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JOHN BROWN, JR. (preaching): I'd like to preach on the things that's hidden in the heart . . . that you can't see. That's what I'd like to preach on.

My name is John W. Brown Junior and I'm 28 years old and I've been handling since I was about 16 year old and I've been bit 14 times.

Come on, tell the truth . . . Amen!

Jesus told his apostles there in Saint Mark sixteen and fifteen . . . he said 'Go ye and all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and he who believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned and these signs shall follow them that believe and in my name shall they cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents.' And I heard the gospel preached and I believed in that . . . and the Lord moved on me and I took 'em up.

Thank the living holy . . .

I mean I take the word . . . when I feel that word a churnin' in there and I feel them scriptures start runnin' through my mind, the Lord starts bringing all this stuff to my remembrance. And then I know that the Lord a movin' on me, then I know it's alright.

God have mercy. I feel a cold chill . . .

It starts going through my mind, the scripture starts going through my mind . . . and sometimes I feel a numbness, and sometimes I feel a cold chill, and sometimes I feel my hair standin' on my head, and sometimes I want to run, and sometimes I want to dance, sometimes I want to cry, sometimes I want to laugh, it's just however the Lord moves on me.

Do you know what my daddy told me when I was little . . .

From the time I was five or six year old I went to a church where they handled 'em. If I went to a church where they didn't handle serpents, it wouldn't feel like goin' to church, you know, 'cause that's all I ever seen. Back in the Garden of Eden it was the most subtle creature in the garden. It walked upright on two legs, like a man, so it had a lot of wisdom . . . and the Lord cursed it, but it's a wise thing. I like to watch 'em, I like to watch 'em eat. I like to go out and hunt 'em, see where they live at and what they do -- you know -- their habitations and stuff like that. They just fascinate me. But we don't kill 'em or nothin' like that. When we get done with them, we take them back and turn 'em loose.

I've been bit, and I've laid there and I thought I was going to die. And I supposed every breath I took was my last, until I felt that thing that shakes me a little bit . . .

(Clapping and cheering.)

Oh yeah, I've been bit by Copperheads and swelled up sick, hurtin' . . . got one finger that almost rotted off right there. I was in so much bad pain that I was screamin', holdin' onto the back of the bed and the rescue squad got there. They stuck their head in the door and they said "We hear that there is a snake bite victim here." And I said "Yeah" -- I was layin' on the couch -- I said "Yeah, me." He said "Do you want medical treatment?" I said "No, I don't want no medical treatment. This is my belief." He said "Can I come in" -- he wouldn't come into my trailer without my permission -- and I told him "Yeah, you can come in. Sit down, talk, whatever, but I ain't going to no hospital." He looked at my hand, he said "Well, you ain't going to let us treat it, you got a pretty bad bite. The only thing I can tell you to help it is put cold ice on it." And I said, "Well, I don't want nothin' touching it right now."

If I handle a snake, and it tries to straighten out, they've got to be all right . . .

There've been a lot of people died down through the years. Now I knowed three people that I know personally that died. I got kids, and sometimes if I want to see them, or they want to come back. But when you die one way is just as good as another, is the way I look at it. I ain't in no hurry to die, don't get me wrong, but when it comes time to go, you goin' to go, whether you're sixty or whether you're six year old. It don't make no difference. Everybody's got that appointment to face. I'm not lookin' to get serpent-bit and die, just whatever the Lord's will is . . .

But I'll guarantee you one thing -- if you walk in the way of the Word, you might see hell, but you'll see eternal life forever and ever . . .

(Clapping and cheering.)

Producer: Stacy Abramson Dave Isay / Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York State Council on the Arts and the Corporation. "John Brown, Jr." is a co-production with City Lore.

"John Brown, Jr., Serpent Handler" premiered March 14, 1999, on Weekend Edition Sunday. Copyright © 1999 Sound Portraits Productions. All Rights Reserved.

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