The Fall of Man
Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent (1) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, 
       "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"  (3)
       The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
    "You will not surely die, " the serpent said to the woman, "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (4)

    When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing tot he eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

God had perfection set up for his children in the Garden of Eden.  One decision introduced sin, separation and alienation from God.  One bite.

What can we watch for as we are offered forbidden fruit that may take us down an entirely different path than we wanted to go?

   1)  Satan comes in disguise.  He is beautiful. He is sly.  He never offers temptations as what they truly are, but will deceive and insinuate and accuse with a lovely, flattering tongue, and shiny, desirable sin.

2)  Satan tries to convince us that we deserve it, and it won't hurt anyone.  In Genesis, he "insinuates a falsehood and portrays rebellion as clever, but essentially innocent, self-interest"(NIV Study Bible commentary).   He tries this with Eve, he tries it with us.
    When weighing a decision, the moment that entitlement and the excuse "It won't hurt a thing" enters our mind, all red flags should be waving.

3) Satan causes Eve to doubt God's word.  The moment we start to buy into worldly philosophy of any kind that goes against the Word of God, thinking maybe we misunderstood, misinterpreted, or were taught by our Church leaders to believe something that isn't modern enough for today's world, we are on his hook.  
      I believe we have to make three commitments when it comes to God's word. First, we must read it, and study it, and know it well enough that the spirit can prompt us with it when we are at a crossroads wondering which is the path of temptation and which is the path of righteousness.
    Second, we have to believe that God knows what he's talking about.  He is the designer of the Universe, He is the designer and arranger of all matter.  He is the creator of Science.  He may not have revealed every detail to us in His Word, but we better believe that His understanding of the world, our human relationships and all the workings of the universe far surpasses any thought, theory, even "scientifically proved facts" that the human brain could individually or collectively conclude. And with that understanding, we need to submit to the commands and revelations He did reveal, and trust Him with the details we don't understand.
    Third, if we don't know the answers, we have to have the tenacity, the resourcefulness, the courage to seek answers from the Word.  The moment we believe human wisdom is truth without checking The Truth, we are gullible and complacent fools.
        I'm the first to admit, sometimes I earnestly seek answers in the Bible, and come up gasping for air and thinking, huh?   If this happens, I have to seek guidance from godly leaders who have shown the fruit of the spirit in their lives consistently are living by God's word.  The fruit proves to me that these leaders know God and know His word, and can be trusted to point me in the right direction.

4) Satan accuses God of having unworthy motives. He brings a full attack from all sides.  He attacks our thoughts and emotions, he attacks God's word, He even has the audacity to attack God Himself.  Just like a lawyer sometimes needs to destroy a witness's credibility, Satan attempts to destroy God's credibility.  Fortunately for us, actions always speak louder than words.  Satan proves himself a liar and a destroyer every time, while God's compassions NEVER fail.  Everything He does from Genesis to Revelation, and in our own lives, sings a sweet melody of redemption and love every time.

     Just like we are trained to drop everything and get out of the building in a fire drill,  we need to build in fire alarms in our brains, and be open to the spirit to set them off.  Watch out for Satan's tactics.  He's not very original, and he keeps trying the same things over and over.  Just like a coach can spot patterns in an offense, we need to spot Satan's plays, and set up our defense to stuff Satan before he convinces us of his lies. The good news is, through the blood of Jesus, we are already on the winning team.  Satan is vanquished and Jesus is King.  He's just trying to lead us astray.

1 Timothy 6:11  
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.