MUSIC OR NOISE?
Thinking With Clarity about Christmas
Christmas is probably one of the most favorite holidays, at least for children! As a boy, I would sell Christmas trees in the snow for a long-time family friend who ran a tree lot every year in our college town. I always looked forward to it! I would help people find just the perfect tree, carry it to the front, and then secure it in or on their car. That was such a special time! The lights, the snow on so many years, the fire in the 50-gallon barrel, the music we played over the speakers. Yes, the MUSIC!
I heard on the radio today how interesting it is that during one period each year, most radio stations play Christmas Music. And not just the happy Santa and Jingle Bell music, but stations will mix in religious songs like Joy to the World, Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem, and Silent Night. These songs peel out the real message of Christmas and many in the world who have not experienced the saving redemption that Jesus provides, hear the clues.
It is said that Music is “The Universal Language”.
“In 2018, a research team of anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, musicians and linguists from top universities around the globe confirmed through computational data that "music is the universal language of mankind." 1 (To read more about that study.)
I have been blessed with the ability to sing and play the organ and piano, mostly by ear. I have recorded one album professionally and have many of my own recordings. My dear Mother loved to relate the story of when I was a youngster about 4 or 5-years old. At the end of the church service, the organist would play a postlude. Sometimes it was very bombastic! On one occasion, I stood up, all 4 feet of me, and yelled, “Sounds like Hell!”. Needless to say what was once embarrassment has now turned to laughter.
I went on to play the beautiful organ in the Columbia Hall of what is now Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, MD., every Saturday morning for Teen Sabbath School. Sweaty palms and all. Since the early 70’s, that building and organ are no more, but it was a wonderful time of growth for me.
PLANTS
I remember when I was about to leave college, and during my first teaching assignment, there was a real interest in the type of music in which plants thrived the most. At that time, it was considered laughable that plants listened to music. So the story went, Rock vs. Classical, Classical won.
Now, if you pull up that question in Google, here’s what it says:
“What genre of music is best for plants?
Classical Music
Jazz and classical music seem to be the music of choice for ultimate plant stimulation. Some sounds can make the stomata on plants stay open longer (the tiny pores that act like lungs on plants) which means they take in more air and grow faster. Nov 16, 2020.”
Wow, plants listen just like we do. Vibrations of sound have effects on their systems!
MASKS
As humans, there is so much we don’t know. It seems to be “science” for some that masks work (well, sometimes you need two). I did some research and here is one:
“This study used a standard mask testing method (ASTM F2101-14) and a model virus (bacteriophage MS2) to test the viral filtration efficiency (VFE) of fabric masks compared with commercially available disposable, surgical, and N95 masks. Five different types of fabric masks were purchased from the eCommerce website Etsy to represent a range of different fabric mask designs and materials currently available. One mask included a pocket for a filter; which was tested without a filter, with a dried baby wipe, and a section of a vacuum cleaner bag. A sixth fabric mask was also made according to the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) guidelines (Australia). Three masks of each type were tested. This study found that all the fabric masks had a VFE of at least 50% when tested against aerosols with an average size of 6.0 µm (VFE(6.0 µm)).2
Note, 50% effective with an aerosol of 6.0 µm (micron), while the CoV-2 is an enveloped virus of 0.1 µm. Yes, the virus is usually transmitted through respiratory droplets which are usually about or greater than 5.0 µm. So talk about barely doing its job. Is there a place for discussion? Especially since so many “masks” don’t come close to those tested. But no, just do what Fauchi says.
INFLATION
The Democrats would have you think that spending money (since we print it) is great. We can do so much good for society with a cradle-to-grave perspective, and the planet, we can save the end of the planet. We will just tax Corporations and the Wealthy, they say. From Jonathan Weisman, of the New York Times:
“To critics, the legislation represents a fundamental upending of American-style governance and a shift toward social democracy. With it, they worry, would come European-style endemic unemployment and depressed economic dynamism.
“There’s always been difference of opinion on the role of government in people’s lives, and the United States has long taken a different approach than Western Europe,” said N. Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard economist who was chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. “This is clearly designed to take a big step toward the Western European model.”3
TOWARD the Western European model? Our founders left the European/British model of life to create a new vision in which God gave people RIGHTS. Rights that can’t be taken away. The United State of America has been the epitome of individual and religious Freedom and Liberty, a concept totally absent from the rest of the ENTIRE world. Continuing from Johnathan Weisman:
“Defenders shrug off such concerns. Representative Robert C. Scott of Virginia, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said the legislation would promote economic growth, with child care subsidies that would get parents back into the workforce, education spending to more equitably prepare all Americans to work, and job training to improve labor mobility.”4
Yes, put parents back to work. Nothing could go wrong with that!
EDUCATION
Let the government educate your children. You can be more prosperous. But what are your children going to be taught? Already the divisiveness of CRT (Critical Race Theory), has parents up-in-arms.
Race. Color. Sex. Genders. Trans-Genders now? Vladimir Lenin had two sayings:
ONE
“Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”
Vladimir Lenin
And then:
TWO
“Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.”
Vladimir Lenin
Is either of those quotations the desire of American parents for their children? One report I read said 40% of youth see nothing wrong with socialism. Where have they learned that? Our schools. Our schools are indoctrination centers for socialism. There is so much that so many do not know.
MEDIA
We have a President in office who was hidden from the American people. What did that media narrative result in? Things he said he would never do, he has done. And what a first day! Executive Orders set the Country on a course that was immediately known to be a dark path and has been proven to be so.
The Green New Deal was going to start with little overall planning or consideration of side effects. Cut off our pipelines and give Russia the green light for theirs? A complete upside-down policy of the Trump years.
The New York Post’s story about the Hunter Biden laptop from hell…. Couldn’t even be found courtesy of the Media’s Overlords, Twitter, and Facebook removing it from sight.
The domination of the Russia Collusion story about Trump, when the truth was that it was Hillary Clinton’s collusion. For three years, a known false dossier was used to enable spying on the President of the United States by the other Party.
There would have been no end to the criticism of President Trump if he had exited Afghanistan in the way that President Biden and the military “experts” did. But when did you last hear about that American embarrassment in the MSM?
THE POINT
This last section, really all of them could be much longer. But are you getting my point? There is so much that we humans do not know. Either from having our heads in the sand, or by being misdirected to some other story, or from there being no story to even hear.
The Bible however offers some clarity.
“All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the LORD laid on him
the sins of us all.” Isaiah 53:6, NLT
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you're doing it wrong!' Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?” Isaiah 45:9, NLT
In a world where there is so much, we cannot really know, there are some things of which we can have a certain clarity of thinking. God has answers in his book, the Bible. Lay aside the worries and conflicts of political and daily life and focus on what the real Christmas Story is about.
God, knowing that we were lost without a sacrifice, sent Jesus in human flesh, yet fully God, to live the perfect life and become the sacrificial sin offering.
“Seek the LORD while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.“Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD.
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
Call on him now while he is near.“For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.“The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.
“It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”Isaiah 55: 6-11
A closing thought:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20
As music helps the plant to grow by taking in more oxygen, my wish for you this Christmas is that you will answer the knock at the door of your heart… and be Saved!
“But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
“For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
“For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
“For “EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
Romans 10:8-13
I pray that the searching of your soul, as did the three wise men of old result in your acceptance of the gift of Jesus and acknowledgment that Jesus is Lord and that you believe that He was raised from the dead, to enable YOU to have Eternal Life, PLEASE, do so today while He may still be found.
I wish a Merry and Blessed Christmas to you.
https://www.today.com/tmrw/experts-prove-music-universal-language-spiritual-healing-t202182, December 4, 2020
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32957638/, September 17, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/06/us/politics/democrats-biden-social-safety-net.html, Jonathan Weisman, November 1, 2021.
Ibid..
Create your profile
Only paid subscribers can comment on this post
Check your email
For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.
Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.