speaking in tongues<\/a>, handling snakes and having a \u201cgreat time.\u201d But it was not the sort of homecoming he foresaw.<\/p>\nInstead, Wolford, who turned 44 the previous day, was bitten by a rattlesnake he owned for years. He died late Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mark Randall \u201cMack\u201d Wolford was known all over Appalachia as a daring man of conviction. He believed that the Bible mandates that Christians handle serpents to test their faith in God \u2014 and that, if they are bitten, they trust in God alone to heal them.<\/p>\n
He and other adherents cited Mark 16:17-18 as the reason for their practice: \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The son of a serpent handler who himself died in 1983 after being bitten, Wolford was trying to keep the practice alive, both in West Virginia, where it is legal, and in neighboring states where it is not. He was the kind of man reporters love: articulate, friendly and appreciative of media attention. Many serpent-handling Pentecostals retreat from journalists, but Wolford didn\u2019t. He\u2019d take them on snake-hunting expeditions.<\/p>\n
Last Sunday started as a festive outdoor service on a sunny afternoon at Panther Wildlife Management Area, a state park roughly 80 miles west of Bluefield, W.Va. In the preceding days, Wolford had posted several teasers on his Facebook page asking people to attend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am looking for a great time this Sunday,\u201d he wrote May 22. \u201cIt is going to be a homecoming like the old days. Good \u2019ole raised in the holler or mountain ridge running, Holy Ghost-filled speaking-in-tongues sign believers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPraise the Lord and pass the rattlesnakes, brother\u201d he wrote on May 23. He also invited his extended family, who had largely given up the practice of serpent handling, to come to the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt one time or another, we had handled [snakes], but we had backslid,\u201d his sister, Robin Vanover, said Monday evening. \u201cHis birthday was Saturday, and all he wanted to do is get his brothers and sisters in church together.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so they were gathered at this evangelistic hootenanny of Christian praise and worship. About 30 minutes into the service, his sister said, Wolford passed a yellow timber rattlesnake to a church member and his mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe laid it on the ground,\u201d she said, \u201cand he sat down next to the snake, and it\u00a0bit him on the thigh.\u201d<\/p>\n
A state forester, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said park officials were unaware of Wolford\u2019s activities. \u201cHad we known he had poisonous animals, we would have never allowed it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The festivities came to a halt shortly thereafter, and Wolford was taken back to a relative\u2019s house in Bluefield to recover, as he always had when suffering from previous snake bites. By late afternoon, it was clear that this time was different, and desperate messages began flying about on Facebook, asking for prayer.<\/p>\n
Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This story is just sad. All the more sad because it didn\u2019t have to happen (the oft-cited passage for snake handling doesn\u2019t appear in the oldest versions of Mark). Biblical exegesis aside, I genuinely hope and pray that his family and friends are finding the comfort and support they need. Serpent-handling pastor profiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":6923,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Snake-Handling.jpg\" "\\"Snake")
<\/a><\/p>\n