Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Folks at the Bristol Show today (Sunday) may remember seeing this elderly gentleman, many of you may know who he is and it isn't a big deal for you. However, I thought it was kind of cool. And BTW ... that's not me on the left. I'm much uglier.

(N/T)

In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. 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

He was very gracious and didn't mind me snapping a few pics. Pretty nice guy. He said they were there to pick up a couple Eastern Diamondbacks for the services. He and I have very different views concerning the expression of spirituality ... but you just gotta admire a man willing to put his money where is mouth is.

I did notice when I shook his hand that he doesn't have full use of it, and it appeared to be from either arthritis or possibly effects of numerous envenomations. But, his knuckles weren't swollen in the way that most arthritics experience, so I assume it's local effects of repeated bites.

I read somewhere that some of the churches use exotic species in their services. Anyone know about this?

Very interesting ...

"Clean" Phil

Yeah, several years back, one of the news programs did an in depth piece on one of the churches up there. A cobra was one of the snakes used. As I recall, the head of that church was rather elderly, & had been bitten around a hundred times. They also drink toxins such as strychnine.

~~Greg~~