Three Little Letters That Changed Everything

I often read about this event and wonder, “What was she thinking? If I had been there, I would not have been so easily swayed. I would have done what I was told. After all, she had everything she wanted.” All it took was three little letters and she completely altered her life as well as the lives of everyone else.

The she of the story is Eve. The event is the first sin. The three little letters: n-o-t.

“Not”. All it took was for someone to come along and change the words of God by adding the little word “not”. Who would do such a thing? The world Adam and Eve lived in was perfect. They had a beautiful relationship with each other and a beautiful relationship with God. Why would anyone want to tempt them to disobey God? Who would take the true words of God change them into a lie?

The devil, that’s who. Jesus says of the devil that he “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” The very first thing we hear from the mouth of the devil is a lie. He lied then, he lies today, he will lie tomorrow.

Of the tree of the garden God told Adam, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” An easy command to follow. There was plenty for them to eat. Just do not eat from this one tree.

The author of lies couldn’t tolerate Adam and Eve being in a close relationship with God. He intervened in the hope that he might turn their hearts to him instead of towards God. He knew it wouldn’t take much. Just three little letters. He took what God said and inserted three little letters. Three little letters that completely changed what God said. He lied to Eve. She foolishly listened to him.

• God said, “You shall surely die.”
• The devil said, “You will not surely die.”

Three little letters that changed everything. The lie resulted in the first sin which immediately changed Adam and Eve’s lives. For the first time they hid themselves from God. God punished them by sending them from the garden. Physically they began to age. Spiritually they were separated from God. Just three little letters…

Did the devil stop there? Was he satisfied that he had brought sin into the world? Not quite. He continually seeks “whom he may devour.” He even uses the same tactics. Here is another time that the devil used those three little letters. Consider the following:

• God said, “Baptism doth now save us.” 1 Peter 3:21
• The devil says, “Baptism does not save.”

 

• God said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Mark 16:16
• The devil says, “Baptism does not save.”

It works the other way too. The devil has been known to take the three little letters out of what God said.

• God said, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
• The devil says, “Man is saved by faith alone.”

It’s easy to see how adding three little letters changes everything. What was true, with the addition or deletion of these three little letters becomes a lie. If you have been told that you do not need baptism to be saved, you have been lied to. If you have been told that you are saved by faith alone, you have been lied to. Don’t be like Eve. Don’t listen to the lies Satan tells. Seek God through His word and follow His instructions remembering “that your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” He knows he can devour some with just three little letters.

Diana Dow

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:6-11

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.” 1 Peter 3:18-22

“But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” James 2:18-26

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was [a]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 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 [b]coverings.” Genesis 3:1-7