title

:

Better Felt Than Said : The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in Southern Appalachia

author

:

Abell, Troy D.

publisher

:

Baylor University

isbn10 | asin

:

print isbn13

:

9780918954350

ebook isbn13

:

9780585134789

language

:

English

subject

Pentecostalism--Appalachian Region, Southern, Holiness churches--Appalachian Region, Southern, Appalachian Region, Southern--Religious life and customs.

publication date

:

1982

lcc

:

BR1644.5.U6A23 1982eb

ddc

:

289.9

subject

:

Pentecostalism--Appalachian Region, Southern, Holiness churches--Appalachian Region, Southern, Appalachian Region, Southern--Religious life and customs.

Page v

Better Felt Than Said

The Holiness-Pentecostal Experience in Southern Appalachia

Troy D. Abell

MARKHAM PRESSWACO, TEXAS

Page vi

Author's royalties from the sale of this book will go to the Baylor University World Hunger and Population Center.

Copyright © 1982 by

The Markham Press Fund of Baylor University

Waco, Texas 76798

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 81-86285

International Standard Book Number: 0-918954-35-5

Printed in the United States of America

Page vii

To

Claudia Marie Bridget Innocenti Abell

and

the people of

Coal Creek and McClaskey

Page ix

CONTENTS

Preface

ix

Part One

1

Introduction

3

2

The Place

10

3

The Beliefs

17

Part Two

4

Josh Armstrong

45

5

Frank Harper

62

6

Elma Davis

80

7

Lee Russell Armstrong

90

8

Violet Christianson

99

9

Alice Anderson

106

10

Pam Kramer

110

11

Vernon Watson

117

Part Three

12

The Worship

123

13

The Prime Movers

143

14

The Certainty

164

15

The Personality

185

16

Conclusions

198

Bibliography

203

Page xi

PREFACE

In April of 1973 I packed all my material possessions into the back of my jeep wagon and headed for the hills of Southern Appalachia. I rented a house in a county seat and set out each morning "in search of the hollow." After only a week I was introduced to a teacher who said he knew of a young Holiness-Pentecostal minister who served as the pastor of a church up in one of the hollows. I met Frank Harper, the young minister, a few days later, and he invited me to visit his church the following Saturday night. So, within ten days of my arrival in the Southern Appalachian mountains, I was among the Holiness-Pentecostals of Coal Creek.

I was scared beyond belief as I pulled up to the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church that first Saturday evening. The primary thing I remember about that night was that, after the service, the pastor, Frank Harper, introduced me to Josh Armstrong, a highly respected man in the congregation. Frank explained that I wanted to collect people's testimonies and learn about their beliefs; Frank was sympathetic to my situation and especially supportive in his description. Josh quickly answered, "Well, I love the Lord, and that's about all that's important" and abruptly turned and walked away.

Although disappointed at this first encounter, I continued to go out to the hollow church services. Frank Harper eventually introduced me to T. Timothy Alexander, the pastor of the largest Holiness-Pentecostal church in the county. He invited me to visit his church in McClaskey; and since they had their evening services on Sunday night, I could attend both churches.

After two months of living in town, I moved into the hollow. Josh Armstrong, who by this time had become a good friend, helped me find a place. The five-room house we found was one of several in a coal camp. The mine had been closed for years, but the houses surrounding it were still occupied. Since the coal camp houses were in relatively poor condition and none had running water, my monthly rent was $10.

It was in the coal camp that I began to know people. They brought over medicine when I was sick; we helped each other fix

Page xii

our vehicles; the older teenaged boys found my place nice for a late-night game of cards; and my jeep wagon was a useful ambulance/taxi/bus.

It was a while before the cold stares gave way to signs of welcome recognition and laughter. Since most of the people had never met an anthropologist nor could see any purpose in my constant questioning, all of my explanations for my presence seemed inadequate. Most people assumed I was a Vista worker. That in itself was okay; they'd grown accustomed to Vista workers. "All they do is come to the hills for a year and eat with us." But, a Vista worker who wouldn't admit that he was a Vista workerthat was something else.

After a couple of months, the apprehension over my presence was at its height. One afternoon a young man, whom I knew slightly, was walking along the road and I gave him a ride to the store. Breaking the several miles of silence he abruptly asked, "Well, what do you do all day?" (Now, everybody hopes that at least once in his life, without hesitation, he says the right thing at the right time; and that afternoon was my time.) I simply looked at him through the corner of my eye and asked, "What do you do all day?" After a few seconds of looking straight ahead, he began to shake all over; before long, we were both holding our sides in laughter. I was never again asked about my daily calendar.

In the fall my jeep broke down, and I had to get it repaired a little at a time. A seventy-year-old widow offered me some of her "bank savings" to get it fixed. When I got ready to leave the hills, Josh Armstrong offered me a place on his land to build a house, if I wanted to stay. So, the cold stares were the preliminaries to real kindness and concern. As a woman said one night after church, pretending she was writing down everything I said (as I was continually doing to her and the others), "You're the only anthropologist we've ever seen."

Page 1

PART ONE

Page 3

1

Introduction

To most persons living in the Southern Appalachian mountains, religion is a highly individualistic matter. And, whether or not a person regularly attends church, he is continually aware of the struggle in which he alone is responsible.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's between you and the Lord. You can see the actions, but only you can know that feeling way down inside. It's an individual matter. We can't blame nobody else if we don't have that peace inside.

A person's life on earth is mainly a testing ground for either heaven or hell. For many, the purpose of being alive is to serve and honor God.

Despite his sense of individual responsibility, man is also a social creature. And for this reason, all over Southern Appalachianext to the major highways, in the middle of town, on the side of the winding roads, and back in secluded hollowsare

Page 4

found buildings where men and women, the old and young, the healthy and the sick come to worship. In the towns the buildings are of various shapes and sizes, but up in the hollow, they usually are only one room. Often they have no sign on the front and give no indication of the meeting times. But, meet they do: every Saturday night, Sunday morning, and Wednesday or Thursday evening. (Some churches meet on Sunday night instead of Saturday, but Saturday worship offers an alternative to honkytonking.) Here the people share their burdens and their joys. They agonize over their lost friends and family and shout praises to God in their elation.

Some of these people adhere to a very strict code of holiness, emphasizing that, to get into heaven, one must live "above" sin. Sanctification is the experience by which this is accomplished.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: Sanctified is, in this Book more than any other word, explanatory of God's salvation. When you're saved, you're taken out of the world; when you're sanctified, the world is taken out of you. Sanctification means "get the filth out."

EVANGELIST RICHARD GRAYSON: If you've got a spot, wrinkle, or blemishyou'd better get cleaned up. His bride isn't gonna have any spots or blemishes.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: We'll not get there with sin; that's for sure.

Some of these same people also practice a special type of praising God by "speaking in tongues." Speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, is synonymous with "the baptism of the Holy Ghost" and is regarded as a highly desirable experience which gives power and insight.

DUANE RAMSEY: You want the Holy Ghost just like you do food. You got to have a desire for it. You got to have your mind on it.

EVANGELIST HUGO WINSTON: The Holy Ghost, he brings into your lifepower. We are impressed these days by power. In a day and age when everyone is so aware of power, if we don't have the supernatural power of God in us, we won't impress anyone.

FRANK HARPER: You need the Holy Ghost. You're gonna have

Page 5

to seek for the Holy Ghost. In this day, you need an ''in'' with the power of God.

It was among these persons who adhere to a holiness code and practice glossolaliaHoliness-Pentecostalsthat I lived, and about whom I write.1

I am writing about a people and their God; about the guilt and frustration and unworthiness caused by sin; about the loneliness and despair and tears of concern over friends and spouses and children who are lost; about the joy and ecstacy of praising God with all of one's mind and desire and, yes, one's body; about talking to God in an unknown language and interpreting the message hidden in the otherwise unintelligible sounds; about dancing in the spirit and running the aisles until one falls to the floorexhausted and unconscious.

I am writing about the patience and humility that come from seasons of hard work on an unyielding land; about the frustration and futility and anger which slowly emerge after years of thwarted goals and unkept coal-company promises; about the quietness that speaks of poverty and limited possibilities; and, about the explosion from that quietness in worship.

I am writing about the gentle smiles of acceptance based on years of developed, intimate trust and the closeness that comes from a mutual sharing of problems and hopes; about the bitterness and hardness that can develop if that intimate trust is broken; about the uncertainty and anxiety associated with cancer and alcohol and diabetes and pellagra and the fervent prayers offered to God to secure healing. Through all of this I am writing about a God who is their Alltheir Life.

This book is not a survey of mountain life, although it is partially about the creeks and the coal and the hollows of the

1. I make a distinction between Holiness-Pentecostals and some groups which use one or the other of these names. Some denominations in Southern Appalachia adhere to a strict holiness codeThe Church of the Nazarene and sortie Baptist churchesbut are opposed to the practice of speaking in tongues. Other groups practice glossolaliathe Full Gospel Business Men's Group and "neo-Pentecostals" in several mainline Christian denominationswithout emphasizing strict codes of holiness. For example, in the neo-Pentecostal movement, a man could speak in tongues and smoke or a woman could speak in tongues and wear a short dress and makeup; this would be unthinkable to a Holiness-Pentecostal. One experiences Pentecostglossolaliabecause one is living a holy life and God has chosen to give him or her the Holy Spirit.

Page 6

people of the mountains, sometimes called mountaineers or hillbillies. The focus of this writing is about persons who are Pentecostal, holiness, and Southern Appalachian. The pivotal point for the lives of the people represented here is their religionthe way they interact with the God who speaks to their minds and communicates through feelings and dreams and voices and visions and jolts their bodies with power.

I am writing primarily about how people make sense out of life. Some of the people described here do not spend much time taking care of their houses or their church buildings. In fact, by the standards of urban, secular America, these Holiness-Pentecostals spend far too much time praying, fasting, singing, and speaking in tongues and too little time affecting the real world of economics and technology and politics. To many critics, these Holiness-Pentecostals have too much God in their heads and heaven in their hopes; the loss of human potential is staggering.

Yet, these same Holiness-Pentecostal people feel they have chosen the things that lastthat count. They see with sadness their friends who emphasize money and prestige, sex and sport, and spend all of their time in earthly politics and frivolous organizations; it seems so wasteful, so temporary. Even one's listening time is important. Why should someone listen to worldly music when there is a gospel station playing godly music?

Making sense of the world consists of one of the biggest gambles, the most crucial commitment: a life. That decision is made continuously. We invest energy in a way of seeing things, of doing things. Through the years we choose our paths, however unconscious we may be of the process. To some persons the process is clear-cut and causes little anxiety. For many there is a considerable amount of self-examination, doubt, and uncertainty. I present that struggle among Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia as it centers around their God. Through their words and their worship I attempt to present how they make sense of their lives and determine, as Robert Coles (1971) so precisely puts it, "what matters."

The Approach

For one yearApril 1973 to March 1974I attended five Holiness-Pentecostal worship services a week: Saturday evening

Page 7

at Coal Creek, Sunday evening at McClaskey, Wednesday evening at McClaskey and Thursday evening at Coal Creek. On Sunday mornings, I alternated between the two churches. The Coal Creek church had two revival meetings during the time I was there, and the McClaskey church had four.

During my stay in the mountains I at least partially engaged in hollow life: I went 'coon hunting, fishing, canoeing, and camping; I picked up several licks on my five-string banjo; I worked in the hay fields and the woods; I sang, laughed, cried, and slept through hours and hours of church services; I recorded and typed interviews and observations every day; I helped paint church buildings, sand floors, and repair broken doors; and I sat for countless hours on front porches, back porches, car fenders, and old tree stumps talking and sharing ideas about the meaning of man and his short time on earth.

It was in the hollow that I saw the importance of silenceof sitting on a hillside with a man until the time was right for talking. One man talked of getting some black-lung money and trying to buy the house he rented and fixing it up a bit. As he talked he would spit up blood from the lungs which had been damaged by years of work under the ground. Letters we typed to his congressman brought no help; the doctors said he did not have black lung. He died on a cold winter's day and our silent talks have stayed with me.

It was in the hollow I learned about reciprocity. I learned that you don't give something without being willing to receive. My jeep wagon was a useful vehicle in times of sickness and emergencies; I learned to accept meals, knives, and even money in return.

People tend to disclose reciprocally: the more I revealed of my life, the more my informants felt comfortable in sharing theirs. In fact, participant observation is an experience of reciprocity. It was through daily activitytalking, being silent, listening, working, worshipingthat I came to know, at least partially, the people whose lives are presented here.

I admit, as does Coles (1971), that much of this work is impressionistic. My purpose is to make clear my role in the knowing process. A large portion of this writing is composed of descriptive material; I am aware of how much "just description" is theoretically and conceptually biased. I chose what to recordwhat was

Page 8

worthy of questioning and significant enough to write down.

I do attempt to go beyond description into several lines of analysis. Thus, parts of the chapters dealing with the Holiness-Pentecostal system of causation and certainty, glossolalia, locus of control, and personality are attempts on my part to put the Holiness-Pentecostal experience into a framework which "matters" to me.

During the last month of my stay, I administered questionnaires to the two Holiness-Pentecostal churches and to two respective comparison groups. All of the people were very gracious in helping me by filling out questionnaires which seemed rather useless to them. Those who could not read patiently listened to my reading of each question and chose an answer. Chapter 15 is based on the questionnaire data.

No approach to human experience is all-revealing. Certain kinds of information can be obtained and presented only in ethnographic/experiential means. The personal sketches presented here give life to Holiness-Pentecostal theologya kind of fullness not readily available to some methods. And, although I am relatively cautious about the use of pen and paper measures, I apply them because there are questions of probability and representativeness that can best be answered through statistical analyses.

There are no composite persons or events or statements in the accounts that follow. This tends to shorten the length of the people's statements on any one topic, but it preserves some of the context and validity of the concepts presented. All of the names of the people, places, and churches are pseudonyms, protecting the anonymity of a most gracious people.

I am aware that I am part of one cult which is studying another. It is difficult for me not to assume that I, as a member of the scientific reductionist school of thought, am speaking from a higher level of truth than the people I am studying. I respect the Holiness-Pentecostals' ability as discoverers of truth and decision makers; I have attempted to present their perceptions and beliefs in such a way as to let the people speak for themselves. In some of the analyses, I have certainly diverged from Holiness-Pentecostal thought. My preference for my analysis is not the result of my preferring scientific knowledge over religious knowledge. (In

Page 9

fact, I respect the knowledge of several Holiness-Pentecostals more than I do some of what I read in scientific journals.) The preference is simply this: a person tends ultimately to trust his own judgments. I trust them skeptically, critically, often apologetically; yetI go with them.

Page 10

2

The Place

The mountains are close. The vegetation is thick and green and everywhere. The few valleys quickly narrow, so that only a "holler" exists. And, the houses follow the hollows, scattered up and down the hillsides in random fashion. If there is a paved road, it is narrow and winding, following a river's twisting path. The dirt roads branch into countless ruts and paths; people and houses and cars are found in the most unsuspecting places. Junked cars are everywhere: front yards, back yards, and wide places in the road. Every house has a porch, and every dawn and dusk sees a family sitting on its porch. The people wave at friends and look out at their land, appreciating both.

"Southern Appalachia" is a term used to designate that geographical portion of the Appalachian mountain range which runs through West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. Coal Ridge County, the county in which the two churches (Coal Creek and McClaskey) of this study are located, is situated within the geographical boundaries

Page 11

designated as Southern Appalachia in Ford's (1962) comprehensive study.

Coal Ridge County has had a slight loss in population between 1960 and 1970. The per capita income (1970) is below the state average. The county seat of McClaskey shows an increase in population between 1960 and 1970, although the population is still well under 10,000. Several small factories have been built in the last ten years and McClaskey is the best, if not the only, place in Coal Ridge County to go looking for a job.

The Coal Creek area in the southeast corner of the county was once a very productive coal mining region with several active mines and coat camps. Today, there are no shaft mines being operated by any large company, although a few mines are still being worked by a handful of men. Strip mining and lumbering are being pursued on a small scale. There are no factories or towns in the Coal Creek area. There are three general stores (the Post Office is located in one of them) and a small mechanic's shop for trucks and cars. A grade school (grades one through six) is located in the center of the Coal Creek area; a Head Start program for preschool-aged children is being conducted in an old church building.

The Big Pine River runs through Coal Ridge County and separates the Coal Creek area from the rest of the county. Mountain ridges border the Coal Creek area, making the one bridge across the Big Pine River the only paved entrance into the area. A paved road runs the length of the Coal Creek area parallel to Coal Creek and turns to gravel at the base of the mountain pass. There is little industrial traffic, except for occasional coal and logging trucks.

It takes forty-five to sixty minutes to drive the thirty miles from the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church to McClaskey. For many families it is an all-day occasion to go into McClaskey on Saturday.

There are approximately 657 persons living in the Coal Creek area. These people live in 192 separate households, providing an average in each home of 3.4 persons. There are 317 persons age 29 or younger living in the Coal Creek area; this is 48% of the total population. Of this number, 175 are males and 142 are females. This total is approximate because a number of teenagers and

Page 12

young adults are very fluidmoving off to the factory and back to the hollow by turns.

Almost every house in the Coal Creek area has electricity, although over half of the homes I visited do not have running water inside the house. Several of the homes with water do not have a water heater, so the people have to heat their bath and dish-washing water on the stove. Almost all of the houses are heated with coal or wood. Several houses have an electric cooking stove on the back porch; usually a son or daughter working in a factory bought it for his or her mother, but she finds the coal stove more suitable, because it helps to heat the kitchen.

During my stay I paid $10 a month rent on a five-room house in a coal camp left from more productive days. The rates were $5 a month for the families who had lived there for years. One water well serves the coal camp in which I lived, but it has such a high sulphur content that most of the people use the well water only for washing and not for cooking or drinking. I attempted to cook with it, but the water turns dark upon heating. So I, like the others in the camp, got my drinking water from wells with no sulphur and brought it home in plastic gallon containers.

When I first moved into my coal-camp home, I noticed an unpleasant odor on one side of the house. In the late fall, I finally learned what caused the smell; the leaves on the bushes and trees had hidden the community garbage pit, located in a clump of trees.

Many families that do have running water also have sewage pipes feeding directly into Coal Creek; one outhouse is built directly over Coal Creek. I discontinued my daily baths in the creek after several months, when I discovered that a sewage pipe was upstream from my favorite bathing spot.

The majority of houses in the Coal Creek area are surrounded by junked cars; however, they do not appear around the houses of most of the members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Every house has a porch facing the highway, road, or path; in the warm weather there are people on the porches from dawn until an hour or so past dusk.

Many homes in the Coal Creek area have a television set, but reception is very poor because of the mountains. Often a family will have two antennas, each facing a different direction in order

Page 13

to pick up different stations. The coldest part of winter finds entire families watching television from early morning until the station signs off. Most of the Holiness-Pentecostals in the Coal Creek area do not own television sets, because they consider owning one a sin. All "worldly amusements" are avoided. The Holiness-Pentecostal people know exactly when religious music is on the radio and when worldly music programs are scheduled. The radio serves as the basic source of news outside of personal verbal communication. Few families in the Coal Creek area buy newspapers and magazines, although a few families do subscribe to religious magazines.

The teenagers in the Coal Creek area do not have many places to go for entertainment. Some teenagers have access to a car and travel into McClaskey to the movie theater or roller skating rink; there is a drive-in theater several miles outside of McClaskey which also draws the weekend crowd. Usually, however, the general store with the pool table and pinball machines is the central gathering place. At all hours of the day it is normal to see young couples holding hands and walking down the railroad tracks or beside the road.

There are several young men who have dropped out of high school and, each afternoon, follow the school bus carrying the girls home. The boys wait for the bus until it crosses the bridge into the Coal Creek area, and then follow it up to the general store, where most of the girls get off the bus.

The churches no longer reach many of the young people; a handful of girls, and perhaps a few fellows, will be active in a given church. Three or four fellows will often come into the church and stay for a few minutes to see the girls who attend and then leave. Since the Coal Creek Baptist Church has the largest attendance of teenaged girls, several boys often stand out by the railroad tracks during church and wait for the girls to come out.

A large number of the teenaged boys have shoulder-length hair and dress in jeans and denim jackets. This style is less noticeable among the females.

During my year's stay, I was not aware of a church wedding in the Coal Creek area. However, several couples ran off and got married and returned a week or so later. Courtship tends to be especially problematic for the Holiness-Pentecostal young peo-

Page 14

ple. Since they cannot go to movies or watch television or go to the roller skating rink, they are allowed few dates.

There seems to be a wide range of sexual experience among the males. Some of the older teenaged males not only talk about sexual intercourse, but claim to have experienced it with several different young females. On the other hand, I feel confident that there are many young men aged eighteen to twenty-two who have seldom kissed a girl, if at all, and have never had a date.

The Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church

The Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church was started during the 1940s because there was no Holiness-Pentecostal congregation in the Coal Creek area, except for an independent church with no denominational affiliation. Grandpa Armstrong gave the money for the construction of the building; many people who are not members still call it "Armstrong's Church."

Until the present pastor came three years before my stay, there was not a sign on the outside of the building identifying the church. The wooden building is a one-room auditorium with a partial basement containing two Sunday school rooms. The outside is painted white, and the metal roof is a mixture of the original silver paint and the rust which now predominates.

The inside of the auditorium is paneled with a dark wood paneling (donated by a man who grew up going to the church and now lives in Detroit). The floor, when I first visited the church, was painted gray and covered with chewing gum; during my year there the pastor, Frank Harper, sanded the floor and varnished it. Several banners and attendance records hang on the walls. It is dark inside the building, and Frank laments that it is a rather depressing atmosphere.

Frank Harper is twenty-one years old and attends college. He and Amy, his wife, do not live in the Coal Creek area, but drive to the church each Saturday, Sunday, and Thursday. (The main worship service is on Saturday night; Bible study is on Sunday morning; and "young people's meeting" is on Thursday night.) Frank and Amy Harper both grew up as Baptists; they became Holiness-Pentecostals during college when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Many of the persons who attend the church are not official

Page 15

members. Several of the regular attenders do not claim to be Christians, but still come to church. The average attendance, including the children, is between eighteen and forty people on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The Thursday night meeting usually draws about twelve to twenty persons.

The church building is only a few hundred yards from the general store housing the pinball machines and pool table. Consequently, young people on the way to the store each Saturday night may drop in the church for a few minutes before shooting pool. Cars often start from the store and the young drivers let their car engines backfire just as they pass the church. ''This church is built right at second gear.''

In the Coal Creek area there are some negative feelings toward the members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Some of the denominations hold speaking in tongues in great disdain. Shortly before my arrival, someone set fire to the church building; the fire was extinguished, causing only minor damage. In times of prosperity and good health, many of the non-Holiness-Pentecostals curse the holy rollers for claiming to live above sin; in times of sickness, they ask the Holiness-Pentecostals' help through prayer. Whether cursed or loved, they continue to meet together faithfully each week.

The Mcclaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church

The McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church has been in existence for over forty years. The last charter member died during my stay. The church is located in a working-class neighborhood that was once one of the finer residential areas in McClaskey.

The Holiness-Pentecostals bought the building years ago from another denomination. The auditorium will seat 200 people and contains a piano and an organ. Six Sunday school rooms provide enough space for the children and women; the men's Bible class meets in the auditorium. The building is brick, but both the inside and outside have peeling paint. The overall physical appearance is one of disrepair. The people agree that they need a new building, but current construction costs make such a task impossible.

The pastor of the church is T. Timothy Alexander, a man who

Page 16

grew up in Southern Appalachia and has pastored several Holiness-Pentecostal churches in the mountains. Although he never completed college, he did take several courses some years ago at a college in Southern Appalachia. T. Timothy and Rachael, his wife, have six children. One is married, one is in college, and four are still living at home. T. Timothy is in his middle to late forties and has had financially a rather tough life.

Although most of the congregation is made up of working-class families, there are several families that are middle class. Two or three ladies occasionally wear a fur cape to church. There are also several members who are living at the minimal subsistence level. Occasionally someone testifies that he or she was out of work, and the congregation as a whole helps that person find a new job.

The people of the McClaskey congregation are somewhat more liberal in their social practices than their Holiness-Pentecostal brethren at Coal Creek. Although both groups are definitely against movies, the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostals feel that it is permissible to own a television set. Even though the pastor will not let the young people have a church-sponsored roller skating party, all of the young people (except the pastor's children) go roller skating on their own. Another major difference in the youth activities of the two churches is that the McClaskey church sponsors a softball team which participates in a county-wide league. This gives both females and males a chance to play ball and attend a major social gathering outside the church; many of the church members, however, see the softball league as a sinful organization and criticize the participants.

The McClaskey congregation meets for worship on Sunday morning and evening, has Bible study on Sunday morning, and conducts "church training hour" on Wednesday evening.

During my year's stay, the average attendance on Sunday morning was 154 people. The Sunday evening worship service averaged 58 adults and teenagers (plus 20 children). The female to male ratio, excluding children, in the Sunday evening services during the year was 2.7 to 1.

Page 17

3

The Beliefs

Holiness-Pentecoastal religion in Southern Appalachia tends to focus around four concerns which set it apart from other religious traditions: sanctification or holiness, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, healing, and prophecy. These four emphases, together with the individual responsibility the people feel in their spiritual lives and their perceptions of God, form the crux of Holiness-Pentecostal beliefs.

Individualistic Struggle in Southern Appalachia

To the Holiness-Pentecostal, religion is a highly personal and continual struggle. This theme is constantly upheld in everyday conversation and in sermons.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's between you and the Lord. You can see the actions, but only you can know that feeling way down inside. It's an individual matter. We can't blame nobody else if we don't have that peace inside.

Page 18

LESLIE ALEXANDER: Something may convict me; it may be wrong for me, but it may not be wrong for somebody else.

SUSIE TUTTLE: I think each person has to work out their own salvation with God.

A person's life on earth is mainly a testing ground for either heaven or hell, and the purpose of being alive is to serve and honor God. Perhaps no more succinct statement can be made to reveal the overall view of the individualistic struggle than the following conversation with Josh and Bertha Armstrong.

TA: Well, has the Lord given the world over to the Devil? How does he have so much power?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Well, you've asked me a question; if I can explain it, I'm gonna try. The Devilthe Lord gives him power to tempt people, uh, and ah, the Devil's got a lot of power. And we're to be tried by the Devil, and if we're able to overcome him, we're fit subjects for the kingdom of heaven. And then if we don't overcome him, we've got to go to the Devil.

TA: Why would God do that to us? If he's a loving father, why would he want to subject us to that kind of temptation?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: We have to overcome it ourselves.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: The Devil was an angel in heaven once himself. The Devil wanted to take over and become above God and all this, and he cast him out. There's where a lot of people wonder can a man be lost after he was once saved. The Devil was an angel, buddy, in heaven, and they cast him out. And then, we're to be tried by him. And if we ain't got enough backbone to stand up for the right, well then, the Devil'll get us and take us home with him.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: But he said he wouldn't allow more put on us than we'd be able to bear if we live for him.

TA: I always had trouble with the analogy the Bible uses about the loving father ...

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: He is love.

TA: Your son Davidhe's gone wrong, but you wouldn't want him to have everlasting punishment.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: No.

TA: And it's hard for me to even understand God setting up everlasting punishment.

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JOSH ARMSTRONG: It was made for the Devil and his angels. But he set up a waya standard to go bythe Lord did.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: That people could be saved.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's just up to us. He said, "Whosoever will." Jesus is the door of the sheepfold, if we come by him.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: "It's not my will that none should perish, but have everlasting life."

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If they won't serve God here, Troy, this is the point of itheaven wouldn't be heaven if it had everything in it. And if people just don't aim to serve God here, well, they wouldn't be fit subjects for heaven. So God wants his people to have a place to rest. He set it up at one time. Everybody could be there. Adam and Evehe set good and evil before 'em. They sinned. From that transgression of Adam and Eve, well then, Jesus is our refuge from that. And he sets good before usgood and evil. We choose good, why then it's our choice. We choose good, well, we're saved. We choose to do the evil things of the world, then it'll be an honor to God to cast us out to everlasting punishment.

God

Paramount in the mind of the Holiness-Pentecostal is the all-knowing, ever-watching presence of God.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: God's got a recording tape; he knows all you've done.

DUANE RAMSEY: If you wander outside the ark of safety, God's big seeing eye is there.

FRANK HARPER: The Lord's got an all-seeing eye. He's looking down on us all the time.

The justice of God is the attribute which pervades most theological discussions. Everyone seems to know from personal experience that payment must be made for past mistakes.

PEARL JOHNSON: The way I see it, your sins will find you out. God'll do that.

MIKE EVANS: God'll hunt you down. You may think you can get away from him, but you can't.

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JOSH ARMSTRONG: I wouldn't be surprised if God just came through here and wiped us out.

SAMUEL JENKINS: It's dangerous to reject the power of God. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If we close God out, he'll close the door on us one of these days.

You better watch out; you better fear God. God is like a consuming fire. When you face God at the judgment, everybody's gonna be scared.

God is also a God of love and forgiveness, although this aspect is somewhat overshadowed by his sense of justice and judgment. His ever-watching eye can also give protection.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER: He's a merciful God. If you do something wrong, he knows you sinned. He won't strike you down like that; he'll give you anotherhe always'll give you another chance. But you can't go too far. He's understanding.

He's understanding. And he helps you from day to day. If you're in troublespiritually, physically, or financiallyhe's gonna help you. He protects you.

FRANK HARPER: If you're his, he'll look out for your best interests.

SUSIE TUTTLE: I would say that God is love, above everything. He's our answer to everything that we need. And if we believe that he is real, he'll take care of all our problems and all our heartbreaks. And I know that it's true.

Forgiveness is not a word used lightly in Southern Appalachia. However, if the repentance is sincere and deep, then so is the forgiveness.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: God has never condemned a man or woman. "He that believeth not is condemned already." God, Jesus, the Holy Ghosthas never condemned anybody. God can take the worst woman in this town and make her a saint of God.

There's love and joy and contentment in serving Jesus Christ of Calvary. You show me a mother or father who'll condemn a son or daughter and I'll show you a mother or father who aren't worth two cents. They'll want to lift him up in their eyes and say, "This is my son. Go and sin no more."

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LESLIE ALEXANDER: Yes. The Lord forgives and forgets; a human don't forget. A human may forgive, but it's hard for a human being to forget.

EVANGELIST THURMON JOHNSON: God never deals with our past, only our present and our future.

The preaching of most Holiness-Pentecostal ministers tends to emphasize the judgment of God. I found many of the worship services to be rather depressing, and I was not the only one aware of the judgmental emphasis of the preaching.

TA: Do you think the holiness and judgment of God should be emphasized more than the forgiveness and loving part?

JAKE RILEY: Love. If we don't love our brothersit says that we're supposed to love our brother enough to lay down our life for him. Love is charity. The greatest commandment in the Scripture is charity. Christ is love. If we say we love the Lord, and then hate our brother, we've lied.

TA: Do you think in most churches, most preachers preach more on love or more on judgment?

JAKE RILEY: Well, there ain't too many that preaches too much on love.

TA: I wonder why that's so.

JAKE RILEY: I don't know, but they just don't. I believe somewhere here in the Scriptures it says that there will be a faminenot for food but for the Word of God. Most of these preachers, the way I see it, is letting the dollar get between them and God.

One young man feels that the negative approach often is taken by ministers because they think it is a good preaching tactic.

TA: If you would have to choose between what would best describe Godhis holiness and judgment or his lovingness and forgivenesswhich do you think best describes God?

TIM WAGNER: I'd say his lovingness and forgiveness.

TA: Which do you think is preached more in churches?

TIM WAGNER: The other one.

TA: Why do you think so?

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TIM WAGNER: I actually think that many ministers, they want to ... Well, let's put it this wayaccent the negative. The Peace Corps had a test where they have a glass of water half full and they ask you what do you see. Most people say that they see a glass of water that is half empty, but actually what they're supposed to say is that the glass is half full. In other words, you can fill it up the rest of the way. You should accent the positive. I think most of them have a negative attitude about them.

TA: Why is that so?

TIM WAGNER: Sometime I think it's a holier-than-thou attitudeto the effect that you're going to hell if you don't change your ways. I think it's better to preach that you're going to heaven if you do change your ways.

The problem of God's love versus his justice is one which Holiness-Pentecostals constantly face. The relationship between these two aspects of God's behavior is in a delicate balance.

EVANGELIST JASON ROCKFORD: "Be not deceived, God will not be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he reaps." Sometimes I feel that I step on the people too much. So, I must do it in love, but let the chips fall where they may. God's mercy can go only so far. You sow what you reap. A God of love must also be a God of judgment.

You can't hide from God's judgment. Sometimes we pick up old sins; that's when we must sow and reap. Adultery and fornicationGod can forgive. But the situation may be too much, especially for those training for the ministry. After we harden our hearts, God begins to harden the heart. We don't pay equally; God forgives.

Punishment or correction may be seen as an act of love on God's part.

TA: What if you killed someone or committed adultery? Will God really forgive, really wipe the slate clean?

ARTHUR FIELDS: The way I see it, according to God's Wordaccording to the knowledge I have right nowis that he would forgive them, if they really meant it, down deep within their heart, that they would not do it again. It's a fresh startstarting over with a clean slate. But if you do not mean it, and you go out and do the same thing again, brother, you better look out.

TA: Do you think God punishes people for doing this kind of thing?

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ARTHUR FIELDS: Definitely. I think he fully chastises. What does it say in there about the chastisement of the son; if he doesn't chastise, he's a bastard. If he doesn't chastise you, then he doesn't care for you.

In a conversation with teenagers Pam Kramer and Tim Wagner, the question "Why must God punish?" came up.

PAM KRAMER: If you just think, "Well, later on he's going to forgive me and it's all love," there's got to be something there ...

TIM WAGNER: That's what the fear is for. But if you're a Christian, you don't have to have any fear of God because he's not going to slam you around. If you're a sinner, you're in trouble.

PAM KRAMER: If you know if you go back, you're in trouble and that's what he's trying to put across.

Since man has the chance to repent and follow God while he is on earth, he is responsible for whether he receives forgiveness or judgment. After a man dies, he no longer can expect mercy from God.

LARRY TUTTLE: People say, "God is a God of love; then can he punish us?" But God has promised us the reward, the gift of eternal life. But the wages of sin is death. In other words, if you sin, you are earning what you get. But if you're a Christian, you receive the gift of eternal life. You don't earn it, because we can't do anything to earn eternal life. It is a gift from God. So, the judgment of God comes when we turn our back on him. God is a merciful God, but when you have shunned God and you face judgment, he is not a God of mercy then. The Bible says, "Vengeance is mine and I will repay." So when we shun Godright now, if we repent, then we can be saved. But if we shun God and don't repent of it, and go into judgment in this condition, then God is not a God of mercy then. He is a God of judgment.

Jesus is the least mentioned of the Godhead among Holiness-Pentecostals. I would attribute this to the availability of Jesus to all Christians. Only the Holiness-Pentecostals "have" the Holy Ghost.

Few sermons are entirely and specifically about Jesus. Only two sermons during my year's stay specifically developed a theme

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concerning the role of Jesus in forgiveness. Jesus was mentioned often, and so was forgiveness, but seldom were they the primary themes. This may be due to the blending of the personalities of God and Jesus.

ARTHUR FIELDS: What God is like? You're referring to Jesus in other words. I know him as Jesus. That's the way I learned it.

The nature of Jesus is seen not so much as a victorious Savior, but as the Man of sorrows. It is with the suffering of Jesus that the people identify.

FRANK HARPER: Before a Christian can have joy, he must obey the Lord. About all his earthly life Jesus had to look forward to the cross. Jesus didn't have much joy. But he hoped that his children could have it. I don't think he ever had joy like we have joy.

The emphasis of Holiness-Pentecostal preaching and thought centers around the third personality of the Godhead: the Holy Ghost. That emphasis will be discussed later in this chapter.

Holiness

The concept of holiness denotes a condition resulting from the experience(s) called sanctification. Holiness-Pentecostals seek three distinct steps in their religious experience: salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost (in that order). Sanctification produces the widest distribution of beliefs among Holiness-Pentecostals. Different aspects are often emphasized.

FRANK HARPER: Sanctification is a work of grace. Sanctification is to be set apart for a sacred purpose. Sanctification is to be free from sin. Sanctification isn't justification. Justification removes the guilt. Sanctification removes the power of sin. The power of sin battles against us. God has called us out of sinto quit sinning continually day after day. We are now to live above and beyond sin.

PAM KRAMER: Different. Different from the world. I mean you have to be different. You have to dress different; you have to act different, look different. To me, if I seen somebody walking down the street, if they were sanctified, I think I could tell right there that they was a Christian.

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EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: Sanctified is, in this Book more than any other word, explanatory of God's salvation. When you're saved, you're taken out of the world; when you're sanctified, the world is taken out of you. Sanctification means ''get the filth out.''

Most Holiness-Pentecostal ministers preach about sanctification as a distinct experience which can be described in terms of certain feelings. There are constant invitations to come down to the altar and "get sanctified tonight." Most of the people, however, speak of sanctification as a growth process.

PAM KRAMER: It don't happen all at once; at least, I don't think so. Some people might believe that it does, but I don't. 'Cause when I got saved, everything didn't come right at me at once. I had to gradually get to do it.

FRED PIERCE: It's a progressive thing. A person can get to complete sanctification, but it's a growth process to get there.

DUANE RAMSEY: It's things you have to give up daily. It's a process, a separating, a cleansing. We won't be sanctified completely until we see Jesus. The Lord sanctifies you to a certain extent when you're saved.

I can say I was saved one night or got the Holy Ghost one night. But I can't say that I was sanctified or called to preach on one night.

TIM WAGNER: I think it's gradual. It's definitely a gradual thing. I don't think anyone can stop every sin they ever possibly done in one split second.

Although Holiness-Pentecostals speak of three different spiritual experiences, they tend to see salvation and holiness as being interrelatedalmost inseparable.

FRANK HARPER: We're going to have to be holy to get into heaven. We once knew the standard of holiness and lived by it. There's gonna be a revival of holiness. Right after the revival of holiness, the Lord will take us away. We can't be short on any one thing; we'll have to give an account.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: We'll not get there with sin, that's for sure.

EVANGELIST RICHARD GRAYSON: If you've got a spot,

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wrinkle, or blemishyou'd better get cleaned up. His bride isn't gonna have any spots or blemishes.

EVANGELIST HOMER ARMSTRONG: There's not a way in the world for me to live for God and have sin in my heartno way to go to heaven.

EVANGELISTJ. D. STEPHENSON: God cannot look upon sin. God cannot look upon you if you have sin in your life. You are a disgrace to the Lord. Without holiness, you shall not see God. I don't care who you are. Unless you have repented, you shall not see God as the Christians shall see him.

ALMA MATTHEWS: If sinners could go to heaven, they wouldn't be happy. God fixed it for the ones who's redeemed to go to heaven. When God saves us, he makes us holy. If we're not holy, we'll never make it to heaven.

Most Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia believe that a person can live above sin. Upon direct questioning, most people say that everyone should and can live above sin, but they admit that they personally continue to make mistakes.

RACHAEL ALEXANDER: We believe that we don't sin after we become a Christian. But if we do fall a little bit, we have an advocate with the Father.

The real key, therefore, is in understanding what constitutes sin. Intent seems to be a significant factor in determining whether an act is sinful.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Sin comes from the heart, ain't that right? Well, we may go bumbling into something and don't have time to think about it; that's not from the heart. I don't consider that sin. Now, if we think about it, and our conscience condemns, and we go right ahead and willfully sin, then that's from the heart. Now if you're doing wrong and you's a Christian, your conscience will condemn you. Ain't that right?

The following conversation points to the perceived difference between sins and mistakes.

TA: Can you live above sin?

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GORDON HOLMES: I don't know about omission.

GRACE HOLMES: Sin is trangression of the law. If you're not breaking his laws, you're not sinning.

GORDON HOLMES: You don't have to shoot anybody to be a murderer.

GRACE HOLMES: We can sorta get angry and not sin.

GORDON HOLMES: If I don't say and do anything in my anger, it's not a sin.

GRACE HOLMES: I don't mean they won't make mistakes. I've had to ask the Lord to forgive me. We haven't got it made until we get to heaven.

GORDON HOLMES: I can't buy that God has obedient and disobedient children. I believe you'll stump your toeget up and try again. When you genuinely get saved and accept the Lord, when we do something out of line, your conscience will let you know you've done wrong. As soon as we know we've displeased God, we can fix it right there.

"Open" sin is distinguished from other types of shortcomings. This is a crucial distinction to most Holiness-Pentecostals.

TA: Do you personally live above sin?

DORIS PIERCE: Open sin, I do. Gambling, drinking, running around with other women: you can live above that. Envy and strife: that's a different matter.

FRED PIERCE: It's according to what you call sin.

DORIS PIERCE: There's a sin of omission.

FRED PIERCE: This flesh is sin itself. We're in a constant warfare between the flesh and the soul. The flesh says, "gimme, gimme, gimme." Sin is ... Every little thought and every little thing isn't sin.

DORIS PIERCE: Most people think of holiness as outward appearance. It's the way they've been educated.

I asked if being irritated and losing one's temper would be considered sin.

ELMA DAVIS: It would be a sin if we didn't check it right then.

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That's the Holy Ghost. When something like that comes to me, I got to pray right then.

The sermons, testimonies, and conversations all point to a fairly well-defined range of behavior which is to be considered "sin": drinking; cursing; adultery; gambling; dancing; women wearing short dresses, short hair, makeup, or jewelry; men wearing long hair; not attending church; not trusting Jesus as Savior; and blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. In relation to the above-mentioned sins, little is said about individual personality problems such as jealousy, selfishness, or unkindness. It is summed up well by a statement a woman made about her mother.

ROSIE CARTER: She never cut her hair, never wore makeup, never went to the movies. She's never known sindoesn't know what it is.

Because of the narrow standards of holiness, many Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia "backslide" at one time or another. A person can get saved, but then go out and sin and be lost again.

TOM OLIVER: I was in and out a lot. The first time I was saved I was nine years old.

The idea of "once savedalways saved" is repugnant to Holiness-Pentecostal people and their concept of holiness.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: I don't go along with that philosophy that says that after you get saved, you can do anything you want to. Every spot and wrinkle must be removed before you get into the kingdom.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Now, that "once saved always saved"that's a dangerous teaching. A preacher once told me about this man who had such a beautiful testimony and served the Lord. They found him dead in a car wreckdrunk. That preacher said and said he was okay, because he had been saved. That man wasn't okay when he died. That's a dangerous doctrinethat a man can do anything he wants to after he's saved. I believe that a man should hang on; as long as I'm hanging on and believing, I believe in eternal security. A man who holds on to the end will be saved.

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God didn't spare his angels in heaven, did he? They sinned against him. Where are they now?

The Baptism of the Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost is an elusive phenomenon to explain because of the difficulty in separating the Holy Ghost as a personality or entity from the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost (speaking in tongues). A primary question is whether the Holy Ghost is a personality ("he") or an experience ("it"). A second concern focuses upon differentiating the Holy Ghost from the Holy Spirit, if there is a difference.

Most statements made during conversations, testimonies, or sermons speak of the Holy Ghost as an "it."

FRANK HARPER: I believe in it. If you get it, you've got something. If more people would obey the Lord, they'd get the Holy Ghost.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS: Let's pray that the Holy Ghost will have its way tonight.

Occasionally someone speaks of the Holy Ghost as a personality.

ELMA DAVIS: The Holy Ghost is just as much to be praised as Jesus or God. I love him.

Upon direct questioning, many persons still respond that the Holy Ghost is an "it."

TA: Do you think of the Holy Ghost as a "he"?

SUSIE TUTTLE: No, I think of it as a spirit, without any gender. I just think of it as a blessing.

TA: You just called it an "it."

SUSIE TUTTLE: Well, you have to give it some terminology.

Upon being questioned, Arthur Fields never directly answers, but he continually uses "it" to refer to the Holy Ghost.

ARTHUR FIELDS: The way I see the Holy Ghost is according to

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what the Bible says. It's a spirit that comes, gives comfort. It's a leader and it's a guide. It does all these things whenever it comes upon you here on earth. It'll lead you; it'll guide you. It'll teach you. It's just a comforter.

Michael Alexander definitely does not see the Holy Ghost as a personality.

TA: How would you describe the Holy Ghost?

MICHAEL ALEXANDER: I wouldn't know, because I haven't got it.

TA: Is it a person or an "it"?

MICHAEL ALEXANDER: Probably an "it," like a spirit or something. It wouldn't be no person. It'd be a thing.

Some persons who consciously or explicitly say that the Holy Ghost is a person still do not interact with the Holy Ghost on a personal level.

TA: Is the Holy Ghost a person or a thing?

CYNTHIA JOHNS: A person.

TA: Do you ever talk to the Holy Ghost?

CYNTHIA JOHNS: No, I don't.

Upon questioning, a slight majority of persons say that the Holy Ghost is a personality.

ELSIE BAKER: The Holy Ghost is a person. The Holy Ghost is just the Lord speaking to you.

Although the Holy Ghost is seen as personal, it is still difficult for Holiness-Pentecostals to see the Holy Ghost as a personality like God or Jesus.

DUANE RAMSEY: It's one of those things I just can't explain. God is just a name for all three. God exists in three people. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. But we think of God the Father as being a person, and we think of the Son as being a person, but when it comes to the Spirit, it seems like it's just an unseen working by the Father.

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Among Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia there is much use of the terms Holy Ghost and the Spirit. The term Holy Spirit is spoken much less often. My initial questioning led me to believe that there was no difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit in the Holiness-Pentecostal viewpoint.

MARTHA EVANS: It seems that the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit are the same thing.

DUANE RAMSEY: Filled with the Spirit, baptized with the Holy Ghost: it's the same thing.

ROY EVANS: I don't believe there's no difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ never used the word spirit much. He talked about the Holy Ghost.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: I think it's the same.

DORIS PIERCE: Both words are used in the Bible. Some people are afraid of the word ghostit's too spooky.

CORINE SMITH: I can't part the Spirit from the Ghost.

ELMA DAVIS: I don't think there's a difference. He said he'd send them a comforter and that was the Holy Ghost. "If you speak one word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. For you'd be calling his Spirit an unclean spirit." I don't see how there could be a difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.

Although most people continued to say that there is no difference, I occasionally noticed statements that seemed to point to some kind of difference.

MARTHA EVANS: All the things you get from God are from the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit agrees, if they isn't the same thing.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: They're about the same thing. I don't think they're too much difference. Most of the time it's called the Holy Ghost. "After the Holy Ghost comes, there'll be power." It talks of the Holy Ghost coming and fulfilling.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: You can't have the Holy Spirit in your life practically without having the baptism of the Holy Ghost experientially.

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Late one hot August afternoon there finally came a clue to the Holy Ghost/Spirit puzzle. I was working with Josh and Bertha Armstrong, along with several others, in the hay fields; Josh had hired out to another farmer for a percentage of the hay. While we were taking a break, Bertha made some comment which implied that she did not see the Spirit and the Holy Ghost as the same thing/personality. I made her aware of this and she thought a while before she spoke.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: The Holy Ghost is a special gift of the Spirit. It's a different work from the Spirit.

We were busy at that moment, but I pursued the question again the next week.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: Yeah, there's a difference. When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit. And when you get the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you get ... The Bible said that, ah, "After the Holy Ghost comes on you, you shall receive power."

A few days later, I got a chance to reexamine Josh on the subject.

TA: Tell me again the difference between the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: They're operated by the same Spirit. One of 'em's a gift. The Holy Spirityou get it when you get saved. All spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. If you feel the spirit a movin'it's the Spirit of God. The evidence of the Holy Ghost is speaking in the unknown tongue.

Jesus spoke in an unknown tongue when he was hanging on the cross. "Eli, Eli, which being interpreted"... They wouldn't have had to interpret it if it wasn't in an unknown tongue.

The Holy Ghost is a work of grace. There is the three Godheads: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You are saved by the Spirit of God. We ain't promised no power until we get the Holy Ghost. Jesus told them he would send the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost. When you talk about the spirit, you're talking about the power of God or of Jesus, or their spirits, but not the Holy Ghost. It's the spirit of themthey're not here.

What you feel coming in your body is the Spirit of God. When the Holy Ghost comes, it generally speaks.

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TA: How can you tell, Josh, if it's the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost convicting you?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It could be either one. The Holy Ghost would be more powerful.

One of the primary differences consistently reported is that of power.

ROY EVANS: Well, the writers used the different words, alright. The Holy Ghost is part of the Trinity. The Holy Spirityou can't prove it much in the Scriptures. The word Holy Ghost ain't popular; the apostles used it and they weren't popular. When the Holy Ghost is used in the Scriptures, it's always associated with power. The Holy Spirit isn't associated with power that much; the Holy Ghost was always used when talking about power.

The experiential framework used by many Holiness-Pentecostals is seen most clearly in this statement by a young adult who had never experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

TA: Are the Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit different?

ELSIE BAKER: To me they're different. The Holy Ghost is when they talk in tongues. The Holy Spirit is when they get happy and don't speak in tongues. That's the way I see it.

One explanation suggests that the difference between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost lies in the distinction between having the Holy Ghost "with" you and "in" you.

LARRY TUTTLE: The church and I personally believe that God, the Holy Ghost, and Christ are one to a degree. They are not one as such; they are one in purpose. They are one in spirit. But they are three distinct entities. God is on the throne in heaven. Christ came to earth. He went back to heaven, and he sent the Holy Ghost back to act as our comforter. And when we get saved, we accept the Holy Ghost then as the Spirit to council us, to comfort us. But when we are baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, this is another thing entirely. You can have the Holy Ghost with you without being filled with the Holy Ghost. When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, then this is when you release

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complete control of your body to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost controls your tongue. The tongue is the most unruly part of the body. It's the hardest thing to control. Now the way I feelwhen you yield to the Holy Ghost (and maybe this is where I'm missing it), when I accept the Holy Ghost, maybe I'm not able to yield. I try to. I do everything I know to do. But maybe this is where I'm not fulfilling what I should do. But to use the term, Holy Ghost, I feel like you got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which the initial evidence is speaking in tongues. Then you have the Spirit of the Holy Ghost which dwells with you, even though you're not baptized in the Holy Ghost. You're not filled with the Holy Ghost, but you have the comforter. Now when you get saved, you know you got something. Something comforts you. It's not Christ; Christ is in heaven. He said that he would go to the Father and pray the Father that he send the Holy Ghost to be your comforter. He didn't go and say that he would come back to be our comforter.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is a highly sought after experience among the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia. It is described as the zenith of spiritual experience.

LESLIE ALEXANDER: To me, it's just a sweet feeling. It's neat, I guess. I just yielded myself and I let the Lord have his way and I got the Holy Ghost. It's just an experience that you can't explain. It's justyou just feelit's justsecure. I don't know if you'd use the word secure, but just, ah, neat feeling, I guess.

SUSIE TUTTLE: I think, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we are like married to Christ; we become part of him. He's become part of us. And it's an experience that is complete and total.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is synonymous with speaking in tongues (glossolalia) because it is seen as the initial evidence of the baptism.

TA: Do you feel it would be possible for a person to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost and not speak in tongues?

ARTHUR FIELDS: There's no way. There's only one sign and that's it. That's the evidence: speaking in tongues.

ELMA DAVIS: I believe the tongues is the evidence. The Spirit has blessed me; lots of people told me I had it. But I knew I hadn't spoken in tongues, if I didn't have no evidence except the good feelings of the Spirit.

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There are two basic requirements for receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost: a person must be sanctified, and that person must desire the Holy Ghost more than anything else.

EVANGELIST SAM AKIN: One thing God requries of us: holiness. We must be like the Lord. You can't get the Holy Ghost until you get sanctified. I never knew but one person to get all three on one day. But that person was solely set on the Lord.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: You've got to come to the point where you'd rather have that than anything in the world.

I've got to get to the place where I can receive it. But there's little things, you see. Such as, maybe I'll fly back and say little words that I shouldn't say. You've got to get sanctified and cleaned up again. He said that he wouldn't dwell in an unclean temple.

DUANE RAMSEY: You want the Holy Ghost just like you do food. You got to have a desire for it. You got to have your mind on it.

Aside from the good feelings of the experience itself, most Holiness-Pentecostals perceive one main result of the baptism of the Holy Ghostpower.

DUANE RAMSEY: If you're a born-again Christian, you have power. If you get the Holy Ghost, you'll have more power. Since the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I've been stronger and I've wanted to do more.

What is the Holy Ghost for? To give us powerpower to be witnesses. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we have added power. We're not concerned with the initial evidence; we are concerned with the power. Before I got the Holy Ghost, I didn't want to get up and testify.

EVANGELIST HUGO WINSTON: The Holy Ghost, he brings into your life power. We are impressed these days by power. In a day and age when everyone is so aware of power, if we don't have the supernatural power of God in us, we won't impress anyone.

FRANK HARPER: You need the Holy Ghost. You're gonna have to seek for the Holy Ghost. In this day, you need an ''in'' with the power of God.

A few individuals stress that the baptism of the Holy Ghost gives insight and wisdom.

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FRED PIERCE: Now, there's where the baptism comes in. It'll give you power and insightall wisdom.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: If you get in a place and don't know what to say, the Holy Ghost'll tell you what to say.

ROY EVANS: Without the Holy Ghost, I'm doubtful that a man can have insight. If a man don't have the Holy Ghost, he can't teach; he ain't got the teacher. Get that Holy Ghost and it'll teach you all knowledge. It'll tell you where to go. It'll save you a whole lot of unnecessary battles if you'll get the Holy Spirit.

The only personality attribute that is ever perceived as a result of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is boldness. Personal characteristics such as kindness, patience, and acceptance are never mentioned.

TIM WAGNER: It gives me power. When I talk about power, here's where we get mixed up on. Power to heal the sick or whatever is fine and dandy, but I think it gives you power to be outspoken about what you may have, more than anything elsemakes you bold. You're never afraid to get up and do things in church or out. You're not afraid. Like, some character on the street, you'll bring the subject around to church or "I am a Christian" or whatever. You're not afraid to say it.

Salvation, sanctification, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost summarize the various workings or manifestations of God.

ROY EVANS: Here's the points you ought to know. I never found where a man gets anything when he gets saved, except forgiveness. It's up to the present tense, free from condemnation. He starts growing in favor with the Lord. You don't get pay until you work. When you work, he repays you. If you become obedient, you'll be sanctified and set apart. You get the Adam nature out of you. In obedience to the Word you get the baptismthe Spirit.

We've gotta talk about what the Word says. I can't find a place where the Bible speaks of getting the Spirit until you get the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of God.

Let me ask you this: if you get the Holy Spirit when you get saved, there's no need for the Holy Ghost, is there? The gifts come only through the Holy Ghost. You must get it first. I do know there's the Holy Ghost.

When you get saved, you're in favor with Jesus. You can call that the Spirit if you want. The Spirit of Jesus means to be in favor with

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Christ. I can't prove with the Scriptures that a man gets the Holy Spirit when he is saved.

Is there any place in the Scriptures where a man received power without the Holy Ghost? I don't say that I'm right altogether. You study the Scriptures for yourself. You search the Scriptures; see if you can find a place where they received the Holy Spirit unless they spoke with the Holy Ghost.

The best man on earth is a sanctified man; you can't get no better than that. Sanctified means a cleansinga setting apart. First there's the cleansing, then there's the setting apart. You're a special person when you're sanctified. Sanctification is a process, a growth. It doesn't happen all at once. At least for most people it don't.

There ain't but two works of grace: regeneration and sanctification. The Holy Ghost is a gift from God. He didn't come from Jesushe came from God.

Whether a person is saved, sanctified, or baptized with the Holy Ghost, there is a constant call to rededicate one's self; life is a continual striving. At the conclusion of almost every service, each Christian is urged to come to the altar and recommit his life.

EVANGELIST SAM AKIN: Some say they have the Holy Ghost, but get tired and ready to quit. Well, it must not be good enough. We need a double portion of his Spirit.

EVANGELIST GEORGE READER: How many of you have your Holy Ghost? [Many raised their hands.] That's the trouble: he's supposed to have you. Just for him to be resident in our hearts isn't enough. He's got to be president of our lives. It's not enough for you to have him; he must have you.

It's not enough to have the Holy Ghost. He's got to be the master of ceremonies.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Everyone who's been baptized of the Holy Ghost, come and get his Spirit. Let's rededicate ourselves. I'm tired of the ordinary.

Healing

Healing is a highly significant aspect of Holiness-Pentecostal religion in Southern Appalachia. Almost every worship service includes a time of laying on of hands and prayer for the sick. And, although many of the hollow folk ridicule the "holy rollers," they bring their sick loved ones to the Holiness-Pentecostal worship

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services in times of serious illness. Infants are often brought in by non-church-going parents the weekend before the infant is to have surgery.

Church services are full of testimonials concerning healing. In one particular worship service, the pastor asked everyone who had ever been healed to raise their hands; at least 80 percent of the congregation raised their hands.

Many of the testimonies regarding healing deal with minor problems such as a cold or a sore back. Others tell of breast cancers which shrink and die or crippling arthritis which suddenly disappears. For some, the experience of a miraculous cure is the turning point in their spiritual lives (see the accounts of Elma Davis and Alice Anderson in Part Two). Chapter 14 will describe in more detail the vital importance of miraculous healing in the Holiness-Pentecostal belief system.

Prophecy

Prophecy among Holiness-Pentecostals is primarily concerned with the Second Coming of Jesus and the destruction of the world. Many sermons and testimonials concentrate on showing how the present worldly conditions fulfill all of the signs or prophecies of the end time.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: There are three promises of Jesus: "I will build my church; I will send the Holy Ghost to prepare you; I will come to receive you." I believe that this could be our last meeting of this sort. I believe I heard the rustling of Jesus the other night as I started to go to sleep.

DAISY CAMPBELL: The biggest sign of the Second Coming is the falling away of the church people.

PAM KRAMER: He told us in the Bible some of the signs and some of them are coming true today. And this gives me one reason to realize that he is coming. The ways that he is blessing so many people any more and touching themthis gives me another strong reason. He's getting people ready.

EVANGELIST DAVID RANDOLPH: Everyone is expecting some great tragedy to take place at any moment: nuclear, population, pollution.

The Lord's people can know for an assurity that the next great event on God's calendar is the Second Coming of Jesus. Because

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Jesus loves us, he'll come back for us; he promised.

There are several signs which point to his coming. One is that it would be as in the days of Noah. Look at the sins of todaydivorce. These conditions are not going to improve. TV programs are getting worse and worse. People are getting more vulgar. The morals of the world is at an all-time low.

Wars and rumors of wars, the TNT stockpile: from a scientific standpoint, the season is ready.

The religious condition"there must be a falling away and the son of perdition must be revealed." You can do almost anything you want to these days and stay in the church. There is too much worldliness in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS: The signs of the timesredemption draweth nigh. There's a new spirit everywhere. He'll redeem his chosen few. He's coming again and he's coming soon.

We're nearer home than we were yesterday. John was the forerunner of the First Coming. This Pentecostal outpouring in these last days is the forerunner of the Second Coming. This is the greatest awakening in history. Jesus is preparing the church for himself. According to the Scriptures, there must be another awakening before the Second Coming.

Holiness-Pentecostals believe that Jesus will come and take all of the Christians to heaven (often referred to as the "rapture" of the church), leaving the non-Christians to go through the "tribulation" or final reign of the Devil. Some feel that only persons who have experienced sanctification and/or the baptism of the Holy Ghost will be raptured.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: The true church will not go through the tribulation. To have the Holy Ghost, you must be totally and wholly sanctified. Every church organization, if they're not practicing holiness, will be left behind.

If a person knows the fullness of God and turns away from him, they commit spiritual fornication and will be left to the tribulation. Those who love this world will be left behind. We must maintain our separation from the world and our identity with God.

ROY EVANS: In the day of tribulation, if you don't have the Holy Ghost, I don't think you'll be able to stand.

Others believe that all Christians will be spared the tribulation.

EVANGELIST DAVID RANDOLPH: Who's going in the rap-

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ture? Every Christian who's had his sins covered in the blood. All Christians are in one body in Christ.

The Second Coming of Jesus is such an integral part of Holiness-Pentecostal teaching and has so influenced many of the Holiness-Pentecostals that life on this earth is given little significance.

FRANK HARPER: When I get to feeling really low, I get to looking up, thinking of heaven. If we knew exactly what heaven's like, we'd probably want to lay down this body. On that day, he'll wipe the tears. Heaven's gonna be worth all the trouble. Heaven's gonna be: a shining light, a shoutin' big. You can see heaven's gonna really be worth it all. What's heaven gonna be for you? We ought to live, look, love, and long for the Second Coming of the Lord.

ROY EVANS: How beautiful heaven must be. I've got a little boy who left here when he was twenty-four hours old. I believe he's in heaven with the rest of them. Heaven's gonna be a place of rejoicing.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I have two gone, and I wouldn't bring them back for nothing.

MARTHA JAMES: When I get to church, I'm at home. I got my ticket ready. I want to see Jesus. I love him above the world. I'm ready to gohunger to go. I'm tired of this old sinful world. I love his plan of salvation; I love his people.

EVANGELIST FRED JOHNSON: If all I had to look forward to was this everyday life, I'd be of all men most miserable. I'm so glad I've got a better place to go.

ELBERT FISHER: Our rewards will be in direct proportion to how we've worked. I'm selfish. I never had anything down here; but when I get there, I want to have a place.

LLOYD WELLS: All of us should strive a little harder. It will strengthen us if we know just a little more about heaven. When we are discouraged on this journey, it helps to think on heaven. We can't promise a Christian that he won't die, but we can promise heaven.

Heaven is a place of eternal satisfaction. There's not any of us who has all our desires satisfied. We'll never find full contentment in this world. When Adam sinned, sin did away with that peace and contentment.

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If you don't know satisfaction here, put your eyes on the goal: heaven. God himself will wipe away your tears. I believe we can have a resurrected body. If you're here tonight and feel pain, think of heaven; there'll be no pain there. If we miss heaven, we've missed everything. I thank the Lord that I have my goal set on heaven.

DARRELL GRAVES: I haven't gained much strength. I don't know why the Lord has let me go through what I've gone through. I think I'd rather for the Lord to take me out of this world.

EDITH WELLS: I'm just sitting here waiting ... I look for him day and night. I do what Paul told them not to dosit and wait.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Take away the Resurrection, there's nothing left. That's what it's all about: when we leave this world and be with the Lord.

A medium through which prophecy can be given is the interpretation of tongues. On occasion, immediately after a person has spoken in tongues, another person will interpret the message hidden in the tongues. These interpretations are usually very general. Rarely will an interpreter make a specific prediction concerning the immediate future of a church or an individual. The interpreting of tongues plays a rather minor prophetic role in the religious practice of the Holiness-Pentecostals at Coal Creek and McClaskey.

Thus, people live in the hollows of Southern Appalachia under the eye of an ever-watchful God, struggling to live distinctly holy lives, seeking that unique experience in which God takes control of their tongues and jolts their bodies with power, praying and agonizing over the sick bodies of their friends, and proclaiming that man's reign on this earth is soon to be shattered by the Second Coming of Jesus. A religion is not just a set of rules and a bureaucratic structureit is also people. It is to the peopletheir daily livesthat the focus is turned.

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PART TWO

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4

Josh Armstrong

I'd rather have friends than deer on my land.

The front porch of Josh and Bertha Armstrong's house is a favorite gathering place for neighbors and the Armstrong children and grandchildren. Tired from a full day's work, Josh and Bertha often rest a while just before sunset, sitting on their porch and waving to those who pass by on the Little Coal Creek Road. It was on this porch that I sat for hours listening to Josh and Bertha talk about their children, their difficulties, their joys, their God.

Josh and Bertha are both in their midfifties. Josh is short and slight; his muscles are hard, but not bulging. His body is the kind that comes from consistent heavy labor: quick and deceptively strong. After we became friends, he delighted in "thinning" himself with one arm from the overhead beams on his porch and then watching me struggle and squirm and strainnever to get more than a few inches off the floor.

Bertha is large in build and perhaps 80 pounds heavier than Josh. Her booming voice is clearly one of acceptance. She, too,

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works very hard, but the effort has not resulted in slimness. Bertha's kitchen table is the center of the Armstrong home and has an obvious drawing power.

Josh is the ninth born of twelve children; his mother died when he was three. He was reared by his father and stepmother. Josh started working in the coal mines when he was fifteen and worked there for twenty years until he had to quit because of arthritis. He went to work in the woods and has been cutting timber ever since. A few years ago Josh saved up enough money to make the down payment on a bulldozer; so, although he contracts timber for other people, he owns his own equipment.

Josh is a hard worker. During several lean years he has packed up his family (seven children) and traveled all the way to the state of Washington to pick fruit. Josh says that the landowners liked them because they were conscientious workers.

Josh and Bertha own close to 1,000 acres of land. They bought it years ago when prices were very low. Most of the land is wooded, but it contains enough pasture to support a few cattle. A corn field and a vegetable garden are next to the barn.

All of Josh and Bertha's material wealth consists of their land, cattle, and bulldozer; they have little cash. Several times during the year that I was there, they fell behind in their 'dozer payments. Josh said he wasn't sure whether he owned the bulldozer or it owned him. Of all the persons attending Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, Josh and Bertha are the most secure financially. Their home is very similar to the homes of their friends, but their ownership of 1,000 acres makes the difference.

About thirty yards from the main house is a four-room house in which Grandpa Armstrong lives; he is ninety years old and independent enough to live by himself. He does, however, eat his. meals with Josh and Bertha. About 400 yards up the hill from Josh and Bertha is the house of their eldest son, Ernest, and his wife. Ernest, whom Josh describes as having been born a little "slow in mind," works with his father in the lumbering business. He is fairly dependent on Josh and Bertha. All of the other children, except one, had married and moved away before I met Josh and Bertha; the last one married during my stay.

Bertha works just as hard as does Josh: she raises a large garden

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almost single-handedly; she milks the cows and gathers the eggs and sells both to neighbors; she makes butter and cans vegetables; she takes care of one grandchild during the week so her daughter can work in a factory in town; she sews clothes for all her children and grandchildren; she makes quilts for all of her family and takes orders from people in town; she works in the hay field when everyone is needed; she sells candy around the community for the church's ''women's society''; and, three times a day, she cooks excellent meals for all the family (and the men who work with Josh in the woods). Being the fifth born of sixteen children, Bertha is familiar with responsibility.

Bertha is constantly busy. During the many nights that I spent with them, we were almost always up until midnight, and, long before sunrise, Bertha was in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Even though the Armstrong house is a mile or so back up in the hollow, it is a center of activity. Much of the activity includes eating, so Bertha is always at work.

During my stay I offered to help sand the church floor. The rented sander broke when I was using it, and I spent an entire day trying to repair it. I was rather upset at the end of the day, but Bertha calmed me down much as she would, her own children.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: Now, Troy, I've learned you just have to take things as they come. You do all you can, and then, there's no reason to get all upset. You just do all you can, and you can't do no more,

Bertha would probably make some corporation a fine executive, for she organizes and directs a lot of activity. She fusses and fumes about, always busy, and often complaining. But she seems to love her lifeher farm, her kids, her church, her husband, her God; she loves it passionately and vigorously. There are times that she becomes depressed for her children, because most of them are not active in church. She sometimes compares her life to city women, with all their kitchen appliances and fancy homesand wishes she didn't have to work so hard. But she continues to workto hold her family together and to keep the farm running and to keep it theirs.

Bertha's behavior in church is consonant with her work in the kitchen. She is the active organizer, the driving force behind the

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women's society, the Sunday school, and the annual church picnic. She sits on the same pew each service and offers her moanings and cryings and "yes, Lord's" as an integral part of worship. For the most part she allows the men of the church to take the prominent leadership positions: preacher, song leader, deacon. Occasionally, however, she erupts from her moanings, bellows forth in an unknown tongue, and dances in the spirit, becoming for a few minutes the dominant force in the congregation.

Josh Armstrong sees his religion, as do many people in Southern Appalachia, as an extremely personal matter. A crucial seriousness pervades every religious, discussion. It is Josh's religion, his interaction with his God, that is the focal point of his life. The meaning of life is, for him, inseparable from a daily walk with God.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We serve the Lord daily. That's the way I get the Bible. We do that and he gets the praise for our lives. We was put here for no other purpose than to honor and glorify the Lord. So that'd be our duty to do that. We're nothing without the Lord. We were made out of the dust of the earth. Without the Lord we're just a lifeless lump of clay. First seek ye the kingdom of heaven and all else will be added.

There seems to be a great sense of appreciation in Josh's perception of life. When he speaks of his land, his house, his family, it is almost in a tone of awe and wonder. And, although Josh works hard and often achieves his goals, he seems always to be conscious of the unpredictable. The weather, the land, the evil times, the Deviland Godcan change things. Life and man are intricately interwoven and the balance can tip in any direction:

JOSH ARMSTRONG: God is the only one we can look to for anything; he gives us all we have. Clothes, eatswhatever we havehe blesses us with. And I thank the Lord for it. I know that without him not any of us could do anything. You know, that's a wonderful Savior. You think about it; God gives us all that we have. He gives us life! And fixes it so we can have life eternal after this life is over with. That's the best thing I can think of in this world is life eternal after this life is over with. You know that's on conditions, and I want to be able to meet them conditions.

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Life is one major struggleone primary drama. Everything is at stake and no sacrifice is too costly. All of the contradictions of life are somehow secondary to the outcome.

Josh Armstrong perceives no inconsistency in God's behavior. Man does not question God or his ways. It can be summed up in the song often sung at church: "I know God is God, and He always will be God."

JOSH ARMSTRONG: God is love, and if we've got God, we've got love for our brothers and sisters that the Devil can't wedge in. He knows the past, the future. He knows all of us. If we'll just give God his part, he'll give us our part. The Lord knows every one of our needs. He didn't say he'd supply our wants. Don't you think that's what's wrong with America? They don't ever have to look up to see where it comes from. God gives us everything we have.

God does not change, but man continually does so. Consequently, salvation is no simple process.

TA: Do you believe that salvation, being saved, is it partially good works or is it all the grace of God?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's by the mercy of Jesus that we're saved. There ain't no good works that we do. Just through obedience to the Spirit when itwhen that conviction comes. Obey the Lord, and he'll save our soul. And then we are to work. He said, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." In other words, if everybody got saved and sat down, who would be here to tell other people about the Lord? So I think that we're to work and do for the Lord whatsoever he'd have for us to do. After we're saved, wellreally we're just born'd again. We're not saved until we die and Jesus... We call that being saved alrightwhen we're redeemed; in other words, when we're born of the Spirit. We feel that we've been saved from our sins. From our past sins, and then, if we don't sin no more, we're saved right on through. But if we come out here and commit some more sins, why then, we've got to be forgiven of them before everenter in. That's my viewpoint on it. The Bible says "No sin shall enter into heaven." We've got to get shed of these sins. In other words, he said, "If you do sin, you have an advocate.'' Go and ask the Lord to forgive ye. That's what I think. But if we fail to go ahead and ask the Lord to forgive us of these sins, then what happens? Now, that "once saved always saved''that's a dangerous teaching.

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TA: If a person is backslid, does that mean he is lost again and he's just like he was again in the start?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Not altogether. He's lost. I mean, if he was to die, he'd have to go to hell. But he's just like your child. If you had a child, and it was born, ah, well it couldn't be born again but it could be out somewhere lost. You'd have to go hunt it up. In other words, if he don't come back to the Lord, he's lost. That's what we get out of the Scriptures. Ah, if he sins, the Bible says, "God spared not the angel that sins." You know that? Well, if we sin, God don't leave us. He said he'd never leave ye nor forsake ye. But if you're drawed away, what is it?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: If you're drawed away after your own ungodly lusts.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If you get to lustin' after the things of the world, then you go off into the world. Then, if you don't come back to the Lord, and take up where you left off, you're lost. In other words, you lost your intactity [contact] with the Lord. That's the way that I get out of the Scriptures.

TA: What about people in parts of the world who have never heard of Jesus. Are they saved or lost?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If they done the best that they could understand, they'd be saved. I believe you could have a spiritual rebirth without having heard of Jesus. God reveals himself to usthat there's a supreme being. I don't think God'll take anybody out until they've had a chance to be saved. If we believe he's a rewarder of them that willingly seek him, we'll be saved. I think all down through time, God has revealed himself to people even though they didn't have the Word.

Josh was reared in the church and his father served several Holiness-Pentecostal churches as pastor. Josh's spiritual pilgrimage has not been an easy one.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I was saved when I was fifteen, but was lost again. I had went the wrong way. I got saved again when I was twenty. I'd go to them places, looking for a good time, and when I'd get there, it wasn't there. The Devil ran me ragged from one place to another.

Josh seems to have "settled down" when he and Bertha got married (Josh was twenty at the time).

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And although Josh has been a very active, faithful member in the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, outward appearance is not enough. Josh knows that God is ever judging his heart and actions; sometimes Josh feels uncertainty concerning his own destiny.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's awful to think about people tormented in a Devil's hell forever and ever. I've heard some say they burn up and that's it, but it ain't thataway. I worry about my own self sometimes. "Lord, is there anything in my life?" If there's anything that's there that shouldn't, it'll keep me out of the kingdom.

Josh sees his own personal struggle as a continual battle between him and the Devil. At times the responsibility for sin is placed squarely on the Devil; and yet, through it all, Josh feels the final weightthe ultimate responsibility.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Ole Satan is on our trail all the time. The best tool we have to fight him with is the Word; it's sharper than a two-edged sword. If Brother Frank does something wrong, I ought to pray that God'll help him. The Devil tries to get me to talk about him. The Devil comes to me and says, "You ain't never been saved." You know, if we didn't have the Devil to commence with, it would be no trouble for none of us to get right on up and do what God would have us to do. The Devilthat's his jobto keep us down, to keep us from doing what he (God) would have us to do. I don't blame anybody but myself when I'm not close to the Lord. These little pet things; if I could just shake them off, I could serve the Lord better. The Devil tries to keep us from shaking it off. We've got an enemy to fight. He's against my soul; he's against our Jesus. He'll put things in our minds to keep our minds off the Lord. I believe if I could keep my mind on the Lord, I could have more power. It's not God's fault that things ain't done; it's our living so slack. If I don't get what I ask for, it's my fault.

Individuals in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church experience three major steps in their religious lives: salvation, sanctification, and baptism of the Holy Ghost. Josh has never experienced sanctification or the baptism of the Holy Ghost; this is a source of uneasiness for Josh, since many of his friends in the church have.

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JOSH ARMSTRONG: If I could get to the place where God could see fit for me to get the Holy Ghost, I could have power. You've got to come to the point where you'd rather have that than anything in the world. I've got to get to the place where I can receive it. But there's little things, you see. Such as maybe I'll fly back and say little words that I shouldn't say. You've got to get sanctified and cleaned up again. He said that he wouldn't dwell in an unclean temple.

TA: Is it possible that the baptism of the Holy Ghost isn't for everybody?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: No, it's for everybody. If, ah, he said, "Whosoever will." He's got no respect for persons. We've got to understand it, and then we've gotta desire it more than anything that there'll be. Now, ah, it's like being saved. You desire to be saved more than you desire bread on your table. I don't see how a man can have power to serve him without the Holy Ghost. But I don't think you have to have the Holy Ghost to be saved.

Josh has been feeling for the last several years that God may be calling him to preach. This is a source of excitement and challenge in his life, but also a cause for fear and anxiety. Josh has always worked with his bodylong hours of hard physical work. And, although he frequently testifies at church, the thought of standing before people and preaching is frightening. On many occasions Josh expressed his concern over his salvation if he did not respond and begin preaching.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If God calls us to do something, whether it be preaching or whatever, if we don't do it, we won't make it through, I don't believe. I need more of the love of God, the spirit of God, and the power of God. Everyone has a calling; he's got a work for everyone. I'm a talkin' 'bout myself. I've not got as much of God as I want. If we don't repent of the little things we do, the Lord won't draw us no closer. I know I ain't where I ought to be because I pray and pray and pray and maybe it'll happen once in a while. Sometimes I think the Lord wants me to preach. That's the hardest thing ever I seen. I think he wants me to get out and testìfy. I don't want to come to the judgment and be turned off. I've dreamed of preaching; even the Scriptures come to my mind. I might be a failure if I tried preaching, but I'll be a failure for the Lord. He gives the Holy Ghost to them that obey. The Devil comes to me and says, "You ain't never been saved." When the Lord moves, I've got a sermon that I've gotta preach. I've laid awake at nights; he gave it to me. Part of itI was dreamingI saw a girl coming to the altar and

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getting saved. He gave the Scriptures and everything. I laid awake crying; but when I said I'd preach it, I've been okay.

Much of the time Josh Armstrong is a very positive person, joking and happy. Josh enjoys life and is able to find humor in every situation. But he is open with his discouragements and frustrations, describing honestly his occasional negative self-image.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I feel like I'm a failure in anything I undertake. I'm the least. If I do what little he asks me to, God'll be pleased. I realize I'm little. I can't do much. I realize I make mistakes; I fail along the way; I neglect. Although I feel like a failure most of the time, like I've got a mountain to climb ... And we've got some hard mountains to climb. We don't have too long to work.

Much of Josh's discouragementand Bertha's, alsocomes from his children. Of the seven children (five daughters and two sons), only one of them faithfully goes to church. One son, David, has been into trouble many times with the law because of fighting while drunk; he once talked to me about "laying open six hippies" with a pipe. David often brags about the people he's whipped in a fight. Four of the five daughters married men who do not attend church.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I worry about my children. No one knows how a parent worries. I'm sure I mighta done something wrong. But I've only got two children saved. The Bible says, "If you bring them up in the ways of the Lord, they won't depart from it." I've worried if I've failed, because my children aren't serving the Lord. The Lord promised us our children if we'd do his will. I'm still depending and trusting the Lord that he'll bring them in. It's the awfullest thing I've ever heard ofto think of someone going out of this world in sin. I think it's the day we're living in; it says there'd be a great falling away. The Bible's gonna be fulfilled no matter what we do or say. I never raised my children to run around and drink. I think it's the day we're living in is why the young people are turning away.

It is not easy growing up in a Holiness-Pentecostal family in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. A young person is ex-

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pected never to go to movies, sporting events, or any other type of worldly entertainment; smoking and drinking are strictly prohibited. A female is not allowed to wear pants, shorts, or makeup; she is instructed never to cut her hair. About the only acceptable date is to go to church.

At the beginning of my stay the youngest Armstrong girl was unmarried; she was nineteen years old and worked in a McClaskey factory. Several young men had attempted to date Carol, but Josh and Bertha would not let her go out with any of them. After I had been in Coal Creek for several months Carol began seeing Larry Hunt, a young man who lived with his family in the house closest to mine. Carol and Larry would meet together at church, and occasionally they were allowed to drive home together. Josh and Bertha did not like Larry and were opposed to his dating Carol. A few times, by chance, I saw them riding together in the afternoon after Carol got off work.

One weekend Carol didn't come home from work. She called later to tell her father that she and Larry were married. A few days later they sheepishly came back to the hollownow husband 0and wife. For a month or so they lived with Larry's family until they could get an apartment in McClaskey.

The first few months of marriage were particularly difficult for Larry and Carol. Marriage is normally a traumatic adjustment, but especially so for persons who hardly know each other. Bertha later admitted to me that she wished that she had let Carol date and go places. It was definitely a choice of the lesser of two evils.

Right after the marriage of her youngest daughter Bertha seemed to be the most discouraged about her children.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: Life is heartache. Little children is little trouble; when you put them to sleep at night, you know where they are. Big children is big trouble.

Bertha really misses her children; she would like for every one of them to move back and live on the farmbut not in the same house.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: There ain't a house big enough for two or three families. Of all our children, they never left mad. We don't know what we'll have to look to our children for. We'll get old

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and we'll need help. We treat our children like we should. We've had a hard time and a good time raising our children.

The question of certainty is an especially crucial one for Josh Armstrong. His concern over whether or not he should preach and the situation of his children are both sources of much introspection on Josh's part. Josh wants to trust his consciencehis feelingson these matters. He is also aware of the way many people use their consciences to justify anything they choose.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Most of the time a man's conscience is the Lord a-talking to him. Now, if you're doing wrong and you're a Christian, your conscience will condemn you. Ain't that right? If you sin, you feel condemned in your heart when you do something wrong, don't you? Well that's the sin that'll take you to the other place if you don't get shed of it. Condemnation ... Some people don't feel condemnation any more; the Bible says, "Their conscience is seared with a hot iron." If nothing bothers your conscience, well then, you're in bad shape. I doubt if a man could be saved if he went so far as to not feel condemned over nothin'. Even when you's a sinner, you did things you felt condemned over, wouldn't ya?

Driving back from a banjo picker's house one night, Josh, Bertha, and I began talking about intuitive knowledge.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I've seen people try to give interpretations who didn't have the Holy Ghost.

TA: And they interpreted?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: They tried to [laughingly].

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: The Lord ... You can feel anything like that. If it's real, you can feel it andif it's notyou can tell the difference in it. If you've really got the spirit of the Lord, you can tell it.

TA: Is it an intuitive thing? How can you tell?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: You can just nearly feel the shame. If it's real, it'll get ahold of you. It's just like ... I can't hardly explain, but anyway ... You know what I'm talking about I guess. When it's real, you'll just feel it. When it ain't, you'll just feel ... You'd rather they wouldn't even say the words.

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One night toward the end of a worship service, Josh Armstrong began to testify about having doubts and receiving God's re-assurance.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: When we feel him right down in there [indicating heart and stomach, and then moving hands to symbolize "radiating all through the body"]. When I can feel him coming into my body, I know God is real.

Despite the importance of a person's "feelings," one's experience should correspond with the teaching of the Bible.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: What I think ain't worth a dime if it ain't according to the Word of God ... As far as me bending the Bible to fit me: that's out. I want to bend me to fit the Bible. You can skip here and there and you can prove anything· You must rightly divide the word of truth. If I have a feeling that don't correspond with the Bible, I just throw it away. If a man will weigh his feelings with the Word, he's okay. If not, he might follow anything.

There is a widespread belief among Holiness-Pentecostals that the Second Coming is imminent. Every sermon is filled with numerous reminders that a person should constantly be living right. Josh often mentions the short amount of time left before Jesus comes again.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: The Bible says, "Be ye ready when the time comes." You know, that's one thing that we do knowthat he's coming. We can see so many signs of his coming. He said they'd be eating and drinking and giving in marriage in the day that Noah went into the ark. He said, "As it was in the day of Noah, so shall it be in the time of the coining of the Son of man." Well, if they're not doing it now, when will they start doing it? They've been doing it for years. Looks like everything we see is pointing to the coming of the Son of man. I believe you ought to be ready, brother. I'd love to leave a testimony that somebodyeven the neighborsor my individual childrenwould see something that would cause them to turn from the ways of sin and come to the Lord. I'll tell you. It ain't the will of the Lord that any go clown there [hell]. I believe he said that the Devil and his angels ... Hell was prepared for them ... And if we go there, who's fault is it? He said, "Whosoever will ... let him come." And a lot of people say, ''Well, if so and so gets there, I got nothing to worry about." You ever hear that said? Let

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me tell you something, if that feller don't make it, it will be heaven to you if you go. Hell will be hot. If that other fella is down there it will still be hot for you down there. People will let the devil put it in their minds"Look at so and so. If he makes it I ain't got nothing to worry about." Let me tell you, this individual matter is not so and so. It's this individual. I've found self as being one of the hardest fellows to controlof anybody else. A lot of people say, "If it wasn't for so and so I could just live real good." If it wasn't for old self, I would have no trouble ... Old self and the Devil is the one I have the trouble with. If I can conquer old self and the Devil, I can make it through over on the other side. And that's what I want to do: conquer old self and the Devil that I'll be able to help somebody else. I believe that I would do just about anything there was to do as far as to see one person comfortable ... I'd walk all night, do anything that would be possible for me to do to help somebody come to the Lord. I believe that I would be that willing. The rich manhe didn't even realize what hell was going to be like 'til he lifted up his eyes. He was wanting to help others shun that place because it was a place of discomfort and he didn't want his people to come thereor nobody else. I tell yaI want to be able to do my best for the Lord. I realize ... I feel like I'm a failure, I do ... I feel like a failure ... I've still had the Devil come to me and say, "Why, if you knowed you wouldn't be saved, would you quit now?'' I said I'd die trying. I believe that that's the determination that we are going to have to have. Them Hebrew boysthey was going to die trying. And they went right on and God was with them. Them bandits was the only thing that burned. They had fireproof religion. They went in that furnace and come out of there and that made many people believe in their god because ... I think the Lord wants to see if we'll bow. I want to draw nearer unto the Lord.

During the times that Josh was discouraged about his children and feeling depressed, he would talk about heaven.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I really believe I've got some loved ones waiting for me on the other side. There's nothing here we can look forward to but trouble, heartaches, and sorrow. Seems like the Devil's got our minds on the things of the world. I want to hold on to the end; I plan to make it through. It don't matter how we're treated on this earth; it ain't too much longer. I've thought more about that lately than ever before. If we have hope only in this world, we are most miserable. We have something to look forward to. On the other side: God's got many treasures.

The deep-seated sadness occasionally expressed by Josh Arm-

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strong was spoken rather quietly, but firmlyas though it had been well thought out. Josh did not seem to attempt to cover his feelings, nor was he overbearing in his disclosure.

Most of the time, Josh was anything but "being most miserable on this earth." One Sunday evening I ate supper with the Armstrongs and stayed overnight. Bertha was working on a quilt as we talked. Bertha told me that Josh didn't like for her to work on quilts when he was at home. Josh cut in with a big grin on his face, "I like for her to talk with me and ... do things."

At the breakfast table the next morning Bertha told me about Josh's wrestling her down a few nights before and tickling her until she couldn't stand it. "I bit him on the cheek." "Yep," Josh added, "she gave me a hickey ... I turned the other cheek." It was a good morning for laughing.

One Saturday evening toward the end of my year in Coal Creek I stayed overnight with the Armstrongs, and we didn't get to sleep until late. Sunday being church morning, Josh got up early; with only his long johns on, he crept into the room where I was sleeping and jumped in the middle of the bed on all fours. He tickled me until I was thoroughly awake and then casually went about his morning chores, whistling and singing.

Every time Josh enters the church building, all of the younger children run up and hug him and give him a kiss. He is never too busy to spend time talking with them. "There's none better than Joshua Armstrong," said one young adult who had grown up in the Coal Creek church.

One afternoon I dropped by the Armstrong place about the time Josh got home from the woods. Several of the married children had come for supper, and Bertha was extremely busy. One of Josh's granddaughters called on the telephone and wanted to speak with Bertha; she often did this and would talk for long periods of time. Although the granddaughter was only four years old, Josh talked with her almost as a peer, explaining that her grandmother was not available to talk then. There was no baby talk; his voice was gentle, yet alive. There was a lot of noise in the room, and Josh didn't know anyone was listening to the conversation. He talked with his granddaughter for fifteen minutes or so and never talked down to her.

Josh loves the land on which he lives. He introduces it as one

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might a child, with tenderness, respect, and reserved pride. He touches the land when he talks of it: he picks up a handful of dirt and puts it in mine when he describes last year's garden; he pops several kernels and hands me the ear as he explains how the corn meal is made and recounts the size of the most recent crop; he hugs one of his cows and brings it close for observation, bragging on the quality of steaks he produces; he hand-polishes several apples as we walk along his highest pasture before he offers the one he wants me to taste. Josh Armstrong touches his land, as it touches him.

But Josh is a practical man. He knows that sparkling creeks and shiny apples do not support a family. Despite his closeness to the land, he needs it to pay him more than aesthetic returns. He is aware that Coal Ridge County affords few economic opportunities, that strip mining and timber cutting represent the only hopes for the people. Consequently, Josh Armstrong defends strip mining. He feels that the added jobs and extra cash for the landowners outweigh whatever harmful effects result. Josh denies the polluting effects of strip mining on the local streams. He minimizes the ugliness of the numerous mountain tops crisscrossed with gaping strips of dirt and rock against the otherwise green and wooded hills. He and Bertha both were pleased on the afternoon they signed away their mineral rights to a strip-mining firm.

Josh's sewer line, like those of his neighbors, runs into Coal Creek. My carefully worded admonitions about worldwide ecological problems got no response from Josh. He talked idealistically of nature's purification powers, and, with a note of resignation, about the approaching end times of tribulation, times in which polluted streams would be a minor problem compared to the spiritual anguish.

Josh Armstrong is resigned to his theology. ''Biblical determinism" pervades his beliefs. I often asked Josh why some people are wealthy, while others are poor.

TA: Why do you take care of yourself and your house and some people don't?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Well, oh, the Bible says "The poor you have with you always." And they've got to be poor. And, I feel like

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that, ah, I want to be good to 'em. They get in need, I feel like we oughta help 'em. God gives us knowledge and he said in his Word, "The poor you have with you always." If they had knowledge to take care of everything, why, they wouldn't be poor. So Godthe Bibleis gonna be fulfilled. We're gonna have poor people. And a lot of times they're put here to try us, to see whether we're gonna have compassion or not. I think there's got to be something or 'nother for us to be tried by. You know it? If there wasn't no poor, then the Bible wouldn't a been fulfilled. I think it's the Lord's will that people is poor in order to try people.

And Josh does help those in financial need, although he would never be the one to make such information public. Several families mentioned to me that Josh and Bertha had helped them during bad times. Josh and Bertha once deeded part of their land to one of their nephews. Although the nephew never paid for it, they bought the land back when he decided to move away.

Despite the supernatural determinism evident in Josh's theology, he definitely is not a passive person. He has confidence that man can go out and attain certain goals.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If you have a good education, you can use your mind and do about anything you want. Now me, I've had to work hard.

One afternoon Josh, Bertha, and I were riding in their pickup, and Bertha kept saying that she wished she had a car of her own. Josh finally responded to her. "You shouldn't wish after something you can't have. If you want it, work for it and get it."

Josh Armstrong is certainly a man of principles; he holds strongly to his beliefs, even amidst peer pressure. Josh does not, however, allow his unwaivering beliefs to translate into a callousness towards others. Bertha says, "He'll let everybody have their way."

For years Josh Armstrong kept a fine team of mules for plowing corn and for entering in pulling contests. Several times Josh's mules won the county contest. A few years ago a relative of Josh's expressed jealousy about losing to Josh and continued to harbor ill feelings. Josh sold his mules and has not been to the county fair since. "No prize is worth that."

Late one afternoon Josh and I were hunting for some of his

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cows up in the high pasture where his land is heavily wooded, a haven for wild game. Josh mentioned that he knew some men who had been coming on his land and shooting his deer. I asked why he had not asked them to stop. Josh replied, "I'd rather have friends than deer on my land."

Josh does care about his friends, especially those at the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, for they are a source of his joy. They stomp and clap and shout with him when he's happy; they mourn and cry and wail when he's discouraged and low.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We may speak with our lips the word love. But if we don't have that love down deep in our hearts, we don't know God. One way we can know we are born of Godif we love one another.

Without our brothers and sisters, I don't hardly know how we'd carry on. When one of our members isn't present, we miss 'em. Sometimes the load gets so heavy. One person can't push a truck up a hill; but five or six can push it right up. Same way for the Lordit takes the whole body to work for the Lord. The one who seems the more feeble is really worth more. Let's love each other so that when one's in trouble, we're all in trouble.

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5

Frank Harper

Some people are trying to make God a big lollipop: just lick him and everything's sweet.

Frank Harper is an outdoorsman: he camps, hunts, fishes, swims, and canoes. He is also pastor of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. At twenty-one years old, he has had more experience camping than preaching. During the year I was living in the Coal Creek area, Frank and Amy, his wife, were seniors in college; they had to struggle for financial stability.

Realizing the need of a formal education in order to be a good minister, Frank has made the sacrifice necessary to stay in school. But he is not a scholar at heart. His mind, like his conversation, is outdoors. Frank spends more time cleaning his gun or bow than reading his textbooks. Frank is, however, not opposed to academics; he listens to the "liberal" ideas presented in college and incorporates some of them into his own belief system. Frank loves a good debate and is never at a loss for words.

The first impression of Frank Harper is that he reveals openly of himself. Frank meets new people with ease, talks a lot, and always has a wide, shining smile. He tends to be expressive of his

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moods; it is not difficult to know what's on his mind. His immediate openness is atypical of the Coal Creek people; but, then, so is his background. Although born in Southern Appalachia, Frank lived in several different places because his father was in the military. His father retired in time for Frank to spend his teenage days back in Southern Appalachia.

Frank's father is highly concerned about authority; he is now a policeman and speaks strongly about law and order. Frank's father has a booming voice, yells a lot, and easily loses his temper. Having once been a heavy drinker, Frank's father has since converted to Christianity and preaches from time to time (although he is not a Holiness-Pentecostal).

Frank sometimes speaks of being a game warden, or a policeman, if he were not a minister. Whether it be man's law or God's law, Frank is excitedly concerned about the enforcement. Both the badge and the Bible suit Frank well.

Frank is open, often blunt and personal, from the pulpit. He expresses compassion and concern in his sermons. Sometimes his anger will build during a sermon until his remarks are caustic and bitter, spoken with a tone of sarcasm.

FRANK HARPER: Some people want a God who only loves. Some people are trying to make God a big lollipopjust lick him and everything's sweet. He's a God of love, but he's also a God of wrath. He's gonna get fed up one of these days and send those who don't obey him to the lake of torment. He doesn't want to, I know. He's a loving God. There's no sense in trying to make him more than he is. Some people say it's all freeNO! It's still a sacrifice. We must give up everything. Before God called me, I thought about majoring in agriculture or going into forestry. I thought about being a state trooper, or perhaps a game warden. When God called me into the ministry, I had to lay my life on the line.

A few days after Frank Harper preached the above sermon, I asked him to explain his view of God's nature more fully.

FRANK HARPER: The idea that God is all-loving, like the illustration of the lollipop in the skyall you do is lick him and everything's going to be your pieI don't like that. I never have. I've seen a lot of Christians, in witnessing to someone about the Lord or about being converted; that was the way that they made God looka

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big lollipop in the sky. It just turns my stomach, because he's not that kind of fella at all.

TA: We both agree that God is loving. How would you define God's love?

FRANK HARPER: That's hard. I don't know.

TA: No, I think you did it in your sermon because you talked about the different things...

FRANK HARPER: Oh yeah. God is a loving God; he proved it by sending a son. That's even scriptural. I think at one place it says that he would give us all things that are good. But still yet, God is a God of justice and doesn't willingly want to damn anybody to hell, but would, and will, and is going to. So he's not a big lollipop in the sky. Let me tell you something about God. He's the kind of fella that gets sick and vomits. Yeah, I can see God just BLAAAHHH. He'd almost blow his cool, in other words.

TA: Over what?

FRANK HARPER: Over us. Something that maybe I would do. Now, I don't look at God sitting in front of ... like you would sit in front of the World Series with expectation. I think that it's more of a mental awareness that he is aware of what's going on. He's not sitting up on the edge of his throne, looking down over earth, like you'd look into a fish bowl, and watching us all swim around in the world. I can almost feel God inside me just getting so sick at something I would do, or how the church is going. And I feel like I want to vomit, and that makes me feel like that God is vomiting in me.

TA: The very fact that he set up hell, does that ever seem to you to be unloving of God?

FRANK HARPER: Oh, no.

TA: Why not?

FRANK HARPER: From the study of psychology and adolescence, it's a proven fact that children would rather, although they probably wouldn't admit it, would rather be disciplined. And in order for a child to grow up, it's got to be disciplined in some sort of way. Who was the guy that raised the children without any kind of discipline?

TA: Dr. Spock?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, and then was rioting with them in the

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streets just a few years ago. That's the idea. I disagree with old Spock. I think he's wrong. I believe in discipline, and I think God disciplines us.

TA: I can understand God disciplining me when I'm on earth, but eternal discipline for ever and ever and ever? That doesn't seem unloving to you?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, in a way.

AMY HARPER: No. It doesn't to me. It don't to me. I don't know why, but it don't.

TA: Has it ever been a possibility in your mind that the people who said that that's the way God acted, that maybe they misunderstood him?

FRANK AND AMY HARPER: No.

Frank and Amy did not grow up in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church; they each attended a Baptist church. They both joined the Holiness-Pentecostal Church about a year and a half before I met them. They receive some criticism from their families and former church associates because of this change.

Frank's introduction into, and his perception of, the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, therefore, is especially useful since he did not grow up in it. His initial conversion was in a Baptist church.

FRANK HARPER: My conversion experience was more of a logical thing. I was saved in a Sunday school class. I didn't walk the aisle. I probably never would have walked the aisle until probably high school, because I would have been scared to death. Especially in our church that we went to in New Jersey. It was a very liturgical thing.

TA: Had you been worried about not being a Christian for a long time before you were saved?

FRANK HARPER: Never. It never dawned on me.

TA: How did it happen?

FRANK HARPER: I guess I never paid any attention to the teacher the whole time I was in Sunday school class. But right at the last she asked if anybody wanted to be a Christian and I knew the thing about going to hell; my vision of hell was you walked down into a cliff and down beneath was this endless dimension ... place

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of fire and you walked over and you jumped. Nobody pushed you. I imagined, "I know I'm going to have to go, so I'm going to jump." If I didn't make this decision that I had to make I knew one of these days I was going to have to jump. I just didn't want to go to hell. I think this was the biggest thing. I guess I really didn't understand at all, hardly, but my conversion experience began there. The Sunday school teacher just asked, right at the close of class, if anybody wanted to stay after and become a Christian. I think that was her exact wordsa real old, fat, grey-haired Sunday school teacher. Everybody just shuffled out of the class and the little bell rang and I stayed there. I didn't move. I wondered sometimes after that if I had done ... I've written my conversion experience down several times and I've wondered about the thing ... if I was doing this just to be a good little boy and to cooperate because everybody else wasthis type thing.

TA: Were there ever times when you had doubts after that?

FRANK HARPER: Oh, yeah. Well, not after that, right away ... a year or so later, and then I went through the same thing again, once. After that, after so long a time I realized that the second time I went throughit was at Bible Campvacation Bible schooleverybody gets saved again at vacation Bible schooltwo or three times! My conversion experience really did occur; I just got down on my knees with her. She never asked me or told me anything to do, except to invite the Lord into your heart or something like that. I did, and I felt him come in. I felt a great change as soon as I got up and as soon as I thought about it I felt a real freshness. Like getting a brand new bicycle. It's out there under the Christmas tree. And I ran down the hallway to where my mother was coming out of her Sunday school class, and I told her right away and she smiled and was happy.

TA: You didn't join a church or get baptized at that time?

FRANK HARPER: No. As a matter of fact I didn't get baptized. I didn't even know what baptism was until I was about twelve years old.

TA: How old were you when this conversion happened?

FRANK HARPER: I was seven years old. When I was twelve or thirteen I was baptized along with my sister. My sister came out there one day and said "Do you want to get baptized?" And then I was baptized in the river. We were down in Kentucky visiting my grandmother. My conversion experience was really simplenot like some others walking the aisle.

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Frank's concept of salvation is a hybrid between Baptist and Holiness-Pentecostal thought. He is certainly against the ''once savedalways saved" theology.

FRANK HARPER: Some people believe that if you've made a decision for God sometime in the past, you can do anything you want and be all right.

He occasionally admits his own uncertainties concerning salvation.

FRANK HARPER: We're gonna give an account of every idle word, every hair on our head. It's hard; I get scared.

Frank does feel, however, that many Holiness-Pentecostals spend too much time and energy worrying about whether or not they are saved.

FRANK HARPER: I was saved when I was just a young fella. But I backslid and got real cold. But I never, ever stopped ceasing to hear his voice. It's a free gift. If you've got the blood of Jesus flowing in you, you've got redemption, life, and peace. It still will cleanse against sins; it will keep you from sin. You don't have to sin, but if you do, it's covered. Sins in the futurethey're atoned for. When God looks down on us, he has to look through the telescope of Jesusthrough the blood. I wish you'd forget everything you ever learned about getting saved. Don't pray, "I want to get saved like grandmother." Just come down here and ask God to save you. I can't cope or comprehend people saying, "I got saved," and two days later saying, "No longer." I don't understand it. We can't all the time, you know, come to the altar and ask the people to come pray for us and get us restored back to the victory that we had. We ought to have confidence that we are the sons of God. I know that I'm a child of God. Paul said, "I am persuaded.'' Are you persuaded? I'm persuaded!

Frank distinguishes between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost.

TA: Do you think that when a person becomes a Christian, God's Spirit comes to live in him at that time?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, I do, but I don't know for sure if my church does or not.

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AMY HARPER: Yeah, I do, too.

FRANK HARPER: 'Cause I got saved in a church that didn't believe in the infilling of the Holy Ghost. That's why I personally believe that, because the change in my life came then.

TA: So you recognize that as God's Spirit coming to live in you.

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, definitely. I'd be calling every other Christian that I know a bunch of liars; they'd all be going to hell because the Bible says, "If you have not my Spirit, you're not mine."

AMY HARPER: If God didn't live in you, you wouldn't be saved.

FRANK HARPER: If you're born again, you've got the Spirit of God. Once you get cleansed and sanctified, you can get baptized with the Holy Ghost. I believe there's a distinct difference between the two. We need to tell the people about Jesus. In order for us to do that, it looks like we're going to have to have a good, old-time Holy Ghost prayer meeting and get a lot of us filled with the spirit so that we can have the power to get out and be the witnesses that we ought to be. You need the Holy Ghost. You're gonna have to seek for the Holy Ghost. In this day, you need an "in" with the power of God.

Frank does see the concept of salvation as being inseparable from sanctification, the process of becoming holy. In this aspect, he is in agreement with his Holiness-Pentecostal brethren.

FRANK HARPER: We're going to have to be holy to get into heaven. We once knew the standard of holiness and lived by it. There's gonna be a revival of holiness. Right after the revival of holiness, the Lord will take us away. We can't be short on any one thing; we'll have to give an account. I appreciate people who believe in the full Gospel. That's what it's gonna take to get us through to glorya good clean life. The very thing that makes us distinct and a peculiar peoplethe way we dress, the way we act, the way we live. If we modernize, we'll lose our identity. Holiness is the answer to a lot of people's problems.

Sanctification is a common topic in Frank Harper's sermons. He points out that the word sanctification is mentioned more times in the Bible than salvation. Becoming holy is a vital part of Holiness-Pentecostal religion; to understand Holiness-Pentecostals, one must understand sanctification.

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FRANK HARPER: Sanctification is a separation. The tiling you become separated from is the world. You become separated from the world and connected to God. Sanctification is to be set apart for a sacred purpose. Sanctification is to be free from sin. Sanctification isn't justification. Justification removes the guilt. Sanctification removes the power of sin. The power of sin battles against us. God has called us out of sinto quit sinning continually day after day. We are now to live above and beyond sin.

Some Holiness-Pentecostals see sanctification as one unique experience which happens at one particular moment. Others see it as a continued process of growth. Frank Harper is definitely in the latter camp.

FRANK HARPER: Sanctification is a process. You can't say, "I'm sanctified." Once you get a touch of God, you ca n get a not her touch. It's a thing of growth. We must climb every step on the ladder before we'll get to heaven. We could all be sanctified more. God wants to present us blameless. So sanctification is not anything at all other than a growing in the Lorda maturing. Just like the figurative thing in the Bible about being born a babe and growing. That's the only way that I would ever look at sanctification. Nothing more than that. Never anything to do with any kind of work of grace outside of that. It's a work of grace, but it's ... just about everything dwells around grace. We're saved by gracewell, the Bible says that we're also saved by hope. It's not an experience. That's the thing, though, they believe. I'm down there praying on my knees and everybody's laying hands on me and praying real hard. Some may be speaking in tongues, and all of a sudden the person that's praying feels some sort of feelingfeels the Lordor maybe makes some sort of motion, expression, that they do feel the Lord in their life at that time. And they don't get baptized with the Holy Ghost; usually what people tell them is that they just got a good dosea sanctification. I've heard Brother Winston say that a lot. That's the Pentecostal way of explaining the Methodists' receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost without speaking in tongues. They say, "They just got sanctified ... They didn't really go all the way."

Since Frank and Amy are recent converts to the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, they are able to remember, in detail, their initial experience of speaking in tongues.

TA: Tell me about the things that led up to you becoming Pentecos-

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tal and experiencing the baptism of the Holy Ghost. There must have been some sort of awareness.

FRANK HARPER: I had never heard of it. I was just ignorant to a lot of things. Never had heard of speaking in tongues when I was in high school. I had never heard of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. When we got into college I met some peoplereally good Christian boys and girls. They were good singers, and we were starting to sing at that time. We would sing, and their singing was so much different than ours, and people could tell. When we would sing, people wouldn't do anything, but when they sang ... There was a great difference in our singing. People could really tell there was a difference, too. That was the beginning. "What's the difference between us and them?" I just asked. It wasn't long before I found out that they were Pentecostal and found out what they believed in: about tongues, baptism of the Holy Ghost; and the thing about it was a lot bettermore power and more presence of the Lord in your life. Growingbeing sanctifiedis the biggest important thing. You have to pray to the Lord that he will sanctify you before you can be baptized with the Holy Ghost. You got to quit smoking and drinking and cussing.

TA: And you would basically agree with that?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, then I would have ... and still do hold to that thing about cleaning up. I think that's good common sense. It was almost just a rush thing, a matter of three months. From the month of September to January in the year 1970 we thought about it. But when we believed in it we started praying, and then three months later we experienced it.

TA: Where were you when you first experienced it?

FRANK HARPER: At the Duck River Holiness-Pentecostal Church over by the bridge.

TA: Is there anything about that incident that you think people would like to hear?

FRANK HARPER: The intellectual thingthat the words appear in your mind several times.

TA: Explain that. You never told me about that.

FRANK HARPER: I'm going to tell you how it happened to me. There were words that appeared in my mind several times. It happened to Amy, too. These words kept coming with force. This was tongues.

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AMY HARPER: They was just going over and over in your mind.

FRANK HARPER: These words came ... only at an ecstatic moment of prayer. A few moments of revelation, of being caught up in ecstasy. Being caught up in this ... not necessarily in the church at the altar, but sometimes I get to thinking about the Lord and I get real enthused about the Lord and I get real enthused about going to a revival and boy, it would almost ... It was almost enough right there to ... now this is all before ... Really, when you're seeking the Holy Ghost, it's almost a thing of you're not totally convinced the whole time you're doing this.

TA: Did you have doubts?

AMY HARPER: Yes.

FRANK HARPER: The whole way through I would say. And even after that you have some doubts. You think "Man, what have I got into." I think it's just doubting and it happens to anybody. It really appears in your mind. Not all the time, but sometimes it really dominates your mind and when it does that ... When it takes complete, you're really feeling God's presence and you're really caught up in something and you actually lose total sight of everything around you. I can't explain how, but I spoke those words.

TA: When you spoke those words, at that time, were you aware that you were doing it?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, but the thing of it is, when you do it, when it happens, you say, "Man, why didn't I just let go and do this before?" After people do this they testify that it was so easy.

TA: When you were speaking in tongues were you mentally aware that you were doing it? At the very time that you were doing it?

AMY HARPER: I was.

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, but you're not aware of what you're saying or anything like that.

AMY HARPER: What do you mean "not aware of what you're saying"?

TA: Were you aware of what you were saying?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, I was aware consciously of what I was saying, but it didn't make any sense. It was tongues ... it was jibber-jabber, mumbo-jumbo ... sometimes it sounded fluent and sometimes it didn't.

AMY HARPER: The first time I ever spoke in tongues, it wasn't

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really speaking in tongues, as I know it now. It was just maybe one syllable ... just over and over. It just comes more and more.

TA: Did you all speak in tongues the same night the first time?

AMY HARPER: No.

FRANK HARPER: No, she did the night before I didliked to kill me. There were three of themall girls. There were four of us there praying and, if you've ever seen anybody like a rat caught in a trap and it'll try 'til midnight to get outthat's about the way we prayed. We prayed from about 8 o'clock 'til 15 minutes 'til 12. The night I prayed and received the Holy Ghost it was 15 minutes after 12. But I received the Holy Ghost just like that [snaps fingers]. Five minutes at the altar and I came out of there speaking in tongues.

AMY HARPER: And I prayed for three hours the night before.

TA: But when you went to the altar, you didn't go 'til 12 o'clock?

FRANK HARPER: No, I went at 8, but we didn't leave 'til 15 after 12 anyway.

TA: But you ...

AMY HARPER: He got the Holy Ghost in five minutes.

FRANK HARPER: See, this girl had to go home for some reason and turned to me and said, "Will you take me home?" And I didn't want to leave the church. I was just determined ...

AMY HARPER: That was the Devil.

FRANK HARPER: And when I got back I was so depressed I didn't know what to do. But I just come to grips and said I was going to the altar to pray. I went to the altar and prayed and just like that it happened.

TA: In your own lives, if I understand you right, the thing that attracted you most and was number onethe holiness part of these kids you met. There was something about their lives and secondly there was some kind of exuberance in their singing and things?

AMY HARPER: You could feel so much more spirit when they sang.

FRANK HARPER: Their singing was good. Either one of them could have made records; and I certainly wasn't at any point there where I was going to make records. But their singing was good. But the thing about it was, was that when they sang, they sang with assurance. It fit in with their testimony, it fit in with ... It was really great.

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TA: Amy, is there any particular thing that Frank hasn't discussed that you think would be important to mention?

AMY HARPER: I didn't grow up in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, either. One night when I was praying at the church, I came real close to getting the Holy Ghost, about four weeks before I did. And I was praying and my hands started trembling all over. It wasn't me doing it at all. It was the spirit of the Lord. I just didn't know what was going on and it scared the fire out of me. I thought "Lord have mercy. Help me get ahold of myself." I just pulled my hands down and clutched them to me and it just went away. So to me it's just a matter of releasing your faith to the Lordwhatever he wants to do.

FRANK HARPER: We heard people receive the Holy Ghost that spoke like Greek ... just a mile a minute.

TA: When you first spoke in tongues were you more fluent?

FRANK HARPER: No, but I did say more than just one syllable. It's like the first time you get behind a car. You don't speed shift the transmission, double-clutch it and everything like that; but I've seen people who did. People don't like to tell how they got the Holy Ghost. They don't want to tell.

TA: Well, it's a very vulnerable thing. Everyone in our culture puts little emphasis on emotion and looks down upon people ... I can understand that.

FRANK HARPER: This young man that was Pentecostal told Amy and I this thing about receiving the Holy Ghost. He started talking to us and he told us that he received the Holy Ghost. About a day or two later both of us had received the Holy Ghost, and he had thought that he had explained to us or said something to us in some way or other that just give us the green light to receive the Holy Ghost. And it really tore him up. He walked down the bridge and thought about jumping off. It really depressed him for a long time.

TA: He got depressed because you got tongues?

FRANK HARPER: Because he had thought that he had explained in some way or other for us to receive it and that we had been misled ...

TA: That you were able to fake it?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, and that we had been fooled.

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AMY HARPER: Well, there were several of the kids who were Pentecostal that didn't believe we had received it.

FRANK HARPER: The other Pentecostal kids didn't trust us. The leader of the group was about the only one who spoke in tongues. He lost prestigedidn't get all the attention he had been getting. Some of the kids that were with us were really hystericalworse than a kid with a new toy. And speaking tongues on a street corner; they didn't hardly understand any of that.

AMY HARPER: The night after I got the Holy Ghost I spoke in tongues just about all night ... after I got into bed.

FRANK HARPER: They carried Sonya [a college friend] from the church into the car speaking tonguesdrove all the way home speaking in tongues. Carried her as she came into the house, speaking in tongues; took her up to bed, put her in bed. We sat down there and ate dinner until about 12 o'clockstill speaking in tongues. Finally she dozed off to sleep.

TA: This was after you were pastor up there?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah. We started having these Wednesday night prayer meetings, and it happened then. She just fell right out on the floor and started speaking in tongues.

AMY HARPER: She really spoke in tongues.

FRANK HARPER: She really did. It was really a language and not just broken dialect of some sort, but really a language.

Frank Harper is a reflective person. Despite his action-oriented life of hunting, fishing, and camping, he is constantly questioning and evaluating. More than that he is open in relating his uncertainties.

FRANK HARPER: I believe I won more souls before I got the Holy Ghost than after; I don't understand.

TA: Have there been times recently when you have doubted that speaking in tongues was a real thing? Have there been times in the last year?

FRANK HARPER: I'd say the biggest thing that I doubted was that it even existed at all.

TA: You mean that God was in it at all?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, I've wondered. You see so much that

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you don't go along with, that you can't agree with, that you don't understand, that it'll begin to even make you wonder about yourself.

TA: Have you felt that way, Amy?

AMY HARPER: Yes.

FRANK HARPER: I think that anybody that's human or honest would say that they not only have felt that, not necessarily about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but about salvation and God.

TA: Yeah ... now here's the thing I'd like to get to: how do you struggle with those kinds of things? Is it a long-term answer?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah.

AMY HARPER: What do you mean?

TA: Like when you have doubts, whether it's the existence of God or whether you're saved or whether you've spoken in tongues.

FRANK HARPER: It depends upon how ...

AMY HARPER: You've just got to have faith ... that's all there is to it.

FRANK HARPER: Speaking in tongues, or something like the baptism of the Holy Ghost ... You have to do one thing: you have to come to the realization that the New Testament teaches it. You just have to come to grips ... that's what I had to deal with. Those months between September and January I was in the Bible.

TA: Besides the Scriptures, what else do you use?

FRANK HARPER: People's lives. The way they live. They lived up to what they said was happening in their lives. I saw people healed who were epileptics, people who were deaf. Like this one evangelist that we had: took Brother Josh's pocket watch out of his pocket and said, "Tomorrow night I'm going to pray for people who are deaf. The Lord's really impressed upon me to pray for people who are deaf. You go get them and bring them in from everywhere." We had people come from everywhere, and everyone that came that was deaf was healed!

TA: And you saw this happen?

FRANK HARPER: Yes, I was standing right behind him.

TA: Have either one of you personally felt like you were healed?

FRANK HARPER: Yes, I thought I was at one time, but then it

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came back ... And that's always been a traumatic experience for me because I was always afraid to pray for anybody ... like, "Boy, I'm already healed of cancer." And zap! They die. I was really having a lot of pain with my stomach, not an ulcer, but the doctor told me it would develop into one. My stomach wasn't emptying right. My food wasn't digesting. As a resultI always did have a nervous stomach anywayit really did bother me. If I didn't eat on schedule, my stomach would really cramp me bad. That's kind of trivilous, nothing Tums or something couldn't handle. I really felt something happen in my stomachlike butterflies. We were all praying for me to get healed and all of a sudden (I don't know if this was psychologicalyou know, suggestibility is tremendousI really believe in the power of suggestibility) ... Even though the power of suggestibility could have still been there, but if so, I was really fooled by it, because my stomach really jumped. It moved and it quit hurting. And about a week later it was back. It was a while before it did come.

TA: Do you still have it?

FRANK HARPER: Yes.

TA: Is that the only time when you felt that you had been healed?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

TA: How did you deal with your beliefs when your stomach trouble came back?

FRANK HARPER: Well, I didn't know what to do about it. I didn't let a lot of things like that bother me. Like things that tripped me up, like backfire. I just diverted around it, avoided the issue, I'd say something like, "Oh, the grapes are sour anyway," or" My faith was weak," or something like that. But that really kills me: the thought that I've got to go around ... strong faith, all the time ... superman ... and you just got to resist the firey darts of the Devil. I don't even believe that. I just got sick again. I don't think I was ever healed. Maybe a temporary thing ... I don't know.

Although healing does present some tough theological problems, the very nature of God helps supply the needed explanatory power. Frank Harper and I were discussing a Baptist woman who was dying of cancer. A small group of fellow church members were meeting each week and praying that she be healed. I asked the question, "Why is each person not healed who prays a believing prayer?" Frank pointed out that at the Baptist church only a few people believe in divine healing; even if the lady were healed

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of cancer, most of her fellow church members would not give God the credit. However, at Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, everyone would praise God for such a healing. God knows who will or will not act in the appropriate way if healed.

Frank came to be the pastor of the Coal Creek church not long after he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It is a small church and cannot afford a full-time pastor. Being young, and this being his first time to be a pastor, Frank has certainly had his share of difficulties. All of the young adults and teenagers like him; one couple told me that Frank was the reason they began attending at Coal Creek, and they would leave should he ever leave. A few of the older adults are critical of his immaturity and would like to see Frank leave the church.

Frank does, in the eyes of the church members, make mistakes. They would like him to visit people more and go camping less. On at least two occasions, some of the church members felt that Frank did not visit the families soon enough after there had been a death. Sometimes this problem arises because Frank and Amy do not live in the Coal Creek area.

There was a three-month period during the time that I attended the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church that discord among the members became highly evident. One particular manLee Russell Armstrongwanted to get rid of Frank as pastor. Lee Russell only attended church occasionally, but was constantly on the phone talking with the other members. And some of the other members, although not personally against Frank, were hesitant to make any changes Frank suggested. For example, Elma Davis would not allow the children to have soft drinks at a party in the church basement; she held to a literal understanding of the Scripture warning people not to eat and drink in God's house.

During the height of the discord, Frank would often talk with me and blow off steam.

FRANK HARPER: I'd love to blow that building up when I leave. The community would be better without it.

Of course, Frank never blew up the building. Instead, he spent hours sanding the floors, building steps down to the basement,

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and attempting to repair the basement walls so that the basement would not flood.

As the discord approached a climax, Frank preached a sermon that was blunt and to the point. He admitted some of his failures, and he also told the people that he felt they had not supported him.

FRANK HARPER: Sometimes God has to hit you over the headsome of you have to go to the hospitalto get you into shape. If God's people would follow God's men ... Moses was really angry with people for building the golden calf. Now listen: there's times that I feel thataway. I'm glad that since God's spirit has got back into this church, we've seen people saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, people speaking in tongues, and we've had tongues interpreted. I prayed with ever last one of you in your homes. When I leave this place, I hope you'll remember the good and forget the bad. That word mistake is an easy word for sin. I'm trying to please every one of you, but there are too many chiefs and no Indians. Sometimes I'd like to sit in the pew and let you know what it's like. One thing a preacher likes is for people to talk to me. One reason preachers are having trouble preaching: the spirit of antichrist is upon the world. Saying ''amen'' to a preacher is like saying "sic 'em" to a dog. The best way you can show me you love me is to say "amen" and talk to me. Sometimes it's hard for a preacher to preach when there's discord among the people. If I'm gonna preach the gospel, you're gonna have to help me. Pray for me.

I've got confidence in God's people that the Lord'll move. I don't want to blame anyone for my troubles. It seems that one or two people can dampen the spirits of a church. The Devil'll keep your mind on worldly things so much you won't even pray for church. If we've ever lived in a day when people were slacking offeven Pentecostal people are slacking off. I'm wondering how much longer this world can stand.

I've preached a sermon someplace else and everybody ate it up; I preach the same sermon herepeople go to sleep. I've had people come to me and say they hope I don't backslide.

If the people'll "amen" the preacher, he might get excited. If you come with a good mind, a good spirit, and a good heart, you'll get something from the Lord. I wish you could preach a revival where people never said "amen."

You want to see a growing church: it's where the people take out time to pray every day for the church. We need to do something. I don't know exactly what it is. If you know, come and tell me. There's reasons why people don't get saved. It's up to you to see that

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people gets saved. Sometimes I hate to preach. I don't want to. Why should I? It's like beatin' my head against a wall.

A few weeks after this sermon I left Coal Creek. Frank resigned as pastor two months later; having finished college, he hoped to get a full-time pastorate or, perhaps, enter seminary.

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6

Elma Davis

Some say they'd be ashamed to be holy rollers: I'm only ashamed I ain't got more of it.

Every time the doors of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church are opened, through them walks a short, stoopshouldered, silver-haired woman in her middle seventies followed by her fifty-seven-year-old son. They are always together; it would seem improper if either of them came to church alone.

Except for the first seventeen years of her life, Elma Davis has always taken care of her oldest son, Donald. A victim of infantile paralysis, Donald suffered brain damage when he was three months old and has depended on Elma ever since. Donald is, for the most part, well behaved; he does have "spells" during which he gets highly nervous, irritable, and difficult to discipline. He is a talkative, 200-pound child who always wears a baseball cap and needs constant supervision and care.

Elma is the middle child of three children; her two brothers are no longer living. She remembers vividly her early childhood.

ELMA DAVIS: Daddy, he was rough on us. He'd get drunk

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court the other feller's wife. He whipped us. He newer let us slop around and get nasty like the other mining kids. He'd wear us out for fighting. He didn't allow our stepmothers to whip us. Every one of my stepmothers was just old lewd women.

Elma can remember her mother, who died when Elma was only four.

ELMA DAVIS: The night before my mother died, she got on her knees. She prayed, "Watch over my children, especially this little girl." My oldest brother died a preacher, and the other brother was saved before he died.

As certainly as I'm sitting in this chair, if holiness ain't right, I don't know ... I don't doubt it. When you can feel anything, you know it. You have to live it every day and live it spotless. I'll get angry; I'm bad to spat back. I have to ask their forgiveness and God's. It has to be right, because Satan ain't gonna tell you to do nothing that's good.

So, from age four Elma Davis has been taking care of people: first, her younger brother and, later, her son. She married at age fourteen and has known the meaning of hard times ever since. She lost a child when a hepatitis epidemic passed through the county. And much of the responsibility of keeping the remaining five children together was hers alone.

Elma's husband worked all of his life in the coal mines. It was the only work he ever knew.

ELMA DAVIS: He was a good man. He never raised a hand against the children: never cursed any of us; never drank. He just had one fault: he gambled. He gambled before he was saved and after he backslid. There was times I couldn't get script at the commissary because he had used up his credit getting money at the beer gardens and gambled it away. He hardly ever won. He'd come home and I'd tell him I couldn't get any script at the store, and he'd promise that he'd never do it again. But in a few days, never longer than a week, he'd be at it again.

I took in washing and washed on a rub board for years. I've washed bankers' clothes on my rub boardbecause them women was too lazy to do it. Then I've sat up many a night sewing on my treadle sewing machine until midnightsewing for other people. You have to learn to manage; it's a talent.

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Elma Davis spent a large part of her life living in coal camps. Her father and husband being miners, Elma knows what it's like to move from camp to camp.

TA: Did the coal companies know that they were working the men to death?

ELMA DAVIS: Law, yes, they knew. Why, before the unions, we was slaves, that's allslaves. My daddy went to work each day before the sun came up and would have to work ten to twelve hours. In the winter he never came out until the sun had gone down. Why, after I married, lots of times there might not be but four outhouses for the entire camp. The windows was always broken out and the company would never fix them. We'd just put paper over the windows. They did everything to get all of your money. Sometimes the men wouldn't get to work every day. So, you'd have to go to the commissary for food on credit; the prices would be almost twice what they was outside the camp.

In Harlan they even ran a beer garden, where you could get several dollars on credit and spend it on beer and whiskey. Before we got our checks, they'd take out for our hospital, doctor, rent on the house, lights, everything.

But when the unions came, they made them fix an outhouse for every family and fix the windows and paint the houses.

There is no bitterness in the voice of Elma Davis as she talks about the coal companies. She is just very matter-of-fact in her "law, yes, they knew." There seems to be no hostility in her concerning any of the bad times she has known.

Elma's father did not take the children to church. Elma was converted to Christianityholiness styleas an adult.

ELMA DAVIS: We didn't go to church very much. My daddy was a sinner.

TA: What made you want to become a Christian?

ELMA DAVIS: I had a daughter healed of the pellagra. That's when I began to believe in holiness. It was kinda a dreadful disease. She was just four years old. Her bowels ran all the time; she had a rash around her neck and lower arms and legs. Her skin was cracked. Her bowels never ran natural from February to August. God healed her instantly about the time the grapes was ripe. The doctor said, "It looks awful slim. She's too young to take the shots. And so ..."

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This holiness sister came to our house and invited us to church. "We'll take that baby, believing God'll heal her." Well, it was a way over to this church, and we'd have to spend the night. I didn't want to, as I'd have to stay up with her most of the night. She told me that we'd stay in a good home, and they wouldn't mind the trouble. So we went.

They prayed three times before they got victory. That red rash just left. They were shouting so, I'd put my head to her heart, to see if she's alive. In three days you couldn't tell she'd ever had it. I knew there had to be something to that. Two weeks after that, I was saved.

I'd seen these holiness people dance, and I couldn't stand it. When I was baptized, I danced the feet out of my cotton stockings in that creek. My husband got saved a little later. He backslid three years later, but came back just before he died.

The four years that Elma's husband was saved are remembered by Elma as good years of living by faith.

ELMA DAVIS: One time in my life, I cooked up all the food. Even all the flour was gone. The miners hadn't worked in three weeks. We ate gravy and bread. We had two shotgun shells left. My husband asked me to pray (he always called me "Buddy"). He went on the hill to pray. Thirty minutes later a man came and asked him to do some odd jobs. He came back with tears running down his cheeks, "That was quick answer to prayer."

If I had a piece of bread that big (half the size of my hand), I didn't throw it away. We didn't keep dogs or cats. Little children came to the door every day. One man starved to death. He was too proud to ask for help.

God was so good to us. There's not nothing worth our salvation. There ain't anything in this world worth my salvation.

Elma's husband did "backslide." He went back to gambling, and Elma went back to taking in washing and sewing, He developed what was then called "miner's asthma" and was eventually forced to quit work.

ELMA DAVIS: In February before he died in May, I was in the "little room" praying. (We had one room smaller than the others.) The Spirit had witnessed to me that he would get saved before he died. I knew he didn't have long to live. I got through praying and opened the door, and he was a-sittin' at the table a-cryin'. I thought he had gone to town. I told him that I had been a-prayin' that he would get saved and that the Spirit had witnessed to me that he

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would. He said, "I just have." Oh, I tell you, I was so happy. I just cried and cried.

The most Elma and her husband ever had in the bank was $300, and it was spent on Donald once when he was very sick. For several years after her husband's death, Elma managed to keep Donald and herself alive with no income. Several of the members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church shared what they could with her. She kept chickens and milked a cow and "had to make do."

ELMA DAVIS: If it hadn't been for my kidsbuying our clotheswe wouldn't a made it. The Lord was so good and provided.

After several years she began to collect a little over a hundred dollars a month in Social Security payments because of Donald's physical and mental handicaps. With the help of many friends and a congressman, she received some "black lung money."

ELMA DAVIS: If you ever need it, you just remember you've got a sister and brother with money in the bank, ready to help you.

God is so good. Some say it with their lips, but I believe it deep down in me. I couldn't live without the spirit of the Lord. I'd just soon die if I couldn't have the Lord. He's my lifehe is!

Elma Davis wanted to pay me some money for helping repair the church building. I declined, but she kept insisting. I asked if there was some project to which we could give the money. That's when she told me about the boy in India she supports for $10 a month through an international agency. I later learned that she also sends $3 a month to a missionary in Israel.

Several of Elma Davis's children are not saved and do not attend church. Elma constantly prays that her children will be converted.

ELMA DAVIS: I've got the promise through prophecy that God'll save my children. I've got the Word on that. If we live good, we'll get the desires of our heart. Even if it's on their death bed, I believe God'll save 'em before he takes them out.

And Elma Davis does believe in "the Word." She has worn out many Bibles in her lifetime.

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ELMA DAVIS: I believe it straight, just exactly as it is. If you compromise with the Word, you'll compromise yourself right into hell. You'd better not make light of the Word of God. I love the Word. If you don't take it just like it is, you're gonna be lost. It's not supposed to be mixed.

The Bible and the radio are the sources of information for Elma Davis. She owns a large portable radio and often carries it from room to room. Elma knows precisely on which station and at what hour each religious program is broadcast; she does not listen to "worldly music."

Through the years Elma Davis has becomein her own waythe pillar and center of strength at the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Although she does not speak out as often as some of the other members, her words are given special attention. Her dedication in taking care of Donald and her consistency in serving the Lord have gained for Elma the admirationand loveof nearly everyone in the Coal Creek area.

Perhaps because of the extremely difficult circumstances of her life, Elma's words of encouragement are especially uplifting to the other church members when they are discouraged.

ELMA DAVIS: I know I'm a child of God. The Devil couldn't make me doubt that no matter how many hard knocks come my way. I know what I've got in my heart. We don't know the afflictions that others go through.

I know I'm a child of God. I know I love the brethren. I know I'm not as humble as I should be. I don't have to face nobody's record but my own. Satan ain't got nothing out there that I want.

I was so ignorant when I was first saved. I thought all I had to do was feel that good spirit and everything would be fine: no sicknessno calamities. There's a Devil out there for us to fight. It don't make no difference how big the Devil isGod is bigger. He's just got what power God gives him.

Whenever I first got saved and went into holiness, my people was against it. I told them that was what I believed. If I went up to the President, I'd tell him I speak in tongues. This is something to be proud of. I thank the Lord for the Holy Ghost, for every time I can feel his spirit. I love the plan of the Lord. It's an honor to be saved. It's a honor to speak in tongues.

I thank God that I speak in tongues. If I'm crazy, I want to be

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crazy for Jesus. If the Holy Ghost wanted me to stand on my head or run through that wall, I could do it. It's all in us giving over to God.

We got no business where the Holy Ghost isn't welcome. The Holy Ghost is just as much to be praised as Jesus or God. I love him. I live good; I've got a right to shout and speak in tongues. Some say they'd be ashamed to be holy rollers. I'm only ashamed that I ain't got more of it. I've been saved over forty years and I've been dragging around. When I first got saved, we never thought of going to doctors. I ain't got much faith in them. I still go, but I want to get out of that. Back then, nearly everyone got healed.

If we've got a spark in our souls, we need to fan it. The world's a-falling apart. People don't believe it when God's people say that a fire's a-coming. Sometimes I worry about myself, if I go a day without feeling his spirit. And I tell youwe've got to have God in our lives. I believe we'd fare better if we'd just put God first. I mean me. I've got plenty of room to get closer and move up. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." He didn't tell us to seek: new furniture, a better home, look better.

It never bothers me what heaven's gonna be like. Wherever Jesus is at, I'm gonna be satisfied. It don't make no difference what it looks like. I got no intention of turning back. This world don't hold nothing for me. I've just about lived my life.

Elma practically carries the standard of holiness for the Coal Creek church. There is little doubt among the church members that Elma is leading the most holy life of them all. And she is not timid about speaking up concerning what she considers sin.

ELMA DAVIS: Judas sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver. There's lots of people selling him for far less than that. They're afraid to seek the Lordafraid they might have to give up their britches, or them pantsuits, or them ceegarettes; afraid they might have to start dressin' like the Bible says a woman ought. They sell Christ for a mighty little these days.

Several of the preteen and teenage girls of the Coal Creek church went to a week-long camp during the summer, and one girl was saved. Plans were made for the baptismal service back at Coal Creek a couple of weeks after camp was over; when the time came for the baptism, the girl told Frank Harper she could not go through with it. Frank learned that the girl had worn shorts a few days after she got back from camp. Elma Davis told the girl that Christian women do not wear shorts. The girl decided she was

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"backslid" and did not feel it was right to be baptized. Frank was upset. Since the girl had few clothes, he felt that she needed to wear every piece of clothing she owned. But Elma's standard of holiness is uncompromising.

Elma is also the center for prayer at the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Whether they go to church or not, people trust in Elma's prayers. The Holiness-Pentecostals are often the subjects of much ridicule, but in times of tragedy and. sickness, they are often sought. And Elma takes this opportunity and responsibility very seriously.

ELMA DAVIS: When someone calls and asks for prayer, I turn off the stove if I'm cooking and go to the bathroom and pray. Where two or three are in agreement, he will answer us. We're not agreeing like we ought to or we'd see more people getting saved and healed.

If a non-Christian has a sick child and it is healed, the Holiness-Pentecostals are praised. If healing does not take place, certainly the Holiness-Pentecostals did all they could and are not to blame.

Perhaps the most delicate tasks performed by Elma Davis are those of church peacemaker. She does not interfere in others' affairs, but she is sought often by the conflicting parties.

One significant incident occurred about three years before I came to Coal Creek. One of Josh and Bertha Armstrong's teenage girls got into a fist fight with one of Lee Russell and Norma Armstrong's girls. Josh and Lee Russell are brothers and live on adjacent farms; their daughters' fighting put a real strain on the family relationship. Norma would not speak to Bertha after the incident.

After several months Josh and Bertha decided that perhaps Elma Davis could help solve the problem, since the Bible suggests that church members should work out their problems with the help of the brethren. So Josh and Bertha invited Elma over for Sunday dinner.

ELMA DAVIS: They asked me if I'd go up to Lee Russell's with them. We went up. Norma finally came up from the basement and hugged me real big, but didn't even speak to Bertha. Bertha asked

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her what she had done wrong, and Norma said that Bertha hadn't done anything to her, but it was what she had said about her children. ''Well, what did I say?'' asked Bertha. Norma wouldn't say. Bertha asked to be forgiven and said she was sorry. Norma said, "When I'm madI'm mad!" She wouldn't forgive her. You know, Brother Troy, if I do something against you and I come with an humble heart, asking forgiveness, you'd better forgive me. The Bible says, "If we won't forgive our brother when he comes with an humble heart, then God won't forgive us." I told Norma I wanted heaven more than that.

Elma does want heaventhere is no doubt about that. She works hard for it. But then, she works hard at everything, Her house is the most nearly spotless house I have ever seen; it truly would be possible to "eat off her floor." Her father never would let her "be sloppy" like the other mining kids; Elma learned her lesson well.

I was in Elma's house often because she let me get my drinking water from her kitchen tap. I would fill up several gallon jugs with water, because the well water where I lived was full of sulphur. One Thursday afternoon in December I stopped at Elma's to get some water. Her eyes looked tired, but she still had that warm, tender smile. Donald had had "locked bowels" for most of the night before. Elma had given him two enemas before he finally had a bowel movement. They both had stayed up all night. She kept cleaning the house and tending to Donald while I was there, explaining "I can't go to sleep with Donald awake." Elma talked about praying for Donald in the middle of the night.

ELMA DAVIS: It's just so good to be able to call on the Lord. You just do all you can and then tell the Lord to do the rest.

The Johns wanted to borrow a dozen eggs. I always just give 'em to 'em. But this time I told 'em it would have to be a loan, or Donald and I would be without eggs. Well [smiling], yesterday there was four eggs and today there was four. The Lord just takes care of us so good.

The Lord can protect us. One timemy husband had been dead just a little whilewe were killing hogs: didn't have no income. We saw tracks of people trying to get in the smoke house; but the lock held. God protected us. God does watch over us. One night we heard a noise. Donald said, "The Lord is watchin' over us."

During the Depression, we wouldn't have had food for our children if not for the Lord. We can't thank God enough. If I didn't

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have the Lord, I don't know what I'd do. Our children don't like our staying here alone. But we're not alone.

No, Elma Davis is not alone. When her husband died and she had no income, several of the members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church found her a house and moved her over close to them and the churchso that they could lend her a helping hand. And, by looking at the eyes and faces of her friends when they speak her name, I know she lends them much in return. Elma puts it well as she testifies to the church.

ELMA DAVIS: I thank the Lord for everyone who's here. You know, the Lord knows our requests before we even give them; but it's pleasin' to him for us to let in our requests. If nay brothers and sisters didn't know my troubles, they wouldn't know how to help me.

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7

Leo Russell Armstrong

I have to have nothing against me or I couldn't feel this good.

It is always easy to know whether Lee Russell Armstrong is attending church at any given service. For if he is, his green and white pickup is parked directly in front of the church building, just two or three feet from the only door. Lee Russell suffered a back injury in a logging accident eight years ago and, consequently, must walk with the aid of crutches. Because he has little control of his legs and can only move about very slowly, he parks his pickup, specially equipped with hand-operated brakes and gas pedal, as close to the church building as possible.

Lee Russell is the father of eight children, six of whom are still living. He has owned a farm adjacent to that of his brother, Josh, for twenty-seven years. His house is somewhat nicer than Josh's, and Norma, Lee Russell's wife, keeps it very clean; however, there is no indoor toilet.

Lee Russell is very short, thin, and frail; he looks much older than his sixty-two years. His high, quivering voice, quick, darting eyes, and the large mole on his nose accent Lee Russell's

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sharp features. Occasional smiles mellow this sharpness, giving him an elusive quality.

Lee Russell Armstrong exhibits a strong fear of death. Not only does he talk about it frequently, but several of his friends have mentioned his concern over death. Lee Russell and Josh once were riding together in a pickup and came upon a man who had committed suicide by cutting his neck with a butcher knife. Lee Russell passed out and was upset for some time afterwards. Also, when Lee Russell's father-in-law died (he was living with Lee Russell and Norma), Lee Russell refused to enter the house until the body was removed, and he did not go to the funeral.

Lee Russell is the only member of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church who has been married more than once. He married as a young adult and was divorced after a few years. He then married Norma, and they have reared a family together. Lee Russell did some "heavy sinning" when he was a young man; perhaps this gives insight into Lee Russell's religious behavior.

Lee Russell was saved at the age of sixteen during a revival, but backslid as a young adult.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I was proud when he took me back. He's so merciful. You can really feel it in your soul when you're saved. When you get it [touching his heart]you'll know it.

Lee Russell is genuinely thankful for being taken back after having backslid.

The experiential element of his religion is most important to Lee Russell. He constantly talks, whether at home or at church, about feeling the Lord.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: When you look up to God, don't you feel good? Sometimes I have to agonize before God to get this feeling; but sometimes it just comes naturally. I have to have nothing against me or I couldn't feel this good.

I know that God wants me to talk. If I don't talk out, I feel down and all tired. It doesn't make any difference what others say about us, but what God knows about us.

If we catch a brother in a fault, we go to him and him alone. We could see healing if we would get right with God. We can't testify unless we know God. I know I talk a lot. It's really sweet to read God's Word. I love hint, surely I love himabove all things in this

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life. I know I talk a lot, but I must obey God. [Claps hands several times] I can feel that great spirit running through my body. I'll walk as good as others in heaven.

Whenever I get to talking, God gets to moving and I have to obey; he gives me a good feeling. I want every good feeling God has to give me.

Lee Russell puts special emphasis on "the Word." He reads his Bible daily, and one afternoon, as we were sitting in his living room, he told me "I actually tasted the Word of God one time. It's in Hebrews or another bookI can't remember." Lee Russell often testifies in church and finishes his remarks with "I'm not a-sayin' it; it's God's Word."

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: In judgment God will say, "Didn't I leave my Word with you?" Inside the gates there'll be no more pain or sorrowonly joy. I love this Word better than anything in the world. Sometimes I can taste itit's so sweet. When I get to talking about the goodness of God, I can't stop.

The testimonies and prayers of Lee Russell Armstrong reveal both his confidence and his uncertainty. It is a common practice among Holiness-Pentecostals for everyone to pray aloud in churcheach person voicing his own prayer; Lee Russell usually voices the loudest prayer and makes his prayer last longer than the others.

Oftentimes during prayer, Lee Russell quotes Scripture to God and reminds God of his promises. His voice begins to agonize. Soon, it is difficult to establish whether Lee Russell is trying to testify to the other people, reassure himself of God's mercy, or appeal to God's promises. The following testimonies and prayers from different services illustrate the point.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I want God's will in my life. I might want something wrong. Whenever you get saved, you've got a battle to fight. We need to work for souls. There's just a few more days to work. Nobody will say something bad about you up there. If we don't love one another here, we'll not love one another up there. We don't get in. If we do everything we know to do, we'll get in. I know these words aren't very popular, but God gives 'em to me. If I don't speak them, God will hold it against me. I want to go with a clear conscience.

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I'm warning you to come while you have time. Someday he'll withdraw his Spirit. I don't know why I talk all these things. Yes I doGod gives 'em to me. I don't want to be passed out into the darkness.

If our name is written in the Lamb's book of life, no man can take it out. It takes us to sin it out.

I love the Lord; I know I do. It says, "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments."

I know I can't do much. If I'll keep what I got, I'll soon be going to a better place. I know I can't do much, crippled up. If I don't do something for him, he'll leave me here. When the wrath of God comes, we'll be lifted up.

If we depend on him, we'll make it through. If we depend on this feller [self], we can't make it.

Oh praise thy name! I love you, Lord, I mean to do your will. I mean to honor you, Lord, wherever I go, whatever I do. And I want to do it all to the glory of God. And that's what he said he wanted all of us to do.

But I need to make it. I've started; I'm on my way. And I believe with all my heart that I can make it, as long as I stay with him. Why, he said he'd never leave me. And I'm so thankful for these good promises, that I don't hardly know what to do. I just want to thank and honor him for all his promises.

I love himI love himI love him. I want to do his will. I love himI love himI love him. I want to do his will. I love himI love himI love him. I want to do his will.

There's some striving to do. We must strive to get in. That thought has beared heavy on my mind: "Depart from me for I never knew ye."

Lee Russell Armstrong does not get along well with Frank Harper, the pastor of the Coal Creek church. In fact, Lee Russell has liked only one pastor that the church has ever had. Because he is crippled, Lee Russell spends a lot of time on the telephone. It is during these daily, extended telephone conversations that he expresses his dislike of Frank Harper. Frank is, of course, aware of the situation. In fact, the entire church is aware of the two men's lack of appreciation for each other. There are continued subtle attacks in the sermons of Frank Harper and the testimonies of Lee Russell Armstrong.

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Lee Russell has gained a reputation for being a person who is easily upset and one with whom it is difficult to work. Several times Lee Russell has gathered up his crutches and walked out in the middle of a sermon which did not suit his tastes, slamming the front door behind him; Frank Harper is not the first pastor at Coal Creek to receive the walkout of disapproval.

Lee Russell is very possessive concerning the church building itself. When a son of Elma Davis's donated carpet for the church, Lee Russell was against it. Putting a heating stove in the two basement Sunday school rooms did not meet his approval. Then, when Frank and several other members cut a hole in the floor and built stairs down to the partial basement, Lee Russell was highly angered, declaring "If he touches that floor, I'll have the law on him."

Always striving toward church unity, few of the church members ever spoke negatively about each other in my presence. As the tension between Lee Russell and Frank grew, however, several persons did comment on Lee Russell's behavior.

Have you ever known someone that you had to handle like eggs? Lee Russell's a good man. But Lee Russell has his faults. Lee Russell lets little pettish things get in the way.

Lee Russell has always been petted, ever since I've knowed him. I believe Lee Russell's intentions are real good. I think he's more childisher than ever before.

When anybody in this church gets up to testify, I can feel something. But Lee Russell just irritates me to death.

He's sickreally sick!

If you just go on and on and on and onnobody'll pay you any attention. Lee Russell's got good intentions. He's just ... a little different.

The tension between Lee Russell and the pastor came to a climax during the middle of October. It was Frank Harper's turn to prepare and present the Thursday-night young people's service. So, on the Thursday before the program the following week, Frank announced that it was going to be a special program without the overhead lights, using only some candles up front. Lee Russell spoke up and the explosion started.

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LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: The Bible says that men love the darkness instead of the light because their deeds are evil.

FRANK HARPER: I don't want to hear another word out of you. The Bible was talking about spiritual darkness, and not lights in the building. You've never liked any preacher we've ever had except one, and he went off and committed adultery with a woman. When you start paying your tithes and being a faithful member of the church, then and only then do you have a right to speak out.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: But, the ...

FRANK HARPER: Not another word. I mean it.

Everyone came to church the following Saturday night to see-if Lee Russell Armstrong would be at church. He was, and the tension was high. During testimony time everyone's comments were short and kind. Finally Lee Russell spoke.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I promised God I'd stand for him. And I meant it with all my heart. I'm thankful for the word of God wherever I'm at, it don't make no difference. I stand just the same other places as I do here. And this is my home church and I feel like I ought to be welcome here. But sometimes I don't feel that way. If we ain't got it down deep in our hearts ... And I mean to go with all of my heart. I think about it, so many preachers ... Now children, there's just one way and that's to follow Christ. If we don't follow him and walk in his footstepswe'll fail. That's the only way we can get to heaven is walk in the footsteps of Jesus. If we'll do that, why God'll bring unity and love. We can worship God in spirit and in truth. We've got to have faith in Godwe've got to trust him. I know God is my strength. I know that I've got him deep down in my heart. And I thank God because I know that my name is recorded in the Lamb's book of life.

And I thank God because he gave me the witness to know, that's the only way. If we don't have the spirit we don't know one thing in the world about you [referring to God]. But if we've got his spirit, we do know him. We do know when he speaks to us. And we do know what he tells us. And we need to listen to that small, still voice. 'Cause it speaks, if we'll let it. But if we turn away, just keep turning it away, it'll quit speaking after a while. We need to listen to that voice. That small, still voice speaks to our hearts and tells us What we ought to do. And if we don't do thatit'll kindly leave and it won't come back. [pause] Oh, praise thy name. I love you LordI mean to

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do your willI mean to honor you Lord. Wherever I go, whatever I do. And I want to do it all to the glory of God. And that's what he said he wanted all of us to do.

I was thinking about the churches: nearly every one of them says, "Come on and go with me. This is the way now." But he says "I am the way, the truth, and the life." But if we follow him, we'll sure go right, but if we don't we'll sure go wrong. When you pray, remember me in your prayers. I know that I have more heartache, struggles since I've been sick than I had before in all my life. But I need to make it; I've startedI'm on my way. And I believe with all my heart that I can make it. As long as I stay with him, why he said he'd never leave me. And I'm so thankful for these good promises that I don't hardly know what to do. I just want to thank and honor him for all his promises.

He said it wasn't the hearers of the Word that would be justified, but the doers of the Word. We don't do the Word, whywe're not justified, we're not able to make it. But we can walk in his Word and talk in his Word and do in his Word just what it says to doand we'll be a happy people. Glory be unto God.

We're not concerned as much as we ought to be, because they are lost, undone. Maybe they're in darknessdon't see the light. We need to shine a light for them that they may see, and come and be saved.

If we could be one peopleget togetherGod could work. If we are separatedGod can't work. A house divided against itself can't stand. If we all walk the straight and narrow way, we'll be of one mind.

Frank Harper did not counter Lee Russell's testimony. In the months following, however, Lee Russell continued to make statements about "the blind leading the blind" and "preachers not living for the Lord." Church attendance was very low for several months after the incident between Lee Russell and Frank. The more marginal members saw no need to come to church and watch the feuding.

Lee Russell does sense that he is not in harmony with much of the church, even though he does have several close friends who talk with him every day on the telephone and sit beside him at church. He expresses his sense of persecution at not being liked.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: Since I've got hurt, I've turned it all over to the Lord. I've had persecutionsplentiful. He says, "If you live godly, you'll suffer persecutions."

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The tension finds its way into Lee Russell's dreams.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I've had several dreams about the recent trouble in the church; even told me about people who said things about me. In one dream, somebody threw a rock through the window and it almost hit me in the face. That worried me. In another one, I was fixing to feed a child and I spilled about half the milk. I was on the second story and those on the first story, I knew, would grumble about it. They did come up and grumble.

More than anyone else at the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, Lee Russell Armstrong speaks of his own problems when testifying.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: I have to love all my brothers and sisters exactly alikecan't be a respecter of persons. If I don't, I sin. Sometimes I feel so much pain at nightbad as a nail. But God's gonna take me home with him. It's a straight gate.

We've got to come together. If they don't, some of God's children will be left out. Think of heavenit's the sweetest thought in the world.

There's been so many heartaches and pain for me in this world. If I make it throughand surely I canthere won't be no more pain and sorrow.

I thought once I was dying on the sickbed. I thought about going to Jesus; it's the sweetest thought I've known. Heartaches, pains, persecutions.

I studied and I studiedwho I'd put this on, if I could: not one personnowhere in the whole worldcould I put this burden on, if I could.

When you pray, pray for me. We have sickness in our home. My wife's hardly able to go. She does around a little, about all she can possibly do. My father-in-law's thereabout the same as a dead manhas to be waited on, just like a little baby. There's one or two come to see usall this sickness time. The Bible says to visit the sick and orphans. We fail in many things. We need to open our eyeslook right into the Word of God and see what it says. And we'll be happy: in this world and in the world to come.

Perhaps it is the failure of his first marriage and the shame associated with divorce among Holiness-Pentecostals. Perhaps it is the "heavy sinning" of his young adulthood and a lack of feeling of forgiveness. Perhaps it is his constant tension with several members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church.

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Perhaps it is his crippled conditionlegs that will not allow him to be out in the woods working like other men. It may be a combination of all of these factorsand others known only to Lee Russell himselfthat causes his uncertainty. But it seems certain that death, forgiveness, and salvation are all sources of faith and hope for Lee Russell Armstrongand sources of struggle and insecurity.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: No matter how far from home you go, your sins will find you out. We must walk the straight and narrow way. If we get off on either sidethen we're in the broad way.

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8

Violet Christianson

We 'uz lucky todaywe found six pop bottles and I found twenty-eight cents.

Five miles separate her log cabin at Pine Springs from the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, but Violet Christianson walks those miles several times a week in order to worship God. It is a common occurrence to see Violet, flashlight in hand, leading her caravan of four children single file, not only toward the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church, but to most of the other churches in the Coal Creek area as well.

Violet Christianson is in her midthirties, but looks at least ten years older. She seems extremely short because of her stooped shoulders. Most of the time Violet looks downward as she sits or walks with occasional upward glances. Violet's dark hair is tightly pulled back into a short ponytail. Violet is always chewing on something, whether at church or at home: sometimes it's candy or gum; frequently it is just paper; at home it's chewing tobacco or snuff. During her waking hours, Violet is chewing.

Violet does not speak often; she seldom testifies in church. Several times during my stay I felt guilty about my continual

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questioning; I decided to quit asking her questions. Her life has something to say, with or without her words.

Violet Christianson's life isand has beena difficult struggle for survival. Violet has never been married; therefore, everyone knows her children were born ''out of wedlock.'' Edward, the oldest child, is fourteen; Margaret is ten; Annabelle is eight, and, Larry, the youngest, is three. Only Margaret, the oldest girl, is not mentally deficient; she is in the fourth grade and doing well in school. Edward is in a special education class, and Annabelle, although not yet in a special class, is doing very poorly in school.

Violet and her four children live in a two-room log house with her father, Claude. Claude gets a small Social Security check, and Violet gets some public assistance for the children. Claude does not share his money with Violet and the children, however, because he resents their presence in his house. In spite of this, Violet cooks for him and takes care of the house.

Claude is short, always unshaven, and usually looks as though he were just waking from a long nap. He is normally straightforward in the sharing of his opinions; in church, however, he is always silent. Outside of churchdown at the general store or walking down the roadhe talks freely.

CLAUDE CHRISTIANSON: That Baptist church over there preaches "once in gracealways in grace." I don't believe that. A man's gotta live right if he's going to heaven. A man can sure fall from grace. Why, there's a man lived down here; he drank whiskey all the time and at his funeral they 'uz a preaching him in heaven. I don't believe it. Why, if it was true "once in gracealways in grace," a man could get saved and then do anything he pleased. There'd be a lot more people in heaven than there is gonna be.

TA: Are you going to heaven?

CLAUDE CHRISTIANSON: Me? No! I'm hellbound. No, sir, I wouldn't go there. I'm hellbound.

TA: Were you ever saved?

CLAUDE CHRISTIANSON: Yeah, when I's about fourteen years old. I stayed close to the Lord for two years'til I was sixteen. That's been a long time.

TA: Do you hope you'll come back to the Lord?

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CLAUDE CHRISTIANSON: Oh yeah, I hope I come back. Yes, sir. Some people who do, call themselves Christians. I don't call myself a Christian.

Claude occasionally mentions Violet's living in the house with him. His words may be tougher than his actions, but his attitude toward Violet and her children is obvious.

CLAUDE CHRISTIANSON: The other day the youngest boy was messin' with my feet while I was on the bed. I whupped him and found out Annabelle had put him up to itso I whupped her. Violet got all mad and said she was leavin'. I wish to hell she wouldI told her so. Then I'd get $40 worth of food stamps that I don't get. Hell, she won't move, though. I wish she would. That oldest boyhe's just a shit-ass. Yeah, she upholds 'em. She started to fight me when I beat the kids' asses and I just whupped her. I ain't gonna let nobody beat me unless they're stouter or bigger. Are you?

Violet did not attend the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church very often until after Frank and Amy joined the church. Violet found in Amy a sensitive friend. After attending the church for several months, Violet was converted.

TA: Were you saved as a child or after you were an adult?

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: After I got big.

TA: When was that?

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: just a couple of years ago, after Frank and Amy came.

Amy Harper describes what happened upon Violet's conversion.

AMY HARPER: The first time Sister Violet ever hugged me, she put both her arms around me and just cried. When Violet and Margaret got saved, they asked to join the Coal Creek HolinessPentecostal Church. Margaret was admitted. Several of the members wouldn't let Violet join. Violet joined down at Coal Creek Baptist, but she told me that she felt she belonged at Coal Creek HolinessPentecostal.

FRANK HARPER: You know the way I handled the situation? Just let it go.

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Several of the members at Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal felt that Violet should prove herself over several years, especially considering her past.

Although it must have hurt Violet to be refused church membership, she continues to attendperhaps because of Frank and Amy. For it is Frank and Amy who are willing to drive ten miles out of the way in order to take Violet and her children to church. Violet is afraid she has cancer and will soon die, as did her mother. She told Amy if she knew for sure that she was going to die, she would take all of her money out of the bank and give it to Frank and Amy.

"All of her money" is not much. Her food stamps and assistance money for the children are minimal. Much of the time the children do not wear shoes to church or school, and when they do, they are obviously second-handthree sizes too big and worn out. Occasionally the children will have on a new piece of clothing at church; but most of the time, the clothes are old and do not fit well.

Violet Christianson struggles along financially with what she has. Violet and Claude keep some bees a little distance from the house and sell some of the honey to a grocery store in a neighboring county. Violet also keeps a cow and sells a calf every year. Neither Claude nor Violet has a car or truck in running condition, so they must walk anywhere they go to do business.

One afternoon I was driving from McClaskey to the Coal Creek area, and I passed Violet and Edward walking along the side of the road. I thought it peculiar that they were eight miles away from the Coal Creek area, so I stopped and offered them a ride. Violet climbed into the jeep, smiling and relatively talkative.

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: We 'uz lucky todaywe found six pop bottles, and I found twenty-eight cents. [long pause] Claude ain't going to the tomato factory this year.

TA: Does he make good money there?

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: Naw, last year he drank it all up. The year before he made about $100 a week. [long pause] Thank you for the ride.

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Since Violet Christianson was converted, she has been making changes in her housetrying to fix it up. Having been built in the last century, the two-room log house has no closets. Not long before I first visited her home, Violet saved her "cow money" and bought a kitchen cabinetthe first real place she had had to store anything. There is no running water in Violet's house so a bucket of water sits on the table with one metal dipper for everyone. Since they have no radio or television set, the house's center of activity is the wood-burning stove in the winter, and the front steps in summer.

During my stay in the Coal Creek area, Violet bought some lumber and refloored her kitchen. And she did it on her own. The huge logshewed flat by handgradually slipped and tilted until the door frames were no longer rectangular; consequently, a conventional door would not close snugly and keep out the cold. Violet, therefore, asked me to help build some doors to fit the oddly shaped door frames.

While working on the doors, I accidentally hit the ceiling several times, and the roar of wasps in the attic was so loud that it scared me. Despite the wasps, Violet sometimes sleeps in the attic to have privacy. Normally, everyone sleeps in one room because the house consists of only a kitchen and a bedroom. The only decorations in the house are a three-dimensional picture of Jesus and various crayon and pencil markings on the bedroom walls. At least now Violet has a new kitchen floor and doors that will block out the cold.

Violet possesses a dry sense of humor which she occasionally shares. She told me about cutting a huge limb off of a tree; the limb caught on a vine, swung around, and hit her in the head. She pulled back her hair and laughingly showed me the tremendous cut and bruise on her bead. "Hit liked to kill me."

Smilingly she said that she had just found Larry, the youngest, out by the old trucksmelling the gasoline.

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: I took a switch to him. tie said, "Well, Edward does it." The other day he was out there for about an hour, smelling that ol' gasoline.

One of the old doors in Violet's cabin had a hole in it. Violet explained the reason.

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VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: Here's the bullet hole where I shot it a couple of years ago. Somebody was trying to break in. It didn't take 'em long to get going after I shot through the door [smiling].

Margaret, the oldest daughter, takes responsibility for the children in a way her mother does not. Several times the entire family rode into town with me to go to a physician. Edward, Annabelle, and Larry would tear my jeep wagon apart in destructive exuberance; it was Margaret, not Violet, who was concerned about my reaction and told the others to take care of my property. And it was Margaret, merely ten years old, who quickly cleaned up the littered paper from my jeep as they left.

Every day is a battle for dignity in Margaret's life. In many ways she already responds to situations as would an adult. I can see her walking home from school, holding Annabelle's hand and trying to keep her out of trouble. Annabelle has no shoes and her dress is, by this time of the day, dirty and disheveled. But Margaret is somehow able to walk in shoes with an extra two inches in the heel, and she almost gives her wrinkled dress a touch of class. Margaret's back is straight and firm, and she holds her head erect. She looks everyone straight in the eye, and her pale blue eyes say more than anyone wants to hear.

Not long after I first attended the Coal Creek church, Margaret was asked to sing a solo. She picked a song from the hymnal and walked up to the front of the church.

MARGARET CHRISTIANSON: I can't sing good now, but in heaven I'll be able to sing. Pray for me now as I sing.

She did not know the melody to the song and did not sing any particular melody. She just sang the words as best she could. As she finished singing and closed the hymnal she spoke very quietly.

MARGARET CHRISTIANSON: He's been so good to me. I want to get a closer walk to the Lord.

Margaret's song was "Be a Light for Jesus Every Day."

Violet Christianson seldom testifies before the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Not long before I left Coal Creek

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she spoke up one night. Her voice was tense. She only looked up once as she talked, and her eyes quickly focused again on her hands, which were tightly gripping the pew.

VIOLET CHRISTIANSON: I wanta serve God more. God knows the interest I have to go to church and serve him. The Bible says, "Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your father which art in heaven." I wanta let my light shine more.

It will be difficult for Violet Christianson to let her light shine. Her past is against her; the church members are not yet willing to incorporate her into their fold. In fact, seldom does anyone offer to drive her to church, even during the winter. Her father is little help: he drinks a lot, and beats her occasionally. He still brings men over to the house, but Violet staunchly runs them off. Violet's sister criticizes her for not taking better care of the house, herself, and the children. "Brother Frank don't want to carry you around in his car when you stink." Her children: three have little hope; they will be dependent on her for as long as she lives. Only Margaret has a chance, but Claude already introduces her to his friends who want to "do more than kiss." So even Margaret's chance is slim.

Yet Violet Christianson, flashlight in hand, continues to lead her caravan up and down the hills of Coal Creek to churchwhichever church is having a meeting. By the Holiness-Pentecostal standards she is not sanctified holy, buttrue to her hopeher "light is shining more."

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9

Alice Anderson

To think that my mistake with God caused it all.

ALICE ANDERSON: I went to visit some kinfolks last week. A man walked in the room and said, "I don't know that woman, but she's a Holiness-Pentecostal woman." I am who I am.

In McClaskey, it is easy to spot a Holiness-Pentecostal woman like Alice Anderson. Her long, uncut hair is wrapped around the top of her head; her below-the-knees-length dress is black or grey or some other dark color; and there is no makeup on her face. At first glance her face, like those of her Holiness-Pentecostal sisters, looks pale and plain. But the long skirts and long sleeves and lack of makeup eventually draw an observer's attention to the message of the eyes and the smiles.

Alice Anderson is fifty-three years old, as is Gerald, her husband. Gerald works at a local grocery as the produce manager and does income-tax work at night in their home. Alice sells real estate when she is not taking care of their children.

Alice and Gerald are the parents of six children, five of whom

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are living. Two of the children are still at home. The oldest child is thirty-two; the youngest is nine. The two oldest boys are in the real-estate business in other towns. "The two outstanding things we gave our children was church and school."

Although the Andersons certainly are not wealthy, they have been able to see that each child has had the opportunity to go to college. Alice's real-estate business has provided the extra income for the children's education. She originally bought a house, and after the Anderson family had lived in it for a while, sold it for a profit. In turn, they bought and moved into another house, which was eventually sold. Her fourteen-year-old son remarks, "We've always stayed in a house just long enough to get dust on the table and posters hungand then we move."

Their present home is a small, older brick home in a workingclass neighborhood of McClaskey. The house is carpeted, freshly painted on the inside, and very clean and neat. There are several inexpensive pictures on the walls. Alice also works with ceramics, so the walls have big spoon flower vases and rooster clocks; Alice makes lots of extras for sale and gifts.

Alice grew up in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church. When asked where she was saved, Alice replied, "I was so young I don't even know." When she was thirteen, Alice's family moved to Cincinnati, where she lived until she was eighteen. She came visiting to McClaskey, met Gerald, and was married three months later. They moved to Cincinnati and lived there nine years before moving back to McClaskey.

There are two significant spiritual events in the life of Alice Anderson: the first concerns the birth and death of their first child, and the second relates to the sickness of their fourth child.

ALICE ANDERSON: Doctors told me I could never have children. I prayed that if the Lord would give me a baby, that I'd bring it up right. When I was seven months pregnant, I backslid. Gerald was tempting me with his temper. I talked back to him, and it didn't pay.

I had a vision or a dream. I don't know which you'd call it. In the night, the Lord showed me how I'd love the baby. He said, "I'm gonna take it away from you because you went back on me." I even dreamed that it would be born with a hole in its back.

It lived three months and twenty days. The Lord told me he'd leave it with me for a little while. Gerald and I cried the rest of the

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night. In the dream, a nurse met me in the hall and told me not to worry about the baby, because it'd be all right. I told Gerald.

Gerald affirms Alice's story. She told him about the dream in all its details. They both report that it all came true. The baby was born with a hole in its back. A nurse did tell them that the baby would be all right; but, as in the dream, the baby died.

ALICE ANDERSON: To think that my mistake with God caused it all. Neither of us would give our hearts to God for the baby to live, because he had withdrawn his spirit from us. We had two children before I came back to the Lord. I'll have it to pay as long as I live. Gerald can't tell it without crying. He'd talk bad, and I wouldn't remain quiet.

TA: Was there anything else in your backsliding besides the bad language and temper?

ALICE ANDERSON: It wasn't anything else.

Alice was telling me this painful story from her past as she was cooking supper; but as she began to relive the events, she quickly forgot about the meal and stared off into space, her heart back there again. Alice cried as she talked with me; the guilt was still there. Even though it was painful, she said that she wanted to relate her story, hoping that others would learn from her mistake. There seemed to be no bitterness toward God in her story, only shame at her own mistake. Her story drifted into silence, her thoughts perhaps racing back through the pain.

Alice's mind was suddenly back in the kitchen, and her voice again was alive. Perhaps she was not bitter because the healing of another child was the second half of her dual encounter with God. It was their fourth child, a girl, who brought Alice to her bold commitment to God.

ALICE ANDERSON: I had my two boys and they was healthy. Gerald got saved before she was born. When I'd go to church, I wouldn't take part like the Lord wanted me to. Rosie's brother preached a revival. He came by and asked me about my spiritual life. I didn't step out and have boldness like I should.

When she was born, the thyroid gland was enlarged in her throat. By the time she was three weeks old, she could barely breathe. The

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doctor told me she wouldn't live. I called another doctor who told me the same thing: that she'd die.

From the time she was born until thenshe was three weeks oldpeople was in praying every day. I wouldn't give up. I trusted in the Lord. I took her to Cincinnati General Hospital the very day the second doctor told me she wouldn't live. The nurse took down her condition and information for twenty or thirty minutes. She could get her breath only by laying on her side. She couldn't swallow and was starving. I laid her on this table. I had to turn her over quickly to undress her. I looked up . . . and I made my promise to God that I've tried to keep from then on: "If you'll let me keep my little girl, I promise my life'll be dedicated to you from here on out." When I said that, it was like someone above me poured warm water all over me. That feeling stayed like that on me for three days. The baby turned on her back and opened her hands; they'd always been clenched. That noise: I beard it leave her body and I heard it leave through that door. The nurse asked if the noise had ever stopped before and I said, "No." I wouldn't let them check her, for the Lord had done the work. That warm feeling was the spirit of God on me, just like what I feel when I talk about it.

We came back to McClaskey after driving over to Cincinnati. Everyone was a-shoutin' at midnighteveryone who was a Christianin their underwear.

God had had his hand on my life. I'll keep that promise as long as I live. God delivered me from being backward and not doing anything.

Alice Anderson is no longer "backward" in her religious commitment. She speaks out in church and testifies about the goodness of God; she sings in the choir with zest and volume; and she faithfully attends all of the church's meetings and functions. Meeting people through her part-time real-estate business, Alice Anderson invites people to church and tells them about the healing power of God. And, she has been the catalyst for the conversion of several persons who are now members of the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church. She continues to keep her promise.

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10

Pam Kramer

He was right in my body. It was just me and the Lord.

The first time I saw Pain Kramer she was on her knees at the altar during a Sunday evening service at the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Her head was bowed, her brown hair was flowing in her face, her broad shoulders were shaking, and she was sobbing her heart out. Other women were around her, on their kneespraying. I first thought that she was a new convert, but soon she wiped her eyes, looked around for others at the altar, and went and prayed with them. Again she prayed aloud, agonizing before God, and cried for a long time. When the altar service was over, she stood and testified to the church, part of her hair wet from the tears and her eyes puffy and red.

PAM KRAMER: Lately, I've had some big problems. I almost went into sinit's terrible! Pray with me: the Lord knows what it is. I've found out the hard way. I've stayed with the Lord. God gave me the opportunity to see what terrible things are going on outside the church.

I thank God that he is bigger than the Devil. [pauses to control the

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tears] The Devil creeped into my heart and tried to tell me I was wrong to go and tell lost people about him. I want to ask God to forgive me'cause I listened to him.

I feel so really strong that God is coming so very soon . . . [yelling] I want to go to a church that is on fire! I thank God for what I feel tonight!

Pam Kramer, a junior in high school, is a relatively recent convert both to Christianity and to the Holiness-Pentecostal Church.

PAM KRAMER: I went to Spring's Camp High School and there was this girl that came here to church that went to Spring's Camp and she kind of took an interest in me. She talked to me. So one night I called her up and I was talking to her 'cause I got interested in it. She asked me to come to the revival that Brother Fisher was preaching. So that night I came, and it seemed like they all just had a big burden or something. This was the first time that I ever come at night. Before I would always just come on Sundays. Brother Fisher seemed like when he was preaching, he was preaching right to me. It really touched me, so I went to the altar and I got saved and I was blessed so well that it was just really wonderful.

TA: So, in being saved, is the key thing what I do or what God does?

PAM KRAMER: It's what you do yourself because . . . well, it's you and God, but it's you mostly. God will give you the opportunity and you can do this, if it's wrong, and this is right. He gives you the choice to either take the wrong or the right, and it's all up to you.

Pam Kramer's appearance is certainly ''Holiness-Pentecostal.'' She does not wear shorts or pants or makeup, she is letting her hair grow out, and all of her skirts come to her knee. (During my stay the miniskirt was the style in Southern Appalachia.) Pam makes a very conscious attempt to live and look sanctified and holy. Although not without reward, it has been a source of tension for Pam.

TA: What does it mean to be sanctified?

PAM KRAMER: Differentdifferent from the world. I mean you have to be different. You have to dress different; you have to act differentlook different. To me, if I seen somebody walking down the street; if they were sanctified, I think I could tell right there that they was a Christian.

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TA: Is there any other way you'd like to describe it?

PAM KRAMER: I don't know . . . All the time when I look at sanctification, I looked at it as being different, and having a glowing look about youto where people could tell that you was a Christian.

I'm really different than what I used to be. As a matter of fact, there was a girl just today who walked up to me on the streetshe was one of my girl friends that I went to school withand she said, "Pam, you're different." I just smiled. She said, "I don't know what it is, but you're different." I used to be not so smiling all the time and I would wear pants all the time. You'd never see me in a dress. If you'd see me in a dress, you'd know something was wrong. When people come to me and tell me this, it really makes me happy to know that I am really different.

TA: Do you feel like it's wrong to wear pants?

PAM KRAMER: Yes, I do. I really do. 'Cause in the Bible it saysyou see, we go strictly by the Bibleand it says that a girl is not to wear nothing pertaining a man. I look at it this way: that the man is supposed to wear the pants. Myself, now, I can't wear pants 'cause it makes me feel so guilty. I just take them right off automatically. Some people might not feel the way that I do, though. I go by my conscience. If I feel like doing it, I do it. But I don't feel like wearing pants because I think that the Lord don't want me to.

If there's a doubt in my mind, I don't do it, because nine times out of ten it will be wrong. Take for instance, if I thought it wasn't wrong to go to a rated R movie, and I thought that they could be and they couldn't be and I went ahead and wentwell nine times out of ten they're really going to be dirtyIf you can avoid this, then go ahead and go into it. But, like I was saying, if I don't know exactly what's right or wrong, I don't do it.

Pam Kramer seems to have had no trouble in gaining the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Some people go to the altar for months and years and are never able to "yield enough" to get the baptism and speak in tongues.

PAM KRAMER: It kind of tickled me because Sunday night I got saved, the first night of the revival. The next Sunday night was the last night of the revivalI got the Holy Ghost.

TA: Were you surprised when it happened so soon to you?

PAM KRAMER: Yeah. I'd look around and people were saying, "Well, I ain't got nothing to say for two years" and some of them three and four years. And it shocked me to get it so early, so I just

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kind of thought to myself: Maybe the Lord's got something special for me to do to give it to me so early.

Pam Kramer is ever aware of the Second Coming of Jesus. She often speaks of it when she testifies in church. I asked her why she believed Jesus was coming within our lifetime.

PAM KRAMER: I don't know. I just got that feeling especially the night that I got saved. It was really strong. It's even more so anymore. I really think that he's coming sooner than what us young people and older people think. He's just going to come and shock us all.

He told us in the Bible some of the signs and some of them are coming true today. And this gives me one reason to realize that he is coming. The ways that he is blessing so many people anymore and touching themthis gives me another strong reason. He's getting people ready.

TA: Would you like for the Lord to come very soon?

PAM KRAMER: I would like him to in one way, but then again I wouldn't. I would like the Lord to come again so so many people wouldn't have to suffer. But then, again, I wouldn't want him to come because there's so many people lost today. And, maybe if we had a little bit more time we could get them in church.

TA: What about you personally? Do you enjoy living, or would you rather be in heaven?

PAM KRAMER: Mostly, I believe, I'd rather be in heaven because when we get up there we'll be with so many people and we'll all be happy and there won't be no troubles at all.

But, for the presenton this earthPam Kramer does have some troubles. Her parents once attended church, but have not done so in years. Pam feels alienated from them. They are not in sympathy with Pam's desire to attend activities of the church several times a week. The teenagers at the McClaskey HolinessPentecostal Church frequently gather at someone's home after church on Sunday evening; Pam's parents often do not let her go.

TA: Do you feel that your parents' discipline is too harsh or too lenient?

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PAM KRAMER: It changed when I became a Christian. They used to keep me under pretty goodkind of like they were scared to let me loose. But then I became a Christian and they let me go more, because I'd always come to church. It's pretty much the same. I have my work to do at home; they expect me to do it and then come to church.

TA: If you really needed to talk with one of them, would your father or your mother be the most understanding?

PAM KRAMER: Neither. I still can't go to lily parents. There's just something there between us. I can't go and really talk to them. If it's just something little, I can, but not if it's serious.

Pam does have friends at the church with whom she can talk. She is very close to four or five of the teenagers in the church. It is to them that she goes with her serious problemsand to the entire church, through her prayer requests and testimonies.

Each Holiness-Pentecostal service has a time set aside, after the preaching, for persons to come to the altar and pray. Pam is always one of the first to get to the altar and the last to leave. Several times she spoke to me about my never going down to the altar.

PAM KRAMER: I don't have nothing against you praying by yourself because I do it a lot, too. But I also come to the altar to pray and it seems like at the altar I get more out of it. Maybe it's because my family isn't Christians at the home, but I get more out of it when I come to the altar because it seems like he's closer there or something and I can just talk to him. And then there's somebody there behind you to pray with you as you go along.

The piano, guitar, and drums often play during the altar time, and soon the rhythm of the music is transferred into the body. Pam's cries punctuate the swaying of her body and her exaggerated breathing. Many times she "praises Jesus" with uplifted arms and quivering hands until she seems to lose all awareness of others around her. Her praises change into glossolalia or tonguesand occasional screams. She will begin to vibrate all over until she "dances in the spirit"swinging her arms and legs in active abandon before falling on the floor, exhausted and dazed. After several minutes, she gradually rejoins this earth

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quietly picking up her thoughts and limbs and sitting on the first row. Testimonies follow.

PAM KRAMER: God really blessed me tonight. He's blessed me before, but tonight he really blessed me. It was like he was just right there in me. He was right in my body. It was just me and the Lord.

Occasionally, the altar time is just between Para and the Lord. Or perhaps it is Pam, the church, and the Lord, for she has said that "He's closer there . . . And then there's somebody there behind you to pray with you." At times the behavior at the altarglossolalia, agonizing, crying, dancing, tranceseems to be an end in itself, a "touch from the Lord." The experience itself is the reward.

For the most part, however, Pam's experiences at the altar serve as a catalyst for her concern for others. Usually, Para is at the altar agonizing before God on behalf of her parents or friends who are not Christians. Occasionally the responsibility is almost more than her heart and soul can bear. It is at these times that Pain explodes, becoming almost hysterical in her testimoniespleading for people to get right with God and serve him as they should.

PAM KRAMER: I was sitting back there, didn't feel nothing. I came down here; I still don't feel nothing. I told God that if I could feel something, I would tell you.

Some of you in this building . . . aren't Christians. Some of us has slipped [used thumb and forefinger to indicate a space of an inch or so]but that little's gonna count. [Shouting] The Lord is coming soon. We're going to heaven; we'll be shoutin' . . .

I was saved last November. Then the Holy Ghost at the end of the weekit was wonderful! But I look at my life since then . . .

Right now! Please come to the altar right now. It's better to be sure now before it's too late. That one little thing will keep you from going to heaven. I'm gonna pray for all of you. You'd better pray!

None of my family is saved. It's just me, and it's a hard row to go. Some of the kids knock me for not being "with it." [mimicked their voices when they make fun of her long dress] I tell you one thing: this girl's gonna start it! Come down to this altar. You'd better look and see if you're right.

Pam sits down, totally drenched in perspiration. Her eyes are red and swollen. She breathes in quick, unequal jerks. She

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reaches over and hugs one of her friends and cries a few more tears of joy. She is exhaustedboth in body and mind.

For the moment, her responsibility to lost souls is completed; her tears of compassion and sorrow are dry; her agonizing has served its purpose. The closing prayer is finished and Para Kramer walks out into the cold night airrefreshed and exhilarated. Her soul is cleansed and holy. Life is renewed.

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11

Vernon Watson

I just wore my dedicator out.

When I first attended church at McClaskey, Vernon and Evelyn Watson were regular attenders. Evelyn faithfully sang in the choir. They both were very friendly to me, but Evelyn seemed especially open. In fact, once she learned why I was there, she took the initiative and invited me to come to their store and interview her. She is one of the few adults who ever joked about my studying their beliefs and behavior. "We're writing a book about anthropologists."

As the months passed by I noticed that Vernon attended less and less; finally, neither was coming to church. No one in the church mentioned it to me, so I did not ask. One night I ran into them in a store in McClaskey, and they told me they had joined a church of another denomination. Vernon was especially talkative and positive about their change and invited me to visit them.

Vernon was saved when he was fourteen and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost at age sixteen, having grown up among Holiness-Pentecostals. Evelyn was reared in a Baptist

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home and experienced salvation at age ten. However, she attended a Holiness-Pentecostal tent revival when she was thirteen, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and joined the Holiness-Pentecostal Church.

EVELYN WATSON: I got familiar with the preacher's daughters. I was in one of the deadest, coldest Baptist churches; everything was so formal. I like the enthusiasm of the Holiness-Pentecostal Church. In the Baptist Church all you had to do was go up and shake the preacher's hand. At the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, they expected you to go to the altar. I liked the Pentecostalsthey 'uz more lively.

The Watsons' enthusiasm for the Holiness-Pentecostal Church waned in their adult years. One minor irritation was the Holiness-Pentecostal insistence that women are not to cut their hair, not to wear pants, and not to wear makeup. The taboo against all "worldly amusements" seemed too strict to the Watsons. But the major factor behind the change was the assumption made by Holiness-Pentecostals that any sin could make a person lose his salvation"become backslid."

VERNON WATSON: I was a very miserable Christian for years and years. I served a very mean God. That's the way I felt for twenty-three years. This book [picks up Bible] told me he was a good God. This thing of backsliding and rededicatingI just wore my dedicator out. I fell into this thing of eternal security. I found out he was a good God. I thought I'd make it by holding on, by enduring to the end.

Vernon and Evelyn became so unhappy in their spiritual situation that they closed down the store they were managing and went to visit Vernon's brother-in-law, a preacher.

VERNON WATSON. He just planted the seed. He had been a miserable Christian. My mother would do anything in the world for me, and I realized that God was greater than my regular parents. In the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, you're working your way into heaven; one little slipyou're gone.

EVELYN WATSON: In South Carolina, where I grew up, they was even worse on this thing of backsliding.

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VERNON WATSON: We were hungry.

EVELYN WATSON: We got the Holy Ghost when we were thirteen and sixteen, and yet, there was something missing. When we read the Bible, the people were happy.

VERNON WATSON: They didn't have this loaded-down religion: "Oh me, how tough it is." As far as living a better life, I'm doing better because I'm enjoying it. I was saved when I was fourteen, but I thought I had backslid a hundred times. I want to get my kids away from it. God's not against your going to the ball game and having a good time.

EVELYN WATSON: From the time I was ten until August of last year, I was under the same bondage. If I did a little something wrong, I didn't even feel worthy to sing in the choir.

VERNON WATSON: Now, lots of those people aren't going to admit they live under this constant fear of backsliding, but it's there. It affects them. The fear of backsliding affects everythingyour relationship with your wifeeverything. Now I enjoy the things I do. When the blood is applied, we are without spot or blemish. Man looks on the outward appearance. But God looks on the heart.

Vernon and Evelyn are still very much "Pentecostal" in their outlook; they joined a Protestant church which has several "spirit-filled" persons (persons who have experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost and who speak in tongues).

VERNON WATSON: In the charismatic movement, they would never hear you speak in tongues unless you got the gift of tongues. Praying in tongues is for your private prayers. When God is in chargeit's gentle, soft, and orderly.

Vernon Watson suggests that the demonstrative, loud, exciting manifestation of tongues and praising of God in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church are sometimes hiding the deep-seated insecurity concerning one's relationship with God. Of course, it cannot be assumed that Vernon Watson's experience speaks for all Holiness-Pentecostals. But the burden he carried is not quickly forgotten"the fear of backsliding affects everything."

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PART THREE

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12

The Worship

In order to understand Holiness-Pentecostal worship, it is imperative to consider certain assumptions and attitudes prevalent among the people concerning feelings and outward action. The practice of glossolalia or speaking in tongues can best be understood in the context of the entire worship service, including overt and covert suggestion and the resulting altered state of consciousness associated with glossolalia. The worship experience facilitates self-disclosure; through this sharing of problems and joys the people develop a special bond with one another.

A Holiness-Pentecostal church service in Southern Appalachia usually consists of the following:

opening prayer

singing

prayer requests

prayer time for the sick and laying on of hands

collection of tithes and offerings

announcements

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special music

sermon

altar service

testimony time

closing prayer.

Most services last between two and a half and three hours. Since there is plenty of freedom for persons to speak out or do almost anything they feel led to do, the amount of time spent for prayer requests and testimonials can range from five minutes to more than an hour. Occasionally, people will start testifying before the sermon, and no time remains for the minister to speak.

Feelings and Acting Out

One basic assumption among Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia is that emotional experience or ''feeling'' is a primary goal of worship (perhaps even of religion itself). There are frequent remarks, both in and out of the church setting, establishing the importance of "feeling" God.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: If I don't talk out, I feel down and all tired. I know I talk a lot, but I must obey God. I can feel that Great Spirit running through my body. Whenever I get to talking, God gets to moving and I have to obey; he gives me a good feeling. I want every good feeling God has to give me.

FRANK HARPER: Pray through to God, so you can feel something.

ELMA DAVIS: When we feel his spirit, we need to reach out for more of God. What we felt last week ain't nothing; it's now. I want to press on. There's a closer walk for me. I don't feel as good as I want to feel. The more I getthe more I want.

I don't have to come to the church house to feel the Lord. I can feel him at home. Donald once said to me, "When you testify, Mommy, I can feel something good all over me."

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I'd just as soon be here in this church as anywhere else. It ain't evertime that we have a big shoutin' meeting. But I feel the Lord here just as much as anywhere else. And lots of timesmore.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: The Devil'll get you so busy, you'll forget to pray. Lots of times I'm running the 'dozer, singing, and feeling the Lord come over me. My son David said after he got saved, "I

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never did drink nothin' that ever made me feel as good as this did."

When a person does not feel the Lord, it is a sign that something is amiss.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: [as she breaks into tears] It's been so long since I've felt the Lord.

PAM KRAMER: I was sitting back there, didn't feel nothing. I came down here; I still don't feel nothing. I told God that if I could feel something, I would tell you.

SHIRLEY BALL: I haven't been able to feel the Lord the last few weeks. If I can't feel nothing, then my salvation ain't worth nothing.

A second important assumption among Holiness-Pentecostals is that outward action (saying "amen," clapping hands, stomping feet, running the aisles, dancing in the spirit, shouting, jerking, speaking in tongues) is a manifestation of God's presence in a person's life. Worship services tend to be evaluated on the basis of the amount of outward action. "Worldly amusements" are often a source of comparison.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I've been out to worldly amusements. You get in the middle of themyou can't hear. And the Devil don't deserve more praise than God. When we get up there, I don't believe you could hold 'em still.

ELMA DAVIS: You'll hear people out at these big ball games a yellin'. We can't honor the Lord enough.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: In these honky tonks they make plenty of noise; they're alive. We're very quiet in the house of the Lord; it's been dead.

There seems to be a general agreement among Holiness-Pentecostals that "nothing is worse than a dead service."

EVANGELIST SAMUEL JENKINS: The Devil's alive; I rebuke him. We can have a good week. The longer you put off God, the more miserable you're gonna get. The Devil wants us to come and be calm and not do nothing. I believe we need to holler for God ever once in a while.

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EDITH WELLS: I live to come to the sanctuary and praise God. When the Spirit of the Lord comes over us, we shouldn't fight it. There's nothing worse than a dead service.

Ministers usually feel the need to apologize if they do not act out in some way.

FRANK HARPER: I'm not moving in a big way tonight. Unless God moves, I'm not gonna get ahead of myself, not just get excited.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS: I may not be screaming and hollering as much as I did last night, but I feel it in my soul. I can run anyway. [runs around the auditorium]

EVANGELIST JOHN MONTGOMERY: We can't run around the building and jump seats like I used to. God used to bless us in that way.

Holiness-Pentecostals value the individual freedom they have in the worship service. Each person can behave as he is "felt led."

SUSIE TUTTLE: I've seen times in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church when you could hear a pin drop; it's a beautiful peace. The thing about this churchyou mentioned all kinds of worshipis that you can do what you want to. If you want the peace and quiet, then you sit and be "peace and quiet." You just worship God the way you want to worship him. And nobody cares what you're doing; they're doing their own thing.

If you want to scream and holler and jump aroundpersonally, I've never done that; I find my joy in just praising God and feeling his Spiritbut if that's what you want to do, do it.

People react differently. You go to the ball gamepeople get excited. They start jumping up and down and screaming. Well, what's the difference? If you get excited about the Lord and what he's donewhich is much more than a ball gameif you want to run and scream and holler, go ahead.

LLOYD WELLS: I love the Lord, but I love God's people. I believe there should be liberty in the services to worship him.

Overt Suggestion

In every Holiness-Pentecostal worship service there are constant overt, conscious suggestions; persons are directly and openly encouraged to act out, convert, and be baptized with the

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Holy Ghost. From the opening prayer to the last amen, there is constant encouragement from the minister or leader to get involved in the action.

EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: We're so calm and collected and cool anymore; people don't even know we're having church. If all you can do is wiggle a finger, do it at me.

EVANGELIST JUDSON MAYNARD: Talk to the preacher. Nothing makes him feel like his shirttail is on fire. Nothing helps him more than your response.

EVANGELIST GEORGE READER: Somebody holler; I'm hoarse.

EVANGELIST MIKE EVANS: Everybody obey the Lord. Just get up and do whatever God would want you to.

EVANGELIST SAM AKIN: If this is a dry service, it's as dry as you want to make it.

EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: Are you with me? Act like it! Yeah! Back there, do you feel him? Over there? In the back, do you feel him? How about in the middle, talk to me. Do you feel him?

All of the following exhortations are from the pastor at McClaskey and illustrate his continual encouragement for the people to respond to the music and his sermon.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Clap your hands, stomp your foot; do something for the glory of God. What-do-you-say?

It's awful quiet tonight; it's too quiet for a Holiness-Pentecostal meeting. You act like you don't believe it tonight. We ought to be shouting all over this house because we'll be going in the first resurrection.

Help me preach, would you?

Don't worry about crying; do it for the glory of God.

Boy, it's quiet.

Don't get too quiet on me tonight. Let me preach like I feel tonight. I'm gonna get on your toes tonight.

I really get excited. Some people are just as calm as they can be.

Lift your hand and wave it for the Lord.

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Lift your hand and say "amen." Somebody say "amen," would you?

Stomp your feet; do something for the glory of God. I want you to get involved in this service. Sing a song; testify; stomp your feet. Don't leave here and say you didn't feel like we had church.

Don't stop shouting and praising the Lord. If you stop, so will I.

People are asked to raise a hand, say "amen," stomp a foot, stand up, shout, come to the altar, and testify for reasons numerous enough to include nearly everyone. Reasons given include being saved, being filled with the Spirit, feeling the presence of the Holy Ghost, wanting the Holy Ghost, loving the Lord, feeling thankful, and feeling God's presence.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: If you know you are saved tonight, lift your hand. Don't be ashamed of the Lord; keep your hand up.

EVANGELIST JUDSON MAYNARD: If you've been filled with the Spirit, raise your hand and say, "amen." If you've felt the Spirit tonight, raise your hand and say "amen."

EVANGELIST THURMAN JOHNSON: If you feel the presence of the Holy Ghost, raise your hand.

EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: How many of you would seriously like to have the Holy Ghost? Please stand.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS: Everyone who loves the Lord please stand. If you need more of his power, you need to be closer. Come down to the front and let's pray.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS: If you love the Lord and have gratitude to express, come down to the altar and stand and pray.

EVANGELIST THURMON JOHNSON: We don't have to deputize people to amen; we are a happy people who can shout and praise God. If you feel his presence, raise your hand and glorify God.

Covert Suggestion

Two phenomena characteristic of a Holiness-Pentecostal worship service can best be described as covert suggestion: the driving rhythm of the music and preaching and the behavior at the altar.

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Eysenck (1947) asserts a primary or psychomotor suggestibility which is evidenced by motor movement upon repeated suggestion, without the participant's awareness. It is not suggested that the worshipers are not conscious that the driving rhythm and altar behavior are taking place, but that they are not aware of the crucial role these phenomena play in their worship behavior, especially in acting out and speaking in tongues.

Almost every Holiness-Pentecostal preacher, no matter what the topic, quickly gets into a rhythmic sing-song delivery. Those who have developed the best driving pulpit mannerisms receive the most altar response and the most intense acting-out behavior during the entire service. The following description of one particular evangelist shows in detail the driving behavior of a skilled pulpiteer.

Evangelist Richard Stacks begins each sermon by reciting a five-minute section of Scripture as he walks slowly back and forth in front of the pulpit. He then stands with one foot forward and one back and begins to preach. As he speaks quietly and clearly, he begins to rock forward and then backward, alternating or shifting his weight from the front foot to the hack. As his voice grows louder, it also becomes more rhythmic, corresponding to the shifting of his weight from one foot to the other. Gradually he begins to lift each foot as he shifts his weight and slams it down as his voice grows to the limits of human vocal intensity. At the peak of his vocal ability, he climaxes the driving with a shout or a burst of energy and runs around the auditorium or jumps up on the pulpit or a pew or jerks his body rapidly.

I observed persons time after time responding to his driving techniques. As Richard Stacks begins his rhythmic movement and speech, many persons in the congregation begin to sway side to side or front to back, keeping time with his driving behavior. As the driving becomes more intense, persons close their eyes and begin to manifest a rapid quivering of the head from side to side as they continue their backward and forward movement. Some people clap their hands or stomp their feet to the rhythm and semiaudibly praise God. Faces turn red and blue as jerks and shivers become manifest.

As Richard Stacks's driving behavior approaches its climax, a person may begin to speak in tongues, stand up and dance in the

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spirit, jerk and shiver, or stand up and shout. After a few minutes of acting out, Richard Stacks starts again in his quiet, forceful voice. Each cycle from the quiet beginning to the thundering climax lasts from five to fifteen minutes.

The music at a Holiness-Pentecostal worship service in Southern Appalachia usually is very lively. Of course, this varies according to the congregation and the number and ability of the musicians. Guitar, piano, drums, cymbals, bass, banjo, and even the organ all add to the distinct, syncopated rhythm. In the absence of directed effort at driving, there is little acting out among the people. Once the worship leader puts his full energy into driving by clapping his hands, having the musicians repeat choruses over and over, and eliciting hand clapping, hand raising, and amens, he can produce acting-out behavior and glossolalia. Few outbursts of tongues or acting out occur without the driving behavior of the leader and the music.

After each altar service is well in progress, the pianist or guitarist usually leads into a loud, driving song. Therefore, the loud, driving music is in progress while people are praying on their knees at the altar.

Some persons seem to respond to suggestion more readily than others. Those persons who more readily close their eyes, sway to the music, clap their hands and stomp their feet, quiver, jerk, and turn red or blue in the face as a response to the driving, are also the persons who tend to speak in tongues more often.

The second aspect of covert suggestion centers around the behavior at the altar. The bodily movement and communication, Birdwhistell's "kinesics" (1952), and the subtle use of space, Hall's "proxemics" (1966), at the altar are significant to glossolalia in two ways: first, certain body movements and positions at the altar, accompanied by the physical stimuli of touch and sound, tend to be associated with the initial occurrence of glossolalia; second, these bodily and spatial phenomena seem to function as a source of psychomotor suggestion.

The altar behavior seems to have several significant aspects; these are the importance of "opening up," the role of audible stimuli, the use of touch as a catalyst, and "the push."

When the potential convert goes to the altar to pray, he generally gets on his knees and bows his head; usually his hands are

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either clasped together or in a fist. If it is recognized that this person is a potential convert, several members will gather about him. As everyone is praying and agonizing for the potential convert, someone will begin to verbalize instructions or suggestions. "Praise God, open up and praise God" or "let go and praise God" is the general theme; they literally mean ''open up" when they say it. ''Lift your arms and praise Jesus" is both the instruction and the goal of the altar "helpers." After only a minute or so, perhaps with little conscious intent (much in the way one changes gears in an automobile without conscious intent), a person on each side will begin to gently touch or pat the underside of a convert's arms. The continual goal is to get the arms up in the air, and, subsequently, get the trunk erect and the face "up."

Time and time again I observed this "opening up" procedure. Consistently, it is more difficult to get the males to open up than it is to persuade females. Sometimes a person may pray and "seek" at the altar for some time after opening up. If the person's arms physically give out, a "helper" actually will hold the arms up and encourage the person to keep praising God or Jesus.

It is not so important that the potential convert be on his knees or standing up, but that the arms be stretched upward, the trunk vertical and the face up. If a person begins to "regress" and bow or bend over again, the "opening up" assistance is repeated.

I asked several Holiness-Pentecostals if they had ever seen a person initially experience glossolalia while still bent over; one person could remember seeing it once. The testimony of everyone else supports my conclusion that an individual is physiologically and psychologically more vulnerable when "opened up."

An advantage of having the face up is that the minister or an altar helper can more effectively give intense audible, and perhaps visual, stimuli to the potential convert. When the potential convert is kneeling at the altar and opens up, the minister can stand or kneel and directly face the individual.

Any time a potential convert is at the altar, there is a considerable amount of touching on the part of the altar helpers. If a female is at the altar, the helpers are female; sometimes middle-aged females will "assist" a teenaged male or adult male who is a close friend or relative. However, touching at the altar normally takes place among participants of the same sex.

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If a person is at the altar, those gathered around him will continually wipe his forehead, stroke his shoulders and back, and pull the hair away from his face. Sometimes the potential convert may even place his head on a friend's shoulder or in his lap. There is often a fluctuation between the almost violent, intense stimuli of the minister and helpers, and the gentle, soothing, stroking behavior that may follow. After the potential convert has had an opportunity to rest, the helpers will again attempt to get the person to open up; thus, intense stimuli are again present.

Touching may be, as opposed to the gentle stroking, very vigorous and active. As one man was standing at the altar one evening seeking the Holy Ghost, another man came up behind him, grabbed him by the shoulder muscles close to the neck, and rapidly and violently shook him. This, of course, served as a tremendous physiological stimulus and the first man began to dance about, flapping his arms and hands, jerking his head and shouting.

Often when a potential convert is at the altar, the helpers will sporadically reach out and quickly touch the person's side or waist or neck or handusually in a quivering way. In fact, the potential convert is literally bombarded with sensual stimulationincluding various audible stimuli and every type of touching.

Whether it is at the prayer line for persons seeking physical healing, or at the altar where a person is seeking the Holy Ghost, a significant stimulus for acting out and the possible subsequent glossolalia is "the push." The push is more often associated with persons seeking physical healing (perhaps only because more persons desire physical healing than the baptism of the Holy Ghost during any one service), but seems to be a significant factor in the initial glossolalic experience for many persons.

As a potential convert is facing the minister, the minister will grip the convert's forehead (thumb on one side and fingers on the other); it is usually necessary for the minister to hold the back of the head with the other arm in order to facilitate a good grip on the forehead. The minister often will suddenly grab the convert's forehead. The minister will do this two or three times, increasing the intensity of both his voice and his shaking of the convert's forehead. The vital element is when the minister, as he shakes or grips the convert's forehead for the final time, slightly (but very

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significantly) pushes the convert backwards. It is usually enough of a push that the potential convert will fall over backwards if he does not quickly attempt to regain his balance. There is not enough time for the convert to simply step backwards and regain his balance. So the potential convert is forced both to take a step backwards as quickly as possible and to jerk his head and trunk forward. This jerk, as a result of the minister's push, marks the beginning of much acting-out behavior. It is precisely at the moment of the jerk that potential converts often go into a trancedancing and quivering rapidly and violently, often accidentally hitting people and even falling down.

Glossolalia as an Altered State of Consciousness

Among Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia, glossolalia tends to be spoken during an altered state of consciousness or dissociative state. All initial experiences and most subsequent experiences of glossolalia are supportive of a dissociative hypothesis, as evidenced by ethnographic observations, the statements of informants, and the cultural expectations of Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia regarding the relationship between holiness and glossolalia.

An individual ethnographer has limitations concerning sampling; it is not possible to watch the behavior of each person prior to the glossolalic utterance. It is possible, however, to focus on key individuals. In each case, hyperventilation, foot stomping, hand clapping, and swaying to the beat of the music or sermon with closed eyes are the forerunners of glossolalia. My observations lead me to the conclusion that all initial glossolalic utterances are spoken while the individual is in a dissociative state. In their initial glossolalic experiences, individuals seem to be little aware of outside stimuli. The persons experiencing glossolalia accidentally hit others in the face; they completely lose the driving rhythm of the music and dance, stomp, and jerk to their own tempo; they fall to either side and do not regain balance; if they fall on the floor, they jerk and quiver for minutes; and they often totally lose consciousness.

Moving beyond the initial experience, there are several persons who seem more readily able to speak in tongues and do so more frequently. This is certainly compatible with Pfeiffer's (1968:12)

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idea that one can learn to "switch over" into an altered state of consciousness with minimal stimulation. Those persons who most often speak in tongues are also the ones who most often close their eyes and sway to the music, most often turn red in the face as they sing or praise God, and most readily respond to the leader's stimuli and driving behavior.

There is much evidence from the statements of the Holiness-Pentecostal people suggesting that the initial glossolalic experience occurs during an altered state of consciousness. The instructions given to persons seeking the Holy Ghost certainly confirm a dissociative interpretation.

EVANGELIST RICHARD STACKS:Just tell Jesus that you love him. Don't worry about the sounds, whether stammering lips or another tongue. Just praise him. Just keep praying 'til it's real. The Holy Ghost is all around youon your face. Relax your natural mind. The Holy Ghost wants you to say words you don't know about.

Sermons which are aimed at explaining the baptism of the Holy Ghost allude to God's taking over one's consciousness.

FRANK HARPER: You can shout and speak in tongues all you want. It's just God taking ahold of your vocal chords and your intellectual mind.

Persons who have spoken in tongues report a break in ordinary awareness. Each of the following statements refers to the person's initial glossolalic experience.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: It wasn't too quiet. I guess I spoke in tongues for ten to fifteen minutes. I just felt like I was on air.

ROY EVANS: When I got the Holy Ghost, it took a while before I came back. I was off in another world.

DORIS PIERCE: I was over on one side of the church on my knees. When I came to myself later, I was on the other side of the church, still on my knees.

FRED PIERCE: I just knew that morning I was going to receive the baptism. I hadn't been at the altar more than five minutes. I just went outI don't remember a thing.

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TIM WAGNER: I was just playing the piano one time in church. I felt the power of God anti the next thing I knew, I was underneath the piano bench speaking in tongues. I almost blacked out. At first I didn't know what happened; I thought I was fainting. It was so strong. There is no way I forced it. There is no way I tried to make myself do that.

The following conversation indicates that glossolalia occurs in a dissociative state.

TA: Bertha, when you first spoke in tongues, and since then, are you aware of what you're saying when you're saying it?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: You don't know what you're saying.

TA: When it's over with, can you remember then?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: Ah, no, ah, I don't know. It just seemed like it just goes away. You can't remember.

All of the responses seem to show a definite trend:

"felt on air"

"took a while before I came back"

''off in another world"

''when I came to myself"

"don't remember a thing"

"at first, I didn't know what happened"

"you don't know what you're saying."

Definitions of altered states of consciousness make a useful comparison with the Holiness-Pentecostal statements:

behavior may be isolated from the usually continuous-streams of thought and memories (Hilgard 1970:252)

a splitting of some aspects of experience from the mainstream of awareness and control (Hilgard 1970:250)

removal from awareness of ordinary reality (Goodman 1972:60)

a mental mechanism in which part of the personality temporarily possesses the entire field of consciousness and behavior (Field 1960:19).

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The sometimes apparent awareness which a person has of outside stimuli while speaking in tongues cannot be overlooked. Samarin reports that the neo-Pentecostals he studied could engage in several other activities while speaking in tongues; these include driving a car, washing dishes, reading or writing, and listening to another person in a conversation (1972:3233). I observed nothing that extreme nor received any statements to that effect. I did, however, observe several situations which suggest that the person speaking in tongues is aware of outside stimuli.

Several times I observed the lead singer of a musical group apparently go into a state of dissociation. As he sang the chorus (never the verse) of a song, he would suddenly begin to jerk and dance, vibrating and shaking all oversometimes speaking in tongues. The person would seem to be in a dissociative state (sometimes hitting other members of the singing group or knocking over stands and musical instruments), but would usually "come out" in time to sing the next verse. If the person did all of the acting out and did not speak in tongues, he would invariably be ready for the next verse; if he also began speaking in tongues, he usually would not be ready for the next verse.

Also, many times a person would begin running around the auditorium, while occasionally speaking in tongues. Few persons would ever run into each other, although it did happen from time to time. This, again, suggests that they were aware of certain outside stimuli.

One final aspect of glossolalia must be consideredcultural expectation. The Holiness-Pentecostal churches in Southern Appalachia are somewhat different from most of the neo-Pentecostal groups in mainline Christianity.

LARRY TUTTLE: The Bible tells us that without holiness, no man can see Christ. We have to have that holiness . . .

. . . to separate holiness and Pentecostal . . . is hard to do, 'cause if you find a true Pentecostal church, it'll be a holiness church. I don't care what name is on the door or what anything is, if a person is close enough to God to have the Pentecostal experience, he's going to be living a holy life.

The standards of holiness in Southern Appalachia are hard to

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follow. Living a sanctified life is an extremely difficult task. If a person has not been living a clean, holy life, by his or the church's definition, he probably will not interpret sensations felt at the altar as an attempt on the part of the Holy Ghost to give him the gift of glossolalia. Also, the Southern Appalachian is very concerned about presumption and failure. He would avoid claiming to have experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost if his life were still filled with sin. It takes the physiological and psychological "blanking out" or altered state to give evidence to the potential convert that God has intervened and will help the individual live a sanctified, holy life.

This testimony of a man who has never experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost shows his expectation of what the tongues experience should be.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I've had the Spirit just nearly cover me upjust come all over me. And I just nearly lost sight of the world. I've not done that often.

There's been very few times that I've gotten that close, where I could feel the Spirit cover me up. And I just nearly lost sight of the world. In other words, the Spirit is so strong that you lose sight of everything.

There is, in my opinion, a special type of "tongues" which does not seem to be associated with an altered state of consciousness; I call this "stylized tongues." Occasionally during a sermon or testimony, the speaker will suddenly speak a short phrase of glossolalia and continue on with the sentence. I observed this several hundred times and can with some assurance say that there is no pause before the short spurt of tongues and usually less than a second's pause afterward. It almost always comes in the middle of a sentence, and the main thought is not broken by the inclusion of tongues. An example is, ''I tell you my children [tongues] that the Lord is coming soon." The short, stylized tongues is usually only a few seconds in length.

Direct observations of glossolalia, the instructions given to potential converts, the statements of informants concerning their own experiences and the cultural expectations of Holiness-Pentecostals regarding the relationship between holiness and glossolalia, all point toward the conclusion that glossolalia is

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spoken during an altered state of consciousness. "Faked glossolalia" seems to be rare in Southern Appalachia. All initial experiences and most subsequent experiences of glossolalia are supportive of the dissociative hypothesis. "Stylized tongues," a short phrase or two of glossolalia used in sermons and testimonials, does not seem to be associated with a dissociative state.

Self-Disclosure

A distinctive segment of almost every Holiness-Pentecostal church service is the time used for prayer requests, special music, and testimonies. During this time there is considerable self-disclosure as persons explicitly and implicitly share their concerns and needs.

The special music time gives each member an opportunity for expression, regardless of talent. In the smaller churches, each person is usually asked if he or she would like to sing. The minister or person in charge may be aware of persons who have recently had difficulties and make a special effort to get them to sing or testify. I observed many older women who could not carry a tune finally give in to the leader's insistence and sing. The church would give them much positive reinforcement.

In the McClaskey church, one fifty-year-old woman often volunteers to sing and then asks another person or two to sing with her. She is aware of the personal lives of many of the members and is sensitive to their needs. If she knows that a person is "down" or having a problem, she will ask that person to join her. She usually picks out an older hymn that everybody knows. People often testify later that this involvement was crucial in overcoming their problems. In this way, many of the forgotten people who would normally never volunteer get to participate in the special music. Consequently, for very few Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia is religion a spectator affair.

One illustration of a Saturday night service at the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church will show the kind of intimate disclosures which take place. This particular service is chosen because more persons verbally shared in it than usual; in this way it is a unique service. In the depth of personal sharing, it is not unlike many of the more sensitive services. The following is a brief outline of the testimonies and prayer requests.

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Roy Evans shared his concern that some of his children had not been saved.

Elma Davis asked for prayer for her fifty-seven-year-old son, Donald, who had been especially nervous.

Esther Riley said her legs had not hurt much since everyone prayed for her last week.

Martha Evans expressed her concern over her physical condition; she was to have surgery the following Monday. "I know God can heal. I don't know why he hasn't this time."

Josh Armstrong asked Esther Riley to come up and sing a song. She said she just was too weak, but Josh kept insisting. Esther had been very ill with diabetes and did not have the strength to sing; so she began to testify. She admitted her inferiority feelings because she could not testify like Elma Davis. Esther began to clap her hands and say how thankful she was. She then began to jerk and speak in tongues very quietly as tears rolled down her face. Everyone realized it was a sensitive time and most of the congregation began to cry and said "praise Jesus" and "thank the Lord." Esther shared her concern over her failing health and her lack of faith.

Roy Evans was "feeling the victory" and decided to sing and add some encouragement to the service. Everyone began to clap and sing along.

Bertha Armstrong suddenly began to yell and jerk and dance and speak in tongues.

Elma Davis walked around the auditorium, speaking in tongues.

Esther Riley stood up and danced in the pews.

Amy Harper, who was at the piano, stood and began to jerk and wave her hand.

Josh Armstrong testified after everyone had settled down, giving assurance to those who were sick.

Frank Harper suggested an anointing service for Martha Evans and Esther Riley.

Frank Harper preached a sermon on "God is the same God; he hasn't changed."

Josh Armstrong started off the "testimony time" after the sermon. He told that he felt the Lord might be calling him to preach. "I don't want to come to the judgment and be turned off. I've dreamed of preaching, even the Scriptures come to my mind. I might be a

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failure, but I'll be a failure for the Lord." Josh also shared his anxieties about not having received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He even shared his salvational uncertainties. "The Devil comes to me and says, 'You ain't never been saved.'"

Roy Evans, a preacher for most of his life until bad health forced his retirement, went into great depth about his call to preach and his early ministry. He talked about the financial sacrifices he and his family had to make. "If I had it to do over, I'd do it the same way. I don't regret any of the hardships." Roy then looked up at Josh and said very straightforwardly, but kindly, "Brother Joshua, you're killing time if you're not out there preaching the gospel."

Josh Armstrong then mentioned that his thirty-year-old son had been saved in answer to his prayer and fasting.

Jake Riley revealed his desire to get the Holy Ghost and his guilt over not having done so. "I'd love to be sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost. I don't believe we'll get much power until we get the Holy Ghost. I sure want more power with God."

Elma Davis encouraged everyone not to rely on their past experiences, but to trust God for present needs. She expressed her failings and her need to get closer to the Lord. (She is probably looked upon as the most holy of the Coal Creek members: therefore, her admitting that she, too, needs to improve was her way of encouraging Esther Riley and Martha Evans, who were both discouraged about their sickness and their faith.)

Dorothy Riley stood and gave a gentle testimony about how good God had been to her.

Esther Riley then tenderly talked about how she wanted to be "without spot or blemish" and make it to heaven. She admitted her trouble in controlling her tongue and gossiping. She was crying as she said, "This tongue is so unruly. I love everybody. I ain't got an enemy that I know of."

Elma Davis recalled the old days, when no one went to the doctor and "nearly everyone got healed."

Esther Riley responded, "The Devil tries to make me feel I've got sugar diabetes. God can heal it same as anything else. It just got me down when the doctor told me it was incurable."

Martha Evans then spoke concerning her serious illness. "God is merciful to me. It's not his fault that we don't get healed. I guess my faith just ain't strong."

Amy Harper revealed her jealousy of Joyce Ramsey's ability to

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speak in tongues. "Joyce just took right off. I used to pray, 'Lord, if I could just speak in tongues like Joyce.'" Then Amy reassured Josh that everyone would pray for him and his concern about preaching.

Bertha Armstrong admitted her past envy of other people's ability to testify.

Josh Armstrong replied," You ain't supposed to testify like anybody else. You're supposed to testify like yourself. All these members is necessary." The tension was released as everyone admitted their faults and doubts; the reassurance by Josh that everyone was of worth and should be themselves brought the service to its climax.

Cynthia Johns shared her battle with the Devil. "Satan wants me to blurt out things."

The service concluded with everyone feeling close to one another. Esther Riley and Martha Evans had sought and found sensitive reinforcement and encouragement in their illness. Several of the men had admitted their guilt over not having received the Holy Ghost. Jealousies had been confessed and forgiven. Josh Armstrong found relief from some of the pressure he had been feeling about his call to preach. For a few brief moments, everyone had dropped their defenses and shared intimately of their fears and dreams and hopes.

The most sensitive sharing experience at the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church resulted from a foot-washing service, It was announced that there would be such a service on a particular Sunday evening. The fact that attendance was especially small that night suggests that most of the people did not want to participate in the foot-washing ceremony.

Women and men went into separate rooms, and I could sense the apprehension as the men sat down on two pews facing each other. I was embarrassed as I began taking off my shoes and socks. My primary sensation was one of total vulnerability; it was as though I were naked before the other men, physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

The quietness of the room was broken only by the preparation of a plastic tub containing warm water. The man across from me, Larry Tuttle, put my feet into the tub; everyone gathered around and helped splash water and wash my feet. Some of the men

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prayed aloud; the ones I knew more closely spoke words of appreciation and encouragement.

Larry Tuttle was next and his response surprised me. He never seems to get emotionally involved in the worship services; but as the men began to wash his feet, he began to cry openly. He prayed and cried and thanked God for forgiveness. As we went around to each man, everyone obviously felt it to be an intimate experience. Most of the men cried openly and deeply. After it was over, everyone lingered, hugging each other, patting each other on the back, and sharing words of appreciation. Everyone stayed in that back room for a while, not really wanting to lose the moment.

The tremendous amount of self-disclosure found in the smaller churches points to the importance of interpersonal relationships among Holiness-Pentecostals in the hollows of Southern Appalachia. There is a conscious awareness of the need for others.

LLOYD WELLS: Some people say, "I can miss church a few times. I have the Bible; I can read it myself." This isn't the attitude God would want us to have. We are dependent on each other. I'm convinced we ought to know the minds of our brothers and sisters. We ought to share each other's burdens.

ELBERT FISHER: If we can't lean on Christians . . . Moses had Aaron; we have friends.

GEORGE KING: We have to be responsible for ourselves. It's a privilege if someone calls you to get a prayer through to God for a sick one. It's remarkable what we can do as a group. We've got to start with ourselves. We must watch over our people as a unit. We need each other's help on the highways.

ELMA DAVIS: I thank the Lord for all our people. When one of our people is out, we miss 'em so bad. If we can't do a thingour presence means something.

FRANK HARPER: If we lost any one of you, it will affect the church. If we lost any one of you, it would be a true loss.

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13

The Prime Movers

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12).

Causation and certainty are crucial aspects of the Holiness-Pentecostal knowledge system. Every person, ideology, or culture must deal with the questions of "Who or what is in control?" "How do I know who controls things?" and "How can I be certain that what I know is valid?"

The prime movers in the Holiness-Pentecostal world are God, the Devil, andto a somewhat lesser extentman and fate. Unlike those of secular man outside the mountains, the conversations of a majority of the people in the Coal Creek and McClaskey areawhether church-goers or notare continually full of theological terms.

God

There is a constant awareness of the activity of God in everything. God has a plan for everyone's life.

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EVANGELIST ROBERT SHERLOCK: For my text tonight I'd like to read from Isaiah, the forty-third chapter. "For I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him." I want to speak to you concerning God's plan for your life. When he created us, he created a plan for us to walk by. If a man or a woman misses that plan, they've missed all they are . . . Making the earth was not a haphazard thing. Everything that Jesus did was done in order. God put a timetable on it; it will end . . . The end time is already written out. We're right at that very moment now. It's all planned out. God has created us for that plan and purpose.

God is seen to be the cause of all good happenings, many of the trials in life, and most "warnings." T. Timothy Alexander's youngest son was almost hit by a car in front of the McClaskey church. The pastor told the congregation, "God's hand stopped that car just in time not to snuff out the life of my son."

Sickness and near misfortunes are often seen as warnings from God.

DELORES POTTER: One night I should have gone down to pray for a friend and I didn't and I got to feeling bad and almost had a heart attack.

EVANGELIST RICHARD GRAYSON: I can't afford this either, but I can't afford not to do it. God once spoke to me to give money at a church. At the same time a drunk driver barely missed my wife and daughter. God said, "You mind me!"

At Coal Creek the people feel that God is directly in charge of the processes of nature. Frank Harper once commented that the sun heats the air and causes the wind to blow. Josh Armstrong turned red in the face and tried to laugh as he said in a very serious manner, "Brother Frank, the Lord causes the wind to blow."

Frank and Amy Harper looked for a house to rent in the vicinity of the Coal Creek church. When they didn't find anything that they liked, Frank concluded, "Amy, it just wasn't the Lord's will for us to live out there."

There is a confident feeling that God is constantly aware of and involved in daily decisions and actions. Therefore, both successes and failures are seen as the result of God's will.

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FRANK HARPER: I prayed about having a tent revival. The Lord just didn't move that way. I called one man about a tent; for some reason I couldn't go over to see him.

In sickness or in death, God is working out his purpose.

TA: Do you think God causes accidents and deaths? When a man dies, was it his time to die?

LESLIE ALEXANDER: Uh-huh. I believe that. Because if it wasn't, a doctor or someone could have spared his life.

TA: If a man's time has come, why would I pray for a man who is sick?

LESLIE ALEXANDER: You're human: your human self. I believe that God heals. I believe that if a person was on his deathbed and the whole church prays, the Lord may touch him or heal him. But I believe that the Lord may put somebody on their deathbed to get somebody closer, get you more on your prayer knees, so to speak. To make you realize that your life is in his hands and he can just do what he wants to with your life. Sometimes the Lord does these things to show that he's really real.

The Devil

There is a delicate balance between the power of God and that of the Devil.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Moses . . . when they kept their minds on the Lord, they prospered. When they failed the Lord, he let them fall. When we fail God, the Lord will let the Devil destroy us.

It is sometimes difficult to know whether God or the Devil caused a particular event. In such instances the key is found in the scriptural adage, ''Every good and perfect gift is from above."

FRANK HARPER: I know it's God, because it's good. The Devil can't help people. The Devil puts out counterfeits to everything God does, but it's not quite as good.

Most people agree that this "earthly world" is primarily in the Devil's hands: he will reign until the Second Coming of Jesus.

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FRANK HARPER: Many fallen spirits have fallen into the world and Satan is the leader of them all. The world is laden with iniquity . . . This world is completely under control of the Devil. Some people don't like to call that force the Devil. He's the only fellow I know who tries to deny his own existence. If there's not no personal Devil, then there's not no personal God.

EVANGELIST SAMUEL JENKINS: Sinner friend, what are you betraying Jesus for? You've got to forsake the world to serve God. The Devil's got the world.

The paramount role of the Devil is seen as the internal tempter, constantly dealing with one's mind.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: If the Devil's got your mind, the Lord can't use us.

FRANK HARPER: The Devil'll keep your mind on worldly things so much you won't even pray for church.

EVANGELIST HOMER ARMSTRONG: You're either a servant of God or a servant of the Devil . . . There's only two spirits in the world; you've either got one or the other. The Devil's got the power to take away your mind, your health, your salvationif you let him.

EVANGELIST SAMUEL JENKINS: The Devil'll get you down. When you go to him in trouble, he'll laugh at you. He'll send you to a mental institution if he can. The Devil'll block your mind . . .

LLOYD WELLS: I think the Devil works in government, in powers. I think there are spirits in control of peoples' minds and bodies.

Doubts, fears, and evil thoughts are put into one's mind by the Devil. The originator of the bad ideas is not the person, but the Devil.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: Satan wants me to blurt out things.

FRANK HARPER: Satan gets up next to you and whispers bad things in your ear.

EVANGELIST WAYNE PERKINS: Don't let the Devil tell you that we aren't having revival.

EVANGELIST JOHN SHOUT: Many Sunday nights I'd be driv-

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ing home late from preaching somewhere. I'd come to a mountain pass and would crawl under the car to put on the chains. And the Devil would tell me I was a fool. ''Your parishioners are all at home asleep." I told the Devil to jump off the hill. I am not alone.

PAM KRAMER: I thank God that he is bigger than the Devil. The Devil creeped into my heart and tried to tell me I was wrong to go and tell lost people about him. I want to ask God to forgive me, 'cause I listened to him.

SHIRLEY BALL: In Cincinnati the other day I said, "The only reason I'm a Christian is because of hell fire; I don't really love the Lord." That wasn't me a talkin', but the power of Satan.

Although the Devil is seen as having great power, it is difficult to determine his exact role in external, observable happenings.

FRANK HARPER: The Devil'll get into your families; it'll break them up. If you're not careful, the Devil'll get the victory over your life. The Devil'll move you right into hell if you're not careful.

Some feel that internal temptation is the only power of the Devil.

SAMUEL JENKINS: You can live holiness if you want to. The Devil can't make you backslide. The Devil can't make you sin. The Devil can't make you do nothing; he can only tempt you.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: The Devil uses people the same as the Lord does. He always tries to imitate him that he might try to deceive somebody.

Whether or not the Devil causes external events, he certainly is seen as the paramount obstacle facing every Christian.

TA: Do you feel the presence of the Devil a lot?

ARTHUR FIELDS: Oh yes. If I didn't feel the Devil I'd know I'd been caught by the Devil. You see, if you do the right thing, the Devil's gonna be there every time. If you don't feel this offensive force every time you go to do something right, then the Devil's done got you. This Devil's a force that works against you continually if you're working for the Lord. Because he's out to deceive you, he'll make you ... He'll try to make you believe a lie or anything.

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JOSH ARMSTRONG: If we didn't have that enemy, we'd all live right.

The Devil is used so many times as the scapegoat, it is sometimes difficult to ascertain when the people sincerely are giving the Devil responsibility for an event. On one occasion, there had been several delays in the finishing of a church building in an adjacent county. The pastor told the congregation, "I guess it's been the Devil's fault. I had just as soon blame him as anybody."

I once confronted Amy Harper with her use of the Devil.

AMY HARPER: The Devil makes inc want to get mad at Frank.

TA: How do you tell the difference between the Devil doing it and you?

AMY HARPER: I don't want to talk about it.

Fate

Bad luck, accidents, and sickness are seldom talked about in terms of impersonal forces. Fate carries less impact in Holiness-Pentecostal thinking than it does in the thinking of secular America. Frequently people speak of things happening because of "the times in which we live." The evil times, however, are directly related to the reign of the Devil. Hence, we have returned to a personal force. Figure 1 summarizes the dealings of God, the Devil, and fate.

Figure 1

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An external happening could be supernatural intervention or fate. Internal dealings are best explained with supernatural personalities; fate does not apply.

Supernatural justice (the good get blessed and the evil punished) and fate seem to be contradictory, as Hudson (1972) points out. There seem to be three reasons that this is not perceived as contradictory in the knowledge system of the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia. First, the Bible points out that supernatural justice will not totally be carried out until the final judgment. Second, the fact that God is a personality, and not just a rule, gives him the privilege of treating each case uniquely, since he knows what ultimately is best for everyone. The mystery of the personality of God covers many otherwise "unexplained" events. Third, there seems to be an acceptance of "levels of knowledge" or awareness; faith and obedience may lead to better insight. There is a spiritual gift of "discerning the spirits." Therefore, one may not understand all that he should because of lack of spiritual maturity or commitment.

There is a significant difference between dealing with a rule and a personality. Rules should be logical and attempt to handle the situations which may arise. When dealing with glossolalia, healing, the presence of God, the power of the Devil, and the coming of the end of this world, it is not easy to set forth a logically consistent theory; this is true of almost any all-encompassing philosophy of life. There are, however, some special qualities of personified powers: a personality can change his mind, make new decisions, and continually be in process. Therefore, nebulous or unexplained cases have a special feature: the will or volition of the divine personality. Because God and/or the Devil can see into the future, they can calculate the uniqueness of any given situation. Therefore, if the theological explanation does not seem to fit, it is because God ultimately knows what is best for each individual. The volition of the supernatural beings takes up any "slack" in the logical system.

The personal aspect of God and the Devil also helps explain why Holiness-Pentecostals may overlook failures in their causal modeltheir assumptions about cause and effect in the world. An unanswered prayer or an unhealed person does not primarily cast doubt on the validity of the causal model, but suggests that some

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condition was not properly met. And God, being all-knowing and much wiser than man, ultimately knows what is best in every situation. Therefore, in a secular causal model, one is dealing with a system which is assumed to be a constant; tests can be repeated in exactly the same circumstances. In a religious causal model, one is dealing both with a system (which is usually constant, although the miraculous intervention of God is possible) and with a personality. What appears outwardly to be precisely the same circumstances may not be so inwardly, and God knows the difference. For example, God kows whether a sick man's prayer is truly one of faith. Only God knows in the long run whether a healing miracle would be best for all concerned.

Man

In the midst of the almost overwhelming battle between God and the Devil stands man. Just how much man is in control is a complex issue. At the basis of Holiness-Pentecostal thought is a strong, ever-present conviction that each man is free to make decisions.

TA: Do you believe in predestination?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: God wants everybody to be saved. It's not his will for any to perish. Every man must choose. God knows which way we'll choose, but we still have that choice. He didn't mark off some to be saved and others not.

Even Jesus is perceived as having had free will.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Jesus could have failed; he was in the flesh, just like you and me. I do not believe in absolute predestination.

The dual control of God and man clearly is seen concerning death.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: You can't die until God says it. You can't die without God's approval. I believe we can shorten or lengthen our days.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We can shorten or prolong our days. The Bible says, "Honor thy father and mother, that thy days may be

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long upon the earth." If you live right, I believe God'll usually let your days be long.

TA: Are your days numbered on earth? Ordained? Can you bring life to an end by the ways you live or by your faults?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: The Bible says to honor your father and mother that your days may be long.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I think the Lord understands. I think maybe our days are numbered. But we can shorten our days by disobeying the Lord.

TA: So we're in charge a little bit of our days by the way we live?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: That's what I think about it. You take, if we got out here and drank and swore and get into everything ... steal ... and murder and do things like that; we just look like we're trying to get killed. But if we go ahead and live a good life, do our best to live for the Lord, I think he'll do it. You know Hezekiah in the Bible; he repented and God spared his life. That shows that we can prolong our life by serving the Lord. Now my dad ... Now the people who just done everything, they've gone on. All of 'em. Dad is ninety-one years old and still living a pretty good life. And he's been a preacher ever since I've known him.

There seems to be some disagreement concerning God's manipulation of man's free will. Some see God as occasionally coercing man with whatever means necessary to accomplish a goal.

EVANGELIST SAM AKIN: If God wants us bad enough, he'll make us willing. Once I held back on my tithes; my thumb festered up and my whole arm got sore. I had to pay the doctor to fix my arm. It was money that should have gone to God.

Others emphasize the autonomous will of man and say that God never violates that.

DOROTHY RILEY: If we don't choose to serve him, he won't make us serve him.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: You can't drive people; you must lead them. God doesn't drive people. Be a good soldier. To be a good soldier, we must enlist. God doesn't force. We must enlist ourselves. God doesn't draft anyone.

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Whether a man perceives himself as being in control of his life is a crucial personality, as well as a cognitive, trait. Rotter (1966), Phares (1973), and others have conceptualized "locus of control" by distinguishing between those persons who see themselves as having control over what happens to them (internal locus of control) and those persons who see themselves at the mercy of forces outside themselves, such as fate, the system, nature, God, luck, or other people (external locus of control).

Among Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia, there is an abundance of theological talk which points to the dynamic power of God and the helplessness of man.

RACHEL KNOWLES: We can't work our problems out ourselves; but we can take them to God.

JOHN MONTGOMERY: If we live for God, he said he'd fight our battles for us.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: You know, I don't feel like muchjust a small toe in the body. I feel like I'm helplesscan't do much. I wanna do what I can.

ESTHER RILEY: I feel so weak and unworthy.

ESTHER RILEY: After Bertha called me, I had to praylike it was my family. I tried my best to get ahold of the Lord. If we can't get ahold of the Lord, we're gonna be in much need. I ain't got as much power with the Lord as I should. I ain't pleased him as I should.

THORA CRANDEL: The Lord watches over us when we don't have sense to do it ourselves.

Holiness-Pentecostals perceive politics as being outside their control. Almost all governmental officials are dishonest, and political change is beyond the influence of any one citizen or even groups of people. The Watergate controversy came to full light during my stay in Appalachia; there was no great concern on anyone's part. It just reconfirmed their basic skepticism concerning political behavior.

Rotter (1966) suggests that the perception of either internal or external control is mainly a function of the extent to which one

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has in the past actually experienced such control. Most of the adult males of the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal congregation have steady jobs. Several of the males at Coal Creek either have seasonal work or only occasional work; this is largely due to the lack of job opportunities in the hollow. Several of the teenaged males and females of the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal congregation have part-time jobs and often talk of their vocational goals. The teenagers of the Coal Creek area tend to do seasonal farm work (such as helping with the hay), but seldom take part-time jobs in stores. Again, this is because there simply are not many stores in the hollow. The big difference between Coal Creek and McClaskey youth is this: many young adults in the Coal Creek area do not take on full-time work after finishing, or dropping out of, school. It is much more acceptable for males all through their twenties to maintain the adolescent role. A male twenty-six years old still may be "running with the boys." I became relatively close to several young males who all expressed their main goal as "making enough money from time to time to keep a car running and being able to stay in the hollow."

Perception of locus of control and motivation are certainly different phenomena. It may be, however, that a person is not motivated toward a goal because he does not perceive the goal as being available to his control.

Although the sample is limited to the houses I entered during my stay, I conclude that the Holiness-Pentecostals of Coal Creek take somewhat better care of their persons and their houses than do the people of the Coal Creek area in general. But for two exceptions, the houses of the Holiness-Pentecostals in Coal Creek are clean.

It is possible that persons perceiving an internal locus of control are the ones who join churches, and this would explain the differences. I did, however, get the opportunity to see conversion as a possible motivating force. Violet Christianson was converted several months before I came to Coal Creek. Her log house, when I first came, was one of the most unkempt places in the area. I observed her as she began to repair the doors, put in a new floor, and buy new kitchen cabinets. She did all of this with almost no financial resources and lots of hard work.

I also observed that the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostals are

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more concerned with the physical appearance of their church building than are the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostals. When I first arrived, materials already had been purchased by the Coal Creek church to finish some roof work and install gutters; this was never completed during my stay. The partial basement was flooded every time it rained; everyone talked about repairing it, but no one except the pastor ever attempted to do so.

Several donations, such as carpeting, were given to the Coal Creek church by people who had grown up in the Coal Creek area and then moved away. It usually took an outside stimulus to get a task initiated. One male member of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church remarked after new carpeting was donated, "I don't see no reason to put this carpet down. It'll just get messed up again."

The perception one has of himself as being in control of situations is a crucial factor in discussing poverty. Gerrard (1971) suggests that one manifestation of pessimistic fatalism (a strong perception of external locus of control) is squalor, the failure to make the most of what one has. During my year in the Coal Creek area I observed many cases of squalor. One family had torn off the old wallpaper on the inside walls, bought new wallpaper, and several years later, not put up the new paper. Several homes had dirty dishes everywhere and the families often only wiped the old food out with a cloth before using them again. I observed many families who threw their trash out their windows into their yard. Broken furniture and windows often went unrepaired; rusted automobiles were left in the yard.

Best (1973) speaks of a basic mode of dependency among some Southern Appalachians. I certainly became acquainted with many families who received agency help and were making no attempt to find any kind of steady employment. I noted that many persons quit planting their gardens the same year that the food stamp program was begun in the area.

However, I also watched women and men get up long before sunrise to milk their cows and stay out until total darkness, working their gardens. I got to know several families on agency help who also tried to find employment and kept a cow for milking and planted a garden.

If a person wants to stay in the Coal Creek area, well-paid jobs

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are difficult to find. Timbering, coal mining, seasonal harvesting, and forestry work all offer at best limited opportunities.

In conclusion, I observed people who seemed to ''not care any more" and people who were fighting, both economically and psychologically, a relentless battle for dignity and for fulfillment of their potential.

A person may see himself as being in control of certain areas of his life and not in control of other areas. It is in the spiritual aspect of their lives that the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia seem to perceive themselves as having the most control.

Neither the McClaskey nor the Coal Creek church ever discussed or took action on any social issue. There were no sermons directed at any concern other than personal salvation. The pastor of the McClaskey church did encourage the people to write CBS and protest the showing of X-rated movies on the late show on television. Other than this, there were no indications that man could (or should) have the power to change the secular world.

The vast majority of statements showing man's control deal with spiritual changes or healings, and not situations in the social world.

RACHAEL ALEXANDER: Some may say, "The Lord will take care of you." The Lord expects us to use wisdom.

JAKE RILEY: We've got to make an effort. If we don't do nothing, we can't expect the Lord to do everything ... If we'd serve him, he'd do more for us.

FRANK HARPER: Jesushe's holding the world together; he's holding the universe together. And the praying Christian people are holding the world together. When they're taken out of the world, the Devil'll come into his full power.

GORDON HOLMES: You add to your faith. Don't just ask God to pour it on you.

GRANDPA ARMSTRONG: If we'll do what God wants, he'll bring about what you need.

Man has the power to communicate his needs to God, who, in turn, can take action.

ROY EVANS: If we could get the Spirit to move on somebody to preach a revival ...

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One night during prayer-request time, someone mentioned a married couple who was about to break up.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: God is plenty able to hear and undertake for us. I believe God is able to make 'em love one another. I know that if we can get a prayer through to God, he can make them love one another.

In order for a person to get things done spiritually, there are six primary requirements which are necessary to be effective. A person must have concern, pray, fast, have faith, live rightly, and be in one accord with his Christian brothers and sisters. These requirements make it possible to have control over certain spiritual matters, mainly situations concerning healing and individual salvation. Although the concern seems to be in a spiritual realm, healing certainly has consequences in the practical, secular world. In fact, in a situation of severe physical illness, nothing could be more practical.

Concern or concentrated, fervent, spiritual interest is a good starting place in the attempt to accomplish a spiritual change.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: When you get concerned, God will come to our rescue.

DAISY CAMPBELL: If we had enough interest: in our prayers to attract the attention of Jesus, we'd see people get saved.

DUANE RAMSEY: Until we can get a concern, we're not gonna see a soul saved.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I believe if we'll get concerned or interested, we'll come nearer a-touchin' the Lord.

EVANGELIST JASON ROCKFORD: God, make us so miserable and concerned that the lost will come to you.

One of the most crucial agents of change is prayer; it is essential in bringing about desired results.

LLOYD WELLS: We can't do a lot about situations, physically speaking. But we can go to the Lord in prayer. We can't fight this battle with carnal things.

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CARLENE CARPENTER: The only tiling we can do is pray when we're in trouble.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: I feel that Mama'll get saved. It'll take my prayer and fasting.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It'd be awful to think that we was the cause of our children's turning away from the Lord. Brother Jake, I'd just as soon help your children as mine. There's plenty of people around here who need the Lord. There's just one thing we can do: pray.

FRANK HARPER: I know God can do something here, if we'll all do something. Sincerely pray that God will really save souls.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: If we'd praysome soul'll be saved.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I wouldn't want to go anywhere else, if I was sick and needed prayer. I believe in my brothers and sisters right here. I believe they can get a prayer through.

ELMA DAVIS: There's no distance in prayer. We could pray a prayer that could touch them and cause them to be saved.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Sometimes as pastor I overemphasize some things. Make preparation to get someone in the revival service. Prayer is the real thing that will give us revival.

GEORGE KING: We don't push for money in this church. A few months ago we were pretty slimin an all-month low. Then we had a record tithe month. God does his things the right way. If God wants us to build a new parsonage, or do some renovating on the buildingyou pray about it.

A fervent concern resulting in prayer is not always sufficient to bring about change. In many cases, fasting may be the key.

FRANK HARPER: You need to push back the plate and fastso that these children can be saved. It'll put flavor in your prayers. He'll see you mean business, and he'll answer that prayer. He'll do everything within his power.

ESTHER RILEY: I believe we need to fast. I just can't seem to fast. I eat too much. I'd get more things done for the Lord if I'd fast. We want God to do big things for us when we won't do the little things for him.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: On Christmas morning, God told me to

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fast. I was fasting for David. If we fast just because we want to fast, it won't do nothing. [One week after Christmas, David (Josh's son) was saved in a church service in another state.]

This final conversation concerning fasting is between Jake and Esther Riley. Esther has diabetes, is tremendously overweight, and has been having serious circulation problems in her legs.

JAKE RILEY: I'll tell ya another thingwe don't fast and pray enough. The Bible says that there was a disciple that was trying to cast the Devil out of a boy, but couldn't. The Lord could. Then he told the Lord about it. Then the Lord cast it out. He told them to fast and pray. They asked him why they couldn't cast him out, and he told the disciples that they need fasting and praying. We don't fast and pray any. We eat all the time.

ESTHER RILEY: We feast more than we fast around here. Like at a revival, sometimes a preacher will ask how many fasted a meal. That's not much; just one meal's not much. It's all right to do that. I think if you're really sincere about it, then you might fast a few days or something like that. Now that would hurt. I like to eat awful good. And I think if you was going on a fast that you'd want the Lord to be pleased with you, if you was going on one long enough to sacrifice and deny yourself.

JAKE RILEY: If it's just one meal, you're not denying yourself much that way. He told them disciples that it comes by fasting and praying. They couldn't cast the devils out of that boy. And then, after he did, they asked him why they couldn't. He gave them powers to do thatto cast out devils and heal the sick.

Accompanying the concern expressed in prayer and fasting must be a constant stream of faith if one wants to change things. It is important to have confidence in God.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We could ask and ask and ask, and not believeand the Lord wouldn't do nothing.

MARTHA EVANS: God is merciful to me. It's not his fault that we don't get healed. I guess my faith just ain't strong.

The concern, prayers, fasting, and faith are most effective when one is living right each day. God rewards holy living.

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JAKE RILEY: If we don't do the Lord's will, he ain't gonna do much for us, is he? If we were living like we ought to, a lot of these prayers would be answered. If we ain't living by the Bible, we might as well get out. There's just two ways to live. If we ain't livin' by the Bible, then that's one of them.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: If we'll live a real good life in front of them, then our words will have a bearing on themhave a weight.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: It's not God's fault that things ain't done; it's our living so slack. If I don't get what I ask for, it's my fault.

JAKE RILEY: If we were living like we should, this house would be filled. People don't want to come for a show; they come to worship.

EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: Lord, if I'm living right, heal this woman!

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We need to live where we can get a prayer through to the Lord.

Beyond the concern, prayers, fasting, faith, and right living, there is one last requirement that is highly useful to bring about a desired change: to live in harmony with fellow church members. Being of one accord is seen as a strong factor in getting results from God.

ROY EVANS: Wouldn't it be wonderful if we was all of one accord? We could ask what we wanted and God'd give it.

FRANK HARPER: It's a sight how many churches over home can't get along enough to get anybody saved. They fuss and fight.

RUBY JORDAN: Have we criticized each other so much that we've turned our children away?

There is an open awareness that group cohesiveness is a highly significant prerequisite to a good spiritual worship service, especially for someone to be blessed with tongues.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Let's get our minds on the Lord. If we'll all be of one mind, the Lord can speak to us.

FRANK HARPER: I've got confidence in God's people that the

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Lord'll move. I don't want to blame anyone for any troubles. It seems that one or two people can dampen the spirits of a church. It's just that everybody gets down sometimes.

The following statements best summarize the requirements for bringing about change.

FRANK HARPER: If you'll live good, study on God's Word, pray, and do what God wants, he'll bless you; material blessings and spiritual blessings will come.

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: Pray much, live good, love one anotherthat's what it'll take.

Even though it is difficult to precisely determine the balance between perceptions of internal and external control, individual responsibility is felt heavily in each aspect of Holiness-Pentecostal life. There may be forces beyond one's control in the physical world; even in the spiritual realm everything is not understood. But when it comes to healing, salvation, and revival, the Holiness-Pentecostals do see themselves as responsible.

FRANK HARPER: You want to see a growing church? It's where the people take out time to pray everyday for the church. We need to do something. I don't know exactly what it is. If you know, come and tell me. There's reasons why people don't get saved. It's up to you to see that people get saved.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I don't blame anybody but myself when I'm not close to the Lord.

EVANGELIST JASON ROCKFORD: The fault? Us as individuals. We're not putting everything in. We must repent, admit our lack of concern. It can be Pentecost tonight!

FRANK HARPER: After Jesus went back to the Father, he dumped it in our laps. He gave us the plan, the power, the Holy Ghost.

Although the will of man (volition, autonomous choice) is highly valued among Appalachians and Holiness-Pentecostals, it is almost overlooked when accepting the guilt for lost or unsaved loved ones.

The following statements summarize the locus of control

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orientation among the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia concerning salvation.

1. They do not have direct control over the salvation of their loved ones. They do not have control over the volition of another person.

2. They do have mediated or indirect power through prayer, i.e., through God. The Bible teaches that God will ''give them their children" if they (the Christian parents) will "live right" and pray, believing.

3. They do not blame God or the theological system if the results are not attained. God is all-knowing, and only he knows why the results are not attained.

4. If God is not at fault and the system (the theological promises) is not at fault, then the individual Christian must be at fault.

5. Therefore, guilt, accompanied with occasional uncertainties about the theological system, is prevalent.

In the everyday lives of Holiness-Pentecostals, as with most people, there is a combination and delicate interaction between perceptions of control as internal or external. No person perceives control as entirely internal or external; nor does any system. However, a certain system or culture may have emphases which incline toward perception of control as more internal or external.

As a very general analysis, it could be said that Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia perceive control as external regarding secular events. Political and social change, along with the observable, physical events of the earth and nature, are beyond the control of man. The plan of God, including the fulfillment of the Bible, and the Devil are responsible for larger change. However, the Holiness-Pentecostals perceive internal control regarding individual healing and salvation.

In practice, of course, it is not as simple as indicated above. Even in the spiritual realm, the Holiness-Pentecostal is not just dealing with a plan or rule, but with a personalityGod. And, because God has given the Devil certain powers on this earth, man cannot stand alone. There is, therefore, a delicate balance of independence/dependence between God and man. The Holiness-Pentecostal is very much aware of this complex situation and consequently sees himself as in control in certain situations and as totally dependent in others. The following illustration will help explain.

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Figure 2

In a long conversation with Roy Evans, he revealed perceptions of both internal and external control throughout the discussion. In talking about man's salvation, Roy continually used phrases which emphasized the volition and responsibility of man: "Work out your salvation"; "you better live holy": "he who hangs on will be saved": and ''you must add to your faith."

ROY EVANS: You don't get pay until you work. When you work, he repays you.

However, after stressing the responsibility of man in his own salvation, Roy ended the discussion by stating that man cannot make it on his own.

ROY EVANS: In the day of tribulation, if you don't have the Holy Ghost, I don't think you'll be able to stand. I don't believe people are going to defeat the Devil without the Spirit, the Holy Ghost.

So there is a combination of forces within and beyond the volition or grasp of man, even in ultimate and final salvation.

This delicate balance of forces is expressed simply and succinctly by Josh Armstrong and Frank Harper.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I've got anything I wantif I can get it.

Josh shows the belief that the potential to all significant changes is

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ultimately in God's hands; man has a channel of communication which can bring about change. This power is certainly mediated or indirect; God is the always-present mediator.

FRANK HARPER: I feel the Lord moving on me. I think we ought to pray for Sister Evans again. I can't promise you nothing. The Lord's the only one who can control such things.

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14

The Certainty

God's not dead, He's still alive.

God's not dead, He's still alive.

God's not dead, He's still alive.

I can feel Him in my hands.

I can feel Him in my feet.

I can feel Him all over me.

The overwhelming movers in the Holiness-Pentecostal belief system are God and the Devil: they control things. But how does a person know who controls things? How can a person be certain that what he knows is valid?

The Need for God

Holiness-Pentecostals agree that a person cannot know nor perceive as he should unless he is in proper relationship with God.

GORDON HOLMES: He's too big; we can't understand it all. It's like trying to comprehend the stars, light years, the universe. For us

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to comprehend God is like a chigger trying to understand man.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: When you have a carnal mind, you can't understand the Bible.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: You can see and understand things so much better when you know the Lord. I can hear the wind, see lightning, and hear the thunder. I hear the voice of the Lord. I know he's near. ''The Jews look for signs, the Greeks search for wisdom; but for us, it's Christ crucified." We can't look like the world, act like the world; we must be separated from the world. When you know these things, there's not enough evidence in hell to convince us differently. Don't rejoice because the devils are subject to you, but because your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Healing is great, but the question is, "Are you saved?" When you get the power, you get the wisdom. We know the power, strength, and wisdom that comes from Jesus Christ.

FRANK HARPER: What I can feel in my soul is more real than what I've learned at school. In class people'll be asking about something that I feel I already know. The Bible says, "I'll teach you all things." I thank God for the Holy Ghost. If you get right in your heart or soul, you'll get right in the other areas of your life. God'll give you enough knowledge to get right on the outside.

Some believe that being saved is not enough. One must experience the baptism of the Holy Ghost in order to have the knowledge sufficient to stand firm in the last days.

ROY EVANS: I wouldn't rely on nobody until I got the Holy Ghost. Then you'd have the teacher to tell you ... Never back on somebody else's teaching; the Holy Ghost can speak for itself. I wouldn't back on anything but the Word and the Holy Ghost. We're in a deceiving world.

I don't believe people are going to defeat the Devil without the Spirit, the Holy Ghost. I get to worryin' about people. The Bible says, "Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power of God." When the Devil comes, buddy, I don't believe a person can stand the test without the full armor of God on. And that comes from the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will teach you what to say. Even with your education, you won't have what to say without the Holy Ghost.

The Experiential

If the first crucial statement underlying certainty among Holiness-Pentecostals is "One needs God in order to know,"

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then the second is "One must experience something first hand to be sure." The experience is stressed among Southern Appalachians in general, and is especially emphasized by Holiness-Pentecostals.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: Don't ask just anybody about the Holy Ghost, about sanctification. If you want to know about something, ask him who's experienced it. If you want to know about the Holy Ghost, ask someone who isn't fighting the Holy Ghost. If you want to know the taste, ask the man with banana pudding on his face. He'll tell you.

EVANGELIST HUGO WINSTON: We don't need to say, "I believe in Jesus." I want people to say, "I've experienced Jesus." I don't want anyone to tell me about Christ who hasn't experienced him. I don't want anyone to tell me about the Holy Ghost who hasn't experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.

EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: You know how you stand with God. I can't judge properly. Check your own experience and then decide what to do.

EVANGELIST GEORGE READER: When a piano is at 440 pitch and a trumpet is blown at middle C, the middle C string on the piano will vibrate. God has got some laws. When we get in tune with the laws of heaven, and the Holy Ghost blows, we should feel it. When he's Lord and the Holy Ghost pulls his bow across the soul of the preacher, you'll vibrate. If we could all get in tune...

Sources of Knowledge

In any knowledge system, including an experiential one, it is crucial to distinguish the channels of stimuli which are considered valid. Among Holiness-Pentecostals the primary sources of knowledge include feelings, voices, dreams, visions, healing and other miracles, speaking in tongues, the Bible, social knowledge (the church), and pragmatic wisdom.

Intuitive feelings are a primary source of valid information for Holiness- Pentecostals.

ELMA DAVIS: When you can feel anything, you know it.

JOHN MARTIN: I know I got something because I feel something. If you can't feel nothing, maybe you ain't got nothing. But I know I've got somethingbecause I can feel it.

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EVANGELIST JAMES REYNOLDS: I'll preach until I feel it's time to go to the altar. When I feel that the Spirit of the Lord is going toward the altar, then I'll quit preaching.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: I feel impressed that we'd better forget the singing and go on to the next part of our program. I have to obey the Lord. I feel like it's time to go on. When I feel like it, I feel like that's it.

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: You can really feel it in your soul when you're saved. [Touching his heart] When you get it you'll know it.

The following conversation between Josh Armstrong and his ninety-one-year-old father illustrates the common usage of "feeling."

JOSH ARMSTRONG: [Jokingly] Worried about being saved?

GRANDPA ARMSTRONG: [Seriously] Sometimes I get to worrying about that.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Well, you'd better do something about it.

GRANDPA ARMSTRONG: When I get to feeling bad and worrying, I do do something; then I get to feeling good and I know everything's okay.

Upon questioning Concerning how one knows if the baptism of the Holy Ghost is valid or real, Doris Pierce replied, "It's better felt than said." The feelings to which Holiness-Pentecostals refer are a combination of an intuitive sense of rightness and a physiological sensation.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Body feelingthat's how we know. Sometimes we get to wondering and doubtin'. But when we feel him in our bodies, the doubt is gone.

I can feel a warm glow. It comes all over you. It's like a bolt of electricity. It'll jerk you. It is physical.

The pastor of the Coal Creek church is aware of the possible problems in such a source of certainty.

FRANK HARPER: Pentecostal people go by their feelings. Sometimes our feelings mislead us.

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Dreams, visions, and voices are significant sources of information to many of the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia. More residents of Coal Creek described their dreams in detail and put more emphasis on them than did people of McClaskey.

TA: Are most dreams of God?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Some of 'em is, not all of 'em. If it's about something of God's work, you can just about bank on it being from God. If it's just a silly ol' dream, you just don't bank on it much. For instance, God warned Joseph in a dream to take Jesus and flee into Egypt.

I dreamt I went to the Army to be examined, and passed. And after the thirty-day wait, I was examined again and did not know whether I passed or not.

It turned out exactly as I dreamt it. I was able to go back to Bertha and my three kids. It wasn't even odd when I went. It seemed like I'd been there.

Josh spoke of another incident in which he heard a voice.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I used to not tithe. One night, a voice woke me up and said, "Tithe."

TA: Was it audible?

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I could hear it plain, whether or not it was in my head or a dream, I can't say for sure. But I think it was a voice I could hear.

Amy Harper had a similar experience in her dormitory room in college.

AMY HARPER: One afternoon I was in my room praying. I had done some things that was wrong and I was concerned. I heard a voice and it was audible. It said, "Read First John 2:1 through 3." These verses say, "... sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

When Josh and Bertha Armstrong's son-in-law's father died, Bertha mentioned a lady in the family who had a vision in which all the family was in a circle. One left the circle, then another, and

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finally, a third. A teenaged girl who lived down the road from Josh and Bertha said, "You mean there's still one to go?" Josh replied, "Well, the first two could have been Johnny and Aunt Marcie. David's dad may have been the third." The applicability of the dream was not questioned; the key was to determine whether or not it had been fulfilled.

Cynthia Johns feels that dreams ordinarily have no significant meaning. She did, however, mention several incidents which were warnings from God.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: With me, if I dream at night, I usually eat too much before I go to bed or I'm just not resting good, or a little ol' nagging pain.

There are some dreams from God. About four days before the car wreck, I had a dream that I was in a car wreck and hit the windshield. And I did. I felt that it was a warning from God.

I've had some dreams that's not been fulfilled. If I go to bed thinking about something, I'll dream about it most of the time.

I want to ask you about something. I was lying in bed one night and a pair of praying hands came up out of a dish and came right up over my head and disappeared. How would you feel about that? The night that happened, my uncle got killed the next day in a car wreck.

Cynthia's oldest sister, Elsie Johns Baker, also had a dream which gave her foreknowledge of an event.

ELSIE JOHNS BAKER: One night I dreamed I was in a car wreck with Dennis. When something's gonna happen to Dennis, I can tell it. Dennis was in a car wreck and the car was totaled, but he wasn't hurt, just as I dreamed.

Elma Davis relates how she used a dream as a sign.

ELMA DAVIS: Pa Armstrong, he really knew the Scriptures. I had a dream about Brother Armstrong. He came and harnessed a mule and plowed a deep furrow. That showed me that Brother Armstrong knew exactly what he was doing.

Ruby Jordan continues to regret that she once disregarded a vision.

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RUBY JORDAN: Once I had a vision. The Lord wanted me to start an orphanage. He told me to tell the people and start preparing corn. I asked him, "Where will I get enough food to feed the kids?" Well, I didn't tell anyone. A month later I found out that a farmer up the road had two and one-half acres of corn that he wanted to give someone if they'd put it up. It just rotted on the stalk. I didn't know about it when I had the vision.

I was lazy. Slothfulthat's the reason more Christians aren't happy. They don't follow their biddings.

Ruby also mentioned several times a vision she had while a woman was speaking in tongues in church. She envisioned a rock out in the desert, with a corner broken off the rock. She referred to it as the "rock in a troubled land." Ruby concluded, "I knew I didn't know my Bible well enough to know what it was."

The clearest incident of a vision being considered a valid source of data came during the early part of my stay. One evening Josh and Bertha Armstrong, Frank and Amy Harper, and I were sitting around Josh and Bertha's supper table. Beards and the length of Jesus' hair came up in our conversation. Josh and Bertha Were of the opinion that Jesus had short hair and was clean-shaven; Frank and I were on the side of his having a beard and long hair. Josh pointed out that in the Old Testament it said, "He shaved with a hard razor." Amy jokingly teased Josh about it being in the Old Testament, before Jesus' earthly existence. Bertha told of a dream her oldest daughter, Gloria, had about the Second Coming. Jesus was coming right down Coal Creek toward the Armstrong house; he had short hair and was clean-shaven. Bertha and Josh both felt that this definitely settled the issue.

Although dreams and visions are an acceptable source of information on occasion, there is still a safeguard against misinterpretation.

ROY EVANS: The old prophets had dreams; that's true enough. If it goes along with the Word, it's okay. But you can have dreams that are not okay. The stomach may push against the brain. I've had evil dreams; I wouldn't tell 'em. I couldn't afford to. I wouldn't bank on anything but the Word and the Holy Ghost. We're in a deceiving world.

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In the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church, a smaller percentage of people mentioned significant dreams, although several related incidents similar to the following. Rachael Alexander, the pastor's wife, told me she dreamed that her oldest son would get orders to go overseas, but not have to go. In fact, he broke his leg and did not have to go. She had a second dream in which he was shipped overseas; her son eventually did serve in Vietnam.

The following conversation with Tim Wagner shows his attitude toward dreams and gives an account of a vision he had.

TA: Do you ever feel like your dreams are significant sources of authority for you? Has God ever spoken to you through a dream?

TIM WAGNER: Yes.

TA: Have there ever been times when you thought that your dreams were not of God?

TIM WAGNER: Yes.

TA: How can you tell the difference?

TIM WAGNER: Well, most of the time a dream of the Lord comes true. They're usually about some future event.

TA: Are there many times when you felt premonitions spiritually that came true?

TIM WAGNER: I'll tell you one that definitely came true. At Louisville, Kentucky. I was over at Floyds Knob near New Albany, Indiana. Highway 365 goes up through there, and you can see out all over Louisville. I saw fire race all over. I was holding a revival at the time and I told the people of the church that there's a catastrophe coming to this town. That was on a Sunday night. On Wednesday, that big DuPont plant exploded in Louisville and there was twelve people killed and forty-three sent to the hospital. And that's the most disaster that's happened. On Thursday, another factory in town burned down. On Saturday, the biggest lumberyard burned down.

Although many persons in both the Coal Creek and McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal churches related dreams or visions as valid sources of knowledge, it would be erroneous to conclude that every person experiences and trusts his dreams. Lloyd and

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Edith Wells, although highly active in the McClaskey church, put little stock in their dreams.

TA: Are dreams from God?

LLOYD WELLS: I'd hate to think that mine were. Mine are wild.

EDITH WELLS: I have had dreams where I'd get an uneasy feeling about some person. I seldom remember the content of my dreams. I think mine are wilder than Lloyd's. Some people talk about their dreams all the time and you begin to wonder. I never did put much emphasis on them. Some things don't happen like that because we don't believe in them.

LLOYD WELLS: I don't dream anything that makes sense.

Miracles and healings are a prime topic for discussion among Holiness-Pentecostals. Not everyone in the two Holiness-Pentecostal churches at Coal Creek and McClaskey put great emphasis on the miraculous. But for many, it is a prime component in their knowledge system.

Susie Tuttle describes a touch from God which assured her of God's continuing love.

TA: A lot of the older people talk about visions and voices. Have you ever had anything like that?

SUSIE TUTTLE: No. But there was one time, when I was a teenager, that I felt very despondent and depressed. And I felt like God just didn't love me any more. That we didn't have the experience we'd had. And I was praying. And I said, ''God, if you really love me, if you're gonna help me and stand by me in this, then just put your hand in mine." And I reached my hand just straight up in the air and I felt the warmest hand just close around mine. And the strongest grip, not painfuljust assuringthat he really did love me. And it was just for an instant and it was gone. But I knew it, and it wasn't my imagination because I felt the pressure of the hand around mine. I didn't see it and I didn't hear it, but I felt it.

And there have been times, especially in the last couple of years, when I've been backslidden, I would think about things like that and it would almost torture me. I just wouldn't let myself think about it, because I knew God was real. And I knew that if he came back, I was going to be lost.

Esther Riley gives an example of a healing at the very moment people prayed in another town.

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ESTHER RILEY: Some of this would look unreasonable to anybody else, but to me, it's not unreasonable. I fell and broke my arm ... I guess I broke it. My arm got as dark as it could, and I couldn't comb my hair or dress myself or nothing. We hadn't lived at that place very long and I hardly knew anybody. So I wrote back to where my mother lived. I know'd the night they had prayer meetings, and I know'd the people and everything. I wrote and told them to pray at the prayer meeting and all about how I'd fell. That morning, I had my arm in a sling. And when they prayed, I watched the clock and at 8:00 all that black and blue just left my arm, like it is right now. It all left. Now that's the truth if I don't get up from this table. We both know it and Jake's sister was with me and she knows it, too. So when I got the letter from my mother, she said that they prayed at 8:00. That was exactly the time. I just know'd it would be healed.

Evangelist George Reader offers a similar description in which the exact time of prayer and healing can be verified. He had lost a lot of weight and did not have any strength. He turned yellow from head to toe.

EVANGELIST GEORGE READER: I was healed about 6 a.m. on Monday morning. I got this letter on Tuesday from a fellow pastor: "I was up reading my Bible early Monday morning and I got this burden for you. God gave me the victory, and I knew you were okay. I thought I'd write and let you know."

The healing of Alice Anderson's infant with the thyroid problem and of Elma Davis's infant with pellagra, as related earlier, are both dynamic instances in lives of the church people at McClaskey and Coal Creek. Each woman frequently testifies to the power of God, and these two healings are significant factors in their feelings of certainty.

Healings and other miracles play one of the most crucial roles in the Holiness-Pentecostal knowledge system. This is understandable, since sickness and near death are more traumatic and dramatic issues than most others. In a somewhat less crucial, but perhaps no less dramatic way, speaking in tongues plays an integral role in the Holiness-Pentecostal knowledge system.

Speaking in tongues serves to give evidence to a Holiness-

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Pentecostal that God is very near and is approving of the activity taking place. Many times speaking in tongues is a sign that God is still powerful and in control of the situation whatever it may be.

LARRY TUTTLE: Now first, the Holy Ghost can speak just to put his seal of approval on things.

TA: Is that what happens when someone is preaching?

LARRY TUTTLE: Yeah. As I said before, sometimes the man is in the man. Sometimes the man is in the Holy Ghost. But if a man is up there preaching and he speaks in tongues, to me, that means that the Holy Ghost is with him, the Holy Ghost is putting his anointing on him, and the Holy Ghost is saying, "I approve of this."

Speaking in tongues, whether in public or private, is often seen as a sign of personal assurance of God's existence and presence.

FRANK HARPER: I've never heard Sister Riley speaking in tongues like that in the three years I've been here. I said, "That's God."

ESTHER RILEY: When I pray, when I get down at home and pray by myself, when I'm burdened down or feel loaded down and I get down and pray and seek the Lord, I'll stay right with it 'til I get victory. And I take that [tongues] as a sign that I've got victory. If I get a burden or if I have a trial or something like that when I'm here at home, I pray and that's what I'm talking about.

TIM WAGNER: Usually, if it's in your language, like Spanish in an English church, and you know everyone speaks English and all of a sudden someone starts speaking in Spanish and you know they don't know a word of it, that's the Holy Ghost working through them to let you know it's got to be God. "There's a God somewhere; that boy can't just get up there and do that on his own 'cause he don't know that language."

Susie Tuttle describes an incident in which she was very concerned about an important situation in her life. As she was praying, she began to speak in tongues. "Just the calmest assurance came over me. I knew everything was going to turn out okay."

Thus far, the importance of feelings, voices, thoughts, dreams and visions, healings and other miracles, and tongues has been reviewed; these are all rather immediate sensations or observables

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of one type or another. The next three sources of valid data are of a somewhat different nature: the Bible, social knowledge (the church), and pragmatic wisdom.

Although often misquoted, the Bible is continually referred to as the primary written source of knowledge. It is highly esteemed by church-goer and non-church-goer alike.

EVANGELIST JASON ROCKFORD: We're not gonna be judged by the church, but by the Word. God will go back and say, ''It is written."

LEE RUSSELL ARMSTRONG: In judgment, God will say, "Didn't I leave my Word with you?"

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I can tell you one thing. You know the Bible, don't you? That's the wayit'll tell you exactly. I might tell you wrong; you believe the Bible and go by it and you can't go wrong.

Most churches in Southern Appalachia, regardless of the denomination, claim to base their beliefs and practices solely on the Bible. Each group charges that the others take the scriptural passages out of context and do not follow the whole gospel.

PAM KRAMER: 'Cause in the Bible it says, you see, we go strictly by the Bible.

"I can prove that scripturally" is a common expression in Southern Appalachia.

Most Holiness-Pentecostals conclude that the Holy Ghost and the Bible make up the foundation for all spiritual knowledge. Each one is a check on the other.

EVANGELIST THURMON JOHNSON: I can only know God as I travel through this book. They [another denomination] had busloads going to Selma, but they didn't have anyone in the book. If you stay in the book, everything else will be okay.

FRANK HARPER: The Bible is the only guide outside the Holy Spirit.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: A trick of the Devil: every thought and impression is from the Holy Ghost. It's blaspheming to

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say that the Holy Ghost said something he didn't. You'd better not believe in anything that's not corroborated in this book. The Holy Ghost wrote this book; he never contradicts his word.

Since the Bible is highly esteemed, a person who "gets serious about religion" usually goes to the Bible for instruction. Arthur Fields, a recent college graduate, reveals the role of the Bible in his spiritual growth.

ARTHUR FIELDS: When I first started out, my mom and dad introduced me to the church. And I didn't take it as serious as I should. They was always talking about Jesus Christ and "praise the Lord." That's when I was about eight or ten. I began to wonder when I was about twelve or fourteen, "What's this all about?" And then I heard a preacher preach about hell and fire and brimstone. And that got me kinda worried. Now how did I know I'm doing the right thing? And how did I know that there's a God? And how did I know that there is a Jesus Christ? And then, seem like, there's something came over me and told me: it's the Bible. The Bible is what we go by. It's, well, it's sorta known as the road-map to heaven. It told me right there within the Bible that the Bible was the holy Word of God. And it tells us what to do. So I started doing what the Bible says; it seems like a little voice just come and told me. Whenever I started reading the Bible, it sounded like it was another voice there, a-telling me that this was right. So I started, I started reading the Bible more and more, and I got where I really love to read the Bible. And I felt God's power upon me.

Arthur's older cousin encouraged him to read and memorize the beatitudes; the cousin even offered him some money if he would learn them all.

ARTHUR FIELDS: I started reading those. I kept reading 'em and I noticed, whenever I read these beatitudes, that I felt real good within myself. There was something in those words that really thrilled me or made me happy inside. And I began to realize that this is the Word of God. I've heard preachers say it's nothing to play around with; it's a serious thing. So as I got older, I began to wonder more about it, you know. Then I kept thinking back when my cousin said, "Learn those," and that feeling I had, when I read that. So I started combining these things together. I started putting them all together and trying to figure the puzzle out. I started doing that and then I started praying about it. The Lord showed me. You have to walk by faith, and you got to put it all in the hands of the Lord. I

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know I've put things in the hands of the Lord and he's answered prayer. He's done it. It seems like I'm bubblin' over inside, but I just don't know how to get it out.

As in any culture, organization, or group, the social interaction of Holiness-Pentecostals is an important component of knowledge. This is especially true among Holiness-Pentecostals because of the instant feedback during worship.

T. TIMOTHY ALEXANDER: I'm still preaching; I can feel the Spirit. If you feel the Spirit of God, say "Amen!"

EVANGELIST RICHARD GRAYSON: How many of you feel that what I just did was of God?

The continual outward demonstration of agreementsaying "amen," raising hands, standing, clappingtends to build a strong sense of solidarity. It encourages a person to believe that whatever sensations he is feeling are definitely from God.

TA: Do you have a hard time telling the difference between your conscience, the church, and God?

JEFF ALEXANDER: I grew up in the church learning all three things. God, the church, and conscience: they're all the same to me.

Since God, through the Holy Ghost, is the source of all true insights and knowledge, then all people who are in tune with God should receive basically the same message.

ROY EVANS: If two Holy Ghost-filled people get together, they'll agree on everything ... If a preacher preaches, it'll correspond with the Spirit and the Word.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Some preachers are not of God. If we have God deep down in our hearts, if we don't feel a connection, then we know he's not of God.

Every working knowledge system must in some way or another deal with results, with practical situations in life. The Holiness-Pentecostals of Coal Creek and McClaskey do not turn their backs on everyday evidence. Persons who do not drink have more

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money to spend on other things. Many families who live in squalor in Southern Appalachia are headed by men who spend most of their money on alcohol. This situation helps confirm the Holiness-Pentecostals' belief in holiness. Although every case does not result in a miraculous cure, the successful cases of healing reinforce the Holiness-Pentecostals' belief system.

Four young adultsArthur Fields, Susie Tuttle, Jim Wagner, and Leslie Alexanderspeak to the problem of a practical way of knowing. They emphasize praying, acting upon the insight received, and taking advantage of opportunities.

TA: How would you answer a man if he asked, "How do you know this is real?"

ARTHUR FIELDS: First thing I would do, first of all you got to believe there is a God. And then you gotta try. Put God to the test and see if he's not real. Do everything within your power that God requires of you; whatever he says in his Word, that you do. And if you do all that, then he's gonna ... you're gonna know that you've got him, because he'll reveal himself.

The way you reach the Lord is, like I said, you get down and humble yourself and you pray unto the Lord, because I always heard, according to the preacher, that prayer is the keys to the kingdom of heaven. When you get down and pray unto God and keep praying, the Lord will finally answer your prayer.

TA: When a person says, "I'm gonna turn it all over to God," how much is God's working and how much is my response?

SUSIE TUTTLE: I think that when we decide that we're gonna let God make the decisions, we have to take actions ourselves, because they have to be led by God. I think if we know what we want, I think he gives us the basic ideal of what we need. We build around this ideal. And then pray about it and say, "Was this sent by you, Lord?" and, if it was, he makes it all come about. And if it was something Satan has planted there, to take us away from Christ, then I think God will show us it's not the right thing for us. We have to take the actions; we can't just sit back and say, "Okay, Lord, now I'm ready. Let it happen." We have to go out and do something about it. But we have to take each step and say, "Lord, is this the step to take now?'' And I think he lets you know: yes or no, do this or don't do this.

TA: How do you know that God is real?

TIM WAGNER: You can take God and use him and get some-

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thing done and see it happen ... Everybody knows how to strike a match; they've learned. You know that if you take that match and strike it, there's going to be fire. It's not necessary, I think, to know God's going to move for you. But, take the Bible, and any prayer it says pray in there, or anything it says that God will do. Try himyou'll see it happen.

TA: How do you know the right vocational choice or whom to marry?

LESLIE ALEXANDER: With guys, the feelings wouldn't grow, we'd meet new people. God never came down and hit me on the head. God's not going to hit me on the head and tell me to marry this guy or that. He'll just work it out, where you know.

TA: Do you ultimately have to trust your own mind?

LESLIE ALEXANDER: Yeah. I used to be worried about God's will for my life. It kept me upset, 'cause I didn't know, you know. Just several months ago a minister told me that the Lord opens doors; you've got to try those doors. And if they shut in your face then you know it isn't the Lord's will. If the doors keep opening, then you know it's God's will. If you try a door, and things keep going pretty smoothly, you know it's the Lord's will. Sometimes when the door gets shut, the Lord is just trying you on your faith. But you'll knowyou'll know.

Doubts And Uncertainties

There is probably no knowledge system which gives adequate interpretation to every question and situation. Some systems or models may seem to fit experience better than others. The knowledge system of Holiness-Pentecostals is perhaps more vulnerable than many other religious systems because it expresses itself steadfastly about two observable events: speaking in tongues and healing. Healing, to a certain extent, can be verified; the person did or did not get well. Often, however, among healed persons, it is difficult to get accurate information about the "before" condition.

Healing is perhaps the strongest potential source of uncertainty or doubt among Holiness-Pentecostals. This doubt is not concerned with theological factor with the broad scope of healing; everyone knows that God heals and does it everywhere, and often.

Personal doubt arises when a person feels that he has done everything he should before God (prayed, prayed without ceas-

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ing, prayed believing, lived a good life) and the healing still does not take place.

MARTHA EVANS: [August] I thank God for the good Holy Ghost. I felt his healing power tonight. I feel like I was healed. I'm gonna go back to the doctor just to make sure.

MARTHA EVANS: [the following January] I know God can heal. I don't know why he hasn't this time though.

In the latter part of January, Martha Evans decided to have an operation; it was successful.

Esther Riley has diabetes and her condition became acute during my stay at Coal Creek. Her desire to believe that God can heal her and her lingering doubt both are seen as she testifies.

ESTHER RILEY: [September] Whether I got healed or not, I know he can ... he will if he hasn't already. If the Lord sees fit, I'm ready [to die]. But I believe he'll fix my body right. I feel healing virtue. I felt something come down on me. I enjoyed this service real good.

ESTHER RILEY: [the following January] The Devil tries to make me feel I've got sugar diabetes. God can heal it the same as anything else. It just got me down when the doctor told me it was incurable.

Darrell Graves, a retired man who has failing eyesight, brought his problem before the McClaskey congregation. Although he was prayed over numerous times, his vision continually worsened. Finally, he had an operation to help his condition. He testifies a few months after the operation.

DARRELL GRAVES: I haven't gained much strength. I don't know why the Lord has let me go through what I've gone through. I think I'd rather for the Lord to take me out of this world. Some of the best people I know of have had to suffer. And I wonder why.

Uncertainty about one's personal salvation is also of constant concern as evidenced by the testimonies and prayer requests. Almost every person at the Coal Creek church has openly expressed his personal doubts and concern at one time or another.

Esther Riley always expresses her uncertainty in a quiet, apologetic voice, as these three testimonies illustrate.

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ESTHER RILEY: I searched my heart and life. If I have anything against somebody, I don't know it. I want to be without sin. I want to go to heaven. I may not make it, but I keep trying. In my little ignorant way, I keep going.

I feel so little, like I can't do anything much for the Lord. I'm trying my best to move up. When I come to heaven, I want my record to be clean. I don't want one blot or blemish to keep me out.

I ain't been feeling so good. Tonight I couldn't hardly keep my eyes open. I just nod all the time. One thing sure, I don't have no desire to go after worldly pleasures. If I don't make it, it'll be because of other failures. I love his people; I love the church; I love everyone in it. I love the Lord; he knows my heart.

Jake Riley was saved and backslid several times as a younger man; his most recent salvational experience was less than ten years ago. He seldom testifies of his salvational doubts in church, but he did mention them to me in a conversation on his front porch.

TA: Do you ever have lots of doubts about whether or not you're saved?

JAKE RILEY: Well, sometimes I get a little uneasy, I sure do. Sometimes I really study, "If I was to die, would I go to hell?" I know I'm a-failing.

TA: Does that happen very often, that you feel that way?

JAKE RILEY: Sometimes. No, it don't happen too often. I can feel the spirit of the Lord in church and in other places too. But sometimes, I'll tell ya, I fail a whole lot by not visiting the sick people and the orphan children.

The prayer requests and testimonies are often either a plea for prayers that the person will make it to heaven, or a statement of reassurance.

MARTHA EVANS: Without him, I couldn't have made it this far, but I pray he'll stay with me so I can make it through.

CYNTHIA JOHNS: You know, I was just thinking, I enjoyed that preaching. If I died tonight, I'd be ready.

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DOROTHY RILEY: If I don't do his will, I won't get to be with him. I don't do all I can.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: I know I ain't where I ought to be because I pray and pray and pray and maybe it'll happen once in a while.

''If the Spirit of God is not in you, you're not one of mine. If you abide in me and my words in youask what ye will and it may be done."

Sometimes I pray and my prayers aren't answered. So, I'm in doubt, maybe I'm not living right.

Even having the baptism of the Holy Ghost does not preclude a person from salvational doubts.

GLORIA NORRIS: After I was saved and got the Holy Ghost, I just didn't have much faith. We must have faith that we can keep it.

The anxiety among several of the church-goers who are not saved or have backslid is everpresent.

TA: Do you think about the final judgment?

ELSIE BAKER: I think about it all the time. When I get to smothering [asthma], I'll think, "What if I didn't wake up?" I know where I'd end up at. I don't need no preacher to tell me that.

TA: Do you fear the final judgment?

ELSIE BAKER: Yeah. I do right now. Going to church like I been doing ain't good enough. I'd have to make that final step myself.

As seen earlier in the account of Vernon Watson, the constant fear of backsliding can have a dramatic effect on an individual's sense of happiness and well-being. Vernon was not the only person who was concerned about the constant battle of backsliding.

LARRY TUTTLE: It's neither physically, nor mentally, nor spiritually healthy to battle that every day.

The doubts were usually expressed during testimonies or in the course of conversations dealing with other topics. When directly questioned, few people ever expressed uncertainty.

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TA: Bertha, what if you have faith and you're still not healed?

BERTHA ARMSTRONG: If you have faith and the people praying for you have faith, you'll be healed.

TA: Have there ever been times when you prayed for things and they didn't happen?

TIM WAGNER: I honestly don't believe there's ever been a time. Not when I really got down on it: "Now Lord, this is something I want; I'm desperate." I have found this: the more I pray for things that I want for myself, the less I get of it. The more I pray for other people, the more God does for me.

Sincerity

Amid the honest doubts expressed to me during the year there are currents of hope and expectation. Above all, there is a trust that God will accomplish his goals and ultimately take care of his people.

LESLIE ALEXANDER: I was raised in a preacher's home. A lot of things happened and I couldn't understand why God let it happen. But I just looked at it "Well, Lord, you know what you're doing." I know a lot of times I question God and ask him, "Why?" But, we're only human. We're not supposed to question God, but we're only human. And things have happened and I've said, "Well, God, why?" But all the time he knows what he's doing.

FRED PIERCE: Even the apostles didn't have the gift of healing all the time. I just believe there's a time and place for God to get the glory. God may never heal me, but I'm going to look with expectation for him to do it.

JOSH ARMSTRONG: We had a good preacher here; he loved the church at Coal Creek. When he preached, why you could feel the Lord all over your body. Boy, he'd preach and shout. He'd even have dreams about Coal Creek. He really liked it here.

Then he got sick and died. I think the doctors killed him. They gave him something and it reacted against him, and he died. I never did understand that. Now there's causes. Jonathan [a man who recently died] was only fifty-three; he's younger than me. But maybe there was a reasonfor his family. "All things work together for good for them that love the Lord." There's a plan and, in the long run, things will work out for the best.

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It is this beliefthis sinceritywhich is essential to proper knowledge. It is a pivotal point in the Holiness-Pentecostal knowledge system.

JOSH ARMSTONG: Sometimes we don't understand the Lord, but he understands us. If we're honest-hearted and want to know about him ...

SAMUEL JENKINS: I don't believe we can be deceived if you're honest in your heart.

EVANGELIST W. J. RAWLINGS: Anybody who's got the Holy Ghost and is honest can know the truth.

The Validity Factor

The various accounts of visions, voices, and healings seem to point to an element often overlooked in epistemological studies. For a majority of persons, the importance or severity or vulnerability of an event plays a significant role in the forming of that person's knowledge system. Although the logical, rational, and statistical problems may not be worked out, an incident of crucial importance simply "cannot be disregarded." However, an insignificant or trivial event must be verified many times. For example, if a person prays that his headache will go away or that his stomach will quit hurting, one case is not enough to convince him that God is in the healing business. It could have just been fate, or luck, or chance. However, if a person's baby daughter is about to die (as in the case of Alice Anderson) and the person prays and at that very moment the baby suddenly quits coughing and gasping and becomes healthy, it would be difficult to simply pass it off as chance or insignificant. Also, a person cannot experimentally reproduce the same situations in order to validate his findings. A single experience is all that is available; observing the similar situations of others is never quite the same.

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15

The Personality

The continuing debate concerning those factors which best explain religious membership, ideology, and behavior has found an appropriate focus in the study of Holiness-Pentecostals. Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia speak in tongues, run in the aisles, dance in the spirit, enter into altered states of consciousness, roll on the floor, shout, scream, pass out, and lie unconscious on the floor. The question is: "Are the determinants of these behaviors related to psychological or personality traits?"

Researchers use diverse terms in assessing the psychological factors involved: psychological adjustment, ego strength, adequately structured value-attitude systems, dogmatism, emotional stability, frustration tolerance, uncertainty concerning interpersonal relationships, psychological strength, social and psychological deprivation, psychological inadequacy, and psychopathology.1 But researchers continue to debate whether persons who

1. See Christopher (1971), Hood (1974), Kildahl ( 1972), Lindenthal et al. (1970), Moberg (1965), Richardson (1973), Stark (1971), Swindell and L'Abate (1970), Vivier (1960), and Wood (1965).

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participate in glossolalia and other Holiness-Pentecostal behaviors are doing so because of personality weaknesses, whatever their source.

John D. Photiadis suggests in Religion in Appalachia (1978) that the determinants of Southern Appalachian religious membership, ideology, and behavior are: socialization, accommodation, cognition, and deprivation. Socialization is that process by which a child learns how to behave and perceive and value in a particular culture. Accommodation usually refers to the role of social pressure or convenience in religious involvement. Cognition denotes the attachment to religious doctrines on the basis of already established values and world view. One chooses a church, practice, or doctrine because of prior cognitive commitments. Deprivation, which can be economic, social, physical, or emotional, refers to disadvantages that groups or individuals may experience or perceive in comparison to others.

Socialization And Accommodation

In the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church (located in a hollow with twenty-three regular adult attenders), much of the membership affiliation can be explained by socialization and accommodation: eleven of the members have parents who were Holiness-Pentecostals before them, four attend this church because they live close to the church, three attend because their spouses attend, and five are converts. However, two of the five converts are passive individuals who joined the Holiness-Pentecostal Church when their spouses did so.

All four of those who attend because of the close proximity of the church are female. Three do not own cars, and the one who owns a car says that proximity is the key reason for her affiliation. None of the four ever attended a Holiness-Pentecostal church until they moved close to the Coal Creek church. Accommodation, in the sense of physical proximity, seems a plausible explanation for the membership of these four persons. Therefore, the participation of only three individuals out of twenty-three is not compatible with a socialization/accommodation thesis.

This finding is consistent with the research of Bibby and

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Brinkerhoff (1973); in their investigation of twenty evangelical churches, only 9% of the additions to church membership were proselyted conversions. They note that "... the highly publicized proselytizing image of groups like the Pentecostals and Nazarenes is not borne out by the data" (Bibby and Brinkerhoff 1973:278).

Not only church membership, but much of religious behavior, can be accounted for with the socialization process. Learning is a significant factor both in glossolalia and in acting-out behavior.

During most altar services, the teenagers and adults are the center of attention. They make most of the noise and do almost all of the acting out. However, the young children are careful observers of everything that happens.

Very young childen are often given tambourines or other noisemakers and encouraged to participate in the singing. Children old enough to go to the altar (as young as four years of age) are not turned away. Several girls or boys usually go down to the altar together. Time after time I observed their detailed imitation. One of the young children will see an adult waving his arms back and forth; the child will mimic that activity. Soon, every young child at the altar will join him. The young children learn how to agonize and cry and moan. They learn to lean over on each other and rest. I often saw several five-year-old girls agonizing and sobbing and swaying to the music for ten or fifteen minutes at a time. The youngsters' attention span is never as long as the adults. They often go back to their pews, talk awhile, and then return to the altar for more agonizing.

A college girl describes her feelings about the altar activity when she was very young.

LESLIE ALEXANDER: I would get with a bunch of my girl friends and we'd go together, like, "Let's go pray. The other grownups are doing it. Let's do what they're doing." It was just like a copy, sorta, type thing.

The two Holiness-Pentecostal churches and their respective reference (control) groups answered a questionnaire concerning several attitudinal variables, including dogmatism, neuroticism, self-image, trust in people, fear of death, perception of locus of

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control, and perception of the nature of God.2 The McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church serves working-class people in a town of several thousand; a Baptist church of similar socioeconomic status in McClaskey is its reference group. The Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church is located in the mountains and serves the hollow folk; for a reference measure, I administered the questionnaire to the people in the geographically isolated area surrounding the hollow church.3

In combining the two reference groups and comparing them with the two Holiness-Pentecostal churches, I witness several trends. There are no significant differences between the HolinessPentecostals and the reference groups concerning tendencies toward neuroticism, levels of dogmatism, or trust in people. The Holiness-Pentecostals do tend to see God as more benevolent; they also possess a more positive self-image, are less fearful of death, and have a stronger perception of internal locus of control (see Table 1).

Among the members of the two Holiness-Pentecostal churches, a useful comparison can be made between those who speak in tongues and those who have never experienced glossolalia. There are no differences in relation to tendencies toward neuroticism, levels of dogmatism, self-image, locus of control, trust in people, or perception of the nature of God between glossolalists and nonglossolalists. There is one difference: those who speak in tongues are less fearful of death (see Table 2).

Within the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church, I was

2. Attitudinal Scales Used

a. Neuroticism Scale (Willoughby)

b. Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg)

c. Dogmatism Scale (Trodahl & Powell)

d. Trust in People (Survey Research Center, University of Michigan)

e. Nature of God Scale (developed for this study)

f. Fear of Death Scale (developed for this study)

g. Locus of Control Scale (Nowicki-Strickland Personal Reaction Survey Grades 712; this scale was used because Rotter's adult scale gives a choice between two statements as its format. The people found this format too confusing.)

3. Return Rate of Questionnaires (adults and teenagers)

Target Groups

# Completed

%

a. McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church

63 of 102

62%

b. McClaskey Baptist Church

43 of 84

51%

c. Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal Church

20 of 23

83%

d. Coal Creek Area

129 of 545

24%

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Table 1

Table 2

able to categorize the membership concerning their acting-out behavior (speaking in tongues, running the aisles, dancing in the spirit, passing out during worship activities, screaming, shouting, and frequently presenting long, detailed testimonies). This division is based on a year's observation during the worship services and is my personal perception and evaluation of their acting-out behavior. One group is composed of those who continually act out; one group is made up of those who never did act out during my year of observation. A third group includes those who once or twice acted out during the year, but did not do so characteristically. There are no differences along the ''acting-out continuum" in relation to tendencies toward neuroticism, levels of dogmatism, trust in people, self-image, fear of death, locus of control, or the perception of the nature of God.4 Here again, there

4. Chi square was used here in comparing the three groups along the "acting-out continuum." Also, the "never" group was combined with the "occasional" group and compared against the ''often" group using a comparison of means test: again, there were no statistically significant differences at the .01 level.

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is no indication of Holiness-Pentecostal anxiety or inflexibility. Certainly these findings do not support a psychological deprivation hypothesis, with its assumption that Holiness-Pentecostals, glossolalists, or those who act out are psychologically unsound.

Since one Holiness-Pentecostal church and its reference group are located in the hollow, and the other Holiness-Pentecostal church and its reference group are located in a small town, a rural/urban dichotomy can be made and comparisons drawn.

On all seven variables, there are significant rural/urban differences. The urban persons have a more positive self-image, are less dogmatic, have fewer tendencies toward neuroticism, are more trusting of people, are less fearful of death, have a stronger perception of internal locus of control, and see God as more benevolent than do the rural, hollow folk (see Table 3).

A deprivation hypothesis can be used to explain rural/urban differences, but it is not useful when comparing HolinessPentecostals and other church groups. Therefore, the variables of dogmatism, neuroticism, self-image, trust in people, fear of death, locus of control, and perception of the nature of God do not help explain glossolalia, acting out, or Holiness-Pentecostal affiliation (at least, as measured by the attitudinal scales used).

Table 3

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Cognition

Certainly there are persons who join the Holiness-Pentecostal Church because of reasons relating to cognition. There arc three specific ways in which the Holiness-Pentecostal Church fulfills previously developed value orientations.

First, there are persons who are attracted by the holiness code. Persons who are appalled by the current secular morality appreciate the Holiness-Pentecostal stand against "worldly" activities.

Second, people occasionally convert to the Holiness-Pentecostal Church because of an experience of divine healing. In the area of Southern Appalachia where this research was conducted, the Holiness-Pentecostals were the only ones who consistently prayed for miraculous cures, conducted healing lines, and anointed the sick. Many times I observed a non-Holiness-Pentecostal family bringing their sick infant to a healing service on the weekend before the child was to have surgery. One of the most faithful members of the Coal Creek Holiness-Pentecostal ChurchElma Daviswas converted because of a healing experience (see chapter 6).

Finally, people convert to the Holiness-Pentecostal Church because of the freedom of individual expression evident in the worship experience. As illustrated earlier, a quiet and formal worship structure does not meet the needs of some individuals, especially since it does not offer a time of self-disclosure.

Deprivation

The tremendous amount of frenzied behavior in the HolinessPentecostal Church suggests to many observers that there must be a psychologically based reason for this action. One HolinessPentecostal minister in Southern Appalachia shares such a conviction.

FRANK HARPER: I think there is a personality type that the church does draw.

TA: What kind?

FRANK HARPER: Hysterical. People with a history of emotional problems. It has definitely drawn that kind.

TA: How would you contrast that to an Episcopalian church?

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FRANK HARPER: I don't think that's so among any other church. I think this is the church that draws people who are emotionally upset, people who have problems. Not so much the drunkard or the dope addict or the prostitute. I don't think it's that. I think other churches have just as many converts in that line of field. I'm talking about people who are emotionally upsetabout people who have problems controlling their emotions.

TA: Why do you think Pentecostalism particularly draws that kind of person?

FRANK HARPER: Because they express so much emotion: shouting and dancing in the spirit, running and speaking in tongues.The biggest thing is the shouting and another thing is testifyingthe outspokenness of the group. It's not just the person who has ... like the child who grows up and is maybe never aware that his father didn't show him as much affection as he should have. Sometimes, but not too often, that type of thing.

TA: Do you see it as a negative thing, that the church draws that kind of personality type?

FRANK HARPER: Yeah, I do. The average minister doesn't. They overlook itthey say the gospel says the poor have the gospel preached to them and go out into the streets and the withered and maimed ... That's kind of been my crutch, too. There's nothing I as one person can do about it. That's kind of been a way that I have just accepted it and went on. There's nothing I can hardly do about It.

Within the McClaskey Holiness-Pentecostal Church, it was possible to obtain additional information concerning the family background of each member. There is a relationship between the number of family members who are members of the HolinessPentecostal Church and the amount of acting-out behavior. Those who never act out have the largest number of their family as fellow members in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church. Those who occasionally act out have an intermediate amount of familial participation. Fifty percent of those who often act out have no one or only a sibling in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church. The trend seems to be the higher the number of fellow family members in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church, the less the tendency to act out (see Table 4). Also, those who act out often tend to be older and have less formal education (see Table 5).

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Table 4

Table 5

Birth ordinal position is also significant. Fifty percent of those who returned a questionnaire (in the McClaskey HolinessPentecostal Church) are middle children. Few youngest children have experienced glossolalia; a majority of oldest children have experienced speaking in tongues (see Table 6).

There are three major differences between the sexes in relation to worship behavior; these differences concern acting out, testifying, and speaking in tongues.

Females tend to act out more readily and with more intensity than do the males; this trend is found among both teenagers and adults. Even under the most ordinary of circumstances, a majority of the females will raise their hands and say "amen"; the males

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Table 6

are more hesitant to do so. The females are usually the first to stand and clap when the music builds up. Few males ever run the aisles, whereas this behavior is relatively common among females. Whenever the music and singing get to an unusually high fervor, only the females "dance in the spirit."

Of the ten to fifteen times I observed someone pass out and fall to the floor, only once was it a male; he was a teenager seeking the Holy Ghost. Of the more than one hundred persons I observed who went to the altar to be anointed for healing, only two were males.

The testimonial behavior is different between the sexes. The ratio of prayer requests/testimonials over a year's observation time was eight females to every male. There were only six lengthy testimonials (more than three or four minutes) given by males during the entire year; there were several by females at every service.

More females have experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost than males. The frequency of glossolalic utterances is the greatest difference between the sexes. Although a large proportion of the men have experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost, i.e., have spoken in tongues at least once in their lives, only three males spoke in tongues loud enough for me to detect during an entire year of observation. In comparison, scores of females spoke in tongues during the year.

Three separate multiple regression equations, 1) whether or not one speaks in tongues, 2) the frequency with which one

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speaks in tongues, and 3) the frequency with which one acts out during worship, are regressed upon a series of potential determinant factors. Because these regression analyses are conducted only on the two Holiness-Pentecostal churches and, consequently, have a sample size of only sixty-three, interpretations must be conservative and any conclusions tentative at best.5

In all three regression equations, a pattern does emerge: age, gender, and occupation are consistent determinants of whether one ever speaks in tongues, the frequency with which one speaks in tongues, and the frequency with which one acts out during worship. Females, older persons, and those of lower occupation status are more likely to speak in tongues at least once, to speak in tongues more frequently on a continuing basis, and to act out more often during worship. Certainly the combination of these three factors supports a general theme of social deprivation. Older females of lower occupational standing do represent a disenfranchised segment of society. The intricate social-psychological mechanisms intervening between social deprivation and intense emotional involvement during worship are beyond the scope not only of this study, but of much of the research focusing on human motivation.

One other clear pattern emerges from the regression equations. In each regression, the social or situational factors (gender, age, occupation, ordinal position) are more powerful predictors of glossolalia and acting-out behavior than are the attitudinal factors (dogmatism, neuroticism, self-image, locus of control, fear of death). The social deprivation reflected by age, gender, and occupation is not translating into traditional attitudinal explanations of glossolalianeuroticism, dogmatism, self-image, and others. Again, the psychological manifestations of social deprivation are not easily ascertained.

5. The regression, equations themselves are not being reproduced here to avoid any suggestion that the regression coefficients be interpreted as precise mathematical contributions of the determining factors. The coefficients of determination are as follows: whether or not one speaks in tongues, r^2 = .56; the frequency with which one speaks in tongues, r^2 = .99; the frequency with which one acts out during worship, r^2 = .99. The obviously high coefficient of determination on the latter two variables is somewhat misleading because of the small sample size (N = 63) and the fact that older females do a disproportionately large amount of speaking in tongues and acting out. Clearly these two factors (age and gender) have not "explained" the complexity of the behavior at hand, despite their ability to predict.

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Conclusion

The seven attitudinal scale variables used in the questionnaire suggest few differences between Holiness-Pentecostals and their reference-group counterparts; the differences which are found point to positive Holiness-Pentecostal qualities. No differences between glossolalists and nonglossolalists suggesting any psychological deprivation on the part of persons who speak in tongues are evident from these data. The same holds true for those who tend to act out in worship. Socialization and accommodation certainly seem to have much explanatory power when the attitudinal variables are considered alone. Rural/urban differences do support a deprivation conclusion. Those persons living in the hollow tend to have questionnaire scores reflecting higher levels of dogmatism, more tendencies toward neuroticism, poorer self-images, and less benevolent perceptions of God than their urban neighbors.

The situational variables suggest that gender, age, occupational status, birth order, and the number of family members in the Holiness-Pentecostal Church are important factors in glossolalia and acting-out behavior. The situational variables certainly support a social-deprivation hypothesis.

Since several shortened versions of standardized scales were used in this study in order to facilitate fieldwork conditions, it may be that much of the validity of the scale is lost in the shortened form. An alternative conclusion is that attitudinal measures are not as powerful indicators as are situational and behavioral factors.

Overall, it can be concluded that much of Holiness-Pentecostal membership, ideology, and behavior is due to socialization. Children everywhere learn to perceive, behave, and value in accordance with their cultural setting. And, it is no mystery that those who move geographically or change their occupational and educational status also alter their religious behaviors; rather than indicate something negative about those "left behind," this process strengthens the credibility of the power of socialization.

We know so little as students of personality when it comes to understanding emotional "health." Whether social deprivation manifested as intense emotional involvement during worship is healthy remains a complex question. Attitudinal questionnaires

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and clinical assessments add some to our understanding. Sensitive listeners and careful observers must continue to probe the wholeness of man and the role of religious ideology and behavior in that wholeness.

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16

Conclusions

The Holiness-Pentecostals of Southern Appalachia

The God of the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia is a personal God: tender, loving, and caring. He is also demanding of his people and calls them to high standards of excellence. He is also just: powerful, judging, and even dangerous.

Because he is loving and caring, God gives much to his people. He gives insight, power, boldness, special gifts, and strength to carry on through the most difficult of circumstances. He gives good feelings, both in the body and the mind, and he heals sick and troubled bodies. As a special blessing, he anoints with his Holy Ghostthe height of spiritual experience.

Because of his demanding nature, God expects much. He expects his people to be obedient, and he sets before them, through the Scriptures, clearly defined rules of sin and disobe-

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dience. He calls his people to be different from the world in dress, action, thought, and worship. He demands that they walk the straight and narrow path which alone leads to spiritual reward.

Because of his just nature, God must judge. He disciplines and punishes his people while they are still on earth in the hope that they will not have to face final judgment and be condemned. He knows every sin and is in control of the final tribulation: heaven and hell are in his hands alone.

God gives, expects, and judges. And his people respond to all three of these facets of his nature. In response to his giving, the people love him deeply, give thanks to his name, and sacrifice to his service. They rejoice in moments of certainty, shout praises in elation at being healed, and give in totally to his will, with their bodies and minds, as they experience the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

In response to God's expectations, they live a life which brings ridicule from their peers, but they continue to work hard at letting their light shine, bright and holy. They agonize in repentance at the altar for failing to meet his standards. They stress the experiential aspect of their religion, knowing full well the tremendous will and dedication needed to follow their God. And they acknowledge their need for each other in time of sickness, sin, and tragedy; God is closer at the altar when one's friends are praying, too.

In response to God's judgment' they feel small, undeserving, often helpless. They fear backsliding and losing favor with him who is not to have his plan or wisdom questioned. They attribute failures and tragedies to God's justice and anxiously seek his mercy and guidance. They fearfully hunger for heaven and passionately call out to their friends and family to get right with God and join them in their long-awaited reward.

Through their continual affirmation of their need for their land, their friends, and their God, there seems to be missing any affirmation of the worth and strength of the self. Perhaps this seems a problem only in a culture such as ours where the self is always paraded at the expense of the other three. Holiness-Pentecostals experience much doubt and uncertainty; part of this uncertainty comes from the tension of being different from the mainstream of society and part comes from the frustration we all

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experiencethe human condition of birth, death, marriage, sickness, and the unseen future.

Even though I have described the worship behavior of Holiness-Pentecostals in detail, I feel that the most crucial element is not the behavior itself, but its role in the lives of the people. Worship is not just a release of energy. These are not secular peopleGod is their all. This is not energy to be spent elsewhere; this is the main event. All of life is hanging in the balance.

As stated in the beginning, I do not see myself speaking from a higher plain of truth than the people in the hollowonly from another perspective based on different experiences. It is difficult for us to become aware of the tremendous effect socialization has upon our values and behavior. Thus it is with Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia; thus it is with us all.

Felt and Said

All of this is entitled ''better felt than said.'' It is the way one person summed up her experience with the Holy Ghost, and it seems to catch the Holiness-Pentecostal emphasis on the experientialthe total encounter with one's God. And, although the Holiness-Pentecostals in Southern Appalachia agree that it is better felt than said, they say it well. They experience deeply and express clearly the love and need they have

for their land:

RUTH JORDAN: If I owned only a square yard of land, I wouldn't sell it. At least I could stand on it and see what the world looks like from my land.

for their friends:

JOSH ARMSTRONG: Without our brothers and sisters, I don't hardly know how we'd carry on. When one of our members isn't present we miss 'em. Sometimes the load gets so heavy. One person can't push a truck up a hill; but five or six can push it right up. Same way for the Lordit takes the whole body to work for the Lord. The one who seems the more feeble is really worth more. Let's love each other so that when one's in trouble, we're all in trouble.

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for their god:

ELMA DAVIS: god is so good. Some say it with their lips, but I believe it deep down in me. I couldn't live without the spirit of the lord. I'd just soon die if I couldn't have the lord. He's my lifehe is!

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