It is the fatal Rehoboam syndrome, rejecting the counsel of elders, and making their young peers their counselors.
"He forsook the counsel of the old men,
which they had given him,
and consulted with the young men
that were grown up with him," 1 Kings 12:8.
which they had given him,
and consulted with the young men
that were grown up with him," 1 Kings 12:8.
Everything in the Bible tells us to honor our elders, ask for the old paths, don't remove ancient landmarks, and earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered. The only real hope for this generation is to reconnect with the faith of their fathers. To reject the old paths is wicked, and is ultimately spiritually suicidal.
There is divine continuity in what God does. But a whole lot of Holiness people have rejected their own, and have taken up with pseudo-Christians, and turned against their own. That is Apostasy.
There is a diabolical disconnect between the new generation of "Christians" and the real roots of the authentic Pentecostal experience. This generation has never heard and does not know the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost that was upon earlier generations of Pentecostals; and on their preaching and their singing. They make mockery of things they know little or nothing of. Many of our children have never heard our preaching or our singing. They don't know why we believe what we believe and do what we do. They don't know who the patriarchs and elders of the last generation were, and don't know the mighty signs and wonders and miracles that followed them because of what they believed and lived by. If they did, they would realize that the old path was a good path.
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways,
and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, We will not walk therein,"
Jeremiah 6:16.
and see, and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said, We will not walk therein,"
Jeremiah 6:16.
Satan has declared all-out war on the old paths.
But I'm on to him, and intend to expose him as the nasty, stinking, Truth-hating, poison-fanged devil that he really is.
I do not for one second believe that the new generation of "Christians" has a more intimate relationship with God than the old-time Pentecostals. That is an enormous deception. There is strychnine in that Kool-Aid.
There is a worldly spirit in much of the new music. Many of the writers and singers of this generation are extremely carnal and worldly people, and their music projects that spirit. I studied the TWITTER timeline of one of the biggest names in Christian music. She had well over 200,000 Twitter followers, but in the latest 125 tweets, she NEVER mentioned God or the Bible; just her concerts, her travel, her sports teams, and FUN, FUN, FUN. Complete vanity. Nothing Christlike. She should be banned from every Christian venue. Her influence is utterly toxic.
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| It's time to drive the world, the flesh and the devil out of our Churches. |
It is time for us to refocus. We have given ourselves foolishly to fads and fashions in music, rather than in preserving things that are sacred and holy and truly intimate with God. I know I've stirred up a firestorm here, but these things need to be said. Our Churches need to bring back the old hymnals and rediscover sacred music.
I'm not going to equivocate or rationalize about it. We are in denial of the evil forces that are at work in "Christian" music. Someone recently wrote me after visiting Hillsong in Australia, and sensing some very bad spirits in the place. Another person expressed his consternation over the intense sexuality/sensuality of singers in a particular Hillsong video he had seen.
I am sick and tired of our being suckers to these big-time hoaxters. They don't preach the gospel truth, and in fact spend a great deal of their time bashing the kind of things that Apostolic Pentecostal Holiness people believe. Don't think for a second that the Holy Ghost is in that. Yet we devour their music and have turned our Pentecostal Churches into Hillsong substations. I will decry that till there is no more breath in me.
Every kind of Christian music has now been commercialized, plagiarized and corrupted. Carnal, worldly, materialistic people run the Christian music industry. There are essentially NO Apostolic Pentecostal Holiness people at the helm of the Christian music industry. It is an ENTERTAINMENT industry, and as such is no more sacred than the money changers in the Temple that Jesus drove out with WHIPS!! We must return to the innocence, naivete, and sincerity of sacred music, and forever boycott the endless thumping, heart-stopping, sensual, comedic, mockery that comprises the bulk of pseudo-Christian music.
A friend, Craig McCracken, sent me this quote from Stan Moser former head of Word Records, CEO of Star Records, and pioneer and executive of CCM (Contemporary Christian Music). He said, "to be candid, I look at the majority of the music I hear today and I think it's virtually meaningless... There is a growing chasm between CCM and the church; between what's actually happening in the real world of ministry, or even in the music ministry of the church, and what we're doing in CCM." That was in Christianity Today, May 20, 1996. If that was said of CCM THEN... what about now? TIME magazine stated that CCM performers are "indistinguishable, except for their lyrics, from their secular counterparts."
That is downright abominable.
Modern Christian music is more technically expert, more intellectual, more entertaining, more physically stimulating, more hypnotic, more faddish, and stirs superficial emotions masterfully.
But it is not deeper, more godly, or more spiritual, nor does it tend toward more holiness or Biblical maturity. It is far more superficial than the older music which tends to have a far more in-depth and comprehensive scriptural message, addressing many more doctrinal matters, and reflects a far more scriptural consecration, self-denial, humility, and genuine submission to the will of God.
In a large percentage of modern "Christian" concerts the music is harder, louder, forceful, pounding, near-heart-stopping. It generates a sensual, physical response before the "gospel" message ever begins. And in fact, if you completely threw out the lyrics so that nobody even knew what the lyrics were, they would still dance and scream and cheer.
What does that tell you? DUMP IT!!
For God's sake, let's get back to the basics. Turn off the million dollar sound and light show. Dump everybody in the band who spends all their time playing instruments and listening to worldly music, and no time praying and reading their Bible. Anything that even REMOTELY looks like "Dance with the Stars" should be kicked out violently. And I won't even get started on the evils of trance-like chants and lyrics that are repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. Meaningless lyrics. Rock star Christian celebrities can make one phrase in the Bible sound heavenly while they totally ignore and utterly REFUSE to live by hundreds of others. They are devil-paid phonies.
We have fallen into a hellacious trap of believing that if the whole crowd is jumping up and down and going wild, that there is a spiritual revival going on. But I just don't buy it, and I know a lot of other people who don't buy it either.
There are literally thousands of wonderful Gospel songs that are doctrinally sound. It is easy enough to look through the lyrics and toss out a song that has unscriptural lyrics. But as many - and more - of the new songs are heretical, with the false doctrines of eternal security, unconditional love, hyper-grace, and worldly prosperity occurring again and again. And that says nothing of the inappropriate raw sensuality and hard-driving physicality of so much of it. Most pastors and worship leaders pay little or no attention to those hazards. We've GOT to put the brakes on that kind of stuff.
Let's just start over. Find a praying, holy-living, God-fearing singer. Hand him or her an old hymnal. Give him or her free choice of 300-400 songs. Learn it and sing it with NO showmanship. No phony gyrations. No phony screaming and hollering. No 125-decibel bleeding ears. No wall-shaking drums. Just sing a good, godly song for Jesus, to Jesus. And see what happens.
Can anybody tell me why not?
See also - "Christian Entertainment: An Oxymoron"
