Anyhow, a few years ago I discovered a band called the birthday massacre-not a pleasant name but one song in particular 'happy birthday' I really liked. I can't explain it but the guitars, synths, the whole feel it was just so attractive and felt really good to listen to. They're an electronic gothic rock band (anyone know the band 'the cure? similarish to them) and I felt years ago that the song was the best song I ever listened to in my life . I stopped listening to them for a while but recently have been listening to them again-literally there now. My main issue is this, I really like the song or at least it really likes me, however I feel that the band is like new age and I don't know what they believe but their songs are definitely 'mystical' sort of like spooky fantasy stuff that I do believe is wrong but I don't FEEL convicted fully that it's wrong to listen to this. Heck one of their songs is called superstition, the type of imagery that they use on their album covers are things like skeletons, forests, blood, bunny rabbits (yes lol) If you feel comfortable you can look them up.
There's only one reason you're not feeling the conviction of the Spirit about the godless, anti-Christ music you're listening to: You've quenched the Spirit and seared your conscience. Others might contend that you don't feel convicted because there is nothing about which to feel convicted, but the character of the music you've described doesn't support this view. There isn't a spiritual No-Man's Land, some kind of spiritual and moral neutral ground, between the World, the Flesh and the devil and God in which you can live. Jesus was very blunt about this:
Matthew 12:30
30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
If the music you're listening to isn't for Christ (I mean particularly music
with lyrics), then it is against him. And if it is against him, - whether or not you feel convicted about listening to it - as a child of God you're obliged to forsake it. Will you be for Christ, for your Saviour and Lord, or against him? Making a practice of embracing the things of the World - its values, ethics, philosophies, morality (or lack thereof) - makes you an
enemy of God, a kind of spiritual adulterer, actually, and cuts you off from the joyful fellowship with Him for which you were made.
James 4:4
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Colossians 2:8
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
Music is perhaps the most powerful medium through which ideas can be expressed. Music touches us on a level beyond the merely intellectual, often evoking a very visceral and strongly emotional response from us, which, when coupled to lyrics of a godless, worldly, fleshly sort can influence us with great potency. So, be very careful about the music you listen to!
What do I do? Why am I drawn to this music? I'm worried but feel numb about this at the same time. My grandmother thankfully warned me about the occult and black magic which I've never dabbled in but why do I like music that seems to think this ok or seems to somehow represent fascination with this? (apologies also about my grammar it's just rubbish)
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
19 Do not quench the Spirit;
The idea in the word "quench" here is that of "extinguish," like putting out a fire with water. We can act to put out the influence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. How?
1.) By neglecting to put "fuel" in the "fire" of our walk with God.
If you don't feed a fire the fuel it needs in order to burn, it will shortly go out. Are you neglecting things between you and God? Could your choice of music point to neglect of your relationship with God? How often and how much do you invest your time, energy and money (your "treasure") in your walk with God? Are you feeding lots of "fuel" into your relationship with God?
Matthew 6:21
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
2.) By "throwing water" on the "fire" of our fellowship with God.
We do this by allowing spiritual and moral compromise into our lives, by neglecting to be holy, set-apart children of God. And when we do, we halt the intimate communion with God that we were made to have with Him. (
Psalms 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; 1 Peter 3:10-12) Does your choice of music and the lack of conviction about listening to it illustrate broken fellowship between you and God?
3.) By "smothering" the "fire" of the work of the Spirit within us.
This isn't necessarily actively engaging in sin but, rather, taking on the "weights" that bog us down spiritually. (
Hebrews 12:1) These are things that aren't strictly sinful but have the effect of creating "drag" on our lives spiritually. They distract us from spiritual endeavors, and diffuse our interest and energy in our walk with God, and stifle our enthusiasm for the things of God. Often, the problem is one of proportion. Things that are perfectly all right in moderation are allowed to expand too much in our lives, competing with God for our hearts. Friends, fashion, hobbies, gaming, sports, alcohol, career, possessions - almost anything, really, that expands to such a degree in our lives that it smothers our walk with God, hindering us from running well the "race that is set before us" for the "prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (
Philippians 3:14; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
Is your choice of Goth music a symptom of having quenched the Spirit in your life?
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
James 4:17
17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Along with quenching the Spirit, we always at the same time sear our conscience. That is, we blunt it, making it far less sensitive, scarring it as we ignore and deny it, eventually making our conscience entirely useless as an inner moral guide. This happens usually in tandem with adopting lies about right and wrong, about what is and isn't acceptable to God, mixing the World into our faith, compromising the holy, set-apart life to which God calls us with a bit of wallowing in the activities, and philosophies, and values of the World. The more we do this, the more scarred and bent our conscience becomes and the less guilt and shame we feel when we act contrary to the will and way of God. We can, in time, grow hardened into this condition, unable to live any other way.
Hebrews 3:13
13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.