One day Eve encountered Lucifer in one of his disguises, as a serpent, at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Using his wisdom perverted into the service of self-seeking, he questioned God’s restriction on the tree. Eve repeated God’s instruction given to Adam before her creation. By a subtle response Lucifer in his dark, new roles of adversary (Satan) and accuser (Devil) denied first the consequence (death) of selfishness, and then the wrongfulness of such a quest itself. In essence he said, “It will not kill, for it is not evil.” He asserted that such a choice would make them like God Himself, implying that He was like that. Thus with craftiness he spun the lie for Eve, and she believed it. Being deceived, she took from the forbidden tree and ate. Moreover, she gave some of the fruit to Adam, who did not believe the lie, but ate anyway, joining Eve, leaving God, and yielding dominion of the world to Satan. Adam and Eve by their ways of turning to self-centeredness illustrate for the rest of time the two ways of following the lie, receiving its mark in your forehead (being deceived, believing the lie, and doing it) or in your hand (not being deceived, but doing it anyway). So sin and rebellion came to earth. By their fateful choice to join Satan against God, in living the lie, they broke the circle of self-sacrificing love on earth. Enamored with something else they took for love, they entered the realm of death. The self-focus, by adulterating God’s perfect creation, began its baneful course. Immediately they became aware of nakedness and fear. In their newfound self-sufficiency, they suddenly felt insecure, and sought self-made remedies that were wholly inadequate. Both solutions were sought from trees, the wood of which has since come to symbolize the frailness of our fallen humanity. They used leaves to clothe themselves, and trees to hide themselves. But from whom were they hiding?
