Snake-handling preacher killed by snake, just like his dad
Mark Wolford (Photo for The Washington Post by Lauren Pond)
If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas. Lie down with timber rattlers, and you’ve got a good chance of not getting up again.
That’s what happened to West Virginia pastor Mark Wolford, reports The Washington Post.
Wolford died while hosting an outdoor service Sunday at Panther Wildlife Management Area in West Virginia. During the ceremony, the lively preacher sat a rattler on the ground and sat next to it. The snake did what snakes do — it bit him on the thigh.
Instead of going to a hospital, he went home and tried to recover. His kidneys shut down within three hours. Someone called paramedics when it was too late.
Wolford, who combed the woods for vipers, should have known better. In 1983, when he was 15, he saw his dad die while “taking up serpents.”
But faith, which has never actually moved a mountain, has a way of moving people away from reality.
“Praise the Lord and pass the rattlesnakes, brother,” wrote Wolford on his Facebook page as a way of advertising the Sunday service.
His funeral will be held Saturday, exactly one week after his 44th birthday.
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154 comments Add your comment
Ben Dover
May 31st, 2012
10:04 pm
how many followers does he have now
David
May 31st, 2012
10:34 pm
I myself am a bible believing Christian but I find it very hard to not say way to go to the snake.While the bible says to have faith in God and he will protect you,God himself say that we as Christians should behave in a responsible manner. This was a very irresponsible way to behave. I also do not believe that Grace covers all forms of stupidity all the time.
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
10:52 pm
gagirl
May 31st, 2012
10:16 am
Who gets bitten by a rattlesnake and then goes home to chill????
_______________________
A dumbazz who thinks his “faith” will protect him.
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
10:54 pm
Russ
May 31st, 2012
10:30 am
How do you know the walls of Jericho didn’t tumble down because of a people’s faith and obedience?
___________________
How do you know they did?
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
10:56 pm
Curious and Confused
May 31st, 2012
10:52 am
Even if we don’t agree with his beliefs or interpretation of the Bible (and many of you don’t believe in the Bible in any sense as indicated in your responses), we don’t have to mock him in his death. Seriously, have some respect for someone.
___________________
Kinda like he had respect for that snake?
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
11:00 pm
Jason
May 31st, 2012
12:17 pm
At least he died doing what he believed was true. Most of us don’t stand for anything anymore. No matter how foolish his snake handling beliefs were he stood by them.
____________________
I guess that left him dead right, by God.
RealityChek
May 31st, 2012
11:05 pm
Everyone ….particularly christians know this bible nonsense is mere mythology….Even the gullible christians don’t believe this baloney…Christians go to church every week for socializing purposes and nothing more. They would get the same results without the silliness of “prayers” which they know full well is bunk. A cancer patient who is destined to live will live without “any prayers”…whatsoever….A cancer patient who is doomed to die can “pray until her last breath”…but it won’t do the old gal a bit of good…Everyone knows that religions….and yes chriistianity,too…are utter nonsense and is the very reason ignorant people do …quite stupid things…..There are no gods, no devils, no demons, no angels, no heavens save the natural one of the universe and no hells except in the outrageously silly minds of those who pursue delusion as if it had value….There is no “Stupid Heaven” …where idiots go…..for surely if there were….this man would be re-united with his “Silly Pa”..
And this is what one can expect from such a silly religion…..Religions truly poison everything….even rattlesnakes….the function of this snake was “poisioned” by the lunacy of religion.
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
11:07 pm
The Believer
May 31st, 2012
12:41 pm
Politics, and religion – 2 biggest scams in the world!
_____________________
Bingo!
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
11:10 pm
Mike
May 31st, 2012
1:27 pm
Tom and other unbelivers, don’t mock,its for real, you will know for certain,about 5 seconds after you die.
__________________
Five seconds? You sure about that? I heard it was 7.8 seconds.
DawgNole
May 31st, 2012
11:19 pm
rlm
May 31st, 2012
4:54 pm
At least try to comment in a civilized manner an do not show yourself as a complete cretin. He may have a child who accesses this news report.
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One can only hope his child is smarter than his father’s child.