In a small, isolated church in West Virginia, you don’t need Krampus or other life-threatening creatures to test your faith. And Santa Claus or even the Christ child are not needed there in the House of the Lord Jesus to strengthen the believers’ connection with their God. In the run-down McDowell County in the Appalachians, once known for its coal mining and forgotten during the advent of modernity, dangerous venomous snakes are used during church services. With this and during ecstatic incendiary speeches, the aim is to determine whether one is actually up to the spiritual and existential demands of Christianity.
