THE SOUTH: Paralyzing Prayers

And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they shall 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. . . . Mark 16: 17-18.

Among many Southern hill sects this Biblical injunction has caused violent dissension. Conservatives hold that a believer who accidentally tromps on a snake will be protected by the Lord. More radical brethren consider it “phenomenal doctrine.” They catch and baptize snakes drape them over their necks and arms with only the paralyzing power of prayer for protection.

Occasionally the prayers are not sufficiently paralyzing, and there are mortalities. Last week two believers died.

In Wise County, Va., a snake leaned out and bit the wife of the Rev. Harve Kirk, a reverend of the Faith Holiness cult. Though Mrs. Kirk was pregnant, she refused medical aid. Harve prayed as never before and every available Faith Holiness member hurried up to pray, too. But Mrs. Kirk’s hand swelled up and turned black. Her baby was born prematurely and died in 20 minutes. Mrs. Kirk kept shouting “Precious God” and “Glory to His Name.” Six hours later she died too.

The other casualty was Lewis Francis Ford, a truck driver and lay preacher of the Dolly Pond Church of God in the hamlet of Grasshopper, Tenn. Brother Ford was a new man with snakes; he had handled them only since last July 22. He was bitten before he really started praying. His father explained afterward:

“He took three snakes out of the box and laid them over his arm. Then a fourth, a rattler, bit him on the finger. He brought his arm up and the snake was hanging by his fangs in Lewis’ finger. He went on preaching for ten minutes and he got a good victory over the serpent. The snake was laying over the pulpit like he was dead when Lewis stepped down.”

As soon as he had died, his wife requested snake handling at the funeral. Almost 3,000 people came to watch. The brethren played guitars, cymbals and tambourines and when they got to shouting good, the snake handling began. The Rev. Raymond Hayes of Grasshopper put the serpent that had bitten Brother Ford into the coffin. It coiled up quietly on Brother Ford’s chest. In the excitement Brother Hayes was bitten by a rattler, but he paid it no heed and felt all right afterward.