Can you imagine if Adam and Eve had kept the serpent close shortly after their expulsion from the Garden? Could you imagine that, if the serpent still talked, Adam and Eve would have spent time communicating with it? This sounds preposterous, I know, but it is something that happens regularly today.
A case in point is those who still follow, interact with, and communicate with men and women who are clearly in opposition to key fundamental doctrines of the bible. What began as a dissonance with specific “standards” or “inconsistencies” with certain features of the Apostolic culture began to drift toward the alignment and agreement of ministries who present as an “other.” By other, I mean to imply those ministries that always seem to circle the Apostolic Pentecostal faith in the margins, clearly opposed to it, but still paying homage to their origination.
These ministries have forsaken biblical mandates for gender distinctions (dress and hair), become yoked up with hyper-spiritualized charismatic groups, and promote a syncretistic multifaith view of Pentecostalism. Many of these ministries have embraced a form of Light Doctrine. In contrast, others have entirely opened the door for rejecting the necessity of being born again of the water and the spirit, exchanging it for gooey, easy-believism.
You Know it is a Snake, yet…
Somehow, even after it becomes evident that these individuals have drifted far beyond their standard disagreements with low-hanging fruits surrounding tradition and preferences, many continue to communicate and engage with them. At this point, a clear demonstration of the lack of healthy spiritual boundaries is at play or, worse, snakes speaking to snakes. In other words, you may claim to be 100% in agreement with the core principles and doctrines of the Apostolic faith. Still, your constant communication, engagement with, and fascination with snakes slithering around trees of knowledge speak otherwise.
Of course, nobody wants to be called a snake, but the likeness is appropriate. Slippery, undercover, and always waiting to strike with the poisonous diatribes of division and doctrinal distortion. That is what they are, and their hubris will continue to cause them to maintain a position of moral superiority, never willing to admit that they have already thrown aside the vast majority of Apostolic distinctives. They aren’t wolves wanting to devour and destroy sheep, but snakes in that they want to infect as many others with the venom of their intoxicated animus toward the Truth.
Stop talking to snakes