A "NEW" Threat???

Garter Snake

In the scope of Scripture (especially in the creation narrative, and the book of Revelation) Satan is pictured as a serpent (snake). I have encountered MANY "snakes" (note I am using the word negatively but the bible does not always do so) in my time.  Some of these "snakes" were ACTUAL snakes that I ran across in the wild. As a boy in the Midwest I LOVED finding garter snakes. They were generally small,  non-poisonous, and NOT ill-tempered--the PERFECT pet for an enterprising youngster in the wilds of the Midwest.  But we always released them after a day or so to go back and do whatever it is that garter snakes do.

I have also met other varieties of "snakes" that were loathsome, and gave every appearance of "evil" (even though I now live in an area where there are rattlesnakes in the wild--I have yet to encounter one), and SOME of them were ACTUAL snakes that crawled on their bellies!

Recently, while researching something else I came across a snake that is, in my mind, the epitome of why Satan is often viewed as a snake...it is the African Rock Python (whose usual domain is in Africa [hence the name--where it is known as the "largest" snake] but has now infested, the already overpopulated with reptiles, US state of FL. Below are two pictures of the same snake that managed to gorge itself on a farmers' livestock and then get caught in his electric fence (not in the US).

NOW...let me give you a few facts about these particular snakes:

• They have "bent" teeth (see second picture) that are used to grab and hold their prey (these rows of bent teeth make it virtually impossible to escape once caught). However, they are not venomous, nor do they kill their prey by biting (since they don't inject venom).

•  They kill their prey by "constriction" (they are in the constrictor family!) That is to say that they "encase" their prey and squeeze. BUT...the prey does not die from the constriction (squeezing)...rather zoologists believe that the snake's coils put so much force on the prey that their body forces their heart to work too hard (just like blood pressure issues in humans) and the heart explodes/implodes within the prey because of the pressure put upon it to keep up.

• Once dead the snaked eats its prey head first (as do most snakes).

•  These snaked grow quite large and can eat an animal the size of  an antelope (there have been known human attacks and fatalities). Because they often eat larger animals (when available) they sometimes only feed sporadically (months at a time--depending on the size of the meal).

Now let me draw some conclusions...this snake's behavior, to me, in particular (and I am not "dissing" the snake--it is what it is) seems like a vivid and lifelike illustration of how Satan operates.

First he grabs and holds on tenaciously (until we fall prey to temptation--regardless of how "evil" it might be). Second, without the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, Satan will encase our very existence and begin to "constrict" whatever it is that God has in mind for us.

Left unrestrained he will eventually cause our hearts to work too hard (from the pressure that we are feeling, and our constant attempts at escape) and we will die.  Then Satan will consume our being, "head first" (so as to consume all the vital organs: brain, heart, lungs, etc... first)---we might still be kicking...but he knows that fight is over. Once the process is complete (bones and all) there is nothing left, no evidence, no marks, no suggestion that we ever existed...and that is EXACTLY what Satan wants...to steal your very existence.

It all seems quite gruesome doesn't it. Jesus states it rather eloquently when he states in John 10:10, "the thief (Satan) comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full (in abundance)."  Which life would you rather live?

I believe...help my unbelief...