The document explores the practice of serpent-handling in Appalachian churches, deriving from interpretations of Mark 16:17-18, which suggests believers will handle snakes without harm and drink poison without injury. It presents the history, controversies, and personal stories related to this faith practice, including tragic incidents of deaths and injuries resulting from snake bites. The aim is to appreciate the sincerity of practitioners' beliefs while analyzing the biblical context and potential dangers of such interpretations.

1. Handling Serpents
An expression of faith?
or
A deadly misunderstanding?

2. Mark 16:17-18
And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my
name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

3. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling
and Redemption in Southern Appalachia
by Dennis Covington
Richmond, VA
As part of March’s First Fridays Art Walk, Gallery 5 is
presenting an installment screening of the
documentary “With Signs Following” by Kate Fowler
and Mark Strandquist. The documentary poignantly
records the story of a church in Jolo, West Virginia
which practices serpent-handling and drinking poison.

4. Purpose of this Lesson
• NOT to poke fun or disparage the faith of
others (grant that they are sincere)
• Rather, the aim is to try to reach a proper
understanding of the scriptures, especially as
they relate to handling serpents and drinking
poisons.
• To set forth the TRUTH of God’s will on the
matter.
• For some it could be a matter of life or death

5. Understanding Context
Genesis 6:13-15
And God said unto Noah,
The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms
shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it
within and without with pitch. 15 And this is
how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark
three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty
cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
Genesis 22:1-2
And it came to pass after
these things, that God did prove Abraham, and
said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am
I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only
son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get
thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of.
Not
spiritualizing
the text
A literal
interpretation
A proper
understanding

6. Literal interpretation?
Matthew 5:28-30
but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a
woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and
not thy whole body be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand causeth thee to
stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of
thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell.

7. Literal interpretation?
Command?
Mark 16:17-18
And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my
name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Historical record?
Apostolic directive?
Present day expectation?

8. Snake Handlers Hang On in Appalachian Churches
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
April 7, 2003
Serpent handling is always controversial and in many areas illegal, yet it shows no signs
of disappearing from its traditional home in Appalachia, the mountainous regions of the
Southeastern United States stretching from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
Junior G. McCormick is a serpent-handling pastor from Georgia. He explains that, for
him, handling snakes is simply following the gospel to the letter. "Other folks don't do
this because their churches don't believe, or it's just something they're scared of," he
said. "They come to that scripture but want to jump over that part because it's a deadly
thing."

9. Reading the Bible, Chuck Conner, 64, is one of the few attendees at the first service of
homecoming weekend at the Church of the Lord Jesus in Jolo. The Pentecostal church
was founded in 1956 by Bob and Barbara Elkins. One woman remembers the church
being so full people would stand outside. But then one of Barbara Elkins’s children died
of a snakebite in 1961 at age 23. These days, Pastor Harvey Payne says, the congregation
has 10 members.

10. Snake Handlers Hang On in Appalachian Churches
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
April 7, 2003
"There are over 100 documented
deaths from serpent bites," said
Hood. "In every tradition, people are
bitten and maimed by them. They
risk their lives all the time by
handling them. If you go to any
serpent-handling church, you'll see
people with atrophied hands, and
missing fingers. All the serpenthandling families have suffered such
things."
The practice began in the early 1900s. Its
popularity has waxed and waned through the
years. According to Ralph Hood, a professor
of social psychology and the psychology of
religion at the University of Tennessee,
Chattanooga , serpent handling is currently at
a fairly low ebb of popularity. Such
fluctuations are characteristic of a faith that
persists throughout Appalachia.
"It's a misconception that these people believe they won't get hurt," Hood
explains. "The Bible says to take up serpents, not that they won't be bitten.
If they're bit, that's up to God. The issue is obedience to God. There's no
magic power type of stuff. They know the reality of it because so many
families have had people hurt and killed."

11. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/awest-virginia-pastor-pays-the-price-for-hisfaith/2012/05/31/gJQAawRl5U_gallery.html#photo=1
from
2011 article
Pastor Randy "Mack" Wolford handles a rattlesnake during a service at the Church of
the Lord Jesus in Jolo, W.Va. Each Labor Day weekend, the church has hosted a welldocumented “homecoming” for snake handlers who believe that the Bible mandates
that true Christians "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." Wolford says:
"Anybody can do it that believes it."

12. A highly venomous timber rattlesnake rests in a box in the Jolo church. About 80
to 100 deaths have been attributed to snake handling since its origins, and nearly
every snake handler has been bitten, says the Rev. Bill Leonard, the religion
professor from Wake Forest University. There’s a lot of pain when you’re bitten,
says Wolford, whose father died at age 39 of a rattlesnake bite. "For the first
couple of weeks, you swell up and break out in hives."

13. By Lauren Pond, Published: May 31, 2012
May 27, 2012
Pastor Randy "Mack" Wolford, second from right in green shirt, handles a
rattlesnake after it bit him on the thigh at a worship service at West Virginia's
Panther Wildlife Management Area. Surrounding him, from left, are Jamie Lloyd,
of Sidney, Ohio; Wolford's mother, Vicie Haywood; and Donald Dover, of North
Carolina.
Lauren Pond / Lauren Pond for The Washington Post

14. May 27, 2012
Donald Dover, left, of North Carolina and Jamie Lloyd of Sidney, Ohio, right,
support Pastor Randy "Mack" Wolford after taking him to an outhouse at the
Panther Wildlife Management Area. Wolford, a practitioner and defender of the
faith tradition of serpent-handling, was bitten by a rattlesnake during the Sunday
worship service. He later died from the effects of the bite.
Lauren Pond / Lauren Pond for The Washington Post

15. May 27, 2012
Donald Dover, left, of North Carolina and Jamie Lloyd, right, of Sidney, Ohio, carry
Randy "Mack" Wolford, 44, to a sport-utility vehicle about 40 minutes after Wolford
was bitten while handling a rattlesnake during the May 27 worship service at Panther
Wildlife Management Area in southern West Virginia. Mack was then taken to his
mother-in-law's home, about an hour away, near Bluefield, W.Va.
Lauren Pond / Lauren Pond for The Washington Post

16. May 27, 2012
Vicie Haywood, mother of Pastor Randy "Mack" Wolford, strokes her son's feet as the
pastor lies on the couch at his mother-in-law's home near Bluefield, W.Va. Wolford
was bitten by a rattlesnake during a Sunday worship service. He was pronounced
dead early the next morning at the Bluefield Regional Medical Center.

17. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/w
hy-i-watched-a-snake-handling-pastor-die-for-hisfaith/2012/05/31/gJQA3fRP5U_story.html
By Lauren Pond, Published: May 31, 2012
By Lauren Pond, Published: May 31
This is what I saw through my camera lens: Pastor Randy “Mack” Wolford, tossing
and turning on the couch in his mother-in-law’s West Virginia trailer, suffering
from the pain of a rattlesnake bite he had received earlier in the day. Parishioners
surrounding him in prayer in the stifling heat. His mother stroking his feet, her
expression a mixture of concern, sorrow and, eventually, acceptance: This is how
her eldest son — a legend in the local Pentecostal serpent-handling community —
would die.

18. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/w
hy-i-watched-a-snake-handling-pastor-die-for-hisfaith/2012/05/31/gJQA3fRP5U_story.html
By Lauren Pond, Published: May 31, 2012
Camera in hand, I watched as the man I’d photographed and gotten to know over
the past year writhed, turned pale and slipped away, a victim of his unwavering
faith, but also a testament to it. A family member called paramedics when Mack
finally allowed it, but it was too late. Mack Wolford drew his final, labored
breaths late Sunday night. He was 44.

19. Mark 16:9-20
9 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to
Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her,
disbelieved.
12 And after these things he was manifested in another form unto two of them,
as they walked, on their way into the country.
13 And they went away and told it unto the rest: neither believed they them.
14 ¶And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at
meat; and he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because
they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen.
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the
whole creation.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth
shall be condemned.
17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they
cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no
wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 ¶So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up
into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them,
and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

20. Mark 16:9-20 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he
appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.
12 And after these things he was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they
walked, on their way into the country.
13 And they went away and told it unto the rest: neither believed they them.
14 And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and
he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not
them that had seen him after he was risen.
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the
whole creation.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be
condemned.
17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out
demons; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven,
and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and
confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.

21. Mark 16
Who is to believe? – vs. 13-14
• And preach the gospel to
the whole creation, vs. 15
• With signs accompanying
them, vs. 17, 20
Who is to believe? – vs. 16
• And be baptized, vs. 16

22. Mark 16:17-18
And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my
name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

23. Mark 16:17-18
And these signs shall accompany them that believe:
in my name shall they cast out demons;
they shall speak with new tongues;
Who?
The eleven disciples, vs. 15
18 they shall take up serpents,
it shall in no wise hurt them
and if they drink any deadly thing
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Who?
The eleven disciples, vs. 15
2 Corinthians 12:11-12
Luke 24:49 And behold, I send forth
the promise of my Father upon you:
but tarry ye in the city, until ye be
clothed with power from on high.
I am become foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to
have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles,
though I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all
patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.

24. The Signs of an Apostle
2 Corinthians 12:11-12
I am become
foolish: ye compelled me; for I ought to have
been commended of you: for in nothing was I
behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am
nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were
wrought among you in all patience, by signs
and wonders and mighty works.
Mark 16:20
And they went forth, and
preached everywhere, the Lord working with
them, and confirming the word by the signs
that followed. Amen.
Hebrews 2:3-4
how shall we escape, if we
neglect so great a salvation? which having at the
first been spoken through the Lord, was
confirmed unto us by them that heard; 4 God
also bearing witness with them, both by signs
and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by
gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.
Have a Purpose:
REVELATION
CONFIRMATION
PROTECTION?
• cf. Daniel 3, 6
• against assassination?
• Acts 23:12-14

25. Paul bitten by a viper
Acts 28:1-6
1 And when we were escaped, then we knew that the island was called Melita.
2 And the barbarians showed us no common kindness; for they kindled a fire, and received
us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out
by reason of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous creature hanging from his hand, they said
one to another, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped from the
sea, yet Justice hath not suffered to live.
5 Howbeit he shook off the creature into the fire, and took no harm.
6 But they expected that he would have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but when
they were long in expectation and beheld nothing amiss came to him, they changed their
minds, and said that he was a god.

26. Is this a manifestation
of the power of God?
Does this prove that
God was with him?

27. Reading the Bible
Matthew 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of
silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and he
went away and hanged himself.
Luke 10:37 And he said, He that showed
mercy on him. And Jesus said unto him, Go,
and do thou likewise.
John 13:27 And after the sop, then entered
Satan into him. Jesus therefore saith unto him,
What thou doest, do quickly.

28. Mark 16:9-20
9 Now when he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary
Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.
10 She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.
11 And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved.
12 And after these things he was manifested in another form unto two of them, as they
walked, on their way into the country.
13 And they went away and told it unto the rest: neither believed they them.
14 ¶And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and
he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not
them that had seen him after he was risen.
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to the whole creation.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
disbelieveth shall be condemned.
17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out
demons; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 ¶So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken unto them, was received up into heaven,
and sat down at the right hand of God.
20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and
confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.