The Most Crazy Pentecostals of All Time - The Snake Handlers in Appalachia

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:07][music] Hello and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. Today we're going to continue our charismatic chaos series and we're going to be looking at one of the more extreme wings of Pentecostalism and that is uh those people in Appalachia as they say or West Virginia wherever these people are down south for me for for me um they practice snake handling and they even claim to drink poison and they base it all supposedly on Markap Chapter 16. We're going to look at that verse. But this is some pretty wild stuff as you can see in this clip.

[00:00:51]>> God can do all things. Are we going to believe [music] [music] now? That's that's nuts, right? I mean, I know what you're thinking. You're like this I pastor I've seen the charismatic chaos series up until this point and like the pew walker and the kid dancing on the pulpit and that stuff was wild and out of control and it was absolutely charismatic chaos. But this is just flat out crazy.

[00:01:34]>> Yeah. I don't I don't even What do you even say to that? These people seem to be suicidal. And there's one guy who actually talks about that. It's like he's like a Pentecostal philosopher.

[00:01:48]And uh let's listen to his philosophy on suicide and Christianity and snake handling.

[00:01:55][music] Nobody handles a serpent to get killed.

[00:01:58]I mean, that's just stupid.

[00:02:00]No serpent handler is suicidal [music] until you've contemplated suicide and rejected it. You can't live until until you know what it is that that you're willing to live for. Right? Then everything else pales in [music] comparison. So suicide is not a a form of pathology in the broadest existential sense. It's a final act of faith because you're saying you're going to kill yourself and it'll be over. What if it's not?

[00:02:32]What a hassle. [music] >> Yeah, that guy's been bitten by a cotton mouth one too many times, I think. And you see the other lady walking around with a blowtorrch. Like I've seen this in multiple videos. They have like this torch and they're holding it up to their face and to their hand and like I mean I know that again we're going to look at the verse. Let's just pull it up on the screen quickly. We'll come back to it.

[00:03:03]Mark 16 mentioned speaking in tongues, taking up serpents, drinking anything deadly. I don't remember anything about putting a blowtorrch to your face though like that. That's not in the Bible. And uh listen, I don't believe the videos that uh because they say there's one where a guy it's it's it's a National Geographic video. So if I play it, they're going to get hit me with a copyright strike or something. But he claims to drink Strick Nine. He's I'm still around. I've been drinking poison for years. And like how do I know that's not just water in your cup and that blow torch to your face or whatever it was, you know? Do they put something on their skin to shield it? I'm sure. And those snakes seem awful lethargic. Like rattlesnakes, they'll bite anything that moves. But these rattlesnakes are just kind of just hanging there.

[00:04:02]They do something to those snakes beforehand, but they're going to claim it's the power of God. Watch this.

[00:04:08]>> Hey, people don't know nothing about this power I'm talking about. I said they don't know. Hey, THEY CLAIM TO BE A child of God, but they don't have the evidence. [laughter] Where your power at? I said, "Where's your Holy Ghost?"

[00:04:27]Hey, God. Oh, they learn how to handle those things. They got a trick. Yeah, I got a trick. His name is Jesus Christ the Lord.

[00:04:41]Thank God. Look at this children.

[00:04:44][laughter] I can't do that. Look. I can't do that. Hey, I want you to look.

[00:04:52]I can't do that. Only God. Only God.

[00:04:57]Only God.

[00:05:00]>> There's something not right with these people. And I know what some people are going to say in the comments. And I'm not gonna say what you think I'm gonna say about their brother's cousin's uncle. And although that might be a valid point in all of this, but um holding these snakes, it's not biblical and these people seem unhinged. Okay.

[00:05:23]The the gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to do with snake handling. Now, does God protect his people from snake bites, from danger?

[00:05:36]Yes. The Apostle Paul in the book of Acts was bitten by a viper and God protected him. I believe that someone even in Appalachia could have a sincere faith and maybe get bit by a snake in the wild and God protects them. I I don't obviously we know God has the ability and God can heal people through answered prayer.

[00:05:59]We're not against any of that. But going out and picking up rattlesnakes and tossing them around and shaking them, you're you're basically taunting the snake and what they're doing is tempting the Lord their God. If you accidentally drink poison and God protects you, praise God. But if you're intentionally drinking poison, see that that's what they're missing with Romans or not Romans 16, Mark 16.

[00:06:27]Uh that's putting God to the test. So we're going to look at that. But here's one more clip of a pastor. So, it's not just these, you know, uh, wild people.

[00:06:39]It's the pastor encouraging people to do this. And here's a pastor and his wife, uh, dancing with rattlesnakes. And this even got covered on CNN. So, it's going out. This is the problem. It's going out to the whole world. And people think, "Oh, these Christians are crazy." Watch [snorts and clears throat] >> this church in the heart of Appalachia is completely quiet just before the service begins, except for the creature inside this locked box. It's a rattlesnake, and it's rattly.

[00:07:12]It's one of seven deadly snakes about to be used in a wild ceremony in God's name.

[00:07:23]This is Pastor Andrew Hamlin. He's a 21-year-old serpent handling pastor at the Tabernacle Church of God in Lafala, Tennessee. He, his wife, and the rest of this congregation practice Christianity much differently than almost all other Christians, using venomous snakes as part of their service. Why? They point to the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark, 16:1 18. It's stated in part, "They shall take up serpents."

[00:07:50]>> All right. Well, let's look at that verse. And you know, you saw them dancing with the snakes that are all just kind of hanging there.

[00:07:59]That's not normal for those types of snakes. But um let's look. This is Mark 16, 17, and 18. This is Jesus speaking.

[00:08:09]And by the way, there are those people because I have to deal with this. There are those people who say that the longer ending of Mark is not inspired scripture. So this shouldn't even be in the Bible. And uh I'm not comfortable with that position. So we're just going to set that aside and just, you know, for the sake of argument for those people who don't think that this is inspired scripture. Um again, I'm not saying that, but let let's just take it at face value, right? Um which I it's in my Bible, so that's what I'm going to do. Jesus saying, "These signs will follow those who believe in my name.

[00:08:48]They will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues. Okay, so that happened in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. And then here's the verse. They will take up serpents and if they drink anything deadly, notice it doesn't say go out and drink poison. It says if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. Now, the taking up of serpents, see all of this happened in the book of Acts. All of this happened by the apostles and their close associates in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. Everything but the drinking of something deadly.

[00:09:26]But that could have happened. It just wasn't recorded. You say, "But nothing about snakes. That that never happened."

[00:09:32]Yeah, they don't go out and find snakes and hey, I dare you to bite me.

[00:09:36]Obviously, you are not supposed to do that. And we'll get into why it's tempting God. But yes, the Apostle Paul, read the book of Acts. He was, you know, he remember that bonfire on the island and a snake bit him and God protected him. So that did happen. But that doesn't mean you go out and find rattlesnakes and bring them into the church and dance around with little kids in the church. I mean, people do get bit and they lose fingers, they lose hands, and yes, many die. So this is not what the scripture teaches. This is absolutely, you know, I I don't even want to call it charismatic chaos. This is part maybe of the series or I'll put it on the charismatic chaos playlist. But these are not just your average pen. This is a unique group of Pentecostals. So you know 99% of Pentecostals thankfully don't do this and charismatics don't do this. So in fairness, but they are tempting God.

[00:10:36]Look at Matthew 4:7. Remember in the temptation uh the devil told Jesus to jump off the temple and Jesus said to him, "It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God." So Jesus could have jumped from the temple mount and the pinnacle of the temple. And in theory, God would have had to send angels to catch him because that's not how he was supposed to die. But Jesus says, "Don't tempt God." And again, God can protect you from danger, but to go out and like, "Hey, I dare you. Hey, hey, rattlesnake, I dare you to bite me and I'm going to shake you around and dance with you." Like, you're you're putting God to the test because you're just begging for it. And again, people get bit and they die all the time.

[00:11:24]And that that's not what we're supposed to do. And to drink poison, I mean, you're basically forcing God's hand. We are not to do that. that's putting God to the test. And this is probably the most extreme thing we will ever cover on this channel or certainly with this series of charismatic chaos. But there it is, the Pentecostal snake handlers down south.

[00:11:55]>> Wow. All right, that's all for today.

[00:11:57]Until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.

[00:12:03]>> [music]