"He either can send a decieving influence to those who refuse the truth, or He may harden or blind them further"
'What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church...a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.'
-Martin Luther
'If you eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, thou shalt surely die.'
But the serpent told Eve that they wouldn't. Did Eve - and ultimately Adam - die instantaneously once they bit into that fruit, it containing an ultra-powerful neurotoxin, which - at the speed of electro-chemical neurotransmission - ended the lives of A&E, there and then?
No. Therefore, a question: How can knowledge kill? Who is the 'Liar'?!
PROTIP: 9th Commandment.
...only religious 'belief' is killed, it seems. Also, it seems, from the point of view from religious fundies - especially their pastors - the only 'sin' is thinking for yourself, just as Jonathan Edwards did (but he doing so, and becoming an Atheist didn't kill him there & then. He's still here. Why?!).
Thus is the real mystery of the Bible revealed: Lucifer is actually the good guy in all of this ('Lucifer' means 'Bringer of Light': Illumination. Especially knowledge).
Ergo, your 'God of Love' is actually the Evil One:
Isiah 45:7: 'I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.'
Amos 3:6: 'Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn't done it?'
He even admits it in his own 'Word', no less.