By Rev. Elder Johnny Lee Clary
Al Wilson once sang a song about a woman that found a snake all frozen in the cold. She felt sorry for the snake and also thought it looked beautiful. She took it into her home, laid it by the fire in blankets, then fed the snake honey and milk. She came home from work and found the snake had been revived. She held it, kissed it, and said how beautiful it looked when the snake gave her a vicious poisonous bite. She cried and asked the snake, “How could you do this to me? I helped you and saved you, and now you’ve bitten me and I am going to die!” The snake replied, “Oh shut up silly woman! You knew darn well I was a snake before you took me in!”
Today many Christians are playing with snakes and sadly many pastors are talking in snakes into their congregations, praise and worship teams, choir, bands, staffs and administrations. They attempt to rationalize it by saying they are reaching out to a lost world. Luke 11:11 tells us the hedges are full of snakes and Ecclesiastes 10:8 says that if you break a hedge you will get bitten! Christ told us to go out into the world and preach the gospel so you are going to encounter snakes. Psalm 58:3-5 says the wicked are like poisonous snakes full of venom and they will not heed the voice of the charmer no matter how skillful he is. In other words you can’t tame a venomous snake. Yes some people have boas and pythons as pets but show me someone who has a rattlesnake, cottonmouth, Black Mamba or Australian Brown snake as a pet! Not going to happen, in my lifetime or anyone else’s.
Pastor David Wilkerson said “ Just as surely as Christians drink of the Blood of Christ-------the river of life, of His divine love and beauty-------we unconsciously drink of the poison of this world when we go out to preach the gospel.
Many churches that have allowed venomous snakes into their congregations, are allowing their other members to get bitten. Some youth from a church, started experimenting with sexual perversion at a church camp and now some of these kids are living sexually perverted lifestyles. It makes me wonder whether or not a strong message was preached and taught to them that such perversions are wrong. I am sure some would attempt to justify allowing sexual deviants to attend church camp as “God loves the sexually perverted too!” Yes God does love them but God does not love it when people who claim to be Christians take in deadly snakes all in the name of “sharing the gospel and building the church” especially when it results in His children getting bitten. That is exactly what will happen when you bring in the snakes. So you disagree with what I just said? OK, so suppose there was a convicted child molester, a drug dealer and a rapist that all started attending your church. Do you think that is a good environment to be around or to allow your children to be around? If you do then you are a sorry excuse for a parent. You should have your kids taken away from you if that is the case. If child protective services found out you were allowing deadly snakes to roam around your home, they would take your children away. So what is the difference if you are attending a church that allows deadly spiritual venomous snakes to roam around it’s halls? That is why St. Paul said to expel immoral people when they refuse to repent.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 St. Paul wrote “In my letter to you I told you not to associate with people who continue to commit sexual sins. I didn't tell you that you could not have any contact with unbelievers who commit sexual sins, are greedy, are dishonest, or worship false gods. If that were the case, you would have to leave this world. Now, what I meant was that you should not associate with people who call themselves brothers or sisters in the Christian faith but live in sexual sin, are greedy, worship false gods, use abusive language, get drunk, or are dishonest. Don't eat with such people. After all, do I have any business judging those who are outside [the Christian faith]? Isn't it your business to judge those who are inside? God will judge those who are outside. Remove that wicked man from among you.”
We are to go into the world to bring the gospel to the wicked but we are not to partake in the wickedness of the world. To do so is to play with deadly snakes. Many churches are playing with snakes when they bring the wickedness of the world into the church in order to please mankind. Many are adopting the platform philosophy that preaching repentance, the fear of God and the fires of Hell are the old way of thinking and in order to fill the seats and grow churches the gospel must be toned down to a less offensive, more modern all-grace-all-loving-anything goes message. Some churches are even hiring marketing firms in order to sell the church to the world in order to get butts in the chairs. I even saw where one pastor of a mega-church wrote, “As a pastor you are not entitled to your opinions. Opinions do not put butts in the chairs. Your job as a pastor is just to grow churches!” Wow. So this dude is preaching quantity over quality. How sad. That may be the world’s philosophy but I can promise you that it is not God’s.
Rest assured, if you play with a snake you are going to get bitten. Those snake handling cult members will tell you they play with rattlers all the time and never get bitten. That is a lie because although some do not get bitten, many do and die from it. This is documented. Maybe there is something about a rattlesnake where it is not as aggressive. I don’t know and I am NOT going to find out. What I do know though, is I have never seen one of those cults break out a sack of Taipans, Black Mambas and Australian Brown snakes and play with them. I don’t think you will ever see that either. Even those cult nuts seem to know at least some boundaries. As a matter of fact, the late Steve Irwin who was known as the Crocodile Hunter, said he didn’t even fool around with Brown snakes.
Some will argue and say that numbers in church growth is the focus and is what matters. Really? I am going to tell you what, I would rather have 5 men and women with me that I know have my back and will die in battle if necessary, than an army of 5,000 who will run and desert me when they hear the gunfire. God is interested in quality over quantity.
Therefore, don’t stop spreading the good news and don’t stop building churches. However in going out among the hedges, highways and byways, take your snake bite kit which is putting on the FULL armor of God, Ephesians 6:11-17 so you can protect yourself from the snakes and any other evil that comes against you. Don’t back down and NEVER compromise the Word Of God. Finally brethren, any church that preaches this toned down-less offensive-more modern- all grace-all loving-anything goes-no repentance needed message, is no different than those wacky backwoods snake handling churches. If you are attending one of those, my advice to you is to make like Joseph when he encountered that snake that Potiphar was married to and RUN BABY RUN! That does not make you a coward to remove yourself from where sin abounds. It makes you smart. If you run with dogs you get fleas. If you take in snakes you will be bitten. That my friends is the bottom line.
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“The problem with the church today is not people who preach repentance, hell, and the fear of God, but it is people who compromise and fear to speak God’s word powerfully with conviction. Our job as ministers is not to bring God down to the level to please people but bring people up to the level to please God!”...Rev. Elder Johnny Lee Clary
Rev. Johnny Lee Clary is one of the leading advocates for racial unity in the United States and has appeared on countless television and radio shows such as The Billy Graham Radio show, Fox News, Morris Cerullo, Oprah, Morton Downey Jr., Rolanda Watts, Geraldo, Sally Jesse Raphael, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Queen Latifah, Montel Williams, Phil Donahue, A&E Investigative Reports, ABC World News Tonight, Bertrice Berry, Sunrise Today,
The Today Show, A Current Affair, The 700 Club, and Kenneth Copeland's TV show. He has also been a regular guest on TBN's Praise The Lord show and has been featured in America's top newspapers and magazines, including a seven page feature story in Charisma magazine in April 1999, Moody Magazine, Guidepost Magazine (Sept. 1998), Kenneth Copeland's Believer's Voice of Victory magazine, as well as appearances on TV programs in Australia, England, Holland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, and Wales.
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