Victor Knowles "knowles" that this is a FALSE premise. No
one ever put an organ or a Rock and Roll band into a church
to SET or MAINTAIN the PITCH. They were put in to "collect
the largest miscellaneous crowds." The original SOWERS OF DISCORD said that
IF the instrument were used for WORSHIP then that would
be a sin.
The operative word Paul used was SPEAK
or TEACH which means to PREACH and not SING. The resources
were in Romans15 "that which is written," In Ephesians 5
"the Spirit" and in Col 3 "the Word of Christ." That is
because Jesus Christ--Who refused to SING and DANCE wen
the clergy PIPED--said:
What and if ye shall
see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? John
6:62
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63
That is why the ASSEMBLY
in Paul's writing is a form of the synagogue and "there
was no praise service in the synagogue." Paul's UNIQUE
worship word was to give heed to the reading of the Word.
That is what you DO in a school of the Bible: only
children sing in Sunday school.
Victor Knowles: But then comes the matter
of dancing
and leaping for joy. Here we find ourselves most
uncomfortable. We know that David danced.
Click to see the meaning of RISING UP
TO PLAY. This was the terminal musical idolatry
at Mount Sinai and it was repeated by David who "made
himself vile" where the belief that God cannot punish MAD
men. God permitted David to make animal sacrifices at the
Jebusite High Place in Jerusalem because he was so afraid
of God that he could never return to Gibeon.
"By taking over and adapting Jerusalem's
ancient cult, David provided Israel with a new
worship,
one that featured
his
own status and its sacral significance. Britannica OR Here
We also noted that
the Bible is clear that both Israel and Judah worshiped
like the nations.
And walked in the statutes of
the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel,
and (statutes) of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 2 Kings 17: 8
And David and all the
house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 2 Sam 6:5
Long afterward, the
ritual of the civil state was combined with the
sacrifices commanded by God.
- And the priests
waited on their offices:
- the Levites also with instruments of
musick of the Lord,
- which David
the king had made
- to praise the
Lord, because his mercy endureth for ever,
- when David
praised by their ministry;
- and the priests
sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.
2Chr.7:6
Some of these
instruments were not allowed in the Temple. Therefore, God warns about
how we act even outside.
Stephen includes the Sinai event,
the Amos story and the fact that God doesn't "really live
in buildings." For this, the Jewish clergy had him
murdered. Because David actually believed that God dwelled
in the "box" he was not the "pattern" for "an act of
worship.:
"The ritual dance was probably widespread in
the ancient East. David's performance has Egyptian parallels. Seti I, the father of Rameses II,
and three other Pharaohs are said to have danced before an deity (Budge, The Book of the
Dead, I, xxxv), and Asiatic monuments attest the custom
elsewhere." (Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
"Probably the dancers in some cases joined hands and formed a ring, or part of a ring, as in
some heathen
representations. The description of David's dance: he
'danced before
Jehovah
with all his might... leaping and dancing before Jehovah' (2 S
6:14-16) suggests" (writer then compared to three forms
of heathen
dance).
(Int. Std. Bible Ency., p. 1169-70).
The epod was a short
vest and began as a feminine overgarment as all of the
music was stolen from young girls and women. It was open
on the sides.
"Wearing a linen ephod, David once performed an ecstatic (charismatic) dance before the ark of
the Lord.
From the fact that
his wife Michal chided him for having uncovered himself before his servant's
handmaidens (2 Sam. 6:20),
it seems likely
that the king's exhibition was vulgar and revealing. Apparently as a retaliation for her scolding, David fathered no
children by Michal (2 Sam. 6:23)" (Garrison, Web, Strange Facts About
the Bible, Abingdon, Nashville., p. 31-32).
Victor Knowles: But so did the daughter of Herodias! Shades of Salome! Shall
we unveil
the dance
of the seven veils on the platform of the church? Heaven
forbid. (Some insist heaven does!) And "leaping for joy?"
Maybe the lame man
at the Gate Beautiful, who was healed by Peter, went
to the temple walking and leaping and praising God, but we rather reserved
Restorationists might consider that display of emotion
a bit much.
Interesting that the
SONG and DANCE they tried to induce into Jesus and others
in the religion of Jerusalem under the Kenites was used
ONLY by one other case: The daughter of Herodias. She
danced the sexual dance which allowed her step father to
murder John the Baptists just as they murdered Jesus
because He would not BOW.
Aristotle notes that leaping is
LOCOMOTION and not "worship." [3] And the same is true
of walking and the other forms of locomotion. For if locomotion is
motion from one point in space to another,
and if this is of
different kinds, flying, walking, leaping and the like, and not only so,
but if there are also differences in walking itself
(for the terminal points of a race course are not the same as
those of a portion of the course, nor are those of one
portion the same as those of another; nor is
traversing this line the same as traversing that one.
The dramatic dance with the chorus and
lamenting for Dionysus would have meant that the
paganistic Jews would have triumphed over Jesus with their
pipes or trumpets. This perverse act is define by Joseph
Campbell:
"This cry of Zeus, the Thunder-hurler, to
the child, his son, Dionysos, sounds the leitmotif of the Greek
mysteries of the initiatory second birth (Second Incarnation)..The word 'Dithyrambos' itself, as an epithet of the killed and resurrected Dionysos, was understood by the
Greeks to signify 'him of the double door', him who had survived the awesome miracle of the second birth." - Joseph Campbell,
The Hero
With a Thousand Faces
"A fourth-century BC
hymn in honor of dionysus contains the invocation:
'Come to us, King Dithyramb, Bacchus, god of the holy chant.'"
Dithurambos, Dithyramb "comes to be
used of a Dionysiac song which possessed some infectious quality that led his votaries to
take it up as a ritual chant. Later it became the
subject for competition at Dionysiac festivals,
and with its formalization it lost any spontaneity it
may have possessed originally."
Hoping that Jesus
was Bacchus or Dionysus:
But whereunto shall
I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets,
and calling unto their fellows,
And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have
not lamented. Mt.11:17 Mt 11:16
Mourned is:
Threneo (g2354) thray-neh'-o;
from 2355; to bewail: - lament, mourn.
Thriambeuo (g2358)
three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol. comp. of the base of
2360 and a der. of 680 [touch or set on fire] (mean.
a noisy iambus, sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an
acclamatory procession, i.e. (fig.) to conquer or
(by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph
(over).
Throeo (g2360) thro-eh'-o;
from threomai , (to wail); to clamor, i.e. (by
impl.) to frighten: - trouble
"At the beginning of
the fifth century BC tragedy formed part of the Great
Dionysia, the Spring festival of Dionysos Eluethereus. Three poets completed, each contributing three tragedies and one satyric play.
The latter was
performed by choruses of fifty singers in a
circle,
dressed as satyrs, part human, part bestial, and
bearing before them huge replicas of the erect penis (i.e. church steeples or
columns or asherahs), as they sang dithyrambs." - John M. Allegro, The Sacred Mushroom and
the Cross
"The gods, forsooth, delight in mimics; and that surpassing
excellence which has not been comprehended by any human
faculty, opens its ears most willingly to hear these plays, with most of which they know they are mixed
up to be
turned to derision; they are delighted, as it
is, with the shaved heads of fools, by the sound of flaps, and by the noise of applause." (Arnobius Against the Heathen, Ante-Nicene Fathers, VI,
p. 531).
Satyr Play
In the Satyr Play
(Saturikon) the chorus members (who belong to a
Dionysian Society) dress up as the God's companions to celebrate His Phallic
Power.
Its subject is related to that of the Tragedies, but
brings the Hero down a peg by its earthy humor. Some
Satyr Plays hint at initiation into a Dionysian Thiasos
(Society) through riddles or stories concerning release
from the Underworld, or the capture and escape of the
Satyrs, or the care of Divine Children.
In many ways the Satyr
Play reveals deeper mysteries than the Tragedies or
Comedies; it is the most ancient Mystery Play (predating
the Tragedies and Comedies, which developed from it).
There will be two or
three actors, a reed-flute player, and a chorus of twelve, who will be dressed as
tipsy
Silenoi
(horse-men), Satyrs (goat-men) or various blends of
the two. Thus they wear short pants to which a large
Phallus and a horse's tail are attached; they also wear
soft dancing shoes that resemble hooves. The chorus leader will
play Silenos, the traditional drunken attendant of
Dionysus; he will wear a shaggy costume resembling an animal skin and
over his shoulder a panther hide (a traditional
attribute of Dionysos). Wine and dance are
proverbially connected, for one must dance on the
grapes to make wine, and the wine in turn makes you
dance!
. This especially associates the Satyrs
with the Divine Shepherd Pan (called Aposkopos, "Beholding from Afar"). Thus Dionysian
routs often include Pans, Satyrs and Silenoi
indiscriminately.
Similar Latin
Canatim , adv. [canis] , in the manner of a dog,
like a dog, kunκdon,
Kuτn
I. a dog or bitch,
Hom., etc.; most commonly of hounds, id=Hom., etc.; the
Laconian breed was famous, Soph.;-- nκ or ma ton kuna
was the favourite oath of Socrates, Plat.: cf.
trapezeus.
II. as a word of
reproach, to denote shamelessness or audacity in women,
rashness, recklessness in men, Hom.
2. at Athens a
nickname of the Cynics, Arist., Anth.
II. the Trag. apply
the term to the ministers
of the gods; the eagle is Dios ptκnos kuτn Aesch.; the griffins Zκnos akrageis kunes id=Aesch.; the Bacchantes
Lussκs k. Eur., etc.
IV. a sea-dog,
mentioned as a fish in Od.
V. the dog-star, i. e. the dog of Orion, placed among the
stars with its master, Il.
[akrageis kunes = barkless
dogs]
For dogs have
compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed
me: they pierced my hands and my feet. Ps.22:16
His watchmen are blind: they are all
ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down,
loving to slumber. Is.56:10
Keleb (h3611) keh'leb; from an
unused root mean. to yelp, or else to attack; a dog;
hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute: - dog.
Yea, they are greedy
dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their
own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Isa
56:11
Come ye, say they, I
will fetch
wine,
and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as
this day, and much more abundant. Isaiah 56: 12
But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Isaiah 57:3
Against whom do ye sport (effeminate play as at Mount Sinai
and by David moving the ark) yourselves? against whom
make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the
tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, Isaiah 57:4
Sport: Anag (h6028) aw-nag'; a prim.
root; to be soft or pliable, i. e. (fig.) effeminate or luxurious: - delicate (-ness),
(have) delight (self), sport self.
Sachaq (h7832) saw-khak'; a prim.
root; to laugh (in pleasure or detraction); by impl. to
play: - deride, have in derision, laugh, make merry,
mock (-er), play, rejoice, (laugh to) scorn, be in
(make) sport.
The Jewish clergy
are identified as children of the Devil who "spoke of
himself" and as "seed of the vipers."
Victor Knowles: Well, maybe we might walk and even praise God a
little, but as for "leaping for joy"--
...... we would rather remain lame.
It's not a beautiful
gate we want to enter.
...... It's a dutiful gate at best! It's just not how we "do
church."
There are 168 hours a week and Knowles
is free to sing, leap, strip naked like David to MAKE
HIMSELF VILE or whaterver strikes his fancy. However, it a
giant LEAP for mankind to think of this as an ACT OF
WORSHIP which can be exploited by a LEAP MINISTER.
"The development both
of religion and of the arts can be traced back in a continuous line
to the hunting era. The group ritual of the primeval tribesmen were the origin not only
of all religious
ceremonial, but also of the drama and of poetry and music, while magic gave birth to the visual arts." (Parkes, Henry Bamford,
Gods and Men The Origins of Western Culture, p. 30,
Knopf)
Beecher, commenting on the musical
idolatry at Mount Sinai compares it to David's naked dance
as he believed that he "dragged along" God--
"The Hebrew verb means
to dance
to music, vocal and instrumental. See 1 Chron. 13:8)"
(Cook). "This was playing before the ark, as it slowly
made progress; that is, there were evolutions and
marching figures and religious dances" (Professor
Beecher, quoted by Peloubet's Selects Notes, 1903, p.
270).
When the Israelites "rose up to play" we
are pointed to the "sending across the sea" rituals of
paganism (Rom. 10:5f) to see that the outrageous acts were
really a "ritual drama" which forced their god to imitate
them. From the context of Amos it is clear that they
"dragged their god along" with music. In later years this
practice continued and Tertullian taunted those who
adopted pagan worship by saying--
"The writer of comedy,
expressing his dissatisfaction with the common usages,
tries to expose the impious arrogance of the prevailing
error in the drama of the Priestess, sagely declaring:
'If a man drags the
Deity
Whither he will by the sound of cymbals,
He that does this is greater than the Deity;
But these are the instruments of audacity and
means of
living Invented by men.|
(Tertullian, Exhortation to the Heathen, Ante-Nicene,
II, p. 193).
See that Musical Drama is always
idolatry.
While the people thought they were
worshipping, God said--
Moses saw that the
people were running wild and that
Aaron had let them get out of control and so
become a laughingstock to their enemies." --
Exo 32:25
In the LXX, "Moses saw that they were scattered."
The "spiritual exercises" which they thought looked good
was seen by others as utter madness. The result was that
they were "scattered" or divided and God would destroy
those who had run wild. Of this use of music and dance to
induce ecstasy one writer said:
Not to be overlooked
here is the accompaniment of music and dancing which, with the character
of the ensuing phenomena, makes the diagnosis (of idolatry) certain."
(Schaff-Herzog, Ecstasy, p. 71).
"The triumphal hymn of
Moses had unquestionably a religious character about it;
but the employment
of music in religious services,
though
idolatrous,
is more
distinctly marked in the festivities which attended
the erection of the golden calf." (Smith's Bible
Dictionary, Music, p. 589).
Victor Knowles: Even though our spiritual ancestors
danced
and leaped for joy at Cane Ridge, the mother of us all, and did a few other
things that we would rather forget. Or am I barking up
the wrong tree here?
Suicide and religious division was a primary product of the First and
Second "Great American Awakening." Someone has noted that
there was a POPULATION EXPLOSION about nine months after
the "revivalist" began their voodoo.
Notice what an an Orthodox who calls the church The Church of Christ says:
The deceit was
uncovered only when the fathers of the monastery found
out about his aversion for the New Testament (although the Old
Testament, which he had never read, he could quote by
heart), and by their prayers he was brought to
repentance, his "miracles" ceased, and later he attained
to genuine sanctity. Again, St. Isaac of the Kiev Caves
(Feb. 14) saw a great light and "Christ" appeared to him
with "angels"; when Isaac, without making the sign of
the Cross, bowed down before "Christ," the demons gained power over
him and,
after dancing wildly with him, left him
all but dead. He also later attained genuine sanctity.
There are many similar cases when "Christ" and "angels"
appeared to ascetics and granted astonishing powers and
"gifts of the Holy Spirit," which often led the deluded
ascetic finally to insanity or suicide.
It occurred to me that
these people were having a good time praying! Is that what they meant
by the Holy Spirit dwelling amongst them?" And at
another Catholic Pentecostal meeting, "except for the
fact that no one was drinking, it seemed like a cocktail
party"
(Ranaghan, pp. 157, 209). At interdenominational
"charismatic" meetings the atmosphere is likewise
sufficiently informal that no one is surprised when the
"spirit" inspires an elderly woman, in the midst of a
fit of general weeping, to stand up and "dance a little jig" (Sherrill, p. 118). To
the sober Orthodox Christian, the first thing noticeable
about such an atmosphere is its total lack of what he
knows in his own Divine services as genuine piety and awe, proceeding from the fear of God. And this first impression
is only strikingly confirmed by observation of the truly
strange effects which the Pentecostal "spirit" produces
when it descends into this loose atmosphere. We shall
now examine some of these effects, placing them before
the judgment of the Holy Fathers of the Church of Christ.
Many, many examples
could be collected of this truly strange reaction to a
"spiritual" experience, and some "charismatic"
apologists have a whole philosophy of "spiritual joy"
and "God's foolishness" to explain it. But this
philosophy is not in the least Christian; such a concept
as the "laughter of the Holy Spirit" is unheard of in
the whole history of Christian thought and experience.
Here perhaps more clearly than anywhere else the
"charismatic revival" reveals itself as not at all
Christian in religious orientation; this experience is
purely worldly and pagan, and where it cannot be
explained in terms of emotional hysteria (for Fr.
Eusebius, indeed, laughter provided "relief" and
"release" from "an intense feeling of self-consciousness
and embarrassment" and "emotional devastation"), it can
only be due to some degree of "possession" by one or
more of the pagan gods, which the Orthodox church calls
demons.
Shamanism The necessary spiritistic
atmosphere is commonly induced by artificial means, such
as the singing of hymns, the playing of soft music, and even the offering of
prayer."
As opposed to the true
Orthodox spiritual life, the "charismatic revival" is
only the experiential side of the prevailing "ecumenical" fashion - a counterfeit Christianity
that betrays Christ and His Church. No Orthodox "charismatic"
could possibly object to the coming "Union" with those
very Protestants and Roman Catholics with whom, as the
interdenominational "charismatic" song goes, they are
already "one in the Spirit, one in the Lord," and who
have led them and inspired their "charismatic"
experience. The "spirit" that has inspired the
"charismatic revival" is the spirit of antichrist , or
more precisely those "spirits of devils" of the last
times whose "miracles" prepare the world for the false
messiah.
"Little Children,
it is the Last Hour" (1 John 2:18)
It was this urge to UNITY which turned
out to be the urge to SHEEP STEALING which caused the
mental and moral breakdown in BOURBON county.
Those at Caneridge are NOT my spiritual
ancestors. First, they were led by Barton W. Stone seeking
a MACHINERY to generate the "exercises." This could be
TURNED IN at Calvinist churches as proof that one had been
PREDESTINATED and had received the high sign.
As the revival
interest grew, and as the meeting became larger and longer, unexpected and bizarre
manifestations, called 'exercises,' began to occur. They
were considered visible manifestations of the direct action of the Holy
Spirit...
The commonest were the 'falling exercise' and the
'jerks.' The names are sufficiently explanatory. The
barking exercise sometimes accompanied the jerks, and
the dancing
exercise grew out of them. There was also the running
exercise. It was reported that those who came to scoff
were not immune to these seizures. However, it was only the devout who
ever experienced the laughing exercise. (Winfred E.
Garrison and Alfred T. DeGroot, The Disciples of Christ,
St. Louis: The Bethany Press, 1948, p. 99).
Later, Campbell wrote to dispute that
the church is the product of Cane Ridge--
When then shall we
think of that religion which is the mere offspring of
excited feelings--of sympathy with tones, and attitudes, and gestures--of the noise, and tumults, and shoutings of enthusiasm--of the machinery of the mourning bench, the
anxious seat, the boisterous interlocutory prayers,
intercessions, and exhortations to 'get religion on the
spot'
etc., with which all are conversant who frequent revival
meetings in seasons of great excitement. (Millenial
Harbinger. 1840:167)
THAT was the spiritual DNA of the later
Christian churches but the churches of Christ NEVER
experienced what historically is identified as witchcraft
or insanity or even devil worship.
The brief brush with the "holiness
movement" by Restoration churches was really a "brush off"
and there was never any serious ecstatic manifestation in
churches which depended upon Scripture for sole authority.
In 1853 W. K. Pendelton wrote of
these earlier events:
Simply that it was a
peculiar form of nervous disease, that was both epidemic
and contagious. It came suddenly, as the destruction and
the pestilence, both at noonday and in
darkness--seized upon all classes and conditions, good
and bad, old and young, male and female, bond and free,
saint and sinner; affected them all with the same
characteristic symptoms of bodily derangement--tarried for a season and
then disappeared. Its effect on the mind, so far as it
was peculiar, was simply excitement. No new truths were
communicated,--no old errors corrected--nor miraculous
utterances given; but simply an excitement, despondent
or hopeful, gloomy or joyful, clear or confused,
according to the convictions of the mind at the time of
the attack and influence of circumstances during its
continuance. (quoted by Randall, p. 373).
The fact is that what happened at
Caneridge was almost identical to ancient and even modern DEVIL WORSHIP among some tribes
in Iraq:
Victor Knowles: So why steer you out on the
ballroom floor with this title: "Dancing At Arm's
Length?"
First: Dancing! Is this not one
of the seven cardinal sins? In the 1600's a Puritan,
Second: Philip Stubbs, bemoaned the practice
of dancing around the Maypole: "What clipping,
what culling, what kissing and bussing, what smooching
and slabbering of one another, what filthy
groping and unclean handling is not practiced at these
dancings."
Maybe this is
where we get the term "dirty dancing."
And if so, it appears
to STILL be acceptable? Victor Knowles is going to
ridicule Stubbs and affirm the DANCING which he bemoans!
Victor doesn't grasp the
connection with ANY form of charismatic rituals which
EXCITE the passions. ALL such practices including MUSIC
had SEXUALITY as its only meaning: trying to dance with
God, undoubtedly, but I don't get the impulse to dance
with a MALE God. For instance,
In the "Encyclopedia
of Religion," edited by Mercia Eliade and published by
Macmillian Publishing Company for the University of
Chicago, there are references to these Sheila-Na-Gigs (sometimes spelled
Sheelagh-na-gig). Notice what the encyclopedia tells us
about them:
"Aside from the transformative religious mysteries of sacrifice and initiation, the obvious life-giving
and growth-promoting powers of the vulva and its secretions have given rise to a
widespread use of representations of the female
genitalia as apotropaic devices.
The delicious
"incense" and "drink" provided by a menstruating woman
was the reason they SHOULD NOT engage in religious
rituals. The story is too long to tell. But, you do know
that when the Jews ATE the sacrifices made to Baal-Peor
the previous "worshiper" had deficated and spread it on
the idol's nose. All such rituals including music was an
attempt to HAVE SEX with the gods. In fact, the idea of
ridiculing the gods to shame them into action was common
in the musical rituals. Remember that Elijah taunted
Jezebel's musical prophesiers by asking, in effect, "has
your god turned aside to take a leak?"
"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.
That intends to be explicitly
sexual. Carol Wimber, mother of the end-times
praise singing says so. After you have sex with
"god" brought on by music the next act is GIVING OF
MEANS. Music has always been used to seduce you out of
your hard earned money and music has the universal
meaning (in worship) of fornication and sodomy.
The custom of plowing a furrow for magical protection around a town was
practiced all over Europe by peasants. It was still
observed in the twentieth century in Russia, where
villages were thus annually 'purified.'
The practice was
exclusively carried out by women, who, while plowing, called on the moon goddess. A similar apotropaic
function seems to have prompted the placing of squatting female figures prominently
exposing
their open vulvas on the key of arches at church
entrances
in Ireland, Great Britain, and German Switzerland. In
Ireland these figures are called Sheelagh-na-gigs. Some of these figures
represent emaciated old women. These images are
illustrations of myths concerning the territorial Celtic
goddess who was the granter of royalty. When the goddess
wished to test the king-elect, she came to him in the
form of an old hag, soliciting sexual intercourse. If the king-elect
accepted, she transformed herself into a radiantly
beautiful young woman and conferred on him royalty and
blessed his reign. Most such figures were removed from
churches in the nineteenth century. [We have pictures]
"The Christian church opposed
May festivals. A 16th century English Puritan writer
Philip Stubes, railed against May pole dancing. He said, "What clipping,
what culling, what kissing and bussing, what smooching
and slobbering one of another, what filthy groping and
unclean handling is not practiced in the dances." Stubes estimated, though
how he got his statistics is unknown, probably from
peeping through bushes, that not one girl in three
retained her virginity after taking part in May pole
rituals. After dancing around the Maypole celebrants would
retire to the open fields where they would have sex with anyone and everyone in the plowed fields in order to insure the
fertility of the land and prosperous yield of crops. May
was a month of sexual freedom throughout rural Europe up
to the 16th century. Marriage bonds were suspended for
the month of May, commenced again in June - hence, June
weddings.
The CLERGY tried
this on Jesus: In Roman times, Bacchus, the god of
wine, became the lord of these festivals. During the
Bacchanalian festivals the everyday rules were turned
topsy turvy. The masters waited on the servants. All
sexual prohibitions were lifted. It was a time of true
good will towards all men. Even dresses were exchanged
with men dressing as women. Erotic dances were performed with a large erect phallus being carried around in
the dancing processionals.
Note that the
Abomination of Desolation included music and sex right
there in the holy places. See 2 Maccabees
The custom of
exchanging clothes during Saturnalia and Bacchanalia was an activity frowned
upon by the Jews and Christians as it is prohibited by
the Bible, Deuteronomy 22;5 "The woman shall not wear
that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man
put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord
thy god"
So much for Biblical transvestites.
Please note that Rubel
Shelly says that John got the idea of the LOGOS from
Greek Philosophy. However, they were not the same. The
logos or messenger of the gods was Mercury or Hermes. Click Here. Note the musica-Magica
connection above.
However, the god
Hermes in order to become a god of magic went into the temple of his consort
Aphrodite
where he wore a woman's robes and artificial breasts. In the temple he learned
all the secrets of the Goddess Aphrodite [Lucifer, Helios, Phos,
Zoe] which
were exclusively taught to her female priestesses. The
priests of the very masculine Greek hunk, Hercules,
always wore female dress, probably in memory of
Hercules service in female dress to the Queen Omphale.
Zeus had sent Hercules to be a slave to the Queen for
having killed a young man, Eurytus, after his father had
insulted Hercules.
The Ephod worn by the
"like the nations' priests" and by David before he went
naked was a FEMALE GARMENT.
See how this fits the Praise Craze
as one of the world's oldest and most ignorant
superstitions.
That could define
Caneridge and later "awakenings."
How musical idolatry was restored
after the flood:
"Now therefore, since
you do not yet understand how great darkness of ignorance
surrounds you, meantime I wish to explain to you whence the worship of idols
began in this world.
And by idols, I mean
those lifeless
images
which you worship, whether made of wood, or earthenware,
or stone, or brass, or any other metals: of
these the beginning was in this wise.
Certain angels, having
left the course of their proper order, began to favour the vices of men, [Comp. Homily VIII.
13.-R.] and in some measure to lend unworthy aid to
their lust,
in order that by
these means they might indulge their own pleasures
the more;
and then, that they might not seem to be inclined of their
own accord to unworthy services,
taught men that demons could, by certain arts-that is, by magical invocations-be made to obey men;
and so, as from a
furnace and workshop of
wickedness, they filled the whole world with the smoke of impiety, the light of piety
being withdrawn.
"But when all these
things were done, men turned again to impiety; [ and on this account a
law was given by God to instruct them in the manner of
living.
But in process of
time, the worship of God and righteousness were
corrupted by the unbelieving and the wicked, as we
shall show more fully by and by.
Moreover, perverse and erratic religions were
introduced, to which the greater part of men gave
themselves up,
by occasion of holidays and solemnities, instituting drinkings
and banquets,
following pipes, and flutes, and harps, and diverse kinds of
musical
instruments, and indulging themselves in all
kinds of drunkenness and luxury.
Hence every kind
of error took rise; hence they invented groves and altars, fillets
and victims, and after drunkenness they were agitated as
if with mad emotions.
By this means power
was given to the demons to enter into minds of this sort, so that they seemed to
lead insane
dances
and to rave
like Bacchanalians; hence were invented the gnashing of
teeth, and bellowing from the depth of their bowels;
hence a terrible countenance and a fierce aspect in
men, so that he whom drunkenness had subverted and a demon had instigated, was believed by the
deceived and the erring to be filled with the Deity.
And yet! And yet! And
yet, we appeal to Jeff Walling who dares to dance with God
so that Knowles can at least dance AT ARM'S LENGTH:
Victor Knowles: And yet it was a Church of Christ minister (Jeff Walling!) who in
1996 came out with a book titled (gasp!) Daring
to Dance With God (Howard Publishing). O the scandal! O
the shock! Walling opened with a hilarious
if not painful illustration of a girl (a beautiful
girl from French class) asking him to dance at a 1950's
sock hop. Walling was a "good non-dancing Church of
Christ boy." O the dilemma! As a fellow GNDCCB, who
grew up not far from where Buddy Holly and the Big
Bopper went down,
I was instantly in tune with his tome with the tantalizing title.
Oh! so
theatrical! So...So...oh!
I did a review of
it in our Fall 1996 One Body. It was favorable. Not of dancing--of the
book--the concept of stepping into God's embrace.
"All singers and musicians were happy
to be the HAREM OF THE GODS."
You may want to review the fact that
Jeff Walling has made a shocking and HILARIOUS career out
of making fun of non-instrumentalists. Remember that old Jeff is trained in
THEATER. Sure, old Victor would love him and imitate him
but I would watch for what Plato claimed to be GENDER
BLEED.
Jeff Walling Index including an
edge-of-witchcraft fella trained in theater.
Then look particularly at how he
advises church of Christ ministers to jump boat.
Aldus Huxley, a Lynn Anderson
resource, warns us as Rubel Shelly wants to turn from
WORD to IMAGE which is effeminate.
The latest DITTO HEAD
theme is turning from the WORD to symbols and images.
Karen Armstrong notes that the WORD is masculine-oriented
and the "men" in the writings of Amos could hardly bear to
enter into dialog with God. She also notes that images
speaks of the effeminate mind. Nevertheless, Lynn Anderson
and Rubel Shelly make their appeal:
"Intellectualism has snuffed out a simple faith in the Bible as the primary
means through which the Creator has sought to reveal Himself to
man. This
lack of adherence to the essential doctrines of the Christian faith is evident in many
of the incidents included in the report.
Lynn Anderson: Sounds
right to me, Mr. Huxley! Something like this can
happen to faith as well. The rational, informational, and linear-sequential worlds of productivity tend to dominate in our
lives these days.
Consequently, the rest of our worlds suffer neglect, and we
are losing touch with much of what it means to believe.
The rest of the
story told by Huxley includes just this:
"Abused as we abuse it at present,
dramatic
art (preaching) is in no sense cathartic;
it is merely a form of emotional masturbation. It is the rarest thing to
find a player who has not had his character affected for the worse by the practice of his profession.
Nobody can make a
habit of self-exhibition, nobody can exploit his personality for the sake of exercising a kind of hypnotic power over others, and remain untouched by the process. From Source
See Lynn Anderson and the Dancing On
the Rim Image. This presents the Judas Image: his bag
was for "carrying the mouthpieces of wind instruments"
and Psalm 41 predicted that he would ultimately fail in
his triumph over which means "playing instruments and
making a joyful noise before the Lord" as the Pagan war
chant.
"On November 4-7,
1993, an ecumenical conference called "Re-Imagining A Global Theological
Conference
by Women"
was held in conjunction with the World Council of
Churches' Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity
with Women. Throughout the conference, Sophia was worshiped as a
deity.
Call her ZOE,
HALAL, A CAPPELLA or whatever, it is the feminine
Victor Knowles: All that to say this. It is
almost a
miracle
that some Churches of Christ and Christian Churches are
dancing
together
at all. We do have our disagreements. We do have our
differences. We do have the debates of the past that
still ring in our ears.
When you see the unnatural of
two women dancing together you don't automatically assume
that they are FORCING themselves into one another's
embrace! ALL of the participants in this dance of death
are actively or have already
TRANSPORTED their congregation onto the DANCE FLOOR. Predictable, many of the OWNERS flee
when--as is well known--"musicians both attract and cause
revulsion. However, they are making a place for the
perverted in the mainstream."
The DEBATES still ring because the Bible
has never changed ITS mind in associating MUSIC AS WORSHIP
with people telling God: "We will not listen to your
words." As Calvin noted, the length that a heresy has
existed does not change its stripes.
Victor Knowles: Before we discuss some of
the positive things we are doing together, let me
acknowledge that we do have some differences. The name of the church is
one.
While you will find some Christian Churches that use the
name Church of Christ you will never find a Church of
Christ that uses the name Christian Church. Some will
insist, "Call the church after Christ's name." O.K. His name is Jesus. Christ is His office.
Perhaps we are both off course here.
Jesus was a human: a "body prepared for
me." Christ was WITH God because He WAS God. He laid aside
His majesty and glory as one lays aside garments. He took
on the 'clothing' of a human in order to suffer and die.
Jesus IS the Christ OF GOD. Therefore, in the BIBLE
the title is the churches of
Christ or the church of God IN Christ.
There is no historical reference which I
can find where the CHURCH or body is named after its ARMS
AND LEGS rather than its HEAD.
Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly,
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both
Lord and
Christ.Ac.2:36
The identifier HONORS Christ who IS TOTALLY GOD and not Jesus.
Salute one another
with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. Rom 16:16
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine
which ye have
learned; and avoid them. Rom 16:17
For they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and
fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Rom 16:18
2 Cor 2:17 For we are not as many,
which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak
we in Christ.
Kapeleuo (g2585) kap-ale-yoo'-o; from kapelos ,
(a huckster); to retail, i.e. (by impl.) to adulterate (fig.): - corrupt, sell learning by retail,
hawk it about, of prostitutes playing
tricks
with life
Jesus identified the professionals
who USE music and musicians by quoting from both Isaiah
and Ezekiel. Here is the MARK of profiteers:
- My people come to
you, as they usually do,
- and sit before
you to listen to your words,
- but they do not
put them into practice.
- With their mouths
they express devotion,
- but their hearts
are greedy
for unjust gain. Ezek 33:31
-
- Indeed, to them you
are nothing
more
than one who sings love (amorous) songs
- with a beautiful
voice
- and plays an instrument
well,
- for they
hear your words
- but do not
put them into practice. Ezek 33:32
Hdt.1.155 Heredotus: Cyrus told how to take the FIGHT out of
the enemy: [4] But
pardon the Lydians, and give them this command so that
they not revolt or pose a danger to you: send and forbid
them to possess weapons of war,
............and order them to wear tunics under their
cloaks
........... and knee-boots on their feet,
........... and to teach their sons lyre-playing
[kitharizein]
........... and song [psallein] and
dance
............and shop-keeping [huckstering].
........... And quickly, O king,
........... you shall see them become women instead
of men,
........... so that you need not fear them, that they might revolt."
Victor Knowles: His name is Jesus
For this cause have I
sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and
faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into
remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in
every church. 1Co.4:17
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: 1
Cor 1:2
Wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have
known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no
more. 2 Cor 5: 16
Therefore if any man
be in
Christ,
he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold,
all things are become new. 2 Cor 5: 17
To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the
word of
reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:19
Picking a GENERIC NAME
of the believers is not the way to honor Christ nor is it
anything but failure to RECONCILE people.
Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by
us: we pray you in Christs stead, be ye reconciled to
God. 2
Cor 5: 20
For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. 2 Cor 5: 21
For ye have heard of
my conversation in time past in the Jews religion, how
that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: Gal 1:13
And was unknown by
face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ. Gal 1:22
Unto him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen. Ep.3:21
For the husband is the
head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of
the body Ep.5:23
Therefore as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own
husbands in every thing. Ep.5:24
Husbands, love your
wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave
himself for it; Ep.5:25
This is a great mystery:
but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Ep.5:32
In the body of his flesh through
death,
to present
you holy
and unblameable and unreproveable in his
sight:
Col 1:22
He said unto them,
But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God. Lu.9:20
Who now rejoice in
my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is
behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his bodys sake, which is the church: Col.1:24
The mystical body
of Christ must therefore be The Church of Christ!
PAUL, and Silvanus,
and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and
peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th.1:1
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a
sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:8
For ye, brethren,
became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things
of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: (ekklesia=synagogue) Heb
2:14
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Eph
3:16
And whatsoever ye do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
and the Father by him. Eph 3:17
CHRISTIAN is NOT the
name of Jesus Christ which is most often shortened to
CHRIST.
Victor Knowles: Another difference is the
way we interpret
Scripture.
Conservative Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have
a tendency to be loose constructionists of Scripture
whereas Churches of
Christ tend to be strict constructionists of
Scripture. The former can lead to liberalism and the latter can lead to legalism. Neither approach has to
lead to these ditches on the side of the road. Both
groups respect the authority of Scripture and accept
the inspiration of Scripture.
Dallas Burdette: Praise does its
work among humans as much as it does
among the heavenly host.
|
It is not possible to
find a more LEAGALISTIC and indeed SUPERSTITIOUS concept
than that MUSIC can be used to worship a Holy (wholly)
Spirit God. The Praise Leader or Encomiast even at the
Towers of Babylon:
"The necromancer or
soothsayer gained their power through magical incantations. The sound of brass, pipe or string imitated the music of the seven
heavenly spheres. As a result,
the gods were
forced to give material and sensual blessings." Enuma Elish III.101;
IV. 1-26, 91 and other Near Eastern Manuscripts.
See how Richard L. Hamm of the
disciples explains the "loose construction" This is
what brought about the Christian churches which
degenerated into the Disciples.
See Rubel Shelly and John York
(DLC) promoting COMMUNITY INTERPRETATION:
Individuals have no right.
Alfred T. DeGroote uses the same
principle. However, the so-called High Church of
interpretation was never put to a vote and never
approved. Catholics agree with churches of Christ about
music but gives herself authority to violate Scripture.
Here are two articles to show that the right to LOOSE UP
Scripture was never granted
Alexander Hislop against music.
See Also Hugh Brown and the High
Church authority
See John Wesley who saw up through
the third century for church authority.
Because Victor Knowles uses John
Wesley as authority it is interesting that he--and
ALL--define authority for faith and
practice:
22. Perhaps some may
ask, 'Ought we not then to inquire what is the will of
God in all things? And ought not His will to be the
rule of our practice?' Unquestionably it ought.
But how is a sober
Christian to make this inquiry? to know what is the
will of God?
Not by waiting for
supernatural
dreams; not by expecting God to reveal it in visions; not by looking for
any particular impressions or sudden impulses on his mind: no; but by consulting the
oracles of God. 'To the law and to the testimony!'
This is the general method of knowing what is 'the
holy and acceptable will of God.'
Victor Knowles: We also have our
differences as to the so-called "silence" of the
Scriptures. We tend to view silence as
permissive whereas you tend to view it as prohibitive.
There are inconsistencies on both sides of the
keyboard. Perhaps silence is merely passive. (I have
written at length on this matter in Sola Scriptura (One Body, Winter 2003).
Only the instrumentalist use SILENCE
to delibertely sow discord because the "Bible does not
say NOT to musicate."
The Bible is very clear in defining Commands
and Examples. We have the direct command and severaly
examples of the EKKLESIA or school of the Bible
gathering (synagoguing) with PLEASURING condemned. That
connects directly to arousal singing with or without
instruments.
We have the direct command to speak with
ONE MIND and ONE
MOUTH using "that which
is written" or Scripture. This edifies or educates,
Gorifies God who wrote the songs and sermons and keeps
the UNITY.
Thomas Campbell defined church as A
SCHOOL OF CHRIST and worship--as Paul commanded
Timothy--to READING and MUSING the Word of God.
You cannot INFER or use SILENCE to
that without destroying the meaning of RESTORATIONISM
which was the word used by John Calvin.
One of the mysteries is that people
can traffick in the Bible and not grasp that it condemns
"music" as part of Lucifer's dream to BLEED OFF worship
due only to God. I can find encyclopedias which connect
music with telling God "we will not listen to your word"
and people who LUST for music cannot find a SINGLE ONE.
In fact, they can tell others that God COMMANDS music as
worship just as he wants us to FEED Him with sacrifices
and entertain Him with sexuality where universally the
singers were the "harem of the gods."
Loose constructionists like to
ridicule the notion of Commands, Examples and
Inferences. The same is used of the SILENCE. However,
the Bible and MOST of church scholars affirm the
position of churches of Christ.
Commands Examples and Inferences
Richard Kirby refuted on the Law
of Silence
Fred Peatross Silence
But Knowles has MISSED a whole mess
of clear Scripture. The
Bible is NOT SILENT about either singing or instruments.
The message is clear that we SPEAK, TEACH (preach) or
ADMONISH using "that which is written, the Spirit or the
Word of Christ." Both the singing and melody are IN THE
HEART. That is because both are secular, warfare terms
and NEVER spiritual worship terms.
The MUSIC word is never used in the
Bible or early church history as a WORSHIP WORD
Music is many times the MARK that people refuse to
listen to the songs and sermons of God. It needs no
proving: just listen next Sunday.
Secondly, it is the MUSICAL people who clearly us
THE LAW OF SILENCE. They say: "The Bible DOES NOT SAY DON'T use
instruments" therefore we gonna do it--spite of hell and
sure discord--because we wanna do it.
Victor Knowles: There are other
differences. Women are allowed a more public role in
church in instrumental churches (and a few churches do
allow women to preach).
Paul is thought to
have MIRIAM in mind as the prototypical usurping woman
as well as Eve who was wolly seduced by the serpent or
NACHASH who was a Musical Enchanter just as she is as
the OPHIS or serpent in the book of Revelation. Miriam
especially is the example of a prophetess of Hathor who
led the women to "escape" using instruments.
See Music and The univeral
attributing it to Satan or the Devil.
See how Miriam--the bitter woman--let her musical
skills make her think that she was speaking for God.
Paul's use of the word
SILENCE also includes being SEDENTARY: you cannot have
visible women PERFORMING without deliberately seducing
men into checking her out as she reads or passes stuff.
Paul used the word AUTHENTIA for authority: it means
both EROTIC
and
MURDEROUS.
There are really no
PERFORMANCE roles in the church but Paul grasped that if
you STIR UP THE FLESH or CAUSE EXCITEMENT you PLEASURE
yourself and the synagogue defined in Romans 15 cannot
take place. You cannot have ONE MIND and ONE MOUTH to
glorify God with "that which is written" if half of the
mind is distracted by sight and sound.
See our rebuttal of Rubel Shelly and
John York.
See their perversion of facts about
women serving under the law.
Women served as PROPHETESSES. No.
See that music MARKED women or the
effeminate
"Women and girls from the different ranks
of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and
musicians. The understanding of this service was
universal: these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." (Johannes Quasten)
Buy the Book
Strongly Recommended: Johannes
Quasten
Victor Knowles: The most notable difference is
probably the use of musical instruments during the "corporate worship" of the church in
Christian Churches/ Churches of Christ.
Jesus built an ekklesia which is a
synagogue or school of the Bible. Thomas Campbell called
it a SCHOOL OF CHRIST and defined worship as reading and
musing the Word of God. That IS the meaning of worship
and what Knowles speaks about is NOT part of the
Christian system.
See how the MUSIC Sectarians were not
driven by the Bible. In confiscating a church of Christ
in Tennessee:
"The pro-organ party had said during
the trial that
........... when the organ was used as a part
of the worship, it was sinful;
but they defended it
on the ground that it was an aid to worship. Lipscomb, on
the other hand, had insisted that it was a distinct
service, and when persisted in always supersedes and destroys congregational singing.
"The court, passing
on this phase of the question, said that the claim
that the organ was not a part of the worship was untenable and it could not be considered as merely
an aid to worship."
Victor Knowles: There are even
differences in architecture and vocabulary. I see
very few crosses
in Churches of Christ. I don't know why that is.
(After preaching a message on the cross at an a cappella church in
Texas,
I was taken to dinner, but not to task, by a
90-year-old lady, a lifelong member of the Church of
Christ, who said to me,
Gallup found
that 80% of preacher stories are FABRICATED or
lying, if you will:
"Our preachers are afraid to preach the
cross.")
That's one of
them!
When Jesus went out
he PREACHED to the local gatherings and TAUGHT in the
synagogue. The synagogue was NOT a place for preaching
but reading the Word so that you "taught the Word as
it has been taught."
You WORSHIP whatever
you GIVE HEED TOO. The use of banners, flags, pictures
(Idols) and crosses INTENDS to take the mind's
attention on the symbols. You CANNOT think about the
cross and about the bloody "tree" at the same time.
You cannot GIVE HEED to the symbols and to Christ at
the same time.
What you call an
"auditorium" we might call a "sanctuary." What we
call a "revival meeting" you may call a "gospel
meeting." What you call a "lectureship" we call a
"convention." Our speech betrays us. We both reject
the rosary but we sure need a glossary!
StatiusThebaid.6
245 here Hypsipyle shows rivers to the tired
Greeks, here the tearful infant crawls, here he
lies, around the edge of the mound the scaly one
makes his rough circle;
the snake looks so real that you would expect
bloody hissing from his mouth, so moves the
snake with a sinuous motion around the marble
spear. And now the crowd is eager to see the battles
without weapons [i.e., athletic contests.]
420 The deafening sound of feet and the thin
sound of wheels can be heard. There is no rest
for the hand, the air hisses with repeated blows
of the whip; hail does not issue forth more densely from
the cold North, nor does rain fall more densely from so
many Olenian vessels. 114 Perceptive Arion,
after he felt the whip, had realized that there was a
different
114This is a reference to the star Capella, identified by
Roman poets with Aege, the daughter of Olenos.
Cantus , u-s, m. [id.] , the
production of melodious sound, a musical utterance or expression, either
with voice or instrument; hence, song, singing, playing, music. Speaks of
the Locusts horribili stridebat tibia cantu: Querulae tibiae, warbling, chirping, of Capella a SHE GOAT
The Colchis were Egyptians (though the Greeks attempted
to make them Arcadians) as was the Falcon Goddess, Circe,
[Kurce--Medea's Aunt] who gave Odysseus
instruction on how to descend and return from the
underworld.
Ignorant Christians have assumed that because Medea
and Circe made concoctions, decoctions and
mixtures of herbs and beers, that they were witches,
but witches are a purely christian creation, and the
word witch does not exist in the Greek language.
As the worship of Dionysus spread
the wine cult throughout the world, the Bacchae of the Goat-like
Bacchus (from Buccus - buck--male
goat) joined the
Sibyls of Thrace who were known as Sabazius. Sabazius
was a Cretan demigod from which the Greeks got the
name Zeus. Prior to the Greeks, however,
Sabazius appears to have been a title for priestesses,
and not the god it was later said to be. These were
the first to replace beer with wine and incorporate
the Bacchic rituals in their Holy Taverns. Flavius
Claudius Julianus, the last Pagan Emperor of Rome, put
beer in its proper perspective:
- "Can this be Dionysus? How
the deuce!
- Now, by the very Bacchus, in this guise
- We do not recognize
- The son of Zeus.
- How came this goat-reek? Wine is nectar-scented.
- The Celt from barley-tops,
so We suppose,
- For want of grapes and
nose,
THE CROSS IS A PAGAN IDOL: Jesus
gained victory OVER PAGANISM
The STAUROS was originally a stake: a PHALLIC
SYMBOL. By having Jesus crucified the Jews sought to
sexually triumph over Him as they had not been able to
do by making him sing and dance while they piped.
Hislop notes that: There is yet one more
symbol of the Romish worship to be noticed, and that is
the sign
of the cross. In the Papal system as is well known,
........... the sign of the cross and the image [idol] of the cross are
all in all.
No prayer can be said,
no worship engaged in, no step almost can be taken,
without the frequent use of the sign of the cross.
The cross is looked
upon as the grand charm, as the great refuge in every season of
danger, in every hour of temptation as
the infallible
preservative from all the powers of darkness.
The cross is adored
with all the homage due only to the Most High; and for any one to call
it, in the hearing of a genuine Romanist, by the
Scriptural term, "the accursed tree," is a mortal offence.
Asherah:
Also a sacred wooden pole or image standing close to the
massebah and altar in early
Shemitic sanctuaries, part of the equipment of the
temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem till the reformation
of Josiah (2 Kings 23:6). The plural, 'asherim, denotes statues, images, columns, or pillars;
translated in the Bible by "groves." Maachah, the
grandmother of Asa, King of Jerusalem, is accused of
having made for herself such an idol, which was a phallus. Called the Assyrian Tree
of Life, "the original Asherah was a pillar
with seven branches on each side surmounted by a
globular flower with three projecting rays, and no
phallic stone, as the Jews made of it, but a
metaphysical symbol. 'Merciful One, who dead to life
raises!' was the prayer uttered before the
Asherah, on the banks
of the Euphrates. See Ezekiel 31. Assyria
is the "tallest tree in Eden." Babylonia Resources
To say that such superstitious feeling for the sign of
the cross, such worship as Rome pays to a wooden or a
metal cross, ever grew out of the saying of Paul, "God
forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ"--that is, in the doctrine of Christ crucified--is a mere absurdity, a
shallow subterfuge and pretence. The magic virtues
attributed to the so-called sign of the cross, the worship bestowed on
it,
never came from such a source.
The
people of the ancient lands used the cross in worship, some, like the
Egyptians used it in Phallus worship, or, worship of the male sex
organ.
It was used as a symbol of fertility. "Various
figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian
monuments and tombs, and are considered by many
authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the
male sex organ] or of coition. . . . In Egyptian tombs the crux
ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found
side by side
with the phallus." A Short History of Sex-Worship
(London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16, 17; see also The
Non-Christian Cross, p. 183.
Hippolytus notes of the
idolatrous beginning of music.
Of these twenty-four angels the paternal ones are
associated with the Father, and do all things
according to His will; and the maternal (angels are
associated with) Edem the Mother. And the multitude of
all these angels together is Paradise, he says,
concerning which Moses speaks: "God planted a garden in Eden towards the
east, [Gen. ii. 8] that is, towards the face of Edem, that Edem might
behold the garden-that is, the angels-continually.
Allegorically the angels are styled trees of
this garden,
and the tree of life is the third of the paternal angels-Baruch.
And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
...........
is the third of the maternal angels-Naas.
The Assyrians are
called "the tallest tree in the garden of Eden."
When Eve ate from the MIDST Paul understood that to
mean that she was wholly seduced. This is why Cain
[meaning a musical note] is said to be of that evil
one.
We will see in
responding to A. Ralph Johnson that the
POISON is the same as the word for EVE. Paul obviously
understood something the ANTI- speakers cannot
grasp.
That is because we
don't worship a shotgun or an electric chair. The cross
was an ancient pagan symbol. It was prophesied that
Jesus would be crucified on a TREE and not a cleansed
instrument of tortre.
Victor Knowles: But there is so much
more that unites us than divides us. We both accept
Scripture as the inspired Word of God. We both
preach Christ and Him crucified. We share a high
view of baptism and the church. Our disagreements
are more a matter of methodology than theology. I
like what Thomas Langford recently wrote in One
Body:
Maybe yes, but that
was not the fact when the Stoneites and Campbellites
were not united on anything but Stone's luste for
UNITY at the price of truth.
"Most of the
divisions in the body have come as a result of
elevating some issue above the saving blood of
Jesus. While we were united by his saving grace, we
have divided over debatable issues and heatedly held
opinions.
The philosophy
seems to have been that there can be no unity unless
we see all things alike and conform our opinions
to the party line.
But it was none of
these issues that saved us and brought us into a
state of unity with Christ. It was belief
in one fact (that Jesus was the Christ, the Son
of God) and obedience to one command, demonstrative
of that faith (baptism into Christ); it was
surrender to the will of the Lord Jesus" ("Unity in
Essentials" One Body, Spring 2003).
UNITY was never the POLAR STAR to
the Restorers beginning with John Calvin and everyone
else. Unity was based on preaching the Word: division
or SECTARIANISM was based on adding something NOT
ABSOLUTELY REQUIRED to worship God acceptably.
The JUBILATORS broke the UNITY when
the Stoneites left the Presbyterians: they had ever
right to do so. The same mentality broke UNITY with
churches of Christ when they ADDED instrumental music
to "attract the largest miscellaneous audience." They
sowed discord with a high hand. John Calvin notes that
heresy does not become ACCEPTABLE with age. Therefore,
there can be no unity and certainly no URGE for people
to violate their conscience and the CLEAR TEACHINGS Of
the Bible just to achieve UNION which is NEEDED by
instrumentalists to VALIDATE their sectarian spirit.
Getting a few idle preachers to confess sin for
bleeding when the instrumentalists SHOT them in the
heart does NOT A UNITY MOVEMENT MAKE. They NEED book
buyers: the rest of us do not.
Victor Knowles: May I have this
dance?
Not with me, fella.
VICTOR KNOWLES is founder and
director of POEM (Peace on Earth Ministries), Joplin,
MO. He also serves as editor of ONE BODY, is a
facilitator for the Restoration Forum, and is on the executive committee of World Convention
of Churches of Christ.
Contact him at POEM, P.O. Box 275, Joplin, MO 64802 or
vicknowles@aol.com or www.poeministries.org.
Musical
Worship Index
Restoration
Movement Index
Home
Page
The Stone Campbell Movement
Sectarians
Counter added 10/20/04 at 400
5.05.08 238
Lost old counter 6.04.08
2100 1.04.11 2749
<a
href="https://www.hitwebcounter.com"
target="_blank">
<img
src="https://hitwebcounter.com/counter/counter.php?page=7758640&style=0032&nbdigits=5&type=ip&initCount=0"
title="Free Counter" Alt="web counter"
border="0"
/></a>
12.18.04 10:40a
164
5.18.05 10:54A 608
2.24.06 12:46p 1432
2.24.06 12:14 1430
