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 Mack Wolford and his father were both serpent handlers who died of snake bites.
June 1st, 2012
09:19 PM ET
Death of snake handling preacher shines light on lethal Appalachian traditionBy Julia Duin, Special to CNN (CNN) - Mack Wolford, one of the most famous Pentecostal serpent handlers in Appalachia, was laid to rest Saturday at a low-key service at his West Virginia church a week after succumbing to a snake bite that made headlines across the nation. Several dozen family, friends and members of Wolford's House of the Lord Jesus church in tiny Matoaka filled the simple hall for the service, which lasted slightly more than an hour. At the request of pastor's widow, Fran Wolford, media were forbidden inside the building.
Wolford's own dad was a serpent handler who died from a snake bite in 1983.
Mack Wolford, who was 44, was bitten by his yellow timber rattlesnake at an evangelistic event in a state park about 80 miles west of Bluefield, in West Virginia’s isolated southern tip. He enjoyed handling snakes during worship services, but it’s a tradition that has killed about 100 practitioners since it started in the east Tennessee hills in 1909. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories In recent years, Wolford feared the tradition was in danger of dying for lack of interest among people in their 20s and 30s. It’s why he drove to small, out-of-the-way churches around Appalachia to encourage those who handle snakes to keep the tradition alive. “I promised the Lord I’d do everything in my power to keep the faith going,” Wolford said last fall in an interview I conducted with him for the Washington Post Sunday magazine. “I spend a lot of time going a lot of places that handle serpents to keep them motivated. I’m trying to get anybody I can get.” He hadn’t much hope for churches in West Virginia, where serpent handling is legal. Some surrounding states, including Tennessee and North Carolina, have outlawed it. He had his eyes on a Baptist church near Marion, North Carolina, where, he said, “there’s been crowds coming” and its leaders wanted to introduce serpent handling, the law be damned. “I’m getting the faith started in other states, where I am seeing a positive turnout,” he said. “Remember, back in the Bible, it was the miracles that drew people to Christ.” Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Wolford wanted to travel to the radical edges of Christianity, where life and death gazed at him every time he walked into a church and picked up a snake. That’s what drew the crowds and the media; that’s what gives a preacher from the middle of nowhere the platform to offer the gospel to people who would never otherwise listen. “Mack was one of the hopes for a revival of the tradition,” said Ralph Hood, a University of Tennessee professor who’s written two books on snake handlers and is probably the foremost academic expert on their culture. “However, I am sure others will emerge, as well.” Indeed, others are emerging, including a growing group of 20-somethings clustered around churches in La Follette, Tennessee, and Middlesboro, Kentucky. Their individual Facebook pages show photos of poisonous snakes and “serpent handling” appears on their “activities and interests” lists. Pentecostal serpent handlers - they use "serpent" over "snake" out of deference to the Bible - are known for collecting dozens of snakes expressly for church services. At church, they’re also known to ingest a mixture of strychnine - a highly toxic powder often used as a pesticide - and water, often from a Mason jar. These same believers will bring Coke bottles with oil-soaked wicks to the church so they can hold flames to their skin. Key to understanding this culture are a pair of verses from the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament: “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 their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mainstream Christians - Pentecostals included - do not believe Mark 16:17-18 means that Christians should seek out poisonous snakes or ingest poisonous substances. But experts say that several thousand people – exact numbers are hard to come by – in six Appalachian states read the verse differently. Known as “signs following” Pentecostals, they see a world at war with evil powers and believe it’s a Christian’s duty to take on the devil by engaging in the “signs.” Thus, a typical service in one of their churches will also include prayers for healing and speaking in tongues. But it’s the seeming ability to handle poisonous snakes without dying from their bites that makes these Pentecostals believe that God gives supernatural abilities to those willing to lay their lives on the line. If they are bitten, they refuse to seek antivenin medication, believing it’s up to God to heal them. At the Church of the Lord Jesus in Jolo, West Virginia - one of the country’s most famous “signs following” churches - a group of worship leaders passed around a rattlesnake at a service last year on Labor Day weekend. The snake twisted as it was passed from man to man. The women clapped, and one tried handling the serpent but quickly gave it back to a man. The pastor, Harvey Payne - who has never been bitten by a serpent - posed for the cameras, the reptile twisting and curling. “My life is on the line,” he exulted. “All Holy Ghost power!” If a believer is bitten by a snake and dies, these Pentecostals reason, it is simply their time to go. “It devastated me,” one Tennessee serpent handler confided to me about Wolford’s death last week. “It just shook my very foundation. But (handling snakes) is still the Word of God.” Vicie Haywood, Wolford’s mother - whose husband died 29 years ago from a rattlesnake bite during a worship service - is heartbroken. But she has no doubts about the righteousness of serpent handling. “It’s still the Word, and I want to go on doing what the Word says,” she told the Washington Post on Wednesday. Last fall I asked Wolford if handling serpents wasn’t tempting God, a common question from mainstream Christians. “Tempting God is disbelief in God, not belief in Him,” he said, citing an incident in the Old Testament in which Moses slapped his staff against a rock to provide water in the desert rather than speak to the rock as God had commanded. By using his own resources – a stick – rather than counting on God to act when Moses simply spoke to the rock, the patriarch was condemned for lack of belief and forbidden to enter the Promised Land. He added that he regularly drinks strychnine during worship services, to show God has power over poison. “In my life I’ve probably drunk two gallons of it,” Wolford said. “Once you drink it, there is no turning back. All your muscles contract at once. Your body starts stiffening out. Your lungs; it’s like you can’t breathe.” He’d gotten sick from strychnine a handful of times. “I was up all night struggling to breathe and move my muscles and repeating Bible verses that say you can ‘drink any deadly thing and it won’t hurt you,’ ” Wolford told me, recounting one episode. He said a voice in his head taunted him as he struggled to recover. “The devil said, ‘You’re going to die, you’re going to die,’ ” he said. “You can’t go to the hospital. There is not a lot they can do. But (seeking medical help) means you’re already starting to lose faith.” After he was bitten last Sunday, Wolford may have thought his faith would bring him through that trauma, as it had so many times before. He had four spots on his right hand from where copperheads had bitten him. When he finally gave his family permission to call paramedics, about eight hours after being bitten, he must have known his battle was near over. By the time he arrived at the local hospital in Bluefield, he was dead. soundoff (7,439 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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So the guy wanted to get a head start on his rapture.
Okay now, since Mitt Romney wants to be President of the United States, where does Mormon Mitt Romney fit into all of this?
Maybe he'd want one of his wives handling the serpents (snakes).
Has anyone ever heard the term "MORON"? This fits well with this story.
People attempting to get a Darwin award, that is why the tradition continues. Heck, maybe it was suicide.
Darwin award was the 1st thing that came to my mind as well lol
"Snake bites man" is not really news. "Snake tries to talk minister into eating an apple," that would be news.
Agree 100%
I am not surprised about this news. In the religious world, similar ideas are in all kinds of shapes of forms. Turn on a religious channel on TV late at night, your reaction would be sheer identical to an infomercial of someone selling his book on making a million dollars in a week. Humans have a strong sense of community, we are drawn to each other by this herd tendency. People's ideas play an important role in this. Young people on Facebook are in no way in danger of being brainwashed by the snake-handlers and alike.
LOL!!!
"Do not tempt the Lord your God," better yet don't merely assume God should protect you if your own imagination says to handle snakes. When Paul the apostle was bit by a snake on an island while enroute to Rome and lived it's not because he was handling snakes, it was an accident. No one in the New Testament purposely handled snakes to somehow prove anything or to create an atmosphere of a miracle. This is foolish and how does it change a person's heart and mind (I don't mean by dying either). All of these weird manifestations need to be seriously questioned with one question, "is Christ Jesus being formed in me" and not how much of a weird show can you put on.
It was Gods will he die, pure and simple and it was Gods will that all those children died in the tornado and it was gods will that that little girl was kidnapped and killed and it was gods will....well you get the picture.
All forms of religion read way too much into the Bible, including the "correct" ones. The Bible did not say: Paul had an accident, but he was ok because of his faith. That would not make any sense. Clearly this portion of the Bible cannot be taken literally. As a matter of fact, a lot of it cannot be taken literally.
NONE of the bible can be taken literally.... I repeat... NONE!
Darwin strikes again.
This is actually a very efficient approach to religion. If you want to get nearer to God there is no better way than to sit next to a poisonous snake or drinking strychnine.
Someone should tell these folks that just because someone says something is so doesn't mean it is so. But i think this is more about a sense of community through shared beliefs rather than anything rational. They would probably make perfectly good druids, assassins, inquisitors or conquistadours if born at the right time and place.
Where I come from we respect snakes. We don't skin them for belts or shoes, we understand their place in the earth's ebb and flow and for millions of years. I think these narcissistic snake people are seeking attention having nothing to do with religion. I don't approve of abusing snakes this way. After 100 deaths siince 1909, you would think they got the message that it ain't working.
Great. Now there is a story on CNN about some idiot who saw jesus in mold. What a bunch of friggin' idiots.
I see Jesus in my plants all the time. Because he's my gardener.
I must be tired. I read this as "I see Jesus in my pants."
I see Jesus in my pants too, but he is one-eyed and he is wearing a silly helmet.
God has forsaken him.
He expressed his "belief" when he stated: "But (seeking medical help) means you’re already starting to lose faith.”
His family insisted he seek medical help and he thereby lost his faith. He died.
So.. this is proof that God never fails?
Devil finally wins when you loose faith. But what does this guy trying to proof? That there is God? It is total stupidity. I'd rather believe in a talking snake than handling the snake.
It must be true that God only intents to use the Bible to save some humans who get it. No one knows who got it. So those who talks to God, hears from God, withstands snake bits, cures illness, performs miracles, must have got it. But they fail, and it was God's will.... this is a vicious circle.
A simpler explanation: The Bible is human idea, written in human language, which is not perfect, and can never be.
Oh, brother. They're coming out of the woodwork.
Reading the bible by an un-enlighten being written by a bunch of un-enlighten being is bound to disaster. Wisdom is attained only with loving kindness, compassion and meditation.
Who cares what they believe in. When you handle venomous snakes and get bitten by one, you may die. How many ways can you call someone stupid. Let me count the ways. First he came from a long line of stupid. His father was stupid, who was married to his stupid mother, who had stupid children, that grew up to do stupid things and die.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Unfortunately, they die AFTER producing offspring.
These are the simple minded folks that vote for the Republicans because they believe they are sent by God to deliver them from evil. What a shame. Some of these poor people are just uneducated and are easily led down the path the hypocrite preachers take them in order to get the little bit of money they have. This voodoo and witchcraft activity should be banned in all states and the transgressers should be sent to jail where they cannot influence young folks to follow this deadly practice. They should be charged with fraud and endangering lives in order to get around the freedom of religion clause.
Wiccans don't practice snake-handling...just so you know...
A typical Democratic answer......Just couldn't stand to NOT drag politics into the issue....Bored with your answer....
I wish you had left politics out of your comment; however, your statement, "Some of these poor people are just uneducated and are easily led down the path the hypocrite preachers take them in order to get the little bit of money they have." I believe, is insightful and absolutely correct.
This is why everyone picks and chooses verses, for to embrace all the statements in the Bible is too strange for anyone.
does a human being have the capability to even "comprehend" the whole book, what is the whole idea? Any one sure?
In my opinion this is the most important verse as it is Christ giving a very simple answer as to what you need to do to earn eternal life:
• Here is what Christ actually said about eternal life: Mathew 19:17-22 (translated from the original Aramaic directly to English):
And one came near and said to him, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” But he said to him, “Why do you call me good? There is none good except God alone. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” But Yeshua(Jesus) said to him, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not testify falsely.” “Honor your father and your mother”, and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That young man said to him, “I have kept all these from my childhood; what am I lacking?” Yeshua (Jesus) said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven, and come after me.” But that young man heard this saying and he went away, as it was grievous to him, for he had many possessions.
snake: (seeing infrared image... and flipping its biological switches) mate... food... danger ... mate ... food ... danger ...
pastor: (with the ability to imagine): faith.. god... devil ... ... OUCH!... God, please? ... ... ... (silent ... not even a hiss of imagined voice).... Oh. no, no.. 911, please... What? Person in white said too late. Amen.
Omg perfect...above is truth...
Current Ancient Alien theorist hold that at least two groups of Aliens came to Earth during the formation of our religions. One group the rather benign Gray Aliens really were trying to help mankind. Another Alien group came here to mine our Gold, chlorofluorocarbon, protein and other resources and used humans as Slaves. These two Alien Groups were seen as God(s) which explains the many contradictions in the Bible and other religious text.
This also explains why many cultures belief in multiple gods.
Actually the Mayans specifically believed that their Gods came from the Skies and knew of a Star around the time of Christ that modern man only discovered less than 100 years ago. They believed all mankind came from that star, Strangley enough just last year an earth like planet was discovered in that star system.
join the GNAA today! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNAA
48396
This was a very stupid man.
But you people who come here , using this incident as an opportunity to throw insults on Christians, are in worse shape then this man and his followers..... I'm sure you'll think that's an exaggeration, but hate blinds those who are possessed by it. And it is very obvious that that's your case!
Chill out, will ya! You don't know how childishly stupid and immature you sound!
90% of so called "Christians" are NOT Christian at all and are themselves the ones full of hate.
THAN