Snake-Handling Sects

SNAKE-HANDLING SECTS Snake-handling sects derive their name from a literal interpretation of the Gospel according to Mark 16:17-18. In this passage, Jesus says, “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.” Snake handlers (or serpent handlers, as they prefer to be called) believe they are carrying out the words of Jesus by handling snakes and drinking “any deadly thing.” Thus, the climax of a snake-handling service is the release of snakes for worshippers to pick up or poison to drink. Originally part of the Pentecostal movement in America in the early twentieth century,

snake-handling preachers formed independent Pentecostal Holiness churches, generally known as the Church of God with Signs Following, during the 1940s.