Bible Study Transcript — December 23, 2005
What we would like to do tonight is talk about something that is of great importance to all of us. Now because my laptop died, I would like you to know that I have a very important assistant. No, it's not Vanna White. I will not be willing to tell you who it is, because it may just be a disaster and then he will feel real bad. So we will just go like this every time I need a slide changed. And look at that, it works like a charm!
There is an evil being out there, brethren, by the name of Satan the devil. Now in the scriptures Satan the devil is described or likened to a number of creatures. (I have to be sure to gesture with this hand, because this is the slide hand.) Satan is likened to a number of creatures. He is not likened to a spider. You see on the screen, those that can see, examples of Black Widow spiders. Satan is not a spider. Nor is he described as a poisonous frog. Now these frogs, by the way, that you see on the screen, if you were to happen to pick these frogs up they carry a toxin on their body that will inject poison into your body and make you very sick. And if you hold it long enough these little bitty frogs can actually kill you. You think frogs, no we eat...no we don't eat frogs. People eat frogs, frogs don't eat people. But these ones can kill you. Satan is not described as a poisonous frog. What is Satan described as? A serpent. Okay, yes he is described as a lion, but that is only once in the scripture. The most common designation for Satan the devil is what? A serpent. A snake. Now why would God label Satan the devil a snake unless there are certain characteristics that they had in common? Absolutely the case. What you are going to learn tonight is that Satan the devil is a snake. Not just any snake. There are 8000 varieties of snakes across the world, but there are certain snakes that are absolutely deadly. And I believe God likens Satan the devil to an absolutely deadly snake, a serpent. So tonight, what we are going to do tonight is take a look at 2 Corinthians 11. Brethren, just as surely as a poisonous serpent can inject enough toxin into you or into me to end our physical life, I submit to you that Satan the devil can inject enough spiritual poison into your mind or into mine to cause a spiritual death.
I have had the privilege in my professional life of working with young people for a great deal of my time. A tremendous amount of my time, frankly, has been dedicated to the youth of God's church, since the time that I was a youth in God's church, which is a few years ago now. And what I have noticed over the course of time is that young people are particularly subject to being bitten by Satan the serpent, having poison injected into their mind, and then walking out our door. Now you may say, well I don't know that is true. Others of you if you are honest, if you are my age you have how many peers that you have watched become injected with poisons and no longer live the way of God. And I would suggest to you young people here tonight that if you don't know about the poisons that are out there, there is a far greater chance that you will be injected, and you may not survive that injection of toxin.
Notice here in 2 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 3. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, and I would submit that he wrote to all of us by extension. And he said, I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Notice the New American Standard Translation on the screen. I am afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray.
Is it possible that your mind and my mind can be injected with poisons that will kill us spiritually? That is what happened to Eve. That is what happened to Adam. That is what Paul worried about would be happening to the Corinthians unless they were warned about these things. So what we understand is tonight I am going to cover with you invenomations. What do I mean by that? What I mean, thinking that kills. You see, Satan does not actually come into our homes, bite us like a snake, and inject venom. But what he does inject is a kind of thinking that will, if it is not worked against, will kill us in the same way that venom might kill you or me if we were injected with that kind of poison.
Now what is interesting if you look at the screen (I am at a bit of a disadvantage. Usually I have the computer in front of me and I can see what is on the screen. So I will occasionally come forward just so I can see what is happening here.) What we are going to talk about is thinking that kills. Now if you are a young person under the age of 20 you need to know that the vast majority of deaths by snakebite happen to whom? Young people, children. Now you say why? Their body weight is small by comparison to most of us fat adults. And as a result the venom works far more effectively to shut down their systems and send them into coma and eventually death. So what I would like to submit is that hopefully over the course of time as we mature these ideas, these modes of thinking, are something we come to recognize for what they are and reject them. We are in essence injected with anti-venom so that these things cannot destroy us.
So what we are going to talk about is thinking that kills. One more. We are going to talk about what I often refer to as exit lines. Exit lines. Have you known people who have left the fellowship of God's church? Have you known people who have walked out the door, who no longer live God's way of life? Don't they always have an exit line? They always do. So what I decided to do is to structure this Bible study around those exit lines. What do people say to you or to me as a pastor, to you as a brother or sister in the church, as that venom works in their minds and they go out the door? What is it that goes on?
I would like to talk to you about snake venom. It is an absolutely fascinating study to see how snake venom works. There are over 200 compounds in snake venom. Now what I am going to do is separate out a few of those compounds and explain to you what they do. Now most snake venom has a conglomeration of several of the kinds of effects that we will talk about tonight. But there are certain snakes that have a concentration of one or the other kind of venom and the effect that it has. Now that is why in the world today when anti-venoms are made you cannot make one antivenom for all snakes, because the venom is so different and so unique. So some of the exit lines, some of the ideas, some of the ways of thinking that we will talk about tonight, are very similar in one sense, but very different as well.
The first kind we are going to talk about is called neurotoxins. What is a neurotoxin? In essence, a neurotoxin is a poisoning of the nerves. Neurons make nerves work, make feeling possible, make function possible. A neurotoxin affects the nerves. And it's interesting. You see a picture up here of a certain kind of snake whose venom contains a disproportionately high amount of neurotoxin. What does a neurotoxin do in high amounts? It actually destroys the brain. A person who is bitten by a cobra like the one you see on the screen here actually begins very quickly to have that venom's effects go directly to their cranium. It is a fascinating study. And what is really interesting is that cranial nerve dysfunction sets in very quickly. You know what they start to feel first? Calm, relaxed. They actually start to feel kind of euphoric like they are floating. Ever heard an exit line like that? I'm free! I don't have these shackles any more like you people do ! This venom begins to affect the mind, and it makes a person feel they are perfectly fine, they are doing very well, when actually they are on the path to certain death. It's an amazing thing isn't it?
There's another picture here of two other cobras. The one on the left is called a Spectacle Cobra because the back of its head has the two eyeballs with the nose piece kind of in between as if a pair of glasses is sitting on the head.
Let's go one more slide. Here's an Asian King Cobra about to strike. What is fascinating about this kind of thinking is that people think unbelievable and wrong thoughts when Satan injects them with what we call neurotoxin. What are some of the things they start to think and say? Here's one of the first. I don't have the time . Ever heard that as an exit line to God's truth? I just don't have the time for this. Ever known people whose lives have gotten so jam packed that they don't any longer have time for prayer, for Bible study, for meditation, for fasting? Ever know, young people, a fellow college student who doesn't study their Bible any more? Why? I don't have time. I am too busy with my studies. As you grow out of those studies and into real life, then it's I just don't have time. I'm too busy with life. You know how hard I have to work? You know how many hours I have to put in? I just don't have the time.
If you would turn with me to Matthew 13, we will read verses 3 and 4. I believe we could apply this kind of venom to what is described here. Matthew 13:3. Remember the story Christ was telling. It is the parable of the sower and the seed. Christ is teaching that when the gospel goes out and the seed of the gospel is spread around, it goes in a lot of different places. But the venom of Satan does something to that seed in our analogy tonight. Notice what is said here. Jesus spoke many things to them in parables saying, A sower went forth to sow. (Throwing seed out so that growth takes place.) And when he sowed some seed fell by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up. Nice story. What does it mean? Drop down to verse 18. Christ explains that parable. Christ says, hear therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, then comes the wicked one and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received the seed by the wayside.
Now you might say, what does that have to do with venom? What does that have to do with a neurotoxin that starts to destroy the mind? Let's take a look at this scripture. It says in verse 19, when one hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not, the word understand , in this case the Greek word suniemi means, yes, to comprehend, but it means to consider. In other words, this person could very well be the individual that does not take the time to deeply consider the truth of God. It is just another one of the world's activities. I have got to shower in the morning. I have got to shave. I have got to go to work for 8, 10, or 12 hours. I have got to commute back and forth. I have got to mow the lawn. I have got to do the dishes. I have got to take care of the laundry. Oh yeah, it's in there somewhere. But it's not valued for what it ought to be. It's not deeply considered. There are many scriptures here in the New Testament that use this word understand and mean to deeply consider . Christ said he was disappointed with the disciples at one point. He had just produced huge amounts of bread from nothing. Fed 5000 people from some little loaves and fish. And virtually moments later the apostles are in the middle of this storm. And they are afraid they are going to die. They did not think deeply enough that the being who could produce food for 5000 from nothing could also calm a storm and save their lives. Christ said, did not you understand? Didn't you deeply comprehend? No, didn't have time. The food is over. Clean up. Let's get on to the next activity.
I would submit to you that some people die from cobra toxin from that venom, that neurotoxin, because they do not take the time to deeply consider the truth of God. They do not place it first above everything else. It is all in the mix somewhere, and if it is just in the mix the toxin begins to work. And the thinking begins to deteriorate.
Paul quoted an Old Testament scripture in Romans 3. He said, no one is righteous. No one understands. Same word. No one deeply considers. How many of us deeply considered the truth of God until God opened our minds, slapped us up the side of the head and said, you need to think about this.
This venom begins to make us think crazy thoughts. I just don't have the time for this. Pray tell, what do we have the time for? If we lay out our lives when the return of Christ happens, and we put in stacks time that we spent on various activities, what do those stacks look like? They look like I never really had the time for you God, and your way of life. I worked a lot. I studied a lot. I'm not saying you can't work. We have to work. But do we work with understanding? Do we school with understanding? When we go through school do we deeply understand the way of God and how it applies, how different things would be in my university setting if God's way were applied? Do we deeply consider, what does God expect of me in this setting? What kind of light does he expect me to be? Because there are some of you sitting here tonight that you are the only light in that university. You are. You are it. You cannot blend in. You are the light. You may be the only light in your high school, or your junior high school. You can't think, I don't have the time for this.
There's a second way of thinking neurotoxin on the board can affect us. It's just too hard. It's too hard. When we start thinking that God's way is too hard we get lulled into this euphoria. We start saying okay, we have an excuse. It is too hard so surely God doesn't expect me to do this.
Turn here to Matthew again, chapter 13, verses 5 and 6. Is it too hard? Verse 5 says, some of that seed fell on stony places where they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprang up, but because they had no deepness of earth when the sun rose up they were scorched. Because they had no root they withered away. What does that mean? Drop down to verses 20-21. He that received the seed in the stony places is the same as he that hears the word and in joy they receive it. They love it! This is unique! This is novel! How many people do you know who have been in the Church of God? Apparently primarily because it was novel. It was cross-cultural to what most were doing. Only to see them succumb to venom and disappear, die a spiritual death, or at least a deep spiritual slumber.
Verse 21. Yet he had not root in himself. He endures for awhile but when tribulation or persecution arises, because of the word by and by he is offended. It is just too hard.
In school it is the pressure that a young person has upon them because they are different. You look in the mirror and you say, yeah, I'm different. They're all looking at me. You have got to get comfortable with being different. You will never be the same as the world. Never. Nowadays at this time of year drive down your street. Isn't it obvious that you are different? Bah, humbug. Ours is the only house too. We have the porch light on sometime, but it is just not the same as what the rest of the world is doing. You cannot avoid being different. Different is a good thing. And yes, it will be harder. You will be occasionally asked to sacrifice for the truth of God. You will miss some opportunities. You will be receiving prejudicial treatment occasionally. It is going to happen. We need to stand strong when those things occur. We are going to be asked to give up certain sports, or clubs, or jokes, or activities in order to be obedient to God. To think it is too hard is succumbing to a neurotoxin. It's a wrong thought.
What is the third one to put on the board? I want you to consider as a neurotoxin as well, "I want the world ." Now I don't know that any person I have personally known and walked out of the truth of God ever actually said this, I want the world. But have you known people who in essence, that is what they have done? I want the partying. I want the "freedom." I want to be able to do whatever I want when I want. I don't want any restriction. We'll talk more about that later.
Turn with me to Luke 8:14. Notice what Christ says here. This is Luke's version of the same parable we have been reading. Luke 8:14. One kind of thinking that will kill us is, I want the world. I want what the world has to offer. Notice what Christ says in verse 14. That which fell among the thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. No fruit.
Let's look at a few words in this scripture, analyze this a bit. The word heard is here. They heard the truth. What does it mean? The word heard in this case means to understand. These people knew the truth. They understood it. Have you known people like that who have used an exit line something like this, I would rather have the world. I know people today. A former elder that now wears a collar backward with a big cross around his neck and serves as a hospital chaplain and thinks it is a wonderful thing. He gave a funeral for one of God's people, and his statement was, ‘He is now up in heaven walking holding Jesus' hand." This was an elder in the Church of God at one time. He likes being like the world. That is not to insult him. That is just an illustration. He wanted to be like the world. It feels much more comfortable there than being different from the world. They knew. Now how God will hold people accountable is his call and not ours. It says they are caught up in the care of the world. That's it. They care. That's the word. Care about the world. Then it uses the word riches. It means money, possessions, and riches. Have you known people who have given up our holy time for riches? Or at least what they thought they would be receiving as riches? I remember talking with a few of the fellows in the congregation I pastored many years ago. The subject of the Sabbath came up. And there was someone telling them, that you know the reason the people in the Church of God are economically disadvantaged is because they keep the Sabbath. One of the young men I was talking to began to believe that venom. So I asked him, I said, Chris, do you really think that is true? Well, you know there are jobs I've had to turn down because of the Sabbath. If that's true that the people of God are economically disadvantaged solely because of the Sabbath day, that must mean that everybody else in your neighborhood who doesn't keep the Sabbath must be making a million. And he looked me right in the eye and said, no, that was a stupid thought. I don't know what I was thinking. I would submit to you the venom began, but antivenom was injected. And Chris began to see that is foolish. Caught up in the riches of this world, that is foolishness. The pleasures, lusts, desire, the Greek word is hedone, from hedonism. The quest for pleasure. Choked. Choke in this case means to strangle completely. If we start thinking the way the world thinks, it will eventually choke us off completely. There is understanding there, but that understanding can be choked. I want the world.
What was said about Moses in Hebrews 11:24, 25. It said Moses gave up the pleasure of sin for a season. He gave it away.
Is there pleasure in sin? Of course there is. Temporary pleasure. False pleasure. Neurotoxic pleasure, makes us think we are doing fine when we are really on the path to death. But there is pleasure there. There is a floating feeling like I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. But it is a toxin that kills us.
Let's go on to the second form of toxin. Many snakes also contain what are called cardiotoxins. Everyone probably knows what a cardiotoxin is, because we have heard of cardiac arrest. We have heard of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Cardio has to do with what? The heart. So these specific toxins actually work on the heart. It is a fascinating thing. Because there are certain snakes and we will show an example of one here. This is an Australian snake. Australia has more toxic snakes per square mile apparently than any place in the world. Is that right Peter? There are a lot of bad ones in Australia. That is why those people are so tough down there, so resilient. They have got to live among poison snakes. This is the Inland Taipan, arguably the most deadly snake in the world. One of the chief ingredients of the taipan is a cardiotoxin. As soon as that is injected into the bloodstream, portions of that toxin travel straight to the heart. And the heart almost immediately begins skipping beats, missing beat. What this does is it relaxes the heart muscle. And I would submit to you that some of Satan's venoms relax the heart of the people of God. Where they had a heart of love and outgoing concern and dedication to God, something happens to the heart when they feed on Satan's venom, and they begin to lose things. Let's take a look at a couple of things like that. Here's another picture of a taipan.
Cardiotoxin. Turn to 1 Corinthians 14 if you would. One of the first things I have seen over the years that affects young people and affects older people, in fact it can affect anyone, is the attitude of Satan the devil, the toxin, do not tell me what to do. No one can tell me what to do. Have you ever seen people walk away from the truth of God, from the act of living of God's way, with this toxin flowing through their bloodstream? Nobody is going to tell me what to do! What's that TV show, you're not the boss of me. I don't remember what the TV show was. But the theme song, you're not the boss of me. Malcolm in the Middle, that's right. I hate that show. But it seems to me that was a popular song that maybe they attributed to the show or maybe the show took it from them. I'm not sure which way it went. You're not the boss of me.
Ever know a group of people biblically speaking who were affected by this toxin? They were called sodomites. What did they tell Lot ? They told Lot , you're not the boss of me. They didn't use those words. They said, who are you to tell us what is right and wrong, if I could paraphrase. This kind of toxin is described here in 1 Corinthians 14:37. Unfortunately there have been many who have used this as an exit line. I would love the Church of God if it weren't for that ministry. Those heavy-handed dudes are whacking on us all the time, telling us what to do, running our lives. Look I can hardly run my own life. How am I going to run yours? But I do have a responsibility at times to correct. Because I love the sheep. And I know God's ministers do. Because we love the sheep, you know what, sometimes we are going to have to tell you what to do, just like my shepherd tells me what to do. You know sitting in the audience tonight is my boss. You know what, he is the boss of me. For another couple of months, and then I get a different boss. I am told, you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. I am going to stand before Jesus Christ one day and he is going to ask me, did you do that? Did you submit yourself? Jesus Christ is going to ask you the same question. Hebrews 13 says, obey those who have the rule over you. He is going to ask you, did you do that or did you take on the toxin of Satan who looked God in the eye and said, you're not the boss of me. I belong in your chair. I should be in charge here. Have you ever heard anybody exit the Church of God with that line? You're not the boss of me. I should be in charge. You can go on the web today and find what, 150 bosses out there with names like, the Church of God, I Am the Boss; the Church of God, Finally It's My Turn To Be In Charge. You know, I jest, but is that not true?
1 Corinthians 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. What was Paul saying? If God's Spirit is truly there, it recognizes authority. It's a hard thing to say in the Church of God in the last 10 years or so, isn't it? It's that kind of thinking that says I do not have to submit. O, yes I do. Now it's easy for me to say, I submit to God. We are all supposed to submit to God. But those in the Church of God, I'm Finally In Charge, don't submit to anybody else. Isn't that the truth? Isn't that the case? I can submit to God and Jesus Christ just fine, because I can decide what they are telling me. But when you come and you tell me, I'm not so sure about that. Didn't John say about certain individuals in his epistles that they were not submitting, that he would deal with them when he came? In fact, he used such words as they are prating, they are prating against me. They are actually talking down about the servants of God. Now, I should never talk down to servants of God. I should not talk down to sheep of God, because I'm a sheep too. We all have a responsibility to submit. Paul said, if there is someone spiritual in the Corinthian church, they will recognize that what I say is true. That what I say is from God.
One more. I can do it myself. I can do it myself. I don't need the Church of God. I don't need the fellowship of God's people. I don't need a pastor over me. Or an elder over me. In fact, we are all elders! And that makes sense? We are all old people? It doesn't make sense. Why would we be called elders if everybody was one? Am I trying to flaunt eldership? Of course, not, brethren. Of course not. But what we have to understand is that God has set various offices in the church for all of our benefit. And one of the venoms of Satan is that you cannot trust authority period! You cannot trust it. What was Satan injecting one third of the angels with? You cannot trust authority. Sure, he's in charge. Sure, he created us. But his thinking is a little bit off. That's what he said about God, or at least that kind of thing. Wives seem to have a wonderful advantage. Because they are asked to submit to their husbands. In my experience wives have a better grasp of what it means to submit to God and to God's government than men often do. They understand sometimes that you submit even though you don't like it. Even though you think, you're a little bit off there. He may not have it just right. I don't have to submit.
Let's go on to a third kind. I want to be sure we end on time. A third kind of toxin, hemotoxins. You are familiar, no doubt, with the word hemotosis, hemoglobin, what does it have to do with? Blood. There's a specific protein in many snake venoms that acts immediately and directly on blood. Some snake toxins immediately thin the blood. It's a fascinating thing. You can go ahead and look at a picture here. This snake is called a boomslang. Native to southern Africa. And one of the most potent aspects of the boomslang venom is a hemotoxin which when the venom goes into the blood stream it, almost instantaneously over the course of a few minutes, knocks out the blood's ability to clot. So what happens? First of all the wounds do not heal. They continue to bleed. But far worse than that, what is going on internally? Because the blood in essence is thinned and will not clot, it begins to seep out of the internal organs of the body. And within a few hours a person literally bleeds to death internally. Now there's another kind of hemotoxin that does just the opposite that we will talk about later. Another fascinating study. Normally these snakes live in trees. It's interesting. The original story of Genesis had to do with trees and snakes. I don't know if there is a connection there are not. What kinds of hemotoxins act as exit lines for people who are leaving the Church of God? Here's two pictures of boomslangs. One more. I can do what I want. How does that infect the people of God? Does God say you can do what you want? Sure. Yes you can. Right into the lake of fire, you can do whatever you want. Absolutely! How does this affect a person? Doesn't this attitude start a slow bleed? It may not be apparent at first. In fact, there have been many people bitten by boomslang snakes that walk away from it assuming that the venom did not go in. There are quite a number of snakebites that are called dry bites, where venom is not actually injected. Most snakes, it seems, try to save venom for food, the mice, the rats, the birds, the other things they eat. So when there is a human, you are far too big for a snake to eat, at least the venomous kind we are talking about. No matter how wide they open their mouth, you are not going to fit in.
Many bites are dry bites. Every bite by a boomslang snake must be considered a wet bite. Because there have been many individuals who assumed they were bitten but no venom was injected, because you know what, they don't feel anything. Oh, there's a little localized pain on their hand, or their neck, or their head. Because these snakes hang in trees most bites are in the head, the neck, and the shoulders. They assume since there is no real pain and no serious effects that they haven't been bitten. And they go a few hours and literally drop dead. This venom can act so rapidly that within 30 minutes a person can be dead. Have you ever heard someone say, I can do what I want. There are a couple of sister thoughts to this. I don't have to obey. Can't tell you the sadness that I experience when seeing this exit line by people who formerly dedicated their lives to God. Where they in their mind came to the point where they said, I don't have to obey the Ten Commandments. They are spiritual in nature, so we keep the Sabbath spiritually, not physically. Do you know what that is saying? I don't have to obey God. God said to remember the Sabbath to keep it spiritually? No. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. How do you keep it holy? In your mind? By not doing what? By not working. By resting. By going to the commanded assembly, the public gathering. That's how we keep the Sabbath. We have to obey. That's all there is to it. Doesn't that tie in to the previous toxin that basically says, I can do whatever I want? No you can't. I have to submit. No one will be in God's family without submitting to God, without submitting to God's government. That's the way it is.
There's another kind of toxin. Acute ophthalmia. Anybody know what an ophthalmologist is? An eye doctor. This kind of toxin is amazing. Here is what you would assume is a cobra. Correct? What kind of cobra is this? This is the Red Spitting Cobra. What is fascinating about the venom of this particular snake and many like it, there are many different varieties of spitting cobras, is that instead of biting you from about the distance from me to the front row, about 3 meters, that snake can be on the front row and spit venom directly into my eyes. The Red Spitting Cobra has been tested. 10 for 10, they never miss. What happens when this cobra venom hits your eye? It immediately begins to deteriorate your cornea. It's a fascinating thing. Absolutely amazing. Now you will notice there is a face in front of this snake. There is also a very thick pane of glass between the face and the snake. This is a picture of the actual test they were doing. How accurate is this snake? They turn away and wave their hand, the snake wouldn't spit. Put you elbow up, put pictures of people up, the snake wouldn't spit. Put the face up, boom! Every single time. The next picture shows some of the spray from a spitting cobra. What does it do? Breaks down the eyes. If this is not treated within a few hours, blindness is inevitable. Eyesight is lost.
Ever known someone who has lost their spiritual eyesight? Now some people do survive a spitting cobra. They do. The cornea begins to ulcerate, but if there has not been a great deal of venom injected that can heal. Sometimes there is permanent damage, even though the eye is still able to see it is very blurry. Ever known people who have lost their spiritual eyesight. In Asia, Africa these cobras exist.
Now what is fascinating, when these cobras rear up and begin to spit it shakes its head slightly. And that allows that venom to spray directly across the face of the individual they are looking at. You might try to turn away and as you turn away the venom still cuts across your eyes. It's a fascinating thing, to think that there is a specific protein in this particular snake's venom to destroy your eyesight. Isn't that like Satan the devil, that he will try to inject us with the kind of thinking that destroys our spiritual eyesight.
What are the thoughts, the kind of thinking that people begin to think when their eyesight is being to be destroyed? It doesn't matter what you believe. And I would say, young people, of all the venoms that Satan has out today, this is the most toxic for a young person. It doesn't matter what you believe. What's the big deal? It has a sister or companion thought. All you need to do is be good. That's all there is to it. Once you begin thinking like this you join the ranks of the blind. Doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're a good person . Is that what the scripture says? Does the scripture say believe anything you want and you can be saved? Does it say you really don't have to really believe anything? You know the scripture doesn't say that. I know the scripture doesn't say that. What does the scripture say? You have to believe the gospel. Christ said, repent and believe the gospel. Peter said it in Acts 2. Repent and believe the gospel. You must believe the gospel. Not just think nice thoughts. What is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of the kingdom of God. If you do not believe about the kingdom of God and the king who will reign over that kingdom of God you are spiritually blind, and you will not have the eyesight to be in God's family, and I won't either.
I spoke earlier about an elder who lost his spiritual eyesight. He preached, as I said to you, what? The dead man is walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ in heaven. What spiritual eyesight did he give up? The kingdom of God. Where is the kingdom of God in that malarkey? It's not there. Spiritual eyesight was lost.
There's another kind of venom, respiratory arrest. There's a specific kind of snake venom that actually causes respiratory arrest. What does that mean? You can't breathe. You know how that venom works? It's a fascinating thing. You are injected with the venom someplace on your body. Your bloodstream carries it almost immediately throughout your body. Within about 30-40 beats of your heart the venom has circulated, if it hit directly into an artery or vein, within 30-40 beats that venom is throughout your system. And this particular enzyme in venom does something to your diaphragm. Anyone ever heard of a Black Mumba? It's a dance they do down in Latin America. No, I'm kidding. That's the rumba. This is a mumba, a snake of Asia and Africa . When it bites the chief toxin relaxes muscles, and the muscles that it targets are your diaphragm. Did you know if your diaphragm doesn't work you die? Breathe a few times. You feel these muscles moving down here? Your diaphragm expands. That pulls the lungs outward and air goes through your windpipe. The poison of the Black Mumba specifically targets your diaphragm muscles. And puts them to sleep. And you die twenty to thirty minutes later. You will die because you will strangulate. You will asphyxiate. You will not be able to breathe because all of those muscles are inert. They have stopped working. It is a fascinating aspect of this poison. Ever known a person that has been bitten with Satan's venom and the Holy Spirit has stopped working? All of a sudden you don't see in their lives love, and you don't see joy, and you don't see peace, or patience, or gentleness, or self control. The snake has put the muscles of the Holy Spirit, in essence, to sleep. It allowed that venom to work inside of them.
I have a great story about a man named Jack Searls. He runs a snake and animal display in southern Africa. And about 12 years ago he was dealing with a Black Mumba snake because he would catch these snakes in the wild, bring them to display them, but he would also milk them so that antivenom could be made. He was handling a Black Mumba on one specific afternoon and as he was about to put it back into its cage his new assistant on the job for the first day bumped into him accidentally. He had just let go of the head of that snake into the cage. He still had the tail in his hand. That 12-foot snake had the muscle capacity to turn its body immediately and bite him on the ankle. And he realized for the first time in his life that he had been bitten and he was going to die.
Now he had just lectured a few weeks before about the bite of the Black Mumba. And he said, I have a theory that you could survive the bite of Black Mumba. Up to about 15 or 18 years ago, the Black Mumba bite was always 100% fatal. No one ever survived it. But his theory was with modern medicine if you take that person and inject him with antivenom very quickly, get them to the hospital within 15 minutes, put them on a respirator and a heart machine that will contract their heart, and then you immediately hook them up to kidney dialysis they can survive. Now it's interesting that the hospital that Jack was rushed to, the doctor in the Emergency Room had heard that lecture. As soon as Jack was bitten he injected himself with all of the antivenom he had on hand, two vials full. Before he walked out of the door he was happy. The brain toxin had already begun to work. His breathing had started to slow. The respiratory arrest had begun. His blood was thinning. And he was about to collapse. He was unconscious by the time, or at least it was assumed he was unconscious, by the time he reached the hospital. The doctor realized what had happened, put him on a respirator, put him on a heart machine, hooked him up to kidney dialysis, and for seven days Jack lay there in a coma. The fascinating thing is that Jack heard every single word that was spoken in that room. He heard another doctor come in three or four times and, please pardon the English but this is what was said. The doctor said, unplug the poor (person) and give him a break. He thought he was dead. Thought he was going to be a vegetable. Seven days later the body purified, Jack stood up, unplugged himself and walked out of the hospital. One tough dude. But only because the toxins were being taken out of his kidneys, and there was a machine beating his heart and breathing for him. Ever known anyone who has lost their respiration spiritually?
Turn with me to Matthew 24. It's a sad, sad, and tragic event to see people squelch the Spirit of God . It can be done. The Spirit of God can be quenched. We are told that in the scripture. Notice what is mentioned here. It doesn't matter what you believe. Matthew 24:45. What is stated here, who then is that faithful and wise servant whom his Lord has made faithful over his household, to give them meat in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing. What does that mean? What is the exit line of this group of respiratory arrest? It is not really going to happen. Things are going on as they always have . Always been wars, always been famines, always been troubles, we have always recovered. Unbeknownst to the person, the spirit is being quenched. The Spirit of God gives us the understanding of prophecy. We are told that in 1 Peter. When we say it is not really going to happen we start to squelch, to quench the spirit. And our respirations gets shallower and shallower until they don't happen any more at all. My Lord delays his coming. Notice verve 48. If that evil servant begins to say in his heart, my Lord delays his coming and begins to smite his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunken... do you know anybody who does that today, who used to be here, living like everybody else now? Verse 50. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, in an hour when he is not aware, and shall cut him asunder, cutting his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This was a servant of God who was given responsibility, who threw that responsibility away, whose breathing died. Now I hope that group is very small. But when we get into the mode of thinking that it really is not really going to happen, my Lord delays his coming, you exaggerate about these things, it's not really going to be that bad, we start to lose spiritual respiration.
One more before we quit. Things are always going the way they have. One more kind of toxin. The final one we will talk about is muscle death. The reason I put up here muscle death is because the medical terms are too hard for my little brain to pronounce. But this is what it means, what happens. Notice the snake on the screen might be more familiar to us here in the United States. This is a rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes are part of a group of vipers. There are vipers all over the world. They are probably the most toxic snake we have here in America, the vipers. Here are the pictures of those rattlesnakes, vipers. You read about vipers in the Bible. One of the most potent aspects of the rattlesnake venom is what causes muscle death. Now remember we mentioned earlier that when the boomslang snakebites it turns your blood into water; it can't coagulate. Rattlesnake venom does just the opposite. It clogs everything up. You have immediate edema at the site of the bite. In other words, your cell walls begin to break down. And what is inside a cell? Cell stuff. But it's mostly water in there. So you picture a neighborhood with 37,000 swimming pools. And all of a sudden you remove the walls of the swimming pools. You have water all over the place. That is kind of what happens with a rattlesnake bite. And what happens is it begins to break down the cells and the muscles, and your body tries to cope with that. How does your body cope with that? Through the kidneys. All the proteins that are now breaking down around the site of the bite and everywhere that venom is traveling are sent by the bloodstream to the kidneys. And the kidneys try to process that dead protein. And they work very hard at it. But they are being overcome. There is so much dead matter protein going to the kidneys that doctors call it renal failure. Your kidneys shut down. They are worked too hard. They can't do it any more. And so you die of a rattlesnake bite or a viper bite. Now what is fascinating about that is that this kind of death happens in the Church of God. I would say one of the chief ways of breaking down of the muscle of the Church of God is when we criticize one another, when we attack one another. The most common phrase I have heard over the years from young people is this. People in the church are hypocrites. You ever heard that as an exit line? People in the church are hypocrites. Do you believe that is true? I don't.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1:26. Are there hypocrites in the Church of God? Of course there are. Are there very many? I don't think so. I hope not. What is really more likely the case, 1 Corinthians 1:26, For you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God has chosen the foolish things of the world. And you're all looking at me. Case in point, true? People in the Church of God are not hypocrites. We may be weak, but we are not hypocrites. Oh, there are some. I have heard young people accuse their parents of being hypocrites. Oh, they're so nicey nice at church but wait till you see them back at home. We were just arguing in the car on the way to church. You walk out of the car, "Hi Mrs. Smith. Hello Joe, it's good to see you." Is this hypocrisy or is it just weakness? Ninety nine percent of the time out of 100 I think it is just weakness. It is people trying to struggle to live God's way of life to the best of their ability, and yet falling short. The muscle of God's church is eroded when we are overly critical of one another, when we throw barbs at one another. When we really should just be doing the work of God. Striving to be obedient to God with our whole hearts. God's way doesn't work is what some people say. They are all hypocrites. God's way doesn't work.
Turn with me if you would to Psalm 119:33. We will wrap up here shortly. Muscle death in the Church of God attacks us all. Venom can spread that way and cause discouragement among many. When this kind of venom affects some, it is discouraging to all of us. David had the cure in his case. Psalm 119:33. The cure for muscle death is being wholehearted. Teach me, O Lord the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Just so that I can see that everybody else is doing it too. Is that what David said? Teach me your way God so that I can make sure everybody else is doing it. Teach me your way so I can evaluate whether or not my neighbor has got it right. Teach me your way and I will keep it. Give me understanding and I will keep your law. Yes, I will observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of your commandments, for therein do I delight.
Now what is fascinating, brethren, is that every one of these problems with venom is there for a reason. Has God created anything without purpose? Are there parts of God's creation that are just evil? What is fascinating about these venoms is that science is beginning to understand that within each of these venoms lies powerful health cures. We talked about the boomslang snake for example, turns your water to blood so it just keeps bleeding. What they have learned recently is taking that specific protein out of that venom and giving it to certain people cures their heart problems. Right now they give you things like, what are some of those heart drugs that thin your blood? Lipitor? I don't know. Sounds good. Coumadin. That's one I was thinking of. Now you can just get some snake venom in you. Each one of those venoms can cure or help things that formerly were problems in the human species. God has created things for a very good purpose. The serpent is being used by God for what? A good purpose. Each of these snake venoms can be used for a good purpose.
Let's close by reviewing our statements. Because the screen is not up you have to wait for my computer to catch up. We said one of the neurotoxic ways of thinking is I don't have time. What is the antivenom for that? I have eternity. What else is more important? If someone says, I don't have the time for this, you say, you've got all eternity. You'd better be investing in that now. Someone says it's too hard. You answer, but the results are worth it. The results are worth it. Imagine life in the family of God for all eternity. Is that worth sacrificing a football game, a dance, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a career? Is it worth it? Do we have the vision beyond today? Great name for a new TV show. Glad I thought of that. If someone says, I want the world, you'll say, yeah I want the world but I reject it. The world has many things that I want, but I'm throwing them out the door. I'm rejecting it.
Don't tell me what to do. Unless it's according to God's word. You know, I want to be told what to do if it is according to God's word. I hope you do too.
I don't have to submit. The antivenom is, except to God and his government. I do have to do that.
I can do what I want. And I want to obey God.
It doesn't matter what you believe. As long as it is truth. You see, there is an antivenom for every one of these.
It's not really going to happen. Until God is ready.
People in the church seem to be hypocrites. But are just weak. That's the antivenom.
God's way doesn't work. Unless we turn completely to Him.
Brethren, Satan's influence, the serpent, often works like the venom of a snake to attack our minds, our hearts, our spirit, and our actions. Let's turn these influences into powerful antivenom that will see us all through into God's kingdom.