Gospel musician and pastor, Josh Laryea
“It is the lyrics and words that blesses and not the beat,” Pastor Josh Laryea has said about gospel music.
He said this reacting to Nigerian gospel musician and pastor Nathaniel Bassey famously asking Ghanaian Christian singers to frequently sing in the world’s lingua franca, English, for global reach.
Josh Laryea, thus, emphasised the language one sang in was of utmost importance in gospel given the intended audience.
When listening to gospel music, “your concentration has to be on the words [as you judge whether or not] they are the doctrines of Christ,” he said.
He added a song that was truly Christian would give nourishment to the listener’s “spirit.”
According to him, “the beat actually takes your soul,” which “takes more from the earth.”
He focused on dileanating between someone who sang and caused people to weep and become sorrowful and someone who served music to enrich people’s Christian or spiritual lives.
“You’ll think they have ministered [served spiritually], but they have not. It is just soulish. But when it is the Word of God, which is sharper than a two-edged sword that cuts and enters the spirit, soul, marrows, and joints, the person is ministering; that is what heals, transforms, and blesses,” he explained.
He intimated people were in the habit of confusing motivational songs for gospel songs.
“Amakye Dede does very well when it comes to motivational songs; Kojo Antwi does very well when it comes to love [and] motivational songs – there are some of the songs they sing; if you’re not careful, you can sing them in church and think it’s okay,” he expatiated.
To know a true gospel song, Pastor Josh Laryea urged people to consider what the Bible called the Gospel.
“The gospel has to do with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ – who Christ is; what Christ did or has done for you; what Christ left for you,” he added.
