Musical Worship Teams And the Jubilee Restructure Kenneth L. Sublett
Contrary to the new wineskins movement, Jesus said to put new wine (juice) into a new wine skin which is not contaminated with old leaven and it will be preserved and not ferment. I learned that at about twelve years of age as I washed and sterilized the old, contaminated jars. You never seal newly fermenting wine or it becomes a bomb.In 1987 the Pope called for Jubilee 2000 and lots of groups sprang up to join in the movement to break down the walls and create an ecumenical church movement. Men write books of rules about who and on what level we may fellowship others. The fact is that everyone of us has more than we can handle with family and local church. We may be trying to work off anxiety and run from our responsibility by turning our old exclusive judgmentalism over to the other side of the coin of inclusive judgementalism.
One common theme in religion for the last decade, in many religions, is a restoration of the Jubilee in the hope that God will bring about the kingdom and the Atonement which Christ apparently failed to accomplish on His first, failed try (premillenialism). A sign of the real atonement will be "breaking down the walls" between all religious groups. The Pope will have his final, great Jubilee in the year 2000. Many hope that the real Messiah will rise up and rule. And strange as it seems, research shows that a lot of the clergy are ready to ask: "Is it I?"
Another common theme is "new wine in a new wine skin." The upside down interpretation of Jesus' parable is that He said: "Put new, fermenting, bubbling, intoxicating wine into a new, stretchable wineskin and it can grow to include all denominations." No. No. The following is an interesting translation:
He told them this story: "No one tears a piece of material from a new coat and sews it on an old one. If he does that, he will have ruined the new coat. In addition, the patch from the new coat will not match the old. Both would be ruined. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' That is a natural and obvious conclusion, but I have already proven it false. The new wine that I give is better than the old."
Jesus--and every Jewish school boy--knew that you cannot contain fermenting wine in any wineskin if it is sealed. Jesus never used wine as an example of the gospel. If so He would put it into earthen vessels "clean through the Words I have spoken to you." He would seal it by His Holy Spirit as He certified His Words by the resurrection. He would put it in a cool, safe place by having His Spirit-breathed Words recorded so "that we will have a memory." This would seal the pure "juice" and it would keep forever if revivalists didn't open up the gospel to the leaven of the pharisees (doctors of the law) or Herod (the secular, corporate child).
Our moms knew that! Any high school chemistry student knows that. Bible readers knows that:
Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent; It is ready to burst like new wineskins. Jb 32:19
Fermenting wine will burst a steel-banded cask. "Wine" which is opened up to the air will ferment, turn to vinegar or do its most natural thing--rot. Even large, thick ceramic jars when used for making wine as a poison sometimes used a neat little ball valve. This allowed the gas (hot air) to escape from the "church" without blowing it up and it prevented contaminated air or leaven (false doctrine) from getting in. The wall between the church and the world was never broken down unless you deliberately invites some foreign leaven to enter to start your self-destroyed "wine" to begin fermenting again.
However, the "new wine" lusts for a gospel which is inclusive--no walls--and a bubbling, exhilarating worship service where people act as if wine-influenced. No! This is what Paul condemned in Colosse and Ephesus. He said to fill up with Spirit or the Word and you can sanely teach one another with the unsermonized or "unversified" Words of Christ.
The goal of modern "restructure" is that the old "houses" will be burned down Aztec style and the lands will be "returned to its rightful owners" in the image of a jubilee. The "old gods" or old-preachers-turned-enemies must be ritually murdered and the new gods must "triumph over" by blowing their own little horns. This has its counterpart in Dominion Theology.
Are Anti Musical Instrument and musical worship teams churches Racists
Rubel Shelly sets the stage with red-hot, equilibrium-upsetting code words by comparing the Church of Christ's view of women's roles in worship to racism, sexism and "our" view of slavery in the old South. If I remember a bit of history it was the preachers in step with the slave holding aristocracy who dug up those well-hidden proof-texts in favor of slavery. Most of us were crushed by the same Aristocracy who got rich the old fashioned way: they stole the money from slaves and sharecropers. This same feudalism is mantained by dominant theologians trying to ascend above the other plantation owners. Rubel then directly contradicts the clear statements of Genesis, the evidence of the Old Testament and Paul to speak excathedra with a broad brush to say "let my people go"--
"The Bible is not against women ministering, using their God-given talents, standing up and speaking, administering church programs, singing (congregationally, small groups, or solo), reading Scripture, sharing information about church projects, testifying, teaching sub-groups of the church's membership (whether female, male, or mixed), writing articles or poems that will be used by males, or otherwise participating fully in the life of local churches. A church's failure to encourage the development of female talent and work robs it of countless blessings. That same failure results in buried talents that return no dividend to the owner who entrusted them to the church through its female membership." (Rubel Shelly, Women, Role in Ministry, Faith Matters, Woodmont Hills Church of Christ)
A basic "first principle" is that God does not need our talent to lead the worshipers to the presence of God. Cannot use it. Will not use it in spite of the numbers on Sunday morning. Despises it. Uses despised Nazarines. Uses a small, fragile, baldheaded, bandy-leged, almost blind, despicable man like Paul the Apostle (see Paul and Thecla). Someone has called the search for and honoring charismatic speakers and singers "the idolatry of talent." This would be at home on top of the pyramids called the Towers of Babel in old Iraq.
Non-Sedentary Roles For Women in Church Worship
An important point in Paul's absolute prohibition was against women standing over the flock for any part of the meeting which was primarily for eating the Lord's Supper with our style of preaching a modern addition to the "acts of worship."
Prostemi (g4291) pro-is'-tay-mee; to stand before in upright position; i.e. in rank to preside, or (by impl.) to practice: - maintain, be over, rule.
Pro (g4253) pro; a prim. prep.; "fore", i.e. in front of, prior (fig. superior) to: - above, ago, before, or ever. In comp. it retains the same significations.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 1Th.5:12
Standing over the flock to admonish it with a tune would not be a good legal way to get around Paul
The only way to skirt Paul is to say that he was so uninspired that he picked the wrong creation account.
Jubilee is an appealing affect image because it is the occasion for certain women to assume their inheritance and perhaps hasten the "not-yet-fermented kingdom of God." Because the daughters of Manasseh had no specific tribe the men proposed that:
And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Nu.36:4
To prevent this, Moses made new laws to keep the inheritance from moving from tribe to tribe. Therefore, whatever private deal a person made for buying or renting land it expired at the Jubilee and all property returned to the tribe which was much like a denomination. There should be no tribalism in the church and therefore no reason for a Jubilee. Jesus Christ has accomplished the once-for-all Atonement and, again, there is no reason for a restoration of the Hebrew Jubilee. I have found no direct knowledge that Israel observed the Jubilee nor were chastised for not doing so.
Who is The Messiah of Jubilee 2000
We are aware of men whose authority has corrupted them totally. They claim to be apostles or Christ's representative in this church. It will not be a great leap for one of our local heros to stand up at the last, final Jubilee and claim to be the Messiah. Men are meeting together learning how to be dominion theologians and part of the Christ Team who will dish out rewards and punishment when Messiah comes. Some of them are already rehearsing.
The Jubilee was an effort to triumph over those who bought tribal (denominational) property. The goal was to recover the "congregational churches" and put them under the fellowship umbrella of a new Wineskin model.
The Star of 2000 By Jay Gary
Editor's Note: Because Tabernacles is encompassed by Jubilee, the celebrations in the two seem to become one in this statement. Even in the opening praises of the book, Eagle's Nest Pastor Clarice Fluitt declares,
"This is an incredibly prophetic book. Jay Gary has peered into the spirit realm and drawn from God's secret place. He declares that the church must prepare a celebration, a festival for, about and with Jesus, our honored guest and royal Bridegroom. The Star of 2000 is infused with a biblical revelation of fullness, sonship, maturity, and perfection of the glorious triumphant church - the Feast of Tabernacles. Read the book."
Jubilee is directly connected to Jubal and his family who invented the loud trumpet. This trumpet would have been a great device to call the community into a meeting for honorable purposes. However, all of the children of Lamech have names implicating them in divination or ignoring God's commandments and getting a new message from loud horns and old wineskins. When they assembled, according to contemporary tablets, they broke down the walls between sexes:
Yowbel (h3104) yo-bale'; appar. from 2986; the blast of a horn (from its continuous sound); spec. the signal of the silver trumpets; hence the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced: - jubilee, ram's horn, trumpet
Yabal (h2986) yaw-bal'; a prim. root; prop. to flow; causat. to bring (espec. with pomp): - bring (forth), carry, lead (forth). (Yabbel "having running sores.")
It may not be too far fetched to say that Jubilee was a religious festival devoted to blowing your own horn. With the final Atonement by Jesus, the tribal arrangements have been broken down. The walls between tribes, black and white, Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female have been broken down. However the walls against pagan practices are still closed and the gates had better be locked.
We noted in earlier piece that God permitted the silver trumpets to signal the tribes to move, go into battle or assemble. However, after they assembled for instruction they were not to blow the trumpets as a way to make a joyful sound--to triumph over the Word of God. Therefore, the Jubilee is seen by many as a code word for an assembly to triumph over the church of Christ as a destructive denomination and restore the property to its "rightful owner." Jubilee is not a model for the God-ordained congregational assembly for instruction and edification. God knows there are problems through out the spectrum of churches which tend more toward tribalism than hated tradition.
Rapture or Rape by Exhilarating Wind from Mouth and Instrument
Charismatic styles of singing interfere with the inner prayer (the meaning of hymning) or singing from each member to God as we teach one another. No "worship team" can lead or perform the worship for another. No instrument need sound for God to hear us. It is embarrassingly painful to see anyone who believes that their talent can replace your "widow's mite." Now, people are being hired with the theatrical skills to help lead the worshipers into the presence of God!
Amos condemned Israel for going up to the high places (idol altars) of Samaria. Verse 6:5 in the Septuagint (LXX) version often quoted by Jesus reads--
Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. Am.5:23
Or: who excel (marginal "applaud") in the sound of musical instruments; they have regarded them as abiding, not as fleeting pleasure." Amos 6:5 LXX (Jesus did read this version).
Pepys, ravished (raped) by the sound of wind music in the theatre, was reminded of the time when he was in love with his wife.
"For some people this is the height of enjoyment, provided the music presents no problems. But it is neither a substantial nor a lasting pleasure, and it is limited by the endowments of individual performers."
Most "revival through external movements" betray a nervousness that if the Word of God must now be discarded (it is in most songs, sermons and books) then we need a way to redeem, atone for and restore the church property to "its rightful owner"--Me! The New Year's festival in Jerusalem was condemned because they were not Biblical but were pagan like the nations play Israel wanted to imitate. The battle in Enuma Elish was a battle between the old wineskin parents and grandparents disturbed by all of the outrageous child play and their children and grandchildren who brought us the religion of wine, women and song:
"In the Babylonian cult, for instance, hymns of praise had an important place. Every New Year, when the cycle of the seasons returned to its beginning (Annual and 52-year Jubilee-like ritual of the Aztecs was almost identical to the Babylonians), the worshipers reexperienced and reactualized the victory of the powers of life over the powers of death. The creation myth of Enuma elish depicted the victory of the god Marduk over the dragon of Chaos, Tiamat. Not only was the myth recited, but the battle was reenacted during the festival. At the climax of the celebration worshipers joined in the acclamation, 'Marduk has become king!' This is interpreted to mean that he had reascended his throne for another year." (Bernard Anderson, A Theology of the Old Testament, p. 522).
"According to the system which Nimrod was the grand instrument in introducing, men were led to believe that a real spiritual change of heart was unnecessary, and that so far as change was needful, they could be regenerated by mere external means. Looking at the subject in the light of the Bacchanalian orgies (Read Ephesus and Corinth), which, as the reader has seen, commemorated the history of Nimrod, it is evident that he led mankind to seek their chief good in sensual enjoyment, and showed them how they might enjoy the pleasures of sin, without any fear of the wrath of a holy God.
"In his various expeditions he was always accompanied by troops of women; and by music and song, and games (ritual drama) and revelries, and everything that could please the natural hearts, he commended himself to the good graces of mankind." (Hislop, Alexander, The Two Babylons, p. 55, Loizeaux Brothers)
Remember that it was Ea, the patron god of music, who destroyed the Father god but could not overpower the incantation power of Tiamat, the mother goddess. Ea's son, Marduk, met in a conference or workshop of the gods with the other young turks. He had a deal they couldn't refuse: "If you make me the chief god, I will even destroy my old grandmother." And he did. This is why mounting the Towers of Babel with music must be performed on the annual dates.
The musical religion of Marduk always stood opposed to the Word religion God ordained. Marduk along with Arius led along his female woman's musical worship team. This religion will have been restored when God destroys it with its musical - commercial lusts in Revelation 18.
Jubilee - Messianism - Wineskin Movements
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