ZioBuck wrote:
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Thanks for kudos. I would rather dissect words than frogs. Words are the most fascinating and powerful things known to man, we are here today because God spoke a word and brought us all into existence. Here is an interesting thought: We all live in the ‘universe’. Universe is made from two words: ‘uni’ – meaning single, and ‘verse’ – meaning spoken sentence. We live in or within, a single spoken sentence. Heb 11:3 through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. What does this have to with my position on music? Good question – I will address this later in the blog.
ZioBuck wrote:
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If I really do not think this movement is not of God, would that not be serious matter? If I saw your house on fire, would you rather I run into your house and shout out the message with all fervency, or take my time and try and build a relationship with you first before I mentioned – “Oh by the way – your house is on fire and it has been burning for the last couple of hours we have been chit chatting and getting acquainted”.
This is the same idea of friendship evangelism, which is not scriptural, but this not what we are talking about at the moment.
No offense to Mr. Stine and I don’t want to hurt your feelings either, but is it possible that you may have an elevated place in your mind reserved for Mr. Stine? No rhyme intended, and I am not saying that we should not esteem others as better than ourselves. There is a place for honoring people when honor is due and I am all for giving praise and edifying and thinking the best of everyone.
However, every one of us needs to go through the fires of criticism and even unjust accusations in order to be a man that God can use. Am I advocating the use unjust criticism for godly leaders – may it never be!
What I am saying is this: If this man and movement are standing upon the solid rock of Christ, then I want to be thoroughly convinced in my own mind so that I can be fully persuaded to either get behind it for support or fight against if it is not. And the beautiful thing about God’s works is this: whether we are for them or against them, we can only work to establish them. There is nothing in this whole universe that can come against God and be a victor, how sweet it is!
On the other hand, the works of the Devil can, should, and will be destroyed. And for this reason he is greatly terrified and disturbed. If you go around and poke at something with a truth probe and find yourself in a “thin skin” situation where there is screaming and yelling and ranting and raving, chances are you won’t find Christ on the inside. For He is not a chicken, and not afraid of the truth, He is the truth. The devil on the other hand is a liar and the father of all lies, and will get mad as hornet if you expose his schemes.
In all fairness, I did see with my own eyes the media broadcasts on ABC Nightline and other ABC News Interview on the morning show. It did not look to me at all like a slanderous, mocking treatment as you have suggested. It seemed to be a rather nice pat on the back and national free publicity for Brad and the GodMen rallies. I certainly did not see any persecution or neglect; they seemed like well planned plugs and pushes to help get the ‘ball rolling’. It looks like the GodMen have a friend in the media.
ZioBuck wrote:
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1) I don’t think I am doing anything for the kingdom, except trying to seek it. Anything I do for the Kingdom will probably only need to be re done anyhow. So basically I am a ‘nobody’ as far as the God men are concerned, except maybe a pesky critic, depending how long I am permitted to blog against it and depending on who will respond to my blogs. As far as following my example? Dunno – I know myself if I attempt to follow any man I usually fall flat on my face. My only challenge to all the men would be to welcome your critics as friends and be leery of those who will say all the things you want to hear. (don’t be so quick to have your ears tickled)
2) Yes I did come into the blog with an agenda, but it is not a hidden agenda. I will lay it on the table, spell it out, and publish it abroad and babble on to any who is willing to listen.
3) A bull in a China shop is a good word picture to describe how I can come across to others. I know that is not exactly the best way to start conversations and relationships, and I am afraid that I did not hit the Bull’s eye either in following the admonition in 2 Timothy
ZioBuck wrote:
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First of all, with all due respect Mr. ZioBuck Sir, you are agreeing with a point that I did not make. I know this may sound a bit nit picky, but I did not use the words ‘dilute the truth’ or the PC word. Having said that – I can’t say that I disagree with the point you said I made, in principle and to a degree, but please allow me to give some qualifying remarks on this issue and see if I can make it even more confusing. I do not want you or your listeners to think that I play in the same political foot ball game as the “Conservative” Christian Right. That is a whole other ball of wax and a horse of a different color. That is not to say that I do not care about politics, nothing could be further from the truth. I hold a great deal of respect for those whom God has placed in authority in our land and I will seek to give honor to those whom honor is due. Now I am anything but politically correct, but I am also not about ranting and raving on the national soap boxes of Liberal vs Conservatives and left vs right debates and disputes. I would love to open up a can of worms here, but I will stick the blog at hand.
If you recall, I used the word “Jesus”, in quotes “”, to suggest that the Mega church Jesus is not the real Jesus, but as Paul says: “another Jesus” ( 2 Cor 11:4). In my not so humble opinion, I would rather not have them plugged into Mega Churches because they now have a false assurance that they are saved and going to heaven. They were better off were they were in their Lazy Boys, at least that way a preacher preaching the gospel could take them from their sin to the Cross. How do you take all of the unsaved people in churches and tell them that they need to be saved? Another can of worms … just know this: there will be many church people who will be shocked to find out when they stand before the Lord that He never knew them, and then they will be ushered into a lake of fire. Matt 7:22-23.
I feel strongly that we as men need to be strong spiritual leaders. We need to have discernment that will enable us to see when something is of God or not. If I could borrow your spiritual attack gauge for a minute, I want us to measure something. If Satan has these disruptive cross-hairs, he must be looking to fire an attack missile or something like that in the direction of God’s army. Now if the Media is from the PIT of hell, we should expect them to enjoy mocking any thing that is even remotely Christian, according to your assessment. I ask you: is the media mocking Brad Stine or the God men rallies? If you say yes – then I would like to see proof of that, and if you say no, then I ask you to read to me what your gauge is saying. According to your own spiritual gauge, Satan is encouraging the Godmen Movement. So far from the ‘pit of hell’ we have 2 Favorable media pieces and 0 attacks and the games are just beginning.
ZioBuck wrote:
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God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God does not enjoy sensuality in any form, whether it is action, words, thoughts, attitudes, dress or music. Music is a form of human expression and thus it also carries with it the moral expression of our spirit. Just like we should not tolerate immodesty in dress or clothing, or lies in our words, or perversity in our thoughts, or deception in our actions, should our standards be any lower for music?
It has been said that music is a universal language we all understand. It is used to praise and or communicate values and thus it is also can be an influence for good or evil. It can not be morally or spiritually neutral as some have said. Anyone who says that is either lying or spiritually blinded to its nature.
What would a satanic heavy metal rock band be if it could not play rock music in any way? Would they then pick up singing songs, and hymns, and spiritual songs with Grace in their hearts to the Lord? I don’t think they would because that is not the kind of music that expresses the worship of their hearts. IMO they have sold their souls to the devil and will only play the kind of music that the devil likes, and is glorified by.
Being in the presence of Christ would cause a true worshipper of Him to be respectful, humbled, and filled with a wonder and peace that is totally pure and holy.
Rock & Roll on the other hand is loud, rebellious, and rudely aggressive. This is not in keeping with Holiness of Christ.
So why should a Christian who is dedicated to being transformed into the image of Christ have a desire to fill his soul with the same kind of music that a Satanic Rock band would? There is no fellowship between Christ and the Devil, so how can a Christian have fellowship with God using Rock Music?
There are only 2 choices when it comes to rock in my opinion, either you listen and submit yourself to it and let yourself be controlled by it, or you flee from it and only listen to melodious uplifting music that has balance and order and where the melody is the leading element.
We are in a spiritual battle and music is not spiritually neutral. Go on rock music fast and ask God to give you discernment in this area.
Stever
