"You've spent far too much of your time turning yourself into something you're not: a victim. No one can make you into a victim; only you can do that...and you have. But there's another choice you can make as well-you can choose to be a survivor."

~Glenn Beck's The Christmas Sweater pg 207

Follow The Light: Does Being A Christian Hurt?

Follow The Light: Does Being A Christian Hurt?: "And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, Friend… Matthew 26:49, 50aIf you s..."

Quotes

“ The friendship that can cease has never been real.

— Saint Jerome

“ Sometimes it is not enough to do our best; we must do what is required

— Sir Winston Churchill


“ Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune

— Jim Rohn

“ Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.

— Will Rogers

“ Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still.

— Dorothea Lange

“ Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.

— H. Jackson Browne

“ You were born an original, don’t die a copy

— John Mason


“ A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion.

— Chinese Proverb

“ If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page

— Mark Houlahan

The Story of PKD

Remember to mute my blog music at the very bottom of the page:-)

Real repentance means choosing a new path. Only eternity will reveal to us the power and blessing of intercessory prayer.

Forgiveness is something that we do for ourselves as well as the person that is being forgiven ╬ It is not an approval of what happened but rather a release...

Many people have strange and unbiblical ideas about the forgiveness of sins.  Some seem to believe that confessing our sins is a kind of universal admission of guilt in all circumstances.  It is asking God to make all the bad people good and all the good people better.  In truth, confessing our sins involves recognizing our sins and knowing what those sins are.

“Is it not enough that all the world is against us, but we must also be against one another? O happy days of persecution, which drove us together in love, whom the sunshine of liberty and prosperity crumbles into dust by our contentions!” ~ Richard Baxter, 17th century Puritan minister

Forgiveness

Over the past several weeks I have had several people ask me about forgiveness.
I believe forgiveness is a two part process.  It must be offered and then it must be accepted.
For example:  If someone has wronged me it is my Christian duty to forgive them.  Having said that I must also say the they must receive the forgiveness that I have offered.  Jesus Christ forgave me of my sins but in order for me to receive that forgiveness I had to repent and accept the forgiveness that Christ offered. So, the person that has wronged me must show evidence of genuine repentance and accept the forgiveness that I have offered.

One of my favorite places to visit on line is http://momof9splace.com/  It is here that I came across the following:


Forgive to Live
Written by Karen



Does the Bible provide any means whereby we can judge ourselves as to whether or not we´re truly in the faith? (We don´t forgive in order for God to save us, please don't misunderstand the two)



Key Text: Matthew 6:12

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors



When we strive against all thoughts of revenge, when we will not do our enemies mischief, but wish well to them, grieve at their calamities, pray for them, seek reconciliation with them, and show ourselves ready on all occasions to relieve them. Thomas Watson



This quote can be directly related to Romans 12



1. When we strive against all thoughts of revenge.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.



2. When we will not do our enemies mischief
Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.



3. But wish well to them
Romans 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not



4. Grieve at their calamities
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.



5. Pray for them
Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer



6. Seek reconciliation with them
Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.



7. And show ourselves ready on all occasions to relieve (come to their aid) them
Romans 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head



These elements of forgiveness that Watson included in his definition are deeply rooted in Scripture.

Don´t seek revenge

Don´t return evil for evil

Wish your enemies well (it can be friend, family. Etc)

Grieve at their misfortunes

Pray for them

Seek reconciliation over a matte of disagreement

Meet your enemy's need with generosity



What if this is not our definition of forgiveness?





For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15



Matthew 18:21-35Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.





What is the message in these verses? One who is truly born again will have a spirit of forgiveness within him.





John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing



The believer is in Christ, and Christ is in the believer. That which flows out of the believer is a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.It´s impossible to be truly born again and not have the spirit of forgiveness. It may not be completely developed, but it must be there. Thus, whether one has a forgiving spirit or not is a test of whether or not one is genuinely born again. This may be one of the best tests of the validity and sufficiency of our faith. We must forgive to live.



A lesson from Corrie ten Boom:
Quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



IT WAS IN A CHURCH in Munich where I was speaking in 1947 that I saw him-a balding heavyset man in a gray overcoat, a brown felt hat clutched between his hands. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat, the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones.

Memories of the concentration camp came back with a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights, the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor, the shame of walking naked past this man. I could see my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment of skin.



Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland. This man had been a guard at Ravensbruck concentration camp where we were sent.

Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: "A fine message, fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say,, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!"

It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.



"You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk, " he was saying. "I was a guard there. But since that time, " he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein-" again the hand came out-"will you forgive me?"



And I stood there-and could not. Betsie had died in that place- could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?



It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it-I knew that. The message that God forgives has has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. "If you do not forgive men their trespasses," Jesus says, "neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses."



Still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, help me!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling."

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this jealing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. "I forgive you, brother!" I cried. "With all my heart!"

For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Adolph Coors IV (yes from the Coors beer name)



On February 9, 1960, Adolph Coors III was kidnapped and held for ransom. Seven months later his body was found on a remote hillside. He had been shot to death. Adolph Coors IV, then fifteen years old, lost not only his father but his best friend. For years young Coors hated Joseph Corbett, the man who was sentenced to life for the slaying. Then in 1975 Ad Coors became a Christian. While he divested himself of his interest in the family beer business, he could not divest himself of the hatred that consumed him. Resentment seethed within him and blighted his growth in faith. He prayed to God for help because he realized how his hatred for Corbett was alienating him from God and other persons. The day came, however, when claiming the Spirit's presence, Ad Coors visited the maximum security unit of Colorado's Canon City penitentiary and tried to talk with Corbett. Corbett refused to see him. Coors left a Bible inscribed with this message: I'm here to see you today and I'm sorry that we could not meet. As a Christian I am summoned by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to forgive. I do forgive you, and I ask you to forgive me for the hatred I've held in my heart for you." Later Coors confessed, "I have a love for that man that only Jesus Christ could have put in my heart."



Applications:

We are not required to feel good about bad things. If someone hurts a member of your family, you are not going to feel good. Neither should you let it destroy you by not giving it to the Lord. Vengeance is His to execute.





1Peter 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously



Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath



Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.



To forgive doesn´t mean to excuse the wrong. This is a common misconception. Look at how God deals with us. On the one hand, He forgets our sin; on the other He chastens us and deals with us as children.



Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.



Hebrews 12:6-7 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?



Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.



If a man commits a crime and is caught, he will serve the time. We need to forgive him and pray for his restoration, but we can´t overlook the fact that his sin will bring judgment, and leave scars. We need to forgive even if the other person does not. Not only did God forgive us, but He forgave us despite the hurt to Himself. We say something like, “I know I should forgive him, but you don´t know how badly he´s hurt me; I just can´t forgive him.”



What is the Scriptural response:



Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.



Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye


We need to forgave as we have been forgiven. At the cross, Christ paid the price with His body and blood to make possible our forgiveness. It becomes effective only when we believe, but the atonement was completed on the cross at the greatest possible hurt to the Lord Jesus-not just His physical hurt, but that of taking upon Himself the sins of all mankind. Failure to forgive often results in deep-seated anger. And anger can eat away at us like a cancer. It strips us of our ability to function as God would have us to.



In the case of Adolph Coors and Corrie ten Boom, the deeds were very bad. But they were freed from the slavery of anger and bitterness by surrendering them to God and trusting Him to make the wrongs right in His time. They could have easily become prisoners of their own hatred. Instead they learned that “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”



Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:



Hebrews 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;





Are you and I characterized by a spirit of forgiveness in our hearts? That´s one test of the validity all sufficiency of our faith.

One short year

Quotes

"He who cannot forgive others destroys the bridge over which he himself must pass." -George Herbert



"A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend; one human soul whom we can trust utterly; who knows the best and the worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults; who will speak the honest truth to us, while the world flatters us to our face, and laughs at us behind our back."
 -Charles Kingsley





"He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day." -John Bunyan  
"You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough."
-William Law
 
 

"One of the first things which a physician says to his patient is, 'Let me see your tongue.' A spiritual advisor might often do the same." -Nehemiah Adams

Psalms 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

20 years ago God made me a Mom!!  I have not been perfect, but I have done the best I know how.

Jesus Jaime Sanhez II

October 18th 1990

Born @ 12:21 a.m.

Weighed 7lbs 4oz

20 inches long

Jaime (as we call him) has been such a wonderful blessing to our lifes.

He has been a great asset to this family and at times a much needed encouragement to his mama.

God has given him a very postive outlook on life which flows over to us.

Psalms 16:6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.



Proverbs 4:3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

Proverbs 6:20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

Proverbs 23:25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

Am I Pilate?

I came across this today and thought it worthy of sharing:
Am I Pilate?


Am I Pilate,
washing my hands,
expecting someone else
to take the blame
when I walk away from what
God asks of me?

HT
 
 
I have taken the blame many times in order to uphold the reputation of someone else.....NO MORE!!

Whatever Happened to Holiness?

In our culture today, holiness is a word that we hear very little and see in action even less. Sadly many people, including some Christians, don't take God's command to be holy seriously enough and non-Christians could care less about this vital character quality. As Christian women, we should strive daily to display holiness in our speech, attitude and conduct.

As 1 Timothy 4:12 says, Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

In Noah's day, when God saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, He was grieved in His heart that He had made man (Genesis 6:5-6). How much more is God grieved by the evil in our world today?

What is holiness?
Quote, "Holiness is the habit of being of one mind with God, according as we find His mind described in Scripture." In other words, hating what God hates, loving what God loves and measuring everything by the standard of His Word.

A woman who desires to be holy will hate every false way and have a great fear of displeasing God
(Psalm 119:11,120).

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

She will seek after God with her whole heart and strive to be more conformed to Christ's image
(Psalm 119:10,

With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

She will bear with and forgive others, even as God also has forgiven her
(Ephesians 4:32).

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

She will aim to be unselfish, humble, faithful and full of love and compassion for sinners, like Christ.

She will deny herself in order to minister more effectively to others, just as Dorcas did (Acts 9:36-42).

Sound impossible? Only by God's grace and the work of the Holy Spirit can we ever hope to become holy and even with our best efforts we will never be perfectly holy in this life.


Why is holiness important?
Holiness is essential because God commands it.

1 Peter 1:15-16 says, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

Hebrews 12:14 says, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

Scripture also says,
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. (1 Thessalonians 4:7).

How much clearer does God need to be?

Another reason to be holy is that holiness shows the world whose we are.

I Peter 2:9 says, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

QUOTE:
"The only safe evidence that we are one with Christ, and Christ in us, is a holy life." We are called to be holy women that give the world proof that we love Christ.

A Christian who exhibits holiness will stand out since holiness is almost non-existent in our culture. Christian women have the opportunity to shine for Christ by choosing to be obedient to Scripture's commands to be holy.


*That means examining our hearts for sins that can keep us from holiness, like carelessness and dishonesty.

*Most of us can resist the big temptations because we fear the consequences, but do we give in to the smaller ones like TO MUCH TIME ON COMPUTER, IN FRONT OF TV, SHOPPING ETC.


What Produces Holiness?
--Holiness begins with the fear of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 7:1 states,
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Holiness is perfected or completed by obedience, which is produced by the fear of God.


"I have thought about it a great deal, and the more I think, the more certain I am that obedience is the gateway through which knowledge, yes, and love, too, enter the mind of the child. "

"My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed!"
Anne Sullivan 1866-1936

Let's look at four conditions that must be present in our lives in order for us to have the quality of holiness:

--There must be a hungering and thirsting after God, His righteousness and His Word (Psalm 42:1-2); As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God:

--We can never experience holiness without a repentant spirit (1 John 1:9); If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

--The third condition for holiness is an abhorrence of all evil (Romans 12:9A); Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil;

--We must consciously, deliberately and purposefully cling to that which is good (Romans 12:9b cleave to that which is good



It takes time to be holy and there are no short cuts. Unlike oatmeal, there's no such thing as "instant holiness." As we seek to develop a faithful and consistent prayer life and feed on God's Word, the Holy Spirit will begin to produce Christ's holiness in us.


In 1882, William Longstaff, a wealthy Englishman, heard a sermon from 1 Peter 1:16, "Be holy, for I am holy." This prompted him to write the hymn Take Time to Be Holy. The first stanza says:

"Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord.

Abide in Him always, and feed on His word.

Make friends with God's children; help those who are weak,

Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek."


Robert McCheyne was a saintly man of God, who, in his comparatively short life, won many souls to the Lord. After he died, a letter addressed to him was found on his desk. It was from a person he had led to Christ and said, "It was nothing you said that first made me wish to be a Christian. It was the beauty of holiness which I saw in your face."


May we seek to be holy women in all that we say and do. Then Jesus will be glorified and magnified in our lives and the world will see the beauty of holiness, without which no man (or woman) will see the Lord.



http://momof9splace.com/holywomen.html

The Most Important Thing

I read this today on a friends blog and decided to share it with my readers:

If I teach my children to speak Spanish, French, Latin, Greek, and Japanese, but do not teach them to love God, I have nothing.


If they know how to tell time and have their times tables memorized, but do not know the God of time and all eternity, it profits me nothing.

If I teach them all about psychology, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy, but they do not love the LORD their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, I have gained nothing.

If they are well versed in William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Edgar Alan Poe, but do not delight in the Law of the LORD, their learning has come to nothing.

If they know about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Abraham Lincoln, but do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior and LORD, their knowledge is meaningless.

If they are champions at spelling bees, get perfect scores on their SATs, and get accepted into the best universities, but reject their Creator, I have accomplished nothing.

If they are successful beyond my wildest dreams, if they have huge paychecks, giant houses, and lavish lifestyles; If they gain the whole world, and yet lose their souls, I am an utter failure.

So now I see that reading, writing, and arithmetic are important, literature, languages, and history are all valuable, science and social studies have their place,but if I my children do not become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, I have merely educated them.

I must do more than educate them…I must disciple them.

I must teach them to love the LORD.



Matthew 22:36-40
Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Hey Teens!


How About Giving 5 for 50? or 10 for 50?

What A Great Deal!

by Pastor Art Kohl

February 3, 2005

If you could give up five of something and get fifty in return would you do it?

If you could give up 10 of something and get 50 in return would you do it?

That is all God is asking in most cases. What do I mean? I am talking about marriage. Something that almost every teenager will be involved in someday (Hebrews 13:4a).

Now what do I mean by giving God five or ten? From the time the average teen becomes interested in the opposite sex till the time they are married is usually five to ten years.

Example: A young man may start to be interested or intrigued by young ladies around the age of fifteen. He will probably be married sometime between 20-25 years old. I was married when I was 22.

Example: A young lady may become interested in young men by the time they are fourteen years old. She will probably be married before her 24th birthday. My wife married me when she was 21.

Now, what do I mean by fifty? The average man in America lives to be about 73 years of age. The average woman lives to be about 78 years of age. If God lets you live an average life (Psalms 90:10) and you let Him lead you to marry the right person you could have 50 years of a wonderful marriage to enjoy.

For five to ten years God requires us to go through a test. A proving grounds. A time when we are to show ourselves real men and women by exhibiting self control towards and respect for the opposite sex. He goes so far as to say we should not even touch each other during that time. (Study I Corinthians 7:1-4; See Ruth 2:9.) He will also equip us in the inner man to live out this temperance by the power of His Holy Spirit which lives us. Please ask Him to help you today! (Ephesians 3:16,20.)

You will never regret letting God help you keep yourself pure for five to ten years so you can enjoy fifty years of living together in Holy Matrimony with your mate.

On the contrary we have all seen boys and girls who did not exercise self control and have probably ruined their future fifty years. It is so sad to see that 97% of all single mothers will live in poverty the rest of their lives. Very few good men want to marry a single mother. They gave up their fifty years for the five. How sad that many of them will never have a good marriage and many will never get married. Some will have to live in loneliness and carry the consequences of their actions for a long, long time.

I know of young men in their late teen years and early twenties who have some of their wages garnished every time they get a paycheck to pay child support. This will be a financial burden they must carry (and rightfully so) for 18-21 years depending on what state they live in. Even if that young man marries another woman he will have to pay the child support which will put a burden on his marriage. Often there are legal battles over visitation rights and custody. It gets very complex and ugly.

Let me take a moment and mention disease. There are over 50 major diseases that can be transmitted by physical intimacy before marriage (fornication.) Some are incurable, a few are fatal. Some of these viruses are so small that a million of them can fit on the head of a pin. Fornication often affects the body (I Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 6:8.)

Young people, it’s not worth giving up 50 years of a good marriage for 5 or 10 years of a good time. Make this season in your life the “years of temperance.”

The “time of love” (Ezekiel 16:8) is marriage, not before. See chart on left. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: ... ; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to love, ...” Ecclesiastes 3:1,5,8.

Spend your youth concentrating on friendships not relationships. Pay attention to spirituality, service, education, music, preparation for marriage, work ethics, etc. Stay in church, in the Bible, in prayer, in love with God.

Give five or ten years of your youth to self control and you will prove yourself worthy for God to bring a good mate into your life. After you are married if you will work at it you can have fifty years of a great marriage.



Copyright © 2005
Permission granted to freely copy.
Scripture verses are from the King James Holy Bible.

Longings for times gone by

Today I have had an abundance of memories fly by and it has caused me to long.
To long for days gone by.........

To have just one memory of my parents together as I was a child (I have none)

To have an older brother (I've always thought that would have been great)

To drive down and then up the 'huge' hill after Maranatha Baptist Church before you get to Ceder Grove

To run through the old barn and smell.....just smell

To sit on the back of a setter and plant tobacco

To see and smell that tobacco hanging in that barn

To see my granny sitting on the front porch drinking a Tab (I want one of those chairs SOOO bad)

To lie on the floor while my papaw watches The Price is Right, Dukes of Hazard or WWF

To ride to the store with that papaw and he will buy me a box of Fruit Loops

To go in granny's bedroom, in the top drawer and get the hymnal that she kept in there and sing with her

To go to 'the cabin' for Memorial Day/Birthday Party

To stay up all night in an old VW van and eat Atomic Fireballs with my cousin

To play and endless game of Monopoly and drink Mountain Dew with that same cousin

To ride dune buggies the the creek beds

To see the train go buy filled with coal

To sit on top of that old gas heat stove in papaw's living room

To see that mantel with the razor strap hanging there

To walk down the worn path from the front porch to the basement (the basement was scary to me but the path was really neat) down on South Main

To pick apples off that apple tree

To smell the motor oil  in my uncle's garage and make him grape kool-aid

To eat frog legs with my step-mother's mom

To slip through the electric fence and spend hours wandering through the trees

To open the door to the wood room (which was just off of my room) one more time

To taste the cucumbers that my uncle's mom made

To eat a ham and cheese sandwich with a green onion at my aunt's house

To stand in front of her window unit and smell the air

To sit in that little seat in the Magnolia tree in her front yard

To gather fresh vegetables out of the various gardens (just about everybody had one) one aunt even grew strawberries and another one grew grapes

To taste my granny's chicken and dumplins

To taste my other granny's fried tators

It's amazing how as time passes you long for the things that as a child you thought of as a chore or a burden.

What does it really mean to be feminine?

By Pastor Art Koh


It is absolutely wrong for a man to be feminine. It is so wrong that it is listed among other behaviors that tell us a person isn't really saved.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

If is so wrong for a man to be feminine, isn't it equally wrong for a woman to be masculine?

We live in a day where some women want to work like a man, dress like a man, curse like a man, spit like a man, drink like a man, stink like a man, play like a man, smoke like a man, chew like a man, fight like a man, boss like a man, swear like a man, etc. To be like a man is their highest goal and achievement. The pursuit of masculinity is their highest calling. Anything that man can do, they want to do. There are two problems with this:



First: Most of what man does is wrong.

Second: A woman has to stoop and lower herself to come down to a man's level. She has not achieved, she has demoted herself.

Because the world has come to this, many ladies are afraid to be feminine. After all, who wants to be different. It takes a great deal of courage for a woman today to be all God wants her to be.

The Bible is the textbook on femininity, not the feminists. The feminists are really masculinists. Women who wants to be masculine. Woman who resent being women. Women who want to be men. If you will look closely at them, the result of their pursuit is misery. Misery because their whole life is spent missing God's purpose in life. As a fish out of water or a bird with a broken wing, they cannot enjoy the intended purpose that God has made them for, and are too proud to humble themselves to find it.

Don't be afraid to be feminine, in the Bible sense of the word. These are the happiest, most fulfilled ladies on earth. Beside all that, we will be responsible for, and give an account for what the scriptures teach regarding this responsibility. As we then look forward to, and prepare to face God at the Judgement seat of Christ, ladies, consider these 34 characteristics of Biblical femininity:


1. Virtue Proverbs 31:10, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Virtue means to be clean and pure. To be morally excellent is a good quality.

2. Loyalty Proverbs 31:11-12, "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." Loyalty is the opposite of treachery. Jeremiah 3:20, "Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD." A feminine lady is loyal to her husband, her God, her church, her children, her Savior, etc.

3. Industry Proverbs 31:13-16, "She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard." Industry is the opposite of laziness and sloth. Her energy is given to her household. The word "household" appears four times in Proverbs 31 as the direction of her industry. Many of the other verses in this chapter speak of her industry. She is not a workaholic hiding from God, she is industrious for God.

4. Strength Proverbs 31:17, "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms." She is not a weakling. She becomes stronger and stronger in body, intelligence, emotions, spirituality, etc.

5. Ministering Proverbs 31:18-20, "She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." She is not self-serving. The feminine woman ministers to others. She remembers the poor. She is a giver of alms.

6. Wisdom Proverbs 31:26a, "She openeth her mouth with wisdom ...." Wisdom is the ability to use and apply knowledge rightly. She fills her mind and heart with the word of God, and then uses it appropriately to every situation she faces in life.

7. Kindness Proverbs 31:26b, "... and in her tongue is the law of kindness." Feminine women are kind, in word and action. "Charity is kind," 1 Corinthians 13:4. Thus, they are filled with Charity.

8. Fear for God Proverbs 31:30 "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." Femininity fears God. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Feminine women do their duty.

9. Are Praised Proverbs 31:28, "Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." Proverbs 31:30, "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." She is praised by her own husband and by her works. Her works for God are so obvious, that they cry out in praise of her. Only one other being in all of the Old Testament is praised, and that is God!



Now lets leave the Old Testament and look at more characteristics defining Femininity in the New Testament:

10. Benevolence 1 Corinthians 7:3, "Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband." She receives benevolence from her husband, and also returns benevolence to her husband. Benevolence means "good will as a conjugal duty; to be well-minded towards; reconciled with."

11. Submission Ephesians 5:22, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Colossians 3:18, "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord." With the type of submission that she has to the Lord, she also directs the same submission to her husband. "Submission" means "to be subordinate to, to yield under to." The same word is used in submitting to God in James 4:7 and to government in 1 Peter 2:13.


12. Reverence Ephesians 5:33, "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." She is in awe of her husband. She respects him with fear. This word is usually translated "to be afraid of, to fear." She has a holy devotion to him and fears him similar to her fear for God.



Let's look at more characteristics of Biblical Femininity from the following text:

1 Timothy 2:9-15, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But
(which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."

13. Modest in dress She hides the form of her body. Her clothes are long, loose-fitting and cover all of her nakedness. She does not dress in the "attire of an harlot" as mentioned in Proverbs 7:10, "And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart."

14. Shamefaced She has the ability to blush. Her eyes are down cast unlike a harlot whose face is bold toward impurity. (Proverbs 7:13-23)

15. Her Hair is Simple It is long (1 Corinthians 11:15) and simple. She is not trying to gain the attention of man by her appearance, but the praise of God.

16. Jewelry and Clothes Don't Mean Much to Her They are nice, simple and inexpensive.

17. Good Works She is clothed with good works. She is constantly doing good for her God, her husband, her children, her church, others, the lost, etc.

18. Learns God's Word in Silence She is not a "place seeker" in the church, but a humble student of God's word. She learns God's word and teaches the younger women (Titus 2:4) and her children. (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15-16) She doesn't seek to usurp authority over men when it comes to the public teaching of God's word in the church. She hears the preaching and teaching ministries in silence. She asks questions at home. (1 Corinthians 14:35)

19. Faith She continues in faith and in the faith. She trusts in God and believes in Him.

20. Charity She is a living example of charity as it is defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth:"



Let's continue to learn more of the characteristics of true femininity by looking at the text in Titus 2:4-5, "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."

21. Sober She is intelligent. Being feminine does not mean she is dumb or a "dizzy broad." She is an intelligent woman. Sober means to be of a sound mind. She is ever gaining in knowledge.

22. Loves Her Husband There is a fondness in her heart toward her husband. She gives her life for him.

23. Loves Her Children There is a fondness in her heart toward her children. She does more than just put up with them. They are her life. She gives herself for them.

24. Discreet This is the opposite of being sexy. She does not carry herself about in a "sexy" way. She is modest in her dress and behavior.

25. Chaste She is sexually pure. She keeps herself for her husband and only unto him when married. She does not commit adultery or fornication.

26. Keeper at Home She is not a busybody. She loves to stay home and stays home. Home is where her heart is. She does not work out in the world unless she has no husband to care for her or he can't. If she is business-minded, she works out of her home.

27. Good Feminine women are good women. Good is the opposite of bad or evil. She is not bad in character. She does not do evil in practice.

28. Obedience She is obedient to her husband. Her desire is unto him (Genesis 3:16). He is the head of the family (1 Corinthians 11:3). Anything with two heads is a monster. She allows him to lead.



Our final text on feminine characteristics is found in 1 Peter 3:1-6, "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement."

29. Subjection She is subject to her own husband. This word is a military term. It speaks of rank. According to 1 Corinthians 11:3, God has the highest rank, then Christ is under Him, then the husband is under Christ, then the wife is under her husband, then last the children are under the parents. The feminine woman doesn't want to be the General.

30. Fears Properly She has a proper fear for the authorities over her. A reverential and holy respect. She is not proud, rebellious or stubborn toward Divine leadership, family leadership or spiritual leadership.

31. Desire Feminine women have a desire toward their husbands. He is the hidden man of her heart. She is not a "looker". She is satisfied with the husband she has. Her desire is unto him. (Genesis 3:16)

32. Meek Spirited Meekness is the inward strength to depend on God to fight our battles, meet our needs, take care of situations, change people, etc. without taking things into our own hands. Meekness is not weakness, it is strength. The inward strength to truly let go and let God.

33. Quiet Spirited She is calm. She rules her emotions and will very well. Proverbs 25:28, "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls." She is able to sit still and wait on God. She lets patience have her perfect work in her life and situations, James 1:4, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." She is not noisy and demanding.

34. Fearless She is not afraid with any amazement. Nothing amazes her. She is mentally and spiritually prepared for anything. Some things may come up unexpectedly, but she doesn't go to pieces. She doesn't lose her head. She doesn't become an emotional basket case. True feminine women are soft but strong. They have grace and beauty. They mix blue denim with lace. Don't be afraid to be feminine.


Ladies, inventory your feminine character by the Word of God. Only let the Bible be your guide in this matter, not the ways of the women of the world. The Bible will be your judge someday, not them. Notice John 12:47-48 "And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

Pray for the help of the Holy Spirit to be the lady God wants you to be. Ask for the grace of God to help you in your time of need, Hebrews 4:16. God's grace will enable you in every good work, including these 34.



Here's His promise:

2 Corinthians 9:8, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

Do not try this on your own, ask for the help of the Holy Spirit and the Grace of God. Be feminine and be eternally rewarded!



Copyright © 2004-96
Permission granted to freely copy.
Scripture verses are from the King James Holy Bible.

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IFBKJV.com Blog Directory: God is Clean. Why Shouldn't Your Music Be? The M...: "THE MESSENGER There are two areas that relate to the messenger of the music. The first is the testimony of the person. The second is ho..."

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD MUSIC


By Alan Ives





We are going to try and nail down how to tell the difference between good and bad music, especially if the words are O.K. How can I tell if something is sensual or not, if something is spiritual or carnal? I think of a fellow that didn't know anything about music, and he said to me: "When I read my Bible, when I pray, when I listen to preaching, the Holy Spirit teaches and ministers to me and comforts me, rebukes, instructs, corrects me--whatever it is that I need. But I can tell that the Holy Spirit of God is working in me." And he said, "When somebody sings a song, I expect the Holy Spirit to do the same thing through that song."

I had sung a blues arrangement of "No One Ever Cares For Me Like Jesus," and he said, "Never sing that one in church again." This was years ago.



This man could hardly play "She'll Be Coming 'round the Mountain" on the harmonica, but he told me that, and I promised him that I would never sing that song that way again.



This young man is responsible for his whole family coming to Christ. And the entire time that I have known him, he has spent time alone with the Lord and has put the Lord ahead of any friendship that he has with another man.



When we're all done with this thing, if too much is scrambled--I will try to make it simple--but if it is scrambled, you can always just ask the Lord. Say, "Holy Spirit, teach me; is this song good or bad?" If you have a question, ask the Lord. "Try the spirits" is what 1 John 4 says, "whether they be of God." You'll be able to tell. Some songs are so bad you'll know immediately you ought not to listen to them. Others are more difficult to tell. I still have questions about certain songs I listen to. There are some songs that seem to have a good message, but something doesn't seem right. We want to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and if there is something wrong in the song, we don't want to sing it.



BE CAREFUL

Let's look at 1 Peter 5:8-9. "Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."



This is a message to Christians. We must be careful, because, though Satan cannot take a child of God to Hell--and praise God for that--he can take a child of God just about everywhere else, if we let him.



I'll never forget something that great preacher R.G. Lee said in the middle of a message in which he was preaching on the crazy devil-possessed man of the Gadarenes. He talked of how Christ cast the devils out and sent them into the swine. I remember him preaching very fervently: "The devil will live in me if I let him; the devil will live in you if you let him; but if you kick him out, he'll go and snook up to some dirty, lousy hog and feel in good company. And that shows you that the devil's second choice is a hog."



I never forgot that. I thought, if I let my body, my spirit, and my thoughts be a place that harbor things that side with Satan, what a mess I would be. I don't like the thought of that. This book says that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and I want that. God says I am to be holy, and I want my body to be holy. I long to be that way, and the Holy Spirit within me longs to have me be that way, longs to have you be that way.



It's a troublesome thought. When I think of devils filling up a hog and how dirty that is, I think, why would I ever want to be close to anything that would be comfortable in a hog? I thank God someday we will be delivered from the body of this death, and we won't be near anything that's dirty or unclean. You say, is that your own righteousness? No, that's the Holy Spirit within us that tells us so that we want things to be holy and pure. I never had those desires at all before I got saved, but I do now.



In the area of music, I am careful, because at one time it swallowed me up. The devil had my testimony so that no one thought I was saved. For two years they couldn't even tell. Through sin, the devil can swallow up our testimonies.



So we are to be sober and vigilant; mark it down. Someone might say, "But that sounds like a tiring thing." Well, maybe it is, but what it produces in the end is some liberty in Christ and a lot of joy. It's worth it to look out for trouble, and music is a trouble area.



MARCH MUSIC VERSUS DANCE MUSIC

The devil is our adversary. He is against us, because he is against God. This is the basis of march music. God has given us wonderful march music, so the devil says, "If that is what God is for, then I'm against it," and the devil puts the accent on a beat opposite from that of march music. Dance music and march music are direct opposites, because their basic beat is the opposite. Now there are other things involved, which we will look at, but the devil is an opponent of everything that God is for. If God is for good, the devil is for evil. If God says go to church and listen to the Bible, the devil says go somewhere else and listen to something else. I think that's obvious to folks who have gone to church for a long enough time.



There's a basic difference. A march has the beat on one and three. ONE, two, THREE, four, ONE, two, THREE, four. Dance music is one, TWO, three, FOUR, one, TWO, three, FOUR. You can hear that old snare drum playing this difference.



The march type music is the soldier's music. We're going to depict something military if we use the march rhythm. If we use the dance rhythm, we're going to depict something that is opposed to marching, something sensual. This is a basic element of music.



We are to prove all things and hold fast that which is good (1 Thess. 5:21). Once we find good music, we need to hang on to it, and we ought to abhor that which is evil. Ephesians 5:10 tells us to prove that which is acceptable to the Lord. I want my music to be acceptable to the Lord. I want Him to be pleased with it.



We are spirit, soul, and body, and God has given us music to bless us spirit, soul, and body. Here's how it fits together: There are only three parts to music, because God made music, and He made music to be a blessing to man. 1 Thessalonians 5:23--"...and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." All that we are is affected by music.



How does this work? The spirit deals with our thoughts, and particularly our thoughts toward God. If you're not saved, your spirit is dead; and you're not thinking about God. It will take someone else to talk to you about the Lord to get you even to think about Him. Jesus said to His disciples, "...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (Jn. 6:63). In the words of God are life. That's how we get eternal life; we are born again through the incorruptible seed. That has to do with spiritual things.



MELODY, HARMONY, AND RHYTHM

How does that apply to music? Take melody, one of the parts of music. Melody is for our spirit. It is to enable us to commune with God. If I softly hum "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross," without any particular rhythm or harmony, I make praise to the Lord. That song is a prayer. I can help my spirit by humming a melody. Any piece of music that has a decent melody, though it have no harmony or rhythm, may be used to commune with God. You can think upon the Lord in your spirit. That is what melody is for.



Let's take our soul. That's where our feelings, emotions, and affections are. In our soul we have attitudes and feelings about the things we think about in our spirit. You say, "What is that?" For instance, if I say "Mom," along with that thought that's spiritual, you have a soulish feeling. You go, "Oh, Mom, that fuddy duddy thing," or you go, "Oh, Mom, that's the best thing that ever was," or something in between those two, maybe. If I say, "spinach!" or "barley green," that evokes a feeling, a taste even. "Green peas." "Circus." You have a feeling that goes along with the thought. That's what the soul is. Your ability to like or dislike things is harbored in your soul. That's what gives you your personality, basically--what you like and dislike, and how you react to all those things.



Harmony, on the other hand, is for the soul. A lot of Gospel tunes are written in major keys; they are bright and happy. As young children in grade school we are often taught that major chords are happy, and minor chords are sad. If I play a whole series of minor chords on the piano, you will soon be very weighted down and sorrowful. The minor chords depict sadness. There is nothing wrong with minor chords in and of themselves, but they must be balanced. If we are going to talk about how our Savior was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, we might want to use some minor chords--but not a steady diet of them. You need to mix and balance them with other types of chords.



If I sing "There Is A Land That Is Fairer Than Day" in a major key, Heaven sounds like a wonderful place. But if I change that to a minor key--keepingthe same rhythm and melody--all the sudden Heaven doesn't sound like such a happy, wonderful place. The only thing I have to change to effect this different mood is the harmony.



TEXT PAINTING

My grandfather had a cousin who played piano in the theater. All he did was watch the silent films and try to match the piano or organ music with what was happening on the film. There were no words; all that was going to be expressed had to be expressed from the keyboard. Sure enough, there was a guy with the moustache who wanted to marry the pretty young lady with the long, blond hair. She didn't want anything to do with him, though, so he wanted to get rid of her; and at that point along came the hero, who was the man the pretty lady was in love with anyway. The hero was big and strong, and he was a good guy. He was going to deliver the pretty lady from Oil Can Harry. Before the movie was done the bad guy always figures out what to do--if he can't have her, the train's going to get her, so he ties her up to the railroad track. The hero can't rescue the heroine until he catches the bad guy, because the bad guy is keeping him from saving the girl. All of this went on without words. Everything was built up by the accompaniment on the piano. Somewhere in the middle the bad guy is chasing after the good guy to try to throw him over the cliff, and you have the chase music. It is in a minor key because it's not a happy thing, and it moves along rapidly and grows increasingly furious as the scene progresses.



Then they show you the railroad track and the train is coming closer and closer, and the accompanist plays something called a fully diminished seventh chord; and he keeps raising the chord a half step to raise the tension. It's a scary type of chord, and it, too, is played increasingly furious. Then suddenly it's back to the chase, and the chase music starts; then back to the railroad track, and the music is higher this time and more furious; then back to the chase; then back to the railroad track. The pace of the music increases each time, building the drama in the hearts of the audience.



What this is called among musicians is text painting. It is painting a picture with melodies, harmonies, and rhythms, on purpose, to affect the way people respond to something. There are a lot of people that make money watching television shows and writing music behind them. When I was a boy, I would turn the sound down when I watched scary movies on television; and lo, and behold, they were no longer scary. Think of some guy minding his own business and walking down a dark alley (No one ever explains why he is walking down a dark alley, probably because he is stupid!) all alone at night. In the background you hear a minor chord building in intensity, and you know something is going to happen any minute because of the music. If you turn the sound off, the effect is ruined. It is the music that builds the drama, that paints the picture. These musicians are painting a picture behind that film, and that's big business.



They manipulate people's feelings through chords, melodies, and rhythms. With all pieces of music the composer, with his palate of sounds, paints pictures. He may even look at a painting and write a song. He may look at the sea and the clouds and write a song about these. He may look at a person and write "The Maid With the Flaxen Hair." He may look at the stars and write about all of the planets. The composer paints a musical picture from something he sees or feels.



The most noble thing that can be done is to take the Scriptures and set them properly in music, painting a correct and suitable picture.



THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS

We want to look at the Psalms for a moment. Psalm 29:1-2--"Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." It says to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Part of worship is praise and singing. What, then, does this Psalm mean?



I heard that even when I was back in the Methodist church, long before I was saved, and I thought, "What is that?"



First of all, our God is holy, and He said that the definition of beauty is something that is holy. No young lady, no matter how beautiful she may be thought of in her face, is beautiful if she is not holy. No thing that man ever created, no matter how skillfully it was crafted, is a beautiful work of art if it wasn't made to be holy. Beauty and holiness go together.



Now this is true when it comes to music and the playing of instruments. Every instrument was made to be played beautifully. God gave the Jews music. God gave King David the ability to make instruments, and the Jewish community today, though they are the enemies of the Gospel, still have a shred of what King David had. Many of the classical musicians are Jewish. If you want to hear how a violin should be played, listen to a Jewish man play it. If you want to hear what an oboe should sound like, listen to a Jewish man play that oboe.



The classical musicians strive to play with the most beautiful tones they can on their instruments. Now, sad to say, some of the music that is written for them is not holy music; and no matter how well they play, it comes out rather strange. But if you want to find out what a trumpet should sound like, listen to the first chair solo player in an orchestra. Those people are so picky that they are fired if they miss a note in a concert recording, and there are fifteen, twenty, seventy, seventy-five, one hundred people waiting in line to try out for that place. They dare not miss a note. As a matter of fact, some of them are fired at practices if they don't play well enough.



I wish that I could say that we could find that standard of excellence among Christians and say, "This is what a voice should sound like; this is what a baritone horn should sound like; this is what a bass clarinet should sound like; this is what a flute should sound like." I'm not sure that we can find it. Sometimes Christians forget that David was "cunning in playing," and we forget to put in the practice that David did.



Today we scarcely hear a saxophone played right. We scarcely hear people sing right. How come? Because people don't appreciate things that are holy. All appreciation for beauty goes right out the door with it. So if someone sings with a poor tone, nobody seems to care.



Things that are made beautiful are a picture of holy things. Now everything that man tries to make beautiful is not holy, but it is at least a picture of holy things. We are to praise the Lord in the beauty of holiness.



We are told that the Holy Spirit that dwells in us is holy, so this is a picture of beauty. The Holy Spirit, God, dwelling with man--that is beauty to the Lord.



The Holy Scripture, God's perfect Word, is a perfect picture of beauty. What this Book does for my soul, for my thoughts, for my life, and for all around me is amazing and wonderful. It is holy, and it is beautiful.



Holy matrimony, as we call it, is supposed to be holy. Hebrews 13:4 says "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled..." Marriage is a beautiful thing. It is a picture of holiness. The Bible says, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it" (Ephesians 5:25). The Bible tells me that I am to be faithful to her no matter what. The Bible tells me to love, care for, and cherish her, knowing that she is the weaker vessel. And if she ever lets me down, that is just what the church does to Jesus Christ anyway; but if I love her yet, that is a beautiful picture of how Christ loves us as His bride. Also, she may be a picture of a church that is obedient to Christ, if she is obedient to her husband, and if she reverences him. That's what God intends to take place in a marriage, so that it is a beautiful picture of something far greater than just the two of us becoming one flesh--of Christ and His church. Matrimony ought to be holy.



This says something about the way we are to worship the Lord. There ought to be some beauty in our singing, in the depths of our spirit and soul, that what comes out might be pleasing unto the Lord and a beautiful picture of holy things. It is to remind us of the Lord's holiness.



I went to Pittsburgh, Michigan, (to play in an orchestra), and I was amazed at how slack I was when it came to music. They did not allow a young person to blat one bad note on an instrument. They could not pick it up and go "blah," even just for fun. They did not allow it. Every note that came out was supposed to be pure. Of course there were mistakes that we made, but Brother Rick Town send would never let a sour note be played on purpose or in jest. He said, "No, they have to come out in praise of the Lord." He was seeking to achieve some beauty in the playing to show forth the Lord's holiness.



That's part of text painting--putting the right sound in the voice or instrument to make a picture of the Lord's holiness.



Turn to Psalm 66:1-2. "Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious." Our music should be joyful. That means we can put joy into the music. We can paint a picture of joy. "Sing forth the honour of his name." The music should be honorable. Somehow we can put the Lord's honor into the music. "Make his praise glorious." It doesn't say that this is text painting, but this is what God is talking about. It is saying that when we praise God, it can be a glorious praise. It should come from the heart, first of all; and if it does, when we raise our voices and when we play our instruments, it should be our very best effort to bring glory to the Lord's name. We can paint a picture of a glorious Savior if we sing and play right.



This tells us something else. Music can be dishonorable; music can be inglorious, and that's what is going on today, largely.



GOOD RHYTHMS AND BAD RHYTHMS

I said we would talk about rhythm. There are good rhythms and bad rhythms.



I want to show you a few more things about text painting. Think of "How Firm A Foundation." "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your Faith in His excellent Word." If I play that song with a twinkly, light, "Jingle Bell" touch, with a lot of high notes and a carefree delivery, the mood is wrong for the words. It doesn't fit. The traditional music for this song, on the other hand, is deep, heavy, forceful, and it paints the proper picture of a solid foundation. That is text painting. That is why the song is played with a full, rich, loud, undergirded type of arrangement. It is talking about His excellent Word, about unshakable things from God, so it is played with great majesty and power.



Consider "It Is Well With My Soul": "And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound..." This is talking about trumpets and the coming of the Lord, and at that point in the song there is actually a fanfare played with the keyboard. That's text painting. All the notes that the pianist plays have a meaning. The timing, the notes, the rhythm--all have meaning. You wouldn't want to put the fanfare at the point in the song which says, "Though Satan should buffet..."! No one wants to herald the coming of the devil. No, the fanfare is for the Lord.



We could think of so many songs to illustrate this. Consider "Crown Him With Many Crowns," which is played with a very royal, court-type, march manner because we are speaking of the Lord's kingliness. Likewise, "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" is always sung with a full, deep, stirring sound.



What if I'm going to speak of the peace of God? Consider, for instance, "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace." You will notice that the keys are played lightly and softly, in a restful, gentle manner. Why? To depict the peace that the Lord gives. You wouldn't play that with a heavy beat; you wouldn't jazz that up; it would ruin the picture! If you know the words to any song--if it is peace, if it is meditation, if it is joy, if it is the Lord's greatness--then look for that being painted with the music.



What happens when people take the old hymns and add something to them that doesn't belong? The picture is ruined. Consider "Who can cheer the heart like Jesus ... All that thrills my soul is Jesus; He is more than life to me." The traditional music paints the picture of quiet, spiritual joy, of the lovely abiding relationship between the saint and his Savior. On the other hand, when that beautiful song is put to a modern beat the picture is ruined.



The holy relationship between the Christian and Christ cannot be depicted with the world's sensual love music. Today they are trying to put the sixties sex music into "All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus," and it doesn't work! Somebody is painting a different picture underneath that beautiful picture of the Lord who only can cheer the soul of a man. They are thereby making light of it.



Let's face it. The things that those sixties bands sang about was having girlfriends that usually didn't last for more than a couple of weeks or months. (There is nothing in the Bible about having a girlfriend, or dating, or going steady; that's just an American fad.) By using sixties music with that grand old hymn, they put all that fickle, sensual,love-sicky, puppy-dog, worldly stuff underneath "All That Thrills My Soul Is Jesus." His love is not fickle; His love is not sensual; it's not that way! And those rhythms, as harmless as some people seem to think they are, are not harmless.



Consider the boogie, and the blues, which is just the boogie slowed down. These are very similar rhythms; only the speed is different. The blues rhythm is found in the old ballads. Hundreds of songs have been written to this "eight to the bar" rhythm. Have you ever heard "I Am Weak But Thou Art Strong" played with a boogie beat? It is the jazzy, Southern gospel style. It is the boogie. It is a dance rhythm. Southern gospel musicians have destroyed a lot of the hymns of the faith by using that jazzy rhythm.



When you put the accent on the wrong beat, it is dance music, and it appeals to your flesh; and somebody can sell more records to you because your flesh likes it! The rhythms appeal to your flesh, and the people that make the records know that. They don't want to appeal to the spiritual Christians who are walking with the Lord; they want to appeal to people that don't walk with the Lord; because they know that more people don't than do, and they want to sell more records. They make their living studying what people are doing, and if there is one thing they know, it is that most Christians are not walking with the Lord.



THE SNOWBALL EFFECT

Sooner or later Christians must get rid of the wrong kind of music, or it will take them the wrong way. There are good Christians who listen to the wrong music sometimes; but after they are instructed, if they keep on listening to that and liking it, I know something is not right. It's one way of finding out where they are at. You cannot feed yourself on carnal music, and take it into yourself, without getting carnal.



Those who try to witness to folk understand the power of rock and roll music, or the television blaring, or something else going on in the background that draws you away from that spirit of being concerned for someone's soul. It's because the appeal is to the flesh, to get you out of the Spirit and into the flesh. The Bible says, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). If you don't walk in the Spirit, you will fulfill the lusts of the flesh; and the Bible says that "when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (James 1:15).



I wouldn't care about any of these things if it didn't cause harm to me and to you, but it does. It does. It always does. It's just that it appears to be harmless when the sensual rhythms are disguised somewhat. It leads you on to desiring more sensual rhythms, just like anything else. It creates sensual appetites.



It's in every area of life. If you take one sip of beer, you will take two, three. You start drinking the wines, then the hard liquors. In the drug scene you go from the marijuana and the hash to the hard drugs. It's a progression. "Earthly, sensual, devilish." A little bit of evil to a lot more evil. The Bible warns the Christian to stay away from vain babblings because "they will increase unto more ungodliness" (2 Timothy 2:16). They increase. It's the snowball effect. You put a little snowball at the top of the hill and roll it awhile, and soon it will gather more snow and more snow, and pretty soon you have a whole snowman, or an avalanche, or something else much bigger than the snowball you started with. It's a snowball effect when it comes to your body liking certain rhythms that are meant to stir up your passions.



The devil uses a progression to draw people away from God and holiness. There was almost nobody from my sixties generation that would sing a song about devil worship. As a matter of fact, at the end of my rock and roll years, even though I was not saved, it was a difficult thing for me to even sing about songs that mentioned the devil. I could not understand what the Rolling Stones were doing singing about the devil. I thought, "What does that have to do with hamburgers and French fries and girls and beaches and Coca Cola and surfing and Woodies?" It did not compute, until after I got saved and read the Bible and found that the devil has been trying to get everybody to worship him. And he takes every generation as far as he can.



When you change the rhythm, you tend to change the style that a person sings in. If you play "I Was Sinking Deep In Sin" with a boogie blues background, you feel like singing with an Elvis Presley style. It is hard to play carnal rhythms and sing spiritually.



Of the three aspects of music, it is the rhythm that should be the least important. It is the spirit which is the most important. Dance music is primarily for the body. It's not something that appeals to the thoughts and spirit. It's not something, really, that appeals to the feelings.



SYNCOPATION

Another type of rhythm is syncopation. This is Rumba-type music with the accent just off the beat, so it swings. And when the music constantly swings and puts the accent off the beat, it is sensual. Elvis Presley used to do this in all his songs. Peter, Paul, and Mary also used the Rumba, but they played it slower and quieter. It is the same syncopated, eight-to-the- bar, boogie rhythm. It appeals to people because it is sensual. The west- coast surfing groups in the sixties used the same rhythms, only they played them louder and faster. It was the same type of syncopated dance music, and it enhanced the sexual appeal of the music. As the years have passed, the music has gotten louder, faster, and more complex in some instances; but it is the same basic type of beat.



If one has ever listened to an African drum group play, he will understand that American rock musicians are just catching up to the African rhythms.



In Africa, the heathen are able to play "poly rhythms." Poly, of course, means many. They have all these drums and other percussion instruments, rhythm instruments, that all make different sounds, and they can hear them. They can make one rhythm with their feet, another with their torso, some more with their arms, and some more with their fingers and wrists, some more in their heads; and they can dance six or seven different rhythms at one time. It is an amazing thing; however, it is all sensual; it's all for the body; and it's all created by their ability to hear and put into their bodies those dance rhythms that were created specifically to make their bodies move in ways that are not polite. They make the body move to draw attention to parts of the body in a way that is improper.



That is all that is happening in the rock scene today. They are catching up to some of these African rhythms. And, of course, the Satan worshipers have just turned the amplifiers up to the fullest degree, and many of them do not know, musically, what they are doing anymore. They are just making a lot of noise. Some of them are not even really playing chords; there is not even any harmony or melody there, just a lot of noise. There is nothing for the spirit, nothing for the soul; it is all for the body. Now we have Rap music. What happened to the melody? It is gone. What you don't know is that they have been doing this type of thing in Africa for thousands of years, and there are recordings of that. They will go on sometimes for hours. You talk about dance marathons! They dance until they drop over and are possessed by devils, and then they get back up and they dance again.



What we have in America is a bunch of young people that are so controlled by the devil that when you try to talk with them about the Lord, they can't hear or understand you because of the music which is raging within them. They are so controlled by an evil music that they can't think about their soul and their spirit.



The gospel rock groups today are not all noisy. There are variations because the devil knows what kind of music you like and he attempts to reach you with your type of music. There is some really noisy music for those who like that kind, and there is some not so noisy music for those who like it quieter.



Think of it like this: On one side you have God, and on the extreme opposite side you have the devil. The devil is opposed to everything that has to do with God and wants to draw people away from God and holiness. How does he do this? He works by degrees, by a progression. Here's what happens. Ideally, everybody would be over on God's side, singing and praising Him, seeking Him, fearing Him, finding favor with Him, pleasing and serving Him. That's where everybody ought to be. On this side we have music which is holy and pure, music which deals with man's spiritual nature.



Now let's say we add just a little bit of sensual rhythm to a song. We make it just one degree away from truly spiritual, holy music. It will appeal to a lot of Christians. Then we have some other music that really is boogie, but we call it Southern gospel; and that will appeal to a lot of Christians. They excuse it by saying it is just "down home" music. No, it isn't. It's boogie woogie, but some Christians still think it is O.K. Then there is the Contemporary Christian Music, which sounds like it is being sung in a nightclub. Of course it is big business today, and it is farther still away from painting a proper picture of our Lord.



REACH THE YOUNG PEOPLE WITH THEIR OWN MUSIC?

Then there are those who use "Christian rock" music. They say, "I believe we can reach the young people if we just play their kind of music." I don't buy that, because before I was ever saved I went to hear a rock and roll group singing dirty rock and roll songs and telling me about the Lord Jesus in the songs. You know what I said? As a rock and roll musician I said, "What are they doing playing my music? They are Christians." I had better sense than to believe that they were doing any good. Yes, I went to the concert, but I did not like it. And they all had long greasy hair. There was one fellow, a big, tall fellow, who stood up with a Bible at the end of the concert and preached. His hair was cut above his ears, and you know what? I listened to him. Afterwards I didn't want to talk to the grubby band members. I felt they were worse off than I was. I just looked at them and thought, "I don't want to be like that." I talked to the tall fellow; and though I did not get saved that night, I was impressed somewhat and I went home that night and told my mother about it. It was only a year or two later that I got saved.



I don't buy that idea that we have to look like and play our music like the world in order to reach them. If you are trying to bring somebody to Christ, you have to show them that the Lord is different than the world; and He is. He is holy, and this world is unholy. Christian rock music does not paint a proper picture of the Savior. Even that fellow, by his short hair and dress, painted a more proper picture of the Lord; and I was willing, at least, to talk with him.



Then you have music that is sung and played by supposed Christians, but it is not Christian music. Amy Grant has done some of that. They call it "cross over" music. She sang a song with one of the singers from the rock group Chicago.



Then you've got your regular country western, and rock and roll, and big band music, and boogie woogie, and rag time, and all the rest. It gets worse and worse and worse, and finally it's heavy metal music; and, lo and behold, all the sudden we are worshiping the devil. Nobody got over there with one hop. No, it is a progression. The devil wants us to plug in anywhere along that line, and the flow always moves away from God and holiness.



Where does the devil have you plugged in today? I'll listen to anything that God will allow; but if God doesn't allow it, I don't want it. I know that if I plug into music that is even one degree off, the devil will try to get me two degrees off, then three, then four, then five. The devil does not rest; he just keeps on. "Why don't you just move over here a little."



A pastor once told me, "You know, those black folks really have it; why don't you stick some of those rhythms into your music. With your voice and your talent..." I thought, "Get thee behind me." I didn't say that, but I just shook my head. The evangelist that was there said, "Brother Ives, don't change your music."



I look at my music, and sometimes I wonder, "Am I a degree off? Am I two degrees off? Am I just fooling myself, Lord?" I want to be on the button.



Some people say, "Why do you make the beat the deciding factor?" Because it controls the rest, the harmony and melody; and that's the only place I can find, in or out of the Bible, to draw the line. If someone says the beat is not the place to decide, then there is no place.



Some say, "I don't like the volume." Well, the Bible says to make a loud noise unto the Lord. You cannot use volume to decide whether the song is good or not. Some people say, "I don't like the speed of the song." There is nothing in the Bible that indicates how fast or how slow to sing a song, as long as you sing it slow enough to understand the words and be able to think what you are saying. Some say, "I don't like any drums." There are drums in a marching band. There are high cymbals and loud sounding cymbals in Psalm 150. There are timbrels in the Bible. You can't rule out percussion instruments just because wrong rhythms can be played on them. Wrong rhythms can be played on a piano, too. It is a semi- percussion instrument, and so is the guitar, because it is struck; so is a harpsichord; so are bells. The only place to draw the line is with the rhythm.



You say, "I don't like the style that they are using." It is the rhythm that causes that style. You say, "I don't like the chords they are playing." They are playing those chords because it matches the rhythm. You say, "I don't think the people ought to clap their hands." The Bible says, "Clap your hands, all ye people." It depends on how you clap your hands-on beats one and three, or two and four! It goes without saying, of course, that the words of a song must be right. Those we check up with the Bible. But beyond that, it is the rhythm in the song that determines if it is right or wrong.



I hope you understand this. When you hear sensual, worldly rhythms in a song, just cut it off. It's not going to help.



MUSIC IS A VOICE AND SHOULD GIVE A CERTAIN SOUND

In 1 Corinthians 14 the Apostle Paul makes reference to music while explaining what is right and wrong about the way we talk, and whether or not we speak in tongues.



"And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification" (1 Cor. 14:7-10).



Verse 7 says even a pipe or a harp must be played distinctly. The more wrong notes you make, the less you can tell what the song is. If I play "Jesus Loves Me" and start missing notes, you might not be able to tell what I am playing. The voice is no longer distinct. We want to hit the right note at the right time, or no one will know what we are trying to say with the music.



Verse 8 mentions the uncertain sound. If you are not sure of the right note, if you don't sing or play with the right spirit, nobody is really sure what kind of a sound you are making; and they will not rally to your cause. They will not believe what you have sung or played. They must know what you are really trying to say. When it comes to God's soldier music, nobody will rally to the cause of Christ and go win souls if you are singing a song with a soul-saving message and music underneath that says "do your own thing." Doing your own thing is the natural way of the sinner. You cannot have a mixed message.



Who would want to waste their time singing music that wouldn't rally anyone to the cause of Christ? Why sing gospel music at all if it won't count for Heaven. The only other motives are money, popularity, and fame--not good motives. God will say, "Wood, hay, and stubble, Christian."



Verse 9 says the message should be "easy to be understood." If my music gets so complicated with so many voices, pretty soon nobody will know what I am saying. If I drown out the singing, nobody will know what I am trying to say. If I play a piano arrangement and change so many notes that the hearers cannot tell what song I am playing, what good am I doing? We need to be careful that what we are trying to say is easy to be understood.



Everybody is not a musical genius. A Christian needs to be sure, first of all, that the message gets across so that people will easily understand that you are exalting the Lord Jesus and speaking of His sacrifice on Calvary being available to all that all might be saved. It needs to be plain.



Verse 10 says every voice has signification. This is true for music. Every group or band is trying to say something. Some people say, "Music doesn't say anything; it just exists by itself." The word "signification" means to signify something with signs or symbols. Every song that you hear is trying to say something. When music plays, it is indeed symbolizing something. It paints a picture. People that play the music the way they play it are saying, "This statement is what I agree with." The song always tells you to do something. It will excite you to action, either good or bad. Music will signify something; it will imply something. It doesn't come out and say, "Do bad; do evil." It will imply it. "Feel this way about it; think about it this way." It leads you a certain way without coming right out and saying it. Music is significant; it has meaning.



Don't ever let anyone tell you, "Well, it's just music." That's what all the gospel rockers say. That's what Stryper says about their music. "It's just music; it doesn't mean anything." Yes, it does. They are a voice in this world, and they are not without signification. They certainly do mean something. What they mean, if you can put it plainly, is that you can be a Christian and live just as dirty as you want. That's about as plain as you can put it. If you know the lives of these people, you would not imitate them; you would not follow them, and you will never get any spiritual help from them if you ever could find them or meet them. They are out there making money, taking your bucks and fooling you because you think there is something there that is Christian--but there isn't.



If I sang gospel rock, I would be ashamed before my university professors who taught me better than that. They knew the difference between the voices that are in the world. They knew that sounds are supposed to be pure, and that music was supposed to contain beauty. The classical composers, even the ones that were not saved, said that music was for the refreshment of the soul and to portray the ennobling things of life. Our Christian music should be understandable to the folks who hear it. The melody should be clear, and the harmony and the rhythm should paint a picture of Christ.



If we use dirty rhythms, dirty harmonies, and dirty melodies, we are not painting a proper picture of Christ. If we use the sensual rhythms and harmonies that the world uses today, instead of painting a picture of the pure, spotless Lamb of God, we will paint a perverted, fornicating Christ. What we do with our music is very important.



Let me read you a poem, and I'm done. What kind of a Christ is portrayed by the music that you hear? How and what do you think of God when you listen to the music that you listen to?



Men's portraits of Jesus are many, I've heard, But none can compare with that found in God's Word. My Savior, no artist hath justly portrayed, But great are God's verses, God's truth there displayed. 'Tis there I see Jesus on Calvary's tree, The Lamb of God once for all slaughtered for me. His stripes for my healing, His wounds for my sin, The blood there He spilled for my cleansing within.



The agony born in His body that day



Was the weight of iniquities taken away.



And taken away were transgressions of mine;



There He made me pure by God's perfect design.



God's Son without spot, without sin, without blame



On Golgotha's hill He bore the curse and the shame.



There He Who was righteous in my place was slain



To freely give righteousness I could not gain.



In paintings no cleansing for sin can I find;



No rest for my spirit, nor peace for my mind,



But there on the canvas of Scripture I see



My Savior, my Ransom, who died to save me.



May we strive to have our music to be as pure as the words of God and paint a picture of a wonderful, saving Christ who shed His blood that our awful sins could be forgiven. I love the Lord. He has completely changed me; and I want my music, and the music of all Christians, to let others know of a Christ who is very pure, very wonderful.