Prayer for the Day

Prayer for the Day  

Lord You know what is best for my life.   When something continually perplexes me, I want You to solve it as soon as I bring it to you.  Help me to be aware that You working in my life even when I do not understand why this trial has come into my life.  Help me to believe that Your grace is sufficient for me at this time.  This I am praying in Your name.  Amen.   

Song for the Day “Make Me a Servant” by K. Willard.   

Thought for the Day  

We are often ashamed of our areas of weakness.   God uses these “thorns” to cause us to realize that we need Him.

“I Am Helped”

“I Am Helped”   

Psalm 12:7 states, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusteth in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” 

       The psalmist David expressed that his shield is the self-existent eternal God who is.  He also acknowledged that he received his strength from Jehovah.  Sometimes church musicians only think of the struggles of public music ministry.  They forget to remember and say “I am helped”.  They also often forget just who it is that has helped them.  Practice the presence of God”.  When we receive help in our musicing unto God we need to practice saying out loud “Thank You Lord for helping me”.   It will help you and Satan will not like it because he will know that you have your head on straight. 

       The psalmist David acknowledged that God helped him and, since Jehovah was working in his life, he said, “My heart greatly rejoiceth”.  Do you rejoice when God helps you in your musicing?  Do you greatly rejoice?  Do you really praise God like David with your “song’?  Today is Sunday and you may feel that you are in particular need of God's help.  Do not forget that Our wonderful Father is just as interested in helping you as he was David long ago in ancient Israel.

Does Instrumental Music Arouse Emotions in the Listener?

Does Instrumental Music Arouse Emotions in the Listener?

            Job 17:6, “He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.”  The figures of speech in this verse gives us evidence that, at least during the tome Job lived, Jewish musical instruments were connected with emotions.   It is evident from the use of the Hebrew word topheth (8611) here translated tabret was connected to the emotion of mirth or joy.  We do not know with specifity from this mention of the topheth whether or not they considered the actual sound of this instrument aroused the emotion of mirth or joy. 

            Topheth was doubtlessly a drum because of the meaning of “smiting” or striking and because it is derived from the word taphaph (8608) which is a primitive root word that means “to drum”.  From this knowledge we safely hypothesize that the ancient Hebrews believed that drumming aroused emotions.  One of the hot philosophical topics in this century is the heated discussion of emotion and meaning in music.  Since the use of musical instruments have since antiquity been connected to the arousal of emotions in the hearer Christian musicians should give serious consideration to what kinds of emotions instrumental music arouses in the psyche of the listener.

Worthy of Worship

Worthy of Worship

            Ezra 3:11, “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.”

            This verse is a record of the praise meeting that took place after the foundation of the Temple was laid by Ezra’s men.  A part of this praise service was a musical praise offering unto YHVH for His faithfulness to them.  This musical performance is a record of the high level of antiphonal singing that had been developed in ancient Israel.  It is important to note that the reason for this musicing was not entertainment or aesthetic musical performance merely for music’s sake, but philosophically, and as a praxis based on that strong belief, they musiced for God’s glory and praise.  Note that the text mentions God’s goodness, mercy and the worthship of His faithfulness toward all the people.  These are ancient examples of worthy elements of worshiping God with music.

How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 2

How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 2

            The musicians mentioned in 1 Chronicles chapter sixteen were ministering musicians who were meek and lowly of heart and were experts in the songs of the self-existent, eternal God who is!  Say, Church Musician, what is your area of greatest expertise?  Do the great hymns of the church feed your soul?  Do they raise your soul to great heights?  Are they a means of grace to you and the people’s souls that you feed through music?  Do these songs bore you?  Have you given them up for renaissance madrigals, and Beethoven sonatas or hip-hop and rap?

            I believe that the reason so much church music is dead and lifeless is because the chief musician has lost his burden for song.  He no longer hears from God about his songs, therefore he no longer prophesies with the songs of the Lord.  He is a great conductor, singer, or player and is too busy performing to ministry to the people.  He had so much knowledge of the world’s so called “great music” or its “pop music”, that he doesn’t have time, desire, or energy to become an expert in the songs of the Lord.

How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 1

How Ancient Chief Musicians Musiced—part 1

            The chief Levite musicians in ancient Israel were commanded to (sharath 8334) or minister.  I Chronicles 16:4-5b states, And he [King David] appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.  V. 5b with psalteries and with harps...  (Words in brackets are mine)

Strong believed that sharath means “to attend as menial or worshiper, to contribute, serve, and wait on”.  Again the emphasis is not on the perfection of performance, or aesthetic awareness, or kinesthetic coordination, or the pleasure of performance, but rather on service as a servant or menial worshiper.  These Levite musicians wore in type and shadow, the yoke of the New Testament Christ.  They were men of God who heard from God and delivered his message to His people through the medium of music.  They served God and they served the people.  The Scripture never makes mention of a haughty, heady, self-seeking Levite musician.

             The Levite musician sang (shiyrah kiy Yahovah) the songs of the Lord.  Do you know what this musician’s claim to fame was?  They were expert performers and could distinguish mentally about the right kind of songs – the songs of the LORD.  I Chronicles 25:7 states:  So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed [lamad 3925-expert or skillful] in the songs of the LORD, even all that were cunning [biyn 1995-could separate mentally or could perceive] was two hundred fourscore and eight.  (Words in brackets are mine)  These ancient musicians who loved and served YHVH were excellent performers and they were well educated but they did not let their performance skill or music education cause them to be heady and high-minded Temple musicians.

Music Values

 Music Values

Pastors, parents, and music educators have a responsibility to pass our music values on to the next generation.  This process of attempting to instill the conservative music values in the lives of our children is many times a painful and unsuccessful endeavor.  Although we have a responsibility to share our values with the next generation, we must be sure that we do the right thing in the right way.

It is one thing for pastors, parents, music ministers, and Christian music educators to have strong beliefs concerning music but the passing of the baton to the next generation must be a “civil” process.  Long heated discussions ending in anger and tears seldom get the job done successfully.  Name calling and equating a young person’s musical tastes with their relationship to Jesus Christ is most regrettable. 

Unwise choices in music and cultural blind spots in the fine arts should not be equated with a person’s relationship to Christ.  Parents should not make statements like, “If you ever really come to know the Lord, you won’t even like that music”.  Knowledge of biblical principles concerning music choices and likes and dislikes of styles of music are acquired skills not instantaneous gifts of the Spirit to the born-again Christian.  Christian purity and maturity are not one in the same.  A Christian musician may make unwise choices concerning music ministry as well as secular music selections and still be honestly trying to bring his or her life under the Lordship of Christ.  It seems that we are much more able to accept the fact that a Christian has made some very unwise credit card decisions than we are able to accept unwise music decisions.

Remembering God When We Ponder Success

Remembering God When We Ponder Success

Job 38:4-6, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?  Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

            Sometimes successful Christian musicians become quite smug and feel self-sufficient.  Job was successful as a father, husband, and business man.  Furthermore, God, who knows everything, said to Satan in Job 1:8 “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”  Every Christian musician should ponder on what God tells Satan about him or her. 

            We all need to remember that any musical success in this life has come about because God bestowed the musical ability on that musician that made successful musicing possible.  Our knowledge is incomplete and our time on this earth is short at best.  We should all ponder on the question, “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?”  Based on who we are and our dependence on God we should all begin and end each day praising god for who He is and what He has done, and what He will do for us if He sustains our life another day.

Prayer for This sunday

Prayer for This sunday  

Lord You know what is best for my life.   When something continually perplexes me, I want You to solve it as soon as I bring it to you.  Help me to be aware that You working in my life even when I do not understand why this trial has come into my life.  Help me to believe that Your grace is sufficient for me at this time.  This I am praying in Your name.  Amen.   

Song for the Day “Make Me a Servant” by K. Willard.   

Thought for the Day  

We are often ashamed of our areas of weakness.   God uses these “thorns” to cause us to realize that we need Him.

“I Am Helped”

“I Am Helped”   

Psalm 12:7 states, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusteth in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” 

       The psalmist David expressed that his shield is the self-existent eternal God who is.  He also acknowledged that he received his strength from Jehovah.  Sometimes church musicians only think of the struggles of public music ministry.  They forget to remember and say “I am helped”.  They also often forget just who it is that has helped them.  Practice the presence of God”.  When we receive help in our musicing unto God we need to practice saying out loud “Thank You Lord for helping me”.   It will help you and Satan will not like it because he will know that you have your head on straight. 

       The psalmist David acknowledged that God helped him and, since Jehovah was working in his life, he said, “My heart greatly rejoiceth”.  Do you rejoice when God helps you in your musicing?  Do you greatly rejoice?  Do you really praise God like David with your “song’? 

Singing to the Rock of Our Salvation-part 2

Singing to the Rock of Our Salvation-part 2  

       Because we joy in the presence of the LORD, we shout aloud the praises of the self-existent, eternal God who is.  We enhance our praise music by singing with instrumental accompaniment.  Because Jehovah is worthy of praise, we lift up our hands in avowal to the triune God. 

       Chief musician, is your heart full of mighty praises to our wonderful Lord?  If not, remember that God is the Rock of your salvation.  As you remember who He is and what He has done, and what he is capable of doing, you can actually come into His presence with praiseful musicing. 

Prayer for the Day  

I want to thank You Lord that You are my strength and shield.  Thank You for helping me in my spiritual walk with You from day to day.  I also want to thank You Lord for giving me special help with my musicing this very week!  Help me to not forget that is You that have brought truth and joy to my life.  I want to take time right now to say “Thank You, thank You, thank You.”  Now Satan knows exactly where I stand today!  These things I pray in Your Strong and mighty and wonderful name.  Amen.   

Singing to the Rock of Our Salvation-part 1

Singing to the Rock of Our Salvation-part 1  

Psalm 95:1-2 states, “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”  (NIV)

       Why do we sing unto the Lord?  We sing because our hearts are joyful.  We are so excited about Jesus the Rock of our salvation that we shout aloud because of the thanksgiving and praise that wells up in our hearts.  Because of this joy we come before His presence with thanksgiving.

       What does it mean to extol the Lord with our musicing?  The word ruwa (7321) which is justly translated extol in the NIV means to shout aloud or to music with great strength.  It does not connote noise making as the AV would suggest.   The word todah (3034) which is translated thanksgiving means literally to extend the hands in worship. The words music and song in the NIV and psalms are derived from the Hebrew word zamiyr (2158) means to accompany a song with instrumental music.  So when we extol God with our musicing we sing with great strength songs accompanied with musical instruments. 

Song for the Day “Spirit of the Living God” by Daniel Iverson   

Thought for the Day 
If you really want to “practice the presence of God” in your life, you might try meditating on the Decalogue “day and night”.

Itinerate Musicians Who Were Sacred Music Experts-part 2

Itinerate Musicians Who Were Sacred Music Experts-part 2

            We all want God to preserve and protect us as Christian musicians.  Therefore, we should follow this ancient tradition of not only being sacred musicers but also raining others to sing and pay sacred music.  If Christians had followed this anciently established tradition, church music would not be in the confused mess that it is in today.  The baby boomers (my generation) is quick to blame the near collapse of efficacious sacred music in many churches on this generation of musicians, but this problem stared on the baby boomers watch.

            There was also a tradition of secular musicians in ancient Israel which is mentioned very briefly in Ezra 2:65, “Beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women.”  I mention this fact because some Christian leaders blame all the problems of church music on secular musicians.  Secular music is not the cause of all of the problems that have arisen in the past century and are with church music today.  The problem is that Christians have turned their children’s musical training over to these “Philistine” musicians.  Remember that in ancient Israel the church accepted the responsibility to instruct their young men in how to music unto the LORD.

Itinerate Musicians Who Were Sacred Music Experts-part 1

Itinerate Musicians Who Were Sacred Music Experts-part 1

Ezra 2:41 mentions “The singers: the children of Asaph, an hundred twenty and eight.”  These are identified earlier in Ezra 2:1, i.e.  “Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city…”  God had preserved 228 musicians specifically identified as singers (shiyr 7891) and brought them out of the Babylonian captivity.  Strong defines shiyr as “a primitive root identical with [shuwr] 7788 through the idea of strolling minstrelsy.”    

            These men were itinerate singer-players who were the descendants of the Chief  Levite musician Asaph who was recorded in 1Chronicles 25:7 as one of the  Levite musicians who was responsible for the Levite sons who were “instructed in the songs of the LORD…”.  I am bringing this to your attention because God takes care of His musicians!  Because He always has, we have reason to believe that, since He is not a respecter of persons, He will take care of Christian musicians in the twenty-first century.  I believe that one of the reasons God preserved and protected these musicians is they had a track record of instructing other musicians “in the songs of the LORD”.

God is Much More Than Merely Awesome

God is Much More Than Merely Awesome

Nehemiah 1:4-5, “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:”

            These two verses are taken from Nehemiah’s prayer in the first chapter. In verse four the prophet mentions that he came before God and used the name Elohiym (430) which is the supreme or superlative name of God. In verse five Nehemiah refers to God as LORD God YHVH Elohiym (3068, 430) which means the self-existent, independent, eternal God who is the supreme God.  In verse five he identifies YHVH Elohiym   as the great terrible God (gadowl yare el 1419, 3372, 410) i.e. the exceeding, great God who must be revered and feared because He is a strong, powerful mighty God.

             Some modern versions translate gadowl simply as “awesome” which is not a sufficient word to explain this Hebrew word.  I believe that thee word awesome misses the point somewhat in that it does not leave the impression that YHVH Elohiym is a God to be reverenced and feared.  Solomon said in the ninth Proverb verse ten, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”  Later he said in Proverbs 16:6, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”  So, Nehemiah’s prayer attitude was one of referential fear which was a wise and respectful way to come before God’s presence.  The bible lesson he is quite clear that Christian musicians must come before God with reverential fear and awe.

Are You Too Busy to Commune With God?

Are You Too Busy to Commune With God?

            It is possible for a Christian musician to become so busy doing good things that he or she neglects being good.  2Timothy 3:5 states, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  Malachi 3:2-3 asks and answers the question, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”  A musician’s musical offerings will not be accepted by the LORD unless they are given “in righteousness”.

            The Hebrew word tsadaqah (6666) translated here as righteousness means with moral virtue.  So, if a Christian musician is not truly a righteous person, his or her musical offerings and ministry may be considered to be wood, hay, and stubble in the sight of God (I Corinthians 3:11-13).  Also, 1Cointhians 3:3 explains that, “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.” I do not want to become so busy that I fail to keep up with my spiritual walk with God.  When I face Him whose eyes are “as a flame of fire” (Revelation 19:12), I do not want to then realize that being busy had caused me to not be a truly righteous musical servant.

God Will Not Share Glory With Musicians

God Will Not Share Glory With Musicians

            Psalm 146:1 “Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.  While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” Verse one declares that it is the responsibility of every believer who loves Yahh (3050) to praise YHVH.  Those who love God still have the responsibility to praise.  The Hebrew word used in verse one is halal (1984) which means, according to Strong’s dictionary, “to shine; hence, to make a show, to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively, to celebrate”.

            When we music unto God we should boast, shine, and celebrate!  Our celebration should always be a celebration of who God is and what He does.  Musical worship is never about the music or the musicer, but rather it is always about the blessed Trinity.  If we worship music, our musicing is an act of idolatry—nothing more and nothing less.  If we celebrate the musicer, our gratitude is by no means an act of worship.  When the performer is the center of attention, what could have been true worship becomes a musical event or a concert.  Isaiah 48:10-11 “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.”   Again Strong explains that the word “glory” i.e. kabowd (3519) properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness:--glorious(-ly), glory, honour”.  So, God has declared that He will not share His splendor and honor with anyone—which includes musicians.  

Quote for the Day

Psalm 115:1 “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.”

All Musical Roads Do Not Lead to Heaven

All Musical Roads Do Not Lead to Heaven

            Multitudes of Christian musicians are now so squeezed into the world’s mold that they do not seem to realize that the whole belief-system that music is amoral is the result of autonomous music philosophy.  It is no wonder that you can trust a humanist to conclude that all music endeavors begins and ends with man.  The philosophical bias of a humanist will always be that all meaning in life (if there is meaning in life) will be the result of self-actualization and the act of a person’s free will.  More and more Christian musicians are joining secular humanists in believing that the music part of music is incapable of saying, meaning, or representing anything and therefore is amoral.

            This musical mind believes wholeheartedly that in the beginning was “ameba” or worse yet in the beginning was “nothing”.  This musician believes within himself that man came from nowhere and is ultimately going nowhere.  It is not hard for him to believe that man exists in a purposeless universe and that he is “caught in the wheel of time”.  This musician also believes that music came from nowhere and is ultimately going nowhere.  To this humanistic musician the only thing that really matters is “me”.  This type of thinker concludes that music is amoral since man is god and god is man therefore god is in man because man created god.  So, man is god of his music.  Any music that he composes or performs is god’s music i.e. all man’s music is created in god’s image since god is created in man’s image.  Any music that pleases man will also please God and conversely no music that displeases man is pleasing to God.  So, if you can wade through all the previous mumbo-jumbo, you will be able to understand why a synthesis thinking religious humanist, who is autonomous, believes that all musical roads lead to heaven – why there is no profundity in music – why all music is appropriate for public worship and ultimately why music is all a matter of taste.

Songs in the Night

Songs in the Night

Job 35:9-10, “By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.  But none saith, where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night…?”

            I find it hard to understand the mental torture that Job experienced at the same time that he was in such physical distress.  I find it even harder to understand what it was like to be oppressed by his friends.  I often wonder how Job withstood all this torment without charging God foolishly.  Adam Clarke’s comments on verse nine include, “A holy soul has continual communion with God: night and day its happiness is great; and God, from whom it comes, is the continual subject of its songs of praise.”  I believe Clarke was correct in hypothesizing that Job was in continual connection and communion and that this connection helped to make him an overcomer.

            Psalm 42:8 which is a psalm for or to “the chief musician” gives us more food for thought when it says, “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”  This psalm giving instruction of the sons or for the sons of Korah is an eternal reminder to chief musicians that when they are called on to be misunderstood or misjudged by others that God’s night song will be with them and furthermore the words of the song that God brings to their memory can become a prayer to those who have our heavenly Father as the God of their lives.

Prayer for Christian Musicians

Our dear and precious heavenly Father, I am coming unto your presence by the mediatorial agency of Jesus Christ my Elder Brother and my Advocate.  Thank you for the songs that You give in the night of pressure, misunderstanding and oppression of others.  I am asking you to give comfort, solace, rest, release and restoration to Your chief musicians  who are oppressed by Satan the enemy of every Christian musician’s soul.  I am asking You to let Your presence be experienced by every Christian musician who is serving You with all his or her ability.  Please grant continual communion and connection to these musicians who are at this very moment under the fire of misunderstanding and oppression.  I am asking You to give complete victory in Your powerful and wonderful name.  Amen!

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 4

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 4

            When I was the minister of music in a small church in Meriam Kansas years ago, we did not have a regular organized choir that rehearsed and sang every week.  When we were going to have a Christmas or Easter cantata, I would always have our pastor announce that we needed musicians.  At the same time as he was making the announcement he would also give a pep talk on the importance of what we were going to do.  Our strategy always worked!  The choir’s ministry was explained by our pastor as an extension of the church’s ministry not merely a musical or seasonal event. 

            Pastor Carroll did not attend rehearsals of do anything further because everyone in and out of the choir that attended our church knew that this musical performance was a ministry instead of a mere opportunity for the musicians to hock our musical wares.  As I stated in an earlier post, every ministry of a local church must be administered philosophically from the top down rather than the effort  and dream of the church music department.

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 3

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 3

            How do churches go about resurrecting a dead or dying music ministry?  First of all senior pastors must realize that their laissez-faire attitude toward the appropriateness of the music that is musiced in the worship service and the problems that have occurred as a direct result of their willy-nilly leadershift in music praxis has caused this musical chaos. 

            After reading the first two posts in this series one may believe that the senior pastor must do everything, including directing the church choir and leading the congregational singing.  That is far from what I believe a pastor’s duties include.   The pastor is responsible administratively and philosophically for the church’s prescriptive approach to worshiping with music.  This responsibility will exude from the senior pastor’s knowledge of what the Bible teaches about the inclusion of music in worship.   It will then amalgamate this knowledge with his or her understanding of the fundamentals of music which then is put into practice by the music team. All of the above must fit within the prescriptive parameters of the church’s worship and ministry philosophy and praxis.

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 2

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 2

            After traveling with a Bible College Symphonic Wind Ensemble and a College Choir for nearly four decades I am convinced that the buck stops with senior pastors when it comes to church music confusion and anarchy. During my travels I became aware that drastic changes in church music ministry may be blamed on the worship leader, choir director etc. but more times than not they are secretly the fault of the pastor.  Senior pastors may blame church music failure on worship leaders, but most of the confusion and unsuccessful leadershift in church music is the direct result of lead pastors” lack of musical understanding and Bible knowledge or music. 

          Lead pastors who believe that it is not necessary to be leaders and administrators need to get rid of this lackluster paradigm.  They must learn to look at pastoring through a much more practical philosophical window.  I am convinced that nothing succeeds very well in a church, including the church’s music ministry, unless it is ultimately endorsed by the lead pastor.  After all, isn’t he or she called the “led pastor”?  The flow of a successful church’s administration is from the top down not vice versa.

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 1

Pastors Must Be Administrators and Philosophers-part 1

            In a monograph on church music called A Biblical Philosophy of Christian Music Dr. Thomas Cassidy made a statement that is of special interest.  He wrote, “The average pastor today will often admit that he knows very little about music, and generally leaves decisions regarding the music ministry to the song leader/choir director. The primary reason most pastors know very little about music is that they have never been taught a Biblical philosophy of Christian music.”  http://www.beaconmbc.com/articles/abiblicalphilosophyofchristianmusic.htm

             I believe that Dr. Cassidy was right in his assessment of the lack of knowledge of a multitude of pastors today.  He went on to say, “The primary reason most pastors know very little about music is that they have never been taught a Biblical philosophy of Christian music. Most Bible Colleges today do not teach much in the way of Biblical music standards, and often leave such decisions up to the students themselves as to what they listen to and perform.”  The question that looms before us is why have Bible Colleges and Christian Universities failed so completely in this area of required curriculum for pastoral majors?

“I Will Declare Your Name”

“I Will Declare Your Name”  
Hebrews 2:12 states, “I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”  

       The Scripture in Paul’s letter to the Hebrews is a bit difficult to understand.   Clarke, Whedon, and Barnes say that this direct quote of Psalm 22:22 is messianic and therefore referring to Christ in the Hebrew letter.  If this is correct exegesis then Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren.  With this exegesis in mind we can deduce that Christ is approving and participating in singing Gods praises in public worship. 

       No wonder that the child of God claims Jesus as our elder brother.  What an encouragement it is to the Christian musician to realize that Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father, owns us as His children and is not ashamed to call us “brethren”.

       Next is the statement that in the midst of the church (ekklesia 1577) Jesus will sing God’s praises.  I must admit that again this statement is very difficult to interpret.  Either Christ is saying that he will sing the father’s praises or our praises.  I choose to believe he is referring to praising the Father.  If this is so, then Christ meets with us on Sunday morning and sings God’s praises in the midst of the ekklesia i.e. the congregation of saints. 

Prayer for the Day 

Lord, I thank You for Your faithfulness to me during this busy, busy season.  Thank You for helping me to feed your people with my little musical lunch.  Lord, it may have been small, but I gave it all to You.  Help me to remember that it was my responsibility to give 100%, and it was Your pleasure to feed the hungry people with my meager lunch.  Help me to keep believing your Word that encourages me that I am doing the will of the Father.  These things I am praying in your name.  Amen.

Song for the Day “O Come All Ye Faithful” Latin Hymn

Thought for the Day  Can God trust you to make right decisions?

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 4

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 4

            It is a misunderstanding of a host of public school music educators that since education in public schools must follow the rules of separation of church and state, they are not legally allowed to perform any sacred music or include anything that is mentioned in the Bible in their music classes. 

            “The First Amendment does not forbid all mention of religion in the public schools; it prohibits the advancement or inhibition of religion by the state. A second clause in the First Amendment prohibits the infringement of religious beliefs. The public schools are not required to delete from the curriculum all materials that may offend any religious sensitivity. For instance, the study of art history would be incomplete without reference to the Sistine Chapel, and the study of architecture requires an examination of Renaissance cathedrals. Likewise, a comprehensive study of music includes an obligation to become familiar with choral music set to religious texts. The chorales of J. S. Bach, the “Hallelujah Chorus” from George Frideric [sic] Handel’s Messiah, spirituals, and Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service all have an important place in the development of a student’s musical understanding and knowledge.”  http://www.nafme.org/about/position-statements/sacred-music-in-schools   

                So, there are many things that concern the history of music that are written in the Bible that can and should be included in American music education both public and private.  These inclusions are both legal and helpful when considering world music.  It seems odd to me that public school music teachers are encouraged to include the music of a host of world cultures and at the same time they are under mandate by some school system administrator to totally exclude any performance or mention of Bible music.   

           

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 3

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 3

            Why all the fuss about ancient music and the obvious musical education of the ancient Jews and the Babylonians?  First, these findings mentioned in the first two posts of this series put rest the notion that written music and hence music education definitely started with the Greeks.  Second, it presents solid evidence that music in ancient Israel and other cultures was highly developed during OT times.  Third, these evidences of early music writing and music education in ancient Israel and the surrounding cultures give credence to the hypothesis that there is doubtlessly much more that we can learn about music and musicing from these ancient cultures.

            What I am stressing in this discussion is that music education is not the invention of the Occident.  Some music educators, especially in the United States, try to make Christian musicians believe that music education is philosophically a secular based enterprise.  Under this false paradigm it is no wonder that these humanistic music educators and philosophers totally ignore what the Bible teaches about music, musicing and music education. 

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 2

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 2

            Current scholarship especially in the area of archeology have caused some musicians to believe that perhaps the knowledge of how to notate Scripture came later when Abraham made his journey from Ur of the Chaldees to the Promise Land.  Maps of his journey show that he passed by the City of Ugarit where the music written in Cuneiform symbols was found.  Modern Assyriologists such as Anne D. Kilmer et. al. have deciphered this music which is in a major key with half steps between the 3^rd and 4^th and the 7^th and 8^th degrees of the scale.  When one looks at Kilmer’s transcriptions the music is amazingly like the music of the Occident.

             Music historians like Grout et. al.  are beginning to admit that music knowledge and hence, music education could have begun with the Babylonians in Syria, “The Babylonians used their names for intervals to create the earliest known musical notation.  The oldest complete piece, from ca. 1400-1250 B.C.E., is on a tablet shown in figure 1.5 that was found at Ugarit, a merchant city-state on the Syrian coast. Scholars have proposed possible transcriptions fir the music, but the notation is too poorly understood to be read with confidence.”  A History of Western Music by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Grout, Claude V. Palisca. pp. 8-9.   Note that Grout and his associates state that this notation is too poorly preserved to be reliable, but they do not present any evidence that would refute the deciphering and findings of Dr. Kilmer.

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 1

Music Education’s Connection to Ancient Bible Music Education-part 1

Mark and Gary were possibly correct in their belief that, “The Hebrews probably participated in the musical life during their enslavement there…” At least we know that Moses was because Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” A History of American Music Education, by Michael Mark and Charles Gary, p. 3.  However, we do not have any direct evidence given in the Bible that the Jewish people at large participated in Egypt’s musicing.  We are only left to our imagination about how they were possibly influenced by music and musicing during their captivity in Egypt. 

            It is from these conjectures that musicologists derive hypotheses about Moses learning musical notation from his education that included “all the wisdom of the Egyptians”.  Some hypothesize that he learned musical notation while he was trained as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter.  Others, more recently believe that it is possible that Moses received the Ten Commandments with the musical notated te’amim.   

Thank you for a Great Month of April 2017

       Thank you for a Great Month of April 2017

            This month was the 52nd month of my blog which contained devotional and philosophical thoughts for Christian musicians. I have written over 2832 posts since this blog was started in January of 2013. There have been several times this year when I have experienced a certain amount of writer’s burnout.  However, I am praying that my posts in 2017 will stimulate both the regular and new blog members to remain faithful to their musical Ministeries. It is my continued prayer that each new post will bring honor to our heavenly Father in 2017.  The over 1,600 page views of my blog this month were experienced by people who read a mixture of philosophical and devotional thoughts.  We have had over 85,744 page views since the blog was started in January of 2013.  Since I started this blog the page views have come from 123 different countries. 

            These views have come from Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Armenia, Angola,  Aruba, Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Czechia ,Czech Republic,  Colombia, Congo [DRC], Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong,  Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland (Republic of),  Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (FYROM) Macau, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia,  Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands (Antilles) New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Oman, Palestine, Paraguay, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru. Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Porto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand,  Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks & Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, USA and Zimbabwe .

             The ten countries with the most page views this month were:  USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia, Portugal, China, Brazil, Poland and Spain.

          If you are from a country that has had page views in the past months and has been omitted from the 123 countries listed above, please email me your country’s name.  Please pray with me that God will allow this Music Philosophy Blog to continue to go places where I will never have the opportunity to minister musically in person. Please pray for me, as I have mentioned before, I am in the process of writing a general music philosophy book and a devotional book for musicians. My philosophy book is now in the hands of the content editor. Please pray the editor of the devotional book is in the process of moving to Scotland and is very busy at this time.

       Once again I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to view my music philosophy blog during the month of January and a special thanks is in order to those countries that faithfully view this blog month after month.  Please continue to pray that God will guide each post and allow it to reach those who need encouragement to keep ministering for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  

The main reason that I started this Music Philosophy blog is that, although there is much music philosophy information on the net, not very much of it is from a biblical perspective.  Please share the blog address with your friends.   If you have an area of music or fine arts philosophy that troubles you, please feel free to let me know and I will include it in our discussions.  My email address is Garenlwolf@gmail.com.

Prayer for this Blog in May

            I want to thank You Lord and Father for the 123 countries that are a part of our blog family.  It is my sincere and earnest prayer let this blog will go around the world to places where I cannot go.  Lord, thank You that You are answering my prayer by guiding people from 123 countries to find and read my blog posts. Please continue to help me in 2017 as I prepare a post for each day to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  

             Lord, I want to thank You for all your goodness to me!  Only You know Lord who is out there ministering musically that needs a fresh anointing for musical ministry.  Help me to know which philosophical and devotional thoughts will help these busy pastors and musicians.  Lord, as I continue to develop posts to be presented later this year. I am not sure which aspects of music education and music ministry to write about that will stimulate and encourage the blog family.  Please anoint the blog, the blogger, and the blog readers during the spring and summer months of 2017. If it is your will I am asking that the number of page views will increase during each month.

             Lord, I am praying that you will help the content editors for the two books that they are now editing and making final preparations so they can be sent to the publisher. Also, I want to thank You Lord for helping us to finish the manuscript which has been sent to the publisher.  Lord I am asking You to help the publisher as the manuscript is prepared in book form. I am asking You Lord, to multiply time for the editor who is working on the devotional book because she is very busy people this month. These things I ask in your great and wise and wonderful name.  Amen.