Featured Snake-Handlers...

I live just 35 miles from the snake-handling capital of the world, Jolo, West Virginia. Their church there is called "Church of the Lord Jesus".

Don't let that name fool ya! It's a CULT!

They base their belief on this Bible verse: And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mark 16:17-18)

They ignore God in saying in Deut. 6:16 & Matt. 4:7 to not dare the Lord your God to do or not do something.

However, in their church & what few others there are like it, often hedge their bets! They usually handle timber rattlers, which aren't all that aggressive, & have been well-fed & kept in a cool environment, which makes them lethargic & actually welcoming the warmth of hands upon them. Also, they almost rattle for some time before striking in defense. And, they're often found not too far away.

One doesn't see diamonbacks, copperheads, water moccasins, or other highly-aggressive venomous snakes in the USA in these churches, let alone species from other countries! But still a number of "worshippers" get bitten every year, with an occasional death. One will often see church members with missing fingers, etc. from past snake bites, which usually went untreated. They'll simply say, "I was bitten cuz my faith faltered".

This practice was started in the early 1900s by one George Hensley, a "Holiness" preacher who married 4 times & was often drunk. He died from a snakebite in 1955. A prominent "pastor", Gregory Coots, died from a rattlesnake bite in 2014.

Most of those churches are of some branch of pentecostals, holiness, or charismatix. (While I won't set foot in a pentecostal church, this not a blanket condemnation of that denom. There are a few actual Christians among them. I avoid them because of all their false, man-made doctrines of faith/worship.)

The practice is outlawed in all states except West Virginia, but the law isn't too-strictly enforced in Kentucky, Tennessee, & Florida, which each have a few small churches.

Don't be fooled! They're NOT some kinda "super-Christian"! There's no such thing! They're a man-made cult! It's NOT Christian behavior to deliberately do something one KNOWS is dangerous! That's DARING GOD! Would you deliberately play Russian Roulette? (Some of those people have occasionally deliberately drunk strychnine, for which there's no known antidote, and none of them have ever survived THAT !)

 

About 40 myears ago, there were some snake handlers working in the steel mill where I work. I hadn't been a Christian too long, but I knew better than to do THAT ! One of them criticized me for my stance against the KJVO myth, which I easily answered, so then, it was for not being a snake handler.

I was getting ready to open a furnace's taphole to pour molten steel into a ladle, & I challenged that gent to jump into that ladle as the steel poured into it. He said, "I'm not crazy!" I said, God protected the 3 Jews in Babylon who were thrown into a furnace, & He's well able to protect YOU!" He said, "YOU must be crazy!" But he never again questioned MY religious beliefs!

After about 6 months, he said, "I turned in a 2 weeks'notice. there are too many sinners here for me to have to work with!" I said, "Why don'tcha do what I & the other Christians do here - set a Godly example in living, & proclaim the Gospel to them?" He had no answer. I can only hope he eventually woke up & came to Jesus truly. (I've not seen any record of his death, from snakebite or otherwise.)

Again, I won't hesitate to ask any snake-handler I might encounter if he/she'd also play Russian Roulette, or jump from the 16th story of the West Virginia Building, reminding the person all along about Deut. 6:16 and Matt. 4:7.

 

I live just across the creek from WV, & I can tell you most of it is not that primitive. Not even the community of Jolo where the snake-handlers are centered is primitive nor crawling with snakes. It's just a small, isolated church, in the manner Muslim mosques are so-isolated in WV's larger cities.

 

Almost all those snakes are torpid when cool and especially after eating. That's why snake-handlers are known to hedge their bets by feeding the snakes a few hours before handling them & keeping them in a chilly place so they usually will welcome the warm hands of their fondlers. And, they'll use a snake's natural instinct to not waste venom on something it can't eat & is not seen as a threat.

We don't see those people handling always-aggressive species such as black mambas or Australian vipers, nor playing Russian Roulette or ingesting cyanide.

Timber rattlers are considered a "safe bet" because of their torpidity when fed and cool despite their powerful venom. However, no venomous snake is a 100% safe bet to handle by an unprotected person.

I consider snake-handlers to be a cult. they don't heed the admonition of God's, "You shall not dare the Lord your God". They cover their folly when one os bitten by saying, "His faith faltered or was weak." They display their so-called faith in the wrong manner here are the Bible verses they hase their "religion" on:

Mark 16:17-18 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover,

The "Church of God With Signs Following" follows only the "taking up " of serpents, with a few drinking poison.(in 1996, a preacher & his asst. in Newport, TN died after drinking strychnine.). we don't see them practicing the other parts of those verses.

 

CHURCH OF GOD WITH SIGNS FOLLOWING FOUNDER GEORGE WENT HENSLEY

G.W. Hensley(1881-1955) is credited with founding the snake-handlers' cult. He had a "religious conversion" around 1910 based upon his interps of certain Scriptures. (Which he was barely-literate enough to read at all.) he began teaching a form of pentecostalism that included taking up serpents. he became a mamber of the Church of God, but when it disavowed serpent-handling, he left & founded his own "church".

He was married four times, fathering 13 children with 2 of his wives. As he failed to earn a steady income, three of them divorced him. He had several conflicts with each of his wives & children over his drunkenness & frequent travels while not providing them with any home or money.

He was busted for moonshining in TN. but escaped a workhouse & went to Ohio where he began holding "revivals". He established several "churches" with the name "Church Of God With Signs Following" in Tn. & Ky. He continued his career between bouts of binge drinking til 1955 when he began conducting services in Fl. In Altha, Fl. he acquired a five-foot snake (likely a rattler species) that bit him on the wrist. He died the next day.

After Hensley, the most-prominent snake-handler leaders have been the Coots family. Gregory James "Jamie" Coots(1971-2014) was especially prominent, having been bitten 8 different times during services. He went thru a much-publicized court case in 2013 where he'd been cited for illegally possessing wildlife, finally copping a plea , receiving a years' unsupervised probation & having his snakes returned.

In 2014, he was bitten on the R hand during a service in Middlesboro, Tn. He later died in his home after refusing any medical treatment. Today, his son Cody heads his "church".

 

And Paul didn't DELIBERATELY "take up" the snake. He was gathering firewood in the dark & didn't see the snake.