Richard L. Hamm Disciples of Christ Creed
The Wine of God's Wrath
Wineskins: New Wine in Old Wineskins
Dionysus: The golden Bough
See how the Disciples continue to INFILTRATE and DIVERT non-instrumental churches when the Bible and all of history totally repudiates attempting to worship a Spirit God in the new PLACE of our spirit.
Now, as the Babylon of the Apocalypse is characterised by the name of "MYSTERY," so the grand distinguishing feature of the ancient Babylonian system was the Chaldean "MYSTERIES," that formed so essential a part of that system. And to these mysteries, the very language of the Hebrew prophet, symbolical though of course it is, distinctly alludes, when he speaks of Babylon as a "golden CUP." To drink of "mysterious beverages," says Salverte, was indispensable on the part of all who sought initiation in these Mysteries. These "mysterious beverages" were composed of "wine, honey, water, and flour."
From the ingredients avowedly used, and from the nature of others not avowed, but certainly used, there can be no doubt that they were of an intoxicating nature;and till the aspirants had come under their power,
till their understandings had been dimmed,
and their passions excited by the medicated draught,
they were not duly prepared for what they were either to hear or to see.If it be inquired what was the object and design of these ancient "Mysteries," it will be found that there was a wonderful analogy between them and that "Mystery of iniquity" which is embodied in the Church of Rome.
Their primary object was to introduce privately, by little and little, under the seal of secrecy and the sanction of an oath, what it would not have been safe all at once and openly to propound.
The time at which they were instituted proved that this must have been the case. The Chaldean Mysteries can be traced up to the days of Semiramis, who lived only a few centuries after the flood, and who is known to have impressed upon them the image of her own depraved and polluted mind. *
* AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS compared with JUSTINUS, Historia and EUSEBIUS' Chronicle. Eusebius says that Ninus and Semiramis reigned in the time of Abraham.
That beautiful but abandoned queen of Babylon was not only herself a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness, but in the Mysteries which she had a chief hand in forming,
Thus was this Chaldean queen a fit and remarkable prototype of the "Woman" in the Apocalypse, with the golden cup in her hand, and the name on her forehead, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the MOTHER of harlots and abominations of the earth."
The Apocalyptic emblem of the Harlot woman with the cup in her hand was even embodied in the symbols of idolatry, derived from ancient Babylon, as they were exhibited in Greece; for thus was the Greek Venus originally represented,it is singular that in our own day, and so far as appears for the first time, the
Roman Church has actually taken this very symbol (wine cup) as her own chosen emblem.In 1825, on occasion of the jubilee, Pope Leo XII struck a medal, bearing on the one side his own image, and on the other, that of the Church of Rome symbolised as a "Woman," holding in her left hand a cross,
and in her right a CUP, with the legend around her, "Sedet super universum," "The whole world is her seat."
The Babylonian Church is named after CIRCE
The Babylon Harlot church of Revelation is explained by using CIRCE who is worshipped each time we call the assembly or synagoge of Christ a CHURCH. The end-time CIRCE and her agents are defined here:
IS EVERYTHING THE BIBLE SAYS A LIE TRUMPED BY HUMAN OPINION.
Rom. 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written,
The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Psa. 69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;
and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me
2781. cherpah, kher-paw; from 2778; contumely, disgrace, the pudenda: rebuke, reproach(-fully), shame.Psa. 69:11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.
2778. Charaph, khaw-raf; a primitive root; to pull off, i.e. (by implication) to expose (as by stripping); specifically, to betroth (as if a surrender); figuratively, to carp at, i.e. defame; denominative (from 2779) to spend the winter:--betroth, blaspheme, defy, jeopard, rail, reproach, upbraid.
Psa. 69:12 They that sit in the gate speak against me;
and I was the song of the drunkards.
5058. Ngiynah, neg-ee-naw´; ngiynath (Psa. 61: title), neg-ee-nath´; from 5059; properly, instrumental music; by implication, a stringed instrument; by extension, a poem set to music; specifically, an epigram: stringed instrument, musick, Neginoth (plural), songDO YOU REALLY HAVE TO FINANCE AND TOLERATE THESE PEOPLE?
5060. naga, to touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphem., to lie with a woman)
Spoiled Pets in the Ekklesia?
2 Peter 2:13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
And PAY them too: that defines a PARASITE.
Truphaô 2.revel in, LXXSi.14.4 ; delight in, .Ne.9.25. [Nehemiah called the kings-priests parasites]
A. live softly, luxuriously, fare sumptuously, of a child, leukos . Ep.Jac.5.5, Gal.6.416, etc.; paison, truphęson, paison paizô [pais] 4. to play (on an instrument), to sport, play, jest, joke, to make sport of one, mock him,
III. give oneself airs, be dainty, fastidious, connected to the Polus, Spoiled pets: en tais ekklęsiais t. kai kolakeuesthai, of the people,Charizô 2. gratify or indulge a humour or passion, 3. in erotic sense, grant favours to a man,
NO! Let them listen and learn. DO NOT let them TAKE OVER your Worship IN the Spirit as Paul warned because the DOGS are howling musically trying to get in to get some sheep's flesh.
The elders turned wolves in Acts 20 are those who let the perverted in to seduce and eat up the lambs.
(ll. 1-5) I prithee, clear-voiced Muse, daughter of mighty Zeus, sing of the mother of all gods and men. She is well-pleased with the sound of rattles and of timbrels, with the voice of flutes and the outcry of WOLVES and bright-eyed LIONS, with echoing hills and wooded coombes.
"Music and Mantras, therefore, were used by the Orphics
to attract, or call down, the influence of the Mother of the Gods,THE END-TIME MOTHER OF HARLOTS
Rev. 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev. 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev. 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev. 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.THE UNIVERSAL MARK OF THE LUSTED AFTER FRUITS
Rev. 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
HOW TO IDENTIFY WHEN SOME WOMAN HAS TAKEN OVER
Rev. 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians [locusts-Muses], and of pipers,
and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee;
and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be,
shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone [sound locates the prostitutes]
shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Rev. 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee;
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth;
for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Rev. 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints,
and of all that were slain upon the earth.
YOU MAY INVITE THEM IN BUT GOD WILL BURN THEM OUT AND IN REVELATION 19 THERE IS REJOICING.
And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. Amos 8:2
A basket:
Keluwb (h3619) kel-oob'; from the same as 3611; a bird-trap (as furnished with a clap-stick or treadle to spring it); hence a basket (as resembling a wicker cage): - basket, cage.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. Je.5:27
Keleb (h3611) keh'leb; from an unused root mean. to yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute: - dog.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly [multitude, swarm] of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. Ps.22:16
Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Is.56:11
And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. Je.15:3
I will not again pass by them any more. Amos 8:2Therefore I would have you bring no shame upon me, now when your youthful loveliness attracts men's gaze. The tender ripeness of summer fruit is in no way easy to protect; beasts despoil it--and men, why not?-- [1000] and brutes that fly and those that walk the earth. Love's goddess spreads news abroad of fruit bursting ripe. . . . So all men, as they pass, [1005] mastered by desire, shoot an alluring arrow of the eye at the delicate beauty of virgins. See to it, therefore, that we do not suffer that in fear for which we have endured great toil and ploughed the great waters with our ship; and that we bring no shame to ourselves and exultation to our enemies. Housing of two kinds is at our disposition, [1010] the one Pelasgus offers, the other, the city, and to occupy free of cost. These terms are easy. Only pay heed to these behests of your father, and count your chastity more precious than your life.
Grinders were usually prostitutes. The craftsmen or the Greek techne is highly devoted to being "theater builders and stage managers" of the end-time church. WE ALWAYS PROVIDE SURPLUS RESEARCH NOTES AND LINKS FOR YOUR FURTHER RESEARCH. TAKE WHAT YOU LIKE, LEAVE WHAT YOU LIKE.
See Rubel Shelly and John York (DLC) promoting COMMUNITY INTERPRETATION: Individuals have no right.
Apostate churches of Christ are following in the footsteps:
Originally part of the Restoration Movement (begun by Thomas and Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone and others), the Disciples of Christ adopted a denominational structure and created Christian Missionary Fellowship in the late 1800s, thus "abandoning" the "non-denominational" principle of the Movement.
In recent years (1970s following), the Disciples of Christ denomination has sought to broaden its "liberality" and has endorsed the following anti-Biblical positions:
1. homosexual marriages
2. ordained women ministers
3. ordained women elders
4. denied the requirement of immersion for salvation [neo-Calvinism]
5. denied the virgin birth of Jesus
6. participated with other liberal denominations in undermining the accuracy and authenticity of the Bible.
7. participated in unity discussions with the Roman Catholic church, apparently acknowledging the latter's claims and doctrines.
The American Civil War, Musical Worship, Revivalism, Racism
The more liberal Restoration Movements developed from John Locke's statement about human reason. A misunderstanding of Locke, human reason, tradition and the direct operation of the Holy Spirit are used in addition to the Scriptures as authority.
We quote from "The Oreon Scott Lectures at Bethany College: Lecture I :'A Deep Christian Spirituality" By Richard L. Hamm, General Minister and President Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The ecumenical world regards the GMP as 'head of communion' and as the chief representative of the church in national and world ecumenical councils. Disciples often speak of the GMP as the Disciples' primary leader.April 7, 1997" This link is to the Disciples of Page site.
The views of the Disciples of Christ will be in black; our comments will be in red.
Bro. LaGard Smith rightly identifies that real driving force behind many of those clamoring for change: "(T)here are also those who are trying to find in the Bible a rationalization for doing what the Bible simply does not allow" (p. 14). He speculates that the push for a new hermeneutic is self-serving, an attempt to evade those pesky Scriptures of Paul that prohibit women in church leadership roles. He "seeks to point out what may be unrecognized forces behind much of our current disconten--causes that promise, even in the immediate future, to affect all of us in the church." He demonstrates that much of the change agenda is closely related to the New Age movement.
The author devotes his attention to two fundamental aspects of the change movement: (1)." That the church is at great risk of becoming a cultural church, succumbing to a culture which...has radically changed the way it sees the world and even the way it thinks;" (2). "That the so called 'new hermeneutic' is evidence of the fact that the change agents have already embraced the culture of the day."
In his closing lines he observes, "(O)ne of the most disturbing ironies about us is that today's 'cultural church' (change church, jhw) prides itself in being more spiritual and holy, when (at least to my observation) it is the more traditional congregations--with all their so-called legalism--which appear to live more morally upright" ( p. 214). He well states, "it must be said that what marks the 'cultural church' is not only culturally-influenced theology, but also culturally-influenced moral values and standards" (p. 214). Reviewed by John Waddey.
Another Book: Radical Restoration: A Call for Pure and Simple Christianity -- F. LaGard Smith Treats of the professional clergy and youth ministers but may be too radical.
Richard L. Hamm: "But again, the problem is not that God is hiding from us, or being coy, or otherwise trying to make it difficult for us to know God and thus come to know who and what we are. The challenge is in the fact that God is transcendent. God transcends the world and our human senses. We can't see God in the same way we can see our neighbor. Nevertheless, God is real and is made known to us, through at least four means. I want to lift up these four basic sources of revelation.
God saw that there was NO MAN as INTERCESSOR and sent His ARM. Christ is the PHYSICAL manifesttion or visual image of the INVISIBLE GOD. If the Disciples follow the above statement then it seems that it doesn't grasp why the ONE GOD made Himself known through His Son. The SON validated His role by speaking only what He heard from the FATHER who lived within Him. Therefore, to claim the need for a DIRECT OPERATION of a TUTELARY SPIRIT seems to deny the sufficience of Jeus Christ as the singular NAME of the ONE AND ONLY SPIRIT GOD. Christ returning to the RIGHT OF THE MAJESTY does not mean that He assumed an inferior role. Arnobius wrote.
"it is not understood physically, in which case there might be something sinister (Left is awkward) about God, but Scripture puts before us the magnificence of the dignity of the Son by the use of dignified language indicating the seat of honour.
It is left then for our opponents to allege that this expression signifies inferiority of rank.
Let them learn that "Christ is the power of God and wisdom of God," and that "He is the image of the invisible God " and "brightness of his glory," and that "Him hath God the Father sealed," by engraving Himself on Him.What say you, O men? Did, then, shall I repeat, the godwho makes the thunder crash, lightens and hurls the thunderbolt, and draws together terrible clouds, drink in the streams of the breast, wail as an infant, creep about,
and, that he might be persuaded to cease his crying most foolishly protracted, was he made silent by the noise of rattles, and put to sleep lying in a very soft cradle, and lulled with broken words?
When Jesus promised ANOTHER Comforter He meant a fuller Comforter Who would speak ONLY what He heard. He said:
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18
If the Disciples need POWER or WISDOM do they get if from history or tradition or experience or the imagined Holy Spirit who GOES BEYOND WHAT IS WRITTEN? No:
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 1 Cor 1:24
Jesus Christ is the IMAGE of the invisible God. As IMAGE He is the SON or visible projection of God. What did an Infinite God leave to history or tradition?
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: Col 1:15
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: Col 1:16
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Col 1:17
If we need BRIGHTNESS and GLORY do we find it in our own head reading tradition or experience or hearing voices?
GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Heb 1:1
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Heb 1:2
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Heb 1:3
Before the VISIBLE manifestation of the invisible God as SON, the prophets were instructed by the SPIRIT OF CHRIST:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Pet 1:11
The Son of Man becomes the Son of God as the VISIBLE image of the invisible God. When "Casper" the ghost materializes he does not become twins.
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. John 6:27
Richard L. Hamm: The first is Scripture, which for Christians means, of course, the Holy Bible (which is to say the whole Bible: the Hebrew and Christian testaments).
The second is reason and the third is experience. We Disciples are quite appreciative of these sources. Our movement was born within the philosophical context of
John Locke who said that truth can be known through reason tempered with experience.
In this secular age in which we live, I'm afraid that many of us have increasingly depended on these two sources alone, but reason and experience are two valuable sources for understanding God.
No, John Locke never said that. What he said was that Christianity was reasonable once it was revealed but the best of human reasoning could never discover or aid the discover of truth.
In The Reasonableness of Christianity, John Locke put the focus on revealed truth and not on any other thing. Anything which we can EXPERIENCE or our HUMAN REASON are the products of a fallible human which is USUALLY WRONG. If human reason suggests something like the trinity or pagan music as worship do we trust the Bible or do we trust our own feelings.
If Truth could be known through our reason tempered with truth then we are as powerful as God.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. Luke 10:21
All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Luke 10:22
Richard Hamm said that Lock said that "truth can be known through reason tempered with experience."
The Disciples movement is based on that statement.
But Locke never said that. So, isn't EXPERIENCE always READ and distorted?
That is why Peter warned against false teachers.
John Locke denied that REASON had ever contributed anything to spiritual religion. However, when God reveals, then it seems reasonable to the mind which God created. Locke speaks of HUMAN REASON and concluded that:
1. In this state of darkness and error, in reference to the "true God" Our Saviour found the world.
But the clear revelation he brought with him, dissipated this darkness;
made the one invisible true God known to the world:
and that with such evidence and energy,
that polytheism and idolatry hath no where been able to withstand it.But wherever the preaching of the truth he delivered, and the light of the gospel hath come, those mists have been dispelled.
Musical "worship" is idolatry.
Our human reasoning can GRASP Spiritual truth when it is REVEALED to us. However, John Locke repudiates the notion that EXPERIENC can reveal TRUTH.
2. Next to the knowledge of one God; maker of all things,
a clear knowledge of their duty was wanting to mankind.
This part of knowledge, though cultivated with some care, by some of the heathen philosophers, yet got little footing among the people.Here is where REVELATION finds all EXPERIENCE:
All men indeed, under pain of displeasing the gods, were to frequent the temples, every one went to their sacrifices and services;
........... but the priests made it not their business to teach them virtue.But natural religion, in its full extent, was nowhere, that I know, taken care of by the force of natural reason.
It should seem, by the little that has hitherto been done in it, that 'tis too hard a task for unassisted reason, to establish morality, in all its parts, upon its true foundations, with a clear and convincing light.
And 'tis at least a surer and shorter way, to the apprehensions of the vulgar, and mass of mankind,
that one manifestly sent from God, and coming with visible authority from him,
should, as a King and law-maker, tell them their duties, and require their obedience,than leave it to the long, and sometimes intricate deductions of reason, to be made out to them:
such strains of reasonings the greatest part of mankind have neither leisure to weigh, nor, for want of education and use, skill to judge of.
We see how unsuccessful in this, the attempts of philosophers (theologians, priests, poet-musicians in the classical religions) were, before Our Saviour's time. How short their several systems came of the perfection of a true and complete morality, is very visible.
And if, since that, the Christian philosophers have much outdone them, yet we may observe,
that the first knowledge of the truths they have added are,
owing to revelation; though as soon as they are heard and considered,
they are found to be agreeable to reason, and such as can by no means be contradicted.Truth appeals to our REASON; Reason NEVER reveals TRUTH. John Locke is usually maligned.
I have talked with some of their teachers, who confess themselves not to understand the difference in debate between them:
and yet the points they stand on, are reckoned of so great weight, so material, so fundamental in religion,
........... that they divide communion, and separate upon them.Had God intended that none but the learned scribe, the disputer or wise of this world, should be Christians, or be saved; thus religion should have been prepared for them, filled with speculations and niceties, obscure terms, and abstract notions.
But men of that expectation, men furnished with such acquisitions, the apostle tells us, I Cor. i, are rather shut out from the simplicity of the gospel,
to make way for those poor, ignorant, illiterate, who heard and believed the promises of a deliverer, and believed Jesus to be him; who could conceive a man dead and made alive again, and, believe that he should, at the end of the world, come again, and pass sentence on all men, according to their deeds.
That the poor had the gospel preached to them, Christ makes a mark, as well as business, of his mission, Matt. xi. 5. And if the poor had the gospel preached to them, it was, without doubt, such a gospel as the poor could understand, plain and intelligible: and so it was, as we have seen, in the preaching of Christ and his apostles.
And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. Luke 7:29
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. Luke 7:30
That is why we will note below that those involved as Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites as skilled rhetoricians, Sophists, Singers, Musicians and Doctors of the Law define those who functioned as SORCERIES or SOOTHSAYERS or ENCHANTERS called Techne or Craftsmen in Revelation 18. This includes those who FURTHER EXPOUND the once expounded Word of God and professional Hermeneutical draftsmen or specializing in exegesis. Many are clearly labeled as PARASITES because they were trying by using their traditions and experience to AID a Holy God.
Richard L. Hamm: The fourth is tradition. The Church has learned some things in the past two thousand years (that's right, the Church learned some things even before Alexander Campbell!). By looking to the Church's tradition (its history, its declarations, its collective wisdom) one can learn much about the nature of God and the nature of humankind. As the sage has said, one who does not learn history is doomed to repeat it. Studying the church's tradition is a way for us to learn some things the easy way!
The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Living God,
uses these four sources of revelation to teach us who God is and who we are.
This is contrary to all protestant religions and is accepted only by Catholics who put their traditions or personal experiences equal with the revealed Word of God. No one prior to the present generation in apostate Reformation Churches proposed that God is three separated persons. Rather, the argument was whether three personae or natures existed in the one, undivided Deity.
Tradition and experience a direct operation of the Holy Spirit who continues to reveal new truths to fit the century. However, the Holy Spirit has a name: Jesus Christ.
It is only in those last days that God hath spoken unto us by his Son, in a clear, distinct and certain manifestation of him (God) to the world; "declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead;"
who is the image of the invisible God, the Father, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person, or character of his subsistence;
by whom also he made the worlds, or all the various orders of rational intelligences that anywhere exist;
"for without him was not anything made that was made; all things were created by him and for him; and he is before all things,
and by him all things consist, or stand forth together; who upholdeth all things by the word of his power."
Now, most surely, he that made, erected, or built and upholdeth all things, is God--
........... is a distinct intelligent agent or subsistence in Jehovah Alehim, which is one Jehovah.
Can any professional religionist believe that they can deny HOLY SCRIPTURE as their only guid and look to their OWN experience, worldly tradition of some hallucinated guidance by the Holy Spirit believe that they can CONTINUE the word begun by God as Father and Son with such CERTAINTY that they can deliberately SOW DISCORD AMONG those who depend only on the revealed WORD of the Living Word/
The one Spirit who distributeth to every one severally as he will. In fine, all divine works, whether of creation, sustentation, gubernation, resurrection or judgment, are ascribed to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; neither is there any other divine agent revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures,
as comprehended in the One Jehovah;
or to whom any part of the works or worship peculiar to God is ascribed, but only to the sacred three above mentioned; even our Alehim, whose name alone is Jehovah;
........... and into whose name alone we are baptized.
Jesus came to remove the Law of Moses imposed because of Israel's sin and not for their redemption which was always by obedient faith. Furthermore, He removed "natural" religion and the "traditions of the fathers." While Christ's revelation fits our human reasoning, He came to replace "revelation" which was the product of human reasoning.
John Locke in A Letter of Toleration noted that:
The Papists and Lutherans, though both of them profess faith in Christ and are therefore called Christians, yet are not both of the same religion,
because these acknowledge nothing but the Holy Scriptures to be the rule and foundation of their religion,
those take in also traditions and the decrees of Popes and of these together make the rule of their religion;
and thus the Christians of St. John (as they are called) and the Christians of Geneva are of different religions, becausethese also take only the Scriptures, and
those I know not what traditions, for the rule of their religion.
Locke also said that if a thing is REASONABLE it should be reasonable to all. However, the musical sectarians did not use reason or much tradition when they deliberately sowed discord:
This being settled, it follows, first, that heresy is a separation made in ecclesiastical communion between men of the same religion
for some opinions no way contained in the rule itself; and,
secondly, that amongst those who acknowledge nothing but the Holy Scriptures to be their rule of faith,heresy is a separation made in their Christian communion for opinions
not contained in the express words of Scripture.
Therefore, Lock DID NOT say that truth can be known through reason tempered with experience. Rather, he said that those who follow Scripture, reason and experience and tradition are heretics because adding things like papal organization and MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS add something not contained in the express words of Scripture. Even worse, these things are added out of the human mind for human purposes knowing beforehand and with a high hand deliberately sowing discord.
Richard L. Hamm: But even this process of tutelage is one into which we must enter with great care because there are lots of "spirits" in the world which vie for our attention and allegiance. Sometimes people speak of how God "told me this" or'told me that." It always makes me nervous when people regularly claim to hear disembodied voices speaking to them alone because it can be an indication of mental illness.
Nevertheless, there is a real sense in which the Holy Spirit uses these four sources of revelation to lead us when we are open to direction (and sometimes the Spirit' "beaks through" even when we aren't open to direction!).
At baptism we are given what Walter Scott called A holy spirit. Peter identified that in 1 Peter 3:21 as a clear conscience or clear consciousness. When the Jews turned to Christ they would not be given THE Holy Spirit person to guide them throughout the following history. Rather, the VEIL would be removed from off their eyes so that in reading the SCRIPTURE they could understand it as reasonable and understandable and fitted to reveal what God choose to reveal. That is A holy spirit does not give you the power of REVEALING NEW TRUTH but of comprehending the ONCE DELIVERED to the Saints Words of Christ the Holy Spirit.
Aesculapius presides over the duties and arts of medicine; and why cannot men in more kinds of disease and sickness be restored to health and soundness of body? while, on the contrary, they become worse under the hands of the physician.
Mercury (Hermes) is occupied with combats, and presides over boxing and wrestling matches; and why does he not make all invincible who are in his charge? why, when appointed to one office, does he enable some to win the victory, while he suffers others to be ridiculed for their disgraceful weakness?
Hamm: Scripture in tension with reason, experience and tradition under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit is our highest authority!
All must be kept in creative tension with each other if we are to understand the truth about God and, thus, about ourselves.
24. No one, says my opponent, makes supplication to the tutelar deities, and they therefore withhold their usual favours and help.
Cannot the gods, then, do good, except they receive incense and consecrated offerings? and do they quit and renounce their posts, unless they see their altars anointed with the blood of cattle?
And vet I thought but now that the kindness of the gods was of their own free will, and that the unlooked-for gifts of benevolence flowed unsought from them.
Is, then, the King of the universe solicited by any libation or sacrifice to grant to the races of men all the comforts of life?
Does the Deity not impart the sun's fertilizing warmth, and the season of night, the winds, the rains, the fruits, to all alike,-the good and the bad, the unjust and the just, the free-born and the slave, the poor and the rich? For this belongs to the true and mighty God, to show kindness, unasked, to that which is weary and feeble, and always encompassed by misery, of many kinds.
For to grant your prayers on the offering of sacrifices, is not to bring help to those who ask it,
but to sell the riches of their beneficence.
We men trifle, and are foolish in so great a matter; and, forgetting what 73 God is, and the majesty of His name, associate with the tutelar deities
whatever meanness or baseness our morbid credulity can invent.
In Rome, the TUTELARY SPIRITS were the wandering stars.
Based on the principalities and powers of the air and the message of sweeping out the old demons from the mind, Scripture recognizes evil spirits of Satan who seduces men as his own HARP PLAYING PROSTITUTE ministers or evangelists. The word was sealed with a guarantee to PREVENT any future "prophets" from breaking through and steal.
Arnobious also warned that when you are careless evil spirits do BREAK THROUGH simply because you have invited some DIRECT SPIRIT GUIDES.
"May it not happen, may it not come to pass, although you craftily conceal it, that the one should take the other's place, deluding, mocking, deceiving, and presenting the appearance of the deity invoked."
"If the magi, who are so much akin to soothsayers, relate, in their incantations,
pretended gods steal in frequently instead of those invoked; that some of these, moreover, are spirits of grosser substance,
who pretend that they are gods, and delude the ignorant by their lies and deceit." (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 479).
Then, indeed, you will learn who is the one God, or who the very many under Him are,
........... who pretend to be gods, and make sport of men's ignorance .33. Your gods, it is recorded, dine on celestial couches, and in golden chambers, drink,
........... and are at last soothed by the music of the lyre, and singing .
........... You fit them with ears not easily wearied;
........... and do not think it unseemly to assign to the gods the pleasures by which earthly bodies are supported,
........... ........... and which are sought after by ears enervated by the frivolity of an unmanly spirit.35 . But is it only poets whom you have thought proper to allow to invent unseemly tales about the gods, and to turn them shamefully into sport?
What do your pantomimists, the actors , that crowd of mimics and adulterers?
Do they not abuse your gods to make to themselves gain,
and do not the others find enticing pleasures in the wrongs and insults offered to the gods?At the public games, too, the colleges of all the priests and magistrates take their places, the chief Pontiffs, and the chief priests of the curiae; the Quindecemviri take their places, crownedwith wreaths of laurel ,
and the flamines diales with their mitres; the augurs take their places,
........... who disclose the divine mind and will
........... and the chaste maidens also, who cherish and guard the ever-burning fire;the whole people and the senate take their places; the fathers who have done service as consuls, princes next to the gods, and most worthy of reverence; and, shameful to say, Venus, the mother of the race of Mars, and parent of the imperial people, is represented by gestures as in love, and is delineated with shameless mimicry
........... as raving like a Bacchanal, with all the passions of a vile harlot .The Great Mother, too, adorned with her sacred fillets, is represented by dancing; and that Pessinuntic Dindymene is, to the dishonour of her age, represented as with shameful desire using passionate gestures in the embrace of a herdsman; and also in the Trachiniae of Sophocles, that son of Jupiter, Hercules, entangled in the toils of a death-fraught garment, is exhibited uttering piteous cries, overcome by his violent suffering, and at last wasting away and being consumed, as his intestines soften and are dissolved.
Those who have EXTRA CHANNELS through which they get updated words from the gods were all identified as of the TRADE of the Hypocrite: rhetoricians, Sophists, singers, musicians: all PARASITES:
Rhętor-ikos , ę, on, oratorical, hę rhętorikę (sc. technę) rhetoric; of persons, skilled in SPEAKING, fit to be an ORATOR
The techne is the craftsmen who will go back into hell along with the Babylon harlot, her musicians and instrumentalists. (Rev 18:22)
A word with similar meaning:
Hupo-kritikos , ę, on, belonging to hupokrisis 11 , skilled therein, esti phuseôs to hu. einai having a good delivery, Arist.Rh.1404a15 .
- 2. suited for speaking or delivery, (sc. technę) the art of delivery, (but, the actor's art, .
- 3. metaph., acting a part, pretending to
Hupokrinomai
I. to reply, make answer, answer, Hom., Hdt.
2. to expound, interpret, explain, Od., Ar.:--the attic word in this sense is apo-krinomai.
II. of actors, to answer on the stage: hence to play a part, be an actor
2. to represent dramatically: hence to exaggerate
3. metaph. to play a part, to feign, pretend, c. inf., id=Dem.Of those who would DIVERT a non-instrumental church into being an instrumental church and taking pay for it as rhetorician or Sophist, the Greek had a word for it.
Parasi-tus , i, m., = parasitos, lit. one who eats with another; hence,
I. In gen., a guest (pure Lat. conviva): parasiti Jovis, the gods, Varr. ap. Aug. Civ. Dei, 6, 7; App. M. 10, p. 246, 35.--Hence, parasitus Phoebi, a player, actor, Mart. 9, 29, 9.--
II. In partic., in a bad sense, one who, by flattery and buffoonery, manages to live at another's expense, a sponger, toad-eater, parasite
This is the source of history, experience and tradition which automatically results when the love for the WORDS of God are lost and He sends stong delusions through strong delusions.
Paul, Luther and Calvin believed along with Paul that the SPIRIT is ministered and "breaks through" only when the WORD which is Spirit and Life is read.
The Restoration Movement gained widespread popularity because it rejected the direct operation of the Holy Spirit as a "third being of the God family." Rather, it acknowledged that the Words of Christ which He called "Spirit and Life" (John 6:63) impress themselves on our hearts or minds only through the revealed Word - SolaSsriptura.
Richard L. Hamm: It is difficult to understand how one uses the voice of the Holy Spirit without hearing disembodied voices, receiving hunches or.....
As we look down through the tradition, the history of the church, we see that many, if not all, of the heresies that have been identified through the centuries have arisen
because someone tried to fundamentally separate these sources of revelation from one another
and from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
While as Protestants we would affirm that Scripture has a special place, we must not separate it from the other sources nor from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
We are not aware of anyone who used SOLA SCRIPTURA to create a heresy without contaminating it with human thought. It was always the BABYLON or other pagan triad which convinced the philosophers that there shoud be a Christian triad. While some passages can be confused, trinitarians IGNORE the totality of Scripture:
John Mark Hicks notes that it is a provable fact of the Restoration Movement that:
We have shifted from an emphasis rooted on a common factual confession that Jesus is the Christ to a Trinitarian emphasis on his deity.
Trinitarianism has been (re)born among us.
An incarnational theology, represented by Max Lucado in particular, dominates the current climate in our churches. Interestingly, this renewal has primarily developed along ethical and devotional / spiritual lines.
An emergent Trinitarianism is evident among us, not only among Churches of Christ, but also in other branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement.[36] Even though our biblical scholars are somewhat hesitant, this shift comes from several quarters.
The Disciples follow the HIGH CHURCH view that the church has the authority to pronounce new truth to fit the ages. However, the first attempt in the Catholic church to introduce the heresy met with the Pope's opposition. Since the Emperor has some "convincing" arguments, the Pope had to relent.
In the church of England the vote was against the HIGH CHURCH view but queen Elizabeth trumped the church because she needed the pomp and ceremony for her king--Just lkie David
Yet, notwithstanding of all this, the English Church, by virtue of her power to "decree rites and ceremonies," and to introduce unauthorised modes of worship, imitating the Church of Rome,
has introduced the loud-pealing organ, to make her worship more attractive to the carnal mind, than the simple spiritual worship of the New Testament Church could be. This, however, was not the mind of the first Reformers, even in the English Church; for, in the Book of Homilies, they have left unequivocal evidence of their opinion on this subject; and there
they characterise " piping, and playing upon organs," as well as pictures and images, as a " filthy defilement " of God's "holy house and place of prayer."
Now, in opposition to the divine enunciation in regard to "will-worship," the Church of England has admitted into its articles this principle,
that it belongs to "the Church," of her own authority, to " decree rites and ceremonies " (Article XX).
As a matter of historical fact, this principle was never agreed to by the Convocation that adopted the Thirty-nine Articles;
this sentence being found neither in the first-printed edition of the Articles, nor in the draft of them that passed the Convocation, and which is still in existence, with the autograph signatures of the members;
but is believed to have been surreptitiously inserted by the hand of Queen Elizabeth herself, who had much of the overbearing spirit of her father, Henry VIII., and who, as Head of the Church, which the English Constitution made her,
was determined to have a pompous worship in that church, under her ecclesiastical control. Hislop on Music
Today, it is dangerous to your spiritual health. The willingness to ignore the express command of Christ through Paul will naturally carry with it the willingness to distort the truth. Therefore, the almost universal rejection of any mechanical devices to worship God as the "works of human hands" has been reversed. Thereafter, those who still resist the use of mechanical devices is branded as schmismatic. A noted Presbyterian scholar wrote and it has been proven that heresy and the schismatical loose their evil name with time but that doesn't make the original heresy right:
It will, no doubt, be said that the attempt to prove the unjustifiable employment of instrumental music in the public worship of the Church is schismatical,
since the practice is now well-nigh universal;
that it is trivial, inasmuch as it concerns a mere circumstantial in the services of religion;
and that it is useless, as the tendency which is resisted is invincible,
and is destined to triumph throughout Protestant Christendom.To all this one answer alone is offered, and it is sufficient, namely: that the attempt is grounded in truth. It involves a contest for a mighty and all-comprehending principle, by opposing one of the special forms in which it is now commonly transcended and violated." George Girardeau, Against Instrumental music: Preface
The musical sect formed by the forced introduction of instruments also rejected the total witness of experience, history, traditions and almost universal disagreement with 1850 years of church history. So, what good is such an unscriptural THEOLOGY if it is ignored and decisions are made JUST BECAUSE I WANNA.
I know there are some propositions so evidently agreeable to Scripture that nobody can deny them to be drawn from thence, but about those, therefore, there can be no difference.
This only I say- that however clearly we may think this or the other doctrine to be deduced from Scripture,
we ought not therefore to impose it upon others as a necessary article of faith because we believe it to be agreeable to the rule of faith,
unless we would be content also that other doctrines should be imposed upon us in the same manner,
and that we should be compelled to receive and profess all the different and contradictory opinions of Lutherans, Calvinists, Remonstrants, Anabaptists, and other sects
which the contrivers of symbols, systems, and confessions are accustomed to deliver to their followers as genuine and necessary deductions from the Holy Scripture.
I cannot but wonder at the extravagant arrogance of those men who think that they themselves can explain things necessary to salvation more clearly than the Holy Ghost, the eternal and infinite wisdom of God.
The Disciples theology is nonsense and they cannot believe it: the attempt to base the Disciples movement on SCRIPTURE ONLY proves that there is division. The Bible only sect has the Bible and church history on their side: the sect which uses reason, history and a direct operaton of the Holy Spirit have the Bible decidedly against them.
Women's Role and Reason
Somehow, the use of Scripture only is always mixed up with Racism. The speaker notes that:
Richard L. Hamm: By itself, Scripture was used to justify slavery and the exclusion of women from public leadership in the church, on the basis of Ephesians chapters 5 and 6. These are the sorts of things that happen when Scripture is used apart from the other sources and apart from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
If you could prove that your ancestors were wrong on every tenet of their belief, this would not change a jot or tittle of the Scriptural documents.
The New Testament never hints at imposing slavery on people. The particular SLAVERY Jesus died to remove was that of the BURDEN LADERS. Their burden is "spiritual anxiety created by religious rituals."
"Racism is used to poison the wells of the Instrumental Music issue, the women in ministry issue or any other issue where accusing the opposition of racism comes in handy.
For instance, Rubel Shelly notes that:
"In my lifetime, for example, the church in the United States has been forced by its surrounding culture to face the issue of racism.And so has every other religious group! But it is quite apparent from history that the CLERGY, then and now, was the creature of the PLANTATION OWNERS who have moved beyond farming. The clergy spoke what the MASSA wante said and probably did not represent the overwhelming majority of those who were sharecroppers or white slaves.
"My children cannot identify with the world in which I grew up -- segregated schools, people of color confined to the back seats of public transportation vehicles, public water fountains and toilets prohibited to African-Americans. As a matter of fact, I cannot identify with the world in which I grew up. Its realities are so foreign to my present convictions that I could easily think it was centuries ago and worlds away!
Unfortunately for the rhetoricians and Sophists who were known as sorcerers and parasites STILL ride on the backs of the widows and poor. Their jobs in the ancient Greek world was quite equivalent to the plantation owners (temples) or their servants who performed in order to increase the WORK RATE and bleed more tithes and offerings out of the Watchtower slaves.
Postmodernism does not see perverting the OLD truth as LYING. Thus the radical Restoration Movement which had DIFFERENT roots than the Southern churches of Christ love to use RACISM as an excuse not to see Scripture as the highest authority. However, that was not a produce of southern churches of Christ but Disciples and their ROOTS.
From Eerdman's Handbook to Christianity in America provides background to religious division prior to the American Civil War. More Quotes Here.
"There was little internal opposition to slavery among white Southern Christians, and a notable closing of ranks after the black preacher Nat Turner led the Virginia slave revolt of 1831, in which 57 whites were killed.
Revivalism, which in the North strengthened the cause of abolition,
was put to exactly the opposite use in the South, where it was, if anything, even more powerful."The South Carolina Baptist Association produced a biblical defense of slavery in 1822, and in 1844 John England, Bishop of Charleston, provided a similar one for Southern white Catholics. There were standard biblical texts on alleged Negro inferiority, patriarchal and Mosaic acceptance of servitude, and St. Paul on obedience to masters. Both North and South could and did hurl texts at each other.
"To judge by the hundreds of sermons and specially-composed church prayers which have survived on both sides,
ministers were among the most fanatical of the combatants from beginning to end.
The churches played a major role in dividing the nation, and it is probably true that it was the splits in the churches which made a final split in the nation inevitable."In the North, such a charge was often willingly accepted. Granville Moddy, a Northern Methodist, boasted in 1861:
"We are charged with having brought about the present contest. I believe it is true we did bring it about, and I glory in it, for it is a wreath of glory round our brow."
"Southern clergymen did not make the same boast, but it is true that of all the various elements in the South they did the most to make a secessionist state of mind possible.
When he could get his hands on new breech-loaded rifles, Henry Ward Beecher said:
........... "There is more moral power in one of these than a hundred bibles!"
........... And he therefore supplied the fanatic John Brown and his army with the new rifles in Kansas.Henry Ward Beecher predicted that the Southern leaders would be "whirled aloft and plunged downward for ever and ever in an endless retribution."
The New Haven theologian Theodore Thornton Munger declared that
the Confederacy had been "in league with Hell," and the South was now "suffering for its sins" as a matter of "divine logic."
He worked out that General McClellan's much criticized vacillations were an example of God's masterful cunning since they made a quick Northern victory impossible and
........... so ensured that the South would be much more heavily punished in the end.Here is where the impetus came from initially:
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John Calvin would say of the PLANTATION MINISTER from which no one has freed those laden with burdens of tithes, offerings and "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual."
Let them, then, show us that they are ministers of the gospel, and I will have no difficulty in conceding their right to stipend.
The ox must not be muzzled that treadeth out the corn [1 Cor. 9:9]. But is it not altogether at variance with reason that the ploughing oxen should starve, and the lazy asses be fed?
They will say, however, that they serve at the altar. I answer, that the priests under the law deserved maintenance, by ministering at an altar;
but that, as Paul declares, the case under the New Testament is different. And what are those altar services, for which they allege that maintenance is due to them?
Forsooth, that they may perform their masses and chant in churches, for example, partly labor to no purpose, and partly perpetrate sacrilege, thereby provoking the anger of God. See for what it is that they are alimented at the public expense!
Parasi-tus is what Calvin had in mind (rhetoricians, sophists, singers, musicians):
(parasitos, "table companion"). A word which among the Greeks denoted originally the priest's assistant, who, like the priest, received his support from the offerings made to the temple, in return for certain services. These services included the collection and care of supplies of corn due to the temple, assistance at certain sacrifices, and the preparation of the banquets connected with certain festivals
For instance, David changed the Law of Moses into a "like the nations" worship because that is what they requested and what God permitted.
This was a civil system and the people's congregation was not allowed to participate.
"The book of Psalms contain new doctrine after the Law of Moses. And after the writing of Moses, it is the second book of doctrine... (David) first gave to the Hebrews a new style of psalmody, by which he abrogates the ordinances established by Moses with respect to sacrifices, and introduces the new hymn and a new style of jubilant praise in the worship of God; and throughout his whole ministry he teaches very many other things that went beyond the law of Moses." (Fragment of Commentary by Hippolytus, bishop of Rome, Ante-Nicene, V, p. 170)
God gave the Kings to lead the nation into captivity and death.
The Levitical Musicians were under the KING and the COMMANDERS OF THE ARMY. They were the slave or work drivers for sacrifices and for building the temple.
So, we suggest that it was always professional clergy which is always at the call of the "Masters" of the cottonfields or religious plantations who came up with justification for racism by the use of their own human reason and vested interest.
So, as the clergy beat the drum for the plantation owners under slavery, the still boast of being CREATURES OF CULTURE. The same slave genes dwell in northern slavery of the industrial age. Why do clergy build huge MANSIONS in Dixie and use the new music of the south? Why, during their CYCLE on earth, are they not in the inner cities building shelters and training people for new jobs? Well, you know why, don't you. The same genetic material lives in COMMERCIAL RELIGION.
It has always been the fact that the Bible is the textbook to be taught or a church is not a Christian church. Bus drivers do not get diverted into brain surgery and church should not get diverted away from being a school of the Bible and of Christ. Therefore, the neo- Catholics have nothing but the mother on their side.
Martin Luther taught what all scholars taught before the Pope declared his HIGH CHURCH right to add or subtract:
16. Now, Paul's thought here is that nothing should be taught and practiced in the Church
but what is unquestionably God's Word.
It will not do to introduce or perform anything whateverupon the strength of man's judgment. Man's achievements, man's reasoning and power, are of no avail save in so far as they come from God.
As Peter says in his first epistle (ch. 4:11): "If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God; if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth."
Human talent has use ONLY in ministering. However, the total Word outlaws those who exegete or hermeneut assuming that God had some very costly oversights.
In short, let him who would be wise, who would boast of great skill, talents and power, confine himself to things other than spiritual;
with respect to spiritual matters, let him keep his place and [PAGE 230] refrain from boasting and pretense.
For it is of no moment that men observe your greatness and ability; the important thing is that poor souls may rest assured of being presented with God's Word and works, whereby they may be saved.
"Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Look at the outlawing of private interpreters:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 2 Pe.1:20
Epilusis (g1955) ep-il'-oo-sis; from 1956; explanation, i.e. application: - interpretation.
Epiluo (g1956) ep-ee-loo'-o; from 1909 and 3089; to solve further, i.e. (fig.) to explain, decide: - determine, expound.That is why the Campbells were wise enough not to speak of HERMENEUTICS.
Exęgęsis [from exęgeomai]
I. a statement, narrative, Thuc.
II. explanation, interpretation, Plat.Hermęs Hermes, the Lat. Mercurius, son of Maia and ZEUS; messenger of the GODS (diaktoros ); giver of good luck (eriounios, akakęta ); god of all SECRET dealings, CUNNING, and stratagem (dolios); bearing a golden rod (chrusorrapis);
--conductor of DEFUNCT spirits (psuchopompos, pompaios ); tutelary god of ALL ARTS, of TRAFFICK, markets, roads (agoraios, empolaios, hodios, enodios ), and of HERALDS. His bust, mounted on a four-cornered pillar, was used to mark boundaries. --Proverb., koinos Hermęs shares in your luck! (This means SHARE BETWEEN MEN)
Hermęn-euma , atos, to, interpretation, explanation
Rhętor-ikos , ę, on, oratorical, hę rhętorikę (sc. technę) rhetoric; of persons, skilled in SPEAKING, fit to be an ORATOR
The techne is the craftsmen who will go back into hell along with the Babylon harlot, her musicians and instrumentalists.
A word with similar meaning:
Hupo-kritikos , ę, on, belonging to hupokrisis 11 , skilled therein, esti phuseôs to hu. einai having a good delivery, Arist.Rh.1404a15
2. suited for speaking or delivery, (sc. technę) the art of delivery, (but, the actor's art, .
3. metaph., acting a part, pretending toHupokrinomai
I. to reply, make answer, answer, Hom., Hdt.
2. to expound, interpret, explain, Od., Ar.:--the attic word in this sense is apo-krinomai.
II. of actors, to answer on the stage: hence to play a part, be an actor
2. to represent dramatically: hence to exaggerate
3. metaph. to play a part, to feign, pretend, c. inf., id=Dem.Of those who would DIVERT a non-instrumental church into being an instrumental church and taking pay for it as rhetorician or Sophist, the Greek had a word for it.
parasi-tus , i, m., = parasitos, lit. one who eats with another; hence,
I. In gen., a guest (pure Lat. conviva): parasiti Jovis, the gods, Varr. ap. Aug. Civ. Dei, 6, 7; App. M. 10, p. 246, 35.--Hence, parasitus Phoebi, a player, actor, Mart. 9, 29, 9.--
II. In partic., in a bad sense, one who, by flattery and buffoonery, manages to live at another's expense, a sponger, toad-eater, parasite
The musical SECTARIANS added instrumental music in violation of the Bible, church Fathers, the Reformers, the Restorers and the ancestors of the Disciples. Where did they get the authority to deliberately sow discord? Why, the experience of the Civil war which gave the northern church a huge wealth which they needed to keep up with the denominations. However, Locke repudiates them:
Schism according to John Locke does not permit the Disciples to use HUMAN REASON to sow discord even though when Scripture reveals the Mind of God which is the Spirit or Mind of Christ it is necessarily REASONABLE.
Let us now consider schism, which is a crime near akin to it; for both these words seem unto me to signify an ill-grounded separation in ecclesiastical communion made about things not necessary. But since use, which is the supreme law in matter of language, has determined that
........... heresy relates to errors in faith, and
........... schism to those in worship or discipline, we must consider them under that distinction.Schism, then, for the same reasons that have already been alleged,
is nothing else but a separation made in the communion of the Church
upon account of something in divine worship or ecclesiastical discipline that is not any necessary part of it.Now, nothing in worship or discipline can be necessary to Christian communion (unity)
but what Christ our legislator, or the Apostles by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, have commanded in express words.
If we only had a direct command: "Thou shalt not enslave black people, church members or any other creature" then there would be a Biblical, rational and Holy Spirit guided justification for obeying the clear commands of Scripture about racism. But because the clergy was paid by the slave owners in the past it was REASONABLE to preach that slavery was Biblical.
A friend was told that he had been told by an African American who had been told by his "pastor" that to reject the introduction of instruments meant that the fellow was in favor of present-day slavery of black people! Well, you can fool some of the people all of the time.
Of course, there is no direct command that people should own slaves. In fact, only passages which were taken out of their context and distored by human reason, tradition or hearing voices were always applied to justify slavery.
On the other hand, there is a direct command that limits the public role of women (and most men) and the writer confesses that Scripture does impose a limit. The only way to get around the direct command of Paul is to appeal to human reason, tradition or a direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. In the case of clergy women when there is no authority for clergy men human REASON actually contradicts and over powers SCRIPTURE. Therefore, the Disciples formula on women's role must abandon Scripture.
It is the use of a misunderstanding of John Locke which is used by the liberal branch of the Restoration Movement which gives women roles which Paul prohibit.
John Locke never said that you can discover spiritual truth by human reasoning: he said that when God speaks to us through the Scriptures it suddenly appeals to the human reason which He created in us.
Richard L. Hamm: On the other hand, apart from the guidance of Scripture, reason, experience and tradition, one can attribute all manner of truly weird thinking to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Apart from these four, the "cosmic screen" can go into overdrive! So we must keep all of these sources of revelation together and under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
At a General Assembly a few years ago, a resolution was introduced which sought to declare that, for Disciples, Scripture is highest authority. Upon reflection, I believe the General Assembly showed wisdom in defeating that resolution. Of course, the press had a field day with us through such headlines as "Disciples vote against the Bible."
But it was right and important for the Assembly to defeat this resolution because Scripture is not the highest authority:
Scripture in tension with reason, experience and tradition under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit is our highest authority!
All must be kept in creative tension with each other if we are to understand the truth about God and, thus, about ourselves.
But who KEEPS whom in creative tension? And whose SPIRIT GUIDE are we going to follow. My Spirit Guide through the Word tells me that MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS in worship originated with Satan or Lucifer in the garden of Eden. Hamm's spirit guide of his ancestors said that it would be GOOD if we add instruments as CREATIVE TENSION. But, that is the LADED BURDEN of spiritual anxiety which Jesus Christ specificially died. He gave us REST from clergy burdens without which we CANNOT worship in our own spirit as it seeks God in the Truth of the Word. Exegesis has a similar word:
Epithesis , eôs, hę, setting on its base, tou andriantos
laying or putting on, application
application of epithets, tas e. poieisthai Arist.Rh.1405b22 .
imposition of increased burdens, Cat.Cod.Astr.7.134
setting upon, attack, Antipho 2.2.13; This was imposing an extra tax when the nation was NOT at war.Do we accept the Spirit of God which is the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2) or the Spirit of deliberate sowing of discord?
Of course, to ask for human reason, direct revelation or to tradition to understand Scripture is to knock the props out from under the work of Christ the Spirit and make the Words of God co-equal with the reasoning and words of man.
The original and conservative Restoration Movement believed in Locke who taught that the revelation of God alone enlightens our human minds and that faith and practice must be based on direct commands of God if we are going to have "ecumenical unity."
On the other hand, the liberal Restoration Movement depended on a total misreading of John Locke to add human hunches and a "direct operation of the Holy Spirit" speaking to give guidance to directly contradict the direct commands of Scripture. The result was DELIBERATE SOWING OF DISCORD.
Why Locke must be deposed -- even in strict interpretation of the Constitution:
"Nor does God permit us to drive some of the brethren from the church
........... to avoid doing what they believe to be sinful.
........... To do so is to cause division in a way that God condemns. and if we thus sin,
........... he demands that we be marked and avoided as schismatics.
........... So it matters not how the effort may result, it condemns us in the sight of God.If the brethren submit and debauch their conscience by doing that which they believe to be wrong, we sin against them and against Christ, says Paul. (1 Cor. 8: 12.)
If we drive them from the church which they have to leave to avoid condemning themselves in this way,
........... we are guilty of the sin of causing division,"Richard L. Hamm: As we look down through the tradition, the history of the church, we see that many, if not all, of the heresies that have been identified through the centuries have arisen because someone tried to fundamentally separate these sources of revelation from one another and from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
Because no one truly believed that the THIRD MEMBER OF THE GOD FAMILY tutored them, and because they believed that Scripture must prevail, the problem arose when TRADITION and human REASON led them far afield. However, non (almost) of then let the Bible, Tradition, History or Reason to lead them to believe that the Godhead could be divided into three independant Beings.
Neither the Bible, Tradition, History or Tradition every led them to accept instrumental music or human compositions as "songs" for the worship of the church. The Disciples cannot find any historical scholarship to support it.
None of them believed that the Bible, Tradition, History or Reason gave them authority for women in clergy roles. The designation of the Widows in Deed and the Nuns as deaconesses was quickly deemed UNREASONABLE when they did, as women have always, tried to turn worship into more celebration. So, they got a new revelation.
Why is the Disciples SECT more in tune with Tradition, History or Reason than in tune with the Bible?
Richard L. Hamm: While as Protestants we would affirm that Scripture has a special place, we must not separate it from the other sources nor from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
Again, the promise of Baptism was A holy spirit. As restated in 1 Peter 3:21 Peter defined the holy spirit as a clear conscience or consciousness or a co-perception. The minds of the Israelites was specificially blinded when they affirmed God's Book of the Covenant or Covenant of Grace and then returned to MUSICAL IDOLATRY. God turned them over to worship the STARRY HOSTS and said that He would send a new "Moses" to whom they would listen. That was a long lapse when the Jews were involved with the worship of astrial deities with MUSIC and WOMEN.
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 2 Cor. 3:14
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 2 Cor. 3:15
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 2 Cor. 3:16
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Cor. 3:17But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3:18
THEREFORE, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 Cor. 4:1
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. 2 Cor. 4:2
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2 Cor. 4:3
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Cor. 4:4
For we preach not ourselves (tradition, reason, history), but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake. 2 Cor. 4:5
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6
Richard L. Hamm: By itself, Scripture was used to justify slavery and the exclusion of women from public leadership in the church, on the basis of Ephesians chapters 5 and 6. These are the sorts of things that happen when Scripture is used apart from the other sources and apart from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
Slavery was justified on a purely ECONOMIC basis. If there was no reason to enslave both black and white economically the Bible would never have been used. Now, J. H. Garrison hallucinated an organization to encompass all of CHRISTENDOM. Did that have any Biblical basis? No, it was 100% economic: signing up little children as LIFE MEMBERS.
No one tried to justify slavery until peopl began to object. There was NEVER any Biblical argument for instrumental music added for sheer entertainment until someone objected. Then, belatedly the Bible was called to the rescue but every passage about music or instruments has to be perverted.
By listening to the hallucination of someone who believed that they had the direct operation of the holy Spirit "person" guiding them, someone in our generation decided that the Godhead was The Family of Gods. There is Father God, Son God and Holy Spirit God. However, this is Tritheism which is polytheism and gurarantees that the Holy Spirit Whose Name is "Jesus of Nazareth" is going to feed you parables to hide the truth just as He did to the Jewish Clergy.
Someone USED the law of gravity to justify murdering his friend by getting him to jump off a bridge. What shall we do? Do we decide in the future that minimize the law of gravity? People use the Bible (badly) to justify a huge STAFF of professionals over the local "family." Shall we abrogate the Bible in order to "make a place in the mainstream" for that which the Greek world identified as hypocrites (paid rhetoricians, sophists, singers, musicians all called "parasites"). OR shall we finally RESTORE the church to that which Alexander Campbell worked for which sent the trained ministers OUT into the mission field?
Richard L. Hamm: On the other hand, apart from the guidance of Scripture, reason, experience and tradition, one can attribute all manner of truly weird thinking to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Apart from these four--the cosmic screen--can go into overdrive! So we must keep all of these sources of revelation together and under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.
We have learnt from the Apostle, "the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ" for our tribulations. Who is the Lord that directs into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ for tribulations? Let those men answer us who are for making a slave of the Holy Spirit. For if the argument had been about God the Father, it would certainly have said, `the Lord direct you into His own love,' or if about the Son, it would have added `into His own patience.'
Let them then seek what other Person there is who is worthy to be honoured with the title of Lord. And parallel with this is that other passage, "and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do towards you; to the end He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." Now what Lord does he entreat to stablish the hearts of the faithful at Thessalonica, unblamable in holiness before God even our Father, at the coming of our Lord?
Let those answer who place the Holy Ghost among the ministering spirits that are sent forth on service. They cannot.
Wherefore let them hear yet another testimony which distinctly calls the Spirit Lord. "The Lord," it is said, "is that Spirit;" and again "even as from the Lord the Spirit."But to leave no ground for objection, I will quote the actual words of the Apostle;-"For even unto this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which yell is done away in Christ. ... Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit.
Christ termed by Thomas "My Lord and my God" returned to the glory of His invisible form. Christ the Lord is the agent Who works in the visible realm and is therefore called SON. Jesus Christ said that I and my Father are one: I have Him with Me. If you have seen ME you have seen the VISUAL IAMGE of the Father. The Spirit walked among the apostles but He would be IN THEM. That is, Christ as the HEAD of the Body would dwell with and among His Children.
The LORD has spoken as SON, the Invisible Deity has confirmed as the FATHER and the SPIRIT returned at Pentecost as "another Comforter." By minimizing the WORK PRODUCE of Jesus Christ you repudiate the WORK PRODUCT of the Holy Spirit:
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11
Jesus identified the clergy as sons of their father the Devil because "you speak on your own." The only spirit who has any motive for making Scripture a secondary or worse authority is the spirit of
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Ep.2:2
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Is.23:15
Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered. Is.23:16
There is no other tradition in the Bible, the Babylonian tablets, the classical writers, contemporaneous writings, the church fathers and all scholarship which can deny that MUSIC as worship came directly from Satan or Lucifer or the Devil. Be very careful about using TUTELARY
Nigidius speaks of them now as the guardians of houses and dwellings ; now as the Curetes,
who are said to have once concealed, by the clashing of cymbals, the infantile cries of Jupiter; now the five Digiti Samothracii, who, the Greeks tell us, were named Idoei Dactyli. Varro, with like hesitation, says at one time that they are the Manes,
and therefore the mother of the Lares was named Mania ; at another time, again, he maintains that they are gods of the air,
and are termed heroes; at another, following the opinion of the ancients, he says that the Lares are ghosts, as it were a kind of tutelary demon, spirits of dead 144 men.
When you deny that the Scriptures are THE only authority for the Christian Synagogue (school of the Bible and not a pagan worship center) God sends you strong delusions: do you REALLY want to be under TUTELARY SPIRITS.
The so-called Stone Campbell Movement
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