![]() ![]() ![]() They believe these words are binding to all who profess belief in the Gospels: God takes over their faculties, allowing them to carry out God's instructions without harm to themselves. Snake handlers consider these words to be commands, not merely suggestions. Several Bible verses are used by snake handlers to validate their beliefs and practices, in particular Mark 16:17-18, which describes believers "taking up serpents" as signs of faith. It is believed that George Went Hensley began the twentieth-century practice of snake handling during the summer of 1909 in a remote section of southeast Tennessee, later establishing the "Church of God with Signs Following." His beliefs and practices spread to North Carolina and throughout the southern Appalachians, as well as to parts of the Midwest, where many unemployed mountain people had relocated to find jobs. Members are usually from small, poor communities, feeling little connection to the world away from their mountains. ![]() Their other rituals sometimes involve the drinking of strychnine, the handling of fire, speaking in unknown tongues (glossolalia), and the laying on of hands for healing of the sick. Snake handling is the practice of certain Christian sects most often found in the southern Appalachian Mountains. ![]()
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