Rubel Shelly, Instrumental Music in WorshipJohn T. Willis 2. "Sing" is vocal; "make melody" is instrumental. Psalms 33:2-3; 144:9; 149:1, 3 make this crystal clear. Amos 5:23 further verifies this reality. People forget that God turned Israel over to worship the starry host because of musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. The Levites were under the KING and the COMMANDERS of the army: they made war and not worship. We will examine these passages in context.
X.Mem.1.6.13 Xen. Mem. 1.6.13
To this Socrates replied: “Antiphon, it is common opinion among us
in regard to beauty and wisdom
that there is an honourable a
nd a shameful way of bestowing them.
For to offer one's beauty for money to all comers is called prostitution;
but we think it virtuous to become friendly with
a lover who is known to be a man of honour.
So is it with wisdom. Those who offer it to all comers for money
are known as sophists, prostitutors of wisdom,
but we think that he who makes a friend of one whom he knows to be gifted
by nature, and teaches him all the good he can,
fulfils the duty of a citizen and a gentleman.
Sophis-tēs , ou, o(, A. master of one's craft, adept, expert, of diviners, Hdt.2.49; of poets, “meletan sophistais prosbalon” Pi.I.5(4).28, cf. Cratin.2; of musicians, “sophistēs . . parapaiōn khelun” A.Fr.314, cf. Eup.447, Pl.Com. 140; sophistē Thrēki (sc. Thamyris) E.Rh.924, cf. Ath.14.632c: with modal words added, “hoi s. tōn hierōn melōn” [melody in the holy place--a death sentence for any Levite]
In a sermon Rubel Shelly said: There is no explicit instruction that either requires or excludes musical instruments in the church's worship. The New Testament has no commandment on the subject.
Geni, Adepts, Demons Rubel shelly will be teaching The Shaping of Things to Come to train new ministers at Rochester College. The book seems more occult than Christian.
You can read the book and see the PATTERNISM for the EMERGING PREACHERS.From: What Makes Us Who We Are (5 of 7) A Cappella Music
July 11, 1999 / Col. 3:16
Rubel Shelly: One of the things that makes us who we are is our distinctive musical heritage and practice.
Let's begin by defining the second error-teaching word slipped in which has a more judgmental taste when understood.
Heritage: 1. Property that can be inherited. 2 (a) something handed down from one's ancestors or the past, as a characteristic, a culture, tradition, or (b) the rights, burdens, or status resulting from being born in a certain time or place. (Webster)
If what makes us distinct is traditionalism then it should be repudiated publicly (as the preacher is doing) and the practices immediately changed. However, the Bible presents music and especially instruments as proof that people have no intention to listen to the word "taught as it has been taught." Karen Armstrong in A History of God notes that rituals are effeminate and "Israel could not bring herself to dialog with God."
Music is the most ancient, superstitious paganisms: it is legalistis in that it attempts to appease angry gods or to seduce them into giving material things. All rituals where the pseudo-mediatory claims to bring you into the presence of God creates panic named after PAN, the half goat sexual seducer whose "horns" or pan pipes give authority to those seeking to exercise control.
There is no "music" concept in the worship of a Spirit God. ALL of the Bible sees instruments as a MARK of those who tell God that they will not HEAR His words any longer. Music as in musica, melodia or cantus speak of incantation or enchantment. The intent of all musicians is to ENCHANT people out of their applause or money. The intent of all religious musicians was the enchant people out of their clothes to engage in sexual or homosexual activities as the end-product of music to lead the worshipers into the presence of the gods.
Music is from "symphonia" and is seen in secular festivals where in the classics "music" most often means singing and dancing.
We see "music" again in the end-time Babylonian Harlot religion of Revelation 18).
The Jewish people's congregation never "sang congregationally with instrumental music." They always "synagogued" in their own communities to hear the Word and to seek God through prayer.
The Synagogue had no "praise" service.
The Catholic Encyclopedia and all of church history shows that no one ever added instruments because they believed that the Bible authorized them or because silence gave them permission. The only motive, then and now, was purely mercenary as a seeker system rather than a "go into all the world Christianity."
> We do not think anyone has ever claimed authority from Scriptures to use the organ in worship. They only claim it is not condemned. It is used as an assister in worship...Prayer, praise, thanksgiving and making melody in the heart (mind) unto the Lord are acts of worship ordained of God, but no authority do we find for for the organ." (Sounding Brass and Clanging Cymbals, J. E. Choate and William Woodson". (p. 78).
When the issue was first brought up in the southern churches in 1874, one Session declared that they were "unanimously of the opinion that the use of such is both inexpedient and unscriptural and
think that those who have ventured to cast the apple of discord into our midst have much to answer for," and another considered that the introduction of organs "into the public worship of God is dangerous to the peace and purity of the Church."
The debate at the next Synod was the largest up until then, and the innovation was passed by a very slim majority. The dissents, appeals and protests lasted a few years, but the issue was finally settled in 1877,
the final dissent reiterating once more the regulative principle and concluding that it was "giving a place to instrumental music hitherto unknown to the worship of this Church."
The last church on the Taieri plain to have an organ introduced was East Taieri, near Mosgiel, in 1894. To a number of members, it was "equal to a sentence of excommunication,"
........... they now having "no Presbyterian church near Dunedin to which they can have access."
Therefore, the first cork pop out of the cannon is an attempt to discredit the non-musical groups (and there are still many) by writing off their authority as traditionalism. The need for distorting the historical facts don't seem to be required.
Rubel Shelly Continues:
Rubel Shelly: Many people who visit Woodmont Hills for the first time are initially bemused that we don't have piano, organ, or band accompaniment to our singing. A fellow came to me several years ago with the concern that our church couldn't afford a piano; and offered to help with the purchase. Many of those persons who are initially startled by our unaccompanied music quickly discern a beautiful simplicity and power to it. "Your people really know how to sing!" they say.
Because Rubel Shelly has been so harshly judgmental on those who will not AFFIRM those who have created a musical sectarianism initially needing no authority, and others have defended the Biblical and almost-universal historical repudiation of any form of music as accomodating paganism, people have assumed that Rubel would be consistent.
A "musical worship team" is an organic pipe organ. The word ORGANUM is after the pipe organ and A Cappella as a performance style derives from the exiled "babylonian captivity" pope returning to Rome with a castrated musical worship team which could perform in the Sistine Chapel where mechanical instruments were not allowed.
"Beautiful" is not the Biblical goal where the DIRECT COMMAND is to TEACH OR PREACH and the only resource is the inspired Word of God.
Church is synagogue and not pagan worship center. Synagogue was a learning center and had no "praise service."
R.P. Martin says in his interesting book on worship in the early church that the reading and exposition of the Scriptures is
"an inheritance we have received, through the early church, from the worship of Judaism, and which makes the model Christian service a Word-of-God service".
From the outset, church worship was a "Word-of-God service". The truths of the Bible were at the heart of worship. And this was also true insofar as the singing of songs was concerned.
It was the synagogues that remained after AD.70, NOT the Temple! The original purpose of the synagogue was primarily for Scripture-reading and exposition of the passages read (Lk.4:16-22; Mt.13:54; Mk.1:21-22; Jn.6:59).
There was also prayer (Mt.6:5) and, although there is no specific mention in the literature of singing in the synagogue, it is considered most likely "that those parts of the Liturgy which were connected with Temple worship, like the recitation of psalms...were sung"
So long as one's idea of worship is rooted in the Temple concept, one will crave "celebrations" and big displays. The charismatic style of worship naturally arises out of this false concept of the O.T. Temple.
However, the chief element in synagogue worship -- its central factor -- was not ceremonial or display but something which was of vital importance to the shaping of the subsequent life of the local churches upon which the synagogue was so influential.
That element was the reading and exposition of Scripture. Worship in the Early Church involved "Word-of-God" services. Ralph Martin very appropriately called the reading and exposition of Scripture "the centre of gravity of the synagogue's service, with the blessings and prayers gathered around it"
Rubel Shelly: We use a cappella (Latin, "in the style of the chapel/church") music for historical and theological reasons that we can articulate in a positive way. In its simplest and most straightforward manner, our reasoning is this:
Click to see how A Cappella was used by the Pope, who didn't believe in instruments either, to legalistical get around the "no instruments" by using "vocal bands" or an ORGANIC PIPE ORGAN. Since women were excluded he just castrated young males and dressed them in gowns.
"Catholic Church music can regain its former purity only by a return to the purely vocal style.
........ "The purely vocal style is the ideal of the Church.
........ "The papal choir, the Sistine, has always excluded instrumental music.
........ ........ "The first step toward the decadence of genuine Catholic church music
........ ........ ........ was the introduction of orchestra instruments.
........ ........ ........ "A Cappella was invented in the 15th century to enhance the music for the pope."
Rubel Shelly: The New Testament and early Christian history reveal a practice of unaccompanied vocal praise to God in the church's worship, (That must be a command, example or inference.)
and our commitment to imitate the life of the earliest church has led us to adopt that same style for our congregational worship.
There is not a drip of a hint that the church assembled for a PRAISE RITUAL. The direct command was to glorify God with one voice by speaking "that which is written" (Rom 15), the Spirit (Eph 5, John 6:63) and The Word of Christ (Col. 3:16). This was the COMMANDED WAY to prevent discord between the factions of Romans 14.
"Vocal Praise" is about the only way you can do it. However, "praise" isn't singing "Lord, Lord" but it is "seeking God" through His Word and telling others what God has done for the World and not how "God let me zip in and rip off a parking place from an old lady in a too-long Cadallac yesterday."
The word "music" (symphony) is used only of the secular party for the prodigal son. The act Paul defined was never called music. Aside from a home coming party with music and dance, the book of Revelation consistent with all of the Old Testament connects the MUSICAL term to the worship of the Babylonian whore religion. They are grouped in the Greek world with rhetoricians, Sophists, singers, musicians hermeneuts, exegetes: those who TAMPER with the Word. In the same Greek world they are all identified along with the harp players as PARASITES:
Rhêtor-ikos , ê, on, oratorical, hê rhêtorikê (sc. technê) rhetoric; of persons, skilled in SPEAKING, fit to be an ORATOR
The techne is the craftsmen who will go back into hell along with the Babylon harlot, her musicians and instrumentalists.
A word with similar meaning:
Hupo-kritikos , ê, on, belonging to hupokrisis.. having a good delivery, Arist.Rh.1404a15 .
2. suited for speaking or delivery, (sc. technê) the art of delivery, (but, the actor's art, .
3. metaph., acting a part, pretending to
I. to reply, make answer, answer, Hom., Hdt.
2. to expound, interpret, explain, Od., Ar.:--the attic word in this sense is apo-krinomai.
II. of actors, to answer on the stage: hence to play a part, be an actor
2. to represent dramatically: hence to exaggerate
3. metaph. to play a part, to feign, pretend,
Thes words in the Greek are most often used with the word Pharisee!
Of those who would DIVERT a non-instrumental church into being an instrumental church and taking pay for it as rhetorician or Sophist, the Greek had a word for it.
Parasi-tus , i, m., = parasitos, lit. one who eats with another; hence,
I. In gen., a guest (pure Lat. conviva): parasiti Jovis, the gods, Hence, parasitus Phoebi, a player, actor
II. In partic., in a bad sense, one who, by flattery and buffoonery, manages to live at another's expense, a sponger, toad-eater, parasite
The end time Babylon harlot employes them all:
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Rev 18:22
The "craftsmen" in the Babylonian system were the "creator gods." Even inventing a drum could make you a "god." And a "grinder" was generally also a prostitute.
Technites (g5079) tekh-nee'-tace; from 5078; an artisan; fig. a founder (Creator): - builder, craftsman.
The "musician" is from the 9 goddesses. Apollo (Abaddon, Apollyon) in his seeker center at Delphi used and worshiped three muses: a trio.
Mousikos (g3451) moo-sik-os';, (a Muse); "musical", i.e. (as noun) a minstrel: - musician
The Theosophy Society is one of the best confessiors that music is connected with the occult:
"From Greek mousike (techne) the art of the Muses. The music of the Greeks did not signify merely the harmony of sounds, but actually imbodied the idea of inner harmony of the spirit,
........... the becoming at one with the spirit of the Muses,
........... so that the soul responded in harmonic rhythm to the beat of universal harmony.
"Music with the Greeks, therefore, included, besides vocal and instrumental music, choral dancing, rhythmic motions, and various modes of harmony expressed in action, perhaps most particularly that part of education which we should now
classify as a striving for harmony in life combined with aesthetic,
in contrast with intellectual and physical branches of study and development.
This is the Lucifer principle which intends to SILENCE the synagogue or ekklesia for which Jesus died.
It was culture of the essential person, the ego or soul,
whereas the other two divisions care for and supply the needs of the mind and of the body.
Music, in all its various branches is represented as having been taught to man
by his divine and divine-human ancestors, such as Isis-Osiris, Thoth, Edris (in the Koran), etc.
[Isiris-Osiris was worshiped with musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. For this terminal sin God
The syngaogue of Romans 15 would solve all of the division of those with various backgrounds including "music." Paul prohibits music which does INTEND to, as Rubel Shelly promotes, "leads us into the presence of God."
WE then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to PLEASE ourselves. Rum 15:1
PLEASE IS: Aresko (g700) ares'-Jo; prob. from 142 (through the idea of EXCITING EMOTIONS)
AIR (g142) awry; a prim. verb; to LIFT; by imp. to take up or AWAY; fig. to RAISE THE VOICE, KEEP IN SUSPENSE the MIND
Airo (g142) ah'ee-ro; a prim. verb; to lift; by impl. to take up or away; fig. to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind); spec. to sail away (i.e. weigh anchor); by Heb. [comp. 5375] to expiate sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).
Paul comanded TEACHING and not harmonic singing:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Rom 15:4
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Rom 15:5
That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 15:6
You CAN all speak thesame things if you speak that which is written by the Spirit of Christ (1 Pe 1:11). Paul commanded Timothy to "give your self to the [public] reading of the Word, to exhortation (of what was read) and to doctrine [that which was read]. Paul told the elders who are THE pastor-teachers along with the deacons to "teach that which has been taught."
so as to violate the freedom of our members to experience and enjoy instrumental music as a gift from God? Yes.
Overextend: "to extend beyond reasonable limits or beyond one's capacity to meet obligations or commitments." Webster
Jesus EXAMPLED and Paul OUTLAWED instrumental music or charismatic SINGING in the synagogue in Romans 15.
THERE IS NO OTHER TRADITION but that instrumental was used by Lucifer in the fall of the angels, that he/she wholly seduced Eve in the garden of Eden as the serpent which was a MUSICAL ENCHANTER, that the king/queen of Tyre was a personification of Lucifer as the "harp-playing prostitute," that the king/queen of Babylon went into Sheol with her harps and harpists and that Circe the end-time "church" will be the holy harlot using CRAFTSMEN or rhetoricians or sophists, singers and musicians as SORCERERS to lead people away from the Word of God.
On the contrary, the world is filled with ancient and modern literature which shows that all instruments are attributed to Satan. When Jubal "handled" musical instruments the word means "without warrant." That is, he had no God-given authority to use instruments for controling others. Of the Marzeah which was IMPOSED on Israel as they worshiped the starry host as punishment for their musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, scholars note:
"With the wine-drinking (which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew for feasting), went music and dancing." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life in Old Testament times, Scribners, p. 93)
"Worship was form more than substance; consequently, conduct in the marketplace was totally unaffected by worship in the holy place. Amos spoke from the conviction that social justice is an integral part of the Mosaic covenant, which regulates relations not only between God and people, but also among people." (King, p. 44).
"In pagan traditions, musical instruments are invented by gods or demi-gods, such as titans. In the Bible, credit is assigned to antediluvian patriarchs, for example, the descendants of Cain in Genesis 4:21. There is no other biblical tradition about the invention of musical instruments." (Freedman, David Noel, Bible Review, Summer 1985, p. 51). (Proof Here).
It is also a fact that this same black voodoo when married to hill country music gave rise to the revivalistic music seen in all of the so-called Awakenings. Of course, this happened only after the Wesley brothers drove the church away from singing the Biblical text to self composed songs which had the magical power of "spiritual revival."
Wouldn't adding instruments overextend our capacity to meet our obligations to teach the Words of Christ in song and sermon? If God gave musical instruments as a gift for worship then wouldn't we be under extending our worship practice.
It is simply untrue that God gave instruments as a gift to mankind any further than He gave marijuana or "peyote" which some American Indians use for "worship" as a gift from God. Otherwise it would not have been Jubal who was "father" of the "family of musicians" but God. And it would not be David who added instruments to worship but God. And the Holy Spirit would not have used the word "handle" which means "without warrant" or authority.
"Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians. The understanding of this service was universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." Quasten, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, beginning on page 41
If the entire Bible and church history does not condemn "musical performance" as the "works of human hands" to try to attract a Spirit God then nothing can be proven wrong. It is normally the pro-instrumental preachers still on the payroll of non-instrumental churches which denounce the non-instrumental position as sinful perversion.
The word ADULTERY and KLEPTO is associated with this verse. The concept of arousal singing to produce the outlawed PLEASURING is also connected with KLEPTOMANIA by the "heretics" who LIFT YOU UP to carry you away for THEIR OWN PLEASURES.
Hdt.1.155 Heredotus: Cyrus told how to take the FIGHT out of the enemy:  But pardon the Lydians, and give them this command so that they not revolt or pose a danger to you: send and forbid them to possess weapons of war,
...........and order them to wear tunics under their cloaks
........... and knee-boots on their feet,
........... and to teach their sons lyre-playing [kitharizein]
........... and song [psallein] and dance
........... and shop-keeping [huckstering].
........... And quickly, O king,
........... you shall see them become women instead of men,
........... so that you need not fear them, that they might revolt."
That proves that Satan us using the neutered performers to neuter the church.
The New Testament has no commandment on the subject.
L. These then are the matters administered by the Council. Also ten men are elected by lot as Restorers of Temples, who draw 30 minae1 from the Receivers and repair the temples that most require it; and ten City Controllers,  five of whom hold office in Peiraeus and five in the city;
it is they who supervise the flute-girls and harp-girls and lyre-girls to prevent their receiving fees of more than two drachmas,
and if several persons want to take the same girl these officials cast lots between them and hire her out to the winner.
And they keep watch to prevent any scavenger from depositing ordure (dung) within a mile and a quarter of the wall;
Once you have A holy spirit you can read Paul's word SPEAK and not have it "filtered through time" to mean MAKE MUSIC.
You can grasp that the melody word PSALLO universally points to males plucking the harp string to groom yung boys as "youth ministers" for the ACT of sodomy.
You can grasp that NO ONE even thought Paul remotely spoke of SINGING as a ACT OF WORSHIP until the year 373. Why would any literate person think that the synagogue or school of the BIBLE would allow a "cerfiticate of need" for truth perverters in song and sermon or instruments.
You could grasp that instruments arrived on earth with Satan or Lucifer or ZOE who in Tyre and the garden of Eden is called the "singing and harp playing prostitute."
You could grasp that Jesus CAST OUT the minstrels like one EJECTS DUNG using the same image of Lucifer being CAST AS PROFANE using a word translated as to "steal your inheritance, play the flute, pollute or prostitute."
One could see the MUSICAL IDOLATRY Rubel sees as PATTERNISM for which God turned the nation over to worship the starry host (Stephen, Acts 7).
One could see the clear identity of the end-time Babylon Whore religion in Revelation 18 where the singers, musicians and religious technocrats will go back into hell.
I suppose that if you can make music neutral then the battle is half won. If God had included MUSIC as worship in either the Old or New Testaments He would have endorsed the central "mind altering weapon" of all pagan religions the Bible intends to contradict. He would, of necessity, have had to endorse sexual intercourse as part of the musical paganism.
Paul prescribed a TEACHING, PREACHING or ADMONISHING One another by the use of PSALLO translated MELODY. This is NOT a musical word but defines WAREFARE.
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon
I. to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch, Aesch.; toxou neuran ps.
to twang the bow-string, Eur.; belos ek keraos ps.
to send a shaft twanging from the bow
carpenter's red line, which is twitched and then suddenly let go, so as to leave a mark,
II. to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, not with the plectron, Hdt., Ar., Plat.
2. later, to sing to a harp,
The word PSALLO translated melody or grace EXCLUDES using a plectrum and any form of musical instrument other than a BOW or weapon-like strung instrument. You VIOLATE a direct command when you MAKE MELODY with a singy-clappy team. You VIOLATE a direct command when you make melody with a GUITAR. Paul was literate and if he INTENDED an instrument he COULD NOT do it with the word PSALLO. He would have used psalmODIA or some other word which means sing WITH accompaniment.
To the reading world the Bible PROHIBITS music to accompany Jesus as the only teacher-preacher through His Word when it is "taught as it has been taught."
Psallo simply means to PLUCK: one can pluck the harp string or the bow string. The root is Apollo or abaddon who PLUCKED both the harp and bow to send literal arrows into the literal heart or to send love arrows. It is NOT a musical word.
The ONLY thing "musical" is the idea of YANKING a harp string (or bow) and PULLING it with the FINGERS: it does not define the NOTE created by the pulling and letting go.
But the INSTRUMENTALISTS (not approved in the NT) were usually perverted parasites:
Kithara the Lat. cithara (whence guitar), a kind of lyre or lute, Hhymn., Hdt., attic: --it was of triangular shape, with seven strings, Eur. Cf. ki^tha^rizô
Latin with similar definitions
Parasi-tor, to play the parasite, to sponge: parasitarier,
Did we forget about the prophecy of Psalm 41 that, led by Judas, the clergy would try to TRIUMPH OVER JESUS with "instruments and making a joyful noise before the Lord" as the national "warrior's cry"?
Did we forget about Jesus putting out the Musical Mourning Team "more or less violently"?
The APPROVED EXAMPLE of Jesus condemns MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS. These teams performed at weddings, funerals or religious festivals:
"Long before Israel's existence, we find in Akkadian tablets the word halhallatu for 'double clarinet,' and we have many ancient representations of this instruments... Extremely popular for SECULAR purposes, the clarinet was played at WEDDINGS, BANQUETS, and FUNERAL. At funerals it served as accompaniment to the customary WAILING women; this is the meaning of Matt. 9:23. The chief characteristics of the clarinet were: popularity, juxtaposition with hand drum and lyre, expression of extreme emotionalism, and symbolic meaning of FERTILITY and RESURRECTION." (Int. Std. Bible Dict., p. 472).
Again, Paul outlaws this for the SYNAGOGUE:
Aresko (g700) ar-es'-ko; prob. from 142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by impl. to seek to be so): - please.
"Matthew alone mentions the hired 'flute players'; beside them would be found the hired wailing women with hair streaming, beating their breasts and filling the air with loud moans and bursts of sobs...
"Paid mourners were professionals at the business, and the custom of having them in houses of mourning and at funerals dates far back, even beyond the times of Jeremiah (9:17), and is found among Jews and pagans alike. Naturally, Jesus would order these people out and hush them;
........... "a deed such as he was about to do
........... called for the decency and the dignity of silence." (Lenski, Matt. p. 375).
But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose. Matthew 9:25
PUT FORTH IS:
Ekballo (g1544) ek-bal'-lo; from 1537 and 906; to EJECT (lit. or fig.): - bring forth, CAST (forth, out), drive (out), expel, leave, pluck (pull, take, THRUST) out, put forth (out), send away (forth, out).
Ballo (g906) bal'-lo; a prim. verb; to THROW (in various applications, more or less violent or intense): - arise, cast (out), * DUNG, lay, lie, pour, put (up), send, strike, THROW (DOWN), thrust. Comp. 4496. (Meaning: a quick toss).
ekballô , Arc. esdellô IG5(2).6.49 (Tegea, iv B.C.), fut. -ba^lô: aor. -ebalon : pf. -beblêka : Pass., fut.
A. -beblêsomai E.Ba.1313 :-- throw or cast out of, c. gen., Odion megan ekbale diphrou Il.5.39 , etc. : abs., throw out, ek d' eunas ebalon 1.436 , etc. ; kai tên men..ichthusi kurma genesthai ekbalon threw her overboard, Od.15.481, cf. Hdt.1.24 : then in various relations, ekpiptô being freq. used as its Pass. :
ballô , b. sporon cast the seed, Theoc.25.26; b. kopron POxy.934.9 (iii A. D.): hence b. arouras manure
kopros , hê,
A. excrement, ordure, of men and cattle, Od.9.329, al., Hdt. 3.22, etc.: in pl., Euph.96.4; esp. as used in husbandry, dung, manure, Pl.Prt.334a, Thphr.HP2.7.4.
2. generally, filth, dirt, kulindomenos kata kopron Il.22.414 , 24.640, cf. BGU1116.14 (i B. C.).
II. dunghill, byre, Il.18.575, Od.10.411, Call.Dian.178; kathisai tinas epi koprou Men.544.5 . (In this sense oxyt. kopros acc. to Eust.1165.15.) (Cf. Skt. s'ákr.t, gen. s'aknás 'excrement'.)
2. cast out of a place, Kimmerious ekbalontes ek tês Eurôpês Hdt.1.103 ; e. ek tês chôras, of an enemy, Lycurg.99, cf. D.60.8 ; esp. of banishment, drive out, cast out of the synagogue, Ev.Jo.34 ; ek tou tagmatos J.BJ2.8.8 ; exorcize, cast out evil spirits, Ev.Marc.1.34,
4. e. gunaika ek tês oikias divorce he
Here is the way to be Pro-Christ. The essentials of the "Son's" commission from the "Father" is identical to the Commission of Christ to Paul and to Paul's commission two of the passages which mention "singing." If you are not "for" Christ then you are "Against" Christ and here is the test:
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Col.1:18
And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Col.2:19
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Col.3:4
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Eph 4:16
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Col.1:12
IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Col 3:1
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Col 3:2
for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word (Logos) of God; Col 1:25
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Col 3:10
"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Eph 5:14
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body (church)
Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, Eph 5:15
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles Col 1:27
but Christ is all, and in all. Col 3:11
understanding what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:17
To present to you the word of God in its fullness (Pleroo) Col 1:25
Let the word of Christ dwell (plousios)
be filled (pleroo) with the Spirit Eph 5:18
We proclaim him,
so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. Col 1: 28
as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace
of God in truth: Col 1:6
to God. Col 3:16
to the Lord; Eph 5:19
To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. Col 1:29
giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3:17
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Eph 5:20
Music and sexual perversion and intercourse were grouped in many of the ancient traditions. These were tribal or fertility rituals and God never hints that He can be appeased or the worshiper improved by music. This was so well understood that physical or carnal rituals had no place in Christian, spiritual worship. If you remember that the Exodus event is now the pattern for "worship and community" being taught at Woodmont Hills and the idolatrous Israelites have become their "spiritual fathers" you can understand that while church means "assembly" with no "standing army" outside of assembly time while the Nimrod principle wants to collect people into "families" then you can understand why music of many forms are necessary to keep the tribal chiefs in power and keep the tribal members from wandering:
"In this fashion evey common tribal interest--the recurrence of the seasons (Jubilee), the increase of the food supply, successful hunting--was likely to become embodied in some regularly repeated ceremony, which usually included group dancing, singing, and feasting.
Besides enabling men to express, and thereby to allay, anger and anxiety, such ceremonies
also promoted tribal unity and strengthened the loyalty of the individual to tribal traditions,
for the emotional excitement they aroused had the effect of breaking down the barriers between individuals and thus fusing all tribesmen into a collective whole.
Meanwhile, whole systems of magical devices were gradually elaborated." (H Bamford Parkes, God and Men, p. 29)
"Awed by the mysteries of his own spirit no less than by those of nature, primitive man was likely to attribute to divine influence
any abnormal emotional state, whether above or below the usual level. Medicine men customarily went into states of trance in which they were believed to be in communication with the gods, [All music produces a trance-like state]
and many tribes supposed lunatics and sexual deviants to be divinely possessed.
In most early societies, moreover, men evolved techniques for deliberaly inducing the abnormal forms of consciousness in which they supposed themselves to achieve union with divine power, sometimes by the use of drugs and other physiological stimuli,
sometimes by hypnotic dances and music. The wild utterances to which they gave vent on such occasions
were regarded as the words of a god and
were interpreted as divine commands or predictions of future events." (Parkes, p. 32-33).
And instrumental music is a gift from God?
Well all of the evidence claims that it is a gift from the "gods" or demons.
A contemporary Bible Scholar notes that:
"In pagan traditions, musical instruments are invented by gods or demi-gods, such as titans (Satans). In the Bible, credit is assigned to antediluvian patriarchs, for example, the descendants of Cain in Genesis 4:21. There is no other biblical tradition about the invention of musical instruments." (Freedman, David Noel, Bible Review, Summer 1985, p. 51). (Proof Here).
Lucifer is represented by Sophia-ZOE where Sophia is the serpent and Zoe is the BEAST or "female instructing principle."
Jubal was father of those who handle instruments. "Handle" is defined as "without warrant" or without authority.
Rubel Shelly: Thus a Catholic source says the following: "For almost a thousand years Gregorian chant, without any instrumental or harmonic addition, was the only music used in connexion [sic] with liturgy." And a widely respected Protestant scholar writes:
"There is no evidence for the use of musical instruments;
and if we picture the believers as men and women drawn from the poorer strata of society and meeting clandestinely,
the non-mention of musical instruments is not surprising. The making melody psallontes: Eph. v.19 is in the heart
So, from the garden of Eden down to the end-time Babylon Whore with her musicians and instruments proves that instrumental music was always associated with Satan and with his disciplew who wanted the people to look at him and not listen to the Words of God.
One of the "but hath God really said" dodges is to say, "well, you know that they were not rich or talented and this explains why all church history notes that Christians were different because they did not try to attack or "move the worshipers into the presence of the gods" with instrumental music.
But, the scholars universally condemn instruments and for the same reason the Bible condemns them: they were the devices which the king of Tyre as a Lucifer agent who was in the garden of Eden "came equipped."
So, there is no way to misuse history to explain that the Christian's practices were just cultural. And, since we have lots of money and talent we can buy instruments and train Sister Singers therefore God was just waiting for the 19th century to begin to really enjoy instrumental music.
The Catholic Encyclopedia disagrees with Dr. Shelly about the legal loopholes about time and place and commands:
"(a) The first testimony is found in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians (v, 19): "Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord".
"Cardinal Bona finds in these words a witness to the fact that "from the very beginnings of the Church, psalms and hymns were sung in the assembly of the faithful", and understands them to refer to an alternated chant (mutuo et alterno cantu). [That excludes Fanny Crosby]
Since this was not really "singing" but teaching the Bible, this was not "responsorial singing" of modern composers with two choirs.
And you will note that the FAITHFUL used the Biblical material.
"McEvilly in his "Commentary"
"applies them to public and private meetings. St Augustine (Ep. cxix, ch. xviii) says:
"As to the singing of psalms and hymns, we have the proofs, the examples, and the instructions of the Lord Himself, and of the Apostles". (Cf. also Col., iii, 16; I Cor., xiv, 26.)
That means "Direct Commands and examples" and do not need to infer anything.
We know that these were all INSPIRED BIBLICAL TEXTS as Paul insists because a great controversy resulted when people began to introduce their own compositions as CO-INSPIRED along with God's poetic material.
Augustine went on to say:
"In such a case we ought by all means to adopt it,
especially if it be something in defence of which Scripture can be alleged:
as in the singing of hymns and psalms,
........ for which we have on record both the example and the precepts
........ of the Lord and of His apostles.
........ [Is that something like "Commands, Examples and Inferences?"]
"In this religious exercise, so useful for inducing a devotional frame of mind and inflaming the strength of love to God, there is diversity of usage, and
in Africa the members of the Church are rather too indifferent in regard to it;
on which account the Donstists reproach us with our grave chanting of the divine songs of the prophets in our churches,
while they inflame their passions in their revels by the singing of psalms of human composition,
........ which rouse them like the stirring notes of the trumpet on the battle-field.
If music DID NOT inflame the passions it would have NO VALUE in filling the collection plates. Because any form of rhetorical or musical performance inflames the passions it violates what JESUS did and what Paul OUTLAWED in Romans 15.
Rubel Shelly: Second, some of the early Christian writers often cited about non-instrumentation also inveigh against females being allowed to participate in congregational hymn-singing. Scripture alone is normative for Christian faith and practice, not post-biblical history.
To show that Dr. Shelly's prejudicial statement was not official, the Catholic Encyclopedia notes that:
"In the ancient congregational singing both sexes took part; the words of St. Paul imposing silence on women in church being interpreted to refer only to exhorting or instructing.
"Duchesne describes how the earliest worship of the Christians was parallel to that, not of the Temple of the Jews at Jerusalem, but of the local synagogues, the Christians borrowing thence their four elements of Divine service-the lections (reading parts of Scripture), the chants (of the Psalter), the homilies (explaining those passages of scriptures), and the prayers. Catholic Encyclopedia
Paul's word "authority" is AUTHENTIA which is sexual authority, both erotic and murderous. You cannot USE a woman in a non-silent, non-sedentary role without knowing and planning to USE her to exercise sexual authority which is very powerful in sucking in the seekers. The singing was never "musical" but TEACHING or PREACHING and rather than singing the word READING is called chanting.
"But considerable prominence was given to the hymns by the Gnostic, Bardesans, who composed a psalter of 150 psalms. However, the 59th canon of the Synod of Laodicea, 360 A. D., enjoined that 'No psalm composed by private individuals nor any uncanonical books may be read in the Church, but only... the Canonical Books of the OT and NT." Int Std Ency., p. 2494
"In competition with pagan musical art, congregational singing began to wane. Basil states that he had 'the Psalms rendered by skillful presentors after the manner of the triumphal Odes of Pindar,
the congregation joining at the closing verse,
with the accompaniment of lyres." Int Std Bible Ency., p. 2494A
Not even David sang his songs and simultaneously played to create harmony. Rather, after the ending of a verse it was common to strum the strings. This may be the meaning of 'selah' which meant "now, meditate on this verse in the heart."
Classical writers and the fathers recognize the simultaneous singing and playing as the arena of the female entertainers or prostitutes where there was no intention of communicating information. They note that to read a man's poem or song and play instruments would be to insult him. And so is Christ insulted.
Having someone INVEIGH agains women is not going to add anything to the instrumental music issue. They inveighed against instruments because of universal Biblical opposition and the practices of all pagans. Most of the church Fathers did not object to sit down women reciting the Biblical text. So that argument is mute.
Men like Alexander the Oracle Monger explained by Lucian of Samosata shows that people who want to construct Seeker-Centers have to resort to using women as their primary "ministers." Without them you could not extort money. He knew that you only needed women and flute players to get the money out of "fat heads and simpletons."
Apollo had his oracle just up the coast from Corinth and he also used women and instrumental music for the best Seeker-Center in the ancient world. Amazingly, he "navigated the winds of change" to kidnap his male ministers from another "oracle" in Crete.
Apollo is the model of Apollyon or Abbadon in the book of Revelation.
Everyone from God to Paul to the church Fathers to the Seekers today know that "female authority" is sexual power where women are used to attract with authentia which is both cruel and deadly.
The missing fact is that while much later monastic writers "inveighed" against women just for breathing valuable air, we have none of them even suggesting that effeminate clergy males dressed up and singing like women ever add musical instruments.
Inveigh: to assail, attack with words, to make a violent verbal attack. Webster.
Rubel Shelly: Christ, his apostles, and the evangelists-teachers of the earliest church are simply silent on this matter about which we have had so much to say. Ah, and there lies the problem! How are we to interpret the "silence" of Scripture on this or any other topic?
Jesus was not silent on at least three occasions. Paul was not silent. When Paul's operative word is "teach" and not "sing" and the melody, to keep from being destructive, was in the heart, then only the legalistic LAW OF SILENCE says that since God didn't say DON'T DO IT then we can do whatever we decide that we will do.
This can be said with a straight face and backing up to the pay window only by total ignorance of the Word of God. Or, on my worse days, trying to fool someone.
Alfred T. DeGroot delivers up the standard method: Disciples are "churches" because the church must be High Church (Catholic) "alive" and bend with the winds of the time. However, churches of Christ are "sects" because they rely on the commands of Scripture. In the universal sense, he accuses the non-musical group of rejecting instruments because of silence. However, it is a fact that musical groups add instruments because "the earliest church was simply silent." This is perhaps the clearest example of turning silence upside down. Click Here to see that silence with God is golden.
There are numerous examples of Jesus repudiating instrumental music. Did you know that? No. You don't grasp that by feeding on the dry onion skins of the Word. Did you know that Psalm 41 promises that Judas will not triumph over Jesus? And that the "triumph" is blowing wind instruments and "making a joyful noise" which God outlawed during the assembly? (Numbers 10:7)
Those who use the Greek word psallo argue that the Bible is not silent, but authorizes or even commands instruments.
People ignorant of the nature of the Monarchy period appeal to the Psalms as God's non-silence authorizing Christian practices.
Other's use the silence of "the Bible didn't say: 'don't jump off tall buildings." Therefore, the silence of God authorizes jumping off tall buildings."
God is still there and "He is not Silent." Click for Proof
In reviewing DeGroot we quoted Augustine to say what everyone understood:
"but because it was obvious to remark that all sound,
which is the material of song, is by nature of three kinds.
........ > For it is either produced by the voice,
........ ........ as in the case of those who sing with the mouth without an instrument;
........ > or by blowing, as in the case of trumpets and flutes;
........ > or by striking, as in the case of harps and drums, and all other instruments
........... that give their sound when struck.
Paul commanded the church to "speak" or "preach" the revealed Word. That is, the one instrument included in the word "psalmos" is the human voice.
By placing the melody "in the heart" Paul excluded mechanical devices.
Being inspired, he gave both a positive command and a negative command.
The Silence of Scripture
Rubel Shelly: You can make a pretty good case for the silence of Scripture being prohibitive. The writer of Hebrews, for example, argued that Jesus could not be a priest without a change from the Mosaic covenant to a new one. Under the old covenant, priests were to be chosen from the Tribe of Levi. But Jesus was from Judah, "and in regard to that tribe Moses said nothing about priests" (Heb. 7:11-14).NO Jewish CONGREGATION of the people EVER sang congregationally with INSTRUMENTAL ACCOMPANIMENT: Never.
God quarantined the "like the nation's" temple from the people and SHUT THE GATES at the sounding of the trumpets and DAVID'S INSTRUMENTS.
Animal Sacrifices at which DAVID'S instruments were PLAYED only for dedication or purification of king, priests, temple, Jerusalem or the nation were IN THE COURTS. This was the typical place where they MUSICALLY MOCKED Jesus trying to MELT HIS HEART in panic.
The "sounders" and never musicians NEVER went into the Holy Place as the carnal type of the church of Christ. If they stumbled in they would have been executed. Not even in Hezekiah's reform could they go into the Holy Place: no, NOT EVEN TO CLEAN OUT THE GARBATE.
The Holy Place as the carnal type of heaven or our own Spirit in contact with God's Spirit is dark and silent where EACH person gives heed to the SPIRIT OF TRUTH.
The synagogue for the people NEVER had music or musicians. Therefore, the Word is very VOCAL about music. It always associates it with Lucifer (Zoe) or with telling God: "We will not listen to your words.
When God removed Israel from the Egyptian worship He did not command them not to "sing, dance naked and play instrumental music" which is defined by the word "play" which Paul warned the Corinthians about in chapter ten and the Romans in chapter 10. However, He did command them to put away their abominations.
Yet, when they rose up to play, God took the Book of the Covenant away from them, gave them The Book of the Law and a priesthood to keep the people out of His symbolic presence at the Tabernacle. This is why Paul demands that a Christian has to "go to Him outside the camp" which later became outside the walls of the temple separating the priests and noise-makers from the people who prayed outside the gates while God heard from heaven.
Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 1 Corinthians 10:7
"And the people celebrated this feast with burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, with eating and drinking, i.e. with sacrificial meals and sports, or with loud rejoicing, shouting, antiphonal songs, and dances, in the same manner in which the Egyptians celebrated their feast of Apis (Herod. 2, 60, and 3, 27)." (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. II, p. 222).
"The triumphal hymn of Moses had unquestionably a religious character about it;
but the employment of music in religious services, though idolatrous,
"is more distinctly marked in the festivities which attended the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's, Music, p. 589).
And Isaiah and Jeremiah is a powerful warning about the high places to worship MOLECH with singing and instrumental music:
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire;
which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Jeremiah 7:31
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet (Tabret, Tambourine, King's Music grove), nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. Jeremiah 7:32
Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate. Jeremiah 7:34
God warned Israel about the Asherah poles and the high places but they never listened. When they fired God and demanded a king so that they could worship like the nations this is what God was silent about in that He ruled by law and not by silence. While not authorized for all of the people:
"The ritual observances at the Hebrew and at a Canaanite sanctuary were so similar that to the mass of the people Jehovah worship and Baal worship were not separated by any well-marked line... A sacrifice was a public ceremony of a township or clan...
Then the crowds streamed into the sanctuary from all sides, dressed in their gayest attire, marching joyfully to the sound of music, and bearing with them not only the victims appointed for sacrifice, but store of bread and wine set forth the feast... Universal hilarity prevailed." (Gurney, p. 37).
Music was a powerful tool to "lead the worshipers into the presence of God while even Israelites were sacrificing their children." Therefore, God used the sacrificial, musical procession to Topheth to warn of what he would do to Syria -- And God never told Assyria: "Thou shalt not oppress my people." The version Jesus read always treats the musical passages radically different. For instance, Isaiah 30:29:
Must ye always rejoice, and go into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must ye go with a pipe, as those that rejoice, into the mountains of the Lord, to the God of Israel? Isaiah 30:29LXX
And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. Isaiah 30:30
For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. Isaiah 30:31
And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. Isaiah 30:32
For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Isaiah 30:33
Of the king of Babylon as a Lucifer (king/queen) type, they will all go to the place of eternal fire: Topheth.
All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. Isaiah 14:11
However, the Scriptures are not silent about instrumental music:
The Greek word psalmos in its Attic sense simply meant that rather than prose, something was written in such a form that it could be read, recited or chanted. The composition style in meter allowed the song to be accompanied by "the human voice" as an allowable instrument or by "a lifeless" or mechanical instrument. Paul commanded that we "teach and admonish" with "the Word of Christ" or "spirit" and that the prescribed accompanying instrument be the human voice. God wrote the "songs" and He prescribed the instrument.
Therefore, Paul still guided by the Spirit Christ, was not silent about the resource, the method of teaching it, the instrument to use and the result, in the words of Peter which we quoted, would be:
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1:19KJV
GIVE HEED is the almost unique worship word:
Proserchomai (g4334) pros-er'-khom-ahee; from 4314 and 2064 (includ. its alt.); to approach, i.e. (lit.) come near, visit, or (fig.) worship, assent to: - (as soon as he) come (unto), come thereunto, consent, draw near, go (near, to, unto).
Did you know that paying attention to or giving heed to is the Greek proserchomai which means to assent to or to worship. Like, wow! There we have Peter saying that we should worship the Word. Well, worship really means to abandon our thoughts, our sermons, or songs and just listen in silence as God speaks. We don't really see the Bible as an idol but we worship Christ's Words or we repudiate Christ!
Rubel Shelly: You can also make a pretty good case for biblical silence being concessive. Take the synagogue as an institution, for example.
The Old Testament says nothing about a synagogue with its worship rituals, officers, and authority in the daily lives of devout Jews.
There is neither a command nor example to authorize one. The institution appears to have been created during the 400-year period between the testaments. More specifically, most scholars believe it evolved when the Jewish nation was in exile in Babylon.
During the festivals God commanded a holy convocation for the first and seventh day. Because of the very meaning of sabbath as rest, and its related words, travel and specificially "sending out ministers" was prohibited. There were no Shelly-like organizations but the word means to rehearse or read the Word of God. The Qahal or assembly or church in the wilderness existed in the wilderness. The "strangers" could never enter the Tabernacle.
And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. Ex.12:16
Miqra (h4744) mik-raw'; from 7121; something called out, i. e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal: - assembly, calling, convocation, reading.
And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. Ne 8:3
Qara (h7121) kaw-raw'; a prim. root [rather ident. with 7121 through the idea of accosting a person met]; to call out to (i. e. prop. address by name, but used in a wide variety of applications): - bewray [self], that are bidden, call (for, forth, self, upon), cry (unto), (be) famous, guest, invite, mention, (give) name, preach, (make) proclaim (- ation), pronounce, publish, read, renowned, say.
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deut 4:8
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons sons; Deut 4:9
Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. Deut 4:10
Qahal (h6950) kaw-hal'; a prim. root; to convoke: - assemble (selves) (together), gather (selves) together).
Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: De.31:12
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: Ac.7:38
Ekklesia (g1577) ek-klay-see'-ah; from a comp. of 1537 and a der. of 2564; a calling out, i.e. (concr.) a popular meeting, espec. a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Chr. community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both): - assembly, church.
Most preachers deny the SYNAGOGUE which always existed because it has no SADDLE upon which a preacher, singer or clapper can sit on the backs of widows:
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. Acts 13:26
For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers,
because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets
which are read every sabbath day,
they have fulfilled them in condemning him (Setting Him at Nought). Acts 13:27
Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: Acts 15:19
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. Acts 15:20
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. Ac.15:21
Sunagoge (g4864) soon-ag-o-gay'; from (the redupl. form of) 4863; an assemblage of persons; spec. a Jewish "synagogue" (the meeting or the place); by anal. a Christian church: - assembly, congregation, synagogue.
Dr. Shelly and so many in high places somehow believe that because the english word "synagogue" is so rarely used, that God's silence about the synagogue gives us permission to use silence for sowing discord among brethren by introducing instruments and sexual authority. We have reviewed Al Maxey's claim that GOD DIDN'T COMMAND THE SYNAGOGUE here.
First, we noted that even the New Testament shouts out about musical or ritualistic worship but Jesus simply is not speaking to those who get to be key man at the Feast of Tabernacles. So, if you don't hear anything it may be like the silence of a cemetery.
All scholars are aware that the Qahal existed in the wilderness:
Dictionaries usually give the meaning for this word as a "Christian building" or "a group of Christians." The word used in most English versions is from the Greek ekklesia which means "a calling-out, a meeting, or a gathering." This is the equivalent to the Hebrew word qahal, which means an "assembly or a congregation." Again, Christianity adopted exclusivity.
The word "church" in Greek is actually kuriakon or kyriakon, which is a building or "the house of "Kurios," or "Lord." Kurios is the Greek form of the Latin Dominus/Domina (f)." This word was used synonymously for the god Jupiter. In the Sanskrit, Domina was the Great Mother Goddess, Kybele, who was also known as the "sensual goddess" -- (Byblos/Aphrodite/Venus/Juno/Isis/Diana/Roma,etc.).
The origin of the word "church" is also attributed to the Anglo-Saxon root word Circe (pronounced and written as "Kirke"), who was a Greek goddess, daughter of Helios, the sun diety. She was reputed to be the goddess of degrading love, comparable to the Babylonian Ishtar, who was also known for her sorcery and herbal knowledge.
Second, We have already noted that the QAHAL was for the gathering of the CONGREGATION or often representatives of the congregation. God OUTLAWED instruments and loud rejoicing because this was to be used in WARFARE to panic the enemy as MODERN science grasps that CHURCH MUSIC creates a feeling of panic. He also outlawed it simply because you CANNOT pay attention to a word from God with your own mouth open.
WHILE the Levitical "musicians" under the king and COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY participated in animal sacrifices because the temple was the NATIONAL CAPITAL AND BANK, the people as congregation NEVER synagogues with singing or music because it was UNLAWFUL and would destroy the EDUCATIONAL purpose of the synagogue.
The word synagogue is also translated from the Hebrew Mowed which simply means an assembly or a fixed time. It is liberally used from Genesis to Zechariah. The victims of the sacrificial system carried on the "like the nation's" temple rituals for the king, clergy and officials including the Stationary Men who represented the people like a congressman represents his district for rituals at the Washington Cathedral.
However, God deliberately excluded the common people's "congregation" and commanded that the priests and Levites teach in their own community. It would have been a function at all times although it was institutionalized around THE BOOK in Babylon and in the Intertestament period.
The absolute command was to teach. The people had all of the authority they needed to teach whether walking by the way or assemblying for a teaching priest or Levite.
After the "fall" at Mount Sinai and the rejection of God for a human king, there was also a like the nations or civil-religious worship at the temple. This was given as punishment. And this is why the civil worship at Jerusalem was similar to that of the Canaanites.
However, the spiritual people were always to be taught the law and the "people" as congregation were never part of the temple "worship."
"Although Josephus tells of the wonderful effects produced in the Temple by the use of instruments,
the first Christians were of too spiritual a fibre to substitute lifeless instruments for or to use them to accompany the human voice. Catholic Encyclopedia on Ecclesiastical Music
Josephus also warned the Levitical singers that they had destroyed the nation once and would do again by wearing the liney (female) garments and restoring the music.
The spiritual people read the Word and prayed without a modern-like institution.
The civil-political people depended on the performed worshiped at the temple.
This was repeated in history as it is repeated over and over as secular people take control from the spiritual people.
"the steady progress of ritualism and the growth of sacerdotal ideas", which "inevitably deprived the people of all initiative in the worship, and concentrated the offices of public devotion, including that of song, in the hands of the clergy" (Music in the History of the Western Church, New York, 1902, p. 48),
may be inferred from the efforts of ecclesiastical authority to revive the older custom of congregational singing, as well be seen under (c). Catholic Encyclopedia
McClintock says that selecting the clergy musicians was "the first heresy widely pervading the church."
God's command was to teach the Word to the people and pray. This could be in the home or in a community gathering (synagogue). Psalm 74 reads:
Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations (synagogues, meeting places plural); they set up their ensigns for signs. Psalm 74:4
(Calvin said that the organ was that ensign of Baal)
They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. Psalm 74:8
Or: "Let's wipe out every trace of God," they said, and went through the entire country burning down the assembly places where we worshiped you. Psalm 74:8LIV
When you INTRUDE music or instruments into the synagogue of Christ you INTEND to "wipe out every trace of God."
The prophets didn't preach in the temple but:
We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. Psalm 74:9
Therefore, the houses were not the temple but the community buildings used for "church" and "school."
Rubel Shelly: What we know for sure is that it was the central institution in the spiritual lives of the Jews in the time of Jesus.
Well, the synagogue was the central institution of those who rejected sacramental and sacrificial practices as "acts of worship." In fact, the Hasidim who became Pharisees REMOVED the people from the evil influence of the temple to restore TEACHING OF THE WORD. The temple during the Intertestament time became the focus of the worship of Zeus and Dionysus. The sin including building A GYMNASIUM to exercise and enjoy the perverted "worship" of Dionysus with music.
The Jews PIPED hoping that Jesus would sing and dance the Dionysus, perverted dance. This is why Jesus compared them to CHILDREN playing the old fertility ritual of WEDDING or FUNERAL. They hoped that John wore the SOFT clothing of the king's catamite. History knows that the temple was polluted by remnants of Zeus and Dionysus worship: Dionysus was the GOD OF NEW WINE IN NEW WINESKINS. Look at Second Maccabees. This PROVES why the spiritual Jews NEVER worshiped with music because it would MARK them as feminine or effeminate.
Rubel Shelly: He attended, participated in, and helped lead Sabbath services in his hometown synagogue (Luke 4:16ff). Although Scripture had been "silent" on the subject (i.e., no command for it, no example of it, and no logical inference about it), human initiation of the synagogue was neither presumptuous nor a challenge to divine authority.
But, the Bible is clearly not silent about the Synagogue! We know for certain that there was no "congregational singing with instruments" under the Law "added for the transgression" of musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. We also know that the Synagogue has the same meaning as the Greek translated falsely as "church" and that there was no praise service in the synagogue.
The synagogue, like the church, had no anxiety-creating rituals and "allegorizing preachers" were outlawed. The command was to assign leaders and teachers; the logical inference is that they lead and taught. The direct command was to READ: the logical inference is that they met somewhere to read. We call that "assembly" a synagogue but it was never an institution of and by and for the clergy. The readers were often young boys and the OVERSEER literally watched that he did not misREAD anything.
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Exodus 18:20
Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: Exodus 18:21
The temple rituals were not for the people. Rather, the priests had the duty to teach along with the parents:
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: Lev 10:9
And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; Lev 10:10
And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Lev 10:11
Did you notice that Jesus stood to read the word but then had the uncommon decency to "sit down?" (Luke 4:20)
Rubel Shelly: The truth be told, the Bible's "silence" on a subject is most often ambiguous rather than either prohibitive or concessive. What one is willing to allow or quick to oppose is, I fear, due more to taste and temperament than to any clear application of the following cherished dictum: "Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent."
Honoring God's silence is not part of a "decadent and deleterious" theology of churches of Christ but the watchword of 2000 years of non-Catholic history. By analogy, a good baker knows why the hole is in the donut. If you hire on as a new baker you do not have authority to fill in the hole.
While silence can get tricky, we remind you that the Spirit Christ was not ambiguous about music. The Bible is not silent about instruments. The destructive nature of music begins in the garden of Eden for the literate and was responsible for the major defections of the nation including the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai.
What legalists want before having authority to prohibit instruments is a dictum "Thou shalt not use instruments." Without that dictum then instruments are permitted.
This defines legalism. We don't need a "dictum" which says: "Thou shalt not perform with an orchestra while the preacher is preaching." We just some how know that when Jesus is trying to speak then we are silent. If we need a "dictum" then we are legalists.
Rubel Shelly: But hold on! Where did that dictum come from? It's not a Bible verse. It's a well-worn religious slogan that I think has some very positive value.
Dr. Shelly cannot find the SYNAGOGUE in the BIBLE and holds that the people GOT AWAY with creating a new religious institution. We have shown that this is wrong.
Now, Dr. Shelly misses the entire Bible and so much of the history of the church and CANNOT believe what he is saying.
"Did God really say that?" And thus Eve was deceived just by asking the question. That Dictum is like the "thou shalt not eat of the tree." That was a direct command. But "gospel" is now just seven facts about Jesus so "Did God really say thous shall obey my commands?" The implication of the question is that God did not say "thou shalt not."
All of God's Word is pretty old but unfortunately, based on most sermons, not very well-worn! Whatever the Incarnate God of the universe says should be important and will be vitally important to those whose light has not been put out:
So, let's put some wear on some of the "slogans" from the voice of the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11) as HE formulated the slogan which I take as a command.
Because there is such a flood of material from the Bible and history which states the "dictum" or "well-worn religious slogan" our notes have grown too large. You can read all about commands, examples and inferences by clicking here. However, we will look at one "dictum" stated by God through Moses:
God promised that in contending for the faith in the time of Jesus:
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Deut 18:18
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name,
........... I will require it of him. Deut 18:19
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name,
which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods,
even that prophet shall die. Deut 18:20
So, you see, the gospel is not just "seven facts about Jesus" but everything which comes from His mouth. He is Full Deity to the human mind (Col. 2:9) and to strip the Holy Spirit of everything except seven facts about Him is to silence and throttle Him in the middle of His sermons by substituting "teams" to try to find the lost "gods."
I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. John 5:30
Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. John 8:28
If you want to assume more authority than God Incarnated in Jesus took the be my guest. Jesus identified the Pharisees (professional) as sons of the Devil and liars because 'he speaks on his own.' And so, the law AGAINST preaching other than translating and explaining 'that which is written.'
Rubel Shelly: We repeat Rubel Shelly's statement: "Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent."
But hold on! Where did that dictum come from? It's not a Bible verse. It's a well-worn religious slogan that I think has some very positive value.
That is a huge concession since the slogan comes from God! The Post-Modern "hermeneutic" of the Latter Rain (or Latter Reign) asks:
"Are you having difficulty discerning or receiving this "new revelation"?
Then you have been interpreting your Bible in the "old way,"
comparing Scripture with Scripture, studying diligently to account for every jot and tittle and being careful to rightly divide the Word of truth.
"If this describes you, then you belong to the "Old Generation"
which will not enter in to "possess the land" in the Latter Rain Revival.
You may even be a member of a denominational church, with its dogmatic confession of faith and statement of doctrine.
These legalistic forms will be relics of the past in the up and coming "Post-denominational Church."
Paul Cain advises that you "dump all that carnal stuff" (doctrine)
and listen to what the "spirit" is saying to the churches through the Latter Rain Prophets and Apostles, who are dispensing many "new, sacred truths."
Rubel Shelly: But is it foundational enough to build a hermeneutic or theology on it? Is this human rubric (Rubric means: Red chapter heading) so sacred that it would be worth dividing the Body of Christ for the sake of our different slants on it?
If you build a hermeneutic then God will just tear it down like He did the temples.
What if we are not interested in building a hermeneutic? And church dividing only happens when people intrude instruments into a non-instrumental church. Those who resist the "invasion" are now suddenly the "attackers" (Shelly's Aztec Paradigm in The Second Incarnation.)
If there is no addition to the clear commands of God then there will be no division. If people would not violate the clear Spirit-Guided statement by Paul outlawing stand-up or stand-over women worship teams preaching with a tune then the church would not be divided, would it? Knowing that it will be divisive then it must be deliberate and with a high hand.
The rubric produced silence of instruments for 2,000 years among non-catholic influenced "seeker-services." The law was used by men who said: "The law does not say, 'thou shalt not play." Therefore, we can play. It was the law of silence used in a legalistic way which allowed sectarians to introduce instruments in their own interest: that makes the definition of heresy or sectarian certain according to Vine.
We have posted Augustines "dictum" which was universally held until Dr. Shelly decided that it is no longer a foundation built upon the Rock good enough for the Post-Modern or Post-Denominational hermeneuts. See Agustine on Dan Dozier's ditto comments supporting Dr. Shelly.
Dr. Shelly and the Change Agent Denomination (CHAD) simply arrays themselves against the Revealed Word of God and the World's ancient and modern scholarship not tainted by the Vineyard or New Wineskin dogmas.
Rubel Shelly: Jesus didn't die over our interpretations of eschatology, congregational government, or church music.
I contend that Jesus died to give us REST from the clergy-laden burden. That burden is "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual." The word REST is almost a dedicated word which means STOP the preaching, STOP the singing and STOP the instruments. Instruments and singing were to LIFT you up in order to carry you away for the religionist's PERSONAL USE. That defines HERESY in no uncertain terms directly connected to many musical terms.
The New mantra to put you off and silence you: "Jesud didn't die for A Cappella Music."
Request: Who suggested such a thing? A Cappella is like the Post-Modern Voodoo connection.
Let Webster do the walking for us: "Eschatology: means doctrines dealing with death, resurrection, judgment, immortality."
Britannica: "eschatology the doctrine of last things. It was originally a Western term, referring to Jewish and Christian beliefs about the end of history (or of the world in its present state), the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, and related matters."
But we believe that Jesus died to remove the burdens laded by the priestly "burden laders." That burden is defined as "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual." And nothing is so condemned throughout the Old Testament (sorry if you didn't TAKE isaiah in college) as instrumental music as saying to God: "We will not listen to your words."
We believe that Jesus endorsed synagoguing and condemned the temple as the "venue" for music for the animal burning times originally.
We believe that Jesus fired the doctors of the law and condemned all of the clergy: that would have included the musicians.
Jesus died to SHUT DOWN music which never had any role, even under the Law, for congregational worship.
He risked His life by "casting out more or less violently" the very strong tradition and job description of the Musical Mourning Team.
By His permissive will, He prophesied and allowed the destruction of the TEMPLE which was the unique VENUE for musical performance. Josephesus claimed that the CLERGY SINGERS had destroyed the nation once and would do it again.
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. Revelation 18:14
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Revelation 18:21
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman (Canannites or peddlers), of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Revelation 18:22 (The Babylonian "grinders" were prostitutes)
This was the Old Testament pattern of using music to silence the Word:
Of the king of Babylon as a Lucifer (king/queen) type, they will all go to the place of eternal fire: Topheth.
All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you. Isaiah 14:11
This was Jesus as the Spirit speaking: I'll bet that is more than core gospel! Jesus cast out the MUSICAL TEAMS "more or less violently."
Rubel Shelly: That we have fought such acrimonious (sharp, harsh temper) battles over these things is not only shameful but is responsible for the unbelief of many.
This, too, is a psychologically-violent demand that we must cease defending the truth about these issues so that people will suddenly become believers.
On the contrary, someone said: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Anyone who will ever become a believer must understand that theatrical performance is intended to "take away the keys to knowledge" even as they must understand that "Jesus took away the keys from those who take away the keys." The gospel includes the notion of being relieved of the clergy burden of ritual.
The usresolved shame comes from sowing discord among bretheren by defending the INVADERS with instruments as the good guys and THOSE BEING INVADED for turning and ATTACKING THE INVADERS.
The original sowers of discord made no scriptural justification for music. They even said that if instruments were used AS PART OF THE WORSHIP then it WOULD BE SINFUL.
It is difficult to grasp the mind set of saying that continuing to sing congregationallly which has been the practice for all of those centuries suddenly becomes evil.
If the Jubilee band had not set out to facilitate or manipulate musical worship by the use of acrimonious treatement of non-instrumentalists to bully people away from defending the truth about music then there would still be books and sermons but no acrimony.
"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every part of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages,
there the loyalty of the soldier is proved;
and to be steady on all battlefields besides
is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." Martin Luther.
This sermon seems bent on creating prejudice in the minds of the members to inoculate them against returning to the faith and repudiating theatrical performance and let Jesus do the talking.
The "acrimony" -- to wit this sermon -- always heaps the "acrimony" upon those who will not dance to their tune. For instance a fellow-traveler notes and we review the charge that by not adding instruments after 1800 years of opposition makes the faithful few the sectarians:
"But (praise be to God!) new winds are blowing in the Churches of Christ, winds of the Holy Spirit. There is a great hunger and openness evident among many of these precious people.
........... "It is our ardent hope that we can encourage and nurse along this new and hopeful trend.
The "beat goes on" in this article in that most of the acrimony is heaped upon those who refused (refuse) to go along with the addition of instruments. The issue seemed, to this writer, to be almost moot until the Jubilee and Willow Creek systems began "practicing" people with the use of instrumental music. That was either a conspiracy or rank commercialism.
(1) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, (2) that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
(3) "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).
Then what about this joke about the Father god and the Holy Spirit god "acing out" the Son god so that He would be stuck with the redemption of the world? Not even doubting Thomas has as much doubt as our clergy: he said, "My Lord and my God."
Rubel Shelly: (4) "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: (5) While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (6) Since we have now been justified by his blood, (7) how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Rom. 5:8-9).
These are the essentials of Christian faith. It is this core message about Jesus that we share in common with other Bible-believing, cross-proclaiming, resurrection-confessing, born-again persons that constitutes us a church.
No. Paul said that this is the milk of the Word. You just have to keep on feeding milk until people grow up and can eat meat. Because Corinth was still carnal with their own "worship teams" they could not tolerate going beyond the doctrine of dying to self.
"We cannot conceive Eve as holding converse with a snake, but we can understand her being fascinated (*2) by one, apparently "an angel of light" (i.e. a glorious angel), possessing superior and supernatural knowledge.
Never was Satan's wisdom so craftily used as when he secured universal acceptance of this traditional belief (that Satan is an old snake):
for it has succeeded in fixing the attention of mankind on the letter and the means, and thus blinding the eyes to the solemn fact
that the Fall of man had to do solely with the Word of God,
and is centered in the sin of believing Satan's lie instead of Jehovah's truth.
The temptation of "the first man Adam" began with the question "Hath God said?" The Serpent in Genesis.
And, to the literate, the serpent was not a snake but a musiclal enchanter or musical deceiver who WHOLLY SEDUCED Even and took on Adam because in the ancient world to say MUSICIAN was to say HOMOSEXUAL. The king/queen of Tyre wanted to be remembered as a male but hi/she is called a harp playing prostitute.
Here is what Jesus was passionate about:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
Therefore, this is what Paul was passionate about:
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Tim 4:1
Preach (herald, publish) the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 2 Tim 4:2
A lawful preacher HAS NO VENUE in which to organize a MUSICAL WORSHIP: he is not, contra Shelly, a Located Missionary but has a GO button.
The word "gospel" is to the New Covenant what the word "law" was to the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant could have all of the APPLE pared off the CORE of carnal ordinances.
All of this "core" nonsense flows from a carnal understanding of Paul's determination to know only Christ and Him crucified. However, Paul preached the "core" gospel to the carnal Corinthians because they were blind and deaf and could not grasp that all of God's voice to mankind is "gospel" or good news.
If you are just hearing these essentials then you are being told that you are babies and still carnal.
Paul limited his preaching because 'you are still carnal." He did not come to baptize those who had not turned to Christ with the same mind which allowed God to give up His own Majesty and Glory to die for a pattern. So that we do not have to literally die, Christ put our forgiveness in obeying the form of His burial in water baptism.
Why would there be so much desperation to formulate a little, blood-bled creed just to say, "I'm ok, you're ok?" Apparently the sermons of Peter in Acts and that of Stephen didn't agree with Dr. Shelly. And when Philip preached Jesus how did the Eunuch know to ask about baptism? Stephen pointed us directly to the musical idolatry or "play" which cost Israel the covenant and gave them the Law, the Levites and the Monarchy against God's will with musical teams.
Remember what God said and this sermon repudiates:
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. Deut 18:18
And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he (Jesus) shall speak in my name,
I will require it of him. Deut 18:19
But the prophet,
which shall presume to speak a word in my name,
which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. Deut 18:20
The prophecy was that Messiah would speak the WORD (Gr. Logos). In Hebrew word is:
Dabar (h1697) daw-bawr'; from 1696; a word; by impl. a matter (as spoken of) or thing... chronicles, commandment, communecation), counsel, decree, deed, ... oracle... thing (concerning), thought, / thus, tidings, what [- soever], / wherewith,
Doctor Shelly uses seven facts about Jesus to include all into the same fold. Again, he pronounces a new gospel:
Rubel Shelly: These are the essentials of Christian faith. It is this core message about Jesus that we share in common with other Bible-believing, cross-proclaiming, resurrection-confessing, born-again persons that constitutes us a church.
Outside of the "core" of seven facts, the new APPLE is quite bare of "fruit" and of the rest we can truly ask: "Has God truly said?"
Rubel Shelly: Outside the essence of the gospel,
there are other features that reflect our history and consensus interpretations of the larger biblical message.
That draws a pretty narrow line but it is being drawn too often! Once you subscribe to the seven facts about Jesus then you are free to make your own consensus interpretations of the larger Biblical message. But Jesus said that His words were Spirit and Life (John 6:63) and Jesus delivered to us more than a core to which we can add our own "apple."
This repudiates the fact that God Incarnate was inspiring the apostles to deliver the Word whether we can scramble it into a "paradigm" or not. The CONCENSUS INTERPRETATIONS of the Bible prior to liberalism was that MUSICAL AS WORSHIP was condemned specificially by the Bible and that its use in paganism was connected to producing a SEXUAL FEELING.
"Most remarkable is how the president has been basing his defense on postmodernist language theory. According to postmodernists, words do not have a definite objective meaning. Rather, meaning is only a matter of interpretation. People interpret words in different ways; therefore,
words are incapable of communicating any kind of objective truth, as such. In practice,
this "deconstruction" of language means that such texts as the Constitution and the Bible do not have fixed meanings,
but are open to unlimited interpretation.
The role of music is proof that women and children (effeminate men) are ruling over the secular institutions they call churches. Thank God, they have removed the name of Christ off many of them.
One of "traditions" historically added in repudiation of the Restoration Movement and the writings of reformers such as John Calvin, Erasmus and Alexander Campbell of "grafting back" the dominant clergy which Jesus cut off slick as a button. This addition to the core is rapidly losing its consensus to the Bible students and musical worship, consistent with some really good Old Testament examples, is just a way to hide the loss of a love for the unadorned "lily" of God's free word (Isaiah 55:1f).
The non-use of instruments is based on a knowledge of the Old Testament, the first churches and 2,000 years of non-catholic history. It is not our tradition. Again, Rubel Shelly pounds on the judgmental traditionalists theme:
Rubel Shelly: Those things make us distinctive from other Christian groups. We have a right to those points of understanding and practice, but we don't have the right to judge others on the basis of those peculiarities. (out of the ordinary, queer, strange)
Rubel and the hireling-changelings make their ANTI attack against NOT using instruments, the purpose of baptism and the role of women. ALL of thes can be defenced by the Bible and most church history. Therefore, they are NOT part of our heritage meaning that the ANTI-instrumental group just MADE THEM UP. Rubel can find no historical evidence to defend the false accusation.
On the BIG other hand, Rubel Shelly is not about to attack the ABSOLUTELY TRUE legalism, traditionalism and PATTERNISM which HE needs for his own fun and profit. To wit:
There is NO LAW OF PREACHING or a role for a preacher in an established congregation. There are LAWS defining the church as a school of the Bible which REPUDIATES the notion. Most of church history and common sense agree.
There is NO LAW OF GIVING. There is no right for Rubel to command the TITHE because this would repudiate the Cross. Paul denied that the contribution to the DESTITUTE was a command.
There is NO LAW OF SINGING: any literate Bible reader can read SPEAK and know that this was a form of cantillation which was not tunefulness.
Well, there are many church groups who remain faithful to the non-use of instruments and this is especially true outside of the Hollywood-Dollywood-Grand Ole Opry-Voodoo influence. We are to be a peculiar people but one suspects that this is another nail driven into the coffin of the non-musical group as a way to justify the division. The Word is given along with the absolute authority to discern the "spirits" and to test any person's interpretation by comparing it to the Scripture. However, the word "judgmental" is the usual way to threaten people away from their Christ-liberated right to "judge" those like the Corinthian charismatics, based on the Word.
> The non-use of music is not distinctive to churches of Christ.
> The speak where the Bible speaks is not distinctive but universal outside Charismattville.
> The command, example and inference is defined by Biblical commands and is quite universal outside of Vinyardville.
Distinctive Without Being DivisiveAbove, Rubel Shelly stated that:
One of the things that makes us who we are is our distinctive musical heritage and practice.
We showed that our views of instrumental music as our heritage means that it is just our opinion or our tradition. And he obviously hold it to be a "decadent and deleterious" tradition. This absolutely ignores history from the Tower of Babel onward. We repeat, the Book of Enoch and many variations in the ancient world held the cardinal sin of Satan to be teaching the immature youth to use mix-sex choirs as "sexual authority" condemned by Paul and instrumental music.
For that sin, God will come with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment.
However, now, Rubel digs deeper:
The Hebrew word rendered "serpent" in Gen. 3:1 is Nachash (from the root Nachash, to shine), and means a shining one. Hence, in Chaldee it means brass or copper, because of its shining. Hence also, the word Nehushtan, a piece of brass, in 2Kings 18:4.
Those trying to take the glory away from Christ by "standing in the holy place" in theatrical performance are treated in the Bible and other ancient writings as real or perhaps supernatural fallen angels or "corrupted messengers."
Jesus did say that parables were used to hide the truth from the "external minded" people. He said that began from the foundation of the World. Therefore, it is not far fetched that the serpent in the garden was Satan using his 'musical worship team.' So says many of the ancient writings, including the oldest Babylonian Tablets, the king/queen of Trye and of Babylon, Beliar's attack upon Jesus and the end-time Babylon Harlot blend of false religion, theater and commerce.
"Serpent" is related to brass and to musical devices of creating serpent-like sounds:
> So now, we have about all that we do that is distinctive based on pure tradition! However, the non-use of instrumental music in worship is the facts held by the majority for 2,000 years.
> It is a fact that the people's congregation didn't sing with instrumental accompaniment under the Monarchy period of the law where God permitted Israel to "worship like the nations."
> There was no praise service in the Synagogues where Jesus went to pronounce judgment.
> There was no praise service in the Biblical churches of Christ.
> Music is a secular term and is not used in a religious sense except to implicate the Babylonian whore religion in Revelation 18 and the common welcoming-home feast. There was no lawful worship music in the church.
> Every authority we are aware of, including the Catholic Encyclopedia, universally attributed music as worship to paganism.
> Therefore, there is no connection between spiritual worship and music which is carnal and arouses sexual instincts, and in the modern sense if founded upon Voodoo.
Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! In ancient documents like the Book of Enoch, Book of Jubilees and companion versions, music was the weapon Lucifer taught to the "baby boomers" to seduce the holy people away from the Word of God.
Rubel Shelly: These are part of our heritage (tradition).
There are numerous "me-too" movements which treat congregational autonomy as just our tradition and that tradition should be replaced by dominant pastors attempting to control churches nation-wide through musical religious festivals and devotion to central-headquarters literature.
Rubel Shelly: I value them and can offer good historical, theological, and pragmatic justification for each one.
That seems to leave out Scripture? How could they just be our traditions and have theological underpinings?
What I feel no calling to construct or issue is a ringing anathema Rubel Shelly: on those who have come to different conclusions (count the ways at the end) and whose practices on these points differ from ours. In fact, I believe I would come under the rebuke of the following text to do so:
There has been no world-wide convocation demanding that Dr. Shelly or I make any pronouncements outside of our congregation. I have read rational, scriptural and historical discussions of the universal pagan connection with music but I have never heard the RINGING ANATHAMAS.
Request: book or sermon that issues ringing anathemas rather than just discussing the facts! It is not pronouncing an anathema to pronounce what Scripture says so, so clearly. We call your attention to the above material:
1. Nachuwsh (h5153) naw-khoosh'; appar. pass. part. of 5172 (perh. in the sense of ringing,
I. e. bell-metal; or from the red color of the bell,
throat of a serpent [5175, as denom.]
when hissing); coppery, i. e.
Figurative: hard - of brass
"The symbol of Marduk is the pixax (Akkadian, marru), and his emblematic animal is a composite serpent-dragon (with a name derived from the Sumerian mush-hush, "fire-red dragon"). Finegan, Jack, Myth and Mystery, p. 29, Baker
Rubel Shelly: For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written:
"As surely as I live," says the Lord,
"every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God."
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another (Rom. 14:9-13a).Judging intends to punish. We submit that people still flying the colors of "a cappella" have a well organized and financed vendetta going against those who will not affirm the correctness of those who use instruments. This is both despising and judging because it intends to do literal harm.
Romans 14 utterly DEPRIVES the hirelings of any exercise of control over people's lives and money OUTSIDE of the assembly. Without violating Romans 14 church institutions with a STAFF INFECTION and pagan ritualizing could not exist.
Without letting his pen dry out PAUL OUTLAWED the form of pleasuring specificially connected to the arousal forms of singing among ALL PAGANS. None of this existed in any church until about the year 373 when SINGING became an ACT. The COMMANDED speaking "that which is written" with one MIND and one MOUTH as the only way to glorify God and keep the unity.
Therefore, Romans 14 gives a double whack to paganizing the church to make it a COMMUNITY or COMMUNE.
Therefore, Romans 14 has a Romans 15 attached: this tells us WWJD and He DID NOT try to excite people to bring on PLEASURING. Paul outlawed Shelly type music when he defined the synagogue as speaking with ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH "that which is written." Therefore, Romans 15 is a direct command outlawing creating mental anxiety to give the REST Jesus died to give us. By forcing a musical group into a peacable church Rubel Shelly etal JUDGES people by forcing them to find a new church "family" when their old one is stolen. It is also a fact that music in the face of Romans 15 and the REST Jesus died to give us is heresy.
Rubel Shelly: "This means that people on both sides of these issues who have judged and condemned each other, whether from a legalistic or superiority posture
must repent of our past behaviors and be willing to admit that we've both been wrong.
And consciously undertake a more Christlike treatment of one another. We're free to hold and practice our points of view but we are not free to judge one another any longer.
And: "Now maybe, hearing these verses that I'm going to dwell on from a fresh, contemporary translation paraphrase will make them emphatic to all of us. They may make us all uncomfortable. They may make us blush. They might even lead us to some repentance. Listen to them as I read from Eugene Peterson's translation paraphrase the message.
The translation may be "fresher" than the old versions but it, as always, misses the point that the problem in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus and Colosse was pagan practices of diet and days but both groups brought with them the urge to "move into the presence of the gods" with instrumental music and Sister Singers. They, too, were the Baby Boomers (Infantile Drummers). However, in Romans 15 (which follows Romans 14) Paul says that the only way to "speak the same things" and provide unity is to speak the revealed Word of Christ (Old and New Testament) without trying to make it fresh enough to change its meaning.
It is clear that Dr. Shelly believes those who refuse to agree that instruments are allowable are the legalists. However, those who "permit themselves" the right to construct a new wineskin to include those who will be attracted by the sound of music are superior.
"It happened in 1517 that a Dominican monk named Johann Tetzel, a braggart, caused a great stir. Maximilian once sentenced him to drowning in the River Inn - presumably because of his great virtue - but Duke Frederick rescued him in Innsbruck from the punishment of being drowned.
Duke Frederick reminded him of this incident when he began to denounce us Wittenbergers.
At the time I did not yet know who was to get the money. Then there appeared a booklet with the illustrious coat of arms of the Bishop of Magdeburg. In it the commissioners of indulgences were ordered to preach some of the propositions. Thus it came to light that Bishop Albert had employed Tetzel, because he was such a braggart. Source: Martin Luther, Wider Hans Worst, 1541.
Johann Tetzel preached in 1516:
"You should know that all who confess and in penance put alms into the coffer according to the counsel of the confessor,
will obtain complete remission of all their sins.
........ "If they visit, after confession and after the Jubilee,
- "the Cross and the altar every day they will receive that indulgence which would be theirs upon visiting in St. Peter's the seven altars, where complete indulgence is offered.
- "Why are you then standing there? Run for the salvation of your souls! Be as careful and concerned for the salvation of your souls as you are for your temporal goods, which you seek both day and night. Seek the Lord while he may be found and while he is near. Work, as St. John says, while it it yet day, for the night comes when no man can work."
Deciding that some dominant, post Blackaby person does not have his own assignment from God just as powerful as Jesus' assignment from God allows us to look him in the face and recommend a tour of duty at the local loony farm. However, that is not passing judgment.
Passing judgment is holding a large congregation captive and branding all non-musical people with a Scarlet L on the forehead. That is doing literal violence to a sincere group of people; and it is done in the vested interest of the judger.
Passing judgment is from the Greek:
- Krino (g2919) kree'-no; prop. to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); by impl. to try, condemn, punish: - avenge, conclude, condemn, damn, decree, determine, esteem, judge, go to (sue at the) law, ordain, call in question, sentence to, think.. ers.
How can a protestant church go to bed with one who does that kind of judging and severely condemn before a large audience those who dare to question the attempt to introduce instruments or a female "team" into my church? The only "taking to law" in respect to instrumental music in worship has been for those who purchased the building and established the church to keep the musical groups from literally stealing the property. This is going on as we speak! The group used the law to steal the property and chase the non-musicals out.
Adding instrumental music in worship is Adding the Stumbling Block!
Proof-texting always seems to take verse 10d. In this case the proof-texting deprives the audience of the punch line by quoting 13a.
- Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another (Rom. 14:9-13a).
Look at the whole verse:
- Let us not therefore judge one another any more:
but judge this rather,
- that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brothers way. Romans 14:13b
- > There is no authority to judge others about what they believe because all of us believe what we believe.
- Therefore, it is a sin to take action against people for believing in the musical worship of Dionysus or Orpheus. It is also judging to take hostile action against those who do not believe in worship by either "machine" or "team."
- It is not judging to focus upon the stumbling block beliefs unless we identify the "one another" as "fratricidal, racist, Pharisaical" or some other violent expression.
- > However, we are permitted to JUDGE actual practices which offend.
- Therefore, we rightly judge that imposing musical instruments or musical worship teams as "mediators between God and man" is violating the explicit, direct Command, the teaching of Jesus and the example of Jesus.
- We cannot judge with certainty that the "one another" who forces instruments and "mounts an attack" is personally evil. They may just be terminally ignorant.
It seems that we are not to judge but then we are to judge. Adding non-essentials is putting a stumbling block in the front of brothers and this is judging. Those who introduce instruments know beforehand that they are placing a stumbling block in front of people because it is not based on faith.
The Dead Sea Scroll translation of Psalm 41 promises that Judas as the agent of Satan and the temple-music wing of Judaism would not triumph over Jesus. Triumph is to blow trumpets and make a loud, sound of rejoicing which was usually passing judgment over the defeated. The temple builders and the Levitical musicians had no wars to lead so they attacked Jesus. They saw Jesus as "among their idols" where idols always demanded music or idols were often the musical instrument:
A root bearing poisoned and bitter fruit
........... is in their designs;
they walk in stubbornness of heart
........... and see Thee among idols,
then they set before them
........... the stumbling-block of their sin.
Thy members of my Covenant have rebelled
........... and have murmured round about me;
They have gone as talebearers
........... before the children of mischief
........... concerning the mystery which Thou hast hidden in me...
Teaching false doctrine was a deliberate preliminary effort to overtake Jesus and triumph over (sound my censure) with the musical instruments of warfare which would include harps and trumpets.
They have overtaken me in a narrow pass (gap) without escape
........... And there is no rest for me in my trial.
They sound my censure upon a harp
........... and their murmuring and storming upon a zither." Ps.41:11
However, in victory, the resurrected Jesus would defeat military instruments with the "sword of His Spirit" the "fruit of the lips."
I will groan with the zither of lamentation
........... in all grief-stricken mourning and bitter complaint
until iniquity and wickedness are consumed
........... and the disease-bringing scourge is no more.
Then will I play on the zither of deliverance
........... and harp of joy,
on the tabors of prayer and the pipe of praise
........... without end.
And those who mentally condition people through psychological means to accept instruments by defining it as pure tradition and based on ignorance and evil are putting stumbling blocks in the front of many and offending the brotherhood.
In the end it won't do any good to say "I preach instrumental music" but "I don't practice instrumental music." To preach "tolerance" is a pro-instrumental position because weak brothers will take any message from "the city set on seven hills" as gospel.If instruments are not directly commanded then they are not of faith. And if we impose something not based on faith knowing that division and spiritual anxiety will spread throughout the nation then we are not walking by faith and the condemnation of Romans 14 comes crashing down upon the heads of those who "added" non-essential mechanical devices and unlawful women performers.
And without a question, musical performance is a most labor or works-intensive effort to perform the ancient pagan rite of "ascending to Christ" or to "bring Him down." The musical and "team" stumbling block deliberately placed in the front of preacher-blinded people have (in this sermon) already discounted the "doctrine" of Paul about music and trashed it into a "soup" of personal, confused interpretation by the apostles. However, they will impose or defend this personal opinion over the objection of others and fall under the hammer-blow of Romans 14 passing judgment:
Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; Ro.9:32
Musical ritual is based on the works of the law! In Romans 10 Paul warned about the rising up to play at Mount Sinai which was the musical idolatry of pagan worship. For this God turned them over to worship the starry host which is illustrated by the musical worship of Israel condemned by Amos 5 and Isaiah 5; and the musical worship of Molech at Jerusalem.
Rubel Shelly: How strong is my personal preference for a cappella over instrumental music? I am deeply committed to it. I do my best to make a strong, reasonable, biblical case for it. I would oppose anyone's effort to introduce it into our congregational worship. In my view, it would be divisive and therefore wrong for anyone to attempt to do so.
Why wasn't it divisive and sowing discord among brethren when it was introduced? No. We believe that Dr. Shelly's view is that the "status quo" must prevail. If you play then I become divisive if I try to teach the A,B,Cs of the bible and music.
If I don't use instruments? Well, that is different. I can teach others how to sow discord by adding instruments into their churches. Mind you, "I wouldn't do it" but it should be done.
Why else is there such an unlearned diatribe directed against those who won't sing and dance while the clergy pipes?
We used to call it "congregational singing." The agents of change now call it a cappella. This is not the Biblical method but the Pope's method. You must understand that the instruments could not sound in the Sistine Chapel or in the presence of the Pope. Nor could women be part of the "team." However, the Pope loved instrumental music as well as Sister Singers. Therefore, they castrated young, talent male singers to keep that singing voice. A cappela included the chorus. So, the Pope got the male "Sister Singers" all "dressed" up and the singing style was "organum" or after the organ.
Therefore, A Cappella gets Sister Singers as clergy presiders over the flock and it claims to be legal because its "instrument" is organic rather than mechanical.
Rubel Shelly: I'm not about to champion instrumental music for the Church of Christ. I do plead, however, for a more creative, passionate, and worshipful use of vocal music. Human voices compelled by hearts zealous for Christ are capable of producing powerful, God-honoring, and participant-inspiring praise. I am an unabashed defender of our a cappella legacy.
"MUSIC" is not a Biblical, spiritual worship word. No where, no time, no way. The "musicians" were under the king and commanders of the army. They were panic musicians, slave drivers and "excellers" to carry out the burning phase of animal sacrifices. Otherwise, music is identified with Lucifer (kings of Tyre and Babylon), magic, prostitution and "taking away the key to knowledge."
"Powerful" is the ancient word. If you praise skillfully or loudly enough then you force the gods to meet your needs or in Dr. Shelly's words you "lead the worshipers into the presence of God." That means that music is the mediator.
If you "do" Jubilee with instrumental music including the "booms and clangs" then you are attempting to impose instruments into churches of Christ. How can one argue that one isn't doing what one has just done?
You strum away on your harps like David
and improvise on musical instruments. Amos 6:5NIV
who excel (domineer) in the sound of musical instruments;
............they have regarded them as abiding,
............ not as fleeting pleasure." Amos 6:5LXX
This is the version Jesus quoted and Amos does not define a "spiritual" use for music IF they just had a good mental attitude. No. This is the worship which God turned Israel over to at Mount Sinai when they rose up to play in musical, Egyptian idolatry.
Justin's Dialog with Trypho the Jew translates this passage--
Who applaud at the sound of the musical instruments;
............ they reckon them as stable, and not as fleeting.
Who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments,
............ but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
If God needed our own creativity in devising works-intensive schemes of worship then surely He would have had us born two thousand years ago. Worship is internal or "in spirit" and there is no Jesus-given command, example or inference that worship should be a performance by the few for the many. This usurps the mediatorial role of Lord Jesus Christ.
Rubel Shelly: Likely there should be a non-instrumental tradition within modern Christendom. I believe the Church of Christ is the best candidate for it. While I would happily be known for helping preserve that tradition, I refuse to be identified as one who makes this issue a criterion for who should be considered my sister or brother in Christ.
The issue is not a god-like urge to AFFIRM everyone but what does the Bible say.
But, "I don't refuse to TAKE THE UNLAWFUL PAY!" It is a fact that MOST of the world's worshipers do not see any role for music to play in SPIRITUAL worship. In fact, it is not a fact that churches of Christ are unique. Take a look at the table. The table at the top lists about three dozen documents PROVING that music came from Satan to steal worship from God. The lower table lists some of the world's religious groups which repudiate instruments.
Instruments began in many Christian churches in the bible schools!
Rubel Shelly: More specifically, "Cowboy Dan" and his guitar teach Bible lessons to our children. Adult and teen devos occasionally use instrumental tracks, guitars, or other instruments.
Perhaps Cowboy Dan, Mr. Rogers and Big Bird are the reasons our children could tell you the story of "how Paul came across the Red Sea in the Ark of the Covenant." And, like their leaders, they will grow up believing the story of how Hezekiah was just loved by God for playing his harp all day in the temple while his little boy grew up to burn little babies to the beat of drums, flutes and harps. This was at Topheth, the "king's music grove" which came to stand for hell itself--named after the tambourine.
Or maybe they will believe with the famous TV Bishop that "God shut Noah into the Ark of the Covenant" or a Phd stacking bricks and calling it an Ebenezzer. Sorry about that but guitar players were OUTSTED according to the Apostolic constitutions. Why?
Kithara the Lat. cithara (whence guitar), a kind of lyre or lute, Hhymn., Hdt., attic: --it was of triangular shape, with seven strings, Eur. Cf. kitharizô
Latin with similar definitions
Parasi-tor . a-ri, v. dep. [id.] , to play the parasite, to sponge: parasitarier, Plaut. Stich. 4, 2, 54 : parasitando pascere ventres suos, id. Pers. 1, 2,
Rubel Shelly: Our practice attempts to allow people with a variety of understandings, preferences, and backgrounds to find appropriate ways to employ their God-given gifts and tastes in a safe spiritual environment.
In Romans 14 Paul said that the musical Orphics and Musical Dionysics should be "received" but not to doubtful disputations. That is, they should not be allowed to bring their talent at drinking wine or playing instruments to "divide" the assembly.
Then in chapter 15 Paul repeats the meaning of the misunderstood "singing" passages:
WE then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Romans 15:1
Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. Romans 15: 2
For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. Romans 15: 3
The BURDEN Jesus died to relieve along with the BURDEN LADERS was "spiritual anxiety created by religious rituals." Everyone knows that music has no other task than to raise anxiety in the soul and the damage is quite like a drug addiction. Therefore, Paul prohibited instruments even as Jesus cast them out like dung:
Aresko (g700) ar-es'-ko; prob. from 142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by impl. to seek to be so): - please.
Airo (g142) ah'ee-ro; a prim. verb; to lift; by impl. to take up or away; fig. to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind); spec. to sail away (i.e. weigh anchor); by Heb. [comp. 5375] to expiate sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).
Paul said that the written Word is what we should use for our learning. If you violate this law against "private interpretation" or "further expounding" then you repudiate Christ by the use of the CORE GOSPEL but give yourself a role on the dole to fill in where Jesus failed.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15: 4
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Romans 15: 5
That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15: 6
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Romans 15: 7
That means "speak to one another" with the Biblical Psalms. And it means as the same Paul insisted: Keep the MELODY in the heart" because external melody is much like the SOP Jesus fed Judas.
THERE IS NO MUSIC IN JEWISH OR CHRISTIAN WORSHIP. The word was "sounding" for the burning of animals whose blood had previously been thrown on the alter to atone for sin.
In all of Paul's messages the way to "receive one another" and "sing in our hearts" is to teach or preach TO ONE ANOTHER the revealed words of Christ.
Rubel Shelly: How do you feel toward the animal activists who firebomb restaurants that serve meat, destroy animal research labs at university hospitals, or assault people who wear fur? Don't these actions cross the line between strong convictions and mean intolerance, between differences of opinion and onerous intimidation?
And that's how our neighbors have seen us on our more strident days about instrumental music. Basic civility and tolerance do not compromise either your strong conviction or your personal preference.
The Old and New Testaments, contemporaneous writings, the ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN texts, the church Fathers, denominational founders and modern musicologists and science know that MUSIC CAN BE MURDEROUS. When Paul commanded "Don't Get Drunk with Wine" the use of LIFELESS INSTRUMENTS was always included in the Greek world. For instance INSTRUMENT PLAYING by Parasites was ONEROUS INTIMIDATION.
Methuô [methu] [only in pres. and imperf.; the fut. and aor. act. belong to methuskô]
I. to be drunken with wine, Od., etc.; m. hupo tou oinou
........ Under your Wine
II. metaph. of things, boeiê methuousa aloiphêi an ox-hide soaked in oil, Il.
2. of persons, to be drunken or intoxicated with passion, pride, etc., Xen., Plat.
Methuôn kai katauloumenos (Drinking and overpowering with the flute.)
I. to play upon the flute to, tinos Plat.:--Pass., of persons, to have it played to one, id=Plat.:--Pass. to resound with flute-playing, Plut.
II. c. acc. pers. to overpower by flute-playing:--generally, to overpower, strike dumb, Eur.
[ton monochordon kanona] parechein tais aisthêsesi . . katauloumenon SUBDUED by a flute accompaniment, Ptol.Harm.2.12: metaph., to be PIPED down, RIDICULED, gelômenoi kai -oumenoi Anon. ap. Suid., cf. Porph.Chr.34.
But, Whoa! Maybe that just means: "We won't use instruments but we will 'be all things to all people' if we can get you to join our temple comples.
Our neighbors come to our church and enjoy the vocal singing (Ala Biblical, not A Cappells). They don't say:
"You don't use instruments. I will bet that you would fire bomb a restaurant! I better get outta here. Dr. Shelly warned me about you."
How can you use ONEROUS INTIMIDATION by NOT playing instruments always condemned?
My guess is that Dr. Shelly hasn't heard a sermon against instrumental music for the last three decades. And my safe guess is that he has not heard a preacher "stride" into a non-musical church and cause them to run for their lives. Know what I think? I think, with Gallup, that 80% of preacher stories are just made up.
Rubel Shelly: The issue in Christian worship is worship not PowerPoint or pianos, not old or new. That is, the real issue in worship is God bowing down to him, praising him, reverencing him.
Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Habakkuk 2:18
Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance (teach)? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. Habakkuk 2:19
But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent (hold its tongue) before him." Habakkuk 2:20
Paul said with Habbakuk:
Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? 1 Cor 14:6
And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? 1 Cor 14:7
Even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes? 1 Cor 14:7NIV
In most pagan societies, musical instruments were gods or home of the gods and the "noise" they produce was sold as the gods speaking--for a price--to guide you until the next "appointed time."
"Myth and symbolism play an equally important role. Herding societies, for example,
which may depend on a particular species of animal not only economically but also spiritually,
often develop instruments that look or sound like the animal
or prefer instruments made of bone and hide
rather than stone and wood, even when all the materials are available " Britannica Online
That is why Paul called them "lifeless instruments" OR "carnal weapons."
Well, Augustine thought that they were insane - Just as in Corinth
"Again, if you prefer to test the presence of God by the agreeable effects on the hearing, and not sight, or smell, or taste,
harps get their strings and pipes their bones from animals; and these become musical by being dried, and rubbed, and twisted. [This is why Paul called them lifeless instruments or carnal weapons. This defines literal, external melody]
So the pleasures of music, which you hold to have come from the divine kingdom,
are obtained from the refuse of dead animals, and that, too, when they are dried by time, and lessened by rubbing, and stretched by twisting.
Such rough treatment, according to you, drives the divine substance from living objects; even cooking them, you say, does this. Why then are boiled thistles not unwholesome? Is it because God, or part of God, leaves them when they are cooked? ST.AUGUSTINE: ON THE MORALS OF THE MANICHAEANS, Ch 16,46
This is why Paul, teaching doctrine which was really "good news" which freed the people from the performed ritual, called them "lifeless" or "carnal" instruments. Many string instruments were made like the human, female body. According to James George Frazer:
"In Annam the exorcizer, in the act of banning the demons of sickness from a private house, strums a lute and jingles a chain of copper bells attached to his big toe, while his assistants accompany him on stringed instruments and drums.
........... However, the chime of the bells is understood by the hearers
........... to proceed from the neck of an animal
...................... on which a deity is galloping to the aid of the principal performer."
It has always been the pagan belief that music brought the paying customers "into the presence of the gods."
(In Burma) "sweet and sonorous music" is used to "announce to the guardian spirits that the praises of Buddha have been chanted;
........... hence at the conclusion of his devotions the worshiper
........... proclaims the discharge of his pious duty by three strokes on a bell."
"Perhaps in Europe also the ringing of church bells, the sound of which has endeared itself to so many pious hearts by its own intrinsic sweetness and its tender associations,
was practiced to banish demons from the house of prayer
before it came to be regarded as a simple means of summoning worshipers to their devotions in the holy place." (Frazer, James George, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, p. 430-432, MacMillan, 1923)
Rubel Shelly: To fight the battles we have fought and to make the judgments we have made about these aspects of our worship practice has sometimes been nothing less than idolatry, and I want no part of such distractions from seeking God himself.
There is NO evidence in the history of the world which does not PROVE that instruments were IDOLS or the homes of the gods or demons. When one struck a string the twanging could be PEDDLED as the gods delivering them a sermon. Of course, you PAID the god's agents. The familirar spirit of the Witch of Endor was an old, hollow wineskin which echoed her ventriloquist voices. It has the same meaning as the nebel or harrp-meaning vile--or the sounding instruments of 1 Cor. 13.
Idolatry: "worship of idols. Excessive devotion to or reverence for some person or thing." Webster
Musical instruments WERE idols: the gods lived inside and the Catholic Church baptized bells and pipe organs. We worship whatever we given heed to: you CANNOT give heed to Christ and His Word and the professional musician and HIS SONGS at the same time. Therefore, ANY form of performance in the SYNAGOGUE OF CHRIST is certainly idolatry. You CANNOT make an idol of NOT making music. No non-instrumentalist even THINKS of a man made object used to WORSHIP GOD WITH THE WORKS OF MAN'S HANDS.
How can NOT using instruments and not worshiping with those who SOW DISCORD by using them be IDOLATRY when the totality of history proves that using INSTRUMENTS in the worship of a SPIRIT God has ALWAYS been idoltry? I can tell you: it is called POSTMODERNISM when "taking liberties" with the truth is the NEW TRUTH.
Speaking directly to the "mantic" behaviour of music and speaking in tongues in Corinth, it is noted from the Classical writers that:
"The spirits were thought to speak in murmurings or piping sounds (Isa 8:19), which could be imitated by the medium (witch or ventriloquist)...Most spiritual and popular was the interpretation of dreams.
It also was the case that mediums intentionally would convert themselves into a semi-waking trance. In this way the suitable mediums attained to a certain kind of clarvoyance, found among various peoples.
This approaches the condition of an ecstatically aroused pseudo-prophet.. In Greece, too, oracles were pronounced by the Phythian prophetess who by vapors and the like was aroused to a practice of the mantic art. (Int Std Bible Ency, p. 2466)
The witch of Endor used a "musical instrument" which was a dried, empty WINESKIN. It has the same meaning as the harp and the booming and clanging of 1 Cor. 13.
We noted above and expand in another article that musical instruments were idols. They are even "baptized" just the way we baptize or dedicate infants. The CRAFTSMEN or TECHNES in Revelation 18 are classed with rhetoricians, sophists, singers, instrumentalists as servants of the holy whore of end-time religion:
Plato Symposium 215c
"For I say that he is likest to the Silenus-figures that sit in the statuaries' shops; those, I mean, which our craftsmen make with pipes or flutes in their hands:
when their two halves are pulled open, they are found to contain images of gods.
And I further suggest that he resembles the satyr Marsyas.
Now, as to your likeness, Socrates, to these in figure, I do not suppose even you yourself will dispute it; but I have next to tell you that you are like them in every other respect.
You are a fleering fellow, eh? If you will not confess it, I have witnesses at hand. Are you not a piper?
Why, yes, and a far more marvellous one than the satyr.
His lips indeed had power to entrance mankind by means of instruments;
a thing still possible today for anyone who can pipe his tunes:
for the music of Olympus' flute belonged, I may tell you, to Marsyas his teacher.
So that if anyone, whether a fine flute-player or paltry flute-girl, can but flute his tunes, they have no equal for exciting a ravishment,
and will indicate (prophesy) by the divinity that is in them who are apt recipients of the deities and their sanctifications.
You differ from him in one point only--that you produce the same effect with simple prose unaided by instruments.
Strabo Geography 10.3.16
Of the rites of Dionysus condemned by Paul in First Corinthians using the "weapons" of warfare or even the metallic chisel to help with the clangs and booms to bring down the gods:
"And he mentions immediately afterwards the attendants of Dionysus: one, holding in his hands the bombyces, toilsome work of the turner's chisel,
fills full the fingered melody, the call that brings on frenzy,
while another causes to resound the bronze-bound cotylae.
"and again, stringed instruments raise their shrill cry, and frightful mimickers from some place unseen bellow like bulls, and the semblance of drums, as of subterranean thunder, rolls along, a terrifying sound.
Distraction: "A distracting or being distracted. anything that distracts. mental intrusion. Anything that gives mental relaxation, amusement, diversion." Webster
Every Rock "Star" knows that music is the best distracter known to mankind and supplied to Jubal (Jubilee) by Satan himself.
If someone (such as in this sermon) "invades" the non-musical and peaceable community then don't be surprised if "those being invaded turn, become hostile and mount an attack against the invaders." (An idea from the Second Incarnation of the now but not yet kingdom)
When you don't have any of the facts right, it is surprising how hostile ridicule works and can even be manipulated into sounding "spiritual." Well, we ain't buying. Again, a Catholic source reads:
"To the human voice, the immediate vehicle of the sacred word, belongs the first place in the churches, and not to instrumental additions or the trivial scraping found in most of the churches pieces to-day.
"Catholic Church music can regain its former purity only by a return to the purely vocal style.
"The purely vocal style is the ideal of the Church.
"The papal choir, the Sistine, has always excluded instrumental music.
"The first step toward the decadence of genuine Catholic church music
was the introduction of orchestra instruments.
"A Cappella was invented in the 15th century to enhance the music for the pope."
"Their character and independent use have imparted to religious expression a sensuous charm, which has proved very detrimental, and has affected unfavorably the art of singing itself.
"The virtuosity of instrumentalists provoked imitation on the part of singers, and soon a worldly and operatic taste held full sway in church.
"Certain parts of the sacred text, e. g. the 'Kyrie Eleison', became a vehicle for operatic arias, and singers trained for Italian opera were engaged as church singers" (Gesammelte Werke, II, 335).
"Every reform has, in accordance with the will of the Church, to be carried out in such a manner that a greater evil may not result -- that is, gradually and without causing unnecessary friction (sensim sine sensu), but yet with firmness, regardless of one's personal views. Moral necessity alone dispenses from a command of the Church. It must be considered as progress when features either forbidden or discouraged by the Church
(e. g., hymns in the vernacular during liturgical functions, the use of orchestral instruments, women in choirs)
are no longer fostered, and when one abuse after another is gradually reduced to a minimum. Catholic Encyclopedia
"The organ must be subordinate to the singing, must support and not drown it.
"The purely vocal style is the ideal of the Church.
........ "The papal choir, the Sistine, has always excluded instrumental music.
Reform is another word for Restoration: the Reformation followed the views of the Catholic church caught up in destructive traditionalism. The Restoration movement continued to reject instruments in keeping with the Biblical understanding of all Catholic scholarship, the Reformers and most churches since. This unnatural perversion of true Spirituality was recognized as coming from the Levitical musicians who accompanied animal sacrifices.
Instruments are NOT outlawed if you are engaged in the IDOLATRY OF TALENT.
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