As our nation struggles with some of the most consequential political questions of our lifetime, a few questions that God asked Adam and Eve have emerged once again at a crucial point in our history, and they have captured our attention. Though political systems didn’t exist in the Garden of Eden where God originally asked those questions, His inquiries nevertheless seem relevant in that arena today. We began our series last week with the initial question in God’s divine investigation, “Where are you?” Today, we pick up our story as God continues to interrogate the first couple in Biblical antiquity, and in the midst of their inept and futile excuses, God asked another provocative question…
The Story Continues ~
God’s second question is one that can be used as an effective weapon against the devil’s
attempts to corrupt the minds of God’s image-bearers and lead them to violate His boundaries. And given the significance of decisions that will be made in our country in the next few days, it’s a question whose implications we would all do well to consider.
But before continuing, let’s have a look at the text. Following Eve’s affirmation that God did, indeed, forbid eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the devil introduces his personal and devastating invention, the ‘lie’:
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 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 coverings.
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:6–10 NKJV)
Satan’s brazen contradiction, You will not surely die, accomplished several things. In one brief statement, the devil challenged God’s authority, impugned His integrity, and demeaned His love for those He created. Even though Adam and Eve were already made in His image (Genesis 1:26), the enemy suggested that God was holding back on them. He said that the fruit 
of that tree would enable them to be “like” God in a way that would free them from His restrictive judgments and empower them to run their own lives. Satan’s objective was to dethrone God as the sovereign Judge of what constitutes righteousness. And in doing that, he would also destroy any uniform basis for defining and applying justice, and that would promote worldwide anarchy. But God was about to intervene with a question with incredible potential. It was simply this:
And He [God] said, “Who told you that you were naked?” (Genesis 3:11 NKJV)
A Nefarious Objective ~
As we’ve pointed out before, God didn’t need Adam’s input to know “who” he had been talking to. What God wanted from Adam was the realization that embracing information that contradicts His will leads to painful and irreversible conclusions. It’s interesting that the serpent never actually told Eve to eat the fruit. No one plucked it off and handed it to her. The devil’s objective, instead, is to have his victims bear all the guilt. He wants to deceive us into willingly ingesting the forbidden fruit. He wants us to be responsible for dethroning God in our lives. Satan just dangles his contradictory information and displaces God’s command with his lying promises. He destroyed Adam and Eve’s paradise without ever having to touch the fruit himself, and what he did to them, he wants to do to us, as well.
But let’s get to the lesson we want to highlight today, which is to address the question of who’s controlling the flow of information in our lives, especially as it regards spiritual, moral, and ethical issues. It has been abundantly clear for generations in our country that financially and
politically powerful entities have endeavored to gain and control the flow of information made available to the general population. And it doesn’t take a degree in social engineering to realize that controlling the flow of information enables application of tremendous influence on the decision making process of those who absorb it. And ultimately, that influence shows up in behavioral choices, lifestyle patterns, and which candidates we support politically.
Good, Bad, and Ugly ~
The development and proliferation of electronic media in our country has produced an exponential growth and expansion of information availability. That evolution has brought exciting new opportunities and possibilities with it that are good and beneficial, but, as you know, that’s not always the case. We’ve also seen it open doors for the propagation of evil like we never imagined, and its influence in that direction has never been more clearly displayed than in the assaults on the truth that we’ve seen in the course of this Presidential campaign. The number and frequency of claims, accusations, and declarations that are blatant lies simply boggle the mind.
Although many of the issues plaguing our nation have become political, they’re not merely political in nature. They are inherently spiritual, and they have moral and ethical implications that can and will affect us personally, as well as nationally. Policies and practices are being 
promoted that repudiate God’s judgment, violate His boundaries, and impugn His character. Like the enemy in Eden, some political activists are painting God as restrictive and burdensome. They declare that things He’s forbidden are actually empowering and liberating. But the time to challenge those assertions is before the lines have been crossed and the devastation begins.
When we hear poisonous propositions and perverse practices being promoted as good and beneficial, countering them with the question God asked Adam seems more than appropriate. For instance:
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- Who told you that killing innocent babies in the womb because they happen to be inconvenient is a human right, and that there should be no restriction on when, how, or by whom their life is ended?
- Who told you that inviting millions of people to violate our nation’s borders, commit other crimes with impunity, take over our schools, flood our healthcare agencies, invade our communities, and fill our land with chemical poison is good for our nation?
- Who told you that perverting children’s minds and mutilating their bodies without their parents’ knowledge or consent constitutes healthcare?
- Who told you that providing sex change surgeries for illegal immigrants and prison inmates should be considered medically necessary and be funded by our taxes?
- Who told you that marriage is outdated, families are a disappearing relic of the past, and parents’ rights should be dictated by the government because children actually belong to the village?
- Who told you that the values and principles Jesus taught are unrealistic, socially restrictive, discriminatory, and shouldn’t be allowed in our schools, but teaching Marxism, racism, and pornographic perversions should be mandatory?
- Who told you that freedom of speech should be limited to content approved by a government agency assigned to determine what is or is not misinformation?
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Who told you all that? … Where did you get that?
Just as God already knew the answer to His question before He asked it, so do we. When we hear propositions like those above, we already know they did not originate with the One to whom our primary allegiance belongs. The serpent’s seductive lies are still at work, and we must remember that sin’s devastating process didn’t begin when Eve swallowed the fruit. It began when she listened to a claim that contradicted her Creator and believed it. It’s not up to any political party, mega-rich tech mogul, or some special interest group to control our flow of information, determine what constitutes truth, and which beliefs and practices we should embrace … It’s up to us and the Spirit of God to do that.
In addition to asking the “Who told you” question, the Apostle, Paul, had another defensive
response that works quite well in countering the devil’s deceptive claims. He said we should bring ‘every’ thought [idea, philosophy, etc.] into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5, NKJV). In that regard, it’s reasonable to ask … If Jesus wouldn’t campaign on it, should it get our vote?
And with that said …
Have a safe, anxiety-free, spiritually victorious 🇺🇸 ELECTION DAY 2024 🇺🇸
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to Tweet & Share from the pull quotes below. Each quote links directly to this article through Twitter.
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- In one brief statement, the devil challenged God’s authority, impugned His integrity, and demeaned His love for those He created. Even though Adam and Eve were already made in His image, the enemy suggested that God was holding back on them. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Many issues plaguing our nation have moral and ethical implications that can and will affect us both personally and nationally. Policies and practices are being promoted that repudiate God’s judgment, violate His boundaries and impugn His character. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Like the enemy in Eden, some political activists paint God as restrictive and burdensome. They declare that things He forbids are empowering, liberating. The time to challenge those assertions is B4 the lines are crossed & devastation begins. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- We already know that those propositions didn’t originate w/the One to whom our primary allegiance belongs. The serpent’s seductive lies are still at work. Sin’s devastating process didn’t begin when Eve swallowed the fruit. It began when … @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Sin’s devastating process began when Eve listened to a claim contradicting her Creator and believing it. It’s up to us & the Spirit of God to control our flow of info, determine what constitutes truth and which beliefs & practices we embrace. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
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Check out Ron’s book, “Right Side Up Thinking in an Upside Down World ~ Looking at the World through the Lens of Biblical Truth” 
Gallagher's Pen ~ 