Music – Part 3

In today’s message we ask some serious questions concerning Christians and the music that they like.

Is there such a thing as Christian ENTERTAINMENT ?

In the last 2 messages we looked at music for WORSHIP….. but cant we just have some entertainment ? …. is Christians music limited to Worship only ?…. well let us examine the issues and you can decide for yourself !

LYRICS –  Christians should not be comfortably listening to any song that has words that are contrary to the Bible…. and this applies equally to Lullabies, Love songs, Country and Western as well as harsh and loud Heavy Metal music…. so this ELIMINATES quite a lot of the world’s “entertainment music”.

LIFESTYLE – Even if a particular song may not actually say anything contrary to the Bible, but the author of it is known to produce other songs that are offensive to God, should Christians accept it…. NO WAY… if the artist is promoting a lifestyle of DECADENCE, you cannot even accept an INSTRUMENTAL by them …… WHY ?…..  because of your WITNESS, when other people hear you, as a Christian, listening to their music will they not think you are a hypocrite ?  How can you support a musician/singer whose lifestyle is contrary to the word of God…. it does not matter how gifted they are or how pleasant the music sounds…. if their PUBLIC PERSONA is tainted by EVIL (homosexual/lesbian, occultism, rebellion, violence, pride) then as a Christian you must boycott their work, otherwise you are compromising with “the world” and failing to make a DISTINCTION between what is acceptable and what is not.

GOALS – The song may not have obvious evil lyrics and the artist may not promote an obvious evil lifestyle but what about the GOALS…. commercialism, hedonism, escapism…. is there anything wrong with the artist promoting simple PLEASURE and COMFORT and HAPPINESS ?….. surely the artist is ENTITLED to make MONEY from their music ?…… YES BUT is that the main GOAL of the creation…. music that is created specifically to make it’s creator RICH will usually PANDER to the pleasure seeking aspects of the FLESH… this last point is the most subtle of all, because we are ALL human flesh….. I do not subscribe to ASCETICISM… I believe that some human pleasure is allowed even the most devout saints, however it is easy to become ADDICTED to pleasure and lose your BALANCE and SELF-DISCIPLINE…. most of you, dont have to bother about this last point anyway, because the LYRICS and LIFESTYLES will have already CONDEMNED at least 95% of what the “world” listens to…. in fact, you may wonder if there is any music left that is acceptable (other than Praise and Worship) !

2.  DISCERNMENT

When the Holy Spirit gives you discernment you will KNOW what is acceptable and what is not…. you may not be able to explain reasons…. but you will JUST KNOW, because that is the way the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.

Do not believe that all the LYRICS found in Hymn Books is “automatically” HOLY either….. even in there ERROR is found…. for example,

THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION (Hymn) in verse 5 talks about “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won”…… what rubbish is this ? there is NO CONTACT between the living and the dead…. this is occultic nonsense right here in an otherwise “inspiring” hymn !

LET THE BEAUTY OF JESUS BE SEEN IN ME (Chorus)  “O thou Spirit Divine all my nature refine”…… that’s not the way the Holy Spirit  works, our old “nature” is to be CRUCIFIED and  NOT “refined”…. and we get “our new nature” from Christ,  totally pure, no refining needed….

Dearly beloved in the LORD,  you know that I like all types of music….. but I do not make music an IDOL…. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me and any music that HE does not approve,  I refuse….. before I was living for Christ, I listened regularly to bands like Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, Beatles, Elton John, Santana, Abba, Toto, Men at Work, Hall and Oats, etc. etc….. after I discovered the EVIL in the lyrics and LIFESTYLES, I dont listen to them anymore EVEN though I may still “like” the sound of the MUSIC itself…. I make a sacrifice for Jesus, it is a small sacrifice, because there is so much OTHER music that I can replace it with.

For a time, after I was saved, I enjoyed the PETRA… particularly the song “Let Everything that hath Breath Praise the Lord”….. initially the Holy Spirit did not condemn it…. but as I grew in the Lord, I found that my taste changed to the Praise Songs that GOD HIMSELF likes, and here, I make special mention of the Tom Fettke  productions (made in the 1980’s)…. Tom, if you ever read this, know that GOD Himself likes your arrangements and is pleased with your lifetime work…..  http://tomfettke.com

Music is a powerful medium that has been EFFECTIVELY used by Satan to promote EVIL…… drugs, sex, violence, hate, rebellion and every evil conceivable….. the Rock Music Genre has proved particularly EFFECTIVE in capturing the lives of millions.

But other genres have also been used…. even soft, “pleasant” songs ….. like Led Zepplin’s “Stairway to Heaven”  filled with occultism and sublimal messages…..

and let’s not forget the best known song of all time “We are the World”…. let’s examine it’s lyrics now…

“There comes a time when we heed a “certain call”….. when the world must come together as one…. We are all a part of God’s great big family…. and the truth, you know, Love is all we need…. AND GOD HAS SHOWN US, BY TURNING STONE TO BREAD”

STOP RIGHT THERE….  the GOD of the Bible NEVER “turned stone into bread” …… but Satan talked about “turning stone to bread” when he was tempting Jesus (Matthew 4:3)….. clearly this song has been inspired by Satan and he is the “god” mentioned in this song…..

You think that is too far-fetched…. you think I am making a “mistake” of interpretation ?

Then consider the MEANING of the words “There’s a choice we’re making, we’re SAVING OUR OWN LIVES”……. this is the BRUNT of the New Age and the AntiChrist message…… rejecting the Christ who alone can save us….. we have decided WE can SAVE OURSELVES ! …. the New Age message being sent out to the whole world is MAN is supreme…. WE are our OWN GODS…. much OLDER and WISER than we know… WE are the OFFSPRING of “ALIENS”, with “powers” we have only now begun to “explore”…… but could there be an even DARKER…. and yet FUTURE prediction in this message….. when the AntiChrist is revealed, according to Revelation 13:15  “and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed”

Truly in that day, the CHOICE to worship the “evil” will, in literal fact, “save their lives” since   all those who do NOT worship the New Age AntiChrist will be brutally executed !

My friends, the MUSIC INDUSTRY is preparing mankind for the arrival of the AntiChrist and the incarnation of Satan himself.

Truly Born-Again Christians…… dont have to worry about “drums in Church”, they are sanctified by the Blood of Christ for His Praise…… they dont have to worry about physical or mental damage from “evil” drum beats (like syncopation), the evil comes from the drummer and not the drum, and, in any case, Christians are protected from demons by the Holy Spirit…..  what the true CHURCH of JESUS CHRIST must get concerned about is the SUBTLE AGENDA of Satan which is going to be so INSIDIOUS that only the DISCERNMENT of the Holy Spirit will detect it…. for the Bible says, “And except those days should be shortened, there should NO FLESH be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days SHALL BE shortened” (Matthew 24:22)

You think this “economic recession” is going to be “soon over” ? What is coming is going to be SUDDEN, SWIFT and DEADLY….. quick and horrible….. my friend, are you ready to meet Jesus at any moment ?  “live your life today as though it was your last day on earth”…. that is the true meaning of the passage in Matthew 24:44