Watching tv the other day I came upon a “worship artist” known as Mary-Kathryn, and found her music quite different. Her new album “dreams and visions” has reached to the tops of the New Age charts and it has been nominated for an award in the category of New Age. Her website describes her music like this “Dreams & Visions succeeds in invoking feelings of weightlessness, causing you to feel like you are floating from note to note. The looping sensation of Mary-Kathryn’s voice strings every word together, making it seem as if spaces or punctuation do not exist in music.” Mary-Kathryn claims that God told her to be a light in the New Age, but watching one of her performances, it looked much like the actual thing with a hint of “supernatural” and scriptures. Now, I am not against being a light in the darkness, but the light must in fact be a LIGHT. What I saw on tv was a burnt out candle and a deep blending of the smoke. Is she showing them Christ, or just confusing them more?

We must do things Gods way. Not our own.

I love music, I believe music was created to worship God. Sadly, like alot of other things, the world likes to take things that are holy and make them fleshly. There are many, many great worship artists and songs that I love to listen to, but I have noticed that some artists which I listen to, latest albums and/or songs seem to have too many guitar solos and instrumental effects for me. It’s great to have all kinds of instuments and sound effects in worship, but when they please my flesh more than my spirit…I can’t fully worship. When I feel like I’m at a concert rather than a worship gathering, somethings wrong. God is a spirit, so we must worship him in spirit and in truth. Loud guitar solos and flashing lights only seem to glorify the band. Instead of worship, people focus on emotions and flesh. Using this kind of worship to draw in the wicked is compromising. Its the power of God that draws them in. I just like pure worship, not rock songs with christian lyrics claiming its worship. I do want to say though that I love using diffrent instruments to create new sounds to praise with as long as it doesn’t give any glory to the person.

One awesome worship leader I have been listening to alot is IHOP’s(International House of Prayer) Misty Edwards. With two albums out: Eternity and Always on His Mind, she really shows her maturity and dedication with the Lord. Her songs are from her heart and different from most worship artists. I had a chance to see her last summer during The Call: Nashville, and the way she sang and how she prayed during the song was incredible. I would recommend her to anyone that enjoys serious and deep worship.

-Riley