Are There Snakes In Your Church?

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.

The bible does say in Mark 16:18 “They will pick up snakes, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them.” This is talking about going out to spread the gospel and accidently encountering snakes along the way. It is not talking about showing how strong your faith is by picking up rattlesnakes in a church service and dancing around with them in your hand like some of those backwoods nutty cult churches do in those “snake handling-strychnine drinking churches.” That is why you hear about people getting bitten by poisonous snakes or dying from drinking strychnine poisoning in those services all the time, because those wacky morons are tempting God, and the bible specifically tells us not to tempt the Lord God. (Luke 4:12; Matthew 4:7)

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.

©Johnny Lee Clary International Ministries

www.johnnyleeclary.com

All Rights Reserved

“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.

FEAR

By Rev. Elder Johnny Lee Clary

Have you ever been afraid? Have you had the experience of fear? I think if people will admit it, there was at least once in their life where they experienced fear. In the 32nd Chapter of Genesis it tells the story of how Jacob was in great fear of his brother Esau, and he had good reason to be. Many years before, Jacob had put the screws to his brother twice. Of the two times, the most serious was when Jacob tricked his father into giving him the blessings that belonged to Esau when his father was ill and nearly blind by pretending to be his brother. A man of God could not go back on his word so everything that should have been Esau’s was now Jacob’s. When Esau found out he said he was going to kill Jacob and Jacob fled to his uncle’s home which was a long way’s away. Jacob stayed there for many years and married. He also became very wealthy. There was some problems with his uncle. God told Jacob it was time to return home. Jacob took all of his servants and his wives and kids, along with his livestock and headed back home. He was in great fear of what his brother Esau would do to him so he sent his messengers ahead with all kinds of gifts to try to get Esau to not kill him as promised years before. When his messengers returned they told him Esau was coming to see him with 400 men! Jacob was really in fear now! As it turned out though, Esau was happy to see his brother and welcomed him with open arms.

Sometimes we forget that if we have God on our side we have nothing to fear. God told Jacob to go home. God didn’t take care of Jacob all them years and bring him that far just to abandon him later. Nor will God abandon you. I remember I started having dreams back in the mid 90’s about dying in a plane crash. I was in Bakersfield, California at the time and had a friend named Marcella. I shared with her what I had been dreaming one night and told her I had a flight the next day and was worried because of all those dreams I had been having. She said something that changed my life forever. She told me, “God didn’t bring you this far Johnny Lee Clary to abandon you now.” That hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought about how I had been a survivor. I thought about how I had escaped death so many times, from the ghettos of East L.A., to my exploits in the Ku Klux Klan, to driving drunk and even falling asleep at the wheel of my car once. I thought of how I had been shot at, stabbed, gone through a glass window in a fight, jumped by gangs, been in car crashes, had jealous husbands on the rampage looking for me, had contracts put out on me by the KKK, Nazis and Aryan Supremacists, and even crazy women I had been involved with threatening to kill me. Then I thought of how I was now saved, sanctified, a new creation serving God, and a whole new person from what I had been for years. Marcella had said something that changed me forever because it strengthened my faith and sent fear flying right out the window. Besides, I also thought about where I am going when I die and I realized it is stupid to have fear of death when you realize that eternal life begins when you become a Christian, and although your body will one day die here on Earth, your soul will live on forever in Heaven.

The word of God says in Romans 8:15 that God did not give us a spirit of fear but one of sonship. We are His children when we become a Christian. A good parent will look out for their child. I remember when I was around 10 or 11 I got into a fight with a kid on another block and beat the daylights out of him. That kid ended up having more friends than I could ever imagine. There was at the very least 30 or 40 kids that all came after me chasing me back to my block and into my house. I was in huge fear on the way home, and as I ran into the house I shouted “Daddy!” The mob had surrounded my house and was yelling for me to come back outside or they were going to come in and get me. My daddy came out the front door and yelled “Get your butts home!” He then chased them all down the street as I was standing in the driveway smiling and feeling relieved watching all those kids run for their lives back to their own street! My daddy was my protector.



God is your protector too because he is your Daddy! We call Him Father. He looks out after us. There is no need to fear. Yes someone could shoot me tomorrow and end my life, or I could go swimming in Australia and some Great White Shark could decide that he likes “Southern Fried Fat Boy,” and it is quite possible that I could board a plane and some Middle East Terrorist could blow it up, but I know where I am going should any of that happen. I get to go live in Heaven where there is no pain, sorrow, suffering and tears. I get to be with Jesus Himself, and I get to see a lot of loved ones that have gone on before me. I also get to see John Wayne and Ronald Reagan too! You do too if you are a Christian so there is no reason to fear. Granted I am hoping I don’t have to go anytime soon because there is still a lot of work left to do on this earth and I want to see a lot more people saved. Like Marcella said, God has not brought you this far to abandon you now. The word of God says he will never leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Fear is ugly! So my friends, when fear comes a knockin’ at your door don’t answer it!

2 Timothy 1:7 says God did not give us a spirit of fear but one of power, love and a sound mind.

©Johnny Lee Clary
©johnnyleeclary.com
All Rights Reserved

Why You Should Share The Gospel

By Pastor Johnny Lee Clary


How many times do people not share the gospel from someone they either just meet or have known awhile that is not saved, for fear of rejection? I speak to people all the time that tell me that they have been yelled at, told off and even threatened by people they have tried to share the gospel with. When this happens a lot of people fear ever doing so again. It is really sad that someone would take offense at someone trying to show them how to keep from going to Hell and attain eternal life instead.

One thing that can be said when someone takes offense is, “Excuse me sir or ma’m. If I saw you in a burning house I would do my best to try and save your life. Sorry I cared enough about you to try to get you a ticket to Heaven instead of seeing you spend eternity burning in Hell.”

I know that probably sounds offensive too but believe me it works. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

"How much does a so-called Christian have to hate you if they really believe in Jesus, Heaven, and Hell and never tell you about it?"

An atheist even said once that what irritated him even more than someone sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, was a person who claimed to be true believers in Jesus Christ, Heaven, and Hell, but thought so little about people that they never told them about it!

That atheist was right to say what he did. Jesus thought enough of us and loved us enough to leave His throne from heaven, come here to Earth, get rejected and ridiculed and then go to the cross to suffer the most horrible death ever known to mankind so that we could have eternal life! And then we are going to be so selfish as to not wanting anyone else to know Jesus?

Who are you telling about Jesus? Better yet - who are you not telling about Him that really needs to hear His story and yours? Are you sure you believe in Jesus and in Heaven? If so, why not tell everyone you know about this amazing news we call the Gospel?

Tomorrow is not a promise. It is only a chance that you or I will be here. Maybe we should think about taking every opportunity to rescue people that are on that Hellbound train and getting them a ticket to Heaven instead!

They might tell you to buzz off, and you might feel rejected, but remember that it is not you that are really rejecting, it is Jesus. Then again, maybe, just maybe they won’t tell you to buzz off and maybe you won’t feel rejected. You may be able to reach them just at the right time in their life, so why not give it a try? God needs you and why? Because God works through people. You may be the only person that can reach that person you are sharing the gospel with. Your pastor can’t be everywhere and neither can the guest evangelists that your pastor invites to your church. You have to opportunity to meet people through the week at your workplace, your neighborhood, the local bar, the ball game, or even in your family that your pastor does not. You may be the only Jesus that they ever get a chance to see if they do not go to church or watch preaching shows on TV. Why not take advantage of that opportunity? What are you going to say to Jesus if you don’t?

I do not care what these new age politically correct idiots say about how we are to keep our faith to ourselves and not infringe upon the rights of others by sharing it. I obey what God’s word says instead of man. Acts 5:29. It also says in Ezekiel 3:18 “Suppose I tell you that wicked people will surely die, but you don't warn them or speak out so that they can change their wicked ways in order to save their lives. Then these wicked people will die because of their sin, but I will hold you responsible for their deaths.” Jesus said we are to go into all the world and share the gospel. (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8)
If you truly believe in WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) then you will work as hard as possible to get people off of that Hellbound train.

That’s why you should share the gospel!