. If you would still fall for a scheme, He already paid the price and He will be your Savior when you repent and return to Him.

Mrs. Annemarieke Ryskamp was born and raised in the Netherlands. She graduated with a master’s degree in Dutch Language and Literature from Utrecht University and worked for the Dutch l’Abri and as a secondary school teacher at United World College in Singapore. She attends Dutton United Reformed Church (MI).