Kyle Berg

I left church early Saturday night, and I never leave church early. Something has been bothering me for quite some time and tonight it was getting the best of me the whole service. Finally, I just couldn’t take it any more. Whether in North or South America, the Charismatic branch of the Christian faith has a predicament on its hands. The difficulty is most of its members don’t even realize something has gone awry. The problem is one with two symbiotic parts.

First of all, many of our churches try to “create” the presence of God. Our God is loving and wants to be with us. So, when a group of people congregate to praise and speak about what He’s done, his presence comes. I readily welcome this and dearly miss it at times when visiting some other churches. What I detest is what I see as a manipulation of the people within the congregation by either a pastor and/or music leader that has center stage and a microphone all to themselves.

There is this pervading sense that if we sing the right song at precisely the right moment, the power of the Holy Spirit will descend. What infuriated me was when I saw the pastor put the microphone in his armpit and flash 10 fingers and then 8 fingers, 18 in total, to the sound booth. This meant he wanted them to play track 18 of some cd. About 10 seconds later, this violin, Benny Hinn-style music comes on, totally out of place and unnatural. Other times, he will walk over to the music leader and say something during a song. The leader subsequently turns to the other musicians and instructs them. It’s obvious the pastor has quarterbacked a musical audible in order to send the service in a certain direction. The reason they do this is because people react to it! During a slow, emotional song, more people will cry than normal. During a fast song, more people will jump up and down or work themselves into a frenzy.

At ORU, several examples of music being used to solicit a reaction from the student body come to mind. In chapel, without fail, whenever the preacher got toward the end of the sermon, the pianist would walk up to the keyboard and began to play something smooth and “heavenly.” Shortly thereafter, the speaker would begin their invitation, often begging students to react in a given manner. At other times, there was an attitude that we couldn’t pray, have a meeting, or do a project without having sung first. In one class that met once a week for 2 hours, we sang for 30 minutes of that time. Supposedly this was to invite the presence of God. (One of my friends from Sweden protested because it was an academic setting and believed the time should be used for academic study. I couldn’t have agreed more). I also remember going on Saturday morning service projects in a poor area of Tulsa. On our one day to sleep in, many people willingly got up at 8 a.m. to arrive in North Tulsa by 8:45 or so. Once there, we would sing with cd music for 1-2 hours! Again, this was supposedly necessary to better love and care for the people of the neighborhood.

There is power in music and I love singing and worshiping God just as much as any other Christian. What frustrates me more than anything is the arrogance of the attitude of trying to direct a service week in and week out via music. It angers me that we make a mockery of God by thinking we can control his visitation with music. Music is vital, but we can still have a meeting, pray, or meet with God without it. Look back at the history of the church. We’ve had recorded Christian music via the CD, cassette tape, or record for how long? 30-40 years? The church has always had music or at least the option of singing acapella. But I find it impossible to imagine Peter, Paul, Martin Luther, or Jonathan Edwards needing music to call people to repentance or a stronger commitment. Many times, we’re controlling the emotions of people while God may or may not actually be present.