The Great Deception

“The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” —Genesis 3:4

IN REVELATION 20:2 we find the expression, “that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan.” Obviously this is a reference to the ‘serpent’ which appeared to and deceived mother Eve. The general consensus of opinion among Bible scholars is that Satan, who is a powerful although invisible spirit being, ‘spoke’ through the serpent. Just how he conveyed his message to Eve is not important. For our present purpose we will consider that it was the Devil who deceived Eve, ignoring whatever part ‘the serpent’ may have played in it.

Concerning the Devil, Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44) Here Jesus takes us back to what occurred in Eden. He states that Satan was actually a murderer, for it was under his influence that our first parents transgressed God’s law, which resulted in their death. Our Lord further identifies Satan’s treachery in Eden by saying that he was a ‘liar, and the father of it.’

Yes, it was Satan who fathered the sin of lying, his first lie occurring when he said to Eve, “Ye shall not surely die.” God had made it plain to Adam, and Adam had communicated the information to his wife, that death would result from their disobedience. But Satan denied this; and not only was he successful in deceiving Eve, but he has successfully carried on his campaign of deception ever since, with the result that only a few have continued to believe God on the subject of death, the vast majority unwittingly believing Satan, insisting that ‘there is no death’. This work of deception will be allowed to continue until the due time in God’s plan of the ages when Satan will be bound, “that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed for a little season,” and finally, destroyed.—Rev. 20:3,12-15; Heb. 2:14

It was not difficult for Eve to believe that she would not die as a result of disobedience. After all, she had had no experience with death. She had seen no one die. Doubtless she took Satan’s denial of the Lord’s statement literally, believing that despite her disobedience she would continue to live and to enjoy all the blessings of Eden, and have the added advantage, as she thought, of being much wiser. How bitterly disappointed she must have been when, debarred from the trees of life in Eden, she realized from year-to-year that the seeds of death were working in her, and that she would eventually become feeble and die. Adam had no illusions on the matter, for he was not deceived. He knew that eventually he would die.

The fact that the human race began to die despite Satan’s assertion, “Ye shall not surely die,” proved that he was a liar, just as Jesus said, many centuries later. But having foisted this deception upon Eve he did not propose to allow subsequent circumstances to prove him wrong, so his next great deception was that death is not what it seems to be, but that in reality, those whom we call dead are more alive than ever. It is held by Satan and those who unwittingly espouse his great deception, that only the body dies. The claim is that there is a separate entity within humans which cannot die, and that at death this escapes from the body and lives on in another realm.

The great power of this deception is in the fact that no one wants to die, therefore it is pleasant to believe that there is no death. In continuing to foster his great deception, Satan introduced into the minds of men almost innumerable theories as to what happens to the ‘never dying’ part of man when the body dies. There are the theories of reincarnation and the transmigration of souls.

Reincarnationists believe that every time a child is begotten, or born—they are not sure which—a ‘departed spirit’ enters into it, there finding a home until this newest body dies, when the disembodied spirit again is homeless until it has an opportunity to find refuge in another human infant. The theory is that most of us have made many of these excursions, and will probably keep on doing so indefinitely. Just how the reincarnationists explain the constantly increasing population of the earth we have not yet learned; for, according to this no-death theory there are more spirits reaching earth each year than are departing. Where do the extra ones come from?

The idea of the transmigration of souls is somewhat different, and not quite so pleasing. This theory also calls for continuous cycles of the ‘soul’, but it does not always succeed in finding refuge in a human body. While, according to this theory, during our present visit to earth we may be human beings, the last time we were here we may have been a dog, or a cat, or an elephant, or a spider; and the next time we come we may find our soul is being flitted through the air in the body of a bird, or hopping around in the body of a croaking frog. It all depends upon how well we do with ourselves on each visit, as to just what form we will have the next time we come. There is an end to this, for finally the soul departs for the last time, and after that, in due course, finds rest in a mythical Nirvana, meaning, “extinction of the flame of life,” or “loss of all personal consciousness by absorption into the divine.”

This Satanic method of endeavoring to prove true the lie, “Ye shall not surely die,” has been adopted into most heathen religions in one form or another. This is why a Hindu tries to avoid stepping on an insect, or killing a fly, lest he injure the feelings or harm the life of an ancestor. To many it may seem difficult to understand how anyone could believe such apparent nonsense, but it is really no more unreasonable than the no-death theories which have found their way into the professed Christian religion.

All the religions of the world attempt, each in its own way, to deal with the problem of sin. That is to say, rewards are held out to the righteous, and punishments for the wicked. A faithful Hindu might not have to come back to earth as a dog, and he will reach Nirvana with fewer earth cycles than those less faithful. Also, in the creeds of the churches, account is taken of the fact that there are saints and sinners, believers and unbelievers, faithful and unfaithful, and attempts are made to explain how the good will be rewarded and the wicked punished.

In all this theorizing, the simple fact of the Bible that the ‘wages of sin is death’ is ignored. How could one believe that the wages of sin is death, and at the same time insist that there is no death? When God’s penalty for sin is denied, his reward for righteousness cannot be appreciated. Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) But if there is no death, then, as one devotee to the no-death dogma explained, what Paul meant when he wrote that the wages of sin is death was, ‘the death that never dies’. If this were true, then Paul must also have meant in his reference to eternal life, the ‘life that never lives’.

Refusing to believe in the reality of death, the creed-makers invented their own concepts of how God would punish sinners—the ‘soul’ of sinners, that is. The creeds of Christendom set forth two general views on this subject—the Catholic and the Protestant. According to the Catholic view, there are two places to which wicked ‘souls’ go when they depart the dead bodies in which they lived as humans. One of these is called hell, and the other purgatory.

Hell, it is alleged, is only for the out-and-out sinners, those who maliciously and willfully defy the church, and turn their backs upon all its rules and regulations. Many heretics, it is claimed, fall into this category, and therefore are doomed to spend the endless ages of eternity in hell. And ‘doomed’ is the appropriate word to use here, for in this ‘hell’ the wicked are said to be tortured—yes, tortured—in burning flames many times hotter than any fire ever produced by man.

From the humane standpoint, the teachings of the heathen seem kinder than the ‘hell’ dogma. But then, there is an alternative! If one wishes, he can avoid being wicked enough to go to hell, and after death find himself in purgatory. Purgatory, it is explained, is just what its name implies, a place of purgation, of cleansing from sin and defilement, so that one is eventually made pure enough to enter into the bliss of heaven. The purging methods in purgatory are, of course, very strenuous. There is fire there also, which is very hot. In this respect probably the chief difference between hell and purgatory is that the tortures of the latter are not eternal in duration. There is an eventual escape, the time spent in the flames being determined by a number of circumstances, one being how well the sufferer responds to the refining process.

In the Middle Ages various reformers began to question such teachings of the established church. They discovered that the doctrine of purgatory is not taught in the Bible, that not even the word purgatory appears in the sacred Word, so they protested against this teaching. It was not a pleasant thing to do, for it left them with somewhat of a problem on their hands. By doing away with purgatory, there was no place, as they thought, for the partially wicked souls—which it was claimed were in purgatory—to go, except to hell. From the standpoint of mercy, the Protestants really worsened the outlook for sinners, particularly the partially willful among them.

Throughout the ages there have been millions who, according to the standards of the church, and the Bible also, have not been good enough to go to heaven. The Catholic Church said, however, that most of them were too good to spend an eternity in hell, so purgatory was provided. Many Protestants will also agree that there are many fundamentally good people in the world—fine neighbors, willing to do a good turn whenever they have an opportunity—but they are not good enough for heaven because not devoted to the cause of Christ. But still, according to the Protestant view, these must all spend eternity in a hell of torment. It is a repelling thought, and one of the many God-dishonoring teachings which have naturally followed in the wake of Satan’s lie, “Ye shall not surely die.”

The doctrines of purgatory and of eternal torture are not taught in the Word of God. Some have reasoned, “If there is a heaven, there must be a hell.” There is a heaven—that we will discuss in a later article. However, the alternatives set before us in the Bible are not heaven and hell, but life and death. Death is the penalty for sin, and life is the gift of God. This marvelous gift was proffered to our first parents, and was available to them on condition of obedience to God’s law. They disobeyed, and the penalty of death came upon them.

But God’s gift of life is again available. Jesus tells us about it, as recorded in John 3:16, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice that Jesus uses the word ‘perish’, meaning complete destruction, not torture. Except for God’s gift of life through Christ, the Redeemer, the human race would have perished, but it was never threatened with torment.

Satan’s deception has been so great that it has robbed language of its meaning. Ordinarily everyone would know the meaning of the words ‘die’ and ‘death’, but Satan’s lie has been so deceptive that in theological circles these words are twisted to mean ‘separation from God’, and separation from God means torture in a fiery hell. But suppose we apply this false meaning in reading the account of the loss of life during the Deluge. The record says, “All flesh died [separated from God] that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man.”—Gen. 7:21

This text of Scripture makes no distinction between the death of beasts and man. It does not state that man was swept away to a place of torment by the swirling waters of the Flood. It does not state this, because it would not have been true. The Bible says, “As the one dieth, so dieth the other; … all go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again .”—Eccles. 3:19,20

It is man’s earnest desire to live that makes him so readily susceptible to Satan’s no-death deception. Even under the abnormal conditions of sin and sickness and war, life is considered by most people a boon, a blessing. It is hard to believe—millions refuse to believe—that when the heart stops beating there is no more life. With this determination to live, mankind has fallen ready prey to Satan’s lie, “Ye shall not surely die.” “There is no death.”

This human attitude toward life is one of the things that sets man apart from the lower animals. God created man with the intention that he should live, not temporarily, but forever. Death, therefore, was the severest penalty that could have been attached to sin. Little wonder that we should shrink from it, and it is not surprising that so many are willing to insist that it is not real, but rather that what we call death, is merely a means of escape into another life.

Hope for Life Is Not a Vain Illusion

But, severe though the death penalty is, the Scriptures emphasize its reality. Nevertheless, the Bible does hold out hope for a future life. This hope is not predicated on the vain illusion that no one really dies, but on God’s promises to restore the dead to life. The followers of Jesus are promised a heavenly home with him—not because there is some death-proof element within them which escapes when the body dies and which is whisked off to heaven—but because the power of God will restore them to life in the resurrection and exalt them to “glory and honor and immortality.”—Rom. 2:7

When the Prophet Job had suffered beyond the point of ordinary human endurance, he asked God to let him die. Having thus prayed for death, Job raised the question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14) Job did not ask, “If a man die, is he really dead?” Job knew that those who die are dead. It is because he knew this that he asked God to let him die, for this, he believed, was the only way he could be free from suffering. What concerned Job was whether or not God would restore him to life at a later time.

Job spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or power of God, and, answering his own question, he said, “All the days of my appointed time [in death] will I wait, till my change come; [then] thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.” (Job 14:14,15) As recorded in the New Testament, Jesus confirmed this hope of being called forth from death in God’s due time, using as an example the death of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany. This account is recorded in John 11:1-46.

When Jesus was in the north country of Galilee, Lazarus became ill, and his sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.” (John 11:3) The sisters evidently thought when their Master received this information he would come to Bethany and to their home at once. Instead, he waited for two days, and then announced to his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.” The disciples did not understand the intent of this remark. They thought Jesus referred to “taking of rest in sleep.” Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.”—vss. 11-14

A very fundamental truth of the Scriptures is set forth in this conversation between Jesus and his disciples. Actually, as Jesus said, Lazarus was dead. But because he expected to restore him to life, Jesus spoke of death as being merely a ‘sleep’. The same is true of all mankind—the dead and those who will yet die; they are dead. Satan lied when he said, “Ye shall not surely die.” This penalty for sin would have, been eternal oblivion for all of Adam’s children, except for the provision of divine love through Christ, who gave himself in death as a substitute for the forfeited life of Adam. Paul wrote, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”—I Cor. 15:22

They are not actually made alive until God’s due time to restore the dead to life. But as God now looks upon those who have died, he sees them as though they were asleep. Those who sleep are unconscious, and so are the dead. For those who are asleep we have an expectancy of an awakening, and God has promised that through Christ those who sleep in death will also be awakened.

Jesus returned to Bethany, and as he approached the home of that little family which he so dearly loved, Martha met him, and said, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Jesus replied, “Thy brother shall rise again.” (John 11:21,23) Jesus did not tell Martha that her brother was not really dead—that now he was actually more alive than ever. Not Jesus knew that to comfort Martha in this way would have been agreeing with Satan’s lie, “Ye shall not surely die.” Jesus’ message of comfort was, that although Lazarus was indeed dead, he would be restored to life. This is the great hope of life the Bible holds out to all mankind.

Martha then replied to Jesus, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” (vs. 24) The Bible reveals that the ‘last day’ mentioned by Martha is the final age in God’s plan for the recovery of man from sin and death. With this recovery program completed, endless ages of peace and joy will spread out before the restored human race. Martha knew that her brother would be restored to life in that time of the general resurrection, but, of course, that did not take the loneliness from her heart which all experience when they lose their loved ones in death.

Jesus replied to Martha again, saying, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (vs. 25) The Rotherham Translation translates the next verse properly: “No one who lives again and believes in me shall in any wise die.” From this wonderful statement we have Jesus’ own assurance that both believers and those who have not had a full opportunity to believe in this life will be awakened from death, the believers to immediate perfection of life, and the unbelievers to an opportunity to believe and live forever.

A little later Jesus awakened Lazarus from death as an illustration of the divine plan for all mankind. In John 5:28,29, Revised Standard Version, we read, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good [the believers], unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.”

There are many Bible texts to show that, in the resurrection, the faithful believers in Christ of this age will be rewarded with immortality. The Apostle Paul used the expression, “glory and honor and immortality.” (Rom. 2:7) But those who are awakened from death, or ‘come forth to judgment’, will, if they pass through the judgment successfully, be restored to perfection of human life as it was originally given to Adam and Eve. The word judgment in this text translates the Greek word krisis. It means ‘a test’, or ‘trial’. So, in that time of the general resurrection, all mankind will be placed on probation, as Adam and Eve were on trial in Eden.

The great difference between the future probation period of all mankind and the trial of our first parents will be that the people will not then be deceived by Satan, as Eve was deceived, and as almost all mankind have since been deceived by him. Then all will know that God spoke the truth when he said that death would be the penalty for sin, because they will have observed and experienced it. When they are awakened from death and learn how much time elapsed without their knowledge of it, they will know that they were dead. They will know that while dead they were neither in a hell of torture, nor a purgatory of pain. They will know that they had not been in a heaven of bliss. Those who had been Hindu believers will know that they had not been a butterfly or a tiger while they were dead. All will know that they knew nothing while they were dead, and will thank God for the opportunity he has given them through Christ, the Redeemer, to live again!

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