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Contemporary Music Brings Great Changes to Churches


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I would have the same feelings as I would if I found out the power company supplying my church with electricity was actually owned by Sony. I'd have no issue with it as long as the product coming into my Church was acceptable.


Agreed. Most businesses today have one connection or another to others. Very few are totally Christian owned, operated and run by Christians every other Christian would agree with.

Whether buying gas, a can of soup or clothes to wear, some of that money will eventually end up in an ungodly persons pocket.

Back to the music issue; our church chooses the songs we sing based upon the message of the lyrics. Most often, what we sing in some way connects with the sermon. We don't do any of the 7/11 stuff mentioned in the article. In fact, our associate pastor and myself were discussing this recently. Someone had asked him why we don't do that so people could memorize some choruses. Other than those who get emotionally going with the repetion, most lose sight of the actual words after the third repetition. We would rather sing some of the same hymns for edification several times a year than to sing a chorus over and over every Sunday so people have a couple catchy lines in their memory.
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I believe leadership should know and consider this when making music purchases.

How would you like it if you found out Sony was behind your worship music unto God? They made money off it?




God's Child. Its like this in modern times.

You've got two stores in town to chose from, one sells liquor and lottery tickets, the other one doesn't. The one that sells liquor sells and lottery tickets sells its groceries a bit cheaper than the other store.

There would be few Christens that would avoid buying from the store that sells liquor and and lottery tickets, they would support it and not think twice about it.

The same goes for restaurants. You've got two restaurants in town, one sells mixed drinks and is just a bit cheaper on its menu items.

Most Christians would flood the restaurants that sells mixed drinks, and would encourager others to.
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God's Child. Its like this in modern times.

You've got two stores in town to chose from, one sells liquor and lottery tickets, the other one doesn't. The one that sells liquor sells and lottery tickets sells its groceries a bit cheaper than the other store.

There would be few Christens that would avoid buying from the store that sells liquor and and lottery tickets, they would support it and not think twice about it.

The same goes for restaurants. You've got two restaurants in town, one sells mixed drinks and is just a bit cheaper on its menu items.

Most Christians would flood the restaurants that sells mixed drinks, and would encourager others to.


With regards to groceries, some Christians don't have the money to buy at the more expensive store. With regards to restaurants there is always the option to either eat at home or wait until you can save enough to go to the liquor free restaurant.

Myself, if I could afford to do so, I'd buy as much as I could right here in my little town rather than going to the small city to shop at Wal-Mart. However, that's impossible because of the high prices here in town. If we shopped in town at our local stores our shopping budget would have to more than double just to buy the same things we do now at Wal-Mart.

Most places today, whether restaurant or store, seems to be selling tOBacco and booze these days. Most all gas stations sell both along with lottery tickets.
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In regards to the topic about Contemporary Music bringing great change to a Church, it's my assumption that the negative influence is because of the direct link it has to the world. Bricks, mortar, pews, lights and other needed things to make a congregating place possible are not the same as the actual materials used to worship God. Materials should be created by a Godly person. If you found out your Sunday School material was created by Playboy you wouldn't use it. All I am saying is that Godly music can be purchased from companies with God in their mission statement. Sony, WB, Columbia and the others don't have Godly people on their board of directors and when they look at the bottom line it's all about money. not creating materials for people to worship with. The songs are created to sell. The artist are mini-gods to many. This is a far cry from shopping at WalMart, or using electricity. It's about the minds and hearts behind what Churches sing. I fail to see where I am wrong here.

I don't like to visit restaurants that serve beer and wine, but I note that they are not conducting business for "Christians" .... they are worldly and serve the world. We are in the world, but not of it. Clearly, we will not be around Christians and Christian companies all the time. I work at a non-Christian company.

The Bible we read and preach from is the Word of God. It wasn't written to become a best seller and then used in our Churches. It was written to guide the hearts of mankind.

I assume most on this forum are against CCM and prOBably use hymn books and music in your church created from Sacred Music Services or Majesty Musicc .... both Godly companies not compromising.

One final note. Some might know Ricky Skaggs. He started Skaggs Family Records (to sell Bluegrass music) and isn't hooked up with any major label. Now I totally reject his music and stands, but he does show that one can be separate from the big record companies and not conform to their standards. He has a catalog, made deals to sell online, and yes he uses the world to shelve his product. But, at least the heart of the operation is from a man who wants to sell Bluegrass. What a blessing it would be if the saved of the Lord would start a record company and sell music for Church and Home that is nothing but music for God. God would bless such an effort.

Once again, God walks away from Churches that bring in the world. Bible clearly teaches not to get wisdom from this world. CCM in many shapes and forms is the world candy coated as "Christian"

Edited by God's Child
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In regards to the topic about Contemporary Music bringing great change to a Church, it's my assumption that the negative influence is because of the direct link it has to the world. Bricks, mortar, pews, lights and other needed things to make a congregating place possible are not the same as the actual materials used to worship God. Materials should be created by a Godly person. If you found out your Sunday School material was created by Playboy you wouldn't use it. All I am saying is that Godly music can be purchased from companies with God in their mission statement. Sony, WB, Columbia and the others don't have Godly people on their board of directors and when they look at the bottom line it's all about money. not creating materials for people to worship with. The songs are created to sell. The artist are mini-gods to many. This is a far cry from shopping at WalMart, or using electricity. It's about the minds and hearts behind what Churches sing. I fail to see where I am wrong here.

I don't like to visit restaurants that serve beer and wine, but I note that they are not conducting business for "Christians" .... they are worldly and serve the world. We are in the world, but not of it. Clearly, we will not be around Christians and Christian companies all the time. I work at a non-Christian company.

The Bible we read and preach from is the Word of God. It wasn't written to become a best seller and then used in our Churches. It was written to guide the hearts of mankind.

I assume most on this forum are against CCM and prOBably use hymn books and music in your church created from Sacred Music Services or Majesty Musicc .... both Godly companies not compromising.

One final note. Some might know Ricky Skaggs. He started Skaggs Family Records (to sell Bluegrass music) and isn't hooked up with any major label. Now I totally reject his music and stands, but he does show that one can be separate from the big record companies and not conform to their standards. He has a catalog, made deals to sell online, and yes he uses the world to shelve his product. But, at least the heart of the operation is from a man who wants to sell Bluegrass. What a blessing it would be if the saved of the Lord would start a record company and sell music for Church and Home that is nothing but music for God. God would bless such an effort.

Once again, God walks away from Churches that bring in the world. Bible clearly teaches not to get wisdom from this world. CCM in many shapes and forms is the world candy coated as "Christian"

Good posting, God's Child. I agree with you that associations do matter...but I'd prOBably go even further than you are suggesting. Association is just one of many principles that should inform our thinking in this area. IMO, "having God in the mission statement" doesn't go far enough. Edited by Annie
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Elvis put out gospel albums now and then that were popular, but I wouldn't buy any. The same could be said for the Gatlin brothers and the Oak Ridge Boys. Just because they produce a Christmas or gospel album doesn't mean we should have them in our homes.

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God's Child. Its like this in modern times.

You've got two stores in town to chose from, one sells liquor and lottery tickets, the other one doesn't. The one that sells liquor sells and lottery tickets sells its groceries a bit cheaper than the other store.

There would be few Christens that would avoid buying from the store that sells liquor and and lottery tickets, they would support it and not think twice about it.

The same goes for restaurants. You've got two restaurants in town, one sells mixed drinks and is just a bit cheaper on its menu items.

Most Christians would flood the restaurants that sells mixed drinks, and would encourager others to.


I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. - 1 Cor 5:9-10

There is absolutely no way to do business without dealing with non-Christians. I believe that business should be done in exactly the same way with non-Christians as with Christians. We are not to become some little secluded club. We are to be the salt and light in the world. Salt and light is useless unless it touches that which is not salt or light and reacts to it. Now, we are not to do the things that the world does, not condone it, but we are not to avoid people of this world no matter how bad of sinners they are because otherwise you cannot witness to them. You must really show love towards them in becoming involved in business and life with them, but at the same time, being very honest and straight-forward about the seriousness of their sin against God. We are not to prefer business with Christians over non-Christians as if Christians are better than non-Christians. They are not, they are just saved by grace which they did not merit in any way.

Now, with worship music, it is slightly different than with business, but I brought this up because I don't think Jerry's example here is the correct way to be separated from the world. With music, I would look more at the artist's life rather than the record company's. More importantly though, I would look straight at the song though. Is it sound in doctrine? If a bad person states something true, though I would not endorse the person, the statement is no more false than if spoken by a good person. That said, people are not good anyway, only God is good, so even judging by that whether or not to sing a song written by someone is not a good idea.

In other words, I get down to the nitty gritty details to say what is right and was is wrong instead of looking at something bad and concluding that everything surrounding it must be bad as well. It's like the gray areas on a picture in a newspaper -- it's just made of many little black dots of different densities on white paper -- it's not really gray.

Sorry if I kind of went on rambling. Personally, I listen to and play Christian rock music, but most of it is by Sovereign Grace Music, which isn't tied to any of those "horrible" companies, though I do play some of those as well. I also dress in a slightly punk style sometimes. I am against any clothes with God-dishonoring symbols or any seductive or immodest clothing styles. My music has not affected my doctrine at all, but rather I would say that my doctrine has affected my style of music. Namely, going straight back to the Bible and forgetting everything that men have taught me about what kind of beats are sinful and what kind aren't and what color of clothes is Christian and which are pagan and all that junk. When I did that, I came to the conclusion that we are not to go by a legalistic checklist of dos and don'ts, but rather we are to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. What that means practically is not what the world thinks it means though. If you truly love God, you will want to display His glory in all you do as much as possible. If you truly love a lost neighbor, you will want to be sure to warn him of the consequences of his sin and preach the gospel to him. You will be aggressive in that in some sense because you will truly want him to see it and will not care if he hates you afterward for being "judgmental" or whatever. If you truly love a saved neighbor, you will want to fellowship with him in a way not offensive to him. So, if my neighbor (and most of the people on this forum) do not like or are offended by rock music, I will not try to convince you it's good or play it in your presence, because love denies self. I will not play or listen to music in a setting where other believers are offended by it in most cases. However, I will not lie and side with them just to make them feel good about me. I will say what I honestly believe about it.

OK, I'm done. Maybe I'm not the best person to discuss music on this forum though because my views on it don't match up with the view here though I do respect the view here. I just don't believe that the music itself affects doctrine, but rather the other way around. :)
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I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. - 1 Cor 5:9-10

There is absolutely no way to do business without dealing with non-Christians. I believe that business should be done in exactly the same way with non-Christians as with Christians. We are not to become some little secluded club. We are to be the salt and light in the world. Salt and light is useless unless it touches that which is not salt or light and reacts to it. Now, we are not to do the things that the world does, not condone it, but we are not to avoid people of this world no matter how bad of sinners they are because otherwise you cannot witness to them. You must really show love towards them in becoming involved in business and life with them, but at the same time, being very honest and straight-forward about the seriousness of their sin against God. We are not to prefer business with Christians over non-Christians as if Christians are better than non-Christians. They are not, they are just saved by grace which they did not merit in any way.

Now, with worship music, it is slightly different than with business, but I brought this up because I don't think Jerry's example here is the correct way to be separated from the world. With music, I would look more at the artist's life rather than the record company's. More importantly though, I would look straight at the song though. Is it sound in doctrine? If a bad person states something true, though I would not endorse the person, the statement is no more false than if spoken by a good person. That said, people are not good anyway, only God is good, so even judging by that whether or not to sing a song written by someone is not a good idea.

In other words, I get down to the nitty gritty details to say what is right and was is wrong instead of looking at something bad and concluding that everything surrounding it must be bad as well. It's like the gray areas on a picture in a newspaper -- it's just made of many little black dots of different densities on white paper -- it's not really gray.

Sorry if I kind of went on rambling. Personally, I listen to and play Christian rock music, but most of it is by Sovereign Grace Music, which isn't tied to any of those "horrible" companies, though I do play some of those as well. I also dress in a slightly punk style sometimes. I am against any clothes with God-dishonoring symbols or any seductive or immodest clothing styles. My music has not affected my doctrine at all, but rather I would say that my doctrine has affected my style of music. Namely, going straight back to the Bible and forgetting everything that men have taught me about what kind of beats are sinful and what kind aren't and what color of clothes is Christian and which are pagan and all that junk. When I did that, I came to the conclusion that we are not to go by a legalistic checklist of dos and don'ts, but rather we are to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. What that means practically is not what the world thinks it means though. If you truly love God, you will want to display His glory in all you do as much as possible. If you truly love a lost neighbor, you will want to be sure to warn him of the consequences of his sin and preach the gospel to him. You will be aggressive in that in some sense because you will truly want him to see it and will not care if he hates you afterward for being "judgmental" or whatever. If you truly love a saved neighbor, you will want to fellowship with him in a way not offensive to him. So, if my neighbor (and most of the people on this forum) do not like or are offended by rock music, I will not try to convince you it's good or play it in your presence, because love denies self. I will not play or listen to music in a setting where other believers are offended by it in most cases. However, I will not lie and side with them just to make them feel good about me. I will say what I honestly believe about it.

OK, I'm done. Maybe I'm not the best person to discuss music on this forum though because my views on it don't match up with the view here though I do respect the view here. I just don't believe that the music itself affects doctrine, but rather the other way around. :)


Warning your neighbor, if he happens to be lost, of the danger of not having Jesus as Savior, does not mean you've got to do business with him. I might add, there are many business that the child of God ought to never partake of.

And remember, to follow Jesus one has to deny self. Now that is something we hate to do, isn't it? It really takes a lot of faith in our Lord to live in this world and deny our self of all it has to offer.

Jas 4:4 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.

And this world, to be its friend is to be at enmity with God.


Yes, we have to live in this world, yet we don't have to be of them, but again, not to be of them means we have to deny self.



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Warning your neighbor, if he happens to be lost, of the danger of not having Jesus as Savior, does not mean you've got to do business with him. I might add, there are many business that the child of God ought to never partake of.

And remember, to follow Jesus one has to deny self. Now that is something we hate to do, isn't it? It really takes a lot of faith in our Lord to live in this world and deny our self of all it has to offer.

Jas 4:4 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.

And this world, to be its friend is to be at enmity with God.


Yes, we have to live in this world, yet we don't have to be of them, but again, not to be of them means we have to deny self.






I absolutely agree. However, when your part in the business transaction is not sinful, that is absolutely fine, and in many cases necessary, like with shopping at WalMart, for example. The corporation backs homosexual marriage, but that does not mean it is a sin for us to go buy something at WalMart that we need. We openly state that we do not support their ideas, but we can still deal with them. It is the business transactions that get us into contact with more sinners than any other way of interacting with them (since for other things we usually have more choice who we hang out with and will usually choose those who are like ourselves).

As touching music, our definitions of what is the world is different. :)
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I'm not really sure it's possible to shop from a store that doesn't support some type of sin. Does anyone think it is? :unsure:

Overseas I have the luxury of shopping at a commissary...they don't sell any type of alcohol. That's good. But, they promote and even encourage Halloween with decorations, candy, etc. They sell cigarettes too.

But, if I go out in town to a German store...you'll find the same thing (not so much the Halloween I guess) but surely all stores here in liberal Europe allows gays to work there. Or maybe support them in some way, or sell liquor, or sell cigarettes.

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I absolutely agree. However, when your part in the business transaction is not sinful, that is absolutely fine, and in many cases necessary, like with shopping at WalMart, for example. The corporation backs homosexual marriage, but that does not mean it is a sin for us to go buy something at WalMart that we need. We openly state that we do not support their ideas, but we can still deal with them. It is the business transactions that get us into contact with more sinners than any other way of interacting with them (since for other things we usually have more choice who we hang out with and will usually choose those who are like ourselves).

As touching music, our definitions of what is the world is different. :)


No, its not, we are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, when we become business partners with a lost man we are unequally yoked.

2Co 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Its possible to live this way in this world, if it were not God would never have commanded this. And please remember.

1Jo 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Plus, if we love Him, His commandments will not be grievous to us.

Its told in the Bible that the saved will be a peculiar people. Reading the Bible its easy to see why God's children will be peculiar, its because their ways will be completely different than the ways of the people of this world, the lost.

Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
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I concur with what was expressed in the article and I can verify a couple things myself. It is so sad and tragic what has happened to once great ministries that it brings tears.

I was a Sunday School teacher for Dr. Handford at Southside in Greenville, 1975. Dr. Garlock was there at that time. It was a great church then and the place was full virtually every service and souls from all over the Greenville area were being saved. I couldn't believe my ears later when I was told that things had changed and that it got so bad that BOB Jones University had to limit their faculty and/or staff from attending Southside because of the compromises. But the years gone by have proven that decision was the right one...not saying I agree with BJU on everything.

Concerning Highland Park & Tennesse Temple, I am a personal friend of ex-rock singer Jeff Godwin who had a strong ministry winning souls and warning about the dangers of rock and CCM. Jeff preached at our chuch at least three times in the 1990's and he told me the sad story of giving his testimony and anti-rock message at the college. He said he was shocked at the hot response he got from the students who were visibly angry about what he was saying. He never expected that kind of response from a fundamental Baptist college and he was broken hearted over the matter. He told me that at that time he diserned about 1/3 of the faculty and students were into CCM. So I wasn't surprised to read that TTU is now all the way gone in that genre. Poor Jeff received so many hateful and angry phone calls during his ministry that he was literally battered down so much that he decided to stop traveling with his message and since then he has stayed home in a small Bedford, Indiana church that is mostly old folks that don't have any use for pop or rock of any kind. I guess he felt it safer to raise his children in a church filled with only elderly people than to risk letting them grow up with peers that were into CCM rock n' roll 'Christianity' who have been so tainted by the world.

Those that don't think that CCM or outright hard rock does not or cannot change the human spirit and attitude are naive. I've seen it over and over again through the years and I will never allow that style of music to be heard in our congregation. We will stick with the Majesty Music style until I die even though we have taken it on the chin by many who visted here and didn't like our stand. It is so hard to stand firm and be kind at the same time but we try.

May God be honored greatly by those IFB churches that still stand true to Jesus Christ and the standards that are found in scripture.

Best wishes to all.

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I concur with what was expressed in the article and I can verify a couple things myself. It is so sad and tragic what has happened to once great ministries that it brings tears.

I was a Sunday School teacher for Dr. Handford at Southside in Greenville, 1975. Dr. Garlock was there at that time. It was a great church then and the place was full virtually every service and souls from all over the Greenville area were being saved. I couldn't believe my ears later when I was told that things had changed and that it got so bad that BOB Jones University had to limit their faculty and/or staff from attending Southside because of the compromises. But the years gone by have proven that decision was the right one...not saying I agree with BJU on everything.

Concerning Highland Park & Tennesse Temple, I am a personal friend of ex-rock singer Jeff Godwin who had a strong ministry winning souls and warning about the dangers of rock and CCM. Jeff preached at our chuch at least three times in the 1990's and he told me the sad story of giving his testimony and anti-rock message at the college. He said he was shocked at the hot response he got from the students who were visibly angry about what he was saying. He never expected that kind of response from a fundamental Baptist college and he was broken hearted over the matter. He told me that at that time he diserned about 1/3 of the faculty and students were into CCM. So I wasn't surprised to read that TTU is now all the way gone in that genre. Poor Jeff received so many hateful and angry phone calls during his ministry that he was literally battered down so much that he decided to stop traveling with his message and since then he has stayed home in a small Bedford, Indiana church that is mostly old folks that don't have any use for pop or rock of any kind. I guess he felt it safer to raise his children in a church filled with only elderly people than to risk letting them grow up with peers that were into CCM rock n' roll 'Christianity' who have been so tainted by the world.

Those that don't think that CCM or outright hard rock does not or cannot change the human spirit and attitude are naive. I've seen it over and over again through the years and I will never allow that style of music to be heard in our congregation. We will stick with the Majesty Music style until I die even though we have taken it on the chin by many who visted here and didn't like our stand. It is so hard to stand firm and be kind at the same time but we try.

May God be honored greatly by those IFB churches that still stand true to Jesus Christ and the standards that are found in scripture.

Best wishes to all.



Yes it surely is, for those who stand against you will surely put you down, it seems to make them mad that you will take such a stand, and it can be hard not to return comments to them as they hand out to us. Yet we can be assured that's exactly the way they did Jesus.
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Good posting, God's Child. I agree with you that associations do matter...but I'd prOBably go even further than you are suggesting. Association is just one of many principles that should inform our thinking in this area. IMO, "having God in the mission statement" doesn't go far enough.


I agree that many other factors can be used regarding the study of Christian Pop and it's place in the believers life. Edited by God's Child
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Elvis put out gospel albums now and then that were popular, but I wouldn't buy any. The same could be said for the Gatlin brothers and the Oak Ridge Boys. Just because they produce a Christmas or gospel album doesn't mean we should have them in our homes.


Just stamping "Jesus" on the cover won't make is Christian. That goes for anything, including people's flesh. When I mention a record company for Jesus I am talking about one that will be favorable to fundamental Churches since it's built for Jesus Christ and not the world. Edited by God's Child
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