Whether in celebration, or in contemplation . . . “feeling” the beat.
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons . . .” (1 Timothy 4:1, Emphasis Mine)
INTRODUCTION
Some time ago, The Christian Science Monitor ran an article titled, “From US churches that are growing, a sound of drums.” The article notes that growing churches are drumming churches. Citing a survey of about 900 congregations conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a nonprofit research group at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, reporter G. Jeffrey MacDonald wrote, “Churches with rising attendance numbers have a lot in common with one another–a lot more than denomination, location, or even theological approach.” According to the survey, “success stories” of growing churches “often involve men, drums, a joyful environment, and a concerted effort not to be too ‘reverent’.” The Hartford report listed four characteristics of growing churches, of which the last two are: “. . . worship [is] ‘slightly to not at all’ reverent”; and “Drums or percussion are always used in worship.” Kirk Hadaway, the survey-report’s author, states, “Such innovations make churches exciting places to be.”[1]
In the context of the “new spirituality” that is sweeping over America’s religious landscape, biblical believers can only ask, what’s really taking place in these drumming churches? As dictated by a drumming beat, religious rock-‘n’-roll has become the centerpiece in the praise and worship of many churches. The universal, but unspoken, language of rock music has become the new “ecumenical liturgy” among churches ranging from liberal-denominational to evangelical-independent.
Apostasy, “A Sign of the Times.” Apostasy ever threatens the church. Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and other New Testament writers warn of it (Matthew 24:4, 11, 24; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1; Jude 4). But in spite of their warning, and because of the compromising day in which we live, it can become easy for us to dismiss issues and activities that we deem peripheral and inconsequential to our worship of, and walk with, the Lord. It was so for King Ahab, who thought it was, “a light (or ‘trivial,’ NASB, NIV, NKJV) thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat” (1 Kings 16:31, KJV, ASV, NRSV; Compare 2 Kings 14:24). Specifically, Jeroboam’s sin involved promoting idolatrous centers of Baal worship throughout Israel.[2] But Ahab and other northern kings treated the worship at the high places as an unimportant issue.
In the same way, some may dismiss this essay concerning drumming worship. But from Ahab’s example, we might learn this: we should not treat casually those sins, or practices, which God takes seriously. Hopefully, we can approach the issue of religious drumming with this attitude. We should know that just because the contemporary church worships God with a beat, its “sacrifice of praise” as it is referred to, does not mean that the Lord accepts it (Amos 5:23).
Test the Spirits. In this context, the apostle John calls upon Christians to be discerning. He wrote: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1a). So just what spirit, or spirits, might a drumming beat invoke? There is evidence linking drumming to spirit worship. Drumming is endemic to shamanist-voodooist religion (i.e., that holy men, or priests, can influence powerful spirits), and pantheist beliefs (i.e., that the material universe is divine). But before attending to matters related to these spiritualities, the background of what the Bible teaches about the transcendent world of spirits, and their relationship to occultism (i.e., a belief that human beings can communicate with mysterious and supernatural spirit-entities), needs to be understood.
Principalities and Powers. An invisible spiritual war rages around us. This planet, and the minds of its inhabitants, is the “turf” over which the war is being fought. Satan is contesting God for control of His creation and His creatures. Against God and his angels, Satan and his demons (i.e., fallen angels) stake their claims (See Daniel 10:12-13, 20.). As the Scripture says, “[O]ur struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
The Forbidden Cult of the Occult. The Bible depicts Satan and his minions to be real and powerful spirit beings who inhabit the occult world (i.e., the supernatural and secret world of mystery, magic, and unseen spiritual entities and forces). It is a world that Christians are absolutely forbidden to have intentional involvement with. As Deuteronomy states: “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord . . .” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12, NASB).
Believers are not only not to be involved with the occult world, but also not to be ignorant of it (See 2 Corinthians 2:12.). This world of the spirits is both anti-God and anti-Christ. As regards its religious context, the relevant question for Christians is, “Whose side is drumming aligned or associated with, Satan’s or God’s?” To answer the question, we must survey evidence which exposes the spiritual darkness surrounding religious drumming.
THE DISTANT SOUND OF DRUMS
Drumming is as old as civilization. As the online encyclopedia Wikipedia states, “Drums are the world’s oldest and most ubiquitous musical instruments . . . The oldest known drums are from 6000 BC.”[3] For thousands of years, the basic design of drums has remained unchanged. Drumming was known in most ancient civilizations, Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Canaanite, to name some. As Mickey Hart, drummer for the former rock group Grateful Dead, observes, “Many cultures have used percussion as a central part of their ritual and religious life.”[4] The instruments were, and are, used for communication purposes, establishing a marching cadence, enhancing activities of spirituality, and so forth. Obviously, drumming can serve innocent, benevolent, and even recreational functions. The issue to be addressed in this writing surrounds the use of drumming music by churches to worship the Holy God.
An Ominous Silence. Having stated this, it should be noted that contrasting to the biblical era’s surrounding cultures and civilizations, the Bible, while referring to other percussive instruments, does not contain the word “drum,” or refer to the practice of drumming.[5] So from a biblical vantage point, drumming becomes a questionable “spiritual” activity. To any argument against adopting drumming worship based upon the Scriptures’ failure to mention the word “drum,” some might accuse that such an omission argues from silence. Surely, one cannot oppose religious drumming for reason that the Bible does not mention the word “drum.” Yet in light of the popularity of drumming in the civilizations and cultures that surrounded ancient Israel and the apostolic church, that silence is deafening! We now proceed to address the relationship of drumming to alterative spiritualities.
DRUMMING AND “NATURE” RELIGION
Shamanism. Shamanism is a prehistoric and Asian religion, dating back thousands of years. According to one source, Shamanism refers to, “Magico-spiritual systems in which an adept enters an altered state of consciousness and travels to nonworldly realities in order to heal, divine, communicate with the spirits of the dead, and perform other supernatural feats.”[6] A Shaman is a priest who is especially adept at calling forth and engaging spirits for psycho-spiritual and healing purposes. The climax of the shamanistic experience is that of “the trance,” a state of soul when the Shaman contacts the spirit world. At some moment, a supernatural entity may enter and “possess” the priest.
In addition to singing, dancing, taking drugs, and meditating to induce states of trance, or possession, shamanism employs drumming. As one source states, “Drumming is said to help put your consciousness into a meditative state, opening you up to the spirit world.”[7] A dictionary of alternative spiritualities states, “The ability to enter the shamanic state at will is essential to shamanism. Techniques for doing so include drumming, rattling, chanting, dancing . . . Some societies employ psychedelic drugs for this purpose . . .”[8] In line with the shamanistic motif, Mickey Hart concurs. He writes: “The drummer is an inspirer, a leader, and a prophet. The blow of the drumstick translates itself not merely into sound, but into a spiritual reverberation. The excitement we feel when we hear the drumbeat tells us this is the skeleton key that opens the door into the realm of the spirit.”[9]
Can it be asked whether, or not, drumming-worship in churches might be, or become, a “skeleton key opening the door to the spirits”? If the remotest possibility lies therein, then, because of its association with nature religions like Shamanism, drumming becomes a suspicious “spiritual” activity.
Voodoo. Though sharing similarities with Shamanism, Voodoo is an African-animistic religion transported to this hemisphere during the infamous slaving era. From Haiti, and other Caribbean islands, Voodoo leapfrogged via Cuba to the American mainland, finding entry at the port of New Orleans. Voodoo religion continues to flourish in that city, and has spread to other major metropolitan areas in the United States as well. But just what is Voodoo?
Mention Voodoo to the average westerner, and images of creepy looking dolls, with pins sticking into them, come to mind. According to this stereotype, Voodoo is primarily engaged in for the purpose of harnessing malevolent spirit-powers by which devotees can curse and harm their enemies. But the impression that Voodoo is primarily black magic is mistaken. Voodoo is more sophisticated than dolls with pins sticking into them.
Syncretism and Spirits. As a religion, Voodoo is known as a, “syncretic religion based on ancient African rites and Catholicism.”[10] Voodoo spirituality readily adapted to the Haitian brand of Roman Catholicism because, “Despite their difference, Voodoo and its African derived sister religions share a core of tolerance, for they do not believe that theirs is the only true faith.”[11] Central to Voodoo are the twin religious values of pluralism and syncretism. But, Voodoo possesses more than a tendency to value and merge with other religious faiths.
Voodoo comes from the African word “vodu,” meaning spirit. Dr. Wade Davis, author of a definitive study of Voodoo, The Serpent and the Rainbow, relates that spirit possession, the mystical moment when devotees directly receive spirits into their bodies, is the defining tenet of voodooist belief. Davis quotes a Haitian saying, “You white people go to church and speak about God. We dance in the temple and become god.”[12] At the moment when the spirit takes over the voice and body of a person, then other members of the congregation, when they talk to that person, believe they are conversing directly with the spirit. As such, Voodoo and Shamanism share something in common: both religions seek contact with and possession by supernatural spirits. The question thus becomes, what means can be employed to initiate contact with, or possession by, the spirits?
Drugs, Dancing, Drumming, and Demons. Besides drugs, extracted from natural plants indigenous to Haiti and other Caribbean islands, Voodoo worshippers employ dancing and drumming to invoke the spirits.[13] “Voodoo can boast no cathedrals like Catholicism, no Torah like Judaism, no Koran like Islam,” states the narrator of the DVD Voodoo Secrets. “Instead,” he continues, “the crowning achievement of Voodoo is the mystical grandeur of its rituals which both summon and celebrate the gods. In each Voodoo ceremony . . . drums serve as a potent force to attract the deities.”[14] About Voodoo drumming, Davis observes: “There is always a battery of drums. Of course, each one of the drums is a separate rhythm and a separate invocation. It’s almost like a spiritual telegraph to the spirits and calling them forth to bless us with their presence.”[15] The narrator of Voodoo Secrets concludes, “Voodoo drums are considered by believers to be sacred objects possessing such enormous power that only the initiated are permitted to touch them. As the drums cast their rhythmic spell on the dancers, they summon the gods.”[16] But nature worship can assume a more sophisticated disguise.
“Unclean!” Based upon 2 Corinthians 6:14-17a, and for reason of the activity’s association with Shamanism and Voodoo, an apostolic prohibition against religious drumming can be constructed as follows: First, in Ephesians 6:12, Paul links demons to “darkness” (“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” KJV). Unclean spirits arise from spiritual “darkness” that is implacably hostile to the kingdom of God’s light (2 Corinthians 4:3-6). Therefore, the apostle asks, “what fellowship has light with darkness?” (v. 14b). Presumably, the answer is, none. Second, according to Jewish intertestamental literature, the name “Belial” (i.e., “worthless”) stands for the devil. Christ has no “harmony . . . with Belial” (v.15). And neither should Christians. Third, in the Gospels, the word “unclean” describes “unclean” spirits like those Jesus exorcised out of people (Matthew 12:43; Mark 1:23; Luke 9:42). Thus, the word (Greek, akathartos) is “possessed” by a connection to the world of spirits. And Paul commands, “And do not touch what is unclean” (v. 17b). Thus, for reason of being connected to darkness, to the devil, and to demons, drumming worship becomes a “shady” activity for reasons that light can have no fellowship with occult darkness, Christ can have no agreement with Belial, and believers are not to touch the “unclean thing.”
To “play” it safe, and not take any chance of inviting foreign spirits into their midst, churches ought to separate themselves from the darkness which surrounds religious drumming. We should remember Lucifer. When he was cast out of heaven for all of his “I willing,” “the pomp and music of [his] harps” were thrown out with him (Isaiah 14:11). Because of it being cast out with him, might it not be legitimately assumed that one means the devil will use to initiate and perpetuate his deception is “his” music? To initiate the trickery, Satan’s music will ever attempt to shift people’s attention off from God and unto themselves. The adversary cannot stand it when, in spirit and in truth, God’s people walk with and worship Him in the light (1 John 1:5-7).
The “New” Spirituality. The “Hippie” culture’s New Age beliefs of the 1960s and 1970s, have not died, but are now being openly peddled as the New Spirituality. In his book, The Making of the New Spirituality, The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition, Professor James A. Herrick remarks concerning the “dozens of writers and media celebrities who have helped to shape and popularize a medley of religious ideas” which he refers to as, “the New Religious Synthesis.”[17] In order to understand the relationship of “the new religious synthesis” to drumming, we must note that like Voodoo, this spirituality’s beliefs and practices are eclectic and syncretic.
Pantheism. At the base of this new spirituality lays the monistic assumption that God, and the universe, are one and the same thing. This spiritual worldview is pantheism. Pantheism is a word consisting of the preface “pan,” meaning all, and “theism,” meaning belief about God. When combined, the resultant meaning is, “God is all.” To pantheists, god and the universe equal each other. In pantheism, god minus the universe equals nothing. In other words, if the material universe did not exist, god would not exist.
On the other hand, the Judeo-Christian faith emphatically teaches that God minus the universe equals God! The holy God is personal and separate from His creation. As the Creator, He existed before time. As the Holy One, He is separate from matter and space. God is not identical to His material creation (See Genesis 1:1-31.). God is not the mosquito that bites me on a camping trip. God is not in the big landscape rock that decorates my neighbor’s front yard. For Christians to remain Christian, it must never be said of them that, “they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature [or, creation] rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 1:25; See verses 18-25.).
The Source and The Force At some point after the 1960s, the “Good Vibrations” of the Beach Boys became the “god-vibrations” of New Age religion. Though there are various, and sometimes conflicting, tenets of the New Spirituality of the New Age, one pantheistic assumption views energy to be divinity. Such pantheism holds that everything derives from a single “Source” of energy. Star Wars fans understand this New Age divinity to be The Force.
“The Beat Goes On,” Ad Infinitum. “Do you believe that God is a universal force” asks the pantheist, “that God is not personal, but energy found in all things?” As a New Age believer states, “Modern science has proven what the Eastern mystics knew all along that everything is energy at varying rates of vibration.”[18] Note this religious concept: at the heart of the pantheistic worldview is a belief that the essence of the universe is vibrating energy. This energy-pulse, this sacred animation that new spiritualists reverence, exhibits itself in everything from the beating of a human heart to the bouncing of electrons off of atoms.
Feeling “The Force.” According to the presupposition that energy is divinity, a goal of spirituality becomes that of inducing a consciousness of being synchronized with the cadence of the cosmos. Such a motif may help us to understand why novelist D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) once explained, “My great religion is a belief in the blood, as the flesh being wiser than the intellect. We can go wrong in our minds, but what our blood feels and believes and says, is always true.”[19] The New Spirituality suggests that, “On a practical, mundane level, spirituality is an awareness and appreciation of the energy or life force which moves us–yes, spirit!”[20] An advocate of the New Spirituality recommends that, “We can consciously become sensitive to our own energy fields, and we can manipulate this energy to increase our sense of pleasure and enhance our spirituality.”[21] Thus, a question becomes, how can people manipulate this energy-divinity, this god, to work in their favor?
Oneness Consciousness. One of the mechanisms (some others being meditating, chanting, dancing, taking drugs, etc.) by which it is believed that energies and entities can be manipulated is drumming, an activity practiced amongst animist-spiritist-pantheist religions. William Burroughs recommends that attending a rock concert, which he calls a rite “involving the evocation and transmutation of energy,” may even get energy to play in one’s favor.[22] In a parody referring to the Genesis creation account, Mickey Hart offers his explanation about how drumming can reach out and touch The Force:
“. . . fifteen or twenty billion years ago the blank page of the universe explodes and the beat began, since what emerged from that thick soup of neutrinos and photons were rhythmic pulses vibrating through empty space, keying the formation of galaxies, solar systems, planets, us. It is possible, however, that in the metaphorical and mathematical concept of the big bang we are unwittingly brushing against a larger truth. Hindus believe there is a seed sound at the heart of creation, the Nada; a passage in the Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the essence of reality as ‘reverberating like a thousand distant thunders.’ In the beginning was noise. And noise begat rhythm. And rhythm begat everything else. This is the kind of cosmology a drummer can live with.”[23]
Drumming: An Old Spirituality in the New Age. Derived from mystical-eastern religion, pantheistic spirituality is asserting itself in the American religious culture, and sad to say, is emerging within, and establishing itself in, the church. Alternative spiritualities are driving some congregations. In conjunction with other meditative practices, one means whereby the new spirituality is asserting itself, whether in celebration or in contemplation, is through the ancient religious rite, or practice, of drumming. The new spiritualists attempt to stimulate their consciousness of the pulsating god within via a sacrament of drumming. Drumming, it is believed, will facilitate a people’s experience of feeling oneness with nature, of getting into sync with vibrations that exist within and around them.
To experience this “synergy of energy,” devotees employ drum circles (i.e., while holding drums, people form a circle and beat them together). As described by Mickey Hart, “The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.[24] Elsewhere, Hart notes: “Everywhere you look on the planet people are using drums to alter consciousness.”[25]
Members of one Episcopal church describe their consciousness changed by forming drum circles:
“It’s a contemplative tradition. It speaks directly to the intelligence of the body. / It’s really a very ancient form of expression. You move out of your head. / Your inhibition moves away. Have you ever seen a group of people who can’t sing, sing drunk? / Fun was the most pervasive description. One person said it was a spiritual experience. / There’s an interesting meditative quality . . . Once the music starts spreading through the room, you don’t have a chance to have your head full of other stuff. / The idea . . . is learning to find yourself in the music. People talk about altered states. I think the one we walk around in is altered. I think wonder is the original state.”[26]
When so practiced, whether wittingly or unwittingly, and based upon a pantheistic worldview, drum circles can be linked to shamanistic nature worship. One leader remarks that a drum circle, “takes the discordant pieces and leads the group into an amazingly alluring beat. Listen for a few minutes and you understand why shamans use drums to lure themselves into trances.”[27] It can also be observed that, to compliment the “good vibrations” generated by drumming, worshippers may chant and dance.
Warren Smith, a former seeker after and practitioner of New Age eastern-mysticism, graphically describes his experience with drumming:
“After talking for an hour or so about Rajneesh and India and the challenges of seeking truth, Dharmanada said it was time for meditation. He led us . . . to the meditation room. He said we would be doing one of the Rajneesh meditations from India specifically designed to wear down and eventually relax the Western mind. He described the stages of meditation, which blended vigorous physical activity with stillness and silence. He said we would all wear blindfolds to enhance the process of going within and that a special tape [i.e., recording] would lead us through the various stages of the meditation. He made it clear that the essential purpose of the meditation was to learn to let go.
“The lights went out. The blindfolds went on. Suddenly I was moving and shaking to the staccato beat of Indian drums. I twisted and turned and gyrated amidst the grunts and groans of the others in the room. For a moment the apparent insanity of what I was doing hit me head-on. Here I was, with people I had known a little more than an hour, in a dark room with a blindfold on, shaking and swaying madly to this frantic Indian music. It seemed utterly absurd.
“But those thoughts quickly subsided as my body seemed to take off on its own, rocking and reverberating and responding to the chaotic rhythms. I could feel myself fully entering into the meditation, and my involvement continued throughout the various stages so that by the time we reached the climactic period of silence, I was so completely relaxed that the line separating me from the meditation was gone. In that moment, I realized that the meditation and I had become mysteriously one. . . . an understanding that my divine connection was really present.”[28]
Upon completing the drumming-meditation exercise, Smith introspectively relates, “. . . I had to smile as I thought about the evening. I recognized that it was the stuff ‘Saturday Night Live’ was made of, but I knew that what I was doing was helping me. And besides, no one had told me that spiritual life could be so exciting and fun.”[29]
From Ecstasy to Agony. By their own exertion, and assisted by the mechanism of drumming, the new spiritualists attempt to experience the energy within them coalesce with the energy around them (i.e., with other persons, the immediate environment, and, ultimately, the universe). If attained, this felt union with nature is considered being in an enlightened state of “at-one-ment,” in which state the new spiritualists suppose themselves to have been absorbed into God. Facilitated by drumming, this union is the ultimate goal of mystical-religious experience. Such religion, it must be noted, originates from works, from the immanent world below, and not from grace, from the transcendent world above.
However, nature is not as the new spiritualists might presume. According to the Bible, and as both our and their experience attests (i.e., pain, suffering, disasters, and death), our universe exists in a fallen state (See Genesis 3:17-18.). As the apostle Paul explained, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now” (Romans 8:20-22). Because nature exists in a less than perfect state, attempts to experience ecstatic union with it are destined for futility and failure. If nature is god, then that god is evil.
There’s A New World Coming. That’s why Christian-theism invites people to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who comes from above, and not from below (See Romans 10:6-8). As Jesus told the Jews, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23; Compare John 3:31). One day, as Peter states, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up . . . [and] according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10, 13). In its present state, nature is destined for destruction.
Biblical Christianity originates from above, not from below. As such, the essence of the Christian faith primarily rests upon truth, not experience. Even the “experience of faith” is graciously bestowed upon believers by the Holy Spirit who comes from above and from outside us. As Jesus said of the new birth, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, KJV). To be “born again” is to be “born from above,” not from below. Our experience of the Holy Spirit does not originate from earth, but “from heaven” (Acts 2:2).
Gnosis Versus Logos. The contest between the nature spiritualities and the spirituality that comes from God, is between opposite and contradictory systems of faith that literally, are worlds apart. Should I believe in my senses, of what my blood feels, or in God’s revealed truth, in what comes from above, and in what stands written. This contest between man’s sensuality (i.e., human gnosis) and God’s revelation (i.e., divine Logos) is currently being played out not only in our media oriented culture, but also among professing Christians and churches. One of the titillating toys being employed to worship God is sensual music “possessed” by an overriding rhythm and drumming beat (Compare 2 Peter 2:18-19; See Ezekiel 33:32). We should note that music, invented by men and for men, comes to Yahweh’s ears as so much noise!
AMOS AND MUSIC
In Amos’ day, the music employed in Israel and Samaria to worship Yahweh signaled the nation’s departure from the faith. Thinking themselves to be immune from God’s judgment, Amos pictures the people as longing for “the day of the Lord” (Amos 5:18). They thought they were behaving and worshipping brilliantly. But the very things by which Israel sought to satisfy God became the object of His exceeding displeasure. Says the Lord, “I hate . . . I do [not] delight . . . I will not accept . . . I will not even look . . . Take away from Me the noise of your songs . . . I will not even listen to the sound of your harps” (Amos 5:21-23). Yahweh rejected both the spirit in and the sound with which the apostates offered their music to Him.
The first person verbs “reiterate” Yahweh’s “nauseated disgust and vehement rejection” of Israel’s celebrations (v. 21), sacrifices (v. 22), and praises (v. 23).[30] Through the prophet Amos, the Lord denounced Israel by announcing two “woes” upon the nation (“Woe,” Amos 5:18-25; and “Woe,” Amos 6:1-14). In both “woe” sections, the Lord rejects the apostates’ music (See Amos 5:23 and 6:5).
The Lord’s First “Woe.” In the first woe section, the Lord says, “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps” (Amos 5:23). The word, uniformly translated “noise” (Hebrew, hamon), derives from a root (Hebrew, hama) meaning to “growl, howl, be in turmoil, moan, thrill, yearn, beat wildly, thunder, etc.”[31] The word can easily describe a cacophony of sound in which a drumming and pulsating beat stimulates physical-emotional excesses in a crowd of excited participants. Manufactured by congregations and masquerading as “worship,” such sounds come to Yahweh’s ears as so much annoying noise. It should be noted that the Lord designates the music as “your songs” as accompanied by “your harps”. The music was for them, not Him. It was theirs, not His. Of their music, E.B. Pusey (1800-1882) commented, “Their melody, like much church-music, was for itself, and ended in itself. Let Christian chanters learn hence, not to set the whole devotion of Psalmody in a good voice, subtlety of modulation and rapid intonation . . . quavering like birds, to tickle the ears of the curious, [to] take them off to themselves . . . How many are loud in voice, dumb in heart!”[30] As another commentary summarizes, “Their self-pleasing religion . . . opened the door to a self-made religion.”[33]
The Lord’s Second “Woe.” In the second woe section, Amos describes those who, in their partying, “improvise to the sound of the harp, and like David have composed songs for themselves” (Amos 6:5). The verb “who improvise” (Hebrew, hapartim) is rare. The KJV translates it “chant.” Other versions translate it as “strum” (NIV); “sing idly” (NKJV); or “sing idle songs” (NRSV, ASV). The noun form of the word can refer to fallen or scattered grapes (Leviticus 19:10).[34] Like wasted fruit, the idea of scattered, repeated, chanted, improvised, and indiscriminate musical lyrics is suggested.
The Samaritans also invented new instruments. The word “harp” (Hebrew, nebel) derives from a root meaning “fool” or “senseless.” Translated by other versions as “viol” (KJV) or “stringed instruments” (NKJV), “harp” (NASB) can also, in its noun form, refer to skin storage bottles indicating that the musical improvisation may also have involved drumming.[35] Old Testament scholar David Hubbard observed that the instruments “(lit., ‘implements of song’) were probably stringed and percussive instruments that could be developed in almost endless varieties . . . to accompany riotous singing.”[36] As Laetsch commented of the apostates, “The better such noisemakers suited the intention of their inventors, to affect the nerves, create excitement, stir up passions, the higher was the inventor honored.”[37] Like the Samaritans, does the contemporary church’s manufacture of a feel-good and party-like atmosphere divert people’s attention from considering the subject of God’s wrath and judgment?
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) noted that drumming worship may distract Christians from true spirituality. He cautioned, “We’re so determined we want to be happy” he said, “that if we can’t be happy by the Holy Ghost we’ll drum up our happiness. Religious ‘Rock and Rollers’! We’re going to get happy somehow [even] if we’ve got to beat it up with a tom-tom.”[38]
Amos and the “E-crowd.” The spiritual condition of evangelicalism may be compared to ancient Israel. Bored believers are constantly seeking excitements to excite them. They exchange spirituality for sensuality. Surveys of today’s evangelicals indicate that there is no difference of lifestyle between those who claim to be “born again” and the un-churched. The “E-crowd”[39] is just as likely “. . . to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal, nonprescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person’s back.”[40] The researchers conclude by stating, “If these groups of people were in two separate rooms, and you were asked to determine, based on their lifestyles alone, which room contained the Christians, you would be hard-pressed to find much difference.”[41]
From “E” to “F”? The people of the prophet’s day were like the “E-crowd” of today, and it was into such a context that Amos announced the “woes” upon the people. The Samaritans might be compared to a student who thought he had written a brilliant term paper, only to be shocked by finding out he had flunked, or the worker who presumed his work excelled, only to be informed he had been fired.[42] All the music-loving-pleasure-seeking apostates wanted to do was party. But the Lord’s prophet told them, “Woe, the party’s over!”
CAN MUSIC BECOME A “MEDIUM”?
Mediums serve as conduits to the spirit world. In the previous generation, Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) and Jeane Dixon (1918-1997) were two of the more popular psychic-spiritualists. Today, Sylvia Browne (1936- ) and John Edward (1969- ) are well-known mediums. Can rock music serve as a musical mechanism by which to inspire altered states of consciousness in people? From observing the average rock concert, one must conclude, as they see participants behaving “out-of-themselves” so to speak, that certain music can, and does, stimulate loss of inhibition. Whether such loss qualifies as an altered state of consciousness . . . well, you be the judge.
Consider this statement by Mickey Hart: “I think of the musician’s job as that of a psychopomp, someone who conducts spirits or souls to the other world. . . . Grateful Dead was a ferryman, a conduit, a bridge to the spirit world, and the band provided a musical experience that offered safe passage to the other side. It [i.e., the band] was kind, dependable, and trusted for this task [i.e., conducting the concert goers to the spirit world]. . . . Acoustic alchemy was necessary for the successful completion of the round trip.”[43]
Suffice it to say, the Christian believer is to have no intentional contact with the occult world of the spirits (Deuteronomy 18:9-13). James calls upon believers to, “Submit . . . to God,” and “Resist the devil . . .” (James 4:7). Peter orders believers, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith . . .” (1 Peter 5:8-9a). Paul exhorts believers to, “to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). Could rock-‘n’-roll music be one of the devil’s tricks, or “schemes”, by which he introduces deception into the church?
One of the two methods, the other being intimidation, Satan employs to defeat God’s children is deception. Of the evil devil Jesus said, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him . . . for he is a liar, and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Voodoo and Rock. As the current culture plays itself out in the church, there is evidence that rock-‘n’-roll music is one medium the devil can use to introduce spiritual deception into the church. On the DVD Voodoo Secrets, the narrator comments: “Surprisingly, scholars suggest that Voodoo has sparked another distinctive form of musical expression, which has flourished in the United States.”[44] Then, identifying that music, Dr. Wade Davis asks, “Where do you think rock-‘n’-roll comes from? You mean it comes from the Puritans? Forget it. Rock-‘n’-roll came out of Voodoo. It came out of a movement. It came out of the great serpent gods slithering across the stones. That’s where rock-‘n’-roll comes from. And that’s one of the great expressions of American culture.”[45] There we have it! According to Dr. Davis, the dominant-drumming musical expression in our culture, an expression that has gained entry into naïve and undiscerning contemporary churches, originated out of Voodoo.
Complimenting Davis, Neil Young, American songwriter and guitarist, states: “Rock ‘n’ roll is like a drug. . . . When you’re singing and playing rock ‘n’ roll, you’re on the leading edge of yourself. You’re tryin’ to vibrate, tryin’ to make something happen. It’s like there’s something’ alive and exposed.”[46] For reason of its association with Voodoo religion, it appears rock music has become a “ferryman” for spiritual deception in the church. But, you might ask, how?
“Non-think”. If only fleetingly, and as indicated by David’s playing for Saul, music possesses power to soothe the soul. Although David’s music did not drive the haunting spirit away from Saul, it temporarily relieved the king its affliction (1 Samuel 16:14-23; 18:10; 19:9). Hart estimates that, “Music is a miracle, transforming consciousness, taking the mind and spirit to places unknown.”[47]
Because it is what it is, and for reason of its intrinsic emotional appeal, music delivers feel to the soul. But feeling can easily distract people from thinking. As Professor Alan Bloom observed, music is alogon, “without articulate speech or reason.”[48] Then if Christians are distracted from thinking, they will be distracted from teaching (i.e., the doctrines of the Bible). If in our lives and worship we give a disproportionate amount of time to music, especially to the wrong kind of music, we become “feelers” rather than “learners,” and such imbalance could prove idolatrous. As Bloom goes on to state, “Out of the music emerge the gods that suit it . . .”[49]
It may be admitted that our culture has increasingly become “touchy-touchy” and “feely-feely.” Rational souls must sit back and ask, how, and why, has the culture morphed into this emotional state? Is it because of the overwhelming status and disproportionate role that music occupies? And now the culture is driving the church. People come to church services demanding music to tweak their emotions. Wag the dog . . .
From Distraction to Deception. For reason of its powerful effect upon the human soul and in our culture, music is big business, both outside and inside the church. Bloom called “the record-company executives, the new robber barons, who mine gold out of rock.”[50] If, as Bloom suggests, secular producers of rock music may be called the “new robber barons,” might it too be considered that producers of so-called Christian rock are the “new money changers”? (See Matthew 21:12-13).
Relevant to Bloom’s observation and my question, one should note the disproportionate emphasis contemporary evangelical churches place upon music, and their corresponding failure to engage their parishioners’ intellect. Certain pastors even publicly and boldly derogate teaching Bible doctrines. Yet survey after survey indicates that increasing numbers of professing born-again Christians do not know what they believe, or why they believe it. Could this be because, as a “medium,” the music has eclipsed the message? If the contemporary church’s emphasis upon music has contributed to the decline of the knowledge of truth and morals among the “E-crowd,” then this distraction has opened the church up to deception, “to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). If people do not believe truth, they will believe lies. If people do not believe in something, they will believe in anything, or as in pantheism, they will believe in everything. Whenever they believe “whatever,” Christians will have succumbed to Satan’s scheme. If allowed to express the issue in the style of Elijah the Prophet (1 Kings 18:27), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:7), Paul the Apostle (Galatians 5:12), or even Jesus the Christ (Mark 7:18-19), can it be stated that, “We Christians stink when we don’t think”?
“Pot” Goes the Music. From CD displays, to listening stations, to sounds of it being “piped” in over a loud speaker, one cannot walk into Christian book stores these days without observing how music has superseded almost everything else. As to this eclipsing effect upon the church, we must note the ignorance of contemporary Christians about the New Testament faith’s teachings, and correspondingly, their growing interest in alternative spiritualities. To understand this predicament–a declining interest in a cognitive faith on the one hand and the fledging interest in an intuitive faith on the other–the following analogy may be helpful.
We bored Americans, and unfortunately, we evangelical Christians, are possessed by many gluttonous addictions–food, pleasure, sports, parties, alcohol, drugs, and so forth. And do we dare add music, and the new spiritualities, to this mix? In the addictive process of spiritual feeding by emotional feeling, we might look at the contemporary church’s infatuation with drumming music and ask these questions: Is drumming music like an “entry level” narcotic which entices people to seek greater mystical-spiritual experiences? Can such music lead Christians to crave experiences to provide them with greater experiential euphoria and emotional catharsis? Have certain types of church music stimulated an emotional habit that some religious souls have become desperate to feed? Did the “E-crowd” just get up one morning and determine, “I’ll think I’ll snort mystical cocaine.” No.
First, the church became addicted to spiritual “highs” manufactured by drumming music, feeling the beat, so to speak. Like the surrounding culture, the church then became spiritually mesmerized, even anesthetized, by its addiction to religious rock-‘n’-roll, to deception’s drumming beat. But now spiritual feelings, artificially and superficially generated by such music, no longer satisfy. So to feed their growing habit, evangelicals hotly pursue the alternative spiritualities of medieval-Christian and Hindu-Buddhist mysticism to add to their religious repertoire.
Looking at the present demise of the Christian mind from a cause-effect perspective, the church has, I believe, entered a spiritual stupor of contemplative mysticism by smoking “the pot” of drumming music. Continued smoking has messed with the evangelical brain. Generally, I find it ironic that some discerning believers are attacking the heroine trade (i.e., the contemplative spirituality of emergent Christianity), but have paid no attention the musical marijuana that has caused naive Christians to crave greater spiritual experiences. Because they are not content, nor do they feel complete in Christ, emergent evangelicals are desperately grasping for contemplative straws.
The “Tomatis Effect” Dr. Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001), a French ears-nose-throat specialist, theorized that certain types of music, most notably the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), help the brain to attain its optimal function. “The Mozart effect is a theory that listening to Mozart’s music can enhance intellect,” and can aid in healing mental problems such as depression, autism, dyslexia, and attention deficit disorder (ADD).[51] Research on the “Mozart effect,” as it is popularly known, is ongoing. But in general, the theory postulates that good music, like that of Mozart, assists in “brain gain,” an increase in one’s overall mental faculties, while bad music, like rock and rap, leads to “brain drain,” a decrease in one’s overall mental functioning. Though this connection between music and intellect is presently theoretical and being researched, one can only wonder whether, or not, the entertaining music employed by a majority of contemporary churches has contributed to the doctrinal malaise in evangelicalism, a state we might refer to as doctrinal deficit disorder (DDD). At this juncture, the linkage can only be postulated. It has not been proved. But the rise of certain types of music and the corresponding decline of doctrinal preaching and understanding in contemporary evangelicalism should be noted. Paul exhorts believers they are to cast “down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5, KJV).
CONCLUSION
Upon visiting churches married to the contemporary way of doing church, one can see that the drum set occupies center-stage. But as has been documented, non-Christian sources connect religious drumming to spiritist-pantheist religion. In addition to drugs and dancing, Shamanism and Voodooism employ drumming as a mechanism for invoking states of trance and spirit possession. The New Spirituality also employs drumming as a means to effect altered states of consciousness, experiences of feeling in union with the nature-god. Being opposite to estrangement, this mystical consciousness is known as “at-one-ment.”
Like the ancient Canaanite cult of Baal, these religions and the New Spirituality worship nature, the impersonal god, or gods, below. The idolatry of the Israelites was that they attempted to combine the worship of Yahweh with the pantheism and polytheism of Baalism. As such, Israel’s religious focus came to be upon nature, not grace. As one commentator observed of Israel’s religionists, “[They were] so secure . . . that the only sacrifice which they did not offer, was the sin or trespass offering. Worshipping ‘nature,’ not a holy, Personal, God, they had no sense of unholiness, for which to plead the Atoning Sacrifice to come.”[52] In short, the nation had substituted what seemingly worked below for the One who gives from above. Like religious moderns, the people sought “at-one-ment,” not atonement.
A Trail of “The Musical Grail.” As indicated in the title of Mickey Hart’s book, there is a relation between sound and spirit. Evidence cited in this paper suggests that religions, both animist and pantheist, employ drumming to invoke spirits and inspire feelings of oneness with nature. Hart, himself a drummer, comments that his musical research led him to various “epiphanies” or truths which, in their aggregate, he calls a sort of musical “grail,” or key to unlock the mystery of music’s effect upon the human soul. To him this “grail,” or series of explanations about the influence of music upon the heart, reveals “the connection of music and trance.”[53] The great issue before Christians today is whether or not, given drumming music’s connection to the world of the occult, churches should employ such music in their so called “celebration of God.”
Inviting Spirits. For reason of its association with spiritist religion, acts of drumming are so tainted as to be categorized as “unclean,” and therefore unacceptable for worshipping Almighty God (See Zechariah 13:1-5a; Matthew 12:43; Mark 1:23; Luke 9:42; etc.). Congregations that employ drumming worship may discover that one unintended consequence of the music might be the invocation of evil spirits.[54] If there is a certain type of music that distracts evil spirits from people, as when David’s music drove the “evil spirit” away from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-23), then might there not also be a type of sound that attracts evil spirits to people? Seemingly there is. According to Shamans and Voodooists, it’s the sound of drumming. For reason of its association with animist and pantheist-mystic spirituality, acts of man-centered drumming are sufficiently tainted so as to be categorized as “unclean,” and therefore unacceptable for worshipping Almighty God. Because of the connection between drumming and spiritualism, then as they employ drumming rock-‘n’-roll in their worship services, Christian churches may not only be making their celebrations more entertaining and exciting (i.e., catering to the flesh), but also creating an ambience of sound which invites visitation by the spirits. And those entities which come among them could eventually dwell in them. Whether in Shamanism, Voodoo, the New Spirituality, or the contemporary church, the idolatrous and occult practice of religious drumming the flesh within and the gods below.
In this pastor’s view, for reason of its association with spiritist and pantheist religion below, drumming music should not be employed to worship or celebrate the Holy God above. Such sensations of sound, such as those employed by Shamanism and Voodooism, invoke the presence of and possible possession by evil spirits. But in their worship, Christian believers are to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18-19). Therefore, Christians should not engage drumming music that excites their flesh and/or invites evil spirits (Galatians 5:16, 24). As Paul ordered, “But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). As John counseled, “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good” (3 John 11).
Pastor Larry DeBruyn
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FOOTNOTES
[1] G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “From US churches that are growing, a sound of drums,” The Christian Science Monitor, January 3, 2007 (http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0103/p01s01-ussc.html).
[2] Yahweh commanded the people to worship Him in one place, the place of His choice, not theirs The Lord commanded, “[I]t shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God shall choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices” (Deuteronomy 12:11, NASB; See Deuteronomy 12:5; 15:20; 16:2.). On the occasion of Solomon’s dedication of the temple hundred of years later, the Lord told the king, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice” (2 Chronicles 7:12). Mount Zion was the place God chose. But to consolidate his power in the north, for Israel’s convenience, and mimicking the surrounding Canaanite religion, Jeroboam constructed the high places. In a scene reminiscent of the Exodus, he made two golden calves and told the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). Thus, throughout his kingdom, Jeroboam constructed places of worship to compete with Jerusalem, the Lord’s chosen place. Jeroboam’s sin fits the worldly paradigm of evangelical ministry being employed today; that of being user-friendly, audience-driven, seeker-sensitive, and politically-expedient.
[3] “Drum,” Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum).
[4] Mickey Hart with Jay Stevens, Drumming at the Edge of Magic, A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion (New York: Harper Collins, 1990) 30.
[5] From the Hebrew word “toph” which assumedly means “drum,” some hold that the valley of Topheth (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31-32) was the valley of “drumming.” For reason of syncretism, apostate Israelite sacrificed their children to the Canaanite god Molech. Associating Topheth with human sacrifice, Francis Schaeffer, along with older commentators like Matthew Henry, held that “According to one tradition there was an opening at the back of the brazen idol, and after a fire was made within it, each parent had to come and with his own hands place his firstborn child in the white-hot, outstretched arms of Molech. According to this tradition, the parent was not allowed to show emotion, and drums were beaten so that the baby’s cries could not be heard as the baby died in the arms of Molech.” See Francis A. Schaeffer, A Christian View of the Church, The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer, Volume 4 (Westchester, Illinois, Crossway Books, 1982) 145.
Though it can refer to a percussive instrument like the tambourine (i.e., timbrel and tabret), my research does not indicate that “toph” refers to drums. In its eight occurrences, the Hebrew word “toph” is always associated with merriment and gladness. A remote meaning is “to spit.” It may therefore be too great an etymological stretch to relate Topheth to a drumming meant to muffle the sound of screaming children as they were being thrown into the molten-hot arms of Molech. As such, the word “drum” does not occur in the Bible.
[6] Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Shamanism, Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991) 540.
[7] “How to Contact Spirits Through Shamanism” (http://www.ehow.com/how_2033190_contact-spirits-through.html).
[8] Guiley, Shamanism, 542-543.
[9] Mickey Hart and Fredric Lieberman, Spirit into Sound, The Magic of Music (Petaluma, California: Acid Test Productions, 1999) 145.
[10] Guiley, Voodoo, 635.
[11] David Ackroyd, Narrator, DVD Voodoo Secrets, In Search of History (Produced for the History Channel by Paul Boorstin, © A & E Television Networks, 1998).
[12] Voodoo Secrets, Dr. Wade Davis, Commentator.
[13] Some drugs are known as “entheogens.” The word entheogen derives from three Greek words: a preposition “en”; the noun “God”; and a verb “generate.” The resultant meaning of entheogen is “that which generates god or divine inspiration in a person.” To achieve a realization of one’s own divinity, entheogens (i.e., psychedelic drugs) are employed. In his list of the lusts of the flesh, biblical believers should note Paul’s juxtaposition of “idolatry” to “sorcery” (Galatians 5:20, NASB; “witchcraft” NIV, KJV, etc). Our adjective “pharmaceutical” derives from the Greek word for “sorcery”. Together, drug use and idolatry are twin sins. It is idolatry to ingest substances, whether ecologically derived or synthetically produced, for the purpose of generating divine consciousness. Religious drug use (i.e., in Shamanism, Voodoo, New Age, etc.) stimulates worshipping the creation (i.e, what is below) rather than the Creator (See Romans 1:18-23.).
[14] Ackroyd, Voodoo Secrets.
[15] Ibid. Davis.
[16] Ibid. Ackroyd.
[17] James A Herrick, The Making of the New Spirituality, The Eclipse of the Western Religious Tradition (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2003) 15.
[18] Donni Hakanson, “Enhancing Your Spirituality” (http://www.alternativeculture.com/spirit/ enhance.htm).
[19] Blurtit.com, “What is D.H.Lawrence’s Blood Philosophy?” (http://www.blurtit.com/q648808.html).
[20] Hakanson, “Enhancing Your Spirituality.”
[21] Hart and Lieberman, Spirit into Sound, 148.
[22] Hart with Stevens, Edge of Magic, 11-12.
[23] Hakanson, “Enhancing Your Spirituality.”
[24] “Drum circle,” Wikepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_circle#_note-0).
[25] Hart with Stevens, Edge of Magic, 28.
[26] Zachary Reid, “Feeling the beat / The spiritual side of drum circles / When drummers gather at an Episcopal church, experience is optional,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 10, 2007, B1.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Warren Smith, The Light that Was Dark, From the New Age to Amazing Grace (Magalia, California: Mountain Stream Press, 2005) 35-36. Used with the author’s permission.
[29] Ibid. 36.
[30] James Luther Mays, Amos, A Commentary (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969) 107.
[31] Carl Philip Weber, “505 hama,” Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Volume I, R. Laird Harris, Editor (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980) 219.
[32] Emphasis mine, E.B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, Volume 1 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1975) 300.
[33] Carson, D. A., Editor, New Bible Commentary (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994).
[34] Francis Brown, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979) 827.
[35] Ibid. 614.
[36] David Allan Hubbard, Joel and Amos (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1989) 193-194.
[37] Theodore Laetsch, The Minor Prophets (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1956) 171.
[38] A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Worship and Entertainment, Compiled by James L. Snyder (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: Christian Publications, 1997) 103.
[39] Reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman coined “E-word” to stand for “evangelical.” See “Evangelical: Can the ‘E-word’ be saved?” USA Today, March 16, 2007. I have adapted her expression, and mean “E-crowd,” to refer the mass of so-called born again or evangelical Christians in our society.
[40] David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Unchristian, What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity . . . and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2007) 47.
[41] Ibid.
[42] For this illustration, I am indebted to Douglas Stuart. See his Word Biblical Commentary, Hosea-Jonah (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1987) 354.
[43] Hart and Lieberman, Spirit into Sound, 147.
[44] Ackroyd, “Voodoo Secrets.”
[45] Ibid. Davis.
[46] Quoted in Hart and Lieberman, Spirit into Sound, 17.
[47] Ibid. 6.
[48] Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987) 71.
[49] Ibid. 72.
[50] Ibid. 76.
[51] “Alfred A. Tomatis,” Wikepedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Tomatis) and “Mozart effect” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_effect) and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page ).
[52] Pusey, Minor Prophets, 299.
[53] Hart and Lieberman, Spirit into Sound, 5.
[54] Connecting the “dots” between drumming and deception might track like this: God’s arch-enemy, Belial or Satan, the prince of demons, exists . . . his kingdom is spritual darkness . . . his spirits are “unclean” . . . the “unclean” spirits ever attempt to seduce, deceive, and possess . . . in drumming, Shamanism and Voodooism invite the presence, even possession by “unclean” spirits . . . rock-‘n’-roll music originated out of Voodoo . . . contemporary churches adopt drumming music in their so-called worship and praise . . . such music temporarily and deceptively satisfies the audience’s fleshly craving to feel good . . . how they feel distracts people from what they believe about the One whom they worship . . . people no longer care about what they believe or who they worship . . . like Voodoo, drumming “worship” music invites the presence of “unclean” spirits . . . the spirits come and deceive . . . people exchange God’s truth for Satan’s lies . . . they become enamored with the lies . . . they lapse into spiritual darkness forever.