The
modern ZOE concept of music and drama claim to be
mediators between God and man.
Christ spoke of being the vine and of eating
His
flesh and drinking His blood. While He explained that "the flesh
counts for nothing and noted that His Word was Spirit and life, the
Jews clearly saw Him as the hoped-for Dionysus form of Messiah rather
than the Ethical, sacrificial Jesus.
There
were many parallels
between Dionysus and Jesus. In fact, the "like the nation's worship"
permitted to Israel after they "fired" God, was similar to Dionysus
worship. The musical idolatry at Mount Sinai was a "type." David was
a secular type. The new "wineskin" religion was a type. The book of
Jubilees was a type. Therefore, Christ as the anti-type would reveal
Christianity as a spiritual system--the kingdom is outside of the
realm of singing, dancing and feastint.
Many
people, including the
Jews, were highly addicted to Dionysus principles. For every reality
there are dozens of counterfeits. Therefore, for the carnal thinkers
Jesus might just be their real Dionysus.
When
they tried to induce the
song and dance by piping, the dance is the Greek, Dionysus choral
dance and the song is related to the hymns to Bacchus (Dionysus).
That
great traveller Pausanias reported in the second
century BC, a
miracle of the wine:
"...
three pots are
brought into the building by the priests [of Dionysus] and set down
empty in the presence of the citizens and of any strangers who may
chance to be in the country.
"The
doors of the
building are
sealed by the priests
themselves and by any
others who may be so inclined.
"On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building they find
the pots filled with
wine."
The
anti-type of Jesus allowed
no room for the trickery of all ancient and modern "miracle workers"
to steal in during the night and switch.
Alexander the Oracle Monger knew how this was done.
Because
those who witnessed the
miracles often did not believe, the miracle of Jesus would have
driven home the idea that He was Dionysus. In Matthew 13 He said that
he spoke in parables to deliberately hide the truth from the Jewish
clergy. However, when He refused to sing and dance they turned on
Him. This
attempt
to get Jesus to sing and dance is illustrated here:
"The
first
Greek
tragedies were the
myths which were danced
and sung
by a
chorus at festivals in
honour of Dionysius. At first these festivals were satyric in nature with plenty
of gaiety, drinking, burlesque
and so on. As time passed the sung
and danced
myths
developed a more
serious form. Instead of gaiety and burlesque they became
plays which dealt with the relationship of man and
the
Gods,
and tried to
illustrate some particular aspect of life.
"The
chorus dressed in goat skins
as the goat was sacred to
Dionysius and goats were prizes which were awarded for the best
plays. The word tragedy
itself is believed to be derived from the Greek word "tragoidia"
which means 'goat-song'.
This
is specificially why
Paul's
command was not to sing but to speak or preach
the Word of
Christ.
In
Acts 1:20
psalmos is the book of Psalms
and in Rom. 15:
sing is psallo.
- "Psallo is best translated by
chant,
- not sing.
- The
Greeks sharply distinguish chanting (psalmodia)
- from
singing (tragoudi).
- The
first is a sacred activity;
- the
second, a secular one. In English,
unfortunately, the distinction is not sharp.. Constantine Cavarnos
It
comes as no surprise that
so-called "praise worship" is intimately connected to the secular
singing the clergy tried to force Jesus to perform possibly in the
hope that He was a Second Incarnation of Dionysus. This, in turn, is
a direct outgrowth of the coded words such as "new wineskins" to
promote a drunk-in-the-spirit form of exhilaration in the name of Christ.
These
coded words nevertheless
contain real power greedily grasp by the youth in a rush to burn down
the old structures and create a "new wineskin" to do what the
"pattern" in the Bible cannot do.
Dionysus (also spelled Dionysos)
is the Greek God of ritual
dance and sacred mysticism, of death and new life. He can be gentle
or provoke the wildness within us all, literally able to drive both
his followers and his enemies mad. Euripedes called him 'most gentle
and most terrible'. Dionysus is the patron of poetry, the song, and
drama, and of course wine and its intoxication effects. He was
credited with the invention of wine making and its use on Earth and
this became almost his chief attribute in his Roman form - Bacchus.
Unlike Pan for instance, Dionysus is counted as one of the twelve
major Gods of Mount Olympus.
Nietzsche
(in The
Birth of Tragedy) treats Dionysus as a dynamic of time
that
destroys
old forms and brings forth the new
(one
reason for his role in the
Mysteries) with 'an indifference to the differences'. Nietzsche
contrasts this to Apollo who is the God of light, and of forms in
particular.
Of
course, Dionysus was honored
at Apollo's shrine at the Oracle of Delphi. Click
to see how a Seeker System restores
the ancient
pattern of Apollo who is Appolyon or Abbadon.
"The
older Dionysian
festivities were ecstatic affairs; worshippers
often overcome with ecstasy and
religious fervor. They formed thyasi (holy bands) and waved
thyrsoi (fennel wands bound with vine leaves and tipped with ivy).
Dancing
by torchlight to
the rhythm of the flute and the tympanon (kettledrum),
while
they were
under the god's inspiration, the bacchantes were believed to
possess
occult
powers,
the
ability to charm snakes and
suckle animals, as well as preternatural strength that enabled them
to tear living victims
to pieces before indulging in a ritual feast (omophagia).
The
main feature of his worship
was called sparagmos: the tearing apart of a live animal, the eating
of its flesh, and the drinking of its blood.
Believers
considered they
were partaking of the God's body and blood.
"The
Greek word orgia incidentally meant a sacred rite. His rites were held in
woods and uncivilised places
on the boundaries between the towns and villages. Dionysus was
thought of as the 'God
who comes', appearing
unexpectedly amongst us, bring terror
and joy - two sides of the same
coin.
But
in both
cases bring revelation and change.
The
morphine-within
endorphins produced by music bring both terror and joy. The hair
standing up on the back of our necks and an unusual attraction for
the Sister Singers is the effects of "fight, flight or
sex."
"Douglass,
who has
developed the most successful Willow
Creek-based church
service in Germany, even maintained, "I think this approach is most
applicable to the state
churches. We have the
people, even if they don't attend. We enjoy an incredible edge in
confidence vis-àvis the free
churches." He cautioned,
"The
cost of this approach is
hard work and
loads of
strife with church
insiders." Christianity
Today
"Swept
away by the 'eater of
raw flesh' and his wild hunt, the devotees of Dionysus
õmêstés cease to be tranquil diners on the flesh of an
animal
that
has been
cooked by the rules.
They
become
savage themselves and behave like ferocious
beasts.
They
escape
the human
condition by way of bestiality, taking the lower route
among the animals,
while
Orphism
proposes the same escape on the
divine side, taking the
upper route by refusing
the meat diet that
spills the blood of living beings and eating only perfectly pure food." Marcel Detienne, Dionysus Slain
INITIATION
RITES
"...this
sect
crowned
the image of
Jesus along with those of Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle.
Further, there were impostors
of all varieties: magicians, soothsayers, jugglers, deceivers and hypocrites, 'who appeared using mighty words with a host of unintelligible formulae and taking up with
scandalous ceremonies in order to
rob
men of their
money."
(Int. Std.
Bible Ency., Gnosticism, p. 1246).
"Aristotle
tells us that it is
the task of the initiate to suffer
and to let himself be brought to a certain frame of mind.
He
is
not to seek to acquire knowledge and increased understanding.
The significance of ecstasy
in the mysteries strikingly
characterized by this statement.
The
precise aim of orgies in
the mysteries was to induce such a
heightening of consciousness in
a man that he would be receptive to the god who came to be united
with him.
Such
a person was then an
enthusiast. Music
was the most important element used to induce this
condition. .. Aristotle
explains that among the modes the Phrygian has the same power as the
flute among instruments, for
both are
orgiastic and both heighten consciousness. This peculiar
capability, which brought on
religious
ecstasy.. For that
reason everything written in the Phrygian mode was. (Quasten, p
36-37)
"But
perhaps nothing was more
characteristic of the mystery religions than what they called ecstasy. Believers in the
mystery religions sought to cultivate a magical, sensuous communion with the
divine. They would do almost
anything to get themselves into a semiconscious, hallucinatory, hypnotic, or orgiastic spell in which they believed
they were sensually in contact with deity.
Some
used
wine
to assist in the
euphoric experience, as Paul implied in Ephesians 5:18. Whether from literal intoxication or emotional exhilaration, when worshipers fell
into a state of
euphoria, it was as if they had
been
drugged. They assumed
they were
in
contact with God. (MacArthur, John,
Charismatic Chaos, p. 164.
Zondervan)
Plato Laws: 782c] Athenian
"The
custom of men
sacrificing one another is, in fact, one that survives even now among
many peoples; whereas amongst others we hear of how the
opposite
custom
existed, when they were
forbidden so much as to
eat an ox, and their
offerings to the gods consisted, not of animals, but of
cakes
of
meal
and grain steeped
in honey, and other such bloodless sacrifices, and from
flesh
they
abstained as though it
were unholy
to eat it or to stain with blood the altars of the gods;
instead
of that, those of us
men who then existed lived what is called the Orphic life, keeping wholly to inanimate food and, contrariwise, abstaining wholly from
things animate.
- At
first I evaded sleep with the purple thread,
- and
again, exhausted, with song of the Orphic lyre.
- Left
all alone, I was singing lightly to myself
- the
frequent long delays when your lover is about.
- Then
drowsiness pulled me, slipping in its soft wings.
- She
at last cured my crying.
Many
Romans came out of one
of these sects.
Jesus
didn't give the Dionysus
worshipers permission to continue eating the flesh of a bull while it
was still alive. Neither did he give the Orpheus worshipers
permission to just eat vegetables as part of their musical
worship.
Rather,
because of the diverse
pagan background neither of which was Jewish, Paul insists that the
meat eaters must show respect for those with Orphic backgrounds.
Those who now ate meat and were believers must not despise those who
might never eat meat although they had abandoned Orphism.
Neither
were given permission
to "tolerate" either's musical rituals to bring on a charismatic fit
which made them believe that they were both inspired.
We
will look more at the
Dionysus, Orpheus and Pythagoras cults below because only this
background makes Chapter 15's speaking the revealed Word to one
another make sense.
Paul
noted that the
"many" trying to restore
Jewish or Pagan
festivals perverted the gospel. It comes as
no surprise that the
"many" pervert Romans 14 as
permitting
whatever one wants to permit.
Tertullian
will confirm what
everyone knows about pushing and peddling musical "praise" as the
most hostile sectarianism the church has ever
known.
How
skillful
a pleader seems human wisdom to herself,
especially
if she has the
fear
of
losing any of her
delights-any of the sweet
enjoyments of
worldly
existence!
However,
the underlying words
of Paul clearly point to the pagan practices which even believers
still retained. The solution
was not to allow the pagan teachings in by allowing the holders to
dispute about them. This was probably more of accepting or "food
fellowship" than a collective worship ritual.
Those
who claim to be A
Cappella may be
deceiving people by
perverting Paul's teaching. We
once believed that a cappella
meant "without instruments." What the disturbers understand is that
the word includes "choirs." By adding
"music" as part of worship they
add the Greek sumphoÑnia which is not remotely
related to "worship."
A
Cappella was introduced to
entertain the Pope and high
officials where instrumental music
was not allowed.
The
best
"performers" were castrados who sang a high soprano. Women were not allowed
to perform but
young, effeminate boys worked just as
well.
This
"organum" or organic pipe organ
was, and is, a legalistic way
to add the musical effects of the pipe organ without violating the
law against playing music in the Pope's area. You see, they knew the
polluting message of the Jewish "pipers" trying to seduce Jesus into
the song and dance of
Dionysus.
Furthermore,
Romans 14 is
called to the battle
front
to
frighten
off
anyone by defining
"objectors" as being "judgmental."
We
will tell you the whole
truth about --
Romans
14 as a
rebuttal
of instrumental
music
and
Romans
15 as a
description of Biblical "teaching and admonishing" rather than
ritualistic singing. "Music"
is not a New Testament worship concept.
In
Ephesians 5 this is a
rebuttal
of new
wineskin or
Dionysus
forms
of
singing
with
music.
Paul's
solution is
to speak or teach (meaning preach)
the revealed
Word of
Christ or Spirit with
the singing and melody in the heart. This would prevent the feelings
induced by new wine.
Therefore
Sister Singer can
sing her heart out and sell CDs and go on and become rich and famous.
However, Romans 14 connected to Romans 15 gives no authority to
replace the Word of Christ with Sister Singer's silly and often
erotic "praise song."
Romans,
Chapter
14
Romans
14:1 HIM that is
weak in the
faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
The
weak person here was weak
because he had not been taught about "the
faith."
Paul
handled the Jews in
chapters 9-11 to prove that Jews were not "predestinated" and that
their failure was their failure and not God's
failure nor the failure of the
Word of God.
In
chapter 10 he attributes
their failure to the Musical Idolatry at Mount Sinai.
Now,
in chapter 14, the weak
person was the common Roman who was steeped in Orphic or Pythogaras or Dionysic religious practices.
Rome's religion was a Greek
religion, and Greek's religion was Babylonian religion.
Pythagoreans Britannica Members
"The
Orphic
creeds were the basis
of the Pythagorean
brotherhood, which
flourished in southern Italy beginning in the 6th century BC. The
Pythagoreans were aristocratic
fraternities that
sometimes had a
political scope. Their
main achievements, however, lay in the fields of music, geometry, and astronomy. They discovered that
these subjects could be
explained by numbers and ratios.
Combining
Orphic
eschatology (the study
of the last things, especially death and afterlife) with their
discoveries, they
invested music,
geometry, and astronomy with religious values.
"According
to their doctrine,
the original home of the soul was in the stars.
From there it fell down to earth and associated with the body.
"Thus,
man was a
stranger on the earth, and he had to strive to liberate
himself from the ties of the flesh and return
to the soul's celestial home.
At
the Towers of Babylon, music
was the legalistic way to redeem the worshiper by ascending back up the
steps
in worship and at
death.
We
will look at the vegetarians
below.
Romans
14: 2 For one believeth
that hem may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth
herbs.
Only
the Orphics and possibly
some sectarian Jewish priests in Rome were vegetarians in a religious
sense as we will see later. Neither Jew nor Gentile Christians would
have this problem
Romans
14: 3 Let not him that
eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not
judge him that eateth:
for God hath received him.
Tertullian
noted that this cannot include
theatrical
worshipers:
Moreover,
a man pronounces
his own condemnation
............
in
the very act of taking his place
among those with whom,
............
by
his disinclination to be like
them,
............
he
confesses he has no
sympathy.
- It
is not enough that we do no such things ourselves,
- unless
we break all connection also with those who do.
"If
thou sawest a thief," says
the Scripture, "thou consentedst with him." (Ps. 58. 18. [This
chapter bears on modern
theatres.]
Would
that we did not even
inhabit the same world with these wicked men!
But
though that wish cannot be
realized, yet even now we are separate from them in what is of the world; for the world is
God's, but the worldly is the devil's.
"When
thou sawest a
thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with
adulterers. Psalm 50:18
Romans
14: 4 Who art thou that
judgest
another mans
servant? to his
own
master he standeth or
falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him
stand.
This "accepting" includes primarily meal fellowship. It does not mean that
we do not have a right to
protest and protect our worship and property from being stolen by
those who have
judged that the
Scriptures are outdated, that we are post-modern and that we are
going to join the world's greatest explosion of
musical
sectarianizing of the
church.
Romans
14: 5 One man esteemeth
one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every
man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
The
Sabbath was given for rest
and not for "worship" which was, in the Old Testament, often the
Sabbath-Trinitarian worship brought from Babylon or Egypt.
Now,
an individual has the
right to do whatever he wishes any day of the week. However,
he
passes
judgment upon the whole
group if he returns from the Catholic-Anglican-Methodist
"Evangelizing
Walk To Emmaus" or the Cursillo and
wants to change
the First Day Lord's Supper into a Sabbath Eucharist effort to
eat
the flesh and drink
the blood of Jesus.
Romans
14: 6 He that regardeth
the day, regardeth it
unto the Lord; and he
that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not
regard it.
The
only thing imposed by God
was the Sabbath rest
for the general population. However, their Sabbaths had grown so
gross that they even "spoke their own words" rather than God's free
(Isa 55) Words in the Bible
(Isaiah 58). Therefore, keeping of religious festivals were to remind the
people of their sinfulness and
not to perform theatrical rituals:
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 [prophesied that
Jesus would never do that]
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
Wash
you, make you clean; put
away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Isaiah 1:16
Learn
to
do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge
the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Isaiah 1:17
And
yet, one might "regard the
day unto the Lord" but if he attempts to impose religious atonement
rituals (Jubilee) upon the assembly then he is judging.
This
gives no
authority to add musical worship into the general
assembly.
This
prohibits any
ritualizing gleaned from the judgmental Law of Moses.
He
that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth
not, to the Lord he eateth not,
and giveth God thanks
In
Corinth, Paul
outlawed
eating and
drinking for the purpose of hunger within the short time of the
weekly assembly. He
said: "You have houses
to eat and drink in."
Therefore,
nothing which Paul
has to say in this chapter has to do with these opinions as
"acts
of
worship." The weak
person might still sacrifice animals and drink their blood while the
heart was still beating. He is weak and not instructed in
the faith. He cannot let
the women
introduce an act of worship of "tearing an animal apart with their
bear hands" and he cannot permit the women or effeminate Orphic or
Dionysus to introduce the accompanying "musical worship
teams."
The
goal of the
strong is to receive and instruct and not to despise the weak.
The
strong are not commanded to
allow the person to teach animal sacrifice while the girls and
effeminate men are dancing and playing instruments. All untaught issues are doubtful issues and according to Locke
and Thomas Campbell cannot be
used within the collective assembly for worship without destroying a
wider
fellowship.
The
weak brother is not to
judge
the
strong. This includes
to "go
to court to
sue."
That was and is
violated by
instrumentalists taking
control of church property.
They
fulfill the definition
of the Pharisees and Scribes condemned by Jesus: "They take widow's
houses."
Romans
14: 7 For none of us
liveth to himself, and no man
dieth to
himself.
Fittingly,
Paul did not say:
"For none
of us
worships by himself."
This is because the issue is "living"
on a daily basis and not defining everything by "one truth-evacuated"
hour on Sunday.
Romans
14: 8 For whether we
live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the
Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords.
Romans
14: 9 For to this end
Christ both died,
and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead
and
living.
Christ
is Lord and Lord's
define how
they are going to be served.
If the Lord makes a doctrine like a donut with a hole of silence in
the middle, the Lord doesn't mean: "Oops! I made a mistake. Oh, Well.
You are at liberty to make up for my imperfection and fill in the
hole"
That
is why "the" faith consists of what
He taught or inspired to be taught. Faith comes by hearing and Christian faith
comes from hearing the Christian
documents. The strong cannot add musical worship based upon faith.
And therefore as early instrumentalists had to confess, based on
human opinion and self-defined as sin.
There
are two sins based upon
opinions based upon "the"
faith or previous religious beliefs and practices:
- The
strong person despised the weak.
- The
weak person judged the strong.
As we
will notice before, the
battle between the Orphics and Dionysus worshipers wet so far as "god
killing god."
Romans
14: 10 But why dost thou
judge thy brother? or why
dost thou
set
at
nought thy brother? for
we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
3
Let not him that
eateth despise
him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge
him that eateth:
for God hath received him.
In
this case, the
vegetarian who is still somewhat
Orphic or Pythagoric is the one who judges.
He
is weak in "the faith" because he has not been taught.
This
cannot be applied to
mechanical means or using "the works of men's hands" to try to
"ascend
up to
Christ" or to
"call
Him
down."
Why? Why,
because the Bible has amply taught that music was a warrior's device
and was not to be used for a called assembly (Nu 10:7, the word
"alarm" or "triumph over.")
Vocal
teaching one another is a
direct command.
Romans
14: 11 For it is
written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to
me,
and every
tongue shall confess to God.
The
battle was between John the
Baptist and the Clergy as the priests and prophesiers (musicians) of
Jezebel. The clergy tried to get Jesus to sing and dance like the
prophets of Baal and of Asherah and they hoped that John wore "soft"
clothing consistent with all ancient priesthoods.
If
Judas and clergy had
"triumphed over" Jesus, this meant that He would have bowed His knees
in the Greek chorus usually reserved for "drunk on music" women.
However, speaking to Elijah (John) god said:
Yet
I have left me
seven
thousand in
Israel, all the knees
which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed
him. 1 Kings 19:18
Within
the Orphic and Dionysic rituals was the Greek choral dance which the Jewish clergy
tried to impose
upon Jesus. This is defined by Jesus when He likened John the Baptist
to Elijah. He of course was God and the Jewish clergy were the
"prophets of Baal and of Asherah."
This
is a very important
concept because the notion of not
allowing the weak to
judge by debating or
introducing
their
practices leads quite
naturally in Romans chapter 15 to the demand that we speak the Words of
Christ to one another
as a way to make the non-judging possible.
Once
the self-composed
songs,
dances or instrumental pieces of the Greek religion
was permitted into the
assembly or even forced in a non-religious situation, the
weak
people passed
judgment upon the group.
See
the
Golden Bough on Dionysus Worship Perfectly defines the
"new wineskin" doctrine of
charismatic musical worship.
Romans
14: 12 So then every one
of us shall give account
of himself to God.
Modern
theatrical performance
called "Christian" has found a better way of living than the cold
mission field. After all, Paul said that everyone will give an
account to God. And---we must not judge. The natural consequence is
that it doesn't matter much what you teach on the mission field or
whether you teach. If I cannot teach one on the mission field the
truth about baptism then I am mercifully relived by Romans chapter 14
from going to the mission field. I can make 25 grand and suffer or
100 grand and be applauded and honored by men. Easy choice, eh
what?
Romans
14: 13 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.
In
the Dead Sea Scroll of Psalm
41 the Levitical Warrior musicians will try to triumph over Jesus
with music after accusing Him with being Beel-zebub the Dung God in
Hebrews. Music is their stumbling block
- DSS: 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.
For
their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of
Gomorrah:
- their
grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: De.32:32
The
Priesthood was so evil that
Jesus spoke to them in parables to hide the truth from them. They
piped hoping to get Jesus and others to do the Dionysus song and
dance. Because the Jews expected that Messiah would be Dionysus whose
worship had been so prominant as the Abomination of Desolation in the
temple. Perverted sexuality or sodomy was a custom of most isolated
priesthoods. They tried to feed him with gall to keep him from
knowing what He was doing.
In
our third section of the review of Rubel Shelly at
Abilene
Christian University (ACU) we will show that
the clergy
Stood in The Gap to create a Stumbling Block for Jesus.
The idea was to play instruments, call down an evil spirit as David had done and
as the military musicians
attacked Beliar, and panic Jesus into what, in paganism, caused
fainting or even death
by suffocation. They
actually saw Jesus as among their idols.
Romans
14: 14 I know, and am
persuaded
by the Lord
Jesus,
that there is
nothing unclean
of
itself: but to him that
esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Certainly
he does not mean that
"nothing" is unclean. It is a
fact that the word
halal and chalal
meant to "play the flute, pollute
or prostitute." God said that the Jews polluted the Sabbaths by their
commerce and religious rituals when He intended to keep them at home
and away from the evil Sabbath keepers imitating Babylonian worship
with wine, women and song.
Instrumental
music is not evil
of itself. Men like Clement of Alexandria even severely limited
instruments even at secular festivals because they roused up evil
temptations. However, he absolutely showed that instruments were
prohibited "in church." Therefore, if they tried to impose
instruments in the collective assembly and make judgments beyond
"himself" then he was passing judgment upon others.
He
did not hold his opinions to
himself. Because vocal "teaching" or preaching is commanded as the
external part of 'in spirit' worship then true a cappella is not
based upon opinion.
See
Tertullian to prove that not all things are approved.
Beyond
all doubt,
too, the very buildings connected with the places of public
amusement, composed as they are of rocks, stones, marbles,
pillars, are things of God, who has given these
various things for the earth's
embellishment; nay, the very scenes are enacted under God's own heaven.
How
skillful
a pleader seems human wisdom to herself,
especially
if she has the
fear
of
losing any of her
delights-any of the sweet
enjoyments of
worldly
existence!
The
subject is eating just vegetables rather than eating animals which might "pollute"
the person. The
subject cannot
be expanded outside of these topics.
Among
the self-proclaimed
"strong it" cannot include instrumental music because the Bible has
clearly associated it with pagan festivals involving "wine, women and
song" and as a deliberate device to keep people's mind off the Word of
Christ.
However,
the weak appear to
have been the Orphic or
Dionysic musical sect: one vegetarian and the other charismatically
animal devourers.
Romans
14: 15 But if thy
brother be grieved with thy meat,
now walkest
thou not
charitably.
Destroy
not him with thy
meat,
for whom Christ
died.
Don't
do something which would
cause the brother (Christian or fraternal) to be destroyed or cause
one to lose faith.
No
one
suggests that
not using Sister Singers
and theatrical
performers as "worship" is is imposing and therefore judging others.
A
large
percentage of religious
people of the world cannot assemble for seeker entertainment falsely
labeled as "spiritual worship." And they have Paul in mind who
absolutely outlawed preside over or non-sedentary roles for
women.
Therefore, instrumental music and
Sister Singers
is not something the "strong"
can impose over
the heads and objection of others. This would make an uncharitable
group (usually one individual) despise
those
they consider
weak.
Romans
14: 16 Let not then your
good be evil spoken of:
Eating
meat or NOT eating meat was the
fundamental mental views of both
Orphic and Dionysic worshipers who had been baptized. Speaking or
preaching to one another with the inspired resources of Christ was
good but both "food extremists" were charismatically musical.
Therefore, the cannot bring their rituals into the assembly or judge
the assembly because the kingdom is not remotely related to these
things:
Romans
14: 17 For the
kingdom
of
God
is not meat
and drink;
but
righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost.
The
church is not involved in
keeping "holy days" or the Sabbath. The church is not related to eating or not
eating meat. It does not "eat meat" as a religious ritual and it does not "not eat meats" as acts
of
worship. These things,
right or wrong, are outside of the realm of the church
assembly.
Eating
and drinking and playing
musical instruments and singing and selling CDs or "Snake Oil" seminars is part of
our individual, personal and
often commercial world. Selling CDs of the Babylonian
Encomiast or praise leader
fulfills the end-time warning of
the Babylonian Whore religion which was mostly commercial.
The
strong are not to despise
the weak which, as far as we know, were Orphic
as the Jews were often Dionysic in Jerusalem, by refusing to "accept"
them or have food-fellowship or do business with
them. And they must be
fellowshiped for teaching purposes consistent with Paul's demand to
"teach
and
admonish" as a
replacement for their old pagan musical rituals. The unbeliever will
learn the Word, be
convicted by the Word and fall down and worship the God of the
Word.
However,
the weak
are still involved with the superstition of
not
eating meats in their
always-musical festivals, or of women who tore live bulls
limb-from-limb and at raw, still-living flesh as they are "jacked up"
with music.
They
are weak in "the" faith
because the faith has not taught either of these practices in Judaism
or Christianity.
Therefore,
they must
not
be allowed to
debate and force these
practices (either extreme) onto Christians as "acts of
worship."
Romans
14: 18 For
he that in these things serveth (is a slave to) Christ
is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Romans
14: 19 Let us therefore
follow
after
the
things which
make for peace, and
One
should not eat meat around a
vegetarian in order
not to "despise" them. And the Orphic
vegetarian must not impose his
charismatic or musical practices or he would judge or "take to law"
the Word Speakers.
"Peace"
means a rich quietness. It is the "rest" for which Jesus died
as a way to remove the burden
which was "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual."
You
cannot introduce theatrical
performers and "use" them to worship or lead the worship without
creating (1) spiritual warfare which leads to many being "despised
and judged out" of the assembly, and (2) creating a spirit at war
when they
silently endue
what
to the "actors"
seems superior but to the wise seems embarrassing. By imposing
musical rituals of paganism over the heads of those who object but
will not leave then you have "offended one of these little ones" and
God is the judge.
things
wherewith
one may edify another.
Edify means to confirm
one in the faith. It does not mean entertain one another. In the
next chapter, Paul will show
that the Words
of Christ
are the only
tools
which can build
up one another.
All
scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: 2 Tim 3:16
That
the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2
Tim 3:17
Romans
14: 20 For
meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure;
but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. (Offence means a stumbling block)
If
this is
stretched to the breaking point to include instrumental music, then
the talented musician is perfectly freed by non-instrumentalists to
sing, dance, play instruments or whatever one wishes if it is done
between
him and
God.
This is not
authority to bring it into my "space."
Earlier,
Paul established two
important principles:
- > Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind.
- >
6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the
Lord.
Paul
insists that if we
continue to exercise our rights and eat meat, then we must not
destroy others while
exercising our liberty.
>
We
can do that by not
establishing eating meat as "an act of worship."
>
The
musical Orphics must not NOT eat
meat as an act of worship.
>
The
music Dionysics must NOT eat meat as
an act of worship.
>
Neither
can do their pagan music as an
act of worship and make me a participant with them in their
sin.
At
the same time, the
vegetarian whose only religious connection is to Orphism
1
HIM that is
weak in the faith receive
ye, but not to
doubtful disputations.
v.
3 and he is not to be
held
in
contempt. This is based
upon only one
issue: that of not
eating animal meat.
It
is not possible to remain
within the framework of "the
faith" and expand
this to instrumental music which is a clearly taught and condemned
practice..
Doubtful
disputations means
external debate over questions of doubt.
The
weak, Orphic vegetarian is
the only one warned about judging: "and let not him which
eateth not judge him that eateth."
Orphic
religion also honored
the equivalent of Eve or
Sophia or Zoe.
The feminine
goddesses "ruled over" the
males by making them into a musical worship team and "ruled over
them" as their teachers. Zoe
was, or gave rise, to the Beast or Lucifer: the female instructing
principle.
Paul
understood that female
authority was sexual
authority.
Romans
14: 21
It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Vegetarianism: Josephus knew certain
priests who "supported
themselves with figs and nuts." They had been sent to Rome to be
tried before Caesar and they rejected all meat because it might have
been offered
to
idols.
"However,
vegetarian was not always just to guard against
idol meat.
"Vegetarianism was a customary religious
practice in the first century. It was a
characteristic of the Orphic
and Pythagorean
sects
among the Greeks
and of the Essenes
among the Jews." (Batey, Romans, Sweet, p. 166).
"Orphic initiates (and the stricter
Pythagoreans) were vegetarians and
also agreed to lifestyle and dietary restrictions, like noteating
beans (apart from the effects beans have on the human body, they also
resemble parts of it. Pausanias mentions that Demeter gave the human
race the products of the earth excluding beans. The refusal to kill
and to eat animals, was a radical step in a world of general
sacrifice to the Gods, and cut them off from many of the State
ceremonies. "
Many Orphics seem to
have had a strong
feeling of sin and guilt. They believed that there was a divine part in
man--his soul--but it was wrapped up in the body, and man's
task was to liberate the soul
from the body.
This
could be
achieved by living an Orphic life, which included
abstinence
from
meat,
wine, and sexual intercourse.
After
death the soul would be
judged. If a man had lived a righteous life, his soul would be sent
to the meadows of the blessed in Elysium; but, if he had committed
misdeeds, his soul would be punished in various ways and perhaps sent
to hell. Following a period of reward or punishment, the soul would be incarnated in a new body. Only a soul that had
lived a pious life three times
could be liberated from the cycle.
If
you clicked
to get here, click again to return to your place.
A Hellenistic mystery religion based on the teachings and songs of
Orpheus is thought to
have eventually arisen in ancient Greece, although no coherent
description of such a religion can be constructed from historical
evidence. Most scholars agree that by the 5th century BC there was at
least an Orphic movement, with traveling priests who offered teaching
and initiation, based on a body
of legend and doctrine said to have been founded by Orpheus. Part of
the Orphic ritual is thought to have involved
the
mimed or actual dismemberment of an individual
representing the god Dionysus,
who
was then seen to be
reborn. Orphic eschatology
laid great stress
on rewards
and
punishment after bodily
death, the soul then being freed to achieve its true life.
Traditionally,
Orpheus was the son of a Muse (probably Calliope, the
patron of epic
poetry) and Oeagrus, a king of Thrace (other versions give
Apollo). According to some
legends, Apollo
gave Orpheus his first lyre.
Orpheus' singing and playing
were so beautiful that animals
and even trees and rocks moved about him in dance.
Hermes,
the god of thieves and
musicians, invented
the lyre while still in his cradle. He used it an "walking backward"
to steal Apollo's cattle.
Apollo's
Seeker Center or Oracle at
Delphi is a perfect
description of modern musical commerce with "gymnasium, swimming
pool, theater, brothel for the sister singers and everything the
heart could desire and which could be sold by deceit.
Pythagoreans (Britannica Members)
The Orphic creeds were the basis of the Pythagorean brotherhood, which flourished in
southern Italy
beginning in the 6th century BC. The Pythagoreans were
aristocratic
fraternities that
sometimes had a
political scope. Their
main achievements, however, lay in the fields of music, geometry, and
astronomy. They discovered that these
subjects could be explained by numbers and ratios. Combining
Orphic
eschatology (the study
of the last things, especially death and afterlife) with their
discoveries,
they
invested
music,
geometry, and
astronomy (astrology) with religious values.
[Contrary
to this,
there is not a hint that God has ever shown any approval of music as
a way to seduce Him any more than you can seduce Him with meats when
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And, He says, "If I get
hungry I will not tell you." (Psalm 58:12)
Do
I eat the flesh of bulls or
drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:13]
According
to their doctrine,
the original
home
of the soul was in
the stars.
From there it fell down to earth and associated with the body.
Thus,
man was a stranger on the
earth, and he had to strive to liberate himself from the ties of the
flesh and return
to the soul's celestial home.
Phthagoras did a tour of duty in
Babylon where
music was the legalistic device required to play the worshipers up
and down the steps of the Towers of Babylon in hope of moving "into
the presence of a god." With its inclusive Ministry Teams and
Programs, the people were not served by the "church" but the people
served the ministry teams to make a living.
"Pythagoras
probably traveled and studied in Egypt
and Mesopotamia before migrating
westward to the Greek colony of
southern Italy. There he established a philosophical school and
religious brotherhood
centered
on the
cult
of
Apollo and the
Muses, and dedicated to the
pursuit of moral
purification, spiritual salvation, and the intellectual penetration
fo nature&emdash;all of which were understood as intimately
interconnected." (Tarnas, Richard, The Passion of the Western Mind,
p. 23).
"In
later days the worship
festivals in his honor involved drinking, revelling, hand clapping, dancing, and crying
aloud in ecstatic
performances. Similar wild expression characterized the worship of
Attis, and the journeys to Hades of the cult of Isis. The Delphi
oracle, sacred to
Apollo, who was the
preeminent god of prophecy for the Greeks, was near and ancient, and
had its own particular orgiastic worship. (Pack, Frank, Tongues and
the Holy Spirit, Bib. Research, p. 86-87).
Dionysus
as the Rival is
implicated in Rome and Jerusalem. Dionysus is the god of new wine and
of course the New Wineskin God.
Ephesus
and Corinth where Paul
warned "not to get drunk
with wine" but be
"filled with the spirit" as the Word of Christ (John 6:63). Then, the
would be able to repeat the instructions of Romans 15 which demands
that because Christ set the example of following the Father's words
and died to redeem us, He has the right to insist that we use His
words in song and sermons:
Perseus Notes: Two
figures walk toward the right, a bearded man playing a double flute
(aulos) and a youth holding a
drinking cup and
a gnarled
stick (like
Shamgar's ox goad.)
Wine-drinking and music
are a normal part of the komos
or revel
scenes frequently
depicted on red-figure vases. The theme may be derived ultimately
from the Dionysiac revels of satyrs and maenads, but probably most are
merely human activities; part
of the trend toward scenes of daily life and away from the
mythological emphasis of the black-figure style. Certainly the
subject is appropriate
for wine cups and
pitchers. However, the komos
scenes almost always show much more exuberant
(naked) figures than
this rather sedate pair.
In
view of the
disparity in age, the vase might allude to the homosexual fondness of mature Greek
men for young
boys.
The "barbaton" is the harp in the
image from Perseus:
The Barbiton was played by the "barbarians" to Triumph-Over and
enemy. This is one such image
of a Komos. Click for more.
Britannica Online notes: The
first time theatre truly freed itself from religious ritual
to become an art form was in Greece in the 6th century BC when the
dithyramb was developed.
This
was a form of
choral
song
chanted at
festivals in honour of
Dionysus, the
god
of
wine,
fruitfulness, and vegetation.
Originally,
it celebrated his
rejuvenation (second
incarnation) of the
earth; later, it drew on
Homeric legends for
its subject matter. According to Greek tradition, the actor and playwright Thespis invented the drama
when he augmented the chorus
of the dithyramb with a single actor who wore masks to portray several
different characters. (Actor, therefore, means
"hypocrite."0
Comedy
(from Greek komos,
meaning "revel")
was presented competitively in Athens from 486 BC at the Lenaea
winter festival, though it fused much earlier traditions of popular
entertainment, mime, phallic rites, and revelry in honour of
Dionysus.
Fittingly
when God is called a
"person" the word means personae or mask. As God, Jesus
put on the "mask" of a human
servant who would be murdered like a criminal.
Therefore,
as the Jews were
mocking Jesus they were murdering their Messiah whom they assumed to
be God Incarnate.
So,
we see the Orphics as
enemies of Dionysus but both are musical.
Again,
we quote:
"Part of the Orphic
ritual is thought to
have involved the mimed
or
actual
dismemberment of an
individual representing the god
Dionysus (The god of
wine)
who was then seen to be reborn. Orphic eschatology laid great stress on rewards and punishment
after bodily
death,
the soul then
being freed to achieve its true life
Because
both religions were
very popular in Rome, it is no surprise that the Catholic
Eucharist in their mass probably
imitates this because the
Catholic Encyclopedia agrees that things like candles, lights and
music was borrowed from the pagans because they were common to all
cults. (See on Candles).
Dionysus also called Bacchus, or (in Rome) Liber,
in Greco-Roman religion, a nature god of fruitfulness and
vegetation, especially known as a god of wine and ecstasy. Though introduced from
Thrace and Phrygia, the
strange legends of his birth and death and his marriage to Ariadne,
in origin a Cretan
goddess, suggest that
his cult represented a reversion to pre-Hellenic Minoan
nature
religion.
Look
again at verse 21 back
in Rome:
Romans
14: 21 It is good
neither to eat
flesh,
nor to
drink
wine,
nor
any
thing
whereby thy
brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Stumble is to trip one up by a trap-stick.
The only way to prevent this is to remain in "the faith." The
"Judas
Bag"
is the attachment
to the "spotted" flute case on the right. The fellow holding himself
up to keep on dancing uses the Oaxgoad
which is the symbolic
phallic of the "Sons of
Shamgar" the "masculine journey for 13 year olds" associated with
Promise Keepers.
The "stick" in this scene keeps this "brother"
from
stumbling. Paul didn't
give anyone permission to drink wine.
He
that loveth his
brother abideth in the
light,
and
there is none
occasion of
stumbling
in
him.
1 John 2:10
In
Romans 15 Paul will define
teaching teaching in the same way he defines "singing." The way not
to despise or judge is to acknowledge that Christ bought us all and
therefore he shows the way to prevent stumbling.
For
even Christ
pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them
that reproached thee fell on me. Romans 15:3
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
If
you just teach the Word as
it has been delivered to you then you will not make your brother
stumble. "But everyone has their own opinion." Well, opinions give
way when we follow this mandate to "abide in the light" which is to
follow the Word which is "for our learning."
As
the Father hath
loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. John 15:9
If
ye keep my
commandments, ye shall
abide
in my
love;
even
as I have
kept
my Fathers
commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10
These
things have I
spoken unto
you,
that my joy might
remain in you, and that your joy might be full. John 15:11
Again
Romans 14 is most often
used to insist that no one has a right to judge my instrumental
music
even if I impose
it in your congregation. "If you oppose me then you are 'mounting an
attack' upon me and are therefore guilty of being a fratricide or a
Judas." Romans 14 is perverted to say just this.
Making
wine drinking
wine
and instrumental
worship equivalent is one of the violent counter attacks.
However, Jesus said that eating and drinking is not part of the
kingdom.
Therefore
I say
unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what
ye shall
drink;
nor yet for your
body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? Mt.6:25
However,
He did not say that
"how you worship me" is not part of the kingdom. In fact, He said
that if you, like the Pharisees just make up new traditions to
increase the cash flow then your worship is in vain.
The
people in Rome defined by
these beliefs practiced a religion based on the songs and poetry of Orpheus whose music "could move
stones."
Therefore,
in Romans chapter 15
Paul defined the Christian resource for song and sermon
by making it parallel to the "singing" passages in Ephesians 5 and
Colossians 3.
However,
if you believe that
you can worship God with music or some other non-taught and therefore
judgmental practice, Paul demands:
Romans
14: 22 Hast thou faith?
have
it to thyself
before God.
Happy
is he that
condemneth
not
himself in that thing
which he alloweth.
The
message is simply that our
job is not to despise or judge by imposing. Our job is to keep on
teaching the light. Because the people in Corinth were still carnal
even after Paul's best effort, he kept on preaching "Christ and Him
Crucified" hoping they would grasp this first "milk" principle so
that they could go on to eat meat of doctrine. He told the
Corinthians to "have their eating and drinking habits to themselves
by keeping them at home."
Jesus
said that God sought
those who could "worship in spirit and in truth." That
means worship in the mind as
when Jesus commanded that we find that secret place for prayer.
Meeting in the synagogue was for edification or education. Worship can occur any
time. If you need to wave
your arms in prayer, by keeping it private you won't embarrass
yourself and pass judgment on the "less spiritual."
Paul
doesn't admit that there
was a single tongue speaker in the true sense in Corihth. Whether
he/she had the gift or not, the assembly was not the place to use it.
Remember that the purpose of the assembly was not to speak to God in
song but to speak to one another using Biblical resources:
For
he that
speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no
man understandeth him; howbeit
in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. 1 Cor 14:2
For
if the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 1
Cor 14:8
So
likewise ye,
except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall
it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. 1 Cor 14:9
Paul
said that he would not
even speak a known tongue in a church which understood his language.
Therefore, he might say "have it to thyself before God. But,
hopefully you will not, even in private, do something which condemns
you."
Romans
14: 23 And he that
doubteth is damned if he eat,
because he
eateth
not of
faith:
for
whatsoever
is not of
faith is sin.
Because
instrumental music
as worship is often the motive for even reading Romans 14, the
following note is interesting:
WEST "Apostasy in music among 19th century
churches that had endeavored to
restore New Testament authority in worship and work began, in the
main, following the Civil War' In 1868,
Ben Franklin guessed that there were ten thousand congregations an not over fifty had used
an instrument in
worship." (Earl West,
Search for the Ancient Order, Vol. 2, pp. 80, 81)
While
Romans 14 was not
followed, churches in Tennessee as the "mission point" (and are again
"mission points" for the musical group), sowing discord caused a lot
of loss of love but it did not destroy the church in the South as the
instrumentalists poured in as spiritual carpet baggers.
"In
1902 the
church
at Newbern, Tennessee was taken over by
society and organ people bent on
"taking
Tennessee for
the Instrument and Society Sect." The church, against
Lipscomb's advice,
sued to retain the property.
Of course the
society could muster a majority and won the lawsuit. The decision was
handed down in 1905 that the trouble did not warrant the intrusion of
the courts:
"The
pro-organ
party had
said
during the trial
that
............
when
the organ was used
as a part of the worship, it was
sinful;
............
but
they defended it on the
ground that it was an aid to
worship.
"Lipscomb,
on the other hand,
had insisted that it was a distinct service,
............
and
when persisted in always
supersedes and destroys congregational singing.
"The
court, passing on this
phase of the question,
............
said
that the claim that the organ was
not a part of the worship
was
untenable
............
and
it could
not
be considered as merely an aid to worship."
Music
is pushed as worship. However, their
musical spiritual ancestors
have declared it to be sinning.
This
means that there is no
Biblical nor historical evidence upon which to build a faith in music. And without
that faith, to
introduce it is a sin. Historically, it has been Orphic or Dionysic
because it was superstitiously held to be magic and the instruments
were actually
idols.
Conclusion: Rome was the
battleground between the
Satanic (Titans) forces and Christianity. The legalistic system begins in earliest
history with Satan
teaching Jubal (Genun) how to create a grand Seeker-Center. It would
use mixed-sex
choirs, wine and instrumental music.
As
it turned out,
the people could come down from the symbolic mountain with music but
they were
never able to
return to the top where
the True, grace-based Word
lived.
While
Christianity is based on
faith and allowing Jesus to do the work, the religion discussed
in Romans
chapters 14 and 15 warns against being "judged" by weak believers
still into the first
legalistic system in history. Peter quotes much
of Enoch who issued
the music warning and wrote:
BUT
there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false
teachers among you, who
privily
shall bring in
damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift
destruction. 2 Peter 2:1
And
many shall follow their
pernicious ways; by reason of
whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 2 Peter 2: 2
And
through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of
a long time lingereth not,
and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2: 3
For
if God spared not the
angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them
into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 2 Peter 2: 4
And
spared not the
old world, but saved Noah the eigth person, a preacher of
righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 2
Peter 2:5
These
men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is
reserved for
them.
2 Peter 2:17
For
they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to
the lustful
desires of sinful human nature,
they
entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 2 Peter 2:18
They
promise
them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of
depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2 Peter
2:19
If
they have
escaped the corruption of the world by knowing
our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ and are again
entangled in it and
overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the
beginning. 2 Peter 2:20
While
Romans 14 is used to give
liberty or even license and this is often expanded to include
instrumental music, it proves just the opposite. The not-so-hidden
clue to the weak believers was that if they tried to judge by
imposing Romans chapter 15 eliminates "mechanical worship" as one of
the diversities which can be allowed without violating the "pattern"
of Jesus in keeping the Father's commands to say that if we are going
to abide in Him we will automatically keep His commands.
Christ
died for
you to redeem you and not to allow you to ignore His Word as resource
and accompany it with a machine:
For
even Christ
pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them
that reproached thee fell on me. Romans 15:3
This
gives Him the authority
to define what will enable learning or edification and which will
guarantee the unity of chapter 14:
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
Musically
teaming up on God is
one of most ancient, paganistic and legalistic ways to pass judgment
upon people.
Tertullian
in De Spectaculis perfectly
describes
these practices.
So
as we went on
from the origin of the "Ludi" to the circus games, we shall now
direct our course thence to those of the theatre, beginning with the
place of exhibition.
At
first the
theatre
was properly a
temple of Venus;
CONEYBEARE
AND HOWSON: "Throughout the whole
passage there is a
contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice, q.d. When you
meet, let your enjoyment
consist, not in fulness of wine, but fulness of the Spirit; let your
songs be, not the drinking-songs of heathen feasts, but
psalms and hymns;
and their accompaniment, not the
music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to
the praise. not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus
Christ." (P.775,
n. 5.)
Ephesians
5:19
enjoins: (1) Speaking TO ONE ANOTHER in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs; (2) singing (adontes) and making melody (psallontes, psalming) with your
heart TO THE LORD. (One is done
with voice
and lips, the other with the heart.)
[By
calling theatrical performance
"worship," Christ is not
served but theatrical performers take control of the less-wise
Christians.
And
the lord
commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the
children
of this
world
are in their
generation wiser than
the children of light.
Lu.16:8
Therefore:
and,
to speak briefly, it was
owing to this that stage
performances were
allowed to escape censure, and got a footing in the world.
"But
Venus
(female) and Bacchus (male) are close allies.
These two evil
spirits are in sworn
confederacy with each other,
............
t
as
the patrons
of drunkenness and lust.
............
t
So
the theatre of Venus
is as well the house
of Bacchus:
"for
they properly gave the
name of Liberalia also to other theatrical amusements-which besides being
consecrated to Bacchus (as were
the Dionysia of the Greeks), were instituted by him and, without
doubt,
the
performances
of the theatre have the
common patronage of these two deities.
That immodesty of gesture and attire which so specially and
peculiarly characterizes
the stage are
consecrated to them-the one deity wanton by her sex, the other by his
drapery;
while
its services
of voice, and song, and lute, and pipe, belong to Apollo, and Muses,
and Minervas, and Mercuries.
The
word for female authority
used by Paul means "sexual authority." It is not possible to violate
Paul's outlawing of preside over or non-sedentary roles for women
would deliberately sowing discord with "sexual authority."
"Ephesus was famous for its
shrine of Diana, where thousands of sacred prostitutes believed fornication brought believers into
contact with
deity
in much the same
way the Gnostics used authentia (new female authority)
to bind
the flesh and the divine
together.
When
these
women
converted to
Christianity they had to unlearn these pagan practices. 'Virtually without
exception,
female
teachers among the
Greeks were courtesans, such as Aspasia, who
numbered Socrates and Pericles
among her students. Active in every major school of philosophy, these
hetairai made it evident in the
course of their
lectures that they were
available afterwards for
a second occupation.
But
the Bible
teaches that to seduce
men in such a manner
was indeed to lead them to slaughter and the halls of death (cf. Prov. 2:18; 5:5;
6:27; 9:18). The
verb authentein is thus peculiarly apt
to describe both the
erotic and murderous." (Trombley, Who says Women Cannot
teach, p. 177).
Click for
the Rest.
Chapter
III.
"Fortified
by this knowledge
against heathen
views,
let us rather
turn to the unworthy reasonings of our own
people; for the faith of some,
either
too
simple or
too
scrupulous,
demands
direct authority
from Scripture for giving up the shows,
............
and
holds out that the matter is a doubtful one, because such abstinence
............
is
not
clearly and in words imposed upon God's
servants.
Well, we never find it
expressed with the
same precision,
"Thou shalt not enter
circus or
theatre, thou shalt not
look on combat or show; "as it is plainly
laid down, "Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not worship an idol; thou
shalt not commit adultery or fraud." Ex.
xx. 14.
But we
find that that first word of David bears on this very sort of thing:
"Blessed," he says, "is the man who has not
gone into the assembly of the impious, nor
stood in the way of sinners, nor
sat in the seat of scorners." Ps.
i. 1.
Though
he seems to have
predicted beforehand of that just man,
that he took no
part
in the
meetings and deliberations of
the Jews, taking
counsel about the slaying of our Lord,
yet
divine
Scripture has ever far-reaching applications:
............
after
the immediate
sense has been exhausted,
............
in
all directions it fortifies the practice of the religious life,
............
so
that here also you have an
utterance
............
which
is not far from a plain
interdicting of the shows.
If
he called those few Jews an assembly of the wicked,
how
much more will
he so designate so vast
a gathering of heathens!
Are the heathens less impious, less sinners, less enemies of Christ,
than the Jews were then?
And see, too, how other things agree. For at the shows they also
stand in the way.
"For
they call the spaces
between the seats going round the amphitheatre, and the passages
which separate the people running down, ways.
The place in the curve where the matrons sit is called a chair.
Therefore,
on the
contrary, it holds,
unblessed is he who has entered
any council of wicked men,
and has stood
in any way of sinners, and has sat in
any chair
of scorners.
The
punch line to chapter 14
which makes the Orphic and Dionysic charismatic, musical worship
certain is that chapter 15 immediately shows how the collective
assembly, which does not consist of external things like meats or
music, can be united only by following the pattern of Christ:
WE
then that are
strong ought to bear
the infirmities (diseased scruple) 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
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
Mechanical
instruments were
ordained for signalling but not for the assembly. The military
musicians did not play "music" or symphonia, but they made one great
noise in absolute unison where the trumpets or shofars were tuned
identically:
"Wind instruments
in primitive cultures also serve nonreligious functions. In New
Guinea, bamboo
trumpets were once played
to
frighten an
enemy during battle
and
to alert a
village that the
victorious warriors
were coming home with the corpses
of the foes.
Conch-shell
trumpets are used for signaling in the Pacific coastal regions of
Columbia and in the Ecuadoran highlands.
"Trumpets also may be associated with the
office of king or
chief, as in West Africa, where their use is strictly controlled by tribal law. "wind instrument" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
"The
trumpets were
assigned a number of complicated signals, which implied their ability
of blowing legato, staccato, and trills, and tonguing, all
in
unison, not
'simultaneously,' but 'as with one mouth.' Moreover, these
apocalyptical trumpets bear
different names: trumpets of assembly, of battle, of the slain,
of ambush, etc.
In
generally, they
were used to terrorize
the enemy into panic
(Judges 7:19-20). This function was, for all practical purposes,
identical with that of the trumpets of Revelation. In
the temple the signals of
the trumpet introduced every ceremony and
every sacrifice." (International
Dictionary of the Bible, p. 472-3, Abingdon).
Sug-krousis , eôs, hê, collision, ; hoplôn Onos.26.1 ; [atomôn],
nephôn, Epicur.Ep.1p.8U., 2p.45U., cf. Diog.Oen.33; of ships,
D.C.49.1; hiatus or concurrence, phônêentôn
2. metaph., collision,
conflict, Plu.Num. 17; pros tina Arg.iii Ar.Nu.
II. in Music, rapid alternation of two notes,
trill, Ptol.Harm.2.12.
III. Rhet., collision of
contradictory
statements,
Aps.p.270H.
Elelizô1 [epic lengthd. form of helissô]I. to whirl round, Od.
2. to rally soldiers, Il.:
Pass., hoi d' elelichthêsan id=Il.
3. generally, to make to
tremble or
quake, id=Il.:--Pass.
to tremble, quiver, id=Il.
II. Mid. and Pass. to move in
coils or
spires, of a serpent,
id=Il.
Augustine
on the Psalms noted
that making melody external is a work
which David always performed trying to find God whom he believed had
become lost:
"Make
melody unto
the Lord upon the harp: on the harp and with the voice of a Psalm" (ver. 5). Praise Him
not with the
voice only; take up
works,
that ye may not
only sing, but work also.
- He
who singeth and worketh,
- maketh
melody with psaltery and upon the harp.
Melody in a literal sense in
Ephesians 5:19
means to "grind into bits or powder, like sop. Therefore, Paul
insisted that the work be done in the human
heart which eliminates physical
instruments as "the work of human hands" and always believed to be
the home-away-from-home for the demon called forth by striking the
instrument.
Therefore,
Augustine makes the
harp figurative:
Now
see what sort
of instruments are next spoken of, in figure: "With ductile trumpets
also, and the sound of the pipe of horn" (ver. 6). What are ductile
trumpets, and pipes of horn?
Ductile
trumpets are of brass:
they are drawn out by hammering; if by hammering, by being beaten, ye shall be
ductile trumpets, drawn
out
unto the praise of
God, if ye improve when
in tribulation:
tribulation is hammering, improvement is the being drawn out. Job was
a ductile trumpet.
Ephesians
5 and Colossians 3
are identical: the unity can happen only if you do not tolerate the
Dionysic getting drunk in church. Then, the solution is not to sing
the songs and play the music of Orpheus but to "speak" or preach the
Word of Christ or Spirit one to another. The only way to speak the
same thing with one mind and one mouth is to "teach the word as it
has been delivered to you."
The
moment the human composers
and theatrical performers take control of the church simply because
the leaders are trapped into enticing the Baby Boomers (infantile
drum beaters) to help pay for the temples which Christ will dismantle
one way or another.
Using
Romans 14 to authorize
instrumental music is to dismiss the "meats" or "no meats" but insist
upon both the Orphic and Dionysic instrumental frenzying or "creating
spiritual anxiety by religious rituals" then the church has plunged
into the most ancient form of pagan legalism from which it can never
extricate itself because music and looking at self in the mirror and
calling it "Jesus" is addictive and beyond redemption.
Arnobius
Against Heresies notes that:
Faith
will lead you in;
experience will teach you; Scripture will train you, for it
says, "Come hither, O
children; listen
to me, and I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Then, as to those
who already believe, it briefly adds, "What man is he that desireth
life, that loveth to see good days? [ Ps. xxxiv. 11. ] It is we, we
shall say-we who are the devotees of good, we who eagerly desire good
things.
Hear,
then, ye who are
far
off,
hear ye who are near: the
word has not been hidden from any; light is common, it
shines "on all men." No one is
a Cimmerian in respect to the word. Let us haste to salvation, to
regeneration;
let
us who are many
haste that we may be brought together into one love, according to the union
of the essential
unity;
and let us, by
being made good, conformably follow after union, seeking after the
good Monad.
The
union of many in one,
issuing in the production of divine harmony out of a medley of sounds and
division, becomes one
symphony following one
choir-leader and teacher,
[Here
seems to be a
running allusion to the privileges of the Christian Church in its
unity, and to the "Psalms and
hymns and
spiritual songs, " which were so charming a feature of Christian worship
. Bunsen, Hippolytus, etc., vol. ii. p. 157.]
the
Word, reaching and resting
in the same truth, and crying
Abba, Father.
This,
the true
utterance of His
children, God accepts
with gracious welcome-the first-fruits He receives
from them.
Dionysus
Worship
Background
- A Cappella,
Christian Worship Music
- Romans
14 Background: Orpheus and Dionysus Worship
- Worship Drama -
Change Agents - Dionysus
Theater
- Vineyard
- New Wineskins Effeminate Worship
- Golden
Bough - Sir James George Frazer XLII
Dionysus
Rubel
Shelly Sermon
Reviews
Musical
Worship
Index
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