Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.....

[BrotherTony]

The Bible says that we should be be speaking to ourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. I used to be really heavy into the rock-and-roll scene and the County and Western scenes, and still find myself "drawn" to these types of music. When I was in a teen in the 70s, I was introduced to "Christian Rock." In the church I grew up in it was a DEFINITE "no-no!" The teachings of the church was that Lucifer used to over the music that was in Heaven, and that he, in his knowledge of what appealed to the flesh changed these teachings little by little until Christians and the world finally accepted this "sensual" music. Are the clean songs in the country and rock fields wrong? Yes, the beat DOES appeal to the flesh. This has been converted over to the "praise and worship" I'm finding in many churches today. Is the music wrong? Are these "praise and worship" services really something else in disguise? Have we been blinded to what really goes on with music? I watched Pensecola Christian College the other day on the tele, and the music there was very lively, but the people were singing the HYMNS from the hymnbook, and were singing songs that were truly from their hearts in praise and worship. I've had a LOT of musical background, and I have a friend who's written a book on the subject many years ago. But, I want to hear what some of the opinions are here. And I'm making this clear right now, MY OPINION OF WHAT IS WRONG OR RIGHT WILL NOT BE POSTED. I want to find out what other Christians believe and how they can SCRIPTURALLY back up their viewpoints. Thanks in advance for your participation and cooperation.  

 

[SureWord]

CCM always seemed silly to me. If you want to listen to rock, rap, country, etc just listen to it. Don't drag Jesus into it or go halfway. I also think CCM is just plan terrible music regardless of whether I think it is godly music or not. It always sounds very effeminate to me and drones on and on over the same choruses. Now, this is just my opinion I'm not going to knock you if you like CCM. 

[BrotherTony]

17 hours ago, SureWord said:

CCM always seemed silly to me. If you want to listen to rock, rap, country, etc just listen to it. Don't drag Jesus into it or go halfway. I also think CCM is just plan terrible music regardless of whether I think it is godly music or not. It always sounds very effeminate to me and drones on and on over the same choruses. Now, this is just my opinion I'm not going to knock you if you like CCM. 

The church we are in have "blended" services. I've found, though, depending on whose leading worship, that sometimes when we sing a regular hymn it is a lead-in to a CCM song. Some like that, some don't. Many don't believe that it holds to the established principles of music being composed correctly. They believe the adversary has infiltrated and changed the music. As stated, I'm not saying where I fall in this. I'm just doing a bit of research on how some on this forum feel. It's always been an interesting subject to me, especially since Rock and Country were for many decades considered the "devil's music," and is now being accepted and practiced in many churches. One observation I WILL put here is that in some churches we've been members of, when walking up onto the church, it reminded me of the verses in the Bible where Moses was coming down from the mountain, and his companion said, "There is the sound of war in the camp!" It wasn't just the noise that made it sound this way, it was the pulsating, heathen music. Do we really want this in our churches, especially right before the sermon?

[Pastor Scott Markle]

1 hour ago, BrotherTony said:

One observation I WILL put here is that in some churches we've been members of, when walking up onto the church, it reminded me of the verses in the Bible where Moses was coming down from the mountain, and his companion said, "There is the sound of war in the camp!" It wasn't just the noise that made it sound this way, it was the pulsating, heathen music. Do we really want this in our churches, especially right before the sermon?

NO!!!!!!! I for one most certainly do NOT!!!!!

[Pastor Matt]

Music is one area that is really sensitive to a lot of people. I don't come to church to be entertained or to feel good, I come to hear from God, so I want the music to reflect that.

We mostly sing hymns and Spiritual songs, but we do take some CCM music with good lyrics and we will calm down the tempo and/or rewrite the music so it will not sound worldly. I know some people are against that, but I need to follow the Lord's leading in our church. We try to have lively music, but done properly and in order. There is a clear distinction between the worlds music and what we use. I guess it could be said that at one point The Old Rugged Cross was a modern song. 

I don't want to ever get to the point where the music is the main draw for people. Music is a very important aspect of the church service, but it's God's Word is why we are there. 

We don't have a praise and Worship team, but that doesn't stop us of praising and worshipping. 

Someone once told me, you have to keep them on how you got them. I want that to be the Word of God and not our music style.

 

[BrotherTony]

28 minutes ago, PastorMatt said:

Music is one area that is really sensitive to a lot of people. I don't come to church to be entertained or to feel good, I come to hear from God, so I want the music to reflect that.

We mostly sing hymns and Spiritual songs, but we do take some CCM music with good lyrics and we will calm down the tempo and/or rewrite the music so it will not sound worldly. I know some people are against that, but I need to follow the Lord's leading in our church. We try to have lively music, but done properly and in order. There is a clear distinction between the worlds music and what we use. I guess it could be said that at one point The Old Rugged Cross was a modern song. 

I don't want to ever get to the point where the music is the main draw for people. Music is a very important aspect of the church service, but it's God's Word is why we are there. 

We don't have a praise and Worship team, but that doesn't stop us of praising and worshipping. 

Someone once told me, you have to keep them on how you got them. I want that to be the Word of God and not our music style.

 

I love your answer. It makes me very happy to hear that some churches still have some standards! At times, the music in the church we are members of seems to get "out of hand," and the drums and guitar get to be the main focus, and it seems more like a show than a worship service. It saddens me. Our youth/associate pastor has pushed for the youth to go to a CCM concert now and again, and this bothers me somewhat. At what point do we draw a line? We tell the youth to stay away from certain kinds of music, and then take them to a "show," allegedly involving Christians, with hard rock music, rap Christian music, etc., and say THAT'S okay. Something doesn't seem to add up.

4 hours ago, Pastor Scott Markle said:

NO!!!!!!! I for one most certainly do NOT!!!!!

I totally agree. For many years, because of my background, I started to lean towards the left of center on this subject. But, I guess my IFB roots are showing, because I'm leaning further and further right of center on this subject, it seems. 

[Jerry]

Rock, country, rap, (and you could probably add any or most types of mainstream music) etc. is the music of this world, appeals to the flesh, has an ungodly origin and beat - and ccm that follows it is just disguised and doesn’t magically become blessed of the Lord because you added Christian lyrics to it. One of the things that really struck me when studying out the issue of ccm about 22-23 years ago was: if the beat/type of music does not matter spiritually, how come every single ccm artist/group that I have ever heard of/studied out has obvious compromise in their lives? Many are covered with tattoos and piercings, men with long hair and women with short, off on major doctrines (ie. oneness Pentecostals, believe God is our Father/Mother, believe in a works salvation), involved in adultery or homosexuality, are ecumenical (like joining with Catholics or playing before the Pope), nor practice separation from the world in their lives (as heard in many interviews where they praise ungodly secular bands as their musical inspirations + some groups even playing the music of these groups in their concerts).

These are just some examples or types of compromise that I can think of off the top of my head. I am in no way saying a particular group is guilty of all of these or anything like that - however, I challenge you to find ANY ccm or ccw group today that is godly, separated, sound in doctrine, conservative/modest in dress and appearance, etc. That is why I stopped listening to ALL of ccm and ccw, and I am honest enough with myself, others, and the Lord to acknowledge when I compromise and allow any secular rock, etc . into my life, I am sinning. I would be willingly fooling myself to think I could listen to the Christian version of these same types of music I repented of and please the Lord and strengthen my walk with Him while doing so.

1 John 2:15-16
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

[Ukulelemike]

By my understanding, the whole CCM thing got started in the Jesus Movement under Chuck Smith, I believe, and Lonnie Frisbee. Smith was a saved man, but worldly, while Frisbee was clearly an unsaved drug user who, though his drug-fueled visions and charisma, basically took over the movement until they had to kick him out due to overt homosexuality and other sexual perversions. This was the movement of the hippies, who were drawn in by their "come as you are/stay as you are" idea, Here they incorporated their music into the services, often using established songs that added the name of Jesus into places to make it "Christian". Many of these musicians were never saved, or were still unsaved when they were encouraged to sing and perform their songs.

CCM/Worship music is essentially just the combining of the sacred with the profane, a biblical (sometimes) message with worldly musical styles, and this is clearly in direct opposition to the Bible's command of separation of the things of Christ from the things of Satan. The fruits can be seen in how many of their performers and writers come out as atheists or gay, going all the way back to the writer of the old standard "For Those Tears I Died", Marsha Stevens, who is a lesbian, and more recently, ministers from the Hillsong mess, so bad that they brought down the Hillsong in Dallas. The fruits of CCM are easily seen, and all reason to avoid it altogether. It is worldly, ecumenical and compromising, hates doctrine and truth, but loves the praise of men. 

And I believe firmly that we ought to even reject the songs with good words and not even tone them down for use, because the writers and their legacies are attached, and it can still bring some down, and will eventually cause a church to slide to ruin. Why dig for the steak from Satan's garbage can because it's 'clean', rather than just enjoy the wonderful meals from the pure kitchen of Christ?

[Pastor Matt]

13 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

And I believe firmly that we ought to even reject the songs with good words and not even tone them down for use, because the writers and their legacies are attached, and it can still bring some down, and will eventually cause a church to slide to ruin. Why dig for the steak from Satan's garbage can because it's 'clean', rather than just enjoy the wonderful meals from the pure kitchen of Christ?

I get that and I respect your conviction in this area. Don't ever change if that is how God is leading you. I have come to my own personal conviction because I don't know the personal lives and beliefs of all the hymns writers in our hymnal. I'm blessed because my daughters writes a lot of there own songs and music that we use. We just released our first one on Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify and more.

If the lyrics are doctrinally correct and falls into the Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs categories, then we will use it just like in the hymnal. I will say this, with all the modern music now, it is very hard to find music that fall into these categories anymore. 

[HappyChristian]

7 hours ago, PastorMatt said:

 We just released our first one on Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify and more.

 

Link, please?  

[Pastor Matt]

18 hours ago, HappyChristian said:

Link, please?  

Check your PM 

[BrotherTony]

On 5/6/2021 at 8:59 AM, PastorMatt said:

Check your PM 

PastorMatt, could I get that link as well? I'd love to hear some music.  Thanks.

[Pastor Scott Markle]

Music (not just the words, but the music itself) IS a medium of communication.
          Therefore, music is NOT amoral, but is definitely to be governed by the principles of moral communication.

Music, although it communicates on multiple levels, is especially a medium of communication to human emotion.
          Therefore, music is a very powerful means of influence upon the human soul.
                   Therefore, the matter of our music must be navigated very carefully, with Spirit-filled wisdom.

[Pastor Matt]

6 hours ago, Pastor Scott Markle said:

Music (not just the words, but the music itself) IS a medium of communication.
          Therefore, music is NOT amoral, but is definitely to be governed by the principles of moral communication.

Music, although it communicates on multiple levels, is especially a medium of communication to human emotion.
          Therefore, music is a very powerful means of influence upon the human soul.
                   Therefore, the matter of our music must be navigated very carefully, with Spirit-filled wisdom.

I can agree with that

[SureWord]

On 5/4/2021 at 7:43 AM, BrotherTony said:

The church we are in have "blended" services. I've found, though, depending on whose leading worship, that sometimes when we sing a regular hymn it is a lead-in to a CCM song. Some like that, some don't. Many don't believe that it holds to the established principles of music being composed correctly. They believe the adversary has infiltrated and changed the music. As stated, I'm not saying where I fall in this. I'm just doing a bit of research on how some on this forum feel. It's always been an interesting subject to me, especially since Rock and Country were for many decades considered the "devil's music," and is now being accepted and practiced in many churches. One observation I WILL put here is that in some churches we've been members of, when walking up onto the church, it reminded me of the verses in the Bible where Moses was coming down from the mountain, and his companion said, "There is the sound of war in the camp!" It wasn't just the noise that made it sound this way, it was the pulsating, heathen music. Do we really want this in our churches, especially right before the sermon?

I like the old hymns in church. CCM in church to me is like watching the Super Bowl in church, though it may not be bad, it just doesn't belong there, IMO.