I started a new discussion thread on Sharper Iron recently: “What Does Romans 14 Teach about Foods, Days, and Worship Music?” If you are interested in learning more about this subject, I encourage you to follow the discussion on Sharper Iron.
Below is my opening post in that thread.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Comparing Psalms 1:1-3 closely to Romans 12:2 profoundly teaches us vital truths about the right approach to worship and music:
| Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. | Romans 12:2a And be not conformed to this world: |
| Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. | Romans 12:2b but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, |
| Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. | Romans 12:2c that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. |
The Spirit is the Author of both passages. Seeing how closely these passages correlate and keeping in mind that the Spirit began His perfect Book on music (the Psalms) in the manner that He has, we must understand that both Psalms 1:1-3 and Romans 12:2 teach us the same foundational truths about the right approach to worship and music!
We cannot have a right approach to worship and music apart from our first stopping being conformed to the world through walking in its counsels about worship and music. Categorical rejection of worship practices and music that are ungodly because they are worldly has everything to do with pleasing God with acceptable music for corporate worship!
See also: Would the Psalmists Approve of CCM?
Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
In His capstone book of divine revelation, the Spirit makes known that sorcerers will suffer eternal punishment in the lake of fire:
Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. 15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
What are we to learn from God’s punishing people eternally for being practitioners of the occult (“sorcerers”) but never defining or specifying in Scripture as to what being such sinful people entails?
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Satan and his demons exist—they are real. They are incorrigibly evil.
Satan and his demons are spirit beings in ways that humans as spirit beings are not and never will be.
Satan and his demons have experienced realities that no humans on their own have ever experienced or will ever experience. They have knowledge that no humans on their own have ever had or will ever have. They have powers, abilities, and capabilities that no humans on their own have ever had or will ever have.
Because of all these truths about Satan and his demons, evil that is the result of direct or indirect demonic activity is of a supernatural character that other forms of evil are not.
Occult activities, therefore, are supernatural evil activities that are of a distinctively different character than other evil activities.
In keeping with all the preceding points, we must not approach music that is of the occult in the same ways that we approach other music. The supernaturally evil aspects of such music require us to categorically reject all music that is distinctively of the occult.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I believe that there is a very serious, faulty, widespread, contemporary skepticism among believers today that holds that authentic occult activity is rare or hardly even exists.1 The only way to know that is true would be to have supernatural abilities to examine all occult activities around the whole world and somehow know that there isn’t any real demonic activity going on.
No human being has such ability. Holding such a viewpoint (that authentic occult activity is rare or hardly even exists) is therefore a totally unwarranted notion that has no merit.
Any individual person’s own life experience is not any legitimate basis to establish the validity of such a view. The life experiences of everybody that a person knows or has ever known are not a legitimate basis to establish the validity of such a view.
Only divine revelation could establish the validity of such a view. Tellingly, the Bible never teaches that the occult is mostly fake, sham, charlatans, etc.
There is no legitimate basis to hold that authentic occult activity is rare or hardly even exists.
1This post is an adaptation of a comment that I posted in a discussion thread on Sharper Iron.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I posted the following today in a discussion on Sharper Iron to treat what Scripture reveals about how a lying spirit worked in the mouths of false prophets so that they gave forth false prophecies without any evidence of their being demon-possessed.
Scripture provides plain revelation that refutes the notion that genuine demonic activity in false prophets requires demonic possession:
2 Chronicles 18:20 Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? 21 And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. 22 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee. 23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
Four hundred false prophets gave false prophecy to Ahab (2 Chron. 18:5; 18:10-11) that led to his doom (2 Chron. 18:28-34). A true prophet made known that what had taken place in the giving of those false prophecies by all of those false prophets was the working of “a lying spirit in the mouth of all his [Ahab’s] prophets” (2 Chron. 18:21-22).
The passage does not provide any evidence that any of those false prophets manifested in any way that they were demon-possessed when they gave their false prophecies that were the working of a demon in all of their mouths. In reality, had any of these false prophets displayed such evidences of demon-possession, it would likely have tipped Ahab off that their prophecies were not to be heeded.
In particular, Zedekiah was a leader among these prophets in the giving of false prophecy (2 Chron. 18:10-11). Tellingly, he wrongly believed that he actually had the Spirit of the Lord on him prior to Micaiah’s giving true prophecy to Ahab (2 Chron. 18:23).
Zedekiah thus seemingly attests to how a leading false prophet was himself deceived and appears to have thought that he was a true prophet of the Lord. Nonetheless, we know with certainty that the false prophecy that he gave on this occasion was the work of a demon in his mouth.
Tellingly, neither Zedekiah nor any of the other 399 false prophets who prophesied falsely at the working of a demon on this occasion gave any evidence of their being demon-possessed. This passage plainly shows that the notion that false prophets who are genuinely involved in demonic activities certainly will be demon-possessed people is categorically false.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
People sometimes object to comparisons made between two things by claiming that the person making the comparison is making a faulty claim by “comparing apples to oranges.” In effect, they are claiming that it is not legitimate to compare those things because they are too dissimilar to be legitimately compared.
By examining the many comparisons that are recorded in Scripture, we find at least three key instances of divine comparison of seemingly dissimilar things.
Interestingly, Jesus made three comparisons of things that were quite dissimilar in some respects:
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Humans are very different from birds in many respects, but Jesus validly compared them because God values and cares for both groups of living beings.
Matthew 12:11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Humans are quite different than sheep, but Jesus legitimately compared the two because there was a point of similarity that was valid concerning the care that they deserve to receive.
Matthew 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Whereas the lilies of the field do not do anything to array themselves, Solomon arrayed himself with great glory by clothing himself with glorious garments made for him. Certainly, flowers and humans are quite dissimilar, but Jesus legitimately compared how they were arrayed (ultimately by God in both cases—directly in the case of the lilies through God’s creation of them and not as directly in the case of Solomon through God’s blessing him with exceeding wisdom and riches that enabled him to clothe himself in such a glorious manner.)
In the first two examples, Jesus compared humans to two other categories of living beings that God also created (birds and sheep) and said that humans were more valuable and better, respectively, than those other categories of living things. These comparisons show the key truths that God does not value all things that He has made equally and that He regards one category (humans) to be much better than another (sheep).
In the third example, Jesus compared how lilies are arrayed (by God) to how Solomon arrayed himself in all his glory. This comparison teaches us that what God Himself has made or done in some respect far surpasses anything that even the most divinely gifted humans (other than Jesus of Nazareth) has made or done in a similar respect.
An examination of how Jesus compared things that were dissimilar in some respects teaches us that the objection of “comparing apples to oranges” is not an inherently valid objection to make when someone compares things that another person regards as being too dissimilar as to make a legitimate comparison between them. Very legitimate comparisons that teach us vital truths can (at least sometimes) be made between things that are quite dissimilar in some respects provided there are other ways in which there is at least one important point of similarity between them.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Musics “o,” “p,” and “q” are special because they are the musics of people “m” who suffered greatly at the hands of people “n.”
All Christians who are of people “n” or are in the countries or regions of the world where people “n” are ascendant must accept musics “o,” “p,” and “q” as fully pleasing and acceptable to God because they are the musics of oppressed and brutally afflicted people “m.”
Any attempts to critique or reject musics “o,” “p,” and “q” on the basis of biblical, musicological, historical, or any other considerations are undeniable evidence of sinful partiality or respect of persons against people “m.”
Is this legitimate argumentation, sound reasoning, and sound doctrine about music?
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
I hold that many Christians do not profit from the Bible the way that God wants them to because they mishandle various details in narrative passages.
This mishandling has led to what I believe is a very widespread deficiency in understanding and accepting sound doctrine about anthropology, demonology, and hamartiology. Acts 13 has a passage that serves as a good test case for my views about this serious problem.
Acts 13:6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: 7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. 9 Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, 10 And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? 11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.
Some approach the book of Acts by asserting that we do not get our doctrine from Acts. Having this wrong understanding in mind, they likely have never profited from the vital information that the Spirit has revealed in this passage.
What does this passage teach us about sound doctrine about anthropology, demonology, and hamartiology?
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
God directed the Israelites to make two trumpets—this, therefore, was not independent cultural musical activity. Furthermore, God determined what the trumpets would be made of (silver) and how they were to be made (“of a whole piece shalt thou make them”):
Numbers 10:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps.
God also specified how the trumpets were to be used through distinctively different soundings of them:
Blowing both trumpets but not sounding an alarm to assemble all the assembly:
Numbers 10:3 And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Numbers 10:7 But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. 8 And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.
Blowing only one trumpet to gather only the princes:
Numbers 10:4 And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.
Blowing an alarm to direct the camps to move in specified ways:
Numbers 10:5 When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. 6 When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
Blowing an alarm when going to war:
Numbers 10:9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
Blowing the trumpets over certain sacrifices on certain days:
Numbers 10:10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God.
This passage plainly teaches us that certain human beings (the Israelites) made two musical instruments (two silver trumpets) and engaged in certain musical activities (the soundings of the silver trumpets) such that all their activities with those instruments were supernaturally directed—this was not independent human musical activity that was culturally based.
Moreover, their heeding that entirely supernatural direction included at least two distinctively different soundings of those instruments: blowing an alarm versus blowing that was not the blowing of an alarm.
We, therefore, can say with certainty that the Bible does not teach that all musical activities of all people of all time have all been culturally determined. Rather, some of those musical activities have been supernaturally directed in both the making of the instrument or instruments used and the soundings of the instrument or instruments.
Copyright © 2011-2025 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
Rajesh Gandhi holds a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones Seminary; he's a long-time member of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Greenville, SC.
