• Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
• vs. 5 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.”
•  

What a tragedy! It is so horrible to think how Satan’s first lie to mankind is still being believed today! Satan’s lie comes in different forms so that it is not easily discerned. And one of the groups Satan’s lie is whispered to is parents. Parents who want to raise a godly seed are constantly told by others how important it is for their children to be “knowing good and evil.” Similar to the serpent’s lies lisped to Eve, godly parents are told that their offspring cannot possibly know “good and evil” unless they break God’s law and taste the world’s fruit.

• -Saved parents are lured into rejecting the perfect, God-ordained (Deut. 6:6-9) supervision of parental education, and instead, believing that only by turning over their children to “qualified” others can their children properly learn to fend for themselves in the “real” world and their “eyes shall be opened.”
•  
• -The serpent contradicts God, “How will your children mature and be the best they can possibly be; ‘be as gods, knowing good and evil?’ if your kids are not ‘left to themselves’?” “Don’t suffocate the kids! Children must have some time when you are not watching them like school or church or their friend’s house,” Satan mocks.
• Pro. 29:15 “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.” (Notice it is not the wily serpent or the church or the school that is brought to shame for not watching. It is the parent even if you weren’t around and especially because you weren’t around. Never let someone take your job as the parent.)
•  
• -Parents are pushed to offer their kids the medium of secular, filthy ‘classics’ in the form of TV, movies, and books. You are told, “’Your (kids’) eyes shall be opened’ to what real literature is and what excellent writing practices are.” The serpent never warns you of the influx of evil thoughts that follow “knowing good and evil” ‘classics’.
•  
• -Parents are tempted to allow their offspring to mingle among worldly teens, worldly places, worldly music, worldly etc…. How else shall they grow up, right?
•  
• -And with every whisper, every temptation, every lie, the serpent promises: “Ye (your kids) shall not die.” but you/they always do. The bitten fruit always bites back!
•  

Parents, we must fight Satan’s lie with Scripture:

• Romans 16:19 “For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.”
•  

This evangelist has stuck very tightly to Rom. 16:19 since I first heard this verse in Bible college, and I have passed its emphasis on to my children. Dear reader, we do not need to know all the ins and outs of the cults and the minds of wicked men and the practices of the ungodly and the names and methods of the many types of drugs, etc…. No, believers are supposed to be “simple concerning evil.”

We must be “wise unto that which is good.”

• -Do you have all of God’s doctrines down by heart and can quote verbatim the verses used to support them and explain them? (I Pt. 3:15)
•  
• -Do you have entire chapters and even books of God’s Word hidden in your heart that you might not sin against Him? (Ps. 119:11)
•  
• -Do you and your kids know how to apply wisdom to win souls to Christ? (Pro. 11:30)
•  
• -Do you know how to dress modestly according to God’s Word, or to discern what is good and bad music according to God’s Word? (Ps. 119:105)
•  

“Your obedience” (Rom. 16:19) or that of your kids can only “come abroad unto all men” if you persist in ignorance of evil and increase in wisdom of God’s righteousness.

You and your kids don’t need Satan’s lie of eating the world’s fruit in order to know good and evil. You and your kids need to study and obey God’s Truth found in God’s Word in order to “discern both good and evil.” (Heb. 5:14)

• Hebrews 5:14 “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”