You Are What You Listen To
This article is featured as part of Throwback Tuesdays.
I love music - I've been playing instruments and singing for as long as I can remember. Not only that, but I would say about 80 percent of my day is spent listening to music - Pandora is always on while I'm at work, studying, driving, etc... - music is a big part of my life.
Music is powerful - it has the potential to heal, comfort and inspire, but it has to be used in the right way. And, I am ashamed to say that I know too many of today's top hits - they're catchy and they're everywhere - in stores, in restaurants, on the radio - they're always playing, over and over again. And it's so easy for a tune to slip into your head and before you know it, you're singing that song all day and every time it comes on the lyrics just roll of your tongue.
The thing about music today - in this day and age of expensively made music videos and world tours - is that it's all about subliminal messaging and getting as provocative as possible. Today, we don't think anything of Rihanna's songs about bondage and domination or the provocative scraps of material that Lady Gaga calls costumes. We sing along with the lyrics without processing what they're singing about, even though most lyrics nowadays are about sex, drugs and the fast life.
Lyrics have power. Words are permanent - even those uttered without thought to a song playing on the radio as you wait in line to pay for your groceries.
But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. -Matthew 12:36-37
God won't accept your excuse of "I'm just singing along - they're not my words." Because they are your words and you will be held responsible for them.
Unfortunately, even Christian music today is not safe from the Devil's influence. Take for example, "Like a Lion" by the David Crowder Band. The chorus lyrics are:
My God is not dead He's surely alive He's living on the inside Roaring like a lion
Then compare it to 1 Peter 5:8:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Our God is not the roaring kind - He is gentle and loving - that is who lives in us. The only time the Lord roars is in anger and that is not how we want to know Him, is it?
Hosea writes in Chapter 11, verse 10:
They shall walk after the Lord, He will roar like a lion. When He roars, then His sons shall come trembling from the west.
Can you imagine if God roared in His anger right now? I think trembling would be an understatement - the entire planet would shiver and fall in humility.
But the Devil? He is always like a roaring lion - on the prowl to devour and plant sin in every heart. And music is one of his top tools because it's everywhere and conveniently disguised as entertainment.
I urge you to check out this video below - it's not the best quality and most of the examples are from the 90's but it's very educational. Note that most of the second half is about Illuminati conspiracy theories which I personally don't get into, but do watch at least the first 15 minutes for examples of famous faces who have gone on record saying that they have sold their soul to the Devil to gain fame and others like Beyoncé who claim there is a spirit that overcomes them when they're on stage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idAz7mFKPrc
BE ALERT AND MONITOR WHAT YOU'RE LISTENING TO.
Much like that children's song says: "Oh, be careful little ears what you hear," because those lyrics, that music video or heavy beat might just be the crack in your spiritual armor that the Devil needs to sneak in and tear you apart, slowly, one song at a time until you wonder what happened.
Trust me, I've been fighting this battle for a long time.
-Yelena