This film is about my uncle's church. A lot of my family is in this documentary. My uncle built this church. The church still stands but you cannot go into it. My grandmother's funeral was held here.
@@ricdavid7476 The church is run down and overgrown. In the back it had fold out type shelves where the younger kids would sit. And yes I am still a Christian. I may try and find a picture of what the church looks like. We are having a family reunion soon and I still have family that lives in Scrabble Creek which is the name of the holler.
@@michelleb3776 Hello Michelle thanks for the upgrade and its good that you still are a Christian. Its sad that the place has rundown. As i say i think the service was wonderful apart from the snake part. Does snake handling still go on ? What is a holler ? Is it village?
Where is this? I was born and raised in WV. I moved away in 1980 at 13. I was raised by my grandparents in a pentecostal church but no snakes. I do remember a snake handling church near a town called Bradshaw. It's in McDowell County.
I grew up in a Pentecostal Holiness church a few miles from this one. The church spoke in tongues and was similar to the Scrabble Creek church to a degree, but when the pastor (my grandfather) was asked whether he handled snakes, he said "Sure. At the end of a hoe."
Thank you for this post Shane, I admire the way you commented in a respectful and non judgemental manner. As in your other videos you and Melody have a great deal of respect for the people and places you present, and I appreciate that very much.
Thank you for posting this, Shane. I haven't seen it in years and years. When we moved around 1967 we began traveling up and down Appalachia at least once every other year- the other years we drove to California. We were blessed to meet up with the different people and cultures. I never do turn down an invitation to church, or the dinners afterwards- singing and dancing- and am still fascintated by what we hold holy, and how we find hope and comfort in each other.
Oh my! I missed this one somehow. You & I have alot in common, Shane. I was raised in a non-denominational Pentecostal Holiness church beginning at a very young age. We had a pastor, assistant pastor & deacons so there was some order in our church. I do remember folks shouting & speaking in tongues. I remember one very quiet, backward gentleman who would prophesy at times & when he began the whole church would go quiet. Then when he finished someone in a different area of the church would translate the prophesy, or sometimes the gentleman would translate it himself. Ive seen people prayed for & healed. I know God works in mysterious ways but I do feel now that I'm older & understand the Bible more, that sometimes its taken too literally. I feel the scripture in Mark that says if you drink anything poisonous or handle serpents it will not harm you, actually means if Satan comes against you with evil & you're a true child of God, it will not affect your soul or spirit. You truly have God's protection & mercy. I know our pastor once mentioned that the Bible held many metaphors & symbolic meanings. He didn't believe in snake handling & he came from West Virginia, so that seems odd, but I'm glad he didn't! Like you, I would've made a door where there was none! I believe God knows & understands our hearts, even when we question things in His Word. As old as I am, there are still things I don't understand & I've read the entire Bible several times, even during summer break from school. There are still things I question about the "rules" our church had, but I've learned to listen more to God than to man's ideas. God guides by our hearts & conscience. If something doesn't feel right to you, then it probably isn't. Thoroughly enjoyed this video. I don't know why I'm not getting notifications. Ive subscribed & hit the bell to receive all notifications but it gives some weird msg about containing an invalid request! I just have been going to your home page lately to see if I've missed anything & I've seen several I haven't gotten notifications for. So you may see me commenting on some of your older ones! Hope you keep going with videos like this, history & travels. You've been a blessing to me during all the craziness from last year & presently. Praying God blesses & provides for you always! I know now there was a reason I found your channel! Stay safe!
There is a wildfire in the land. You said if it don't seem right it probably isn't. The HolyGhost can teach you. Just think on this. When Moses was on the Mountain and God spoke to Moses and told him not to be afraid and to pick the Serpent up by the tail. Was that a Metaphor? Everyone who prays through is poured out their measure of faith when they get saved.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and so are their manifestation (s)…but as Brother Pastor Ronald Bowls once told me in Big Rock Kentucky outside of Dover Tennessee, there is also “wild fire” not Holy Ghost Fire. I believe the Holy Spirit will let you know what is real if you seek God’s wisdom. The Bible says pray for Wisdom and God will give it to you. Thank you for sharing this. I was struck by the young men and women in the video. One young girl looked like a teenager. I enjoyed just seeing the old cars,clothing, glasses, etc and houses and mountains that reminded me of my youth in Whitesburg and Mayking Kentucky. I appreciate your honest look at a real phenomenon.
Thanks for sharing Shane. I’ve seen snippets of the video on TH-cam, but never in its entirety. Much of what you said resonates with me, as I was also raised in a trinitarian Pentecostal church and saw much of what took place in that service with the exception of snake handling. Keep up the great work! Really enjoy your videos.
thank you sir, I have long been fascinated with this documentary. I guess I have watched it 5-6 times bc it seems so close yet so distant from how i was raised.
These people were sincere & earnest in their faith , however Apostle Paul never made a church doctrine out of this as a way to demonstrate one's faith in church services . To those who died from doing this , the verse comes to mind My people perish for a lack of knowledge.
Great old documentary and extremely interesting. I remember seeing this back in the mid 1970's somewhere......probably on TV at home but I honestly don't recall. I just remember seeing certain parts of it. At any rate, I find these people's belief's and conviction in their God to be beautiful and quite moving. I love the singing and everyone joining in when and if they feel the spirit move them. I imagine if you have grown up with it and it has been a part of ones life for a time, then it's all very familiar and not 'odd', as some might find. Same with many other religions on this planet! I have always been interested in researching different religions and rituals, and this documentary fits right in with what I find interesting. Thanks for posting this and thanks for your own additions.
I was raised in a Holiness church. I believe in God and the holy spirit. I do not believe in handling snakes or drinking poison. I think God meant if you are accidentally bit or accidentally consume poison, you will be ok
I think He was referring to evil spirits when He said serpents. The serpent in the garden of Eden who tempted Eve, and also evil spirits who are here in the Earth, that is what is meant by taking up serpents. Deadly things like evil will not harm you...That is signs following those that believe. My parents and my husband's parents brought us up to worship in Spirit and in truth. The parents found this in Kentucky in , or around early 1920's. Personally, I think it is now a 'falling away time', as it isn't seen much anymore.
Thanks Shane, I grew up in the Church of God who also speak in tongues, but I haven't been to a snake handling service in my life. Another great video.
My husband is a pastor in the Church of God...I was raised Baptist. His congregation openly praised the Lord..a few spoke in tongues... they liked upbeat music...all is fine but handling snakes is where I'd draw the line. Worship as you please but keep kids away from snakes!!
The black and white clip where the woman is "shouting" and lands in the lap of the elder on the platform is so wrong and wouldn't be acceptable in most Pentecostal churches and rightly so!
He said “and you wonder why they bite, sometimes I wonder myself” 😂😂. Maybe because that’s their nature. Maybe these wild animals don’t know that they’re part of a worship service. I can’t believe people actually sit through these services. Mankind never ceases to amaze me! Great video, I’m glad I found it.
You do not understand. Everyone in Appalachia knows a venomous snake isnt like non venomous. Rattlers n copperheads bite instantly. They will look you in the eye and threaten you. Its a miracle if you pick a rattler up and it doesnt bite you. There is nothing on this planet meaner than a copperhead.
I saw a snake handler say the spirit has come on you with you right motive to handle snake during worship. You don't just rush in there acting foolish. 2 types of snake handlers: one is a fool the other is anointed in that moment. Not many called to it. Its a sign. Man is not to live by a sign though a sign can happen. You dont pick up a snake to test tempt God either. If the power of God is not in it you have nothing to do with it. Are you feeling this now. The Pentecostal people are very sincere in thier faith and This was a fascinating video
as a fellow Pentecostal ( though not near as conservative as I was raised ) I think maybe God winks at the ignorance of some of these snake handlers... I personally believe that the scripture/prophecy in the gospel of mark was fulfilled in the book of acts when the serpent latched onto the arm of the apostle Paul and he was unharmed. I too grew up in these small country Pentecostal churches though we never handled snakes great channel by the way
I grew up Pentecostal still am and I live in Alabama my church don't handle but ive been to one they don't take the serpents out unless the anointing moves however they may not take them out during a service it depends on the spirit of God
Of course this is available elsewhere but what makes YOUR posting of it so uniquely valuable is you commentary. Although I grew up Baptist in Missouri, a lot of the people and proceedings here seemed familiar and beautiful to me, right down to the men kissing each other on the lips, which we always did in my family. BTW, you don't look fifty and you're a handsome devil to boot, so don't worry. LOL Thanks so much!
Thanks for solving that cliffhanger! Was wondering the same thing myself after watching, like "what happened to that guy??" Haha... Glad to hear he was alright.
My grandmother and grandfather lived in Harvey, just beyond Oak Hill.I grew up in both Baptist and Holiness Church because my father was Baptist and m mother was Holiness. Our church services in the Holiness Church was just like this one accept that we did not handle snakes, and we did have a pastor. Our Church was 30 miles from this one in a place called, “Tommy Creek, West Virginia.”
So Interesting..........curiously, I felt at home from many years ago, I can remember my relatives and the meetings we'd go to at church or in open tents. Just as Clear as a bell. Thanks, ever so much for the commentary. I totally agree. We've walked the same path.
You can worship GOD in spirit and in true without handling snakes. GOD has been everything I needed and more in my life and I’ve never handled a snake in my life. Faith comes from hearing, studying and applying the word of GOD to your life daily. Learning to depend on and trust GOD.
Shane, I had seen parts of this video on TH-cam as well some time ago, and I had the same feeling of "what happened?" frustration. So thank you very much for letting us know the rest of the story. Amazing that that pastor who had been bitten lived another 40 years after this incident! (And NO! You do not look older than the pastor! 😀 Not by a long shot! In fact you don't even look 45!) The apparent age of the bitten pastor raises an issue that I've thought about when watching films like this, and that is how extremely hard the lives of so many of these people were/are. No wonder they look older than their stated ages. They lived lives of hard labor with plenty of stress and few options. Men who suffered serious injuries or women who were widowed could be thrown instantly from a life of relative economic stability into dire circumstances. There were few safety nets and these folks were not much inclined to ask for charity. (I live in Northern Ohio, but there was enough of a migration of white Appalachian folks to this part of the country after WWII ended that a lot of the culture, religion, music, accents and work ethic became very familiar to people who had been here longer.) So I think that their religion was more "real" and immediate to them, if only because they had virtually nothing else. Like you, Shane, I'm totally convinced of their sincerity. I'm a theist and Christian as well, but I do think they're somewhat (unintentionally) misguided in these traditions. I may be wrong, but I feel that the Bible assures us that God cares for us... I don't - however - believe that we are supposed to "tempt God," by deliberately exposing ourselves to danger. In other words, just because we *can* do something, doesn't mean we *should* do it. Most of us are not much in a position to judge however! (I would be the last person to ever say: "Well, there go those Appalachians! when watching this.) Because every time we opt to refuse to wear that seat belt, get on that motorcycle without a helmet, not wear a mask in a dense crowd during a pandemic, or take another drink before driving home, are we acting any more rationally? Maybe not. These church members had very few options for dealing with tremendous stress and uncertainty. As pentecostals, drinking and drug use were ruled out. There were (I would bet) probably zero psychiatrists in this small community. Simply pulling up stakes and moving out was not as easy as it might sound to a lot of us. Employment and educational options were pretty limited. So going to church, being among familiar people in a safe environment that allowed you to scream, fall on the floor, speak in tongues and do other emotionally charged and distracting things, all of that must have felt pretty therapeutic. My two cents' worth; which may not even be worth that! Many thanks again, Shane!
Great comment. Faith has always been such a huge part of life in rural Appalachia. I can’t imagine what life would have been like for non-believers because, without some sort of eternal hope or promise of a better day, I can’t begin to imagine how grim it would have felt to live in that environment.
Well, I go visit out of cultural interest. Don’t know that they’d let me in being Traditional Catholic. Those convulsions don’t look like the Holy Ghost to me, especially a woman throwing herself on top of men. Some could be under demonic influence, but a lot I think is a huge emotional release because most of these people lived hard lives. The tongue talking sounds like gibberish, pseudo-Hebrew, but it’s not Hebrew! I didn’t hear any language that I recognize, but under certain circumstances, I do believe in the Holy Ghost enabling people to speak and understand unlearned languages IF it’s for a special reason. There were some Catholic Saints who spoke and interpreted tongues. The devil can cause the same, however, so be careful. I once heard someone in a Catholic charismatic meeting calling down curses in Polish. I told the lady to be quiet because what she was saying wasn’t from God, and she cussed me out in Polish. Turns out she didn’t know Polish, so it was certainly NOT from God. I like the guy who said “pye-yan-ah” instead of piano! That’s real old mountain talk. Sorry, but I wouldn’t handle any poison snakes! I knew a feller who got bit by a copperhead in church, in Kentucky, refused medical help, and he died from it three days later. As for drinking strychnine, no thanks! No other poison, either! That was plasma that came from your gash, but that normally doesn’t happen until the gash is stitched up or scabbed over in a few day’s time. It’s the body’s way of healing and maintaining a scab until it heals. So yes, I think God did some healing for you that day. Are any of the people in the film still living? The young kids? And do people still worship this way?
Is it just me, or does this old man preaching at around 20 minutes saying that it doesn't matter where your from or what color you are but how you behave, at least in that instance, seem more progressive and open minded then most liberals today?
About the healing; my great niece was born with severely clubbed feet, had surgery at just a few days old, casts from thigh to toes, then boots with a spacer bar, very delayed walker. Took her to my Apostolic church where the pastors wife anointed her little feet and prayed over them and a week later she stood on her own, not holding onto anything and took her first steps. She's almost three now, running, climbing, being a typical toddler and loves to march around the church during song service, clapping her little hands. Before that she wouldn't try to put her feet down if you tried to stand her up and help her walk, like she didn't know what to do with her legs and feet.
I also believe that if it's an accident and it wasn't provoked and you trust in the Lord regardless if you live or die the word is the word but something in my spirit says when they intentionally handle them it is Tempting 🤔 Scripture says thou Shall not tempt the Lord
I actually feel sorry for the snakes! Those folks jump up and down holding the snakes, sling them around, so much commotion. No wonder the snakes bite!
When someone speaks in tongues there should be one or two that prophesize what he says this is their custom their way of praying and nobody should judge
I am an animal lover as well but these snakes were taken care of. They would be kept in families of the church members. They would be let loose. No snake was harmed that I was aware of.
God is amazing. This is real. These people of Appalachia are carrying the presence of god on earth. Says so in the bible that a group will carry gods prescence as the world mocks him and turns towards beast like actions. When serpent handling is gone the apocalypse follows. With what we know about interdimisional beings and dna your an idiot if you do not believe in Jesus. The bible is the book of truth.
My father was a snake handling preacher who kept snakes. There were taken care of and usually released every couple weeks and replaced with knew ones. Pregnant snakes were never kept. There was a method to the madness.
@@rebahensley5323 blessings to you n your family. God hasnt left the earth yet. Rattlers and Copperheads do not flee they look you in the eye and say leave me be like a rattler or I'm coming for ya like a copperhead. Being a world traveled Appalachian hillbilly that is scared out of my boots when i see any snake; there is power in the words of the Bible. Those snakes they dance with are biters. It has to be divine intervention.
God bless these people! I love and miss them something awful! They were wonderful people, the salt of the earth, and Godly people. I miss them and my grandparents who were a part of this all faith, but they attended Jolo.
Not unless you are a mental patent. I grew up around this crap, know some now, the one thing you will find common is most of them are on disability for mental illness. Not as common now days as when i was growing up. But a few still are still going on. This entire way of worship can be traced back to one single man. A moonshiner who could not even read.
Luke 10:19 says we have power over serpents and scorpions but that means demons we have power over the enemy, I would not want to handle a snake awesome video. I'm considering moving back to Harlan County Kentucky I would like to buy some land there and a fixer upper maybe if anybody has any insight my budget is not very high as I am just a Street Preacher painter nevertheless my goal is to move back to Harlan County Kentucky.
Interesting video, I attended Pentecostal services as a teenager, but have never been to a snake handling service. I think God must have his hand of protection upon these people. What has amazed me is people speaking in tongues. I have been at different services with completely different groups of people when someone speaks in tongues. What amazes me is I hear familiar words or phrases. I don’t understand what they are saying, but I recognize common words. There’s no way many of these folks could be picking up another language like that on their own. God’s hand is definitely on them.
At my grandfathers summer house on a lake in Southern Ohio, there was what he called “Holy Rollers”…Pentecostal. We would hear singing, shouting, pounding all over lake. To him the noise was meant to postalize. When I was 8 I snuck down the road during one of their services & peeked in the window.it looked just like this film, even the snakes. I believe snake handling & the strichnine was outlawed & they had to disband the church. It was 1962 when I saw through the window. I grew up Catholic & went to parochial school. I never liked the ritualistic nature of it. As an adult I joined the Southern Baptist Church & baptized there too. I couldn’t wear pants, play cards, drink. I was a Sunday School teacher to teenagers, & my husband was a deacon. “My kids” were everything to me & have many blessed stories about them. But then my husband started having an affair with my best friend. The Pastor said we could not divorce. When I filed I was thrown out of the church. My kids had a sit in at the Pastors door to protest. The next week my husband brought his lover to church & Pastor said nothing. His concern was getting my husbands 20% tithe & the church organ he donated to the church. The hypocrisy allowed me to see that I already had a relationship with Christ & I did not need manmade religion at all. Now I worship in the Spirit & in the church of His Creation & Beauty.
At my grandfathers summer house on a lake in Southern Ohio, there was what he called “Holy Rollers”…Pentecostal. We would hear singing, shouting, pounding all over lake. To him the noise was meant to postalize. When I was 8 I snuck down the road during one of their services & peeked in the window.it looked just like this film, even the snakes. I believe snake handling & the strichnine was outlawed & they had to disband the church. It was 1962 when I saw through the window. I grew up Catholic & went to parochial school. I never liked the ritualistic nature of it. As an adult I joined the Southern Baptist Church & baptized there too. I couldn’t wear pants, play cards, drink. I was a Sunday School teacher to teenagers, & my husband was a deacon. “My kids” were everything to me & have many blessed stories about them. But then my husband started having an affair with my best friend. The Pastor said we could not divorce. When I filed I was thrown out of the church. My kids had a sit in at the Pastors door to protest. The next week my husband brought his lover to church & Pastor said nothing. His concern was getting my husbands 20% tithe & the church organ he donated to the church. The hypocrisy allowed me to see that I already had a relationship with Christ & I did not need manmade religion at all. Now I worship in the Spirit & in the church of His Creation & Beauty.
Reminds me of Missionary Baptist church services I attended for many years without the snake handling, speaking in tongues, drinking poison and the dancing. The music was lively but only piano and guitars were used. Never tambourines. And no dancing was ever done. What was same were being spontaneous, kneeling to pray out loud and all together at one time. The testimony s.
Elzie Preasts' hand was deformed after that. He was a great man. My father grew up with the Preast family as a very close family. He came to visit my father when he was dying in 1992. He lived a good life. My cousin knows more because she is older and I think she can identify some of the people in the video. Her dad may know even more but he is older. They all went to this church
I am so grateful for your respectful take on this. I'm 19 and I've grown up non-denominational but in some ways, I consider myself pentecostal as well and I totally understand where you're coming from. Thank you for clearing up the cliffhanger too! ps. has anyone ever told you that you look like Mark Cuban of Shark Tank?
Really glad you enjoyed it, Maggie. I am glad you felt it was respectful. I grew up in that environment and it gave me an appreciation for faith that I still carry even today. I hear I look like 2 people almost equally as often - Mark Cuban and Simon Cowell lol. It always makes me laugh because it is almost 50-50 split at this point lol.
Shane great tribute to your roots, and the truth is to everybody's roots, our roots of humanity! I follow you and Melody a lot.Now I can say with pride I knew you back then.Young man, Melody sure helped make something out of you!
I will say this, It takes the anointing of God to take up the serpents. People think that these people just pick up snakes cause the bible tells them too. Thats not the case at all. There's an anointing that no harm can come too. Its something you can feel. I have felt it for my self. I have witnessed preachers get bit while preaching and no harm at all come upon them. Same with handling fire. I've seen it. A person could get lucky handling a snake and get away with it but there is no faking handling fire. so my point is its not just Faith but also something you can feel from God that lets you do these things.
...and then there was Pastor Coots who got bit and was dead in less than an hour. His son got bit not long after his death, after taking the church over. He and his family were so scared, they went to the hospital immediately. He was saved. Soon after, his sister was killed in a car accident. I wonder what happened that this family had so many hardships in a row? Hmm.
Very interesting church. Back in 80s I've seen these kinda religious activities in Arizona, New Mexico on Navajo reservation, they called these " Holy Ghost Revivals. Everything is the same minus the snakes. I don't know if they still do those I left the rez long time ago.
Shane you done a great job on narrating and updating on this video! I would like to go to a snake handling church and observe it in person and do a story on it! Have you thought about doing that? It is very interesting to me and still goes on in parts of WVA , Kentucky and Tennessee and possibly Georgia. I often wondered about this video like after the bite that he possibly developed some immunity to this snake 🐍 bite, just a theory of mine! I assumed he did not die from it by the way he was acting! Others I have watched like the ones in Jolo WVA and a Pastor Jamie Coots in Kentucky that died from a rattle snake bite, he got deathly sick immediately throwing up sweating very violent sickness and eventually he passed away, I think his video is still out there it bite him on his face. I too am Pentecostal Holiness but not the snake handling part 😅 yes the Bible in Mark 16 does say, you shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, drink deadly poison etc and I do not condemn them for their literal interpretation of the Bible they have every right to follow their Biblical beliefs as Christians. There is another Pastor in Squires, WVA Randy Wolford they do it all, drink poison, snake handling, burn themselves w fire, etc you have probably seen all these videos I find them fascinating to say the least! Thanks for the video and update you always do a great job! 🙏✝️
Theres footage somewhere it's in b*w from way back its southern Baptist handling serpents outdoors at maybe a camp meeting one scene is a man preaching and serpent on the pulpit
You asked "How could usually simple speaking people interpret glossolalia in such an articulate and smoothly unbroken way?" Ecstatic and hypnoidal states can engulf the problem-solving, personality centered, consciousness because they are older and more primary to survival than the named, civilized ego which modern life is arranged around. Psycho-physical reactions can come from this; one is increased eloquence due to sudden access to the very large amount of potentially retrievable information always within each person's subconscious. You asked "How can they drink strychnine and be bit by vipers without severe effect?" There is a European man named Wim Hoff -I may have the spelling incorrect- who has taught himself to have strong conscious effect over what are normally considered subconscious human functions such as the anafilactic response, among others. I recommend watching the Vice News Channel's report on Mr. Hoff titled "The Ice Man." You asked how is all the above possible? Well, as hard as this is to say, it turns out reality is a whole lot more than space, time and objects. I could go on but I'll just recommend a TED TALK by Dr. Jacques Vallee titled "A Theory of Everything, Else." If that wets your appetite try Dr. Donald Hoffman's TED TALK "Do We See Reality as it is?" If you watch these two fifteen minute talks PUT YOUR THINKING CAP ON and listen carefully. You asked, "why would people do this?" I would say that once one has some sort of inkling of the existence of the paranormal the real question becomes just what is it that restrains us all from creating this stuff all the time? Thanks for reading! Jim
I was raised in a Pentecostal Holiness church, but not snake handling. Now that I’m older, I prefer serpent handling churches. It’s real and it’s powerful.
I have been a Holiness preacher for 46 years, began pastoring a Nazarene church in 1975 at the age of twenty four. My grandparents were ‘Old Order Mennonites. In the early 1990’s I began to pastor as series of four independent Holiness ‘house churches’, I never looked back at the big ‘Mainline’ denominational church. I am satisfied in the Lord.
@@highwatercircutrider Amazing...... Do you consider yourself a "Bible" believer? If so, which bible is the perfect, infallible and inerrant words of God Almighty? Is it in book form? Is it in English that you can hand me copy? I will be awaiting your answers.. :)
This was very interesting and thought provoking for me, I appreciate your narrative and rebuttal. What in life isn't a mystery? I'm going to ponder as objectivity as I possibly can...I think the fervor is an outlet and tonic for people who might otherwise be in dismal and very challenging situations. The neurotransmitters that are released, dopamine, norepinephrine and others, likely play a big part in these heightened behaviors. Some people feel more alive when faced with NDE, I was wired that way as a young man. There are still some behavioral patterns that are more residual now, but they're still present nonetheless. I feel like the question of God for me has always been ponderous, still I have a skepticism that belies, or at least quells an unadulterated faith in anything intangible. I think for me, the way I was created, gives me the motivation to question everything to an extent. The question of Gods existence is something I'll likely grapple with for the entirety of my physical sentient existence. That being said, I am a man who runs hot and cold, I've never understood that in-between place many seem to exist in. I liken that state to a form of mediocrity, which many call "balance" or normality. I don't live by concensus, so those so called "measurements" don't hold much value for me. The preacher who was "snake bitten" was a very charismatic and interesting person, I resonated with his "hot or cold" perspective. I find a lot of purity in commitment on either end of the spectrum as in "hot or cold". If each person lives in accordance with the purity of their "perceived truths" I think that is paying the "ultimate homage" to the gift of life. So, if numerous people gather and believe in the same perceived truth's, there is a lot of powerful energy there. We can call it "spirit" or holy ghost, but it's likely the same dynamic by any name. If people are inspired to live loving and benevolent lives, then the vehicle becomes justifiable, perhaps incidental to me. I do somehow believe we possess a soul, the origin might never be identifiable as there will always be more that we don't know. It's an immutable and irrefutable law of proveable physical science, energy cannot be destroyed, only harnessed and transferred. When I listen to a beautiful piece of music, read literature that is profound and insightful, view art and feel the love emitted by my dog, & many other things. I can't help but want to be connected to the universe in entirety, which I believe we are. Still the purported miracles that were written about over 2,000 year's ago seem a bit far fetched to me. I've come to believe that the essence of life itself is miraculous, so to juxtapose one to another seems futile and vapid. I don't think a universe could come from "nothing" because that word is non descript, there is not any way to decipher. Could it be that it always was, is there a requirement for an origin aside from our limited expectations, borne of physical law perspectives? The whole "He" thing always seemed a bit wonky, as there is masculine/ feminine, positive/negative throughout the fabric of all observable life. I sense dimensions that are just beyond my comprehension, yet they are perceptible. I find so many seeming contradictory messages and concept's in any religion I've studied. Obviously they were written by humans, we're fallible and biased by design, defense mechanisms, early conditioning, society etc. That being said, I don't want to be too verbose. These are not my perspectives or questions in entirety, but I felt compelled to share some of my thoughts. I was in Virginia as a young man, in the Eighties, Newport News at Fort Eustis. I felt a rich and powerful vibration that I found to be rather emotive, idyllic and rich. The Carolina's had me reeling too, perhaps I had ancestors there or even lived there in another life. Either way, I find the Appalachian mountains calling to me now at almost 60. There is something very intrinsically alluring, even beckoning on a very personal resonant frequency. Nature might just be the closest thing to God I'll ever conceive of, it's what we are for certain. Thanks for your post and open perspective. Sincerely, Anthony M.
If you ... Remember even Jesus said don't tempt the LORD your GOD. Paul got bit by accident. I can go on and on. I am a preacher's son and I have been healed nore than one time.
I agree with you Shane! I love Jesus and I believe but I ain't touching a snake especially a rattler or a copper head! I see em occasionally and I let them be! 😆 Heck no! I can't judge them either but. They got some faith!
Still, I respect these people. I grew up in southern Appalachia. Only church I've ever attended, that I actually remember, was a pentecostal. I'm glad I got to witness
Holiness people are a Peculiar people. God said Holiness without, ye are none of me. It's a way of life for them that believe. Most of the people that go to these churches grew up in the way and know the way. The power of God is real and takes good clean living. Following the word close.
It's scripture, it's happening , what's to reconcile except most don't have the faith JESUS testifies of. Broadway is always gonna clash with the narrow way.
It don't mean haul serpents to a church get bit crippled up fingers. God really wouldn't want no one to do that I sure. I was married in a church ike that. I even tell them Jesus wasn't meaning to pic a snake up. It's like if they don't got serpents they can't have church. But I'll not judge em. God will tell them one day he meant sending ppl in bad places to preach the gospel god did anoint his pastors that if the see danger in a path. They could move it not be hurt. 8boutta 10 in church gets bite
@@someguywithballsxboxpc7983 oh thanks , I was reading it like a child and your world's wisdom is mighty in your eyes. I'm sure Jesus Christ will appreciate you clarifying what he clearly wants 😂 yea GOD ALMIGHTY would never allow men to die.
This film is about my uncle's church. A lot of my family is in this documentary. My uncle built this church. The church still stands but you cannot go into it. My grandmother's funeral was held here.
Great to hear from someone familiar with it
@@ricdavid7476 The church is run down and overgrown. In the back it had fold out type shelves where the younger kids would sit. And yes I am still a Christian.
I may try and find a picture of what the church looks like. We are having a family reunion soon and I still have family that lives in Scrabble Creek which is the name of the holler.
@@michelleb3776 Hello Michelle thanks for the upgrade and its good that you still are a Christian. Its sad that the place has rundown. As i say i think the service was wonderful apart from the snake part. Does snake handling still go on ? What is a holler ? Is it village?
Where is this? I was born and raised in WV. I moved away in 1980 at 13. I was raised by my grandparents in a pentecostal church but no snakes. I do remember a snake handling church near a town called Bradshaw. It's in McDowell County.
@@tonykelly5141 Scrabble Creek. It's a holler in Gauley Bridge WV
Wonderful people- obviously not a snake handler myself but i respect these people and the way this documentary was done
I grew up in a Pentecostal Holiness church a few miles from this one. The church spoke in tongues and was similar to the Scrabble Creek church to a degree, but when the pastor (my grandfather) was asked whether he handled snakes, he said "Sure. At the end of a hoe."
That would be my response too 😂😂😂😂
😂😂❤
Awesomeness!! Thank you. My great Grandma was raised like this born in Kentucky 1880s
Thank you for this post Shane, I admire the way you commented in a respectful and non judgemental manner. As in your other videos you and Melody have a great deal of respect for the people and places you present, and I appreciate that very much.
Thank you for posting this, Shane. I haven't seen it in years and years. When we moved around 1967 we began traveling up and down Appalachia at least once every other year- the other years we drove to California.
We were blessed to meet up with the different people and cultures. I never do turn down an invitation to church, or the dinners afterwards- singing and dancing- and am still fascintated by what we hold holy, and how we find hope and comfort in each other.
fantastic comment, Madelyn, as I am getting older I so appreciate learning new cultures and ways of life from others. It gives a true appreciation.
Thank you so much for this video! I show this to my anthropology class every year and I always wondered what happened afterward!
The man who was bitten is my father’s brother, Elzie Preast… I’ve been in this church when I was a child… many, many years ago.
Oh my! I missed this one somehow. You & I have alot in common, Shane. I was raised in a non-denominational Pentecostal Holiness church beginning at a very young age. We had a pastor, assistant pastor & deacons so there was some order in our church. I do remember folks shouting & speaking in tongues. I remember one very quiet, backward gentleman who would prophesy at times & when he began the whole church would go quiet. Then when he finished someone in a different area of the church would translate the prophesy, or sometimes the gentleman would translate it himself. Ive seen people prayed for & healed. I know God works in mysterious ways but I do feel now that I'm older & understand the Bible more, that sometimes its taken too literally. I feel the scripture in Mark that says if you drink anything poisonous or handle serpents it will not harm you, actually means if Satan comes against you with evil & you're a true child of God, it will not affect your soul or spirit. You truly have God's protection & mercy. I know our pastor once mentioned that the Bible held many metaphors & symbolic meanings. He didn't believe in snake handling & he came from West Virginia, so that seems odd, but I'm glad he didn't! Like you, I would've made a door where there was none! I believe God knows & understands our hearts, even when we question things in His Word. As old as I am, there are still things I don't understand & I've read the entire Bible several times, even during summer break from school. There are still things I question about the "rules" our church had, but I've learned to listen more to God than to man's ideas. God guides by our hearts & conscience. If something doesn't feel right to you, then it probably isn't. Thoroughly enjoyed this video. I don't know why I'm not getting notifications. Ive subscribed & hit the bell to receive all notifications but it gives some weird msg about containing an invalid request! I just have been going to your home page lately to see if I've missed anything & I've seen several I haven't gotten notifications for. So you may see me commenting on some of your older ones! Hope you keep going with videos like this, history & travels. You've been a blessing to me during all the craziness from last year & presently. Praying God blesses & provides for you always! I know now there was a reason I found your channel! Stay safe!
There is a wildfire in the land. You said if it don't seem right it probably isn't. The HolyGhost can teach you. Just think on this. When Moses was on the Mountain and God spoke to Moses and told him not to be afraid and to pick the Serpent up by the tail. Was that a Metaphor? Everyone who prays through is poured out their measure of faith when they get saved.
@@donaldbeamer3563 Why tempt the Lord?
I felt that when I had a heart attack I prayed to God for him to heal me and the doctor said I had no blockage he looked twice. He was puzzled.
❤️❤️
Amen!
God promises protection in times of trouble, but that is not an invitation call to put ourselves deliberately in the way of harm and danger foolishly.
January 6 killed seven people.
Trump is a Evil Bigmouth Blowhard Serial Liar Found Guilty of Rape-Defamation and Sexual Battery
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are real and so are their manifestation (s)…but as Brother Pastor Ronald Bowls once told me in Big Rock Kentucky outside of Dover Tennessee, there is also “wild fire” not Holy Ghost Fire. I believe the Holy Spirit will let you know what is real if you seek God’s wisdom. The Bible says pray for Wisdom and God will give it to you. Thank you for sharing this. I was struck by the young men and women in the video. One young girl looked like a teenager. I enjoyed just seeing the old cars,clothing, glasses, etc and houses and mountains that reminded me of my youth in Whitesburg and Mayking Kentucky. I appreciate your honest look at a real phenomenon.
Thanks for sharing Shane. I’ve seen snippets of the video on TH-cam, but never in its entirety. Much of what you said resonates with me, as I was also raised in a trinitarian Pentecostal church and saw much of what took place in that service with the exception of snake handling. Keep up the great work! Really enjoy your videos.
thank you sir, I have long been fascinated with this documentary. I guess I have watched it 5-6 times bc it seems so close yet so distant from how i was raised.
These people were sincere & earnest in their faith , however Apostle Paul never made a church doctrine out of this as a way to demonstrate one's faith in church services .
To those who died from doing this , the verse comes to mind My people perish for a lack of knowledge.
That was my grandpa Elzie Preast that was bit at end. I was near one yr old then. Mom and Dad on back right pew.
Wow, it is great to hear from you. He seemed like a sincere and devout man in the video.
You probably know some of my family. The Millers
Great old documentary and extremely interesting. I remember seeing this back in the mid 1970's somewhere......probably on TV at home but I honestly don't recall. I just remember seeing certain parts of it. At any rate, I find these people's belief's and conviction in their God to be beautiful and quite moving. I love the singing and everyone joining in when and if they feel the spirit move them. I imagine if you have grown up with it and it has been a part of ones life for a time, then it's all very familiar and not 'odd', as some might find. Same with many other religions on this planet! I have always been interested in researching different religions and rituals, and this documentary fits right in with what I find interesting. Thanks for posting this and thanks for your own additions.
Great comment, I really appreciate that perspective
@@realappalachia Right on. Thank you, my friend and all the best to you and yours.....
I was raised in a Holiness church. I believe in God and the holy spirit. I do not believe in handling snakes or drinking poison. I think God meant if you are accidentally bit or accidentally consume poison, you will be ok
@Opal Allen
He was
I think He was referring to evil spirits when He said serpents. The serpent in the garden of Eden who tempted Eve, and also evil spirits who are here in the Earth, that is what is meant by taking up serpents. Deadly things like evil will not harm you...That is signs following those that believe.
My parents and my husband's parents brought us up to worship in Spirit and in truth. The parents found this in Kentucky in , or around early 1920's. Personally, I think it is now a 'falling away time', as it isn't seen much anymore.
Thanks Shane, I grew up in the Church of God who also speak in tongues, but I haven't been to a snake handling service in my life. Another great video.
thank you :)
My husband is a pastor in the Church of God...I was raised Baptist. His congregation openly praised the Lord..a few spoke in tongues... they liked upbeat music...all is fine but handling snakes is where I'd draw the line. Worship as you please but keep kids away from snakes!!
The black and white clip where the woman is "shouting" and lands in the lap of the elder on the platform is so wrong and wouldn't be acceptable in most Pentecostal churches and rightly so!
Amen
I saw this documentary might neard a year ago when I bought my first pyana.
At 17:39 the chosen preacher for the sermon is holding a Gibson guitar! Nice
He said “and you wonder why they bite, sometimes I wonder myself” 😂😂. Maybe because that’s their nature. Maybe these wild animals don’t know that they’re part of a worship service. I can’t believe people actually sit through these services. Mankind never ceases to amaze me! Great video, I’m glad I found it.
Darwin Award...
True believers
You do not understand. Everyone in Appalachia knows a venomous snake isnt like non venomous. Rattlers n copperheads bite instantly. They will look you in the eye and threaten you. Its a miracle if you pick a rattler up and it doesnt bite you. There is nothing on this planet meaner than a copperhead.
I saw a snake handler say the spirit has come on you with you right motive to handle snake during worship. You don't just rush in there acting foolish. 2 types of snake handlers: one is a fool the other is anointed in that moment. Not many called to it. Its a sign. Man is not to live by a sign though a sign can happen. You dont pick up a snake to test tempt God either. If the power of God is not in it you have nothing to do with it. Are you feeling this now. The Pentecostal people are very sincere in thier faith and This was a fascinating video
as a fellow Pentecostal ( though not near as conservative as I was raised ) I think maybe God winks at the ignorance of some of these snake handlers... I personally believe that the scripture/prophecy in the gospel of mark was fulfilled in the book of acts when the serpent latched onto the arm of the apostle Paul and he was unharmed. I too grew up in these small country Pentecostal churches though we never handled snakes
great channel by the way
Trust n obey the word. You cant bend it to your human logic.
God says never tempt him
My collage level Sociology of Deviance course SOC 220 uses your video here as a basis for one of our essay assignments! Great video!
I grew up Pentecostal still am and I live in Alabama my church don't handle but ive been to one they don't take the serpents out unless the anointing moves however they may not take them out during a service it depends on the spirit of God
Of course this is available elsewhere but what makes YOUR posting of it so uniquely valuable is you commentary. Although I grew up Baptist in Missouri, a lot of the people and proceedings here seemed familiar and beautiful to me, right down to the men kissing each other on the lips, which we always did in my family. BTW, you don't look fifty and you're a handsome devil to boot, so don't worry. LOL Thanks so much!
Thank you, you’re too kind
I have witnessed the interpretation of tongues also…. It’s miraculous
Thanks for solving that cliffhanger! Was wondering the same thing myself after watching, like "what happened to that guy??" Haha...
Glad to hear he was alright.
where do i find this level of loving commitment ? truly convicted
This practice still goes on in 2023 it’s only legal in the state of West Virginia it’s illegal anywhere else but West Virginia
Thank you for this. What a great documentary!!!!
My grandmother and grandfather lived in Harvey, just beyond Oak Hill.I grew up in both Baptist and Holiness Church because my father was Baptist and m mother was Holiness. Our church services in the Holiness Church was just like this one accept that we did not handle snakes, and we did have a pastor. Our Church was 30 miles from this one in a place called, “Tommy Creek, West Virginia.”
Elzie Preast is my daughter’s great grandfather. We find this behavior quite strange.
So Interesting..........curiously, I felt at home from many years ago, I can remember my relatives and the meetings we'd go to at church or in open tents. Just as Clear as a bell. Thanks, ever so much for the commentary. I totally agree. We've walked the same path.
You can worship GOD in spirit and in true without handling snakes. GOD has been everything I needed and more in my life and I’ve never handled a snake in my life. Faith comes from hearing, studying and applying the word of GOD to your life daily. Learning to depend on and trust GOD.
Shane, I had seen parts of this video on TH-cam as well some time ago, and I had the same feeling of "what happened?" frustration. So thank you very much for letting us know the rest of the story. Amazing that that pastor who had been bitten lived another 40 years after this incident! (And NO! You do not look older than the pastor! 😀 Not by a long shot! In fact you don't even look 45!)
The apparent age of the bitten pastor raises an issue that I've thought about when watching films like this, and that is how extremely hard the lives of so many of these people were/are. No wonder they look older than their stated ages. They lived lives of hard labor with plenty of stress and few options.
Men who suffered serious injuries or women who were widowed could be thrown instantly from a life of relative economic stability into dire circumstances. There were few safety nets and these folks were not much inclined to ask for charity. (I live in Northern Ohio, but there was enough of a migration of white Appalachian folks to this part of the country after WWII ended that a lot of the culture, religion, music, accents and work ethic became very familiar to people who had been here longer.)
So I think that their religion was more "real" and immediate to them, if only because they had virtually nothing else. Like you, Shane, I'm totally convinced of their sincerity. I'm a theist and Christian as well, but I do think they're somewhat (unintentionally) misguided in these traditions. I may be wrong, but I feel that the Bible assures us that God cares for us... I don't - however - believe that we are supposed to "tempt God," by deliberately exposing ourselves to danger. In other words, just because we *can* do something, doesn't mean we *should* do it.
Most of us are not much in a position to judge however! (I would be the last person to ever say: "Well, there go those Appalachians! when watching this.) Because every time we opt to refuse to wear that seat belt, get on that motorcycle without a helmet, not wear a mask in a dense crowd during a pandemic, or take another drink before driving home, are we acting any more rationally? Maybe not.
These church members had very few options for dealing with tremendous stress and uncertainty. As pentecostals, drinking and drug use were ruled out. There were (I would bet) probably zero psychiatrists in this small community. Simply pulling up stakes and moving out was not as easy as it might sound to a lot of us. Employment and educational options were pretty limited. So going to church, being among familiar people in a safe environment that allowed you to scream, fall on the floor, speak in tongues and do other emotionally charged and distracting things, all of that must have felt pretty therapeutic. My two cents' worth; which may not even be worth that! Many thanks again, Shane!
Great comment. Faith has always been such a huge part of life in rural Appalachia. I can’t imagine what life would have been like for non-believers because, without some sort of eternal hope or promise of a better day, I can’t begin to imagine how grim it would have felt to live in that environment.
@@realappalachia That's my feeling as well. Hard times can produce some rock solid faith.
Well, I go visit out of cultural interest. Don’t know that they’d let me in being Traditional Catholic. Those convulsions don’t look like the Holy Ghost to me, especially a woman throwing herself on top of men. Some could be under demonic influence, but a lot I think is a huge emotional release because most of these people lived hard lives. The tongue talking sounds like gibberish, pseudo-Hebrew, but it’s not Hebrew! I didn’t hear any language that I recognize, but under certain circumstances, I do believe in the Holy Ghost enabling people to speak and understand unlearned languages IF it’s for a special reason. There were some Catholic Saints who spoke and interpreted tongues. The devil can cause the same, however, so be careful. I once heard someone in a Catholic charismatic meeting calling down curses in Polish. I told the lady to be quiet because what she was saying wasn’t from God, and she cussed me out in Polish. Turns out she didn’t know Polish, so it was certainly NOT from God.
I like the guy who said “pye-yan-ah” instead of piano! That’s real old mountain talk.
Sorry, but I wouldn’t handle any poison snakes! I knew a feller who got bit by a copperhead in church, in Kentucky, refused medical help, and he died from it three days later. As for drinking strychnine, no thanks! No other poison, either!
That was plasma that came from your gash, but that normally doesn’t happen until the gash is stitched up or scabbed over in a few day’s time. It’s the body’s way of healing and maintaining a scab until it heals. So yes, I think God did some healing for you that day.
Are any of the people in the film still living? The young kids? And do people still worship this way?
Is it just me, or does this old man preaching at around 20 minutes saying that it doesn't matter where your from or what color you are but how you behave, at least in that instance, seem more progressive and open minded then most liberals today?
I believe in what God says! Amen
Well, that was interesting.
My late father is mentioned around the 11":10' mark.
About the healing; my great niece was born with severely clubbed feet, had surgery at just a few days old, casts from thigh to toes, then boots with a spacer bar, very delayed walker. Took her to my Apostolic church where the pastors wife anointed her little feet and prayed over them and a week later she stood on her own, not holding onto anything and took her first steps. She's almost three now, running, climbing, being a typical toddler and loves to march around the church during song service, clapping her little hands. Before that she wouldn't try to put her feet down if you tried to stand her up and help her walk, like she didn't know what to do with her legs and feet.
Just make sure she doesn't get into snake handling!
37:44 anyone know the name and/or words to this song? It’s very catchy!
I also believe that if it's an accident and it wasn't provoked and you trust in the Lord regardless if you live or die the word is the word but something in my spirit says when they intentionally handle them it is Tempting 🤔 Scripture says thou Shall not tempt the Lord
I actually feel sorry for the snakes! Those folks jump up and down holding the snakes, sling them around, so much commotion. No wonder the snakes bite!
This is an excellent video!!
I think we should bring these kind of church services back. People don't take God seriously anymore.
Who else got a little “rattled” by watching this? 😬
When someone speaks in tongues there should be one or two that prophesize what he says this is their custom their way of praying and nobody should judge
I don't judge anyone. My Bible KJV says if there is no interpreter, to speak to yourself or to God.
Exceptional documentary, vérité, lens wide open.
CM .............tough conditions , short reels and it looks like super 8 mm , must have had multiple cameras ???
As an animal lover, I feel bad for the snakes being tossed around like that. Take them outside and let them go free, the way the Lord intended!
I am an animal lover as well but these snakes were taken care of. They would be kept in families of the church members. They would be let loose. No snake was harmed that I was aware of.
Amen
God is amazing. This is real. These people of Appalachia are carrying the presence of god on earth. Says so in the bible that a group will carry gods prescence as the world mocks him and turns towards beast like actions. When serpent handling is gone the apocalypse follows. With what we know about interdimisional beings and dna your an idiot if you do not believe in Jesus. The bible is the book of truth.
My father was a snake handling preacher who kept snakes. There were taken care of and usually released every couple weeks and replaced with knew ones. Pregnant snakes were never kept. There was a method to the madness.
@@rebahensley5323 blessings to you n your family. God hasnt left the earth yet. Rattlers and Copperheads do not flee they look you in the eye and say leave me be like a rattler or I'm coming for ya like a copperhead. Being a world traveled Appalachian hillbilly that is scared out of my boots when i see any snake; there is power in the words of the Bible. Those snakes they dance with are biters. It has to be divine intervention.
Very interesting and informational. Thanks for showing this rare topic, snake handling.
God bless these people! I love and miss them something awful! They were wonderful people, the salt of the earth, and Godly people. I miss them and my grandparents who were a part of this all faith, but they attended Jolo.
The Real church! I was raised in by an old time holiness grandmother and I love speaking with tongues hbu. I miss the old campmeetings
Thank you for posting!! ☺️❤️🙏 I subscribed and shared with a bunch on Facebook
Thank you so much
I subscribed also.
@@jimhale8967 grateful you commented I'm gonna watch this again.god bless
What sweet people.
I would like to visit a church like that.
Not unless you are a mental patent. I grew up around this crap, know some now, the one thing you will find common is most of them are on disability for mental illness. Not as common now days as when i was growing up. But a few still are still going on. This entire way of worship can be traced back to one single man. A moonshiner who could not even read.
Luke 10:19 says we have power over serpents and scorpions but that means demons we have power over the enemy, I would not want to handle a snake awesome video.
I'm considering moving back to Harlan County Kentucky I would like to buy some land there and a fixer upper maybe if anybody has any insight my budget is not very high as I am just a Street Preacher painter nevertheless my goal is to move back to Harlan County Kentucky.
thanks for the great comment and scripture. I hope it works out for you to make it back to Harlan Co.
Interesting video, I attended Pentecostal services as a teenager, but have never been to a snake handling service. I think God must have his hand of protection upon these people. What has amazed me is people speaking in tongues. I have been at different services with completely different groups of people when someone speaks in tongues. What amazes me is I hear familiar words or phrases. I don’t understand what they are saying, but I recognize common words. There’s no way many of these folks could be picking up another language like that on their own. God’s hand is definitely on them.
At my grandfathers summer house on a lake in Southern Ohio, there was what he called “Holy Rollers”…Pentecostal. We would hear singing, shouting, pounding all over lake. To him the noise was meant to postalize. When I was 8 I snuck down the road during one of their services & peeked in the window.it looked just like this film, even the snakes. I believe snake handling & the strichnine was outlawed & they had to disband the church. It was 1962 when I saw through the window.
I grew up Catholic & went to parochial school. I never liked the ritualistic nature of it.
As an adult I joined the Southern Baptist Church & baptized there too. I couldn’t wear pants, play cards, drink. I was a Sunday School teacher to teenagers, & my husband was a deacon. “My kids” were everything to me & have many blessed stories about them. But then my husband started having an affair with my best friend. The Pastor said we could not divorce. When I filed I was thrown out of the church. My kids had a sit in at the Pastors door to protest. The next week my husband brought his lover to church & Pastor said nothing. His concern was getting my husbands 20% tithe & the church organ he donated to the church. The hypocrisy allowed me to see that I already had a relationship with Christ & I did not need manmade religion at all. Now I worship in the Spirit & in the church of His Creation & Beauty.
At my grandfathers summer house on a lake in Southern Ohio, there was what he called “Holy Rollers”…Pentecostal. We would hear singing, shouting, pounding all over lake. To him the noise was meant to postalize. When I was 8 I snuck down the road during one of their services & peeked in the window.it looked just like this film, even the snakes. I believe snake handling & the strichnine was outlawed & they had to disband the church. It was 1962 when I saw through the window.
I grew up Catholic & went to parochial school. I never liked the ritualistic nature of it.
As an adult I joined the Southern Baptist Church & baptized there too. I couldn’t wear pants, play cards, drink. I was a Sunday School teacher to teenagers, & my husband was a deacon. “My kids” were everything to me & have many blessed stories about them. But then my husband started having an affair with my best friend. The Pastor said we could not divorce. When I filed I was thrown out of the church. My kids had a sit in at the Pastors door to protest. The next week my husband brought his lover to church & Pastor said nothing. His concern was getting my husbands 20% tithe & the church organ he donated to the church. The hypocrisy allowed me to see that I already had a relationship with Christ & I did not need manmade religion at all. Now I worship in the Spirit & in the church of His Creation & Beauty.
@@Paula14609 The Bible states you can get a divorce due to adultry. The pastor was wrong according to his own faith.
Reminds me of Missionary Baptist church services I attended for many years without the snake handling, speaking in tongues, drinking poison and the dancing. The music was lively but only piano and guitars were used. Never tambourines. And no dancing was ever done. What was same were being spontaneous, kneeling to pray out loud and all together at one time. The testimony s.
Im from west md, west va, pa Appalachia region. Snake handling church advertises on the radio here.
Strange but so interesting ...a long way from my British Commonwealh life down-under-next to Australia life in New Zealand.
I’ve been fascinated by many Christian denominations and this was one of them. Thanks.
This is the true way to pray and worship Jesus
Elzie Preasts' hand was deformed after that. He was a great man. My father grew up with the Preast family as a very close family. He came to visit my father when he was dying in 1992. He lived a good life. My cousin knows more because she is older and I think she can identify some of the people in the video. Her dad may know even more but he is older. They all went to this church
I don’t know how that little girl fell asleep on the pew ( bench) with service going strong. She must of been exhausted 😇😇😇
I am so grateful for your respectful take on this. I'm 19 and I've grown up non-denominational but in some ways, I consider myself pentecostal as well and I totally understand where you're coming from. Thank you for clearing up the cliffhanger too!
ps. has anyone ever told you that you look like Mark Cuban of Shark Tank?
Really glad you enjoyed it, Maggie. I am glad you felt it was respectful. I grew up in that environment and it gave me an appreciation for faith that I still carry even today. I hear I look like 2 people almost equally as often - Mark Cuban and Simon Cowell lol. It always makes me laugh because it is almost 50-50 split at this point lol.
Good people and spirit here
Shane great tribute to your roots, and the truth is to everybody's roots, our roots of humanity! I follow you and Melody a lot.Now I can say with pride I knew you back then.Young man, Melody sure helped make something out of you!
Ha, I cant disagree
@@realappalachia Happy Sabbath you two!
Slain in the spirit.
Thanks for sharing this I attend a united pentecostal church I believe in the holy ghost but I too wonder if this is taking it too far
Faith and religion are powerful things, i respect them for their reasons 🙏
I will say this, It takes the anointing of God to take up the serpents. People think that these people just pick up snakes cause the bible tells them too. Thats not the case at all. There's an anointing that no harm can come too. Its something you can feel. I have felt it for my self. I have witnessed preachers get bit while preaching and no harm at all come upon them. Same with handling fire. I've seen it. A person could get lucky handling a snake and get away with it but there is no faking handling fire. so my point is its not just Faith but also something you can feel from God that lets you do these things.
...and then there was Pastor Coots who got bit and was dead in less than an hour. His son got bit not long after his death, after taking the church over. He and his family were so scared, they went to the hospital immediately. He was saved. Soon after, his sister was killed in a car accident. I wonder what happened that this family had so many hardships in a row? Hmm.
11:48 drinking strychnine, sad
Very interesting church. Back in 80s I've seen these kinda religious activities in Arizona, New Mexico on Navajo reservation, they called these " Holy Ghost Revivals. Everything is the same minus the snakes. I don't know if they still do those I left the rez long time ago.
Shane you done a great job on narrating and updating on this video! I would like to go to a snake handling church and observe it in person and do a story on it! Have you thought about doing that? It is very interesting to me and still goes on in parts of WVA , Kentucky and Tennessee and possibly Georgia. I often wondered about this video like after the bite that he possibly developed some immunity to this snake 🐍 bite, just a theory of mine! I assumed he did not die from it by the way he was acting! Others I have watched like the ones in Jolo WVA and a Pastor Jamie Coots in Kentucky that died from a rattle snake bite, he got deathly sick immediately throwing up sweating very violent sickness and eventually he passed away, I think his video is still out there it bite him on his face. I too am Pentecostal Holiness but not the snake handling part 😅 yes the Bible in Mark 16 does say, you shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, drink deadly poison etc and I do not condemn them for their literal interpretation of the Bible they have every right to follow their Biblical beliefs as Christians. There is another Pastor in Squires, WVA Randy Wolford they do it all, drink poison, snake handling, burn themselves w fire, etc you have probably seen all these videos I find them fascinating to say the least! Thanks for the video and update you always do a great job! 🙏✝️
What church are Dey at in scrabble creek??? I wanna go visit 1day
Not much left but a shell of the building. And that was 5 years ago.
Glory be to God ! ! !
Theres footage somewhere it's in b*w from way back its southern Baptist handling serpents outdoors at maybe a camp meeting one scene is a man preaching and serpent on the pulpit
You asked "How could usually simple speaking people interpret glossolalia in such an articulate and smoothly unbroken way?"
Ecstatic and hypnoidal states can engulf the problem-solving, personality centered, consciousness because they are older and more primary to survival than the named, civilized ego which modern life is arranged around. Psycho-physical reactions can come from this; one is increased eloquence due to sudden access to the very large amount of potentially retrievable information always within each person's subconscious.
You asked "How can they drink strychnine and be bit by vipers without severe effect?" There is a European man named Wim Hoff -I may have the spelling incorrect- who has taught himself to have strong conscious effect over what are normally considered subconscious human functions such as the anafilactic response, among others. I recommend watching the Vice News Channel's report on Mr. Hoff titled "The Ice Man."
You asked how is all the above possible? Well, as hard as this is to say, it turns out reality is a whole lot more than space, time and objects. I could go on but I'll just recommend a TED TALK by Dr. Jacques Vallee titled "A Theory of Everything, Else." If that wets your appetite try Dr. Donald Hoffman's TED TALK "Do We See Reality as it is?" If you watch these two fifteen minute talks PUT YOUR THINKING CAP ON and listen carefully.
You asked, "why would people do this?" I would say that once one has some sort of inkling of the existence of the paranormal the real question becomes just what is it that restrains us all from creating this stuff all the time?
Thanks for reading!
Jim
I just love the holiness folks ❤️🙏🔥🔥🔥
I'm a jesus name baptism pentecostal holy ghost filled man with tongues we don't handle snake we worship jesus not snakes
Their not worshipping the snakes
thou shall 'NOT' TEMPT THE lord THOU GOD!!
Fascinating Captain! Why do they look like Pentecostals!
Because they were a "branch" of trinity pentecostals
I was raised in a Pentecostal Holiness church, but not snake handling. Now that I’m older, I prefer serpent handling churches. It’s real and it’s powerful.
Your brave lol
@@kennethclaar922 How so?
@@ronnablair5575 handling snakes
See also "La processione dei Serpentari" in Cocullo-Italy !
I’d like to chat about growing up in a holiness community if it interests you.
sure thing
@@realappalachia I was also raised holiness.
@@scooterbugs25 Well are you born again?
I have been a Holiness preacher for 46 years, began pastoring a Nazarene church in 1975 at the age of twenty four. My grandparents were ‘Old Order Mennonites. In the early 1990’s I began to pastor as series of four independent Holiness ‘house churches’, I never looked back at the big ‘Mainline’ denominational church. I am satisfied in the Lord.
@@highwatercircutrider Amazing...... Do you consider yourself a "Bible" believer?
If so, which bible is the perfect, infallible and inerrant words of God Almighty? Is it in book form? Is it in English that you can hand me copy?
I will be awaiting your answers.. :)
It is real. A lot of fasting and prayer.
4:30 I though the preacher got stuck on a word for a minute. But then I realized they froze the video.
Allot of snakes in Congress
The convulsions of the various women in the film must have been the stycrine?
But, I’ve seen the same in others that undoubtedly were fasting.
I thought the same thing, apparently in low doses it's a stimulant as well. Pretty dangerous though.
No. Worshippers dance like this in Pentecostal churches where people don’t drink poison.
@@Star-dj1kw in Ashland Virginia they do
It's known as "shouting" in holiness/pentecostal churches, usually done when the spirit of the Lord is on someone
This was very interesting and thought provoking for me, I appreciate your narrative and rebuttal. What in life isn't a mystery? I'm going to ponder as objectivity as I possibly can...I think the fervor is an outlet and tonic for people who might otherwise be in dismal and very challenging situations. The neurotransmitters that are released, dopamine, norepinephrine and others, likely play a big part in these heightened behaviors. Some people feel more alive when faced with NDE, I was wired that way as a young man. There are still some behavioral patterns that are more residual now, but they're still present nonetheless. I feel like the question of God for me has always been ponderous, still I have a skepticism that belies, or at least quells an unadulterated faith in anything intangible. I think for me, the way I was created, gives me the motivation to question everything to an extent. The question of Gods existence is something I'll likely grapple with for the entirety of my physical sentient existence. That being said, I am a man who runs hot and cold, I've never understood that in-between place many seem to exist in. I liken that state to a form of mediocrity, which many call "balance" or normality. I don't live by concensus, so those so called "measurements" don't hold much value for me. The preacher who was "snake bitten" was a very charismatic and interesting person, I resonated with his "hot or cold" perspective. I find a lot of purity in commitment on either end of the spectrum as in "hot or cold". If each person lives in accordance with the purity of their "perceived truths" I think that is paying the "ultimate homage" to the gift of life. So, if numerous people gather and believe in the same perceived truth's, there is a lot of powerful energy there. We can call it "spirit" or holy ghost, but it's likely the same dynamic by any name. If people are inspired to live loving and benevolent lives, then the vehicle becomes justifiable, perhaps incidental to me. I do somehow believe we possess a soul, the origin might never be identifiable as there will always be more that we don't know. It's an immutable and irrefutable law of proveable physical science, energy cannot be destroyed, only harnessed and transferred. When I listen to a beautiful piece of music, read literature that is profound and insightful, view art and feel the love emitted by my dog, & many other things. I can't help but want to be connected to the universe in entirety, which I believe we are. Still the purported miracles that were written about over 2,000 year's ago seem a bit far fetched to me. I've come to believe that the essence of life itself is miraculous, so to juxtapose one to another seems futile and vapid. I don't think a universe could come from "nothing" because that word is non descript, there is not any way to decipher. Could it be that it always was, is there a requirement for an origin aside from our limited expectations, borne of physical law perspectives? The whole "He" thing always seemed a bit wonky, as there is masculine/ feminine, positive/negative throughout the fabric of all observable life. I sense dimensions that are just beyond my comprehension, yet they are perceptible. I find so many seeming contradictory messages and concept's in any religion I've studied. Obviously they were written by humans, we're fallible and biased by design, defense mechanisms, early conditioning, society etc. That being said, I don't want to be too verbose. These are not my perspectives or questions in entirety, but I felt compelled to share some of my thoughts. I was in Virginia as a young man, in the Eighties, Newport News at Fort Eustis. I felt a rich and powerful vibration that I found to be rather emotive, idyllic and rich. The Carolina's had me reeling too, perhaps I had ancestors there or even lived there in another life. Either way, I find the Appalachian mountains calling to me now at almost 60. There is something very intrinsically alluring, even beckoning on a very personal resonant frequency. Nature might just be the closest thing to God I'll ever conceive of, it's what we are for certain. Thanks for your post and open perspective. Sincerely, Anthony M.
I pray you find Jesus. Everything becomes clear when you do.
If you ... Remember even Jesus said don't tempt the LORD your GOD. Paul got bit by accident. I can go on and on. I am a preacher's son and I have been healed nore than one time.
I agree with you Shane! I love Jesus and I believe but I ain't touching a snake especially a rattler or a copper head! I see em occasionally and I let them be! 😆 Heck no! I can't judge them either but. They got some faith!
I'm with you on the serpent.
Still, I respect these people. I grew up in southern Appalachia. Only church I've ever attended, that I actually remember, was a pentecostal. I'm glad I got to witness
@@jasonburrell3508 no disrespect intended.
Does anyone know the song being sung around the 32:00 mark? Thanks!
I'm trying to figure out the one at the 37 minute mark. No one knows the name of that song.
Put me in coach!
Holiness people are a Peculiar people. God said Holiness without, ye are none of me. It's a way of life for them that believe. Most of the people that go to these churches grew up in the way and know the way. The power of God is real and takes good clean living. Following the word close.
It's scripture, it's happening , what's to reconcile except most don't have the faith JESUS testifies of. Broadway is always gonna clash with the narrow way.
It don't mean haul serpents to a church get bit crippled up fingers. God really wouldn't want no one to do that I sure. I was married in a church ike that. I even tell them Jesus wasn't meaning to pic a snake up. It's like if they don't got serpents they can't have church. But I'll not judge em. God will tell them one day he meant sending ppl in bad places to preach the gospel god did anoint his pastors that if the see danger in a path. They could move it not be hurt. 8boutta 10 in church gets bite
@@someguywithballsxboxpc7983 oh thanks , I was reading it like a child and your world's wisdom is mighty in your eyes. I'm sure Jesus Christ will appreciate you clarifying what he clearly wants 😂 yea GOD ALMIGHTY would never allow men to die.
I love to hear Melanie talk.