Lookahead: The interesting thing is that the next time I checked that YouTube video a few days later, my comment was still the most recent one, i.e., the thread appeared to have dried up after mine! But then I noticed that many, many sub-comments had been added to ones that had preceded mine. So, people were still wanting to discuss things in the same vein as (seemingly) Dr. Cho’s—despite the fact that he had retired before Gen Z had come into its own—and despite the fact that it appeared that an Indian? man was meticulously reading Dr. Cho’s supposed sermon which now had an AI-enhanced quality. 😊

When I fell in love with the Lord I fell hard and I was simply levelled by His love and goodness. All I really wanted to do was express my thankfulness and respect, to please Him in every possible way and to make sure that I was in His will 100% of the time. This overflowed into the worship services. It took absolutely nothing for me to get into a highly worshipful state in which my heart was totally in awe of God, submitted and utterly focused on Him.

I became obsessed with finding opportunities to worship, e.g., listening to worship songs and attending venues that would allow me to enter this state of what I referred to as worship. In sum, I really, really loved to worship. I was travelling “on the road “ a lot in those days, and would always visit local churches on the weekends. I was often intrigued by the difference in worship styles and format. I remember praying that the LORD would help me to master the words and music immediately, so that I could start worshipping Him as soon as possible in any service.

Then one day I had kind-of a strange experience when I was attending what I considered to be a deeply anointed worship service in my hometown. Right in the middle of it, the guest worship leader interrupted our worship, and started castigating us – telling us that we weren’t actually worshipping and our hearts weren’t in it. In his view, this was evident by the fact that people weren’t on their feet, hands weren’t raised in the air, and people hadn’t joined in with the singing. I think he even came from the Psalms and (with a streamlined translation of) John 4:23,24.

In retrospect, I had never heard anything like it; and it never occurred to me that he was a trained worship leader who had decided to conduct Worship 101 class that night. I had just been rudely shocked out of my worship and put under condemnation. At that time, I believe that something like a spirit of legalism came on me. I wasn’t totally aware of it, but it interfered with my worship from that day forward. Now instead of looking for opportunities to worship, I began looking for ways to worship in a manner that pleased God as confirmed by an awareness of His Presence. I began to judge myself and how I was worshipping. I wasn’t necessarily in complete agreement with what the worship leader had taught, but I started imposing standards on myself about what was scriptural and what was proper worship. Not only was I doing a personal assessment, but I also took on that judgmental spirit when I was watching other people and listening to the songs that they were choosing.

In addition, I started reading books about how to worship—on topics like “entering behind the veil” after… Step 1. entering His gates, then Step 2. His courts, then Step 3. the Holy Place, etc…plus other books that essentially said, “Worship = Works.”

This judgmentalism was almost subliminal, something that I wasn’t really even aware of. But it erupted one Sunday when a woman attended a service in a church that I would often visit when I was on the road. I previously had been watching her behavior. She didn’t seem to get to church early enough to say her hello’s, because she would go around greeting people in the middle of worship. I don’t think the other people minded, but I was definitely in judgment of this woman. And the day that she stepped all over three people in my row to get to me, to say hello and give me a hug, I told her quite frankly (unfortunately with daggers in my eyes), “Can’t you see that I’m worshipping here.”

Note: I didn’t say, “I’m trying to worship here;” I told her, “I’m worshipping here” – obviously a lie.

Anyway, I don’t know if it was guilt – I don’t know if it was condemnation, but I just felt so horrible for unleashing on that poor woman. So, as soon as we were released from the service, I found her in the back and apologized. She accepted my apology, but I’ll never forget the absolutely crushed look on her face. I don’t really know how the story ended either–God mercifully didn’t have me go back…plus all the travel tapered off.

After that happened, I really became focused on being a polite worshipper. Perhaps in accordance with some of my research, I decided that it was just the enemy trying to interfere with my worship and bring distractions. So, when similar distractions came, I would just keep my cool and pray. And I really got to the point where things just rolled right off me. In one particular service, I was deeply in (what I called) worship and an acquaintance, whom I barely knew in the church, suddenly turned around in front of me. She said, “I’ve got to go to the restroom,” and handed me…a little baby. I was actually able to continue to worship, now with that sweet baby in my arms…after casting down a couple of strongholds in the Name of Jesus.

Anyway, although I got good at keeping my focus on God and ignoring distractions, I was initially aware of and actively cataloging all these distractions. So, the music bugged me sometimes. The worship team’s attire bugged me sometimes. The people acting up in the audience bugged me sometimes. I would just pray and get re-focused. That was my mode for a few years.

In the meantime, one of my relatives was radically born again and we had been the “two who put 10,000 to flight” during that time. One day he felt called by the Lord to set up a worship center in which nothing would be done in that center but worshipping the Lord. There would be no order-of-service. It would just be exquisite worship songs, hand-selected to create an atmosphere in which God would manifest His presence. I was convinced that it was of God and so I poured a lot of time and resources into supporting the vision. I even thought that the Lord might be calling me to lead worship in the Worship Center, although I had mediocre skills. (Let’s just say that, prior to that episode, the Lord had pretty much told me not to give up my day job.)

What I didn’t know was that my relative was actually pulling a copycat. There was an existing church in town with the same format – that was enjoying some success. But my friend felt that the music genre was interfering with a fuller manifestation of God, i.e., God wasn’t manifesting in the church as much as He would be if the people were singing the right songs. Plus, He felt that some of the worship music might actually be an offense to God. Basically, he had probably (knowingly or unknowingly) had a Worship 101 experience himself.

I’ll never forget that I enthusiastically told my home church Outreach Ministry pastor about all this and was slightly disappointed when he actually cautioned me to, “Look at the fruit.” The “fruit” that I eventually saw was that there was an initial, favorable response for my friend and some pretty decent support. But his little church eventually turned into an empty little church. And my major takeaway was that whatever worship was, this was not it.

Sometime during that experience the Lord sent me to a Hispanic convention (please see previous post, Worship #9) and I caught a glimpse of what real worship was all about. I didn’t receive any further Worship 101 wisdom from the pulpit, but little children were smiling at me during worship, then running to the altar.

At that juncture, I decided to attend the Holy Spirit’s school of training, and I believe that He has helped me with my worship over the years. Ironically, I feel that I have gained additional revelation in writing this blog series! And although I have not arrived yet, thank God that I’ve left.

I do know that accepting rules and regulations, and basically laws about how to worship properly, can really set somebody back. But I’m convinced that the worship leaders/teachers who are conducting Worship 101 classes, have the best intentions in the world. Some of them have had years of education on what worship is, how to worship, and how to train people to worship. But I think in the end, worship is not something that’s taught. Worship is something that’s caught.

Recently I came across a YouTube video with an intriguing title:

This Popular Song Makes the Devil Rejoice — Stop Singing It! | Dr. David Yonggi Cho

The video was actually comprised of still-frame captures of Dr. Cho’s face, with a voice-over of the sermon. I realized immediately that the voice was not Dr. Cho’s, and possibly AI-enhanced. And the sermon seemed to be rather legalistic, so I decided not to listen to it. (Also, I knew that Dr. Cho had passed away some years ago. Note: he led the largest church in the entire world, in South Korea, when he opted to retire.) However, the interesting thing was that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of recent 2026 comments about the sermon. Many people were repenting about singing and/or playing inappropriate (per Dr. Cho supposedly) songs in worship services. Others were wholeheartedly agreeing with Dr. Cho about the inappropriateness of some contemporary songs. Some were wistfully wishing for the “good ole songs.” There were also comments about what true worship was (spiritual warfare, worshipping for One, singing “As the Deer Panteth for the Water,” etc. ).

I believe this might have been the first time that I actually commented on a video. My response:

In my opinion, and that’s what this is only: my opinion…The definition of worship is a spontaneous expression that is meant to please God–and something that is done with a worshipful heart. I believe that if I work on my heart condition and relationship with God, I can’t help but worship…Once we have a worshipful heart, God will let us know if He wants us to do a Message Song(s) (v. Worship Song). If your heart is “true” and you’re led by the Spirit, the worship that emerges will align with the John 4:23, 24 paradigm.

I then referred my fellow seekers to Revelation 7:9-12 for a perfect example of worship. We will be discussing this in the next (and final) post of this series, including some recent insight I received about the reciprocal nature of this Revelation-type Worship.

The interesting thing is that the next time I checked that YouTube video a few days later, my comment was still the most recent one, i.e., the thread appeared to have dried up after mine! But then I noticed that many, many sub-comments had been added to ones that had preceded mine. So, people were still wanting to discuss things in the same vein as (seemingly) Dr. Cho’s—despite the fact that he had retired before Gen Z had come into its own—and despite the fact that it appeared that an Indian? man was meticulously reading Dr. Cho’s supposed sermon which now had an AI-enhanced quality. 😊