There is No Such Thing as Gospel & Secular Music

 

I don’t know where the division started neither do I know who started it. But I have a strong feeling that it was started with very good intentions and definitions. BUT NOW! The division of Gospel & Secular music is more of a holier-than-thou attitude more than an honour to God. I have seen a young girl, oh yah, and a female pastor as well, shaking their head with a lifted finger and a sneer on their face saying “I don’t listen to secular music”. I’m sure you can hear the tone of their voices. Holier-than-thou attitude is pride which is one of the 7 things that God utterly hates. Proverbs 6:16-19

What are you trying to achieve by saying you do not listen to secular music at that point? Are you trying to honour God or are you trying to show the way you are on the right track and the other person is on the wrong track? ‘Speck in your brothers eye, log in your own eye’ (Matt 7:3). It’s like saying the truth about stealing money. We will accept that you are honest but you still stole.

Ok. I know that not everyone who divides gospel and secular music is proud. So what about the ones who are genuinely trying honour God? Just like dressing, if you feel that as a lady, putting on a skirt honours God more than putting on a trouser, by all means, put on a skirt. I have totally no problem with that and in fact God will bless you for respecting Him because He can see what your intention is from your heart. The problem would come in when you start condemning everybody who puts on trousers. Who told you that you are the standard by which everybody else’s dressing should be measured? Who gave you that right? Same case with music: select music that you honestly believe honours God, preach it if you want but do not condemn. Who gave you the right?

I believe things like dedicating music to the devil, using music as incantation for evil achievements exists but I will not jump into condemning anyone because they are suddenly making a lot of money. Just because Jay Z is making a lot of money doesn’t make him a devil worshiper. I’m not saying that he is not; I’m not saying that he is either. I’m just saying that I do not have the right to put him in that terrible category if I do not know for sure. So, you might be asking, do I listen to Jay Z? No I don’t. For these simple reasons: he is vulgar and he disrespects God. For me, that is reason enough not to listen to a musician. But I will not start saying, he is Illuminati. I don’t know and I do not need to know. I already have enough reason to discredit him. Christians said the same thing about Michael Jackson and Madonna and believe it or not Michael W Smith and Amy Grant were in the list as well; that was in the early 90’s. I grew up listening to Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant and realised ‘this guys can’t be devil worshipers. Look at what they sing about and what they talk about.’ Yet some renown speaker, born again, apparently led by the Holy Spirit claimed that they were and even had ‘evidence’ to prove it. I wish I could remember that guy’s name. I think he was Green somebody.

Music is first divided into genres (more than 570 of them) then the rest of the divisions follow. Gospel/Christian and Secular music is a religious/spiritual division not a genre. I hear people ignorantly saying, I don’t listen to rock I listen to Christian music. That is like saying I don’t eat meat I only eat beef. Talking about rock; what exactly is rock? Rock is a style of music brought about by a guitar effect. To get those effects, all you need is a lead guitar and an effects monitor which you can buy from Credible Sounds...So, if I may ask, if I buy a lead guitar and effects pedal at Ksh 20,000 from Credible Sounds and take my equipment home and play Amazing Grace have I sinned? Absolutely not! So how is it possible to say, I don’t listen to rock, I listen to Christian music when you are right there in my house singing Amazing Grace with me and probably the friend you brought along with you gets saved at some point. It’s the same thing with the most popularly condemned genre of music; Hiphop. What exactly is Hiphop? Hiphop is a style of music where the bass drum and the bass guitar is amplified and played in an almost staccato style with additional instruments like strings and keys (piano)...So if I may ask...and you know what I’m going to say. So what is the problem, what’s all this about Hiphop culture. A culture is a way of living developed by a group of people. In the hiphop culture there is a style of dressing that is very different from the rock culture and the church choir culture. None is greater than the other...I repeat NONE IS GREATER THAN THE OTHER. What makes the difference is what is in your heart. Hiphop advocates for self-confidence, self-pride amongst other things. The problem comes in when it’s taken too far. By going too far I mean; showing off your cars and how much money you have and how much money you can spend; then you are sinning against God. This is no different from bank md’s. They are wealthy, drive big cars and live in posh homes. There is no problem with that. The problem comes in when a bank md starts showing off his wealth. Just because 70% of bank managing directors show off their wealth will you say that being a bank manager is a sin? No you wouldn’t; because there’s more to being a bank manager than showing off their wealth: it’s about taking care of a whole banking system, making sure business is running well and clients are taken care of etc. It’s just the same as hiphop just because most hiphop artists are boastful and show offs it doesn’t mean that hiphop is a sin! There is more to hiphop than that. Someone was telling me other say, Hiphop is evil because of the way they dress and dance explicitly...But this happens in every genre of music: bhangra, lingala, kamba, luhya, benga, kisii, taarab, rock, neo soul, rnb, afro-fusion, heavy metal, blues, Latin, merengue,  alternative rock, country, baila, rumba, samba, batacuda, reggae, raga, dance, techno, house, flamenco, polka, bachata, afro-beat, blue-grass, soft rock and many others including many Christian songs. Are you going to say that they are all sinful songs?  So before you open your big mouth next time, do some research.

Cardinal rule, you should never ever condemn a whole group, institution or people unless you are absolutely sure that THEY ALL ARE GUILTY of what you are condemning them for.

Just because some Nigerians practise witchcraft doesn’t mean all Nigerians are evil. The Israelites condemned the Samaritans, Jesus went to them and stayed there 4 days. God did not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah just like that, he picked out the only 4 people did not practise their culture and saved them before destroying the rest. Before destroying the earth, God searched for and found one man worthy of living out of the whole population of the earth. If God will make sure that at least He will not condemn someone for something he has not done WHO ARE YOU? Who gives you the right to condemn a whole genre of music? There are more than 570 genres of music in this world; have you studied all of them? Do you even know all of them? If you do then you are condemning your fellow Christians who are busy worshiping God, winning souls and living right, whom you don’t even know. I get extremely annoyed, when I hear someone condemning a whole practise or people or culture. You will say, the American culture is bad; by whose standard? Yours? The people who say that ladies wearing trousers is a sin. Do you know all the ladies who wear trousers on earth? Are you absolutely sure that they are all sinning? If you are then say it, by all means, BUT if you are not, shut your mouth and instead of looking for fault in others look for them within yourself and fix them. The day you will be perfect with completely no sin then come out and say whatever you want to say, meanwhile, get a life and live it!

Back to the division of Gospel and Secular Music

As I said earlier, this is a religious/spiritual division. Let’s break it down. Gospel music is a very specific type of music. The gospels in the bible are about making Jesus known and spreading his word. Gospel music is exactly that or that is what it’s supposed to be. These days; gospel music means any music that talks about God. The definition is more like Godly music. Godly music is any music that honours God. If a Christian artist sings about how God has blessed him with a big car and a big house and the emphasis of the song is about the property more than it is about the Lord then that is not Godly music no matter how many times you say Jesus in that song. A song is the message that you pass. I listen to BBJ and in his music I hear his name and how he is a great rapper more than I hear God. Note; the rest of his lyrics are ok. But because of the message he is passing, I do not respect him. When he did a collabo with MaryMary the difference is very clear in their messages. But, I am not greater than BBJ, he is a Christian like I am but is doing something that is against my principle. I will therefore not condemn him and shut him out. MaryMary did not yet their principles seem to be quite difference, the common factor between them is that they are all Christians. Who is a Christian? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord then you are a Christian; even if you are living a life that doesn’t seem Christian I have no right to say that you are not one. I am not God. The furthest I can go is tell that I think that what you are doing is wrong and give you the chance to explain yourself. People hardly do this.

How do I select which Gospel/ Christian/ Godly music to listen to? If your message is honourable to God then I will listen to you. My principles are I do not tolerate extramarital sex or insinuation of such, pride aka flossing, disregard of authority and many others that I can’t remember now. If your music elevates this, I will not listen to it and if that is how all or most of your music is then I will not respect you whether your song is Christian or not. So if you sing a song like ‘Nina Kabinti’ (Bamboo and Roughton) I will listen to it because in your song you are respecting ladies and you are against extra-marital sex which is what Paul, Solomon and David (in Psalms) talk about. But if you sing, Daktari (Esther Wahome), with all the good lyrics but in your video insinuate a romantic or sexual touch when you are singing ‘Jesus touch me’ I will totally disrespect you.

There are different kinds of Christian Music including entertainment songs. I don’t know why many Christians believe that music for entertainment is wrong yet you want do take your family to Masai-Mara. That’s contradictory. When you go to Safari Park hotel, as you eat your nyama choma, you will most likely be watching the Safari Cats. I can guarantee you that the music they are dancing to was not written by a Christian. Why? There are hardly any Christian entertainment songs. I don’t know who started this notion that Christian music should all be worship and adoration? I have heard people say; ‘we don’t sing for entertainment, we sing to worship God’. That statement is wrong and correct at the same time. It is correct because in church, music should never be sang for entertainment (I am not saying that the music should not be entertaining, I am saying that the intention or the goal of the song should not be our entertainment. Entertaining God? Yes? Dancing for Him? Yes? So what is the difference? The difference is in the heart.). That statement is wrong because, there are Christian entertainment songs e.g. the Christian songs sang for the bride during weddings. As much as they are entertainment songs, they also worship God. Everything we do as Christians is an act of worship: whether it’s drawing, construction, marketing, singing, writing etc. Worship is a lifestyle not the songs we sing in church. Even in church, worship is not that song you sing, worship is the intention or motive that is in your heart as you sing that song.  By the way only Christians have a specific type of music meant to purely worship and adore God. This is the music we sing in church or listen to when we want to worship God. Music that is meant for worship and adoration should be totally selfless. And it is. This is the only type of music where we Christians have not gone wrong. I have never heard a worship song that is corrupted by self. That is why I support the control of the behaviour of the any musician on the church pulpit. When worshiping or leading people in worship; there should be minimum distraction to the self, the person leading, or the person worshiping. That is why many churches are strict on the way the worship leaders dress, the way they conduct themselves and the kind of songs they sing. Worship is an act where people go before God and lay down their crowns. This literally means that people do not give attention to who they are and what they have. Church is the only place where the CEO and the Tea lady can sit together because it is the only place where they are doing the same thing and their statuses do not matter. 

Christian music is not only about worship and adoration. There are many things that concern a day to day Christian. He wakes in the morning and takes his children to school...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he goes to work and on his way refuses to pay bribe to a policeman...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he drops his wife at work and kisses her goodbye...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he writes a bad incorrect appraisal letter about his junior whom he doesn’t like much...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he goes home in the evening and has a fight with his wife about their finances...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he tucks his kids in bed and does his personal bible study and while at it realised that he made a mistake at work with the appraisal and makes a note to correct it the following day...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...he apologises to his wife about the fight and they make up...there is nothing wrong with singing about that...there is probably something wrong with singing about what happens next between the man and his wife: but of course, not because sex between a man and his wife is wrong but because it better to leave it discreet as opposed to announcing to the whole world in song. Out of all these 7 song ideas I have stated above, only 1 would qualify to be a worship song: the song that would be written about the bible study he had in the evening. But it would only qualify if the song was about adoring God; otherwise it would just be a Christian song but not a worship song.

Please note: a slow Christian song doesn’t automatically mean a song is worship and not all worship songs are slow. But most are and this is because worship is an emotional experience where you make yourself vulnerable before God and more often than not this happens in sombre moods. Also note that being emotional doesn’t automatically mean that you are worshiping God. A song can be so nice, that you just want to raise your hands. That is an emotional gesture appreciating the beauty of the song whether it’s a Christian song or not. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is wrong to assume that everybody who raises their hands is worshipping. Raising your hand in worship has a completely different meaning; it means total surrender to God.

So do I listen to Secular Music? Yes and No. I do not divide the music I listen to according to gospel and secular. Neither does anyone though we claim that we do. What is secular music? There are 2 definitions. One definition is ‘worldly’, the other definition is ‘anything music that is not Christian music’ which is the commonly but ignorantly used definition. If you say you do not listen to Secular music, you only listen to Gospel music what about Muslim worship music? It’s not gospel neither is it secular (worldly). Its worship just like the Christian worship music, only that it adores Allah not Jehovah God. What do you sing to your sister or child on her birthday? Do you sing ‘God is so good’ or do you sing ‘Happy Birthday’? Happy Birthday is not a Christian song, neither is all  the music used in movie trailers, neither is the music used in news and TV adverts, neither are all the nursery rhymes like ‘humpty dumpty’ and ‘Mary had a little lamb’. All this is not gospel music; and you say you do not listen to secular music! Let me add; all Mozart piano pieces all celebratory songs like ‘Werocome-u’ the kikuyu version of ‘welcome’ sang during weddings.

There are so many types and styles of music which don’t simply fit into gospel or secular. Take Karl Jenkins music for example; say his famous song ‘Adiemus’ redone by Enya; where will you categorize his music?  He cleverly used the human voice as a musical instrument. The song has no lyrics just sounds and instruments. So is it gospel or secular, will you listen to it or not? Does it glorify God or not. It does. It excellent; God upholds diligence, it makes use of high levels of skill, God acknowledges this (He instructed that Bezaleel (Exodus 35:30 and on) to be the one to build the Ark of the Covenant. Not because he was the most faithful church goer, but because he was the most skilled. Whether Karl Jenkins lived an honourable life or not I do not know. All that matters is that the music does not dishonour God and I am not using it to dishonour God e.g. seduce a girl. If you use a Christian song for seduction you are still sinning. If Jesus appeared there He would put off the music. Another example of songs you will not be able to categorize is songs by E.S. Posthumas who are 2 brothers. An example of their music is Nara. An extract of the song Nara is used as the theme song for the TV series Cold Case. Such a beautiful song: I love it when the drums and the violins come in.

And do not tell me that rubbish about spirits in music! The reason I say rubbish is because many Christian leaders use this reasoning because you cannot prove and discredit them. I know that some music is dedicated to divine powers. Christian worship music is specifically dedicated to God who is our Divine Power. Christian worship music is more than just music. People get saved or convicted of something, or uplifted just by listening to worship music. I know I have. Remember, I am talking about Christian worship music not just Christian music.

It works the same way on the flip side. Music dedicated to the devil and spirits is powerful as well. I have heard of rock bands singing songs of sacrificing a maiden and have heard of their fans going ahead and killing a young girl. This kind of music is not just music. I have heard of music that talks about suicide and a fan goes ahead and does it.

But this does not mean that all music has spirits or is dedicated to spirits. If it was so the majority of people not the minority would be affected. Many Christians say that when you listen to music by someone like 50cent, the spirits from him will be transferred to you. First of all where is that in the bible? Second, if that was so, does it mean that every time you board a matatu (public transport van) and 50cent music is playing spirits are transferred to you. Or the spirits only transfer to you when you are listening in your house?

God is the author of all music not Satan. God is the author of everything including sex. The only thing God is not the author of is sin. Nothing comes from the devil. What you do with what you have is what makes the difference between right and wrong. The devil was the chief musician in heaven...He was created by God. God was the source. So there is no such thing as rock is from the devil, hiphop is from the devil. What is from the devil is the sin in that genre of music. If you deleted the devil, rock and hiphop and all the other kinds of ‘sinful music’ would still remain but it would have a positive influence on people instead. Anything a human being does or can do is based on the gift, talent or ability within him. Only God gives abilities and gifts. They say that Jay z and Rihanna are Illuminati and serve the devil and that is why they are so successful. It’s not that simple. These 2 are extremely gifted musicians. Not many people have the vocal capabilities and the unique voice that Rihanna has: Not many people have the creativity and the business guts of Jay z. The only part the devil would come in is by him saying ‘These people have unique abilities that I can use. All I need to do is offer them their wildest dreams’. The devil does not give abilities, he uses what you have. Only God can give abilities. If it were so, all I would need to do to be as rich as Jay z would be to join the Illuminati and so would everybody else and we would have billions of billionaires.

Music is good or bad based on the intention of the singer and the listener (or the one playing the music) and not the lifestyle of the musician or source of the original song as many Christians tend to think. That is why a song extract by Edith Piaf (1935-1963) who lived a life clouded by mystery can be used in News and you will not get demons jumping into your house every time the news comes on; because the intention of the one playing the music (the news guys) was to get a catchy stringy tune. If that was the case there would be spirits every time we sang Blessed Assurance or Amazing Grace and many other hymns because they were coined from tunes of the secular songs of those days. But the intention of the writers e.g. Fanny Crosby and John Newton, were pure and honourable.

The intentions of 50cent Candy Shop song is sex with some girl from the club. If I watch a TV series like CSI and the cops walk into a club to investigate something, chances are that they would play a song like 50cent’s Candy Shop, I don’t have to mute the TV for fear of spirits jumping into the house. The intention of the Script Writer is to emphasize the fact that this is an American club. The song would be played for about 3 seconds, not enough time to listen to it but enough time to hear what type of music it is so that we know what type of club the cops have walked into. The intention of the script writer or the one in charge of music is pure. It would be injustice and mediocre work if just because I’m a Christian script writer I decide to use an extract of Don Moen’s music as the cops walk into the club.  Not only is that a wrong and unprofessional depiction, it’s also an abuse of Don Moen’s music. Don’t get me wrong, if they play the whole of 50cent’s song just as it is, then the intention is different and wrong (against my principles); either to market 50cent or to make us listen to it.

It’s the same case as singing or playing Amazing Grace. As much as the intention of John Newton was pure it doesn’t automatically mean that mine is. I (who has a wife) might be singing it to my secretary Grace and cleverly using the song to tell her how amazing she is. But if a stranger gets into my car at that point, he will not know what is going on between me and Grace and will probably say ‘wow, you guys are such Christians. You don’t mind listening to Amazing Grace in the car. I envy you.’ Yet if Jesus walked into the same car, he would put the music off or punish me for not honouring Him. Note, it’s not John Newton (the author of the song) dishonouring God, neither is it the stranger who got into the car, it is me because of what I was using the song for and Grace as well if she was condoning it.

Why do you listen to this kind of music? Which kind?

I have rode in the car with someone before and they hear me listening to a song like ‘Pearls’ by Sade, also done by India Arie and Angelique Kidjo (I honestly think this song should have been done by a Christian artist) and they ask me why do you listen to this kind of music? I normally take a moment to calm my fit of rage then say ‘listen to it and you tell me why I listen to it’. Honestly people just talk and probably just parrot what their pastor told them without processing it themselves. How do I know this? I will ask someone to give me reasons why they stand by a certain principle and apart from the fact that they were taught so in church, they have no other reason; they can’t even defend it biblically except by the interpretation they were given by their pastor. Don’t get me wrong, I respect my Pastor very much (Pastor Kuchio). He is an honourable man, but I do not take everything he says as the ‘gospel truth’ so to speak unless I, myself am sure that the basis is from the bible and not some twisted interpretation of it. But so far, I have never heard him say anything that goes against the word of God.

The other day I met someone who told me that the story of the five virgins in the bible (Matthew 25) who went to buy oil for their lamps is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and the anointing oil and is the justification why we should buy anointing oil from our Pastor and it actually means that you are buying the Holy Spirit! WHAT! Yup! I know; that was my reaction as well. And the only explanation she could give was the fact that that is what they are taught so in church. I will not name the church because I have not heard it myself. But if I ever hear that pastor actually say that, I will name and shame him. Shame on you! So where do you take the money when the ‘saints’ have bought the holy spirit (intentional use of small caps) with? Do you take it to God so that He can buy his angels moisturizer for their wings? Nonsense!

So, where was I? I was talking about how people parrot their pastors say without confirming whether it is true or not. I remember a pastor saying that Lingala and everything associated with it is satanic. I believed him and probably said that to a couple of my friends only to realise years later that Lingala not just music but is a language and the most commonly spoken in Congo meaning the most common music in Congo whether Christian or secular is Lingala. What a deception? Probably the pastor said it out of ignorance and mostly it was a personal opinion. He did not like Lingala music so he decided that Lingala music is satanic and taught this to his church. That is why I say, these days whether you are Bonke or Joel Osteen everything you teach has to be based directly from the bible and if an interpretation is used it must be beyond a shadow of a doubt accurate.

Do you remember the story of David and his harp in the bible? Every time David played his harp, the evil spirit left King Saul. Why? What tune was he playing? If I found out what tune it was and played exactly what he played to a demon-possessed man would the evil spirit leave him? Is it because David was playing Blues instead of playing Benga? Or is it because he was playing harp and not a bass guitar? NO! It was because of the person he was. Why did they insist on David and not the most talented harp player in the kingdom? I think by now you know what I’m trying to say: it had nothing to do with the type of song, the genre of music, the instrument, the voice or the tune. It had everything to do with David’s heart. David was a humble man who feared God and dedicated his life to Him. He later became the greatest King that ever lived.