The Corruption of Music - Part 4

In this post I want to begin to turn the corner toward Christian music and music in Church.

Before we do however I want to give you some additional material that has been contributed by a reader. It relates directly to the material we discussed last week and one of the five themes that appear in much popular secular music. It is another recent scientific study and comes from Science Daily. Let me share with you the first paragraph.

“Songs with violent lyrics increase aggression related thoughts and emotions and this effect is directly related to the violence in the lyrics, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association (APA). The findings, appearing in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, contradicts popular notions of positive catharsis or venting effects of listening to angry, violent music on violent thoughts and feelings.”

You can read more by clicking on the above link.

This time we are going to look at some other dangerous elements that are often found in secular music.

A False Christian Profession or a Compromised Message.

Unfortunately one of the most sinister deceptions that Satan plays on unsuspecting and well meaning Christians is using unbelievers to sing songs with Christian content and drawing them into their music on a false pretense. Many Christians also use the supposed Christian segments by some secular artists as an excuse for listening to all of their music. Country music has done this for years. One of my great frustrations has been country singers whose music talks about drinking, fighting and having illicit sex, and then they do their “tribute to gospel music.” How does that glorify God?

The truth is that it does not. As a matter of fact, it is more dangerous than the other music because it communicates a message that says, "I can live anyway I want to and it's alright with God, especially if I tip my hat to Him now and then. You wouldn't hire a pastor who works part time in a bar, or have drug dealer preach? Why would you listen to Christian music performed by an unbeliever or one who professes to be a Christian, but whose lifestyle demonstrates otherwise?

But it's not only country.

Today even some of the pop, and rock-n-roll groups are doing the same thing and believers must be very careful. Again these illustrations may be as much as ten years old but they are never the less accurate and demonstrate the point.

On the liner notes of Stone Temple Pilot's "Core" CD the alternative rock band states, "[We] would like to thank: God [and] Jesus Christ...." The same disc includes "Sex-Type Thing," a song defending rape.

Numerous R&B artists, from R. Kelly to P. Diddy both who have made God central to their statements at the Grammy Awards, also mix spirituality with sexuality.

Usher says in the notes of the "My Way" disc, "First and foremost I would like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing me to complete my second album". What's on the album? Perverse sexuality, infidelity, and the glorification of cocaine.

Boyz II Men the famous R&B/Hip-hop vocal group sing a song called "Dear God" in which the value of eternal things is set over the worldly and thanks the father for his love, grace, and the atoning death of Christ." Then they sing "I'll Make Love to You” which is one long sexual come-on. And "50 Candles" describes a feverish sexual encounter in progress.

Salt -n-Pepa a female rap trio in "The Clock is Tickin" preach about putting God first and honoring our mothers. Yet in the very same album they use crude sexual slang, promote sodomy, adultery, and even drinking and driving.

Finally care must even be taken when listening to individuals and groups who clearly claim to be Christian and performing Christian music. There are at least 6 things you need to look at in those "Christian artists".

A. Style - Can you hear the lyrics? If you listen to music that is supposed to be Christian but you can't understand the words because of the style or the volume, then it is impossible for God to be glorified.

B. Stage Performance and dress - This is related to the first point. How do they behave on stage? How do they appear? There are and have been some bands who claim to be Christian but dress in ways that detract from the message they preach. It doesn't matter what their lyrics say if they are communicating something else by their performance or appearance.

I have seen and listened to “Christian bands”, who sang Christian lyrics, but in seeing them perform there was no discernable difference from any secular rock band. I took a group of youth several years ago to see a group called The News Boys. I had heard their music on the radio and recording and their lyrics were good, but we walked out of the concert in the middle of third song because their stage presentation totally destroyed their message.

If they look like a secular group, and sound like a secular group, and act like a secular group, how are they bringing glory to God? Remember that's the whole reason God created music.

I know many will use the justification that they are trying to reach the culture and win the lost. But I would submit to you that God did not create music as an evangelistic tool. God created music to enhance the worship of God by believers. I will ask this question again when we begin to talk about “Church Music”, but where in the Bible are we ever instructed to use music to reach the lost? The answer is, nowhere. Let me also make an observation that I will repeat later. As believers we are to encounter the culture, not embrace the culture. That is a very important distinction that is being ignored and ridiculed by many who claim to preach the gospel in this age. When we embrace the culture by becoming like it, we sin. James makes that abundantly clear. “You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4

C. Personal Lifestyle - Stay current on what's going on in the private lives of artists. If they are not living a consistent, godly life off stage then why should we listen to what they sing on stage? If a pastor went out drinking, and womanizing and then stood in the pulpit to preach, it would not be tolerated it. Why then would we accept that kind of lifestyle in those who minister through music?

The apostle Paul says in I Cor. 5:11 "But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler."

D. Clear Communication of the Gospel - I don't think much of so-called Crossover artists. Crossover music is when a Christian artist starts producing songs that secular stations will play. Unfortunately usually there must be a compromise because secular stations won't play their music if there is openly Christian content. So they sing songs, with supposed hidden meanings and veiled references to God. Many "Crossover artists claim that they are doing it to reach a wider audience. I've always been just a little suspicious that they are doing it to make more money. (We’ll talk about that justification more later.)

Amy Grant who was the queen of Contemporary Christian music for several years and her husband Gary Chapman both started singing Crossover music and it wasn't long until more than their music crossed over. In 1999, Amy divorced Gary and one year later married Vince Gill, a country singer we've already talked about who was also recently divorced.

If there is not a clear message of the cross of Christ or of biblical principles communicated in the music of a professing Christian music artist turn them off. You don't need to hear it.

E. Theological Accuracy - Closely related to the last point is that Christian music should be theologically sound. Again we will discuss this more later but it needs to me mentioned here that much of the music that is played by Contemporary Christian musicians and singers, if it is theologically accurate at all, is shallow and without substance. There are many reasons for that. Often it is because the music is being presented either by unbelievers, (I’ll explain that in more detail in the next point.) or immature believers who don’t understand the truths of scripture beyond what it means to be “saved”, and many don’t even understand the extent of their salvation. The salvation of modern Christian music is man-centered and the songs are often all about how God wants to make you happy and give you things and fulfill your deepest needs. Unfortunately it reflects much of the contemporary preaching which is also, in many cases, shallow and without substance. I have said for years that the reason in many churches the pews are shallow is because there is no depth in the pulpit. It is no wonder that the music to which Christians listen is without theological depth. Again, this will be addressed in more detail later.

F. Motivation - What is the motivation of those who present the music to which you listen? You may wonder why until now I have used the word “present” instead of “perform”? Ministry ought never to be a performance. Once again, when we come to the place of dealing with “church music”, I will address this again. Is the music you listen to presented or performed. Ministers are not to be performers. Performers entertain. Ministers serve. Performers entertain for acclaim, for reward, for people. Ministers serve out of humility, without thought of reward, for Christ.

A few years ago I contacted several well-known bands for the purpose of trying to book one or two for a special event. One of the distasteful things that I encountered was the demands made by these “servants of Christ” when they come minister through music. Some of those demands included thermostat settings in their hotel rooms, peanut butter sandwiches cut in squares and other kinds of junk food place in the room before their arrival.

At another place, after a group had already arrived at an event, I learned that they had demanded a certain brand of bottled water be placed in the refrigerator as a condition for their participation. I have since discovered that these demands are fairly typical of “Christian” musical groups, especially those who are popular.

I’m sorry but where is the servant spirit? Very often it is not present. And one reason is again, because many of those who “perform” Christian music are either not saved or are immature. It is not by chance that the apostle Paul writes in 1 Tim. 3:6 about one called as a minister, that he be “not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.” Many who entertain and perform Christian music are motivated by pride.

Over the last few years I have greatly limited the music I listen to for all of the aforementioned reasons. But there is another. I don’t listen to music by people who accept awards for their music. As a matter of fact I usually prefer the ones who refuse to even show up at the awards programs. That tells you where their heart really is. I won’t mention names of those in this category. I’ll let you do the research. But as I mentioned before, we do not serve our Lord for earthly rewards. I’ve always wondered what the reaction would be if someone started a national awards program for preachers. I can imagine that the criticism would be intense, and rightly so. Yet how Christians glorify the so-called Christian musicians and singers who proudly display their earthly rewards. Jesus was pretty clear in Matthew 5-7 when he talks about those who serve in order to be seen by men. He says that those awards will be the only ones they receive. We forfeit our rewards in heaven if acclamation in this life is what we seek.

Related to this, there is one last thing I would caution you about. Many of the contemporary Christian music labels are no longer owned and operated by Christians. In the last twenty years, contemporary Christian music has become so popular that it has in many cases ceased to be ministry and has become big business. One of the things that means is that, as I mentioned earlier, some “Christian” bands or performers are not even Christians. “Christian” lyrics are not always written by Christians which is another reason the theology is suspect. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul explains that unbelievers don’t understand spiritual things. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

It is imperative that before you listen to Christian music, you do some research and find out who is really honoring God through their music and who is producing music to be rewarded, and to become rich.

I was recently given an article by a very popular singer of Christian music from the 1970s 80s and 90s. Steve Camp is one of the musicians that admire because he humbly and openly confesses the immaturity and errors of his early career and the Grace of God that changed him. He writes, “Early in my own musical journey I wrote songs that neither represented good music or precise theology. My motives were vitiated; my actions were not godly; and my lips were unclean. The thirst for prominence and position made my heart prideful, judgmental and calloused.”

In the introduction to this article which is called, THE 107 THESES Reclaiming a Reverence for God in Ministry, Steve Camp writes, “Is there justified concern that Contemporary Christian Music has abandoned its original calling from the Lord, left the Biblical standard for ministry and has failed to remain accountable to the local church? I believe it so. Beloved, it's time to "sound the alarm on the holy hill" for we are calamitously on "the downgrade" in the Contemporary Christian Music Industry (CCMI).” I strongly advise you to read the rest of this article by clicking on the link above in this paragraph