And then, Brother Decker said that about Thursday night, it began to dawn on him what he was doing. He said, “What I’m doing is, I’m teaching people that it is right to do what God has not told them it’s right to do. That’s what I’m doing. Now, I tell them it’s not right to sprinkle water on a baby. Why? God didn’t tell you to do that. He told you to use water, immerse in it, and immerse believers. You can’t, therefore, sprinkle water on a baby and call it baptism! The Bible doesn’t teach that. BUT, the same Bible tells the church to sing. There’s not a verse that tells the church to play. Now, I am teaching people what I now know in my heart is not taught of God. And what am I to do about that?”

Well, he went on through the remaining nights of the debate. Couldn’t get it out of his mind. Sometime later, he talked to the elders at the Christian Church. He said, “Brethren, I’ve got to tell you something. I’ve been doing something wrong. I’ve been teaching you that it’s all right to play instrumental music, and I can’t show it in the Bible.”

And they said, “You’re done here!”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” they said, “we won’t have you preach here.”

And Decker said, “You mean you won’t let me preach what I read from the Bible? And you want me to preach what I can’t show from the Bible?”

They said, “We’re not talking about anything else. You’re done.”

Wellll, he went down across town and talked to Brother Wilcox and the elders there as the church of Christ, and said, “I realize I’ve been wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’ve caused trouble and division over this. I repent of it. And I want you brethren to pray with me and for me, because I’ve done wrong. And I want to be a member of this church.”

That’s what they did.

And then they said, “What are you going to do to make a living, Brother Decker?”

He said, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m married, got two children.”

And they said, “We can’t just let you be out on the streets! Why don’t you come and work with us for awhile? Why don’t you come and study with Brother Wilcox? We’ll get some books for you, and help you along, and in time you’ll be able to find a place to preach.”

And that’s what he did.

After I left Tupelo in 1959, I did not know it, but Brother Decker only had a few years to live…very sick man. But he knew he was sick. I wrote and tried to tell him how much he meant to me; how much I appreciated what he’d done for me and my family. After his death, his wonderful wife, Barbara Decker, said, “He appreciated you letter, and especially because it came before anybody knew that he was sick.”

Well, Brother Decker was a wonderful man. I loved him. I expect to meet him in heaven. Back to the point, though.

You can read all the books—I’ve read most of them; you can listen to all the debates—I’ve read many of them; and it will all finally come right down to this: Wilcox had it right—“Here is S I N G; here are the passages. Over here is P L A Y; where is the verse?” And when every effort has been made, in whatever way, there’s not a man who has ever lived, or does live, who can prove from the Word of God that the church is to play instrumental music in worship! It’s not there!