The Foundation of

SOUTHERN GOSPEL MU-SICK

HONKY TONK FOR JESUS ???

Theme music for this page

Applachian hick burp version

AND "STRIDE" PIANO AT THE
FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST CHURCH HOUSE

By Steve Van Nattan

 

World issues in the news, past history, health issues, and ongoing wickedness examined
in the light of the King James Bible

EDITOR:
Steve Van Nattan

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SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC

By Steve Van Nattan

That is not true. Rock does not do the same sensual things to you that SGM does. SGM is a carbon copy of the swing, stride, and honky tonk sound of New Orleans and Africa. God trashed the capital of Southern Gospel Music when he drowned New Orleans.

Read the following, and if you ignore this, and if you continue in this sensual filth, your children will become moral slobs, and you may well find your spouse in someone else's arms. THAT is what this music is for in the world.

We have a problem here. Because musical offerings on the web are the most common to change and morph according to fancy and trends, and because you are now on a warfare site, AND because this page is clearly attacked by Satan heavily, thus, you will find that links are dead. You may find links leading to filth and porn. Kindly do two things.

1. SEND MAIL telling us of dead links. And......
2. See if you can find the item somewhere else on the web for us.

PART ONE:
THE AFRICAN BEAT-- THE DRUM-- AND THE FOUNDATION OF....

.... Rag Time
Stride
Rhythm and Blues
Rock
and......
Your precious Southern Gospel Music

 

THE AFRICAN DRUM--
Foundation of your rhythm and blues SGM

However, the Africans are masters
Note the acceleration to a frenzy. This is a sensual effect and results in rabid sexual orgy.

THIS CLIP IS FILTHY AND SHOWS HOW SATANIC THIS TREND HAS BECOME
CAUTION: Very filthy language used by song leader
This is the dance with the drum and the beat in an alleged church.

The off beat is highly developed here
This is actuallty a church group sining. It shows the complex African beat

These Baptists learned that dance and beat from Bourbon Street

KITCHEN STOMP CHURCH OF PRAISE??

FINALLY..... A CHURCH OR A DEVIL DANCE FROM AFRICA?

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are
passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Something did NOT pass away-- it went to church !!

SHEKINAH GLORY STOMP- "Stomp On The Devil"
Shakinah is the name of the wife of Elohim in Cabalistic pagan Judaism. These pagan Jews pray regularly that Elohimn will leave Lilith, the wife of Satan, and go back to his wife Shekinah. They believe God is shacking up with Satan's wife. The word Shekinah is NOT found in the Bible, and it is possibly the most potent blasphemy on earth today. This Black church believes they can stomp on the devil during this kind of musical exhibitionism. Well, Michael did not take a careless attitude toward our adversary, the Devil. Jude 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Satan knows very well when we are out of order in our words and actions. Vistory over Satan has nothing to do with our macho tough talk. Victory over Satan is 100% dependent on our calling on Jesus Christ to come to our defense.

LEARN THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF STRIDE PIANO,
THE FOUNDATION OF ALL SOUTHERN GOSPEL QUARTETS.
Hit the box in the navigation bar at the top called "Blues & Stride" At what he does, this fellow is a genius. No other web site treats "stride" in such a complete and rational way. This is NOT a Christian view, but it is well done. Hit "The Memphis Blues," and contemplate "The Big Easy." This is the bedrock music of New Orleans, and it is the music with the most powerful draw in most Baptist and Charismatic churches.

Get this straight please. The "stride" piano is the point where the African off beat and boogie left Bourbon Street and Rag Time in New Orleans and went to church. This is because the rag time piano did not appeal to White people like it did to Blacks. The stride piano was a swinging, smooth, and easy listening sound, and the Stamps Baxter Music Company picked up on it and spread it around America by sending out their quartets to sing in churches and sell hymn books. It worked, and the sound of sacred music was left behind as many churches got the beat. This process happened starting about 1935 and developed on and on until we arrived at what is now called "Southern Gospel Music." We will talk more about this later on this page.

We do not mock at the worldly men who played the original rag time, and later, stride music. It was meant for the bar room and the lounges where ungodly people met and caroused. They were "doing what come naturally" in a very professional manner. But this is the foundation of all that follows on this page.

I now transition to study Southern Gospel music and its origins. We will return later to a fuller discussion of "Stride" piano and the brilliant inventor of the genre.

 

PART TWO:
A MUSICAL AUDIO VISUAL PRIMER ON SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC

NOW, WE GO TO THE EXTREME TO SHOW WHERE
SOUTHERN GOSPEL TOOK CHRISTIAN MUSIC

To you backslidden Baptists and Whiskeypalians, this is known as "Southern Gospel."
In fact, it is straight night club music. Get this straight-- I am following a path from the African devil dance drums directly to your church platform. This last one was the same beat, and the "stride" genre, nothing else.

Soulish beat for Doris Ackers'
Jive Sky Pilot Honky Tonk
I was in Bakersfield, CA one evening for a "Southern Gospel Concert." That was in my days before being enlightened about this rubbish. The Statesmen were there. My buddy and I were hanging around the rear of the church, and in the back door came a dolly decked out like May West, and just as talented in the bosom.

My Buddy told me she was Doris Ackers. I knew who that was, and I must admit, I was a bit taken back at her night club outfit. Hovey Lister, the Statesman piano player, whooped, and called Doras down to the stage. She said she just "dropped in" to see them. LA, her home, was 200 miles south of Bakersfield, but the story sounded good to the gullible crowd.

She twitched around and giggled for a while as the Statesmen tried to do some spiritual flirting, and then she took the piano and played the above piece, which she wrote. Here's a preacher who knows the devil's dame when he sees one.

I went to hear the Sky Pilot choir one Sunday evening in L.A. with some college friends. We were in the flesh, and the sound was good. Then, after a shallow message by Pastorette Ackers, they began to "cast out the oppressor" from some church members. We all got the creepy crawlies, and left on the double. We left Jack Chick tracts on Doris Ackers' Cadillac though. Sort of penance for slumming on Sunday evening :-)

Stride Piano Applied Blasphemously to Amazing Grace
Please notice the plain Jane sound up front, after which the music gets into the flesh with the smooth stride use of the off beat.

Piano Bar stride/jazz version of My God is Real
Note: He is real, and he is holy. Why use a profane genre to try to exalt him?

Just a Closer Walk With Thee in Stride, and the same musician doing Georgia on my Mind.
The guy is good, but he needs to learn to make a "difference between the profane and the Holy."

You Tube and Rock-a-billy at church house
"We'll soon be done with troubles and trials...." Lyrics

Stamps Baxter School of Music singing Heaven's Sweet Jubilee
This is one of the best examples I have of pure Stride jazz style in church. This is a favorite from the old Redback Hymn Book.
The piano sounds so much like James P. Johnson (discussed below).
The song could have been sung without the stride piano medium, and it would exalt God.
The same music school singing "Baptist Convention" style. Notice the total absence of the off beat swing beat. This proves the off beat
is not needed to sing moving and exalting music.

 

A TOUR OF DOWN TOWN BLACK URBAN GOSPEL

Black "Urban Gospel" version of Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Savior
There is a parallel stream of this New Orleans African beat now thriving in both Black and White churches.
Note the premier instrument for Black urban Gospel-- the good old Hammond B-3. Somehow it has a totally unique sound and seems to feed the African beat. Thousands of Black churches crave a Hammond B-3 and their "Praise Break."

BLACK HONKY TONK "GOSPEL":
"Get away Jordan" by the Black Clara Ward Singers who introduced the song originally using the contemporary styles of James P. Johnson, inventor of "Stride piano." Ward's biography is a horrible story of abuse and lust run amuck. This is TYPICAL of the vast majority of Urban Gospel and Southern Gospel groups. Lust drives almost all of them, and I have seen this up close, and I have friends who were in the inside of it.
This may well be the lady who built the bridge from "stride" to the church house.
Same group blaspheming the Holy Spirit

BLESS THAT WONDERFUL NAME OF JESUS Urban Black signature tune

BLACK MUSICIAN, CHRIS FLIESCHER, HAS NOT BEEN SEDUCED
The hymn is, Joy By and By
It is a cultural lie that Black folks have to shuck and jive to make good music.

 

INTERRACIAL BLASPHEMIES

BY AND BY - Two Ginrgos, a Kurtzmann grand, and a Hammond B-3 organ
The piano being out of tune makes it sound even more like a holky tonk piano.

This is an exceptional example of the "stride" style. It does not satisfy you to just tap your toe, as with Bluegrass or "Baptist Convention" music (where there is no off beat). This stride music makes you want to get up and MOVE things around. This is of the earth, fleshly. "Romans 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." The motions are not of the spirit- they are of the soul. Have you not ever wondered why they call it "soul" music? What does the Bible call for? "Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;"

Who owns the spirit of the saint?

"1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." God has our spirit safe and sound, but we have an option to hand over our soul or keep it under our own lust.

"Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." The old nature has gone to church, and the motions of the flesh are earthy, that is, when we allow the music to degenerate as we see it in modern church music

CAUTION: If you are at this page in hate for me, and you are mad about what you have seen so far, the next number is demonic. This is jungle music, a devil dance. You could well send a signal to a devil nearby if you hit this link. It is extreme blasphemy in the words "do me" and in the music. Ask any unsaved friend what "do me" means. I cannot deal with it hear in public. Suffice it to say that it has to do with a gutter concept of human reproduction. You may justify it in the church house if you are a dead beat gullible dim bulb, but the men downtown in the red light district know what it means. So did Andre Crouch.

If you are on this page in the Spirit of God to learn the truth, plead the Blood of Jesus over you, and click on the above link.

CAN'T NOBODY DO ME LIKE JESUS
This is blasphemer Andre Crouch's big number Sung by Sandra Huff

Comment after listening to the song:

You may need to take a break to get your Bible and wash your feet after listening to this one. I simply MUST show you this because a lot of soft minded Christians are not dealing with the history of Southern Gospel music. It is a journey from Bourbon Street, rag time, and "stride" music, which evolved onward to rhythm and blues and hard rock. It has "gone to church". Southern Gospel music is on the road to hell, NOT to the throne of God. It is at the "stride" point in the evolution downward. It is half way to what you just listened to and where you are headed. If you will not cleanse yourself of Southern Gospel music, you will allow the flesh and the devil to take you all the way to pure filth. And, thousands of churches exist which will give you aid and comfort in your trip.

Here is the TBN big healing tent style Gospel in "I'll Fly Away."
Shut your eyes, and visualize yourself walking in the big front entrance of some Charismatic temple, and the organist is getting the spirit up in people to ready them for the big man's grand entrance soon. Everyone in the place is giddy and jolly-- like at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, or the Hacienda Supper Club in San Jose.

By the way- You just watched another Hammond B-3 at work. It has the sound of soul better than any electronic organ on earth. The new electronic instrument in the foreground tells you there is a VERY good reason to keep using the old Hammond antique. It is probably a 1950s era organ. Also, please consider this- can you imagine an organist playing Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" with the body motions of the above performer? Stanley Wilder is "good" at what he is doing, but it belongs in a supper club, not on a church house platform.


"Just a closer walk with Thee" was composed by a Big Band leader exclusively for night club use-- Does it "move" you?
For you old geezers, here it is over the edge. Biggest collection of fossils I ever saw!

SOUTHERN GOSPEL PAGE IN THE NEW ORLEANS HONKY TONK TRADITION
The band is rockin-- Dance, Dance, Dance to "If the Lord Builds the House"

He's all I Need-- Bourbon Street Style
This is solidly night club music-- The lust of the flesh is the main event here.

Cowboy Church and the off beat-- These guys are all hat and no cattle!
By the way, Jesus did not raze hell-- it is there waiting for blasphemers right now, hot and handy.

BUDDHISM AND HINDUISM IN SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC
I am sorry that some of the following are .ram files. I hope you can play them.

"Oh well, when you feel a little prayer wheel turning
And you will know a little fire is burning"
These are Buddhist prayer wheels used in Napal and Tibet.
Hindu fire ritual- A little fire burns in many Eastern religions.

HINDU FIRE DOCTRINE-- The common aspect of our body, sun and flame signifies the presence of the creator. Therefore fire is considered to be the ultimate witness. Offerings to the fire represent commitments made in the presence of the almighty. SAPTAPADI[1] The bride and groom take their vows as they complete seven steps around the holy fire and till the seven steps are completed they are not deemed as man and wife. The prayer wheel and ritual fire have virtually NO origin from the King James Bible. When you sing this song, demons dance over your head with joy !!!!!!

NOW. THE VERY POPULAR GOSPEL SONG THAT SPEAKS OF PRAYER TO GOD BEING LIKE A PRAYER WHEEL TURNING AND A LITTLE FIRE BURNING-- A LITTLE TALK WITH JESUS BY THE GAITHER GOON SHOW
They start slow, but they have to end with the Honky Tonk beat.
You see, Satan loves this paganized rubbish, and his drunks and sex fiend mob loves is too.
ROCK A BILLY NIGHT CLUB VERSION

HERE IS A GREAT LOOK AT THE CHOREOGRAPHY
AND AFFECT ON STAGE WITH SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC
The medium is a classic jazz beat. The message is rockin and a rollin.

BLACK JIVE URBAN GOSPEL-- James Cleveland
This is the beat with a slow style.
Direct product of Stride Piano and African drums-- Something indeed got ahold on them-- devils!
Doras Ackers' Highway to Heaven-- I was at the Sky Pilot church in LA one Sunday night when The choir came in with stately march down the aisles singing this song. It MOVES you, my friend. You get the warm fuzzies, and you want to get up and do the light fantastic or jidderbug, honey. And, the Holy Ghost is crying out against you all the way. We soon left.

HE'S ON TIME
I have given you a setting to match the music style. If you like this, you are depraved.

TAKE OFF ON "OH, HAPPY DAY"-- Grand Concert Rex
You will not need much of this to get the point. Question: If this is revolting to you, why are the same instruments, moves, and off beat rhythm acceptable to you if they are less extreme and in the "right" church house? The mixture of the profane and holy is the same. Only the DEGREE of mixture is the issue to you, right? So, you DO allow for mixture, the curse of Israel, and the curse of the Church.

There is war in the church house....
Exodus 32:17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted,
he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
18 And he said, It is not the voice
of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome:
but the noise of them that sing do I hear

 

Finale of this musical primer on SGM:

The following will show you:
1. Rock-a-billy which is based musically in rag time and stride
2. The beat and style of Nashville and the night club in Christian music
3. Blasphemous pandering to Catholics and the Church of Christ in water salvation.
4. No Blood of Jesus-- John MacArthur would love this.
5. No Jesus !!

COOL CLEAR WATER

THE LYRICS:

 

LINKS:

West Texas rif innovation-- pure Honky Tonk-- More by these guys

David Cloud on Southern Gospel Music

 

To conclude Part Two of this discussion,
let us see the contrast in two pianos, both claim to serve the Lord:

I have seen both of these men perform on several occasions.

Rudy Atwood- Please notice- NO off beat. Uplifting?
Yes, but not sensual. Rudy Atwood never changed. Never added drums, and never picked up a beat. He ended his days in his 90s teaching piano at Fairhaven Bible College- a servant to the end. Read our article on Rudy Atwood.
Here is a video where some guy recorded Paul Mickelson's orchestra with Rudy Atwood playing the piano. Please notice- the music is lively, BUT it is a march! Repeat- a MARCH. There is NO off beat. The sensual response is not there, but the urge to get up and march is felt, or the response to "stand up" for Jesus. There is no comparison between a marching band and a night club singer.

Henry Slaughter-
Slaughter at the piano as the Imperials sing. This is from way back in years. The rock beat and drums were still far away when they sang in this local church. The guy with the goofie facial work is Jack Hess. He would make the girls cream like Elvis did at the big concerts. I was there, and it was one of the first things that the Lord used to make me nervous about SGM. Why should the girls scream when the Holy Spirit is working? Also, SGM is the only kind of "Christian" music where the piano player grins and schmoozes the audience all the way through the song. Also, notice the lack of biblical context- just feel good and swing it, honey.

PART THREE:
THE ROLE OF THE STATESMEN AND THE BLACKWOOD BROTHERS QUARTET--
WITH ELVIS CONSIDERED

Elvis Presley performed and recorded many gospel songs. In the early 1950s he attended all-night gospel quartet concerts at the First Assembly of God and Ellis Auditorium in Memphis and befriended such famous groups as the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen. Hovie Lister, leader and pianist of the Statesmen Quartet is in the photo above.

When he was 18, Elvis auditioned for a place in the Songfellows Quartet, but the position was given to James Blackwood�s nephew Cecil. Later, as his rock & roll career was prospering, Elvis was offered a place with the Blackwood Brothers, but he turned it down. Even after he became famous, Elvis continued attending Southern gospel sings and the National Quartet Convention. In the early years of his rock & roll career, he sang some with the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen at all-night sings at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis (Taylor, Happy Rhythms, p. 117).

Elvis told pop singer Johnny Rivers that he patterned his singing style after Jake Hess of the Statesmen Quartet (Happy Rhythm, p. 49). The Jordanaires performed as background singers on Elvis Presley records and as session singers for many other raunchy rock and country recordings. Members of the Speer Family (Ben and Brock) also sang on Elvis recordings, including "I�ve Got a Woman" and "Heartbreak Hotel."

The Jordanaires provided vocals for Elvis�s 1956 megahit "Hound Dog." The Jordanaires toured with Eddy Arnold as well as with Elvis. They also performed on some of Elvis�s indecent movies. J.D. Sumner and the Stamps toured with Elvis from 1969 until his death in 1977, performing backup for the King of Rock & Roll in sin-holes such as Las Vegas nightclubs.

Ed Hill, one of the singers with the Stamps, was Elvis�s announcer for two years. It was Hill who concluded the Elvis concerts with: "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Goodbye, and God bless you." (During the years in which Sumner and the Stamps were backing Elvis Presley at Las Vegas and elsewhere, Sumner�s nephew, Donnie, who sang in the group, became a drug addict and was lured into the licentious pop music field.)

Sumner helped arrange Elvis�s funeral, and the Stamps, the Statesmen, and James Blackwood provided the music. After Elvis�s death, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps performed rock concerts in tribute to Elvis Presley.

Jake Hess, JD Sumner

Hovie Lister, James Blackwood, Rosie Rosell

These men were the legends of SGM

"If I could, still I wouldn't take nothin'
for my journey now....."
And, they didn't-- Possibly not even
their soul's salvation.

Only two or three of the Blackwood Brothers and Statesmen
made even a limp effort at giving a testimony.
The two most suspect dudes in my book were
Jake Hess and Big Chief Wetherington

Finally, Hovie Lister (the most prolific clown in SGM) wouldn't take nothing...
But, try to book one of these groups. You will need a venture capital agency to help pay the bill!
The bass, "Big Chief" Wetherington NEVER gave a testimony at a concert.
Sorry about the resolution. You cannot see the pinky finger ring on Rosey Rossell, the high tenor.

PART FOUR:
RATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC:

By Steve Van Nattan

 

At the ripe old age of 72, I have had some experience with Southern Gospel music. It goes back to the days when my Dad pastored country churches in Oklahoma.

They sang out of the Stamps Baxter Hymn Book. It was a general hymn book, but a number of the new Soouthern Gospel style songs were added. The score was in shape notes which allowed people to learn the hymns in SO-FA tonal singing. This is a lost art today. The Stamps Baxter song book did not seem evil if you sang the songs straight forward in the old Irish and English way in which American Christians had sung for 150 years. It was only as the accompaniment was altered by professional musicians that the problem came in. More on this later.

I used to attend the Southern Gospel concerts in the Long Beach Auditorium during my college days in the 1960s. I thought all the foot stomping and happy feelings were somehow an alternate form of spirituality. I knew this music would not fly in a church service, but I reasoned that this was "good Christian fun." This, contrary to my assumptions, was the work of Satan during the era of the Charismatic frenzy. We would never be caught speaking in tongues, but the Pentecostal movement had introduced the notion that how you feel is one standard of what is godly. If it feels good, and if you are with Christians, it must be OK. I bought into this, as have thousands of Baptists and Fundamentalists today.

When I attended BIOLA College, some of us decided that a Gospel Concert would be in order. It had never been done before, and we wanted to help build a fence around the baseball diamond with the profits-- very worthy cause for a Bible college-- ugh! We called several Southern Gospel groups, and we booked the best we thought we could afford. One group we booked had to be dropped because one of the unmarried sopranos got pregnant.

Never mind-- We had such a great response in pre-sales of tickets that we had to arrange for the crowd to be seated in the main auditorium as well as the music center, and we had to shuttle the quartets back and forth in cars between acts. Everyone was very impressed except the Music Director who thought the school's cultural level had slipped badly. He would have loved some Bartok or Shostakovitch, and later we learned that he was not born again at all. We thought we were very spiritual indeed with our "Gospel" music. Years later I realized that it was all wood, hay, and stubble at best-- indeed, possibly predigested hay at that. We will not be seeing any reward for the thing in the Glory.

One day about twenty years ago, I burned all my Southern Gospel records. I was convinced that I had music that was the habitation of dragons, and as the fire lit, I had the same feeling as when a new African Christian burned his pagan charms and fetishes. And, there were vintage Statesmen and Blackwood Brothers records there also. But, it was all wood, hay, and stubble, to me by then, and I didn't want to see it burn up in that divine flame at the judgment of all our works. The more you can burn here, the less smoke to embarrass you up yonder, I say.

One of the very deceptive things about Southern Gospel music is that the message of the music is often biblical, though usually light and repetitious. It was born out of an era when the King James Bible prevailed in the hinterland of the USA. This gives the illusion that Southern Gospel music is better than Christian Rock and CCM. In fact, all of this new music today in the Lord's Church is based in Rhythm and Blues, just like Southern Gospel music is. It all goes back to Bourbon Street and New Orleans-- to Rag Time and BeeBop. This is why many of the early Rock singers, like Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton cut their teeth singing in the Baptist church choir and Southern Gospel. The trip, both in the beat and in the spiritual condition caused by the music, was a very short trip from Southern Gospel to Rock.

I had my rude awakening on Rosecrans Boulevard. Many interesting things happened to me on Rosecrans Blvd. It was on that street that I slid all the way across the intersection with Lakewood Blvd trying to stop in the rain on wet pavement when the light turned red. I did it on a motorcycle, and, using my feet as outriggers, I stayed upright all the way. I then pushed the motorcycle all the way back to the line where I should have stopped-- pushing it backwards, as other Sunday morning folks laughed their heads off. Another time, there is a nice bottle neck in Rosecrans where four lanes go down to two. I was tired and coming home from work and not looking far enough ahead. I was again on my motorcycle. Suddenly the traffic stopped, and I didn't. I went through many sudden maneuvers faster than I could ordinarily think, and I ended up laying on my back with only a small cut over my eye. I sold the motorcycle, and I haven't been on one since.

Well, one night, after Prayer Meeting, I was on my way home in my car on Rosecrans Blvd again, when I saw along the side of the road, a bus which had written along the side, "S______ Quartet." Well, I was ecstatic. Here were my heroes, and the famous bass singer who could sing right off the scale of the piano had just joined this quartet. I did a U-turn, and I went back to see what I could see. I got my nerve up, and I walked right up to the bus and knocked on the door. Would the great and glorious men of God condescend to converse with one of their faithful followers?

Just at that instant the door opened, and down the steps of the bus, came a very gorgeous lady in a black negligee with white lace trimmings. The big tall "good godly" bass singer was standing at the top of the steps, and he looked nervous when he saw me and said, "Wee wer shust stopping to visit an old vriend of arse her in Noorwuk." He grabbed for a railing to steady himself, and the door snapped shut as the lady of the night fled back across the road to have her devotions I suppose.

God is good to us. He knew I needed a jolt to get my mind in Christ to act. That was the night when I decided I would never go to another professional Gospel concert. I still thought I could find God centered Southern Gospel in the church house. I was on my way though, and the Holy Ghost kept working on me about it.

 

PRIMAL ORIGINS OF SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC- STRIDE MUSIC DEFINED:

Syncopation, the Up Beat, Down Beat, Off Beat site.
Wikipedia on Stride Piano
Wikipedia on the Up Beat, Down Beat, and the Off Beat
Please listen to the sound samples of beat.

STRIDE is the son of Rag Time, so this page tells you where and how Africa took over the music of America. "Urban Gospel" is also another place to study another offshoot of Rag Time gone to church. This page is the best thing I have seen. I am sorry some of the LISTEN items seem to be gone, but the theory is all there, and I can assure you, this is the best description anywhere of the foundation on which Satan has built all Southern Gospel music.

Here is a good solid sample of Rag Time, the father of Stride and Southern Gospel piano. You will note the absence of the swing factor. And, one of the oldest Rags known-- Kitten on the Keys.

NO, HERE IS A PIANO TUTORIAL ON STRIDE
This fellow does very well at presenting stride technique.
This is a perfectly legitimate piano technique, and in a profane (in the world) setting, it is simply interesting. When used as the foundation of Christian music, stride brings the sensual and the profane into harmony with the Gospel, and that is devilish.

Now, listen to the most classic example of STRIDE.

ELEVATOR MUSIC CAME FROM GEORGE GERSHWIN:
This is swing, alias stride, alias rag time, when it landed squarely in the psyche of the White race. Click the sample song.

BIG BAND ERA MUSIC FOR WHITE FOLKS WHO DON'T WANT RAG TIME BUT LOVE THE AFRICAN BEAT. This is real music at a high skill level. But, it is not the beat and genre that a Bible believer can mix with Christian lyrics.

This music appeals to my flesh, and don't you tell me you don't feel it too, you liar. Satan has vast skill in the music area which he uses to inspire feeling before thinking, sense before standards.

In speaking about Lucifer, before he fell from heaven in pride, the Bible says, in Ezekiel 28:13 "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

The song above was "Snowy Morning Blues" by James P. Johnson, not Henry Slaughter. What do you hear, my dear Southern Gospel junkie? A bit embarrassing, eh? Is your church house turned into a New Orleans bordello every now and then when you invite in the Whore's jive jabberwakies? Hey, Johnson made Henry Slaughter and Hovie Lister sound like Kindergarten kids within the genre of STRIDE. This guy, James P. Johnson, was "good" by worldly standards. The flesh is pleasurable up front, but the fruit comes later, and therein is the rub-- it is of Satan himself. Have YOU imported this stride groiny shuffle into your living room?

This stuff makes you FEEL GOOD. The romantic lady was added in the 1940s. And, I must lovingly say to you, "TO HELL WITH YOUR FEELINGS." Can you imagine King David, up yonder at the temple, with the sons of Korah shuffling in the background, playing this rubbish? If you can, you are not born again. And, as usual, I say that most charitably.

Worship is based on the foundation of the spirit, not the feelings or the senses. If the my spirit belongs to God, there is no way he would lead me to worship him with sensual music.

Here is another of the "greats" playing a Southern Gospel sound alike-- Bill Handy.
Is this Beulah Land or Beale Street Blues?

Rag time never touched the Lord's Church. There was too much salt to see ragtime be adapted. I found one on the Web, but only one. James Price Johnson was, as far as I am concerned, the prime and gifted Black musician, who adapted ragtime to White tastes by evolving ragtime into a smooth and artistic style. It is called "STRIDE" piano, and there was no vocal with it as far as I could find. Ethel Waters, before she got right with the Lord, performed and cut records with James P Johnson. Some of the songs were very raw also. Thank God for the salvation and changed life of Ethel Waters who later sang only the old hymns of the faith.

Stride was only played on the piano with only a bass and subdued trap set at the most, but usually nothing but the piano. You can go to this link and hit the navigation box marked "blues & stride" and then scroll down to "Mule Walk Stomp." This is the foundation of all Southern Gospel piano. There are other good examples on that page you should check. I must note that the page is very well done and the sequencing exceptional in spite of the content.

Here is a sample of the speed factor of Stride. It moves the music too fast for serious spiritual thought. This makes sure the audience relaxes, forgets they are born again, and they grin and slip and slide, mentally and physically. This stuff will "MOVE" you, but not in the Spirit of God.

The exception of the speed factor is in night club and supper club settings where a very slow stride is used.

Since I did this page originally I have listened to some of the songs at the site I sent you to above. If you have never been in the night life, in the bordello, in the supper club with the filth of sin and smoke hanging on you the day after, these songs, lacking words in most cases, are happy little songs, silly songs, songs that seem jolly and harmless. Like, Hand Full of Keys by Fats Waller. I understand how some folks feel about this kind of music.

Did you get flashbacks of Hovie Lister and the Statesmen Quartet as you listened to the songs in the side box? If this genre is not mixed with the Gospel, that is, if it is just listened to like elevator music, it may be inoffensive to some people, But, it is impossible to add Christian words to this genre and sanctify it.

Ezekiel 44:23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

The problem is, if you are a child of God, you will ask yourself, "What are these songs doing to edify me?" You will also ask, "Where are these songs played?" Bars are often happy places. There is a lot of laughter and merry making there. So what? There is drunkenness and lust there also, and that is the purpose of bars to 90% of the patrons who frequent them and listen to the swing piano in the corner. So, the music of the bar room of the 1930s cannot possibly be the music of the church house. Happy is NOT the standard. Adolph Hitler was a very happy man on many occasions.

You should also visit the "Novelty" box in the navigational bar on the above page. You will see that these Black musicians were doing some very highly developed work in innovating around the basic beat of African music, that is, rag time and rhythm and blues. Note "Nola," which has almost a classical style, yet it is African in beat. How about this 1920 version Raggin on "Do Lord?" This illustrates how stride made the journey from Bourbon Street to the church house. You must listen to the WHOLE cut at this link above. You will see the journey graphically illustrated.

Somehow, I believe the STRIDE piano matches the lousy theology in the alleged Christian chorus-- The very idea of asking God not to forget a saint bought by the precious Blood of Jesus-- Ugh! The technique of playing the piece without embellishments first is a devilish way to give the impression that plain music is dull-- by the time the jive innovations come in, you are EAGER to boogie. The last riff in Do Lord above is straight Stride and Southern Gospel.

Here is another example of a fellow who has done an old hymn of the faith in stride. No blapshemy is too much for him.

Please note the number on the "Novelty" page called "Rhapsody In Ragtime" by Eubie Blake, done in 1973. STRIDE is still very powerful and popular. This music will not go away, and so Southern Gospel music has its feet in the mud and cannot hide.

If you think the devil's music is not highly skilled and full of challenge, check out "Harlem Strut" by James P. Johnson on YouTube-- very tricky finger work. Also, "Fingerbreaker" by Jellyroll Morton, played on YouTube by an Australian-- exceptional finger work. On the linked page above, STRIDE is well defined as to playing technique, and if you are a musician, you will realize you are reading all of Henry Slaughter's secrets, as well as Hovie Lister's. There is a very real appeal to the White Race lust for technique in music-- for the clever and challenging-- for the zeal to conquer new things that have never been done before. This is passed on into Southern Gospel music, and many who attend the concerts are transfixed by the gospel piano player. He often is the anchor of the show and the owner or principle share holder.

Now, who is this? Hovie Lister, Henry Slaughter, or Fats Waller? Can you almost fill in the lyrics? Maybe something about crossing chilly Jordan and leaving my troubles behind. Drop the name of Jesus in a couple of times, and it could almost sound spiritual, right? Well, it is Fats Waller playing "Numb Fumblin." Circa 1930. Here is a quicker piece which shows the use of the Henry Slaughter bass cleft off beat back and forth to build a solid foundation for the swing feeling. The song predated Slaughter by about 40 years though.

Now, there is one thing still underlying all of this. Who and what sets the foundation to all African music?

Here is the real thing from Mali in Africa. This one shows the drive of the drum. You won't like this, but the African drum is the bedrock of Southern Gospel music, Rag Time, Stride, BeeBop, and Rock music. It is the African drum. The drum is used in African church music, but it is highly guarded to make sure none of the beat you are about to hear, enters into the music of worship. I will say more on the African drum later, but you need to know that the theory of modern pagan music in the USA and Western world today is based solidly on the African drum which the USA brought into this country with the slaves.

[ Having linked to "Perfessor" Bill Edwards' work at his site, I must tell the reader that this man's web work, and his authentic sound which he had to play into file the hard way, is second to none. He is the best on the web at what he does. There is nothing cheap and shoddy about good work, even when we don't agree with the importing of it into the church house. ]

Black Christians never tolerated this beat in the past, and only in recent times have Black Christians taken a cue from idiot White diddle heads and brought Rag Time and the STRIDE piano into their worship services also. If you want a pure and highly developed African drum beat to test against your favorite Southern Gospel song, TRY THIS. How about singing "A Little Talk With Jesus" to this beat. I assure you, it is a pure African beat-- I should know-- I was there.

The body language of STRIDE music became much more seductive than Rag Time was. The dancing ceased from being two people in great animation, and STRIDE brought the dancers into a full clinging embrace, and the dancing was slow and sensual. Finally, White band leaders evolved, like:
Benny Goodman,
Tommy Dorsey (note the stride piano solo),
Jimmy Dorsey, and
Glenn Miller "In the Mood" was possibly his most famous tune, (Glenn Miller Site)

I was not old enough to see these people play, nor was I ever in a supper club or concert setting of the Big Band era. For that reason, when I hear these bands, especially Glenn Miller, I hear the skill of a large orchestra. My Dad has flashbacks to his days before Christ and the dance floor. He winced when I played my Glenn Miller records. So, one day I threw them away, not because I felt sinful, but because they offended my Dad.

Footnote: It is very important to understand the key role of James P. Johnson to stride and the Southern Gospel genre. Not long after James P. Johnson ruled stride piano, Earl Hines came along, and he turned stride into a very artistic and complicated form of jazz. The bass was made very busy and complicated, not lending itself to a quartet. The upper register was also heavy, which again, was overpowering to a quartet. So, when I tell you that James P. Johnson is THE man who convinced alleged Christian music groups to jive up the Gospel. After Johson, the New Orleans and Southern Gospel parted company.
Here is an example of Earl Hines' very complicated innovation.
He bought his ticket to success with booze and Camel cigarettes.
This man was a master of the off beat and the feel good sensual rhythm.
Was it art? Avsolutely. Satan is a master musician. So was JS Bach.

Every musician speaks to the soul or the spirit, not both at the same time,
and YOU BETTER FIGURE THAT OUT REAL SOON MY FRIEND!!!

Is stride and all this genre wicked intrinsically? NO! But, you CANNOT sanctify it by dragging it to the church house. Keep it to yourself, and I personally do not listen to any of it with any vocal added. The vocal is about 95% sorry, down in the mouth, and lusting.

This mellow genre sounds tame compared to hip hop and modern freak music. But, it does NOT fit in the church house. Again, just change the words, to some banal spiritual rubbish, and some Christians will call it "anointed"!

To view a lesson in playing Stride Piano, see the video section at the end of this article.

Thus.....

 

BEWARE OF MIXTURE:

My sense of music tells me this Big Band sound is exceptionally well played music, for its setting-- the world. Unlike modern rock and hip hop, the Big Bands had highly disciplined musicians who had to be "good" at their instrument, AND at playing as a part of the whole. But, when I hear this music, I know I am in the area of what the Bible calls "profane". It is common, not holy. Profane, in King James English, meant common, of man, not of God.

Much of our daily life activities involve profane things which are not evil, but they are not holy either. Watching a baseball game is not holy, it is profane. It is not a sin unless it offends the Holy Spirit in us. Big band music, to some people, is not sinful, but a Bible beliver knows it is profane, common. It cannot be mixed with the holy things of God and please him. It must be kept in the profane department 100%. To bring this stride and swing beat into Christian music is mixing the profane and the holy, and God hates mixture.

Ezekiel 44:23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

In Israel, in the Old Testament days, a thing could be unclean but not evil. The thing God forbid was that the clean and the unclean be mixed together. Here is an example:

Leviticus 10:9 Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:
10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;

In his day, which was still the day of Moses' law, Jesus' first miracle was to turn water into wine. (John 2:1-11) Wine, in the Bible is not forbidden as a beverage. It is common or profane, earthy. In fact, wine was drunk at the Passover, which was a special meal commemorating the day when God rescued Israel from Egypt. The meal was just food. The holy aspect was the remembrance and the ceremonial sanctity of the event.

In the verse above, God did not want wine to be drunk in the tabernacle or the temple. Wine can be taken to excess, so God forbid that ever happening in the temple by this law. There could be no mixture of wine with the bread or other ceremonial food used in temple worship.

Later, in the New Testament, Christ used wine from the Passover, with bread, to institute a ceremonial remembrance of his death on the cross to pay for our sins. The wine was just drink (just as it was in the Passover)- the observance and remembrance of his death was the holy aspect. It is therefore evil to claim, as the Roman Catholic Church does, that the wine and the bread become the Holy Body of Christ. If God forbid wine to be drunk in temple worship which was holy, then it is blasphemous to claim that the wine used in the holy Lord's Supper is holy. It is just wine-- it is NOT the Blood of Christ. The remembrance and ceremonial aspect are holy. It works both ways. God simply hates mixture, no matter how innocent it may seem to you or me.

You cannot make a profane thing holy by mixing a little holiness with it. And if you add a little profane thing to a holy thing, the whole thing becomes profane. If I were to offer you a glass of water with a rock in the bottom of the glass, you would be a bit disturbed, right? Rocks are not evil, but we don't want them in our drinking water. It is just that simple.

Listen to Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade-- full orchestra, soft mood, renaissance feeling. Glenn Miller gave a classy illusion to Whites who thought ragtime was juvenile. The leader of the band was White, and all the musicians were White. The Black factor was finally removed, and "Southern Gospel" could color the boogie beat White also. Southern Gospel is the Baptist White man's trip to New Orleans in the church house!! Mark it down, friend. Stride was the bridge from Rag Time to the Big Band. Southern Christians bailed out just before the sexy female singer was added. They left the dance hall, but they took the beat on down to the church house with them. They started with the profane, and added the holy, and thought the finished product was all holy. Pentecostals would say, "anointed," right?

When the female singer's voice was added, the words damned the music. The lyrics were sexy and full of fornecation. The lady was dressed in skin tight red satin, the front covered, but the back fully exposed. You need to understand that Big Band music had NO vocal added for its first 15 years. It was at this point, around 1945, that the "Southern Gospel" detour started in an effort to salvage the music genre, but with Christian words. The Stamps Baxter Music Company was the chief culprit in the printing of their hymn books and in the quartets they sent around to promote the hymn books in southern churches. The quartets, from day one, incorporated the stride piano and the off beat in their singing.

But, the musical medium was damned from step one, for the beat is far more powerful than the words, as any rock band will attest. The off beat was still there and absolutely ruling all of the big band era.

HERE IS WHAT SWING IS ALL ABOUT (Hit the third audio item, an interview with Gary Giddens)-- "Pure physical pleasure."

The Jimmy Dorsey Band is still in existence in a sense. Some of his young men are still living, and every year, they leave their own orchestras or retirement, and they do two or three nights in some area of the USA. I was tuning pianos in Arizona when they came to our area, and the concert hall manager asked me to tune the piano for them. He also said I would be required to be on hand at the concert in case of a problem with the piano. I tuned the piano and was assigned a front row seat. The music was fantastic. Those old men were still hitting the riffs as they always had. In terms of the profane, or Solomon's vanity, it was first class stuff.

But, there was NO way anyone in that concert hall would associate that music with anything holy. It was earthy. After several pieces, the lady came up to sing a solo part, and that is where I got very uncomfortable. The music had not bothered me, but the lyrics had a message alien to my life as a child of God. But, (please get this next thought straight) there was complete fellowship between the profane music and the sensual words. Now, have you caught on yet? You cannot mix the profane music with holy lyrics. Stride piano and big band sound were made for the profane, and that is where they must stay.

The mixture of the stride piano and holy words has never been done, that is, under the supervision of the Holy Ghost. Backsliders had to invent that mixture. AND, that is the foundation of modern CCM and the beat in modern church music. That is why the trap set MUST be part of the CCM "praise service". There MUST be an off beat! And, it is blasphemous.

I maintain that Southern Gospel music, which came from stride in the same years that swing came from stride, is physical pleasure music. It is music for dancing before a golden calf. Anyone under 60 today has not, as it were, danced before the golden calf to Big Band music in an old time ball room. That setting is almost totally extinct. You may simply like that music because it is great music for mental coasting. Today, Big Band is "old fashioned" elevator music. If you are 65 you can ask the manager at IHOP to change the music to "easy listening", and he will know just what you want. Southern Gospel music is NOT played, sung, or performed to worship God. It is meant to get your feelings up, it is sensual, it is mental coasting. All the body activity of the SG quartets is for one simple reason-- they want to dance to the beat, and they cannot stand still. Witness the gyrations of the singers in a SG concert.

Southern Gospel music is amusement. A muse- against thinking. Straight from the old Latin originals bunky. Mental coasting is a violation of God's instruction for worship. What did the disciples do right after Jesus ascended back to heaven at the end of his time on earth?

Luke 24:50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

They did not spend one minute amusing themselves or anyone else in the temple.

Deuteronomy 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

People do NOT go to Southern Gospel concerts to worship God. They go to get the warm fuzzies from a famous group of singers. They go to get a good feeling, an alleged Christian rush. If you need to get a rush from that which is profane, at least have the integrity to make sure it is all profane.

Here is a classic song, Satisfied, and the classic SGM swing style that deceives thousands with its easy going progressions. This song could be sung without the swing beat, and it would be quite useful.

Was there an alternative to rag time and the boogie? Yes. Right in the same geographical neighborhood, and in the heritage of the French, were people who did not pick up on the African off beat. The Cajuns. Listen to Cajun music. It is worldly in that it is not Christian. But, it is not African-- it has only the up beat and the down beat. So, we see that the White race left its Irish, English, and German roots, AND they ignored the alternative of the French music which was a European parallel to Bluegrass. The worldly Whites bought into African music because it made them feel sensually good. The toe does not tap as with bluegrass and Cajun music. The pelvic area is moved, as on the dance floor. The mind goes numb, and the off beat grabs hold. Thus, Southern Gospel music is church music for sexual desire and lust.

If you are enraged at this assault on your favorite music, I would like you to submit it to the test of the Word of God:

1 Timothy 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Bow your head and pray this prayer, "Thank you heavenly Father for southern Gospel music that is a mixture of New Orleans night club music and Christian words. In Jesus name, Amen." If you can do that without a tinge of discomfort from your conscience, go right ahead and listen to the rubbish.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU TAKE SOUTHERN GOSPEL
TO THE CASINO OR SUPPER CLUB?

I had a customer in Arizona who, before he retired, played piano for the Hacienda in San Jose, California for twelve years. This was a supper club of higher quality. He told me his favorite trick on the audience (they loved him for his tricks) was to play Amazing Grace, a couple verses, and then ask the crowd to sing along. EVERYONE KNEW THE WORDS. But, after the first verse, he would go on singing all the verses, and then scold the crowd for not knowing all the verses. This is a supper club where the folks go to the piano bar after the meal to listen to music, sing along, and drink rum and coke. This fellow could scold drunks for not having more religion, and they liked it. He said many of the patrons chuckled and made comments about how they should know the whole hymn.

One of the last Gospel concerts I attended in Long Beach, Jake Hess of the Imperials said they would be in Las Vegas the next week. I guarantee you they were not going to sing in the Las Vegas Bible Church. The only money in Vegas good enough for the Imperials was in the big casinos. The Imperials were the first ones in SG music to really rock it, and I first saw a trap set being used by them. As far as I know, they were the first of the old time Gospel quartets to take the SG genre to the raw casino world, and the world lives it.

So, wouldn't you think the words of the Southern Gospel music would irritate the sinners, gamblers, and adulterers in Las Vagas? And that supper club-- Is it not a bit surprising that the clientele would tolerate being asked to sing and listen to the Gospel in "Amazing Grace"? Answer: Not at all, IF, IF, IF, you swing it. They start out slow, which almost all bands do, and then they kick it into jazz mode. The power of the music totally, 100%, absolutely, unequivocally, erases the power of the message. The body goes into sensual mode as the introduction, with the bass beat, the off beat, and the stride innovations, sets the tone for the moment.

Philippians 3:18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

If the world loves Jesus in a night club, on the condition that he is the Jesus of Southern Gospel music, then we saints ought to figure out that SG music is profane and cannot be brought to church or into our homes. You never heard of George Beverly Shea singing in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. His music would offend those sinners grievously.

 

THE PHYSICAL ASPECT IN SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC:

What is the operating force of stride, swing, and rock music on the body? Watch people as a rock song starts playing. They go into a slump, and they get a far away look. Their mind turns off, and they often start moving their hips around. Women will often move their breasts around. Men will often make macho earthy, even sexually explicit, comments to each other.

I like that good old rock and roll,
You know it really soothes the soul....

The pelvis unconsciously repositions in the women to ready for sexual activity, and the men notice another woman across the room with the plunging neck line. "When we've been there ten thousand years...." is about as close to their mind as, "Baby's got her blue jeans on...." If the beat is of the world, you can write any Gospel lyrics you want to to go with it, but the world will go into a sensual mode. Can you think of anything more messed up than using Southern Gospel music in the church house, and starting the program with prayer asking the Holy Ghost to bless the process?

So, if you think the message, which is only occasionally an accurate biblical message, makes up for the worldly beat in your Southern Gospel quartet at your church house, you are a blithering fool. You are, by the beat and the swing in the music, setting the tone, and the tone is in the groin of YOU and your friends around you.

EXAMPLE: POWER IN THE BLOOD-- Watch the mild jive evolve to the pure night club belly grinding beat.

I shall now bash you soft brained boogie boys up side of the head. Watch the way Satan has used this old time Gospel hymn which is so precious to Bible believers. Here is the Stride version of "Power in the Blood"-- Billy Bobed, and on the move. This is your cute SGM beginning of the slide into hell. And, Bill Gaither produced it to charm his mob.

Now, grab hold please-- Ask the Holy Ghost to get you ready to learn without participating, for you will now hear "Power in the Blood" with a driving beat which will make your soul desperate to move in the middle of your body, right around the groin area. Rock and roll and grin... This is "Urban Gospel." When you turn it off, your flesh will scream, "More, More."

Since I first did this article, YouTube has grown huge, and I found this there: Power in the Blood
That old Hammond seems to drive people mad

What hymn is used more than "Power in the Blood" to sing against Satan in demon possession deliverance sessions? None. This hymn has been translated into hundreds of languages and taken all over the world by missionaries because of the power it has to cleanse God's acre, and because of the zeal it raises in the saints as they sing it. Satan has no fear of the words when he has your libido moved by the beat and your mind moving on the jive musician, humped over the piano in a libidic slump, shukin' and jivin' up on the platform.

Now, let me wash your feet please-- Listen to "Power in the Blood" in straight four-four time. Please note how you want to tap your toe to the music instead of slump your pelvis. Also, notice the relief you feel after the above samples. This is the relief your spirit feels as the old time hymn is played in its biblical meter and style.

Here is a super simple yet profound test of Christian music-- Does it make you tap your toe, or does it make your pelvis tip and put you into a slump? The latter body change is the body position of intercourse, and Southern Gospel music moves the body and the soul in that direction. This is why all the body English by the SG quartet as they sing. During SG musical events, the body has a mighty urge to act out through the libido.

 

THE WAYS OF STRIDE AND SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC:

STRIDE was the style which finally crossed over into the Lord's Church. The great Awakening and the revivals of the late 1800s had run their course. Southern churches in particular were reaching out to new and novel musical tricks. The Stamps Baxter Music Company, and several other publishers, sponsored, and sent on tour, quartets who sang the new songs in the Stamps hymn book. They jived them up and used the STRIDE piano. Men like Hovie Lister of the Statesmen Quartet, and Henry Slaughter, gave dignity to the STRIDE style, and thousands of Pentecostals and Baptists sucked it right up. It felt good. It made the body feel sensual, while the sucker saint could sit in church and imagine he was still sanctified.

You may think that back up in the hills the evolution was a natural thing. Not so. The old forms of music in Appalachia and the Smoky Mountains were NOT Stride Piano. They were from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Germany. The tune had no up beat, down beat, and off beat combinations. The beat was most often a straight four four time and sung in a bit of a hurry.

Here is an example of the singing style of the past days in the hills of Appalachia and Oklahoma. There is no syncopation in this music. It is lively, toe tapping for sure, but it is rooted in Ireland and Scotland, NOT Africa and New Orleans, as is the case with Stamps Baxter music of the 1930s and onward into Southern Gospel music. Southern Gospel was a frontal invasion from New Orleans.

Alleged church music companies, and various pagan song writers, brought the STRIDE piano from New Orleans and imported it boldly into the church house. The Laodicean era began in about 1900 as the Bible was attacked and began to be revised and mutilated. Tongues came into the Church, along with modernism and feely feely religion. The saints, and their money grubbing slow bellied pastors, wanted a rush, and they refused to get it from the Holy Ghost. STRIDE, or shall we say STR$DE, music came to be very popular.

The beat in ragtime, STRIDE, BeeBop, and Southern Gospel music came from Africa. It came with the slaves. Truly born again African American slaves in the 1800s would scold their kids for using the African beat, and it was considered filthy and not worthy of use in the church meetings. The drum was considered, by godly Black saints, to be evil in all its manifestations. Only as the wicked port cities developed did the real power of African music find its place. New Orleans, New York, Savannah, and other southern ports developed districts of total depravity, and these centers were then exploited by White music lords. The new music industry and the early movies gave a vehicle to peddle this new medium. Virtually NO saints in the USA except Episcopalians and dead beat Unitarians etc could tolerate this whole Broadway scene. There was no connection made at all until the Stamps Baxter Music Company, and other church music publishers, built the bridge via the STRIDE piano.

My parents were traveling from Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika in 1954 on a wood burning train to their first assignment as missionaries in East Africa. Dad said that he was looking out the window of the train car one day, and an African woman was standing along the tracks transfixed. She was staring at the wheels with a glassy eyed look, and she was swaying out the rhythm of the wheels as they hit the cracks between the rails. The rails were short, and the carriages were short compared to US rail cars, so the beat was close together and just perfect for the dance beat. Ta-tic--ta-tac --- ---; Ta-tic--ta-tac --- ---; Ta-tic--ta-tac --- ---. The --- --- part was the off beat. Dad said the woman was in the same body action as he recalled from his youth before salvation when he used to visit the old big band ball rooms in Los Angeles. This STRIDE beat is a jazz beat, which is an African beat.

I recall hearing the drums at night as a kid in Tanganyika as a devil dance went on and on until dawn. The sound was the classic beat of Satanic Africa, and you could sing most any Southern Gospel song right along with it. The devil dances and beer dances ended in vile immorality, and that is the same end of all ball room dancing and rhythm and blues. It is the end of all STRIDE piano. Is sexual sin the end of Southern Gospel? Yes. I recall seeing the tenor at intermission time in the days when I feasted my sensual zeal on Southern Gospel concerts at the Long Beach Auditorium south of Los Angeles. The tenor was married (yawn) but he had rings on all fingers, and he was made up like a polished dude. At intermission, he would park himself in the lower balcony, and he would flirt with the Assembly of God and Baptist dollies who gathered around.

Spiritual ladies fine and fair,
Sacred winks and piled up hair,
Smiled they on the tenor there.

These ladies, in the 1960s, would never use make up, but they had these bee hive hairdos which stood as much as a foot high, and they would sway around to the music, and then they were ready to visit with the tall bass dude or the high tenor at intermission. It as NOT a spiritual sight. It haunted me, but I had deluded myself into thinking I was in godly company. A wife of an Army chaplain I worked for during my term of duty told of walking into the area behind the stage and seeing a very famous bass singer with an Assembly of God dolly on his lap while he did a very detailed study of anatomy by Braille. The lady telling the story fled in terror and swore off of Southern Gospel music then and there.

I have known a number of very old saints. My parents included. These folks, the ones who came in out of the worldly life in their teens to be born again, have NO tolerance for Southern Gospel music. They hate it. Why? Answer: They visited the ball rooms. They heard the big bands. They danced close. The stride beat was in their unsaved souls. They knew what that music did to people. When they got saved, they fled from that world. Now, you bring that STRIDE piano back into the church house, and you let the quartet take the stage, sway around to choreographed movements, dress like the Mafia, and wow the crowd and receive applause instead of giving it to Jesus-- What do you get? The old saints are miserable. The rest of the folks are 100% in the flesh and claim the Holy Ghost was in it. There is a ghost in it, but not a holy one, honey.

 

THE "I" FACTOR:

In considering the ways of Southern Gospel music, please think about the "I" factor. I would estimate that about 95% of all SG songs are about me. There are almost none exalting God. There are a few "get right sinner man" songs which would be an attempt to introduce the Gospel to the listener, but the Gospel is lost in the beat.

"Pass me not oh gentle Savior," "I wouldn't take nothing for my journey now," "If it keeps getting better and better oh Lord, I don't know what I'm gonna do," "Precious Lord hold my hand," "I saw the light," "Get away Jordan.... I wanna cross over on the other side," "Will the circle be unbroken," on and on ad nauseum. It is all about ME. The old hymns of the Reformation and the days of Wesley and Fanny Crosby had some "I" hymns, but the great majority were exaltation of God and Jesus Christ. There is a good reason for that-- the Word of God calls for it:

Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Psalms 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Psalms 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

The music we make in the assembly must be ABOUT God and sung TO God. It can be loud, but it cannot have the golden calf beat. The Baptist Convention piano (I coined this classification for want of a better choice), such as Rudy Atwood played, leads to exaltation and zeal in singing to God. It does not lead to me and my libido.

Listen to "Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise." It is almost 100% King James Bible verbatim.

I speak to your pastors-- how about having an "old timers" Sunday, and have the older saints tell of their memories of worship and singing. For me, perhaps the most starling moment in my life in this regard was when my family attended Kewsick (the USA version in New Jersey). The hall was packed with zealous Christians and many missionaries. It was 1953, and we sang "And Can it Be." The hymn has an "I" factor, but it is all about Jesus Christ and what he did and suffered for me. It is all praise to Christ. The congregational singing was lifted beyond measure in exaltation, and I still recall getting goose bumps from the volume and intensity of the moment. I personally believe that the angels may well join in at times and sing when God the Holy Ghost has total control of such moments.

Many other old hymns come to mind, "To God be the Glory," "Be thou exalted," "Majestic sweetness," "A Mighty Fortress," "Now thank we all our God," "All things Wise and wonderful." On and on it goes, but, you see dear saint, these are old hymns. In our modern slough of despond called Christendom, it is now essential to be trendy, and, worst of all, to make sure everyone attending "gets a blessing." Most people "go to church" to get a blessing and be amused. So, the jive beat and the "I" lyrics appeal to the ego of sloppy agape Christians. Worship, without exception in the Bible, is only to exalt God. When we do this in obedience to his Word, he indeed blesses us in return. But, "... he must have the preeminence."

Southern Gospel music gives the preeminence to performers and to "I".

 

BUT, "GOD CAN USE ANYTHING."

You are a flaming blasphemer if you have bought into this doctrine of Satan. God will NOT use everything out there to do his work, and I can predict some things God CANNOT use. This is because I am a friend of God, and, in spite of my faults, I have a pretty good idea what God will use and what he will not use.

Let me show you how to think. You deacons and pastors try this. Take some of your daughters, about age 20, down to a tattoo parlor, and have John 3:16, and other Bible verses, tattooed on their bellies and back sides. Then, when you are preaching next Sunday, have these young ladies do a strip show on the platform. You can be absolutely certain that some of the unsaved sinner men there will pay very close attention, and they may even read the Bible verses. Could God do this? No. If you think so, you are a devil and you will burn in hell.

There simply are some things God CANNOT do. There are some kinds of human talent and activity he CANNOT use. The only thing I can imagine God can use Southern Gospel music for is to illustrate how mad and mindless some saints can be in mixing the profane and the holy. And, as usual, I say that in all Christian charity.

There are two senses present day believers may develop after they get saved.

Sense One asks, "Would Jesus do this?"

Sense Two says, "Who knows, someone might get saved by this method, so I should not stand in the way."

Sense One is of the Holy Spirit, while Sense Two is of the flesh and the devil. Sense One is of the Philadelphian Church in Revelation 2 and 3, and Sense Two is of the Laodicean church. Which sense do you use to deal with music? You cannot have both senses. Have you been allowing pastors, youth leaders, or influential saints to redo your thinking? Have you bought into the idea that God loves Honky Tonk? Do you now believe God is, at heart, a rocker?

You see, some of you men grew up in the Lord's Church, and you never spent time in the night clubs and bordellos. You don't have the same point of reference as the person who was immersed in lust and that dark world, so you have no flash backs when the STRIDE piano starts ripping along. I share your experience. You do not have memories of one night stands in sleazy motels after watching a woman strip to the background music of African beat and lusty heavy breathing into the mic. Because of your lack of such past history, you can pretend you don't sense anything wrong when you hear that night club music in your church house.

Well, God has a full knowledge of the heart of man, and he knows very well what is going on at the honky tonk and the supper club, and he KNOWS that rebellion is in the heart of anyone who takes the honky tonk beat to the church house. That honey from the dead carcass of a lion, which Samson brought home to his mamma and daddy, was perfectly good honey. But God knew it came from an act of rebellion by Samson. If you knew the honey was gotten wrongly, would you have eaten it? Of course you would-- you don't examine all things anymore. You would think the honey was OK because you were a follower of Jehovah.

The Spirit of God has been dragged into bars and honky tonks many times as he was indwelling backslidden saints and fat phony itinerant evangelists. Thus, when you drag the act of the honky tonk, and the body language of the dames at the bordello, into the Lord's Church, the Holy Spirit is grieved beyond imagination. You are not fooling him with your filthy apologetic.

You will claim that the message is good. Not usually-- often the doctrine is insipid and vain repetition. But, even if the doctrine is good (as with the above example of a Bible verse tattooed on the belly of a naked woman) the medium of music, and often the messenger, are Satan's personal property. You think you know the singers are such sweet Christians. I have news for you-- you are a sucker and a gullible fool. Artists and performers are masters of mime and pretense. Artistic people are the most masterful people at looking good while inside they are filthy or even unsaved. They are actors and actresses. They know what to say, and they know how to gush in the name of Jesus. You don't know how they live-- you don't have a clue what they are really like.

1 Corinthians 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

The Bible is the only standard, the prophets being the Word of God in the above verse. If you were to examine the Message, the Messenger, and the Medium of music of all these groups you think so highly of, and if you used only the King James Bible, you would be shocked. You would find thoughts in the music which are dull at best, while other lines would be pure blasphemy. "I never lost anything good, when I came to the Lord." That line is in a Gospel song. It is a damned lie from hell. The Bible says the opposite.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

When we come to Jesus Christ, we "suffer the loss of all things" to win Christ. This is one of thousands of examples of blasphemous doctrine in modern Southern Gospel and CCM music.

1 Corinthians 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

Examining ourselves is a full time occupation. There is NEVER a situation in which I will allow you, or the greatest preacher in Hammond, Indiana, to decide what is right or wrong for me. I will be the final authority in the earth with the help of my God and the King James Bible. I have as much business deciding what is good, and what is profane, as any high toned "keynote speaker" at your revival meetings. Some of you good old boys are dumb as snot. You take better care of your coon dogs than your daughters. You won't make a decision about good and evil as long as Momma or the preacher will do it for you. So, you mouth those words we started with in this section:

"Well, I reckon God can use just about anything he wants to use. We should not stand in the way. Now, mind you, I don't really like that music, but souls are being saved."

What a lazy four flusher and fool you are. If you don't like it, there is very likely a good reason, and that reason is that the Holy Ghost is screaming at you to get out of there. Never mind, you are so intimidated by the gushing feelings of your wife, and the youthful lusts of your daughters, that you give in. Tell me, sir, do you have the money to raise the bastard children your little honky tonk daughter will soon be handing you?

I have to repeat something mentioned already-- Back when I was in college and running to Gospel concerts, I recall, toward the end of that era in my life, that the Imperials were at the Long Beach Auditorium. They always would give their coming meetings in case anyone wanted to travel to another concert. They said that next week that they were going to be in Las Vagas at one of the big casinos. Some glib remark was made about getting the Gospel into Las Vegas.

I was a sucker for such lies in those days, but I recall that my buddy and I talked on the way home about how was it possible for real born again Christians to sing in a casino. We were both uncomfortable. I KNEW, in my soul, by the voice of the Holy Ghost, that something was wrong. It took me far too long to get right on the thing, but the Spirit was working, and He won in the end. Why? Simply because I love the Lord Jesus-- I still have things to take care of, and I am not perfected yet.

But, I am the friend of God, and I do make changes from time to time to come in line with his will and authority in my life. When he showed me the degraded whore chasing nature of the Southern Gospel group along Rosecrans that night, as I told it above, I knew I had some things to deal with in my life. I knew Jesus Christ was NOT on that bus that night, and I at once shucked off the professional Southern Gospel groups. Later, I realized that just because the music was in a fundamental Bible believing church house still did not sanctify the beat and the folly. That is when I burned the record collection.

Do I like that beat? You better believe it. My old nature loves the earthly beat, and so does yours. But, what I like is ALWAYS suspect. Old fashioned Gospel hymns in four four time make me want to tap my toe. Southern Gospel honky tonk makes me want to move in the middle. Check out the link I gave you on that.

The African beat, in a honky tonk or in a church house, moves the libido and the middle of the body to sensuality. When the music starts, look at a group of youth standing talking. They will all slump and start moving around. No toe tapping as with "Power in the Blood." They will start repositioning their pelvis and talking silly, as youth do when their minds move to lust. You, preacher, do the same thing, but you have learned to sublimate it in shouting and Baptist or Pentecostal gesticulations to hide your sensual feelings.

Here is something I always was confused with. If we were singing in the church house to four four time music of the Irish and English heritage, and if we wanted to clap our hands, everyone joined in at once and was clapping right together. No coaching was needed for people to pick up the beat and all clap together. Now, I recall at the Gospel concerts in Long Beach, if the leader of the quartet wanted the crowd to join in and clap, it took forever to get everyone to clapping together. I recall times when they could not clap together as a group through the whole song, and the leader up front was flailing his arms violently to try to get the crowd on the beat. This is because some clapped on the up beat, and others clapped on the down beat. They did not know the order BECAUSE THERE WAS A FIERCE LACK OF ORDER. They wanted to participate, but the rebellion of the music destroyed their ability to cooperate with one another.

1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

It is hard to bring order out of rebellion, and African music has a rebel beat. Look at the face of the rock drummer-- he looks like he could kill someone-- rage is the source of inspiration. Percussion reigns, and melody tags long in the rear. Only in rock and honky tonk do you find a point during the song when the drummer is allowed to do a solo. BANG CRASH and BLAST YOU IN THE FACE. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

 

THE OLD FOLKS:

I have not lived through that era of STRIDE music in the night clubs and bars, and I missed the big bands in person-- I was born just as it was morphing into Rhythm and Blues. Even when I was in high school in Africa in a missionary kids' boarding school, we were 11,000 miles from the pop music scene. We used to sit in our dorm rooms and listen to Glenn Miller by the hour. We thought Elvis and the Everly Brothers were a lot of garbage. But, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller, with the perfection of the band hitting every riff right on the mark with a snap and flourish-- we were in awe of this. We did not have flash backs of the ball room and clinging to some fluff headed dolly who pressed her breasts into us to set our libido aflame.

I still can listen for a few minutes to Glenn Miller and, because I love music well done, I marvel at the skill of one man to mold all those performers into one smooth flow of art. But, I have a hard time listening for long because sooner or later the sexy lady starts singing, and the words are vile. Or, Frank Snot-ra starts hustling sluts. Also, I would never play big band music when a brother in the Lord is present who is older. What a horrible thing for an old man, say 90 years old, who still has a sound mind, to have to hear the swing, the STRIDE, the bebop, and have his mind rush back to some dolly he bedded after one too many beers and a late night at the ball room.

Don't you see dear saint, that the old folks tremble in terror inside as they hear the same things in the Lord's house that they heard at the Aragon Ballroom and the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles? The old folks are here for a very good reason friends-- they know the past, and they know the flesh. They have won the battles over the filth of the world, and they should be listened to. Instead, the modern age declares the older saints as odd and out of date. Let them go to the "traditional service". This is wicked.

 

CONCLUSION:

I recall attending a men's retreat in Michigan where a wonder boy preacher was brought in to play the piano for the song service. He played the old upright, which I had tuned-- a massive Brinkerhoff piano with a great voice-- and this guy would play the STRIDE Henry Slaughter style. As he played, he would turn and grin at the audience regularly like he was being naughty and enjoying it. This is not uncommon, and know that Jerry Falwell had a male (?) pianist who played a masterful sride piano. The effect was to jive up the men into a sort of Gospel Iron John frame of mind which was revolting and very fleshly. The speaker was a notorious Bible mutilator, and the evening was a complete success-- for the Prince of Darkness, that is.

Friend, Southern Gospel music has no place in your church and home. You should burn it the same way our African friends in Tanzania burned their pagan fetishes after they got saved. You need to simply make a covenant with the Holy Ghost that you will learn to be happy with the old fashioned hymns which have real doctrine and are sung and played with no sensual feeling. What feelings are these? The feeling that makes the body slump, the hips feel loose, and the mind go into limbo.

Makes me feel all loose,
Like a long necked goose.....
Hey baby, that's what I like.

The Reverend Doctor Elvis

The Holy Ghost gets people alert and full of zeal for the Word of God and the love of Jehovah. Southern Gospel music gets people ready to lust. That is why the sensual Charismatic churches these days use "Worship Leaders." Young men of appealing physique, and slim trim dollies with their breasts hiked up, sway and gush with their mouths right on the mic. This gives the feeling the dolly is breathing right into your ear, sir, and YOU LOVE IT. Your wife and daughter are getting the same rush from the square jawed dude doing the same. Southern Gospel quartets do the same exact thing as they sway around and breath heavy into the mic. The ladies actually squeal (evangelistically you understand) in the front row in the concerts. When Jake Hess would do his big eyed wowaa sensual number, the girls in the front row would literally scream, though quietly. Your wife and daughter are doing that, sir, even if they hide it inside. You are sharing your wife with another man. Read that again, sir.

And, you pastors who have brought Southern Gospel music into the assembly of the saints, with its worldly scum performers-- let me tell you what your problem is. The problem of you and your church people is-- lust-- sexual lust. If you give way to the sensual feelings of STRIDE and Southern Gospel music at church, you will soon be into porn, and then into the wrong bed. Mark it down-- Southern Gospel music is the tool of Satan to bring sexual feelings into the Lord's Church.

Ignore me if you like, but you have been warned.

Furthermore; you are a Laodicean wimp if you will not stand against all things sensual. You say you are rich and have need of nothing, but Jesus says that you are "poor and blind and naked."

Get you robes of righteousness back on, and stop dancing naked around the golden calf of Baal's music masters.

PART FIVE:
THE BIBLE ON MUSIC:

Editor: Steve Van Nattan

 

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

The report on Southern Gospel music is in. The performers are notoriously vile. They leave their wives and kids for months at a time, and they make a vain show of themselves. Much glory is gathered to them, and they do not inspire the observer to participate, but rather to be amused and thrilled. AMUSED: Latin- a muse, against thinking. No brain needed, just the lusting old nature and flesh.

There is NO precedent for this sort of thing in the Lord's Church for 1800 years. Performance of religious acts for the amusement of the masses is not part of New Testament life.

Ephesians 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

"Speaking to yourselves" has the clear connotation of group participation, not spectators watching performers. This self-serving amusement rush is evil in the Lord's Church in all its manifestations, and that includes your favorite Christian College music show that tours around every year. It is NOT glorifying to God. The old fashioned Gospel sing, where people gather and DO the singing themselves, is the only thing you can justify in the above text.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

"Teaching and admonishing" is not in Southern Gospel music. The lame testimony given by the leader of the group does not cut it with God. The point of singing is determined by the Psalms-- the Word of God. The old hymns of the John and Charles Wesley and Fanny Crosby are full of Bible centered language, and that is NOT the case with Southern Gospel music. It is based on clever clichés which are not from the Bible but from the vernacular and idiomatic nonsense of modern life. The alleged zeal of the personal life of some of these smaller groups who travel around does not prove a thing. Your life and zeal, and mine, are not the measure of anything-- The Word of God is the only standard. Philadelphian saints "keep the Word" of God.

2 Chronicles 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

The Holy Ghost is honored and enters the worship of his people in unity. The Holy Ghost is not in the belting out of 1000 watts of blasted sound from four glorious boys in shining $700 suits. God does not need a grinning piano player who kicks the piano bench back through the curtains behind the stage as he is playing, and yells, "I'm made more for speed then comfort." The Holy Ghost is not interested in a show of a few but in the worship of the whole Body.

2 Chronicles 7:6 And the priests waited on their offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick of the LORD, which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood.

The Levites did not buy camels and travel around Israel and put on a big show and demand an honorarium. They stayed in the temple where they were assigned, and they were daily, all their life, under the authority of the High Priest who watched their zeal and godly behavior. They also went home to their wives every day after performing their duty and making God's music. Their duty was to lead worship, not put on a show and then race to the next town before the curtain went up.

2 Chronicles 23:13 And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said, Treason, Treason.

This old bag was trying to take over the nation and rule. She was mad because of the joy over the legitimate leadership of Israel. Southern Gospel groups do not honor the God given leaders of the local church. They often refuse to even go near a local church. They want the maximum attendance, and so they want to run their own show. They have agents all around the nation who are not local church leaders, indeed, they are often women-- vain queen bees who lust for the adulation they get on the big night of the concert. The local pastors are asked to stand and are praised beyond measure by a lead singer jerk who has not been inside a church house to worship in ten years.

Daniel 3:7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of musick, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

The fact that the music is well performed, and the fact that the instruments are also used in godly music in other settings, does not prove that what you are hearing in Babylon is the work of Jehovah. The manner and style of the music is all important, and the object of the spectators' excitement and applause is also of critical importance. These people also had "all kinds of music." I bet there was a group playing Psalms they had learned from the Jews. Listen to Pastor Nebucadnezzar's Youth Pastor, "See, we know how to play the music of Jehovah here. Just because we fill in with a few Baal riffs does not mean God cannot use our music."

Amos 6:3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

The instruments of Southern Gospel music are not evil in themselves. I tune pianos, and in twenty years I have yet to find a demon possessed piano. I sure was attacked twice in a Church in Sierra Vista, Arizona by devils. I think they were trying to give me a heart attack so the Rodney Howard Browne clone preacher in that church could lay hands on me. I cried out to God, and he delivered me. The piano was not the enemy. So, David's instruments were not evil-- it was the attitude of the people who were so immersed in music and the good life that they did not see the suffering of their neighbors next door. Is this not just like the concert and Bible conference gang? They run to every event that comes along, and the poor saints downtown have not friends and fellowship.

Why don't you cancel the next trip to hear a fantastic Bible teacher, Gothard marvel, Southern Gospel Concert, The Dorkridge Boys, and go find some poor starving preacher and a couple of his deacons out in the country? Take along some hymn books, a couple of pies, and sing and sing and praise the Lord. You have no idea what good you would do for someone about to give up the work of the Lord. Bob Shots, a man of rare zeal for the Lord, is now about to enter the Glory, but for years, if he had some spare time, he would drive clear into another state to pray and visit with some discouraged preachers. When your works are examined by Jesus Christ, what on earth do you think your cash spent, and nights wasted, in concert halls will get you? I'll tell you-- a big bonfire. I have a SG one for you:

When I get on down to the Jordan,
And cross on over the tide;
I will meet my Lord on the other side, and....
Oooops, he just burned up my works in the fire!!??

Luke 15:25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

Do you want to have a big singing time and make music? Well, here is an idea. Whenever someone gets saved in your local church, how about calling a singing time that Sunday night, and sing all manner of hymns of praise, kill the fatted pizza, and rejoice that another sheep is gathered into the fold of our dear Savior. Come rejoice with Him, for He has found another of His sheep. What a way for a new saint to be welcomed into the fold. I visited a church in Columbus, Ohio one Sunday evening, and they were having a birthday party. They had one, with a big cake on the communion table, for every new saint that came to salvation in Christ. I never saw anything that moved me so much. I could not sing half the time. I was so moved. It was just the neatest thing.

In the Middle East and Africa, whenever a child comes to maturity, or for a wedding, or even a funeral, these events are seen as the biggest events of the year. Everyone related comes from miles around to feast and rejoice, or weep if it is a funeral. Why don't we in the Lord's Church make feasts and sing for victories instead of demanding to be amused by itinerant fornicators in sheep's clothing?

Habakkuk 3:19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Here is a prophet who received revelation, preached to Israel, and then set all his sermons to music and accompanied himself on instruments he made himself. I would love to hear James Knox preach a sermon and sing it to a mountain dulcimer he made himself. I bet he would too if he could get away with it. Do this today, and they would say you are a nut. Can you see your pastor, singing his sermon? We are not nearly as complete in our understanding of what God likes as we think we are. We have lost a lot of things along the way during the last 6000 years. And, to our shame, we fill in the void with jive jitterbugging of Baal and sacral boogie woogie. BAH!

1 Timothy 3:8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Southern Gospel music does NOT make people grave. Singing "Be Thou Exalted" or "The Bible Stands" makes people grave while they are also blessed with joy and mighty zeal in the Holy Ghost. In our church in Grant, Michigan we were about 25 people, yet we had a number of visitors on vacation, from huge churches, who would break down in tears during our singing times. Why? They reported that they had not heard singing like that in many years. We were amazed since we were such a small group. Well, the Holy Ghost has a way of taking a small group and using them to exalt God and, while they are doing it, to be serious and yet nearly beside themselves with godly joy.

Several times, during our twelve years at Grant, I heard distinctly from the Holy Ghost that I was not to preach that Sunday morning. The worship, singing, exhortation by the men, and the praises, were not to be stopped. This might continue for all of two hours. Yes, I understand, this sounds like a lunatic fringe group if you have been in a spectator / performer environment. You ask, "What on earth did you do all that time?" Actually, nothing less than exalt Christ and the Word of God in song and praise. If that sounds boring, you are in trouble, for you have a whole eternity ahead of you in which you will do nothing else. And, I can assure you, there will NOT be a trap set, all aglitter, sitting up by the throng of God in heaven. That trap set will be in hell driving the wicked crazy.

1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

Southern Gospel music is NOT orderly. There is a basic rebellion in this music. There are slurs and slides in the wrong places. There is the classic off beat. This beat is there as an act of rebellion against order, and that is the main thing that gives you a rush. You probably never thought about it, and you can deny it, but Southern Gospel music, as with rag time, and bebop and rock, would not get any attention if it were not for the off beat. There are also other beats and innovations, especially between instruments and singers, which are a sort of organized rebellion. Did you ever think the whole quartet had lost it, only to realize that they were doing some innovation with their parts which came to the point just at the last minute? This is rebellion on the edge of chaos. The flesh loves it. And, it is African and distilled out of thousands of years of Hams sons honing their skills under the possession of devils. I know, for I lived in Africa as I was growing up as a kid.

Decently and in order-- sing together-- sing it plain so that any little kid can join in. And, do the singing yourself at every opportunity. Stop trying to make your platform into a "really big show" like Ed Sullivan. You need to hear YOU singing with someone who is living a godly life singing right there next to you.

Do you even have a hymn book at home? Every saint should have two books-- first, a Bible, and second, a hymn book. God told you to "make a joyful noise" to him. He is not a bit interested if you can carry a tune. He loves to hear his children making orderly and doctrinally and biblically powerful music. God will not be at one Gospel Concert this weekend. He will be down yonder at some little country church where the pianist plays choppy, and the piano needs tuning, but where every little kid will be singing at the top of his voice, "...and it holds, my anchor holds...." Why don't you take the $20 you were going to spend on the concert, buy some pies, and go on over and join them. Call ahead and ask the preacher to make a pot of coffee. Then go sing and sing and sing, and you will come away with your heart so full you will go in the strength of that hour for a whole week.

VIDEO LESSON IN STRIDE PIANO:

The "gap" and the drop of the thumb or fore finger just before the right hand chord is played produces the "off beat". This is the feeling of sensuality in Stride. As worldly music, I am not offended much by stride piano. In the church house, I hate it. Thousands church musicians innovate with stride tricks, and the result is deadly on worship and serious Christian fellowship.

No doubt about it, stride went around the world.
Here is a stride lesson and tribute to James P Johnson in the UK. Watch the hands.
This is an art-- just not a church house art form:

Here is a 100% stride piano innovations
on what I call "Baptist convention" style, which is often
used to get the crowd excited just before a big Baptist sing or main event.

Now, on downtown to the Fire Baptized Holiness Church
of the Apostolic Succession.....
(There IS one of these on Firestone Blvd. in Los Angeles)
The Hammond B-3 strikes again!

The point I make is this-- It can be masterful, but it is NOT honoring the Master.

 

LINKS:

LOUNGE OR SUPPER CLUB STYLE
"Joy to The World"
This is a twist away from Southern Gospel Music,
but it is BACK TO the stride piano genre.
It is also a classic case of affect gone mad.
The smiles are purely stage tricks.
It reminds me of Jake Hess (right).

The Message is great, the Messanger may be born again, but the Medium damns the whole thing
How sad

Our article on Mixture

Kenny Baldwin-- This is proof that Black Americans do NOT have to boogie to make spiritual music!

Second song by Kenny Baldwin

For more Kenny Baldwin type his name into Google Video Search

Exceptional example of stride combined with the Red Backed Hymn Book
Keep on the Firing Line. There is nothing wrong with the hymn book. It is all about the genre.

This illustrates what I have called, in this page, "Baptist Convention"
You just could NOT rock or boogie this song and lift the soul without the sensual intruding

Ladies can be modest, avoid the boogie, and still be a blessing to the saints

Baptist 'grass

A Quartet sings If it Were Not for the Lighthouse

Looks like Cowboy Church, but I like the old time way they sing

This male trio, at some points, gets what is called a fourth sound

Straight King James Bible in song-- No need to rock it to exalt God

More of this source of music

Here is Cajun, banjo, Gospel song, sincere, simplicity, not the best singing,
but from the heart, AND no off beat. I think we need to deal with plain folks like this more.

This is the extreme of off beat over music very much UNLIKE what was intended by the
composer, JS Bach.
Play "Invention Vol. 2- J.S. Bach" A reasonable start turns totally weird with off beat innovations. I have
no love for Debussy, but I kind of feel sorry to see even his peculiar music trashed at this page.
We can only marvel at the perverted wonder of the mind of man. When fallen, man's mind, created
in the image of God, can produce the most horrid rubbish and drive innocent bystanders mad.

Full page of Southern Gospel songs of many groups

Cliché Heaven (Play the music top of page)

"Yes I Know" Exceptional MIDI work-- Slow piece but heavy with the off beat.

The urban brothers still have the beat and style in a purer (Oxymoronic) manner

MIDI from South Side of Chicago-- "Come and go with me"

Here is another-- stark, plain, but with a strange demanding authority.
Nothing sensual about this one!
I bet you play this one twice :-)

Ed and Jolene Bullard-- He Prayed--
You will want to hear more of these folks.
Plain folks like this are not popular anymore because they don't have the beat.

The Madam of Southern Gospel Music
Please note the ladies body movements when the group is invited to sing along
They cannot be still.

You CAN boogie without a drum ( Please be serious now, this is special :-)

Here is a 24 year old "old soldier" singing about his war wounds in his $700 dude suit.
:-)

Wild Urban Gospel-- Sensual, Wild, and Blasphemous.
Psalms 2:1 (KJV) Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

My last link is a puzzle to me-- The Lower East Side Harp Sing--
This is called "Exortation" Does anyone know what this is?

The answer from the owner of the page-- Thanks, June Melton
http://www.pilgrimproduction.org/

You mentioned the song "Exhortation" and requested more info. This is a Sacred Harp Song.
The tune was written by Hibbard in 1796 and the words were written by Isaac Watts in 1719.
In the recording, the group sings the notes first, this is Sacred Harp Tradition which goes back
to colonial times when the traveling singing teachers traveled through the rural south. They
had the singers sing the notes first and then the words. This tradition is still carried on to this day.

The words of the song are:

Lord, in the morning Thou shalt hear
My voice ascending high;
To Thee will I direct my prayer,
To Thee lift up mine eye.

Up to the hills where Christ is gone
To plead for all His saints,
Presenting at His Father's throne
Our songs and our complaints.

Radio Station Online with good music

Finally, the single most blasphemed hymn in Christendom

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