1. Allowed Deception - Eve listened to Satan tell her that God had not told her the truth. She considered his lie. She did not verify this new information with God or with Adam. What she could have done to learn the truth, she did not do. Every sin usually has a sin of omission included with it. There is something Eve could have done and should have done: but she neglected to do the right thing. Perhaps she did not want to have her decision questioned or challenged. A person who is deceived is not guiltless in their deception. They may have acted against conscience many times in order to arrive at their current state of mind. The fact that Eve was deceived when she ate of the fruit does not excuse her. The serpent was blowing smoke and she deliberately inhaled his manipulative magic. She walked into his cloud of lies. Satan's smoky lies are always toxic.
2. Pride - Eve thought that she would be wise if she ate the fruit. She wanted to look good, feel good. It is curious to think why Eve thought anything could be better than what they already had in the Garden of Eden, but she was convinced by the serpent that the grass would be greener on the other side of the fence. She wanted more glory than she already had. Satan's magic smoke was affecting her mind.
3. Encourage Desire - Eve thought the fruit looked good... in fact it looked better and better the more she looked at it. She wanted it. She wanted it very much! Lucifer's hallucinogenic smokescreen was inflaming her desire. "I want it!"
4. Taking Control - God said that she must not even touch the tree, but she activated her self will to do what she wanted to do. Eve could have turned and walked away from the temptation but by now she was intoxicated with it. "I will have it." Eve had sinned even before she ate of the fruit: Eve wanted her own way so she took hold of it. The moment that she touched the fruit, she was a sinner.
5. Serving Self - The other tools of Satan manipulated her to the place where he wanted her. Now, Eve became the first person on earth who was Self Serving. She thought of herself first, before the concerns of Adam or of God and his commands. She did not consider her relationship with them or her obligations to them. She thought only of what she wanted for her Self. Eve ate of the tree of the knowlege of good and evil. She did it. Satan had accomplished the worst: he managed to kill Eve, and by her own self-serving, rebellious hand.
Renewing the Deadly Cycle
Eve did not want the truth of God to blow away her fantasy of glory. This is the path of deception. It is Satan's favorite method: manipulation through lies. He fabricates a false glory, in order to hide his deadly weapons in the murky smoke.
There is a standard of righteousness. Eve did know God's word regarding the tree, and in Genesis 3:2 she quoted it perfectly to Satan. Eve knew the rules. However, God's word has always stood between man and the sins that mankind wants to commit. Then, Eve in turn offered the fruit to Adam, and he ate. It was not enough that she had sinned. Now she was drawing Adam in with her. There was no indication of repentance. She did not feel regret at what she had just done. She did not contemplate whether the taste of the forbidden fruit had been worth the price. There was no remorse in Eve at all. Instead, she sinned further by tempting Adam.
We think that if we can draw enough people into our sin, then that will make it all right. We can justify ourselves by making sin the norm. Majority rules!! And, Adam and Eve together were a majority -- but nothing is a majority against the rightousness of Holy God. And, righteousness is not determined by popular vote. In trying to do this, we are making magic smoke as well. We are joining Lucifer in his rebellion and we are deceiving ourselves.
If we look around us, we can cite many examples of people who are campaigning to make their sins normal and declare themselves righteous. Such people try to influence popular opinion and they even use the courts to make their sins officially "legal." But there is a higher moral law which cannot be influenced.
It was bad enough that Eve sinned, but it was utter disaster when Adam gave in to her temptation. In doing so, Eve multiplied her disobedience beyond anything imaginable because sin entered into the entire human race.
http://www.gloryandthearmor.com/vol1_2.htm
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