In the beginning, that old Serpent called the Devil was there when Eve encountered him in that tree in the Garden. She ‘ate of that tree’ by listening to him and was thereby deceived by him. God had given specific instructions to Adam not to ‘eat’ of that tree. Then the Serpent came along and convinced Eve to disregard God’s instructions. Consequently, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden for their disobedience and succumbing to the deception of the Serpent. Eve thought it ‘looked good for food’ and ‘a tree to be desired to make one wise.’
In the End, the Serpent is cast out
In the last book of the Bible, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, he says, “The great Dragon is cast out, that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan, which has deceived the whole world.” (Rev 12:9) He has convinced the world to disregard and to rebel against God’s instructions. But now, his time has come. He is caught! He has reached the end and after all this time, he has an exceedingly long record of his doings on the earth. It is a shameful record.
A Perpetual Enmity with the Serpent
Since the beginning, God put a perpetual enmity between the Serpent and the Woman (Gen 3:15) . Between Darkness and Light; deception and the Truth; what is evil and what is good. His ministers are taught to be dissemblers, like Cain, who was of the ‘wicked one.’ (1 John 3:12)
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own sight! Which justify the wicked for reward and condemn the Righteous.
Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the Law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Isa 5:20-24
Since the time of John the Baptist and Jesus the ax has been laid to the root of that tree. Listen to what they had to say and do not be deceived!
Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots
There is a woman spoken of in chapters 17 and 18 of the Book of Revelation. She is identified as the “Whore of Babylon” who has also deceived the nations by her ‘sorceries’. She is filled with the abominations of the earth; her ways are rebellion, deception, oppression, idolatry and bloodshed. But now God has remembered her iniquities, and the Great and Dreadful Day of the LORD has come!
“Come out of her, my people, that you are not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities… How much she has glorified herself, … for she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow’.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LORD God who judges her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying,
‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon/Rome, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more:”
Rev 18:4-11
She Deceives by Sorceries
“And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries (pharmacia, poison) were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
Rev 18:23-24
Where are their gods?
Where are their gods that they have made? The works of men’s hands. They must be asleep, or maybe on vacation. Let them rise up and save you from your time of trouble. The day of her calamity has come, and who will be able to help her? They are just like the things they worship. They have eyes but they don’t see, ears but they don’t hear, there is no breath in them.
Follow the Truth
Jesus said to those who believe/trust on him,
“It is the Spirit that quickens/makes alive, the flesh profits nothing, the words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life.”
“If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
“I am the way, the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father but by me.”
Jesus – The Gospel of John 6:63, 8:31-32, 14:6
