Red Touch Yellow, Kill A Fellow

     I don’t like it when snakes invade my “Friendly Shade.”  When that happens, one of us must go and, I have to admit, it is usually me.  In order to protect myself  and to know my enemy I must take the advice which is given to me. 
     When I was growing up I was told that a snake with a triangular head was poisonous.  My only problem is the fact that I am not around, after I see one, long enough to determine the shape of the head.  I was also told that the coral snake and the scarlet snake are often mistaken for each other; one is poisonous and one is not.  The way to remember whether it is poisonous or not is this standard rule or rhyme, “Red touch yellow, kill a fellow  - Red touch black, venom lack.”  Again, who can even remember this quote when they are eyeball to eyeball with such a ground crawling demon?
     Yet, it is up to us to know our enemy.  We are told so many times in scripture to chose who we will associate with.  There are angels all around us who are send from God.  It may come in the form of a friend, a casual acquaintance, a parent, brother or sister.  They may give us encouragement at just the right moment.  However, there are also those we come in contact with daily who are all too ready to lead us astray, away from the God who created us, away from the guidance of our parents, and away from the friends who love us.  
     How do we know our enemy?  I believe that knowledge comes from knowing God, His Word, and having a close walk with Him.  Since God lives within every Christian there is a built in feeling; there is either a complete peace or a feeling that something is not right.   
     We will meet people who are smooth talking and charming, but if we will watch their ways and listen to their actions rather than their words, we will soon learn their ways.  There are examples in the scripture regarding who we should allow to be our friends.  Proverbs 22:24-25 is one, “Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” 
     The more we love the world rather than God, the easier we will be deceived by our enemies and the more accepting we will become of the ways of the world.        

     Satan has his own followers; they will attack in our weakest moments.  If we allow ourselves to be caught up in loving the world more than God, we may find that “at the last it biteth like a serpent but stingeth like an adder.”  God tells us in 2 Timothy that in the last days men will become  lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God."

     I wish I could recognize all my enemies by applying the rule, “Red touch yellow, kill a fellow - Red touch black, venom lack!”  However, the enemy comes in many different forms.  There was only One that walked the earth who was "whiter than snow."  I pray that I will always follow His example and will not become my own worst enemy by allowing the enemy to creep into my "Friendly Shade."