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Andrew Hamblin, 21, pastor of Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., looks into the eyes of a rattlesnake at the church alter while others sing songs during church service on April 13, 2012.  Hamlin is part of a new generation of serpent handling Christian, a 100-year old faith tradition in Tennessee. Since the early 1900s, a handful of true believers in East Tennessee and other parts of Appalachia have practiced the so-called signs of the gospel, found in a little-known passage in the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they 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; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  While other churches ignore this passage or treat it metaphorically, serpent handlers follow it literally. Their intense faith demands sinless living and rewards them with spiritual ecstasy in the chance to hold life and death in their hands.

Andrew Hamblin, 21, pastor of Tabernacle Church of God in LaFollette, Tenn., looks into the eyes of a rattlesnake at the church alter while others sing songs during church service on April 13, 2012.  Hamlin is part of a new generation of serpent handling Christian, a 100-year old faith tradition in Tennessee. Since the early 1900s, a handful of true believers in East Tennessee and other parts of Appalachia have practiced the so-called signs of the gospel, found in a little-known passage in the King James Version of the Gospel of Mark: “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they 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; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”  While other churches ignore this passage or treat it metaphorically, serpent handlers follow it literally. Their intense faith demands sinless living and rewards them with spiritual ecstasy in the chance to hold life and death in their hands.