Beyond the Sounds of Music

There is no running away from music.  I just closed my eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like without music in this world.  But I discovered that music exists all around. 

One of my dogs was barking at one pitch, then another across the village joined in.  Another of my dogs joined the chorus and soon all the others in the neighbourhood yapped in. At the same time a truck passed by and tooted his horn.  And another responded.  The two engines hummed at different levels and another zoomed past with the roar of a motorbike on its trail.  Someone was using an electric plane making an "Ooo-wah-ooo-wah" sound. A curtain flapping in the breeze that fingered its way through the swaying leaves of the coconut trees, could have easily been the sound of a sheep-skin drum.  In these parts roosters crow at will. I could not decipher whether that one was singing "I'm Not Sleeping" or "Are You Sleeping Brother John". The noisy refrigerator kept up a fast Rap in an unknown tongue.

When put together what I heard was a composition for an album that could be called "The Music of the Village".

Music affects the body, mind and spirit--for better or worse.  Notice how soothing or irritating it can be.  Your fingers, you feet, your head, your hips respond to it.  And when the right song is played, observe how it puts you in an atmosphere of adoration and worship for your Creator.

As a music lover I have bookmarked pages to my favourite music, and wanted to share with you, like I would my sugar-coned ice cream, the different flavours to be found online.  So please enjoy.

Note: [Nicer if you play in full screen]

This one is for young people:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM6PdBgyog4&NR=1


This next song sings about the extent of God's love for us and how much he is jealous for  our affection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_449103&feature=iv&v=OCBpSINhu6Q&src_vid=geHF1zbA25U


I love the next one because it is the true picture of the love between a father and child, and love how it brings out the tender and playful side of the Creator.  It's called "Peek A Boo Daddy".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMw-ntHYpG4



Francesca Battistelli makes you want to get up and dance.

Jewish worship music is absolutely wonderful always seems to be combined with dancing. See Barry and Batya Segal's "In The Latter Days".  So beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXZHNKq5wPE&feature=BFa&list=PL4F66B739D4982F7A&lf=results_main


 This is another of their well-choreographed dances to In the Latter Days.

And after this, here is a power-packed Jamaican song, good to exercise to and lose some physical and spiritual fat.  This is DJ Nicholas.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to purchase some of these as end-of-year presents for your friends and family?  Sometimes it is so difficult to decide on what to give. So maybe you can play them some samples from the above artists if you liked them, then start purchasing while it's still early.


And now forgive me if I throw in the last song: "Forgiven" by TrueVibe:

Because It Changes

Our last blog entry was on August 11, 2011.  It was a link to the Word For Today--short daily bite-sized messages that help to feed your mind, which then enable you to live sensibly.

That specific message was appropriate for the moment, since before I had read it there were some high profile scandals that shook the body of Christ. Because the embedded link was not static, readers clicking on it after that date would see the current date's message and not the intended one.  That's okay, because every Word for Today message has relevance.

However, since these message may be shared freely, I have taken the liberty to paste the direct text of the article of August 11, 2011.

The Stink or the Storm

 11 Aug 2011

 'Let my prayer be... as incense...' Psalm 141:2 Noah's ark is a picture of your church. It wasn't a luxury liner; can you imagine spending a year in that ark with all those animals, and just one window? But Noah had only two options - the stink or the storm. So what's the relevance here? That there are no perfect churches! Furthermore, if you found one and joined it, you'd ruin it! We all love to talk about the power of the New Testament church, but what about its problems? They had hypocrites. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? They had financial scandals (Acts 5). They had doctrinal differences that almost split the church down the middle (Acts 15). And they had moral problems. They actually had a man belonging to the Corinthian church who was sleeping with his stepmother (1 Corinthians 5). So what should you do when there's a big stink in your church? First, don't spread it. 'And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins' (1 Peter 4:8 NKJV). Second, work for reconciliation. '...If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself...' (Galatians 6:1 TM). Third, burn incense. When the lamps in the tabernacle were snuffed out each evening they left a bad smell, so God commanded Moses to burn incense. Don't be discouraged when 'flesh acts like flesh'. And don't be part of the problem by being immature; instead, be part of the solution. The Psalmist said, 'Let my prayer be set before You as incense.' When problems arise in your church, you should pray, walk according to God's Word, and believe Him to bring good out of the situation.

The Word For Today is written by Bob and Debby Gass, with Ruth Gass Halliday and can be found on the UCB website.

Please visit:   http://ucb.co.uk/

There you will find the best in free online TV and radio broadcasting.  A truly satisfying experience.

http://www.ucb.co.uk/word_for_today

http://www.ucb.co.uk/word_for_today

Extra Mile

I can understand why some people turned away from following Jesus, even though they were frequently in his company and witnessed or even experienced his miracles.

Some of the things he said simply did not make sense; for example, a man hits you on one side of your face, turn and offer the other side too.  Huh?  Sounds ridiculous.  But many of us have unconsiously practised this principle in our childhood days. Take, for instance, you and your siblings or friends had been given a treat to share among yourselves.  After you had been given the smallest share someone from the group decided to pinch some of yours.  Of course you were hurt.  You immediately lost the taste for whatever it was and said, "Here, take all.  I don't want it!"  And, surprise, surprise, instead of refusing it, the greedy person gladly grabbed the rest.

I was discussing the topic of ingratitude with a dear friend of mine.  He said that he would help people who were constantly ungrateful no matter how many times he helped them, but he would not go out of his way to help.  When you listened to the kinds of examples that helped to shape his reasoning it is easy to agree with him.  But if you are alert to the teaching of the Christian Spirit Guide, the Holy Spirit, you would remember Jesus' instruction to go the extra mile.

Jesus compares a person who hears his sayings and does them to a wise man who builds on a rock (solid foundation), while one who hears and does not follow them to a foolish man who builds on sand (loose and unstable footing).  The test comes when the storms batter the structure.  Matthew 7:24-27.

I gave the matter a lot of thought.  I have seen ingratitude in its extreme.  And humanly speaking it seems like the better option to refuse these persons when they show up with their troubles and petitions, as they inevitably will.  But I have examined the wisdom of Jesus and in an "aha!" moment I realized why he gave these instructions in Matthew 5: 38-39.

Some people are naturally ungrateful.  That's how they were raised.  It's a family trait.  But there are others who take ingratitude to an extreme level because they want to take advantage of a person's Christianity and laugh about it.

Verses 45-48 are the keys to the wisdom of the matter (Matthew 5:45-48)--children like their father.  The Heavenly Father is gracious even when we don't deserve it.  Even when we take him for granted he bestows on us his mercies.  He not only gave us forgiveness of our sins, but he went the extra mile of providing healing for our sicknesses, emotions, guilt and oppression.  He could have simply provided forgiveness only in Christ's sacrifice but he went the extra mile, throwing in healing, otherwise we could have been walking around like itchy street dogs, forgiven of our sins but weighed down by the consequences of those sins.

So although it is difficult, and makes you look like a moron, ask the Holy Spirit to help you (which, by the way, is an extra benefit of Christ's sacrifice) to extend grace to the person who doesn't deserve it.  That way, you will be like your Father, who is in heaven.  Luke 6: 27-31.

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Choices

 Disclaimer:  The following is not about working to obtain spiritual salvation but is only intended to educate readers on the symptoms and causes of wrong choices, and to direct them to the Great Physician who administers healing.

Your life is made up of one choice after another.  Even if you do nothing, that in itself is a choice.  You have chosen to just let an opportunity pass, you have chosen to ignore a threat, or you have chosen to take the time to examine the choices that are available in the situation.

Choices are like seeds.  There are so many kinds of seeds, and seeds do what they like to do most--grow.  What, how, when and where determine the beauty of the landscape or the harvest you will reap.

It may be that you absent-mindedly toss out some seeds, with no intention of growing anything, as in the case of tomato or pepper seeds.  Sometimes there is a moist area where water drains from your kitchen sink and it can be a fertile area for discarded seeds to spring up.  Soon you are surprised to find some lovely tomatoes ripening on the vine.  Some of your life's choices follow that pattern.  In your daily activities, because of your personality, you dish out smiles and a few encouraging words in an environment that feels damp and dreary.  Very soon it takes root and one more person begins to see life in a different light.  It is as if the sun has begun to shine.

At times you deliberately decide to plant--maybe a mango, coconut, palm, or some other sturdy tree.  You may wait many long years before the manifestation of your dream.  Likewise, some of your choices do not produce their results until later on in life, even after you have forgotten about them.  For example, recently I took a group of kids to visit an elderly friend and had them read to her.  She remarked that it was interesting how the same thing she did when she was younger (take kids to visit the elderly and read to them) was the same thing that was happening to her in her senior years. Similarly, the fruits of rebellion may take a long while to mature. 

Sometimes you are horrible to someone.  Perhaps you just don't like the individual so you refuse to help him or her.  Maybe you don't even know what it is about the person you dislike but you try to put pressure just to make his or her life miserable.

Seeds are an interesting subject to study.  It is fascinating to watch an ant struggle with a seed much bigger than itself.  From where the seed fell in your yard it is carried away and deposited among the nearby weeds and abandoned when the ant is disturbed by a broom sweeping across the yard.  The plant shows up in an unexpected place.  In much the same manner the results of your choices can manifest generations down the line in your family, whether they were positive or negative choices.  That's one of the reasons why you cannot understand why certain situations keep recurring as a pattern in your family's life.  The tree continues to bear fruit after its kind in its season.

What should you do when you realize that you, in a moment of stupidity, have dispersed seeds that are producing an undesirable harvest in your life or in your loved ones' lives?  What do you do with the weeds and the thorns that are choking the life out of your happiness and prosperity?  What strong weed killer, or what kind of tiller would you use to uproot the unwanted plant?

The first step is to admit that there is a problem.  Next, ask God to show you the original location where you planted the seeds of destruction.  Tell him you are sorry about that mistake.  Ask him to apply the blood of Jesus to that area and to cast out the devil who has gained an entry point into your life.  Ask him to destroy the seeds and their subequent harvests so that they will no longer exist and multiply.

Thank him for the good seeds you have planted and ask him for the wisdom to propagate even more.  Finally, using that knowledge, plant some more good seeds and joyfully await the harvest for yourself, your family and for others.

I SIN YOU SIN WE ALL SIN FOR...

“Neither do I condemn you.  Go and leave that sinful lifestyle.”
 

How is that possible?
 

I never really examined the issue of the woman caught in adultery in that light until yesterday when someone read the passage that way.  Coming to think of it, there was the case of a Samaritan woman who was chatting with Jesus and he told her all he knew about her lifestyle.  She had been married a number of times and the man she was now living with was not her husband.  Jesus then offered her salvation. She ran to her village to tell her friends and family about him-- the man who supernaturally knew everything about her.

Obviously, the reason why she was in this illicit relationship was because something or someone was lacking in her life.  Jesus identified what it was—His presence in her.  Would she be willing to give up the cheap stuff for the real deal?

A relationship with one’s creator is the most satisfying relationship that can be experienced.  It has its moments of testing yet after years of togetherness, like any good marriage, it is worth the patience, trust, acceptance, peace, goodness, kindness, sacrifice, forgiveness (yes, we are sometimes mad at God) and love.

 Salvation is entering into the greatest love relationship of all. God is love with a capital L.  He is holy love. And there is a reason and a purpose for that kind of love.

I thank God that he doesn’t flirt with the devil.  The devil tried to seduce Jesus with all the glitter and bling of the world.  What if, and that’s an impossible what if, Jesus had told him, “let me think about it”.  Here’s how it could have worked out.  The devil would have said, “Take all the time you want to think about it.  I won’t hurry you.”  In the meantime the seducer would have carefully orchestrated their subsequent meetings. You know, the get to know you better kind of stuff. Like the excitement of Eve looking at the forbidden fruit from a different angle.

Then the subtle, “You don’t have to tell your Father about us.  And even if he finds out, who cares?  It’s your choice.”

So today, in an everything-goes world, marriage vows are discarded like out-of-style clothing, with the self-deception, “Let them talk if they want. You sin, I sin, we all sin, so cast the first stone.”

Wrong!  Wrong could never be right however one tries to justify it. The consequences very often are so complicated that extricating oneself causes greater hurt to everyone affected by the original wrong choice. 

What would Jesus say to woman who at one time walked with him but who with eyes wide open chose to enter into an extramarital relationship that led to the breaking up of her marriage?  Now, twenty-five years later, in a stable common-law arrangement, five more children who love and are loved by their father, how does love with a common or capital L bring about reconciliation with God and man?

DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

The marriage promise was “till death do us part”. Death is separation from God, and divorce is a symbolic death—a separation from a husband-wife relationship.  Adam and Eve died, were separated from God ( the lover of their souls) when they committed spiritual adultery with the devil.  They fell for his seduction and were chased out of their perfect environment upon discovery.

The (biblical) Law condemns the guilty partners. Common law says it’s okay. Just make sure you share your inheritance with one another—children included.

Grace says you are wrong.  You have sinned against God and you have sinned against man.  Grace says Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread (including Your Word which is food for our souls), AND FORGIVE OUR TRESPASSES, as we forgive them that trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory  forever.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

To anyone who is being tempted to start an adulterous relationship, to anyone who is just discovering that the person whom you are presently dating is married with or without children, to anyone trapped in an unwholesome affair, and to partners who now realize that they have spent a great portion of their lives living outside of what God had intended for them, I say that now, this very day is the day to restart your life.  

Yes, YOU sin, I sin, WE ALL  sin, for the sinful nature we inherited from our unfaithful fore parents (Adam and Eve) still resides in us.   That is why Christians still sin after becoming Christians.  The difference Christ makes in one’s life is our impregnation with His godly nature; a new life growing within us to keep us from self-destruction. Please understand that to sin, and to live a sinful lifestyle are not the same.  That was what Jesus meant when he said, “Go and sin no more.”  Go, and change your lifestyle of immorality.

There is coming a day when we will finally be sin-free and sin-less like our Saviour who declared that ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory; that sinless covering he intended us to live in from the beginning. He also declared that the wages of sin is DEATH, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).  This eternal life is introduced to those who never heard of it in John 3:16, and many children can recite it for it is easy to remember:  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

 

To those who are feeling condemned, having blown it, here’s an important message from our sin bearer to you personally:

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

 

The starting point is to confess to God that you have been tempted to sin/that you have sinned/that you have been living a lifestyle of sin and that you are sorry. Tell him that you are sorry for the hurt you have caused to other people while pursuing your sinful lifestyle. Tell him that you are willing to accept his sacrifice and his forgiveness.  Then invite him to put within you his nature and his Holy Spirit so that you would be all that he purposed for you from the beginning of time. Then, thankfully receive the forgiveness of your sins which he paid for with his blood, and the healing of all your sicknesses and griefs which he purchased with the brutal bruises he took in his body, accept the peace he provides through his Spirit for every situation in your life, and go and enjoy your new life in Christ.

It would also be proper to forgive everyone who has done you wrong. If you can find them and the Spirit of God prompts you to confront them, let them know that they hurt you but that you are this day choosing to forgive them as God requires.  If you have been the one who hurt others through your sins, ask God to tell you what to say to those from whom you are seeking forgiveness.  It is possible that they will reject your hand of reconciliation but you will be free from condemnation to live with a clear conscience, having been washed by the blood of Jesus.

Finally, I couldn’t help but notice in Revelation 20 that there is a second death coming to all whose names are not written in the book of Life.  Even in this worldly system we have a register of births. And chances are that your name or number can be found in there.  Well Jesus is keeping a register of births, so to speak in the register of newborns (born again people)—you must be born again to have eternal life. Check it out for yourself.  Go to Revelation 20: 11-15.  Death, hell and whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.  That is a fiery divorce.

The next chapter describes a beautiful royal wedding, with the happily ever after, and the wicked witch ending up in the fire.  Which will you choose? The happy bride of the Lamb or disgraced, divorced and banished?

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say Come.  And let him that is thirsty come.  And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 

 

That is the message to the woman at the well in John 4: 7-39. It can help you make the right choice.  Now go and would you choose to sin no more?

                                                                            
For further study on the subject see Jeremiah chapter 3.

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Terry and the Toilet Bowl Cleaner

A few days ago I picked up a plastic bottle of toilet bowl cleaner and struggled hard to open it, to no avail.  I twisted.  I squeezed and twisted.  I pitied, rather felt glad for, the child who would attempt to open this child-proof container.

After several frustrating, finger-hurting attempts I gave up and decided to try reading the label.  Great idea? Wrong.  I hurt my eyes instead.  It was a blue bottle with a white background, and a tiny blue print interspersed with special red instructions.  The print was so small that all I could see were white stripes and red zigzag shapes--nothing at all resembling English letters or words.  Perhaps you are familiar with Christmas trees and other shapes made by typing a series of xxxx.  That was more like it.

Then I thought about my friend.  I will call him "Terry" for short.  Terry has severe behavioural problems.  People label him as BAD! Worthless!  No good!  And he seems proud of these titles.  But underneath I have seen his frustration.  Like my toilet bowl cleaner experience Terry cannot read, no matter how much he tries.  Terry grew too old for primary school and was admitted to high school but if he lasted one year that was a long frustrating time.  To compensate for his inability to read he would fight, steal and get into all sorts of trouble.  I don't think this youngster would recognize his own name if you handed it to him on a plaque written in bold capitals and underlined.  I chuckle as I imagine him staring at a WANTED poster and admiring his picture without recognizing the caption.  But this is no laughing matter.

I don't know how far I will reach in trying to help my friend but before this year is over I would like to sit with him and have a go at it.  He has asked me to help him learn to read.  But he has to know in advance that he has to respect me if we are to work together.

That brings me to a similar problem.   There are so many people who attempt to open a Bible to read it, but the words seem strange.  It seems so hard to understand.  So many cautions. So many archaic words that look nothing like the English we know.  Revelations, Lamentations, like a giant puzzle for reassembling.  Biblical illiteracy is frustrating.  Is there any hope for the biblically Terrifieds?

Yes.  Someone has all the time in the world.  The one who inspired the Book is willing to help anyone who is willing to understand.  But the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the starting point for the student, as clearly shown in Proverbs 1:7.

Ask him, if you find yourself in the awkward position of not knowing how to.   There's no need to cover up for your inability.