I

The fall of humankind began as a result of the seductive words of Satan,

and it started from an idea and view that Satan instilled in people.

Of course, it also started as a result of Satan seducing,

misguiding, and misleading people.

This idea and view that Satan instilled in people

made them stop believing in God or His words,

and also made them doubt God, misunderstand Him, suspect Him,

hide from Him, stray from Him,

deny what He said, deny His very identity,

and even deny that people come from God.

Satan is constantly disrupting people’s willingness

to seek the truth and accept God’s words.

Powerless to resist the various remarks of Satan,

people are unconsciously eroded by them and imbued with them,

and finally degenerate to the point

of becoming enemies and antagonists of God.

II

Satan’s primary tactics for corrupting humankind

are to target people’s thoughts and views

to destroy the relationship between people and God,

and gradually wrest them away from God step by step.

Initially, upon hearing God’s words, people believed them to be correct,

and wanted to act and practice in accordance with them,

wanted to act and practice in accordance with them.

It is in this situation

that Satan used all kinds of ideas and words

to gradually corrode and disintegrate the only bit of faith, resolve,

and aspiration that people had, along with the few faintly positive things

and positive wishes they held onto,

replacing them with its own sayings,

and its definitions, opinions, and notions of various things.

In this way, people are unwittingly controlled by the ideas of Satan,

and become its captives and slaves,

become its captives and slaves.

from The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth I. What It Means to Pursue the Truth (13)