A New Song for Children

March 2, 2013

I recently wrote new words to be sung to the tune of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, a well-known children’s song. My song, Sow, Sow, Sow the Word, teaches children numerous truths that have great significance for this life and the one to come.

I have included footnotes in each stanza that give Scripture passages for the major ideas in the song. Explaining these biblical truths to children when you teach them the song should make their singing it much more profitable.

Sow, Sow, Sow the Word

Sow, sow, sow the Word
Ev’rywhere you go.[1]
Joyfully, joyfully, joyfully, joyfully[2]
Tell men what you know.

Sow, sow, sow the Word
Ev’ryone must hear.[3]
Solemnly, solemnly, solemnly, solemnly[4]
Tell them Whom to fear.[5]

Sow, sow, sow the Word
Ev’ry day and night.[6]
Thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly, thoroughly
Teach them all that’s right.[7]

Sow, sow, sow the Word
Ev’ry child of God.
Patiently, patiently, patiently, patiently[8]
Turn men back to God.[9]

Sow, sow, sow the Word
You who know God’s love.
Lovingly, lovingly, lovingly, lovingly[10]
Show that God is love.[11]

Copyright © 2013 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

[1] Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15; Acts 8:4; 26:20

[2] Acts 5:41-42; 13:52

[3] Mark 16:15

[4] Acts 20:21

[5] Revelation 14:6-7

[6] Acts 20:31

[7] Matthew 28:20

[8] 2 Timothy 2:25-26

[9] Acts 26:18

[10] 1 Corinthians 13:1; Ephesians 4:15

[11] Matthew 5:16

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Music
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New Book by Shelly Hamilton about CCM

March 1, 2013

I have worked with Shelly Hamilton at Majesty Music for a number of years now. For the past many months, I have had the privilege of interacting with her extensively as she worked to complete the writing of a book about CCM.

CCM Book pictureShelly has researched this subject carefully for many years. Her musical giftedness, solid Christian training, dedication to serving Christ, and gracious desire and intense burden to help people with this difficult subject have uniquely prepared her for advancing the kingdom of God and His righteousness through her book Why I Dont Listen to Contemporary Christian Music.

In the 103 pages of this book, Shelly covers many key topics, including Is Music Neutral?; The Rock Beat; The Pop Singing Style; Intent and Motive; Biblical Teaching about Music; Rock by Its Fruit and Association; A Musical Line; The Power of Music in the Church; and What Are a Christian’s Musical Options?

If you are looking for some solid help to discern answers to the musical and biblical issues that CCM poses for believers, I heartily recommend that you give this work a careful hearing.

For more help with issues concerning CCM, please see my post Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM

 

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In CCM, Christian Books
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Amazing Grace Teaches Wretches to Deny Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts

February 27, 2013

John Newton’s song Amazing Grace highlights how God saves wretches who once were lost in their sins. Stanza 3 testifies of the ongoing work of grace in the life of saved wretches like us: “Thru many dangers, toils and snares I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”

In our day, much Christian teaching and preaching focuses on the saving work of God’s grace in the sense of its delivering sinners from the penalty of their sins. Although that is certainly a vital dimension of the work of God’s grace for sinners, the apostle Paul emphasizes a key facet of its work that needs much more emphasis than it is currently receiving—God’s grace that saves sinners has a vital sanctifying teaching ministry in the life of every true believer:

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

In this passage, Paul stresses that God’s grace teaches believers to be denying ungodliness and worldly lusts as they live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. An examination of this truth brings out vital understanding for how we should live in our day.

GRACE TEACHES BELIEVERS ABOUT THE UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS OF OUR PRESENT WORLD

The teaching of Paul about grace in this passage implies that grace teaches us about the ungodliness and worldly lusts that characterize the present world. We understand then that our age in which we live has evil aspects that are ungodly (not like God) and worldly (opposed to Him, His interests, and the best interests of His people and focused rather on human desires that are either intrinsically evil or are perversions of God-given legitimate desires).

An emphasis that downplays the reality of the ungodly and worldly aspects of the present world thus misleads believers into thinking contrary to what the Scripture teaches about God’s grace. Such teaching comes far short of rightly instructing believers to live the grace-filled lives that God desires for them.

GRACES TEACHES BELIEVERS TO IDENTIFY THE UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS OF OUR AGE

Also implicit in this Pauline teaching about grace is the reality that God’s grace enables believers to identify what is ungodly and worldly in the present world. Apart from that grace, they would be like all the lost people of the world who lack the ability and desire to identify accurately what aspects of our age are ungodly and worldly versus what aspects are not so.

Moreover, because of God’s grace working in their lives, Christians who are right with God desire to discern accurately what comprises the ungodliness and worldly lusts of our contemporary world. Based on these truths, an emphasis on living a grace-filled life that minimizes a believer’s need to discern what comprises the ungodliness and worldly lusts of our world is in direct opposition to explicit Scriptural teaching about what God’s grace effects in a believer’s life.

GRACE TEACHES BELIEVERS TO DENY THE UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS OF OUR WORLD

Beyond enabling believers to identify the ungodliness and worldly lusts of our day and teaching them to do so, God’s grace teaches believers to deny these aspects of our world! We thus do not live the grace-filled lives that God intends if we are not actively denying these things in our lives.

An emphasis on grace-filled living that does not stress a believer’s denying ungodliness and worldly lusts in his living is highly detrimental to the cause of Christ because it misleads believers about an essential facet of how they must live in this world. We must reject such teaching as unscriptural because it is not in accord with biblical teaching about what God’s grace effects in a believer’s life.

Is amazing grace teaching wretches like you and me both to identify the ungodliness and worldly lusts of our present age and to deny them? Or, has deficient teaching about living a grace-filled life misled us so that we are not actively doing so?

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Discipleship, Exposition
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O Theophilus, Jesus Will Restore Again the Kingdom to Israel!

February 23, 2013

Together, Luke-Acts comprises a larger portion of the New Testament than do the writings of any other Scripture writer (unless Paul wrote Hebrews). Because Luke wrote both books to the same man, Theophilus (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1-2), he has the unique distinction of being the one person to whom the Spirit directed more of the New Testament than He did to any other person.

Luke ends his Gospel with an account of Jesus’ instructing His disciples prior to His Ascension (Luke 24:15-49). He begins Acts by reminding Theophilus of what he had previously written to him, including an explicit reference to Jesus’ instructing them before He ascended: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1-2; cf. Luke 1:1-4). The explicit references to Jesus’ instructing them before His Ascension (at both the ending of Luke and the beginning of Acts) underscored to Theophilus the importance of that instruction.

JESUS’ FOCUS ON THE KINGDOM PRIOR TO HIS ASCENSION

Luke then related to Theophilus that prior to His ascension to heaven, Jesus appeared repeatedly to His disciples over a 40-day period: “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). This statement communicated to Theophilus that during that entire time, Jesus was speaking to them about the things concerning the kingdom of God. In fact, Luke said that His appearing to them and His speaking to them about precisely that subject were the infallible proofs that He was alive after His passion.

Based on this singular emphasis of Jesus’ communications to His disciples during this 40-day period, Theophilus understood that the preeminent subject in the minds of both Jesus and His disciples during that entire period was the kingdom of God. Keeping this fact in mind is vital for a proper interpretation of the subsequent events.

THE DISCIPLES’ QUESTION ABOUT JESUS’ RESTORING THE KINGDOM TO ISRAEL

Theophilus learned next that Jesus gathered His disciples together and commanded them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit that the Father had promised (Acts 1:4-5). In response to His interactions with them throughout this post-Resurrection, pre-Ascension period and specifically to His specific instructions to wait for the giving of the Spirit, His disciples asked him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

Noting the earlier emphatic statement about Jesus’ speaking about the kingdom to His disciples (Acts 1:3), Theophilus certainly would have understood this question in relation to that emphasis. He would thus have known that the disciples were not bringing up a matter that was important only to them but not so to Jesus.

JESUS’ ANSWER TO HIS DISCIPLES

Theophilus then read of Jesus’ answer and of His Ascension:

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight” (1:7-9).

Clearly, he would have interpreted Jesus’ answer and Ascension from the standpoint of not just the disciples’ question but also from the standpoint of Jesus’ singular emphasis on the kingdom of God throughout that 40-day period. On this reading of Acts 1:1-9, we can only interpret Jesus’ answer properly by seeking to understand it in the same way that Theophilus did.

A “THEOPHILIC” UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISCIPLES’ QUESTION AND JESUS’ ANSWER

To assess rightly how Theophilus understood Acts 1:6-9, we must consider key truths about the kingdom from both Luke and Acts, the two books that Luke wrote specifically to him:

(1) In his Gospel, Luke informed Theophilus that an angel instructed Mary to name Him Jesus before He was even conceived and explained the significance of that naming in a way that can only be rightly understood as pointing to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Luke 1:30-33). Theophilus therefore would have believed that Jesus’ sitting on the throne of His father David and ruling forever over the house of Jacob was central to the mission that His name reveals (Luke 1:32-33).

(2) Theophilus learned at the end of Luke that the disciples expected Jesus to redeem Israel (Luke 24:21), which certainly hearkened back to the confident expectation that he had read about of Israel’s national deliverance from those who were oppressing her (cf. Zacharias’ Spirit-filled prophecy that spoke of his thanking God for redeeming and saving him and his people (Israel) from their enemies and from the hand of all those who hated them [Luke 1:68-79]).

(3) Theophilus did not read in Acts 1:7-8 that Jesus told His disciples that they were mistaken in thinking that Israel still has a glorious national future. Nor did he read that Jesus informed them that they were wrong in expecting that He would be the One to bring about the glorious restoration of the kingdom to them.

(4) Instead, what Luke wrote to Theophilus told him that Jesus pointed them to the Father’s sovereignty over the timing of that glorious event and instructed them that they were not to focus at this time on the timing of that event.

Viewing Jesus’ answer to His disciples from this “theophilic” (the consistent focus on the kingdom from Luke 1 to Luke 24 to Acts 1) viewpoint, we should understand that Jesus upheld to them the validity of their expectation but redirected their focus to the present priority of their testifying for Him throughout the world. Doing so, they would faithfully occupy until He would gloriously return to restore the kingdom to Israel, just as He said (implied in Acts 1:6).

WHY THE OPPOSING VIEW IS WRONG

Many deny this understanding of Jesus’ answer because it does not fit with their overall theological understanding of Scripture. They hold that Israel has no national future. As seen above, however, a consideration of how Theophilus, the original recipient of both Luke and Acts, would have understood this matter shows that this view is erroneous.

CONCLUSION

Despite the arguments of those who for theological reasons deny that Israel has a national future as a kingdom, Jesus’ answer interpreted through the eyes of Theophilus shows that Luke wrote to him to inform him (and us) of this glorious truth: Jesus will restore again the kingdom to Israel at the precise time and season that the Father has put in His own power. O Theophilus, Jesus will restore again the kingdom to Israel!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Exposition, Theology
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A Bible Principle That Would Help Curb Certain Kinds of Violence in Professional Sports

February 20, 2013

Yesterday, Marion Hossa, a star forward on the Chicago Blackhawks ice hockey team, was knocked out of a game by a dirty play by a player on the Vancouver Canucks. As I was pondering last night and this morning what the NHL should do to curb this kind of dirty play, a Bible principle came to my mind that I think would go a long way towards helping with such problems.

Exodus 21 reveals a number of principles governing situations involving personal injuries. Concerning men who quarrel, God says,

Exo 21:18  And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:

 19 If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

With this revelation, God made known that those who injured others non-lethally were to be held responsible to pay for the loss of time of the injured party and they were to see to it that the injured party would be cared for until he was completely healed.

Applying this principle to professional athletes who intentionally injure other players, the league would force the guilty player to pay the injured player’s salary for however long the player remains injured. Moreover, the guilty player would have to pay all the medical expenses for any treatment that the injured player would require until he is completely recovered from his injuries.

In situations where a player injures another player in such a way that it ends his career, the guilty player would have to pay for the injured player’s salary for however long the player would normally have been expected to play, on average, in the league. He would also have to pay for the medical and other expenses of the injured player for the rest of his life.

Any expenses that a guilty player is unable to pay in a situation where he injures another player intentionally would have to be borne by the player’s team.

These disciplinary measures would be enforced on both players and teams in addition to the other penalties already existing in league rules, such as suspensions, fines, etc. Hitting dirty players and teams in their pocketbooks in this way surely would help curb some of their wretched violence.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Interpretation, Theology
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The Vital Significance of the Spirit’s Remarkable Role in the Apostolic Gospel Preaching at Gentecost

February 17, 2013

Scripture provides more verses about Gentecost than about any other account of apostolic gospel preaching (Acts 10:1-48; 11:1-18; 15:7-9; 14; at least 70 verses total). The Spirit played a remarkable role in bringing about the preaching of the gospel on that occasion, as revealed by two key passages in Acts 10.

First, the Spirit spoke directly to Peter prior to his preaching at Gentecost:

Act 10:19 While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. 20 Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.

This statement brings out three aspects of the Spirit’s work on this occasion. Not only did He send the three men who came to summon Peter to go back to Caesarea with them (Acts 10:5-8; 17-18), but He also directly spoke to Peter to inform him of that fact. Moreover, He commanded Peter to get up, go down to meet them, and go with them without questioning what was taking place (Acts 10:20).

The Holy Spirit thus was responsible for bringing about the evangelistic encounter at Gentecost in a unique way because Scripture does not record any other occasion that emphasizes in such fashion the Spirit’s work of directing an apostle to evangelize a specific group of people on a specific occasion.

Second, after Peter had come to Caesarea and met Cornelius, he preached the gospel to him and the others that were there with him (Acts 10:33; 15:7). While he was preaching, the Spirit fell on all who were hearing his message (Acts 10:44).

Doing this, the Spirit effectively ended Peter’s message, signaling thereby that these Gentiles had then heard precisely all that the Spirit wanted them to hear on that occasion. Scripture does not record any other instance of apostolic gospel preaching in which God determined supernaturally in such a way when the evangelist’s message would end.

Two subsequent references to this supernatural event underscore the importance of this work of the Spirit at Gentecost:

Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God? 18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

Act 15:8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

In fact, these two passages were the basis for my coining the term Gentecost because they explicitly link what happened at this evangelistic encounter with what happened at Pentecost.

CONCLUSION

The teaching of these two passages about the Spirit’s unique work in connection with Gentecost (Acts 10:19-20; 44) and the subsequent references to that work (Acts 11:15-18; 15:8-9) provide us with explicit statements that point to the unique importance of what happened at Gentecost. This information strongly suggests that a thorough examination of Peter’s gospel message at Gentecost is essential for us to have a proper understanding of what we are to do in preaching the gospel in our day.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Evangelism, Gospel, Ministry, Preaching
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Did an Unholy Spirit from God Torment Saul?

February 14, 2013

When king Saul rebelled against God, God judged Him by rejecting him from being king of Israel (1 Sam. 15:23). After Samuel anointed his successor, David, the Holy Spirit came upon David from that day onward (16:13). By contrast, “the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him” (16:14).

Was the spirit from God that tormented Saul an unholy spirit or was he an angel who was sent by God to distress Saul? Some believers are troubled to think that this spirit was actually an evil spirit in the sense of being a demon. For them, for God to use such a spirit creates theological problems with their view of God and His separateness from sin.[1]

An examination of many similar Scripture passages helps to answer the question of the identity of the spirit that tormented Saul.

1. Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan, who could only have assaulted them had God permitted him to do so (see point 2 for Scriptural support for this interpretation):

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

 2. Job was assaulted by Satan on more than one occasion when God gave him permission to do so:

Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. 

3. Because of his sinfulness, God judged king Ahab through a lying spirit:

2Ch 18:18 Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left.

 19 And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.

 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. 

4. Paul’s affliction at the hands of Satan was divinely given him: 

 2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

The use of the divine passive (“was given”) shows that God was the One who allowed Paul to be afflicted by Satan.

5. God will judge many people in the future who will have rejected His truth by sending strong delusion upon them, which will be the work of evil spirits:

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

These five passages provide ample biblical support for holding that king Saul was tormented by an unholy spirit from God and not just a “distressing spirit” (1 Sam. 16:14 in the NKJV). In addition, the Spirit’s departure from Saul prior to the evil spirit’s coming upon him also points to his being an unholy spirit that came to torment Saul once the Holy Spirit was no longer upon him (cf. 1 Sam. 10:6).


[1] Additionally, the identification of this spirit as an evil spirit versus a distressing spirit has vital bearing on determining the moral character of the instrumental music that David played for Saul (see my post Correcting a Wrong Handling of the Accounts of David’s Music Ministry to Saul).

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In CCM, Interpretation, Music, Theology
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Guitar Chords and Melody for "Sublime Gracia"

February 11, 2013

Here are the guitar chords and the melody for Sublime Gracia in my simple number format (in the key of Sol).

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Guitar Music, Spanish
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Let Us Sing to the Lord All Our Days in His House!

February 9, 2013

King Hezekiah was one of Israel’s best kings (2 Kings 18:5). Faced with divine revelation that he was soon certainly going to die (2 Kings 20:1), he entreated God for mercy (2 Kings 20:3) and was heard (2 Kings 20:5-7).

After he had recovered from the illness that originally was going to end his life, Hezekiah wrote a song to thank God for healing him (Isa. 38:9-20). He climaxed that song by saying, 

The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. (38:20)

Because the Lord saved him, Hezekiah purposed that he (and others with him) would sing his songs accompanied by stringed instruments throughout the rest of his life and do so in the house of the Lord.

This marvelous resolve points us to multiple truths that every believer should profit from:

1. In gratitude for His saving us, we should sing to the Lord all of our days.

2. Singing to Him individually is not enough; we should do so corporately (“therefore we will sing my songs . . . all the days of our life” (38:20; bold added).

3. Our corporately singing to Him should be accompanied by the playing of stringed instruments.

4. Singing corporately to Him with such accompaniment in our own homes is not enough; we should sing corporately to Him with such accompaniment all our lives “in the house of the Lord” (38:20).

Surely, God intends these truths from Hezekiah’s resolve to profit every believer to the end that we all would praise Him faithfully in grateful corporate singing to Him in our local churches, which are His house today (1 Tim. 3:15). If God has saved you, be faithful to worship Him in singing in the services of a local church all the rest of your life.

Let us sing to the Lord in His house all our days!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In Exhortation, Music
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From Heavy Metal, Soft Rock, and Pop to Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

February 6, 2013

As an unsaved child and junior high, high school, and college student, I listened to a wide variety of music, including heavy metal, soft rock, and pop. Growing up in an Indian home, I also had very extensive exposure to Hindi music, especially music from Indian movies.

Music was an especially vital part of my life from about junior high onward. At one point, I even wanted to be a lead guitarist and vocalist for a rock band.

In college, I took guitar classes and lessons and longed to learn how to play rock music. Although I tried very hard to learn how to play it, I never was able to figure out how to play the rhythms of that music. Most of the few rock solo parts that I did learn to play, I learned from a few close friends who also played guitar.

In contrast to my very limited success in learning to play rock music, I was able to develop extensive abilities in note reading and strumming and picking chords for songs that did not have a rock beat to them. In addition, considerable exposure to classical music during these years, both through my guitar lessons and through close connections with many college friends who were classical musicians, developed a deep love and appreciation in me for classical music.

Although I had listened to many different styles of music in my life, I did not have much exposure to Christian hymnody before I was saved. In the years leading up to my conversion, I did attend services occasionally at an Assembly of God church, but I have no recollection of the music that I heard on those occasions.

Shortly after I became a Christian, I began attending services regularly at an independent Baptist church in Cookeville, TN. In that church, I first experienced extensively Christian hymnody and other sacred music that was sung and played in a way that was distinct from all the music (except for the classical music and the other sacred songs that I had heard before) that I can recall ever having heard prior to that point in my life.

My experience of this new music was not just that I was singing words that I had not sung before—there was an entirely different feel to this music. This sacred music did not bring back to my mind the earlier styles that I had saturated my mind with over the years.

Now, after 23 years of being immersed in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, I am readily able to detect a difference between what I first heard in my first church and what I hear today in Christian music sung and performed in contemporary styles. Whereas the former never recalls to my mind secular music that I have heard, CCM readily does so.

As one who first had his mind immersed for many years in the world’s music and then immersed for many years in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, I find it regrettable that good brethren assert that CCM is acceptable music for divine worship. Not having the background that I have, many of them do not understand the harmful effects that the musical styles of CCM—regardless of the words—are having upon them.

Furthermore, even after years of being a believer, I find that I still have within me a deep affinity for rock music, pop, and other music that is played and sung in worldly styles. Based on my extensive experiential knowledge of the world’s music and of sacred music that is clearly distinct in style from the world’s music, it is clear to me that CCM has no place in the life of a dedicated believer and should be eradicated from every church that desires to glorify God in its worship.

See my post Resources That Provide Answers to Key Issues Concerning CCM for much more biblical information about issues concerning what music God accepts in corporate worship.

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

In CCM, Music, Testimony
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