Introduction – Swift To Judge

Are you seething with an urge to defend your dismissal of the very title, foaming at the mouth dripping with indignation to bark as eloquently as you can to say, “There is no such thing in The Bible?”

Granted! There is no such thing in The Bible. And there is no such thing as:

• Thou shalt not watch pornography
• Thou shalt not vote democrat
• Thou shalt not smoke weed
• Thou shalt not put pineapple on Pizza
• Thou shalt not do cocaine
• Thou shalt not wear leggings
• Thou shalt not have tattoos
• Thou shalt not watch Hollywood
• Thou shalt not listen to Secular Music

Ah! Secular Music! Hollywood! I may have touched a nerve!

There is a growing and a fascinating breed of professing born-again Christians that seem to be obsessed with the likes of Taylor Swift and the whole gamut of Hollywood. They vehemently defend their art albeit deceptively by simply stating that they have this uncanny knack of exercising discernment and therefore can appreciate the art without succumbing to it or affirming it in any manner.

And somehow there seems to be this elite group of Christians that have been granted this godlike ability to effortlessly dust off evil off their shoulders and move on. May be we ought to covet for this gift so as to be able to indulge in worldly entertainment.

And so they continue to swim nonchalantly towards that glowing light in the abyss while the jaws of death await them as they draw near to this ugly monster of the deep. If you know anything about Anglerfish, only the female hunt and are predatory.

And such, as I observe, throw every caution to the wind, ridiculing the ones that want to bring them back up to the surface by warning them of the impending danger. But they assert themselves and continue to be allured by the ominous light dangling before them titillating their senses to a state of ignorant bliss. That bliss has a bitter end. And they seem to be offering themselves up in masses! They do Anglerfish proud!

And then warn them with brotherly love and affection and they will retort saying, “Unless you can give me a Biblical reason, you can talk to my fin!”

And this apparently is their demonstration of reasonableness.

While this brief of mine may seem like a response to this swelling school of born-again fish swimming hastily towards her singing, “Just keep swifting. Just keep swifting,” this is to address a deeper problem of the love of secular music among them, among us.

And since they ask for Biblical reasons to not listen to secular music, I will proceed to offer some Biblical principles in the spirit of edification and exhortation with brotherly love and concern. And by no means is this an exhaustive list.

Though there may not be explicit commands for every minutia of our choices, there are most certainly principles that we can glean from The Bible, filled with words of eternal life, holiness, and righteousness.

But before I do, allow me to define two things – ‘Secular Music’, and ‘Sin’.

More Than Words

Secular Music

Oxford Dictionary on Secular– Belonging to the world and its affairs as distinguished from the church and religion

Webster’s Dictionary 1828 on Secular – Pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly

Webster’s Dictionary 1828 on Secular Music – any music or songs not adapted to sacred uses

My Definition – Any musical production of the world that caters to the desires of the flesh, wantonness, debauchery and aiding in the glorying of the self through its indulgence thereby making it an idol; a thing to be worshipped

Sin

Strong’s Concordance – To miss the mark, to induce to sin, to cause to sin, forfeit

Webster’s Dictionary 1828 – any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command

Let us now proceed to understand the principles in the light of these definitions and see for ourselves if we have a case against secular entertainment.

What Does The Bible Say?

1. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matt 22:37)

When Jesus was asked by a top notch lawyer which is the greatest commandment, Jesus quoted one of the most endearing passages in the OT in Duet 6:5.

What is implicit in this command is the immediate reference to the very first commandment – I am the LORD thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Let us not deceive ourselves into believing that the celebrities of the world are no gods while in contrary they are worshipped as such by the world. They are modern day idols whose images are printed, published, carved, sculpted, and enshrined in the hearts of men, women, and children. You need only search online and look up fans of many celebrities of old and new, let alone swifties.

A Christian might say, “But I don’t consider them an idol or a god.” That’s question begging and it is this “Is it wrong then to have hindu idols or goddess Diana in our living room because you appreciate art?” Or, “Is it wrong to sing Bhajans, Kirtans, and Mantras because they sound good and  calming and you can enjoy them without “giving into it” completely?”

One might say, this is a categorical mistake. But, is it? It would be if one were to dismiss the fact that the celebrities are no gods at all with all their doctrines, philosophies, and ideals to propagate. Yet, reality says otherwise. Truth be told, the world seems more consistent than Christians in this regard.

To love the Lord thy God with all your heart is to guide your inner man and the seat of its appetites, emotions, passions, the faculty and seat of the intelligence of the will and the character of the soul and all its endeavors towards LORD GOD.

To love the Lord thy God with all your mind, might, and strength which shares its meaning with heart, is to bring your entire spirit, its vitality, vigor, disposition, impulse, understanding, faculties of perceiving, judging, and determining for recognizing goodness and hating evil, judging soberly, calmly, and impartially the things that enable you to love the LORD GOD.

To love the Lord thy God with all your soul is to bring all of your heart and mind in the fullness of its power, strength, and force to bring your entire being to ‘Love the Lord thy God.’ The soul here is to be alive, active, animated; bustling with rejoicing, recognizing in the fact that man became a living soul when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils.

It leaves no place for the love of the world or for the things in it. If you say that you do not “love” them then what business do we have partaking in them?  

The way you demonstrate love toward anything is by showing your willingness to engage with it. You recognize it, appreciate it, adore it, recommend it, fellowship with it, dedicate it to address certain areas of your life, and you flatter it by imitating it.

The question is what is the object of the aforementioned actions?

2. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15)

The word love here is godly love which takes into consideration what is mentioned in the first principle. The world here is the whole of cosmos – its inhabitants and their works.

The things are those specific creatures and objects – he, she, it, they, them, this, that, those, and so on. This is all encompassing of the world and you cannot simply hand wave this away to make exceptions and exclusions.

To love the things of the world is to grow weary of loving God and the things of God. To love the world is to grow attached to its things that fade away and in essence fade away with it. It is for your righteousness and holiness to pass away as do the things of the world.

Let us take cognizance of what is written in 1 John 2:18 and 22 written in the same context as of 1 John 2:15. There are many antichrists that have gone out.  Who are the antichrists but those that deny that Jesus is the Christ. Who are they but those that deny the Father and the Son.

Are we going to sing along to the productions of the antichrists and make merry?

Let your conscience either excuse you or accuse you. And if you are excusing yourself despite the obvious conclusion, then your conscience is seared. Although this pertains to the law and tradition, yet, let us not be ignorant of the devices of deceit.

What I mean by that is, to say that it is not sin to listen to secular music and to accuse those who say that it is sin of Pharisaism or self-righteousness is in and of itself self righteous.

It is very similar to the world saying that a Christian is a Pharisee because they believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Do you see the approach? It is turning the commandment and principle on its head to make the other individual seem irrational.

What they are communicating is that they are righteous by man’s standard regardless of their worldly choices and inclination and thereby above reproach.

3. Do Not Give Heed To Seducing Spirits (1Tim 4:1)

Before I was a born again Christian, I was a hardcore fan of heavy metal music. And let me confess that I was not born a metalhead with a Black Sabbath shirt on but was led to it through pop music. I was about 6 years old when I sang along to ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ and then I remained a fan and a follower of the kind of music until I was 31.

Needless to say, I have spent a great part of my life living that lifestyle thoroughly invested in its doctrine, philosophy, ideology, and practice. Let me reiterate the fact that it took years of passive listening to transition into an active patron of this music world.  

As I studied it deeply to understand its source of enchantment and captivating philosophies, churned out by the assembly line of artists in the music industry, I began to be frightfully concerned. I was concerned for my soul.

To keep this short, the doctrines were demonic, satanic, evil, wicked, and all the synonyms you can associate it with. All the material was straight from hell. Almost all the artists conjured up songs by consulting seducing spirits and this practice is still relevant today.

And this practice is even more devious among pop artists such as Taylor Swift or even the “harmless” Backstreet Boys because almost all of their songs come from one person. Many big names in the industry work with him for successful careers.

And this man has the ability to create content across genres! Yes, read that again! Which means that he has multiple Billboard hits through myriad artists and he has all the accreditation sans the unwanted attention that some detest.

He accredits his song-writing ability to “inspiration”. He also insists that his songs are sung in a certain way emphasizing certain syllables which when played backwards would produce subliminal messages to inundate your mind and move your soul accordingly.

Summoning spirits for creative content, selling your soul to the devil for earthly rewards, dedicating messages to satan in songs is not a myth but a practice in reality.

Here is a back-masking sample of Britney Spears’ hit song. You can do your own research on the writer and composer.

The fact that secular artists produce fruits that are satiated with evil doctrines should not come as a shock. Not all gifts are from above.  

4. Prove what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2)

Is it good to assert that it is not sin to listen to any of the secular music artists of old and new?

Is it good to listen to songs of artists that are condemned to hell to cheer yourself up?

Is it acceptable to not only dismiss it as a sin but to even speak out against those that do call it out as a sin?

Is it the perfect will of God to listen to secular artists and be comforted and uplifted by them when they themselves have confessed to have sold their soul to the devil? When they have pledged their allegiance to Satan?

On the other hand, is it good for well meaning Christians to encourage other brothers and sisters in Christ to shun the things of the world and its fruits?

Is it acceptable to the Lord to call secular music sinful and partaking in it a sin?

Is it the perfect will of God to stop listening to secular music that are loaded with doctrines of devils and do away with those things that cause you to miss the mark of righteousness and holiness?

Or, is it good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God for born again Christians to meditate upon secular music that would cause them to forfeit holy living?

Is it good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God to embrace the works of an artist that actively promotes sinful lifestyle choices such as sodomy?

Or is it good, acceptable, and the perfect will of God to dabble in a little bit of the artist’s work and engage with it as you trust yourself to remain untainted by other songs more evil?

5. A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit (Matt 7:18)

Have you ever heard this delirious statement by Christians who say, “Well, not all of his/her songs are evil or bad?”

Make no mistake; the secular artists are religious leaders spewing out their beliefs, values, principles, and dogmas to create a following of disciples. Not all religious leaders wear a robe or a religious garb typical of their religious system. Listen to them and they will tell what they believe and they will find anybody that does not ascribe to their system anathema.

Is it not interesting that Jesus Christ mentions this in the context of false prophets? They are wolves indeed in sheep’s clothing that come to you with messages of love, peace, compassion, justice, kindness, generosity, gentleness, and many others that are on face value, harmless. They seem “pure” and “praiseworthy” as some would say.

These religious leaders teach their spiritual songs and hymns and have you humming along from one song to the other on their hymnals catching you unawares singing things contrary to the doctrines of Christ. And these are effective snares to trap the naïve and the simpleminded.

These are a generation of vipers that make the commandment of God of none effect. They teach for doctrines the commandments of men. How can they then being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. How can you call something good when from it comes blessing and cursing?

When we listen to Jesus Christ, we are listening to his heart, mind, and soul. Likewise, when you listen to secular artists.

Either make the tree good and his fruit good or make the tree corrupt or his fruit corrupt. One cannot have it both ways.

You cannot climb a rotten tree and see a partially good fruit and call it pure, praiseworthy, and good. If you do, then you are the blind that follows the blind leader. And you may be quite shocked in disgust when you see a half eaten worm in the fruit that you just ate. If only you paid attention to the tree; it is rotten.

There seem to be many such blind leaders that seem to be knowingly or unknowingly leading the blind into the same ditch.

Caution! These are the same religious leaders that usurp the grace of God to make accommodations for their sin.

6. Set your affections on the things above, not on things on the earth (Col 3:2)

Apostle Paul mentions that right after saying that if one is risen with Christ, then to seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated.

Regenerated Christians who say that it is not sin to listen to a certain secular artist or secular music are those who are in essence saying, that the secular music or the artist are works found where Christ is seated.

You can almost visualize them being raised from the dead, going back to the grave, collecting all the trinkets and then taking them with them in a bag to where Christ is seated.

Is the secular music given all that is mentioned so far, a thing of the earth or a thing above?

The best such a Christian can do is say that he/she has been given liberty by Christ to take with him/her the things of earth and set them above where He is. Charming to say the least!

7. What fellowship hath Christ with Belial? (2 Cor 6:15)

To have fellowship with Christ is to be yoked with Him. It is to be coupled with Him. It is to be subservient to Him. And that also includes all of Christ’s works. One simply cannot separate the two. If we as born again Christians are yoked with Christ then we are yoked with all of his righteous works, doctrines, and the rest.

Now, if we are yoked with Christ, what business is of ours to be yoked with unbelievers and their works of darkness and unrighteousness?

How could a born again Christian in their conscience reconcile Christ with Belial? The unbelievers worship and adore other unbelievers and their works. They imitate them, idolize them, and their body becomes their temple.

How can we as born again Christians brush that aside and make room for their idols in our hearts? And do we even to go so far as to defend engaging in their work?

This is to receive the grace of God in vain. It is not to receive it to grow and mature spiritually, but to be permissive through the grace of God of those things that are without a shadow of doubt evil, ungodly, and wicked.

It is to say, “By the grace of God, I can listen to (insert secular musician’s name)”

Shall We Gather At The River?

Let us take what Apostle Paul says in Phil 4:8 seriously. To think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, of virtue, and of praise. And let us when we think on things remove any ounce of impartiality.

For example, if we should judge the productions of CCM, Elevation Music, Bethel Music, and Hillsong as blasphemous, unsound doctrine, heretical, and least bit beneficial, then let us use the same measure and weights across board. Because God considers false weights an abomination and may we not be found guilty of this.

And if one should question anybody’s integrity for even remotely associating themselves with such, why then should there be a different standard for a born again Christian associating with secular artists?

Let us leave these childish things aside.

Let us gather at the river where there are no dark demon feet treading but bright angels’ feet.

Let us gather at the river where there are no polluted waters of the world flowing from the dregs of hell, but the crystal tide that flows forever from the throne of God.

Let us gather at the river with robe and crown where melodies of peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding reigns. And where heavenly melodies of the Seraphims saying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”

Exhortation – Teach And Admonish

Finally, let us heed to Apostle Paul in Col 3:16. Let us teach and admonish one another not with swiftie songs but with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that are satiated with the word of God so that His word may dwell in us richly in all wisdom.

The teaching and admonishing is ineffective if the songs and hymns that are at the tips of our tongues are songs and hymns of the world. Very soon we will find ourselves very much at home with the things of the world.

And when our meditations are mixed with those songs of the world then what would dwell in us richly and in abundance is an adulterated word of God, manifesting in adulterated fellowship with God resulting in an adulterated Christian lifestyle.

So, if we are to teach and admonish one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, then what are we ought to listen? The answer is those songs that Paul exhorts us to that make edification possible and effective.

We ought to inundate ourselves with songs that are rich in sound doctrine and theology. When Joshua said, “As for me and my house we shall worship the LORD” he did not make room for pagan entertainment in Israel’s camp.

Let us then together shed the chaff that is in our lives and become stronger Christians. Let us make Christ our goal and fight our common enemies – the world, the flesh, and the devil.

God bless you Christian!