Notes from a message from one of my pastors:
MUSIC AND ITS INFLUENCE IN OUR LIVES
We have a desire to change our lifestyle when we come to Christ and seek a deeper relationship with Him, but sometimes we don’t know how. In the encounter (this is the first weekend encounter we experience at Living Hope) we are taught about the influence of secular music over our lives. For many, music is their main hobby, and it’s hard for us to imagine how to handle this aspect now that we are believers. Music was created by God, but twisted by Satan to deceive many, and to steal the worship that only God deserves. We have to keep in mind the fact that we have music in each part of our body: breathing, in our heartbeat, in each molecule of our being. Because we have music within us, we are attracted to different melodies and rhythms. It is natural to us because God created us that way.
We can’t forbid ourselves to listen to music, but we do have to know how to use it in a way that won’t bring us negative consequences. Music will influence our behaviour. For example, people with nervous disorders or with hyperactive children can play soft music to calm them and to reduce anxiety. Frequently we move our feet, fingers, or head to the rhythms that we listen to, and we unconsciously sing songs that we may not even like! We do it because that song sticks in our minds.
THE ENEMY’S PLAN THROUGH MUSIC
Satan made a plan to get inside our minds and hearts through music, so that he can control our behaviours, and rule our lives. Then he is able to lead us to his original purpose of destruction and death, both physically and spiritually. Satan wants to steal everything that we love…our families, feelings, friends, and finally ourselves as people.
John 10:10…
The thief comes only to steal, to kill and to destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
SATAN’S PURPOSES FOR MUSIC
TO STEAL GOD’S PRAISE AND THE ABUNDANT LIFE OF THE NEW BELIEVER
Satan will steal the honour and worship that belongs only to God, by getting us to sing and dance to melodies that glorify the enemy. These songs have direct messages that proclaim sins that God hates, such as fornication, adultery, sexual sins, unforgiveness, and revenge. This is how he steals the souls of God’s followers, and takes away the abundant life that Jesus made possible on the cross.
When we sing songs with messages such as, “feel me, please me”, we put words and pictures in our minds that will awaken our flesh, our passions, and sexual sins, with the goal of making us slaves to sin again. In my experience, I have seen that the person that can’t renounce secular music still has the world in his heart, and that person’s Lord is not God, but music. It is our responsibility to watch ourselves…to evaluate if what we sing or what we are filling our minds with would be the same thing that Jesus would fill His life with if He were in our place.
Luke 11:23
He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters. (Scatters away from the Truth and also leads others away from Truth)
Once a young girl began to walk with God. She went to an encounter weekend and saw God’s power in her life which helped her quit everything that was not beneficial to her life, such as secular music and a boyfriend who would constantly call her when he was drunk. In spite of this, she allowed certain kinds of freedoms for herself with secular music, especially the dance kind. This caused hr to re-enter her old lifestyle, once again awakening in her the desire for parties with her old friends, her old boyfriend and other things that didn’t please God. Her end was very sad. She ended up without God, without a boyfriend, and with a son who had no father. This young lady wasted her life and destroyed God’s plan for her life. She made music and her boyfriend her god.
IT WILL DESTROY THE LIVES OF ITS FOLLOWERS
Music has the power to destroy its listeners. Mick Jagger, the “Lucifer of Rock”, said, “We always work to lead peoples’ minds and wills. The majority of other groups do the same.” In concerts, people are led through music to do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Young people, for example, will strip themselves naked, or will have sex, or do drugs, or engage in violent acts. Not only does it affect their actions, but also it makes them feel depressed, like failures, and lonely, discontent and suicidal.
IT SPIRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY KILLS ITS FOLLOWERS
The person who spends the entire day listening to secular music feels the desire to do what he listens to. If he listens to music that speaks about things that can’t be, sadness, frustration, and the pain that life has given him, he will end up depressed, bitter, drinking, or committing suicide.
I know a case of a young high school student who lived with his brothers. He had very bad friends. One day he began to feel a deep loneliness. He began to attend rock concerts where young people fought and did drugs. After a period of time, this young boy said to his family that he had made a serious commitment, and without any explanation, he shot himself the next day. The enemy accomplishes his plan of killing those who fall into his trap by convincing them to end their lives and by killing the hope in them of ever finding a better life. He takes us to a place of torment where we can never leave!
Many believers fall into Satan’s trap. They think that they are strong enough to resist temptation. They think that they can rule their lives, but they end up slaves of their pasts (alcohol, illicit sex, violence, and evil) just like all the rest. They become sons of the devil, and they lose the life that Jesus gave them on the cross. God wants to give us abundant life. You can experience it when you fill your mind with things that edify and build you up. Music should bring you comfort, peace, bring you closer to God, and make you a better person.
CHRISTIAN MUSIC IS A TRANSMITTER OF LIFE
TRANSMITS PEACE AND CALMS YOUR SPIRIT
Music influences our emotions and our mood…what we listen to will determine our thoughts, actions and attitudes. King Saul, for example, when he stopped walking with God, lost his protection and an evil spirit came over him to torment him. Only when David played music for him did he feel any relief, as the evil spirit would leave him. (1Samuel 16:23) When we play Christian music, we release the presence of God over our lives and our home. We cast out every spirit so that we can feel the peace of the presence of God. Just like Saul, music can have a good influence, and we will feel better.
IT’S A USEFUL TOOL TO WIN SOULS
There is some excellent Christian music out there… music that is pleasant to the ear, and is also a positive influence. We can share this music with non-believers, because its quality is as good if not better than that of secular music. It is an eye-opener to those who believe that Christian music is boring or mediocre. God is the God of excellence!
In 1996, the sports arena in Bogota, Colombia hosted a Christian group called Petra. As they did a presentation with the objective of evangelizing and showing the world a different musical alternative, the impact in those who attended, including the media, was strong! There were positive comments made about the quality of Petra’s music, and the spirit moved in the concert and there was a distinctly felt peace. After the concert, more than 800 people accepted Christ.
IT TRANSMITS MESSAGES THAT EDIFY
1Corinthians 6:12
Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
When we choose our music, we must choose those messages that make you feel better as a person, bringing you confidence, giving you strength, and drawing you close to God with its music and lyrics.
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH MUSIC NOW THAT YOU’RE A CHRISTIAN?
1. Don’t allow small compromises with secular music. You will be easily trapped by it.
2. Determine to think on other things when you have to listen to secular music.
3. Don’t listen to music that will bring memories of the past that can take you back to your old practices. It brings a grieving or an unhealthy nostalgia where you could easily glory in past sin.
4. Do things before God, keeping transparency in every area. Be conscious that the Holy Spirit sees all things, and He is there to help you be faithful.
5. When you don’t want to contaminate your heart, speak in other tongues in your mind, memorize Bible verses, and think on the good thing that god has given you or others. These things will edify you.
6. Destroy the music that made you a slave to sin in the past. Believe that God is powerful, and that He can give you much more than all we can ask or understand!
7. Buy good Christian music, according to your taste, and listen to Christian radio stations.
Acts 19:19…
A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
