The Serpent’s Deceptions

In the Garden of Eden, the serpent pulls quite a number on Adam and Eve. Author and pastor Bob Ekblad points out that the serpent’s deception was rooted in a negative depiction of God. He writes, “According to the serpent God is not only miserly, God is a controlling power-monger, who lies to protect his supremacy.”

That is intense! And it is successful! The serpent succeeds in getting the woman to ponder and meditate and envision God as detestable.

The reality is so much different. Our God, YHWH, is loving in all His ways. The freedom and dominion He gave the man and woman were virtually limitless. What happens instead is actually a form of idolatry. The image of the true, loving God is replaced by a false image of God. The woman takes her gaze off the true God and onto something different.

In our study of Mansions of the Heart we are being reminded to gaze upon the God of love and meditate on His ways throughout our day. Drawing near to the God of love is the primary objective of the Christian life and the strongest defense against the Father of Lies—Satan.

Pastor Ekblad believes that negative images of God are what most separate people from God, and when we are distanced from God’s love we are vulnerable to seduction. In his work with inmates, Pastor Ekblad has found that the image of God and the Bible as harsh judge and strict, impossible rules (respectively) keeps many people at arms’ length from God and stuck in perpetual cycles of self-defeating behaviors.

As the people of God, let’s ALWAYS gaze upon the God of LOVE and thus fortify ourselves against Satan’s deceptions to distract, divide, and defeat us.

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