Amos 5, Amos Five, Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Am.5:23Many Bible students love to excuse the nation of Israel by saying that there is nothing wrong with their worship: they just had a bad mental attitude. However, Stephen in Acts 7 knew better and connects the temple or house--not commanded by God--to the musical idolatry at Mount sinai and then to Amos the prophet guided by the spirit OF Christ. The fact is that God "turned them over to worship the starry host" and when they demanded a king to rule over them God gave them kings--in His anger--and warned that the kings would carry out the captivity and death sentence.
In contrast to the sacrificial system where, like all national temples, where the noise and not called music was really exorcism out of mortal fear, God had commanded the synagogue or "church in the wilderness" to rest, read and rehearse the Word. He specificially excluded vocal and instrumental rejoicing. Here are a few facts to prove that if you enable or if you perform music you would be subject to instant execution under the Sacrificial system which you use to command instruments and impose them on peaceable churches.
BUILDING THE FOUNDATION: The people were Quarantined from Sacrificial System added as part of the worship of the starry host to which God had abandoned the nation.
Isreal fell fatally from Grace because of musical idolatry at Mount Sinai.
God turned them over to worship the starry host (Acts 7 and a dozen more passages)
God burdened them with The Book of The Law and the Levites to "bear the burdens of sin."
The Abrahamic Covenant was lost and the First Born sons replaced.
No one not of that tribe not specificially ordained could COME NEAR the Tabernacle without sinning.
Because the false teachers REST on the curse of the Law and the Monarchy, the elders, preachers and artistic performers would be executed.
No Levite, used as Warrior Noise makers and later under the king and commanders of the army could come near the holy places of the sactury or they would be executed. The patternism is that if a musician enter into the body of Christ as fulfilment of the Holy Place is worthy of death.
Num 18:2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister BEFORE the tabernacle of witness. [never IN]
H8334 sharath shaw-rath' A primitive root; to attend as a menial or worshipper; figuratively to contribute to:--minister (unto), (do) serve (-ant, -ice, -itor), wait on.
Num 18:3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle:
only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar,
that neither they, nor ye also, die.All of the non-Levites were called STRANGERS: therefore, if you were not of the tribe of Levi and had the assignment to serve. Therefore, no member of the "church" could come near the Tabernacle.
"A stranger," that is, one, neither a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the sacred office, should incur the penalty of death. ROBERT JAMIESON
Num 18:4 And they shall be joined unto thee,
and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation,
for all the service of the tabernacle:
and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.Num 18:5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar:
that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.Contrary to being a spiritual worship service, the sacrificial system had been imposed and if it were not performed it would bring down God wrath as punishment due for NOT performing what they had been abandoned to.
Num 18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel:
Num 18:7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar,
to you they are given as a gift for the LORD,
to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
and within the veil; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift:
and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
"And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. Numbers 18:21
H5656‛abodah ‛abodoh ab-o-daw', ab-o-daw' From H5647 ; work of any kind:--act, bondage, + bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try),"Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bearsin, and die. Numbers 18:22
H5647‛abad aw-bad' keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute
The sacrificial system was imposed on the Levites as a curse or burden.
Num 18:23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,That this was a curse: Women always the founders of "religionism"
and they shall bear their iniquity: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations,
that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.
The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Jeremiah 7:18
Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? Jeremiah 7:19
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. Jeremiah 7:20
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel;
Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. Jeremiah 7:21
For I spake NOT unto your fathers, nor commanded them
But this thing commanded I them, saying,
in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: Jeremiah 7:22
Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people:
and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you,
that it may be well unto you. Jeremiah 7:23But they HEARKENED NOT, nor inclined their ear,
but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart,
and went backward, and not forward. Jeremiah 7:24Furthermore, all of the performing arts are identified as the Hypocritic arts and because they produced nothing good and caused lots of destruction of morals they were called PARASITES.
Why are people so anxious to impose the CURSE of hypocrites and parasites.
In NONE of the examples used as proof does the "congregation" involve the righteous "civilian" population: the kings called the priests, warrior musicians, trumpet blowers, civil leaders and "representatives" from the tribes called stationary men.
Making a loud, crashing noise while animals were being slaughtered as a carnal TYPE of what they would do to JESUS was not spiritul worship.
Click to see the sin of bringing instruments into the Holy Places.
Adam Clark on Instrumental music and Amos
Click for more mind control.
Click for David Lipscombs False Claims
See how Justin Martyr grasps the meaning of Amos.
Musical Worship Teams as Heresy
Musical Heresy Two
See the MUSIC connection to HERESY in the Greek language
See how Tertullian connects rituals to heresy.
See how Ezekiel agrees with Exodus and Amos
See Augustine's agreement from Psalm 106.All SINGING and MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TERMS in the Bible have destructive and even evil roots. Every "musical" event in the Old Testament is the MARK of saying to God: "We will not listen to YOUR words." In fact, most RELIGIONS hate the idea of a superior God and therefore make God in their own image. God's WORDS are part of a Discipline whereas all of the NATION'S were devoted to Religion.
This especially included musical instruments because of the superstitious belief among ALL people that the "gods" lived inside of the instrument. A twanging string or the echo of an empty, hollow WINESKIN could be peddled by witches and soothsayers and enchanters (like the serpent) as proof that the GOD MANIPULATOR had direct access to a gift- giving demon.
Flutes (meaning to pollute or prostitute) were made in the form of MALE and FEMALES.
All pagan music in a religious sense was performed by prostitutes or homosexuals. The temple had no MUSIC as worship. It was used only to aid the priests past the horrors of animal sacrifices as a type of their FUTURE musicl mocking and slaughter of Jesus Christ.
Music is considered supernatural because it has the power to produce goose pimples. However, this is manufactured endorphins (morphine- within). Therefore, music produces the effects of FIGHT, FLIGHT OR SEXUALITY. This is why MUSIC in the Bible is intimately related to prostitution and even involved trying to MAKE LOVE with God like a prostitute. The modern VINEYARD MOVEMENT, like most of the testimony from the ancient world, believes that the goal of musical performance is to PRODUCE a CLIMAX with God (just before "giving of means"). The ancient world was influenced by African music just as modern "churchy" music is influenced by Voodoo. This overtly intended to make the Spirit Come. In Egypt it was to produce a "visual" or "oral" climax.
In "The Plot Against Christianity," Elizabeth Dilling comments that demonism and their veneration in paganism, was the essence of Baal-worship: "Baal, meaning lord, or master; the demon-god of male procreative powers associated with the Sun in Biblical times and with a goddess of female procreation, called variously: Venus [Lucifer, Zoe], Astarte, Mylitta, etc.
It involved mass nudism, fornication, sodomy and mad knife-slashing rites, including the burning of children -- were all features of this so-called worship."
The text BEFORE chapter five and after help show that we are not mistaken in God's condemnation of the FORM of Israel's worship and not just the mental attitude:
Even when their enemies drive them into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will not let them out of my sight; they will experience disaster, not prosperity." Amos 9:4
The sovereign Lord who leads armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves; all who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the River Nile, and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt. Amos 9:5
"You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight," says the Lord. "Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir. Amos 9:7
Look, the sovereign Lord is watching the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will not completely destroy the family of Jacob," says the Lord. Amos 9:8
"For look, I am giving a command and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations. It will resemble a sieve being shaken, when not even a pebble falls to the ground. Amos 9:9
All the sinners among my people will die by the sword, the ones who say, 'Disaster will not come near, it will not confront us.' Amos 9:10
Sodom is not the word translated in the KJV as sodomite but is a word which identifies a city on the Dead Sea:
Cedom (h5467) sed-ome'; from an unused root mean, to scorch; burnt (i. e. volcanic or bituminous) district; Sedom, a place near the Dead Sea: - Sodom.
It is a fact that Sodom was more evil than others and may represent the "land of the slime pits" out of which Babylonian and Canaanite homosexuality dominated, God uses Sodom AS an example. In Amos 4 he equates Israel to Sodom and in chapters 5 and 6 implicates MUSICAL FESTIVALS as the cause of their lostness:
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Amos 4:11
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. Je.23:14
Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. Zep.2:9
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Re.11:8
The Judas Bag was for "carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." The word is made up of 'SPEAKING IN TONGUES' AND "OF THE WORLD." The word in the GREEK is often pictured on vases so that you can see a real picture of a JUDAS TYPE which Psalm 41 prophesied would try to TRIUMPH OVER Jesus meaning "to blow wind instruments and make a joyful noise before the Lord" as the Warrior's Chant. The BAG is ALWAYS attached to a flute case carried by the fellow on the left. The harp is the BARBATON carried by the BARBARIANS while their "music" was like speaking in tongues.
The chorus or choral dance the MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS try to seduce Jesus into in his "PIPING" hoping that others would sing and dance. The clergy also hoped that John wore SOFT clothing of the king's CATAMITE.
Aldus Huxley equates all theatrical performance as emotional masturbation and insists that musical performers are perverted by their own art."Abused as we abuse it at present, dramatic art is in no sense cathartic; it is merely a form of emotional masturbation. It is the rarest thing to find a player who has not had his character affected for the worse by the practice of his profession.
Nobody can make a habit of self-exhibition, nobody can exploit his personality for the sake of exercising a kind of hypnotic power over others, and remain untouched by the process. From Source
A man who strains himself on the stage is bound, if he is any good, to strain all the people sitting in the stalls. Bertolt Brecht
"And Euripides does likewise, in his Bacchae, citing the Lydian usages at the same time with those of Phrygia, because of their similarity:
But ye who left Mt. Tmolus (Sardis was on this mt.), fortress of Lydia,
revel-band of mine, women whom I brought from the land of barbarians as my assistants and travelling companions,There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. 1 Corinthians 14:10
Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. 1 Corinthians 14:11
uplift the tambourines native to Phrygian cities, inventions of mine and mother Rhea. (ZOE)
And again, happy he who, blest man, initiated in the mystic rites, is pure in his life, . . . who, preserving the righteous orgies of the great mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus on high, and wreathed with ivy, doth worship Dionysus.
Come, ye Bacchae, come, ye Bacchae, bringing down (double entendre) Bromius, (boisterous one) god the child of god, out of the Phrygian mountains into the broad highways of Greece.
"Come Holy Spirit, come, make us truly new creatures in Christ"
"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'." (End of Quasten Click to see Music and the Feminine connection)
Amos, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Job and others make it abundantly clear that to make professional musicians STAND IN THE HOLY PLACE deliberately PICTURES Lord Jesus Christ as homosexual just as the Jewish Clergy PIPED to try to get Jesus into the song and dance of Dionysus or Bacchus--the New Wineskin God.
HEAR ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. Amos 5:1When God "sings" to people you had better watch out. In Isaiah 5 God compared Israel to a VINEYARD which He had built and posted guards. However, the nation turned to wine, women and song to DELIBERATELY hide the Word of God from themselves. As a result the people hungered and thirsted to deat for the WORD and could never find it among the priests or prophets or elders. Therefore, He SANG to Israel.
The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. Amos 5:2
For thus saith the Lord God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. Amos 5:3
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: Amos 5:4
But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. Amos 5:5
Seek the Lord, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Amos 5:6
SEEK or GIVE HEED to God through His Word is Paul's most important WORSHIP WORD. This was also true in Amos 5. If the people sought God and obeyed His Words then He would be with them and they would have to attempt to SEND ACROSS THE SEA or ASCEND or DESCEND with music through the GATES OF HELL to find Him.
Seek is:
Darash (h1875) daw-rash'; a prim. root; prop. to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by impl. to seek or ask; spec. to worship: - ask, * at all, care for, * diligently, inquire, make inquisition, [necro-] mancer, question, require, search, seek [for, out], * surely.
It is a Biblical fact that MUSICAL IDOLATRY was what Israel "prayed for" at Mount Sinai.
God "turned them over" to worship the Starry host. God conditionally sentenced the entire nation to captivity and death and refused to go with them "personally" into Canaan lest He destroy them. As Intercessor He sent his "angel" which was Jesus Christ as the Rock, Water, Manna, Pillar etc.
Because they would never repent they were sentenced to go back to their "motherland" beyond Babylon or "beyond redemption."
Under the judges the nation was UP and Down until the fatal day that the ELDERS demanded a human king "like the nations" or GUTIM which means like the nation of BABYLON.
God solemnly warned them but turned them over to a religion of the external body.
The Temple created civil war and is never said to have any spiritual significance. Even David worshiped God in his spirit and was never a worship leader.
Israel restored the religion of Mount Sinai with at least two bull images worshiped with the same musical idolatry or "play" of Mount Sinai. They were truly TURNED OVER to worship the starry host and Amos and Stephen tells us their NAMES.
So, it makes no sense to say THERE'S NOTHING WORNG: they just had a bad mental attitude. They PRAYED at Sinai to worship the musical gods, God turned them over to SATURN (666) and other wandering stars, the ELDERS rejected God and demanded a king, God gave them kings to carry out their captivity and death sentence imposed at Mount Sinai.
The Bible and all scholarship acknowledges that the "gods" worshiped by Israel and Judah was RARELY Jehovah which was the One and Only Elohim.
The METHOD of their worship proved that they were NOT even attempting to worship the Jehovah of the wilderness who is now Jehovah- Saved:
Hos 8:1 Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.
Hos 8:5 Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency?
Hos 8:2 Israel shall cry unto me, My God, we know thee.
Hos 8:3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him.
Hos 8:4 They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.
Hos 8: 6 For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.
Hos 8: 7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Hos 8: 8 Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure.
- The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us; and to the hills, Fall on us. Ho.10:8
The "nations" are the Gentiles:
- Gowry (h1471) go'ee; rarely (short.) goy go'-ee; appar. from the same root as 1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence a Gentile; also (fig.) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts: - Gentile, heathen, nation, people.
A vessel wherein there is no pleasure speaks of that of music which replaced the Word.
- Keliy (h3627) kel-ee'; from 3615; something prepared, i. e. any apparatus (as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel or weapon): - armour ([-bearee]), artillery, bag, carriage, / furnish, furniture, instrument, jewel, that is made of, * one from another, that which pertaineth, pot, / psaltery, sack, stuff, thing, tool, vessel, ware, weapon, / whatsoever.
These people are now TRAMPLING THE COURTS.
For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself:
Ephraim hath hired lovers. Hos 8: 9Yea, though they have hired (harlots) among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes. Hos 8: 10
Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin,
altars shall be unto him to sin . Hos 8: 11I have written to him the great things of my law,
but they were counted as a strange thing. Hos 8: 12They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it;
but the Lord accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity,
and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. Hos 8: 13For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples;
and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities:
but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. Hos 8: 14
- I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Ho.13:11
Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into the utter court, to sanctify the people.Eze.46:20Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, Amos 5:7
Being acceptable to God can be boiled down to "practicing righteousness and social justice." God does not need to be fed, clothed, housed, entertained or sexually KNOWN by perverted worship rituals.
"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,
and many tribes supposed lunatics and sexual deviants to be divinely possessed.
"At the end of the United Kingdom, the ten tribes or Israel adopted pagan idolatry which is soundly condemned by Amos. Parks notes that:
"This tradition seems to have been stronger in the northern kingdom, where the ORGIASTIC fertility cults were more deeply rooted;
"its rulers apparently maintained large bodies of HIRED ecstatics to encourage their subjects with suitably propitious oracles on the eve of a war or some other moral crisis.
"Among more sophisticated persons it was recognized that many of the prophets were merely lunatics (H. Bamfort Parks, Of Gods and Men, P. 106)
The DEATH SENTENCE pronounced at Mount Sinai when Israel rose up in PLAY or musical idolatry was the worship of PHYSICAL THINGS. However, this always led to ignoring the MAKER of these things. If the SUN is wonderful to behond and the giver of physical life, how much more is God Who CREATED the entire universe. It has been asked "why should you applaud the flute and boo the flute player"?
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name: Amos 5:8
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. Amos 5:9
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amos 5:10
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. Mi.3:9
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat:
Treading is:
Bashac (h1318) baw-shas'; a prim. root; to trample down: - tread.
Taking:
Laqac (h3947) law-kakh'; a prim. root; to take (in the widest variety of applications): - accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, * many, mingle, place, receive (-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.
Burdens:
Maseth (h4864) mas-ayth'; from 5375; prop. (abstr.) a raising (as of the hands in prayer), or rising (of flame); fig. an utterance; concr. a beacon (as raised); a present (as taken), mess, or tribute; fig. a reproach (as a burden): - burden, collection, sign of fire, (great) flame, gift, lifting up, mess, oblation, reward.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Ps.141:2
Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. Lam.2:14
Nasa (h5375) naw-saw'; or nacah, naw- saw'; a prim. root; to lift, in a great variety of applications, lit. and fig., absol. and rel. (as follows): - accept, advance, arise, (able to, [armour], suffer to) bear (-er, up), bring (forth), burn, carry (away), exalt (self), extol..
ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. Amos 5:11
For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Amos 5:12
Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. Amos 5:13
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Amos 5:14
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:15
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. Amos 5:16
And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. Amos 5:17
Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. Amos 5:18
Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? Mal 2:17
BEHOLD, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Mal 3:1
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap: Mal 3:2
Seek is:
Baqash (h1245) baw-kash'; a prim. root; to search out (by any method, spececially in worship or prayer); by impl. to strive after: - ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).
Amos told Israel that they should SEEK God. However, they "rose up to play" with wine, women and music. They "dried up" the Word and the children died of hunger and thirst for the Word when they were taken captive by the Assyrians (i.e. Babylons) to be made captive to the eternal "entertainment" religion.
This was one of the many cycles for which God will come with ten thousand of his saints for those who know not God.
That is what Paul told Timothy to do: give attendance to the public reading of the Word. And those who "worshiped" God "gave heed" to His word. That is the meaning of worship in spirit. That is my mind as the new PLACE of worship. And it is in Truth which is the Words of Christ which He defined as spirit and life (John 6:63). That is the meaning of the passages erroneously interpreted as "musical" worship. Plato notes that:
"I say, to produce this effect, chants appear to have been invented, which really enchant, and are designed to implant that harmony of which we speak.
........And, because the mind of the child is incapable of enduring serious training,
........ ........ they are called plays and songs, and are performed in play;just as when men are sick and ailing in their bodies,
........ their attendants give them wholesome diet in pleasant meats and drinks,
........ but unwholesome diet in disagreeable things,
........ ........ in order that they may learn, as they ought, to like the one, and to dislike the other.And similarly the true legislator will persuade, and, if he cannot persuade,
........ will compel the poet to express, as he ought, by fair and noble words, in his rhythms..Cleinias But do you really imagine, Stranger, that this is the way in which poets generally compose in States at the present day?
As far as I can observe, except among us and among the Lacedaemonians, there are no regulations like those of which you speak;
........ in other places novelties are always being introduced in dancing and in music,
........ ........ generally not under the authority of any law,
........ ........ but at the instigation of lawless pleasures;and these pleasures are so far from being the same, as you describe the Egyptian to be, or having the same principles, that they are never the same.
Again: Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light. Amos 5:18
As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Amos 5:19
Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:20
I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21
God imposed animal sacrifices because the people loved to have great assemblies with sacrifices. As punishment this means that they were self-willed or self imposed when god "turned them over to worship the starry host" which was devoted to sacrifices. Isaiah fills in some blanks about Judah which was little different:
Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Isa 1:9
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:10
To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. Isaiah 1: 11
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Isaiah 1: 12
Again, it is important to understand that Amos did not address the MENTAL ATTITUDE but many, many specific sins.
That chant (scatter words, hum) to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; Amos 6:5
David would have recited a stanza first and then strummed down as few as three strings and then recited the second stanza. Chanting a person's poem and making a SOUND on the harp at the same time was, among the Classical writers, a vile thing to do.
That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Amos 6:6
Pinô I. pinein krêtêras oinoio to drink bowls of wine, , pin' epi sumphorais Ar.; didonai piein to give to drink, Hdt.; piein aitein Xen.:-- in perf. pepôka, to be drunk, Eur.; but, pinonta te kai pepôkota drinking and having finished drinking,
The Sumphora or symposium was the place where they ate, drank and made merry. They used flute girls and the result was homosexuality. James A. Towle, Commentary on Plato: ProtagorasSumposiois: this custom is followed in Xen. Symp. 2. 1 erchetai tis autois epi kômon (revel) Surakosios anthrôpos, echôn te aulêtrida [flute-girls] agathên kai orchêstrida [dancing-girl] tôn ta thaumata dunamenôn poiein kai paida ]panu ge hôraion kai panu kalôs kitharizonta [harp of Apollo] kai orchoumenon. [dancing] These show their skill during the whole banquet. Plato, however, has the same view as the one here, when he says Symp. 176 e eisêgoumai tên men arti eiselthousan aulêtrida chairein ean, aulousan heautêi, ê an boulêtai tais gunaixi tais endon, hêmas de dia logôn allêlois suneinai to têmeron
II. metaph. to drink up, as the earth does rain, Hdt.; piousa konis melan haima Aesch.,
Protagoras was the first who called himself a Sophist, and taught for PAY; and he practised his profession for the space of forty years. He says exactly what Jesus exampled, Paul commanded and the historic church practiced before the apostasy:
[347a] But as it is, since you LIE so grievously about the GREATEST matters with an air of speaking the truth, on this score I reproach you."
Such is my view, Prodicus and Protagoras, I said, of Simonides' INTENTION in composing this ode.
[347c] But if he does not mind, let us talk no more of POEMS and VERSES but consider the points on which I questioned you at first, Protagoras, and on which I should be glad to reach, with your help, a conclusion.
PAUL DIDN'T PREACH like a vulgar fella in the churches: the word is DIALOG used here by Plato only possible when you CAST OUT the poets and the FLUTE PLAYER who always had a HIDDEN AGENDA.
Poems are Poiêsis A. FABRICATION, creation, production, mimêsis [acting, MARK of homosexuality] 2. of Poetry, hê tôn dithurambôn <p., tês tragôidias [Goat singers, Capella is the goat and STAR] tôn epôn III. method of procedure, in MAGIC
In Athenian Law it was not lawful to send out a philosopher of poet as a kerusso, herald or preacher.
For it seems to me that arguing about POETRY
is comparable to the WINE-parties of common MARKET-folk.
These people, owing to their INABILITYto carry on a familiar conversation OVER THEIR WINE by means of their own voices and discussions--Euripides in Ion, "O you, who cause a voice to sing from your seven-stringed lyre, a voice that lets lovely-sounding hymns peal forth in the rustic lifeless horn, son of Leto... you led me to the bed in the cave, hearing me call on my mother, god and consort, shamelessly paying homage to Aphrodite. I, the unhappy one, bore you a son... Alas! and now my son and yours, oh cruel one, is gone, torn apart, a feast for birds;
but you are singing to the lyre, chanting hymns.
A man and his son could not go into the same temple prostitute IF they had a good mental attitude. Singing and Playing at the same time as WORSHIP where David's musicians were under the KING and COMMANDERS of the army misapplied the NOISE MAKING sounds of holocaust. Singing (connected with prostitution) and playing (connecting with prostitution or STEALING one's food) was GROUPED ALONG with too many EVIL things to single out INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC as WHOLESOME WORSHIP. It is never said to be connected with anything spiritual.
- "They forsook all the Laws of Jahwah their Father.They made an Asherah Pole; The Sacred Pole forsetting their feasts by the sun, and worshipped all the host of heaven (i.e. the sun, the moon, and the fiveplanets), and they worshipped Baal; Lord."
- Yet the Lord testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. 2 Kings 17: 13
- Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. 2 Kings 17: 14
- And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain,
- and went after the heathen that were round about them, (Nations, Gowy, Babylon pantheon of gods) concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. 2 Kings 17: 15
- Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Acts 7:42
- Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: Psalm 106:26
- To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands. Psalm 106: 27
- They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and
- ate the sacrifices of the dead. Psalm 106: 28
God didn't say "I hate your mental attitude." In chapter 8 the RESULT of the musical festivals was that the people were deprived of the WORD. Therefore,I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. Am.8:10
Acarah ((h6116) ats-aw-raw'; or acereth ats-eh'-reth; from 6113; an assembly, espec. on a festival or holiday: - (solemn) assembly (meeting)
Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Jl.2:15
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations-- I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Is.1:13
Feasts are
Chag (h2282) khag; or 2283 khawg; from 2287; a festival, or a victim therefor: - (solemn) feast (day), sacrifice, solemnity.
Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on. Is.29:1
In some of the festivals God intended the first day and seventh day as HOLY CONVOCATIONS. That word is:
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.
God instituted the sabbath as a way to quarantine the people away from the WORSHIP RITUALS. They were caused to REST and give themselves to hearing the Words of the Lord. This was a synagogue or school of the Bible and was the church in the wilderness. In Numbers 10:7 the triumph or alarm was "blowing instruments and 'making a joyful noise before the Lord'." This was not worship but the warrior's panic "music." Therefore, in the Septuagint God asks why they had a musical festival when REHEARSING or READING the Word was the ONLY thing considered as worship on the Sabbath.
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 mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel Isaiah 30:29 LXX
"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, O.R., Some Aspects of Hittite Religion, p. 37, Oxford University Press, 1977)
"Many of the Psalms are expressive of the parade dance, or dance procession, in a way which show it to have been the characteristic form of the festival (Psalms 30:12, 87:7, 149:3, 150:4; Is. 30:29) and that this was where many of the Psalms were used." ( W. O. E. Osterley, The Sacred Dance (Cambridge: N. P., 1923), p. 94)
See these processionals condemned by Isaiah.
Strabo, Geography: Fourthly, music, which includes dancing as well as rhythm and melody, at the same time, by the delight it affords and by its artistic beauty,
for although it has been well said that human beings then act most like the gods when they are doing good to others,
yet one might better say, when they are happy; and such happiness consists of rejoicing, celebrating festivals, pursuing philosophy, and engaging in music;
for, if music is perverted when musicians turn their art to sensual delights
at symposiums and in orchestric and scenic performances and the like,
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling (dancing) because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 1S.30:16
Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Amos 5:22
Sacrifices were made mandatory only after Israel ROSE UP TO PLAY in musical idolatry. See the Summary by John Chrysostom to prove that sacrifice and temple were, like the law, added because of transgression.
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Amos 5:23
For why is a woe pronounced upon the rich who have received their consolation? (Luke 6: 24,) who are full, who laugh now, who "lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches;" "join house to house," and "lay field to field;" "and the harp and the viol, the tabret and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts," (Amos 6: 6; Isa. 5: 8, 10.)
Certainly ivory and gold, and riches, are the good creatures of God, permitted, nay destined, by divine providence for the use of man; nor was it ever forbidden to laugh, or to be full, or to add new to old and hereditary possessions, or to be delighted with music, or to drink wine.
This is true, but when the means are supplied to roll and wallow in luxury, to intoxicate the mind and soul with present and be always hunting after new pleasures,
........ is very far from a legitimate use of the gifts of God.JFB notes: 23. Take . . . away from me--literally, "Take away, from upon Me"; the idea being that of a burden pressing upon the bearer. So Isa 1:14, "They are a trouble unto Me (literally, 'a burden upon Me'): I am weary to bear them.
"the noise of thy songs--The hymns and instrumental music on sacred occasions are to Me nothing but a disagreeable noise.
I will not hear--Isaiah substitutes "prayers" (Isa 1:15) for the "songs" and "melody" here; but, like Amos, closes with "I will not hear.Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Isaiah 1: 13
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. Isaiah 1: 14
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Isaiah 1: 15
In 6:5 they CHANT:
Chant is: Parat (h6527) paw-rat'; a prim. root; to scatter words, i. e. prate (or hum): - chant.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Ge.11:9
1. The NOISE which always defines singing is the Hebrew::
Hamown (h1995) haw-mone'; or hamon (Ezek. 5:7), haw-mone'; from 1993; a noise, tumult, crowd; also disquietude, wealth: - abundance, company, many, multitude, multiply, noise, riches, rumbling, sounding, store, tumult
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; Ezek 5:7
2. Why would God LOVE the sound or noise of HARPS? I am going to take a detour to parallel passages so I will put it into a box so you don't get lost!
The word for PRUNING- HOOK
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3. All terms related to SINGING or SONGS are connected to stealing one's inheritance or to the wandering prostitute. This is all rooted in Lucifer's attempt to STEAL worship for himself and take it away from God. Again, look at 5:23Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Am.5:23
God COULD HAVE said: I will be appeased by your musical instruments, wine, prostitution, eating unlawful sacrifices WHEN you get a better mental attitude. No. He says TAKE IT AWAY. It is NOISE and not music ever in God's words.
Singing is always connected to the prostitute in a religious sense unless it is making a noise while the TYPE of Lord Jesus Christ was being slaughtered and burned:
Shiyr (h7892) sheer; or fem. shyrah shee-raw'; from 7891; a song; abstr. singing: - musical (-ick), * sing (-er, -ing), song
Shiyr (h7891) sheer; or (the orig. form) 7788 (1 Sam. 18:6), shoor; a prim. root [rather ident. with 7788 through the idea of strolling minstrelsy]; to sing: - behold [by mistake for 7788], sing (-er, - ing man, -ing woman).
Shuwr (h7788) shoor; a prim. root; prop. to turn, i. e. travel about (as a harlot or a merchant): - go, sing. See also 7891.
If singing and playing instruments was such a holy, spiritual WEAPON for bringing people to God then surely the Spirit would not have deliberately used musical terms and names of instruments all which speak of DEFILEMENT. Chalal (h2490) can mean "to play the flute, pollute, prostitute or take one's inheritance."
Why would God compromise singing and playing by ALWAYS connecting it to the world of commerce and the prostitute?
No! The Jewish people's congregation NEVER worshiped with congregational singing and instrumental accompaniment.
Why would the Holy Spirit associate SINGING and PLAYING THE HARP with prostitution if He intended it to be the same way we COME TO KNOW or COME INTO HIS PRESENCE? HE WOULD NOT! Melody is the Hebrew:
You see, there is no definition which can be GRASPED to suggest a SPIRITUAL WORSHIP of a Holy, Spiritual God. Never. NAGA defines the NACHASH or NAGASH who was the SERPENT. In the garden of Eden he/she as Lucifer (Zoe) is the Musical Enchanter who wholly seduced Eve. |
The Temple as Type
Playing loud NOISE during the slaughter and burning of the TYPE of Christ was called NOISE and never music. Otherwise, the singers and players in and around the temple precincts were PROSTITUTES and SODOMITES.
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Human spirit or mind where we meet God Who IS ONLY Spirit. ONE priest at a time comes before the throne in darkness and silence. |
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The
"people's Congregation ALWAYS assembled
as a form of "synagogue." There was NO PRAISE SERVICE in the synagogue.
Worship was NOT in the Synagogue but the Human Spirit all alone GIVING
HEED to God's Word.
Incense: Personal Prayers Menorah: Seven Spirits of Knowledge (Isaiah 11:1-4). "My Word is Spirit and Life" (John 6:63) Bread: Remberance That Christ is Source of All Life. Showing forth or PREACHING the death of Christ IN THE PAST with musical mocking by the Levitical warrior musicians. |
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"Surely these inspired statements are sufficient to show that David made, invented, and commanded the use of instruments of music in divine worship. Where does revelation explain that God made, invented, appointed, or commanded the use of instrumental music in ordained worship of that age? On the basis of plain declarations, the contention that David introduced the idea is founded; in the absence of such testimony that God is the author, we reject the opinion that God authorized the practice." (L.O. Sanderson, p. 350).
"From the beginning, then, it was not so. Neither is it a part of or aid to Christian worship. Since there is no record of God ordaining the practice, he must have simply tolerated or indulged it, just as he did regarding some ignorance, kings, divorces, and polygamy" (Sanderson, p. 351).
"It was by the hand or commandment of the Lord and his prophets that the Levites should praise the Lord; for so the Hebrew text may be understood:
"and it was by the order of David that so many instruments of music should be introduced into the Divine service." (Adam Clark, Commentary on 2 Chron. 29:25).
Then Clark says:
"But were it evident, which it is not, either from this (2 Chron. 29:25) or any other place in the sacred writings, that instruments of music were prescribed by Divine authority under the law, could this be adduced with any semblance of reason that they ought to be used in Christian Worship? No..." (Adam Clark, Commentary, Vol. II, PP. 690-691).
"I believe that David was not authorized by the Lord to introduce that multitude of musical instruments into the divine worship of which we read; and I am satisfied that his conduct in this respect is most solemnly reprehended by this prophet; and I further believe that the use of such instruments of music in the Christian church is without the sanction and against the will of God; that they are subversive of the spirit of true devotion...if there was a woe to them who invented instruments of music, as did David under the law, is there no woe...to those who introduce them?" (Adam Clark, Commenting on Amos 6:5).
"It is foreign also to the piety of Clement that the (song) instituted for drinking companies, to be sung in the convivial feasts of the Gentiles... As if he [Clement] did not know that Psalms, not 'wine songs,'... were recited at the close of the Supper... I say that so great a profanation of the Psalms is most severely condemned by God in the third [commandment] of the Decalogue and Amos 5:23; 6:5" (Joseph Bingham, Antiq. of the Christian Church, Vol. 2, p. 485 quoting Clement).
"...Scriptures do condemn the use that David made of the instruments in worship--Amos 6:5: 'Woe to them... that chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;' and Amos 5:23: 'Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.' The condemnation of the instruments of music in this passage turns on the phrase like David--it does not say like David's, which could refer only to the instruments, but like David is the use that David made of the instruments. David did not invent the musical instrument--Jubal invented the instruments (Gen. 4:21)--but David invented them for worship--they were David's innovation." (Wallace, p. 177).
"Amos, we are told, is the sharpest critic of musical instruments in pre-Christian times. through him God expresses a preference for justice and honesty over bloody sacrifice and its attendant music of song and instruments. This sentiment, we are told, was revolutionary, making part of a similar change felt over the civilized world... And overall view of the evidence, McKinnon thinks, reveals a relationship between the three elements: a higher conception of God, a rejection of sacrifice, and a rejection of musical instruments." (Green, William M, Pepperdine College, in Restoration Quarterly, v. 19, 1966).
"To hear a man's or woman's voice sing Handel's solo... beats through one's chest with some sort of a throb depending on how well he or she is singing, and how much you respond to this kind of music. But no matter how much you may 'enjoy' Handel's solo, the words are not meant to be entertainment." (Schaeffer, Edith, Christianity is Jewish, p. 1)
"Amos stressed "that violations of the moral law could not be remedied by means of festive rites, offerings, or liturgical indulgence on the part of the sinner. In point of fact, God was already standing beside the altar (Am. 9:1ff), poised and ready to shatter it. No ritual, however, elaborate and symbolic in nature, could possibly substitute for the sincere worship of the human spirit, grounded in high moral and ethical principles." (Harrison, p. 895).
"Not surprisingly, most Israelites declined the prophet's invitation to enter into a dialog with Yahweh. They preferred a less demanding religion of cultic observance either in the Jerusalem Temple or in the old fertility cults of Canaan. This continues to be the case: the religion of compassion is followed only by a minority; most religious people are content with decorous worship in synagogue, church, temple and mosque. The ancient Canaanite religions were still flourishing in Israel... the Israelites were still taking part in fertility rites and sacred sex there, as we see in the oracles of the prophet Hosea, Amos' contemporary." (Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, p. 47).
F. B. Bruce is one of the best known modern writer and one might expect that he would defend the denominational practice. However, he like most who rest on their scholarship tell the truth. He wrote--
"...these same people were punctilious in their religious observances. Never did such abundant sacrifices smoke to Yahweh from the altars at Dan and Bethel and other sanctuaries in Israel; and the note of praise rose regularly and loudly from tongue and harp. Was not this the worship in which Yahweh delighted? So they thought, but the voice of Yahweh through His prophet told a different story." (F.F. Bruce, Israel, p. 58).
Bruce shows, along with the LXX, that (1) music was used as worship, (2) they thought that God would delight in it, but (3) God condemned it. This refutes those who deny that Amos said anything about music and it supports the clear statement and context of the book of Amos.
Most ancient scholars not only condemn music as worship but show that it had its origin in pagan superstition and was the product of the poets (songs as magical incantations)--
- "It was only permitted to the Jews as sacrifice was, for the heaviness and grossness of their souls. God condescended to their weakness, because they were lately drawn off from idols; but now, instead of organs, we may use our own bodies to praise him withal." (Chrysostom on Psa. 149, Vol. iii, p. 634).
"I say that so great a profanation of the Psalms is most severely condemned by God in the third [commandment] of the Decalogue and Amos 5:23; 6:5, 5" (Joseph Bingham, Antiq. of the Christian Church, Vol. 2, p. 485 quoting Clement)
"It is foreign also to the piety of Clement that the (song) instituted for drinking companies, to be sung in the convivial feasts of the Gentiles... As if he [Clement] did not know that Psalms, not 'wine songs,'... were recited at the close of the Supper... I say that so great a profanation of the Psalms is most severely condemned by God in the third [commandment] of the Decalogue and Amos 5:23; 6:5" (Joseph Bingham, Antiq. of the Christian Church, Vol. 2, p. 485 quoting Clement).
Clement-Stromata-Five.html"The golden lamp conveys another enigma as a symbol of Christ, not in respect of form alone, but in his casting light, "at sundry times and divers manners," [Hev 1:1)on those who believe on Him and hope, and who see by means of the ministry of the First-born. And they say that the seven eyes of the Lord "are the seven spirits resting on the rod that springs from the root of Jesse." [Rev. v. 6; Isa. xi. 10. [Elucidation IV.]
North of the altar of incense was placed a table, on which there was "the exhibition of the loaves; "for the most nourishing of the winds are those of the north. And thus are signified certain seats of churches conspiring so as to form one body and one assemblage. ["The communion of saints."]
And the things recorded of the sacred ark signify the properties of the world of thought, which is hidden and closed to the many.
Britannica Members: The inner room, or Holy of Holies, was thought to be the actual dwelling place of the God of Israel, who sat invisibly enthroned above a solid slab of gold that rested on the Ark of the Covenant and had a cherub at each end. This Ark was a gold-covered wooden box containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments.
but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke Ac.6:10
In Amos God wanted them to stop using the INSTRUMENTS of Satan as they worshiped as Remphan, Molech or Chiun as a form of Saturn whose Chaldean number is 666.
Melody in Amos is:
Zimrah (h2172) zim-raw'; from 2167; a musical piece or song to be accompanied by an instrument: - melody, psalm.
Zimrah (h2173) zim-raw'; from 2167; pruned (i. e. choice) fruit: - best fruit.
Zamar (h2167) zaw-mar'; a prim. root [perh. ident. with 2168 through the idea of striking with the fingers]; prop. to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i. e. play upon it; to make music,
accompanied by the voice; hence to celebrate in song and music: - give praise, sing forth praises, psalms.
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isa 5:6
This word also relates to taking the sword to the enemy as one might take the pruning hook to take over someone's grape harvest. This is NOT worship:
Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp. Psa 149:3
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; Psa 149:6
To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; Psa 149:7
Playing instruments such as the FLUTE defined by a word which is also translated as "pollute, prostitute or take one's inheritance by PRUNING their vines" is not spiritual worship.
Even the pruning hook is derived from a musical instrument.
God didn't say "they have a bad mental attitude" but that they do something like "speak in tongues":
That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; Am.6:5
"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).
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:24Throughout the Old Testament, honoring God is bound up in living right and practicing social justice. Therefore, since the WORSHIP defined here is the worship to which God had abandoned Israel because of their musical idolatry at Mount Sinai, He DID NOT advise them to live right and THEN they could worship with wine, women and song.
The word is BUT or INSTEAD of rituals just proving your ignorance of a Spirit God by worshiping LIKE THE NATIONS, live right and treat God right and you will not OWE God any legalistic rituals called WORSHIP.
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? Amos 5:25
Looking back to the TERMINAL SIN by Israel:
> Stephen telling the truth about the Jerusalem Temple:
And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Acts 7:41
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Acts 7:42
> Smith speaking for ALL scholars:
"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 Bible Dictionary, Music, p. 589).> Ephraim Syrus On Our Lord notes that Sinai was a test. The Israelites were consummate idolaters in Egypt. However, God gave them one more shot at the Abrahamic Covenant. By removing Moses as a visible "authority figure" He wanted to let them answer their own prayer:
18. But when their heathenism from being inward became open, then Moses also from being hidden openly appeared; that he might openly punish those whose heathenism had revelled beneath the holy cloud which had overshadowed them.
But God removed the Shepherd of the flock from it for forty days, that the flock might show that its trust was fixed upon the calf.
And he was there in the wilderness forty days tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. Mark 1:13
While God was feeding the flock with all delights, it chose for itself as its Shepherd the calf, which was not able even to eat.
Moses who kept them in awe was removed from them, that the idolatry might cry aloud in their mouths,
which the restraint of Moses had kept down in their hearts. For they cried: Make us gods, to go before us.
19. But when Moses came down, he saw their heathenism revelling in the wide plain with drums and cymbals.
Speedily, he put their madness to shame by means of the Levites and drawn swords.
So likewise here, our Lord concealed His knowledge for a little when the sinful woman approached Him, that the Pharisee might form into shape his thought,
as his fathers had shaped the pernicious calf.
"the people ate and drank, and rose up to play:"
and in consequence of this, the feasts were prescribed: kai eufrainonto, fhsin: dia touto kai eortai.-'Epishmainetai might be rendered,
"he marks," "puts a mark upon it" (so the innovator, who substitutes, touto kai Dauid epishmainomenoj legei): we take it passively, "there is a mark set over it-it is emphatically denoted." In the active, the verb taken intransitively means
"to betoken or announce itself," "make its first appearance."-
But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves. Amos 5:26
God abandoned the Israelites to worship THE STARRY HOST of which Saturn (666) was a major Wandering Star or planet personified. Therefore AMOS is simply telling us the NATURE of the worship of the Wandering Stars RATHER THAN the Creator of the heavenly host.
Molech . . . Chiun--"Molech" means "king" answering to Mars [BENGEL]; the Sun [JABLONSKI]; Saturn, the same as "Chiun" [MAURER]. The Septuagint translates "Chiun" into Remphan, as Stephen quotes it (Ac 7:42,43). The same god often had different names.Molech is the Ammonite name; Chiun, the Arabic and Persian name, written also Chevan. In an Arabic lexicon Chiun means "austere"; so astrologers represented Saturn (666) as a planet baleful in his influence. Hence the Phoenicians offered human sacrifices to him, children especially; so idolatrous Israel also. Rimmon was the Syrian name (2Ki 5:18); pronounced as Remvan, or "Remphan," just as Chiun was also Chevan. Molech had the form of a king; Chevan, or Chiun, of a star [GROTIUS]. Remphan was the Egyptian name for Saturn: hence the Septuagint translator of Amos gave the Egyptian name for the Hebrew, being an Egyptian. [HODIUS II, De Bibliorum Textibus Originalibus. 4.115]. The same as the Nile, of which the Egyptians made the star Saturn the representative [HARENBERG]. BENGEL considers Remphan or Rephan akin to Teraphim and Remphis, the name of a king of Egypt. Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary
Of the same rich "I don't cares" Job wrote:
They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. Job 21:11
They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Job 21:12
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Job 21:13Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Job 21:14
The dual TRIAD had 6 sides, 6 angles and 6 points: 666. Theatrical performers are NOT called STARS because of the little star on their door. They are STARS because they exist to LIFT THEMSELVES up above the common people.
Chiun worshipped in Israel was Saturn and other's were "wandering stars" which represented false teachers. Lucifer as the 'singing and harp playing prostitute' in Tyre is Phos or Eos or Zoe or Aphrodite in the Greek world. She is also related to Helios or elilos where Lucifer is heylel.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is The God of hosts. Amos 5:27
27. beyond Damascus--In Ac 7:43 it is "beyond Babylon," which includes beyond Damascus. In Amos time, Damascus was the object of Israel's fear because of the Syrian wars. Babylon was not yet named as the place of their captivity. Stephen supplies this name. Their place of exile was in fact, as he states, "beyond Babylon," in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2Ki 17:6; compare here Am 1:5 4:3 6:14). The road to Assyria lay through "Damascus." It is therefore specified, that not merely shall they be carried captives to Damascus, as they had been by Syrian kings (2Ki 10:32,33 13:7),
but, beyond that, to a region whence a return was not so possible as from Damascus.
> They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, therefore God caused them to go captive among idolaters.
Compare 2Ki 15:29 16:9 Isa 8:4, whence it appears Tiglath-pileser attacked Israel and Damascus at the same time at Ahaz' request (Am 3:1).
God Answers Prayers: He turns people over to that which they LUST FOR:
> And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Acts 7:41
Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Acts 7:42
> 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. Rev 18:14
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
Here is the image of Saturn (666) thrusting in the pruning hook trying to keep time from leaving him behind. The pruning hook in some Hebrew words is derived from the term for a musical instrument:
"The Capricorn Goat was originally depicted as half goat and half fish.
"Because the word fish has a value of 24 it may be used as a code for one day 24 hours. So 3 fishes can mean 3 days and also 666. Here is a half goat:
Molech or Saturn worship was performed with loud INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC to drown out the cries of the sacrificed child. It was being burned to death at Topheth named after the tambourine. It was Solomon's Music grove and came to represent HELL itself.
"Saturn's sickle or scythe is a sign of harvest, which means that everything must be cut down at its proper Time, as He cut short His father's generative activity, and as in turn His reign was cut off by Jupiter. Saturn began in Babylonia and the Chaldee number of his name, STUR, is 666
The Ancient Near Eastern texts and the rise of Sophia and Zoe is a way to emasculate the MALE Godhood. Zoe was the superior sister to the mindless logos. They forced the males to form MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS to worship the female goddess.
"As a king in Italy He was older and wiser, and when His Time came again, He knew it, and secretly left the land. It is said that to this day
"He lies in a magic sleep on a secret island near Britain, and at some future Time
"(perhaps in the Reign of the Virgin), He will return to inaugurate another Golden Age. De SaturnoTo the Romans, Saturn and Apollo could represent the SUN. Apollo had a Seeker Center at the Oracle at Delphi. He turned himself into an "angel of light" or dolphin and NAVIGATED THE WINDS from their destination to Delphi. There the became his MINISTERS to take away the money with music and more. Apollo is the father of Musical harmony. He will resurrect and turn the Locusts (cymbals) with stinging tails to SEPARATE those with his musical MARK from those marked or SEALED by Christ through His Word.
Amos 6 To prove that this was more than a BAD MENTAL ATTITUDE.
Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; Amos 6:3
The Agape was a funerary feast with and for the dead much like the marzeah condemned in Amos 5 and 6.
That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; Am.6:4
That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; Amos 6:5
That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Amos 6:6
Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. Amos 6:7
Marzeach (h4798) mar-zay'-akh; formed like 4797; a cry, i. e. (of grief) a lamentation: - mourning.
For thus saith the Lord, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, even lovingkindness and mercies. Jer 16:5
The Marzeah in Amos 5
"The marzeah had an extremely long history extending at least from the 14th century B.C. through the Roman period. In the 14th century B.C., it was prominently associated with the ancient Canaanite city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), on the coast of Syria..."The marzeah was a pagan ritual that took the form of a social and religious association... Some scholars regard the funerary marzeah as a feast for--and with--deceased ancestors (or Rephaim, a proper name in the Bible for the inhabitants of Sheol)." (King, Biblical Archaeological Review, Aug, 1988, p. 35, 35)
"These five elements are: (1) reclining or relaxing, (2) eating a meat meal, (3) singing with harp or other musical accompaniment, (4) drinking wine and (5) anointing oneself with oil." (King, p. 37).
"we recognize the same elements: the sacrifices and libation, the cultic feast in which the congregation gets a share of food and drink after it has been blessed by the king, and the merry-making, now in the form of instrumental and vocal music. But the central act of the ritual, which was performed by the king, is called literally 'drinking' the god (Gurney, O. R. Some Aspects of Hittite Religion, p. 33-34, Oxford University Press, 1977)"The normal order of events was a meal, followed by a drinking party. Entertainment might include anything from a rhetorcian or philosopher discoursing on some topic, to musical entertainment, to sexual dalliance."
"Plutarch implicitly contrasts a serious dinner featuring a sage as the after-dinner speaker with the other sorts of dinners--where sexual play with the girl flute-players or hetairae was common." (Witherington, Ben, Why Not Idol Meat, Bible Review, June 1994, p. 41-42).
The Battle of Baal and Yahm Aloud they [summon the assembly of the gods/ do cry to those near]. They invitethe distant ones / those far away, to the assembly of `El
they summon/do cry: "`El remains seated
[in his marzeah/banqueting hall/among his cult-guests (dM)] . . .The shame of the Eternal One
The shameful conduct of the usurper . . .
O gods, (to) the house of your lord . . .
[Who surely travels (S)
lest he go (D/G) quickly
the Runner will not walk (dM)] through the land, . . .
who goes in the dust (of) destruction
a mess of mud on the ground . . .Comments: Smith believes lines 7-8 should be interpreted "Either literally, as `El walking through the underworld, or an allusion to `El being "dead drunk," or both metaphorical, and ironic, as the marzeah serves as the setting for feasts for the dead and for the living mourning the dead (p. 145).
Conrad L'Heureux demonstrated that the marzeah, or symposium (feast, gathering, banquet, assembly) of El that is found in the Rephaim Texts of Ugarit "must be a reflex in the divine world of the symposium celebrated by the members of the earthly marzeah of El...each guild apparently had a divine patron."42 The heavenly marzeah had participants called rp'm, which we also find in the earthly marzeah, e.g., "May Krt be greatly exalted among the rp'm of the earth...the rp'm constitute an aristocracy of which the Canaanite kings were a part."43 Moses, and the prophets following him were proclaimed as "Speakers for Yahweh," showing the people that "they are sent from the divine king, the suzerain of treaties, to reprove and to pronounce judgment upon Israel..."44
Note 42: Conrad L'Heureux, "The Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim," Harvard Theological Review, 67(1974): 270-271.
Note 43. Conrad L'Heureux, Rephaim, 271. Cf. 272, footnote 25, the authority of El is ordinarily exercised through the younger generation of gods whom we could call the executive deities. It is also possible to understand the term rp'm as "the assembly of the gods." The entire premise of Jacobsen's article "Primitive Democracy," is that the groups and assemblies on earth reflected what the gods had done in heaven.
See Plato define the Greek Symposium.
See John Mark Hicks urging the Lord's Supper is a Jubilating SACRIFICIAL-LIKE feast with God.
Terry Briley at Lipscomb: "The book of Isaiah begins with an analysis of Israel's worship. Outwardly, there's nothing wrong. But their hearts are not engaged and their lives are disconnected from their worship."
The MRZH Tablet
"The tablet seen here is a contract having to do with the setting up of an association called the MRZH (marzeah). This association was a group of people who got together regularly in a special room in someone's home to celebrate and hold banquets, probably for religious reasons. Some scholars think they may have practiced certain rituals to honor and mourn the dead. We do know that the biblical prophets Amos and Jeremiah disapproved of whatever rituals were involved; see Amos 6:7 and Jeremiah 16:5. Commentary by Marilyn J. Lundberg.
Like the harps in heaven, the book of Revelation is to convince those undergoing trials that the DEAD did not live in a dark, gloomy world. The HARP throughout the Greek world was a tombstone symbol that the dead live a tranquile life. On the other hand, the angel's message to those STILL LIVING was to PREACH THE GOSPEL. It is significant that the LIVING shown bringing the harp to the dead are NEVER shown playing the harp.
Besides, only DEAD VIRGINS need apply for a harp!
The Bible and history is 100% convinced that music AS worship is evil or Satanic because it "takes away the key to knowledge" by subverting the rational (spiritual) mind and slips error directly into the EMOTIONAL nature.
To put forward musical or theatrical performers (whatever their character) throughout all of history--including the persona of musical performers in American society--means as God warned Ezekiel that you PUT FORWARD and at the FOCUS of an approach to a holy (wholly) Spirit God what has always been an image of sexual perversion and drug addiction. Indeed, music is the most powerful and addictive influence known to mankind. When not AT THE FOCUSE musical performs almost have no alternative but to use chemical drugs to replace the endorphins self- induced by performance.
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