Besides bad theology, the biggest problem with contemporary Christian music is that it's just bad music imo. Throw profit driven record labels/sales, agents, and fame/adulation/egos into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. The music business is Lucifer's playground and many of the top stars used to have masonic symbols and poses on their album covers (not sure how it is these days as I pay no attention to it anymore). Call me old school but I prefer the old hymns with piano and/or classical music instrument accompaniment (violin, cello, wind instruments, etc). Definitely no electric guitars or drums or New Age-y sounding music either. My two cents :)
I agree you have to be careful and we need to find music which the Spirit can use to minister to us. In the late sixties, before I met the Lord, I had the first acid rock group in Minneapolis. We usually played stoned, It was kinda acid/folk/rock a la Buffalo Springfield. And we could get ourselves going and take the crowd with us. Much of modern so-called worship music uses the same techniques with the same results. I dropped heathen music when I met the Lord in the 1974. I liked several of the early Christian rock groups.
One of the biggest changes came because I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and eventually received my own prayer language. I found it was a glorious joy to softly or loudly sing in the Spirit as I was driving. Eventually, I discovered that I could just sing harmony lines in the Spirit to the newer songs at church which had bad lyrics or were overly repetitive. At least that way, I could get into genuine worship.
My frustration is that worship is very rare. The difference between praise and worship is that praise is about Him, and worship is personal, direct to you, Lord Jesus. In so-called worship services I came to see that the mix was about half praise and the other half was self [I'm so blessed] with MAYBE one song sung to the Lord. So, singing in the Spirit truly helped.
Now that my wife went home and I'm working in my studio at home six 10-12 hour days a week, I've started building a play list which I call creation music. It is built with artists that gently point me to the Lord with good lyrics and beautiful melodies. I'm very eclectic. So, I have some TobyMac, some Keith Green, MercyMe, Guy Penrod, Petra, DC Talk, simple acoustic praise and worship, several by a guy who does modern renditions of the old hymns of his church, a couple old albums of the Newsboys, and several by a Messianic Jewish couple from Israel. If I hear something new, I add it and then simply delete songs that are jarring. I play the music soft—set on shuffle.
You need your own list. But I spent a couple of years building a collection of 300 to 500 songs with a lot of variety, which do not jar me out of that space I love for writing, drawing, and designing. Any that do jar me, I immediately delete from the play list.
My goal is to be in the presence of the Lord all day, every day. He's been merciful and helped me do that. That's what I suggest you do. I know that is difficult when you are out in the world all day. Much of the music today is horrendous. I need music which brings me peace and joy.
Sometimes I just take a break, turn off the music and get lost singing in the Spirit to my King and my friend. That's still the best, for me.
That is a good idea to sing in the spirit in the songs, I will try it. I will check out some of your recommendations. I have been building my list on spotify - only problem is I have really tinnitus, made worse by listening to music. That is a wonderful aim to have to be present with the Lord each day - I so often fail, but keep trying!
I've got bad tinnitus also. But playing the music soft seems to eliminate my awareness of it. I use Apple Music. My routine to be in His presence [just a starting point for you] is to start each morning by offering myself as a living sacrifice. Once I've done my minimal exercises and made my coffee, I ask the Lord to show me all my sin which needs to be repented of. After 50+ years, there's not much left. But it really helps to keep clean. Then I give myself to Him and ask Him to anoint me as I go through my day, studying, writing, and doing the Substack routine. This year I am doing a Sabbath year by stopping all my plans and ideas and waiting until He gives me something. That's been a real effort since I keep busy to avoid thinking about myself too much. But He's been blessing it. Starting everyday cleaned up is good. I hope this helps.
that sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day. I really should start my day like that, but I help my daughter get ready for school at 6.15, feed the cats and dog etc. and eat breakfast. Then I actually start my working day since I write best in the morning. Sometimes I do wake up early and pray beforehand, but I can be a bit sleepy and lazy. I will try to experiment with different routines. Thanks for the ideas!
I love this, Kate. I've become really unhappy about CCM in the church. It doesn't belong there. My wife and I are going to separate churches because my church only sings the hymns. No CCM. I have invited her to join me several times but she refuses. And she has her mother and my children going to the same church, although, it began with my daughter going because of a very fine young man she was dating and is now marrying. The churches attached to Hill Song, Jesus Culture, etc., truly are apostate churches teaching heretical doctrine. Bethel of Redding California and their "grave soaking," which they now have figured the propaganda to explain it all away, is absolutely horrifying to me. Thank you so much for this post. Atticus Faticus
You are welcome. I’m sorry to hear about your church predicament but that is good that God has used it for good and your daughter has found her future husband. I guess we just have to just kind of muddle through with our own convictions until Jesus comes back!
The Spirit (mentality) of sonship we have been given in Jesus' atonement for our sins is a mentality of wanting to be a vessel in God's hands, through which God gets glory to Himself. We long for God to get glory through us. The spirit of this age of disrupted harmony between man and God longs to be in control of our existence and craves to get glory for ourselves. And it is this evil Mentality which dominates this world, so that anyone who serves God and longs for His kingdom to come and His will to be done will be a pariah. As Jesus put it, you can't serve two masters. You must love one and hate the other. I have experienced God's love given me in Jesus. I love that God.
I absolutely love listening to Jason Silver who sings the psalms soooo beautifully 🙏 Also, check out Project of Love. Xander’s story of being born again is inspiring and his use of his prodigious gift to turn the Bible into song is truly God-given.
Thanks for triggering a conversation about this topic and kudos to you for admitting that you don't have all the answers Kate. I believe that music is a gift given to us from God, in large part for His pleasure, so would have to say that yes, it does matter. I am truly grateful that I grew up in an era where a large number of the songs were Psalms and other Bible verses put to music - perhaps with some poetic license. I have sung Biblical truths over my life and that of others almost without realising it. The added bonus is that I can recite and pray far more Bible verses than I think I would've been able to do had I grown up with modern music. I am not saying all the old music was better and condemning what's out there now. I mostly attend churches with modern music rather than hymns. Often it's merely about preference. But I agree wholeheartedly that we need to be discerning and aware whilst remembering that the battle is the Lord's and we remain victorious in Him.
Yes the snake has entered the church. Yes the music matters. For over a thousand years the Church only sang scripture or songs with scripture. The Catholic Church and Orthodox Church still do this today.
Many dont know the true history of the Church and why certain things were/are done even today.
Satan was the angel of music in heaven. Think about it for a second.
Great comment Nicole. The Catholic Church has a two thousand year history (give or take) of sacred music. Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony date back a thousand years. And it all is essential to and integrated into a real and unchanging liturgy. No songs allowed. You find this in Latin Mass Catholic Churches, which many of us are grateful to still attend, despite the current persecution from sources. Kate should look in to attending one to experience the difference.
Having said that, Catholics have similar problems as you with the church “praise and worship” style publishers and their monopoly over church choirs, but that is discussion for another day.
Welcome to the "worship wars". Does the music matter? What a question! Every time I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on, I discover more that I hadn't considered.
Without pretending to answer it, the way I approach the question is by singing in a church choir. I've been doing that on and off for the past 33 years, across six choirs. I worked with a private teacher for several years early on (when I was in my early 40s) because I had no clue about how to go about it. We've sung everything from classical to modern contemporary, in a variety of languages but mostly English, and mostly accompanied but with some a cappella.
Modern English seems to me have greatly dumbed down, possibly under the influence of Marxist efforts to dumb down society, but I don't really know. With that dumbing-down, however, the ability to choose words that match lyrics to meter well has narrowed, and the result can be dumb sounding music even when the message of the lyrics is good. I find myself both liking and disliking at the same time some contemporary music that carries good, biblical messages. Some of it is not terribly musical.
Then there is the "loud music" issue. I'm not going to try to break that down here, but there's a lot of contemporary music being performed at levels that young children should not be exposed to, and that causes problems for people with hearing aids while potentially causing further hearing damage at the same time. This involves both dB level and frequency band.
But that's not just contemporary music with keys, guitars, and drums. My present choir and the previous one have sung with an orchestra (or a smaller instrumental ensemble more recently, depending on the week), and that can be quite loud irrespective of whether we are singing "contemporary". I guess when you have orchestra, organ, orchestral percussion, acoustic and electric guitar, and a regular drum set, all combined, that is to be expected. When my choir sings anthems, however, it's most often with piano and/or organ accompaniment alone, so that we can be heard. Otherwise we're backup singers.
There's another dimension involved that I have noticed as we have added more contemporary music to our repertoire. If we're lucky, the newer music comes with SATB choir sheets and not just lead sheets, and we don't have to improvise. But the SATB harmonies tend to be quite simplistic, like an afterthought, and they contain strange chords that I've never encountered before and that feel like mistakes. I can't speak for everyone, but as an alto I know that there are certain places, harmonically, that altos don't go even when improvising, and these contemporary choir sheets sometimes charge right into those places, making our harmonies difficult to sight-sing because our brains are crying "no!"
From another perspective, sometimes I see patterns that I don't particularly care for in contemporary music that resemble similar patterns in the Psalms, and I can only guess how loud and with what wind and percussion accompaniment some of those psalms might have originally been performed.
I would humbly suggest you find a Latin Mass Catholic Church to attend, just to hear a real schola doing real sacred music (Gregorian chant and polyphony). This is where our Christian music came from. This is where our faith came from. History alive every time.
Besides bad theology, the biggest problem with contemporary Christian music is that it's just bad music imo. Throw profit driven record labels/sales, agents, and fame/adulation/egos into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster. The music business is Lucifer's playground and many of the top stars used to have masonic symbols and poses on their album covers (not sure how it is these days as I pay no attention to it anymore). Call me old school but I prefer the old hymns with piano and/or classical music instrument accompaniment (violin, cello, wind instruments, etc). Definitely no electric guitars or drums or New Age-y sounding music either. My two cents :)
Even the frequencies used in catchy tunes are satanic weapons I've noticed.
tunes, beats, etc.
I agree you have to be careful and we need to find music which the Spirit can use to minister to us. In the late sixties, before I met the Lord, I had the first acid rock group in Minneapolis. We usually played stoned, It was kinda acid/folk/rock a la Buffalo Springfield. And we could get ourselves going and take the crowd with us. Much of modern so-called worship music uses the same techniques with the same results. I dropped heathen music when I met the Lord in the 1974. I liked several of the early Christian rock groups.
One of the biggest changes came because I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and eventually received my own prayer language. I found it was a glorious joy to softly or loudly sing in the Spirit as I was driving. Eventually, I discovered that I could just sing harmony lines in the Spirit to the newer songs at church which had bad lyrics or were overly repetitive. At least that way, I could get into genuine worship.
My frustration is that worship is very rare. The difference between praise and worship is that praise is about Him, and worship is personal, direct to you, Lord Jesus. In so-called worship services I came to see that the mix was about half praise and the other half was self [I'm so blessed] with MAYBE one song sung to the Lord. So, singing in the Spirit truly helped.
Now that my wife went home and I'm working in my studio at home six 10-12 hour days a week, I've started building a play list which I call creation music. It is built with artists that gently point me to the Lord with good lyrics and beautiful melodies. I'm very eclectic. So, I have some TobyMac, some Keith Green, MercyMe, Guy Penrod, Petra, DC Talk, simple acoustic praise and worship, several by a guy who does modern renditions of the old hymns of his church, a couple old albums of the Newsboys, and several by a Messianic Jewish couple from Israel. If I hear something new, I add it and then simply delete songs that are jarring. I play the music soft—set on shuffle.
You need your own list. But I spent a couple of years building a collection of 300 to 500 songs with a lot of variety, which do not jar me out of that space I love for writing, drawing, and designing. Any that do jar me, I immediately delete from the play list.
My goal is to be in the presence of the Lord all day, every day. He's been merciful and helped me do that. That's what I suggest you do. I know that is difficult when you are out in the world all day. Much of the music today is horrendous. I need music which brings me peace and joy.
Sometimes I just take a break, turn off the music and get lost singing in the Spirit to my King and my friend. That's still the best, for me.
That is a good idea to sing in the spirit in the songs, I will try it. I will check out some of your recommendations. I have been building my list on spotify - only problem is I have really tinnitus, made worse by listening to music. That is a wonderful aim to have to be present with the Lord each day - I so often fail, but keep trying!
I've got bad tinnitus also. But playing the music soft seems to eliminate my awareness of it. I use Apple Music. My routine to be in His presence [just a starting point for you] is to start each morning by offering myself as a living sacrifice. Once I've done my minimal exercises and made my coffee, I ask the Lord to show me all my sin which needs to be repented of. After 50+ years, there's not much left. But it really helps to keep clean. Then I give myself to Him and ask Him to anoint me as I go through my day, studying, writing, and doing the Substack routine. This year I am doing a Sabbath year by stopping all my plans and ideas and waiting until He gives me something. That's been a real effort since I keep busy to avoid thinking about myself too much. But He's been blessing it. Starting everyday cleaned up is good. I hope this helps.
that sounds like a wonderful way to spend the day. I really should start my day like that, but I help my daughter get ready for school at 6.15, feed the cats and dog etc. and eat breakfast. Then I actually start my working day since I write best in the morning. Sometimes I do wake up early and pray beforehand, but I can be a bit sleepy and lazy. I will try to experiment with different routines. Thanks for the ideas!
The Lord has a routine that will work for you.
I love this, Kate. I've become really unhappy about CCM in the church. It doesn't belong there. My wife and I are going to separate churches because my church only sings the hymns. No CCM. I have invited her to join me several times but she refuses. And she has her mother and my children going to the same church, although, it began with my daughter going because of a very fine young man she was dating and is now marrying. The churches attached to Hill Song, Jesus Culture, etc., truly are apostate churches teaching heretical doctrine. Bethel of Redding California and their "grave soaking," which they now have figured the propaganda to explain it all away, is absolutely horrifying to me. Thank you so much for this post. Atticus Faticus
You are welcome. I’m sorry to hear about your church predicament but that is good that God has used it for good and your daughter has found her future husband. I guess we just have to just kind of muddle through with our own convictions until Jesus comes back!
The Spirit (mentality) of sonship we have been given in Jesus' atonement for our sins is a mentality of wanting to be a vessel in God's hands, through which God gets glory to Himself. We long for God to get glory through us. The spirit of this age of disrupted harmony between man and God longs to be in control of our existence and craves to get glory for ourselves. And it is this evil Mentality which dominates this world, so that anyone who serves God and longs for His kingdom to come and His will to be done will be a pariah. As Jesus put it, you can't serve two masters. You must love one and hate the other. I have experienced God's love given me in Jesus. I love that God.
I absolutely love listening to Jason Silver who sings the psalms soooo beautifully 🙏 Also, check out Project of Love. Xander’s story of being born again is inspiring and his use of his prodigious gift to turn the Bible into song is truly God-given.
♥️🙏♥️
thanks for the recommendations! I will check them both out.
Thanks for triggering a conversation about this topic and kudos to you for admitting that you don't have all the answers Kate. I believe that music is a gift given to us from God, in large part for His pleasure, so would have to say that yes, it does matter. I am truly grateful that I grew up in an era where a large number of the songs were Psalms and other Bible verses put to music - perhaps with some poetic license. I have sung Biblical truths over my life and that of others almost without realising it. The added bonus is that I can recite and pray far more Bible verses than I think I would've been able to do had I grown up with modern music. I am not saying all the old music was better and condemning what's out there now. I mostly attend churches with modern music rather than hymns. Often it's merely about preference. But I agree wholeheartedly that we need to be discerning and aware whilst remembering that the battle is the Lord's and we remain victorious in Him.
Yes the snake has entered the church. Yes the music matters. For over a thousand years the Church only sang scripture or songs with scripture. The Catholic Church and Orthodox Church still do this today.
Many dont know the true history of the Church and why certain things were/are done even today.
Satan was the angel of music in heaven. Think about it for a second.
Great comment Nicole. The Catholic Church has a two thousand year history (give or take) of sacred music. Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony date back a thousand years. And it all is essential to and integrated into a real and unchanging liturgy. No songs allowed. You find this in Latin Mass Catholic Churches, which many of us are grateful to still attend, despite the current persecution from sources. Kate should look in to attending one to experience the difference.
Having said that, Catholics have similar problems as you with the church “praise and worship” style publishers and their monopoly over church choirs, but that is discussion for another day.
It took me 15 years to get here - to embrace what you and I have both said here. It takes time to be ready to move onto the “meat”.
Welcome to the "worship wars". Does the music matter? What a question! Every time I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on, I discover more that I hadn't considered.
Without pretending to answer it, the way I approach the question is by singing in a church choir. I've been doing that on and off for the past 33 years, across six choirs. I worked with a private teacher for several years early on (when I was in my early 40s) because I had no clue about how to go about it. We've sung everything from classical to modern contemporary, in a variety of languages but mostly English, and mostly accompanied but with some a cappella.
Modern English seems to me have greatly dumbed down, possibly under the influence of Marxist efforts to dumb down society, but I don't really know. With that dumbing-down, however, the ability to choose words that match lyrics to meter well has narrowed, and the result can be dumb sounding music even when the message of the lyrics is good. I find myself both liking and disliking at the same time some contemporary music that carries good, biblical messages. Some of it is not terribly musical.
Then there is the "loud music" issue. I'm not going to try to break that down here, but there's a lot of contemporary music being performed at levels that young children should not be exposed to, and that causes problems for people with hearing aids while potentially causing further hearing damage at the same time. This involves both dB level and frequency band.
But that's not just contemporary music with keys, guitars, and drums. My present choir and the previous one have sung with an orchestra (or a smaller instrumental ensemble more recently, depending on the week), and that can be quite loud irrespective of whether we are singing "contemporary". I guess when you have orchestra, organ, orchestral percussion, acoustic and electric guitar, and a regular drum set, all combined, that is to be expected. When my choir sings anthems, however, it's most often with piano and/or organ accompaniment alone, so that we can be heard. Otherwise we're backup singers.
There's another dimension involved that I have noticed as we have added more contemporary music to our repertoire. If we're lucky, the newer music comes with SATB choir sheets and not just lead sheets, and we don't have to improvise. But the SATB harmonies tend to be quite simplistic, like an afterthought, and they contain strange chords that I've never encountered before and that feel like mistakes. I can't speak for everyone, but as an alto I know that there are certain places, harmonically, that altos don't go even when improvising, and these contemporary choir sheets sometimes charge right into those places, making our harmonies difficult to sight-sing because our brains are crying "no!"
From another perspective, sometimes I see patterns that I don't particularly care for in contemporary music that resemble similar patterns in the Psalms, and I can only guess how loud and with what wind and percussion accompaniment some of those psalms might have originally been performed.
In summary, what does it all mean? Don't ask me.
I would humbly suggest you find a Latin Mass Catholic Church to attend, just to hear a real schola doing real sacred music (Gregorian chant and polyphony). This is where our Christian music came from. This is where our faith came from. History alive every time.
CCM? Agreed. However I would encourage you to examine your own change of voice after starting yoga, a known occultist spiritual practice.
Yes I didn’t explain fully in this article but that happened over 15 years ago when I was not a Christian. I stopped yoga when I became one.
They deceive people nowadays, with "Christian yoga." Yeah, no... I don't trust that, yoga is yoga.