MORAL MUSIC
Written By Brother James L. Melton
Certain sounds are pleasing to God, even when no words are present. The Scriptures confirm this quite well:Written By Brother James L. Melton
“The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come . . .” (Song 2:12)
“. . . the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” (Isa. 55:12)
“God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.” (Psa. 47:5)
“And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.” (Exo. 28:35)
“Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.” (Lev. 25:9)
“With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.” (Psa. 98:6)
Now, the question becomes what KIND of sounds does God accept? What kind of music is acceptable to God? Again, God has not left us without an answer:
“For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of MELODY.” (Isa. 51:3)
“Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making MELODY in your heart to the Lord.” (Eph. 5:19)
The key word is melody. The world likes to feed its flesh with rhythm, but God prescribes melody for the saints. Webster defines melody as “An agreeable succession of sounds; a succession of sounds so regulated and modulated as to please the ear . . .” What is especially interesting is the fact that Webster’s definition of “music” (1828) doesn’t even mention rhythm, only melody and harmony.
Now, I’m not implying that music doesn’t need some rhythm, for it surely does, just as your body needs a pulse, but music doesn’t need to be dominated by rhythm. Music in the Balance, by Frank Garlock and Kurt Woetzel, illustrates this truth in the following manner on page 59:
Too much (or erratic) pulse-----------Body is sick
Too much (or erratic) rhythm--------Music is sick
No pulse--------------------------------Body is dead
No rhythm-----------------------------Music is dead
Pulse under control--------------------Body is well
Rhythm under control--------------Music is “well”
The pulse that God designed for your body is so well controlled that you cannot hear it without making a special effort. In fact, if you do hear it, you will not hear anything comparable to rock music, CCM, blue grass, or country-western music. According to the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health, the natural human heart plays a “duet” consisting of a “systemic waltz” and a “pulmonary waltz.”
I fear that the judgment seat of Christ will be very eye-opening to a great many Christians who never took the time to learn the basics about moral music. Yes, I said MORAL MUSIC. Much of the garbage blaring from the sound systems in many churches today does nothing but feed the flesh. And I'm not referring only to Christian rock or contemporary music. The trash that some of you older folks listen to and sing is nothing more than a honkytonk sound with religious words. It doesn't feed your spirit and bring you closer to the Lord, and it doesn't make you more fruitful as a Christian. It simply makes you FEEL good in the flesh, just as unsaved people feel good in the flesh when they hear Hank Jr., Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Carrie Underwood or Miranda Lambert. As Christians, we can do better than that, and we SHOULD do better. We should reckon the flesh dead, and then feed and edify the inner spiritual man. Bach stated it well when he said that music is for the GLORY OF GOD and the recreation of the human SPIRIT. Most Christians today honestly do not know whether they're feeding the flesh or the spirit. They merely justify their choice music by saying "I like it," as if that somehow settles everything. No, the word of God will settle it, or it will remain unsettled until the judgment seat of Christ.