Confessions of a Reformed Pragmatist – Part 5

In my last post, (which I’m sorry to say was almost 3 weeks ago), I began addressing the motivation for forcing upon a congregation, a single style of music when indeed there are a variety of tastes and musical traditions represented in the church. We had already observed that using a certain style of music over another for the sake of evangelizing the culture is neither necessary nor biblical, therefore, the motivation must be something else and I suggested two alternate motivations. The first is simply selfishness, and we not only discussed that motivation but also demonstrated it with personal testimonies. It is often simply the kind of music that is preferred by those in charge and so it is thrust upon the whole congregation.

Next I mentioned a second impetus for forcing an exclusive style of music upon a congregation that we did not have time to develop. That is Idolatry. Now you might ask, “How can that be? How can we sing about God and be guilty of idolatry?” Simply stated, because in a sense, music has become the god of the contemporary Church. In some contemporary churches, often times without even realizing it, music has become supreme. People no longer worship God through music; instead they use God as an excuse to worship music. They go to church because of the music. They can't seem to live without music.

In his series, Living In The Spirit, MacArthur observes about music and the culture, “People in our society can't make it from their house to their car to get the radio on. And from their car back to their house to get the stereo on. The music plays at work, the music plays at the factory, it plays at the shop, it plays at the half time of the football game, music plays constantly.” Now I want you to pay close attention to this next statement because it is very telling. “People don't want to face life without the music because the music plants the thoughts in their minds, the words in their minds to keep them from thinking about the stuff that matters”

The same has become true of the modern church. Many in today’s version of the Church reject the preaching of the Word and the teaching of doctrine. Instead they want their ears to be tickled with a short story about felt needs or to be distracted by jokes and entertainment, and to spend the rest of their time in church repeatedly chanting the lyrics to a melody that teaches them nothing but simply makes them feel good.

In many churches the keyboard has replaced the pulpit. The pulpit represents the proclamation of truth, the preaching of the Word of God, which is to be the focus of the New Testament Church. We are told to sing 8 times in the New Testament. Preaching is prescribed 81 times. Here are just a few.

(Acts 10:42 NIV) He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

(1 Cor 1:17 NIV) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

(1 Cor 9:16 NIV) Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

(1 Cor 9:17 NIV) If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.

(2 Tim 4:2 NIV) Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.

(Acts 18:5 NIV) When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

(Rom 10:14 NIV) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

(1 Tim 4:13 NIV) Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

(1 Tim 5:17 NIV) The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

(Titus 1:3 NIV) and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,

(1 Cor 1:18 KJV) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

(1 Cor 1:21 KJV) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The apostles were never commanded to nor did they ever go from town to town, house to house, country to country singing the gospel. They went about preaching. Over and over again, we are commanded to preach. Timothy a young pastor is commanded to preach. Preaching is to be the central activity of the Church service. Yet in many churches today, preaching has been or is being replaced by other things, most notably music.

It is interesting that in recent years, music has come to be identified as the “worship” portion of the service. Let me remind you that in scripture, music is not only never defined as worship, the words “music”, and “worship” are never even used in the same verse. Certainly music contributes to worship, but the contemporary church as placed music in a position of reverence that it is never given in the Word of God.

One of the mistakes that the modern church has made and one that I believe the evil one has instigated, is that music and worship have become mutually exclusive, directed toward different ends. There are two parts to a “worship service.” (Certainly there are other elements, Bible reading, prayer, etc., but they lead to these two ends.) The first is giving praise and honor to God. “Worship” means literally to recognize and acknowledge the worthiness, the “worth-ship” if you will, of God and in doing so to honor and glorify him. The second aspect of a worship service is to equip the body of Christ to do the work of ministry. Ephesians 4:11-13 “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Regrettably what the modern church has done has been to designate the preaching and the music, each to accomplish one of those tasks but not the other. Preaching is to equip, (And in many contemporary churches that’s not even true anymore, as preaching as come to be more about feeling than communicating truth.), and music is for worship. But this is not an accurate picture of what a biblical church service is to be. Both the music and the preaching are to involve worship and equipping.

The Bible never calls a music director the “Worship Leader”. Technically, the pastor is the worship leader, and biblically, the preaching of the Word, lends more to genuine cooperate worship than music. Martin Luther said, "To be sure, it is true that the foremost and highest worship of God is preaching and hearing God's Word…” Informing our understanding of God's decrees and doctrine brings us into His presence and enables us to worships rightly and biblically. The dearth of teaching is one of the reasons the church is involved in so many unacceptable and unbiblical forms of worship in the first place. If we are not taught correctly we can not worship correctly.

There are several reasons beyond the music why I object to hymns being removed from the Church, and one of them is that hymns, good hymns, teach doctrine. Many of the great old hymns were written not by musicians but by theologians and they contain and communicate biblical truth. Remember what we said earlier about the ability of song to communicate powerful musically driven messages? That is true with regard to hymns as well. What preacher has not used the lyrics to a hymn to drive home a theological point and the reason he does, is because the congregation, (if they’ve been taught hymns), will immediately recall the words, the melody and the truth. I fear that this generation of Christians is going to lose completely that powerful medium of proclamation, because of the influx of contemporary music in the church. Not to mention they are going to lose touch with the wonderful heritage we have as Christians.

Most believers are taught nothing of Church history and know little about Christianity other than what exists in the world today, and many don’t know what’s going on in Christendom beyond their immediate circle. Who was Martin Luther? Not only was he the father of Protestantism, He wrote some of the great hymns of the faith and he restored congregational singing to church after the Catholic Church had removed it for 1200 years. (He also played the guitar.) Who were John Wesley and Charles Wesley? John Wesley was the founder of Methodism, a prolific preacher and theologian, and his brother Charles wrote hundreds of hymns that are not only beautiful compositions but also teach powerful biblical truths. Look at the words of just one of Wesley’s hymns and name a contemporary song that even approaches the majesty and might of this theological masterpiece.

1.And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood! Died he for me? who caused his pain! For me? who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2.'Tis mystery all: th' Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; let angel minds inquire no more. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; let angel minds inquire no more.

3.He left his Father's throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!), emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me! 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!

4.Long my imprisoned sprit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night; thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

5.No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine; alive in him, my living Head,and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach th' eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own. Bold I approach th' eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

So here’s another problem I have with the contemporary only philosophy that has taken over many churches. It is the dumbing down of the Church. Not only will many contemporary Christians never know who Charles Wesley was, but will never be exposed to the powerful, godly, music that flowed from his pen and blessed the Church for generations. Both music and preaching should teach us the great truths of scripture, and bring us into the presence of God that we may worship.

Confessions of a Reformed Pragmatist – Part 4

In my last two posts I pointed out that many churches are reaching the contemporary culture, (Some of them in large numbers.), without embracing it, two of which I mentioned by name. It must be therefore, that the use of pragmatic methods including contemporary music, are not as we are often told, necessary to reach the postmodern or emerging generations for Christ. I would like to take that premise a step further in this post and say that the use of music as an instrument of evangelism, is not only unnecessary, it is unbiblical. I alluded to this earlier when discussing contemporary music groups.

Now in the New Testament we are given instruction for how we are to use music in the Church. In Ephesians 5:19 and Col. 3:16 the apostle Paul gives us similar instructions. He tells us to “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,” To whom was Paul speaking? He was addressing believers, the Churches, not unbelievers and he instructed Christians to sing first “to one another” and second, to “the Lord”

In a sermon series out of Ephesians chapter 5 called, "Living In The Spirit" Dr. John MacArthur said, “If anything ought to be different in the Christian life it should be the music. Music is the expression of the soul so if we are redeemed our songs should reflect that. Redemption gives us a ‘New Song’”

Let me give you some of the verses that describe the song of the redeemed.

Psalm 33:1-3 "Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten‑stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy."

Psalm 40:3 "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD."

Psalm 96:1 "Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth."

Psalm 98:1 "Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him."

Psalm 144:9 “I will sing a new song to you, O God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you,”

Psalm 149:1 “Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.”

Isa. 42:10 "Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who live in them."

Rev. 5:6-9 "Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty‑four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

A "New Song" in Scripture is always connected with redemption. It is always the song of salvation. In his commentary on Ephesians 5, MacArthur says, “One of the greatest distinctions of Christianity should be in its music. Because the music God gives is not the music of the world… God gives His new creatures a new song, a different song, a distinctive song, a purer song, and a more beautiful song than anything the world can produce.”

I want to stop there for just a moment and say, that really based on those texts of scripture there really shouldn’t be any question about whether or not we should use the music of the culture in the church. It’s pretty clear that our music is supposed to be different. We are not supposed to be like the culture. II Cor. 6:14-18 “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Why is this even a question? Why is this even an issue? We are clearly to separate ourselves from the world, and over and over again that is applied to music as we are told that our hearts are no longer to sing the kind of music that we sang as pagans. But we are to sing a new song, and I believe that means more than just the lyrics. That will, I believe become obvious as we continue this study. MacArthur continues.

“The primary audience for our singing is to be fellow believers, “one another”. Throughout Scripture the singing of God’s people is shown to be within the fellowship of believers. No music in the Bible is ever characterized as being or intended to be evangelistic. God may use the gospel content set to music to bring the truth to the lost and thus lead them to Himself. Since the message is so powerful, the open heart may receive it even though it comes with a melody. But that is not the intent for music, and when emotions are played on without a clear or complete presentation of God’s truth to the mind, such music can be counterproductive by producing a feeling of well-being and contentment that is a counterfeit of God’s peace and that serves to further insulate an unbeliever from the saving gospel.

It should be noted that the many contemporary entertainers who think they are using their rock-style music to evangelize the lost are often doing nothing more than contributing to the weakening of the church. Evangelizing with contemporary music has many serious flaws. It tends to create pride in the musicians rather than humility. It makes the gospel a matter of entertainment when there is not one thing in it that is at all entertaining. It makes the public proclaimers of Christianity those who are popular and talented in the world’s eyes, rather than those who are Godly gifted teachers of God’s truth. In using the world’s genres of music, it blurs the gap between worldly satanic values and divine ones. It tends to deny the power of the simple gospel and the sovereign saving work of the Holy Spirit. It creates a wide generation gap in the church, thus contributing to the disunity and lack of intimacy in the fellowship of all believers. It leads to the propagation of bad or weak theology and drags the name of the Lord down to the level of the world.”

Now there are several issues in that quote that I want to talk about. Most of them we will save until next time but I do want to finish something here that I started in the last post. I said that “evangelism is simply an excuse, a smoke screen, for an ulterior and far less honorable motive, for the insistence in many modern churches that contemporary music be used almost exclusively.”

First, let me say that many Pastors are like I was a few years ago. They have been led to believe that their worth as a pastor is somehow tied to the size of their church and that if the church is not experiencing radical growth, there must be something wrong with them or their ministry. This “success syndrome”, as some have called it, has done great harm to the ministry and the church and is something I hope to deal with in more detail in the future. As a result of this pressure to produce, pastors often find themselves grasping at any new trend that comes along, hoping it will generate numbers - excuse me, “souls”.

There are some, however, who bring this kind of music into the church and make it the exclusive or primary style of music used in their services, sometimes even to the total exclusion even of the piano and organ, and they do it with their eyes wide open. They know full well that contemporary music is no more effective than other styles of music, and yet they force it upon their congregation. So what is their motivation? Well it has to be one of two possibilities. It is either selfishness or idolatry.

Now you might say, “Wait a minute B.J., that’s a pretty heavy accusation”. Yes it is. But what other choices are there? If only one style is used and yet the church has a wide range of age groups with differing traditions regarding Church music, there is a very real and serious problem. (This would apply also to Churches who have members that like a more contemporary style and are forced to endure only traditional hymns to the total exclusion of anything else.) Having served as teacher of a class of senior members in the church I attend, I can attest that they as a whole feel as though they have been abandoned by the Church with regard to music. Sometimes they are willing to go along with if because they have been told it is “for the good of the church”, but they are very disappointed and disillusioned.

What kind of motivation would allow that to happen? Selfishness. Sad to say the reason the shift to contemporary music is made in many churches, is simply because it’s the kind of music that those in charge like and so it is forced upon the entire body. I’ve seen it happen. (To my shame, I’ve done it!) I’ve seen prospective pastors rejected because he questioned “our kind of music”. Dan Lucarini, a musician, "worship leader", and former proponent of contemporary Christian music said in his book, Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement, “the real motive for adopting CCM for praise and worship was not as we were often told, to evangelize those from outside the church, but was rooted in a need to satisfy our own desire for our favorite music.” It is certainly not done out of love for the Body of Christ.

Clayton Erb, Minister of Music, and Bill Brandenstein, Assistant Minister of Music, at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California, (The Church pastored by John MacAthur), in a session called Psalms, Hymns, And Spiritual Songs And the Changing Sound of Corporate Worship, at a pastor’s conference held annually at that church made the following comments. “It seems that few pastors who force or allow a wholesale shift to contemporary music love their flock enough to make sure that they won’t drive out some of the saints. How many true saints are expendable because of a change in music style?”

Lucarini said, “I would like to point out that that there have been ‘victims’ of our self-centered, callous attitude. Our adoption of CCM for the church service has alienated, hurt and even chased away some of our precious elder Christians and other committed believers.”

MacArthur, in his book, Ashamed of the Gospel said, “The obvious fallout of this pre-occupation with the unchurched is a corresponding de-emphasis on those who are the true church. The spiritual needs of believers are often neglected to the hurt of the body”.

Now what about the motivation for a total transition to contemporary music being idolatry? We’ll pick up there in my next post.

Confessions of a Reformed Pragmatist – Part 3

In my last post I began dealing with the pragmatic approach to ministry. Pragmatism is a philosophy based on the idea that whatever it takes to accomplish a goal is right. In the modern church, what is right seems to be whatever draws a crowd. Whatever it takes to get people to come to church is deemed acceptable even if it is unbiblical. Of course great liberties are taken with the text of scripture to get it to say what the pragmatist wants it to say in order to support his premise. One of the many methods used to “grow a church” is the use of contemporary music.

I addressed in that post my past association with this philosophy of ministry, and I ended it with information about a book by Dr. John MacArthur that drew me away from pragmatism, and directed me toward a biblical understanding of ministry. Finally I mentioned Dr. MacArthur’s Church and ministry in Southern, California as an example of a very large Church that has been built on the consistent biblical exposition of scripture and entirely without the superfluities of the pragmatic model of church growth.

In this post I want to give another example on the opposite side of the country. The Church is the Tenth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, PA. The pastor for the last 9 years has been Dr. Phillip Ryken. Before him the pastor was Dr. James Montgomery Boice. Dr. Boice led the church from 1968 until his death in 2000. One of their predecessors was the celebrated Presbyterian preacher and theologian Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse who was pastor from 1927 until his death in 1960.

Tenth Presbyterian is an inner city church and under Dr. Boice’s strong conservative leadership, it became a model for ministry in America’s northeastern inner cities. When he assumed the pastorate of Tenth Church there were 350 people in regular attendance. At his death the church had grown to a regular Sunday attendance in three services of more than 1,200. Also under his leadership, the church established a pre-school, a high school known as City Center Academy, a full range of adult fellowship groups and classes, and specialized outreach ministries to international students, women with crisis pregnancies, homosexual and HIV-positive clients, and the homeless. Since Dr. Ryken assumed leadership, the church has continued on the same course established by Dr. Boice. It has grown to an average Sunday Morning attendance of 1500 with additional ministries in place.

I mention numbers again only because that seems to be the driving force in the western church and the motivation behind the pragmatic ministry. And I want to share with you what Dr. Boice who pastored a growing church, has written about one aspect or pragmatism in particular, contemporary music in the church.

Let me first mention that Dr. Boice held degrees from Harvard University (A.B.), Princeton Theological Seminary (B.D.), and the University of Basel, Switzerland (D. Theol.) Also a prolific author, Dr. Boice wrote nearly forty books on a wide variety of Bible related themes. Most are in the form of expositional commentaries, growing out of his preaching: Psalms, Romans, Genesis, Daniel, The Minor Prophets, The Sermon on the Mount, John, Ephesians, Philippians and The Epistles of John. Many more popular volumes: Hearing God When You Hurt, Mind Renewal in a Mindless Christian Life, Standing on the Rock, The Parables of Jesus, The Christ of Christmas, The Christ of the Open Tomb and Christ’s Call to Discipleship. He also authored Foundations of the Christian Faith a 740-page book of theology for laypersons.

In his book, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace, Dr Boice writes the following paragraphs.

"We need to talk again about music. For the fact that worship must be an actual meeting with and adoration of God must have bearing on how we use music in our churches. This is a divisive subject, because music establishes emotional holds on people and we find it hard to give up anything with which we are ‘in love”. Yet we need to think about the role of music carefully, if only because it is so engaging and influential. Can we use contemporary as well as traditional music? The answer is similar to deciding whether we will use extemporaneous or recited prayers: It depends entirely on what these elements actually accomplish in the service.

If the chief end of the service is to turn the attention of the worshiper away from himself (and even from the service itself) to God, then the first question we have to ask is whether this is what our music does. Does it direct our thoughts to God? Does it remind us of something about God and encourage us to praise him for being like this? Does it recall the great acts of god in our salvation and evoke a sense of gratitude for what God has done? Or, on the other hand, does it evoke merely and emotional, claphappy feeling of euphoria? I am afraid that much of our music falls in to this latter category, with the result that people leave our services having laughed and shouted and sung, saying, “Wasn’t that a wonderful worship service?” when all they really mean is that they had a good time. They may not have had even one serious thought about God.

There is a second question we need to ask about our music, though it is harder to answer than the first question: We are told in Philippians… “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, what ever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Phil. 4:8). That is a clear instruction to pursue the best in many categories. And if that is true generally, it is certainly true of music. We should use the best music we can find.

God is worthy of the best. We must not offer him blemished sacrifices. Part of a minister’s responsibility is to point his congregation to the best in every area. Ministers should be lifting their people up to the best music as well as art, literature, and other things, rather than allowing them to slip downward to increasingly lower levels of the surrounding secular culture.

Sometimes we are told that music is merely a matter of taste. I heard that one summer from a pastor in whose church I had been speaking. I had been talking about a loss of absolutes in our culture and had mentioned the impact this had on Christianity. I said something about the need for better music and he challenged me by saying that “music is just a matter of taste”. He had agreed with my teaching about the need to combat the world’s relativism. So I pointed out that what he was saying was an example of that very thing. If there are absolutes, all music cannot be equally good. For aesthetics, as in other areas, some music will be better that other music both in itself and for what we are trying to accomplish with it.

I am not saying that it is always easy to know what music is better. We need the help of our musicians here. But if we have nothing else to go on, one helpful test is whether a specific piece or style of music has withstood the test of time, just as we might ask what literature is best by determining which of the older authors are still cherished…

This applies to the words we sing. The compositions of Martin Luther… John and Charles Wesley, or Isaac Watt are clearly better than the repetitious babble of so many writers of today’s ubiquitous praise choruses. Why should we commit our selves so tenaciously to what is manifestly poor?

Is the use of pragmatic methods including contemporary music necessary to build a large church and reach the 21st century culture for Christ? Evidently not. We have seen examples of very large churches in both ends of the U.S. that are bringing people to Christ, (in large numbers), without pragmatism and these are just two illustrations. These can be multiplied many times on many different scales in churches all across the country. I want to contend, and will in a future post, that evangelism is simply an excuse, a smoke screen, for an ulterior and far less honorable motive, for the insistence in many modern churches that contemporary music be used almost exclusively.

In my next post we will begin to look at the biblical principles that should characterize the kind of music that we use in worship.

Confessions of a Reformed Pragmatist - Part 2

Ok, I've put this off long enough. Well I really haven't been putting it off. I've been doing a lot of reading and research because what I share in the next few posts, I don't want to be just my opinion." Finally we have come to the point where we need to talk about Church music. And really this is where I've been heading this whole time, but I wanted to lay a solid biblical foundation about the creation and corruption of music. I want you to understand that music is not just an invention of man but was created by God for a particular purpose and that is the glory of God. I heard Dr. David Jeremiah make a statement one time that I think makes the point. This is as close as I can come to a quote. He said that because music was specifically created by God for the glory of God, that any music that doesn't accomplish that end is a prostitution of the gift. That's powerful. Now what we have to decide is this, does the music that is being used in our churches glorify God? If it does fine, but if it doesn't it needs to be changed. I don't know of any Christian music leader who would disagree with that statement. (Although I've been around long enough to know that there are probably some who would.)

Now you may remember that in my very first post I told you that I am in some ways a product of the Jesus movement and the Jesus music of the 70's. (If you haven’t read the previous posts, which began in February 2009, I strongly encourage you to do so before you read this one.) But as a pastor I was for many years also the product of a particular philosophy of ministry called pragmatism. (That first post was called Confessions of a Reformed Pragmatist", and really everything I have written since has been and is under that heading.)

Now what is pragmatism? Well in this context it refers to a philosophy of ministry that believes that the end justifies the means. In other words, whatever works is good, and whatever doesn't work is bad. It's really sort of a Machiavellian approach to ministry, by which I mean the employment of cunning and duplicity, even deceit in order to achieve a goal or end. What is good in this particular context is numbers, (Church growth).

I know, I'll be lambasted for that last statement because some will counter that their motivation is not simply for numbers but for souls, to reach the lost. And I will concede that some are probably genuine in that motivation. However even given that concession, even acknowledging that motive, does it justify the use of extra biblical means to get lost people to come to church? I contend that it does not and there are many reasons, which we will discuss later.

As I mentioned, for the first 15 years of my 25 years in ministry I was a pragmatist. And the reason I was, like so many other pastors, is because that's just the way I learned to do ministry. That's what I was taught. That's what I observed being modeled before me. When I went to pastor's conferences and read books on ministry the subject was always the same. Grow a big church, and here's how you can do that. It's still that way. And the people that are placed before you to teach you how to be a “Dynamic Pastor" are always the pastors of the big churches as if the pastor of a small church could never be an adequate model. And I was given a grocery list of means and methods about getting lost people to come to church and reaching more people and adding more numbers. And so I did them and I padded the role and pushed to increase the membership and grow the budget so we could reach more people. And we baptized a lot of people and we started a lot of programs and so I felt somewhat justified in how I was doing it.

Until one day I did a membership analysis. I began to contact and look at the lives of all those people who had walked down the isle in my churches and had shaken my hand and prayed a prayer and made a profession of faith and been baptized. And what I discovered astounded me. I found that I was reaching numbers. Attendance was growing. We were seeing lots of people become professors of faith, but they were not possessors of a changed life. They were not disciples. They were religious but lost. After 15 years most of them were not walking in obedience to Christ and his Word. Many of them were never genuinely saved and were deceived into believing they were, by an “easy believism” that started with a pragmatic approach to ministry. That's what I want to talk about in the next few posts. And we will address all these things in more detail later.

Now one of the things that I did in my early ministry that contributed to his end had to do with music. One of the things that I was taught by the growing Seeker Sensitive" movement in the contemporary church was that to reach the lost of this generation we have to change with the times. Now what I didn't realize at the time was the extent to which these changes would go. As I alluded to last week, church leaders today in an even more provocative shift in ministry philosophy, called The Emergent Church Movement", want us to literally embrace the culture and in many ways become like it supposedly in order to reach it.

But at the time and to the extent that was being advocated then, I like many other younger pastors, began to introduce so-called contemporary music into my churches. And it was easy for me to want that. As I said in the first post, I listened to “Jesus Music" and really over the years grew along with the contemporary Christian music industry as it moved from just a very few singers and musicians when I began listening to it in the mid 70's, to the giant institution that it became. It was a part of my life. I introduced my children to it. I promoted it.

Ten years ago I had a band made up of students that frequently led music in my church. It consisted of two electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, and a full drum set. There were others who also sang with the band that would today be called a praise team. We were “trendsetters” because no other churches in our particular area had made that drastic a move.

Now why am I telling you this? Again simply because I don't want anyone to say, He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just an old timer. He doesn't understand 'our kind of music'". I do understand. I was there before many of you. I listened to it. I promoted it. I enjoyed it. BUT I WAS WRONG! Wrong about what? Let me address that?

I want to be understood up front that I'm not saying that all contemporary Christian music is bad. You already know from previous posts that some of it is, but not all. I'm also not saying that it's always wrong to have instruments other than a piano and organ in the church. That would be an unbiblical statement and we may deal with that more. But I am saying that some of the music that is being used in worship services today has no place in the Church and that will be developed more in coming posts.

So what brought about the change in me? It was the realization that I mentioned earlier, that the vast majority of people we were reaching" with contemporary music, along with all the other pragmatic methods, were not true disciples. This became a huge burden and I spent significant time in prayer and shed a lot of tears over it. I felt as though I had wasted the first 15 years of ministry. Then not long after, I read a book that changed my whole perspective and philosophy of ministry. It was "Ashamed of the Gospel" by Dr. John MacArthur.

As we proceed through the next few posts I will share some of the insights I learned from that book as well as from many other sources. I should mention for any readers who may not be familiar with Dr. MacArthur and who think that the only way to build a large church is by using the pragmatic approach, (which will be more fully explained in future posts), that he pastors a very large church in Sun Valley California with a Sunday morning attendance of over 6000 people. He uses none of the pragmatic approaches to ministry that the Seeker movement or the Emergent movement advocate. Yet they baptize 50-60 new believers each month and approximately 75% of them are age 30 and under. Many are students at USC or UCLA. There is no dancing, no clowns, no Starbucks, and no gimmicks. There's not even a gymnasium or a bowling alley. Instead there is solid biblical teaching week after week, month after month, year after year. If you ask Dr. MacArthur what his secret is, he'll tell you simply, that there is no secret. “God blesses his truth.” It is that message that I want to communicate to you.

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

The Corruption of Music - Part 3

In my last post I began outlining the negative affects of popular secular lyrical music. I mentioned that there are usually five major themes communicated in this kind of music. The first two I addressed in that post. They are number one, illicit sex and sexual perversion, and number two, drug abuse (including alcohol). As always, if you have not read the posts leading up to this one, I would encourage you to do so.

Some of my readers have begun to send me helpful information that I have added to my research on this subject. One of those is an article on the web about a recent study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh that relates directly to the first of these themes. The research concluded that teens that listen to music with “sexually degrading lyrics” are more than twice as likely to be sexually active as those who do not. Now remember this is not a Christian research organization. Of 711 teens interviewed 31 percent were sexually active. Of those who did not listen to sexually degrading lyrics the rate was 20.6 percent. But of those who did listen to such music, the rate went up to 44.6 percent. You can find that article at http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.219a5c1741da6257d5cf13c9a2890518.361&show_article=1

Now lets look at the other three themes found in a large portion of popular secular music.

III. REBELLION AGAINST AUTHORITY

Rebellion is the spirit of our age. And from the pelvic gyration of Elvis and the long hair of the Beatles, to the Outlaw music of Willie Nelson, music has done its part to foster this philosophy.

Bands with names like "Above The Law" give an indication of what their music is about.

Dave Matthews band, Album "Before these Crowded Streets", Song, "Don't Drink the Water", includes lyrics like these. "I live with my hatred, I live with my jealousy... I don't need anybody but me."

Pearl Jam tells their listeners, "I'll do what I want but irresponsibly".

The Spice Girls cut, "Do It" tells young girls to "make your own rules to live by", which includes defying parents and having sex.

By the way, God has an opinion of rebellion too. "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft", I Sam. 15:23. Witchcraft was one of the sins in the Old Testament for which the death penalty was required. Ex. 22:18 " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."

IV. VIOLENCE, including bar room brawls, crime, murder, suicide.
Part of this is an extension of the aforementioned rebellion and much of it is because of the fragmented post‑modern culture. Hopelessness and uselessness of life is portrayed in much of this music.

On a quiet Louisiana night in early May 1996 at 2:30 in the morning, while the rest of his family lay sleeping, 16 year old Clay Logan stood in his bedroom listening to "The End" a song by the rock band The Doors. He waited for his lyrical cue from the lead singer Jim Morrison. Then to wake his sleeping family, Logan cranked up the volume.

The lyrics said, "The killer awoke before dawn" the stereo blared. "He put his boots on and came to a door and he looked inside."

James and Connie, rose slowly, wiping the sleep from their eyes.

The music continued, "Father"? "Yes, son"? "I want to kill you. Mother I want to kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill...

At that point James and Connie were fully awake. They started down the hall to find out what was going on. That's where Clay met them, brandishing a handgun. He fired several times, killing his mother and wounding his father.

Lyrics by the death‑metal band Slayer have been connected to the 1995 rape, torture, and satanic sacrifice of a 15-year‑old girl

"Hate is what I feel for you/I want you to know that I want you dead". Those lyrics from Silverchair's Frogstomp album have been put on trial along with two teens, accused of murdering one of the boy's parents and five year old brother.

In 1994 a police officer responding to a call for assistance was murdered by two teens who claimed to be taking cues from rapper Tupac Shakur’s album 2Pacalypse Now. They simply wanted to kill a police officer for amusement.

Listen to some statements from some interviews with modern music makers.

Popular folk rocker Tori Amos said in Rolling Stone magazine, "Our generation loves our pain, and if you dare _____ing take it away from us, we're going to kill you. We like our pain."

Rob Zombie lead singer with the heavy metal band White Zombie told USA Today, "I remember looking at the outline or dead bodies and pictures of Charles Manson in my mom's copy of Helter Skelter, and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen..."

The song "Amnesia", by the British band Chumbawamba describes the dismantling of a human head. And "Outsider" portrays life as miserable, bleak and pointless.

Ice Cube threatens shootings bombings and other forms of violence against designated targets such as the LA police chief. His music also approves of looting and is riddled with the basest profanity.

LL Cool J threatens censors with grisly violence. "I'll wake you up with an axe...I'll leave your bullet riddled body on the curb".

Rage Against the Machine's song "Down Rodeo” encourages the have-nots of society to lash out violently against the haves.

Alan Jackson's single all "American Country Boy" glorifies irresponsible living and "rowdiness". In "Hole in the wall" he vents frustration by damaging property.

Joe Diffie, a country singer from Oklahoma, sings of a lovesick man beating up another of the girl’s suitors in his song "Junior's in Love".


V. Anti-Christian and Occultic Philosophies

John Denver, said, "Rock has a greater influence than Christianity".

John Lennon, said, "Christianity will go. "We're more popular than Jesus".

Did you ever ask yourself why some of these people don't pick on Buddha, or Allah, or Krishna? The reason is because Satan is already in charge of false gods and counterfeit religions. And it's always been the goal of the devil to destroy the cause of Christ.

Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones said that the goal of the music industry has always been to control the minds of their listeners. It's interesting that the Bible says in II Cor. 4:4 "The god of this age (small g, speaking of Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." And one of the ways he is doing it is through music.

Folk rocker Sara McLachlan said, in a 1998 interview, "I think the Devil has gotten a bad rap. The Devil is the fallen angel, the one who was willing to embrace his dark side, whereas all the other angels were in total denial. The Devil is more like us - we're all the Devil and we're all God".

The music of Beastie Boys promotes reincarnation and other Buddhist teachings.

Sheryl Crow's song "Maybe Angels" speaks of Christians who she addresses disrespectfully and says they "don't know nothin' bout saving me".

New Age contemporary artist Enya wonders if the "stars sign the life that is to be mine". a reference to astrological predestination. The song, "China Roses" speaks of being lead by the moon.

Other songs and albums produced over the last 40 years include: Hells Bells, Speak of the devil. Black Magic Woman, Goat's Head Soup, Satanic Majesty's Request, Sympathy for the devil, Dancing with Mr. D., Running with the devil, Black Sabbath, Highway to Hell, FrankenChrist.

Now let me ask you. Are these the values that we are to embrace or to which we are to expose ourselves as Christians? The answer is self evident as well as clearly revealed in Scripture.

II Cor. 11:3 "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ."

Phil. 1:9-11 "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ‑‑to the glory and praise of God."

Phil. 2:15 " so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe"

The Corruption of Music - Part 2

Research material for this post includes “Chart Watch”, published by Focus on the Family.

In my last two posts, I talked about the Creation and Corruption of Music. We saw first that music is not just something we listen to but something that wields great control in our lives. It is used effectively by advertisers to sell products and services, and to promote just about anything you can think of. We saw that the human mind has the ability to store, retain and recall an incredible amount of musically driven messages.

The reason, we learned, is because that's the way God fashioned us. God created music before the foundation of the world and He made it to glorify himself. Job 38:7 tells us that while God was creating the world, before the creation of man, "the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?"

Finally we saw in Ezek. 28, that Lucifer, the Guardian Cherub, who was created to dwell in the presence of God and direct praise to God, who abandoned that appointment because he wanted to be God, who was expelled from heaven and became Satan, the prince of darkness, was created a musical being. It appears from the text in Ezek. 28 that Lucifer had musical instruments that were actually a part of his created make up, "tambourines, and flutes". And when he lost his heavenly position and was cast to the earth, he maintained that created make up and music is still a part of his nature, and that the corruption of music began at that point. Therefore, as believers, we must be very careful about the music we allow to enter our hearing.

In this post I want to address the issue of exactly what the music industry is selling. What are you hearing when you listen to secular music? What messages are being communicated?

I believe one of the most subtle affects that I have seen in secular music is found in the Christian home.

In 25+ years of ministry I've seen many times, Christian homes, out of which have come grown children who are not serving the Lord. They were homes with committed Christian parents who loved the Lord, served the Lord, went to church, took their children to church, tithed, worked, and prayed. Often they were even good disciplinarians and didn't let their children stay out late or go certain places. But their children turned from the truth. What happened? In many of those cases the rebellion or loss of respect for Godliness can be traced to the fact that these families listened to secular music in the home.

Secular music you will remember is music that is worldly rather than godly. The style doesn't matter. It may have been pop, rock n roll, or country. But while these parents didn't allow their kids to get into the world, they allowed the world to get into their kids by listening to worldly music by worldly people that teach worldly values. And the power of music consumed them.

What is the music industry teaching? As I have spent the last 33 years evaluating this phenomenon since I became a Christian, I have found 5 major themes in most secular music. Those themes are:

1. Illicit sex and sexual perversion

2. Drug abuse (including alcohol)

3. Rebellion against authority

4. Violence (including the glorification of death, murder and suicide)

5. Anti-Christian, pro Satanistic philosophies

Now I want to be clear, and I don’t want to be misunderstood here. Much modern secular lyrical music will contain one or more of these themes. But I’m not saying that all music of all times other than Christian music is of the devil or that it is sin for a believer to ever listen to any other music. I’m not saying that at all. Some music such is amoral meaning that it is neither moral nor immoral; spiritually it is neither good nor bad. Some classical music, or other instrumental music, or cultural music is simply for the enjoyment of the art and no judgment can be made about it. Some songs are innocent and simply meant for fun. I may address this more in a later post. But the kind of music I’m going to deal with in this and the next post are popular lyrical music of various styles that dominate western culture and have for decades.

Let me illustrate these five themes. I need to warn you that some of the things you are about to read are somewhat graphic.

I. ILLICIT SEX. This is probably the single most prominent theme in music today. It has been for a number of years and I suppose that's why Christians have become so desensitized to it. My first embarrassing encounter with music came when I was only 3 or 4 years old. I was in some sort of Christmas play or some other program in the Methodist Church that my mom occasionally attended.

I was on the stage with a bunch of other kids and we were supposed to be singing Christmas carols or something. But when all the other kids finished and stopped, there was one lone voice still singing. Mine. And do you know what I was singing? The 1957 Buddy Knox song, Party Doll, with such spiritually uplifting lyrics as “Come along and be my party doll, I want to make love to you.”

Now you may laugh at that? But the question that must be asked is, is that really funny? Where did I hear that? My family had a collection of secular music on records, (Remember singles on 45 rpm vinyl records?) and it was playing in our house all the time. I HEARD IT AT HOME.

The primary message of secular music has not changed over the last 50 years except for the worse. And for the last 3 or 4 decades the sexual message of music has not only been that of just "natural" heterosexual sex, but that of all manner of sexual perversion, such as Homosexuality, Bestiality, Necrophilia, and Sado-masochism, which is sexual pleasure derived by inflicting pain.

Now when I first started teaching this material I used the music of the sixties and seventies as illustrations. Then of course as time marched on I used the music of each succeeding decade. And what I became obvious through those years was that the music evolves in style and there are new songs and new lyrics, but really the content doesn’t change except as I mentioned, it gets worse. So in the last 7 or 8 years I haven’t updated my illustrations, because it is unnecessary. I hope you won’t use that as an excuse to disregard the truths that I present.

Over the last several years Britney Spears has become the poster child for the dysfunctional pop idol. You probably don’t need me to tell you about the series of crisis situations that her lifestyle has caused her and her family. And today her music and videos are lascivious, lewd and obscene. But even early in her career, as pop sensation, while she professed to be a virgin, with millions of pre-teen, teen, and adult fans, the lyrics to her songs were far from innocent. But what message are Britney and the music industry sending them. Here's an example of the lyrics in her 1999 song "Soda Pop" from her album titled “Baby One More Time.”

"...we might start riding to the music tonight... a wicked time to the end... we'll flex tonight until they break down the door. I bet you we can pop like we've never popped it before. It's cool Britney when we get down on the floor... and we go on and on until the break of dawn".

Backstreet Boys, song Get Down. "If you want it to be good girl, get yourself a bad boy. There's a thing your mamma shouldn't know. There's a thing I really what to show you".

How about Garth Brooks The song "That Ol Wind, implies that intimate relations between strangers can produce genuine love. On the number one country hit She's Every Woman, Garth explained that he has had numerous lovers and fantasized about others.

Billy Ray Cyrus, song "Words by Heart”, recalls adolescent sex (that night on my bed).

Alan Jackson has recollections of a drunken romp with a "naked woman" in the song "Must've had a Ball".

The group KORN rattles off obscenities one after another. Of one of it's albums, Jonathan Davis, of the band said, "I just wanted something violent and full of cuss words". By the way much of contemporary Rock n Roll, is little more than audio pornography, with lyrics and content that I wouldn't dare speak.

Masturbation and sex with strangers is advocated on the KORN song "A.D.I.D. A. S", which stands for All Day I Dream About Sex.

Reba McEntire The song “The heart is a Lonely Hunter” implies that adultery is wrong but casual sex between single adults who meet in a bar is okay.

Spice Girls Sexual propositions and innuendo drive the vast majority of their tracks. Like: "Wanna make love to you baby...Get it on, get it on...If you wanna be my lover... and, slam you body down and wind it all around."

George Strait In "One night at a Time", an uncommitted couple shares "love all night", in a series of rendezvous.

Shania Twain suggests that hanging out in bars and giving in sexually to a sincere man are okay.

II. DRUGS Drugs and secular music are inseparable. Where there is one, eventually and inevitably there will be the other. Several years ago, when I was pastoring in North Missouri, I worked part time as a counselor in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. I was amazed to hear residents in the center being allowed to play music that glorified drugs and alcohol. I brought it to the attention of the director but was told that it had no affect. Well you know from what we have already seen that is not true. And these programs wonder why their success rate is so low.

As long as there has been country music, it has glorified booze. The rock culture began in the sixties to promoted drugs. Here are some more recent examples.

While the Beastie Boys song “Get it together”, puts down the use of crack, their album "Ill Communication", pleads for the legalization of Marijuana.

Brooks and Dunn, a country duo, typically have lyrics in which whiskey flows liberally. Their song "Redneck Rhythm and Blues", lives for the work whistle and a trip to the local "waterin hole." If love goes bad they recommend beer and booze to ease the pain in songs like "More than a Margarita", "One Heartache at a Time", and "Tequila Town".

From Vince Gill's, (who I believe professes to be a Christian), "When Love Find's You" Album. The song, "What Cowgirls Do", includes partying where they "chugalug long necks till the money's all gone".

John Michael Montgomery's song "Friday at Five, talks about partying "with a girl on my arm and a beer in my hand."

Smash Mouth a band based in San Jose California advocates the use of marijuana. Their song "Heave Ho" glamorizes pot smoking and alcohol.

Geroge Strait sings of a married man prone to drinking with the boys and "flirting with every woman in town. And alcohol pours freely on his, "I met a friend of your's today".

Goo Goo Dolls, a band out of Buffalo New York. Alcohol is equated with fun times in their song "Eyes Wide Open".

Green Day applauds cocaine and amphetamine use in the song "Geek Stink Death". "Tight Wad Hill" is the story of a thrill seeking drug addict.

311 glorifies pot smoking and hallucinogenic drug trips.

Usher, the Album "My Way", the song "Just like me" advocates the use of cocaine among other things.

Weezer, the song "Undone" opens with beer and blasphemy.

Revelation 21:8 tells us that one of the seven great sins of the last days will be what the KJV calls, "Sorcery". The NIV says, "those who practice magical arts". But the Greek is one Word "pharmakos". It is the word from which we get our English word Pharmacy and it literally means (enchantment with drugs). Today we would say "drug abuse". Satan uses drugs, including alcohol, mingled with music to undermine moral values.

John Lennon of the Beatles was a heroine addict.

David Bowie, who was a 70's rock icon, told Rolling stone magazine, "I was junked out of my mind most of the time.

In my next post I will continue this discussion and present illustrations of the final three themes found in secular music.

The Corruption of Music

In my last post, “The Creation and Application of Music”, (If you haven’t read the first two posts, let me suggest that you do so as it will help you understand where we are in this discussion.), we observed three major truths about music. First, music is powerful and has an incredible ability to influence mind, emotion, and will. Second, the human mind has the ability to store, retain and recall an incredible amount of musically driven messages. And third, these statements are true because God created music with these properties for the purpose of bringing glory to Himself.
Now a forth truth that I want to present and which I’m sure will be affirmed by most who read this blog, is that all music does not glorify God. At some point after it’s creation a corruptive element changed the focus of some music. But what or who made that change?

In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel we find a passage that provides us with a description of the fall of Satan from heaven. Now when you read this chapter, (And I encourage you to do so.), you may be confused because it is addresses “the king of Tyre”. Yet as you read the text there is an unmistakable reference to an angelic creation of God who once had an exalted station in the presence of God, but who rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. Sometimes there is in a passage of scripture a dual reference and in order to fully understand the meaning of the text, you must apply this principle of biblical interpretation. Such is the case here.

In Ezek. 28:13-17, (New International Version – After this referred to as NIV), we read these words. "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings."

Now look again at :13, first in the NIV, then in the King James Version, (After this referred to as the KJV), and I want to show you something important.

(Ezek. 28:13 - NIV) "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared.
(Ezek 28:13 - KJV) "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created."

I want you to notice that there is a difference in the translation. There are two words that I want to note specifically.

A. First the word “TABRETS” in the (KJV), and “SETTINGS” in the (NIV). The Hebrew word is (toph), which is always used of a drum, or a tambourine. That's what the word tabrets in the KJV means. The translators of the NIV chose to translate it "settings" for reasons I'll show you in a moment, but that is inconsistent with the way it is translated every other place in Scripture. This word is used 17 times in the Old Testament and every other time the NIV translates it "tambourine". Below I have sited some examples.

(1 Sam 18:6 NIV) "When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes."
(Isa 24:8 NIV) "The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.'
(Isa 30:32 NIV) "Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm."
(Jer 31:4 NIV) "I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful."
So the King James Version is correct and the word should be translated "tambourines".

B. The second word is translated "PIPES" (KJV), and "MOUNTINGS" (NIV)
The Hebrew word is neqeb and the Root means to bore, or to pierce with holes.
Ezek. 28:13 has the only occurrence of this word in Old Testament so we can't compare it with other uses to determine the meaning. The comment inserted by the NIV Translators at the bottom of the page says, "The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain". So why did they translate it "mountings"? Because the first part of this verse indicates that Lucifer was covered or clothed in various gems, (ruby, topaz, emerald...) they have given both this word and the one previously discussed a meaning that has something to do with jewels, "settings and mountings". For the same reason others translate this second word, "engravings".

However because of the clarity of the meaning of the first word, (toph), "tambourines", it is evident that the context switches and bares be a musical reference as indicated by the King James. And the reference to boring holes that we see in the Hebrew word "neqeb" likely alludes to the holes bored in a pipe to make an instrument like a flute.

So a legitimate translation of this verse could be "You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your tambourines and flutes were made of gold; on the day you were created they were prepared".

So what's the point to all this? Why spend so much time on these word studies? Because what we have here in Ezek 28 is striking evidence that Lucifer was created as a MUSICAL BEING. That somehow built into his very person, his created make up, were musical instruments.

This fits very well with the other parts of the description that we are given of Lucifer. Ezek. 28 says, You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty... You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you."

Lucifer was probably the highest ranking of the angels, even above Michael who is called the "Archangel" (meaning Chief Angel) in Jude 1:9 and "the great prince who protects" the people of Israel in Dan. 12:1. Michael may have only assumed that position as chief angel after the fall of Lucifer.

He was "full of wisdom and perfect in beauty". He may have been the wisest and most beautiful of all God’s created beings who was originally placed in this position of authority over the cherubim surrounding the throne of God. He was created to dwell in the very presence of God, evidently for several reasons. One was to be a sentry to symbolically guard the throne of God. Not that God needed guarding but as a picture of God's unapproachableness, and invulnerability.

But another job of Lucifer must have been to lead the host of heaven in musical praise of Almighty God. That's the reason he was equipped with musical instruments.
Rev. 5:11-13 "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

What an awesome picture. Millions of angels giving glory to God and singing praises to the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven. And Lucifer, the Shining One, was heaven's worship leader, the musician, and the orchestra all rolled into one.

Music was a part of his created nature. However Lucifer did not long keep his first estate. Instead he became proud of his own shining glory and his power and his wisdom, (even though it had all been given to him by God), and he rebelled against the One that he was created to glorify. And so God cast him out and the Bible tells us that the earth became his domain. And Revelation 12 tells us that along with him he persuaded 1/3 of the angels to rebel and they too lost their place in heaven.

Now when Lucifer the "Day Star" rebelled, he became Satan, the prince of darkness. However when he was cast out of heaven Lucifer did not lose those attributes of his creation. He is still very intelligent. He is powerful. He is still musical. And some of the music of the world, with all it’s power and influence, rather than bringing glory to the God who created it for that purpose, is instead a satanic counterfeit designed to draw men, women, away from Christ.

Confessions of a “Reformed” Pragmatist Part 1

Today I begin blogging for the first time. I sat for a time and starred at the screen trying to decide how to start. For one thing I’m not terribly familiar with blogs. I had never actually read one until a couple of days ago, so I’m still not sure exactly what I’m doing, or what people expect to read in these things. But I am a teacher of God’s Truth, and so I decided simply to do what I do and what I’ve always done. I will teach.

Now for a topic. What do I write? Well I’ve been told that I can write anything that I want. The problem is, I think I am going to be limited in how much I can say, and probably limited by how much the average reader is willing to consume. That is a problem because I would like to put some major articles and studies on here, things that I’ve already written. I may do that but if so I will have to break them up into bite-sized pieces. So I settled on something for my first few entries, something new, something I’ve had one my mind that might be helpful to you. It may still take several “installments”, but it’s something that I believe will be interesting. But more than that, believe it is relevant.

If I had to name one thing that has been on my mind more that any other over the past few years, it would be the state of the modern American evangelical Church. Having been a Christian now for 33 years and in the ministry for a great portion of that time, I have watched many changes occur. Some have been good. I remember a time when many churches would not allow certain people to attend. It may have been because of the color of their skin, the length of their hair, or the style of their clothing. The Civil Rights movement as well as the “Jesus Movement”, a counterculture of the hippy movement of the late 60’s and early 70’s, began to chip away at some of the prejudices that existed in the church.

Another change that began at the same time was “Jesus Music”, also a product of that same counterculture. When hippies were converted to Christ many, especially those who were musicians, would continue playing the same popular style of music, but would add Christian lyrics. This gave rise over the years to what became known as contemporary Christian music. Since that time contemporary music along with other changes that we will discuss later, have brought about an entirely new style of worship or way of “doing church”. And, that “way” is fluid. It is constantly changing. I can also remember when a church that included “choruses” in their worship service was the vast exception. A few years ago I began to notice that the church that does not, is now the exception. Today many, and I would say most have come to at least offer a separate “contemporary service” in addition to a traditional service, or they have abandoned the traditional altogether. Many churches now have a full-blown concert as a part of their weekly worship services with music that doesn’t even resemble the music of the last generation.

Now let me take a moment to explain a couple of things. First, as I sat down to write, this is not the direction I intended to take even though I did expect at some time to cover this material. Second, I want you to remember the title of this entry, “Confessions of a ‘Reformed’ Pragmatist.” I’ll explain that more later and as we continue I think you will come to understand it even without explanation. But for now let me just start by saying, I am in some ways a product of the Jesus movement and Jesus music. Not that I came to Christ through the witness of a “Jesus Freak”, (the title used of many of the young people of that era), though I later had some friends who came out of that, but when I did come to faith in Christ in January 1976, I immediately began listening to the music. I had been heavily involved in rock and roll and the bands of the early 70’s, and so it was a very natural transition for me. It was very refreshing to me because it filled a void in my life. (I realized very soon after becoming a Christian that I could no longer listen to secular rock and roll, but that’s for another time.) But even though I listened to that style of music “on my own time”, it was not something that I felt needed to be brought into the church. Through the years I followed several of the early Christian bands, and when I married and had children I introduced them to contemporary Christian music. And today I still enjoy a portion of the music in that genre.

I tell you this because I don’t want you to get the idea that I’m some old timer who has never listened to anything but Southern Gospel and thinks that other styles of music are somehow demonic. As a matter of fact if there is one style of music that I would say I dislike, it is Southern Gospel. Now I hope that doesn’t alienate people either. I know a lot of people love it, but it’s just not for me. Now I tell you these things for another reason, and that is hopefully to earn the right to talk about music as it relates to the state of the contemporary church.

In my next post we are going to turn directly to the scripture and talk about the purpose and origin of music. From where did music come, and why was it designed. The Bible has a great deal to say about music and its use, and I want to lead you there. It doesn’t really matter what I like or dislike about music period, or music in the church if I don’t know and apply what God has said and revealed in his Word. That is our seat of authority. That’s where we must start.

I’ll try to post at least weekly, but hopefully sometimes I’ll post more. I’m looking forward to his journey. I hope you are as well.