Whether we should accept testimonies about demonic influences on human musicians is a disputed matter. Scripture provides several passages that help point us to the correct view about this important issue.
The Servants of Saul
After the Holy Spirit departed from Saul, God sent an evil spirit on Saul to afflict him. Saul’s servants somehow were accurately able to know and testify that an evil spirit was afflicting him:
1Sa 16:15 And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
We are not told that these servants were prophets, which would imply that they had special abilities given to them by God that ordinary people did not have. The available data points to ordinary people correctly being able to make the assessment that a demon was afflicting a human being.
Unspecified People
Some unspecified people accurately identified and brought to Jesus many that were demon-possessed:
Mat 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.
On another occasion, some unspecified people brought to Jesus a man who was mute because he was possessed by an evil spirit:
Mat 9:32 As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
These presumably ordinary people accurately assessed that this man was possessed and afflicted by a demon.
A Canaanite Mother
A Canaanite woman implored Jesus to heal her daughter who was cruelly afflicted by a demon:
Mat 15:21 Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
This Gentile woman who likely was an unbeliever was able to know correctly that her daughter was suffering terribly at the hands of a wicked spirit!
A Distressed Father in a Multitude
Jesus healed a demon-possessed son of a father who came to Him to deliver his son who had been terribly afflicted by the demon from his childhood:
Mar 9:17 And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18 And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19 He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
20 And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21 And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
This sorely distressed father accurately knew that his son had been tormented by a demon for years.
Discussion
These five passages plainly attest to humans being accurately able to assess demonic activity in humans. None of the passages gives any indication that the people who did so were prophets or other special people specially gifted by God to be able to do so.
This biblical evidence therefore teaches us that we should not hold the faulty view that ordinary people cannot accurately assess whether demons are afflicting or possessing humans or influencing them in other ways.
Application
The biblical data treated above does not support the notion that humans who testify about demonic influence upon themselves and others that led them to produce rock music and other ungodly music cannot reliably do so because humans cannot reliably know whether demons have influenced humans or not. Given that we have various testimonies that certain people’s rock music was sourced in demonic influence upon them (see the footnotes in this post for some of these testimonies), we should accept such testimony as authentic and reject rock music categorically.
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
