• When God created mankind, He created us in His own image and with His own likeness. We were the showpieces of His creation, the culmination of all created beings. No other creatures were given such similarity to deity – only mankind. Just flesh and bones but made in the image and likeness of God. Unfortunately, because of Adam’s fall, all humanity became sinners by nature and by choice. The result is spiritual separation from God.
• Sin violates God’s perfect law (which reflects His character) and produces untold suffering. God hates sin. So much so in fact that He has deemed the rightful punishment for sin to be everlasting death. But even though you’ve sinned, long ago God devised a plan to save and redeem you.
• God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ) into the world in the flesh to die, as a perfect willing sacrifice and a just payment for our sins. Through His sacrifice Jesus has freely redeemed all those who put their faith in Him in the eyes of His Father (God is Father and Son, they are one). After 3 days and 3 nights Jesus was resurrected and has now returned to His Fathers right hand, being exalted as our Lord and King of Kings. He is now our direct line connection to the Father, giving us exclusive access.
• God knows that your bad behaviour (sin) makes you feel bad, so He offers you forgiveness, but first you must confess your bad behaviour to Him and change (repent).
• God offers you a new life, in this life (salvation). He offers this freely by His grace, to all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ and believe in Him as the only begotten son of God that came in the flesh, sinned not, died for our sins, and was later resurrected. This is then followed by the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost sometime after, which the Father sends in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.
• The Holy Ghost is the very Spirit of God living within you. The Holy Ghost will convict and regenerate you; sanctify, teach, comfort, guide, and preserve you; and empower you for service. It will also compel you to keep the commandments of God and write them on your very heart. Your body will become the temple of God and He will lovingly adopt you as His son/daughter. Oftentimes the Holy Ghost is not received until after a believer is baptized in water and underwent the laying of hands.
• In an act of faith, Jesus Christ calls for all believers to be baptized by full submersion in water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, which is sometimes followed by the laying of hands. This is an outward profession of faith to signify rebirth and cleansing of your sins. Prior to being baptized one must believe in Jesus Christ with all their heart and have repented of their sins. After baptism, a believer is called to regularly celebrate the Lord’s supper; a memorial of Christ’s death in which believers eat the bread and drink from the cup — symbols of His body and blood.
• Satan is described as our adversary and the father of lies who has come to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan managed to convince a third of the angels of heaven to forsake God and follow him. Soon after Satan and his angels (now known as demons) were defeated and kicked out of heaven. Satan is the temporary ruler of this present fallen world and seeks to be worshipped and exalted to the status of God. Jesus Christ has already defeated Satan by willingly laying down His life in our place, and thus those of us who are saved can be comforted that we already have the victory. God is greater than all and no man can pluck you out of His hand.
• God is with us always, even to the end. It is His good pleasure to give us, as His “little flock”, the kingdom. On that faithful day God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things will have passed away. We that overcame shall inherit all things; and God shall dwell with us as Father, and we shall be His sons.
The devil (Satan) is identified as "that old serpent" (Revelation 12:9 & Revelation 20:2). He rebelled against God prior to the fall of man recorded in Genesis 3.
Why did Yahwe allow the snake into the garden? Why did the snake have legs?
If Satan's fall happened before the eating of the fruit, doesn't it mean that creation was already tainted at that point?
The Bible doesn't tell us why God allowed the snake in the garden. My personal speculation (which could be wrong) is that God allowed Satan to tempt Adam and Eve as a test, and they failed.
It is possible that the serpent had legs before the fall, but not explicitly stated. This would explain the curse of having to crawl on its belly.
Regarding Satan's fall, the Bible indicates that it was man's sin that brought the "curse" upon creation. I don't know why Satan's fall didn't bring such a curse, but my assumption is that it has something to do with him being an angel, not a man. Men are different than angels and have a different sort of relationship with God. In Jesus Christ, God the Son became a man and brought salvation to mankind. God did not do this for the angels and the angels who rebelled against Him cannot be saved.
Who put the snake in the garden?
Why can't you answer the question?
The Bible doesn't explicitly say "who put the snake in the garden", so what I write next is my understanding based on multiple portions of Scripture.
God created everything (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1-3, Hebrews 3:4, etc.). Therefore, God created serpents in the Garden of Eden as well as angels such as Lucifer.
In God's original creation, everything was "very good". (Genesis 1:31).
God created angels, as well as man. Evidently both were created with free will.
Lucifer, the highest angel, chose to rebel against God (Isaiah 14:12-20, Ezekiel 28:11-19) and from then on was Satan (Hebrew for "adversary").
The Ezekiel passage describes him before his fall as the "anointed cherub" and states that he was in "Eden the garden of God."
Satan then either manifested as a serpent or "possessed" a serpent in the garden of Eden. He is "that old Serpent" (Revelation 12:9).