Does God Cause Some Folks to Practice 'Holy Dancing' In Their Worship?

Does God Cause Some Folks to Practice 'Holy Dancing' In Their Worship?

Dear Mr. Waddey:
Are you familiar with the practice in Pentecostal churches in which they incorporate what they call the "hora?" (Supposedly based on the song of Miriam at the Exodus). I have witnessed the gyrations of a man with two women up front with all the trappings of a disco scene - as part of their "worship in the Spirit." It is seen as a manifestation of one of the "supernatural graces" that expresses itself in "holy laughter" when "under the influence of the Spirit" It is quite frightening. Is this the work of God?
- Abbie

Dear Abbie:
Yes, I am familiar with the holy dancing of the various Pentecostal groups. There is a long history of this practice. The Shakers of the 19th century incorporated dancing in their worship. Our course nothing in the New Testament of Christ teaches us to dance in worship. This is a perfect example of will-worship. A person wants to do it...often a person who has an exhibitionist personality. To rationalize and justify his desire he searches through the Old Testament until he finds the case of Miriam or David and thus he proceeds, thinking Christ has given his approval to his desire to display his talent before an audience. They use the Old Testament like shoppers do the supermarket. They wander through its aisles and pick out only such things that please them. They rest they leave on the shelf.

Such practices as the holy laughter, holy dancing, speaking in so-called tongues and being slain of the Spirit are all the result of religious hysteria which preachers in Pentecostal circles are adept at inducing. They use pounding music and preaching that is designed to manipulate their hearers to an emotional frenzy where the restraints of rationality are broken down allowing the uninhibited passions to possess the victims. Worshipers come to such services expecting such a demonstration. That expectation makes them very vulnerable to the suggestive powers of the shrewd preacher. It has been described as a kind of mass hypnotism. Once a weak soul is brought to the breaking point and begins to exhibit the bizarre actions, others rapidly fall in with them, thinking in their ignorance that it is the Holy Spirit of God that is causing those actions. It spreads like a contagion.

Paul says, "For God is not is not a God of confusion, but of peace" (I Cor. 14:15). Again he says "But let all things be done decently and in order" (I Cor. 14:40). This being true, those religious services that produce such mass confusion and disorder cannot be the work of Jehovah.

Sincerely,

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