Ever since we first began warning about Christian rock decades ago, we have observed that there is no separation between Christian rock and secular rock. Contemporary Christian musicians make no attempt to hide this fact and they have no shame for it. When asked in interviews about their musical influences and their favorite music, [...]]]> wayoflife.org

Ever since we first began warning about Christian rock decades ago, we have observed that there is no separation between Christian rock and secular rock. Contemporary Christian musicians make no attempt to hide this fact and they have no shame for it. When asked in interviews about their musical influences and their favorite music, invariably they list a number of raunchy secular rock musicians. By David Cloud

The following examples could be multiplied endlessly:

FOURTH WATCH cites groups like U2, the Police, Genesis, Pete Townshend, and the Alarm as major influences. “MEMBERS LISTEN TO A GREAT DEAL OF MAINSTREAM MUSIC, MAKING NO APOLOGIES FOR IT, and they express a desire to play clubs and other non-church settings” (CCM Magazine, April 1987, p. 19).

RANDY STONEHILL “listens to all kinds of music,” including hard secular rock (Devlin Donaldson, “Rockin’ Randy,” CCM Magazine, August 1983).

PHIL KEAGGY performs an unholy combination of secular rock and Christian rock/folk, and those who listen to his music are drawn toward worldly rock & roll. On his 1993 Crimson and Blue album, for example, he pays “homage to the Beatles” by covering several of their songs.

When ASHLEY CLEVELAND was asked what music was on her stereo, she replied, “Living With Ghosts, Patty Griffin; What’s The Story Morning Glory, Oasis; Exile On Main Street, the Rolling Stones” (http://www.ashleycleveland.com/acfacts.htm). In her concerts, Ashley performs a very gritty rendition of the Rolling Stones hit “Gimme Shelter.”

CAEDMON’S CALL said their greatest love in music is secular rock. They mentioned Indigo Girls, Shawn Colvin, David Wilcox, The Police, Fishbone, 10,000 Maniacs (Lighthouse Electronic Magazine).  The group often performs Beatles music. Cliff Young said one of his favorites is the foul-mouthed Alanis Morrisette. He mocked a preacher who warns that Christian musicians should not listen to secular rock and said that he listens to secular rock & rollers because “they are being honest [about] struggles that they go through.”

AUDIO ADRENALINE’S Bloom album includes the song “Free Ride” from the Edgar Winter Group’s They Only Come out at Night album. Rock star Edgar Winter was featured on the cover of this wicked album dressed as a homosexual “drag queen.” The lyrics to “Free Ride” claim that “all of the answers come from within.” This is rank heresy, because we know that the answers do not come from within man’s fallen heart, but from God’s revelation in the Bible.

STEVE CAMP says, “I’ll have a Foreigner 4 album going in my car.” He also says: “I am dedicated to good music whether it’s pop, Christian, gospel, R&B, blues, jazz, classical, rock or whatever. I just love good music” (Steve Camp, MusicLine magazine, Feb. 1986, p. 22).

JARS OF CLAY names Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles as their inspiration (Dann Denny, “Christian Rock,” Sunday Herald Times, Bloomington, Ind., Feb. 8, 1998). The lead guitarist for Jars of Clay is said to be a “Beatles fanatic” (Christian News, Dec. 8, 1997). When asked by Christianity Today to list their musical influences, Jars of Clay members “listed no Christian artists” (Christianity Today, Nov. 15, 1999). Jars of Clay performs Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” during their concerts. Osbourne is the filthy-mouthed former lead singer for the occultic rock group Black Sabbath.

Dana Key (of DEGARMO & KEY) says that he has been influenced most by B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top) (CCM Magazine, January 1989, p. 30).

POINT OF GRACE, on their Life, Love and Other Mysteries album, recorded “Sing a Song” by the occultic, antichrist rock group Earth, Wind and Fire.

The worldliness of DELIRIOUS is evident in their choice of “musical heroes,” which include “Radiohead, Blur and other big British modern rockers” (CCM magazine, July 1999, p. 39).

The group DELIVERANCE performs songs by secular rock groups. Their What a Joke album has the song “After Forever” by the vile, blasphemous, pagan rock group Black Sabbath.

When asked what is currently in her CD player, CRYSTAL LEWIS replied: “Michael Jackson, Thriller; Billy Holliday; Led Zeppelin; Radiohead, Ok Computer; Radiohead, Kid A; and Sting, Nothing Like the Sun (“Ten Questions with Chrystal Lewis,” CCM Magazine, March 2002).

The popular group THIRD DAY also loves secular rock. Michael Herman of Christianity Today asked the members of Third Day to “name a musician you’d pay to see in concert.” All five members of the band named secular rockers. Tai named U2; Brad, the Cars; David, Phil Collins; Mac, Tom Petty; and Mark, George Harrison (“Guy Talk” interview posted at Christianity Today web site, Feb. 26, 2002). Anyone familiar with the music and atmosphere at secular rock concerts should know that a Bible believer has no business there. “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11).

In the video for the Rock & Worship Roadshow Tour (2011), MERCYME covers the Beatles song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

Why is it that contemporary Christian musicians can be so comfortable with secular rock? I believe it is because so many CCM artists worship a false god.

As a new Christian in 1973, one of the first things that God dealt with me about was my music. I could see from my daily Bible reading that rock music is wrong. It is the very definition of the “world” that we are not to love as described in 1 John 2:15-17.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

Rock music is clearly characterized by “the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.” A better definition has never been written.

James warned that it is spiritual adultery to love the world and God, too.

“Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).

Therefore, I knew that I had a clear choice. I could love rock or I could love God, but I could not love both, and if I held on to my love for filthy secular rock I would be committing spiritual adultery against the thrice holy God who saved me.

I loved rock & roll, but I loved the Lord more. Furthermore, I had already drunk deeply of the cup of rock & roll and I yearned for a new path in life. I wanted a new song. I wanted to be set free from the old way, so I gave up rock & roll. I have been tempted to go back on that decision from time to time, but by God’s grace I have never done so and I have never regretted it. The older I get in the Lord, the clearer it becomes to me that rock & roll is of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and it has no part whatsoever in the life of a born again child of God.

One reason why contemporary Christian music lovers do not separate from rock & roll is that they worship the same god as secular rockers.

It is the god that is experienced through sensual passions.

As we have seen, rock & rollers can be religiously passionate about their music and they often speak of it in terms of a spiritual experience.

The Doors wanted their audience “to undergo a religious experience.”

Bob Marley’s concerns were “like church … a spiritual high.”

Grateful Dead concerts are “a place to worship” and “bear uncanny resemblance to religious festivals.”

Muddy Waters said that “blues was his religion.”

Judas Priest said that rock music isn’t just music; it’s “a philosophy and a way of life.”

Michael Jackson said, “When I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred.”

George Harrison said, “Music is very involved with the spiritual.”

Brian Eno described his discovery of rock & roll as “a spiritual experience.”

Obviously, these rockers are not talking about having communion with the God of the Bible. They worship a different god. He is non-judgmental, sensual, even sexual, and puts no obligations on people, letting them “follow their hearts.”  

This is exactly the god worshiped by many CCM artists.

Consider the popularity of The Shack. It has been directly endorsed by Michael W. Smith and other CCM artists and has been well received in prominent CCM circles such as Calvary Chapels, Vineyard churches, and Hillsong. It was promoted at the 2009 National Pastor’s Convention in San Diego, which was sponsored by Zondervan and InterVarsity Fellowship. Young was one of the speakers and a survey found that 57% had read the novel. Young was enthusiastically received, and in an interview with Andy Crouch, a senior editor of Christianity Today, there was not a hint of condemnation for his false god. Crouch is a CCM musician in his own right and led one of the praise and worship sessions in San Diego.

The Shack is all about redefining God. It is about a man who becomes bitter at God after his daughter is murdered and has a life-changing experience in the very shack where the murder occurred; but the God he encounters is most definitely not the God of the Bible.

Young says the book is for those with “a longing that God is as kind and loving as we wish he was” (interview with Sherman Hu, Dec. 4, 2007). What he is referring to is the desire on the part of the natural man for a God who loves “unconditionally” and does not require obedience, does not require repentance, does not judge sin, and does not make men feel guilty for what they do.

In that same interview, Young said that a woman wrote to him and said that her 22-year-old daughter came to her after reading the book and asked, “IS IT ALRIGHT IF I DIVORCE THE OLD GOD AND MARRY THE NEW ONE?”

This is precisely what a very large portion of the Contemporary Christian Music crowd is doing.

Young admits that the God of “The Shack” is different from the traditional God of Bible-believing Christianity and blasphemously says that the God who “watches from a distance and judges sin” is “a Christianized version of Zeus.”

This reminds me of the modernist G. Bromley Oxnam, who called the God of the Old Testament “a dirty bully” in his 1944 book Preaching in a Revolutionary Age.

Young depicts the triune God as a young Asian woman named “Sarayu” * (supposedly the Holy Spirit), an oriental carpenter who loves to have a good time (supposedly Jesus), and an older black woman named “Elousia” (supposedly God the Father). (* The name “Sarayu” is from the Hindu scriptures and represents a mythical river in India on the shores of which the Hindu god Rama was born.)

Young’s god is the god of the emerging church. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require repentance and the new birth, and puts no obligations on people. (See “The Shack’s Cool God” at the Way of Life web site, www.wayoflife.org.)

The false CCM non-judgmental, universalistic god is represented by emerging church leaders such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, both of whom are very popular with CCM artists. One Christian rocker told us that these writings “resonate” with him.

McLaren calls the God who punished Jesus on the cross for man’s sin “a God who is incapable of forgiving, unless he kicks somebody else” (McLaren, http://www.understandthetimes.org/mclarentrans.shtml and http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2006/01/brian_mclaren_p.html). He presents the traditional God of the Bible as a tyrant who “gets his way through coercion and violence and intimidation and domination. McLaren says that the “power of the blood” gospel “raises some questions about the goodness of God.”

Rob Bell, author of the influential book Velvet Elvis, claims that the God who would allow multitudes to go to eternal hell is not great or mighty (Love Wins, Kindle location 1189-1229). He says that such God is not loving and calls the preaching of eternal hell “misguided and toxic.” He says there is something wrong with this God and calls Him “terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable” (Love Wins, location 47-60, 1273-1287,  2098-2113). He even says that if an earthly father acted like the God who sends people to hell “we could contact child protection services immediately” (Love Wins, location 2085-2098).

One of Bell’s supporters, Chad Hotlz, a Methodist pastor, calls the God who sends unbelievers to hell “the monster God” (“Who’s in Hell?” FoxNews, March 24, 2011).

It is obvious that Bell and company worship a different God than the One we worship in “traditional” Baptist churches.

The “old-fashioned” Bible believer says with the writer of Hebrews, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). The emerging church says, “Our God is not a consuming fire.”

Bell’s God is more akin to New Age panentheism than the God of the Bible. He describes God as “a force, an energy, a being calling out to us in many languages, using a variety of methods and events” (Love Wins, location 1710-1724).

“There is an energy in the world, a spark, an electricity that everything is plugged into. The Greeks called it zoe, the mystics call it ‘Spirit,’ and Obi-Wan called it ‘the Force’” (Love Wins, location 1749-1762).

Many of the CCM artists worship A REBEL CHRIST, which is certainly a false christ. Mark Stuart of Audio Adrenaline says, “Jesus Christ is the biggest rebel to ever walk the face of the earth” (Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, Fla., March 1, 1998, pp. 1, 6E). Sonny of P.O.D. says, “We believe that Jesus was the first rebel; the first punk rocker” (http://www.shoutweb.com/interviews/pod0700.phtml). This is absolute blasphemy. The Bible says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam. 15:23). A rebel is a lawbreaker, but Christ was the lawgiver who He came to earth to fulfill the requirements of His own law (Mat. 5:17-19). Christ was not crucified for rebellion; He was crucified for testifying that He is God (John 10:33).

Many of the CCM artists worship A ROCK & ROLL PARTY CHRIST. In his Live … Radically Saved video Carman says, “Jesus is always cool; He’s got his thing together.” In Resurrection Rap Carman portrays Jesus as a street hippie; in The Standard he calls Jesus “J.C.”; and in Addicted to Jesus he speaks of “Jammin’ with the Lamb.” Petra claims that “God gave rock and roll to you/ Put it in the soul of every one.” In “Party in Heaven” the Daniel Band sang, “The Lamb and I are drinkin’ new wine.” Phil Driscoll says, “God is the King of Soul; He’s the King of all rhythm” (quoted by Tim Fisher, Battle for Christian Music, p. 82). Messiah Prophet Band says, “Jesus is the Master of Metal,” and Barren Cross says, “Better than pot, Jesus rocks.” John Fischer described God as puffing on a cigar and swaying to rock music (CCM Magazine, July 1984, p. 20), while J. Lee Grady says Jesus enjoys dancing with the angels and “grooving to the sound of Christian R&B pumped out of a boom box” (Charisma, July 2000).

The fact that the CCM crowd typically worships a different kind of God than the “old-fashioned” Biblicist, is why they are perfectly comfortable using music that has been identified as sexy by the secular world.

“… that is what rock is all about–sex with a 100-megaton bomb, the beat” (Gene Simmons of KISS, Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987).

Note that Simmons was not referring to the words of rock music; he was referring to the music itself and particularly to its backbeat rhythm.

Music researchers Daniel and Bernadette Skubik, in their study on the neurophysiology of rock music, warned:

“Whether the words are evil, innocuous, or based in Holy Scripture, the overall neurophysiological effects generated by rock music remain the same. There is simply no such thing as Christian rock that is substantively different in its impact” (“The Neurophysiology of Rock,” an Appendix to Ken Blanchard’s Pop Goes the Gospel, pp. 187ff).

The reason this statement doesn’t bother a CCM defender is because he sees Jesus as a non-judgmental rock & roll party Dude who loves a good time.

“Those who envision God as a special friend, a kind of lover, with whom they can have fun, see no problem in worshipping him by means of physically stimulating music. On the other hand, those who perceive God as a majestic, holy, and almighty Being to be approached with awe and reverence will only use the music that elevates them spiritually” (Samuele Bacchiocchi, The Christian and Rock Music).

They are worshiping a different god.

CONCLUSION

It is the rock music itself that creates the passion on the part of secular rockers and Christian rockers.

Both are carried away in “worship” during a rock concert.

Contemporary Christian Worship music is all about an experience with God, and that experience is produced by the various elements of the music itself — the highly-physical, highly-addictive dance syncopation, the unresolving chords that play with the emotions, the sensual vocal techniques, the rise and fall of the sound, the repetition.   

Secular rockers have “worshiped” to the rock experience since the 1950s.

A pastor who wrote to criticize me for my warning about West Coast’s adaptation of CCM said that if my position is right, and that if we should stop using CCM because of the heresies of [...]]]> CCM PERMEATED WITH FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE GODS (Friday Church News Notes, April 1, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -

A pastor who wrote to criticize me for my warning about West Coast’s adaptation of CCM said that if my position is right, and that if we should stop using CCM because of the heresies of the writers, I should also stop using the old Protestant hymns, and I should also stop using the King James Bible, because it was written by Anglicans. In reply I would say that whatever doctrinal differences a Baptist would have with the old Protestants, we share the same God, but that is often not true for Contemporary Christian Worship. In fact, doctrinally, the old-fashioned Baptist today is much closer to those old Protestants than to the CCM crowd.

Many of the influential contemporary praise artists worship a non-Trinitarian God. Examples are Geron Davis, Joel Hemphill, Mark Carouthers, Lanny Wolfe, and Phillips, Craig and Dean. Other CCW artists worship a non-vengeful God. Stuart Townend, for example, denies that God is vengeful, which is a brazen rejection of the very God of the Bible (Stuart Townend, “Mission: Worship, The Story Behind the Song”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdVQNyQmdM4). A great many of the CCM artists worship a non-judgmental God.

Consider the popularity of The Shack among CCM artists. It has been directly endorsed by Michael W. Smith and has been well received in prominent CCM circles such as Calvary Chapels, Vineyard churches, and Hillsong. The Shack god is the god of the emerging church, of men such as Brian McLaren and Rob Bell. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require repentance and the new birth, puts no obligations on people.

Many of the CCM artists worship a rebel Christ. Mark Stuart of Audio Adrenaline says, “Jesus Christ is the biggest rebel to ever walk the face of the earth” (Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, Fla., March 1, 1998, pp. 1, 6E). Sonny of P.O.D. says, “We believe that Jesus was the first rebel; the first punk rocker” (http://www.shoutweb.com/interviews/pod0700.phtml). This is absolute blasphemy. The Bible says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam. 15:23). A rebel is a lawbreaker, but Christ was the lawgiver who He came to earth to fulfill the requirements of His own law (Matt. 5:17-19).

Many of the CCM artists worship a rock & roll party Christ. In his Live … Radically Saved video Carman says, “Jesus is always cool; He’s got his thing together.” Petra claims that “God gave rock and roll to you/ Put it in the soul of every one.” In “Party in Heaven” the Daniel Band sing, “The Lamb and I are drinkin’ new wine.” Phil Driscoll says, “God is the King of Soul; He’s the King of all rhythm” (quoted by Tim Fisher, Battle for Christian Music, p. 82). Messiah Prophet Band says, “Jesus is the Master of Metal,” and Barren Cross says, “Better than pot, Jesus rocks.” John Fischer described God as puffing on a cigar and swaying to rock music (CCM Magazine, July 1984, p. 20), while J. Lee Grady says Jesus enjoys dancing with the angels and “grooving to the sound of Christian R&B pumped out of a boom box” (Charisma, July 2000).

The fact that the CCM crowd typically worships a different kind of God than the “old-fashioned” Biblicist, is why they are perfectly comfortable using music that has been identified as sexy by the secular world. As Gene Simmons of KISS said, “that is what rock is all about–sex with a 100-megaton bomb, the beat” (Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987). But when your god is a non-judgmental, rebel, rock & roll party Dude, what does that matter!

By David Cloud

Contemporary Christian Music is built on the premise that music is neutral and that only the lyrics carry moral meaning. Even secular musicians know that this is absurd. Any orchestra conductor will tell you that [...]]]> STUDY REINFORCES FACT THAT MUSIC IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE (Friday Church News Notes, February 4, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) -

Contemporary Christian Music is built on the premise that music is neutral and that only the lyrics carry moral meaning. Even secular musicians know that this is absurd. Any orchestra conductor will tell you that music itself is a language. A study that was reported in 2009 reinforces this.

Mafa farmers in Cameroon, who are culturally isolated from western music, were tested for their emotional reaction to it. A team led by Thomas Fritz of the Max Planck Institute for Human cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, said: “I was quite amazed that the Mafa accurately categorized basic emotions in pieces of Western music on the first listen” (“Two Cultures Grasp Music’s Universal Feeling,” Science News, April 11, 2009). Mafa and Western listeners classify the same pieces of music as happy, sad, or fearful. Both types of listeners dislike dissonant music. Josh McDermott of New York University said that the new study’s findings fit earlier indications that people interpret certain acoustic cues in the same ways.

When rock & roll was birthed in the 1950s, through the merging of various streams of dance music such as blues and jazz, the heavy back beat was its prominent characteristic, because it impacts the body and soul in a certain predictable way and fulfills the music’s objective, which is to create sensual feelings and body movements.

The heavy back beat rhythm matches the philosophy of the music, which is moral license. “It’s your life and you can do as you please.” The heavy back beat rhythm of pop music preaches a message, and that message is not godliness and humble submission to authority. It preaches a message that is contrary to the message of the Bible, and to adapt this music to the lyrics of the Christian faith is confusion and moral anarchy. Christian rock music, so called, is the music of the lustful Christianity described in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.

http://wayoflife.org/files/d2d8748efd7fce7a8538d7257a24edc5-726.html

“CHRISTIANS ARE JERKS” CAMPAIGN (Friday Church News Notes, October 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org , fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – by David Cloud

http://wayoflife.org/files/39e4265df7ab77a4409fe29317c09740-664.html

Christ Covenant Church of Beaumont, Texas, is kicking off a “What a Bunch of Jerks!” campaign to tell the community that Christians are typically jerks, whereas they are a different breed. The slogan is [...]]]>

“CHRISTIANS ARE JERKS” CAMPAIGN (Friday Church News Notes, October 22, 2010, www.wayoflife.org , fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – by David Cloud

http://wayoflife.org/files/39e4265df7ab77a4409fe29317c09740-664.html

Christ Covenant Church of Beaumont, Texas, is kicking off a “What a Bunch of Jerks!” campaign to tell the community that Christians are typically jerks, whereas they are a different breed. The slogan is the title of an October sermon series and is broadcast through a large billboard. The church’s web site says that Christians are “guilty as charged” of being “prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental jerks” who “fail to act like Jesus.” What they are referring to, of course, is an old-fashioned Biblicist church that loves the truth and hates sin and error (as well as loving sinners and proclaiming the free grace of Christ in the gospel) and is more concerned about saving souls than saving whales. According to the emerging church, to preach against sin and heresy is to be prideful, hypocritical, selfish, judgmental, and unchristlike, but the fact is that Christ and the apostles preached against sin and error in the strongest manner (e.g., Matthew 23:13-36; Acts 13:9-11; 17:29-31; Colossians 2:4-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 3:1-17; 4:1-4; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 3:3-10; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-23; 2 John 4-11; Jude 3-23). The emerging church is clamoring to please the world, to have the world applaud their kind of Christianity.

And they are getting some attention. The “Christians Are Jerks” billboard recently came under scrutiny by CNN in an interview with emerging voice Gabe Lyons, author of The New Christians. They gave Gabe a forum to spout his pathetic “I’m too cool to be a jerk” program. Gabe is a graduate of Liberty University, and though Liberty has largely renounced its early fundamentalist roots, it is still far too fundamentalist for Gabe.

The more serious problem is that Gabe and his crowd are lying about fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals, pretending that all they have cared about is criticizing and judging. This is a strawman.

Gabe told CNN, for example, that Falwell and the Moral Majority only cared about criticizing abortion, whereas the emergents are concerned about adoptions and a positive approach. The truth is that Falwell’s crowd spent a great deal of time and money toward finding homes for children that have been spared the abortionist’s knife and other “positive” approaches to the abortion problem.

As for their attempt to gain the applause of the world, the emergents are in for a rude awakening. At the end of the day, the world doesn’t care about any sort of Christianity. In fact, I suspect that the world is more likely to respect a rock-ribbed Biblicist Christianity that flies its flag unashamedly than it does the soft, apologetic, jellyfish type. Be that as it may, God has not told us to please the world or to conform to the world or to love the world. The apostle John said, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19).

The emergents claim to be thinking outside of the box, but in reality they are following the herd. They love the same music, wear the same clothing, fly the same hair styles, hold the same philosophy, have the same idolatrous love for modern pop culture and the same mocking hatred of “fundamentalism.” They attract the same youthful cool crowd. And they have the same campaigns. The “What a Bunch of Jerks” campaign is simply the latest in the “We Hate Church” series which have been so popular with emerging churches for the last couple of years. Emerging churches claim to be new, but it is the old social gospel warmed over for the 21st century. Emerging churches claim that they are “different,” but they aren’t. They are a dime a dozen today. They are mainstream.

Today, it is the old-fashioned Biblicist church that is really different, the church that doesn’t need a rock & roll band to worship God, where they love the truth and hate evil, and where all the members use the same Bible. Now, that’s a church with a difference!

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

THE BIBLE DEMANDS PLAIN EXPOSURE OF ERROR

We are not to contend for the faith in vague generalities. The apostle Paul gives us the example of naming the names of heretics and compromisers. He did this 10 times in 1 and 2 Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:19-20 Holding faith, and a [...]]]> By David Cloud

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

THE BIBLE DEMANDS PLAIN EXPOSURE OF ERROR

We are not to contend for the faith in vague generalities. The apostle Paul gives us the example of naming the names of heretics and compromisers. He did this 10 times in 1 and 2 Timothy.

1 Timothy 1:19-20 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

2 Timothy 2:16-18 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

If the preacher is not plain in exposing sin and error, God’s people will not know exactly who or what to avoid.

THE BIBLE DEMANDS SEPARATION FROM COMPROMISE, DOCTRINAL ERROR, AND APOSTASY

Not only are we to know sound doctrine and to test everything by God’s Word and to earnestly contend for the truth, but we are also exhorted to separate from error. This has become a dirty word in pop Christianity today, but it i clear teaching of Scripture.

Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

Revelation 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Someone might ask, “What about the Bible’s call for unity?” Bible teachings aren’t contradictory, and if we examine the unity passages in their context we see that one can obey them while also obeying the commands pertaining to separation.

Consider Romans 15:5-6: “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The context of this passage is the church at Rome. That is to whom it was immediately addressed. Observe, then, that the Bible’s call for Christian unity is primarily something that functions at the church level. Observe, too, that the unity that God demands is not the ecumenical/evangelical “unity in diversity,” it is the unity of speaking with “one mind and one mouth.” That is a very serious type of unity, and it is not possible in the midst of popular Christianity in these end times. Consider a typical ecumenical evangelism event or a Christian rock concert. You will have Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Brethren, Orthodox, even Roman Catholics, all bringing their various conflicting doctrines. It is impossible to have “one mind and one mouth” in the midst of such a hodgepodge of doctrinal confusion, and it is not expected today, but to have less than “one mind and one mouth” is to disobey God’s Word.

The late David Nettleton, in a message entitled “A Limited Message or a Limited Fellowship,” described his experiences in an interdenominational youth ministry in the 1950s. He said that when he was invited to speak, he was instructed not to speak on certain doctrines, such as the mode of baptism, eternal security, tongues speaking, and the interpretation of Bible prophecy. These were called “non-essentials” and he was taught to focus only on the “essentials” in order to have a broader fellowship and ministry. Through prayer he realized that this philosophy is contrary to how the apostle Paul operated. In Acts 20:27, Paul reminded the elders at Ephesus that he was pure from the blood of all men “for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Nettleton realized that he had to make a choice, between popular evangelicalism or the Bible. He concluded his message with these words:

“Today we are choosing between two alternatives. A LIMITED MESSAGE OR A LIMITED FELLOWSHIP. If we preach all of the Bible truths, there are many places where we will never be invited. If we join hands with the crowds, there will be limiting of the message of the Bible. Bear this in mind–it is the Baptist who lays aside the most! It is the fundamental Baptist who makes the concessions! Think this through and you will find it to be true. We believe in believer’s baptism. We believe in separation. We preach eternal security. We believe in the imminent coming of Christ. We consider it an act of obedience to reprove unbelief in religious circles. The Sadducee and the Pharisee are to be labeled. But according to a present philosophy we must lay these things aside for the sake of a larger sphere of service. …

“It is our first duty to be fully obedient to God in all things, and then to wait upon Him for the places of service. It may be that we will be limited, and it may be that we will not. Charles Haddon Spurgeon did not travel as widely as some men of his day, but his sermons have traveled as far as the sermons of most men “(David Nettleton, “A Limited Message or a Limited Fellowship,” GARBC, c. 1960s).

(For more about the Bible’s doctrine of Christian unity study 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:3-6; and Philippians 1:27.)

THE BIBLE DEMANDS STRICT SEPARATION FROM SIN AND WORLDLINESS

Not only does the Bible require separation from false teaching and religious/spiritual compromise, it also requires strict separation from sin and worldliness. Consider the following Scriptures:

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1 Corinthians 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1 John 5:19 And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

These verses are why I changed my lifestyle dramatically after I got saved (though it was part of a growing process that took time, of course). I changed my clothing styles so as not to be identified with the rebellious, licentious “hippy” movement. I cut my long hair. I stopped smoking and drinking and using drugs. I changed my music. I stopped going to bars and movie theaters and the beach (to ogle the half-naked girls) and other wicked places.

The Bible teaches us that believers are to walk in the fear of God. The word “fear” appears 30 times in the Epistles.

Hebrews 12:28-29 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

This is not the “Jesus is my pal,” Jesus is a party guy, type of Christianity that is popular today.

Believers are warned about a strict judgment at the Bema of Christ (1 Cor. 3:13-15; 2 Cor. 5:9-10).

CONCLUSION

Scripture demands strict biblicism. We are to hold fast to the old paths until Jesus comes!!! Biblical Christianity is not new and it is not cool. The newest part of the Scripture is 2,000 years old, and it came from Heaven rather than from earth.

Jesus hates lukewarm Christianity (Revelation 3:15-16)!

It is impossible to obey the Scriptures we have listed and also to follow any of the contemporary programs and movements; all of them renounce this strict approach. All of them hate biblical fundamentalism and find time to mock it and take cheap shots at it every chance they get.

Furthermore, biblical strictness is not mean or unloving.

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

The late Mel Rutter, vice president of Maranatha Baptist Mission in Natchez, Mississippi, told me the last time I saw him in 1978, “Son, be as firm as a rock in your position, but be as sweet as the honey from rock in your disposition. That is a proper biblical objective and calling.

It is salvation that made me a strict biblicist. I made a profession of faith at about age 11 and was baptized into a Baptist church, but there was no evidence that I knew Christ. I never read my Bible of my own accord. I never prayed about God’s will. I had no interest in church or in preaching. But when I was biblically converted at age 23, my life changed, and as I studied the Bible as a young Christian I read the verses we have considered in this sermon and I began to try to take them seriously.

We live in an age of terrible compromise, an age that was prophesied in Scripture (e.g., 2 Timothy 4:3-4), but many are standing in an evil age. They refuse to be swept down the river of compromise or to bend with the winds of apostasy. They are more fearful of God than the crowd and more impressed with the Christ of the Bible than the big names in evangelicalism. I am thankful for every preacher and church that does not compromise when the pressure to do so today is so very strong.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13).

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

The following Scriptures teach me to have a “fundamentalist” type of Christianity. Call it what you will, these Scriptures condemn the Evangelical-Emerging philosophy of our day.

THE BIBLE DEMANDS STRICTNESS IN DOCTRINE

This is foundational. If a believer is as strict about doctrine as the Bible commands he will [...]]]> By David Cloud

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

The following Scriptures teach me to have a “fundamentalist” type of Christianity. Call it what you will, these Scriptures condemn the Evangelical-Emerging philosophy of our day.

THE BIBLE DEMANDS STRICTNESS IN DOCTRINE

This is foundational. If a believer is as strict about doctrine as the Bible commands he will not be able to follow any of the contemporary philosophies or movements.

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

1 Timothy 1:3 As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.

1 Timothy 6:13-14 I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

The Bible teaches that God’s people can know sound doctrine through diligent study, obedience, and surrender to the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 7:17; 8:31-32; 1 Timothy 2:15; 1 John 2:27). We can learn to rightly divide God’s Word.

THE BIBLE DEMANDS THAT WE TEST ALL THINGS

Not only are we exhorted to know sound doctrine, we are to test everything by it. We are taught that we live in a world of lies and that heresies and compromise will abound more and more as the time of Christ’s coming draws nigh (e.g., 2 Corinthians 11; 1 Timothy 4:1-6; 2 Timothy 3:15; 2 Peter 2; Jude; 1 John 4).

Following are some of the passages that require the child of God to develop a testing mindset:

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

1 Corinthians 2:15-16 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:3-4 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Philippians 1:10 That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;

1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

THE BIBLE DEMANDS THAT WE CONTEND FOR THE FAITH

Not only are we to know the Scripture and to test everything by it, but we are also to contend against all errors.

Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

It is impossible to take this verse seriously and also to be an evangelical or emerging Christian today. If you try to fight for the truth once delivered to the saints, you will be mocked, misjudged, and ostracized. Which part of the old faith are we to fight for? All of it! Especially that part that happens to be under attack at the moment.

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:128).

There is a fierce attack today on a strict Biblicist position. It is hated by evangelicals, the emerging church, Southern Baptists, most Presbyterians and Methodists and Lutherans.

Brian McLaren said [...]]]> By David Cloud

http://wayoflife.org/files/baa7b9c8d7f9e6cf30592a11b620c73a-656.html

“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:128).

There is a fierce attack today on a strict Biblicist position. It is hated by evangelicals, the emerging church, Southern Baptists, most Presbyterians and Methodists and Lutherans.

Brian McLaren said the emerging church is targeting our children and grandchildren with the objective of leading them away from separatism. Recently Gabe Lyons (shown above) said he is excited about (supposed) death of separatist Christianity (“End of Christian America is Good, Says Young Evangelical,” Christian Post, Oct. 12, 2010).

Even among those who still claim to be fundamentalists and who say that they are opposed to New Evangelicalism and the Emerging Church, there is a softening of stance, a moderation of militancy, less forthrightness, less naming names, less plainness in warning. How many Independent Baptist schools/churches even have warning conferences? When is the last time that you hear of a large IB school that had a conference on Separation?

October 13, 2010 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org

The Gospel is a joyful fact; therefore tell it cheerfully.

The Gospel is an entrusted fact; therefore tell it faithfully.

The Gospel is a fact of infinite moment; therefore tell it earnestly.

The Gospel is a fact of infinite love; therefore tell it feelingly.

The Gospel [...]]]> The Gospel is a fact; therefore tell it simply.

The Gospel is a joyful fact; therefore tell it cheerfully.

The Gospel is an entrusted fact; therefore tell it faithfully.

The Gospel is a fact of infinite moment; therefore tell it earnestly.

The Gospel is a fact of infinite love; therefore tell it feelingly.

The Gospel is a fact of difficult comprehension to many; therefore tell it with illustration.

The Gospel is a fact about a Person; therefore preach Christ.

Archibald Brown

Brian McLaren states: “I DON’T THINK WE’VE GOT THE GOSPEL RIGHT YET. What does it mean to be ‘saved’? When I read the Bible, I don’t see it meaning, ‘I’m going to heaven after I die.’ Before modern evangelicalism nobody accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, or walked down an aisle, or said the sinner’s prayer. I don’t think the liberals have it right. But I don’t think we have it right either. None of us has arrived at orthodoxy” (“The Emergent Mystique,” Christianity Today, Nov. 2004, p. 40).

“The church has been preoccupied with the question, ‘What happens to your soul after you die?’ AS IF THE REASON FOR JESUS COMING CAN BE SUMMED UP IN, ‘JESUS IS TRYING TO HELP GET MORE SOULS INTO HEAVEN, AS OPPOSED TO HELL, AFTER THEY DIE.’ I JUST THINK A FAIR READING OF THE GOSPELS BLOWS THAT OUT OF THE WATER. I don’t think that the entire message and life of Jesus can be boiled down to that bottom line” (“The Emerging Church,” Part Two, Religion & Ethics, July 15, 2005, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week846/cover.html).

The BIBLE says:

John 3:16-18  For  God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (17)  For  God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  (18)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of  God.

Romans 10:9-10  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (10)  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ (His death, burial, and resurrection) is understandable to those that will listen to the pricking of the heart by the Holy Spirit. The Gospel needs to be believed, and heard over and over again, and the sinner needs to repent and trust fully in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Brian McLaren appears to be: everyone is going to Heaven, so we need to save planet Earth. This is a dangerous Gospel and it is leading people down the broad path to Hell.

For more information, follow this link:

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