Picking Up Snakes

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

It was in the news lately about a Pastor who died of a snake bite.  A poisonous snake.

So, he was out camping in the woods, right?  No.

Well, maybe he was at the zoo, and a poisonous snake got loose?  No.

Did he visit a friend who had a poisonous pet snake?  No, he was at church.

So the poisonous snake somehow got into the church?  Yes, someone brought a poisonous snake to church.

But why would someone bring a poisonous snake to church?  Because of wrongly dividing the word of truth.

In 2 Tim 2:15, the Bible says, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH.”

You could go to the best Christian book store, and buy the top of the line Bible, and open it up and start to read.

But as you read, you have to rightly divide the word of truth.  Of course, this may take a little practice.

And I believe we always ought to ask for God’s help to rightly divide the word of truth.

But these churches where they deliberately play with poisonous snakes, I believe they are wrongly dividing the word of truth.

It does say something about picking up serpents in Mark chapter 16.

But I believe Jesus was not telling us to go play with poisonous snakes.

So then, how are we supposed to pick up serpents?

The same way that the Apostle Paul did after the shipwreck, UNINTENTIONALLY.

Here is the narrative, from Acts chapter 27 & 28 from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version. (Amazon.com)

33 And while the day was coming on, Paul asked them all to eat, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day that you've waited and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

34 And so I ask you to take some food, for this is for your health, for not a hair shall fall from the head of any of you."

35 And when he had said that, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

36 Then they were all of good cheer, and they also ate.

37 And we were a total of two hundred seventy six souls in the ship.

38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and threw out the wheat into the sea.

39 And when it was day, they didn't know the land, but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into which they were thinking, if possible, to thrust in the ship.

40 And when they had brought up the anchors, they committed themselves to the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.

41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the front stuck tightly and remained unmovable, but the rear of the ship was broken by the violence of the waves.

42 And the soldiers' advice was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape.

43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump first into the sea, and get to land,

44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship.  And so it was that they all escaped safe to land.

___Acts chapter 28

1 And when they had escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

2 And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire, and received all of us because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, a snake came out of the heat and fastened on his hand.

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice doesn't allow him to live."

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

6 But they watched when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly, but after they had watched a long time, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

Chapter 2

You see, Paul was not intentionally playing with poisonous snakes.  After the shipwreck, it was cold.  They made a fire.  If you want the fire warmer, you add more wood to the fire.

Paul picked up a bundle of sticks to add to the fire.

Out of the heat came a poisonous snake and fastened on his hand.

The barbarous people on that island of Melita, which might be what we now call Malta, said “Oh, this guy is no doubt a murder, and though he has escaped the shipwreck, he will now be properly punished for his crimes with death by snake bite.”

But as they watched for him to die, he didn’t.

Then they said, “Oh, he’s a god.”  Wrong.  None of the above.  He was neither a murderer nor a god, he was a Christian, and covered by Mark 16:17,18, which says,

“These signs shall follow those who believe, in my name they'll cast out devils, they'll speak with new languages,  They shall pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it won't hurt them.  They shall lay hands on the sick, and they'll recover.”

So there it is from Mark chapter 16.  Jesus is telling everyone to go play with deadly snakes, right?  NO.

Jesus is saying that if you unintentionally pick up a deadly snake, it won’t hurt you, if you’re a Christian.  And by the way, I think it requires some faith on your part.

If after a snakebite, you scream “I’m going to die, I’m going to die,”  then probably you’ll die, because you just said you would die, and we have some power to speak things into existence.

No, if you get bit, you say, “No harm will come to me, for it is written, they shall take up serpents.”

That same passage from Mark mentions drinking deadly things.  We’re not supposed to intentionally drink a deadly thing; that would be tempting God.

But if you unintentionally drink a deadly thing, or someone tries to poison you, you’re covered.

Do you remember when Satan tempted Jesus?

One of the temptations was, Satan took Jesus up to a pinnacle of the temple and said, “Throw yourself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you, and they’ll bear you up in their hands so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.”

Yes, that’s a scripture from the Bible, Psalms, I think.  But Jesus didn’t hastily throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple because there were other scriptures to consider, such as, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

So Jesus answered Satan, “Get behind me Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

There are better things to do in church than fool with snakes.  There’s preaching the word of God.  There’s getting sick people healed.  There’s casting demons out of people who have demons.  There’s worshiping the Lord in word and in music.

Church is not a place to bring snakes to.

Another group of people that wrongly divide the word of truth is the Jesus Only sect.

Some of these call themselves “Apostolic.”

The Jesus Only people think that God the Father, and Jesus, and the Holy Ghost are all just the same person, Jesus.  That’s wrong.

Haven’t you read in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son…?

God begot exactly one Son, Jesus.  There was no woman involved.

But what about Mary?  That was thousands of years later.

When God the Father sent his Son Jesus down to earth to live in a man’s body, the man’s body came from the virgin Mary, in the form of a baby boy.  Mary was made pregnant by the Spirit of God.

But long before Mary, Jesus was present with his father God at the creation of the world.

God said, “Let us make man in our image…”

But God the Father is older than his Son Jesus, because in John 3:16, we see that God begat Jesus.  So Jesus had a beginning.  But we never see in the Bible where God the Father had a beginning.

At one point, Jesus said to the disciples, “I and my Father are one.”  The Jesus only people take that to mean that God the Father and Jesus are the same person.

No, Jesus was only saying that God the Father and Jesus are united in purpose and will.  There is no disagreement between God the Father and Jesus.

When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and said, “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”  Was Jesus praying to himself?

No, he was praying to God the Father.

When God spoke from heaven about his Son Jesus on earth, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” was Jesus using ventriloquism and throwing his voice?

No.  When God the Father sent his Son Jesus to earth, God the Father stayed behind.  When Jesus was on earth, he prayed to his Father in heaven.

God spoke out of heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

After Jesus had told the disciples he was going away, Jesus said, “If you loved me, you would rejoice, for my Father is greater than I am.”

Jesus was getting a promotion back to the Father in Heaven.  The fact that the Father is greater than Jesus shows that the Father and Jesus are two different beings.

My Dad had two sons.  If you saw my Dad and me standing side by side, would you be likely to think that my Dad and I were the same person.  No.

For one thing, my Dad was always older than me.  He got grey hair probably twenty years before I had any grey hair.

If you estimated our ages, you would have estimated his age to be older than mine, and you would have been right.

The Jesus only people might make it to heaven, but if they get there, they’ll see that they had some bad Theology on earth.

___James chapter 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes that are dispersed around, greetings.

2 My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations,

3 Knowing this, that the testing of your faith works patience.

4 But let patience have its perfect work, so you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives to all men liberally, and won't find fault, and it shall be given to him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.

7 For let that man not think that he'll receive anything from the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted,

10 But the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he'll pass away.

11 For the sun has no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and the flower of it falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes, so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for after he's been tested, he'll receive the crown of life, that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God can't be tempted with evil, nor does he tempt any man,

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust has conceived, it produces sin, and sin when it's finished, produces death.

16 Do not err, my beloved brothers.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning.

18 He chose to father us with the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19 So, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,

20 For the anger of man doesn't accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 So, lay apart all filthiness and the unnecessary naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man seeing his natural face in a mirror,

24 For he sees himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

25 But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seems to be religious, and doesn't bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is for nothing.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

___James chapter 2

1 My brothers, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

2 For if a man with a gold ring comes to your assembly in fancy clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes comes in also,

3 And you have respect to him that wears the fancy clothes, and say to him, "Sit here in a good place," and say to the poor, "Stand there, or sit here under my footstool,"

4 Aren't you then partial in yourselves, and have become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers, hasn't God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?

6 But you have despised the poor.  Don't rich men oppress you, and bring you before the judgment seats?

7 Don't they blaspheme that worthy name by which you're called?

8 If you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor like yourself," you do well,

9 But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as sinners.

10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not kill."  Now if you don't commit adultery, yet if you kill, you've become a breaker of the law.

12 Speak in such a way, and do, as those who'll be judged by the law of liberty.

13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that has shown no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment.

14 What does it profit, my brothers, though a man says he has faith, and doesn't have works?  Can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister needs clothes, and lacks daily food,

16 And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you don't give them the things that are needed for the body, what good is that?

17 Even so faith, if it doesn't have works, is dead, being alone.

18 Yes, a man could say, "You have faith, and I have works, show me your faith without your works, and I'll show you my faith by my works."

19 You believe that there is one God, you do well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But don't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

21 Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?

22 Do you see how faith worked with his deeds, and by works faith was made perfect?

23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God."

24 You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

25 Likewise also wasn't Rahab the prostitute justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?

26 For like the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

___James chapter 3

1 My brothers, don't be many masters, knowing that we'll receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all.  If any man doesn't offend in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

3 See, we put bits in the horses' mouths, so they'll obey us, and we turn around their whole bodies.

4 Look also at the ships, which though they're so large, and are driven by fierce winds, yet they're turned around by a very small helm, wherever the captain wants.

5 Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.  See how great a matter a little fire kindles!

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of sin, so is the tongue among our members that it makes dirty the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire by hell.

7 For every kind of animals, and of birds, and of snakes, and of things in the sea, gets tamed, and has been tamed by mankind,

8 But no man can tame the tongue, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless God, the Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.

10 Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be.

11 Does a fountain send out at the same place sweet water and bitter?

12 Can the fig tree, my brothers, produce olive berries?  Or a vine, figs?  So no fountain can yield both salt water and fresh.

13 Who is a wise man, possessing knowledge among you?  Let him show out of a good lifestyle his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, don't glory, and don't lie against the truth.

15 This wisdom doesn't descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be reasoned with, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is planted in peace by those who make peace.

___James chapter 4

1 Where do wars and fightings among you come from?  Don't they come from your lusts that war in your members?

2 You lust, and don't have, you kill, and desire to have, and can't obtain, you fight and war, yet you don't have, because you don't ask.

3 You ask, and don't receive, because you ask wrongly, so you can consume it on your lusts.

4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don't you know that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

5 Do you think that the scripture says for nothing, "The spirit that lives in us lusts to envy?"

6 But he gives more grace.  So he says, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he'll run away from you.

8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and cry, let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he'll lift you up.

11 Don't speak evil about each other, brothers.  He that speaks evil about his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil about the law, and judges the law, but if you judge the law, you're not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy, who are you that judges someone else?

13 Go on now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we'll go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and make a profit,"

14 Actually, you don't know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is a puff of steam, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

15 For you ought to say, "Lord willing, we'll live, and do this, or that."

16 But now you rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

___James chapter 5

1 Go on now, you rich men, cry and howl for your miseries that shall come on you.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your clothes are moth eaten.

3 Your gold and silver are rusted, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh like fire.  You've heaped treasure together for the last days.

4 See, the wages of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which you've kept back by fraud, shouts, and the shouts of those who've reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.

5 You've lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton, you've nourished your hearts, like in a day of slaughter.

6 You've condemned and killed the just, and he doesn't resist you.

7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.  See, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rain.

8 You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is getting near.

9 Don't grudge against each other, brothers, so you won't be condemned, see, the judge stands at the door.

10 Take, my brothers, the prophets, who've spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

11 See, we count them happy that endure.  You've heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath, but let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you don't fall into condemnation.

13 Is anyone among you afflicted?  Let him pray.  Is anyone merry?  Let him sing psalms.

14 Is anyone sick among you?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven.

16 Confess your faults to each other, and pray for each other so you'll be healed.  The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man is does a lot of good.

17 Elijah was a man subject to the same kind of passions that we are, and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19 Brothers, if any of you strays from the truth, and someone converts him,

20 Let him know, that he that converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.