oh well...
Posted on 05/30/2012 6:26:18 PM PDT by Morgana
Mack Wolford, a flamboyant Pentecostal pastor from West Virginia whose serpent-handling talents were profiled last November in The Washington Post Magazine , hoped the outdoor service he had planned for Sunday at an isolated state park would be a “homecoming like the old days,” full of folks speaking in tongues, handling snakes and having a “great time.” But it was not the sort of homecoming he foresaw.
Instead, Wolford, who turned 44 the previous day, was bitten by a rattlesnake he owned for years. He died late Sunday.
Mark Randall “Mack” 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 — and that, if they are bitten, they trust in God alone to heal them.
He and other adherents cited Mark 16:17-18 as the reason for their practice: “And 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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
oh yea ping
Maybe the same guy who has the snakes-on-a-plane ping?
Yea who is that?
I don’t think we are to tempt God. If we happen to be outside and get bitten, that’s one thing. Playing with snakes is another. Christ would not show out to prove a point; he refused to tempt God by flinging himself off the mountain in a dramatic display.
agreed. and isn’t that the lesson we must take from this guy’s faith? he went too far and was caught in a deception.
Matthew 4
1Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
5Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6And said to him, If you be the Son of God, cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.
7Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
I don’t know - just a wild guess.
I don’t know if it is tempting God or just taking the Bible verse too far. Where does one draw the line? Some get so wrapped up in their faith that they do go off the deep end.
Ecclesiastes 10:8 - if a serpent bites before being charmed, there is no profit for the charmer - trumped Mark 16:9-20 (which may not even be genuine as far as the biblical text is concerned - there is doubt). Too many of God’s people have a hard time understanding that not every verse is for them. This was truly tragic, and will have a negative impact on his followers as well.
I have never understood the snake handlers.....yeah I know what Mark 16:18 says, but every Bible I have read notes that this part of Mark is not in some of the early manuscripts and is thus suspect. I guess I’d pick up a snake if God told me to.....but I’d make darn well sure it was Him speaking first.
oh well...
Yea I know..
Here’s a clue...
Wolford was 15 when he saw his father die at age 39 of a rattlesnake bite in almost exactly the same circumstances.
Here’s a clue...
Wolford was 15 when he saw his father die at age 39 of a rattlesnake bite in almost exactly the same circumstances.
. I hate snakes!
True and even Moses only picked up the serpent AFTER GOD told him too.
The late Wendy Bagwell expressed his feelings on the matter quite straight forward.
Preacher to Wendy "Brother Wendy you mean to tell me that if The Lord told you to pick up the serpent you wouldn't do it?"
Wendy to the Preacher: "Yes Preacher I surely would but He didn't and I aint".
I have heard of snake handlers, but never of poison drinkers.
Arsenic you could work up a tolerance for, but cyanide? Destroying Angel mushrooms?
So if these folks don’t drink poison, why do they still think they have to handle snakes?
I think I’ll interpret the Bible myself. After all, what could go wrong?
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