Luke 4:12. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, You shall not test the Lord your God.
OK, fine. How does that supersede they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them, though? Barring a later verse that says "oh yeah, I was just joshing about that whole poison thing in Mark 16," it should still remain valid.
How bout we just cut to the chase here. Are true believers immune to poison or not?
Not sure whether this is 100% correct, but here's how I see it: Even assuming that passage is supposed to be there (Yesh's point is that that was not included in the original manuscripts, so wether it is truly supposed to be part of Mark is a dubious claim), and leaving aside for a moment the question of whether miraculous signs exist today, this passage does not say that ALL believers will be able to do this. As with any of the miraculous signs that are recorded in the New Testament, not all believers can perform miracles at all, and not all who could perform some types could perform others. So unless God has specifically told
ME that
I have the miraculous ability to handle poisonous snakes without being harmed, I shouldn't go out looking to do something that is otherwise dangerous just because. Add to that the fact that there is not a single example of anyone in the NT handling snakes as part of worship. The only example that seems to maybe fit what Mark is talking about is where Paul is inadvertently bitten by a snake, and nothing happens to him. (Acts 28:1: Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.) But, again, it is something that happened while they were sitting around a campfire minding their own business. He wasn't acting stupid and looking for trouble from the snake.