The Alpha & Omega Suite

“I believe all people are basically good.” Statements such as this are common and held by the majority of people… especially by those who have had few negative experiences happen to them. If this viewpoint is correct, or even reasonable, then it should be verified by a society’s laws, by history, by relationships, by religious instructions and by child-rearing expectations. Unfortunately in none of these areas does a portrait of a ‘basically good’ person emerge. If anything, the picture is alarmingly quite the opposite!

When a society sets up a law, it is imposing a set of limitations to keep individuals away from excessive or harmful actions. Without laws set in place, our true nature is free to shine brighter and become much more clear. Instead of highlighting our good side, having no laws reveals just how sinful we can be. History showcases many societies which died-out after allowing lawlessness and depravity to reign. Even today, the nation which has the lowest crime rate in the world, holds that honor because it has made most wrongs, or sins, legal… not because it’s citizens are nicer than the rest of us! We are full of sin and laws are a necessity to protect us from our self!

Modern society enforces laws pertinent to current conditions and situations. Highway laws keep accidents from happening more frequently and prevent ‘road rage’ from becoming the norm. Without the fear of law’s punishment, thievery of every type would increase. Murder, rape and exploitation would become far more commonplace. The true implications of ’survival of the fittest’ would be evident in all areas. Remove our laws of protection and those ‘less fit’ would be abused and trampled down in no time!

History attests to man’s inhumanity to one another. War, bloodshed, feuds, strife and jealousy have continuously separated one people group from another. Even in times of peace, humanity just barely refrains from raging and battling against others. We tend to naturally dislike and mistrust people who are different from our self. Language barriers; dialects; skin color; culture; education; regional and community idioms, family background. These are just a few of the many characteristics which separate us… and cause us irritation!

Numerous people can only attain peaceful relationships by avoiding contact with any or all neighbors that irritate or bother them and by doing so, they might avoid confrontation and relationship turmoil. But this doesn’t mean they are a ‘good person’… it only indicates they have sidestepped acting worse than they really are capable of!

Any parent, teacher or child-rearer understands the simple truth that children must be taught how to act good. Being bad doesn’t have to be taught to a child… they naturally know how to tell lies; take things that aren’t theirs; hurt other children; and spit venomous words meant to harm! Even people who don’t agree with this statement believe that adults who do bad things, do so because they weren’t taught better as children. Quite simply, we are not born as ‘basically good’ people!

The Bible is quite clear about all aspects of our condition. It sheds light on humanity’s fallen nature throughout the ages… both before and after recorded history. We are given specific details surrounding the who, what, where and why regarding how we came to have this inborn predicament. We see that our sinfulness is more than just being self centered, culminating in manifesting little regard for others. We are enlightened in just how far all aspects of our being are permeated with sin. And this sin naturally separates us from a righteous, just and holy God.

It is in our relationship with God that our sin really shows itself. It cuts us off from the fellowship we were originally created to have with Jehovah. It keeps us from obeying His laws and decrees! No matter how hard we try, we still aren’t able to cross the divide which separates us from Him. His holiness and righteousness are unattainable by our own efforts. If not for the Messiah coming and paying the redemptive price, our sin would eternally separate us from the Lord… both in this life and in the next!

‘Fallen From Lofty Heights’ relates the terrible story of mankind’s fall and it’s harmful repercussions throughout biblical history… to the present! It’s not a pretty story but is extremely important since every fact, detail, law and decree are substantiated by man’s sinfulness, as contrasted with God’s righteousness! We have fallen and there’s no reason to pretend it’s not a fact. Let’s admit the truth and find out what God wants us to do about it! There’s no other way to move ahead. Let’s allow Him to give us His fellowship… and restore our broken relationship!

Listen to Fallen From Lofty Heights

Note: This is the first blog which contains complete lyrics and chords to this important song!
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Words and Music by Phil
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(Intro)
(C) (F) (C) (F) (G) (Dm) (Em) (C)
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(Verse 1)
(C) Storms of doubt (Am) everywhere. (Em) Skies of doom. Does (G) anybody care?
(C) By our efforts we (Am) hide our sin. (Em) All our works won’t get (G) anybody in!
(F) Feet stuck deep in the (G) mud of doubt.
(F) “Doomed for hell” our (G) enemy does shout.
(F) All our good deeds won’t get (G) anybody out.
(Dm) Gasping in water as we (Em) thrash about.
(Am) Lord, only You can (G) stop the spout.
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(Verse 2)
(C) Losing sight of the (Am) road we’re on. (Em) Lost our way now that (G) everybody’s gone.
(C) When we succeed, it (Am) seems a mistake. (Em) With no effort the (G) law we always break.
(F) Not approving, but You (G) love us anyway.
(F) As You provided for (G) what we could not pay.
(F) Taking us from death to (G) life this very day.
(Dm) Teaching us how to love and (Em) how to pray.
(Am) Watching over us. (G) Never go away.
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(Chorus)
(F) See past my (Am) flaws and (G) help me to (C) grow.
(F) As I spread Your (Am) Word and (G) plant it like seeds to (C) sew.
(Am) Like a river that (G) flows.
(Am) Is Your grace be- (G) stowed.
(F) What we did not (Am) know was (G) how much love You (C) show. (Strum G)
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(Verse 3: INSTRUMENTAL)
(C) (Am) (Em) (G)
(C) (Am) (Em) (G)
(F) (G) ( F) (G) (F) (G)
(Dm) (Em) (Am) (G)
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(Verse 4)
(C) Like crops which crave the (Am) rain to live. We (Em) need that grace which (G) You do give.
(C) The sky was dark while on the (Am) cross. (Em) By Your blood… You (G) paid the cost.
(F) Lord, You showered us (G) with Your grace.
(F) Cleansing waters from (G) Your holy place.
(F) Like a covering which (G) hides our disgrace.
(Dm) Long forgotten with- (Em) out a trace.
(Am) Now we see You (G) face to face.
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(Chorus)
(F) See past my (Am) flaws and (G) help me to (C) grow.
(F) As I spread Your (Am) Word and (G) plant it like seeds to (C) sew.
(Am) Like a river that (G) flows.
(Am) Is Your grace be- (G) stowed.
(F) What we did not (Am) know was (G) how much love You (C) show. (Strum G)
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Listen to “Sea of Despair, Showers of Grace
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And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
(John 1:14-17)

Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3)

The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20,21)

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

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Historically, humanity has always disobeyed and failed when God places important spiritual responsibility within our hands. Scripture shows in numerous accounts that mankind has a continuous cycle of failing to carry-out God’s plans when attempted by our own strength. It began with Adam and Eve and was repeated in other Genesis accounts with Noah, Abraham and the many other patriarchs. Later, we see Israel as a nation on a continuous cycle of promising to obey God but failing with every attempt… even within the highest spiritual position of the Levite priesthood! As soon as the monarchy began, Saul promises to follow God but fails miserably! He is not alone… his failure is repeated by David’s heirs who sit on Judah’s throne as well as the other kings who occupied Israel’s palace. Even as Christ establishes His earthly church, we see the apostles fall short whenever dependent upon their own efforts and power. They are followed by the early church whose spiritual limitations result in many letters of rebuke and doctrinal instruction written to help guide them past their spiritual hurdles and failures. Biblical prophecies illuminate to the end of times and we see that man’s weak spirituality will be part of our condition right up to the very end.

Genesis chapter three gives us an account of events pertaining to when our fallen spiritual state first transpired. We see at that point… when humanity first turned our backs on our Creator, that a whole plethora of spiritual and physical vices were released upon all generations to come. The enemy of our soul is shown to work in very subtle and dangerous ways. His goal is to usurp God’s authority and establish his own. Even before the point of turning the keys of our servitude away from God and over to him, we see that he’s already planting seeds of distrust within our conscienceness. He shows himself to be a traitor, a betrayer, disloyal, and a friend only to himself. He appeals to us and we easily fall right into his trap!

Satan’s words of venom are well crafted. He wisely appeals to our vanity, our impure desires, our huge ego, and to the lusts of our heart. It is to our shame and discredit that we would even listen to such blasphemous lies of treachery. The deceiver not only brings into question God’s honesty, but insinuates He is a liar with selfish motives! His accusation against God is that God is intentionally withholding the one thing which will make humanity become deities who possess equality with God Himself! Though God has given riches and all the great things of this world, it is the one area which was withheld from us that Satan brings to light. It’s as if he turned a sharp spotlight on an otherwise unimportant area which we hadn’t really focused on before. Now we aren’t able to look away from this ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’. Now we must taste this ‘forbidden fruit’. Now we must sin. Now we must betray the God who showed nothing but love and trust to us. Now we must join the rank of God’s enemies.

By putting our trust in Satan rather than God we are making a conscience decision. We are making a judgment between a God who has already bestowed blessings of many good things and a serpent who offers nothing more than promises of grandeur. Our lustful vanity easily wins out and from that point on it is our own will which becomes the source of fulfilling our wants and needs. No longer are we willingly dependent, and trusting of ‘the giver of all good things’ but instead replace Him with the labors of our hands and the decisions of our mind. We supplant what is dependable for what is unknowing. Potential blessings give way to potential harm. We begin a history of many successes overshadowed by many more failures.

Instantly, as soon as our eyes are opened, fear and shame set in. Our naked condition reflects our inadequacies and weaknesses. We feel a need to cover our minds and bodies, and we hide from our previous Lord who now seems so distant, righteous and holy. Our own lack of righteousness only magnifies His perfection… and terror strikes our soul! Where once we could stand naked in His presence, now we can’t even look at Him from a distance. No longer are we able to reside in the garden of His provision, but we go forth to toil under the burden of our own choosing.

This discourse should never have taken place. We were at fault by entering into discussion with the tempter. Instead of being diplomatic with the enemy and assuming his motives were harmless, we should have sternly rebuked his wicked insinuations and instantly put a stop to any further discourse. Jesus was also brought into a similar discourse when tempted in the wilderness for forty days, but He combated the enemy and would not give in. Satan’s desire with Christ was the same as it was with the first humans… he craved to be elevated to the position of God. He lusted after power, authority, and complete lordship. But Christ was highly offended by this request and would not discuss it any further. He immediately stopped the conversation and sharply rebuked Satan with, “Get behind me Satan!”

Jesus is referred to in 1 Corinthians 15 as the ‘last Adam’. It then goes on to contrast various aspects of the first sinning-disobedient-Adam and the last sinless-obedient-Adam, who is the Lord. Adam was of the dust of the ground but Jesus is of a much higher spiritual realm. Where Adam desired to exalt himself and become god, Jesus already had that status but gave it all up to lower Himself and come down to a lesser place. Adam’s actions have robbed people of life, Jesus’ actions have given life to people. Adam lead us away from the tree of life, Jesus leads us back to it. Adam robbed God of honor, Jesus gave God nothing but honor. The two are night-and-day opposites. Adam failed miserably, Jesus succeeded triumphantly!

As we share with Adam in our fallen, sin-filled condition… by our own efforts we have no hope. Adam’s inheritance has given us the knowledge of good and evil, but it comes within a state of disobedience to God. Through our own efforts we try to cover our sin, which will restore a relationship with God, but we are unable. It was our actions which brought about our condition, but the removal of this condition is only through a means established by God… not by us. Only He can establish and set the terms of reconciliation with Himself… and He says if we are to be made right before Him, this atonement will come only through a blood sacrifice. Though we try, our substitutionary ’sacrificial lambs’ only prove inadequate and temporary. It is only when God offers His perfect ’sacrificial lamb’ that we once again have a relationship with Him. It is only through the blood of Jesus, shed on a wooden cross that God is able to bring us back. He alone accomplishes what we aren’t able!

Adam and Eve failed miserably. You and I too fail in our daily battles with the deceiver. But because of Christ’s victory against the enemy, culminating at the cross, we are able to share in His triumph and cast aside Satan’s lordship over our life! We are victorious, not because we said ‘no’ in the garden, but because Christ shouted ‘it is over’ and allowed us to turn our loyalty away from Satan and over to Himself. We are now His!

Accept His sacrifice. Accept His free gift!

Listen to “In The Beginning”

We live in an amazingly complex world, finely crafted and detailed in every possible way. It has an abundance of well thought-out details so minuscule that our finite intellect may never fully understand the complexities which surround us.

The reasoning mind looks around at these surroundings and realizes all this couldn’t have happened by accident… there has to be some type of creative being/force/other who crafted it all together! It would be unreasonable to imagine that the material universe and all it’s life forms happened without intelligent design and guidance.

This complex world and the billions of life forms it is host to could never have happened by chance any more than a computer or a television could suddenly pop into existence on their own. If we are to reason that all things happened by accident then we are setting ourselves up to believe any or all impossibilities… no matter how implausible or ridiculous they might be. The main question we are faced with is not “did someone create” but “who could possibly have formed and fashioned all this together?” This question has been answered by the very One who is responsible for all things.

The deity who created our universe has made Himself known in several ways. He has revealed Himself through: (1) the world He created (Psalms 19:1), (2) our consciences and hearts (Romans 2:12-16), (3) humanity and our history (Acts 17:26,27), (5) the Scriptures of the Bible (Jeremiah 30:2) and (5) the person of Jesus, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). If we want to understand our existence, the avenues are there for us to follow.

When we gaze upon the many wonders around us, we see a testimony of the One who created them. Romans 1:20 explains, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” This means that every mountain, valley, ocean, seashore, forest, desert, plain, sunset and sunrise testify to God’s creative handiwork. God, the greatest artist imaginable has left His signature on the canvas of His creations… for all to see!

God’s Word begins with two perspectives regarding the creation account. The Genesis beginning gives a broad, general account and then narrows it’s focus to a more specific and clearly detailed view. Both of these creation stories help us understand the why, who and where of our existence. The song “In the Beginning” concentrates on the seven day, all-encompassing account with all it’s elegance and poetic splendor. Additionally, the spoken ‘prelude and postlude’ presents an even deeper perspective by including Christ’s involvement in the creation process as explained in the New Testament. The gospel of John testifies, “Through Him (Jesus, the Word) all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.”

In the Beginning takes an awestruck look at just how amazing God’s handiwork is! It’s lyrics sing praise to the majestically wondrous and artistic hands behind all this incredible creation! It encompasses all areas of God’s creative revelations and gives thanks and glory to Him for all that He’s done. The “Alpha and Omega Suite” takes off running exactly where it should… in the beginning!

Listen to “In The Beginning”

It is only through God’s word that we can have this partial vision of what the age to come has in store. God’s word is our magnifying glass revealing what our spiritually-weak vision cannot naturally see! It allows us to gaze beyond the veal of distraction and view the workings and ministry of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit throughout time and space. We see the Messiah at the earth’s creation; we see Him throughout God’s dealings with sinful mankind; we see Him as He humbly enters the earth the first time; we see Him as He returns as triumphant and mighty conqueror; and we see Him as He rules from His throne of power after the new earth is setup. Everything we need to know about God has been given to us in His wondrous book.

Since the foundation of the Alpha & Omega Suite has been God’s Word, the lyrics have been as informative as possible in regards to what is contained in scripture. At a time when many in society try to downplay doctrine, the Alpha & Omega Suite has emphasized timeless doctrines which are important in understanding God accurately. If we are ignorant concerning what the Bible has revealed about God, then we are free to create our own god or believe in a god created by the whim’s of some other person. If accurate biblical doctrine is not important to us, then knowing God for who He is cannot be important as well. We are doomed to have a mentality of “I don’t try to understand god because god cannot be known.”

At the beginning of the Alpha and Omega Suite, the Alpha Prelude opens and gives a glimpse of what lies ahead in both suites. The Omega Etude reintroduces the same melody with the purpose of looking back on what has come and gone before, and to peer ahead to what we can expect in events not-yet-here. The future is introduced with a fanfare proclaiming God’s goodness and mercy, attributes which are fully encompassed in His Son… who’s very nature is past, present and future incarnate!

The word ‘victory’ easily sums-up what the future has in store. With every previous manifestation of Jesus, both the preincarnate ones and that of His first coming, clearly shown is that He always comes in victory and spiritual strength! Based upon that knowledge, as we look toward the future, we can also expect Him to return victoriously over any and all opposition. Since failure doesn’t have any part in the person of Jesus, victory is Jesus’ identity… it is simply who He is.

Jesus has already planted His church upon this present age and at His glorious return, it will be the church which cheers triumphantly. Additionally, this church will be His loyal and willing servants as He reigns universally. It is through the victory of the cross that the church is insured to share in Jesus’ victory, both in this present age and the age to come!

The Omega Etude

New World Has Come

From Genesis to Revelation the tragic reality has been presented: from the day of our birth we are doomed a life of unrighteous and unholy living! This gloomy message appears quite hopeless until we see it mixed with two opposite and quite positive messages: (1) Christ has redeemed us and given us life and, (2) God will finally destroy all unrighteousness and rebuild His earth into the sin-free place it was originally meant to be! (2 Peter 3:13)

God’s Word begins by presenting the newly created world with all it’s living creatures and the rapid fall from grace which immediately follows (Genesis 1). Right from the start we waste no time in messing things up. We are excommunicated from living in paradise and barred from partaking in the “tree of life” which would have elevated us to a higher, more glorious existence in God’s presence (Genesis 3:22). Life could have been so smooth and comfortable, but instead, pain, suffering and misery become the norm for every generation to follow.

Even apart from the Bible, recorded history shows how the effect of sin pollutes our relationship with the world around us and with our communion with God. The perfect unity that was once known in the garden can only be hoped for at a later time when God decides… and that time will come only when man’s ruthless behavior justifies the end of things as we know them. Our actions create the circumstances but God brings about the final outcome (2 Peter 3:7). But… there is still yet hope!

The earth’s, and man’s problems which were introduced “in the beginning” are resolved in the final book of the Bible. Mercy and forgiveness are freely given to the repentant individual and peace is finally obtained on the “new” earth. The previously unobtainable tree of life is once again located within the reach of all who love and trust God (Rev 22:2). Christ is eternally present, supplying righteous light for all to bask in (Rev 21:23). Harmony has finally been restored. Paradise is regained!