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The Handkerchief Phenomenon
Addendum to “A Whole Lot Of Wishful Thinking These Days”
by Sandy Simpson, 2/5/10

There is a new phenomenon especially among some island churches where handkerchiefs are being handed around a congregation claiming that they have an anointing that can cause people to be healed and other miraculous things happen to them.

The problem with this idea is especially evident in two things: (1) that this can and is being considered by many to be Christian magic and (2) that it is being taught as being something that should be a normal part of the Christian experience.  It is taught that if you have faith you will believe in touching the handkerchief that you will be healed, freed from demons, or get a special anointing.  But faith is not proven by signs and wonders.  The Bible says:

Jude 1:20-23  But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and (1) pray in the Holy Spirit. (2) Keep yourselves in God’s love as you (3) wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. (4) Be merciful to those who doubt; (5) snatch others from the fire and save them; (6) to others show mercy, mixed with fear— (7) hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

This idea of passing handkerchiefs around seems to be taken from the following verses in Acts:

Acts 19: 11-12  God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.

Acts  28:1-6 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

… a viper is a kind of serpent, which brings forth its young living, to the number of twenty, only one in a day, which come forth wrapped up in thin skins, which break on the third day, and set them at liberty; and so is reckoned among viviparous animals, from whence it seems to have its name, whereas other serpents lay eggs and hatch them. It is said {k}, that this remarkable reptile has the biggest and flattest head of all the serpent kind; its usual length is about half an ell (an ell was about the length of a man’s arm), and its thickness an inch; its snout is not unlike that of a hog; it has sixteen small immovable teeth in each jaw, besides two other large, sharp, hooked, hollow, transparent, canine teeth, situate at each side of the upper jaw, which are those that do the mischief: these are flexible in their articulation, and are ordinarily laid flat along the jaw, the animal never raising them but when it would bite The roots or bases of these teeth, or fangs, are encompassed with a vesicle or bladder, containing the quantity of a large drop of a yellow insipid salivous juice.—It has only one row of teeth, whereas all other serpents have two; its body is not at all fetid, whereas the inner parts of the bodies of other serpents are intolerable.—It creeps very slowly, and never leaps like other serpents, though it is nimble enough to bite when provoked.—Its body is of two colours, ash coloured or yellow, and the ground speckled with longish brown spots; the scales under its belly are of the colour of well polished steel. Its bite is exceeding venomous, and its poison the most dangerous. Now when this viper here is said to come out of the heat, the meaning is, that it came out from the sticks, which were laid upon the fire, being forced from thence by the heat of it: and so the Syriac version renders it, "there came out of them" (the sticks) "a viper, because of the heat of the fire"; it lay quiet among the sticks, among which, and such like things, this creature often lies; but when the fire began to heat it, it sprung out …

Snake handling or serpent handling is a religious ritual in a small number of Pentecostal churches in the U.S., usually characterized as rural and Holiness. The practice began in the early 20th century in Appalachia, spreading to mostly coal mining towns. The practice plays only a small part of the church service of churches that practice snake handling. Practitioners believe serpent-handling dates to antiquity and quote the Book of Mark and the Book of Luke to support the practice: 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. (Mark 16:17-18) Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:19)

Founders

George Went Hensley (1880–1955), a preacher who left the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) when the Church noticed him taking part in snake handling and set specific rules that made certain that that denomination would have nothing to do with those types of practices, is credited with creating the first holiness movement church dedicated to snake handling in the 1920s.

1Jo 1:8  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Holiness doctrine is false and dangerous, giving people a false hope. We are made holy “in Christ” not of ourselves.

2Ti 1:9  who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

Re 20:6  Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

Sister-churches later sprang up throughout the Appalachian region, including at the Mt. Verd Holiness Church in McMinn County — Athens, Tennessee.  Many of the later followers were brought into the belief through traveling preachers in the late 19th century, attracted by charismatic preachers who boasted great miracles and demonstrated wonders. James Miller, without hearing of Hensley's ministry, claimed he received a Revelation from God to handle serpents and baptize in the Jesus Only formula of Acts 2: 38 in the King James Bible.

By the beginning of the 20th Century, snake handling had spread to Canadian soil, where a handful of Canadians embraced the Mark 16 revelation.  Another key scripture they use to verify the claim that they can handle snakes without harm is Acts 28:1-6 because Paul was bitten by a venomous viper and suffered no harm.

Snake handlers today and practices

As in the early days, worshipers are still encouraged to lay hands on the sick (cf. Faith healing), speak in tongues (cf. Glossolalia), provide testimony of miracles, and occasionally consume poisons such as strychnine.[1] Gathering mainly in homes and converted buildings, they generally adhere to strict dress codes such as uncut hair, no cosmetics and ankle-length dresses for women, and short hair and long-sleeved shirts for men. Most snake handlers preach against any use of all types of tobacco and alcohol.

Most religious snake handlers are still found in the Appalachian Mountains and other parts of the southeastern United States, especially in such states as Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Ohio. However, they are gaining steady recognition from news broadcasts, movies and books about the non-denominational movement. In 2001 there were about 40 small churches that practiced snake handling, most considered to be holiness-Pentecostals or charismatics. In 2004 the practice moved across the border and there were four snake handling congregations in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Most, if not all, use the King James Version of the Bible and consider other versions to be demonic or false.

Like their predecessors, they believe in a strict and literal interpretation of the Bible. Most Church of God with Signs Following churches are non-denominational, believing that denominations are 'man made' and carry the Mark of the Beast. Worshippers often attend services several nights a week. Services, if the Holy Spirit "intervenes", can last up to five hours, and the minimum time is usually ninety minutes.

Risks

Some of the leaders in these churches have been bitten numerous times, as indicated by their distorted extremities. For example, the founder of modern snake handling in the Appalachian Mountains died from snakebite in 1955.  In 1998, snake-handling evangelist John Wayne "Punkin" Brown died after being bitten by a timber rattler at the Rock House Holiness Church in rural northeastern Alabama.  Members of his family contend that his death was likely due to a heart attack. His wife had died three years earlier after a snake bite while in Kentucky. Another follower died in 2006 at a church in Kentucky. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_handling)

In conclusion, this practice is a very bad example to Christians the non-believers alike.  People tend to view this as a form of “Christian” magic.  What is the difference then between this and drinking potions prepared by an island shaman for healing or using the Chuukese “Inemes Rock” or love potions or special foods or marmars to get people to have sex with you or chanting lost Chuukese words in an ancient chant to the “gods”, etc.  The difference for Christians is that we are to petition God for healing and every other thing …  not pass around objects that we claim have God’s power.  That is a form of pantheism.

Probably one of the prime examples against taking something out of Scriptural context and turning it into a magic formula comes from the temptation of Christ by the enemy in Luke 4:8-12.

Luke 4 9-12  The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" {Psalm 91:11,12} Jesus answered, "It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" {Deut. 6:16}