Reflections on God's Presence: Part 7--Ominpresence

Because God is everywhere at once, everywhere he wants to be, and no where he doesn’t want to be, we may simply do three things:

1.  Acknowledge him as being everywhere, which includes right where we are.

2.  Welcome him right where we are.

3.  Live our lives as though he is right here, right now.

How do we do this?

Our wills and our attention.  Or our willed attention.

In other words, simply think about God being in the room with you right now.  Focus on the FACT that He IS, by definition of who and what He is, in the room with you RIGHT NOW. 

With human beings, whom you can see, hear, and touch, you focus your eyes on them.  You do this with your will and your mind, but you involve your eyes.  Because God is invisible, the only thing left out of this experience is your eyes, or the five senses.  Not to say that God can’t or won’t manifest himself physically, as of course he has done and will do when Christ returns.  But for now, focus on spiritual experience and what that is like. 

Having focused your attention, by your will, on God’s omnipresent real presence, you welcome him.  Literally.  Verbally. 

“God, I appreciate you being here right now.” 

Or something like that.

Being focused on God’s omnipresence, and honoring his omnipresence, live in the context of his omnipresence.  Because God is with you, watching you, listening to you, hearing your words and your thoughts, seeing your actions and imaginations, how does it affect what you do or don’t do? 

This is the proof of whether you believe God is God.

satan's beats for GOD'S GLORIES? (CONCLUSIONS)

here is what i believe is a fundamental difference between many christian musicians verses secular/worldly musicians:

MANY CHRISTIAN MUSICIANS HOLD BACK EMOTIONALLY!

MOST NON CHRISTIAN MUSICIANS DON'T!!

nothing else dishonors God more than passionless worship!!

i'm sure you've heard love songs where the man or woman express their love for each other in words that sound like worship, saying things that really should only be said about or to God.  or you've heard raw emotion in the expression of a non christian musician in subject matter that is infinitely inferior to the glory of God.

yet an example of what i hear on some christian radio stations with "sorry cliche christian music" is an acoustic guitar with a whining man, who sounds more like he's talking than singing.  when the christian musician is a woman, there is usually more passion, but the SAME KIND OF PASSION heard in almost every other song with "passion" on the christian station.  in other words, the passion seems contrived, like the christian musician knows he or she should feel passion for God, BUT THEY SINCERELY DON'T, so they WILL themselves into a state of mock passion.  we know raw emotion and passion when we hear it. 

then there are some christians who indeed sing with passion, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE SINGING OR TALKING ABOUT!  they focus so much on being creative that their creativity negates God's reality.  these usually don't mention God or Jesus at all.  this would be like a love song where the man doesn't mention the woman,or the woman fails to mention the man of her affection. 

because the goal of the christian musician is to bring the listener WITH HIM OR HER into the presence of God, the musician must indeed BE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD!!  THERE CAN BE NO PASSION WITHOUT THIS INTIMATE CONNECTION!!!!

so the lack of passion with the christian musician is the lack of genuine intimate communion with God.  you can't sing passionately about what you are not experiencing.

but the non christian musician expresses his or her experience, JUST AS IT IS, HOLDING BACK NOTHING!!! SWEARING.  ANGRY.  LUSTFUL.  GREEDY.  NEEDY.  LONELY. WHATEVER. IT'S THERE. 

we, those who know the truth and are one with truth, rarely tell or sing the truth.  because of this, our music is mostly sorry. 

i believe i remember the christian rapper ambassador talking about the advantages the christian rapper has over the non christian rapper.  according to him, rap usually involves rappers bragging about themselves, and they usually go too far!  but you can't go too far in bragging about God!!  you will never run out of things to say about Him, and you can never honor Him highly enough!! 

i feel the same way about all christian music, art, or expression.  christians should possess the most passion in creative expression, the most raw emotion, the most skill in their creations.  we are the sons and daughters of God, those whose bodies are the temples of God!  our music should bring all who listen into God's glorious presence with passion!

"SO WHAT?" some may ask.  "What if I'm not a Christian artist or creative type?  What do all of these posts have to do with me?"

EVERYTHING!

God The Creator, The Creative One, made you in His image and likeness.  You look like Him and act like Him.  The first and most practical place you can start is how you talk from now on!!!

I'll quote some of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis to illustrate what I mean:

"To say the very thing you mean, the whole of it, nothing more less or other than what you really mean, that is the whole art and joy of words."
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C.S. Lewis’s last interview was on May 7, 1963—six months before he died. One of Sherwood Wirt’s questions was on writing: “How would you suggest a young Christian writer go about developing a style?”

Lewis responded:

"The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that."
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 " Never exaggerate. Never say more than you really mean."
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"What really matters is:–

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn't mean anything else.
2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don't implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean 'More people died' don't say 'Mortality rose.'

4. In writing. Don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was 'terrible,' describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, 'Please will you do my job for me.'

5. Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say 'infinitely' when you mean 'very'; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite."
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Two things that stand out to me that I give to you from C.S. Lewis:

1.  Over and over, he focuses on saying what you really mean.
2.  He even attributes this to the development of a style of your own.

Creativity is really self-expression, which means telling the one listening to you what you really think, feel, or want!  The musician uses music to say what he really means.  The artist uses art to say what she really means.  You may be neither, but your words are music and art if you fully express them.

DON'T HOLD BACK, CHILD OF GOD!  Tell people what you really mean, always, about God and yourself as His child, from this moment on.

And even if you are not a child of God right now, but you are reading my words, BE ABSOLUTELY HONEST WITH YOURSELF AND EVERY ONE ELSE FROM THIS DAY FORWARD!!!  Not only will you stumble upon originality and individuality, as well as liberty, but you will, in the end, see the very face of God--The Face of the Lord Jesus Christ, The Way, The Truth, and The Life!!

satan's beats for GOD'S GLORIES? (PART 3)

let's talk about "worldly music," verses "secular music." 

i defined "worldly" in the first post, showing this word to mean satan's system of deception and self-worship.  i said i would define secular, or what i mean by secular.

by secular i mean music not specifically written about God or to God.  i believe "secular music" can glorify God or satan, depending upon the musicians intention or expresssion, whether christian or non christian.

for example, a love song expressing a man's desire to marry a woman glorifies God, the Creator of marriage.  this man may or may not be a christian, but he sings songs that express the truth of man's love for a woman consummated in marriage, which honors God.

worldly music, no matter how good it sounds, does not honor God. 

the musician deliberately dishonors, dismisses, or dissassoicates herself from God.
he hates God.
she hates anything and everything that tells her there are limits to her expression.

secular musicians may not hate God or His ways.  they may not fully know the source of the beauty they see and feel.  but they love the beauty, and to a certain extent they love the source, though they may misname or misunderstand the source. now here is where christian musician copying comes in.

some christian musicians, knowing Christ as the source of all beauty and ecstasy, realize that secular musicians build musical alters to "an unknown God."  what they sing to as unknown, the christian musican seeks to make known.  so they take the secular style, lyrics, etc., and use it to glorify God. 

christian musicans may do the very same thing with worldly music!!

take the musical genre of "heavy metal" for example.  this music is usually associated with devil worship, wild drunken sex orgies, etc.  notice, it is THE ASSOCIATION of this music with these activities that is powerful. but the musical style, rhythms, or notes are not inherently sinful. 

a good example for me is the song "down with the sickness." by the band "disturbed." 

some of you may ask,

"Cru, how in THE LITERAL HELL did you come into contact with such a horribly demonic song?"

i used to be a bouncer.  i heard and saw things that should not be heard or seen.  i refuse to link you to the lyrics.  if you haven't heard the song or lyrics, you are blessed for it.  but i can tell you, as a musican, that the music itself is very good, meaning the beats, notes, arrangement, composition.  but the goal of the musicians is antiGod!!

another good example is almost any of prince's earlier songs where he seemed to love raunchiness.  "darling nicki" is another perfect example.  filthy lyrics.  very good music.  (i saw the movie in which prince sang this, and I've heard it live.  the music sounds even better live, though i am ashamed to like it because the lyrics are so bad.)

now, imagine a christian musican taking the music to both of these songs and changing the words.  he uses the exact same music and the rhythm of the lyrics, but makes a completely legitimate christian song, with rightly interpreted scripture and application, and deepest expression of devotion and emotion to God.  after all, this seems to be what happened with old bar songs that were used for the music of hymns.  could this glorify God?

it depends.  some music from some sources is so associated with the devil that it is difficult, if not impossible, to dissociate the devil from it. 

but let's just take heavy metal in general as a musical style.  or use prince's musical style in general.  these, in and of themselves, belong to no one and can be used by any muscian.  secondly, the styles in and of themselves can be used for the glory of God, depending on the musician, if they are  simply the basic characteristics, verses an imitation of a song of satan, .

take as another example rap music, whether the style of a specific rapper, or of rap in general; NOT the syle of a specific rap song.  now some "christian rappers" simply like rap as a style of expression.  some were former "thugs" and now consider themselves "gangstas for Christ," whatever that means.  now with "gangsta rap," for example, there are assumptions about money, respect, violence, etc.  the "gangsta disciple of Christ" may reinterpret these in "kingdom language."  they may speak of spiritual wealth in Christ, the glory of God, and the violence done to satan's kingdom.  an example of this is changing the scriptural idea of the word of God being a "sword of the Spirit" to a "gun for Christ." 

the danger comes when the christian rapper expresses the same worldly assumptions as worldly rappers, going beyond merely using the style of music, and promoting worldly thinking.  they still may give some glory to themselves, though they give MOST of the glory to God.  they thank God FOR THEIR BENTLEY OR MERCEDES OR MONIES.  their videos look and feel the same as worldly videos, but they talk about Jesus more. 

so the christian musician that copies a secular or even worldly musical style can still glorify God if he or she doesn't promote worldly assumptions, or copy a worldly/secular artist to the extent that the worldly artist cannot be forgotten when one listens. the styles of secular/worldly music are not sinful. but the assumptions behind he lyrics very well may be.  (the closest i've come to hearing music that sounded "sinful"  is the introductory notes to prince's darling nikki.  it JUST COMES ON WRONG!!  the MUSICAL NOTES sound "SINFUL....." like WHATEVER prince is about to "sang" CANNOT BE GOOD!!)

as for traditional christan music, like hymns, the issue is usually talent.  the lyrics of hymns tend to be good, as defined in the last post.  however, there are some hymns that sound very much like "sermon songs," and some that are off scripturally.  this is the exception and not the rule. if hymns or traditional christian songs of the past are sung with skill and spirit filled emotion, the presence of God will indeed be felt, and thus the goal of the good christian musician will be achieved. 

i plan to write about "sorry cliche christian music" in the next, and concluding, post.  i believe this discussion will bring us to the climax of our topic.  in the next post, i'll deal with this last type of christian music, showing why it seems at times that "satan's music" is better than "God's." 

satan's beats for GOD'S GLORIES? (Part 2)

here we go.
standards.

we talked about satan owning nothing, including musical rhythms, styles, and genres.  satan owns nothing.  God owns everything.  all that is good and perfect in music comes from God, and all that is evil and imperfect comes from satan, and is controlled by the sovereign will of God. 

we discussed three musical possiblities in christian music: 
1. copying the "worldly," as defined in part 1, making it clear that copying in and of itself is not bad
2. rejecting the "worldy" and doing only the traditional hymns of "old time religion"
3. creating cliche, sorry christian music, neither "worldly" nor "old school."

now, i plan to give standards by which we can measure "good music" verses "straight up sorriness."  i do this as one gifted by God in music, and i believe the standards for any area of expertise should come from those who possess God given ability in these areas.  they see what the ungifted do not see, but what the ungifted know intuitively.  in other words, we all know good music and bad music when we hear it.  the difference is, the gifted know HOW AND WHY it is good or bad, because the gifted make music.  we all know a well built house and a house that is straight garbage!  but architects and carpenters or builders know how and why houses are built well or built with shabbiness.

having said all of this, the standard by which one can measure good and bad music christian music, whether the christian musician copies a definitively "secular" style, uses only "traditional" or old school styles, or creates their own style, is this: 

Does the christian music emotionally take  the christian and nonchristian listener into the very presence of God through lyrics that skillfully express faith in Christ Jesus, by the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit filling and leading the musician.

i'll deal with each component of my defintion. before i do, understand that styles of music are just that.  they are a means to an end, and they are only as useful as they accomplish the goal of expression for the christian musician.

first, we all know intuitively that music is meant to move us emotionally.  it is meant to be felt.  it is not primarily to present doctrine or a sermon in lyrical or rhythmic form.  i'm not saying truth can't be expressed or taught in songs.  i'm saying that this is not the PRIMARY purpose of ANY kind of music.  music, songs, and poetry are meant to express emotions in relation to a person or object. 

second, the person or object of focus is none other than God Himself, the Omnipresent.  because the christian musician is singing to and about God Himself, one should feel not only the musicians spirit pouring out to God, but God responding with pleasure to the musician, and all who unite with the musician.  this is the norm!!  the standard!!!!

third, the means to this end is SKILLFUL expression.  the songwriter should be gifted in writing songs!  we all know this when we hear it. the singer takes the listener to places in God through words that express the inexpressible.  poets do the same with those who read their poetry.  this is a gift that should not be taken lightly.  the psalmist wrote with skill lyrics sung for the glory of the God of israel. 

fourth, the musician undeniably expresses faith in and focus upon Christ, not himself or herself.  yes, HE OR SHE IS PERFORMING!!  yes, he or she SHOULD BE HONORED FOR HIS OR HER GIFT.  and yes, the gift of the musician SHOULD BE ENJOYED!!!  the devil lies most in this area.  his lie is based in the truth of celebrity worship today.  he makes it seem as if honoring someone's talent in music is the same as the worship the unsaved give to secular musicians.  but i believe the christian musician makes all of the difference in this, leading to the next point.

fifth, the musician, focused on his or her faith in Christ and not themselves, manifests the very real presence of the Holy Spirit in them and leading them.  they manifest what the bible calls the "fruit of the Spirit."  by this it is known that the musician is following the Spirit, and by this God receives all of the supreme honor due to the Creator, while the musician receives the honor of a creature due to him or her, as it is written, "He who honors me, I will honor.  But he who despises me shall be lightly esteemed."  It is also written, "Let another man praise you and not your own mouth, someone else and not your own lips."

so when christian musicians sing for God's glory, they will bring you into God's presence, inspiring you to worship God with them.  they will skillfully do this through the lyrics and music, whether in a "secular style," "traditional style," or the unique style of the musician.  in the next post, i'll talk about these styles, and the ways they glorify God or satan.

satan's beats for GOD'S GLORIES?

Satan possesses nothing but darkness and dirt! 
IF THAT! 

It is written,

"The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world and all who live in it." 

So for the record, even darkness and dirt belong to God, and even the evil of the evil one is subject to God's sovereignty!  God performs no evil and is in no way cruel.  But the Lord  uses the devil like a CLOWN MONKEY however the Lord sees fit!

Based on this, there are no beats, no notes, no musical styles or forms or genres THAT BELONG TO SATAN!

BAM!  BICKETY BAM!!

I cannot emphasize this enough to be felt as badly as I want you to FEEL ME!

It is written yet again,

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

This includes sounds and grooves that make heads and bodies  move!

Contrary to popular belief, HEAVEN IS WHERE THE PARTY IS AT!!!

Now how do we give glory to God  with our beats and music and dances?

I see these possible problems:

1.  Because many Christian musicians don't believe that God is the source of ALL good, they copy the worldly musician.  By "worldly" I do not mean "secular," which I will discuss later.  When I say "worldly," I mean:

"Of  his present satanic world system, and according to the present world's anti-God-worship-me-philosophy." 

Note, by philosophy, or system, I mean ideas and assumptions SPREAD BY WORDS, WHETHER LYRICS OR POETRY OR WHATEVER, WHEREVER WORDS ARE THE EXPRESSION.  Yet again, beats in and of and by themselves possess neither vice nor virtue.  African drums were not made in the smoky pits of hell, and the violin was not fashioned in heaven.  Contrary to popular belief, Satan can use the violin.  And despite what many believe, the boom of thunder may very well be the drum beat OF GOD! 

This copying can take place in one of two ways: 
a)  Straight up copying--taking a worldly song and putting bible verses or the name of Jesus in it. 
b)  Copying a clearly worldly musician's style. 

Now, nothing is inherently wrong with copying...unless we worship our so called individuality/originality.  Yet the truth is, WE ARE ALL COPIES!!! COPIES OF GOD!  Only God the Father is "original."  Even the Son and The Spirit reflect the Father eternally (and thus uniquely and equally.)  So the issue to me isn't originality.  The issue is wanting the approval of the world, or valuing the world as though satan's system is the standard. 

2.  Next would be an opposite extreme:  to reject all good sounding beats and music as "of the devil,"  and use only old hymns, spirituals, European classical music, etc, assuming  that these "traditional/cultural" sounds are inherently "Christian."  Now this can be done one of two ways. 

a) skillfully
b) poorly. 

Now hopefully, if Western music must be the standard for heaven and eternity, it can at least be done skillfully!   Yet most of the time, when this mindset is assumed, THE MUSIC IS STRAIGHT SORRY!!  We as believers dishonor God by just letting any ole body get up in the church an'  SANG!  After all, "It's for the Lord?"  MEANING?  God is...tone deaf?  Sorry?  Absolutely not!  God specifically gave us skills and gifts to use for His glory and enjoyment.  One of those possible skills is MUSICAL ABILITY.  If a person can't sing, THEY SHOULD NOT,  I DO BOLDLY REPEAT,  SHOULD NOT,  BE ALLOWED TO SING AS THEIR MINISTRY OR JOB!!!  (YES, FORBIDDEN, AND IF OFFENDED BY PROHIBITION--BANISHED!!!) 

Of course, anybody and everybody can sing in the shower, around the house, karaoke, etc.  I'm talking about being ASSIGNED to PRAISE AND WORSHIP OR THE CHOIR WHEN YOU CAN'T SING!  We don't do that with the food ministry!  Oh No!  You BETTER be able to cook if you want to contribute to church dinners!!! 

3.  Finally, a Christian  musician can reject "satan's music," and "old school/old time religion" music, and strike out  on his or her own, creating YET ANOTHER cliche "Christian sound" that is...SORRY!...For the most part....After all, there are very many very good Christian musicians making good music with good lyrics.  But what do I mean by "good music" and "good lyrics?"  And by what standards should we measure musical styles and genres in relation to Christian musicians and their compositions?  And indeed, what makes alot of Christian music STRAIGHT SORRY?!  Let's discuss this another time....Until we next connect...PRAISE THE LORD SAINTS!!!