Rubel Shelly in FAX of Life states: Most of us whine
about those creative, right-brained persons who think up new ways to do things and fail
to realize that everyone has the ability to innovate. Originality is
not the province of a select few who are out to sabotage life for the rest of
us
First we
should state that Rubel Shelly of The Family of God at Woodmont Hills
has, along with a band of like-minded men, established Jubilee 98,
Jubilee 99, etc. as an exercise in using the methods of commercial
Change Agentry to remove the church from an old, deleterious
"wineskin" ready to burst, and put it into a new wineskin to hold --
as they propose -- worship containg the bubbling, fermenting new wine of the
gospel and kingdom.
This scheme has created more division and
destruction of the Christ-given rest than any movement in the 20th
century. The new theology is post modern or post denominational. This
holds that the Bible is hoplessly outmoded and not understandable in
order to make a "church" large enough to hold every theology in the
world. Therefore, if you are going to pay for the new building you
have to turn commercial and become creative. This is a direct
fulfillment of the end-time church of Revelation 18.
The expansive quality is to be able to
hold all fellowships into a large, end-of-the-millenium wineskin and to
eleminate sectarianism (a perfectly good word: I am sectarian about
allowing another husband-father into my family).
The fermenting new
wine is his (and many, many others) new
paradigm
(patterns are out - paradigms are in) which symbolizes an exciting,
exhilarating worship ritual in which professional manipulators "lead
the worshipers into the presence of God."
The Biblical fact is that Jesus (and any Jewish
schoolboy) knew that one must put the pure, "juice of the Word" into
a new, sterialized wineskin and then seal it. This would prevent
fermentation which always leads to rot and spoil. If, on the other
hand, one puts new, boiled juice into an old, leavened wineskin
containing all "sects" it will surely begin to ferment and burst the
bag. The bag was never sealed unless the juice
was pure
and ferment would not begin. Jesus put His Word into "earthen
vessels" or ceremonially pure containers.
The village idiot knew that you didn't
seal
fermenting
wine -- even in a steal-banded cask! All ecumenical movements are
slick ways for me to get your sheep and put them into my wineskin or
sheepfold. The tension will not hold diverse groups with different
norms and it will -- has always -- bursted.
We review this e-mail only because it is flawed
- lying to the cop is a preacher's joke -- and because its proof-text
quality continues to promote a grab-bag approach to faith and
practice such as "raising holy hands, trying to ascend into the
presence of God, musical worship teams, musical instruments (Jubilee
98), Women leadership (for which men may have no authority either), a
false view of baptism and a generally carnal (as opposed to
spiritual) view of worship.
Click For an Index of Rubel Shelly Sermon
Reviews.
Subject: The FAX of
Life
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 02:07:18
EST
From: GBCIII@aol.com
To: GBCIII@aol.com
1. .....Creativity is in short supply in most companies. People often
depend on doing the same things in the same tried-and-true ways --
and go bankrupt.
A new product comes along that
pushes the
envelope.
A competitor becomes more aggressive with its marketing strategies.
Too much is taken for granted, and the result is disastrous.
2. Most of us whine about those creative, right-brained persons who think up new ways to do things and fail
to realize that everyone
has the ability to innovate. Originality is not the province of a select few who
are out to
sabotage life for the
rest of us.
3. People who change the world are the women and men who are willing to ask hard questions, explore
new ways of doing
things, and make changes when change has the prospect of doing things
better.
The enemy of
creativity isn't really custom
or tradition. Its enemy is a mix of laziness, rigid control, and self-indulgence. These sorry
qualities of a corporate or personal identity will not permit
vision. They champion a status-quo mentality
that refuses to ask how things can be improved.
4. Discretion is a virtue, but
noncommittal and fearful
control of a situation
is the blueprint for failure. The Bible says: "Whoever watches the
wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap" (Ecclesiastes 11:4).
That's another way of
saying that people
whose watchword is "We've never done it that way before!" will soon be
watching from the sidelines as life's visionaries pass them by.
5. The most valuable few hours
you use this week could be the brainstorming time with your
colleagues around this question: What can we do to do things better
here?
Because each of these last points is a good
launch pad to look deeper into the Word of God, the black-bold comments are
from the e-mail and the rest is commentary and review to help round
out the message of Dr. Rubel Shelly.
Still frustrated, Dr. Rubel Shelly
appeals to Machiavelli for help in understanding why new products are often
harder to sell than to invent.
1
Rubel
Shelly:.....Creativity is in short supply in most companies.
People often depend on doing the same things in the same
tried-and-true ways -- and go bankrupt. A new product comes along that pushes the envelope. A competitor
becomes more aggressive with its marketing strategies. Too much is
taken for granted, and the result is disastrous.
Having earned a living as a creative engineer
and inventor of mechanical and electronic devices, this reviewer is
aware that there are two forms of creativity:
First, the
right-brain tends to be creative in singing, playing
instruments, dancing, drama and the visual arts. God cannot use
creative talent because Christ does not judge by what He sees or
hears (Isaiah 11:1-4)
Second, the
left-brain tends to be creative in listening, observing, finding
problems and proposing solutions. This reviewer is a technically-fair
painter but could never be an artist primarily because he cannot
abstract reality and make it into something else.
He has the same problem assuming or
presuming to change God's patterns.
Art is always an imitation and "marketable" art
seems to work because it throws dung on Mary or urinates on
Jesus.
Drama works "because we know that it isn't
true."
Music works because it is always one or two
levels removed from the truth.
Therefore, God cannot use and will not tolerate
creativity as the work of human hands.
Worship is in my spirit or mind and you cannot
take your singing boys and girls into the throne room with me.
The following comments discuss the urge to
treat "church" like a corporation which is
successful only if it comes up with new products and pushes them with
aggressive marketing strategies.
If people are doing "church" correctly
there is no need to change even if rejected by every man, woman and
child on the face of the earth. To change just to be Seeker Sensitive
would be cowardly in the face of Satan.
If we are doing things incorrectly then we need
to run to the Bible rather than to Willow Creek or commercial forms
of Change Agentry which forces change psychologically. Unfortunately,
many "creative" worship teams don't create a single thing. Rather,
they run to another fellowship practicing that which attracts the
masses (Jesus would not do that). As a result, they look just like
the denomination down the street.
Willow Creek and Jubilee 98 - Jubilee 99
chooses to use commercial methods (see Rev. 18), promote new products
(books, tapes) which push the
envelope. See our Change
Agent Index to see how Jubilee 99
will use Lynn Anderson whose methods are old educational techniques:
push the envelope or upset the equilibrium until people are about to
go over the brink. Then jerk them back and try again at a later day.
We are not in competition. Indeed, our "work product" is hated with a purple
passion by the majority of people. It got Jesus, Steven and Paul
murdered by the competing commercial forces.
2.
Rubel Shelly: Most of us
whine about those creative, right-brained persons who think up new
ways to do things and fail to realize that everyone has the ability
to innovate. Originality is not the province of a select few who are
out to sabotage life for the rest of us.
While many churches do more damage than good (1
Cor. 11:17f) and are shackled with a pyramidal "ministry structure" which God warned would be the result of Israel's
rejection of Him as their Theocratic Ruler, a creative, visionary
approach would be to retire those who created
the problem in the first place and restore a true "family" or a
one-another ministry. Innovation by hiring a musical worship
facilitator is what McClintock and Strong identified as "the
first heresy widely pervading the
church."
Rubel Shelly sees the beyond redemption failure
at the Musical idolatry performed at Mount Sinai as a pattern for
Christian worship and community. That is some creativity!
- The Exodus Pattern For Worship and
Community?
Rubel Shelly / John York:
The
Exodus Pattern for Worship and Community:
Retrospective
7/2/01
Rubel Shelly / John York:
Rising Up To Play in Musical Idolatry Made The Exodus
a Failure
Refuted By:
John
Chrysostom Homilies Acts Chapter 7, Acts 7, Stephen Against Law,
Temple and Ritual
- Refuted By: Psalm 106
as a Paradigm for Praise
- Praise And Thanksgiving
Chrysostom Tells the Truth about
Innovators:
"Stephen was
accused of
speaking
against "the
customs,"-sacrifices, temple,
feasts, etc.
"Therefore he significantly points to that critical conjuncture. from which these "customs" date their introduction:
namely,
the
Provocation at
Horeb.
Prior to that, he tells of "living oracles," life-giving precepts: [The Book of the Covenant]
after it, and as its consequence,
sacrifices, etc.,
those statutes
which were not
good, and ordinances by
which a man shall not
live, as God says by
Ezekiel.
Not a word of
sacrifice till then:
and the first mention is, of the sacrifices offered to the calf.
In like manner,
"they rejoiced," "the people ate and drank, and rose up to
play:" and in consequence of this, the
feasts were prescribed: kai eufrainonto, fhsin: dia touto kai
eortai.-'Epishmainetai might be rendered, "he marks," "puts
a mark upon it"
(so the innovator, who substitutes, touto kai Dauid epishmainomenoj
legei): we take it passively, "there is a mark set
over it-it is
emphatically denoted."
Jubilee 98 originally estimated spending 1/4
million dollars ($250,000.00) to aggresively promote the new
products. One major product was the praxis effort to experientially
train attendees to "lift holy hands" as an acceptable "act of
worship" and to Lay hands on people -- the purpose escaped me. We saw
nothing
creative about it except singing their own compositions and
"improvizing on instruments like David." According to the Septuagint,
Amos wrote that "They thought of them as having abiding value but
they were just temporary pleasure."
3.
Rubel Shelly:
People who change the
world are the women and men who are willing to ask hard questions,
explore new ways of doing things, and make changes when change has the prospect of doing things better.
The enemy of creativity isn't really custom or tradition. Its enemy
is a mix of laziness, rigid control, and self-indulgence. These sorry
qualities of a corporate or personal identity will not permit vision.
They champion a status-quo mentality that refuses to ask how things
can be improved.
This reviewer's view is that the great enemy of
change and creativity is the lack of
correct and well-digested factual information about the problem.
Before attempting to invent a new
product, a common scheme is to do a patent search to determing
whether we are just trying to invent the wheel or claim to be
creative innovators rather than stealers of other people's
ideas.
The Incarnate God of the Universe (there is
just one and not Father and Holy Spirit tricking the Son to do their
sacrificial work - Creative Jubilee 98 joke). This God does not need
our creativity, talent or vision. Indeed, these new schemes which
take so much legal-like
work and divide so many people just
move further from the vision God has already given. This effort is
indeed ceremonial
legalism.
Look at two passages which speak of
vision as
being revelation which none of us can do:
Correct
thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto
thy soul. Proverbs 29:17
Where there is no
vision (revelation, oracle), the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Proverbs 29:18
A servant will not be corrected by words:
for though he understand
he will not answer.
Proverbs 29:19
Seest thou a man
that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.
Proverbs 29:20
The Bible over and over demands that we "teach
that which has been taught for two reasons."
First, God inspired the Word and to presume to "private
interpret" or "further expound" the Word blasphemes God by
repudiating His Word.
Second, the
New Testament writers also make it clear that when you open up the
floodgate to innovators or improvisers Satan will always slip
in.
Perhaps, this is why Jubilee 99 gets
sentimental about Machiavelli and Promise Keepers promises some
shepherding (discipling) methods of controlling the "human material"
which it collects by mass hysteria. See what
Hitler thought about that.
Being a visionary about faith and practice is
the belief that one is an apostle or prophet or, as we have
heard, even Christ's representative in this church. We can dismiss,
out of hand, any visionary who is getting visions out of their own
head:
Wherefore I will
bring the worst
of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses (family): I will also make the pomp (arrogancy, pride, swelling often included music) of
the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Ezekiel 7:24
Destruction cometh;
and they shall seek
peace (friends and prosperity), and there shall be none Ezekiel 7:25 .
These ancient Seeker Services were named
after:
Baqash (g1245) baw-kash'; a prim. root; to search out by any method, specifically in worship or
prayer; by impl. to strive after: - ask, beg,
beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make)
request, require, seek (for).
David and all others who worshiped in a
spiritual sense sought God through His Word.
In addition to this almost-desperate search for
commercial methods to attract the crowds from the aggressive
competitors, at least one of this team claims to be inspired to have
visions and write material so good that God directs the reader to the
bookstore rather than to the Bible!! Click
Here. However,
Mischief shall come
upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they
seek a
vision of the prophet;
but the law shall perish
from the priest, and
counsel from the ancients (elders). Ezekiel 7:26
The ultimate sign of Laziness is becomming a
colleague
and then refusing to fulfill the professional responsibility to "go
into all the world and preach the gospel." The upside down method is
the Seeker Service method of using entertainment and commerce to
bring the "world" to the building (theater, etc).
It might be prudent to repudiate the American
Restoration Movement because its early leaders almost universally
condemned and anathamatized professional
preachers who refused to go out.
Click Here to see the truth.
4.
Rubel Shelly: Discretion is
a virtue, but noncommittal and fearful control of a situation is the
blueprint for failure. The Bible says: "Whoever watches the wind will
not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap" (Ecclesiastes
11:4). That's another way of saying that people whose watchword is
"We've never done it that way before!" will soon be watching from the
sidelines as life's visionaries pass them by.
First, let's
look at the word visionary:
"Existing only in
the mind; not
real; imaginary, not
capable of being put into effect; not realistic; impractical; seeing
or disposed to see
visions; characterized
by impractical ideas and schemes. A person who sees visions; prophet
or seer. Webster
We stand aside and allow the visionaries or
pretend prophets to pass us by and we will stick with the "old paths"
and just listen to God through the Word.
I agree with Amos: I am not a professional
prophet and my daddy was not a professional prophet. The implication
of the new charismatic movements and Jubilee 99 is that
visionary
or pretend
prophets can speak for the "family."
On the other hand, true visionaries return to
the old paths which means skipping over both right and left wing
professional prophets.
Second, the
evidence is that schemes attempting to build a structure (tower)
beyond the local congregation (Promise Keepers, Jubilee 99) cannot
long exist without exercising extreme, cult-like control. Any effort to
manipulate the mind by body motions or sound is a cult device and it
will fail.
Third, this
passage is distorted -- as in almost all sermonizing -- to minimize
the message of the Spirit of Christ (1 Peter 1:11) and maximize the
message of the improviser or
visionary. Rather than a warning to
those who refuse to lock-hips with modern, denomination-like change
agents, this message is a resounding,
changing
warning against spending obscene fortunes trying to promote new
schemes which are as new as the towers of Babylon;
as visionary as the
Israelites condemned by God through Amos.
Let us look at Ecclesiastes 11:4
in its context as if we really cared what God wanted to reveal. This
does not have to do with spending 1/4 million dollars for show and
tell of new books and music. Rather, it has to do with spending that
waste on the poor or using it to "go" and preach the gospel to the
overwhelming majority who do not know the word "Christ." Look at the
context:
CAST thy
bread (grain) upon the waters: for thou shalt
find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1
Give a portion to
seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. Ecclesiastes 11:2
If the clouds be full of
rain, they
empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree fall toward the
south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth,
there it shall be. Ecclesiastes 11:3
He that
observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds
shall not reap. Ecclesiastes 11:4
Paul might say that some plant, some water and
others reap the increase. You have to take some risk by deciding to
plant without being able to see the increase or "cutting your hay"
waiting until you are sure that it isn't going to be spoiled.
The "seeker system" does not work by faith: the
right brained artist doesn't care about the facts.
The Israelites at Mount Sinai and the believers
in churches like Rome and Corinth wanted to perform the old
"ascending-descending" fertility riuals of Babylonia, Egypt or
Canaan. They wanted to see, feel and hear the intimate (sexual)
presence of their God whom they believed they could drag down with
powerful, commercial worship rituals to make "the worship service
meaningful for the 20th century." And of course one knows that if
they go after the right-brained with musical worship they have
carefully watched the clouds to make sure that there is the greatest
increace produced by 'our innovation.' However, Jude quote Enoch who
tells the story of the musical innovators who were not driven by
their right brain but by innovating suggestions from Satan. However,
God will come with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment
upon those who, unlike God's other creatures, just cannot "follow His
patterns."
Woe unto them for
they have gone in the
way of Cain, and ran
greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the
gainsaying of Core. Jude 1:11
The Cainites in the ancient documents were the ones to
whom Satan
came and taught how to "improvize" by
playing musical instruments, using mixed-sex choirs and sexual
perversion. They improvized specificially to seduce the holy Sethites
off the Mountain of the garden.
These
are spots
in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding
themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
Jude 1:12
When Israel repeated the
musical fall at Mount Sinai, God turned them over to worship the
starry hosts (Stephen in Acts 7). This was identical to the worship
which seduced the first people:
Raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars (planets), to whom is reserved the blackness of
darkness for ever. Jude 1:13
In the book of Enoch, the natural world is the example of obeying God's
will in all things. Evil men on the other hand turned to the artistic
and skills taught by Satan. These are the ones for whom God will come
with ten thousand of His saints:
And Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of his saints, Jude 1:14
To execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Jude
1:15
The "original sin" and all which followed
are committed by those who feel the need to improvize and innovate.
This is presumptious blasphemy and it is a sin in the Bible and in
the Apocalyptic literature which is never forgiven.
On the other hand, the eye of faith which
Christ uses does not ask when and how much the yield (collection plates?)
the seed will produce before sowing it. It simply goes
out into
the fields, sows the seed, keeps the weeds on the other side of the walls and waits for God to give the increase -- perhaps
giving the credit to a "little gun" from the ancient "rural" world.
It does not take up collections or count the attendance or coversions
"for my resume."
As thou
knowest
not what is the
way of the
spirit, nor how the
bones do grow in
the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh
all. Ecclesiastes 11:5
In the morning
sow thy
seed, and in the
evening withhold
not thine hand:
for thou knowest
not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be
alike good. Ecclesiastes 11:6
Right brained (effeminate or feminine)
innovators want to know that the collection plates are going to be
filled and some say "I will do anything to get the people to attend."
However, they do not know how a "seed" becomes a child or how the
"word" planted in the morning will prosper or not. Paul was sent to
preach and he was not highly concerned with baptism. He knew that all
that he could do was sow the seed or preach the whole counsel of God.
Then without the planning and programs he allowed God's Word to do
it's work just as God gave the seed the responsibility of
germinating.
Solomon, who tried all of the visionary schemes under
the sun to try to find the lost gods while refusing to teach his
children, amassed the gold and errected his powerful pillars.
However, in the end, he concluded that all that he did was just
vanity. If we follow the advice of David or Solomon the writer says,
"go get it." However, be warned that being visionary or walking in
the ways of thine heart will result in great damage:
Rejoice, O young
man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer
thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes:
but know thou,
that for all these things God will bring thee into
judgment. Ecclesiastes
11:9
This is a warning to those
who cannot hear the parabolic language which Jesus said, "Was hidden
from the foundation of the world."
This is symbolic of the Egyptian form of
planting. They sowed their seed on the quiet backwaters (never in the
main river stream) and when the water (pagan influence) goes away,
the seed will settle down and produce fruit. On the other hand, the
visionary Seeker Service demands action: make hast that we may see thee; or Drag
Christ down from heaven and cause us to ascend up to usurp His
throne. This passage also has a warning that putting the wine into a
new wineskin is to preserve something.
To observe means "to hedge about as with
thorns, to guard, preserve, reserve, save
self." In Isaiah 5, God built a
wall around His vineyard. A similar
word is:
Shemer
(h8105) sheh'-mer; from 8104; something preserved, i. e. the settlings (plur. only) of wine: -
dregs, (wines on the) lees.
If the new juice is allowed to rest, the yeast,
like the seed, will settle down. The juice would be poured off
carefully from vessel to vessel until it was pure. Even then, it
might be boiled to kill the yeast. However, to allow the juice to
settle on the lees meant that it would ferment and spoil:
Moab hath been at
ease from his youth, and he hath settled
on his lees,
and hath not been
emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his
taste remained in him, and his scent is not
changed. Jeremiah 48:11
And it shall come to pass at
that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles (in silence like Passover or the Lord's
Supper), and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good,
neither will he do evil. Zep.1:12
Ec 11:1-6 Matthew
Henry
"Wherever we are, we may find good work to
do, if we have but
hearts to do it. If we magnify every little difficulty,
start
objections, and
fancy
hardships, we shall
never go on, much less go through with our work. Winds and clouds
of tribulation are, in God's hands, designed to try us.
God's
work shall agree with his word, whether we see it or not.
And we may well trust God to
provide for us, without our anxious, disquieting cares. Be not weary
in well-doing, for in due season, in God's time, you shall
reap, (Galatians 6:9).
It is those pouring heaps of
ferterlizer, flooding the plant with water and watching over it as if
they could make it grow who do not trust God when He said to just
plant and water and allow Him to give the increase. "Hastening"
efforts always look so wise but are a sign of deep, desperate lack of
faith.
5. Rubel
Shelly: The most valuable
few hours you use this week could be the brainstorming time with your
colleagues around this question: What can we do to do things better
here?
A colleague is "to appoint
as deputy, legate, a fellow worker in the same profession; associate
in office" (Webster).
Brainstorming
is: "The unrestrained offering of ideas or suggestions by all members of a
conference to seek solutions to problems." Brainstorm: "A series of
sudden, violent cerebral disturbances, a sudden
inspiration." (Webster)
It is clear that ideas are stopped and unwanted
from the laity whatever their background or condition. Only a member
of the professional clergy is a suitable candidate for generating new
ideas by inspiration. This supports the idea that it is the
self-imposed clergy (against God's will and Paul's will) who
exercise the total control and don't you forget it. If the "brains"
for the storm are restricted to all of a class you will just have
spiritual incest.
Why wouldn't all of the colleagues be out
"preaching the Word?" Why would you need Lynn Anderson's expertise as
a Change Agent against the collective will of the congregation or
fellowship if you were interested in brainstorming? Rubel Shelly is
recalling Lynn Anderson to Jubilee 99. Lynn promotes the idea of
gradually changing the Lord's Supper by overpowering the congregation
by having one week's Lord supper with noisy songs. The next week, we
can be quiet. This is not an alternative. The model of Passover and
the command to search our own hearts demands that there be absolute
silence while each member search their own
heart for leaven. This may be
visionary and creative but it does not get its visions from the
Word but
perhaps from an old wineskin.
How about returning to the Word as the
sole-source of teaching and preaching to the local flock rather than
"sending across the seas to find someone to come and teach when the
Word is free (Isa 55) and has already been sung and preached?"
Look at this fragment
and Romans 9.
Reviewed by Kenneth
Sublett
Rubel Shelly
Sermon Reviews
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