Thomas Paine - Age of
Reason - Prophets and Prophesying
However, A true prophet
prophesies something which comes true. If not, they were to be
executed. One who prophesied might be a
poet or musician whose performance did not speak to either
their character or that of their poetry. It
did not predict the future. "Prophesying" at times preceded
or was imposed by God as a symbol
of impending
doom (Miriam before
Sinai) or the musicians from the high places signaling the
condemnation and destruction of Israel when Saul "replaced" God as
king. CHAPTER VII - EXAMINATION OF
THE OLD TESTAMENT. I have omitted the first part
of this chapter by Thomas Paine. While it denies the inspiration of
the Bible it is consistent with modern Deists who "pare down" the
gospel to a few facts about
Jesus and relegate all of the rest to "differing conclusion by Waring
apostles" or other writers. I add the following to show
Thomas Paine understood the meaning of the word "prophet" or
"prophesying." While there were genuine prophets the most common
understanding is that it was reciting poetry or songs and often with
instruments. The word says nothing about either the character of the
composer or performer and does nothing to endorse the poetic or
allegorical language. Without a doubt, Thomas Paine
was a Deist who rejected the Bible as inspired because of the
ignorance and evil nature of The Church of England which was one ledge of a two-legged stool of the
'divine rights of kings.' He, more than most, is responsible for our
civil and religious freedom from
dominant religions. His rejection of inspiration did not deny the
faithful recording of the story but of defining "inspired" by some
non-biblical method. Jesus warned that the Word had
been spoken in parables "from the foundation of the world" (Matthew
13) and that this prevents the casual peddler of the Bible from ever
grasping the spiritual meaning and selling it or using it to
manipulate (Isaiah 48). Therefore, while parables are inspired they
do not teach the most obvious understanding but are inspired only at
their spiritual level. Trees don't literally rejoice or clap their
hands but the meaning is God speaking to us. Next, Thomas Paine. Age of
Reason. Tom in
Black, my notes in
Red, Editors notes in Blue
All the remaining parts of the
Bible, generally known by the name of the Prophets, are the works of
the Jewish
poets and itinerant
preachers, who mixed poetry,
anecdote, and devotion together -- and those
works still retain the air and style of poetry, though in
translation. [EDITORS NOTE: As
there are many readers who do not see that a composition is poetry,
unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add this
note. Poetry consists principally in
two things -- imagery and composition. The composition of poetry
differs from that of prose in the manner of mixing long and short
syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a line of poetry, and
put a short one in the room of it, or put a long syllable where a
short one should be, and that line will lose its poetical harmony. It
will have an effect upon the line like that of misplacing a note in a
song. The imagery in those books
called the Prophets appertains altogether to poetry. It is
fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in any other
kind of writing than poetry. [Poetry does not have to be fictitious but much of
it is in highly symbolic terms. For instance, when God 'walks upon
the wings of the wind' we do not disparage it because it is
poetry.] To show that these writings are
composed in poetical numbers, I will take ten syllables, as they
stand in the book, and make a line of the same number of syllables,
(heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the last word. It will then be
seen that the composition of those books is poetical measure. The
instance I shall first produce is from Isaiah: -- "Hear, O ye
heavens, and give ear, O earth Another instance I shall quote
is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which I shall add two other lines,
for the purpose of carrying out the figure, and showing the intention
of the poet.
"O, that mine
head were waters and mine eyes" God began Isaiah 5 in the
common prophetic form: NOW will I sing to
my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My
wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: Isaiah 5:1
Their error was: And the harp, and the viol,
the tabret,
and pipe, and wine,
are in their feasts: but they
regard not the work of
the Lord, neither
consider the operation of his hands. Isaiah 5:12 Paine again: There is not, throughout the whole book
called the Bible, any word that describes to us what we call a
poet, nor any word that describes what we
call poetry.
The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later times have affixed a new idea,
was the Bible word
for poet, and the word 'prophesying' meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the
art of playing poetry to
a tune upon any instrument of music. [When Paul wished all of the
Corinthians would "prophesy" rather than speak in tongues, in
Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 he used the word "psallo" and the
message was a Biblical Psalm -- Psalmos. The Greek definition is:
psal-mos'; from
5567; a set piece of music, i.e. a sacred ode (accmpanied with the
voice, harp or
other instrument; a "psalm"); collect. the
book of the Psalms: - psalm. Comp. 5603. (an ode) Proponents of musical rituals
insist that a "psalmos" necessarily includes a mechanical instrument.
However, look again at the definition from Strong's even though
scholarship denies that it included instruments at the time:
Paul's option was "the human
voice." The object was to "teach and admonish" one another through
the use of revealed poetic language, which Paine notes, would include
much of the Old Testament. In the church, one can sing or
preach as "prophesying" only if they have a revelation
and another prophet is present to keep him
honest. Women were excluded from this
revelatory process because their occupation had often been to sell
their poems or songs as the revelation from the gods. She was usually
drunk on wine or chewing laurel leaves and therefore Paul would call
her "mad" in Corinth. Therefore, Paul restricted "singing" to the
revealed Word of Christ and the Christian and Pauline example was
that to make it honest it must not be sold in a commercial
way. We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns -- of prophesying
with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every other
instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to
speak of prophesying
with a fiddle, or with
a pipe and tabor, the expression would have no
meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to some people contemptuous,
because we have changed
the meaning of the word. We are told of Saul being among
the prophets, and also that he prophesied; but we are not told what
they prophesied, nor what he prophesied. The case is, there
was nothing to tell; for these prophets were a company of musicians
and poets, and Saul
joined in the concert,
and this was called prophesying. The account given of this
affair in the book called Samuel, is, that Saul met a company of
prophets; a whole company of them! coming down with a psaltery, a
tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they prophesied, and that he prophesied with them. But it appears
afterwards, that Saul
prophesied badly, that
is, he performed his part badly; for it is said that an "evil spirit
from God [NOTE: As those
men who call themselves divines
and commentators are very fond of puzzling one another, I leave them
to contest the meaning of the first part of the phrase, that of an
evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to the meaning of the
word prophesy. -- Author.]
came upon Saul, and he prophesied." The object of Saul prophesying
along with the destruction of the wheat crop with hail was a sign of
judgment from God. This was a divine sign that people had demanded:
"Set a king over us" when they had lived their lives in the presence
of God who needed no human, hereditary and destructive king. Thomas
Paine sees this event as the source of the claim of the
divine rights of
kings. This fed his
input into both American political freedom and freedom from the
religion of "spiritual kings" who were co-usurpers with political
kings. Unfortunately, the same
promoters of religion as a branch of secular government see this
prophesying as authority to compose songs and sing them with
instruments as a revelation from God. Singing "praise" songs is even
sold as the most ancient of superstitions: the power to move you into
the presence of God. Now, were there no other
passage in the book called the Bible, than this, to demonstrate to us
that we have
lost the original
meaning of the word
prophesy, and
substituted another meaning in its place, this alone would be
sufficient; for it is impossible to use and apply the word prophesy,
in the place it is here used and applied, if we give to it the sense
which later times have affixed to it. The manner in which
it is here used strips it of all religious
meaning, and shews
that a man might then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as he may now be a poet or
a musician, without any regard
to the morality or the immorality of his character. The word was originally a term
of science, promiscuously applied to poetry and to
music, and not
restricted to any subject upon which poetry and music might be
exercised. The Bible gives a test:
IF there arise among you a
prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Deut 13:1 And the sign or the
wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go
after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deut 13:2 Thou shalt not hearken unto the
words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether
ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deut 13:3 Ye shall walk after the Lord
your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his
voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. Deut 13:4
And that prophet,
or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the
Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the
way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou
put the evil away from the midst of thee. Deut 13:5 Saul's prophesying with the
"band" from the Philistine high place was God's judgment that they
had "spoken to turn the people away from God." But the prophet, which shall
presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to
speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. Deut
18:20 Or we might translate
this: But the song composer, which
shall presume to sing a song in my name, which I have not commanded him to
speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. Deut
18:20 And in time, they will because
their spirits are already wounded beyond repair. Many of the praise songs
promise to lead you into the presence of God or worship God as a
polytheistic god. If you don't actually come into His presence or if
you don't "go" when you ask God to send you to the lost then God
says: "Ignore them." And if thou say in
thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not
spoken? Deut 18:21 When a prophet
speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come
to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. Deut 18:22
Singers or musicians who sing
and promote songs which God has not spoken to them claim to be
prophets but they are false prophets and, more often than not, the
message of the song teaches error. Deborah and Barak are called
prophets, not because they
predicted
anything, but because
they composed the poem
or song that bears
their name, in celebration of
an act already done. David is ranked among the
prophets, for he was a musician, and was also reputed to be (though perhaps very
erroneously) the author of the Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
are not called prophets; it does not appear from any accounts we have, that
they could either
sing, play music,
or make
poetry. When we call Abraham a prophet
in the modern sense we mean that his life and experiences were
prophetic of events which actually came true. For that he needed not
guitar. We are told of the greater and
the lesser prophets. They might as well tell us of the greater and
the lesser God; for there cannot be degrees
in prophesying consistently with its modern
sense. But there are
degrees in poetry,
and therefore the phrase is reconcilable to the case, when we
understand by it the greater and the lesser poets. It is altogether unnecessary,
after this, to offer any observations upon what those men, styled
prophets, have written. The axe goes at
once to the root, by showing that the original meaning of the word
has been
mistaken, and
consequently all the inferences that have been drawn from those
books, the devotional respect that has been paid to them, and the
laboured commentaries that have been written upon them, under that
mistaken meaning, are not worth disputing about. In many things,
however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a better fate than
that of being bound up, as they now are, with the trash that
accompanies them, under the abused name of the Word of God.
[Well, we warned you about Tom.
Nevertheless, Tom gained his impressions when he saw a child hanging
at the crossroads on the way to school for stealing bread: hung by
the church. His bitterness matured when he
gave his all for the Revolution and was maltreated while the
mythological heros went on to fame and fortune.] While we don't agree with
Paine's Deism earned by the abuse of religious men of his age, it is
true that we need to grasp the poetic aspect if we are going to grasp the meaning. In Isaiah 48
God hides the true meaning of His predictions under poetic figures to
keep the commercial "retailers" of the Word from selling the
prophecies. The text ceases to be the Word of God when it is taken
out of context and reconstructed. His next views are "early
Post-Modern" and we disagree. In the next part Thomas
Paine may seem like an Atheist but he says what the majority of
professional religionists would say today. If we permit ourselves to
conceive right ideas of things, we must necessarily affix the idea,
not only of unchangeableness, but of the utter impossibility of any
change taking place, by any means or accident whatever, in that which
we would honour with the name of the Word of God; and therefore
the Word of God cannot
exist in any written or human language. [I read
that in a church bulletin a few years ago] The continually progressive
change to which the meaning of words is subject, the want of an
universal
language which renders
translation necessary, the errors to which translations are again
subject, the mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the
possibility of willful alteration, are of themselves evidences that
human language, whether in speech or in print, cannot be the vehicle
of the Word of God. -- The Word of God exists in something
else. Did the book called the Bible
excel in purity of ideas and expression all the books now extant in
the world, I would not take it for my rule of faith, as being the
Word of God; because the possibility would nevertheless exist of my
being
imposed upon. But when I see throughout the greatest part of this
book scarcely anything but a history of the grossest vices, and a
collection of the most paltry and contemptible tales, I cannot
dishonour my Creator by calling it by his name. The Bible makes itself
perfectly clear: the grossest tales are the result of men who refused
to honor God in their hearts and were "permitted to walk in their own
ways." It is important that we do not see the sins of David as
inspired permission to imitate him. We are presently reviewing a sermon which denies that the church and worship can be
reconstructed from the New Testament and its churches and, therefore,
we must return to the Exodus which is really a story of the
grossest vices. This is why the true prophets
often spoke in symbolic language to keep from being destroyed by the
priestly class of their days. Alfred T. DeGroot agrees with Paine:
"This is why Thomas Campbell
could say: "The
New Testament is as
perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament
church, and as a perfect a rule for particular duties of its members,
as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government
of the Old Testament Church, and the particular duties of its
members." "Thus there came to be, very
early in the career of this movement, interest not only in
(1) Christian unity
in a new
freedom, but also
(defined as 'church') (2) a
return to the
doctrine, ordinances, and discipline of the New Testament church." (p. 153) (defined as 'sect') In 1932, A. W. Fortune says,
"The controversies through which the Disciples have passed from the
beginning to the present time have been the result of two different interpretations of their mission. There have been
those who believed it is the spirit
of the New Testament Church that should be restored, and in our method of
working the church
must adapt
itself to
changing
conditions.
There have been those who
regarded the New Testament Church as a fixed pattern for all time, and our business is to hold rigidly to
that pattern regardless of consequences. Because of these two
attitudes conflict were inevitable." "Broadly speaking, it may be
said that number 1 above
generated the present fellowship called Disciples of Christ,
2 and that number (church) gave
rise to the Churches of
Christ. (sect) According to
Troeltsch, Disciples would be
among the 'church' type and Churches of Christ among the
'sect' type. "By 'church' is meant that body of conceptions which says "From the beginning they have been
'high churchmen'... because they 'never
ceased to stress the visible and corporate character of the Church
as the Divine Society,' (with
bylaws, a head and ability to adapt to the culture. This flows from
Catholicism, Church of England, Anglicanism, Episcopal, Methodist to
early Christian Churches.) and rejected 'legalized methods and structural forms which are a
contradiction of the living nature of the church.' Of course, this was not a
division but of two people flowing in two different streams coming
together for a very short period. The Disciples flow from
Catholicism-Church of England-Anglican-Episcopal-Methodist stream
largely influenced by James O'Kelly. Churches of Christ flowed out
of Presbyterians and Baptists and the Reformation Movement.
Leroy Garrett
stated: "This is to say that the gospel
is not the whole of the New Testament
scriptures, for the
gospel was a reality long before the scriptures were written. Strictly speaking, the teachings of the
apostles are not
facts, as the gospel is, but interpretations, implications, and edification based on
the gospel. In this area, that of the
didache (teaching) even the apostles
differed in their ideas
and emphases. The churches for
whom these documents were written were likewise different from each other. Garrett goes on to define the
"gospel" as something revealed but not subject to debate but:
The doctrine allows for debate and dialogue, for intellectual
stimulation and the stretching of the mind. It nurtures us in Christ,
but in such a way
that each
man develops according to his own
uniqueness. The pragmatic mind as well as the speculative mind finds
food for thought. Its design is (not) to make us all alike in our
thinking, but to make us mature in Christ. The truth be told, the Bible's
"silence" on a subject is most often ambiguous rather than either prohibitive or concessive. What
one is willing to allow or quick to oppose is, I fear, due more to
taste and temperament than to any clear application of the following
cherished dictum: "Where the Bible
speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent."
But hold on! Where did that dictum come from? It's
not a Bible verse. It's a well-worn religious slogan that I think has
some very positive value Here is what God wants churches
passionate about: (1) "For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, (2) that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John
3:16). (3) "Therefore let all Israel
be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). (4) "But God demonstrates his
own love for us in this: (5) While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us. (6) Since we have now been justified by his blood, (7) how
much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Rom.
5:8-9). These are the
essentials of Christian faith. It is this core message about
Jesus that we share in common with other
Bible-believing,
cross-proclaiming, resurrection-confessing, born-again persons that constitutes us a church. Outside the essence of the
gospel, there are
other features that reflect our history
and consensus
interpretations of the
larger biblical message. The Post-Modern "hermeneutic" of the Latter Rain (or Latter Reign)
asks: "Are you having
difficulty discerning or receiving this "new
revelation"? Then you have been
interpreting your Bible in the "old
way," comparing Scripture with
Scripture, studying diligently to account for every jot and tittle
and being careful to rightly divide the Word of truth. "If this describes you, then
you belong to the "Old
Generation" which
will not
enter in to "possess
the land" in the Latter Rain Revival. You may even be a
member of a denominational church, with its
dogmatic confession of faith and statement of doctrine. These
legalistic
forms will be relics of
the past in the up and
coming "Post-denominational Church." Paul Cain advises that you
"dump all that carnal stuff" (doctrine) and listen to what the
"spirit" is saying to the churches
through the
Latter
Rain
Prophets and Apostles, who are dispensing many "new, sacred truths. The modern "prophets" who
believe that their songs are inspired and their instruments the
vehicles upon which the
Spirit rides
constituted one leg of a "two legged stool" upon which oppression
rested. By interpreting Psalms and the prophets as prose the church
saw them as "raw material" from which to construct their own songs
and sermons. If Paine and Paul are correct,
these are the
songs which we should sing rather than use as raw material for constructing a New
Testament church with authority to suppress the Word in the form
which we have received it. By using symbolic or even judgmental
prophesying as authority to "rule over" people the church makes
itself into a manufacturing machine to turn out unbelievers.
Warning against Pagan
Prophesying: Paul warned against the
"mysteries" in the church where women were the charismatic singers
and musicians selling their tunes as merchandise: For he that
speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:
for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the (his) spirit he speaketh mysteries. 1 Cor 14:2 Therefore, Paul defined
Christian prophesying: But he that
prophesieth (teaches) speaketh (preaches) unto men to edification, and exhortation, and
comfort. 1 Co.14:3 In the "singing" passages Paul
defines the resources as "Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs." This is then
defined to the Ephesians as "Spirit" (Christ's Words, John 6:63) and
"the Word of Christ" in Colossians. The external method making it "prophesying" was to
speak. The internal effect was "singing and melody" in the heart and
directed to God and not the admiring spectators. The goal of Charles Dailey and
Northwest College of the Bible is to "expand" the meaning of the word
"prophet" to allow you to translate Paul in this way: But he that
prophesieth singeth
and playeth upon an instrument unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. 1 Co.14:3 That is not what Paul said:
prophesying in Corinth--like speaking in tongues--was regulated for
supernaturally inspired prophets or apostles: none existed in Corinth
because history is clear that they never corrected the
problems: Let the
prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 1 Corinthians 14:29
If any thing be
revealed to another that sitteth by, let the
first hold his
peace. 1 Corinthians
14: 30 For ye may all prophesy
one by
one, that all may
learn, and all may be comforted. 1 Corinthians 14: 31 And the spirits of
the prophets are subject
to the prophets. 1 Corinthians 14: 32 Why? For God is not the author of confusion,
but of peace, as in all
churches of the saints
1 Corinthians 14: 33 . Let your women keep
silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak;
but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
1 Corinthians 14: 34 The church of Paine's pain and
suffering was built upon the law and the clergy which became the
"kings set over us" with the power of life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. His own rejection of the
inspiration of the Bible did not mean that he was not a believer in
God who was to be worshiped in spirit and not in cathedrals built
upon the backs of the poor. In Worship and Church Bells
Paine understood Christ's demand that worship be in spirit and in
truth: The intellectual part of
religion is a private
affair between every man and his Maker,
and in which no third
party has any right to interfere. The practical part consists in our
doing good to each other. But since religion
has been made into a trade,
[NOTE: French: "since the
most scandalous hypocrisy has made of Religion a profession and the basest trade." -- Editor.] the practical part has been made to
consist of ceremonies performed
by men called priests; and the people have been amused with
ceremonial shows, processions, and bells. By devices of this kind
true religion has been banished; and such means
have been found out to extract
money even from the pockets of the
poor,
instead of contributing to their relief. [NOTE: French adds: "du superflu de la
richesse." (from their superfluous wealth). -- Editor.]
No man ought to make a living by Religion.
It is dishonest so to do. Religion is not an act that can be
performed by proxy. One person cannot act religion for another.
Every person must perform it for himself; and all that a priest can do is to
take from him; he wants nothing but his money [NOTE: The ten preceding words are
replaced in the French by: "to take from us not our vices
but our
money." --
Editor.]
and then to riot in the spoil
and laugh at his
credulity. The only people who, as a professional sect of
Christians provide for the
poor of their society, are people known
by the name of Quakers. Those men have
no priests. They assemble quietly in
their places of meeting, and do not disturb their neighbours
with shows
and noise of bells. Religion does not unite
itself to show and noise. True religion is without either.
Where there is both there is no true
religion. [NOTE: "A Religion
uniting the two [noise and show] at the expense of the poor whose
misery it should lessen, is a curious Religion; it is the Religion of
kings and priests conspiring against suffering
humanity."
-- Editor.] The first object for inquiry in all cases, more
especially in matters of religious concern, is TRUTH.
"The religious ecstasy induced by music
expressed itself either in an outburst of
emotions,
thus giving rise to religious catharsis, or in a
transfer to the state of prophecy. In this way
music became an important factor in divination. In the
mysteries of the Magna
Mater this relationship between music
and divination is particularly clear. Through the din of tambourines, cymbals and
flutes
the ecstatic worshiper of the goddess
prophesied
the future to those present. "From time immorial music had been especially
valued in the service of prophecy. Pliny the Elder
gives us a report of the cult of Apis: "In Egypt an ox is honored in place
of the god. He is called Apis and he lives in
isolation. If he ever goes among the people he stalks along while the
lictors make way for him and throngs of boys accompany him, singing
songs in his honor. He appears to understand what is happening and
seems to wish to be adored. The throngs [of boys] sudddenly become
inspired and prophesy the future. (Pliny, Natural History)
Consequently Apollo was god of prophets
and musicians and Pan was god of medicine, music and divination. "Here singing served as a means
of inducing ecstatic
prophecy (speaking in tongues).
Thus the essential relationship
between music and prophecy can be clearly seen. This relationship also explains why the
expression for "making
music" and "prophesying" was often
identical in the ancient tongues. origen contra celsum 8.67.
The Hebrew word Naba signifies not only
"to prophesy" but also "to make
music." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and
Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 39) Origen Book VI, Chapter XLI. In the next place, as if he had forgotten that
it was his object to write against the Christians, he says that,
"having become acquainted with one Dionysius, an
Egyptian
musician,
the latter told him, with respect
to magic arts, that it was only over the
uneducated
and men of corrupt
morals that they had any power,
while on philosophers they were
unable to produce any effect, because they were careful to observe a
healthy manner of life." If, now, it had been our purpose to treat of
magic, we could have added a few remarks in addition to what we have
already said on this topic; but since it is only the more important
matters which we have to notice in answer to Celsus, we shall say of
magic,
that any one who chooses to inquire
whether philosophers were ever led captive by it or not, can read
what has been written by Moiragenes regarding the memoirs of the
magician
and philosopher Apollonius of Tyana, in which this individual,
who is not a Christian, but a philosopher,
asserts that some
philosophers of no mean note were won
over by the magic power possessed by Apollonius, and resorted to him as a
sorcerer;
and among these, I think, he especially
mentioned Euphrates and a certain Epicurean. Now we, on the other hand,
affirm, and have learned by experience, that they who worship the God
of all things in conformity with the Christianity which comes by
Jesus, and who live according to His Gospel, using night and day,
continuously and becomingly, the prescribed prayers, are not carried
away either by magic or
demons. For verily "the angel of the
Lord encamps round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them"
from all evil; and the angels of the little ones in the Church, who
are appointed to watch over them, are said always to behold the face
of their Father who is in heaven, whatever be the meaning of "face"
or of "behold." One can but wonder about the
faith in the Word of God in the mind of Thomas Paine if it not been
crushed by those who interpreted "inspired" to mean that one can
grasp an isolated passage and make it into a law to dominate others.
He gave his life, liberty,
wealth and freedom to do more for buying American political freedom
and freedom from the tyrany of false religions than any other person
in our history. He would warn us that when we
see "prophet" as always literal when it may just mean "musician" or
"poet" speaking poetic language we can easily fall under the tyrany
the poets wrote about. So, let Thomas inform us
without destroying our faith as the "church" destroyed his.
Read
why priestcraft probably destroyed Thomas Paine's
faith. Counter added 12.13.04 7:38p 2745
We have noted
that the "high church" such as the Disciples of Christ define
"church" as those who change with the times. A "sect" is defined as a
church which patterns its faith and practice after the Bible. In a
previous article, Charles
Dailey of Northwest College of the Bible, uses the word "prophet" to authorize
singing human compositions with musical instruments.
'T is God himself that calls attention forth.
Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies;
Then would I give the mighty flood release
And weep a deluge for the human race. -- Author.]
