Posted on 02/18/2007 7:30:33 PM PST by freedomdefender
A retired Air Force officer who now spends his days authoring books on Christianity has posted an online collection of recordings he believes captures voices and music of God's angels in heaven.
Angelic statue in Lommel, Belgium (photo: Jan Schiphorst, used with permission)
"I have four specific recordings of angels singing in church settings," Jim Bramlett of Lake Mary, Fla., told WND. "It happened supernaturally. There's no other explanation. It's either from God or from the devil, and I don't think the devil is in the business of worshipping Jesus. That is not in his job description."
Bramlett, 76, collected the tapes from various sources in recent years, and has now put them on his ChoicesForLiving website, where readers can click on several links to listen to three recordings made in the U.S., and one from China.
The Feb. 6, 1996, recording at the Greater Grace World Outreach Church in Baltimore, Md., starts off with a woman playing a piano, and gradually, accompanying voices are heard in the background. Bramlett described them as "beautiful voices of beings who were not in the service."
Jim Bramlett
"I have the full tape with the pastor discussing the situation with the congregation, and about 25 people gave testimony to hearing the voices. They were all in awe at what had happened."
Another recording took place at the Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Fla., and features a 10-minute, sustained sound after a call to praise by a minister.
"They seem to lift the praise of the congregation to a totally new and awesome level, and it just goes on and on. The intensity and consistency are clearly supernatural and beyond the ability of the congregation," explains Bramlett, a former vice president at the Christian Broadcasting Network where he spent nine years.
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A woman who says she and her husband were at the Lakeland service wrote Bramlett to vouch for the authenticity of what took place:
"The tape of the Florida meeting was exactly like the way it sounds. Glenn and I were there during those meetings, and if it wasn't this one then there is another tape of a meeting where [the phenomenon] happened again. The one we were in went on and on and stopped abruptly. Silence for about a minute then a male voice sang out 'Glooooory' and several women's voices from different directions echoed 'Gloooooory' in perfect harmony, and the praise and worship started up all over again."
Perhaps the most stunning of all the recordings is thought to be from a church in Kansas City, where there is not only an audible chorus of "Hallelujah" – meaning "praise God" – but also the voice of a male soloist who purportedly was not present. The lyrics of the mysterious solo were transcribed as follows:
Hallelujah, breathe it all across the land Everybody's singing at the Lord's command All the saints and the angels up in glory wait to hear the news of Jesus and his children as they're coming through. Though he doesn't have it on tape, Wayne Warmack of Greater Works Ministries in Rogers, Ark., says he and his wife, Sandy, personally heard angelic voices during a Passover celebration last April at a lakeside retreat center near Marianna, Fla.
"I began to distinctly hear wordless voices in perfect harmony with us, that were clearly not coming from me or Sandy, or the other 20 or so people present in the room. They sort of drifted in and out of my hearing while I struggled to maintain my composure and continue the song," Warmack said. "If you've ever heard that sound, it leaves you a different person than when you came in. I can't describe it. There's just no way to describe it. It is definitely heard with more than just the physical ears."
But not everyone is joining the chorus of hallelujahs.
Steven Novella
Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine and president of the New England Skeptical Society, analyzed the electronic voice phenomenon, or EVP, at WND's request.
"The fatal problem with this entire type of evidence is that there is no way to validate or invalidate the source of sound on a recording. Therefore it has no discriminating value," Novella said. "Personal testimony is not reliable as evidence and is not acceptable scientifically. Choosing to have faith in the persons making the angel-voice claims is no different than just having faith in angels in the first place, so the recordings don't get you anywhere."
Novella discussed some of the specific claims made by Bramlett and others who suggest the source of the sound is supernatural:
"There seems to be no doubt they are angelic voices." They sound like human voices to me. This is just a bold assertion without supporting argument or evidence.
" ... about 25 people gave testimony to hearing the voices. They were all in awe at what had happened." Not uncommon for a congregation of believers sharing a common belief and being swept into an emotional fervor by an experienced preacher. Not exactly dispassionate testimony.
"I have had this tape for several years but I recently found a cleaner version of it on the Internet, preceded by an explanation. I do not know the identity of the narrator." This reminds of the "Jesus in the clouds" picture that keeps cropping up. When the same piece of evidence keeps coming up in different contexts and situations, that strongly suggests fraud. Also, the angels in this recording were playing bass guitar and horn, and at one point broke into a pretty funky beat. It's actually pretty laughable. Also, it was noted that the angel voices were not noticed until the recording was played back, so nothing was heard during the recording. This is a red flag for a recording artifact. The simplest explanation is that the recording was made over a prior recording of a choir singing with accompanying music, and they heard the two recordings superimposed when they played it back.
So, bottom line, these are all worthless as evidence. They are being offered uncritically by people who already believe, are not questioning the angel claims, and who are committing some logical fallacies.
"I think his explanations are nonsense," responded Bramlett.
"Over the years, I have found there are negative skeptics and cynics out there on every subject. It is easy to find them. They are so predictable, and they typically reject anything supernatural. They have to, because to admit it would be tantamount to admitting to a God to whom they are accountable. They cannot permit that. It is as simple as that. Biblically speaking, you could say they are spiritually dead and they think everything must have a natural, material explanation."
The concept of supernatural beings called angels has a strong basis in Scripture. In the King James Version of the Bible, the word "angel" is found 201 times in 192 verses, while "angels" occurs 94 times in 92 verses.
At least two are named – Michael and Gabriel – and the New Testament describes a galactic conflict involving angels at war with each other.
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels (Revelation 12:7)
The Bible also records numerous instances of angels appearing to humans and even having discussions with them.
The angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary in 1898's 'The Annunciation' by Pennsylvania artist Henry Ossawa Tanner
The 19th chapter of Genesis indicates two angels helped rescue Lot and his family from the ancient city of Sodom; Luke 1:26 shows the angel Gabriel being dispatched by God to the town of Nazareth to inform Mary she would miraculously become pregnant with Jesus; and Hebrews 13:2 reminds people to "entertain strangers," since some strangers might actually be angels.
Bramlett believes angels are still making appearances in our modern day, and he documents several purported instances on his website.
"Some say that true reality is spiritual, not physical," he said. "The supernatural breaks through [into our dimension], and it's exciting when it does."
There is a lot of crappy worship music.....the "me me me" spirit of many modern "worship" is disgusting.
But, there is a great variety of amazing songs that just make you fall to the ground as well.
Not all old hymns are deep or solid either. Some are awful.
There is going to be bad with every age of music.
Where would you go to?
You forgot to mention Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring" specially composed, arranged and directed to accompany angels in their song. You also forgot Handel's "Messiah".
That "Heart of worship" song is loved by many; but I have trouble singing the part where you apologize for "the thing I've made it" (because I haven't made it a thing) -- if I say those words, I'm just mouthing it (vain repetition). That is a song for a soloist who has "made it a thing", IMO.
I love a blend of old hymns (for their strong doctrinal orientation) and new choruses like "Breathe", "He is exalted", et al. For me, the blend is essential for maintaining the continuity between past and present. It's all the Body of Christ and ought not to be lost or neglected.
It's all about bringing in the younger generation.
I believe in angels
It's interesting, but I'm apparently not the only one who feels this way. Ten years ago when the church had a mixture of old and new music, nicely arranged, I sang up a storm along with everyone else. There was some great music, very uplifting and exciting, and I'd love to have that experience again. Now many or most of the folks in the church are singing in an unenthusiastic way. By the time the fourth repetition of the lyrics is sung, the choir is on its own and the congregation isn't singing at all, just kind of mumbling along and hoping they can sit down soon. The only time they wake up is when there's a performance by some professional gospel singer who knows how to bring it. So I'm not the only one who finds herself unable to concentrate on worship with this music; the rest of the congregation is annoyed too.
All you'll care about in Heaven is about worshipping God - and if that's singing old time hymns, then belt it out with vigor, and if all that comes to mind is this new stuff, then sing it with gusto - but the point of worship is supposed to be God centered, not self-centeredness.
No need for insults. I was just kidding; lighten up. I bet that when we're really in heaven the singing will be like nothing we've heard on this earth. Probably it will be most like the more ecstatic passages of Handel, who, as he wrote "Messiah," said tearfully that he could see heaven.
2. Did any of them explain who the dead kid in Three Men and a Baby was?
The catholic church believes God did all these miracles and had angels visit long ago and now we must go on faith.
Mormans believe we can and do still talk to God It is the prime difference between the two as I understand it.
The RC believes we must live on faith and the mormons believe we still have God with us.
I heard somewhere some time back the last pope noted that. Said if we are right, their wrong and vice a versa.
Rodney Howard-Browne is on one of the tapes. To learn more about him, listen to Hanegraff's Counterfeit Revival where he (RHB) instructs people not to pray but just received the experience that they were receiving.
To these tapes, aside from the one with RHB I remain open minded- particularly the one with China and the Kansas one. I won't say that they are real, but I won't say they aren't either. Beautiful sounds. The one in Maryland sounds like the Choir sound though on the Kurzweil piano.
No, I'm not condemning the music of any indigenous people. They are worshipping the Lord in joy and reverence, and I'm sure He honors that. In fact, I'm not condemning any people. God knows what's in our hearts and minds.
But to me the heavy bass, electric guitars, electric keyboard, and other modern instruments sound more like the rock concerts of my youth than music for a church. Sometimes the sound is so overwhelmingly loud it's painful, and I fear my hearing is being damaged; I put my hands over my ears to ease the pain. This seems to me more like an effort to please and attract a young crowd accustomed to overamplified rock music, but it's a wasted effort since hardly any young people are there anyway.
I'm not asking anybody to stop worshipping this way. I just come in twenty minutes late when the rock concert is over.
This is not meant in a rude way, but just as a matter of fact, you have no idea about Roman Catholic beliefs. RC's believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the mass.
I don't know if they're real either but that last one gave me the heebie jeebies.
mark
No doubt?
This lady on the piano was "leading" 25 persons in "spontaneous worship."
How do you decifer the voices of the "angels" from the 25 spontaneously worshipping congregants?
Bach, for one, wrote for protestants. Not sure about the others.
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