Will

“In the worship discussions it will therefore be important for us to convince the leadership that they are seeking unity when they are really seeking uniformity. Some of our most significant victories in the last few centuries have been when churches abandon the search for unity (a difficult and elusive search) in favor of a policy of uniformity. Unity can only emerge from the Enemy working in the hearts of individuals. A leadership can impose uniformity. Unity has, at its core, a common conviction and celebrates differences in expression. Uniformity emphasizes appearance—as long as we all meet together and sing the same songs, we must be unified. Uniformity says that our various beliefs about the Enemy can differ or even be nonexistent as long as we do not question the decisions”
― T.G. Brown, The Wormwood Archive

“As you know, real musicians (and the performers must keep reminding themselves that they are indeed real musicians) don’t like to play familiar songs repeatedly. They intensely dislike overused arrangements for hymns and praise songs; they need a challenge, and this means new songs added each week, songs that have ever more sophisticated arrangement and accompaniment. Over time fewer and fewer audience members are able to give voice to the songs.”
― T.G. Brown, The Wormwood Archive

“And this is one of the most interesting things about pharmakeia. People claim to be enlightened by the experiences, but when you ask them what they learned, you get saccharine clichés about the oneness of everything and how we just need to love everyone. Not exactly enlightening.”
― Lewis Ungit, The Return of the Dragon : The Shocking Way Drugs and Religion Shape People and Societies

“When I was single I learned over dinner, careful not to drip tomato sauce upon discussions about the sprinkling of blood on the Temple altar.”
― Ilana Kurshan, If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir