Jesus
said that they had lost contact with the WORD because He was the
personal VISION of the invisible Spirit God. Therefore, to try to be
Lifted Up to catch a VISION OF GOD is rank paganism and proof that
Jesus has poked out the spiritual eyes and plugged the ears of the
Doctors of the Law:
Therefore speak I
to them in parables: because they seeing
see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Matthew 13: 13
And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall
see, and shall
not
perceive: Matthew 13:
14
For this peoples
heart is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they
should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them. Matthew 13: 15
Therefore, the pre-post-modern
Bible and Jesus said that the people in Isaiah lost their vision of
the Word which is the only LIGHT they are going to get. If you focus
on gathering a Multitude you can be assured that they are not there
to hear from Christ Who gave you the Word, free of cost:
All these things
spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto
them: Matthew 13:34
That it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will
open my mouth in
parables; I will utter
things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Matthew 13: 35
Then Jesus
sent the multitude
away, and went into the
house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the
parable of the tares of the field. Matthew 13: 36
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.
No, there was something
fundamentally wrong with their worship. Remember that when Israel's
elders fired God and demanded a king like the nations it was so that
they could WORSHIP LIKE THE NATIONS. Thereafter, Israel was on the
path to captivity and destruction and God gave the kings to lead them
there.
Ecclesiasticus
48
1. Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire,
and his word
burned like a
torch.
2. He brought a famine upon them, and by his zeal he made them few in number.
3. By the word of the Lord he shut up the
heavens, and also three
times brought down fire.
4. How glorious you were, O Elijah, in
your wondrous deeds! And who has the right to boast which you
have?
5. You who raised a corpse from death and from
Hades, by the word of
the Most High;
6. who brought kings down to destruction, and famous men from their beds;
7. who heard rebuke at Sinai and judgments of vengeance at Horeb;
8. who anointed kings to inflict
retribution,
and prophets to
succeed you.
This began at Mount Sinai
with musical idolatry:
Ephraim Syrus On Our Lord notes that
Sinai was a test.
O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself; but in me is
thine help. Hosea 13:9
I will be thy
king: where is any
other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom
thou saidst, Give me a king and princes? Hosea 13:10
I gave thee a
king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath. Hosea
13:11
Because TRUTH HAS FAILED, when
conflict arises because the elders or preacher decides to restore the
Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical musicians "to bring the
worshipers into the presence of God" the solution is to learn how TO
RESOLVE THE CONFLICT I CREATED. Those who object to, for instance,
the restoration of the Deaconess to help rule over the flock, anyone
who objects just has a problem that their hearts are not engaged and their lives are
disconnected from their worship.
However, Narrative Theology
picks proof texts and then switches their meaning to fit the problem.
It's ok if your hearts are engaged.
However, Isaiah begins with a
total repudiation of Israel's worship:
THE vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz,
and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Isaiah 1: 1
Hear, O heavens,
and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and
brought up children,
and they have
rebelled against me. Isaiah 1: 2
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib: but
Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider. Isaiah 1: 3
Isn't there SOMETHING
OUTWARDLY WRONG?
According to the Book of Enoch
and similar documents, God will come with ten thousands of His Saints
to execute judgment. Enoch makes the point that even dumb TREES and
animals obey the LAWS of God. However, Satan came into Genun (Jubal)
in his youth and taught him how to make musical instruments which, he
claimed, actually housed the devils. When you STRUCK or WHACKED a
string and really ground it into bits (psallo) the demons spoke FROM
WITHIN the instruments.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are
gone away
backward. Isaiah
1:4
And the daughter of Zion is
left as a cottage in a
vineyard, as a lodge in
a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. Isaiah 1:8
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. Isaiah 1: 9
For they shall be
ashamed of the oaks
which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens
that ye have chosen. Isaiah 1: 29
Oh, I get it!
There was nothing wrong
in Sodom and Gomorrah:
But their
hearts are
not engaged and their
lives are disconnected
from their worship!
In the vision in
chapter 6, Isaiah
identifies himself as typical of the people,Briley said.
No, Isaiah was a prophet and
prophets are not TYPICAL of the people. Rather, the prophets always
rise up to repudiate the forms of worship as "religious festivals" as
noted in Isaiah 5. Isaiah really begins with THE vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
Only as a sinner did Isaiah
see himself as typical
Then said I,
Woe is me for I am undone; because I am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips:
........... for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts. Is.6:5
We know that the "located
traveling salesmen" are not serious about wanting to see the Lord
because it would bring on confession and demand the following
response:
Also I heard the
voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isa 6:8
This was a REVELATION OR ORACLE
through a dream. That is, Isaiah was given this vision directly by
God because God had selected him as a prophesying prophet. No. If you
are having visions and hearing voices then Jim Jones and David Koresh
should warn you.
In Amos, a father
and son went into the same temple prostitute but the word-stealers, the doctors of the Law Jesus fired, insist on
saying that THERE'S
NOTHING
WRONG, they
just had a bad mental
attitude.
Stealing the people's money with "pledges and
collection plates and signing over widow's property to the 'church''
to deprive her children of support" was ok: THERE'S NOTHING WRONG, they just had a bad mental attitude.
Singing and improvising on
instruments which caused the people to hunger
and thirst for the Word and causing them to go into captivity and
death was ok: THERE'S
NOTHING WRONG, they
just had a bad mental
attitude.
Well, we have collected about
55 pages of Bible and theological comments B.E. (Before Me) which
proves that the MANNER
in which they worshiped
was wrong: their manner was wrong BECAUSE they had a bad mental
attitude.
This was really the worship to
which God had abandoned Israel because of the musical idolatry at
Mount Sinai which earned them the Law "because of
transgression."
The leaders
condemned by Amos had turned righteousness and justice into religious
festivals of wine, women and song.
The result was that
the people hungered and thirsted because they COULD NOT FIND the Word
of God.
The leaders in Isaiah 5 had
turned their attention to wine, women and song.
The result was that
the people hungered and thirsted for the Word but could not find
it.
"Among the scholars" of
Lipscomb we are going to try to sell the notion that the failure
induced by them is the result of failing to get a PERSONAL REVELATION
like Isaiah which we are told is just TYPICAL of the people.
However, the
failure created by the "conflict resolvers" is the introduction of
new wineskins, women and musical worship teams and instruments: "Holy
Entertainment" if you can read it without gaggint.
This with Bible 101aaa and a
bit of history know that the FORM of the worship recorded by Amos and
Isaiah was Canaanite Baalism which depended on wine, women and
music.
However, among the
scholars to whom Isaiah 6 is directed, claim that Outwardly, there's nothing wrong.
And we ask with Isaiah:
HO, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and
eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isa 55:1
Wherefore do ye
spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness. Is.55:2
The FORM of Israel's worship
was OUTWARDLY wrong BECAUSE they had a bad mental attitude. God would
not accept these OUTWARD FORMS imposed because of musical idolatry at
Mount Sinai because they were devoted to the worship of the STARRY
HOST:
"This passage (Amos
5:23-24) shows us that Amos was opposed to the forms in which people acted out their worship of God, and other passages strengthen this
impression.
Turning back to the
Mosaic period, Amos asks the rhetorical
question: 'Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty
years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?" (5:25). He is
merciless in his attack on the shrines, especially the royal
shrine of Jeroboam II at Bethel (3:14; 7:7-9, 10-17; 9:1). It is very
doubtful, however, that he intended a wholesale abolition of the
system of worship.
Rather, Amos was
probably demanding that the cult be purified, for it had become so contaminated by pagan thought and practice that the people had become indifferent to the true
worship of Yahweh and the demand of his torah... He demanded that everything be swept away that did not conform to the proper worship of
Yahweh." (Anderson,
Bernard, Understanding OT, p. 277).
Flash Back
Now, why won't the "scholars"
call a conference and answer Briley's contention by backing up and
grasping from chapter 5 that the religious festivals are like those
of Amos and describe the worship of the planets and starry host all
of whom represent Satan.
Isaiah chapter 6 where
THERE'S NOTHING
WRONG always has an
Isaiah chapter 5 attached to it:
For the
vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the
house of Israel, and the men of Judah his
pleasant plant:
and he looked for
judgment,
but behold oppression; f
or righteousness,
but behold a
cry. Isaiah 5:7
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the
men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for
justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of
distress. Isaiah 5:7NIV
A Cry is:
Caaq (h6817) tsaw-ak'; a prim. root; to
shriek; (by impl.) to proclaim (an assembly): - * at all, call together, cry (out), gather
(selves) (together).
Jesus promised to be in the
MIDST of the twos and threes who are ELECTED by the INVITATION to
"come learn of me."
People who build mega churches
when the growth ideal is about 150 members (re Mormons) are adding
house to house and oppressing the widows and working people. By the
collection plate, which Paul said was not a commandment, and
restoring the legalistic Tithe, modern members are oppressed more and
more.
Music creates "spiritual
anxiety through religious rituals." Therefore, those who add praise
teams are deliberately dissociating the members to force them into
conformity. The result is that they sing their own improvised songs
just like David and starve the people for the Word of Christ.
However, what we see happening
is that God is taking the houses away from God's people and giving
them to the pagan musical legalists. Remember that in this song where
when God sings you had better watch out, the vineyard represents the
people of Israel. Therefore, it was the national worship which had
Solomon spending more on shrines or "church houses" for his pagan
wives than on the temple which was looted within five years of his
death.
Woe
unto them that join
house to house, that
lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed
alone in the midst of the earth Isaiah 5:8
In mine
ears said the Lord of
hosts, Of a truth many
houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without
inhabitant. Isaiah 5:9
Yea, ten acres of
vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield
an ephah. Isaiah 5:10
Woe unto them that rise up early in the
morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until
night, till wine inflame them Isaiah 5:11
And the
harp, and the viol,
the tabret,
and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but
they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation
of his hands. Isa 5:12
Festivals were
always worship but the
Jews had turned the yearly festivals to daily festivals and took up
just as many offerings:
I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Isa 5:21
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
Therefore my people are gone
into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Isa 5:13
Therefore
hell hath enlarged herself, and
opened her
mouth without measure:
and their glory,
and their multitude, and their pomp,
and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Isa 5:14
Thy pomp is brought
down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols:
the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
Is.14:11
There is always a Divine
"but."
But the Lord of
hosts shall be exalted
in judgment, and God
that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16
When you produce conflict and
sow discord over "worship styles" remember that Jesus said that the
Father only accepts worship which is in spirit (in the mind) and in
truth (according to His Word). God knows only how we live a righteous
life and practice social justice: He is not listening to the
"children piping" trying to make Jesus do the Dionysus song and dance
routine.
Furthermore, music and wine was
introduced specificially to dull the senses and allow them to forget
God's purpose for their assemblies. Albert Barnes noted
that--
"they introduced
them (instruments) to their feasts of revelry, and thus made them the
occasion of forgetting God. Forgetfulness of God in, connection with
music and dancing, is beautifully described by Job." (Barnes, Isaiah,
p. 128)
Adam Clark wrote what any student of Bible 101aaa knows about the
nature of the "worship" defined by both Amos and Isaiah. These were
both about RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS which had been transformed from
infrequent trips of the mature males to the temple and the frequent
study of the word to FREQUENT religious rituals just to oppress the
people with bizziness:
Verse
11. Wo unto them that
rise up early] There is a likeness between this and the following
passage of the prophet Amos, chap. vi. 3-6, who probably
wrote before
Isaiah. If the latter
be the copier, he seems hardly to have equalled the elegance of the
original:- "Ye that put far away the evil day And affect the seat of violence; Who lie upon beds of ivory, And stretch yourselves
upon your couches; And eat the lambs from the flock, And calves from
the midst of the stall; Who chant to the sound of the viol, And like David invent for yourselves instruments of music; Who quaff wine in large bowls, And are anointed
with the choicest ointments:
But are not
grieved for the affliction of Joseph."
Is Briley correct? Can we put far awy the evil
day, act violently, lie upon beds of ivory (idols), stretch on
couches (a pagan ritual), eat veal while the people starve AS LONG AS
WE HAVE A GOOD MENTAL ATTITUDE? Really,
was THERE NOTHING WRONG?
Psalm 41 predicts that Judas will attempt to triumph
over Jesus where triumph means "play loud instruments and make a
joyful noise before the Lord." This was the warrior's chant to panic
the enemy.
The Judas Bag attached to the
spotted flute case is identified in the classics and the Bible as
derived from "speaking in tongues" and "of the world."
Therefore, lying on couches and
making music is not just a bad mental attitude. The oxgoad on the
left helps keep the 'worshipers' upright as they sing, play
instruments and dance to drunkeness: often "without wine."
Quasten notes that the
"Religious Festivals" in Isaiah 5 and Amos 5 was the marzeah which
was a feast with and for dead ancestors.
"It was the same
with regard to music
at the meal of the
dead. When at the end
of the meal the funeral guests
would resort to
their own
pleasures,
to playing and
dancing,
it was because music was originally supposed to have offered comfort to the
dead."
They joined themselves also unto
Baal-peor, and ate the
sacrifices of the
dead. Psalm 106: 28
(The Marzeah Amos 5, 6)
Thus they
provoked him to anger
with their inventions:
and the plague brake in upon them. Psalm 106: 29
Then stood up Phinehas, and
executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed. Psalm 106: 30
And that was
counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.
Psalm 106: 31
The festival with and for
the dead condemned by Amos and Isaiah:
"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)
"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)
"Doubtless they sounded harmoniously in their own ears; but it reached no
further. Their melody, like much Church-music, was for itself, and ended in itself. 'Let Christian
chanters learn hence, not to set the whole devotion of Psalmody in a
good voice, subtelty of modulation and rapid intonation,
quavering like
birds, to
tickle the ears of the curious,
take them off to
themselves and away from prayer, lest they hear from God." (Barnes,
Albert, Amos, p. 300)
"The Holy Spirit, uttering His
voice by Amos, pronounces the rich to be wretched on account of their
luxury: 'Those that drink strained wine, and recline on an ivory
couch,' he says; and what else similar he adds by way of
reproach. Especial
regard is to be paid to decency (as the myth represents Athene,
whoever she was, out of regard to it, giving up the pleasure of the flute because of the unseemliness of the
sight). (Clement of Alexandria, p. 245).
"...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).
There was no congregational singing with instrumental
accompaniment among
the "people's" congregation. There was
no praise service in the Synagogue.
"The prophets were
singularly unimpressed by all this religious busyness. They asserted that the people had abandoned the true God for heathen
idolatries and that
their much-frequented sanctuaries were sinks of iniquity. Recent archaeological discoveries go a long way
towards confirming their
condemnation of popular religion. It is significant, for example, that on the ostraca
from eighth-century Samaria, the proportion of names compounded with Baal suggests that no less than a
third of the
population practiced
some form of Canaanite religion." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life in the Old
Testament, Scribners), p. 231).
You have lifted up
the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the
star of your god -- which you
made for
yourselves. Amos 5:26
Yea, ye took the
tabernacle of
Moloch, and the star of
your god Raephan, the image of them which ye made for yourselves."
Amos 5:26 LXX
"The neighboring gods of Phoenicia, Canaan, Moab--Baal,
Melkart, Astarte, Chemosh, Moloch, etcwere particularly attractive to
Jerusalem, while the
old Sem calf-worship seriously affected the state religion of the
Northern Kingdom...the worship of the sun,
moon, stars
and signs of the Zodiac
became so intensely fascinating that these were introduced even into the temple
itself (2 Ki. 17:16; 21:3-7; 23:4, 12; Jer. 19:13; Ezek. 8:16; Amos
5:26)" (Int Std Bible Ency., Idolatry, p. 1448).
See the
musical worship of Tammuz by the women in the temple.
"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, R. K., Introduction to the
Old Testamant, Eerdmans, p. 895).
Therefore, it was because THERE'S SOMETHING
WRONG WITH THEIR WORSHIP that Isaiah continued to show that God
punishes people with that which they "lust after." They lusted after
wine, women and music which made them deaf to the Word of God, so God
sent them strong delusions that they believe their own lies and be
damned.
Make the heart of
this people fat,
and make their ears
heavy, and
shut their
eyes; lest they see
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and convert, and be healed. Isaiah 6:10
Then said I, Lord,
how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without
inhabitant, and the
houses
without man, and the land be utterly desolate, Isaiah 6:11
While those who charged you to sow discord
and run your members off "for a price" they are now quite ready to
RESOLVE THE CONFLICT (for a price). However, the members are heeding
the warning to flee the unholy City (Jerusalem=Sodom). The people are
not fleeing for their life because the can't CATCH A VISION OF THE
GLORY OF GOD but because the musical and rhetorical performers are
"standing in the holy place" of church architecture claiming that
they can, in Rubel Shelly's words, "Lead you into the presence of
God."
And that is the way it has always been
prophesied so rather than try to resolve the conflict you are stuck
with locusts from under the earth and you just need to get
out:
And the Lord have
removed men far
away, and there be a
great
forsaking in the midst
of the land. Isaiah 6:12
But yet in it
shall be a
tenth, and it shall
return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree,
and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their
leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Isaiah 6:13
Isaiah's image of the remnant
is something like "a tiny drop of juice from a mostly rotten grape
from a bare cluster from a dead vine form a vineyard whose walls God
has broken down so that the BEAST PEOPLE can come in and eat up your
inheritance.
Therefore, if
your mega-church built by human pride goes from 4,000 to 400 be glad
and rejoice that you have seen God taking His people out of the pagan
worship temples, one from the grinders, one from the vineyard, one
from the church houses stolen from widows who will need them no
longer.
Yes, THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG in
Ezekiel and in Nashville: the musical soothsayers peep and mutter
trying to restore the Marzeah which is a musical festival with and
for dead ancestors hoping to get a VISION OF THE INVISIBLE. The
familiar spirit was an old wineskin and had the same meaning as the
nebel (harp) and the sounding brass of 1 Cor. 13:
The LORD spoke to
me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people.
Isa 8:11
He said: "Do not
call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not
fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the
one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is
the one you are to dread, and he will
be a sanctuary; Isa 8:12-14a
but for
both
houses of Israel he
will
be a stone that causes men to
stumble and a
rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem
he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they
will be snared and captured." -- Isa 8:14b-15
Bind up the testimony and seal
up the law among my disciples. Isa 8:16
I will wait for the
LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my
trust in him. Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We
are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on
Mount Zion. Isa 8:17-18
And when they shall say unto
you, Seek
unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto
wizards that peep,
and that mutter:
should not a people seek
unto their God? for the
living to the dead? Is.8:19
>
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word,
> it is because there is no light in
them. Isaiah 8:20
Distressed and
hungry, they will
roam through the land; when they are
famished, they will become enraged
and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Isaiah 8:21
"From ancient times
dance and theatre
have played a vital role in China , Korea , and Japan . Many
performances of plays
and dances
were closely tied to religious beliefs and customs. In China, records
from about 1000 BC describe magnificently costumed
male and female
shamans who sang and danced to musical
accompaniment,
drawing the heavenly
spirits down to earth
through their performance.
Impersonation of other
characters through makeup and costume was occurring at least by the
4th century Bc. Many masked dances in Korea have a religious
function.
Rubel Shelly etal have
FACILITATED the insertion of pagan musical worship teams with the
clear claim that "they can lead you into the presence of God." That
seems to usurp the role of Lord Jesus Christ.
"Throughout East Asia the
descendants of magico-religious performances can be seen in a variety of guises.
Whether designed to pray for longevity or for a rich harvest or to
ward off disease and
evil,
the rituals of
impersonation of supernatural beings through masks and costumes
and the
repetition of rhythmic
music and
patterns of
movement
perform the function of
linking man to the
spiritual world beyond.
Hence, from the earliest times
in East Asia, dance, music, and dramatic mimesis have been naturally fused
through their religious function. Britannica
Members
Rubel Shelly and John York also
NARRATE the Exodus into a pattern for Christian worship and
community. However, it was because of the musical idolatry at Mount
Sinai that God ABANDONED the nation to worship the astrial deities
because THAT WAS THEIR PRAYER. There are numerous statements of this
FALL. Click to
read Augustines notes of Psalm 106.
"An interesting reference to
idolatry and Moloch
worship and their
connection with demonism is found in Psalm 106:36, 37. The Hebrews are said
to have 'mingled themselves with the nations... learned their works and served their idols... ye
they sacrificed their sons and daughters unto demons... In fact, Manasseh's idolatries were the result of
a gigantic outburst of demon-energized occultism. He is said to have practed augury, and
used enchantment, and dealt with them that had familiar spirits (divining demons) and with
wizards (those possessed of occult knowledge because under the control of a
divining
demon ) (II Kings 21:6;
II Chron. 33:6)." (Unger, Merrill, Archaeology and the Old Testament,
Zondervan, P. 279)
I believe that it is error
to teach that OUTWARDLY NOTHING IS WRONG!
But, Again 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.
Jesus warned you that the
Doctors of the Law "take away the key to knowledge." Therefore, the
doctors primarily speak to themselves trying to pretend that
once-Christian colleges are the manufacturing plants for DITTO-HEADS
who just embarrass themselves by their ignorance of and proof-texting
of the Book of Isaiah and the rest of the word.
However, the prophets
understood what God planned as well as Israel's failure to either
"enter the kingdom" or to permit others to enter. They understood
that true "singing" was a symbol for telling the nations about the
mighty deeds of God. Because Paul knew the failed history of Israel
he knew that Isaiah defined true singing which was not the paganistic
musical entertainment which signalled the end of the Israelite
nation. In chapter five Isaiah "sang" about Israel's failure through
false music, prophesied the coming of Messiah in chapter eleven and
in chapter twelve defined true "singing"
In that day you will say:
I will praise
you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned
away and you have comforted me. Isa 12:1
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength
and my song;
he has become my salvation."
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isa 12:2-3
"Give thanks
(sing) to the LORD, call on his name; (sing to God)
make known among
the nations what he has
done, and (teach the Gentiles) proclaim that his name is
exalted. Isa 12:4
Sing to the LORD, for he has
done glorious things; (sing to God)
let this be
known to all the world. Isa
12:5 (teach the Gentiles)
As Rubel Shelly claims that the
Bible Writers sieved their "scripture" from philosophy and their own
personal agenda, it is interesting what Lucian of Samosata said about
the Seeker-Centers of his day:
Alexander, on the other hand, preferred his native place,
urging very truly that an enterprise like theirs required
congenial
soil to give it a
start,
in the shape of 'fat-heads' and simpletons; that was a fair description, he said, of the
Paphlagonians beyond Abonutichus;
they were mostly
superstitious and well-to-do; one had only to go there with someone to
play the
flute, the
tambourine, or the cymbals, set the proverbial mantic (prophetic) sieve
a-spinning, and there they would all be gaping as if he were a
god from
heaven.
You cannot make it with blind
eyes and deaf ears but you can certainly lead the blind into a ditch
and Jesus says "that's ok." The affirmation of Amos and the claim
that God introduced musical instruments is the FATAL FLAW which opens
the gates to the modern, pagan forms of ritual.
Now, that Lipscomb has joined
him in the new VISION QUEST for the lost church we can assure you
that there will always be a few fat-heads and simpletons to pay the
bill.
Musical Worship
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