Genesis 3: 1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God made.  He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”    In our world today, we know about and see “Bait and Switch” schemes all the time in retail sales, services, products, travel, employment, politics and broken homes.  It is a scheme where something that seems good is offered but then something else is substituted in its place.  The substitution is never what was promised and is a deceptive alternative of far less value or even destructive.  However, man did not invent “Bait and Switch.”  Satan started it from the beginning in the Garden with Eve when she fell for it, along with Adam.  Adam was a weak leader who knew what God said about the tree, even before Eve was given to him. Our Scriptures this week clearly describe the “Bait and Switch” scheme and deception that Satan used on Adam and Eve.  And, he is still at it in 2017.

Today, this same enemy uses “Bait and Switch” schemes to get us to take the bait thinking that something better is waiting.  He deceives us to think that there is something better than what God has to offer.  He even gets men to think that God is holding back something better like he did with Adam and Eve in the garden.  Men fall to business schemes and adultery from this same tactic that repeats itself over and over.  Leaders must have the integrity, character and courage to recognize that “Bait and Switch” schemes will bring them down just as it did Adam and Eve.  Avoid these by being obedient to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit and by taking action to not yield to the destructive consequences of “Bait and Switch.”  The enemy always uses an appealing “lure.”  Turn away.  Don’t take the bait or you will get hooked like a big bass going to the frying pan.