The stories in Part I surface a spiritual truth that’s anathema in many churches today: gospel singing is but an accompaniment of, not a substitute for, Gospel preaching. I’ve even heard one song that glories in “When God’s singers” come home. What about God’s preachers? Or God’s missionaries? Or God’s Bible School teachers? And so on. Are we to believe Heaven is complete only when the singers get there? And no one will have a voice to praise God but those who presently have one? That’s pure spiritual pride. Indeed, it’s a form of spiritual racism.
I have yet to find a person who loves the Gospel message but not Gospel music. But any number of people exist who love the music but not the message. They like the melodies inspired by God but not the God who inspires beautiful melodies. I knew such a man. It’s like skeptic Will Durant sitting in his hotel. He heard a church carillon chime a Christian hymn. It so emotionally moved him that he burst out, “Oh, God, how beautiful.” But when the music stopped, so did his emotional outburst. What was he saying? He could believe God existed, but only in beauty. Perhaps only when instrumental music played. Perhaps, like my friend, only when he heard gospel music sung. As if God will make exceptions for people who love the singing of God’s grace but not the message of Christ dying to forgive sinners. That’s an ongoing problem with unbelievers. If earth were Heaven on Earth, they could love God. Since earth isn’t Heaven on Earth, they don’t. Since the realities of life’s problems, hatreds and disasters challenge belief in a GOOD GOD, they choose not to believe in the Biblical God, particularly not in the Historical Jesus Christ. They adamantly refuse to see SIN as Satan’s intruding marauder in humanity: disrupting plans, shattering dreams, ruining lives—and leading everyone to the grave! They won’t consider Satan as God’s enemy and sin as our deliberate choice of enthroning SELF as a substitute for GOD. The point is: gospel singing can never force this truth on them. For that influence comes only through the Holy Spirit working in the taught and preached Word of God. Besides, the lies told by skeptics are outrageous denials of the truth that Jesus Christ lived among those cursed with pain, and relieved it; among the leprous, and cleansed them; among the immoral, and forgave them; walked unafraid of death and its ceremonial contamination into a death-room and TOUCHED the corpse to new life; and counting even his own separation from God a small price to forgive sinners all their pitiless sins against God. End Part II
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