The Principle of Influence

Introduction

This third principle of why we use conservative Christian music here at HHBC will probably explain a lot about some of the more controversial decisions we have made. According to Wikipedia, Contemporary Christian Music has been around since the 1950-1960 coming out of the rock and roll revolution through the Jesus Movement among the hippies. We as a church have taken a stand against using rock music and its related forms as a means of worship in the Church. Up to this point I haven’t come out and stated specifics for a reason. I want to preach the bible and not music philosophy. I believe the principles I have explained if one is willing to study out the issue will lead to the conclusions I have made. I am not a music expert yet I believe the bible is sufficient; therefore, the bible should be all I need to develop a biblically based music philosophy.

However, to help spur you on in your study I have made a hand out. It is brief though much more could be added. The first section includes statements from secular musicians, historians and musicologists concluding what they think Rock music as a style is about. These are not Christians screaming bloody murder. These are men who have no axe to grind. Then underneath that I have a selection of songs from the Top 10 rock songs and the top five R&B/ hip hop songs. I am focusing on the topics that they deal with.

I am giving this handout to the parents in this room and adults because some of the content is graphic. But I do so because I am not worried about our kids listening to CCM today; what I am worried about and what I know is a problem in our kids in this church is an addiction to Rock music and hip/hop R&B music. We hear the music playing over their headphones and it is destroying the lives of kids who could be spiritual giants in our church. So parents, we need to wake up. We can argue and disagree over contemporary Christian music till we are blue in the face, but the battle is far worse than that. (Handouts)

Now tonight, I am not going to talk about that. Tonight I am going to talk about how our influence in our musical choices affects others. Everyone of us has an influence on someone else. Kids influence other kids, Teens influence the younger kids, Parents influence their children, people in authority influence those under their authority. Churches influence their people. This can include members, teens, kids, but also visitors who come to the church. Everything we do in this building sends a message and has an influence on others. So our influence must be shepherded carefully. The higher the position of authority the more influence you wield.

Why this point is important? As a church, we have decided not to use music from Contemporary Christian artists even though we could what you call clean it up. We could sing it with an orchestra, piano and it would be a good song. There are some great songs written by contemporary artists like In Christ Alone or Behold Your God by the Getty’s; It is not Death to Die and O come all You Unfaithful by Sovereign Grace Music, He answers by Brittany Hope. All have amazing words, but the Church must consider not just what we want to do, what we could do, but how what we do will influence others. Our musical choices as a church can determine the listening habits of others in a wrong way or lead them into theological error.

You might think that it is far fetched to think musical choices in the church could have that kind of influence, but historically, it is proven that music can and does influence others toward false teaching:

Arius was a famous preacher in the mid 200’s -300’s. He is best-known as a heretic who taught that Jesus was not fully divine, but was a created being with some extra abilities. Arianism was first rejected at the council of Nicea, but because of the influence of the emperor of Rome, it waxed and wained in popularity for awhile after that. Seeing as his doctrine was so opposed to orthodox Christianity, you might wonder how he became so popular. Arius composed hymns that were easily memorized and sung by sailors, millers, and travelers which taught his doctrine. These songs were easy to sing and stuck with the average person. These songs had a great influence on promoting heresy in the early church.

It would be extremely naive to think that music does not have any influence in our lives for good or evil. So with a position of authority in the Church, we must examine how our public influence is used and make decisions wisely towards that end. Tonight we are going to look at the biblical principle of influence, some areas to avoid in the use of current CCM artists and answer one counter-argument that is often brought up.

The Biblical Principle of Influence

Can violate the conscience of another- Romans 14:15–17 “But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:20 “For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.”

Can lead another to sin- Mark 9:42 “And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”

Can lead others to adopt false doctrine- 2 John 10–11 “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” This book was written to a house church in the home of the elect lady. By receiving these men into her house church, she was endorsing and promoting their message by her influence.

Examples of False Teachings in Popular Christian Artists

Bethel Music- New Apostolic Reformation- Bring the Kingdom to earth, Prosperity gospel, false prophecies by their pastor Bill Johnson, teaching that Jesus gave up his divinity when he came to earth, Looking for Glory cloud manifestation which was seen as gold glitterlike dust showering down on people as a sign of the Spirit, Sought to and failed to raise a child from the dead- songs include Raise a Hallelujah, Reckless love

Elevation Church- Pastor Steven Furtick- Word of Faith, Prosperity gospel concerning statement ““I’m in covenant with God Almighty! I am God Almighty!” and “whatever God is, you are too” blur the line between Creature/ Creator, “God broke the law for love” Sought to manipulate spontaneous baptisms by planting people in the crowd- songs- O come to the Alter, Jesus be the Name, Do it Again

Hillsong- Prosperity gospel, therapeutic gospel (all about what christianity does for me), diminishes sin, repentance, hell- many scandals including cover up by Brian Houston, moral infidelity by Carl Lenz, financial misconduct all I believe stemming from a Celebrity culture type ministry.

Sovereign Grace- charismatic theology

Getty Music- By far Keith and Kristen Getty are more theologically sound and conservative. While they are themselves more theologically sound, their associations and people they platform are not and their influence as broad as it is can be a bridge to catholic and theologically unsound musicians. As well, if one holds that Rock and Roll music should not be used in our worship, their influence breaks down that wall.

Quote by Frank Garlock in Rejoice Hymns

In Rejoice Hymns, we included some songs that we did not include in Majesty Hymns. For instance, some of these songs had not been written 14 years ago when we produced Majesty Hymns. There has been some concern regarding our hymnbook Rejoice Hymns because it incorporates music from two ministries in particular: Sovereign Grace Music (SGM), led by Bob Kauflin; and the music of Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend (GTM). We do not question the motives or spiritual commitment of these ministries. Many of the texts, especially those of Getty and Townend, are biblically rich. Townend states: ‘It is so important that our lives are built not on our feelings or circumstances, but on the Word of God, and songs can really help us to meditate on and retain truth. Most of my life is spent making melodies to make truths less forgettable.

“The biggest quandary is not in the biblical correctness of the lyrics SGM and GTM write, but in the music. Music professor Douglas Bachorik at Bob Jones Memorial Bible College in the Philippines and Rev. Ryan Weberg, pastor of Valley View Bible Church in Pennsylvania, have written An Exploration of the Music of Sovereign Grace Ministries and Getty-Townend. They say: ‘We find that SGM tends towards a heavy use of repetition, melodically, rhythmically, and sometimes textually, in the printed version, and even more so in the performances. This fits well with the (SGM) charismatic roots of their worship theology. ... Theologically, SGM describes itself as evangelical, reformed, and charismatic. ...SGM seems to be content with working exclusively in various rock styles.’  “By contrast, ‘GTM has an emphasis upon Christian doctrine over Christian experience.’ Much of GTM is written in a conservative style which has been described as the ‘modern hymn.’ Many conservative Christians think that GTM fits better in their churches than SGM because of the written style difference. “After considering the above factors, there are a number of GTM songs and a few SGM songs that fit into a written traditional music style and also have strong biblical texts. All the GTM and SGM songs that are included in Rejoice Hymns are innately conservative in style and are strong both melodically and textually.”

So let me apply our bible teaching to this issue. These musical groups that I have mentioned are really on a spectrum from moderate to horrible. Fundamentalist churches have now been using Getty SGM music since the early 2000’s. I remember the first Getty song on a Steve Pettite CD back in the day, but that influence has had a huge impact on churches. My stance on these songs is that many are really good songs, but as a Church we must shepherd our influence. I think Garlock was wrong to not see the danger ahead and hide himself from it. When a church publically uses music from any of these groups it is a promotion of that music. We have a phenomenon in our day and age that churches didn’t have in the past: Youtube. Any song we perform here in church can be easily looked up online and what people will find is the uncleaned up version of that song. Youtube will also feed them content from all the other musicians that musician has any affiliation with.

It is not an issue of it being a sin to listen to cleaned up Getty/ SGM music. But it is a wisdom issue as a church about what we will use because of the influence it can have in people’s life. If you think that this music will not have that kind of influence on you, I would recommend you consider the example of Chris Anderson with Churchworksmedia. We use Chris’s music. Back in the day Chris Anderson took a strong stand on conservative Christian music, wrote about it; but over time he began to hang around with the Getty’s. This chipped away at his stand to the point that his latest CD Shout For Joy is overwhelmingly now performed with Rock music and some of the songs were co-written with the Getty’s.

It is an issue we can extend liberty to other churches on, and one that each of us must wrestle with on our own about where we will draw the lines, but as a Church I think the principles of influence push us away from using such music. There may come a day when the associations dim or die out and then it would be another discussion. But in the cultural climate of the church today, there is wisdom in avoiding its use.

Let’s take our three principles of influence and apply them:

Can it lead another believer to violate their conscience? I would say that in our circle of fellowship we have brothers with weaker consciences who argue against songs that don’t have the right percentage of the main chords in their songs; so my use of that music could encourage a brother with such a belief to go against his conscience. Paul says whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” so for them it would be sin. It can also cause further division For meat destroy not the church of God.

Can it lead another believer to sin? If I believe that certain styles of music communicate a message contrary to what God desires for our lives, then I would also have to conclude that it can lead them to participate in wrong music. The Getty’s partner Stuart Townsend has said that there is no musical style a Christian can’t use.

Can it lead to false doctrine? The overwhelming influence of contemporary music is charismatic and some of the most popular also hold to the prosperity gospel and other cultic beliefs. The Getty’s broadly associate and perform with other artists who are Roman Catholic or merely spiritualists and not born again.

What about the influence of Old Hymnodists

One argument against what I am saying is that we have men in our hymn books who help bad theology and yet we sing what they wrote.

Martin Luther- antisemitism

Robert Robinson “Come Thou Fount”- once a baptist preacher toward the end of his life he embrassed unitarianism.

Horatio Spafford “It is Well” - originally a presbyterian advocated arminiamism, denied hell, believed in universalism and purgatory.

Conclusion