Beyond Cuckoo

I’m open-minded when it comes to religion. A mix and match blend of belief and practice is perfectly fine with me. As a child, brought up as a Catholic, I’m no stranger, to scary, gothic and dark ritual. Today, I follow the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. In Chapter 39 of “Autobiography of a Yogi” he recounts the time he spent with Therese Newman, the Catholic Stigmatist, who on Fridays would experience the Passion of Christ and openly bleed from identical wounds. Not my idea of a good time, but she was a saint and I’m not. Maybe someday, I’ll be able to bleed with the best–probably not this lifetime.

However, I think I finally found the limit of my religious tolerance with this practice of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church, which includes poisonous snake handling as part of the service. The recent death of Pastor Jamie Coots has me thinking that this is simply Beyond Cuckoo.

Coots belonged to a small circle of Pentecostal Holiness pastors who take this passage from the Bible’s Gospel of Mark literally:  “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.”  For some reason, I don’t think Jesus meant that we should antagonize, frighten and exploit reptiles in his name—not to mention that it happens to be stupidly dangerous to the parishioners.

Then there’s the addiction theory–that some folks are simply thrill-seekers. They get a rush from facing death and feel powerful when they escape tragedy. Coots often spoke of the rush of feeling the hand of God.

Regardless, those that study the practice, say that it’s no different to the parishioners, than taking Communion is to Catholics. Hmmm, I knew there was a reason I switched religions.