After these things I heard[1] a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her." Again they said, "Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!"
Just check out all the times we are told to sing and play instruments to the Lord.
Psalm 100:1-2
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Psalm 95:1-2
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Ephesians 5:19
Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
James 5:13
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
Psalm 150:1-6
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! ...
Psalm 147:1
Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
1 Corinthians 14:15
What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.
Psalm 13:6
I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 95:1
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
Psalm 71:8
My mouth is filled with your praise, and with your glory all the day.
Psalm 144:9
I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you,
Hebrews 2:12
Saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
Psalm 33:3
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Psalm 104:33
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
Romans 15:9
And in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
Mark 14:26
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Exodus 15:1
Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
John 4:23-24
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Matthew 26:30
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Hebrews 13:15
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Psalm 105:2
Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
Psalm 68:1-35
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him! Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. ...
2 Samuel 6:1-23
David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. ...
Isaiah 12:5
“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
Psalm 100:1-5
A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 137:1-9
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! ...
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
John 4:23
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
John 4:24
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Micah 7:7
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 47:1-9
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. ...
Isaiah 42:10
Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 8:9
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Exodus 15:2
The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.
Psalm 9:1
To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
1 Samuel 16:23
And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.
2 Chronicles 20:19
And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
Of course I agree with you, but we live in an “in your face” age. There are those who insist on introducing contemporary (some read this as secular) music styles into the church. I have witnessed “shows” akin to American Idol. It seems as though church as become yet another venue to strut your stuff.
As you are now aware, there are those who have claimed falsely that this is nothing new, all generations have pushed for contemporary music in church, causing a ruckus. This is not true outside of a few instances.
You don’t have to go very far to hear someone complain that the music in church is “too loud” or “inappropriate.” Some go with their ears plugged (or hearing aids off), others have quit or have gone elsewhere.
Of course I agree with you, but we live in an “in your face” age. There are those who insist on introducing contemporary (some read this as secular) music styles into the church. I have witnessed “shows” akin to American Idol. It seems as though church as become yet another venue to strut your stuff.
As you are now aware, there are those who have claimed falsely that this is nothing new, all generations have pushed for contemporary music in church, causing a ruckus. This is not true outside of a few instances.
You don’t have to go very far to hear someone complain that the music in church is “too loud” or “inappropriate.” Some go with their ears plugged (or hearing aids off), others have quit or have gone elsewhere.