January 17, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is excerpted from the book CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC: SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND SOME WARNINGS GIVEN. This book begins with the author’s own experience of living the rock & roll lifestyle before he was saved and of how the Lord dealt with him about music in the early months of his Christian life. The next section of the book expounds on four REASONS WHY WE ARE OPPOSED TO CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC and the contemporary praise music. The third section answers 27 QUESTIONS THAT ARE COMMONLY ASKED ON THIS SUBJECT. These include the following: Isn’t music neutral? Isn’t the sincerity of the musicians the important thing? Isn’t some of the contemporary Christian music acceptable? Didn’t Luther and the Wesleys use tavern music? Isn’t the issue of music just a matter of taste? Doesn’t the Bible encourage us to use cymbals and stringed and loud sounding instruments? Since God looks on the heart, why are you concerned about appearance? The final sections contain TIPS FOR KEEPING CONTEMPORARY MUSIC OUT OF THE CHURCHES and SUGGESTED RESOURCES FOR SACRED MUSIC. 177 pages. $5.95. Available from Way of Life Literature, 866-295-4143, www.wayoflife.org

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Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California says: “God loves all kinds of music because he invented it all--fast and slow, loud and soft, old and new. You probably don’t like it all, but God does!” (Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, p. 65).

ANSWER:

God did create music and created man with a capability to create and enjoy it, but the world is no longer in the pristine spiritual condition it was when God made it. Man has sinned against God and has created a world in rebellion against Him and against His laws. The Devil is called “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 11:4) and “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). Music is one of the powerful influences in modern society, and there can be no doubt that the god of this world is intimately involved in helping wicked men create music that will satisfy their illicit lusts. The apostle John taught, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 Jn. 5:19). If the whole world lieth in wickedness, what does that say about the world’s music? Obviously man’s wickedness has corrupted the field of music as it has every other field.