Topics for Young Adults part 2 (Music) | Ep. 81

In this episode, we address the sacred golden cow of our youth - music. As our special guests share their differing experiences and upbringings, giving testimony of what the Lord has shown them over the years, we look at the persuasiveness of music in our society. We also delve into scriptures that illuminate why music is so powerfully influential and why we need to be very watchful and alert in regard to what we are allowing to be seeded into our spirits by what we hear. Also, we share why we each of us have decided on listening or not listening to certain kinds of music and why.

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.  (Pro 4:23)

We pray that you will also find wisdom in our exchanges on how to apply the principles of God to our present-day affairs. It is important to have these conversations with our own at home before they go out into the world because they will be exposed and need to know how and why to stand in the righteousness and truth.

Please visit Our Father's Heart for more information and if you would like to support our efforts you can do so through Paypal, Cash App ($jbenjesus), or Venmo (@jbenjesus). 

Transcript

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j - Jesus M. Ruiz 0:03

The vision receives a set of blood cells traveling throughout the body, supplying the much needed oxygen and other nutrients to the differing members of the body to fulfill their purpose. Once the blood cells are spent, they must return back to the heart to be refilled before being sent out again and fulfill their purpose. Do you guys uh have anything to add, or shall we go to our next topic of the day? Alright. Music. That's our next one. Music. Is it the next one? Is that what I said? Yeah, I did I did I did put music next. Yeah, I think we should have the taboos together. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Alright, so uh music. Um I've done enough talking. Somebody else talk. Who wants to jump in on this one? We're doing the double dutch. Who's jumping in?

SPEAKER_00 1:00

And to initiate, uh, music is an powerful tool in our world. Uh-huh. It has the ability to change your mood, um, the way you perceive things, you watch movies, they uh they orchestrate the music to convey emotion if it's an action. You want the music to be action if it's uh you know a uh an emotional time, they make the music you know uh more somber. So you you reflect on that, and that music has so much influence over us and our emotions. Um and the important thing as believers is that music is also a great tool that we use to connect with the Lord. Scripture is very clear about making merry within yourselves, singing songs, singing spiritual songs unto the Lord. Um, and in the Old Testament, they had instruments as well that they had in the temple and giving worship to the Lord. Um that music has this uh has this power in in the world, both spiritually and in the natural. We think it sounds good, that's the natural part, but spiritually, in that there is music that will influence us to you know worship God, you're singing songs of praise, you're not thinking about murdering somebody because, well, you're singing, oh, the Lord is good, bless the Lord, all my soul, you know. You repeating things, you getting things in your ears, you know, um what what you're feeding yourself basically comes out.

SPEAKER_05 2:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Um and so we're as believers, you know, there's the question, what kind of music should we be listening to? Is it only Christian music we're allowed to listen to? Is there wiggle room? Or even as young people, what can I listen to? Is it wrong to listen to certain genres? Is listening to heavy metal gonna send me to hell? Or like so it's that question, what can I get away with? Right. Again, yeah, yeah. But remember thinking that way, right? But then the question the question also is is you know, who defines what is right or wrong? Because scripture isn't clear about oh, country music's a-okay or hip hop is bad. You know, there's nothing in scripture that'll say a certain genre. Right. Um I think it's I think it's very funny.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 3:20

By the way, it's it's good to note uh that uh Amber is our is our youth uh not our youth, our our kind of our our praise and worship leader, along with uh I guess Chris. I guess he's doing the music side and you're doing the soft and so on. So uh she'll probably have a uh a good deal to say on this. I hope you're gonna go ahead, Mikhail.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Uh Malaga. As as young people, you have to look at everything that we're talking about today has to be viewed in the same manner. Does it glorify God? At the end of the day, that's that's all it's about. And that you can one, please your flesh, or you glorify God. It's really two things. That's the black and white.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Um, that's the litmus test, that's how you know uh what you're doing and the reason for it. So, as young people, even before I'm married, there's certain things that are not beneficial for single young people. Hearing romantic songs that glorify sex of which you should not be engaging in, or sexual acts, like that's not for you.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 4:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

That has nothing to do with you. You're reminding me of my uncle.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 4:33

My when I was little, my uncle. He's only he's only like five or six years older than me, but he would be listening to these songs of heartache and and the loss of their, you know, that significant other, but it was a totally uh fornicated relationship, you know, and he's just just drooling in the memories of of his you know long-lost relationship, and oh man. Yes, yes, I remember that. Not that I'm not guilty of it, because I'm sure I I had my moments too, yeah. Yeah, with music.

unknown 5:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yeah, it's like listening to these music creates I don't know, fantasies in your mind, and that you keep hearing it, that's what you dwell on. Like, um, I know there's a period of time listening to I mean like rap music. I I like I like beats, I like lyricism, like that's that's what drew me in, not the nature of the lyrics. But some people like the nature of the lyrics, they like hearing uh degradation of women, sex, drugs, money, things like that, violence. I mean those those are common in multiple genres, but can I say that was beneficial for me as a believer? No. Even though I'm not doing it for the lyrics.

SPEAKER_05 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

I can't say that the music I was listening to then was beneficial to me. Um and so that's where the logo meets you. It's like, Lord, I don't really spend that much time with you. What does my day look like? What does spending time with you even look like? Do I even pray? Do I even sing to you? Do I even dwell on your word? Do I even think about you throughout the day? The answer is no, it's what am I filling in that time then? It's not that we don't have time you know to spend with the Lord, it's we didn't allocate time to spend with the Lord. There's always time for the Lord. He is the creator of time. I'm sure that we can find an ounce of time to give to him. And so our music tastes, like we say, oh, I like this music, and this is all I listen to. I can't listen to oh Christian music. Did you try? Or did you already rule it out because it's Christian? Or is is that it doesn't sound good, like a cappella? Like sing sing it to the Lord, like um I can't think of a legitimate reason why you would choose songs that glorify the Lord over something that does not, as a believer. I can't I can't think of a reason.

SPEAKER_05 7:19

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Wait, wait, I meant the other way around.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

I I got it. Are you sure? Are you sure? No, no, no, no, no.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 7:26

Go ahead, restate it. What you really mean.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

For the record.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

For the record. I can't think of a legitimate reason why a believer would choose music that does not glorify God.

SPEAKER_05 7:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Over music that does glorify him. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

But they would prefer Hell Yan music on the Kanye.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

I guess you could say that.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

Okay. She got it. We got it. Cool. Thank you, Grammar Lee.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

The reason being because of how much influence music has.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Yes. On your emotions, on your soul.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Just everything about you. Like the you can't go anywhere in the world that there's not music. You go to the gas station, they're playing music. They have their little screens playing. Ads, but the ads have music. That's right. You go on the elevator, there's elevator music. Um, you go to a store, you might not go, you might not stay in the store because you don't like the music.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Listen, the store music nowadays, I don't know what's happening. I hear some stuff, I'm like, oh my word, they're playing this for children.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Right. And it's just music is everywhere. That I just feel as as young people, we have to like make up in our mind, alright, at least let me understand that this is not beneficial to me. Enjoy whatever. I'm not gonna judge you. I'm just you have to acknowledge that something isn't beneficial to you. Like we eat junk food, we know at the end of the day, junk food provides us little besides it made us happy. That's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_05 9:12

Made you satisfied.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Satisfied, there you go.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 9:16

That's my feel.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 9:19

Anybody else can jump in, it doesn't have to be the same round robin, but just letting you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Yeah, I grew up in a very musically inclined family. It's very interesting because my mom's testimony was similar to mine in that she grew up in the church. My dad did not grow up in church. He will testify to the fact that he was out in the world and music was his God. And so then when he came to the church, and in the 90s, y'all are aware, like a lot of songs would be remixed, songs from the world that they would take in the church. And so my mom would feel fine going to these concerts, you know why? Because she had no foreknowledge of these songs. But my dad, he would get bound and he'd be like, hold on, I know this. Isn't that the same beat as what's his name? Song. And so um, I find it very interesting because even now in our house, I'll introduce Malachi to songs, and he's like, Yeah, but that don't sound like it's glorifying God. I can get it in worshiping. I'm like, what do you mean? This is a jam. And he is like, No, I can't. But it's in reference to some of the past music that he's listened to. So I'm not gonna just put it in your face because I can listen to this and you can't. But I know I can glorify and worship the Lord in it yet and still.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

But you won't do it with it.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

No, not typically.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

There you go. It doesn't, it doesn't bind me up. It doesn't make me for me. For me, it's like if I'm gonna listen to it, just let me listen to it. Like, why do we gotta blend it? That's how I feel. Like, yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 10:53

That's how I feel because that that's it's it's affecting your conscience. You understood that music in a different realm. Right. And that realm, you don't want to go back to it in any way, shape, or form. You don't want to even sound like it. I understand. I understand.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Right. It's like if I wanted fried chicken and I know it's unhealthy, don't give me the healthy version of fried chicken. Just give me the fried chicken. That's what I wanted. Like, that's how I feel. Uh gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

I can't speak to Christian regaton, but everything else is fair game.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 11:27

Wow, Christian reggaeton.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

It's it's a real thing.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

Yeah. Okay. I guess I'll go on. So I'm a hybrid of you two. Um, for me, I grew up also in a very musically inclined family. That being said, I can only remember three main genres of music being played. It was always Christian music, Spanish music, but that wasn't necessarily my parents, that was the family. Anytime we went to a family reunion, there was Salisa and Menengue in the background. So I remember that. And classical music. That is all I remember that they would play around us. Now I come to find out later they had different like they had other tastes that I discovered myself later, and my mom and dad would be like, Where did you hear this? Like, we never played this around you. How did you find this song from the 70s or something? But again, that was just Where did you get it from? Everywhere.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 12:22

No, YouTube music teacher in high school, band teacher.

SPEAKER_04 12:25

Yeah, I was about to say YouTube, band class. Um, even my piano teacher in middle school, he introduced me to some stuff as well because some jazz chords overlap into gospel, and he was teaching me church songs. Um for me, I really appreciated music. I can say that that was something I really loved. Um, I played piano from since I was what, five, four or five? Um, but that being said, even though I love the instrumentation music, I do remember my parents instilled the importance of lyrics in me. And this was a problem later on because I would listen to music, I'm like, it sounds great, but the lyrics are terrible. Like, I can't listen to this with a healthy conscience. Um, and my music choices, I can definitely say by high school, because I was homeschooled till eighth grade. Um, so I had a little bit of it in middle school, but high school, full-fledged, my friends had a huge impact on my music taste. So, ninth grade year, I could even pinpoint the type of friends I had based on the music I listened to. Ninth grade. I was new, there wasn't a lot of people friend-wise, I had so the people I hung out with the most or talked to the most listen to the country. So you would find on my Spotify playlist, freshman year, there's a lot of country. But then, if you go 10th grade year up into 12th grade, I had different friends. They listened to rap, hip-hop, RB. So then the songs for that year that were added onto Spotify, because you can go back and look at your history. I went back and looked at my history, like, what was I listening to? So that was another thing that because I was curious to see where did my um taste change. Um, so that was definitely um a big influence on me, and so I can I can it to this day. My best friend, she and I both used to listen to this type of music, and now we're both saved. I was already, I didn't have an excuse. I grew up in church. She got saved later, and we both, even now, we don't have these songs on our phone, but if it plays, we can sing and rap all the lyrics from then. And we're like, this is why we can't listen to it anymore. Um and again, for me, a lot of the reason why, if I thought, why did you listen to these songs that lyrically you didn't agree with? I'm like, because it was cool, because my friends were listening to it, and like you, you liked the beat. The beat gets people a lot of times, the beat or the instrumentation for me that was one of them. Even though lyrically I didn't like it, sometimes I would just listen to the instrumental, so I wouldn't feel as guilty of listening to it. That would be me. Um, and so that all being said, um my mom used to tell me growing up that the Lord gives us gifts, but sometimes the devil knows that, and he'll try and twist it and use it for something else. So I was always told be mindful of what you're playing on piano, be mindful of what you're singing, etc. So, yeah, the music I listened to then and even now, it can influence you, like you said, moods, etc. Um, you could gravitate towards certain sounds because of it. So, for example, you like a lot of, I can see it with you guys' taste, you like a lot of personal story worship music. You like other types, but you gravitated towards my father. Sorry, I'm speaking to my father for those of you who can't see. He likes a lot of stories and music, and so there's some Christian artists such as Dennis Jernigan, Jason Upton, um, iHop Worship Room. Um, they put out a lot of songs that are more personal, you and God type songs. And my dad loved those. And then I learned what he used to listen to, and I don't know if he meant to, but you listened to artists in the past that I was like, ah, they're very story-oriented as well. Absolutely. So I would figure that out. And then my mom, it's almost the opposite. For her, she had to you had to quit music for a while, right? When you got saved or dancing, but dancing. Dancing, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

But I was gonna address stuff about music.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

I'll let you kid that when you speak, but she had to fast for a period of time away from certain things, and so even now I have no like you guys, that you have no problem with the song, and he does because of his past and with the genre, just doesn't sound right. Certain songs I listen to, she won't like it. She'll be like, skip it, and I have to skip it because I have no problem with it. This literally happened last night, too. Um, and again, I just don't have that tie to it. But something I have learned that makes me understand it more is for me personally, I just recently could start listening a little bit to like Christian urban music, so to speak, but not even that much because there was someone I met this past year who listened to it. And there were a couple songs I'm like, okay, the lyrics are good, it's not what I'm used to, but I'm actually fine. The lyrics, it's a positive message, etc. It's glorifying the Lord. But there are very few songs I could do that with because for me, rap, hip-hop, and all of that was high school me was not godly at all. And so for me, I can understand why the memories associated with that style of music, you may just not want to delve into that again, if that was a stumbling block for you in the past, and so I understand that, and yeah, and then in terms of biblical stuff, sorry I'm speaking a lot, but continue. Um, in terms of biblical stuff, like Malachi said, there's a lot of instances of praise in the Bible. My mom used to champion that in our house, she encouraged praise and worship. We sang a lot as a family. Um, even with Bible study, sometimes we'd open with a song. Um, and so you see examples of this in Exodus when Moses and Miriam are leading uh the children of Israel and praise to the Lord. You also see just a ton of examples in the Psalms, and a lot of songs, especially old school Christian songs, so to speak, draw from the Psalms and scriptures. Um and yeah, and then the last verse is Hebrews 13, 15, which is an encouragement to let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually. It is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. So something the Lord convicted me on that I I do this every year. Sometimes I go through my phone, I'm like, why do I still have this? And I have to delete music off my phone because spoiler alert, I have over 3,000 songs on my phone. I don't know what all of them are even anymore. Um, but that was a personal conviction, and then I also looked because I organized my music on my phone into folders according to genre, and I looked, I was like, wow, I have way less Christian music than Spanish music on here. That's a problem, like that type of thing. So that was a personal thing that I needed to start um making that the default as opposed to the other music I listened to. So actually, this past August we had a fast at the church. I was fasting all secular music. I was listening to all the Christian music. That helped. So actually, that's my default. That seemed helped reset, and hopefully I can maintain that, but if it gets open or it doesn't commit me as it has in the past to fix that.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

So I am very music is very important in my life. And when I fasted, when I had to get away from coming into the faith was um, you know, the Spanish Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, I don't know, they're very big on dancing. It's like a god. It really is. And so I mean the first thing you think of, oh, you're a Christian, you can't dance anymore. You know, it was like that thought pattern, and the Lord showed me what a strong what a stronghold it had on my life. Um, and so it was more that it didn't, he didn't I went back to where I could dance, but I didn't, it wasn't a thing. Like if I did, it was fine. I it's not a I'm not in bondage either way anymore. The music, on the other hand, though, the Lord showed me early on, because that's how he got me with music, every song that played on a Christian radio station that a friend of mine told me to listen to, every single one of them grabbed my heart. And that's how God started getting a hold of me, like through music, through lyrics. And um, I learned a lot of scripture because during that time that I was coming into the faith, Hosanna integrity was big. So I was listening to a lot of their stuff which was scriptural based. Um, and so I wanted to instill that in my children. But what the the the issue in our house is my husband and my daughter like to listen to Sting and some other people, and I can hear one song, but if I hear too many, it bothers it bothers my it it it bothers me, and I don't know how to explain it to them. It's not necessarily that it's tying me back to a time. I'm just thinking, why are we listening to this? Why am I listening to this? It just becomes like a clanging to me. So without trying to be, you know, um legalistic about it, sometimes I think they feel like I am. It it is something that it's almost like clanging. Belonging to my spirit, and I can't, I can't, you know, I can't. Um I I think the Lord showed me a long time ago that he set me apart unto him, and I don't say that for everybody else, but I do believe that the the music is a an instrument and a tool and a weapon that he has given the body of Christ. Because through music we um dispel there are scriptures that talk about when the children are singing, it's like uh lashes on the enemy. Um he always had Judah in the front doing the music. When they did the Jericho march, it was the musicians. And so when you look at the scriptures, the musicians were always positioned in the front line of the battle. It wasn't the you know, the great sharpshooters because the musicians are kind of the sharpshooters to dispel the darkness. It's the Lord doing the work. But there is I I think we haven't, I really feel like the church still the body of Christ, not our church, still hasn't understood the importance and the relevance of the music and the praise and worship, which is why I, you know, cheer you guys on in what you do and and pray that we that we always be led in the worship and praise that we do, because it is God ministering to his people, but it's also the Lord uh using his people in the battlefield, in in a spiritual battlefield all the time. So I can see why the enemy is always messing around, dipping and dabbling, crossing over songs, because I know exactly what you're talking about. They take a song that used to be a song and they put Christian lyrics to it, and if you knew that song, like your dad, that's where your mind goes. You don't want it to, but all of a sudden you start singing that song the way you knew it, and uh, and you're like, why am I singing this? And for me too, that one last thing is if I hear one song from my past, I get stuck in that. It I have to tell I have to, uh what Thaya said, I have to replace it with a Christian song because it it'll just keep playing in my head. And I don't know why I'm built that way, but that is the way I am. It's like if I hear a menenga that I used to dance to, um looks like we have some company. If I hear a meninga that I used to dance to, like a not healthy one, it'll just keep, you know, witchcraft stuff, stuff like that. And I'm like, why am I why is this in my head? And the Lord showed me the power of it because this was way back, but it still can get triggered, you know, one little trigger. So for some people, not everybody has that sensitivity, and I know that, but for me, that's why I get upset sometimes because it just will stay with me, and I can't get it out of my head, and I've got to battle with it, and I've got to replace it, and it's a lot of work, but it's okay. The Lord is teaching me how to do that.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 24:57

So, um, you kind of reminded me um when we uh went to a uh uh we got married in a church that wasn't our church in uh Miami, Florida. And after we got married in that church, um we went back to visit uh to their thing and some somebody was playing the guitar there and they had a riff going. And the riff was Prince. And I immediately recognized it because I was I was a Prince fan. I knew Prince, and I said, that's he's playing Prince, and he's playing it in the oh man, I I was like, what? How can he be playing Prince in the church? So, in some sense, I understand that, but I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a man. I'm just able to separate it out. If I hear the music, it's not like it draws me back. I mean, there there is some music that I just will not listen to. Just like I will not watch a horror movie. Period point blank. I will not watch a horror movie. There's certain music that I just will not listen to. Um, because I guess it does me, you know, maybe bring me back um to a place that I don't don't want to be a part of again. Um but you guys all mentioned uh this ability of um music to you said change, and and you also use the word power and you use the word influence, and I actually like those words better. It has the power to influence you, doesn't actually change you, but it has the power to move you it in a certain direction that maybe you weren't initially going to be in. So it has this ability to lift up your spirits, it has the ability to bring you down, it has the ability. I remember, oh wow, that that rings a bell. Uh, I've got two scars on my knuckles, and the reason why I have scars on my knuckles is because I was with two friends, uh, one guy, one girl, in my room. We were listening to a certain music, and I was getting into and I went and I just punched my my uh steel uh closet just with as hard as I could. And so I punched that steel door, and I was listening to some music, it was hard, heavy. It was in the middle of the night, probably 11:30. I don't remember what we were doing, why we were in my room, but we were in my room and listening to it blasting out, and I just nailed that door, and then it was bleeding all over, and then we had to go to the hospital, and I had to go get you know dealt with stitches. And I'm gonna get back to what I think that song might have been, um, or that genre of song uh that came. But you all talked uh about a lot of common themes, and and one of them is the ability of the music has a power to influence us. Um and I believe that it's a tool that the enemy uses to sensitize and lull the masses into doing something that they normally would not do. It could also energize the flesh where you have this stark raving mob going to do something because it's they're all together, and then the you know, the music is playing, and blah blah blah, kind of like a you know, like a snake charmer just playing the music, and then it's just flowing and swaying to the music. So I want to bring in some scriptures because there's a a wealth of scriptures, and I have to give uh credit where credit is due. We came from a fellowship where we studied a lot of this, and and and our previous pastor was very heavily involved into this, um, and and talking about the power and the influence of music on the masses and what we were doing to our society. His name is Clarence Harris. He produced a video called Mystery Babylon Exposed um 30 plus years ago, and it's still applicable today just as it was back then, and it's probably even worse now. So you can literally trace the music that I was listening to way back in the 70s and 80s, and you can trace what he was saying was going to happen, what was happening to the masses, to what's happening today. So I might touch upon uh some of that here. Um, but let's start with Daniel 3, uh 9 through 11. And it says, They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psultry, in symphony with all kinds of music shall what? Fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. That to me is a type and a shadow of something that will be to come in the future. Um there was, if you will, a king. Um some people refer to him as the Antichrist in the future, but a leader that's going to couple music with wanting you to bow down and worship his image. We can read of Ezekiel, where it talks about Lucifer, the son of the morning. In Ezekiel 28, 12 and 13. It says, Son of man, take a lamentation of the king of Tyre and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection. You were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the Sardis, the topaz, the diamond, the barrel, the onyx, the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, the emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. That's speaking of Lucifer. That's describing it. We really, until we see it, until we experience it, ourselves, we don't really understand what in the world does that mean, that workmanship of your timbrels and pipes, but he was speaking of Lucifer. And then we also read in Isaiah 14, 11 and 12 that your pomp, speaking of Lucifer again, your pomp is brought down to Sheol, to the grave, and the sound of your stringed instruments, the maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you. How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. All of this was speaking of him. And so in the circles of people that are that are in the kingdom, there's this idea that Lucifer was somehow, somehow connected to worship, worship of God. Um, you know, and how however you want to interpret that, however, you want to state that, he just seemed to have a connection with being able to be a part of the music ministry, which is why music ministry should be holy in the church, because it could so easily be defiled and used by the enemy to bring down the church of God. And so that needs to be maintained, that holiness of sound, of uh lyrics, of heart of each individual there, because one, like leaven, could leaven the whole lump. It's it has to be protected. And so let me go back to to um you know myself. I listened to all different kinds of music. I shared this with my daughter. Uh, just different styles. I wasn't into one particular genre. I I could listen to almost anything. I don't think country music was it. It's just Miami was just, it's not the South. Miami's not the South. Okay, so I really I didn't know anybody that listened to country music. But we listened to Spanish, we listened to rap, reggaeton, hip-hop, RB, you name it. I I I listened to it. I I would be singing Michael Jackson songs on my own. I would be singing Madonna songs on my own. I mean, those were the bigwigs back then in the 80s and 90s. Um but eventually when I left high school, probably college, I listened to a particular artist. I won't mention his name, but he was more into industrial type music. I don't know if you've ever heard that. And it would get into me. It was very energized, it was very grr, grr. And I think that might have been the song I was listening to the night that I punched this. But the one of the lines of the lyrics of the song says this, and I think it's so apropos to the to the topic we're talking about. It says, bow down before the one you serve, you're going to get what you deserve. That was the lyric. And I didn't notice that. I I think it didn't impact me until I really came in in a covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus that, oh my god, I can't believe I was listening to it. I was raging, I think was the word that I use, uh, with that. Um it says in Exodus 32 that when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, this is when they made the golden calf, and and uh Moses was on top of the mountain. He said to Moses, or yeah, he said to Moses, there's a noise of war in the camp. But he said, Ah, that's not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear. They were singing, they were celebrating when they had made this golden half. And so many times music can be tied intimately to worship, and it's something that we need to to just acknowledge that that aspect can be in the presence of the music that you're enjoying, that you're listening to, that you're digging, that you're jamming to, all the words that we use, you know. Um the riffs, like I re I recognize that prince riff or or the chops. You know, if it's a drum set, you know, there's a particular song that there's just this one moment, and it's a particular song, it's a very famous song, you know, and I dig it. I just dig that that chop. It's just a great, it's a very notable chop. Um, but again, you know, going back to um my previous pastor, I want to share with you some of the things that that he shared so that you guys, when you listen to the podcast, you will take into consideration because what he said here is uh was very applicable to me, and I completely understood it because I lived during the time that he was speaking about. So in one of his books, I forgot which book it was, um, maybe his last book, um, maybe uh how to study how to study the Bible, I'm not sure. He said, The mindless, malleable masses are easy prey. They are totally gullible, they are shamefully easy to program and pervert through the big five. You know how in church, and I'm straying off of what he's about to say, but in church we have what we call the five-fold ministry the prophets, the pastors, the apostles, the teachers, the evangelists. Well, the big five, and what he was talking about here was education, the media, music, religion, and entertainment. That's the five-fold ministry of the world. And so then he says, this method of cultural transformation, the big five are used to create transformations in the culture, and they're used simultaneously, in unison, to cause people to be different than what they were raised in. It's actually it's like like like uh like um reins on a horse, it's literally steering this stagecoach, if you will, in a certain direction. All of them, all five of them. And if you think about how education, what what we're hearing with CRT, I've talked about this in podcasts and the different things that they're teaching our children about sexuality at a young age, it then they're using the media to further desensitize them with Hollywood, with music, the same thing. It's always a desensitization, it's always a transformation, it's a re-education of the masses. And when you're hitting all of the areas, when you're hitting education, when you're hitting media, when you're hitting music, when you're seeing the church talk about it in ways where they're letting go of the standards of the scriptures, and then entertainment is highlighting it and lofting it up to where, like, oh yeah, I want to do that too, I want to be that too. It's like you you think about how it says in the scriptures, if it were not for the elect, everybody would have been swayed by this message. So, this method, he says, my previous pastor, this method of cultural transformation was first deployed in the 1960s. It was upon the American anti-establishment, revolutionary, white masses, and what were they hitting them with? Rock, heavy metal, new age music. I happen to think it was in more genres. I think RB was in there too. RB was talking about relationships and promiscuity, and it was it was done really well, really quality well, which is why it was so effective. You know, we can laugh at that, but it was effective. They did it really, really well. You know, if you wanted to to have in a relationship, you you play Marvin Gay, you know, you play Lionel Ritchie, you know, you because that's where they were gearing towards, you know. So he says the globalists had to wait until the 1980s, which is my generation. An entire generation. So they started in the 60s, but it wasn't until the 1980s that they really were able to aggressively capture the minds and the hearts of the masses. And I'm speaking on top of this because I'm just interjecting what you you know using his material. But the reason why it was so effective, does anybody know what what happened in the 80s that made it so effective? By far, Barnun, like no other generation before. Anybody know what happened in the 80s? Go ahead, take a guess.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

I was gonna say, was there a war?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 40:13

No, not a war. You wouldn't know because I don't, you would, you would just like God, God had hidden you at that time. You know, what do you think? It's still around today. Five.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

Internet?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 40:29

Four. Nope. And internet wasn't even there at the time. Three? Two? No.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

When you said 80s, I'm like, still around now. Three words. Three words that are letters.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 40:43

MTV.

SPEAKER_05 40:44

Oh, MTV.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 40:45

Oh, I'm a part of the MTV generation. The MTV g the MTV was what YouTube is to today's masses.

SPEAKER_05 40:56

Yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 40:58

Everybody was watching MTV. Everybody. You knew I knew about Bon Jovi. I knew about Public Enemy. I knew about NWO. There was an MWO. Yeah, I'm sorry. I was thinking of yeah, yeah. But they were used to establish the NWO. So yeah, you had NWA. You had uh just all the gangster rap, two live crew, big in Miami, Florida. Horrible message in every single song. There's not one song, you know. I forgot the name of the the lead guy.

SPEAKER_06 41:35

Anyways, it brings me back.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 41:38

Um, just just horrid. But what MTV did was it put it in the forefront in every household throughout the nation. You didn't have to hear it on the radio, you just pop on MTV.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

They even put it in a song, I Wan My I Wan My MT.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 41:59

I mean Were you born in the 80s?

SPEAKER_00 42:01

I know we had MTV, what did he do? And they probably still use it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 42:06

You know, but MTV was promoting first and foremost music to the masses, and then it became news. Then it became like what TMZ is now. They were talking about all the music and the celebrities and and the this and that. And it just it it just it like a mushroom of an explosion, just it just it went wild, 80s, 90s, all the way through. That's what that's how I I guess that's why it had such an eclectic style because MTV, they they did tap into certain genres like Poison. You listen to the name of the of the people, Poison, Whitesnake, uh Def Leopard, uh I already said Bon Jobi, but it and I can name all of those, but then I can name you all of the the gangster raps. And and who all the people that came after them, grunge music, Pearl Jam, uh uh gosh, I'm not blanking on the but I I I give it it it continued what you know our pastor said about what they started in the 1960s with rock and heavy metal and new age music. But this is how he puts it in the 1990s, an entire generation to capture the black youth into this agenda because they needed to exploit the unchurched, dysfunctional blacks from their social created ghettos and buppies to buy into narcissistic, materialistic, existentialistic ideas of white subcultures. If you don't know what a buppy is, it's just uh the well educated black person. That was like a nickname for them. Now, the music choice was initially gangster and ghetto rap. That gangster ghetto rap when and and if you know anything about the 80s, the 80s in California, sh Crips and Bloods. Shootings literally daily. People dying daily, week after week, month after month, year after year. Then, of course, they made movies about how the police were trying to get a control and all of these things. And you still know about Ice Cube. He was originally from NWA. That's where he came from. And later, get you know, the gangster ghetto rap changed to what we now know today as hip-hop. It was rap, gangster rap, and then it really just morphed it. It's hip-hop is now kind of encompassing all of these. And what did what did all that music do? It promoted sexual deviance, violence, anarchy, rebellion to authority. You know? I mean, what no, it wasn't public in the music, and NWA, F the Police. That's what they that was their anthem. And that anthem carried on for a long time. And then we started seeing more and more movies about this rebelliousness against the authority. You know, and that's when we got cops, you know, and we had the Jamaican-style music. And so that was like there was that culture war, that shift. They were constantly fighting against each other. And but you know what? And we we saw it back then, but we see it more today, cross-dressing. Um, what do they call the the cross dressers? Trans trans? No, no, no, not trans. They they dress like drags.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

But you had that with 80s metal. We did well.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 45:30

Yes, we did, but now it's it's like commonplace. You drag queen in in our public libraries? You would have never seen that back 20, 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_03 45:40

In New York, they didn't, there was a church.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 45:41

That's what I'm saying. But you gotta understand, it didn't just happen overnight. Overnight was over 30, 40, 50 year period. It just happened incrementally. It's like two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, all throughout these years to now where it's like, what, really? Right in our public libraries, right in our church, and all of these things? Homosexuality, bisexuality, group orgies, and fantasies and bondage, all of this stuff was promoted. And so what does Revelation 18 say? 20 through 22, rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her. Who's her? A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus, with violence, the great city, Babylon, shall be thrown down and shall not be found anymore. And then what it says, the sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, trumpeters shall not be heard anymore, nor craftsmen of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of the millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. And so he goes further on to say that the central seductive rebellious music intoxicates the rebellious. That's what it does. There's already rebellion in the heart, but that music, you start hearing that and you get a group of people together, you start doing things, and you're like this raging mob out in the streets doing stuff because it was already in you, it was, but that's only like put you on a slippery slide so that you can just and go fast and enjoy your whole way down and to go to the bit of hell. He says, therefore, there is no record of apostles having convulsions, involuntary spasms, or incontrollable impulses. These emotional spiritual experiences of the flesh have greatly discredited the true manifestations of the Spirit. In the African-American Pentecostal Baptist churches, there is a long history of people shouting, having hyperactive frenzies, and for some, they, without biblical basis, claim that these experiences are validation of being a recipient of the Spirit of Christ. Ironically, he says, this experience is found with both those who have and those who have not received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Well, how can this be? It has to be a cultural, spiritual phenomenon. It's not rooted in the scriptures. These experiences are most prominent in the churches where there's spiritual milk that's the staple diet. The emotional hype, that's the order of the service. Get it all hyped. Also, oftentimes the music in the church service acts as a catalyst to release the emotional frenzies within the congregations. There's a lot that he said that was true. And so blasphemy, sexual perversion, violence, occultism, Satanism, demonism, anarchy, rebellion to all forms of authority, suicide. If you haven't seen MTV, thank God. Because today, I forgot the name of the person. The only reason I know about it is because I listened to podcasts. Some, I think he's a black rapper. He was literally having a homosexual relationship with Satan. Like that was it.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Oh no. I don't remember his name. I don't even know him. No, don't even bother. But we know what you're talking about. Yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 49:05

That would be hard pressed to see. That would be a rarity to see. Matter of fact, the only person I think might have looked like that or might have done something like that, although it was never homosexuality, Ozzy Osborne. 30 years ago, 40 years ago. But that, oh my gosh. And then, you know, what we've seen with the oversexualization of people who started out in Disney. And I'll leave it at that. They started out in Disney. You would think, kosher. Not 5, 10, 20, 15 years down the line. And so I say all that to say that what we're trying to do is to get you guys to think and stop acting, to get you guys to reconsider what are these things that you are filling yourself with. Because that's what it is doing. It's filling you with something. It's like a seed. You don't want tears, you want seeds that are going to bring forth fruit when the time is right for it to mature, and so that you can be a blessing to others. But I I'm a testimony that the more I fed myself this hard, hate-filled, rage-filled, wrath-filled stuff, the more I acted out in a way that was rage and wrathful, which is why I got stitches in my knuckles. That was a wrathful moment. It was rage. The word for me in that moment, because my mom had died, I was still mad, really mad at her, mad at my whole situation. And it was the word for me was rage. It was like rage boiling up in me. I was just really, really unhappy and dissatisfied. And so we have to be careful because the power of music to influence us is it can't be ignored. We have to really take it seriously. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 50:56

Yeah, I want to speak on that because I actually have a personal experience with it.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 51:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 51:00

Like I said, a lot of the music I listened to, peer pressure, etc., but also emotions. I was very much a pessimist in high school. Very much. The music I listened to. Really? The music I listened to often reflected my emotions. So while, for example, I was in a school where my dad was a teacher, and I was always taught that your actions not just reflect you, but the family and others that you associate with. Amen. So I was very careful of what I said or how I acted because I knew it could circle back. But also, that didn't stop me from listening to music that expressed those inner emotions. So I had a lot of music I remember which were great. I definitely remember certain songs that expressed emotions I had towards specific people in high school that I would never say it to their face. I may have had to be with them in a club or in a class or play with them in soccer. I just would never say it to them. But I'd be listening to it before I had to go to that club meeting or before I had to go to practice or something, just like mentally. I guess I thought I was fortifying myself.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 52:11

And I'm perfor I'm pretty sure that before you actually said it out loud to them, you had imagined it.

SPEAKER_04 52:17

Ah, yeah. You had heard it. Yeah. And so, but there was a moment, I remember this was a rebellious act. I was very angry. Um, and I don't know what possessed me that there's a specific song I was listening to, and I wanted to learn it. But I think again, because I was rebellious, I especially wanted to learn it because I knew it was a song you both hated. That you both had told me this is a terrible song by this band, it is a terrible message. Um, not even curse words, it's just the message itself is very dark. Yeah, and I went and I learned the entire song on piano, and I would stay up late at night because I had to study, and those were my breaks.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 52:58

I guess that was the forbidden fruit for you.

SPEAKER_04 53:00

Yes. So I will say, you didn't catch me, but you would ask me, Why are you banging on the piano? Because I had headphones in playing this song, and I would be banging, I guess, so loud that he would come over, he's like, What are you doing? I'm like, that's just a song I'm trying to figure out. But you may remember this, eventually it did come out because this became a song that people in my band class or friends or people would want to hear if I was at a piano, they're like, You can play this song, let's play it. And it was one of those songs where you're bopping your head and the hair is waving and everything. So I played it at a soccer end of season party, and you weren't there. But as I was playing the song, you walked in the door to pick me up and take me home, and in the car, you said I do remember that, yes. And you said in the car, was that that song? I was like, Yes. I don't even think you addressed it. I think you knew just I was sitting so like, oh my god, what is he gonna say?

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 54:00

And I didn't know it's not that I knew, it's not that I knew is that what I knew was me knowing was enough for you.

SPEAKER_04 54:08

Yes. Okay, he did a lot of that anyway. So at some point though, I got convicted. I don't remember when, but I said, I I can't play that song again, even though I can I can play, and that's probably the hardest piano song technically that I've learned, and I actually am proud that I taught myself it. I can't play it because of the message and of the time that came out of. But I remember specifically, that was a song that I would play whenever I was angry. I'd go to the piano and play that song. And so I completely understand where that came from. Yep, that was something that was. Well, I didn't even know I did until now, but yeah.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 54:51

Anyone else have anything to add to this topic? Music.

SPEAKER_03 54:56

Alright. Well, what else do we have? Amber had something to do. Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Good. Oh my god. So honestly, I was just gonna quote our pastor, and something that he acknowledges a lot is making a covenant with different gates, whether it be our eyes, whether it be our ears, what we take in our body. And that's what all I kept hearing as we were having this conversation. So as we talk about music, what are we introducing into this? Our temple or the Lord's temple, as we proclaim to be a living sacrifice to the Lord that's holy and acceptable. What are we putting in our bodies? Is it filth like you were talking about? And so even in my studies, just remembering, okay, so how do I even get more faith? Oh, faith come by hearing, hearing the word of God. And so during my high school years, I took that tar. I was like, okay, well then I'm only gonna listen to Christian music. That's what I felt like I needed to do, that's what the Lord convicted me in. And it was a beautiful time. You know why? My thoughts were bent on the Lord. Not all the time, 24-7. I was still very much human, but for the most part, I noticed this drastic difference that I was glorifying God in my words and my speech. I didn't get angry as quickly. It was just a beautiful time. And so I thank the Lord for that. But then, you know, you get into these stages of rebellion, and I had a similar story. It was, oh my goodness, it was my senior year, and I made a video of like all the players and all the cheerleaders, and you have to have music with it, and so I'm still the PK, but I'm like, okay, that's fine. I know I can't have all the worldly music in it, but I can at least use the instrumentals. And my dad found out, and I was so upset. I was like, well, the song for my pictures is still a Jesus song, but everybody else, it's like a song that they like, it's just the instrumental. He said you will not be submitting that. And I cried, I cried and cried and cried because I spent so long. So then I tried it on like Jesus crap Christian rap songs that kind of sounded like the world when it was the instrumental, but nevertheless, I realized it's important to have a breakdown of what I was feeding my spirit, and so now that um well excuse me, I'm in the backtrack. So even when it came to love songs, I would only listen to them if they were wholesome and if this might sound weird, but if I could relate it to my relationship with God, and if I couldn't do that and it was parts of the songs that was like off the walls, then I said, Oh, that ain't for me, that ain't for us, Jesus. That's okay. And so I was able to get by with that. So now where there is a season of my life where I can listen to this stuff, and it's okay with my husband and thinking about him, it's kind of bizarre still. Like, oh my gosh, I can listen to this, and it's about love, and what I'm allowed. And but there's a beauty to that because it's not tied to other relationships. I know for my dad, there were certain songs he couldn't listen to because it was tied to somebody else that was not his wife, and would bring up certain things, and so I'm I don't know, that's my little tidbit about it.

SPEAKER_05 58:07

Um that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one. Thank you. Yeah, did you have something?

SPEAKER_02 58:12

Oh, okay.

j - Jesus M. Ruiz 58:14

Thus is the ministry of our father's heart through us. Our utmost desire is to be in the father's heart, to know the father's heart, and express the father's heart to you. If you appreciate listening to this podcast and we're blessed, pass it along to someone else by text, email, or word of mouth in the hopes that they might be positively impacted in viewers. If you are interested in supporting our efforts, we would ask you to consider the following. One, pray for us. Two, leave a positive rating of review with whomever you listen to our podcast with. And three, if you desire to contribute monetarily, you can do so at jell.me slash j thenjesus. Or cash app dollar sign, J then Jesus, or Venmo, J then Jesus. That's J. B-E-S, J-E-S-U-S.