Once bitten, the pastor, Cody Coots, had asked his congregation to take him to the mountaintop where God would judge whether he is to pull through or succumb to the same fate as his father.

Instead of following the words of the pastor, one follower took him to hospital where doctors told the pastor he was lucky to be alive.

Artery damage

The snake came close to severing the temporal artery, which would almost certainly kill him.

Cody's father, Jamie Coots, died when he was only 42 - Jamie was bitten by a rattlesnake at the same church in Middlesboro, Kentucky, Cody was, back in 2014.

Deadly poison

The church, Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus' Name church, is inspired by the biblical verse Mark 16:18: 'They will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them'.

The pastor was pictured with his shirt covered in blood, before he was carried out and rushed to hospital by his defiant and caring follower.