How are we to view the words attributed to Jesus in Mark 16:18: “They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it shall not hurt them”?
A. Reference to picking up serpents and drinking deadly poison should best be understood as protectional statements. Paul, for example, was protected from harm when he accidentally picked up a deadly viper, and it “fastened on his hand” (Acts 28:3). The New Testament records no example of a person protected from the effects of drinking poison; however, Eusebius (The History of the Church, page 151) states that this happened to Joseph Barsabbas (named in Acts 1:23). In any event, the deliberate picking up of snakes or the drinking of poison should not be understood as the demonstration of a miracle. Either would be testing God, and Jesus spoke against this kind of evil when He was tempted by Satan to throw Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test” (Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12). Thus the activities of snake-handling cults today should be viewed as presumptuous rather than miraculous. Q. I have heard it said that Satan and demons cannot understand
