Dear Gayle Knotts, thankyou for your question. You have reason to be concerned.

I am giving you alot of truth here.Not as I see it but rather as the Word says.

Jesus came to set the captives free and he will set your family free.

Get involved in your Bible.Learn how to Praise if you don't already know.

That is your greatest weapon against this type of situation.

Personally I would not challenge this situation without a very good "Real" man of God with me ,someone who really loves the Lord and knows the power of God.It's best to pray and ask the Lord to lead YOU to say the right words.

He can and will do this for you.

In reference to this church and it's influence on this family I am praying with you today (seriously) that they can see the Light of God,not the Dark of the devil.

Very seriously.This is not a Biblical church.

There are many churches God does not go to.Sometimes they are big churches ,sometimes they are little churches.

Always they are "the church of man" not "the church of God" and they are playing masquerade and taking what is the Lord's including your family,

They would only need to understand that Praise & Worship are a powerful weapon against satan and it's very important to do both to realize that this is not a biblical church.

Churches of this type usually have a misconception be it on purpose or not,of satan being thrown out of heaven.satan was God's most musical angel..by NO MEANS did God allow satan,the spirit being to take the music with him!! Instead satan perverts everything ..he can NOT be good. satan KNOWS that Praise and Worship to the Lord (yes with instruments and voices) is a weapon and he hates it. It renders him useless.

So,unless it is satan who is running the church there would be no reason to avoid instruments playing and singing,joyful worship...but satan would not be able to stand that.he only loves himself and his own perverted music. satan is "religious" to lure innocent christians who don't understand why PRAISE TO GOD is so vital !

Believe me,"the devil plays church."

Here are some verses to explain further :Deuteronomy 8:10 ,Deuteronomy 10:21,3 Chronicles 5:13, 2 Chronicles 20:19,2 Chronicles 20:22, 2 Chronicles 23:13,

I am giving you some a verse below that cannot be misconstrued to anyone's ego and as you've noticed the man in charge of the church has no problem with his own.If it were really an issue for this man he would not do this himself.A major clue to who he really is.

Psalm 149:3 "Let them praise His name with dancing and make music to Him with the tamborine and the harp."

Ha! We can even dance if we want to! We can sing with JOY and INSTRUMENTS!

If anyone says this is not so I pray the Lord will deal with them in such a way they will stop the lies .I encourage you to Praise the Lord yourself and watch the delivery of your children from this church. If you'd like to send me their first names and the minister name I will put them on a prayer line .

Concerning the children: Most often when we see someone who demands that others believes as these people are being told they cannot justify the things they demand.

And sometimes these type of "Ministers" are actually perverse themselves and can be abusers. I am not saying this is so for this individual.I am saying it's common.

Instead of having the pure love of the Lord directing the children it's this man who does not appear to have any faith in the Lord but only in his own power which isn't worth a hoot! Keeping open communication with the children is important !

If you have material from this church that explains "Biblically" why there is such a mandate for children I would appreciate seeing it.You can email it or fax it if you like,I just need to know ahead of time.

Here are some websites you may want to check out:

Is Satan a musical angel? Do angels sing? - at BibleStudy.org

Cult Apologists : What you should know about cult defenders - religious cults, sects and movements

Let me know if you need more help? I am here for you.