I recently went to a concert that was more traditional gospel in nature (you know-hand clapping, toe tapping holy ghost filled gospel!! in my preacher's voice). And as I'm sitting there trying to be ministered to through the music, there were a bunch of people talking and the person at the mic was singing "This is the Day" like it wasn't; and it just felt like a bunch of confusion.
It got a little better after an hour and people were hushed. Groups with the quartet and traditional gospel & blues sound would get up to sing. To my surprise & maybe even my dismay, some of the same culprits of the loud talking and even yelling across the tables (yes even yelling) were now getting up to sing and expected full attention. There was no surprise, however, that there was no anointing present when they sung. Don't get me wrong, they put on a good show that might be considered by some as soul-stirring. They had loud music that'll make you want to move and even very charismatic sayings that will catch your ears to want to hear them. But Holy Ghost Power in music and delivery, no. I thought , well maybe it's I'm not that into traditional gospel. But there were some groups there, that as soon as they opened their mouths, the Spirit was present and felt. And the God in them, moved the God in me and ministered, despite my preference in music. While others simply fell into category of "sounding brass tinkling cymbals".
Paul talked about this in 1Cor. 13-"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." People almost always think about instruments in this text but he was pointing to something specific that the Corinth church would know about. Translated in the Greek, Paul was referring to the Echoing Bronzes, a famous set of Sounding Resonators used by the Romans for people to hear better in the arenas. Stone is not a good reflector of sound and so the Romans would use these resonators to help people hear, but they were empty vessels. Paul's declaration to the church is that without love (God is Love), they're saying all the right things with no power behind it. And like some of the groups at the concert, a whole lot of feel good music with no power.
Stay with me here, I'm getting closer to my point...
Why would I say this about a style/genre that has historically in the past 3-4 decades been considered traditional gospel music and almost synonymous with the presence of the anointing?
This brings me to a conversation I had with my dad, who still questions Jesus but loves traditional gospel music. He said that music today doesn't have any Spirit in it. That people back in the day could listen to it and get saved or "filled with Holy Ghost." Besides the obvious point I wanted to make of "if that's the case why are you still questioning Jesus, dad?" Wanted to say it, Thank God I didn't. But the Lord quickly pointed out something that really stuck..." When he was young, traditional gospel music as we know it, was the new kid in town. And people older than my dad, said the same thing about his generation of music- they thought it was the devil and tried to connect the authentic power of the Holy Spirit to one style of music (at that time, it was hymns).
Does one genre have the monopoly of the Holy Ghost?
While there are songs that are classics, and ministers no matter who sings them (Total Praise-Richard Smallwood always causes people to fall out in worship). Ministry and Power in song, is usually directly connected to the personal relationship with Christ of the messenger/vocalist and the personal connection to the style of music it is packaged in. God knows exactly what He's doing by having different styles of music with the gospel in it. Somebody might not get "He's Sweet I know" but might get "Sweeter" by John P Kee, or "Sweeter" by Sean C. Johnson. Same message... different delivery.
Music is a language that God uses to help His people to understand Him and live for Him. But music does not replace the Spirit and the power of the Spirit to transform the hearts and minds of those who desire to live right, and even those who don't. No one genre has the monopoly on the Spirit. Music is the vessel, it's the vehicle, but without the factors of the presence of the Spirit in the one who sings it, it's just a good soul stirring song, nothing more, nothing less.
