Secular Music is Easy to Find
Secular music of any genre or style of music produces overwhelming dopamine rushes that are blissful, but spiritually misleading. Praise God for blessing us with beautiful music that we can praise and worship him with. You can find songs with highly relatable and wholesome messages, such as “Rich Men North of Richmond” that voice the challenges of every day living these days. You can also find gorgeous, distinct instrumentals or melodies that you’ve never heard before.
Secular music has many talented artists that make phenomenal tracks in all sorts of genres like pop, rock, hip hop, cloud rap, chillwave, metal, EDM or electronic music, country, and many other genres. There’s a good chance music has gotten you through some low, grim times in your life. You’ve probably had moments where there’s no doubt the artist has had the exact same experience that you’ve had.
All the Ways to Find Hidden Gems
On the up side it’s so easy to find secular music nowadays with the advent of music streaming. Tools and services such as Spotify, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, Apple Music, and YouTube Music make it insanely easy to find new music. Outside of those services there are countless other sites and tools that can help you find music closer to what pleases your ears.
Other Tools to Dive Deeper into Music Discovery
Sites like RateYourMusic are fun for collectively reviewing any release that an artist puts out. Last.fm is another great site that can integrate with apps like Spotify to gather data about your music. It can show you the top genres that you listen to, your most popular artists, and much more information. And there are many quick, easy ways to discover what everyone else on this planet is listening to, such as the Spotify Charts, Billboard Charts, review sites such as Pitchfork, The Needle Drop’s YouTube channel, album review aggregators like Metacritic, and much more. Music can be a deep thing to explore if you’re really curious.
There’s also the simple act of going to festivals and concerts to bop to your favourite artist’s music. You and a whole bunch of other people that get down with the same artist you like. It’s a fun experience to be a part of. Some festivals that tend to feature artists that produce music that’s instrumentally interesting music but also not considered too obscure, experimental, or an acquired taste are Coachella and Ultra Music Festival.
Whenever a song was interesting there was the option to discover who the producer of a track was and explore their discography and listen to their most popular tracks. Sites like AllMusic and Genius are great for finding everyone that’s involved in producing a piece of music. In the past these sites were great for finding the producer of a specific track. Or if there’s a familiar sound that you know the artist didn’t make themselves, sites like WhoSampled will show where the artist copped their sound from. Often times a producer’s instrumentals can shine brighter than the message a song has. For example, Eminem around the early 2000s released a series of memorable tracks, like “Without Me” and “Real Slim Shady”. All these years there was no thought that billionaire producer Dr. Dre was producing the beats for those two tracks until checking the credits for the track.
The Devil’s Influence in Secular Music
The Devil, also known as Satan or Lucifer, once used to chill up in the heavens with God before his fall. This being is known to have the best tunes and has influenced popular artists to create insanely catchy melodies, fire beats, fat bass lines, or whatever else pleases your ear.
Verse 28:13 in Ezekiel from the New King James Version of the Bible (NKJV) spoke of Satan’s musical abilties stating “the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.” Mans was made by God with musical ability to be the chief leader of worshiping and praising of Yahweh, the Creator. Another verse talks about his musical ability in Job 38:7, stating “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”. The King James Version of the Bible translates morning star into “Lucifer, son of the morning” according to Isaiah 14:12.
Not sure if people still bump Uzi these days, but it’s not hard to browse TikTok or YouTube and see how the Devil’s influence is no longer lurking in the background, but is now overtly in people’s faces without hiding. For those that are adults you can search Sam Smith’s “Unholy” performance at this year’s Grammy Awards.
Hip Hop & Mass Incarceration’s Spiritually Corrupt Relationship
Lately more than ever hip hop has been quite popular and can be heard everywhere while out and about. As cool as that is, most of the messages in the songs revolve around themes that don’t uplift your spirit. Instead, they corrupt your spirit by design. For example, the promotion of criminal, antisocial behaviour like violence or substance abuse. You’re not going to find popular hip hop tracks about family, community, or academic or industrial excellence. Otherwise the prison industrial complex would shrink its pool of workers (or borderline slaves) because there’s less media glamourizing crime.
Artists Selling Their Souls
Having discovered a wide variety of genres and artists that are blessed with incredible talent it was a surprise to learn some things. One of those things being that some artists are willing to do some low things to succeed in their profession like selling their souls to become famous or successful. Maybe there’s a reason why so many famous people turn to escapes of different sorts to deal with the humiliating things they did to get their status. The other thing that was learned is that even despite something like an instrumental piece of music sounding great, it may be spiritually harmful depending on the character of the artist(s) and other people involved in producing the music.
There is no doubt that the artists that make highly popular music have talent. Secular music that isn’t focused on praising or worshiping God is similar to the first stages of an addiction. There’s that thing that’s so tempting that you know you shouldn’t take, similar to the apple in the Garden of Eve. But it just sounds so memorable and strikes your heart in a way that makes you feel special. You take it and a you experience a huge shot of dopamine, but only for a moment.
Hebrews Chapter 11 verses 24 to 26 said this about the pleasures of sin: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward”.
Spiritual Emptiness of Secular Music
After that first time you spend lots of time trying to get that same initial feeling when you first consumed the secular music. Each attempt feels progressively emptier, and you may find yourself making concessions in your life that leave you in a worse state, such as being influenced by unholy messages. It’s just like going from hydrating yourself with water or fruit juice, then switching to Coca Cola. You’ll probably notice that you have to have another can pretty quick after the first one. Or being an athlete switching from eating a nutritionally well-balanced meal with protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals, and fats to one full of junk food. That’s just putting your body on hard mode if you’re looking to win.
Narrow is the Path That Leads to Life
When God’s children all get together to sing praise and worship in his name it’s a wonderful way to repair your soul and open your heart. Search up “gospel music” on YouTube and peep genuine the energy that everybody has when praising our God. You’ll probably come across choirs like the Mississippi Mass Choir pouring their souls out to the Lord with all their energy. Check with your friends if they’ve ever been to a gospel church and see how lively the energy was in there.
Often times the best things in life are those that are least advertised. Mathew 7:14 from the New International Version says “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
