Author Archives: Richkozo

Beware of Christian music 2

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

Jesus and the rich young ruler

Matthew 19:16-22 NKJV-Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” [17] So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” [18] He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ [19] ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” [20] The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” [21] Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” [22] But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The rich young man starts out by calling Jesus good and Jesus reminds him there is none good but God. That statement should have made the rich young ruler humble, but it did not. So Jesus did what any good evangelist would do, and that’s to use the ten commandments to humble the rich young ruler and show him his need for the savior. Jesus asked him if he kept the commandments like” thou shalt not commit murder”, thou shalt not steal” “thou not commit adultery” “thou shalt not lie”.

The rich young ruler was full of pride and thought he had eternal life in heaven in his grasp. He said I have kept all those commands since I was a child. Jesus knew this young rulers heart was not right because the rich young ruler just told Jesus he never told a lie. If you are ever sharing the gospel using the ten commandments and someone tells you they have never lied? You can be sure they are lying because the bible says ” let God be true and every man a liar”. There is only one person who has never lied and that’s God. But Jesus knowing the heart of the rich young ruler told him to sell his possessions and give them to the poor and then come follow Jesus. The rich young ruler walked away because he had broken the first commandment ” thou shalt not have any gods before me”. And because the rich young ruler walked away in pride, Jesus was not able to share the gospel of grace with him. Jesus used the ten commandments to probe the young ruler and to show him his true sinful nature in the mirror of God’s law.

If Jesus used the ten commandments to preach the gospel, then we should too. We can not improve on the ministry of Jesus. Other evangelists in history like the apostle Paul, who preached sin and judgement to Felix. Like Charles Speurgon who used the ten commandments to preach the gospel. Whitfield did the same and many others. If you would like to learn how to preach the gospel using the ten commandments? Go to preachthegospelnow.wordpress.com

Romans 7:7 NKJV-What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

The gospel from Genesis to Revelation

The Gospel from Genesis to Revelation
Jul 27 2021

  1. The fall of man shows us where sin comes from(Genesis 3)
  2. Gods law shows us we are sinners because we’ve all broken God’s law the ten commandments(exodus 20:1-17,Romans 3:23, James 2:10)

3.Breaking God’s law brings eternal judgement(Hebrews 9:27, Revelation 21:8, 1Corinthians 6:9,10)

4.We broke God’s law but Jesus paid our fine(Colossians 2:13,14, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, John 14:6)

5.This is what we must do to go to heaven( Mark 1:15, John 3:16, Romans 10:9,10)

If you have never Repented(turned away from your sins) and put your trust in Jesus alone for salvation? Then repeat this prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, I do believe you are the son of God and the only way to God. I believe that you died for my sins according to the scriptures, and that you were buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. I ask you Lord Jesus to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with your blood sacrifice given for me on the cross. I now turn away from my sins and put my trust in you alone for salvation. I praise you Lord for dying on the cross so that I can be forgiven. In Jesus mighty name AMEN!!!

This is what you must do now:

  1. Read your bible everyday and obey it. A good place to start is the book of John in the new testament. The book of John explains who Jesus is as far as his being God and also being the word of God. And the book of John also gives the plan for salvation.
  2. Pray to the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you as you read your bible.
  3. Find a local church and attend it regularly. Being apart of a local church is not only beneficial and encouraging to your spiritual growth, it is a command from God. There are no independent soldiers in the kingdom of God(Hebrews 10:24,25).

May your walk with God be blessed by this teaching. Many blessings to you in Jesus name AMEN!!!

What’s wrong with the modern church?

Before I start I am not picking on one specific denomination, but all denominations. We are so caught up in proving our doctrine is right that we’ve forgotten the most important thing and that’s preaching the gospel. Ray Comfort once cited a survey that revealed that 75% of people who attend a local church on a regular basis do not understand the gospel. If these people who claim to be Christians do not understand the most important and fundamental doctrine in Christianity? How then can they be saved? We are called as a church to preach the gospel and make disciples.

Mark 16:15 KJV-And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

You may be saying to yourself this verse says to go into the world and preach the gospel, not at church. Well I’ve got news for you. The world has wandered into the church. Some of who go to church faithfully. So how dare we assume that everyone in our pews knows the gospel and neglect to preach it. We ignore important topical teachings on the gospel, about sin, judgement, repentance and holiness in favor of expository teaching. For those of you who don’t know what expository teaching is it is choosing a passage of scripture, sometimes a chapter, sometimes a whole book of the bible and teaching it verse by verse, chapter by chapter. Now this is not a knock on preachers who use this method its all fine and good. But if you don’t teach topically on subject’s like the gospel, sin, judgement, repentance and holiness? You will be doing your congregation a great disservice and you will not be providing them with much needed meat. Its because the modern church has gotten away from these topical teachings that many have fallen away. I would go one step further and say that departure from these topics has caused the great falling away that we are witnessing in the church today and what is being described in the word of God.

1 Timothy 4:1 KJV-Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

I have a pretty good idea of why this is happening in the church. Its because preachers either consciously or subconsciously don’t want to offend anyone and cause people to leave. This a great sin because now we have become messengers to a flock with itching ears.

2 Timothy 4:3 KJV-For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

It is important to be well-versed in Scripture because it will help you discern false teachers that this verse talks about, teachers who do not preach sound Doctrine. One red flag is a teacher who always preaches flattering messages and never a hard message. Another red flag is a teacher who preaches a false prosperity gospel saying we should be healthy, wealthy and wise. Lets look at two scriptures that contradict that. The first is the example of the apostle Paul who was sick and shipwrecked regularly

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 KJV-And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. [8] For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. [9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Another example of how we should not expect to be wealthy is an example from Jesus. Not that we should not have a home but if we are to truly follow Jesus we should not be overly concerned about these things.

Luke 9:58 KJV-And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Up until now I have examined the teaching style of the modern church. But now I will examine probably something more important than anything we can say from the pulpit and that’s the example we give to  the flock and to the world.

There are many examples of bad examples in the modern church. This because of the departure from holiness to pleasing the world. From celebrity pastors partying with worldly celebrities. To not taking stances on key bible doctrine such as abortion and homosexuality. Even most unbelievers know what the bible stands for on these subjects so why are these celebrity pastors lying to the masses? The reason is because they are not true pastors, but agents of Satan. They bring reproach on the true church of Christ and they lead unstable people astray.

2 Peter 2:14 NKJV-having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children.

This is another attribute of a false pastor is that they commit sexual immorality. Notice how this passage says having eyes full of adultery? Many of these fake pastors fall to adultery. I’m sure you could name a couple off the top of your head.

Another disturbing movement among the modern church is something called the new apostolic reformation or NAR for short. What these churches seek to do is to include Catholics and Muslims into the body if Christ for the sake of  unity and not anything biblically sound. This is heresy a departure from the faith.

Some of the big churches that are     apart of the NAR movement or endorse fake NAR pastors are Hillsong, Bethel, elevation worship and Calvary chapel. If you do enough internet or you tube searches you will find a connection with all of these so called churches to the NAR.

So what do we do to protect ourselves from the deception of what is the modern church? Here are some things you can do that have worked for me.

First we have to read at least one chapter in the new testament every day. This takes only a few minutes and will give you solid knowledge of new testament doctrine. Before you know it you will have worked your way from Matthew to Revelation.

The next thing you must do is pray. This how we can be led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit aids in protection from deception.

The next thing you can do is listen to godly and biblically sound teachers. I will recommend five. From yesteryear I recommend Charles Speurgon, Derek Prince and David Wilkerson. And from today I recommend Ray Comfort and John  Macarthur. All these are biblically sound teachers. I’m sure there are others but probably not many for there are more false teachers than good teachers.

End note: I was inspired to write this post because of a testimony of someone on facebook who wrote a post talking about hypocrisy in the evangelical church and that the gospel had become complex to him. To the point where he is questioning his faith. This modern church obviously didn’t do its job to teach the gospel to this young man leaving him lost. This makes me angry because there are many like this young man left disalussioned by Christianity because of the modern church.

May this teaching guide you and bless your walk with God. To see a biblically based presentation of the gospel go to choosegodnow.wordpress.com