The Hiss of the Serpent.

 

There have been times in history when the Church has compromised the Word of God. There has been, and continues to be, opinion that the word of the world can be accepted about worldly things, and the Word of God consulted for spiritual things, and never the two need to meet. The Church ends up serving two masters, and serving neither one well. Some of the Church has stayed silent, or been on the shameful side, on the issues of slavery, treatment of Native Americans, segregation, abortion, the meaning of marriage, and other issues of the past and present. Even "spiritual" issues such as sin, resurrection, and the  Son, the only way of salvation, have been compromised in order to "fit" into the acceptable world view.

If we, the Church, do not value and keep the Word of God, what effect will that have on the Word itself? What spiritual doors are opened by our neglect, compromise, and disregard toward the Word of God? We may say that the Word will always be there as we know it now, for those who value it. However, that may well not be the case, and we may be seeing evidence of it even now. We will explore this point further later.

Scripture issues several warnings regarding the adding to, and taking away from, the Word of God:

"Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."    Deut. 4:1-2

"...for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."           Deut. 12:32

"Every word of God is pure;

He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Do not add to His words,

lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.       Prov. 30:5-6

"Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book."

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;

and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."        Rev. 22:7, 18-19

The Apostle Peter talked about the untaught and unstable people who twist teachings that the Apostle Paul had written, to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures (2 Pet. 3:16).

Why would God warn repeatedly about the changing and twisting of scripture, unless it was a possibility?

We have an example in scripture of the serpent in Eden, mis-stating, and twisting God's command to Adam. The word "serpent" in Hebrew refers to the hissing sound it makes, and means "enchanter, to practice divination and fortunetelling, a spell, a whisper, a hiss". He is described by one word: subtil (KJV). This word means "subtle (not obvious), shrewd, crafty, sly, cunning, (seeming to be) of good sense, smoothness". This word "subtil" has a root meaning "to make naked, to uncover, impudent, spiteful (manifesting one's malevolent mind)".
Satan, the Devil, called in Revelation 12:9 "that old serpent", twisted the Word of God to test and tempt Jesus in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11). Jesus didn't allow him to do it. Jesus, who was and is the Word, kept the Word in Spirit and in Truth, saying, "It is written...".
Do we think that this spiritual creature is no longer in the world to use enchantment and hissing whispers against the Word of God in order to change and twist its meaning?

Even those who are not expert in the scriptures have heard the parable of Jesus teaching of not putting new wine into old wineskins, but putting it instead into new wineskins. This parable is found in Mt. 9:17, Mk. 2:22, and Lk. 5:37-38. Look in your KJV Bible that you have owned and read for years. You will find that your Bible no longer says "wineskins", but now says "bottles". No, it is not a new translation, or a new edition. This is your old Bible. You are correct to say that you know this same Bible previously said "wineskins". You have read it so many times. The scripture has been changed by something.

You also know the scripture in KJV that says "Judge not lest ye be judged." It is found in Mt. 7:1. You have read it many times. Look in the KJV Bible that you have owned for years and see what this scripture now says: "Judge not, that ye be not judged."
These are two examples of very subtle changes. Perhaps you think they are not important changes, but how did the changes happen in the Bible that you have read many times?



In the case of the wineskin parable, a precious meaning is lost when the word is changed to "bottle". The wineskin was the skin from the whole body of a goat (see photo above). The goat is also the animal used as a sin offering according to the Law (Lev. 4:24, 9:15, 16:9). The wineskin is changed as the fermentation process occurs within. The skin is stretched and its properties are changed on the inside. It can only be used that once, and never re-used. Jesus is talking about the difference between the spiritual work of the New Covenant in His blood, as opposed to the Old Covenant.
Whether we can explain the changes taking place in our old, familiar Bibles or not, the words seeming to change supernaturally, we must make an effort to know the Word, to memorize the Word, to have that Word written upon our hearts, to be living epistles of the Word, to care about what the Word says, before we lose it.
If we listen carefully, we can hear the subtle hissing of the serpent saying, "Yea, Hath God said...?"