#snakehandling

       Cody Coots was a snake handler in Kentucky and became a pastor at his church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro. His father, Jamie Coots, was a snake handler and pastor and was bitten in 2014 by a rattlesnake while leading a service and died from the snakebite. Despite his father’s death from a snakebite, Cody Coots continued to be a pastor and lead services for other snake handlers.

       During one service shown in the documentary “My Life Inside: The Snake Church,” Cody Coots was yelling into a microphone how he believes in the God Almighty and he can hear him because God wants him to, and everyone is there because God wanted them there. He is swinging the snake around and looks away for one second when the snake strikes him in the side of the head. He looked shaken up for a second as blood squirt from his head onto his shirt, but he still refused to put the snake down as he yelled that God would heal him because God is the natural healer. Some people in the audience were begging him to stop and other members were concerned and later guided him out of the church as he could barely walk. That wasn’t the first time he was bitten by a snake while leading a service either.

       I thought this article was interesting considering that snake handling is illegal and a felony by law, but this pastor still practices snake handling and it was included in a documentary. We learned from class that it is a Pentecostal tradition and that you pick up serpent when God tells you to, and put it down when He tells you to. Therefore it makes sense why Coots didn’t put down the snake despite being bitten. Snakes present holiness and obedience to God when handling them. It almost seems like snake handlers are brainwashed to potentially risk their lives for their religion and break the law because God tells them to. I also think when you grow up with that religion, you think it’s more normal and feel like you have to. Cody Coots was a fourth generation pastor for snake handling and it’s all he grew up knowing, so I think that pushes him to not stop despite his dad’s death. From what we learned in class, I’m guessing Coots assumed his dad’s death was because God thought it was his time to go, and he risks his life because if he dies he knows God is telling him its his time and if he gets bitten, God will heal him if he’s not meant to die.

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