The Fall of Mankind Painting by Michaelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Rome
Satan's Stealth Tactics
In Genesis 3:1-6 we see the way Satan disguised as a serpent succeeds in seducing Eve into disobeying the instructions God had given Adam in the previous chapter by using stealth tactics.
STEP 1: CASTING DOUBT ON GOD'S GOODNESS and love (v1) Did God say?
STEP 2: DISTORTING GOD’S WORD (v1)You shall not eat from any tree...
STEP 3: DENYING THE TRUTH OF GOD’S COMMANDS (v4)You will not die.
STEP 4: CAUSING DISBELIEF IN GOD’S TRUTH(vv4-5)You will not die.
STEP 5: CAUSING DESIRES THAT LEAD US AWAY FROM GOD (v6)
STEP 6: CAUSING DISOBEDIENCE OF GOD’S COMMANDS (v6) She took the apple and ate.
Jesus on Satan's Character
The Pharisees had been arguing with Jesus, saying they were God's children, because they were descended from Abraham as their spiritual father. They even had the audacity to claim that Jesus was illegitimate, because no one knew who his father was. In reply Jesus said:
“If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
In saying Satan was a murderer and a liar from the beginning, Jesus was referring to the way Satan had deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden by four lies he used in Genesis 3:3-4
• LIE NO.1 YOU WILL NOT DIE - the basis of atheism, belief in reincarnation and the desire for immortality
• LIE NO 2 YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED - the basis of occultism & esoteric mysticism
• LIE NO 3 YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD - New Age teaching to find the omnipotence of the god within
• LIE NO 4 YOU WILL KNOW GOOD & EVIL - postmodern moral relativism & a scientific rationalism that claims to have all the answers to life
It is significant that two of man's aims to be God involve the desire for omnipotence and immortality, which Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping were overheard discussing at the military parade in Beijing in September 2025!
Satan's Strategy Against the Individual