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church.
Currently, the church is rocking to Christian rap, jazz, and rock music.
These contemporary type music are considered as the devil's music by
some, yet they are embraced by many. Some believe that music
is harmless. They profess that the origin and rhythm are not
important as long as the lyrics are Christian. And of course,
on the other side of the spectrum, there are groups that does not
share the same sentiments. The question then is, what is
Christian music and what is acceptable in the house of God?
To answer those questions we will examine the following:
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What is music?
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Can music provoke physical reactions?
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Is gospel music Christian?
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Music and
the worship service
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What is Music - Man a rhythmic being
"We are essentially rhythmic creatures. Everything from the cycle of our brain waves to the pumping of our heart, our digestive and sleep cycle all work in rhythms. Each one of us has a personal rhythmic tempo that we exhibit in our speech and gestures ranging from 60 to 120 beats per minute, with the majority of us clustered between 70 and 80 beats per minute. Interestingly, we are most compatible with those whose rhythmic tempo is close to our own."
(Notes on music)
Music is made by combining and balancing five basic elements.
1. MELODY – tones arranged to make a tune.
2. TONE COLOR – the quality of the sounds produced by instruments or the
voice.
3. HARMONY – the stacking of tones so as to create chords.
4. RHYTHM – a specific allotment of time given to a note or syllable in verse and the time
meter of a composition of music.
5. TEMPO – how fast or slow the rhythm is to be played or sung.
Though not obvious to the casual observer, all these elements consist of rhythmic vibrations and/or rhythmic cycles. All
sound waves are vibrations. Music is composed of rhythmic vibrations and cycles, the arrangement of which creates either consonance (harmonic music) or dissonance (disharmonic music).
Can music provoke physical reactions
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This section will
build the necessary foundation for the understanding of how
powerful music is. Sound waves/vibrations acting upon the eardrum are transformed to chemical and nerve impulses, which register in our minds the different qualities of the sounds we are hearing.
The roots of the auditory nerves are connected to the entire body. That is why we
may get goose pimples as a result of hearing something that
our minds considers
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stimulating.
This means that music attacks the nervous system directly.
"Additionally, music which does not depend upon the master brain to gain entrance into the organism, can still arouse by way of the thalamus – the relay station of all emotions, sensation and feelings. Once a stimulus has been able to reach the thalamus, the master brain is automatically invaded."
(Notes on music)
Have you ever walked into a grocery store and find your feet tapping without consciously giving it permission to do
that? The music playing in the background is generally noticed a few
seconds later. The statement is often made, when a country goes to war
the first target is the control tower of the enemy. So it is with the devil. He focuses his attacks
on our minds. Consider the following physical affects of music.
"Fluctuations and disturbances in pre-existing body rhythms as a result of disharmonic music have been correlated with many diseases like diabetes, renal and hepatic disorders, ulcers, cancer and circulatory abnormalities" (Reimann, 1963).
The major factories have employed music to increase production by upping the tempo of the songs they play while the employees are at work. The body seeks to maintain a state of homeostasis, therefore after time, the systematic tempo of the body matches the tempo of the
song, thus increasing production. Dear reader, answer this
question. Why do most people like to work (at home or at work)
with some music playing in the background?
QUESTION: How are they able to do
this - Increase production through music?
ANSWER – Sound vibrations acting upon and through the nervous system give shocks in rhythmical sequence to the muscles, which cause them to contract and set our arms and hands, legs and feet in motion. Consider, researchers has
discovered that rock music is disharmonic. It is attributed to
many behavior disorders, including problems with learning and memory retention. Consequently, a very quick mandate spread around – don’t study while listening to rock music.
In fact, it is not good to study and listen music at the same time.
Most of us should be familiar with the research findings of Dr. Schreckenberg, a neurologist and Dr. Bird a physicist. They wanted to find out what are the effects if any, of harmonic and disharmonic music on neuronal mechanisms of the brain. Thirty-six mice were divided at birth into three categories: The control group, the harmonic group
(listened to soft string instruments) and the disharmonic group listened to the typical polythythm beats of Egypt/Africa (used in there pagan worship) and western rock ‘n’ roll. The
results - the control and harmonic group were very similar, no significant problems.
The disharmonic group registered significant changes in the Neuronal dendrites, increase in RNA, decrease in learning retention, hyperactivity, aggression and some mice resorted to cannibalism.
The research findings speak for itself. Music has the power to
manipulate our mental and physical health.
QUESTION: If we can alter the body’s natural rhythmic swings simply by exposing it to outside stimuli, the question then is, to what extent is this overriding process safe?
Consider the following. Joseph E. Hemond and Prof. Conrad are hypnotist.
They explained via email how they gain control of the mind. “I can use their electrical energy that sends signals through the nervous system and introduce my thoughts about what they are experiencing to the mind, rather than
allowing them to rely on their senses (Hearing, Seeing, Smelling, Tasting, and feeling). The subconscious mind controls the body’s usage of the five senses. Thus when a person touches something that is hot, the subconscious mind
sends signals to pull away immediately. When a person is
hypnotize, the hypnotist in a sense becomes the subconscious mind. Thus
the individual will respond in like manner if we suggest that the
surface is hot."
We all should be familiar with the word "MESMERIZE."
The word is derived from the profession of Franz Anton Mesmer.
He was so good at hypnotizing people, that after working on his subjects everyone would say that they are mesmerized.
Friends, the devil
is not happy with only a few, he wants to control the minds of the
citizens of earth. Consequently, research is desperately needed to study
induced hypnosis via the 'the flicker effect' (induced by watching television or at the cinema), or listening to repetitive sounds recorded at certain frequencies. The Satanist and spiritualist leaders
gave this report as work in progress. The devil is telling us what he is doing. Do you believe it?
Remember our discussion earlier about the thalamus (the relay system of all emotion),
how overemphasized rhythms will provoke physical responses from the
body? Friends, the natural process of music use the body’s electrical currents to transmit information to the brain. He that have an ear let him hear what the spirit has to say to the church...
Is gospel music Christian?
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"Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993, composer of such standards as "There Will Be Peace in the Valley"), is considered by many gospel devotees to be the "Father of Gospel Music." The son of a minister, Dorsey was a consummate musician and as a young man accompanied some of the most famous blues singers of all time-specifically, Bessie Smith (1894-1937) and Ma Rainey (1886-1939). He also arranged and composed blues tunes. His penchant for bouncy tunes and bawdy lyrics did not keep him from attending the annual meetings of the National Baptist
Convention. It was at one of these meetings in Philadelphia that Dorsey first heard
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the
compositions of Charles A. Tindley (1851-1933, composer of "We'll
Understand It Better By and By" and "Leave It There" among others). In his essay, "Rock, Church, Rock," Arna Bontemps says that it was then that Dorsey began to write religious music, abandoning his brash lyrics but not the jazz rhythms and blues flavor and rhythmic style so akin to Tindley's own. Naturally, the "old guard" conservatives considered this blending of the sacred
(spiritual hymns) and the secular (blues and jazz) as "the devil's music" and shunned it. By its actions, the church declared Dorsey's brand of
music (gospel music) unworthy of a hearing within the sanctuaries of the day, a story quite similarly echoed by churches responding to the rock 'n' roll Jesus Movement that swept the country in the early '70"
(afgen.com)
Here is another account from (php.iupui.edu). "Thomas Andrew Dorsey an obscure bluesman from Villa Rica, Georgia born in 1899, coined the phrase "gospel songs" and is undoubtedly the father of gospel music. This new genre 1960's-1970's) is the contemporary period which ushered in the new faces of gospel, James Cleveland, Edwin Hawkins, Shirley, Caesar, Albertina Walker and Andre Crouch. What is also significant about this period is artist like James Cleveland and Edwin Hawkins began to
contemparize Dorsey's works who had dominated for 30 years. And they began to create a new sound that was saleable to a new and younger audience by using other idioms such as jazz, funk, rock, latin, country-western and classical to convey the gospel message.
Also choirs began to dominate the gospel circuit."
Mr. Dorsey has written several hundred well-known gospel songs among which
are "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." "When I’ve Done the Best I Can," and "Peace in the Valley"
which the Christian would not accept in his time as a result of the
jazz and blues flavor.
Modern historians, seeking to find the roots of such present day worship and music, trace its origins to ancient Egypt. Dahomey (the seat of voodoo religion) and Congo came from ancient Egypt, it then “spread to West Africa. Through the unfortunate slave trade, these forms of worship then spread from West Africa to the West Indies and North America. While secular America was rocking and rolling, religious America was also experiencing dramatic changes.
Many African, Caribbean and Native American tribes used drums as sacred tools, indispensable to the rituals and ceremonies of tribal life. Their primitive percussionists learned to induce physiological responses, from ecstasy and hallucinations to seizures and
unconsciousness. The influence of these pagan forms of worship was felt more in the region of New Orleans because they were already seasoned in prostitution and gambling. They had barrelhouses, dance halls, clubs and honky-tonks.
Viruses mutate over time as it is influenced by foreign matter, so did the polyrhythm drum beats and dances of our Egyptian friends. It was influenced by European musical tradition and entertainment to form a music called jazz.
During the depression of the 1930s, large numbers of the musicians went to Mississippi, Memphis and Chicago in search of employment. Many of the Jazz artists of the 20’s died or retired. The music mutated again in what we call rhythm and blues. In the middle 1950s rhythm and blues was the popular music among blacks and it due a white audience as well. A new group of white musicians directly influenced by rhythm a blues became new pop stars - Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and the Comets and many more. Growing up in this era was a man Know as Thomas A. Dorsey whom the world accepts as the Father of Gospel.
Michael Ventura a voodoo priest said that he is offended that Christians are
taking their beats,
using Christian words then calling it gospel. Have mercy!! The world is telling us that gospel is
not Christian in origin. Yet we keep on saying "praise the
lord"
and our "hallelujahs" in church when those pagonistic beats are designed to tear down
standards and morals .
The Bible said, "it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorra in the
judgment than for us. For if Sodom had received the teachings and exhortations of today, they would have been saved."
No wonder the young people singing these songs are not
converted. Some are walking around half naked and some are sleeping around with each other.
This is not a young people problem but a everybody problem, young,
middle aged and adults. What else can we expect when
Christians are listening to
Kirk Franklyn. Kirk Franklyn won a R&B award.
Friends, the world knows to reward its own. The beats in some of his
sons are no different from those played in the clubs. It
creates an emotional high, places our hands and feet in motion and
sends us jumping. Many are confusing this with the moving of
the Holy Spirit. Words such as, "I'm
the Holy Ghost dope dealer" should never be used in reference
to a Holy God. We do not believe Kirk is a bad person. We
are no better than Kirk, for we are all sinners. But we cannot
endorse those who produce those styles of music branding it as
Christian.
What are we doing to our young people? What are we doing to
the church? The church should be different from the
world. Yet we have adopted the rhythm of the world, to attract
the world to the church. What sacrifice are the new converts
making?
Were is the great change? Can rock and spirituals words be
equally yoked together? Can we sanitize jazz, rock, rap and
rhythm and blues? No, we cannot. We have lowered the
standards and as a result we suffering the bitter
consequences. Yes, we might fill the place of worship.
But what do we have, a church or a club? Do we have sinners or
saints? Friends, yesterday's heresies has become today's accepted
practice.
Music and worship service
"The polyrhythm beats and dances was a part of Ancient Egypt’s worship service.
It was used in their sacred oblations to their Gods. The same polyrythm beat flowed down the stream of time. In the late ‘60s and early
70s, the same beats and dances muted and found its way into the worship services of both Protestant and Catholic Churches. It was used to create a spiritual “high” to alter ones emotional state. As a result, a strange fire swept over South America, and then jumped the gulf to the United States. The new flame was
Charismatic Catholicism. Catholics all across the nation were experiencing the “spirit” manifestations of “tongues” with many Protestant groups following
suit." (Carol & Louis Torres) For a time, the voice that won out sounded something like this, “please, let’s not get too excited and do anything rash. Don’t you think we need to show a
spirit of love and tolerance, peradventure we might win a few.”
Friends, if we do not stand for something, we will fall for anything. People might think that you are an extremist.
But that is all right, because ancient Israel thought the same about Christ.
Friends, Catholics were always a conservative group of people.
But after the introduction of the contemporary gospel beats
(which were designed to create a spiritual high and alter ones emotional state) found it’s way into there worship service, they began to speak in tongues. That is the explanation and the root of this
"gibberish" we now call speaking in tongue. If we do not take an uncompromising stand,
every denomination will share the same experience shortly in their
worship service.
We are not oppose to making joyful noises unto God. We praise the Lord always in words and
singing.
In addition, we are not anti-instruments. Over emphasizing beats/notes on instruments is the issue. It is all about how they (the instruments) are used. The devil is promoting every kind of beat as Christian, considering words relating to Jesus are attached. Consequently, we currently have
Christian rap, rock, jazz and reggae. The focus of this article is
to educate our readers on the history of gospel music so that they
can identify the world's music from Christian music. The beats of
the world and Christian words cannot, and will never, under God, be equally yoked together.
We can tell what is not good, and while it is a little difficult to stay on the straight and narrow without getting fanatical, we simple play it safe by keeping our music soft and simple.
When out of the temple of God, yet still under His watchful care,
our music will maintain it's ennobling qualities even though the
volume might go up from time to time. And most importantly, we
examined the culture of the Israelites handed down to them by God the Father, and found that all their activities where religious in nature. They would put music
to the words of the Bible, and they would sing them at their
festivals and worship service. We are convicted that the
present day contemporary style of music that many are trying to pass
off as Christian music, are an insult to God.
“What is the explanation for such passive acceptance of the present moral mess in our society by church people? We do not speak out or take strong stands because our own convictions are too weak and we don’t have the courage to practice what we preach. This is why religion has failed to impact or change the eroding morals of this spiritually bankrupt generation. Too few Christians are committed enough to take consistent, uncompromised stands against the social evils of the day. We cannot stand in the strength of a positive No because our own week will are not fully persuaded to give up the pleasures of the world.”
(Joe Crews).
"In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy
path."
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