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March Music Versus Dance Music

Content Author: 
Ives, Alan
Scripture Passage: 
1 Thessalonians 5:21; Ephesians 5:10
Second in a Series on The Difference Between Good Music and Bad Music

Used by Permission: Alan and his wife Ellen Ives have a wonderful music ministry and they travel to many churches presenting this information.  They play a number of instruments and have music cassettes and CD's available.  Perhaps they could be a blessing to your church.  They can be reached at Concord & Harmony, 328 Rosalia Street, Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901.

The devil is our adversary. He is against us, because he is against God. This is the basis of march music. God has given us wonderful march music, so the devil says, "If that is what God is for, then I’m against it," and the devil puts the accent on a beat opposite from that of march music. Dance music and march music are direct opposites, because their basic beat is the opposite. Now there are other things involved, which we will look at, but the devil is an opponent of everything that God is for. If God is for good, the devil is for evil. If God says go to church and listen to the Bible, the devil says go somewhere else and listen to something else. I think that’s obvious to folks who have gone to church for a long enough time.

There’s a basic difference. A march has the beat on one and three. ONE, two, THREE, four, ONE, two, THREE, four. Dance music is one, TWO, three, FOUR, one, TWO, three, FOUR. You can hear that old snare drum playing this difference.

The march type music is the soldier’s music. We’re going to depict something military if we use the march rhythm. If we use the dance rhythm, we’re going to depict something that is opposed to marching, something sensual. This is a basic element of music.

We are to prove all things and hold fast that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Once we find good music, we need to hang on to it, and we ought to abhor that which is evil. Ephesians 5:10 tells us to prove that which is acceptable to the Lord. I want my music to be acceptable to the Lord. I want Him to be pleased with it.

We are spirit, soul, and body, and God has given us music to bless us spirit, soul, and body. Here’s how it fits together: There are only three parts to music, because God made music, and He made music to be a blessing to man. 1 Thessalonians 5:23--"...and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." All that we are is affected by music.

How does this work? The spirit deals with our thoughts, and particularly our thoughts toward God. If you’re not saved, your spirit is dead; and you’re not thinking about God. It will take someone else to talk to you about the Lord to get you even to think about Him. Jesus said to His disciples, "...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). In the words of God are life. That’s how we get eternal life; we are born again through the incorruptible seed. That has to do with spiritual things.

Alan Ives
Daily Proverb

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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