Music

GOH: He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills

167 Comments

Did anybody else have 1 Corinthians 14:8 pop into their head about six measures into this?

On a side note, I’d bet a shiny nickle that the substitution of “God” for “He” in the title is an intentional effort to be anti-CCM.

For the uninitiated, one of the big complaints about contemporary songs is that they often use pronouns instead of names for God, leaving the object of the song ambiguous. As one person put it: “We could be just as easily be singing about Satan.”

And really, with all those drums and guitars and sliding tones it’s actually pretty likely that Satan is in the mix somewhere.

167 thoughts on “GOH: He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills”

      1. What is it with fundies and “points,” all using the same initial letter? See this church’s doctrinal statement.

        2. It’s one of the things that they teach in preaching class — if you alliterate your points, there is a better chance of people remembering them.

          Kind of reminds me of Sesame Street: Today’s message is brought to you by the letter “D”.

      3. “We believe that for the English speaking people, it is the inspired, preserved Word of God.”
        ROFL!! – Non-English speaking people = SOL
        I never saw it stated so bluntly

        1. There was the teaching that each language has it’s own preserved bible. In English, it would be the KJV. In Spanish, it’s the Reina-Valera, if I remember correctly.

          If you really want to get into this, you could always purchase this lil’ gem:

          http://www.chick.com/catalog/books/1275.asp

        2. So if a people’s language is only just now being translated, they’re out of luck?

      4. I’m wondering how “frequently” these questions are really asked. Especially if they only have 50-60 people attending.

    2. This has been my first first. I don’t usually even try for it, but I am an early riser. Now, about that video: it’s better on mute.

    1. I knew what the video was going to be before I clicked. My husband and I wish we had never seen that episode; we can’t make it through the contemporary service in our church now without thinking about it.

      1. So-called, IIRC, because an awful lot of CCM sounds like totally secular prom songs if you replace “Jesus” with “Darren.”

      2. “In the Garden” – classic Jesus is my Boyfriend song, in just about every IFB hymnal and probably gets sung too.

        I don’t find very much of this kind of music in contemporary worship services. “CCM” has been replaced mostly by more serious worship music by Tomlin, Hillsong, etc. Its a classic IFB misdirection.

        2. Isn’t that the song where Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me, Andy tells me I am his own?

        3. Maybe 30 years ago, a committee compiling a new hymnal surveyed United Methodist congregations and clergy about their hymn preferences. “In the Garden” was ranked as the favorite hymn of lay members, and the most disliked by clergy.

          You can see why. It’s catchy, but theologically terrible.

  4. SECOND! Wow, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten. I can almost touch that butt cushion. 😀

    1. Seriously? When I started typing Not Henry Porter was the only commenter. Gotta type faster.

      Now I suppose I should actually watch this…

      1. I used to go by Not Henry Porter elsewhere, maybe the defunct Bob Dylan forum, though I am not sure. Where you there?

  5. This was my #1 frustration as a fundie music director. No one cared about the quality of their music. I mean its just Bless Gawd he didn’t practice a lick but he’s a gonna be a blessing to us Amen?

    1. I prefer it when they practice.

      The hard part is who is the unlucky person to tell the person who sings off-key that they cannot sing a special, even though they want to…

    2. Ya. This was terrible. Not only did it sound like he didn’t practice, he didn’t tune his horn.

      Why put someone through the potential embarrassment? Someone will tell him that was “sooo good” and he’ll go through life thinking he is the best player since Marsalis.

      1. The people will be under the guilt of MoG to complement him which will make him think his effort is good enough and never improve. I tried to help people grow and improve musically but the MoG would just shut me down. End result – music that doesn’t even sound good when your passed out drunk.

    4. Me too! I wasn’t a music director but quickly became someone all the musicians looked up to because I actually knew how to read music – even sight read with no mistakes. It wasn’t really that challenging with the simplified hymnal at my former church. Mostly Ron Hamilton. All basically the same stuff with different words.

      1. I Want to Marry Daddy, I Want to Marry Mommy, I Want to Marry Brother, I Want to Marry Sister, I Want to Marry Aunt Lucy, etc.

        3. Well, I’d heard the I Want to Marry Daddy When I Grow Up, but none about the other relations! Are there really songs about the others?

          If so, is Ron telling us something about his, uhhh, “family life”?

    5. I hate to keep beating on this dead horse of bad specials but if the parents at my former church would actually pay for their kids to get professional lessons (it wouldn’t hurt the adults too) they would actually improve the confidence AND sound of the whole group. There were quite a few at one time – maybe 10 musicians? Except they believed so strongly in separation that they couldn’t see their kids playing music that was too worldly…

  6. Black piano. REAL IFBs will settle for nothing less than a white piano and the KJV.

    2. They may not have the white piano, but they are definitely KJV only. I checked.

    4. No wonder the tiny little Independent Baptist church I attended growing up didn’t tow the fundamentalist line. All we could afford was a little old upright grand, finished in brown!

        3. That sounds & looks like just an upright that they made a few aesthetics alterations to and try to sell it like a it’s a grand piano functionally.

        4. Last month, I almost got an upright grand – it was from 1890 or so and beautifully carved. I loved it! And it was free on craigslist. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a way to move it!

        5. I grew up with an upright grand, but didn’t know that was what it was called. It was as Pastor’s Wife described, beautifully carved. I took piano lessons for years, but was never really good at it. Would love to still have that piano for my middle daughter to play, she would love it.

        6. An old upright grand piano can be quite beautiful. Unfortunately, they do not age well – the frame often warps, making it hard to keep in tune.

        8. They have metal frames, but standing on edge, rather than laying flat like a grand. I don’t know the pressure of each piano string off-hand, but, if I remember correctly, the pressure that each violin string places on the violin is 36 pounds. Piano strings are much longer and there are a lot more of them (2 or 3 per key & 88 keys), so that would be hundreds of pounds of pressure, enough to warp over time.

    5. It must have been All Black Sunday at that church. Men dressed all in black, they painted the piano black for the occasion, and (gasp) they even had a black man sitting at the front.

  7. The use of pronouns for names of God in CCM. It’s a pet peeve of mine. There really are some songs you can sing the same words about your girlfriend as you can about God.

    MANY songs seem to use the word “you” instead of “God, Jesus, etc.” but there are some jewels in CCM too that don’t follow this trend.

    Personally I also hate 7/11 songs… Those drive me absolutely bonkers. The same seven words eleven times…I get bored with music like that. But it’s my personal preference not dogmatic doctrine.

    2. I don’t have a problem with this in general.

      I think God opened up the door to this by purposefully calling Israel His wife in the Old Testament and the church His bride in the New Testament. It’s been a common interpretation among some Bible students to interpret the Song of Solomon as Christ speaking to the church. So I find it natural that people continue to use this imagery in worship music.

      I also like having a variety of worship music. Sure, some people are turned off by the “girlfriend” songs. But others are deeply moved by them and find that they express their heart’s cry out to their Savior. I also value theologically rich and poetically complicated songs as they appeal to the more logical side. I think worship can be multi-faceted and varied.

      1. “But others are deeply moved by them and find that they express their heart’s cry out to their Savior.”

        Some are also deeply moved by The Bachelor and American Idol…

        Shallow is as shallow does.

        1. It isn’t necessary to be insulting. Paul reminds us that as the gifts of the Spirit vary, do do the ministries He empowers, differing but still of the same Spirit. And the needs of people differ as well. What you consider shallow may touch the heart and meet a need for someone else.

          Do we really need to trash that?

          I, myself, do not like CCM. My daughter adores it. We are at different places in our spiritual lives.

        2. The Bible speaks of people being at different levels of spiritual maturity – babes, young men, and fathers. It speaks of both the milk and the meat of the Word. It tells us that to enter the kingdom we must become as little children.

          What you see as shallow may be to others a fervent simplicity that warms that heart of the Savior who sees the intent of their worship.

    3. Words are important, but it’s the melodies that drive me crazy in a lot of CCM. Either they are using a lot of repeated notes, and relying on the bass and drum set to keep interest, resulting in a strange Gregorian chant with heavy metal effect; or the melody was originally written for a soloist with vocal training and the average person can’t keep up with all the melodic twists and turns. I’m a trained musician and can play a variety of styles, but I often find myself totally lost in trying to figure out the CCM choruses. Secular pop and rock is actually less complicated – and easier to remember.

      1. This is why we use very few CCM numbers at our ECUSA church. The point of hymns is that ordinary people can sing them.

        1. And, Jenny Islander, sing them we do! Very rarely will you hear a solo or a quartet in an Episcopal church. It’s mostly singing by the entire congegation, plus an anthem by the choir.

    4. “The use of pronouns for names of God in CCM. ”

      Heaven forbid I defend CCM, which I generally despise, but this complaint seems a bit off to me. To wit:

      HE Touched Me
      HIS Eye is on the Sparrow
      …HE walks with me and HE talks with me

      And yes, Admiral, I’m just being a brat here. Carry on.

      2. Many hymns do use pronouns for the divine being. Probably most hymns.
        But I know what they mean about CCM, too.

      3. hen I was a youngster we had a guy in our Pentecostal church that had a great church when he gor drunk he would sing “His eye is on the sparrow” and it sounded great in his barotone voice. Only trouble was he would only sing it when he hasd vbeen drinking !!!!

        Also “In the garden was my moms favorite song. It was sung at her funeral.

    5. Dear Admiral911:

      God forbid that while singing in church, that anyone’s thoughts would ever wander to their boy-friend or girl-friend.

      Christian Socialist

    6. Admiral911,

      When I realized Psalm 136 also fit the criteria for a 7/11 song, I let that personal hang up go.

      “His mercy endureth forever” is literally every other line.

      1. True. I just don’t like it. Drives me nuts. I get bored easily and singing the same words again and again just doesn’t do anything for me. I said the words once I have no need to say it again….especially in a 5 min period time

        3. I came from a church where the mannogid taught that 7/11 type songs were “vain repetition”, and therefore unbiblical. Psalm 136 relieved me of that false teaching.

  8. Let’s consider the mindset: To Keystone Baptist Church, that performance was considered worth filming and worth posting on YouTube. It’s obviously terrible. Whatever his abilities, the trumpeter knows enough to know what the notes are supposed to be. And yet this has been posted. They need to ask themselves what they think “Christ-honoring” mean. The woman in the gospels went all out when she spent her fortune on spikenard to pour on Jesus’s feet. The attitude of the church posting this video is that any worthless offering is equally acceptable, and so they offer what is worthless. It’s not love for God.

    1. I will criticize the genre, (CCM is not my cup of tea), I may criticize the sermon, but I will never criticize anyone who is honestly trying to honor God with their talents, meager or great. And I’m not even in the camp any longer. Forgive me, but I find your comment uncharitable.

      1. We differ on whether the trumpeter IS honestly trying to honor God with his talents. I don’t think so. That is not a difficult hymn to play. If the trumpeter were an eight-year-old, I wouldn’t make the point. But he knows what it’s supposed to sound like. He has the score in front of him, so he must be able to read music. So what’s his excuse? But more than that–the question I want to focus on–is, what’s the church’s excuse for posting this video on YouTube? I am with those who made the point above: put any unpracticed musician in front of a church congregation and call it “special music.” Church music is bad because its badness is excused. Not one’s best for God, not even that trumpeter’s.

        2. You make good arguments. I was sometimes chosen to lead the hymns in church when the choir director was out and while my family never threw off on my singing no one ever pushed me towards Star Search (showing my age…..I could have said Arthur Godfrey). Even practiced as I was, I once got so nervous that I developed a horrible spastic muscle twitch in my upper lip that gave me the most awful vibrato, while making it look like I was grinning like a mule eating briars.

          All to say, I cut anyone brave, or humble enough, to stand up and play before a crowd, all the slack.

        3. One final clarification: I am not questioning or mocking the trumpeter’s talent or ability. That he might have some of both and then does this …and then his church posts it on YouTube, THAT I will scorn.

        4. “Even practiced as I was, I once got so nervous that I developed a horrible spastic muscle twitch in my upper lip that gave me the most awful vibrato, while making it look like I was grinning like a mule eating briars.”

          Oh my you paint a word picture. I grant thee the internets today Stony.

    2. I think your conjecturing about the church’s attitude and whether or not they and the trumpet player love God, are pretty specious. Judging from their website, yeah, I bet they’re wrapped up in legalism, but that doesn’t mean they don’t love God. I did when I was a legalist. (And thank God he delivered me from that legalism.)

      On the flip side, I did a “special” on violin at my old church several years ago, and while I don’t think it was the wrong thing to do, I’m sure glad no one posted the video.

      2. Yes, legalists can love God. I did. “Having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.”

        As for their motives, I think they vary even though they think they are trying to honor Christ. We all have a lot of motivations we never acknowledge or think about.

        And while we can remember the obvious and painful differences between “the best” that was demanded of some and what was accepted or applauded with others, we need to be careful not to replicate this fundamentalist attitude ourselves. We want our gifts and offerings to be accepted, too.

  9. I figured the use of “God” instead of “He” was that one of the reasons KJVO folks give for the KJV being the better translation is the places the newer translations use pronouns instead of God.
    Of course, places the newer translations don’t use pronouns but the KJV does are overlooked.

    1. Most of the “let’s compare English translations” arguments are entirely specious. The real question is “why did the translators make this choice?” The KJV writers were concerned with how their translation sounded when read aloud, and as a result, it remains probably the most beautiful translation – it just isn’t especially accurate. This is one reason why the KJV frequently substitutes “God” for an elliptical pronoun in Greek. You can’t translate that into English. Now the pronoun “he/she/it” (depending on gender) is probably more “accurate”, but that doesn’t make it more readable. Regardless, it is just one of those things translators have to deal with, and as far as I can tell, no one with rudimentary reading skills is the least bit confused by either choice.

  10. Ok, the trumpet player does need practice; better posture would help too.

    But that tune – is it a CCM song? I’ve never heard it, but it sounds like a carnival/march tune in that style of arrangement.

    1. It’s not CCM the way fundies define it since it was written by John W. Peterson and has been around since my childhood. It is in the Living Hymns hymnal (#727 in the 1988 edition) and was written in 1948.

      However, it is a chorus not a multi-versed hymn or Gospel song.

  11. Maybe it was his first time playing in public and he’s really nervous? Although if that were the case and it were me (I used to play offertories in church and the first couple of times it was a bit rough but then I was rather young at the time) I wouldn’t have put my first efforts up on youtube or have allowed anyone else to.

    I like that song.

    1. People make exceptions for the little kid tentatively picking out “Twinkle, twinkle” at their first recital, but then seem to assume that adults should play well or not at all. Having taught adults who were finally fulfilling their dream of playing an instrument, I empathize with the adult music student who might be nervously playing their first offertory.

      But yeah, not everything has to go on YouTube, people. I’ve taught music and done paid performances, but I still won’t post anything there. Doesn’t matter if you are world famous, somebody will post some nasty comment.

      1. I have no problem with the person playing for the very first time. This may be the case here. However the norm in the fundie churches tends to be that this is the level they stay at. The larger Mega-Fundie churches may have a better music program but its sad to see that many smaller church remain stuck in the “well I just want to be a blessing” mentality.

        2. I guess the school of thought that says you shouldn’t prepare a sermon, but just let the Spirit inspire you, might also hold that you shouldn’t practice music, but just jam spontaneously.

  12. I used to be pianist at this church when I was in high school… The piano then was not as nice and not as in tune as this one…

  15. In the “Living Hymnal”, the title is “God Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills.” The Bible verse that the song is based on says, “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10, KJV).

    Musically, it is easier to sing “He owns” than “God owns”. It flows better somehow. (Unlike the chorus “God Is So Good” for example, which sounds better with “God” than with “He.”) I’m sure that someone who has studied phonation, speech, or music might have a reason. I just noticed it by singing it!

    1. I think John Peterson originally wrote “He owns…”, but then some officious person noted that God was not mentioned in the song, and changed it to “God owns…”

      1. It would be closer to the Psalm to sing “I own the cattle on a thousand hills,” but that might sound strange (unless you are, in fact, a rancher with a very large spread).

    2. Guh! Reminds me of the knock out drag out fights I would have as choir director of the song “This Is The Day”. Some minor words are different than the KJV-AV-1611 to make it easier to sing. They don’t change the meaning of the verse, but still I had people who would yell out, I mean YELL out the word in the middle of the song while singing it in church to prove a point.

      “This is the day that the Lord has made” vs “This is the day which the Lord hath made”. Please tell me how that perverts the meaning of the verse.

      Just one of the 1,283,831 reasons why I’m no longer a fundie.

  16. I have thought twice about putting that video on the net. The performance was awful!

    On the on another note. I really like the song. It was one of my favorites when I was young.

    It would have been better if they had led the congregation in singing it.

  17. Such a can of worms…

    The issue with the trumpet player is *possibly* lack of practice, but more likely lack of talent and proper direction.

    What I find in IFB circles is a tremendous amount of inbreeding. One person teaches himself how to do something, like play the trumpet. Never gets professional lessons (because that would be worldly). Never learns the scope of true musicianship — a discipline of mastery that requires dedication to things like technique, music theory, rhythm, harmony, style, etc. The goal of a musician SHOULD be to so completely master technique as to be able to play anything, and expressively. This almost NEVER happens in IFB circles, for a variety of reasons. Mostly, I again blame the inbreeding — someone teaches himself how to play an instrument and starts getting asked to play ‘specials’. Parents notice that that is a way to get attention and send their child to the person to get ‘lessons’. But the ‘teacher’ has never learned anything formally, and can only pass along his own incorrect technique and lack of scope. But Bless God, he is using his talent for the Lord and sharing it with others, and NO ONE knows the difference between fine playing, good playing, and piss poor playing…so the inbreeding goes on, generation after generation and it is all in-house, so it is all good.

    Anyone who has the audacity (or, lack of spirituality) to seek professional musical instruction outside the church is looked at VERY suspiciously. Putting on airs? Think you’re better than us now? Want to go up there and show off? Trying to glorify yourself rather than Jesus?

    Honestly, I think it is considered a warped kind of “badge of honor” to be illiterate, untrained, and unskilled. Because at least you didn’t step foot in the tainted, terrible old ‘world’. You are pure because you’ve only ever done a terrible job but you have done it only for the Lord and not Mammon.

    Don’t know if I expressed myself well. This subject really riles me.

    2. (replying to my own rant!)
      And then there is this aspect to the inbreeding: Children take a year or two of band at their IFB Christian School, where they learn from people who never really learned anything. After Johnny or Suzie have ‘played’ their instrument for a few years, enterprising Mom and Dad think it is time Johnny & Suzie hang out their shingle and start “giving lessons”. Mom and Dad, always strapped for cash and very poor due to the extreme limitations of having no real education and having to avoid any job that is too worldly, have realized it can be an additional trickle of income to the family for Johnny & Suzie to teach music; whether or not they really actually know anything is entirely irrelevant. Thus the inbreeding and ignorance are perpetuated…

      1. My mother told me that one of her childhood Pastor’s didn’t believe that people should take voice lessons because people who took voice lessons ‘didn’t sound natural’ when they sang.

        1. Electricians with no training and surgeons with no education are more natural, too, but I wouldn’t call them better.

        2. Tornadoes, choking, and the sound of a lion taking down prey “sound natural” too. Yeesh.

        3. But its ok of course to over-use auto-tune when producing their fundie music CDs.

        4. That is like saying a teacher-wannabe shouldn’t go to school since it would make their teaching “unnatural.”

          Perhaps the pastor should go live in a cave since living in a house is unnatural.

      2. I was asked to give lessons! Even to give a write up so the parent could show to some school that their daughter had received lessons. Never mind I have no teaching credentials or skills and my primary instrument was totally different. I was uncomfortable and told them so. When I got all worldly on them with my scales and long tones and playing in tune and with a metronome the lessons stopped. I was uncomfortable teaching with no real education to back it up.

    3. Dear OneWhoOpines:

      At any rate, someone ought to have pointed out that little slide our friend and explained how to use it to tune his instrument to the piano. How hard is that?

      Christian Socialist

    5. That wasn’t the experience in my circle – I often felt thrust into competition with my peers by their parents’ ambition for them to be the best hymn arranger/performer. I do remember concerns over studying those evil 20th century composers of classical music, like Ravel and Prokofiev [they encouraged rebellion because they broke too many music theory rules in their work]; but that came from Gothardism.

      Much of the pressure to be the best church musician came from the same source. Striving for excellence was the term they used – showing off is what my family privately labeled it. Hymns were arranged and performed with the motive of demonstrating to those CCM people how much better musicians we were than them.

      1. Yeah, this is the approach I am more familiar with from my years in fundydom. You practice and practice and maybe one day you can be good enough to perform with “excellence.”

      2. Too much of what I have seen promoted as “excellent” – well, it may have been. But it was being touted as the ONLY possible type of excellent. Which, in our church, meant loud, fast and heavily influenced by 19th century romanticism. Earlier music or the French Impressionists not welcome. My daughter, who admittedly never was concert pianist material, does a lovely job with Mozart and Debussy. Which wasn’t what the leadership wanted 🙁 Fortunately she still plays for her own benefit.

        1. Loud – check
          Fast – check
          Heavily influenced by 19th century romanticism – check, but also influenced by big band pianists of the early to mid-20th century (I’m thinking Eddie Duchin style)

          I relate to your daughter. The person I was most often contrasted had a much larger handspan than mine, and his heavier masculine touch was praised. But when an organ was added, I was the one who learned to play it (I confess, I took a bit of pleasure in being able to overpower the pianist and set the pace and style to my liking). I still play for church.

  18. Just some random thoughts:

    Psalm 33:3 states “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”

    1. First, even the Almighty, Inspired, Perfect and Preserved KJV uses the pronoun “him” in this passage, and who knows, maybe the psalmist is trying to confuse people as to whom they should sing. Maybe we’re secretly worshiping Satan because of this pronoun.

    2. The adverb “skillfully” means to do well, to be pleasing. Objectively speaking, there is nothing that can be audibly pleasing about the sound of that trumpet. The condition of his heart has no significance. The fact is poor playing serves as a distraction or obstacle to worshiping.

    3. Clearly this individual doesn’t have the spiritual gift of music or worship. Even if he’s nervous because this is his first public performance, that performance wasn’t just the result of being nervous. His playing skills aren’t up to snuff for a public, edifying performance. And one thing that I have discovered about whether or not someone possesses a particular gift if the whole idea of public affirmation/confirmation–the congregation at large agrees upon and/or recognizes the benefits of the individual using their talents to edify the body.

    1. Understood- I used to work for a Gospel Radio Station, and every week we’d get recordings that were, shall we say, “painful” to even audition. What was even more sad is that the sender of the recording many times “just couldn’t understand” why their work never got air-play…

      1. Somehow, “because we don’t want to lose every one of our listeners” doesn’t seem like a tactful answer, either.

        As a writer, I’ve had my share of rejection letters. Some are diplomatic, some are even encouraging, and some are downright rude. Usually, the briefest ones are the best (as long as the message isn’t “you suck,” which is admirably brief, but still falls short).

  20. Growing up as an IFB preacher’s kid…my brother and I were forced to sing specials in Dad’s little church. I thank the Sweet Baby Jesus that the Internets and YouTube hadn’t been invented. It was truly cringe-worthy. These folks may not have had a choice about the posting of their song. I for one am not going to poke fun at them. It’s a small church of 50-60 people. I’m just thankful to see an African American on the platform. Most IFB churches are pretty segregated. That’s my $.02 as a lousy former singer.

    1. Singing and playing instruments are acts of worship, and have been since very ancient times. Saying only the most gifted musicians should sing or play is tantamount to saying only the most eloquent speakers should pray.
      That’s my $.02 as a not-great singer who still enjoys singing.

      1. Do we let anyone get up to preach? A very well-meaning and sincere person who cannot string two sentences together to save his soul? Is it not rather painful to have to try to listen to someone like that? And to give him front and center…not desirable.

        Why is the standard different for music? Anyone who thinks that their sincerity is more important than their ability should not be encouraged, in my humble opinion. And it is a very delicate situation for a music director to navigate — do NOT envy that task.

      2. Congregational singing is a different matter from a special instrumental performance.

        1. I agree. I think God loves a joyful noise of praise from His people, talented or not. But for those who lead in worship, the Psalms does specify that they should play skillfully.

          We can ALL, no matter our ability, praise the Lord in song but we do not all need an audience to applaud us.

        2. Or say “Amen” to us because in my circles we did NOT clap for people in church. That was worldly. It was worship not entertainment.

      3. These young people will likely find these posts on SFL. I just don’t want to be a part of hammering their skills publicly. The MoG may have posted this to YouTube without their consent. I’m no fundy. I no longer go to church. I seldom read the bible. But I believe in trying to be kind to others. Even on the internet.

        1. Having said that, I can be very acerbic toward the self-righteous MoGs featured on SFL. I hold these MoGs in contempt. So maybe I’m inconsistent.

      4. That could be true for acts of individual worship, or perhaps those of small synagogues; however, if you look carefully in Leviticus, there are strict instructions about the musicians of the temple, not the least is that they were to be skilled….

        And Paid.

        And Provided the Choice Housing.

        The Priests?

        Outside of a portion of the Tithes, and the “lower level” of housing – whatever a “three-pronged-fork” could bring up out of a citizen’s stew-pot.

        Looking at what seems to be the majority of IFB churches, it certainly seems that it’s totally backwards; except in this case, all the musician (organist/pianist/choir director) gets is a “Let’s give them a round of applause for all their dedicated work”

        PPLPLPLPLPLPLP…….

        2. Yes, I look at those OT instructions and sigh wistfully…
          As an aside, since we are on the subject of how music was done in ancient Israel, one major flaw in the KJV Psalms is that they didn’t translate all those intriguing musical instructions, like “To the chief musician, upon Neginoth”. The translators knew perfectly well that Neginoth meant stringed instruments, for that is how it is translated in the end of Habbakuk. I wonder if they didn’t translate the musical instructions because of the Puritan influence on the Anglican church at the time (Puritans, like Calvin, banned instruments from worship entirely).

  21. Hey! I remember this one! (We always sang it as “HE owns the cattle on a thousand hills…)

    Way back when my family first converted from catholicism, it was one of the first fundy-type songs I remember learning, and singing. Nostalgia here. This would’ve been very early ’80s.

    Actually, now that I think of it, I remember some of the adults telling some of us kids that we weren’t allowed to add “Sha-boom Sha-boom” to the end of each line in the verse. Ah, fundy memories.

  22. I don’t know much about trumpet playing, but it doesn’t look like he’s even holding it right. Aren’t they usually held almost horizontally?

    1. Yes, the trumpet should be held horizontally, with the bell facing out, not facing the floor.

      I used to play in our church orchestra up until about a year ago (not trumpet) so I know the amount of work and practice that it takes in order to play well. Whenever there was a song that I didn’t feel comfortable playing because it was too difficult or I hadn’t practiced it enough, I just didn’t play. I don’t know the circumstances of why this poor fellow sounded so bad but my guess is that he is very well aware of how awful it sounded, and was really embarrassed when he realized how bad it was, especially when it got posted on youtube. I know whenever I was playing in the orchestra, and I laid an egg, I knew right away. I feel for the guy; he had to know he sounded terrible and the church shouldn’t have posted the video on Youtube. Maybe the media director or music director or whoever is responsible for posting the video was hoping to humiliate the guy enough so he won’t ever want to play again or maybe he thought it would shame him into practicing more. Either way, that’s not the best approach.

  23. LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Saxaphones!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sort of….. Jack Hyles would not approve.

    Looks like an IFB-Light church trying to go “mainstream” and go to CCM….sort of..

    Only thing missing is Tony Hutson doing the raindance and some female singers wearing skirts the length of a football field harmonizing..

    Get this group on TBN’s Praise The Lord Program!

    1. “…female singers wearing skirts the length of a football field harmonizing…”

      I’ve never seen a football field harmonizing. Is a harmonizing football field longer than a regular one?

      Don’t be offended, please. It just struck me as funny, and I had to read it twice to figure it out. 🙂

    2. I haven’t watched it, but I find it a little disturbing the video is over 5 minutes long.

    1. There’s so much one could say about that video, and yet it speaks for itself. In its own way, it’s kind of perfect.

    2. I’ve been sharing this video for years. I kind of like it.
      One of my brothers described it as “70s Christian Ska”.

  28. Black gentleman in the back…Never. Changes. Expression. But he does look like he wishes he was somewhere else the entire time. Anywhere else.

  29. This place (Keystone) was the last IFB church I was a member of. I never attended another. We left after the pastor (who was kicked out then and left for texas) stole 30,000$ + from the church. Yeah that and a bunch of other issues. There are some really sweet people there–many of whom are so gullible and so-allowed their ex-pastor to leave without being prosecuted. Leaving him to go do it again or to get away with it. Yeah-anyways….

    1. We were only members for 1 WEEK—so yeah, we didn’t feel bad about leaving. We left as fast as we could. God was already leading us to leave the IFB as a whole. We had been miserable with all of it. SOOO thankful we left this church and also the IFB. We are so happy now–and loving Jesus with our children.

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