Jesus said something very peculiar to his disciples after giving them their first commission to heal the sick, cleanse the leper and raise the dead in Matthew chapter 10: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16). The serpent is used metaphorically in the Scripture and throughout history to represent satan, yet Jesus cautioned his disciples to embrace this same metaphor. What could possibly be the strategy in this apparently bizarre instruction? What virtue does a serpent possess that would prompt Jesus to charge his disciples to impersonate one?
If we examine these words of Christ in Matthew and consider the nature of a serpent, we observe something that is inherent in one of the most subtle creatures in the animal kingdom, and it is this innate skill that gives it an advantage over its prey. A serpent never overexposes itself and will generally slither unnoticed past a predator, and it is this same knack for stealth that makes it so lethal to its prey. Consequently, by the time a serpent’s victim realizes its impending doom, it has already been beset with a massive injection of poisonous venom. It is this ability to remain concealed from predator and prey alike that is the serpent’s greatest asset, and it is this skill that prompted Jesus to direct his disciples to mimic this virtue that is found in all animals of prey.
As we examine Matthew 16:10 in context, what is implied in Jesus’ charge to his disciples is that if they pursued a promotional campaign announcing their arrivals at various destinations, it would expose them to persecution and possible death at the hands of men who scorn the Gospel. After charging his followers to take on the virtue of a serpent, Jesus warned them to always be on guard against their enemies:
17.But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; 18.And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles...21.And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22.And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake (Matthew 10:17-18, 21-22a).
As Jesus prepared His disciples for their maiden voyage, He sounded the alarm that there would be a heavy price to pay for following Him; however, He simultaneously gave them a glimpse into the pathology of satan. Although the serpent is not the universal symbol of the devil, God chose to use this imagery in the Garden of Eden to demonstrate his wily skills of deception. [s]atan has been depicted as a dragon, as a gargoyle, as a goat, as a ram’s head, and as a number of hand signs and geometric figures; yet, none of these satanic icons carry the implied capacity of stealth like the serpent. Most people who are struck by serpents, never see them coming.
The metaphor of a serpent seems to suggest, among other things, that satan will never announce his arrival; consequently, those looking for him to show up with his tail in one hand and a pitchfork in the other will certainly miss him. It is with a fair amount of irony that those who are looking for a depraved, sex driven, thieving, murdering megalomaniac, may unwittingly make their way to the alter during the call for prayer and not know that the man laying hands on them has been planted by the devil. Contrary to the misguided depictions of satan and his followers as stark-raven maniacs, the Scripture advises us of their ability to transform themselves into apostles of Christ and satan himself into an angel of light: 13.For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14.And no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-14).
Most illustrations of satan fail to adequately demonstrate his ability to appear as a concerned spiritual leader. He is typically portrayed as one who steals, kills and destroys, which is certainly correct; however, it just isn’t complete. [s]atan has a level of guile that most people will never appreciate or understand with the explanation that human language offers. This is why the Scripture refers to his activity as a mystery (see part 1 of this series for an analysis of the mystery of iniquity), and in order to comprehend a mystery, it must come from a revelation. In other words, it takes a spiritual insight to fully grasp satan’s ability to deceive. Many people reading this series, particularly parts 7 through 14 on Western Civilization’s Unrelenting Expansion, will have difficulty embracing some of the concepts that I advance about the unadulterated guile of satan, and his ability to deceive the leaders of society. Many patriotic, American Christians will find it impossible to digest the notion that satan has been the hidden hand behind human government, including the United States and its NATO allies, since the very first civilization.
Revelation 2:24 will come up periodically in this series, because it does a greater job at graphically demonstrating the naïveté of many Christians than any other verse in the Scripture. In one of his letters to the seven churches, John admonished the church at Thyatira that there were some who had not “known the depths of satan”: 24.But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. 25.But that which ye have already hold fast till I come (Revelation 6:24-25, emphasis mine).
Thyatira, according to Revelation 2:20, followed the teachings of the New Testament Jezebel; a self-proclaimed prophetess, who offered lessons on sexual intimacy: Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols (Revelation 2:20). This is extremely heavy drama, because the Christian Church, as well as many other expressions of faith, ban sexual activity between men and women who have not committed to one another in the sacred covenant of marriage. Yet, here we have a church hierarchy that is so saturated with satanic influence, that it is teaching men and women how to become skilled sexual predators; however, the training that was provided by Jezebel went beyond lessons on seduction. The saints at Thyatira were trained on the art of sex and the skills that are necessary to bring enormous pleasure to one’s partner and extreme satisfaction to oneself.
In order to fully grasp the extent of what was being offered in Thyatira, we need to understand that Jezebel was not simply offering a how-to lesson on the mechanics of sex, where she would describe the human anatomy and instruct her followers on the proper use of their sex organs. I mean, does any man, woman or beast need a seminar on reproduction? What we have in Thyatira that so graphically demonstrates satan’s knack for beguiling the people is an environment that cultivated and encouraged sex before marriage and sex outside of marriage. In verse 20 above, we note the fornicators, and in verse 22, we note the adulterers: Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds (Revelation 2:22).
Jezebel was highly skilled at the art of sex, and she offered the saints lessons in sexual techniques that would have made one irresistible in the bed. The cruel irony behind her training in Thyatira is that it most likely would have been scripturally permissible had she only offered it to married couples and then drawn clear lines of demarcation between the act of lovemaking and the forbidden zone sexual activity of fornication and adultery. However, she created an atmosphere of debauchery by fertilizing the sexual passions of those who were single and stimulating the sexual fantasies of those who were married. By deductive reasoning, I have concluded that sex is the first law of nature (see note at the end of this article), and Jezebel fed the sexual passions of the weak and desperate by sanctioning a free-sex zone right in the church.
A discussion about the possible techniques that were taught by Jezebel is beyond the scope of this article. However, when one’s sexual passions arise to a near orgasmic state, a highly skilled sexual predator can make them surrender everything that they ever held sacred and abandon a chaste life. This was the spiritual atmosphere in Thyatira, and whether one agrees with the depth of Jezebels training, what is irrefutable is that the plague of fornication and adultery slithered into the church and became a part of the spiritual culture.
…to be continued
NOTE: If survival is the first law of nature, then isn’t sex about survival? Consequently, we can safely conclude that sex is the first law of nature.
About the Prelude to the anti-christ: I will be publishing a 18 part series titled, Prelude to the anti-christ, which will be divided into three segments: First, The Mystery of Iniquity will be a 6-part series that demonstrate that there has been a furtive hand in the affairs of humanity to create the rich soil for the anti-christ to rise; second, Western Civilization’s Unrelenting Expansion will be a 8-part expose on Western Civilization’s effort to control the destiny of human civilization; and third, The Rise of the anti-christ will be a 3-part series on the rise of the global leader who will lead humanity over the precipice into oblivion; and the final article will be a summary and postscript of the entire sequence of series. The introduction to this series was published on Sunday, January 23, 2011, and each subsequent article will be published on each successive Sunday through May. Your comments are welcome.
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