Pastor using Snakes to prove faith in God gets bitten and die

This

The biggest shock that all people who didn't know their heavenly father is when they die and find themselves face down at the feet of Christ Jesus.
This shock and awe event has been experienced by countless people letting their hell bent mouths fly without realizing that once they put away their body their going to answer for what they held in their hearts, thought and said.

Phillipians 2:10-11
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Romans 14:11
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Isaiah 45:23
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

All you God haters get back in line and await your turn cowards.

Matthew 13:42
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Dumb shit! Serves the fool right...

obviously there is no god.
if this was true.....i will have to change my life and get nasty as long as i live.

hee hee

well, I feel the rest of us may find their hysteria a bit uncomfortable to deal with when their world crumble

The Bible’s Viewpoint
Does the Bible Condone Snake Handling?

IN SMALL churches, the faithful gather. They play electric guitars and sing gospel music. They offer prayers for healings. They listen to homespun sermons and babble ecstatically in what they call the “new tongues.” In all of this, they are not too different from any number of Pentecostal or charismatic groups in Christendom. Then they get out the poison, the fire, and the snakes.

The poison is usually strychnine, dissolved in water. The fire might be that of a flaming kerosene-soaked cloth or an acetylene torch, and the snakes could be rattlesnakes or copperheads, not too hard to find in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States, where these groups are the most common. When they feel called by “the spirit” to do so, they will drink the poison and hold their hands in the fire. They may also handle the snakes, draping them over their arms and shoulders, holding them against their bodies, passing them from one to another. Why?

“I handle serpents because it’s in the Bible, like a commandment,” says Dewey, the leader of a small West Virginia church. Dewey claims to have been bitten 106 times, and he has scars to prove it. Does the Bible really command such things?

“Thou Shall Not Tempt the Lord”
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love,” says the Bible at 1 John 4:8, King James Version. Would a God of love require his worshipers to inflict needless pain on themselves? “A bite hurts,” says Dewey. “It’s a pain about 100 times worse than a toothache . . . You feel like you’re on fire.” Although most snakebite victims survive, scores of deaths have been documented, including the death of Dewey’s sister in 1961.

Of course, Christians have always been ready to die for their faith, but their deaths have usually been inflicted by others because of refusal to compromise Bible principles. On the other hand, when Satan invited Jesus Christ to endanger his life needlessly and deliberately by jumping off the battlement of Jerusalem’s temple, “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Matthew 4:7, KJ) Is it not tempting God, or presumptuously challenging him, to play with snakes, fire, or poison? Does not such testing indicate a gross lack of faith on the part of the worshiper, an attempt to force God to prove himself true to his Word by spectacular deeds?

What Do the Scriptures Command?
Members of snake-handling groups claim that their practices are commanded by God’s Word, and they cite Mark 16:17, 18 as proof. According to the King James Version, these verses read: “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.”

First, it should be noted that almost all Bible scholars agree that these verses were not originally part of Mark’s Gospel. “The doubtful genuineness of verses 9-20 makes it unwise to build a doctrine or base an experience on them (especially vv. 16-18),” points out noted commentator Charles Ryrie.

However, those who handle snakes in their worship are not often impressed by what Bible scholars think of the genuineness of Mark 16:9-20. The verses are in the King James Bible, which is the only Bible most of them trust, and for them that is the end of the matter.

But even if these verses were authentic, they do not command the handling of serpents or the drinking of poison, and they say nothing of fire. So they cannot be read as a requirement for worship. In fact, the apostle Paul did encounter a serpent on the island of Malta (Melita, KJ) but only by accident because it was in a bundle of sticks he was laying on a fire. Although Paul was bitten and was divinely protected from harm, he did not pass the viper around for others to hold. Instead, he “shook off the beast into the fire.” Far from feeling a burning pain as modern snake handlers do, he “felt no harm.”—Acts 28:3-6, KJ.

A Test of Faith?
According to The Encyclopaedia of American Religions, snake handling is a relatively recent phenomenon. “In 1909,” it says, “George Went Hensley, a young resident of rural Grasshopper Valley, Tennessee, became convinced that the references in Mark 16:17-18 to snakes and poison were, in fact, a command. He captured a rattlesnake and a few days later at nearby Sale Creek, in the midst of a worship service, he brought out the snake for participants to handle as a test of their faith.” But there is no evidence, Scriptural or historical, that early Christians required any such ‘tests of their faith.’

In addition, consider this: Paul was used by God to resurrect the dead; yet he took reasonable precautions regarding his own health and the health of his companions. (1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:13) Paul did not try to create opportunities to resurrect people.

Thus, rather than having bodies racked with pain or scarred from snakebites, Christians are exhorted to ‘present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service.’ (Romans 12:1, KJ) Instead of commanding that Christians test their faith by reckless acts, the apostle’s reasonable counsel is: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5, KJ) Test your beliefs against God’s Word. Honest self-examination, comparing your beliefs with the Scriptures, will help you determine if your faith will pass the all-important test of God’s approval.

Exactly! I am a high priority target of TPTB, and I have been poisoned on several occasions, I'm obviously still alive to tell of it; yet I would never be so stupid as to tempt God into doing things "my way" and this is what the Pastor has done; he has demanded God to do his bidding, and God just does not do things that way. His biggest sin was the sin of ignorance.

Natural selection at work.

In the heights of irony, he may well get nominated to win the Darwin Awards?

For example:

[link to www.darwinawards.com]

This is a valuable lesson they should teach in schools.

A lot of kids struggle with the concept of irony in English class and this is a good example of it...

He fornicated before the event ! [link to www.sacred-sex.org]

Jesus said "Do not tempt the Lord your God."

Because chances are he is not reliable

I think that Mark 16:18 is talking about two-legged snakes - you know as in brood of vipers.

Damn idiots:

EXACTLY ! You are supposed to trust in God, not test God.

Indeed.

No, the church won't disband. They'll have a new pastor handling snakes in the pulpit next Sunday, while the congregation passes snakes around too. Many of them will end up dying from it eventually.

Passing snakes around is as normal to these people as taking communion is to other churchgoers.

You are exactly right!

Darwin was right!

And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.

2 And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.

3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.

4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.

6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.

8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him.

9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed:

Had a lady die in this area of central Ky a couple years ago doing the same stupid thing.

10So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and thus they did just as the LORD had commanded; and Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 11Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. 12For each one threw down his staff and they turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. 13Yet Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Mark Randall "Mack" Wolford, 44 - whose own father died in 1983 after suffering a fatal bite - had been bitten before and survived. But he died earlier this week after witnesses say a timber rattler bit him on the thigh. Wolford's sister and a freelance photographer told media outlets it happened during a Sunday service at Panther State Forest.

Neither your false GOD nor GOLD will save you.

Living blindfolded is great.. until the very last moment.

People who drift from Bible

this is what happens

NOT biblical

but Bull s***

This story warms my heart.