A Review of Ted R. Weiland's Bible Sermons

“Songs for His People”, and Why I left Ted’s Group:

By John Hurt

The “Songs for His People” meeting was a musical conference held each year in late February near Branson, MO. The main purpose of this conference was to allow families and their children to play music for everyone. Even though there was no “racism” or “hate” taught at this conference, the simple fact that a white person could believe that he was “Israel” was enough to get someone’s reputation destroyed by association.

The local newspapers would send in people to find out who was there, and a prominent musical family that made their living by writing and playing children’s songs had their careers destroyed by the newspapers. I did not realize this when I first attended the conference, but that was the environment.

The organizers of “Songs for His People” would always put Ted Weiland as their keynote speaker, and the first few sermons I heard him give were very powerful, uplifting, and based on the Bible. Again, there was no hatred of other races, just that we should be held to a higher standard if we thought we were Israel.

Baptismal Regeneration

The first “crack” I noticed in Ted’s sermons was that he taught that you are saved by “Baptism through immersion in water.” He quoted 1st Peter 3:21, which can be misconstrued to support this idea.

Ted Weiland started his ministry as a preacher for the "Church of Christ," a denomination that believes baptism by immersion in water is required for salvation.

This is the doctrine of "Baptismal Regeneration", a doctrine that originated with the Catholic church, and is now taught by the Church of Christ.

I was raised in the Church of Christ, and as a child, I accepted this doctrine. But when I matured, I realized that this doctrine was not correct, and I repented and left the Church of Christ denomination.

Ted has never left the Church of Christ and still believes that water saves you.

Ted Weiland practically said at “Songs for His People” that it was “my way, or the highway” to being saved by water baptism, and anyone who disagreed was lost and going to hell.

When Ted taught we are saved “by the water” at “Songs for His People” at least two of the very prominent musical families got up and walked out, or let it be known that they were not coming back to Songs for His People as long as Ted Weiland was there.

The Celebration of Christmas

The next year, one of the musical families that provided “Celtic” music came out with a Christmas album, which created a lot of controversy. To support the family that made this Christmas album, Ted Weiland gave a sermon and said that since Christmas celebrates Christ, it was important for us to keep the Christmas holiday.

I was shocked. I knew that December 25th was the birthday of Mithras, the Sun God of Constantine, and that Christmas had nothing to do with Christ.

Mixing the profane with what is holy is the definition of blasphemy.

When we mix the profane with the holy, like the profane Santa, reindeer, the Christmas tree, December 25th, etc., with the holy Name of Christ, that is blasphemy and breaks the 3rd Commandment by taking the Name of Christ in vain:

Exodus 20:(7) Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

I want to be “guiltless” before God, and I don’t follow Ted on this at all. Christmas is a pagan holiday dedicated to Mithras and renamed for Christ.

Reindeer and Santa Claus have nothing to do with Christ. Pastor Sheldon Emry wrote an excellent book called “Is Christmas Christian?” which you can purchase from America’s Promise Ministries that proves Christmas is a pagan ritual and not from Christ.

When Ted Weiland began supporting the pagan holidays is when I “saw through” Ted Weiland for what he was. He is more interested in appealing to his audience than in following the truth.

The End of the "Songs for His People" Conference.

After this, I started to notice that every year Ted Weiland spoke at “Songs for His People” then the next year the crowd got smaller. People got tired of listening to Ted Weiland.

This was a very conservative group that spent time studying the Bible. Not many believed Ted's ideas on "Baptismal Regeneration", and almost no one supported Ted's ideas about Christmas, as they are not in the Bible. These teachings of Ted Weiland repulsed a lot of the people that attended.

I attended the last "Songs for His People" conference in February 2014 and it was down to 50 people, with Ted Weiland as the only professional speaker. And only 2 or 3 musical families bothered to participate.

The only reason I kept taking my family to “Songs for His People” was to see the friends I had made there. I did not care what Ted Weiland taught after he came out in support of Christmas.

But it hurt to see that the “Songs for His People” conference, which had lasted over 15 years and at one time had up to 400 people in attendance, had dwindled down to nothing. I think the majority of the problem was because of the doctrines of Ted Weiland.

It was really sad. I can see now, that the rejection of Ted Weiland and his doctrines was the "beginning" of why people lost interest in attending the "Songs for His People" conference, but at the time, I was oblivious.

Next Chapter:

Ted Weiland and His “Bad Doctrines”.

You can contact me at:

John Hurt

1857 Brindley Hollow Rd
Buffalo Valley, TN 38548

Whatever you tell me will be kept confidential and will not be repeated.

If you would like to learn how Christ is superior to all other writers in the New Testament, please go to jesuswordsonly.org