More gems from my reading

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. - Genesis 3:4-5

Scripture tells us that we "...are not ignorant of satan's devices." In this passage we see...the enemy's great tactics. Incredibly, they work to this very day...He flat out denies that God's word is true. God told Adam that in the day that he would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would surely die. Here, while speaking to Eve, satan tells her, "... ye shall not surely die." Jesus told the Pharisees that the devil was a liar from the beginning. Here is the lie; whereas God said Adam would surely die, satan says he would NOT surely die. There certainly is a big difference.

The reason that this worked is that God often speaks of matters from His own perspective, and always tells the truth. Satan, perhaps knowing God's perspective, tells only enough of the truth to make us think he is right. For, it is true that in the day that Adam and Eve ate from the tree they did not collapse to the ground, and breath their last. But the more important perspective in this matter, the thing about which God was speaking, was spiritual death. From that day forward Adam and Eve ran from God: spiritually dead, not desiring Him or His ways. This desire to run from God and ignore His ways has been passed on to all of their descendants, the whole human race. Physical death is the result of spiritual death. Had Adam and Eve remained spiritually alive, they would also have remained physically alive.

Herm Klingenberger