The Power of Snakes

There are an estimated 125 snake handling churches scattered throughout Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. They take literally the words of Mark 1618: They shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. Except when they don't. Jamie Koots, pastor of the full gospel tabernacle and Jesus' name in the Appalachia Hills, also a television star was one of the co-hosts of the NetGeo TV series called Snake Salvation. He was bitten on the hand and died Saturday, February 15th of last year and this wasn't the first time he'd had a horrible encounter with a snake.