Inside notorious 'serpent church' where devotees die from grabbing rattlesnakes…
THIS is the nail-biting moment a pastor drinks fatal poison while holding up a deadly rattlesnake with his bare hands - and miraculously survives.
http://archive.today/2018.10.20-053922/https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7512634/inside-snake-church-kentucky/
As the deadly strychnine, which can cause muscle spasms, convulsions and asphyxiation, begins to take hold, Pastor Chris Wolford has to sit down on the altar, struggling to breathe and sweating profusely. Chris had mixed a white powder with water to make a clear liquid in the glass jar, before drinking from the supposed "poison". But just minutes later the preacher is up on his feet dancing and praising God while swinging the - eerily motionless but still alive - snake through the air. Shockingly Pastor Chris Wolford was just 11 when he watched his dad haemorrhage to death from a snake bite during a service. His brother also died from the same dangerous practices - but he refuses to lose faith in God and the “Signs” religion.
The faith is practised in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia and is based on a literal interpretation of a passage in the bible Mark 16:18 which says: “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.” Earlier this year dramatic footage emerged of Pastor Cody Coots, who was almost killed by a rattlesnake during a ritual at another church in Kentucky. Many of the religion’s churches - only a handful of which still remain open - are often closed to outsiders and cameras – particularly as snake handling is illegal in Virginia and Kentucky.
But Sun Online was granted exclusive access to one of Chris’s church in Squire, West Virginia - which he says is “open to all”. Before the service, Chris paces up and down, cries and prays as he gets ready to lead his congregation. Music is a huge part of the faith, and as the two guitarists and drummer start playing their mixture of blues and country music, Chris starts to preach. His mother Vicie, 73, comes to the front and begins spinning round and round, eyes closed as her son praises Jesus. Chris then lights a torch in a glass bottle and Vicie holds it next to her neck, without flinching and leaving no sign of any burn marks. The pastor quickly takes the hissing rattlesnake out of its wooden box and begins swinging it in the air. At some point he throws the snake to the floor and stands on it.