Giving Praise to God through music

 

Praise ye the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary:
praise him in the firmament of his power.
 Praise him for his mighty acts:
praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet:
praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance:
praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals:
praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.

Praise ye the Lord

Psalm 150

Not long ago a good friend of mine asked me for a worship band or Christian singer I could recommend to her. Before, I would have no problem and quickly mention some Christian singers and  bands that I used to listen to, but now I’m more careful, mainly after finding out some of my favorite music groups, like Jesus Culture and Hillsong ( which recently had the participation of a homosexual couple in leading worship at the Hillsong Church in New York City )  bands that were founded & still are part of churches that are teaching false doctrines and falling into apostasy. For that reason I started to look for good worship bands that not only I could listen to but that I could recommend to others as well.

When we are looking for good Christian music we ask ourselves if it praises the Lord and if it teaches His Word. I found that just as there are many great old hymns that honor God, there are also some contemporary Christian songs that do the same. But sadly, there is a lot of contemporary Christian music that offers God-honoring words, but rather than presenting them to the Lord it becomes more  and more about a performance for the people or about sales.  In such cases, one must question if it honors God or man.

There are many talented musicians these days, but finding righteous music that is spiritually uplifting and acceptable in God’s sight is possible but it is not an easy task, because worship is a matter of the heart & it has to do with the relationship we have with the Lord.

I love instrumental music of both hymns and contemporary Christian music, it is good for playing when bible studying, meditating in the Word of God, quiet times with the Lord, etc. You can find some of them here:

25 Worship songs

Classical Praise

Instrumental with Lyrics

A band I found recently and that plays beautiful music with Lyrics from the book of Psalms is the ‘Sons of Korah’. (Still for some reason I don’t like some of the art work on the covers of their CD’s). But this could be a beautiful way of learning & memorizing the Psalms. I didn’t like the name the ‘Sons of Korah’ because it reminds me of the rebellion of Korah (Numbers 16:1-40). But I found the name of the band comes originally from a group of musicians who were involved in the composition of some Psalms in the Old Testament. e.g. Psalms 42, 44-49, 84-85,87-88.

This blog has a very good article about Christian Music, & what to look for and I think that you may find interesting to read :

As disciples of Christ we need to develop the habit of praying and asking Yahweh to guide us to know whether something is acceptable and pleasing in His sight. …..

One thing we cannot abandon is truth. Some might say, “I like this music. It makes me feel good,” or “I find it interesting and pleasing.” They might object to putting all things to the test of truth. In this hour, an increasing number of Christians are abandoning discernment. They want to get along with everyone, and be the friend of the world. It is unlikely that such individuals will zealously put music to the test, for in an hour of spiritual darkness one must expect that the majority of music tested, like doctrine itself, will prove to be deficient, or tainted by some evil of the enemy.

Nevertheless, Yahweh is seeking a remnant who will place love for Him above all other loves. He desires a people who will put all things to the test to know whether they are approved by Him. If this means you have to throw out the vast majority of the music you have collected over the years, music that may be precious to your soul, or a delight to your flesh, then so be it. Be zealous for God and He will reward you. . . . Pastor Joseph Herrin – Parablesblog

 

NOTE: Update Sept. 25/15

Here you can find some more information about the history of the musical band ‘Sons of Korah’, I found a few things that I don’t like.  As always please exercise discernment & caution, the band is continually changing, as some members leave & some new members enter the band.  Also they can be influenced by the places they visit often or go to perform, some of them are of concern, like for example:  Easterfest, (1) (2), Black Stump, (1), Bethel’s Church, (click preview).  These are not good environments for Christians. The founding members of Sons of Korah are Matthew Jacoby, Jason Coghill and Rod Gear, they are Reformed (Calvinists).  I couldn’t find the Bible version they use for their Psalms, but in this link you will find the  Lyrics for their Psalm 91.

. . . Doing some more research I found this link with the song of Psalm 139  were they have used the New International Version (NIV).

I’m not a King James only, but a Majority Text (Received Text) only. I believe there are good translations of this Majority Text in every language, we have to remember God is a Just God. He wouldn’t preserve a good translation only for the English speaking people & leave the rest of the world with corrupted translations. For example Spanish versions B. Ferrara 1478, Reina-Valera 1569 are older translations than the King James 1611, and all of them use the Majority Text & were printed well before Westcott & Hort made popular the corrupted Minority text from Alexandria Egypt.

Unfortunately the NIV version is not a good translation, like most modern translations it uses the corrupted Minority Text which  attacks the Divinity of Jesus Christ and make other changes. NIV also changes many verses in the Old Testament, including the book of Psalms. The changes are subtle but messes up sound doctrine.

Also found out that the Sons of Korah are ecumenical and are involved in the false teachings of the ecumenical Alpha course. Matt Jacoby has taught at a Catholic University and also he supports existentialist philosopher Soren Kirkegaard

For all the above reasons I don’t feel comfortable recommending the Sons of Korah any longer, & I won’t promote their ministry or buy their CD’s either. I know this is a very personal decision and it will depend on your relationship with the Lord, but it is good to have this information so you can make a decision knowing the facts.

Related Articles:

Testing Music in the Church

Testing Music in the Church – Part 2

Christian Music

Corruption of “Christian Music’

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