Chapter 5: The Prophetic Power Of Music:

Music is accurately called "the universal language." It is a communication media that can cross almost any geographical, ideological or racial barrier. Music has a unique ability to touch the soul and arrest the heart—it is a language of the spirit. Those who know this language and can use it effectively have been entrusted with a potent weapon in the battle for the hearts of men. Anointed music will be one of the church's biggest guns in the battle of the last days. It is important that we comprehend just how powerful music is as a spiritual force. However, like "the force" in the Star Wars movies, it can be used for both good and evil. As witnessed during the 1960's and 70's, music can prophesy and sustain major sociological shifts like the erosion of moral foundations. It can also fuel revivals and spiritual awakenings such as the great Salvation Army movement, and the Welsh Revival at the turn of the century. The Lord is raising up a host of warriors who are now fighting to seize this music battleground from the enemy and use it for the kingdom. The Lord is about to anoint prophetic minstrels who will capture the world's attention, and communicate powerful truths through song that will help set the course for the last day ministry. Artists and musicians usually foresee and foretell the social direction of civilization. Likewise, Christian artists and musicians often have the prophetic insight to be in touch with the trends and forces that are impacting the course of the world. Unfortunately, Christian artists with such insight are often constrained by the political and religious pressures in the church that can so inhibit creativity. Pioneers who are compelled by their vision often must break ranks with the religious status quo to explore new regions. This places them in a vulnerable position where they often find themselves being attacked as much by other Christians as by the enemy. Even so, many Christian musicians are finding the courage to press beyond the present limits of their time to help prepare the way for a great spiritual advance.

The Path Of Explorers:

If we examine the paths historic explorers made while seeking to discover new lands, we will immediately notice that they seldom went in a straight line. Lewis and Clark wandered up numerous box canyons that forced them to frequently backtrack. Spiritual pioneers have likewise seldom followed a perfectly straight course—they will make mistakes. These mistakes which can cost the explorers much time and energy, enable those who follow them to have a much easier journey. Even the timid and the critical will ultimately benefit from the courage of those who, like Abraham, are willing to leave the security of the known to find out what God is doing. Seeking breakthroughs into new spiritual regions, many have dared to break ranks with the traditional music ministry. They too may make mistakes, but making mistakes is not as deadly as refusing to go up to the promised land and fight when the time comes.

The Wisdom Of Esther:

Conservative theologians have historically battled over the canonization of the Book of Esther because God is not even mentioned in it. It is probable that the religious conservatives of Esther's time judged her for becoming the queen in a heathen court, but it was all a part of God's strategy to save her people, which also included those religious conservatives. The Lord could have saved them another way, but He chose this way for His own reasons. God gave Esther the wisdom to remain quiet about her faith and her heritage until the proper time. God is presently placing many "Esthers" in positions of secular authority and visibility in music and in many other fields. At the proper time they will use those positions to initiate a mighty deliverance and victory for the church. Many Christians whose songs will reach heights on the pop charts will be used as role models for those who would otherwise be looking to those who personify immorality and debauchery. They would never be able to do this if they stayed within the confines dictated by the timid. The Lord is now placing chosen vessels in strategic positions of visibility from which they will be able to prophesy and help steer this generation toward its ultimate destiny. The ultimate position of the prophetic minstrels is not to just copy the world's style of music and try to do it better while adding Christian lyrics, but to capture the music that the Father loves, which is played in heaven, and transfer it to the earth. Some of this music will be received through dreams, visions and other prophetic experiences. This music will be loved by the young and the old alike. It will impart peace to the listeners and give them freedom from the fears and pressures of this world just as David was able to do with His harp. This music will be so compelling that those of every possible genre will be drawn to it, and every other style of music, from country to the classics, will be impacted and changed by it.

A Critical Battleground:

Music has a significant place in both heaven and in hell. It has been one of the great spiritual battlegrounds of this century and the battle is increasing in intensity. Men and women in this ministry are now being given a divine strategy and wisdom for the battle. These are also being used to mobilize those who are willing to fight this battle, and it will be one of the most important spiritual battlefields of the nineties. Music was created as a medium for expressing our worship to God. Worship can be motivated by either adoration or fear, but all worship is basically a focus of our attention upon the object of worship. It is this power to focus men that has made music such a force in directing even basic cultural changes. There is yet much for us to understand about this powerful force in the church and the world. The Lord is now moving in the hearts of His leaders to seek this understanding. If we do not learn to utilize music properly, the enemy will continue to fill the vacuum and use it against us.

The Power Of Worship:

Along with capturing the attention and arresting the hearts of unbelievers, the coming anointing on music will propel the church to higher realms of worship, which will cause the entire church to more fully abide in the Lord. When the church enters into the higher realms of worship the result will be increased focus, and a power that releases extraordinary spiritual advances. The Lord is going to use music to help take all of the light that we have been given and focus it like a laser. The more focused it is, the more power it will have to cut through any barrier or darkness. The vision and strategies that the Lord is now giving His church will be put into songs that will help to seal the hearts of the people with those visions. This will not be accomplished just with catchy tunes or lyrics, but with a powerful anointing that will come from the heart of the Lord to grip the innermost being of His people. In all of this we must understand that it is not just the sound, but the anointing. The sound is important, because the harmony of musical sound is meant to be concordant with the tone of the message the Holy Spirit is seeking to convey, but the anointing is more important. For those who are prepared to handle the power, the Father is going to share with them the music from heaven that He loves. This music will grip men's hearts like no music that has ever been played before. This music will have the power to lift up those who have fallen to the depths of self and idol worship, and to turn their attention back to the Lord. However, this power cannot be entrusted to those who are still caught in the snares of self or idol worship. To receive the highest anointing, minstrels must be healed of the spiritual wounds and insecurities that cause them to fall into self-centeredness. This great anointing can be perverted, which will only result in a greater depravity and corruption of soul. Major changes must be made in the way the church is now stewarding her music ministries before the Lord can give this greater anointing—for our own safety.

Recovering The Ministry:

As a part of the preparation for this great battle, the Christian music ministry will come under a severe discipline from the Lord. We are now in a period of time that the Lord has given to allow all of those who are presently committed to Christian music to repent for allowing the ways of the world to take dominion over their ministries. Many of these have been true spiritual pioneers who simply made a wrong turn and need our help and prayers to find the right path again to do what God called them to do. However, those who refuse to repent, or correct their course, will pay a terrible price. It will begin with media exposes that will make the Christian music industry repulsive to both the world and the church. Christian music is not meant to be an industry, but a ministry, and the Lord will recover it. The Lord cannot endorse an industry with the anointing that is coming. Those who have built their life and outreach upon the foundations of the world will go the way of the world if they do not repent. Those who do repent will quickly find their way again, and will be used mightily in the future to keep this ministry on its proper course, having gained discernment from their mistakes. The present state of the Christian music industry should not be totally blamed on schemers with evil motives. It is largely the result of well meaning people who, seeking to reach the world, opened the door for the world to come flooding in. As the old proverb declares, "The ship in the sea is fine, but the sea in the ship is not!" The sea is now pouring in and this ship will soon go to the bottom. However, the Lord has another ship that will complete His intended journey for music.

What Propels Us:

Isaiah 33:21 reads, "But there the majestic One, the Lord, shall be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, on which no boat with oars shall go, and on which no mighty ship shall pass" (Isaiah 33:21).

As stated, "Boats with oars" represent ministries that are propelled by human power."Mighty ships" represent what we might call "megaministries." Neither of these will be allowed when the River of Life begins to flow in these last days. Paul said, ...neither is He served by human hands... (Acts 17:25).

By our own efforts we can make our ministries move and appear like they are really going somewhere, and we will be, but we will not be going where the Lord would have us to go. Those who appear not to be going anywhere may be closer to the will of God than those who are moving very fast, but by human effort. During the time of Isaiah, the only other form of propulsion except for oars was the wind. Wind often represents the Spirit in Scripture (John 3:8).

Oars were put on ships and boats because when the wind did not blow, or did not blow from the desired direction, they did not want to wait for it. That may be fine for commerce or warships, but for those who serve the Lord. When the Spirit is not moving we must not move either. When we do move we only want to move in the direction that the Spirit is moving. This requires great faith and patience. If we want to inherit the promises of God, and not just waste our lives on what may be good works, but not His works, we must learn to sail with the wind, and be completely dependent upon the Spirit to move us. "Mighty ships" can be useful on the ocean, but the River of Life is a river, not an ocean. In the day of the Lord's glory He will be a broad river, but not one on which "mighty ships" will be allowed. Even on the broadest rivers, large ships endanger all of the other vessels, blocking or hindering their free movement. We have been through a period in Western Christianity when we have perceived that the blessings of God upon a ministry were evidenced by their size and rate of growth. The Lord has blessed many of these, and blessed the church and the world through them as much as He could. However, the day is now upon us when being too large will handicap us from being able to continue moving with the Lord in His present purposes. Because the Lord truly desires for all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, He does love numbers. However, there is a limit to the size where churches and ministries can maintain the maneuverability that will be required for following the Lord in the coming times. To have a hundred churches of a thousand people, or even a thousand churches of a hundred each, will be better than having a single church of a hundred thousand. We must learn to grow in ways that enable us to maintain our flexibility, or we will grow right out of the will of the Lord. Small "ships" and "boats" that are reproducing others are much to be preferred over mighty ones. Anytime we use such general terms as "mighty" and "small" we must understand that this definition can change with times and places. What might be considered an excessively large church or ministry in one nation may be small in another. I consider Morningstar to be very small, and it is compared to the ministries of some of my friends. However, other friends consider MorningStar a behemoth. I think the key words here are "flexible" and "maneuverable." Can we navigate the course we have been given easily, and without endangering others? Many churches and ministries grow because they are anointed, and then they lose their anointing trying to sustain a level of growth beyond the level of domain that they have been given. How much of our growth really is because of the anointing and how much is the result of our own promotional skills? It is very possible to outgrow the Lord's purpose in our lives, which may disqualify us from the most important commission of all for which He could have otherwise used us.

What Is Success:

All ministries must maintain the prophetic sensitivity to perceive even the smallest change of direction by the Holy Spirit. Contracts, the "business aspects" of being in a "successful" ministry, and other such trappings will disqualify many from being able to flow with the coming move of the Holy Spirit. Now is the time to get rid of excess baggage, trim down, and learn not to measure success by how many records or books are being sold, but by how much more intimate our fellowship is with the Lord. There is a temporary success available to those who try to build according to the ways of the world. The enemy continues to offer every anointed vessel the world if they will just bow to his ways. This is the way that many do gain the whole world, or the attention of the world, but it will always be short-lived, and it will ultimately end in destruction. There are many promoters who prey upon the selfish ambitions of those who burst upon the scene with a measure of anointing. They can deliver on their promises and have helped many to the top of the Christian music world, or Christian ministry in general. Their motivation usually seems good, like being able to reach more people with the gospel, but if you do it their way you may end up accomplishing much in the name of the Lord, but He will not know you (See Matthew 7:21- 23). This is not at all to imply that all large and visible ministries have grown this way. John the Baptist did not have all Israel coming out to him because of his promotions, neither did Jesus. Neither did the apostle Paul become known throughout the world by selfpromotion. Some will gain the visibility of the world because they are anointed. Those who gain influence by the anointing will not have to maintain a huge organization to accomplish their mandate. They will not trust in "horses and chariots," they will trust the Holy Spirit. Those who choose the way of the Lord must walk in the way of humility, sacrifice and patience to attain the treasures that will last forever. "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (Matthew 23:12).

Those who promote themselves seeking quick success God will not promote, but those who humble themselves and walk the way of patience will be anointed and mightily used by God. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time" (I Peter 5:6).

The Judgment:

One reason that such striving has been able to gain a foothold in the church, and especially in many music ministries, is because they have not been given their worthy wages. The church has not looked out for their interests, and the Christian music industry has exploited them. We cannot serve God and mammon, and mammon has become a primary motivation in the Christian music industry. With some this is greed; with others it is simply insecurity and the lack of grace in handling "market forces." The Lord begins judgment with His own house (see I Peter 4:17), and He is about to release a James 5 judgment against the Christian music industry: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter (James 5:1-5).

This judgment is partly the result of the laborers not receiving their worthy wages. The world's system that was adopted by much of the Christian music industry robs those with the anointing, such as the songwriters, musicians and singers, so that they are propelled into lifestyles that utterly sap the anointing they were given. Because of this the entire church is robbed of the gift. The judgment has already begun as the "riches have rotted and your garments have become moth eaten." First, the resources for perpetuating the industry will not just dry up, they will become "rotten." That is, they will come from evil, worldly sources. Because the Lord will remove His grace and anointing, even the most loyal Christian followers will begin to look at the whole of Christian music as a worn out garment that needs to be discarded. The music and the anointing that the Lord is about to share with those who can receive it does have unprecedented commercial value. With the present system it would be tragically prostituted, and He is not going to trust us with it until we get the process right. We cannot use the world's system of compensation for artists and others, but must seek the Lord's ways, which will promote such equity, justice and grace that it will help to change the world's system. The first step toward a repentance, that will result in the Lord's endorsement, is to return to our first love, worshiping Him. Because all music promotes worship in some form, if our hearts are not right we will pervert the power of this anointing. Our music must promote the worship of the Father, obedience to the Spirit, and the witness of Jesus. If the Christian music establishment does not repent, and return to its first love, its lampstand will soon be removed and what light it now has will go out. When we do repent, we will find the greatest desire of our heart, peace, and even greater resources for the extravagant worship of the King. Proverbs 11:24-25 declares: "There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." The anointing that is coming upon the Lord's minstrels is a weapon too powerful to be entrusted to the immature, the impatient, or the self-seeking. Those who have built their ministries upon the ways of the world will soon see them collapse. Those who build upon the proper foundation will be pillars in a mighty new Tabernacle of David that is about to be raised up so that all of the nations may seek the presence of the Lord.

The Church's Responsibility To Minstrels:

The whole church has a responsibility to the music ministry. Christian musicians must be recognized as true ministers and they should be spiritually equipped and supported as such. When they go out to minister they should be sent out with prayer and sustained with continual intercession just as any other missionary would be sent out. There is a mighty army of music ministers who are about to be anointed with the prophetic power to capture the attention of a generation. A great opportunity is about to present itself to those who have the foresight and courage to recognize it. Let us not be timid, but let us be wise and make ourselves utterly dependent upon the presence and anointing of the Lord. Some of the best musicians will not qualify for the new ministry because of their pride and dependence on their natural talents. The Lord will bless a devotion to excellence for His glory, and He accepts the practice of His minstrels as worship, but the anointing of the Holy Spirit is far more valuable than the greatest natural talents. Those who seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit even more than they practice their music, and learn to minister to the Lord with prayer and fasting, have chosen the greater part and will receive it.