Praising the Lord With Bagpipes

 MacLellan Bagpipes posted this poem on Facebook.

May my pipes be a gift

I will lift to the Lord.

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A grace note of praise in

every lyric and chord.

​

May my tune be a prayer

of renewal and light.

​

May my tune be a beacon

which shines through the night.

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And even when loss

and grief come along

​

I'll have faith in the Lord

and play him a TUNE.

I have felt this way since I first began going to church after learning the pipes.  The first hymn I learned in 1983 because it was a band tune, and which every piper is expected to know: Amazing Grace. Going Home was the next band tune considered a hymn of sorts (I’ve had it requested for funerals). Those were the only hymns I learned with the band.

Since I wasn’t really proficient with music scores, sometimes I learned a hymn by listening to it. I heard Kum Ba Yah on a folk song cassette and worked it out on the pipes in 1989, and then I began thinking how I could probably transcribe hymns if I could tinker the tune out (not many can be transcribed to pipes). In 1990 I began seeing what I could do.

Ode to Joy was one I heard at Easter and found it relatively easy to work out, and the next one was one of my favorite hymns—Martyrdom. And then they just kept coming so I could praise the Lord with my pipes. Soon there was I Need Thee, then Old 100th, All Through the Night, Praise and Thanksgiving, The Ash Grove, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (I played a duet of this with a trumpeter), Fairest Lord Jesus, Stand Up For Jesus, Just As I Am, Greensleeves, All Creatures of Our God and King, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, We Three Kings, Little Drummer Boy, God King Wenceslas, Immortal Invisible God Only Wise, and Holy, Holy, Holy all came to me during 1990. It was so exciting that I have never ceased trying to put some hymn on my pipes.

One stroke of luck in 1993 was when we were on vacation to the Olympic National Park in Washington and stopped at one of the shops I had been using for mail order; I purchased a small book titled “The Church Piper,” which had many of the hymns I already learned plus several I was planning on transcribing! There are 33 tunes but that includes many non-hymn laments for funerals, etc.

The following list is of Christian songs/hymns—and which I have had opportunities to play in church over the years for regular services, Easter and Christmas time. 

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

A Shield About Me

Abide With Me

All Creatures of Our God and King

All Through The Night

Amazing Grace

As the Deer Panteth Over the Water

Ash Grove, The (Sent Forth By God’s Blessing)

At the Cross

Austrian Hymn (Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken)

Chief of Sinners Though I Be

Children of the Heavenly Father

Come, Christians, Join to Sing

Earth and All Stars

Fairest Lord Jesus (Crusader’s Hymn)

Faith of Our Fathers

God Leads Us Along

Going Home (Dvorak)

Grace Greater Than Our Sin

Holy God We Praise Your Name

Holy, Holy, Holy

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

How Great Thou Art

Hymn to Joy

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

I Love to Tell the Story

I Love You Lord

I Need Thee Every Hour

I’ll Fly Away

I Will Sing of My Redeemer

Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise

Just As I Am Without One Plea

King of Love My Shepherd Is, The

Kum Ba Yah

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

Londonderry Air (Danny Boy)

Love Devine (Beecher)

Love of God, The

Martyrdom (Alas and Did My Savior Bleed)

My Faith Looks Trustingly

Nearer My God to Thee

Oh, For A Thousand Tongues

Old 100th (Doxology)

Praise and Thanksgiving (Morning Has Broken)

Psalm 42 (O Waly, Waly)

Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It

Rejoice, Rejoice This Happy Morn (etc) 

Shall We Gather At The River

Softly and Tenderly 

Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

Sweet Bye and Bye

There is Power in the Blood

Thy Strong Word (Oh the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus)

To God Be the Glory

Victory in Jesus

We Gather Together

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross  (Hamburg)

When the Saints Go Marching In

Christmas

Angels We Have Heard On High

Good King Wenceslas

Greensleeves 

In Dulci Jubilo

Little Drummer Boy, The

O Come, O Come Immanuel

Oh Come, All Ye Faithful

We Three Kings

If you play a musical instrument and don’t already do so, see how you can use it to praise the Lord for His gift of music.

Some Good, Some Bad, and Some Downright Ugly

I’ve been quite busy lately with practicing my pipes and playing for events. Added to that have been too many doctor visits.  Meanwhile, my collection of links for articles I feel important to be shared just kept piling up. So this is a long post, but there are some good articles for edification and many for learning what is going on with false teachers/teachings.

Starting off, here is another thought-provoking article about the so-called revival at Asbury.

A saying that sounds pious but isn’t- “Let Go and Let God”

Here’san interesting article about the translation of the Greek word ecclesia. What is interesting to me is that I have always understood the translation “church” to mean the individual assembly — a congregation. That’s what I see in the context.

Jesse has a pretty good examination of the Catholic Eucharist.

Everyone I Don’t Like is Literally Gothard. Too many people are making false accusations against teachers they don’t like, comparing them with Bill Gothard’s teachings. This article gives a review of some of Gothard’s teachings so as to settle such false charges.

What’s in the Gap?  An excellent examination of the “Gap Theory” and why it doesn’t work. (One problem exists when it ascribes the name “Lucifer” to Satan—Lucifer was never Satan’s name.)

The Church should not be using cultural relevance and entertainment to reach people.

Hillsong is NOT a church or even a group of churches—it is a business, and even a cult with false teachings of every sort.

Why Christians shouldn’t bow to “homosexual marriage.” Excellent speech, worth the five minutes to watch.

Pay attention to Clint Eastwood—3:27 minutes of good lessons using satire.

This is what you get when the person who really got your church started is a well-known false teacher—Saddleback church ordaining women pastors. Rick Warren severely abuses Scripture to support women pastors.

Beth Moore has literally become a cult leader. She has led millions of women (and, surprisingly, men) astray, and her latest antics prove just how apostate she has become.

The Gospel Coalition teaches only the “gospel” of Satan. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

Do you need any more evidence than this to prove that Andy Stanley is an heretical apostate? How about another bit of evidence?

False teacher Steven Furtick is selling tickets for a preaching/worship tour—for hundreds of dollars!!!

The Catholic Church, as a whole, continues to be more and more apostate because the man in charge, the Pope, does nothing about those who violate not only Catholicism but also real Christianity.  There is a priest in Ireland who allows a Muslim call to prayer during Mass. Then we have a Catholic university denying a formation of a group on campus because the group believes in only two genders — male and female!  OH, and how about a Catholic school that suspended a student for saying men and women are different?!!?

Stay away from Lysa TerKeurst/Proverbs 31 Ministries. (note that even though the article is originally dated in 2015, the article itself is continually updated).

Bible Project’s Tim Mackie believes Penal Substitutionary Atonement stems from pagan sacrifice rituals. There are some really heretical beliefs out there, so beware.

Proof that Joyce Meyer is a false teacher and most likely is unsaved.

Kenneth Copeland and Heidi Baker—two of the biggest frauds and worse false prophets out there.

In The Chosen, Peter says God makes mistakes!  ANNNNDDD, the guy who plays Jesus on The Chosen is about as theologically apostate as it gets.

Thought-Provoking Memes

Questioning the Asbury “Revival”

Revival Isn’t About Sitting Around Playing Acoustic Guitars and Singing Shallow Worship Songs. And, Evidence Shows the Asbury Event Wasn’t Spontaneous, but Planned Weeks in Advance. A letter to Lighthouse Trails Research Project also proves it wasn’t spontaneous. 

What about the influence there of the New Apostolic Reformation? And why would a bonafide revival from the Holy Spirit include emotional and often heretical songs from Hillsong and Bethel? How about we ask 8 Crucial Questions? (This is on Facebook and I don’t know how to get it on my blog, but the questions follow below.)

1. Eight revivals at this university since 1890. Why does the Holy Spirit favor this university? Or is this being manipulated? Why no regular revival anywhere else?

2. Asbury is part of the Wesleyan Holiness movement. This branch usually doesn’t preach much on sin, judgement or wrath and the need for repentance. Those who visited haven’t heard the Gospel at all, which should be the centerpiece of any revival. (Asbury promotes the unbiblical teaching of women pastors—why would a revival be where there are false teachings?)

3. Who is endorsing (and some teaching) this revival? False teachers such as Todd Bentley, Sean Feucht of Bethel Church, Emergent Shane Clairborne, Francis Chan, Rick Warren, Mike Bickle, et al.

4. Why no reports of revival on secular campuses? Why just private Christian schools?

5. What is revival? Individual; revivals go out, people don’t come in. 

6. What is actually happening? Lots of worship but little if any expository Bible teaching, and possibly no Gospel teaching. Fruit of Biblical revival is salvation and those saved taking the Gospel out.

7. Bizarre behavior there: demons being cast out? Female preacher speaking in tongues, lots of Hillsong and Bethel music. 

8. Those interviewed focus on the Holy Sprit and the Savior is Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s role is to focus on Jesus. Emotion-focused, musically-driven.

As I see from the evidence, this was a planned, emotion-driven event pretending to be from God, attracting mostly young people who have very little discernment ability.