CHRISTIAN MUSIC

CHRISTIAN ROCK??? ROCK PRAISE MUSIC??? CHRISTIAN RAP???

THE TESTIMONY OF A FORMER SATANIST HIGH PRIEST THAT THE "ROCK BEAT" GIVES "GROUND"

"My background is not a good one, but I give thanks and praise to God for saving me from it. I was a Satanist high priest for nine years.

"I am writing in regard to 'Christian music' or what is called 'power tracts,' 'Christian rock and roll,' and 'contemporary Christian' music, and their counterparts, rock and roll, heavy metal, black metal, country music, rap, and punk.

"I understand that I cannot judge groups as to whether or not they are genuine believers. But the Bible does say that we are to judge their fruit.

"The Bible says that we are to be Christ Like. Some groups who play this kind of 'Christian' music say that they do so because it's the only way they can reach the young people of today. They claim that we must look like the world and use the world's music in order to reach young people with the Word of God.

"How long will Christians allow themselves to be deceived and lied to by Satan [the father of lies]?

"The Bible says we are to be in the world but not of it--not a part of it. It also says be a friend with the world is to be an enemy of God.

"As ambassadors for Christ, we should represent Him the best we can. Christ never changed His appearance, whether He talked with kings or the poor.

"When I first became involved in the occult, music had a big influence on my life. It was not just the words but the music itself. Its affect on me spiritually was to bring me into another state of consciousness.

"The beat and style of the music used in the occult rituals is the same that I now hear in 'Christian power tracts,' 'Christian rock and roll,' 'Christian rap,' and in much of what is called 'Christian contemporary' music today.

"People who were saved from the youth culture of today say, 'I cannot listen to this new Christian music, because when I hear it, it takes me back to my past when I was lost it brings all that back to me--lustful desires, love of money, sex, suicide, and rebellion against authority.'

"Think of the struggle that these young Christians have when they try to separate the things of the world from the things of God. When they hear what is called 'Christian' music that sounds just like the world, these vulnerable young Christians become confused and the music becomes a stumbling block in their lives.

"Normally a Christian will take only what is good and leave the bad. This discernment does not always work with music, however, because if the music is bad and the words are good, many Christians are not able to separate them and both are swallowed together.

"Satan tried a mixed-message tactic on Jesus in the desert when he misquoted Scripture by mixing it with half-truths. Jesus rebuked Satan for this tactic and quoted the whole truth back to him."

David Pratt, Chattanooga, Tennessee

THE SECOND WITNESS THAT THE "ROCK BEAT" ITSELF IS DEMONIC

In April 1990, a Christian from Zimbabwe, Africa, arrived for his first visit to the United States. He is a native missionary under the Awana Youth Association. When he turned on a Christian radio station and listened to the music, he was shocked. Here is his report:

"I am very sensitive to the beat in music, because when I was a boy, I played the drums in our village worship rituals. The beat that I played on the drum was to get the demon spirits into the people.

"When I became a Christian, I rejected this kind of beat because I realized how damaging it was.

"When I turned on a Christian radio station in the United States, I was shocked. The same beat that I used to play to call up the evil spirits is in the music I heard on the Christian station."

-- Stephen Maphosah, Zimbabwe, Africa

Stephen Maphosah, who was trained to use the beat for demonic worship (see testimony earlier), visited a Christian bookstore on June 25, 1990. He purchased samples of ten individual "contemporary Christian" musicians and groups that are among the most listened to by Christians in America.

He evaluated each tape on the basis of its beat. Some tapes contained the demonic beat that he was accustomed to in his ancestral worship of evil spirits. Other tapes contained a slower variation of the demonic beat. However, he classified all the tapes as "unacceptable and offensive to the Christians of this country."

A THIRD WITNESS THAT THE "ROCK BEAT" DOES GIVE "GROUND" TO THE DEVIL

"In 1981, I was driving down a jungle road in the Ivory Coast with several African pastors in the car with me. I had recently received a couple of cassette tapes from our denominational headquarters that were intended for our teenaged daughter.

"These were recordings of various 'Christian rock' artists. In listening to the tapes, I was very disturbed in my own spirit that such material was being sent to our missionary kids.

"But not trusting my own reaction alone and realizing that these pastors with whom I was traveling were very sensitive to the spirit world (both good and evil), I decided to play the tapes for them. The reaction I got was immediate and verbally violent!

"One of the pastors asked me this question, 'Do you mean to tell us that this kind of music is played in your churches in America?'

"I answered in the affirmative. His response was filled with disgust and anger as he replied with another question. 'What are you doing allowing your church people in America to call up the evil spirits with their music?"

Rev. Joe Meyers, Tacoma, Washington

THE "ROCK BEAT" MOCKS GOD'S COMMAND TO "LOVE NOT THE WORLD."

There is absolutely no way that Christians who love the "rock beat" can deny that they love the world. The "rock beat" not only originated with the ungodly elements of this world, but it expresses the evil intentions of the world's system which is opposed to Christ and His Truth. The very phrase "rock 'n' roll" describes a form of immorality. To say that we can have "Christian rock" is like saying we can have "Christian immorality."

Furthermore the "rock beat" does not come alone. It was originally designed to stir up and express rebellion to authority, as well as immorality. Those who try to put Christian words to a "rock beat" are simply imitating the world, and because one of the strongest evidences of admiration is imitation, they are guilty of violating God's command in 1 John 2:15-16:

"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."

God condemns any Christian who loves the world.

"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).

Christians are to be in the world but not of the world. We are not to be influenced by their evil ways; instead, we are to be a light in their darkness.

God brought judgment to His own people when they ". . . mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them" (Psalm 106:35-42).

THE "ROCK BEAT" DISREGARDS GOD'S COMMAND NOT TO OFFEND OTHER CHRISTIANS

On Friday afternoon, May 18, 1990, a twenty-year-old man attending the Detroit Basic Seminar asked the following question.

"Several years ago I was saved out of a life of immorality and drugs. The church I began attending told me to get rid of my rock music. I did and have been growing in the Lord. But now my church is playing the same kind of music they told me to give up. What am I to do?"

This grievous question exposes the violation of the law of love in the matter of "Christian rock" music. It brings us directly to the appeal of the Apostle Paul regarding questionable things: It is good not to do "…any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak" (Romans 14:21).

This vital command is repeated in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13. It puts to silence any Christian who says he has a right to play the music that he enjoys.

"But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. . . . And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. . ."

The "rock beat" offends Christians who, when they first hear it, immediately discern in their spirits that it is not of God but is of the world.

The "rock beat" is not only offending Christians in America, but it is especially grievous to Christians in other countries who are being influenced by American missionaries and visiting youth groups.

THE "ROCK BEAT" DEFIES GOD'S COMMAND TO JUDGE ALL THINGS AS GOOD OR EVIL.

In the early years of the "Christian rock beat," the beat and the sound were justified on the basis that "music is amoral." If such a conclusion is accepted, then music is not a matter of good and evil, but simply a matter of personal taste. Yet such false reasoning is in total opposition to the words of Scripture. Music is the product of words and actions, and nowhere in Scripture is there an "amoral" classification for words and actions.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10).

All Christians are commanded by God to exercise their spiritual senses in order to discern between good and evil.

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).

THE "ROCK BEAT" OPPOSES GOD'S COMMAND NOT TO MIX LIGHT WITH DARKNESS.

Most of those who promote "Christian rock" music would agree that the rock music of the world is evil. However, they reason that by putting Christian words to the same beat, the world's music is somehow made right.

This human reasoning is directly opposed to the instruction of Scripture.

"... What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15).

In the days of the prophet Haggai, the priests were called together and asked some very pertinent questions. The answers which these priests gave have direct application in the matter of mixing Christian words with an ungodly beat.

"If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean" (Haggai 2:12-13).

If a priest who had been cleansed would touch something unclean, he would not purify the unclean; however, the unclean thing he touched would make him unclean.

Similarly, the thought of making unclean music acceptable by putting Christian words to it is in direct violation of the following command:

"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Corinthians 6:17).

The chief justification for combining the pure words of Scripture with the unclean music of the world is that this is the method by which we will reach non-Christians. There are several fallacies to this reasoning.

God ordained preaching, not music, to reach the lost.

There are two primary purposes for music in the life of a Christian. The first is to praise and worship Cod. The second is to edify other Christians. This is the clear teaching of Ephesians 5:19: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

When it comes to reaching the lost, God ordained preaching, rather than music, to accomplish this goal. ". . . It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21). (See also 1 Corinthians 1:18.)

Based on these points, the commands of Ephesians 5:6-12 are pertinent:

"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light. . . . Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. . ."

HOW A TEENAGER RESTORED PERSONAL WORSHIP BY DESTROYING THE "ROCK BEAT"

"I have listened to 'contemporary Christian' music all my life. My parents listened to it even before I was born.

"When they began listening in the early 1970s, the beat was much softer than it is today. However, both secular and 'Christian contemporary' music styles have changed. The beat of the music has gotten much harder and faster. The changes were subtle, so only in retrospect can I see where that wrong music led me.

"My parents would never allow me to listen to secular rock music. However, I disobeyed them and listened to it when they weren't around. This was partly because of peer pressure. It was also because I was used to the beat of the 'contemporary Christian' music.

"I felt that some of the 'Christian' music had a harder beat than some of the secular music so there must not be anything wrong with the softer secular music. Listening to this music was feeding my growing rebellion toward my parents by putting wrong thoughts and attitudes in my mind. This music also led to lowering my moral standards.

"In 1987 I stopped listening to secular music and focused totally on 'contemporary Christian' music. This did not correct my wrong attitudes, because I was still being fed by the wrong music. Then my pride increased. I felt I was better than a lot of people because I didn't listen to the world's music.

"In 1989 my parents became increasingly aware of how this wrong music was affecting my life. They began to try to change my views on it. I listened to the Striving for Excellence tapes, and our family read through the Bible and researched every Scripture that dealt with music.

"My parents prayed that I would give up this wrong music. During this time, God was working in my heart. I knew that 'contemporary Christian' music was not what my parents wanted for me, but I was afraid to give it up. It had been a part of my life for so long.

"In January of 1990, I met a large group of Christian young people who did not listen to any music with a rock beat in it. I was tremendously impressed with them. They had a peace and a joy that I didn't have.

"On February 13,1990, I gave all my music to the Lord and burned all of my 'Christian rock' tapes. The results have been amazing!

"God has given me a new desire to know Him better. I have a peace in my life that I never even realized was missing. For years I had a stuttering problem that is now completely cleared up, and I have a new relationship with my parents that I have never had before.

"It was very important for me not just to get rid of the wrong music, but to replace it with right music.

"It is my prayer that every teenager will experience the freedom that I am now enjoying."

-- Christiane Quick, age 19, North Carolina

"Reaching teenagers" with "Christian rock" music is like giving out liquor with Bible verses on the bottles. To justify vulgar music on the basis that it is being used to communicate the Gospel is the same as justifying profanity in the pulpit or pornography in Gospel literature. Introducing the "rock beat" into Christian music is like establishing a pluralistic society~ It is simply a transition from one controlling religion to another.

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