{"id":69352,"date":"2024-08-17T14:15:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-17T19:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=69352"},"modified":"2024-08-17T14:15:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-17T19:15:10","slug":"tampering-with-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/tampering-with-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampering with Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Jefferson David Tant<\/p>\n

The story is told of a man in Rockwood, Tennessee, many years ago. Wilkie was a bricklayer, and one day, he caught a black snake and tamed it so that it would coil about his neck as he walked up and down the streets of his town. He then became bolder and caught a rattlesnake and tamed it. He would stand on the streets with the venomous snake curled around his neck as the passersby shuddered in amazement.<\/p>\n

\"\"One day, while showing off the snake, it coiled itself around his neck. This was not what he intended at the moment, so he took his hand to unwind the snake. The snake became angry and coiled tighter around his neck, then lifted his head and bit him, thus injecting its poison into Wilkie’s veins. The spectators were horrified as he yanked the snake from his neck and tossed it to the ground. But it was too late. The venom of death had been planted in his veins. He was carried home and died an agonizing death.<\/p>\n

What a picture of the man or woman who tampers with sin! Too often, the youth thinks, “I’ll just enjoy sin for a season, and then I’ll get my life right when I get older.” Unfortunately, I have known too many who thought this way. There are two serious problems with this way of thinking.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The young sometimes die too soon. Sadly, I have known teenagers whose lives were cut short in automobile accidents who were not prepared to die. And disease does not discriminate with respect to age.<\/li>\n
  2. The other problem is that I have known those who indulged in the things of this world while young and were never able to “kick the habit” when they got older. Sin had sunk its fangs so deeply within them that they could never change. This does not mean it would have been impossible to change, for with God’s help, all things are possible, but it does require much effort on the part of the one mired in sin, and some don’t have the willpower to overcome it. Paul wrote, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ<\/em>” (I Corinthians 15:56-57).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Question:<\/strong> If you were on a thrill-seeking sky-diving adventure and were presented with a parachute that had a warning label on it that said, “Caution, 10% of parachutes are not packed right, and may not open,” what would your response be? I don’t know many, if any, who would take the risk and jump using that parachute.<\/p>\n

    The wise Solomon gave some noteworthy teaching in Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no delight in them.’<\/em>“<\/p>\n

    The moral of the story?<\/strong> Don’t let Satan sink the fangs of death into you. “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you<\/em>” (James 4:7).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Jefferson David Tant The story is told of a man in Rockwood, Tennessee, many years ago. Wilkie was a bricklayer, and one day, he caught a black snake and tamed it so that it would coil about his neck as he walked up and down the streets of his town. He then became bolder…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[179,185],"class_list":["post-69352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-sin","tag-temptation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36950,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-magicians-know-in-advance-what-moses-planned-to-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":0},"title":"Did the magicians know in advance what Moses planned to do?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, I read the article above.\u00a0I wanted to know why the Egyptian magicians added to the problem of frogs rather than removed them.\u00a0You said they could not remove them, but have given no logical explanation why they could not.\u00a0In regard to the snakes you said and I quote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59732,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/reflections-on-the-daily-news-snake-handler-bitten-dies-without-antidote\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":1},"title":"Reflections on the Daily News: Snake Handler Bitten; Dies Without Antidote","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lewis Willis via Truth Magazine\u00a0XXI: 17, pp. 264-265, April 28, 1977 DELBARTON, W. VA. (AP) - The snake that bit Curbs Mounts during a church ceremony was a big one. It lest fang marks an inch apart. Mounts' arm swelled to twice its normal size, but he sought no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/03\/Snake-Handling-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/were-the-egyptian-magicians-able-to-do-real-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":2},"title":"Were the Egyptian magicians able to do real miracles?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to know if the Egyptian magicians did real miracles or did they appear to do so by the means of a tonic to immobilize the snakes? Also did the witch at Endor really summon Samuel or was it an illusion? Answer: It might seem that the Egyptian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59425,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/church-snake-handlers\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":3},"title":"Church Snake Handlers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I am sorry that a preacher died due to his misunderstanding of the promise of Jesus in Mark 16:15-20. But, the promise was to the apostles who had just been rebuked for \"their\" unbelief. The miracles that would \"follow\" those apostles who believed included the promise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Snake-300x213.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91031,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-ok-to-have-a-pet-snake\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":4},"title":"Is it OK to have a pet snake?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it OK to own a pet snake? Only because you like them as a pet, not because you worship them. I was wondering, since the devil is often depicted as a snake in the Bible, would it be considered bad luck to have one as a pet? Thank\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92756,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-one-go-to-hell-because-he-is-not-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":69352,"position":5},"title":"Will One Go to Hell Because He Is Not Baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Thomas Thornhill In studying with people about God's plan of salvation, the title question has been asked more than once. How would you answer the question? My answer has always been \"No!\" Are you surprised? You may be thinking, \"Doesn't one have to be baptized to be saved?\" \"Yes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}