The Jubilee Wineskin Gospel Kenneth Sublett
The Nashville Jubilee, trying to invent Caneridge revivalism, Promise Keepers and the Laughing Exercises are all attempts to fuel the church with new vigor. Even Nimrod believed that revival could be accomplished by external means. A better method might be to abandon denomination building, stay at home and do the work of teaching the Word.Click on UP at the end of the heading to return here Introduction--- Promise Keepers and the Year 2000 Jubilee--- Anxiety Which Prozac Will Not Cure Digging Up Old Myths According to Campbell New Programs are often a Sign of a Dying Movement Jubilee a Confusion about the Kingdom Jubilee May Deny the Atonement The Book of Jubilees The Testament of Levi The Now But Not Yet Kingdom--- The Role of Female Worship Teams The Danger to Men having their second incarnation The Kingdom Does Not Come With Observation Dogma of the Wineskin Creed The Biblical Wineskin Message The New Unshrunk Patch The "Unshrunk" Juice No sealed wineskin can contain fermenting wine Leaven of the Pharisees Music Necessary for the New Wineskin Models Commerce or "marketplace" religion demands music Nothing New Under the Sun Wine A Dangerous Pattern The Ancient Wineskin Pattern The Odes of Solomon The Final Jubilee Peter's Water of the Word Pattern Is there No Mercy? Introduction Up
The world is filled with mass movements which believe that with organization the kingdom of God will be established on earth as it is in heaven. Some of these movements are a marriage of corporate America and the bewildered church. This is the fulfillment of prophecy about the end-time church.Jesus promised to come back as Comforter so that we would not be orphaned (John 14:14-16). Where two or three (don't read thousand) are gathered together in His Name He will be in their midst. We will not find Him at the restored Feast of Tabernacles --the talent, book, music fair -- but He will be hiding inside that musically challenged friend whose off-key singing is music to my ears. He will be in the lowley who may "know but not be allowed to speak." Or He will be beside the road with a flat tire or walking alone suffering from thirst. He will not be on the book tour or lecture circuit trying to fix everthing to low spirituality to loss of humility to bad breath.
The "Wineskin Gospel" is promoted by Rubel Shelly and the Nashville Jubilee Movement as a change agent to open the church to a wider fellowship. The musical worship team is a natural outgrowth of any effort to make the church of Christ into a "me too" denomination. Wine was a magical symbol of spirit in many ancient religions, but not of the Holy Spirit. Religious, instrumental, music was used as an artificial means of intoxication or to enhance the wine. This same effect can be achieved with amplified Levite-like musical worship teams singing what Ron Brantner calls "four-part Fanny" (as in Crosby).
Magic was always present when you waited all year to assemble at the great show with rapture (read rape) for the mystery figure to be revealed to make you believe that you have "known" your god of the year.
Both the wineskin symbol and the musical worship teams are urges by some in the church of Christ to borrow old, worn out concepts. The "wellspring" of the love of the Word runs dry and the prophets "steal their prophecies from one another." These efforts attempt to restructure the church of Christ to make the kingdom come with visible proof so overwhelming that the masses -- whom Jesus fooled with parables -- will fall down and say, "Surely, God is with you."
At the same time, we all recognize the need to keep nudging the restoration movement closer to the Biblical model. Because each congregation is locally run it is not possible to impose big solutions without making the churches of Christ into a new denomination, like a wineskin without "walls."
For information on the rise of the Laughing Revival and new music to fit the revivals Click Here. The use of the New Wine model of the gospel and kingdom may give aid and comfort to those who believe that the new wine should enthuse or exhilarate. For a warning see Drunk in the Spirit.
Promise Keepers and the Year 2000 Jubilee Up
Because people use the same title we cannot assume that there are connections with other movements. However, the Jubilee expectation reaches from para-military militia movements to the Pope's year 2000 Jubilee when He will call for the union of all groups -- Break Down the Walls.
Noting the connection between the global Jubilee movements and the arrival of the New Age Messiah, Maitreya, Ed Tarkowski begins:
"Endtimes! Unity! Celebration! Joy! Rebirth! Right Relationships! Transformation! The greatest Move of God ever known to the Church!
"Is there such an occasion planned for a global celebration during which a much-loved and well-respected person will address the whole world at one time via television? Yes. Such an event is already in the works, and the united global Church is heavily involved in bringing it about. In his book, The Star Of 2000, Jay Gary writes,
"December 25, 2000 will no doubt be celebrated as the most memorable Christmas ever. As early as 1987, the Roman Catholic Church talked about the ten-year preparation needed for a worldwide satellite telecast on Christmas Day in the year 2000. Pope John Paul II or his successor is scheduled to speak to a potential audience of 5 billion people" (p. 49-50).
"Before I even saw the similarities between Hubbard's Christ and Creme's Lord Maitreya, I wrote the following in my article Part Three of The "Church's" Part In Birthing The Corporate Christ. Realizing Maitreya's agenda makes these words even more disturbing:
"The Christ said he will communicate through external communication. (Nimrod's belief) Keeping in mind [New Ager] Earnest Ramsey's conclusion that
Neo-pentecostalism's Jubilee is the same as the Age of Aquarius, or Hubbard's Planetary Pentecost,
"I ask you to consider this: Pope John Paul II is planning to speak by radio or television to 5 billion people of the world during the Jubilee celebration of Jesus' 2000th birthday. What do you suppose will happen if, during his address, he calls for another New Pentecost, or for the Spirit of Jubilee to be poured out? Would Mary inspire the rebirth of humanity to occur? What spirit do you think would respond - Jesus Christ or Hubbard's Christ? If it were Hubbard's, then the promise of a Planetary Pentecost resulting in a Planetary Birth [Christification of corporate humanity] by the New Age Christ would be fulfilled."
"Through the new "moves of God," the Church has placed itself in jeopardy by forsaking God's word for experience. Now we must consider a possible ramification of this blindly seeking after new things: Will Maitreya be standing on the platform with the Pope when the pontiff addresses the world in the year 2000? The scenario is certainly viable, but we will have to wait and see.
"I want to start with one quick comparison between Lord Maitreya and a particular aspect of the present "move of God", the laughing phenomena. If Maitreya is the Lord of the Apostasy, and if the laughing phenomena known as the "Toronto Blessing" is part of the Apostasy, then we must be able to connect the two. In Volume 1 of Maitreya's Mission, Benjamin Creme repeats a question asked him in April 1984: "Did Maitreya choose His own name?" Creme's answer is telling. Maitreya was given his name by his master at his second initiation in Mid-Atlantean times, and his name means, "The Happy One, The One Who brings Joy or Gladness" (p. 33).
Exhilaration according to Shelly
"The meaning of Maitreya's name is significant because of the chaos and division in the Church brought on by the controversy over the spiritual source of the "Spirit of Joy". One prophecy given through Master Potter Ministries says that the source is Jesus, pouring out this spirit through an Old Testament type:
"Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means 'Laughter,' is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed" (Promotion material, "The Great Intruder," 1994 Passion & Fire Conferences, Jill Austin of Master Potter Ministries).
"This prophecy contradicts Hebrews 1:1-2, which tells us,
"God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."
However, they insist:
"Christ Jesus our Lord, who fulfilled the type of Isaac by His coming into the world, means "Emmanuel, God with us." This movement's child is "Isaac, meaning Laughter," and "he" is being released into the world as new wine, bringing joy and laughter to the nations.
"In an excellent critical review of Promise Keepers in the "Dallas/Fort Worth Heritage" (June 1995) entitled "Promise Keepers: Growth and Caution," Chris Corbett chronicled the connection between Promise Keepers and the Vineyard movement, "home denomination of PK founder McCartney, PK President [Randy] Phillips, and board member James Ryle, who is also pastor to the first two." Corbett noted:
"The Vineyard movement of churches is controversial even within its Pentecostal base. It has been labeled `hyper-Pentecostal' by its detractors, which have included figures such as Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel and evangelist David Wilkerson. Currently, the Vineyard is a major conduit for the `Holy Laughter Movement' in which those said to be filled with the Holy Spirit during a meeting might begin laughing uncontrollably, becoming paralyzed, roar like a lion or howl and bark like a dog."
"Promise Keeper founder Bill McCartney's pastor, James Ryle, who has been on the Board of PK, is a highly controversial figure [see sidebar, end of article]. His participation in the `Laughing Revival' was written up in a "Washington Post" article (11/18/95) about the Laughing Movement at the Pasadena Vineyard Christian Fellowship:
"At the Pasadena church, James Ryle, chaplain of the University of Colorado football team, is telling the congregation how Jesus freed him from his own demons - growing up in an orphanage and serving jail time for selling drugs. He tells many jokes about his missing middle finger, lost to a lawn mower. There are waves of tear-wiping laughter. (Well, that might be funny without any bad motive)
"Ryle makes sound effects, including some animal noises. He snaps his fingers, bangs the podium, paces and tells how God will appear here in suits of fire, oil, water. `You will feel! And the glory of the Lord will put you down!' ("A Rush of Ecstasy and Alarm," Carol McGraw)
"The Vineyard movement has been closely associated with the signs and wonders means of evangelism. Founder John Wimber follows closely the doctrines of George Eldon Ladd who was a professor of Biblical Theology at Fuller Theological Serminary in Pasedena, California. Ladd introduced radically new ideas of the kingdom, redemption and Christian unity.
Of the use of loud music in Promise keepers, our writer continues:
"Rap music is an offshoot of soul, rhythm and blues, and rock according to Rev. Melvin Johnson in his book, "Junk Food in the Body of Christ" (Rainbow's End, 1995). Rap music is an `acceptable' alternative for Christian men who may not be comfortable with beating drums in the wilderness as the men's movement advocates. Rap music, like chanting or drumming, can be mesmerizing and has the potential to create an altered sense of consciousness. Unfortunately, this type of music has become very popular in the Christian community. Is it possible that the mass rallies of men accompanied by chants, yells, and now rap music, is designed to produce an altered state of consciousness in the name of "getting closer to God"?
On the Promise Keepers-Vineyard Movement connection Click.
And More. See Woopi Worship re Wineskins a
Anxiety Which Prozac Will Not Cure Up
While we do not endorse or condemn any of the combatants and the new world order, it might be interesting to stop by NOW and see what they have to say.
The exhilarating effect of music and wine always led anxious worshippers to believe that they had contacted their god - for a price. Wine is now a common "affect image" (Campbell) or mysical worship code to identify worship as an emotional experience. New wine without a new wineskin would be useless. Therefore, the "skin" parable is taken from the mouth of Jesus Who wasn't quite "ready for prime time."
However, the parable really says "don't put the new, unleavened juice of the gospel into the old wineskin of Judaism or paganism. The old skin contains the leaven, the pure juice will be leavened, it will ferment and burst because the wine maker did not expect it to ferment.
By putting pure juice (the gospel) into a new, uncontaminated skin, the juice would not ferment. The so-called new "paradigms" are really leaven scraped up from the garbage heaps of ancient Babylon. They will, have already, caused such ferment that the "ceremonially pure vessel of clay" into which Jesus put the pure juice or water of the word has burst at its seams. The result is the periodic division of churches of Christ into smaller and smaller splinter groups made to satisfy personal ego.
The new methods express the concern of all of us but they may just be anxiety-ridden reactions. In the words of one publisher --
"I find the end of the millennium personally upsetting to many people. Lately we've been getting lots of manuscripts on how to change your life in ways that haven't really been tried before..." Of Baby boomers, one editor said, "Right around the turn of the millennium they'll be going through their midlife crisis, whether they like it or not. This will prompt them to undertake some inner searching --not the least the search for spiritual guides (channelers or vinters) to lead them out of the wilderness of midlife." (Jeremiah, David, Invasion of Other Gods, p. 153).
Perhaps without knowing it, we repeat the Israelite desire for "guides to lead us out of the wilderness and back to 'denominational' slavery in Egypt." Others need a Jubilee to restore the land to the rightful "tribe." But first, we have to have a day of Atonement. Atonement is achieved when the "wineskin" stretches enough to be totally inclusive except for those who are exclusive. Because the "fixers for a price" are often "the breakers for a price" the motive is always the need to totally reject and atone for one's own religious past. Unfortunately, the legal need to atone for our own sins feels the need to implicate the rest of the world. According to Jeremiah --
"We're very interested right now in books that focus on the breakdown (uniting with) of Judeo-Christian structures... books about the healing issues involved [with those who are rejecting their religious past]." (Jeremiah, David, Invasion of Other Gods, p. 153).
All of these are sincere ambitions to break down the walls. However, some walls are intended for protection. Unless we see ourselves as a denomination and feel the need to do what only God can do, we should just teach the Word and remain true to the Biblical and Restoration Movement idea: there should be no institution larger than the local congregation.
"Today we tend to value tolerance so highly that we sometimes advocate indifference toward competing religious loyalties. We are likely to sympathize with Solomon's cosmopolitanism, or even with the compromising attitude of Ahab's generation, who hopped back and forth between opposing views. But, as we have seen, Israel's prophets attacked the tolerant syncretism of the time and insisted on a fierce devotion to Yahweh. It has been rightly observed that 'intolerance in religion was not a characteristic of ancient peoples, and was only introduced into Israel by the prophets.' The flame of their conviction was kindled at the ancient sources of Mosaic faith, and burst forth like a consuming fire at a time when the nation was in danger of being engulfed by Canaanite culture." (Anderson, Bernard, Understanding the Old Testament, p. 259).
It would indeed take a very "expansive" wineskin to contain both historical Judaism and Christianity. This perhaps led to a concern about the flood of new books where the credentials were superior but the message seemed destructive. Jeremiah's solution is to return to Scriptures to search for spiritual health. This might be a correct way to reject our religious pasts if it is destructive without the child-like lament, "You're one too."
The author, the publishing house, the endorsements on the cover should be indications of the spiritual content of the book. However, even those sources may experience creeping heresy. I believe the study of the Scriptures and the Christian faith are the greatest sources of spiritual health." (Jeremiah, David, Invasion of Other Gods, p. 153).
Just remember that book writing and publishing is an occupation and not always a ministry.
Digging Up Old Myths According to Campbell Up
Campbell notes two areas of concern: First, the symbols of the group loose their punch and no longer work. The "food supply" is found to just be "empty calories." The second problem is more severe. When the group opens itself up to direct spirit influences the spirit will most often be from outside the group --
"when the symbols provided by the social group no longer work, and the symbols that do work are no longer of the group, the individual cracks away, becomes disassociated and disoriented, and we are confronted with what can only be named a pathology of the symbol." (Campbell, p. 89).
In the "new winskin" model of the church, there is an urge to get the wine fermenting again and expanding the wineskin to make it expansive enough for all "sincere" opinions. In the literal wineskin, opening it up permits strange yeasts to come in and you might get vinegar -- "more harm than good." We should all know that symbols manipulate the unthinking mind:
"Now the first and most important effect of a living mythological symbol is to waken and give guidance to the energies of life. It is an energy-releasing and directing sign, which not only 'turns you on,' as they say today, but turns you on in a certain direction, making you function a certain way --which will be one conducive to your participation in the life and purposes of a functioning social group." (Campbell, Myths To Live By, p. 89).
Campbell noted that the old religions no longer work because the clergy has often abandoned the old "juice" by abandoning the Biblical role or "skin" in which God placed them --
"And even, finally, in their intimate role of giving spiritual advice, the clergy have now been overtaken by the scientific psychiatrists -- and indeed to such a degree that many clergymen are themselves returning to psychologists to be taught how best to serve their pastoral function. The magic of their own traditional symbols works no longer to heal (the milk and water symbol of Scripture) but only to confuse (drunk without wine)." (Campbell, p. 91).
This is why they can "flash the dead symbol" to produce an "affect image" and bypass the rational mind of the most educated member of the church. "He don't say nothing, he don't do nothing, he just keeps bubbling along." And the people love it --until the "mind kicks in." These "don't get caught changing the system" symbols works with the ignorant but that is enough --until even the slow mind kicks in.
Is this new wine or just an old drug? To keep the "mind from kicking in" the psychologists pretend that to question any of these religious movements is to commit the sin of "judgmentalism" or "legalism" --trying to "quench the Spirit" or "stop the wine from fermenting." However, when the mind kicks in, students of spirit-enhancing movements note what is clear in the history of ancient religions--
That the spiritualistic and the legalistic are not polar opposites but in fact correlatives has been one of the discoveries of this study... If the Spirit does not come to us freely in Christ then we must go to him through some kind of spiritual achievement and this means, ultimately, via law." "One of the most striking aspects of the Scrolls is the coincidence in them of a 'legalistic' and a 'charismatic' piety." (Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, p. 229)
Because Jesus said "my words are spirit and life" those who depend totally upon the "unfermented" Word of God are spiritual (not perfect) people. However, any attempt to arouse or awaken god or the members through some exciting ritual is true legalism. The "kicked in mind" finally reaches this conclusion.
"Church history is rife with examples demonstrating how virtually every past renewal has been hampered because the new wine has been routinely repackaged into old wineskins.
By the old wineskin, I mean those traditional church practices that are patterned after the old Judaic religious system which separated God's people into two separate classes, required the presence of human mediators, erected sacred buildings, and laid stress on outward form and ritual.
The facets of the old wineskin are many:
the clergy/laity distinction,
the spectator-performer styled church meeting,
the single-pastor system,
the program-driven worship service,
the passive priesthood, the edifice-complex, etc.
"Thus, the present cry of the Spirit of God for genuine renewal will never become a reality to those who ignore His concurrent voice regarding the call for a new wineskin -
the same wineskin that was fashioned under the New Covenant when the church was born.
While not a few have presumed that God has largely left the wineskin of church practice to the pragmatic whims of well-intentioned men, the Lord has not left us to ourselves concerning the pattern for His church.
We so often forget that the church belongs to Christ and not to us! As in the Old Testament type, no peg of the tabernacle was left to the imagination of man. Rather, the house was to be built "according to the pattern" given from above. ( Frank A. Viola, RETHINKING THE WINESKIN The Practice of the New Testament Church)
Programs are often a Sign of a Dying Movement Up
As a farm boy we can remember that the placid chicken's body suddenly broke into an exciting dance when its head was snapped off. How, then, can we tell the difference between the exciting dance and the death spasm?
If we are to repeat history, that nervous "end of the cycle" feeling will be acted out in a feeding-frenzy to establish "new programs" and to decide who will be the next "god-king" to lead us safely into the next millenium. This may look like signs of spiritual health but many observers note that it may be the "death rattles" of a Word-starved world. Using the "wine" symbol one observer noted that --
"Jingling, banging, and rattling accompanied heathen cults, and the frenzying shawms of a dozen ecstatic cries intoxicated the masses. Amid this euphoric farewell feast of a dying civilization, the voices of nonconformists were emerging from places of Jewish and early Christian worship ..." (Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1971 ed., s.v. "Music")
In worship this death-spasm may result because its "spirit" is "excitement" or "wine" rather than "Word" which gives life. By not anchoring faith in Christ's power to accomplish His task during His first advent the world might drug the church and its dying gasp might look exciting. This breakdown usually happens because --
"Based on the concept of an organic pattern in the life course of civilization, a morphology of history: the idea that every culture has its period of youth, its period of culmination, its years then of beginning to totter with age and of striving to hold itself together by means of rational planning, projects, and organization, only finally to terminate in decrepitude, petrification... and no more life.
Moreover, in this view of Spengler's, we were at present on the point of passing from what he called the period of Culture to Civilization, which is to say, from our periods of youthful, spontaneous, and wonderful creativity to those of uncertainty and anxiety, contrived programs, and the beginning of the end." (Campbell, Joseph, Myths to Live By, p. 84)
A sign of all times is the urge to try to unite all religious groups under one umbrella or wineskin. This is: "Though we cannot see eye to eye we can walk hand in hand." Or is it "unity in diversity"? This unity at great religious revivals or "awakenings" was like the music practiced by Israel and condemned by Amos. In the words of the Septuagint version they were those --
- who excell in the sound of musical instruments;
- they have regarded them as abiding,
- not as fleeting pleasures; 6:5 LXX
Those who "excelled" to be applauded were the Levitical worship teams used to pacify or motivate the slaves who were being destroyed by Solomon's temple building effort.
Justin's Dialog with Trypho the Jew translates this passage --
- Who applaud at the sound of the musical instruments;
- they reckon them as stable, and not as fleeting.
In the end, according to the message of Amos, trying to fit Canaanite yeast and Hebrew juice into the same skin resulted in a bursting skin. In the words of Deut 32:32 "Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah."
Are Jubilee type movements a Confusion about the Kingdom Up
The purifying fires flickered in dozens of historical incarnations from Babylon to Mexico's Aztecs. Rather than purifying the fires always flickered out. Those who rejected the simple Word saw the new movement as the "last hope" that God was going to perform some magic. When it never happened they fell into suicidal despair. Caneridge was no exception as Barton W. Stone admitted, too late, that revivalism does more harm than good.
Karen Armstrong in A History of God notes that confusion over the incarnation, the kingdom and the redemptive process is a common paradigm (patterns are out paradigms are in) of revivalism. Through some human effort God will "generate" or incarnate the lost Son and there will be a new blueprint to bring about the kingdom. A new awakening would validate God, His plan and especially His agents. The best proof that the old institution has been burned down and the new fires lit in all of the homes and temples is a musical and charismatic breakdown.
Furthermore, an attack upon the "established pattern" is forced to claim that the old is decadent (impoverished or irrelevant Shelly/Harris) and regressive (deleterious or inadequate according to Shelly/Harris).
In many ancient religions mourning or lamenting (usually musically) was the only way to force the god to save you -- perhaps against his will or present interest. MacArthur repeats the equivalent words used by all ancient and modern change agents where you have to "upset the equilibrium" before you can "teach the truth" --
"Evangelicals are beginning to build their theologies arouned what it means for man to be in the presence of God [rather than around the objective truth of the Word of God].
"Influenced by the wider Christian world, evangelicals who have adopted either a relational (incarnational in his words) approach or a charismatic ("neo-pentecostal") approach to their theology are more and more challenging their fellow believers to rethink the Gospel from the standpoint of their own experience with it. Their claim is that traditional evangelical theology is largely irrelevant or inadequate." (MacArthur, John, Charismatic Chaos, p. 45, Zondervan).
The "change agents" of early movements were almost "gods" because they had the ability to "find fault." Paul would hint that "fools love to be fooled." This skill meant that they had a channel to the gods and therefore a solution. However, obcession with the problem was the mark of ancient lamenting or mourning to get God's attention. These schemes are as ancient as Babylonia and as modern as the Second Coming. They tempt those seeking to reject father figures because --
"In the eyes of the revivalists, Britain had lost the new light that had shone so brightly during the Puritan revolution (restoration) and now seemed decadent and regressive. Jonathan Edwards and his colleagues led Americans of the lower classes to take the first steps toward revolution...
"Messianism was essential to Edward's religion: human effort would hasten the coming of God's Kingdom, which was attainable and imminent in the New World. The Awakening itself, despite its tragic finale, made people believe that the process of redemption described in the Bible had already begun. God was firmly committed to the project." (Karen Armstrong, A History of God, p. 325).
Surely, comes the pathetic and lost cry, if we can have a Jubilee we can get God's attention. Just let the local farms and vineyards remain fallow. It is going to be swooped up and revert to the tribe or denomination anyway. Why stay home and look after the widow and orphan. Surely if we go out to the desert or the city we can find the lost gods. Can't affort it but can't affort not to "go up to the Feast of Tabernacles" where the "men of note" will be gathered. If you want to get on the "lecture circuit" or sell that new book better go up to the book fair. Raise the money somehow. Be "leaving on a jet plane" don't care when I'll be back. Get refreshed, new sermon outlines, new "magical jokes" and tall stories about "when I lived in somewhere else." Me will be bigger, better and improved model. Come home to the ruts. Somehow just feel worse. But in the name of Tammuz and Ishtar, we will play the magical flute better next year and surely we will cause the dead or lost god to come, play the flute and smell the incense with us. Always: we will know it better by and by. And the whole episode is just so sad.
Jubilee May Deny the Atonement Up
A short page on the web declares that "Jesus will proclaim a Jubilee at His Coming." This is the magical appeal. First Jubilee speaks of "jubilate." Everyone likes to get away from the job God gave us and have some fun. Second, Jubilee speaks of liberation and we all just wish our oppressors would go away. Don't blame us for seeking Christ out in the desert. but He isn't there. He is, with His kingdom, in (or not in) the human heart:
"At the Jubilee, all the debts were canceled, all the slaves were set free, all the land returned to its rightful owner. This is a physical example of the spiritual truths that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and will be finished at His Second Coming. The debt of sin will be canceled, the slaves of sin will be set free, and the rulership of the earth will return to Jesus Christ and His Bride forever.
"(Jubilee's start on the Day of Atonement.)
"(Atonement, AT-ONE-MENT, AT ONE WITH GOD, when God and humanity come together. When Jesus Christ returns for His Bride, there will be AT-ONE-MENT.)
"A Jubilee occurs every 50 years. The 6,000 years of man will exactly complete 120 Jubilees. The root 12 in the number 120 is significant in that the number 12 denotes a completion number for man. There were 12 children of Israel, creating 12 tribes of Israel; and 12 disciples of Jesus.
But didn't Jesus come to proclaim the final and effective Jubilee?
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2) to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, Isaiah 61:1-2 (NIV)
The premillenial theme is that not now but perhaps later. We have to travel to Nashville or Jerusalem to hope that the Lord Jesus Christ will finally do what He apparently failed to do the first time!
Shelly/Harris speak of the kingdom as in the fermenting process before Jesus came but it did not complete fermentation. Therefore, we must open the church to include even more foreign leaven so that it will ferment with exhuberance. The history of all such movements show that in the end the new wine will exhilerate for a time but will then turn to vinegar. A common sign as an exhilarating worship service as the new wine ferments but becomes more toxic.
The Star of 2000 By Jay Gary
Ed. Note: Because Tabernacles is encompassed by Jubilee, the celebrations in the two seem to become one in this statement. Even in the opening praises of the book, Eagle's Nest Pastor Clarice Fluitt declares,
"This is an incredibly prophetic book. Jay Gary has peered into the spirit realm and drawn from God's secret place. He declares that the church must prepare a celebration, a festival for, about and with Jesus, our honored guest and royal Bridegroom. The Star of 2000 is infused with a biblical revelation of fullness, sonship, maturity, and perfection of the glorious triumphant church - the Feast of Tabernacles. Read the book."
"The annual calendar of Israel was built around three major festivals: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. These celebrations in Jerusalem were anything but boring. There was dancing, singing and exuberant celebration before the living God. "The Year of Jubilee encompassed these three festivals, only raised to a higher power. The clear call of God across the millennia is that we are invited to come into His presence and feast on Him. "On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus "stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink' (John 7:37). Then as well as today, Jesus calls us to experience His jubilee." ( Jay Gary JUBILEE, p. 84-85)
However, except for premillenialism and other Messianic groups, Christ came to fulfill these festivals. He is our Passover. Furthermore, Jesus refused to go to the Feast of Tabernacles until the outrages were over and perhaps he could teach. Those who had just finished their "jubilee" with singing, dancing, instrumental music, book fairs, pathetic sermons and silly poems, were on the prowl to find and murder their Messiah!
Ancient Jubilee, Finding a Scape Goat for Satan Up
The Old Testament is filled with references to the pagan practices originating in Babylon. To overcome these evil practices, god instituted laws which would directly contradict them. God's rituals were not to save Israel but to show them the contrast between Canaanite rituals, often of human sacrirfice, and His rituals which should have taught them the difference.
Their most important evil was imitating the worship of Apis, who along with all of the gods were really in honor of Satan.
For instance, when the Israelites were given The Book of the Covenant it contained the original ten commandments and about 70 enabling laws. These laws could be kept and people could live by them. However, when Israel almost immediately "rose up to play" they repeated the worship of Apis which was with dance, vocal and instrumental music. As a result God restated the ten commandments in a different form to fit a nation about to turn totally to idolatry. Furthermore, he gave them 613 laws which Jeremiah said "were not good" and Paul said were "given because of transgression."
While we cannot examine all of the rich messages of Moses and Paul to the Romans and Corinthians it is important to note that the Israelites were signing up again with a wine and music form of worship --
"The triumphal hymn of Moses had unquestionably a religious character about it; but the employment of music in religious services, though idolatrous, is more distinctly marked in the festivities which attended the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Music, p. 589).
Paul reinforced this by outlawing "singing" which came out of their own mind or "spirit." He said that musical instruments cannot teach and may just be noise and clang, and demanded that even a song believed to be inspired must teach doctrinal truth (14:6). Other scholars believe that the music proves that their worship was idolatrous --
"They sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. They practiced rites in which they made themselves naked, perhaps similar to those which were carried out by naked Babylonian priests." (Woodrow, p. 158).
"The music was designed to counteract the effects of inebriety; for as wine discomposes the body and the mind, so music has the power of soothing them, and of restoring their previous calmness and tranquillity." (Barnes quoting Plutarch, Isaiah p. 129)
"With the wine-drinking (which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew for feasting), went music and dancing." (Heaton, E. W., Everyday Life In the Old Testament, p. 93, Schribners).
"Not to be overlooked here is the accompaniment of music and dancing which, with the character of the ensuing phenomena, makes the diagnosis (of idolatry) certain." (Schaff-Herzog, Ecstasy, p. 71).
"And the people celebrated this feast with burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, with eating and drinking, i.e. with sacrificial meals and sports, or with loud rejoicing, shouting, antiphonal songs, and dances, in the same manner in which the Egyptians celebrated their feast of Apis (Herod. 2, 60, and 3, 27)." (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. II, p. 222).
"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).
"The prophets would urge the Israelites to remain true to the covenant, but the majority would continue to worship Baal, Ashera and Anat in the traditional way. Indeed, the Bible tells us that while Moses was up on Mount Sinai, the rest of the people turned back to the older pagan religion of Canaan. They made a golden bull, the traditional effigy of El, and performed the ancient rites before it." (Armstrong, p. 23)
Aaron was the originator of the self-made scapegoat. He said, in effect, "I just tossed the gold into the fire and out comes this bull (or ram)." The people made me do it. Men have never ceased to waste their time trying to find someone to "ritually murder" because they are responsible for the poor attendance in my church on Sunday evening. Habakkuk would say that God is in His holy temple and we should come before Him in silence.
Amos charged that Israel had always worshipped the star gods and Job 21 also associates them with music and a "I don't care what God has to say" attitude. Therefore, many of the symbols of Judaism were a judgmental sign against those practicing idolatry. For instance, the Scape Goat was a pagan practice which often sent a human being out to Lucifer as a sacrifice. And when Israel burned their children at Topheth to the beat of the Tabrets, they were worshiping Molech just trying to get a small message from him as the drums silenced the Word of God.
"Babylon was built as an image of heaven on earth. The New Year Festival was celebrated in April:
"The festival solemnly enthroned the king and established his reign for another year. Yet this political stability could only endure insofar as it participated in the more enduring and effective government of the gods, who brought order out of primordial chaos when they created the world. The eleven sacred days of the Festival thus projected the participants outside profane time and into the sacred and eternal world of the gods by means of ritual gestures. A scapegoat was killed to cancel th old, dying year; the public humiliation of the king and the enthronement of the carnival king in his place reproduced the original chaos; a mock battle reenacted the struggle of the gods against the forces of destruction.
"On the afternoon of the fourth day of the Festival, priests and choristers filled the Holy of Holies to recite the Enuma Elish, the epic poem which celebrated the victory of the gods over chaos. (Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, p. 7)
The old kings who try, usually haltingly, to build the kingdom on Christ through His Word are ritually murdered. The new king, usually effeminate and able to attract a certain crowd, is crowned king of the year when the crowners know, and anticipate, that he will "upset the equilibrium" of the old "pattern makers" so that the new world order or "paradigm" can be slipped in like a dagger between the ribs of the ecstasy or wine-drugged. The old water of the first creation and the water of the flood and the water of the red sea and the water of Christ's baptism and the water of the gospel which Jesus said is "spirit and life" (Jn 6:63) and the water of the Word and the water which Peter attaches to the birthing process is out.
The gospel has its second incarnation as wine. Not just wine: Fermenting, bubbling, "red in the vat," bites like the serpent of Satan, exhilarating, millenium bringing, skin-bursting, performing- women watching wine. Alcohol, which Jesus knew what modern science knows: a tiny drink of alcohol when the Cana wedding bride is just becoming pregnant may produce Fetal Alcohol Syndrome -- possibly severe birth defects.
The new wine is to put the burden of sin on the old "water goats," send them out into the wilderness, and leave the big-city crowds to those now purified of sin. If the millenium is now being brought about by "human effort" won't Jesus separate the sheep from the goats?
To mitigate the scapegoat practice, which often made a human enemy into the goat, God commanded Israel to send a real goat to eleminate human sacrifice. This would signify that no human can remove the guilt for my own problems. The goat was not magical but it promised that God would be their Personal Atonement.
Velikovsky refers to other documents and states his belief that this had once been connected with star worship:
"On the day of Atonement the Israelites used to send a scapegoat to "azazel" in the desert. It was a ceremony of propitiation of Satan. In Egypt the goat was an animal dedicated to Seth-Typhon. Azaxel was a fallen star or Lucifer. On the day on which the Jubilee year was proclaimed, the Israelites dispatched a placating offering of a scapegoat to Lucifer. In Mexico, the Aztecs offered human sacrifices in the belief that they could prevent Venus from destroying the nation every 52 years. (They also had a 52 week or yearly "Jubilee.")
Much of the Hebrew worship was dedicated to star worship or astrology. However, the Spirit of Christ was predicting that a time would come when He would be the one time atonement for mankind. In this effort, He would go outside the gate and battle Lucifer, the he goat, as He went out as the true Lamb of God. As His blood was shed outside the gate, He defeated Lucifer once for all. The goat was:
Azazel (h5799) az-aw-zale'; from 5795 and 235 (wander to and fro, spent); goat of departure; the scapegoat: - scapegoat.
Fittingly, the Aztec practice of burning down old structures and offering human sacrifices still has an appeal to the need for a second incarnation.
As Jesus has become our Passover and it would be legalistic to observe it, Jesus has become our "goat" or lamb to satisfy His own sense of Justice. We do not have to burn down old structure, throw away old computers or sacrifice our children and "destructive" brethren just to prop up the sky one more year in Nashville -- a city set on seven hills!
Many others existed (like some frontier preachers who knew nothing but had the charisma) to dispense the secrets in a way to arouse or revive the watchers to make them believe the magic and become "intoxicated without wine." When great sorrow was created the rational mind was bypassed in literal "submission" --
"Notwithstanding all the care and precautions of those who conducted these initiations (of the mysteries), enough has transpired to give us a very clear insight into their real character. Everything was contrived as to wind up the minds of the novices to the highest pitch of excitement, that, after having surrendered themselves implicitly to the priests, they might be prepared to receive anything." (Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 67)
True change may be needed at times but the need for change has always said more about the "winemakers" than the "wine." By adding "yeast" to the pure juice, however, the juice is spoiled and before you "light a fire in the heart" you may have to put the old god-king on the altar. This always implied the arrival of a new god-king selected by the supreme god. However, discoveries at Ur show that the the second incarnation is a universal appeal --
"god-kings were ritually slain every six years, eight years, or twelve, according to the various local order; and with them the dignitaries of their courts, all casting off their bodies to be born again." (Campbell, p. 66)
The god kings didn't tolerate self-sacrifice too long. They, especially the later Aztecs, discovered that it was much better for me to sacrifice you to supply the heart in which to "relight the fires" for the new period. This was so painless (to the god king) that the fifty-two year or Jubilee cycle was repeated every year.
The god-king was too important to be self-sacrificing. The true "gods needed to be protected" because there were other forces (priests down the street or even minor gods) trying to get on the lecture circuit. Among the Aztecs, mentioned favorably by Shelly/Harris, They --
"regarded themselves as the people chosen to protect the Sun God against such constant dangers... As soon as the priests thought they detected a propitious omen in the skies, the breast of a living victim was slit open and a new fire started in his heart. From this fire (revival) all the fires in the temples, and then in the homes were relighted. The world was believed to be safe, more or less, for another fifty-two years (or weeks in their New Years Jubilee). There were also five days of dread at the end of each Solar Year, as well as all sorts of dangers connected with cycles of longer and shorter duration." (Farb, p. 182-3)
Baptizing SANTA may help keep the new wineskin gods from harming you.
We should wonder how many of our young people are spiritually offered as a living victims when we run to and fro joining movements other than the blood-bought church. Doesn't our search say to them: "We gotta heap of problems and I need to go look for something different." Why shouldn't they? They should and do.
The Book of Jubilees Up
R.H. Charles, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, wrote of the Book of Jubilees:
"Writing in the palmiest days of the Maccabean dominion,in the high-priesthood of John Hyrcanus, looked for the immediate advent of the Messianic kingdom. This kingdom was to be ruled over by a Messiah sprung, not from Levi - that is, from the Maccabean family, as some of his contemporaries expected - but from Judah. This kingdom would be gradually realized on earth, and the transformation of physical nature would go hand in hand with the ethical transformation of man till there was a new heaven and a new earth. Thus, finally, all sin and pain would disappear and men would live to the age of 1,000 years in happiness and peace, and after death enjoy a blessed immortality in the spirit world.
"The writer of Jubilees, we can hardly doubt, thought that the era of the Messianic kingdom had already set in. Such an expectation was often cherished in the prosperous days of the Maccabees. Thus it was entertained by the writer of I Enoch lxxxiii-xc in the days of Judas before 161 B.C. (Charles, R.H., The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, short account of the book of Jubilees).
"According to our author (i. 29, xxiii. 30) this kingdom was to be brought about gradually by the progressive spiritual development of man and a corresponding transformation of nature. Its members were to attain to the full limit of 1,000 years in happiness and peace. During its continuance the powers of evil were to be restrained (xxiii. 29). The last judgement was apparently to take place at its close (xxiii. 30). This view was possibly derived from Mazdeism.
(This writers note) it is significant that ancient fire and devil worship was almost identical to the unbiased record of what happened at Caneridge.)
"Whether Jonathan was looked upon as the divine agent for introducing the kingdom we cannot say, but as to Simon being regarded in this light there is no doubt. Indeed, his contemporaries came to regard him as the Messiah himself, as we see from Psalm cx, or Hyrcanus in the noble Messianic hymn in Test. Levi 18. The tame effusion in 1 Macc. xiv. 8-15 is a relic of such literature, which was emasculated by its Sadducean editor. Simon was succeeded by John Hyrcanus in 135 B.C. and this great prince seemed to his countrymen to realize the expectations of the past; for according to a contemporary writer (Test. Levi 8) he embraced in his own person the triple office of prophet, priest, and civil ruler (xxxi.i5), while according to the Test. Reuben 6 he was to 'die on behalf of Israel in wars seen and unseen'. In both these passages he seems to be accorded the Messianic office, but not so in our author, as we have seen above. Hyrcanus is only to introduce the Messianic kingdom, over which the Messiah sprung from Judah is to rule.
Our author concludes that the inventor of the Jubilee theory was "unquestionably a Pharisee of the strictest sect."
It should be noted that John Hyrcanus stopped the popular practice of singing the awakening or arousal hymns of the Psalms because it smacked too much of paganism.
The Testament of Levi Up
"And now I have learnt that for seventy weeks ye shall go astray, and profane the priesthood, and pollute the sacrifices. And ye shall make void the law, and set at nought the words of the prophets by evil perverseness. And ye shall persecute righteous men, and hate the godly; the words of the faithful shall ye abhor." Levi 4:24-26
In the image of Dan, Levi prophesied that after Judah fell and went into captivity they would return. In time a new priesthood would be established and in the fifth week they would return to their desolate country and renew the house of the Lord (v. 10).
"And whereas ye have heard concerning the seventy weeks, hear also concerning the priesthood. For in each jubilee there shall be a priesthood" Testament of Levi 5:1
Levi then describes what will happen during the seventy weeks (490 years) which resulted in the captivity and their return to Jerusalem. When they returned they would renew the house of the Lord but almost immediately they would restore their old prostitute religion:
"And in the seventh week shall become priests, who are idolaters, adulterers, lovers of money, proud, lawless, lascivious, abusers of children and beasts. And after their punishment shall have come from the Lord, the priesthood shall fail" Levi 5:11
The counting began with the order to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. The seventy weeks would be seventy times seven or 490 years. The seventh week would begin in 42 years and would continue for seven years. During this return from captivity the people -- led by the priests -- would restore the idolatry which had destroyed Israel and Judah. within a hundred years the temple is not heard from until it is used by the Greeks to restore idolatry and establish the Greek Gymnasium.
In the parallel prophecy of Tyre, it was said that they would return to prostitution (literal and spiritual) and she would attract her customers by singing the song of the prostitute which was --
Take up a harp, walk through the city, O prostitute forgotten; play the harp well, sing many a song, so that you will be remembered. Isa 23:16
The prophecy of the return from captivity and the rebuilding of the temple clearly was not and could never be fulfilled by the literal rebuilding in Jerusalem. The priesthood would fail and would become a negative model of the true priesthood. It is significant that when the first century Jews observed the Feast of the Tabernacles, Jesus refused to enter Jerusalem until the beginning festivities had run their disorderly course. This feast was much like modern revivalism and mass meetings for people to hawk their wares.
In time, God would raise up a new priest and the focus would be redirected from rituals and celebrations to a life of righteousness and justice.
Then shall the Lord raise up a new priest. And to him all the words of the Lord shall be revealed; and he shall execute a righteous judgment upon the earth for a multitude of days (seven days according to Daniel). And his star shall arise in heaven as of a king. Levi 5:13-15
When Joel prophesied that God's Spirit would be poured upon all flesh it was clearly in the sense that certain people would perform the sign that Messiah had come with truth as well as with judgment. After that, Joel prophesied that the method would be for each generation to teach the gospel to the next and so on until the return.
This spirit of wisdom and knowledge would be poured out and the spirit of disorder and destruction would be judged by supernatural signs. The result of this new order would be that a spirit of understanding would lead to sanctification.
And the knowledge of the Lord shall be poured forth upon the earth, as the water of the seas. The heavens shall be opened, and from the temple of glory shall come upon him sanctification, with the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac.
And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered over him and the spirit of understanding and sanctification shall rest upon him in the water. Levi 5:19,-22
AND there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isaiah 11: 2
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: Isaiah 11: 3
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isaiah 11: 4
This would be the final priesthood and during Messiah's reign the Gentiles would be multiplied in knowledge and enlightened through the grace of the Lord. Finally he will put an end to sin and lawlessness. In time, Messiah will restore the original state which Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden:
And he shall open the gates of paradise, and shall remove the threatening sword against Adam, and he shall give to the saints to eat from the tree of life, and the spirit of holiness shall be on them. And Beliar shall be bound by him, and he shall give power to his children to tread upon the evil spirits Levi 5:26-27
After completing his message, Levi gave his people a choice:
And now, my children, ye have heard all; choose, therefore, for yourselves either the light or the darkness, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar" Levi 5:30
But the Kingdom has Come Up
Many revivalistic movements believe that Scripture is inadequate (still fermenting) and that Christ did not establish the kingdom as fully as it will ever be established on earth --
Rubel Shelly: Borrowing Kung's words again: 'Even though it is not the kingdom of God which is to come, it is already under the reign of God which has begun'; the church anticipates the kingdom by being 'its voice, its announcer, its herald.'" (Shelly/Harris, Second Incarnation, p. 75)
I thought that John the Baptist did that. But I realize that many are looking for the "model in heaven" as the ideal to "finally come" and be established on earth. But since our "citizenship is in heaven" we should have little interest in trying to force Jesus to once again and tread the dirty streets of Jerusalem or Nashville. He refused to attend the musical performance phase of the Feast of Tabernacles and He probably wouldn't accept our invitation. Didn't Amos find that the leaders of Israel refused God's invitation to dialog?
There is a close connection between Dominion Theology and Jubilee movements:
"Dominion theology (the belief-system behind the reconstructionist movement) teaches that through the coming of Christ the believer has dominion over every area of life. We are now in the Kingdom of God (note the similar view of the Kingdom that the Vineyard movement takes, as well as the plethora of Christian songs being written implying that we are in the Kingdom at the present time), and as a result, we should be reigning with Christ over the earth (as Rev. 5:10 says). The question is when will we reign. If the Kingdom is on earth now, then we should have dominion now, so say the Dominionists. Many of us non-reconstructionists proclaim this same thought when we sing the popular Charismatic song "Majesty," which invites us to "Come glorify Christ Jesus, the King"--after all, "Kingdom authority flows from His throne unto His own."
With this authority from the King we are to reclaim the earth for Christ, not just spiritually, but socially, economically (it is no accident that one of the reconstructionist's organizations is called, The Institute for Christian Economics), and politically. The dominion of the earth is accomplished not only through prayer and evangelism, but through political process and social reformation. [The Dominion/Reconstructionist organization Coalition on Revival (COR) was established for this purpose; more on COR in a companion report.] Christ will not return to earth until the church has accomplished this task.
"Followers of DT, like many charismatics, especially the Latter Rain Movement, look for a great end time revival in which the masses will turn to Christ. As a result, DT does not believe in the rapture. According to DT, the world should be, and is becoming, a better place through the efforts of Christians (cf. 2 Thes. 2:1-12). As with many others who follow the teachings of George Ladd, DT believes that
we are in the Kingdom age, but the Kingdom in another sense is yet to come.
We are in the Kingdom, and have Kingdom authority, but on the other hand, we are ushering in the Kingdom through our efforts. "The Kingdom is now, but not yet," is apopular slogan.
"DT is postmillennial. It is believed that as a result of the reconstruction of society by Biblical principals that the final aspect of the Kingdom of God will be established on earth. Christ cannot return until a certain amount of dominion is achieved by the church. It is believed that the curse will slowly be removed as the world is won over. Even disease and death will be all but eliminated before Christ returns to the earth.
The "archaic" has a strong appeal: old junk seems like an antique if the price is high enough. However, we should understand that in this "nostalgia for the good old days" the Jews failed because they saw a god who didn't quite meet their needs. He lived in standing stones, could be called to attention with music and could be fired so that they could return to Egypt. However, He warned the people that He, and not the Baals, created the world and could do what the idols could not do --it was His world.
Christ did not need to "break into" the world --it is His world. However, as a grudging concession we might even confess that --
Rubel Shelly: In Christ, the reign of God has broken into (violated or transgressed re Thesaurus) the world in a decisive way and continues to be displayed in the church. In Colossians 1:12-13 for instance, there is clearly a close relationship between the ekklesia and the 'kingdom of light' and the kingdom of the Son." (Shelly/Harris, p. 75)
But I thought that Jesus was the Foundation, Body, Head with Spirit and everything we know of as "church." His is the kingdom and we are the ekklesia called out to be united with Him and have our citizenship transferred to heaven.
Almost two thousand years ago, the proof of the "fully-broken through kingdom" was confessed by Paul when he wrote --
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, Col 1:10
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully -- giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Col 1:11-12
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and (has) brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, Col 1:13
If we cannot find the lost kingdom then perhaps we are looking in all the wrong places. Perhaps we just have not grown up:
"It is possible that some spiritual immaturity today may arise from other causes. It may be produced by a failure to provide an adequate program of Bible instruction for the whole church. It may be the result of indifference and lack of a real desire to know the rich things of the Word.
Too often people have assumed that all the Bible should be as simple as kindergarten lessons. It that were true, it is doubtful if there would ever be such a thing as a full grown Christian. The usual Sunday morning scolding which the church receives for not doing this will only make the situation worse. (Applebury, p. 51)
Farb notes that Shaminism has its own revival because of the false notion that orthodox religion must solve all of life's ills (marriage, children, drugs, bank account, broken auto, bad breath). When our human scheme fails -- and they always fail -- the church throws up its hands and abandons its "post" where Jesus left it to deliver the Word "as it has been entrusted to you." When that happens a new leader with a magical solution is right there because --
"The revival of shamanism in the United States is probably symptomatic of the weakening of orthodox religion's ability to regulate social behavior and to maintain social values -- and of the lack of any stirring new philosophy or ethic to replace the vacuum left by traditional religions." (Farb, p. 182)
The urge of Mexico, Babylon or Cane Ridge as dead symbols create the "affect image" and sounds very spiritual. However, Farb and others observe that this is a "rejection of the old religion" in favor of the Shaman whom we can see and worship. The "bad pattern," which he probably created in the first place, is denied to have power to "light fires in old hearts." When the self-invented goal of the church does not work, the "magic" is gone and he goes looking for an old image to incarnate and give life.
Because the church as the "old wineskin" is believed to be "bursting" it might be more than a metaphor when on page 5 Shelly/Harris use the Aztec imagery to say that God has called us to do something to bring the kingdom into view --to rescue us from ignorant theology and destructive church organization. After speaking of the church as God's laboratory they quote:
Rubel Shelly: "It's as if with each generation, right in the teeth of whatever's threatening humanity the worst, the Master Conductor is calling together another ragtag orchestra of amateur musicians and asking us to play music that's so great we can't quite play it!" Shelly/Harris
The overwhelming belief that God needs us as a ragtag orchestra to play unplayable music corresponds to the age-old belief that "the sky is falling and the gods need me to prop it up." The Aztec's held their yearly "Jubilee" where all things were revived-through-burning. Unfortunately, the leaders were still sign-seekers and the nation was believed to be "revived" or "restored" only when they received a supernatural sign. In the modern world this is a real charismatic breakdown or even "exciting music" which has been called "low-level glossolalia."
This sorrow for a failing church or nation also has its counterpart in all ancient incarnations of the need to rescue God and His kingdom.
The Role of Female Worship Teams Up
Under another heading we note that Musical Worship Teams perform the primary task of overseeing the flock. This is true because overseeing is literal standing over a flock to teach and protect it. It is also true because the overseers or excellers were the Levitical Musical Worship Teams who were were the overseers of the Temple building and worship ritual by oppressing others with music, which they thought of as pleasing but God saw as "the idolatry of talent."
A friend and amateur literary critic listened to some excerpts from a new, popular, widely worshipped author and said: "That book was written by a woman." Perhaps that is why I gag on the flowing prose which cost many sleepless hours when Scripture would have done the job.
Another friend noted that the modern two-legged stool needed (in the mind of the restorers) is (1) a wider role for women and (2) musical forms of worship. It was recognized that both would have to follow the ancient pattern of gradualism. The goal in this person's mind was to change the nature of the church by training "ministry teams" to excite and enthuse. This principle of music is made clear when the same Hebrew word defines both "weapon" and "psaltery" or other musical instruments. It was a principle spread throughout the ancient world of religion , warfare and politics.
For instance, Plato was an early proponent of a wider role for women as part of the ruling class. One historian, however, held that Plato was pragmatic and knew that it was "due to a recognition that the breeding arrangement (system of growth) could not be worked out on any other basis." That is, the new system to restore the dead religion and state could not function without a ruling role by women. However, Plato had more interest in young boys than women and the ruling role was usually limited to music. This music, in turn, became just as codified in "song books" as the old.
Because it can easily be shown that many "churches" in their present incarnation are more Greek than Biblical it is interesting that Plato warned that music was a tool of "gradualism" used as change agent. In the Republic, Book IV he understood that those changing the musical forms intended to change the laws. Therefore --
"music and gymnastic (must) be preserved in their original form, and no innovation made. They must do their utmost to maintain them intact. And when anyone says that mankind must regard...
The newest song which the singers have, (Osyssey)...
"they will be afraid that he may be praising, not some new songs, but a new kind of song; and this ought not to be praised, or conceived to be the meaning of the poet; for any musical innovation is full of danger in the whole State, and ought to be prohibited. So Damon tells me, and I can quite believe him;
he says that when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them..."
"Then," I said, "our guardians must lay the foundations of their fortress in music?"
"Yes," I replied, 'in the form of amusement: and at first sight it always appears harmless'." (The Great Dialogs, Plato, Classic edition, p. 312)
Because there is so much Greek influence in modern churches of Christ, we should not be surprised that, along with the notion of "upset the equilibrium with a change agent," musical worship teams have the power to triumph over the older leaders and permit the "women and children" to rule over in the sense of oppresive "anxiety created by religious rituals."
"...an immediate relation is seen by some Biblical scholars between music and magic. It cannot be denied that this relationship is assumed in the myths and legends of the religious systems surrounding Judaism. Nor can it be denied that music and magic are linked in religious systems of primitave cultures everywhere. Furthermore,...the influence of the Greek Philosophical system still has overtones in much of today's thinking regarding musical values. In one way or another the Church, especially the Roman Catholic and in less systematic ways, much of Protestantism, has adopted this philosophy...
Current use of music... seems to suggest that music has somewhat intrinsic powers to change behavior" (Zondervan Pictorial Dictionary., Music P. 312).
Campbell published a letter sent in by John Rogers and written by a "prominent brother" and signed "G" (Choate/Woodson p. 12) which reads in part:
"... could the music of our churches be improved --could it be accompanied with an instrument, it would add much to the solemnity of our worship; it would sooth and calm the feelings of the auditors... If martial music thus inspires the worshippers of Mars, will sacred music do less for the humble followers of the meek and lowly Jesus."
Dryden in A Song for St. Cecilia's Day connected the music of Jubal to the traditions that Satan gave men like Genun (Jubal) and Mercury the power to invent musical instruments. Mercury invented his while still an infant in the cradle by putting strings on a turtle shell--
- What passion Music raise and quell!
- When Jubal struck the chorded shell
- His list'ning brethren stood around,
- And, wond'ring on the faces fell
- To worship that celestial sound.
- Get mercury and turtle shell
We can argue about which "institutions" and "systems of ritualism" need to be revived but it cannot long be argued that the direction some want to take the church cannot be done without ignoring the Word primarily through Music (See Amos and Isaiah). In the end the awakened church will die because of "hunger and thirst for the Word."
The Danger to Men having their second incarnation Up
It is more than interesting that Plato and others were pragmatic about new "ruling teams" but this did not hide his real view of women as inferior (boy love was Platonic love) because --
all those creatures generated as men who proved themselves cowardly and spent their lives in wrong doing were transformed, at their second incarnation, into women." (Timaeus, 90)
A common ancient refrain is that "music is the feminine art" and it cannot function without women or, as in early church music, boys who look like girls. That is, they are given a new birth (at times through castration) to incarnate them into women to make them suitable for the new "ministry."
Consistent with this, in Catholicism a system of "Mother goddess" worship was developed. However, because only men could be "clergy" the musical "presenters" needed to be male to be "Scriptural" but, at the same time, female-perhaps to make the monks, who promoted the music, feel spiritual.
The modern incarnation of ancient religion supports the idea that while one might cry out "Holy, Holy" another "dances before him." We remember that David did this and scholars note that His "play" before God uses the same image of Israel at Mount Sinai. After David's ignorance of the Word led to a plague on the nation, God permitted him to build an altar in Jerusalem because David could never again go before God at the Tabernacle to inquire of God. This was part of the curse upon Israel as their kings led them into captivity and death.
To say music, in the ancient world, was to say dance. However, this was appropriated from the women in order to make the fertility rituals operate. It is noted that:
"Their assertion was that when women danced, they lapsed into sensuality; when men danced, they were not manly, His counsel was: 'The Christian dancer, through movement, must draw the focus of the audience to the Lord and what the Holy Spirit is saying.' He warns: 'Many forms of dances have sensual movement as a vital part of their vocabulary.' He notes that: "Real men dance,' although, 'the christian dance field is still predominately female." (Woodson, p. 99 quoting Randall Bane).
This is also scholar's observation about the public, performing singing (preaching) of women. It is not possible to stand over, preside and teach over men even with song without a two-way transfer of sexuality.
Clement and most early scholars condemn music and dance as effeminate. Arnobius warned about some speakers we have heard --
"But further, if they see men weakening themselves to the effeminacy of women, some vociferating uselessly, others running about without cause, others... bruising themselves... contending in speaking without drawing breath, swelling out their cheeks with wind, and shouting out noisily empty vows, do they lift up their hands to heaven in their admiration." (Arnobius, the Against Heathen, Ante-Nicene Fathers, VI, p. 531)
The Kingdom Does Not Come With Observation Up
I am sure that being a preacher is frustrating. The "brethren and sisteren" are anxious for numbers and never allow Jesus to remove the burden which is defined as "mental aggitation from religious ritual." New creed writers, like most of us, are frustrated over the churches where we have to ask: "Church or Cave of the Bear Clan?" We are anxious because we expect the kingdom to come or be saved by some effort of our own. We remember an earlier experience where Jesus warned us not to go out to the cities, the religious festivals or the desert:
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Lk 17:20
Neither shall they say, Lo here or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Lk 17:21
A wide-spread theme is expressed in the book, The Second Incarnation. Shelly/Harris claim that wine was Jesus' symbol of the gospel and kingdom. If neither kingdom nor gospel has fully developed it is because the "wine is still bubbling." That is, Jesus put the impure "fruit of the vine" in a wineskin and it began to bubble and churn. It is still not yet "ready for prime time." By supplying a new "wineskin" the "sparkling in the cup" gospel has room to develop to its full potential. This can only happen when the billy goat skin is big enough to hold everyone whom the includer needs to include as a new, but opposite, form of judgmentalism.
Often we are so frustrated that we plant and we water and we just can't make the cabbage heads grow, that we try to revive Caneridge and erect Gilgals and call them Eben-ezers.
However, the point which Jesus made might be obscure but our mothers understand it. As a youth we washed and sterilized last year's glass jars. Then mothers boiled the juice to kill all the yeast, placed it in the clean jars, further sterilized it in a pressure cooker, sealed the jar while hot air was still escaping and then seal the jar. The juice did not ferment and it could be used as a food. We could open
Dogma of the Wineskin Creed Up
We will briefly look at the overwhelming evidence that the wine and wineskins model for the gospel is turning Christ's parable and the entire Biblical commentary on wine upside down. Perhaps without understanding ancient history, new searches for "the ancient order" skips over Christ and lands in downtown Babylon.
Before looking at the ancient and modern code words such as "Caneridge, wineskin, Jubilee, and Aztecs," we will look at some of the beliefs of the new movement. The first belief is that
Rubel Shelly: Jesus said it would be dangerous to try to contain the new, fermenting wine of the gospel of the kingdom of God in the old wineskins of religious tradition." (Second Incarnation, p. 11).
I am not sure Jesus ever said that! He knew as well as any schoolboy that not even the best and newest sealed skin could contain fermenting wine. We think that He said "don't try to put fresh, purified-by-the-blood juice in an old wineskin of unnatural attempts to find the lost gods with wine and music." Jesus said: "even simpletons know not to put fresh juice into an old skin." This is because the old skin contains the old leaven of the Pharisees (Jubilees, Pentecosts, Feasts of Tabernacles).
The next belief is that the new world order was already taking place when Jesus came:
Rubel Shelly: "Change and newness did not end with his arrival. The wine is still fermenting. Tired forms will not work with an exuberant message. The deep ruts of customary practice are not adequate to be a highway of holiness. The gospel he left to inform and empower his church is 'a new and living way'. (Second Incarnation, p. 11).
We noted above, that the Book of Jubilees taught that the kingdom was already at work even before Jesus came. This "fermenting change" did not end with the arrival of Jesus, according to Shelly and Harris. This could mean that it began without Jesus.
Associating wine and the highway of holiness is not the way to find the "narrow gate" of Jesus. The term "Jubilee" is associated with para-military movements. It expresses the belief that it is time to throw away old computers or, in the image of the Aztecs, burn down the old structures to assist God in holding up the sky so that a new period can begin. The Book of Jubilees was written well before the time of Christ and saw the kingdom as having begun but not-yet-developed (fermented). This book, also, measured the validity of the kingdom by what was seen and felt in exhilarating worship services.
In this new, yet ancient, gospel Jesus seems to have failed to complete the gospel but it is still fermenting. Perhaps we are testing Jesus by your "pattern" and my "paradigm" and failing to ask whether the least of our flock found Jesus incarnated in a poor woman just looking for a cup of cold water -- or some Spiritual water. This paves the way to say that His kingdom has not arrived --
Rubel Shelly: The wine is the bubbling, churning gospel. It is the ever-arriving-yet-never-fully-realized-on-Earth kingdom of God. It is the powerful presence of the Spirit of God among believers. The wineskins are the points of contact between the wine and culture. They are the forms and programs we maintain, the organizations and institutions, or the patterns and procedures... (Second Incarnation, p. 11).
New purified wineskins kept closed to prevent the "leaven of Herod or the Pharisees" from getting inside to spoil, rot or contaminate the pure juice as a food product.
If the kingdom of Christ is within me I am not sure how you can tell whether it has arrived or not. If it depends upon our outward, faciliting structures then we will always be restoring but never quite making it. As Chico would say: "Not my job."
These are not similes. The gospel, the kingdom and the Spirit are, in this view, fermenting wine. The KJV uses "bottles" rather than "wineskins" but lacks the coded symbol of the wineskin. You could not sell a "bottle" gospel!
Another word pointing to the "leap" and ancient music to replace the Word is "unplayable music" --
Rubel Shelly: God is still calling together ragtag orchestras of amateur musicians to play music so great we 'can't quite play it. (P. 15)
When the scholars get enough education to understand that their old pattern had flaws they often conclude that it is not possible to even make a new pattern. Because they have charged themselves with doing "an end run around God's Word," they try self-help, developing "how to achieve spirituality" seminars. I am waiting for a "Come Cure Your Bad Breath Seminar." When this doesn't work --why should it --music helps fill up those "pews disguised as empty seats."
Perhaps there would be less "sacrificing the slaves" during the Aztec Jubilee if we just did not try to play too hard looking for numbers or something ill-defined. Isn't it legalistic to expect too much from our programs, preaching and crowd-bringing choirs and Levitical worship teams? Will red-necked, spit-slinging jokes convert? Wouldn't it be better just to "equip each member" for the ministry by teaching the Word without cutting-and-splicing it into paganistic, magical incantations. Didn