• I John 5:7 “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
  8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.”
•  

Some have questioned the doctrine of the Trinity since the word is not found in scripture, but it is obvious from I Jn. 5:7 that God is three in one (Tri-unity or Trinity). Though limited in their scope, I have always liked various object lessons used to teach the Trinity like how H2O can be liquid water, solid ice, or gaseous steam.

A quick study through the Bible will reveal how much God uses the number three in His creation. From I Jn. 5:7, we see how God is a three-part being: God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost. From I Jn. 5:8, we learn that God has “three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.” Man is also a three-part being: body, soul, and spirit. Previously in “Satan is Musical”, we learned how all musical instruments can be divided into 3 main instrument groups (wind, string, and percussion), and how God made Satan with all 3 main instrument divisions.

In “Music’s Boundaries”, we learned that music has a certain structure ordained by God that must be followed. Music itself is structured with 3 main parts: melody, harmony, and rhythm.

• – Melody: The melody is the main part of music. Melody is the most important part of music. Sometimes in the Bible when God refers to music, He mentions it as melody. For instance, Eph. 5:19 exhorts, “…singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The reason why God would refer to music as melody is because melody makes the song; without melody you have no song. Someone may hum “Happy Birthday to You” with no harmony and even no rhythm, but most people will be able to figure out the song because of the melody. The melody is what mainly makes the song. Some people, as we say, “can’t carry a tune”. When they sing, you can’t tell what they are singing. They are very good examples of how important melody is to music. 🙂
• – Rhythm: Rhythm gives music its timing. Without rhythm, music would be chaotic, confusing, and disorderly. At the beginning of written songs is something called a “time signature.” It looks like a fraction, the most common being 4/4 or 3/4. These fractions reveal what the rhythm is going to be for a song. A song leader at church or a conductor in an orchestra is the person responsible for making sure that everyone plays or sings at that rhythm.
• – Harmony: Harmony gives songs life and beauty. Harmony is the ornamentation of music, and adds warmth to the melody. Harmony is the different parts you hear sung or played to accompany the melody. 
•  

Satan changes everything God creates, and Satan has two main ways he goes about doing that.  #1-Satan loves doing the opposite of what God does. #2-Satan loves offering an option that is deceitfully close to God’s original (See CCM and entertainment Southern Gospel series). In God’s music, melody leads, harmony supports, and rhythm follows. In Satan’s music, rhythm dictates and dominates, harmony counters melody (i.e. discordant chords, etc…), and melody becomes the follower. Listen to the average song today and you will notice immediately what we are saying. The song starts with a rock beat (slow or heavy syncopation, it doesn’t matter) with the melody eventually coming into the picture. Oftentimes, the rhythm is as loud or louder than the melody. On rare occasion the melody will start the song with no apparent rock beat, and then, a loud crescendo and climax of syncopated rhythm will join in for added emotion and emphasis. Look at the average music band of today, and you’ll notice that most of the instruments are used for rhythm. You have the drums, the bass guitar, and an electric guitar which are all used for the rhythm. Some throw in an electric keyboard which is set up for added rhythm. That is not God’s music! Music’s three parts have been ruined, and as we’ll see in future articles, this confusion affects man’s three-part being.

Note: A lot of believers seem to think that drums are the only instrument that can produce wrong rhythms or be rhythm-driven.  This is not the case.  Notice the example of CCM group FFH or Far From Home.  They stated on their website for their CD, “Ready to Fly”, that their music is “upbeat pop melodies over an acoustic, guitar-driven rhythm.”

Added notes: “Melody” can be found in: Is. 23:16, 51:3; Amos 5:23; Eph. 5:19. Our English words “harmony” and “rhythm” are not found in the Bible although their concepts are. Harmony is found in concepts like the Greek word sumphoneo, which Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance defines “to be harmonious”. It is used 7 times as “agree”, “agreed”, and “agreeth”.  This variation for the word “symphony” indicates unity and uniqueness as each part of Christ’s body or the orchestra fulfills its role just like harmony with melody. Rhythm is found in the concept of time which is discussed in Scripture as well as the percussion instruments mentioned in the Bible (i.e. cymbals, tabrets, and timbrels). The Hebrew word “taphaph” also means “to drum” continuing the idea of rhythm. The reason, though, that God doesn’t stress about musical harmony and rhythm is to make plain the crucial truth that God-created, God-accepted music is melody; unlike modern society, where we are consumed with rhythm in everything including so-called “Christian” music.

(This article is from the “Music” series.)