It's Here

My new album, The Attributes of God, has just been released. You can get it at the following places:

iTunes

Amazon

Order CD Online

I pray that it's a blessing to you and that it encourages you towards a high view of our great God. All lyrics will be posted on this site. Feel free to leave comments/ questions here.

grace and peace,
shai

Do You Know Him?

As I considered a phrase that would summarize the theme of my new album, The Attributes of God, I kept coming back to John 17:3, where the Lord Jesus Christ, in His prayer to the Father on the night before His death, makes a profound statement:

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3

In light of this verse, the statement I wanted to make became obvious. Actually, not a statement, but a question:

Do You Know Him?

Why this question? Because, according to the Lord Jesus in John 17:3, each person's eternal destiny depends on what the answer is. There is only one true God. To know this one true God is eternal life, which means that to not know Him is eternal death and destruction. There is no knowing this one true God apart from also knowing Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.

Looking at the same truth from a different angle, it can be said that all sin is a failure to know God properly (Ex. 5:2, Jn. 16:3). In the days of the Judges, Israel was spoken of like this:

"And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel." (Judges 2:10)

We see the fruit of that lack of the knowledge of God in the very next verse:

"And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals." (Judges 2:11)

There is a direct correlation between sin/ idolatry and not knowing the Lord. Idolatry is giving other things the place that properly belongs to God alone. This will inevitably happen when a person does not know God. To know God is to know Him as He has revealed Himself, not as we would like Him to be. When Moses asked God to see His glory, God responded in this way:

"I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." (Exodus 33:19-20)

Later on in the passage, it says

"The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation." (Ex. 34:6-7)

Verse 7 presents a mystery that is only resolved through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can the same God simultaneously abound in steadfast love and yet remain perfectly just in His dealings with rebellious sinners like us? God said that He will by no means clear the guilty. The problem is we ARE guilty. How can we be cleared without God contradicting Himself? The cross, that's how. To know God is to agree with Him about the holiness of His character, the offensiveness of our sin and the righteous wrath of God that our guilt deserves. To know God is to embrace the cross and what Christ accomplished there.

To know God is to rest in the sufficiency of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To know God is to turn away from sin and to run towards the Lord, who stands with open arms filled with love, mercy, grace, kindness and compassion for those who trust in Him. To deny His character as revealed in Scripture is evidence of not knowing Him. The blessing of the new covenant is that all who trust in Jesus shall know God (Heb. 8:11). For all eternity, our supreme joy and delight will be in knowing and worshiping the God who created and redeemed us. There is no greater news possible.

The Attributes of God project is an attempt to use music as a means of communicating truth about the character of God. Our prayer at Lamp Mode has been that God would use it to point people to the Scriptures and what God says about Himself there. We're also praying that through the gospel presented on the album, God would be pleased to use something as "foolish" as a hip-hop record to draw people to Himself and to help build up those who are already in Christ.

So that's why we chose the question, "Do You Know Him?" as the phrase to go with the album. We hope that you'll download the avatar and that it will spark curiosity and that when people respond, "Know who?", you would tell them about Jesus.

grace and peace,
shai

Attributes of God Now Available for Pre-Order

Here

Release Date: 11.1.11

grace and peace,
shai

Perfection of Beauty

Here's the trailer for my new album, The Attributes of God, which will be released on...well, just watch the video lol. The beautiful lady doing spoken word is my bride Blair Linne. Pay close attention as she contrasts the world's idea of beauty with the haunting beauty of a Holy God. Enjoy!

Skills or Message?

On Twitter recently, I made a comment about Christian films and the poor acting that is often associated with them. Someone responded by asking,

"Are you going for the acting or the message? The truth is what is needed!"

The person went on to ask, "Shouldn't God's glory be the first thing?"

This is a question that often comes up when dealing with works of art that have a Christian message connected to them. So what's more important? Skills or message?

I think the problem here is with the question itself, as it pits two things against each other that should actually be walking hand-in-hand. When it comes to Christians doing art, it's not either convey a true message or do it skillfully. It's both/ and. Consider a few Scriptures:

Psalm 33:3

"Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts."

The Psalmist goes on to speak on God's nature and His works as incentives to praise Him in this way. But did you notice the word "skillfully" in verse 3? Why doesn't it simply say "play on the strings"? I believe it's because God is particularly glorified when knowledge, wisdom and craftsmanship are applied by the artist in His service. This glorifies God as the generous Giver of talent, creative capacity and artistic expertise. It wasn't enough for the Psalmist to merely say true things about God. That truth was meant to be joined by skillful accompaniment.

Or consider these verses concerning the building of the tabernacle:

Exodus 35:10

Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the LORD has commanded:

Exodus 35:25-26

And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair.

Exodus 36:1-2

Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the LORD has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded." And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the LORD had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.

I'm sure at that time, there were many with the desire to work on the tabernacle. But it wasn’t enough to have the desire without the skill to best glorify God with those desires. This was such a priority to God that He actually put skill into the minds of Bezalel and Oholiab (Ex.36:2). The tabernacle would have looked really shabby if just anybody who knew how to pick up a carving instrument was allowed to work on it! Does this mean that God won’t accept the praise of someone who jumps on the piano and pounds away mindlessly to the glory of God? Not necessarily. A sincere heart is of great worth in God’s eyes (1 Sam. 16:7). Also, being the most skilled virtuoso in the world is meaningless if her heart is controlled by pride or self-exaltation (Proverbs 8:13).

With that said, I believe that art done by Christians should be held to high aesthetic standards and that the phrase, "It was pretty good for a Christian movie/song/book, etc." should NEVER be the preface for a statement about Christian works of art. If I have to choose between quality art and a truthful message, I'll simply pass on the work altogether. Why should I have to look at a bad painting in order to see the text of Romans 6:23 scribbled into the furniture? Just give me a Bible, please. There are plenty of places to get truth without subjecting yourself to bad art in the process.

So here's my answer to the question, "Shouldn't God's glory be the first thing?"

If an Isrealite asked Moses that same question, I think he might have said, "Yes. God's glory is the first thing. That's why they must be skilled."

grace and peace,
shai