Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

Selections from The Holy Bible and personal essays and commentary

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Would Jesus approve of rock and roll music, even if it has scriptural or uplifting lyrics, being performed in church? What about country music or soul music or jazz or blues? Is not the music heard in many churches derived from the blues or is it the other way around or are both the same? Should the worship service be reverent and quiet, filled with the Holy Spirit and with the contemplation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs , singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.



In the church, our worship, our music - the entire service - must welcome the presence of the Lord, be under the control of the Holy Spirit. Everything in that service must exhibit the fruit of the spirit. There is joy accompanied with peace and gentleness in meekness. Jesus Christ is the reason for and the object of our worship and praise - He is to be glorified - not the performer or the singer or the speaker.

O.K. What form should those psalms, hymns and spiritual songs take - what kind of music, what kind of instruments, in what spirit?

Psalms 150 - 1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of power! Praise him for his mighty acts! Praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with the sounding of the shofar (trumpet)! Praise him with harp and lyre! Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute! Praise him with loud cymbals! Praise him with resounding cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

There seems to be no problem here with making music and dancing - but it is to be in the Holy Spirit, worshiping the Lord, not something that arises out of the flesh - the domain of changeable human feelings and emotion.
There was no electrical amplification at the time David wrote this Psalm, so there is a clear indication of voices and acoustic instruments. This is music making and worship that comes from the joy of knowing the presence of the Lord and how blessed we are by Him.

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God [is] a Spirit : and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth .

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, shalom (peace and contentment,) patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit. Let's not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.
6:1 Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren't tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Messiah. For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each man test his own work, and then he will take pride in himself and not in his neighbor. For each man will bear his own burden. But let him who is taught in the word share all good things with him who teaches. Don't be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season, if we don't give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let's do what is good toward all men, and especially toward those who are of the household of the faith.

Loud, boisterous music of any kind that distracts from the quiet reverence that is necessary to encounter the Holy Spirit of God should be banned from the church. If you want to have a Christian rock concert have it outside the sanctuary. Historically, rock and jazz music came out of the blues - a secular style of music from African tribal and slave work songs sung in the field and transplanted in the black churches. During the 1950s in the USA, many white ministers campaigned against the evils of rock and roll music being forced upon white children by the secular media (radio, tv, films, etc.) They claimed that it would lead to sexual promiscuity and moral decline in the nation - they were right. Interestingly, the secular media has always been dominated (ownership and management) by members of the mostly secular Jewish community. Were they trying to destroy a Christian nation (the USA) after World War II? Large numbers of Jews were persecuted and killed by Nazis, the Roman Catholic religion and others calling themselves "Christians." Hitler was much more a satanic practitioner of the occult and the Roman religion have never been true, Biblical Christianity but a combination of the Bible, paganism and social politics.

The gift of eternal life is freely given to those who trust in Jesus as their savior. Those who believe, pray, read the Bible and allow themselves to grow in spirit and truth by trusting in Jesus and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit are brought into the family of God and will spend eternity with Him. You can read more about Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Topics.
The Good News - the Gospel of John.
The Sermon on the Mount
The Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paley's Evidences of Christianity
Sherlock's The Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Words of wisdom and warning.
The Authority of the Holy Scriptures - the Bible.
The Sign of Jonah.
The Two Babylons.
Thoughts.
Thoughts for today and every day.
...a refiner and purifier of silver.
Prophecies confirming Jesus as the Messiah.
To the Jew first and to the Gentile - Come let us reason together.
The Way.
Spirit.
Atheism.
Belief in God or science?
Old fossils?
Evolution or devolution?
The Shroud and The Sudarium.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Blood and Flesh.
Christmas.
Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.
How should followers of Jesus live?
A praise and worship leader gone astray?
St. Valentine's Day.
The influence of feminism, new-age and pagan philosophy in the church.
God, the Father.
Marriage is for one man and one woman.
Touchy subjects.
The apostate church.
The last days.
Ancient conflict - Isaac vs. Ishmael.
A Tale of Two Films - The da Vinci code and The Passion of The Christ.
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Fascism.
To veterans and to those who serve in the armed forces.
The world.


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