Posted on 09/05/2009 5:41:10 AM PDT by JoeProBono
There was a lot of nervous laughter in the room. Some of it was mine. I was leading a church discussion on religious practices in Appalachia. The topic of the night was snake handling. The multitudes had not shown up; I think it was because of the subject.
Just the thought of snakes, much less the thought of handling them, gives most folks cold chills. A number of people in the room alluded to Wendy Bagwell’s old story of singing in a West Virginia church. Bagwell described how people had begun to take snakes out of baskets and boxes while his group sang.
Turning to the pastor, Bagwell nervously asked where the church’s back door was. When the pastor told him there was not a back door, Bagwell asked the pastor where he would like one! During the night’s discussion, one person admitted what most of us were thinking. We did not have enough faith to pick up snakes.
The honest saint said, “Maybe, I could become a snail handler instead of a snake handler.” However, I am not sure handling snakes is a matter of faith. I am sure it is not a matter of scripture.....
I have that kind of faith as well. Jesus never made snake handling any part of His ministry, and that is good enough for me.
It’s good to know EVERY religion has it’s share of wackjobs.
I was watching the documentary “The Hillbillies” narrated by Billy Ray Cyrus on The History Channel, and they got to religious practices. They did a story on George Went Hensley who died of a snake bite in 1955. They showed the newspaper article, and I happened to catch that the location was Altha, FL. where my Mom’s family came from.
I e-mailed my cousin who has lived there all her life. She was 14 at the time, and I was interested in if she had heard about it.
She wrote me back and said she not only heard about it, she was there! My grandfather and another man had caught the snake and intentionally did not give it food or water for three days to make it mean. My grandfather felt so bad about it that he married Hensley’s widow.
My family does not participate in snake handling, they were only there for the entertainment value. Imagine my surprise when I learned of my family’s involvement in a story I first saw on The History Channel!
Snake bacon?
She lives on the slope of a rocky mountain near the bootheel of NM and her nearest neighbor is 2 miles.
From the size of the lump in the belly, it appears there's a human-handler sect in the snake community. Quid pro quo. :')
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