Testing times

When I was in Tampere in Finland, on a Sunday it was my custom to attend the Anglican-inflected English service at the Nordic Church in the afternoon and then be present at the English Pentecostal service in the early evening which slotted in nicely after the first had finished, though involving a short distance to travel.  I appreciated the different styles and it also meant I could sleep in on Sunday mornings (the Pentecostals ran a translation service in their main hall for the morning alongside the regular native congregation but, Finnish being Finnish, one of the most formidable languages in Europe, the translation could be stumbling and halting, denying the sermon much of its power).
There was always useful applications for the spiritual life and I still cherish these.  One of these, however, particularly got up my nose.  One Finnish man using the tongue of the Anglo-Saxon (though in the standard way rather than being directly moved by the Holy Spirit) said that if we had faith in God, we should be able to hold up poisonous snakes in each hand and rely on God to stop the slithering (and surprisingly dry to the touch as I found out at London Zoo) lizards from resorting to their natural inclinations.  The man, a very occasional preacher (I wonder why, not), was no doubt sincere but he was also deluded.  By focusing on the Old Testament, he had forgotten the New.  One key passage when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness to throw himself off the top of the Temple in Jerusalem and be rescued by angels, as was alluded to in scripture, rebukes the devil, throwing back at him Deuteronomy "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."  One cannot use the Old Testament in isolation (unless you are Jewish and then you can, if in slightly different ordering).  And this man, in front of all the people taking notes, was advocating that God should be put to the test!
I raise this anecdote as it has been reported that Jamie Coots, an American preacher and star of of the reality television show Snake Salvation, has died at his home in Kentucky after being bitten by a rattlesnake (Rick Santorum has lost one primary voter for his 2016 presidential bid).  Taking a perverse view that being perforated by reptile fangs nine times and even losing part of a finger in one incident, was "a victory to God's people that the Lord sees fit to bring me through it," Coots managed to turn it to coin in best American tradition with his reality show that profiled Pentecostal snake-handling pastors.  He himself lost his snake venom 'virginity' in 1998.  Undeterred by multiple failure to ensure that the snakes he picked up desisted from their violent objections, Coots died less than an hour after he ordered doctors away from his home.  How would God's plan be enacted if they intervened, would have been his viewpoint.  Well exactly and that plan has now been executed, literally.