To the Snake Keepers

A snake came to my water-trough On a hot, hot day, and I in pyjamas for the heat, To drink there.   In the deep, strange-scented shade of the great dark carob tree I came down the steps with my pitcher And must wait, must stand and wait, for there he was at the trough             before me.   He reached down from a fissure in the earth-wall in the gloom And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down, over             the edge of the stone trough And rested his throat upon the stone bottom, And where the water had dripped from the tap, in a small clearness, He sipped with his straight mouth, Softly drank through his straight gums, into his slack long body, Silently.   Someone was before me at my water-trough, And I, like a second-comer, waiting.   He lifted his head from his drinking, as cattle do, And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do, And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused              a moment, And stooped and drank a little more, Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels             of the earth On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.   The voice of my education said to me He must be killed, For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold             are venomous.   And voices in me said, If you were a man You would take a stick and break him now, and finish him off.   But must I confess how I liked him, How glad I was he had come like a guest in quiet, to drink             at my water-trough And depart peaceful, pacified, and thankless, Into the burning bowels of this earth?   Was it cowardice, that I dared not kill him? Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him? Was it humility, to feel so honoured? I felt so honoured.   And yet those voices: If you were not afraid, you would kill him!   And truly I was afraid, I was most afraid, But even so, honoured still more That he should seek my hospitality From out the dark door of the secret earth.   He drank enough And lifted his head, dreamily, as one who has drunken, And flickered his tongue like a forked night on the air, so black, Seeming to lick his lips, And looked around like a god, unseeing, into the air, And slowly turned his head, And slowly, very slowly, as if thrice adream, Proceeded to draw his slow length curving round And climb again the broken bank of my wall-face.   And as he put his head into that dreadful hole, And as he slowly drew up, snake-easing his shoulders,             and entered farther, A sort of horror, a sort of protest against his withdrawing into             that horrid black hole, Deliberately going into the blackness, and slowly drawing             himself after, Overcame me now his back was turned.   I looked round, I put down my pitcher, I picked up a clumsy log And threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.   I think it did not hit him, But suddenly that part of him that was left behind convulsed             in an undignified haste, Writhed like lightning, and was gone Into the black hole, the earth-lipped fissure in the wall-front, At which, in the intense still noon, I stared with fascination.   And immediately I regretted it. I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act! I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.   And I thought of the albatross, And I wished he would come back, my snake.   For he seemed to me again like a king, Like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, Now due to be crowned again.   And so, I missed my chance with one of the lords Of life. And I have something to expiate: A pettiness.

According to the World Health Organization there are approximately 5.4 million people bitten by snakes every year.

Of these 5.4 million bites 2.7 million are envenoming.

From that 2.7 million envenomings somewhere around 130,000 people die each year from venomous snakes. Another 3-400,000 have permanent physical damage to their bodies like amputations or irreversible organ damage.

Most often the ones who suffer the most from snake bites are children. Because of their smaller body mass and lack of knowledge of the danger they have encountered.

The single deadliest snake on our planet is found in Australia and called the Western Taipan or the “Fierce snake.”

Just one bite from this 6’-8.5’ snake has enough toxins to kill one hundred men.

Once bitten a man has less than forty-five minutes to get the anti-venom before his organs start shutting down from internal bleeding and his body goes into paralysis.

An amazing thing about this snake is that it is very shy and docile. It will flee from humans if possible and only will attack if provoked.

It’s best to just leave snakes alone.

One of the most famous snakes in the world along with being one of the deadliest is the King Cobra.

It can grow up to 18’ long and when it strikes it injects about 7 mils of venom or almost 1/2 an ounce into its victims. That is enough to kill 20 men with just one bite.

When King Cobras are threatened they will emit a low growl (like a small dog) and raise up to 1/3 of their bodies vertically to look a human right in the face.

These are considered the most intelligent of all the snakes and are extremely territorial.

Cobras are also very shy and docile unless they are provoked, cornered, or are forced to attack.

If you see a cobra just get away.

The saw-scaled viper or “sidewinder” is not the most venomous but it is the deadliest.

They only grow from 1’-3’ long but their temper is shorter than their length. They are the deadliest because of their extreme aggressiveness and proximity to populated areas.

When they are threatened they first will rub their scales together making a saw like sizzling noise called a stridulation.

Not long after this noise occurs they will strike repeatedly injecting the toxic venom each time.

More deaths occur from this snake than any other in teh world.

In the top ten deadliest snakes is South African snake called a Boomslang or tree snake.

Growing from 3’-5.2’ in length this snake will extend part of its body out from a tree and hold it stiff like a limb. Then it will attack anything that touches it.

The unsuspecting person or animal that was bitten will not immediately feel any different and if they are uninformed they will continue about their life unaffected, for a while at least.

Somewhere between 24-48 hours after the bite the venom begins to do its dirty work. Blood begins to seep from every orifice in you body and you experience both internal and external bleeding. If not treated death will occur.

This snake is also shy and reclusive unless you are around the wrong tree in Africa.

The last snake I want to talk about is the Eastern Brown snake. It is the second most venomous snake in Australia.

It is the cause of the most deaths by snake bite in Australia because it likes to live near people.

It grows anywhere from 5’-6.5’ long.

Once you are bitten you have minutes to get to a hospital before the toxins will kill you.

It was said by a woman who was bitten by a Eastern Brown Snake “You will think everything is ok for the first 13 minutes.”

Snakes are not something we should become cozy with.

In the Bible snakes are not looked upon in a positive way.

The Serpent in the Garden was subtle and deceived Eve.

Dan was called a serpent in the way that bites at the heels of a horse so the rider will fall off.

Moses Rod of authority was cast down and turned into a snake.

One thing that is for sure, anytime anyone cast down authority it is a snake at work.

God sent snakes to kill the Israelites because of their sin.

Numbers 21:4–5 “And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.”

We may not have physical snakes slithering through the isles of the church today. At least not at this one. But there are some snakes that we have grown accustom to just being around.

There are some who have grown comfortable with the vipers of this world that would destroy your souls.

Some have gotten comfortable with apathy.

But Apathy is a snake.

Apathy causes us to lose sight of the promise.

Once bitten by apathy the toxins began to spread throughout the body much like the venom from a Western Taipan snake. Just one bite is enough to kill 100 men.

It doesn’t take much to slow down momentum.

Just a little venom to stop revival.

Apathy will cause us to rely on our own talent instead of the treasured anointing oil that can only be purchased by sacrifice.

Apathy is the killer of the miraculous.

Apathy causes people become satisfied with sinful lifestyles.

Apathy makes victors victims.

Warriors, wimps.

And Worshippers weak.

It’s just a snake that is killing the church.

Apathy kills our desire to give.

Apathy kills our desire to grow.

Apathy causes uncontrollable internal and external bleeding of the church.

It’s time time kill the snakes.

The way we kill apathy is by repenting and then choosing to give, choosing to love, choosing to be a part, even when it cost you.

If you have an idea for something don’t bring it to me or my wife to start it. You start it.

I’m not a hireling, I’m not your spiritual guru. I’m your pastor. I’m responsible for getting you to heaven.

Another snake that has become prevalent in the church today is pride.

Just like the boomslang tree snake, pride pretends to be something its not then attacks those who realize it.

Pride will cause the wrong look on our face.

Pride’s venom will seep into the muscles that cause our arms to raise in worship and prevent them form doing it.

Pride will say things like “I don’t believe you have to be involved in worship to be saved.”

Pride will say “I’m fine without speaking in other tongues.”

Pride will say “II don’t have to be submitted to a Pastor.”

Pride will say “Only preach what I want to hear.”

Pride says I’m too good to submit but it will bring destruction.

Haughtiness will bring a fall.

Don’t think more highly of yourselves than you ought to think.

And you ought to think you are only here because of the grace of God.

Pride gives a false sense of security. You will think you are alright and then all of a sudden the rug is snatched out from under your feet. Then you will realize your heart was full of pride.

Traditional religion is caught up in pride.

People so caught up in tradition they will believe a creed over the Bible and a Pope over Jesus.

Pride will send people to hell just as fast as murder and rape.

Pride will keep us from becoming what God has designed us to be.

The Only way we can get rid of pride is to humble ourselves and repent.

Then submit yourselves one unto another.

Swallow your pride and ask for forgiveness even if you are not wrong.

Swallow your pride and be a servant to someone else without being seen.

The most dangerous of all the snakes in the church is perversion.

Some folks have grown comfortable with perversion in their lives.

Some will justify Hollywood because they need something to do on their downtime.

Or that show isn’t that bad.

It only has that one scene in it.

Some have even become so perverted in their spirits they don’t even acknowledge the sin the show anymore.

Lesbianism and Homosexuality are the norm.

Adultery and fornication are ok because at least with the opposite sex.

With perversion there are no boundaries.

One thing will lead into another.

You will not tell the toxins of perversion how far they will travel and where they will stop.

It will infect until the whole body is taken over.

It will continue to attack and bite until you are dead.

Once perversion is accepted it leaches into every aspect of your life until you are completely consumed.

It may start with sexual perversion but it quickly becomes the perversion of all things true.

It is a perverted person who manipulates others to do their will.

It is a perverted person who will live a lie.

Perversion leads to parents who refuse to discipline their children.

You’ve perverted the truth.

The strongest man in the bible was Samson and he fell to perversion.

The wisest man in the bible was Solomon and he fell to perversion.

The greatest of the kings of Israel was David and he fell to perversion.

You cannot fight it you must flee from it.

Flee youthful lust.

Run.

Make a covenant with your eyes that you won’t sin against God.

Joseph ran and God elevated him.

You must run to truth.

You must run to holiness.

You must run to righteousness.

You must run away from perversion.

Many look at the snakes of sin like that man in the poem.

I’ll just let it drink first then I’ll get my drink.

You feel the nudge to do something about it but delay.

The longer you delay the stronger the snake gets.

Then when you finally act it’s too late anyway.

If you do scare the snake at all you beat yourself up for trying to get rid of the things you love.

Things like bitterness and offense have become our friends that too many want to be with instead of love and forgiveness.

You say “You don’t what he did Pastor.” It doesn’t matter what he did. Your soul is on the line over the bitterness and refusal to forgive.

In October of 2025 11 year old Tristain Jaemes Frahm died in Queensland, Australia from a Eastern Brown snake bite.

His father said that Tristain fell off a riding lawn mower and may have been bitten by a snake. They check him over and didn't find any marks or evidence of a bit and told him to go “sleep it off.”

The father told the coroner that said that because earlier taht day Tristain had drank some alcohol and they thought his staggering and actions were from that.

Then after going to bed he began to vomit and experience stomach pain.

In the morning he was dead.

Sometimes a Brown snakes bite doesn’t leave a visible mark at all. But that doesn’t make it any less deadly.

You can’t go “sleep off” the bites of spiritual snakes that you are comfortable with.

They will kill you if you don’t kill them first.