In one of Dolly Parton’s books, she tells the story of when her daddy used to take her and some of her brothers and sisters to sing at the mountain churches. - Once, he took them to a new one back in the holler. They were up front singing and the preacher brought out the snakes. Dolly’s father bellowed from the back of the church, “Get those damned snakes away from my kids!!” - and he ran up front, scooped his kids up, hauled them to the car and got them out of there fast.
That is precisely what happened to my wife in Statesville TN at a Missionary Baptist Church revival back in the early 70s when she was a kid. Her daddy was very stern and a deacon at a church in Murfreesboro where they lived but he was from the “hills and hollows” and was a 3 war combat vet including 2 tours in Indochina.
Same thing...preacher brought out the boxes of snakes.
Carl (RIP) stood up and challenged the preacher hard in front of everyone .
Told him that tempting God was vanity and foolish and the work of Satan.
They left....never went back...it was the church he grew up in..