Music for the Church of God

The music of the Churches of God could be listened to online and offline

The Worldwide Church of God (WCG) under its founder Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) had its own song book, called The Bible Hymnal. From early on, Herbert Armstrong had realized that many of the standard Protestant hymnals that were available contained songs that were unscriptural. It was clear in Herbert Armstrong's mind that God's people should sing God's inspired words, not man's uninspired and often unscriptural words. Herbert Armstrong knew that it was scriptural to sing hymns, and that the Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible were, in fact, songs--or hymns. So, he asked his youngest brother, Dwight L. Armstrong, to put the words from the Psalms in the Bible to music. At the front of The Bible Hymnal was a short history by Herbert Armstrong called HOW THIS HYMNAL CAME TO BE.

Dwight L. Armstrong

Notes:

1. Music for the Church of God

   The music used in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and its splinter groups can be played and listened to for free online at a Web site called MUSIC FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD at http://www.cgmusic.com. You can listen to music from the hymnals of the various Churches of God (COGs) such as the Radio Church of God (RCOG), Worldwide Church of God (WCG) - 1974, Worldwide Church of God (WCG) - 1993, United Church of God (UCG) - 1997, and others. The MUSIC FOR THE CHURCH OF GOD Web site also has links to other music and Psalm related Web sites. The Webmaster was Jim Ross, who died in 2005. After his death, his Web site disappeared for a while. Now it is back up again.

   Listen to Battle Hymn of the Republic in MIDI format.

2. Donald Tiger saved the WCG music on CDs in Real Audio format

   A man by the name of Donald H. Tiger is trying to preserve the literature, music, etc. of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) on compact discs (CDs). For more information about Donald H. Tiger's CDs, Web site, trials, and tribulations, go to the Herbert W. Armstrong Library and Archives Web page. One of his CDs, called the HWA Literature CD, contains all 128 pages of hymns from The Bible Hymnal saved as MIDI files. In addition, images of the actual pages from The Bible Hymnal are saved on the CD. You can print them with a printer to make your own hard copy of The Bible Hymnal. Each image is saved at 300 dpi for quality reproduction. Each page of The Bible Hymnal is also saved in a large-print format for those who have vision difficulties.

   Another one of Donald Tiger's CDs, called The Bible Hymnal CD Collections, contains two collections: the CHORAL version and the PIANO version. All 6.5 hours of The Bible Hymnal music is on one CD in Real Audio format. This CD was created by converting the cassette tape version of each collection. The original cassette tapes were produced by the Worldwide Church of God.

   The CHORAL version has 74 of the hymns from the The Bible Hymnal for a total of 2.5 hours of music. Members of the Young Ambassadors, the Ambassador Chorale, the Pasadena Church Choir and the church choirs of Long Beach, Glendora, Reseda, Los Angeles and Garden Grove are the performers. These performers were under the direction of John D. Schroeder and Ross Jutsum. Accompaniment was performed on the "Rubinstein" Hamburg Steinway by Ross Jutsum. Recording was at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California.

   The PIANO version has all 125 of the hymns from The Bible Hymnal for a total of 4.5 hours of music. Accompaniment was performed on the "Rubinstein" Hamburg Steinway by Ross Jutsum. Recording was at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California.

   The Bible Hymnal Selected Choral Music

   The Bible Hymnal Piano Accompaniment

   
   

3. The wicked preferred noise

   Not everyone appreciated Dwight L. Armstrong's efforts to put the Psalms from the Bible to music, and some people now complain that his results were rather dull and boring. Of course, other people are always free to try their own hand at putting the Psalms and other passages from the Bible to music. This is the sort of task that, in a very real sense, is never finished.

   Some of the teens, and others, in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) liked a much different type of "music" than that which Dwight Armstrong produced. However, not all of this disdain for Dwight Armstrong's music was a reflection of how bad it was. Rather, much of it was a reflection of how bad some of the people in the Worldwide Church of God really were. Their musical preferences showed what went on inside their heads and what kind of people they really were. Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA) taught that Satan had originally been called Lucifer when he was created by God, and that he once had some musical talent. In his last book, called Mystery of the Ages, HWA wrote about Satan's connection with some of the perverse noise that passes for modern music:

   "Great genius and skill in music was created in him. Now that he has become perverted in all thinking, acting and being, he is the real author of modern perverted music and the modern rock beat--of discordant moans, squawks, shrieks, wails--physically and emotionally excitable beats--unhappy, discouraged moods."