The Stoneites under
Barton W. Stone saw church in the "holy spirit" sense of DOING
things to stir up the flesh. They approved of the Methodist Shouting as an official Act of
Worship.
The REFORMATION under the Campbells and
most people in time repudiated the charismatic approach to
such worship. They also REPUDIATED the idea that they wanted
any unity other than meeting to READ the Word and
PRAY. While they held there were believers in all of the
SECTS their command was for them to COME OUT OF BABYLON.
Only men on the dole have any earthly
reason to try to bind everyone in an ORGANIZED union.
The restoration never sought UNION with denominations which differed on issues such as Baptism, the
Lord's Supper and Instrumental Music which was introduced by
the DISCIPLES knowing that it would destroy the existing unity. That
is, with a high hand they forced instruments into
non-instrumental churches and forced those who resisted to
REMAIN SILENT or GET OUT of their own property.
Therefore, the unity which existed over
the specific issue of MUSIC was based on the Bible and the
totality of church history. That unity was broken by the
MUSICAL SECTARIANS who radically changed the view "held en
toto" and are therefore the heretics or sectarians.
Churches of Christ were ALWAYS a tiny
remnant and NEVER thought of unity with the Presbyterians
who kicked Thomas Campbell out
for offering COMMUNION to Presbyterians NOT of his
Presbyterian SECT. The
Campbells would have been excommunicated by the Baptists over their
view of Baptism. They rejected UNITY in repudiating infant
Baptism and therefore could not UNIT with the Methodists or
Presbyterians. The repudiate believer's baptism or FAITH
only and knew that they rejected UNITY with the Baptists.
In short, the American Restoration
Movement-- not out of the Anglican influence-- was COUNTER
CULTURAL. They knew beforehand that their views would
DISRUPT any unity with ANY group other than themselves. Any
UNITY included in Thomas Campbell's DECLARATION AND ADDRESS
was defined as NOT a church but an effort
to send missionaries throughout the frontier.
Churches of Christ are congregatonal
therefore feels no need to work with even their own group
very much because a SYNAGOGUE OF CHRIST has its hands full
in its own arena.
Michael C. Armour: The bitterness of this irony has long pained me, for the
Churches of Christ are my heritage, the source of my spiritual formation.
My entire life has been spent in their service, just as I
hope to devote the remainder of my years to their nurture.
As a result, I cannot
remain unmoved when I see how miserably we have failed
in achieving the very unity under whose banner we have marched.
But, the unity
sought
was unity based on the Bible and not on the REJECTION of
the Bible for faith and practices. Churches of Christ NEVER sought UNITY by
divorcing their wives so that they could FRATERNIZE with the
Shakers. They never sought UNITY by joining a SOCIETY which
was a "clergy retirement scam." When the Disciples SOWED DISCORD and created
MUSICAL SECTS, the churches of Christ ran from them even
leaving to the MUSICIANS the privilege of "stealing the
church houses of widows."
Whatever their claims, those who moved out
of the Stoneites have a radically different way of
interpreting the Bible for faith and authority. Jesus prayed
for unity based on the PATTERN that as SON He spoke only
what He heard from the FATHER Who was within Him.
Those who SEEK UNITY with the instrumental
churches are themselves CONVERTS
to
the instrumental position. Being
ecumenical
as
at Cane Ridge meant that you exposed your SHEEP to sheep
stealers. The arrogant need to AFFIRM others traps the weak
into being taken CAPTIVE. There is the morality of an alley
cat in taking unlawful and ungodly pay from the Churches of
Christ to act as a JUDAS GOAT to lead all of the lambs to
the slaughter. You simply cannot trust anyone who would not
LEAVE their non-instrumental churches and form new churches
or JOIN the music denominations.
Michael C. Armour: But the news is not
altogether bad. Today there are fresh stirrings in a cappella congregations, as hundreds of them emerge from decades of isolation--sometimes self-imposed,
sometimes thrust upon them--
to open their hearts
and their embrace to others who share a passion for Christ-centered spirituality and an abiding respect
for God's word. It is a story I look forward to
relating in just a moment.
One of the oxymorons of
todays NEW STYLE WORSHIP which is as new as
Lucifer's rebellion is that we are CHRIST CENTERED when we
EXPOSE the musical worship team front and center. For
instance, Rubel Shelly along with the Vineyard crew claim
that the "team" can "lead you into the presence of God."
That means that the TEAM has become the MEDIATOR replacing
Jesus. While claiming to present Just Jesus they sing their
own infantile "praise songs" which are erotic and errow
filled. Therefore, they remove "that which is written" or
"the Spirit" or "the Word of Christ" in violation of a
direct command.
THE BEASTS including A NEW STYLE OF
MUSICAL WORSHIP.
See Mystery, Babylon the Great to
see that one definition of the BEAST is a NEW STYLE SINGING.
2342. therion,
thay-ree´-on; diminutive from the same as 2339; a dangerous
animal: — (venomous, wild) beast.
thêriakos , ê, on, ( [thêrion]
)
Thêrion Trag. only in Satyric drama,
III. as a
term of reproach, beast, creature, hê mousikê aei ti kainon thêrion tiktei
[A New Style of Music}
IV. Astron., the
constellation Lupus, [Identifies the Wolves in Acts 20]
Music is the most
WORKS-INTENSIVE thing one could do and call it worship.
Michael C. Armour: I must begin, however, by
describing my mixture of emotions on this occasion. I am
both honored and humbled to be invited to this podium, to
deliver this annual Peter Ainslie Lecture on Unity. The
mere fact of the invitation alone still amazes me, given
the contrast between Peter Ainslie's efforts toward unity and our
own treatment of unity questions in my a cappella heritage.
It is hard to imagine
two approaches more strikingly different.
During most of my
lifetime, Ainslie's views on Christian unity
would have received an unkind hearing in a cappella churches, as they still would in
many quarters today. Yet, from what I know of his
patient, forgiving, irenic spirit, I believe he would
have commended the
Council on
Christian Unity for choosing a speaker whose heritage
would have treated Ainslie himself dismissively.
Probably none of the audience recognizes that this was in the
context of the 1910 Centennial Convention of the Disciples of
Christ.
The same Denominations claimed to the first census taker that
the Church of Christ groups should be counted as part of the
organ and society party. The census taker knew better and
David Lipscomd said, no they cannot have us. About as ethical
as the Anglicans counting the Disciples as a break-away sect.
By default, this meeting is trying to put people on a
psychological guilt trip without telling them that this was
the DISCIPLES.
The Council on Christian Unity (CCU) was created by the
Disciples of Christ from which the Christian Church (NACC)
would begin to sect out in 1927. The Christian Church is
the only group which split from the Disciples.
However, the real Peter Ainslie spoke of The Heresy of
Christendom WITHIN the Disciples of Christ.
Amid the clashes of creeds and one
generation making orthodox what another had declared
heresy, I do not hesitate to say that indifference to benevolence
in all ages has been the great heresy of Christendom. On
the departure of the church from that cardinal
principle, the door was opened for all kind of
heresies; and when you read church history, you read
the history of a church that is largely prodigal,
because one of the chief sources of her life was almost
closed. It is no surprise that worldly aggrandizement
became her policy;
but the religion of
Jesus Christ is not in great church buildings,
pipe-organs and pulpit
oratory,
but pure religion and undefiled before
our God and Father is to recognize the wants of
the orphan and the aged as the wants of Christ
himself, and go speedily to the help of Him who helped us
out of sin into the light of pardon. By the side of faith
in the Book must be unstinted practice of the
Book.
I care little about higher criticism or lower criticism,
so long as this heresy is permitted to exist in
Christendom with so little concern for its abolition.
We are not lacking information about
Threskia or impure religion where Orpheus and the Lesbian
women put tunes and added instruments to insult men like
Homer:
Orpheus the Thracian was the inventor of
worship in the form of rituals. Music especially was
added to claim that the charismatic, sexual feelings
were proof that he could call down the gods or move you
up to "him".
"If any one perchance
thinks that we are speaking calumnies, let him take the
books of the Thracian soothsayer (Orpheus the inventor of musical soothsaying), which you speak of as of
divine antiquity; and he will find that we are neither
cunningly inventing anything, nor seeking means to bring the holiness of the
gods
into ridicule, and doing so: for we
shall bring forward the very verses which the son of Calliope uttered in the Greek, and
published
abroad in his songs to the human race through
out all all ages." (Arnobius Against the Heathen,
Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 499).
Worship which is
conducted in musical rituals comes from the orgies of
Orpheus:
"Nor are these Thracian orgies, from which the word Worship (threskia) is said to be
derived; nor rites and mysteries of Orpheus, whom the Greeks admired
so much for his wisdom that they devised for him a lyre which draws all
things by its music. Nor the tortures of Mithras
The word in the
Bible is:
Threskos (g2357) thrace'-kos;
prob. from the base of 2360; ceremonious in worship
(as demonstrative), i.e. pious: - religious.
Britannica Myth and music are linked in many cultures and
in various ways. For example, numerous stories ascribe
the origins of music to a figure, usually divine, who
lived in the mythical past.
Thus, in ancient Greece the lyre was
said to have been invented by the god Hermes, who
handed it on to his (half) brother Apollo as part of a bargain.
From then on Apollo played the lyre at
the banquets of the gods, while the Muses
sang to his accompaniment.
An ancient Chinese myth tells of the
discovery of the "foundation
tone," which, in
addition to being a musical note of specific pitch, also
had political implications, since each dynasty was
thought to have its own "proper pitch." The foundation
tone was produced when Ling Lun, a scholar, went to the
western mountain area of China and cut a bamboo pipe
in such a way that it produced the correct sound. (See
music, history of.)
Throughout the world music is
played at religious ceremonies to increase the efficacy and appeal of prayers, hymns, and
invocations to divinities.
The power of music to charm the gods is movingly expressed in the Greek story
of Orpheus. This mythical figure goes to the
underworld to try to have his dead wife, Eurydice,
restored to life.
By means of his lyre playing and singing he is able to win over even the god of death, so that Eurydice is allowed to leave
the underworld. The continuing potency
of the myth (including its tragic conclusion--Orpheus
is forbidden to look back at his wife but does so and
thus loses her again) is shown by the fact that it has
been retold in Europe by numerous composers of opera
since the early 17th century.
That a particularly close connection
exists between myth and music has been argued by Claude Lévi-Strauss. In
an analysis of the myths of certain South American
Indians (Le Cru et le cuit, 1964; The Raw and the
Cooked) he explains that his procedure is "to treat the
sequences of each myth, and the myths themselves in
respect of their reciprocal interrelations, like the instrumental
parts of a musical work and to study them as one studies a symphony."
However, Peter Ainslie was speaking of another ORGANIZATION
and not with "unity" with the Church of Christ or the
Christian church WHICH DID NOT EXIST.
SPEAK WHERE THE BIBLE SPEAKS: "That
was the conception of the apostolic church. It must
be the conception of the church again if it would be
apostolic. "He that hath pity on the poor lendeth
unto Jehovah;" "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over,
shall they give into your boom.
So, life gets stranger and stranger. Here is what Mike
Armour seems to defend:
"In 1911 an ecumenical journal, The
Christian Unity Quarterly, was launched. Soon dialogues
were set up with the Episcopal, Presbyterian,
Baptist, Congregational, and Christian
Connection churches (the last two united in 1931 and
in 1957 became constituent parts of the United Church of
Christ.) Resource
"Later generations of CCU leadership
vigorously guided the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) in the U.S. and Canada and Disciples throughout
the world toward their destiny in the one holy, catholic
and apostolic church. Its leadership has been
uncompromising in the call for the visible unity of
the church as a sign of the unity of humanity Resource.
Michael C. Armour: I've been asked to talk about
unity
initiatives in Churches of Christ as we move into the
twenty-first century and as we near the centennial of
that famous 1906
census that identified a cappella congregations as a distinct body within the Stone-Campbell
movement.
But, Peter Ainslie has just said:
you read the history of a
church that is largely prodigal,
because one of the chief sources of her
life was almost closed.
It is no surprise that worldly
aggrandizement became her policy;
but the religion of Jesus Christ is not in great
church buildings, pipe-organs and pulpit
oratory,
That is why the Church of Christ never "joined" the Disciples of
Christ other than working on projects and THAT ended mostly just
after the civil war when the Disciples began adding the ORGAN
because they confessed to J.W. McGarvey that their "largly
prodigal" institution could not survive without going with the
carnal culture.
Because churches of Christ are NOT a
denomination Mike is not speaking of UNITY INITIATIVES
in churches of Christ but INFILTRATING AND
DIVERTING movements of the Disciples to GOBBLE up churches
of Christ. To that end they were wise in picking the JUDAS
GOATS.
Because the NON-INSTRUMENTAL position had
been held for 1800 years or more and the American
Restoration Movement began out of a CULTURE of denominations
which REJECTED instrumental music it can be said that
churches of Christ were faithful to the view held en toto
for its short existance emerging on the frontier.
The fact is that the Christian churches
had alread made their OWN census which excluded churches of
Christ. Therefore, if MAJORITY WINS then the Christian
churches were held to be A DISTINCT BODY outside of the
Stone-Campbell churches.
But the SHOOTER has always blamed the
SHOT for the blood.
WEST: "Apostasy in music among 19th century churches
that had endeavored to restore New Testament authority in
worship and work
began, in the main, following
the American Civil War'
In 1868, Ben Franklin guessed that
there were ten
thousand congregations and not over fifty had used an instrument in
worship." (Earl West, Search for the Ancient Order, Vol.
2, pp. 80, 81)
See Ben Franklin
on the organ to see that NOTHING happened in
1906 other than an attempt to COUNT other people's sheep.
The Christian Chronicle as
the organ of the CHANGE movers laments that only 5
congregations out of 13,000 have added instruments even into
a "third" or alternative service. By his statement Mike
Armour defines all of the non-musical churches as being the
sowers of discord among a UNITY which never existed any
closer than unity could exist with Baptists.
Choate/Woodson note that
like David Lipscomb, E. G. Sewell worked for the Gospel
Advocate to earn a living and preached for the Woodland
Street Church in Nashville. He received little for his
preaching. A new building was constructed in 1880 and Sewell
was asked to preach there longer and devote more time.
"From the North, where the Society system was
deeply imbedded in the churches, people moved into Nashville and many filled
the Woodland Street church. By the end of 1882, a woman from Kentucky asked Sewell
about forming an auxiliary society to the Christian Woman's
Board of Missions. Sewel objected, and gave
his reasons.
But as always, when a
group in a congregation wants something, and the
preacher stands in their way, there is only one thing to
do: dismiss the preacher. Sewell was
ousted and at the beginning of 1883, W. J. Loos, son of C. L. Loos, president of the Foreign Society, was hired. In the fall of
that year young Loos attended the annual convention at Cincinatti, telling them with some
embarassment that he was ashamed to admit he was from
Tennessee for the churches of his state were
doing nothing."
J. E. Choate and Adron Doran in The Christian Scholar note that:
In 1890 the
first convention was called at Chattanooga to organize the
state society. The only churches in the
state of Tennessee were those who had already adopted the organ
in their worship. The Christian Standard pumped up the news and "it
is reported that the brethren in Nashville, Tennessee are
desirous of entertaining our National Convention next year." This of course
was just two
congregations. A survey showed that out of 2500
members in Nashville, less than one hundred wanted
the society. Lipscomb noted that among the Society people
"the Bible is as popular as last year's almanac."
Michael C. Armour: As a corollary to that
assignment I want to look back at those ten decades of formal separation and trace some of the
factors that
led Churches of Christ
into increasing isolation during the first
two-thirds of the twentieth century.
Then I want to note how
that tendency reversed itself near the end of the century. My goal is to
offer those outside the a cappella tradition a fuller understanding of
who we were in the past and who we are today. And from
that story we may also discover some valuable lessons for
unity-loving people of any era.
The
Unity forums began with the creation of the twisted title
Stone-Campbell Movement. The fact is that the
Reformers were never united with the Stoneites which came
out of the wild revivalism of the American frontier.
History marks such activities as witchcraft or sorcery and
in early ages most of the "converts" would have been
burned at the stake. A few banded brothers sent out
agents of the NACC to preach unity but came with a
full-blown rationale (?) defending the COMMAND to use
musical instruments. Therefore, unity meant lying about
the Bible and all known church history before the
DISCIPLES tried to use the word PSALLO to authorize or
command instruments as late as 1878.
That
massive sowing of discord fueled by the NACC has fleeced
off ONLY the churches of the original plotters (dupes)
from the Church of Christ. To date about 7 have added
instruments at some meeting out of 13,000 or more
congregations which were literate. Max Lucado's
movement of "quiet wind instruments in a class room" has
blossomed to a Rock and Roll breakdown with the
congregation as stunned audience. ALL of these began with
the heresy of the "musical worship team" intending to add
instruments which would take about 10 years.
Michael C. Armour: Long before the 1906 census we had already set a trajectory that would eventually take us on our course of isolation. From hindsight today it is
easy to see a converging pattern of developments and
attitudes in the late nineteenth century that
together resulted
in our isolation, even within the Stone-Campbell movement.
That trajectory began with
the church in the wilderness (Qahal, synagogue) which was to
rest, read and rehearse the Word of God: a synagogue "never
had a praise service" because evolution had not yet produced
fools would make noise in the presence of God in "the school
of the Bible." To prove the point, no form of singing
was added before the year 373 and resulted in a split
between the eastern and western churches. While the
Church of Christ did not diverge from the historic path
which did NOT include an organization to "capture all of
Christencom" it was the Commercial based publishing
institutions which declared:
"The supporters of the
missionary society organized the Tennessee State Missionary
Convention
on October 6, 1890, with one purpose in mind, as
stated by J.
H. Garrison.
He said at that time:
"We will take Tennessee for organized
mission work...within five years."
A. I. Myhr was
dispatched to Tennessee to head the new state society despite the protestation
of David Lipscomb that Tennessee was not a destitute mission
territory. Myhr and his supporters moved resolutely
ahead to accomplish their mission.
"Their efforts met with
some success and the intent was clear. Myhr was aggressive and abrasive in his operations. His
actions were of such a nature, in promoting the missionary
society, that he came under the direct attack of E. G.
Sewel and David Lipscomb. And as later event proved, Myhr
was no match for Lipscomb and the Gospel Advocate.
That proved that the Church of Christ did NOT belong to the
society and the NACC sectarianed OUT of the society a decade
after and rejected all of the INSTITUTION the 1911 conference
included Peter Ainslie denouncing the focus on buildings, organs
and preachers.
The Federal Religious Census of 1906 acknowledged the separation between
Churches of Christ and Disciples of Christ (who commonly
used the name Christian
Churches)
even though many congregations did not decide which they
were for some years.
The trajectory continued
through all of church history: Not even the apostate
Catholics ever engaged in "congregational singing with
instrumental accompaniment." The organ was used between Acts
but soon led to abuse before and after the mass. No
"musical" for was ever imposed without sowing massive
discord. NONE of the Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians or
Congregationalist USED any musical instrument until
primarily after the Civl War. Therefore, the TRAJECTORY from
Ainsle rejection of HERESY was begun by the Disciples. The
Church of Christ never cnanged its path from the RESTORATION
begun and partly completed by John Calvin and others who
ejected the instruments from the buildings even though not
used by the church. They contributed to the use of the
building as a THEATER.
|
This is the Old Testament "praise" of a nation abandoned
to worship the starry host (Acts 7)
Hillel,
Judgex 12:13. This word deserves investigating, as it
is clearly allied with praise, and has
sal·ta·to·ry
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or
adapted for leaping or dancing.
2. Proceeding by leaps rather than by
smooth, gradual transitions |
This SOUND and LIGHT show of
"making self vile" is the source for the word
Lucifer--the singing and harp playing prostitute.
HOWEVER, as Peter Ainsle seems to agree, the "church in
the wilderness is absolutely" INCLUSIVE OF:
But when the
congregation is to be gathered together, ye
shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. Numbers 10: 7
To blow the
trumpet was the Hebrew:
Taqa (h8628) taw-kah';
a prim. root; to clatter, i. e. slap (the hands
together), clang (an instrument); by anal. to
drive (a nail or tent-pin, a dart, etc.); by
impl. to become bondsman (by hand-clasping): -
blow ([a trumpet]), cast, clap, fasten, pitch
[tent], smite, sound, strike, * suretiship,
thrust
The alarm was:
Ruwa (h7321) roo-ah'; a
prim. root; to mar (espec. by breaking); fig. to
split the ears (with sound), i. e. shout for alarm
or joy: - blow an alarm, cry (alarm,
aloud, out), destroy, make a joyful
noise, smart, shout (for joy), sound an
alarm, triumph.
|
Michael C. Armour: Not the least of these
developments was a critical change in the way we applied
principles from Thomas Campbell's Declaration and Address.
Campbell had
identified three sources of Biblical authority: direct commands, apostolic precedent, and inferences properly drawn from
commands and precedents.
It seems that all
error just popped up during the time of the
American Restoration movement; and all forms of
interpreting the Bible is uniquely and divisively the
product of the Campbells. Hitler's propaganda minister
repeated Hitler's mantra that if you tell a lie often
enough people will believe it.
Only ignorance of the
Bible and all of church history [as well as all literate
people] which proves that you transfer authority by direct
commands, examples and necessary inferences. For instance,
if we see Jesus CASTING OUT the musical minstrels as one
EJECTS DUNG we MIGHT INFER that Jesus does not want singers
and instrumentalists present when HE is present to be out
ONLY teacher through His Word.
Part of the pack often
scream the mantra against the use of commands and examples
and the law of silence. However, the Bible and the world's
theologians before the Disciples "high church" or Catholic
right to make new laws honored
the commands of Scripture as the ONLY RESOURCE for establishing faith and
practice. To do otherwise is to LAY CLAIM to inspiration
equal to Jesus Christ:
Clement of Alexandria concurs:
Plainly, then, the other
kind of discourse, the didactic, is powerful and spiritual, observing
precision, occupied in the contemplation of mysteries. But let it stand over for
the present. Now, it is incumbent on us to return His love, who lovingly
guides us to that life which is best;
and to live in
accordance with the injunctions of His will,
not only fulfilling
what is commanded,
or guarding against what is forbidden,
but turning away from some examples, and imitating others as much as we can,
and thus to perform the works of the Master according to
His similitude,
and so fulfil what Scripture says as to our being
made in His image and likeness.
For, wandering in life
as in deep darkness, we need a guide that cannot stumble or
stray; and our guide is the best, not blind, as the Scripture says, "leading the blind
into pits." [Matt. xv. 14]
We might have adduced, as supporters on this
question, the philosophers who say that only the perfect
man is worthy of praise, and the bad man of blame.
But since some slander beatitude, as neither itself taking
any trouble, nor giving any to any one else, thus not
understanding its love to man; on their account, and on
account of those who do not associate justice with
goodness, the following remarks are added.
For it were a legitimate inference to
say,
that rebuke and censure are suitable to men,
since they say
that all men are bad;
but God alone is wise, from whom
cometh wisdom, and alone perfect, and therefore alone
worthy of praise.
Now, for Mike Armour's
information, that was long before te 20th century!
And on the Law of
Silence;
Michael C. Armour: But he ascribed far greater weight to direct commands than to teachings derived
from precedents and inferences. Lines of fellowship, he
cautioned, should never be drawn on the basis of doctrines
supported
primarily by precedents or inferences.
Otherwise salvation
depends on proper deductions from closely reasoned
arguments, which would put salvation beyond the reach of those with simple minds
or limited intellect.
Yet, in the wake of the
instrument controversy Campbell's distinction generally disappeared in
churches supporting a cappella worship.
The
CENI is defended from the beginning to the end of the
Bible, defended by all of the church fathers and depended
by all of the founders of denominations. It is also
used by Mike Armour BUT Mike cannot read BLACK
text on BROWN paper.
BUT, THE
INSTRUMENTALISTS INVENTED THE NECESSARY INFERENCES!
During one of the periodic
attempts of the instrumentalists to sow discord, H. Leo Boles
wrote:
"Areas of silence," "liberty of opinion," and "the
realm of expediency"
are trite phrases used by leaders in the "Christian
Church" and have been coined and put on a
par with the teachings of the New Testament. It is
just another way of saying that the opinions of men may
guide the people of God, and that some of the people of
God should submit to the opinions of men. There was
unity with God's people so long as they respected the
slogan, "Where the scriptures speak, we speak; and where
the scriptures are silent, we are silent"; but when
brethren began to claim the authority to speak where the
New Testament is silent, and impose their opinions upon
other brethren, division and separation were the
inevitable results.
The Christian Church makes ITS OPINION
the same as the authority of Christ.
W.R.
Walker, in Christian Standard,
May 27, 1939, said: "There are two areas
in our religious living in which the authority of Christ
must be recognized.
The first
embraces all his teaching and that of his inspired
followers, the `vocal
area' ;
but there is another area, the
`area of silence."'
He further
said: "I am persuaded that Christ has authority
in the `areas of silence.'
Christ, by his silence, in every situation concerning
which he has left no direct teaching, has bestowed on me this authority
to act for myself."
Here are the
two standards or rules recognized by many
in the "Christian Church," namely, that of "walking by
faith," and that of "walking by opinion." W.R.
Walker calls the opinions of man in the "areas of
silence" "the authority of Christ." This is
tantamount to saying that man's opinions in the "areas of silence" are
of equal force with the word of God. I join issue with him
on this point. There can be no unity in the "area of silence," as there can
be no unity on opinions when each man claims the authority
to do what is right in his own eyes. This would violate
every scripture that God has given instructing his people
to be "of the same mind, the same judgment of one
accord."
If the liberty of opinion lets one
put an organ in
the worship, it will let another oppose that act; -
if acting in the "realm of silence" permits one to act
for himself, it will permit every one to act for
himself. If liberty in opinion will let one organize a
missionary society, the same liberty of opinion will let
another group of God's people oppose that society.
Neither the
"Christian Church" nor the churches of Christ can have
the liberty of opinion, in the sense that they make
their opinions the basis of action for themselves and
for the church. One will have his opinions tyrannized
over by the other. It will be nonetheless tyranny of
opinion that a majority, great or small, imposes its
opinion on the minority. One man has as much right to
"liberty of opinion" as another, or any number of
others.
THE LAW OF EXPEDIENCY
Charles P. Butler, in the Christian
Standard March 25, 1939, in
deploring the present condition in the Christian Church,
said: "All this was followed by one of the most ruinous
things we face today-to wit, a disregard for law and
authority, both human and divine; and it extends
from the cradle to our national leaders.
We sowed to the wind
and we have been reaping the whirlwind." What a
sad picture! The " doctrine of expediency" or the "law of
expediency" came in with the "liberty of opinion"
in the "areas of silence." It is an afterthought.
The missionary
society was organized and in operation before this law
was discovered and applied.
The same is true
with respect to introduction of the organ.
J.B. Briney, in his treatise on "The Doctrine of
Expediency," said with respect to instrumental music in
the worship:
"I
affirm
that an "instrumental accompaniment" is an addition
to this ordinance, and affects its character, and
is therefore an infringement of the divine prerogative.
That singing as worship is a divine ordinance will not be
questioned in the face of the scripture cited above.
That the
`instrumental accompaniment' is an addition is
simply certain from the historical facts in the case, it
having been born five hundred years out of time.
Therefore, whatever men may think of its expediency, it affects
the character of the divine appointment, and cannot
be tolerated for a moment.
There is no way that one
could get a hint of a whisper of a glimps that one can
worship a SPIRIT God in the PLACE of the human spirit by
using rhetorical performance preaching, singing or playing
instruments without MARKING one as saying to God: "We WILL
NOT listen to your words."
Declaration and
Address
7. That although doctrinal
exhibitions of the great system of Divine truths,
and defensive
testimonies in opposition to prevailing errors,
be highly
expedient,
and the more full and explicit they be for those purposes,
the better; yet, as these must be in a great measure the
effect of human reasoning,
and of course must contain many inferential
truths, [You have to INFER instruments
contrary to all of the Bible: you cannot IMPOSE]
they ought not to be made terms of Christian communion;
unless we suppose, what
is contrary to fact, that none have a right to the
communion of the Church,
but such as possess
a very clear and decisive judgment, or are come to a very high
degree of doctrinal information; whereas the Church from
the beginning did, and ever will, consist of little
children and young men, as well as fathers.
8. That as it is not necessary that persons should
have a particular knowledge or distinct apprehension of all Divinely-revealed truths in order to entitle them to a
place in the Church; neither should they, for this
purpose, be required to make a profession more extensive
than their knowledge;
but that, on the
contrary, their having a due measure of Scriptural
self-knowledge respecting their lost and perishing
condition
by nature and practice, and of the way of salvation through
Jesus Christ,
accompanied with a profession of their faith in and obedience to him, in all things,
according to his word, is all that is absolutely necessary
to qualify them for admission into his Church.
This view of Thomas
Campbell focuses especially upon those who would use
INFERENCES to introduce new doctrines:
11. That (in some
instances)
a partial neglect of the expressly
revealed will of God,
and (in others) an assumed authority for making the approbation of human opinions and human inventions a term
of communion,
by introducing them into the
constitution, faith, or worship of the Church,
are, and have been,
the immediate, obvious, and universally-acknowledged
causes, of all the corruptions and divisions
that ever have taken place in the Church of God.
It is always the error of
those who
INTRODUCE something which is not absolutely necessary into the fellowship to which
there are Scriptural objections.
Of course, literacy 101aaa
grasps that IF I force a choir or organ into YOUR
congregation and you, being Biblically and historically
literate, KNOW that it is a sin by DIRECT SCRIPTURE. And
THEY insist that if YOU object then YOU are sowing discord
(recent example in Seattle) and would probably be a racists
or fire bomb restaurants. And THEY know that they are
OFFENDING perhaps half of the congregation. But with a high
hand they replace the ONE ANOTHER teaching of the word in
song with a THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE TEAM and expert MUSICIAN.
Then THEY have added made HUMAN OPINION AND INVENTIONS a
term of communion and FORCE you to leave. John Locke spoke
of that evil.
Let us note that a
cappella is ala
the Pope's castrated choir for the Sistine Chapel and is not remotely
related to the direct command of Paul to TEACH the inspired
Word with no hint of a musical content.
Michael C. Armour: The non-instrumental position depended
entirely on
historical precedents from the first century
and on inferences drawn from the handful of Biblical passages
that mention music in the early church.
Falsehood, most
Biblical scholars grasped that there is no MUSIC word used in connection with the
worship
under the Old or New Testament. Blowing 120 trumpets in
unison is not music.
Next, they
understand that church is not a pagan worship center
but like the synagogue A School of the Bible. Or in
the words of Thomas Campbell A School of Christ. There
simply is no rationale in a classroom.
Next, Bible scholars grasp
that the serpent (nachash) was not a snake but
a musical enchanter or soothsayer. The personification of
Lucifer as the king of Tyre who was in the garden of Eden
"came equipped" with musical instruments: he is called the
harp-playing prostitute.
The totality of the Patristics DENOUNCES
instruments
based on their use under the Law of Moses which was
"added because of transgression." That transgression was MUSICAL
IDOLATRY at Mount Sinai.
This, in turn,
acknowledged that worship or religion in the sense of the
Greek threskia USED music and musicians because they
knew that they could subvert and pervert
people into a charismatic or sexual and homosexual
experience.
Then, scholars grasp that
all instrumental passage show that music is the MARK
of those who tell God that they do not want to hear any more
from His Word.
All musical terms and
names of instruments in the Greek language identify
enchantment or Sorcery as does John in Revelation 18
Jezebel's PROPHETS by
their very name used INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC to bring on the
"bowing to Baal." As a result, she is prophetic:
And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to
bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. 2K.9:10
And the carcase of
Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion
of Jezreel; so that they shall not
say, This is Jezebel. 2K.9:37
When Jesus CAST OUT like
DUNG the minstrels, pipe players of flute players as the
common pagan MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAM as a fulfillment anti-time
of all PAGANISM where musicians were prostitutes or
Sodomites. The word describing this is:
Skubalon (g4657) skoo'-bal-on; neut.
of a presumed der. of 1519 and 2965 and 906; what is thrown to
the dogs, i.e. refuse (ordure): - dung.
Kuon (g2965) koo'-ohn; a prim.
word; a dog ["hound"] (lit. or fig.): - dog.
Give not that which is
holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before
swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn
again and rend you. Mt.7:6
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers,
beware of the concision. Ph.3:2
But it is happened
unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is
turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was
washed to her wallowing in the mire. 2 Pe.2:22
For without are dogs,
and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Re.22:15
Musical worship team and
instrumentalists demand the "idolatry of Talent." Clement
noted:
I do not think, if one
were to say to a king, `I give you an equal share of
honour with that which I give to corpses and to worthless dung'-I do not think that he would
profit by it. But some one will say, Do you call our objects of worship dung? I say Yes,
for you have made them
useless to yourselves by setting them aside for worship,
whereas their substance might perhaps have been
serviceable for some other purpose, or for the purpose
of manure.
"And thou shalt pollute the plated idols, and thou shalt grind to powder (like "melody" in Greek) the
gilt ones,and shalt scatter them as the water of a removed woman, and thou shalt thrust them forth as dung. Isaiah 30:22 LXX
"Then shall there be rain to the seed of thy
land,
and the bread of the fruit of thy land shall be
plenteous und rich: and thy cattle shall feed in that
day in a fertile and spacious place. Isaiah 30:23 LXX
The Greeks, especially,
would understand the connection between the flute girls,
prostitutes and the DUNG heap:
Aristotle, Athenian Constitution
L. These then are the
matters administered by the Council. Also ten men are elected by lot as Restorers of Temples, who draw 30 minae1 from the
Receivers and repair the temples that most require it; and
ten City Controllers, [2]
five of whom hold office
in Peiraeus and five in the city;
it is they who
supervise the flute-girls and harp-girls and lyre-girls to prevent their receiving
fees of more than two drachmas,
and if several persons
want to take the same girl these officials cast lots between them and hire her out to the
winner.
And they keep watch to
prevent any scavenger from depositing ordure (dung) within a mile and a quarter of the
wall;
and they prevent the
construction of buildings encroaching on and balconies
overhanging the roads, of overhead conduits with an
overflow into the road, and of windows opening outward
on to the road;
and they remove for
burial the bodies of persons who die on the roads,
having public slaves for this service.
See Aristot. Ath.
Pol. 7.3. A drachma (say 9 1/2d. or 1 franc) was a
hundredth part of a mina (say 4 pounds.)
All rhetoricians, sophists, singers and
instrumentalists (prostitutes) pretended to be sorcerers or
soothsayers. For instance, the can "bring the worshiper into
the presence of God." In reality they were known as
PARASITES because they contributed nothing:
Citharizo , a-re, v n., = kitharizô, to
play on or strike the cithara, Nep. Epam. 2, 1; Vulg. Apoc. 14, 2..
The same in Greek:
Parasitor . a-ri, v. dep. [id.] , to play the parasite, to sponge: parasitarier, Plaut. Stich.
4, 2, 54 : parasitando pascere ventres suos, id. Pers. 1,
2, 3
Michael C. Armour: By refusing fellowship
with those who used instruments,
a cappella churches were effectively
elevating "necessary inferences" and apostolic examples to a new plateau of
authority.
Now disagreements over
inferences and examples, no less than violations
of direct commands, could justify a withdrawal or withholding
of fellowship.
From the garden of Eden to
Revelation and including all historical scholalrs, God is
GIVEN the right to communicate by direct commands, approved
examples and necessary inferences. Mike INFERS that
there are no direct commands to "sing that which is written"
and "teach that which has been taught." He infers that God
has never warned about speaking where He has been silent.
See some
Biblical and historical DIRECT COMMANDS to
use that which is written as authority for faith and
practices. In fact the instrumental churches elevate the
curse of the sacrificial system and infer that if Hezekiah
burned the goats using the instruments of the king and
commanders of the army, that constitutes a "command for
instrumental praise and WE had better not be disobedient."
However, Bible 101 should have taught people that the
Law was a curse added BECAUSE of musical idolatry.
Justin Martyr b 110
Chapter XXII.-So
Also
Were Sacrifices and Oblations.
"And
that you may learn that it was for the sins of your own nation,
and for their idolatries and
not because there was any necessity
for such sacrifices,
that they were likewise enjoined,
listen to the manner in which He speaks of these by Amos, one of the twelve, saying:
`Woe
unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is this day of
the Lord for you?
It is darkness
and not light, as when a man flees from the face of a
lion, and a bear meets him; and he goes into his house,
and leans his hands against the wall, and the serpent
[devil] bites [stings with tithes] him. Shall not the day
of the Lord be darkness and not light, even very dark,
and no brightness in it? I have hated,
I have despised your feast-days, and I will not
smell in your solemn assemblies:
wherefore, though ye offer Me your burnt-offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them; neither
will I regard the peace-offerings of your presence.
Take
thou away from Me the multitude of thy songs and psalms; I will not hear thine instruments.
BUT, let judgment be rolled down as water, and righteousness as an impassable
torrent.
If God DID NOT command the slaughter of innocent animals, but
added it as a curse BECAUSE of musical idolatry, and the loud
noise (never called music) was to carry out the captrivity and
death sentence, how can anyone assume that God gives His
permission for false preachers to take you captive to silence
the Word of God:
|
Therefore thus
saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and
my fury shall be poured out upon this
place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field,
and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall
burn, and shall not be quenched.
Jeremiah 7:20
Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel;
Put your burnt
offerings unto
your sacrifices, and eat flesh. Jeremiah 7:21 |
21. Put
... burnt offerings unto ... sacrifices ...
eat flesh--Add the former (which the law
required to be wholly burnt) to the latter
(which were burnt only in part), and "eat flesh" even off the holocausts
or burnt offerings. As far as I am
concerned, saith Jehovah, you may do with one
and the other alike. I will
have neither (Isa 1:11 Ho 8:13 Am 5:21,22). JFB
|
| For I spake
NOT unto your fathers, nor
commanded them |
I hate, I despise your
feast
days, and I will not
smell in your solemn assemblies. Amos 5:21 |
in the day that I brought
them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning
burnt
offerings or sacrifices: Jeremiah 7:22 |
Though ye offer me
burnt
offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept
them: neither will I regard the peace offerings
of your
fat beasts. Amos 5:22
Take thou away from me the noise
of thy songs;
for I will not hear the
melody of thy viols. Amos 5:23 |
BUT this thing
commanded I them, saying,
Obey
my voice, and I will
be your God,
and ye shall be my people:
and walk
ye in all the ways
that I have commanded
you,
that it may be well unto you.
Jeremiah 7:23 |
BUT let judgment
run down as waters, and righteousness as a
mighty stream Amos 5:24
Amos 5:25 Have ye offered unto me
sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness
forty years, O house of Israel? |
|
BUT they
HEARKENED NOT, nor
inclined their ear,
but
walked in the counsels
and in
the imagination of their evil
heart,
and
went backward,
and not forward. Jeremiah 7:24
Since the
day that your fathers came forth out of
the land of Egypt unto this day,
I have
even sent
unto you all MY servants the PROPHETS,
daily rising up early and sending them:
Jeremiah 7:25
Yet they HEARKENED
NOT unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their
neck: they did worse than their
fathers. Jeremiah 7:26
Therefore
thou shalt speak all these words unto them;
but
they will not hearken to thee:
thou
shalt also call unto them;
but they will not
answer thee. Jeremiah 7:27
|
Amos
5:26 BUT ye have borne the tabernacle of
your and Moloch and Chiun [#666] your
images, the star of your god,
which ye made to yourselves.
They burned infants to the beat of instruments in
2 Chron 28 just before the PURGE and EXORCISM and
in chapter 30 just AFTER Hezekiah's ceremony
SOLELY to get the priests to return to Jerusalem
to help defend it.
Amos 5:27
Therefore will I cause you to go
into captivity
beyond
Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God
of hosts.
This was the sentence conditionally imposed
because of musical idolatry at Mount Sinai.
Canaan as the promised land became the
Killing Fields as God let the kings lead them into
captivity and death. |
Why are people so anxious to impose the CURSE
of hypocrites and parasites.
The False preachers also missed that the Spirit OF
Christ spoke ONLY through the prophets: it is a lie that the
"holy spirit" guided the elders and preachers to lie about all
of the Bible. The prophets thought that the
kings, our princes, our priests, and our
fathers were lawless parasites.
So the children went in and possessed the land,
and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the
Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the
people of the land, that they might do with them as they would. Neh 9:24
And they took strong
cities, and a fat land, and
possessed houses full of all goods, wells
digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees
in abundance:
so
they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee,
and
cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets
which testified against them to
turn them to thee,
and
they wrought great provocations. Neh 9:26
Neither have our kings, our princes,
our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law,
nor hearkened unto thy commandments
and thy testimonies,
wherewith thou didst testify
against them. Neh 9:34
For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and
in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the
large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither
turned they from their wicked works. Neh 9:35
Behold, we are
servants this day, [and so are you]
and for the land that
thou gavest unto our fathers
to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof,
behold, we are servants
in it: Neh 9:36
And it yieldeth
much increase unto the kings whom thou hast
set over us
because of our sins:
also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle,
at their pleasure,
and we are in great distress. Neh 9:37
They have sown wheat,
but shall reap thorns:
they have put themselves to pain, but shall not
profit:
and they shall be ashamed of your revenues
because of the fierce anger of the Lord. Je.12:13
Never listen to those SELLING and twisting the free water of
the Word (Isa 55)
WHAT THE KINGS WANT TO DO TO MAKE YOU PAY--EVERY DAY.
Most of the false teachers
about "music" do not define terms. For instance, the word
fellowship is defined to mean that you must AFFIRM that the
sowerss of discord were correct, or you must CONFORM to
their practices. However, fellowship has a deeper
meaning which Instrumentalists will judge about but never
meet:
One verse in Hebrew lumps several things together:
Lev. 6:2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass
against the LORD,
and lie unto
his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep,
or in fellowship,
or in a thing taken away by violence,
or hath deceived
his neighbour;
The word fellowship is h8667 [from
h7760] meaning "a pledge, security, deposit"
from "to put, set, put a garment in pledge, set the
heart and mind upon"
The fellowship the instrumentalists so desparately need to
cleans them from the sin of discord means more than visiting
their church:
2Cor. 8:4 Praying us with
much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take
upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints
Phil. 1:5 For your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now;
However, the Bible and all of church history identifys the
instrument as the MARK of those who have no wish to unite on
the basis of the Word of God. An instrument is "a machine
for doing hard work mostly in making war and creating what
John called sorcery (Rev 18:23) or mind manipulation.
Hear,
ye
that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are
near, acknowledge my might. Isaiah 33:13
The sinners in Zion
are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the HYPOCRITES.
Who among us shall
dwell with the devouring fire?
who among us shall
dwell with everlasting
burnings?
Isaiah 33: 14
Hebrews
12 promies consuming fires for all of
those who do not come before God in reverence and godly
fear: you cannot fellowship those built upon the
foundation of irreverence and even claiming to LEAD you
into God's presence. That is
what all of the Praise Teams promise you--for a price.
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
he that despiseth
the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands
from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from
hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing
evil; Isaiah 33: 15
He shall dwell on
high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of
rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be
sure. Isaiah 33: 16
Thine eyes shall
see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the
land that is very far off. Isaiah 33: 17
If ye oppress not the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow,
and shed not innocent
blood in this place,
neither walk after
other gods to your hurt: Jeremiah 7:6
Ashaq (h6231) aw-shak'; a prim.
root (comp. 6229); to press upon, i. e. oppress, defraud, violate, overflow: - get
deceitfully, deceive, defraud, drink up, (use) oppress ([-ion],
-or), to violence (wrong).
HEAR this word, ye
kine of Bashan, that are in the
mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their
masters, Bring, and let us drink.
Am.4:1
Jesus identified the Hypocrites as slick speakers,
singers and instrument players:
Job 20:5 That the triumphing
of the wicked is short,
and the joy of the
hypocrite but for a moment?
Job 20:6 Though his excellency mount up to
the heavens,
and his head reach
unto the clouds;
Job 20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own
dung:
they which have seen
him shall say, Where is he?
Paul in Romans 10 and 1 Corinthians 10 defined the rising
up to play at Mount Sinai as musical idolatry: their
singing, dancing, playing instruments caused them to
repudiate God and He abandoned them to the worship of the
starry host (Acts 7 and many other passages). That was
the worship of demons:
1Cor. 10:20 But I say, that the
things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to
devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should
have fellowship with devils.
The notion of FELLOWSHIP
REFUSED is the big lie that one who believes in instrumental
music cannot attend church, make comments, take communion
and do ALL of those things which fit the PATTERN of a school
of the Bible. No one is ever asked about their beliefs and
no one is refused COMMUNION (fellowship with Christ).
In writing on FELLOWSHIP,
the Campbells and others never hinted that people should ASSEMBLY WITH and endorse those whom they believed to
teach a sinful dogma. OTHERS refused to fellowship the early
Reformers and NOT the other way round. See Alexander Campbell on FELLOWSHIP.
He did not mean or say
that one should fellowship those in error by allowing THEM to intrude things like
instruments or choirs. He meant that he would not EXCLUDE
one from meeting peacably even though they may believe
something non-essential.
However, MUSIC was not
on the horizon at the time. When it reared its ugly head
nothing he ever said could be twisted into forcing him to
say that he would FELLOWSHIP with instrumental music
forced into his church.
In many of the early
introductions of instruments with NO thought of Biblical
authority,
the instrument was FORCED IN and the organist went to work
to collect the big contributors. The non-instrumentalists
known as the church of Christ from the beginning ADDED
NOTHING and were simply forced OUT to meet in buildings
while those they had paid for were confiscated.
The Bible contains MANY
direct commands about what the church or ekklesia or
synagogue should be: it should NOT do anything which would
arouse spiritual anxiety. The word MELODY or the Greek
PSALLO was not a worship word but a WARFARE word. it was
derived from twanging bowstrings to send singing arrows to
grind (make melody) out of the enemy's literal heart.
The CORE GOSPEL where all
has been stripped out of the Bible except seven factual
statements ABOUTJesus ridicules and eleminates the epistles
form being inspired.
Jesus in Person taught
them.
He promised to guide them into all truth.
The writers THOUGHT that they were inspired.
History before the seven
merry men of th end times and others STILL consider them
inspired.
The Discorders USE the
letters whether they are believers or not.
Unless we are on the dole
with too much time to, like J. H. Garrison, lust to set up a
society to encompass all of Christendom based on--
J.H.Garrison: "There is God and Jesus: all
the rest is opinion."
Or: Rubel Shelly: "Outside the essence of the
gospel, there are other features that reflect our history and consensus interpretations of the larger biblical
message."
Most of us have time
only to fellowship a small fraction of our own
congregation.
Furthermore, the command
to externally TEACH OR PREACH with the Word of God with the
singing (Greek secular) and make melody (abrading you into a
fine powder re. the Sop Jesus fed Judas) left in the heart
was meant to make fellowship with diverse background.
This is also the big lie
of the Guilt Clause: "You shoot me in the heart, I spurt my dying
blood on your clergy garb, and you curse me for messing up
your clothing." Or from Abraham Lincoln
A highwayman jumps
out in front of your horse, shoves a gun into your chest
and yells, 'stand and deliver or I will shoot you and
that will make you a murderer."
Read how J. W.
McGarvey who was chased out of his own church and
others defines the GUILT CLAUSE Mikey is pulling on
us.
Michael C. Armour: This proved to be a fateful
turn,
for viewpoints that our movement would have previously
relegated to the realm of private judgments and
opinions were now to be taken by some as core doctrines and essentials of the faith.
The Church of Christ never TURNED: it was
opposed to the Society party from the beginning. As soon as
some went sectarian and added organs, the faithful taught
against instruments. For instance, even very old,
Alexander Campbell refused to preach in a church if they
played the organ.
Like most of those "among the scholars" Mike invents the evidence and then draws unnecessary inferences. Neither
the Baptists, Methodists or Presbyterians would permit the
organ as part of "worship." Therefore, Mike has no EVIDENCE
to build upon. When the organ was forced in men like J. W.
McGarvey and others OBJECTED. It did not OCCUR to them that
anyone would introduce an instrument as it would be
unthinkable that they would introduce a naked dancer--which
in the literature is included. Their PRIVATE JUDGMENT forced
McGarvey to cease fellowshiping the STOLEN churches even
though he would preach the truth to them.
The INTRODUCTION of the organ was by men
who KNEW that it would sow discord while they KNEW that it
was not a CORE DOCTRINE. However, the MADE it a core
doctrine. You either FELLOWSHIP with their theatrical
performance or YOU are effectively disfellowshipped. John
Locke would define such an introduction of what became THE
CORE of musical churches as HERESY.
Unfortunately, "among the
scholars" there is not time nor felt need to read the
evidence. Music was the fatal flaw at Mount Sinai and was a MARK that Israel had
repudiated the rule of God in favor of a king "like the
nations" so that they could "worship like the nations."
Mike doesn't there for
grasp or is just bluffing because the church fathers and
founders of denominations repudiated instrumental music
because they knew that it was the MARK of those who did not
want to listen to the Word.
When the Catholics added
instruments it was never for the accompaniment of congregational
singing. The
organ played preludes, interludes or recessionals. At the same
time the MUSICAL WORSHIP MINISTER or chanter CHANTED the
Biblical Psalms or other material suitable as SERMON or
PRAYER. The
congregation was FORBIDDEN to sing. That meant that the
COMBINATION simply was not acceptable in the Mass.
At the Reformation the
goal was to RESTORE congregational singing of the Psalms and
naturally CAST OUT the organ as Jesus CAST OUT the musical
minstrels. They had never been A MATCHED PAIR with
congregational singing and the acceptance of ONE implied the
rejection of the OTHER.
See John
Calvin on MUSIC.
See Martin
Luther on MUSIC
When the Restoration
Movement, NONE
of the groups
which left their old denominations practiced instrumental
music because they KNEW it was wrong. You will find that
before the Civil war it was black Methodists who were the
first to added small instruments BECAUSE financial trouble
showed them just how valuable MUSIC was in collecting
unlawful and ungodly money from the widows and honest
working people.
The Presbyterians out
of which the Campbells Came:
And when instruments were
added, primarly
post Civil War, it was because the huge wealth in the North made carnal men
see that if they were gonna get their fair share they would
have to institute seculat entertainment: none of them used
any form of Biblical authority. History, namely Zwingli,
note that the RELIGION which sides with the CIVIL STATE
which wins the war ASSUMES the right to ALSO win the
CHURCHES. This is exactly what happened after the Civil war
when the ladies primarily presumed the right to add the
society and Organ. Some went to the Law to steal the church
houses.
They also did it with a
high hand knowing that they were sowing discord but
effectively telling opposition faithful for 1800 years to
get run over or get run off.
The fact that I leave when
someone throws a skunk into my car would, in the Armour
theology, make me the GUILTY PARTY.
Michael C. Armour: This change in climate made additional ruptures
all but inevitable.
The twentieth century
saw something like 20 recognizable lines of division among a
cappella churches. And all of them resulted from
disagreements over inferences from Scripture or the
normative force of specific New Testament examples.
Implicit in these divisions was the concept that
fellowship is possible only in settings of extensive and
detailed doctrinal agreement.
The Disciples existed and
the Christian churches were part of them: only in 1927 and
completed in 1971 did the Christian church exist. Therefore,
it would have been impossible for the Church of
Christ--never part of the full blown denomination--to have
separated from the Christian churches.
Since there never was an Armourish Denomination called "The A Cappella
churches of Christ" then it would be impossible to rupture
that which never existed. The Armourites are "among the
scholars" or dominant pastors who, like all bullies, want
their own turf and to be Top Billy Goat on Mount Polemic."
Most officialdom recognizes three divisions in the
Restoration Movement although there is little in common
between churches of Christ and even conservative Christian
Churches. There are more divisions than Armour is aware of.
For instance, on the direct operation of the Holy Spirit as
in Western Christian churches.
Someone has identified 146 distinct
ORGANIZED bodies of Baptists. That is down from 321 which
developed out of the First Great American Awakening where
UNITY proved ot be DIVISIVE. When you have those like J. H. Garrison who
tried to force a united
denomination encompassing
"all of Christendom" financed by siging up even children for
"life memberships" on the one side, and congregational
autonomy then this brain warp can see a thousand divisive
groups if there are a thousand congregations.
The church as Christ left it by
instructing Paul does not need to have the "fellowship of
bonding buddies of the priesthood" to do its own work in its
own assigned area.
Michael C. Armour: This in itself was a major
departure from the efforts of Stone and Campbell to allow broad latitudes of
opinion
and to build
unity on a
small core of essentials. Once we preconditioned
fellowship on far-ranging doctrinal agreement, we reduced
the perimeter of fellowship markedly. By the middle of the
twentieth century the perimeter had become so small that
we had little communion with anyone other than our own
congregations.
No, almost without exception the scholars have not read the facts. Thomas Campbell learned something valuable from John Locke as
did Thomas Jefferson and our entire culture of religious and
political freedom. While they lie about the Campbells,
Alexander said that there MUST be Christians in the sects:
if so, he said "they must come out of Babylon."
Mike C. Armour: Compounding the problem of our isolation were our own matters of
conscience, beginning with our convictions on instrumental
music, that limited our opportunities to work collaboratively with other spiritual
communities.
Our commitment to
unaccompanied music in worship became a core identity
issue--
so much so that to
distinguish ourselves from the independent Christian
Churches
and instrumental Churches of Christ, both we and others use
the term "non-instrumental
Churches of Christ" or "a cappella Churches of Christ."
ALL people down through
history called their church THE
CHURCH OF CHRIST. They grasped that the body belongs ot the
HEAD. In his Declaration and Address Thomas Campbell often
used the CHRISTIAN CHURCH to identify the universal church
and THE CHURCH OF CHRIST within our world. Before
instruments were added Thomas Campbell helped form Churches
of Christ.
NONE of the groups
involved in the Stoneite Cane Ridge "revival" used instruments in any
form. When churches of Christ and Christian churches met in
the same buildings NONE of them used instruments. For 2,000
years among faithful and literate believers INSTRUMENT had
no role to play in the "school of the Bible."
ONLY when Christian churches begin imposing instruments and confiscating church
buildings was there any reason to use a DIVISIVE term to
distinguish inividual congregations: remember that the
churches of Christ HAD NO organizational structure.
What would Moses Lard
do?
Thus these organ-grinding churches
will in the lapse of time be broken down, or wholly
apostatize, and the sooner they are in fragments the better for the cause of Christ. I
have no sympathy with them, no fellowship with them, and so help me God never intend
knowingly to put my foot into one of them. As a people we
claim to be engaged in an effort to return to the purity,
simplicity, freedom from ostentation and pride, of the ancient apostolic churches. Let
us, then, neither wink at any thing standing in the way,
nor compromise aught essential to this end. The moment we
do so our unity is at an
end, and our hopes are
in the dust.
Moses Lard would not be "shamed" into
sin and neither will most churches of Christ except those
who have been INFILTRATED and DIVERTED by dishonorable men
needing AFFIRMATION by anyone but those who pay them.
When the Christian church
imposed the Missionary Society and begin to sign up children
as "life members" and insist that member congregations ADD
instruments to be part of the group as well as use their
Sunday School material and "song books" they FORMED a
denomination with no more connection to the New Testament
than the Baptists who STILL didn't use instruments.
Churches of Christ DID
NOTHING except inform the Census bureau fellow who
UNDERSTOOD that the new denomination was counting EVERYONE
as belonging to their society. David Lipscomb informed them
that the churches of Christ SHOULD NOT BE counted in the
denominational sheep fold. They simply refused to be stolen
sheep.
Churches of Christ call
themselves churches of Christ and Christian churches call
them ANTI-instrumental as a term of derision. They even use
the ONE CUPPERS to make sure that people believe that NOT
bowing to Baal is like drinking out of ONE CUP.
Paul defined this assembly in Romans 15 as
the way to REJECT pleasuring one another and
glorify God with one MOUTH and one MIND by speaking "that
which is written." Paul defines the ekklesia or synagogue
which outlawed "vocal and instrumental rejoicing" in the
church in the wilderness:
|
Romans XV. 1
debemus autem nos firmiores imbecillitates infirmorum sustinere et non
nobis placere
Sustinere I.
to hold up, hold upright,
uphold, to bear up,
keep up, support, sustain
1.To sustain, support, maintain,
by food, money, or other means (maintain, preserve
with dignity of a citizen II.
Concr., the citizens united in a community,
the body - politic, the state, and
as this consists of one city and its territory, or
of several cities, it differs from urbs, i.e. the
compass of the dwellings of the collected
citizens;
Imbecillitas Caes. B. G. 7, 77, 9
Caes. B. G. 7, 77, 9 Caesar, Gallic War 7.77.
LXXVII. But those who were blockaded at Alesia , the
day being past, on which they had expected auxiliaries
from their countrymen, and all their corn being
consumed ignorant of what was going on among
the Aedui, convened an assembly [Concilium Pastorium]
Concilium is the same as Latin
ecclesia or Greek sulloge or synagogue. I.a
collection of people, an association, gathering,
union, meeting A.An assembly for
consultation pastorum pasco 2.To
feed, nourish, maintain, support, 3.To
cherish, cultivate, let grow, feed
Pastor 2.The
minister or superintendent of a church
or congregation
Ezek XXXIV.
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, [2] Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds,
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of
Israel who feed themselves!
Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep? [3] You eat the
fat, and you clothe you with the wool, you
kill the fatlings; but you don't feed
the sheep. [4]
You
haven't strengthened the diseased,
neither have you healed that which was
sick, neither have you bound up that which
was broken, neither have you brought back
that which was driven away, neither have
you sought that which was lost; but with force
and with rigor have you ruled
over them. [5]
They were scattered, because there was no
shepherd; and they became food to all the
animals of the field, and were scattered.
Eph 4:[11] He gave some to be
apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
[12] for the
perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving,
to the building up of the body of
Christ; [13]
until we all attain to the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
a full grown man, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ
Outlawed: Placeo to please, to be pleasing or
agreeable, to be welcome, acceptable, to satisfy (class.).
1. In scenic lang., of
players or pieces presented, to please, find favor, give satisfaction: scenico placenti
Rom. 8:8 So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God.
Rom. 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit,
if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in
you.
Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of his.
Outlawed: Scaenicus I. of or belonging
to the stage, scenic, dramatic, ORGANA,
theatrical
I. Lit.:
poëtae, dramatic poets, ludi, stage-plays,
theatrical representations, : fabula, a drama,
2. Placere sibi, to be pleased or satisfied with
one's self, to flatter one's self, to pride or
plume one's self
I. Lit.: poëtae, dramatic
poets, ludi, stage-plays,
theatrical representations, : fabula, a drama, organa, Suet. Ner. 44 :
coronae, id. ib. 53 : habitus, id. ib. 38 :
gestus, Cic. de Or. 3, 59, 220 : modulatio
Comedy. Orator
Poi-êtês II. composer of a poem, author, p. kômôidias Pl.Lg.935e ; p.
kainôn dramatôn, b. composer
of music, 2. author
of a speech
Outlawed: Organum Vitr. 10, 1.--Of musical
instruments, a pipe,. Gen. 4, 21; id.
2 Par. 34, 12 et saep.--Of hydraulic engines, an
organ, water-organ: organa hydraulica,
[2] unusquisque vestrum
proximo suo placeat in bonum ad aedificationem
[3] etenim Christus non sibi placuit sed sicut
scriptum est inproperia
inproperantium tibi ceciderunt super me
LOQUOR I. inf. loquier,
Naev. ap. Gell. 1, 24, 2), v. dep. n. and a.
[Sanscr. lap-, to talk, whisper; Gr.
lak-, elakon, laskô], to speak, talk, say (in
the lang. of common life, in the tone of
conversation; cf. Quint. 9, 4, 10; 11, 3,
45).
1. To speak out, to say, tell, talk about, mention,
utter, name: A. To speak, declare, show, indicate or
express clearly:
Aedificatio III. Fig.,
building up, instructing, edification.
(a). Absol.: loquitur ad aedificationem, Vulg. 1
Cor. 14, 3 ; 14, 26.--
(b). With gen.: ad aedificationem Ecclesiae
[church],
Vulg. 1 Cor. 14, 12 ; ib. Eph. 4, 12.
Eph. 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some,
pastors and teachers;
Eph. 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ:
Eph. 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ:
|
What would Moses Lard
do?
Thus these organ-grinding churches
will in the lapse of time be broken down, or wholly
apostatize, and the sooner they are in fragments the better for the cause of Christ. I
have no sympathy with them, no fellowship with them, and so help me God never intend
knowingly to put my foot into one of them. As a people we
claim to be engaged in an effort to return to the purity,
simplicity, freedom from ostentation and pride, of the ancient apostolic churches. Let
us, then, neither wink at any thing standing in the way,
nor compromise aught essential to this end. The moment we
do so our unity is at an
end, and our hopes are
in the dust.
Moses Lard would not be "shamed" into
sin and neither will most churches of Christ except those
who have been INFILTRATED and DIVERTED by dishonorable men
needing AFFIRMATION by anyone but those who pay them.
Click for
some proof.
Mike C. Armour: In defense of our position,
and later our identity, Churches of Christ came to see
our stance on instrumental music as more than a matter
of doctrine. It became a matter of conscience.
Men who read the Bible and
church history KNEW for a fact that MUSIC tells God that "we
will not listen to your words." All of church history knows
tha it was not just an OPINION which became a LAW. Why would
music which was known to produce "worship services" which
led to sexuality and homosexuality be seen as an OPTION and then
only because NOT playing instruments somehow MAKES you evil
and corrupt turn to conscience. It was ALWAYS conscience. J. W. McGarvey had to flee his own
congregation because to have participated in the musical
worship would have been SIN. Those who FORCED him to flee
were the TERMINAL SINNERS.
Mike C. Armour: This then precluded opportunities
to participate in one of the simplest, yet most basic
expressions of unity with others, worshipping with them. For decades the vast
majority of our members could not attend joint worship
with neighboring denominations, or even with their spiritual cousins in the Disciples of
Christ, without feeling they had violated their
conscience. And many still feel that way today.
No, that is not TRUTH.
Those who
resisted the hostile takeover of their own congregation knew
that the INTRODUCERS were destroying their ability to participate in what ALL of
the literature brands as sinful idolatry. When they tried to
preach against the organs they were accused of SOWING
DISCORD AMONG THE BRETHREN. If they persisted in trying to
teach the truth they were CAST OUT. That is a fact: this
writer knows of a modern example.
It is utterly impossible
to GIVE HEED to Christ and His Word--Paul's unique worship
word--and give heed to the performance rhetorician or
professional stage performer at the same time. And that HAS
to be the purpose as the Lucifer Principle to BLEED OFF
worship due only to God. That is why Lucifer is called the
"singing and harp-playing prostitute" as the king or queen
of Tyre.
Why would anyone but a
false preacher on the DOLE have either the time or
inclination to WORSHIP with instruments just to prove that
they are civilized? It was a fact known in the garden of
Eden and by Nimrod at the towers of Babylon that MUSIC
induces a feeling of PANIC in people. The body rushes endorphins to HEAL the pain. With the left-over MORPHINE
the effects of FIGHT, FLIGHT or SEXUALITY is created. That
is proven by moden medicine. Therefore, it would be stupid
for people who know that they are being USED to fill the
collection plates to attend a meeting they neither believe
in nor wish to TOLERATE. See
a Time Magazine article: Music on the Brain.
Nothing brings about
compromise faster than familiarity. I find it almost
impossible to teach what the Bible teaches when I am in the
presence of someone who is FRIENDLY (a weapon) and who seems
"spiritual." Now, Mike and his wrecking crew CLAIM to be
more spiritual than those perverted by NOT using instruments
but that is to DISARMOUR us. See how Tertullian warns about those who
first WALK then STAND and the SIT as speaking directly
to church as THEATER.
Mike C. Armour: These settings have shown
us opportunities to build on our commonalities without compromising our
convictions. We now see ways to work together without
abandoning our distinctives. We are learning how to be
of one heart even though our heads sometimes lead us to
opposing conclusions. I, for one, am excited about where
this course may take us and for the prospects for unity
it portends.
Mike alienates the Church of Christ with a
sound understanding of the "music" issue by declaring that
we were JUST FLAT WRONG. There has never been a discussion
by the NACC which did not match an INSTRUMENTAL "church of
christ" preacher against an INSTRUMENTAL preacher from the
NACC. There has never been any "dialogy" been
permitted by anyone who is not a PLEDGED PLANT defending
unity by having those who believe instruments are condemned
by commands and all of the Biblical examples. Based
on church being a school of the Bible anyone can INFER
that you cannot tolerate Rock And Roll (voodoo and worse)
when the people assemble to listen to JESUS CHRIST.
Mike has no DIFFERENCES about any of the
fundamentals and therefore has NOTHING which has not already
been compromized. The problem with a tiny muddied stream of
preachers is that they seem to be isolated and alienated
from any fellowship and seek affirmation WHEREEVER it can be
found. This is consistent with The Book of Enoch, Jubilees,
Adam and Eve and three dozen versions we have posted about
how SATAN seduced the Genun composite or Jubal into HANDLING
musical instruments meaning "without authority."
When Satan had COME INTO the youth and
into the musical instruments they called the faithful
Sethites away from the Living Word. Once they had fallen
they could never repent (see Hebrews 6 and 12). Therefore,
in their lostness and isolation they felt the need to seduce
EVERYONE to give them aid and comfort.
Mike C. Armour: This group, drawing on the language
of Ephesians 4, sees unity as something created by the
Holy Spirit, not by us. Our duty is to maintain the
unity which the Spirit proclaimed when He placed us all
in one body. To maintain this unity, we must submit to
the Spirit's judgment who, by making us part of the same
body, affirmed that the differences between us are not
so great as to preclude oneness. Our challenge,
therefore, is to find ways to transcend our differences
and work together as one.
Paul warned the original gifted men to
TEACH the Word because the world if filled with mercinary
people trying to Navigate the Winds of Change. Note that the
GIFTED LIST does not include PULPIT PREACHERS:
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens,
that he might fill all things.) Eph 4:10
And he gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and
some, pastors and teachers; Eph 4:11
For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ: Eph 4:12
Till we all come in
the unity
of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God,
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ: Eph 4:13
That perfecting is to
train people to believe in and obey Christ in Baptism where
we have A holy spirit or regenerated mind. Paul used MILK in
First Corinthians but for the PERFECTED he taught the "meat"
of the Word. The reason for making Disciples of Christ is:
That we henceforth be no
more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Eph 4:14
What is ABSOLUTELY OUTLAWED:Eph 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every
wind of doctrine,
by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to
deceive;
Paul always defines the EVIL PAGAN assemblies before
he defimes the Christian assembly: when you COME
TOGETHER is a synagogue word. We know that the
synagogue or church in the wilderness met weekly and
the civl ekklesia met roughly weekly.
Panourgia (g3834) pan-oorg-ee'-ah; from
3835; adroitness, i.e. (in a bad sense) trickery
or sophistry: - (cunning) craftiness, subtilty.
3835. panougos,
pan-oor´-gos; from 3956 and 2041; all-working
[ergon], i.e. adroit (shrewd): crafty.
A musical instrument
is a machine for doing hard WORK from ERGON.
This was always to MAKE WARE or to induce the
arousal in religious ritualism.
A musical instrument
is a machine for doing hard WORK from ERGON.
This was always to MAKE WARE or to induce the
arousal in religious ritualism.
Organon
, to, ( [ergon, erdô] 3.a
hard piece of work, a hard task, Il.:
also, a shocking deed or act,
3. musical instrument
Aristotle Politics 1341b
and all the
instruments that require manual skill. And indeed
there is a reasonable foundation for
the story that was told by the ancients about
the flute. The tale goes
that Athena found a flute and threw
it away. Now it is not a bad point in the
story that the goddess did this out of
annoyance because of the ugly
distortion of her features; but as a matter of fact
it is more likely that it was because
education in flute-playing has no effect on
the intelligence, whereas we attribute
science and art to Athena...And since we
reject professional education in the instruments and in performance (and we count
performance in competitions as professional,
for the
performer does not take part in it
for his own
improvement, but for his hearers'
pleasure,
and that a vulgar pleasure, owing
to which we
do not consider performing to be proper for free
men, but somewhat
menial; and indeed
performers do become vulgar,
Panourg-êma A. knavish trick,
villainy, S.El.1387 (lyr.), LXX Si.1.6 (v.l.); sophistry, Gal.5.251; cf. panourgeuma.
Panourg-os A. ready to
do anything, wicked, knavish, b. panourgôs
kataskeuazesthai to be adulterated,
3. of
animals, as the fox, sophos
The
hypocrites:
hupokrinô reply,
make answer, of an oracle, 2. expound,
interpret, explain [Peter outlawed this as
private interpretation.] 2. deliver
a speech, declaim, of orators and rhetoricians, represent
dramatically, erôtikôn dramatôn 3. of an
orator, use histrionic
arts, exaggerate, hence play a
part on the stage, 3. of an
orator, use histrionic
arts, exaggerate,
tragôidoi * I.
properly, a goat-singer
[Cappella]
Latin canto I. Neutr.,
to produce melodious sounds (by
the voice or an instrument), to sound,
sing, play (class. in prose and poetry;
to sing and play while the actor
accompanies the song with gestures or
dancing, C. Transf., of instruments, to
sound, resound:
Sophis-tikos
Artistic or poetic, This includes the techne or
craftsmen who perform as sorcerers in Rev
18.
Techn-ê , A.art,
skill,
cunning of hand, soothsayer, to learn a thing
professionally, hence title of various
treatises on Rhetoric (v. VI; but rather tricks
of Rhetoric, OF the rhapsoidikos, poetl
Clement Against Heresies
To me, therefore, that Thracian Orpheus, that Theban, and that Methymnaean,-men, and yet
unworthy of the name,-seem
to have been deceivers, who, under the pretence of poetry corrupting human life, possessed by
a spirit
of artful sorcery for purposes of destruction, celebrating crimes in their orgies, and making human woes the
materials of religious worship, were the first to entice men to
idols;
nay, to build up the
stupidity of the nations with blocks of wood and stone,-
that is, statues and images,-
subjecting to the yoke
of extremest bondage the truly noble freedom
of those who lived as free citizens under heaven
by their
songs and incantations. Technites
What is ABSOLUTELY
COMMANDED with no inferences needed. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into
him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:15
From
whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint
supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Eph 4:16
Aedificatio, III. Figurative,
building up, instructing, edification.
Absolute:
loquitur ad Aedificationem Ecclesiae, Vulg. 1 Cor. 14,
12 ; ib. Eph.
4, 12.
Loquor
a. [Sanscr. lap-, to talk, whisper; Gr. lak-,
elakon, laskô], to speak,
talk, say (in the language of common
life, in the
tone of conversation;
B. Act. 1. To
speak out, to say, tell, talk about, mention,
utter, name, declare, show, indicate
or express clearly
Doubtful
disputations outlawed in Romans 14
are opinions whicharise out of the human mind.
Because "the imaginations of man is only evil
continually" no man can offer anything of value
when the church assembles for "instruction only."
This I say
therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye
henceforth walk not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity
of their mind, Eph 4:17
Vanitas I.Lit., emptiness,
nothingness, nullity, want
of reality:
B.
Esp., falsity, falsehood, deception,
untruth, untrustworthiness, fickleness, magice
I. the magic art, magic, sorcery
(post-Aug.): pariter utrasque artes
effloruisse, medicinam [p. 1097] dico
magicenqu.
Tumultus an
uproar, bustle, violent
commotion, disturbance
Pulso
to push, strike, beat,
Of military engines, Of musical instruments
THIS DEFINES THE EKKLESIA
OR SYNAGOGUE AND IS REPEATED IN MANY PASSAGES.
|
Craftiness is SOPHISTRY. The sOPHISt
enfolds the word OPHIS who is the serpent enchanter in
Greek. He is the serpent or Nachash or the Musical Enchanter
in the garden of Eden.
But I fear, lest by any
means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ. 2Co.11:3
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, 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 shall be
heard no more at all in thee; Rev 18:22
The MUSES are the singers of Apollo or
Abaddon or Apollyon. They are the LOCUSTS or musical
performers. The craftsmen work their CRAFT. In the Greek
theater they were "house builders and stage managers." It
comes as no surprise that one of the churches Mike Armour
helped discord in Nashville expresses the demand that the
church be turned into a "theater for holy entertainment."
One suspects that godly members
of the Christian churches will deeply regret that they
have used the left fringe to help FACILITATE and CHANEL people their way.
That is quite identical to the "singing" passages
such as Romans 15 where we speak "that which is written" or
in Ephesians the Spirit or the material inspired by the
Spirit of Christ or the Word of Christ in Colossians. No
music when you are doing this, please. Christians worship in
THEIR SPIRIT or their mind: pagan Gentiles walk in A vain
MIND.
This I say therefore,
and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as
other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Eph 4:17
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Eph 4:18
Who being past
feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Eph 4:19
The MUSIC in Amos 5 and 6 was evil
because it produced the ignorance in Amos 8. The result was
that people hungered and thirsted for the Word but could
never find it.
Isaiah 5 speaks the same thing: their
religious festivals had become ECUMENICAL with the beast
people.
Paul admits that evangelists deserve the
DAILY DOLE OF FOOD just like the temple servant. However, he
admits that you cannot PEDDLE the free gospel and get people
to PURCHASE. Rubel Shelly speaks of the
Located Missionary! But Paul refutes him.
The
so
called Stone Campbell Movement
Musical
Worship Index
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