[Pulp Fiction]

Mark chapter 16 is the events AFTER The Resurrection....... meaning, Jesus is telling His disciples how to preach the Gospel (Death, Burial & Resurrection) & that if you are preaching the Gospel, that He will take care of you. The phrase 'take up serpents' does not mean that you have to do so. If you read the verses before and after.... and the verses in the first chapter of Acts, any reasonable person will understand that 'They shall take up serpents' is NOT meant to be used as a form of praise or worship. Jesus knew that His people would face difficult times when it came to His ministry. Snakes and snake venom were used as a type of assassination tool back in Biblical times. Verse 18 says 'if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them'.... NO WHERE does that say poison.

Mark ch. 16 (KJV)
15: And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18: 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.
19: So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20: And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.


The Book of Mark only has 16 chapters and chapter 16 only has 20 verses. So this ends the book of Mark. Matthew, Mark, Luke & John are the four gospels, but the book of Acts is the next book in The New Testament.


Acts ch. 1 (KJV)
1: The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2: Until the day in which he was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen:
3: To whom also He shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, Ye have heard of Me.
5: For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6: Then they therefore were come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
7: And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.
8: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9: And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10: And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11: Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.


Acts ch. 28 (KJV)
3: And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
4: And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
5: And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.
6: Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.