“Gospel is not just using the name of God or mentioning words like ‘Aseda’,” Pastor and singer-songwriter Moses OK has asserted.

He spoke to Prince Benjamin (PB) on Accra 100.5 FM’s Entertainment Capital, reacting to a missionary school executive ordering for King Paluta’s Aseda to be excluded from a playlist.

Moses OK noted four ways a Gospel song can be identified.

Vessel

“Gospel is something that must come from a vessel and that vessel has to be separated onto God. You become holy,” the Truth City Chapel founder said.

He explained: “When you read Second Corinthians, it says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty’.”

He said a Gospel musician is one who privately and publicly renounces their ungodly lifestyle and “you stand for the Lord and be that vessel he wants to use solely for his work”.

Revel

The Nyame Do Me hitmaker argued a true Gospel song will not be played to encourage revelling while people indulge in “akpeteshie [strong gin], weed and the consumption of other hard substances.

“Such a song won’t be promoted at such places.”

Church

He indicated a true Gospel song will be accepted by “all the churches, and the Christian body – Methodist, Pentecost, Lighthouse, Assemblies of God. It’s not just about you mentioning the name [of God]. [We must examine] the vessel and the person the song is coming from, and how the vessel has purged themselves.

Media

“If the person openly shows they are Christian, and stands for Christianity, you the media will promote it as such,” Moses OK added.

He emphasised if a song will not be considered even by the media for its Sunday morning playlists or devotional programmes, then surely it is not a Gospel song, no matter the semblance.

“Ask yourself if presenters who play Gospel in the morning will add these songs to the others which we all know are Gospel?” the Gospel star quizzed in conclusion.

Moses OK's classic Osoro Taa W'akyi (Heaven Backs You) album was released 22 years ago. Adom Bi Ahyia Me (I've Encountered Grace) is his lastest offering.