Episode 887: I send you forth as sheep

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves [Matthew 10:16].
Having spoken about the local situation, Christ gives these men certain great principles to go as His witnesses. These principles are good for time and eternity, and they certainly are good for our day. The child of God should be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. It is dangerous to be one and not the other.
I have met some who are wise as serpents-they are clever as well -but they are not harmless as doves. To use a common expression, they will take you. I know others who are quite gullible; they are harmless as doves, but they are not wise as serpents. A serpent is dangerous, and a dove is in danger, so that we need to combine both qualities.
But beware of men. For they will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. [Matthew 10:17].
I have never been scourged in a synagogue or a church, but I have been verbally scourged in some traditional catholic circles by both the religious and the laity. .
And you shall be brought before governors, and before kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles: [Matthew 10:18].
In that day this certainly happened to those who were His. Also, it has happened subsequently to many in the Church over the last 2000 years.
But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought how or what to speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what to speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. [Matthew 10:19-20].