Congregational Singing
"Now what Saint Augustine says is true, that no one is able to sing things worthy of God unless he has received them from Him. Wherefore, when we have looked thoroughly everywhere and searched high and low, we shall find no better songs nor more appropriate to the purpose than the Psalms of David which the Holy Spirit made and spoke through him.
And furthermore, when we sing them, we are certain that God puts the words in our mouths,
as if He Himself were singing in us to exalt His glory." (Geneva Psaltery, 1543, 214)
Here is a direct command from Peter who claimed that the Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophets:
If any man speak,
......let him speak as the oracles of God;if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth:
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 1Pe.4:11
This defines the "singing" passages:
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
...... singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Eph 5:1916. Now, Paul's thought here is that nothing should be taught and practiced in the Church
...... but what is unquestionably God's Word.
...... It will not do to introduce or perform anything whateverupon the strength of man's judgment. Man's achievements, man's reasoning and power, are of no avail save in so far as they come from God.
As Peter says in his first epistle (ch. 4:11): "If any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God;
...... if any man ministereth, ministering as of the strength which God supplieth."In short, let him who would be wise, who would boast of great skill, talents and power,
...... confine himself to things other than spiritual;with respect to spiritual matters, let him keep his place and [PAGE 230] refrain from boasting and pretense.
For it is of no moment that men observe your greatness and ability; the important thing is that poor souls may rest assured of being presented with God's Word and works, whereby they may be saved.
"Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
Your "talent" or "gift" only has value in MINISTERING or serving others. You cannot MINISTER by speaking your own fill in the blanks sermons; you cannot MINISTER by singing your own songs without REPUDIATING both Christ and His Word.
If you have the talent of MUSIC then there are ways to minister to people but your TALENT has no place in speaking the Words of God. Peter will say that this is because the Word is inspired, recorded and if you allow human talent you open the door to FALSE PROPHETS. As proof of this, note that there are no gifts assigned to either singers or musicians in the Word of God.
Paul said the same thing: the only way to eleminate the discord of Romans 14 is to GLORIFY GOD with ONE VOICE as we speak "things written aforetime" and were "written for our learning:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: Romans 15:5
That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:6
You assuredly cannot glorify God with one voice when the TEAM sings their own shallow songs.
You cannot "prophesy" by speaking the oracles of God.
You sow discord and cannot TEACH that which is written and therefore repudiate the Words of Christ.
Even Jesus proved His SONSHIP by speaking only what He heard from the FATHER. Therefore, not even spiritually gifted speakers have the authority to do anything more than "teach the word as it has been taught" and he can thereby "prophesy" only if he can say "thus saith the Lord." The oracles of God is that which has been revealed:
This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers:
...... who received the lively oracles to give unto us: Ac.7:38
Since there is no MUSIC word connected with spiritual worship in either the Old or New Testament, Paul insisted that "singing" is speaking and wen we speak he insists that we speak the Word of Christ (the Spirit Jn 6:63) and uses the same SPEAK word. Therefore, if we are to speak as the oracles of God when we sing then here is how Paul commands that it be done:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
...... teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
...... ...... singing with grace
...... ...... in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16
The seven "spirits" which would REST upon Messiah were all related to the wisdom and knowledge of and from God:
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isa 11:2
Unless the "praise team's compositions" are superior to that revealed by the Spirit of Christ then they are neither psalms, hymns or spiritual songs (all inspired by God) and are therefore not conducive to "wisdom" but solely for entertainment.
This is what Christ would do as he "sings to the Gentiles" as evangelism. When we sing our own songs as "scripture" we shut Christ's mouth and He sends strong delusions that we believe a lie and are damned.
First, only God can prescribe WORDS suitable for mortals to use to communite with an Infinite Deity.
Second, that is the direct command of Paul.
Third, that was the historical practice.
Fourth, it is still a practice followed by many religious groups.
Fifth, Both Peter and Paul warn that when you don't "teach that which has been taught" you INVITE false teachers to fill in for God.
Catholic Encyclopedia on Congregational singing.
If we want to evaluate modern secular "church" singing against the Biblical direct commands to "speak" or "preach" the inspired Words of the Bible one to another, we must understand some Biblical terms. While the MUSIC word is never used of spiritual worship in the entire Bible, some words are misused to introduce MUSIC as a method of worshiping a Spirit God.
While these words are not "defined" in the Bible, the use to which they are put gives no hint of a MUSICAL component which would be antithetical to the direct command to TEACH and ADMONISH.
To understand the modern extreme, it gains nothing to test it by what we have traditionally done but is now being challenged by something a bit--but not much--more modern with the "musical worship team" presenting itself as a pattern or IDOL of what "worship" should look like if performed by "experts."
Therefore, it is important to understand what Paul had in mind when he issued the direct commands, and Jesus exampled when He "sang a hymn and went out."
In the Bible we see psalmody and "music" or minstrelry:
If you look up the word tragoudi on the internet you will find the same kind of music as our secular songs or country wester.
Tragedy gets its name from "tragos" (goat) and "oda," therefore, 'goat-song'. "That is smelly like a goat," states Dante. He says that they differ in their way of speaking. "The tragedy is elevated and sublime, the comedy loose and humble."
Apollo (Abaddon, Apollyon) is the inventor of this form of musical harmony and the father of liars and thieves:
Her. Very true.
is rightly called aipolos (goat-herd), he being the two-formed son of Hermes, smooth in his upper part,
...... and rough and goatlike in his lower regions.And, as the son of Hermes, he is speech or the brother of speech, and that brother should be like brother is no marvel. But, as I was saying, my dear Hermogenes, let us get away from the Gods.
If you look up the word psalmodia you will find the Greek chant. While this chanting has taken on technical forms, originally it meant no more than the READER reading a Psalm with a notation inherent in the Greek language. We would identify no MUSICAL sounds. In the Hebrew it is explained "as a schoolboy reads the hallel."
Click on this link, pick the Psalm and then click on the 
It might be
nice if your members learned the Old Testament fairly well and become
faithful to the direct commands of Paul. I am not recommending the
instrument but this site would help you learn the tunes. And if you
want to RESTORE the "music" then look for a Presbyterian or church of
God and get a copy of the Psaltery. These are paraphrased like any
other translation but you would learn the Biblical Psalms which was
the purpose of the synagoge with no hint of MUSIC or
entertainment.
The Martyrdom arrangement is repetive but gives you the flavor of the old reed organ. The Naomi arrangement is more choral. Remember that when Alexander Campbell published his song book (and began the downward plunge) they only used five tunes. At lest they were not GIVING HEED to the musicology and might be GIVING HEED to the words which is the meaning of "worship."
"The large displacement of the Psalter by other matter of praise in the Protestant Churches during the last one hundred years has been due, not so much to the lack of appreciation of the Psalms, as to the commercial enterprise of music publishers." (Int Std Bible Ency., Psalms, p. 2494B).
However, you are infinitely far removed from a RESTORATION of "music" as long as you are concentrating on "my part" while singing CCM: the red book, or blue book or gold book.
But, you say, "My traditions have existed long enough to be the Word of God."
Then, don't expect the Musical Praise Teams and musicians to give up their "law."
For their opinion is, that the desperate condition of the church makes it vain to attempt remedies, there being no hope of cure;
and they hence conclude that the best course is not to meddle with an evil well fixed.
Those who speak in this way understand not that the restoration of the church is the work of God, and no more depends on the hopes and opinions of men, than the resurrection of the dead, or any other miracle of that description.
Sure, you can even sing about Judas trying to triumph over Jesus (Psalm 41) if you teach them that the TRIUMPH OVER was with the music originally under "the king and the commanders of the army."
You can even sing about dashing little baby's heads out (Psalm 137) if you treat it as a LESSON PLAN to speak the Word of God, but you cannot sing it as MUSIC or "an act of worship."
On the other hand:
Minstrels were like modern religious musicians believing that they have power into the real of the dead:
Auletes (g834) ow-lay-tace'; from 832; a flute- player: - minstrel, piper.
And when Jesus came into the rulers house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, Mt.9:23
This was a Musical Mourning Team directly related to the Marzeah described in Amos 5 and 6 which appeased the "gods" or spirits of the dead (demons).
Jesus tossed them out "more or less violently."
Mousikos (g3451) moo-sik-os'; from Mousa , (a Muse); "musical", i.e. (as noun) a minstrel: - musician
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Re.18:22
This is directly related to the 9 Muses which served Apollo or the Apollyon or Abbydon in Revelation who will be cast out again and use the "locusts" to MARK OUT those with the mark of the Mind of Christ.
New Testament Examples
The resource material Paul defined for SPEAKING or PREACHING with the singing and melody a heart experience, was the Word of Christ or "spirit."
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Ep.4:25
Speaking Truth is:
Aletheuo (g226) al-ayth-yoo'-o; from 227; to be true (in doctrine and profession): - speak (tell) the truth.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit (in the mind) and in truth. John 4:24
Aletheia (g225) al-ay'-thi-a; from 227; truth: - true, truly, truth, verity.
Jesus said that the Jews were sons of their father the devil and therefore liars because "they speak on their on." Therefore, to "sing" secular CCM and claim that it is inspired or spiritually magical is to LIE.
Wherefore be ye not unwise (egotistical, ignorant, lacking understanding as in 1 Cor 14:20),
...... but understanding what the will (what Christ taught) of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:17And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;
...... but be filled with the Spirit; Ephesians 5:18Understanding the will of the Lord is to be filled with the Spirit.
The Will of the Lord is defined as both Spirit and Life by Christ:
For he whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. Jn.3:34
Jesus validated His SONSHIP by speaking only what He heard from the Father or source.
Speaking the Words of God is delivering the Holy Spirit which is the Mind of Christ (1 Cor 2).
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the
...... words that I speak unto you,
...... they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63Speak is:
Laleo (g2980) lal-eh'-o; a prol. form of an otherwise obsol. verb; to talk, i.e. utter words: - preach, say, speak (after), talk, tell, utter. Comp. 3004.
Paul's example:
For I will not dare to speak (g2980) of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed. Ro.15:18
Continuing Paul demanded:
Speaking (g2980) speaking or dialoging) to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Ephesians 5:18
The word "speaking" is the thing that Jesus did when He preached. He did not sing the WORD OF GOD to the listener because He would signal that the words were not important.
When Paul "spoke" he did the same thing. The Jews were blinded at the Musical Idolatry at Mount Sinai and would never be able to SEE or HEAR the Spirit again until they turned from their rituals and turned to Christ and His Words:
> Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Co.3:17
The WORDS of Christ are SPIRIT AND LIFE according to Jesus. And Peter understood that all that is written is by the SPIRIT OF CHRIST.
> Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11
Therefore, the early disciples had many of the Old Testament documents and many of the psalms were "written on the heart." The very purpose of the "singing" task is to LEARN the Word so that we can go out and "SING AND MAKE MELODY IN THE HEART."
John agreed:
> And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev 19:10
Continuing, he shows that the singing and melody are "in the heart." This led Philo and others before and following Christ to insist that singing to God can only be silent (without tongue).
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Ephesians 5:19
Singing is:
Ado (g103) ad'-o; a prim. verb; to sing: - sing.
In heaven (you are not yet there, free from all responsibilities) when they SING they sing the INSPIRED TEXT:
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,
saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Re.15:3
Ode (g5603) o-day'; from 103; a chant or "ode" the gen. term for any words sung; while 5215 denotes espec. a religious metrical composition, and 5568 (PSALMOS) still more specially a Hebrew cantillation): - song.
Cantillation is closer to speaking and quite far removed from modern music.
While the women "sang," Moses as the spokesman for God did not:
And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel: De.31:30
Dabar (h1696) daw-bar'; a prim. root; perh. prop. to arrange; but used fig. (of words) to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue: - answer, appoint, bid, command, commune, declare, destroy, give, name, promise, pronounce, rehearse, say, speak, be spokesman, subdue, talk, teach, tell, think, use [entreaties], utter, * well, * work.
"In the first place, it will be noticed from the account of the triumphant rejoicing on the shore of the Red Sea that the men sang only: 'Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake saying.'" (Girardeau, George, p. 33)
"In the second place, it was Miriam and the women who used instruments of music on the occasion: 'And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went after her with timbrels and with dances." (Girardeau, p. 33).
That is, the women escaped and apparently only chanted one phrase from the song of Moses.
In Romans 15 Paul defined the Word of Christ or Spirit as:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Ro.15:4
so that with one heart (Internal)
and mouth you may (External)
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom 15:6Since Paul never hinted at MUSICAL SINGING, his direct command was to teach and admonish. The ONLY resource for delivering SPIRIT TRUTH is "that which is written."
The same Paul is 100% consistent by saying:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
...... teaching and admonishing one another
...... in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
...... ...... singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16What part of "the Word of Christ" can't we understand?
Therefore, the WORD OF CHRIST is the only Biblical resource for TEACHING, PREACHING, SPEAKING OR ADMONISHING.
The method is to SPEAK using the same word which defines the SPEAKING of Jesus and of Paul.
The singing and melody is IN THE HEART.
The "audience" is God and not the admiring congregation.
If we choose to pick EXTERNAL MELODY and confuse it with HARMONY then we need to use the same english definition of MELODY. That is, "a series of single tones." This defines both the metrical nature of ordinary Greek SPEAKING and of the Hebrew style of CANTILLATION to make the words easy to understand and REMOVE the performer's complex singing styles out of the purpose.
There is nothing in the Old Testament to AUTHORIZE composing praise hymns to FREEZE OUT both Christ and his Words serving as Master Teacher. When these arrived from Black protest song and Voodoo they were called idols because they replaced Christ the Word.
On the contrary, speaking out of our spirit is equated to speaking in tongues in Corinth and of speaking for the Devil according to Christ because Christ's words must be silenced.
The Theologial Dictionary of the New Testament notes that there is no way to WEDGE-IN our own songs to replace the Word of Christ. If we could, then didn't Jesus waste His time suffering and dying so that He could be our ONE AND ONLY TEACHER.
"In the NT there is still no precise differentiation between ode, psalmos, and humnos. e.g., in Col.3:16 or Eph.5:19, in contrast to a later time, when ode (canticum) came to be used only for biblical songs (apart from the Psalms) used in liturgy. From the NT passages we may gather the following elements in the concept or the Christian ode as also confirmed from other sources.
(Sing in Ephesians 5:19 is Ode (g5603) o-day'; from 103; a chant or "ode" the gen. term for any words sung)
"a. Odai are the cultic songs of the community. They are not sung by the individual, but by the community gathered for worship...
Of a piece with this is the anonymity or the early authors, as also the attachment to OT tradition. Only in the 2nd century are the authors sometimes mentioned. In the Didascalia, 2, p..5.29, we can still read: 'It thou desirest hymns, thou hast the Psalms of David."'
"b. The ode is inspired. This is shown by the epithet pneumatikos, though it does indicate more generally its religious character. . . . With the inspiration or hymns is linked their improvisation, e.g., in I C. 14:26 (cr. Acts 4:24); Tert. adv. Marc., 5,b; Apolog. 39,18." (Note: and condemned, we might add).
In Acts 1:20 psalmos is the book of Psalms and in Rom. 15: sing is psallo.
"Psallo is best translated by chant,
...... not sing.The Greeks sharply distinguish chanting (psalmodia)
The first is a sacred activity;
...... from singing (tragoudi).
the second, a secular one. In English, unfortunately, the distinction is not sharp. Constantine Cavarnos
Following notes Copyright David J Melling, January 17th 2000 has posted the background to PSALMODIA is the practice of the Greek and other churches. Tragoudi has to do with singing as in modern "congregational singing" of secular compositions with the complex harmony which is a product of the Roman Catholic church. Therefore, the use of harmony to TRAGOUDI is a secular practice and has no connection to PSALMODIA which used the normal inflections of the Hebrew or Greek language. This was the Hebrew (cantillation) method of READING the Bible to TEACH or to chant the psalms but without any musical content.
Therefore, we can say that congregational harmonic singing of human compositions makes a church a spin off of the Catholic church and not similar to the Greek church or the early Christian church.
INTRODUCTION
"This book offers a basic introduction to the notation in which the traditional chant of the Byzantine churches is written. Many people automatically associate Orthodox worship with the rich choral traditions of music that developed in Russia and the Ukraine. Georgian, Serbian, Romanian and Bulgarian choirs also possess an extensive repertoire of choral liturgical music.
"Greek and Arabic Byzantine churches, however, have retained a very different style of monophonic chant, a tradition which also lives on, side by side with the Slav choral tradition in many churches in Romania and Bulgaria, and a closely related form of chant in Serbia.
"This music is known as Psalmodia: it has common roots with Latin plainchant and with the chant of the Syrian and Armenian churches. It originates in the musical traditions, both Jewish and Pagan, of the Eastern Mediterranean.
"When Christianity was established as the official religion of the Roman Empire the Church acquired new and splendid buildings for worship.
The rites and ceremonies of Imperial Christianity took on the solemnity and the grandeur of court ritual.
A rich traditions of hymnography developed, poets, composers and singers bringing their skills to the service of the Church.
"Side by side with relatively simple styles of music used for scriptural readings and the chanting of the psalms,
more elaborate melodies were composed for the church's new poetry and for the liturgical texts.
Note the difference between chanting to read the text and the psalms, and the added liturgical texts precented by the pomp and ceremony of court musicians.
"In the main cathedrals and churches, the Psaltes, the ordained singer who played an important role in the services was expected to attain a high level of musical expertise. As the sacred chant developed through the Medieval period, new forms of notation were created to record it. The notation developed over the centuries until it became a complex system of signs capable of expressing fine nuances of melodic movement, intonation and expression.
"The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman armies in 1453 paradoxically brought new opportunities for the Church's musicians; their musical skills and artistry were greatly appreciated
by the Ottoman Sultans and their nobility, and several of the famous Psaltai found lucrative part-time employment as court musicians.
"Many became experts in the "Arabo-Persian" music of the Ottoman court, some learning the Arabo-Persian music before studying Psalmodia.
"Not surprisingly, during the centuries of Ottoman rule, the style and tonality of Psalmodia, always a living, developing musical tradition, took on a degree of Oriental colouring. In the [5] eighteenth and nineteenth centuries some singers and composers were influenced by the melodies of the Italian opera.
"The notation system in which Byzantine chant is recorded derives ultimately from the accents added to classical Greek texts by Alexandrian grammarians and rhetors, and then adapted for use to aid the musical declamation of scriptural texts.
Semi-Harmonic Isokratima: some choirmasters are tempted to give the Psalmodia a harmonic enrichment by using a freely moving ison that makes use of whatever notes give what is felt to be an appropriate effect. Such pseudo-harmonic effects have no place in true Psalmodia and should be avoided.
Melody in English:
rhythmical succession
of single
tones, ranging for the
most part within a given key, and so related together.
This musical notation is already far perverted from the Biblical definition of "melody." The Gregorian Chant was adopted from Egyptian Idolatry.
"The very structure of our Orthodox Divine Services, which requires a constant interchange, like a roll-call, of the exclamations of the priest and deacon with the reading of the tonsured reader, and the singing of the people, already presupposes the most active and conscious participation of all "those standing" in the Divine Service being celebrated, and not just a passive presence in the church, even if it is accompanied by private prayer.
Such an active participation of the laity in the Divine Services is indicated by those numerous notations in the Typicon and Divine Service books where the word "lik" [lit. face]...is very often replaced by the pronoun "we", as for example, "we sing in the most attractive voice, "Lord I have cried," or, "and we sing 'Joyous Light'," (Typ; ch,:2).
Very often, instead of the "lik" the expression "people" is used: "and the people sing" (e. g. rubrics for Great Saturday at vespers).
From this, the exclamation of the priest in the Divine Liturgy, in which he calls upon the worshippers to glorify and sing praises to God not only with "one heart," but also with "one mouth," becomes comprehensible.
Thus, according to the concept of our Divine Services, ail the faithful must take part in the singing, if not in all, then at least in the majority of our Church hymns, rather than standing in church like idle spectators and listeners.
The church is not a theater, where one goes only to see and hear beautiful singing,
but a place of common prayer, in which all must participate in a fully conscious manner.
All the more proper is such participation in the singing of the Symbol of Faith, which is our common confession of faith, and in the singing of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father," which is sent up from the person of all of us to God, our common Father.
The intrusion into our Divine Services of Western concert-singing, accessible only to specially experienced singers with careful and lengthy preparation,
forced out the choir of believers from a living participation in common liturgical singing and made those who come into church only listeners, but not living participants in common Church prayer.
In this Western theatrical singing; all the attention is concentrated not on the words, but on the melody, which is more or less artificial-with bravura or sentimentality--but not at all churchly.
Under the influence of this singing, in which it is often impossible to even make out the words, and which is deeply alien to the Orthodox ascetical spirit, many begin to come to church not for prayerful participation in the Divine Services, as in a common action of all the faithful,
but only "to listen to beautiful singing, in order to experience aesthetic pleasure,
which is, unfortunately, accepted by many in our time as a prayerful feeling.This, in union with irreligious upbringing and irreligious, often godless, school education, penetrated by an atheistic and materialistic spirit,
leads to a greater and greater departure from genuine church mindedness and the understanding of the Divine Services by the broad majority of the believers.
As a result, there has been a very great weakening of the immense significance of our Divine Services as a "school of religious training."
Believers often come to church only "to cross the forehead," as the expression gees, but everything that takes place in Church is alien and incomprehensible to them. It is, therefore, not amazing that we now find people who request to receive Holy Communion at the all-night vigil, and are sincerely perplexed and even offended when they are told this is not possible.
The disappearance from our churches of congregational church singing and its replacement by a theatrical form of church singing by special "choirs"
has undoubtedly aided the alienation of our society from church mindedness.
Thus, the surest path for a return of our irreligious society to the Church is the return to the ancient practice which is in accord with the Church rubric: the restoration of congregational singing in our churches.
On the RIGHT stands the Bible and Greek culture which did no prescribe singing as music. To defend that Biblical view, there is no evidence of "singing" in the early churches. While Justin Martyr is confusing, the best he offers is the reciting of the Biblical Psalms because our style of "singing as music" did not exist.
This is the EXTREME Biblical, universal early church and the practice of many modern groups. This answers to the command to:
> Glorify God with one voice with "that which is written" Rom 15.
> Speak (preach) to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (all inspired Biblical text)
Singing (secular) and melody (anxiety creating, grinding into a fine power) are IN THE HEART and directed to God and not to the AUDIENCE. Ephesians 5
> Teach and Admonish one another with inspired Biblical text
Singing with gratitude
In your heart to the Lord
This means that the DIRECT COMMAND is to TEACH or PREACH one to another the Inspired Biblical Text.
The use of human "praise songs" does not fulfil this direct command and may show despite to the Words of Christ.
Complex harmony is from the THEATER and the CATHOLIC CHURCH and has no Biblical or RATIONAL role to play in TEACHING in the church which is synagogue or SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE.
The scripture represents religious music as the vehicle of religious instruction, and imply the necessity of distinct articulation. "I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also, else when thou shall bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned, say Amen at they giving of thanks seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest:" lst Corinthians 14; 15 and 16.
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs" Col. 3:16. These passages fully sustain the assertion that religious music, to be scriptural, must contain intelligible articulate words, conveying some pious instruction or emotion.
Against this Biblical and historical and rational role of speaking the inspired Word in an easy to understand and easy to follow metrical (normal inflections of the Greek) form, the modern PRAISE TEAM which stands in the Holy Place and claims to be an image or IDOL of CORRECT WORSHIP which others may imitate must JUSTIFY its direct anti-Christian claims to authority.
Somewhere in the middle, congregational singing of NEW STYLE HYMNS with a strong Voodoo component has existed since the early to mid 1800s in direct violation of Paul's direct command the Jesus' APPROVED EXAMPLE but has never been as divisive as PERFORMANCE MUSIC in turning church into a Theater for holy entertainment.
Nevertheless, complex harmony with modern compositions violated the direct command to TEACH. It violates the direct command to teac THE WORD OF CHRIST. And it uses a style of singing (secular) which paralyzes the rational side of the brain which makes LEARNING virtually impossible as we sing the repeated "lord, lords" by rote after about 5 times.
Melody in English: rhythmical succession of single tones, ranging for the most part within a given key, and so related together.
Choir singing or musical worship teams singing secular (CCM) childish and effeminate songs are the Abomination which causes desolation standing in the holy place claiming to be mediators and therefore God.
Don't worry too much: Music is very often the MARK of the "beast" who is ZOE or the female instructing principle and Sophia goddess worship.
Counter added 6.08..07
