A few years back my family was attending a non-denominatinal church that had a very talented praise band. I knew a lot of the people in the church and had heard good things about it, and I knew these were people who had a genuine love of Jesus. But every time I went in the sanctuary during the praise-music period, I had a very disturbed spirit through out the praise time. The praise tunes were repetitive choruses and a lot of them were right off the contemporary Christian top 20 charts. Doesn’t get much fresher than that, right? As I fasted and prayed over this disconcerting “spritiual interference” I sought the Lord about what it was. Was it a satanic attempt to rob me of the ability to praise by distraction? Was it something regarding someone on the praise team who needed prayer? I prayed for months and it only got worse for me, harder to be present in the sanctuary during that time. So I started looking into Contemporary Christian music in general. Prior to that I had really no exposure or knowledge of occult stufff, but I kept finding online posts which pointed out a trend where occult words and symbols were showing up in so many of the Christian Praise genre of musicians, in their album covers, in their lyrics, even photos of the artists themselves. I don’t spend a lot of time in the car, but when I did I usually kept the radio on the Christian station, and I remember hearing some songs that also gave me that same uncomfortable feeling in my spirit and in my gut. One in particlular was by a female artist. I can’t recall her name now, but I do remember that she is blind. She sang what I guess was meant to be a “love song” to Jesus, but it was sung in that breathy-sensual way that most secular artists use. I do not feel it is appropriate to address our Lord and Savior like an earthly boyfriend you have the hots for, frankly, lol. I jest, as with the song when I heard it, I just sort of remember frowning and thinking, thats just a little wierd to me, and turning it off. But then, maybe it’s not a joking matter after all.
I remember also seeing a video, another female, where the cinematograpy of the video was also very sensual. The song was, I think, called “Trust Me”. The singer is young, blonde, and nothing about her overtly sleezy or anything, but I remember thinking, why is she singing this on a bed, with the fans blowing her hair back and that dream-like quality to the shoot? She also sang in that whispery/breathy way. Another image that comes to mind is a lovely black singer, she is singing about her love for the Lord, but looking very sensual, moving in that sort of slowed-down way (like the video from the Titanic) with hair flowing and long, while swinging on a swing.
Now, this does not sugget that these artists are purposely using sexuality to draw people in, but it is clear to me that at the very least someone who is “handling them” (peripherally involved in production) is capitalizing on that (sexuality) in subtle but distinct ways.
Aren’t Christians supposed to be distinct from the world? Come ye out from among them and be ye separate?
I once loved to listen to Michael W. Smith, and D.C. Talk/Toby Mack. Michael W. Smith’s music often had that same dreamlike quality to it, while D. C. Talk of course had that “funky/quazi-hip-hop” feel. Fun, youthful, fresh is how I would have described them. Not so “stuffed-shirt” and pious like some Christian music, I thought
But over time in my own quest for answers and truth, through church-splits and disillusionments in my own walk with the Lord, I came to the point where I was finally willing to truly examine a lot of what passes for acceptable in modern Christianity, specifically my own. Not settnig out to condemn anyone, just interested in making sure that I myself was on the straight and narrow.
Music is a huge part of life for a lot of people. Whether you have any musical talent of your own, or just a huge appreciation for it, music was created by God to be powerful. Well, here’s the thing about music: Satan was the “anointed cherub that covereth” before his fall. I reblogged Elizabeth Prata’s article on that passage just this morning, which speaks of Satan’s great physical beauty, but it also talks about the musical aspect of the creature Satan: “the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created” The job of the cherub was to give praise to God. (Ezekiel 10:4) So Satan at one time was right there above the throne, apparently having tabrets and pipes as a part of his physical makeup. His job was praise. He was the lead praise guy! Tabrets have to do with percussion, and pipes would be like an organ or flute or wind instrument. So it is safe to say Satan knows a lot about music, it’s original intent, and it’s power.
Music can lift you and carry you away. Some people depend on it like a drug, and can get so lost in it that it carries them into altered states of consciousness, and I believe tht is exactly what about the praise band type music that so disturbs my spirit. We have the ability as humans to enter into these altered states. In fact, in times of trauma and shock, that ability can be life-saving and is God-given. But satan the great manipulator abuses this aspect of our make-up for his own evil purposes just like he uses sexuality and other good things God created for good reasons and purposes.
One of the songs we used to sing in that church was Chris Tomlin’s “In the Secret”.
In the secret, in the quiet place
In the stillness you are there
In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait
Only for you ’cause I want to know you more
I want to know you
I want to hear your voice
I want to know you more
I want to touch you
I want to see your face
I want to know you more
and it goes on to repeat these same words a few times. On the surface, it looks good. We see a man singing about his god with a shameless desire to know him better. But what is the “secret”? What about God is secret? That word concerns me because it is the “Mystics” of this world who are forever talking about secrets. The secret societies, the mythical religions. God doesn’t hide things that way. He makes His ways known. It is all the other religions that require man to “find and work his own way to god” while in Christianity God came down to man and revealed Himself to man, sought man, and performed the act which made reconciliation possible.
In his song “Our God is Greater” Chris Tomlin uses the phrase “rise from the ashes” twice. Again, I am not suggesting that these artists are knowingly using occult symbolism in their music but it is disconcerting to me, as we know songs and all things artistic come to us in the form of “inspiration” to wonder just who is “inspiring” either the artist or their “handlers” and by that I just mean the huge team required to make a recording project, music video or a concert happen.
The concept of “rising from the ashes” comes from ancient Egyptian mythology. What “rises from the ashes” is the soul of the sun God Ra, or Osiris, in the form of a Phoenix bird. It is said to die in a fire of it’s own making, and resurrect itself from its own ashes. In early incidences of apostacy under Greek and Roman influence, it is said that the symbol of the Phoenix was adopted as a symbol of Christianity, however this is the same “christianity” that resulted in the Crusades and martyrdom of many believers under the church of Rome. In other words, false christianity.
Going with the same thread I’ve been on for a couple of days now about deception, I really believe that there are a lot of practices that have been embraced in the mainstream church of today that actually have their roots and origin in pagan religions. That mixture of truth with error which is the little leaven which leaveneth the whole lump.
Here are some examples of this occult stuff in the materials of modern Contemporary Artists most readers of this blog are probably familiar with and may listen to on a regular basis without knowing this questionable stuff is woven in:

This symbol above and below the name “Third Day” is the winged globe or disk. A symbol of the Sun god Ra.
See it here on secular rock band Journey’s album cover for the project aptly named “Evolution”.

Sybmol looks a lot like the Phoenix! Does it not? The Phoenix burns, rises again from the ashes. This is not about resurrection in Jesus Christ, it is the humanistic belief in mans aspirations of attaining godhood and immortality.
What communion hath light with darkenss? Clean with unclean?
Notice that the TriQuetra symbol (slightly altered in center of Third Day’s winged globe) is also present in this Led Zeppelin logo:
The TriQuetra is associated with many gods and goddesses, wicca and paganism. Though it is seen on the front of some Bibles these days, supposedly to signify the Holy Trinity, we have been warned we are not supposed to make a “graven image” to signify God or the Godhead.
This symbol is a rune which stands for the moon god:
A rune is defined as: a magical symbol or spell: a mysterious symbol, inscription, or incantation, especially one with supposed magical power (bing dictionary)
So what are these artists (or their handlers) trying to “invoke” with these “magic symbols” on their albums?
Michael W Smith
Christmastime album
(Michael W Smith is written backwards here)
I have a huge burden in my heart over the unwitting deception many of todays “churched” are subjected to. This doesn’t mean those people are unsaved, but if we operate under false understanding, we cannot be effective servants. That is why the Lord mourns that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”. (Hosea 4:6)
There is a huge movement that is crying out for national repentance, which seems to want to encourage believers to “repent on behalf of others” But until we are willing to be the one placed under the microscope and let Him show us where WE PERSONLLY are wrong (maybe even not realizing it) then we can’t expect anything to change in the church. You are the church. I am the church. It is so easy for me to talk about what is wrong with “the church” these days, but when you admit that the church is only the sum of it’s parts (individual christians) then you have to also realize the only piece of the body you have any ability to bring into subjection and submission, is yourself.
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16 Due to my own experiences and the things I’ve learned through them, I guess you could say I have become somewhat of “purist”. I can’t help but wonder if the church as a whole wouldn’t be much better off if we revisited the “old paths”.
On the subject of National Repentance see this article:
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/05/national-repentance.html
(I took part in the National Day of Prayer and National Repentance which this article talks about)
If you know me from this blog at all, you know that I, like most believers, just want to get it right. I do not mean to offend anyone but I think it is awfully late “in the night” We can’t afford to be anything short of absolutely honest with ourselves, God, and one another.
(I love you LL, not picking on you, this is just what the Lord laid on my heart after I put that question on your post earlier today).
Toby Mac occult symbolism:http://newjerusalemchronicle.blogspot.com/2011/05/toby-mac-and-third-day-more-examples-of.html
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