Simple truth requires us to state that A. B. Simpson does not rate high as a writer of hymns. The effort on the part of some of his admirers to place him along with Watts and Wesley is simply absurd. A hymn, to be great—to be a hymn at all—must meet certain simple requirements. 1.… Continue Reading
Compare the Christian reading matter and you’ll know that we’re in pretty much the same situation. The Germans, the Scots, the Irish, the Welsh, the English, the Americans and the Canadians all have a common Protestant heritage. And what did they read, these Protestant forebears of yours and mine? Well, they read Doddridge’s The Rise… Continue Reading
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us” (Revelation 5:9)—that’s the theme of the new song. The theme of the new song isn’t “I am”; it’s “Thou art.” Notice the difference! When you look at the old hymnody of Wesley, Montgomery and… Continue Reading
We can come and sing hymns in this church and only enjoy the dignity of the music as a relief from rock’n’roll. (Sermon, “Doctrine of the Remnant,” Chicago, 1957) —Tozer on Worship and Entertainment Just as the book of Psalms is a lyric commentary on the Old Testament, set to the music of warm personal… Continue Reading
The question of numbers and their relation to success or failure in the work of the Lord is one that disturbs most Christians more than a little. On the question there are two opposing schools of thought. There are Christians, for instance, who dismiss the whole matter as being beneath them. These correspond to the… Continue Reading
The created world is to be prized for its usefulness, loved for its beauty and esteemed as the gift of God to His children. Love of natural beauty which has been the source of so much pure music, poetry and art is a good and desirable thing. Though the unregenerate soul is likely to enjoy… Continue Reading
Over the last few years the world has gone on to woo the Church (about like water woos a duck!) and has won her heart and hand in what seems to be a case of true love. The honeymoon is still on and the church is now the pampered bride of the world. And what… Continue Reading
Religious music has long ago fallen victim to this weak and twisted philosophy of godliness. Good hymnody has been betrayed and subverted by noisy, uncouth persons who have too long operated under the immunity afforded them by the timidity of the saints. The tragic result is that for one entire generation we have been rearing… Continue Reading
MUSIC. There is about music a subtle charm that no normal person can resist. It works to condition the mind and prepare it for the reception of ideas, moral and immoral, which in turn prepare the will to act either in righteousness or in sin. The notion that music and song are merely for amusement… Continue Reading
A.W. Tozer is found in places where he probably wouldn’t have been invited to preach. His books will be found on the shelves of the charismatic church and the conservative, the Reformed and the Wesleyan, the fundamentalist and the seeker-sensitive. Tozer’s writings were of such penetrating clarity that they resonate with people of very different… Continue Reading
We have studied some statements by Shai Linne and boiled them down to four propositions. 1) Rap is a medium. 2) Media are morally neutral until informed by content. 3) Christ’s act of redemption means that even media formerly used for evil can now be used for God’s glory. 4) This is what Shai Linne… Continue Reading
In Shai Linne’s statements, we identified four propositions: 1) Rap is a medium. 2) Media are morally neutral until informed by content. 3) Christ’s act of redemption means that even media formerly used for evil can now be used for God’s glory. 4) This is what Shai Linne is doing with rap. Last post, we… Continue Reading
The following abridged discussion took place here. Credo Mag: In the past you have been criticized for redeeming such a “depraved genre” as hip-hop. What is your response to this criticism? Shai Linne: Arguments against “depraved genres” are ultimately arguments against redemption itself, because depraved genres are the products of depraved human beings- who need… Continue Reading
Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible”, describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”: make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words… Continue Reading
Leviticus 14:21-22 But if he is poor and cannot afford it, then he shall take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, 22 “and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he… Continue Reading
It is probably impossible to think without words, but if we permit ourselves to think with the wrong words, we shall soon be entertaining erroneous thoughts; for words, which are given us for the expression of thought, have a habit of going beyond their proper bounds and determining the content of thought. “As nothing is… Continue Reading
This is a brief series recommending good, conservative sacred music recordings. I began the series with several introductory remarks and a list of good albums of choral hymns and anthems. Last week I suggested several albums of Psalms sung in English. This final installment will list some different instrumental recordings of hymns. My list, again, is not… Continue Reading
I’m writing a brief series recommending different recordings of excellent sacred music in English. Last time I introduced several thoughts and recommended more than a dozen recordings of hymns and anthems. Today I want to recommend a handful of choral recordings of the Psalms in English. Again, my list will not be exhaustive, and I… Continue Reading
I am frequently asked, “What do you listen to?” when folks find out how conservative I am.1 I do believe that we ought to be very discriminate in what we listen to, for this drives our appetites for what is sung and played in corporate worship. Indeed, I consider it nothing less than scandalous that… Continue Reading
If Timothy Dudley-Smith is known to Protestants in the United States, it is more likely as the biographer of theologian John Stott than as a poet. In nations more greatly influenced by Anglicanism, however, he is renowned as a hymnist who has written many excellent texts. Dudley-Smith has stated in various that, although he had… Continue Reading