The First Lie​—Who Told It?

IN A town in southern Africa two men in a car drove through an intersection. The traffic lights were green, but they were stopped by a traffic officer who asked: “Why did you drive through the red lights?” Both men denied that they had. But the officer said: “Are you telling me that I can’t see?” And he began to write out a ticket. The driver answered quietly: “There is Someone up above who knows what you are doing.” The officer hesitated . . . and walked away.

Yes, the policeman was telling a lie. Is that surprising? Hardly. Lying is deeply rooted in human society. As it has often been said: “Tell a lie often enough and the people will believe it.” Many politicians appear to agree with this, and, in the minds of many, politics is closely associated with lying.

People tell lies for all kinds of reasons. A sincere Christian who had been out of work for some time applied to a commercial firm for a job. But the manager warned him: “To sell my products you must be able to lie better than the next man!” The Christian refused the job.

Even religious persons, if not holding to godly standards, resort to lying. Do you remember the reaction of the Jewish religious leaders on hearing that the executed Jesus of Nazareth had been resurrected? They bribed the soldiers guarding Jesus’ tomb to say: “His disciples came in the night and stole him while we were sleeping.”​—Matthew 28:12-15.

Yet it appears that lying is not natural to humans. Dr. Lewis Thomas wrote: “As I understand it, a human being cannot tell a lie, even a small one, without setting off a kind of smoke alarm somewhere deep in a dark lobule of the brain, resulting in the sudden discharge of nerve impulses, or a sudden outpouring of neurohormones of some sort . . . Lying, then, is stressful, even when we do it for protection, or relief, or escape, or profit.” (Discover, December 1980) These physical reactions are what trigger a lie detector.

Since lying is so stressful, how did it get started?

Who Told the First Lie?

Jesus Christ identified the first liar, and he showed that it was not a human. He said: “When he [Satan] speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.” (John 8:44) So the first liar was Satan the Devil. When did he start telling lies? According to the Bible, it was shortly after the beginning of the history of the human race.

The event is recorded in the Bible book of Genesis, and the lie was a matter of life or death for mankind. God indicated to the first man, Adam, that his continued life depended on obedience. He gave Adam a simple law to keep and said that if he failed to keep that law he would “positively die.” But Satan maliciously lied and said: “You positively will not die.” That was the first of the billions of lies that have been heard on this planet Earth.​—Genesis 2:17; 3:4.

Many today do not believe that account in the Bible. But Jesus, the most truthful man who ever lived, confirmed that the record in Genesis is not myth but true history. (Matthew 19:4, 5) Certainly, the results of that lie are still with us. It spelled disaster for the human race.

The First Lie​—How It Has Affected You

IN India, in 1981, a train was approaching a bridge when the engineer suddenly noticed a cow on the line. He braked violently. The train was derailed and seven crowded coaches plunged into the river below. More than 800 lives were lost. Thus a small event​—a cow on the railway line—​led to a major tragedy. Something similar happened in Eden, the garden of God.

Eden must have been a delightful place. It had trees, flowers, animals and birds in great variety. There was harmony and tranquillity. It was truly paradise. Adam and Eve must have delighted in God’s handiwork. And they had a thrilling prospect. God told them: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:28) Additionally, they had a sublimely simple religion: to do God’s will.

Even the angels took a keen interest in this happy beginning of the human race. But one angel was different. His interest was colored by selfishness. He coveted the worship of man for himself and plotted to become the “god,” or ruler, of the world. He thus became Satan, which name means “adversary.”​—See Luke 4:5-8; 2 Corinthians 4:4.

Jehovah God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. This was a simple test. By meeting it, Adam and his wife could show that they really wanted to serve God. Moreover, Jehovah warned: “In the day you eat [the forbidden fruit] from it you will positively die.” (Genesis 2:17) The gift of everlasting life was not to be for disobedient rebels.

Satan saw his opportunity here. Through a snake he tempted Eve to take the forbidden fruit, saying: “You positively will not die.” Then he said regarding that tree: “For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Genesis 3:4, 5) What a dazzling offer​—to be like God! But Satan lied. Eve, however, believed what he said and disobediently ate of the forbidden fruit. Later, she offered it to Adam, who joined her in sinning. What was the result?

That crucial act “derailed” the whole human race and led to tragedy. The first couple immediately lost paradise. In time, they also lost their lives and returned to the dust from which they had been formed. (Genesis 3:19) Sadly, all their children​—the human race—​were thus born outside paradise, and into sin and death.​—Romans 5:12.

Seemingly, Satan had won. He was now a “god,” and the human race was following him instead of the Creator. But he had not really won. He had merely struck the opening blow in a conflict that continues even today. Jehovah immediately moved to counteract the results of Satan’s lie. He said to Satan: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.”​—Genesis 3:15.

In this, the first prophecy in the Bible, final defeat is foretold for Satan, coming by means of a certain “seed.” Who is that seed? That remained a secret for a long time.

The God of This World

With few exceptions, the descendants of Adam and Eve chose to imitate their parents and disobey God. They preferred the independence offered by Satan. Eventually, opposition to God came to be concentrated in a region known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

The human leader of that opposition was a man named Nimrod. He is identified in the Bible as the first king and empire builder. All his activities were in opposition to God; hence, the Bible says: “He displayed himself a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” The beginning of his empire was Babel, later centered in the city of Babylon.​—Genesis 10:9, 10.

So it was from Babel that political oppression and cruelty spread. Novel religious theories were also promoted there. The first lie​—that sinful Eve would not really die—​had been exposed, since Eve did die. Now an embellishment of that lie was taught. An immortal part of man was said to survive death and live on in an unseen world. This doctrine led to a belief in hellfire, spiritism, ancestor worship and a host of other untrue teachings.

The religious theories originating in ancient Babel, or Babylon, spread all around the world. One authority, noting the widespread similarities between most of the world’s religions, said that they “must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source.” (The Worship of the Dead, by Colonel J. Garnier) That source was ancient Babylon. This worldwide religious system derived from Babylon is referred to in the Bible as “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.”​—Revelation 17:5.

Hence, Satan’s first lie led to widespread political oppression and false religion. But what was developing with regard to the “seed” that God prophesied would bring Satan and his schemes to nothing?

[Picture on page 5]

Like this train, the whole human race has been “derailed.” Do you know how?

The First Lie​—Removing Its Effects

NOT everyone followed Satan or accepted his religious innovations. Abraham, for example, continued to worship the true God. He believed that ultimately life depended on obedience to God. Hence, Jehovah blessed him, saying: “By means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.” (Genesis 22:18) What did this mean? Clearly, that the “seed” promised long before in Eden was to appear among the children of Abraham.​—Galatians 3:16.

Later, other details about the “seed” were revealed to faithful ones. He was to be born in the tribe of Judah, to be a descendant of King David. He would be born of a virgin, in the town of Bethlehem. (Genesis 49:10; 2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2) When the due time arrived, the promised “seed” was born in exactly the right place to exactly the right family. It was Jesus, who was later called the Christ.​—Luke 2:8-11.

Satan’s world at the time of Jesus’ birth was in deep religious darkness. Under the rule of Rome, the mightiest empire up to that time, many variants of Babylonish religion flourished. Many of faithful Abraham’s descendants, the Israelites, had strayed from true worship. Their religious leaders were self-righteous and proud. Some had succumbed to Babylonish teachings. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the Pharisees (a prominent religious sect) believed that “souls have an immortal vigour in them” and “that souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment.”

Jesus was able to restore many to pure worship. He taught his followers to be “no part” of Satan’s system of things, either religiously or politically. (John 15:19) He healed the sick, raised the dead and showed great compassion for the humble ones. These loved Jesus, but many of the priests hated him because he exposed their oppressive ways and false teachings. Hence, they finally had him killed.

Jesus’ death must have seemed like a triumph to Satan, but, if so, it was short-lived. God soon raised Jesus from the dead to spirit life. And by Jesus’ death and resurrection, God took a big step toward removing the worst effects of Satan’s lie. He made it possible for those who wished to follow the way of truth to regain the life that Adam, by his disobedience, had lost. “As in Adam all are dying,” said the apostle Paul, “so also in the Christ all will be made alive.”​—1 Corinthians 15:22-26.

Christianity and Apostasy

It was now possible for man to gain salvation from sin and death. Paradise would be restored by means of God’s kingdom, the ruler of which would be the resurrected Jesus Christ. Some humans would even have the privilege of sharing in that Kingdom rule. This dynamic message, proclaimed in the first century of our Common Era, stirred the hearts of many people. A congregation of followers of Christ​—later called Christians—​was formed in Jerusalem, and it quickly grew to number thousands.

Enraged, Satan attacked. Soon, Christians were dying in Jerusalem for their faith. Persecution drove many away from the city, but they carried the “good news” with them. Samaritans, and then Gentiles, were baptized as Christians. In a few decades the message had spread throughout the then-known world. Those were eventful times!​—Acts 17:6; Colossians 1:23.

Finally, in the days of the sadistic Emperor Nero, the might of the Roman Empire was unleashed against Christianity. Burning bodies of Christians served as torches at Roman feasts. Wild beasts were set upon them in the arenas. Nevertheless, Christianity continued to spread. But Satan had other tactics.

Corruption Within

The apostle Paul had warned the Colossian Christians: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.” (Colossians 2:8, New International Version) He had told Ephesian elders: “I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.” (Acts 20:29, 30) His warning now started to be fulfilled. Deceptive elements infiltrated the congregations and, with clever, specious arguments, slowly undermined the zeal of many members.

After a few centuries a popularized version of Christianity had developed that was thoroughly corrupted with unscriptural teachings. The Babylonish doctrine of the immortality of the soul was entrenched. A trinity was worshiped, similar to the triads of gods once worshiped in Babylon. The doctrines of hellfire and, later, purgatory were taught. Prayers were offered to the “Mother of God.” In the days of Roman Emperor Constantine, this apostatized form of Christianity, far from keeping separate from the world, became the state religion of the empire.

Jesus had prophesied that after the death of the apostles a seed of false Christianity would be introduced into the world, and that until the “harvest” false and true Christians would exist side by side. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) This was now happening. As the false Christianity became strong, it turned viciously against those who would not follow its way. Some professed Christians were burned alive for their faith, but this time their burning bodies illuminated the faces of onlooking monks and priests.

For centuries, light from the Bible shone only dimly. God’s Word was enshrined in Latin, a dying language, and translators of it into the common tongues were ruthlessly persecuted. But the Bible survived. And so did true Christianity, as Jesus said it would. They both still exist today.

Paradise Restored

That one lie told thousands of years ago in the garden of Eden was indeed calamitous for the human family. It led to untold suffering. Happily, mankind will not have to endure its bad consequences much longer.

The “seed” that was to bring Satan and his schemes to nothing appeared in the person of Jesus. After Jesus’ death he was raised to spirit life and ascended to heaven, “awaiting until his enemies should be placed as a stool for his feet.” (Hebrews 10:13) The evidence is that this waiting period is now over. Prophecies and Bible chronology point to the year 1914 as the time when Jesus ‘arrived in his glory’ to reign as a heavenly king.​—See Matthew 24, 25; Mark 13; Luke 21.

This means that Satan, the inventor of the lie, has just a short time left. (Revelation 12:12) The worldwide convulsions that mankind has experienced since 1914 are evidence of his great anger over this fact. Soon he, along with the oppressive political and religious systems that developed from his lie, will be destroyed forever.​—Daniel 2:44; Revelation 18:4-8.

What a relief that will be for mankind! The peace, beauty and happiness of the original garden of God will finally be restored, and paradise will be expanded earth wide. (Revelation 21:3, 4) Would you like to see that? God’s will is “that all sorts of men should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge of truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) Why not take advantage of Jehovah God’s kindness extended toward you? Shun Satan’s lies and seek the truth from God’s Word, the Bible. Then you will witness the final and complete reversal of the tragic consequences of that demonic first lie.