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Charles Page | PentecostalTheology.com
Church of God Evangel October 23, 1915. Tennessee state overseer, George Brouayer wrote this report for a revival in Southside, Tennessee.
It is a report of signs following believers.
Melvin Harter [03/05/2016 3:09 AM]
I like it. I saved it
Kimberly Ervin Alexander [03/05/2016 11:23 AM]
Yep.
Troy Day [03/05/2016 7:15 PM]
Does this have to do with one George Hensley witnessing a 1910 serpent handling at an outside church service in Cleveland, Tennessee? http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/snake-handling-in-the-dolly-pond-church-of-god/
Varnel Watson
This is not a wired post John Ruffle In fact Chattanooga’s WTVC-TV NewsChannel 9 has recently expressed interest in investigating snake handling practices in southeast TN http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/?p=23049
V. Rev. Timothy Cremeens, PhD
Living in northeast Alabama, I am quite familiar with Snake-handling churches. Sand Mountain, a region just east of Huntsville about 30 minutes, was the home of the late Southern Gospel Singer, Vestal Goodman of the Happy Goodman Family (her husband was A/G and she was CofG. She did not attend a snake-handling church.
In northeast Alabama there are three types of Holiness churches: the “straight” Holiness churches that are strict (uncut hair & dresses only for women, etc.), “second-work of grace” folks, who believe in being “Saved & Sanctified”. Then there are the Pentecostal Holiness churches, not to confused with IPHC, who are Wesleyan-Pentecostals, that believe in “three works of grace”, being saved, then sanctified, then the Baptism of the Holy Ghost “with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. THEN there are the Holiness churches that are Pentecostal & also practicing snake handling.
Whenever I’ve talked to “snake-handling” Pentecostals they are very CLEAR, that one does NOT even attempt to “pick up serpents” unless they are SURE the Holy Ghost has anointed them to do so. No arrogance or flippant attitudes, “make SURE you are in the Spirit before you take up the serpents.” I have seen elderly women very calmly go up on the platform, open a box and take out 3 or 4 rattle snakes at a time and hold them in front of their faces, as they were praying/worshipping in tongues. The snakes seemed curious but not threatening.
On the walls of the church building were photos of people who had “taken up the serpents” without being “in the Spirit”. Some of them were deceased (a half dozen), the others had been bitten but survived “as a testimony and warning” to those who would attempt such a foolish thing in the flesh!
Anonymous
Dale M. Coulter Tony Richie I’ve been to the Sand Mt. snake handling church before with some good ol cog folks there and can attest to what Timothy Cremeens, PhD posted in the comment HOWEVER there were signs on the church walls everywhere that women and children are NOT permitted to participate in the snake handling – something Philip Williams Link Kyle Williams Brett Dobbs may want to experience personally
Living in northeast Alabama, I am quite familiar with Snake-handling churches. Sand Mountain, a region just east of Huntsville about 30 minutes, was the home of the late Southern Gospel Singer, Vestal Goodman of the Happy Goodman Family (her husband was A/G and she was CofG. She did not attend a snake-handling church.
In northeast Alabama there are three types of Holiness churches: the “straight” Holiness churches that are strict (uncut hair & dresses only for women, etc.), “second-work of grace” folks, who believe in being “Saved & Sanctified”. Then there are the Pentecostal Holiness churches, not to confused with IPHC, who are Wesleyan-Pentecostals, that believe in “three works of grace”, being saved, then sanctified, then the Baptism of the Holy Ghost “with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. THEN there are the Holiness churches that are Pentecostal & also practicing snake handling.
Whenever I’ve talked to “snake-handling” Pentecostals they are very CLEAR, that one does NOT even attempt to “pick up serpents” unless they are SURE the Holy Ghost has anointed them to do so. No arrogance or flippant attitudes, “make SURE you are in the Spirit before you take up the serpents.” I have seen elderly women very calmly go up on the platform, open a box and take out 3 or 4 rattle snakes at a time and hold them in front of their faces, as they were praying/worshipping in tongues. The snakes seemed curious but not threatening.
On the walls of the church building were photos of people who had “taken up the serpents” without being “in the Spirit”. Some of them were deceased (a half dozen), the others had been bitten but survived “as a testimony and warning” to those who would attempt such a foolish thing in the flesh! https://www.pentecostaltheology.com/taking-up-the-serpent/
Anonymous
Troy Day lol no snake handling for me.
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs you are non praxing Pentecostal as Terry already said
Anonymous
Troy Day 1 Corinthians 10:9 (KJV) Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Anonymous
Brett Dobbs how do you mean this by NOT testing your faith?
Anonymous
Dale M. Coulter Link Hudson I was probably the LAST person to visit Dolly Pond before they sold it. There was some joke-of-an-AG doctoral candidate David took there but they could not even find the yellow colored church which now stands on a private property. They did find a snake skin in the brush which made them run far away never to return there again BUT then again David did not know about the Reliance museum releasing some early cog exodus-Baptist churches so I stick to my earlier testimony here: “I have been to the Dolly Pond (TN area- just north of Chattanooga) where Serpent Handling originated under the ministry of George Hensley. I heard this from Bro. Perry Beattis who was converted under Bro. Hensleys ministry. They said, in the 20’s, George Hensley was not a popular Church of God preacher. He was against drinking, smoking, shewing and just about every vice those Tennessee hill folks loved. He preached holiness hard and uncompromisingly. One night, some good ol’ boys decided to run this preacher off. They bagged up some rattlesnakes and turned them loose in the church while Bro. Hensley was preaching. People began screaming and running out the door. When Bro. Hensley saw what was happening, he said God spoke these words to him- Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. The Spirit of the Lord came upon the brother and he walked back, picked up the snakes and they all fell dead. When the hooligans saw Bro. Hensley standing there holding a hand full of dead snakes, the fear of God fell on them and they all ran to the altar. Later, that “act” of faith and obedience became a doctrine- a “standard” by which anothers persons spirituality is judged
Anonymous
That popular book on Sand Mountain mentions the leader as learning snake handling from the Halley brothers. One of those brothers died from drinking strychnine. The other was my boyhood Sunday School teacher, though he had stopped handling snakes.
Anonymous
I heard this from Bro. Perry Beattis who was converted under Bro. Hensleys ministry. They said, in the 20’s, George Hensley was not a popular Church of God preacher. He was against drinking, smoking, shewing and just about every vice those Tennessee hill folks loved. He preached holiness hard and uncompromisingly. One night, some good ol’ boys decided to run this preacher off. They bagged up some rattlesnakes and turned them loose in the church while Bro. Hensley was preaching. People began screaming and running out the door. When Bro. Hensley saw what was happening, he said God spoke these words to him- Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. The Spirit of the Lord came upon the brother and he walked back, picked up the snakes and they all fe
Anonymous
Troy Day that’s very similar to how a Pentecostal Church in Norfolk VA, founded by 4 women began handling snakes. Some young thugs loosed rattlesnakes in their meeting. These sisters were in the Spirit. They just picked up those snakes as if a normal thing to do. They begin doing other things. One lady i knew for about 70 years was in that church as a girl. She was mostly Injun as we used to say. She had long black hair, which she would let down into a bellowing coal stove that kept the church warm. She would not have even the smell of burning when she pulled her hair out of that burning stove.
These Scriptures promise supernatural protection from all manner of danger.
Anonymous
Philip Williams Oliver mtukudzi house, Placita olvera los angeles church, Us or uk version of … Actions for ipad mavericks, Mary barnett norfolk va, Vitapur bambus odeja https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/snake-handlers-appalachia-changing-practices
Anonymous
False spirituality.
Anonymous
Duane L Burgess Mark 16?
Anonymous
First, the end of Mark 16 does not appear in all manuscripts, so you need to find other support in Scripture for so called “snake handling” (which is totally misrepresented and complete foolishness).
Second, if it is legitimate, show us also those drinking poison and being unharmed, and those, at will, raising the sick. You can’t take the snakes without the rest of the context. (Mark 16 is the ONLY place that speaks of poison. We have NO evidence in Scripture anywhere of one taking up poison and not being hurt).
And, even if legitimate, it was already fulfilled when
Paul was bitten by a snake but unharmed (Acts 28).
Signs and miracles took place through the Apostles.
This is just like when Jesus said in Mark 9:1,
“…there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come in power.”
That was fulfilled shortly afterward on the “Mount of Transfiguration.”
Mark 9: 2, ff.
The miraculous sign gifts, the signs of an Apostle, ceased in the first century.
This is the problem with the whole Pentecostal anomaly: lack of discernment and a failure to understand sound biblical exegesis and hermeneutics.
Anonymous
Duane L Burgess how does this matter one little bit? How do you know the end of Mark 16 does not appear in all manuscripts – have you examined all manuscripts? Do we even have all manuscripts right now? This is pretty liberal in my own text critical estimate Philip Williams
Anonymous
Duane L Burgess i see you are an unbelieving liberal. Of course this passage had to be in the original. Otherwise, no way that all four manuscript traditions would have added such a passage. Explaining its deletion is easy. Likely, it was Origen who left it out of some manuscript though he knew it was part of the original.
Anonymous
Philip Williams well I am a BIBLE scholar – scholarship demands science SO if doubting every the word the pope say is liberal then count me in
Anonymous
Troy Day does scholarship require knowing God?
Anonymous
Philip Williams how is this anything theological ?
Anonymous
Troy Day theology is neither a biblical concept nor practice.
Anonymous
Philip Williams says who – certainly cant be you stating any of this
Anonymous
Troy Day i think the first Christian to employ the word was Clement of Alexandria, a man much taken by Greek philosophy. But we have the very words of God. We don’t need systematic theology.
Anonymous
Clement of ROME preached the pre-trib rapture doctrine well
Anonymous
Troy Day Clement of Alexandria! But all of these men regarded the Church as the true Israel. None of them taught your kind of PreTrib.
Anonymous
but Clement of ROME preached the pre-trib rapture doctrine
Anonymous
Duane L Burgess , Philip Williams been doin it and done done it 4Jesus
Anonymous
Troy Day someone hands me that critter. I cry out to Jesus!
Anonymous
Philip Williams how do you mean?
Anonymous
Troy Day protect me from this serpent!
Anonymous
Philip Williams what does this mean?
Anonymous
Troy Day it’s called a prayer to Jesus.
Anonymous
Hensley’s sister in law had a church in Claiborne County TN. They met once a month. I attended, but didn’t handle the varmints (her words). I could go deeper into my experiences there, but while I didn’t practice, I will say they loved the Lord. She was very kind to me and even claimed to have seen me in a vision. I also got to know the oneness church outside of Middlesboro KY. It was famous due to the deaths from bites there. I also think they loved the Lord. Duane I knew many who were bitten or drank poison and were unharmed. They only did it when they claimed “the power” had come on them. Duane have you ever met any who did that?
Anonymous
being from Jellico / Jasper my knowest them well. However you probably mean McMinn Co. too close to home @ Locust Street Church Philip Williams seen his granny doin’ it but he never had the courage. Of course he has been round here since Noah landed his boat and let the chicuns out n bout
Anonymous
Troy Day no it was Claiborne outside of Tazewell/New Tazewell on the gap.
Anonymous
John Mushenhouse there are Oneness anke handlers? I didn’t know those two movements converged.
Anonymous
Link Hudson oh yes — the most famous one in Middlesboro Ky where the preacher died is oneness. I used to pray with him although I deny his theology.– https://www.thestate.com/living/religion/article216995475.html
Anonymous
Gabriel Dettinger did you read this with Brett Dobbs Ben Bottke Link Hudson and Darnell Henson Jr. holly roller Philip Williams been doin it and done done it