'Angels singing on tape' sparks heavenly debate

Showtime for the sheep Some readers claim similar experiences, while others cast doubt on phenomenon WORLDNETDAILY - By Joe Kovacs - February 19, 2007 -- A report by WND about claims of angelic songs caught on tape has sparked a flurry of interest in the subject of angels, with some readers reporting similar experiences, and others casting doubt on the phenomenon, even pointing to a 1970s gospel song that could be the source of one of the mysterious recordings. The report focused on Jim Bramlett, a Christian author from Lake Mary, Fla., who posted an online collection of recordings he believes captures voices and music of God's angels in heaven. "I have four specific recordings of angels singing in church settings," Bramlett told WND. "It happened supernaturally. There's no other explanation. It's either from God or from the devil, and I don't think the devil is in the business of worshipping Jesus." The 76-year-old retired Air Force officer collected the tapes from various sources in recent years, and put them on his ChoicesForLiving website, where readers can click on several links to listen to three recordings made in the U.S., and one from China. After reading the report, Sharon Smith, a retired oncology nurse in Fort Smith, Ark., told WND she has heard songs like the recorded ones while in bed with intense pain from tearing her ribcage muscles. "I had no pain medications nor any kind of alcoholic beverage to relieve the pain," Smith said. "Not only did I hear this 'angelic' singing, but I also 'heard' two voices state, 'We can't reach her lying in this position.' I am not psychotic, nor a drug abuser." A Charlottesville, Va., woman says she, too, experienced an "angelic choir" twice in her life. The first time was 14 years ago as she was taking care of her newborn baby. "It had what sounded like a professional full orchestra and a score that was written for a huge movie," said J.S., preferring her full name not be disclosed. "It was absolutely awesome to listen to. It was 'distant' (as if listening to music from outdoors through closed windows), but full, moving, touching, beautiful and totally awesome. I knew the longer I listened that I was not listening to a tape, but to an angelic choir worshipping the Lord." The woman noted her husband was working outside at the time, but did not hear the song. Then last year, she claims a similar phenomenon took place as she heard a Christian song from her youth, initially assuming it was playing on her car radio:

As traffic increased along the way, I reached over to turn up the volume only to find that my radio was not turned on. I opened my window to see who had the song playing on their radio/CD, and figured I must have been hearing it from another vehicle's radio and I considered myself blessed to have been riding alongside someone who also loved the Lord and was worshipping him. When I opened the window, the volume did not change, and it was clear that there were no other radios or CDs on or playing what I was hearing nearby. I closed the window, tried playing with my radio to see if I could turn it on, but could not. It was broken and rarely played unless a second person in the front seat repositioned it and fooled around with it. I continued to hear the same song sung perfectly the rest of the way to my destination, and I continued to alternate between singing along and just listening to the perfect blend of voices. I was totally blessed and refreshed by this.

One WND reader says he himself has heard angels singing in worship services, but thinks the Bramlett tapes could be nothing more than a publicity stunt. "People may say I am nuts. I really don't care, because I know how people in our congregation sing, and know when there's something more," said William Howard of Miami, Fla. "But these recordings on this website follow a pattern, of certain notes struck at a higher strength, which one some electronic keyboards can bet set to trigger sounds like string sections, organ sounds, or even as here, a patch that sounds like a chorus of people singing. You can even go so far as to have these voices annunciate 'oooh,' 'aaah' and 'da' sounds, too. And as I have spent many an evening goofing around with these effects with our keyboard player, it sounds too much the same to be posted on the Internet as angel voices." Don Jordan of Jamul, Calif., who is a fundamentalist Christian as well as software engineer and keyboard player, calls Bramlett's four recordings "extremely questionable at best." Regarding the tape from a Kansas City church, Jordan notes:

The poor quality of the tape severely garbles the upper notes but all I heard was a well-rehearsed earthly choir with a good soprano section. I was able to discern that the sopranos do not sing above the G that is one-and-one-half octaves above middle-C on the piano. According to my Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music, this is well within the range of a standard soprano part. In addition, the high notes were not held any longer than four beats at the performance's meter. There is nothing supernatural about that. Let's give whatever earthly choir sang this classic worship chorus credit where credit is due, please!

He concluded, "What we have here amounts to little more than wives tales for the modern technological age." The Kansas City recording features the voice of a "mystery" male soloist singing: Alleluia, ringing all across the land Everybody's singing at the Lord's command All the saints and the angels up in glory wait to hear the news of Jesus and his children as they're coming through. Those lyrics caught the attention of Michael Leamons of Knott, Texas, who told WND, "About 16 years ago, someone played a taped recording of a male soloist (accompanied by a chorus of alleluias) singing lyrics similar to those mentioned in your article. They claimed it was a recording of angelic singing. To me it sounded like Tennessee Ernie Ford singing 'Alleluia' with a chorus dubbed over his recording. ... I don't dispute that angels sing, and I don't have any knowledge of the other claims in your report, but I believe the one with the male soloist is a hoax." In fact, on April 15, 1974, Capitol Records released a Ford album titled,"Make a Joyful Noise," and the last song on the album was called, "Alleluia," containing the same lyrics as the ones purportedly recorded in the Kansas City church. Other readers point to the Bible to cast doubt on the veracity of the angelic choir claims. - "There are references to male and female angel voices in [the WND angels] story. Never in Scripture will you have an angel spoken of as female. Either a male or more as genderless." (Steve Ross) - "In the Bible, the angels don't sing. They speak. So maybe we should weigh these stories according to what we know is true about angels in Scripture." (Jodi Helm) In the King James Version of the Bible, there are several verses which some believe indicate angels do indeed sing in their worship of God. Regarding God's creation of the Earth, Job 38:7 states: "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Revelation 5:11-13 declares: And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And in the story of Jesus' birth, the Gospel of Luke records, "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:13-14) Some angels are also shown in Scripture to be sounding trumpets. "And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!" (Revelation 8:13) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54317 FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of religious, environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.