The Saga of the Serpent — Part Three

All those of childlike faith possess the ability to transform the bleak and dark circumstances of this life into something glorious and very good.

In the field of psychology, a principle known as positive reframing is employed.  Simply explained, an individual can take the negative picture they are considering and reframe it with a positive twist.  God’s childlike believers employ a positive reframing – or should we say a Gospel reframing – that not only dispels the darkness, but harnesses the power of God’s might to certify, support, and perfect the reframing. 

This life is filled with troubles, but thanks be to God, His Word is filled with solutions even to where our troubles simply become a place to overcome the Devil by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11).  The field of troubles becomes our glory.  James 1:2-4:

                2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

                3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

                4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Romans 5: 1-5:

                1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Consider the words in II Corinthians 12:9-10:

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

All of these strange and magnificent abilities have been made possible through Jesus Christ in the life-changing, yes, thoroughly transforming, born-again experience.  Have you been born-again?  Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ?  Are you ready for beautiful solutions to life’s most complicated and dire circumstances?  What are you waiting for?  Click onto “Further With Jesus” right now for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  Now for today’s subject.    

GOD SAID, Revelation 12:9:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 53:5:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

GOD SAID, Mark 16:17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

GOD SAID, James 5:14-15:

14 Is any 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 have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

MAN SAID: Give me one scintilla, just one scintilla, of proof that God is and that He authored the Scriptures and will hold me accountable to them at the Christian’s hypothetical judgment day.

Now THE RECORD.  This is GodSaidManSaid feature article 594 that proves the full inerrancy of the Word of God and every Thursday eve (God willing), they grow by one.  These features are freely offered and are for the edification of the faith of the saints and as ammunition in the battle for the souls of men.  Welcome to GodSaidManSaid; we are honored by your presence.  May the face of our God shine upon you and yours with Light and Truth. 

To those who challenge the inerrancy and literalness of the Holy Bible, we offer the serpent that is hidden in plain view.  If the ensign of the Devil is the old serpent, that great dragon, and if Satan is the god – little g-o-d – of this world, as the Word of God declares, then we should see his imprimatur everywhere, and we do.  We see his ensign at the head of the world’s anti-Christ organizations and people. 

The Word of God declares that the Satan serpent, that great dragon, wants to be like God.  Isaiah 14:12-14:

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Satan wants to be like God.  In the Garden of Eden, he offers Eve his leadership versus God’s – another way – and Eve chooses the Devil.  Intricately interwoven into all of society is Satan’s other way.  John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Satan faithfully offers another way, and the sons of Adam make choices.

In Part One of this series, it was noted that God calls Satan “the great dragon,” “the old serpent.” In the Bible, creatures such as are commonly known as dinosaurs were, in times of old, called dragons, leviathan, behemoth, fiery flying serpents, cockatrice, and other such names.  Prior to the 1840s, the word dinosaur, which means terrible lizard, was not yet coined.  The dragon and the dinosaur are one and the same. 

Satan, “the great dragon,” “the old serpent,” is everywhere. 

The intricacies of Satan’s spider’s web, by which the souls of men are snared, are beyond impressive; yet most of the time, his deceptions are hidden in plain view.  Let’s take a more in-depth look at one colossal Satanic snare that’s hidden in plain view. 

When one arrives at the house of faith, he or she is greeted by the Word of God and His Christ.  When one arrives at the cathedrals (museums) of the anti-Bible people, he or she is greeted by a dinosaur, a dragon – their Goliath – a symbol of their organized rebellion against the credibility of God and His Bible.  Should it then be any surprise to you that Satan – the enemy of the cross of Christ – is known as the old serpent and great dragon?

Revelation 20:1-3

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after than he must be loosed a little season.

At our houses of worship, we meet Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible.  At academia’s houses of worship – their universities and museums – they meet the dragon, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his companions. [End of quote]

In last week’s feature, we also discussed Nehustan, the brazen serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness, and how it was a shadow and type of the redemption process that was accomplished at Calvary.

The great dragon, the old serpent, is everywhere.  [End of quote]

In “The Saga of the Serpent – Part II,” it dealt with the city of Pergamos and the serpent-dragon worshipped the world over.  Concerning Pergamos, Jesus said in Revelation 2:12-13:

12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

13 I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

Jesus said Pergamos, located in Asia Minor, was Satan’s capitol.  Consider these exerpts from feature number two:

The central, false deity of Pergamos was the sun-divinity worshipped under the form of Asklepios Soter, which means “the man-instructing serpent and savior.”

We see Satan taking on the form of the serpent in the Garden of Eden.  This man-instructing serpent converses with our great-grandmother Eve just before the fall in Genesis 3:1-6.

Satan’s instruction to Eve concerning the deadly forbidden tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was to go ahead and eat, and that she and her husband would not die, but would be as gods, knowing good and evil.  Note that he promises them that they would be like gods, which is Satan’s desire for himself: “I will be like the most High.”

From The Bible and Archaeology, we find:

The remains of the shrine to Asklepios have been uncovered by archaeologists.  “A 450-foot segment of the widest section was excavated and reconstructed so visitors to the site can experience a beautiful approach to the Asklepieion,” notes John McRay.  “Dedicated to Asklepios Soter, the god of healing, the Askepieion was a kind of Mayo Clinic of the ancient world…Numerous treatment rooms, sleeping rooms, and temples were located here…Patients coming to the shrine believed that Asklepios would heal them.  There was no perceived dissonance between science and religion in the ancient world.”

“From all over the world,” added William Barclay, “people flocked to Pergamos for relief of their sicknesses.” R. H. Charles has called Pergamos “the Lourdes of the ancient world.”  Thus, pagan religion had its center in Pergamos.  There was worship of Athene and Zeus, with its magnificent altar dominating the city (now partially reconstructed in the Pergamum Museum in Berlin).  There was the worship of Asklepios, bringing sick people from far and near, and above all, there were the demands of Caesar worship, hanging forever like a poised sword above the heads of the Christians.” [End of quote]

Asklepios Soter not only means “the man-instructing serpent and savior,” but was also known as the god of healing.  [End of quote]

In last week’s feature, we documented the worship of the old serpent, that great dragon, the world over:

·         Hindu and Buddhist populations

·         India

·         China

·         Cambodia

·         Greece

·         Europe

·         Africa

·         Australia

·         Native Americans

·         Nordic Mythology

Keep in mind Satan’s desire to be like the most high God as we read the following passages.  Psalms 103:2-3:

     2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

     3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Psalms 107:20:

     He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

I Peter 2:24:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Jesus healed the sick and sent forth His servants to do the same in His name.  He prescribes the supernatural healing formula in James 5:14-16:

14 Is any 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 have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Jesus says in Mark 16:17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The Bible does not stand in harsh opposition to the true healing sciences.  Jesus said in Matthew 9:12, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”  But on the other hand, the Word of God does seriously promote supernatural healing through faith in Christ Jesus.  God’s Word prescribes faith healing. 

Originating from the wicked spirit of Pergamos where Satan’s seat was located, where he ruled as “the man-instructing serpent and savior” and healer, came many startling things. 

You have surely seen the caduceus, for it is one of the medical industry’s prominent emblems.  It is the symbol of the winged rod wrapped about by two snakes.  The following exerpt is from an article titled “The Symbols of Medicine,” by D. Nichols, on the web at www.in-ta.net:

The caduceus began as the magical rod of the Greek messenger-god Hermes (or the Roman god, Mercury).  More than a messenger, though, Hermes was a diplomat and an ambassador and was often believed to be a bringer of peace.  In fact, the Romans used the caduceus as a symbol of peace, and described a myth in which Hermes (Mercury) threw his rod between two fighting snakes and stopped their battle, at which point they wrapped themselves around the wand.  This ability to bring harmony out of hostility is one of the admirable traits of Hermes and it aided the god’s reputation as a persuasive orator and bringer of good fortune. 

Hermes, however, was also known as the deity of wealth and commerce, two areas which were recognized as involving a certain degree of dishonesty.  In fact, many of Hermes’s deeds earned him a reputation as a crafty and promiscuous trickster and it was because of this that he was honored as the patron of thieves. The association of physicians with thievery through the adoption of Hermes’s caduceus as a medical symbol is undoubtedly undesirable and only those cynics who accuse physicians of excessive interest in making money may find it appropriate.  Unfortunately, there is one final significance of the caduceus that should appeal to no one and is horrifying when connected to the medical profession, for it was the duty of Hermes, caduceus in hand, to lead the souls of the dead to the underworld. [End of quote]

Of course, the underworld is hell.

A second and similar issue out of Satan’s seat is the most prominent of medicine’s emblems, which is the staff of Aesculapius, which you have seen as the serpent-entwined staff. Again from "The Symbols of Medicine:"

It is Aesculapius who then became the god of medicine and it is his staff which properly represents the physician. . . .

 

Despite the mythical story of his birth, Aesculapius was mentioned in the writings of Homer as a mortal physician-hero who performed miraculous acts of healing on the battlefield. Later, although the application and selection process was not clearly defined, Aesculapius was awarded a divine rank as the god of medicine. His decendants and other followers of his teachings worshipped their new god and formed the cult of Asklepios. The cult spread throughout the Mediterranean and by the fourth century B.C., over three hundred Aesculapian temples served as medical centers equally devoted to healing as to the worship of their god. Hippocrates himself, the embodiment of the ideal physician, was educated as a member of the 20th generation of the cult of Aesculapius. [End of quote]

 

Consider Pergamos and Asklepios Soter, "the man-instructing serpent and savior" and healer.

Is the picture beginning to form? When it comes to faith in God concerning the well-being of their flesh, multitudes have traded in their Jesus for the doctors. If Jesus said that by His stripes you were healed, but then the doctor says you have 60 days to live, the weak in faith are calling the undertaker. It reminds me of the gospel song that says, "Whose report will you believe?" The retort is supposed to be, "I will believe the report of the Lord!" Many are able to quote their medical stats such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, etc., but can’t quote Romans 10:17. For many, without exaggeration, the doctor has become their god. When you do find yourself shopping for a doctor, find one who rejects the spirit of Pergamos and who embraces the spirit of Christ. I personally am not opposed to the good doctors, and applaud their services to humanity, but I find the miracle of the prayer of faith much more appealing.

In closing, consider some of the fruits of the devil Hermes and his caduceus:

Source: www.utopiasilver.com:

The late Robert Mendelsohn, M.D., while Chairman of the Medical Licensing Committee for the State of Illinois and Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and the University of Illinois School of Medicine, wrote:

[T]he greatest danger to your health is the doctor who practices Modern Medicine.  I believe that Modern Medicine’s treatments for disease are seldom effective, and that they’re often more dangerous than the diseases they’re designed to treat…I believe that more than 90% of Modern Medicine could disappear from the face of the earth—doctors, hospitals, drugs, and equipment—and the effect on our health would be immediate and beneficial.

A study reported in the Southern Medical Journal stated that one in five patients who are admitted to a university hospital acquires an iatrogenic disease (doctor-caused disease), and one in thirty of these lead to death.  Of these iatrogenic deaths, half are complications of drug therapy and 10% result from improper diagnostic procedures. 

Another study of 815 consecutive patients in a university hospital over an eight month period found that 36% had a disease caused by their doctor – in 2% of the cases, the iatrogenic disease was believed to be a cause of the patient’s death. 

If you project that figure out, assuming 2% of all hospital patients die from an iatrogenic disease, you get 700,000 hospital/doctor-caused deaths per year – one third of all deaths. 

Dr. Arthur Mannix, Jr. declared in an article in the New York State Journal of Medicine:

Errors in judgment or technique concerning either the anesthesia or the surgery, or a combination of the two, contribute to close to 50% of the deaths in the operating room.

I think what that translates to is that disease is only responsible for 50% of the deaths on the operating table, while doctors are responsible for the other 50% of the deaths. 

Source: Life Extension magazine:

               

Condition	Deaths	Cost
Adverse Drug Reactions	106,000	$12 billion
Medical Error	98,000	$2 billion
Bedsores	115,000	$55 billion
Infection	88,000	$5 billion
Malnutrition	108,800	---------
Outpatients	199,000	$77 billion
Unnecessary Procedures	374,136	$122 billion
Surgery-Related	32,000	$9 billion
Total	783,936	$282 billion

 

Those numbers, of course, are just in the United States. 

In the Garden, the Satan serpent, that old dragon, offered another way and the sons of Adam followed.  Choose Christ Jesus and live. 

GOD SAID, Revelation 12:9:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 53:5:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

GOD SAID, Mark 16:17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

GOD SAID, James 5:14-15:

14 Is any 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 have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

MAN SAID: Give me one scintilla, just one scintilla, of proof that God is and that He authored the Scriptures and will hold me accountable to them at the Christian’s hypothetical judgment day.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

GodSaidManSaid, “Pergamos – Where Satan Dwelleth”

GodSaidManSaid, “The Saga of the Serpent – Part II”

Kline, M., “Doctor-Caused Disease,” www.utopiasilver.com

“Death by Medicine,” Life Extension, 11/7/01  

 

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