#snake church

[free-cigarette-photography]

The Portal

(I hate this venue, but the line up was way too good to miss)

locals: Street Sweeper and JusB (new members as one moved to Philly and there was a rotating bassist position)

touring: B.O.R.N. and Snake Church from Birmingham, AL (absolutely homies and some of the realest punks. Birmingham is another southern epitome of taking care of your community. punks through and through)

it felt like the entirety of savannah in that room. all the new blood from the local college came through to where there was no room to mosh.

[skepticalpigeon]

What is your favorite denomination of Christianity and why?

Ooh that's a tough one. I'd have to say Pentecostal for sheer entertainment value, especially the subsets that deal with faith healings, miracles, speaking in tongues, snake-handling etc. I've sat through both Baptist and Catholic sermons and I have a tendency to get bored if I'm just sitting there doing nothing, but if the pastor brought out a live rattlesnake or something I'd definitely be invested.

Edit: Just learned that that's not actually a denomination, but a movement. For an actual denomination, I'd say Methodist for their commitment to living out their doctrines and taking action to help the less fortunate - it's nice to see a church do something Jesus actually recommended.

[sspacegodd]

You know those worship services where believers handle reptiles and drink poison and you always think “Where do people DO that??”

Well, okay then.

[skepticalpigeon]

Amazing

I love snake handling, as a religious practice.

Because while they can point at some Bible verses to justify it (a couple gospels use "snakes can't hurt you" as a metaphor for strength of belief, and they took it very litteraly) it's basically a modern invention. Like, the American Christian practice of snake handling is barely over a hundred years old! That's very young for a Christian practice.

It's younger than Mormons and Christian Scientist, and it's mostly limited to my area: the Appalachians.

It's basically just a regular Pentecostal service (which often involves laying of hands for healing, and my favorite Christian tradition, glossolalia!) except they add The Snake.

Like, you're at church, and there's the pews, and people are going up and Feeling The Spirit, and some of them are Picking Up The Snake.

That's alright, it's a harmless snake, right?

NOPE! They use venomous snakes. Usually American ones (your rattlesnakes and copperheads) but sometimes they import cobras and the like.

The venomous nature is the point. They believe that if they're blessed by God, they'll be able to handle the dangerous snakes without being hurt.

And given that this is a relatively rarely practiced thing, and it's connected to faith healing, you might think it's just a con. There's some traveling "holy man" with a well-trained snake that he can "miraculously" handle without being attacked, right?

Oh god no. It's a bunch of different guys and they get bitten all the time. Wikipedia has a list of 15 of 'em who died because of it, and that's just the "notable" ones.

People are allowed to just come up and touch the venomous snake! No training or safety equipment needed, just Jesus. Reportedly people who get bitten are not considered to be lacking in faith, just "it was their time to go". Like, they don't even call the hospital about anti-venom. You just die.

(Did I mention sometimes they drink poison too? Mainly strychnine, possibly because it's survivable in small doses. Same reason: their faith will protect them)

Anyway I really do love it. It's such an unusual thing to jam into Christianity, that I can't help but be mesmerized by it.

But it makes up the majority of 20th and 21st century American deaths from snakes. Most people avoid snakes so even the most deadly venomous snakes in America usually only ever kill by surprise, like someone reaches into a gopher hole and gets bit, or they accidentally bother one trying to piss in a bush. And even then, we've got anti-venoms! Lots of people bitten make it to the hospital and get treated.

So naturally the main group that ends up dying from snakes is the ones who are constantly handling deadly snakes and then refuse medical care.

[antikristvs]

[everytaylorswiftsongisaboutcats]

[snowangeldotmp3]

feel free to specify in the tags where you are from along with yes or no !!

[olithegeek]

HIFHEBIF THE COLLAB EVER

[thesnakeoutsider]

The Wedding | Bark and Bite 2 of 15

Hello again @scientificallywrongsoap , lil beans and random people that found this on their feed.

This is the second illustration for the wedding of our lovely murderous boys. As some of you know I have plans for other pieces that involves churches and a party. And I have space to fill so I need your help.

If any of you has an OC (original character) or a “sona” / persona that you use to appear on line, no matter the fandom. And you want to be in the background of the next pieces, means to this the ceremony and the party, please send the references to my inbox! I already have a few but I need more. I have big ass space to fill.

EDIT 19/01/25 if you are a writer and you don’t have your character or your sona in pictures or drawings you can send me a reference made with PicCrew! If you search for “full body” you can find tons of options for to build your character, a plus in this one is that this templates are made by artist so is good to go. Cuz I’m sorry but in this house we are against the use of AI for art, so please don’t send AI as reference.

The size of each one of the future illustrations (including this and the previous one) are 36 x 26 cm or 14.4 x 10.4 inches long . That is HUGE, so we all can print it when I’m finish but yea. Send those references in my way please I will be grateful for that.

But now let me explain what the hell are you looking in this work!!!

In first place we have the complete piece with dialogues. Those dialogues are based on the video that shows up the change in Subject 7-1 gear at the beginning of The Glitch arc. In that one Swagger mentions that he likes more the old mask, and John gives to him that mask.

So that’s why in this piece he has that one , and not the new one.

I also have a lot of theory of why he is not using his old gear anymore but that’s matter of a future fanfic not something for this wedding.

On second we have ✨Clothes Details ✨

As I said in the past one, I modify the traditional attires to fit them, in Thai piece we can see more of the little things that I added to Subject 7-1 clothes, the brooch is more clear and the little buttons in the sleeve are matches in color and detail. Again for the lost ones violet/ purple is his color. The pattern again I did it myself by hand and I’m still, very proud.

Swaggers has symmetrical details so this sides matches the other one.

Now THE BACKGROUND

I asked glitch for his favorite maps in Warzone, why Warzone and not zombies? Or multiplayer? Cuz Swagger comes from the Warzone universe, the same one that WZ. So it was at least for me very clear that we needed that. He give me the list. And he remembered that in Vondel map, one of his favs, it has an actual church. And the decision was made.

Vondel is the map where they will get married. Of course here it looks more clean than in the real map, but let’s pretend that the boys cleaned the house before the ceremony. This specific church is based in a real life one the link to see the real one is in the previous post. And belive me when I said that I searched and search I even ask my friends if they have a good screen shoot of the place.

None of the screenshots give me the vibe I needed. So I DID THE FUCKING CHURCH BY HAND, LINE BY LINE. BRICK TO BRICK. ALL MINE.it took me like,,, Ikd four ? Five hours? But I get it done and it looks stupidly beautiful and fit thing that I love it.

Then we add a little Easter eggs for the other boys, in one we have a pink soap with a crown with pink gems to represent Johnny and Baby Girl , in the other side we have the traditional new ghost skull mask, the other one didn’t work I’m sorry.

And we have a crown for Biblical Accurate König next to Jack mask cuz they are they. And in the wall a big explosion and the line “WZ was here” . My boy was there. I love him so much. Belive me when I said that after I finish the wedding and the centaur König I promise to itibo , the boy will be my next victim for art. I have so much of him that I want to draw.

And that’s it for now. Please send your references, I don’t bite. And I don’t judge ocs. All are welcome. Let’s party together.

The pieces with the Ocs are going to take a bit more time, for the complexity of the composition and backgrounds that I want but I hope to have them ready in two weeks. More or less and it will be a 4 imagen update. In the meantime I will work in other little pictures that the wedding photographers usually shoot. Like they’r hands , the rings, the other guests you all don’t know how much I need to draw the tree soaps in kilts *internal screaming * it’s gonna be beautiful (?)

Once an old art teacher told me that other artist can see how much you love someone, or how meaningful they are for the amount of details and work that they put in their gifts, so if we all looking at this we can tell how much I love this two and glitch of course cuz. This is nothing. Y’all need to sit down if this looks like to much, this is only THE BEGINNING

Creating stuff for glitch always make me push my limits, and here I gooooooo

[playablekairi]

why were you digging? what did you bury? before those hands pulled me from the earth

[suzukaperodi]

take me to church

...i'll worship like a dog 🎵 a twist on season 2's ending. what if crowley did go with aziraphale to heaven. (i honestly have no idea where i was going with this haha just a quick reimagine i guess. my thought process was and i quote from my notes app "something something how crowley is devoted to aziraphale... hozier take me to church")

Instagram || bluesky|| Ko-fi

[daiourage]

Ritual.

[dirtypaperjoe]

Summon

"I summon thee, creature of hunger; thee, creature of loathing; thee, creature of anguish. Feast upon my blood, my dreams, and my joy. Guide me through this storm, for I can no longer bear to show my face."

  Seems like I never left October.  

Here is a timelapse of the process. I'm open for commissions!

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

More Archetyping... WITH TRANSFORMERS!

Featuring: Soundwave and Starscream

So, to either everybody's shock or nobody's surprise, Soundwave and Solid Snake. Warrior-Soldier meets Spy (Snake as a PC, Soundwave as the Comms Officer), whose unique a form of quasi-psychic telecommunications (Soundwave reads minds / Snake and the CODEC... which does the same thing). Not particularly talkative, prone to speaking or repeating single word sentences.

( Off-Note 1: Gods know what was done or had to be said, for Solid Snake to be following Megatron. But I guess since Megatron ain't buildilng Metal Gears, Snake's just cool with the guy. )

( Off-Note 2: Soundwave would absolutely have a problem with nukes, nuclear radiation and EMPs--they disrupt communications, degrade and destroy recordings, and he's got cassettes to look out for )

( Off-Note 3: Otacon is just a Cassettecon. )

( Off-Note 4: Imagine Snake having a big cat, two buzzards, a bat, and twin Greasers as a team. )

( Off-Note 5: Philanthropy and the Decepticons? Sounds like a fanfic. )

This is the archetype of the Loyal Mercenary, high-endurance, high-wisdom. He serves Just Cause, but is impersonal towards people of either side of it--after all, people come and go, and today's friend is tomorrows enemy and no enemy is eternal. But being tomorrow's enemy doesn't mean you can't be friends today.

Leading the Cause isn't the point, the point is that you leave tomorrow better than it was yesterday. And the Cause must be just, it must have tenable reachable and viewable values laid. If he's too violent, the Cause abandons him. Too peaceful, and he abandons it. He follows those who lead the cause, the inspiration, but they may change their minds.

Inevitably, he will be left with the burden of either Leading the Cause, or the Cause leading to his death.

[ This does mean that he also shares an archetype with MGS3's Boss, just as Snake does. ]

Starscream is a bit tricky, because he's been made into his own archetype and trope as the "Obsessive Traitor". But I will go forth regardless.

Common situations associated with him are high intelligence-Low wisdom, high stress, anxious and temperamental, tends to either repeatedly die or get into situations that would result in his death. Ego a mile wide and growing.

That sounds like Leonard Church of Red vs Blue. Bastard even ends up a ghost within the first season.

( Off Note 1: Beep Boop, Casper. )

But ultimately, we're talking a character who is at, or represents, the cusp of undergoing a large change event, and is over-eager to get it overwith.

( Death in the nature of stories, like its tarot card, is an indicator of Change for both the characters and story. While the character who goes through it may come back, its a large enough displacement that may rewrite the whole character or the whole story. )

Perhaps Change is coming due to a failure of values. Perhaps its coming because the character's isn't in the right place. Eitherway, they seem to think the Cause they currently follow is the right one and is determined to lead.

As a character and not just a story-pattern, that means an overawareness of what can change you (Anxiety), and a consistent self-affirmness that they are unchangable / immortal (Ego) in the face of Death / Change. Change in relationships, change in status, change in nature--any change. They are a character whose sense of foundation is currently in flux.

Another character this is additionally shared with is Papyrus from Undertale.

Papyrus is the youthful variant of the archetype--he's yet to run into that first death, or already has and has yet to comprehend the experience. Starscream is the cynical variant, and is a lot more resistant to Death / Change as a result. And Church is the burnt out variant--too much, too soon, and he's already under gone death / change several times and will several times more before he can move on.

( Off note: Church and Snake in the same room? I'd love to be on that Codec conversation. How bout just Snake and Papyrus. )

[batemanofficial]

can i say something extremely specific and kinda annoying. it won't land for anybody except me and like maybe 3 other people but here goes: can we please stop adding images of snake handling churches to our appalachian gothic mood boards. or at least think about the snake handling churches a little more critically. i don't want to be the local snake church veteran slash debbie downer but like. people can and do die from snake handling in that way. and not to mention the wellbeing of the snakes. or the detrimental psychological effects on the congregants vis-a-vis the ritual reasons why the snakes are handled the way they are. anyway call me the country bumpkin version of the "don't romanticize the mafia/i cooka da pizza" person if you want but idk i think we should be thinking a little harder about why we think snake handling is so aesthetically harmonious with a vision of appalachia that never was

[mswyrr]

"Coriolanus in ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ and Billy in ‘Billy the Kid’ are both conflicted and multi-layered young men. They’re never just one thing, they’re a hero and a villain simultaneously. They’re brave and they’re brutal. I think I gravitate to these kind of roles because they reflect the many dimensions of what it means to be human. We live in a very judgemental society now and the internet has made people think in a binary way about morality. There’s a lot of pressure to show everyone that you’re more moral than the next person and it can be really easy to get sucked into that way of thinking. Characters like these remind me that life and decision-making is incredibly complex, and that our society is not a finished product. It’s an ever-changing, evolving collection of flawed mammals who are all just trying to get by and do right by themselves and others. There’s something refreshing in that. It takes the pressure off being right all the time and teaches you that it’s ok just to be alive and making an effort." --Tom Blyth interview with Numero Magazine