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1.
What Does God Define as Wrong Music?
2.
What is the Source of Christian
Contemporary Music?
3.
Ways to Avoid the Wrong Music.
“Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making
melody in your heart to the Lord;” –
Ephesians
5:19
“For
all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world.”
– I John 2:16
“It
is better to hear the rebuke of
the wise, than for a man to hear the
song of fools.”
–
Ecclesiastes 7:5
1.
What Does God Define as Wrong Music?
People
have a variety of opinions as to what
wrong music is; but what does the Bible
define as wrong music?
Many
have suggested that wrong music is music
that has more prevalent rhythm than
melody. This concept is not only
illogical and immeasurable, but it is
also not found in the Bible. Others have
suggested that drums are the deciding
factor between good music and bad music.
Still others consider syncopation the
sin of wrong music.
All
of these definitions produce gray areas
and cannot provide a clear-cut
definition of wrong music. They all
leave out the one factor that God
emphasizes throughout the entire Bible
– the source. Beginning
in Genesis 1, God teaches us that
everything brings forth after its own
kind. “…neither can a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit,”
Jesus said. “Who can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? not one.” – Job
14:4
If
music without drums, syncopation, or a
rock beat is acceptable music, then “Yesterday”
by the Beatles would be suitable for a
Christian. This song has no drums,
syncopation, or rock n roll beat – so
what’s wrong with it? It doesn’t
talk about drugs, illicit behavior, or
violence – so what’s wrong with it?
What’s wrong with it is the
source. It was written by
God-hating communist devils. Rock n roll
music was pioneered by ungodly sinners
like Little Richard, a sodomite filthy
animal, and Ray Charles, a heroin
addict. The source of rock
n roll music is ungodly.
According
to God, there are only two sources of
music – the Father and the world. “For
all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world.”
– I John 2:16. God says that all
that is in the world is not of the
Father and falls under one of these
three sinful categories – the lust of
the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life. Therefore all music from
the world is wrong because the source is
wrong. Therefore not only rock n roll
music is wrong, but pop, rap, country,
rock, jazz, classical, and easy
listening are all wrong as well because
they are of the world.
God
also defines a second type of wrong
music in the Bible – music that is
conformed to the world. Even if music is
not of the world, if it is conformed
to the world, it is wrong music. Romans
12:2 reads, “And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is
that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.” God commands us not
to be conformed to (patterned after) the
world. Music produced by Christians
should not sound like the world’s
ungodly music. It shouldn’t sound like
rock, rap, country-western, jazz,
classical, folk, or any of the world’s
styles. It should
sound distinctly like Christian music in
its style.
2.
What is the Source of Christian
Contemporary Music?
Christian
contemporary music, including Southern
Gospel music, is not of the Father. 99%
of artists writing and performing
Christian contemporary music do not use
the King James Bible, do not go
soul-winning, do not live a separated
life, do not dress like the Bible
commands a Christian to dress, do not
attend a local church faithfully, and
yet godly Christians listen to their
music as if it is not wrong music. If a
song came from the Charismatics, is it
of the Father or is it of the world? If
a song came from the Pentecostals, is it
of the Father or is it of the world?
Southern
gospel music is produced at best by
Southern Baptists who believe in
Lordship Salvation as opposed to
salvation by grace through faith. Do
they believe the King James Bible we
believe? Do they believe the gospel we
believe in? Then why would we listen to
their music? The Bible reads in Colossians
3:16
, “Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.” God tells us here that
those who sing to us are teaching us.
Should we be taught about the things of
God by people who are not even saved?
Should we be taught the things of God by
those who do not believe in
soul-winning, and who live by loose
standards?
Independent,
fundamental Baptist preachers all over
America
preach against rock music on Sunday, but
on Saturday they “Christianize” rock
n roll love songs and use them in their
weddings. This is nothing less than
hypocrisy. Why is the music director
listening to worldly music to find rock
n roll songs he can clean up? Why is he
filling his mind with the world’s
music? Here are some rock n roll songs I
have heard at Independent, fundamental
Baptist weddings:
“I
Can’t Help Falling in Love with You”
– Elvis Presley and UB40
“From
This Moment On” – Shania Twain
“Wind
beneath My Wings” – Bette Midler
…only
to name a few.
3.
Ways to Avoid the Wrong Music.
Here
are 3 ways we can stop the influx of CCM
and southern gospel music into our
independent, fundamental Baptist
churches:
1)
Have congregational singing in church,
not special music performances. The
Bible says in Hebrews 2:12b, “…in
the midst of the church will I
sing praise unto thee.”
Notice the Bible says “sing”
and not “listen.” Nowhere in the New
Testament do we find mention of anyone
performing music to an audience in
church. Over and over again we find
God’s people singing to themselves,
teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
At the last supper, Jesus did not sing a
special. Peter did not sing a special. They
sang an hymn. We are living in a time
when people are spectators and not
participants. They don’t play sports;
they watch them on the television. They
come to church and instead of singing
the praises of God, they listen to some
talented musician perform for them.
These type of “performances” lend
themselves easily to the wrong type of
music.
2)
Instead of listening to tapes and CD’s
throughout the week, sing songs out of
the hymnal. God wants to hear you
praising him, not your stereo system.
The most often repeated command God
gives in the Bible is “praise.” You
will receive a far greater blessing
singing the songs out of the songbook,
than listening to a professional
musician. If you sing songs to yourself,
you are in complete control of what
music you are exposed to. Singing hymns
together as a family is also a great
idea.
3)
Primarily sings songs which are 50 years
or older. Worldly music goes in and
out of style; but the classic hymns are
never out of style. The Christian
Contemporary music and southern gospel
music of today will not be sung 50 years
from now. It will be old hat; but here
we are hundreds of years later still
singing “Amazing Grace”, “There is
a Fountain”, “Come Thou Fount”,
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
These are songs that have stood the test
of time and which God has blessed for
decades. New music is not wrong, but
must be very carefully examined for the
source and the quality. If we were to
sing 9 out of 10 songs 50 years or
older, the tenth new song should not
sound out of place.
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