Snake Therapy?

If you haven’t yet heard about this, you will. Things really are getting a lot like the days of Noah. (Gen 6:5 –The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. NIV) From the “what will they think of next?” category comes a new form of “relaxation” therapy – snakes crawling all over your flesh.  Right now it’s only available in the Far East, but unscrupulous entrepreneurs are undoubtedly looking for a way to bring it to America. The idea is that the movement of the snakes triggers adrenalin from the fear and that positively affects the customer’s metabolism. In reality, the one animal God cursed to crawl on the ground some now want slithering over their bodies. (Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. Gen. 3:14) Spare me the exegesis, I take this literally.

Today, Halloween, people are looking for imaginative ways to stoke the fear factor. TV networks are featuring non-stop fright flicks. Theatrical haunted houses are trying to scare the living daylights out of paying customers with ever more gruesome and realistic horror. But trying to up the hormone rush of fear for any reason isn’t smart. God gave us our fright-and-flight response for self-preservation, not manipulation. Demons do that, and one of the most powerful evil spirits is that of Fear. I’ve often said, “If you have the spirit of fear [exposed in 2 Timothy 1:7] you don’t need any other demons.” Fear is a gatekeeper letting other demons in. this Halloween, focus on “power, love, and a sound mind,” not terror. And stay away from haunted houses, real or fake, and snake therapy. You don’t need a dose of fear to feel good. You need faith in Christ to be free from slithering spirits.