1. I received an article in my email about "male-friendly churches". Here is what I said about it on Facebook:
Reading
an email from the Leadership Journal my mind became a little
frustrated! What caught my attention was the Subject line in the email.
You might have received the same one. "Make Your Church
Male-Friendly". :-/ Evidently, this problem exists in churches that
are not Apostolic. Didn't Jesus have 12 disciples that were MEN? They
definitely were not "pansies"! Since our churches follow the Apostolic
doctrine and separation from the world and it's thinking, I don't think
REAL MEN have a problem of needing our churches to be more
MALE-FRIENDLY. From what I've observed, it takes a REAL MAN to follow
Jesus and His teachings! If the church world isn't careful they will be
making church another gender debate! In my opinion we do not need to
stoop to the leadership level of the "church world" and try to fashion
our churches after their thinking. Yes, we need Men's Ministry, and we
have it. REAL MEN that want to have a MAN-FRIENDLY church can find it
when they seek TRUTH in Apostolic Churches! This is just a little
that's been going on in my mind this evening. :-)
2. On a FB page I'm part of, someone had come to a music director and asked if he could find "manly songs" to sing in church. This was my reply to that request:
OK...I've read a lot of the posts, but I want to say that I am tired of the "world's thinking" and "church world's thinking" infiltrating OUR thinking. The Apostolic Church should never be drawn into the "carnal thinking of the church world". (I'm pretty sure most of us are Apostolic.) As Apostolic worship leader's we should raise our thoughts and hearts higher than the thinking of those who do not possess the precious gift of the Holy Ghost and know God in all Truth! Relationship with Jesus is not "sensual, sexual, and intimate in the way the world thinks". It is pure and holy! Sing songs that lift Jesus up and speak of relationship with Him! When a person has been rejuvenated from the power of Almighty God and their mind has been changed from the "old man", their thinking changes and they want to be drawn into His presence. Just a final thought...If there's a song that feels a little "strange" when we sing it, or something in our spirit doesn't feel right, maybe we shouldn't be singing it. If we're living close to God like we should be the Holy Ghost will lead us in what we should and shouldn't sing.
I do not feel like I have the answer to all of this, but since I wrote on Facebook, I remembered a statement my husband said to me a few weeks ago. I can hear his voice very clearly as he said, "Honey, I'm afraid that what's happening is that the devil is trying to destroy our praise and worship through some of our music and songs we (our churches) are singing." That hit me like a brick! My husband is a man of few words, but when he speaks I sit up and take notice. And, when he speaks about the things of God my ears, heart and mind listen very intently.
Let me quote again what I said at the end of one of my Facebook posts: "If there's a song that feels a little "strange" when we sing it, or something in our spirit doesn't feel right, maybe we shouldn't be singing it. If we're living close to God like we should be the Holy Ghost will lead us in what we should and shouldn't sing." We definitely need to be led by the Holy Ghost!
If you know me at all, you know that I love music and that I do my best to flow with the times. This is not what I'm talking about right now. What I want to say is this: One of the things our Apostolic churches have been known for is our music, and the power that falls when we are singing and worshiping the Lord. I could talk a long time about the the powerful services we have had when a group or a choir began singing and the glory of God filled the sanctuary. My mind goes to many services where I saw men and women with their hands raised, tears streaming down their faces as they worshiped God through song. One of the most powerful times I remember is when our choir was singing "At Your Feet". The song brought men and ladies to the altar, some came out of the choir and they fell to their knees in worship to Almighty God! There are many songs that are about relationship to Jesus, such as "Jesus, I love You because you care. I couldn't imagine if you weren't there." Our congregation (men and women) was once again moved into the spirit of worship. Who cannot worship when you're singing about the One who gave His life so we could be free from sin?
Hence my concern...satan would love to destroy the "pure worship" we have in our churches by attacking the meaning of the songs we sing! The world is full of sin and those who have forgotten WHO they were when they were born. I can't help that some have decided to have a demented relationship with someone of the same sex, and that some of them think about a relationship with Jesus as being a "lover relationship". I can't help that they choose to live like they do, but I can stop the onslaught of satan that is doing his best to destroy our PURE WORSHIP to Jesus Christ! Let's not forget who Jesus IS! He is God manifested in the flesh that came to earth to redeem us from our sin! We must be careful that our mind is not contaminated by the carnal thinking of the world that causes us to think in the same sick way that the world does. Let the Church be the Church! Let us stand up and stand against the trick of the enemy, and sing songs of worship to our King and Savior, Jesus Christ! I will not let the very one that was cast out of heaven because of his pride, stop me from singing about my love to the One that gave His ALL for me.
I challenge every music director to pray against the sensual spirits that are trying to destroy our pure worship! I challenge you to stand up and sing with more conviction, and power than ever before. I challenge you to pull out some songs about "power in the blood", "the old rugged cross", and sing about "when He was on the cross...I was on His mind." Soften the music, soften the drums, let the guitars and bass be silent for a few lines while you sing, and sing about the Name of Jesus! See what will happen in your churches when you sing "Oh, love of God...how rich and pure!" Watch people sing with tears flowing down their face as they remember where He brought them from.
