Music of this earth. Music of the world. Worldly music.
I’m not speaking of “secular” music–I’m speaking of any music that doesn’t glorify God. (The pot is much bigger, sadly).
I look around and I see Christians living lives of failure. They’ve been set free and yet they still feel bound! Why is this? The ways of the world enslave us, but the cords of our bondage are invisible to us.
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Somewhere along the way Christians have been sold the lie that we’re smart enough to discern what is good for us and what is bad for us. “That isn’t so bad,” we say. “This will not hurt me in the grand scheme of things.” In many ways we have traded our submission to God’s wisdom for the foolish notions of the world!
And why are we surprised that we are drinking from the same cup of consequence? Why are we surprised that we feel far from God–numb, depressed, helpless, worthless, and guilty?
Jesus brings freedom! Freedom from lust, gluttony, laziness, and so many other forms of bondage (as well as the issues listed above). Avoiding these things is not common sense. We will fall into that pit if we do not heed the Master’s words.
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Satan wants us to not glorify, trust, or obey God. He would fill his heart with glee to see us cursing God with our mouth, murdering, perverting our bodies, etc. But Satan is just as pleased with the Christian who is ineffective in glorifying, trusting, and obeying God. This is Satan’s one goal–to subvert God.
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Satan’s greatest tool is distraction. When music does not glorify God, it is the great distraction.
Ezekiel 28 gives us the best description of Satan and his fall from God. See Ezekiel 28:13
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
This passage is the source of opinion of some that Satan was the worship leader in heaven.
Music is that mix of words and tones that has the ability to dominate our minds in a way nothing else does. If Satan were the worship leader in heaven and he is now using his tool against God, he is doing a very good job.
Music is so very attractive and exhilarating, and we tend to be drawn in by the chord progression and melodies rather than the words. Many go so far as to claim that the words mean little to nothing to them. This is foolishness.
If we know the words, they are in our mind. Man is the sum of his parts. We are like a pot with a crack in the bottom. We put things into our mind and hearts at the top, and as we fill ourselves, whatever is at the bottom of the pot trickles out. If we are filling ourselves with thoughts from God, we will soon be filled with thoughts from above. If we fill ourselves with thoughts from this earth, we will be forcing out God’s thoughts from before. It is a daily job to fill ourselves with God.
Here are my contentions with terrestrial music:
- Gateway drug to the world’s foolishness and consequences
- Supreme distraction from God’s glory and wisdom
- Drowns out the voice of God
- Legitimizes and propagates bad advice
Perhaps I will expound on these later.
Nathan Briscoe: Life as he knows it 
Well that passage is headlined with prophsey against the king of Tyre so unless there is something tying that name to Satan I have a hard time believing that Satan was the worship leader. Especially since so many things in the Bible are talked about descriptivly, metiforically(sp). I think it’s safe to say any music that is not worship music is a distraction. Then again, I woud say 90% of what we do as people do is a distraction from God. Thankfully our distraction from God is a choice and not something that sneaks up on us and we can’t control, so we are in completely control of how well we follow God or not, reguardless of our circumstances or activities(within reason). I would have to disagree with you disagreeing with it being bs that not listening to the words is an excuse. I really can’t think of more than a few lines from my obnoxious metal songs cause for one I can’t understand them and two there aren’t worth remembering if I do understand them. It is mostly for the effect that the music itself has.
Although I cannot say I have done it for this reason, but alot of insight can be gained form listening to secular music just for the fact of understanding where they(non-believes) are comming from emotionally and mentally and the kind of baggage from life that effects their decisions and worldview. Then again that is an objective approach and doesn’t really excuse a ton of listening but still the point is there.
I think what it all really boils down to is balance. I look at music as a blessing because I don’t think there is anything in the world that can effect people as deep as music can. With that said, I listen to as much different music as possible. Any non-worship music all the time would be wrong, but balancing some of it with a healthy growing relationship with God I think is ok.
Unless you can actually say that the music iself is sinful, then the only thing wrong with it(and pretty much everything else) is the level of distraction from God it produces…and that’s something that’s between God and you.