The Snares of the Serpent Leader

UV 3456/10000 The Snares of the Serpent Leader
Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar (bitumen) pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them. But the remainder (of the kings) who survived fled to the hill country.
Genesis 14 v 10

The Valley of Siddim was booby trapped with molten tar pits in which the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell and were trapped. The serpent leader uses a variety of snares to trap the faithful and people at large. The Servant Leader rescues us while the serpent leader ensnares and tries to trap us. The serpent leader these days does not use tar pits but he often uses our own thoughts, desires and words to trap us. The Servant Leader in contrast went down into a pit , the cave of burial in order to rescue us and set us free from all manner of traps the enemy has planned and planted against us.

Whenever we sense a trap, we should flee not to the hills but to the Messiah, the Servant Leader whose only purpose in coming down from heaven to earth is to rescue us. Having been rescued by faith and grace, we should not return to the ways and wiles of the serpent leader. Even the negative words we speak can become the writing against us. The enemy of our souls attempts to base his accusations on the things we speak and do. He also uses other deadly snares like the traditional 3 Ws or wine, women (can also be men) and wealth. Fame and consequent pride is another trap he uses to draw us in.

Like Joseph fled from the temptress, we need to set up boundaries of behaviour and protection, an early enough warning system to keep us from falling the way many have done. Sometimes, we unwittingly allow ourselves like sheep being led to the slaughter when our guard is down. The time to be most careful is when our influence and impact has grown tremendously. The serpent leader aims to bring us down at this very juncture when we are least suspecting, when we and others around us think we are not prone or vulnerable but firm and strong.