There is a lot of disagreement about Contemporary Christian Music. What I ask is that you forget your preferences, what you have heard from others, and just compare the following information to God’s Word. My opinion and your opinion do not matter. God is truth and we determine 6/6/2008 truth by His Word. 1 Philippians 4:8 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 6/6/2008 2 Contemporary Christian Music Black Or Gray 6/6/2008 3 Gray Areas? There AREN'T any gray areas in the Bible! From Genesis to Revelation, God lays everything out in blacks and whites: . Blessings/Cursings, . Life/ Death, . Heaven/Hell, . God/Satan, . Christ/the World. You have to make your choice. 6/6/2008 4 “If only one is saved it is worth it” 6/6/2008 5 Or is it? 6/6/2008 6 Saved to what? 6/6/2008 7 Saved to What? Christian Rock Music The Youth Group Religion Jesus ? How if they don’t hear His name? 6/6/2008 8 Acts 4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. 6/6/2008 9 Does the Ends Justify the means? 6/6/2008 10 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Sermons, pg. 426. If an act of sin would increase my usefulness tenfold, I have no right to do it; and if an act of righteousness would appear likely to destroy all my apparent usefulness, I am yet to do it. 6/6/2008 11 Ends Justifies the Means? The fact that some people are saved at concerts, or in a church that enticed them to attend because of the music, does not give validation to the procedure. The Lord saves people in spite of our wrong behavior and decisions, not because of them. IS IT REALLY CHRISTIAN MUSIC? By Connie W. Schutta Copyright © 2000 6/6/2008 12 Tim Fisher The Battle for Christian Music "One of the major problems with the CCM crowd is that they believe the purpose of music is outreach. When outreach is your stated purpose, you will go to any lengths to justify almost anything in attempting to reach the lost. Indeed, this is exactly what we are seeing in the CCM movement today." (p.156) 6/6/2008 13 What is Acceptable? Another argument is that Jesus went out and mingled with sinners. However, the Lord Jesus never went into a den of iniquity nor did He copy the ways of the ungodly. "For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;" (Heb 7:26). Do we take drugs to win addicts to Christ? Do we use foul language to witness to those who curse? Do we steal to identify with robbers? Do we draw lewd pictures to present Christ to the pornographer? Do we use carnal music to gain a hearing with the world? 6/6/2008 14 John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 6/6/2008 15 GEORGES BERNANOS “The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means.” 6/6/2008 16 "... the goal of Christian mission is not success, but faithful witness; not power, but proclamation; not technique, but truth; not method, but message." Michael Horton, Power Religion, Moody Press, pg. 15 6/6/2008 17 “We trust that God knows our heart and we have the best of intentions - salvation of the lost.” 6/6/2008 18 Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 6/6/2008 19 Is Pure Motives Enough? I will admit that their motives may be pure. But pure motives do not make it right. 6/6/2008 20 Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 6/6/2008 21 Is Pure Motives Enough? Uzzah had pure motives when he tried to prevent the ark from falling in 1 Chronicles 13:9-10, but his actions were wrong and God judged him severely by his death. Mormons and Muslims are sincere, but sincerely wrong. 6/6/2008 22 Acceptable Offerings “The Lord God is not pleased with nor does He accept everything that is offered to Him in worship. He did not respect or accept Cain’s offering (see Genesis 4), and He did not accept the “strange fire” offered to Him by Nadab and Abihu. In fact, He killed them with fire for offering it (see Leviticus 10:1-2). Whether or not they believed their offering was offered in spirit and truth was irrelevant. What they were offering was disobedience (therefore apart from truth) and was not considered by God to be an act of worship.” In the Name of Purpose Sacrificing Truth on the Altar of Unity Tamara Hartzell Copyright © 2006 6/6/2008 23 Sincerity Isn’t Enough “Sincerity and motivation have never been a test of real spirituality or even of Christianity for that matter. The Word of God is that which will abide forever, and it is upon His Word that God hinges all spiritual truth. It is not right to ignore the Bible, to become worldly in philosophy and practice, to call things Christian which are not, nor to disobey the Word of God, even to try to win people to Christ.” (Dr. Frank Garlock , "Can Rock Music Be Sacred?" 1974, p.39). 6/6/2008 24 ABRAHAM LINCOLN "My great concern is not whether God is on our side; my great concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." Abraham Lincoln in a reply to a deputation of Southerners 6/6/2008 25 “Christian rock can't be wrong. Look at all the people who go forward at the concerts. Look at how popular God has made these bands.” 6/6/2008 26 So-called results do not mean God is behind it. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” 6/6/2008 27 The Lord Jesus also said that many will be deceived by false prophets and false christs. “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold....for there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matthew 24:11,12,24. 6/6/2008 28 Matthew 7:15-16 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. 6/6/2008 29 What is The Fruit? "When the Scriptures tell us to judge the prophets by their fruit, it means their holy living and conformity to God's Word for themselves and those they teach. It does not mean the number of spectacular events that transpire in their lives. Nor does it rest on how many people are blessed by them; many are blessed by New Age practitioners. Nor does it rest on the number of moral causes they are involved in. ... Yet today's prophets tell us not to judge the ungodly lives or the bad doctrine of the prophets, but to believe them because of the 'fruit' of their ministries." CIB Bulletin, February 1986, p. 12 6/6/2008 30 Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes. 6/6/2008 31 “There is a lot of prayer that surrounds events like concerts.” 6/6/2008 32 Prayer Instead of Obedience "Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience. The sovereign Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied by obedience. To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting the plain precept laid down in the Scriptures is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble." A.W. Tozer, Of God and Men, 52. 6/6/2008 33 What are we saving them from? A life of rock and roll, drugs, immorality…. 6/6/2008 34 Oh, sorry, that is the Contemporary Christian Music Group’s description 6/6/2008 35 Sandi Patty still singing after repeated immorality and divorce. 6/6/2008 36 Michael English Four DOVE awards 1994 Immorality exposed 1 week later Also admitted an Addiction to painkillers English's name remains on the winner's list for the DOVE awards. 6/6/2008 37 2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity — for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.