Criminalizing Christianity – Taking Up of Serpents
America’s War on God
“17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” – Mark 16: 17-18
By Rev. Billy Ray Sunday
<chris†wire> Our Founding Fathers opposed state-sponsored religion thereby restraining the government from mandating a state religion; commonly referred to as separation of church and state. They also guaranteed all Americans the freedom of religion as scribed in the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
The Founding Fathers lived during a time when being literate or having an education was not available to everyone. It was therefore their intention to use common language when drafting the First Amendment to assure the common man would be capable of comprehending the text and intent of the law.
In September 1789 the Congress adopted the First Amendment to the Constitution, which, when ratified by the required number of states in December 1791, forbade Congress to make any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”
As our Founding Fathers intended the language used in the First Amendment is still clear to us centuries later. The First Amendment forbids Congress to enact any law respecting an establishment of religion.
So what does this mean? Would the First Amendment protect human sacrifice in religious ceremonies? No, human sacrifice is not protected under the First Amendment because of the free-exercise clause. The Supreme Court has interpreted this clause so that the freedom to believe is absolute, but the ability to act on those beliefs is not.
The Taking Up of Serpents
Although the text is absolute, the clause should not be interpreted to mean absolute right to a course of conduct just because it is permitted by one’s religion. The courts place some limits on the exercise of religion. Human sacrifice, polygamy, obscenity, child pornography, true threats, fighting words, incitement to imminent lawless action, criminal solicitation or defamation are not protected under the First Amendment.
From the above list of exclusions not protected under the First Amendment it’s clear the government has used the free-exercise clause to prohibit already existing criminal offenses such as, murder, polygamy, obscenity, crimes against children, terrorist threats,
riot, and unlawful solicitation. The only non-criminal offense listed is defamation which generally falls under civil statutes.
¹ The use of the word “respecting” in this context as a transitive verb is defined as, “to pay due attention to and refrain from violating something.” In this case the First Amendment.
Holiness Serpent Handlers
Serpent Handling Christian Worship Service
The taking up of serpents has been an established part of Christian worship in the US and parts of Canada for over 100 years. Geographically the practice in the US has been limited to churches in some southern states. A practice whose origins are found in the Appalachian Mountains of the South.
For serpent-handling churches the verses in Mark 16: 17-18 hold no symbolic value, they are the literal words of Jesus Christ from the gospel of Mark. The first serpent-handler was Moses. God turns the rod of Moses into a serpent in the Book of Genesis; Moses then picked up the serpent out of his faith and trust for God.
Mark 16: 17-18 gives five signs that when practiced will follow them that believe. The signs are: Speaking in tongues, healing the sick, casting out of demons, taking up serpents and drinking poison. Today Jack-Christians aka: Counterfeit Christians are willing to believe in the first three signs, but reject the last two. The Bible says that “these signs will follow them that believe.” No place does Scripture say followers can pick and choose what signs they will practice.
Sister Martha Exercising Her 1st Amendment Right to Worship
The taking up of serpents therefore is nothing more than an act of faith. The intent of the First Amendment is not to use the free-exercise clause to criminalize acts of faith which if they were to occur outside the church would not fall under criminal or civil statutes. But in the case of serpent handling churches several states have enacted state statutes that outlaw this act of faith. It is outright discrimination and persecution of Christians solely based on our religious faith.
If you or I were to walk out into our backyard and get bit by a poisonous snake and were to die as a result of the bite, have we broken any laws? No. As Christians we would see this incident as an act of God. The Lord called us home when it was our time. In others words this would never be treated as a homicide. By the way should the bite not prove to be fatal Christians would recognize this as an act of God to, it simply wasn’t our time yet. And the police would not arrest the snake for my attempted murder.
Brother Junior “J.W.” Warren Freely Worships in Church
Same circumstances, you walk into your yard and see a deadly snake and decide to pick it up. Have you broken a law? The church is God’s house and Christian petitioners recognize the church as an extension of our own homes. So if you or I decided to attend a church service where snake-handling occurs as an act of faith, are we breaking the law? And say I were bitten during the service and died as a result, I know it’s my time to be with the Lord.
There is NO CRIME here… only freewill to practice one’s own faith. I am often asked to explain myself as an Alabama serpent-handling preacher in a state that has outlawed the taking up of serpents during church services or in worship. My answer comes from the Bible… Scripture commands us to obey the laws of man. However the laws of man hold no weight with us since this one law goes against the covenant of God. And the Bible teaches “better to obey God than to obey man.”
Obama’s War on Christianity
Praise the Lord!
Rev. Billy Ray Sunday
- Sinful
- Suspicious
- Scared
- Sad
- Amused
- Laughing Out Loud
Author: Rev. Billy Ray
Rev. Billy Ray Sunday is 3rd generation preacher. He lives in Forkland, AL and is a journalist for chrisTwire.com.
8:57 pm
Crazy @ss crackers. We black folk don’t mess with no snakes.
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5:54 pm
Militant Negro, My brother I confess I too have always had a fear of spiders & snakes since I was a kid. But through my faith in Christ I overcame that fear. But I don’t blame anyone for feeling as you do, actually I think that’s just natural.
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1:46 pm
I have several spiders that crawl across my floor regularly, I welcome them, they keep to themselves mostly and keep the real pests out.
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8:36 pm
So Funny- I am a crazy Cracker and I just want to say I do not want to mess with snakes either” I am standing with my dark brother over here” Of course if we are talking about the Bible and reference to” Serpents “The Devil” He was the serpent in the beginning” and I believe anyone else that stands with him is a serpent as well……I think people are taking the Bible out of text” And that is okay” I love and forgive you right or wrong”You like playing with snakes” Go for it”I’ll pray for you”
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8:58 pm
As an Appalachian Woman, I agree that Handler’s are very much in the cross hairs in the war on religion.
Thank you for this beautiful article.
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10:56 pm
Didn’t you write an article on snake handlers a while back?
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4:08 pm
Yes, I did. I’ve attended a service in real life as well. There are more handlin’ churches than you will find on the internet, usually small family churches. Everyone is very friendly and after church fellowship is wonderful.
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9:18 pm
So you bitch about how you can’t handle snakes legally or some shit, state that it was because of the founding fathers that this is so, and then you blame it on Obama.
“Today Jack-Christians aka: Counterfeit Christians are willing to believe in the first three signs, but reject the last two.”
The bible says to love thy neighbor and so forth, and a shit ton of other stuff, and yet you all will just blissfully ignore the parts you disagree with whenever it’s convenient for you. ‘Pre-martial sex is wrong, but women should be used as my sex rags whenever I want’. ‘Women should be silent and serve man, unless we say otherwise’. ‘This person is committing a sin, but it doesn’t apply to me just because’. The list just goes on and on and on.
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9:37 pm
Dude, get a grip. You totally lost it.
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9:50 pm
That’s rich, coming from an alcoholic asshole who’s so desperate for attention, he ends up backing up his delusional and idiotic fellow cult members.
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9:54 pm
What do you do for a living?
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9:58 pm
I can’t wait to read the response….
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10:03 pm
And what does my job have to do with anything? I could say anything and the more positive it sounds, the less likely it is you’d believe me. What, can’t think of actual arguments against me, so you have to insult me? You can’t even make the attempt at proving me wrong so you have to resort to being a school yard bully?
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10:07 pm
I will believe you. You are just on here so much… You shatter every record for postings (or will by the end of the year). So let’s get to know you since you seem to care so much. You don’t need to be specific. Let’s start with work.
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10:15 pm
Yeah, you don’t need to know one single detail about my life. People like you are so sick and depraved, that you’ll look for any opening whatsoever and use that against people, just because you can’t actually find fault with their argument that proves you completely and utterly wrong. You’ve never been able to prove that you aren’t racist, and the evidence that you are is astounding. You’ve never been able to actually back anything you say without it completely blowing up in your face.
You want to know why I’m on here so much? I’ll tell you this much: much of what I do in my life, be it personal or work-related, involves a computer and the internet. I’m also fairly adept at multi-tasking, and quite a fast typer, meaning that whenever there isn’t much going on, I can hop on here, so what you morons have posted, and then tell you just why you’re wrong, and see you get pissed off and try to attack my personal character, just because you can’t defend yourselves properly.
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10:18 pm
So you post out of your parents basement then
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10:35 pm
Where did I say that? And like I said, no matter what I say, you won’t believe me. You’re nothing but a hateful prick who wants to piss me off. What’s funny is just how much you fail at doing so.
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10:59 pm
what ever he does he is so ashamed of it that he wont mention it. Of course we all know he has no job. He is a complete loser.
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11:07 pm
“what ever he does he is so ashamed of it that he wont mention it. Of course we all know he has no job. He is a complete loser.”
Like I said, you bastards wouldn’t believe me, and if I did tell you, I wouldn’t put it past you freaks to harass my work place. You’re that desperate to get at me, you’d do whatever you possibly could to try to piss me off. Hell, look at your weak-ass responses. ‘Lives with his mother’, ‘shut in’, ‘loser’, and so on. You can’t even prove me wrong, can you?
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3:27 am
It’s usually the poor and lazy in society that reject religion and learn to hate Christ and His followers because of shear jealousy.
Satan preys on the most vulnerable among us.
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10:11 pm
This is an absolute outrage. What’s next, Obama outlawing baptism or prayer in CHURCHES? You don’t see him harrassing islamists and their crazy pagan cat rituals
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10:53 pm
@ LN – “The bible says to love thy neighbor and so forth, and a shit ton of other stuff, and yet you all will just blissfully ignore the parts you disagree with whenever it’s convenient for you.”
1st: My story is based on Mark 16: 17-18 and a small section from the First Amendment to the US Constitution. what have I blissfully ignored? Love thy neighbor hey I’m all for that. So what specifically are you referring to when you say… “and a shit ton of other stuff, and yet you all will just blissfully ignore the parts you disagree with whenever it’s convenient for you.”
I don’t know why you’re so hostile, but nothing in my story fits into the description of “a shit ton of other stuff.” What stuff?
Its difficult to tell whose going to freak-out and loose it first… LN or Claire? Both are so violently full of rage that it cannot be healthy.
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11:02 pm
Rev. Sunday your article was wonderful to read. It’s only to bad that God’s choosen nation and people are under the thumb of this Muslum (Godless) president and his War on Christianity. Nobama in 2012!!!
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8:18 pm
Ugly white demon.
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8:24 pm
The president is from here in America, Obama isnt muslim.
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5:27 pm
Muslim believe in a God called Allah ( actually Allah is the arabic translation name for God
it’s like saying people who believe in DIeu ( God in french ) are godless
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11:04 pm
“1st: My story is based on Mark 16: 17-18 and a small section from the First Amendment to the US Constitution. what have I blissfully ignored?”
How about the rest of the bible whenever the situation arises? There’s wearing clothing made of different materials or working on the sabbath or women talking out of turn, and so forth.
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11:17 pm
@ LN – “How about the rest of the bible whenever the situation arises?”
LN I asked you to be specific. Citing “the rest of the Bible” hardly qualifies. Concerning the rest of your post regarding… “wearing clothing made of different materials or working on the sabbath or women talking out of turn.”
This isn’t the 11th century LN. Either you’re exaggerating or you actually believe that Christianity is still somehow locked in the Middle-Ages.
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11:21 pm
“LN I asked you to be specific. Citing “the rest of the Bible” hardly qualifies.”
I give you specifics and you ignore them. Then you say how those specifics are wrong or outdated, basically. Do you ever bother to think?
“This isn’t the 11th century LN. Either you’re exaggerating or you actually believe that Christianity is still somehow locked in the Middle-Ages.”
So if certain things in the bible no longer apply because so much time has passed, why do you vehemently despise homosexuals marrying and adopting children?
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9:30 am
LN – Congrats you’ve finally asked something specific… “So if certain things in the bible no longer apply because so much time has passed, why do you vehemently despise homosexuals marrying and adopting children?”
I think your perception about Christians
vehemently despising homosexuals is somewhat wrapped. Christians are commanded to love thy neighbor above all else.
Sadly some Christians, like the Westboro Baptist Church gets into the news with their “God Hates _____” signs in the media. And the fact is they’re absolutely wrong!
God hates the sin but not the sinner. Homosexuality is a sin, just like wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
Homosexuality is a sin but its no worst of a sin than sloth or envy. Sin is sin, there is no one sin better or worst then another.
I’m sure that the Westboro Baptist think their serving God properly. The fact is the method they use to get the message out is to use hate. And for that they’re wrong.
On homosexuality the Bible says…
Leviticus 18:22 KJV)
22 “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”
Leviticus 20:13 KJV)
“13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
The Bible does not authorize man to judge others. That is God’s job and I don’t have time to take on God’s work. Sadly some Christians get very negative, hurtful, condemning, and become self righteous. They make us all look bad. When a gay person dies, he or she will stand before God to be judged, as will I. I’m content with letting God do His job. Thanks LN for asking.
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12:59 pm
“Christians are commanded to love thy neighbor above all else. ”
So your idea of loving people is to beat them up and torture them to a point where they commit suicide? Prevent them from getting married and telling them that they can’t be happy with the one they love? That if their loved one is sick and close to dying that they can’t be by their side at the hospital or make any decisions or do anything to help save their lives?
“God hates the sin but not the sinner.”
Funny how that seems to get blurred quite often, no?
“The Bible does not authorize man to judge others.”
Another funny thing, in that seems to not ever really apply to certain people.
As for using the bible to call homosexuality a sin, I again point to the fact that women must be silent, crops can’t grow in the same soil, not to wear different materials of clothing, and so forth, and yet your response is that was “This isn’t the 11th century LN. Either you’re exaggerating or you actually believe that Christianity is still somehow locked in the Middle-Ages.” It’s in the bible, it says it right there, I’m not exaggerating anything. Hell, if anything, I’m leaving out just what the punishment for the offenders is, and if you want the answer to that, odds are it’s either death or stoning, which typically leads to death.
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11:39 pm
Dear LN,
Homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to marry children.
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4:56 am
I`m intersted to know , what is the actual significance of handling snakes at a church gathering ?? Is it for wowing the audience and effect ?? I don`t get it . Why would anyone want to pick up a poisonous snake and wave it around with the added risk of getting bitten by it ? And what would this have to do with any biblical teaching ? Does God command us to pick up snakes ?
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9:05 am
@ Charles – Thanks for your question. Yes Jesus commands us to take up serpents in Mark 16: 17-18.
“17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” – Mark 16: 17-18
Read the article this time its all explained in the text. For snake-handling churches Mark 16: 17-18 has no symbolic value… these are the words of Jesus to be taken literally.
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11:36 am
Rev. Sunday I admit to being fearful of spiders and snakes, but as a Christian and an American I support your effort to educate people about acts of faith! Good job and my thanks. God bless.
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8:23 pm
God hates you.
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3:37 pm
@ LN – “So your idea of loving people is to beat them up and torture them to a point where they commit suicide?”
LN I challenge you to find anywhere that I have said or written anything that remotely sounds like your comment above. And stoning people to death still goes on in some countries around the world. Do I approve of it? Absolutely not!
And when was the last time any person was stoned to death the in US?
If you were anally raped by your priest as a child then I could understand the hate & rage you portray here on chrisTwire. If not then the only conclusion I can come to by reading your comments is that you hate all things Christian and you have decided to spread your anti-Christian hate here on this site.
I hope and pray LN that you will one day overcome your unwarranted fear of Christians and learn to live in peace with us and others. Best of luck to you.
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8:26 pm
“LN I challenge you to find anywhere that I have said or written anything that remotely sounds like your comment above.”
True, you’ve never directly said that, but look at the shit that goes on: people getting beaten up for being gay, people like you telling them that being gay is wrong, people telling them that they can’t get married because they’re gay, and then you assholes constantly saying that gay people rape children, which is nothing but spreading more lies and hate their way. It’s not a surprise anymore to hear someone who’s gay kill themselves because you assholes tried to shame him or just flat-out torture him by either saying nasty shit or put them into some ‘conversion camp’ bullshit that makes them hate themselves more.
“And stoning people to death still goes on in some countries around the world. Do I approve of it? Absolutely not!”
Except it’s still in the damn BIBLE, and you just pick-and-choose what to follow. Why do you choose to believe that homosexuality is a sin when you don’t believe that it’s alright to beat someone to death with a stone just because they wore two different types of clothing or some other form of nonsense?
“If not then the only conclusion I can come to by reading your comments is that you hate all things Christian and you have decided to spread your anti-Christian hate here on this site.’
No, I hate people who call themselves Christians and yet act the very opposite of how Christ would. I’ll forgive moments of weakness or a few, small exceptions that are constantly made, but when you support people who want to kill and murder innocent people just because they have the false delusion and thought that different countries want the USA wiped off the face of the Earth, or think that gay people are an atrocity (or in some cases, not even human) or think that people who aren’t white are filled with hate and use nothing but stereotypes to describe each and every single one of them, or do nothing but lie just to bloat their ego to hell and back, I’m NOT going to be nice to you. You’ve already proven that you’re an absolute bastard and a monster when you willingly side with people who are that hateful, and you even approve of their behavior.
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11:48 pm
And LN… who are you to judge? Your negitive posts are strickly judgemental. The real world sucks, it has always sucked and it will continue to suck. The difinition of “suck” in this case is all the hate, violence and injustice you just mentioned. You think the reverend or August or myself can just snap our fingers and make the world right? It doesn’t work that way. Life is a struggle, life means standing by your convictions even in the face of opposition. Injustices as you described occured in Biblical times and it goes on far to much today. How you’ve come to the conclusion that Christians are to blame for everything bad is beyond me.
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12:05 am
“And LN… who are you to judge?”
How does this question or my possible answers have anything to do with the fact that you people are extremely sick minded? What in the world gives YOU the right to torture individuals for being different?
“Your negitive posts are strickly judgemental.”
You mean my posts point out your hypocrisy and disgusting attitudes.
“You think the reverend or August or myself can just snap our fingers and make the world right? It doesn’t work that way.”
No, but you can certainly start by accepting the fact that homosexuals shouldn’t be treated the way they are by the majority of you sick-minded freaks when some of you even admit to the fact that you’ll disregard certain parts of the bible just because they’re outdated. You pick and choose what to follow, and yet you all seem to pick the same damn parts that are hateful and disgusting.
“Life is a struggle, life means standing by your convictions even in the face of opposition.”
You people bitch about whenever homosexuals are gaining more ground when it comes to getting the right to be married.
“Injustices as you described occured in Biblical times and it goes on far to much today.”
Yet you’ll follow the idea that gay people are bad from misinterpreted readings of the bible, just because some insecure jackass’s thought that gay sex was bad.
“How you’ve come to the conclusion that Christians are to blame for everything bad is beyond me.”
Oh gee, the lines ‘God says homosexuality is an abomination’ kinda comes to mind, considering that the majority of people who believe in God and are in America tend to be Christian.
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4:17 pm
mannnn I will never handle a snake whatsover even if I were a christian
I also have something for you
“If You can’t appreciate your freedom, you don’t need it”
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1:53 pm
I wonder what snake tastes like. come to think of it I wonder how snakes got the reputations it has. In modern Christianity: a sign of deceit and trickery. In Paganism and Wicca: fertility and good fortune.
maybe snakes are dragon babies
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