The Rest of the Story – A Follow-up on “The AMA Serpent-Entwined Pole…”

Originally posted 7/6/2021 – Revised 2/11/2022

At the risk of being labeled a fanatic, do you believe what these verses say?

Mark 16:17-18

And these signs shall accompany the ones who believe: In My Name they shall cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly drink it shall by no means hurt them, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall get well.”

True fanaticism is demonstrated by those who profess to believe The Scriptures, but live in lawlessness (rejecting HIS Law);

As they (supposedly) cast out demons…but in reality, the demons are just acting like there was deliverance…

Speak out in an emotional gibberish (and call it “tongues”)

Handle snakes (in their faith rituals), as a supposed sign of their faith…

ARE NOT protected from deadly drink, as evidenced by their constant illnesses…

Are involved in phony healing crusades, that leave victims in the wake… Consider;

Mat 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens. Many shall say to Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works(miracles) in Your Name? And then I shall declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!”

Rev 13:11-15 And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he does great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from the heaven on the earth before men. And he leads astray those dwelling on the earth because of those signs which he was given to do before the beast, saying to those dwelling on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword, yet lived. And there was given to him to give spirit to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause to be killed as many as would not worship the image of the beast.”

Rev 16:13-14 “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as frogs, for they are spirits of demons, doing signs, which go out to the sovereigns of the entire world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of Yahweh the Almighty.”

Those truly empowered by The Master have this testimony;

Luke 10:17-20

And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Master, even the demons are subject to us in Your Name.” And He said to them, “I saw Satan falling out of the heaven as lightning. See, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and none at all shall hurt you. But do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names have been written in the heavens.

When Paul was bitten by a poison viper, here’s how he “handled” it; Acts 28:5 “Then, indeed, he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no evil.” Literally, Paul did what the phrase “take up serpents” in Mark 16:18 means; (“…to loose…put away, remove, take away”)

I searched for the phrase, “confirmed miracles and healings” and found very little to be excited about. It appears that those who did not believe The Word during HIS earthly ministry, are being paralleled in unbelief today.

Mat 13:58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

I also searched and found this site: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28186008/

At this site I found this;

“Recent studies of medical errors have estimated errors may account for as many as 251,000 deaths annually in the United States (U.S)., making medical errors the third leading cause of death. Error rates are significantly higher in the U.S. than in other developed countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom (U.K). At the same time less than 10 percent of medical errors are reported…”

Another site confirmed the above and gave more detailed information. Look at this!

https://etactics.com/blog/medical-error-statistics

From the site:

“Researchers used four separate studies from 2000 to 2008 and hospital admissions rates from 2013 to analyze this problem. Based on extrapolated data of 35,416,020 hospitalizations, medical errors cause 251,454 deaths per year. This translated to 9.5% of all deaths per year.”

Diagnostic mistakes lead to the death or injury of 40,000 to 80,000 patients annually. The misdiagnosis rate is 10% to 15%. These problems are a challenge regardless of medical specialty. Surgical errors are another common problem with at least 4,000 occurring each year in the US.

While medical devices advance and improve the health industry, they still aren’t perfect. There are over 5,000 kinds of medical devices used in healthcare, so mistakes are inevitable. Sometimes these devices end up getting recalled because of their risks. But unfortunately, the flaws aren’t always caught before it’s too late. Across all devices, the FDA reported more than 1.7 million injuries and around 83,000 deaths in the last ten years.

You’d think that you’ll be least likely to get sick at a medical facility. After all, it should be clean so patients can heal. But a health-associated infection (HAI) is one adverse effect that results from medical care. According to the CDC, one in 31 patients has an HAI on any given day.

In 2013, 99,000 people died from this effect. Thankfully this number dropped within a few years, but not by much. In 2015, there were still about 72,000 patients who died from HAIs during their hospital stay. But patients were 16% less likely to have one of these infections in 2015 versus 2011.

Patients who end up with an HAI after surgery spend an extra 6.5 days in the hospital on average. They’re also five times more likely to return after hospital discharge and twice as likely to die.

I write this article, not to blast healthcare and those who work in it. I write this article to challenge those who believe that it is the only choice. Doctors have a place. But should that be everyplace? Especially in the lives of professing “believers?” The choice is yours!