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Using a serpent as his mouthpiece, Satan the Devil approached Eve and said: “Is it really so that God said you must not eat from every tree of the garden?” When Eve repeated God’s command, Satan said to her: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” Consequently, the tree seemed so desirable to Eve that “she began taking of its fruit and eating it.” The account continues: “Afterward she gave some also to her husband when with her and he began eating it.” (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/2007681/18/0" data-bid="19-1" class="b">Genesis 3:1-6</a>) Both Adam and Eve thus misused their free will and sinned by disobeying God.</p> <p id="p14" data-pid="14" class="sb">Do you see the seriousness of what transpired? The Devil contradicted what God had <span id="page6" class="pageNum" aria-hidden="true" data-no="6" data-before-text="6"></span>said to Adam. Satan’s words implied that Adam and Eve would not need Jehovah in order to decide what was good and what was bad for them. Satan’s challenge therefore brought into question the right and validity of Jehovah’s rulership over man. The all-important issue that Satan raised, then, was that of the rightfulness of Jehovah’s sovereignty. How did the true God answer the challenge?</p> </article> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="results"> <li class="linkCard"> <a href="/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2007681#h=21:0-23:0" class="jwac showRuby publicationCitation html5 pub-w docId-2007681 pub-w07 pub-w pub-w07 docClass-6 jwac showRuby ml-E ms-ROMAN dir-ltr chrome cardContainer noTooltips cardLine1Prominent lnk" data-nav-scope-data="[]"> <div class="cardThumbnail "> <span class=" cardThumbnailImage thumbnail publication icon-default publication pub-w07 cat-w " data-pub-symbol="w07" ></span> </div> <div class="cardTitleBlock"> <div class=" cardLine1 ellipsized cardHalfHeight cardLine1Prominent"><span class="sectionIcon"></span> Why Wickedness Continues </div> <div class=" cardLine2 ellipsized cardLine1Prominent"> The Watchtower—2007 | September 15 </div> </div> <div class="cardTitleDetail"></div> <div class="cardChevron"> <div class="icon"></div> </div> </a> </li> <li class="result"> <ul class="resultItems"> <li class="publicationCitation html5 pub-w docId-2007681 pub-w07 pub-w pub-w07 docClass-6 jwac showRuby ml-E ms-ROMAN dir-ltr"> <article class="scalableui"> <p id="p21" data-pid="21" class="sb">Satan also told Eve: “God knows that in the very day of your eating from [the forbidden tree] your eyes are bound to be opened and you [both Eve and Adam] are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/2007681/24/0" data-bid="25-1" class="b">Genesis 3:5</a>) With those cunning words, Satan presented humans with a sham opportunity to be self-governed. Deceptively, Satan implied that humans would be better off independent of God. Has this proved true?</p> <p id="p22" data-pid="22" class="sb">Throughout the course of history, empires have come and gone. Every conceivable form of human government has been tried. Time and again, however, dreadful things <span id="page7" class="pageNum" aria-hidden="true" data-no="7" data-before-text="7"></span>have happened to the human family. “Man has dominated man to his injury,” a Bible writer wisely concluded some 3,000 years ago. (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/2007681/25/0" data-bid="26-1" class="b">Ecclesiastes 8:9</a>) “It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step,” wrote the prophet Jeremiah. (<a href="/en/wol/bc/r1/lp-e/2007681/26/0" data-bid="27-1" class="b">Jeremiah 10:23</a>) Even scientific and technological achievements of recent years have not negated the truth of these statements. 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