High on Praise Music
Jul/08/10 10:40
Republished July 8, 2010 (first published September 21, 2006) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
On Feb. 8, 2003, I visited the largest church in Singapore, City Harvest Church, to observe their doctrine and practice, and I am thankful to the three Singaporean friends from independent Baptist churches who accompanied me on my little tour.
On Saturdays, City Harvest has two services, one at 4:30 p.m. and one at 7:30. I attended the 7:30 session. The music was pull-out-the-stops rock & roll and was the loudest I have ever heard in a charismatic church or conference, even though I have attended many of them. The music featured TWO drummers, electric guitars, a keyboard, and a powerful brass section. Several worship leaders, both male and female, swayed and pranced on the front of the stage.
The several-thousand-seat auditorium was almost full and the people were very, very exuberant. As best as I could tell from my vantage point, almost every person joined in enthusiastically during the worship time, singing, clapping, jumping, swaying to the potent music.
Read More...
Confessions of a Former Worship Leader
Jul/07/10 07:00
I want to recommend an excellent new book by Dan Lucarini titled “Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement: Confessions of a Former Worship Leader” (Evangelical Press, 2002, P.O. Box 84, Auburn, MA 01501, sales@evangelicalpress.org).
The author was heavily involved in rock and roll before he was saved; and after his conversion in 1973, he was the leader of contemporary praise teams in two churches. In that capacity he assisted in moving the congregations from traditional to contemporary music. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Contemporary Christian Music and defended it with the standard arguments: music is neutral; music is merely a matter of personal preference; the Bible doesn’t say rock music is evil; it’s the heart that matters not the music; Martin Luther and the Wesleys used contemporary music in their day; rock music is necessary for evangelism; God is using CCM to save and disciple teens; etc. Read More...
Fundamentalists Adapting Contemporary Praise Music
Jun/02/10 07:30
Republished June 2, 2010 (first published May 21, 2009) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
A growing number of fundamentalist singers, churches, and schools are adapting music from the field of Contemporary Praise Music even though they remain opposed to it in principle. Typically they use the words of the songs while changing the rhythm somewhat and omitting the bass guitar, drums, and heavy backbeat.
Three of the top charismatic-ecumenical music companies are Integrity, Maranatha, and Hillsong. About 75 of the top 100 contemporary worship songs are included in the latest Southern Baptist hymnal.
Contemporary Praise Music is dangerous because it is ecumenical in philosophy and practice. It is one of the most powerful glues of the end-time ecumenical movement.
John Styll, the publisher of Worship Leader magazine, made the following telling observation:
A growing number of fundamentalist singers, churches, and schools are adapting music from the field of Contemporary Praise Music even though they remain opposed to it in principle. Typically they use the words of the songs while changing the rhythm somewhat and omitting the bass guitar, drums, and heavy backbeat.
Three of the top charismatic-ecumenical music companies are Integrity, Maranatha, and Hillsong. About 75 of the top 100 contemporary worship songs are included in the latest Southern Baptist hymnal.
Contemporary Praise Music is dangerous because it is ecumenical in philosophy and practice. It is one of the most powerful glues of the end-time ecumenical movement.
John Styll, the publisher of Worship Leader magazine, made the following telling observation:
“You can have a pretty straight-laced but theologically liberal Presbyterian church using the same songs that are being sung at a wild and crazy charismatic church, but they use different arrangements and adapt the songs to their unique settings” (Styll, quoted by Steve Rabey, “The Profits of Praise,” Christianity Today, July 12, 1999).
Why would a “theologically liberal” Presbyterian church, which perhaps hates the old hymns about the blood and adds hymns about mother god and the social gospel to its songbook, and which allows preachers to deny that Jesus is God and thinks unrepentant homosexuals make fine church members, be attracted to contemporary praise music? Why would a Roman Catholic who prays to Mary and praises God for purgatory (such as the popular charismatic priest Tom Forrest does) be attracted to contemporary praise music?
The Character and Philosophy of Rock Music
May/18/10 11:24
Updated May 18, 2010 (first published October 8, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
When I was converted in 1973 from a life of foolish rebellion, one of the first things the Lord dealt with me about was my music. I began listening to rock in 1959 and had lived and breathed it for many years. I started on 50s rock and country rock-a-billy and journeyed through 60s rock and part way through 70s rock before I was saved. When the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, I was in the 9th grade. The year I graduated from high school was “the summer of love.” When I was drafted into the Army two years later, the Woodstock movie was sweeping the land. During the year and a half I spent in Vietnam, I was stationed at Tan Son Nhut Airbase outside of Saigon. I was a clerk in a military police unit attached to MACV headquarters, the control center for the entire South Vietnam U.S. military operation. We lived at the R&R out-processing center, and the unit’s job was to keep drugs from leaving the country on soldiers bound for R&R and in personnel containers being shipped to the States. We had access to every conceivable luxury, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts, racket ball, gym, movie theater, photo processing labs, you name it. I even had almost full-time use of a jeep for trips to Saigon. (Yes, it was rough duty but someone had to do it!) One of the facilities I used extensively was the reel-to-reel recording studio. The Army had a massive library of music, and soldiers who lived at or visited MACV headquarters could record as much as they wanted. I spent countless hours there recording rock music. I also utilized the PX system to purchase a sophisticated stereo system. By the time I was discharged from the Army, I was all set to stock my first hippie pad in Hollywood, Florida, with wall-to-wall rock music. My hippie heaven didn't last long, though. My buddies and I were buying and selling drugs, and two of us were arrested for possession of illegal drugs and public drunkenness. Though I got off lightly because it was my first arrest, I began to live in constant fear of being caught again and going to jail for a long time. I started to drift around. On one trip, I hitchhiked all the way to northern California and back to central Florida. Returning from California, I met some young people from India who introduced me to reincarnation and the Self Realization Fellowship Society. I began to practice meditation and study eastern religion, and I excitedly made another trip to California to visit the headquarters of the Self Realization Fellowship Society in Los Angeles. On the way there I won roughly $70 in a slot machine in Las Vegas and I thought it was an answer to my prayers! Read More...
How Rock and Roll Took Over Western Society
Mar/02/10 08:45
Republished March 2, 2010 (first published October 22, 2007) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is excerpted from the book ROCK MUSIC VS. THE GOD OF THE BIBLE. This is an extensive examination of rock music and its evil influence on society. Chapter titles include “My Experience with Rock Music” (the author’s testimony), “The Roots of Rock” (focusing on the blues, jazz, black spirituals, and Southern Gospel), “The Pioneers of Rock” (the families and lives of pioneer rockers, the influence of 50s rock on society, etc.), “The Character of Rock Music,” “Rock and the Occult,” “Rock and Spirituality,” “Rock and Violence,” “Rock and Love,” “Rock and Voodoo,” “Rock and Drugs,” “The Rock & Roll Deathstyle” (a list of more than 500 rockers who have died young due to the rock & roll lifestyle), “Rock and Rebellion,” “Rock Music and Insanity,” “Rock Musicians as Mediums,” “Rock Music and Pagan Religion,” “Death Metal Rock Music,” and “How to Raise a Rock and Roll Rebel.” 473 pages, 7X8, perfect bound. $19.95.
1. THE INCREASE IN TEENAGERS, PROSPERITY, AND LEISURE PREPARED THE WAY FOR ROCK & ROLL.
There was a “baby boom” in America following the end of World War II. In 1946, there were about 5.6 million teens in U.S. high schools. By 1956, the number had almost tripled to 13 million (The Fifties, p. 473).
There was an accompanying dramatic increase in personal wealth and leisure. “In a 1956 survey, Scholastic magazine’s Institute of Student Opinion calculated that there were thirteen million teenagers in America, with a total income of $7 billion a year, and an average income of $10.55 a week--a figure close to the average disposable income available to an average American family just fifteen years before” (James Miller, Flowers in the Dustbin, p. 144). Read More...
1. THE INCREASE IN TEENAGERS, PROSPERITY, AND LEISURE PREPARED THE WAY FOR ROCK & ROLL.
There was a “baby boom” in America following the end of World War II. In 1946, there were about 5.6 million teens in U.S. high schools. By 1956, the number had almost tripled to 13 million (The Fifties, p. 473).
There was an accompanying dramatic increase in personal wealth and leisure. “In a 1956 survey, Scholastic magazine’s Institute of Student Opinion calculated that there were thirteen million teenagers in America, with a total income of $7 billion a year, and an average income of $10.55 a week--a figure close to the average disposable income available to an average American family just fifteen years before” (James Miller, Flowers in the Dustbin, p. 144). Read More...
The Feminization of Christian Music
Feb/04/10 08:26
Republished February 9, 2010 (first published March 26, 1999) (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Christian music doesn’t have to have a backbeat to be problematic. In my preaching meetings over the last couple of years, I have become increasingly concerned about the “sweetness” and “softness” of the Christian music that is being sung as choir numbers and specials. It is a problem that is not easy to describe, not easy to nail down. It involves a backing away from the bold, dogmatic, militant sound that characterizes the best of the old hymns. The music is sweeter, more pleasant -- too pleasant, I believe. I am convinced that the new soft sound ministers not to the spirit but to the soul. It is soulish. It doesn’t bring spiritual conviction. It doesn’t change lives. It is pleasant, entertaining, appealing, but not powerfully godly.
The following important warning is from Confronting Contemporary Christian Music by Dr. H.Talmadge Spence:
"In 1973 a Neo-Evangelical movement swept across America called 'Key '73.' Many of the evangelical denominations, including the Pentecostals, joined this movement, believing it would be the strongest evangelistic thrust to date in our country. An extensive invitation was sent out for new music to be written that promoted the message of 'Key '73' with several stipulations: the words righteousness, judgment, holiness, repentance, and several other biblical terms were not allowed to be used, and THE LYRICS WERE TO BE OF A POSITIVE NATURE. There was an intentional effort made to write NON-OFFENSIVE songs. A number of these were produced that year through this evangelical effort, strengthening the move away from biblical, doctrinal standards in the music.
Read More...
The following important warning is from Confronting Contemporary Christian Music by Dr. H.Talmadge Spence:
"In 1973 a Neo-Evangelical movement swept across America called 'Key '73.' Many of the evangelical denominations, including the Pentecostals, joined this movement, believing it would be the strongest evangelistic thrust to date in our country. An extensive invitation was sent out for new music to be written that promoted the message of 'Key '73' with several stipulations: the words righteousness, judgment, holiness, repentance, and several other biblical terms were not allowed to be used, and THE LYRICS WERE TO BE OF A POSITIVE NATURE. There was an intentional effort made to write NON-OFFENSIVE songs. A number of these were produced that year through this evangelical effort, strengthening the move away from biblical, doctrinal standards in the music.
Read More...
Southern Gospel Music
Jan/28/10 10:22
Updated January 28, 2009 (first published December 10, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Southern gospel is not a single style of music, but is a classification for a broad range of harmonizing, country-tinged Christian music that originated in the southeastern part of the United States. Some Southern gospel is lovely and spiritual and seeks not to entertain the flesh but to edify the spirit. (There are also quartets that are not Southern gospel in style; an example is the Old Fashioned Revival Hour Quartet that was featured on Charles Fuller’s radio program.) We praise the Lord for all Christian music, Southern or otherwise, which doesn’t sound like the world, which has scriptural lyrics, which seeks solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints, and which is produced by faithful Christians. Sadly, though, much of the Southern gospel incorporates worldly pop, country, ragtime, jazz, boogie-woogie, and rock rhythms, and is oriented toward entertainment. It is the latter that is closely akin to Contemporary Christian Music. As a matter of fact, commercial Southern gospel today is one of the branches of the larger CCM world.
I grew up with Southern gospel. The Southern Baptist churches my mom and dad attended in Florida would have all-day sings on some Sundays. Following the morning service, we would have a glorious “dinner on the ground,” featuring tables piled high with the tastiest dishes the church ladies could concoct. The kids would romp around as the tables were prepared, then the pastor would pray and everyone would gorge himself on whichever foods suited their fancy. The variety was incredible. When the meal was finished and the tables cleared, everyone gathered back in the church auditorium for the sing. There would be some congregational singing and then the quartets would start up. Usually these were local groups, but sometimes a professional group would be available. I always liked the congregational singing best.
(above, Elvis sings with the Statesmen Quartet at a Gospel Music Concert) Read More...
I grew up with Southern gospel. The Southern Baptist churches my mom and dad attended in Florida would have all-day sings on some Sundays. Following the morning service, we would have a glorious “dinner on the ground,” featuring tables piled high with the tastiest dishes the church ladies could concoct. The kids would romp around as the tables were prepared, then the pastor would pray and everyone would gorge himself on whichever foods suited their fancy. The variety was incredible. When the meal was finished and the tables cleared, everyone gathered back in the church auditorium for the sing. There would be some congregational singing and then the quartets would start up. Usually these were local groups, but sometimes a professional group would be available. I always liked the congregational singing best.
(above, Elvis sings with the Statesmen Quartet at a Gospel Music Concert) Read More...
What is the Difference Between Contemporary Christian Worship Music and Old Interdenominational Hymns?
Jan/07/10 06:33
January 7, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
(The article below is excerpted from Contemporary Christian Music: Some Questions Answered and Some Warnings Given. $8.95. More info about the book at the end of this article.)
QUESTION
“What is the difference from using songs that every denomination using across the board from the past (‘Just as I Am,’ ‘Amazing Grace,’ etc.) to using songs that everyone uses across the board in the present (‘How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,’ ‘Holy Ground,’ Majesty,’ etc.) if they follow Biblical principles and if we do not promote a particular artist whose lifestyle we don’t support?”
ANSWER
To compare the use of Contemporary Christian Worship (CCW) songs to the use of hymns from the past that present a sound theology but were written by people from non-Baptist denominations is to compare apples with oranges. I offer four reasons why it is improper to compare the two.
(The fact that hymns are used at Billy Graham Crusades is a red herring. He has also preached out of the King James Bible, but that does not reflect on the King James Bible one way or the other.)
First, the difference between using a song by someone in the past like Fanny Crosby (“He Hideth My Soul,” Methodist) or James Gray (“Only a Sinner Saved by Grace,” evangelical Reformed Episcopal) or Martin Luther (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Lutheran) as opposed to CCW artists today is that the entire milieu of CCW represents a philosophy that is geared toward creating a one-world church. CCW represents the ecumenical judge-not philosophy. It is one of the chief things that is bringing all churches together. I have documented this extensively in my books. It cannot be disputed. (For example, see “Contemporary Christian Music: Some Questions Answered and Some Warnings Given.”) Further, CCW could be called Contemporary Charismatic Worship, because it overwhelmingly represents the charismatic doctrine and perspective. It is promoting the charismatic position of experiential worship rather than faith worship centered on God’s Word. I have documented this in the previously mentioned book. Read More...
(The article below is excerpted from Contemporary Christian Music: Some Questions Answered and Some Warnings Given. $8.95. More info about the book at the end of this article.)
QUESTION
“What is the difference from using songs that every denomination using across the board from the past (‘Just as I Am,’ ‘Amazing Grace,’ etc.) to using songs that everyone uses across the board in the present (‘How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,’ ‘Holy Ground,’ Majesty,’ etc.) if they follow Biblical principles and if we do not promote a particular artist whose lifestyle we don’t support?”
ANSWER
To compare the use of Contemporary Christian Worship (CCW) songs to the use of hymns from the past that present a sound theology but were written by people from non-Baptist denominations is to compare apples with oranges. I offer four reasons why it is improper to compare the two.
(The fact that hymns are used at Billy Graham Crusades is a red herring. He has also preached out of the King James Bible, but that does not reflect on the King James Bible one way or the other.)
First, the difference between using a song by someone in the past like Fanny Crosby (“He Hideth My Soul,” Methodist) or James Gray (“Only a Sinner Saved by Grace,” evangelical Reformed Episcopal) or Martin Luther (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” Lutheran) as opposed to CCW artists today is that the entire milieu of CCW represents a philosophy that is geared toward creating a one-world church. CCW represents the ecumenical judge-not philosophy. It is one of the chief things that is bringing all churches together. I have documented this extensively in my books. It cannot be disputed. (For example, see “Contemporary Christian Music: Some Questions Answered and Some Warnings Given.”) Further, CCW could be called Contemporary Charismatic Worship, because it overwhelmingly represents the charismatic doctrine and perspective. It is promoting the charismatic position of experiential worship rather than faith worship centered on God’s Word. I have documented this in the previously mentioned book. Read More...
Does Jesus Groove to Rock Music
Dec/22/09 20:51
Republished December 23, 2009 (first published July 3, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
How does Grady know this? The simple and frightful fact is that he knows no such thing. He is preaching a false christ, and the Contemporary Christian Music movement in general is preaching much the same thing. They tell us that Jesus Christ is not separated from the world, that He loves every sort of music in this wicked world, that He boogies to rock and roll, that He is pleased when His people hip hop around on a stage after the fashion of modern rappers. Read More...
Light Rock: The Devil's Chum
Dec/22/09 07:34
Republished December 22, 2009 (first published June 7, 1998) (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is an excerpt from a seminar on rock music entitled "Easy on the Ears, Hard on the Soul," by David Benoit (Glory Ministries, Charlotte, North Carolina) --
You know, I talk about heavy metal rock 'n' roll and I make a few people mad. But then when I show a slide of these guys [New Kids on the Block] I make people really mad. But let me stop right here. Before you get really mad at me, let me ask you a question. Why is it that anger comes on when I put these guys up? I know, you're sitting there going, "I can't believe this guy's going to say anything's wrong with these guys."
You know, last year I went to the Bahamas. And I went fishing for shark. Now to fish for shark--do you know how they do that? Read More...
You know, I talk about heavy metal rock 'n' roll and I make a few people mad. But then when I show a slide of these guys [New Kids on the Block] I make people really mad. But let me stop right here. Before you get really mad at me, let me ask you a question. Why is it that anger comes on when I put these guys up? I know, you're sitting there going, "I can't believe this guy's going to say anything's wrong with these guys."
You know, last year I went to the Bahamas. And I went fishing for shark. Now to fish for shark--do you know how they do that? Read More...
COUNTRY MUSIC
Aug/06/09 08:14
Reprinted August 6, 2009 (first published February 28, 1997) (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org) -
The following is from the book Music in the Balance, by Frank Garlock and Kurt Woetzel, copyright 1992 by Majesty Music, P.O. Box 6524, Greenville, SC 29606. Used by permission.
This is an appropriate time to comment on a disturbing tendency in some Christian circles. Rock music is frequently rejected by Christian adults in what would be considered good churches. However, there is another sound which is welcomed in many of those same churches. The country sound, considered to be harmless and mild by adults who cannot bear that "noise," has gained in popularity and acceptance as an appropriate vehicle to sing praises unto the Lord.
THE THEME
Country music is contemporary music which is designed to entertain, satisfy, and please the world. An entire city exists on this industry. Nashville has become synonymous with country music. The discussion of the previous lessons has focused on the proven fact that all music, by its very nature, preaches a message. What is the message of country music? The titles of the songs give a reasonably accurate indication of the theme of the music:
"Loving Up a Storm"
"You'd Make an Angel Want to Cheat"
"That Lovin' You Feelin' Again"
"You Make Me Want to Be a Mother"
"Behind Closed Doors"
"Something to Brag About"
"She's Pullin' Me Back Again"
"Making Love from Memory"
"Let's Get It While the Gettin's Good"
"She's Not Really Cheatin,' She's Just Gettin' Even" Read More...
The following is from the book Music in the Balance, by Frank Garlock and Kurt Woetzel, copyright 1992 by Majesty Music, P.O. Box 6524, Greenville, SC 29606. Used by permission.
This is an appropriate time to comment on a disturbing tendency in some Christian circles. Rock music is frequently rejected by Christian adults in what would be considered good churches. However, there is another sound which is welcomed in many of those same churches. The country sound, considered to be harmless and mild by adults who cannot bear that "noise," has gained in popularity and acceptance as an appropriate vehicle to sing praises unto the Lord.
Country music is contemporary music which is designed to entertain, satisfy, and please the world. An entire city exists on this industry. Nashville has become synonymous with country music. The discussion of the previous lessons has focused on the proven fact that all music, by its very nature, preaches a message. What is the message of country music? The titles of the songs give a reasonably accurate indication of the theme of the music:
"Loving Up a Storm"
"You'd Make an Angel Want to Cheat"
"That Lovin' You Feelin' Again"
"You Make Me Want to Be a Mother"
"Behind Closed Doors"
"Something to Brag About"
"She's Pullin' Me Back Again"
"Making Love from Memory"
"Let's Get It While the Gettin's Good"
"She's Not Really Cheatin,' She's Just Gettin' Even" Read More...
THE FEMINIZATION OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC
Jul/07/09 07:39
Enlarged July 9, 2009 (first published March 26, 1999) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Christian music doesn’t have to have a backbeat to be problematic. In my preaching meetings over the last couple of years, I have become increasingly concerned about the “sweetness” and “softness” of the Christian music that is being sung as choir numbers and specials. It is a problem that is not easy to describe, not easy to nail down. It involves a backing away from the bold, dogmatic, militant sound that characterizes the best of the old hymns. The music is sweeter, more pleasant -- too pleasant, I believe. I am convinced that the new soft sound ministers not to the spirit but to the soul. It is soulish. It doesn’t bring spiritual conviction. It doesn’t change lives. It is pleasant, entertaining, appealing, but not powerfully godly.
The following important warning is from Confronting Contemporary Christian Music by Dr. H.Talmadge Spence:
"In 1973 a Neo-Evangelical movement swept across America called 'Key '73.' Many of the evangelical denominations, including the Pentecostals, joined this movement, believing it would be the strongest evangelistic thrust to date in our country. An extensive invitation was sent out for new music to be written that promoted the message of 'Key '73' with several stipulations: the words righteousness, judgment, holiness, repentance, and several other biblical terms were not allowed to be used, and THE LYRICS WERE TO BE OF A POSITIVE NATURE. There was an intentional effort made to write NON-OFFENSIVE songs. A number of these were produced that year through this evangelical effort, strengthening the move away from biblical, doctrinal standards in the music.
Read More...
Christian music doesn’t have to have a backbeat to be problematic. In my preaching meetings over the last couple of years, I have become increasingly concerned about the “sweetness” and “softness” of the Christian music that is being sung as choir numbers and specials. It is a problem that is not easy to describe, not easy to nail down. It involves a backing away from the bold, dogmatic, militant sound that characterizes the best of the old hymns. The music is sweeter, more pleasant -- too pleasant, I believe. I am convinced that the new soft sound ministers not to the spirit but to the soul. It is soulish. It doesn’t bring spiritual conviction. It doesn’t change lives. It is pleasant, entertaining, appealing, but not powerfully godly.
The following important warning is from Confronting Contemporary Christian Music by Dr. H.Talmadge Spence:
"In 1973 a Neo-Evangelical movement swept across America called 'Key '73.' Many of the evangelical denominations, including the Pentecostals, joined this movement, believing it would be the strongest evangelistic thrust to date in our country. An extensive invitation was sent out for new music to be written that promoted the message of 'Key '73' with several stipulations: the words righteousness, judgment, holiness, repentance, and several other biblical terms were not allowed to be used, and THE LYRICS WERE TO BE OF A POSITIVE NATURE. There was an intentional effort made to write NON-OFFENSIVE songs. A number of these were produced that year through this evangelical effort, strengthening the move away from biblical, doctrinal standards in the music.
Read More...
HIGH ON PRAISE MUSIC
Jun/11/09 07:22
Republished June 11, 2009 (first published September 21, 2006) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
On Feb. 8, 2003, I visited the largest church in Singapore, City Harvest Church, to observe their doctrine and practice, and I am thankful to the three Singaporean friends from independent Baptist churches who accompanied me on my little tour.
On Saturdays, City Harvest has two services, one at 4:30 p.m. and one at 7:30. I attended the 7:30 session. The music was pull-out-the-stops rock & roll and was the loudest I have ever heard in a charismatic church or conference, even though I have attended many of them. The music featured TWO drummers, electric guitars, a keyboard, and a powerful brass section. Several worship leaders, both male and female, swayed and pranced on the front of the stage.
The several-thousand-seat auditorium was almost full and the people were very, very exuberant. As best as I could tell from my vantage point, almost every person joined in enthusiastically during the worship time, singing, clapping, jumping, swaying to the potent music.
Read More...
On Feb. 8, 2003, I visited the largest church in Singapore, City Harvest Church, to observe their doctrine and practice, and I am thankful to the three Singaporean friends from independent Baptist churches who accompanied me on my little tour.
On Saturdays, City Harvest has two services, one at 4:30 p.m. and one at 7:30. I attended the 7:30 session. The music was pull-out-the-stops rock & roll and was the loudest I have ever heard in a charismatic church or conference, even though I have attended many of them. The music featured TWO drummers, electric guitars, a keyboard, and a powerful brass section. Several worship leaders, both male and female, swayed and pranced on the front of the stage.
The several-thousand-seat auditorium was almost full and the people were very, very exuberant. As best as I could tell from my vantage point, almost every person joined in enthusiastically during the worship time, singing, clapping, jumping, swaying to the potent music.
Read More...
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS ON CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Apr/22/09 07:20
Republished April 22, 2009 (first published January 20, 2009) (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Way of Life has four powerful multimedia DVD presentations on the subject of contemporary Christian music, and we are convinced that these are more needful for fundamentalist and independent Baptist churches than ever. Each week we receive news about the inroads that is being made by contemporary music.
The video presentations are professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and video and audio clips are included to illustrate the message.
These presentations are for churches, Bible Colleges, and Home Schools that want to prepare their people to avoid the contemporary music and its underlying New Evangelical philosophy.
Read More...
SUGGESTED SACRED MUSIC RECORDINGS
Mar/31/09 06:58
Updated March 31, 2009 (first published February 14, 2007) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Following are some suggested sacred music recordings for those who don’t want their Christian music to sound like something that would be at home in a nightclub.
Please note that we cannot guarantee that all of the music produced by the following organizations and ministries is sound. We publish this list because it is difficult to locate good Christian music and we desire to point the way to some of the music that we have found helpful. It is not possible for us to listen to every single thing that has been produced by the following sources, nor is it possible for us to keep up with every new recording that they publish. Ultimately it is the responsibility of each listener to prove the music by the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We encourage our readers to contact us if some of the music by any of the following sources is found to be worldly.
Read More...
Following are some suggested sacred music recordings for those who don’t want their Christian music to sound like something that would be at home in a nightclub.
Please note that we cannot guarantee that all of the music produced by the following organizations and ministries is sound. We publish this list because it is difficult to locate good Christian music and we desire to point the way to some of the music that we have found helpful. It is not possible for us to listen to every single thing that has been produced by the following sources, nor is it possible for us to keep up with every new recording that they publish. Ultimately it is the responsibility of each listener to prove the music by the Word of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We encourage our readers to contact us if some of the music by any of the following sources is found to be worldly.
Read More...
VIDEO PRESENTATIONS ON CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Jan/20/09 13:40
January 20, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Way of Life has four powerful multimedia VHS or DVD presentations on the subject of contemporary Christian music, and we are convinced that these are more needful for fundamentalist and independent Baptist churches than ever. Each week we receive news about the inroads that is being made by contemporary music.
The video presentations are professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and video and audio clips are included to illustrate the message.
These presentations are for churches, Bible Colleges, and Home Schools that want to prepare their people to avoid the contemporary music and its underlying New Evangelical philosophy.
Read More...
Way of Life has four powerful multimedia VHS or DVD presentations on the subject of contemporary Christian music, and we are convinced that these are more needful for fundamentalist and independent Baptist churches than ever. Each week we receive news about the inroads that is being made by contemporary music.
The video presentations are professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and video and audio clips are included to illustrate the message.
These presentations are for churches, Bible Colleges, and Home Schools that want to prepare their people to avoid the contemporary music and its underlying New Evangelical philosophy.
Read More...
CHRISTIAN DRUM CIRCLES
Jul/08/08 12:28
CHRISTIAN DRUM CIRCLES
July 8, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Drum circles are growing in popularity in North American society in general and are beginning to be used in ecumenical and emerging churches.
A drum circle is a group of people who get together to beat out rhythms on various types of drums and to be carried along by the interminable pounding beat. Drum circles are a logical outgrowth of the addiction to the rock & roll back beat, which is an integral part of contemporary Christian worship.
The group Rhythm Praise is dedicated to hosting drum circles and “rhythm events.” It is said to “open up a dialog within a community where communication, shared values, self-esteem and unity can be attained” (http://www.rhythmpraise.org/). It is “a vehicle to break down barriers between people and to foster healing.”
Mike Perschon is the associate pastor of Holyrood Mennonite Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He teaches contemplative practices at youth retreats. Writing for the Youth Specialties web site in 2004, Perschon described entire nights “devoted to guided meditations, drum circles, and ‘soul labs’” (“Desert Youth Worker: Disciplines, Mystics and the Contemplative Life,” Youth Specialties, www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/desert.php). This was part of the church’s “alternative spiritual expressions.”
In 2004 the Cameron United Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado, hosted a community drum circle night entitled “drumming up the spirits” (Christine Stevens, “Drumming up the Spirits,” Christian Sound & Song, Issue 9, 2005, http://www.ubdrumcircles.com/article_spirits.html). This was “a kick-off to future church based drumming programs” and since then the women’s spirituality group has taken up drumming.
Stevens says: “Drumming is happening in churches across America. It is being used in children’s programs, worship services, family events, and men’s and women’s groups.”
The Church of the Holy Comforter of Richmond, Virginia, founded by Regena Stith, uses drum circles. Stith first experienced the drums in the late 1990s during a yoga retreat (Roger Oakland, Faith Undone, p. 70). She said that during the drumming “you move out of your head.”
Roger Oakland writes:
“Even though some in the emerging church might consider the drumming at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Richmond a bit extreme, it is growing in popularity and use in the postmodern religious scene. And according to proponents, drumming is a doorway for ecumenical harmony” (Faith Undone, p. 70).
Oakland quotes Zachary Reid who says drumming “can transcend denominational and cultural boundaries” (“Feeling the Beat: The Spiritual Side of Drum Circles,” Richmond Times Dispatch, March 10, 2007).
Oakland also sites an article by Asher Main at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship web site (March 2005), that says, “It would be to our advantage as worshippers to harness this resource that we see in secular world culture and adapt it and bring it into the church.”
I have a niece who was heavily involved in drum circles when she was using hallucinogenic drugs. The weekly drum circle became her “church.” She would dance for hours in a trance-like state, caught up in the power of rhythm. After she repented and got right with the Lord she realized that she had been communing with devils.
Can you imagine the Lord Jesus and Peter and John sitting by the Lake of Galilee pounding away on drums in order to have a mystical experience with God, and the rest of the disciples dancing around in a trance!
When one lets go of a strict commitment to the Bible as the sole authority for faith and practice and rejects the biblical practice of separation from error (Romans 16:17; Ephesians 5:11), there is no end to the confusion that can result.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
July 8, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Drum circles are growing in popularity in North American society in general and are beginning to be used in ecumenical and emerging churches.
A drum circle is a group of people who get together to beat out rhythms on various types of drums and to be carried along by the interminable pounding beat. Drum circles are a logical outgrowth of the addiction to the rock & roll back beat, which is an integral part of contemporary Christian worship.
The group Rhythm Praise is dedicated to hosting drum circles and “rhythm events.” It is said to “open up a dialog within a community where communication, shared values, self-esteem and unity can be attained” (http://www.rhythmpraise.org/). It is “a vehicle to break down barriers between people and to foster healing.”
Mike Perschon is the associate pastor of Holyrood Mennonite Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He teaches contemplative practices at youth retreats. Writing for the Youth Specialties web site in 2004, Perschon described entire nights “devoted to guided meditations, drum circles, and ‘soul labs’” (“Desert Youth Worker: Disciplines, Mystics and the Contemplative Life,” Youth Specialties, www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/spirituality/desert.php). This was part of the church’s “alternative spiritual expressions.”
In 2004 the Cameron United Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado, hosted a community drum circle night entitled “drumming up the spirits” (Christine Stevens, “Drumming up the Spirits,” Christian Sound & Song, Issue 9, 2005, http://www.ubdrumcircles.com/article_spirits.html). This was “a kick-off to future church based drumming programs” and since then the women’s spirituality group has taken up drumming.
Stevens says: “Drumming is happening in churches across America. It is being used in children’s programs, worship services, family events, and men’s and women’s groups.”
The Church of the Holy Comforter of Richmond, Virginia, founded by Regena Stith, uses drum circles. Stith first experienced the drums in the late 1990s during a yoga retreat (Roger Oakland, Faith Undone, p. 70). She said that during the drumming “you move out of your head.”
Roger Oakland writes:
“Even though some in the emerging church might consider the drumming at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Richmond a bit extreme, it is growing in popularity and use in the postmodern religious scene. And according to proponents, drumming is a doorway for ecumenical harmony” (Faith Undone, p. 70).
Oakland quotes Zachary Reid who says drumming “can transcend denominational and cultural boundaries” (“Feeling the Beat: The Spiritual Side of Drum Circles,” Richmond Times Dispatch, March 10, 2007).
Oakland also sites an article by Asher Main at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship web site (March 2005), that says, “It would be to our advantage as worshippers to harness this resource that we see in secular world culture and adapt it and bring it into the church.”
I have a niece who was heavily involved in drum circles when she was using hallucinogenic drugs. The weekly drum circle became her “church.” She would dance for hours in a trance-like state, caught up in the power of rhythm. After she repented and got right with the Lord she realized that she had been communing with devils.
Can you imagine the Lord Jesus and Peter and John sitting by the Lake of Galilee pounding away on drums in order to have a mystical experience with God, and the rest of the disciples dancing around in a trance!
When one lets go of a strict commitment to the Bible as the sole authority for faith and practice and rejects the biblical practice of separation from error (Romans 16:17; Ephesians 5:11), there is no end to the confusion that can result.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC BRINGS GREAT CHANGES TO CHURCHES
Jun/30/08 12:28
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC BRINGS GREAT CHANGES TO CHURCHES
Republished June 30, 2008 (first published August 11, 2003) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Contemporary Christian Worship music is spreading across all denominational lines, and when it enters a church it brings more than a change in music. It brings a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards of morality and doctrine.
The late Gordon Sears, who had an evangelistic music ministry for many years and ministered with Rudy Atwood, was saddened before his death by the dramatic change that was occurring in many fundamental Baptist churches. He warned: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
Frank Garlock of Majesty Music warns, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
The late Ernest Pickering gave a similar warning: “Perhaps nothing precipitates a slide toward New Evangelicalism more than the introduction of Contemporary Christian Music. This inevitably leads toward a gradual slide in other areas as well until the entire church is infiltrated by ideas and programs alien to the original position of the church.”
We can see the fulfillment of these warnings on every hand. Consider these examples:
LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
The most prominent example of the changes that accompany the adoption of contemporary Christian music is Jerry Falwell and the Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Falwell featured traditional Christian music in his church and on the Old Time Gospel Hour program. He was an independent Baptist aligned with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
By the 1980s, Falwell had adopted the “music is neutral” position. Speaking at Word of Life in New York, he said, “Other than Heavy Metal and vulgar lyrics, it’s all a matter of taste and has nothing to do with Christianity.”
In 1985 the name of his school was changed from Liberty Baptist College to Liberty University.
By the 1980s, Falwell’s Moral Majority was made up of at least 30% Roman Catholics and in his 1987 autobiography, Strength for the Journey, Falwell called them “my Catholic brothers and sisters” (p. 371).
In 1987, Falwell took over the leadership of the sleazy charismatic PTL ministry, claiming that it was “certainly worth saving” (Strength for the Journey, p. 442).
In 1992, Falwell endorsed Chuck Colson’s book The Body, which urges Evangelicals to join forces with Catholics and Charismatics and which looks upon the Roman Catholic Church as a part of the “body of Christ.”
In October 1995, Falwell praised Billy Graham for his “long and faithful ministry” and did not have one word of warning for Graham’s great compromise, his yoking together with Rome, his praise of blaspheming modernists, etc. In 1997, Billy Graham was the commencement speaker at Liberty University.
In 1995 Falwell hosted a Promise Keepers conference. That same year a Catholic priest spoke at a PK meeting in Plainview, Texas. One of the PK directors was a Roman Catholic.
In April 1996 hard rocking dc Talk drew the largest concert crowd in the history of Falwell’s university.
In 1996 Falwell joined the SBC, and in 1999 Liberty University was formally approved as an SBC school. (Falwell is also still a part of the Baptist Bible Fellowship and speaks at their meetings.)
By 1997 Falwell was yoked with the charismatic Integrity Music to train worship leaders at Liberty.
When Catholic Cardinal John O’Conner died in May 2000, Falwell praised him: “I am grateful that John O’Connor -- a man of courageous faith -- had such a profound influence on the Catholic Church through his fifty-five years of ministry. I pray that another pro-life, pro-family minister can be found to fill his significant and substantial shoes.” Falwell said nothing about the fact that O’Conner’s false gospel has sent multitudes to eternal hell. When the Apostle Paul was asked what he thought of those who preach a false gospel, his reply was quite different from Falwell’s. Paul replied, “Let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).
In 2001 Falwell identified himself as a “contemporary fundamentalist,” defined as “conservative in doctrine, moderate in attitude, progressive in methodology, and liberal in spirit.”
That sounds impressive and doubtless plays well to the “progressive” crowd, but in reality, he is careless about doctrine (i.e., he allowed evolution to be taught at Liberty in order to obtain accreditation), moderate rather than strict in attitude toward apostasy, progressive rather than scriptural in methodology, and liberal in spirit toward many of God’s enemies.
LANDMARK BAPTIST CHURCH, CINCINNATI, OHIO
Landmark Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, used to be an old-fashioned Baptist church with old-fashioned standards of music and dress and a commitment to the old English Bible.
In the 1990s the church took at turn away from its roots and at the heart of this change was music. In 1996 the church brought in a Campus Crusade band playing “high energy ‘50s and ‘60s rock and roll.”
In 2001, Mat Holman became the pastor. The church web site says, “Being a firm believer that church should be fun and on the edge, Matt puts all his energy into making Landmark a place where everyone belongs.”
The church now features a teen ministry called EnterRuption. “The purpose of EnterRuption is to create a relevant environment for students to bring their friends. We utilize a live band (secular and Christian music), dramas, skits and a relevant message.” I wonder if Paul’s message on Mars Hill, in which he boldly rebuked his listeners’ idolatry and demanded repentance, was “relevant”? I have a sneaking suspicion that the messages presented at EnterRuption aren’t exactly Acts 17 in nature. Somehow, such a message doesn’t fit an atmosphere geared toward “fun” and bathed in rock and roll.
The pop group Jump5 performed at Landmark Baptist Church on Dec. 6, 2003. “The music of the Nashville-based group is thoroughly modern pop, high-spirited and 100% fun.”
BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA
This church illustrates the changes that contemporary music brings. At one time this church was an old-fashioned Baptist church that believed in separation and was committed to the King James Bible, but for many years the church has been moving ever more gradually in a contemporary direction. By the time the 2002 Baptist Bible Fellowship International conference was held here the contemporary “worship team” was led by four women.
Today the Bethlehem Baptist Church has much gone about as far as you can go away from its roots in the matter of standards. In a letter dated July 3, 2003, Pastor David Stokes said: “With regard to dress and modesty issues, we enforce NO RULE on our folks. … apparel issues are really of NO CONCERN to us” (emphasis added).
If the pastor really means what he says, then it would be fitting for a Sunday School teacher to come in her bikini! Of course, he probably wouldn’t allow that, which proves that what he really means is that he has rejected the OLD strict conservative Bible standards and has replaced them with his NEW loose worldly standards. All churches draw lines in dress, but while some draw them using biblical principles, others draw them using the world’s principles. Of course, the latter group consistently labels the first group mean-spirited legalists.
Stokes also led the church to drop its “King James Only” clause from the by-laws and he now preaches from the New American Standard Version and the New Living Translation, among others.
Recently the church’s name was changed from Bethlehem Baptist Church to Fair Oaks Church.
One of the church’s ministries is Skate Night, which is sponsored by secular skateboarding companies. Thus the church is blatantly yoking together with unbelievers in open defiance of Scripture (2 Cor. 6). A description of Skate Night was given by a local newspaper: “CHRISTIAN ROCK THROBS inside the small gymnasium off West Ox Road in Fairfax, just a few decibels louder than the clacking of wheels. ... It’s Sunday night and more than 170 teenagers and young adults -- all but one of them male -- line the walls of the Bethlehem Baptist Church gym, waiting their turn to grind and swoop and dive over a maze of makeshift ramps and rails” (Washington Post, April 4, 2001).
The church testifies that it is using rock music and skateboarding to win young people to Christ, but the Skate Night web site’s gospel presentation is so weak as to be almost meaningless:
“We’re not talking about religion; we’re talking about a relationship. It’s about recognizing that you are not perfect. We’ve all made mistakes. From pimping and drug abuse to telling a little white lie, we are all in need of a Savior. He doesn’t care what you look like, what bad things you have done, or even how good you may think you are. He just wants you to know Him!”
That is not the gospel message that we see in the New Testament. There is no clear explanation of man’s sin problem. There is nothing about God’s holiness and justice, nothing about what Jesus did to become our Saviour, nothing about His death, burial, and resurrection. Nothing about the blood. There is nothing whatsoever about repentance or turning. And as for God not caring how good a person might think he is, He most certainly does. If a person thinks of himself as good in any sense, he cannot be saved. Someone might get saved through Fair Oaks Church’s Skate Night ministry, but it would be in spite of its gospel presentation and not because of it.
The Bethlehem Baptist Church paper in 2002 featured a photo of the church’s new Youth Pastor, Rob Hoerr. Bedecked with a goatee, an earring, and a P.O.D. T-shirt, this independent Baptist youth director is proudly promoting the Christian rock lifestyle.
P.O.D. is a rock band. The initials are supposed to stand for Payable On Death. The tattoo-covered band members curse in interviews, smoke, watch R-rated movies, and criticize kids “who want to segregate themselves from the world.” The group’s leader said, “Jesus was the first rebel. He was the first punk rocker going against all the rest of it” (Sonny of P.O.D., www.shoutweb.com/interviews/pod0700.phtml). In another interview, P.O.D. said, “We’re not passing out pamphlets saying ‘Get your life straight or you’re gonna burn in hell” (Sonny, Guitar World, Oct 2000, p. 78). Sonny says, “I like Slayer. I like Manson. I like music and this dark imagery” (2001 interview with Theresa McKeon of Shoutweb titled “P.O.D. The Fundamental Elements of God Rock”). He is talking about the antichrist rocker Marilyn Manson. P.O.D. guitarist Marcos says, “You know, everyone is free to rock ---. When we go on stage we go crazy. We are like four guys you should put in a mental hospital” (interview with Hwee Hwee Tan of Singapore, October 2002).
Is that the example you want your young people to follow, dear parents? I say woe unto the worldly youth directors who are leading young people in such paths, and woe unto those pastors who appoint such youth directors!
Thus we can see that Bethlehem Baptist Church has gone a long way down the road from its roots as a conservative, fundamentalist Baptist church, and music is at the very heart of the changes.
TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Another example is Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan. This church was pastored by J. Frank Norris from 1935 to 1950 and by G. Beauchamp Vick from 1950 to 1975. In past days, it was the most prominent church in the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI). Vick was one of the founders of the BBFI in 1950 and was president of Baptist Bible College. It was a conservative fundamental Baptist church that eschewed ecumenism, preached strong Bible doctrine, and promoted holy living and separation from the world. It also used only the King James Bible. Preaching in 1975 at the 25th anniversary of the founding of the BBFI, G.B. Vick said:
“It’s become fashionable to use many different versions of the Bible today. ... Listen! This King James Version, our English Bible, the Bible of our fathers and mothers, is the one that has come floating down to us upon the blood of Christian martyrs, our forefathers. It has been, I say, the one text of the Baptist Bible College, and it will be as long as I have anything to do with this school! [loud amens and applause] ... Let’s stick to the old Book.”
In those days at Temple Baptist Church it was the old Book and the old Paths, but that changed in the 1990s.
In 1990 the church got a young new pastor named Brad Powell, and he began to lead the church into a contemporary direction.
The church’s music today is described at its web site: “The PRAISE BANDS provide music for all services. The Praise Bands consist of the piano, synthesizer, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums.”
The church began having CCM concerts in the early 1990s, starting out with the softer rock groups. In September 1993, for example, they had Steve Camp. By October 1996, they featured Michael Card, who is radically ecumenical, working with Roman Catholic John Michael Talbot (who prays to Mary) and claiming that denominational distinctives are not important.
In February 2000 Temple Baptist Church changed its name to Northridge Church of Plymouth, Michigan, after taking a survey of the community and finding out that most people don’t like the name Baptist.
The music style of the CCM groups at Northridge Church has gotten ever harder. In September 2003, the church hosted Sonic Flood, and Charlie Hall was scheduled to be there in October. In September 2003, the church was scheduled to host Darlene Zschech (pronounced check), who promotes ecumenism and unscriptural charismatic doctrines and practices.
SOUTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA
Consider the example of Southside Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. This church was founded in September 1946. From 1965 to 1996 it was pastored by Walt Handford. His wife Elizabeth is one of the daughters of the famous evangelist John R. Rice, founder of the Sword of the Lord. It was long associated with the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. It was an old-fashioned fundamental Baptist church until the 1990s.
Elizabeth Rice Handford is editorial consultant of Joyful Woman magazine, which in the 1990s began to feature ecumenical personalities such as James Dobson and Elisabeth Elliot, both of whom have close affiliations with the Roman Catholic Church.
In September 1993, the church hosted Ray Boltz for a CCM concert.
In 1993 Southside gave up the King James Bible in favor of the NIV. In support of this move, the speaker at Southside for the Sunday evening service, September 12, 1993, was Kenneth Barker, chairman of the New International Version translation committee.
By 1994 the church had a staff member who was also employed by the extremely ecumenical Campus Crusade for Christ. In an interview with Charisma magazine in 2001, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright described his philosophy: “I have felt that God led me many years ago to build bridges. I’m a Presbyterian . . . and yet I work with everybody who loves Jesus, whether they be charismatic or Catholic, Orthodox or mainliners. ... I’m not an evangelical. I’m not a fundamentalist.”
In 1996, Charles Boyd became pastor of Southside Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, both of which are New Evangelical to the core.
Southside Baptist Church recently changed its name to Southside Fellowship.
ARE THESE MERELY STYLE CHANGES OR ARE THEY DOCTRINAL?
It is good that these churches are changing their names, because they are certainly changing their philosophy of Christianity. In each case, they will profess that they have not changed anything important. Brad Powell of Northridge (formerly Temple Baptist of Detroit) claims that by following church growth guru Bill Hybels of Willowcreek, he has not changed anything of significance. For those who have eyes to see, this subterfuge won’t fly. If Temple Baptist Church was right and scriptural in its early days, Northridge Church is wrong today, and if Northridge Church is right and scriptural today, the old Temple Baptist was wrong. The doctrine and practice and philosophy of the old church and the new are not compatible. For the Bible believer, the choice between the contemporary church growth philosophy and the old traditional fundamentalist philosophy is not “both and,” it is “either or.”
The pastors who follow the contemporary church growth principles claim that they are not changing doctrine, only style. That is simply not true. Many of the so-called “style” changes are doctrinal. To allow church members to dress immodestly like the world without any reproof or correction is a doctrinal issue. To borrow the music that the world uses for sexual pleasure and to incorporate that very music into the church program is a doctrinal issue. To claim that music is neutral is a doctrinal issue. To yoke ecumenically with charismatics and such is a doctrinal issue. To say that preaching should focus on the positive is a doctrinal issue. To take Matthew 7:1 and Romans 14:4 out of context to approve a non-judgmental, doctrinally non-controversial approach to the Christian ministry is a doctrinal issue. To use community surveys for planning church policy is a doctrinal issue. To adopt a New Evangelical philosophy is a doctrinal issue.
When a church changes its “style” in these areas, it is undergoing a radical doctrinal change; and continual boasting to the contrary is mere noise without meaning and only deceives the willfully blind. There is little doubt that J. Frank Norris and G. Beauchamp Vick would consider the current “style” at Northridge doctrinal issues.
CONCLUSION
We believe Gordon Sears was right when he said: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
And Frank Garlock is correct when he observes, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
A word to the wise is sufficient. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:6).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
Republished June 30, 2008 (first published August 11, 2003) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Contemporary Christian Worship music is spreading across all denominational lines, and when it enters a church it brings more than a change in music. It brings a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards of morality and doctrine.
The late Gordon Sears, who had an evangelistic music ministry for many years and ministered with Rudy Atwood, was saddened before his death by the dramatic change that was occurring in many fundamental Baptist churches. He warned: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
Frank Garlock of Majesty Music warns, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
The late Ernest Pickering gave a similar warning: “Perhaps nothing precipitates a slide toward New Evangelicalism more than the introduction of Contemporary Christian Music. This inevitably leads toward a gradual slide in other areas as well until the entire church is infiltrated by ideas and programs alien to the original position of the church.”
We can see the fulfillment of these warnings on every hand. Consider these examples:
LIBERTY BAPTIST CHURCH, LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
The most prominent example of the changes that accompany the adoption of contemporary Christian music is Jerry Falwell and the Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. In the 1960s and ‘70s, Falwell featured traditional Christian music in his church and on the Old Time Gospel Hour program. He was an independent Baptist aligned with the Baptist Bible Fellowship International.
By the 1980s, Falwell had adopted the “music is neutral” position. Speaking at Word of Life in New York, he said, “Other than Heavy Metal and vulgar lyrics, it’s all a matter of taste and has nothing to do with Christianity.”
In 1985 the name of his school was changed from Liberty Baptist College to Liberty University.
By the 1980s, Falwell’s Moral Majority was made up of at least 30% Roman Catholics and in his 1987 autobiography, Strength for the Journey, Falwell called them “my Catholic brothers and sisters” (p. 371).
In 1987, Falwell took over the leadership of the sleazy charismatic PTL ministry, claiming that it was “certainly worth saving” (Strength for the Journey, p. 442).
In 1992, Falwell endorsed Chuck Colson’s book The Body, which urges Evangelicals to join forces with Catholics and Charismatics and which looks upon the Roman Catholic Church as a part of the “body of Christ.”
In October 1995, Falwell praised Billy Graham for his “long and faithful ministry” and did not have one word of warning for Graham’s great compromise, his yoking together with Rome, his praise of blaspheming modernists, etc. In 1997, Billy Graham was the commencement speaker at Liberty University.
In 1995 Falwell hosted a Promise Keepers conference. That same year a Catholic priest spoke at a PK meeting in Plainview, Texas. One of the PK directors was a Roman Catholic.
In April 1996 hard rocking dc Talk drew the largest concert crowd in the history of Falwell’s university.
In 1996 Falwell joined the SBC, and in 1999 Liberty University was formally approved as an SBC school. (Falwell is also still a part of the Baptist Bible Fellowship and speaks at their meetings.)
By 1997 Falwell was yoked with the charismatic Integrity Music to train worship leaders at Liberty.
When Catholic Cardinal John O’Conner died in May 2000, Falwell praised him: “I am grateful that John O’Connor -- a man of courageous faith -- had such a profound influence on the Catholic Church through his fifty-five years of ministry. I pray that another pro-life, pro-family minister can be found to fill his significant and substantial shoes.” Falwell said nothing about the fact that O’Conner’s false gospel has sent multitudes to eternal hell. When the Apostle Paul was asked what he thought of those who preach a false gospel, his reply was quite different from Falwell’s. Paul replied, “Let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).
In 2001 Falwell identified himself as a “contemporary fundamentalist,” defined as “conservative in doctrine, moderate in attitude, progressive in methodology, and liberal in spirit.”
That sounds impressive and doubtless plays well to the “progressive” crowd, but in reality, he is careless about doctrine (i.e., he allowed evolution to be taught at Liberty in order to obtain accreditation), moderate rather than strict in attitude toward apostasy, progressive rather than scriptural in methodology, and liberal in spirit toward many of God’s enemies.
LANDMARK BAPTIST CHURCH, CINCINNATI, OHIO
Landmark Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, used to be an old-fashioned Baptist church with old-fashioned standards of music and dress and a commitment to the old English Bible.
In the 1990s the church took at turn away from its roots and at the heart of this change was music. In 1996 the church brought in a Campus Crusade band playing “high energy ‘50s and ‘60s rock and roll.”
In 2001, Mat Holman became the pastor. The church web site says, “Being a firm believer that church should be fun and on the edge, Matt puts all his energy into making Landmark a place where everyone belongs.”
The church now features a teen ministry called EnterRuption. “The purpose of EnterRuption is to create a relevant environment for students to bring their friends. We utilize a live band (secular and Christian music), dramas, skits and a relevant message.” I wonder if Paul’s message on Mars Hill, in which he boldly rebuked his listeners’ idolatry and demanded repentance, was “relevant”? I have a sneaking suspicion that the messages presented at EnterRuption aren’t exactly Acts 17 in nature. Somehow, such a message doesn’t fit an atmosphere geared toward “fun” and bathed in rock and roll.
The pop group Jump5 performed at Landmark Baptist Church on Dec. 6, 2003. “The music of the Nashville-based group is thoroughly modern pop, high-spirited and 100% fun.”
BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH, FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA
This church illustrates the changes that contemporary music brings. At one time this church was an old-fashioned Baptist church that believed in separation and was committed to the King James Bible, but for many years the church has been moving ever more gradually in a contemporary direction. By the time the 2002 Baptist Bible Fellowship International conference was held here the contemporary “worship team” was led by four women.
Today the Bethlehem Baptist Church has much gone about as far as you can go away from its roots in the matter of standards. In a letter dated July 3, 2003, Pastor David Stokes said: “With regard to dress and modesty issues, we enforce NO RULE on our folks. … apparel issues are really of NO CONCERN to us” (emphasis added).
If the pastor really means what he says, then it would be fitting for a Sunday School teacher to come in her bikini! Of course, he probably wouldn’t allow that, which proves that what he really means is that he has rejected the OLD strict conservative Bible standards and has replaced them with his NEW loose worldly standards. All churches draw lines in dress, but while some draw them using biblical principles, others draw them using the world’s principles. Of course, the latter group consistently labels the first group mean-spirited legalists.
Stokes also led the church to drop its “King James Only” clause from the by-laws and he now preaches from the New American Standard Version and the New Living Translation, among others.
Recently the church’s name was changed from Bethlehem Baptist Church to Fair Oaks Church.
One of the church’s ministries is Skate Night, which is sponsored by secular skateboarding companies. Thus the church is blatantly yoking together with unbelievers in open defiance of Scripture (2 Cor. 6). A description of Skate Night was given by a local newspaper: “CHRISTIAN ROCK THROBS inside the small gymnasium off West Ox Road in Fairfax, just a few decibels louder than the clacking of wheels. ... It’s Sunday night and more than 170 teenagers and young adults -- all but one of them male -- line the walls of the Bethlehem Baptist Church gym, waiting their turn to grind and swoop and dive over a maze of makeshift ramps and rails” (Washington Post, April 4, 2001).
The church testifies that it is using rock music and skateboarding to win young people to Christ, but the Skate Night web site’s gospel presentation is so weak as to be almost meaningless:
“We’re not talking about religion; we’re talking about a relationship. It’s about recognizing that you are not perfect. We’ve all made mistakes. From pimping and drug abuse to telling a little white lie, we are all in need of a Savior. He doesn’t care what you look like, what bad things you have done, or even how good you may think you are. He just wants you to know Him!”
That is not the gospel message that we see in the New Testament. There is no clear explanation of man’s sin problem. There is nothing about God’s holiness and justice, nothing about what Jesus did to become our Saviour, nothing about His death, burial, and resurrection. Nothing about the blood. There is nothing whatsoever about repentance or turning. And as for God not caring how good a person might think he is, He most certainly does. If a person thinks of himself as good in any sense, he cannot be saved. Someone might get saved through Fair Oaks Church’s Skate Night ministry, but it would be in spite of its gospel presentation and not because of it.
The Bethlehem Baptist Church paper in 2002 featured a photo of the church’s new Youth Pastor, Rob Hoerr. Bedecked with a goatee, an earring, and a P.O.D. T-shirt, this independent Baptist youth director is proudly promoting the Christian rock lifestyle.
P.O.D. is a rock band. The initials are supposed to stand for Payable On Death. The tattoo-covered band members curse in interviews, smoke, watch R-rated movies, and criticize kids “who want to segregate themselves from the world.” The group’s leader said, “Jesus was the first rebel. He was the first punk rocker going against all the rest of it” (Sonny of P.O.D., www.shoutweb.com/interviews/pod0700.phtml). In another interview, P.O.D. said, “We’re not passing out pamphlets saying ‘Get your life straight or you’re gonna burn in hell” (Sonny, Guitar World, Oct 2000, p. 78). Sonny says, “I like Slayer. I like Manson. I like music and this dark imagery” (2001 interview with Theresa McKeon of Shoutweb titled “P.O.D. The Fundamental Elements of God Rock”). He is talking about the antichrist rocker Marilyn Manson. P.O.D. guitarist Marcos says, “You know, everyone is free to rock ---. When we go on stage we go crazy. We are like four guys you should put in a mental hospital” (interview with Hwee Hwee Tan of Singapore, October 2002).
Is that the example you want your young people to follow, dear parents? I say woe unto the worldly youth directors who are leading young people in such paths, and woe unto those pastors who appoint such youth directors!
Thus we can see that Bethlehem Baptist Church has gone a long way down the road from its roots as a conservative, fundamentalist Baptist church, and music is at the very heart of the changes.
TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN
Another example is Temple Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan. This church was pastored by J. Frank Norris from 1935 to 1950 and by G. Beauchamp Vick from 1950 to 1975. In past days, it was the most prominent church in the Baptist Bible Fellowship International (BBFI). Vick was one of the founders of the BBFI in 1950 and was president of Baptist Bible College. It was a conservative fundamental Baptist church that eschewed ecumenism, preached strong Bible doctrine, and promoted holy living and separation from the world. It also used only the King James Bible. Preaching in 1975 at the 25th anniversary of the founding of the BBFI, G.B. Vick said:
“It’s become fashionable to use many different versions of the Bible today. ... Listen! This King James Version, our English Bible, the Bible of our fathers and mothers, is the one that has come floating down to us upon the blood of Christian martyrs, our forefathers. It has been, I say, the one text of the Baptist Bible College, and it will be as long as I have anything to do with this school! [loud amens and applause] ... Let’s stick to the old Book.”
In those days at Temple Baptist Church it was the old Book and the old Paths, but that changed in the 1990s.
In 1990 the church got a young new pastor named Brad Powell, and he began to lead the church into a contemporary direction.
The church’s music today is described at its web site: “The PRAISE BANDS provide music for all services. The Praise Bands consist of the piano, synthesizer, acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, and drums.”
The church began having CCM concerts in the early 1990s, starting out with the softer rock groups. In September 1993, for example, they had Steve Camp. By October 1996, they featured Michael Card, who is radically ecumenical, working with Roman Catholic John Michael Talbot (who prays to Mary) and claiming that denominational distinctives are not important.
In February 2000 Temple Baptist Church changed its name to Northridge Church of Plymouth, Michigan, after taking a survey of the community and finding out that most people don’t like the name Baptist.
The music style of the CCM groups at Northridge Church has gotten ever harder. In September 2003, the church hosted Sonic Flood, and Charlie Hall was scheduled to be there in October. In September 2003, the church was scheduled to host Darlene Zschech (pronounced check), who promotes ecumenism and unscriptural charismatic doctrines and practices.
SOUTHSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH, GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA
Consider the example of Southside Baptist Church, Greenville, South Carolina. This church was founded in September 1946. From 1965 to 1996 it was pastored by Walt Handford. His wife Elizabeth is one of the daughters of the famous evangelist John R. Rice, founder of the Sword of the Lord. It was long associated with the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. It was an old-fashioned fundamental Baptist church until the 1990s.
Elizabeth Rice Handford is editorial consultant of Joyful Woman magazine, which in the 1990s began to feature ecumenical personalities such as James Dobson and Elisabeth Elliot, both of whom have close affiliations with the Roman Catholic Church.
In September 1993, the church hosted Ray Boltz for a CCM concert.
In 1993 Southside gave up the King James Bible in favor of the NIV. In support of this move, the speaker at Southside for the Sunday evening service, September 12, 1993, was Kenneth Barker, chairman of the New International Version translation committee.
By 1994 the church had a staff member who was also employed by the extremely ecumenical Campus Crusade for Christ. In an interview with Charisma magazine in 2001, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright described his philosophy: “I have felt that God led me many years ago to build bridges. I’m a Presbyterian . . . and yet I work with everybody who loves Jesus, whether they be charismatic or Catholic, Orthodox or mainliners. ... I’m not an evangelical. I’m not a fundamentalist.”
In 1996, Charles Boyd became pastor of Southside Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, both of which are New Evangelical to the core.
Southside Baptist Church recently changed its name to Southside Fellowship.
ARE THESE MERELY STYLE CHANGES OR ARE THEY DOCTRINAL?
It is good that these churches are changing their names, because they are certainly changing their philosophy of Christianity. In each case, they will profess that they have not changed anything important. Brad Powell of Northridge (formerly Temple Baptist of Detroit) claims that by following church growth guru Bill Hybels of Willowcreek, he has not changed anything of significance. For those who have eyes to see, this subterfuge won’t fly. If Temple Baptist Church was right and scriptural in its early days, Northridge Church is wrong today, and if Northridge Church is right and scriptural today, the old Temple Baptist was wrong. The doctrine and practice and philosophy of the old church and the new are not compatible. For the Bible believer, the choice between the contemporary church growth philosophy and the old traditional fundamentalist philosophy is not “both and,” it is “either or.”
The pastors who follow the contemporary church growth principles claim that they are not changing doctrine, only style. That is simply not true. Many of the so-called “style” changes are doctrinal. To allow church members to dress immodestly like the world without any reproof or correction is a doctrinal issue. To borrow the music that the world uses for sexual pleasure and to incorporate that very music into the church program is a doctrinal issue. To claim that music is neutral is a doctrinal issue. To yoke ecumenically with charismatics and such is a doctrinal issue. To say that preaching should focus on the positive is a doctrinal issue. To take Matthew 7:1 and Romans 14:4 out of context to approve a non-judgmental, doctrinally non-controversial approach to the Christian ministry is a doctrinal issue. To use community surveys for planning church policy is a doctrinal issue. To adopt a New Evangelical philosophy is a doctrinal issue.
When a church changes its “style” in these areas, it is undergoing a radical doctrinal change; and continual boasting to the contrary is mere noise without meaning and only deceives the willfully blind. There is little doubt that J. Frank Norris and G. Beauchamp Vick would consider the current “style” at Northridge doctrinal issues.
CONCLUSION
We believe Gordon Sears was right when he said: “When the standard of music is lowered, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered.”
And Frank Garlock is correct when he observes, “If a church starts using CCM it will eventually lose all other standards” (Garlock, Bob Jones University Chapel, March 12, 2001).
A word to the wise is sufficient. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:6).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
WHAT ABOUT BLUEGRASS?
Apr/30/08 10:00
WHAT ABOUT BLUEGRASS?
April 30, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
I received the following question from a reader:
April 30, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
I received the following question from a reader:
“You have dealt with CCM, Southern Gospel, and Rock and Roll in the churches. There is one area that seems to exist in the fundamental churches that no one pays much attention to. That is bluegrass gospel. CCM and rock and roll are easily discerned but bluegrass is far more palatable to the Christian and accepted among Christians. Bluegrass, like other forms of music, has its deep roots in the world no matter what spiritual word you lay down beside it. So often when people engage in this music the religious music is not enough so they start to go to popular songs that are secular. Godly music has never inspired me to listen to the world’s music. It seems to me gospel bluegrass is of the flesh and for the flesh. I have seen the same effects produced by bluegrass gospel as rock and CCM has produced. Attitudes, standards and respect for the word of God seem to descend. Is this something that ought to be in our churches?
“We have a couple of young fellows and a couple of older fellows in our church that have a real appetite for bluegrass gospel. One fellow has even missed church services to attend bluegrass festivals. On occasion after Sunday night service they will pull out their instruments and start playing bluegrass. The issue is this: I do not want to cultivate the appetite for bluegrass in my children and have discussed this with the Pastor. He basically does not see it like I do and it has continued. (A note about my Pastor. He has high standards, he is an excellent bible teacher and preacher, and I do love him dearly.) Instead of fellowship after the service we have had to leave because I don’t want this influence on my children. Have I gone to the extreme? Is my assessment of the music unfounded? Should this music be played at the church? (I will note that this style is not played in the church service.) Should I just keep my mouth closed on the issue and leave when necessary?”
REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD
I personally don’t believe we can make a wholesale condemnation of bluegrass the way we can with rock.
There are dangers, some of which you mentioned.
For one, I see the possibility of bluegrass creating an appetite for unwholesome secular music. We know that the field of bluegrass today is merging with rock, just as country music merged with rock decades ago. So there is a danger of “cross over” and falling in love with the sensual back beat. As a friend said, “There is definitely a style of bluegrass that is honky tonk and I don’t want to associate with that.”
Then there is the danger of bluegrass becoming an idolatrous priority in a believer’s life. You gave the example of a fellow who missed church to attend a bluegrass festival. He is on the road to serious spiritual backsliding if he is not careful. But any activity can become an idol. That is why John ended his first epistle with the words, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Our fallen, duplicitous hearts can latch onto anything and make an idol of it, and we have to guard against this at all times.
Further, there is the potential for bluegrass leading believers into involvement in secular spheres of bluegrass festivals and such which might be unwholesome. The Bible warns, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
I think these are real dangers that pastors and parents would be wise to be on guard against. I know some godly families that play bluegrass and have not fallen into the trap that you described, but the danger is there and should be understood.
That being said, I don’t believe that the dangers of bluegrass are inherent with the music itself. I believe it is possible to enjoy some bluegrass or old country styles of music without being drawn into the world. I see it as a type of folk music that is not inherently bad.
There is an aspect of bluegrass that is associated with worldly partying, but blue grass has always been more than that and there has always been an innocent fun side to the music. Bluegrass is not intimately associated with rebellion and lust the way that rock and roll is. Rock has been a vehicle for rebellion and for serving the flesh since its inception. That is what rock music is all about. “Sex, fun, and rock & roll” is a true slogan. Those things go together hand in globe, but I don’t believe that is true for bluegrass. As one friend said, “The melodies and story lines are not sexual like a lot of rock is.”
I have prayed about this for many years and reevaluated my position several times, and I have never had the liberty from the Lord to condemn bluegrass wholesale as I do with rock.
In Christ, Bro. Cloud
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE RAPPER DEATHSTYLE
Mar/27/08 14:08
THE RAPPER DEATHSTYLE
Enlarged March 27, 2008 (first published December 5, 2002) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
A study published in the May 2003 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that students who listen to violent music are more likely to act violently. “Across five studies, we found that violent lyrics do increase violent thinking and aggressive feelings,” said lead researcher Craig Anderson of Iowa State University.
In 2007 the police in Colorado Springs issued a warning that gangsta rap is contributing to the rise in violence and murders in their area.
In a pathetic attempt to defend rap against the police charge, one rapper said: “When two cowboys got into an argument at a saloon, went outside and had a draw, nobody blamed the music that was playing at the saloon” (“Colorado police link rise in violence to music,” Goupstate.com, Sept. 3, 2007). But cowboy saloon songs didn’t wind people up into a violent rage against society and urge them to murder and rape and shoot police officers and treat women like dogs.
Rap or Hip Hop is violent music, and it is not surprising that it is accompanied by violence.
The following are some of the cases in which rappers themselves have died untimely deaths because of the violence, drug abuse, and immorality that is glorified in rap music.
We wouldn’t even try to document the untimely deaths of common rap lovers, because they are off of the news radar screens, but the number would doubtless run into the thousands if not the tens of thousands.
Rapper Scot Sterling (aka Scot La Rock), whose debut album was titled “Criminal Minded,” died in August 1987 at age 25 of a gunshot wound.
King Tubby, who invented the dubbing process that was popularized by rappers, was murdered in 1989 when he was 58 years old.
Rapper Michael Menson, of the group Double Trouble died in 1989 at age 29 when a gang soaked him in gasoline and set him afire. Double Trouble had a hit that same year titled “Street Tuff.”
MC Rock, rapper with The Almighty RSO, was stabbed to death in 1990 at roughly age 28.
Trouble T-Roy (Troy Dixon), rapper with Heavy D and the Boyz, fell off a balcony after a concert in 1990 at age 22.
Brandon Mitchell, rapper with Wreckx-N-Effect, was shot to death in 1990 at about age 20 during an argument over a woman.
Rapper Michael Robinson (a.k.a. The Mac) was shot dead in Vallejo, California, in about 1990 while sitting in his car with his pregnant girlfriend. He was about 20 years old.
Charizma, rapper with Peanut Butter Wolf, was shot to death in 1993 at age 20.
Deah Dame, rapper with Damian Dame, died in a car crash in 1994 at age 35.
Eazy-E (Eric Wright) of N.W.A., one of the founders of Gangsta rap, died of AIDS in 1995 at age 31. His lyrics focused on themes such as guns, drugs, anti-law enforcement, and deviant sex. He had seven children by six different women.
Mr. Cee, rapper with R.B.L. Posse (Ruthless By Law), died after being shot nine times on New Year’s morning of 1996 at about age 30.
Rapper Hitman (Ricky Herd), was shot to death in 1995 at age 24.
Randy Walker (aka Stretch), of Live Squad, died of unknown cause in 1995 at age 27.
Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac, Makaveli), a gangsta rap superstar who founded the Outlawz Immortalz after he was released from prison in 1995, was shot to death a year later at age 25. Time Warner Music helped pay Shakur’s $1.4 million bail. Outlaw is an acronym for Operating Under Thug Laws as Warriors. The members of the group took the names of various tyrants, brutal dictators, and enemies of America such as Fidel Castro, Idi Amin, and Saddam Hussein.
Yafeu Fula (aka Yaki Kadafi, Young Hollywood), of the Outlawz Immortalz, was shot to death in 1996 two months after the group’s founder Tupac Shakur. He was shot by a cousin of Napoleon, another member of Outlawz.
Rapper Seagram Miller was shot to death in Oakland, California, in August 1996 at age 26.
Rappin’ Ron of Oakland, California, who recorded with Cell Block Records, died of a car crash in January 1997.
Rapper Young Lay of Vallejo, California, barely survived a gunshot wound to the head in 1997, but his baby was kidnapped and his live-in girlfriend died in an arson house fire.
Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls) (real name Christopher Wallace), gangsta rapper, was shot to death in 1997 at age 24. This was only three years after the release of his successful album “Ready to Die.” This album was filled with cursing, violence, and immorality. One cut was titled “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Notorious B.I.G. sang, “When I die, -----, I wanna go to hell.”
San Francisco Rapper JoJo White of Bored Stiff was shot to death in 1997.
Rapper DJ Caravan of FunkSoulJaz died in 1997 of unknown cause.
Gangsta Rapper Dion Stewart (aka The True Lesson Giver) of the duo Black Dynasty was shot to death while trying to rob a convenience store in 1997 at about age 30.
Fat Pat (Patrick Hawkins), rapper who recorded immoral songs, was shot to death in 1998 at age 26.
Rapper DJ Crazy Rak died in 1998 in a hotel fire in San Francisco. He was about 32 years old.
Luis “Papo” Deschamps, rapper with Sandy y Papo, died in a car crash in 1999 at age 23.
Malcolm Howard, rapper with 4 Black Faces, was shot to death execution style in 1999 at roughly age 30.
MC Big L (Lamont Coleman), rapper with Diggin’ In the Crates Crew, was shot to death outside his home in 1999 at age 23.
Rapper MC Ant was shot to death in 1999 at roughly age 35.
Karnail Pitts (aka Bugz), of D12, died after he was shot three times and run over with a car in an altercation in 1999. He was about 30 years old.
Freaky Tah (Raymond Rogers), member of Lost Boyz, was shot to death while leaving a nightclub in New York City at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning in March 1999 at age 27.
Matthew Roberts of Blaggers I.T.A. died in February 2000 at age 36 of drug related causes.
Q-Don (Raeneal Quann), rapper, was shot to death outside a Philadelphia nightclub in April 2000 at roughly age 30.
Yusef Afloat Muhammad, rapper with The Nonce, was found dead alongside a Los Angeles freeway in May 2000 at roughly age 28.
Big Pun (aka Big Punisher) (born Christopher Rios) died in 2000 of a heart attack at age 28.
Johnny Burns (aka Mausburg) was robbed and shot to death in his hometown of Compton, California, in 2000 at age 21.
Bruce Mayfield (aka Chip Banks and Bankie), rapper with The American Cream Team, was shot to death over a money dispute in November 2000 at age 30.
DJ Screw (Robert Davis, Jr.), inventor of a hypnotic, slowed-down, drug-influenced style of rap music, died in November 2000 of a drug-induced heart attack at age 30. He had long abused drugs and alcohol.
Erik Carson (aka Eclipse) was shot to death at 1:30 a.m. on November 14, 2000, in Oakland, California, at age 23.
Bruce Washington (aka Hussein Fatal), of the Outlawz, was imprisoned in 2000 for slashing a person’s face and stomach and another person’s arm and chest with a box cutter.
Lloyd “Mooseman” Roberts, rapper who worked with Iggy Pop, Ice-T, and Body Count, died in a drive by shooting in February 2001 at roughly age 28.
Prince Ital Joe, reggae and rapper who worked with Tupac and Snoop Dogg, died in a car crash in May 2001 at age 37 or 38.
Tonnie Sheppard, rapper and cousin of rapper Haf-A-Mil, was stabbed to death in a recording studio during a fight with studio executives in May 2001 at age 38 or 39.
Coughnut, rapper with Ill Mannered Posse, died in a car crash in September 2001 at age 33. The California Highway Patrol report said that alcohol was probably a factor in the crash that killed two other people, including rapper D Mac.
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, singer with rap group TLC, died in a car crash in April 2002 at age 30. A few days before her own death, Lisa had hit and killed a 10-year-old boy with her car in Honduras.
Jam Master Jay, rapper with the popular group Run-DMC, was shot to death in his recording studio in October 2002 at age 37 by an unknown assailant. This is the latest in a long string of violence associated with rappers, who produce a style of music that is infamously violent in nature (though Jam Master Jay himself was more positive than most).
Rapper Speedy Loc died of an unreported medical condition on June 13, 2003. He was about 30 years old.
B Brazy of Damu Ridaz died in 2003 of unknown cause. He was about 25.
San Francisco rapper Double D (Darrel Anderson) was killed in August 2003. He was about 30.
Rapper Lil Bo was killed in 2003 at about age 25.
In November 2003, Anthony “Wolf” Jones,” 38-year-old former bodyguard for “P. Diddy” Combs, was shot to death in a gunfight outside an Atlanta nightclub. $7,000 was found on Jones’ body. Jones and Combs had been acquitted of gun possession and bribery charges stemming from a 1999 shooting inside a New York nightclub.
In December 2003, federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna was gunned down during the trial of rapper Deon Lionnel Smith, who was accused of running a violent drug ring.
Rapper Freako of Ghetto Stars was shot to death in February 2004 at about age 25.
Rapper Juston Potts (aka Kanyva) murdered his promoter on June 7, 2004, because “she told him he didn’t have the talent to sell records” (“Aspiring rapper arrested in killing,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 8, 2004).
Rapper Holy Quran was shot and killed in 2004. He was about 25.
Russell Tyrone Jones (aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard), of Wu-Tang Clan, died in November 2004 of a drug overdose at age 36.
Rapper Andre Hicks (aka Mac Dre or Dr. Dre) was shot to death in 2004 at age 34. A news report said, “His death was as violent as the lyrics to some of his most popular songs.” Police say that Hicks was part of a gang that robbed banks and pizza parlors, and in 1992 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His rapper nickname, Mac, describes a man that women would pay to have sex with.
Rapper Anthony Watkins (aka Fat Tone) of Kansas City was shot to death in 2005 at age 24. He was murdered by rapper Mac Minister because he was suspected to have murdered Andrew Hicks (Mac Dre) the previous year.
Deshaun Holton (aka Proof), of D12, was shot to death at a bar in Detroit in April 2006 at age 32. He was the best man at rapper Eminem’s wedding to his former wife Kim four months earlier. Proof first shot 35-year-old Keith Bender in the head and then was shot by an unknown third party.
Rapper Big Hawk (John Edward Hawkins) of Houston, Texas, of DJ Screw’s Screwed up Click, was shot to death in May 2006 at age 36. His brother, Patrick Hawkins (aka Fat Pat), was shot to death in 1998 when he was in his 20s.
In January 2007 rapper Busta Rhymes (Trevor Smith) was arrested and charged with punching and kicking a man. He was also charged with assault in August 2006. In February 2006 his bodyguard Israel Ramirez was shot to death.
Stack Bundles (Rayquon Elliot), “an up-and-coming New York rapper” affiliated with Byrd Gang Records, was shot to death in June 2007 at 5 a.m. in the morning outside his home after partying all night with friends. He was 24.
Rapper Skee 64 (Toby Rios) died in March 2007 at about age 28.
Rapper Woodie of San Francisco died in March 2007 of unknown cause at about age 35.
Many other California rappers are affiliated with infamous Bloods gangs. These include DJ Quik, Suge Knight, The Game, the rappers of the Boo-Yaa Tribe, Mack 10, B-Real, and DJ Zombie (http://www.ufaqs.com/wiki/en/bl/Bloods.htm).
Two members of the rap group Damu Ridaz, with ties to the Bloods, were shot and killed in 2007 while in their 20s. B-Brazy and G Spider were both shot and killed at different times by Mexican gangs. Lil Hawk of Damu Ridaz is in prison serving a life sentence.
Big Moe (Kenneth Moore) of Houston died in October 2007 at age 33, probably of a heart attack. He was a part of the Screwed Up Click rapper group. In 2000 he reportedly overdosed on codeine-laced cough syrup, and he often rapped about drug usage.
Influential rapper Pimp C of Underground Kingz was found dead in a motel room in December 2007 at age 33 of unreported cause. His songs dealt with “descriptions of sex and conspicuous consumption and triple-beam scales used to weigh drugs.” He spent three years in jail on gun charges.
Other rappers that died violently and/or young in the last 20 years include Karizma of San Jose, California, California, Plan B of Oakland, Black Cee of San Francisco, Black C, DJ Co V C of Funxsouljaz, 4-1-So-Sicc-Ass-Rell of Cold World Hustlers, Lil' Bo, Billboard of Black Wall Street, and Woodie (2007).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. ... My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood” (Proverbs 1:10, 15, 16).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
Enlarged March 27, 2008 (first published December 5, 2002) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
A study published in the May 2003 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that students who listen to violent music are more likely to act violently. “Across five studies, we found that violent lyrics do increase violent thinking and aggressive feelings,” said lead researcher Craig Anderson of Iowa State University.
In 2007 the police in Colorado Springs issued a warning that gangsta rap is contributing to the rise in violence and murders in their area.
In a pathetic attempt to defend rap against the police charge, one rapper said: “When two cowboys got into an argument at a saloon, went outside and had a draw, nobody blamed the music that was playing at the saloon” (“Colorado police link rise in violence to music,” Goupstate.com, Sept. 3, 2007). But cowboy saloon songs didn’t wind people up into a violent rage against society and urge them to murder and rape and shoot police officers and treat women like dogs.
Rap or Hip Hop is violent music, and it is not surprising that it is accompanied by violence.
The following are some of the cases in which rappers themselves have died untimely deaths because of the violence, drug abuse, and immorality that is glorified in rap music.
We wouldn’t even try to document the untimely deaths of common rap lovers, because they are off of the news radar screens, but the number would doubtless run into the thousands if not the tens of thousands.
Rapper Scot Sterling (aka Scot La Rock), whose debut album was titled “Criminal Minded,” died in August 1987 at age 25 of a gunshot wound.
King Tubby, who invented the dubbing process that was popularized by rappers, was murdered in 1989 when he was 58 years old.
Rapper Michael Menson, of the group Double Trouble died in 1989 at age 29 when a gang soaked him in gasoline and set him afire. Double Trouble had a hit that same year titled “Street Tuff.”
MC Rock, rapper with The Almighty RSO, was stabbed to death in 1990 at roughly age 28.
Trouble T-Roy (Troy Dixon), rapper with Heavy D and the Boyz, fell off a balcony after a concert in 1990 at age 22.
Brandon Mitchell, rapper with Wreckx-N-Effect, was shot to death in 1990 at about age 20 during an argument over a woman.
Rapper Michael Robinson (a.k.a. The Mac) was shot dead in Vallejo, California, in about 1990 while sitting in his car with his pregnant girlfriend. He was about 20 years old.
Charizma, rapper with Peanut Butter Wolf, was shot to death in 1993 at age 20.
Deah Dame, rapper with Damian Dame, died in a car crash in 1994 at age 35.
Eazy-E (Eric Wright) of N.W.A., one of the founders of Gangsta rap, died of AIDS in 1995 at age 31. His lyrics focused on themes such as guns, drugs, anti-law enforcement, and deviant sex. He had seven children by six different women.
Mr. Cee, rapper with R.B.L. Posse (Ruthless By Law), died after being shot nine times on New Year’s morning of 1996 at about age 30.
Rapper Hitman (Ricky Herd), was shot to death in 1995 at age 24.
Randy Walker (aka Stretch), of Live Squad, died of unknown cause in 1995 at age 27.
Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac, Makaveli), a gangsta rap superstar who founded the Outlawz Immortalz after he was released from prison in 1995, was shot to death a year later at age 25. Time Warner Music helped pay Shakur’s $1.4 million bail. Outlaw is an acronym for Operating Under Thug Laws as Warriors. The members of the group took the names of various tyrants, brutal dictators, and enemies of America such as Fidel Castro, Idi Amin, and Saddam Hussein.
Yafeu Fula (aka Yaki Kadafi, Young Hollywood), of the Outlawz Immortalz, was shot to death in 1996 two months after the group’s founder Tupac Shakur. He was shot by a cousin of Napoleon, another member of Outlawz.
Rapper Seagram Miller was shot to death in Oakland, California, in August 1996 at age 26.
Rappin’ Ron of Oakland, California, who recorded with Cell Block Records, died of a car crash in January 1997.
Rapper Young Lay of Vallejo, California, barely survived a gunshot wound to the head in 1997, but his baby was kidnapped and his live-in girlfriend died in an arson house fire.
Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls) (real name Christopher Wallace), gangsta rapper, was shot to death in 1997 at age 24. This was only three years after the release of his successful album “Ready to Die.” This album was filled with cursing, violence, and immorality. One cut was titled “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Notorious B.I.G. sang, “When I die, -----, I wanna go to hell.”
San Francisco Rapper JoJo White of Bored Stiff was shot to death in 1997.
Rapper DJ Caravan of FunkSoulJaz died in 1997 of unknown cause.
Gangsta Rapper Dion Stewart (aka The True Lesson Giver) of the duo Black Dynasty was shot to death while trying to rob a convenience store in 1997 at about age 30.
Fat Pat (Patrick Hawkins), rapper who recorded immoral songs, was shot to death in 1998 at age 26.
Rapper DJ Crazy Rak died in 1998 in a hotel fire in San Francisco. He was about 32 years old.
Luis “Papo” Deschamps, rapper with Sandy y Papo, died in a car crash in 1999 at age 23.
Malcolm Howard, rapper with 4 Black Faces, was shot to death execution style in 1999 at roughly age 30.
MC Big L (Lamont Coleman), rapper with Diggin’ In the Crates Crew, was shot to death outside his home in 1999 at age 23.
Rapper MC Ant was shot to death in 1999 at roughly age 35.
Karnail Pitts (aka Bugz), of D12, died after he was shot three times and run over with a car in an altercation in 1999. He was about 30 years old.
Freaky Tah (Raymond Rogers), member of Lost Boyz, was shot to death while leaving a nightclub in New York City at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning in March 1999 at age 27.
Matthew Roberts of Blaggers I.T.A. died in February 2000 at age 36 of drug related causes.
Q-Don (Raeneal Quann), rapper, was shot to death outside a Philadelphia nightclub in April 2000 at roughly age 30.
Yusef Afloat Muhammad, rapper with The Nonce, was found dead alongside a Los Angeles freeway in May 2000 at roughly age 28.
Big Pun (aka Big Punisher) (born Christopher Rios) died in 2000 of a heart attack at age 28.
Johnny Burns (aka Mausburg) was robbed and shot to death in his hometown of Compton, California, in 2000 at age 21.
Bruce Mayfield (aka Chip Banks and Bankie), rapper with The American Cream Team, was shot to death over a money dispute in November 2000 at age 30.
DJ Screw (Robert Davis, Jr.), inventor of a hypnotic, slowed-down, drug-influenced style of rap music, died in November 2000 of a drug-induced heart attack at age 30. He had long abused drugs and alcohol.
Erik Carson (aka Eclipse) was shot to death at 1:30 a.m. on November 14, 2000, in Oakland, California, at age 23.
Bruce Washington (aka Hussein Fatal), of the Outlawz, was imprisoned in 2000 for slashing a person’s face and stomach and another person’s arm and chest with a box cutter.
Lloyd “Mooseman” Roberts, rapper who worked with Iggy Pop, Ice-T, and Body Count, died in a drive by shooting in February 2001 at roughly age 28.
Prince Ital Joe, reggae and rapper who worked with Tupac and Snoop Dogg, died in a car crash in May 2001 at age 37 or 38.
Tonnie Sheppard, rapper and cousin of rapper Haf-A-Mil, was stabbed to death in a recording studio during a fight with studio executives in May 2001 at age 38 or 39.
Coughnut, rapper with Ill Mannered Posse, died in a car crash in September 2001 at age 33. The California Highway Patrol report said that alcohol was probably a factor in the crash that killed two other people, including rapper D Mac.
Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, singer with rap group TLC, died in a car crash in April 2002 at age 30. A few days before her own death, Lisa had hit and killed a 10-year-old boy with her car in Honduras.
Jam Master Jay, rapper with the popular group Run-DMC, was shot to death in his recording studio in October 2002 at age 37 by an unknown assailant. This is the latest in a long string of violence associated with rappers, who produce a style of music that is infamously violent in nature (though Jam Master Jay himself was more positive than most).
Rapper Speedy Loc died of an unreported medical condition on June 13, 2003. He was about 30 years old.
B Brazy of Damu Ridaz died in 2003 of unknown cause. He was about 25.
San Francisco rapper Double D (Darrel Anderson) was killed in August 2003. He was about 30.
Rapper Lil Bo was killed in 2003 at about age 25.
In November 2003, Anthony “Wolf” Jones,” 38-year-old former bodyguard for “P. Diddy” Combs, was shot to death in a gunfight outside an Atlanta nightclub. $7,000 was found on Jones’ body. Jones and Combs had been acquitted of gun possession and bribery charges stemming from a 1999 shooting inside a New York nightclub.
In December 2003, federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna was gunned down during the trial of rapper Deon Lionnel Smith, who was accused of running a violent drug ring.
Rapper Freako of Ghetto Stars was shot to death in February 2004 at about age 25.
Rapper Juston Potts (aka Kanyva) murdered his promoter on June 7, 2004, because “she told him he didn’t have the talent to sell records” (“Aspiring rapper arrested in killing,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 8, 2004).
Rapper Holy Quran was shot and killed in 2004. He was about 25.
Russell Tyrone Jones (aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard), of Wu-Tang Clan, died in November 2004 of a drug overdose at age 36.
Rapper Andre Hicks (aka Mac Dre or Dr. Dre) was shot to death in 2004 at age 34. A news report said, “His death was as violent as the lyrics to some of his most popular songs.” Police say that Hicks was part of a gang that robbed banks and pizza parlors, and in 1992 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. His rapper nickname, Mac, describes a man that women would pay to have sex with.
Rapper Anthony Watkins (aka Fat Tone) of Kansas City was shot to death in 2005 at age 24. He was murdered by rapper Mac Minister because he was suspected to have murdered Andrew Hicks (Mac Dre) the previous year.
Deshaun Holton (aka Proof), of D12, was shot to death at a bar in Detroit in April 2006 at age 32. He was the best man at rapper Eminem’s wedding to his former wife Kim four months earlier. Proof first shot 35-year-old Keith Bender in the head and then was shot by an unknown third party.
Rapper Big Hawk (John Edward Hawkins) of Houston, Texas, of DJ Screw’s Screwed up Click, was shot to death in May 2006 at age 36. His brother, Patrick Hawkins (aka Fat Pat), was shot to death in 1998 when he was in his 20s.
In January 2007 rapper Busta Rhymes (Trevor Smith) was arrested and charged with punching and kicking a man. He was also charged with assault in August 2006. In February 2006 his bodyguard Israel Ramirez was shot to death.
Stack Bundles (Rayquon Elliot), “an up-and-coming New York rapper” affiliated with Byrd Gang Records, was shot to death in June 2007 at 5 a.m. in the morning outside his home after partying all night with friends. He was 24.
Rapper Skee 64 (Toby Rios) died in March 2007 at about age 28.
Rapper Woodie of San Francisco died in March 2007 of unknown cause at about age 35.
Many other California rappers are affiliated with infamous Bloods gangs. These include DJ Quik, Suge Knight, The Game, the rappers of the Boo-Yaa Tribe, Mack 10, B-Real, and DJ Zombie (http://www.ufaqs.com/wiki/en/bl/Bloods.htm).
Two members of the rap group Damu Ridaz, with ties to the Bloods, were shot and killed in 2007 while in their 20s. B-Brazy and G Spider were both shot and killed at different times by Mexican gangs. Lil Hawk of Damu Ridaz is in prison serving a life sentence.
Big Moe (Kenneth Moore) of Houston died in October 2007 at age 33, probably of a heart attack. He was a part of the Screwed Up Click rapper group. In 2000 he reportedly overdosed on codeine-laced cough syrup, and he often rapped about drug usage.
Influential rapper Pimp C of Underground Kingz was found dead in a motel room in December 2007 at age 33 of unreported cause. His songs dealt with “descriptions of sex and conspicuous consumption and triple-beam scales used to weigh drugs.” He spent three years in jail on gun charges.
Other rappers that died violently and/or young in the last 20 years include Karizma of San Jose, California, California, Plan B of Oakland, Black Cee of San Francisco, Black C, DJ Co V C of Funxsouljaz, 4-1-So-Sicc-Ass-Rell of Cold World Hustlers, Lil' Bo, Billboard of Black Wall Street, and Woodie (2007).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).
“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. ... My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood” (Proverbs 1:10, 15, 16).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
IS IT WRONG TO LISTEN TO “CLEAN” SECULAR ROCK?
Feb/26/08 19:56
IS IT WRONG TO LISTEN TO “CLEAN” SECULAR ROCK?
February 26, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
I received the following question recently:
“I am a 14-year-old born-again Christian (proud of being born again) with a question about secular music. I do not approve of the rock lifestyle, but I like rock music. I have about 40% secular music and 60% Christian music on my iPod. I am very picky about the secular music on my iPod. I do not approve of music about sex, drugs, or alcohol. I also will not tolerate curse words and blasphemy. But throughout the Rock 'n' Roll scene, there are songs without any of this. I have found that it is hard to find one secular group that has none of this in any of their songs, but my philosophy has always been that I should judge the song instead of the singer. For example, John Lennon, one of the pill-popping adulterous Beatles who stated that he was more famous then Jesus, wrote a song entitled ‘Beautiful Boy’ for his son. I have always found this song sweet and enjoyed it, but the song ‘Imagine’ starts off with ‘Imagine there’s not heaven, it’s easy if you try.’ And I don't approve of that song. So this leads me to my question: In your opinion, should I not listen to any of the clean secular songs, because they are written by vulgar Rock 'n' Roll stars. I stress that I do not admire them, but I do love music a lot.”
REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD
That is an excellent question, and I will give five reasons why I believe this is an unscriptural and spiritually dangerous practice.
1. A major problem with rock music is the sensual back beat that appeals to the flesh; this is a serious issue regardless of the lyrics.
Certain kinds of rhythms produce certain effects on people. Dr. David Elkind, Chairman, Department of Child Study, Tufts University, warned: “There is a great deal of powerful sexual stimulation in THE RHYTHM of rock music.”
Blues, jazz, rock, reggae, rap, and other forms of modern dance music have an intimate and inextricable association with immorality, drunkenness, drug abuse, gambling, prostitution, and other evils. It is impossible to disconnect the music from this association. “Sex, drugs, and rock & roll” is not just a popular saying; it is a true saying because “sex, drugs, and rock & roll” go together like peas in a pod.
The chief component of this type of music is the heavy back beat. It is called the anapestic beat. This is a poetic term that describes poetry using three syllables with the emphasis on the third -- da-da-DA, da-da-DA. In music, the anapestic or back beat emphasizes the off beat. The anapestic rock beat goes one-TWO-three-FOUR or one-two-THREE, one-two-THREE. This is in contrast with a “straight” or march beat, which has the emphasis on the first beat or on each beat equally -- one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, or ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four.
This backbeat has been the chief characteristic of rock music from its inception. Consider these quotes:
“I felt that if I could take a ... tune and drop the first and third beats and accentuate the second and fourth, and add a beat the listeners could clap to as well as dance this would be what they were after” (Bill Haley, cited by Charlie Gillett, The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, p. 14).
Chuck Berry sang, “I dig that rock and roll music; it has a back beat; you can't lose it.”
Huey Lewis and the News sang, “When they play their music, ooh that modern music, they like it with a lot of style; but it's still that same old backbeat rhythm that really, really drives 'em wild” (“The Heart of Rock & Roll”).
Elvis Presley testified: “It’s the beat that gets to you. If you like it and you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it” (cited by Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 35).
In his history of party music in Memphis, Tennessee, author Larry Nager observed that “…the forbidden pleasures of Beale Street had always come wrapped in the PULSING RHYTHMS of the blues” (Larry Nager, Memphis Beat). He is describing the back beat that is the basic element of rock & roll. That part of Beale Street near the river was infamous for its bars, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution. Those are the “forbidden pleasures” referred to by Nager. It is not happenstance that those wicked activities were accompanied by certain types of pulsing rhythms. And those old blues and boogie woogie rhythms were not always loud and boisterous. Like rock music, there were soft blues as well as hard.
Famous bluesman Robert Johnson knew that his guitar music had a licentious affect on women. He said, “This sound [the blues] affected most women in a way that I could never understand.”
B.B. King, one of the most famous of the bluesmen, made the same observation in his autobiography: “The women reacted with their bodies flowing to a rhythm coming out of my guitar…” (B.B. King, Blues All Around Me).
These blues musicians admit that their rhythms produce a sexual reaction.
Consider some other testimonies from secular social scientists, music experts, and from rock musicians themselves:
Graham Cray, former chairman of the Greenbelt Festival said: “In all pop music lyrics are secondary. POP IS MUSIC OF FEELING, SPOKEN PRIMARILY TO THE BODY and only secondarily to the intellect.”
Dr. Simon Frith said, “We respond to the materiality of rock’s sounds, and THE ROCK EXPERIENCE IS ESSENTIALLY EROTIC” (Sound Effects, p. 164).
Gene Simmons of Kiss said, “That’s what rock is all about--SEX WITH A 100 MEGATON BOMB, THE BEAT!” (Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987).
Irwin Sibler said, “The great strength of rock & roll lies in its beat. It is a music which is BASICALLY SEXUAL, unpuritan...” (Sing Out, May 1965, p. 63).
Frank Zappa of the Mothers of Invention said, “ROCK MUSIC IS SEX. The big beat matches the body’s rhythms” (Life, June 28, 1968).
Robert Palmer said: “I believe in the transformative power of rock and roll … this transformative power inheres not so much in the words of songs or the stances of the stars, but in the music itself--in the SOUND, and above all, in the BEAT” (Rock & Roll an Unruly History, p. 12).
John Lennon said: “Because it is PRIMITIVE enough and has no bull, really, the best stuff, and it GETS THROUGH TO YOU BY ITS BEAT” (Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976, p 100).
Rapper Luke Campbell of 2 Live Crew says, “The sex is definitely in the music, and SEX IS IN ALL ASPECTS IN THE MUSIC.”
Jan Berry of Jan and Dean says, “The THROBBING BEAT OF ROCK PROVIDES A VITAL SEXUAL RELEASE for adolescent audiences” (cited by Ken Blanchard, Pop Goes the Gospel).
Observe that these statements do not refer to the words of rock music but to the back beat rhythm in particular. This is a loud warning to those who have ears to hear.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).
2. The rock rhythm is addictive.
By listening to rock, one develops an appetite for and addiction to this type of music, and like all addictions this one is never content. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith said, “Rock music is the strongest drug in the world.” Timothy Leary said: “Don’t listen to the words, it’s the music that has its own message. ... I’ve been stoned on the music many times” (Politics of Ecstasy).
The child of God should avoid any fleshly thing that has this type of addictive power.
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
3. “Clean” rock is a dangerous bridge to the evil things and unclean spirits that permeate rock and roll.
The Bible warns God’s people to stay away from evil. There is great spiritual danger in dabbling with the world’s toys. To play around with rock music in the search for “clean” songs is a very dangerous occupation. It is playing with fire! Rock music has captured the heart and soul of multitudes of people and carried them into the depths of satanic deception and eternal destruction.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
4. The listener has to sort through the huge amount of garbage in rock music to find a few relatively innocent songs.
Is this a safe and wise use of this brief earthly life?
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).
5. We must be concerned about our influence on others.
If I listen to “clean rock,” it is probable that my influence will encourage others to listen to music that is much worse. I might be exceedingly careful about what rock songs I listen to, but it is doubtful if others within my sphere of influence will be so careful.
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. . . . Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:23, 24, 31).
“It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Rom. 14:21).
Steve Peters, who does not believe all rock & roll is wrong for Christians, nevertheless made the following important admission: “Just about the time I think I’ve found a good-clean-acceptable secular musician, they blow it on their next album or tour. And if I have recommended them, suddenly I find myself scrambling to tell thousands of teens who know--I WAS WRONG” (The Truth about Rock, p. 90). We would remind Mr. Peters that he will never undo all the damage he has caused by recommending secular rock even hesitatingly and tentatively. Such recommendations by Christian authority figures are a bright green signal to young people that it is alright to explore the filthy world of rock. VERY few of them will be as cautious about what they listen to as Mr. Peters says he is and very few will escape the moral and spiritual pollutions that permeate the world of rock.
I will conclude with a statement by our friend Brian Snider, who also came out of a life of heavy involvement with rock music and its wicked lifestyle. I asked him to reply to this same question:
“I guess it’s just a matter of getting some personal conviction about the issue of fellowship with the ‘unfruitful works of darkness’ (Ephesians 5:11). In that passage, it says that the works are ‘unfruitful.’ You could take that to mean things that don’t necessarily drag you down into deep sin, but that don’t help you and could possibly hinder you.
The Bible says we should ‘approve things that are excellent’ (Philippians 1:10), not just things that are middling or near the world. I am familiar with the song ‘Beautiful Boy’ and it is a pretty song, but I knew when I got saved I’d have to give up rock music--not just the overtly wicked stuff--but I just felt that I would have to eliminate all John Lennon.
“I doubt if the young person who wrote to you loves rock music more than me or you. I love it a lot, too. Giving up rock is a bitter pill for the flesh to swallow, but I’d recommend swallowing it.
“Also, there are a lot of attachments with rock music that go far beyond the music. The attitudes, lifestyles, immorality, coolness, dress, etc., that we ought to distance ourselves from.
“There are some Beatles songs that, as far as the melodies go, I wouldn’t necessarily mind having on my iPod (‘Yesterday,’ ‘Norwegian Wood,’ ‘Blackbird,’ etc.). But even then the lyrics aren’t always wholesome, and the fact is, you can’t separate the music from the men or women who made it” (Brian Snider, February 20, 2008).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
February 26, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
I received the following question recently:
“I am a 14-year-old born-again Christian (proud of being born again) with a question about secular music. I do not approve of the rock lifestyle, but I like rock music. I have about 40% secular music and 60% Christian music on my iPod. I am very picky about the secular music on my iPod. I do not approve of music about sex, drugs, or alcohol. I also will not tolerate curse words and blasphemy. But throughout the Rock 'n' Roll scene, there are songs without any of this. I have found that it is hard to find one secular group that has none of this in any of their songs, but my philosophy has always been that I should judge the song instead of the singer. For example, John Lennon, one of the pill-popping adulterous Beatles who stated that he was more famous then Jesus, wrote a song entitled ‘Beautiful Boy’ for his son. I have always found this song sweet and enjoyed it, but the song ‘Imagine’ starts off with ‘Imagine there’s not heaven, it’s easy if you try.’ And I don't approve of that song. So this leads me to my question: In your opinion, should I not listen to any of the clean secular songs, because they are written by vulgar Rock 'n' Roll stars. I stress that I do not admire them, but I do love music a lot.”
REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD
That is an excellent question, and I will give five reasons why I believe this is an unscriptural and spiritually dangerous practice.
1. A major problem with rock music is the sensual back beat that appeals to the flesh; this is a serious issue regardless of the lyrics.
Certain kinds of rhythms produce certain effects on people. Dr. David Elkind, Chairman, Department of Child Study, Tufts University, warned: “There is a great deal of powerful sexual stimulation in THE RHYTHM of rock music.”
Blues, jazz, rock, reggae, rap, and other forms of modern dance music have an intimate and inextricable association with immorality, drunkenness, drug abuse, gambling, prostitution, and other evils. It is impossible to disconnect the music from this association. “Sex, drugs, and rock & roll” is not just a popular saying; it is a true saying because “sex, drugs, and rock & roll” go together like peas in a pod.
The chief component of this type of music is the heavy back beat. It is called the anapestic beat. This is a poetic term that describes poetry using three syllables with the emphasis on the third -- da-da-DA, da-da-DA. In music, the anapestic or back beat emphasizes the off beat. The anapestic rock beat goes one-TWO-three-FOUR or one-two-THREE, one-two-THREE. This is in contrast with a “straight” or march beat, which has the emphasis on the first beat or on each beat equally -- one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four, or ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four.
This backbeat has been the chief characteristic of rock music from its inception. Consider these quotes:
“I felt that if I could take a ... tune and drop the first and third beats and accentuate the second and fourth, and add a beat the listeners could clap to as well as dance this would be what they were after” (Bill Haley, cited by Charlie Gillett, The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll, p. 14).
Chuck Berry sang, “I dig that rock and roll music; it has a back beat; you can't lose it.”
Huey Lewis and the News sang, “When they play their music, ooh that modern music, they like it with a lot of style; but it's still that same old backbeat rhythm that really, really drives 'em wild” (“The Heart of Rock & Roll”).
Elvis Presley testified: “It’s the beat that gets to you. If you like it and you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I can’t help it” (cited by Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 35).
In his history of party music in Memphis, Tennessee, author Larry Nager observed that “…the forbidden pleasures of Beale Street had always come wrapped in the PULSING RHYTHMS of the blues” (Larry Nager, Memphis Beat). He is describing the back beat that is the basic element of rock & roll. That part of Beale Street near the river was infamous for its bars, gambling dens, and houses of prostitution. Those are the “forbidden pleasures” referred to by Nager. It is not happenstance that those wicked activities were accompanied by certain types of pulsing rhythms. And those old blues and boogie woogie rhythms were not always loud and boisterous. Like rock music, there were soft blues as well as hard.
Famous bluesman Robert Johnson knew that his guitar music had a licentious affect on women. He said, “This sound [the blues] affected most women in a way that I could never understand.”
B.B. King, one of the most famous of the bluesmen, made the same observation in his autobiography: “The women reacted with their bodies flowing to a rhythm coming out of my guitar…” (B.B. King, Blues All Around Me).
These blues musicians admit that their rhythms produce a sexual reaction.
Consider some other testimonies from secular social scientists, music experts, and from rock musicians themselves:
Graham Cray, former chairman of the Greenbelt Festival said: “In all pop music lyrics are secondary. POP IS MUSIC OF FEELING, SPOKEN PRIMARILY TO THE BODY and only secondarily to the intellect.”
Dr. Simon Frith said, “We respond to the materiality of rock’s sounds, and THE ROCK EXPERIENCE IS ESSENTIALLY EROTIC” (Sound Effects, p. 164).
Gene Simmons of Kiss said, “That’s what rock is all about--SEX WITH A 100 MEGATON BOMB, THE BEAT!” (Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987).
Irwin Sibler said, “The great strength of rock & roll lies in its beat. It is a music which is BASICALLY SEXUAL, unpuritan...” (Sing Out, May 1965, p. 63).
Frank Zappa of the Mothers of Invention said, “ROCK MUSIC IS SEX. The big beat matches the body’s rhythms” (Life, June 28, 1968).
Robert Palmer said: “I believe in the transformative power of rock and roll … this transformative power inheres not so much in the words of songs or the stances of the stars, but in the music itself--in the SOUND, and above all, in the BEAT” (Rock & Roll an Unruly History, p. 12).
John Lennon said: “Because it is PRIMITIVE enough and has no bull, really, the best stuff, and it GETS THROUGH TO YOU BY ITS BEAT” (Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976, p 100).
Rapper Luke Campbell of 2 Live Crew says, “The sex is definitely in the music, and SEX IS IN ALL ASPECTS IN THE MUSIC.”
Jan Berry of Jan and Dean says, “The THROBBING BEAT OF ROCK PROVIDES A VITAL SEXUAL RELEASE for adolescent audiences” (cited by Ken Blanchard, Pop Goes the Gospel).
Observe that these statements do not refer to the words of rock music but to the back beat rhythm in particular. This is a loud warning to those who have ears to hear.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:17).
2. The rock rhythm is addictive.
By listening to rock, one develops an appetite for and addiction to this type of music, and like all addictions this one is never content. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith said, “Rock music is the strongest drug in the world.” Timothy Leary said: “Don’t listen to the words, it’s the music that has its own message. ... I’ve been stoned on the music many times” (Politics of Ecstasy).
The child of God should avoid any fleshly thing that has this type of addictive power.
“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
3. “Clean” rock is a dangerous bridge to the evil things and unclean spirits that permeate rock and roll.
The Bible warns God’s people to stay away from evil. There is great spiritual danger in dabbling with the world’s toys. To play around with rock music in the search for “clean” songs is a very dangerous occupation. It is playing with fire! Rock music has captured the heart and soul of multitudes of people and carried them into the depths of satanic deception and eternal destruction.
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
4. The listener has to sort through the huge amount of garbage in rock music to find a few relatively innocent songs.
Is this a safe and wise use of this brief earthly life?
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:15-17).
5. We must be concerned about our influence on others.
If I listen to “clean rock,” it is probable that my influence will encourage others to listen to music that is much worse. I might be exceedingly careful about what rock songs I listen to, but it is doubtful if others within my sphere of influence will be so careful.
“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth. . . . Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor. 10:23, 24, 31).
“It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak” (Rom. 14:21).
Steve Peters, who does not believe all rock & roll is wrong for Christians, nevertheless made the following important admission: “Just about the time I think I’ve found a good-clean-acceptable secular musician, they blow it on their next album or tour. And if I have recommended them, suddenly I find myself scrambling to tell thousands of teens who know--I WAS WRONG” (The Truth about Rock, p. 90). We would remind Mr. Peters that he will never undo all the damage he has caused by recommending secular rock even hesitatingly and tentatively. Such recommendations by Christian authority figures are a bright green signal to young people that it is alright to explore the filthy world of rock. VERY few of them will be as cautious about what they listen to as Mr. Peters says he is and very few will escape the moral and spiritual pollutions that permeate the world of rock.
I will conclude with a statement by our friend Brian Snider, who also came out of a life of heavy involvement with rock music and its wicked lifestyle. I asked him to reply to this same question:
“I guess it’s just a matter of getting some personal conviction about the issue of fellowship with the ‘unfruitful works of darkness’ (Ephesians 5:11). In that passage, it says that the works are ‘unfruitful.’ You could take that to mean things that don’t necessarily drag you down into deep sin, but that don’t help you and could possibly hinder you.
The Bible says we should ‘approve things that are excellent’ (Philippians 1:10), not just things that are middling or near the world. I am familiar with the song ‘Beautiful Boy’ and it is a pretty song, but I knew when I got saved I’d have to give up rock music--not just the overtly wicked stuff--but I just felt that I would have to eliminate all John Lennon.
“I doubt if the young person who wrote to you loves rock music more than me or you. I love it a lot, too. Giving up rock is a bitter pill for the flesh to swallow, but I’d recommend swallowing it.
“Also, there are a lot of attachments with rock music that go far beyond the music. The attitudes, lifestyles, immorality, coolness, dress, etc., that we ought to distance ourselves from.
“There are some Beatles songs that, as far as the melodies go, I wouldn’t necessarily mind having on my iPod (‘Yesterday,’ ‘Norwegian Wood,’ ‘Blackbird,’ etc.). But even then the lyrics aren’t always wholesome, and the fact is, you can’t separate the music from the men or women who made it” (Brian Snider, February 20, 2008).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
BILL GAITHER’S DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD
May/05/06 12:28
BILL GAITHER’S DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD
Updated and enlarged May 5, 2006 (first published July 30, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Bill and Gloria Gaither are graduates of Anderson College, a Church of God school, and attend a Nazarene church. They have written some very popular and well-known gospel music, such as “He Touched Me,” “Thanks to Calvary,” and “There’s Something about That Name.” Since the early 1990s, the Gaither’s Homecoming CD and video series has dramatically increased the popularity of Southern Gospel music in this generation.
Sadly, the Gaithers have used their vast influence to promote the lie that music is neutral and thus to encourage the deep inroads that the world has made into Southern Gospel. They have also promoted the unscriptural ecumenical movement with its bogus “judge not” philosophy and its lack of concern about doctrinal purity.
MUSIC IS NEUTRAL
In the 1980s Gaither bought into contemporary Christian music’s foundational premise that “MUSIC IS NEUTRAL” and that any type of raunchy music can be used to glorify God.
During a concert tour in New England in 1986, Gaither admitted that he had changed his musical style due to the influence of the “world’s culture.” He said he believed there was a place for Christian rock, and he expressed his philosophy of music in these words: “God speaks through all different kinds of art forms and musical styles and musical forms” and the “format itself is not necessarily spiritual or non-spiritual” (FBF News Bulletin, March-April 1986, p. 3).
The following is an eyewitness description of the Gaither’s appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis in 1980: “The Bill Gaither Trio entertained 15,000 Southern Baptists on Sunday evening with a musical program worldly enough to make any true believer weep. The music was so loud that some people left and others put their hands to their ears to block the intense amplification of the music” (Robert S. Reynolds, “Southern Baptists on the Downgrade: Report on the 1980 SBC Convention in St. Louis,” Foundation, Volume VI, Issue 1, 1985, p. 9).
The Gaithers have increasingly used rock rhythms in their music. During the disco craze in the late 1980s, the Gaither Trio recorded a disco album (Calvary Contender, August 15, 1989). The Gaithers have a song titled “Singin’ with the Saints” which is a boogie-woogie version of “He Keeps Me Singing.” This is confusion.
Bill Gaither has mentored many of the popular CCM artists, including Sandi Patty, Russ Taff, Michael English, Carman, and the members of Whiteheart (CCM Magazine, July 1998, p. 20).
For more about the neutrality of music, see “DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SACRED AND CONTEMPORARY STYLES OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC,” a DVD available from Way of Life Literature. This 90-minute presentation is professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and visuals are mixed into the presentation to illustrate the message. The message incorporates 55 clips of music to illustrate the points. The speaker is a musician who lived the rock & roll lifestyle before he was saved and who has studied this issue for more than three decades.
BILL GAITHER AND ROME: THE ECUMENICAL PHILOSOPHY
Bill Gaither has had an ecumenical philosophy from the beginning of his musical career. In his autobiography “It’s More Than the Music,” he states that one of the fringe benefits of playing their concerts in “neutral, nonchurch environments” was that people from “all church denominations” attended. “Before long, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, charismatics, Catholics, and Pentecostals were all praising the Lord together. Subtly, the walls between denominations began to crumble...” (p. 115).
Their hymnal “Hymns for the Family of God” was purposefully “nondenominational” and included devotional readings from a wide variety of Christians, including heretics such as Deitrich Bonhoeffer (one of the fathers of Neo-orthodoxy), Malcolm Muggeridge (a liberal Roman Catholic who did not believe in Christ’s Virgin Birth or bodily Resurrection), and Robert Schuller (who has wickedly redefined the gospel in terms of his humanistic self-esteem theology).
The Gaithers provided the music one evening at Indianapolis ‘90, a large ecumenical charismatic gathering I attended with press credentials. One-half of the 25,000 participants were Roman Catholics. A Catholic mass was held each morning during this conference, and Catholic priest Tom Forrest from Rome brought the closing message. Roughly 40 other denominations were present. The Gaithers were perfectly at home in this unscriptural gathering and entertained the mixed multitude with their jazzy music.
The Gaither Vocal Band performed at the Promise Keepers’ second major men’s conference in Boulder, Colorado, in 1994. Promise Keepers is radically ecumenical. In an interview with the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor, Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney said that full Catholic participation was his intention from the start. “Back in 1992, at our first stadium event, we very clearly stated from the podium that we eagerly welcomed the participation of Roman Catholics, and we’ve had scores of Roman Catholics attend and go back to their churches excited” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10). Roman Catholic paper The Tidings (March 31, 1995) stated that Promise Keepers is “being expanded to include Catholic congregations.” Catholics were encouraged to participate in Promise Keepers because “there is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church” and “there is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their [Catholic] faith to another church.” Catholic priest John Salazar spoke at a Promise Keepers meeting in Plainview, Texas, in December 1995 (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, December 3, 1995). The Promise Keepers field representative for the upper Midwest at that time, Steve Jenkins, was a Roman Catholic. A Promise Keepers Wake Up Call brochure distributed in San Louis Obispo, California, urged pastors, churches and their men to attend special rallies during March 1996, one of which was held at the St. Rose Catholic Church in Paso Robles. In 1997 Promise Keepers appointed a Roman Catholic, Mike Timmis, to its Board of Directors. One of the speakers at several of 1997 PK rallies was Roman Catholic “evangelist” Jim Berlucchi (“Making New Catholic Men?” Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10). In June 1997, Promise Keepers hosted a Catholic Summit at its headquarters in Denver, “sounding out Catholic volunteers and leaders from around the world” (Ibid.). In June 1997, Promise Keepers organized a Roman Catholic mass as part of its Rich Stadium conference in Buffalo, New York (The Humanist, Sept. 19, 1997). Following a luncheon with Bill McCartney in January 1998, Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver gave a “thumbs-up” to Catholic men who want to participate in Promise Keepers (The Catholic Register, quoted in Religious News Service, Jan. 19, 1998).
In 1999, Bill Gaither joined forces with dc Talk founder Toby McKeehan to “create a new modern worship music label, 40 Records” (CCM magazine, July 1999, p. 11). The goal is “to stretch the boundary of worship music” and to “give a youthful spirit to worship music for ANY DENOMINATION…”
Speaking of the new music company, Gaither said: “I view building bridges of understanding of different cultures and PHILOSOPHICAL POINTS OF VIEW as part of my calling. UNITY DOES NOT DEPEND ON OUR CONSENSUS OF OPINION, but on our unity in Christ.”
This is a false and dangerous statement. Biblical unity does depend on a consensus of opinion about doctrine. Ephesians 4:1-6, which speaks of Christian unity, says there is only “one faith” (verse 5). This refers to the body of truth delivered by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. Philippians 1:27 also speaks of Christian unity, and it demands “one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” That is not a description of modern ecumenism. Timothy was instructed to allow “no other doctrine” in the churches he was overseeing (1 Timothy 3:16). Paul taught the church at Rome that false doctrine is the basis for separation (Romans 16:17).
Like Gaither, McKeehan and dc Talk are unscripturally ecumenical and even accept Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ in spite of Rome’s false sacramental gospel, heresies pertaining to the papacy, Mary, the priesthood, etc. When Pope John Paul II visited the States in January 1999, dc Talk joined hands with hundreds of thousands of Catholics to welcome him. Featured at a Catholic youth rally connected with the Pope’s visit, were dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Rebecca St. James, Jennifer Knapp, The W’s, and the Supertones (CCM Magazine, April 1999, p. 12). dc Talk’s Kevin Max praised the Catholic youth for coming out to hear the Pope, describing John Paul II as “someone with something of substance to say” (Ibid.). Each attendee received a rosary with instructions about how to pray to Mary.
The Gaithers frequently perform and record songs which present an ecumenical philosophy. “SONGS THAT ANSWER QUESTIONS” from their Back Home in Indiana album has the following lyrics:
“Don’t want to spend my life a preachin’ sermons/ that give answers to the questions no one’s asking anywhere/ When there’s so much pain and hurting/ there’s no time to be searching/ for the needles in the haystacks that aren’t there/ I wanna spend my time a wearin’ myself out for Jesus/ with the news a cure’s been found to heal our land/ Stead of making lists, inventing creeds/ that aren’t concerned with people’s needs/ I’ll show ‘em how to touch the nail scarred hand/ Don’t wanna spend my time prayin’ prayers/ Bombarding heaven with requests to rain down fire on saints who care [unclear]/ In our methods we may differ, but if Christ the Lord we live for/ May we not forget the enemy is OUT THERE.”
This song contains half-truths and subtle errors, which are more dangerous than plain and obvious errors. While it is true that God’s people are to be concerned about suffering and are to be showing people how to “touch the nail scarred hand,” it is not true that preaching is to be limited merely to answering questions people have. The preacher is instructed to preach the whole counsel of God and the whole Word of God (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 4:1-2). The Bible warns that it is apostate people who will desire teachers who teach merely what they want to hear, what they feel a need for (2 Timothy 4:3-4). This sounds very much like what the Gaithers are singing about.
It is also not true that “a cure’s been found to heal our land.” The cure provided by the Gospel is the cure for personal salvation, not national salvation. The Apostles did not try to “heal the land,” they preached the Gospel and discipled believers.
It is also not true that it is wrong to “make lists” or “invent creeds” that aren’t concerned with people’s needs. The lists and creeds mentioned in this song refer to doctrinal studies and statements of faith. Doctrinal studies must, first of all, faithfully represent Bible truth, regardless of whether or not it meets “people’s needs.” Sound Bible doctrine does meet man’s deepest needs, of course, but that does not mean that Bible doctrine meets the felt needs of unsaved or carnal people. The unsaved or carnal man does not feel he has a need to be told he is a sinner or that he is has no righteousness before God or that he is to repent or that he is to die to self or that he is to separate from the world or that there is an eternal hell, etc., but sound Bible doctrine tells him all of these things. The unsaved crowd does not believe it needs any of the Bible, really!
This song encourages the hearers to despise doctrinal studies and research and teaching and statements of faith, which is the attitude typically found in the ecumenical movement.
It is also not true that the divisions among Christians are merely about differing methods or that differing methods are not important. Take baptism, for example. Some denominations “baptize” infants. That is their “method.” Some baptize only those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Some sprinkle; others immerse. These are differing methods, but they are not insignificant and cannot be ignored. It is also not true that the “enemy” is limited to things outside of the churches. The Bible warns of false teachers, false christs, false spirits, false gospels, deluding spirits, doctrines of devils--all of which will be found within churches and among professing Christians.
It is also not true that fundamentalists are praying for fire to fall on those with whom they disagree doctrinally. That is actually a vicious libel upon biblical fundamentalists who wish no harm upon anyone but who care deeply about the truth of God’s Word.
The unscriptural and very dangerous message of this song is put across by the effective means of a country-rock rhythm and repetition.
Another ecumenical song sung by the Gaithers is “JESUS BUILT THIS CHURCH ON LOVE” from their Back Home in Indiana album. The lead on the song is performed by Candy “Hemphill” Christmas, who travels with the Gaithers. The song is sung at many of the Gaither concerts. It is done in the style of a mid-tempo jazzy black spiritual with heavy drums and bass guitar.
“Do you ever just get to wonderin’/ ‘bout the way things are today?/ So many on board this gospel ship/ Trying to row in a different way/ If we’d all pull together/ Like a family me and you/ We’d come a lot closer to doin’/ what the Lord called us to do.
Chorus: “Jesus built this church on love/ and that’s what it’s all about/ Trying to get everybody saved/ not to keep anybody out...”
This song implies that the divisions within Christianity are largely if not entirely man-made and unnecessary, that if professing Christians would merely “pull together” and exercise love the divisions would be healed. It is a feel-good sentiment, a nice fairy tale which has wide appeal, but it is unreasonable and unscriptural. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles warned repeatedly that false teachers would lead many astray, that there would be false christs, false spirits, false gospels, false churches, doctrines of devils (Matt. 7:15-23; 24:3-5,11,24; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Cor. 1:1-4; Galatians 1; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:13; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2; 1 John 4:1; Jude; etc.). The book of Revelation predicts a one-world end-time harlot Christian religion (Rev. 17). Those who preach an ecumenical unity rarely even mention these Bible warnings and never focus on them. They do not tell us where these false christs, false gospels, false spirits, false teachers, and false churches are in Christianity today. They imply, rather, that the denominational divisions are largely unnecessary and petty which could be overcome by a little ecumenical love. There are many problems among Christians which can be healed through love, but it simply is not true that love will heal the major divisions within Christianity. The differences between denominations involve serious doctrinal issues which cannot be ignored and which cannot be solved through sentimental songs. This Gaither song also says the churches are “not to keep anybody out.” That is openly contrary to the Bible’s command to separate from error and to exercise church discipline (Rom. 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 2:16-21; 3:5; 2 John 8-11; Rev. 18:4).
Another ecumenical Gaither song is “LOVING GOD, LIVING EACH OTHER” from the album by that name.
“They pushed back from the table/ To listen to his words/ His secret plan before he had to go/ It’s not complicated/ Don’t need a lot of rules/ This is all you need to know/ We tend to make it harder/ Build steeples out of stone/ Fill books with explanations of the way/ But if we’d stop and listen/ And break a little bread/ We would hear the Master say/ It’s Loving God, loving each other/ Making music with my friends/ Loving God, loving each other/ And the story never ends.”
The song contains more half truths and subtle errors. Love is a very important part of the Christian life, but true Christian love is obeying God’s Word (John 14:23; 1 John 5:3). To say that we “don’t need a lot of rules” ignores the fact that the New Testament is literally filled with commandments! To say that we don’t need to “fill books with explanations of the way” ignores the fact that the Bible instructs us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). It ignores the fact that the Bible is given for “doctrine” (teaching) (2 Tim. 3:16) and that preachers are instructed to teach other men (2 Tim. 2:2), that older women are instructed to teach younger women (Titus 2:3-5), etc. Bible teaching certainly involves “filling books with explanations of the way.” That is precisely what the Apostles did in the Epistles. The Bible itself contains 66 books with explanations of the way! This Gaither song presents a sentimental, ecumenical approach to the Christian life and ministry which is simplistic and appealing to a modern crowd but which is patently contrary to the Scriptures. The unscriptural message of this song is put across by the very effective means of a driving country-rock rhythm and by means of repetition.
BILL GAITHER WARNS AGAINST JUDGING
In an interview with Kim Jones, a tattooed female rocker who writes a column for the Roman Catholic publication Holy Spirit Interactive, Bill Gaither said: “Finger pointing is never, I think, of God. Because I know that Scripture ‘judgment is mine, saith the Lord.’ When we get out of the judgment business and just get into the being business, the being what God wants us to be, it will take care of itself” (Holy Spirit Interactive, Dec. 6, 2004).
This level of biblical ignorance is frightening, especially when we consider the vast influence that Bill Gaither wields among churches in this generation.
First of all, the Bible nowhere says, “Judgment is mine, saith the Lord.” It says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). The believer is taught to give place unto wrath and to avoid avenging himself upon his enemies, because that is strictly God’s business.
On the other hand, though the believer is forbidden to judge hypocritically (Mat. 7:1-5) and forbidden to judge in matters in which the Bible is silent in this New Testament dispensation (Rom. 14:1-5; Col. 2:16), such as in diet and holy days, he is most definitely taught to judge many things by testing it with the Word of God and condemning it if it is in error. The believer is to judge sin in the church (1 Cor. 5:12). He is to judge preaching and teaching (1 Cor. 14:29; Acts 17:11). He is to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). As a matter of fact the Bible says that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1 Cor. 2:15). That is a very far-reaching statement. The spiritual man knows that he lives in a world of sin and spiritual darkness and error and he is warned repeatedly in the Bible about false teaching and apostasy and spiritual deception. Thus he carefully tests everything by the light of God’s Word. The spiritual man does not judge by his own thinking and opinion, but by the holy Word of God, which he has in the Scriptures.
CONCLUSION
The Gaithers represent the very heart and soul of Southern gospel music today. In recent years they have held “homecoming” specials which have brought together most of the well known Southern gospel groups. These include members of the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, the Cathedrals, the Goodman’s, the Speer Family, the Florida Boys, the Gatlin Brothers, and many others. Those who have attended these gatherings have put their stamp of approval upon the ecumenical-charismatic-rock music side of Southern gospel by not separating from those who are guilty of these things and by not lifting their voices to reprove them.
The Bible instructs us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). Revelation 18:4 warns God’s people to come out from among the apostasy of the last hours “that ye be not partakers of her sins.” COMPLICITY WITH DOCTRINAL AND SPIRITUAL ERROR MAKES ME A PARTAKER WITH THAT ERROR. 2 John warns that even to bid God speed to a false teacher makes me “partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 11). I realize this is a very hard line and one that is completely foreign to the thinking of this ecumenical-crazed age, but this is what the Word of God says.
I also realize that the Gaithers have produced some lovely sacred music in the past, but this is no excuse for disobedience to God’s Word. When the Gaithers greet 12,000 Roman Catholics, including many priests and nuns, as brethren in Christ, as they did at Indianapolis ’90, they are partakers of the evil deeds of Rome and God’s people should protest.
It is wrong to associate with those who walk in open disobedience to God’s Word and to support them with record sales and to bring their jazzed up music with its ecumenical philosophy into our churches and homes.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, a listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. Our goal in this particular aspect of our ministry is not devotional but is TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6). Some of these articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 23rd year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://www.wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org). We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but for those who are, OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org ]
Updated and enlarged May 5, 2006 (first published July 30, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Bill and Gloria Gaither are graduates of Anderson College, a Church of God school, and attend a Nazarene church. They have written some very popular and well-known gospel music, such as “He Touched Me,” “Thanks to Calvary,” and “There’s Something about That Name.” Since the early 1990s, the Gaither’s Homecoming CD and video series has dramatically increased the popularity of Southern Gospel music in this generation.
Sadly, the Gaithers have used their vast influence to promote the lie that music is neutral and thus to encourage the deep inroads that the world has made into Southern Gospel. They have also promoted the unscriptural ecumenical movement with its bogus “judge not” philosophy and its lack of concern about doctrinal purity.
MUSIC IS NEUTRAL
In the 1980s Gaither bought into contemporary Christian music’s foundational premise that “MUSIC IS NEUTRAL” and that any type of raunchy music can be used to glorify God.
During a concert tour in New England in 1986, Gaither admitted that he had changed his musical style due to the influence of the “world’s culture.” He said he believed there was a place for Christian rock, and he expressed his philosophy of music in these words: “God speaks through all different kinds of art forms and musical styles and musical forms” and the “format itself is not necessarily spiritual or non-spiritual” (FBF News Bulletin, March-April 1986, p. 3).
The following is an eyewitness description of the Gaither’s appearance at the Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis in 1980: “The Bill Gaither Trio entertained 15,000 Southern Baptists on Sunday evening with a musical program worldly enough to make any true believer weep. The music was so loud that some people left and others put their hands to their ears to block the intense amplification of the music” (Robert S. Reynolds, “Southern Baptists on the Downgrade: Report on the 1980 SBC Convention in St. Louis,” Foundation, Volume VI, Issue 1, 1985, p. 9).
The Gaithers have increasingly used rock rhythms in their music. During the disco craze in the late 1980s, the Gaither Trio recorded a disco album (Calvary Contender, August 15, 1989). The Gaithers have a song titled “Singin’ with the Saints” which is a boogie-woogie version of “He Keeps Me Singing.” This is confusion.
Bill Gaither has mentored many of the popular CCM artists, including Sandi Patty, Russ Taff, Michael English, Carman, and the members of Whiteheart (CCM Magazine, July 1998, p. 20).
For more about the neutrality of music, see “DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SACRED AND CONTEMPORARY STYLES OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC,” a DVD available from Way of Life Literature. This 90-minute presentation is professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and visuals are mixed into the presentation to illustrate the message. The message incorporates 55 clips of music to illustrate the points. The speaker is a musician who lived the rock & roll lifestyle before he was saved and who has studied this issue for more than three decades.
BILL GAITHER AND ROME: THE ECUMENICAL PHILOSOPHY
Bill Gaither has had an ecumenical philosophy from the beginning of his musical career. In his autobiography “It’s More Than the Music,” he states that one of the fringe benefits of playing their concerts in “neutral, nonchurch environments” was that people from “all church denominations” attended. “Before long, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, charismatics, Catholics, and Pentecostals were all praising the Lord together. Subtly, the walls between denominations began to crumble...” (p. 115).
Their hymnal “Hymns for the Family of God” was purposefully “nondenominational” and included devotional readings from a wide variety of Christians, including heretics such as Deitrich Bonhoeffer (one of the fathers of Neo-orthodoxy), Malcolm Muggeridge (a liberal Roman Catholic who did not believe in Christ’s Virgin Birth or bodily Resurrection), and Robert Schuller (who has wickedly redefined the gospel in terms of his humanistic self-esteem theology).
The Gaithers provided the music one evening at Indianapolis ‘90, a large ecumenical charismatic gathering I attended with press credentials. One-half of the 25,000 participants were Roman Catholics. A Catholic mass was held each morning during this conference, and Catholic priest Tom Forrest from Rome brought the closing message. Roughly 40 other denominations were present. The Gaithers were perfectly at home in this unscriptural gathering and entertained the mixed multitude with their jazzy music.
The Gaither Vocal Band performed at the Promise Keepers’ second major men’s conference in Boulder, Colorado, in 1994. Promise Keepers is radically ecumenical. In an interview with the Catholic publication Our Sunday Visitor, Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney said that full Catholic participation was his intention from the start. “Back in 1992, at our first stadium event, we very clearly stated from the podium that we eagerly welcomed the participation of Roman Catholics, and we’ve had scores of Roman Catholics attend and go back to their churches excited” (Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10). Roman Catholic paper The Tidings (March 31, 1995) stated that Promise Keepers is “being expanded to include Catholic congregations.” Catholics were encouraged to participate in Promise Keepers because “there is no doctrinal issue which should cause concern to the Catholic Church” and “there is no attempt at proselytizing or drawing men away from their [Catholic] faith to another church.” Catholic priest John Salazar spoke at a Promise Keepers meeting in Plainview, Texas, in December 1995 (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, December 3, 1995). The Promise Keepers field representative for the upper Midwest at that time, Steve Jenkins, was a Roman Catholic. A Promise Keepers Wake Up Call brochure distributed in San Louis Obispo, California, urged pastors, churches and their men to attend special rallies during March 1996, one of which was held at the St. Rose Catholic Church in Paso Robles. In 1997 Promise Keepers appointed a Roman Catholic, Mike Timmis, to its Board of Directors. One of the speakers at several of 1997 PK rallies was Roman Catholic “evangelist” Jim Berlucchi (“Making New Catholic Men?” Our Sunday Visitor, July 20, 1997, p. 10). In June 1997, Promise Keepers hosted a Catholic Summit at its headquarters in Denver, “sounding out Catholic volunteers and leaders from around the world” (Ibid.). In June 1997, Promise Keepers organized a Roman Catholic mass as part of its Rich Stadium conference in Buffalo, New York (The Humanist, Sept. 19, 1997). Following a luncheon with Bill McCartney in January 1998, Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver gave a “thumbs-up” to Catholic men who want to participate in Promise Keepers (The Catholic Register, quoted in Religious News Service, Jan. 19, 1998).
In 1999, Bill Gaither joined forces with dc Talk founder Toby McKeehan to “create a new modern worship music label, 40 Records” (CCM magazine, July 1999, p. 11). The goal is “to stretch the boundary of worship music” and to “give a youthful spirit to worship music for ANY DENOMINATION…”
Speaking of the new music company, Gaither said: “I view building bridges of understanding of different cultures and PHILOSOPHICAL POINTS OF VIEW as part of my calling. UNITY DOES NOT DEPEND ON OUR CONSENSUS OF OPINION, but on our unity in Christ.”
This is a false and dangerous statement. Biblical unity does depend on a consensus of opinion about doctrine. Ephesians 4:1-6, which speaks of Christian unity, says there is only “one faith” (verse 5). This refers to the body of truth delivered by the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and recorded in the New Testament Scriptures. Philippians 1:27 also speaks of Christian unity, and it demands “one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” That is not a description of modern ecumenism. Timothy was instructed to allow “no other doctrine” in the churches he was overseeing (1 Timothy 3:16). Paul taught the church at Rome that false doctrine is the basis for separation (Romans 16:17).
Like Gaither, McKeehan and dc Talk are unscripturally ecumenical and even accept Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ in spite of Rome’s false sacramental gospel, heresies pertaining to the papacy, Mary, the priesthood, etc. When Pope John Paul II visited the States in January 1999, dc Talk joined hands with hundreds of thousands of Catholics to welcome him. Featured at a Catholic youth rally connected with the Pope’s visit, were dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Rebecca St. James, Jennifer Knapp, The W’s, and the Supertones (CCM Magazine, April 1999, p. 12). dc Talk’s Kevin Max praised the Catholic youth for coming out to hear the Pope, describing John Paul II as “someone with something of substance to say” (Ibid.). Each attendee received a rosary with instructions about how to pray to Mary.
The Gaithers frequently perform and record songs which present an ecumenical philosophy. “SONGS THAT ANSWER QUESTIONS” from their Back Home in Indiana album has the following lyrics:
“Don’t want to spend my life a preachin’ sermons/ that give answers to the questions no one’s asking anywhere/ When there’s so much pain and hurting/ there’s no time to be searching/ for the needles in the haystacks that aren’t there/ I wanna spend my time a wearin’ myself out for Jesus/ with the news a cure’s been found to heal our land/ Stead of making lists, inventing creeds/ that aren’t concerned with people’s needs/ I’ll show ‘em how to touch the nail scarred hand/ Don’t wanna spend my time prayin’ prayers/ Bombarding heaven with requests to rain down fire on saints who care [unclear]/ In our methods we may differ, but if Christ the Lord we live for/ May we not forget the enemy is OUT THERE.”
This song contains half-truths and subtle errors, which are more dangerous than plain and obvious errors. While it is true that God’s people are to be concerned about suffering and are to be showing people how to “touch the nail scarred hand,” it is not true that preaching is to be limited merely to answering questions people have. The preacher is instructed to preach the whole counsel of God and the whole Word of God (Acts 20:27; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 4:1-2). The Bible warns that it is apostate people who will desire teachers who teach merely what they want to hear, what they feel a need for (2 Timothy 4:3-4). This sounds very much like what the Gaithers are singing about.
It is also not true that “a cure’s been found to heal our land.” The cure provided by the Gospel is the cure for personal salvation, not national salvation. The Apostles did not try to “heal the land,” they preached the Gospel and discipled believers.
It is also not true that it is wrong to “make lists” or “invent creeds” that aren’t concerned with people’s needs. The lists and creeds mentioned in this song refer to doctrinal studies and statements of faith. Doctrinal studies must, first of all, faithfully represent Bible truth, regardless of whether or not it meets “people’s needs.” Sound Bible doctrine does meet man’s deepest needs, of course, but that does not mean that Bible doctrine meets the felt needs of unsaved or carnal people. The unsaved or carnal man does not feel he has a need to be told he is a sinner or that he is has no righteousness before God or that he is to repent or that he is to die to self or that he is to separate from the world or that there is an eternal hell, etc., but sound Bible doctrine tells him all of these things. The unsaved crowd does not believe it needs any of the Bible, really!
This song encourages the hearers to despise doctrinal studies and research and teaching and statements of faith, which is the attitude typically found in the ecumenical movement.
It is also not true that the divisions among Christians are merely about differing methods or that differing methods are not important. Take baptism, for example. Some denominations “baptize” infants. That is their “method.” Some baptize only those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Some sprinkle; others immerse. These are differing methods, but they are not insignificant and cannot be ignored. It is also not true that the “enemy” is limited to things outside of the churches. The Bible warns of false teachers, false christs, false spirits, false gospels, deluding spirits, doctrines of devils--all of which will be found within churches and among professing Christians.
It is also not true that fundamentalists are praying for fire to fall on those with whom they disagree doctrinally. That is actually a vicious libel upon biblical fundamentalists who wish no harm upon anyone but who care deeply about the truth of God’s Word.
The unscriptural and very dangerous message of this song is put across by the effective means of a country-rock rhythm and repetition.
Another ecumenical song sung by the Gaithers is “JESUS BUILT THIS CHURCH ON LOVE” from their Back Home in Indiana album. The lead on the song is performed by Candy “Hemphill” Christmas, who travels with the Gaithers. The song is sung at many of the Gaither concerts. It is done in the style of a mid-tempo jazzy black spiritual with heavy drums and bass guitar.
“Do you ever just get to wonderin’/ ‘bout the way things are today?/ So many on board this gospel ship/ Trying to row in a different way/ If we’d all pull together/ Like a family me and you/ We’d come a lot closer to doin’/ what the Lord called us to do.
Chorus: “Jesus built this church on love/ and that’s what it’s all about/ Trying to get everybody saved/ not to keep anybody out...”
This song implies that the divisions within Christianity are largely if not entirely man-made and unnecessary, that if professing Christians would merely “pull together” and exercise love the divisions would be healed. It is a feel-good sentiment, a nice fairy tale which has wide appeal, but it is unreasonable and unscriptural. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles warned repeatedly that false teachers would lead many astray, that there would be false christs, false spirits, false gospels, false churches, doctrines of devils (Matt. 7:15-23; 24:3-5,11,24; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Cor. 1:1-4; Galatians 1; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:13; 4:3-4; 2 Pet. 2; 1 John 4:1; Jude; etc.). The book of Revelation predicts a one-world end-time harlot Christian religion (Rev. 17). Those who preach an ecumenical unity rarely even mention these Bible warnings and never focus on them. They do not tell us where these false christs, false gospels, false spirits, false teachers, and false churches are in Christianity today. They imply, rather, that the denominational divisions are largely unnecessary and petty which could be overcome by a little ecumenical love. There are many problems among Christians which can be healed through love, but it simply is not true that love will heal the major divisions within Christianity. The differences between denominations involve serious doctrinal issues which cannot be ignored and which cannot be solved through sentimental songs. This Gaither song also says the churches are “not to keep anybody out.” That is openly contrary to the Bible’s command to separate from error and to exercise church discipline (Rom. 16:17; 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 2:16-21; 3:5; 2 John 8-11; Rev. 18:4).
Another ecumenical Gaither song is “LOVING GOD, LIVING EACH OTHER” from the album by that name.
“They pushed back from the table/ To listen to his words/ His secret plan before he had to go/ It’s not complicated/ Don’t need a lot of rules/ This is all you need to know/ We tend to make it harder/ Build steeples out of stone/ Fill books with explanations of the way/ But if we’d stop and listen/ And break a little bread/ We would hear the Master say/ It’s Loving God, loving each other/ Making music with my friends/ Loving God, loving each other/ And the story never ends.”
The song contains more half truths and subtle errors. Love is a very important part of the Christian life, but true Christian love is obeying God’s Word (John 14:23; 1 John 5:3). To say that we “don’t need a lot of rules” ignores the fact that the New Testament is literally filled with commandments! To say that we don’t need to “fill books with explanations of the way” ignores the fact that the Bible instructs us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). It ignores the fact that the Bible is given for “doctrine” (teaching) (2 Tim. 3:16) and that preachers are instructed to teach other men (2 Tim. 2:2), that older women are instructed to teach younger women (Titus 2:3-5), etc. Bible teaching certainly involves “filling books with explanations of the way.” That is precisely what the Apostles did in the Epistles. The Bible itself contains 66 books with explanations of the way! This Gaither song presents a sentimental, ecumenical approach to the Christian life and ministry which is simplistic and appealing to a modern crowd but which is patently contrary to the Scriptures. The unscriptural message of this song is put across by the very effective means of a driving country-rock rhythm and by means of repetition.
BILL GAITHER WARNS AGAINST JUDGING
In an interview with Kim Jones, a tattooed female rocker who writes a column for the Roman Catholic publication Holy Spirit Interactive, Bill Gaither said: “Finger pointing is never, I think, of God. Because I know that Scripture ‘judgment is mine, saith the Lord.’ When we get out of the judgment business and just get into the being business, the being what God wants us to be, it will take care of itself” (Holy Spirit Interactive, Dec. 6, 2004).
This level of biblical ignorance is frightening, especially when we consider the vast influence that Bill Gaither wields among churches in this generation.
First of all, the Bible nowhere says, “Judgment is mine, saith the Lord.” It says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). The believer is taught to give place unto wrath and to avoid avenging himself upon his enemies, because that is strictly God’s business.
On the other hand, though the believer is forbidden to judge hypocritically (Mat. 7:1-5) and forbidden to judge in matters in which the Bible is silent in this New Testament dispensation (Rom. 14:1-5; Col. 2:16), such as in diet and holy days, he is most definitely taught to judge many things by testing it with the Word of God and condemning it if it is in error. The believer is to judge sin in the church (1 Cor. 5:12). He is to judge preaching and teaching (1 Cor. 14:29; Acts 17:11). He is to reprove the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). As a matter of fact the Bible says that “he that is spiritual judgeth all things” (1 Cor. 2:15). That is a very far-reaching statement. The spiritual man knows that he lives in a world of sin and spiritual darkness and error and he is warned repeatedly in the Bible about false teaching and apostasy and spiritual deception. Thus he carefully tests everything by the light of God’s Word. The spiritual man does not judge by his own thinking and opinion, but by the holy Word of God, which he has in the Scriptures.
CONCLUSION
The Gaithers represent the very heart and soul of Southern gospel music today. In recent years they have held “homecoming” specials which have brought together most of the well known Southern gospel groups. These include members of the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, the Cathedrals, the Goodman’s, the Speer Family, the Florida Boys, the Gatlin Brothers, and many others. Those who have attended these gatherings have put their stamp of approval upon the ecumenical-charismatic-rock music side of Southern gospel by not separating from those who are guilty of these things and by not lifting their voices to reprove them.
The Bible instructs us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). Revelation 18:4 warns God’s people to come out from among the apostasy of the last hours “that ye be not partakers of her sins.” COMPLICITY WITH DOCTRINAL AND SPIRITUAL ERROR MAKES ME A PARTAKER WITH THAT ERROR. 2 John warns that even to bid God speed to a false teacher makes me “partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John 11). I realize this is a very hard line and one that is completely foreign to the thinking of this ecumenical-crazed age, but this is what the Word of God says.
I also realize that the Gaithers have produced some lovely sacred music in the past, but this is no excuse for disobedience to God’s Word. When the Gaithers greet 12,000 Roman Catholics, including many priests and nuns, as brethren in Christ, as they did at Indianapolis ’90, they are partakers of the evil deeds of Rome and God’s people should protest.
It is wrong to associate with those who walk in open disobedience to God’s Word and to support them with record sales and to bring their jazzed up music with its ecumenical philosophy into our churches and homes.
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