If you sing for Jesus Christ and are a worship leader, a chorister, a performing artiste or a recording artiste, see to it that you glorify God and avoid spreading falsehoods in your songs.
Psalm 100:4 commands all worshippers of the Most High to do four things: enter his gates with thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise; be thankful to him; and bless his name.
There is no place for complaining about prayers that are taking too long to be answered, as if God is at fault when hardships of life prolong.
There is no place for self-praise in spiritual songs, whereby a worshipper speaks highly of himself or herself right in the place where God should receive all the glory.
There is no place for such, but this is precisely what today’s generation of worshippers is doing. Many of the songs are unbiblical and self-serving, which is completely unhelpful to those who listen to spiritual music for edification of their souls.
Here are some common but misguided themes in popular Christian songs in Zambia today:
I have prayed and done everything I should do, but now I am tired.
It is true that as mortals, we lose strength when trials drag for long; we lose steam and falter as time goes by.
But instead of complaining, we must continue in the attitude of constant expectation, which is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “pray without ceasing.”
That does not mean labour day and night in prayer for 10 years straight; it means be on the watch in your spirit.
What all believers should do, when strength to wait is gone and it hurts to endure, is to tell Jesus about that struggle in private—not on a song going out to many listeners.
Can you imagine a pastor taking the pulpit and telling the congregation how tired he is of praying because his family is always hungry and always sick and always lacking?
Dear worshipper, if that picture is unacceptable, it is also unacceptable for you to do exactly the same.
God; are you not ashamed that we are suffering like this? Make us different from the people of the world.
The worshipper who tells this to the Most High is bitter and angry, and has difficult personal issues to resolve—again, why bring such things into the open?
None of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament apostles ever addressed God like this; and to speak to God in this way shows that the singer is either not converted genuinely to Christ, or does not read and appreciate the Scriptures.
God is Jehovah El Hakavod; the King of Glory.
He is above space and time; he is above shame and reproach; he is above mortality.
Dear worshipper, you cannot scold God and tell him off—that is blasphemy.
You are insulting your maker!
What you should do is to get back to your life and do thorough self-inspection, self-appraisal and self-searching.
When things persistently go wrong in your life, the fault is with you.
You have left certain doors and windows of sin open in your life, and now devils are dancing to your bitter songs as they ransack your days and nights.
Prove to me that you are God.
Satan tested Jesus Christ with this same temptation by telling him to do certain things “…if you are the son of God…” (Matthew 4:3).
The unfortunate song with this line originates from Nigeria, where someone wanted God to prove himself, and has been adopted by some Zambian worshippers and even congregations.
King Herod in Luke 23:8 is recorded to have wanted to see a miracle from Jesus, so that the Jesus he had heard of (without even trying to attend any of his synagogue services or ministry in other places) could prove himself.
Jesus did nothing when brought before this wicked ruler, and the same Herod who wanted to prove Jesus for himself eventually mocked the King of kings, treated him with contempt and placed on him a royal robe (Luke 23:11).
Dear worshipper, do not make demands on God that are unwarranted and unreasonable.
Who are you that the Ancient of Days should obey you and prove himself to you?
Even though you are so far away, you perform miracles.
The worshipper behind this song is not aware that Jesus is Immanuel, meaning “God with us” according to Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23.
The worshipper is not aware that as the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people (Psalm 125:2), and totally ignorant that Jesus has further said he will be with us always, even to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20).
Dear worshipper, if your objective in ministry is to purvey the idea that God is far from us, then your end goal is to show that there is no truth in everything the Bible says about God.
If you sing like this, you are demonstrating your personal distance from God, and you are saying you have no relationship with him.
How then can your hearers trust wholeheartedly in him?
You forgive us no matter how much we commit sin.
It is true that God does not deal with us according to our sins or sinfulness, but according to his mercy (Psalm 103:10-12 and Psalm 130:3,4).
What we should also recognize is that grace is not a license to live in sin after knowing him as Lord and Saviour (Romans 6:1,2).
If you continue to please and appease the lusts of the flesh, your spirit will die (Romans 8:13).
Several American gospel singers have done their own versions of a song which says, “We fall down, and we get up; a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up.”
That is a misinterpretation of Proverbs 24:16 which says a righteous man will fall seven times and rise again.
That Scripture demonstrates God’s multiplied grace, not the freedom believers have to stray, fall, get bruised and rise up again. And stray, fall, get bruised and rise up again. And stray again.
Firstly, to backslide only once is an unbearable experience which leaves lasting wounds on the believer.
You cannot even contemplate backsliding and falling into sin twice.
Secondly, salvation from sin demands that we make daily choices to live upright; consciously taking responsibility to be self-disciplined.
‘We fall down, and we get up’ is a complete distortion of the fight of faith.
It is as if we can be at ease; after all, even if we fall we will get up.
That attitude has slain many believers in tragic sin.
1 John 5:16 recognizes that there is sin that leads to death; meaning that such a believer will not rise up again.
That is why among US believers, especially celebrity preachers and gospel singers, marriage and divorce and remarriage are rampant.
Dear worshipper, stop encouraging believers to take sin lightly.
I cannot walk because I do not serve a God who walks.
There are certain ideas about living in wealth and health that sound good but are not biblical.
There are certain declarations we believers like to make which will not change anything if our actions contravene what we anticipate.
Wealth and health are biblical; they are blessings for the natural life in the natural world.
Many are the Scriptures for that.
There is nothing wrong with believers seeking to live in comfort.
However, let us recognize that while we are on the earth, there is fortune and the reverse of fortune.
You cannot make material and financial wealth your quest as a believer—those are the things that follow automatically when you live an upright life pleasing to God (Matthew 6:33).
If as a believer you make wealth your vision, you will pierce your soul with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10).
If worshippers will celebrate the grace and mercy of God, the joy should be about him and not posh cars which wear and tear or crash.
Dear worshipper, do not boast in wealth or whatever you possess.
Jesus walked!
Some Gospel music videos are unbelievable because youngsters thanking God for divine favour like posing amidst exquisite high class vehicles that few chief executive officers can afford—has God elevated you to that level before you even experience the grit and grain of life in stages of growth?
Or have you done something mysterious to shortcut your rising up to lofty riches?
We don’t fall anyhow: it is true God wants all his children to stand firm and not fall back into sinful living now and again.
But the problem with this statement is that it was part of a boastful song.
The singer forgot 1 Corinthians 10:12 which says, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
If you stand, it is by the grace and doing of Almighty God.
No believer on earth is able to stand on human strength, no matter what he or she does.
Therefore, that sort of singing is wrong and amiss; and no wonder scores of gospel artists have missed the mark and are singing everything that is not biblical truth.
“We don’t fall anyhow” is drastically opposed to the lyrics of an old hymn which opens by saying, “I am weak, but Thou art strong.”
In all the above examples, human weakness is the real message of the songs.
Fellow worshippers, for once let us make an honest effort to start uplifting only the worthy name of Jehovah El Gibbor, The Mighty and Strong One.
Email: timelegacy2017@gmail.com.