"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise [man] will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings." (Proverbs 1:1-6).

"Song leaders preach when leading songs; is this right?"

Answer:A song leader is not a preacher. He is a song leader, and according to church order, his business is to go up to the pulpit; and in our case the brethren sit on the chairs; and lead the songs of the Lord and leave the preaching to the preacher.

Quote: 913-186 "Have a song leader…And don't let them stand up and say--or carry on a lot, they're a preacher. Let them stand up there and lead songs; that's their business. It's the pastor's business to preach." (Church Order 63-1226).

Now this here is typical Pentecostalism; that a service is going on and the song leader will come on the pulpit, start leading the songs, then start preaching in between, lead the next song, start preaching in between, and use up the time of the minister. And, you could see a lot of pride involved, ambition, showoff involved, and these ruin the service. It wears out the people; before the minister could actually come with his message. So this is unscriptural. And I will add this here; even though a song leader is a preacher, and comes to the pulpit; he is not supposed to use the two offices at the same time. He is either a preacher on the pulpit or he is a song leader. When he comes up to the pulpit, he must lead his songs, and wait until his time comes to preach the Word of God. You do not mix matters! So all these things came from so-called Pentecost and have hanged over into the message.

"The song leader is over the music program since he is gifted to lead the songs and not the pastor. Is this scriptural?"

Answer:That is unscriptural. The song leader is gifted to lead his songs. He may have a voice like the voice of an Archangel, he could be a tremendous blessing to the church and continue to be a tremendous blessing to the church, but he is not over the music program. He is not over the song leading. He is gifted to lead songs, and cannot do what he wants. That power is invested in the pastor, and him only, according to the teachings of this message as Brother Branham established on "Operations of church offices." That settles the matter, even because, the pastor may not have a gift of leading the songs but he has a gift of leading the church; discerning the right and the wrong spirit. He has a gift to understand what pleases God and what doesn't please God. He could discern when the music, is getting those worldly beats in it. He could discern when the worldly kinds of singing are coming into the songs. That is his job. He may not be able to sing a song but he could discern what kind of a song that is, what kind of music that is and what kind of a person that is who is singing the song and playing an instrument. So he's called of God to lead the church of God as a whole in all respect: song leading, music, the deacons, the treasurers, the trustees and the ministers that are under him. So this is unscriptural and it's a heresy.

Question#251:"If a famous singer or musician from the world is saved. Should he be engaged in church services immediately?"

Answer:Absolutely not! Water baptism and accepting our Lord Jesus Christ does not deliver a man's soul entirely from demon possessions. This is a fatal mistake. For you to take a singer from the world who was singing all these kinds of jazz, rock music, calypso and every thing, or playing in a musical band, and put them up behind the pulpit to lead songs or to play music, it's a great danger. The danger that is involved here is that your church music can be hybridized with the music of the world, and you could have the young people catering to that, and they could fall in love with that kind of music and they want to hear that kind of beat, that kind of singing and then you corrupt the whole church.

Such a man could be used of the Lord, but, he must empty himself from all those worldly styles of singing, playing music, playing the piano, or whatever instrument. He must prove himself to be living a Christian life. His motives and objectives must be right. He must not transfer from the world, because he got a little depressed, and then come over to the church to continue his fame.

Some musicians leave the world because of certain conditions. They figure that they are going to die and they are suicidal. They lose some fame out there in the world. Sometimes they are convicted by the Spirit of the Lord through hearing some preacher, but they don't want to lose that attention, they don't want to lose that fame in the world. It goes the same way with preachers or anything that you are doing. So they want to come over to a big church and carry on that same kind of fame, popularity, they want to be admired, they want to be appreciated, and then they could get their worldly music and singing hybrid into Christian music. So-called Pentecost is filled with that, and they are happy when a pop singer comes in and is, what they call 'saved', accept the Lord Jesus Christ, make a confession and get baptized. That does not take out those demons from such people, and he will hybrid the church music with rock music, jazz and whatever you call it. That person needs to sit down and prove himself emptied of the world. Yes. His very voice in singing must be changed to a certain extent, where the pastor, if he is spiritual, could discern that, that man is not carrying a worldly voice in singing, but he is trying to train his voice to sing Christian songs and play Christian music.

The devil could be very subtle, and you could think that you are hearing Christian music, but in there, the devil has certain things that he slips in, in just a minor little form and "a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump". And you don't even know that your music is changing and your singing is changing because you do not have that discernment. You feel nice about it, but if you have a spiritual shepherd, he is looking over that, and even though he does not understands music, he knows that, not because he is a great singer or studied in that field.

There is something that, and with that discernment, something just don't feel right about that song, that music and that certain behavior of that man, and right there the Spirit of the Lord alerts that man and he says, "Stop it!" He may not know why he is stopping that, and somebody might want to challenge him to prove to them that, such music is wrong. He says "I can't prove that. I am the shepherd here; I don't want that music in here". So he don't have to go to school for that. What he has is spiritual discernment. Without spiritual discernment it is useless that a pastor tries to pastor a church. That's one of the first things that a minister must have, and that is spiritual discernment to discern the motives and objectives of people and secondly, to discern the spirits that are moving in the House of God. (Hebrews 4:12) The word is a discerner.

Quote: 15-3 "If they get a true revelation of the two spirits within the framework of the Christian church, and by God's Spirit discern and withstand the antichrist spirit, Satan will be powerless before her." (Church Ages Book).

No minister should be standing behind the pulpit until he has the correct discernment of the right music, the right songs, the motives and objectives of people, and the right discernment of a minister preaching behind the pulpit. He must understand those things, otherwise the church is gone.

Question#252:"Should any person lift up their voice louder than the song leader and take the lead by songs, or musicians amplify the sound of their instruments that drown out the song leader?"

Answer:No. The very reason that he is called a song leader is because he is supposed to lead the people in songs. This again is typical so-called Pentecostalism. We have seen it through the years that the song leader will be leading songs, and what they call 'getting in the spirit', a woman would just take over the song leading. She just raises up and starts lifting her voice, leading the songs, and her voice is above the song leader's voice, and then the song leader wants to stop, and he hopes this is the last verse she is going to sing, and then, a next woman over there starts the song again, and then she stops and a next man starts in the back, and they call that the moving of the spirit. That's fanaticism! If you will allow that in the House of God then, why do you have a song leader? Why do you call him a leader?

A song leader is to lead the congregation in songs, and anytime people do that, there is something wrong. They are untrained, and the pastor himself is untrained. He came from so-called Pentecost and did not leave his so-called Pentecostal habits over there, so he allows the women and men to go anyhow in the church, sing how they want, and he himself might be untrained or ignorant of what is correct church order. You allow that and then you will have the song service running for hours. You wear out the preacher. When it's time to come out, the people are so tired of singing that they cannot hear the word of God. Now all those things came from so-called Pentecost and we must put these things away now that we are under the message. We are perfectly established on these things for decades. It don't mean very much to you because we don't have these kinds of practices in our midst. These questions are very strange to people who are trained up, so it makes you smile. I see some of you smile and shake your heads. Some of you are in agreement with me because you came from so-called Pentecost and you know that I am speaking the truth.

So nobody should be lifting up their voice above the song leader's voice. Even if you are a singer and you are nearby and that song leader is taking the service for the night, the next person should not butt in and start leading the song. Let me show you the practical part of this. We have several preachers here. If another minister gets in the Spirit, and he is so enthused and feels like preaching this morning, and while I am preaching, he runs up here and starts preaching from just in front the pulpit, won't that be confusion? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] That would be confusion. I will lean over and say, "Please brother, go back to your seat." It might be a little embarrassing. A preacher could get anointed like that and must control himself, because there is a gift down in there that keeps stirring up. When you hear certain messages, you feel like you want to tell it too, and that sort of desperation and zeal might be in him. I will tell the preacher what to do: say, "Amen!" and support the Word. You could rise up, swing your hands, kick out your foot there, just don't kick anybody, but support the word of God.

There is something that happens. A song-leader, could be hearing somebody singing a song and you have that gift inside of you. It would keep stirring up, and if you don't watch out and learn control, you could run across and want to take over the song service, but you would be out of order.

So you have to be understanding at the same time. It is not that something is drastically wrong with the man. There is something good about him and he has a good gift inside of him that want to go into action but be must learn control. It's Pentecostalism to do that, and that's a heresy in itself.

Quote: 203-337 "And you people who's got the Holy Ghost and called into offices, teachers... Now, could you imagine... Here's me standing here trying to teach, and here jump a man up, side of me, and start teaching right at the same time, another man stand out here singing a jubilee song? Well, what a confusion…that's the way it is about speaking in tongues…Now, you say, "Well, Brother Branham, I can't help it." Oh, yes, you can… No matter how much It wants to speak, hold your peace. That's a gift, brother… and that gift wants to operate all the time. See? But you've got to have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit here to know when and how to operate that gift." (Qa. Image Of The Beast 54-0515).

Question#253: "We are forced to repeat the words: 'Hallelujah, Praise God etc.' If some don't, they are considered out of the Spirit?"

Answer: Again, this is the system of so-called Pentecostal. If you want to find out what is true Pentecost read the Book of Acts. But so-called Pentecost is what we have upon the face of the earth, and it's the biggest imitation of the early church, so people are forced to say, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise God, praise God, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus." How many are familiar with that kind of trend? [Some out of the congregation lift their hands.] Well, a good many people. Now that's terrible. Our Lord reminded us, "When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them." (Matthew 6: 7-8). This is an invention of so-called Pentecost and it came about in order to invite the Spirit in the church and upon them to receive the Holy Ghost.

I will let you know what goes on. In so-called Pentecost, people come into the house of God and the Spirit of the Lord is not there. It's dry. They developed a certain system that when they want the Spirit to come upon them in their prayer closet, in the church or as a congregation gathered. They taught the people to say: "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus", and then they repeat such phrases faster and faster until they get into a frenzy and sometimes they start speaking in tongues and sometimes it's the devil talking in tongues. Sometimes they say it so fast that their tongues tie-up and they think they are speaking in tongues. When they get into that emotional frenzy they actually think that is the Spirit, but that is emotionalism. Let me tell you something, if I never said this before: that system that so-called Pentecost invented to invite the Spirit of God is nothing less than heathenism. Heathens chants in order to get into their emotions and feel good in their religion by a religious spirit.

Many of us here in Trinidad are familiar with a sect of the Hindu religion called, "Hare Rama, Hare Krishna", and you heard them chant. They would say those words over and over again. "Hare Rama, Hare Krishna." They start off very slow and then get faster and faster and beat their drums in the public and then jump up high in the air. Now something happens to them. That is not just a make up something. That is actually getting into an emotion. You would be surprised to know how far emotions could carry a man.

Quote: 55 "This fire-walker…must walk slow, steady through these coals of fire…as many as fifteen feet deep...and maybe thirty yards or forty yards long… and they're white hot. And he has nothing on but a clout…and bleeding, and fish hooks and everything all over his body, works hisself up into a frantic until white slobbers is pouring from his mouth… walking through that fire, and walk out on the other side, unharmed at all." (Christianity Versus Idolatry 61-1217).

You could get into emotion frenzy and do a lot of things. All that is, is mental power. Their is so much powers invested within a human being, just in his mental capacity, that science has not yet even touched. Science has not yet even tapped the natural mental powers of a man and much less the powers that belong to his soul. The spiritual part of human beings.

Quote: E-33 "Here the other night I saw on a telecast of a man with psychic mental faith set a glass of water and stood back and kept concentrating on that glass of water till it bursted it, just by concentration, watching that glass of water…just pure mental consecration. Why? That's his fibers. That's his makeup. If he can do that--got a power in him by mental thinking that can break a glass of water, and him being a sinner, that shows that there was something made in that man. He's in a fallen, perverted condition. But if that man can only get back to God, and let God get into him, why, with that power turned loose of the Kingdom of God." (The Messiah 61-0117).

All that so-called Pentecostals are practising is a heathen way of getting into emotions, and they experience certain things. What is the difference of saying, "Hare Ramah, Hare Krishna" and saying "Hallelujah, Hallelujah" repetitiously? Don't you see it's a chant? So we have so-called Pentecostal chanting, around the world, and in so doing they force themselves into a certain realm, bring demons upon them, and become demon-possessed. I quote Brother Branham:

Quote: 125 "False prophets have false words: creeds, denominations, sensations. "Only thing you have to do is just be blank in your mind, don't think of a thing, and say, 'Oh, fill me, fill me, fill me.'" The Devil will sure do it." (You Must Be Born Again 61-1231m).

It's a terrible thing to try to break into the realms of the spirit without proper guidance from a spiritual leader. And that is what so-called Pentecost has done. I don't know how many millions they have today following them, but it's just an emotional system mixed with demon power.

These so-called Pentecostal traits and habits came over from the so-called Pentecostal church, under the Message. Right now, they are falling on the ground, with the same kind of an emotions; women's dress up in the air, and they live nothing. I believe in saying, "Hallelujah," but it must not be an invocation and an emotional frenzy of vain repetitions. I believe in saying, "Praise the Lord," I believe in thanking God, but we have a scripture in the Bible that told us, "When we pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking". And so-called Pentecost today, think that they would get the Holy Ghost, and they will become spiritual, for their much speaking. But actually what that is, is chanting.

A man in the congregation here, may get in the Spirit and say, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, praise the Lord," and he may never ever do that, the next week or for a next month. But when you make that an invocation and you use that as chants and words to bring the Spirit of God upon you, you are wrong. If the Spirit of God is upon you, you may say, "Hallelujah" ten times. Now, do you see the difference? If the Spirit comes upon you, it could cause you to say, "Hallelujah, praise God and thank God," but Pentecost has it upside down. They chant those words to try to bring the Spirit of God upon them, and that is not the method of bringing the Spirit of God upon you. That's not the method. The method to bring the Spirit of God upon you is very simple: "God gives the Holy Ghost, to them that obey him." (Acts 5:32). You continue to hear the words of Life, believe it, practice it, strive with all your heart to do the right things, and when you do wrong, repent friend; and you don't have to get into any frenzy; the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you and guide you, lead you and teach you. That is how simple to get the Spirit of God upon you. Not this kind of so-called Pentecostal invention of, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise God, praise God, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus," and get into a frenzy and start jumping up, and speaking in tongues. You get demon possessed.

So your pastor is wrong, by forcing you as a believer, under this Message, to get into those chants, and then consider you as unspiritual, because you wouldn't do that. I assure you that you are more spiritual than your pastor. Oh yes! It's Pentecostalism, and he's not yet delivered from those traits, though he may be a sincere man.

"My children and wife are disciplined, by the pastor and deacons, because they don't lift their hands and praise God, and shout. Is this right?"

Answer:: Typical Pentecostalism again. Let me tell you something about worship, my brothers and sisters. The first thing that I would make mention of is, St. John 4:24-25; Jesus said, "They that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." You could teach a congregation to lift their hands and praise the Lord, you could get the deacons to discipline people who don't do that, the minister could come and bawl them out, and out of fear and discipline by the deacons, you could get the whole congregation to lift their hands and say, "Praise God, thank You Jesus," and it could be hypocrisy, because they that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The worship is not truthful, sincere, honest, and it is not coming from the heart, but it is coming from training, rebukes, insults, and because you were taught and trained up that way. The truth of this whole matter of worship is that the people of God must worship God in the way that they feel led of the Lord.

God designed his creatures in various ways, and a man could be very quiet, but in his heart he is sincere and honest, and in his heart there is gratitude for every word that is spoken from the pulpit, and nobody hears his voice, screams or the shouts, but in his heart he is so appreciative: for where he is sitting, for what he is hearing, for the brethren and the minister, and in his heart he thanks God. He may not even say, "Thank you Jesus" in his heart, but just the appreciation is what the Lord is looking at. The Lord looketh upon the heart of man, but man looketh upon the outward appearance.

Nobody should force anybody, and there is no law or codes of rules and regulation to discipline anybody in the House of God, when they would not raise their hands, when they would not shout out, "Praise God," or when they would not scream or dance. Beloved, what kind of church we would have here? We would have a set of dancers, a set of shouters, and a set of people in the congregation who's bawling down the place like so-called Pentecost, thinking that they are worshiping God, but the Lord said, "In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:9). So there's a vain worship, and you could worship God, but you could come to church without sincerity, worship God without sincerity, pray without sincerity, and do a lot of things without sincerity. And I could come here through the years and teach you that every person must praise God aloud. I'll be a fanatic. When you finish praise and you do all those other things; you go outside and live like the devil, because there is no sincerity in the heart.

So-called Pentecost thinks that they are really praising God; look at their lives: women in pants, high-heeled shoes, chopped of hair, adultery, fornication, rock music, jazz and calypso in the church, even because the sincerity is not in the heart, and they are worshiping God but not in Spirit and Truth. They don't want to hear the Word. It's a certain system. They try to fool the whole world that they are worshiping God more than everybody, and they have certain statements which they use. They say, "Give God the glory brother." You're giving the devil your glory, because, "In vain do you worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." As long as you are teaching contrary to the Word of God, your worship is going to the devil. Believe it or not. You must worship in Spirit and what? [Congregation says, "Truth."] Truth.

Quote: 5-4 The god of this world today, the worshipped person of this world today is Satan, and the people are ignorant of worshipping Satan. But it's Satan impersonating himself as the church. They worship Satan thinking that they are worshipping God…Oh, you say, "But we preach the Word."… It's that misconstruing that part of the Scripture that applies to the day…II Thessalonians, the 2nd chapter." (Satan's Eden 65-0829).

Anytime you preach contrary to that truth, all your worship goes to the devil. Anybody who preaches "Seven thunders revealed in 1963", their worship is going to the devil; anytime you preach "Seven trumpets are revealed, but were not revealed by Brother Branham", your worship is going to the devil. Anytime you allow the women to dress immodestly, your worship is going to the devil; I don't care how many spoken word books you have and how many tape recorders you have, your worship is going to the devil. This is solid teaching I am telling you about friend; right under the Message, devil worshipers. You have a pastor there living in adultery and trying to lead the church, he is leading you into the kingdom of Satan, and all you worship is going to the devil. A man like that has got to bend the Word to suit his life.

So we don't force anybody, but everybody is supposed to acknowledge God in the way that the Lord designed them. You may choose to sit there and cry right through the service, and that's a blessing too. You may choose to sit there and just fold your arms, and bend down before the Lord, and you could be worshiping more than everybody. So-called Pentecost knows nothing about spiritual worship. It's the appreciation in the heart, not the vain words that we use. Yes! Quarrel whole night, fret, murmur, complain, fight like dogs and cats in their homes, and then come Sunday morning, and everybody say, "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus." As soon as the service is finished they fight again, boasting about who dressed the prettiest, who sang the best, and who preached the best. Yes. Confusion. Anytime preachers in the Message rise up and try to force the people to do those so-called Pentecostal things, it is because they themselves have that spirit yet. You're still in Laodicea.

That must not lay a foundation for everybody to think that they are quiet in their natures, and refuse to sing, refuse to worship and refuse to thank God when they come into the House of God; and those same people who think that they have a quiet nature, they have the biggest mouth when church is finished.

One young fellow came to confess to me that he went and drank a few beers and danced. I said, "That's a terrible thing for a young fellow to do who grew up in the House of God." I said, "Did you ever dance for the Lord?" He said, "No Brother Bruce." I said, "You never danced for the Lord but you went and danced for the devil!" He said, "I won't do it again."

Now do you see how deceitful people could become? The same quiet people that can't sing, can't worship and cannot praise, see how excited they get with some kind of worldly thing, see how they manifest when somebody makes a joke. They reach outside and their voices are so loud, but those are the same people who were sitting in the House of God and could not tell God, "Thanks, for the food." They could not sing the song and they would tell you that, "I can't sing." The same people sing worldly songs. So it's deceit and hypocrisy.

People with those kinds of hypocrisy and deceit down in them, without gratitude for God, without thankfulness for God in the heart (I'm talking about here), as a foolish minister I would come up and command them to praise God. Now if I beat them hard enough they would do it, but while they do that there is hypocrisy, deceit, unthankfullness, there is no gratitude, there is no life, no born again experience, they are out of the Spirit, and I beat them into subjection and tell them to praise God. So what I do, I breed ninety per cent hypocrites, and I train them to say, "Praise God." That is some kind of church. So ministers in this message are wrong. They brought over their so-called Pentecostal hog-wash, and are trying to force people into praising God. A man's wife, they got a hold of her and disciplined her and the children. You are breeding a so-called Pentecostal assembly under the message.

Question#255:"What is the liberty of any person on the pulpit in demanding saints to lift their hands, sing, worship, say, "Amen" or other items?"

Answer:: You could only exercise such liberties of asking the congregation to sing, praise God or different things according to the leading of the Spirit. It should not take on a formality, and if you do not have that discernment when to do that and how to do that, the better thing for you to do is to go on singing your song, pick up your offering, do what you are supposed to do on the pulpit and climb back down, otherwise you could exercise some formality. And I will tell you something: When you meet a trained congregation, you could get a good insult, because you could come up to the pulpit and say, "Now everybody, raise your hands and praise the Lord", and nobody does it. And then you alone ends up saying, "Praise the lord, praise the lord, thank you Jesus", and you are doing that to try to encourage them to do that.

Spiritual discernment is very important in doing anything in the House of God. I told my song leaders that they could ask the congregation at intervals to say, "Let us all stand and sing this, or let us all raise our hands and sing this, or let us lift our hands and praise the Lord", but I don't expect them to make that a formality. Sometimes, the truth is that the congregation doesn't have that confidence in you as a song leader to obey you as they would obey the pastor. If I come up here and say, "Everybody lift your hands." My brother, you hear a voice of authority and you have confidence in that and you lift your hands and just worship the Lord. A next fellow comes up here and says the same thing and he don't get that co-operation. That's the truth of it. So the best thing for you to do, unless you feel directly led of the Holy Ghost, is don't do that; forget it. Even the minister could come up here and say, "Let us worship the Lord and praise God", but a worship spirit is not there. The people could only do that sincerely if a worship spirit is here, and if that is really here, you would hardly have to ask them that. Worship is automatic.

Worship means that you are blessed. It means that gratitude wants to fly out of your heart. It means that I feel like getting up and running, and it means that I am charged in the Spirit. And on another occasion, the congregation is bound and you know that the Spirit of the Lord is trying to break through. You must have the spiritual discernment, and in order to help the people, you may say, "Let us all clap our hands and sing this song." That is to drive the devil away. And you might have the right touches and say, "Let us give him a praise offering now", and then you loose the service; but everybody doesn't have that discernment and ability.

It's the same way that every preacher does not have the ability to hold a congregation for one, two, three hours. No, that's not their calling. It's a certain gift and a certain styling of preaching that meets the soul's desires of the people, the hunger and thirst. So it could be done and they have the liberty to do it, but they must be led of the Spirit, and if you do not have that leading of the Spirit and the ability to do that, forget it, do what you have to do and leave the pulpit.

"Some fall on the floor and women are exposed in worship services. Am I wrong to hate this?"

No! We hate the thing too, because this is typical Pentecostalism and rampant in so-called Pentecost, it is the deeds of the Nicolaitans that God also hate. (Revelation 2:6). The preachers could bear witness to that, who came from there. They have certain women with sheets to cover these naked people and imagine that they brought this thing under the message. So-called seven thunders produced this and a whole group of people were witnesses of these kinds of fanaticism under "the Coleman thunders", and it is going on right now in New York, and they said that a revival broke-out again in New York. So the more unholiness they practise is greater revivals they are having. They say that many are coming in by the dozens and by the hundreds into the church. All that you will make them is an unworthy church member. If I break down the standards here, I will have this place filled with thousands of people. We are not going to break down the standards for nothing! We are looking for quality and not quantity.

This is very prevalent in so-called Pentecost. I'm talking about stark naked. You can't get that woman to pull down her dress, and you want to tell me that's the Holy Ghost? I'm talking about four men trying to hold a woman's hands down, and as soon as that hand gets away, she would pull that dress right up over her head. I'm not talking about hear-say. I'm talking about what I seen with my eyes and what you people seen with your eyes who belonged to so-called Pentecost. Do you want to tell me that's the Holy Ghost? Didn't the Holy Ghost say, "Let the women dress modestly?" And the Holy Ghost will come upon somebody and display them in that condition? Its got to be a devil, and that's the same ghost that was in the Garden of Eden. It's sick! And you have a right to hate the old thing. If that don't change in your church, get out and go and find another church that don't practice those so-called Pentecostalism.

"Officers of the church take the liberty and control and say who should sing or testify at service, and fuss with the pastor if he objects; is this right?"

No! It is clear that the pastor is to control the music program. All specials, all singing in revivals or any service that the church allows, he must give the permission to say who sings a special, is going to do this, who is going to do that and who plays the music. If somebody is on the list to play Sunday morning and that pastor feels led of the Lord to pull down those two brothers and put up these others, that stands that way and not a dog should bark. That's how the House of God is run. So you have no right to fuss with the pastor when he fixes the music, fixes the song leading, fixes the deacons and the treasurers where they are supposed to be.

When the pastor says to sit in a certain place, you have no business to fuss. It shows your spirit. He controls the House of God and that settles it. So this is wrong.

"Some have long drawn-out testimonies and kill the services and people are tired when I, the pastor, come to the pulpit. What should I do?

First thing I want to say is that you don't know your rights. You have the church running any old how. And if for a simple thing like this, you don't know what to do, then you don't know a lot of things. As sincere as this question is, it reflects that you are not serious enough. You have a man having a long drawn out testimony, he kills the services, and then when you come to the pulpit the people are tired: "What should I do about it?" Don't you know that, that is so-called Pentecostalism to the core? Don't you know that is what goes on in so-called Pentecost to open the door to bring into your service all kinds of foul spirits? Somebody goes up there and they ask to testify. There's nothing wrong in testifying and asking to testify, but friends, when you come to testify it must be in order, your motives and objectives must be right, your entire purpose must be right, and the right purpose is to glorify God, to convince some sinner to be saved and convince some backslider to hold on. That's the motive, that's the objective.

You mostly find this problem in people who want to show-off. You give them fifteen minutes or half an hour to testify, and they want to tell you their whole life story, and want to bring in the parts that actually glorifies them, and shows them up. That's not a testimony. You are blest for telling the bad things about you. God wants you to tell the bad things. That is humbling your heart. Yes! Come up and say that you have a fussy spirit, how you cannot settle your matters peacefully, and because of that you made five enemies around the church, "Brethren pray for me please? I'm a terrible person." God wants that type of confession and testimony.

We have passed that many years ago and the brethren that testify here cut their testimonies to suit, and use up just the amount of time without giving them a specific time. In between we would find one or two fellows who still come and bore the congregation. After they talk for about fifteen, twenty minutes, half an hour, they forget what they are saying and they say, "Let me see what I have to say again. Oh, I can't remember right now. Anyway, what I was saying is about this." You are a sick fellow. You are supposed to testify once in five years. You don't even have common sense to know when you are boring people. A man must use common sense in his personal conversation and in public speaking, also to know when a man is tired of hearing him and don't wants to hear him again!

If you have a forgetful memory, you could meet a brother and tell him the same thing five times: "Do you know I caught a ten-pound fish the other day?" And tomorrow, your memory is so bad: "I caught a ten-pound fish." Next week, you meet the man and say, "Do you know I caught an eleven-pound fish?" The fish starts growing bigger and bigger and bigger. That fellow is so kind that he don't wants to tell you, "I heard that story already", and a kind person will stop there and say, "Yes, yes", but he is looking at his watch too and thinking: "Boy I've got to go now." Now this fellow is so untrained that he says, "Before you leave hear this; I catch a twelve-pound fish." You are a boring fellow in talking to people. If you are boring in talking to people, your friends your brothers and sisters, you will be boring on the pulpit. So some people have an 'old-talking' spirit. They like to 'old-talk'

Funeral Service of Pastor George Parylla At CT. USA