Friday, June 29, 2007

St. Louis trip

I feel like I had a successful trip to St. Louis. It was a pleasure to meet face to face several ladies and gentlemen that I had only known via email. It seems that God's people were encouraged and blessed by the music I made.

The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places indeed. I love writing and performing my music, and it seems to do people a great deal of good to hear and assimilate it. I make CDs, people buy them and are blessed, and we have food on the table and more. Who could ask for anything better?

So thanks first of all to the Lord Jesus, for whom I sing. And then thanks is also due to the many who worked at organising concerts in St. Louis, Carbondale, and Birmingham. Thanks also to the many folks who bought my CDs at the homeschool conference and at the concerts. May you be blessed over and over. And may your children have Bible stories down in their bones!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

F&P Songs

1) These Are The Prophets - a brief overview
2) Shall I Hide - God approaching Abraham to tell him about Sodom & Gommorah
3) What Prophets Do - Abimelech and Abraham
4) Golden Calf - Moses pleads with God on Israel's behalf
5) Dust Of Jacob - Balaam's first two prophecies over Israel
6) You Are The Man - Nathan the prophet confronts David about Bathsheba
7) Micaiah - The prophet Micaiah's jailer offers him some counsel
8) Chariots - Elisha tells the story of Elijah's last day
9) Bethel - a consideration of the bears and the boys at Bethel
10) Reeling In Jonah - God counsels Jonah
11) Run! - a young prophet anoints Jehu as king over Israel
12) Man Next Door - the girl next door to the prophet Hosea is dubious
13) Sign And A Wonder - a boy in Ezekiel's village tells his friends what he has seen.
14) Second Year - Daniel tells the story of his ascension to power.
15) Buy A Field - Jeremiah puzzles over God's command
16) Down Jerusalem - Jeremiah laments the fall of Jerusalem, but is also relieved.
17) Gates Of Nain - the widow of Nain watches Jesus raise her son back to life.
18) Repent - Jesus is the Prophet who comes from the Lord

What Prophets Do

Fun And Prophets is now available...and it should be up on the website for purchase by next week.

This album is a consideration of biblical prophets; who they are, what they do, how they function, etc., with several examples given. My intro song has this as a chorus;

These are the prophets, they speak and things change
New worlds are created, old ones rearranged
They serve as the counsellors to God Most High
So prophesy, prophet, prophesy.

When I was a younger fellow, I was taught that prophecy was two things; 1) telling the future, and 2) speaking the truth about God. I suppose that neither of these things are wrong, but nor do they tell even close to the whole story. The next time you read through the Scriptures, notice how many times God invite men into His council room and asks their opinions. I was amazed at this, but I shouldn't have been. Amos 3:7 says that God does nothing without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.

A prophet seems to be one who has matured enough. He has been through the priestly stage, where he just did what he was told. This seems to correspond to childhood, where things are not always explained to the child, but obedience is expected. He has been through the kingly stage, where he is called upon both to lead and to die for the sake of his people, he has learned wisdom, he has meditated on God's law long enough to be able to discern good from evil in places where the law doesn't specify. What do you do as a king when two prostitutes come to you, each claiming the baby is hers? No law is going to tell you what to do, you need wisdom. Searching things out...this is a kingly task. This would seem to correspond to the married man raising a family.

The prophet has learned these things and done them, and is now able to effect change with his words. He can build up and tear down men and cities and cultures, by speaking The word of God to them. He corresponds to the older man, whom men look to for advice and counsel. And God values him as a counsellor; consider Abraham in Genesis 18, or Moses pleading with God after the golden calf incident. God asked them about things, they answered, and God did what they had suggested. Sounds like a counsellor to me!