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SURELY GOD CANNOT BE EXPECTED TO PROTECT US FROM SELF-ENDANGERMENT? Pastor Mack Wolford has died of a snake bite aged 44. His father also died of a snake bite at the age of 39 (Photo: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com)

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Only in America! A West Virginia preacher who followed his father into the rare practice of handling snakes to prove faith in God has died after being bitten during an outdoor service involving the reptiles.

Mark Randall "Mack" Wolford, 44, had been bitten before and survived. But he died earlier this week after witnesses say a timber rattler bit him on the thigh.

Born in Pike County, Ky., Wolford had lived in the Bramwell area for the past five years and was a pastor at Apostolic House of the Lord Jesus in Matoaka. Unlike many Pentecostal preachers, he embraced publicity, welcoming journalists and photographers, and even taking some on snake hunts as he tried to revive interest in his religion.

Ralph Hood, a religion professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, saw Wolford bitten by a copperhead about six years ago.

Wolford and others prefer to be called "serpent handlers" as a reflection of Scripture, and Hood said his friend would want people to remember him as "a Christian who was living his beliefs and being obedient".

"Serpent-handling was only a small part of that," he said. "He was trying to revitalize a strong tradition that doesn't make a distinction between beliefs and practices."

"A common misunderstanding is that handlers believe they can't get bit or it won't kill them," Hood added. "What they'll tell you is, 'No one will get out of this alive'. They'll also tell you it's not a question of how you live; it's a question of how you die. ... This is how he would have wanted to die."

Wolford and his followers have a literal belief in Mark 16:17-18.

"And these signs will follow those who believe," the verses say. "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."

"I know it's real; it is the power of God," Wolford told The Washington Post Magazine last year.

If he hadn't started handling snakes after returning to his church, he said, "it'd be the same as denying the power and saying it was not real".

Although most Appalachian states have outlawed snake handling, it remains legal but rare in West Virginia.

Wolford acknowledged that last year, telling the magazine his mother was the only relative who still followed the tradition. Her husband died of a rattlesnake bite at age 39 in 1983.

Comments

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Sat May 25 14:19:43 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 12, 2012

tpaz

anything to do with snakes is satanic....
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Jun 12, 2012

CheeseBoy

I don't buy into this religious stuff but surely common sense should take precedence over 'faith'. especially if it is a one way conversation with what ever diety you worship.

the snake does not believe in your god, and has nothing to gain by doing so. and if you mess with it, it will do what snakes do best. bite your a$$ with the quickness.

idiot. another story for DSTV's 1000 ways to di.e
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Jun 12, 2012

Pointman

Snakes belong in the bush or wherever - not in a church full of crazy people with loud music.
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Jun 12, 2012

Kgaoza606

"taking some on snake hunts as he tried to revive interest in his religion."

That's where the problem is, people do all these crazy stuff to fulfil their selfish interest using the name of GOD.

Jesus Christ even told satan that when he tried to test him for wrong motives that "...do not put the Lord your GOD to test".

R.I.P anyway baruti... Only GOD can judge, or rather, has judged!!!




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Jun 12, 2012

MGEEZ

Lunacy is not a virtue!!!
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Jun 12, 2012

MsKinkyakaKamaSutra

Yankees can sometimes be social misfits

@Mr Snake, show them Ynakees that you dont belong in the church
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Jun 12, 2012

RobinH

Mad is as mad does.
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Jun 12, 2012

gaetswe

we hates them snakeses!
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Jun 12, 2012

Tabza325is

If snakes are satanic like some believe then does that mean Moses was a satanist who turned his walking stick into a snake, the same Alchemy practice by Egyptian Priests. This preacher was nuts.
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Jun 12, 2012

1tsotsi

Guess his faith was not that strong or his luck ran off, Never mix with such cruel animals.
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