True Worship of God – Part V Having understood what worship demands, let us examine how worship has gone astray, become commercial, and is no longer God-centric. At the outset, it is also important to know that worship is reserved only for God. Only He is worthy and not any of His servants. Revelation 19:10 “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Thus, no one can claim this worship. Accordingly, we are not to worship saints, prophets, pastors, pseudo-apostles, self-styled prophets, statues, angels, any false gods, or Mary, the mother of Jesus. We also should not be worshipping for the expectation of something in return, such as a job, money, riches, property, etc. Worship is done for God because He deserves it and for His pleasure alone. With the efflux of time, many pseudo-worships have emerged. We shall limit ourselves to two trendy such worships, which are sweeping the globe. One is entertainment worship, and the other is hyped-up worship. Entertainment Worship: Worship is central to God and not to entertainment and amusement. There is an increasing trend all over to attract people through trendy music. In such churches and gatherings, the main focus is on music. The music is mostly electronic, with a full-fledged band comprising lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums, saxophone, flute etc. The lyrics are devotional, but the genre of the music is pop, reggae, rap, rock, etc. Euphemistically, these bands are known as ‘Praise Bands’. The focus is derailed and is definitely not on worshipping God but rather on the musicians and the leader. Thus, this turns into idol worship, which is abhorrent to the Lord and a breach of His commandments. Hyped-up Worship: What "hyped-up worship" means is that a church must make its worship so exciting that everyone who comes leaves charged and electrified. This type of worship is not limited to praise bands and the like, but also to what is called a "spirit-filled" sermon that "rocks" the crowd. According to dictionary.com, "hyped-up" means "intensively or excessively stimulated or exaggerated." These worship services become a place where the person gets intensively stimulated or overly excited through an artificially whipped-up frenzy. The problem with this type of mindset is the changed focus of worship from all about God, to some about God, but mostly about themselves. It is a stage-managed show in which the focus is purportedly on Jesus but in essence on the speaker who emerges as a star. John 4:24 “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” These kinds of worship need to be red-flagged. It is not of the and for the Creator God. Someone else is stealing the praise and glory. It is fast turning into a cult. Behind these worships is the one who wanted to usurp glory and make his throne higher than that of God. When we take part in these worships, we are unconsciously worshipping the devil. Every soul is precious to the Lord. Let us be careful and not barter our souls to the devil. Dr Ashwin Drummond Laddertoheaven.co.in