What Actually Happened?
Cody Coots, a Pentecostal pastor from Kentucky, practiced serpent handling as an act of faith a tradition rooted in his family and church. His father, Jamie Coots, died the same way in 2014. Cody was bitten during a service, refused medical treatment, and died. He believed divine protection would save him.
Q1: Is Snake Handling Biblically Commanded for Believers Today?
The primary text used is Mark 16:17-18: "They will pick up serpents with their hands..."
However, several critical problems exist with this interpretation:
a) Textual Issue Mark 16:9-20 (the "Long Ending") is absent from the earliest and most reliable manuscripts like Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Most scholars, including conservative ones, recognize this passage was a later addition, not original to Mark's Gospel.
b) Descriptive vs. Prescriptive Even if the text is accepted, it describes what may happen to believers in mission contexts not a ritual to perform deliberately to prove faith.
Acts 28:3-5 shows Paul being bitten accidentally he didn't seek it.
Q2: Doesn't This Show Great Faith?
No. Scripture distinguishes faith from presumption.
"You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." Matthew 4:7 (Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6:16)
When Satan tempted Jesus to throw Himself off the temple trusting angelic protection, Jesus rebuked it as testing God not celebrating it as faith.
Cody Coots was not exercising faith. He was doing exactly what Satan tempted Jesus to do — deliberately placing himself in danger and demanding God perform a miracle on cue.
That is presumption, not faith.
Q3: What About His Refusal of Medical Treatment?
This compounds the theological error. Scripture nowhere forbids medicine.
- Luke, Paul's companion, was a physician (Colossians 4:14)
- Paul told Timothy to "use a little wine for your stomach" (1 Timothy 5:23)
- Jesus said "those who are sick need a physician" (Matthew 9:12)
Refusing medicine while being bitten by a rattlesnake is not trusting God it is testing God while rejecting the means He often uses to heal.
Q4: As a Continuationist, How Do You View Miraculous Protection?
Genuine miraculous protection is sovereignly given not ritually demanded.
The New Testament pattern is clear:
| Genuine Miracle | Presumption |
|---|---|
| Unplanned, sovereign | Deliberately staged |
| God's initiative | Man's demand |
| Paul in Acts 28 | Snake handling services |
| Glorifies God | Tempts God |
As Continuationists, we believe God still heals and protects miraculously but the Holy Spirit is not a performer on command. He moves as He wills (John 3:8).
Q5: What Is the Real Lesson Here?
Three tragic failures converged:
- Hermeneutical failure: Building a doctrine on a textually questionable passage, misread prescriptively
- Theological failure: Confusing presumption with faith
- Generational failure: His father died the same way, yet the lesson went unlearned
"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6
Closing Reflection
Cody Coots' death is not something to mock it is something to mourn and learn from. A man, likely sincere in his devotion, was led astray by bad theology that killed him the same bad theology that killed his father before him.
This is why sound Biblical interpretation matters. Sincerity without sound doctrine is not a virtue it is a tragedy waiting to happen.
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." Proverbs 14:12
Study the Word carefully. Lives iterally depend on it.
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