Guitar Chord Prep Study

August 27, 2011

This chord prep study provides beginning guitar students with a good exercise that trains their ears to hear basic chord progressions in the key of C. It also helps with note reading and fingerpicking.

A teacher can strum the chords while the student plays the notes or two students can alternate playing the notes and the chords.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

The book of Daniel records two times that a kingdom-wide verbal testimony was borne to the true God (4:1-3; 6:25-27). First, because God miraculously delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace (3:1-27), Nebuchadnezzar extolled Him:

“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God” (3:28).

He also issued a remarkable decree:

“Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort” (3:29).

He then promoted these faithful Jews (3:30).

Daniel then records for us a striking kingdom-wide proclamation from the king:

“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation” (4:1-3).

Second, Daniel later records in his book how God miraculously delivered him from the lions’ den (6:1-24). He then relates another kingdom-wide testimony that was borne to the true God:

“Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions” (6:25-27).

These records by Daniel show that the entire kingdoms of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius received royal verbal testimony to the true God, the God who miraculously delivered His people!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Through a dramatic turn of events in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, Haman, who sought to have all the Jews exterminated, was instead put to death himself (Est. 3:1-7:10). Moreover, the king exalted Mordecai, whom Haman had plotted to kill (8:2-15).

How did this incredible reversal come about? Although the book of Esther never mentions God, Scriptural teaching elsewhere makes clear that God the Judge exalted Mordecai and abased Haman:

“I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them. But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted” (Ps. 75:4-10).

Through His marvelous intervention, the Judge brought kingdom-wide blessedness to the Jews:

“Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. . . . Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus . . . And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day” (8:9; 11-12a; 15-17c).

What’s more, He brought blessings upon many Gentiles as well at this time: “And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them” (8:17d). This fascinating statement merits close attention because it points to some glorious truths that could easily be overlooked.

First, the inspired writer of Esther highlights this conversion of many Gentiles by placing it at the end of this passage. Second, it points to the working of the Judge to bless both Jews and Gentiles, and not just Jews.

Third, this conversion record argues for the genuine devoutness of at least some Jews in the land because it is untenable to hold that God intervened in this breathtaking way so that many Gentiles converted to join an unfaithful or even apostate group of Jews. Had that been the case, this conversion record itself would be an anticlimactic ending to an otherwise glorious account of the working of God the Judge to exalt His people and abase their enemies.

Such pessimism about the Jews in Ahasuerus’ kingdom is unwarranted because no explicit data in the book conveys that the Jews at this time were without exception living unfaithfully to God. Furthermore, the mere lack of an explicit record of the mention of God’s name by the leading Jews in the book of Esther is not sufficient evidence to support such an assessment.

This interpretation is confirmed by the teaching of Psalm 75 and other Scripture (e.g., 1 Sam. 2:1-10) that the Judge acts to exalt the righteous, which implies that His intervention in the kingdom of Ahasuerus was to exalt at least some Jews who were righteous and trusted in Him. Regardless of whether Esther and Mordecai had been righteous prior to this point or not, God’s exaltation of Mordecai and the Jews points to the presence of at least some devout Jews in the kingdom at that time.

Let us praise God the Judge through whose working the wicked were abased, the righteous were exalted, and “many of the people of the land became Jews” (8:17d)!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

God is not explicitly mentioned in the book of Esther. The book, however, in a striking way reveals that testimony to the true God existed in every province of the Persian kingdom of Ahasuerus. 

The book begins by mentioning that Ahasuerus reigned “from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred, and seven and twenty provinces” (1:1). Beginning with this first occurrence, the word province occurs 29 more times in the book. 

Of the 30 occurrences of the word (both in the singular and the plural), explicit statements that pertain to all the provinces in the kingdom in one manner or another occur in six of the ten chapters of the book (cf. 1:1; 2:3; 3:8; 4:3; 8:5; 9:2). This data suggest an emphasis in Esther on matters that were of kingdom-wide importance. 

Interestingly, the statement that reveals that there was a kingdom-wide testimony to the true God does not come from the king, Esther, or Mordecai. Instead, it comes strikingly in the middle of the slanderous statement made by Haman to the king: 

“And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them” (3:8).

Haman testified that a particular group of people (the Jews) were “scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces” of the kingdom. We have no reason to doubt the validity of his statement, and the fact that he later authorized letters to be sent to all the provinces to have the Jews in each province be exterminated confirms it (3:12-15).[1] 

After stating that these people were present in all the provinces, Haman declared that they were distinct from all the other people of the kingdom because their laws differed from those of everyone else. Saying this, he testified that the Jews were living distinctly from all the others in the kingdom by following their distinctive laws. 

The distinctive laws of the Jews, of course, bore abundant testimony to the true God (cf. Exod. 20:1-17). Haman’s testimony, therefore, reveals that there was a kingdom-wide testimony to the true God in the days of Ahasuerus!



[1] Many later references confirm this understanding that there were such Jews in every province of the kingdom (4:3; 8:5, 13, 17; 9:2; 12-16; 20; 28).

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

What does Haman have to do with head coverings and 1 Corinthians 11:1-16? An examination of the LXX of Esther 6 brings out a correlation between these seemingly otherwise unrelated entities that has important bearing on the interpretation of this highly disputed NT passage.

Esther 6 records the dramatic reversal that resulted in Haman’s humiliation. Hearing the king speak of one whom he desired to honor, he thought that surely the king intended to honor him (6:6). To his great chagrin, he learned that the king ordained that Haman himself was to honor Mordecai, whom he greatly despised (6:10).

After he had fulfilled the king’s directives to honor Mordecai publicly (6:11), “Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered” (6:12). Plainly, this text is not declaring that he went to his home having hair on his head. Nor is it asserting either that he had long hair on his head as he went home or that he somehow miraculously grew his hair long.

Rather, this verse records that because he had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head.

Furthermore, the LXX rendering of the verse reads as follows:

BGT Esther 6:12 ¶ ἐπέστρεψεν δὲ ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος εἰς τὴν αὐλήν Αμαν δὲ ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια λυπούμενος κατὰ κεφαλῆς

LXE Esther 6:12 And Mardochaeus returned to the palace: but Aman went home mourning, and having his head covered.

KJV Esther 6:12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

NAU Esther 6:12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered.

The exact phrase κατὰ κεφαλῆς found here occurs in only one other passage in the Bible in Greek:

BGT 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ.

SCR 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων, κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ.

KJV 1 Corinthians 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

NAU 1 Corinthians 11:4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.

Moreover, Hatch and Redpath (κατακαλύπτειν, 733) report that another hand of the Septuagint for Esther 6:12 reads, κατακεκαλυμμένος κεφαλήν. This variant reading has the perfect passive participle of the key verb used in 1 Corinthians 11:6 and 7 for both a man’s and a woman’s covering his or her head (κατακαλύπτω):

BGT 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω.

SCR 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω.

KJV 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

NAU 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.

BGT 1 Corinthians 11:7 Ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• ἡ γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν.

SCR 1 Corinthians 11:7 ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν.

KJV 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

NAU 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

This evidence from the LXX therefore supports holding that the covering in view in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 is an external head covering for both a man and a woman.


See also A Widespread, False Assertion about Corinthian Prostitutes and Paul’s Teaching about Head Coverings

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Medley Using MuseScore

August 22, 2011

Here is a pdf of a piece that I created using MuseScore. This medley includes the melodies of Jesus Calls Us, Am I a Soldier of the Cross, and O For a Thousand Tongues.

Using MuseScore, it is simple to create such a document and to listen to what you have created to see how it sounds!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

Scripture records the misdeeds of numerous wicked people and uses various terms to describe them as evildoers. Haman is unique among all the evil people spoken of in Scripture because he is the only one for whom the Greek word διάβολος is used:

Esther 7:4 ἐπράθημεν γὰρ ἐγώ τε καὶ ὁ λαός μου εἰς ἀπώλειαν καὶ διαρπαγὴν καὶ δουλείαν ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν εἰς παῖδας καὶ παιδίσκας καὶ παρήκουσα οὐ γὰρ ἄξιος ὁ διάβολος τῆς αὐλῆς τοῦ βασιλέως

LXE Esther 7:4 For both I and my people are sold for destruction, and pillage, and slavery; both we and our children for bondmen and bondwomen: and I consented not to it, for the slanderer is not worthy of the king’s palace.

Esther 8:1 καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης ἐδωρήσατο Εσθηρ ὅσα ὑπῆρχεν Αμαν τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος προσεκλήθη ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ὑπέδειξεν γὰρ Εσθηρ ὅτι ἐνοικείωται αὐτῇ

LXE Esther 8:1 And in that day king Artaxerxes gave to Esther all that belonged to Aman the slanderer: and Mardochaeus was called by the king; for Esther had shewn that he was related to her.

His use of slander to try to bring about the extermination of the Jews likely explains the use of this word for him (Est. 3:8-9) because he is thus like the devil himself, who “was a murderer from the beginning,” “is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44), and seeks the destruction of the Jews (cf. Rev. 12:13-17).

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

This year, my goal has been to read through the entire Bible in Greek. Here is the progress (chapters read/total chapters) that God has allowed me to make so far after 232 days:

 

 
Section Greek English
OT 690/920 284/920
NT 20/269 269/269
Bible 710/1189 553/1189

 

With 133 days left in 2011, I have finished reading 75% of the LXX so far! Provided I maintain my expected reading rate of three to four chapters on most days, Lord willing, I should be finished with it in about 78 days from now, on day 310.

I would then have 55 days to finish the Greek NT.

Praise God for sustaining grace through ths project!

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In either late July or early August of 1991, I first went on door-to-door visitation for my current church. At that time, we would go out on Saturday mornings. We met first for a time of singing, prayer, and a brief challenge. Then, we would go out visiting in the neighborhoods around our church.

From 1991 until 2008, I was able to go on door-to-door evangelism virtually every time that we had visitation. A bout with Bell’s palsy prevented me from being involved with outreach for some time in 2008, but after recovering, I have been going on visitation regularly as my circumstances have allowed.

Over the years, by my records, I presented the challenge for visitation at least 10 times from 1993-2003. I have probably knocked on doors in our neighborhoods well over 2000 times over the past 20 years, handed out more than 1000 tracts, and witnessed at some length to several hundred people.

A small number of people have made professions of faith, and I have had some opportunities for ongoing discipleship. As the Lord sees fit, I hope to see more visible and lasting fruit in the years ahead.

I praise God for His grace that has directed, constrained, and enabled me to evangelize regularly in spite of my many failings over the years! I would like to encourage all believers to be involved actively in the outreach ministries of their own churches:

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matt. 28:18-20).

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

"Haste Makes Waste"

August 18, 2011

This afternoon, I vividly experienced the truth of the saying, “Haste makes waste.” Expecting that I would be late for a tutoring session unless I rushed to get there, I carelessly slammed my car door on my right pinky, and without thinking at all, instantly yanked it out of the closed door with great force.

The combined force of the door slam and my yanking produced a nasty partial tearing of skin and tissue off my finger. As it began to drip blood, I bemoaned my foolishness and realized that I was not going to make it to the tutoring session.

Nearly two hours later, after getting three stitches in my finger at an urgent care facility, I went to the library to see if my student might still be there. I discovered that he had already left.

Not only had I lost the money for the missed tutoring session, I now had incurred many hundreds of dollars of medical expenses because of my carelessly rushing around. Beyond that, there will be additional expenses for a tetanus shot tomorrow and for getting the stitches out ten days from now.

Mercifully, God spared me from any broken bones or torn tendons in my finger. In spite of my injury, I was also still able to teach a guitar lesson this afternoon for two new students.

God has allowed so far for there to be very little pain per se after the initial injuries. I hope and pray that He may graciously see fit not to allow my finger to become infected and for it to heal properly.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.