Everything didn’t go according to plan: the preacher teased deadly snakes to connect with God (3 photos + 1 video)

Jamie Cootes believed he had some kind of divine power after surviving eight bites over 20 years. His community used reptiles to connect more closely with God.





Jamie Coots from the United States led a community known for provoking deadly rattlesnakes. In this way they tested their connection with God. After a community leader was bitten eight times, his luck was running out.

The reckless preacher has faced death too often by provoking rattlesnakes to prove his connection to God. Jamie Cootes believed he had some kind of divine power after surviving eight bites over 20 years. His practice was to dance on stage with his parishioners, scaring away deadly creatures. They considered this proof that they could always count on God's protection and that their faith would ensure their safety. However, one day everything went wrong and ended in tragedy.

During the service, Coots held several rattlesnakes in his hands and threw them onto the stage to make matters worse and to show how far he could go without fear.



But when he picked them up again, one of the angry snakes bit him on the back of his hand. The preacher left the stage to go to the toilet, he returned and continued the performance as if nothing had happened, despite the fact that he had turned pale and was sweating profusely. Members of his community called 911, but he told them he would go home, lie on the couch and pray. He refused medical attention and said he was fine.

However, after some time, paramedics came to check on him and found that the controversial preacher was dead.

A year before his death, in 2014, Coots was caught transporting three rattlesnakes and two copperheads through Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1995, 28-year-old Melinda Brown of Parrottsville, Tennessee, died after being bitten by a timber rattlesnake at a controversial preacher's church.



The publication notes that the community continues to exist and still uses snakes, including the one that killed Coots. His son Cody became the new leader.

Their religious beliefs are based on a passage from the Gospel of Mark, which reads: "They shall take up snakes; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

A video of the incident, posted on the Final Affliction channel earlier this week, has received more than 25,000 views and hundreds of comments.