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How God Speaks Through Music
By Praying Medic
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into
words and that which cannot remain silent.”
~ Victor Hugo
~ Victor Hugo
I have
a friend named Todd Adams, who is a percussionist.
He’s
been hearing God speak through music for decades.
Todd is
part of a worship band but the kind of music the band plays is like nothing
I’ve ever heard.
They
don’t play hymns or even what can be referred to as “songs” with lyrics.
Elisabeth
Cooper is the band’s leader. She plays keyboard and guitar. Her husband
Daniel plays drums.
Todd
plays everything from wind chimes and flute to djembe and occasionally employs
an aboriginal form of throat singing that’s impossible to describe.
I had
an opportunity to spend a weekend with the band at The Gathering a
few years ago.
Todd’s
goal with his percussion is to hear the sounds that are coming from heaven and
play them to the best of his ability.
The
rhythms he hears are seldom the same and they’re subject to change at any time.
Sometimes
what he hears can only be described as the heartbeat of God. He senses the beat
and plays it on his drum.
He
senses other sounds in the heavens and adds them as they are heard.
The
sounds he hears coming from heaven are very diverse, which is why he sits in a
cage lined with a vast array of odd instruments that he’s collected over the
years.
Each
instrument emits a sound similar to one he hears coming from heaven.
Elisabeth
also listens for the sounds she hears coming from heaven.
Whatever
melodies and rhythms she hears—she plays.
She
also hears the voice of the Holy Spirit and sings whatever she hears Him
speaking.
The
messages she sings can be about almost anything.
For
this reason, there are no lyrics to help the audience sing along.
But
those who are able to sense the same sounds in the spirit often join in.
The
weekend I was with the band, there happened to be many people in the audience
who suffered from conditions such as dissociative identity disorder and
bi-polar disorder.
During
the first session, the percussion seemed to create an atmosphere that attracted
angels and I sensed an increasing angelic presence in the room throughout the
evening.
Elisabeth
began making declarations about freedom from emotional bondage and about things
from the past that were holding people back.
I
watched as about half the audience went to the floor and over the next 90
minutes, the Holy Spirit took many of my friends through a process of emotional
healing.
Todd
drives a public transit bus for those with physical handicaps.
As a
way to help fund his mission trips, he recorded a couple of CDs.
One day
he played a track from one of his CDs on his bus route and asked one of the
riders to listen to it.
Todd
had originally composed it as a song of mourning for the death of a dear
friend.
The bus
rider loved the music so much he bought the CD.
Months
later, he confessed that the medications he was taking didn’t relieve his
chronic pain but when he played the track, it somehow eased his pain.
Todd’s
music became part of his regimen for pain management.
Here’s
another way in which God speaks through music:
Millions
of people over the last few centuries have heard of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Yet in
his day, Bach was virtually unknown outside of the German towns where he
quietly lived and worked.
Bach
never sought fame or fortune. He was employed for most of his career by small
churches and lived in relative obscurity.
Bach said, “Music’s only
purpose should be the glory of God and the recreation of the human spirit.”
Music,
according to Bach, was given to glorify God and to edify us.
You
would have to look hard to find anyone who gave more joy to the world than
Bach.
More
than 250 years after his death, Bach’s music still lifts the heart and
energizes the soul.
Bach’s
influence on cultures around the world has been impressive, particularly in
Japan where less than one percent of the population are Christians.
The
beauty of Bach’s music and gospel-centered lyrics have created a spiritual
awakening where Japanese citizens are exploring the person of Jesus.
Christianity
has never been widely embraced by the people of Japan.
In the
18th century, European traders and missionaries came to the island and had
mixed success; commerce did well, but the gospel was largely rejected.
But
Japan embraced the music of Western culture and in particular - the music of
Bach.
His
popularity is so great today that classes at the Felix Mendelssohn Academy in
Bach’s hometown of Leipzig, Germany are filled with Japanese students.
These
students are learning about more than just Bach’s music. They’re learning about
the Spirit of God that moved him to write.
A
Japanese Christian conductor named Masaaki Suzuki said:
“Bach works as a missionary
among our people. After each concert, people crowd the podium wishing to talk
to me about topics that are normally taboo in our society - death, for example.
“Then they inevitably ask me
what ‘hope’ means to Christians. I believe that Bach has already converted tens
of thousands of Japanese to the Christian faith.
“A Japanese musicologist named
Keisuke traveled all the way to Bach’s home church in Germany to study the
biblical basis for Bach’s cantatas.
“He ended up seeking out a
pastor and asking, ‘It is not enough to read Christian texts. I want to be a
Christian myself. Please baptize me.’
“Another Japanese musician, a
female organist and former Buddhist named Yoko, said, ‘Bach introduced me to
God, Jesus, and Christianity. When I play a fugue, I can hear Bach talking to
God.'”
This is an excerpt from my book Hearing God’s Voice Made Simple. Click on the link or the image
below to learn more.
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