Gospel Music, Amps of Confusion

Power of the Gospel or the Power of the Sound-System?

by Dale Brown

The style of church music and worship can obviously differ from one congregation to another, depending on age, ethnicity and tradition. In the past, those raised up in a tent revival experience, where the preacher had no amplified microphones, had to develop a booming voice that could reach the back row. This style has carried over into some groups who still think that when the veins are bulging in the preachers neck, and he is shouting at the top of his lungs, he is really preaching under the anointing. One must realize however that an empty wagon makes a lot of noise.
Some people tend to talk the loudest when they do not have good reason for what they are saying. Therefore talking over their opponent becomes their line of defense.

Noise Pollution

We live in an environment where we are blasted with music in restaurants, while we pump our gas, and often when we are sitting on the toilet. In some churches the presentation is more like a rock concert with mood lighting and fog machines which appeals to the carnal nature of an audience.  Often the acoustics of the room is terrible to start with yet they think it will solve the problem by turning up the volume.  It makes one wonder who is getting the glory when cameras spotlight the musicians on the stage like a star in Hollywood. They have been used to the entertainment mode of gatherings where a performer stirs up the emotions of the crowd for the sake of self-admiration and glory. In these kind of church gatherings the only one with the “anointing” is going to be the person with the loudest microphone. Therefore instead of the body of Christ being able to function as a unit, the congregation becomes a target of whatever is blasted from the sound-system. The power then is not necessarily that of the Holy Spirit but that of amps and watts. Young naive people are easy prey in these kinds of situations. They become convinced that the higher one jumps or waves their hands the more God is pleased. We run into those whose lives are falling apart because their spirituality is the product of a fake and plastic reality.  Usually these people have a shallow understanding of apologetics as well.  They might be compared to someone whose bible reading has been limited only a few psalms but totally void of any instruction from the gospels or epistles.  When one's theology is based merely on the poetic liberties of singable choruses they are certain to miss some key instruction in kingdom principles.

Big Thunder but No Rain

As a musician now over 60 years old, I run into those in the studio environment that have such impaired hearing from years of exposure to noise that when I mix down their songs they have no clue what a proper mix is because there are certain sounds that they can no longer hear. Those that spend much time as a talk-show host under headphones eventually discover that they become dull of hearing as well. Listening to a song with fresh ears a day after it has been mixed will reveal things that one might have tuned out the day before.
Exposure to loud Christian music is no different and can be just as damaging as the blast of the .357 magnum or a screaming power saw, and I for one will not subject myself to it. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and if we do not take care of it we can only blame ourselves. Should the message of the gospel, of love and sacrifice, cause one to loose ones hearing? Those that do not learn these lessons early on will certainly learn them through the school of hard knocks.  We are living sacrifices for the gospel sake, but I have never read that we must blow out our hearing as our first offering.