The Ballestero Blog

The Rat Killing

I hate rats! My daughter, Marisa Hartzell hates them with an unstoppable and loud dislike. She may even hurt you if you don’t do something about getting rid of them. She saw her first one when she was a teenager.

Our neighbor in South Bend in the early 1990’s was sent to prison. He lived by himself in the small bungalow next door. His empty house soon became a home for vermin and God only knows what else. We recommended him to clean it, there are contractors that can help you with that learn more here.

The house got so bad after a few years that the city sent a bulldozer out and leveled it to the ground. Although I was relieved that the eyesore was gone, I was not prepared for what happened next.

The empty house had been a home for rats and when it was bulldozed they looked for a new home. My house was next door. The rats climbed the concrete steps and came up on my concrete porch by the back door (something similar described at https://www.369bugs.com/blog/2017/08/27/las-vegas-roof-rats-return/, I believe). They ate through the exterior wall, into the insulation and then ate through the plywood. By doing so, they gained access to the sub-flooring area of my home. Now they were inside and we didn’t know it until it was too late.

They could be heard running, climbing and sometimes squealing. They brought with them an unmistakable odor. We had to use this odor eliminating product just to survive. They made messes and left droppings everywhere they went. We were beside ourselves with panic. The Exterminator was called. We needed help getting rid of the problem. We didn’t even care what it cost, JUST GET THEM RATS OUT OF OUR HOUSE!

They won’t just go away. They have to be dealt with. They can live most anywhere, and eat almost anything. They spread disease, do serious damage to your home and may even bite.

Here’s Four Facts About Rats…

• One pair of rats can produce a colony of 2,000 rats in a year
• Brown rats must constantly gnaw to wear down their teeth, which never stop growing
• A rat can last longer without water than a camel
• A half-grown rat can squeeze through a gap the size of a man’s fingertip

They also chew through home furnishings and insulation – and seven per cent of all household fires are caused by rodent damage to electrical cables.

Experts say a pair of rats can shed one million hairs each year and a single rat can leave 25,000 droppings in that time.

Offspring are born about 22 days after mating and females can have as many as six litters per year, each averaging six to 14 young. The average life span of a rodent is 18 months in the wild.

You have got a problem if you notice droppings, scratching noises, damage to furnishings and signs of nesting such as shredded cardboard.

They have to be dealt with!

Even old timers knew that once in a while things had to be dealt with. There has to be a ‘rat killing’ on almost every farm.

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Scriptures like these attract my attention. They seem to be warning the body of Christ about things that can creep into the church.

• Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 2Tim. 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
• 1Tim. 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
• Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
• Acts 20:30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
• Acts 20:31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

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Today, like in Bible days, there are rats of false doctrine and doctrines of devils. There are rats of seducing spirits, philosophy and vain deceit. The church has always needed a good ‘rat killing’ every now and then.

The first one I read about was the Apostle John’s.  I love John Phillips’ description of the setting, in his ‘Preface’ of the Gospel of John Commentary.

“His brother James was dead. Peter, the leading apostle to the Jews, was dead. Paul, the intrepid apostle to the gentile world, was dead. Thomas, Andrew, Philip, Nathanael, all the apostles, were dead – all except one. There in Ephesus lived a lonely old man, the first and the last of the apostles, the great apostle to the church. His name was John.”

As the last surviving apostle, John could not go to his grave without dealing with the false doctrine that had crept into the church.

Read about his killing the rats of heresy and false doctrine in his epistle.

1 John:

1. 1:5 THIS then IS the Message
2. 2:25 THIS IS the Promise
3. 3:23 THIS IS His Commandment
4. 4:3 THIS IS the spirit of the Anti-Christ
5. 5:3 THIS IS the Love of God
6. 5:4 THIS IS the Victory
7. 5:9 THIS IS the Witness
8. 5:11 THIS IS the Record
9. 5:14 THIS IS the Confidence
10. 5:20 THIS IS the True God

The dearest of the Apostle was writing to correct error that had gnawed it’s way into the early church. It was as if he screamed at them! THIS IS the Message!

How do you fight error? How do you eradicate false doctrine? Simple! Preach Doctrine. Preach the Oneness of God. Preach the essentiality of New Birth. Repentance, Baptism in Jesus Name, the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking with tongues. Preach separation for the world. Preach holiness. Preach church government.

If you let the rats have the run of your church house. It won’t be long before you’ll hear the:

• ‘Emergent Church’ rats,
• ‘Relevant Church’ rats,
• ‘Branhamite’ rats,
• ‘Seventh Day’ rats,
• ‘Two God’ rats,
• ‘Charismatic’ rats,
• ‘No Tithes’ rats,
• ‘Church in my own home’ rats,
• ‘Once Saved Always Saved’ rats,
• ‘No Pastor’ rats,
• ‘Trinitarian’ rats,
• ‘Adam Doctrine’ rats,
• ‘Serpent Seed’ rats,
• ‘Divine Flesh’ rats,
• ‘Teeth Filling’ rats,
• ‘Preterist’ rats,

The list seems endless and so do the rats. They won’t go away. What we need, is to hear some Doctrine preached. The Pentecostals of today seem to mainly hear messages about:

• Blessing and prosperity,
• Faith,
• Winning souls

That’s wonderful! Don’t stop preaching that. But, dear hearts! There’s More! ‘Preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season.’

We need a Rat Killing! Once you seen and heard the rats, smelled their stink, cleaned up their mess, I hope your distaste for them equals my daughter Marisa’s distaste. I hope you recoil like she does, I hope you get passionate like she does, I hope you want them out of you world like she did. We need some more voices raised. We need saints that are tired of the stink, the mess and the reproach.

• We have The Only Message!
• We know The Only Message!
• We need to Preach the Message!

Preacher, ‘Preach the Word,’ ‘Don’t be afraid of their faces.’ Be afraid of God’s face if you don’t!

Pentecost needs a old-time Rat Killing.