Jess Whitlock
I heard brother Guy N. Woods in a Gospel meeting in the 1980s at Marlow, Okla. He concluded each evening with a “Question and Answer” session. One night he opened a question which read, “Is it wrong to use instruments of music in the home?” Brother Woods responded that it would depend on the purpose and the kind of music involved. In part, he stated:
It is a violation of God’s will to use an instrument in worship and to praise Him at home, or anywhere else! God is the object of worship. He alone is privileged to determine what is pleasing to Him…It is no answer to assert it was used in the Old Testament worship; so was the burning of incense, and the observance of the Sabbath Day. We live under a different dispensation from which such practices, along with instrumental music in worship, are excluded (Col. 3:17). The present of instruments of music in the home and their accompaniment of classical, folk and other secular types of songs violate no law of God; but the worship of God in songs of praise must not be corrupted by unauthorized practices!
That night I said, “Amen” and let me say again, “Amen.” Let us always look for Bible authority and prove everything by God’s inspired volume. Let us speak where the Bible speaks and let us be silent where the Bible is silent. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3:17).
