The reason you do not see beware of Christian music part 1 is because God has worked on and convicted my heart since I wrote that post to the point that I have totally changed my mind on the subject all together. You will not miss much as most of the content from the first article is in this one with a couple tweeks on my new stance on modern Christian music.
The most important thing we must realize is that Lucifer/devil was the minister of music in heaven before he was thrown out of heaven.
Ezekiel 28:13-15 KJVS
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. [14] Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. [15] Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee….
This is a description of Satan as a beautiful angel full of beautiful jewels,tabrets and pipes to make music.This means that Satan was leading Worship in heaven before he was cast down from heaven. It is no wonder that Satan uses music to deceive and draw people away from God. It is important to realize that praise and worship music is a highly emotional thing for people. It is our heavenly link to our creator. So what do we do when the character or doctrine of these worship leaders don’t live up to traditional biblical christianity? This is a layered question so therefore we must peel back the layers to answer this question thoroughly
The first layer to this question is that I have often heard critics say that certain worship songs are not sound in doctrine. In my personal opinion and this is just my personal opinion, worship leaders should not be called to be theologians as well as worship leaders…. We see this in the Psalms as simple things such as dancing, singing praise and entering God’s courts with THANKSGIVING in our hearts are emphasized. Such descriptions are not theological but emotional responses to God’s goodness toward us.
Psalm 100:1-5 KJVS
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. [2] Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. [3] Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. [4] Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. [5] For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
The second complaint I have heard from critics is that the character of some worship leaders don’t line up with traditional biblical morality therefore we should not sing their songs. But does the church really stand by that statement? Would you be surprised if I told you the answer was a resounding no? And that the traditional church has sang songs that were not doctrinally sound and also written by people of poor moral character. I’m going to give some examples but before I do lets look to the scriptures and see what it says about these gifted worship leaders. this also applies to anyone who has a spiritual gift.
Romans 11:29 KJVS For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance
There are a lot of gifted musicians and a lot of gifted people but it doesn’t necessarily make them right. There are a lot of people that use God’s gifts and twist them to use for their own purposes. One example is that worship music, especially the kind played by the Hillsongs, Elevations, and Bethels of the world is mostly used to recruit people into the doctrines of the churches which they represent. We have to be very careful of theses churches!!! because none of these are what you would call a true churches, but that’s a message for another time.
Now lets look at One prime example of someone writing a famous Christian hymn who had bad moral character by all Christian standards. That man was Haratio Spafford. He penned the classic “it is well with my soul” . He was a Universalist who believed hell was only pergatorial in nature and that all creatures including the devil would be eventually reconciled to God. Not only were his beliefs heretical, his moral character was horrible as his beliefs as a Universalist included sending his children away because they were considered a burden and universalism also encouraged sexual promiscuity even when someone is married. But yet so many churches still sing “it is well with my soul” Another example of a hymn with bad theology would be the famous hymn “He lives” by Alfred Ackley.
This hymn, which we often sing when celebrating the resurrection, was penned out of frustration by Alfred Ackley. He was discouraged by a liberal preacher who said the resurrection did not matter. To Ackley it did matter and his personal testimony bore truth of the risen Lord. There is much to commend in this hymn. We must have a living and active faith. with the living Lord. And it is true that our testimonies are personal. But Ackley’s apologetic method puts us in shaky waters. Consider the lyrics of He Lives and now ask yourself whether or not someone hearing voices telling them to do something unthinkable could not just as easily fit. How does he know the voices are real? He knows because they live within his heart. What we really need from our hymns is not how we feel about something, but firm trust that Christ lives because the Bible says he does. This hymn teaches us to ground our faith in subjectivity. You ask me how I know he lives…because the Bible says he does. This is where I say beware of Christian music and the people who write and perform it. This where I say this is a personal decision you have to make for you and your family whether you want to listen to or sing songs written by people like this?
In my very strong opinion you should not listen to worship music by Hillsong, Bethel or Elevation worship.My previous stance was that we could enjoy the music without embracing their doctrines or lack there of. But since then I have done a deeper dive on these groups and even their songs are full of false teaching. I am an amateur musician my self and what I suggest is that amateur worship leaders get together and write their own worship music. This way the music will be coming from a biblically pure place. We must protect our congregations at all costs from false teaching.
Another gripe I hear from critics about some worship music is that it seem that the artists are only concerned about working up the audience into an emotional frenzy by repeating stanzas over and over and using over the top instrumentals. Now this is where you have to use the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As a Christian musician I have seen the lines blurred between a soft worship song and a rock ballad. It seems that this generation is moving away from soft worship and blending it with rock overtones. I don’t see a problem in that per say, but we must remember whether we worship in a soft or a soft and hard style that it is most important that we be reverent and glorifying to God. I prefer soft worship songs but that does not mean that some of the newer worship is not viable.
The last and final layer or complaint I have heard from critics is that today’s praise and worship songs lacks lyrical content. Meaning deep meaningful and doctrinal content. Now again as a Christian musician myself I have written simple songs and I have written songs with deep content. I believe the Holy Spirit has given me both kinds of songs so I don’t see a problem with either. I just think there needs to be a balance of both kinds of songs because some songs teach great spiritual truths and you never know who’s sitting in the pews on Sunday. It could be one song used by God that moves a visitor to salvation.
So what is a praise song? A praise song is an up beat song used to give thanksgiving to God for his goodness to us. What is a worship songs? A worship song is a soft and sometimes intense song that ushers us into the throne room of God. Again you have to pray and use the guidance of the Holy Spirit on this one because if you feel like you are getting riled up during a worship song instead of having peace like a river, than that is not the right worship song for you. A good worship song will always give you peace in your body and your spirit.
Colossians 3:16 KJVS Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord….
If you still are not convinced that you should not listen to these horrible worship bands. Lets go over some moral failings of these so called churches. We will start with Hillsong probably to this date the most prominent of the three. And then I will give you a couple more artists you shouldn’t listen too. Most recently Brian Houston lead pastor if Hillsong Australia and founder was indicted by an Australian court for covering up his father Frank Houston’s abuse of children. Also he himself has been found in an adulterous affairfrom a few years ago and has since stepped down as lead pastor at Hillsong. One of the worship leaders for Hillsong United, his name escapes me at this moment but he was quoted as saying” I feel I am losing my faith a little each day and I am ok with that”. How can we listen to people like this who spread false teaching and claim to not have faith in the god they sing about. The final straw is Carl Lentz also caught in adultery and he refused to take a stance on abortion or homosexuality when he was on the Oprah Winfrey show. And he even invited the tighty whitey wearing naked cowboy to gyrate on the stage during a worship service at Hillsong NYC.
Then there is Elevation worship headed up by pastor and I use that title loosely Steven Furtick. Steven Furtick is a prosperity gospel guru who teaches the little gods doctrine that we are all gods. He even went as far as to say in one of his sermons “I am the lord god almighty”. This man owns lavish homes and is a classic narcissist. He inserts himself into bible stories and encourages his congregants to do the same. His mentor is T.D. Jake’s a oneness Pentecostal who denies the trinity. His sixteen year old son recently made a filthy secular rap video full of profanity and sexually charged images. And what did Steven Furtick and his wife do? They said that any one who criticized their son were haters and that they whole heartedly supported their sons musical endeavors.
Now we come to the worst offender Bethel worship and Jesus culture which was born out of Bethel. Bethel church is headed up by pastor Bill Johnson in Reading California and claims to focus on developing the spiritual and prophetic gifts of its members and seminary attendees. Bethel members and worship leaders have been known to practice kundalini which is a Muslim ritual dance during their worship services. The Bethel seminary students are forced to develop prophetic gifts whether they have that gift or not. Bethel seminary students regularly attend new age festivals to test their prophetic gifts. This is no different than being a Christian fortune teller. It is an abomination to the Lord. I have witnessed on YouTube demonic manifestations in their worship service under the guise that it was a movement of the holy spirit. If you don’t believe me search demonic manifestations at Bethel on you tube.
I will try to fit these last three artists into this paragraph. Lauren Dagle: she refuses to take a biblical stance on homosexuality because many of her friends in Hollywood are gay. Also she is a hired gun. She will sing whenever with whoever for the right price. As proven a couple of years ago when she sang on a Christmas special on the Mormon network a sort of Netflix for Mormons. Also to be avoided Maverick City who had Justin Bieber perform with them on stage where the Bieber dropped the F-bomb while going on a rant against the Christian church. And then last but not least America’s favorite worship leader Chris Tomlin. Aside from playing at passion conferences full of false teaching, Chris Tomlin recently performed with secular country rock stars Florida/ Georgia line. Just before Chris Tomlin came on stage FGL were singing about getting drunk and having sex. So here comes little Chris Tomlin on stage with a band singing about debauchery. But yet no matter what these people do they continue to get awards from the Christian music industry. In my opinion is just as dirty as the secular music industry. Its obvious that it doesn’t matter what these artists stand for as long as they sell a lot of songs and make lots of money.
In closing God has given me a new heart toward this subject since I last wrote about it. I will never listen to those artists I listed again and I strongly suggest that you don’t either. For your spiritual well being and that of your family and congregation. God wants us to hate the things that he hates and I can guarantee you he hates the works of these artists. Now there are many more offenders out there, more than the six I named. But you will have to do due diligence when presented with a new group or artist to listen to. I pray this article stirs up conviction inside you and was informative to you. God bless all of you!!!
Haratio Spafford info taken from Biola university blog, good book blog. Alfred Ackley info taken from crosswalk. Com
holy fire family blog 