What happened to pastor Jamie Coots?
Gregory James Coots (November 17, 1971 – February 15, 2014) was a Pentecostal pastor in Kentucky who was featured in the National Geographic Channel reality television show Snake Salvation, which documented the lives of people who practice snake handling. Coots died from a rattlesnake bite during a service.
How many snake handling churches?
125 churches
It’s estimated that 125 churches in the United States use poisonous snakes during services today, with many clustered in the South. In tiny churches tucked away in rural Appalachia, “snake handling” is a long-standing tradition, one that took root in this region more than a century ago.
Do snake handlers get bitten?
All the serpent-handling families have suffered such things”. Jamie Coots, a pastor who subsequently died from a snakebite, said, “Handlers get bitten all the time, and every few years someone dies”.
What does the Bible say about snakes?
In Christianity, a connection between the Serpent and Satan is created, and Genesis 3:14-15 where God curses the serpent, is seen in that light: “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and …
What does the Bible say about killing snakes?
“They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them.” For the past eighty years, believers living in the Appalachian hills of the southeastern US have incorporated handling serpents and drinking strychnine (a “salvation cocktail”) into their religious beliefs and practice.
Do Pentecostals still handle snakes?
In 2001, about 40 small churches practiced snake handling, most of them considered to be Holiness, Pentecostals, or Charismatics.
What do Pentecostals believe about death?
Pentecostals believe that when someone dies, they will spend an eternity in either Heaven or Hell, depending on whether they have accepted God’s gift of Salvation or not. Salvation can be obtained by being reborn through repentance, faith in Jesus Christ and acknowledgement of sin then turning away from it.