Up on the Hilltop

(Sung to the tune of Up on the Housetop)

Up on the hilltop, people pause
Telling Congress "change our laws!"
Christians refuse, making lots of noise
You can't take away our Christmas joys.
No, no, no! We will not go.
No, no, no! We will not go.
Up on the hilltops, sound the drum:
Down in the streets proclaim Christ is come.

First comes the Scripture, the Word of God
Oh dear it's our firing squad
Man's natural law can't survive the shot
With the Truth we'll conquer the whole lot
No, no, no! We will not go.
No, no, no! We will not go.
Up the mountaintop, raise your sword.
Down in the valley scream "praise the Lord!"

Next they're telling us to keep quiet
Oh they can't kill this glorious riot
With heart and mind we preach Jesus Christ
Their reality resembles Kleist.
No, no, no! We will not go.
No, no, no! We will not go.
Your celebration will end soon, but
We praise Messiah the whole year long!

What is Worship? Part 1a

For a leadership group I am in, I am going to be studying hymnology, but as a precursor it has been requested that I start with what worship is. So, what is worship? That is a broad question not answered easily. However, I have compiled five basic answers from the texts I have been reading to answer this question.

• Gill: "Godliness is the ground work of internal worship, and without which there can be no worshipping(sic) God aright." (A Body of Practical Divinity: Book I, Chapter 2)
• Piper: "Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth." (p.84)
• Morey: "True worship is ministering to the Lord." (p.105) and "Worship is all of life." (p.14)
• Frame: "Worship is the work of acknowledging the greatness of our covenant Lord." (p.1)

You may ask which one is correct, but the point of this is to gain an understanding of what worship is, so I would argue that they all are correct. My study will incorporate all definitions, as they are not contrasting, but simply different perspectives from pastors with different personalities.

First, let's take some time to examine the word "worship" as used in the Bible, in the original languages. (For a more extensive study, see my friend Glenn's blog for starters.) There are two main groups of words that are most commonly translated "worship." The first is "Abodah" in Hebrew, and "latreia" in Greek, which means "service." From this, we can see that worship is an action. A person must actually participate in worship; it is not sufficient to be a mere spectator at some entertainment event. Also, it is a conscious act, not consequential. It is not something you end up doing while singing or clapping your hands. A person must set out with the intent to worship, and then anything else is consequence. This is because worship starts in the heart, which we will get to in a minute. The second set of words is "shachah" in Hebrew, and "proskuneo" in Greek, which means "to bow down." The first thing that this implies is that we are honoring someone superior to ourselves. This is the right mindset to get into, to remember that God is above you, and not your buddy or boyfriend. A person must have the highest reverence for God and understand WHY he is worshiping Him. He is superior in all things, bow to Him! To do otherwise is contradictory in the root of the very word worship itself. The second thing this means is that the purpose is to please Him first, and any benefits we receive are secondary. A person should not worship with the intent of cheering themselves up or reaching some sort of spiritual high. It is to please the Almighty, and then it just so happens that we obtain feelings of joy or bliss from that. Those secondary benefits don't even always come, even when a person is truly worshiping in his heart. It is in those times he presses on, because he has the hope that even if the LORD doesn't lighten his heart in this life, He will in the life to come. That joy is ever flowing. If a person worships to obtain spiritual highs, he will never be satisfied. His worship would be self-centered and one would doubt his salvation. There is no rock to stand on when the tide rises if worship is only a means to happiness. So from the origins of the word, we see that worship is a conscience act of service to a being greater than yourself for their benefit.

Having an understanding of the word worship is not sufficient to say we have an understanding of what it is. We know it is an act towards a being, but what is the act and who is the being? Stay tuned for the answers to these questions and more. Part 1 will continue in two more sections, with a Part 2 to follow, length undetermined as of yet.

The sources I am referencing for this study are as follows:

1. Frame, John - Worship in Spirit and Truth
2. Morey, Robert - Worship: It's Not Just Sunday Morning
3. Gill's Archive (http://www.pbministries.org/books/gill/gills_archive.htm)
4. Piper, John - Desiring God
5. Nave's Topical Dictionary

Sharing Time ^__^

I would just like to take a moment to direct your attention to the left column of my blog, to a content section entitled "Shared Items from Blogroll." These are my favorite posts from the blogs that i regularly read (list of these at left as well). There is, imho, some interesting things worth reading there. I share stuff ranging from new books, current events, hot moral topics, and more. Most recently, I added a post from Josh Harris' blog linking to an article by Al Mohler about the new movie The Golden Compass. I do think that this (and anything i share) is worth a read.

If you want to subscribe to my share feed (think of it as a reader's digest of the blogs i read) or see the posts in full, here is the link for that.

Al Mohler calls the attack via The Golden Compass new, but it seems to me that movies have slowly been desensitizing society's moral standards. Josh Harris made a good point about this in his blog. Attacks on our theology is not new, when you consider gnostic media such as The Da Vinci Code and V for Vendetta. I suppose the difference here is that is so much less subtle. The author of the book is not shy in stating his agenda, in the books and in interviews. I agree with him on one point, though, and that is wondering why Harry got so much more attention than his books. His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass is book 1 of a trilogy) is an obvious attack on Christianity as a way, while JK Rowling's Harry Potter series just uses fantasy witchcraft as a means to show the power of love. What's more, she set the epilogue the number of years after that she did to make sure that none of it suggested teen pregnancies.Note-If you haven't read The Deathly Hallows yet, don't worry, i haven't given anything away besides the fact that two people out of the entire world survived to the end. I don't think this is a movie to be ignored, but i hope people don't fight to the wrong proportions as they too often do when it comes to culture. Press on and Godspeed.

I just finished The Vile Village from A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I am only progressing at such an excrutiatingly slow pace because i don't own the books. I borrow them from my brother and get a new one when i see him, and i am reading other things. Don't let that fool you! These books are some of the most entertaining things i have ever read. Such sadistic humor though, so while it's written at a kid's level, i'd suggest reading 'em first before giving them to your child. There really are no happy endings, as the back cover promises there won't be.

Caped Crusaders

Batman is one of the most famous and loved superheroes, and he doesn't even have any super powers. You can understand the appeal, as he is someone you can relate to. Anyone could be Batman, with enough money and the right tailor. Gotham city is reminiscent of New York or Los Angeles (which the majority of you are probably familiar with). He has the coolest nemeses, snazzy vehicles, and fights crime: who doesn't love Batman (except those crazy Superman purists)? However, too many people try to BE Batman. No, you may not see a bunch of people running around in masks or the bat signal in the sky, but an alarmingly large number of Christians attempt to live two lives. (Read the rest at biblical thought.com)

Halloween

I am reading a book called Halloween: What's A Christian To Do? by Steve Russo, and it's pretty bad. It is filled with exaggerations and rabbit trails. He actually talks about Halloween for a small percentage of the book. He covers other subjects such as the occult (his favorite), media, and education.

The first chapter is about the historical forerunners to Halloween. He gives a nonbias background of the festivities that influenced Halloween. He did include such facts as Halloween is the Catholic conversion name, that it is not as popular anywhere else as in America, and that what Halloween is today is not even recognizable as the holiday's predecessors. Then he ends the chapter with the question of what are concerned parents going to do. What are they supposed to do? I was surprised at the positive view he was giving of it, but then he turns and acts as if any of the information he gave was cause for concern. The logical conclusion to that chapter would be that Halloween is a harmless holiday fueled by American consumership. On multiple occasions he points out that it's not an official holiday. Look at Memorial Day and Labor Day. The government's decree of what makes an "official" holiday is nearly irrelevant. The popularity of a holiday is driven by consumership. Besides the obvious costumes and candy, large sums of money are spent on decorations, entertainment, party supplies and more by the American people.

After this, he spends many chapters discussing how the occult has crept into general society, the evils of the media, etc. He doesn't relate it to Halloween much; it is stuff that is relevant all year long. His arguments never flow and he gets sidetracked often. If i were to try to outline this book, there would be no rhyme or reason to it. He takes this as an opprotunity to say how everything is evil. What is amusing is that he ends with suggestions of what a Christian is to do with Halloween. He accepts all solutions, from turning off your lights and pretending no one is home (maybe even a sign on your door about why you don't celebrate) to "harvest festivals" to giving safety tips for parents who still want to take their child trick-or-treating.

The way i see it, people should have a valid reason for celebrating any holiday. I don't celebrate Halloween, but Reformation Day. Halloween is to All Saint's Day as Christmas Eve is to Christmas. I could care less about the Catholic saints, which ties back into celebrating Reformation Day. I am thankful that there were men in the past that stood up for the Truth. God used them to bring back grace and faith into mainstream Christianity. It's dwindling again, which is why we are in dire need of a modern-day reformation, but that's another story. The second half to my view on holidays is that a person should be free to celebrate however they want, granted it does not conflict with the Bible. I personally enjoy dressing up and free candy, so if i want to reenact Luther's nailing his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg with my hand as a hammer on invisible nails and paper, why not? I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but i might happen to wear green on March 17th because it's a nice color and i usually feel like reconnecting with my Irish roots on that day. I don't celebrate St. Valentine's Day/2nd Halloween, but i might wear all black on February 14th and thank God that he loves us and enabled us to love with true love, and that we don't need pink or hearts or cherubs to obtain a weak copy of that love, or what the world calls love. What romance and love means is also another post. As far as Christmas, Easter, and birthdays, i recognize that they all have their roots in early pagan feasts ans rituals as well, but i celebrate them because of the meaning they have to me. A celebration is defined as a joyful occasion for special festivities to mark some happy event. So what i don't get is when someone blindly "celebrates" a holiday. They make the celebration itself the happy event they are celebrating, but that just bring them around in circles.

If someone doesn't want to celebrate a certain holiday, that's fine, but if they try to convince others not to without having any solid scriptural backing to their reasoning, then they should just keep quiet and agree to disagree. So why am i butting in? I support people's freedom in Christ to live how they want when it doesn't conflict with God's Law. I can't stay quiet when i see people trying to opress others. Viva la refomacion!

Life & Liberty

This is a short story i wrote in December 2006 for a creative writing class i was in at RCC. It started out as a different story on humanism, based on a novel idea i had. I may still write that someday, but this story didn't want to go in the direction i told it to. What a brat, eh? I think i got an A on it though. I know i should get a picture for this post. I have a perfect story "cover" in mind, but haven't been able to make it yet.
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Outside a storm is raging. Rain beats against the windows of a high-rise apartment building like bullets from a machine gun. Thunder booms like bombs and the dark clouds fuse with the smog to form a smoky canopy over the city. Inside, there is a Polish grandmother making pierogies, the potatoes boiling over a stove that warms the kitchen. Inside, there is a single mom wrestling her kids into the bathtub, the spilled bubble bath and water splashing onto the floor only adds to her workload. Inside, there is an aspiring college student laboring over a term paper beside stacks of textbooks and take-out boxes. Inside, a man plays his saxophone; the resulting melody floats out into the hallway, where a pair of young girls play with their dollies. On another floor, four men play poker, the aroma of their Coronas and Doritos clash with the tamales wafting in from the adjacent apartment. Above, co-ed teens wander away from innocence. Higher up, a woman pours cocktails for herself and her male visitor, who she swears is like a brother to her, while her husband is away on business. Across the hall and three doors down, three girlfriends get ready for a night on the town. Down below, under all of this, in a small studio apartment on the first floor is Liberty, a late-twenties-something living alone. She heats up ramen noodles while sorting through her mail and glimpsing at whatever sitcom is flashing on the tube. She couldn't tell you the name. She had no sincere interest on anything on TV, but she is still hooked, watching it like a ritual. Her motive is unknown even to herself. Perhaps it is to learn something (unlikely), perhaps to hear something amusing to brighten her day (for as long as the laugh track lasts), perhaps to momentarily escape reality (this is most likely the case). It's not that her life is particularly bad. She run in the park, goes to work, runs errands, comes home, and usually goes out again. She's been to Broadway and seen the Nix and the Yankees play. She's taken cooking, painting, and even belly dancing classes. Nothing can excite her anymore. Temporary happiness is all anything has ever provided her.

At one time, she was one of the girls playing dolls. At one time, she was the passionate musician, making beautiful music on her flute. At one time, she was the aspiring student, working with everything she had to obtain the very best grades. More than one time, she wandered from innocence with a boy, but there is only so far a person can go before he or she has to drop the claim of innocence. She was almost the single mom wrestling with her kid every night. She's been one of the girlfriends getting ready for girls' night out plenty of times. The bouncers at one of the clubs would even recognize her at the newspaper stand, he saw her so much. She's followed this trend and that, but whether it was yoga, aromatherapy, or retro sunglasses, at the end of the day, she always found herself unsatisfied. She was definitely living the American dream, the Ms. Independent that every modern woman dreams of becoming, she was sure. She flipped to HBO to watch a rerun of a show about four women that seemed to have so much fun in the city. She used to idolize them, and can say with confidence she had their lives, maybe even better versions of them. She got tired of that life last night and is now looking for something else to energize her. It's always something new. The phone rings as her ramen just reaches a boil. She adds the seasoning and answers the phone.

"Hey Libby," her friend Felicity says in her usual, cheery, slightly ditzy voice. "So...have you, like decided if you want to go to Sway tonight?" Liberty sighs. Felicity, the self-elected group mother had made it a goal for her and their group of friends to visit every nightclub in New York.

"No, I think I'll just stay in tonight," replies Liberty.

"Uuuhn," whines Felicity, "that's what you said last night too. It took forever to convince you to go out. Why are you becoming such a prude al of a sudden?"

"I just don't fee like it tonight, maybe tomorrow night."

"You're not going to flake out on Vegas next week, are you?"

"I don't know, give kisses to the girls for me, much love, buh-bye," Liberty rushes the last few words, half-mocking Felicity by raising the pitch of her voice, and hung up the phone. Last time she went out with them, all the guys were the same, the drinks tasted the same, and the each song mix played was the same as the one before it. Each club looked like the last, and while Felicity's aim may have been to provide her friends with exciting, new experiences, for Liberty it wasn't working. She hears a sizzling, turns and looks at the stove and shouts something that would have offended the pierogie-woman from upstairs, even without knowing English. She turns off the burner as she reaches for a rag to sop up the water that had flowed over. Not feeling like making a new pot of ramen, she grabs her long, black pea coat and pulls it on, fumbling with the large buttons and wondering if the coat would be a sufficient guard against the rain. She grabs her scarf and starts looking for her keys. She heads out the door and begins her quest for food.

She walks to a nearby diner and enters with a ding-a-ling of the chimed door behind her. She notes the varied faces around her. Some are drooping with exhaustion, some are tight with stress, some are tired behind smiles, and some are full of youthful bliss, but those will disappear into weariness too soon. She roots through her pockets as she looks over the specials, then realizes she isn't in the mood for any of it, so she leaves the store, back out into the storm. She pulls the scarf tighter around her head as she walks down the street. Pizza... no... a hot dog... no... tacos... no... Chinese... She let out an exasperated sigh as she thought about the ramen she could have been eating in her relatively warm apartment right now. She continues on, further away from her apartment building. She ignored a beggar she passes sitting under a cardboard box with a tin in front of it. His problems are his own, what's in it for her to help him? Someone tells her "Jesus loves you" as they hand her something from beneath their raincoat. She laughs as she dropped the tract on the ground. Lots of guys have told her they love her, none of it means anything. Love doesn't exist; it's just like happiness, a passing emotion that satisfies only a little while. A car spews muddy water onto her as it speeds by; she screams obscenities ash shakes her middle finger at the vehicle already halfway down the block. Fuming now, she thrusts her hands into her pockets and walks faster and shoves the people with her shoulder as she passes them. She passes a darkened art museum. During the day it boasts of beauty and worth, but right now it looks the same as every other building on the street: cold, aging, dingy. It is nothing more than a quiet block of stone full of weak attempts at a theory called beauty. She passes a middle-aged woman, or maybe a young man, in vinyl boots under her (his?) trench coat. She passes a kitten with gray fur matted to its scrawny body. She passes some well-dressed teenagers swaggering into a cab. She passes an elderly man, with wild eyes to match his hairstyle, talking to himself, she passes a couple standing two inches away from each other so they can hear each other's shots over the howl of the storm. She passes meaningless life after meaningless life, people chasing happiness, looking for something they will never find. She passes buildings and signs that offer these things, but how could they ever provide something that doesn't exist? She found herself at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Shivering, she stands staring at the mammoth structure with cars, going nowhere, driving back and forth over it. Under the bridge, East River reflects her life, fast cold, and the falling rain gets lost in it, one big mass of darkness. Walking along the bridge now, she stops and leans over to get a better look. The river takes over anything that dares to enter its realm, not only the rainwater. Life is really no different, she thinks, slipping at first as she steps onto the railing. It absorbs things, she contemplates as she finds her grip on the thick wires, things like new experiences that people want to try out or old routines that they cannot let go of. She pauses, gazing down into the raven abyss, but life is always the same rabble, nothing ever really changes. She lets go of anything she ever held on to in her pitiable existence, nothing ever really matters.

Proverbs 16:9

I wrote this April 23rd, 2005, a couple weeks after becoming a Calvinist. I was still a baby Christian, only having started going to church again six months prior. That may seem like a long time to be on milk. You're right, i was going through the Gerber stages. Here it is though, raw and exposed. Enjoy. ^__^
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ESV
The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps.

I want to focus on the second line, but let's talk about the first one a little bit before we get into that. The heart is a very important object in a Christian's life. Not only is it physically how we stay alive, but it is where we keep Jesus, where our feeling sprout from, etc. It is the center of our bodies, the focus of a lot of teaching. I see it as representation of all three of our parts. It is physical, emotional, and spiritual. It has connection with our mind. No, i think what we call mind is more like our spiritual heart. That's where we think. We feel with our emotional heart. It is the center of us and where God works. It's the connection between Him and us, in a way. Am i making any sense? Let me try to get more on track: in the Bible, it seems the heart is not just where we feel, but also where we think. And where we...plan! A plan is not something that is set in stone. It is set in our hearts. A plan is a scheme, a purpose, something that we mean to do. We can not say we are going to do something, and know that we definitely will. Things change. They don't always go our way, but they always go God's way. It is good to plan. We aren't supposed to just sit around and wait for God to do everything. We need to be actively working towards doing His will. We pray and use wisdom to make plans that we think are His will. We may end up being wrong, but that's okay. We just have to know when we are so that we won't be defying Him.

Webster defines establish as such:

· to order, ordain, or enact (a law, etc) permanently

· to set up (a nation, business, etc)

· to cause to be; bring about

· to set up in a business, etc

· to cause to be accepted

· to prove; demonstrate

But before we look at that word, notice that the word "steps" is used. You see - God is not only sovereign over major stuff, our final destination, but also every step that leads to that point. You can go a little further in the chapter and get to verse 33, which says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the LORD." He has designed our lives and the lives of others to work so perfectly together and to reach the end that he has chosen, all of which glorifies Him.

God ordains permanently the things that we do. All that we do has been decided before the beginning of time. The things God has ordered are for sure, definite. Things always go his way. He has no back-up plans or a "plan B." He doesn't need one. He is the great Designer and is in control of everything. He never has to slap his knee and say, "foiled again!" or "oh well, better luck next time." No! He is sovereign over all.

God sets up the things that we do. We all know that God isn't reaching down and moving our arms and legs Himself. What He does do is set up everything in a way that we will do exactly what He planned. He can do this directly or indirectly. He may speak to us, change our hearts, or maybe he does that to someone that we come in contact with. There are MANY ways in which God works, and we may never know all of them (He is so wonderful and complex). Just know that He is working...all the time, in everything. There is no escaping Him. Don't view that in a negative way, but in a positive one. It is sin and guilt that causes a person to feel uncomfortable at the thought. We should really feel at peace; he's always by our side, always setting up things for our good and his glory!

God brings about the things that happen. He doesn't just set the stage then sit back. This proves open theists wrong. Open theology says that God created the world, but he doesn't know what is going to happen, that he doesn't know the future, that he isn't sovereign over everything. God is omniscient, omnipotent, and actively working in our lives and the lives of others. He is ever bringing about the display of His glory.

So far we have see that God ordains something, sets it up, and brings it about. It doesn't stop there. He also sets up in things. Let's say that God wants you to go to a specific college. He sets it up and brings it about. Now what? He also has in mind what classes He wants you to take, so He sets that up as well. People tend to look over the smaller things, but they are just as important. With out all the little small things, the bigger thing would not have happened. So don't forget to thank God for everything. Remember that this life, and his grace and mercy that allow us into eternal life, is a gift. Don't take it for granted. God is constantly at work - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is setting and bringing about His will in His children's lives. Never think that you have anything to boast for except for the cross. EVERYTHING is a gift from the Lord. It's our job to our part. Not because God needs our help, because He doesn't, but because it's the least we can do after all that He has done for us. He doesn't want us to be lazy. We are representatives of Christ, after all.

God causes to be accepted things that happen. We can work at something, and have it not come to pass. That is God not accepting our plans. If we were actually in control of our own lives in the sense some people like to say, then would hard workers fail as much as they do? Sometimes we are working towards the wrong thing, and we get something else, because God would rather we have that. But sometimes we work towards what God wants us to have, and He lets it come to pass. He allows the devil to do things as well, and that's why bad things happen. But don't despair, for Satan can't lift so much as a pinky with out the Lord's permission (sorry - don't remember what verse this is). We can look to Job for several examples of this. Job was going about His life as usual when everything changed. Did he do anything different to cause his children to die and crops to fail? No, because we aren't in control of our own fate. It was Satan's doing, but God allowed him to do so. God set boundaries where Satan couldn't interfere. Do you really think Satan listened? I bet he wanted to do more, but God made it impossible. Things kept getting worse because God expanded the boundaries a little bit. When Job had proven himself and it was time for him to be rewarded, he wasn't just sitting in his living room when BAM! He had a new family and his business was booming again. He had to go out and work for it himself. He didn't know what was going to happen, but God did, and God made it come about. He caused to be accepted Job's plans for success just as he caused to be accepted the devil's plans for Job's demise. Nothing can happen unless God allows it.

The last definition is a bit harder and I'm not sure if it even applies. This connotation is used in a sentence such as, "the lawyer established the client's innocence." It's a showing of something to the public, setting it forward as fact. There are places that i can go with this, and make it fit, but i really don't think that this is the way this word was meant to be used in this verse. Though you can't doubt that people notice God's works in our lives, and He is glorified when we realize which prayers were significance in a change, when we notice how one little thing could have been changed and things could've turned out in a totally different way than they did. One could say that our steps can be proved to be a part of His will, or that God's glory is demonstrated through our steps.

Some of you may have problems with word studies because of all the different translations. I don't know any of the original languages of the Bible, or else i would do it that way. I used the ESV because it is a literal translation that has been hailed as one of the best modern translations. Please see their official site for more information on this specific translation. The following is the same verse repeated in a few different translations. Do with them what you will. Look at the one you use and then apply what i wrote, read them all and see if you see anything contradictory, etc. I hope that you accept this as truth and that it has better helped you understand the amazing sovereignty of God and how worthy of praise and glory He is.

NIV
In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.

NASB
The mind of man plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps.

The Message
We plan the way we want to live,
but only GOD makes us able to live it.

New Living Translation
We can make our plans,
but the LORD determines our steps.

New King James
A man's heart plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps.