Psallo
and Psalm 150:
Milton Jones teaches that the word "psallo" and
Psalm 150 authorizes
instrumental music so profoundly that it can justify "taking
away the
church houses of widows" and sowing discord among brethren to
rescue
a failing ministry and to be able to pay the bills. The
word
PSALLO never and any musical content: if you yank a string
with your
fingers--and never with a plectrum--you may grind skin off
your bow arm
or make a twanging sound. However, that never devines
"making
music." The base word is:
Psao [cf. katapsaIo. to touch lightly, rub; II. intr. to crumble
away, vanish,
disappear,
I
gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks
to them that plucked off
the hair: I hid not my
face from shame and
spitting. Isaiah 50:6
- For,
lo, the wicked bend
their bow, they make
ready their arrow
upon the string,
that they may privily
shoot at the upright in
heart. Psalm 11:2
Bend:
Darak (h1869) daw-rak';
a prim. root; to tread; by impl. to walk; also to string
a bow (by treading on it in bending): -
archer, bend, come, draw, go (over), guide, lead
(forth), thresh,
tread (down), walk.
First, all of the instrumental
Psalms are called parade songs or "going to Jerusalem in
prosession."
However, Isaiah
30 says
that they went up to Jerusalem to Topheth, once the king's
music grove,
or the symbol of hell itself. There they burned infants to the
beat of
musical instruments. Therefore, as Jerusalem was no
better
than
the other nations, God will BEAT them into literal hell to the
sound of
wind, string and percussion instruments. These are the same
instruments
Satan brought into the garden of Eden. Personified as the king
of tyre
"she is the singing and harp-playing prostitute."
Most missed the point that because of musical idolatry at
Mount Sinai
Stephen and many others reveal that God TURNED THEM OVER to
worship the
starry host. When the elders fired God and demanded a
king
God
knew that they wanted to "worship like the nations." That
meant
Sabanism where both sabbath and tithing as WORSHIP came from
Babylon. God therefore prescribed the assembly or
'church in
the
wilderness' to REST, read and rehears the word. Outlawing the
ALARM to
call the assembly would assuredly eleminate it DURING the rest
and read
meaning of synagogue.
That is why David uses all of the names of
instruments which have
Satanic or vile roots and has the urge to worship IN THE
FIRMAMENT. There was no literal house for David because
he
was
estranged from the Tabernacle and the temple would not be
built during
his lifetime. Therefore, the place was an ALTERNATIVE ALTAR at
a
Jebusite High Place.
Because the Levitical Warrior Musicians for the cursed
Monarchy were
under the king and commanders of the army, we are certain that
psalm
singing was connected to the praise word or "making self vile"
which is
the root word for "Lucifer."
Never used
by David but
commanded for Solomon:
1 Chr
25:1 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:
Payne
insists that the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles 25:1 unambiguously
identifies
these leaders as military commanders,
an interpretation
favoured by several Bible translations. (Payne, p 423-4;
NASB, NIV,
NKJV, NRSV, Jerusalem Bible) If military commanders
had
a particular interest in the appointment of musicians, it
suggests a
strong link between music and warfare
If you will read the Samuel literature you will see that
PROPHESIERS
from the
Philistine High Places would cause Saul to
prophesy and be
turned (perverted) into another man. This and God's
promise
that
the kings would confiscate young men to be prophesiers and run
before
His chariots and give glory to the MONARCHY which was IMPOSED on
Israel
to carry out the captivity and death sentence. Because the
prophesiers were under the KING and COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY
minimial
education lets you see that they made WAR and not SPIRITUAL
WORSHIP.
"The
Hithpa'el of nb', in the ancient texts,
refers to ecstasy and delirium
rather than to the emission
of a 'prophecy'." (de
Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near
East, p. 243 Doubleday
"Maniac
inspirations, the violent possession which threw sibyls and priestesses into contortions--the foaming lip and streaming hair and glazed
or glaring
eyes-- have no
place in the self-controlling dignity
of Christian inspiration. Even Jewish prophets, in the
paroxysm of
emotion, might lie naked on the ground and rave (1 Sam.
xix. 24); but
the genuine inspiration in Christian ages never
obliterates the
self-consciousness or overpowers the reason. It abhors the
hysteria and stimulation
and frenzy
which have sometimes disgraced
revivalism and filled lunatic asylums." (Pulpit Commentary, 1
Cor., p. 460).
Hillel,
sal�ta�to�ry (salta-tory).
1. Of,
relating to, or adapted for leaping or dancing.
2. Proceeding by leaps rather than by smooth,
gradual transitions.
Hillel
NAS
(165) - acted insanely,
1; arrogant,
1; boast, 9; boasted, 1; boastful,
3; boasts, 3; boasts boast, 1; deride,
1; drive madly, 1; flash
forth, 2; give praise, 1;
giving praise, 1; glory, 8; go mad, 1; going
mad, 1; mad, 1; madness,
1; make its boast, 1; makes a mad,
1; makes fools, 1; making fools,
1;
offers praises, 1; praise, 90; praised, 20; praises, 1;
praising, 5; race
madly, 1; renowned, 1; sang praises, 1; shone,
2; sing praises, 1; wedding songs,
1
Not in Jerusalem nor
the VILEST PAGAN temples did the SINGERS or MUSICIANS ever
enter into
the Holy Place. In Jerusalem, the holy place is the carnal
TYPE of
the Body of Christ. Any singer or musician who entered the
type of
the Church or the type of the Human Spirit as it worships
(privately)
before the throne of God was WORTHY OF DEATH.
The only exception was the ABOMINATION OF
DESOLATION
which included the
musical rituals of sacrifice performed in the Holy
Precincts. The
MUSICIANS (all perverted) all STOOD in the holy place
claiming that
they (Zeus and Dionysus) were gods.
See also short
comments on Isaiah 25 The abominable branch
(opposed to the True Branch) sings with instruments.
And more
on the Abomination of Desolation and
music
The prophecy of the end time
is that the
musical abominators will again stand in the church as the
body of
Christ trying to engage God in erotic praise songs where the
declared
GOAL of the new style worship is to reach a charismatic
CLIMAX with God.
See another
article on Psalm 150.
Note the names of the instruments. Some of
these were
never used in the temple COURT, NONE were ever used in the
Holy
Places, some are related to evil. Furthermore, David speaks
of
attacking his enemies and bashing out the heads of little
babies in
other Psalms.
Therefore, if you take these
as meaning LITERAL
instruments you have God promoting evil.
Since ONLY things with BREATH can praise God we
understand that, as poems tend to be poetic, David is
speaking of the
HARPS of God which are the human voice and spirit.
The Alarm or Triumph Over
was outlawed for
the SYNAGOGUE and the "never had a praise service" in the
synagogue
which was a school of the Bible. Therefore, Judas,
like
Jubal,
would be the agent of Satan to try to silence the WORD: the
Judas bag
was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments"
always attacked
to the flute case of perverted players of which the Sicarri
or daggar
men were known. The SOP has the same root meaning as
PSALLO
meaning to "grind into a fine powder" as a MARK that a
singing arrow
was on its way.
Psalm 41 predicts that Judas
will not TRIUMPH OVER
Jesus. This word means to play instruments and "make a
joyful noise before the Lord." This was the WARRIORS cry of
most
nations and it is a fact that the "musical Levites" were
"under the
king and commanders of the army." In the Dead Sea
Scrolls
this is translated:
- They
have overtaken me in a narrow pass (gap) without escape
- ..........And
there is no rest
for me
in my trial.
- They sound my censure
upon a harp
- ..........and
their murmuring and storming upon a zither." Ps.41:11
Instead, Jesus
would TRIUMPH
OVER the clergy:
- I
will groan with the zither of lamentation
- ..........in all grief-stricken
mourning and bitter complaint
- until
iniquity and wickedness are consumed
- ..........and the disease-bringing scourge is no more.
- Then
will I play on the zither of deliverance
- ..........and harp
of joy,
- on
the tabors
of prayer and the pipe
of praise
- ..........without end.
The TRIUMPH in Greek proves
that the Dionysus
or Bacchus priests were still serving in Jerusalem. During
the
Intertestament Period they had actually gone into the HOLY
PLACES
which the Jews nor the most vile pagan singers or musicians
would
have ever done. This
was
a musical Abomination of
Desolation.
ALL musical performers
in paganism were PERVERTED and often emasculated so that
they could
serve as priests in the ritual serving as prostitutes. They
TRIED to
get Jesus associated with them by PIPING trying to force Him
to sing
and dance:
Strabo in his Geography wrote
[10.3.15]
They invented
names
appropriate to the flute, and to the noises made by castanets, cymbals, and drums,
and to their acclamations and shouts of "ev-ah,"
and stampings of the feet; (Eve
or Sophia-Zoe) (See The
Eve-Zoe connection)
and
they also
invented some of the names by which to designate the ministers,
choral
dancers,
and attendants upon the sacred rites,
I mean "Cabeiri" and "Corybantes" and "Pans" (gender-bent) and "Satyri"
and "Tityri,"
and
they called the
god "Bacchus," and Rhea
"Cybele" or "Cybebe" or "Dindymene" according to the
places where she
was worshipped. Sabazius also belongs to the Phrygian
group and in a
way
(Priests
of Cybele were effeminate and
emasculated themselves.
Paul said in Galatians 5:12, "As for those agitators,
I wish they
would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!" The
agitators "drove people out of
their homes (churches?)) All pagan gods or goddesses
and therefore
their priests were homosexual.
is
the child
of the Mother,
since he too transmitted the rites of Dionysus.
[10.3.19]
Further, one might
also find, in addition to these facts concerning these genii and their various
names, that they were
called,
- not only
ministers of gods,
- but
also gods themselves.
For
instance, Hesiod says that
five daughters were born to Hecaterus and the daughter of
Phoroneus,
from whom sprang the mountain-ranging nymphs (like
har-meggido little
hills striving to be mountains), goddesses, and the breed
of Satyrs,
- creatures worthless and
unfit for work,
- and also
the Curetes, sportive gods, dancers.
And
the author of Phoronis
speaks of the
- Curetes
as "flute-players" and "Phrygians"; and
- others as
"earth-born" and "wearing brazen
shields."
Some
call the Corybantes, and
not the Curetes, "Phrygians," but the Curetes "Cretes,"
and say that
the Cretes were the first people to don brazen
armour in Euboea, and that on this account they
were
also
called "Chalcidians"; (chalc, brazen) still
others say that the Corybantes, who came from
Bactriana (some say from among the
Colchians. Also a note: "they occupied Bactriana, and
acquired
possession of the best land in Armenia"), were given as armed ministers to
Rhea [ZOE] by
the Titans.
The
Geni
speaks of Genun who was a composit of Jubal, Jabal,
Tubal-Cain and
Naamah in Babylon. They were used by Satan to
cause the FALL
away
from the Word of God in the Book of Enoch.
JOHN
IDENTIFIES THE END TIME MOTHER
OF HARLOTS CHURCH.
John
identifies
this as the end time Mother of Harlots church: Apollo is
Apollyon and the Muses are the Locusts or musical
ministrels under
Apollo:
Rev
17:4 And the
woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and
decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, having
a
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her
fornication:
Rev
18:14 And the fruits
that
thy soul
lusted
after are
departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and
goodly are
departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at
all.
G3703 opōra op-o'-rah Apparently
from the base of G3796 and G5610 ; properly even tide of
the (summer)
season (dog days), that is, (by implication) ripe fruit:
fruit.
Op�r-a
Bakchias
A. of or belonging to Bacchus and his rites rhuthmos
X.Smp.9.3 , etc.: hence, frenzied, rapt,
Nomos , ho, (
[nem�] ) can
mean "the Law of God"
without respect to MOSES.
A. that which is in habitual practice,
use or possession, not in Hom. (cf. J.Ap.2.15), though
read by Zenod.
in Od.1.3.
I. usage, custom,
[Mousai] melpontai
pant�n te nomous kai �thea kedna Hes.Th.66n. archaios aristos
Mousa
1 [*ma�]
I. the Muse,
in pl. the
Muses, goddesses
of song, music,
poetry,
dancing, the drama, and all
fine arts, Hom.: the names of the nine were Clio,
Euterpe, Thalia,
Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia or Polyhymnia,
Urania, and
Calliope, Hes.,
II. mousa, as appellat.,
music, song, Pind.,
Trag.:--also eloquence, Eur.:--in pl. arts,
accomplishments, Ar.,
Plat.
Rev
18:20 Rejoice over her,
thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God
hath avenged
you on her.
Rev
18:21 And a mighty angel
took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into
the sea,
saying, Thus
with
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down,
and shall be
found no more at all.
Rev
18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians [Apollyon's
muses or locusts] and
of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no
more at all in thee; and no craftsman, [theater
builders and stage managers] of
whatsoever craft he be, shall be
found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone [called
a
pipe,
made a wistling sound to attract with spread legs.]
shall be
heard no more
at all in thee;
Rev
18:23 And the light
of
a
candle
shall shine no
more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and
of the bride
shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants
were the
great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries
were all nations deceived.
Rev
18:23 And
the light of a
candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the
bridegroom and of the bride
shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants
were the
great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all
nations
deceived.
Paul
describes the CLANGING
BRASS using the word CHALKOS. Clanging would be a form of
SINGING or
MOURNING which was the Greek alalazo (h214). Jesus cast
this MUSICAL
WORSHIP TEAM out while healing the young girl lest the
TEAM claim the
honor. He cast them out MORE OR LESS VIOLENTLY in a word
related to
CASTING OUT DUNG.
In Corinth,
Paul condemns the MUSICIANS who
were
always perverted in paganism. Speaking to the gods
of the Air clearly
proves it.
The almost-universal
understanding of history's
scholars is that the Greek word psallo is never used as
authority for instrumental music in
worship. Music
was first added,
division occured and people went looking for Biblical
justification
for the added practice which when added has never been
abandoned as
far as we can tell.
This is one the world's
oldest themes
circulated about the time of Christ. We do not mean this as
judgmental but being a disciple means looking for truth. Click perhaps later
for the story. Me? Once I found out that I could
access all
of those
historical documents I am left cold and embrarassed by what
we call
"worship." I think that I finally understand what Jesus
meant when He
said that He seeks only those who will "worship in spirit
and in
truth." I believe that this means "in the mind and devoted
to His
Words" which He never spoke to the beat of a harp.
The worst kind of
judgmentalism begins with:
"Do you accept those people as being Christians?" Well, we
don't
really know even about our "pastor" do we? This study has
nothing to
do with "what are you going to do with those who don't
agree" but
with what I believe the Bible teaches. Personally? Well, I
don't have
excess time to "fellowship" or attend church with every
group in the
world. However, we are aware of history and that introducing
non-commanded and "non-salvation" practices is the surest
way to be
sectarian by excluding those who do not agree.
As a result of a real-life
drama of
sectarianism caused by Milton Jones in Seattle, the sermon
being reviewed
by request is an
after the fact defense of adding instrumental
music. The premise is that non-instrumental groups were
spawned out
of Thomas and Alexander Campbell under the legalistic
influence of
John Locke. We believe that this view comes from reading
books and
lectures and not from reading either Locke or the Campbells.
We have looked at the
rejection of the
commands, examples and inferences contained in the Words of
the
Spirit Christ (1 Peter 1:11). The misconception left is that
this was
a radically new and outrageous teaching of Alexander
Campbell who
taught that Christ removed the burden of the law from New
Testament
worship. This
first
point is covered here. The fact is that "direct
command" has always been the basis of authority for all
groups for
all times. And "dispensational distinction" was clearly the
view held
by the church "fathers" of history.
Another attempt is to open
up Paul's direct
command to use the Word of Christ to "teach and admonish one
another"
with the singing and melody made with musical instruments. Lucian is
used by Milton Jones to prove that long
after Paul's
direct command the word psallo
still included instruments. We reviewed Lucian to show that his
education was in Classical
Greek from the
writers who lived
several hundred years before Paul. Furthermore,
Lucian associates musical performance in a "worship" sense
with women and
the effeminate of pagan religions. Only very strange men
ever fell
under the spell and Jesus understood that the Jewish clergy
was
piping to force Him to join in.
Apollo (Abbadon, Apollyon)
had a
Seeker Center at Delphi in his honor. Hermes was the
father of
instrumental music, liars and thieves. He taught Apollow
how to twang
the bow to defeat others and how to play instruments to
seduce what
Lucian calls the "fat heads and simpletons" into buying
his Babylon
Harlot Worship.
Therefore, twanging or
plucking hair was always
a hostile action and one needs no proof from the Bible not
to try to
literally attack people with abrading music.
Therefore, if Lucian proves
that psallo
includes instruments he also authorizes the pagan practice
of singing
and playing instruments by the "musicians who were always
courtesans." We reviewed
this evidence here.
In this sermon
review we
will look at the argument that modern theologians such
as Milton
Jones claim that psallo demands musical instruments.
We looked at the Arndt-Gingrich
lexicon which
is the source book of the preacher being reviewed.
These writers understood the Greek of the time of Paul but
they
followed their own personal opinions or preferences with
respect to
the word -- and admit it. Whatever an isolated lexicon says:
David Lipscomb
wrote as late as 1878 that:
We do not
think anyone has ever claimed authority from
Scriptures
to use
the organ in worship.
They only claim it is not condemned. It is used as an
assister in
worship...Prayer, praise, thanksgiving and making melody
in the heart
(mind) unto the Lord are acts of worship ordained of
God, but no
authority do we find for the organ."
Of Australian Presbyterians;
When
the issue was
first brought up in the southern churches in 1874,
one Session declared that they were "unanimously of the
opinion that
the use of such is both inexpedient and unscriptural and
think
that those
who have ventured to cast the apple of discord into our
midst have
much to answer for," and another considered that the
introduction of organs "into the public worship of God
is dangerous
to the peace and purity of the Church."
The
debate at the next Synod
was the largest up until then, and the innovation was
passed by a
very slim majority. The dissents, appeals and protests
lasted a few
years, but the issue was finally settled in 1877,
the
final dissent
reiterating once more the regulative principle and concluding that it
was "giving a place to
instrumental music hitherto unknown to the worship of
this Church."
The
last church on the Taieri
plain to have an organ introduced was East Taieri,
near Mosgiel, in
1894. To a number of members, it was "equal to a
sentence of
excommunication,"
they
now having "no
Presbyterian church near Dunedin to which they can
have
access."
The
FIRST use of PSALLO
speaks of warriors and Apollo or Apollyon of Revelation:
he carried
both the bow and lyre and could shoot you with various
kinds of arrowss.
The
second speaks of the BLOOD RED, painted rope or
scourge slaves used to
DRIVE people out of the polluted agora or
marketplace where Jesus
PLACED that crooked generation marked by piping,
singing and dancing.
The
word never means more than PLUCK with the fingers
and NEVER with a
guitar pick. It has no musical meaning unless
you define WHAT
is
to be plucked. The proof texts of those lusting for
music and musicians
universally point to older males PLUCKING the harp
strings to SEDUCE a
young boy (minister of the god) who had his hairs
PLUCKED for
paderasty. People singing and playing
instruments has no
other
BASIS to recommend it to those perverting the
church.
What the Audience
is Supposed to
Believe
What the audience does not
know is that neither
Campbells were really involved in the music controversy.
None of the
churches involved used instruments because the music of
David was
understood to be part of a "like the nations" discipline and
illustration of the sins of the people and their inability
to get rid
of the guilt.
They also understood that
music was not used in
the Synagogue or New Testament churches. Not even in
Catholicism
until added as a Seeker-Friendly tool to bring in the money
to keep
up the clergy and buildings and grounds.
Long before the time of
Thomas Campbell John Calvin
and every literate theologian understood that
the Law
was a curse, had ended and the rituals of the sacrifical
system must
not be restored to repudiate the sacrifice of Christ.
He understood that
instrumental music was part
of a training or disciplinary effort during the "like the
nations"
worship where Israel came under the domination of an earthly
king.
Paul agrees and says that "the law was added because of
transgression." We know that this transgression was the
musical
worship at Mount Sinai of Osiris under the incarnated form
of Apis
the bull calf. Because of this sin, the Levites were
substituted for
the elders of the family to "bear the burden" and stand
between the
"strangers" and the synagogue and later the temple. We know
that the
strangers to God were everyone not of the tribe of Levi.
Calvin also limited
authority for "faith and
practice" to explicit commands of the New Testament.
Therefore it is not a fact
that Alexander
Campbell upset the universal belief about the Law and Grace.
Rather,
by adding "examples" and "necessary inferences" the
Campbells added
areas of Religious Toleration which found their way from
John Locke
to Thomas Jefferson and into the Constitution and to Thomas
Campbell
and into the restoration movement.
Some more Direct
Command Evidence
I am certain that
not one deliberate
sowers of discord knows the story of the musical idolatry
at Mount
Sinai. This was the BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSION which lost
them the
covenant of grace and got them abandoned to worship the
starry host
including Saturn whose chaldee number isi 666.
The sacrificial system in
Jerusalem was
the ABANDONMENT of people who had repudiated Him and was
therfore the
worship of Astrial deities. While David never sang and
played
for
"congregational worship" his MISTAKE in thinking that God
had given him
more than the alternative TABERNACLE is proven by Stephen
who cais BUT,
Solomon built Him a HOUSE.
In Israel condemned in Amos
and Isaiah
because of the wine, women and music, THEY were also
worshiping the
hevenly host from the time they carried their "tabernacle'
in the
wilderness.
Therefore, to say that the
sang and played or WEAVED songs for their own pleasure was
JUST LIKE
DAVID is also to say that DAVID worshipped JUST LIKE
Israel
because THAT is what God abandoned them to with the kings
chosen to
carry out the captivity and death sentence.
Amos defines
the
worship of Israel whom God had turned over to worship
the starry host
because of their musical idolatry at Mount Sinai:
"This
passage (Amos 5:23-24)
shows us that Amos was opposed to the forms in which people acted out their worship of God, and other passages
strengthen this impression.
Turning back to the Mosaic period, Amos asks the
rhetorical question:
'Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty
years in the
wilderness, O house of Israel?" (5:25). He is merciless in his attack on the
shrines, especially the royal
shrine of Jeroboam II at Bethel (3:14; 7:7-9, 10-17; 9:1).
It is very
doubtful, however, that he intended a wholesale abolition
of the
system of worship.
Rather,
Amos was probably
demanding that the cult be purified, for it had become so contaminated
by pagan thought and
practice that the
people had become indifferent to the true worship of
Yahweh and the demand of his torah...
He
demanded that
everything be swept away that did not conform to the
proper worship
of Yahweh." (Bernard Anderson, Understanding OT, p.
277).
Augustine of Hippo
(354-430)
As Campbell restricted faith
and practice to
commands and clear implications of the will of Christ to
make unity
possible, Augustine shows that a Christian disposition does
not try
to stretch the meaning of Scripture for any purpose. Jesus
didn't
say, "Come play with me," but He said, "Come learn of me."
That is,
discipleship is not ceremonial legalism but searching for
the will of
God.
The clear proof from those
who force
instruments onto the untrained audience is that there will
be no open
discussion and search for the truth: the word of the pastor
has been
chained to the pulpit. This was not the view of the scholars
-- as
opposed to the ancient priests who often largely ignorant of
the
Bible and the rules of ethics and morality.
Chapter 9.-How We Should Proceed in
Studying Scripture.
14.
In all these
books those who fear God and are of a meek and pious
disposition seek
the will of God. And in pursuing this search the first
rule to be
observed is, as I said, to know these books, if
not yet with the
understanding, still to
read them so as to commit them to memory, or at least so
as not to
remain wholly
ignorant of them. Next,
those
matters that
are plainly
laid
down in them, whether rules of life or
rules of faith,
are to be searched into more carefully and more
diligently;
and the
more of these a man discovers,
the more capacious does his
understanding become.
For
among the
things that are plainly
laid down in Scripture
are to be found all
matters that concern faith and the manner of life,-to wit, hope
and love
Augustine then
warns of "necessary
inferences."
Chapter
18.-No Help is to Be
Despised, Even Though It Come from a Profane Source.
28. But
whether the
fact is as Varro has related, or is not so, still we
ought not to give up
music because
of the superstition
of the
heathen,
..........if we
can derive anything from it that is of use for the
understanding of
Holy Scripture;
nor does it follow that we must
busy ourselves with their theatrical trumpery
..........because we enter upon an investigation
about harps
and other instruments,
..........
that may help us to
lay hold upon spiritual things.
For
we ought not to refuse to
learn letters because they say that Mercury discovered
them; nor
because they have dedicated temples to Justice and
Virtue, and prefer
to worship in the form of stones things that ought to
have their
place in the heart, ought we on that account to forsake
justice and
virtue.
Nay,
but let every good and
true Christian understand that wherever truth may be
found, it
belongs to his Master; and while he recognizes and
acknowledges the
truth, even in their religious literature, let him
reject the figments of
superstition, and let
him grieve
over and avoid men who,
"when
they knew
God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;
but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was
darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
and changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds, and
four-footed beasts,
and creeping things."
The
turn to musical performance carries the code word
that "we don't want you to know any more about God and His
unfiltered
Word." (Amos 5, 6, 8; Job 21; Isaiah 5; Ezekiel 33). This is
what
Jesus meant when He condemned the musical clergy as children
piping,
singing and dancing while He was trying to teach them.
John
Calvin
(1509-1564)
John Calvin understood "Dispensational
Distinctions" as well as the place of music in the Law
period under
the monarchy of kings rather than of God.
"There
is then no other argument needed to condemn
superstitions, than
that they are not
commanded by God: for
when men allow themselves to worship God according to
their own
fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion."
Calvin's Commentaries, 9:414.
He continues:
"Hebrews
9:1. "Then
verily the first",
&c. After having spoken generally of the abrogation
of the old
covenant, he now
refers specially to the ceremonies.
His
object is to
show that
there was nothing practiced then to which Christ's
coming has not put an
end.
He
says first, that under the old
covenant there was a
specific form of divine worship, and that it was
peculiarly adapted
to that time. It will hereafter appear by the
comparison what kind of
things were those rituals prescribed under the Law.
"Were
any one to ask why the
Apostle speaks with so little respect and even with contempt of Sacraments divinely instituted,
and extenuates their efficacy?
This
he does, because he separates
them from Christ; and
we know that when viewed in themselves they are but
beggarly
elements, as Paul calls them. (Gal. 4: 9.)
Because
the music in connection
with animal sacrifices under the Law were part of a
training or
disciplinary system, John Calvin understands the
difference between
the Old Law and the New Covenant:
A
difference is to
be observed in this respect between his people under
the Old and under the
New Testament;
for
now that Christ
has appeared, and the church has reached full age,
it were only to
bury the light of the gospel should we introduce the
shadows of a departed
dispensation.
Then
Calvin notes what the
Catholics confess: that it was not really a borrowing
from the
sacrificial system but from the world of entertainment
from all
pagans:
From
this it
appears that the Papists, as I shall have occasion to
show elsewhere,
in employing instrumental music
cannot
be said so
much to imitate the practice of God's ancient people
as to ape it in a senseless and absurd
manner,
exhibiting
a silly delight in that worship of the
Old
Testament which was figurative and terminated with
the
gospel." (Psalm 92:1)
And the
Catholic
Encyclopedia will tell Milton Jones and the Post
Bible people where
they got the idea of music as worship:
"We
need not shrink from
admitting that candles, like incense and lustral
water, were commonly
employed in pagan
worship and in the rites paid to the
dead. But the Church
from a very early period took them into her service,
just as she
adopted many other things indifferent in themselves,
which seemed
proper to enhance
the splendour of religious ceremonial. We must not forget
that most of these adjuncts to
worship, like music,
lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations,
canopies, fans,
screens, bells, vestments, etc.
were
not identified
with any idolatrous
cult in particular;
they were common to
almost all cults.
They
are, in fact, part of the
natural language of mystical expression, and such
things belong quite
as much to secular ceremonial as they do to
religion. Catholic
Encyclopedia on Candles
Of Psalm
71:22. We are not, indeed, forbidden to use, in
private, musical instruments, but they are banished
out of the churches by the plain command of the
Holy
Spirit, when Paul, in 1
Corinthians 14:13, lays it down as an invariable rule,
that we must
praise God, and pray to him only in a known tongue.
By
the word
truth, the Psalmist means
that the hope which he reposed
in God was rewarded, when God preserved him in the midst
of
dangers.
[Note: Paul
connects speaking in tongues and musical instruments
which are only
useful for signalling in warfare if you interpret the
message before
you sound it]
The
promises of
God, and his truth in performing them, are inseparably
joined
together.
Unless we
depend upon the
word of God, all the benefits which he confers
upon us will be
unsavoury or tasteless to us; nor will we ever be
stirred up either
to prayer or thanksgiving,
if
we are not
previously illuminated by the Divine word.
So much the more revolting,
then, is the folly of that diabolical man, Servetus,
who teaches that
the rule of praying is perverted
as if we
could have any
access into the presence of God, until
he first invited us by his own voice to come to
him.
Of
Psalm 33 Calvin addressed
both the end of the legalistic system and the use of
instruments:
There
is a
distinction, however, to be observed here, that we may
not
indiscriminately consider as applicable to ourselves,
every thing
which was formerly enjoined upon the Jews. I have no
doubt that
playing upon cymbals, touching the harp and the viol,
and all that
kind of music, which is so frequently mentioned in the
Psalms,
was
a part of the education; that is to say, the puerile
instruction of the law: I speak of the stated
service of the
temple.
For
even now, if believers
choose to cheer themselves with musical instruments,
they should, I
think, make it their object not to
dissever their cheerfulness from the praises of God.
But
when they
frequent their sacred assemblies, musical
instruments in celebrating
the praises of God would be no more suitable than
the burning
of incense, the lighting up of lamps, and the
restoration of the other shadows of the law.
The
Papists,
therefore, have foolishly borrowed this, as well
as many other
things, from the Jews.
Men who are
fond of outward
pomp
may
delight in that noise;
but
the simplicity which God
recommends to us by the apostle is far more pleasing
to
him. Paul
allows us to bless God in the public assembly of the
saints only in
a known tongue, (1 Corinthians
14:16.)
The
voice of man,
although not understood by the generality,
assuredly excels all inanimate instruments
of music; and yet
we see what St Paul determines concerning
speaking
in an unknown
tongue. [Paul uses the terms lifeless instruments or
carnal
weapons]
What
shall we then say of chanting, which fills
the ears
with nothing but an empty sound?
A modern
writer
agrees:
"At
a time when there is a
rising protest against monologous and therefore
sometimes monotonous 'one man
ministeries' in the
churches, and when it is complained increasingly that
the preacher is one of the
few remaining public figures whose formal remarks
allow no public interrogation
or discussion (even Presidents are subjected now to
the discipline of
public interview), it is perhaps in order for the
churches to look
here in Corinthians to their earliest
structure (including interrogation
and challenge)... in place of the often dull and
unprofitable
responsive readings before it and of some of the singing which seems to be
often, at the conscious or mental
level at least,
low level
glosolalia with instrumental accompaniment." (Fredreck Dale
Bruner,
A Theology of the Holy
Spirit, p. 300)
Calvin
continues:
Does
any one object, that music is very useful for
awakening the minds of
men and moving their hearts? I own it;
but
we should
always take care that no corruption creep in, which
might both defile the pure worship
of God and involve men
in superstition. Moreover, since the
Holy Spirit expressly warns us
of this danger by the mouth of Paul,
to
proceed beyond what we are there warranted by him is not
only, I
must say,
unadvised zeal, but
wicked and perverse obstinacy.
Again,
Campbell notes that: "We
know that our Lord Jesus Christ has appeared, and
by His advent has abolished these legal shadows.
Instrumental
music, we
therefore maintain, was only tolerated on account of the times
and the people, because they were as
boys, as the sacred
Scripture speaketh, whose condition required these
puerile rudiments.
But
in gospel times
we must not have recourse to these unless we wish
to destroy the evangelical perfection and to obscure the
meridian
light which we enjoy in
Christ our Lord." (Calvin's Commentary on the
Thirty-third Psalm, and
on 1 Sam. 18:1-9).
Psalm 150
The
Psalms are poetic accounts
of much of the history of Israel. They are called
"psalms" because
they were written in metrical form. This meant that they
could be
chanted to some assigned tune. Instruments were used in
some psalms
but this would normally be a stroke of the strings for
emphasis
rather than "instrumental accompaniment to
congregational singing."
The great "Levitical Musical Worship Teams" were to make
a great
crashing sound to depress everyone to the ground and
enhance the
temple worship which replaced the Mosaic Law with
ceremonialism "like
the nations."
"At
the dedication
of the later edifice, the priests blew the trumpets at the same time that the Levites sang
and played upon
instruments of music,
so
as 'to make
one
sound;'
but
it is
evident that on that great occasion of rejoicing,
what was aimed
at
was not
musical
harmony, but a powerful crash
of jubilant
sound.
We are shut up
to the conclusion that
there
was nothing in the
tabernacle-worship, as ordered by Moses,
which could
be
justly
characterized as instrumental music." (George Girardeau,
Instrumental Music, p. 29 - a
Presbyterian).
All
songs or poems in the
ancient world were the property of the composer as long
as they
lived. By analogy, you do not sing the private song of
an American
Indian. However, when the poet died the song would be
"cataloged" as
among the Hittites and made available to the public
because the
"copyright" expired with the composer.
With
the exception of Psalm 33
all of the poems adopted to the harp share the sense of
doom and
lostness of the composer -- often David. They are often
violently
judgmental even against a personal enemy for speaking
against the
king.
In
the beginning, the
synagogues chanted only the prose account but later used
about 1/3 of
the psalms. These were "chanted" we are told "as a
schoolboy reads
the hallel."
They
could use a psalm to teach
their history but this was not congregational worship in
the modern
ritualistic sense. The church Fathers often advise the
singing of
Psalms but always in the context of learing the Word of
God.
And
we quoted Calvin above to
show that there is no way to pick up the musical worship
always
attached to the sacrificial system without taking Christ
from the
center.
All
of the "church Fathers"
understood the difference between Law and Grace. For
instance, most
psalms are allegorized because animal sacrifices are no
longer
offered and therefore there is no legalistic reason for
music.
- Augustine:
Psalm
41 Judas Will Not Triumph over Jesus
- Augustine: Psalm
149
Literal Musical Warfare Replaced
Basil the
Great: Spiritual
Worship
Psalm
149-140
The word
PSALLO still used
to prove instruments
It is
true that a psalm is
written in metrical form and it can always be
accompanied with an
instrument. Paul prescribed Psalm singing:
Psalmos
(g5568)psal-mos'; from 5567; a set piece of music,
i.e. a sacred ode
accompanied with the
..........voice,
..........harp or
..........other instrument;
..........a "psalm"; collect.
the book of the
Psalms: -
..........psalm. Comp. 5603.
The
Britannica notes
that:
"Music,
like the word, also may
have symbolic
meaning. The basic
elements out of which musical symbolism is built are
sounds, tones,
melodies, harmonies,
- and
the various musical instruments,
- among
which is the human voice.
Sound
effects can have a numinous (spiritual) character
and may be used to bring
about contact
with
the realm of the holy. A specific tone may
call one to an awareness of the
holy, make the holy
present, and produce an experience of the holy. This may
be done by means of drums, gongs, bells, or other instruments. The ritual instruments
can, through their shape or
the materials from which they are made, have symbolic
meaning. The
Uitoto in Colombia, for example, believe that all the
souls
of their ancestors are contained
in the ritual drums.
(See liturgical music BM members.)
In other
words, music is not
spiritual but one of the most ancient
superstitions attributed to
Satan and facilitated by the youthfaithful
Cainites.
In
the Old Testament the word
for melody does not prevent the writers from always
using the word
but then defining the instrument upon which the melody
is to be made.
I.e. Make melody with
the harp. The word "make melody" would be meaningless
based on the
Old Testament examples.
Paul
issued a direct command
which does not begin with "sing and play.' He commanded
teaching with
The Word of Christ. He used the word "sing" and then,
consistent with
all Old Testament passages, defined the instrument which
must
accompany the "fruit of the lips" as the replacement for
the outlawed
animal sacrifices:
Speaking (preaching) to
yourselves
- in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
- singing
and making melody
- in
your heart to the Lord;
Ephesians
5:19
Paul
literally said "preach the
Word one to another." Now, we know of no preacher who
would compete
with a musical team while he is speaking. Perhaps,
neither will
Jesus.
A psalmos may be accompanied by
the voice or a harp: paul
picked the voice. He did not pick the harp because the
internal
singing and melody is directed to God and not a paying
audience.
This is a
direct
Command.
Neither
John Locke nor Thomas
Campbell would demand that you not
play the harp in order to be saved: both demanded that
you cannot go
beyond the direct command without promoting
sectarianism by offending many who
remain with you, or excluding
those from your fellowship who do not believe that "in
spirit"
worship can take place while looking at and listening
to musical
performance.
The
sectarian division always
defines those who object to the addition of acts or
rituals which are
not commanded as those who sow discord and are
therefore the
sectarians. By analogy: "You kick me in a soft spot in
church, I yell
'ouch' therefore I am the one who created the
disturbance." The early Guilt Clause was a psychological
weapon against those who would
not "go along" perhaps as a warning to all others.
Paul
left no loopholes of
silence into which we might insert our own songs which
are claimed to
be "Spirit anointed or inspired." Rather, the clear,
loud command is.
The will of the Lord must come in commands or some other
form: they
do not come out of the Post-Modern or post inspiration
mind:
Wherefore
be ye
not unwise, but understanding what the will of the
Lord is. Ephesians
5:17
In
the following charts notice
that there are two different paths of information flow.
The first is to yourself or to
one another; the second is to the Lord. The one
another task is
to use the Word of Christ (Spirit) to teach and admonish
one another.
The singing and melody is directed to God. Everything
involved with
the spiritual aspect of worship is "in the heart" and
not on the
instruments.
If
you contend that this does
not apply to "collective worship" then that is ok with
me. But this
would eleminate instruments in private places. It would
leave you
with no command, example or inference about singing in
the "church
house." And that would be fine with me: you could return
to the
synagogue system of "speaking to one another in Psalms."
That would
eleminate both instruments and spirituality-destroying
complex
harmony which has no more authority than instruments.
If
you contend that the Bible
doesn't command modern compositions as the "work of the
human mind
and hand" then that is fine with me: just remain
faithful to the
clear Biblical evidence and use only inspired Biblical
resources.
These are
all
the inspired text of the Bible and are therefore
"Spirit" or the
product of Jesus Christ as Spirit or Word.
Hymns "was that part of the Hallel consisting of Psalms
113-118; where the verb itself is rendered 'to sing
praises' or
'praise' Acts 16:25; Heb 2:12. The Psalms are
called, in general,
'hymns,' by Philo;
Josephus calls them 'songs and hymns.'" Vine
on Humneo
The
Non-Silent Direct
Command to the Ephesians
And be not
drunk with wine,
wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit
(the word Col 3:16;
John 6:63); Ephesians 5:18