That old serpent, the cunning one, has made off with my child.
Will he take her down to hell, or keep her just a while?
She loved our God and learned His ways, His bright and shining star,
The snake he wrapped his coils around her, and dragged her off afar.
How could this happen? Was I not watching? How could I let her slip?
From my care, that child so fair, who’s now within his grip.
Oh Jesus, please, I beg of you, from the bottom of my heart,
You know just how to bring her back; I fear I’m not that smart.
The serpent’s a deceiver, he charms with wiley ways,
He knows not grace or mercy, and evil fills his days.
He bruised the heel of my sweet Savior, and that I won’t forgive,
The day my Lord will crush his head, is the day for which I live.
Deceiver, liar, robber of men’s eternal souls,
He conned Eve with an apple, and tempts men with mere gold.
An angel of the brightest beauty is exactly what he seems,
He promises the world to us, he claims to own our dreams.
He is the great accuser; he knows each fault and sin,
He won’t forget a mistake you’ve made, but claims to be your friend.
Resist him with your prayers; resist him with God’s Word.
Don’t listen to him for a second or wrath you will incur.
Misery and torment is his only stock and trade,
The father of all lies, it’s all one big charade.
He lures both young and old, the wealthy and the poor,
Be alert and self-controlled, he’ll be knocking at your door.
And when he comes a-knocking, please don’t let him in,
For if you do, he’ll make your home, his dark and evil den.
And if he claims he owns your soul, “you never will be free,”
There is one thing he can’t resist, one great and final plea.
It is the blood of Jesus, against he has no power,
It is the fount of crimson which causes him to cower.
In the name of Jesus I pray you let her loose,
And that she’d find her way back home and Jesus she would choose.
Tertius
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil,
or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.
Revelation 12:9
A note about “The Grand Illusionist”: One of the children in my Sunday School class, who seemed to have a grasp on spiritual things that many adults lacked, stopped coming to Sunday School rather suddenly and I felt as though Satan himself had his hand in this. This rhyme was my prayer for her; I still pray for her every day, until his grip is broken.