THERE ARE SOME FOLKS IN THE COUNTRY WHO BELIEVE THAT
YOU SHOULD BE HANDLING SNAKES IF YOU ARE RELIGIOUS BECAUSE THEY
GET THAT FROM A BIBLE VERSE THAT I'M GOING TO TELL YOU ABOUT.
ONE OF THOSE FOLKS IS JOHN DAVID BRAUN.
HE BELONGED TO THE HOLINESS FAITH.
HE LIVES DOWN IN KENTUCKY AT A PENTECOSTAL CHURCH.
HE DECIDED HE WAS GOING TO HANDLE SNAKES.
HE GOT BIT.
BUT THAT'S OKAY, BECAUSE THE WHOLE POINT IS IF IT BITES
YOU, YOU JUST PRAY OVER IT AND YOU'RE FINE.
HE DIED FOUR HOURS LATER.
OKAY, SO WHAT VERSE ARE THEY REFERRING TO?
TRUE FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST SAYS MARK 16:18,
WILL PICK UP SNAKES WITH THEIR HANDS AND WHEN THEY DRINK
DEADLY POISON, IT WILL NOT HURT THEM AT ALL, THEY WILL
PLACE THEIR HANDS ON SICK PEOPLE AND THEY WILL GET WELL.
THAT'S WHY THE PENTECOSTALS DO ALL THOSE GOOFY THINGS WITH
THE SNAKES AND END UP DYING.
AND THEY WILL PUT THEIR HANDS ON PEOPLE.
YOU ARE HEALED.
THE FACT THAT THEY REMAIN COMPLETELY UNHEALED HAS
NEVER BOTHERED ANYONE.
MORE EXPLANATION.
HOLINESS FOLLOWERS BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL STOP THE SNAKES
FROM BITING THEM, THEN GOD WILL SAVE
THEM FROM THE POISONOUS EFFECTS OF THE VENOM.
THAT'S AN INTERESTING THEORY.
LET'S SEE IF THAT TURNS OUT TO BE CORRECT.
THERE IS A REPORT RECENTLY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN DOING
THIS FOR A LONG TIME.
HE HAS BEEN HANDLING SNAKES.
THEY EXPLAIN ON NPR THAT COOTS HAS BEEN BIT NINE TIMES BY
VENOMOUS SNAKES.
EACH TIME HE REFUSED MEDICAL ATTENTION.
HALF OF HIS RIGHT
MIDDLE FINGER IS GONE AS A RESULT OF A BITE FROM A
YELLOW RATTLER.
IN 1995, A WOMAN WAS BIT IN HIS CHURCH AND REFUSED TO GO TO
THE HOSPITAL.
SHE DIED ON COOT'S COUCH WHILE CHURCH MEMBERS PRAYED
OVER HER.
IT'S WEIRD THAT THE PRAYER DIDN'T WORK.
I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT?
COOTS IS GOING TO BE FINE.
JAMIE COOTS, KNOWN FOR HANDLING POISONOUS RATTLESNAKES AND
FEATURED ON THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC REALITY SERIES,
MAKE SALVATION, WAS BITEN ON HIS RIGHT HAND AND DIED IN HIS
HOME AFTER REFUSING MEDICAL TREATMENT.
CODY COOTS WAS HIS SON.
NOW CODY TURNS OUT, HE SEES IS THAT DYING, AND
SAYS NO BIG DEAL, I STILL GOT THIS.
THEY NEVER LEARN.
SO THE COOTS ñ THIS NEW GUY GETTING KILLED, JUST HAPPENED.
BUT THAT'S THE THING, ONCE YOU LET GO OF LOGIC AND REASON,
YOU ARE INTEREST.
YOU WANT TO HAVE FAITH, BUT WHAT DO YOU BASE YOUR FAITH ON?
DON'T YOU HAVE TO USE LOGIC TO DECIDE WHAT TO HAVE FAITH IN?
BUT IF YOU DON'T USE LOGIC, WHAT DO YOU USE?
THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE USE WHATEVER RELIGION THEY
HAPPENED TO BE BORN INTO.
ANYTHING, GOD NAILED IT.
IF HE MADE ME, THEN IT MUST BE RIGHT.
WHAT DO YOU TELL ME?
YOU GUYS TELL ME TO STRAP ON A SUICIDE BOMB?
I'VE GOT FAITH.
TELL ME TO HANDLE SNAKES?
I HAVE FAITH.
I COULD'VE TOLD YOU THAT IF YOU TOUCH POISONOUS SNAKES
YOU DIE.
YOU WERE WRONG.
DOES A CHURCH EVER TURN AROUND AND GO, OH YEAH, THAT'S
RIGHT, JAMIE COOTS DIED, DID HE?
HE'S THE ONE TELLING US THE WHOLE TIME ABOUT HOW WE CAN
ñ GOD AND PRAYER.
THAT'S WEIRD.
NO, THEY JUST STEAMROLL ON.
IN STATES LIKE GEORGIA, ARKANSAS, MISSISSIPPI, AND
ALABAMA, STATES THAT PREDOMINATELY DO THIS ñ
AN ESTIMATED 300 CHURCHES IN THE U.S.
PRACTICE SNAKE HANDLING AS A RIGHT OF WORSHIP.
SO IT'S NOT A LITTLE THING.
YOU KNOW HOW YOU GET PEOPLE SAYING, OH, THE PROBLEM IS
WHEN PEOPLE TAKE RELIGION LITERALLY.
AND THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN THE COUNTRY THAT THINK NO, IT'S
ONLY THE MUSLIMS, THERE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO TAKE IT LITERALLY.
CHRISTIANS AND JEWS ARE OKAY, BECAUSE THEY DON'T TAKE IT
LITERALLY.
NOBODY LISTENS TO IT.
EXCEPT ALL THESE FOLKS.
THEY TAKE IT QUITE LITERALLY.
THERE ARE 300 CHURCHES THAT JUST DO THE SNAKE STUFF.
LET ALONE ALL THE OTHER ONES THAT BELIEVE IN OTHER STUFF.
THE WILKES BROTHERS DOWN IN TEXAS JUST GAVE $15
MILLION TO TED CRUZ TRYING TO BUY A PRESIDENTAL CANDIDATE.
THEY BELIEVE THAT EVERY WORD IN THE BIBLE IS TRUE.
BUT IT IS THE INFALLIBLE WORD OF GOD.
THEY BELIEVE EVERY WORD IS LITERAL.
IF ONE OF THOSE LUNATICS GETS TO CONTROL THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES, THEN WE HAVE A COUPLE OF GUYS IN KENTUCKY THAT
WANT TO WIN THE DARWIN AWARD AND WRAP THEMSELVES UP WITH SNAKES.
MAN, I FEEL BAD FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY WERE MISLED AND THEY
WERE IGNORANT.
BUT WHAT CAN I DO?
I CAN'T GO SEE THEM.
THEY ARE WHO THEY ARE.
BUT IF THEY CAPTURE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, THAT'S PRETTY SERIOUS BUSINESS.
THE WILKES BROTHERS ARE NOT PENTECOSTALS, THEY ARE FROM
THE ASSEMBLY OF YAHWEH.
THEY BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD IS INFALLIBLE, THEY COMBINE
CHRISTIANITY AND JUDAISM.
AND THEN THEY BRIBE AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN WHO MIGHT BECOME
PRESIDENT.
AND THEN WHAT?
I DON'T KNOW, AND I DON'T WANT TO FIND OUT.
THE PROBLEM IS WHEN ALL THESE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS HAVE
THEIR NUT JOBS WHO BELIEVE THAT WHAT IS IN THESE BOOKS IS
LITERALLY TRUE.
WELL, I GOT JAMIE COOTS, ARE YOU SAYING IT'S NOT LITERALLY TRUE?
I GOT THIS POOR WOMAN ON HIS COUCH THAT DIED SAYING IT'S
NOT TRUE.
IT'S ALL NOT TRUE UNTIL THEY DIE.