The Seven Last Sayings of Christ—part 1

The Seven Last Sayings of Christ—part 1

Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

            The first saying of Christ when He is hard to understand Christ saying “forgive them” to those who had persecuted, falsely accused, and placed the sinless Christ on a cruel cross.  This was not an act merely to punish our Savior, but rather it was an unjust act of murder.  So, Christ freely forgave these men who hated him.

            Luke 23:33 states, “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.  Christ was crucified between two malefactors (kakourgos 2557) i.e. two criminals.  Our sinless Savior was humiliated by being placed between two criminals.  Luke 23:35, gives this vivid mental picture, “And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

            If that was not enough humiliation, Luke 23:35-37 said that “… the people stood beholding.  And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.  And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.”  It is no wonder that St John the revelator said in Revelations 5:12 “… Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

            One of the great messages left to Christian musicians by Christ when He was on the cross at Calvary was “forgive”.  Christ taught us to forgive others who have done us wrong!  Mathew 5:44 records the words of Jesus, “… Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”  Jesus did not say forgive if you feel like it, He simply said love and forgive.  You may not be able to forgive others within your own human strength, but God’s grace is sufficient enough to enable you to forgive. 

Song for the Day “Thou art Worthy” by Pauline Michael Mills

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 3

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 3 

 I do not believe that it is too much of a stretch to believe that the Christian musician should desire that his or her music and musicing should rise to excellence and profoundness.  St Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi connotes this same truth.  Philippians 1:9-11 “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” Although this passage says nothing directly about a Christian musician’s music and musicing, the point that Paul was stressing in this discourse extends to the type and quality of music that a Christian should “approve”.

Paul’s teaching in the first chapter of Philippians addresses the philosophical issue of what a Christian approves or disapproves. He goes on to explain that correct approval is the key to one’s actions being without offence toward God.  The use of the Greek word diaphero (1308) has been given much attention by exegetes of Scripture.  Albert Barnes notes on this Scripture explain that, “The idea is, that he wished them to be able to distinguish between things that differed from each other; to have an intelligent apprehension of what was right and wrong--of what was good and evil. He would not have them love and approve all things indiscriminately. They should be esteemed according to their real value. It is remarkable here how anxious the apostle was, not only that they should be Christians, but that they should be intelligent Christians, and should understand the real worth and value of objects”.  Barnes Notes on the New Testament – Ephesians to Philemon by Albert Barnes, (comments on verse 10, p.148)

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 2

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 2 

Regardless of the current trend to not value profundity, there needs to be some scrutinizing the “profoundness” of the text and the music part of all music that a Christian listens to and performs.  Many ministers of music are not  bothered by the fact  that they are projecting song texts on the overhead screen that do not  include the basic, necessary  and proper punctuation marks  for the coherent presentation of  an English text.  If they do not include punctuation, it is evident that they do not understand this lyric poetry as English rhetoric.  Certainly they are not concerned about the cognitive presentation of the text.  If they did, punctuation would be considered absolutely necessary to his or her music praxis.  When a worship team projects texts on an overhead screen of religious music and do not use standard punctuation marks, they are making a statement that we do not have to give sacred lyric poetry the same respect that is given to non-sacred poetry.

Psalm 92:5 gives some insight into the profoundness of God’s thoughts and his works. “O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.”  The English word used here is “deep” and is translated by the AV from the Hebrew word amaq (6009).  It is the same word that was translated “profound” in Hosea 5:2 which is the only time that profound is used in the Bible.  God’s works are said to be Great gadal (1431) i.e. they are exceedingly excellent.

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 1

Profound Music Lends Itself to Being Worthwhile Music—part 1

Let us consider some of the aspects of well-written music that make it worthwhile music.  First, there is the word “profound” that we will define as music that searches into the deep and subtle areas of truth and beauty.  Truth and beauty are included in the definition of profound although the study of aesthetics of music generally does not deal directly with truth. However, the Christian must include truth with beauty because aesthetic beauty often reveals truth to the viewer or auditor. Also, profound music composed without words will require deep thought and knowledge of its formal properties in order for the auditor to be able to unlock its information that makes it understandable.

If the listener believes that the trombonist he is watching is swallowing the slide as he plays, that person is not knowledgeable enough of instrumental music to make   decisions about the profundity of the performer’s playing.  With the popularity of “dumbing down” church music, profundity in music is not often high on the priority list of many church musicians.  Furthermore, evaluating the profoundness of a selection of sacred music is not the popular music praxis of many very knowledgeable Christian musicians who are worship leaders.

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 4

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 4 

            If at the time that St. Paul lived music had the capability and power to send clear or unclear messages to the people of ancient Israel, surely it has no less power over audiences today.  Therefore all Christian musicians must take great care concerning the musical techniques they use in their musicing unto God. Ancient cultures, including their philosophers, believed that music had great power and expressed meaning.  It has been only modern and post-modern philosophers in the second half or the twentieth century, including many church musicians, who have believed that music was (and is) not capable of saying anything. 

            I am well aware that this mention of music is found in the midst of St. Paul’s discussion of the controversy over known and unknown tongues. However, Paul made part of his point in his discussion of the sound produced by musical instruments (music alone). There is no logical reason to discount what this great linguist wrote here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about the message of music having distinction if the notes are played accurately.   

Scripture thought for the Day 

Psalm 89:15, “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” 

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 3

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 3

            1 Corinthians 14:7, “And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?” 

            This Bible passage very clearly teaches that in ancient Israel if the instruments played the intended notes accurately their sound sent a distinctive message to the hearer.  Note that nothing is written in this passage of Scripture about the singing of words.  The distinction of the message came through the sounds produced by accurate production of the musical notes being played by the instrument.  The message sent by the musician was the result of the message of the music rather than by words sung by a musician. 

            The common man in ancient Israel knew what the sounds meant merely by the selection of tones that the musician played.  There is much more musical truth imbedded in the meaning or this Bible reference than is commonly believed or understood by musicians today. We know that the way that the ancient musicians musiced sent either clear or “uncertain” messages to the hearer.  

Thought for the Day

We know that the common man had knowledge of what the distinction of sound ment during New Testament times.  Music had meaning then and so does it today.  Therefore every Christian musician must become aware of the messages it conveys today.

       Thank you for a Great Month of March 2017

            This month was the 51^th month of my blog which contained devotional and philosophical thoughts for Christian musicians. I have written over 2,800 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 1,500 page views of my blog this month were experienced by people who read a mixture of philosophical and devotional thoughts.  We have had over 84,600 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 .  We would like to welcome to our blog family Guyana that had its first page views this month.  We want to welcome Czechia  which had its first page views to our blog family.

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

          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.          I am strengthened in my spiritual walk with God by going through that serious trial that involved our car insurance company last November.  I want to encourage all of our blog readers that God answers prayer.

Prayer for this Blog in April

            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 for the month of March. 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 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. 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.

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 2

  Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 2

             If the texts of Christian music must be constant and reliable then it stands to reason that the music part of the music should be consistent with the message of the gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ.  First Corinthians 14:7 teaches, “And even things without life giving (didomi, 1325) sound (phone 5456), whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction (diastole 1293) in the sounds (phthoggos 5353), how shall it be known what is piped or harped?” 

            Some explanation of the words giving sound and distinction in the sounds is in order at this point in our discussion of I Corinthians 14:7.  The words that have been translated “giving sound” are referring to musical sounds and they specifically refer to the sounds of the aulos (836) which was a type of flute or pipe and the kithara (2788) which was a hand held lyre.  As Bible music historians know, both of these instruments were pitch producing instruments which were capable of playing accurate musical melodies.  With this knowledge in mind one can understand the meaning of the Greek words diastole and phthoggos which were translated “distinction in the sounds” in the AV.  The word diastole means distinction or accurateness and the word phthoggos means the musical notes being played.  

Thought for the Day 

If distinction of sounds made a difference during St. Paul’s lifetime, I see no reason to deny that how a Christian musician produces sound makes a difference today.

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 1

Musical Meaning in Musical Sounds-part 1  .

            1 Corinthians 14:7 teaches, “And even things without life giving sound , whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?” 

            Although over the years I have discussed musical meaning at length in this blog, I would like to revisit it very briefly.  One of the objectives of developing a Christocentric music philosophy is to incorporate musical principles into systematic beliefs about the nature and value of a musician’s music praxis.  Every Christian must recognize that if the words of the songs we sing are truly biblical then they embody truth.  These music texts represent truth because the message of the “words” is true.  If they accurately teach Bible principles they represent what Francis Schaefer called “true truth”.  

Thought for the Day

It is not popular to discuss truth in this century because so many musicians believe that all “truth” is relative truth, and this situational truth changes often.

Thank you for a Great Month of March 2017

       Thank you for a Great Month of March 2017 

            This month was the 51^th month of my blog which contained devotional and philosophical thoughts for Christian musicians. I have written over 2,800 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 1,500 page views of my blog this month were experienced by people who read a mixture of philosophical and devotional thoughts.  We have had over 84,600 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 .  We would like to welcome to our blog family Guyana that had its first page views this month.  We want to welcome Czechia  which had its first page views to our blog family.

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

          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.          I am strengthened in my spiritual walk with God by going through that serious trial that involved our car insurance company last November.  I want to encourage all of our blog readers that God answers prayer.

Prayer for this Blog in April

            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 for the month of March. 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 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. 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.