Music

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A Rebuke from Russia

Mosh pit from Planetshakers "Christian" conference in Sydney, AUS

Over ten years ago, persecuted Christians in Russia sent an urgent plea to the churches of America to stop sending their demonic rock music under the ruse that it is supposedly Christian.  It addition to this plea, they also issued a sharp rebuke to the blindness and worldliness of the countless ministers and ministries that promote this music as being Christian. 

Yet has this plea been heard and has the rebuke yielded fruits of repentance?  Maybe for a select few but by in large the church has only further sunk into the morass of the world’s music whereby even thrash metal, rap, goth and a host of other forms of “music” are not only defended but welcomed into the church with open arms.  What a disgrace and shame that so many self-professed shepherds cannot separate the holy from the profane, the clean from the unclean.  And that the lost and unregenerate, as noted in his letter, have better discernment! 

For those who have eyes to see with and ears to hear I include the letter below.  At some point in the future I hope to write more about this subject. 

For thirty years we have suffered intense persecution. Now freedom is bringing another great harm to our churches. This damage is coming from Christians in America who are sending rock music and evangelists accompanied by rock bands. Our young people do not attend those meetings because we have all committed not to participate in secular entertainment. 

This is a great burden to our hearts. Many come with Bible in hand and rock music. We are embarrassed by this image of Christianity. We do not know what words to use in urging that this be stopped. We abhor all Christian rock music coming to our country. 

Rock music has nothing in common with ministry or the service to God. We are very much against Christian Americans bringing to our country this false image of “ministry” to God. We need spiritual bread… not false cakes. It is true that rock music attracts people to the church, but not to Godly living. 

We were in prison for fifteen years for Christ’s sake. We were not allowed to have Christian music, but ROCK MUSIC was used as a weapon against us day and night to destroy our souls. We could only resist with much prayer. 

Now, we have a time of more openness. We are no longer taken to prison. However, now it is Christians from America who damage our souls. We do not allow this music in our church, but these “evangelists” rent big stadiums and infect teenagers and adults with their rock music. We, the leadership and congregations of the Unregistered churches urge you to join with us, and we advise you to remove rock music from America. 

Do not desecrate our teenagers with it. Even the unbelievers recognize it is unholy music. We call this music, “music from hell.” We urge all Americans to stop giving money for the organizations of such concerts in Russia. We only want traditional Christian music in our churches. This is the unanimous decision of all our leaders. 

Peter Peters and Vasilij Ryzhuk, Unregistered Union of Churches, Moscow, Russia, April 15, 1992 (Bold added) 

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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

I suppose I’ll be the first to start this season’s music off with my all-time favorite Christmas song. This is a beautiful rendition by Christina Sonnemann.

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

O come, Thou Key of David, come
And open wide our heavenly home
Make safe the way that leads on high
And close the path to misery
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

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Listen To Your Heart?

hrtI’ve often heard people say that they’re not worried about their sins; they just do what their hearts tell them to do. I’ve even heard burly bikers say sappy stuff about their pure hearts. Where do people get that, and why do so many believe that? Could it be that it has been pounded into our heads hundreds of times?

Here are a few select lines from various songs. On this list is music from nearly every genre, for every age group.

  • Phil Collins – Trust your heart. Let fate decide, to guide these lives we see.
  • Stevie Wonder – Why second guess what feels so right? Just trust your heart and you’ll see the light. True to your heart, you must be true to your heart.
  • Lynard Skynard – Follow your heart and nothing else.
  • Melissa Etheridge- I have come this far with a truth of the heart.
  • New Radicals – This whole d___ world can fall apart. You’ll be okay; follow your heart.
  • Smokin’ Armadillos – Let your heart lead your mind.
  • Ultravox – Follow, follow your heart.
  • Triumph – You’ve got to follow your heart.
  • Judy Collins – Trust your heart.
  • The Stylistics – Listen to your heart, hear what it’s saying.
  • Motorhead – Listen to your heart.
  • Little Feat – Listen to your heart.
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt – Listen to your heart.
  • Roxette – Listen to your heart.
  • Reba McEntire – The heart won’t lie.
  • Thumbelina cartoon – When you follow your heart, when you follow your heart.
  • Sonic Underground cartoon – When there’s people in your life trying to tell you what is right, what do you do? Listen to your heart, girl. Do you take a brand new road or the one you’ve always known? Am I getting through? Listen to your heart, girl. ‘Cause the heart’s not gonna lie to you. Listen to your heart, girl. And I know you’ll always be hearing the truth if you listen to your heart.

Music has a profound effect on people. Tunes get stuck in our heads. People memorize lyrics. Many listen to the radio all day long at work. Certainly the doctrines found in music will end up being adopted by a certain percentage of people.

The Bible has a few different things to say about our hearts and how we should make decisions.

Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Proverbs 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Proverbs 14:12: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 28:26: Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

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Quotes (535)

Puritans In the ordinance of singing, we must not make noise, but music; and the heart must make melody to the Lord. Augustine complained of some in his time, that “they minded more the tune than the truth; more the manner than the matter; more the governing of the voice than the uplifting of the mind;” and this was a great offense to him. Singing of Psalms should be joyous breathing of an elevated soul; and here the cleanness of the heart is more important than the clearness of the voice. In this service we must study more to act the Christian than the musician. Many in their singing of Psalms are like organs, whose pipes are filled only with wind.

– John Wells

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Music lyrics quiz: Christian or secular?


kelly-clarkson

Are you ready to take a fun little quiz to see if Christian music is distinguishable from the music of the world? Let’s see if you can tell the difference between the lyrics of songs performed by Christian musicians and that of songs performed by secular musicians.

Grab a pen and a piece of paper and number the paper 1 through 25. Then read the following 25 lyrics and see if you can distinguish between the sacred and the secular. Put a “C” next to the number if you believe the lyrics are from a Christian song, or an “S” next to the number if you believe the lyrics come from a secular song. The answers are at the bottom of this post (so don’t cheat). Each correct answer is worth 4 points (possible total of 100 points). I’d love to hear how you did. And when you’re done, don’t forget to take the three-question pop-quiz on music lyrics found here.

If you intend on taking the quiz, don’t read the comments beforehand because there are some spoilers in the comments.


All lyrics are taken from the internet–as is–grammar and spelling not corrected

Have fun!

1.

He knows just what to do
When it comes to the girls
He writes them poetry
And he picks them flowers
He knows just what to say when it come to the ladies,
Knows how to make a girl smile
How to drive a girl crazy

2.

. . . Can’t you see that He spread love for you
Shed blood for you, cry for and die for you . . .

. . . I surrender all to thee
I want the whole world to see
That you’ve always been, you’ll always be
My best friend
I love you Jesus
Thank you, forgive me for my trespasses
As I forgive those who trespass against me Thank you

3.

Cause I know that there’s a better place
Than this place I’m livin, how far is heaven
and I just got to have some faith
and just keep on living, how far is heaven
Lord can you tell me, how far is heaven
cause I just gotta know, how far is heaven
yeah Lord, can You tell me, how far is heaven
I just gotta know how far, yeah I just gotta know how far

4.

At times the woman deep inside me
Wanders far from home,
And in my mind I live a life
That chills me to the bone.
A heart, running for arms out of reach,
But who is the stranger my longing seeks?
I don’t know.
But it scares me through and through,
cause I’ve a man at home
Who needs me to be true.

5.

It’s hard to stand
On shifting sand
It’s hard to shine
In the shadows of the night
You can’t be free
If you don’t reach for help
And you can’t love
If you don’t love yourself

6.

On my way down
I’m not ready to lay, I’m not ready to fade
I’m not ready to die
Not ready to lay, I’m not ready to fade
I’m not ready to die

I’m taken home – and you’re still here
Just clear your mind – and dry your tears
We’ll take our voices – with our hands
We’ll Make like knives – we’ll make demands

7.

Oh, wherever you are and wherever you’ve been
Now is the time to begin
So give to the needy, and pray for the grieving
Even when you don’t think that you can
‘Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
And make peace with God, and make peace with yourself
‘Cause in the end, there’s nobody else

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances and let it all out
‘Cause you won’t regret it
Looking back from where you have been
‘Cause it’s not who you knew
And it’s not what you did
It’s how you live

8.

You can all call me crazy
For the things that I might say
You can laugh all you want to
I know there will come a day
When we all will come together
And learn to set aside our hate
And we can learn to love our neighbor
Just like we would love ourselves

We’ve got to come together
‘Cause in the end we can make it — alright
We’ve got to brave the weather
Through all of the storms
We’ve got to come together
‘Cause in the end we can make it — alright
We’ve got to learn to love
We’ve got to learn to love

9.

Who’s to blame for the life that tragedies claim no matter what you say it won’t
take away the pain, that I feel inside I’m tired of all the lies don’t nobody know
why it’s the blind leadin’ the blind.
Guess that’s the way that the story goes, will it ever make sense somebody’s
gotta know, there’s gotta be more to life than this, there’s got to be more to everything
I thought exists

10.

Every time I try to find you
Every road comes back around
Just another hoop to jump through
Another mile of covered ground . . . .

So lay down the sword
And put away the doctrine
Love a little more
Love a little more
Cuz everybody’s broken

11.

For the life of me I cannot remember
What made us think that we were wise and
We’d never compromise
For the life of me I cannot believe
We’d ever die for these sins
We were merely freshman

12.

I see you holding your grudges
I see you gunning them down
I see you silencing your sisters
And I love you still
And I love you (still)

13.

One, Two, Three, Four.
Without Jah, Gonna Say, What
you sayin up here.
Without Jah, But know it sucks
boy. So something’s here.
Now. Jump. Nothing to nothing.
Who say you know you say.
What you say is without jah.
Jah. A lift off, a lift off.
Jah. Jah. You know you love it
when you say Jah. Jah.
Without Jah, Without Jah.
You know it’s time for
lift off.

14.

The Son of God is in our face
Offering us eternal grace
If you want it you’ve got to believe
‘Cause being free is a state of mind
We’ll one day leave this all behind
Just put your faith in God and one day you’ll see it

15.

You got something I like about you
You seem to be a lot like me
I’ve got ticket to adventure for two
Could be your golden opportunity.
The travel agent, she set up the itinerary,
First class, you can see the moon from a window seat
An agent guided tour of the galaxy,
Tips included, if you want them come with me
Chorus: I wanna know, is there life on Pluto?
Wanna go with me?
We can go in a UFO!
I wanna know, is there life on Pluto?
Wanna go with me?
We can go in a UFO!

16.

I met a girl named Tara
And she lived in the heart of America
She like black caddies
Listened to puff daddy
Danced until her legs were sore

She worked around the corner
At a diner with the grouchy owner
And her boyfriend Shady, dates another girl named Katie
He loves her definitely maybe . . .

. . . And she’s staring at his picture hanging in her locker
She’s telling all the girls about all the things that he bought her
I saw what really happened all those times he went for water
When we were at the movie theater watching Harry Potter
He had his hands on
Every single girl he laid his eyes on
Hate to break it to you, he’s a pylon
And even when he kissed her
He was looking over, staring at her sister

17.

Thinking how it might have been
If you had never
Walked into my life
I would have been nothing
Without you where would I be

Every moment used to feel
Like living through a
Cold and starless night
But everything’s changing
Everything is feeling right . . .

. . . How could I have been so blind
When you were always here
So near to me
And there is no other
Who knows me the way
I feel you do

And you were waiting all the time
For me to come around
And finally see
All the love I was missing
There you were right beside me
Always beside me . . .

. . . You made it so easy
Your love brought out
The best in me

18.

I’ve got it all, but I feel so deprived
I go up, I come down and I’m emptier inside
Tell me what is this thing that I feel like I’m missing
And why can’t I let it go

There’s gotta be more to life…
Than chasing down every temporary high to satisfy me
Cause the more that I’m…
Trippin’ out thinkin’ there must be more to life
Well it’s life, but I’m sure… There’s gotta be more

(Than wanting more)

I’ve got the time and I’m wasting it slowly
Here in this moment I’m half-way out the door
Onto the next thing, I’m searching for something that’s missing

I’m wanting more

I’m always waiting on something other than this
Why am I feelin’ like there’s something I missed….
Always… Always…

More to life
There’s gotta be more to life (more to life)
There’s gotta be more to life (more)
More to my life

19.

Throw up your rawkfist if you´re feelin it when I
drop this. Show ’em how we blow the spot, Let’s
make it hot, Let’s shock ’em with the bodyrock
’til the party stops. it´s time to take it up a
notch, and keep it locked, for all the headbangers
in the parking lot. Here we come, if you´re ready
or not. No time to talk. Cause we on the clock
bringin that Uhh, Uhh, to your block. Let me show
ya where we’re comin from, it don´t stop, from
L.A. to New York. Show me what you got now!

Throw up your rawkfist if you´re feelin it when I
drop this. Uhh, Uhh, that´s the sound when the
rock hits. Oh, you never know, I might let go.
Just roll, roll. Get ready, Get set. Throw up your
rawkfist if you´re feelin it when I drop this.
Uhh, Uhh, that´s the sound when the rock hits. Oh,
you never know, I might let go. Just roll, roll.
Get ready, Get set.

20.

Hey DJ won’t ya play that song
And we’ll keep dancing till the break of dawn
Keep it live like the way it should
Ain’t nobody gett’n crazy so you know it’s all good
B-boys, fly-girls one time
Friend of yours is a friend of mine
Don’t bother stopping till this jam is through
If you been here before then you know how we do

We came to rock the party all night long
So party people won’t ya sing that song
We came to rock the party all night long
And keep it live till the break of dawn

We gotz to play what we feel
Then I can say I am real
Don’t wanna be caught mess’n around
Cuz a party ain’t a party when it gets shut down
Off the hook, with the cutz, that’s right
Feel’n loose cuz it sounds so tight
Rock da spot till the very end
Make sure that you’re there when we do it again

We came to rock the party all night long
So party people won’t ya sing that song
We came to rock the party all night long
And keep it live till the break of dawn

21.

hands up
holler back now
we don’t claim any know-how
we givin’ God all that
wherever we go, that’s
where the party’s at

wherever we go, the dumb get wise
and the crime rates drop
and the markets rise
it’s a curious thing
but it’s just our thing

22.

Time and time was spent
finding out the truth.
We believed in our undying youth.
Nothing ever more modeled after you.

Now everybody knows,
And anyone can see,
The way the story goes,
And what you did to me.
Tasted once before.
Unlock sacred doors.
Shut to our requests.
Say you did your best.
You said you were our friend.
The lies were common place.
What happened to forgiveness?
I’ll never see your face again.

Feel the burn.
Watch us burn.

23.

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I’m Your friend

You are my desire
No one else will do
‘Cause nothing else could take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to You

You’re all I want
You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want
Help me know You are near

24.

You told me not to worry About what lies ahead
So I am gonna focus on today instead
Making every moment count and counting
Every single blessing
I’m gonna set my mind on the
Here and now
This is what I want my life to be about

And this is how…

I’m gonna live for today
I’m gonna follow in Your way
I’m gonna let my little light shine
Like there’s no tomorrow
I won’t worry about the past
I know my future is intact
So I’ll choose to live my life one way
I’m gonna live for today

My oh so crazy life
It’s got me spinnin’ round & round
Hanging upside down
Takin’ one step at a time
Holding your hand all the way
And it’ll be okay

25.

I raise my hands, bow my head
I’m finding more and more truth in the words written in red
They tell me that there’s more to life than just what i can see

I can’t quote the book
The chapter or the verse
You can’t tell me it all ends
In a slow ride in a hearse
You know I’m more and more convinced
The longer that I live
Yeah, this can’t be
No, this can’t be
No, this can’t be all there is

Continue reading →

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Guitar Praise: Another attempt at mimicking the fleeting fads of the world.

Only in an environment of prolonged comfort, safety, security, and prosperity could this be possible. I wonder if our Christian brothers and sisters being tortured in prisons around the world are secretly coveting this latest installment from the Den of Robbers. I also wonder if this is being marketed to the underground Church in Communist countries.

Warning: At just under 1 minute into the three minute video, they advertise the nomanclature of the product using a well endowed woman wearing a tight V-neck shirt. I’m sure it was not intentional; no one selling a cheap toy exploiting Christianity would ever use worldly marketing tactics . . . no, never.

Those viewers who seek modesty and purity may want to SKIP past that part.

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High Desert “church” proving once again that nothing is sacred in American Christianity.

I found the following video over at Slice of Laodicea. For those who remember High Desert from my previous post Christianity: It’s All About the Music?, you’ll see that it’s still “church” as usual.

I cannot add any more to the commentary than what Ingrid Schlueter already added on her post:

The prophetically named High Desert Church has a Student Ministries pastor named Tim Kuhl who decided at some point in his career to serve as an archetype of everything that is wrong with evangelicalism. This YouTube video serves as a useful one stop place to explain why I could not be paid to attend one of these freak show churches at any price. Tim Kuhl is featured on YouTube at his church, “singing”/lip syncing the well-known mockery version of O Holy Night for the entertainment of the rabble attending. As one commenter put it, it’s no wonder the world laughs at Christians. Even they don’t take their own faith seriously, because they worship a god who is just like THEM.


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News from across the pond.

Just two news stories from Britain that I thought you’d be interested in.

Sony confirms that Muslims can expect better treatment than Christians. Because one group will kill you and the other won’t.

Happy-clappy songs are judged to have ruined Britain. Think “Shine, Jesus, Shine.”

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1 Sabbath, 3 wolves in sheep’s clothing, and 4 golden calves.

I was not entirely surprised to see Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren, and Rick Warren in support of a ecumenical movement but I was a little surprised to see such CCM golden calves as Natalia Grant, Michael W. Smith, Switchfoot’s lead singer Jon Foreman, and Third Day’s lead singer Mac Powell also lending their support toward this. It seems that every time I turn around another CCM artist reveals how little they believe in the exclusivity of the Gospel.

The One Campaign with the backing of these influential professing Christians has teamed up with three other religions that deny that Jesus is Lord and deny that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Whether you’re a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Hindu, or of no faith at all, you too can put eternal truths aside to participate in making this world a “better place.”

For more information and examination of this surge toward the blending of all faiths, see A Little Leaven’s post on One Sabbath here, and Slice of Laodicea’s post on it here.

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
“I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM;
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
“Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord.
“AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN;   And I will welcome you.
“And I will be a father to you,  And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

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Yet another church, and yet another Beatles service.

Apparently Trish from Fish With Trish isn’t immune to these Laodicean mailings.

I think Keystone Church is running behind the “relevance caboose” as they’re a little behind the times. The whole Beatles thing was like so five minute ago.

I checked into Keystone and found the following “trailer” for their Beatles “sermon” series.

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The White Horse Inn: “What Does It Mean To Worship?”

This episode of the White Horse Inn is a perfect cap for the Desert Pastor’s series on music in worship (see part one of his ten-part series here). This podcast, What Does it Mean to Worship, deals with the purpose of Christian worship and the issue of music in our worship services.

Why do we go to Church? What is the purpose of worship? Are we there to serve God, or to be served? These questions and more will be discussed on this edition of the White Horse Inn with special guest Harold Senkbeil, author of Dying to Live and Sanctification: Christ in Action.

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Christianity: It’s all about music?


In light of all the discussion surrounding music, I thought this piece by Columnist Ben Ratliff of the New York Times on High Desert Church in Victorville, California is apropos. If I didn’t know any better after reading his whole article, I’d think Christianity is all about music.

I’ve quoted fifteen points from this article (and numbered them for your convenience if you wish to comment on particular ones). I think you’ll find them rather interesting!

1).Mike Day, singer and guitarist, gathered his rock band around him. Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, he bent his shaved head. “God,” he said, “I hope these songs we sing will be much more than music. I know it’s so difficult at times when we’re thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?” A few minutes later the band broke into three songs of slightly funky, distorted rock with heaving choruses . . .

2).There has been enormous growth in the evangelical Protestant movement in America over the last 25 years, and bands . . . now provide one of the major ways that Americans hear live music. [Of] the house bands that play every weekend in High Desert Church there are a dozen or so [who] scavenge some of their musical style from the radio and television. They reflect popular taste, though with lyrics about the power of God, not teenage turmoil.

3).“When you start a church,” said Tom Mercer, 52, the senior pastor, “you don’t decide who you’re going to reach and then pick a music style. You pick a music style, and that determines who’s going to come.”

4).HighDesertChurch has a sprawling concrete campus that includes a lavish auditorium, a gym, classrooms and office space for its 70 employees.

5).A number of factors encouraged the church’s expansion . . . . in 1993 the church hired Jeff Crandall, the drummer for a Christian punk band called the Alter Boys, as its music director. Mr. Crandall, 46, spent more than a decade crossing the country in vans, playing in churches, nightclubs and high school gyms, fighting the battle for a more progressive and aggressive worship music. “I knew that the future, even in the early ‘80s, was with bands in churches,” he said. “I liked hymns as a kid, but I just didn’t see myself waving my arms and directing them. I’ve always been one of those guys who tries to figure his own way.”

6).What he did was to pack the church with rock ‘n’ roll. He organized a rotation of bands . . . playing to multiple services. And then he let them play, loudly.

7).High Desert Church holds three different large services over the weekend for three different age groups, with music tailored to each audience . . . Seven . . . the 18-to-30-year-old set . . . Harbor, the 30-to-55 group . . . and Classic, for people 55 and over.

8).The church also maintains even more bands for services at the junior high, high school and elementary levels. Each band carefully calibrates its sound toward the pop culture disposition of the target age group.

9).Young people and future generations are in fact the fixation of High Desert Church, which has already broken ground on building a children’s ministry complex called Pointe Discovery, a $20 million project financed entirely by worshiper donations. “If I ask God’s people to give me $20 million,” Mr. Mercer said during an interview in his corner office, “when I stand before God someday, I don’t want to hear him say, ‘Dude, you wasted a ton of my money.’ I want him to say, ‘You did a good job.’ My definition of a good job is that it will impact people until Christ comes back.”

10).Praise-rock is at the heart of that impact. The teenagers and young adults at High Desert . . . say they joined the church for the teaching and the community, and stayed because of the bands. But some are clearly more enthusiastic about the music itself. “I started out in Harbor, but I moved to Seven because I liked the music more,” said Tony Cherco, 32, a recent arrival to the church who would not have been out of place in the EastVillage: he wore a long beard and large rings in his earlobes. “Between Pastor Tom and the music of Seven, I was like, yes!”

11).To generalize, the music tailored to the Seven service is modern rock, with a modicum of wired aggressiveness. (In its sets before and after the pastor’s sermon, the band does play some adaptations of hymns, including a power-chord version of the doxology. It was arranged by the worship minister Matt Coulombe to approximate the droning, locomotive style of the secular New York rock band Secret Machines, one of his favorite groups).

12).The music of Harbor, meanwhile, resembles U2 from about 1985, while the Classic crowd gets a softer and more acoustic sound, like the West Coast folk-rock of the 1970s. For the children, in both their Sunday school classes and youth group events, the music is pop-punk. The idea is to keep their attention with high energy, then to slide gradually toward contemplation.

13).On a Saturday afternoon in October a group for the junior high contingent, called Power Surge, which included four guitarists and two bassists, played in the church gym, rehearsing a version of the Jason Wallis song “Hey God.” Fifteen girls performed choreographed hand motions to the music, which sounded like pious Ramones:

Hey, hey, hey, God I love you

Hey, hey, hey, God I need you

I know there’s not anything you can’t do

I know there’s nothing you won’t see me through

Hey God!

14).For the most part the groups at HighDesertChurch don’t write their own songs; they are high-functioning garage bands, playing cover versions. But they operate in a large, modern auditorium with top-quality sound, lights and video operated by young volunteers; there are smoke machines and overhead screens that announce the title of each song and its lyrics.

15).Bobby Stolp, 39, a drummer in several different bands here, agreed. “It’s all about the heart of worship,” he said. “God can enjoy a distorted guitar as well as a clean guitar. Especially when you’re playing it for him.”

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Strange fire.

I am sure some of the people in the following two videos sincerely believe that they are participating in a form of “worship” that is acceptable to God. I grieve for them, especially the young, because I was there not too long ago myself. With very limited Biblical literacy and understanding, I too was swept up in all the emotion that these kinds of “shows” are designed to create. I was front and center to the wolves in the pulpits and the snakes with the guitars who were drumming up false fire and false excitement because the Holy Spirit was not in it.

VIDEO 1

The deep doctrinal truths found in the lyrics of Rick Pino’s worship music reflects the deep doctrinal truths found in Todd Bentley’s messages.

If you can get through the first 4 minutes of annoyingly juvenile repetitious “worship,” you get even more annoyingly juvenile repetitious “worship.”

HT: Dale McAlpine

See another, more deeply disturbing, Bentley “worship” service here on this previous post.

VIDEO 2

And if the first video isn’t bad enough, Mr. Pino caters to the lusts of the flesh as he takes an 80’s secular song and interjects the name Jesus into it.

“Jesus spins you ’round like a record” (where’s that in Scripture?). But it’s what he makes the people do with their socks–in the name of Jesus–that’s really disturbing.

See more foolishness from Rick Pino here.

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Another sad example of pragmatic church marketing.

For those who read my previous post on horrendous church ads and billboards (found here), I have one more to add. Behold the following sign which declares this church “Ichabod!”

So my question is this: What is the context of the sign?

1. Beatles-style worship.

2. Beatles-led worship (like this Elvis-led worship).

Or

3. The worship of the Beatles.