The life of an average believer is always a wonder, full of twists and turns as produced and directed by the Holy Spirit. Today we'll talk about music and to set the tone I'll introduce myself a little musically, I'm an addict, yeah a music addict. Beautiful instrumentation, quality production, great sound & lyrics gives me "eargasms" anyday, anytime. Now if you're a bit like me & a believer, I think you'll understand where I'm going already, if you're not, don't worry we'll soon get to this same destination. Don't disembark yet, this promises to be a good ride, meanwhile note that we plan on ruffling a few feathers though.

If you can pause for a minute & review the music playlist(s) on your phone, I'd appreciate...if you've done that, please sincerely answer these;

•What's the percentage of gospel songs on your phone/device?

•What about secular songs, what's the percentage like?

•Which ones do you actually listen to most of the time, alone?

If you're confused, your "most played" or "favourite" list will help you.

If you answered the questions above, I think we can continue, probably start rounding up or maybe not.

Music is food for the "soul" right? So we all can agree that this world would be dead without rhythm and sounds. Soul here represents every soul according to the people that made that statement, the little twist here though is that you're a believer, so like the ever occurring question, "are Christians supposed to listen to secular songs? my answer is a resounding Yes!! Now you can stop here if this is all you came to read; my answer to this. However, if you're open to more engagement on this, you're welcome.

I'll introduce some basic definitions to aid us in our journey;

° What is the gospel? In basic terms, it is the message of Jesus Christ.

° What is music? Some say it is organized sound.

° What is gospel music? Your guess is as good as mine but I'll give a clue anyways, let's just say it's organized sound that amplifies the message of Christ.

° What is secular? Basically means something not connected with religious or spiritual matters.

° What is secular music? Same as your guess but let's go again; It's music that's not connected with religion, on the spiritual level though, some will argue that music itself is spiritual so let's not delve into that aspect.

The above definitions are just to put things in perspective, but if they are anything to go by, can we agree that some songs we sing in church are not gospel songs?? Can we also agree that some "secular" songs have been baptized or rather has migrated to become church citizens??. I don't want to either demarket( I don't even think I have the powers) or mention some songs but if you know Dbanj and his discography you'll know that there's a hit track of his that's a major "praise and worship" material in our churches today and if you're from the eastern part of Nigeria you must have heard people sing/dance to "sebem sabam sekem", don't think too much about what it means, it's just a sound/song to make you dance and feel good, it has no religious affiliations. I don't know it all but I hope you get my point.

So you might ask, "are secular songs good for the believer? Is this writer saying that as a believer I have the liberty to listen to whatever I want?". Should the choir do a little "aaayiiii" by Zlatan, add a little mix of Naira Marley with Davido's vibes and Wizkid's cruise on a Sunday morning? My dear calm down, we're still brethren.

There's another angle to this music thing I intentionally didn't list initially, "Vulgar songs". This actually has to do with the lyrical content of a song than its classification, it falls under the secular category, this is where the challenge lies for some believers. It is wise to note however, that not all secular songs are vulgar but all vulgar songs are secular, you can read that again.

Vulgar songs are simply songs born out of lustful desires, they idolize parts of a wo(man's)body, especially portraying women as sex objects, objects just meant for another's satisfaction, the lyrics go from praising a woman's backside to her bosom and bragging about sexcapades, it's draining and tiring if we're to say the truth. Songs about waist, cucumber, sex etc are too numerous to mention and the fact that man's wants/needs are insatiable, peeps are in the studio as you read this recording more of this lewd content.

These songs actually pollute the believer's mind. I know of a fact that listening to them (even if it's once in a while) won't be the end of your salvation journey, but have you ever out of the blue hear yourself singing(loudly or in your head) "ukwu nwaanyị Owerri" for example (yeah that just popped up now) while in a "serious spiritual place"? That's the mind, it's a powerful place, whatever we give attention to has precipitates left in that place, no matter how minute it might seem. So for healthy living, the side effects are worse than the benefits, so this is not prescribed.

So as a believer, what should we do concerning music? What kind of music is prescribed? I'll answer this and more in the next post! Stay tuned! You may need to digest this particular post for a while. Don't forget to tell me your thoughts on this in the comment section, bye for now...