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’?”  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” 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.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:1-6 NKJV

God wants His people to have the knowledge of God, i.e., the Word of God. The world is filled with people whose heads are full of the knowledge of good and evil; yet, we still have broken lives, broken homes and divorces, war-torn countries, destruction and violence everywhere. Why?–because the knowledge of good and evil are Siamese twins. When Jesus (the Second Adam) came on the scene, He didn’t come talking about good and evil; He talked about the heavenly kingdom of His Father (Mark 1:14, 15).

God created man to rule and reign in His truth (Gen. 1:28).   When He commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—that wasn’t a statement of legislation but a statement of qualification: Adam wasn’t qualified to make judgments apart from the knowledge of God. To do so is to believe a lie.  Jesus demonstrated this truth to the Pharisees (John 5:19, 30). The Church, i.e., believers in Christ, too, isn’t called to legislate. We are called to let people know that they are unqualified to judge (Matt. 7:1; John 8:15).  Christians are, instead, called to pray for people—not judge them. Prayer presupposes human inability apart from God. You only have to convince people on an ego trip to pray (Acts 9:11). 

What happens when you believe the lie? You lose your God-given power and dominion (Ps. 82:6), and you exchange the truth of God for a lie (Rom. 1:20-25). Satan lied to Eve saying, “You will not surely die.” Don’t believe the Serpent’s lie. You are not “becoming” like God. You are already like God–an expression of God and a channel for His divine activity!