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Confucius say “Man who play with rattlesnake get bit and die”.

I actually grew up where there was a church on the outskirts of town that would feature snake handling every now and then and found out some about it.

It became popular during the times of the travelling "tent revivals" as a hook to get people to the show. It still exists today in a very few places.

Usually the snake handling preacher is actually well schooled on the "handling" part and is knowledgeable on how to hold a snake and not get bit. Also, it was common practice for the handler to keep the snake "on ice" in a cooler until time for the show to slow it down considerably. They weren't just "trusting to providence", they were actually pretty good at what they did.

I noticed in the recent article about the guy who died - he actually sat the snake down and was bit on the leg. He may have thought that it was still "chilled" but that was a mistake.

P.S. - one of the standard tricks would be to take a lively snake out and demonstrate it (carefully holding it behind the head)...then replace it in the box and do some praying to “drive out the evil spirits” from the snake - then bring out an “iced snake” that was all docile and say as how he had tamed the snake of it’s evil ways.

I believe I’ve read another account of this incident that claimed the deceased had the snake wrapped around his arm for the duration of the service.

Thanks for the background on this - it’s helpful in understanding this as I only found out yesterday about snake handling going on in some churches - total weirdness! I learned it is outlawed but in certain areas of WV it is not. Since it is news now, hopefully, someone/pastor will go to the church and will explain to them their error in understanding that passage.