Serpent-handling pastor's death is a touch surreal.

Actual title of the article:

Serpent-handling pastor dies hours after he's bitten by a RATTLESNAKE - nearly 30 years after his father died the same way

Here.

Now, my father always told me that the snakes that were handled were chilled first, so the only folks showing any real faith where the ones at the end of the line, after all those hands warmed them up.

It's a shame that someone would insist on handling a poisonous reptiles as a part of their faith, but to each his own.

And: The community's reaction: Here.

when you become holy the cobra will come lay on your feet

Oh, a snake laying at my feet is likely because someone in my family decided to shoot the thing, for some reason. And we've got water snakes, here.

Id rather not try it. God helps those that helps themselves. Ill help myself to avoid snakes lol. My uncle said he went to a church like that, scared him so bad he never went back!

I like the anonymous community-member's response:

The young man said the type of worship he, Wolford and others believe in comes straight from the Bible and he doesn’t understand prejudices against it. He referenced the Book of Mark, Chapter 16; Verse 18: “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.”

“It’s in the Bible,” he said. “It’s in the same exact verse that tells us to pray for people to be healed. Some people only take some of it and believe in it, but we believe in all of it. People just want to pick out the parts they like or that make them comfortable, but we don’t do that. We believe in everything the Bible tells us.”

OHhhhhh. Okay, well, if it's in the Bible, by all means...have at it!

I'm sorry, this is just asinine behavior. Can't understand the prejudice against it? It's crazy. Batsnip crazy.

Originally posted by CynicalDrivel
Actual title of the article:

Serpent-handling pastor dies hours after he's bitten by a RATTLESNAKE - nearly 30 years after his father died the same way

Here.

Now, my father always told me that the snakes that were handled were chilled first, so the only folks showing any real faith where the ones at the end of the line, after all those hands warmed them up.

It's a shame that someone would insist on handling a poisonous reptiles as a part of their faith, but to each his own.

And: The community's reaction: Here.

edit on 3-6-2012 by CynicalDrivel because: (no reason given)

Guess he never read in the bible where Jesus said "tempt not the Lord your God". It's some sound advice he should have listened to. Paul was bitten by an asp once and he didn't die because he didn't do it on purpose.

If you run around purposely handling dangerous animals or drinking Draino to prove your faith then you deserve whatever happens to you.

That's one way to look at it, another is to look at WHO he was talking to that was being talked about.

Which is in Mark 16:17

In Greek:
a sign/moreover/this truth (aorist: eternal)/ these/(not decipherable @ this site)/ in/ this/ name / I / (Daimonion) / to cast out/ future tongues/ to speak/ (word actually part of previous 2) ect....

The not decipherable part is the word: parakolouqhsei "from para with, and akolouqew, I follow." Here:

So: A sign, moreover, this Godly Truth, these with whom I follow, in this name, I cast out Demons for, ect.

So who are those whom I follow? Goes back to Christ specifically talking to the Apostles. No guarantees about how far this power spread from there, but there are groups that believe that this power and the granting of that power only go as far as the Apostles give it out. So, it should die out by the time of the 3rd century?

Originally posted by stonebutterfly
Id rather not try it. God helps those that helps themselves. Ill help myself to avoid snakes lol. My uncle said he went to a church like that, scared him so bad he never went back!

They are morons , the quote in the bible which hey use to justify their faith having the ability to conquer the snake was a mataphor for Satan , not a physical snake.

One more big hole in the Bible's tales.

Maybe the laying on a hands didn't work either.

Might not need WWIII is all these churches have to pass around timber rattlers every Sunday.

reply to post by Azadok2day


Just as questionable a conclusion, due to: Paul being declared a God by some people at Malta, due to shaking off a viper bite.

Now, understand, there's a huge difference between surviving a venomous bite, like the dead guy did a few times, and "suffering no harm" or more literally "suffered nothing of a bad nature". Whatever this text was about, it's clearly not working for the snake-handlers today.

reply to post by MagnumOpus
Exactly which churches?