Pastor Josh Laryea has admonished singers who do Gospel music purely for business reasons to be “honest” about their intentions.

He was differentiating the aforementioned from those who sang as a form of ministry or service to God and fellow humans.

The Gospel musician spoke to Taller Dee on Journey to Heaven on No.1 FM, 105.3.

“Just accept that you’re into the music business just like Shatta Wale, and Stonwboy. Accept that you release music when Charterhouse calls so you fit into their Ghana Music Awards show,” he charged.

He bemoaned some Gospel singers released songs without seeking approval from the Holy Spirit. These individuals, he added, were in the habit of shelving songs they believe will not be commercially successful even though they may bear important messages for listeners.

A serial hitmaker, Pastor Laryea said he had “been through all of this – as the Ashantis say, ‘I’ve carried both water and gin, and I know the difference’”.

The Kharis Centre International leader noted his appreciation for Gospel singers, and how, over the years, he had facilitated gigs for many of them, never taking any for granted, understanding “their pain”.

“But I’ve also come to realise we were not doing it right,” Pastor Josh Laryea noted, intimating seeking monetary rewards for Christian service was inappropriate.

He confessed in times past, he was erroneously operating with “the understanding” that a Gospel singer had to “take something [money]” and let the one who benefitted from their services “know that you have value”.

He admitted this was the faulty challenge he threw to Gospel singer Eugene Zuta, for example, back in the day.

He commended Zuta as one of the Gospel singers, who, per his experience, “have a heart for God” with hardly any desire for merchandising their spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh Laryea recalled how he and one late Armah, with whom he had been bestfriends since secondary school, fell out over this Gospel for business as against ministry issue.

He said Armah who came from a well-to-do family which had a timber business, invested in his first debut album “thinking we were going to make my music a money-making venture”.

He noted Armah did not appreciate music “is not a trade [but rather] an investment - you don't put in money expecting to reap profits immediately.

“So when he realised he was putting in money but not making money, he got frustrated and he left me.”

According to Pastor Laryea, though he understood “right from day-one” that his music was a spiritual service and “not a profession,” he could not “draw the line [differentiating the two] well”.

He indicated he had been misled by a popular “message on the lip of every pastor in those days” which often emphasised, “Whatever talent God has given you must make you money.”

The singer of the Emere (Times & Seasons) classic noted he now knew better than that.

He asserted selling copies of music as a Gospel artiste and putting a price tag on one’s service was a purely business model and unbiblical.

He advised Gospel musicians to rather adopt the perspective which allows those who invite them to minister to cover their basic expenses, and give them honorariums.