Dwaine E. Dunning Part 5: Making Melody in the Heart

1.25.14 Dwaine E. Dunning: Making melody in the heart aides us in becoming filled with God's Spirit Answer to Dwaine E. Dunning: Music is not an operative worship word in the entire Bible. Music was borrowed from the pagans.

From reading 101 we understand that, consistent with all of the Bible, when God SPEAKS He commands that WE Speak. The resource is the Word or LOGOS: The Logos is called the Regulative Principle and is opposite to Rhetoric, jokes, personal experiences, singing, playing instruments, acting or dancing.  Consistent with all of the text:

Paul's direct command was:
To SPEAK Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs all of which are Bible and none metrical and not singable. In the Romans 15 example the command is to "use one mind and one mouth to speak that which is written for our LEARNING."

ODE and PSALLO are IN the heart or spirit which is a PLACE and therefore SILENT.
LEXIS is the opposite of ODE and ODE is the opposite of LEXIS or the Logos words.

Being filled with the SPIRIT (Ephesians 5) is to be filled with the WORD of Christ (Galatians 3)

John 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:
        the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

In John, Jesus SPOKE what the Father BREATHED (Spirit) without metron often meaning without musical meter.

The SOP with the same root as PSALLO was fed to Judas when Jesus planned to cause the Devil to enter into him to betray him.  Apollyon supplied the worship or service word to the Israelites after they fell into instrumental idolatry at Mount Sinai.  Abaddon or Apollyon was to be unleashed--just in time.  He is the king of the Locusts or Muses: the muses are dirty adulteresses or prostitutes.  Apollyon is the LEADER of the MUSES whom John calls SORCERERS.  They HAD deceived the whole world once so they were predestined because of trying to take God's place.  The will be or are Cast Alive into the Lake of Fire.  This was the Prophetic Type by Christ the Spirit in Isaiah 30 where the wind, string and percussion instruments are the SIGNS of God driving His enemies into "hell."

PSALLO BRANDS PEOPLE WITH A BAD PERSONA

Outward Command: XX SPEAK "that which is written for our Learning" ODE and PSALLO IN the heart. Meaning Keep it Silent BECAUSE: LEXIS or LOGOS is the OPPOSITE of ODE which means to enchant. Psallo is a word often connected to Apollo, Abaddon or Apollyon. He carried his bow and made the string "twang" to send forth a sinning arrow into the literal heart of enemies. He also carried the Lyre which he "plucked" intending to send forth a Love Arrow into his male of female frieds. Abaddon or Apollyon has been unleased from the pit and is the leader of the LOCUSTS which we understand to be the MUSES as his musical worship team. The muses are known in the literature as dirty adulteresses who become SHEPHERDESSES at Apollo's Worship Center at Delphi and Corinth. Psallo is USED primarily as: psallō   pluck, pull, twitch,ps. etheiranpluck the hair: esp. of the bow-string, toxōn kheri psallousi neurastwangthem, E.Ba.784; “kenon kroton” Lyc.1453; ek keraos ps. belossend a shaft twanging from the bow, When used of musicalinstruments Psallo means play or pluck II. mostly of the strings of musical instruments, play a stringed instrument with the fingers, and not with the plectron: Jesus said MY WORDS are SPIRIT and LIFE.  As the antithesis to the "spirit" as a person or people Ventus , B.  personified as deities, the winds: te, Apollo sancte,  omnipotens Neptune, invoco; Vosque adeo, Venti! Turpil. ap. Cic. Tusc. 4, 34, 73  Lucr. 5, 1230 (1228); cf. Ov. H. 17 (18), 37.— Spīrĭtus The air: imber et ignis, The BREATH of a god, inspiration: “ spiritum Phoebus [Apollo, Abaddon, Apollyon]  mihi, Phoebus artem Carminis Carmen , dedit, poetic spirit or inspiration, Hor. C. 1, 7, 23;Q. Horatius Flaccus, Odes (ed. John Conington) Let others Rhodes or Mytilene sing, Or Ephesus, or Corinth, set between Two seas, or [Baccho] Thebes, or [Apollo] Delphi, for its king Each famous, or Thessalian Tempe green;   There are who make chaste Pallas' virgin tower The daily burden of unending song, And search for wreaths the olive's rifled bower: The praise of Juno sounds from many a tongue, Telling of Argos' steeds, Mycenae's gold. Mark 6.7 He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Luke 8:2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; The Spirit OF God is the BREATH of God and not a "people." Psallo marks as Lawless those who used a "guitar pick", beat on a drum or blew a flute. Psalmus , = psalmos,  I.      In gen., to play [psalmus] upon a stringed instrument; esp., to play upon the cithara, to sing to the cithara: “psallere saltare elegantius,” Sall. C. 25, The Phrase:  psallere saltare elegantius, ē-lēgo , āvi, 1, v. a., I.to convey away (from the family) by bequest, to bequeath away, Sal. Cat. 25 In the number of those ladies was Sempronia, a woman who had committed many crimes with the spirit of a man. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite the passions. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or chastity. pulso I.   Lucr. 4, 931),  to push, strike, beat (cf.: tundo, ferio, pello). Of musical instruments: “chordas digitis et pectine eburno,” to strike, play upon, Verg. A. 6, 647: “chelyn,” (harp) Val. Fl. 1, 139: “pectine nervos,” Sil. 5, 463: “cymbala,” Juv. 9, 62. A.      In gen., to urge or drive on, to impel, to set in violent motion, to move, agitate, disturb, disquiet: C.      To drive away, remove, put out of the way  The Phrase:  “cantare et psallere jucunde,” jūcundus (jōcundus ), a, um, adj. jocus, I. pleasant, agreeable, delightful, pleasing (syn.: gratus, blandus; “class.): est mihi jucunda in malis et grata in dolore vestra erga me voluntas,   “verba ad audiendum mălus , evil, wicked, injurious, destructive, mischievous, hurtful : carmen, i. e. an incantation, Leg. XII. Tab. ap. Plin. 28, 2, 4, § 17: “abi in malam rem,” go and be hanged! burdensome,  plagis “male tibi esse malo quam molliter,” I would rather you should be unfortunate than effeminate, Sen. Ep. 82, 1:  “cantare et psallere,” Suet. Tit. 3: The Graces as Muses were "blue-eyed blond musical prostitutes." They were Abaddon-Apollyon's Praise Team. "Philodemus considered it paradoxical that music should be regarded as veneration of the gods while musicians were paid for performing this so-called veneration. Again, Philodemus held as self deceptive the view that music mediated religious ecstasy. He saw the entire condition induced by the noise of cymbals and tambourines as a disturbance of the spirit. He found it significant that, on the whole, only women and effeminate men fell into this folly. Accordingly, nothing of value could be attributed to music; it was no more than a slave of the sensation of pleasure, which satisfied much in the same way that food and drink did. The Phrase: gratus, blandus; The New Hermeneutics or the Kairos Time Grātus or  kharis religion beloved, dear, acceptable, pleasing, agreeable “Herophile Phoebo grata and: “superis deorum gratus (Mercurius) et imis,  “carmina,” id. C. 1, 15, 14; 3, 11, 23: “artes,” id. ib. 4, 13, 22: “error mentis, favorite, darling:  deserving or procuring thanks Grata testudo Jovis,” [G1361 Diotrephes] testūdo   Hermes made the first lute or lyre from a tortoise-shell while still in his crib. He is a type of Jubal. 1. Of any stringed instrument of music of an arched shape, a lyre, lute, cithern Mercŭrĭus , ii, m., = Hermēs,  as a herald, the god of dexterity; in speaking, of eloquence; the bestower of prosperity; the god of traders and thieves; the presider over roads, and conductor of departed souls to the Lower World:   Mercury or Hermes (Kairos) while still in his cradle scouped out a turtle and made the first lyre: the turtle should be graceful that it would be worshipped even today for its contribution Diotrephes He gave this harp to Apollo, Abaddon or Apollyon who is YOUR musical worship leader even today. G1361 Diotrephes dee-ot-ref-ace' From the alternate of G2203 and G5142; Jove nourished; Diotrephes, an opponent of Christianity:   From From:.  G2203  Zeus dzyooce,Of uncertain affinity among the Latins Jupiter or Jove) Trepho (g5142) tref'-o; a prim. verb (prop. threpho, but perh. strength. from the base of 5157 through the idea of convolution); prop. to stiffen, i.e. fatten (by impl. to cherish [with food, etc.], pamper, rear): - bring up, feed, nourish  trephô similar words mean that the was RAISED UP by Zeus. Hor. Ars 395 Orpheus, the priest and interpreter of the gods, deterred the savage race of men from slaughters and inhuman diet; hence said to tame tigers and furious lions: Amphion too, the builder of the Theban wall, was said to give the stones motion with the sound of his lyre, and to lead them whithersoever he would, by engaging persuasion G5157 tropē that is, revolution (figuratively variation):—turning. James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning “Pythia cantica” Hor. Ars 414, songs like the hymns which were sung in honor of Apollo, by the chorus in some comedies. A player, called Pythaules, played during the intervals when the chorus left off singing. Grata or GRACE in the sense of the Graces and Muses who were musicians under Apollo or Abaddon at Delphi where the Phythian serpent was worshipped.  Other forms are: khairō1. c. dat. rei, rejoice at, take pleasure in a thing, “nikē”Il.7.312; “phēmē” Od.2.35; “dōrō” Hes.Op.358; “molpa [sing and dance], hē, (melpō)A.dance or rhythmic movement with song, 2. more freq. song, suriggos ekhōnthe note,  klagg-ē klagg-ē twang of the bow howling of wolves and lions, baying of dogs, also, of musical instruments of song k. aēdoneios

See a complete history of how psallo has been used in history.  Never in recorded history did it have a musical connection: it means to pluck or smite something with your FINGERS but never with a PLEKTRON or guitar pick.  If you pluck a bow string you make it twang to send forth a singing arrow into the heart of the enemy.  If you pluck a hair it produces a painful experiense. IF you pluck the string of a STRINGED INSTRUMENTS it makes a sound but not music. If you want to pluck a harp and make music the Holy Spirit was smart enough to use the common compound words that Jimmy Jumpup would have known to use.

It might come as a surprise that the command is always to SPEAK that which is written for our learning (Romans 15). SPEAK in the LEGO or LOGOS sense is the OPPOSITE of ODE.  And ODE is defined as the opposite of LEXIS. You see, the object is not to make music which destroys learning but to TEACH and ADMONISH with the text.

Christ the ROCK outlawed vocal or instrumental rejoicing for the synagogue or church in the wilderness

Speaking in tongues also defines making instrumental noise: that is why Singing AND Melody or ODE and PSALLO (an ugly word) is silent or IN the heart. That is what Paul told the people in 1 Corinthiand 14.

Revised 5.29.13

The tiny number of Church of Christ preachers who have been "transistioned" to the use of instrumental music (God used the word "noise") and used as wedges by the NACC claim that "a" spirit something told them or led them into DIVERTING other people's "investment."  Because so many lives have been dramatically discorded by people who claim that a HOLY spirit guided them into something the Spirit OF Christ radically condemns, and the drum beat never seems to cease, I am taking the liberty to post the ways SPIRITUS is used in the latin: Spirit is never a "people." The Spirit OF Christ in the Prophets denies.

SPIRITUS spiro, a breathing or gentle blowing of air, a breath, breeze (syn.: aura, flatus). 1. The air: imber et ignis,  2. An exhalation, smell, odor: 3. Breathed air, a breath: C.1. In abstr., a breathing:   to stop the breath, suffocate, choke, 2.  the breath of a god, inspiration: by a divine inspiration, 3. The breath of life, life:  to expire, die,  4. a sigh,   5. In gram., a breathing or aspiration   6. The hiss of a snake,   II.  Trop. A. A haughty spirit, haughtiness, pride, arrogance; also, spirit, high spirit,  B. (Mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose.) Spirit, soul, mind. b. Transf. (like anima, and the Engl. soul), a beloved object,   2.  Spiritus, PERSONIFIED, a spirit (late Lat.); the Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Cod. Just. 1, 1, 1;  an evil spirit, Christum et per Spiritum Sanctum, AND: Notice the SPIRIT of Phoebus (Apollo, Abaddon, Apollyon) is: II .(a).  SPIRITUM Phoebus [Phoebus Apollo] mihi, Phoebus artem Carminis dedit, poetic spirit or inspiration, Camenae, spiritus ore tonat the desiring, coveting soul), Britannica Erōtos...sophian . sophian is here predicate (against Rückert) and stands for sophias ergon. {ergon meaning hard work which also defines organon or a musical instrument Sophia , Ion. -iē, hē, prop. A.cleverness or skill in handicraft and art, n music and singing, tekhnē kai s. h.Merc.483, cf. 511; in poetry, Sol.13.52, Pi.O.1.117, Ar.Ra.882, X.An.1.2.8,  in divination, S.OT 502 (lyr.) Apollōn aneuren. For Apollo as the inventor of toxikē, see Hom. Il. II. 827; of mantikē, Il. I. 72; of iatrikē, 190 E ff. supra. See also h. Hom. Apoll. 131 ff.; and for mantikē in connexion with the cult of Apollo., Rohde Psyche II. pp. 56 ff. Tox-ikos , ē, on, Plat. Phaedrus 256d both at the time of their love and afterwards, believing that they have exchanged the most binding pledges of love, and that they can never break them and fall into enmity. And at last, when they depart from the body, they are not winged, to be sure, but their wings have begun to grow, so that the madness of love brings them no small reward; for it is the law that those who have once begun their upward progress shall never again pass into darkness and the journey under the earth, but shall live a happy life in the light as they journey together, and because of their love shall be alike in their plumage when they receive their wings. Phanos. Illustris: Hesych. phanon: phōteinon kai lampron: cp. Phaedrus 256 D. For gods as didaskaloi and hēgemones -ma^nia (A), Ion. -iē, h(, (mainomai) II. enthusiasm, inspired frenzy, “m. Dionusou para” E.Ba.305; “apo Mousōn katokōkhē te kai m.” Pl.Phdr. 245a; theia m., opp. sōphrosunē anthrōpinē, ib.256b, cf. Prt.323b, X. Mem.1.1.16; “tēs philosophou m. te kai bakkheias” Pl.Smp.218b. Mantikos , ē, on, A. prophetic, oracular, “kleos” A.Ag.1098; m. mukhoi, thronoi, Id.Eu.180,616; “tekhnē” Id.Fr.350.6; m. phēmai oracular sayings, S.OT723; to m. genos, = manteis, Id.Ant.1055; “to m. sperma” E.IA520; m. epipnoia prophetic inspiration, Pl.Phdr.265b; logoi m. ib.275b; “m. zōa” -Mantis  pl. mantides Suid.s.v. Sibulla:— diviner, seer, prophet, ho mantis mantin ekpraxas eme, of Apollo [Abaddon, Apollyon]  and Cassandra, -Id.Ag.1275; of the Pythian priestess, Id.Eu.29; o [round dance] of this prophetic band, dub. in S.Fr.113. II. a kind of grasshopper, the praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, Theoc.10.18, Dsc.Eup.1.149. Entheos , on, in later Prose contr. enthous Ph.2.542, App.Hisp.18, Aen.Gaz.Thphr.p.12 B.:— A.full of the god, inspired, possessed, e. gunaikes, of the Bacchantes, S.Ant.964 (lyr.); e. Arei possessed by him, A.Th.497; “ek Panos” E.Hipp.141; “hupo tou erōtos” X.Smp.1.10: phoibos , ē, on (accented phoiban in B.12.139 Pap.):— A.pure, bright, radiant, “hudōr” Hes.Fr.274, Lyc.1009; “hēliou phoibē phlogi” A.Pr.22; “aigla” B. l.c. II. as pr. n., Phoibos, ho, Phoebus, i.e. the Bright or Pure, an old epith. of Apollo, “Ph. Apollōn” Il.1.43, al.; rarely inverted, “Apollōn phoibos” 20.68, Hes.Fr.194: then alone as pr. n., Il.1.443, Alcm.61, etc. 2. prophet Euripides Ion Strong though thy beak beyond the feather'd kind, My bow shall reach thee. Towards the altar, see, A swan comes sailing: elsewhere wilt thou move Thy scarlet-tinctured foot? or from my bow The lyre of Phoebus to thy notes attuned Will not protect thee; farther stretch thy wings; Go, wanton, skim along the Delian lake, Or wilt thou steep thy melody in blood [170] Ah, ah! what is this new bird that approaches; you will not place under the cornice a straw-built nest for your children, will you? My singing [psalmoi] bow will keep you off. Will you not obey? Never in recorded literature does the PSALLO words mean to make Musical Melody. Carmen  I. In gen., a tune, song, air, lay, strain, note, sound, both vocal and instrumenta carmen tuba,  “carmine vocali clarus citharāque   allusion to playing on the cithara [harp, Guitar] A Laded Burden. A magic formula, an incantation: Cămēna (not Cămoena ), I.a Muse  sing, whence carmen] B. Meton., poetry, a poem, song: “summā dicende Camenā,”   II. Deriv: Cămēnālis , e, adj., of or relating to the Muses (post-class.): Mousa,  II. mousa, as Appellat., music, song, “m. stugera” A.Eu.308 (anap.); “euphamos” Id.Supp.695 (lyr.); “kanakhan . . theias antiluron mousas If a lyre is included or even permitted the Spirit OF Christ was wise enough to use such a compound word. Pind. O. 9 The resounding strain of Archilochus, the swelling thrice-repeated song of triumph, sufficed to lead Epharmostus to the hill of Cronus, in victory-procession with his dear companions. [5] But now, from the bow of the Muses who, shooting from afar, send a shower of such arrows of song as these on Zeus of the red lightning-bolt and on the sacred height of Elis, which once the Lydian hero Pelops [10] won as the very fine dowry of Hippodameia. And shoot a winged sweet arrow to Pytho; for your words will not fall to the ground, short of the mark, when you trill the lyre in honor of the wrestling of the man from renowned Opus. Hes. Th. 1 Zeus the aegis-holder bright-eyed Athena, and Phoebus Apollo... And one day they taught Hesiod glorious song while he was shepherding his lambs under holy Helicon, and this word first the goddesses said to me— [25] the Muses of Olympus, daughters of Zeus who holds the aegis: “Shepherds of the wilderness, wretched things of shame, mere bellies, we know how to speak many false things as though they were true; but we know, when we will, to utter true things.” Stu^ger-os  A.hated, abominated, loathed, or hateful, abominable, loathsome  Aidēs” [Hades],  Erinuōn Avengers, “mētēr [MOTHER] stugeras arēset' Erinus” ; daimōn, polemos, gamos, penthos, mousa Euphēm-os  A.uttering sounds of good omen, “aetos” Arist.HA618b31: usu. in derived senses, 2. mild, softening II. in positive sense, fair-sounding, auspicious, “muthoi” epos “euphamon d' epi bōmois mousan theiat' aoidoi” A.Supp.694 3. fair-spoken, “eis to daimonion kela^dos , ho, poet. word, A.a noise as of rushing waters: generally, loud noise, 2. of musical sound, “k. luras” Id.IT1129 (lyr.), cf. Cyc.489 (anap.). II. loud clear voice, as of an oracle, 2. chirp of the tettix, Ael.NA1.20;  [THE LOCUST PARABLE] Tettix , cicala, Cicada plebeia or allied species, a winged insect fond of basking on trees, when the male makes a chirping or clicking noise by means of certain drums or 'tymbals' underneath the wings, This noise is freq. used as a simile for sweet sounds, Plato calls them hoi Mousôn prophêtai, but they also became a prov. for garrulity, lalein tettix Aristopho10.7 : t. polloi ginomenoi nosôdes to etos sêmainousi Thphr.Sign.54 . They were thought to sing continually without food or drink, Ar.Nu. 1360, Pl.Phdr.259c; or on a diet of air and dew, Acts 7:41 And they made a calf in those days,          and offered sacrifice unto the idol,          and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Euphrainō , Ep. euphr-, fut. Att.155.12, Pi.I.7(6).3   II. Pass., make merry, enjoy oneself, Pind. I. 6 Just as we mix the second bowl of wine when the men's symposium is flourishing, here is the second song of the Muses for Lampon's children and their athletic victories: first in Nemea, Zeus, in your honor they received the choicest of garlands, Acts 7:42 Then God turned,         and gave them up to worship the host of heaven;          as it is written in the book of the prophets,         O ye house of Israel,  have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices         by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Acts 7:43 Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch,          and the star of your god Remphan,          figures which ye made to worship them:          and I will carry you away beyond Babylon tŏno , A. Neutr., to make a loud, thundering noise, to roar, rattle, crash, etc. (cf.: “crepo, strepo): tympana tenta tonant,” tympănum , A. Esp., as beaten by the priests of Cybele, Also by the Bacchantine females, B. Trop., a timbrel, etc., as a figure of something effeminate, enervating: “tympana eloquentiae,”

Instrumental Music in The Assembly or Ekklesia of Christ is absolutey outlawed by direct commands.  If you hold "worship services" it may not matter.

The Mark of the Beast
It is absolutely certain that the BEAST is a parable word to fool the merchant class. Disciples of Christ will have the urge to define words. They will find out that the beast is not a serpent or other kind of beast but a musical enchanter(ess). 

The "speaking" connected with tongues outlaws instruments: when you speak the LOGOS it is opposite to music.
Ephesians 4 Unity in Diversity
Ephesians 5 Singing amd Making Melody
Clangs and Gongs in the Classics
Ephesians 6 We Wrestle not with Musical Instruments.

Romans 14 defines the religion of the sectarian groups in Rome. In addition to dietary practices they were all addicted to theuse of pagan music. All of the BURDEN LADING terms identify the 'spiritual anxiety created by religious rituals.' This always used arousal singing and instruments to LIFT UP people which created an emotional and spiritual burden.

In Romans 15 Paul defines the SYNAGOGUE or EKKLESIA which was a "school of the Bible" and had no rhetorical speakers, lords, singers or even songs. He outlawed the SELF PLEASING which created a burden for the weak and infirm and prevented the Words of Jesus Christ to be heard. The word PLEASE connects to the singing called burdens or epiodes which intended to enchant. That is why John in revelation 18 identifies the singers, musicians and all "religious teknokrats" as performing SORCERY.

Table Revised 7.5.11

Read what Thomas Aquinas and most early church writers said about singing versus teaching.
Non-Instrumental Position Must Be Destroyed: Introduction
Instrumental Music Will Untie the Gordian Knot #2
1ST-CENTURY INFLUENCES on Instrumental Music? #3
See Was Instrumental Music Only For Israel #4
Ray Downen challenging the WORSHIP word. #6

Paul's word for the ONE ANOTHER assembling themselves is a form of the word SYNAGOGUE. The synagogue was a school of the Bible and never had a praise service. Paul's unique "in the spirit" worship word is to GIVE HEED to God in Christ by reading and giving heed to His words which are Spirit and Life.

Making Melody in the Heart #5

Subject: A Lengthy Axe-grinding Session (5)
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 11:33:55 -0500
From: "Ray Downen Joplin MO 64802-1065" <outreach@sofnet.com>
To: <"Worshipers"@sofnet.com>, "(GroupD)"@sofnet.com,
"(GroupDJ)" <(outreach@sofnet.com)>

<< This is the fifth essay (of six) in the new booklet with writings of Dwaine E. Dunning. You can send for it. I need your mailing address to mail it to you. $4. >>

"*MAKING MELODY* IN THE HEART"

Not Checked but here are some good points we need to make:

Music and "praise rituals" were always to Keep the gods from failing.
You should particularly note that MELODY did not imply "instruments" even before the time of Paul.
Instrumental Melody or Music was always from Satan.
Twanging of the Bow String and Arrow "made melody" in the the literal heart.
Literal Sacrifices Replaced with the Fruit of the Lips
Instrumental Music was the Way they Tried to Defeat Jesus

Judas Bag at right on flutecase: Dionysus, New Wineskin Symbol:
Dealing With Doctrinal Issues: Romans 14-15 and Instrumental Music. 10/20/01 Intro added

Rubel Shelly: Today's Sermon Today 10/14/01 10/20/01: John used "Philosopher's Sifters" to explain Jesus?
The Bible is a product of Narrative Theologians with their personal agendas?

Sermon Part Two: Jesus made, drank wine? This is the slander of the Jews "anxious" to mar the holy image of Lord Jesus Christ.

Absolutely, 100% wrong. One of the oldest superstitions known to mankind is that the ritual of singing "brings us into the presence of God" or "calls the gods into our body." The problem with trying to "make the spirit come" as the cry of "musical praise teams" as Charmer, magician, sorcerer, necromancer is:

"May it not happen, may it not come to pass, although you craftily conceal it, that the one should take the other's place, deluding, mocking, deceiving, and presenting the appearance of the deity invoked."

"If the magi, who are so much akin to soothsayers, relate, in their incantations,
pretended gods steal in frequently instead of those invoked; that some of these, moreover, are spirits of grosser substance, who pretend that they are gods, and delude the ignorant by their lies and deceit." (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene, VI, p. 479).

"Magic is a species of crude science, for the underlying hypothesis is that there are forces in the world which can be utilized on certain conditions, incantations, magical acts, drugs, etc." (Int. Std. Bible Ency., Magic, p. 1963).

"...an immediate relation is seen by some Biblical scholars between music and magic. It cannot be denied that this relationship is assumed in the myths and legends of the religious systems surrounding Judaism. Nor can it be denied that music and magic are linked in religious systems of primitive cultures everywhere. Furthermore,...

the influence of the Greek Philosophical system still has overtones in much of today's thinking regarding musical values. In one way or another the Church, especially the Roman Catholic and in less systematic ways, much of Protestantism, has adopted this philosophy... which... seems to suggest that music has somewhat intrinsic powers to change behavior" (Zondervan Pict., Music P. 312).

The Catholic Encyclopedia knows the source of "music as worship":

"We need not shrink from admitting that candles, like incense and lustral water, were commonly employed in pagan worship and in the rites paid to the dead. But the Church from a very early period took them into her service, just as she adopted many other things indifferent in themselves, which seemed proper to enhance the splendour of religious ceremonial.

We must not forget that most of these adjuncts to worship, like music, lights, perfumes, ablutions, floral decorations, canopies, fans, screens, bells, vestments, etc.

were not identified with any idolatrous cult in particular;
they were common to almost all cults."

Israel established a "like the nation's worship" system because that is what God "turned them over to" after the musical idolatry at Mount Sinai. The fall was complete when Israel's elders fired God and demanded that they were ready to form a "like the nations" kingdom along with pagan systems of worship. God then completed the sentence pronounced at Mount Sinai.

"In ancient Mesopotamia its main purpose appears to have been the enhancement of what was seen as beneficial. With the sole exception of wisdom literature,
........ the core genres are panegyric in nature (i.e.,
........ ........ they praise something or someone),
........ ........ and the magical power and use of praise
........ ........ is to instill, call up, or activate the virtues presented in the praise.

"That praise is of the essence of hymns, for instance, is shown by the fact that over and over again the encomiast, the official praiser, (See Kantor, Precenter, Worship Leader) whose task it was to sing these hymns, closed with the standing phrase: "O [the name of a deity or human hero], thy praise is sweet." The same phrase is common also at the end of myths and epics, two further praise genres that also belonged in the repertoire of the encomiast.

"They praise not only in description but also in narrative,
........ by recounting acts of valour done by the hero,
........ thus sustaining and enhancing his power to do such deeds,
........ according to the magical view.

Praise as organized ritual has always demanded "praise teams" but it repudiates God's power by insisting that--

"The Praise Team leads the congregation into the presence of the Lord with exciting praise and worship. The Word says that God inhabits the praises of His people and we are a people desiring to be inhabited!

Praise plows the ground for the seed to be planted when the Word is taught (Hosea 10:11). The team unites together as the Levites did in the Old Testament to bring praise and glory to God."

Praise and Worship plows the ground to make it ready for planting. A good worship team does the plowing and the pastor (and others) plant the seed. Without the plowing, the seed might fall on the stony ground and not take root!
Yes, the Holy Spirit still is welcome and still comes whether you are participating or not.

Christian, spiritual worship is directly opposed to the superstition that music is magic and the words are not important.

However, that you cannot "overflow" until you have been filled. So, the command is to fill up with the Spirit which is the Word of Christ (John 6:63). Then, you are ready to "speak and teach one another." As a result, one sings and makes melody in the heart (not harmony in the heart.)

> And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Eph 5:18
........ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
........ singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Eph 5:19

"Apollo [Apollyon] at Delphi had to pay for the guilt of slaying the powers of the underworld which have their own rights. Then there are the methods of introduction through psychological means. Intoxication is brought about by a change of light and darkness, by ascetic fasting, by incense, sounds, music, etc." (Tillich, Paul, A History of Christian Thought, Touchstone, p. 14).

........ teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
........ singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16

> For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning (teaching),
........ that we through patience and comfort
........ of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4

The word PSALLO has no base meaning of to make music. The word simply means to PLUCK. By plucking things like bow strings you make it TWANG and by twanging you SHOOT the arrow which SINGS or whizzes through the air to PSAO or abrade the literal heart.

The bow and lyre often meant the same thing: the musical bow may have been invented before the killing bow. One twangs the bow and celebrates by twanging a lyre. One shoots a real arrow or a LOVE ARROW or one SHOOTS out a hymn. That is the only musical connection.

SINGING and PLAYING are two different actions: there is no word which includes both. The word NAGAN or ZAMAR can mean "to make melody" but most often means to PLAY or TOUCH. One can sing and nagan at the same time so NAGAN is not defined as singing AND playing, but the word is used at the same time one sings.

However, while SONG can be done to the accompaniment of an instrument, SONG does not include an instrument. Where the Greek Psalmos or the English Song are define with accompaniment, the FIRST INSTRUMENT OF CHOICE is always the human voice.

The Hebrew word:
Nagan (h5059) naw-gan'; a prim. root; prop. to thrum, i. e. beat a tune with the fingers; espec. to play on a stringed instrument; hence (gen.) to make music: - player on instruments, sing to the stringed instruments, melody, ministrel, play (-er, -ing..

However, in actual usage:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot. Isa 23:15

How do you sing as a prostitute?
Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten;
make sweet melody,
sing many songs,
that thou mayest be remembered. Isa 23:16

The Hebrew word is NOT defined as but is USED in several applications.  For those who have been regenerated God sends the mysteries in the names of people.  Notice that all musical terms have that bad smell.

Zimrah (h2172) zim-raw'; from 2167; a musical piece or song to be accompanied by an instrument: - melody, psalm.

Zamar (h2167) zaw-mar'; a prim. root [perh. ident. with 2167 through the idea of striking with the fingers]; prop. to touch the strings or parts of a musical instrument, i. e. play upon it; to make music, accompanied by the voice; hence to celebrate in song and music: - give praise, sing forth praises, psalms.

Num 25:14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.

H2174 zimrıy zim-ree' From H2167 ; musical; Zimri, the name of five Israelites, and of an Arabian tribe:--Zimri.

Num 25:15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi [False], the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

Beguiled with music and dancing, and allured by the beauty of heathen vestals, they cast off their fealty to Jehovah.

As they united in mirth and feasting, indulgence in wine beclouded their senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Passion had full sway; and having defiled their consciences by lewdness, they were persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifice upon heathen altars and participated in the most degrading rites.

It was not long before the poison had spread, like a deadly infection, through the camp of Israel. Those who would have conquered their enemies in battle were overcome by the wiles of heathen women. The people seemed to be infatuated. The rulers and the leading men were among the first to transgress, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy became national. "Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor."

When Moses was [455] aroused to perceive the evil, the plots of their enemies had been so successful that not only were the Israelites participating in the licentious worship at Mount Peor, but the heathen rites were coming to be observed in the camp of Israel. The aged leader was filled with indignation, and the wrath of God was kindled.

Their iniquitous practices did that for Israel which all the enchantments of Balaam could not do--they separated them from God
Their worship was to "Baal-Peor" (Hebrew: "Lord of the Opening," that is, "Lord of the Vagina") (see Psalm 106:28,29 for this identification). Resource Ernest L. Martin,

That these word are used IN CONNECTION with playing and singing DOES NOT define them as both. For instance:

Take thou away from me the noise of thy [1] songs;
............for I will not hear the [2] melody of thy [3] viols. Amos 5:23

Praise the Lord with harp:
sing unto him
............ with the psaltery
............ and an instrument of ten strings. Ps.33:2

Let them praise his name in the dance:
............ let them sing praises unto him
............ with the timbrel and harp. Ps.149:3

Many of the fathers, speaking of religious song, make no mention of instruments; others, like Clement of Alexandria and Chrysostom, refer to them only to denounce them. Clement says:

"Only one instrument do we use,
............ viz. the word of peace wherewith we honor God,
............ no longer the old psaltery, trumpet, drum, and flute."

Chrysostom exclaims: "David formerly sang in psalms, also we sing today with him;
............ he had a lyre with lifeless strings,
............ the church has a lyre with living strings.
............ Our tongues are the strings of the lyre,
............ with a different tone, indeed, but with a more accordant piety."

Ambrose expresses his scorn for those who would play the lyre and psaltery
instead of singing hymns and psalms;
........ and St. Augustine adjures believers not to turn their hearts to theatrical instruments.
........ The religious guides of the early Christians felt that there would be an incongruity,
........ and even profanity,
........ ........ in the use of the sensuous nerve-exciting effects
........ ........ of instrumental sound in their mystical, spiritual worship.

Paul OUTLAWED the sensuous nerve-excitying effects:

Aresko (g700) ar-es'-ko; prob. from 142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by impl. to seek to be so): - please.

Airo (g142) ah'ee-ro; a prim. verb; to lift; by impl. to take up or away; fig. to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind); spec. to sail away (i.e. weigh anchor); by Heb. [comp. 5375] to expiate sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).

Their high, religious and moral enthusiasm needed no aid from external stimulus; the pure vocal utterance was the more proper expression of their faith. (Edward Dickinson, Music in the History of the Western Church, p. 54,55)

The N.T. speaks of praising God by singing, but further it says not...Paul speaks more than once in his epistles to the Corinthians of instruments of music, but not as being used in religion.

He described them as necessary to war, but not to worship; and speaks of them in a language of degradation, as`things without life, giving sound....'

The history of the church during the first three centuries affords many instances of primitive Christians engaging in singing, but no mention, (that I recollect) is made of instruments.

(If my memory does not deceive me) it originated in the dark ages of popery, when almost every other superstition was introduced. At present, it is most used where the least regard is paid to primitive simplicity. (Andrew Fuller, Complete works of Andrew Fuller, Vol 3, p. 520)

Charles Spurgeon (Baptist, 1834-1892): David appears to have had a peculiarly tender remembrance of the singing of the pilgrims, and assuredly it is the most delightful part of worship and that which comes nearest to the adoration of heaven.

"Praise the Lord with the harp. Israel was at school, and used childish things to help her to learn; but in these days when Jesus gives us spiritual food, one can make melody without strings and pipes. We do not need them. They would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto him. This is the and best music. No instrument like the human voice.

What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes. We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it. (Charles )

The word Psallo and all of its cousins are not musical words: The speak of the musical bow of Psallo which sent out a "singing" arrow to psao you heart as Jesus shreded the SOP for Jesus.

Liddell Scott Psallô (psao)
I. to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch, Aesch.; toxou neuran ps. to twang the bow-string, Eur.; belos ek keraos ps. to send a shaft twanging from the bow, Anth.; so, schoinos miltophurês psallomenê

Miltophurês 1 [phurô] daubed with red, Anth.

In fact this definition SEPARATES the singing, dancing, playing and selling radishes and young boys and FORCED them to attend the ekklesia which was for EDIFICATION or EDUCATION ONLY.  Psallo then is a LITERAL RED MARK which outlaws music in the ekklesia or church of Christ.

Miltoô 1 2 [miltos] to paint red:--Pass. to paint oneself red or be painted red, Hdt.; schoinion memiltômenon the rope covered with red chalk with which they swept loiterers out of the Agora to the Pnyx, Ar.

Phurô
I. to mix something dry with something wet, mostly with a sense of mixing so as to soil or defile, dakrusin heimat' ephuron they wetted, sullied their garments with tears, Il.; also c. gen., cheilea phursô haimatos Od.:--Pass., dakrusi pephurmenê id=Il.; haimati oikos ephurthê Aesch.

2. of dry things, konei phurousa kara Eur.; gaiai pephursesthai koman to be doomed to have one's hair defiled with earth, Pind.

II. metaph. to mingle together, confuse, ephuron eikê panta they mixed all things up together, did all at random, Aesch., etc.:--Pass. to be mixed up, ek pephurmenou kai thêriôdous from a confused and savage state, Eur. [Theirodous is the MARK OF THE BEAST]

Thêriôdês [eidos]

Beluo-sus (bell- ), a, um, adj. [id.] , abounding in beasts or monsters: Oceanus, _ast; Hor. C. 4, 14, 47; so Avien. Ora Marit. 204.

II. of men, beast-like, wild, savage, brutal, Lat. bellui_nus, Eur., Plat., etc.:-- to th. the animal nature, Eur.
2. in Pass. also to mix with others, have dealings with him, Plat.

 

Mito-omai , Med., A. ply the woof in weaving, AP6.285 (Nicarch.): metaph., phthongon mitôsasthai let one's voice sound like a string, 

2. in Pass. also to mix with others, have dealings with him, Plat.

A carpenter's red line, which is twitched and then suddenly let go, so as to leave a mark,

We know of no such use: the chalk line is
Stathm-ê A.carpenter's line or rule,

II. to play a stringed instrument with the fingers, NOT with the plectron, Hdt., Ar., Plat.

That SPECIFICIALLY OUTLAWS guitar picks (plectrons), organs, trumpets, drums etal.

2. later, to sing to a harp,

However, there is no record of Psallo having that meaning: Psallo never means more than play.

SING NTest.

Tom Burgess will try to make this last statement mean the same thing:

Later, sing to a harp, (comma)
Therefore to sing to a harp in the NTest.

However, Thayer separates these with a semicolon. Furthermore, the Latin "Psallo" separates the meaning between:

I. In general, to play upon a stringed instrument; esp.,
II. In particular, in ecclesiastical Latin, to sing the Psalms of David

We will show that if you don't grasp that you implicate yourself with sexual and homosexual activities into which the clergy tried to induct Jesus while they PIPED.

Plato in Cratylus defines:

Her. What do you think of doxa (opinion), and that class of words?
Soc. Doxa is either derived from dioxis (pursuit),
and expresses the march of the soul
........ in the pursuit of knowledge,
........ or from the shooting of a bow (toxon);

the latter is more likely, and is confirmed by oiesis (thinking), which is only oisis (moving),
........ and implies the movement of the soul to the essential nature of each thing-

just as boule (counsel) has to do with shooting (bole);
........ and boulesthai (to wish) combines the notion of aiming and deliberating-
........ all these words seem to follow doxa, and all involve the idea of shooting,
........ just as aboulia, absence of counsel, on the other hand, is a mishap,
........ or missing, or mistaking of the mark, or aim, or proposal, or object.

Toxon [tunchanô]

I. a bow because the ancient bow was of two pieces of horn joined by the pêchus in the middle; toxa titainein or helkein to draw the bow, Il.:--as the bow was specially the Oriental weapon, toxou rhuma meant the Persians, opp. to lonchês ischus (the Greek spearmen)

II. in pl. also, bow and arrows, Hom., Hdt., etc.
III. metaph., toxa hêliou its rays, Eur. [Sun, Apollo, Lucifer, Zoe etc.]

As we believe in the virtues of a horseshoe,
........ they believed that the twanging of a bowstring
........ will frighten ghosts and evil spirits from the house.
........ ........ Not musical but a sharp strongly nasal tone of voice.

Fragment 10, Aristotle, de mundo 5, 396b20

Things taken together are wholes and not wholes, something is being brought together and brought apart, which is in tune and out of tune;
........ out of all things there comes a unity, and out of a unity all things.
........ The BOW is called STRIFE, but its WORK is DEATH

Fragment 54, Hippolytus Ref IX, 9,5

An unapparent harmony is stronger than an apparent one.

Heraclitus: "All things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things flows like a stream. This order, the same for all things, no one of gods or men has made, but it always was, and is, and ever shall be, an ever-living fire, kindling according to fixed measure, and extinguished according to fixed measure. Justice meant a balance of opposites, and strife.

Heraclitus cited as an example the tension between the string and the frame in a bow or a musical instrument.
........ 'Harmony lies in the bending back, as for instance of the bow or of the lyre...
........ Opposition unites. From what draws apart results the most beautiful harmony.
........ All things take place by strife'.(Parkes, Henry Bamford, Gods and Men
........ The Origins of Western Culture, p. 188, Knopf)

The Britannica notes that:

"As noted above, melody and harmony were synonymous in classical Greek theory; the term harmony referred
........ not to notes sounded simultaneously,
........ but to the succession of notes, or the scale,
........ ........ out of which melody was formed.

The word melody throughout history would inform NO ONE to play instruments and sing four- part harmony. It simply outlaws complex singing because the goal is to TEACH. Those who adopt music have abandoned TEACHING the Word "as it has been taught."

> HIM that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Rom 14:1

> For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, (teaching) that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Rom 15:4

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Rom 15: 5
That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 15:6

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God. Rom 15:7

"Although the music of ancient Greece consisted entirely of melodies sung in unison or, in the case of voices of unequal range, at the octave, the term harmony occurs frequently in the writings on music at the time. Source "Harmony was simply a scale type."

"When children sing the ditty found throughout Europe, "It's raining, it's pouring" (g-g-e-a-g-e), they sing a melody that uses a scale of three tones; two intervals are used, a wide one (minor third) and a narrow one (major second).

Here is what some writers understood of melody without an instrument. Melody is simply a series of single-toned notes. You can "write" the melody and ever sing it. You can "sing" the melody and never play it. When you make the melody in the heart you are not "playing a melody" externally.

The Pearl-Seven Hymns on The Faith

Hymn I. Ephraim Syrus

1. On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren; I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom; semblances and types of the Majesty; it became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.

I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand, that I might examine it: I went to look at it on one side, and it proved faces on all sides. I found out that the Son was incomprehensible, since He is wholly Light.

In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded, and in its pureness a great mystery, even the Body of our Lord which is well-refined: in its undividedness I saw the Truth which is undivided.

It was so that I saw there its pure conception,-the Church, and the Son within her. The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him, and her type the heaven, since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.

I saw therein His trophies, and His victories, and His crowns. I saw His helpful and overflowing graces, and His hidden things with His revealed things.

2. It was greater to me than the ark, for I was astonied thereat: I saw therein folds without shadow to them because it was a daughter of light, types vocal without tongues, utterances of mysteries without lips, a silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.

The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters; be not thou daring then; leave things hidden, take things revealed. Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower; the clefts of thine ears, as from the clouds, they are filled with interpretations.

And as that manna which alone filled the people, in the place of pleasant meats, with its pleasantnesses, so does this pearl fill me in the place of books, and the reading thereof, and the explanations thereof.

4. "Searching is mingled with thanksgiving, and whether of the two will prevail? The incense of praise riseth along with the fume of disputation from the tongue, and unto which shall we hearken? Prayer and prying [come] from one mouth,3 and which shall we listen to?

Aristotle, Rhetoric" Melody Deceives:

Here one makes melody to embellish the truth:

"The following rules contribute to loftiness of style. Use of the description instead of the name of a thing; for instance, do not say "circle," but "a plane figure, all the points of which are equidistant from the center."

"Use metaphors and epithets by way of illustration, taking care, however, to avoid what is too poetical. Use the plural for the singular, after the manner of the poets, who, although there is only one harbor, say

to Achaean harbors,

and,

Here are the many-leaved folds of the tablet.

And in describing this as external melody:

"for instance "having gone and having conversed with him," or, "having gone, I conversed with him."Also the practice of Antimachus is useful,
........ that of describing a thing by the qualities it does not possess;
........ thus, in speaking of the hill Teumessus, hesays,

There is a little windswept hill;

"for in this way amplification may be carried on ad infinitum. This method may be applied to things good and bad, in whichever way it may be useful.

"Poets also make use of this in inventing words, as a melody "without strings" orâ "without the lyre"; for they employ epithets from negations, a course which is approved in proportional metaphors..

So, long before Paul, "melody" did not demand an instrument" any more than a modern "song" demands instruments. Or, you can make melody with one instrument without including all instruments.

Then all the people together made haste and fell to the ground upon their faces to worship their Lord, the Almighty, God Most High. Ecclesiasticus 50: 17.

And the singers praised him with their voices in sweet and full-toned melody. Ecclesiasticus 50: 18.

Of David before the Warrior Levites were assigned under the king and commanders of the army:

In all that he did he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, with ascriptions of glory;
........ he sang praise with all his heart, and he loved his Maker. Ecclesiasticus 40: 8.

He placed singers before the altar, to make sweet melody with their voices. Ecclesiasticus 40: 9.

He gave beauty to the feasts, and arranged their times throughout the year, while they praised God's holy name, and the sanctuary resounded from early morning. Ecclesiasticus 40: 10.

Wine and music gladden the heart, but the love of wisdom is better than both. Sirach 40:20.

The flute and the harp make pleasant melody,
but a pleasant voice is better than both. Sirach 40 21.

...for they employ epithets from negations, a course which is approved in proportional metaphors, as for instance, to say that the sound of the trumpet is a melody without the lyre.

We know that the trumpet was not a musical instrument in the Wilderness but it was given to "make a sound." However, if you blow the trumpet and make a sound you can abrade people and make them feel the "emotionnal power."

"Appropriate style also makes the fact appear credible; for the mind of the hearer
........ is imposed upon under the impression that the speaker is speaking the truth,

because, in such circumstances, his feelings are the same, so that he thinks (even if it is not the case as the speaker puts it) that things are as he represents them;
........ and the hearer always sympathizes with one who speaks emotionally,
........ even though he really says nothing.

This is why speakers often confound their hearers by mere noise. It is true that all "songs" can also be "played" if you are not interested in the words or message but are interested in the stroking of the nerves.

"If then anyone uses the language appropriate to each habit, he will represent the character; for the uneducated man will not say the same things in the same way as the educated. But the hearers also are impressed in a certain way by a device employed ad nauseam by writers of speeches:

"Who does not know?" "Everybody knows"; for the hearer agrees,
"because he is ashamed to appear not to share what is a matter of common knowledge.

Aristophanes, Birds (of singing)

Happy indeed is the race of winged birds who need no cloak in winter! Neither do I fear the relentless rays of the fiery dog-days; when the divine grasshopper, intoxicated with the sunlight, as noon is burning the ground, is breaking out into shrill melody;

Aristophanes, Frog

But onward now and nobly extol
The Saving goddess,
as you chant the melody,
she who claims to save our land as the seasons pass
even against Thorycion's will.

Euripides, Bacchae

Some of them were crowning again the worn thyrsos,
making it leafy with ivy, while some,
like colts freed from the painted yoke,
were singing a Bacchic melody to one another.

Libanios 60.8-12

For he seemed like one singing a melody,
and one could hear him strumming, so they say, at noon-tide.

Plato, Laws: melody is a series of single notes. The song and sound were exactly the same. Therefore, there is no civilized place in these writings for anything approaching HARMONY or that which creats excitement.

Athenian
So, to attain this object, both the lyre-master and his pupil
........ must use the notes of the lyre, because of the distinctness of its strings,
........ assigning to the notes of the song notes in tune with them;

but as to divergence of sound and variety in the notes of the harp,
........ when the strings sound the one tune
........ and the composer of the melody another,

or when there results a combination of low and high notes, of slow and quick time, of sharp and grave,
........ i.e. the notes (single) of the instrument must be in accord with those of the singer's voice [melody].

"The tune, as composed by the poet, is supposed to have comparatively few notes, to be in slowish time, and low down in the register;
........ whereas the complicated variation, which he is condemning, has many notes,
........ is in quick time, and high up in the register." (England.)

Plato, Laws

But human poets are fond of introducing this sort of inconsistent mixture, and so make themselves ridiculous in the eyes of those who, as Orpheus says, "are ripe for true pleasure."

The experienced see all this confusion, and yet the poets go on and make still further havoc by separating the rhythm and the figure of the dance from the melody,

setting bare words to metre, and also separating the melody and the rhythm from the words, using the lyre or the flute alone.

For when there are no words, it is very difficult to recognize the meaning of the harmony and rhythm, or to see that any worthy object is imitated by them.

And we must acknowledge that all this sort of thing, which aims only at swiftness and smoothness and a brutish noise, and uses the flute and the lyre not as the mere accompaniments of the dance and song, is exceedingly coarse and tasteless.

In the classics, music is defined very often as "singing and dancing." and melody did not demand an instrument.

The use of either instrument, when unaccompanied, leads to every sort of irregularity and trickery. This is all rational enough.

Athenian What, then, leads us astray? Are beautiful things not the same to us all, or are they the same in themselves, but not in our opinion of them? For no one will admit that forms of vice in the dance are more beautiful than forms of virtue, or that he himself delights in the forms of vice, and others in a muse of another character.

And yet most persons say, that the excellence of music is to give pleasure to our souls.
But this is intolerable and blasphemous; there is, however, a much more plausible account of the delusion.

Clement Exhortation to the Heathen

As for the Muses, whom Alcander calls the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, and the rest of the poets and authors deify and worship,-those Muses, in honour of whom whole states have already erected museums, being handmaids, were hired by Megaclo, the daughter of Macar.

This Macar reigned over the Lesbians, and was always quarrelling with his wife; and Megaclo was vexed for her mother's sake. What would she not do on her account?

Accordingly she hires those handmaids, being so many in number, and calls them Mysae, according to the dialect of the Aeolians.

These she taught to sing deeds of the olden time, and play melodiously on the lyre.
And they, by assiduously playing the lyre, and singing sweetly to it, soothed Macar, and put a stop to his ill-temper.

Wherefore Megaclo, as a token of gratitude to them, on her mother's account erected brazen pillars, and ordered them to be held in honour in all the temples. Such, then, are the Muses. This account is in Myrsilus of Lesbos.

And now, then, hear the loves of your gods, and the incredible tales of their licentiousness, and their wounds, and their bonds, and their laughings, and their fights, their servitudes too, and their banquets; and furthermore, their embraces, and tears, and sufferings, and lewd delights. Call me Poseidon, and the troop of damsels deflowered by him, Amphitrite Amymone, Alope, Melanippe, Alcyone, Hippothoe, Chione, and myriads of others; with whom, though so many, the passions of your Poseidon were not satiated.

Making melody on something external means to twitch, twang, pluck a hair or yank or "grind into a fine powder." Therefore, Paul himself said "touch the human heart" as you sing a hymn.

"The Chief Musician" and the Levitical "musicians" were not "musicians." They were called OVERSEERS or SLAVE BOSSES and the sound they made was not called "music" but SOUNDING. The loud instrumental noise was to panic the enemy and that is why "instrument" and "weapon" are the same Hebrew word.

Playing and singing or praising was a warrior's practice.

The bow, bow string and arrow "twangs." When, you hear this it is not "music" but you look down to see where the arrow "made melody right into your bleeding heart."

P. Vergilius Maro, Aeneid

She said, and from her quiver chose with speed
The winged shaft, predestin'd for the deed;
Then to the stubborn yew her strength applied,
Till the far distant horns approach'd on either side.
The bowstring touch'd her breast, so strong she drew;
Whizzing in air the fatal arrow flew.

At once the twanging bow and sounding dart
The traitor heard, and felt the point within his heart.
Him, beating with his heels in pangs of death,
His flying friends to foreign fields bequeath.

The conqu'ring damsel, with expanded wings,
The welcome message to her mistress brings.

"The Roman scabella, derived from their Greek counterparts kroupezai, or kroupala, were wooden sandals used for beating time.

Auloi player with phorbeia, and dancer with krotala, detail from kylix signed by Epictetus, found at Vulci, Italy, c. 520-510 BC. The Greeks characteristically used double reeds of cane that were held in the pipes by bulbous sockets. A leather strap (phorbeia; Latin: capistrum) was often tied across the cheeks to support them in the powerful blowing necessary to sound the pipes

"The time-beating foot clappers of chorus leaders, attached to the right foot like a sandal, were known in Greece as kroupezai, or kroupala, and adopted by Rome as the scabella. Other idiophones included bells, cymbals, the unidentified echeion, and an instrument simply called "the bronze" (chalkos), probably a metal percussion disk. When the cult of Isis spread to Greece and Rome, her sistrum followed, always in the hands of a priest or--rarely--priestess.

This is the sounding brass of 1 Cor. 13.

P. Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses

As wretched as my case doth seeme, yet have I left me mo
Than thou for all thy happinesse canst of thine owne account.
Even after all these corses yet I still doe thee surmount.

Upon the ende of these same wordes the twanging of the string
In letting of the Arrow flie was clearly heard: which thing

Made every one save Niobe afraid. Hir heart was so
With sorrowe hardned, that she grew more bolde. Hir daughters tho
Were standing all with mourning weede and hanging haire before

Their brothers coffins. One of them in pulling from the sore
An Arrow sticking in his heart, sanke downe upon hir brother

Yet it is strange, and sad, alas! That one who through this middle earth should pass Most like a sojourning demi-god,
........ and leave His name upon the harp-string,

should achieve No higher bard than simple maidenhood, Singing alone, and fearfully,--how the blood Left his young cheek; and how he used to stray He knew not where; and how he would say, nay, 730 If any said 'twas love: and yet 'twas love; What could it be but love? How a ring-dove Let fall a sprig of yew tree in his path; And how he died: and then, that love doth scathe, The gentle heart, as northern blasts do roses; And then the ballad of his sad life closes With sighs, and an alas!--Endymion!

Euripides, Heracles

Amphitryon: Gently raise your dirge of woe, old friends; or he will wake, and, bursting his bonds, destroy the city, rend his father, and dash his house to pieces.

Chorus: I cannot, cannot!

Amphitryon: Hush! let me note his breathing; come, let me put my ear close.

Chorus: Is he sleeping?

Amphitryon: Yes, he is sleeping, a deadly sleepless sleep, having slain wife and children with the arrows of his twanging bow.

Euripides Bacchae

PENTHEUS

Already, look you! the presumption of these Bacchantes is upon us, swift as fire, a sad disgrace in the eyes of all Hellas. No time for hesitation now! away to the Electra gate! order a muster of all my men-at-arms, of those that mount fleet steeds, of all who brandish light bucklers,

of archers too that make the bowstring twang; for I will march against the Bacchanals.
By Heaven this passes all, if we are to be thus treated by women.

Exit MESSENGER.

DIONYSUS (Don't question God's annointed!)

Still obdurate, O Pentheus, after hearing my words!
In spite of all the evil treatment I am enduring from thee,
........ still I warn thee of the sin of bearing arms against a god,
........ and bid thee cease; for Bromius will not endure
........ thy driving his votaries from the mountains where they revel.

PENTHEUS

A truce to thy preaching to me! thou hast escaped thy bonds, preserve thy liberty; else will I renew thy punishment.

DIONYSUS

I would rather do him sacrifice than in a fury kick against the pricks; thou a mortal, he a god.

The Building of Ningirsu's Temple

with the lion-headed weapon made from nir stone, which never turns back before the highlands, with dagger blades, with nine standards, with the "strength of heroism",

with his bow which twangs like a mes forest, with his angry arrows which whizz like lightning flashes in battle and with his quiver, which is a like a lion, a pirij lion, or a fierce snake sticking out its tongue - strengths of battle endued with the power of kingship.

Along with copper, tin, slabs of lapis lazuli, refined silver and pure Meluha cornelian, he set up (?) huge copper cauldrons, huge ...... of copper, shining copper goblets and shining copper jars worthy of An , for laying (?) a holy table in the open air ...... at the place of regular offerings (?). Nin-jirsu gave his city, Lagac ....... He set up his bed within the bedchamber, the house´s resting place; and everyone (?) rested like birds in the streets with the son of Enlil.

Perhaps the first "harp" or "zither" was a twanging bow. Another discovery was stretching horse hairs or gut across a plank. When you pulled the string out and let it go it made a "twanging" sound. However, it also scratched or abraded the plank into bits.

CONEYBEARE AND HOWSON: "Throughout the whole passage there is a contrast implied between the Heathen and the Christian practice, q.d. When you meet, let your enjoyment consist, not in fulness of wine, but fulness of the Spirit; let your songs be, not the drinking-songs of heathen feasts, but psalms and hymns; and their accompaniment, not the music of the lyre, but the melody of the heart; while you sing them to the praise. not of Bacchus or Venus, but of the Lord Jesus Christ." (P.775, n. 5.)

NOTE: Ephesians 5:19 enjoins: (1) Speaking TO ONE ANOTHER in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; (2) singing (adontes) and making melody (psallontes, psalming) with your heart TO THE LORD. (One is done with voice and lips, the other with the heart.)

PSALLO: From psao, to rub, to wipe; to handle, to touch (Thayer): Liddell and Scott.- I. To touch sharply, to pluck, pull. twitch;

to twang the bow-string; to send a shaft twanging from the bow; so, schoinos miltophures psallomene a carpenter's red line,
which is twitched and then let suddenly go, so as to leave a mark. II.

1. To play a stringed instrument with the fingers, not with the plectron.
2. Later, to sing to the harp, sing, N.T.

Thayer: a. To pluck off, pull out: the hair. b. To cause to vibrate by touching, to twang; spec. to touch or strike the chord, to touch the strings of a musical instrument, to play the harp, etc.; Sept. for zamar and much oftener for nagan; to sing to the music of the harp;

In the N.T. to sing a hymn, to celebrate the praise of God in song, Jas.5:13; Eph.5:13; Rom.15:9; 1 Cor.14:15 .

Again, no one suggests that the "heart" is a musical instrument because Paul didn't speak about "making music." Rather than having the body "abraded into powder" by the same panic one might feels when he hears the "twang" of a bow string and looks down to find the arrow in his chest, Paul's goal is to have our "hearts broken" or made sensitive to the Spirit by "giving attendance" to His Words.

Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. Isaiah 37:33

An arrow twanging in your direction is:

Berowsh (h1265) ber-osh'; of uncert. der.; a cypress (?) tree; hence a lance or a musical instrument (as made of that wood): - fir (tree).

Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Is.14:8

Chec (h2671) khayts; from 2686; prop, a piercer, i. e. an arrow; by impl. a wound; fig. (of God) thunder-bolt; (by interchange for 6086) the shaft of a spear: - / archer, arrow, dart, shaft, staff, wound.

Chacac (h2686) khaw-tsats'; a prim. root [comp. 2673]; prop. to chop into, pierce or server; hence to curtail, to distribute (into ranks); as denom. from 2671, to shoot an arrow: - archer, * bands, cut off in the midst.

They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates. Judges 5:11KJV

the voice of the singers at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel. "Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates. Judges 5:11NIV

"At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates. Judges 5:11NAS

h6086 is used of God's judgment against Assyrian (the tallest tree in Eden."

For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. Isaiah 30:31

And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. Isaiah 30:32

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Isaiah 30:33

In the Greek world, singing and external melody was a pagan or secular activity. Therefore, if Paul had defending "singing and playing instruments" his instructions would have been no different than the pagan temples just down the street where "uncovered prophesying" by the women was permitted (1 Cor 11:5) but outlawed for the assembly:

In Acts 1:20 psalmos is the book of Psalms and in Rom. 15: sing is psallo.

"Psallo is best translated by chant,
........ not sing.

The Greeks sharply distinguish chanting (psalmodia)
........ from singing (tragoudi).

The first is a sacred activity;
........ the second, a secular one. In English, unfortunately,
........ the distinction is not sharp.. Constantine Cavarnos

Psalmos (g5568) psal-mos'; from 5567; a set piece of music, i.e. a sacred ode
........ accompanied
........ ........ with the voice,
........ ........ ........ ........ harp
........ ........ or other instrument;
........ a "psalm"); collect. the book of the Psalms: - psalm. Comp. 5603.

We have noted that "psallo" does not initially derive from "making a musical sound." For instance, when someone yanks out a hair from your head it "twangs" and makes a sound which the superstitious believed to be the "gods." Pythagoras developed that idea from studying in Babylonia.

I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. Isaiah 50:6

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string,
........ that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. Psalm 11:2

Bend: Darak (h1869) daw-rak'; a prim. root; to tread; by impl. to walk; also to string a bow (by treading on it in bending): - archer, bend, come, draw, go (over), guide, lead (forth), thresh, tread (down), walk.

Shooters are false teachers and music is a primary WEAPON:

Yarah (h3384) yaw-raw'; or (2 Chr. 26:15) yara yaw-raw'; a prim. root; prop. to flow as water (i. e. to rain); trans. to lay or throw (espec. an arrow, i. e. to shoot); fig. to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach: - (/) archer, cast, direct, inform, instruct, lay, shew, shoot, teach (-er, -ing), through

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Is.2:3

It would be difficult indeed to accomplish this without our thought finding expression in words and music others can hear. Paul was not urging us to sing to one another silently, only in our hearts. We might better understand what Paul said if we thought of it as singing and making melody FROM the heart. It would make no sense at all to think that Paul was urging us to silently sing and make melody only in our heart. His exhortation is that we speak TO ONE ANOTHER as we sing and make melody.

Dwaine E. Dunning: How can we know when a figure of speech is being used? Figures of speech include simile, as when Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like ..." The figure of speech called simile is when one thing is compared to another which in some way is similar. Jesus used metaphors often, as when he said, "I am the vine; you are the branches." We realize that branches of vines receive nourishment only while connected with their vine. This is a figure of speech. Jesus was not really a vine. We are not really branches of a vine. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd." Yet he had no flock of sheep which he tended. In this figure of speech, he is the protector and guide and care- giver for us who need such care and seek it from Him. He is the shepherd. We are His sheep. Yet in fact we are humans and not sheep. He is our figurative guide and guard. Metaphor is the hardest of these figures to understand by most of us, since there is no language device involved. It's a simple declarative statement which has greater force than simile because the expression "like" is not employed. However, an obvious metaphor is what it is because the simple declarative statement cannot be literally true. Jesus is human. He is neither door nor doorway. Nor is He a literal vine, for He also when He spoke was a human.

If we care about the knowledge of God we won't look for figures of speech. The DIRECT COMMAND OF PAUL WAS TO TEACH OR PREACH. There is no connection between "music" as a legalistic act of worship with or without instruments.

Therefore, Dwaine E. Dunning and all anti- speaking to one another warriors make "melody in the heart" into "melody on a harp." Now, that is stretching it a bit.

No, Paul didn't say "play upon a harp HEARTILY." Paul repudiated pagan music because it was idolatrous. He did not have to repudiate Jewish SOUNDING because it was never connected to the common people: when the temple and animal sacrifices then the Levitical Overseers "under the king and commanders of the army" came to an end. Paul wouldn't have had to explain that even to a ten year old boy.

Jesus said that worship is "in spirit" and that means the believer's new "holy place." Now, someone needs to tell the instrumentalists that "not walking in the flesh" does not mean that we do not still walk around in our body:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 2 Cor 10:3

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds (figurative of arguments) 2 Cor 10:4

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 2 Cor 10:5

We "play our" God-given instrument (lips as double-edged sword) when we "teach and admonish one another." And Paul to Titus told him how to do it: "Give attendance to reading." At Mount Sinai when they "rose up to play" they exhaled themselves above the Word of God and were sentenced to "hard bondage" and were turned over to the worship of the stars: Molech or Baal with instrumental music.

Those who "set forward" the work of the temple excelled or rose up to have the music played so that they could make the slaves (even Jews) build the temple. After Solomon died civil war the 'youth" movement warned that rather than the whip they would be beaten with the scorpion. The "chief musician was":

Nacach (h5329) naw-tsakh'; to glitter from afar, to be eminent as a superintendent, especially of the Temple services and its music; also to be permanent, to excel, chief musician, singer, overseer, set forward. (The Worship team or Minister of Music is the overseer or anxiety inducer).

Those who play instruments exalt themselves against the knowledge (spirit) of God. However, Paul said that you cannot make warfare with musical instruments as David did. The "weapon" is an instrument:

Hoplon (g3696) hop'-lon; prob. from a prim. (to be busy about); an implement or utensil or tool (lit. or fig., espec. offensive for war): - armour, instrument, weapon

"the watchmen, who patrolled the streets for the repression of common crime, were charged with the additional duty of exorcizing the dreaded powers of the air and of darkness, which went about like roaring lions seeking what they might devour.

To accomplish this object the night watchman wielded spiritual weapons of two different sorts but of equal power; he range a bell, and he chanted a blessing." (Frazer, James George, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, Macmillian, p. 423, 1923)

The Hebrew also uses a military weapon word for David's musical instruments. The 'musicians' were warriors who made loud noise to panic the enemy into cowardice. At the "like the nation's temple" granted by God when the elders fired Him, their 'service' is hard bondage similar to the word Abaddon or Apollyon. It was, therefore, a form of exorcism:

And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began,

the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets,
and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. 2 Chron 29:27

These musical instruments were "carnal weapons" used by the army and the king:

Keliy (h3627) kel-ee'; from 3615; something prepared, i. e. any apparatus (as an implement, utensil, dress, vessel or weapon): - armour ([-bearee]), artillery, bag, carriage, / furnish, furniture, instrument, jewel, that is made of, * one from another, that which pertaineth, pot, / psaltery, sack, stuff, thing, tool, vessel, ware, weapon, / whatsoever.

While the command is to "teach" or preach, Paul claimed that if this teaching does not flow from love then it BECOMES like playing the musical instruments of warfare (David) or of soothsaying (the witch of Endor used a sounding, empty, old wineskin."

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 Co.13:1

Dwaine E. Dunning: A metaphor is so evident that a literal application of the figure becomes impossible. To better understand the use of a metaphor, look at the case where in Matthew 20:22ff Jesus discussed His coming death and resurrection. He asked His apostles, "Are you able to be baptized with the baptism in which I shall be baptized?" Baptism is here used as a figure of speech to mean "overwhelmed" with suffering, as a person buried in water is overwhelmed by the water. Trying to make Ephesians 5:19 argue against Christian use of musical instruments, some say that Paul's exhortation to sing and make melody "in the heart" specifies the instrument to be played upon. They surmise that the heart is the musical instrument, and any other musical instrument is forbidden by the specifying of the heart. Our hearts are not our vocal chords. We noted that Colossians 3 says "singing with GRACE in the heart." That defines "making melody in the heart." Among the Greeks both GRACE and MELODY define the nature of the outward singing, speaking or even reading a poem. SPEAK and SING are two different things: You cannot speak and sing OUTWARDLY at the same time. However, you can speak outwardly and make melody in the HEART or mind at the same time. There is probably no rationale to seeing the HEART as a musical instrument.

Making the HEART STRINGS sing is older than rocks:

Plautus, Curculio CAPPADOX My spleen is killing me, my reins are in torment, my lungs are being torn asunder, my liver is being tortured, my heart-strings are giving way, all my intestines are in pain.

Hecuba Alas! a dreadful trial is near, it seems, [230] full of mourning, rich in tears. Yes, I too escaped death where death had been my due, and Zeus did not destroy me but is still preserving my life, that I may witness in my misery fresh sorrows surpassing all before. But if the bond may ask the free of things that do not GRIEVE them or WRENCH their heart-strings, you ought to speak in answer to my questions and I ought to hear what you have to say.

Pindar, Ode, Nemean 7 For Sogenes of Aegina Boys' Pentathlon ?467 B. C.

But my heart will never say that I have done violence to Neoptolemus with cruel words. To plough the same ground three or four times [105] is poverty of thought, like babbling "Corinth of Zeus" to children.

And from the Dead Sea Scrolls:

They have overtaken me in a narrow pass (gap) without escape
............And there is no rest for me in my trial.
............ They sound my censure upon a harp and their murmuring and storming
............ upon a zither." translating Ps.41:11

However, Jesus would WIN over the musical WARRIOR LEVITES:

I will groan with the zither of lamentation
............ in all grief-stricken mourning and bitter complaint
until iniquity and wickedness are consumed
............ and the disease-bringing scourge is no more.

Then will I play on the zither of deliverance
............ and harp of joy,
on the tabors of prayer and
............ the pipe of praise without end.

I will sing with knowledge and all my music
shall be for the glory of God.
............ (My) lyre (and) my harp shall sound
............ for His holy order
............ and I will tune the pipe of my lips
............ to His right measure.

The Hebrew word for "serpent" in the garden of Eden is a figure of speech (according to Jesus in Mt 13 parables were "from the foundation of the world" to hide spiritual truth). Assyria is called "the tallest tree in Eden" and in Isaiah 30 God shows how the Assyrians will be punished just like the Hebrews punished their own children in the red hot arms of Molech.

In both the Bible and all ancient documents, Satan is the "father of musical instruments" which are opposed to the recited word of truth:

In Islamic Worship, Iblis (SHAYTAAN) said: "What will be my book?"

"The Divine Answer came: "Your writing will be to tattoo; your reciting will be poetry; your messengers will be the fortune-tellers and astrologists; your food will be that food on which Bismillaah was not recited; your drink will be alcohol; your truth will be falsehood; your home will be the toilets;
......... your net (to ensnare) will be women;
......... your muezzin will be the musical instruments,
......... and your musjid will be the market-place."

See women in Ezekiel.

However, in Islam, music was important as the "home of" or the "voice of" the gods.

"The great Sufi poet Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (died 1273)--revered equally by the orthodox and the Sufis--

heard the divine voice in his stringed musical instrument when he said "Its head, its veins (strings) and its skin are all dry and dead;
........ whence comes to me the voice of the Friend?" Britannica Members

Musical instruments, like the familiar spirit (dry wineskin) of the witch of Endor delivered the "voice of the friend."

There is nothing "musical" connected with the worship of God in the ancient world. The Britannica notes of. The "sounding" by the "musical" Levites was as overseers or straw bosses for the king and court. This is consistent with all "like the nations temples." For instance, among muslims:

"Instrumental music was forbidden by the orthodox in the formative stages of Islam.
........ As for vocal music, its place was largely taken by
........ a sophisticated and artistic form of the recitation of the Qur'an known as tajwid.

Nevertheless, the Muslim princely courts generously patronized and cultivated music. (as did David's and Solomon's)

Cantillation is also used in Islamic religious services in the recitation of the Qur'an and in the muezzin's call to prayer, or adhan.
........ Neither it nor the cantillation of the Qur'an are considered to be music, however,
........ and music as such is forbidden in religious services.

Cantillation among Jews: in music, intoned liturgical recitation of scriptural texts, guided by signs originally devised as textual accents, punctuations, and indications of emphasis. Such signs, termed ecphonetic signs, appear in manuscripts of the 7th-9th century, both Jewish and Christian (Syrian, Byzantine, Armenian, Coptic). Although first intended to clarify the reading of the texts, they were apparently adopted as mnemonic devices to help the singer recall various melodic formulas.

Paul demanded that we "speak" the Word of Christ or Spirit one to another. The "singing and melody" would be in the heart. However, neither in Judaism or Islam was this a musical concept when addressed to God as worship.

Dwaine E. Dunning: Do they want to forbid any singing? Paul exhorts us TO sing. The joy we feel IN our hearts finds expression through our musical praise. Our voice is no less a musical instrument than is a piano or organ. Paul is not forbidding our expressing externally what we feel internally. He is saying that by use of music we SHOULD share our feelings and thoughts with others. In both Psalmos and song the first instrument of choice is the human voice. When you say SING you do not inclue an instrument other than the lips as "double- edged swords" where you make sacrifices as the fruit of the lips. You MIGHT play a banjoy as you sing. However, you MUST say sing AND play a banjo. That is true with the Bible and all known literature. Although Zamar means that you can sing and play an instrument, it is always attached to the word SING. The melody is then defined by naming an instrument. We know of no exception where Psallo includes both singing and playing. The word ODE further defines PSALMOS as "Hebrew cantillation" which means SPEAK.

"Singing" in the Biblical, worship sense, was not a musical term. Paul specifically commands outward speaking but it was very common to "speak to yourselves" or in the mind by mentally reciting a psalm.

What we FEEL can be expressed 167 hours a week: even "singing upon our bed." However, that short period of assembly is not for worship in the theatrical performance sense: we worship God when we "give attendance to the reading" of His Word or singing those poetic parts in order to "teach and admonish" but not in order to FEEL.

AND David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: 2 Samuel 22: 1

Dabar (h1696) daw-bar'; a prim. root; perh. prop. to arrange; but used fig. (of words) to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue: - answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, promise, pronounce, rehearse, say, speak, be spokesman, subdue, talk, teach, tell, think, use [entreaties], utter, * well, * work.

In the Septuagint noted by Ferguson:

"I will confess you among the nations, O Lord; and ........I will sing (psalo) to your name." Psalms 18:49 (quoted in Rom. 15:19),   "I will confess you, Lord, with my whole heart, because you have heard the words of my mouth; and ........I will sing (psalo) to you before the angels.' Psalms 138:1,   "praise the Lord, because he is good; ........sing (psalete) to his name, because he is good.' Psalms 135:3,   'I will praise the Lord in my life; ........I will sing (psalo) to my God as long as I live." Psalms 146:2

The voice is the "harp of God" and we sacrifice the "fruit of the lips." In the Old Testament and in the Classics when an instrument is included it is named. And while one always has the power to ignore the command, if a great composer wrote a poem or song and said:

"Sing this song and make melody with a Zither"

All of us could understand that the song was composed for the Zither. In this way, the Bible is always clear to say:

Sing many songs and make melody on a harp.
Paul under Spirit guidance said:
Speak to one another the inspired Bible text, Sing and make melody with the "lips and heart."

Psalmos (g5568) psal-mos'; from 5567; a set piece of music, i.e. a sacred ode
........ accompanied
........ ........ with the voice,
........ ........ harp
........ ........ or other instrument;

a "psalm"); collect. the book of the Psalms: - psalm. Comp. 5603.

Dwaine E. Dunning: Looking to other Scriptural metaphors such as this one of "making melody in the heart" should strengthen in the Christian's mind the literal meaning of what was said rather than to cancel or abolish it. Thinking of "psalming" or "making melody" as the heart strings vibrating in praise to God ought to strengthen rather than weaken the Christian's appreciation for the literal meaning upon which the figure of speech rests. This is NOT a metaphor. As we have noted, both MELODY and GRACE are qualities of a song or speech or reading. If our voice lifts in a poetic way the Greeks define this as melody. If we sing with CLASS then they would say that we sing or speak GRACEFULLY. The melody in the heart or grace in the heart are LITERAL and point to well-known qualities of SPEAKING to one another. This is why no one before the Christian churches trying to gulp up ALL OF CHRISTENDOM in a society in 1878 ever thought that Paul was commanding PLAYING the mind or playing an instrument.

If the literal original meaning of psallo is to "grind the enemy into a fine power" or to pull the string of a bow or harp and let it twang in the air is associated with the exclusive use of literal instruments by warrior Levites,
........ then commanding us to "twang our heart" rather than a bow or harp does not enforce that which it replaces.

The old was to die for our own sins or offer an animal Sacrifice.
........ Jesus died for the sins of the Holy World.
........ Does "spiritual" death and burial in baptism reinforce dying for our own sins? We think not.

The Old is made up of types or shadows: the New is of antitypes of the literal SPIRITUAL meaning. The Old was to "sacrifice a ram, cut its throat, throw its blood on the altar and burn it" to REMIND YOU OF YOUR SINS.

Now, if Paul uses the "singing" concept to say that our spiritual sacrifice is the "fruit of our lips"

does this symbolic sacrifice tell us that we should return to the literal, typical animal sacrifices which could not heal? We think not.

If literal "instruments/weapons" where the Flute and The Trumpet went together, the goal was to go out and slaughter real people. Perhaps even "dash out babies heads" of the enemy.

Paul insisted that those were CARNAL weapons. The spiritual weapon is the Sword of the Spirit which has the "speaking" power to bring down strongholds of false knowledge.

Does using the "Sword of the Spirit" as the instrument against false doctrine give us support to return to carnal warfare to defeat our enemies? We think not.

We swing the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT best when our speech is "seasoned with salt." And one assuredly hopes that RELIGIONISTS don't try to sprinkle salt on the preacher's tongue.

The preacher speaks best and we say that he preached GRACEFULLY. Or if he has anything other than a monotone we say that his preaching style is melodious. But, he can SPEAK the Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs WITHOUT shooting the congregation with an arrow.

In the ancient "plague stopping" rituals at the temple with instrumental music of the warrior musicians, the purifying task involved killing the false prophets and priests and tearing down their shrines or even purging the Jerusalem temple by totally removing the altar stones.

They fell face down on the ground, and
........sounded the signal on the trumpets,
........and cried out to Heaven. 1 Macc 4:40

Then Judas detailed men to
........ fight against those in the citadel
........ until he had cleansed the sanctuary. 1 Macc 4: 41

He chose blameless priests devoted to the law, 1 Macc 4: 42
and they cleansed the sanctuary and
........ removed the defiled stones to an unclean place. 1 Macc 4: 43

they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs,
........ on the new altar of burnt offering which they had built. 1 Macc 4: 53

At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it,
........ it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. 1 Macc 4: 54

All the people fell on their faces
........ and worshiped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them. 1 Macc 4: 55

So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days,
........ and offered burnt offerings with gladness;
........ they offered a sacrifice of deliverance and praise. 1 Macc 4: 56

Dwaine E. Dunning: Consider these four possible ways of understanding Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 5:19 1) the dative case (with or without the preposition, which is not included in some Greek editions) can be understood as locative (showing where the psalming is taking place), or The parallel in Colossians uses an ALTERNATIVE idea "with GRACE in the heart." Melody and Grace being spiritual qualities of speech or even meditating. In Romans 15 Paul outlawed PLEASURING one another which means to "excite" one another. Then with ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH they could SPEAK "that which is written." The RESULT would be external harmony internal qualities similar to grace: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom 15:13 2) it can be a dative of instrument, telling how the psalming is to be done, or Paul does not speak of HOW but WHERE. Remember that Jesus said that you MUST worship God in the NEW PLACE of the human spirit as opposed to the old houses and mountains. Paul said that IN THE CHURCH he would only speak with his VOICE where a few would be worth thousands of singing or speaking in their native dialect. He also said that the WORSHIP was in the SPIRIT. The spirit is not a HOW but a WHERE: John was IN the spirit on the Lord's day and that is the only reason he HEARD Jesus. 3) the entire passage can be thought of as adverbial, based on the instrumental. The RSV neatly puts this meaning into the verse by use of the word, "heartily." Or, But, Dunning has NO one in church history or Greek literary practice to support that. Besides, neither Dunning nor any one has a FIRST CENTURY GREEK GRAMMAR. We know how words are used by how they are used. The word PSALLO is never used to PLAY and sing. Although, Apollo or Abaddon Twanged his Lyre and then twanged his bow to celebrate his murders. It is simply simple that you cannot TWANG a harp INSIDE of the human heart. In the heart is Kardia (g2588) kar-dee'-ah; prol. from a prim. 2595, (Lat. cor, "heart"); the heart, i.e. (fig.) the thoughts or feelings (mind); also (by anal.) the middle: - (/ broken-) heart (-ed). This word always has to do with the FEELINGS of the inner person. It never means HEARTILY. On the other hand, Paul had words to mean "from the bottom of the heart" or kêrothi, Adverb ( [kêr] ) with all the heart, heartily, 4) the construction which attempts to make this passage oppose Christian use of musical instruments, as explained above. Paul would have to be schizophrenic to equate speaking in tongues to LIFELESS INSTRUMENTS. Or to equate them to the sounding weapons of war or of the SOOTHSAYERS and turn around and remotely hint that they could worship meaning to GIVE HEED TO THE WORDS OF CHRIST and PLAY lifeless instruments which were "carnal weapons."

Our RSV and others reads this way:

addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
............ singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, Ephesians 5:19RSV

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
............ Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, Ephesians 5:19NIV

speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
............ singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; Ephesians 5:19NAS

Talk with each other much about the Lord, quoting psalms and hymns and singing sacred songs,
............ making music in your hearts to the Lord. Ephesians 5:19LIV

None of these versions have a question about and instrument and therefore none reads:

Sing outwardly and make music with an instrument.

Trying to twist Scripture by imagining that there is an authority on first century Greek grammar is solely to defend the use of instrumental music when the passage rejects it.

However it is twisted, the operative word is still "speak or preach" and the resources are not sentimental, erotic "praise songs." The resource is the Word of God and everyone knew that Paul was speaking of a teaching process and not a "liturgical act of worship" by which we appease or assist God with praise songs. That is an ancient Babylonian superstition.

Dwaine E. Dunning: The first three constructions are each perfectly sound, as literal as the rest of a passage which is full of practical advice to regulate the everyday life of the typical Christian. This letter to the Ephesian church members is not a doctrinal or philosophical treatise where imagery or figurative language would normally be expected. Thus, there is no need to claim a figure of speech. Having done so, there is absolutely no principle, either in the human rules of logic or by precedents in the use of metaphor, to claim that a symbolic or metaphorical meaning wipes out the literal upon which the illustration is based. I know of no one who ever said that Paul was using a figure of speech. Paul knew that singing or external ODEING created the excitement or PLEASURING which he outlaws in Romans 15. He also knew that external psalloing spoke of shooting arrows, cutting off heads or grinding the enemy into panic by SHOOTING OUT taunt songs. He thought that we thought that you CANNOT speak and sing at the same time. Scholars note that CHANTING or READING was a spiritual activity and SINGING was a secular activity. Paul said MAKE MELODY in the heart and direct it to God. Dunning is finding figurative language to CORRECT the Holy Spirit to say make melody WITH A HARP and direct it to the AUDIENCE. Not even the Holy Spirit thought that it could be said with less confusion: SPEAK one to another but SING and MAKE MELODY in the heart or INTERNALLY. Otherwise, Paul would be lying when he said that the converted Jews worshipped God IN THE SPIRIT. No, he did not say INSPIRITED or enthusiastic which to Philo meant Enthus O mania or in Paul's word "MAD." The GOAL of music was to drive the uncovered prophesiers of 1 Cor 11:5 into MADNESS or HEARTILY as proof that the "gods" were inside. If women take over the 'WORSHIP' it will always go charismatic or musical led by a few carnal women.

It is true that this regulates everyday life and does not define an "act of worship called singing." Therefore, suppose we are meeting Joe at the coffee shop. We sit down and begin speaking the "Word of Christ" to one another. Now, try to make the melody LITERAL by insisting that the waitress play a trumpet while we "teach and admonish one another."

Melody is not harmony and is not related to it. Dwaine E. Dunning and the anti-Biblical message is trying to use the Bible to "defend harmony." It is not there. Forget it.

Melody or a series of single tones made up of their short musical scale did not imply an instrument as the defenders of modern 'harmony' try to do.

Now, suppose that God sits down with us. Are we tempted to "sing idle songs and improvise upon instruments like David while God speaks to us." Of course not. Therefore, Paul said nothing about "making music" but of speaking and teaching which is identical to "preaching."

4Q166 (4QpHos^a) Dead Sea Scrolls, (Plus, pg. 276-7 Vermes)

"I will put an end to her rejoicing, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her festivals (Hosea ii,11).
........ "Interpreted, this means that they have rejected the ruling of the law,
........ and have followed the festivals of the nations.
........ ........ But their rejoicing shall come to an end and shall be changed into mourning.

I will ravage her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, 'They are my wage which my lovers have given me'. I wall make them a thicket and the will beasts shall eat them...ii, 12

But they, like Adam, have broken the Covenant (vi, 7)
........ Its interpretation... they have forsaken God and
........ walked according to the decrees of the Gentiles....

If you remember Israel's elders, they DEMANDED that God permit them to have a king like the nation. God understood that to mean so that "they could worship like the nations." However, he laid a curse on them and "gave them kings in His anger and took them away in His anger" and told Samuel to tell the elders that the kings would lead them into slavery even taking the young men to make INSTRUMENTS OF CHARIOTS to run before the king. These were MUSICAL instruments.

The prophecy of Judas' and the clergy's attack upon Jesus was that they would "head Him off the pass" in a military-like panic attack.

They have overtaken me in a narrow pass (gap) without escape
........ And there is no rest for me in my trial.

They sound my censure upon a harp
........ and their murmuring and storming upon a zither." Ps.41:11

The flute on the right has a "box" or purse attached. Because Hermes among the Greeks was the "father" of musical instruments and musicians, liars and thieves, Judas was also a thief. The "Judas Bag" was "for carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments." In battle, the wind instruments were in the hands of the priests.

In this passage their "triumph over" was with the harp of the Levites while the warrior priests blew the trumpet. Their "murmuring and storming" was like the muttering and whispering of Satan's attack and alluded to Paul in terms of "booming and clanging." They didn't really "sing" or murmur but the did it with an instrument.

 

Nevertheless, In Victory it is said of Messiah and we must repeat:

I will groan with the zither of lamentation
........ in all grief-stricken mourning and bitter complaint

until iniquity and wickedness are consumed
........ and the disease-bringing scourge is no more.

An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more. Ps.41:8

Then will I play on the zither of deliverance
........ and harp of joy,

on the tabors of prayer and the pipe of praise
........ without end.

The Community Rule (1QS) reads in part much like Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3:

And at the beginning of their weeks
for the season of Jubilee.
All my life the engraved Precept shall be on my tongue
........ as the fruit of praise
........ and the portion of my lips.

I will sing with knowledge and all my music
shall be for the glory of God.
........ (My) lyre (and) my harp shall sound
........ for His holy order
........ and I will tune the pipe of my lips
........ to His right measure.

"Such allegorizing passages contain the nucleuses of the later substance, and perhaps the presage of the future trends of Christian music. The first three centuries of the church witnessed many controversies; some of them concerned themselves directly with music. The most important of these issues were:

(a) organized versus spontaneous praying and singing;
(b) scriptural versus extrascriptural poems;
(c) fusion with Hellenistic music;
(d) vocal versus instrumental music;
(e) the rise of monasticism and its influence upon ecclesiastical chant." (Interpreter's Dict of the Bible, Music, p. 467).

Tell Dwaine Dunning that this happened BEFORE the ANTI-instrumental churches of Christ!

Paul is still writing when he spoke of a spiritual or Christian sacrifice used the word:

Thusia (g2378) thoo-see'-ah; from 2380; sacrifice (the act of the victim, lit. or fig.): - sacrifice.

Thuo (g2380) thoo'-o; a prim. verb; prop. to rush (breathe hard, blow, smoke), i.e. (by impl.) to sacrifice (prop. by fire, but gen.); by extens. to immolate (slaughter for any purpose): - kill, (do) sacrifice, slay.

And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal 5:24
........ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Gal 5:25
........ ........ Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Gal 5:26  

The literal meaning is a literal animal burning when the literal Levites played literal instruments during the "literal burning phase" but not for congregational worship.

Furthermore, there is no longer the "camp" of Tabernacle or Temple to which the people were assigned while the literal priesthood burned animals. Therefore, Paul says:

Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. Hebrews 13:13
........ For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Hebrews 13:14
........ ........ By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise (thanking)
........ ........ to God continually (constantly),
........ ........ ........ that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15

But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Hebrews 13:16

The figurative "Sword" is not the "carnal weapon" or "lifeless instrument" which are both literal musical instruments

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Ep.6:17

In the "singing" passage (not musical) Paul made the Word of Christ equivalent to the "Spirit" of Christ, and Christ said that "My Word is Spirit and Life" (John 6:63). It is the "water" and not the "wine" of pagan, instrumental music:

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Eph 5:18
........ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
........ singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Eph 5:19

Therefore, the Word of Christ in singing is Spirit which is the "Sword" of the Spirit. Sounds fairly symbolic.

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Ga.3:3
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Ep.4:23

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ep.6:18

For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Ph.3:3

Why Paul? Because OUTSIDE of worship in the new PLACE of human spirit:
........ Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. Ph. 3:2

The perverted, emasculated priests or ministers of Cyble were called DOGS. So were the Cynics. And so was most symposia or men's drinking clubs devoted to homosexuality.

IF you opt for and EXTERNAL, BODY WORSHIP be warned by Paul that the DOGS will take over. I know of no exception to the rule that women prostitutes were flute-girls and male prostitutes sang and played AT THE SAME TIME. NORMAL males would not do that, we are told, and therefore you had to be perverted or DRUNK.

I was in the Spirit on the Lords day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Re.1:10

MUSIC intends to stir up the flesh, it is the works of human hands and it cannot help the spirit.

However, of those to whom Paul equated speaking in tongues to musical instruments, Paul knew before he wrote that:

In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. 1Co.14:

Dwaine E. Dunning: Like all other New Testament scriptures, this verse just doesn't bear out the teaching that Jesus wants His church to set up a list of "commanded" items and to relegate everything else to a "forbidden" category. Gnostics did this, but the Lord's church certainly did not.

That is a fact. When you add musical instruments to the "teaching-preaching" process you add a commandment which others must obey or get out of the building." Christ didn't "forbid" steak and Jack Daniels for the communion either. He never said: "Thou shalt not eat steak and drink Jack Daniels to remember me." But, One suspects that Dwaine E. Dunning has such a law "in the heart" which would not permit him to worship with those who did.

Gnostics "went beyond what was written" and built their system on a feminist "goddess" who was the Serpent while her daughter, ZOE, was the BEAST. They forced the minor "jehovah's" into forming instrumental bands. This is quite like the Enoch story for which God will come with ten thousand of His host.

The Gnostics as we have shown in an earlier review were the instrumentalists. They used THE LAW OF SILENCE to, like the Pharisees, make their own musical laws.

See part three for proof that the musical group is the Gnostic group.

Dwaine E. Dunning: The most obvious result of the radical anti- instrument use of this passage is to lead those who so believe to refuse to ever accept and follow the exhortation except within that group who join them in vocal-only singing. Their prejudice prevents conscientious fellowship in singing and making melody from the heart with Christians who do not share the prejudice. No one is every EXCLUDED from worshipping in a Biblical, singing church of Christ. No member of the church of Christ has much time to meet with even other non-instrumental churches of christ. Most of us get confused with vocal-only singing. Except, of course, that they gladly praise God in song upon or to the accompaniment of musical instruments in their homes. They think Christian worship is only done "in church." We have noted that Jesus built, Paul preached and the Campbells practiced church as A SCHOOL OF CHRIST. Worship, in agreement with Jesus and Paul was GIVING HEED to the Word of Christ--in the SPIRIT and in TRUTH. The objection to the instrument is ELEMENTARY my dear Dwaine: you cannot SPEAK and SING and make melody WITH A HARP and do it all to PLEASURE the congregation is perform the funcion of the SYNAGOGUE or EKKLESIA which Jesus died to build. If you eat steak and play the organ or guitar or banjo when you are NOT telling God that you have come TO LEARN OF ME then there can be no objection. If Jesus came into my house as He PROMISES to come into the "little" assemblies AND I played the banjo WHILE He was trying to tell me how to NAVIGATE into the SPIRIT world before the INSTRUMENTAL WORLD burns up then I would be blaspheming Him. Musical instruments were always the MARK that "we will not listen to the Words of God."

Most of us could accept exhortation anywhere. However, one does not teach, admonish or exhort by singing contemporary "praise songs" or even older hymns which look more and more like "idols." You cannot "exhort" with an instrument as Paul reminds us any more than you can teach while speaking in tongues.

Paul did not use the word "worship." The "worship" word is used to instruct Titus to "give head to reading the word and doctrine." Worship in spirit is not with the sex glands equally stimulated with the auditory nerves when the organ begans to rattle our brain in its skull.

For 2,000 years the literate and spiritual scholars understood that there was no more connection between "music and worship" which was in paganism than "sex and worship" which was in paganism.

Vocal-only singing is the only singing I know about. Except in the Greek world, one might read a traditional myth and say: "This ends my songs." A "song" does not demand singing any more than an instrument demands playing.

Fellowship was and is broken by those who add instrumental music with no higher authority than that of the introducers: to attract more people than the church down the street. They were willing to "throw away" the older members in order to attract the young, beautiful and wealthy.

The problem isn't just instrumental music but how people see God, Christ and the Word. We have "gods many and lords many" and undoubtedly Christs many and Bibles many. The method of trying to defend musical sectarianism proves that we have different "spirits."

Introducing instruments with no Biblical arguments broke the fellowship and those who believe that it is a sin to try to worship a Spirit God "in spirit" with a powerful, flesh-stimulator will never have the time nor inclination to worship what Paul called "lifeless instruments" or "carnal weapons."

We also eat steak, icecream and fat-fried catfish in our homes but we are literate enough not to try to force "catfish" on the Lord's Table just because I feel more "spiritual" when eating catfish than unseasoned bread.

There is no "playing instruments" in the Bible in connection with individual worship. Therefore, these arguments are just meaningless. We like music, we add music. We like catfish, we add catfish. Why, because God didn't make a legalistic law: "Thou shalt not eat catfish in addition to the unleavened bread."

The operative command is to "teach" or "preach." We cannot preach with a pipe organ going in church so we don't try it. We don't have a watermelon feed to "teach" one another or "worship" so if someone wants to play an instrument there is no reason why not.

You just miss Paul's message totally if you hallucinate that the reason instruments are not used in "church" is because of some superstition that singing with an instrument is a sin like murder which is a sin wherever it is performed.

But to confuse the issue is not, cannot, be sincere.

Dwaine E. Dunning: But the church is the church whether assembled or when apart. Since God made no worship laws, we're free to worship wherever we are. We're free to worship when alone or in a group of any size. And Christians happily do so. From our hearts, honestly and heartily, we sing aloud to one another and to our God. CHURCH is not a Biblical name. Paul speaking of assembling or gathering used a form of the Greek word synagogue. This was a SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE. All Christians have been added to the BODY of Christ with our citizenship in heaven. However, an ASSEMBLY does not exist if it has not assembled. The Jewish synagogue was more of a community and educational outlet. You could attend the designated times or you could drop in and the scholar would be able to instruct you without a sermon outline. You would NEVER sing in the musical sense in this school. Someone would read a passage and you would respond but NOT as an act. The purpose was to COME LEARN OF ME and then you could return and "sing and make melody IN YOUR HEART" even behind the plow. We have several records of people doing just that.

The Greek Ekklesia was a "meeting" to take care of some community needs. It was not like the modern church with "a king set over us and a standing army" like David to man the temple all week. When the group breaks "assembly" then they are not the "assembly." If on person went to the synagogue for further instructions it would not be an ASSEMBLY even though the word also meant the building. Sure, we all belong to Christ's body and kingdom but we do some things in collective assembly which we do not do at home.

No, again the operative word is not "singing" but teaching: we can sing at home but we cannot play an instrument and teach the revealed Words of Christ at home or in assembly.

There is no "music" connected with the worship of God in the Old or New Testament. Rather, music is a term applied to secular parties or warfare or to calling customers into the prostitute's presence.

from Ray Downen respectfully on this day of the Lord. 417/782-0814 2228 Porter Joplin Mission Outreach. Mail address is P O Box 1065 Joplin MO 64802-1065. Internet home page addr = http://www.sofnet.com/~outreach

See another E-Mail Response to show that the "chief musician" translates a word which means OVERSEER. He drove everyone in ministering to the priests during the burning of the sacrifice and of the huge quantity of animal carcasses. He was slave driver to force the building of the Temple. The word translated "worship" really means meniel bondage.

His "musical" role was filled in every pagan temple in the world.

Dwaine E. Dunning Number One: An AXE at the root of the MUSIC tree. killing off those who, like Daniel, will not bow to instrumental music. Review of Ray Downen's E-mail. Added: R. Christopher Heard, Southern Methodist University Annoints Rubel Shelly and C. Leonard Allen as THOUGHT LEADERS in churches of Christ to defend Dunning's views of Scripture.

Dwaine E. Dunning Number Two: Using the Sword Youthful Friar and Alexander the Great will Solve Music Problem--See James O'Kelly and a similar Methodist attempt to Restore a Catholic or High Church structure.
Dwaine E. Dunning" Number Three First Century Influences on Instrumental Music
Dwaine E. Dunning" Number Four Was Instrumental Music Only for Israel.
Dwaine E. Dunning" Number five Making Melody ln the Heart

E-mail Review by Kenneth Sublett (tired and retired engineer)
Musical Worship Index
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