DAILY NEWS JOURNAL (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) 08 June 07 Spirituality: Local ministers weigh in on serpents and poison (Doug Davis)
Two local ministers agree there is controversy about the present-day application of Mark 16:17-18: "These signs shall accompany those who have believed in my name. They will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues. They will pick up serpents and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover."
Some Bibles do not even contain this passage because some religious leaders argue that it was not present in the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel. However, many Bibles do contain the passage, while some include it with a note about its questioned authenticity.
Brian Hughes, senior pastor of Family Worship Center, said the passage points to specific signs that Jesus said would follow believers as they spread the good news of his kingdom.
"(Jesus) clearly indicated that these signs would be performed by his authority," said Hughes. "He gave five signs in the passage. With the exception of drinking a deadly poison, there are unequivocal examples in the New Testament of these signs being manifested by Jesus' followers."
Hughes refers to the Apostle Paul casting out a spirit of divination from a young woman in Acts 16:18. Numerous references in Acts and Corinthians tell of Christians speaking with new tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them, Hughes said.
Graham Matthews, pastor of Key United Methodist Church in Murfreesboro, agreed speaking in tongues is prominently mentioned in Acts and that Jesus Christ cast out demons.
"However, picking up snakes and drinking poison without harm or injury to the believer do nonetheless lack New Testament parallels," said Matthews.
Paul was bitten by a deadly viper in Acts 28 while collecting firewood and suffered no harmful effects, noted Hughes.
As far as healing goes, "Ananias, who was not an apostle, laid hands on Saul of Tarsus, and he was healed of blindness," said Hughes.
However, "the only Biblical example relating to drinking deadly things is found in II Kings 4, where Elisha miraculously cleansed some stew that had been poisoned," said Hughes.
"These signs are accomplished through the power of Jesus Christ," said Hughes. "Hebrews 13:8 emphatically states that Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. There are no scriptures indicating these signs will cease before the church age ends. While all five of these signs do not occur regularly in the lives of most believers, we should not relegate them to something of the past."
Matthews said he cannot imagine any mainline Christian faith traditions that would subject its members to the "oddity and strangeness of handling snakes or drinking a poison during the Sunday worship service.
"On the other hand, this is the United States of America, and even if you want to handle snakes or drink poison in your religious tradition, you have the right guaranteed to you in the First Amendment of our Constitution, which states 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'" Matthews noted. "Thank God we live in a free society."
Local ministers weigh in on serpents and poison