Daring To Dance With God - Jeff Walling - Part Three If the head of the family is fond of tambourine,
It is no wonder why the whole family dances! Muslim poemA short version of the following is Here. In the following version we have added further evidence that the carnal dance and self-play being sold as worship runs counter to clear Biblical teachings -- But then, Paul said that "fools love to be fooled."See the Origins of the Feminist religion forcing males into musical worship.
See another version in Hypostasis of the Archons
Two years ago, we thought that my dad was in a coma and would never respond again. However, when my sister gave him a "drop of cold water" he whispered, "Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" - his last words. Only by "standing still" could she hear the "whispered silence" of his final words. I don't believe he ever sang a song in his life, but he will never thirst again. Why?
When the Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well He said:
"But whosoever drinketh (take into the mind) of the water (rain of the Word) that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing (gushing) up into everlasting life. John 4:14
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. John 4:15
It is extremely difficult to listen to the "water of the Word" while dancing or doing much of anything with the outward senses. Jesus went on to say that worship is not in physical place but spiritual mind. The woman wanted to debate "houses" but Jesus said "not in your house and not in mine. Worship is in spirit (mind) and devoted to truth."
Later, the loud, mocking clergy drove Jesus "to the brink" trying to change or triumph over Him (Psa 41:11). When he saw his mother for the last time, He said, "I thirst." Jesus equated His Words to Water, Spirit and Life:
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life (Zao or Zoe). Jn.6:68
"Words" is from rheo which means to flow or run as water. In the next chapter, Jesus said that:
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow (rheo or words) rivers (banquet) of living (Zao or Zoe) water John 7:38
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7:39
We can understand the "water of the Word" flowing out of our innermost being. However, Jesus was not saying that the Holy Spirit as a "person" would "flow" out of our literal belly.
Lord (God) Jesus (man) Christ (Spirit anointed) did not retire to a literal throne sitting and resting. Jesus promised that when He received the promise of the Father or His restoration as Glorious God, He could then live with Hid body as its Head. He did not send the African "little man in the big man" as His agent. He clearly said:
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; John 14:16
Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. John 14:17
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23
What we call preaching is a defacto rejection of "teaching the Word as it has been delivered to you." When it is carried on year after year we can understand how those "who see godliness as a means of financial gain" can thicken on the lees and blow up their old wineskins. This, in turn, leads to obscene amounts of money being spent teaching people how to come into the presence of God. Or, as Lynn Anderson at Jubilee 99, to Lift up the Name of the Lord. My gracious, can't you do that out in the old, decadent rural farms and churches?
No wonder the church is dying of thirst and running to and fro looking for the Word and cannot find it. (Amos 8)
When Jesus, like many churches ready to explode their old wineskin, was dying of thirst, He was in need of the Water of life. Dying men always die thirsty. What did the ignorant do? Why, they tried to force feed Him with old wine which had turned sour -- all wine which is allowed to bubble and ferment will turn sour in a wineskin. The old wine also contained a drug, like music, to try to dull His dying pain!
Why did Jesus and my father die thirsty? The answer must be found in Israel's choice of loud ritual over God's Word. We can only look at a few examples:
Job Warns About Dancing To The Stars The book of Job describes the most ancient religion in the world. The setting seems to be among star worshippers which included the Chaldeans who dared to dance with their gods and who gave their name to te serpent in the garden and the clanging cymbals in Corinth:Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Job 21:7
They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. Job.21:11
They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Job 21:12Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Job 21:14
Matthew Henry wrote of the danger inherent in the dance of the women or children:
Their cattle increase, and they meet with no disappointment in them; not so much as a cow casts her calf, and then their much must needs grow more. This is promised, Ex. 23:26; Deu. 7:14. [4.] They are merry and live a jovial (jubal) life (v. 11, 12): They send forth their little ones abroad among their neighbours, like a flock, in great numbers, to sport themselves. They have their balls and music-meetings, at which their children dance; and dancing is fittest for children, who know not better how to spend their time and whose innocency guards them against the mischiefs that commonly attend it.
Though the parents are not so very youthful and frolicsome as to dance themselves, yet they take the timbrel and harp; they pipe, and their children dance after their pipe, and they know no grief to put their instruments out of tune or to withhold their hearts from any joy.
Some observe that this is an instance of their vanity, as well as of their prosperity. Here is none of that care taken of their children which Abraham took of his, to teach them the way of the Lord, Gen. 18:19.
Their children do not pray, or say their catechism, but dance, and sing, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Sensual pleasures are all the delights of carnal people, and as men are themselves so they breed their children. Matthew Henry
While we are spending an estimated 1/4 million dollars to learn how to lift holy hands, lift up the name of the Lord and Daring to Dance with God, the rest of the story is that while we were dancing with God like female children, Eliphaz said of those who breed their children like they breed their cattle:
Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? Job 22:2
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? Job 22:3
For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. Job 22:6
Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. Job 22:7
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Job 22:9
Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; Job 22:10
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are Job 22:12
And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? Job 22:13
Oh, the misery of a man like David who never had the peace that God was with him. He lived a life fearful that God would take his life as He had Saul's. All of his musical psalms, those to the harp and to the musical director, are God's visual aid of a man who loved God but committed every sin in the book. When he danced and made himself vile (halal) he was desperately following those who believed that if you made yourself look insane you could attract the "gods" and force them into your presence.
If we must hire a worship facilitator (manipulator) to help lead the congregation into the presence of God don't we say: "How doth God know if he isnt already in our midst?" How do we know that when we call "little David to play on his harp" God will not send us a charismatic spirit of madness (often described by halel) to drive us into "prophesying" to make us look like fools before the watching world and our masculine brethren???
How much bread would 1/4 of a million dollars (multiplied all over the country) buy for the hungry widow? How much truth could you deliver to the world which has no Bibles to get tired of? Dying of thirst? Don't dare try to give them "new wine in a new wineskin" because "to the extent you have done it to the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me." Will we put fermenting wine mixed with the music drug into the mouth of Jesus still dying a block away from the temple with asherah poles aroused and erect?
Women and the Dance - Miriam Rubel Shelly despairing of a New Testament pattern for community and worship resorts to the Exodus. Unfortunately for the good people at Woodmond Hills who hear much from Jeff Walling, the rest of the Bible and history sees this as a third fall after the Garden of Eden and the Flood.Oh, don't we love to use our Phd's to put mighty power into taking little events out of the Bible and twisting them into a serpent form to bite those who lay their hands on the walls. Miriam was a "prophetess" in Egypt because we have no evidence that she was a God-ordained foreteller. And, in fact, we have evidence that her prophesying gave her the hint that she could speak for God. When she raised her hands unto God she drew it back with leprosy upon it.
"In the first place, it will be noticed from the account of the triumphant rejoicing on the shore of the Red Sea that the men sang only: 'Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake saying.'" (Girardeau, George, p. 33)
"The triumphal hymn of Moses had unquestionably a religious character about it; but the employment of music in religious services, though idolatrous, is more distinctly marked in the festivities which attended the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's, Music, p. 589).
"In the second place, it was Miriam and the women who used instruments of music on the occasion: 'And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went after her (escaped or broke out) with timbrels and with dances." (Girardeau, p. 33).
In the first place, Moses spoke or recited the songs which were not musical in nature. The goal was that the elders could learn the songs and repeat them to their tribes.
THEN sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, (command with speech) I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. Ex 15:1
In the second place, Miriam led the women away from Moses' recital.
But: And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. Ex 15:20
When they went out the Hebrew word can be used for destructive "going to and fro":
Yaca (h3318) yaw-tsaw'; break out, bring forth (out, up), carry out, come (abroad, out, threat, without), be condemned, departure, draw forth, in the end, escape,
While there was no previous command to use either singing or instruments in the worship to God, Miriam's practice was the secular practices of the Hebrew people learned in Egypt. It is important, therefore, to notice that the instrument of Miriam is the memobranophone, tambourine, timbrel, or tabret and it is said that it--
"was a typical woman's instrument... Although it occurs in the Psalter and in religious hymns (Exod. 15; Jer. 31:4), it was not permitted in the temple. Its functions in the bible was restricted to secular or religious frolicking, cultic dances, or processions (e.g., II Sam. 6:5; I Chr. 13:8; Ps. 68:25-26). Its absence in the temple ritual was possibly due to its strong female symbolism, which always accompanied the tambourine, and which made its use so popular at all fertility rites." (The Int. Std. Bible Dict., p. 474)."This membranophone, translated in the AV as 'timbrel' and 'tabret,' was not permitted in the Temple, although it was mentioned in the Psalter and in religious hymns." Harrison, Into to OT, p. 988).
Water From The Rock When Israel was rescued by God from Egypt, they experienced hunger and thirst in the wilderness. God told Moses to strike the Rock, symbolic of Jesus, and living water would be supplied. After Moses did so,And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding (noisy assembly, grapple) of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us (in our midst), or not? Exodus 17:7
As people lost confidence in God, great assemblies were called to "lead them into the presence of the lost gods." The Israelites lost confidence because they couldn't detect God already in their midst. Therefore, when God later told Moses to just speak to the "Rock" rather than strike it he made a fatal mistake and could not go into the promised land. In fulfillment, after Christ was "struck" at the cross, He would then give living waters just by speaking through His words (John 6:63).
At Mount Sinai After Moses spoke The Book of the Covenant at Mount Sinai and Israel had accepted it verbally, He went back to get the 70 elements of the Covenant in writing. However, the people grew impatient and decided to call their old "god" into their midst:And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. Exodus 32:6
Play: "The Hebrew verb means to dance to music, vocal and instrumental. See Judges 19:2, 1 Chron. 13:8)" (Cook). "This was playing before the ark, as it slowly made progress; that is, there were evolutions and marching figures and religious dances" (Professor Beecher, quoted in Peloubet's Selects Notes, 1903, p. 270).
Joshua thought he heard the noise of war: victory or defeat. No! Moses knew that it was the noise of them that sing. This singing was "looking down or browbeating." It was to bring on depression by afflicting themselves. It was responsive singing and shouting (h6030, h6031). It was a vital part of paganism.
The shouting which Joshua heard included blowing loud wind instruments. God refused to live in their midst and commanded the two silver trumpets to produce panic in war or to signal marches.
Alarm is:
Ruwa (h7321) roo-ah'; mar (espec. by breaking); figurative: to split the ears with sound) i. e. shout for alarm or joy - blow an alarm, cry aloud, destroy, make a joyful noise, triumph over
In the Book of the Law, God outlawed this for the congregational assemblies for instruction:
But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. Numbers 10:7
To see how Jesus would sing to the Gentiles, Click Here
The Effect of the Law No one can escape life-changing moments of decision. The fork in the road in the Bible led to the path of noise as the cry of violence in worship, or the quiet, peaceful rest promised when Jesus came as "Prince of Peace" to lead His lambs beside quiet waters. You know, lambs cannot feed beside noisy, rushing streams.After the people stripped off all of their idol-jewelry in repentance, the tabernacle was set up "outside the camp and far away." In the Book of the Law, the nature of the Tabernacle was changed and the Levites were deprived of an inheritance in Canaan and stood between the people and the symbol of God's presence:
Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die. Numbers 18:22
Rejecting God with Noise in Canaan If Joshua (Hebrews 4:8, Jesus in KJV) had given Israel "rest" God would not have had to come personally as Jesus (Jehovah-Saves). Noisy frenzy "worship" (work) at the Canaanite High Places stood between the Israelites and rest. Therefore, when they rejected God's direct rule, He sent the sign of a "prophesying" band or "worship team" from the Philistine "High Place." Loud enthusiasm (exhilaration) was the method and proof that they had moved themselves into the presence of the gods. As He often did, the things they lusted after would be His sign of rejecting a quiet rest beside still waters."This is the first mention in the OT of a band of prophets. These were men who went about in companies and were able by means of music and dancing to work themselves up into a convulsive and ecstatic frenzy (2 Kings 3:1-10). Their abnormality was believed to be caused by the invasive influence of the spirit of god.
The word prophesied here does not mean either foretelling the future or preaching after the manner of the later prophets, but engaging in the ritual dance of the prophetic guild (19:18-24). Their behavior was commonly regarded as a form of madness (2 Kings 9:11; Jeremiah 29:26)" (The Int. Bible Ency., I Sam. p. 932).
"It was probably usual to welcome a king or general with music and dancing...The distinctly religious dance is more frequently mentioned. The clear instances of it in the Bible are the dance of the women of Israel at the Red Sea, headed by Miriam with her tambourine (Exodus 15:20); the dance of the Israelites round the golden calf (Exodus 32:19); the dance of the maidens of Shiloah at the annual feast (Judges 21:19 ff); the leaping or limping of the prophets of Baal round their altar on Carmel (1 Kings 18:26); and the dancing of David in front of the ark (2 Samuel 6:14-16) (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
When Saul, the choice to replace God, was "turned into another man" he changed from a humble lad into a "like the nations" king. According to Karen Armstrong, in A History of God, p. 30, 396, they choose exciting rituals over the "masculine" Word of God. "Spirit" is the influence of God - god or bad. It does not mean that Saul became a spiritual person. It meant that he would permit the worship of effeminate gods which was what "like the nations" meant:
And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 1 Samuel 10:6
Speaking of the mystics, Armstrong, in A History of God, showed how the new, gender-neutral gods are to be worshipped:
"This god is to be approached through the imagination and can be seen as a kind of art form, akin to the other great artistic symbols that have expressed the ineffable mystery, beauty and the value of life. Mystics have used music, dancing, poetry, fiction, stories, painting, sculpture and architecture to express this Reality which goes beyond concepts." (P. 396)
However, as one dead LINK (dead for the moment at Tyndall) notes:
MOST CHRISTIANS TODAY call the main Sunday morning hour "the worship service." This is dead wrong for several reasons! Though worship is part of what the congregation should do together, "teaching" is to be the driving activity of the Local Church. Too, an I must be careful here, though worship is for all -- male and female -- the way it's carried out today, often
it's a FEMININIZATION of the church service.
Whereas, teaching is VIRILE and MEATY and speaks head-on to males.
Paul defined true prophecy as to bring "revelation, knowledge, prophecy or word of doctrine." (1 Corinthians 14:6). However, to the pagan Greeks and most others, the word "prophesy" and "to make music" to bring on a form of madness is the same. Paul's warning would be against loud vocal music in forms designed to bring on mind-changing reactions (mainomai) in 1 Corinthians 14:23).
The normal word for "another" means an associate, brother or companion. However, Saul had turned strange. As another, he would hinder Israel's spiritual life:
Achar (h309) aw-khar'; from: to loiter, be behind; by implication: to procrastinate, defer, delay, hinder, be slack
The turning in Hebrew most often meant to overthrow someone. Saul's friends composed a little "ditty" to make fun of him because "to prophesy" meant that Saul would engage in a practice reserved for the abnormal.
Haphak (h2015) haw-fak'; turn about or over; by implication: to pervert... It is often used as "to overthrow, perverse, retire, tumble, turn aside, to the contrary "
Hophek (2017) from 2015 upset, perversity, turn things upside down.
Saul "prophesied among the team" but Saul was not a prophet! He "predicted" future events in responsive singing with the musicians from the High Place. "Turned" is first used of the flaming swords at Eden "to keep the way of the tree of life" because they rejected God's quiet "voice" walking in the garden. By rejecting God, they were again "outside the garden of God's grace."
Armstrong notes that the urban feminist urge sweeping revivalist movements is a rejection of Yahweh as the masculine God of the mind or spirit or Word.
God sent the destruction of the wheat crop and warned that the king would set captains over them.
David fulfilled this when he and the captains or commanders of the army organized prophesying bands. They did not serve in "congregational worship" but forced the people into hard labor and to fall to the ground during dedication or purification animal sacrifices. This was not true worship music but was always called "noise" to warn and control the people.
The trained musicians which eventually appear around the time of David and Solomon
mark a distinctive change in the history of Jewish music. Before this time much of the music was made by women." (Zondervan Pict., Music p. 313).
Some examples, all negative, are:
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. Exodus15:20 (Miriam helped the women escape exactly as she might have done in Egypt)
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. Exodus 32:19
And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. Judges 21:21 (They were swept off their feet)
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. Judges 11:34
And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. 1 Samuel 18:6
Saul, like most kings, was tall, dark and handsome and he could sing "under the influence." However, some of the people "disesteemed, despised, scorned, and thought that Saul was a vile person." (1 Samuel 10:27). Because Saul was "slack" and "turned aside," God sent His Spirit or influence into him to stir him up for war:
And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger (snorting nostrils) was kindled (a blazing fire) greatly. 1 Samuel 11:6
In this anger, Saul took two oxen, slashed them into pieces and sent them to the tribes as a warning that he would kill them if they didn't come and fight. A mortal fear fell upon them and Saul became a change agent with violence - just as God had predicted. They were forced to shed blood when God could have driven the enemy out with wasps and bees if they had chosen His Word.
David's Rule Over the People When Saul was lost without hope of redemption, God sent David to bring on an evil spirit to force him into the loud prophesying and he cast off his clothes. Yet, he was still a threat to David.In David's escape from Saul, he sought safety behind the walls of the enemy. When he scrabbled or drummed (LXX) upon the door and fell into ecstasy, the king accused him of playing the mad man or "prophesying" like a prophet and he despised him (1 Samuel 21:15) as Michal despised David's naked dance.
After he became king, David took a census and could never return to Gibeon "to inquire of the Lord." Therefore, he brought the ark to Jerusalem under the primary control of the Levite bands. As David was separating the Ark of the Covenant from God's presence at Gibeon, he joined with the slave girls in this same noisy play which means to laugh, make merry, revel (musically), mock, dance, strip naked or have in derision. This is identical to David's praise:
Halal (h1984) haw-lal'; a prim. root; to be clear (orig. of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show, to boast; be clamorously foolish; to rave; to celebrate; feign self mad against (often against God), give in marriage, sing, be worthy of praise, rage, renowned, shine. (This is the source of heylel or Lucifer.)
Only those devoted to or under the influence of the some strange influence dared to dance with their gods. For instance, the ephod David wore had its origin in women's clothing. The "might" with which he danced is defined as boldness, loud and impudent. To dance with the girls meant to strip off ones clothes (2 Samuel 6:20).
Again, we must quote for emphasis:
"It was probably usual to welcome a king or general with music and dancing...The distinctly religious dance is more frequently mentioned. The clear instances of it in the Bible are the dance of the women of Israel at the Red Sea, headed by Miriam with her tambourine (Ex 15:20); the dance of the Israelites round the golden calf (32:19); the dance of the maidens of Shiloah at the annual feast (Jgs 21:19 ff); the leaping or limping of the prophets of Baal round their altar on Carmel (1 K 18:26); and the dancing of David in front of the ark (2 S 6:14-16) (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
"The ritual dance was probably widespread in the ancient East. David's performance has Egyptian parallels. Seti I, the father of Rameses II, and three other Pharaohs are said to have danced before an deity (Budge, The Book of the Dead, I, xxxv), and Asiatic monuments attest the custom elsewhere." (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
"Probably the dancers in some cases joined hands and formed a ring, or part of a ring, as in some heathen representations. The description of David's dance: he 'danced before Jehovah with all his might... leaping and dancing before Jehovah' (2 S 6:14-16) suggests" (writer then compared to three forms of heathen dance). (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
The word "play" as in "they rose up to play" at mount is connected to the play or sporting of Samson in an attempt to "pollute" prostitute him as a "grinder" and to David's naked dance. Paul, in 1 Cor. 10 and romans 10 repudiate this as pagan revelry with instrumental music: just worshiping demons.
"We have evidence of ritual dances in the context of other Syrian cults. One of the Ras Shamra poems, in a passage...mentions mrqdm 'dancers' apparently in connection with a sacrifice. Herodian depicts Heliogabalus at a sacrifice to his god of Emesa, 'dancing round the altars
to the sound of every kind of musical instrument; with him certain women of his country performed a sprightly round, with cymbals and tambourines in their hands.
At Dair ee-Qala'a, near Beirut, there was a sanctuary dedicated to Baal-Marqod, 'Baal of the Dance' whose cult evidently involved dancing. An inscription relating to the sanctuary mentions a deuterostates, a technical word for one who stands in the back row of the choir." ( de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 241).
We should never dare to dance with God Because we might find ourselves in the arms of Lucifer.
In the Divided Kingdom As the poor were crying, "I thirst," the leaders held meetings devoted to noise and clang. Their "melody" literally meant "to prune the vine" or "to take ones inheritance" as they took the food and drink from the poor. However, God warned about religious festivals:And I will turn your feasts (religious festivals) into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Amos 8:10
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: Amos 8:11
Throughout the Old Testament, the decision was for noisy, exciting "worship" and the lambs would scatter as lambs always do. This is why Jesus had to die of thirst amid the triumphal shouts of the Jewish leaders who refused to hear His quiet words, "I thirst!"
Daring to Dance With Baal
Another critical decision was the contest between Jezebel's loud, even violent, worship and the "whispered silence" of God's voice through Elijah.
The prophets of Baal performed a noisy form of "prophesying" but they could not "bring their gods into their presence." This "prophesying" was not pretty; it involved singing, music, naked dancing and even cutting themselves. The emotional "high" proved that the god was in them.
"All these texts point, explicitly or implicitly, to the fact that the dance had a musical accompaniment. Even though the Bible makes no mention of it we must assume that the movements of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel were made with an accompaniment on certain musical instruments... There is an obvious satirical intent in the biblical story and we could find no better illustration of a similar attitude than a rather curious bas-relief in the Museo delle Terme in Rome which
derides a ceremony of Isis. In front of a row of images of the gods, men and women are dancing with grotesque contortions; their knees are all bent their heads thrown back and their arms upraised; they are holding castanets or the double flute.
An aged choirmaster and a group of spectators mark time by clapping their hands." ( de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East, Doubleday, p. 242).
However, when Elijah spoke his quiet prayer without any loud shouts, the fire fell and the sacrifice was consumed. This was his greatest moment of triumph. However, Jezebel threatened him and he fled to the mountains of Sinai. While he was living in a cave, the Word of the Lord came to him without any ritual and asked: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah made the excuse that he was the only person left who dared not dance with Baal.
On the mountain of Revelation, God again showed that He was revealed in the peaceful Covenant and not in the play or drama or dance of Baal. God performed a sign to show the difference between dancing with the gods and listening to the God:
And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great (loud and insolent) and strong wind (spirit) rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 1 Kings 19:11
And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still (quiet) small voice (whisper). 1 Kings 19:12
At Mount Sinai, God had long ago defeated Apis the Egyptian bull and perhaps Hathor the desert, cow-eared woman. The Egyptians also worshipped the fire.
The Loud, insolent, earth-quaking wind was like Shu the Egyptian wind god (pagan Corinthians spoke to the wind or Juno). The wind god of Jezebel would have been Enlil, the executive spirit of the Babylonian trinity or the Canaanite equivalent.
The loud "arousers" of Jezebel were particularly devoted to Melkart, the god of Tyre. The king of Tyre and most other kings like the nations often served in this arousal role. Therefore, he was called a prostitute wanting to be "remembered as a male."
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Isaiah 23:15
Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered." Isaiah 23:16 9 (Female Lucifer always wants to be remembered "as a male.")
Ezekiel was told that they would treat him as they tried to treat God: as a prostitute. This must also be a prophecy of how the musical childish clergy would treat Jesus:
Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. Ezekiel 33:30
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Ezekiel 33:31
And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely (amorous) song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. Ezekiel 33:32
We know that Canaanite prophets were organized in guilds centered on the larger sanctuaries, as, for example, 'the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred,' with whom Elijah had memorable dealings on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18). Similarly, Israelite cultic prophets were to be found in and around the sanctuaries, roving about in rowdy troops, working themselves up into frenzies by dancing and music, and uttering semi-coherent oracles which the credulous accepted as divinely inspired." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life in the Old Testament, p. 221, Scribners)
These musical dancing with hand-clapping was usually around the Asherah pole or poles. The Asherah Poles were non-functioning columns often with fertility symbols extruding out of the end. While the male dancers were often homosexual or effeminate, they wanted to be remembered and honored as males (i.e. king of Tyre). Thus, they errected poles which God wanted "cast down." These errect columns provided what Joseph Campbell would call affect images or secret symbols or codes. They sent one secret message to the insiders and quite another to the outsiders. The watching world would see them as signs of superiority over the other gods or priests and priestesses.
Biblical enthusiasm means inner fire or devotion. On the other hand, Philo invented the word enthusiasm or en-theos-mania which was the violent ek-stasis (ecstasy) produced by these prophesiers who depended totally upon noise as their change agent. Philo connected this to Plato where "Platonic" love was the love of a man for a young boy. Greek philosophy still feeds those who, according to Plato, "change the music because they want to change the government."
However, God said that He was not in any of the often-brutal forces of nature detected only by the purely human senses of sight, sound or smell:
"Unlike the pagan deities, Yahweh was not in any of the forces of nature but in a real apart. He is experienced in the scarcely perceptible timbre of a tiny breeze in the paradox of a voiced silence." (Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, p. 27) (I love that.)
The earthquake was symbolic of what happened when Jezebel's prophets called their assembly:
Raash (h7494) rah'-ash; vibration, bounding, commotion, confused noise, earthquake, fierceness, quaking, rattling, rushing, shaking. (Greek: a gale, to twist from side to side).
God Sings To Israel God sang a taunt song to the people in Isaiah 5. He had planted them like a vineyard on the fruitful hills. He cleared His "family" of stones and briers, planted the choicest vines, built walls around it and a watchtower in the middle to guard against pagan influences. This is where Israel's watchmen slept as the enemy approached.Because Israel ignored God's plan for His vineyard, it failed while they held loud religious rituals. As a sign that the end had come, God broke down the walls so the vineyard could be trodden down by wild beasts or pagan influences.
Jesus (Jehovah-Saved) would be our visible God and it was specifically prophesied that He would not oppress or cry our:
He made the vineyard for judgment and righteousness but the leaders supplied oppression and a cry. Isaiah 5:7
Ca'aq (h6817) tsaw-ak'; to shriek; to proclaim an assembly: call together, cry out, gather selves together.
These assemblies produced "deep depression" and ruled over the people with worship which seemed, for the moment, like entertainment but was really oppression.
God's "vineyard" would just "go dry" as they tried to get the tiny drops of "new wine" to ferment. The more meetings they held the more spiritual they felt but the more empty they became. They had wonderful, even daily, festivals seeking revival:
But they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands." Isaiah 5:12b
Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Isaiah 5:13
The joy which brought them doom because it silenced God's Word is defined as, "Jump for joy, be joyful, rejoice, triumph over." Isaiah continued:
Therefore Sheol 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. Isaiah 5:14
Pomp means, "an uproar, horrible noise, rushing about." This great sound created with shouting and the sound of the trumpet would accompany the destruction by fire of Moab (Amos 2:2).
And the mean man (hypocrite or actor) shall be brought down (humiliated), and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: Isaiah 5:15
Mighty or lofty means, "powerful, arrogant, to mount up, be proud, haughty or elevated." But you cannot "lift up the name of the Lord" with noisy, expensive rituals deliberately, according to Lynn Anderson, calculated to deprive the people of time even to think between songs. If the people are driven to clap their hands or lift up then he believes that he has brought them into the presence of God. However, this is nevery Godly:
But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. Isaiah 5:16
Then shall the lambs feed (be pastored) after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat. Isaiah 5:17
The strange ones were to turn aside or gather together to turn into the places of hostility and spiritual prostitution. However, lambs don't eat the raw meat still bloody from the pagan worshiper's sacrifice, and we are told that "real men don't dance" at least in an attempt to arouse God. God is a "rural" Shepherd and not an "urban" Rapper or Rocker because:
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. Psalms 23:2
Still means, "peaceful, take ease, quiet, rest, repose and consoled." It also means, "a settled spot or a place like home where we rest." It never means "like a theater!" Jesus never performed or danced and the Incarnate Spirit God of the Universe will not dance with you. Never!
A common thirst, then and now, caused them to spend fortunes and hire "facilitators" (often foreigners) to "bring the worshipers into the presence of God." His presence will not be felt in right living and social justice but in loud, mind-altering religious festivals. The "feeling" (induced by endorphins) will be sold as proof that you have met the gods face to face. The pagan's thought that knowing the worship priestess was knowing their god personally or sexually!
However, God pronounced woes upon those:
That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel (pattern or paradigm) of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know (feel it) it. Isaiah 5:19
To "hasten" means "to be eager with excitement or enjoyment." This may be what creates a world-plaguing epidemic of anxiety which is deliberately created as an artificial means of change. The superiority of the "new wine in new wineskins" will be based upon the exhilaration (Shelly/Harris, Second Incarnation) felt by those seeking the lost God not already in their midst. But God told Elijah:
Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor (earning) is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? Habakkuk 2:13
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14
These agents of change were depriving the people of God's Word while pretending they were leading them into the presence of the real God because they could never sense Him because of the noise, saying, "I thirst!"
Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach (point or aim the finger at) Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath (spirit) at all in the midst of it. Habakkuk 2:19
But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence (hush, hold your tongue) before him. Habakkuk 2:20
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings houses. Matthew 11:8
Soft is from the Greek:
Malakos (g3120) mal-ak-os'; of uncert. affin.; soft, i.e. fine (clothing); fig. a catamite (male prostitute): - effeminate, soft. (g3119 means soft or diseased)
The "choral" dance was performed by the women worshipers of Dionysus or effeminate men. If they could get Jesus and John to dance when they piped.
"Asherah: She is the Queen of Heaven, in other languages and ages identified as Ashtoreth, Athirat, Astarte, and Ishtar. Yahweh, the Hebrew God elevated to become the sole deity , was Her consort.
Her "male" priestesses were known as kelabim, the faithful "dogs" of the Goddess, who practiced divinatory arts, danced in processions, and served as hierodules (prostitutes or concubines), qedeshim, in the company of other priestesses.
Elements of the goddess worship were largely erased in a cultural purge c. 630 BCE by King Josiah, at the behest of Yahweh's priests, who required supremacy."
"Isis: Gender-variant priestesses, often self-emasculated, danced and performed magic rites with the other women devotées. Such a dance can be viewed on a marble relief at Ariccia, near Rome on the Appian Way. Ecstatic dancing, lifting of skirts, shaking of buttocks, tossing of heads and
raising of arms reveal the enthusiasm of the dancers.
It also reveals that some are clearly male-born. Such as these were called cinaedi."Jesus also worried about those who dared to dance with Him as God-Incarnate. He recommended sitting and listening::
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Mattthew 11:15
But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, Mattthew 11:16
And saying, We have piped (the flute) unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. Mattthew 11:17
Jesus was God in the flesh. If we want to dance with or move into the presence of God we will have to seek Him behind the eyes of the poor, weak or untaught. He doesn't want to dance -- He is hungry. He doesn't want to dance, He just lost a son or daughter. He doesn't want to dance, His hands are too bloody to clasp you to his breast and His feet are raw and sore to want shuffle with you.
Did you ever see a mother hen try to dance with her "chicks?" Doesn't she lead them out and scratch for food? Doesn't she hoover over them to keep the bitter rain off their backs? Dance? My Lord, what leasure we have as the "evangelists" of the Lord!
Isn't it weird that grown men want to trick other men into performing the same dance -- even in the mind -- which only one other person performed in the New Testament:
But when Herods birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod (made him "sail away"). Matthew 14:6
Jesus as God in visible form will never lead you in a "bop" or "tango." Rather, He leads beside still waters and came to free the world from those who lade us down with burdens directed to external senses rather than to our mind or spirit.
Many of the people went out as seekers seeking entertainment but Jesus recommended sitting and listening:
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Mattthew 11:15
However, the people just couldn't sit down and listen:
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. Mattthew 15:8
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mattthew 15:9
See Ezekiel 33 above in red.
The old rituals devoted to the external senses were hard to resist because "feel good" seemed so "spiritual." However, Paul said:
Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments (principles) of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, Colossians 2:20
(Touch not; taste not; handle not; Colossians 2:21
Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Colossians 2:22
Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Colossians 2:23
IF ye then be risen with Christ, seek (worship) those things which are above, where Christ sitteth (the work is finished) on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2
For ye are dead, and your life is hid (sealed and concealed) with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
The Bible, Pagan history and modern practices prove that "real men don't dance with God" -- Nor do men dead to the physical senses need to whirl away!
Later scholars who equated a lot of Christian religion to idolatry warned:
"Let revelry keep away from our rational entertainments, and foolish vigils, too, that revel in intemperance. For revelry is an inebriating pipe, the chain of an amatory bridge, that is, of sorrow. And let love, and intoxication, and senseless passions, be removed from our choir. Burlesque singing is the boon companion of drunkeness. A night spent over drink invites drunkeness, rouses lust, and is audacious in deeds of shame.
For if people occupy their time with pipes, and psalteries, and choirs, and dances, and Egyptian clapping of hands, and such disorderly frivolities, they become quite immodest and intractable, beat on cymbals, and drums, and make a noise on instruments of delusion." (Clement, Instructor, Eerdmans, p. 248)
Indeed, worship must be "in spirit" (mind) and in truth.
A short version of this paper in the context of a larger series of papers on is at: Worship in Spirit.
See The Worship Series [1][2][3][4][5] Part One --- Part Two Kenneth Sublett
Counter added 12.07.05 5.31.13 10000
<img src="/cgi-bin/Count.cgi?df=piney/counter_worship12.html.dat">
---
