—Mat.10:16—…Turn & Fight!DO 24698/88

1. Now when are we going to get up a little gumption & fight & have a little wisdom & be as wise as serpents, snakes in the grass if we have to be, to save our kids! Let's look as harmless as doves. Why do you think the Lord said "be as harmless as doves"? Do you think we really are harmless? Do you think we really are supposed to be harmless & not fight for our kids? No, just appear as harmless as doves. Do you get it? But when they come around, we are going to bite like serpents!—Bite … if we have to!

2. "As wise as serpents!" What do serpents do? How are they wise? They sneak around through the grass unseen, unknown, silently, soundlessly.—That is, until you get close to a rattlesnake, then he's quite a gentleman, he warns you. Well, the Lord didn't say we even had to be rattlesnakes, we don't even have to warn'm!—Just sneak around until we can get close enough that we can even bite before they know it! And most serpents, the kind that are any danger at all‚ are poisonous, & they bite to kill!

3. So how wise do you have to be to be a serpent? When the serpent itself then is finally in danger of the Enemy‚ what does he wisely do then? He bites to kill, to maim, to paralyse, to keep from getting killed himself! That's how wise he is!

4. We've heard all kinds of pious pulpit platitudes from the preachers, & they never really told us what to do or what serpents were like! We learned that from experience. But of course a church person would never take that literally, that to be as wise as a serpent is that when you are finally in danger of getting killed or robbed or whatever it is that is going to happen to you by the Enemy, you strike first & bite‚ … to protect yourself & your young ones & your nest! That's how wise a serpent is!

5. We need to wake up to what the Lord was saying! You can look as harmless as a dove, just flapping its wings & flying around & seeming to do no harm, but let me tell you‚ when the Enemy gets close & he threatens you & yours, especially your little kids or your big kids‚ any father or leader or shepherd that's worth his salt will be as wise as a serpent‚ … & stay out of trouble as much as he can‚ but when trouble comes, be ready to bite to defend yourself & yours! In that case the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep!

6. And hardly any snake will ever attack unless he's attacked first. That's wise too. They don't go around looking for trouble & causing trouble, it's usually only when they're cornered. Normally they'll run away & hide, they'll try to get away. Most creatures will not seek trouble & attack unless they are afraid & in fear that they're going to be attacked or they're cornered. You've heard this all your life.

STORY OF MOONLIT-NIGHT RATTLESNAKE ENCOUNTER AT TSC!

7. Even that night in the dark when Mama & I were walking down the path on the Ranch in Texas. We'd gone out without a flashlight, of all the stupid things! But it was such a nice, bright‚ moonlit night, we wanted to go out & enjoy the romantic atmosphere & take a little walk. Coming back we heard this loud rattle, you remember it, Mama, & it wasn't more than about 10 or 12 feet from us, & the snake turned out to be about 7 feet long! A big one! And he was all coiled up & ready to strike. But he gave us fair warning. He didn't want to attack unless we attacked him & came closer.

8. We stopped dead in our tracks & backed off & yelled for a light! And there he was only about 10 or 12 feet away! We just backed off very carefully, because sometimes movement will cause them to strike, any movement, they think maybe you're going to attack them. I picked up the first weapon I could find, which was not a gun. I should have had my gun out with me. Usually I never went around the Ranch at all without a revolver in my holster, when I went out on horseback for the cows or whatever, I had a gun, & I could use it.

9. One of the first things I ever did was learn to be a crack shot, & I was a crack shot in the Army. I believe in having a [legally owned] gun, & I believe in using it if you have to. Be "wise as a serpent," don't go around looking for trouble & using a gun when you don't have to, but if your back is against the wall & you're cornered & the other guy has the advantage, I wouldn't hesitate to pull out a gun & [use it]! Even the law recognises the right of self-defence.

10. The nearest weapon I could find, we'd been having classes outdoors, was one of those folded metal chairs. And in spite of dear Mama's warnings & whatnot—she was afraid I was going to get hurt—I picked up that chair over my head like this & I walked toward that snake. They can only strike the length of their body from head to tail, & I figured out from the coil & the looks of him & the size of him that he was about seven or eight feet long, so I never got any closer than that. That's why I didn't do so good in my shot, because of the distance.

11. When I was about ten feet from him I threw that chair down on him as hard as I could. I think he was injured then, because he only crawled away slowly, & that's when I was yelling for a gun. Usually they go whoost‚ you'd be amazed how fast snakes can go! … I shot him, & he slowly crawled on off into such dense thicket‚ it was so thick we couldn't even find him! I think they found him dead later; he finally died.

12. But a snake won't go around looking for trouble, he'd rather run & hide & slither away & get lost! That's the smartest thing‚ the first thing a snake ought to do, to be wise as a serpent. But when cornered & with his back up against the wall & no place to retreat & no way to get away & nowhere to hide‚ he will turn on you & he will sock it to you to take your life before you take his!

13. God says "wise as a serpent‚" & that may be some rather radical, revolutionary new doctrine that the churches haven't been preaching, but that's what serpents are like, & that's being as wise as a serpent too! The first & the smartest thing you can do is to [move]! But if they find you & you can't run, then you turn around & you sock it to'm. … That is being as wise as a serpent!

THE TIME TO ATTACK BACK!—THE NEED FOR "TEETH TO BITE & FIGHT!"

14. A lot of these Christians & the preachers have taught pacifism & only being harmless as a dove. "Why‚ the Bible says to agree with your enemy while you're in the way with him."—Mat.5:25. That obviously had to do with financial affairs‚ in other words, pay, before you have to go to court & have to pay a lot more! And this business about "when they hit you on one cheek, turn the other." Well, brother, I've only got four cheeks, & by the time they get done with those, it's time for me to get to their cheeks, or more‚ whatever it takes! I hope we're learning something out of this.

15. The time has come, obviously the day has come, & the season has come now in these Last Days where we are going to have to put that into effect! We not only have to be harmless as doves—actually we are harmless except to the Devil's kingdom, & we're the biggest threat there is to them—but harmless as far as appearances go, harmless, like our Schools. As far as really being harmless, we're not only harmless, we're helpful! But when it comes down to where they're looking for us in the grass, then we need to be as wise as serpents…!

16. But if in the final analysis they catch us, it's time to turn & defend ourselves & to bite, & one of the safest ways to bite nowadays in this present World is to get a lawyer, so you don't have to get involved in some kind of crime yourself, but you can defend yourself legally & let him put the bite into it. Okay? All right!

17. Okay, let's find ourselves some teeth! Let's know a lawyer that's sympathetic & is willing to fight for us that can put some teeth into it & help us bite when we're cornered! Amen, I think we've all learned something. I never thought of that illustration before, but that's straight from the Lord. It's wonderful when the Lord shows you things. I was just quoting that Scripture to you & all of a sudden it dawned on me that part of the wisdom of a serpent is to bite! His first wisdom is to get away, get lost, hide, get out of the way! But when he's caught or cornered, his next wisdom is to fight back!

18. So let's get us a lawyer ready to fight back before we need him! If right then in that moment they could have just called their lawyer & said, "Get down there quick & save those kids, save him, & let's do something legally to stop this thing!", I believe we'd still have them! But nobody did anything, everybody just sat there & just waited until it happened. We haven't been used to fighting things. We have been used to, & usually successful in‚ [moving on]! But now they're getting us cornered.

19. I think that was the clincher, I just saw that as clear as a picture! "Wise as serpents!" What is it to be wise as a serpent? I just saw that serpent sliding away into the grass & getting lost, hiding, but when cornered, turning on his enemy & fighting!—Endangering his life then to [attack] somebody else to save his. That's being as "wise as a serpent!" That's a time for the shepherd to lay down his life for the sheep: If he's run & hid as far as he can‚ but he gets caught by the wrong people. I don't mean by this you're supposed to [resist or fight] cops‚ officers of the law or Immigrations officials!

20. Let's face it, most of the governments now are becoming anti-Christ. When they can put out a picture like that new movie in the States‚ "The Last Temptation," according to Time Magazine, the ACs are making as much mileage out of that movie as they possibly can, just like they did out of the TV preachers! They have article after article after article in this Time Magazine‚ you ought to see it, hitting every major doctrine of Christianity!—A whole page devoted to each doctrine & knocking it down!

21. This is the time of the Antichrist, Beloved‚ & his people are on the attack! And the average church Christian today doesn't even know anything about who the Antichrist is, doesn't even know they're being attacked, much less know how to defend themselves or to fight for the faith! But I hope to God that is never said of us, that we don't know who our enemies are‚ we do, & we know when they're on the attack! The first time I heard something about that "20/20" program I said, "They're going to have a new campaign against us & that is the leading blast!"

22. Even when I heard about all this blah blah blah that was being stirred up in the States about child abuse, I thought‚ "Uh-oh, I know who's publishing all that!" I told you this years ago when all that stink first began to be raised about child abuse! (See "Guard Your Children!" ML #1698.) I said, "They're going to use that!—And when they get the public stirred up enough about it, then they're going to use those lies on us! It's just a part of their campaign against us." And sure enough, here we are!

23. So, thank God for that illustration, that ought to teach us something, to be as wise as a serpent!—And to be as wise as a serpent …, but if you're caught, turn & fight to save your life & those of your sheep! Praise God! And a serpent can be pretty deadly if he's cornered! I've never known any serpents that just attacked people for no reason. The people either stepped on them or cornered them someplace, or were out walking & approached & didn't know what the danger was.

THE RATTLESNAKE IN THE PUMP HOUSE STORY!

24. —Or the time Ho opened the pump house at TSC & there was this big rattlesnake all coiled up about this big, he wasn't as big as the one we met that night, but I think we found he was about six feet long after we shot him. Ho yelled for me, I wasn't far away. Thank God he was smart enough, he shut the door of the pump house quietly. He started opening the pump house to go in there to fix something, & this snake was sitting right there in front of the door, so he quickly shut the door. He was smart enough to shut it sort of easy so it wouldn't scare the snake away, because the pump house was full of holes, & he yelled for me.

25. Ho knew I had a gun, but I didn't trust a pistol, I mean you have to get'm with the first shot, & you've got to get'm right between the eyes! In the body it doesn't mean a thing, they can keep on going, fighting & everything else if you just hit'm in that long body. You've got to hit'm right in the head!

26. So I said, "Ho, just keep quiet, stay there, make sure he doesn't go away." And I said, "Aaron, run get the rifle!" Then I knew that when we opened the door to shoot him, he was going to be expecting somebody out front. So I very quietly climbed onto the roof of the pump house & I was peeking over the edge of the roof & I had my rifle down there aimed right about where I knew his head was. I said, "All right, Ho, slowly open the door, don't scare him." And I got a bead on his skull right there & I pulled the trigger before he had a chance to make a move, & he just plopped right there! You've got to be as wise as a serpent if you want to get a serpent!

27. I'm not averse to shooting guns! I made top shot in my company in the Army to where the Lieutenant begged me to come back to the Army after I was sick. He said, "We need you in North Africa, we've got to fight Rommel!" I said, "Baloney, I'm not in your Army any more, I'm in the Lord's Army & I'm not going to fight any other wars but His!" But I can do it if I have to. Maybe a good title for this is, "Be as Wise as Serpents!" Maybe that's a good next one in the series, "Time to Fight" & "Be as Wise as Serpents!" First [move], & then if you're caught‚ turn & fight! Praise God? Hallelujah! TYL! Amen, Lord! TYJ! Praise the Lord!

28. Thank You Lord for the wisdom You give us & these wonderful ... I guess they're visions, Lord, You give us when we're wide–awake & not asleep. You show us pictures like that just as clear as I'm sitting here & as clear as these people are, Lord. Right off here in these bushes, seeing that serpent, how he runs & he hides when he sees me coming, his enemy, but then if we find him, he turns & he fights.

29. So Lord help us, in Jesus' name! Help us to find some good teeth to fight with, some good lawyers‚ & be ready to use them! The snake has always got his weapons there in his head, it's part of his wisdom, with his poison sacs full, ready to shoot if he needs them‚ but he doesn't use them unless he has to. Only then‚ after running & hiding has not done the work‚ then he has to turn & fight & sink'm in to somebody to keep himself from getting hit!

30. So Lord help us to be as wise as serpents!—As harmless as doves‚ Lord, while we're flying …, that's fine, & as harmless as a serpent …, but as wise as a serpent when we're caught, to turn & fight & have our teeth ready, whatever it takes‚ whether it's a lawyer or a [legal weapon], in Jesus' name! Amen.

LESSONS FROM A KIDNAP MOVIE!

31. It reminds me of a movie Mama & I saw once about this woman whose little boy was kidnapped right on the street in broad daylight by someone who came up & squeezed mace right into her eyes until she was blinded, & grabbed the kid & got away! It turned out they were part of a big kidnap ring which was kidnapping kids & selling them to would-be parents for $25,000 apiece! I've heard they've been sold for more than that sometimes. Because it takes years to adopt a child, to prove you're fit parents, you have enough money, you're psychologically capable & all that stuff. It's so ridiculous! No wonder they never get adoptions. I think these orphanages & homes that take care of them really don't want them adopted. After all, if they had them all adopted, they'd be out of business, so they stall & stall & stall! And it takes years & money & a lot of trouble even to adopt them legally!

32. So this kidnap ring was kidnapping kids. People would put in their order of what kind of kid they wanted, when they finally gave up trying to adopt one. The way the potential parents worked, they went to a supposedly respectable, reputable adoption agent with a lawyer to whom, after he didn't give them much hope of adopting, they said, "What can we do? Can't we do something? They advertise in the paper all the time that if you pay them enough they'll find you a child, you can virtually buy them." He said, "Oh no, I'm not in that sort of thing, you get out of here quick right now, I won't have anything to do with that sort of thing!" But he obviously had his secretary already primed to chase them down the hall & catch them before they left & say, "Give me your name & address & phone number & I think I might be able to do something for you."

33. We might learn some lessons from this, & the picture that came to me is how she finally did it. She finally‚ almost by a miracle‚ in fact it was by a psychic that she found where her son was being held! Then she went in, of all the stupid things, with nothing but this girl newspaper reporter.

34. She should have called the law right then & had the place surrounded! Instead of that she goes in & tries to find the baby herself, this distraught mother, not thinking of the danger & all. And of course they run into the kidnappers just as they were about to take off to take this child to an older couple who were waiting at the airport to fly off with it to Madrid after paying their $25,000!

35. But the two girls ran into this strong-arm guy, the kidnapper‚ & this lady doctor who was giving the kid shots to keep it sedated‚ so she could carry it like it was asleep on her shoulder. The woman doctor ran off with the child‚ but they ran into the strong-arm accomplice‚ & of course they could have found the evidence & everything there.

36. So he shoves the girl reporter down the elevator shaft‚ & she's killed! But the mother runs—by this time she had enough sense to run from the guy—she runs down there to see if her friend is okay, if she's still alive, & she finds her dead, but she slips the gun out of her friend's purse & goes back after the bozo & shoots him!

37. But first she finds out from him before she shoots him, where the doctor's gone & what the plane is that's going to have this couple on it with her child, & she rushes to the airport in a big chase trying to get there & with all the usual suspense!—I usually push the fast button to go through it to save time, because you know what's going to happen, they're going to have a big long chase & blah blah blah!

38. So she gets to the airport & she rushes up, of all things, to the check-in clerk, the counter, & yells "Stop this plane, they're kidnapping my little boy, stop the plane!" And they said‚ "Madame, we can't do that, we can't stop the plane without an order from the top!"

39. Finally she gets so frustrated that these people are getting in the way, they're calling the flight already, that she pulls out the gun! And she says, "Well, you bring somebody here who can stop the plane!" And all the crowd is screaming & beginning to fall back & scared!

40. So this girl clerk picks up the phone & phones for the manager of the airport & he comes down & the mother points the gun at him then & she says, "You stop that plane, they've kidnapped my little boy & they've got him on this plane, you stop it!" He said, "Now lady, you've got no proof, we don't know who you are, nothing! We can't stop the plane just on your word, we don't know who you are, maybe you're crazy or something!"

41. Well, she was smart enough to whip out yesterday's newspaper that had her picture on the front page as big as life & all about how her little boy got kidnapped‚ & he looked at that & he began to see that maybe she had a justifiable cause! He said‚ "All right!" He told the desk clerk to phone up & stop the plane. And they called the plane & they stopped it as she kept the gun on this guy.

42. He said, "All right now‚ lady, give me the gun!" She said, "Not till I find my little boy! You just march right ahead of me to that plane & let's find my boy first, then you can have the gun." It took that! She was as wise as a serpent! She never would have gotten the boy otherwise because the plane was loaded & everything.

43. But she got there‚ he'd stopped the plane & the people were still waiting there with her little boy! So as she got to the gate, she said‚ "Okay, thanks‚" & then handed him the gun, & then rushed through the gate. But two cops, the guards grabbed her, & said, "No lady, you can't go in there!" They didn't know yet what the score was.—And just then this doctor woman, who looked old & respectable & who had been kidnapping the kid, rushed up & told the officers‚ "Excuse me, sirs, but this is a patient of mine, she escaped from our custody at our institution, & she's just crazy!", etc. & she was about to take the mother away & get her.

44. But the mother tore loose from the guards & got in anyway & found her little boy in the arms of this older couple! And when she had the boy, there was the proof right there!—So the airport manager told the guards to chase the lady doctor & nab her instead!

45. But it took a gun in the mother's hand to threaten them to persuade them until she had the proof! I'd say that was wise as a serpent! I'd say that was wise as a serpent when she found that gun in her dead friend's handbag, because that guy would have killed her too! But when he threatened her & he started to grab her gun‚ she shot him! Then she chased after the lady doctor who had the boy. And then she threatened the airport & everybody with the same gun until she got her way & found her boy & had the proof in her arms & they nabbed the kidnappers!

46. You may not always have to go at it that dramatically, we hope, but nevertheless she was just a poor little helpless woman & she wasn't getting much done & the police said they couldn't do anything & blah blah blah, everybody was giving her the big stall, except this psychic who led her to the location. He didn't know exactly the building or anything, but he said, "I feel strongly he's here somewhere." But the police wouldn't do anything about it when she told them at that time. They said, "We can't just go on somebody's hunch & go in & search the property, we've got to get a search warrant & all kinds of stuff, blah blah!"

47. So in an extreme case like that, you might just have to take the law into your own hands & be as wise as a serpent & defend yourself! Now I hope as a result of this talk we don't start having a series of [incidents], etc., in the Family, or we'll probably be in even more trouble!—Ha! That's a last resort. That's the last resort, & that's where that Scripture that Jesus Himself said comes in, "The good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep!" How can you lay down your life for your sheep?—Get killed, & die! How could you get killed defending your sheep? Huh? (Fam: Fighting.) Fighting, how? With a nice little peaceful prayer in front of your enemies, "Lord, please..."

48. There's only one thing the Devil's crowd understands, & that is force …, that's all they understand! And when it comes to dealing with them, if you can't do it peacefully some other way, legally, by law, by lawyer & all the rest, when it comes to the last analysis & you have to fight until your death for those sheep, that's what God expects you to do!—If you're forced to it, to fight to the death for those sheep! And that means using some kind of [force], or else why else would they kill you?—Because they have to, to stop you!

49. So the Lord obviously condones fighting for them, even if you have to [smite] your enemies to stop them! Let's hope we don't. Let's hope we have enough sense first of all to [move] so we won't have any confrontation. But then if they catch up with us, to have enough sense at least to call a lawyer‚ call on the dogs to fight'm so you don't have to! But if it does come to that, any good sensible snake as wise as a serpent will turn on them & fight & bite if they have to! "The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep!"

50. If that mother hadn't taken that gun to those airport officials, she never would have gotten her boy & he'd have been gone to Spain! But she was desperate, as a frantic mother‚ a good shepherdess‚ determined to save her sheep! So as a last resort she pulled out that gun & threatened them!—And let me tell you, she got what she wanted then, & she finally got her sheep, & she was justified, when they saw that she was right!

51. But you might have to go to some lengths to prove to the authorities that you're right! So whatever you do, you need to be as wise as a serpent. First of all [move], but if that doesn't do it‚ turn & fight & bite if you have to—preferably with a lawyer!

BE PREPARED!

52. Amen, Lord, thank You Jesus for giving us this time & giving us this picture & giving us these points that we need to put into effect, that the Family needs to be prepared for fights from now on‚ because the Enemy is going to go on a rampage of attacks from now on, of which this is just the first, not even the first, but a beginning of a series of attacks to try to rip off our children‚ Thy children, Lord!

53. So help us to be prepared for it, & be prepared if we have to, if we can't [move], to be able to fight it legally first, to know a lawyer, a sympathetic lawyer who's willing to fight for us, in Jesus' name. Or if it comes to that‚ Lord, to have to turn & fight & bite, in Jesus' name, Amen! PTL! GBY!

54. I know when we go into counsel together with the Lord & prayer, the Lord always gives us what He wants & what we need to know. So do you think we know any more now than we did before we entered this room? I believe we do! The Lord really showed us a few things! So now's the time to obey'm!—Will you?