"I
came away from this experience with a much deeper understanding of how destructive
sin is to the human soul!" Keith
“But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it brings
forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)
"Like
sin’s effect on the soul, the snake’s venom had numbed my senses so much that I
could not hear the one thing that means
more to me than life itself–God’s voice. I came away from the experience with a
much deeper understanding of just how destructive sin is
to the human soul." Find this, and more,
in Keith's book LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.
"The doctors worked on me for a while, kept me there
to make sure that I was in the clear, and sent me on my way to begin what
turned out to be about 3 months of some pretty weird side effects."
Early
one spring, I began preparing to plant my vegetable garden, but I had no idea that a very profound life lesson was
on its way. If you are not familiar with the first chapter of my book Letters from the Front, it is entitled “Sin Makes Ya’ Stewpit” and, in that chapter, we draw the parallel
between the toxic effects of snake venom on the human body and the damaging
effects that sin can have on the human soul. Looking back, when I wrote about
the effects of snake venom on the human body, I wrote it based solely on my own
research that I had done, and on what I had learned by talking with physicians
that I know. Prior to my writing the chapter, I had no personal knowledge of
the terrible toll that snake venom can have on a person. I regret to inform
you, that has changed.
One evening
early in August, as I was watering my garden, I reached into the cucumber
plants to pick up the water hose and was bitten on my right forearm by a
rattlesnake. Earlier that day I had been stung by a wasp on the left arm, and
the day before I was bitten on the top of my right foot by a spider that left a
pretty nasty and painful wound. So, when I felt the snake bite me I figured that
it was another wasp or a bee. Only after my arm started to burn did I reach over
with my left hand to rub it. When I did, I immediately noticed that my hand was
covered in blood. I bent my arm around so that I could see what was causing all
of the trouble, and I noticed there were two fang holes. Right away I began
sucking the venom out of the puncture wounds. Later the emergency room
physician told me that doing so saved me a world of hurt and possibly even saved
me my arm as well.
Immediately
after I had been bitten I called my doctor and asked if I could stop by his
house–in hopes that he might tell me that it was not a snake bite, give me some
antibiotics or something, and send me home. Instead, he took one look at it,
said that it was definitely a viper bite, and told me to go straight to the
emergency room. He called the ER and told them that a snake bite victim was on
his way, and off I went.
If you have
ever had to experience the horrors of being processed through a hospital’s ER, you
know how I felt, and frankly, the thought of having to go through all of that
was more frustrating to me than the bite itself. The doctors worked on me for a
while, kept me there to make sure that I was in the clear, and sent me on my
way to begin what turned out to be about 3 months of some pretty weird side
effects. One example occurred a few days after the snake-bite incident as I was
driving home from a rather fuzzy trip to the post office–I think. In other
words the snake venom in my system had apparently burned up a mess of my brain
cells, temporarily costing me my short-term and even some of my long-term
memory.
There I
was, driving home from somewhere when I was pulled over by a motorcycle
officer. I did not think I was speeding so I was looking forward to hearing his
reason for stopping me. You need to know that, up until that day, I had a
spotless driving record and, frankly, I took great pride in that. The officer
got off his motorcycle and walked over to my car. He asked for my license and proceeded
to ask what my reason was for running that stop light. I was stunned. I had
just run through a red light and had no idea that there was even one there.
After the officer had written me a ticket, I very cautiously made my way home
and called my doctor, because the staff at the hospital had not warned me about
the strange side effects that I was beginning to experience. As a result, my
doctor addressed a nice letter on my behalf to the court explaining my
situation.
On my court
date I pleaded guilty and handed the letter to the judge. The judge read it and
was amazed. He immediately excused my case and said that he would like to hang
on to the letter as a souvenir. We all had a good laugh and I went home.
Although
the whole thing seemed a bit funny in court that day, the tormenting effects of
the snake’s venom on my body’s systems was not funny at all. To the contrary,
it was terribly traumatic!
Where my
prayer life was concerned, it was as if there had been a huge wall built between
me and the Lord. The more I tried to focus on hearing His life-giving voice, the
more frustrated I grew. Like sin’s effect on the soul, the snake’s venom had
numbed my senses so much that I could not hear the one thing that means more to
me than life itself–God’s voice.
I came away
from the experience with a much deeper understanding of how destructive sin is
to the human soul. My advice–stay clear of sneaky ole snakes and anything that
tempts you to invite the devastating effects of sin into your life!
Never
forget, there is nothing or nobody worth your personal relationship with Jesus
Christ!
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn
away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it brings
forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.” (James 1:14-15)
For more on this
topic, see Chapter 1 in Keith's book, "Letters From The Front."
and "TTMSingingSgt"on Twitter for more Scripture-based truth, unveiling God's Word on real-life
matters - what the devil does NOT want you to know!
