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From: industrialbirds
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  • I love this version of the song the most because Sufjan puts so much emotion behind it. But no matter who sing it our however they do sing it, no doubt one of the greatest song ever. My personal favorite worship song!

  • This is one of my favorite hymns, and I blessed by this presentation in song and images. What a wonderful gift!

  • I love this video and song! Thanks for posting it.  It has blessed me. God Bless!

  • Thumbs up if Friday night lights brought you here..

  • I always get Sufjan confused with Shakin'.

  • The first time this song I was doing homework and my brother started to play it from his iPad. It was so distracting and I thought I was gonna cry! It took lot of effort to fight back tears! I absolutely love this song, especially the last line "here's my heart o take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above"

  • "Lucy Pevensie", The Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn treader

  • Lucy could only say, "It would break your heart." "Why," said I, "was it so sad: " "Sad!! No," said Lucy.

  • soft sufjan...kinda like Caliver!! Just put up a new song called "In Memory" Check it outttt

    youtube.com/watch?v=3j9IahpRHB­0

  • “I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;

    They do not sweat and whine about their condition;

    They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;

    They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;

    Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;

    Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;

    Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.”

    ― Walt Whitman

  • This is worship............

  • 10/11/11/

  • I usually prefer "traditional" versions of hymns. This changed my mind. How beautiful and simple and lovely.

  • @TheDaytonDragon I totally agree.It is a heavenly rendition.

    Very soothing .

  • these photos are amazing!! so beautiful and mesmerizing

  • Thank you God for all of the beautiful animals in the world and this beautiful planet and all of the beautiful people. Pray for the lost ones that they cross over that line to your Salvation. Amen. I once was lost, but now I'm found!

  • Nothing is constant but change. Let us walk together.

  • i love the gospel ! <3

  • God, this song, animals of Africa.

    can't get much better!

  • Man will always find a reason to fight against man; religion, land, greed, anger. You will just need a thing to motivate people to your cause.

  • @MissMaggieDynamo they fight because because motivating a mass people to your cause when they have their own is nigh impossible.

  • Truly amazing song!

  • @aflyinggooch You might want to rethink on that statement. EVERY war in history? Including WWI and WWII?

  • @livelikemovies i wish youtube would start putting responses under the statements like they did before - i'd like to know what your reply was regarding but who wants to look through 50 million lines to try and find the original statement - i hate people who are so arrogant thinking they are so smart but have no common sense and can't understand something as simple as keeping a conversation together

  • @me2ontube It's ironic that you claim me to be arrogant when you yourself come off as arrogant. The question was that "every war in history has been started over organized religion."

    P.S. I don't quite think it's 50 million lines,...but of course, maybe that's me just trying to be "so smart".

  • @livelikemovies i was not talking about you - i was talking about the idiots that separate the comments from the replies - sorry if you misunderstood

  • I really, truly cannot understand what about this song would make anybody want to get into an internet fight.....???

  • @TheBoxtosser agreed...!!!

    

  • @TheBoxtosser Almost every war in history was started over organized religion....

  • @aflyinggooch Actually most wars were started for some other reason usually economic in nature. Religion was however often used to get public support behind the cause of the leadership. Religion was more of a tool of war than a cause.

  • @aflyinggooch think of the biggest genocides in history, do you realize how they were started? Nazi germany: elimination of religion, mainly jews, in order to establish arien nation. Russia: stalin starves out millions of people while striving to be a communist nation with laws AGAINST any religion. China: millions murdered or starved when they tried to remove all religion from the country. and the list goes on. It's humans that have the problem, not God.

  • @JRayMalcolm Well, yeah, that's perfectly logical: something that doesn't exist cannot, simply by definition, "have any pronblems".

  • @kiwehtin things that dont exist can have theoretical problems. were the proposed theory to not have any problems one wuld assume it was true

  • *sigh* this is beautifully done.

    oh what i would give for sufjan stevens to make an album of hymns

  • this song is so peaceful! praise the LORD!!

  • praise God for all his beautiful creations. and to the Atheists, to be honest, us Christians shouldn't be mad that you don't believe....because as soon as you encounter God in your life you will believe, until then...nothing can be done.

  • @mratvrider96 unless it's the wrong God

  • @johnnyblotter there is no "wrong God" because there is only one God.

  • @mratvrider96 AGREED

    

  • @mratvrider96 Yeah dude, clearly it's Wotan. I mean Shiva. Or Zeus? Err...hmm... well I'm speaking English, it's the 21st Century, and I was born in a 1st world country, so perhaps Yahweh/Yeshua/Emmanuel/Jesus? It's always a little confusing for me. Context is key!

  • Yes.

  • Sooooo pretty. I love it.

  • Once again, the banjo proves to make everything better in the world.

  • @4shanksful: Thats a cool experience you had with your daughter! There is scientific research about infants obtaining music preferences from listening done by pregnant mothers. pretty cool stuff ;)

    I love the religious pieces Sufjan has done

  • Lovely ♥ 

  • mumford and sons owned this piece.

  • @beauxnanaboy200 agreed :)

  • @beauxnanaboy200 its an 18th century hymn.

  • @hermansung yes i know my choir sang it but mumford and sons did a pretty good cover of it

  • pretty (:

  • Beautifully done. Thank you.

  • listened to this song a lot when i was pregnant with my firstborn. today i enjoyed it with her -now 2 years old & she instantly started dancing & hugged me :) beautiful!

  • The photography is awesome and I love this song.....my daughter had this song for her Wedding March....a prayer to God's heart....a Mothers dream........

  • Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above.

    I feel it in my heart every time I hear that verse.

  • guys, he's a troll. Chill and listen to Sufjan jam.

  • Why does the song cut off before it is supposed to?

  • Thank you my mighty savior Jesus Christ for your love you are reserected

  • Comment removed

  • Incredible. <3

  • Great tune. Just out of curiosity, does the instrumental part remind anyone else strongly of Micheal Jackson's Will You Be There?

  • What is LDS? Why can't people write without acronyms anymore? Lets just hope we don't start talking like the same way too eh. HOY? (How are you?) YGTBMSIRITWAY? (Yeah, good thanks but my scrotum is really itchy today; what about yourself? Loving the Surfjan by the way.

  • @edskan79 My guess is LDS=Latter Day Saints as in The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints that you always see commercials for on tv offering to send you a free copy of the bible

  • @edskan79 the practicality of acronyms in type and written form doesn't apply to spoken word. LDS stands for latter day saints (mormons)

  • this is so so so beautiful.

  • i dont care what your religious views are it doesnt matter everyone can dig this music

  • Look at all the awesome creatures evolution has brought about!! Its amazing what natural selection can do! Beautiful!!

  • @JohnDoeBand1 lol

  • Amazing song, gorgeous pictures, wonderful rendition, glorious creations, awesome God.

  • So incredibly beautiful...the music, the voice, the photographs, the soul behind it all.

  • i just also hear songs like year of the boar

  • All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Awesome! GOD is awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome! GOD is great and soooooooooo powerful

  • Sufjian...you have taken a worship song and turned it into something everyone can hear, and feel, for that matter. I thank you for that. Your version of this song is one of my favorites to play now.

  • is Sufjan Stevens a christian

    

  • @sdsanchezss Errrrrmmm yeah! does this song give it away?

  • @sdsanchezss

    Yes

  • @sdsanchezss I think he's actually LDS. Not sure. But that'd be totally cool if he was.

  • @sirmichaeloftherocks He is Christian, not LDS.

  • @RanenMusic LDS members are Christians.

  • @krosenlund99 no they're not. jesus says that anyone who adds to the words of the bible will be punished. joseph smith added to the bible

  • @goaliedp Hmm....seems like you don't know what you are talking about.

  • @goaliedp I am going to have to go with Krosenlund99 on this one...It wasn't Jesus who said it and you are taking the words of those who did say it out of context. If we took the words of Moses (in Leviticus) and John (in Revelations) to mean that no one should ever add to "The Bible" (which in and of itself is a simple man-made accompilation of inspired texts) then most of The Bible would be void and we all know that that is not true. Let's just enjoy the music and worship Jesus together.

  • @shannonsamuelc Thanks! I agree. Let's just enjoy the beautiful words and worship our Savior Jesus Christ through song.

    "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."

  • @sirmichaeloftherocks No, he's not. A simple Wikipedia search would have shown you that he is Episcopalian.

  • Sufjan Stevens produces such a purifying and refreshing sound! Much better than the monotony on Christian radio stations!

  • @ahazelwo44 Thumbs up!! (although in the UK Christian music doesn't exist...but still!)

  • OH WOW.

    I'm glad he does some Gospel music too.

    His kind of sound is PERFECT for it.

  • interesting...

  • this song is beautiful.

    you guys might also like The Perennials, they are really good. You can find them by searching "theperennialsarewe" on youtube. They are also on myspace, facebook and itunes.

  • I like it when a banjo is combined with gospel music!

  • "Unchanging love." Praise God.

  • God, it's so beautiful.

  • Correction to my comment:

    "Behold and see as you pass by,

    As you are now, so once was I,

    As I am now so will ye be,

    Prepare for death, and follow me".

    Please continue with the below comment.

  • Behold and see as you pass by

    As you are now, so once was I

    As you are now, once was I,

    Prepare for death and follow me.

    When I was 13 I would ride my bike through St Paul's Church yard, Eastchester, NY,.. a Pre Revolutionary graveyard.

    At 13 I read these words on a tombstone, yet never thought they would apply to me.

    I was young and full of life. How could these moldering dead ancestors have any connection to my future?

    Yet,....

    So, be humble and follow your God. None of us will get out alive.

  • @macpduff Listen to the words of this song (after they get through the fasola notes).

    youtube.com/watch?v=Q8T_-Vfvt7­c

  • @MarthaH605 Hi. Please PM the words to me. There are gaps, that are unclear.

  • @macpduff Go to fasola.org and look for the song 215 "New Topia" in the main index under the "indexes" tab.

  • @MarthaH605 "Prone to wander as a feather, prone to leave the God I love" Beautiful and true

  • @macpduff Well, if only for a little bit. There's always the resurrection.

  • @ardency00 Yes, of course friend. This hymn makes me reflective to the point of being unbearably morose:-)

    I.E. - socially unacceptable :-)

    Life is a fleeting mysterious journey. Sometime I wonder if I felt similar just before my soul was about to be launched into my present life. What perplexes me is how fast it all went. As a child and young teen, the ned of this life seemed as remote as the distant galaxies,- so far that it could not touch me.

  • Let me share what it's like to be an aging Christian.

    I used to feel attached to the living on earth.

    I am a Flower Child, who never thought I'd live past 30!

    Now, i realize I know more dead people than living.

    I count the loved friends and relatives who have died, and they are far greater than those now alive.

    Do you youngsters understand what this means? What these dynamics are?

    Please listen and remember you youngsters.

    I have a stronger hold, a bigger weight in the next world than this!

  • @macpduff I heard a story, once. The author of this song departed from the faith, and wandered back into the world. One day he was sitting in a carriage, opposite a woman who was humming the melody to this song. Tears began to stream down his face. The woman stopped, looked at him, and inquired, "Sir, why are you weeping?" He replied, "Madam, I wrote that song"

    He knew that he was prone to wander, and this song was his prayer to God.

    Take courage, my friend; the journey is not yet over.

  • This hymn is one of the 1st You Tube videos, I watched as a new You Tuber 2007.

    Also strong memories to my childhood and church.

    So very very sweet.

    Praise Jesus.

  • One of the sweetest most moving of hymns.

    the lions remind me of Azlan the lion- Jesus.

  • Deeply moving video; it brings me to tears every time I watch it. Incredible photos. Beautiful pairing of photos and music.  I'd never have thought of it, but it's perfect.

  • Would love to see this in high resolution.

  • Photos are by Nick Brant who I had the pleasure of having direct a TV commercial for me.

  • "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love ...."

  • ‹^› ‹(•¿•)› ‹^›

  • Where did you get the safari photos from? They are amazing!!!! I would like to know if I can purchase these photos somewhere.

  • @xiaojoie link is in the description. he's got alot of new work too now

  • @xiaojoie link is in the description. he's got alot of new work too now. the photographer has also directed the video for michael jackson's earth song

  • I felt God, through Sufjan, the first note I heard him sing. Whether it's John Wayne Gayce or Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing..... He sings from his soul. A rare occurence in today's world. Thank you Mr Stevens. Please continue being a freak of nature that makes this orb of discord a better place to exist upon.

  • Forgive me if I offend - but according to the constitution, each person has the right to express themselves through religion. I'm not disrespecting anyone else's believes just because I don't believe as they do. All I would ask is that others grant me, and those who believe in Christ as I do, the same respect.

    This is a beautiful song, with great meaning. Breaking apart from the traditional does not make you any more "enlightened" than the next person. There is no enlightenment.

    Just peace.

  • I just discovered Sufjan Stevens. Love it.

    thanks for posting

  • All the argumentation is sad. I love this song, and I really like your rendition of it. Thank you for sharing it.

  • You know... its weird.. but this African theme works.

  • @creed61285, you're absolutely right. it's not selfish for an artist to sing about something that only certain people identify with. To expect that is ridiculous.

    Just cause I'm not black, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate songs by digable planets, dead prez and tribe just because they have themes of Black Nationalism. I'm certainly not gonna say "Oh thats just selfish, that's crappy music, it's imposing, wahh wahh wahh". you're hilarious @sgtvadge. grow some huevos.

  • @SgtVadge Yes, he's saying that music is not the forum of having theological discussions, & that's because a discussion has to be a dialog, which a song obviously inst. Since it's not a dialog, the message can get misunderstood by people like you, who get their panties in a bunch the second they hear anything related to religion. I dont think Sufjan is trying to "impose" on anybody or make some kind of theological argument by singing this song. He's just singing a song. Get over it.

  • My favorite version! Brilliant.

  • God really is the fount of every blessing... and it's awesome. I just love how sufjan turns this song into something so calming... love love love

  • DEAR YOUTUBE,

    Can we PLEASE hear the word "Lord" without getting into a giant religion argument? It's a beautiful song, and Sufjan does it justice. Can't we leave it at that?

  • @SgtVadge Now that's an enlightened position...

  • @SgtVadge music + drug use+worship of money+ degrading of women= crap

    sufjan stevens+ anything= awesome

    get your math right.

  • @SgtVadge you're saying the products of hundreds of years of human history in which virtually all music was inspired by and written because of "religion", without which modern music would not exist, can be generally summed up and dismissed as "shit"?

  • @dvgeiger Please for the love of (a superficial) dieity, comprehend history before you impertinently use it in an arguement. Yes music orginated from religeon, as did medicine and other aspects. My arguement is that , to compose something consisitng of religeon is to do something that excludes a whole spectrum of listeners. It’s imposing and selfish.Also music diverged from the church after the medieval/renaissance period. We have progressed far in such aspects, we should spiritually as well :)

  • @SgtVadge

    I agree - you're entitled to your opinion regardless of musical history. However I think to label this as selfish is actually, sadly, missing the amazing motivation for such a piece. The music isn't SELF-glorifying, but God glorifying. If you haven't already, read the lyrics through a few times and take in what he's singing. It's not selfish or imposing to play this piece - but worshipping the person who made him, and has a relationship with him - and right he is! :)

  • @SgtVadge So essentially any music that identifies its inspiration is selfish because some people might not identify with it? That's simply idiotic. Not everything has to be left to the interpretation of the listener. Making music PC for the sake of an audience takes away the soul of it. You clearly have at least as much bias as anyone else on here.

  • @creed61285 Ok this is the final thing i will post here because its just getting out of hand:

    "I don't think music media is the real forum for theological discussions," says Stevens. "I think I've said things and sung about things that probably weren't appropriate for this kind of forum. And I just feel like it's not my work or my place to be making claims and statements, because I often think it's misunderstood."

    he himself admits it. I WIN

  • He's a genius, this is a such a different style from any other make of the song, except maybe Mumford & Sons. But if anything they covered Sufjan...he came first.

  • i love Sufjan, i really do, but this totally blows his new stuff out of the water.... i just want him back to the folky stuff

  • @llamavszombie Probably because he didn't write this one, ha.

  • @seans341 

  • @llamavszombie so yeah...whats the deal with him? his new album is like a completely different person!!

  • @rhcp484 i agree. his newest EP All The Delighted People was great, i was so excited for the new album, then i listened to a couple of the new songs. ehhh

  • @llamavszombie i hope i am not the same person for the rest of my life. the change is what it is all about, otherwise there was no point in going through it. listen to impossible soul over and over, and then it might start to make sense.

  • @rhcp484 i guess i'll just have to really listen to the age of adz, i bet its better then im thinking it is...

  • @llamavszombie yeah....its def interesting. and has a pretty cool sound.

  • Very nice video. The pictures are really awesome

  • is there an album that has more christian songs or hymns that he's done on it?

  • @love2dance1423 his christmas box set he put out a few years ago in which this song appears on

  • I ADORE THIS SONG AND VIDEO !!!!

  • freaking amazing song

  • Beautiful.

    "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love."

    I can't get enough.

  • hey the pictures are really great can u tell me where u got them? or cann u send them to me? liesa_ko@yahoo.de

    thank youuu for this great vid.

  • @chillaliesamilla the link is in the description

  • Finding that Sufjan Stevens sings a version of my favorite hymn made my day ten thousand times better.

  • WOW. Just perfect. Nobody could better this.

  • i sing this at church :P

  • religion makes me sick to my stomach. thousands of different worldwide religions and somehow you've figured out the true one? nonsense. the mere existance of multiple, world wide religions makes me almost positive that none of them have it right. believe in beautiful music:)

  • @boardsofautechre The irony of your statement is that in criticizing the religious people who insist their worldview is correct, you're doing the exact same thing.

  • @boardsofautechre Well, that would make a good argument, if we are to assume that if one is right all the others are completely wrong. But, especially from the Christian perspective, this is simply not the case. Yes, as a Christian I believe that religion true, but that does not mean that all other religions are false. Sure, there are some false parts, but all are reflections of the truth.

  • @boardsofautechre Additionally, think about this: 99.99% of people who have lived have said that some form of religion is true. That means that the odds that you have it right, in saying that no religion is true, are very, very, very small.

  • @Genktarov Think about it this way, the universe is so enormous and we're such a small part of it. That means the odds that anything we do or say matters, let alone is some kind of "profound truth" is even smaller.

  • @TrueNeutral187 I'm not convinced. By your reasoning, absolutely nothing matters at all. You don't really think that the value of something is derived from its size, do you? And, of course, if a majority of the religions have any truth at all, then people have value.

  • @Genktarov That was actually the point I was making - "the odds" don't matter. What people believe matters, not how many people believe it.

  • @boardsofautechre Have you ever heard the story of the blind men and the elephant? No religion has it all right, but all religions that speak of love, gratitude, worship and ethics have it at least partly right. The truth they are getting at is over and above and beyond (and more beautiful than) anything our human understanding can comprehend. What that truth is, is left for human hearts to discover in their own way, in their own time. (Music is a part of it.)

  • Good Lord. I've never heard of Sufjan Stevens and had never heard this song in my life but last night I heard it at the end of an episode of Friday Night Lights and so I got online and found it first thing this morning. This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I had to shut my office door because I was crying. Absolutely amazing. How can I not have ever heard of this wonderful artist before? Really....one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard in my life.