One Man's Blood Is the Best Anti-venom for Snakes
The latest research (published on May 2, 2025, in the journal Cell Press) is showing great promise in the fight against the deadly effects of snake bites:
Scientists have developed what they believe is the most widely effective antivenom ever — and the secret ingredient came from one man’s blood.
In the course of their research, the team found a man, Tim Friede, who had been bitten hundreds of times by 16 species of deadly snakes — the poison lethal enough to kill a horse, according to the scientists — over an 18-year period.
It turns out Friede was intentionally subjecting himself to the snake bites (over 200 of them!) and venom (over 700 doses!) in order to self-immunize against the deadly effects. He would start with very small doses, so as not to produce a fatal response, then gradually increase the exposure so his body could adjust to the poison over time. The result was a sort of "hyper-immunity" which makes him virtually impervious to a wide range of venomous toxins.
Now, rich in anti-venom antibodies, components from his blood are being developed into a very broad based antitode to combat the toxic effects of snake bites in others who have been bitten.
Don't bellieve it? Here's a link to his YouTube channel with plently of "sssssss"cary videos.
This might be a reasonable and, frankly, successful approach when it comes to literal snake venom, but the principle hardly carries over to the spiritual realm where we have been told that our most sinister enemy is "that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" (Revelation 12:9, NIV).
From the moment of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, we've had a snake, errrrr a sin problem. But with the sin came the promise:
"And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he [Jesus] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15, NIV).
And that promise came through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22, NIV).
Some erroneously think that they can withstand the toxitcity of a life lived in sin and rebellion, engaging in ever increasing exposure to the trappings of this world and all its influence. But in the spiritual realm, you never "adjust to the poison," and the continued exposure doesn't produce "hyper-immunity" ... it only produces death!
Indeed, though, there is ONE MAN who can provide the "hyper-immunity" required to both resist and triumph over the toxic influence of that great serpent, Satan. But that man is NOT Tim Friede; that Man is the Lord Jesus Christ!
Cochineal Beetles: Painting the Town Red
Among the ancient Aztecs, red dye was collected as a yearly religious tribute. Acquiring this bright colorant required hundreds of subjects to comb the desert in search of its source-the tiny female cochineal beetle. Making just a pound of this rare extract required the harvesting of about 70,000 of these insects!
After the arrival of Cortez in the1500s, Spaniards traded for the dried remains of the cochineal beetle, whose red dye created a brilliant color that no one could duplicate by any other source. Soon after, Europeans used it for coloring fabrics. In the years that followed, Michelangelo used it in paintings and the British and Canadians for their red coats.
Today, less expensive synthetic dyes have mostly replaced this insect dye, but it is still used as a natural FDA-approved coloring for food, drugs, and cosmetics. Strange as it may sound, some brands of fruit juice use this beetle as colorant. It's also fascinating to note that Spanish traders never told the Europeans of the dyes origin. And because the little beetles looked so much like seeds, they were traded as grain.
While the dye from this little beetle is used in myriad applications, just be sure that you only let it come in contact with that which you desired dyed a deep crimson red, because there's not much hope that you'll ever get the stain out should you inadvertently spill or apply it!
That said, did you know that the Bible teaches you CAN wash red stains ... with blood no less! ... and get pure white? "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, shall be as wool'" (saiah 1: 18).
"These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14).
Enter the Poison Garden
Have you ever heard of the Poison Garden?
The Alnwick Garden [located in Alnwick, UK] plays host to the small but deadly Poison Garden—filled exclusively with around 100 toxic, intoxicating, and narcotic plants. The boundaries of the Poison Garden are kept behind black iron gates, only open on guided tours.
Visitors are strictly prohibited from smelling, touching, or tasting any plants.
Entry to The Poison Garden is included with your day ticket but please note tours are subject to availability.
Wait, what?! A garden filled with nothing but poisonous plants?!
A combination of dark, ivy-covered tunnels and flame-shaped beds creates an educational garden full of interest and intrigue, where the most dangerous plants are kept within giant cages. ... The Poison Garden is home to around 100 species of dangerous, toxic and harmful plants, each of which has the potential to severely injure you! These are some of the most dangerous to look (but not touch) out for on your tour:
Laburnum
Atropa Belladonna
Helleborus Odorus
Monkshood
Ricinus communis
Giant Hogweed
Opium Poppy
Gympie- Gympie
… and hundreds more!
Aparently, though quite deadly, these poisonous plants can be quite beautiful and alluring ...
This world is a veritable poison garden filled with all manner of temptations and worldly pursuits that can quite literally kill us!
God calls us to wander through this Poison Garden circumspectly, careful to not "touch" the poison all around us.
Long story short, enter the Poison Garden careful to obey all the warning signs!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23, ESV).
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—" (Romans 5:12, ESV).
"Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death" (James 1:15, ESV).
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17, ESV).