Shaking The Snake
by R.E. Strange - April 10, 2001
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An Observation: I desire to tell these true stores of miracles in the lives of myself and my other family members that your faith and courage may be strengthened to believe God for a small miracle or a notable miracle that you may need... There is nothing too hard for our God to do... There are no small or big miracles for God... He can raise the dead as easily as healing a headache... He stands ready, yea, anxious to show Himself mighty in your own life with His great, wonderful power.
Matthew 10:1, “And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.”
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Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
..No doubt that the most sainted persons that I have ever known was my dear grandmother Mattie Strange. Born shortly after the close of the civil war she died a goodly old age in 1955... She received the baptism of the Holy Ghost during the early part of the 20th century coming from what known as the “shouting Methodist.”..
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She was a woman of great faith, born and raised in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana...Her face shown always with the Holy Ghost love light emanating deep from within her heart... She was given to continual prayer... I had great confidence in her prayers... As a child with my little maladies, I knew that if I could get grandmother to pray for me, I would be all right.
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I am personally aware that she stayed on her knees in prayer almost all the time... It was upon her knees that the Lord saw fit to call her home unto himself... She died in prayer asking the Lord to heal one of her grandchildren... ..
At the funeral the undertaker called all of her children around her casket... He said, “I want to show you something that I have never seen in all the many years that I have been in this business.”.. With that, he pulled up grandmother’s burial gown to her knees... Her children gasped as the sight of her knees... There were very large hard and thick calluses on both knees...Though it was quite a site to behold, yet none of us were surprised as we knew that grandmother spent most of her time there communing with her God...
Once while gathering eggs, a very large Moccasin snake struck her arm wounding her flesh quite severely...She jerked back so hard that it tore her arm and caused the snake to fasten to her...
Grandmother shook the very large snake loose from her arm and went inside...In those days there was neither a phone or 911... Grandmother knew something that we all need to know... She got on the royal telephone to glory... She went inside her house and wrapped up her wounded, bleeding arm... Then she went to her knees and consulted with the great physician that she knew personally who had promised to watch over her and all them that will trust Him and commit their way to Him...
Grandmother never swelled...She never got sick... She never saw a doctor... Soon the fleshly wound healed just fine...
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What a wonderful God is this!..
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”.. Dear friend, there is not one single thing that he will not do for you if you will put your faith in him and depend on His Word... As you read these account of miracles, let your faith rise up higher and see that you too can grasp a hope in God... He will never fail you...
My Dad was not afraid of a snake as long as he could see him and there was plenty of distance between them... It would be unthinkable however for him to pick one up... Yet this is exactly what he did as a young preacher...No, he was not a part of the snake handling group, though he did handle this one...
Dad was deep in prayer in the woods when he became aware that the log that he was using for an altar had a big snake in it... Since the snake in the position that it was in could not escape, it began threatening my Dad with his rattle coiled and ready to strike. My Dad said that he was not afraid and scarcely had any concern for his own personal safety. Without getting off his knees he simply reached over, got the snake and flung him away as far as he could...Dad kept praying, not missing a beat...
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Later reflecting back on the incident, Dad was greatly amazed at the peace and serenity that was upon him dispelling any cause for alarm...He could scarcely believe what he had done... He knew that his God had given him that peace in face of danger and had also given him power over that serpent. ..
My mother had received the Holy Ghost during a revival that a brother McManus had conducted in the early 1930’s at the “Head of the Creek Pentecostal Church”, now known as Berry’s Creek Pentecostal Church.
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Brother McManus had been preaching about the power of God and the beautiful baptism of the Holy Ghost...He challenged the people to believe God for themselves... It was then that some unbelieving men from the community came in with a huge Cottonmouth Moccasin snake in a box...
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They interrupted the preaching and challenged brother McManus... “If you believe what you are preaching, then pick up this snake...Otherwise, you do not believe your own Bible and what you are preaching is false by which you are only fooling these people. ..
Brother McManus said, “I don’t pick up snakes unless God tells me to and so far he has not told me to do so...I will pray, if you will be patient, and see what the Lord tells me to do.”..
Brother McManus, turned to the wall on the platform on his knees...He prayed, “Now Lord you know that I am deathly afraid of these kind of old bad snakes, but these people have come in here challenging you and your power... Nevertheless, I will pick this big old bad snake up if you tell me to do so, but not unless you do.”..
Brother McManus had a great number of children, but he had one young daughter that had died not long before this time... While he was thus praying, this daughter came before him in a vision... She said, “Pappa, I have come from the presence of the Lord to tell you that Jesus would have you to pick up the snake...Jesus is with you and no harm will come to you...Do not be afraid.”..
Brother McManus arose from where he had been praying and turned toward the snake...Not being an experience snake handler who would hold the snake just below the head, he instead picked the long snake up half way down his body... The power of God came upon brother McManus in a great way as he walked up and down the isles of that brush arbor (if I remember correctly) preaching that God will confirm His Word with signs following...He almost shook that snake to death while the Holy Ghost witnessed to the people that his power is just as real today as it ever was... The presence of the Lord was there in a mighty way...
After he was done, brother McManus put the snake back in the box... The snake then went into a rage almost destroying the box before some of the men of the church could get him outside where they killed him...
What about those men that brought the snake?After the glory of the Lord lifted somewhat, the church noticed that sinners were in the altar seeking God, those mean hardened men were there also, crying out for mercy and pardon of their sins... They truly had witnessed the glory and power of God to confirm His Word and ready to meet any challenge.
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