Full Article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... tor-martyr
Snake-handling pastor Jamie Coots hailed as 'martyr' after fatal bite. Preachers who practice handle poisonous snakes during church services vow to continue tradition despite deaths and illegality
Coots died on Saturday night after being bitten on the right hand during a service at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church. The 42-year-old, who featured prominently in the National Geographic series Snake Salvation, refused medical attention on religious grounds.
His son, Cody, said his family had expected him to survive because he had been bitten eight times before. “Everybody was getting in, shouting, taking up serpents, speaking in tongues, handling fire,” he told Kentucky’s WKYT-TV. “You could just feel the power of God.”
Because nothing says Hope and Salvation quite like a freshly chlorinated gene pool with a promise of further cleansing.