The cold escapes
My heart is drenched through
Fate comes pouring down, trip out
Negative space in cycles
Been caught in our radar
We’ve been waiting here patiently
Locked in this state, clocking our time
The storm remains
And my heart’s entrenched new
Fate explores me now, trip out
Why do we bathe in this psyche?
Remain calm in our mental
We display it in our patience
Locked in this stage, plotting our time
Now wе sail to
The storm implodes now
Exploring your fate
Now wе sail, starting now behold
Negative space in cycles
Destroying our mental
Remains in our conscious
Constant
–Deftones, “My Mind Is a Mountain”–
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Having every one of them harps.
–Revelation 5:8 (KJV)–
Its one thing for Christians to feel a sort of cringe reaction to music that’s against sanctification, such as songs about sex, drugs, witchcraft, and crime. Any type of songs that glorify the works of the flesh: “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like” (Galatians 5:19-21). The first four words could be wrapped up into sexual immorality, the next two into the occult, the next seven into violence, drunkenness, and partying. And even these last two could boil down to sexual immorality again. So to simplify the problem:
1. FORNICATION.
2. WITCHCRAFT.
3. VIOLENCE.
Of course it goes without saying that listening to songs with PROFANITY should be out of the question for born again Christians (Col. 3:8). These four things should grieve the Holy Spirit of God; and if you’re born again, you should have a sense of that which grieves God (Eph. 4:30). Any music that thematically goes against the Ten Commandments should grieve you if you’re saved: anything that glorifies pagan gods, takes the name of God in vain, is anti-Christian, is anti-family, violent or murderous, glorifies gang life and criminality, sexual immorality, theft, lying to get ahead, or approves of greed and self-centeredness. With all that being said, why do so many Christians and even pastors so love The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Office, when these forms of entertainment plainly celebrate Norse paganism, crime, and secular humanism? The Office is profusely quoted by most pastors, even though its replete with sexual jokes and even has a woman that occasionally flashes her coworkers! Hardly is that obedience to the command: “whatsoever things are pure…think on these things” (Php. 4:8). And these are the youth pastors who’ll take your teenage daughters to youth events over the weekend! The IMDb Parents Guide search on Google has become my Christian friend just as much as Clearplay, VidAngel, Genius, and SongMeanings for filtering out nudity, profanity, and bad lyrics. I haven’t used Facebook in two years or so; and I thank God that I’ve had the strength to lay it down because of all the soft porn that’s on it; and CovenantEyes protects me from getting lured into the hard stuff.
Its better to study the Bible and hear the sermons of holiness preachers like Leonard Ravenhill and David Wilkerson than for “a man to hear the song of fools” (Eccl. 7:5). And a lot of rock bands, rap groups, and country musicians–are FOOLS that deny God, if not with their actual words, then with their lifestyles. And the Bible tells us that its the fool that has said in his heart, “There is no God” and that “they are corrupt,” and have “done abominable works” (Ps. 14:1). So why shouldn’t you listen to secular music, as they call it? So you won’t get brainwashed into a godless, atheistic fool, that’s why. They are worldly, even demonically inspired poems set to music. It’s got nothing to do with taking away your fun for the sake of being a killjoy; and everything to do with preserving your mind, heart, and conscience from becoming totally seared as with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2). “Strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14), and you’re going to get that from in-depth Bible study, KJV Bible reading, and KJV Bible preaching. And yes, with an emphasis on the KJV, because the theology of it is unique. That doesn’t mean you need to buy a $150 Cambridge KJV Bible, or read nothing but that translation, and Sword of the Lord books, and pass out Chick tracts, but why not consume them anyway? Why not feed your spirit and grow?
There’s nothing wrong with listening to clean songs that “play skilfully with a loud noise” (Ps. 33:3), and even to apply them towards worshiping God. Adam Clarke, the Methodist preacher, had preached against playing all musical instruments in Christian Theology, pages 279-282, because he thought Amos 5:23 was against them: “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols,” and he even went so far as to say that King David was wrong for endorsing instruments in the Psalms, because he was a carnal man with bad judgment, sinned with Bathsheba, and had her husband killed. Amos 6:4-5: these lazy meat eaters just lie on beds of ivory, “chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David.” So Clarke said let’s not use carnal entertainments and amusements like drums and guitars, as David did, because it’ll make us carnally minded, careless, and fleshly, and maybe end up committing adultery! Instruments will make us sin like King David! So let’s not play them! But Clarke forgot that David’s harp playing delivered Saul from an evil spirit (1 Sam. 16:23); and the prophet Elisha felt the presence of God while a harpist played (2 Kings 3:15). That’s talking about songs like those by Vineyard Music, Maranatha! Music, and Hosanna! Music, all of which use the same kinds of instruments as rock bands do, as David had clearly mentioned in Psalm 150. Arguing for a strictly a cappella view of songs, like Church of Christ does, is anti-Biblical: and yes, instruments are mentioned in the New Testament, so don’t even go there with that a cappella only argument: “the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, HAVING EVERY ONE OF THEM HARPS, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Rev. 5:8). It should go without saying that if we love God, then we’ll want to sing and listen to “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19), without becoming an a cappella hymn snob, or only listening to Keith Green because he was a holiness preacher that lived a life above reproach; but neither on the other hand, should we allow ourselves to become extreme antinomians that allow our minds to become defiled by listening to the crime glorifying, devil worshiping songs of fools like those by 2Pac and Marilyn Manson. 1 Corinthians 10:21: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.”
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Dr. Hugh Pyle, The Truth About Rock Music (Sword of the Lord, 1985).
Jeff Godwin, The Devil’s Disciples: The Truth About Rock (Chick, 1985).
—. What’s Wrong With Christian Rock? (Chick, 1990).
David Wilkerson, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth (World Challenge, 1985), ch. 4.
Revolver, “See Korn’s Epic 2022 ‘Requiem Mass’ Performance In Hollywood Church.” Two years before the United Methodist Church completely sold out for gay marriage, Korn actually held a concert in Hollywood UMC.
Elvis Information Network, “How Sister Rosetta Tharpe Influenced Elvis’ Music.” I was right to say that rock and roll started in COGIC with black gospel music and then migrated into Assembly of God. It was mainly Rosetta Tharpe, who was a black gospel singer from Church of God In Christ (COGIC). Presley used to listen to her on the radio when he was a young man in Assembly of God (AG).
WesleyGospel Ministries 