TEXT: GENESIS 3: 1- 6 1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (KJV)

Today we would like to learn about the deception of men by Satan through a message entitled “EVE WHO HERSELD DID EAT THE FRUIT.”

Genesis is filled with many practical lessons to Christians. So, this book will not be any help to foolish people (they are those whom the Bible say, “the people who laugh,” who brag that this book is a myth, but be much help to those who seriously seek the Word.

This passage of the first temptation in the Garden of Eden on Genesis is the first and representative form of many deceptions that have been repeated between God’s people and Satan for thousands of years since then. In this many lessons about the deception by the enemy are contained.

The remarkable point in this story of deception is that the woman took the forbidden fruit with her own hands and ate at that time. And not only that, but she gave it also to her husband.

Of course, the serpent deceived her, but it was not that this serpent pushed the forbidden fruit by force or into her mouth or forced her to eat it. Strictly, she took it with her own will and hands and did eat it.

This fact is suggestive. For, even until now, the woman (the Church) has all the time eaten the forbidden fruit with their own will, whenever she was deceived by Satan. And, this pattern will be repeated again, yes, even in the end time clearly.

Based on this point of view, let’s look at the text.

1 “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”

The serpent was cunning and knew the Word well. When he said to the woman, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” he knew very well that this word was surely from God, and if she kept the words what blessing she would receive, and if not, far from blessing, she would loose her life. Moreover, he very well knew also how to approach her to destroy her trust in the words.

We should understand that still now, yes, even now, this work of the serpent is active. They, the workers of serpent, know very well how to approach to those who believe in the Word to let them actually go against the Word. And, they send out many kinds of deceptions, such as human Jesus, Q materials, philology, new theology, theory of evolution, which just look scientific to shake and deceive the people who do not remain in the Word.

2 “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

The woman did not grasp faithfully the words that God actually said. She added such words, “neither shall ye touch it,” and moreover, weakened His words saying like, “lest ye die.”

4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.”

The serpent asserted the lies totally opposite to His words.

5 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

The serpent emphasized the merits in eating this fruit, that is, in betraying His words. These are not necessarily all lies, yes, half truth. And this pattern is the very same old means of the serpent to deceive woman, the Church.

The Church has been many, many times deceived by this same old trick. And, the height of them is that the Church is about to be defeated in the same pattern by the same enemy in the end time. Then, whoever receives the wisdom of God should find the pattern of this enemy out and work to warn against it.

Those who are called imposters among men usually bring in good ideas.

If he says such selfish story as, “Give me your money. I pay no interest or return it to you, but give me a shot of around ten million yen. If you do not have money, give me still the money no matter you borrow money,” is there any one who gives the money to him? As long as I suppose, there would be no such a man.

But, things depend on the way how the stories are brought in, and to our surprise there are some people who pay ten million or even twenty million yen.

There are even now many people who hand in as much assets as they have, when they hear and take seriously such good ideas brought in to them as, “If you hand in money now, ten million yen would be ten times in a year.”

When Satan used the serpent to deceive this woman, Eve, he should have a very selfish plan in his heart. He thought, “What to do, as God said to Adam and Eve, ‘In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,’ I like to overthrow this word and to make Eve eat this fruit herself. And he made consideration after consideration and eventually brought forth the selfish idea as, “In the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

And, she was completely taken in by this selfish idea. This Eve was foolish as taken in. But, we cannot just be laughing her. For, the Church has been taken in by the same tricks until now.

Recently, such all good ideas as that the wave of the Holy Spirit is coming, this is the third wave, and wonderful gifts of the Holy Spirit are working, have come to the Japanese church. Because they look all good, everybody has been taken in. But this work, this revival, has something behind the matter, and, what, the spirit of beast has been working in this revival. Many people who enter this receive the mark of the beast. Yes, good ideas should be paid careful attention to.

It is said that so called “the work of brethren” (may correspond to the Brethren now) began around eighteenth century. Bother Watchman Nee wrote that many wonderful truths of the Bible began to be released through brothers like J. N. Derby and others.

That is itself wonderful, and some of the workers of the Brethren surely come from God. So we cannot necessarily say that, but we have one thing that we cannot not help saying.

It is that there was the doctrine to destroy many churches in the teaching called “the wonderful knowledge of the Bible.” It is so called “Pre-tribulation Rapture Theory” that J. N. Derby told all over America with all his might.

This is the very teaching of devils which destroyed the preparation of the God’s people for the end time. Those who were impressed by their deep teachings received this teaching of devils, and it has now become the orthodox in the Church. It is as if a thief had come in and become the lord of the house.

There are in the works of “the Brethren” other than this several important teachings which destroy churches. So, we should be careful of good ideas. For, while we admire, “Wonderful lights, deep teachings,” we will be attacked in the most important parts. As “the third wave of the Holy Spirit” was very carefully planned, possibly there may be also some points in this work of the Brethren that we should reconsider.

6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.”

The woman departed from the Word and entered into the deception of the serpent. This time the fruit that robbed her life, cut off the way to eternal life and led to destruction was to her eyes “that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise.”

It looked nothing wrong. But, what was the result? As a result that they ate this fruit Adam and Eve were both cut off from the way to “the tree of life” and shut out of the way to the eternal life lest they lived for ever.

Therefore, Adam and Eve are the type of the Christians who fail to obtain the eternal life helplessly though the way to it is opened. Those who enter into the deception like them should remember that they will never obtain the eternal life.

Do grasp of deception. As it is very easy for a wolf to catch sheep, it is easy for Satan to deceive men and such could happen anytime. Only those who are simply helped of God by His mercy will escape from it.

For example, those who are in the Unification Church are in the deception. That Korean man named Moon never looks to us as “Christ of the Second Coming” in any way. But, when the spirits of deception work, he might look so to them. And, once they are in it, it would be difficult for them to escape from it.

And, those who worship Mary are in the deception. The spirits that speak of Mary are devils, but they seem something comfortable and never evil to those who worship Mary.

Likewise, that revival of beast, the third wave of the Holy Spirit (devil) is of the devils, but those who are in the midst of it may feel something like they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They are equally in the deception, and unless they receive mercy of God it would be difficult for them to wake up.

“She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

The enemy deceives, and the woman stretches her hand and eats “the fruit that leads to death.”

The revival of beast and the third wave of devils look all nice. And, those who do not hear of the Lord but rather of their own feelings, thoughts, and ideas take and eat the fruit. They enter into these themselves and receive the spirits of deception. Ironically, they are exactly biblical.

But, as a result they eventually receive the mark of beast on their foreheads as Kenneth Copeland cried out in that video tape.

Let’s seek mercy of the Lord not to enter into the deception.

Let’s do the will of the Lord in the end time.

End.