Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Michael Guglielmucci talks about worshipping God and dealing with "cancer" on new Hillsong DVD
You heard right. In August 5th, Hillsong released their 17th album "Hillsong Live: This Is Our God" and included on the DVD is a documentary that includes a fairly lengthy segment of Michael Guglielmucci talking about his cancer and worship music.
Of course, we know now that he never had cancer and was faking it to cover an addiction to porn that he's been dealing with for 16 years.
I'm a little behind on the stack of review material, and honestly, I'm so sick of these corporate worship event CDs that I toss them all into a pile and forget about them. But I found the DVD last night and watched the documentary "In Every Season" this morning.
I tried to find a video clip of Guglielmucci's segment on YouTube, and I'm still searching, but in the meantime I wanted you to hear his "story," in his own words. I transcribed 7 minutes of him speaking, at which time the story kind of moves to another artist; there maybe more later on the 20 minute video but honestly, I was so ready to barf I couldn't do any more.
I rarely get angry and I try hard to be fair, but as I listened to the blasphemy that spewed from his mouth during this video clip I was literally nauseated and could feel my blood boiling. I also had a million questions, starting with "What happens to all of those people in the audience, tears streaming down their faces and their hands held high? Was God there? Could God be there in the midst of such a lie? Could God anoint a bold-faced liar and manipulator?"
I'm sorry - forgive me for ranting like that. But when you read his words, knowing it was all a big lie, you may understand why it makes me so ... disgusted.
And just so you know, I have contacted the label to see if anyone wants to comment on the story. My heart just breaks for all of those people who were taken in by this fraud. And seeing him tell the story on video, I can understand how at least friends and music colleagues might have fallen for it. He's so convincing I think he believes it himself. (And again, where does someone who doesn't need it get an oxygen machine ...)
So here it is - about 7 mins of Michael Guglielmucci's own words:
"It was a pretty crazy day. I went to the hospital expecting to have some tests and got the news that I had cancer. And quite an aggressive form of cancer.
"I just went home. I knew I had to go home, I just had to get alone with God, I suppose. I walked into my studio at home and for some reason pressed record, which was a good thing, just set up a microphone. I just sat at a piano and began to worship. I didn't sit down to write the verses and then the chorus, like I just sang that song from start to finish. Like, I was crying and I sort of finished and I realized that God had given me an incredible gift and I knew that song was going to be my strength.
"When you hear you're gonna die or you know this is terminal, you get your affairs in order. There's not a lot you can do. What can I do to make this better? There's not much. I remember the night before my second [load?] of treatment. I put on this gospel medley about the blood, and there's this bunch of American artists, these different artists, that were singing about the blood of Jesus and the power in the blood of Jesus and healing in the blood of Jesus.
"And I remember sitting in my room and just beginning to worship. It's amazing that worship can lift you from where you are and take you to somewhere, it takes you to a higher place, you know, when you begin to magnify God and begin to worship God and choose what you magnify, you know. Because you could quite easily make the situation bigger than it actually is. But it's powerful when you can just get the name of Jesus and just lift God up, higher, bigger, stronger, cuz that's what he is. But when you begin to see him for that and you begin to worship him, it's amazing what you can get through. I put worship in the house all the time, and it was that, that I believe, that got me through. You know, worship every day. We'd wake up and put it on, when I'm going to sleep we'd put it on. There's not much else I could do but worship and I'm still here.
"Album recording week was a bit tough. I had a rough week, got some pretty negative results back and the doctors weren't gonna let me do it, and saying I had to use this oxygen machine because I wasn't getting enough oxygen and all sorts of things. But it was a tough week but I made a decision this was what I was going to do. I know that this was something God wanted us to do. It was gonna bless people. I came with a great expectancy as well that God was gonna do something amazing not only in my life but in the lives of other people.
"[Like I was side?] of the stage, about to come on to read the Scripture. I was in agony, like I was in agony I was in so much pain. So I got up and the moment I hit the, like walked onto the stairs it was literally like someone walked up behind me and put a jacket on me. I literally felt like someone had just put something on me. And it was, what I believe, God's anointing and enabling to do what I had to do. And I walked up there with my oxygen machine and Bible and got to the mic and proclaimed the promises of God out of Isaiah.
"It was amazing. I cannot explain what I was feeling. I was buzzing, it was such an anointing in that place. I remember looking over at Joel and smiling and he smiled back at me and I know he was feeling what I was feeling.
"At times it was hard to see cuz I was watching people with tears streaming down their faces, singing, and I knew that God was doing something and I knew that God was being faithful to what he promised, you know. That he was actually moving in people's lives at that moment, that he was using all of us as musicians. And I was watching and I know it's not just limited to what happened in that room that night, but the same thing can happen when people play the album, when they hear these moments and the songs and they hear God lifted and God glorified through this worship. That his power's gonna fill their car and their house and something's gonna take place. And to know that and to be standing there and worshipping, knowing all of that it's so hard, it's a moment I'll never forget."
Source
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Learning to love one another
You have read where it says, when you did it to the least, you did it to Me. In recent times I have watched the Mother Teresa video many many times. She apparently said something very beautiful, that she tries to see Christ in the person she is talking to. Every time I watch that, I ask for that. And it happens sometimes!
Sometimes I’m listening to someone telling me about their sadness or their joy, and even though their stories are in a different realm to mine, I begin to wonder if Im not looking at Someone who is standing in front of me in a disguise?! Just then, to disprove my point the person shares something even MORE graphic and yet I still feel like I am in the Presence of greatness.
Its hard to explain this. Its as if I (sometimes) no longer see the sin in them and their lives just look beautiful to me. I’m always aware of my own corruption and fallenness, but no matter what they say, I see the smile, i see the champion within them, the survivor, the softnes.
Perhaps I see how Jesus sees us, and if so, then I’m absolutely stunned at the potential that He sees in us.
Source
Sometimes I’m listening to someone telling me about their sadness or their joy, and even though their stories are in a different realm to mine, I begin to wonder if Im not looking at Someone who is standing in front of me in a disguise?! Just then, to disprove my point the person shares something even MORE graphic and yet I still feel like I am in the Presence of greatness.
Its hard to explain this. Its as if I (sometimes) no longer see the sin in them and their lives just look beautiful to me. I’m always aware of my own corruption and fallenness, but no matter what they say, I see the smile, i see the champion within them, the survivor, the softnes.
Perhaps I see how Jesus sees us, and if so, then I’m absolutely stunned at the potential that He sees in us.
Source
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
redeemer//
Planetshakers '06. a night to remember, yeah. Pre attending the concert there were many speculations from various groups of friends attending to the issue of commercialism and its effect on the 'spiritual' side of planetshakers.
For instance, they were farr too focused on trying to hook money out of your pockets and they sorta left out the GOD part of the conference, that when people jumped around, they were doing it for fun, not for GOD. I can specifically recall a friend saying that the crowd (during the message) would yell out at almost everything, just to make loud noises.
So you can imagine that i went to planetshakers obviously a bit shaken (pardon the pun) on how it would turn out. But obviously those were opinions and i had to go create my OWN opinion of the conference...which is exactly what i went to do (2 nights ago).
Well i was a bit worried from the start, when we had 3 extra people to carry in 4 cars (23 in total) but you know, just pray about it and yeah. So we loaded them all in, drivers being Wei Kee, Tak, Emily and Crosby. Tak, Emily and Wei Kee's cars were over full, our car (Crosby's) was just ok, with Collin, Ken (in the same car...chaos), Sarah and Myself. at 6 00 sharp (ok fine, maybe 6 15) we were on our way to Challenge Stadium!
Remember the part i said earlier about praying? yeah guess wat, with 3 cars in our convoy overloaded we just HAD to pass a booze bus. All of our cars got checked. -.-....remember the part i said about praying earlier? none of our cars got pulled aside.
thank God for small miracles *gets down on knees*
Upon arriving, all of us PILED (literally) into the entrance walkway, where a line of ...ok, alot of people were waiting. Thanks to some smart moves (Wei Kee and Cham) we managed to eaaaaase our way slowly up the side of the line (sneaky aren't we?) to secure our position probably in the first 1/3 of the line. Which almost ensured us a seat. Thank God, it did. Just as we walked in.....the whole place was filled APART from one section which had like 100 empty seats, so yea, you guessed it. we RAN for that section, pushing past (well, fine, i think that was just me) everybody in our way! Eventually, our entire youth group got a seat in one section. (thank you God) We also met Matt Abbey n Lisa!! from ROL, haven't seen u guys in ages, and it was sure good to see you again.
When the music began, i'll be honest. I wasn't feeling up to it, for a number of reasons. The first was probably because of all the things i had heard beforehand and it sorta just killed the mood you know? the second was because i wasnt in the mosh pit! and jumping when there's a risk of falling onto the seat in front of you (auditorium design problems ><) is not as appealing as it would be in the mosh pit. but Jumped we did!!!!! Cham and i jumped to the first few songs, just to try and get into the mood....Cham was awesome, he had all the moves going! XD i was sorta jumping half heartedly...still struggling with the 'lack' of an atmosphere. I had also never heard those songs before, so the fact that i didnt know when to yell out or wave my hands didn't help too much either. But our group was fine, my 2 lovely sisters behind me particularly loved the song "Redeemer" yelling out JESUS whenever the crowd yelled out..
My saviour, He's living in me, Redeemer - JESUS! - He set me free!
Go guys! haha you rocked XD
When the praise session ended, it was the part that i was most ....interested in. The offering, you see according to a few people, the offering speech was designed to make people feel OBLIGED to give....which is obviously not really the way to go. I've forgotten who made the offering speech, but well, to be frank, he WAS a bit more forceful on the fact that giving with a generous spirit was the way to save the generation etc etc. but i mean, i can sorta see where he's coming from......I read recently an article that was headed,
'political power? show us the economical power first!'
however, on the same note, if a conference is based on making money and not so much evangelising..it could send out the wrong message to many young believers or perhaps unbelievers....that was my main concern. Nevertheless, the offering speech wasn't AS BAD as i would have thought, and it was over in less than 2 minutes...although it left me pondering the motives of the conference, i decided to try to put it behind me and focus on what i was REALLY here for, God.
Henry Seeley got up there (and i think he's awesome....just so u know XD) and did the worship session, again, singing songs that i have never heard of. And again, i wasn't really feeling the TRUE feeling of worship, like i usually feel in perhaps even a much smaller environment...as i looked around though, i saw people all over the place with their arms outstretched, reaching for God and well, quite frankly, i was jealous.
Why couldn't i feel the presence of God right there and then? Cham next to me was quite possibly radiating the desire to worship, with his arms reaching out and his voice singing the praises of God (he is, by chance, a very good singer) in fact i think i was the only one out of our whole group ..(btw i just typed 5 o's in a row back there <---) that wasn't feeling the worshipful atmosphere. I really tried so hard....and therein lay my problem.
Bear with me here, my mind tends to get complex about this. But i was so caught up trying to figure out WHY i wasn't in the worshipful mood to even try GETTING into the worshipful mood, i was so focused on trying to figure out what was wrong, that i never thought about what was right.... there's a really good saying, "you'll never win if you're counting the reasons of why you'll lose" and i guess that kinda hit the spot.
You know, it's a real pity that i only realised it during the message. All that wasted time >.> but still, the message by Russell Evans (head of Planetshakers) was awesome. i thought it really hit home a few points. It was about AGREEMENT and incidentally, i have never agreed with anything more in my life ><, about how Jesus is the box BREAKER and satan is the box MAKER. His illustrations were also very effective when it came to explaining why agreement within the church is so important. And i loved the end part where he beat the boxes (all named, mediocrity, disunity, blame etc etc) to a piece of crap. I was like YER! YOU TELL THEM! (i did get a bit carried away....all for a good cause XD)
but you know, then God came into the building. It goes like this. He turned to us and asked us all to pray for our youth groups, and as i looked around the whole hall, i saw groups of 3 people in a tight embrace, praying for each other, i saw groups of 10 people all with arms linked singing soft songs of worship, i saw groups of 20 people with hands joined praying for one another.....and i just felt so moved, honestly, God had to have been there. He was there, i know it. So what else could i do? i grabbed the hands of those next to me, and asked our youth group to get into a circle, we prayed for each other, for the youth group, for guidance, and like, a spirit of unity just descended upon us....and dang, i felt peace. FOR ONCE in my life, absolute peace. I'm not sure about the others, but i was like, wow......just.......wow........
And that's when i felt relatively convinced that this conference (or what was left of it) was gonna be good. I was gonna make it good for myself. So as Russell Evans got off the stage and Henry Seeley and the team came back, we all got ready to jump like crazy XD. They decided to play Majesty, which is a totally awesome song, PERFECT for the situation, and they did it well! Cham and i pulled out all the stops!! just couldn't stop jumping, Jenny and Annie behind me were yelling quite convincingly and even Justin and Rachael in front of us decided to get moving a bit! Until we all got so tired.....i got a stitch, Cham almost stacked it and fell the equivalent of 3 meters, and my two dear sisters behind me yelled until one was hungry and the other had a headache.... but it was all good XD praise God for such a group as them =) you guys (if reading this) rock! Keep rocking for Jesus, He loves it =D!
All majesty, to the God of creation, All majesty, we sing!~
Getting home wasn't a problem, getting out of the stadium, was. So we had to SQUEEZE our way out (well some of us) the others just waited for the crowd to dissipate. Everybody went straight home, quite exhausted from the night spent >< once again, if reading this, thank you Crosby for sending all 4 of us to our respective homes. That was really good of ya, and thank you ALL drivers for putting in that effort, you made the difference that day =)
You know, i got up this morning, and i was just happy. In fact i was so busy singing Redeemer on my way out, i almost tripped over Mimi (my poodle) she was a bit annoyed but you know, i was too happy to notice XD. Church was fine and all, but what really made me laugh was Emily's comment about Cham and I,
"You know, we were just like standing there clapping, but whenever we looked to our left we'd see like 2 guys just jumping up and down and going crazy"
hahaha! Feels good to leave a mark doesn't it?
Christian Music News Source
For instance, they were farr too focused on trying to hook money out of your pockets and they sorta left out the GOD part of the conference, that when people jumped around, they were doing it for fun, not for GOD. I can specifically recall a friend saying that the crowd (during the message) would yell out at almost everything, just to make loud noises.
So you can imagine that i went to planetshakers obviously a bit shaken (pardon the pun) on how it would turn out. But obviously those were opinions and i had to go create my OWN opinion of the conference...which is exactly what i went to do (2 nights ago).
Well i was a bit worried from the start, when we had 3 extra people to carry in 4 cars (23 in total) but you know, just pray about it and yeah. So we loaded them all in, drivers being Wei Kee, Tak, Emily and Crosby. Tak, Emily and Wei Kee's cars were over full, our car (Crosby's) was just ok, with Collin, Ken (in the same car...chaos), Sarah and Myself. at 6 00 sharp (ok fine, maybe 6 15) we were on our way to Challenge Stadium!
Remember the part i said earlier about praying? yeah guess wat, with 3 cars in our convoy overloaded we just HAD to pass a booze bus. All of our cars got checked. -.-....remember the part i said about praying earlier? none of our cars got pulled aside.
thank God for small miracles *gets down on knees*
Upon arriving, all of us PILED (literally) into the entrance walkway, where a line of ...ok, alot of people were waiting. Thanks to some smart moves (Wei Kee and Cham) we managed to eaaaaase our way slowly up the side of the line (sneaky aren't we?) to secure our position probably in the first 1/3 of the line. Which almost ensured us a seat. Thank God, it did. Just as we walked in.....the whole place was filled APART from one section which had like 100 empty seats, so yea, you guessed it. we RAN for that section, pushing past (well, fine, i think that was just me) everybody in our way! Eventually, our entire youth group got a seat in one section. (thank you God) We also met Matt Abbey n Lisa!! from ROL, haven't seen u guys in ages, and it was sure good to see you again.
When the music began, i'll be honest. I wasn't feeling up to it, for a number of reasons. The first was probably because of all the things i had heard beforehand and it sorta just killed the mood you know? the second was because i wasnt in the mosh pit! and jumping when there's a risk of falling onto the seat in front of you (auditorium design problems ><) is not as appealing as it would be in the mosh pit. but Jumped we did!!!!! Cham and i jumped to the first few songs, just to try and get into the mood....Cham was awesome, he had all the moves going! XD i was sorta jumping half heartedly...still struggling with the 'lack' of an atmosphere. I had also never heard those songs before, so the fact that i didnt know when to yell out or wave my hands didn't help too much either. But our group was fine, my 2 lovely sisters behind me particularly loved the song "Redeemer" yelling out JESUS whenever the crowd yelled out..
My saviour, He's living in me, Redeemer - JESUS! - He set me free!
Go guys! haha you rocked XD
When the praise session ended, it was the part that i was most ....interested in. The offering, you see according to a few people, the offering speech was designed to make people feel OBLIGED to give....which is obviously not really the way to go. I've forgotten who made the offering speech, but well, to be frank, he WAS a bit more forceful on the fact that giving with a generous spirit was the way to save the generation etc etc. but i mean, i can sorta see where he's coming from......I read recently an article that was headed,
'political power? show us the economical power first!'
however, on the same note, if a conference is based on making money and not so much evangelising..it could send out the wrong message to many young believers or perhaps unbelievers....that was my main concern. Nevertheless, the offering speech wasn't AS BAD as i would have thought, and it was over in less than 2 minutes...although it left me pondering the motives of the conference, i decided to try to put it behind me and focus on what i was REALLY here for, God.
Henry Seeley got up there (and i think he's awesome....just so u know XD) and did the worship session, again, singing songs that i have never heard of. And again, i wasn't really feeling the TRUE feeling of worship, like i usually feel in perhaps even a much smaller environment...as i looked around though, i saw people all over the place with their arms outstretched, reaching for God and well, quite frankly, i was jealous.
Why couldn't i feel the presence of God right there and then? Cham next to me was quite possibly radiating the desire to worship, with his arms reaching out and his voice singing the praises of God (he is, by chance, a very good singer) in fact i think i was the only one out of our whole group ..(btw i just typed 5 o's in a row back there <---) that wasn't feeling the worshipful atmosphere. I really tried so hard....and therein lay my problem.
Bear with me here, my mind tends to get complex about this. But i was so caught up trying to figure out WHY i wasn't in the worshipful mood to even try GETTING into the worshipful mood, i was so focused on trying to figure out what was wrong, that i never thought about what was right.... there's a really good saying, "you'll never win if you're counting the reasons of why you'll lose" and i guess that kinda hit the spot.
You know, it's a real pity that i only realised it during the message. All that wasted time >.> but still, the message by Russell Evans (head of Planetshakers) was awesome. i thought it really hit home a few points. It was about AGREEMENT and incidentally, i have never agreed with anything more in my life ><, about how Jesus is the box BREAKER and satan is the box MAKER. His illustrations were also very effective when it came to explaining why agreement within the church is so important. And i loved the end part where he beat the boxes (all named, mediocrity, disunity, blame etc etc) to a piece of crap. I was like YER! YOU TELL THEM! (i did get a bit carried away....all for a good cause XD)
but you know, then God came into the building. It goes like this. He turned to us and asked us all to pray for our youth groups, and as i looked around the whole hall, i saw groups of 3 people in a tight embrace, praying for each other, i saw groups of 10 people all with arms linked singing soft songs of worship, i saw groups of 20 people with hands joined praying for one another.....and i just felt so moved, honestly, God had to have been there. He was there, i know it. So what else could i do? i grabbed the hands of those next to me, and asked our youth group to get into a circle, we prayed for each other, for the youth group, for guidance, and like, a spirit of unity just descended upon us....and dang, i felt peace. FOR ONCE in my life, absolute peace. I'm not sure about the others, but i was like, wow......just.......wow........
And that's when i felt relatively convinced that this conference (or what was left of it) was gonna be good. I was gonna make it good for myself. So as Russell Evans got off the stage and Henry Seeley and the team came back, we all got ready to jump like crazy XD. They decided to play Majesty, which is a totally awesome song, PERFECT for the situation, and they did it well! Cham and i pulled out all the stops!! just couldn't stop jumping, Jenny and Annie behind me were yelling quite convincingly and even Justin and Rachael in front of us decided to get moving a bit! Until we all got so tired.....i got a stitch, Cham almost stacked it and fell the equivalent of 3 meters, and my two dear sisters behind me yelled until one was hungry and the other had a headache.... but it was all good XD praise God for such a group as them =) you guys (if reading this) rock! Keep rocking for Jesus, He loves it =D!
All majesty, to the God of creation, All majesty, we sing!~
Getting home wasn't a problem, getting out of the stadium, was. So we had to SQUEEZE our way out (well some of us) the others just waited for the crowd to dissipate. Everybody went straight home, quite exhausted from the night spent >< once again, if reading this, thank you Crosby for sending all 4 of us to our respective homes. That was really good of ya, and thank you ALL drivers for putting in that effort, you made the difference that day =)
You know, i got up this morning, and i was just happy. In fact i was so busy singing Redeemer on my way out, i almost tripped over Mimi (my poodle) she was a bit annoyed but you know, i was too happy to notice XD. Church was fine and all, but what really made me laugh was Emily's comment about Cham and I,
"You know, we were just like standing there clapping, but whenever we looked to our left we'd see like 2 guys just jumping up and down and going crazy"
hahaha! Feels good to leave a mark doesn't it?
Christian Music News Source
loneliness was nailed to THE CROSS
As I was listening to Pastor Benjamin's sermon on Jesus forsaken, separated and lonely...
here are some precious pointers I've caught
Loneliness will bring forth fruit of low self esteem and emotional moody swing...
It cannot be overcome even by fellowship among the saints... that can bring only temporal relief...
It is only when we begin to see on the cross, Jesus took our loneliness...
and everytime the feeling of loneliness comes, say "Lord Jesus, I thank You, that when You cried my God my God, why have You forsaken me? You were lonely that I today don't have to be lonely anymore. I can be alone but I am alone with the Father"
Loneliness breeds fear. You fear everything...
Loneliness is not necessarily bad. God use loneliness to send us a message, "come to My table".
Loneliness + God = (- N + V ) = LOVELINESS
From loneliness to LOVELINESS.
I have not received a spirit of fear, but a spirit of Sonship.
LOOK TO THE CROSS.
He took our loneliness on the cross.
Amen! Guess what... All these pointers, I agree with them... And some of which, are very real in my life... Especially when loneliness breeds fear, I get super insecured. Paranoid about every nitty gritty. Sometimes, it just drives me up the wall.. But yes, LOOK TO THE CROSS. I'm forgiven because He was forsaken!
Source
here are some precious pointers I've caught
Loneliness will bring forth fruit of low self esteem and emotional moody swing...
It cannot be overcome even by fellowship among the saints... that can bring only temporal relief...
It is only when we begin to see on the cross, Jesus took our loneliness...
and everytime the feeling of loneliness comes, say "Lord Jesus, I thank You, that when You cried my God my God, why have You forsaken me? You were lonely that I today don't have to be lonely anymore. I can be alone but I am alone with the Father"
Loneliness breeds fear. You fear everything...
Loneliness is not necessarily bad. God use loneliness to send us a message, "come to My table".
Loneliness + God = (- N + V ) = LOVELINESS
From loneliness to LOVELINESS.
I have not received a spirit of fear, but a spirit of Sonship.
LOOK TO THE CROSS.
He took our loneliness on the cross.
Amen! Guess what... All these pointers, I agree with them... And some of which, are very real in my life... Especially when loneliness breeds fear, I get super insecured. Paranoid about every nitty gritty. Sometimes, it just drives me up the wall.. But yes, LOOK TO THE CROSS. I'm forgiven because He was forsaken!
Source
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