I have played drums, bass, and electric guitar in churches for years. However, those churches were more contemporary than others. Many traditional churches strictly use an organ or piano.
The following is some content I pulled straight from Reddit.com. When I read this, I related right away!
After reading it, be sure to post your comment below!
Now don’t for one moment get me wrong, I understand worshiping in spirit and in truth, but what I heard on the radio this evening totally irked me.
It was a radio show where the host was speaking against electric guitar and drums during worship in churches.
She had an invited guest back her up and speak against it without any difference of opinions. I could not believe my ears, it was nothing but a let’s-all-toot-our-own-horns-about-how-right-we-are-and-agree-upon-it show and so thus it was settled; Electric guitars and drums are the spawn of the devil and have no place during a worship service.
At one point the call-in guest chimed in with her crown argument; would you ever hear electric guitar or drums in heaven? At which point I changed the station.
I can’t begin to express my opinion on this matter, I’m still utterly perplexed. You would think that those who spoke about such ideas would be the old presbuteros, but nay they were all young. What are your views on this? All I can say is goodness, what a backwards idea and waste of time that brings disunity to the body of Christ!
How to make people like you… taken directly from Dale Carnegie’s popular book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People!”
Many of us either get so self-absorbed in our day-to-day activities and personal issues that we easily forget these 6 important principles in dealing effectively with people, or we just never realized them to begin with.
I first read Dale Carnegie’s famous people skills book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” back in 1988. It was the most influential self help book I ever read next to the Bible! I was so painfully shy back then because I was so focused on my self.
Carnegie’s book taught me to pay more attention to others. The changes in me were immediate! Once I stared to implement these 6 ways on how to make people like you, my focus was automatically taken off of myself.
Here are 6 ways on how to make people like you
…taken directly from “How to Win Friends and Influence People”…
1. Become genuinely interested in other people
2. Smile
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
4. Be a good listener, and encourage others to talk about themselves
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely
If you have never read, Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” then get a copy! I don’t recommend too many secular books, especially those on the topic of self help, but this is definitely one exception!
If there has been a great self help book next to the Bible that you feel has made a positive and lasting change in you, please share it below!
This is from an email I received by a loyal subscriber to my “Biblical Prosperity” e-Letter concerning the popular phrase from the Bible, as a man thinketh!
Just wanted to share it here on my blog, along with my response, hoping it will help bring some understanding to the “much confusing” topic of the Law of Attraction…
(email)
Hi Dan,
I love your e-Letter! It comes at the best times: right when I need it.
But oh, how I hate the law of attraction. I don’t believe it (mostly because if it’s true, then circumstances are the result of a bad attitude, which puts the blame squarely on “bad” thinking).
I also don’t believe it because I think there were probably a lot of positve-thinking Jews who ended up in concentration camps. I think there are probably a lot of positive-thinking people in Africa who end up contracting AIDS. Or a lot of poor people who are beaten down by life, who perhaps were very positive-thinking before reality set in.
The law of attraction is too “New Age-ee.” Biblically, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” might not mean “As a man thinketh in his heart… so he gets.”
It might actually mean, “so is he.” So if he’s a righteous man, and he gets shat upon, he is still a righteous man. He didn’t necessarily run into trouble because he slipped up and started thinking negatively. Job didn’t.
Therefore, in summary, I hate the law of attraction. Just sayin’….
But thank you for your wonderful e-Letter. I really mean it. I just love it, and your encouragement and teaching. You seem very wise, and I know it comes from experience.
(response)
Dear subscriber,
You are so right! I agree with you about the Law of Attraction… “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” does NOT mean “As a man thinketh in his heart… so he gets.”
The words “is” and “get” are obviously both verbs, or “action” words. However, the meaning for both of them are completely different! The word “is” is a static verb, which is used primarily to describe a state or situation, as opposed to an action or process like the word “get.”
Too many people misinterpret the Law of Attraction to imply that you can get what you want by some sort of mental manipulation. The fact is, the Law of Attraction really comes down to simply a description of a state of being. That’s why Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” not so he gets.
Don’t get me wrong though, I do believe a person can change his or her state of being, but they’re going to have to do it by using Scripture! In fact, the Christian should forget about The Law of Attraction the way the teachers of “The Secret” have brought it to us and focus on the “Biblical Law of Attraction!”
The Law of Attraction in itself is a biblical concept, but just like many other Godly concepts, it gets perverted through worldly practices.
Because much of what goes on in our minds are deep in the subconscious, it’s difficult to tell what exactly is controlling us, and what’s causing certain things to come into our lives we don’t want, or preventing the things we truly desire.
That’s why it’s so critical that we apply ourselves to “change,” and fully understand the biblical Law of Attraction. We have to read good, Christian-based material, shut off obvious negative influences that bring us down, and get around quality-minded people who are in positions we want to be in.
The greatest hurdle most people face is the fact that they cannot acknowledge they need to change. Each individual’s world is a mirror-reflection of the way the see themselves. Until they change the way they see themselves, they will continue to attract the things they already have!
The “worldly” application of the Law of Attraction will destroy the quality of our relationship with God. He wants a relationship with us more than He wants to change our circumstances. In fact, it’s our circumstances that he uses to get our attention. He wants our heart. We should “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto us” (Matthew 6:33).
Trying to change our lives by employing the worldly concept of the Law of Attraction will certainly lead to frustration, disappointment, and another trip through the “wilderness.” The only source of true peace in this life is Jesus. Nothing will put us further from that peace than seeking our own way.
Unfortunately, many believers in Christ fall victim to the worldly teachings of the Law of Attraction, which in fact does rob one of peace because it removes the element of trusting God. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee.”
I love what you said about “a lot of positve-thinking Jews ended up in concentration camps, a lot of positive-thinking people in Africa ended up contracting AIDS, and a lot of poor people got beaten down by life, who perhaps were very positive-thinking before reality set in.”
I thought quite a bit about those situations myself. Bad things happen to good people all the time. It’s just the world we live in, because it’s actually Satan’s world (2 Corinthians 4:4). We can’t try to fake ourselves out and act like everything that happens is all our own fault. We are sometimes subject to the decisions of other people.
However, I do believe much of our misfortune is brought on ourselves, that’s why we must live responsibly. The world itself is bad enough as it is, no sense in making things worse for ourselves by being stupid and careless with our thoughts and actions.
Even though we can get bitter toward all the misrepresentation about the Law of Attraction, there is still validity in the fact that as a man thinketh, so is he; therefore, we must always make an intentional effort to increase the quality of our thinking!
