“the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6, NKJV)
The last of the three statements about the spirit of the lie that M Scott Peck makes in his book People of the Lie, has a very important implication for all of us – “Satan has no power except in a human body … The only power that Satan has is through human belief in its lies.” (pp. 236-237).
Earlier we discussed the fact that Satan is a roaring, yet ultimately toothless, lion in the life of the believer. Yet it is shocking to realize that Satan primarily functions through his mouth, and that his greatest threat to believers lies in his ability to keep us captive through his greatest weapon – his lies. This happens not only through what others say of us (which we are not going to discuss at all now), but especially through what he has our minds believe. Paul’s statement in 2 Cor. 11:3 (AB) is central in this regard:“But [now] I am fearful, lest that even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
How exactly then does this spirit of the lie work within the life of the believer? We find a good demonstration of this in the case of Satan tempting Jesus, where his main weapon was THE WORD OF GOD (Matt. 4:1-10). This trap is as old as humanity itself – Satan even used it in the garden of Eden to deceive Adam and Eve.
In the teaching of Day 294 we looked at this in detail, but let’s refresh your memory for a minute: the tree of life is in the middle of the garden. There are two references to the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but not once does God state that it is in the middle of the garden.
Whilst in conversation with the snake, in Gen. 3, Eve is asked about what God had said the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then Eve has the following to say: “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”.
Something radical must have happened for Eve to already in her mind (= her way of thinking) confuse the two trees. She explicitly states: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is in the middle of the garden, in the centre. That’s the most desired tree! 1 Tim. 2:14 (AB) states that Adam was not deceived, but “[the] woman who was deceived and deluded and fell into transgression”. Take note – she was not deceived, but allowed herself to be deceived. In other words she was already aware of the fact that she wants to be deceived! Before Eve took the forbidden fruit, the seed of deception was already sown within her.
It is essential for us to learn to distinguish between “the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).
- Selah: Which tree stands in the middle of your spiritual garden?
- Read: Lev. 8-10.
- Memorise: Lev. 10:1.
