Q: Is it right for Seventh-day Adventists to listen to “pagan” music—and how can we identify “pagan” music? Also, should one be allowed to go into bars or discotheques if he does not use alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs?
A: We were happy to receive your inquiry via e-mail, and we hope that more young people will be inspired to contact us in cyberspace.
Regarding music, first of all we should mention that it is one of the best and most glorious arts through which a person can praise God as well as help and encourage fellow man. However, as with everything good in this old world, our adversary, Satan, has made a counterfeit.
Most of the music being written and performed today is based on rhythms which are rooted in various forms of spiritualism. You are correct in calling it “pagan” music, for it is not merely “secular” as were many of the great classical symphonies (which usually had a noble, uplifting flavor). Most of today’s popular music is actually “pagan” or “heathen” because it uses the same heavy, repetitious off-beat as is found in pagan occult rituals to summon demonic spirits.
The experience is told of a certain heathen tribe which used primitive drumbeats to work people into a hypnotic frenzy and make them accessible to demons. In more recent years this tribe was using American rock music to achieve the same goal.
Scientific research demonstrates that amplified low bass tones combined with a heavy, repetitious beat stimulate an unnatural secretion of body hormones and strongly affect your central nervous system. When in such a state, your brain actually becomes physiologically impaired and it cannot make good moral decisions. Thus, the music acts almost like an evil drug to lower your standards of moral behavior.
No serious Christian should voluntarily place himself in this situation by deliberately exposing himself to such music. In discotheques and dancing bars, the music is played at such loud levels as to make it difficult to escape the problem. If one who knows better would choose to go to such a place, the presence of Christ and His angels would stay outside. You would be entering at your own risk, forfeiting their special protection.
Some may say, “Oh, but I’m only going there to be with my friends.” Perhaps you should be more careful in choosing your friends! Others may say, “I’m only going there to be a witness for Christ.” Sorry, the loud music will impair the thinking of your audience so badly that your efforts would be practically worthless. Try introducing your friends to a better environment.
Q: What about contemporary “Christian” music or soft “Christian” rock?
A: If the repetitious off-beat in pagan music is bad for your mind, it will trigger the same problem regardless of the words to the song. Actually, to take destructive music and paste Christian words onto it is taking the name of the Lord in vain, and misrepresenting His character. An American Christian missionary tells his experience:
“In 1981, I was driving down a jungle road in the Ivory Coast with several African pastors in the car with me. I had recently received a couple of cassette tapes from our denominational headquarters that were intended for our teenaged daughter.
“These were recordings of various ‘Christian rock’ artists. In listening to the tapes, I was very disturbed in my own spirit that such material was being sent to our missionary kids.
“But not trusting my own reaction alone and realizing that these pastors with whom I was traveling were very sensitive to the spirit world (both good and evil), I decided to play the tapes for them. The reaction I got was immediate and verbally violent!
“One of the pastors asked me this question, ‘Do you mean to tell us that this kind of music is played in your churches in America?’
“I answered in the affirmative. His response was filled with disgust and anger as he replied with another question, ‘What are you doing allowing your church people to call up the evil spirits with their music?’ ”
The “rock beat” is, in and of itself, an addiction. Those who vibrate with it begin to desire more and more of it. Like a drug addiction, one’s appetite for it increases so that the “rock beat” in “contemporary Christian” music soon becomes dissatisfying, and a stronger beat is required.
One youth testifies:
“I started to listen to ‘Christian rock’ when I was eleven. Each time I heard it, I felt rebellious and had sensual thoughts.
“The feelings grew stronger as my music got harder.
“I finally realized this music was wrong, and I tried to get rid of all my music tapes, but I would always slip back into it.
“I am seventeen years old now, and I still struggle with this music. It is very addictive and so easy to slip back into.
“I pray that as you read of my struggles and of the struggles of other young people, you will want to keep this damaging tool of Satan out of our lives, our homes, and our churches.”
Another writes:
“In the summer of 1989, I purposed that I would listen only to music which is glorifying to God.
“However, Satan had a stronghold on my life because I listened to rock music for many years. As a result the sounds and words were embedded in my memory.
“As the teachers at school lectured, or as I ate lunch or walked through the hall and heard any word that was in a song, I would begin singing a song that the word reminded me of.
“Every conversation brought a song to my mind. Thus every day, evil lyrics were embedded deeper into my spirit.
“Only as I recognized the demonic nature of this addiction was I able to deal with it in a Scriptural way.”
One person has summarized the situation quite well: “Reaching teenagers with Christian rock music is like giving out liquor with Bible verses on the bottles.”