Beliefs and Practices
Worship services usually include singing, praying, speaking in tongues and preaching. The front of the church, behind the pulpit, is the designated area for handling snakes. Rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and copperheads (venomous snakes native to North America) are the most common, but even cobras have been used. During the service, believers may approach the front and pick up the snakes, usually raising them into the air and sometimes allowing the snakes to crawl on their bodies. The snakes are considered incarnations of demons, and handling the snakes demonstrates one's power over them. Members are not required to handle the snakes. Some believers will also engage in drinking poison (most commonly strychnine) at this time.
Over sixty cases of death as the result of snakebites in religious worship services have been documented in the United States. If a handler is bitten, it is generally interpreted as a lack of faith or failure to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. But individual incidents may actually be understood in a variety of ways. Bitten believers usually do not seek medical help, but look to God for their healing. Beginning in 1936, six southeastern states outlawed snake-handling. George Went Hensley died in Florida in 1955 from a venomous snakebite.
In other areas of belief, the Church of God with Signs Following holds doctrines and practices similar to related Church of God and Oneness Pentecostal bodies. They maintain a strict teaching of standards of holiness in daily living, baptism in the Holy Spirit, divine healing, water baptism, and footwashing. They also stress Romans 16:16 - "Salute another with a Holy Kiss."
Adherents generally adhere to strict dress codes such as uncut hair, no cosmetics, the wearing of ankle-length dresses with pantyhose for women, and short hair and long-sleeved shirts for men. Most ministers preach against any use of all types of tobacco and alcohol.
Read more about this topic: Church Of God With Signs Following
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