Old Satan learned from his very first lie,
"Eat of the forbidden fruit and you won't die,"
That Mankind's more prone to hear and obey
His lies than all the Truths God has to say.

​And he found in me, for too many years,
A fool with a pair of attentive ears
Until one day I came to realize
The things he told me were every one lies:

"Denying yourself doesn't make much sense;
Don't you know that sin has no consequence?
Even if it did, you only hurt you
And no one else with sinful deeds you do.

"It really doesn't matter how you live,
All things in life are only relative;
There is no such thing as truth absolute;
And it's in monkeys mankind has its root.

"If it makes you feel good, it can't be wrong;
You won't be addicted; you're much too strong;
So take a snort, or a puff, or a swig;
Everyone's doing it; don't be a prig.

​"It's only what you do, not what you thought,
That's wrong, and then only if you get caught;
And you are much too shrewd to be found out;
Besides, all laws were made for men to flout.

"Sunday's the only day you have for rest,
So stay home today, I strongly suggest;
Your presence in church every now and then
Is all God requires to pardon your sin.

"It doesn't matter what you may believe,
Even something you let your mind conceive,
As long as you have faith, without a doubt,
That the thing you believe will come about.

"Tithing is not something you have to do;
It's in the Old Testament, not the New;
And it isn't a commandment, anyway,
That believers are required to obey.

"It's never your fault whenever you fail;
It's others who cause you not to prevail;
Errors are something you never make;
You're much too perfect to make a mistake.

​"Be unforgiving when you have been wronged;
Teach the offender with a grudge prolonged;
And even better is getting revenge
On all who on your happiness infringe.

"Compared to others, you're not so bad,
In fact, your goodness probably makes God glad;
Oh, you may falter sometimes, in moments rare;
But you're human, and it's human to err.

"Why should you proclaim Christ from door to door,
Or clothe the naked one, or feed the poor,
Or pray for lost souls and our nation too?
These are what the preacher is paid to do.

​"It's all right to gossip someone's mistakes,
Even if it causes grief's and heartaches
And splits congregations and homes in two,
As long as what you tell on them is true.“

​You are captain of your own destiny;
You sink or swim on your ability;
You earned all you have with your might and wit,
Without any help, not even one whit.

"If you insist on believing, be smart,
Go at it with only half of your heart;
If you go to church more than once a week,
You're risking being called a Jesus freak.

​"It's no sin to cast an admiring eye
At a buxom beauty who happens by,
And let it linger on her for a while,
Generating visions that make you smile.

"Why bother to say your prayers every day?
You seldom know all the right things to say;
And He's failed to answer more than few
Exactly the way you wanted Him to.

​"You won't go to Heaven one day to live;
Your sins are too great for God to forgive;
His arm of grace is too short to reach you;
So keep serving me your whole life through."

​Although by Satan I often was deceived,
Thankfully, not all his lies I believed;
But I was fooled enough to minimize
My Christian witness in other folks' eyes.

My advice to all who're still in your youth,
Fill heart and mind with God's eternal truth,
And ignore Satan, he'll tell you more lies
And tempt you until he makes you his prize.