Join us now for the chapel hour coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Following the introduction by Mr. Stephen Jones, our speaker will be Dr. Frank Garlock, founder and president of Majesty Music in Greenville, South Carolina. The title of his message is, What Kind of Music Does God Want Us to Have? The text is from 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verses 7 through 11. It's always a pet peeve of mine when someone who's responsible for an introduction gets up and says, our speaker today needs no introduction, and then goes on to waste my time giving one. So I won't say that. Most of you are familiar with Dr. Frank Garlack. It's a privilege to have him here, a university graduate from the 1950s, along with his wife. He's had two daughters graduate from here. Has an extensive ministry in the US and abroad. He taught on the faculty here for a number of years, responsible for many of the music groups from which we still benefit today, such as the Faculty Brass Quintet, the Vespers Choirs, the Trombone Choir, and some others. He's been on the board for the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center since 1971, and he's most noted for founding and being president of Majesty Music, one of the largest independent publishing houses of church music here in the United States. So it's a privilege to have Dr. Garlock with us today. and tomorrow for chapel know it'll be a huge benefit. Hope you'll be taking notes and gleaning as much as you can from this man of God. Thank you, Mr. Jones. It's a special privilege for me to get to be here at Bob Jones University. And my folks have told me not to talk too fast so that you can at least understand me and follow along with me and the things that we're going to give you. We're going to try to compress six hours of material into just two 30 minute sessions today and tomorrow. Which means that we'll not be able to give you a lot of the documentation for the things that we're going to be saying. But I think the things that we will give you will be a help to you. And I'm going to use the overhead so that you can see the quotes that we're going to be giving you. And I want to go particularly to the Word of God and what the Word of God has to say. But I also want to give you documentation from communication experts as well. As Mr. Jones has already told you, I'm Pee Wee Pirate's grandfather, all right? Many of you have grown up with Patch the Pirate. Those are folks all are in my family. And we are related and work with Majesty Music, producing music for fundamental Christian churches like the churches that you come from. Since I'm only going to be speaking these two days and I'm going to have to go very quickly through the material, I want to give you some other sources that you can go to that will be a help to you. You'll find most of these books in your bookstore. This one is not there yet, but it's on order and it should be there very soon. It's called Measuring the Music by John Macugina. Dr. Macugina is a scholar. He's got a doctorate in ancient languages. He's also a theological scholar as well. I like one of his quotes where he says, anyone who attempts to battle CCM today will be facing not just a Goliath, but a Goliath on steroids. And that is absolutely true. You find when you not only deal with the rock music, when you deal with the CCM today, you're going to be battling a Goliath and you're hitting an area where you're going to have a lot of folks who are going to disagree with you. I always say when people see me coming, they either spit or pucker. They either love me or hate me. But my purpose is not to confuse things. My purpose is to help you as much as I can to see that there are Bible principles that you and I ought to apply to the area of music. Dr. McEgena deals with this when he talks about 1 Corinthians 9.22, because you've heard these folks say, you know, we want to be all things to all men. And by doing that, they are saying that they are going to be offensive or active. In other words, what can I do to try to reach people? Dr. Michael Gena says that's not what the Scripture is talking about. It's talking about what can I not do? What are the things that I will limit myself from doing? Not how far can I go in the world to try to reach the world, but what can I limit myself from? What do I stop myself from doing? Not how far can I go? Because the Word of God makes it clear that we are to limit ourselves as far as being as much like the world as we possibly can. Here's a book by Tim Fisher, another Bob Jones graduate. called The Battle for Christian Music. It'll be helpful to you. Another couple of books I want to recommend to you. These are in the bookstore. This one's called Oh, Be Careful Little Ears by Kimberly Smith. This is a very interesting book. It will give you a lot of help because she deals with how to identify carnal Christian music and why it is carnal. Is there such a thing as worldly music? Is there such a thing as carnal music that does not belong in the life of the Christian? She even has a full chapter on answering excuses that are given in defense of CCM. The arguments that are given by the CCM people and why the arguments do not hold water. This book she just came out with about a month ago called Let Those Who Have Ears to Hear. This book goes further in answering the questions as to why secular rock is musical pornography and why and how CCM uses the same techniques, even going so far as to have moshing in Christian concerts, if you know what moshing is. Now, it's not that all the CCM does that, but if they're in that area, they accept the moshing. And she gives 50 more excuses and shows what those excuses are and why they do not hold water. I also want to recommend to you a book that I have written, with one of my former students called Music in the Balance. The bookstore has this one as well. This book comes from 80 different sources, 180 endnotes, quotes from communication experts, scriptural evidence and principles that you can apply to your life. I would also like to recommend to you something called The Language of Music. This is a set of six videos that gives the full messages that I give on this area of music. I've been doing this now for 36 years, over half of my life. I've been preaching messages on this area of music and what the word of God has to say about it. These videos are in the Mac library. Majesty Music has given a copy to the Mac library. You can get them at the music library or in the ministry resources area up there in the alumni building. You can go up there and take a look at these and get if you're interested in getting more information on this or if your church back home needs some help in this area, you can recommend these videos to them. I think they'll give them some answers. that will help them in knowing what kind of music God wants us to have. If you have your Bible, maybe you'll want to turn to 1 Corinthians 14. I'll give you the verses here on the overhead, but maybe you'll want to turn to it, because I think this is a very important passage in showing us what kind of music God wants us to have. Here in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is dealing with the area of language. He's trying to show these Corinthians what is wrong with their way they are approaching the area of language. King James Version calls it tongues. In verse 70 says, even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, whether flute or harp, except they give a, what does it say? Distinction in the sounds. He says, when you make music, you make it distinct so everybody knows what the music is saying. Then he says, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? If you don't make the music distinct, then he says you're not going to understand what it says. And he says the same thing is true in the area of language. You must know what is being talked about. And by the way, when God uses something as an illustration, you can know it's a good one. And when God uses music to illustrate language, you can know the analogy is a good one. Sometimes we preachers use illustrations. We have to say, well, the analogy breaks down along the line. But when God uses the illustration, you can know it's a good one. You don't have to be afraid of it. And when God uses music to illustrate language, you can know the analogy is right. Because verse 8 goes on and it says, if the trumpet gives a what? Come on, answer me, all right? An uncertain sound. I want to be sure you're thinking along with me on this. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? If the trumpet plays taps, does that mean you're supposed to get up? If the trumpet plays reveille, does that mean you're supposed to go to bed? You see, you say, well, that's inherent in the sound. But there's something about the sound that lets you know what you're supposed to be doing. And you must make it clear. It's interesting. You get on to verse 11. It says, Wherefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, The word meaning there is a very interesting Greek word. It's the word dunamis. It means power. We get our English word dynamite from that word. Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God. God is saying that language has power and music also has power. It's interesting to me that the world recognizes this. Have you noticed how much the world uses music? I talked to an advertising agency not long ago. And they said that only one out of a thousand commercials does not use music. Why? They recognize the power of music to influence people. And they recognize it. I think we Christians ought to recognize it as well. The scripture teaches that music has power. Here's an interesting article. It was in Christianity Today, one of our most liberal Christian magazines. That's about a year and a half ago, written by Michael Hamilton, who is a Catholic author. It's interesting to me that Christianity Today would have an article by a Catholic author. But it's also interesting what he recognizes in talking about the triumph of the praise songs. And not all praise songs are bad, but a lot of churches have given up their hymn books. They don't have hymn books anymore. All they do is have overhead projectors and are singing a lot of these praise songs, many of which are not doctrinally correct. But this man says, look what he says. American churchgoers no longer sort themselves out by denomination so much as by musical preference. He said the denomination doesn't make much difference. The beliefs of the church don't make much difference. What people go to a church for is the kind of music they use. Then he says, when one chooses a musical style today, one is making a statement about whom one identifies with, what one's values are, and ultimately, who one is. 36 years ago, I told people, when I started giving messages on music, I said, you tell me the kind of music you like to listen to, and the kind of music you like to perform, and I can tell you what kind of person you are. And I've had many people say, no, you can't do that. This man says, the music you choose tells you who you identify with, what your values are, and ultimately who you are. Then he says, the kind of music a church offers increasingly defines the kind of person will attend, because for this generation, music is at the very center of self-understanding. Music, the importance of music. You see, we have recognized that. Those of us know the Word of God and know what the Bible says about music. There are over 500 references to music in the Bible. I go through my Bible. I put treble clef signs, bass clef signs next to verses that talk about music. You do that, you'll get a Bible full of them. Because the Word of God has a great deal to say about music. Now, it's not all in one book, but it's all the way through the Word of God. God shows us what He wants us to know. And here they are recognizing now that music lets you know where you are, and who you are, and whom you want to be with. This is an interesting article. It was in USA Weekend. You know, it comes in with your Sunday paper about a year and a half ago. It said, take two tunes and call me in the morning. This is written by a medical doctor and a musical doctor. He has two MDs. He's the conductor of the Hong Kong Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony. He's also a medical doctor. In this article, this doctor says, very loud music, rock music creates an altered state of consciousness akin to an alcoholic or drug induced stupor that can become addictive. Again, 36 years ago when I told people that music was addictive, folks said, no, there's no way you can become addicted to music. By the way, if you don't believe that's true, you find a young person who likes rock music and try to get him off it. I've had literally thousands, and I don't think I'm exaggerating. I've had literally thousands of young people tell me it was easier to get off the drugs and the alcohol than it was to get off the music. The music is addictive. If you have listened to a lot of rock music in your background, you'll find even at Bob Jones University here, you probably had some withdrawal symptoms. And some of you sitting here this morning, listening to me, when you get back home this summer, you're going to go right back to that music again, just as quickly as you can, because it is addictive. It gets a hook in your life. And this man recognizes that music, loud music, rock music, is like alcohol and drugs, and it can become addictive. It can get a hook into you. Here's an interesting book. I don't recommend this book to you unless you're really interested in this subject, all right? Vicki Hart is the drummer for the Grateful Dead, the rock group, the Grateful Dead. He's done a lot of study about drums. In fact, this book is called Drumming at the Edge of Magic. He even has a Damaru. You know what a Damaru is? It's a drum made out of a human skull. Mickey says it is scary. It is frightening. Because, he says, Africans believe that the spirits ride the drumbeat down into the body of the dancers who then begin the erratic shaking movements of the possessed. And he's not against this, folks. He's not opposed to it. He's just showing what he believes happens and he's all for it because he calls it shamanism. Shamanism is what Vicki Hart believes in, and he's a part of it because a shaman is an individual who can enter into a trance in order to commune with the spirit world. He documents this all the way through his book. In fact, he says he has an instrument called the beam. It's an unbelievable instrument that Vicki uses in his Grateful Dead concerts. It's a 10-foot aluminum girder, hooked to 12 piano strings, tuned to very low pitches, fed into a 170,000-watt sound system. If you don't have any idea how strong that is and why Vicki said it could put you into a trance, let me just give you some comparisons, all right? You take an average home stereo system that has about 100 watts in it. The average church sound system has about 1,500 watts. MFA here, we probably have about 8,000 watts because of the size of this auditorium. Vicky's beam is hooked into an amplifier that has 170,000 watts that he says will put you into trance if you go to his concerts. Here's an article that was written about 50 years ago. It's interesting. You'll notice it had to be hot rhythm and negro music. This man said 50 years ago, each god has a particular rhythmic figure regarded as his own, by means of which he is called to possess the bodies of the deities. And I submit to you, much of the rock music, I've had many missionaries to Africa tell me, much of the rock music has the same rhythms they heard the heathen use over in Africa, and CCM is using the very same rhythms, only they think it's different because you put different words with it. The music is still the same. So what we want to do in the time that's left to us this morning is to try to prove what is acceptable to God. What does God want us to have? The word proving there in the King James means to test. God wants us to test things. We test everything else. We ought to test music. Don't be afraid to test things out. And be sure you use the word of God as you're testing them, because God says he wants to prove what is acceptable unto him. Not what do I like, not what do you like, but what is acceptable to God? I had a fellow wrote to me just several months ago. His letter, he said, you think God has a preference in music? I wrote back to him, I said, God has a preference in everything. I can't think of anything that God doesn't have a preference in. You want to get your spaceship to go to the moon? You better get it there when God gets the moon there. You say, if I want my music loud, who's to say I can't have it loud? God's to say that too. God has made your ears only to take a certain amount of sound. You go beyond that sound and you will lose your hearing. Even many of the CCM performers now are using earplugs because they play their music so loud they are realizing that it is making them go deaf. You see, God is the one who determines those things. God has a preference in everything. And God has a preference in music. So what we must do is to prove what is acceptable unto Him. But because folks haven't done that, Folks will come along and say, well, I like it. I'm a Christian, and I like that rock music. How can you say it's wrong? Let me ask you, does the fact that they like it make it good? Or other folks come along and say, I don't like it. Second question, does the fact that they don't like it make it bad? There are a lot of things I don't like that I know I have to do. I don't like getting up in the morning. Maybe you enjoy it. I'm a typical musician. I like to stay up late at night and sleep late in the morning. Whether I like it or not is not the question. Some folks say to me, the reason you're against rock music, you just don't like it. It has nothing to do with it. Whether I like it or not is not the question. The question is, does God like it? Is it right for God? Or you come to this area, particularly of CCM, you talk to folks about it and they'll say, but I get a blessing from it. Now, this is not a trick question. Does the fact that they get a blessing from it make it good? I've even had some young people tell me they got a blessing out of Jesus Christ Superstar. Or Godspell, which is going to be performed here in Greenville in just a few weeks. Does that make those things good? Uh-uh. Now, I even questioned their blessing. By the way, we're talking about CCM. CCM, as you know, stands for Contemporary Christian Music. You know that, right? There's nothing wrong with being contemporary. I am a contemporary composer. What that means is I'm writing music right now. Joan Kingston. Dwight Gustafson, we are all contemporary composers. Ron Hamilton is a contemporary composer. I had a lady who came to Greenville several years ago, when she met me, she said, you're Frank Garlock? I said, yes, ma'am. She said, I thought all composers were dead. I said, the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. That's Mark Twain, in case you're wondering. You see, there's nothing wrong with being contemporary. But when they talk about CCM, they use that acronym CCM. What they're really talking about is contemporary Christian rock. Now, again, not all CCM is rock. I understand that. But if you go into that area, Contemporary Christian Music Magazine, they all agree that rock music is not bad because they say that it is immoral. Sometimes they pronounce it amoral, sometimes they say neutral, sometimes they say not moral. No matter what one of those terms they use, they all mean the same thing. What they are saying is there is no good or bad music. Incidentally, no generation has believed that until this one. I went to the Eastern School of Music, did all my graduate work there. Howard Hansen, who was the director for almost 50 years, said, music can be philosophical or orgiastic. He wrote this in a book. It can be intellectual, it can be sensual, it can be carnal. It has powers for evil as well as for good. See, scholars down through the generations have recognized that music has power in both directions. But when they say music is amoral, they're also saying God doesn't care what kind of music we use. Why can't we use hard rock? That's all right with God. Want to use acid rock? Want to use grunge rock? Or this new death rock they've got out now? Well, that's all right with God. It doesn't make any difference. God doesn't care. I hope even before we get through this morning, by tomorrow morning for sure, you'll recognize that God does care. God does make a difference. Because God says in Isaiah 520, Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil. One of the things God wants you and me to have as his children is discernment in every area. And one of those areas ought to be music. So we know the difference between what is right and what is wrong. I checked the secular dictionary, this dictionary says amoral means incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. And you watch a person who begins to say that music is amoral, a church And perhaps even your church back home, you say, well, here, Bob Jones University, they tell we can't listen to that music. My church back home uses that CCM. What could be wrong with it? If my pastor thinks it's all right, what could be wrong with it? I submit to you, you be careful. If your church begins to use CCM pretty soon, they will lose all their other standards as well. They'll begin to accept dancing. They'll begin to accept drinking alcohol. They'll begin to accept everything. A church that I ministered here in Greenville for, for 27 years, this last year, the church where I served for 27 years, one of the strongest fundamental churches in all the United States, this last year, their Christian school had a problem. You see, once you accept the amoral philosophy, everything goes. There's nothing that stops. And even the secular dictionary recognizes that. But people say, where do you draw the line? You've heard that, haven't you? I mean, where do you draw the line? My answer to that, let me show you what my answer is. It's not where you draw the line. The question is, do you draw a line? And is your line based on the Word of God? You see, if you and I take the Word of God, we will draw the line pretty close to each other, not exactly in the same place, because no two of us are alike. Someone had said, if two of you agree on everything, one of you isn't necessary. That's true. See, we're not going to come up exactly alike. God's made us different. But, if we're both basing our line on the Word of God, we won't come up too far apart. The problem is, when you say there is no line, then you open the door for anything. There is nothing right, and there is nothing wrong. Because God says that we ought to get as close to Him as we can, and be as far away from worldliness as we can. The trouble with a lot of churches today, and a lot of people are thinking, well, we've got to reach people. So what they are doing is coming as close to the world as they possibly can. And that is just the opposite of Bible principles, because God says we are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world. Here's an interesting book by Alan Bloom. Alan Bloom was a professor of social thought at the University of Chicago. In this book, he deals with a number of things. One of the main things he says is, it may well be that a society's greatest madness seems normal to itself. That is absolutely true. He's right on target. Because if you look at the madness of our day, abortion, Homosexuality, relativism is all madness. But the world is accepting all of those things, and a lot of Christians are accepting it now as well, and don't recognize that it is madness. Then Alan Bloom says, nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music. Notice, 35 years ago when I said this, a lot of folks said, no way. Here you got men teaching social thought in universities in Chicago, other men who are saying that music is addicting. People become addicted to it. But let me go very quickly. I want to show you some things about the Word of God. I'm going to give you three verses. I'd like you to write these verses down, because I think it's very important. I'm finding very few people know the principles I'm going to show you right now. Exodus 15.2, got it? Exodus 15.2, the books of history. Psalm 118.14, the books of poetry. Isaiah 12 to the books of history all three of these verses mentioned exactly the same thing They say the Lord Jehovah is my strength and song and he has become my salvation Three things are taught us about God here. First of all, God is our strength God does just give us strength as Christians. He is our strength Jesus put it this way in John 15 5. He said I am the vine You are the branches without me you can do nothing God wants us to abide in him so we have strength because he is our strength But notice it also says he is our salvation. Salvation is not a church. Salvation is not a religion. Salvation is a person. And the person is Jesus Christ. And without Jesus Christ, there is no salvation. God is our strength. God is our salvation. Notice what it says right in between those two. He also is our song. Now, the word song, there is a very interesting word. It comes from the Hebrew word Zimrath. And if you'll check out any Hebrew dictionary you want to, you'll find it's talking about instrumental music. For instance, I've even given you Strong's Concordance here. This word is only used in these three verses. God reserved this word for these three verses because I believe he was teaching us something very important about himself, because that word comes from Zemar, a Hebrew word which means to pluck on the strings of an instrument with your fingers, not even with a pick or a plectrum, but with your fingers. And what it is saying, I believe, is that God is Musical. Our God, the God of the Bible, is a musical God. I'm amazed at how few Christians know that. Because you see, I believe our music, any music we listen to, whether it's Christian, whether it's secular, whatever, ought to be based on the character of who God is. If God is a musical God, and by the way, if God is musical now, he's always been musical. You say, why? You don't add anything to the nature of God. God is a musical God, the God of the Bible, you and I serve as a musical God, because God sings. Did you know that? You say God sings? Absolutely. Zephaniah chapter 3, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He, God, will joy over thee, his child, with what? Singing. God sings. That means God's a musical God. You also know that God plays the trumpet. You say, are you sure about this? Check me out. Check the Bible. See if I'm not right. Says God plays the trumpet. You say, well, that's not what it means, right? You tell me what it means. Says God plays the trumpet. Now, it's not the silver trumpet like some of your trumpet players like Mr. Paddock or some of these folks here at university play. Dan Cursop or Mr. Cox. It's not the silver trumpet. It's a shofar. And the shofar is a ram's horn that was always used To announce a special occasion, that's in Zechariah 9, verse 14, where it says, The Lord God shall blow the trumpet. And it reminds me of 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul says, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a sound, with the voice of the archangel, and with the, what? The trump of God. A special occasion, the coming of the Lord. And if you go back and check Zechariah 9, you'll find out that whole chapter is dealing with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe, personally, that it's probably the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God, who blows the trumpet to announce his own coming. It says, it's the trumpet of God that the Lord himself shall play. You know Jesus sang when he was on this earth, don't you? Right. You go to Matthew, chapter 26, and verse 30. And it says, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Jesus sang with his disciples. Don't have time to go into it this morning, but we can actually know what they sang. The last psalm they would have sung that night was Psalm 118, 14. That verse that I gave you before, Psalm 118 is the last of the Hallel Psalms. That's what Jesus would have sung with his disciples. Why? Because God is musical. And if God is musical and He's made you and me in His image, then you and I are musical. Right? In fact, you can't go anywhere where people don't like music. Everywhere, go all over the world. God has allowed Mrs. Garlock and me to travel all over the world and give these messages. And we have found that people all over the world love music. Why? Because God is musical and God made us to be musical. Therefore, the kind of music that God likes. And I'm not saying I can know exactly what kind of music is going to be in heaven. But I'll say this, God has given us a taste of good things down here of what's going to be in heaven. And I believe God, if God's musical and God sings and God plays the trumpet, there are some principles that you and I ought to follow to make sure that our music is what God wants it to be. And I'll go into that tomorrow with you. I'll show you exactly what I believe the Word of God says. Because music cannot be immoral. Therefore, God does care what kind of music we use. It makes a difference to God. And what we need to do, is not to take our own personal taste. Don't go away saying, well, I like a certain kind of music. He said it was wrong. You say, well, you're trying to get us to like the kind of music you like. I haven't even told you what I like. I'm not going to. See, what I like is not the question. The question is your music, my music, any music that we use ought to be acceptable under the Lord. It ought to be what God wants it to be. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for this time together this morning with these students. And I pray that as we've gone by these things very quickly, that by thy Holy Spirit, thou will take this truth and sink it into hearts and make a difference in lives. May these students seek thy word and see what thy word has to say so that they can prove what is acceptable to thee in every part of their lives, not what's around them, not even what their home church uses, but what you want their music to be. May they make your standards their standards. in every area of their lives, particularly in the area of music we pray in Jesus' name. You've been listening to The Chapel Hour, coming to you from the campus of Bob Jones University. Our speaker was Dr. Frank Garlock, founder and president of Majesty Music in Greenville, South Carolina. If you'd like a cassette copy of today's message, send a check for $7 to Campus Store Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 29614. Be sure to mention the name of the speaker and today's date. The Chapel Hour has been sponsored by Bob Jones University.