This time around, the snake got the best of Cody Coots, the infamous pastor at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus’ Name church located in Middlesboro, Kentucky.
The incident involving Coots took place after he lost his father to a deadly snake bite.
In 2014, Pastor Jamie Coots, who was 42 years old, died after the rattlesnake he was handling bit him on the hand. Jamie lost his life during a sermon.
Cody, who has decided to follow in his late father’s footsteps, was preaching and holding the poisonous serpent when it slithered away and bit his ear.
Members of the snake-handling church watched, worshipped and prayed as blood dripped down on Cody’s face and shoulders.
The pastor marched on with his sermon and told the believers sitting in the house of God that all was well.
He took the mic and confessed: “Keep playing I’m not worried at all. God’s a healer; I’m not worried.”
However, as the minutes went by, many noticed that Cody was not well. The religious man became weak and could barely speak, that is when the decision was taken to get him to a nearby hospital for proper medical care.
Doctors explained to Cody that he could have been “killed” because the snake was inches away from severing the temporal artery.
According to a TV crew that was following the man, he has decided to re-evaluate his life choices after the near-death event.
His wife, Tammy, had this to say about the shocking incident: “That church is their blood, you know. It started with their family, and it’s going down with their family.”
She went on to say: “Cody, and I didn’t talk about religion until after we got married and all I said is, “God, what did I get myself into?”
Appalachia’s serpent-handling pastors worship and dance around holding dangerous reptiles to prove nonbelievers that God is almighty and powerful can, therefore, protect them from all harm in this world.
