Snake handling

Snake handling is a religious ritual in a small number of pentecostal churches in the U.S., usually characterized as rural and Holiness. Practitioners believe it dates to antiquity and quote the Book of Mark and the Book of Luke to support the practice:

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

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.:Luke 10:19

Founders

George Went Hensley (1880-1955), a preacher who left the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) when the Church noticed him taking part in snake handling and set specific rules that made certain that that denomination would have nothing to do with those types of practices, is credited with creating the first holiness movement church dedicated to snake handling in the 1920s. Sister-churches later sprang up throughout the Appalachian region, including at the Mt. Verd Holiness Church in McMinn County - Athens, Tennessee. [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=8Wq1s7ChmmIC&dq=origins+of+snake+handling&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=BGzv8n2RzY&sig=1LC-m2BV7vKVSyp5OUiYNTEs8KE&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result]

Many of the later followers were brought into the belief through traveling preachers in the late 19th century, attracted by charismatic preachers who boasted great miracles and demonstrated wonders. James Miller, without hearing of Hensley's ministry, claimed he received a Revelation from God to handle serpents and baptize in the Jesus Only formula of Acts 2: 38 in the King James Bible. By the beginning of the 20th Century, snake handling had spread to Canadian soil, where a handful of Canadians embraced the Mark 16 revelation.

nake handlers today and practices

As in the early days, worshipers are still encouraged to lay hands on the sick (cf. Faith healing), speak in tongues (cf. Glossolalia), provide testimony of miracles, and occasionally consume poisons such as strychnine.Dennis Covington, "Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia" (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1995).] Gathering mainly in homes and converted buildings, they generally adhere to strict dress codes such as uncut hair, no cosmetics and ankle-length dresses for women, and short hair and long-sleeved shirts for men. Most snake handlers preach against any use of all types of tobacco and alcohol.

Most religious snake handlers are still found in the Appalachian Mountains and other parts of the southeastern United States, especially in such states as Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio. However, they are gaining steady recognition from news broadcasts, movies and books about the non-denominational movement.

In 2001 there were about 40 small churches that practiced snake handling, most considered to be holiness-Pentecostals or charismatics. In 2004 the practice moved across the border and there were four snake handling congregations in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Most, if not all, use the King James Version of the Bible and consider other versions to be demonic or false.Fact|date=August 2008 Like their predecessors, they believe in a strict and literal interpretation of the Bible. Most Church of God with Signs Following churches are non-denominational, believing that denominations are 'man made' and carry the Mark of the Beast. Worshipers often attend services several nights a week. Services, if the Holy Spirit "intervenes", can last up to five hours, and the minimum time is usually ninety minutes.

criptural basis and practice

Those espousing the snake handling practice base their belief upon Mark 16:17-18. Based upon this passage, church services often include not only the handling of venomous snakes (usually copperheads and rattlesnakes), but also handling fire and drinking water laced with strychnine, arsenic, or some other poisonous substance. Some of their churches even handle scorpions. Several investigations have concluded that many congregants do indeed ingest poisoned water.Fact|date=October 2007

Rags soaked in kerosene are ignited and placed in glass jars or empty soda bottles. Then they are passed around for any of the faithful who feel so inclined to touch them by slowly passing their hands through the flames or under their chins for several seconds.

Interestingly, this passage is arguably a later addition to Mark, and is footnoted as such in most well known translations of the Bible. Even those denominations who affirm this passage as canonical do not interpret the passage as a call to handle serpents; they regard snake handling as the grave error of "tempting God" [http://cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/RA/k/831/Should-Christians-Handle-Snakes.htm] and the passage as a statement of signs demonstrating Paul's apostleship (cf. Acts 28:3-6). Snake handlers argue that it is tempting God when one ignores some or most of the commandments set forth by Jesus and that Jesus only spoke to Satan who was tempting the Lord. Satan, they argue, asked Jesus to throw himself off of a cliff when he expelled the statement, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God!". In addition they state that if God himself asked Jesus to throw himself off of the cliff instead of Satan, just as God asked Moses to pick up a serpent without question which then transformed into a rod, Jesus would have done so. "Fear and the slightest form of doubt...", as some handlers maintain "...can be enough to kill you.". This is why they encourage those, who have fear and doubt, not to partake in such practices unless they are living a morally correct life of holiness and a total trust in God's Will.

Risks

Several of the leaders in these churches have been bitten numerous times, as indicated by their distorted extremities. Hensley, the founder of modern snake handling in the Appalachian Mountains, died from snakebite in 1955. [ [http://athena.english.vt.edu/~appalach/essaysS/snakes.htm Appalachian Essays] .] In 1998, snake-handling evangelist John Wayne "Punkin" Brown died after being bitten by a timber rattler at the Rock House Holiness Church in rural northeastern Alabama. [ [http://www.cnn.com/US/9902/12/snake.bite.family/index.html CNN 1999 Feb. 12] ] Members of his family contend that his death was likely due to a heart attack, although his wife had died three years earlier after a snake bite while in Kentucky. Another follower died in 2006 at a church in Kentucky. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-11-08-snakebite_x.htm?csp=34 USA Today, 2006 Nov. 8] ]

Legality

The states of Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee have passed laws against the use of venomous snakes and/or other reptiles in a place that endangers the lives of others, or without a permit. The Kentucky law specifically mentions religious services; in Kentucky snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $250 fine. [ [http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/08/D8L8N2IG0.html Woman Fatally Bitten by Snake in Church] , AP Nov. 8, 2006, at BreitBart.com.] Most snake handling practices, therefore, take place in the homes of worshipers, which avoids the process of attempting to obtain a government permit for the church. Law enforcement officers usually ignore these religious practices unless and until they are specifically called in. This is not usually done unless a death has resulted from the practice.

In July of 2008, 10 people were arrested and 125 venomous snakes were confiscated as part of an undercover sting operation titled "Twice Shy." Pastor Gregory James Coots of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name was arrested and 74 snakes were seized from his home as part of the sting. A Tennessee woman died in 1995 due to a rattlesnake bite received during a service at the Tabernacle church.cite news
url=http://www.kentucky.com/254/story/459181.html
title=Sting nets scores of venomous snakes
last=Brammer|first=Jack|date=2008-07-12|publisher=Lexington Herald-Leader|pages=A1, A8|accessdate=2008-07-12] cite news
url=http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jvdWz3ESqJ_hMrqEnYeMsUTO33UAD91S2VJG0
title=Pastor among suspects in illegal snake bust
last=Alford|first=Roger|date=2008-07-12|publisher=Associated Press|accessdate=2008-07-12]

The practice is legal in the state of West Virginia.

Snake handling was made a felony punishable by death under Georgia law in 1941, following the death of a seven-year-old girl from a rattlesnake bite in a snake handling incident. However, the severity of the punishment was such that juries would never convict, and the law was repealed in 1968. [ cite book
last = Ruthven
first = Malise
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The Divine Supermarket
publisher = Chatto & Windus
year = 1989
location = London
pages = p. 291
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0 7011 3151 9]

nake handling churches

Alabama
* Rock House Holiness Church on Sand Mountain in the rural northeast [Mike Ford, " [http://cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/RA/k/831/Should-Christians-Handle-Snakes.htm Should Christians Handle Snakes?] ." "Forerunner", August of 2003. Retrieved: 31 January 2008.]

Greenville, South Carolina
* Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name, Greenville [cite book
last = Morrow
first = Jimmy
title = Handling Serpents
publisher = Mercer University Press
year = 2005
pages = 8
isbn = 086554848X ]

ee also

*Church of God with Signs Following
*Mark 16
*Heaven Come Down

References

External links and sources

* [http://webspawner.com/users/snakehandlersorg/ Holiness Snake Handlers] , official site of beliefs.
* [http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:2ZAEcWFj_qgJ:https://www.sojo.net/index.cfm%3Faction%3Dmagazine.article%26issue%3Dsoj9607%26article%3D960722+salvation+on+sand+mountain&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=7&client=firefox-a Interview with Dennis Covington]
* [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0140254587 Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, by Dennis Covington]
* [http://www.cincinnatiskeptics.org/blurbs/snake-handling.html Cincinnati Skeptics article on snake handling]
*
* [http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~dbutcher/216/projectsf02/covington2/History.htm History of serpent handlers]
* [http://www.english.vt.edu/~appalach/essaysS/snakes.htm "Snake Handling in the Pentecostal Church: The Precedent Set by George Hensley" by Joi Brown]
*
* [http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/Snakes.html University of Virginia article on serpent handlers]
* [http://arnow.org/pdfs/snake99.pdf "Snake Handling" by Pat Arnow, from "Southern Exposure"] (PDF file)
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1581 Snake Handlers in Georgia]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/obxapostolics/mark1618.htm The Church In Jesus Christ Name] - Large collection of snake-handler photos
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1590776,00.html "Why do we believe in God?"] , Robert Winston, The Guardian, Thursday October 13, 2005, an article describing snake handling
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/087049788X "Serpent Handling Believers"] , by Tom Burton, University of Tennessee Press, 1993. This definitive work represents twenty years of Burton's research. Many photos.
*cite web
url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1667
title=Snake Handling in Alabama
publisher= [http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org Encyclopedia of Alabama]