It is clearly evident to every truly regenerate child of God in Christ that we are witnessing as I type this, the wholesale unraveling, not only of western civilization, but far more importantly, the unraveling of professing western Christendom.

Every last pillar of generally Christian cultural, societal influence and normativity is collapsing before our eyes.

This week we will see that all of it, from bottom to top, is the inevitable result of the perversion and or disregard for the forever settled in heaven Word of the one true and living God. It always is.

In the opening chapters of the scriptures, we find God creating all things from nothing, man in His own image and likeness and woman for and from the man.

We find Him inaugurating a simple righteous environment and moral economy for the man and his wife.

To concisely paraphrase:

“I’m putting you in charge of all this as stewards of my authority. You may eat what you want, go where you want and enjoy each other sexually which will result in your procreation and proliferation.

My one prohibition is that you may not eat from the tree that is in the middle of this garden and if you ever do, you will die.”

Clear and simple.

We all know the story, but let’s take a quick closer look at what happens next.

Genesis chapter 3:

1-Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2-And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3-but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” 4-And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! 5-“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6-When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7-Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

It’s well worth noting that chapter 2 closes with God’s declaration that a man shall leave his father and mother, cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. Their sinless nakedness is declared to be a good thing.

The very next event reported in the first verse of chapter 3 has the serpent entering the picture and initiating a conversation with the woman.

Contrary to what is commonly believed, the subtlety of the serpents was not in itself necessarily an evil thing. Lexically speaking, the word rendered as “subtle” or “crafty” in the NASB, carries with it a sense of prudence and even a sort of wisdom. It’s explicitly used that way elsewhere in the old testament. Satan, requiring a physical vehicle in order to carry out his campaign of deception and death, chose to commandeer a creature who’s natural attributes he would subvert and turn to instruments of evil. (more on that later. )

The serpent then poses his infamous question: “Indeed, has God said…?”

Quite significantly, he poses it to the woman, seeming to know that she would be the more vulnerable target. Of additional and monumental significance is the fact the man was with her (verse 6). A fatal abdication of his divinely ordained headship. He didn’t happen along later as is sometimes popularly assumed.

Next we have in the 2^nd verse, one of the most defining sentences in all the Word of God: “The woman said to the serpent,”.

It was already over. You don’t stand there and have a conversation with the devil. Even if she didn’t know at the time that this was the devil, she certainly did know that whoever this was, he was introducing himself by calling into question the Word and command of her creator.

The progression is crystal clear:

The serpent said to the woman…

The woman responds to the serpent…

The serpent again responds to the woman…

…and now she sees the situation his way:

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise,…” (verse 6)

A friendly conversation with Satan doesn’t take long to bear it’s evil fruit.

“she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. ” (verse 6)

The very first thing she wants to do after embracing the serpent’s lying heresy and falling into sin and death is to share that sin and death, and of course, only her husband was available.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Only in this case the rest is NOT merely history.

Every last damnable theological heresy and moral perversion, from our first parents to this very day, is brought about by the serpent of old in exactly this same way. The particulars may vary here and there, but the method is the same.

Question one or more of God’s revealed precepts or principles, His Word in other words, elicit a receptive response by presenting a seemingly more attractive alternative, and encourage action in embrace of that alternative, which results in an immediate prideful compulsion to export this newfound superior alternative to others.

The installments to follow throughout this week, in the context of today’s decaying church world, will demonstrate how this is still the case, along with the obvious safeguards and solutions.

Stay tuned.