Minister Marion Hall “Banned” From Some Churches, Compares Situation To When Lady Saw Was Banned In Some Parishes
Minister Marion Hall says she’s being “banned” from some churches, an experience she’s likening to groups threatening to ban her from some Jamaican parishes, following a risqué Reggae Sumfest performance as Lady Saw many years ago.
Hall shared this during a recent online sermon explaining why she is no longer billed for a fundraising concert at Papa San’s Ministry in Florida on May 7.
“He [Papa San] called me and tell me he’s getting a lot of backlash and I say, ‘Okay, I’m go’ give you back your money’,” she revealed.
“He said, ‘It’s not really that enuh, but it’s just the church… It’s a lot of backlash and the sponsors…I know you can shine, you know, but’. I’m like, you know what, okay, I’ll just give you back your money, and he said, ‘Okay.’”
She later added, “Keep your church; you don’t have to invite me at your church. There’s some who will, but whoever can’t handle me, you can’t handle my praise. Cause why would I be up in your church not praising?… So weh you mean you telling them don’t bring me?… You remind me of when I was in Jamaica and Montego Bay banned me when I was X-Rated. Now the church is banning me.”
According to Encyclopedia.com, in 1994, Hall was “banned from several Jamaican parishes, including [St James], after a performance.”
It added: “In 2000 a newspaper published a picture of Hall’s performance that members of the St. James Parish Council found offensive. The council chastised the newspaper and several members wanted to ban her from ever performing there again. In 2001 Hall and Rodney Price, whose deejay name is Bounty Killer, were sentenced to 240 hours of community service after being charged with breaking laws regarding lewdness.”
Papa San’s event is in aid of acquiring a building for his Our Father’s Kingdom Ministries, and will feature artists like Hezekiah Walker and Jekalyn Carr.
Hall suggested that her controversial style is behind some churches withdrawing their public support of her ministry. For the cover art of her new single I’m Doing Better, the gospel singjay rocked a black sequined jumpsuit with mesh detail that reveals her stomach, which, for some critics, erred on the side of her former alias.
“The church don’t want me cause they say I dress in something sheer the other day. Did you not read Jeremiah? Did you not read Isaiah?” she said, in reference to Isaiah 20:1-2 where God commanded Isaiah to go “naked” for three years to remind the Jews that they’d be stripped naked and forced to leave their homes into exile if they did not repent soon.
Hall continued, “Didn’t I tell you about what the Lord told me after He dressed me like that to get you all attention? Guess what He said? ‘Preach a sermon titled When God Breaks Protocol’. God broke protocol with me that day. He dressed me like that… God will do crazy things to get your attention cause you all crazy, so, He need a crazy like me to go crazy upon you all. Sometimes it takes crazy to attract crazy.”
Amidst the biblical examples, Hall announced that she’ll not only be taking bookings where she is welcomed, but increasing her presence at popular but family-friendly events.
“I’m about to go into some places that some of you wouldn’t want to go and don’t want me to go, but it’s time…” she said.
“I’m going to the Jerk Fest dem, the Groovin’ in the Park, I’m going to anything that is clean. Anything that family and children is at, I’m bringing the gospel into those places because the gospel needs to go to those places.”
She is slated to return to Reggae Sumfest in July, having last appeared as Lady Saw months before joining Christendom in late 2015.
Hall became an ordained evangelist in 2018 at the Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Kingston, where she had previously been baptized. She established her Holy Ghost Pentecostal church in 2020, which unfolds virtually on Wednesdays and Sundays.