Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  I Peter 5:8

 

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16

 

Our Lord Jesus Christ sends us forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Pretty dangerous.  He counsels us that we need to be as wise as serpents.  Apparently, serpents are among the wisest, if not apparently the wisest of all animals.  Even satan used a serpent when he went about to deceive Eve which caused Adam to sin.  Let this be an object lesson to us all.

 

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  Genesis 3:1-5

 

Eve was deceived by flattery, "ye shall be as gods", and false witness, "ye shall not surely die".

 

Yet we Doves need to also be as wise as serpents and see through flattery and false witnesses.  It takes the cunning of a snake to see through the cunning of our enemy, that serpent, satan.  Or as the saying goes, "it takes a thief to catch a thief".  Even though we are not "thieves", we must think like one if we hope to catch one. 

 

I know of a fellow end-times book writer who received a very flattering letter regarding his book.  In fact it was so flattering there should have been "red lights" going off.  Let me explain.  It took me several weeks to read Shelby Corbitt's book, "2007".  Granted, I did it during my spare time.  Still, who spends all their spare time reading books?  I was actually impressed enough with the book though to read the second half twice, (I had started reading the book around half of the way through).  Quite impressive.  I don't normally read even a chapter of a book, twice.

 

Now imagine someone so impressed with a book you wrote to have read it twice, all the way through?  Must have really enjoyed your book.  Can you imagine someone even more impressed with your book that they read it three times?  Must have really, really enjoyed your book.  However, this flattering letter writer stated that he had read his book through not just twice, not just three times, not just even four times, but again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and more, in total, stating to have read it over twenty times, supposedly all in the period of a month and a half.

 

Reality check time.  We all have a weakness in this area passed down from Adam and Eve that we must constantly guard against, for the devil is a wily adversary.

 

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.  Proverbs 16:18

 

A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.  Proverbs 20:5

 

A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.  Proverbs 26:28

 

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.  Proverbs 20:19

 

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.  Psalms 5:9

 

The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:  Psalms 12:3