Saint of Serpents animated short opera by Terrance Lindall

In the YouTube description of this piece, Terrance Lindall writes: 

"God thus created all, a purpose to fulfill. Thus I painted the Saint of Serpents that many feel is my best work. Herein I animated the painting and wrote music for it…in honor of the Serpent!"

 

Saint of serpents, let your spirit soar, 

Above the clouds, where the Truth is more. 

With every challenge, your power grows,

Restore the balance, and let your light glow. 

 

[Chorus] 

Saint of serpents, rise to the call, 

With every step, your journey enthrall. 

Conquer the darkness, with a righteous will, 

Restore balance, and let the truth fill. 

 

[Outro]

Yea, God createth thou, 

And gifts thee with serpents guile. 

Thus I sing to thee, and offer up my smile. 

You have a purpose then, 

To giveth man his choice, 

To be good or ill, 

And ever be erstwhile. 

Yes, Yes

  

This suggests to me an idiosyncratic rendering of the "Fortunate Fall" thesis.  That is, in order to experience God's grace, the human race must fall, and the idea is not without interest, indeed we see threads of this in Martin Luther ("sin boldly") and John Bunyan ("Great sin doth draw out great Grace").  The more sin we have or commit, the more God has to work with.  Meanwhile, I do reserve the right to NOT read anything heroic into the serpent, or any thing that might be in it. Any progress that emerges from the apparatus of the Fall is due to Grace, Faith and Reason (and knowledge and experience), and not to some naughty worm.  That said, I am open to discussing such matters at length, particularly when discussing Milton.

 

In a missive concerning this piece, Terrance Lindall remarks:

 

"Everything is an aspect of God's Mind, even the serpent!"