When we sing together as a church, we are not just aligning ourselves with each other, or with the created order as a whole. We are aligning it with the One who sings loud songs of exultation over his children, and who finished the Last Supper by singing a hymn with his friends.

Singing unites body and soul.
“My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed” (Ps. 71:23). It is wonderful to “make melody in your hearts,” rejoicing before the Lord in our innermost being, but singing aligns the body—the tongue, the throat, the chest, the diaphragm, the breath in the lungs, and the vibrations in the thorax—with the rejoicing in the soul, and by doing so reinforces it. By making a decision to sing with our bodies, we can lift our spirits and increase our joy (in part because God, by his grace, has created human beings to release endorphins and oxytocin when we sing). Body and soul are brought together as we praise: “my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God” (Ps. 84:2).
Here are four ways singing unites.
1. Singing unites individuals with other believers.
Jennie Pollock made this point last month: songs unite us to one another, whether we are in church or at a football match, and reach the parts that other beers do not reach. Psychologists could talk for hours about how songs function as a “hive switch,” turning us from self-absorbed individuals into a self-denying collective. But it is obvious from the way music works: if multiple people talk at once, the meaning of each individual is lost, whereas if multiple people sing at once (and especially when they sing in harmony) the meaning of each individual line is heightened and strengthened by being united with others. It is a glorious picture of what the church is intended to be, and especially so when we remember that if we sing from (say) the Psalter, we are united with the dead as well as the living.
2. Singing unites humans with other living creatures.
The first noise you heard when you woke up this morning, if it wasn’t a vehicle or a small child, was probably the dawn chorus. Creation sings. It always has.
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The Democratic Party has been pushing Planned Parenthood, abortion, and birth control. Big-name philanthropists are putting their money behind birth control efforts. Liberals have been pushing birth control and abortion for decades. While pro-abortion liberals are pushing the abortion and contraception wagon, Christian conservatives with their large families could dominate the culture in a generation or two if they believe and act in terms of “In God We Trust.”

You may have seen Megan Raponoe at the 2021 Met Gala celebrating “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art dressed in a red, white, and blue star-spangled suit. I take that back. You most likely did not see her. Just so you know, she was carrying a clutch purse that said: “In Gay We Trust” on the side. The blasphemous phrase is not unique to her, but it is indicative of the anti-Christian LGBTQ+ movement. Christians who support this lifestyle are equally blasphemous.
“In Gay We Trust” is a self-maledictory oath, a self-curse. A malediction is to speak (diction) a curse (mal = bad), and that’s what the LGBTQers are doing. They are cutting off their future. Some, like the former Ellen Page and now Elliot Page, are literally doing it.
The entire LGBTQ+ sexual/non-sexual alphabet soup worldview is a self-malediction. This is why the Alphabet People must recruit because they cannot reproduce if they are consistent with their homosexual and transgender principles.

Family 101: Getting Our House in Order

Family 101 is a much-needed course designed to help Christians understand covenant life. The student will learn not only about the family, but about the important role of education—both our own and that of our children. The videos, audios, and printed works found in Family 101 will provide the encouragement and the education necessary to live faithfully to both God and neighbor.

The religious leaders in Israel who worked overtime to have Jesus murdered pronounced a self-maledictory oath on themselves that had far-reaching implications for the nation.
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” And all the people said, “His blood shall be on us and on our children!” (Matt. 27:24–25).
And within a generation, the judgment came on them and their children. A Jewish woman named Mary ate part “of her child, whom she had killed and roasted. When the Romans besieged Jerusalem in AD 70, leading to a terrible famine, hunger had supposedly led to acts of desperation.” Jesus had warned about the possibility (Mt. 24:19). Even so, God was gracious by offering a way of escape (Matt. 24:15–20; Luke 21:20–24)
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the birth rate in America hit an all-time low in 2011. “The 2011 preliminary number of U.S. births was 3,953,593, 1 percent less (or 45,793 fewer) births than in 2010; the general fertility rate (63.3 per 1,000 women age 15–44 years) declined to the lowest rate ever reported for the United States,” the report stated.
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Korah’s sons followed Moses’ command to “depart” from Korah’s tent so as not to be destroyed because of his sin (Numbers 16:25-26). Rather than follow their earthly father Korah, these sons followed God’s appointed leader Moses. Thus, they did not walk in their father’s sins, and God did not consider them to truly belong to Korah. Instead, they sided with Moses and the congregation of Israel and thus remained faithful toward the Lord. This is a wonderful example of the Lord’s mercy toward those who repent from the sins of their fathers.

The book of Numbers is known for Israel’s many rebellions, including Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16:1-50). Aaron and Miriam had rebelled against Moses, but now other leaders in Israel rebelled. These leaders included Korah (a Kohathite of the tribe of Levi), Dathan, Abiram, On (of the tribe of Reuben), and 250 prominent leaders of Israel whom they assembled (Numbers 16:1-2).
These men challenged the authority of Moses and Aaron. They cited that “all in the congregation are holy,” and they asked why they “exalt yourselves above the assembly of Yahweh” (Numbers 16:3, all translations hereafter are mine).
The Basis for Korah’s Complaint
As a son of Kohath, Korah was a Levite who served in the tabernacle (Numbers 4:1-20; 7:9; 10:21). Korah was also the first cousin of Moses and Aaron, whose father Amram was also a son of Kohath (Exodus 6:16, 18, 20; cf. Numbers 16:1). However, Korah rebelled because he was not a priest like Aaron and his sons. Korah exemplified a lack of contentment in God’s calling and instead coveted the position of the priests. Ironically, Korah wanted to do the very thing God warned would lead to the death of the Kohathites, which was to approach the holy things (Numbers 4:17-20).
Korah’s theological argument was a bad use of logic. He reasoned from the truth that all Israelites were in a sense holy (Exodus 19:6) to the conclusion that all Israelites, including himself, should be priests. Yet that clearly violated God’s command that the priests come from the sons of Aaron. Korah’s claim is akin to arguing that because all Christians are “priests” in a sense (1 Peter 2:9; cf. Exodus 19:6), then anyone, including women, may be pastors. Yet Scripture forbids that very thing (1 Timothy 2:12).
Korah’s Judgment
Moses instructed Korah and the others to take censers and put fire in them in the morning, as the Lord would show them who is “his” and “holy” (Numbers 16:5-7). (Paul quotes 16:5 [LXX] in 2 Timothy 2:19 regarding false teachers.) The rebels said Moses and Aaron had gone too far, but Moses said it was actually the Levites who had gone too far (16:3, 7). Moses asked Korah and his rebels if the Lord’s appointed service of the tabernacle was “too small” a task of them (16:8-9). He then asked, “Do you also seek the priesthood?” (16:10). Moses indicated Korah’s “congregation”—contrasted with the “congregation” of Israel (16:9)—did not just “grumble” against Aaron but rebelled “against Yahweh” (16:11).
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