An Excerpt from “An Uncertain Sound-Christian Music in Laodicea” Available for purchase on amazon.com in ebook, paperback and large print paperback.
We were made for the sole purpose of glorifying God. This is why the word Glory, Glorify and Glorifying occur four hundred and thirty times in the King James Bible. We were made to Glorify the Lord. Music is a tool to glorify God. And when you think of it, this is really the ultimate test of any music we would desire to listen to. If we play it, does it glorify God? Are we playing it to entertain or to praise? Sacred music isn’t entertainment. Try playing any song on secular radio today and ignore the words for a bit, just listen to the music. Does the sound of the music glorify God? What do you picture when you’re listening to it? Would you be listening to it if Jesus was sitting next to you? And that’s just listening to the music, let alone the words. Of course, the same can be said for any worldly entertainment, but music is emotional, and it resonates with us in a much different way than other forms of recreation.
There is a direct correlation between the sounds of music that we hear and the emotions we experience. This was by design, and this is also why it is so easy for the Devil to subvert sacred music for his evil purposes. There have been many studies on the effects of music on the mind.
“Music possesses the unique capability to induce profound emotional responses, often intertwined with personal memories of significance. The neuroscientific underpinnings of this phenomenon suggest that music’s emotive power is rooted in the activation of the brain’s reward system.”(From the National Library of Medicine: Cognitive Crescendo: How Music Shapes the Brain’s Structure and Function.)
Music has effects on our emotions and thought processes which, if used with a purpose of praising God, is an extremely positive feature. The music that we play in church before the sermon is for preparing our hearts to hear the word of God. Congregational singing, special music, it is to prepare us to hear what God wants us to hear. Music has been shown to help heal illness, influence children to become smarter, calm animals, even grow bigger crops. God made music and music can be positive just as he designed it. However, Satan was in charge of the music, and Satan uses music today to subvert the purpose that God made it for.