Glamor or Glory?

By David Brandt Berg, March, 1973

MUSICAL PERFECTION IS MATHEMATICAL, BUT MUSICAL INSPIRATION IS DIVINE! Watch performers, the difference between the truly greats & the mere perfectionists: The major difference is that the perfectionists, those who have great voices etc., but who are more interested in THEIR performance & are more conscious of how THEY are singing & looking & sounding, are only interested in THEMSELVES!--It falls flat, nothing but an egotistical display of self!

WHEREAS THE TRULY GREAT PERFORMERS MAKE YOU FORGET THEY'RE PERFORMING & make you forget their performance & even forget THEM you're so carried away with the emotion of their MESSAGE & what they're singing ABOUT or saying or portraying, so that THEY almost fade out of the picture & you're getting the MESSAGE.--These are the TRULY greats!

THE GREATEST STARS ARE THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW THEY'RE STARS. The greatest men are the ones who didn't know they were great, at least they didn't feel great. What makes you REALLY great is the greatness GOD gives you--the SPIRIT, the inspiration.

YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH PEOPLE RECOGNISE AS SOMETHING GREAT. You kind of swing with the drama of it & sort of fit in with it & ride the crest, but you HAVE to remember it is not YOU--it's something DIVINE, the Holy SPIRIT, so people recognise they're not seeing YOU--they're seeing the LORD.

WE'RE SHOWING GOD TO THE WORLD. They don't know what He's like. The only way they're going to know is by seeing God in YOU, & that's not YOU. If they only see YOU like they see in the CHURCHES, ugh! But if in seeing you they DON'T see you, they see the LORD, that's the DIFFERENCE.

THAT'S WHAT THE WORLD TODAY CALLS CHARISMA, a kind of a mystical charm, a divine anointing, a supernatural fascination. That's what every really great musician, singer, speaker, performer, prophet or king must have, a DIVINE ANOINTING. It ought to really erase the PERFORMER in some respects & make you think of GOD, of the GREATER One BEHIND the person--not the mere INSTRUMENT.

WHEN GOD HAS GIVEN YOU A ROLE TO PLAY & you can play it with divine anointing & real inspiration of the Lord & by the power of His Spirit, you become that creation of GOD!

IT'S THE POWER OF GOD! I asked God one time, "What is it that just grips us & holds us when Faith sings?" And the Lord said, "She sings with AUTHORITY!" It's such divine conviction nothing & nobody could shake it!

THAT'S WHAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE when witnessing, singing, writing or whatever. It's gotta be GOD! But you have to have the faith to play the role God has given you to play. IF YOU'RE WILLING TO BE WHAT GOD WANTS YOU TO BE, not what you ARE, but what GOD wants you to be, THEN He can mightily use you.

HE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE between lifeless CLAY & the alive, pulsating energetic body of a human BEING! It's the breath of God, the anointing & power of God that makes the difference--& don't you forget it!

WITHOUT HIM YOU'RE NOTHING! You'll fall flat as a flounder! What did the Lord show me in the "Bahai Temple Prophecy" about the pitiful prophets who tried to keep on going after the anointing was gone? (See ML No.9 ) They're the most sad, pitiful cases in all history after God removed the anointing because they went astray or began to exalt THEMSELVES instead of giving GOD the glory.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST DANGERS YOU HAVE IS TO BEGIN THINKING IT'S YOU. It's GOD'S anointing. If He withdraws it, you're just as flat as ever. It doesn't matter how technically perfect our bands are, they can be dead as a doornail if they lack the POWER--that SUPERNATURAL thing--that mysterious MYSTICAL power that really turns people on & makes them trip out.

THAT'S WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE CHURCHES TODAY: They've got EVERYTHING, but they're one helluva failure because they've lost the SPIRIT--no ANOINTING or POWER, no real EMOTION, no dramatic mystical CHARISMA.--The FIRE'S gone!

I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH EDUCATION YOU HAVE, how much of an ORATOR you are, if you haven't got the FIRE, it profits nothing! If you haven't got the fire I don't care how "good" a witness you are, how many verses you learn, how much you understand Bible Prophecy & can describe every Beast in the Book & hang a label on every horn! If you haven't got the FIRE, it's just cold dead ICICLES of facts & figures--no warmth, no heat! You'll never set anybody on fire without it! All you'll do is get them muddled up & turn them off.

IF YOU'VE GOT THAT DIVINE ANOINTING, IT MAKES EVERY LITTLE TASK WONDERFUL! "You've got to have a glory in the thing you do, an everlasting glory that'll carry you through!" I've had some guys polish my shoes who just did it like they could have spit in my face instead of on my shoes! But I've had other little native boys get down & sing to the rhythm as they shined my shoes with glory! It was a GLORY to them & they had an ANOINTING for it!

UNLESS IT MOVES YOU, WHAT GOOD IS IT? The business we're in is MOVING people! We're trying to move them from one place to the other, one life to another, one spirit to another. We're trying to MOVE them!

IF YOUR MUSIC DOESN'T AFFECT PEOPLE, YOU'RE JUST IN THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS! If your singing doesn't AFFECT people, if your witness doesn't make them glad or mad or sad, it's just so much hot air & a waste of time! It's the difference between somebody who is proud of his OWN work & HIMSELF & those who have the SPIRIT & just wanna exalt JESUS!

PEOPLE HAVE TO SEE YOU, BUT THEY'VE GOT TO SEE JESUS COMING THROUGH YOU. But if it stops dead with YOU, they'll just go on & figure it was a waste of time--no different from what everybody else was screaming. "Not by (thy) might nor by (thy) power, but by MY SPIRIT!" saith the Lord. Jesus said, "The WORDS that I speak unto thee, they ARE Spirit & they ARE Life"!-- Zech.4:6 ; Jn.6:63 .

YOU'VE GOT TO MOVE THEM, make them mad, sad or glad, drive them to a decision, spur them to action, emote them into motion by emotion by the Spirit. "It's the Spirit, it's the Spirit!"

THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD!--SO IS EVERY SONG, every sermon, every witness, every book, every picture. EVERY task, WHATEVER it is, without the SPIRIT it's DEAD & will eat your heart out & KILL you! But the SPIRIT can make ANYTHING glorious! It can make you even clean toilets with an artistic finesse & be proud of the good job you did & consider it a work of art & a thing of beauty!

"YOU GOTTA HAVE A GLORY IN THE THING YOU DO!" The SPIRIT can turn it ON, no matter WHAT it is or WHO it is, & give it GLORY & GLAMOUR & LIFE!--Beauty, joy & life and heat and everything.--You name it! It's the SPIRIT that makes the difference.

BUT IF YOUR SERVICE FOR GOD HASN'T GOT THE SPIRIT, IT STINKS & people are going to hold their noses & run the other way! All that meat & no potatoes! All that smoke & no fire! All that action & no JUICE that brings FRUIT.

HAVE YOU GOT THE SPIRIT? Has your singing, music or whatever you do got the POWER, the FIRE of GOD?--If NOT, it's DEAD WORKS!--And it'll never set anyone ELSE on fire either! God help you to have the FIRE-POWER of God's SPIRIT in ALL you do!--Amen? Praise the Lord! Don't try to WORK up GLAMOR--PRAY down GLORY! Hallelujah!

- Faith
- Love
- Prayer
- Success with People
- The Future
- Marriage
- Parenting

...and much more -- all in terms that are relatable and easy to follow. Personal accounts from active Christians around the world confirm that God is still alive and working just as wonderfully as ever on behalf of those who love Him.

Put that power to work for you! Connect with the source of love, happiness, peace, freedom, contentment, and the rest of the best life has to offer -- God, who the Bible says is love. Change your life! Change your world! Get activated!