O Timothy April 2011 - Way of Life Literature
O Timothy April 2011 - Way of Life Literature O Timothy April 2011 - Way of Life Literature
W A Y O F L I F E L I T E R A T U R E More likely these days they will go home and do a Google search for the titles of the adapted CCM songs they hear at church, perhaps some Hillsong numbers, and the top returns will be the “real” Christian rock and they will be drawn farther and farther into the CCM world. One lady left the following comment at a YouTube clip featuring an “adapted” CCM song. The title is “We Will Remember” by Tommy Walker. “I fell in love with this song when it was sang in our church today. I then got home to find the lyrics on the Internet. It’s a wonderful song.” You can be sure that she found more than the mere “lyrics.” In this way the appetite for the “real” CCM will spread throughout the church, and this type of thing doesn’t happen slowly. Highland Park Baptist Church did not start out as a full blown CCM venue, but started with softer sounds first. Is your church adapting CCM for use in services If such a pastor becomes convicted that he has allowed the church to go down a wrong path and tries to turn it around by issuing clear warnings himself, he will quickly learn that addicted people (in this case, addicted to sensual music) fervently defend their addictions. 4. THIS PHILOSOPHY MEANS THE CHURCH IS ACTUALLY PROMOTING CCM ARTISTS, AND THE CHURCH MEMBERS WILL DOUBTLESS BE LULLED INTO LISTENING TO THE “REAL STUFF.” When church members see that CCM is “adapted” in their services, at least some of them will doubtless obtain the full-blown stuff to listen to in private. When they visit Christian bookstores and browse the music section they will see the same songs that they hear on Sunday and they will buy the stuff and before long they will see that real Christian rock is more fun, more powerful, more enticing than “adapted” Christian rock. When Lancaster Baptist Church, home of West Coast Baptist College, performed “Shout to the Lord” in a Sunday service, Cary Schmidt, one of the leaders, said, “Most of you have heard this song or know the words to this song.” He knew that many of the church members were familiar with Hillsong and their music, and I do not believe that they listen only to the toned down soft rock versions played in church. A pastor described to me a scene at a fundamental Baptist preachers meeting in which Hillsong numbers were sung as specials by a pastor’s wife. He said, “One session when she was performing, I was looking across the auditorium and just happened to see a young pastor coming out of the toilet with a big smile, and he was miming the words of the Hillsong junk she was singing. So I said to myself, ‘You are not only familiar with this song, but you have memorized it, and that means it is the music you listen to with enjoyment.’” Exactly, and he is probably not listening to the toned down “adapted” editions! 5. IF A CHURCH IS “ADAPTING” CCM, SOMEONE IS LISTENING TO “FULL-BLOWN” CCM IN ORDER TO FIND AND ADAPT “ACCEPTABLE” PIECES. Typically, if musicians are “adapting” CCM for use in a conservative church that doesn’t yet allow full-blown rock & roll, those musicians are listening to “the real stuff” in order to find something to adapt. Since rock & roll, even “soft rock,” is highly addictive and sensual, we know that these musicians rapidly lose 8 1 Timothy 6:20,21
W A Y O F L I F E L I T E R A T U R E their spiritual sensitivity and appetite for truly sacred music and become lulled into accepting an increasingly wider range of CCM. Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who recorded some of the first rock & roll hits, including Elvis’ first recording in 1954, knew the power of rock. Reminiscing many years later about why rock became such a social phenomenon, he said, “It all came out of THAT INFECTIOUS BEAT and those young people wanting to FEEL GOOD by listening to some records” (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Pioneer Sam Phillips Dies,” USA Today, July 30, 2003). Janis Joplin, who died young from the rock & roll lifestyle, describes her first big concert in these words: “I couldn’t believe it, all that rhythm and power. I got stoned just feeling it, like IT WAS THE BEST DOPE IN THE WORLD. It was SO SENSUAL, so vibrant, loud, crazy” (Joel Dreyfuss, “Janis Joplin Followed the Script,” Wichita Eagle, Oct. 6, 1970, p. 7A). I can concur with that. Rock & roll reached into the Christian home and church in which I grew up and absolutely captivated my heart and soul with I was a kid, and it taught me the path of rebellion and godlessness. Thousands upon thousands have the same testimony. Are you pastors who are letting your churches dabble with “adapted” CCM and its soft rock willing to take the chance that your carelessness in the matter of music will cause some young people to offend and go the way of the world, the flesh, and the devil Is it not better and wiser to err on the side of safety Rock can be hard or soft, fast or slow, loud or quiet, and it is still rock because it still has a sensual, heavily syncopated swing rhythm that moves the body, and it is still “infectious” and it still makes people “feel good.” With the musicians being influenced by “real” CCM, their influence spreads throughout the church body. A typical private conversation will be, “Hey, listen to this new cut by Darlene Zschech! Hey, you won’t believe this new Vineyard CD! Cool stuff!” 6. THE ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE “ROCK” FROM CHRISTIAN ROCK TYPICALLY RESULTS IN MERELY TONING DOWN THE MUSIC FROM HARD ROCK TO SOFT ROCK. Those who adapt CCM do so because that particular church still says it is opposed to CCM so they can’t use it full blown. They have to tone down the rhythm. They have to try to take the rock out of Christian rock. The pastor won’t allow a rock band on stage and is afraid of thumping bass guitars and drums, so the music people “adapt” it to whatever model is acceptable. Typically, though, this is done merely by replacing hard rock with soft rock, and since it isn’t loud and boisterous and doesn’t have a heavy thump and the singers aren’t shaking around and there is no light show or smoke, everyone is satisfied that they are avoiding CCM. The problem is that the back beat and other elements of soft rock are still there but it is much more subtle and the soft rock rhythm is created by the pianists and perhaps other musicians rather than guitarists and a drummer with a trap set. It’s soft rock or Southern Gospel honky tonk, and it is just as sensual and addictive to the flesh as hard rock. And it creates an appetite for such music that is never satisfied. 7. THIS PHILOSOPHY RESULTS IN THE SAME OLD SLIPPERY SLOPE. For the previous reasons, the “adaptation” of CCM launches a church down the slippery contemporary slope as surely as if they had brought in a pure rock band. It results in the gradual acceptance of and increasing use of CCM, a gradual allowance for sensual rhythms, the continual pushing of the boundaries. We repeat the warning that many discerning men have issued about this slippery slope and its outcome: “When the standard of music is LOWERED, then the standard of dress is also lowered. When the standard of dress is lowered, then the standard of conduct is also lowered. When the standard of conduct is lowered, then the sense of value in God’s truth is lowered” (Evangelist Gordon Sears, Songfest newsletter, April 2001). The late Gordon Sears, who I had the privilege of meeting the day before he died, loved the Lord and loved the Lord’s churches, and he was deeply concerned about what is happening among fundamental Baptists. In the 1990s the number of his meetings dropped significantly because so many churches had changed their music standards, and they didn’t want an evangelist to come in and shake the boat. Notice that Sears said that the standard of music doesn’t have to be radically changed. It just has to be lowered, and that leads to a downward progression that will ultimately result in a lowering of the sense of the value of truth itself. A church can hold to truth, to doctrinal soundness, without truly valuing it or 1 Timothy 6:20,21 9
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W A Y O F L I F E L I T E R A T U R E<br />
More likely these days they will go home and do a<br />
Google search for the titles <strong>of</strong> the adapted CCM songs<br />
they hear at church, perhaps some Hillsong numbers, and<br />
the top returns will be the “real” Christian rock and they<br />
will be drawn farther and farther into the CCM world.<br />
One lady left the following comment at a YouTube clip<br />
featuring an “adapted” CCM song. The title is “We Will<br />
Remember” by Tommy Walker.<br />
“I fell in love with this song when it was sang in our<br />
church today. I then got home to find the lyrics on the<br />
Internet. It’s a wonderful song.”<br />
You can be sure that she found more than the mere<br />
“lyrics.”<br />
In this way the appetite for the “real” CCM will spread<br />
throughout the church, and this type <strong>of</strong> thing doesn’t<br />
happen slowly.<br />
Highland Park Baptist Church did not start out as a full blown CCM<br />
venue, but started with s<strong>of</strong>ter sounds first. Is your church adapting<br />
CCM for use in services<br />
If such a pastor becomes convicted that he has allowed<br />
the church to go down a wrong path and tries to turn it<br />
around by issuing clear warnings himself, he will quickly<br />
learn that addicted people (in this case, addicted to<br />
sensual music) fervently defend their addictions.<br />
4. THIS PHILOSOPHY MEANS THE CHURCH IS<br />
ACTUALLY PROMOTING CCM ARTISTS, AND THE<br />
CHURCH MEMBERS WILL DOUBTLESS BE<br />
LULLED INTO LISTENING TO THE “REAL STUFF.”<br />
When church members see that CCM is “adapted” in<br />
their services, at least some <strong>of</strong> them will doubtless obtain<br />
the full-blown stuff to listen to in private.<br />
When they visit Christian bookstores and browse the<br />
music section they will see the same songs that they hear<br />
on Sunday and they will buy the stuff and before long<br />
they will see that real Christian rock is more fun, more<br />
powerful, more enticing than “adapted” Christian rock.<br />
When Lancaster Baptist Church, home <strong>of</strong> West Coast<br />
Baptist College, performed “Shout to the Lord” in a<br />
Sunday service, Cary Schmidt, one <strong>of</strong> the leaders, said,<br />
“Most <strong>of</strong> you have heard this song or know the words to<br />
this song.” He knew that many <strong>of</strong> the church members<br />
were familiar with Hillsong and their music, and I do not<br />
believe that they listen only to the toned down s<strong>of</strong>t rock<br />
versions played in church.<br />
A pastor described to me a scene at a fundamental Baptist<br />
preachers meeting in which Hillsong numbers were sung<br />
as specials by a pastor’s wife. He said, “One session<br />
when she was performing, I was looking across the<br />
auditorium and just happened to see a young pastor<br />
coming out <strong>of</strong> the toilet with a big smile, and he was<br />
miming the words <strong>of</strong> the Hillsong junk she was singing.<br />
So I said to myself, ‘You are not only familiar with this<br />
song, but you have memorized it, and that means it is the<br />
music you listen to with enjoyment.’” Exactly, and he is<br />
probably not listening to the toned down “adapted”<br />
editions!<br />
5. IF A CHURCH IS “ADAPTING” CCM, SOMEONE<br />
IS LISTENING TO “FULL-BLOWN” CCM IN ORDER<br />
TO FIND AND ADAPT “ACCEPTABLE” PIECES.<br />
Typically, if musicians are “adapting” CCM for use in a<br />
conservative church that doesn’t yet allow full-blown<br />
rock & roll, those musicians are listening to “the real<br />
stuff” in order to find something to adapt.<br />
Since rock & roll, even “s<strong>of</strong>t rock,” is highly addictive<br />
and sensual, we know that these musicians rapidly lose<br />
8 1 <strong>Timothy</strong> 6:20,21
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