The Sword and the Serpent by L. Vere Elliott
In this Vision/Revelation, I was in the midst of a great meeting hall (a church), and the walls and ceilings were covered with jewels and ornaments, and the windows were made of colored glass (a typical cathedral or church). The hall was full of people, some rich, some poor, some sick and crippled, mute and blind; but all had chains on and were hand-cuffed, and no one was free, (a picture of today’s church, they are in church but they are not free).
In front of the meeting hall was a large platform, with a pulpit on one side and a large cage on the other, with a huge green serpent in it; and hanging over where the speaker would stand, was a great sword suspended by two strings horizontally; and on the platform were several ministers, 8 or 10, clothed in clerical robes, sitting one behind the other, one seated just a little above the other. The assembly looked upon these men and they looked upon the church. There was silence for a while, until a thundering voice sounded from the pulpit, as if it came directly from God, saying, “Who will declare the whole counsel of God?”