History
The practice of snake-handling first appeared in American Christianity around 1910 and was associated with the ministry of George Went Hensley of Grasshopper Valley in southeastern Tennessee. Hensley was a minister of the Church of God, now known as the Church of God (Cleveland), founded by Richard Spurling and A. J. Tomlinson. In the 1920s, the Church of God repudiated the practice of snake-handling, and Hensley and his followers formed a separate Trinitarian body.
Serpent-handling in north Alabama and north Georgia originated with James Miller in Sand Mountain, Alabama at about the same time. Miller apparently developed his belief independently of any knowledge of Hensley's ministry. This section of the snake-handling churches is non-Trinitarian, and is broadly known as the Church of Lord Jesus with Signs Following. This version dominates snake-handling churches north of the Appalachians.
Read more about this topic: Church Of God With Signs Following
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