SOCK IT TO ME!--THAT'S THE SPIRIT!
GP 32
12/70
1. TO ME, SINGING HAS TO BE IN THE SPIRIT! It's really praising the Lord--like preaching or prophesying. I feel like I'm playing games when I just sing a little ditty. I hate some of those choruses they used to sing. Unless I felt they were really inspired, I didn't want to sing them. Like some people quote Scriptures!--So many words without music!--THE LETTER WITHOUT THE SPIRIT! IT JUST MEANS NOTHING!
2. REALLY, SINGING FOR ME IS CLOSE TO PROPHESYING.--Just like when my music teacher used to tell me, "Son, do your practicing at home, but when you get up there before the crowds, sing with your heart! Think with your head at home, but when you're out in front of them, forget the head & sing from the heart!"
3. JENNY LIND, THE FAMOUS SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE, was considered one of the greatest popular singers of her day. Her music teacher said, "Jenny, you've got everything to make you the World's greatest singer, but one thing!" "What in the World is that?" she asked. "I practice all day long & you say I have tremendous range, versatility & talent! What haven't I got?" "TO MAKE YOU A TRULY GREAT SINGER," HE REPLIED, "YOU HAVE TO HAVE A BROKEN HEART!" So he thereupon proceeded to break it for her! She fell in love with him & he jilted her. THEN she began to sing from her heart! The songs she sang became her own--songs of loneliness & tears--not just a collection of words & music--but it was her own heartcry!
4. THAT'S WHAT MAKES OUR SONGS OF THE REVOLUTION GREAT--THE OUTCRY OF THE VERY HEARTS OF YOUTH TODAY! They don't come out of some dead hymnbook & they're not some new fly-by-night pretty little ditty by some evangelist, to make him popular, to do some silly little childish motions to! But OUR SONGS COME OUT OF THE DEPTHS OF THE SPIRIT, INSPIRED BY THE HOLY GHOST! THEY PREACH THE WORD!--Not some doleful chant to hypnotise people into a stupor, or some organ lullaby to lull them to sleep, but THEY'RE LIKE AN ELECTRIC SHOCK which virtually shatters them--they're so startling, electrifying, shocking! OR THEY'RE A FOUNTAIN OF TEARS. As Jeremiah said, "Oh, that my head were a fountain of tears, that I might weep for thee, O Jerusalem!"--And when you hear some of our boys or our girls singing, sometimes you're hearing a fountain of tears--the heartcry, the heartbreak of youth today--inspired!--The Holy Ghost is weeping through them!
5. THIS IS WHAT OUR MUSIC IS! IT PREACHES A MESSAGE!--IT DOESN'T JUST SING A SONG.--It's not just a little sing-song! Although some of our music is delightful, happy, playful, song-&-dance music for our lighter seasons, most of it is real heavy, man--almost frightening--thrilling, scary, crying, wooing! IT BURNS WITH A WHITE-HOT HEAT THAT EITHER MELTS THE HEART OR SEARS THE SOUL! It doesn't stab you like a cold icicle! Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Better are the wounds of a friend, than the words of flattery!
6. SOME OF OUR SONGS CUT YOU TO THE HEART! They make you squirm! They make you uncomfortable! They make you sick of yourself! They make you ashamed! They make you want to run--or repent--one or the other! There's no in-between with us! OUR SONGS, OUR MESSAGE, EITHER MAKES YOU WANT TO RUN THE OTHER WAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN GO & GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE-OR IT MAKES YOU WANT TO MELT INTO OUR ARMS with your very being & become one of us--one heart--one soul--one spirit-one mind--one body! There's no in-between! THERE'S NO COMPROMISE! They're no pretty little ditties! They're no soothing little lullabies! OUR SONGS ARE TOTAL--TOTAL COMMITMENT! Most of them are based on Scriptures--with the Message of God! THEY'RE A RED LIGHT FLASHING, WARNING THIS GENERATION not to be partakers of the sins of their fathers! They're inspired by God: THE WEEPING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.--OR THE WARNING BLASTS OF THE PROPHET! Whatever they are, they're whole-souled, all-out, total--naked & bare & shocking before all! They hide nothing! They pull no punches! They lay it on the line & tell it like it is & where it's really at! THEY'RE THE SHOCK WAVE OF THIS GENERATION! THEY BREAK THE SOUND BARRIER! THEY SHATTER YOU--OR THEY MELT YOU!
7. YOU CAN FEEL OUR SONGS! THEY HURT OR THEY LOVE OR THEY FEED OR THEY'RE FRAGRANT--by the power of His Spirit! But they're never flat or meaningless or sickening or insincere or lying or deceiving or sleepy-time tunes! Whatever they are, THEY COME FROM THE HEART WITH FEELING--real feeling! They reach out & touch you, love you, grip you--sometimes violently fuck you--& lift you into ECSTASY IN HIS LOVE, & LEAVE YOU EXHAUSTED FROM HIS PASSION. OUR MUSIC SPURS YOU TO ACTION, EITHER FOR US--OR AGAINST US, like a woman being wooed: You've either got to FIGHT IT & RUN, OR YIELD, MELT & SURRENDER & become one!
8. THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT IN OUR MUSIC IS GOING TO DO SOMETHING TO YOU!--It's going to CHANGE you, for better or for worse--MAKE YOU COME OR GO--BRING YOU OR SEND YOU--BUT IT'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU cold, unmoved & unchanged! It'll either set you on fire--or burn you up, THRILL YOU INTO ECSTASY--OR STRIP YOU, RAPE YOU & SEND YOU SCREAMING! Whatever it does, it leaves you breathless--because of the white-hot breath of the Spirit that's in it! YOU CAN'T BE INDIFFERENT TO IT! IT'LL EXCITE YOU ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. It'll suspend you or offend you--because it's not just music! It's not just sounds--not just words; it's POWER!--LIFE to some & DEATH to others! It's LIVING or DYING--not just existing! It's ALL the way--ALL-OUT: It's EVERYTHING!--Because it's JESUS!
9. FOR GOD'S SAKE, NEVER JUST SING TO BE SINGING OR PLAY TO BE PLAYING, lest you be like them who entertain to be entertaining, & please to be pleasing, & soothe to be soothing, & lull to be lulling! BUT WAKE UP THE DEAD! SOUND OFF! Wake her up! Shake her up! Fuck the daylights out of her! Knock some sense into her! Ram the fear of God into her! Give her a kick in the pants! Shatter her! If she fights you--if she resists you--if she runs away--let her go! If she weeps & cries & begs for mercy, TAKE HER INTO YOUR ARMS & LOVE HER-AGAIN--& AGAIN--& AGAIN--TILL SHE HAS NOTHING LEFT BUT HER LORD & WANTS TO DO NOTHING ELSE BUT BEAR HIS CHILDREN & live for Him utterly--forsaking all others!
10. THAT'S THE SPIRIT--SOCK IT TO'M! WHATEVER YOU DO, SING IN THE SPIRIT! For it is the SPIRIT that quickeneth! The letter KILLETH, but the SPIRIT maketh ALIVE! Don't sing any other way! If you can't sing in the Spirit, don't sing at all! The letter KILLETH! Only the Spirit brings LIFE! Sing in the Spirit! SOCK IT TO'M! LET'M HAVE IT--or love'm up! There's power in the Spirit! "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!" "Not by might, nor by power of your own, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord!" WITHOUT THE SPIRIT, YOU'RE DEAD--YOU STINK--IT SMELLS--& EVERYBODY CAN SENSE IT!
11. DON'T TRY TO GET AWAY WITH OPERATING IN YOUR OWN FLESH! You'll show what an absolute fool you are without the Spirit! We've got nothing but GOD. LET'S SHOW THEM HIS SPIRIT, in the power & demonstration of the Spirit! That's all we have! That's all that keeps us alive! Let's KEEP ON BURNING, SINGING, PREACHING, PRAISING & PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT!
12. WHATEVER YOU DO, FOR GOD'S SAKE, DO IT IN THE SPIRIT-NOT IN THE FLESH--for the FLESH profiteth NOTHING! "For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of GOD, & NOT of us." "For by GRACE are ye saved through faith, & that NOT of YOURSELVES: it is the gift of GOD. NOT of works, lest any man should boast."--It's GOTTA be GOD!
13. IF THERE'S ANYTHING A SINGER IS PRONE TO, IT'S PRIDE! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU! Don't let happen to us what happened to the Church! DON'T JUST RATTLE! RISE UP & LIVE, & sing in the Spirit of God!--And you'll be heard around the World!--'Cause that's what the World is waiting for! It's the real thing! It's what happiness is! It's life in the Spirit!--Or you'll be dead in the flesh!
14. MUSIC IS OUR MESSAGE! MUSIC IS OUR MINISTRY!--Don't fake it or you'll be a phoney like the rest of'm! USE it!--LIKE it!--FEEL it!--SING it!--DO IT!--IN THE SPIRIT!--AND IT'LL LIVE IN THEIR HEARTS FOREVER--BY HIS SPIRIT!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family