CODY COOTS: These snakes - it’s a part of the Bible and I am going to put that before anybody.
CODY COOTS: I have been bitten six times. I don’t think it’s crazy. It’s just a sign from God.
BRITTANY COOTS: Snake handling, it is not for me. I don’t understand it.
MAN: The purpose of our Church is to spread the name of Jesus Christ and get people saved.
CODY COOTS: But if you have not been raised up in it and you look at it, you are going like,
‘Man! These people are crazy.’
CODY COOTS: I have seen a lot of people bitten, I have seen them suffer, I have seen them come close to death.
CODY COOTS: I have seen it so much. I am going to pray for them. I am not going to quit doing it.
CODY COOTS: The only difference between our Church and the other Churches is when you go to the
Book of Mark 16 and 18; it tells you about the Bible signs. The sign is taking up serpents, drinking poison,
casting out devils, speaking in tongues and laying hands on the sick and then recovering.
CODY COOTS: I was raised up with these snakes, they don’t scare me, they don’t bother me.
LINDA COOTS: We are a normal family. We love each other like normal families love each other.
TRINA COOTS: Childhood was fun. Growing up I mean, it was different. Of course, people know who you were,
‘Oh, God! It’s some snake handlers. They are crazy.’
CODY COOTS: You know the only time I have ever had fear getting bitten by a snake is if I had seen in my life
and I knew that I shouldn’t be even around the snake.
BRITTANY COOTS: I never heard of the snake handling until I met my husband, Cody, and honestly I thought,
‘What am I getting myself in to?'
CODY COOTS: I love snakes. This is the Timber Rattler, which is what we got around Kentucky, beautiful snakes.
When the Bible says serpents, if you look up the definition of a serpent, it means a poisonous snake.
If they could bite you and never hurt you, it wouldn’t be a sign to the unbeliever.
BRITTANY COOTS: Sometimes I do think that Cody puts the snakes before me and our kids.
CODY COOTS: When I get bit, I stay at home, live or die.
CODY COOTS: When the old man got bit by a Canebrake like this, he died within probably ten minutes.
So it is a nasty bite. Praise you Jesus.
TRINA COOTS: Daddy made a vow when he was younger that he wouldn’t go to the hospital if he ever got bit.
LINDA COOTS: That night the service was great, the lord was moving, the music was really good,
the serpent was being held and he got bit.
TRINA COOTS: It reacted so quick, it got to the main artery and the vein. He died within five minutes.
LINDA COOTS: I miss Jamie more than anything in this world.
TRINA COOTS: It’s hard but I know where he is at and that makes it easier.
LINDA COOTS: Immediately after Jamie’s death, Cody stepped in and stepped up and he walked right into
Jamie’s shoes. He didn’t want to but he respected it and he did.
CODY COOTS: People don’t realise how they need to get in Church, need to get saved because Jesus is coming
back. The Bible plainly tells us that. And when it does come, there will be a time they will say,
"You will either not worship God or we will cut your head off."
CODY COOTS: A lot of Churches they will judge you from where you've come from, what you have done.
Well, we don’t blame and judge. We all got a background. We just teach them,
'Jesus will forgive you. You got to stop what you are doing.’
CODY COOTS: Look at Big Cody Wynn. He was a big-time drug dealer. Well, now he is in Church.
He don’t deal drugs no more. You got to stop your sin and God will forgive you.
BIG CODY WYNN: You want to see why I call it God’s country? Who else could make something like it?
BIG CODY WYNN: Snake hunting is important, when we want supplies for the Church.
I like doing this because it’s fun.
BIG CODY WYNN: The Bible said, "a believer is a doer" and if you are not walking according to the will of God
and you get a serpent out of the box and it bites you and you lay and suffer for hours on end,
there’s more than likely something wrong in your life.
BRITTANY COOTS: I never have asked Cody to stop his belief because I know that he wouldn’t.
CODY COOTS: My wife is always super scared that I am going to get bit and killed. Every time I go to Church and
I take a snake out of the box, she is like, ‘I am worried that you are going to get bit and killed.’
And I just tell her, ‘When it’s my time to go. It’s my time to go. I am still going to do it. It’s not going to stop me.’
CODY COOTS: And she says, ‘Well, you need to think about your kids.’ Well, I do think about my kids but in the
line of work I am in, being a Pastor, it’s God family job; God comes first, family comes second.
BRITTANY COOTS: I do worry that Cody is going to leave this world like his dad did.
BRITTANY COOTS: That is just a fear I just can’t overcome.
CODY COOTS: When I go to Church, I like to dress nice. I like to dress a little different.
Some people don’t believe pink and blue mixes too good but…
CODY COOTS: I do believe that if you get bit and you have to suffer that there was something wrong;
either you had something in your life, you didn’t move when God told you to, you went against what God said,
I do believe that. I believe a good bite is when one latches on and you just die in five minutes and don’t
suffer a bit. Because the bites I have suffered, I have been swelled up so big, you couldn’t tell who I was from
snakebites and every time it’s because I should have waited on the voice of God.
CODY COOTS: I believe that one day there is going to be fire rain down from heaven. It’s going to burn this whole
earth. The Bible plainly says, ‘Heaven and earth is going to pass away but there will be a new earth and a new
heaven.’ I believe once you go, you are there for eternal. I am looking forward to when I go to meet my Maker.
CODY COOTS: But I am happy, with my wife and my kids is what makes me happy.
BRITTANY COOTS: If something happened to Cody, my kids will be heartbroken. It is a constant worry;
something that you love so much can be taken from you. You know just like that.
CODY COOTS: If you know that you are going to heaven and you know you ain’t got no sins in your life,
it’s a good time to die.
CODY COOTS: Ready for Church.