Corinth's Musical Worship and Speaking in Tongues -
Pagan Background
In First Corinthians 13:1 Paul spoke clearly of the
booms and
clangs of
the witches, soothsayers or
warrior-musicians who plagued both Jews and pagans. In the next
chapter, he spoke of similar people who oversaw war and then
became the clergy-musicians under the direction of the commanders of
the army. Music and speaking in tongues always go together.
Therefore, the worst possible comparison Paul could use to condemn
speaking in tongues was to compare them to the musical instruments of
warfare or pagan idolatry.
See
our review of Charles Daily Part One
Part Two
More Data on
Dailey's musical prophesying
See
our collection of resources about DEVIL WORSHIP
And a similar Serpent Worship
David, together
with the commanders of
the army, set apart
some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of
prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the
list of the men who performed this service: 1 Chronicles 25:1
This "service" was to continually atone for the sins for the people who could
not, after the sin at Mount Sinai, ever
come boldly before the throne of grace. Even if they could, the noise
we call music was involved in the atonement for sin in a
works-intensive service which we confuse with spiritual
worship.
The "because of transgression" was the MUSICAL
IDOLATRY of the Egyptian Triad. God saw this as their PRAYERS to be
able to "worship like the nations." Once in Canaan, their request for
a king LIKE THE NATIONS was a final prayer which God answered
bysetting kings over them. They were, in fact, "dominant pastors.
However, not in the MOST VILE pagan temple could SINGERS (prostitues)
or MUSICIANS (Sodomites) enter into the Holy Place as a carnal type
of the body or church of Christ. Amos makes
it clear that Israel
was worshiping the Astrial deities to which God abandoned them at
Mount Sinai. The word Abad was the religion of Abaddon or Molech or
Chiun whose Chaldee number is 666:
Abad (h6)
aw-bad'; a prim. root;
prop. to wander away, i. e. lose oneself; by impl. to perish (caus.
destroy): - break, destroy (- uction), / not escape, fail, lose,
(cause to, make) perish, spend, * and surely, take, be undone, *
utterly, be void of, have no way to flee.
These are they that
were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that
might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses
and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the Lord.
Nu.4:41
Abaddoh (h10) ab-ad-do'; the same as 9,
miswritten for 11; a perishing: - destruction.
Hell and
destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Pr.27:20
Abaddown (h11) ab-ad-done'; intens. from 6;
abstr. a perishing; concr. Hades: - destruction.
Hell and destruction are before
the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?
Pr.15:11
Abodah (h5656) ab-o-daw'; from 5647; work of
any kind: - act, bondage, / bondservant, effect, labour, ministering
(-try), office, service (-ile, -itude), tillage, use, work, * wrought
Abad
(h5647) aw-bad'; a prim. root; to work (in any sense); by impl. to
serve, till, (caus.) enslave, etc.: - * be, keep in bondage, be bondmen, bond-service, compel, do, dress, ear,
execute, / husbandman, keep, labour (-ing man), bring to pass, (cause
to, make to) serve (-ing, self), (be, become) servant (-s), do (use) service, till (-er), transgress [from
margin], (set a) work, be wrought, worshipper.
The rich shall
not give more, and the
poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they
give an offering unto
the Lord,
to
make an atonement
for your souls.
Exodus 30:15
And thou shalt
take the atonement
money of the children
of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service
of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto
the children of Israel before the Lord,
to make an
atonement for your souls. Exodus 30:16
And so it has ever been: music is not evil but
it is still bound up in 'worship' rituals which appease or smooth the
way for the "audience" so that they can be led into the presence of
God with song or sermon.
Paul's Corinthians reference
to resounding gongs and clanging
cymbals shows that the ancients were
aware of the combination of low and high frequencies (as with
organs and choirs) to produce a magical sound which had the power to
awaken the gods or cure illness or revive "dead churches." The most
common belief was that the sounds reverberating from resonant or
echoing musical devices was "the voice of an angel" or a demon of
heaven or hell. The "familiar spirit" of the witch of Endor, the
ancient nebel or harp and the resounding gong amont the Corinthians
all have the same basic meaning of getting prophecy out of a "hollow
or empty device."
Paul's often cryptic-remarks are often spoken
in irony
because he concluded of Corihth that "fools love to be fooled." I
have often been fooled by Paul when I wasn't taking personal
responsibility for my own study and worship which is always personal.
Unfortunately, we have all fallen into a period of ignoring the Words
of Christ and if we ignore His words we ignore Him regardless of how
we abuse the term "Christ-O-Centric." Sadly, we are usually at the
center. I hope that I might share this with your friends.
I am not much for "chicken soup for the soul"
which has paralyzed the church, but I get excited when I read some
expression especially in Paul's writings and cannot wait to try to
understand Him For instance, in comparing musical instruments to
speaking in tongues and warefare, he used two terms: "lifeless
instruments" and "carnal weapons" which can also be translated
"carnal instruments." Remember that Peter warned that careless people
pervert Paul's writings to their own destruction.
After accusing the Corinthians of all
performing worship when probably none of them had the gift, he warned
them about music and the mysteries:
THOUGH I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
Paul repeated the warning in his second letter
which gives Corinth little hope of reforming. History shows that they
did not. In both Hebrew and Greek the same word is used for both a
weapon and a musical instrument.
For the
weapons (instruments) of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling
down of strong holds; 2 Corinthians 10:4
Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
(that means doctrine) and bringing into captivity
every thought to the
obedience of Christ; 2
Corinthians 10:5
The word WEAPON is:
hoplon 1 a tool,
implement,
# II. tools, of smiths' tools,
hoplon arourês a sickle, of a wine-flask
# III. implements of
war, arms, a weapon
# 2. in attic, hoplon was the large shield,
from which the men-at-arms took their name of hoplitai
# 3. hopla, hoplitai, men-at-arms, Soph., Thuc., etc.
# 4. ta hopla, also, the place of arms, camp, Hdt., Xen.; ek
tôn hoplôn proïenai Thuc.
# 5. phrases, en hoploisi einai to be in arms, under arms, Hdt.; eis
ta hopla parangellein Xen.; eph' hoplois or par' hoplois
hêsthai Eur.; menein epi tois hoplois Xen.; hopla tithesthai,
v. tithêmi A. 1. 7
A similar Greek from 1 Cor
13:
Chalkos
(g5475) khal-kos'; perh. from 5465 through the idea of hollowing out
as a vessel (this metal being chiefly used for that purpose); copper
(the substance, or some implement or coin made of it): - brass,
money.
Chalao (g5465)
khal-ah'-o; from the base of 5490; to lower (as into a void): - let
down, strike.
chaleuô
, make of
copper or
bronze or (generally)
of metal, forge,
work him on the anvil, chalkeue glôssan kechalkeumenôn pros
apôleian
hoplôn
II. abs., to be a smith,
Ar.Pl.163,513 (anap.), Th.3.88, Pl.R.396a; to chalkeueinthe smith's
art, X.Mem.4.2.22 .
chalkeuô
[chalkos]
I. to make of copper or
(generally) of metal, to forge, Il., Soph., etc.:--Mid. to forge for
oneself, Theogn., Ar.:--Pass. to be wrought or forged, Ar.
II. absol. to be a smith, work
as a smith, ply the hammer, id=Ar., Thuc.; to chalkeuein the smith's
art, Xen.
Used with Hoplon
or "Carnal weapon."
glôssa
(dialect)
I. the tongue, Hom.,
etc.
2. the tongue, as the organ of
speech, glôssês charin through love of talking, Hes., Aesch.; apo glôssês
by word of mouth, Hdt., Thuc.; ouk apo glôssês not by
word of mouth, not from mere hearsay, Aesch.; so, ou kata
glôssan Soph.; hienai glôssan to let loose one's
tongue, speak without restraint, id=Soph.; pl., kertomiois
glôssais, i.e. with blasphemies, id=Soph.:--for bous epi glôssêi, v.
bous.
II. a tongue, language, Hom.,
Hdt., etc.
III. the tongue or
mouthpiece of a pipe, Aeschin.
THOUGH I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as
sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1Co.13:1
Sounding is:
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e.
reverberate: - roar, sound.
êchetês , ou, ho, Ep. êcheta^ , Dor. achetas , acheta^
, ( [êcheô] ) clear-sounding, musical, shrill, donax achetas A.Pr.575 (lyr.); kuknos E.El.151 (lyr.); epith. of
the cicada,
chirping, êcheta tettix Hes.Op.582 , AP 7.201 (Pamphil.); achetat. ib.213
(Arch.): abs., achetas, ho, the chirper, i.e. the male cicada, Anan.5.6, Ar.Pax1159 (lyr.), Av.1095 (lyr.), cf.
Arist.HA532b16,556a20: Orph.A.1250 has Ep.acc. êcheta porthmon
the sounding strait.
The cymbal is also
called a locust. The Locusts are the muses of Apollo (Abaddon or
Apollyon) to be resurrected in the end times to MAKE WAR by MAKING
MUSIC. Both singing and instrumental music are products or producers
of real warfare.
tettix , cicala, Cicada,
male makes a chirping or clicking noise by means of certain
drums or 'tymbals' underneath the wings, Plato calls them hoi
Mousôn
prophêtai, they
also became a prov. for garrulity, lalein
tettix, They were thought to sing continually without food or
drink.
êcheion
, to, ( [êchos] )
drum, gong, Plu.Crass.23, Apollod. ap. Sch. Theoc.2.36,
Procop.Gaz.Ecphr.p.153B.; tambourine, as head-dress, Herm.Trism.in Rev.Phil.32.254;
used for
stage-thunder, Sch.Ar.
Nu.292; as sounding-boards in the theatre, Vitr.5.5.2.
II. in the lyre, = chalkôma, apptly. a metallic sounding-plate, Hsch.; so of the palate, Gal.UP7.5.
organon
1 [*ergô]
I. an organ, instrument, tool, for making or doing a thing, Soph., Eur., etc.:--of a person,
hapantôn aei kakôn org. Soph.
2. an organ of sense, Plat.
3. a musical instrument, id=Plat.
4. a surgical instrument, Xen.
* II. a work, product, laïnea Amphionos organa the stony
works of
Amphion, i. e. walls of
Thebes, Eur.
ergon 1
[ *ergô]
1. in Il. mostly of deeds of
war, polemêïa erga Il., etc.; so, en tôi ergôi during
the action, Thuc.; ergou echesthai to engage in battle,
id=Thuc.
2. the result of work, ergon
chrêmatôn profit on money, Dem.
c. c. inf. it is
hard work, difficult to do, polu ergon an
eiê diexelthein Xen., etc.; ouk ergon thrêneisthai 'tis
no use to lament, Soph.
Commonly used
with:
theskelos , on, Ep. Adj. perh. set in motion by
God ( [kellô] ), and so marvellous, wondrous, always of things,
th. erga deeds or works of wonder, Il.3.130, Od.11.610; theskela
eidôs Call. Fr.anon.385: neut. Adv., eïkto de theskelon
autôi it was wondrous like him, Il.23.107; prob. taken by later
poets as,= God-inspired ( [keleuô] ), th. Hermês
Coluth.126 .
polem-êïos , a, on, Ep., Ion., and Lyr. Adj.warlike, freq. in
Hom. (esp. in Il.), polemêïa erga Il.2.338 , al.; p.
teuchea 7.193 , Hes.Sc.238; polemêïa, = polemia, v.l. in
Hdt.5.111; p. aoida
war-note,
of the
trumpet, B.17.4.
aoidê
[aeidô]
1. song, a singing, whether the art of song, Hom.; or the act of singing, song,
Il.
aeidô
I. to sing, Il., etc.:--then of
any sound, to twang, of
the bowstring, Od.; to
whistle, of the wind, Mosch.; to
ring, of a stone
struck, Theocr.
II. trans.,
1. c. acc. rei, to sing, chant,
mênin, paiêona, klea andrôn Hom.:--absol., aeidein
amphi tinos to sing in one's praise, Od.:--Pass., of songs, to be
sung, Hdt.; aisma kalôs aisthen Xen.
2. c. acc. pers. to sing,
praise, attic
A similar word
is:
lebês , êtos, ho, kettle, cauldron, Il.21.362, Pi.O.1.26; tripous
l. A. Fr.1 ; used for gifts and prizes, Il.23.259, al.; brazier,
Th.4.100.
III. basin used as a
cymbal or
drum, Hdt.6.58; of the
gong at Dodona, Call.Del.286.
tettigion [i_g], to, small tettix
(v. tettix 1.2 ), or more prob. a coin stamped with a tettix, tettigia chrusa duo IG11(2).158 A5, cf. 36 (Delos, iii B.C.): in literal
sense, Hsch. s.v. kerkôpê.
kithar-êphoros , ho, Lycian coin stamped
with a cithara, Ath.Mitt.14.412 (Myra).
> apôleia [apollumi] destruction, NTest.
And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1
Corinthians 13:2
Paul speaks in "tongues" in the
sense of speaking the required languages. However, even if he had the
powers believed present in Corinth he would still be "nothing" like
the empty wineskin or bronze vase because lifeless instruments don't
love. Don't love the musician and don't love God.
One can prophesy by hearing DIRECTLY from
God or by repeating what God has revealed:
Surely the Lord God will do
nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Am. 3:7
The lion hath
roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who
can but prophesy?
Am.3:8
"Sounding brass" has the same meaning as the
"familiar spirit" of the witch of Endor. Her's was made from an old
wineskin but in Corinth they used huge brass vases to panic the enemy
and pretend that the gods lived inside.
Paul was speaking directly to the wine- and
beer-gods and goddesses who could be attracted by "getting drunk even
without wine." The Classical writers and the early Church theologians
are unanimous in condemning attempts to worship God with istruments
as essential paganism. In 14:9 he was speaking of the "godesses of
the air" several of whom were worshiped in Corinth.
Euripides, Bacchae
fully explains the uncovered
prophesying of the women
driven mad had Dionysus angry because the people would not worship him in his god or angelic form. The
use of instruments in the ancient world, and now, was as LIFELESS
INSTRUMENTS. Contests between musicians resulted in Apollo "flaying
alive" the losing contestant. It ALWAYS fights against the One True
God.
Now Kadmos has
given his honor and power to Pentheus, his daughter's son,
[45]
who
fights against
the gods as far as I am concerned and drives me
away from sacrifices, and in his prayers makes no mention of me, for
which I will show him and all the Thebans that I was born a god.
And when I have set matters
here right, I will move on to another land, [50] revealing myself.
But if ever the city of Thebes should in anger seek to drive the the
Bacchae down from the mountains with arms,
I, the general of
the Maenads (mad women
prophetesses of Dionysus - the wine god), will join battle with them.
On which account I have changed
my form to a mortal
one and altered
my shape into the nature
of a man. [55]
But, you women who have left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, my
sacred
band,
whom I have
brought from among the barbarians as assistants and companions to me,
take your
drums, native instruments of the city of the Phrygians, the invention of
mother Rhea
and myself, [60] and going about this palace of Pentheus
beat
them, so that Kadmos'
city may see. I myself will go to the folds of Kithairon, where the Bacchae
are, to share in their dances.
Plato notes that:
"In a single day he stripped
all the women of Corinth
naked, because of his
own wife Melissa.
And even things
without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a
distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or
harped? 1 Corinthians 14:7
For if the trumpet
give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? 1
Corinthians 14:8
Therefore if I know
not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a
barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
1 Corinthians 14:11
The Tongues in Corinth Were
Known by Someone or at Times Possibly all.
Therefore, many in the Corinthian church had
their magical incantations in speeches, prayers or songs. By speaking
in these languages they believed that they were worshiping God.
However, Paul said that they were just speaking into the air. He told
them that they should use their minor dialect in their private lives
but not "in church." Church music has been identified as "low level
glossolaia" and this is why Paul drew a parallel between PLAYING
INSTRUMENTS and speaking in tongues and also their use in
WARFARE.
Clement in Stromata1 notes that:
A dialect is a mode of speech which exhibits a character
peculiar to a
locality, or a mode of
speech which exhibits a character peculiar or common to a race. The
Greeks say, that among them are five dialects-the Attic, Ionic, Doric, Aeolic, and the fifth the
Common;
and that the
languages of the barbarians, which are innumerable, are not called
dialects, but tongues.
Plato attributes a
dialect also to the
gods, [1 Cor. voice of angels and "speaking
into the air."
forming this conjecture mainly
from dreams and oracles, and especially from demoniacs,
who do not speak
their own language or dialect,
but that of the demons who
have taken possession of them.
He thinks also that the
irrational creatures have dialects, which those that belong to the same genus understand. Accordingly, when an elephant falls into the mud
and bellows out any other one that is at hand, on seeing what has
happened, shortly turns, and brings with him a herd of elephants, and
saves the one that has fallen in.
It is said also in
Libya, that a scorpion, if it does not succeed in stinging a man, goes away and returns with several
more;
and that, hanging on one to the
other like a chain
they make in this way the attempt to succeed in their cunning design.
The irrational creatures do not make use of an obscure intimation, or hint their meaning by
assuming a particular attitude, but, as I think, by a dialect of their own. And
some others say, that if a fish which has been taken escape by
breaking the line, no fish of the same kind will be caught in the
same place that day.
But the first and
generic barbarous dialects have terms by nature, since also men
confess that prayers
uttered in a barbarian tongue are more powerful.
And Plato,
in the Cratylus, when wishing to interpreter (fire),
says that it is a
barbaric term. He testifies, accordingly, that
the Phrygians use this term with a slight deviation.
See Speaking to the Air and Barbarians. Paul knew the classical writers and wrote to people
who frequently saw plays performed as religious rituals. This link
will inform you that MUSIC is just second or third hand IMITATION and
imitation was MOCKING.
"Now Rhea, as
Ceres, in Hymn XIV, is called 'brass-sounding' and 'drum-beating'. This has reference to the mystical results of
certain sounds and rhythm, part and parcel of what the Hindus call
Mantravidyâ. I remember reading a curious old French book in the
Bibliothèque de la Ville of Clermont-Ferrand, one of the books
confiscated from the Minime Monastery of the same town, at the time
of the Revolution.
The madness in
Corinth would have been:
Mainomai (g3105) mah'ee-nom-ahee; (to long for; through the
idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac": - be beside self
(mad)
"This work dealt with the
magical properties of music, and described for what especial purposes the
various instruments of music were used in the Temple-service of the
Jews.
[Remember that the
temple was the capital of a like the nations, secular kingdom which
God permitted when Israel "fired" Him as their Teacher and wanted to
worship like the nations. God predicted that the kings would destroy
them]
Now Iamblichus (De Mysteries, III.ix) goes into the matter of the
so-called Corybantic and Bacchic 'frenzies' produced by musical
instruments in the
Mysteries of Ceres
and Bacchus; and in his Life of Pythagoras (xxv) he, further, tells us that:
'The whole
Pythagoric school went through a course of musical training, both in harmony and touch,
whereby, by means
of appropriate
chants, they
beneficially converted the dispositions of the soul to contrary
emotions.
"For, before they retired to
rest, they purified their
minds of the mental
confusion and noises of the day, by certain songs and peculiar
chants, and so prepared for themselves peaceful repose with either
few or pleasant dreams. And again, when they rose from sleep, they
freed themselves from drowsiness by songs of another character.
Apollo or Abbadon
or Apollyon led the MUSES. Like Jubal or Genun he was the "father" of
musical harmony, twanging bowstrings to send "singing" arrows,
theives andliars. He was known as the PURIFIER.
"And sometimes by means of
melodies without
words they cured
certain affections and diseases, and this they said was the real
means of "charming".
And it is most probable that
the word "charm"
(epode) came into general use from them. It was thus, then, that
Pythagoras established a most salutary system of
regenerating the
morals by means of "music" [Mantravidyâ].' (Op. cit. Kiessling's text,
pp. 245, 246;see also Taylor, Iamblichus on the Mysteries, 2nd ed.,
pp. 130, 131, n.)
"Music and Mantras, therefore, were used by the Orphics to attract, or call down, the influence of the Mother of the Gods,
who at the same
time was the 'Store-house of Life', of Divine Nature. Thus Proclus in
his Commentary on Euclid (ii) tells us that 'the Pole of the World is called by the Pythagoreans the Seal
of Rhea' (Myst. Hymns, p. 63). Now the pole is
the conductor of the vital and magnetic forces of the earth-envelope,
and is, therefore, appropriately called by this name, as being the
seal and signature of the vital forces of Divine Nature, whereby all
diseases can be healed and all states of the soul vitalized. (G. R.
S. Meade, The Orphic Pantheon)
These SECTS along with the DIONYSIACS moved
into the church of Christ in Rome. As a result, Paul warned that the
church was not a pagan worship center where magic was performed by
music and speaking in tongues.
He commanded in Romans chapter 14 how "singing"
was really TEACHING or PREACHING "that which is written." This is
because CHURCH is synagogue or SCHOOL OF THE
BIBLE.
Paul warned against
instruments and self-inspired songs. In Romans 14 Paul was delaing
with Pythagorians and Orphics both who believed that INSTRUMENTAL
MUSIC was the way to get a message from the gods. That is why he
defined the SYNAGOGUE in Romans 15 which is that of a synagogue where
the "music" consists of speaking "that which is written" with "one
mind" and "one voice."
Strabo, in Geography notes that:
"Also resembling these rites
are the Cotytian and the Bendideian rites practiced among the
Thracians, among whom the Orphic rites had their beginning. Now the Cotys who is worshipped
among the Edonians, and also the instruments used in her rites, are mentioned by Aeschylus; for
he says,
O adorable Cotys
among the Edonians, and ye who hold mountain-ranging instruments;
And he mentions immediately
afterwards the attendants of Dionysus: one, holding in his hands the bombyces (reed
flute), toilsome work of the turner's chisel,
fills full the fingered
melody, the call that brings on frenzy (Paul used the word mad), while another
causes to resound
the bronze-bound cotylae. (cupped cymbals or vases)
"and again,
stringed instruments raise their shrill cry, and
frightful mimickers from some place unseen bellow like bulls,
and the semblance
of drums, as of subterranean thunder, rolls
along, a terrifying sound.
Click for More on Strabo and the Corinthian
Connection
The double flute and the cotylae. The flute case which we have emphasized always had
the "Judas bag" attaced. The bronze cotylae was like the
"familiar spirit"
of the Witch of Endor or the "empty wineskin" used to mask the voice
and pretend that it was the gods speaking. If an old wineskin or of
pottery it was like an amplifying instrument to make the voice
impressive -- like singing in the bathroom. If bronze it made a great
clanging noise. The Greeks made great bronze instruments and the roar
sent the clear signal during battle to panic the enemy.
The
word "melody" in an external sense was connected with grinding
something or someone to powder, like the sop Jesus gave Judas.
Paul identified musical devices as both
"lifeless" and "carnal."
And even things
without life
giving sound, whether
pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall
it be known what is piped or harped? 1 Corinthians 14:7
In other words, musical instruments "speak in
tongues." They convey absolutely no meaning unless the musician
"interprets" the sounds. Things without breath cannot worship God.
Things without life cannot aid someone in worshiping God. All they
can do is to create "spiritual anxiety from religious ritual" which
was the burden Jesus came to remove by removing the clergy.
The battle in Paul's mind is not related to
literal fighting but with fighting false teachings.. We "arm"
ourselves mentally to do battle against lifeless instruments through
the Word which is the "sword of the Spirit" which WE take to do
battle with the only spiritual instrument Christ allows us.
FORASMUCH then as
Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,
arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind:
for he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin; 1Pe.4:1
This is why Jesus only listens to those who
"worship in spirit (in the mind) and devoted to truth (the inspired
word of God."
Augustine
helps clarify Paul's message to the Greek World:
"Again, if you
prefer to test the presence of God by the agreeable effects on the hearing, and
not sight, or smell, or
taste,
harps get their
strings and pipes their bones from animals; and these become musical by being dried,
and rubbed,
and twisted. (or by
making melody upon them to abrade them)
The Septuagint translates Amos
to say that "you regard musical instruments as having abiding value
but it is just fleeting pleasure."
So the pleasures of
music, which you hold to
have come from the divine kingdom, are obtained from the refuse of dead animals, and
that, too, when they are dried by time, and lessened by rubbing, and
stretched by twisting.
Such rough treatment, according
to you, drives the divine substance from living objects.AUGUSTIN: ON
THE MORALS OF THE MANICHAEANS, Ch 16,46
Paul spoke of "lifeless instruments" or "carnal
weapons" because religious musical instruments were always preferably
made from dead animals. For this reason, flute, pollute, prostitute
and "stealing your inheritance" come from the same Hebrew word.
This is why Paul clearly commanded (for those
who honor commands) that rather than the Dionysus music always
associated with wine-like emotion to "call the gods down" Christians
speak to one another. The resource is the revealed Word of God. The
method is speaking or preaching. The result is "melody in the heart"
because external melody in its original sense always meant to
frantically seek for the lost pagan gods. Rather than projecting
talent onto the "audience" the one-another singing is directed to
God.
This is why Paul restricted the stand-up,
preside-over or non-sedantary roles to elderly males who could not
attract people sexually and who "taught the Word as it had been
taught to them."
The command of the evangelist is to "go preach"
the so-called "core gospel." However, only the local pastor-teachers
or elders have local responsiblity but they have no option about what
to teach. Because this Biblical order has been turned upside down it
is easy to look for ways to perform worship when Paul demanded that
"church" is for edification which is education from the inspired
Word. Such assemblies have never been popular and will never be
entertaining nor create that "thrill experience" which is a
music-induced drug high.
Some More Particulars:
We again quote Strabo Geography
10.3.16
Of the rites of Dionysus condemned by Paul in
First Corinthians and the wine drinking musical worship in
Ephesus:
Also resembling
these rites are the Cotytian and the Bendideian rites practiced among the
Thracians, among whom the Orphic
rites had their beginning. Now the Cotys who is worshipped among the
Edonians, and also the instruments used in her rites, are mentioned by Aeschylus; for he says,
O adorable Cotys
among the Edonians, and ye who hold mountain-ranging instruments;
And he mentions immediately
afterwards the attendants of Dionysus: one, holding in his hands the bombyces (reed
flute), toilsome
work of the
turner's
chisel,
fills full the
fingered melody,
the call that brings on frenzy,
while another causes to resound
the bronze-bound
cotylae.
(cupped cymbals or
vases)
"and again, stringed
instruments raise their shrill cry, and frightful mimickers from some place unseen bellow like bulls,
and the semblance of drums, as of subterranean thunder, rolls along, a terrifying sound.
The "gods" and their
worshipers were all MALE PROSTITUTES.
The sounding
brass in First Corinthians thirteen was
a Greek military instrument or hollow vase. It is directly related to
the Chaldean which is a synonymn for astrologer. It was used like the
familiar spirit or "old
wineskin" of the witch of Endor to call up
a ghost from the subterranean world. By whispering and murmuring into
the skin the client heard mysterous sounds which were interpreted as
from the gods. At the same time, it was used as a musical instrument
or weapon to try to panic the enmy with the noise.
The Jews had lost their place and employment
and traveled around selling prophetic messages. They held a great
Feast of Tabernacles (call it a Jubilee) to pick the next "god of the
year" or the greatest speaker, book writer, poet, sermon or song
writer, singer or dancer. Jesus refused to go up until they quieted
down because He knew that the ritual celebration was a mask for those
who wanted to murder Messiah. The Jews were not responsible--the
clergy was responsible.
The pagans understood that their jobs as
silversmith and musical priestesses, deserting them with a "sucking
sound." They wanted so desperately to force the new churches back
into a worship ritual which would give them a "ministry," a
job--"seeing godliness as a means of
financial gain." However, Paul told the
Corinthians that they could not prove themselves any longer with
teaching and singing in magic-sounding tones--always with a tune and
usually with a noisy instrument. Might as well leave because we have
cast off the burden and everyone knows that--
Even things without
life (inanimate or mechanical instruments) giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they
give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped
or harped? 1Co 14:7
There are, it may
be, so many kinds of voices (bestial or artificial) in the world, and
none of them is without signification. 1 Corinthians 14:10
Therefore if I know not the
meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian,
and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. 1 Corinthians 14:11
Even so ye,
forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may
excel (be superior) to the edifying of the church. 1 Corinthians
14:12 (Edification is Teaching--not moralizing, not "praising"
for the congregation)
The clergy musicians excelled while the "pack
mules" applauded their musical talent or were sexually attracted.
However, the Christian system absolutely casts off the burden of the
clergy worship teams. This leaves us free to bear one another's
burdens. If we must excel let it be for teaching the once-revealed,
once-preached Words of Christ.
Paul said nothing of "praise services" where we
say "Lord, Lord." Rather, when one edifies the church it must be with
the message from God--God doesn't need to be counseled or
instructed--
Now, brethren, if I
come unto you speaking (or singing) with tongues, what shall I profit
you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? 1 Corinthians 14:6
No "praise songs" of the excelling class here.
Songs must "fill up with the Word of Christ" (Col 3) or "fill up with
Spirit" (Eph 5) and then, and only then, would Paul permit anyone to
speak Christ's words and sing Christ's songs which words, Jesus said,
"are spirit and life" (Jn 6:63).
Silver Trumpets Not Musical
Instruments
We know that the silver trumpets or shophar
were to signal the Israelites to bow or fall to the ground at the
beginning of animal sacrifices.
"Only in Ps 150:3
is it (shophar) mentioned with most of the other really musical
instruments. Hence, we must conclude that the function of the shophar
was
to make noise, be it of earthly or of eschatological character,
but not to make music.
After the destruction of the
temple and the general banishment of all instrumental music, the
shophar alone survived, just because it was not a musical
instrument."
(Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, p. 473,
Abingdon).
We do not know why David added musical type
instruments to the animal sacrifices exclusively during certain
dedicatory or purification rituals for wall dedication or at the
temple. We do know that when he assembled the whole congregation of Israel to move the ark the first time as a state ritual
it met with disaster as the musical
worship team created all of the confusion. Later, he did not call assembly and the ark was moved
by priests, Levites, the King and his civil-city functionaries.
This was not congregational worship--never was. But remember that
David was establishing the temple state, and the king as the
replacement for the rule of God as Israel did what they demanded: to
worship like the nations. The sign was that he stripped off his clothes and
bragged that while God might not give him honor, the slave girls
would.
"It is important to
bear in mind that all music of the temple, regardless of the period,
was nothing but
an accessory to its sacrificial ritual.
Without sacrifice the
music loses its raison d'etre.
What was the inherent
connection between the sacrifice and its accompanying music? This is
still an unsolved puzzle. It is possible to compare a banquet for
honored guests whereby quantities of burned meant, incense, and music
were offered, to a sacred meal for a still anthropomorphically
conceived deity, whose prestige demanded sacrifice, incense, praise,
as well as musical
entertainment.
"Whatever the original function
of sacrificial music, it
was forbidden
immediately after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. Nor do we
have all the details of the temple's musical practice... There is
ample reason to believe that the Levites refused to divulge their
'trade secrets' and took them to their graves." (Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible, p. 459, Abingdon).
If God had commanded the "musical" type
instruments we would not wonder why He did it.
Musical worship occurs at various levels. We
have witnessed some examples closely approaching that of the early
Awakenings or ancient Chaldean devil worship which is described
somewhat by the following connection between music and speaking in
tongues:
"The
female
votaries of the
phallus god
Bacchus were known as
the Bacchants...
They were characterized by
extreme forms of religious excitement interspersed with periods of intense depression.
At one moment whirling in a frenzied dance, tossing their heads,
........... driving one another on with screaming and the
wild clamor of musical
instruments,
........... at another sunk into the deepest lethargy, and a silence
so intense as to become proverbial.
The Bacchants both
possessed the
god and were possessed by him; theirs was a religious enthusiasm in
the proper sense of the term, that is, 'god-filled'. Having eaten
the Bacchus or
Dionysos, they took on
his power and character..." (John M. Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and
the Cross).
Remember that when Paul spoke of women
prophesying with uncovered head outside
the assembly he was condemning them for
singing with musical instruments as they had in their old Bacchus or
Dionysos worship. His reason was "because of the angels" or unseen
messengers. Beginning in 1 Corinthians 11:17 he said that when they
came together in assemblies they "did more harm than good" because
you do not come together to eat the
Lord's Supper. If the women
brought their pagan music into the Christian assembly it would prove
that their disregard of the poor and perhaps getting drunk was an
attempt to eat the god or drink the
god. The only way to keep the singing,
dancing, hand clapping, shouting driven on with musical instruments
from happening was to keep the women silent for the Christian
festival.
One bit of information which fuel the wine skin
jubilating form of exciting, exhilarating worship is that God wants
us to dance, shuffle, spit and howl to show the the Spirit is really
inside our carnal bodies. However, Biblical enthusiasm is thinking
intently in the mind. On the other hand, Philo used the term
en-theos-mania which did not mean the real God was in you. Rather, you
had been "carried outside of yourself" as they did at Corinth.
Don't Let the Preacher Enthuse
You
The Greek word for enthusiasm means
"inspirited to ponder, think or
meditate." However, the enthusiasm ("gods within") at
Colosse,
Ephesus and Corinth was totally
condemned. This enthusiasm was
explained by Philo who--
"developed a
doctrine of ecstasy or ek-stasis, which means standing outside oneself.' This is the highest form of piety
which lies beyond faith.
This mysticism
unites prophetic
ecstasy with
'enthusiasm', a word which comes from en-theos-mania, meaning to possess the divine. From
this there comes finally the fully developed mystical system of the
Neo-Platonists, for example, of Dionysus the Areopagite. In this
mystical system the ecstasy
of the individual person
leads to a union with the One, with the Absolute, with God." (Tillich, Paul, A
History of Christian Thought, Touchstone, p. 13).
This does not describe worship but drug
addiction. The high from endorphins (morphine-like or morphine-within)
created by any form of artificial excitement can cause great
feelings. Ask any dancer. However, pretty soon the drug
wears off and there is an emotional backlash. As Paul would
say, "your assemblies do more harm than good." On Monday morning we
do not find the musical celebrators any better off.
Milton in Il Penbserosa, equates the pleasure
derived from hearing music to a religious experience
- Then let the
pealing Organ
blow,
- To the ful voic'd Quire
below,
- In Service high, and
Anthems cleer,
- As may with sweetnes,
through mine ear
- Dissolve me into
extasies,
- And bring all Heav'n
before mine
eyes.
The Corinthian women, just out
of paganism, were imitating this so that the watching believer would
understand them to be "enthused" or mad or insane just as they had
been in paganism. Paul errected a "wall" between the Christian
and any pagan practice.
"Music was
understood to drive away hostile
chthonic demons who loved tranquility and quiet. this concept of
music's magical power is found in the formula of a love spell
published by S. Eitrem:
"X.X. is bound with
the tendons of the holy phoenix so that you will love N.N. with your
whole heart and no barking dog or braying ass, cock or
conjurer, the clash of cymbals or the noise of flutes or
anything else under the heavens will ever set you free."
"The harmful screaming of those
who were to be killed in sacrifices was particularly attractived to the wicked
demons,
........... with whom the pagans believed the
air (1 Corinthians 14:9) was filled.
Consequently, music was found to be especially
appropriate at the time of sacrifice as a means of driving away the
evil spirits who would destroy its efficacy. From this it can also
be seen why music had to be uninterrupted during the actio. It was not
necessary, then, that music drown out cries of pain but rather that
it simply drive away the demons who had been
attracted by those cries." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in
Pagan and Christian Antiquity, pgs 16-17)
No, but the
sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons (who distribute fortunes or gifts of
spirits), not to God,
and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 1
Corinthians10:20
So it is with you.
Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone
know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air. 1 Corinthians 14:9
"In Greek ritual the sacrifice was accompanied by the invocatory cries of women.
Their purpose was
to call the good
gods so that they cound
enjoy the
sacrifice.
Music had the same character of epiclesis. It was
understood to "call down" the good gods.
Menander attests to the
attribution of this significance to music.
According to
Plutarch, the inhabiants of Argos blew trumpets on the feast of
Dionysos
so as to call the
god up from the
depths of the river Lerne for the sacrifice.
Because song and music increased the efficacy of the epiclesis
the words of epiclesis were nearly always sung to instrumental
accompaniment.
Thus the Dionysian
fellowship used
the ritual of
women in order to
obtain the appearance of their god.
Arnobius alludes to such songs
of the pagans performed to flute accompaniment, and he mockingly asks
whether the sleeping deities will be awakened by them." (Quasten,
Johannes, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 17)
A Historian notes that they used the women,
with uncovered and shaved
heads, to specifically attract strangers to their "worship
services." Today, we would
call this a commercial "seeker" service.
Because the goal is to attract God, to help pay
off the mortage and to expose beauty and talent, the women still
literally put themselves upon display and at least prostitute at some
level.d
The pagans were very worshipful of the talent
and "put something in the pot" because they knew that the musical
worship was always a prelude to real (or fancied) sexual intercourse
with the musical performers or god contactors:
"I saw in
Byblos a great temple of Aphrodite of Byblos, in which they perform ceremonies in
memory of Adonis
(Tammuz see Eze 8:14), and I was told about the ceremonies. They say that
the story of Adonis and the boar actually took place in their
country, and in memory of this unhappy incident, they beat their
breasts (Nahum 2:7) each year and wail and perform certain rites, and
hold a great funeral
ceremony throughout the
whole land.
When they have given their
breasts a good beating (tabering) and done enough weeping, they first bring presents to Adonis as though to a
dead man; but then, the morning after,
they say that he is
alive and
up in the
air. Then they
shave their
heads as the
Egyptians do at the death of Apis. (And Israel at Mount Sinai)
As for the women, all those who do not wish to be shaved pay the
following forfeit: for one day, they must put their beauty on sale, but the market is open only to
strangers, and the
price is used for a sacrifice to Aphrodite." (p. 224-225 de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the
Ancient Near East, Doubleday)
Paul speaks to women at two levels. He
speaks of their "uncovered
prophesying" outside the assembly which
would be the pagan "singing, dancing and playing instrumental
music." The clear message was "you want me, you can have
me." Men covering their head would be a sign of shame
(Jeremiah.14:3) and women uncovering their head would be a sign of
shame.
Next, as Paul said that he would not speak,
pray or sing in tongues "in church" because of its weakness compared
to speaking the Word, the women were not to be in a "stand over" role in singing. The word, "silence" is understood even by
feminist writers to be absolute in a teaching sense. It does
not, as Shelly suggests, shut off all sound from women.
Again, Philo is a good source for understanding
the meaning of "prophesying" in the pagan or "head uncovered" meaning
"prophetic ecstasy" which was pretending to get a message from the
god usually with "singing and musical instruments" which were
presumed to contain the god within.
Paul warned the Corinthians not to
imitate the worship of Apis which sentenced Israel to the Law and "turned them over
to worship the heavenly host."
Neither be ye
idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people
sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 1 Corinthians 10:7
"And the people
celebrated this feast with burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, with
eating and drinking, i.e. with sacrificial meals and sports, or with
loud
rejoicing, shouting,
antiphonal
songs, and
dances, in the same manner in which the
Egyptians celebrated their feast of Apis
(Herod. 2, 60, and 3, 27)." (Keil and Delitzsch, Vol. II, p.
222).
Awakening the gods and godesses in Egypt
with Music
Most of the musical worship teams in Egypt and
elsewhere had no effect unless they were undressed before their god
(remember David?). To make the musical intercourse work the goddess
had to be made naked:
"A burnt offering
was then presented, accompanied by singing
and music;
and finally the goddess
was ceremoniously clothed, adorned, and adored.
The second service took place in the afternoon, which consisted
chiefly of prayer and meditations before the images and symbols of
the gods and which closed with music and antiphonal singing.
"A third service, quite
brief... left Isis
unclothed in her quiet temple... The two great autumn and
spring festivals featured the death and resurrection of Osiers... and
it was expressed with all the symbolism, mystery, music,
singing, ritual, and pagentry... it was calculated to
stimulate the deepest religious emotions, and fan the
flames of ecstatic joy." (Fairservice, Walter A., Jr, The Ancient Kingdoms
of the Nile, p. 171-172, Mentor).
Ancient seekers used women or men acting and
music as a marriage of the commercial with the religious. The goal
was to support or supply "fodder" for their regular
sacrificial system. It was an ancient and modern fertility ritual:
"There is certainly
a day of rejoicing but it comes right at the beginning of the
solemnities and celebrates the union of Cypris and Adonis. Moreover
this text is the only reference we have to this nuptial feast.
Even so on the day
after this feast the women came out
bare-breasted, hair
awry, with their
girdles unloosed so that their garments caught their heels, to
sing the
lament and to carry the
image of Adonis to the
sea. There the rites
came to an end, and the fragment of text ends with a 'farewell until
next year.'" (de Vaux, Roland, The Bible and the Ancient Near East,
Doubleday, p. 232).
"sure the flag pole carried
in procession in 'church' is a phallic symbol.
In 1 Corinthians 10:20 Paul
warned of the demon
worship at Mount Sinai which was the "going across the sea" ritual
described above. Both Moses and Paul warned that they had God's Word
without trying to use women musical prophesiers to "ascend" or
"descend" to bring Christ into their presence.
In explaining Josephus, Whiston supports the
idea that when men "prophesied" they sang in a poetic
form:
"...the divine
hymns and psalms which were sung to the harp by David used to expel, was now in a judicial way brought upon him, not only in order to
disappoint his intentions against innocent David,
but to expose
him to the laughter and contempt of all that saw him, or heard of
those agitations;
such violent and
wild agitations being never observed in true prophets, when they were under the inspiration
of the Spirit of
God." (Whiston's
comments on Josephesus, p. 191).
It is a fact, however, that God
"sings" to Israel in Isaiah 5 because the song is a song of judgment.
When the true, rational prophets allude to the instrument they are
chanting the doom of Israel.
From early descriptions of the prophets of Baal
we understand that they sang, danced, played instruments and even cut
themselves in the belief that these practices would bring their god
near to do their bidding. Thus when Saul was identified as the man
who would replace God as Israel's leader, the prophets from the high
places prophesied with musical instruments.
Now that Saul has tried to usurp God's role by
"going beyond what was written for his instructions" instrumental
music induces a charismatic form of singing and doing outrageous
acts.
Then when Saul had been rejected by God the
songs and music of David was effective in momentarily tranquilizing
the evil spirit which God sent to him. The notion that music had the
magical power to drive out spirits was confirmed by Saul who had
turned away from God. Now, these magical rites of song are used by
Saul to disqualify him in the eyes of the people. According to
Whiston, the result of the charismatic singing was not to make Saul
seem spiritual but to show that he was mad&emdash;insane. This was
why Paul warned the Corinthians about their charismatic speaking and
singing.
For more details on Music in Corinth
Click Here. Males
never performed the song and dance together unless they were DRUNK or
"Piped down" or "Fluted down."
Kenneth Sublett
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