Worship: from Praise Him to Praise Hymn

By Eurydice V. Osterman

From Praise HIM to Praise Hymn is a book about worship, and has been written for all Protestant Churches across the planet to examine the transition from traditional worship to praise worship, what’s behind it, and what God has to say about it. You will learn how this transition plays a vital role in the establishment of the new world order and its future impact upon one’s spirituality. Finally, the book includes an evaluation tool designed to assist ministers of music, musicians, and other interested persons in analyzing the content of a song to assess its appropriateness for worship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503593787

Eurydice V. Osterman

Eurydice V. Osterman is a Fulbright scholar and a published author and composer whose works have been read and performed around the world. She is the author of two books, What God Says About Music, and Worship: From Praise Him to Praise Hymn and other articles in SDA and professional publications. She is also an accomplished organist. Dr. Osterman earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from The University of Alabama and is currently professor of music at Oakwood University. She also served as chair both at Oakwood University and Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica. Dr. Osterman has conducted music seminars around the world and is the recipient of many awards. She holds membership in several professional organizations, including Phi Kappa Lambda, a national honor society.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Eurydice V. Osterman.

Edited by Oliver J. Davis, D.A.

ISBN:      eBook         978-1-5035-9378-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/24/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

721487

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Endorsement

Preface

Chapter 1

Worship: As it is in Heaven

Chapter 2

Sins of the Father

Chapter 3

Unto the Third and Fourth Generation

Chapter 4

The Journey to Praise Worship

Chapter 5

The Broken Altar

Chapter 6

The Future of Our Past

Chapter 7

Exhortations from God

Chapter 8

Effective Music Ministry in Worship

Chapter 9

A Guide for Choosing Appropriate Church Music

Song Evaluation Instrument

Works Cited

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all who understand the nature and gravity of the subject of worship and the impact that it will ultimately have upon one’s salvation. As time turns into eternity while witnessing the fulfillment of prophesy pertaining to last day events, trouble and persecution will come to those who do not conform to false worship that will be imposed, but God will honor those who are serious about worshiping Him in Spirit and in truth.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to those persons who took time out of their busy schedules to help me to achieve my goal of writing this book: Dr. Oliver J. Davis for expeditiously reading and editing the manuscript; Freida La-Paugh, Administrative Assistant, Oakwood University Department of Music, for helping with computer issues and editing; Nichole Crawford, former staff member in the Music Department at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica, for cover suggestions; Janae Smith and Candy Creekmore for cosmetic preparation for the photograph; Isaac Olatungi, Oakwood University School of Religion for vetting the manuscript; Jacqueline Neath-Foster, Oakwood University librarian, for providing the Library of Congress catalog number; Anthony Gibson for the photograph; and Howard Bullard for formatting and producing the book.

I also wish to thank my family, friends, and colleagues for their support, encouragement, and prayers throughout this venture.

Most of all, I wish to thank GOD for giving me the desire to write the book, entrusting me with the task, and guiding me each step of the way.

Endorsement

What God Says About Music and Worship From Praise Him to Praise Hymn, provide a wealth of thoughtful materials that every pastor and church music leader would do well to study. A large problem is the lack of information from scholars, such as yourself, regarding God’s will … necessary insights for all worship. Our church will be the better for it."

Calvin B. Rock, Ph.D.

Preface

This book has been in the making since 2000. Shortly after finishing my first book, What God Says About Music, I felt that there was still more to say, but what? As churches settled into accepting what seemed to be the inevitable—a new style of music and worship—the demand for my conducting music workshops and seminars on the issues began to diminish.

Last day events—the time of the end—were of great interest to me, and I knew that music and worship would somehow play a major role in the scenario. I began to research and collect all kinds of data despite the many distractions and interruptions along the way, the first of which was the death of my mother in 2000, and four years later, the death of my sister. In spite of the grief and responsibilities of managing their affairs, I continued to collect data and attempted to begin writing. More distractions ensued, and then discouragement set in. I took a hiatus from writing.

In 2011, while out walking one bright August morning, the Lord gave me the subject upon which to focus—worship. That was it! I began to wade through all the data I had collected and began organizing the chapters. Everything seemed to flow with ease. By May, 2012, all the chapters had been drafted. The book was finally finished!

In retrospect I can see that God knew that 2000 was not the time for the book to come forth. Worship has dramatically changed since then, and there are issues that would not have been addressed had the book been written at that time. But, in the fullness of time, the book was written and has come forth. It is my hope that all who read it will be enlightened and informed by a subject that bears eternal consequences—worship.

Chapter 1

Worship: As it is in Heaven

W hen God told Moses to build a sanctuary patterned after the one in heaven, in time, He pulled back the curtain to give some of His prophets a glimpse of its majesty and glory. They described God Sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1). His hair was white like wool, His eyes were like flames of fire, His feet were like fine brass burned in a furnace, and His voice sounded like many waters. (Revelation 1:14-16; 4:3). Because words could not adequately describe the glory of God or the glorious scenes of heaven, all that could be said was Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (II Corinthians 2:9).

John captured the essence of true worship when he recorded:

. . . A throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. . . And there was a rainbow round about the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats … four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne was the sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts … and the four beasts had each of them six wings about him. . . and they rested not day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts gave glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne. . . The four and twenty elders [fell] down before him that sat on the throne, and [worshiped] him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (Revelation 4:3-11).

As Lucifer participated in worship he thought to himself:

I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation. . . I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Isaiah 14: 13, 14,). "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven. . . And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. . . And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. . . (Revelation 12:4, 7–9).

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations (Isaiah 14:12)! Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, thou set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, thou are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee; With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures; By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches. . .

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones