Discernment in Music

DiM | “Word of Life” by Jeremy Camp

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disapproveCCM Radio Edition.

October 24, 2017. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Word of Life” by Jeremy Camp which currently sits at #5 on the20theCountdownMagazine.

Generally speaking, I’m a fan of Jeremy Camp’s music. This song gets a Disapproval for a couple of reasons, the most prominent is the synergism in the lyric, that it isn’t Christ alone saving us, we have to do something. The other problem is the implied notion that there is something more that we must do beyond being brought to eternal life in Jesus Christ our LORD. This is a song of revivalism, which places the emphasis on “what I’m going to do once God moves in me”.

JeremyCampVEVO (Lyric Video)

Lyrics (via K~Love)

Speak to my weary heart
Strengthen my broken parts
Lead me to Your open arms
Word of truth
Illuminate all these lies
The enemy speaks inside
In freedom I will rise

‘Cause You called me out from the grave
So I can live like I’ve been changed
There is a new song in my soul
And it begins
When I breathe in
Your word of life

Spirit of God
Take me to a deeper place
Take me out of what is safe
I will not be afraid
Spirit of God
Fill me with joy again
Springing up from within
It cannot be contained

The old has gone away
Only Your love remains
I am alive today
‘Cause You called me out

Publishing: Only In You Publishing (ASCAP) (admin. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / EGH Music Publishing / Be Essential Songs (BMI) (Admin. at EssentialMusicPublishing.com) / Colby Wedgeworth Music / Fair Trade Music Publishing (ASCAP) (Admin. by Music Services)

Writer(s): Written by Jeremy Camp, Ethan Hulse, and Colby Wedgeworth

Discussion

Okay, so let’s begin our discussion with who the intended target audience might be. There are no clear articulations of Law and Gospel, repentance and the forgiveness of sin. There are poetic references to salvation themes, so my guess is that this song is aimed at the weary Christian. So, before we go verse-by-verse, what is it that weary Christians need to hear the most? The clear Gospel of Jesus Christ, preached to them and for them. Which leaves us with a problem… no clear Gospel in this song. There are allusions to Gospel themes, I’ll grant the song as much, but when we are beaten-down and weary, we need clarity, assurance, and rest that can only be found in Christ Jesus.

Verse 1. The first verse is setting up our ‘weary Christian’ target audience. The setup is emotional, which leaves it open to any interpretation of what it means to be a weary Christian. That’s not a problem yet, I just want to acknowledge the writing here. The song opens with a desire for someone to speak directly to the singer’s weary heart. Strengthen my broken parts is vague, but it works lyrically and poetically, so we need to see where this is going. Lead me to Your open arms is also vague, and follows more of the romantic mysticism we get in CCM and Evangelical/Contemporary Worship (CoWo) these days. So, the first three lines have set up the relationship paradigm of understanding our need for a Savior and how we are to relate to Him. It’s a poor picture that relies too heavily on emotionalism rather than the clear Word of Truth we see in Scriptures. While there is a right way of speaking about our relationship with God, this approach brings a lot of baggage with it. What does it mean to be “led into Christ’s open arms”? This relationship metaphor bears a sense of proximity that is unhelpful in understanding Christ, and ultimately has to be turned into an “emotional proximity” which is purely subjective and easily manipulated by circumstance, fatigue, temperature, and disco lights. Christ gave us a Promise in the Great Commission that we need to bear in mind whenever someone tries to invoke the relationship metaphor of needing to be “close to God”.

Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Christ promised to be with us always, to the end of the age. That’s a promise that remains true whether we feel it or not. As far as a rescue mechanic might go, or “best construction”, we’d have to de-mystify the subjective emotionalism and translate Lead me to Your open arms into “Remind me of Your Gospel”, and understand Speak to my weary heart as something the Holy Spirit does WITH the preaching or reading of the Word of God, not as an appeal for an unmitigated direct revelation experience.

The next line in the song is Word of Truth, which is being treated as a Name of God that can be applied to Christ and the Written Word of God as the Revelation of Christ. I’d like to have it made more explicit, though, God works through the means of His Word to deliver the Grace, Forgiveness, Faith secured for us on the cross. So, we can work to insert this understanding here, that the singer is telling us we need to be in God’s Word looking for the clear Gospel of Jesus Christ for the answer to our weariness and broken parts (I really hope this isn’t a stand-in for sin). The song, however, continues in a mystical/poetic form with the request that the Word of Truth Illuminate all these lies The enemy speaks inside. The best thing we can do with this is to ground it in Scripture and the role of God the Holy Spirit.

John 16:13-15 (ESV) When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

I really want to highlight what Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, that He will not speak on his own authority. The Holy Spirit testifies and Glorifies the Son, Jesus, our LORD and Savior. The Holy Spirit delivers us faith in Christ Jesus, and He does this primarily through the means of the Preached Word. Romans 10:17 (ESV) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. The wording of the lies the enemy speaks inside is troublesome. If you have a poor understanding of sin, the “enemy” is only going to be demons, evil spirits, tempting us to sin. But Scripture makes it clear that our very flesh is sinful, constantly desiring to do evil.

Romans 7:21-25 (ESV) So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

There is a really bad habit with pop evangelicalism of flipping Law and Gospel inside out, they externalize sin (the devil keeps trying to make me do something I don’t truly want to do) and internalize the search for God through our emotional proximity to Him. What we should be doing is recognizing that it is our hearts of flesh that are sinful and tempting us to sin and looking to the external Word of God for His Grace and Forgiveness.

The final line of the verse bothers me, In freedom I will rise. Within the context of this first verse, we have nothing to anchor this line. Rise from what, a weary heart? from the lies of the enemy inside? Is this an appeal to Christ’s Return? The Resurrection? Or is this just a part of the “I can do this” revivalism?

Chorus. ‘Cause You called me out from the grave -yes! So I can live like I’ve been changed -no! I mean, living differently is an outflow of having been granted saving faith and eternal life in Christ Jesus, but it’s not the reason God called us from the grave. We’re still playing around in metaphors in the lyric of the song, so there is the whole matter of the simul, the already and the not-yet. Eternity is the focus, the reason behind Christ calling us from the grave. And He will do it literally for all who fall asleep in Christ in the Resurrection into eternity.

1 Peter 1:3-9 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The problem of this so being anchored in this temporal life is that it places the focus back onto the believer’s ability to “live a changed life”, it places the focus back onto the law. The Gospel carries us into eternity in Christ Jesus. Don’t let folks turn the Gospel into only a “fresh start” where you’re supposed to finish the rest on your own.

Galatians 5:2-5 (ESV) Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

Now, I’m not speaking against the notion that our lives should bear fruit. I’m saying that’s not the focus of the Gospel, it is an outflow of the Gospel. Saving Faith will bear fruit because God’s Word has Promised. So love and serve your neighbor, share the Gospel with peace, joy, and thanksgiving. Walk humbly before God in repentance, waiting for the Day of Christ’s return. Don’t make ‘doing good works’ the point of your having been saved. There is a new song in my soul And it begins When I breathe in Your word of life these are words that don’t convey any clear meaning. It’s part of the poetic mysticism, spiritualizing everything leaving it up to the listener to figure out what it means and how to apply this to their own lives. The new song in my soul could be a reference to having regenerate spirits by Grace through Faith in Christ Jesus. If that’s the case, though, the song is there even when we’re run down, weary, and have “broken parts” and even when we feel far away from God. As we discussed earlier, regardless of how we feel, Christ has promised to be with us, so He is. Let’s look at another passage:

Romans 6:3-5 (ESV) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The Apostle Paul taught that we are united with Christ’s death and resurrection in our baptism. The reference to “breathing in the word of Life” is a metaphor within a metaphor, that is not really helpful. I think it’s pointing to the Holy Spirit delivering saving Faith to those who are in Christ, but it’s buried several layers deep in metaphor. Lyrically, I think it’s building to the start of the second verse, too.

Verse 2. Spirit of God take me to a deeper place… again with the proximity relationship metaphor thingy. The mystic is always looking for deeply hidden truths, secrets, revelations, etc. The romantic mystic is looking for deeper relationship, connectedness, togetherness, but it always gets internalized emotionally. It also suggest a progression beyond salvation, a constant climbing of some ladder to get to God, to reach that next level of “Christian”. Dear, Christian, stop climbing ladders. Christ has done it all. It is finished. He IS our propitiation, our reconciliation, our adoption into the Kingdom of Heaven has already been won by His Blood. There is no “deeper” in our right-standing with God. It is in Christ, and that is more than enough. Your good works aren’t for God or for your position with Him, they are for your neighbor.

Take me out of what is safe I will not be afraid… Well, we have to deal in the subjective with this metaphorical language, otherwise we’re left wondering, “didn’t this song start out with you being weary and broken? Shouldn’t we stay in a safe place, securely in Christ Jesus?” Frankly, it feels like the start of this verse is an homage to Oceans (where feet may fail). Suddenly, the metaphor is now of our external circumstances, sort of a “get me out of my comfort zone” language to go do good works, don’t be safe, take risks, I will fear no evil sort of stuff. The Gospel is sort of a charging station where you get healed up, and then you’ve gotta get “out there” and “fight the good fight”. It’s a terrible way to consider the Christian Life or what it means to be In Christ Jesus. Christ isn’t just a charging station, He IS our Sabbath Rest, He IS our Salvation, He IS our bulwark, our Shield, our safe place.

The second half of the verse returns to the internalized, emotional metaphor, looking for joy (emotional version) that cannot be contained springing up from within. I cannot help but see this being presented as a condition that follows stepping out of the safe places and not being afraid. It’s the wrong focus. This is Revivalism, folks.

Conclusion

So, I hope I’ve at least explained where I see the problems in this lyric and where we can look in Scripture for a corrective lens. Believers need to be pointed to Christ, not just as an example of what they should be trying to emulate, but as their Savior, their propitiation, their reconciliation, and their Sabbath Rest (Hebrews 4). For now, I’d like to leave you with an encouragement written by the Apostle Paul, to the Colossians.

Colossians 2:6-23 (ESV) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Colossians 3:1-4 (ESV) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Amen.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | “Hard Love” by Need to Breathe (feat. Lauren Daigle)

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disapproveCCM Edition.

September 19, 2017. Today we’ll be taking a look at “Hard Love” by Need to Breathe (feat. Lauren Daigle) which currently sits at #6 on 20TheCountdownMagazine.

The version that is on the Top20 track isn’t the album version, it is the version done for the movie adaptation of the heresy-filled novel, “The Shack”. We’re not here to debate the book or the movie, but if this is news to you here is a good article that goes over the basic problems of the movie. For more on the book click here. Let’s give the song a listen and read through its lyric.

“The Shack” Version (Audio Only)

Lyrics

Trading punches with the heart of darkness
Going to blows with your fear incarnate
Never gone until it’s stripped away
A part of you has gotta die today

In the morning you gon’ need an answer
Ain’t nobody gonna change the standard
It’s not enough to just feel the flame
You’ve gotta burn your old self away

Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love

You know the situation can’t be right
And all you ever do is fight
But there’s a reason that the road is long
It takes some time to make your courage strong

Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love

When the wolves come and hunt me down
I will face them all and stand my ground
‘Cause there’s a fire burnin’ in me
They will see my strength in this love I found
Oh

Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love

It’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love
Oh, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love
Oh, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love, it’s a hard love

Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
‘Cause it’s a hard love

Songwriters: Nathaniel Rinehart / William Rinehart
Hard Love lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing

Discussion

Well, now… that’s an example of confusing Law and Gospel. The Law isn’t the Gospel, nor should it ever be presented as such. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, the Law kills. That’s what it does. Under the Law everything that isn’t Holy is destroyed. Only God is Holy; therefore, under the Law everything is destroyed. There is nothing you can do to avoid it, because there is nothing in ourselves that is Holy. The ONLY hope is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s the Only One (both fully God and fully Man) who fulfilled the whole Law in our place. Jesus paid the full price of sin in our place, as our substitute. He drank the full Wrath of God against all sin, and with His dying breath on that cross He declared tetelestai, “It is finished”.

John 19:28-30 (ESV)

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Colossians 1:13-23 (ESV)

[God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (ESV)

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The second reason this confusion of Law and Gospel should be avoided is that it makes the person, the sinner, the star of his own salvation. This is the glaring problem of this song, it focuses entirely on the person enduring this “hard love” and makes the person the hero of his own journey. Whatever this is, it isn’t the Gospel. This falls right in line with the nonsense that is “the Shack”.

Ephesians 2:4-9 (ESV)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The full work of salvation is the LORD’s, not ours. None of it is our own doing, and no one may boast in it.

Now, some might argue that this song isn’t about “getting saved” but about sanctification. To that I would like to say that the song isn’t overtly Christian. So, to try to rescue the song by claiming it to be an exhortation to sanctification is to ignore the primary fault in the lyric… it’s appealing to a sanctification that is focused on the sinner rather than the Savior. It’s generally assumed to be delivering a Christian message since it is being played on “christian” radio stations and was highlighted in a “christian” movie based on a “christian” book. In fact, the book was abysmally heretical (more), the movie is slightly toned down in its heresy, but it’s still there, and the song is theologically no better than Katy Perry’s Roar or David Guetta’s Titanium. That is to say that the song glorifies the singer and the listener. If we’re to make this “hard love” a stand-in for God’s love, we’ve completely and totally missed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Total confusion of Law and Gospel.

Conclusion

This song fails on every count. A complete confusion of Law and Gospel and its focus is on the sinner rather than the Savior. What’s worse, is that this particular version of the song serves to promote a heretical movie based on an even more heretical novel. Full disapproval in this DiM.

Jude 17-25 (ESV)

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | “The Comeback” by Danny Gokey

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disapproveCCM Edition.

September 12, 2017. Today we’ll be taking a look at “The Comeback” by Danny Gokey which currently sits at #7 on 20TheCountdownMagazine.

Today’s song lands in the “Disapprove” category simply because there is nothing of Scripture being taught, supported, intimated in its lyric. It’s a purely earthly motivational song.

Official Lyric Video

Lyrics (via KLove)

After a season of nightfalls and pushbacks
After the heartache of wrong turns and sidetracks
Just when they think they’ve got you game, set, match
Here comes the comeback

Just cause you laid low, got up slow, unsteady
Don’t mean you blacked out or bought out you’re ready
Just when they think there’s nothing left running on empty
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

You feel the lightning, the thunder, your soul shakes
Under the roar of the heaven, the tide breaks
And from the ashes you will take your place
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

There is no mountain you can’t face
There is no giant you can’t take
All of your tears were not a waste
You’re one step away

Just when they think they’ve got you game, set, match
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

Publishing: © 2016 BMG Platinum Songs/Creative Heart Publishing, Admin. by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC. (BMI); Red Red Pop/Capitol CMG Amplifier, Admin. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com (SESAC); Hello Darling Music (BMI). Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Writer(s): Danny Gokey, Josh Silverberg, and Cameron James

Discussion

Well, this song is purely a motivational piece. A pep talk for everyday life. The video shows athletes, and I suppose it could apply to folks in the business realm, but that’s it. The lyric doesn’t present any Christian theological truths. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised that we will have a “comeback” in our vocations or everyday, temporal life. This song is no more theological than Rachel Platten’s Fight Song.

So what do we do with this one? Let’s have a chat about the purpose of this DiM work a bit. This work isn’t about determining “what a Christian is allowed to listen to and remain Christian”. A Christian who is exercising proper discernment can listen to “secular” music and remain Christian. Most Christians do a decent job of recognizing bad theology or carnal thinking in so-called secular music as long as they’ve taken the time to consider the lyrics. They can listen to music for its artistry or maybe a raw description of life in a fallen world, or an opportunity to vent some emotional frustration. Whatever the reason for listening, most Christians aren’t tuning into Imagine Dragons looking for some Biblical truth. If you are doing that… stop it.

The problem with songs like today’s song by Danny Gokey, is that when they get played on a Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) radio station, they are given an artificial blessing of being “biblically sound”. The industry isn’t being run by theologians, pastors, or seminarians. They are business executives pushing a product. The artists themselves are rarely seminary trained, much less pastors (there are a few). This CCM industry isn’t about teaching the faith, it’s about promoting the next album/concert/single just like every other musical genre within the industry. The best thing that can be said of this song lyrically is that it’s “clean”. It’s a song about how great “I” am, or going to be soon. There are times when I’d like to have my own “theme song guy” or “hype man” in everyday life. Just please, whatever you do, do not try to draw some Christian meaning from it, because it’s focus is all wrong for that. The Scriptures point to Christ, not you. The Scriptures preach Christ and Him Crucified for our sin, buried and rose again on the third day, ascended into Heaven and returning once more for His Church and to judge both the living and the dead. That is the central focus and theme of Scripture. The Promise of Scripture is that Christ will come back one day, the Last Day.

1 Peter 1:3-13 (ESV) | Born Again to a Living Hope

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Today’s song earns a “Disapproved” rating, because it falls outside of what we are looking for in these songs. There’s nothing of Scripture being taught in this song. Now, if you find the song entertaining or are specifically looking for a “pump me up” kind of song to motivate you to “try, try, again”, by all means enjoy the song for that purpose. Just don’t go baptizing it, okay?

Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV) Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

Best CoWo songs?

Faithful Stewardship 2 Comments

September 4, 2017. The DiM work here focuses primarily on Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) that plays on the airwaves. The goal is to encourage Christians to exercise Biblical discernment when a song plays on the radio. If you’re just listening for entertainment, then keep your guard up and treat every song as a “secular” song. What is the theology being presented in the lyric? Indeed, even secular music presents theology.

With so many Contemporary Worship (CoWo) songs making their way onto the CCM charts, we’ve had a lot of interest in the issue of CoWo (as opposed to historical didactic hymns). As I engage folks in conservative churches, I’m finding a lot of people insisting that the CoWo they have in their church is biblically solid. The problem is that they rarely name these songs. I’m interested in doing more evaluation of CoWo songs, but I want to deal with the songs folks genuinely believe to be biblically solid.

I would like to ask my readers to Contact Us or comment below with what you consider to be Biblically solid CoWo songs that cannot be found in a traditional Hymnal. This has nothing to do with the accompaniment. Trading an organ for a band without changing the lyric is perfectly fine to me and does not make it CoWo. The focus absolutely must be in the content of the lyric. If a contemporary band does a cover or remake of an old Hymn, I will be looking for what was removed from the song and what was added to it lyrically.

My comment section is moderated, so if you don’t want me to post your comment let me know in the comment. I’m asking for help on the research end of CoWo. If you think your church does excellent CoWo, I’d love a list of songs/artists you guys use.

Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV) Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge

DiM | “O Come to the Altar” by Elevation Worship

Faithful Stewardship 2 Comments

Presentation1Evangelical Worship Edition.

August 22, 2017. Today we’ll be taking a look at “O Come to the Altar” by Elevation Worship which currently sits at #3 on 20TheCountdownMagazine.

Elevation Worship is the house band for Elevation Church where Steven Furtick presides. There are lots of problems with Elevation Church and with Steven’s preaching (additional info: here, here, and here). We’ll be focusing on the merits of this song that was clearly written for Elevation’s worship sets but finds itself on our CCM charts.

I have to admit, I was surprised by this song. Its lyrics are better than I expected. The Gospel of Forgiveness bought by the Blood of Jesus is in the chorus of this song. What is lacking is a clear understanding of what needed to be forgiven, so the Law is muddled. I’ll do my best to acknowledge the good and share my concerns in the lyric such that someone who has never heard of Elevation or Stephen Furtick can examine the lyric for themselves. I do not recommend anyone attending Elevation church, nor supporting that organization by buying their music.

Elevation Worship Video

The video is very polished. I thought it was just going to be another “House Band rock concert” video, but they brought in clips from their mass baptisms that were very compelling. I wish I could say that this demonstrates a proper understanding of Baptism, but Elevation was caught fabricating/manipulating “spontaneous baptism” events. There is also the extremely troubling fellowship between Furtick and T.D. Jakes, who is a non-trinitarian. Why is that relevant here? We are commanded to make disciples baptizing them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you reject the doctrine of the Trinity, you’re practicing a different baptism. Now, the song keeps mentioning the Altar, the video focuses more on baptism. I’m not going to complain too much here since the evangelical “altar call” at the house band concert would really be just coming up to the stage… and that would expose the “Finney altar call” for the spectacle it is. After we read through the lyrics, I want to come back to this video’s focus on baptism.

Lyrics (via YouTube)

Are you hurting and broken within
Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin
Jesus is calling
Have you come to the end of yourself
Do you thirst for a drink from the well
Jesus is calling

O come to the altar
The Father’s arms are open wide
Forgiveness was bought with
The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes
Come today there’s no reason to wait
Jesus is calling
Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy
From the ashes a new life is born
Jesus is calling

Oh what a Savior
Isn’t he wonderful
Sing alleluia, Christ is risen
Bow down before him
For he is Lord of all
Sing alleluia, Christ is risen

Bear your cross as you wait for the crown
Tell the world of the treasure you’ve found

Discussion

As I said in the intro, I was very surprised to have found the chorus of this song so good. Let’s start there for now because there is a clarity here I just don’t see in most of the songs on the CCM chart.

Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ

Here we have a central message of the Gospel. I so wish the song made use of the verses to finish proclaiming the Gospel. Sadly, it doesn’t, which leaves this excellent line in the chorus floating without an anchor point. Forgiveness for what? This is where the song falls flat, by softening the Law and emotionalizing it.

Verse 1. Are you hurting and broken within overwhelmed by the weight of your sin. Sin is our problem. Our flesh, our very being is sinful. In fact, we were dead in trespasses and sin (Eph 2:1). The opening lines of this verse focus on the “hurting” and “broken within” and “overwhelmed by the weight” of sin. This is already taking the mystical turn of spiritualizing everything. Sure, the word “sin” is in there, but what is being described points more to an emotional awareness of guilt, or the emotional effect of guilt/shame. The next line takes it a step further with, Have you come to the end of yourself. This is a truism you won’t find in Scripture, it points to the whole “let go and let God” type of sentiment. Have you tried everything else, but to no avail? Well, try this! Do you thirst for a drink from the well. This is one of those lines that gets thrown out there to really grab those who are familiar with some scripture. Now, because I want each of you to be more familiar with scripture so that you can think of Scripture rather than this song, let’s look at what this line is alluding to.

John 4:7-14 (ESV)  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This is a Gospel passage. The problem is that the person who needs to hear the Gospel doesn’t intuitively know what it means to “thirst for a drink from the well”. We aren’t intuitively aware of the Gospel. Just as this Samaritan woman didn’t understand at first, we today don’t understand the depth of our need nor do we get the Gospel. So, a line like this might lead someone to think, “it’s scriptural”, though the song isn’t actually conveying a complete thought.

Verse 2. Okay, so we’ve come from the chorus that speaks of the Forgiveness bought by Christ’s Blood, and the next line we get is, Leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Here we have a muddled Law, a muted problem of sin. It leaves the impression that the point of Forgiveness is for “regrets and mistakes”. These are some of the symptoms of sin, but they are not the actual problem of sin. The third line has the same sort of emotionalizing of the problem of sin with, Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy. Trade sorrows for joy, though I would argue that Biblically speaking, Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not merely some emotion. In our modern context, I don’t think we’ve maintained such distinctions in language. It’s romantic mysticism, a feel-good sentiment floating in the verse. Now, to anchor this sentiment into a Biblical promise, we need to look past this temporal life and into the New Heaven and the New Earth after the Resurrection.

Revelation 21:1-5 (ESV) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

But we aren’t finished with this verse. This next line makes my blood boil. From the ashes, a new life is born. Can we please stop pulling language from the Phoenix mythos? I mean, this is in your “worship” set, for crying out loud. Stop with the Greek mythology. Just stop it.

Verse 3. Random tidbits of truth here, I suppose. I really like Sing Alleluia, Christ is risen, though, that is very good. By this time in the song, the point isn’t so much the lyric but the swell in the trance-like musical euphoria building toward a spiritual climax. This verse can be repeated like a second chorus as the audience sways back and forth at the leading of the singer, emotions stirred up into a frenzy, arms swaying to the rhythm of the song… because this is the “experience” that somehow translates to “worship”. At least, that is what these bands are led to believe. They are ushering in the Spirit, they are bringing heaven down to earth. At least, that is what the stated goal of this “worship” album is:

EDITORS’ NOTES
On this spiritual soundtrack, Elevation Worship attempt to prove that heaven is indeed a place on earth…(ref: iTunes)

This is purely emotional manipulation by very highly skilled musicians, some of whom might genuinely believe that this emotionalism is “true worship”.

Bridge. There’s no basis in the song for understanding what it means to Bear your cross as you wait for the crown. Let’s look at some Scriptures for a better understanding of what might be going on here.

Matthew 16:24-27 (ESV) Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

James 1:2-12 (ESV) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 5:1-11 (ESV) So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

To deny ourselves is to resist temptation, to humble ourselves, and to confess that we are powerless, desperately in need of a Savior this and every day here on this Earth. No room for temporal triumphalism here. The Apostles didn’t preach such temporal victory, they preached Christ’s return for His Church, for the crown of Life in the Resurrection in Christ Jesus.

What Altar? I find it curious when these mega churches sing about ‘coming to the altar’. Their altar is a stage, where they perform their rock concerts and TED talks. In historical, orthodox, Christian churches, the altar is where the elements of Communion are kept. Long before Charles Finney and his “New Measures” (which were horrible) and his awful “altar call” nonsense… the Church understood the idea of coming to the altar as a call to Communion, where Christ served His Church His Body and His Blood.

Matthew 26:26-29 (ESV) Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

This song isn’t referring to an actual altar, there isn’t even a representation of an altar in the Elevation Auditorium/Concert hall. It’s purely mystical, purely emotional, completely spiritualized and as such there is no solid meaning to the idea of coming to the altar in this song. I encourage you to consider how Scripture talks of Communion in 1 Cor 11. We need to divorce ourselves from the notion of the “altar call” where we “make a decision for Christ”… primarily since Scripture nowhere talks like that. Instead, we should consider what it is we are receiving in Communion. That may be tough for those of you in churches that don’t go up to the front to receive communion, but it’s at least a Scriptural basis for the idea of “coming to the altar”.

Baptism. A common doctrinal error regarding Baptism is viewing Baptism through the lens of the Law rather than as a gift of the Gospel. Baptism is something Christ does for us, not something we do for Him. For non-Lutherans, I know that’s an odd way to speak of Baptism without first spiritualizing it, but in some way, I think the editors of this music video recognize that there is something special going on in Baptism. While the song makes an appeal to come to the altar, they don’t have a clue how to demonstrate that or represent that in any meaningful way, so they look to Baptism. This is so close to being a good thing… so close. Yes, Baptism is God’s work and it comes with a Promise.

Acts 2:36-39 (ESV) Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Conclusion

The song does have problems, particularly in its emotionalizing of sin such that the emphasis is on the effect of sin rather than sin itself. We are guilty of sin, regardless of whether or not we “feel it”, it is fact. The Law points out our sin and we’ve all fallen short. The song does have essential elements of the Gospel, that Christ shed His blood for our Forgiveness and that He has Risen from the grave. With a lot of work, this song can be a reminder of the Gospel for those hearing it playing on CCM radio.

Please don’t go to Elevation Church, don’t sit under Steven Furtick’s teaching, don’t buy this “worship album”. This song isn’t the reason I don’t recommend that organization. I’ve listened to several sermons, read through several controversies, and he’s aligned himself with heretics such as T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer. Pray for Steven Furtick and avoid him. If you have friends who think highly of Elevation church, don’t try to win the argument with this song review. You’ll need to address the false teaching and Furtick’s mishandling of Scripture (additional info: here, here, and here).

Jude 24-25 (ESV) Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge