POST | Facts About Music (Part 3)

FACTS ABOUT MUSIC (PART 3)

Now to draw the curtain on this series: As Christians, it's left to us to infiltrate, or rather invade the music industry (by the application of wisdom) with a lot of REAL MUSIC (Matt 10:16), and not just any kind of music, but one with CREATIVITY and SKILL! (Psalms 33:3). It also has to be attractive to appeal to its listener (Titus 2:10). It's essential we master our art, the art of music. The truth is, if you tag it "gospel" or "christian", it will be overlooked by those who actually need the gospel, the lost... the CONFUSED. (1 Corinth 2:14). It's more like stereotyping oneself. As far as I know, God did not create "gospel" music or "secular" music. He created MUSIC! Even the word 'secular', according to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary means; "not connected with spiritual or religious matters". It doesn't mean it's evil or ungodly. For instance, I can sing about my country or the crisis in my society in other to give hope, or I can basically sing about my life, experiences I've been through, etc. It's secular but positive and has a message, and in the long-run, you realize it's inspired by God. So as Christians, how do we intend to reach the lost souls, the CONFUSED? To be honest, when you tag your music as "gospel" or "christian", only the "churched" (devoted Christians) will listen to it. This isn't meant to be so. The gospel of Christ is meant for EVERYONE, including unbelievers and non-christians. (Luke 4:42-43, Luke 5:31-32 [AMP], Matt 10:5-7, Matt 15:24, Rom 1:16). In times past, music that have been tagged "gospel" often sound WACK! (just being REAL). Am certain that nobody wants to listen to wack stuff.

Some might think this is a scheme to be more famous, get more fans, etc, but the truth is if the world doesn't know you, how do you intend to take the gospel round the world? [Mark 16:15 (NLT)]. Don't get me wrong, am not saying fame should be the aim, NO! All am saying is, if you are good at what you do, people will recognize you. But have this in mind, as a minister of God in MUSIC, your primary aim is to win souls, give hope, encourage the CONFUSED. Your secondary aim is to make good music skillfully by optimizing the gifts God put in you and your talents (Psalms 33:3). You have an EXCELLENT SPIRIT, so everything you do MUST be excellent! [Daniel 6:3 (KJV)]. You must also make your music have spiritual depth, which means you MUST maintain a steady intimate relationship with your creator, STUDYING God's word constantly alongside PRAYER! (Very essential). Forget religion. I hate religion! Christianity has nothing to do with religion in any way, but it's a lifestyle... just as the CONFUSED have a different lifestyle. Religious people are mostly hypocrites (if not all). They follow doctrines/traditions devised by men and not of God, and infuse it to the system of the Church, thereby making God's word useless! (*shakes head*) [Col 2:20-23 (MSG, NLT), Mark 7:5-9 and 13]. That's why Christianity doesn't seem to be fun, which is not true. Being a Christian is so much fun, more than you can ever imagine. Let's leave that for now, that's a whole different issue to be dealt with in another article. (*smiles and winks*). A good friend of mine defined music like this: M.U.S.I.C = Me U Sing In Christ. I guess you now know what I mean. That is REAL MUSIC, not CONFUSED! You may not neccessarily sing about anything christian, yet it's positive, inspired by God. It could be funny and entertaining but not dirty or vulgar. God loves humour (Job 8:21, Psalms 2:4, Proverbs 17:22).

When we all get to Heaven (by the special grace of God), we shall be praising God with music (not gospel music). Am talking about REAL music. What people see as the main or real kind of music is so CONFUSED, and the more they dwell on confused music, the more confused they become, living in deceit. That's how powerful music is and the devil knows this. Let's all come together and give hope to a confused generation. Let's go back to the times when music was still real and played a vital role in our moral standards. Let's discourage confused music but encourage confused artists to become real artists, being the appropriate role models for the younger ones coming after them. Let's open the eyes that have been blinded by the devil. God is REAL, satan is CONFUSED! With God in your life, you'll discover the real you and affect your world with the REAL stuff. Let's put an end to garbage music. Christians, God has left this in our hands. The world is waiting earnestly on us. Let's save our CONFUSED world! (Romans 8:19).

...the END.

POST | Facts About Music (Part 2)

FACTS ABOUT MUSIC (PART 2)

As I stated earlier in the previous part of this series, satan is using this powerful tool called MUSIC which he mastered while in Heaven, against the advancement of God's Kingdom here on earth. It seems as if he's winning, but I know this is not true. God is still raising men today, (by the grace of God, am one of them).

Now, a lot of "religious" people see some genres of music as evil and of the devil because of the way it's being used in the world today. E.g; Hip hop, rock, etc. Well, I guess it's because it's more of noise than music, but according to these scriptures (Psalms 66:1-2, 95:1-2, 98:4-6) just to mention a few, God also enjoys JOYFUL NOISY MUSIC! That's REAL MUSIC! (*grins*). Am fully persuaded that ALL things (including music of various genres) were created by God and are pure and good. (Rom 14:14). In times past, different styles of music have evolved over time into newer ones, creating entirely new genres of music. But the problem is its usage. If one thinks hip hop and rock can't be used to glorify God, but genres like soul and R n B can, then I wish to inform such persons that there are a lot of soul music and R n B that are not POSITIVE and do not glorify God in any way. Try imagining a wine glass being used to drink hot egusi soup, or using water to fuel your automobile, or washing your mobile phone by immersing it in a bowl of water with detergent. Now you get the gist. It's just a misuse or abuse! (*sighs*). Same with any kind of music. For instance, sex is good! It was created by God for a purpose (to be enjoyed ONLY in the confinement of marriage). But when it is misused or abused, it's no longer sex but either fornication, adultery, homosexuality, incest, rape, etc. The end of such actions are always destructive because of misuse/abuse (Prov 16:25). Now can you see how CONFUSING those analogies are? That is exactly how CONFUSED MUSIC looks, maybe not to you, but to its creator. GOD CREATED MUSIC, SATAN CORRUPTED MUSIC. Music is music, it depends on how you use it. If its use is POSITIVE, its REAL MUSIC. If negative, CONFUSED MUSIC. THERE IS NOTHING LIKE "GOSPEL" MUSIC OR "SECULAR" MUSIC. Music is music, and serves a general purpose, which is BEING POSITIVE. It MUST add something positive to its listener. Even if it's a love song, it should be done from God's perspective because GOD IS REAL and THE WORLD IS CONFUSED! All thanks to Mr. satan. (*frowns and shakes head*).

The truth is; artists involved in CONFUSED MUSIC who sound really good are gifted of God. [James 1:17 (NKJV)]. But the issue is they are not using that gift for its actual purpose (misuse/abuse). If we can critically observe our world today, we should realize that majority of the world's problems are as a result of the kind of music being dwelt on… negative, CONFUSED music. If this world is going to get any better, then we need more positive music, REAL music. Music to encourage, teach, give hope, correct, preach, etc (Psalm 98:1-6, Ecc 7:5 [NKJV], Eph 5:19, Col 3:16, Col 4:6). It must not neccessarily be all preachy or have a "religious" approach all the time, but inspired by God, still carrying a positive message.

If I say "am not a gospel artist", please don't be shocked. Sincerely, I've been working on this article long before Lecrae announced the release of his mixtape, "Church Clothes". So don't think am trying to take sides with him because am his biggest fan, NO! But am happy he poured out what's been on my mind on his mixtape though. Big ups to Lecrae by the way. (*smiles*). In music today, one is known for always singing about money, yet we don't call him/her a money artist. Another always sings about sex, yet we don't call him/her a sex artist. You hear a rap artist always rapping about his "bling bling" and he is known as a rap artist, not a"bling bling" rap artist. But when one sings about the gospel, he/she is called a gospel artist? Same with sports. A lot of devoted Christians are into sports, yet we don't hear of a Christian athlete, or Christian basketball player, or Christian soccer player, etc. Back to music, I believe every artist has something to say. They talk about what they believe and live by on their songs, including Christians. So I don't think the whole "gospel" or "secular" tagging makes any sense, but we can differentiate the REAL ARTIST from the CONFUSED ARTIST.

...to be continued.

POST | Facts About Music (Part 1)

FACTS ABOUT MUSIC (PART 1)

Music is a very essential aspect of life. It can be applied to almost anything and everything around us. It's quite sad a lot don't actually understand how powerful this tool called "MUSIC" is. Very often its usage is misused.

Before I go ahead, let's understand the origin of music; its original use, its kind, style (genre), etc. If you believe in God Almighty, the creator of the whole universe, then you should believe that this same God created music. We all should know that everything God created, including we humans, have a purpose to serve.

Music comprises of different genres ranging from pop, soul, jazz, rock, country, punk, R n B, hip hop, salsa, techno, classical, reggae, afro-beats, etc. It might shock you to know that "gospel" is not a genre of music in any way. Yeah, I know a lot are already getting me misunderstood. Please let me land before you crucify me! (*Laughs*).

First of all, we know God Almighty created music, and from the scriptures, music was (still is) used for various purposes/occasions such as birthdays, weddings, to praise God, to appreciate people, to express oneself, or simply just for entertainment. But have this in mind, that in all things, the music MUST be POSITIVE! What do I mean by positive? I mean it can be listened to by everyone (including children), and it doesn't contain garbage like 95% of the music in our world today getting air plays… just being REAL.

Now back to the origin of music. We remember that Lucifer (now satan, the devil) was once an angel in Heaven who was in charge of other angels, and most importantly, in charge of MUSIC! He was so good at music and he was beautiful, more beautiful than other angels. I guess he was full of himself and wanted to dethrone God Almighty. As a result of his pride (which is evil), God cast him down out of Heaven with other angels whom he badly influenced to take over Heaven from God. Those angels are now demons (Rev 12:7-9, Matt 25:41). I guess you know the whole story (that's if you ever attended sunday school as a kid). For the benefit of doubt, you can look up these scriptures: Isa 14:12-19, Ezek 28:13-19. Now, this fall of Lucifer is responsible for the kind of garbage music we hear today. The devil and his angels (demons) are really at work! He's now using this tool called MUSIC which he mastered while in Heaven to get back at God and destroy humanity (the very image of God he desired), but the gates of hell shall not and will never prevail… AMEN!

Today, music filled with garbage is now regarded as the main or original kind of music, and the very few, actual original kind of music, especially the kind used to praise God and give him glory which we call "gospel", is now regarded as sub-standard. I guess am about to touch down now, please just bear with me.

Through out this write-up, I will be referring to the so called "SECULAR" music as CONFUSED MUSIC, and the so called "GOSPEL" music, inspirational, or any other kind of POSITIVE music as REAL MUSIC. You might be wondering what am up to… you'll know soon. (*winks*).

...to be continued.