Church of God with Signs Following
The Church of God with Signs Following is a corporation founded in the 20th century US -American Pentecostal church . The name is to be understood from the biblical passage Mk 16.20 EU : Church of God, which is authenticated by the signs that occur here. The “signs” are mentioned in Mk 16.17–18 EU , a passage from the Bible that is of particular importance for the practice of faith. From this, among other things, the snake handling (handling snakes) is derived, for which the church is known.
Beginnings within the Church of God
The founder George W. Hensley, a poor subsistence farmer in the remote town of Owl Holler , Tennessee, was initially a member of the Baptist church , but was excluded there. His birth certificate is not known, his year of birth is estimated to be 1880/1882. According to one son from his first marriage, Hensley brewed whiskey himself before his conversion and was also in prison. He had struggled with alcoholism all his life. Together with some neighbors, he joined the Pentecostal movement.
Hensley wasn't the first to touch snakes in a religious context, but it was he who made a movement out of them. He himself related the following about the beginnings: After witnessing someone holding a poisonous snake in his hands without being damaged, he felt compelled to put his earthly life at risk in order to gain the heavenly one. He went on a mountain hike in the White Oak Mountain area and discovered a large rattlesnake there. After a prayer he threw himself on the reptile and held it up with his bare hands.
Hensley first practiced snake handling at a Church of God service in Grasshopper Valley, Tennessee , and since 1910 has felt a calling to preach. While church historians otherwise have to resort to interviews with Hensley or people close to him that were only conducted years later, in this case one has a source. Hensley himself was illiterate, but his first wife, Amanda, could read and write, and in 1910 filled out a permit for him to preach. It was she who read the Bible to the family, which is how Hensley acquired his knowledge of the Bible.
Church leader Ambrose J. Tomlinson invited Hensley, who was not a member of the Church of God at the time, to preach in Cleveland . Disapproving people brought a rattlesnake in a box to the service and asked Hensley to reach into the box during his sermon. Hensley did it without being harmed. Several worshipers tried out snake handling for themselves, including Tomlinson's daughter Iris.
In 1914 the scene was repeated at a revival, a missionary event of the church. The rattlesnake went from hand to hand, but this time a senior Church member was bitten. Trusting in God, the man refused medical attention and recovered. This resulted in imitators. Tomlinson saw competition in Hensley's growing following among preachers.
Foundation of the Church of God with Signs Following
Handling poisonous snakes was banned by the Church of God in 1928 after a member nearly died from a snake bite. As a result, Hensley's group founded their own church, the Church of God with Signs Following . Hensley first found his following among poor farmers in the Appalachians , in the 1920s and 1930s the church expanded northwards and was particularly popular among the miners in the coal mines of Kentucky and West Virginia .
In the 1930s and 1940s, snake handling became known to the public through a series of accidents and lawsuits, and the response of newspaper readers to the "snake cult" was overwhelmingly negative. Therefore, the Church of God tried to ban Hensley's followers from using the name Church of God and excommunicated members who attended their events. Church of God pastors argued that Jesus spoke of an accidental snakebite and not consciously exposing oneself to the risk of snakebites.
However, after 32-year-old Lewis Ford, a member of the Dolley Pond Church of God with Signs Following , died of a snakebite, the movement continued to grow. Ford's funeral in Dolly Pond, near Birchwood, Tennessee, was attended by over 2,000 people, and venomous snakes were passed around during the three-hour service.
After five deaths, snake handling was banned by the state of Tennessee in 1947, but this did not prevent Hensley from continuing to organize crusades with snakes that were well attended. He traveled a lot and was married four times in total. His first wife Amanda also practiced snake handling . After her husband left her, she stayed in Tennessee with five children, worked in a hosiery factory in Chattanooga, and was buried in the Dolly Pond cemetery after her death, to the end of a loyal member of the Church of God with Signs Following .
George Hensley was very often bitten while handling snakes. On July 24, 1955, he led a service at Lester's Shed near Altha and received a snakebite. He refused medical treatment and died the following day.
Religious life
Theologically, George Hensley, like most of his followers, represented a mixture of Calvinism and Arminianism .
The members of the Church of God with Signs Following strive to sanctify their everyday lives. They abstain from alcohol and tobacco and dress modestly; For women this means in concrete terms: long hair, long dresses or skirts, no short sleeves, no jewelry, no make-up. They are convinced that Jesus Christ in Mk 16: 17-18 EU promised various signs that people who have come to believe can perform, namely:
- Cast out demons,
- to speak in strange tongues,
- Touch snakes,
- Drink poison,
- Heal the sick by the laying on of hands.
In other Pentecostal churches, these five signs are also important, but numbers 3 and 4 are understood symbolically and not literally. Hensley saw the handling of poisonous snakes as a divine command; the church was and is divided in this regard, but today only a minority believe that this practice is necessary for salvation. Here, too, a literal understanding of the Bible becomes noticeable: Jesus said that his followers will touch snakes or drink poison - and not only can they do that. By relying on this word from the Bible, members of the church acknowledge the inerrancy of the whole Bible and, conversely, it is a weakening of the authority of the Bible to reinterpret Jesus' words at this point. From their point of view, the fact that snake bites result in death is necessary in order to refute the suspicion that the snakes have been tamed or otherwise made safe. Also, Jesus did not promise to protect the disciples from all accidents, but only exactly that: His disciples will touch snakes ( King James Version : “They shall take up serpents” ).
The person performing the snake handling ritual is in a kind of trance. At the height of the service, accompanied by other phenomena such as speaking in tongues and dancing, the “anointing with the spirit” takes place. Only then, at the right moment, in the opinion of the members, is it possible to raise the line. No harm is done to the snakes. A few members of the Church felt empowered to drink strychnine by the same Bible verse ; after two deaths, the state of Tennessee banned this practice in 1975.
present
The American Civil Liberties Union defends the handling of poisonous snakes as a sign of religious freedom .
The Church of God with Signs Following had a total of around 5000 members in various local congregations in 1997, but only a few hundred of them practiced snake handling themselves. There is no superordinate organization; the local churches, which today call themselves Church of God with Signs Following , no longer have any connection to the Pentecostal movement and show the greatest resemblance to non-denominational groups of the sanctification movement. Most members grew into this belief through family tradition. Since they consider denominations to be unimportant, many members (“ sign followers ”) also attend services in other churches.
Web links
literature
- Aja Bain: These Signs Shall Follow: the serpent-handling Christians of Appalachia , Vanderbilt University , 2009 ( online )
- William H. Brackney: Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity. Scarecrow Press, Lanham / Toronto / Plymouth 2012, pp. 85-86.
- George D. Chryssides: Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements. 2nd edition Scarecrow Press, Lanham / Toronto / Plymouth 2012, pp. 321–322.
- Mickey Crews: The Church of God: A Social History . The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville 1990.
- Mary Lee Daugherty: Serpent Handlers: When the Sacrament Comes Alive. In: Bill J. Leonhard (Ed.): Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville 1999. pp. 138-152.
- David L. Kimbrough: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky. Mercer University Press, Macon 2002.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Aja Bain: These Signs Shall Follow . S. 3 .
- ↑ a b c d Mary Lee Daugherty: Serpent Handlers . S. 150 .
- ↑ David L. Kimbrough: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky . S. 38-39 .
- ↑ Mary Lee Daugherty: Snake Handlers . S. 149 .
- ↑ Mickey Crews: The Church of God: A Social History . S. 85 .
- ↑ a b c Aja Bain: These Signs Shall Follow . S. 5 .
- ↑ David L. Kimbrough: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky . S. 120 .
- ^ A b c George D. Chryssides: Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements . S. 322 .
- ↑ David L. Kimbrough: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky . S. 126 .
- ↑ David L. Kimbrough: Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky . S. 133 .
- ^ William H. Brackney: Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity . S. 85 .
- ↑ Mickey Crews: The Church of God: A Social History . S. 84-85 .
- ^ Aja Bain: These Signs Shall Follow . S. 2 .
- ^ Aja Bain: These Signs Shall Follow . S. 4 .