"Amazing Grace" Performed by Alabaster Box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjOlytm3CA

Alabaster Box is a four man Ghanian a capella singing group founded by Samuel Narku Dowuona. The other members of the group are Gideon Allotey, Michael Allotey, and Horst Ayub. The African musical instrument sounds which you hear are all made by the men.The group is often referred to simply as the Box.

Alabaster in its purest form is a snow-white mineral which is especially useful in sculpture.

Are You "Picky"?

This video shows a person throwing pieces of turkey to Gemma, a pit bull. Gemma eagerly grabs the turkey out of the air before it hits the floor. When the person substitutes a broccoli floret, Gemma declares "That is not food!" We laugh at such a "picky" dog.

The Bible instructs us to be just as "picky" as Gemma. We are to use our powers of discernment. We are free under the Blood of the Lord (Romans 8:1) but not all things are useful to us and some things are positively harmful to us or to our witness. These things are to be rejected as quickly as Gemma spit out the broccoli.

Film Comment: Bill and Ted;s Excellent Adventure

The video clip below is from a cult classic movie named Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989).  The film is truly hilarious because it is so ridiculously mindless and vapid. This is repeat of a prior post because the video was soon blocked by you tube. 

In 2688 AD/CE, Rufus is chosen to save the Utopian future by using a time traveling phone booth to go to 1988 and to ensure that the Two Great Ones,Bill and Ted , are able to form the rock music band Wyld Stallyns (Wild Stallions) because their music is destined to save the world. To preserve the future, Rufus has to help the two empty headed boys make a passing grade on their high school history project.

The future society has based itself upon the music and philosophy of the rock music band, resulting in world peace.

(Some videos will not play properly when you click on the triangle.  Instead,  click on the title line in the picture and the video will begin .  When the video is completed, close the You Tube pop-up window to return to this blog.) 

This video replay is blocked. Try this link instead.

“I think they want us to say something.”

“What should I say?”

“Make something up!”

“Be excellent to each other!”

“Be excellent to each other!”  This is excellent advice but is a very naive basis on which to build a society because of the fallen nature of man.  History has repeatedly proven that we will not “Be excellent to each other!”

Only a complete change in our nature, a total transformation in our understanding of the nature of reality, will suffice. We need to be of one mind about things.  Christians are capable of this because we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  We have the Mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:10, 2:16; Philippians 1:27)

“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 1John 3:10-11

福音歌 (The Gospel Song)

This is absolutely beautiful!  William Chong’s daughter loves her daddy and helps him sing his song.  William is a gathered worship leader at Howick Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OAPxinCISU

聖潔神以愛成為
完美人承擔我罪
十架上受苦犧牲
祂受死我得永生

Holy God, love becomes

Perfect bear my sins

Sacrifice on the cross of suffering

His death I have never

Shèngjié shén yǐ ài chéngwéi

wánměi rén chéngdān wǒ zuì

shí jià shàng shòukǔ xīshēng

tā shòu sǐ wǒ dé yǒng

Amazing Grace Performed on the Blues Harmonica

Amazing Grace performed on the Harmonica in the blues music style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7e3JWnLEDY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crxqFzslD0Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EggMezlS04
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keWark492C0

This next link has nothing to do with the links above except that it shows one of the true blues masters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ny5ajCn0xw

Dude With a Limp

Michael Jr. tells you that he is a stand-up comedian. His jokes and stories have people rolling in the aisles. Then, he pulls out the Sword of the Lord and thrusts. This is a man of God. This is an evangelist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX1_5DzWNxw

Amazing Grace Performed on Several Musical Instruments

Amazing Grace Performed on Several Musical Instruments

Ukelele

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRJTLqUcBOY

Q-chord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrOduATSEaA

Bluegrass version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_48lTzLsnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBgk8_hnCNA

Harmonica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crxqFzslD0Y

Trump (aka: Jew’s Harp)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dirEn3ykyg

Harp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJCXXqwXODw

Camille and Kennerly Kitt

Amazing Grace Sung in the Lakota Language by Tiana Spotted Thunder

The Native American Lakota Tribe is more commonly known as the Sioux.  Some, but not all, consider the word "Sioux" to be an insult word (see the third link)..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd0SgrUpFnc

http://www.indians.org/articles/lakota-indians.html
http://www.aaanativearts.com/sioux/

Junior, the French Bulldog Joins In

Junior, a French Bulldog, joins in as his owners sing along with the Josh Groban song, “You Raise Me Up.” The two men in the video are Emanuele Tiburzio and Walter Ledenmueller, who live in Köln, Germany.

Josh Groban, who has never publicly declared his current religious status , was raised as an Epicopalian.  His father converted from Judaism in order to marry Josh’s mother.  Groban has a large Christian following because of the inspirational nature of his songs and has sold over 20,000,000 albums in the last ten years.

The Lord's Prayer in Klingon

Klingon (actually Tlhingan) is a fictional language created by the linguist Marc Okrand for the Klingon race of aliens featured in the numerous Star Trek movies and television series. The Klingons are an interplanetary race of fierce warriors who control the vast expanses of outer space claimed by the Klingon Empire.

Klingon has been built up into a full totally functional language with a written form, literature, plays, operas, translations of The Bible and the works of William Shakespeare, and even dictionaries. There are now estimated to be 50,000 to 100,000 people who are fluent in the language. Below is The Lord's Prayer in spoken Klingon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbRTFfdeIj8  

Amazing Grace Performed on the Pan Flute

Pan Flute (Austria)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0WzW7BiKk8

http://www.panflutejedi.com/academypage.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-the-Panpipe-or-Pan-Flute

Amazing Grace on the Native American Six Hole Flute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjkXU-4wZKM

http://www.flutopedia.com/fingeringChart_SixDiatonic.htm

But I Don't Want to Go!

I am posting this video simply because I can.  Bella is swimming and enjoying it very much until it is time to go home.

http://theilovedogssite.com/gone-viral-dog-throws-hissy-fit-when-told-its-time-to-stop-swimming/

Does this look and sound familiar?

Amazing Grace Sung in the Navajo Language

Amazing Grace in Navajo, sung by Elizabeth Bryant and Virginia Greymountain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1s9jd7OOcM

http://navajopeople.org/

http://www.navajo-nsn.gov/history.htm

A Country Music Version of Amazing Grace on the Steel Guitar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAlydSxj--s

A Beautiful A Cappella Version of Amazing Grace

A beautiful a cappella version of Amazing Grace. The a cappella style of music utilizes human voices presented without the use of musical instruments. The word a cappella is of Italian origin and translates as "according to chapel, " meaning sung like a chant without musical instruments.


/www.godtube.com/watch/?v=JFME1JNU

Three Versions of Amazing Grace on the Steel Drums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB3Uyptlfj0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J3X0whM_-4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWWpyfMsee4

Ueno Yoshie Performing Amazing Grace on the Flute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFOjMWw5Vok

http://kobe-bunka.jp/flute/7th/en/profiles.html

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/yoshie-ueno/id536076065

The flutist, Yoshie Ueno, should not be confused with the international judoka, Yoshie Ueno.

http://www.judoinside.com/judoka/view/14043/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Jz_kNJHkw

Several Electric Guitar Renditions of “Amazing Grace”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-r-Vj8zgN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiEozQ786nY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NXkWZ-qOwg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWGzpBvnG2k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69RA7vxmIcw
Several listeners insist that this is Jeff Beck rather than Carlos Santana.  The guitar style does seem to be more like Beck than the more Latin inspired Santana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPtX5gPT5KQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUZ24ZFBiok

Two Fathers

Today is Father’s Day.  The holiday is observed in at least fifty countries on the third Sunday of the month of June. The day celebrates fathers and their influences on the lives of their children.

A wonderful song for Father’s Day is Beautiful Boy by John Lennon. Every father should hear it.

One of the most important biblical stories about a father is that of Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham had already had to send away his first-born son, Ishmael, the son of his wife’s servant/slave girl. Surely he had loved this son.  Now, God was asking Abraham to sacrifice his adored young son, born to Abraham’s long-barren wife.

I believe that this story tells us about two fathers: Abraham and God.

Genesis 22:1-19

22 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

15 And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The traditional understanding of this passage is that God was testing the faith of Abraham. Obviously, the omniscient omnipotent Creator knew the answer before He gave the test. I believe that there is much more there: God was also teaching Abraham at least three things:

1.          This is what I expect. You should put nothing ahead of Me.

2.          This is how much you love Me, that you would have done this thing if I had not stopped you.

3.     I will provide/have provided the only sacrifice necessary for you to be acceptable in My sight; the Blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.