Realitorium is the follow-up to my first record, Bright Portal
My new project, Realitorium, is the follow-up to my first record, Bright Portal. Except for the songs “Psalm 139” and “Don’t Pass Me By”, I wrote most of the songs for Realitorium soon after Bright Portal’s release. I was excited about the success of the first record and was anxious to record a new project. At that time, I had no inkling of how life had plans to slow me down. Between the monumental task of my producer moving his studio and the threat of worldwide illness and its massive consequences for everyone, it’s quite amazing that Realitorium has been accomplished. As the saying goes, ‘good things come to those who wait’, but that doesn’t even come close to reality as told in scripture.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1
Whereas ‘good things come’ suggests a mostly passive approach to life, Hebrews 12:1 teaches us the full weight of our skin in the game. Adam’s sin which brought about The Fall broke everything, bringing degradation and decay to all of life and every created thing. Then Jesus, the Second Adam came and restored our hope. Instead of God leaving us mired in the consequences of our sin, as Hebrews 12:1 says, I am responsible for actively casting off my sins and running my race on a track that is full of distractions, some of my own making and some which are not. Throughout the process of making the new album, our three mortal enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil, have tempted me to strain relationships to the breaking point in what surely would have been a vain attempt to chart my destiny, thereby calling God a liar when He says that He makes all things work together for my good. All things, including the unpleasant things, like practicing patience and taking the time to encourage others to love and good works as we’re told to do in Hebrews 10:24. Only by this process, over several years, have I accomplished Realitorium.
By now, you may be wondering what is Realitorium. Realitorium is the arena of the created cosmos, the universe itself, which is there mediating God’s glory, His existence, creatorship, and rule.
Even though we now ‘see through a glass darkly’ (1 Corinthians 13:12), it is also ‘the glory of kings to search out a matter’ (Proverbs 25:2). As kings now in this life, made so to work to usher in the Kingdom Of God on the earth, we are responsible to study the Bible. Therein we learn from it both the nature of reality and what God requires of us as His people. I made Realitorium as a call to Christians to lose our fear of the truth that we do reign with Christ as kings right now in the same mission Adam and Eve were given in the garden. We Christians are to be leaders in every area of life, as Mothers, Fathers, Sons, Daughters, Salespeople, Teachers, Tire Techs, Architects, Landscapers, and Artists, just to name a very few.
“And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves
on the earth’.” Genesis 1:28
“To bring back truth, on a practical level, the church must encourage Christians to be not merely consumers of culture, but makers of culture. The church needs to cultivate Christian artists, musicians, novelists, filmmakers, journalists, attorneys, teachers, scientists, business executives, and the like, teaching its laypeople the sense in which every secular vocation-including, above all, the callings of husband, wife, and parent--is a sphere of Christian ministry, a way of serving God and neighbor that is grounded in God's truth. Christian laypeople must be encouraged to be leaders in their fields, rather than eager-to-please followers, working from the assumptions of their biblical worldview, not the vapid clichés of pop culture.” J. Gresham Machen
So, why Realitorium? For the glory of God, of course.
“You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will, they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11
May you, O gentle listener, rejoice with me in our Maker, gladdened that He has made us and equipped us to worship Him in all our daily doings, giving thanks to Him in everything as is His will for us. Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth!