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COVID-19 Exposed the Truth About the CDC

The agency will never be controlled by fact-driven experts shielded from politics.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was once widely viewed as the gold standard in public health, considered an apolitical, science-driven bulwark against all pathogen threats, foreign and domestic.

Today, trust in the agency has plummeted because COVID-19 exposed the truth: The CDC is thoroughly corruptible, and federal regulators will never be impartial experts. They respond to political incentives just like everyone else, and a fact-driven, purely technocratic state is an impossible dream.

The Trump administration pressured the CDC to narrow the scope of testing so case counts would drop, blocked officials from doing interviews, and edited its flagship scientific reports. The CDC provided a scientifically dubious public health rationale for rejecting migrants at the southern border. President Joe Biden continued that policy, and under his purview, CDC guidance on school closures was surreptitiously written by leaders of the country's second-largest teachers union.

Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, co-authored a 2021 op-ed with three other former agency heads expressing hope that Biden's incoming CDC Director Rochelle Walensky would "restore the public's confidence in the CDC's scientific objectivity," with its reputation "a shadow of what it once was." Yet, Frieden endorsed large-scale protests against racial injustice two months after writing in The Washington Post that "the faucet of everyday activities needs to be turned on slowly. We cannot open the floodgates." Meanwhile, public health officials were keeping people from attending the funerals of their loved ones.

And could it be pure coincidence that the CDC chose the Friday before President Biden's State of the Union address to drop its indoor mask recommendation for the majority of Americans, even though the supporting data were months old?

In other words, it doesn't matter who occupies the White House—political incentives mean that, no matter how dedicated or competent the career scientists who work at the CDC are, the agency will never be controlled by fact-driven experts shielded from the "hurry and strife of politics," as Woodrow Wilson wrote. After decades of mission creep, the CDC's role should be strictly narrowed, limited to surveillance and coordination, leaving the heavy lifting to local officials and private and academic researchers who are more reactive to direct feedback from their communities.

In 2007, former agency director James Mason noted that of course, the CDC is "going to have some political oversight and political influence…It's inherent and necessary." But he stressed that it's the responsibility of CDC leadership to stand up to political interests when needed.

During the pandemic, that didn't happen. Not only did the agency consider political factors when making what were most often presented as purely science-based decisions, but officials frequently hid, ignored, or distorted legitimate data either out of incompetence or to appease their political bosses.

The CDC has also been a superspreader of COVID misinformation. To justify universal mask mandates, Walensky spent months citing a junk study on their efficacy in schools, exaggerating the risks of breakthrough infections among the vaccinated, and misrepresenting a study on outdoor COVID transmission, according to its author.

The CDC claimed the delta variant was as transmissible as chickenpox, which isn't true—it turns out the agency had used inaccurate data from a New York Times infographic. It also promoted an infographic on cloth masks using data that were not statistically significant. Meanwhile, the CDC has not run a single randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of masking since the beginning of the pandemic.

In the vaccine rollout, the CDC told the elderly they needed to wait in line behind essential workers, including young and healthy school support staff, corporate tax lawyers, and magazine fashion editors. In its noble zeal to convince parents to get their children vaccinated, the CDC used old data that the agency knew were no longer valid to falsely claim hospitalizations were rising among adolescents; it misrepresented a study to exaggerate the dangers faced by unvaccinated children, and it falsely claimed that kids who get COVID are more likely to develop diabetes.

Under both the Trump and Biden administrations, the CDC publicly cast doubt on the value of N95 masks, vaccines, and diagnostic tests at times when there were supply shortages or when it was politically expedient. Both presidents even used the CDC to exert federal control over state-level housing policy, repeatedly extending an unconstitutional ban on evictions based on junk science.

Nor is this laundry list of blunders and machinations that put politics ahead of public health unusual for the modern CDC, an agency that began as a post-World War II effort to eradicate malaria in the United States but now is in charge of investigating everything from car accidents to sports injuries to gun violence to teen vaping. Despite having a budget that is 14 times larger than it was in the late '80s, today's CDC is less prepared than ever to address its founding purpose: controlling infectious diseases.

Once the politicians in charge learn that they can gain influence and funding for pet issues by couching them as important for Americans' health, there is no end to what arenas they will task public health officials with asserting control over.

The CDC was once a poster child for the movement by many federal entities starting in the 1970s toward an approach known as "regulatory science," which aimed to create impartial standards for regulatory action that would be evidence-based and apolitical, and therefore trustworthy and consistent. But none of these reforms changed the underlying incentives of the CDC or other agencies or of their political overseers. The public choice implications remained the same: Politicians want to look good to voters; bureaucrats depend on politicians for their job; and so bureaucrats will do what it takes to make politicians look good, no matter how unmoored from objective data a particular favored policy may be.

Political concerns also ensure that the CDC is structurally incentivized to be overly cautious, making its officials slow to act in a crisis and reluctant to look outside the agency for help. This is what led to the CDC's greatest blunder at the beginning of the pandemic, when it banned academic, private, and nonprofit laboratories from developing diagnostic tests, delaying their arrival by at least two months and leaving both government and private scientists blind to the spread of the virus. When the agency finally released its own test, it was poorly designed, prone to contamination, and inaccurate.

None of this was unpredictable. Even after the CDC got a chance to stress-test its crisis response during the H1N1 or "swine flu" virus outbreak of 2009, it failed to address known shortages of N95 masks, ventilators, and other critical medical equipment, partly due to political interference by the Obama administration. In an even more recent harbinger of what was to come, during the Zika virus outbreak starting in 2016, the CDC mishandled the development of a diagnostic test while shutting out commercial manufacturers.

So how do we stop another predictably disastrous response before the next pandemic? Even serious proposals that address the CDC's problems by adding on more layers of oversight and red tape are doomed from the start. These attempts only add greater scope for lobbyists and politicians to exert influence and exploit loopholes. Such reforms miss the fundamental reality that centralizing control over public health, especially at the federal level, necessarily results in sclerosis, risk aversion, and mission creep.

Today we can see the costs in thousands of lives lost unnecessarily, and Americans are finally fed up. But the pandemic did not create this reality, it simply exposed it.

We can look to examples of localized, distributed public health systems in other countries that proved themselves during the pandemic. Consider what the outcome might have been here if the CDC hadn't monopolized testing early on and instead taken a cue from its South Korean counterpart. After confirming their first four COVID-19 infections, health officials there rushed to work with biotech companies on a diagnostic test and were able to deploy it within a single week.

In Germany, government health authorities partnered with private labs around the country to create a broad testing network early on, and rapid tests were available in vending machines while the U.S. was still struggling through supply shortages. Perhaps most importantly, countries whose public health authorities were transparent and maintained the public's trust have seen higher rates of voluntary participation in vaccination and other efforts to stem the community spread of the virus.

CDC veteran Martin Cetron has warned colleagues for years of a phenomenon he terms a "bankruptcy of trust," when people no longer place their faith in public officials, allowing speculation and misinformation to fill the void. Now that the pandemic is functionally over, it's clear that the CDC has long been on the path toward its utter failure to plan for or competently address the foundational reason for its existence. And Americans have good reason to rethink their confidence in the federal government's ability to protect their health.

Written and produced by Justin Monticello. Edited by Isaac Reese. Graphics by Reese, Tomasz Kaye, and Nodehaus. Audio production by Ian Keyser.

Music: "Robotic Butterflies" by Evgeny Bardyuzha; "We Fall" by Stanley Gurvich; "Free Radicals" by Stanley Gurvich.

Photos: BSIP/Newscom; BSIP/Newscom; Sarah Silbiger/UPI/Newscom; Shawn Thew—Pool via CNP/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Alex Edelman/ZUMA Press/Newscom; SMG/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Simon Shin/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Michael Brochstein/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Adam Schultz/White House/Newscom; Brazil Photo Press / SplashNews/Newscom; Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom; Polaris/Newscom; Jonathan Alpeyrie/Polaris/Newscom; Aimee Melo/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; Sven Hoppe/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom; CNP/AdMedia/Newscom


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The Story of “Joy to the World”

In 1692, an 18 year old boy named Isaac complained to his father about the “wretchedly boring music” of the Anglican Church (Church of England) and was challenged by his dad to write a better song than the ones they were singing each week. The young man accepted the challenge and within a few days he wrote the words to a hymn that so impressed his local congregation that the members asked him to write another one! In fact Isaac Watts wrote a brand new hymn every week for 222 consecutive Sundays, despite a crippling illness that left him virtually an invalid. Nevertheless, he could still write of the praises of God, and in 1719 he penned the words to the best-loved Christmas carol, “Joy to the World”, using references from Psalm 98:4; Psalm 96:11-12 and Genesis 3:17-18, the latter scripture referring to the “curse” from which believers are made free when they place their trust in Jesus Christ. Although it was not originally designed as solely a song to be sung during the Christmas season, it came to be one of the premier anthems of the celebration of Christ’s birth.

At the time, many of Watts’ hymns were dismissed by some as “outrageous contemporary music”, but amazingly they are still being sung around the world 300 years later! They include “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Jesus Shall Reign”. In 1836, a well-known composer and arranger of his time, Lowell Mason, put a melody to Watts’s famous words, which for many years had simply been fitted to “the tunes of the Old Psalm Book” in England, as the majority of hymns of that day were. Mason chose to put it to a melody which he named “Antioch” and attributed to the great composer, George Frederick Handel. Parts of the tune are similar to melodies in the “Messiah” which Handel composed and premiered in 1742. The combination of Watts’s lyrics and Mason and Handel’s music was an instant hit, you might say, and the rest is history!

Many of our old hymns contain so much solid theology, as does “Joy to the World”. Look at three of the verses from this four-verse hymn:

“Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room, and heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

“No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.

“He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, and wonder of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love.”

In this time of turbulence in our lives, including political fraud and stolen elections, a worldwide pandemic that doesn’t seem to go away, unrest between people who use racism as an excuse for every woe known to mankind, the idea of bringing “joy to the world” seems to be a nearly impossible ideology! But, do you realize that for thousands of years people in all civilizations experienced far worse than we do and were still able to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, often while living in far less than perfect conditions? Their strength came from a steadfast belief that God was in control of the situation and that by committing their lives into His Hands and standing on the promises in His Word, they would somehow come out victorious, despite the evil leaders and intense corruption surrounding them on every side. I think this is a good lesson for us to learn even today as we face very unsettling times!

Think about the profound words of this beloved Christmas carol today and realize we are free from the curse of the law! Jesus came to bring freedom and redemption to all who will accept His great gift of salvation! I would love to share with you my piano arrangement of this great hymn, “Joy to the World”!

“Joy to the World”, arranged and played by Rebecca Bafford from her CD “Proclaim the Joy!”

Victory Is Assured!

This morning I was awakened very early with a strong urge to pray and intercede against the forces of the enemy that are hard at work trying to destroy not only the results of this presidential election, but seeking to undermine the very foundations upon which our country was founded 244 years ago by God-fearing people who were resisting tyranny!

I was reminded of the scripture in II Corinthians 10:3 and 4 which tells us, “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” (ESV) What we are seeing today in our society and country are the forces of good and evil, God and Satan, at work in the battle for truth and righteousness according to God’s Word to either prevail or be cut down to nothing; it is a battle literally for people’s souls! When men and women become a law unto themselves with no clear guidance, authority, or sense of what is right and wrong, anarchy, chaos, deceit, lying and fraud are the result! With no clear guidance, people struggle to find themselves and the meaning of their lives, and depression and anxiety become the new norm for them. It is a sad state of affairs!

How do we come against this stronghold of lying, fraud and deception, not only perpetrated by the corrupt media whose theme seems to be, “If we keep saying something over and over again you will believe it and it will become more palatable”, but advanced by our educational system beginning when our children are barely out of the cradle? Of course, individually we are not nearly strong or powerful enough to take action and overthrow the entire deceptive agenda that Satan has laid out for humanity as a whole. He was thrown out of Heaven many, many years ago because of this very thing which stems from pride. It appears from scripture that he actually was a musician (see Ezekiel 28:13-17) as this passage refers to his “tabrets and pipes” which suggest musical instruments.

Satan was cast out of Heaven by God and since that time has been “roaming the earth as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8) and propagating his lies and deception, often appearing as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14). Jesus said of him, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” (John 10:10) and he is certainly good at his job. When you see deceit, lying and fraud you can always tell who is behind it!

So, once again the question: What can you or I as single individuals do about this? The short answer: Not much if we rely solely on ourselves. The wonderful answer is: Everything when we employ the weapons of our warfare against Satan! We have the victory through Jesus Christ and we win in the end! God is much more powerful than Satan every time and although it seems the battle is lost, the war is not over and our Victory is assured!! So, how do we take on this enemy who not only seeks to destroy our nation but each of us individually?

The answer is that we must use our weapons against him to break his assignment and destroy his strongholds! Strategically, there is only one source for this and it is found in the Word of God! When Satan came against Jesus in the wilderness, tempting him to sin on several occasions, what did Jesus do? He quoted the Word of God to Satan. Time and again he said, “It is written!” and Satan fled. James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Our weapons of warfare are listed: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:11 and 12 – KJV)

Many things we are seeing are well hidden and only manifest through the light of the Holy Spirit as we intercede. Satan keeps things vague, confusing and dark, because a thief works best in the dark! We cannot hope to right all of the wrongs committed by demonstrating, complaining or talking; we must get in our prayer closets and pray against the assignment of the enemy! Then, God will show us what we need to do in tangible ways, as well. We cannot let lying and deceit win; we must fight for righteousness and praying for victory is never wrong! This is what our founding fathers would have wanted and now is the time for Believers everywhere to come together in powerful intercession.

Once we have done all we can do, we must stand. Verses 13 – 17 in the above passage add, “…having done all, to stand. Stand therefore….” and then it details the weapons: truth, the breastplate of righteousness, preparation of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Finally in verse 18, Paul says,
“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…” Sometimes that is the only way to pray as we do not fully know all God has in mind!

In the Old Testament when Israel and Judah had disobeyed God, had many wicked kings, and were in dire straits because the enemy was encamped about them, God told them to “watch” or “stand still and see his salvation”. He always delivered them!! If you begin to read through I and II Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, you will see this pattern repeated over and over again! God answered the prayers of the righteous even when the majority were disobedient and He always came through with victory! We can claim this promise of God today, as well, and stand back and watch God work! So be encouraged today as you listen to this beautiful hymn written by Martin Luther in 1529 which is based on Psalm 46:

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills, prevailing. For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe; his craft and pow’r are great; and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal.

“Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.”

I played my arrangement of this powerful hymn awhile back and would like to share it with you while you quiet yourself before the Lord in prayer and thank Him for victory which comes as we trust Him completely!

“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” played by Rebecca Bafford

Who Was “Queen of Gospel Songwriters”?

Fanny J. Crosby #4If you have gone to church all of your life (as I have) or if you have only attended a few times for special services or events you, no doubt, have heard some of the following songs sung:  “Blessed Assurance”, “Near the Cross”, “To God Be the Glory” or “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior“.  What do they all have in common?  The lyricist to these and nearly 9,000 other Gospel songs and hymns is a woman whose name you may have heard; she was Frances Jane van Alstyne, and she went by her maiden name, Fanny J. Crosby.  She is known as the “Queen of Gospel Songwriters” and the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America”, with more than 100 million copies of her songs in print.  Perhaps no one has seen more of their songs included in church hymnals than Fanny Crosby.  But, what you may not know about her is the fact she was blind from shortly after birth!

Fanny J. Crosby was born on March 24, 1820 in the village of Brewster, New York, about 50 miles north of New York City, and traced her ancestry from Anna Brigham and Simon Crosby who arrived in Boston in 1635 and were among the founders of Harvard College.  When she was just six weeks old, she developed an inflammation of the eyes resulting in total blindness for the rest of her life.  Her father died when she was only six months old and she was raised by her devout Christian mother and maternal grandmother, who grounded her in Christian principles and helped her memorize long passages from the Bible.  She memorized five chapters of the Bible each week from the age of ten, and by age fifteen had memorized the four gospels, the Pentateuch (first five books of the Old Testament), the Book of Proverbs, Song of Solomon and many of the Psalms!  Fanny later stated, “It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him for the dispensation.  If perfect earthly sight were offered  me  tomorrow I would not accept it.  I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”

After her 1843 graduation from the New York Institution for the Blind (NYIB) where she was a student for eight years and another two as a graduate pupil, learning among other things to play the piano, organ, harp and guitar, as well as sing, she lobbied in Washington, DC for support of education for the blind; was the first woman to speak in the United States Senate; gave a concert for Congress; spoke before a joint session of Congress; and recited original poems for several presidents, including John Quincy Adams, James K. Polk and Grover Cleveland, whom she had met while teaching at the NYIB, when he was only seventeen years old!  The two spent many hours together at the end of each day and he often transcribed the poems she had written as she dictated them to him.  In 1858 she married Alexander van Alstyne, Jr., who was also blind and had been a student at the NYIB.

Fanny J. Crosby #3

Fanny J. Crosby was a committed Christian who was a member of several different churches during her lifetime, including the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where she served as a consecrated Baptist missionary, deaconess, and lay preacher, writing one of her most famous hymns, together with her minister Robert Lowry, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me”, as well as many others.  Although Fanny wrote many political, patriotic, and popular songs, as well as three cantatas, (one written for the choir at the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church in Manhattan), she is best known for her Gospel songs and hymns which have endeared themselves to the hearts and souls of millions through the years.  Although she was criticized by hymnologists as writing “very weak and poor” lyrics which were considered “crudely sentimental” or “gushy and mawkishly sentimental” (attacking both her writing and theology), Fanny persevered with the gift God had entrusted to her.   The informal ballad style broke away from the staid, formal approach of earlier periods, touching deep emotions in singers and listeners alike; audiences thrilled to the genuine, heartfelt Christianity of her songs, placing a heightened emphasis on the conversion experience through Jesus Christ, with the emotions that accompany it, and the testimonies that reflect a genuine change of heart and lifestyle!  I believe they were anointed by the Holy Spirit!  She always asked the Lord to be her inspiration before writing a song, often composing six or seven hymns in one day!  Her poems and hymns were composed entirely in her mind and she worked on as many as twelve hymns at once before dictating them to an amanuensis (one employed to write from dictation); on one occasion she composed 40 hymns before transcription!

Over 8,000 of her songs were purchased by major publishing companies of the day (nearly 2,000 of them actually published in their hymnals),  and Fanny gave the majority of her earnings from her songs (often only $1 or $2  per song as a lyricist) to the poor and disabled. She truly had a heart of compassion and love and spent most of her adult years working in rescue missions and living near the slums of New York City.  It was her involvement in the city missions and a Manhattan prison that gave her the inspiration for “Rescue the Perishing”, “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior” (used worldwide by Ira Sankey in his crusades with Dwight L. Moody in Britain in 1874), and “More Like Jesus”.  Even though Van and Fanny could have lived comfortably on his income from playing the organ at two churches in New York City and giving private music lessons, and hers as a poet and lyricist, the couple “had other priorities and gave away anything that was not necessary to their daily survival.”  The couple organized concerts with half the proceeds given to aid the poor.  Truly they personified Jesus’ words to “go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven….” Matt. 19:21

In 1859, the van Alstynes had a daughter names Frances who died in her sleep soon after birth.  The cause is not known for sure, but some believe she became ill with typhoid fever, and others have given SIDS as the cause.  As a result of this tragedy, Fanny was inspired to write the beautiful hymn which has been a comfort to so many in time of bereavement, “Safe in the Arms of Jesus”. Towards the end of her life, she would remark, “Now I am going to tell you of something that only my closest friends know.  I became a mother and knew a mother’s love.  God gave us a tender babe but the angels came down and took our infant up to God and to His throne.”

Another hymn which is one of my favorites is “My Savior First of All” which says,

“I shall know Him, I shall know Him, And redeemed by His side I shall stand; I shall know Him, I shall know Him; By the print of the nails in His hand.”

During times of great tragedy, as after the loss of her daughter, and even in challenging times caused by her lifelong blindness, Fanny could write such words, looking forward to the day when she would see Jesus and know Him by feeling the print of the nails in His hand!   The only way she knew how to “see” things, was by feel.  Think about the profound statement she made in that hymn…to “feel” the print of the nails in His hand!  She made the statement once, “When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”   For the first time ever, she saw Jesus with eyes that were no longer blind!  This touches me deeply.

Fanny J. Crosby wrote so many, many more wonderful songs, some of which are basically unknown, and many which you and I have probably sung multiple times, such as “Jesus Is Calling”, “Will Jesus Find Us Watching?”, “Saved by Grace”, “He Hideth My Soul”, “I Am Thine, O Lord”, “Redeemed”, “Near the Cross” and “Close to Thee”.  She collaborated with numerous composers of melody including William H. Doane, an industrialist who composed melodies for an estimated 1500 of Crosby’s lyrics;  Ira Sankey, D.L. Moody’s song leader who made her basically a household name throughout the world by singing many of her songs in their meetings; and Robert Lowry, an American Baptist minister who also wrote “Shall We Gather at the River”, “Christ Arose!” and “Nothing But the Blood!” among others.

I think one of the most interesting stories is her collaboration with wealthy Methodist socialite Phoebe Palmer Knapp, whom she met in 1868, and who was married to Joseph Fairchild Knapp, co-founder of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company!  The Knapps published hymnals for the Sunday School of Saint John’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, where Knapp was Sunday School superintendent for 22 years.  Fanny co-wrote (lyrics) for 21 hymns in their hymnal “Notes of Joy”; Phoebe provided music for fourteen of them.   The best-known of all of these songs which the two women collaborated on is one you have probably sung many times, “Blessed Assurance”, which Fanny wrote the words to in the Knapps’ music room to Phoebe’s music, while staying at the Knapp Mansion in 1873.  I find it so interesting that the beautiful song which says, blessedassurance”, Jesus is mine was composed by an “insurance” man’s wife.  The two remained friends for life!

In her latter years, Fanny J. Crosby continued to be actively involved in her work with the missions of Manhattan and greater New York City, including speaking engagements, support and missionary work among America’s urban poor almost until the day she died in 1915 a month before her 95th birthday after moving to Bridgeport, Connecticut to be closer to her family.   Although her hymn writing declined in these last years of her life, the popularity of her lyrics as well as her winsome personality catapulted her to fame.  In 1975, Fanny was posthumously inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Fanny J. CrosbyOne of my favorite Fanny J. Crosby songs is the well-known hymn, “Praise Him, Praise Him” which I recorded a few years ago in a bit of an up-tempo jazzy version; I hope she would have approved!  The melody is composed by Chester G. Allen.   I hope you will enjoy my arrangement as we celebrate the life and music of a remarkable woman devoted to God in spite of her challenges, and who was determined to write lyrics that would lift up Jesus and win people to Him!  Fanny had set a goal of winning a million people to Christ through her hymns, and whenever she wrote a hymn she prayed it would bring men and women to Christ; she kept careful records of those reported to have been saved through her hymns!  I believe that goal has been surpassed many times over throughout the years as people of all ages continue to be blessed, inspired and changed through listening to the words of Fanny J. Crosby set to music!

Peace in the Midst of a Pandemic

Can it be possible?  We are literally experiencing a global pandemic…a new virus previously unheard of in humans, although veterinarians have been vaccinating cattle against a strain of it for many years!  Perhaps the fear and media hysteria surrounding this new Corona Virus have created more panic than reason, largely because this event is unprecedented.

One thing we as Christians can be assured of:  This event has not taken God by surprise!  He in His ultimate sovereignty has allowed this crisis to take place and as His children, we can believe Romans 8:28,  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  (NASB)  We know God is at work and has allowed this to happen!

Let’s take a look at a few facts:  Global pandemics are not new; the term means, “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population.”

In 1918, the most severe pandemic of influenza in recent history took place.  It was the H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin, and it is estimated that about 500 million people (1/3 of the world’s population at that time) became infected with the virus.  At least 50 million worldwide died; in the United States there were 675,000 deaths.  This dwarfs the current pandemic by huge amounts!  My grandmother’s sister sadly lost her one-year-old twin sons to this horrible plague.  In 1956-1958 the “Asian flu” caused 1.1 million deaths worldwide, 116,000 here in the United States.  The flu epidemic of 1968, the “Hong Kong flu”, caused a death toll worldwide of over 1 million; and most recently  the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010 infected 60.8 million worldwide, with nearly 13,000 U.S. deaths.  Do you remember this one?  Our Federal government passed a supplemental funding aid bill of $350 million dollars.  It seemed life went on pretty much as usual, although it was obviously horrific for those affected.

The Corona Virus (Covid-19 is apparently a bit different than the flu in that the bacteria attack the lungs instead of the stomach and is extremely contagious.   Also, the death rate is a bit higher than that of the flu, although most cases range from very mild to severe with a death rate a bit over 2%, and the vast majority of people with it recover.

Some people feel this is God’s judgment on people who have refused to repent of their sin.  There are a number of passages in the Old Testament where God sent plagues, pestilence, famine, wars and thousands and thousands were killed, because the nation of Israel refused to obey His laws and keep His commandments, preferring instead to worship in idolatry and  commit acts of debauchery.  You may want to read about some of these instances:  II Kings 17:6-20; II Chronicles 34:24-27; Isaiah 24:4-6,10; Amos 4:6-12.  In these cases either prophets were predicting horrible events in the future if they did not repent of their sins, or God Himself was explaining why He had done what He did… if they would not obey and serve Him instead of other gods, He would do thus and so; and then He would end by saying, “Yet you have not returned to me!”  But He continued to love them.

It is easy to see why God might want to send judgment on wicked people.  However, this is something that we must leave up to Him and not proclaim judgment if He has not directly stated that this is the case!  Of course, during the great tribulation on earth before His second coming (when the Church has already been raptured out), He will pour out His wrath on the earth by sending mighty plagues such as boils, hail, fire and other judgments.  These are detailed in Revelation 16.  Does the Word of God say that the people repented?  On the contrary it states that “they blasphemed God!”

So, you say, if this is not a judgment at this time, just what is it?  While we do not always know everything God is up to, I promise you we can trust Him!  He is at work and is allowing this pandemic not only to wake people up, giving them a chance to turn to Him, but to give us as His people a chance to show the world we do not fear these things, but our trust is in the Lord God! Our reaction during this time is so important!

When Habakkuk turned to God and asked the question, How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear?  I cry out to You, “Violence!” yet You do not save….Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises.  Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld….”; God answered Him Look among the nations!  Observe!  Be astonished!  Wonder!  Because I am doing something in your days—-you would not believe if you were told.  Habakkuk 1:2-5 (NASB)

Wow!  If God really told us everything He is up to, we would probably not be able to handle it!  He truly knows the end from the beginning and all He asks of us, His children, is to “trust, obey and leave the results to Me!”  That really frees us  from worry, doesn’t it?  So, in these trying days where you are perhaps feeling a bit inconvenienced, perhaps stressed because of the constant barrage of negative information flowing from the airwaves each day, afraid for what lies ahead, perhaps worrying that your finances will be drained, not to mention the fear of you or your loved ones succumbing to the virus itself, rise up in faith and stand on the promises of God!  II Timothy 1:7 says,  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (NKJV)   Philippians 4:6 &7 tell us,  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (NASB)

Psalm 91 is one of the best psalms I know of to read, memorize and quote each day!  It speaks of God delivering us “from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence”; “a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you”; “no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling”, and on and on!  What beautiful words to live by!  Verses 1 and 2 start out,  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.” (NKJV)  What is there to fear when God is on our side?

I would like to close with a song I wrote several years ago called “In the Secret Place“….I took the title from Psalm 91 and I pray it will bless you in your worship time today!  Remember:  “For the child of God, as believers, the best is yet to come!”

Rebecca’s music is available on Pandora and Spotify, and by going to the link to the right on this page to “purchase Rebecca’s music”.

The Story of “Silent Night”

The beautiful and much-loved Christmas carol, “Silent Night”, has a very interesting story behind it….I thought you might enjoy hearing how this most famous carol came to be written!

The year was 1818 and a roving band of actors was traveling through the Austrian Alps performing their re-enactment of the story of Christ’s birth in towns all over the area. On December 23 they arrived at Oberndorf, a village near Salzburg, where they were scheduled to perform that evening in the small Church of St. Nicholas.

Unfortunately, the church organ was broken and unable to be repaired until after Christmas. Undeterred, the acting company simply moved their Christmas drama to a private home. In attendance that evening was an assistant priest of the church, Josef Mohr, a young man who had been born an illegitimate child on December 11, 1792 in  Salzburg.  He had become a Catholic priest in 1815 after he obtained a special papal dispensation that was required for illegitimate persons entering the priesthood. That night the beautiful presentation of the actors put him in a meditative mood, and instead of walking straight home, he took a longer route which included a quiet path up a hill overlooking the village below. As he looked down from the hilltop on the peaceful, snow-covered village, he reveled in the majestic silence of the wintry night and, gazing upon the picturesque winter scene, remembered a poem he had written a couple of years before about the night the angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on another hillside far away in Judea.

Mohr, who was very determined to introduce music in the mother tongue of the Austrian and German people, instead of insisting they sing songs and hear sermons in Latin which was not understood by anyone, decided that the words he had written might make a good simple carol for his congregation the following evening at their Christmas eve service. The only problem was he had no music to which the poem could be sung! So the next day Father Mohr went to see the church organist, Franz Gruber. The organist had only a few hours to compose a melody for Mohr’s poem, and due to the fact the organ was inoperable, he had to come up with an extremely simple melody and chord pattern that could be sung with a guitar. Gruber managed to do just that, and by the time of the Christmas eve service, he had composed a simple but beautiful musical setting for the poem, one which could easily be sung by the common people and whose accompaniment could  be strummed on the guitar. They had just introduced a Christmas carol that could be sung without an organ!

On that Christmas Eve in 1818, the congregation heard for the very first time the beautiful carol, “Silent Night”, sung by Mohr and Gruber, who also accompanied them on his guitar.

Weeks later, when the organ builder Karl Mauracher arrived to repair the organ, he heard Gruber play his composition as he tested out the newly refurbished instrument. Deeply impressed by the beautiful, melodious carol, Mauracher took copies of the music and words to “Silent Night” back to his own Alpine village of Kapfing. Two well-known singing families, the Rainers and the Strassers, heard and were captivated by the beautiful new song, putting it into their Christmas season repertoires.

The Strasser sisters spread the carol across northern Europe. In 1834, after they performed it for King Frederick William IV of Prussia, he ordered his cathedral choir to sing it every Christmas eve! Twenty years after it was written, the Rainers brought “Silent Night” to the United States, singing it (in German) at the Alexander Hamilton Monument located outside of New York City’s Trinity Church.  Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber had maintained their church work in relative obscurity through the years.  It was not until people began asking years later, as its popularity at Christmas increased, “Who wrote this beautiful song?” that  Gruber’s son spoke up and said, “I know the story of this song!” and produced a copy of it after his father’s death.  Josef Mohr died of complications from tuberculosis when he was not quite 56 years old, and is buried in the courtyard of a school he started in a small town in Austria during his priesthood.  Neither man ever knew the worldwide scope of the song they had penned that Christmas Eve in a small town in the mountains of Austria, but God used their talents in a remarkable way.  Even though Josef Mohr was a man who came from a less than desirable background at the time, God chose him to herald the message of the birth of the Savior through this beloved song!

In 1863, “Silent Night” was translated into English from the original German, and today the words of “Silent Night” are sung in more than 300 different languages around the world!  It has been recorded musically by over 740 artists all over the world, making it the most recorded song of all time!

The original German lyrics go something like this:

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht,
Alles schlaft, einsam wacht;
Nur das traute heilige Paar,
Holder Knab im lockigten Haar;
Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh’, Schlafe in himmlischer Ruh’.

Did God in His sovereignty allow a simple church organ to “break down” and be out of commission at a most important time so that someone would compose a simple song, one that ordinarily would not be thought of as nearly complex enough for the traditional organ masterpieces of the day, later sung around the world as a best-loved rendition of His birth? Did God anoint two men who were moved by the events recorded in Matthew and Luke to compose perhaps the most famous of the carols that are sung all over the world to this day? I believe He did! I am thankful that they were obedient to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to pen the words and music that will go down in history as one of the greatest songs ever written!

Silent night, Holy night,
All is calm, all is bright;
‘Round yon virgin, mother and child,
Holy infant so tender and mild;
Sleep in Heavenly peace, Sleep in Heavenly peace.

Silent night, Holy night,
Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from Heaven afar;
Heavenly hosts sing, “Allelujah”;
Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born!

Please enjoy my arrangement of this beloved carol from my Christmas album “Proclaim the Joy!” (available also on Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, CD Baby and others)

The Harp and the King, Part II

David playing harp #2Last time we talked about how King Saul went from being an anointed King of Israel filled with God’s Spirit, to a tormented man troubled by an evil spirit causing him to exhibit disturbing and violent behavior.  Let’s pick up the story:

King Saul’s sin of offering a burnt offering to God instead of waiting on Samuel to come as he had said he would, resulted in God  taking the kingdom away from him and giving it to another, a “man after His own heart”…David!  The second sin is detailed in I Samuel 15 which you may want to read in entirety.  Briefly, God told Saul in verse 3, Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (NASB)  Pretty clear, wasn’t it?  Don’t let anything live, neither humans nor animals!  Well, after Saul and his army killed the entire population of the Amalekites, he decided to spare the life of the king, Agag, and “take him alive”, perhaps as a sort of trophy from the victory!  Verse 9 says, But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed. (NASB)

So, once again we see Saul’s direct disobedience to God, as the prophet Samuel quickly found out when Saul told him, “Blessed are you of the Lord!  I have carried out the command of the Lord.”  But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”  Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.” I Samuel 15:13-15 (NASB)

So, once again Saul lied and told “half truths”, blaming the people and making it appear they just wanted to sacrifice unto the Lord!  God asked nothing of Saul but his complete and total obedience and he did not give it to Him.  In fact, in verses 15, 20 and 21 he again reiterated his statement about sacrificing, blaming it on the people, and on and on.  Verses 22 and 23 are rather famous and often quoted:  “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”  I Samuel 15:22 & 23 (NKJV)

Note that at least two times Saul tried to continue with his lies and deception, but Samuel, through the discernment of God, saw right through it and continued to demand truth and transparency from Saul.  God told him in no uncertain terms that He had rejected him from being king.  His days of being king over Israel were numbered.  Finally in verse 24, we see Saul repenting at least to some extent.  Only God knows the contriteness of his heart.  He did not cry out to God in repentance, but he at least admitted his sin to Samuel in verses 24 and 25:  And Saul said unto Samuel, “I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words:  because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.  Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord.” (KJV)

Obviously Samuel was not very convinced of Saul’s sincerity, either, for he said to him in verse 26:  “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”  Verse 28, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” I Samuel 15:26 & 28 (NKJV)  Then Samuel proceeded to hack the wicked King Agag in pieces as God had originally instructed Saul to do.

So, what was the problem with Saul?  It is fairly obvious from these chapters that Saul did not have a contrite heart, one which was sold out to the Lord in every way, and which obeyed His voice totally.  He was deceptive, he tried to lie and cover up his sin and appeared prideful and arrogant.  Because of these things, God could not use him in the position of king as He had first intended.  So, in Chapter 16 we see Samuel going to the house of Jesse and anointing his youngest (and apparently the most unlikely) son to be the king of Israel upon Saul’s death, instead of continuing the line through Saul’s sons.  David was just a young teenager (most likely), a shepherd, ruddy, with bright eyes and good-looking, according to verse 12.  And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”  Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. (NKJV)  Verse 14 sadly tells us, But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. (KJV)

It appears that when God removed Saul from being king, He also removed the Holy Spirit’s anointing from him that allowed him to perform the many acts God used in showing His power to His people.  So, when the Holy Spirit departed, because of Saul’s direct disobedience to God, this allowed an evil spirit to come in and torment him.  When the Word of God says “from the Lord” it means “with God’s permission”.  I do not believe that a Spirit-filled Christian can be filled with demon spirits; the two cannot co-exist together in someone’s body.  I believe a Christian can be tempted or even oppressed at times by evil spirits, but when we use our weapons of warfare, the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit, demons must flee!! They have no part in a spirit-filled Christian’s life.  Never give into satan’s lies or fears that you will be possessed by the enemy or his demonic attacks!  You have all of the tools you need to resist Him; remember James 4:7, Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (NASB)

So, while Saul opened himself up directly, because of his disobedience, to an evil spirit (demonic) with God’s permission, David, on the other hand, was filled with the Spirit of God from that day on, just as we today under the New Covenant are filled with the Holy Spirit when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and begin to live the new, overcoming life in Christ, free from sin’s domination!  If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father and can receive forgiveness, living that abundant life in Christ that the unbeliever has never experienced!  David knew what that life was like, and he began to play on his harp as he had never played before, under the new anointing of the Holy Spirit that was upon him!

So when Saul was tormented with evil spirits, he would call for David, as I Samuel 16:22 & 23 recount, ….“Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.”  Soit came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him. (NASB)  Verse 18 just before this says David was “a skillful musician”.  That means he knew his music!  He practiced regularly, relied on the Lord to hone his musical skills, studied his craft and then left the rest up to the anointing of the Holy Spirit who in essence came upon him and “played through him” as he worshipped.  This was the secret to the evil spirit leaving Saul…the anointing of a skillful musician!  And this is not the last time we read of this.  Saul’s jealousy of David and the fact he knew he would be king instead of him, inspired Saul to attempt to kill David many times, several times in his own house with a spear poised to hurl at David.  I Samuel 19:9 & 10 reads,  Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.  Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he stuck the spear in to the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. (NASB)  So, one had a spear in his hand; one had a harp in his hand,  but God delivered the one who  had an instrument of  God in his hand!

Always remember this:  There may be evil lurking nearby, even in the form of a jealous person in a rage who hates you.  They may even have a spear in their hand!  But, don’t forget, you have the power of God in the form of His Holy Spirit dwelling in you, and even as David’s hand was playing the harp, your hand can hold the Word of God, play and sing His promises, and hold onto the Hand of the One who will never let you go!  Don’t give up, child of God!  Jesus holds your hand and He has not forsaken you!  Perhaps God used the many times Saul tried to take David’s life as a way to inspire him to write the beautiful, anointed Psalms we sing and quote!  Who knows if he would have written them as praise to God if everything in his life were going well?  God works through adversity and many times through other people who mean to do us harm, to work good in our lives for His glory!  Never forget Romans 8:28 when you are tempted to give up, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Does God use anointed music and musicians?  He surely does!  There is power in music to dispel the forces of evil.   That is why satan hates musicians sold out to God!  Keep playing and singing the praises of God and put the enemy to flight, as David  did for Saul!

David playing harp

The Harp and the King, Part I

David playing harp #3Have you ever read in God’s Word the accounts of how David, a lowly shepherd boy, came before the great King Saul and basically chased away a tormenting evil spirit from him simply by playing skillfully on a harp?  Have you ever wondered how he got into this condition, actually hurling weapons at David and acting like a crazy man?  Well, it’s quite a story and in order to fully understand it we need to get some background which I Samuel gives us.

When Israel begged God for a king so that they could be like other nations, He gave them their request, although the prophet Samuel warned them against this.  God spoke to Samuel in I Samuel 8:7, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. (KJV); and again in verse 22, Obey their voice and make them a king. (ESV)   Even though God had told the people through His prophets that He did not want them to have a king, they insisted, and God chose a young man named Saul.  Chapter 9:1 & 2 reads, There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish…a man of wealth. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man.  There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he.  From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. (ESV)

If you want to read the full story, begin in I Samuel 8 and read through chapter 10.  In I Samuel 10:24 we read, And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen?  There is none like him among the people.” And all the people  shouted, “Long live the king!” (ESV)  or as the King James puts it, “God save the king.”  They were really happy about this, and the story of how Saul was supernaturally directed by God to Samuel, chosen and anointed,  is an amazing story you should read for yourself in I Samuel 10!  The spirit of the Lord came upon Saul; it says in verses 9 & 10, .…God gave him (Saul) another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day.  When they came to Gibeah, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him and he prophesied among them.”  (ESV)  The people were amazed and knew that God’s Hand and Spirit were truly upon this handsome young man who was now King of Israel!

Wow, what a happy ending!  End of story?  Hardly!! Actually it was just the beginning and this is where the harp comes into play.  Please read on!

I Samuel 12 and 13:1-7 detail some of the battles and conquests that Saul presided over in the strength of the Lord.  The first verse of chapter 13 states that Saul reigned one year, then two, and all seemed to be going well.  Then two incidents occurred in which Saul sinned and did not fully obey God’s instructions.  Sound familiar?  God wanted complete obedience from his king and Saul did not give him this.  The first incident is recorded in chapter 13:8-14.  Saul decided he was tired of waiting seven days for the prophet Samuel to come, as he had said he would.  Instead of being patient, he, in verse 9, decided to take matters into his own hands.

We read, He (Saul) waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel.  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.  So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.”

 And he offered the burnt offering.  As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.  And Saul went out to meet him and greet him.  Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’  So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly.  You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you.  For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.  But now your kingdom shall not continue.  The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”  (ESV)

A couple of things stand out here.  First of all,  Saul had disobeyed the commandment of God that only priests were to offer burnt offerings!  Saul obviously knew this, but took matters into his own hands anyway and disobeyed God.  How often do we do the same thing in our own lives?  Saul’s actions displeased God and He through Samuel reprimanded him.  Secondly, Saul was not repentant about his actions.  He could have torn his robe, thrown himself to the ground begging for forgiveness or sat in sackcloth and ashes.  Instead he made up some excuse and told Samuel “he forced himself to offer the burnt offering!”  Remember, God always looks on the heart.  He knows everything before we tell Him and He does not look favorably upon deception and half-truths.  This is the reason he told Saul through the prophet Samuel that as of that day, his kingdom would not continue but He would give it to another, a man after His own heart.  Of course, as we all know, that man was David!

In my next blog tomorrow I will tell you about the second sin Saul committed and how a man with a harp helped him get through this time of mental illness and a tormenting evil spirit!

David playing harp #2

King David’s Great Choir and Orchestra, Part II

Yesterday we discussed how King David called upon the singers and instrumentalists to accompany him in bringing the ark of God to its tent home…the Tabernacle of David!  I want to continue this story by pointing out several very interesting things that happened during this journey!

In I Chronicles 15 we are told of the musicians who were called upon to accompany the ark on its way to the tent David had pitched to house it until the building of the Temple could occur years later under King Solomon.  Verse 19 speaks of three singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan, who were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze, as well!  Verse 20 details some who played psalteries (which is similar to today’s “zither” which looks somewhat like an autoharp; it is a stringed instrument, possibly a forerunner of the piano); verse 21 speaks of harps; and verse 24 mentions blowing with trumpets.

I Chronicles 15:27 says,  Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers.  David also wore an ephod of linen.  An ephod was a priestly garment or vestment for the high priest, so in essence David was acting as a priest in bringing the ark of God to its home, as he worshipped!  Verse 28 reads, Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres. (NASB)  Chapter 16, verse 1 tells us, And they brought in the ark of God and placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. (NASB) It seems that the musicians were very jubilant, shouting, playing their instruments and really “having church”!

II Samuel 6:14 & 15 adds this note,  And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod.  So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. (NASB)  I believe they were all worshipping, feeling the presence of the Lord very strongly, as they journeyed to the waiting tent, many dancing and shouting. Some played musical instruments, including  two of the priests who blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God! (I Chronicles 16:5 and 6 paraphrased)  In short, they were “getting happy” in the Lord!

How many musicians were there among the Levites, you ask?  I Chronicles 23:3-5 gives us the answer:  The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward, and their number by census of men was 38,000.  Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the Lord; and 6,000 were officers and judges, and 4,000 were gatekeepers, and 4,000 were praising the Lord with the instruments which David made for giving praise. (NASB) The number 4,000 indicates skillful musicians who had been trained and played instruments made by David in order to lead the singers and others in worship!  I find this to be very exciting!  Many of these ancient instruments are forerunners of those we have today, and some of them are still made in much the same way.  If David designed them, perhaps he had others who actually made them from a prototype.  Who knows?  He probably did not personally manufacture them all.  It would be interesting to know how the instruments really came to be made!  We do know that David and others accompanied those who sang the Psalms, as is written above many of them in the Book of Psalms.  There are 150 of them there, but more appear in several other Old Testament books; Jesus and Paul quoted them in the New Testament, as well, so it is assumed the Early Church also sang psalms, as the Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 3:16,  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (KJV)

In I Chronicles 25:1 & 3 we read, Moreover, David and the commanders of the army set apart for the service some of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with lyres, harps and cymbals;….six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising the Lord. (NASB) Musicians were even used in warfare! Today, prophetic music is a powerful thing, and can be used in spiritual warfare!  The Holy Spirit releases His anointing which in turn can bring about deliverance and healing as a Spirit-filled musician plays on an instrument.  Case in point:  Remember when Saul called for a musician when he was tormented by demons and David played for him on the harp and the evil spirit departed from him? (I Samuel 16:23)

In addition to (or perhaps a part of) the 4,000 mentioned above, I Chronicles 25:6 & 7 tells us about others used in the house of the Lord to minister in music:  All these were under the direction of their father to sing in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, harps and lyres, for the service of the house of God.  Asaph, Jeduthun and Heman were under the direction of the king.  Their number who were trained in singing to the Lord, with their relatives, all who were skillful, was 288. (NASB)

And in conclusion, don’t forget Jehoshaphat, the righteous king who ruled hundreds of years after King David.  He also knew the power of anointed worship music, sometimes even sending the musicians and singers into battle before the army of Judah!  How would you have liked to be in that choir and orchestra?  Here are the words of II Chronicles 20:20b-22,  “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established.  Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.”  When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”  When they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; so they were routed. (NASB)  The dictionary says “rout” means “to defeat decisively or disastrously”!

Is there power in anointed music?  Absolutely!  God has used musicians time and time again for His divine purposes, not only to destroy the works of the enemy, but to bring us into His presence through the oil and sweet savor of the music He has created…a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness!  Come into the Holy of Holies and be refreshed as you play and sing before Him!  Truly God has given us this beautiful gift, so be encouraged today, fellow musician.  You are very special to God!!

I, as a musician, want to be a woman God can use in His Kingdom!  I want Him to say of me, as he said of King David of old, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.”  Acts 13:22 (NASB)  Is that your prayer today?

Listen to this song I wrote and recorded a few years ago based on David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23 & 24…. I hope you will pray this prayer with me!

King David’s Great Choir and Orchestra, Part I

Let me tell you a story about the singers and orchestra that led God’s people, the children of Israel, on many journeys, including battles and a journey to place the ark of God in a permanent home!

The story begins in I Chronicles 15:1 and 2:  David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it.  Then David said, “No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.” (NKJV)  The story continues through the chapter with verse 16 stating, Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy. (NKJV)

It is important to remember that as we study the Torah and the Law of God (primarily in the books of Exodus and Leviticus),  we become aware that the Levites were one of the twelve tribes and the only one of the tribes to be “priests” of God and minister to Him in the Tabernacle, which at that time was portable and could be carried.  It was a tent-like structure made of animal skins, rich tapestries and other coverings, curtains, ornate wood overlaid with gold, and beautiful furnishings.  The ark of God (often referred to as the Ark of the Covenant) was housed within the Holy of Holies and only the priests (Levites) were allowed in this area.  The Tabernacle was carried with the children of Israel during their many years of wandering in the wilderness on their way to the “Promised Land”.

David desperately wanted to find a permanent home for the ark of God.  He desired to build a house, or temple, for God, but the Lord denied David this honor, telling him that because he had been a man of war, He would only allow it to be built by his son at a later time.  Solomon, David’s son, became king after David ruled for 40 years and built the temple, much of it planned out by his father!  But God allowed David to house the ark in a tent, as we read above, and that is where it remained until the completion of the temple at a later date.  This is where we get the terminology “The Tabernacle of David” because it refers to the glory of God brought into our lives through praise and worship! God is restoring this type of worship today, a spontaneous, non-structured, joyful “entering into His presence” experience.  Holy Spirit anointed instrumental and vocal musicians lead the way into the “Holy of Holies” where the Ark of the Covenant used to be located, but is now located within us as we enter into His presence!  We can come boldly before the Throne of Grace today as we enter in through our worship! (Hebrews 4:16)

What is interesting to me, as a musician, is the detail recorded in I Chronicles regarding the musical instruments the musicians played.   In chapter 15, verse 20 we read about several musicians playing “harps tuned to alamoth”, apparently a tuning scale of the day.   Verse 21 mentions six other musicians would “lead with lyres tuned to the sheminith”.  The Hebrew Interlinear Bible interprets this as, “with lyres on the octave” indicating a scale similar to ours today.  I find this fascinating!  Verse 22  says, Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful. (NASB) (A footnote says he was “trained”). This indicates that a portion of the Levites were musicians who apparently even taught music!  So, being a music teacher is very scriptural!  Psalm 33:3 says, Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of joy. (NASB) and Isaiah 23:16 says,  Take your harp….Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered. (NASB)  I spent nearly 35 years as a music teacher, and I am glad that God found this to be important…stressing the need for playing skillfully!

These verses should give music directors, teachers, singers and instrumentalists cause for joy in their profession!  Now, let’s see how the musicians who were of the tribe of the Levites were supported on a day-to-day basis.  I Chronicles 9:33 reads, These are the singers, heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites, who lodged in the chambers, and were free from other duties; for they were employed in that work day and night. (NKJV)  They were obviously engaged in singing and playing instruments, as well as teaching, in the house of the Lord.  Nehemiah 11:22b & 23 tells us,  ...the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.  For it was the king’s command concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers, a quota day by day. (NKJV) The ESV puts it this way, For there was a command from the king concerning them, and a fixed provision for the singers, as every day required.

So, music must have been extremely important to God, for He provided for the musicians in His House, not only as singers and instrumentalists, but as instructors of future musicians!  They were a part of the Levitical priesthood and as such, were provided for financially! Nehemiah 12:44-46 reads, On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites;….For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers in accordance with the command of David and of his son Solomon.  For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times, there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise and hymns of thanksgiving to God. (NASB)

But, unfortunately, some had not been paid.   Nehemiah 13:10 & 11 tells us,  I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.  So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?”  And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.” (ESV)  The NASB says, “Restored them to their posts.”  Nehemiah then speaks in the next verses about restoring the tithes and appointing treasurers over the storehouses so that the Levites and musicians could once again serve, being supported financially.  Verse 12 says,  All Judah then brought the tithe of the grain, wine and oil into the storehouses.  Nehemiah put several “in charge of the storehouses” (in verse 13) for they were considered reliable, and it was their task to distribute to their kinsmen.  Isn’t this fascinating how the tithes were distributed to also include the payment of musicians?

I will conclude this fascinating study with Part II tomorrow….Please don’t miss it!

A few years ago I recorded my arrangement of the beautiful praise song written by Fanny J. Crosby, “Praise Him!  Praise Him!”…it has a bit of a “jazzy” twist.  I hope you will enjoy this as you worship today!

What Jesus’ Resurrection Means to Me!

A few weeks ago when my husband and I were privileged to visit Israel as part of a wonderful group tour, we visited the Garden Tomb, believed to be the exact burial site of Jesus some 2000 years ago.

As I stepped inside the tomb, a sense of awe and reverence enveloped me, as I realized I was viewing the spot where His disciples had laid Him in grief and disbelief, not knowing that in three days He would rise from the dead, never to be in that tomb again!

As I studied the accounts of His crucifixion and resurrection in the four Gospels, several thoughts came to mind. First of all, I thought about the various interrogations he had to endure.  Initially,  upon his arrest, he was led before the high priest, Caiaphas, as recorded in Matthew 26:57-68.

Here is a picture of the very road He walked up, on His way to Caiaphas’s home.  It is on a rather steep hill overlooking Jerusalem, and  we also walked outside in the courtyard believed to be the same one in which Peter denied Jesus three times (verses 69-75).  It was rather chilling and thought provoking, to say the least. Then Jesus was led to the governor, Pilate, where He was again questioned, and finally released to the crowd who wanted Jesus crucified instead of a notorious prisoner, Barabbas.   To add to the insult, the governor’s soldiers  took Jesus into his headquarters, gathering the whole battalion before Him, stripped Him and put a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns on him, and a reed in His right hand, kneeling before Him and mocking, “Hail, King of the Jews!” before putting His clothes back on Him and leading Him away to be crucified.  (Paraphrased from Matthew 27:1-31)

Another thing that stood out to me from our visit was that in Matthew 27:33, Mark 15:22, and John 19:17, we read that the place they led Jesus to be crucified  was “Golgotha” or Hebrew for “the place of a skull”.  (In the King James Version, Luke 23:33 calls the place “Calvary” but that is the only mention of that name).  When I saw the back side of the tomb, it really does resemble a skull.

Golgotha, “Place of a skull”

Our guide told us that Jesus was very likely crucified here next to the tomb at a busy highway intersection, just outside the walls of the city.  No one was permitted to be crucified within the city walls.  It was the ultimate humiliation!  When I think that my precious Savior endured the shame, torture, pain and suffering all for me and my sins, as well as the sins of the whole world, it brings me to tears!  This is what the Gospel message about God’s grace is all about…that the King of Kings would die for us, unworthy though we are!  I thank God for sending His Son for me, fulfilling the sacrifices God demanded and becoming the Sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world.  We know Jesus was crucified just before Passover began; that is why He had to be buried before sundown, the beginning of this high Sabbath (Passover), one of the feasts God had set in place centuries before.  Jesus fulfilled Passover when He became the Lamb of God and took our sin, making sacrifices unnecessary!  When the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom at the time He died (Matthew 27:51-54), God sent a sign that we can now enter the Holy of Holies through the righteousness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Hallelujah!

Another thing that struck me as I read the various accounts in the Gospels, was the fact Jesus first appeared to women…Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, who had come to His grave with sweet spices to anoint His body.  Of course, we know the story about how frightened they were, of the angel who told them Jesus was not there but was risen, and even of Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus, thinking He was the gardener.  But, once they realized He really had risen from the dead, these two women, along with another named Joanna, and other women (Luke 24:9 & 10) believed and went to tell the eleven disciples!  What stands out to me is that in two places, both Mark 16:11 and Luke 24:11, we are told that the disciples “believed them not” but “their words seemed to them as idle tales”!  Finally, John 20:2-8, written by the Apostle John, one of the twelve, records the fact that he and Peter finally ran to the sepulcher, and finding it empty with the napkin and other linen cloths with which Jesus had been wrapped simply lying on the ground, they believed!  To me, as a woman, I find it beautiful that Jesus first appeared to women, who even though initially frightened, when they saw it was Him, believed! This is the real story of Jesus’ Resurrection…the fact that those who followed Him believed!  They could have gone to their graves doubting, but they received His forgiveness and Eternal Life through believing on Him!  This is the Gospel message today, as well.  We must accept God’s gift of Eternal Life through His Son, believe He has forgiven our sins, and receive Him as our personal Savior from sin.  It is as simple as that!

The last point that stood out to me as a result of our recent trip, and through reading the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, was that He told the women to whom He appeared to tell the other disciples to “meet Him in Galilee”.  In Matthew 28:7 and Mark 16:7,  the angel told the women to convey this message to the others, and in Matthew 28:10 Jesus, Himself told them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” (ESV)  I thought this was very interesting because we spent several days in this region and it is over seventy miles from Jerusalem!  I am told that in Jesus’ day, an average day’s journey was 20 miles, so it would have been a trip of over three days for the disciples to meet Him there. It took some faith on their part to make this journey!  But, thankfully, they did meet Him there, because in Matthew 28:16 we read, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshiped Him….” (ESV)  John 21:1 tells us, “After this Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias…” (ESV)

These two passages prove that the disciples actually made the trip up to Galilee.  My husband and I stayed for several days in Tiberius, which is right on the Sea of Galilee (Sea of Tiberias is another name for it), and the area is rather hilly.  It was a perfect place for Jesus to sit and teach his disciples in a boat on the sea, or preach to crowds on one of the hilly areas which is really like a natural amphitheater.  So, I think it is fitting that Jesus would want to conclude His earthly ministry with more time spent here in Galilee with His disciples.  It was here in John 21 that Jesus’ last recorded miracle occurs, that of a tremendous catch of fish (verse 11 says 153 large fish!) when they let down their nets at His Word and enjoyed a breakfast of fish and bread on the beach with Him!  A beautiful church was built on this site many centuries ago, and we were privileged to stand right there on this beach where Jesus appeared for the third time to His disciples following His resurrection (verse 14).

Modern boat on the Sea of Galilee (Tiberius)

We were part of a group of four boats on the Sea of Galilee (Tiberius) where we had a praise and worship service along with teaching.  It was very moving!

Jesus’ resurrection from the dead speaks to me in so many ways and I could go on and on about His mighty miracles, but the greatest thing to remember about this special day we celebrate Sunday is this:  Because Jesus died and arose from the dead, He brings salvation to all who will believe in Him, and this is the only way to the Father!  John summed it up in his Gospel, John 20:31, “…but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (ESV)  I thank God that I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior.  Have you taken this step?  If not, you can do it right now by asking Him into your heart to cleanse you from all sin.  Simply ask His forgiveness and receive Him today as your Savior!  You will never be the same again!  You will experience His peace and joy and the eternal life promised only to the believer.

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This year, Servisource Recruitment powered by Recruit Island are sponsoring this years Dundalk Chamber’s Golf Classic.

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Date: 31/08/2018
Time: 8:30 am – 4:00 pm

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