253 Why Some Worship The Bible
What I Heard in a Church That Chanted John 1:1 Like a Spell
Hello and good morning friends,
This article was partly inspired by two articles. This one just below đđżđđżđđżđđż is the first and the second is at the end of this article.
I remember the sound. It wasnât a prayer. It wasnât a song. It was a recitation, spoken in perfect, practiced unison by every person in the room.
âIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was GodâŚâ
The pastor would begin, and like a trigger pulled, the entire congregation would finish it, a wall of voices completing the verse from memory. John 1:1-3. Every time. Mid-sermon, during prayer, it didnât matter. It was their tic, their ritual, their spiritual heartbeat monitor. It felt powerful. It also felt⌠empty. Like a spell being cast, not a truth being received.
I liked those people. They were laborers, tradesmen. Their hands were calloused, their boots dusty. They didnât dress for show. But that chant, that rhythmic, collective finishing of the scripture, it created a wall I couldnât penetrate. My spirit grew restless. Then quiet. Then certain. The command was clear, if wordless: Leave. Do not return.
I obeyed. But the passage stayed with me. It haunted me. Were they seeing something I wasnât? Was I missing the beauty they clearly cherished?
Back then, I didnât know the Greek. I didnât know Logos from Rhema. All I had was the echo in my head and the opening chapter of my Bible. So I went back to the beginning. My beginning. Genesis 1.
âIn the beginning, God createdâŚâ
And there it was. Not an answer, but a resonance. A deep, fundamental harmony. John was not starting a new story. He was replaying the opening notes of the story, the one where God speaks and worlds form. Where darkness is pierced by a commanding, âLet there be light.â
The article above from From the Garden Gate puts finer point on it: âJohn does not begin his account with a birth announcement, a genealogy, or a prophet standing in the wilderness. He begins with words his readers already knew: âIn the beginningâŚââ He was tapping into a memory etched into the soul of Israel. He was saying, âYou know that story where God speaks and it happens? That speaking? Thatâs who Jesus is.â
Thatâs what I felt but couldnât articulate. The terrifying, beautiful synergy. The Word wasnât just a message. It was the active, creative, world-forming will of God. Psalm 33 calls it out: âBy the word of the LORD the heavens were made.â Itâs the davar of Yahua, His effective, purpose-filled utterance. Thatâs the Logos.
And this is where my spirit had recoiled in that church. The recitation had become incantation. They were speaking a truth about the explosive, creative, foundational force of all reality and treating it like a magical phrase to summon a spiritual feeling. They were naming the Architect of the cosmos while reducing His blueprint to a mantra.
The other (below) piece, from Utterances from the Desert, pushes this further: âThe Logos is the divine reasoning and will of God the governing force behind all creation and order.â This force, this Logos, âupholds the universe by the word of his powerâ (Hebrews 1:3).
Think about that. The force that spoke galaxies into being, that ordained the boundaries of the sea, that breathed life into dust⌠that force has a name. And that name is Yahweh. And that Yahweh, John says, became flesh and dwelt among us.
When we recite John 1, we are not stating a nice theological fact. We are declaring that the governing intelligence of the universe, the source of all order and life and light, put on skin and walked in the dirt. This is either the most profound truth in history or the most insane. It cannot be a rhythmic punctuation mark in a Sunday sermon.
The article argues this Logos is also the source of the Law, the Torah. âThe Law was never just for Israel, it was always rooted in the eternal Logos, governing all creation.â The Law isnât a arbitrary list; itâs the ownerâs manual for a reality spoken into existence by the Logos. It shows us how life works best within the system He created.
So what was happening in that church? I believe they were honoring the shell and missing the kernel. They were repeating the description of the fuse while ignoring the dynamite. They were chanting about the Word but not submitting to its governing authority, its Law, its order, its claim on every atom of their being.
The call to leave wasnât about them being âbad.â It was a protection for me. It was the Father saying, âDonât let the ritual become the reality. Donât let the chant replace the surrender. The Word became flesh so you could have a relationship with the Speaker, not just memorize His opening line.â
The truth of John 1:1 isnât found in unison recitation. Itâs found in unified surrender. Itâs the shocking, humbling, glorious realization that the Voice who said âLet there be lightâ looked at you in your darkness and said, âLet there be life.â And He did it by becoming the life. The Word became flesh. The Lawgiver became the Lamb. The Creator entered the creation.
We donât need to chant it. We need to kneel before it.
We donât need to recite it in unison. We need to let it divide us, soul from spirit, until all thatâs left is awe.
The next time you read, âIn the beginning was the Word,â donât just finish the verse. Let it finish you. Let it bring you back to your beginning, to the moment He spoke light into your darkness, and worship the God who didnât just send a message. He came Himself.
So, to answer a deeper question that bears this articleâs title: âWhy Some Worship The Bibleâ
When Abba made himself known to me that night on October 3rd, 2024, one of His commands to me was learn who He was and to get to know Him. I interpreted that command with âdude, I need to read the bible.â And thatâs what I began doing. I did so starting at the beginning. Genesis and through to Revelation.
I donât have any statistical data or studies to support my next claim or speculation if you will. I just have a collection of anecdotals from conversations Iâve had with professional Christians during my walk this past almost two years now.
I suspect many Christians read and learn the New Testament first. Than at some later point some go back and read the Old Testament. As a result, they receive the text contained in the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. That subtly changes perspectives, understandings and so on.
As Iâve previously stated âmere speculation on my part.â
I think this is why some idolize the bible and place it ahead of seeking a personal relationship with the Father, most High.
That is all, and thank you for reading.
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Shashue Monrauch
I am continually in awe that the very reasoning and intention within the mind of God was spoken outward and became creation itself. Everything that exists first existed within Him as wisdom, purpose, and design before it was ever seen. Creation is not merely something God made. It is the visible expression of His reasoning.
And now that same wisdom, life, and intention that brought forth the worlds has been planted within us like a seed, so that through obedience, something eternal may also be formed through us. What was once expressed outwardly through creation is now being expressed inwardly through transformed people.