Hallelujah Hallelmejah. Praise with understanding

One Hebrew word has found its way into English usage apparently without much regard to its meaning.  It appears frequently in the Psalms (104:35 105:45 106:1,48 111:1 112:1 113:1,9 115:18 116:19, 117:2 135:1,3,21 146:1,10 147:1,20 148:1,14 149:1,9 150:1, and 150:6).  Another is “Amen” which is now used to express appreciation instead of agreement or verification, i.e. saying “I agree”, or “Let it be so”.  “Hallelujah” has also become popular through George Friderich Handel’s oratorio, Messiah.  The use of  it in churches as a term of praise to God is misguided, because the word is a command or exhortation, not an expression of praise.
When a worship leader (song leader as in the Psalms) says “Hallelujah” the response should be “I praise you Yahweh”.  What is happening is that worshippers are simply passing on the exhortation.  Imagine a military drill officer saying “Attention!”, and the troops under his command responding “Attention!” instead of standing at (coming to) attention. 
 
The proper answer to “Hallelujah” is “Hallaltika ***“, meaning “I praise you ***” and the worshipper may replace the “***” with the appropriate name of God.  Hopefully, instead of mindlessly repeating the word “Hallelujah” the worshipper will respond in their own language with phrases like “I praise you Jesus”, “I praise you Father”, “Thanks so much Holy Spirit”, or “I praise/love/adore you Lamb of God”, and the leader should also join in the offering of praise.
 
As a result of this misunderstanding there are many hymns which contain the phrase “Praise the Lord” and few which have the praise “I praise you Lord”.   Understanding the intent of the Hebrew word makes for a much more meaningful conversation between the leader, the worshipper and God.

For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding (Psalm 47:7)

 

The Corruption of Violence. Talking about Eight foreign medics shot dead in north Afghanistan – Yahoo! Canada News

So we have made another discovery to add to what we know the Taliban to be proud of.  Murder, misogyny, child-abuse are written in the taliban psyche.  Killing soldiers whose mission is as sacred as moms’ breasts,  kidnapping teachers whose duties are aimed at lifting the veil from secret Islamic learning, are all common and welcomne.  Taliban claims to have killed eight missionaries, and what did they expect?  Were Christians expected to break out into demonstrations and violence against mosques?  When will they ever learn?   What school did they attend?
When was the last time anyone heard the Islamic community lamenting the cruelty of the Taliban and the shrill hatred of Pakistani tribesmen. Now that the two-faced Musharraf (of Pakistan) is gone, there is a chance for  the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan to free themselves from religious bigotry and the abomination of violence.  Centuries of isolation have created the illusion that their culture was a divine gift taht needed to imposed on others.  The Jews had the same idea and ended up in exile.  A similar fate awaits the Islamic states that encourage the oppression of widows, orphans and aliens. Impossible you think?   Men have been able to turn deserts into oases and poverty-stricken tribes into tycoons of oil, and Giod is able to turn the dreams of Islamic wanna-be emperors into useless bits of dandelion flowers.   Regime change is not over!  Obama is a welcome respite from the hardball of international politics.
By any analysis, it was violence that constituted the corruption at the time of the flood.  Violence against the Christian chuch only made it expand and grow.  Violence against women only makes them more skeptical of the love that men say they have.  Violence against “infidels” ony shows the bankrupt state of Islam.  It is not only Taliban who encourage violence against Muslims and non-Muslims and it is not the United States and Christians alone who know that Islam is a scourge, a caricature of Judasism.
The western powers are prone to and very likely to annihilate the Taliban and what will be left of them will be of no consequence.  The efforts of decent people will ensure that regimes like the Taliban will never gain a foothold anywhere on this planet again.  The western military minds are this hour planning how to subdue terror practiced by Islamic states and activist groups.  It will happen.  The guardians of global security will not allow Muslims to turn around centuries of real libeery and dignity for men, woman and children, and they have no illusions about the virtues of a “religious state”.
Those who are quick to take sides in the fight will have a great deal of re-thinking to do.  Support for the Zionist State,  participation in the real estate market, over-crowded jails, inordinate violence by law-enforcement, and the abuse of immigrants are the pandora’s box of our times.  Men who seemed to be beyond reach, reputable and reliable leaders of religion, will fall like meteors, crashing into the atmosphere.  Violence is everywhere!
With this kind of violence – against western non-combatants – increasing a new regime-change model is about to be unleashed.  Weapons of war wll be useless.  People had better get ready for some real soul-searching and be willing to adjust their lifestyle to something more natural and simple.  The race to be incharge is almost over.  Bye, bye, Taliban and company.