Faith

Able God by Chinko Ekun ft Lil Kesh and Zlatan Ibile – A Music Review

Yeah I am talking about the same song you know. ‘Able God’ was released sometime in September, the song was produced by Rexxie and features Chinko Ekun, Lil Kesh and Zlatan Ibile. You should not feel sorry if you don’t know any of those names, it might just mean your playlist is holy and acceptable unto the Lord.

The song has enjoyed appreciable airplay in recent times, meaning ‘I done hear am tire’, thanks to a place called Oshodi and people who don’t keep their tunes to themselves. But on a low, I think the song is hilarious, although I won’t mind a Yoruba translation in the comments section, my Yoruba is in ICU and most of the lyrics are in Yoruba.

Another thing I will like to say is that I am not a ‘Yahoo boy’,  because there have been some speculations that the targeted audience of the song might be those who are into internet fraud popularly called ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ in Nigeria. I have no way of confirming that, because I don’t intend to go into internet fraud at anytime and as I spoke about it earlier I don’t know up to a third of what is said in the song. But the major reason I am writing about ‘Able God’ is something I have seen play out before and I think needs to be addressed.

In the year 2015, Korede Bello released a song called ‘God Win’. This song went on to make Phenomenal mainstream success, so much success that it attracted the Christian community. I loved that song, God Win, but just as a feel good song with clean lyrics, but never would I have expected that churches would pick God Win and add it to a list of worship songs.

My people, this actually happened, there were reports from different quarters of people dancing to God Win in churches. This I feel goes a long way to prove our ignorance of what worship through songs should be and why we even sing in church. So before you think of putting Able God on your ‘Praise and Worship’ list,  let me give you some reasons not to:

– Not every song that has God in its lyrics is a worship song.

In my former job, we had this thing we used to do at the end of the month. We would all gather to sing ‘Praise’ songs and thank God for another successful month. But once I was confronted by one of my colleagues who noticed that I was mute when they sang some of the songs. Then she was like ‘David why are you quiet when we sing some songs’,  then my response was I don’t think those songs are true, then she goes ‘but they have God in them’.

The truth is anyone can mention God in a song, in fact the Nigerian, mainstream, secular artistes know how to play this card very well, so you can hear a song objectifying a woman’s body and out of nowhere God is given the glory.

Knowing this, it should get us thinking on what really makes a song a worship song, does God in the lyrics of a song suffice to make it a worship song?

Before I go on, I would like to appreciate Pastor Sunny Badu’s honesty in addressing this issue in a recent video he put out.

Worship is actually not about singing entirely, but singing is a good way to worship. When we worship what we do is talk about what Jesus has done for us through his atoning work and who we are now because of what he has done. So typically a worship song would speak about Jesus and his work and who the believer has become because of it.

Typically a worship song would speak about Jesus and his work and who the believer has become because of it. Click To Tweet

This involves theological accuracy in the song writing, because worship expressed through singing should actually just be sermons with rhythm (Colossians 3:16).

Worship expressed through singing should actually be sermons with rhythm Click To Tweet

So in the case of ‘Able God’, there is a line that when translated in English means the ‘Angel should not sleep’,  things like this call for doctrinal scrutiny, for we know angels are spirits.

We don’t sing songs in church to entertain ourselves, so particular emphasis must be placed on the lyrics of the songs.

We don't sing songs in church to entertain ourselves, so particular emphasis must be placed on the lyrics of the songs. Click To Tweet

This is very important, especially in this Christmas season, where what many people sing as carols, hold no water doctrinally. We must have more scrutiny with respect to what we sing in our churches.

– There is a primary context of the blessings of God for a Christian

With an undue emphasis on materialism in our society, we as a church would have to look into the Bible to be sure we are not missing the plot too and placing on it a cloak of Christianity.

The Able God song says ‘Able God shower your blessing, we want this money’. If as a Christian all you know about God’s blessings is money and material things, you are on a fast moving train called covetousness. Such a mindset is sure to inspire greed and a desperation for money, that would make you do anything to get it.

If as a Christian all you know about God's blessings is money and material things, you are on a fast moving train called covetousness. Click To Tweet

When we look at the Bible, especially the new testament epistles, the primary context of blessings was in what Jesus did for us through his work of salvation. So based on the Bible, a truly blessed man, is not one who no longer has insufficient funds, but a man who has received forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus (Romans 4:6-8).

Based on the Bible, a truly blessed man, is not one who no longer has insufficient funds, but a man who has received forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus. Click To Tweet

Don’t get me wrong, a man with money and material things is also blessed by God, because he is the source of all good and having money is far from being a bad thing. But we must realise that while anyone can have money, the blessing of salvation is exclusive to those who believe in Jesus and this is the emphasis of the Bible.

The blessing of salvation is exclusive to those who believe in Jesus and this is the emphasis of the Bible. Click To Tweet

Also we must also never forget that covetousness and greed are very anti-Christian and are greatly frowned at.

The Bible,  especially the new testament epistles emphasise contentment, this is why it would be out of place to sing a song that passes off a materialistic message in the church.

Thank you for reading this and I am looking forward to knowing your thoughts in the comments section.

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A man helped by God, who tells evocative stories.
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