TIME TO RESTORE.....PARTS OF THE THE OFF-SHOOTS OF THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD....FROM OUT OF THE FALSE INFLUENCE OF HERBERT W. ARMSTRONG!!
CONCERNING.....HYMN SINGING!!
FOR YOU WHO MAY NOT KNOW, AS I DO [BEING IN THE WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD FROM 1961 TO 1972] IN THE YEARS UP TO THE MIDDLE TO LATE 1960s THAT ORGANIZATION HAD WHAT I CALL A "REGULAR" HYMNAL.....MADE UP OF HYMNS THAT ALL FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIANS KNEW AND SANG, WITH A FEW WORDS CHANGED IN SOME OF THEM.
AS THE WCG GREW AND HWA BECAME LESS HUMBLE AND MORE PRONE TO MOVING INTO THE MIND-SET OF A "CULT" LEADER, HE BEGAN TO SAY THE WCG SHOULD SING THE PSALMS, AND IT JUST SO HAPPENED HIS BROTHER WAS A KIND OF MUSIC WRITER, I SAY KIND OF, BECAUSE IT TRUNED OUT HIS WRITING OF MUSIC FOR THE PSALMS OF THE BIBLE WAS 90 PERCENT TERRIBLE; HARD TO SING, STANGE MELODIES......JUST TERRIBLE AND MORE TERRIBLE. AND HWA BROTHER WAS NOT EVEN A MEMBER OF THE WCG.
EVENTUALLY THE ENTIRE WCG HYMNAL WAS THE PSALMS AND MUSIC FROM HWA BROTHER. MAYBE IT WAS IN THE MIND OF HWA THAT SUCH WOULD MAKE THE WCG "UNIQUE" - WELL LIKE SOME OTHER CULTIC GROUPS. DURING THE 1980s I KNEW OF A CHURCH THAT DID NOT ALLOW MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN CHURCH SERVICES, THEY SAID THE NEW TESTAMENT DOES NOT SHOW ANY WERE USED IN SERVICES, SO WE WILL NOT. OF COURSE MATTHEW 4:4 MEANT NOTHING TO THEM I GUESS.
WELL THE WCG WAS UNIQUE EVENTUALLY BY THE END OF THE 1960s TO HAVE THEIR "OWN" HYMNAL OF ONLY SONGS FROM THE BOOK OF PSALMS. IT IS LIKE THE JEHOVAH WITNESSES HAVING THEIR "OWN" TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. CULTS TEND TO GO THAT WAY EVENTUALLY, SOMETHING THAT MAKES THEM "UNIQUE" OR DIFFERENT FROM EVERYBODY ELSE.
THE WCG FORGOT ABOUT EPHESIANS 5:19 .... I GUESS THEY CUT IT OUT OF THEIR BIBLE. PAUL WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE: "SPEAKING TO YOURSELVES IN PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, SINGING AND MAKING MELODY IN YOUR HEART TO THE LORD."
NOTICE THE WORD PSALMS IS SEPARATE FROM HYMNS, AND SPIRITUAL SONGS. GOD WAS PLAINLY TELLING US WE COULD WRITE HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS OTHER THAN THE PSALMS OF THE BIBLE!
NOW THAT SHOULD BE PRETTY SIMPLE TO UNDERSTAND FOR ANYONE WHO IS NOT IN A CULTIC MIND-SET. IT IS NOT WRONG TO PUT MUSIC TO THE PSALMS IN THE BIBLE'S BOOK OF PSALMS. BUT WE CAN AND FRANKLY SHOULD HAVE OTHER HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS WRITTEN BY OTHERS, FROM WHATEVER AGE WE ARE IN.
SO YOU WHO HAVE BEEN LED INTO A FALSE PROUD TRADITION FROM THE OLD WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD UNDER HERBERT ARMSTRONG......WELL YOU NEED TO RESTORE YOUR MIND TO THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER CONCERNING SINGING HYMNS, ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE.
HENCE I PRODUCE FOR YOU THE FOLLOWING GREAT HYMNS, ESPECIALLY FOR PASSOVER TIME.
Keith Hunt