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“I want you to make
yourself at home, just as if this was your home,” Brother Bob, the
Reverend of the Church of the Lord Jesus, tells us as Chuck and I
rise to take his outstretched hand in greeting. As more people file in,
again and again hands reach out to greet us, and voices repeatedly tell
us that we are to make ourselves “at home.” Our fears of invading their
space and interrupting their lives are dissuaded by the welcome these
individuals bestow upon us.
The “Church
of the Lord Jesus” is a small building with eight or nine rows of pews
in the back and a wooden stage at the opposite end with a dance floor in
front of it. At the front of the church are two posters stuck to the
wall, which read “Jolo Church Doctrine” and include a list of rules with
Bible passage references written beside them. At the bottom of the
posters in bold letters it states, “FOR MEMBERS ONLY.” The posters
read:
(1st poster) Women are not allowed
to wear:
Short sleeves, jewelry, or make-up (I Peter 3:3,
Timothy 2:9)
No gossiping (James 1:26)
No talebearing (Proverbs 18:8)
No lying (Colossians 3:9, Revelation 21:8)
No backbiting (Romans 1:30)
No bad language or by-words (Colossians 3:8)
(2nd poster) No tobacco users (II
Corinthians 7:1; I Corinthians 3:17)
Men not allowed to have long hair, mustache, or
beard (I Corinthians 11:14)
Men not allowed to wear short sleeves
Women not allowed to cut hair (I Corinthians 11:15)
or
Wear dresses above knees (Timothy 2:9)
Brother Bob starts singing, and others join into the chorus, repeating
“we’re gonna have a time,” words that seem to be in anticipation of the
outpouring of intense emotion and experience that will follow. People
join the dance floor, some with tambourines, others simply stamping
their feet or clapping their hands. People are dancing around, eyes
closed, letting the music and the Spirit enter into their bodies.
“Now what
you put in there is what you get out, so if you want a blessing, you’ve
got to ask for it,” Brother Bob tells us. “He said, ‘ask and you shall
receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto
you.’ God’s not going on no journey, He’s not taking no vacation,” and
with that, the instruments are tuned and the next song begins. “Oh,
we’re gonna have a good time, come on in the house…come on in the
house…come on in the house of the Lord!” These songs seem to be calling
people into the service, attempting to draw people into the Spirit of
the Lord. People are dancing more, the tune pouring forth from the
instruments is becoming more and more intricate, and the energy level is
rising. One of the women seated in front of us rises, takes a
tambourine from someone and joins in on the dancing and celebration.
There are many interjected shouts of joy and exclamations of God’s
greatness. The music becomes louder and more energized, and I can see
three or four men dancing close to the box of snakes, but no one reaches
in. It is hard to sit still in a service like this, and I find myself
wishing I could rise out of my seat to join their dancing.
The next song starts
up, with Brother Bob singing, “You Gotta Move,” and it is obvious that
he is trying to pull the congregation even deeper into the spirit of the
service. As the song ends, Brother Bob says,
I’ll tell you right
now, you gotta move. He’s not gonna jerk you up by the heart or
the head and call upon you if you don’t want...we got to press in,
we got to get over or we’re already had. If we just offer up by
the devil, he’ll take us over, and you won’t have no freedom or survival
(ah), you won’t want to get in the service (ah), you’ve got to
get in (ah), because if you don’t get in we’ve not praised God!
Brother Bob pauses,
and a variety of responses can be heard affirming what he has said. He
continues,
You feel it. You got
the Holy Ghost, you feel it – all you gotta do is let him out! He’ll
just keep bubblin’ over and over. He make my cup to runneth
over, he’ll make your cup run over if you just try, if you want.
We got to get all our eyes off what somebody said about us…cause
they don’t know what they’re talkin’ ‘bout anyhow. I’m not
concerned about the other fella; I’m concerned about me! I
can’t go for you (ah), I’ve got to go for me (ah)! Get
your eyes on the Lord!
And the song goes
into full force. Guitars, organs, tambourines, singing…the energy is
reaching new levels.
Brother Bob is
obviously a central motivator for this congregation. To me, the energy
level seems to be extremely high at this moment, but it obviously isn’t
high enough for Brother Bob because after the song ends, he scolds them
again:
You shouted last
week, I don’t know why you can’t shout this week...I thought we
said we were a bunch of lively stones – this looks like a bunch
of dead stones to me… Get in! Get in! If you’re a lively
stone, get in! I’ll tell you what, There’s some big Western
Diamondbacks up here that’ll make you wish you got in if you get one
that ain’t in, I’ll tell you right now! People, we need to get in the
service. He’s not a dead God, and if it’s anyone that’s dead, it’s us.
It’s not Him…We need to press in!
Brother Bob continues
in his shouting and motivating, getting the congregation more and more
excited. The instruments start up full force, and Brother Bob breaks
into song. Running back and forth across the stage, yelling, stomping
his feet, gesticulating, singing and praising God… I cannot believe I am
seeing this elderly man putting on such a display of energy and
movement. He is one incredible motivator, and the church reaches new
levels of energy. I can feel an electricity in the air, the tension is
building, the power of all of their combined attention and movement is
reaching new levels. I can hear some people moaning and yelling,
they are all stomping their feet, clapping their hands, shaking
tambourines, spinning and singing and dancing … and then I see it. A
glistening, elongated body protruding from one man’s raised hands. I
cannot tell if it is fear or intrigue that has made my eyes unable to be
drawn away from the man and the rattlesnake, but there is a power
there. The snake is completely docile, the man seems to be in total
control as the two move together, swaying to the music. Then there are
two more men with snakes, one of which is Brother Bob. They are dancing
with the reptiles, completely fixated on nothing else but the movement
of the serpents, seeming to be completely oblivious to everything going
on around them. It is only a half-hour into the service.
It is at this moment that a younger man
comes to the row in front of us and grabs onto a crying woman. He brings
her up to the floor, and immediately there are three people surrounding
her, laying their hands on her head, shoulders and back. I cannot hear
what they are saying, but they are completely focused on her, apparently
helping her out of whatever pain she is experiencing. The service is
incredibly intense at this moment. The serpent handlers are directly in
front of this woman and her healers, and everyone is clustered around
that activity. A second woman is brought to Brother Bob to have hands
laid on her, and she too begins crying. All singing has stopped by this
point, but the musical instruments are playing away, loud and full of
rhythm and energy. Yells and moans from all parts of the church can be
heard. A man from the audience comes up to the front, and congregation
members repeat the healing process on him. He starts shaking, hands in
air, and dancing all around.
To see this eighty
year old man singing deeply, passionately, and full of energy, dancing
his elderly body across the front of the church, microphone in hand,
completely mesmerizes me. Yet again, I feel like getting up and going to
the front to dance with the rest of the congregation. It is a
celebration of the power of the Holy Spirit coming down upon the church
and giving them the ability to handle rattlesnakes, copperheads, and
cottonmouths, to drink strychnine, to speak in tongues, to cast out
demons, and to heal the sick.
The first woman to be
healed is taken by the first man who handled serpents, and the two of
them run back and forth across the front of the church. Renewed,
healed, and full of a new passion, the woman goes to one of the organs
and stays there for the rest of the service. She proceeds to sing the
next song, and although the snakes have been put away, everyone is still
full of energy. Brother Bob finally seems to be satisfied with his
people, and I am completely overwhelmed by the intensity I have seen in
such a short time.
After the song has
ended and the musical instruments have stopped, the room is filled with
a cacophony of sounds, yells, moans, shouts of joy, some seeming to be
in pain. The volume level has not lowered even though the instruments
are no longer playing. After each song, the same happens.
Later in the service,
Brother Woods, a visiting preacher, goes to the front and begins to
preach. He spends his sermon calling people into the Spirit. “I learned
a few scriptures in the Bible when I was a child. I thought I knowed
something. I tell you I didn’t know nothin’. I wanna tell you,
you gotta have the Spirit to go with the Word. That Spirit’s
gotta come alive in you! How do you think the Word was written?
The Word was written by men when the Spirit moved upon them.” He
continues to tell us that we don’t do anything for ourselves, it is “God
who is using [us].” Furthermore, it is important for us to read the
Bible for ourselves and not to go by church doctrines or other writings
made by man. This is followed by shouts of “Live in the pencil,”
alluding to the well-worn and well-studied Bibles that can be seen
scattered around the room on the laps of various individuals. Brother
Woods raises his hands and yells out, “You gotta get the Word in you
because how much Word you got is how much God you got!”
After a few more
songs and some testaments from congregation members, Brother Bob calls
the service to a close. Immediately the sound of twenty-five people
praying simultaneously fills the room, and the service ends.
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