Pastor Jamie Coots, a snake-handling preacher who has been featured on National Geographic’s ‘reality’ show “Snake Salvation” died Saturday evening from – you guessed it, a snake-bite. Coots was the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church of Middlesboro, Ky.
In an episode of “Snake Salvation” Coots explained why he would never seek medical help if bitten…Again. “When I first started church I said if I ever went to a hospital or a doctor over a snake bite I would quit church,” In another episode Pastor Coots explained why he handled serpents. “To me it’s as much of a commandment from God when he said, ‘they shall take up serpents’ as it was when he ‘thou shall not commit adultery,” Coots said on the show of snake handling.
It never seems to work out well when someone cherry-picks a scripture from the Bible or any other holy book. In this case, the scripture Coots and others who handle serpents and drink poison quote from the Book of Mark is controversial.
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.
Not only is there controversy as to whether the faithful are charged to take up serpents,it is also disputed as to whether Mark 16:9-20 should even be included in the Bible.
Linda Coots describes the ecstatic feeling of handling poisonous vipers: “When you handle a serpent, it’s just one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life. It’s like a peace and a calm and a happiness, it’s just such a happiness and a joy! You can just feel the joy in your soul that you don’t just feel all the time.”
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As you’ll see in the video, taken in happier days, Mrs. Coots has a memento of the last time her husband was bitten. That time he only lost a finger. She kept the gruesome souvenir, telling her husband,”It’s so I’ll always have a piece of ya, no matter where ya go.” One wonders if she is gifted with precognition. Pastor Coots is indeed gone now. Despite efforts by emergency medical crews who were first alerted at 8:30, he would not accept treatment and was dead within approximately two hours. Reports did not state whether the snake was a rattle snake or another type of venomous snake. Other pastors have been caught with poorly secured collections of various dangerous vipers.
Kentucky is one of few states which still allows handling serpents in religious services, and Coots endeavored to keep the tradition alive despite run-ins with the law.
In February of 2013, he was sentence to a year of probation for crossing into Tennessee with venomous snakes. He was also arrested in 2008 for keeping 74 snakes in his home, according to National Geographic. (Ewwww!) National Geographic issued a statement praising the pastor’s “devout religious convictions despite the health and legal peril he often faced.”
It would take an entire article to explore the sudden interest several networks have taken in hill folk and their often illegal activities. Camera crews are crawling over hill and hollar and through swamps to follow seldom seen folks. In the interest of keeping it interesting, I wonder how many of the ‘stars’ take risks they normally wouldn’t? The added income would be great incentive to maintain the network’s interest. I realize certain believers have always taken up snakes, so perhaps National Geographic isn’t the target of my little critique. However on any given day, you’ll see the sons of moonshiners, protecting their crops with modern munitions. Others nervously raid national forests in search of valuable ginseng, armed and in hot pursuit by the forest service. Another channel over, and the swamps are crawling with men tackling alligators and giant snakes…And then there are Dance Moms, do we really need all of this?