The danger of wrong kind of music is not a new phenomenon in our age. Music has been a concern for many people since early Christian church era. Clement of Alexandria was one of those leading church fathers from the second century. I�ll quote from his �exhortation to the heathen,� chapter 1: Exhortation to Abandon the Impious Mysteries of Idolatry for the Adoration of the Divine Word and God the Father (http://www.piney.com/MuClement.html). He begins with a myth related to music. However, it may be an figurative way to illustrate the power of music.

Amphion of Thebes and Arion of Methymna were both minstrels, and both were renowned in story. They are celebrated in song to this day in the chorus of the Greeks; the one for having allured the fishes, and the other for having surrounded Thebes with walls by the power of music. Another, a Thracian (A Barbarian), a cunning master of his art (he also is the subject of a Hellenic legend), tamed the wild beasts by the mere might of song; and transplanted trees-oaks-by music.

He says abut the dangerous use of poetry and music in pagan worship:

Sweet and true is the charm of persuasion which blends with this strain.
To me, therefore, that Thracian Orpheus, that Theban, and that Methymnaean,-men, and yet unworthy of the name,-seem to have been deceivers, who, under the pretence of poetry corrupting human life, possessed by a spirit of artful sorcery for purposes of destruction, celebrating crimes in their orgies, and making human woes the materials of religious worship, were the first to entice men to idols; nay, to build up the stupidity of the nations with blocks of wood and stone,-that is, statues and images,-subjecting to the yoke of extremest bondage the truly noble freedom of those who lived as free citizens under heaven by their songs and incantations.

He makes a distinction between his music and other styles of music which are not recommendable to use in true worship:

But not such is my song, which has come to loose, and that speedily, the bitter bondage of tyrannizing demons; and leading us back to the mild and loving yoke of piety, recalls to heaven those that had been cast prostrate to the earth. It alone has tamed men, the most intractable of animals; the frivolous among them answering to the fowls of the air, deceivers to reptiles, the irascible to lions, the voluptuous to swine, the rapacious to wolves. The silly are stocks and stones, and still more senseless than stones is a man who is steeped in ignorance.

He mentions that true and spiritual music is the Word of God, which means that music should not shadow the Word of God in worship:

Others he figuratively calls wolves, clothed in sheep-skins, meaning thereby monsters of rapacity in human form. And so all such most savage beasts, and all such blocks of stone, the celestial song has transformed into tractable men. �For even we ourselves were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.� Thus speaks the apostolic Scripture: �But after that the kindness and love of God our saviour to man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us� (Titus 3: 3-5). Behold the might of the new song! It has made men out of stones, men out of beasts. Those, moreover, that were as dead, not being partakers of the true life, have come to life again, simply by becoming listeners to this song. It also composed the universe into melodious order, and tuned the discord of the elements to harmonious arrangement, so that the whole world might become harmony.

He continues to talk about music being a necessary part of our being. He describes a man as a product of a breathing instrument, which is God�s Word:

A beautiful breathing instrument (Psalm 150) of music the Lord made man, after His own image. And He Himself also, surely, who is the supramundane Wisdom, the celestial Word, is the all-harmonious, melodious, holy instrument of God. What, then, does this instrument-the Word of God, the Lord, the New Song-desire? To open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf, and to lead the lame or the erring to righteousness, to exhibit God to the foolish, to put a stop to corruption, to conquer death, to reconcile disobedient children to their father.

He talks about a few important points related to music. First, it talks about the power of music. Though he mentions of Greek fables, he uses them to make his points that music is a powerful tool in pagan worship. Second, there is a music that brings us to the bondage of evil powers and a music that releases us from them. The spiritual music is the Word of God, and man is His breathing instrument to praise God. Psalm 150 lists different kinds of musical instruments, and it says in verse 6, �Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.� Truly, we, believers of God, must be the most beautiful instrument to praise the Lord.

Lovingly Your Pastor Ki

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