Snake Handling & Drinking Poison

Leroy Brownlow wrote a Book entitled, Why I am a Member of the Church of Christ. He gave various reasons, such as, the church was purchased with the Blood of Christ; the church worships in Spirit and Truth; the only creed is the Bible, etc. I have a few other reasons I would like to add to the list as to why I am glad to be a member of the Church of Christ. First, I have never had to learn how to play an instrument. There is no need to calculate the percentage of our giving – we do not tithe. No need to believe I am drinking literal blood or eating flesh in the Lord’s Supper. In addition, I get to sleep in on Saturday morning. And most of all, no snake handling or drinking poison.

Hiss-tory of Snake Handling

Some churches believe that the practice of Christianity involves the handling of snakes. There are a couple of examples in the Bible. Moses turned the rod into a snake before Pharoah. Moses picked up the snake by the tail, and it became a rod again. Later, Moses was called upon to make a brass serpent to heal the snake bitten Israelites. Paul was bitten by a snake (Acts 28:3-6).

The handling of snakes is not solely a Christian practice. Throughout the centuries other religions and cultures have practiced snake handling. Some of the second century Gnostics were known to handle snakes. The Greek god of Healing is represented by a staff with two intertwined snakes. Their priests were known to handle live snakes. It is part of Haitian voodoo. The Yokuts tribe of California’s Central Valley used the practice as a way to prove one’s power. Hopi tribes would dance with snakes and, in some cases, even hold them in their mouths. Some said they were protected from being harmed as long as they were morally upright individuals. In India there are the snake charmers.

Some churches which are a part of the Holiness, Pentecostal or Charismatic movement handle snakes as a religious rite. These are mostly found in the Appalachian Mountains. Although two such churches are found in Canada. It was first popularized in Grasshopper Valley, Tennessee by George Went Hensley in 1910. He suffered a fatal snakebite in 1955.

Arguments For Snake Handling

For Biblical authority for handling snakes as part of their faith, these churches use Mark 16:17-18: “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” This promise was only given to the Apostles to confirm the Word they preached and their Apostleship. Paul wrote, “truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12). They also will appeal to Luke 10:19 where Jesus commissioned the Seventy to go out an preach.

Arguments Against Snake Handling

 Purposeful Display

One of the arguments against snake handling is that it is a purposeful display. Unlike in the Bible where Paul was bitten by accident. No Holy Spirit revealed passage demands Christians to handle snakes or drink poison.

 Involves Illegal Activities

Many of the poisonous snakes involved in snake-handling are illegal to own as are many of the poisons used. States like Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee have passed laws against handling deadly snakes without a permit. Christians are to obey the Government (1 Peter 2:13-16).

 Harm Comes to Those Bitten

Whereas the Bible promised that no harm will follow. Many are bitten becoming very ill and some die. Many snake handlers have deformed or missing fingers from being bitten. In 2015, John Brock died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service at Mossie Simpson Pentecostal Church in Jenson, Kentucky. There are well over 100 deaths recorded. Bitten believers usually do not seek medical help. They just have the congregation pray for them.

 Not A Sign of the Lord When Death Occurs

“A sheriff was bitten by a poisonous snake yesterday as he tried to break up a religious service in which a preacher’s son held up 10 snakes as a display of his faith, authorities said. …Charles Prince …said he was sorry Arrington was bitten but called the accident a “sign of the Lord.” (“Commercial Appeal,” Memphis, TN, August 5, 1985). Why didn’t someone heal him?

“Charles Prince, 45, was bitten at a religious service here Saturday night at the Apostolic Church of God and refused medical treatment” (Peoria Journal Star, August 20, 1985. Snake Bite Kills Man). “Witnesses said prince drank strychnine after he was bitten…” (The Tennessean [24 August 1985], p. 4-B). Professor Ralph Hood of the University of Tennessee has documented over 100 deaths from snake bites and the drinking of poison.

 Truth Not Confirmed, Only Death Confirmed

Dying from a snake bite does not confirm the Word of God, it does the opposite when they get bit and grow sick and die. In Delbarton, West Virginia according to the Associated Press “The snake that bit Curbs Mounts during a church ceremony was a big one. It left fang marks an inch apart. Mounts’ arm swelled to twice its normal size, but he sought no medical attention before he died three days later.” (Amarillo Daily News on April 21, 1976). “Gregory James Coots (November 17, 1971 – February 15, 2014) was a Pentecostal pastor in Kentucky who was featured in the National Geographic Channel reality television show Snake Salvation, which documented the lives of people who practice snake handling. He died from a rattlesnake bite during a service.”

 Holy Spirit Does Not Confirm Snake Handling

In Baxter, Kentucky at the Church of Jesus Christ a woman was bitten by an Eastern Diamond Back she died the next morning. Associate pastor Wiley Belcher stated, “What happened,” he commented, “doesn’t change the Word any, but it might cause some people to be more careful and wait on the spirit.” (Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, 2-15-86). If believers truly had the Holy Spirit within them, they should be able to handle rattlesnakes and any number of other venomous serpents. The Holy Spirit used accidental snake bites to confirm the truth of Apostles. They use snake handling in an attempt to confirm they have the Holy Spirit.

 Frauds

In another Associated Press article entitled: “Bitten wife divorcing snake-handling husband.” The evidence of snake-handling fraud is exposed. “Glenn Summerford, pastor of the Church of Jesus With Sings following forced his wife, at gun point, to stick her hand into a box of poisonous rattlesnakes….She said she had been bitten before while handling snakes in religious services but said the bite wasn’t serious because the snake’s fangs have been pulled.” She said, “it didn’t hurt me then because we’d cut the teeth out of it. I was a snake-handler, but I won’t do that anymore.” (AP, Scottsboro, Alabama, Feb. 13, 1992). A judge sentenced the pastor to 99 years in prison.

Skeptics of faith in God and Christ look at snaking handling churches and point out to folly and fallacy of religion and the dangers of religion. They thus feel justified in rejecting God, Jesus, the Bible and the church.

Jesus used the story of Moses lifting up the brass serpent to demonstrate His power to heal man of sin. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). However, the rite of serpent handling comes from the Old Serpent – Satan and not God.

– Daniel R. Vess