Q: What are the rules for copying Elder Frazee’s sermons?

A: Many have asked us about the rules for copying sermons and transcriptions from our website. The rules are simple:

• You may freely download all the sermons in the “Download Free Sermons” section and the “Transcribed Sermons” section for an unlimited number of times.
• You may store them on several computers, iPods, burn them to CDs, etc.
• You may freely distribute the sermons to as many people as you wish.

You will need special permission before you:

• Post the sermons or any of our content on your own website
• Sell any of our materials
• Publish in electronic newsletters, advertisements, eBooks, etc. or publish in paper newsletters, articles, books, etc.
• Copy on CD, MP3, from our books, etc. that which is not from the free sections on our website. (Under certain circumstances, we may allow certain types of copying of these non-free sermons after special permission has been granted.)

You may never:

• Do anything from the above list without first getting special permission
• Alter any of the content (except when publishing in an article and you wish to downsize the sermon’s volume to fit the space. You will need special permission first, and you must submit your final draft to us for review before you publish.)
• Use any of our materials in a way that is not in harmony with the ideals and goals of our ministry

If you have any further questions regarding copying rules, you can email us:

support@wdfsermons.org

We want everyone to be able to enjoy these sermons. In order to avoid the unscrupulous quoting of Elder Frazee by dissident movements, we want to do everything that we can to protect, as far as possible, the true character of these precious materials.

We have been delighted to help anyone who has wanted to publish Elder Frazee’s sermons in articles for their publications, provided that all of the above conditions have been met. If you are interested in using either a portion or a whole sermon by Elder Frazee, or a nature nugget by his wife, Helen, or any other of our recordings and printed materials on your website or some publication of yours, please email us:

support@wdfsermons.org

If you would like to download this list of copying rules in a PDF file, click here – Copying Rules.

Q: Why does Elder Frazee speak so slowly?

A: Some people have said regarding the preaching of Elder Frazee: “He talks too slow!” We offer the following examples of inspired counsel as evidence of his studied adherence to the divine pattern.

“Ministers should stand erect, and speak slowly, firmly, and distinctly, taking a full inspiration of air at every sentence, and throwing out the words by exercising the abdominal muscles. If they will observe this simple rule, giving attention to the laws of health in other respects, they may preserve their life and usefulness much longer than men in any other profession. Ministers and teachers should discipline themselves to clear and distinct articulation, giving the full sound to every word. Those who talk rapidly, from the throat, jumbling the words together, and raising their voices to an unnaturally high pitch, soon become hoarse, and the words spoken lose half the force which they would have if spoken slowly, distinctly, and not so loud. The sympathies of the hearers are awakened for the speaker; for they know that he is doing violence to himself, and they fear that he will break down at any moment. It is no evidence that a man has zeal for God because he works himself up into a frenzy excitement and gesticulation. ‘Bodily exercise,’ says the apostle, ‘profiteth little'” .
-Counsels on Education 241 (emphasis supplied)

“In my younger days I used to talk too loud. The Lord has shown me that I could not make the proper impression upon the people by getting the voice to an unnatural pitch. Then Christ was presented before me, and His manner of talking; and there was a sweet melody in His voice. His voice, in a slow, calm manner, reached those who listened, and His words penetrated their hearts, and they were able to catch on to what He said before the next sentence was spoken. Some seem to think they must race right straight along or else they will lose the inspiration and the people will lose the inspiration. If that is inspiration, let them lose it, and the sooner the better.”
-Manuscript 19b, 1890

In addition to following the above counsel, Elder Frazee was also faced with the challenge of Parkinson’s disease later in life This is noticeable in the recordings from the late 70s and worsening into the early 80s until the disease finally ended all his personal preaching. This further slowed his preaching. This however, unlike his conscientious duty to the above cousnel, was not intentional. We are thankful non-the-less, that he continued to preach despite the challenges of Parkinson’s as many are still blessed by those messages not withstanding the reduction in vocal quality.

Q: Should all books and CDs be for free?

A: Many people are actually surprised at how inexpensive our materials are, and some wonder how we can make it financially when we offer so much for free. From time to time, however, we get the question “Shouldn’t all religious books and CDs be for free since the gospel is for free?” Below, we provide divine counsel on the subject and examples of how much we have done and are doing to make our materials inexpensive and some for free:

Here are only a few quotes from the Spirit of Prophecy regarding the cost of religious books:

Let not authors be urged either to give away or to sell their right to the books they have written. Let them receive a just share of the profits of their work; then let them regard their means as a trust from God, to be administered according to the wisdom that He shall impart.–7T 176-178. (See also 5T 563-566; 7T 179-181.)  {PM 232.1}

Some years ago, the matter of publication of books came up, and plans were laid, which I cannot now fully call to mind. A decision was made something like this, that no one individual was to be benefited by the publication of his own books. A proposition was then made to us, which my husband . . . assented to, that the publishing association should have the benefit of his books.

I was considering the matter and thought like this: I wish the testimonies to go to as many as possible; they are a message from God to this people, and I wish no personal benefit from this work. Thus we stated the matter. But shortly after, I was shown that this was not wisdom, to relinquish our right to control our own writings; for we would know better how to use the profits of these books than would those who had far less experience. Publications were to be multiplied, and the profits we would receive would enable us to lead out in the advancing work, to build up the interests of the cause and to carry others with us in the work. There was a principle to be maintained to guard the interests of the true workers. {PM 233 – 234}

Then instruction was given to Elder Haskell that in his anxiety to supply the people with the precious truth contained in his books, in his desire that all should feel that the books are worth more than they cost, and that all should be encouraged to give them a wide circulation, he was selling his books too cheap, and thus making his own burden too heavy.
Our Counselor said: The books should be sold in such a way that the author will not be left barehanded and that the publishing house shall have a proper margin so that it will have means to carry on its work.9T 73.

There had been with A and yourself a mistake in lowering the prices of our books so low that the office could not prosper. This was poor policy. These plans appeared right to you both, but were the worst thing you could do for the office. It belittles the value of the books, and when once placed at so low a figure, it will be very difficult to increase the price so that they will be placed at their proper value.–Lt 2, 1880. {PM 335.5}

Ministers and people should act nobly and liberally in dealing with our publishing houses. Instead of studying and contriving how they can obtain periodicals, tracts, and books at the lowest figure, they should seek to bring the minds of the people to see the true value of the publications. All these pennies taken from thousands of publications have caused a loss of thousands of dollars to our offices, when a few pennies more from each individual would scarcely have been felt.–4T 598. {PM 335.2}

We are all volunteers in this ministry and receive only a small stipend so that we can survive to do the work. We do accept donations but we put most of those to various projects while what we make from the sales goes to help meet our operating expenses. We have to make it by faith alone many months but God always provides. He often provides from people like you who help our ministry either by donating or buying our materials. God does call some people to go to the mission field with no financial support. They must trust in God to provide their funds – like David Gates. Many of the ministries in the SDA church are not to run that way though: restaurants, publishing houses, sanitariums, etc. If God calls someone to start one of the aforementioned ministries and not charge for any of their services, but only accept donations, they may move forward if God is leading. However, that would not be God’s first plan. God has told us in the above quotes plus many others that it is good, proper, and even necessary to charge a fair price for books and services. God has never condemned a ministry because they charge for their goods or services. The act of freely giving is not confined to ministries alone but God wants individuals to share in the blessing of giving.

We have followed this to the best of our knowledge. If any of you could show us some quotes or Bible texts that show that anything that we are doing is not Christlike, we would prayerfully read the references and make any necessary changes.

We have many materials on our web site that are completely free. Over 50 free downloadable audio sermons and 19 free downloadable transcriptions are available, with more being consistently added to both categories. There are free downloads of translated sermons into Spanish and Korean.

We have given out more free materials than at any time that Elder Frazee was alive. Tens of thousands of free sermons online have been downloaded, 13,500 Ransom and Reunion books were given out at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in Atlanta, GA completely for free. Three-thousand audio sermons were given out at Adventist Laymen Services and Industries in 2009, hundreds have gone out at Generation of Youth for Christ, not to mention the many free materials that we continuously give out to those who request but cannot afford.  Our biggest give-away so far as been to the 2015 General Conference Session in San Antonio, TX. In that event we passed out 12,600 Church Triumphant booklets for free! We do not have very much money, so the ability to do this comes from generous donors who want to see the message go out.

Q: How can I help promote these powerful sermons?

A. Most importantly, keep our ministry in your prayers. You can tell your friends and family about our ministry and can share any of the free downloadable sermons. You can find many ways to help promote our ministry on this page:

Ways to Promote

Please email us any further questions that you might have:

support@wdfsermons.org