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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 618 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Sat Jul 12th, 2008 07:02 pm |
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 EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!
I have to wonder if, in that particular denomination, handling reptiles could be considered "sacramental". My understanding is that they also drink poison at times as well. I once had a college sociology professor who wrote a learned paper about this particular denomination but he REFUSED to actually attend one of their services! Country music commedian Ray Stevens once did a hilarious song about this group about how a couple, traveling, happened upon one of their churches, on a Sunday morning and, deciding to worship with them, were shocked when the snakes were brought out. Of course, I realize that these people take these particular religious beliefs seriously, however, like my former sociology professor, I would just NEVER darken the door of one of their churches!
Pastor among suspects in illegal snake bust
July 11, 2008 11:11 PM EDT
FRANKFORT, Ky. - The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.
More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday's arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.
Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.
Handling snakes is practiced in a handful of fundamentalist churches across Appalachia, based on the interpretation of Bible verses saying true believers can take up serpents without being harmed. The practice is illegal in most states, including Kentucky.
Coots, 36, is pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, where a Tennessee woman died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service in 1995. Her husband died three years later when he was bitten by a snake in northeastern Alabama.
Coots was charged Thursday with buying, selling and possessing illegal reptiles. He had no listed telephone number and couldn't be reached for comment. There was no phone listing for the church.
"It is disturbing to me that individuals would keep such dangerous wildlife in their homes and in neighborhoods where they put their families, visitors and neighbors at such high risk," Milligan said.
The snakes, plus one alligator, were turned over to the nonprofit Kentucky Reptile Zoo in Slade. Most appeared to have been captured from the wild, with some imported from Asia and Africa.
Zoo Director Jim Harrison said some of the animals would likely have become exotic pets had they not been seized.
"There's been a large trade in exotics for years," he said. "Some people are just fascinated with them."
Undercover officers purchased more than 200 illegal reptiles during the investigation, some of which were advertised for sale on Web sites. One such Web site lists copperheads for $50 each and cobras for $450.
"You can purchase anything off the Internet except common sense," Harrison said. "A venomous snake isn't a pet. You don't play with it. If you do, you're an idiot."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Last edited on Sat Jul 12th, 2008 07:07 pm by EMarshallBuckles
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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 618 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Sat Jul 12th, 2008 07:40 pm |
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"Smokey Mountain Rattlesnake Retreat"
By Ray Stevens
Well me and Doris went on vacation
We decided we needed more than recreation
So we enrolled in a Bible camp retreat.
I got the directions and we took off
It only took six hours to get completely lost
Way back up in the mountains of east Tennessee.
Well it was getting real dark
And I was starting to fret.
Doris said look yonder bet that's it.
She pointed to the lights
To this little church way back in the brush.
An old man met us, I said just two
He escorted us down
to the very first pew
I said Doris I don't think this is the right place
She just said hush.
Well they preached a sermon and sang a song
Then they preached some more
And went on and on.
Nearly wore me out
I'd had about all I could take.
Then they pulled down the shades
Things quitted down.
This guy next to me punched me
Said here past this down
I turned to look and son of a gun
He handed me a snake.
Oh the night that me and Doris
Went running through the forest
Way back up in the hills of Tennessee.
Yeah we started making tracks
When they broke out that diamond back
It scared the devil out of poor old Doris and me .
He said take it man don't you believe
I said I believe all right I believe I'll leave.
And I reached for Doris but she done fainted away
White as a sheet.
Now I couldn't pick her up
And I couldn't find the door
And them rattlers were crawling
All around the floor.
And Friend that's when the spirit hit my feet
I started running down the aisles
And bouncing off the walls
Like somebody teed off a new golf ball
In a tiled bathroom
Friends I'll tell you I was moving on.
I'd run past Doris every minute or two
Trying to shake her awake her but it wasn't no use
For a while there I thought
The Lord had called the poor thing home.
Then somebody dropped a big one in her lap
Doris come too and something in her snapped
She grabbed that thing by the tail
And Commenced swinging it around her head
Then she gave it a crack like LashLaRue
The head came off and sailed across the room
Then she did a tap dance
On the rest of them suckers till they was all dead.
Well I grabbed her by the hand
And we headed for the car
When she hollered to the preacher,
I don't know who you are
Or where you came from
Or how you ever learn how to preach.
But let me tell you something
You old raggedy cat
You don't know nothing
About running a Bible Camp
And me and my husband
Are on our way to Daytona Beach.
Oh the night that me and Doris
Went running through the forest
Way back up in the hills of Tennessee.
Yeah we started making tracks
When they broke out that diamond back
It scared the devil out of poor old Doris and me.
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David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2074 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
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Posted: Sat Jul 12th, 2008 08:41 pm |
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Marshall, years ago I saw a video of one of these “services” on television. For obvious reasons, the video crew was sworn to secrecy as to the whereabouts of this tiny independent "church," whose congregation could not have exceeded thirty.
David
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jacki
Member
| Joined: | Sun Oct 7th, 2007 |
| Location: | Essex, England, United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 73 |
| First Name: | jacki | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | baptised in the church of england (I am a brit) ... |
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Posted: Sat Jul 12th, 2008 10:43 pm |
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| as my teenage daughter would say ---- eeeeeeeewwwww
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5348 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 06:55 pm |
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As to your initial question (is it a sacrament?), the Catholic Church defines a sacrament as an outward sign, instituted by Christ to give grace.
Somehow, I don't think Jesus had snakes in mind when he gave us the sacraments.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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JasPax
Member
| Joined: | Wed Nov 22nd, 2006 |
| Location: | North Carolina USA |
| Posts: | 247 |
| First Name: | James | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Episcopal to Catholic |
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Posted: Sun Jul 13th, 2008 08:29 pm |
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I used to work outdoors in the wilds of Florida and I had a few close encounters of the worst kind with reptiles.
If that won't give you religion, nothing will! Maybe those people are on to something. Let me think about that for a second. Nawwww !
____________________
James
"Abide in me, and I in you..." John 15:4
"He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." John 6:56
RSV-2CE
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Dave Armstrong
Network Apologist
| Joined: | Fri Nov 2nd, 2007 |
| Location: | Melvindale, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 1627 |
| First Name: | Dave | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Evangelical (1977): Diverse Protestant Influences / Catholic in 1990 |
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Posted: Mon Jul 14th, 2008 07:57 pm |
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I wonder why there isn't a bizarre sect of folks without right hands or one eye, too? I guess that would show a lack of faith, huh, and thus wouldn't be all that popular.
Or how about a "mountain-movers" sect? For some reason we don't see that phenomenon, even though this saying is just as biblical as the one about snakes.
I can picture it now: you go down to the mountains to one of these churches and you see the local mountain hopping all over the place from one visit to the next, as a proof of the profound faith of the faithful . . .
Just a bit of my dry humor . . .  
____________________
I'm happy to offer whatever theological & personal assistance I can. My blog, Biblical Evidence for Catholicism, contains 2000+ papers & web pages (absolutely free) & 16 apologetic books (for sale):
http://www.biblicalcatholic.com/
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EMarshallBuckles
Member
| Joined: | Mon Nov 19th, 2007 |
| Location: | Rockville (Near Richmond), Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 618 |
| First Name: | Marshall | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Christian Church,Episcopal Church,Baptist denomination,learning about RCC |
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Posted: Mon Jul 14th, 2008 09:20 pm |
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| Hey, maybe Marcus could visit one of these churches, with his video crew, and have a dialogue with them! How 'bout it Marcus?!
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