Rubel Shelly - Faith Matters - Praise and Thanksgiving

Rubel Shelly of Woodmont Hills: I want both to affirm the value and meaning of worship to the Lord and help to direct you in an experience of it.

Lipscomb: Follow Up to Re-Visioning: I Saw the Lord: The Vision of God in Isaiah at Lipscomb.

Jesus said that worship is in THE NEW PLACE of the human SPIRIT which is the human MIND. Worship happens IN TRUTH according to Paul when we Teach that which has been taught or give heed to the inspired Word.

ALL external worship is PAGAN and Perverted. See the charismatic connection

A Cappella Worship Leader
Aquinas, Thomas Praise Singing.
Praise Songs as Christian Voodoo
Ancient Pagan Praise Leader
Music as Brainwashing
Latter Rain, praise teams, praise singing, charismatic
Praise Worship Ploughs the Ground Hosea 10:ll
Rubel Shelly Praise and Thanksgiving YOU ARE HERE
Rubel Shelly Psalm 106
See how CHARISMATIC music was born of sodomy preferably in the form of Pederasty.
See that ZOE is Eos or Helios or Aphrodite or Lucifer: the singing and harp-playing prostitute.
See how it works out when the "children and effeminate rule over you."
See more notes on a cappella.
See Edward Fudge on A Cappella

Great Themes of the Bible (#17-Praise and Thanksgiving)

Excuse Me! Musical worship teams are claimed to have power to move the worshiper into the presence of God. This is a brave claim that they are mediators between the paying audience and God! The presumed power to direct people into a worship experience is also a claim to be the mediators. Worship is not in the flesh but in the spirit. Therefore, no one can get into our spirit or mind (nous) as we meet God as pure or Holy Spirit in the holy place (naos).

Let's assume that you and some friends who have never heard about Jesus Christ are meeting in your home for coffee. A knock on the door and you are absolutely certain that the man who says that He is Jesus is really Jesus.

Now, what do you do? Oh! I know. You blow the pitchpipe and begin singing a sentimental, often erotic "praise song" which you have composed and which is supposed to work magic on God and the "audience."

No, you don't do that unless you are a blasphemer. What you do, is to "praise" Jesus by telling your friends who Jesus is and what He has done in words which He inspired as "the Spirit of Christ" in the Bible.

A "praise ritual" is crying "Lord, Lord" or "Ab, Ab" and try to "cast out demons" by what was known as "musical prophesying." If you do that then God is going to say: "I don't even know who you are."

Before we get to this conversion of church from "school of the Bible" to worshp center we need to understand a few things. The Britannica speaks of the most ancient view that priests and magicians make the same claim. This is why Jesus died to give each individual the right to "come boldly before the throne" without a human mediator:

"Magicians are often confused with priests, shamans, and prophets, mainly because many of these practitioners' activities include acts that are traditionally defined as "magical"; i.e., while essentially they are regarded as

intermediaries between men and gods or spirits,
in the sense of acting in a direct personal relationship, some of their acts are also impersonal or "magical."
........... It is often, perhaps usually, impossible clearly to distinguish between priests and magicians;

Click To see How Men Mediate With Psychology

Catholicism acknowledges restoring the priesthood and the Musical Levites and music "as worship" along with other elements from "paganism in general." Furthermore the eucharist was made into a magical ceremony as worship was removed from the personal spirit into set places at set times which outlawed that for which Jesus died:

"A priest + became the principal celebrant of the Eucharist. In this capacity, as well as by hearing confession and granting absolution, the priest eventually assumed the role of the church's chief representative of God to the people. The development of eucharistic theology resulted in a further emphasis of the priest's supernatural powers and qualities.

"The primary role of the priest is that of the ritual expert, the one who has a special and

sometimes secret knowledge of the techniques of worship, including incantations, prayers, sacrificial acts, songs, and other acts
that are believed to bridge the separation between the divine or sacred and the profane realms.

The priest gains such knowledge through the institution known as the priesthood, which may be composed of various groups or guilds devoted to all or only a few aspects of the priestly craft +

However, "Among Protestants the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers (i.e., all believers have direct access to God) militates generally against strong anticlerical tendencies within their own ranks. In Islam there is, technically, no priesthood, though there are local spiritual and community leaders, such as the imam, the mullah, the mufti, the qadi, and others."

Separating "praise teams" from the "audience" is a rejection of Christ's repudiating of "the doctors of the Law, Pharisees and Scribes."

The claim of mediating powers in prayer, music or worship in general is cutting the church free from the sole mediating and salvatory work of Lord Jesus Christ Who had only One Incarnation. We have posted a review of Dallas Burdette which affirms the power of PRAISE to accomplish God's WORK.

The American Restoration Movement broke with organizational or institutional churches by depending upon Scripture. That being true, there was no room for local operators in any sense. Those once "pastors" became Evangelists or teachers and had no supernatural authority with God that all of the members did not have. We believe that Campbell was critical of the magicians and not evangelists.

While his comments may not represent the total movement, or necessarily the opinion he always held, the following quotation clearly shows that Alexander Campbell saw the need for a total restoration movement back to the Biblical model of the church. He was prophetic of the present apostasy in much of the Restoration Movement.

The Restoration Movement preachers saw themselves as evangelists. Even in a "located" sense they were ministers or servants of the flock. However, within the protestant churches the "preacher" was pastor or the head of the congregation who received his commission from denominational headquarters. Of those, Campbell demands:

"Give money to make poor pious youths learned clergy, or vain pretenders to erudition; and they pray that they may preach to you; yes, and pay them too. Was there ever such a craft as priestcraft? No, it is the craftiest of all crafts. It is so crafty that it obtains by its craft the means to make craftsmen, and then it makes the deluded support them!" (Campbell, Alexander, Christian Baptist, Dec. 1, 1823, Vol. 1, p. 91).

"Money is of vital consequence in the kingdom of the clergy. Without it a clergyman could not be made, nor a congregation supplied with a 'faithful pastor.' O Mammon, thou wonder-working god!" (Ibid., p. 124).

"'Will you,' said an honest inquirer, 'allow the clergy no salary at all? Will you not allow the poorer class of the clergy a decent little competence?' I replied I have no allowances to make. Let them have what the Lord has allowed them. 'How much is that?' said he, Just nothing at all, said I. A church constituted upon New Testament principles, having its own bishop or bishops, or, as sometimes called, elders, will not, and ought not to suffer them to be in want of any thing necessary, provided they labor in word and doctrine, and provided also, they are ensamples to the flock in industry, disinterestedness, humility, hospitality, and charity to the poor. Such bishops will now be esteemed very highly in love for their words sake; but especially those who, by their own hands, minister not only to their own wants, but also to the wants of their brethren." (Ibid, p. 140).

"That any man is to be paid at all for preaching, i.e. making sermons and pronouncing them; or that any man is to be hired for a stipulated sum to preach and pray, and expound scripture, by the day, month, or year, I believe to be a relic of popery." (Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 185).

"Our Elder labors with his own hands, that he may live honestly..." (Vol. 5, p. 163).

"... our elders labor... for their support, and are not burdensome to the church; but in case of need..." (Vol, 5, p. 95).

The present apostasy is too bad for honest evangelists who would love to preach the gospel.

The recent shift to "worship as the role of the church." However, the Bible--once held by the changers to be inspired insisted that:

Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; Eph 3:8

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: Eph 3:9

To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, Eph 3:10

Of course, the ancient view that "praise" has some kind of mediating or magical power demands the use of both people (called "the idolatry of talent" by one writer) and certain instruments which "multiply" the power of the praise with God. The test of the effect is measured by how much excitement we create: some hurtful things can put a smile on your face.

The "familiar spirit" of the witch of Endor was an old water or wine skin. It was hollow and echoed like the booms and clangs of 1 Cor 13. The hucksters claimed that the voice from the instrument or the "idolatry of talent" was the voice of the gods and "bringing the worshipers into the presence of God."

Of ceremonial objects +:

These objects thus can be mediatory devices to contact the divine world,
........... as, for example, the drums of shamans (religious personages
........... with healing and psychic-transformation powers).
........... Conversely, they can be mediatory devices used by a god
........... or other supernatural being to relate to man in the profane realm.

"They may also be used to ensure that a chief or sovereign of a tribe or nation
........... achieves, and is recognized to have,
........... ........... the status of divinity in cultic or community ceremonies.
........... Of such a nature may be phallic cults.

Military, Animal Burning and Forced Labor "music."

Musical worship teams" including the Levitical Musical Worship teams were under the king and the commanders of the army:

David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: 1 Chr.25:1

This was the "service" of a secular, military kingdom and was not worship in the true system:

Abodah (h5656) ab-o-daw'; or abowdah ab-o-daw'; from 5647; work of any kind: - act, bondage/ bondservant, effect, labour, ministering (-try), office, service (-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, wrought

Abad (h5647) aw-bad'; a prim. root; to work (in any sense); by impl. to serve, till, (caus.) enslave, etc.: - be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear, execute, / husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper.

Of building the temple or overseeing the burning of thousands of animal carcasses the "musicians" blew dozens of trumpets during animal burning or they panicked the enemy into retreat or they drove even Israelites into building the Temple. The slave-driving musicians of the river boats were not there for pleasure or worship:

And the men did the work faithfully: and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward; and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of musick. 2 Chr 34:12

Nacach (h5329) naw-tsakh'; a prim. root; prop. to glitter from afar, i. e. to be eminent (as a superintendent, espec. of the Temple services and its music); also (as denom. from 5331), to be permanent: - excel, chief musician (singer), oversee (-r), set forward.

The African Pattern adapted to "praise singing."

Singing erotic praise songs and hand-clapping music is the tyrant's method of "getting more work" out of the slaves:

"The transfer of these West African tribal traditions to the slave fields, railways, and rivers of the southern U.S. was of advantage to oppressed and oppressor alike,
........... the slave obviously taking solace in the cultural memory of his own collective past,
........... ........... the slaveowner encouraging work songs in the
........... ........... same spirit as an infantry general might approve of military bands--
........... ........... for the stimulus they gave to work rate.

Many of the early examples of primitive vocal jazz relate closely to the labours being performed, and the content of the lyrics is a reminder that not only the cotton plantations but also the levees and railroads of the Deep South were created and maintained by slave labour. Click for More.

The "musicians" were sounders and were called overseers or excellers and even drove the slaves while building the Temple into which God would not go. Therefore, they were agents of the king as civil power and not of God.

The praise craze with or without instruments is asssuredly the sign of the end times when Jesus will cast many out of the church. The musicians and soothsayers or magicians will be in bed with one another:

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. Revelation 18:21

The music of harpists and musicians (The 9 Muses in the classics, minstrels), flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman (professionals or "technician" or craftsman) of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. Revelation 18:22 ("Grinders" in Hebrew is equivalent to concubine.)

The 9 muses also honored Apollo or Abaddon or Apollyon at the Oracle at Delphi.

Jesus knew that the noisey flute players were magicians, soothsayers. They were trying to make contact with the demon of the dead girl to appease her. However, Jesus "cast them out more or lest violently."

When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, Mt.9:23
........... he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him Mt. 9:24

The clear implication was that, like harps in "heaven," once the people were dead it would be ok to play them because they had no earthly role to play because--

The light of a lamp (Word of Christ Mt. 5457) will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom (Jesus) and bride (young, veiled women) will never be heard in you again. Your merchants (traveling men, book sellers, attempting experience) were the world's great men (grandees). By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. Revelation 18:23

Led astray is from the Greek:

Planao (g4105) plan-ah'-o; from 4106; to (prop. cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue): - go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way.

Plane (g4106) plan'-ay; fem. of 4108 (as abstr.); obj. fraudulence; subj. a straying from orthodoxy or piety: - deceit, to deceive, delusion, error.

These were the "roving stars" or planets defined as clouds without water. In Jude, quoting the book of Enoch, these were the agents of Satan who caused the first fall outside the garden by mixed-sex choirs, instruments and homosexuality which is the nature of Lucifer.

Magic or sorcery was often a drug induced along with a magical incantation or a song. Today that could be perfumed men and women, incense or flowers:

Pharmakeia (g5331) far-mak-i'-ah; from 5332; medication ("pharmacy"), i.e. (by extens.) magic (lit. or fig.): - sorcery, witchcraft.

Pharmakeus (g5332) far-mak-yoos'; from pharmakoån , (a drug, i.e. spell- giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, i.e. (by extens.) a magician: - sorcerer

Music of all forms is now that secret drug inducer. Make you feel good? Of course. Morphine make you feel good when you are passing out from pain? You betcha. However, the hangover by Sunday night will allow you to attend services "disguised as empty pews" and practices in the marketplace will be condoned by forgiveness in the holy place.

True converts from magic or sorcery:

A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls (bibles) together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. Acts 19:19

Periergos (g4021) per-ee'-er-gos; from 4012 and 2041; working all around, i.e. officious (meddlesome, neut. plur. magic): - busybody, curious arts.

These books, like the magical books peddled in church these days, were worth 50,000 days work. Yet, true converts burned them and quit using other magical scrolls -- which at times claim equal authority with the Bible.

In the end, the Babylonian form of religion will so overwhelm the world that there will be only a tiny remnant: and that remnant persecuted. See a perfect description of the first Babylonian religion where Nimrod also carried along a band of female musicians. This was one way of keeping the other males out of the turf of the Alpha male.

Because David's prophesiers were not true prophets we must understand this civil-state connection to mean that their music and instruments were believed and claimed to have magical powers. Quite often the praise was not directed to God but to the king who was the "agent" of the gods.

All of the church historians of note saw the excitement effect created by musical as madness where anyone sexually or emotionally abnormal was believed to be "possessed by the gods." Just spinning around, getting dizzy and puking on the dance team proved that you were "inspired."

Arnobius writing (A.D. 297-303) Ridicules instrumental music in worship and Charismatic Worship as idolatrous.

In a footnote on the first page of Book I the editor notes that-- arnobius, instrumental music in worship,

The words insanir, m bacchari, refer to the appearance of the ancient seers when under the influence of the deity. The meaning is, that they make their asserverations with all the confidence of a seer when filled, as he pretended, with the influence of the god." (Arnibious, Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 413)

Why Slave-Driving (emotion-driven) Overseers must Excel in the Service.

He notes that it is childish that the gods of the pagans were not interested in heavenly things but with the courser things of earth. However, he is aware that the professional religionists devised the myths and fables to fool people. They felt this need because "we need to do something about the falling attendance."

"Nay, rather, to speak out more truly, the augurs, the dream interpreters, the soothsayers, the prophets, and the priestlings, ever vain, have devised these fables; for they,
........... fearing that their own arts be brought to nought, and
........... that they may extort but scanty contributions from the devotees, now few and infrequent,

whenever they have found you to be willing that their craft should come into disrepute,
........... cry aloud, the Gods are neglected, and
........... in the temples there is now a very thin attendance.

Former ceremonies are exposed to derision, and the
time-honoured rites of institutions once sacred have sunk before the superstitions of new religions.

And men--a senseless race--being unable, from their inborn blindness, to see even that which is placed in open light,
........... dare to assert in their frenzy
........... what you in your sane mind do not blush to believe.
........... (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene Fathers, VI, p. 418)

Click for more

Contra Rubel Shelly -- The Bible -- There is no command, example, necessary inference or scrap of evidence that praise, as a legalistic, works-oriented act, has any power to get one into the presence of God for some kind of spiritual experience.

Connected to the new praise rituals is a song book which inculcates charismatic and Catholic views.

One should not be surprised, nor even disturbed, because if we understand the end times of Revelation 18 this is a more certain sign that earthquakes.

The following is commentary on the views held by Rubel Shelly and others which are widely promoted among churches of Christ along with charismatic groups. Furthermore, these views have sowed bushels of discord and reaped wagon loads of conflict as the older members who bought the building are chased out by "children piping hoping to get Jesus to dance."

Therefore, we don't respond to the psychological pressure of being labeled "unloving" for placing the crooked stick of "superstitious praise" alongside the Biblical view of church as school: Christianity is not a religion but a discipline. Therefore, it has no acts of worship which produces magical effects with the worshipers or with God. So, don't pay for it.

Great Themes of the Bible (#17-Praise and Thanksgiving)

Rubel Shelly: "Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

One of the five themes our church affirms in its Mission Statement is authentic and meaningful worship. Like Isaiah, we don't know who we are or what we should do until we see the Lord -- high and lifted up! (Isa. 6:1ff)

Throughout the Bible, the church fathers and all denomination founders knew who they were just by looking in the mirror or checking their birth certificate. They did go through the "finding themselves' imagined by moderns and post moderns. Furthermore, they all understood what to do simply by reading the word and meditating on it and confirming their lives to it.

Both authentic and meaningful worship takes place in the human spirit or mind as it gives heed to the Word of Christ which is Spirit and Life (John 6:63)

You cannot participage in that unless we are both speaking the word one to another and thereby praise God in the spirit.

Sermonizing by "taking liberties" may work but it does not teach the whole truth. Note what the Psalm really says:

PRAISE ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm 106:1

Asks the Question: Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? who can shew forth all his praise? Psalm 106:2

Gives the Answer: Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times. Psalm 106:3

First, note that the Psalmist is not defining a legalistic act of collective worship. We praise God whenever and only to the extent that we tell His story using His words.

Next, please do read the rest of Psalm 106. It tells the story of the fatal musical idolatry at Mount Sinai when Israel "rose up to play." It is not being unfair to say that Rubel Shelly claims the Exodus as "a pattern for Christian worship and community." The Bible does not agree.

A "saved" person does not lament their lostness:

Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; Psalm 106:4

That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. Psalm 106:5

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Psalm 106:6

Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Psalm 106:7

God kept on "saving" Israel when they were lost and:

Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. Psalm 106:12
........... They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: Psalm 106:13
........... But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. Psalm 106:14
........... ........... And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. Psalm 106:15

Since their singing was pagan, God abandoned them to paganism. Stephen warned:

Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Ac.7:42

If you want to rise above the sermonic apology for Israel condemned by Amos you must understand that the musical worship was the result of firing God and demanding a king like the nations so that they could worship like the nations. God promised that the kings would destroy Israel like the nations. They did and He did.

The event explains itself:

And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. Exod 32:17

And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear. Exod 32:18

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. Exod 32:19

Rising up to play means musical idolatry.

I suppose that if you are to the point of hearing God's voice audibly you are ready to see Him literally as He is lifted up. But this is what you will say if you really do "break through" and experience God. God has been lifted up on the cross and the only "missison" the evangelist has is to "go preach" what has alread occurred.

And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. Acts 28:24

And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word,
        Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Acts 28:25

Saying, Go unto this people, and say,
        Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;
        and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: Acts 28:26

For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed;
        lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,
        and should be converted, and I should heal them. Acts 28:27

Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. Acts 28:28

It is a dangerous commission to believe that we are all going to be God-ordained prophets and see the visions Isaiah saw. Now, Isaiah was a prophet commissioned by God. Unless we claim to be a prophet then we will never see God as Isaiah saw God. Stephen warned about the idolatry at Mount Sinai and explained the TRUE meaning of the temple and its worship and he saw the Lord sitting on a throne but these people ALWAYS die for their preaching:

IN the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Isaiah 6:1

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. Isaiah 6: 2

And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah 6: 3

And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Isaiah 6: 4

Maybe I am missing something but I have never seen God on the throne nor seraphims with wings nor been overcome by smoke. Therefore, unless you have experienced this same thing you are not subject to the high restriction placed on "seeing God."

Oh, for the humility of an Isaiah who responded:

Then said I, Woe is me for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah 6:5

So, if we have to follow Dr. Shelly and see God our first response will be to sit down and shut up: we will not display our talent.

If this happened in fact at this church: sermons will stop, feminine and effeminate musical worship teams will fall on their face and everyone will understand that no man's lips is capable of replacing the lips and Word of God.

Therefore, we are pretty sure that declaring the entire Bible "sifted" and then written based on the writer's personal agendas proves that we have not seen God.

And here is something else you will have as a charismatic experience which apparently is not part of the commission of one selected to be a charismatic evangelist by the "sovereign grace" of God:

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isaiah 6:8

Don't we sing joyfully and musically "Lord send me" and just lie and lie and lie. Here is the Great Commission for those who have been giving charge by God and if they do not GO then they violate a direct command and therefore cannot love God.

But the message being sent by too many sermons is accurately prophesied by this "proof text" for having seen God on His throne:

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Isaiah 6:9
........... Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
........... ........... lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
........... ........... and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Isaiah 6:10

Jesus was hiding the Word from the clergy when He spoke in parables in Matthew 13. Therefore, to reject Christ's words being read by Him and by the early evangelists is a fatal error because this insists that WE ARE BLIND AND DEAF:

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, Isaiah 6:11

And the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. Isaiah 6:12

But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. Isaiah 6:13

What followed was the prophecy of Messiah:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

If you even pretend to see God on His throne this is the message He has for you.

Like most creedal or Mission Statements, the proof-text may be a supernatural sign that God has closed ears and eyes because I know of nothing more powerful than music to shut the minds and eyes of the spirit of mankind.

Those who use music as part of the magic or sorcery trying to get a message from God or by trying to speak to Him (1 Cor 14:2) know full well that they cannot survive as soothsayer under disguise as a priest without keeping the people lulled to sleep.

In a similar passage in Isaiah chapter 29, these people with be the magicians who believe that they are priests able to bring you into the presence of God speaks of the familiar spirits which was an old wine skin and has the same meaning as the "nebel" or harp and the hi-tek "sounding brass" of 1 Corinthians 13:

And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit (h178 = empty wineskin), out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Isaiah 29:4

Moreover the multitude of thy strangers (committing adultery) shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible (tyrants) ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Isaiah 29:5

For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. Isaiah 29:10

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: Isaiah 29:11

J.H.Garrison: "There is God and Jesus: all the rest is opinion."

Rubel Shelly: "There are seven facts about Jesus: all the rest is muddled apostolic opinion." Eyes are closed and we are forced to go to the bookstore.

As music intruded into the civil worship of Israel only after the elders demanded that Samuel "set a king over us," modern music never intrudes until the church abandons itself to destruction and insists that you set a king over us. Thereafter, the magical, mystical claim to lead you into the presence of God is identified by Henry Banford Parkes as "the world's oldest profession" and his kingship will flounder if the music is allowed to cease - instrumental or A Cappella (meaning "after the Catholic church:)

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Isaiah 29:13

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah 29:14

Nagash (h5066) naw-gash'; a prim. root; to be or come (causat. bring) near (for any purpose); euphem. to lie with a woman; as an enemy, to attack; relig. to worship; causat. to present; fig. to adduce an argument; by reversal, to stand back: - (make to) approach (nigh), bring (forth, hither, near), (cause to) come (hither, near, nigh), give place, go hard (up), (be, draw, go) near (nigh), offer, overtake, present, put, stand.

Matt 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

Hypokrites (g5273) hoop-ok-ree-tace'; from 5271; an actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (fig.) a dissembler ("hypocrite"): - hypocrite.

Hupokrinô reply, make answer, of an oracle, 2. expound, interpret, explain [Peter outlawed this as private interpretation.] 2. deliver a speech, declaim, of orators and rhetoricians, represent dramatically,

Similar Words:
Erôtikôn dramatôn 3. of an orator, use histrionic arts, exaggerate, ape, mimic, Mania or religious frenzy.

Rhêtor-ikos , ê, on, oratorical, hê rhêtorikê (sc. technê). These are the craftsmen lumped with the singers, musicians and "grinder" doing merchandise in the house of prayer. Rev. 18:22

SIMILAR LATIN: canto I. Neutr., to produce melodious sounds (by the voice or an instrument), to sound, sing, play (class. in prose and poetry; to sing and play while the actor accompanies the song with gestures or dancing, C. Transf., of instruments, to sound, resound: 2. Of the singing pronunciation of an orator, to declaim in a singing tone, to sing, preach to deaf ears.
occasion for singing, i. e. for imagination, fiction, Of an actor:

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 hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. Ezek 33:30

< style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102);">     And they come unto thee as the people cometh,

and they hear thy words,

but they will not do them:

for with their mouth they shew much love, (erotic praise songs)
        but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Ezek 33:31

Here is God's opinion of NOTHING: just nothing at all:

And, lo, thou art unto them [nothing more than]

as a very lovely song [from ORGAN: Jubal used without authority]

of one that hath a pleasant voice,
    and can play well on an instrument:

for they hear thy words,

     but they do them not. Ezek 33:32

And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,)

         then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. Ezek 33:33

Rubel Shelly: When we experience the Lord in Spirit and truth, all else becomes clearer immediately.

That is why worship is such an important part of our life at Woodmont Hills. Worship is, in fact, not simply one aspect of our ministry but is at the heart of everything we are about as a church.