If the most recent entry ("...Worship music is garbage...") seemed random and vague, you're not alone. I copied and pasted the article from another site. Several time I tried to add a little commentary to it so you'd know exactly what the stink you were reading. Each time I tried, the site gave me some HTML error, like I wasn't dotting all my i's and crossing all my t's. That would be fine, if I was an expert programmer and were actually writing in a computer language, not in some 10th grade template.
Anyhow, what you read was a portion of an article with Steve Bell. He's a Canadian singer-songwriter who's really talented. Go to his site and buy everything. But if you read the piece, you know he's not into a lot of this new worship music. I think he's got a lot to say about the commercialization of the church. Does it strike you as odd that big-time secular companies will sponsor Christian rock tours? Or that you'll hear car insurance commercials during syndicated worship music programs? Are they all signing off on a statement of faith, that they agree with what is being preached? Do they somehow contribute to "watering down" the message? Do singers/preachers leave the confrontational stuff in their offices so they can collect their big marketing checks? And has the Burger King theology (have it your way!) entered our music so much that we'll sing anything as long as it's being sung in church?
I like the idea that we can think about this stuff. Hey, I don't totally agree with Steve. Some of today's music is great. Simple? Maybe. Musically derivative? Often. But let's encourage those who are getting it right, instead of ripping a whole genre of music. And let's be honest - Steve worries about his songs being heard 200 years from now. Before this article was posted, had you even heard of Steve before? He may be talented, but he's no household name in the US. Not really even in Canada, where he's from.
So there it is. Now you have some background. Clear as mud, no?
Two small issues as we close:
1. don't forget about nanowrimo, starting Tuesday! I've changed the title of my book to "On the Fritz", after the song by Steve Taylor. The book will still follow a pastor on a journey of desire, just a little bit different. Enjoy starting next week.
2. I posted an article about former Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Well, she's out on her patootie. I'm not sure if it was a Bush strategy to put up a lightweight relatively speaking. I'm sure Harriet means well, but she just wasn't a unifying figure. I'm sure she's a nice lady. She never struck me as someone who was capable of the job. It's like your Aunt Martha was nominated. She kind of wishy-washy on abortion, same-sex
marriage, and the rule of law. She makes a killer ambrosia salad at Thanksgiving, though. Who will they run up there now? How about Judge Judy? Is Judge Wapner from the old People's Court available? Whatever happened to Rusty the Baliff, anyway?
Whoa. How'd I lose control so quickly? Be safe through Monday night. I'll catch you later for the start of Nanowrimo!
Walk with God...
10.26.2005
I'm not the only one who thinks some worship music is garbage!
Editor: Your website includes a message board where people are lamenting the lack of depth in modern worship music. You chimed in, saying that one big reason for that is "simply that the art itself has been devalued and sacrificed to the god of the seeker-friendly pop culture churches and radio stations. But when a 'lowest common denominator' aesthetic precludes any serious thought about art and excellence, the result will be music that tickles the ear and animates the body but rarely will it provide access to the interior castle wherein the King of Peace resides." That's quite a statement.
Bell: I'll be very surprised if this season isn't one of the low points in the history of music writing. It's all because of an unbridled market economy where absolutely everything gets commodified within seconds—no matter what you do, it is a product in a very short time. Everything becomes cheapened and market-driven. That's what happened in worship music—it's been commodified, and the same forces that are driving the market are driving the music. That always, always means dumbing down—it's a homogenization, a flattening of imagination. And when sales become the indicator that something is good, right away it's sort of the death of the form.
I get a little Gandhian about this sometimes. If we buy it, they'll sell it to us. But if we stop buying it, it will force them to go back to art again. As long as we're just firing our money at the industry every time they give us something with a shiny picture on the front, in the end we are still choosing this. It's really easy to get all upset about the industry or CCM, and I wish they had more scruples about art. But they don't, because it's not about art. It's about business. Fine. Then it's up to us to control. If we didn't eat at McDonald's, McDonald's would have to change. Right? If we didn't watch crap on TV, they'd give us better shows.
Editor: But that type of thinking is apparently in the minority. So how can we effect change?
Bell: I think it needs to start with the seminaries. I think pastors have to get a little bit more bold to say we do not support poor work, poor theology, poor poetry, poor melody. There's nothing about the music that's coming out that's even remotely reflective of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There's no mystery. There's no nothing. It's just all platitude after platitude after platitude. And half the time one line actually is not a logical flow of the last one. It's just bizarre—but it sounds right, so everybody goes for it.
I get very upset about this whole thing. I have a very difficult time going to church because I can barely get through the worship part. And I'm finding that there's more of us than you think. People are feeling like, "What's wrong with me? I hate this music." Well, that's because it's not sustaining music. It's not leading us into the mystery of God—or the mystery of humanity and human interaction and suffering and joy.
Editor:You're on a roll. What else concerns you about modern worship?
Bell: Another part of the problem is the cult of the young, letting 17-year-olds write worship songs. I'm not saying that young people can't write great music. But for the most part, great music takes work, and it takes discipline and it takes years. And our culture will not reward that work for the most part.
My own story illustrates it perfectly. About 10 years ago, a Nashville A&R guy got hold of my music and loved it and shopped to several major record labels. He was in tight with all these record companies. Two weeks later, he calls and he's all embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he says. "Nobody listened to your music. Every meeting started with the question 'How old is he?' And when I said 'Thirty-five,' you were done." I was dismissed by five major record labels because I was 35 years old. He could not convince one of them to break cellophane and listen to a CD, just on the basis of my age.
Editor: That's incredible.
Bell: Isn't that stunning? I think that was the point where I went, "OK, this is not a community that it's going to bother me that I've been passed by."
Editor: Let's get back to your message board. You said you'd asked some songwriters what they'd been reading lately, and you got a bunch of blank stares.
Bell: Yeah. I was with a bunch of songwriters. I won't say who, but you'd know a bunch of them. Anyway, I was just very keen to find out what they were drawing on. It wasn't a sucker punch at all. I was just looking for good leads.
There was one fellow who's turned out a lot of songs, and the guy just didn't read. I think that says something when you're supposed to be a person who is making, ostensibly, meaningful music. I want to ask, "What are you drawing from?" For someone who's supposedly doing meaningful art to not be in the discipline of reading, I don't know . . .
Bell: I'll be very surprised if this season isn't one of the low points in the history of music writing. It's all because of an unbridled market economy where absolutely everything gets commodified within seconds—no matter what you do, it is a product in a very short time. Everything becomes cheapened and market-driven. That's what happened in worship music—it's been commodified, and the same forces that are driving the market are driving the music. That always, always means dumbing down—it's a homogenization, a flattening of imagination. And when sales become the indicator that something is good, right away it's sort of the death of the form.
I get a little Gandhian about this sometimes. If we buy it, they'll sell it to us. But if we stop buying it, it will force them to go back to art again. As long as we're just firing our money at the industry every time they give us something with a shiny picture on the front, in the end we are still choosing this. It's really easy to get all upset about the industry or CCM, and I wish they had more scruples about art. But they don't, because it's not about art. It's about business. Fine. Then it's up to us to control. If we didn't eat at McDonald's, McDonald's would have to change. Right? If we didn't watch crap on TV, they'd give us better shows.
Editor: But that type of thinking is apparently in the minority. So how can we effect change?
Bell: I think it needs to start with the seminaries. I think pastors have to get a little bit more bold to say we do not support poor work, poor theology, poor poetry, poor melody. There's nothing about the music that's coming out that's even remotely reflective of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There's no mystery. There's no nothing. It's just all platitude after platitude after platitude. And half the time one line actually is not a logical flow of the last one. It's just bizarre—but it sounds right, so everybody goes for it.
I get very upset about this whole thing. I have a very difficult time going to church because I can barely get through the worship part. And I'm finding that there's more of us than you think. People are feeling like, "What's wrong with me? I hate this music." Well, that's because it's not sustaining music. It's not leading us into the mystery of God—or the mystery of humanity and human interaction and suffering and joy.
Editor:You're on a roll. What else concerns you about modern worship?
Bell: Another part of the problem is the cult of the young, letting 17-year-olds write worship songs. I'm not saying that young people can't write great music. But for the most part, great music takes work, and it takes discipline and it takes years. And our culture will not reward that work for the most part.
My own story illustrates it perfectly. About 10 years ago, a Nashville A&R guy got hold of my music and loved it and shopped to several major record labels. He was in tight with all these record companies. Two weeks later, he calls and he's all embarrassed. "I'm sorry," he says. "Nobody listened to your music. Every meeting started with the question 'How old is he?' And when I said 'Thirty-five,' you were done." I was dismissed by five major record labels because I was 35 years old. He could not convince one of them to break cellophane and listen to a CD, just on the basis of my age.
Editor: That's incredible.
Bell: Isn't that stunning? I think that was the point where I went, "OK, this is not a community that it's going to bother me that I've been passed by."
Editor: Let's get back to your message board. You said you'd asked some songwriters what they'd been reading lately, and you got a bunch of blank stares.
Bell: Yeah. I was with a bunch of songwriters. I won't say who, but you'd know a bunch of them. Anyway, I was just very keen to find out what they were drawing on. It wasn't a sucker punch at all. I was just looking for good leads.
There was one fellow who's turned out a lot of songs, and the guy just didn't read. I think that says something when you're supposed to be a person who is making, ostensibly, meaningful music. I want to ask, "What are you drawing from?" For someone who's supposedly doing meaningful art to not be in the discipline of reading, I don't know . . .
10.25.2005
Unmasking Halloween
As Halloween comes around next Monday, I wanted to post an article talking about the truth behind the holiday, I'm amazed at Christians that don't know this stuff, or worse ignore it. We are wise to know the history and talk about it when ever we can. Since our oldest daughter, Carissa, was a baby, we have attended a "Fall Fun Fest" at church. This year we're attending a new church which has "Hallelujah Night". For the first time, our children will wear costumes (three little kittens), in keeping with the theme of God's creation at the event. We had to think long and hard about the dress-up thing. But we were pro-active and told them what their doing and why. I've had the slip-up calling it Halloween many times. I'm not sure if that's because I'm so used to calling it that, or my paradigm hasn't changed yet. Either way, my girls are adorable and going to a costume party which celebrates our Creator which just happens to be on October 31.
Some (like my brother and sister-in-law) will be determined to have absolutely no part in anything. Some, like us, will do an alternative dress-up thing. Regardless of how far you go or don't go - and that is a matter between God and your family - you have to understand what you're confronting. To that end, here is a very complete discussion of the history of Halloween. Thanks to Crosswalk.com for publishing and Dr. Williams for his scholarship.
Unmasking Halloween: Is it just harmless fun?
Dr. J.L. Williams
New Directions International
It is fast approaching that day of the year when our children go through their annual Dr. Jekyll—Mr. Hyde metamorphosis from little cherubs to spooks, ghosts, goblins, ghouls, witches and vampires.
They will excitedly attend school Halloween carnivals where they will bob for apples, fish for prizes and prowl through a “haunted house” amidst shrieks and screams of fearful delight. Later they will go from door to door “trick or treating” in their neighborhood. They will be greeted by scowling pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, scary dangling skeletons, and flying witches on brooms.
They will hopefully be met by generous hosts who will fill their bags with candy, gum, cookies, popcorn and a host of other goodies that will make their next visit to the dentist a real nightmare! Yes, it’s Halloween time again!
It all seems like such harmless fun—but is it? I have had my own private war with Halloween for a number of years now. Frankly, I don’t think I’m really winning, but I will continue the fight! “But why?” you may be thinking. “Do you want to deprive those little kids of all that fun and excitement? It’s all just innocent, harmless fun!”
Fun? Perhaps. Innocent? Hardly! I enjoy fun as much as the next guy, as anyone who really knows me will quickly affirm. But I also know that not all fun is “innocent fun.” A lot of people’s fun is at someone else’s expense. For other twisted minds, “fun” has an element of perversion, like putting hallucinogenic drugs in candy or razor blades in apples! So there is FUN and there is fun.
Because of the historical roots of Halloween, I cannot see it as innocent, innocuous fun. It is a basic principle of life that the origin of something determines its nature. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father …” (James 1:17). It also says that Satan masquerades as an “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). He is the master counterfeiter! That means that he makes evil look good . . . perversion look pure ... and a lie look like the truth. He is a Master of his trade and he has had all of history to perfect it.
Halloween’s Historical Roots
It can be easily proven from history that Halloween predates the birth of Christ by several hundred years and is firmly rooted in paganism. There are three different historical streams that have gradually converged through the centuries to form what we now know as Halloween. Let’s briefly trace each one back.
Celtic Paganism:The first stream goes back to a practice of the ancient Celtic civilization. They were a warlike people who inhabited what we know as Britain, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. A thoroughly pagan people who worshipped many gods, they were called “Gauls” by the Romans, who were defeated by them in 390 B.C.
Even though these Celts were ruled by various kings, the real power behind the throne was in the hands of the “Druids.” They were a secret, bloodthirsty priestly society who ruled by terror, sorcery and witchcraft. Even the various Celtic kings feared their black powers.
The most important religious day for the Druids was the celebration of “Samhain, Lord of the Dead.” The Celtic New Year began on November 1st. The night before, October 31st, was the night to reverence Samhain. It was the time of the falling of leaves and general seasonal decay—so the appropriate time to celebrate the “Lord of the Dead.”
They believed that on that night the Spirit world came into its closest contact with the human world. As such, it was a night when the souls of the departed dead returned to their former homes to be entertained by the living (much like ancestor worship is practiced today by many religions).
It was also a time when demonic and evil spirits came out of their shadowy nether world. If proper food, shelter and provision were not provided, these evil spirits would cast spells, wreak havoc on man and beast, and generally torment the living! If the proper “treat” was not awaiting to appease them, then they would respond with an appropriate “trick”—thus our custom of “trick or treating.”
Others, in order to fool and evade the invading spirits, would themselves dress up and masquerade as evil spirits, witches, ghosts, and ghouls. Again we can see the origin of our custom of dressing up as fiendish characters and creatures.
The perverted climax of this dark night was animal and human sacrifice to placate this “Lord of the Dead.” It was carried out by the priestly Druids who would rip the hearts out of their victims and use the blood for religious rites. They would also use the entrails and other body parts to divine the future and forecast the New Year. The remains were then burned in “bone fires,” from which we get the popular “bonfire.”
Is this some fanciful interpretation of history? Even a secular source like Collier’s Encyclopedia accurately records Halloween as a “popular secular observance … derived from the rites of the Druids celebrating the day of Samhain, when the Lord of Death called together the souls of the wicked who had died during the past year” (Vol. 12, p. 196).
Clearly then, much of our current Halloween practices have their roots in this ancient pagan Celtic religion. Even though the Celts were eventually conquered, their pagan practices never were fully rooted out of Western Europe.
When our Puritan ancestors came to America, they were far too Biblically oriented to allow such occult practices. They knew that all forms of witchcraft were strictly forbidden by God as an abomination. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, a host of our ancestors of Celtic origin emigrated to America from the British Isles. With them came many of their ancient pagan observances and practices, including Samhain, the Festival of the Dead, or Halloween. This pagan practice took firm root in American soil and has been a widely accepted cultural tradition ever since.
Roman Roots
The Romans, along with many other ancient people, celebrated harvest time in the fall of every year. Their festival was in honor of Pomona, goddess of fruit.
The Roman general Agrippa first built a Pantheon (temple for all of their gods) in 27 B.C. It was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Hadrain in about A.D. 100 and dedicated primarily to “Cybele” the goddess of nature. Since it was a Pantheon, many other deities were also worshipped there Thus, the Pantheon became the principal place of worship for the Romans and the place where they went to honor and pray for their dead.
When Rome fell to the invading barbarian horde of Gauls, they, too, overran the Pantheon, along with everything else. Gradually, it fell into disrepair. In A.D. 607 it was recaptured by the Emperor Phocas, who gave it as a gift to Pope Boniface IV. Boniface then re-consecrated and dedicated the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary.
So, from A.D. 609, it was used as a Christian church (Santa Marie Rotunda). It was an easy—but tragic—transition from ‘Cybele’, goddess of nature, to Mary, mother of Jesus. Every May, a major celebration was held in the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary.
Medieval Christianity
Since the Church was embraced by the Roman Emperor Constantine and made the official State Religion (Edict of Milan in A.D. 313), there has been a constant battle to keep the Church free from the influence of the pagan culture around her. Too often, as history has proven, while the Church had sought to “Christianize” the culture, she has more often been enculturated by her pagan surroundings!
Thus, syncretism (the reconciling of differing beliefs in religion) of alien and hostile ideologies has always been the great enemy of the faith. There are few more tragic examples than Halloween.
During the Medieval Period, or Dark Ages, the Church had sought to increase its influence over many pagan practices—sometimes more successfully than others. Many pagan superstitions and practices that the Church had sought to eradicate began to reappear in Europe during this period. Involvement in witchcraft again became widespread.
One of the most important aspects of witchcraft was the number of celebrations held each year called “Witches’ Sabbaths.” The most important of those was known as the “High Sabbath,” or the “Black Sabbath,” which occurred on October 31st.
It was generally a night of feasting and revelry. It was that feast that gave us many of the common paraphernalia of our Halloween like witches on broomsticks, black cats, death’s skulls and pumpkins. So much of our Halloween folklore today stems directly from this High Witches’ Sabbath that was celebrated in Europe during the Dark Ages.
There is one more tributary of the historic stream that feeds Halloween. It is the one from which the name “Halloween” itself comes.
All Saint’s Day
Very early in the life of the Church, there was a movement to honor and reverence the lives of certain church leaders and martyrs of the faith. Gradually, they were put in a special category and called “saints.” The Church father Chrysostom tells us that as early as the 4th century, the Eastern Church celebrated a festival in honor of the saints
Gradually, there were more saints than there were individual days to honor them. The solution seemed to be to consolidate the remembrance of all of them into one special day called “All Saints Day.”
Remember that I said earlier that every May a celebration was held in the Pantheon in honor of the Virgin Mary? In A.D. 705, Pope Gregory III changed the celebration of All Saints Day to November 1st. In A.D. 834, Pope Gregory IV extended the celebration to the entire Roman Church. This was an apparent attempt to coincide with the ancient Druidic festival of “Samhain.” The Church wanted to accommodate itself to the recently conquered German Saxons and Norsemen of Scandinavia. So it baptized yet another pagan celebration.
Thus, this special Church day of remembrance was called “Allhalowmas.” It was easily shortened into “All Hallow” for the “hallowed ones” or “saints” who were being remembered. The night before, October 31st, evolved into “All Hallow Evening.” It, too gradually was shortened to “All Hallow Eve,” then came the contraction “Hallows E’en,” and finally to its current form of “Halloween.”
So a day that started out as simply a remembrance of the saints progressed to a reverence for the saints and finally ended in a worship of the saints.
There was an unholy wedding then of the “saints” and “Samhain” … a union of “light” and “darkness” … a co-mingling of the “cup of the Lord” with the “cup of demons” (I Cor. 10:16-21).
These three religious and historic streams, then, have converged to form the polluted river of Halloween. Again I must say that the ultimate fountainhead of Halloween is Satan.
Innocent Fun?
Just as Satan has successfully veiled the true focus of Christmas by Santa Claus, reindeer, Christmas trees and presents, and the resurrection of Christ with Easter bunnies and Easter eggs, he has given the true pagan nature of Halloween a benign cultural veneer of respectability.
Satan is the master of deceit and disguise. His favorite deception is to convince educated people that he really does not exist. What better way for him to perpetrate the illusion that neither his person nor power exist than to make it all “innocent fun.”
Anyone who has spent time on the mission field, as I have, will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the whole realm of evil spirits and the demonic are not something to be played with. To put them in the same category as fairy tales, make-believe and mythology is spiritual suicide. This is the very real and active fallen realm of “principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual forces in heavenly places” that scripture tells us to stand against in the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:12).
When God gave the Promised Land to the early Israelites, He clearly warned them: “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone … who used divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord” (Deut. 18:9-12).
Likewise, we Christians are clearly commanded to “abstain from every appearance of evil” (I Thess. 5:22) — which I believe includes all of the trappings of Halloween.
Whenever the apostles of Christ met with people involved in fortune telling, witchcraft and the occult, the Holy Spirit firmly, swiftly and decisively dealt with them (Acts 8:9-23). When spiritual revival came to the ancient pagan city of Ephesus through the ministry of Paul, all books and paraphernalia related to the occult were destroyed: “And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (Acts 19:19-20).
The enterprising merchants of Ephesus had capitalized on the economic opportunities of the occult and witchcraft just as our contemporary businessmen have exploited Halloween into a multi-million dollar annual bonanza! Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Halloween witches are their best friends. History has proven that once something becomes culturally acceptable and economically profitable, it will remain and flourish—regardless of its origin—unless true spiritual revival comes to root it out.
Be safe in the week to come. Don't forget: National Novel Writing Month begins November 1! There's still time to register to write next month. Go to www.nanowrimo.org to find out more. And don't forget to look here for daily updates of my literary masterpiece from Nanowrimo! Am I brave to be so honest about my writing, or a self-gratifying exhibitionist? You be the judge starting next Tuesday!
Until then, walk with God...
Some (like my brother and sister-in-law) will be determined to have absolutely no part in anything. Some, like us, will do an alternative dress-up thing. Regardless of how far you go or don't go - and that is a matter between God and your family - you have to understand what you're confronting. To that end, here is a very complete discussion of the history of Halloween. Thanks to Crosswalk.com for publishing and Dr. Williams for his scholarship.
Unmasking Halloween: Is it just harmless fun?
Dr. J.L. Williams
New Directions International
It is fast approaching that day of the year when our children go through their annual Dr. Jekyll—Mr. Hyde metamorphosis from little cherubs to spooks, ghosts, goblins, ghouls, witches and vampires.
They will excitedly attend school Halloween carnivals where they will bob for apples, fish for prizes and prowl through a “haunted house” amidst shrieks and screams of fearful delight. Later they will go from door to door “trick or treating” in their neighborhood. They will be greeted by scowling pumpkin jack-o-lanterns, scary dangling skeletons, and flying witches on brooms.
They will hopefully be met by generous hosts who will fill their bags with candy, gum, cookies, popcorn and a host of other goodies that will make their next visit to the dentist a real nightmare! Yes, it’s Halloween time again!
It all seems like such harmless fun—but is it? I have had my own private war with Halloween for a number of years now. Frankly, I don’t think I’m really winning, but I will continue the fight! “But why?” you may be thinking. “Do you want to deprive those little kids of all that fun and excitement? It’s all just innocent, harmless fun!”
Fun? Perhaps. Innocent? Hardly! I enjoy fun as much as the next guy, as anyone who really knows me will quickly affirm. But I also know that not all fun is “innocent fun.” A lot of people’s fun is at someone else’s expense. For other twisted minds, “fun” has an element of perversion, like putting hallucinogenic drugs in candy or razor blades in apples! So there is FUN and there is fun.
Because of the historical roots of Halloween, I cannot see it as innocent, innocuous fun. It is a basic principle of life that the origin of something determines its nature. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father …” (James 1:17). It also says that Satan masquerades as an “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). He is the master counterfeiter! That means that he makes evil look good . . . perversion look pure ... and a lie look like the truth. He is a Master of his trade and he has had all of history to perfect it.
Halloween’s Historical Roots
It can be easily proven from history that Halloween predates the birth of Christ by several hundred years and is firmly rooted in paganism. There are three different historical streams that have gradually converged through the centuries to form what we now know as Halloween. Let’s briefly trace each one back.
Celtic Paganism:The first stream goes back to a practice of the ancient Celtic civilization. They were a warlike people who inhabited what we know as Britain, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. A thoroughly pagan people who worshipped many gods, they were called “Gauls” by the Romans, who were defeated by them in 390 B.C.
Even though these Celts were ruled by various kings, the real power behind the throne was in the hands of the “Druids.” They were a secret, bloodthirsty priestly society who ruled by terror, sorcery and witchcraft. Even the various Celtic kings feared their black powers.
The most important religious day for the Druids was the celebration of “Samhain, Lord of the Dead.” The Celtic New Year began on November 1st. The night before, October 31st, was the night to reverence Samhain. It was the time of the falling of leaves and general seasonal decay—so the appropriate time to celebrate the “Lord of the Dead.”
They believed that on that night the Spirit world came into its closest contact with the human world. As such, it was a night when the souls of the departed dead returned to their former homes to be entertained by the living (much like ancestor worship is practiced today by many religions).
It was also a time when demonic and evil spirits came out of their shadowy nether world. If proper food, shelter and provision were not provided, these evil spirits would cast spells, wreak havoc on man and beast, and generally torment the living! If the proper “treat” was not awaiting to appease them, then they would respond with an appropriate “trick”—thus our custom of “trick or treating.”
Others, in order to fool and evade the invading spirits, would themselves dress up and masquerade as evil spirits, witches, ghosts, and ghouls. Again we can see the origin of our custom of dressing up as fiendish characters and creatures.
The perverted climax of this dark night was animal and human sacrifice to placate this “Lord of the Dead.” It was carried out by the priestly Druids who would rip the hearts out of their victims and use the blood for religious rites. They would also use the entrails and other body parts to divine the future and forecast the New Year. The remains were then burned in “bone fires,” from which we get the popular “bonfire.”
Is this some fanciful interpretation of history? Even a secular source like Collier’s Encyclopedia accurately records Halloween as a “popular secular observance … derived from the rites of the Druids celebrating the day of Samhain, when the Lord of Death called together the souls of the wicked who had died during the past year” (Vol. 12, p. 196).
Clearly then, much of our current Halloween practices have their roots in this ancient pagan Celtic religion. Even though the Celts were eventually conquered, their pagan practices never were fully rooted out of Western Europe.
When our Puritan ancestors came to America, they were far too Biblically oriented to allow such occult practices. They knew that all forms of witchcraft were strictly forbidden by God as an abomination. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, a host of our ancestors of Celtic origin emigrated to America from the British Isles. With them came many of their ancient pagan observances and practices, including Samhain, the Festival of the Dead, or Halloween. This pagan practice took firm root in American soil and has been a widely accepted cultural tradition ever since.
Roman Roots
The Romans, along with many other ancient people, celebrated harvest time in the fall of every year. Their festival was in honor of Pomona, goddess of fruit.
The Roman general Agrippa first built a Pantheon (temple for all of their gods) in 27 B.C. It was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Hadrain in about A.D. 100 and dedicated primarily to “Cybele” the goddess of nature. Since it was a Pantheon, many other deities were also worshipped there Thus, the Pantheon became the principal place of worship for the Romans and the place where they went to honor and pray for their dead.
When Rome fell to the invading barbarian horde of Gauls, they, too, overran the Pantheon, along with everything else. Gradually, it fell into disrepair. In A.D. 607 it was recaptured by the Emperor Phocas, who gave it as a gift to Pope Boniface IV. Boniface then re-consecrated and dedicated the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary.
So, from A.D. 609, it was used as a Christian church (Santa Marie Rotunda). It was an easy—but tragic—transition from ‘Cybele’, goddess of nature, to Mary, mother of Jesus. Every May, a major celebration was held in the Pantheon to the Virgin Mary.
Medieval Christianity
Since the Church was embraced by the Roman Emperor Constantine and made the official State Religion (Edict of Milan in A.D. 313), there has been a constant battle to keep the Church free from the influence of the pagan culture around her. Too often, as history has proven, while the Church had sought to “Christianize” the culture, she has more often been enculturated by her pagan surroundings!
Thus, syncretism (the reconciling of differing beliefs in religion) of alien and hostile ideologies has always been the great enemy of the faith. There are few more tragic examples than Halloween.
During the Medieval Period, or Dark Ages, the Church had sought to increase its influence over many pagan practices—sometimes more successfully than others. Many pagan superstitions and practices that the Church had sought to eradicate began to reappear in Europe during this period. Involvement in witchcraft again became widespread.
One of the most important aspects of witchcraft was the number of celebrations held each year called “Witches’ Sabbaths.” The most important of those was known as the “High Sabbath,” or the “Black Sabbath,” which occurred on October 31st.
It was generally a night of feasting and revelry. It was that feast that gave us many of the common paraphernalia of our Halloween like witches on broomsticks, black cats, death’s skulls and pumpkins. So much of our Halloween folklore today stems directly from this High Witches’ Sabbath that was celebrated in Europe during the Dark Ages.
There is one more tributary of the historic stream that feeds Halloween. It is the one from which the name “Halloween” itself comes.
All Saint’s Day
Very early in the life of the Church, there was a movement to honor and reverence the lives of certain church leaders and martyrs of the faith. Gradually, they were put in a special category and called “saints.” The Church father Chrysostom tells us that as early as the 4th century, the Eastern Church celebrated a festival in honor of the saints
Gradually, there were more saints than there were individual days to honor them. The solution seemed to be to consolidate the remembrance of all of them into one special day called “All Saints Day.”
Remember that I said earlier that every May a celebration was held in the Pantheon in honor of the Virgin Mary? In A.D. 705, Pope Gregory III changed the celebration of All Saints Day to November 1st. In A.D. 834, Pope Gregory IV extended the celebration to the entire Roman Church. This was an apparent attempt to coincide with the ancient Druidic festival of “Samhain.” The Church wanted to accommodate itself to the recently conquered German Saxons and Norsemen of Scandinavia. So it baptized yet another pagan celebration.
Thus, this special Church day of remembrance was called “Allhalowmas.” It was easily shortened into “All Hallow” for the “hallowed ones” or “saints” who were being remembered. The night before, October 31st, evolved into “All Hallow Evening.” It, too gradually was shortened to “All Hallow Eve,” then came the contraction “Hallows E’en,” and finally to its current form of “Halloween.”
So a day that started out as simply a remembrance of the saints progressed to a reverence for the saints and finally ended in a worship of the saints.
There was an unholy wedding then of the “saints” and “Samhain” … a union of “light” and “darkness” … a co-mingling of the “cup of the Lord” with the “cup of demons” (I Cor. 10:16-21).
These three religious and historic streams, then, have converged to form the polluted river of Halloween. Again I must say that the ultimate fountainhead of Halloween is Satan.
Innocent Fun?
Just as Satan has successfully veiled the true focus of Christmas by Santa Claus, reindeer, Christmas trees and presents, and the resurrection of Christ with Easter bunnies and Easter eggs, he has given the true pagan nature of Halloween a benign cultural veneer of respectability.
Satan is the master of deceit and disguise. His favorite deception is to convince educated people that he really does not exist. What better way for him to perpetrate the illusion that neither his person nor power exist than to make it all “innocent fun.”
Anyone who has spent time on the mission field, as I have, will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the whole realm of evil spirits and the demonic are not something to be played with. To put them in the same category as fairy tales, make-believe and mythology is spiritual suicide. This is the very real and active fallen realm of “principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual forces in heavenly places” that scripture tells us to stand against in the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:12).
When God gave the Promised Land to the early Israelites, He clearly warned them: “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone … who used divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord” (Deut. 18:9-12).
Likewise, we Christians are clearly commanded to “abstain from every appearance of evil” (I Thess. 5:22) — which I believe includes all of the trappings of Halloween.
Whenever the apostles of Christ met with people involved in fortune telling, witchcraft and the occult, the Holy Spirit firmly, swiftly and decisively dealt with them (Acts 8:9-23). When spiritual revival came to the ancient pagan city of Ephesus through the ministry of Paul, all books and paraphernalia related to the occult were destroyed: “And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing” (Acts 19:19-20).
The enterprising merchants of Ephesus had capitalized on the economic opportunities of the occult and witchcraft just as our contemporary businessmen have exploited Halloween into a multi-million dollar annual bonanza! Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Halloween witches are their best friends. History has proven that once something becomes culturally acceptable and economically profitable, it will remain and flourish—regardless of its origin—unless true spiritual revival comes to root it out.
Be safe in the week to come. Don't forget: National Novel Writing Month begins November 1! There's still time to register to write next month. Go to www.nanowrimo.org to find out more. And don't forget to look here for daily updates of my literary masterpiece from Nanowrimo! Am I brave to be so honest about my writing, or a self-gratifying exhibitionist? You be the judge starting next Tuesday!
Until then, walk with God...
10.09.2005
Updates and praises...
First, before I get to the point for this week, I want to tell you about what will be happening here in November. I was wandering around the internet this past spring and I found a website for National Novel Writing Month, which just happens to be November. It's not just a celebration of writers; it's the opportunity to become a writer. The object is to literally write a 50,000 word novel (about 175 pages) from the 1st to the 30th. Some 42,000 people actually completed the task last year. I hope to be one of them this year. And the best part is - I'm going to post ALL of my work in November here at True Heart Times! So you can read along with me in the whole creative process. Please be kind if you think it stinks!
Now, you know me. This won't be just some fluff to enjoy yourself while waiting for a train or something. I'm going to call it "Pastor Spike". It's going to be about a pastor who goes on the journey of desire to find his true heart. I'll use the month to develop a ministry tool that I can use to help people understand what being alive in Christ is really all about. I highly doubt what arrives on Dec. 1 will be a final draft. But a heavy first draft of a book will be a great step.
Well, that's my November. December, of course, is all about the holidays. Then comes 2006. I will be starting classes through Berean School of the Bible in January! I've talked and talked about Bible training. Now I've got an opportunity to get started...finally. The Berean School is a ministry for lay leaders to get solid Bible training on a flexible schedule. Now it's not a true Bible college or seminary. I won't get a Master's degree when I'm done. But if I follow the three levels all the way through, I'd have everything I need to be ordained through the Assemblies of God. I'm not really doing it to get a title, though. As we've discussed here at great length, I feel there are a lot of things God has in store for me and my family. I want to take the classes to be ready to do all I am called to do. I have to enrich myself so that those who rely on me down the line can count on me to be the best I can be.
Pastor Lorenzo and I were talking last week about what the church is doing and how we're all moving forward. He is putting together a network of ministries and churches on each continent to further the Kingdom of God around the world. I told Lorenzo I'm planning on doing the Bible school, not that I'm necessarily going to end up in full-time ministry, but that I'd be ready to serve. Lorenzo said, "Why wouldn't you serve full-time? The laborers are few, you know.". I had told many others pastors and leaders that I'd love to serve in full-time work. They always downplayed it, like I'm some freak who's ready to jump on the first plane to Papua New Guinea. But it's the burden of my heart to serve. There's so much left to do; why not use me? If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me! Lorenzo is the first church leader who simply said, "Let's go!" He mentioned that he'll be doing pastoral training in Africa and China next year. I pray I can go on one (or both) of those trips. God will work out the finances and the time off. God will protect Tricia and the girls. It is time to get to work! I'm so pumped that I go to a church that is so pro-active in sharing the gospel and working for his purposes. And that there seems to be a big place for us to occupy.
Also (Boy, it has been a while since I've written about all this stuff, huh?) I'm going to be a group leader at Good Fight of Faith. Anthony asked me this past Tuesday night. I, along with Jim Zipp I think, will be taking over Anthony's group, which is with the first-time guys who just start coming. Jim and I will facilitate the "getting current" with all the guys, manage the phone calls, and help these guys develop a strategy to get out of their holes. It's exciting, because now I get to really build into these guys lives. It's a main reason why I want to get a book out to continue being used.
Then, let's look a little bit at work. Starting in January, I'm going to be working full time between Rotterdam and Cobleskill. It's awesome for many different reasons: I'm not going to Albany at all during the week, I'm going to make more off of each sale. I'm not sure if there are any negatives, to be honest! I guess you can call it a promotion! September was incredibly busy. I sold 51 hearing aids! Now, October is about servicing all I sold and trying to do more so I can keep my numbers up.
WHEW! It has been pretty crazy, huh? But God has been incredibly faithful through it all. And He keeps revealing Himself in awesome ways. We're in the grip of the Master and He's leading our every step. Funny, isn't it? For seven months, I've been writing here about my desires and how I wanted God to show Himself strong and move mountains and change my life. Well, now I'm on the other side of some stuff. Sure seems different. Different church, different attitude. Free from fear. He's taken care of everything. Didn't He say He would? And He did.
Walk with God...
Now, you know me. This won't be just some fluff to enjoy yourself while waiting for a train or something. I'm going to call it "Pastor Spike". It's going to be about a pastor who goes on the journey of desire to find his true heart. I'll use the month to develop a ministry tool that I can use to help people understand what being alive in Christ is really all about. I highly doubt what arrives on Dec. 1 will be a final draft. But a heavy first draft of a book will be a great step.
Well, that's my November. December, of course, is all about the holidays. Then comes 2006. I will be starting classes through Berean School of the Bible in January! I've talked and talked about Bible training. Now I've got an opportunity to get started...finally. The Berean School is a ministry for lay leaders to get solid Bible training on a flexible schedule. Now it's not a true Bible college or seminary. I won't get a Master's degree when I'm done. But if I follow the three levels all the way through, I'd have everything I need to be ordained through the Assemblies of God. I'm not really doing it to get a title, though. As we've discussed here at great length, I feel there are a lot of things God has in store for me and my family. I want to take the classes to be ready to do all I am called to do. I have to enrich myself so that those who rely on me down the line can count on me to be the best I can be.
Pastor Lorenzo and I were talking last week about what the church is doing and how we're all moving forward. He is putting together a network of ministries and churches on each continent to further the Kingdom of God around the world. I told Lorenzo I'm planning on doing the Bible school, not that I'm necessarily going to end up in full-time ministry, but that I'd be ready to serve. Lorenzo said, "Why wouldn't you serve full-time? The laborers are few, you know.". I had told many others pastors and leaders that I'd love to serve in full-time work. They always downplayed it, like I'm some freak who's ready to jump on the first plane to Papua New Guinea. But it's the burden of my heart to serve. There's so much left to do; why not use me? If you can use anything, Lord, you can use me! Lorenzo is the first church leader who simply said, "Let's go!" He mentioned that he'll be doing pastoral training in Africa and China next year. I pray I can go on one (or both) of those trips. God will work out the finances and the time off. God will protect Tricia and the girls. It is time to get to work! I'm so pumped that I go to a church that is so pro-active in sharing the gospel and working for his purposes. And that there seems to be a big place for us to occupy.
Also (Boy, it has been a while since I've written about all this stuff, huh?) I'm going to be a group leader at Good Fight of Faith. Anthony asked me this past Tuesday night. I, along with Jim Zipp I think, will be taking over Anthony's group, which is with the first-time guys who just start coming. Jim and I will facilitate the "getting current" with all the guys, manage the phone calls, and help these guys develop a strategy to get out of their holes. It's exciting, because now I get to really build into these guys lives. It's a main reason why I want to get a book out to continue being used.
Then, let's look a little bit at work. Starting in January, I'm going to be working full time between Rotterdam and Cobleskill. It's awesome for many different reasons: I'm not going to Albany at all during the week, I'm going to make more off of each sale. I'm not sure if there are any negatives, to be honest! I guess you can call it a promotion! September was incredibly busy. I sold 51 hearing aids! Now, October is about servicing all I sold and trying to do more so I can keep my numbers up.
WHEW! It has been pretty crazy, huh? But God has been incredibly faithful through it all. And He keeps revealing Himself in awesome ways. We're in the grip of the Master and He's leading our every step. Funny, isn't it? For seven months, I've been writing here about my desires and how I wanted God to show Himself strong and move mountains and change my life. Well, now I'm on the other side of some stuff. Sure seems different. Different church, different attitude. Free from fear. He's taken care of everything. Didn't He say He would? And He did.
Walk with God...
10.05.2005
Just a little politics...
I normally don't fire off on political issues. There are a billion blogs that do that. But when an aritcle like this comes to my attention, everyone who wanders by here should read it. Yeah, it's a left-slanted article (what do you expect from the Washington Post?), but it exposes Miers as a religious, intolerant, homophobe with a wacko "Jesus agenda". In other words, call your Congressman and tell them to vote "YES" on her nomination.
Church ties could shed light on Miers’ thinking Faith in Jesus has shaped court pick’s personal values
By Michael Grunwald, Jo Becker and John Pomfret
The Washington Post
Updated: 8:01 a.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005
One evening in the 1980s, several years after Harriet Miers dedicated her life to Jesus Christ, she attended a lecture at her Dallas evangelical church with Nathan Hecht, a colleague at her law firm and her on-and-off boyfriend. The speaker was Paul Brand, a surgeon and the author of "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," a best-selling exploration of God and the human body.
When the lecture was over, Miers said words Hecht had never heard from her before. "I'm convinced that life begins at conception," Hecht recalled her saying. According to Hecht, now a Texas Supreme Court justice, Miers has believed ever since that abortion is "taking a life."
"I know she is pro-life," said Hecht, one of the most conservative judges in Texas. "She thinks that after conception, it's not a balancing act -- or if it is, it's a balancing of two equal lives."
Hecht and other confidants of Miers all pledge that if the Senate confirms her nomination to the Supreme Court, her judicial values will be guided by the law and the Constitution. But they say her personal values have been shaped by her abiding faith in Jesus, and by her membership in the massive red-brick Valley View Christian Church, where she was baptized as an adult, served on the missions committee and taught religious classes. At Valley View, pastors preach that abortion is murder, that the Bible is the literal word of God and that homosexuality is a sin -- although they also preach that God loves everybody.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment on Hecht's recollection yesterday but said President Bush did not ask Miers her personal views on abortion or any other issue that may come before the court. "A nominee who shares the president's approach of judicial restraint would not allow personal views to affect his or her rulings based on the law," Perino said.
Some religious conservatives have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the Miers nomination, grumbling that she has never taken public stands on hot-button social issues. But her friends point to Valley View as evidence that she is cut from conservative cloth. They say she's not a "holy roller" who flaunts her religion on her sleeve but she lives her faith as a born-again Christian.
"People in Dallas know she's a conservative," said her friend Ed Kinkeade, a federal district judge. "She's not Elmer Gantry, but she lives what she believes. . . . I'm like, y'all, has George Bush appointed anyone to an appellate court that is a betrayal to conservatives?"
Even in Dallas, home of groups such as the Texas Eagle Forum and the Republican National Coalition for Life, some religious conservatives say Miers, 60, has demonstrated an insufficient commitment to family values. They cited a questionnaire she filled out for a gay rights group in 1989 as a candidate for Dallas City Council, indicating that gay people should have the same civil rights as straight people and that the city should fund AIDS education and services. After her election, she appointed an openly gay lawyer to an influential city board.
‘Faith in things unseen’"For goodness' sake, why elevate AIDS over cancer? She shouldn't have filled out that questionnaire at all," said Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum. "President Bush is asking us to have faith in things unseen. We only have that kind of faith in God."
But on the same questionnaire, Miers opposed the repeal of a Texas anti-sodomy law and said she was not seeking the endorsement of the gay rights group. In a meeting with the group, she said that her "personal conviction is not consistent" with the "homosexual lifestyle," according to one activist's notes.
Hecht suggested that it would be difficult to attend Valley View regularly and support gay rights. At the same time, he said, Miers's faith made her more sympathetic to the struggles of others, and her duties as an at-large City Council member transcended her personal views.
"She represented those people, and she wanted to represent the whole city," Hecht said. "It doesn't mean that you approve of their lifestyle."
Hecht remembers that when Miers made partner at their law firm, the first woman ever to do so, she began to question what life was all about. He said they would often put their feet up and trade Big Questions: Is there a God? Who is He? What difference does it make? Miers had attended Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches as a girl, and her mother was religious, but Miers told Hecht she wanted a "deeper faith." Hecht believes she may have supported abortion rights at the time, although he said she had not thought about it much.
"Well, let's go to my church," Hecht told her.
That was Valley View, where Hecht played the organ and taught Sunday school. It was a church, pastor Ron Key said, that believed in "the Judeo-Christian perspective on the sanctity of life" and "the Christian perspective on marriage." There are antiabortion pamphlets inside the church and literature opposing premarital sex. Key and his wife, Kaycia, said they never asked Miers what she thought about those issues, because they never thought they had to.
"We've known Harriet for 30 years and we've never had any reason to discuss these hot topics," Kaycia Key said. "But I can say one thing: She's a totally committed Christian."
But some antiabortion activists noted that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was described as a devout Catholic when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan -- and he still voted to uphold Roe v. Wade . Miers donated $150 at a fundraising dinner for a Texas antiabortion group in 1989, but Colleen Parro, director of the Republican National Coalition for Life, remembers that there were plenty of politicians trolling for votes at the dinner. Parro said she does not care whether Miers is a born-again Christian, or the companion of Hecht.
"It's not about her church, or the fellow she dates. It's about her record," Parro said. "She seems like a fine lady, but this nomination does not advance the culture of life."
‘Following her beliefs’In 1993, when Miers was the president of the Texas bar, she led a challenge to the American Bar Association's support for abortion rights. Some of her friends say she just thought it was inappropriate for the group to take a stand on a moral issue, but others point out that an abortion rights supporter probably would not have challenged the status quo.
"She didn't have to do that," Kinkeade said. "She was following her beliefs."
Those beliefs were forged at Valley View, but Miers is breaking away from the church where she embraced Jesus. In recent years, church elders have moved to cut back on missionary work, sparking a split this summer among the parishioners. Key is forming a church that plans to donate half its revenues to mission work, and Miers plans to join him.
"These days so many of the churches have become Christian country clubs," Key said. "They are more about making you feel good about yourself than making you grow. Some of us, including Harriet, were uncomfortable with all this."
But if Miers is leaving her church, the church is not leaving her. Kaycia Key said she expects to see the next Supreme Court justice in the pews, singing enthusiastically, if not skillfully. "Let's just say she makes a joyful noise unto the Lord," Key said. "She doesn't hesitate to sing out."
Pomfret reported from Dallas.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
Church ties could shed light on Miers’ thinking Faith in Jesus has shaped court pick’s personal values
By Michael Grunwald, Jo Becker and John Pomfret
The Washington Post
Updated: 8:01 a.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005
One evening in the 1980s, several years after Harriet Miers dedicated her life to Jesus Christ, she attended a lecture at her Dallas evangelical church with Nathan Hecht, a colleague at her law firm and her on-and-off boyfriend. The speaker was Paul Brand, a surgeon and the author of "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made," a best-selling exploration of God and the human body.
When the lecture was over, Miers said words Hecht had never heard from her before. "I'm convinced that life begins at conception," Hecht recalled her saying. According to Hecht, now a Texas Supreme Court justice, Miers has believed ever since that abortion is "taking a life."
"I know she is pro-life," said Hecht, one of the most conservative judges in Texas. "She thinks that after conception, it's not a balancing act -- or if it is, it's a balancing of two equal lives."
Hecht and other confidants of Miers all pledge that if the Senate confirms her nomination to the Supreme Court, her judicial values will be guided by the law and the Constitution. But they say her personal values have been shaped by her abiding faith in Jesus, and by her membership in the massive red-brick Valley View Christian Church, where she was baptized as an adult, served on the missions committee and taught religious classes. At Valley View, pastors preach that abortion is murder, that the Bible is the literal word of God and that homosexuality is a sin -- although they also preach that God loves everybody.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino declined to comment on Hecht's recollection yesterday but said President Bush did not ask Miers her personal views on abortion or any other issue that may come before the court. "A nominee who shares the president's approach of judicial restraint would not allow personal views to affect his or her rulings based on the law," Perino said.
Some religious conservatives have expressed deep dissatisfaction with the Miers nomination, grumbling that she has never taken public stands on hot-button social issues. But her friends point to Valley View as evidence that she is cut from conservative cloth. They say she's not a "holy roller" who flaunts her religion on her sleeve but she lives her faith as a born-again Christian.
"People in Dallas know she's a conservative," said her friend Ed Kinkeade, a federal district judge. "She's not Elmer Gantry, but she lives what she believes. . . . I'm like, y'all, has George Bush appointed anyone to an appellate court that is a betrayal to conservatives?"
Even in Dallas, home of groups such as the Texas Eagle Forum and the Republican National Coalition for Life, some religious conservatives say Miers, 60, has demonstrated an insufficient commitment to family values. They cited a questionnaire she filled out for a gay rights group in 1989 as a candidate for Dallas City Council, indicating that gay people should have the same civil rights as straight people and that the city should fund AIDS education and services. After her election, she appointed an openly gay lawyer to an influential city board.
‘Faith in things unseen’"For goodness' sake, why elevate AIDS over cancer? She shouldn't have filled out that questionnaire at all," said Cathie Adams, president of the Texas Eagle Forum. "President Bush is asking us to have faith in things unseen. We only have that kind of faith in God."
But on the same questionnaire, Miers opposed the repeal of a Texas anti-sodomy law and said she was not seeking the endorsement of the gay rights group. In a meeting with the group, she said that her "personal conviction is not consistent" with the "homosexual lifestyle," according to one activist's notes.
Hecht suggested that it would be difficult to attend Valley View regularly and support gay rights. At the same time, he said, Miers's faith made her more sympathetic to the struggles of others, and her duties as an at-large City Council member transcended her personal views.
"She represented those people, and she wanted to represent the whole city," Hecht said. "It doesn't mean that you approve of their lifestyle."
Hecht remembers that when Miers made partner at their law firm, the first woman ever to do so, she began to question what life was all about. He said they would often put their feet up and trade Big Questions: Is there a God? Who is He? What difference does it make? Miers had attended Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches as a girl, and her mother was religious, but Miers told Hecht she wanted a "deeper faith." Hecht believes she may have supported abortion rights at the time, although he said she had not thought about it much.
"Well, let's go to my church," Hecht told her.
That was Valley View, where Hecht played the organ and taught Sunday school. It was a church, pastor Ron Key said, that believed in "the Judeo-Christian perspective on the sanctity of life" and "the Christian perspective on marriage." There are antiabortion pamphlets inside the church and literature opposing premarital sex. Key and his wife, Kaycia, said they never asked Miers what she thought about those issues, because they never thought they had to.
"We've known Harriet for 30 years and we've never had any reason to discuss these hot topics," Kaycia Key said. "But I can say one thing: She's a totally committed Christian."
But some antiabortion activists noted that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was described as a devout Catholic when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan -- and he still voted to uphold Roe v. Wade . Miers donated $150 at a fundraising dinner for a Texas antiabortion group in 1989, but Colleen Parro, director of the Republican National Coalition for Life, remembers that there were plenty of politicians trolling for votes at the dinner. Parro said she does not care whether Miers is a born-again Christian, or the companion of Hecht.
"It's not about her church, or the fellow she dates. It's about her record," Parro said. "She seems like a fine lady, but this nomination does not advance the culture of life."
‘Following her beliefs’In 1993, when Miers was the president of the Texas bar, she led a challenge to the American Bar Association's support for abortion rights. Some of her friends say she just thought it was inappropriate for the group to take a stand on a moral issue, but others point out that an abortion rights supporter probably would not have challenged the status quo.
"She didn't have to do that," Kinkeade said. "She was following her beliefs."
Those beliefs were forged at Valley View, but Miers is breaking away from the church where she embraced Jesus. In recent years, church elders have moved to cut back on missionary work, sparking a split this summer among the parishioners. Key is forming a church that plans to donate half its revenues to mission work, and Miers plans to join him.
"These days so many of the churches have become Christian country clubs," Key said. "They are more about making you feel good about yourself than making you grow. Some of us, including Harriet, were uncomfortable with all this."
But if Miers is leaving her church, the church is not leaving her. Kaycia Key said she expects to see the next Supreme Court justice in the pews, singing enthusiastically, if not skillfully. "Let's just say she makes a joyful noise unto the Lord," Key said. "She doesn't hesitate to sing out."
Pomfret reported from Dallas.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
10.01.2005
True Heart Times is back! Again! Really!!!
Well, it's October 1. I figured a good enough time to actually get my butt back on the blog and fill you all in on what's been happening. I've revamped the look a little bit as well. Consider it a re-start.
Yes, I know I restarted a few months ago. What's your point?
I'll start with work. It seems that I've been given a new lease on my job. I spent most of the summer negotiating a new compensation plan, which I had to fight tooth and nail for. But, in the end, I've come out with a nice plan. Plus, I'm going to be moving to Rotterdam and Cobleskill five days a week. NO MORE TRAVEL TO ALBANY!!!!!!! I am being given the chance to develop these two offices into my own thing. It's cool, now I have the chance to create my own success. It'll be hard, but I think it'll be fun. And profitable, too! And Vini's going to be my Office Manager! Hooray! She's sweet, mellow and very maticulous. I'm very comfortable with her. And she with me.
I know the work thing is a little different than my past attitude recently. Here's the deal - I spent most of the summer hating my job and calling it holiness. I would rip Bob and Danny and call it humility and being "in touch". I sat around and played on the internet, waiting for Jesus to save me from my job. But he wants to save me TO my job. He placed me there and he'll tell me when to move on. For now, let's plan that Jesus is going to bless me in the job until He comes back. Plus, the money is good, providing my family and I with the money to pursue His plans for me.
Calvary Tabernacle is a fantastic church! We are getting involved very quickly. I felt too quickly, in fact, and I've already backed down from some stuff. But I played drums on the worship team last Sunday. And when I get to talk to Joe Prisk on Sunday, I'm going to get hooked up in the men's ministry. Tricia is, for now, going to work with the kids (big surprise) and join the choir, at least, for Christmas. We just feel so at home with what Lorenzo is teaching and where the church is going! I'm going to try to post an mp3 of his message from last Sunday. AWESOME!!! All about how we're not going to sit back and wait for some big sign to fall out of the sky. We're going to work for Jesus and be propelled by His love.
Got to talk to Pastor Noel and he told me about an on-line Bible cirriculum for lay leaders. It's not a seminary in the truest sense, but it can give someone all the ministry knowledge they need. I desperately want to be part of it. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be on my way to getting started.
My attitude as to why I'm going to do it has changed. Check this out:
I don't care if I never become a full-time Christian worker. That's right!
My plan is this - I'm going to work for the Hearing Aid Office, then work like crazy in the church, whether in Schenectady or around the world. I'll study through the Bible school at the church to be well trained for all that He leads me into. I'll go back to school to help my self do all the work as a PART-TIME leader. Let God sort it all out. I will just commit myself to all the training I can to be as effective as I can for as many people as I can as quickly as I can.
Sound good? I think so.
God is so good. I'm continuing to grow in Him. Grow in wisdom. Grow in peace. Is it all a piece of cake? Oh, sure. And I'm actually a girl. But He who has begun a good work is going to complete it. (Philippians 1.6) And I will have a front row seat for it all.
The plan is that I will post something here once a week. Consistency - my new philosophy!
Until next time...
Walk with God...
Yes, I know I restarted a few months ago. What's your point?
I'll start with work. It seems that I've been given a new lease on my job. I spent most of the summer negotiating a new compensation plan, which I had to fight tooth and nail for. But, in the end, I've come out with a nice plan. Plus, I'm going to be moving to Rotterdam and Cobleskill five days a week. NO MORE TRAVEL TO ALBANY!!!!!!! I am being given the chance to develop these two offices into my own thing. It's cool, now I have the chance to create my own success. It'll be hard, but I think it'll be fun. And profitable, too! And Vini's going to be my Office Manager! Hooray! She's sweet, mellow and very maticulous. I'm very comfortable with her. And she with me.
I know the work thing is a little different than my past attitude recently. Here's the deal - I spent most of the summer hating my job and calling it holiness. I would rip Bob and Danny and call it humility and being "in touch". I sat around and played on the internet, waiting for Jesus to save me from my job. But he wants to save me TO my job. He placed me there and he'll tell me when to move on. For now, let's plan that Jesus is going to bless me in the job until He comes back. Plus, the money is good, providing my family and I with the money to pursue His plans for me.
Calvary Tabernacle is a fantastic church! We are getting involved very quickly. I felt too quickly, in fact, and I've already backed down from some stuff. But I played drums on the worship team last Sunday. And when I get to talk to Joe Prisk on Sunday, I'm going to get hooked up in the men's ministry. Tricia is, for now, going to work with the kids (big surprise) and join the choir, at least, for Christmas. We just feel so at home with what Lorenzo is teaching and where the church is going! I'm going to try to post an mp3 of his message from last Sunday. AWESOME!!! All about how we're not going to sit back and wait for some big sign to fall out of the sky. We're going to work for Jesus and be propelled by His love.
Got to talk to Pastor Noel and he told me about an on-line Bible cirriculum for lay leaders. It's not a seminary in the truest sense, but it can give someone all the ministry knowledge they need. I desperately want to be part of it. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be on my way to getting started.
My attitude as to why I'm going to do it has changed. Check this out:
I don't care if I never become a full-time Christian worker. That's right!
My plan is this - I'm going to work for the Hearing Aid Office, then work like crazy in the church, whether in Schenectady or around the world. I'll study through the Bible school at the church to be well trained for all that He leads me into. I'll go back to school to help my self do all the work as a PART-TIME leader. Let God sort it all out. I will just commit myself to all the training I can to be as effective as I can for as many people as I can as quickly as I can.
Sound good? I think so.
God is so good. I'm continuing to grow in Him. Grow in wisdom. Grow in peace. Is it all a piece of cake? Oh, sure. And I'm actually a girl. But He who has begun a good work is going to complete it. (Philippians 1.6) And I will have a front row seat for it all.
The plan is that I will post something here once a week. Consistency - my new philosophy!
Until next time...
Walk with God...
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