RAISING HALAL (haw-lal)...RAZE HELL

Greetings and Salutations O Ye Halal Raisers. I have got one question to ask ya...that my friend, brother, worship mentor...Wayne "Not Chuck" Berry...asks our congregation of gathered saints...as S.A...Smyrna Assembly.



"ARE YOU BREATHING?!?!?"



Even as the ruminations drip onto the this Rambling...I am wearing a shirt that on the front reads...Wayne Berry & the Groove Machine...and on the back..."Are You Breathing Tour".



As you can see from the first picture... there are a group of people...located in Kenya Africa...RAVIN' ON...and raisin' HALAL.



"Let everything that has breath...HALAL the Lord. HALAL the Lord!" (Psalm 150:6)



HALAL...is one of the Hebrew words for PRAISE.



PRAISE: Halal (haw-lal)=a primitive root, to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of colour); to shine, hence, to MAKE A SHOW...to BOAST,

thus to be (clamorously) FOOLISH...

TO RAVE...causatively...TO CELEBRATE.



This is where we get the word...that is usually presented in our worship services...as a tender, gentle..."holy" praise...HALLELU-JAH..Praise Yahweh...Praise the Lord.



There is nothing wrong with using Halal in this manner...but it does miss the sound and colour of the word.



RAVE ON...was one of Buddy Holly's last hits prior to his early departure via a fatal airplane crash on February 3rd 1959. Holly's other hits included That'll Be The Day, Peggy Sue, Not Fade Away...and RAVE ON.

RAVE ON
Wh-eh-ell little things you say and do
Make me want to be with you
Rave On
It's a crazy feeling and I know it's got me reeling
When you say I love you
Rave On

The dictionary definition RAVE is:

1. To talk wildly, as in delirium
2. To talk or write with extravagant enthusiasm
3. To make wild or furious sound
4. To utter as if in madness
5. An extravagantly enthusiastic appraisal or review of something
6. A boisterous party, especially a dance

Wow...when you think about the concept behind that phrase RAVE...and the way we approach PRAISING God with our HALLELU-JAHs....there seems to be a discrepancy.

We can RAVE ON at dance parties...we can RAVE ON at boxing matches...we can RAVE ON at professional football games...we can RAVE ON whatever tickles our fancy...BUT once we enter the hallowed halls of our sanctuaries...we put the RAVE on hold...and bring out our "genteel" praise on.

NOTE: Remember...there are more than one word for praise...and there is always a place for the quiet, reverent, tender moments in the presence of the Lord as we enter into worship HOWEVER...don't forget...it is appropriate to GET YOUR RAVE ON... before the Lord.

Of course the very nature of THE PSALMS in PRAISE... but the last 5 chapters...Psalm 145-150 is a primer for exuberant PRAISE.

As a Speech-Language Pathologist...who studies and treats SPEECH...I know that WORDS...are BREATH DRIVEN. You have a thought in your noggin (aka brain), you breath in (aka inspiration)...you breath out (expiration)...and as you breath out...you set your ARTICULATORS (lips, tongue, soft palate, teeth, alveolar ridge, etc) into motion and you speak what you are thinking...ala BREATH-DRIVEN WORDS.

"ARE YOU BREATHING?" If you are...you have the capability...to PRAISE THE LORD. If you don't...the rocks and the trees...WILL...so...you might as well do...what you were created to do.

This thing called HALAL...is to be done because of His mighty deeds, according to His EXCELLENT GREATNESS. It is to be manifested with trumpet sound, harp and lyre (forerunner of all stringed instruments including the gitfittle (guitar)...timbrel...and DANCE...stringed instruments and pipe...loud cymbals and resounding cymbals...and YOUR BREATH.

Let (allow) everything (including you) that has breath (are ya breathin') HALAL THE LORD. PRAISE THE LORD!

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

The second part of the title of this Rambling mentions...RAZE HELL. When you HALAL...when you shine, make a show, boast, be clamorously foolish, RAVE, celebrate...you are entering to WARFARE...as the gates of hell cannot stand against you. You shake things up in the heavenlies...and you shake things OFF of you. So...my brothers and sisters...RAVE ON.

Love and Clamorous Kisses
Rodney "It's Got Me Reeling" Boyd

FIRE INSURANCE VS. LORDSHIP

Greetings friends and neighbors... who's your Daddy?

That phrase..."Who's your Daddy?"... is meant to say..."Who's The Boss." It implies..."Who's in control." We love bumper sticker mentality that says..."God is my CO-PILOT." This means...I am in control...I am the pilot...and God is over to the right hand side...as 2nd in command. If things get tough...if I lose control of the plane...the co-pilot is there to help out. I can understand that...after all we are men and women of VOLITION...free will...free choice. God has allowed us the ability to make decisions...and has graciously allowed us to call upon him to interact within the affairs of man and wo-man. We do this by prayer. As Jack Hayford's book title says it all...PRAYER IS INVADING THE IMPOSSIBLE. Jesus has two titles (really there are multiple titles)...Jesus is (1) Lord (2) Savior. The question is...which one is he in your life...or is he both...or have you added a third option. Sometimes I feel as if he is the third option in my life.


The third option....(3) FIRE INSURANCE. We are living out our lives on planet earth...then one day we get to the point of where we can't standing it any longer. We either feel as if we are living a hell on this earth.. or we start to believe the Bible and the fact that there is this place of torment called HELL. We figure we better do something...so we get SAVED. We look at salvation as getting "saved from Hell" or...investing in our FIRE INSURANCE. As long as we have that policy...we are save from the flames licking our backsides. The problem is that we think that with that FIRE INSURANCE POLICY...that we can live like HELL here on earth...and do anything that we want to do...and it is covered by grace and mercy...while avoiding HELL in the afterlife.


This thing called salvation is more than just avoidance of punishment...it is only the beginning of a wonderful life here on this cursed and fallen swirling terrestrial ball called the 3rd Rock from the sun...planet Earth. God has reached down to humanity in the form of Jesus Christ to bridge the gap. As we live this life..."between the glory and the flame"...between heaven and hell... Jesus must be more than just FIRE INSURANCE. He must become LORD...not just our SAVIOR.

SAVIOR: soter (so-tare)...a deliverer...to save...that is deliver or protect...heal, preserve, do well, make whole.

LORD: kurios (koo-ree-os)...supreme in AUTHORITY...controller, master, Sir, Mr. (the bottom line...BOSS)

One is what he DOES...the other is what He IS. He is not the co-pilot...He is the PILOT. You know...I am writing this as if I know what I am talking about...and actually practice this 24/7...HOWEVER...a lot of times in my life...I act as if ROD IS GOD. Instead of Jesus is Lord...I act as if Rodney is LORD.


Currently...on April 28th, 2007...we are able to practice VOLITION (free will and choice)...and abdicate our Lordship to His Lordship. We are able to bow ourselves down before Him and say Jesus is BOSS. Jesus is the one in CONTROL of our lives. Our fate is not in the hand of the devil (little d)...the government....world leaders... or even corporate entities. There will come a time...when the choice is out of our hands...it will be mandated...but then it will be to late.

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him (Jesus) and given Him (Jesus) a NAME which is above every name (you name it...Jesus is above it). That at the NAME OF JESUS...every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should CONFESS (say the same thing God says) that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD (boss, the one in control), to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)