Inspiration

     

Even as I sit here
In deep wonderment I am;
It's something between awe
And ad nauseam!
     Yet not that—but puzzlement.

I am not myself,
But another, yet unknown;
It is something in my finger
That I would seek to disown.
     Yet not that—but imprisonment.

I would that I could control it
(It from my stylus pours);
It must be tamed somehow,
Lest I myself deplore.
     Yet not that—but penitent.

This scourge that from my finger flows
Is sampled here upon this page;
It comes and keeps on coming—
I would to put it in a cage!
     Yet not that—but banishment.

But I reckon that it's here stay,
So I'll let it do its thing;
I'll let it pour out on paper
All its foolish clamorings.
     Yet not that—but accomplishments!

So I'll use this Gift from God
(He by His Grace bestowed it);
I'll nurture it and cherish it
And be a real composer-poet.
     Yet not that—but His instrument!

- D. Benning
02 Dec 1982

In the Cold of That Decemeber

In the cold of that December
Came a child so we'd remember
    That the gift most precious given
    Sent to earth from God in Heaven
        Came in dark midst hate most cruel—
        Yet earth will bow beneath His rule.

- D. Benning

Debunking Bad Arguments

Excellent resource debunking crass, anti-Christian internet arguments.

Debunks four commonly held myths about religion and Christianity.

1. Religion = #1 cause of wars.                                     FALSE
2. Due to science, days of religion are dwindling.        FALSE
3. Dark ages were anti science because of religion.      FALSE
4. NT stole most ideas about Jesus from other myths.  FALSE

From: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2012/06/better-atheist-fact-checking.html

Foolish

"Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace;
When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive."
Prov. 17:28  NKJV

Big White Square

Foolish to think that anything that I write will be useful to anyone else or even that anyone else would want to read my drivel.

Calls to Holiness & Personal Progressive Sanctification

"You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
2 Tim. 2:1

Paul includes so many different ways of saying that we all must make sure that we are moving on in holiness and continuing our sanctification.  It all starts with the overarching principle of verse one: we can't do it in our own strength.  We must be strong in the Lord!  Self-sufficiency will result in self-failure.  Therefore we must press into Him and into His Word.

The concept of:

• v. 4 — soldier—avoid civilian affairs; that is, do what the commanding officer says.  This implies obedience to human authority and a chain of command.  Be a disciple.  Don't be a loner and disconnected.
• v. 5 — athlete—compete according the rules.  Therefore, look into the Book to see what the rules are and then obey them!
• v. 6 — hardworking farmer—doesn't do things on a whim; instead follows patterns and plants then harvests according patterns and dictates of the seasons.  Be a person who understands the times and seasons to know what to do.  The goal is fruit: that is, personal sanctification as well as result of evangelism.
• w. 15 — workman / craftsman—this implies precision, diligence, hard work, quality.  It takes years of careful practice under a master craftsman as an apprentice.  Likewise, the Christian faith takes years of discipleship under a man or woman of God to train you in the way to go.

So many calls to holiness because:

• we are not holy.
• God is holy!
• without holiness, no one may see the Lord.
• the only acceptable worship is to worship Him in the beauty of holiness (1 Chr. 16:29 KJV).
• note: this means that holiness is beauty!—thus He adorns His bride with the most beautiful object He can find: holiness!
• Lam. 2:15b — we are called to be the perfection of beauty; the joy of the earth.  Only if we are holy can we truly give joy to the earth.  Being wrapped up in our unholiness is exactly as the world is and that does not bring joy.

Therefore, be holy!

Prophetic Historical Accuracies: Elam

“Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam
    in days to come,”
declares the Lord.
Jer. 49:39

A dire vision has been shown to me:
    The traitor betrays, the looter takes loot.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege!
    I will bring to an end all the groaning she caused.
Isa. 21:2

Who or what was Elam?

They were the ancient, pre-Persian, pre-Iranian people that lived on the East side of the Tigris River along the Persian Gulf.  They were among the earliest people known to have inhabited that region.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam

Now in 559 BC Cyrus II (who was the grandson of Cyrus I) became king.  In 549 BC he overthrew the Median overlord (who happened to be his mother's father) and took new titles unto himself:

King of Medes

&

King of Elam

On October 16, 539 BC, his army entered Babylon by way of the stream bed under the wall.  Seventeen days later,  Cyrus II himself entered Babylon amid great celebration.  

Thus Elam, nearly completely wiped out by Babylon, returned to wipe out Babylon.  The looted became the looter.  All to advance God's purposes for His people, because it was in the first year of Cyrus II that he issued decrees resettling the captives of Babylon back to their homelands and made an effort to repatriate the "local gods" among their native peoples.  None of this would have happened if Babylon remained in power.  All of it to the praise of His glorious grace who works out all things in conformity to the purpose of His will (Eph. 1:11).

The Increase of His Grace!

" We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.  Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring."
2 Thes. 1:3 - 4

In his first epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul thanks God for their faith, love and endurance.  Those qualities were present and observable by works and labor.  Here, in this epistle, Paul is rejoicing and thanking God for the increase in their faith and love and their continued perseverance and endurance.  That is, they were not just one-time (a while back) Christians, but they are continuing, on-going and growing Christians.

"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day" (Prov. 4:18).  And thus we should always make forward progress in our progressive sanctification.

Note that the increase of this grace is every bit the work of God as is the initial implanting of this grace.  And thus God is to be praised and thanked! 

As Matthew Henry notes in his commentary on 2 Thessalonians:

Note, Where there is the truth of grace there will be increase of it. The path of the just is as the shining light, which shines more and more unto the perfect day. And where there is the increase of grace God must have all the glory of it. We are as much indebted to him for the improvement of grace, and the progress of that good work, as we are for the first work of grace and the very beginning of it. We may be tempted to think that though when we were bad we could not make ourselves good, yet when we are good we can easily make ourselves better; but we have as much dependence on the grace of God for increasing the grace we have as for planting grace when we had it not.

If we are to increase in faith and love and in endurance, we need Grace.  How then are we to find this Grace?  It is found in Peter's admonition to his readers: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ"  (2 Pet. 3:18).  We can only grow in Grace if we are growing in Knowledge of the LORD.  And Knowledge of the LORD will only come from increased reading of His WORD, the Bible.  That is, the more we really know about God, the more we will be conformed to His likeness and the more Grace He will give to us.  Grace does not appear without specific revelation of His will.  Grace and Knowledge of God are inseparable.

Thus, to increase in faith and love and endurance, we must get into the Bible, read it and apply it.

The Lord Will Punish

"The LORD will punish all men for such sins...."
1 Thes. 4:6b

And we can look to King Saul as an example—1 Chr. 10:13 - 14.  "Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death...."

Or even to Moab—Jer. 48:42.   "Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the Lord."

In Jer. 48, we see that Moab's sins are reflected in how Saul lived and in how all the ungodly live.  In fact, it is as though one could replace the name of Moab in that chapter with any modern Western nation's name.

• Jer 48:7; 49:4 — Trusting in riches and their stuff.  "Look at my money, my fertile lands, my gold, my 404K plan!"  But stuff doesn't last.
• Jer. 49:16 — They built high and lofty.  1 Sam. 15:12 says that Saul went to Carmel to build a monument for himself.  Most of what people do is to show off and get accolades and "Likes."
• Jer. 48:27 — They mock, harass, and persecute God's people.
• Jer. 48:29 - 30 — great pride and insolence!
• Jer. 48:35 — they have worship for and devotion to something that is not God.

And what was the result?  Loss.  Moab lost its nationhood.  Saul lost his life, ruined his family and caused the nation to suffer great loss.

We, however, know how to live so as to please the LORD because we have been instructed well  (1 Thes. 4:1).  Our leaders have taught us by the authority of the LORD Jesus Himself (1 Thes. 4:2).  We should rejoice and be thankful to God for the wonderful gift of a Godly Pastor and Godly leaders under him that teach us well.

Notice that the Thessalonians were doing as Paul taught them yet he urges them to keep it up and to do it more and more:

"...we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more."  1 Thes. 4:1
" And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more...." 1 Thes. 4:10

Thus we need to keep on with what we're doing correctly, as we've been taught, and to do it more and more.  We certainly haven't achieved perfection yet, nor do we love God and His people in the fullest way we can, yet.  Therefore, strive to do so more and more.

All of this is with these two things in mind:

1. The Lord will punish all men for such sins...  v. 6
2. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven.... v. 16

He is coming back and will deal with all sins, sinners and rebellion.  But, praise God!, He is coming back to reward those who are faithful and who are doing as they have been well instructed.  Therefore, let us continue to do so more and more!

Faith and Love Spring from Hope

"...we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven..."
Col. 1:4 - 5

Faith and Love spring from Hope.  Or in KJV (with Greek) "heard of your faith .... and love...on account of the hope laid up in heaven."

Note: Faith (Eph2:8) and Love(1 Jn. 4:19) are gifts from God; but we are commanded:

• to believe—"have faith"  Mark 5:36
• and to love—"love one another" 1 Jn 4:7 - 8

But our faith is weak so we must look to Christ and cry out, "I believe, help Thou my unbelief."  (Mk 9:24)  So we see here in Col. 1:5 that the source of our faith and love is heaven.  It also gives the source of faith and love's continued growth—hope.  Hope that is stored in heaven.  "Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also."  Hope that you are constantly looking to:  Col 3:1-2— Set your hearts AND your minds on things above.

Therefore to increase our faith and our love we must think on heaven for it is truly noble, right, pure, and lovely.  This is our inheritance (Col. 1:12); it is our goal and our prize and our reward.  This is what we eagerly strain forward to attain.  Such active engagement of the mind in the thoughts and visualization of heaven will surely increase our faith in Him who called us and our love for Him and for His people.

Set Your Hearts on Things Above

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Col. 3:1 - 4

Verse one says to set your hearts on things above.  Because we know that "where your heart is, there your treasure will be also."  Verse two says to set your minds on things above.  This is why (v. 16) Paul writes, "Let the WORD of Christ dwell in you richly."  And where can the WORD dwell?  In the mind.  You must think and meditate on what the WORD says.  The WORD must inform your mind and thus yours thoughts and speech and actions.  The WORD must rule your mind.

But the WORD can also dwell in your heart.  Having had the mind informed and ruled by the WORD, the heart then sets its affection, its emotions and its will upon the WORD to love it and cherish it and to let it be its one sure guide and compass.  That is, the WORD then informs our affections.  We read what God loves in the WORD, so we set our affections upon what He loves.

We have to guard against being like Baruch (in Jer. 45).  He was getting bummed because all his Stuff™ was going away and he was losing opportunities to gain it back.  God basically told him through Jeremiah that the ship is going down; now's not the time to repaint your cabin.

We have to have that view on our life with all its Stuff™.  Ultimately, this ship (the ship called this world, this present age) is going down and will be destroyed in fire.  Nothing here in this life lasts.  Therefore set your mind and your hearts on things above.  Look up to Christ!  He is our life (v. 4).

Once we start looking up to Christ, things of this world will start growing strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace.  That makes it easier to put to death all the sin and fleshly lusts (vv. 5 - 9) and to put on the new self (v. 10).  Notice how Paul describes the "new self"—"renewed in knowledge."  Knowledge.  That is facts and propositional revelation from God to us via the Bible.  This Christianity is a logical religion and demands that we use our mind.  We cannot leave our minds outside and have a proper worship time inside.  No, we set our minds on things above and we let the WORD of Christ dwell in us richly.  Then our new self is renewed by knowledge!  The knowledge of Christ!  And we grow in His grace and knowledge!  (2 Pet. 3:18).  This is eternal life that we may know Him! (John 17:3).

In Him—the Only Way to Victory!

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
Col 2:6 - 8

As you have received him.  Who?  Christ Jesus, the Lord.

He is the Christ.  This is the Prophet that Moses said that God would send, the One that we should make sure to listen to and carefully heed all He says.  He is the One that would reveal the whole will and counsel of God to us humans.

He is Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.  That is, He is Savior.  He is the Lamb of God that "taketh away the sins of the world"!  He gave His life in ransom for us; we owe Him everything!

But He is also LORD!  That is, He is KING, Ruler, Master and Law-Giver.  If we start on this road of Christianity, we receive this Second Member of the Godhead not only as Christ and Savior, but also as LORD.  There is no "OR" in this list.  There is no separation of His offices so that you can pick and chose as though it is a buffet style eatery.  No, it is all or none.

As since you started that way, continue on.  Live in Him.  Walk in Him.  Have all your life's activities "in Him" so that

• He is at the center
• He is directing all
• you do all with reference to Him and for His Glory.

But notice that as you walk in Him—live in Him—you become more rooted and that allows you to be more built up.  Built up can only happen after rooting deep into Him.  But this also work so that you walk more closely with and in Him.  And that causes you to be more rooted and built up.

A win-win situation.

It also helps you from being cheated (New KJV) or spoiled (KJV) or taken captive (NIV) by hollow, vain, deceitful philosophies and traditions.

But take a closer look at the whole of Colossians.  Paul says that he works hard and struggles: Col. 1:24; 2:1.  And Epaphras works hard, struggles and wrestles in prayer: Col 4:12 - 13.  Here, Paul is telling the Colossians to buck up, put their armor on and struggle, work hard and walk this road with Christ and the other Christians so that they are not taken captive as spoils of war.

We are in a war.  We cannot opt out.  The devil and his cohorts have arrows marked with our names already written on them.  We must be aware, we must be on guard, we must pray.  But we also must be rooted and built up to walk this way correctly and safely in Christ and with Christ as our Captain and Lord.  If He is not our Lord and if we do not listen to His commands, we will surely fall into the enemy's trap and be taken captive.

But if we listen to Christ our Captain, we will overcome for He always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ. (2 Cor. 2:14)

No Favoritism!

"...since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him."
Ephesians 6:9

This is not a new idea.  God does not accept bribes or look at us and think, "Hmm, he has a lot of gold; I should be nicer to him."  No, He is maker of all and owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  And this has been taught from of old.

"For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes."  Dt. 10:17

"For God does not show favoritism." Rom 2:11

 We see also from scripture that God doles out punishment justly:

"It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25 Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism." Col. 3:24-25

In James we are given a greater glimpse as to why we also should not show favoritism.

"My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism." Jms 2:1 NIV
"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." Jms 2:1 New KJV

First of all we are not to show favoritism.  We are not to hold this faith in our Lord and show partiality.  It is in view of the Lord that all distinctions disappear.

Now the Greek could actually be translated (according to some experts) as "of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory"!  James is making an incredibly strong statement that this Jesus is Divine—He is the Shekinah Glory that filled the tabernacle in Moses' day.

But see that it as we come to the Lord Jesus, in the Light of His Glory, that all our distinctions evaporate and become as nothing.  It is in His Light that we see light (Ps. 36:9).  We are not to look at the outward appearances and the trappings and baubles that glitter and glint.  No, we are to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.  Then we will have the mind of Christ.

It's not as though we never make distinctions or judge things.  Remember how the Lord judges things?  He looks at the heart, not the appearance (1 Sam. 16:7).  We have to look upon things the way that the Lord looks upon them, and that is not through favoritism.  Remember that the only thing "that counts is faith expressing itself in love" (Gal 5:6).  We must remember that we are all one in Christ; all earthly distinctions that divide us are gone.  (Gal. 3:26 - 29).

Consider Peter in Acts 10.  He had the Old Testament, he was able to quote from it and had already preached powerfully from it.  But he still didn't understand this point.  But suddenly he was confronted with what God really thought:

"Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.”" Acts 10:34

We need to be confronted with the Glory of the Risen Lord and then we will see our place in His body correctly.  Then we will be useful to Him and to one another.

October!

October!
Fair month of a thousand scents and memories,
Laden with the weight of a night that presses in
             pressed down and squeezes the daylight
                                      into less
                                              and less.
Then warms the days and frosts the nights,
   turning leaves to transient jewels:
       marveled masterpieces of ruby, amber, opal, topaz;
Chill that crisps the air and makes it catch upon the breath,
    that holds the breath as a gossamer phantom before it slowly flies away;
Crunch under foot of a thousand leaves that finished their journey
    from sap of Spring to fragments of Fall.
   
Oh October! 
Hale breath of cooling answering to the smokey, dusty voice of Summer,
Heavy with the promise of moisture,
     renewing rain and moody mists.
Anticipation runs high upon news of your arrival.
Come now and shower us with Autumn's blessings.

D. Benning, (c) 2015

Glade Creek Grist Mill, Babcock State Park, West Virginia

Come See My Zeal

Jer. 35  The Recabites.

Compare this to 2 Kings 10:15 - 16, where Jehu, freshly anointed king over Israel and given the task of wiping out Ahab's wicked family, meets Jonadab.  "Come, see my zeal for the Lord," Jehu exclaims to Jonadab.  But see how far Jehu's zeal lasted.  It flagged.  It was second soil religiosity, springing up at once, but withering quickly thereafter.

Yet Jonadab inculcated something into his offspring so that they were committed to following their fore-father's commands more than 250 years later.  He made his family take a strict Nazarite vow: no wine.  Wine is given to bring joy to men's hearts (Ps. 104:15), but if man finds his joy in the Lord and in His presence and Word, wine is not needed.  Wine used wrongly deadens the mind and the heart to reality.  Jonadab wanted his family to be aware of reality and not rely on worldly things for temporary joy.

He also, beyond the Nazarite vow, made them be nomads and tent-dwellers.  Such dwelling reinforced practical life lessons each and every day (according to Matthew Henry):

• A tent-dweller is seen as a poor, indigent person, teaching them to be humble.
• A tent is not suited to a life of ease with ivory & gold beds, teaching them not to indulge the body & its wants.
• Being nomadic and wandering means they do not own property, teaching them that they should not hold onto things of this earth.

We don't know at what occasion Jonadab instructed his family to do this.  Perhaps it was because of the wicked and opulent life-style of Ahab and the off-spring of Ahab.  Perhaps it was because Jehu said, "Come see my zeal for the Lord" but in the end had not zeal for the Lord but rather trusted in things and relished luxury and pleasure over anything of true religion.

And so the family line of Jonadab continued in this way of living for more than 250 years.  Contrast that with the wicked king Jehoiakim who brazenly defied and despised the Word of the Lord.  The Lord gave each their just reward.  Jehoiakim met death and ignominy; the Recabites were promised there would always be someone in that family line that would serve the Lord.  That means that somewhere today there is at least one who comes from Jonadab who is loving the Lord and serving Him.  No greater joy for a parent than to see their children walking in truth! (3 John 4)

Now who were the Recabites?

In 1 Chr 2:55 we see that they were Kenites: "These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab."

Who then were the Kenites?

In Judges 1:16 we see that they were the descendants of Moses' father-in-law: "And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people."

They remained in Israel and Judah that whole time but distinct.  This is a picture of how Christians are to live in this world: in the world but not of the world.  Notice also that they were not isolated, solitary individuals, but were clans—a body fitly joined together like we read in Ephesians 4 (esp. 4:16).

So make sure you have zeal—that is good.  But make sure it is zeal according to knowledge (Rom. 10:2) and make sure that is it a zeal that burns consistently and constantly unto the end for the Lord.  Don't be a flash in the pan only to turn into ash that is scraped out and tossed away.  Keep feeding the fire of your zeal with the rich word of the Holy Scriptures and let the Spirit fan it into flame.  He is the breath that blows across the smoldering coals of our heart and He is the oil which is fuel for the flame.  Burn brightly and burn consistently, but burn for Him!

His Manifold Wisdom

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eph. 3:10 - 11

This view that Paul gives us through the Holy Spirit is amazing.  God has so many things going on all at once, all interconnected and contingent upon each other and ultimately upon Himself.  He is working all of them out to His goal.  Here we see that we are not the ultimate.  The church is not the ultimate.  Rather the church and each of us in the church are used as His instrument whereby others are shown the multi-faceted wisdom of God.

Who is He showing this off to?

KJV: "...unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places..."  (Literally in the Greek, "in the heavenlies").
NIV: "...to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms..."

Who are these "principalities"?

• Eph 1:21  Christ is above them all
• Eph 3:10  they are in the heavenlies
• This is where Christ is seated.  Eph 1:20
•  This is where we are blessed in Christ.  Eph 1:3
•  This is our goal, where we are going.  Heb 11:16
• These "principalities" are good angels and evil demons and are thus much more powerful than we are.  Yet God makes the good angels to be ministering servants to us who inherit salvation (Heb 1:14).  And there is nothing that the evil demons can do to thwart God's purpose nor remove us from His Love in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:38 - 39).

This is all sure and secure because He has eternally purposed this in Christ Jesus (Eph 3:11).  See how secure His purpose is and stands?

This is what the Lord says,
  he who appoints the sun
    to shine by day,
  who decrees the moon and stars
    to shine by night,
  who stirs up the sea
    so that its waves roar—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:
  “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”
    declares the Lord,
  “will Israel ever cease
    being a nation before me.”
Jer. 31:35 - 36

This Mighty God works out everything in conformity to His Plan (Eph 1:11) and His Plan is to make us holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4), thus holy and blameless we will be.  Therefore it is in our best interest to get on board and be part of His Plan and submit to His purpose and undergo that work of sanctification and be changed into the likeness and image of His Son!

But just because God is wielding His church as an instrument, showing off to the heavenlies His great wisdom, doesn't mean that God thinks any less of us at all.  In fact Paul emphasized to his readers just how great God's love for us is.  Eph 3:18 - 19 says that the love of Christ is wide and long and high and deep and surpasses knowledge.  What encouragement!  God loves us and is using us for our good and His glory.  And nothing will undo nor thwart His loving purpose for us!

Prelude to Revival

In 2 Kings 23 we read of all the good that Josiah di: so much evil overthrown, so many false gods and idols destroyed and purged.  Even some that had been there since the time of Solomon more than 300 years before.  It's interesting to note that there had already been several kings of whom it was said they "did what was right in the eyes of the Lord," yet Solomon's idol-worshiping place stayed.  How tradition and history becomes a part of everyday life so that we can't see how sinful it really is—until God brings revival.

Note, this was a time that was prophesied about during the early years of Jeroboam I, almost 300 years earlier.  God's word and promises are always true.  But why did it happen in Josiah's 18th year of reign?

There were steps leading up to this.

Josiah became king at age 8.  The summary statement about him was that:

 “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”
 2 Kings 22:2

So he did a little in the limited knowledge he had and God worked in his heart to seek Him more:

 “In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David.”
 2 Chr. 34:3

Thus when he was sixteen years old, he followed God more.  God blessed that and gave Josiah a heart to start purging the land of all sorts of idols by the time he was almost twenty:

 “In his twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of high places, Asherah poles and idols.”
 2 Chr. 34:3

God further blessed this further obedience by sending a prophet, Jeremiah, who began preaching, teaching and exhorting the people when Josiah was 20 or 21 years old.

 “For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again...”
 Jer. 25:3

It's obvious that Josiah took the words to heart because he started purifying the land and the temple in his 18th years (when he was 26 years old):

  “In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, to purify the land and the temple, he sent [people] to repair the temple of the Lord his God.”
  2 Chr. 34:8

That's when the Book of the Law was discovered.  Notice that obedience is rewarded with further revelation of God and His will.  The proper response is humility and zealous obedience.  In view of the Law being found and read, Josiah is humble and wants to hear from the Lord.  In view of the Lord's response, he goes out and obeys with great joy and zeal.  Suddenly things that had been accepted as normal and tradition for hundreds of years were understood to be detestable in God's sight so they no longer wanted those things around.

The only way to have real revival is to obey the revealed truth that you already know, then humbly ask for more revelation and then obey the new understanding with great humility, joy and fervor.

That is why Josiah served God all his days and had a revival in his time.

It's a Matter of the Heart

"There was nothing that Hezekiah did not show them."
2 Kings 20:13

So he showed the envoys from Babylon everything?  I think he didn't.  He did not show them the LORD God of Israel!  Why had they come?  News had reached them about Hezekiah being healed, but even more than that, they had seen the great sign that had accompanied the healing.  The writer of Chronicles emphasizes that they wanted to know more about what had happened: "...envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land..." 
        (2 Chr. 32:31)

       Let that sink in for a few moments.  

The king of Babylon saw the sun do this amazing Backup Thing in the sky.  This was unprecedented.  He wanted to know what happened and why.  He started by asking his wise men, then his vassal kings and rulers.  They all said, "Yeah, we saw it, but we don't know what happened."  Finally reports came in from the Kingdom of Judah that their God had given the sign to their king.  So the Babylonian king sent envoys to find out more about this sign and the God behind the sign.

They showed up—probably with royal gifts—and Hezekiah was tickled pink that these Important People™  were all here to see him.  Thus he showed them around the palace and the city, trying to impress them with how impressive he, King of Judah, really was.

Let me repeat: Babylon wanted to know about God but Hezekiah talked about gold.  Babylon wanted to understand the Sign but Hezekiah showed off his signet rings.  Babylon wanted to hear more Words about who this God was that could command the sun like that, but Hezekiah told them more about this World. 

Hezekiah gave them Stuff^® when only one thing was needful! 

Why?  Out of the heart the mouth speaks (Lk. 6:45) and he was storing up treasures on this earth so his heart was there with his treasures (Mt. 6:19-21).

This explains why he was so sad when Isaiah told him it was time to die.  He was attached to Stuff^® and didn't want to let it go.  He hadn't been living correctly so there was no way that he could die correctly. 

It really matters what we set our hearts on.  And his young son, Manasseh, learned well and stuffed all sorts of worldly things into his heart so that there was no room for the LORD God of Israel. 

Where is our heart, our love and our affections?  Time will tell.  But don't wait till then; tend to the matter now and stoke the love and affection of God and Godly things! 

God Gave Us Friends

God gave us friends so that we
    could understand a part of Him,
    have a tangible picture of His care,
    have a visible representation of His covenantal Love
                              —His ever-faithfulness

Like stones in His pocket we're placed together
         sharpening,
         smoothing
     and making plain the rough places in each other
                              —and others.
  So that when He takes us out to look at us
     He sees beauty
         because the polished surfaces of our lives
              ƚɔɘlʇɘɿ — reflect
                  and
                     ɹoɹɹıɯ — mirror
                           HIM!

Stones of Fire—    His precious possessions
His prized gems,   radiating His Gentleness,
His brilliant Love—    blinding Holy fire.
In praise of Father's Firstborn,     Fair Prince of Peace,
Dayspring from on high,     angels dance in rainbow-spangled hues,
and God in Love,    with Holy Light—
Wisdom from verity—     into His vestments reaches
and pulls forth a stone,     and places in in the light.
"Rejoice!" they cry;     "My King!" it sings.
Then smiling, God     sets it back again.

Hallelujah! Lord your plans are so wise,
    Grafting us into a body to make us one another
                                  and
                                     one with You.

You give us friends to encourage,
           exhort,
                           rebuke,
                   and
             provoke in love
                    to do good works.

You have also given friends
   So that we might see
A glimpse of You through them
   Though imperfectly.
And in this imperfection
   We can see
The strange fusion
   Of God in humanity.
By His Life
   We're saved from death;
Through His Grace
   We have new Breath.
This Love that keeps us strong
   And makes us friends
Is the same Love of God
   Which holds us till the end!

- D. Benning

25-Apr-1984

Praise God for Change — Pray to God for Change!

 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”  And they praised God because of me.
Gal. 1:23 - 24

   This scripture encouraged me this morning.  Look around and see the lives changed by God's intervention.  See that life?  It once was in darkness but now is walking in light.  The life that once reveled in wrong now delights in right!  That is a miracle!  God's power displayed in frail vessels of clay, redounding to His glory and the good of His people.  We should praise God for conversions!  Praise Him for change!

   But I was encouraged by this as I read it to pray for change!  God is mighty!  He, who was able to change a church-hating Saul of Tarsus into a stalwart Apostle and bond-slave of Jesus Christ, can certain still change sinners into saints.  

   Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest.  Not just for workers to go out, but pray to Him that there would be harvest!  Miraculous harvest!  Abundant harvest!  Harvest that will redound again to God's glory and the good of His church.

It Will Never be a Political Fix

 

 First of all, let me say that I do not think that we should abandon political solutions.  No, we are in this world, we are afforded the opportunity to participate in society and in government (to some extent) and thus we need to make rational and well-formed decisions that seek best to further good behavior and right living in our land.  After all, we are called to be salt and salt is to have an effect on those around.  Salt preserves and adds good taste as well as covers over some of the bad taste.  It also has medicinal effects in that it keeps bacteria and rot from growing.

So, yes, we as Christians are to do all that.

But in our society the depth of rot has progressed, the level of degradation has only increased and the extent of depravity has only plummeted.  At what point does someone look at a dish of food and say, "It is too far gone; salt cannot help this!"

We need something more.  We need the unmistakable hand of God doing what only the Divine can do: change hearts.

Why does the sinner sin?  Because he chooses what his nature wants.  We are reaping the last century of increased disregard for God, His Laws and His standards.  We have evicted God from the marketplace of ideas, first in politics, then from public schools and now to a large extent even from churches themselves.  Thus we have charlatans and false prophets preaching half-truths or out-right lies.  These pedal a different gospel and a different Jesus by means of a different spirit.  And since church-goers are so unfamiliar with what the Bible actually says, they just sit and soak it in, having their itching ear tickled to their hearts' content.  These are the ones that Paul warn the Ephesian elders about in Acts 20 when he said that grievous and savage wolves would enter to devour the flock.  But he told the Galatians that anyone who preaches a different gospel is under a divine curse: Anathama!

So we have a huge problem.  People are increasingly running after more and more sin, worse and worse perversions, and glorying in their chosen depraved life styles to an insanely blatant level.  The dog returns to its vomit and the pig to its filth.  Politics alone will not work.  We can argue all we want but there is a fundamental world-view problem.  Our set of assumed values and default priorities are not necessarily the same as other people in society.

We have a government of the people and by the people.  They will only vote for what they want.  Their nature is to want more and more things and entertainment and pleasure and stuff.  The only way to turn this country and society back to making Godly moral choices is to change the nature of its people.  That cannot ever be done through politics, though we should work hard to influence society for good.  Nor can it be effected through better education, though we should strive to make sure that our children are properly trained in all academia and godliness.  Can the leopard change its spots?  No, it takes the Great Physician to perform a great work within the heart of each individual. 

The Lord God, the "heart-knower," must work in us again.  He must start in His church,  for judgment begins in the house of the Lord.  He must remove the false prophets and wicked shepherds who teach antinomian ways, who lead their flocks straight in through the gates of hell.  To those workers of iniquity He will say, "depart from Me."

But we are still afforded opportunity for it is still called "today."  He said if we hear His voice "today" we should not harden our hearts.  That means that He still is in the business of speaking and softening hearts and giving the gift of repentance.

He told His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers.  That must mean that He still is seeking a harvest.

Even though the kingdom of Judah was wicked and had a wicked king, God told Jeremiah to go and speak once again to the people:

“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse among all the nations of the earth.’”
       Jer. 26:2 - 6

The Lord was giving Judah yet one more chance to repent and turn away from sin.  Can we not pray to this same great God and ask for one more chance?  One more awakening?  One more revival?

We should pray for the real God-called pastors and godly teachers that God Himself would strengthen them and outfit them and equip them for the task of declaring the Word of God boldly to a society that increasingly does not want to hear anything that would condemn their sin.

But we should also pray for an out-pouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh.  We should not buy into the cessationist argument that said that all the special stuff died out with the original Twelve Apostles.  No, don't put God into a box defined by your own limited experience.  Church history is filled with examples of real men and women of God doing mighty things that can only be explained by the Holy Spirit doing works with and through them. (Try googling the Welsh revival, the many revivals on the Isle of Lewis, and the revival at Asbury College, Kentucky in 1970.)

So this post is a challenge to all Christian to start praying seriously.  Pray for true men of God to have Holy Spirit unction and divine protection to be able to deliver the Word of God clearly, forcefully, powerfully and correctly.  Pray also that people's hearts would be softened to hear the Word of God and that people would be changed.  Pray also that God would grant an outpouring of His Spirit so that people will want to leave their lives of sin and misery.

The alternative is to keep on doing the same ol' same ol'.  And we can see just how far down the drain that is getting us.  No!  We need God to perform a miracle.  A mighty miracle of revival!  Not a man-made, conjured up cheap trick on a certain date, but a genuinely divine out-working and in-working of His Spirit, by His Spirit for His glory.

Pray!

 
See also this related post.

Whole-hearted

“But you did not listen to me,” declares the Lord, “and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
Jer. 25:7

Note that not listening to the Lord does two things: It arouses His anger and it brings harm to yourself.  Neither are wise and the second automatically follows from the first.

2 Kings 16 — Here is the strange story of Ahaz, son of Jotham.  Jotham was an "okay" king doing right, but there were still the high places left in the land.  I wonder if these became a snare for his son Ahaz.  Regardless, Ahaz rejected true worship of YWHW and actively pursued any other form of religion that allowed him to do as he pleased.  But notice his syncretism:

   King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”
   2 Ki. 16:15

He believed in "both/and" and borrowed whatever from wherever.  He ended up with a different gospel, and would have been happy with a different Jesus and a different spirit.  He was half-hearted at best in his worship of the Lord; but half-hearted is worthless in God's estimation. 

God wants whole-hearted devotion:

• Ps. 9:1; 111:1 — whole-hearted praise of God
• Ps. 119:2, 10 —whole-hearted seeking of God
• Ps. 119:34, 69 — observe & keeps laws whole-heartedly
• Ps. 119:58, 145 — crying out to God, praying and pleading with Him whole-heartedly

We must remember that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.  (Heb. 11:6)

Dialogues for Two Clarinets

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Dialogues for Two Clarinets


    This duet started off because someone asked me to write a duet for trumpet and clarinet. It worked well, but several people (including myself) felt that it would work even better as a clarinet duet.

Here is the link to the computer playback of the piece.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.

The three movements are

• Reminiscing
• Pleasant Conversation
• Punctuated Dialogue

    In the last movement you will hear percussion sounds. These are to represent the foot-stomping or toe-tapping that the performers are to engage in whilst playing. The foot antics are written into the score and very deliberate, punctuating the dialogue.

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Brass Suite with Trumpet

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Brass Suite with Trumpet

      This is an interesting ensemble.  Four tubas and a trumpet.  (Technically two tubas, two euphoniums and a trumpet.)  I wrote the first movement and was almost immediately asked to turn it into a complete suite.  I am indebted to David Carter for using his Vienna Symphonic Sound Library to make a very realistic computer playback performance of this piece.  Indeed it was he who encouraged me to write additional movements for this suite after he surveyed the initial piece.

Here are links to various ways of listening to it.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.
     The whole suite

Or the first two movements with cool pictures illustrating part of what I heard as I wrote it.
     Movement I, Fanfare
     Movement II, Reflections

Reviews:

The whole suite—

mmmm that's nice
   This 3 movement work features some beautiful lower brass chords and maintains rhythmic interest throughout.  The trumpet melodic work is so different to the way I approach melody that at first I found it hard to lock into, but as the piece developed, the logic and sense of the melodic work became apparent and actually, quite catchy. To me, the underlying feeling of serenity/tranquility is the unifying feature of the work. The review headline is actually what I said after the last notes. I note that some of the composers other works have this same underlying feeling. A work of quality.
 
~Jeffrey Thorpe

Individual movements—

Movement I, Fanfare
            The first review has been lost to time and the bit bin of the internet.

Movement II, Reflections

Beautifully done
While some may argue with the "muddy" side of such an ensemble, four tubas is the foundation of just about every brass band around and I think the chords you have presented here underneath the trumpet are well structured. 

~ David Smith

Movement III, Delight!

Aptly named 
The title of this piece is a perfect description. A delight to listen to. Short and sweet, bouncy, plus any other synonyms of delight that could be thought of to make this review more than the minimum 30 words. :-D

~ Tony Matthews

Mars—59,620 Years

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Mars—59,620 Years

Click here to find a computer playback of this piece.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.

      A Wind Quintet written in 2003 for a small, informal competition.  It had its premiere in London in 2006 at a small gathering of musicians who were showcasing new works.

The theme of the competition was the fact that the planet Mars was reaching its closest approach to earth in an estimated 59,620 years.  I took that theme and wove the idea of the Roman god of war with the dry and dusty images from the planet.

59,620 Years--Mars Returns is the simple telling of the approaching of Mars, the god of war. Mars, the Planet, is dry and arid--much like many of the deserts found throughout central Asia. For that reason, I chose a wind quintet and often featured the use of the double reed instruments with a haunting melody to try to invoke the feeling of a desert or at least nomadic life.

The approach of Mars is signified by a change to a minor key and an increasing sense of urgency. The storm clouds of war gather and break over everything. But Mars is old. The youthful delights that once he took in the exploits of war now easily tire him and his passion quickly drains away. Fear and foreboding subside. Calmness returns. The idyllic joy again returns as Mars fades away into the distance.

The numbers 5, 9, 6, 2, and 0 play an important part in developing the intervals used in two sections of this piece.

Back to the complete list of published music.

Nothing but the Blood

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Nothing but the Blood

      A duet for Piano and Violin that is an arrangement of an old hymn.
Initially I started this as an exercise of "Can I write music in 5/4?"  But it quickly developed into something that transformed the old hymn and made it soar.  I am blessed to have performed this three or four times.  The recording, although not our best, is from one of those occasions

Click here to find the link to a recording of the performance.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.
 

Reviews

Excellent
I stumbled across this while browsing through the composer's personal page, and before I'd even begun to listen to the scorch playback, I knew that it was not going to be just another arrangement- the obvious and wonderful rhythmic style is perfect for this hymn. All too often, I find versions of this—one of my favorite hymns—done in too much of a "rock" style, but this is perfect. It sets itself apart while still not violating the spirit of the song. I would love to hear this performed, I'm sure it is even more moving in person. Excellent, excellent job.
 
~ Curtis Schweitzer


A Transformation
Despite the title, this is an instrumental piece for violin or any other suitable instrument and piano. The old-fashioned and slightly four square gospel hymn by Robert Lowry is transformed into a moving almost epic, folk-like piece. The original 4/4 time is changed into 5/4 time which helps give it a new character and any jerkiness is avoided by an effective flowing then dramatic piano accompaniment. The melody itself is beautifully varied and ornamented—soaring to a lovely climax. Anyone who needs an instrumental piece to play during moments of reflection in a service or, indeed, in a sacred concert should have a look at this.
 
~ Charles Dodds

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Longings

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Longings

      A duet for Piano and Violin in one movement.
The steady underlying quarter note rhythm of the piano throughout much of the song provides an almost hypnotic effect over which the violin raises questions and hopes. There is the initial "longing" which grows into a more petulant and vocal whine before subsiding into a deep resignation. It is the music of a man staring out a rain-spattered window, contemplating many things that had been or almost were.

Click here to listen to the computer performance.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.

Reviews:  Staring at the rain from a glass window, immersed in thought

   An intriguing piece of music for piano and violin. It begins like a kind of an aria with an interesting tune and a fair bit of chromaticism which sometimes generates surprises, such as in bar 13. I would like to know what inspired this piece, because it has quite a sombre mood. This is confirmed by the title ("Longings") and indications in the score ("with much feeling", "sighing" and "resignation"). I have the theory that these longings are of a spiritual nature, rather than not.
The opening movement is hinted at in the program note as being "Slow and plodding". This is not an entirely inappropriate description. The piano accompaniment is quite uniform: one note in every beat of the 4/4 metre — very constant in rhythm, and one wonders if the music would benefit from a greater use of syncopation and suspension to make the piano part more attention-grabbing. But then, perhaps that would not be what is intended, as the music succeeds in generating a certain eerie and almost hypnotic feeling.
By bar 40 the accompaniment's basic rhythm begins to change a bit, and at 62 a contrasting section commences, immediately delivering a more threatening kind of sound, as the music gets progressively more disturbed (never loosing its basic restraint, though).
The music concludes very quietly, perhaps giving the feeling that the longings have not been entirely resolved, the ending being "resigned and sullen" as hinted in the program note? certainly no happy ending here. I liked very much the glissando at bar 123 *, which was in the right place of the music to impact emotionally. In summary, I find this piece to be quite sad and resigned, like staring at the rain from a glass window immersed in thought about old dreams, the unfulfilled promises of youth, the longing for answers about the loneliness of the human condition in this world. I felt that the piece had interesting harmonic twists but that it could benefit from more rhythmic variety and more strongly contrasting sections but I found it interesting enough to keep my attention. That's why I can say that, personally, I liked it.

~ Jordi Vives i Batlle

* Note: the glissando mentioned in the above review did not show up on this computer playback.  It would have been between the second to last note, a high G, and the last note, a G one octave lower.

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Passages of Time

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Passages of Time

  A duet for Piano and Flute in four movements.
I do have a recording of this being performed by Flute and Piano, but the recording was on an old cassette tape and was of poor quality.  I'm not putting it on the web.  Period.  Instead I have three of these movements recorded as performed with Violin and Piano.  The violinist said there was no way she could work up the second movement.  Far too flute-like and demanding of all but the most advance violinist.

All four movements run almost 17 minutes, the last movement being the longest.  The second movement is the most demanding in terms of the flute part (tonguing) and the piano part (getting all the notes in with the right rhythm). NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.

• Mvt 1, violin & piano 
• Mvt 3, violin & piano
• Mvt 4, violin & piano

Reviews:  Music of a man at peace with the world

   After hearing the first bars of this piece it became quite clear to me that the best I could do was not to try to "analyse" it, but instead to allow myself to be surrounded and transported by this beautiful music. I experienced a range of subtle, warm, delicate emotions while listening to this piece as the sinuous line melodic lines of the flute and the enchanting piano accompaniments unfolded. Perhaps the best way to describe this feeling is that I felt as if I was beginning to soar in the air, like a bird learning to fly, gliding higher and higher above the land and watching the calm sea, and the diffuse line of the horizon. Passages of Time is the music of a man at peace with what lies ahead and what has slipped into eternity behind us. It is the music of a man on a journey, who has found his sense of purpose and can bid farewell with sweet melancholy without striving desperately for the unattainable. In some way this music encapsulates our human experience and our ability to move forward and let our memories fly over the horizon without casting them away from our soul. 

~ Jordi Vives i Batlle

UPDATE:
Here are the recordings as done  by flute and piano.  This had to have been from the early 1990s or the late 1980s.  Sound quality is a bit spurious, but is sufficient to allow the listener to image how I had originally envisioned the music.

• Mvt 1, flute & piano
• Mvt 2, flute & piano
• Mvt 3, flute & piano
• Mvt 4, flute & piano

Tripping

Published by Kistner und Siegel:

* Tripping

  A Wind Quintet originally written for the 60 x 60 project and it was accepted in 2008.  Since this piece is under 60 seconds long, I cannot think of this as being a full, formal Wind Quintet, but instead a Breeze Quintet.  It is light and playful like a breath of early Summer.  Tripping is a light-hearted interplay between instruments, filled with musical humor.

Click here for link to the computer performance.  NOTE: you will have to search the list within the SoundClick link to find the individual movements since that site has changed their format.



Review

  Pleasant Whimsy

   I hear a pleasant little whimsy—interesting gestures, rhythmic interplay and tonal sound world. This composer shows some promise.  }:¬)

~David Carter

Unconventional & Engaging!

This "Breeze Quintet" is quite fitting of the title "Tripping". David has written lines which almost all descend, and by passing them from higher to lower voices gives a sense of a slow fall over the course of the piece.

The harmony is most unconventional, and a welcome change from the often bland harmonic language present in today's music, and adds to the programmatic nature of the piece, giving a sense of uncertainty to the slow descent.

A fine work, David!

~ Jonathan Loving

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Dancing Night Wind

Published by Echelon Music:

 *     Dancing Night Wind
  A flute solo, but the best recording I have of it is by Charlie Brighton who heard the piece and thought he could do a grand job with it as a solo tuba piece.  I think he did an outstanding job.  (He reviewed the piece; see below.)

    Listen here.

This piece was premiered in Sacramento in 2011, by Maquette Kuper, who is the director of the Davis Youth Flute Choir.

Reviews

 A flute's magic flight

With due apologies to Herr Mozart for the headline, this is ravishing music for a solo flute. Full of dance-like figurations, subtle changes in rhythm, lyrical episodes and dream-like reveries. The technical demands are self-evident along with the challenge of combining and balancing pace and poise in such a carefully written piece. Highly satisfying. 

~ Cedric Peachey

 Brilliant

A wonderful piece, full of atmosphere, great fun to play and listen to.  I featured it in my Euphonium recital and the live recording can be heard here, played in concert C, with a few octave changes.

Best wishes,

~ Charley Brighton, BBC Winds, London

Back to the complete list of published music.

Music....

Well, this is rather interesting: I have music that is or is being published.
Seven pieces published by the German publishing company, Kistner und Siegel.
And one piece by Echelon Music.

I have been asked to provide links to sound files so that each of these could be heard in some form.  Remember, I cannot show the musical scores, but I can showcase the musical performances.  This blog entry will also allow me to collect comments and reviews that some of these pieces have received over the past decade or so.

That any of these pieces came into being is truly a gift from God.  I am the unworthy recipient of His grace and any talents that I may have.  And to think that somehow some of this music connects to other people and touches them by listening is really, really humbling!



     Inspiration
Even as I sit here
In deep wonderment I am;
It's something between awe
And ad nauseam!
     Yet not that—but puzzlement.

I am not myself,
But another, yet unknown;
It is something in my finger
That I would seek to disown.
     Yet not that—but imprisonment.

I would that I could control it
(It from my stylus pours);
It must be tamed somehow,
Lest I myself deplore.
     Yet not that—but penitent.

This scourge that from my finger flows
Is sampled here upon this page;
It comes and keeps on coming—
I would to put it in a cage!
     Yet not that—but banishment.

But I reckon that it's here stay,
So I'll let it do its thing;
I'll let it pour out on paper
All its foolish clamorings.
     Yet not that—but accomplishments!

So I'll use this Gift from God
(He by His Grace bestowed it);
I'll nurture it and cherish it
And be a real composer-poet.
     Yet not that—but His instrument!

- D. Benning
02-Dec-1982



Here is the list of published music.  Click on each to go to a separate page describing the piece, complete with reviews and links to a recording of a performance.

• Dancing Night Wind
• Tripping
• Passages of Time
• Longings
• Dialogues for 2 Clarinets 
• Brass Suite with Trumpet
• Nothing but the Blood
• Mars—59,620 Years