By One Spirit — Holy Ghost Ministry

Lary and his beloved dog Champ welcomed by Jesus into a radiant garden of flowers, waterfalls, and golden light
Remembering the ministry and teachings of Lary R. Hale

Faith carried forward

By One Spirit is a lasting home for Holy Ghost ministry, preserving the teachings of Lary R. Hale and the memories of the people whose lives he touched.

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Following Christ Beyond Denominations

Jesus extends his hand toward two disciples gathering wheat while calmly facing a religious critic on a hillside path.
© By One Spirit Ministries

"Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself? Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?" (Eccl. 7:16,17). There's a mighty lot of folks these days that need to take a long, honest look at this passage of scripture. There is a demonic religious spirit that is influencing a lot of God's people to condemn one another by means of their sectarian and personal "righteousness" and "wisdom" standards, and at the same time exposing their own blatant hypocrisy. Let me give you just a few examples of what I'm talking about. Sometime ago I reproved some people of their erroneous sectarian doctrines after they had basically tried to impose them on myself and some others who were with me. As a result a week or so later, one of their young people who had been told about this, told me; "We know that we need to keep things basic around you Lary, because we understand that you're just not there yet." How nice of him. What he meant was that it had been established to him by others that I am very elementary in my faith, and just not able to see the vastly great and "deep light" of their ridiculous "Jewish fables" that they call truth (Tit. 1:14). Less than a couple of minutes later he went outside for a smoke break. A week or so later the same young man made a really gross, off color remark about something vulgar immediately after my son finished playing a song that brought peace and soberness down from heaven on a number of us sitting there. One of his own brethren rebuked him for that obviously foolish and unholy comment, which incidentally had absolutely nothing to do with the song. It was in fact just a nervous, combative effort to throw off the evident anointing of the song, and the Spirit of holiness that it brought. The point is that the FRUIT of their "deeper light of wisdom" shows very clearly that it is in reality just a religious masquerade, and an obvious hypocrisy that is AGAINST the Spirit of God. Another individual of yet another Pentecostal sect made an even more outlandish statement to one of my sons, in defense of their sect's strong stance on water baptism "in Jesus' name." This sect believes that anyone who has not been baptized in water in the name of Jesus will certainly go to hell, no exceptions. So my son asks her, "Well, what do you say about someone like Martin Luther who was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost?" I should interject here that anyone who really knows much about the history of the body of Christ and about world history since the 1500's, should know that Martin Luther was not only the greatest man of God since the apostles of Christ; but he may very well be the greatest man PERIOD since the apostles. No time to elaborate on that now, but you can do some homework on that one if you care to. Anyway, this individual's trained answer to that was simply; "Well Jesus said that there would be many on the day of judgment who will say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat. 7:22,23). That has to be one of the most overt examples of "wresting the scriptures" to try to defend a sectarian doctrine that I have ever seen. I can tell you that I would not want to be the person saying that about the great Martin Luther, even in stark ignorance.

I need also to note that this same woman several weeks earlier had overheard me expounding the truth to someone that the baptism of the holy Ghost, which Jesus paid for with his death and resurrection, totally fulfilled and eliminated water baptism. While this conversation in fact did not even include her, she saw fit to jump in and try, in vain howbeit, to reprove me for what I was saying about the evident truth. A couple of weeks after the conversation with my son this woman was pregnant out of wedlock. Once again the fruit of that sect and their "over much righteousness," which includes strict hair and dress codes as well, told on them with blatant hypocrisy. The most recent example is that I just bought a new wallet after looking for one on and off for several years. The wallet is of a comic book nature and has sentimental value to me because it reminds me of my childhood when I read a lot of comic books. A brother who in fact received the baptism of the Spirit largely by means of my ministry not long ago, but has since backslid; happened to see the wallet at his place of work where we were eating. The doctrine that he has chosen is one of a more personal nature, but it involves a lot of things about conspiracy theories, aliens, and other fantastic type of stuff. Well, he felt the need to let me know that my wallet was of a demonic nature. How gracious of him. I let him know straightly that he simply did not know what he was talking about, and explained to him by the scriptures; "Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled" (Tit. 1:15). And I also reminded him that I had told him a while back that if he did not break free from the fantastic religious nonsense that he was observing, he would go nowhere with God. At that he promptly went outside for a smoke break. The point? Hypocrisy of course. In all of these examples [and I have plenty more] these people were guilty of making themselves "over much righteous and wise" while their deeds declared them to be "over much wicked" in the process. It all brings to mind what Jesus told the Pharisees, who were unduly condemning his disciples for plucking corn on the Sabbath, and eating it: "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless" (Mat. 12:7). Friend, the Bible clearly says that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:5). To add to that, Jesus simply told us, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn. 15:12). If we can fulfill that commandment by the overcoming power of the Spirit of God, we are living at the pinnacle of the human existence, and we know that full well by how it feels on the inside. If we are NOT fulfilling that commandment, we will probably be busy finding something else to mark our righteousness by; seeking in vain to cure the lacking that we feel inside. That my friend is always a losing cause because that path can only take us further away from the simplicity that Jesus commanded us, and from the joy that it brings. Amen.

From the Preserved Writings of Lary R. Hale

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Jesus Is All

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In loving memory

Lary R. Hale

Lary smiling with his beloved dog Champ
Lary with Champ

A Hero Finally Rests.

Lary Redman Hale of Louisville, KY entered into his greatest joy, the presence of King Jesus himself, welcomed by the cheers of angels and the saints of God on Sunday night, April 21, 2024.

What the outside world would see as the untimely passing of a humble, local minister, heaven saw as the triumphant finale of a valiant warrior's life. He fought the good fight, having kept the faith, and received what Christ himself called "The Champion's Wreath of Victory".

Lary was born November 13, 1954 to Marvin and Norma Hale. Being the youngest of his siblings ensured he had lots of time with his loving mother, from whom he undoubtedly developed his profound sensitivity, heartfelt sentimentality and emotional comfortability - characteristics that were trademarks of his life. He grew up surrounded by cousins and classmates that became his best friends.

At his 50 year class reunion he was overjoyed and excited to catch up with so many of them, smiling and laughing more than he had in a long time. He would often tell stories of how he treasured those times as a young boy riding bikes, shooting B.B guns and playing with his childhood dog Peanuts; all while getting into assorted harmless mischief. He cherished the time he spent living on his parents houseboat and helping his dad, a united states marine veteran, take care of the boat and dock.

His relationship with his dad was only strengthened in their later years as they watched boxing matches almost every weekend for the remainder of his dad's life. He admired his brother Gary for his athleticism and industrious attitude, and thought his sisters Vicki and Mila had hearts of gold just like his mother. In his teen years Lary developed three of his lifelong loves: swimming, cool cars and lifting weights.

Some people said Lary was part fish because of how well he swam, but Lary would correct them, he was actually part dolphin. As a young man he managed a health club where he helped multiple people lose weight and counted that a huge joy. He loved nature and taking photos of it, honing his skills and knowledge in cameras. His vocabulary was second to none and he enjoyed learning new words and using them especially in his writings.

Before he passed he still exercised as much as his body would allow and he longed to return to the ocean and the white sands of Destin, Florida.

Like most disenfranchised teens in the early 70s, Lary indulged in countless vices that left him empty and searching for more. Although his long black curly hair, loud clothes, muscles and muscle cars made him the envy of the boys and the heartthrob of the girls, none of these things satisfied his heart. He pursued a college education briefly, desiring to be a marine biologist or philosopher but found that this was not what he was missing either - he longed for true fulfillment.

Depressed, empty, and feeling hopeless, Lary heard about a particular beautiful girl he had a crush on that was attending a small church where the "Spirit of God" was changing people's lives. After wondering why someone like her would attend a church like that, he began to attend also.

After a few months, he made a simple prayer on his hands and knees, saying "God I can't stop smoking, drinking, raging or any of the other countless vices I have - but if you can set me free from these things, I'll know you're real and that you want me to serve you". The next morning Lary woke up and described the next few hours as "walking on air" realizing he was, in his words "delivered" and never going back to those vices.

This began his life long commitment to glorifying Jesus, the king of glory, for how he transformed Lary's life from darkness to light. Lary would marry that same beautiful girl, the love of his life, Fay Kustes, and they would have two sons together, Benjamin Isaac and Elisha Daniel. Lary's greatest joy in life was being a husband and father.

He was happiest when he was sharing what he was learning in the bible with his family, and teaching them that knowing God was simplistic and yet powerful - that God was not merely a religious concept, but a powerful savior on a day to day basis. As Lary made it his life's goal to find "the lost sheep", he would tap into his multifaceted creativity that went largely underappreciated.

Lary produced well over a thousand episodes of gospel presentations: self-producing, mixing, editing and encoding both a radio and television show. Between the two, he broadcast for over 30 years. All of this in the analog age, where self produced radio and TV shows were nearly unheard of, especially without any budget whatsoever.

Lary was an evangelist in Louisville and southern Indiana, being asked to preach and teach in multicultural and multi-generational churches across the city. The churches he was most loved and welcomed by were the African-American Baptist and Pentecostal churches that loved and welcomed his passionate, excitable and action packed style of preaching.

Once the dawn of the internet came, he immediately worked to have a website published, making his literature and gospel teachings available. Eventually he'd use social media to teach, preach and encourage believers all across the world. He would spend every night praying with and encouraging christians from every nation until the end of his life. Many of which saw him like a second father and all of whom greatly mourn his passing.

Even though he produced over a thousand episodes of media, taught in multiple churches, mentored in multiple countries, and had multiple printed works of literature, he considered his greatest life's work to be his two sons. One of their earliest memories is Lary saying "the most important job in the world is not preaching the gospel, it's raising kids in the gospel". This threaded through his entire life.

In his final week on earth, he reminisced on his life saying "I see my life as the highest success, because my life's work are my two sons, who I am so incredibly proud of - not for their natural achievements but for their love, humility and personal faith in Jesus that is not only evident in their lives but also in their love. Because of them, I know my life is a true success - and I credit Jesus for all of it".

His sons today see him as the most successful man they will ever know. He succeeded in loving them and never hurting them. Leading them and never controlling them. Being there for them and never leaving them. He was a man that would apologize quickly, forgive quickly, and always encouraged his sons to "get up and go from here". He succeeded in teaching them faith, hope and love in a world starving so badly for all three. His ministry lives on in them.

The lives of everyone touched by their lives are forever indebted to this humble, prayerful man of faith.

He is preceded in death by his father Marvin, mother Norma, sister Mila, sister-in-law Marlene, nephew Adam, aunts, uncles, treasured cousins, and his beloved dog of 18 years, Champ.

Until they are reunited in the glory of heaven, he is survived and will be missed by his sons, Benjamin and Elisha (Katrine), his wife of 30 years, Fay, his brother Gary, His sister Vicki (Dan), his cousins, nieces, nephews, his friends, and those that called him their pastor and teacher.

"The righteous perish, and no man lays it to heart: merciful men are taken away and no one considers that the righteous person is being spared from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: he shall rest in his bed, having walked in uprightness." Isaiah 57:1&2

A life in pictures and film

Watch the tribute video shared with Lary’s obituary. It brings together moments from his life and footage of the man so many loved.

Video hosted by Tribute Slides through Newcomer Kentuckiana.

Original obituary at Newcomer Kentuckiana

Memories of Lary