A Manifesto of Issues and Concerns Among Bible Baptist Churches in the Philippine Islands

A SPECIAL EDITION ARTICLE SERIES
by Pastor Archie Alvarez
Bible Baptist Mission of Imus, Cavite
(PART 2)

Should Christians Use Drums in Their Worship?

FACT #3
Drums nowadays in the field of music is primarily used in Rock Music, Rhythm and Blues, and today’s Heavy Metal.

The Rolling Stones and other rock and roll groups have recorded tribal and voodoo occult drumming ceremonies and incorporated these into their rock music. The Stones’ Goat Head Soup album allegedly contained such recordings, including the vicious drumming and the screams of voodoo adherents becoming possessed by Ioa or evil spirits.

John Lennon said rock & roll gets through to people because of its voodoo beat: “Because it is primitive enough and has no bull, really, the best stuff, and it gets to you through its beat. GO TO THE JUNGLE AND THEY HAVE THE RHYTHM and it goes throughout the world and it’s as simple as that” (Lennon, Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976, p. 100).

Tony Sanchez, who traveled with the Stones for many years and who rote a book about them, described the music at their infamous concert at Altamonte, during which many people were injured and killed, as “POUNDING VOODOO DRUMMING and primitive shrieks” (Sanchez, Up and Down with the Rolling Stones, p.184). He described the music of the Rolling Stones song “Gimme Shelter” as “HYPNOTIC, VOODOO RHYTHM” (Sanchez, p. 175).

Malcolm McLaren, who managed vile punk groups such as the Sex Pistols and Adam and the Ant, incorporated ZULU TRIBAL MUSIC into his 1983 Duck Rock album.

Musicologist John Chernoff studied drumming in Africa, even participating in animal sacrifices and other pagan ceremonies to appease the drum spirits. After these demonic ceremonies, he claimed that his arms did not tire and he “seemed never to make a mistake.” Chernoff noted the close connection between voodoo-type African cult drumming and rock and roll: “great drummers, aficionados, and scholars can trace the rhythms of the Latin dance halls of New York to Cuban and Brazilian cults and then to West Africa. In Haiti, I demonstrated for some drummers several Yeve cult rhythms which were familiar enough to have Haitian names” (Chernoff, African Rhythm and African Sensibility, p. 29).

David Byrne of Talking Heads produced a documentary film, The House of Life (1981), on THE DRUMMING AND CHANTING RITUALS OF THE AFRICAN-ROOTED RELIGION CANDOMBLE in Brazil, during which the followers are taken over by their gods. “If you go back to the history of American popular music, you’re constantly finding elements of Yoruba [voodoo] influence. The RHYTHMS are there. If you grow up with that, you’ve already got a taste of it. So when you see Candomble, you say to yourself, Hey, this is part of where it all comes from” (Byrne, Rolling Stone, July 13-27, 1989, p. 78).

FACT #4
The druid beat – The drum beats found in Rock Music today is the same beat found in the rituals done by the Druid Priests of the past and present.

1. What are Druids?

"Druids were priestly, learned class among the Celts, a people of Ancient Europe. The Druids were judges and lawmakers as well as priests. They led religious ceremonies, settled legal disputes and served as leaders and advisers to their people.

"Druidism, the religion of the druids, involved the worship of many gods. The Druids regarded mistletoe and oak as sacred. They believe that soul is immortal and enters a new body after death (reincarnation--author's insertion). The druids killed animals and possibly even human beings as sacrifices. They studied the flights of birds and remains of sacrificed animals to foretell the future. Apparently according to history Druidism died the fourth and fifth century and was revived in the 16th and 17th century (author's insertion).

"During the 1600's, descendants of Celts became interested in their Druidic heritage. Today several groups in Great Britain and Ireland practice what they believe to be ancient Druidism. They hold Druidic festivals at the beginning of spring, summer, autumn and winter. A major celebration takes place at Stonehenge, a monument near Salisbury, England, that the Druids are said to have used. In Wales, festivals of music and poetry called eisteddfods include Druidic rites." --The World Book Encyclopedia Vol. 5, p. 324 (author's emphasis)

A quote from the Crusaders' Spell Bound:

"The druids used a flute, a tambourine and a drum (Notice that tambourine is different from drum here--author's insertion) covered with a human hide. The words to every song or melody were for casting spells. The drum beat was the key to addict the listener--a form of hypnotism. The same beat the Druids used is in the Rock music of today (words in bold are the author's emphasis).

"Way over in the British Isles, Scotland and Ireland, in that area, was one of Satan's strongholds. The most evil people living in this horrible darkness were the Druid priests (known as 'men of oak'). They demanded human blood sacrifices. These men were so filled with demons that some had strange, frightening powers. People lived in terror of the Druids. Male slaves or Roman soldiers would be burned alive in cages over barren (solid) ground. The Druids would call forth Elvin fire out of the earth to consume the victims, and it did! In the background the Druid musical beat could always be heard.

"Their big night was Halloween; in the occult it is called Samhain, October 31st. All the little kids going from door to door yelling 'trick or treat' had its origin with the Druids. It's fun for the kids today--but in the times of the Druids it was a night of horror. On Halloween the Druids and their followers went from castle to castle and serf to serf playing trick or treat. The treat from the castle demanded by the Druids would be a princess or some woman for human sacrifice. If the treat pleased the Druids they would leave a Jack O' Lantern with a lighted candle made of human fat to protect hose inside from being killed by demons that night. When some unfortunate couldn't meet the demands of the Druids, then it was the time for the trick. A hex (hexagram) was drawn on the front door. The spell-binding beat of the Druid music filled the night as the ceremony began. The men assaulted the victim and they brutally sacrificed her to the god of many names, such as the horned hunter of the night, Kernos, the oak god of the underworld, the god of the dead (we know him as Lucifer or Satan)." (to be continued)