There is a type of spiritual schizophrenia in Christendom. Christians and non-Christians believe and yet do not believe, subscribe, and somehow do not subscribe to invisible spirits’ reality and their danger. We do not doubt that what the missionaries tell us takes place on the mission field about demon possession and influences being both quite dangerous and very real, yet we do not think such dangers apply to us. We conclude that we are in no danger, resulting more from feelings of familiarity about issues than objective facts and reality.
To address this lethargy, I have begun on Sunday nights to survey indications of Satanic and demonic warfare found in each book of the Bible. It is a survey designed to heighten awareness and provoke concern about this matter of Satanic and demonic warfare in the human realm, especially as it relates to seducing spirits. Have we been unknowingly seduced about the proper way to approach God in our worship?
During
my research, I noticed that one commentator used a word that caught my
attention, describing the religious practices of the Egyptian idolaters of
Moses’ day as engaging in frenzy. That word frenzy caught my
attention and piqued my interest. I remembered the description Moses wrote of
the Israelites activities in Exodus 32.6: “And they rose up early on the
morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the
people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play,” the word “play”
translating qxu tsachaq,
tsaw-khak'. Does that Hebrew word refer to this notion of frenzy?
I am investigating, especially in light of the “mischief” of the people, verse
22, and their “nakedness,” verse 25.
For
the first 25 years of my life, my father worked for the federal government, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs. From my earliest years, we lived on Indian
reservations, and it was not uncommon for us to spend Saturday nights on the
reservations at the very well-attended war dances. I was looking back on those
war dances I attended 60 years ago. I am struck by what now seems to me to be remarkable
similarities. I am discovering that Egyptian and Canaanite pagan frenzy appears
similar to the frenzy on display during my childhood at the various plains
Indians’ war dances. It is eery.
During
my junior high school years, I had no conscious awareness of any personal religious
inclinations, and our family did not but rarely attend church services. I do remember
reading a book titled The Religions Of Man, by Huston Smith. A
revised and updated version of that book is now available under the title The
World’s Religions. Although Smith does not use the term frenzy,
he does use the term ecstatic to describe what appears to be some form
of frenzy among the Sufis of Islam, known as dervishes. Are the practices
of those engaged in frenzy and those demonstrating ecstasy the same
phenomenon?
Almost
immediately after my conversion to Christ in 1974, I found myself surrounded in
my workplace environment by Pentecostalism and adherents to the Charismatic
movement. One fellow was an usher for Katherine Kuhlman. Another fellow was an
usher for Frederick K. Price. Though never inviting me to any church services,
my Pentecostal and Charismatic colleagues frequently invited me to the Shekinah
Fellowship on Saturday nights to watch what could only be described as ‘the
spectacle’ of the effeminate, pirate-puffy-sleeved, satin-shirted (with satin
bow tie) and obligatory Dutch Boy haircut-wearing Brant Baker. To be sure, my
recollection of tongues-speaking afterglows strikes me as frenzy.
One
of the mistakes people make when seeking to justify inappropriate conduct
during contemporary worship services is to claim affinity to David. They
embrace the imagery of David dancing before the ark of the LORD (2 Samuel
6.16 and 1 Chronicles 15.29) as it was being relocated to Ornan’s threshing
floor where Solomon would later build his temple. Yet David was not, as he danced
before the ark in delight, engaged in the public worship of the God of Israel
prescribed in the Law of Moses. He was dancing a jig because he was excited,
and rightly so. His conduct on that occasion should not be seen as normative
for gathered Christian worship.
My
great fear is that the frenzy that characterizes paganism has found its
way into mainstream Christianity. With its abysmal lack of truth requiring that
emotions be stirred by drums and flutes and stringed instruments accompanying dancing,
and the abandoning of any pretense of self-control, pagan worship was on
display by the children of Israel in Exodus 32.
It is not called frenzy among its professing Christian practitioners. It is called worship. However, with its nightclub mood and lighting, and its insistence on music that is heavily dependent upon the rhythm section of the band, as well as the singing of choruses that are so repetitive as to for all intents and purposes be chanting, I am afraid there is more of paganism’s frenzy in contemporary Christianity’s worship than anyone wants to admit.
