JOSEPH W. TKACH
PASTOR GENERAL

January 1988

Dear Friend:

You asked what the Bible says about the use of instrumental music accompanying singing in Church services.

The Bible shows very plainly that the use of musical instruments is proper when praising God.

We read in Psalm 150:3-4: "Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs." In the days of King Hezekiah, the king "set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps ... for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets .... And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded" (II Chron. 29:25-28).

Some claim that the teachings in the Old Testament do not apply to the Church today. However, that argument is false! Jesus Himself said that man ought to LIVE BY EVERY word of God (Matt. 4:4). He revealed that the entire Old Testament is God's Word (Luke 24:44). Paul wrote that the Scriptures (referring to the Old Testament) are "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim. 3:15-17).

Furthermore, the New Testament itself reveals that God is praised in heaven with instrumental music (Rev. 5:8 and 14:2-3). Revelation 15:2-3 tells us that the resurrected saints will praise God to the accompaniment of harps.

These and other scriptures prove it is perfectly proper to praise God by singing to the accompaniment of musical instruments or by musical instruments alone.

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT