Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000047A
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00:28 Hello. I'm Dwayne. And I'm Lance.
00:30 And we like to welcome you to another episode of TKS, 00:32 a True Knowledge of Self, where get to know ourselves 00:35 from a biblical perspective. 00:37 I'd like to welcome you again. 00:38 And in this episode 00:39 we're going to be answering from God's word 00:42 the question as to whether or not music is truly neutral. 00:45 We've been looking at a lot of cultural phenomenon 00:47 and particularly focusing on hip-hop culture, 00:49 and we saw how this was being blended in 00:52 and kind of mingled both, inside the church 00:55 and outside of the church. 00:57 We've seen individuals who, in the industry 00:59 were professing Christianity, but we have-- 01:02 saw that the contrasts between hip-hop culture 01:06 and biblical Christian culture do not mix. 01:10 And when they are forced together, 01:13 they never bear the right fruit. 01:16 And we're going to be looking at a lot of other instances 01:18 and principles from God's word that show us that very fact. 01:21 We also want to take some time to look at history, 01:23 and I want to review a clip 01:24 that we've shown in a previous episode 01:26 regarding the history of jazz music, 01:28 which was a precursor to hip-hop, 01:31 genre or rap music, and all the other kind of music genres 01:35 associated in the hip-hop culture. 01:36 For hip-hop culture, as a culture 01:38 is not just involving one particular musical genre, 01:43 it's a kind of a blending that embraces all musical genres. 01:46 It's really the form of expression 01:48 that makes it hip-hop or not. 01:50 So we looked at a clip 01:52 that showed us kind of a history lesson 01:55 and it was focused on the city of New Orleans. 01:57 Now in Pre-Civil War, America, New Orleans 02:01 was one of the primary melting pots in the world 02:04 for that matter because it was a major port for trade, 02:08 especially the slave trade. 02:09 So you had this kind of cross cultural mix, 02:13 where you had a society that had free blacks, 02:16 and slave blacks, those that are, 02:19 you know, biracial of varying degrees, 02:21 Creoles that were mixed of while white and black races. 02:25 You had slaves from the West Indies 02:28 coming into port and you had slaves 02:30 from the interior of America in the south. 02:33 All coming together in this area, 02:34 poor whites, rich whites and obviously, 02:38 as these different cultures come together, 02:41 there's different forms of music that come together. 02:43 And it was a very interesting phenomena as well 02:45 that was taking place in that area in New Orleans 02:49 where every Sunday you had a special Square, 02:53 a park, if you will that came to be known as Congo Square, 02:56 in which they allow the slaves 02:58 to practice their form of celebration, entertainment, 03:04 and you know, for all intents and purposes, worship. 03:07 And they were allowed to bring in their musical forms, 03:10 and their expression and dance, 03:12 and call and response, and different things. 03:15 And this eventually developed into forms of music 03:20 that we would be more familiar with. 03:23 One of the things that took place as history developed 03:27 was something called this minstrel culture, 03:30 minstrel show entertainment. 03:32 And the minstrel show was an instance 03:35 in which white actors and entertainers singers, 03:37 dancers, and like comedians would paint their faces black 03:42 and kind of promote the most degraded 03:45 and stereotypical forms of black culture. 03:48 And really, culturally speaking, 03:50 it's one of the first times 03:53 where you had a truly nationwide pop culture 03:57 in America. 03:58 And so for 80 years, 04:00 this was the number one form of entertainment in America 04:02 where you had these shows that would go on tours in the States 04:05 and travel around, 04:07 and whether it was a city or a rural area, 04:09 you began to have a kind of commonality 04:12 between people's taste for music 04:14 and the same jokes that they were hearing, 04:17 and the same kind of representations. 04:19 And so it developed into a very kind of twisted, 04:25 strange, eccentric form of degrading one society 04:30 for the entertainment of another. 04:32 And black actors and writers also participated in this 04:36 where they pretended to be white actors 04:37 putting on black face. 04:39 So it was a very strange kind of dialogue that took place. 04:42 But nevertheless, 04:43 it birthed a lot and set the stage 04:47 for traditional black entertainment, 04:50 where black entertainers 04:52 kind of had to become minstrel actors 04:55 in order to get recognition 04:58 and get play in the various venues. 05:01 So we saw another development 05:04 and Dwayne, as we start to look at this idea 05:07 of whether or not music is neutral, 05:09 when the kind of what became big band of music, 05:15 they call it, they started to call it Gumbo music. 05:17 And, you know, we can think, 05:19 you know, like when the saints come 05:20 marching in bands playing the brass bands, 05:24 that even developed further into something 05:26 that was called the Blues. 05:28 And it was articulated by certain jazz historians 05:31 and famous jazz musicians in their own right 05:33 that the Blues was pretty much a blending 05:37 of the a little bit of angel and a little bit of devil. 05:41 And these with their own words. These were their own words. 05:43 And so they took the sacred and the profane, 05:45 and the blending of that together 05:47 created this perfect Blues sound, 05:50 where the form of, you know, the black plight 05:53 was able to now be expressed through this profound music, 05:56 an improvisation in self-expression 05:58 and self-awareness, 06:00 and Blues as it was stated in the clip, 06:02 was the aquifer, it was stated, it was the aquifer 06:05 from which all streams of American music flowed. 06:08 So whether that be, you know, again, Blues, jazz, 06:12 RnB, swing, Bebop, Doo-wop, soul, funk, 06:17 you know, all these things that eventually became rock'n'roll 06:21 and you know, heavy metal, hip-hop music, 06:24 rap music, all of this came from really the same source-- 06:26 That's right. In America. 06:28 And so that's not really a very debatable 06:31 because when we looked at the history 06:33 of how hip-hop develops in the Bronx, 06:35 in the '60s and '70s, we saw it was kind of the same thing. 06:39 It was a melting pot, a very depraved society 06:42 that was being affected by all the social change 06:46 and the social unrest, and the poverty, 06:48 and you had the mingling of the same cultures. 06:50 You had the Black American culture, 06:52 and you had the West Indian culture, 06:54 Latin American culture 06:55 that was all converging in this area, 06:57 and they came up with this new form of expression 07:00 through the break dancing and the aerosol writing 07:03 and the DJing and the emceeing that was almost similar, 07:08 in my estimation, it was extremely similar 07:11 to what you saw in New Orleans 07:12 there in Pre-Civil War era, America. 07:16 And so I think it's very significant to know 07:20 becausenow where we are, in modern America, 07:24 and we still have all of these genres present, 07:27 you know, Blues never went away, 07:29 jazz is still present. 07:31 RnB is still present, rock'n'roll is still present, 07:34 alternative music, all these other things 07:35 are still present, and the modern Christian, 07:38 the modern person 07:40 has to navigate through these things. 07:42 They have to deal with how we to interpret sacred 07:45 and profane, especially now in the church. 07:48 Is it okay to just listen to whatever kind of music 07:53 and you know, maybe just put godly lyrics to it 07:55 when we talk about holy "holy hip-hop", 07:58 put godly lyrics to something, no matter what kind of form, 08:01 and form of expression is coming 08:02 as long as the words are okay, that makes it okay, 08:05 or is there really a standard. 08:06 Is music neutral or is it not? 08:08 Well, this is an excellent question 08:10 and in order to answer it in a way, 08:12 at least from the Christian and biblical perspective, 08:14 we obviously have to go to the word. 08:16 Music, we should look at that first, 08:18 like why, what was in the mind of God 08:20 when He was giving music to His people. 08:23 The Bible makes it very clear, even in the Book of Job 08:25 that you know, the sons of God, they came together, they sang. 08:29 And you know, God believes in music. 08:30 I believe God is the author of music. 08:33 It talks about in Ezekiel 28, Lucifer, which is a good name, 08:36 Lucifer means light bearer or son of the morning. 08:39 And when God made Lucifer in Ezekiel 28, 08:42 it says he had pipes inside of him. 08:44 So that Lucifer was a very musical being. 08:46 God loves music and music is wonderful, the problem is, 08:49 is that of course, as Lucifer transitioned 08:53 from being a light bearer 08:54 to now becoming God's enemy and a slanderer, 08:58 this is how he earned the name Satan and the devil so on. 09:00 So number one, music is not bad. 09:03 Music is definitely not bad. 09:04 So we can't make an arbitrary statement 09:06 and just refrain from all forms of music? 09:07 Most definitely. 09:09 I mean, you know, it would be extremely anti 09:11 or extra biblical to say that music is bad, 09:14 we should stay away from all music. 09:15 What we have to do is like anything else. 09:17 You know, we have been studying the Bible, 09:19 we've been looking at the fact that 09:21 the same way God has a true culture, 09:22 Satan has counterfeit cultures, 09:24 God has true religion, Satan has counterfeit religion, 09:26 God has true church, Satan has counterfeit church. 09:30 God has true worship, Satan has counterfeit worship. 09:32 So it is God has true music, you know the concepts of music 09:35 and then Satan of course, will try to counter that as well. 09:39 So that, in essence, 09:40 again, we're talking about this perversion. 09:43 Changing that which is true into that which is not true. 09:45 So there can be a perversion even when it comes to music? 09:48 They definitely can, they definitely can. 09:50 And this is why, 09:52 what we can do is pull principles from the Bible 09:54 that can help guide us when it comes to: 09:57 how can I know if what I'm listening to 09:59 is something that is acceptable or not to the Lord? 10:02 So the first position that the Christian holds is that: 10:05 I will not do anything that displeases my God, 10:08 I will not do anything that will offend God. 10:12 I want to make sure that whatever I do 10:14 is to the glory of God, 10:15 as 1 Corinthians 10:31 admonishes us. 10:18 So the first thing I want to do 10:20 is look at how God even brought music to His people. 10:24 And this would take us back to the Old Testament 10:26 in 1 Chronicles 9. 10:28 And the Bible tells us something 10:30 I thought was very interesting. 10:31 In 1 Chronicles 9, 10:34 it's actually speaking about the priests, 10:37 it's speaking specifically, especially about the Levites. 10:41 And the Levites were men that held Holy Office 10:44 and they were individuals 10:45 that function in the capacity of the priesthood. 10:48 And the Bible says in 1 Chronicles 9:33, 10:51 talking about the Levites, it says, 10:53 "And these are the singers, 10:56 chief of the fathers of the Levites, 10:59 who remaining in the chambers were free, 11:01 for they were employed in that work day and night." 11:05 Literally, the Levites, part of their work 11:07 is that they were employed in the singing 11:09 and they actually lead out in this. 11:11 And it wasn't just singing because if you go 11:13 just a few pages over to 1 Chronicles 15, 11:16 you see that in verse 16, 11:19 David, he actually spoke to the Levites 11:20 and he gave instruction, and notice what it says, 11:22 and this is inspired instructions. 11:23 So it's really God giving instruction to the Levites. 11:26 It says, "And David spake to the chief of the Levites 11:30 to appoint their brethren to be the singers 11:33 with instruments of musick, psaltery 11:36 and harps and symbols sounding 11:39 by lifting up the voice with joy." 11:42 So that means that the Levites were instrumental, 11:44 not just in leading the people into singing, 11:48 but also in conducting the music 11:50 and making sure the music was done right. 11:52 God actually handed down heavenly music, 11:55 music that is birthed from the heart of God. 11:57 He handed it down when He established a people, 12:00 which was Israel, and He gave them music 12:03 but He gave it specifically to the Levites. 12:05 And the Levites were the leaders, 12:06 they were if you would call it the choir leaders, 12:08 you know, of the day. 12:10 And they were the ones that would lead the people 12:12 and instruct and guide. 12:13 While knowing this, 12:14 the Bible teaches something very important about Levites, 12:16 that's very key, it's in Deuteronomy 10. 12:19 So in Deuteronomy 10, 12:21 here's what the Bible says about the Levites. 12:23 And if only these things were understood, 12:25 we would understand that 12:27 you know, the Levites today, we would call them pastors, 12:30 you know, the pastors should be functioning 12:32 in a capacity that the Levites were functioning 12:35 in which is this. 12:36 It says in Deuteronomy 10:8, 12:39 "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, 12:43 to bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, 12:45 to stand before the Lord to minister unto Him, 12:49 and to bless His name unto this day." 12:52 So when you think of the function of the Levite, 12:55 you're thinking of someone 12:56 who was called to minister unto the Lord. 12:59 There was someone to bless the name of the Lord. 13:01 They were to you know, to bring forth a wonderful, 13:04 beautiful, holy influence unto the people. 13:07 In a book called Desire of Ages, 13:09 which has an excellent commentary 13:10 on the life of Christ, 13:11 it states a powerful point in page 448, 13:14 paragraph 3, and it talks about the Levites here 13:17 that I think is noteworthy. 13:18 Is says, "With sacred song and thanksgiving 13:20 the worshipers celebrated this occasion. 13:23 A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement 13:26 when after confession of their sins 13:28 the people were declared to be at peace with heaven. 13:31 Thus, the way was prepared for the rejoicing of the feast. 13:34 'O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, 13:37 for His mercy endureth forever' (Psalms 106:1) 13:40 rose triumphantly, while all kinds of music 13:43 mingled with shouts of Hosanna accompanied the united singing. 13:48 The temple was the center of the universal joy. 13:52 Here was the pomp of the sacrificial ceremonies. 13:55 Here, range on either side of the white marble steps 13:59 of the sacred building, 14:00 the choir of Levites lead the service of song. 14:06 The multitude of worshippers 14:08 waving their branches of palm and myrtle 14:10 took up the strain and echoed the chorus, 14:13 and again the melody was caught up 14:14 by voices near and afar off, 14:16 till the encircling hills were vocal with praise." 14:20 So the Levites were the ones that held a responsibility 14:23 to make sure that the people were being led right, 14:26 as it relates to music and worship. 14:28 So it is that when we think of various leaders, 14:30 I highlighted pastors 14:32 but there are other leaders as well in the churches. 14:34 They're called that they can also lend a holy influence 14:38 when it comes to music. 14:40 So the first thing we can take from this is that 14:42 in the mind of God, when He gave music, 14:44 He gave it to a holy people, the priest, 14:47 and then it was to have a holy influence amongst the people. 14:51 So that is the first point 14:52 is that music in the mind of God 14:53 was supposed to be something 14:55 that had and gave a holy influence. 14:58 And God Himself is holy. 15:00 So that means that music was designed 15:02 not just to feel good, it was more than that. 15:05 God gave music that it would always somehow draw the mind 15:09 and draw the heart of the individual back to God 15:12 and back to God's heart. 15:14 So this is a very important point 15:15 when we think about, you know, music. 15:17 And the reason why this, I think is so important 15:19 especially for me, is because when I danced, 15:23 I first was dancing in the world, 15:24 I'm dancing with all the entertainers 15:26 and I'm going on tours and everything. 15:28 When I got out of hip-hop, dancing 15:31 and dancing with all these artists, 15:33 and it was because of Christ, it was for nothing else. 15:35 I just wanted to follow the Lord 15:37 and I wanted to honor him. 15:38 Well, I decided, 15:40 well, let me try to do hip-hop gospel dancing. 15:42 So we would take every hip-hop artist 15:44 that said anything about God, and we would take the beats, 15:48 the same beats, the same hip-hop beats 15:49 so it's the exact same music. 15:52 But what we would do is if you know, one group said, 15:54 "I praise the Lord and keep the faith," 15:56 or somebody said, "Let the church say, amen." 15:59 You know, anything that a hip-hop artist would say, 16:01 we would just have a DJ kind of cut those parts in 16:03 and now you had a beat, same hip-hop beat, 16:06 same hip-hop music, everything but it just had some, 16:09 "I praise the Lord, I praise the Lord, 16:11 let's let the church say amen," etc. 16:13 We started going to all sorts of colleges 16:16 and churches and we started to dance, 16:18 me and my friends, we started to dance. 16:21 And we danced and something I noticed 16:23 that I just could not ignore. 16:26 As we would dance, people were clapping, 16:30 cheering, praising us, not God. 16:33 When we were finished dancing, 16:35 girls would still give their phone numbers 16:37 and talking about they want to have sex with us, 16:38 and do all these things. 16:39 I mean, every single thing that was happening in the club, 16:43 everything that was happening in the world, 16:46 the same things was happening in our hip-hop gospel concerts. 16:49 It was like people were, 16:50 it was not lifting the thoughts to heaven 16:53 and causing holy thoughts, 16:55 which should lead to a refraining of fornication, 16:58 cussing, swearing et cetera, 16:59 but it was more so drawing us to it. 17:01 There wasn't a change. 17:02 It was literally like just bringing the world 17:04 into the church. 17:05 I had a very similar experience, 17:07 you know, from the emceeing standpoint 17:08 is when I came out of the world, 17:11 I embraced the gospel, came into the church, 17:14 and I had literally kind of quit cold-turkey, 17:18 I quit emceeing just as I had quit smoking and drinking. 17:23 I understood that it was something that didn't mix 17:26 with what I was getting ready to commit my life to. 17:28 That's right. 17:30 But when I came into the church, 17:31 I met individuals in the church that were rhyming 17:35 and emceeing, and still kind of embracing hip-hop culture 17:37 and I said, well, they grew up in this 17:40 or they've been in this so I guess, it's okay. 17:42 And they were kind of rationalizing 17:43 and somehow howl, no, no, it's okay, 17:45 it's just you just got to change the words, you know. 17:47 So I literally said, "Man, that's easy, 17:49 that's a easy assignment. 17:50 So all you saying is I just got to put religious lyrics? 17:54 "So I literally went back to my DJ, my producer, 17:58 who I already told that I quit, I'm out, 18:00 you know, it was nothing, and we were getting ready 18:02 to move to the next stage 18:04 you know, professionalism and really, 18:06 so my stuff was already getting shopped around. 18:09 And he was very upset that I was stepping away like this. 18:13 And so when I called him up and said, "Hey, man, 18:14 I got a solution, I heard that this is going to be right 18:16 and we're going to keep it moving." 18:18 So I use the same music, the same production. 18:21 All I did was, I took all of my existing set, 18:24 you know, all of my existing songs. 18:26 I saw where I could change 18:28 'cause I was already a conscious, you know, MC. 18:30 So I didn't you know, 18:31 curse a lot in my rhymes or anything like that, 18:34 so I made a couple of adjustments, 18:36 you know, in area where I said, 18:38 you know, were I was cursing the church, 18:41 I would then just, you know, adjust in a little bit 18:44 and make simple adjustments. 18:46 And then I wrote a whole new set of songs 18:48 with the same production 18:50 and it was now this gospel focus, 18:52 you know, Three Angels' Messages, 18:54 Prophecy, Revelation all this stuff. 18:56 And I did, I went to do a show. 19:00 I went to do a show and, you know, it was got a, 19:04 there was a promoter that I had worked with before 19:09 that wanted me to come out and do the show. 19:10 So I come out and to do the show 19:11 and I'm not the only performer, there's a DJ 19:14 and there's other performers. 19:16 So I have my set at a certain time. 19:17 I brought with me two other Christian brothers to the show. 19:21 Another brother when I was working with emceeing 19:23 and another former, you know, hip-hop head 19:28 and now another individual who's preaching today. 19:32 But we wanted to wait outside until the time of the set came 19:36 because we didn't want to go in there 19:38 and mingle inside the club and all that. 19:40 So we waited outside, you know, like good Christians 19:42 and waited for our turn and the time came 19:45 when it was time to go do the set. 19:46 So we went to the door, prayed outside, 19:49 you know, for Lord's blessing. 19:51 And then we went inside, we got our wristbands, 19:53 we went to the bar and we just got water, 19:55 you know, people look at as funny. 19:57 And then we went up, did our set. 19:59 And when we did a set 20:00 something very strange happened, 20:02 something very revolutionary for me happened. 20:05 I'm going through, it's I think it was about 20:06 like maybe a 15 minute set, so it was pretty full. 20:10 So we're going through and you know, 20:12 normally when you're emceeing, you're have a different, 20:14 all these kind of different scenarios that happen 20:16 when you're in a club or in a little concert hall, 20:19 where you have a group that comes to the front 20:21 and they're really listening, you know, they are kind of, 20:24 you know, joining with the, with the stage show 20:27 and they're really focused 20:28 and really listening to the experience. 20:30 And then there are some people 20:31 that might be out there talking, 20:32 some people out there at the bar, 20:34 there might be some people on the dance floor, 20:35 some people doing different things in different areas. 20:37 And as I'm going through the set 20:39 and you have that kind of pit in the front, 20:41 and then I look off in the distance 20:42 and as I was preaching the gospel in my mind, 20:45 I see a girl, you know, and a guy dancing. 20:50 You know and this girl is dancing in a way 20:52 that has nothing to do 20:54 with the Bible and Christianity. 20:55 She's dancing just like we we're in the world. 20:57 And she's dancing to my song. That's right. Yup. 21:00 She's dancing to my song and my lyrics 21:03 while I am talk about giving your heart to the Lord 21:04 and prophecy and things coming upon the earth, 21:07 and the second coming of Christ. 21:08 And she's dancing to my song 21:10 just like she would to any other song. 21:12 And when that, when I saw that 21:14 and I'm performing at the same time, 21:16 I never stopped, but a voice came in my head 21:19 and said, "Son, this does not mix." 21:23 It's not just about the words that you're speaking, 21:27 it's also about the music, the music does matter. 21:30 And from that point forward I had to quit, 21:32 you know, I had to walk away because I saw 21:35 that if I continue going then that track 21:36 I'm going to be converted to it versus me 21:39 converting others to the gospel. 21:41 And that is the consistent issue, 21:42 is really and truly what is going on in your heart, 21:46 what is going on in your mind? 21:47 When you play your music, is it causing the mind 21:50 to dwell more upon Christ, His crucifixion, 21:54 His resurrection, His working in heaven 21:58 on our behalf that we may be like Him? 22:00 Is it promoting character development? 22:02 Is it helping us 22:04 want to be more separated from sin and the world, 22:08 or is it drawing us closer to the things of the world? 22:11 Does it allow me to be a reflection 22:13 of the character of God before others, 22:14 or does it cause me to be more of a reflection 22:16 of the world before others? 22:18 These are all the things that we need to consider 22:20 when we're embracing these forms of music. 22:22 As an example, if you look in the Bible 22:24 when it talks about those who come to Christ 22:25 in Psalms 40:3, it says, 22:29 "He hath put a new song in my mouth, 22:32 even praise unto our God: Many shall see it and fear, 22:36 and shall trust in the Lord." 22:38 So notice, it's a new song. 22:40 You know, this thing about playing things 22:44 that sound exactly like what we listen to in the world, 22:48 it doesn't work. 22:49 I remember there was a song called 'Between the Sheets,' 22:51 and it was a song totally and completely about, 22:54 you know, fornication. 22:56 And I remember listening to a prominent gospel singer 22:59 and he actually took the same exact lyric 23:01 from 'Between the Sheets,' 23:03 and started to add this to his gospel song. 23:05 And I know in my mind it went easy 23:07 because I was like, I know that song and immediately 23:09 I knew everything connected to that song, 23:11 even my own personal experiences. 23:13 So my mind was not ascending into a holy place, 23:16 it was not thinking of holy things, 23:18 it was more so deviating from that 23:20 going back to the world 23:21 and all the reminiscent things of the world. 23:24 This is not what Christ wants. 23:25 And that's why I believe God was offended 23:27 when the minister would literally tell the people, 23:30 remember, before you were Christians, 23:33 when you were unconverted, 23:34 when you were a worldly sinners, 23:35 I'm going to play the music that you love to listen to 23:38 and practice into when you were a sinner. 23:41 And I'm doing this in the name of fun. 23:42 This is blasphemy. 23:44 These are things that are offensive to God, 23:46 when we have a minute to think about it 23:48 and not allow the music to control our feelings. 23:51 The Bible also says in the book of Colossians 3:16 23:56 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, 24:00 teaching and admonishing one another 24:02 in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, 24:06 singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 24:10 So notice, the words of Christ are to dwell in us richly 24:14 and those words of Christ are to admonish us or teach us 24:18 and enable as to teach and admonish others 24:21 in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. 24:23 So again, God is not against the music 24:24 but it's what kind of music, what kind of singing. 24:28 Now we've been looking at you know, 24:30 songs and lyrics here just a little bit, 24:32 but now I'd like to just focus just briefly 24:35 as it relates to the music. 24:37 When I listen to music is it a genre. 24:40 And you know, we can't recommend 24:41 any specific genre to say, 24:43 listen to this genre, it's all okay. 24:45 Right. There's no sacred genre. 24:47 There is no sacred genre, 24:48 even though we can see a lot of fairly, 24:50 you know, unsacred genres, 24:52 which is interesting. 24:53 But nevertheless, are there some principles 24:55 that we can take with us 24:57 when it comes to listening to music 24:58 and what kind of influence is it having on me 25:01 when I'm listening to it? 25:03 You remember we did a study where we talked about 25:06 do all things to the glory of God 25:07 and the glory of God is God's character? 25:10 Well, hear are some characteristics of God 25:11 that we can consider. 25:13 In 1 John 3:2-3, the Bible declares that God is pure. 25:19 Whatever music I listen to, 25:21 it must help my mind to maintain in a pure state. 25:25 I must have pure thoughts. 25:27 It should help promote pure thoughts. 25:29 As I stated, if I'm listening to music 25:32 that takes my mind back to impure thoughts, 25:34 I can look at and say that music can't be of God 25:36 because that's not what God wants. 25:38 He doesn't want me to dwell in the things of the world, 25:40 He wants me to dwell on the things of holiness 25:42 and righteousness. 25:43 Again, the Bible also says in John 3:33 25:47 that "God is true." 25:49 So whatever music I listen to, 25:52 it should help promote the truth 25:54 of what God wants for our lives and not to push me in a path 25:57 or an experience that can take me down a path of error. 26:00 Music is a mood response mechanism. 26:03 Music can cause fear, 26:05 that's why movie theaters and all these guys, 26:07 you know, they know how to play certain forms of music 26:08 to make you afraid. 26:10 Yeah, it's a psychology of music. 26:11 It is a psychology. 26:12 But God makes it clear, there's no fear in love. 26:14 "Perfect love casts out fear," right? 26:16 That's 1 John 4: 18. 26:17 So when I listen to music, 26:19 it is should not put me in a state of fear, 26:20 perplexity, anxiety or violence. 26:23 That music should keep me in a state of peace. 26:26 In fact, 1 Corinthians 14:33, it says God is a God of peace. 26:31 Whatever music I listen to, 26:32 it shouldn't cause my heart to go into rapid palpitations 26:35 and cause the brain waves of my mind to lose its ability 26:39 that I can't have good cognitive function 26:41 that I can't think straight and reason straight. 26:44 These are principles that God gives us from His word 26:46 that ought to guide us. 26:48 And as long as we stick to these principles, 26:50 and there's plenty more that we can study in scripture, 26:53 God will lead us to know when a song is good 26:57 versus a song being bad. 26:59 There's a lot more that we could pull out 27:00 from scripture, but it as usual, you know, 27:02 I know our time is limited and friends, 27:04 we are grateful that God does provide answers. 27:09 He does provide solutions for us. 27:11 What we have to do is we have to search. 27:13 We got to dig deep, we have to let God speak, 27:16 and let the rest of the world remain silent. 27:18 And as we do this, 27:19 I believe that God will bless us 27:21 beyond our expectations. 27:23 It is true that there are lots of scientists 27:25 and musicians who have studied all sorts of things 27:27 and they try to endorse what God condemns. 27:30 And this is why the Bible even speaks 27:32 of something called science falsely so-called. 27:35 So science never validates the Bible, 27:37 but Bible always validates science. 27:40 And as long as we maintain being people of the book, 27:44 God will bless us 27:45 when we are seeking to know truth, 27:47 because God has promised us, 27:48 if we are seeking truth we shall find it. 27:51 For the Bible says, "Seek, and you shall find." 27:54 We are really grateful that you have joined us 27:55 for this episode and we're just praying 27:57 that as you get ready to enjoy the blessings of the Lord, 28:00 remember Proverbs 2:6, 28:02 which tells us the "Lord gives us wisdom 28:04 and out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding." 28:07 God bless you. |
Revised 2016-01-14