In Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 30, it says,
Take heed to thyself, that thou be not snared by following them.
The them are the ones who were in the land of Canaan that they were to throw out and occupy Canaan.
So it says that you be not snared, a very interesting word, a snare.
Be not snared by following them, after that they'd be destroyed from before thee.
And that thou inquire not after their gods, saying,
How did these nations serve their gods?
Even so will I do likewise.
And so we were not supposed to ask that question.
If you know the history of the Advent movement,
God has led us out to be a peculiar people and has led us out.
And we're not supposed to go back to where we have been led from and now wonder,
Well, how are they worshiping? We want to do what they're doing.
That is not what we're supposed to do.
And right here we're going to see how this route that we travel goes all the way back to Egypt.
And again, you can see some similarities.
Here you have the African music and you see the Christian contemporary music
following after their gods, wondering how do they worship their gods?
Even so, we will do likewise.
So we learned that the Christian contemporary music movement
began because of the Jesus movement of the late 60s.
And minds were very open during that time.
And many of the people turned toward spirituality.
And of course the minds, a lot of them were open because of some of the drug use they were doing.
And so they were turned towards spirituality.
And so they added to their music, their rock music, religious words that they were already playing.
And this syncopated rhythm, these particular rhythms of the rock music
came to the United States through New Orleans.
And the music from the New Orleans came from West Africa because of the slave trade.
The slaves came from West Africa and they used...
This was the music that they had used in Africa to worship their gods.
And the rhythmic qualities of this African music can be traced back to the pagan festivals of Egypt and the Middle East.
It's very interesting that Egypt is the symbol of the world
and that this musical style, these rhythms, have their birthplace in Egypt and that Middle Eastern area.
And that, of course, those were the people that the Israelites were supposed to drive out.
And now we're welcoming in those styles.
And so now we're going to actually play some of the styles to show you the similarities between those styles.
The first style is going to be music from Egypt, ancient Egyptian music.
And all of these musical styles are very much associated with sensuality.
It's very interesting, like the Egyptian belly dancing and the Middle Eastern belly dancing.
And that's what this music is tied in with.
So this is Egyptian music.
And then this is West African music.
And this is Haitian voodoo music.
Now this is where I want to pause and mention.
I was showing that one song, how they start out slow and they build this emotionalism.
And in the voodoo music, they play this music and the people get so worked up until basically they pass out
and then they become possessed.
And it's through the music, it works them up and builds them up.
So it's a building up to where you get to this point where you are completely vulnerable and open.
And another thing is the repetition.
We read a quote yesterday about hypnotism.
The idea with hypnotism is repetition over and over and over and over
because eventually the frontal lobe tunes out and you enter into this alpha wave pattern
which bypasses the frontal lobe and so you're not thinking critically.
And so that was Haitian voodoo music.
And here's some New Orleans jazz.
It's a particular type of drumming called second line drumming, if I remember correctly.
It has that same style.
You can see the rhythmic quality from Egypt to the United States, New Orleans.
It's all the same.
And that is where rock music had its birth and that type of, I mean things have changed,
things are different, you have different styles, you have country, you have soft rock, hard rock,
punk, grunge, heavy metal, all these different things.
But they all are related in the family tree.
I think people have actually made a family tree of the musical styles
and that's where they come from.
Now this is at a worship service at Adventist University.
And it's kind of hard to tell because the singing is a little bit loud
but you're going to hear that very same rhythmic pattern of drums.
So we see that basically we are worshiping the same way that the Pagans did, the Hithins did in Egypt.
In Exodus chapter 32 verse 5, we read the account of the golden calf.
And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it at the golden calf.
And Aaron made proclamation and said,
Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.
Now you notice in the King James version of the Bible, they capitalize Lord
because it's the name Jehovah, it's Yahweh, it's the name of the Lord that the Lord gave
when he passed before Moses.
So that's why it's capitalized.
So this isn't just Baal, they're calling this golden calf Jehovah, the Lord God, the creator of heavens and earth.
It's very interesting, this calf, this golden calf was a symbol of the Egyptian god Osiris.
And Osiris had five characteristics.
Number one, he was noted for his good deeds.
Number two, he was murdered.
Number three, he was resurrected.
Number four, he saves others through his resurrection.
And number five, Osiris, it says he became the judge of the dead.
So the Israelites were basically worshiping a false Christ.
Satan knew the Bible.
He understood what Christ was coming to do.
And so he created these false deities to become false Christ.
Furthermore, seeing that the people wanted to go back to Egypt, Aaron might have reasoned
that it's better to appease them and keep them here than to have them go back to Egypt.
And so Aaron said that tomorrow we're going to have a feast to the Lord or a feast to Jehovah.
And so by saying to the Lord, he thought that perhaps since it is still the Lord or Jehovah
that we're worshiping, then surely God would understand.
After all, he was keeping them in the church, right?
But rather than pointing them to the Lord, it encouraged them in their rebellion and in their lawlessness, their sin.
We are doing the same today by sanctioning this type of music in our churches.
We have people who are in the world, who are heading toward the world, and we want to keep them in the church.
And so we let them have this music in the church and we call it praise music, praise to the Lord.
But what we're really doing is we are strengthening our children and adults as well in their rebellion.
It merely reinforces their love for the world rather than pointing them to the one true God
because they now have a false concept of who God is.
The Bible says that when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses,
there is a noise of war in the camp.
And Moses said, it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery.
Neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome.
Moses knew something Joshua didn't being brought up in the Egyptian courts.
He says, but the noise of them that sing, do I hear? Exodus 32 verses 17 and 18.
The Bible says that the people, after making this golden calf,
it says that the people ate and drank and rose up to play.
So after the feast, the people were singing and dancing.
And Joshua thought it was war, but Moses understood the sounds of pagan music.
And the music had such an effect upon the people that they lost all restraint.
Their frontal lobe was bypassed. They were not thinking critically.
They were being built up to this frenzy.
In verse 25, it says that the people were naked.
They had lost all restraint.
And the laity in church is poor, wretched, miserable, blind and naked.
And we need to consider the counsel that God has given to us.
Now let's take a look at the first verse of Exodus chapter 32.
The whole reason of this golden calf incident.
The Bible says, and when the people saw that Moses be laid to come down out of the mount,
the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him,
Up, make us gods, which shall go before us.
For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we watch not what has become of him.
Moses is a type of Christ.
Here Moses went up the mountain.
To them Moses seemed to tarry to delay, and so they got restless.
They wanted to go back to Egypt.
Jesus, the one who brought us out of spiritual Egypt, has ascended to Mount Zion.
Have we become restless because of an apparent delay?
Are we wanting to go back to Egypt?
What we are seeing with this type of music, this desire to mingle the world with the religion of Christ,
is a sign of the nearness of the coming of the Lord.
It shows just where we are.
I want to take a look at these final quotes now that are on the page of quotes there.
These quotes show the role of music in the last days.
The first one is Signs of the Times, May 6, 1897.
And Ellen White wrote,
Force is the last resort of every false religion.
At first it tries attraction, as the kings of Babylon tried the power of music and outward show.
If these attractions, invented by men, inspired by Satan,
failed to make men worship the image, the hungry flames of the furnace were ready to consume them.
So it will be now.
You see, Satan would rather not have to use force because it's not very subtle.
Satan likes to use subtlety. He is that serpent from the garden.
And so he is very happy right now with the trend that the Protestant churches in America have been taking.
And he is very pleased that we as Seventh Day Adventists are buying right into this.
Because then he doesn't have to show himself readily.
And he is able to deceive much more.
Because if you recall in the Dark Ages, when force was used, the blood of martyrs was seed.
And Satan doesn't really want that.
So force is always the last resort.
Okay, the next quote is taken from the Great Controversy, page 464 and onward.
And I just want to encourage you to read that entire chapter of the Great Controversy.
It's chapter 27, Modern Revivals.
That's the Great Controversy, chapter 27.
This quote says,
Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth,
there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness
as has not been witnessed since apostolic times.
Well praise the Lord.
The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon his children.
At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world
has supplanted love for God and his word.
Many both of ministers and people will gladly accept those great truths
which God has caused to be proclaimed at this time to prepare a people for the Lord's second coming.
The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work.
And before the time for such a movement shall come,
he will endeavor to prevent it by introducing a counterfeit.
In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power,
he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out.
There will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest.
Multitudes will exalt that God is working marvelously for them
when the work is that of another spirit.
Under a religious guise, Satan will seek to extend his influence over the Christian world.
I just want to pause here and say,
even if many people are coming in under this type of music,
it is in direct contrast to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And so it does not matter we are not to trust our senses,
not what we are seeing or hearing, but we are to stand on the Word of God.
Because it says right here that before the final visitation of God's judgments,
that there is going to be revival of this primitive godliness.
And just prior to that revival of primitive godliness
is going to be this false revival from Satan.
And so we should expect to see such a revival
because the Lord told us through the Spirit of Prophecy.
Continuing it says,
in many of the revivals which have occurred during the last half century,
and so this was in the 1800s,
in many of the revivals which have occurred during the last half century,
the same influences have been at work to a greater or lesser degree
that will be manifest in the more extensive movements of the future.
There is an emotional excitement,
a mingling of the true with the false that is well adapted to mislead.
Yet none need be deceived.
In the light of God's Word,
it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements.
Just as I had mentioned, we must stand on the Word of God.
Whenever men neglect the testimony of the Bible,
turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths
which require self-denial and renunciation of the world,
there we may be sure that God's blessing is not bestowed.
And by the rule which Christ Himself has given,
ye shall know them by their fruits, Matthew 7.16,
it is evident that these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God.
So again, we do not trust our senses.
The Bible plainly tells us
that if any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
In these movements, where there is this love for the world,
this emulating of the world,
this seeking to please the flesh,
we know for certain that that is not the true movement of God.
Now, this last quote is very incredible.
It really shows us where we are in history.
To give a little background,
I'm going to read a few quotes from the book Hindsight,
which is written or compiled and written
by Dave Fiedler.
And this is a book that has a lot of different essays
and reprints of Adventist history.
And in the year 1900 at Muncie, Indiana,
there was a camp meeting.
And some things that were going on during that camp meeting
are described by Stephen Haskell and his wife.
And so we're going to read their description of the things
that were taking place in the camp meeting.
Now, this first one is from Stephen Haskell's wife, Hedy.
And she wrote during the camp meeting.
She was actually writing this.
She said,
They have a big drum,
two tambourines,
a big bass fiddle,
two small fiddles,
a flute,
and two cornets,
and an organ and a few voices.
They have Garden of Spices as a song book
and play dance tunes to sacred words.
They have never used our own hymn books
except when elders breed or Haskell speak.
Then they open and close with a hymn from our book.
But all the other songs are from the other book.
They shout, amen, and praise the Lord.
Glory to God,
just like a Salvation Army service.
It is distressing to one soul.
The doctrines preached correspond to the rest.
The poor sheep are truly confused.
Notice she says that they were playing dance tunes to sacred words.
And that is exactly what is happening today.
This other one is from Stephen Haskell.
And he wrote,
There is a great power that goes with the movement
that is on foot there.
It would almost bring anybody within its scope
if they are at all conscientious
and sit and listen with the least degree of favor
because of the music that is brought to play in the ceremony.
Notice how it's the music.
He's saying that the music would draw them in.
If anyone would just sit down with even a slight bit of favor,
it would capture them.
So he says they have an organ, one bass veal,
three fiddles, two flutes, three tambourines,
three horns, and a big bass drum,
and perhaps other instruments which I have not mentioned.
They are as much trained in their musical line
as any Salvation Army choir that you ever heard.
In fact, their revival effort is simply a complete copy
of the Salvation Army method.
And when they get on a high key,
you cannot hear a word from the congregation and they're singing
nor hear anything unless it be the shrieks of those
who are half insane.
I do not think I overdraw it at all.
He said that simply it's a complete copy
of the Salvation Army method.
Now, brothers and sisters,
this style of music that has come into the Seventh-day Adventist Church
is a complete copy of the methods
that the Sunday-keeping churches are following.
The scenes that we saw here in Muncie, Indiana
are taking place today.
Now listen to what Ellen White has to say
from the book Selected Messages, Volume 2,
starting on page 36.
Ellen White wrote,
The things you have described as taking place in Indiana,
the Lord has shown me would take place
just before the close of probation.
Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated.
There will be shouting with drums, music, and dancing.
The senses of rational beings will become so confused
that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions.
And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods,
in such a bedlam of noise.
This is an invention of Satan
to cover up his ingenious methods
for making of none effect
the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth
for this time.
Better never have the worship of God blended with music
than to use musical instruments
to do the work which, last January, was represented to me,
would be brought into our camp meetings.
The truth for this time needs nothing of this kind
in its work of converting souls.
A bedlam of noise shocks the senses
and perverts that which, if conducted a right,
might be a blessing.
The powers of Satanic agencies blend with the din and noise
to have a carnival,
and this is termed the Holy Spirit's working.
I will not go into all the painful history.
It is too much.
But last January, the Lord showed me that erroneous theories
and methods would be brought into our camp meetings
and that the history of the past would be repeated.
If I'm not mistaken, I think this celebration worship
or this praise-type music originated
or worked its way into our church through the camp meetings.
And here she's saying that this history would be repeated
in our camp meetings.
I felt greatly distressed.
I was instructed to say that at these demonstrations,
demons in the form of men are present,
working with all the ingenuity
that Satan can employ
to make the truth disgusting to sensible people,
that the enemy was trying to arrange matters
so that the camp meetings,
which have been the means of bringing the truth
of the third angel's message before multitudes,
should lose their force and influence.
Those things which have been in the past will be in the future.
Satan will make music a snare
by the way in which it is conducted.
Beloved, we are Seventh-day Adventists.
Here we read from the Spirit of Prophecy
that Satan will make music a snare
by the way in which it is conducted.
Should we just completely ignore that and fall asleep?
Or should we wake up and say,
obviously Satan is going to use music in a certain way
by the way in which it is conducted?
Since we know that's true,
then we should be looking for that.
Unless we have our eyes shut,
we can clearly see that this is happening today.
God calls upon His people,
who have the light before them in the Word
and in the Testimonies to read and consider
and to take heed.
Clear and definite instruction has been given
in order that all may understand.
Have we not seen that clear and definite instruction today?
But the itching desire to originate something new
results in strange doctrines
and largely destroys the influence of those
who would be a power for good
if they held firm the beginning of their confidence
in the truth the Lord has given them.
Let's take one last look at the story of the golden calf.
Here we find that Moses has come down from the mountain
and he has in his hands the law of God.
The Bible says in verse 26
that Moses stood in the gate of the camp
and said,
Who is on the Lord's side?
Let him come unto me.
And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together
unto him.
Jesus is coming again
and just as Moses came down from the mountain
with the law of God in his hands.
So Jesus, the law giver,
will come to judge this world by that law.
And when he comes again, Jesus will ask,
as Moses asked,
Who is on the Lord's side?
Let him come unto me.
And who are those that will come unto him?
Notice the last part of this verse says that
and all the sons of Levi
gathered themselves together unto him.
In Malachi chapter 3,
beginning in verse 2 we read,
But who may abide the day of his coming?
And who shall stand when he appear?
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.
And he shall sit
as a refiner and purifier of silver.
And he shall purify
the sons of Levi
and purge them
as gold and silver.
That they may offer
unto the Lord
in offering and righteousness.
The Bible says that Jesus will purify
the sons of Levi,
that they may stand in that day,
that they may offer unto the Lord
in offering and righteousness.
And then it says in verse 4,
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant
unto the Lord
as in the days of old
and as in the former years.
So at that time the offering
of God's people will be pleasant.
In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 15,
it says,
By him, that is by Jesus,
therefore let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is,
the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks
to his name.
The sons of Levi are those
who have been purified.
And so our answer to the question,
who is on the Lord's side,
will depend on the choices that we have made
while living here on this earth.
Whether or not we took part
in the worship of the true God
and that we offer a sacrifice of praise
and offering in righteousness
and offering that is acceptable
to the Lord
or whether we partook in the false worship of Baal
with its syncopated beat,
with its worldly music.
Remember that that type of music
bypasses the frontal lobe
and stimulates the emotions.
It stimulates the carnal nature.
Revelation chapter 22 verse 4
says that God's people
will have His name
in their foreheads.
That is the frontal lobe.
God's name is His character.
God's people will have
His character in their forehead.
And that's where God writes His commandments.
So now is the time
to be making up your mind.
Will you allow Jesus,
the purifier,
to make up your mind?
Or will you decide to have
a mind of your own,
a mind that does not submit
to the counsels,
to the testimony of Jesus
and to the Word of God?
Brothers and sisters,
you need to make up your mind.
Now therefore,
fear the Lord
and serve Him in sincerity
and in truth.
And put away the gods
which your fathers served
on the other side of the flood
and in Egypt
and serve ye the Lord.
And if it seems evil unto you
to serve the Lord,
choose you this day
whom ye will serve.
But as for me and my house,
we will serve the Lord.
Joshua 24, 14 and 15.
I hope that you too
will make up your mind
to serve the Lord
and that you will choose
to make up your mind
with the things of God
and not with the things
of this world.
Let's pray.
Father in heaven,
I pray that
you would be with your church.
Father, we have played the harlot.
We've sought to return to Egypt.
Father, we have forsaken
the true and living fountain
and have hewn for ourselves
broken cisterns
which cannot hold any water.
Father, you have warned us
of these things.
In your great mercy,
Father, you have showed us
what to watch for.
But as Jesus has seemed to Terry,
which is a result
of our own unbelief,
Father, we have become restless.
We've sought the flesh pots
of Egypt with its allurements,
with its physical attractions,
its carnal pleasure.
Father, we pray that you would
forgive us as your people
and that you would work upon
our hearts individually.
I pray that you will purge
this error from the camp,
that we might experience
a true revival
of primitive godliness,
that we may shun this false revival.
I pray that you would give us
of your spirit to help us,
to help us to choose
to serve you always
to make up our minds
with the things of your word.
Father, we pray that we might
have the mind of Christ
and that we might shun
anything that stands between us
and a true experience
with Jesus Christ,
that we may live by every word
that proceeds out of your mouth
and that we may follow
the testimony of Jesus Christ
through the gift of prophecy.
I ask this in Jesus' name,
I ask this in Jesus' name.
I ask this in Jesus' name.
