Rattlesnake Lodge
By Hal Lindsey
A Texas man recently crawled under his home to fix a problem with his cable TV. Under the house, he found something else — rattlesnakes. He immediately called for professional help. When Big Country Snake Removal arrived, they found a neat house with a well-kept yard. He told them he had seen “a few” rattlesnakes. They found 45 of them.
But that’s not the company record. A couple of years ago at another home in the Abilene area, they found and removed 88 rattlesnakes.
Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary states, “A snake is the Bible’s first and final animal villain.” As evidence, it cites Genesis 3. That’s where Satan, in the form of a serpent, tempts Eve. They also cite Revelation 20:1-2. Those verses tell of “an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
“The serpent of old” refers to the serpent in Genesis 3. Remembrance of Eden’s serpent had a profound affect on the ancient Hebrews. They hated snakes of all kinds, even the non-poisonous ones. Psalm 140 speaks of “violent men.” Verse 3 says, “They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips.”
When we first see Satan in the Bible, it is as a serpent. His goal then was the same as it is now. He attacks God by attacking God’s word. Genesis 3:1 says, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?’”
“Has God said?” became for Satan both a theme and a modus operandi. That’s how he works. That’s how he does his job. He attempts to undermine God’s work among people by attacking God’s credibility.
Like a serpent, he slithers into places that should be safe. His question — “Has God said?” — eats away at the foundations of homes, churches, denominations, and institutions of Christian education. For them, vast sections of scripture are being effectively torn out of the Bible. Anything that does not conform to the politically correct notions of our day are being ignored or denied by millions who call themselves Christian.
And like the neat, well-kept home near Abilene, the infiltration is far greater than it first seems.
As a long-time observer of current events in light of scripture, I’m especially concerned about the day-to-day thinking of evangelical Christians. We must be on guard against the onslaught of ideas perpetrated by Satan — ideas that daily flood our minds through the media.
As we enter the Easter season, we will see a new round of television shows and magazine articles attacking all aspects of the Bible’s veracity. But if anyone really wants to understand the Bible, they should open it up and read for themselves. Most of the Easter-season “Bible” documentaries will not contain the answers. They will send more snakes into the foundation. If you want to know what God says, read it for yourself. If you want to know if it’s true, examine the evidence. If you want to know if you can trust it, apply it to your life. In that way, you will experience its reliability for yourself.