SIN is Snake Venom to the SOUL

"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."    

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