The 4 Words that Doomed Humanity-By. Dr. Danny Purvis
The Four Words That Doomed Humanity
-Dr. Danny Purvis
In the past I have made it a point to illustrate that the greatest sin ever committed in the history of humanity has to be the first one ever committed. After all, Adam and Eve’s unsanctioned fruit snack condemned the entire human race by imbedding us with sin. We were, in a way, infected with the sin gene. That’s why the act itself has to be seen in its proper context. I mean, not too many people today would honestly state that eating a piece of fruit off of a tree they were not supposed to engage with is worse than say…murder. But, in the words of Hamlet, there’s the rub. If we focus on the specific act that was committed, we then push into the background the larger problem.
Adam and Eve’s sin was not a culinary one. It was borne of disobedience. Regardless of the form the disobedience took, it was that and not the actual, individual act that is pertinent. Adam and Eve were crystal clear regarding God’s command concerning the Tree (Genesis 3:3). Knowing the command, they ignored it and did the exact opposite. That is the basis of sin: Doing the exact opposite of what God commands us to do. As a result, the entirety of humanity has been born into sin. Born into doing the exact opposite of what God commanded. In fact, it only took one generation from sin to go from eating a piece of fruit to murdering one’s own brother (Genesis 4:1-8). Now, this is, of course, very familiar information. However, have you ever stopped to think about why we got to this point. We know the “how”. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit. Have you ever pondered the “why”? Let’s take a quick look at that.
It is not hyperbole in any way, shape, or form to state that the entirety of the doom of humanity when sin was introduced into the world was precipitated by four words. That’s it. Four simple words. If you want to be even more nitpicky, you could argue it was only one word. What are the four words? “Did God really say”? In the words of the famous Dave Barry: I am not making this up. All it took was those four carefully chosen words by our adversary to initiate the Fall of all human beings for all time. In fact, as I stated earlier, you could even suggest it was the use of one particular word. Let’s take a look.
When the Serpent was bantering with Eve, the question of what God said in relation to the Tree was brough to the forefront. What if the Serpent has simply said to Eve “Did God say you shall not eat of the Tree”? What is the obvious and only answer to that very simple question? The answer is, of course, yes that God made that statement. However, our adversary did not ask that simple question. He asked a much more slippery question designed for one purpose and one purpose only. The slippery question he asked? “Did God really say”(Genesis 3:1)? And what makes it a slippery question? The addition of the word “really”.
This is the crux of the entire issue that led to the downfall of humanity. The adversary had to make a crystal clear command from God…a lot less clear. So instead of telling Eve to simply not believe God, which Eve would have probably bristled at, the adversary simply questioned what God REALLY meant. In other words, to question God Himself. Note, the Serpent didn’t tell Eve to mistrust God, to hate God, to ignore God. He got Eve to question His Word. He was able to do that by including the word “really”. That’s all there was to it. If our adversary can get us to question God’s Word and determine what it “really” says, then his job gets much easier. This has been the cornerstone of his deception over these thousands of years. It is how he has infiltrated the church and continues to do so. Did God really say that sex before marriage is sin? Did God really say that (you fill in the blank with a popular sin) is REALLY bad?
There is a popular misconception that satan wants everyone to disbelieve in God. That is not true. Don’t get me wrong, if he gets that he’s very glad about it. What he wants is for us to believe in a God that does not exist. To believe a Word that is false. To believe in a truism that is not true. To believe in a Christ that does not exist. His goal is not to eradicate God’s Word…he knows he cannot do that. His goal is to get you to believe in a word that is false. Right now, we are going through 2nd Peter. The entirety of that book is focused on false teachers. Satan is the father of false teaching which is why Jesus called him the “father of lies” (John 8:44). His tactics have not changed since his conversation with Eve. In Galatians, Paul refers to this as “a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). These false teachers did not try to convince the Galatians to disbelieve Jesus. They simply wanted to the Galatians to see what God “really” meant in regards to salvation. In doing so, they created a Jesus that does not exist.
The only antidote to this diabolical lie? We have to know God’s Word. We have to. Only when we know God’s Word can we then recognize deviations from that Word. Only then can we identify false teaching. The question should never be: Did God really say? The question always has to be: Did God say? Only then can we avoid the catastrophe that awaits us.
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
-Dr. Danny Purvis
In the past I have made it a point to illustrate that the greatest sin ever committed in the history of humanity has to be the first one ever committed. After all, Adam and Eve’s unsanctioned fruit snack condemned the entire human race by imbedding us with sin. We were, in a way, infected with the sin gene. That’s why the act itself has to be seen in its proper context. I mean, not too many people today would honestly state that eating a piece of fruit off of a tree they were not supposed to engage with is worse than say…murder. But, in the words of Hamlet, there’s the rub. If we focus on the specific act that was committed, we then push into the background the larger problem.
Adam and Eve’s sin was not a culinary one. It was borne of disobedience. Regardless of the form the disobedience took, it was that and not the actual, individual act that is pertinent. Adam and Eve were crystal clear regarding God’s command concerning the Tree (Genesis 3:3). Knowing the command, they ignored it and did the exact opposite. That is the basis of sin: Doing the exact opposite of what God commands us to do. As a result, the entirety of humanity has been born into sin. Born into doing the exact opposite of what God commanded. In fact, it only took one generation from sin to go from eating a piece of fruit to murdering one’s own brother (Genesis 4:1-8). Now, this is, of course, very familiar information. However, have you ever stopped to think about why we got to this point. We know the “how”. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit. Have you ever pondered the “why”? Let’s take a quick look at that.
It is not hyperbole in any way, shape, or form to state that the entirety of the doom of humanity when sin was introduced into the world was precipitated by four words. That’s it. Four simple words. If you want to be even more nitpicky, you could argue it was only one word. What are the four words? “Did God really say”? In the words of the famous Dave Barry: I am not making this up. All it took was those four carefully chosen words by our adversary to initiate the Fall of all human beings for all time. In fact, as I stated earlier, you could even suggest it was the use of one particular word. Let’s take a look.
When the Serpent was bantering with Eve, the question of what God said in relation to the Tree was brough to the forefront. What if the Serpent has simply said to Eve “Did God say you shall not eat of the Tree”? What is the obvious and only answer to that very simple question? The answer is, of course, yes that God made that statement. However, our adversary did not ask that simple question. He asked a much more slippery question designed for one purpose and one purpose only. The slippery question he asked? “Did God really say”(Genesis 3:1)? And what makes it a slippery question? The addition of the word “really”.
This is the crux of the entire issue that led to the downfall of humanity. The adversary had to make a crystal clear command from God…a lot less clear. So instead of telling Eve to simply not believe God, which Eve would have probably bristled at, the adversary simply questioned what God REALLY meant. In other words, to question God Himself. Note, the Serpent didn’t tell Eve to mistrust God, to hate God, to ignore God. He got Eve to question His Word. He was able to do that by including the word “really”. That’s all there was to it. If our adversary can get us to question God’s Word and determine what it “really” says, then his job gets much easier. This has been the cornerstone of his deception over these thousands of years. It is how he has infiltrated the church and continues to do so. Did God really say that sex before marriage is sin? Did God really say that (you fill in the blank with a popular sin) is REALLY bad?
There is a popular misconception that satan wants everyone to disbelieve in God. That is not true. Don’t get me wrong, if he gets that he’s very glad about it. What he wants is for us to believe in a God that does not exist. To believe a Word that is false. To believe in a truism that is not true. To believe in a Christ that does not exist. His goal is not to eradicate God’s Word…he knows he cannot do that. His goal is to get you to believe in a word that is false. Right now, we are going through 2nd Peter. The entirety of that book is focused on false teachers. Satan is the father of false teaching which is why Jesus called him the “father of lies” (John 8:44). His tactics have not changed since his conversation with Eve. In Galatians, Paul refers to this as “a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). These false teachers did not try to convince the Galatians to disbelieve Jesus. They simply wanted to the Galatians to see what God “really” meant in regards to salvation. In doing so, they created a Jesus that does not exist.
The only antidote to this diabolical lie? We have to know God’s Word. We have to. Only when we know God’s Word can we then recognize deviations from that Word. Only then can we identify false teaching. The question should never be: Did God really say? The question always has to be: Did God say? Only then can we avoid the catastrophe that awaits us.
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
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