TheeSoulFuel Podcast
Welcome to your essential pitstop, where your soul gets the fuel it needs for life’s journey. In Christ, faith is the vehicle steering us through every twist and turn. Join us as we dive into real conversations about real-life challenges, all viewed through the lens of scripture. Don’t leave empty—come and be filled with the wisdom, strength, and grace to keep going.
TheeSoulFuel Podcast
The Spirituality in Sound
Should Christians listen to secular music like Beyoncé? Pastor Willie Robbins, III, aka Pastor Will, takes us through this contentious debate, weighing the spiritual impact of secular tunes on believers. He doesn't dictate but rather guides us to reflect on whether our music choices glorify Jesus and nurture our souls. Is your playlist aligned with a Christ-like lifestyle? We're providing a thoughtful exploration, incorporating scientific research on music therapy to highlight how music influences our emotions and stress levels.
Tune in to gain insights that bridge faith, science, and the undeniable influence of music on our lives. #Faith #Secular #Christian #Jesus #worldly
Is it all right for believers to be an all-out Beyonce fan? Is it Christ-like to be a part of the Beehive? Is it Christ-like to be a fan of the music of people who put out messages that is unhealthy for our souls? Is that okay?
Speaker 2:I can't look at life from my old views Cause it hurts too much to walk in my old shoes. The word of God is my go-to when I go through the valley of shadow or death. Holy Ghost move. Need him to flow through this nostalgic soul tune to let you know don't just go through, but grow too. So many things he gotta show you as he produce fruit of the Spirit. So be fueled by the SoulFuel.
Speaker 1:What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the spirit. So be filled by the soul fuel. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to another episode of the soul fuel podcast, the pit stop for your soul to be fueled for your journey in life. Doing it with christ. I'm your host.
Speaker 1:Willie robbins, the third aka pastor, will we're getting ready to talk about something that really chaps my lips. It it really does. It kind of burns me up because I believe there is a standard when it comes to this one particular thing and the question that plagues many and some have asked me before on other lives and statements that I've made concerning this Is it okay, is it okay for true believers in Christ to listen to secular music? Can a true believer who lives a lifestyle of worship and has a behavior of holiness and walks by the Spirit, can these people, can we, listen to secular music? Is it all right for believers to be an all-out Beyonce fan? Is it Christ-like to be a part of the Beehive? Is it Christ-like to be a fan of the music of people who put out messages that is unhealthy for our souls? Is that okay? Let's get into it. I just want to say you can listen to whatever you want to listen to.
Speaker 1:As a pastor, as a teacher of the word of God, I do not tell anybody what they can and can't listen to. I can make a suggestion, but I can't tell you what to and what not to listen to. I don't know if it really says if you're safe or not. I don't know if it determines if you're safe or not. I think I said that twice, but it's okay. I don't know if it determines if you're saved or not. I think I said that twice, but it's okay, I'll say it again. I don't know if listening to secular music would determine if you're saved or not.
Speaker 1:I believe it is your actions that are closely associated with the music that you listen to and what is in your heart. I think the question becomes would Jesus be glorified by the music that you listen to? Would Jesus nod his head and commend the artists who sing these songs that are essentially and we know this just by the content of the work, we know it does not benefit the soul to help us walk up right before the Lord. It is simply a sound that pleases the flesh. I believe that it's the beat that gets you into the mood to receive what the message is of the song. We'll get into some scripture in just a second, but I just want to talk about this scientifically, to look at some stuff that I found in clinical research not my clinical research.
Speaker 1:It says that studies have shown that music therapy can be effective in managing emotions and reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. For example, a 2017 meta-analysis found that music therapy had a significant effect on improving mood and reducing anxiety in clinical settings. Music can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, which helps in emotion regulation, so it helps control your emotion. Listen to this. Research has consistently demonstrated that listening to music, particularly slow tempo and low pitch music, can reduce stress and lower cortisol levels, and low-pitched music can reduce stress and lower cortisol levels the stress hormone. A study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that patients who listened to music before surgery experienced lower levels of anxiety and required less sedative medication.
Speaker 1:Music can activate the parasympathetic the parasympathetic Y'all. If I'm butchering this word, it's okay. I'm not a scientist, I'm not into this stuff like that, but I just thought that this was interesting. Music can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, leading to relaxation and stress reduction. Several studies have explored the most mo. What is the Mozart effect? Well, this suggests that listening to classical music might temporarily enhance spatial temporal reasoning skills. While the effect is debated, other research has shown that background music can improve concentration and memory in specific tasks. Concentration and memory in specific tasks, particularly in people with neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD. Music, particularly classical music or music without lyrics, can enhance cognitive performance in certain tasks by improving focus and reducing distractions. Even music being implemented in pain management Music therapy has been used as an adjunct treatment for pain management in various clinical settings, including post-operative care.
Speaker 1:It showed that patients who listened to music after surgery reported lower pain levels and required less pain medication. Music can stimulate the brain's reward system, leading to the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers. Endorphins are natural painkillers. What about social behavior? How does music affect the social behavior? This is important. This is a good one.
Speaker 1:Music has been shown to promote social bonding and cooperation. We see this in church, we see this at concerts, we see this in clubs. We witness this everywhere. They play music, and the type of music also matters and the messaging within the music also matters. In the music also matters, the music that has been shown to promote social bonding and cooperation. A study published in Nature Neuroscience found that group singing and music making activities can enhance feelings of social connectedness and cooperation. Music synchronizes brainwaves and promotes the release of oxytocin, a hormone associated with social bonding. Yo, I've got. I've got a couple more. I got a couple more here.
Speaker 1:Music therapy has been found to be beneficial for patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Studies have shown that music can improve cognitive function, mood and quality of life. In patients with dementia, music can stimulate brain areas related to memory, often bringing back long forgotten memories and improving emotional well-being. I don't suffer from Alzheimer's, and a lot of you who are listening probably don't either, but one thing we can say for sure is that when we hear certain songs, they take us back to the place of where we were when we first heard it or when we used to listen to it. I've said it many times how music has the ability to conjure memories, which can be problematic. It can be problematic because if you forget to forget the bad of your past or the sins of your past, I believe that music can conjure up that emotion that you will begin to relive. Whether it be for a short period of time, it comes to the front of your brain Because we use things that we've been through in certain moments where it would serve us well or benefit us. And there are other times where some people conjure up these thoughts and they can't even shake it. They can't even shake it, bringing up those bad memories, and we can talk about that because, again, that is all spiritual, that is all where you choose to put your trust and where you choose for your mind to go. But again, music can stimulate brain areas related to memory, often bringing back long forgotten memories and improving emotional well-being, things that you did not remember.
Speaker 1:There's a song by Phil Collins called You'll Be In my Heart. It was on the Tarzan soundtrack 1999. I'll never forget it, but every time I hear that song I'm reminded of Metro West Elementary School in Orlando, florida. I'm associated with that because we learned that song in music class. But all in all, out of all of these things, the findings demonstrate the broad impact of music on various aspects of health and well-being and they support the use of music as a therapeutic tool in clinical settings.
Speaker 1:Now, always thought about this if music wasn't important, as I've had this conversation with other believers before how they some who are in opposition who say, oh, you can listen to whatever you want, or they still listen to secular music, they still listen to today's artists. Um, they have always said that you know, you know, it doesn't matter what you listen to, you know we're saved by grace and all of these things, and that's very well true. But it caused me to go down a thought process of thinking about how powerful music really is. We just read a little bit about it, right, some things that I've jotted down, and I was really, really, really, really okay. If it's okay to listen to whatever we want and it not affect us, then we are okay.
Speaker 1:It's almost the same as watching a movie, right? Well, I think it's a little bit different, because we're not consuming movies to live it out or for it to make us feel good. We like movies and we have favorite movies because movies can also minister to people in whatever way. It could be evil, it could be good, but it can right, but it's not something that we can just make a part of our lifestyle, as music tends to do. Music tends to speak on and glorify certain things. Thinking about this and the reason why I brought up movies anyway, as a filmmaker and, as a musician, movies would be so different if they did not have a soundtrack, if they did not have a score right.
Speaker 1:The role of music in a movie is to evoke an emotion, to get a rise out of the viewer and enhance a moment. That's already happening. You know love scenes that we see in a movie of two people being intimate. They often are paired with passion type music. Sometimes it's a score, sometimes it's what they call in television, in narrative television, needle dropping music. Music in movies help elevate a moment, to help you feel right, to to you know the, to make you sit in joy, fear, sadness or excitement. Right. It takes the right musical score to make a powerful scene, powerful scene, even more impactful. Think about that. Think about that.
Speaker 1:And I believe a lot of people like certain songs because they somewhat identify with it. They say I don't know what it is, it's listen. Let me say this it's always spiritual. It's always spiritual. If you can identify with the song, then it's it. It's spiritual, it's something, there's something in you. But you have to ask yourself. You can do the work, ask yourself what is it about me that likes this song?
Speaker 1:What's another reason why movies use music? For characterization. They use music for characterization and it's necessary because it helps you through by the song choice. It helps you understand the motives of a character and what they're willing to do. It helps you understand. So music can also be thematic. Music can also be signaling, it can be foreshadowing. Right, there is cultural context and setting. Music helps to situate the story within a particular cultural or historical context mood transitions, symbolism, thematic reinforcement, that same score that we heard in the beginning. I'll tell you a movie that does it well beverly hills cop.
Speaker 1:There is a theme. So if you watch that movie you'll hear that same theme in different, in different moods. Right, you hear it as as a, you know, you hear it fast, as it is in the opening credits, and then you hear it in a, in a, in a, in a very, uh, sadistic way or a very thrilling way. Uh, same notes might be a different instrument, but it's playing the same theme. Right, we even saw from jordan peele's us, the movie us. He had the theme of lunes, I got five on. They took that and they combined it with the elements of orchestral cinematic trailer music and even when you watch that, it invokes an emotion because we're used to hearing it as a hip hop sample or as a hip hop record, but the way they use it was so sadistic, it was so creepy. It made it creepy, it made us think about it in a different way, especially when you think of the context of the film.
Speaker 1:I just want to give a couple of scriptures to speak to the science behind some of this, because, again, I say it's all spiritual and I still say that, hey, I'm not the person to tell you what you can and cannot listen to. I can only tell my children what they can and cannot listen to. You are not my children, you are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and some who may come across as that is not a believer. I want everybody to take something from this that all kinds of music that has a message that is not glorifying God and not being beneficial to the average man, we shouldn't consume it. We shouldn't consume it.
Speaker 1:We see it a couple times in Scripture where it is said that when we speak to one another, we should we should use psalms and hymns and songs from the spirit. According to Ephesians, chapter five, verse 19, sing and make music from your heart to the Lord. This verse is highlighting how music is used to praise God and encourage one another in faith. That's why we have some of the songs that we have right. Psalms 150, verses one through six, says praise the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and leer. Praise him with the timbrel and dancing. Praise him with the strings and pipe. Praise him with the clash of cymbals. Praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1:Music from this text is saying that we use music to glorify God. We use music to worship him. Right, because true praise comes out of worship, because worship is a lifestyle. It's not a kind of music. It's not a type of music. Music is a part of how we should be honoring God. Music is indeed a source of comfort and healing. And the reason why I can say this is because you know, science said it, science said it, the research showed the science is only mankind measuring. It's only mankind measuring what god did, what god allows, how the spiritual realm works. Music speaks to the mind, music speaks to the, speaks to the heart, music speaks to the soul. Yes, even music without words. The right chords, the right major chords. The right major chords has the ability to make you feel good. The right minor chords has a way to make you feel angry.
Speaker 1:1 Samuel 16, verse 23,. Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, david would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul, he would feel better and the evil spirit would leave him. This is when the Lord allowed an evil spirit to torment Saul and I believe that the Lord allowed this to happen number one, so that David could do it. So David had an opportunity to do what he did in playing the harp or playing the lyre. But I also believe that this is there to show us that music has the power to control emotion. It has the power to influence emotion Again, because this verse is illustrating the soothing and healing power of music, is illustrating the soothing and healing power of music. As David plays the lyre. It brings relief to King Saul's attitude or grief or whatever he was feeling from this evil spirit.
Speaker 1:Music that was played from a worshiper. I think it's important to look at the heart of the person playing as well, because the heart of the author always follows his work and David being a true worshiper David really being anointed for the task that he was about to do. This was setting him up. The Lord put him in position to play so that he could end up on the field eventually fighting Goliath.
Speaker 1:There's even music involved in spiritual warfare. Second Chronicles, chapter 20, verse 21 through 22. After consulting the people, jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army saying give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever. As they begin to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. So here is another passage showing us how music and praises that played a role in spiritual warfare leading to a miraculous victory. Is that to say that you could turn up some heavenly music or you could sing your way out of a physical battle? Probably not, but it's just showing you that music has power in spiritual warfare.
Speaker 1:So when you are battling and going through your circumstances of life, you've got to be careful what music you put on, because even not even all gospel music is safe to listen to when you're going through it. Number one. The best thing to do is to talk to the lord, and sometimes talking to the lord is just giving him. It's just giving him thanks. It's thanksgiving, praying, rejoicing in your current circumstance before you turn on music. That that, that is. That should be your solution all the time. That should be your solution all the time. That should be your first go-to all the time, and then maybe your second solution is putting on some music. That's going to help you a little bit more. But it matters what kind of music you're putting on, though, because if you put on music that is a message that is degrading or music that is aggressive, it's, it's, that's gonna.
Speaker 1:You may say, oh, that helps me, though, but it's really not, because eventually, your heart is going to be shown, even if you don't act on it. The lord already knows your heart before you begin to open your mouth. Who can know the heart? The lord knows the heart. So you have to be careful in the kind of music that you're listening to. Even james mentions it in.
Speaker 1:In james, chapter 5, verse 13 is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Do you see what I just said? What I just said.
Speaker 1:I just said your first solution should be prayer, hello somebody, and after you have prayed, after you have made your request known unto God or just by giving him thanks, then you can put on some music, but it must be music that glorifies the Lord. This is why, I say again, you can listen to whatever you want to listen, to go right ahead, but I guarantee you, I'm telling you as a fact being sure, that even though you can listen to it, it's not going to do anything but harm you at the end of the day. It's not going to do anything but harm you at the end of the day. It's not going to do anything but harm you. The connection between emotions and music is evident. It is You've heard music, you've listened to music, and there has been music that have made you cry even harder than you were crying before you even listened to it. Why?
Speaker 2:Because it's so beautiful, it's just the words, they just really listen to it. Why? Because it's so beautiful, it's just the words, they just really speak to me. I just the part when he gets to that, oh my God, it's just. Oh, I just, I lost it.
Speaker 1:You lose it because the music has softened you, whether it be anger, a memory of someone that has passed away, it's conjuring something and even in music, in the movies, as we talked about, it's conjuring the emotion and the feeling that they want you to feel, even music in times of sorrow, as I was speaking on Psalm 42, verse 8. By day the Lord directs his love. At night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. Do I need to go on? I'm going to give y'all one more. Colossians, chapter 3, verse 16. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit Singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Musically, music, especially when centered on the message of Jesus, is seen as a powerful influence that can teach, admonish and fill the heart with gratitude. These scriptures are underscoring the answer that I gave you in the very beginning. It's underscoring a yes that you can listen to whatever you want to listen to, but it's also telling us blatantly clear, plain as day, that any message that is not of Christ is not going to benefit you, because secular music pleases the flesh and we understand that a mind that is governed by the flesh, a mind that is saying that, hey, I need to listen to this Because this song is going to, this song is going to, this song is going to. To listen to this because this song is going to, this song is going to, this song is going to. We got to also be careful that, even though we may be listening to Christian songs and gospel songs gospel, christian-centered, inspirational songs that they cannot replace the Word of God. Music cannot replace the Word of God, but if we're going to listen to it, we got to make sure that it's beneficial for our souls.
Speaker 1:Listen, that's all I got for you today. There's so much more coming. I got so many more episodes that are coming. I hope that you I pray that you got something from it. Do me a favor share this with somebody that you know and love. When it comes to, you might have had this debate or conversation with somebody. Send this to them, let them rest on this. Take down the scriptures, go back, listen to it, take down the scriptures that I've given and reflect on it. This is the Soul Fuel Podcast the pit stop for your soul to be fueled up for your journey in life as we do it with Christ. I'm your host, willie Robbins III, aka Pastor Will. I hope to see you next time, peace.
