Since two of my friends have asked separately whether this video is correct, I decided to post a response. The video asks,
Did Jesus reveal the name of the Antichrist?
This guy doesn't know Hebrew like he should, and he even misspelled the English word "heights." Here are his errors in Hebrew and Greek:
1. Aramaic isn't the most ancient form of Hebrew.
2. He mispronounced the name of the letter "waw," which is normally pronounced the way Germans would pronounce it ("vov"), since the Germans were the best Hebrew scholars for a time and English-speakers still study and depend greatly upon their grammar textbooks, now translated into English.
3. He translates the waw ("O") in "Baraq O Bama" as potentially meaning "from," which is not at all a common use of the letter waw, which is normally a conjunction, not a preposition. The common way to say "from" in Hebrew is with the preposition "min." In addition, Jesus' words include a verb--"falling"--which is not really implied grammatically in "Baraq O Bama," which would most naturally mean "lightning and height." This makes me think the fellow looked up Barack Obama's name in Strong's and then found a verse where he could try to make the Bible say what he wants it to say.
4. He references Strong's numbers instead of the best Hebrew lexicons, and refers to Hebrew scholars as if he himself is not one--I agree with him on that. Did this fellow really study Hebrew? He doesn't seem to be able to read it. Very likely if he didn't study Hebrew, he didn't study Aramaic either. Few theological seminaries require their graduates to have a reading knowledge of Hebrew today, and even the ones that do (Westminster included) do not require the students to study Aramaic. We got only the shortest introduction to Aramaic--one hour of class time at most, a couple sentences to see the similarity to Hebrew, and the reference guide to the Aramaic abbreviations written in the margins of the Hebrew Old Testament.
5. Though Jesus spoke Aramaic, it's generally a bad idea to speculate about what Aramaic words Jesus spoke behind the Greek of the text of the New Testament--first, it's speculation; second, God gave us Jesus' words in Greek, not Aramaic; third, on average one Hebrew/Aramaic word has more possible senses than one Greek word, so while you CAN sometimes make a good guess as to what Hebrew word underlies its Greek translation, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between the words of the two languages, and you run a big risk relying on reverse-engineering the translation process for any solid conclusions. Specifically, in this case, there are at least 4 Hebrew words for lightning--"baraq," which means "lightning," "or," which means "light," "bazaq," which means "lightning flash," "laphid," which means "flame." Which one did Jesus use? The video is speculating too much. Similarly, "bama" IS a common Hebrew word for "above," but it is not the most common word for "heaven" ("shamayim" is), and the Greek of Jesus' word "heaven" is the most common Greek word for "heaven," "ouranos." The mismatch between the Greek and its proposed Aramaic original is too much to be convincing.
6. The Greek isn't saying that Satan IS "lightning from above," and so it's not treating "lightning from above" as a proper name, so why would the Hebrew have that meaning? Rather, the Greek says Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning. Even if Jesus used the word "baraq," meaning He saw Satan fall like Barack, to say this means Barack is the Antichrist is to say something the text doesn't mean.
He also didn't trace the etymology of Barack Obama's name through whatever language it comes from (Arabic? which admittedly is very similar to Hebrew & Aramaic) to see if it means "lightning from above" there.
Brian L. Penney, pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Copiague, NY (CREC), recently announced his congregation's ministry called "Heart & Voice" which aims to help your congregation learn to sing 4-part harmony. While we don't agree with the CREC's commitment to the theology of the Federal Vision, the work of "Heart & Voice" is a great idea--your part is not only written down, but also sung well on an MP3 you can listen to on the way to work. Brian writes,
Our church has a ministry called Heart & Voice to help congregations learn to sing 4-part harmony...to improve our praise of Almighty God. Toward that end, we are producing learning tracks for psalms and hymns in SATB format with full-mix so all the parts can be heard as you would sing them. If any of you have a list of psalms or hymns you would like to teach your congregations, we will consider producing the 5 tracks for each song. H&V has a learning track specialist helping us produce the audio files. He has given us a steep discount: $50 per song. His usual price is $100. If you send us a donation to cover the learning track production, that would be great! The songs will go on our website for all to share. You can hear a sample here: www.heartandvoice.weebly.com.
On the URC discussion list, Dave asked,
But does it matter that one can sing "skilfully?" I think not.
This is a good question, and one which sometimes divides people--the humble say God accepts His people's singing even if its musical quality is as poor as the "widow's mite," the "truly musical" can imply poor singing is sinful worship, and some of the "truly Reformed" claim choirs are not an element of New Testament worship. Dave's question deserves a good answer.
Here is mine. Because the Lord commands us to sing, and singing requires skill, I think to sing with less skill is to sing less; to sing hardly well is to hardly sing. This is no reason to think the Lord is not merciful to those of His creatures who can merely lisp--some of whom sing in our congregation--but it is to affirm that He made us to really sing, and that He will enable us to do so once again in glory (Rev. 5; 14:3; 15:3). Our congregation has revived its choir for this reason--to teach and encourage the whole congregation to sing. Calvin called the congregation the "first choir," implying that the choir is the "second choir" in the church. I think his view is a good example to follow--the purpose of a choir is to teach and encourage the whole congregation to sing.
That it is the Lord's good command to sing is beyond dispute:
Psalm 30:4Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints
Psalm 92:1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
Is not artistic skill God's gift, and does God not call us to use those skills when they are required in the elements of worship which He commands?
Exodus 36:2 And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had putskill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.
1 Chronicles 28:21 And behold the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God; and with you in all the work will be every willing man who has skill for any kind of service; also the officers and all the people will be wholly at your command.
That singing requires skill is self-evident, but is also manifest in scripture:
2 Chronicles 30:21-22 21 And the people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness, and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, singing with all their might to the LORD. 22 And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the LORD.
Psalm 137:2-6 2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4 How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! 6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
1 Samuel 16:17-18 17 So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me." 18 One of the young men answered, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him."
1 Chronicles 25:5-7 5 All these were the sons of Heman the king's seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. 6 They were all under the direction of their father in the music 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 order of the king. 7 The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288.
2 Chronicles 34:12 The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music,
Proverbs 22:29 29 Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
Our congregation may be obscure, but our King is not. So,
1 Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright. 2 Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre; make melody to him with the harp of ten strings! 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
It is my solemn duty to warn the uninstructed, the profane, the scandalous, and those who secretly and impenitently live in any sin, not to approach the holy table lest they partake unworthily, not discerning the Lord's body, and so eat and drink condemnation to themselves....Let us therefore, in accordance with the admonition of the apostle Paul, examine our minds and hearts to determine whether such discernment is ours, to the end that we may partake to the glory of God and to our growth in the grace of Christ.
1 Cor. 11:30 teaches that the one who eats and drinks is obligated to discern the body. If he discerns the body, he is a believer, and so should also make a public profession of faith inside our outside the worship service simply out of the sincerity of his belief. Every Sunday, every believer makes an informal public profession of faith by participating in the singing, prayers, unison scripture readings, and unison readings of the creeds and confessions (in our bulletin, we often title a reading from the Westminster Confession of Faith a "Confession of Faith.") Consider, for example, the Apostles' Creed begins, "I believe...." But at some point the believer's profession should also be formal--pointed, individual, and before the elders and members of the church, because Christ has charged elders with shepherding and keeping watch over the souls of the members of the church. How will the elders know someone's profession if they do not watch closely and pointedly by asking the (simple but) pointed questions asked during a profession of faith? How will they watch over the "souls" of individual members if they do not ask members such questions individually?
To answer Greg's original question "how is it considered an element of worship?" the many passages in the Psalms which indicate it is good and right to confess one's faith publicly in "the assembly" make it impossible to forbid informal professions of faith in worship services (Ps. 22:22, 25; 68:26; 107:32; 111:1; 149:1). But Greg's question is more specific--why should we require people to make a formal profession of faith in the formal worship service? One reason is that in the formal worship service the congregation is properly constituted as the "assembly" into which the new member is entering by his profession. It is right for adults to enter membership by their profession--in the OPC we confess "The visible church...consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion" (WCF 25.2), because "those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41) Consider also in this connection why baptism should be an occasional element of worship. The other sacrament--the Lord's Supper--is to be celebrated "when you come together as a church" (1 Cor. 11:18, 19, 21, 35), not "at home" (1 Cor. 11:35), which is a different kind of meeting Paul considers not to constitute the gathering "as a church" (1 Cor. 11:19). If the sacrament which is a sign and seal of communion with Christ and His church should be celebrated in the worship service "when you come together as a church," why should not the sacrament which is a sign and seal of entrance into communion with Christ and His church? And if baptism should be in the worship service, why should not the profession of faith by which the entrance occurs which baptism signs and seals? Even more pointedly, in the case of a believer, baptism is a "promise" or "appeal" to God (1 Pet. 3:21). If public professions of faith may not be allowed in worship, neither may believers' baptisms be allowed in worship!
A friend of mine from seminary asked for some good sites providing resources for Reformed youth ministry. For your and my sake I'm posting what I came up with.
I bet RTS and Covenant Seminary have some resources; I know Covenant Seminary has decided to put all of their course material online for free.
While I wouldn't use their resources exclusively, when I want to find a Bible study guide, SS curriculum, or book for a discussion group, I'd look first at the following because I know their material is reformed:
Beyond that I might call up the CRC because they had lots of youth material when I was growing up; they can be more theologically liberal than I prefer, though, so like everything you have to be discerning.
I've seen a catalog from the Vision Forum, and while they have resources for youth, there's something about their classical education / homeschooling / American Revolution / Christian reconstruction / old fashioned clothes style that seems atavistic to me. There might be some good material there, though.
The guy in the OPC to hit up for materials is Rev. Mark Sumpter. He writes,
If you want a general theology overview with discussion use, try RC Sproul What is Reformed Theology? Presently our Youth Class uses it. The teacher adapts the study guide material for discussion purposes. Some of the material will be a little advanced, but with guidance it is do-able. The class or youth group setting would watch a 25 min video and then discuss things.
If you want a study on the Doctrine of God, His attributes, I have used JI Packer's Knowing God. IVP (Intervaristy) puts out a study guide that goes with the book. Usually students are given a summary of the chapter, I type it up, and then I use the summary as a basis for orienting the class to the doctrinal topic. The study guide helps as a discussion guide.
If you want a excellent study on calling, purpose in life, work, giftedness, and servanthood, I recommend the newer book by John Piper. The book is fairly readable, a paperback, and is called, Don't Waste Your Life. There are one or two spots that may be a little advanced, but on the whole it is excellent. One of the editions of the book has a CD with it. On the CD Pastor John Piper speaks to students. He's excellent. The book handles really well God's Lordship in our lives, materialism, wasting your life with run-of-the-mill American Church-i-anity, and so on. His chapter on work, earning a wage, why work, why a job is great. I think there's a study guide with this book too.
If you want a study on learing about a worldview and apologietics, you might try the video series called Every Thought Captive. It is a series available from Reformed Seminary in Orlando, FL. It's done by Richard Pratt. I think there are about 8-10 sessions in the whole of the material. I have used the series, a little selectively, and then make use of the 8 1/2 X 11 study guide materials. I photo-copy the sheets. He takes a student through the the basics of why we know what we know, and therefore, why we believe what we believe. A little advanced in places but a good possibility. Again, like the RC Sproul material above, I would show a 20-25 minute video and then stir some discussion with the young people based on the study guide. Pratt has a book by the same title.
If you want a good study on Bible texts, biblical culture, and some sound theoogy tied into the Biblical texts try the video series That the World May Know, by Ray Vander Laan. Vander Laan is the well-known Christian school teacher back in Michigan who published about 8-10 years ago a multiple-series of teaching on Bible lands, Bible places, and good engaging lessons on Bible study texts and stories. If you Google in the web That the World May Know, it will come up. Videos, CDs, study guides and discussion material is provided. I have heard of two of OPCs using it. Both have been blessed. Vander Laan teaches at a CRC-based Christian school, at a High School, so he can connect with young people. It may be a little expensive, but check around: maybe a local church has it in their local church library there in San Jose and they'll let you check it out, or have Covenant go ahead and purchase it. Maybe you can buy it in increments. Tim, I have heard it's good stuff. I have never gone through it myself. But on the testimony of others, it's good.
I know that some churches are using the Jerry Bridges material: Trusting God, The Joy of the Fear of God, and Transforming Grace----and other books. These all have study guides. These are excellent in grace-based, sanctification issues and Christian growth issues. Again, the leaders would have to provide chapter summaries, and work through the study guides to prepare some discussion sheets. Good stuff. I have used parts of the Bridges material for counseling and studies.
Princeton Theological Seminary is hosting "A Year with the Institutes," a daily reading of Calvin's Institutes, on its website. Point three of today's reading is summarized in Battles' heading:
3. We are not to fashion God according to our own whim
And Calvin's first sentence for today reads,
As experience shows, God has sown a seed of religion in all men.
But the audio recording of that sentence provided by Princeton says this:
As experience shows, God has sown a seed of religion in all people.
You can catch up on the gender-inclusive language debate in the comments on Princeton's site. I'm reminded of Richard Muller's excellent book, "The Unaccommodated Calvin," which shows how Calvin's interpreters like to fashion Calvin's meaning according to their own whims, and recommends it's better for your soul if you don't do that.
Old school liberal theology is dead in the academy, but it hasn't been replaced by a return to conservative orthodoxy at Princeton. It's been replaced with neo-orthodoxy and varieties of postmodernism, which allow the same practical results as liberalism did: loose views of scripture, Marxist biblical interpretation, social activism, & politics, women in office, approving of homosexuality, etc. So, in my estimation, Princeton understands its roots in the conservative Reformed tradition and considers itself Reformed, but isn't conservative, so isn't Reformed, at least not in a sense of which Calvin would have approved.
So I think it's fine to recommend discerning readers follow the proposed reading schedule, but I wouldn't encourage the average church member to seek spiritual guidance from the plan's organizers at Princeton.
