Sorry, Louis. You have no place on the IPod of the truly religious Christian.
Part of taking a new pastorate means you inherit all of the junk mail of the previous guy. There is an independent Baptist newspaper that shows up in my mailbox–sort of like a letter from Paul–that contains all kinds of…”articles”. The most recent edition contained an article dealing with music, and I thought I would let the author (who shall remain nameless) speak for himself. Think about what he says, and I’ll write my response tomorrow:
Without question, outside of preaching, music has always been the most important feature in…congregations. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Satan is subtly, but also viciously, attacking this spiritual stronghold via his sensual injections of religious rock, a mode that has become more popularly known as Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) than by its real name and nature.
The author then explains how music is meant to stir the individual:
All good spiritual music has three component parts: melody, harmony, and rhythm–in that order. The melody proceeds from the spirit, the harmony is centered in the soul, while the rhythm proceeds from the body (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19; 1 Thess. 5:23). The Devil does not concur with God’s divine order; therefore, he has reversed the process, playing the rhythm (beat) first, the harmony (a discordant one) second, and the melody (main line) last. Now God desires our bodies to respond to music in the proper manner, but when the rhythm comes first, the bodily response takes precedence! Any music, therefore, that places the rhythm and beat first is sensual music.
After laying down the ground work, the author takes on CCM and “religious rock” in our worship:
I have noted an increasing tendency for supposedly traditional music to take on a heavy rock beat, a dangerous trait that must be vigorously resisted if Bible-believing churches are to retain wholesome music in their services…
CCM appeals to the depraved flesh, not the regenerated spirit…to put it bluntly, CCM often resembles the sounds of a sensual nightclub!…In summary, the methods of the CCM songsters are always unbiblical as they follow the premise of Jesuit casuistry that the ends justify the means…The morals of the singers are sometimes undesirable. While there are unquestionably some morally decent CCM entertainers, adultery, moral uncleanness and loose morals abound among the CCM crowd.
Here is the author’s advice to Christians:
Believers cannot take the Devil’s weapons and successfully utilize them for the glory of God (2 Cor. 10:4). To avoid and “abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22), saints must discerningly avoid all swinging sounds, sliding (scooping) sounds, and all syncopating sounds. They should also beware of slurred notes, heavy bass beats, and New Orleans honky-tonk, nightclub-dinner-style music.
And before he is done, he attacks my precious pre-recorded special music CDs:
Before leaving this battlefield, a warning flag must be issued about the indiscriminate use of canned music, prerecorded background CDs, without any live accompaniment. Most canned music is produced by charismatic and worldly sources, much of it from Nashville-based companies where the music specializes in sensual heavy rock-beat background.
Not my prerecorded CDs!
Well, as CCM and all “religious rock” lay bleeding, he kicks it one more time:
In reality, CCM (religious rock) is part of the basic preparation for the coming Antichrist and his future dominating control over the minds of the world’s naive population.
Get behind me, CCM, I mean, Satan!
Any response? I’ll be back tomorrow.
Rhythm comes from the body, huh? Huey Lewis would disagree…jk! Seriously though, I’m curious how a fellow like this would respond if pressed to discuss the basis for his assertion regarding the sources of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Obviously, there are more substantive matters in this person’s thinking that need to be addressed, but if he were to offer anything beyond his own personal conjectures to justify his claims regarding those correlations (spirit/melody, soul/harmony, rhythm/body), I would be curious to hear them.
@Zach, I completely agree with your proposed question to the author of the article. He made an assertion (spirit/melody….etc) but provides no proof whatsoever. There is nothing inherently obvious about those connections so one must ask why/how they are connected. Alas, the man with no proof declines to even attempt to explain.
He does a disservice to those who do want to fight the good fight and make sure our worship is Godly. Not all CCM songs are truly Christian, the same way that not all hymns are acceptable now just because they’re old. The World will not take us seriously if our only argument against improper music is that it has a beat. That’s the easy way, the cop out to serious thinking and debate.