Posted on June 23, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters
“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.”- Genesis 3:3-5 (NKJV)
One thing that I’m finding disturbingly interesting these days is the downfall of language and I’m gonna blame all of us for this happening. Why? Well, if you got a cell phone, chances are you text with it. Now, the older folks in our population, they’ll answer their cell phones whenever they ring (or make some other fancy half-a-song ringtone), even if it’s in the middle of a church service. “Hello? Hi, oh I can’t talk right now, I’m in church. Yeah, he’s still preaching on that topic again. I’da know, but let me call you back whenever he gets done. Okay. Yeah, I’ll tell him. Okay, well, let me go, okay, bye.”
Me, I’m sending you a text, then you reply, and then I reply, and our little back and forth has left me way behind on that topic the preacher has been presenting. I wonder… did either one of us, in my opening examples, ever get a morsel outta God’s Word that morning? Probably very little, but that isn’t the only source to point to with texting. We shorten EVERYTHING in our texts because those of us with iPhones are only limited to 250 characters in a text. That’s an issue for me because, as some may tell from my Freedom Fighters, I tend to use almost every word in the dictionary to describe grass.
We’re also using “emoji’s” which, in essence, are technically modern-day hieroglyphics that we use in place of actually worded adjectives. Some of them are so weird that I think they would even baffle the ancient Egyptians. There’s a lot of inflection (or tone) that goes missing with texting, unless you’re a fan of CAPITIALIZATION, and even then, one can’t tell if you’re yelling at them or you’re just super excited. This points to how sad we are as a people, because we’re becoming a society that is slowly ceasing its speaking to each other’s abilities. Almost every word is now subject to a new translation so no one is getting their feelings hurt whenever we do decide to speak to or with each other.
“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’?’” – Genesis 3:1
If you do a word study into the word serpent you’ll see “snake” as a common definition, but if you dig a little into the root word for snake, “nâchâsh” (n-ch-sh) in the Hebrew part of a Strong’s (H5172 to H5178 to be precise) Dictionary, you’ll see definitions like “shining one”, “hissing”, “bronze/copper”, “sorcery”, and my favorite, “a mythological creature of chaos opposed to God.” So don’t think your adversary as your every day garden snake. Once we understand how the serpent is described, biblically, we can get why it was easy for him to ask, “Did God really say…?”
Just like we can see language being twisted in our everyday lives, it isn’t until we’ve looked at Genesis 3:1 that we start to realize this has been going on for centuries. First Satan gives us a condescending tone that hisses “doubt God,” then Eve answers with all confidence she’s right in her repeating what God said (which she isn’t), then Satan rebukes, not only Eve, but God Himself with a little twist on heavenly hierarchy, “God knows that your eyes will be opened…and you will be like God.” BOOM!! Fish On!! Satan magnified on God’s strictness as he minimized the penalty…
There’s a huge reason why Peter penned this, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) We’re seeing nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives being given different tones and definitions to satisfy a narrative that is saying, “You can be a god unto yourself and you’re permitted to set up your little kingdom over there and we’ll let you have your little space so you can do you.” But what’s gonna happen when these folks find out they ain’t God and that kingdom they built washes out to sea?
Being a guy that has been blessed with a talent to use words (and that ain’t no pat on the back either, I’m still just a filthy rag) it’s upsetting to read, watch, and listen to some of the communicated language that comes straight outta “Secularland’s” sphere of influence. When the question was asked “Did God really say…?” Instead of hearing what God said, they received a text full of smileys faces, hearts, flowers, and kisses. Know what I mean? See what I’m saying? Picking up what I’m putting down? Amen?
Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, and a father. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.
Think About This:“Of course language is not an infallible guide, but it contains, with all its defects, a good deal of stored insight and experience.” – C.S. Lewis
The Daily Bible Reading: 1 Kings 21. You can download our 2023 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here.
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” Hebrews 3:1-2
Consider a retreat at America’s Keswick retreat center.
