The world in the Church.

David Noakes continues his chapter giving a personal and biblical perspective on renewal. First published in 1995. Click here for previous instalments.

We can now see within the Church the equivalent of the world's superstars, the hero on a pedestal supported and followed by his admirers. In some cases, the gifted man in leadership has been exalted in the minds of his followers to a point of infallibility, which brings both him and them into great danger.

Within the last year, a mature Christian man with leadership responsibilities said to me: “David, I simply cannot believe that X [a prominent charismatic leader] could possibly get anything wrong”. I could only respond that in that case, he had effectively elevated the man to the status of God, bringing both of them into great peril. We have brought into being the phenomenon of the Christian guru.

During the last 20 years we have seen emerge another characteristic of the spirit of the age: the desire to create large-scale enterprises, to build church empires. This is the ecclesiastical equivalent of the multi-national conglomerate commercial organisation, ruled through a hierarchical authority structure with exalted executives directing operations and visiting outposts of their empires from their central headquarters. It has much of the world's ways about it, but little of the biblical revelation of the structure of the Church or of the servant-leadership of which Jesus speaks in Matthew 20:25-28 and 23:1-12.

The world's delight in spectacular entertainment has infected the Church with the love of the big show on the public platform. 25 years ago we would see lines of people quietly waiting to receive the laying-on of hands so that the Holy Spirit would show the compassion of God in bringing gifts of healings. Now, however, we have progressed to the point where we expect that in place of the ministry of the word and prayer, men will perform as magicians to cause others to fall to the floor, for no good reason, but simply as a demonstration of power.

This is far removed from the activities of the Jesus revealed in the gospels, who disdained to exercise power for wrong purposes. He was consistently unwilling to perform signs and wonders to impress, but only in order to demonstrate the compassion of his Father to the sick and the needy and as confirmation of the truth of the word which he spoke. Many meetings now, however, are not for the purposes by which he was motivated, but for those of worldly display, financial gain and the elevation of the ministries of men.

The Church today has adopted the world’s delight in superstars, spectacular entertainment and commercial empires.

The materialism of the Western world and its 'get rich quick' philosophy has entered the Church in the form of the prosperity gospel. By 'naming and claiming' we seek to oblige a penny-in-the-slot god to deliver the goods which a hedonistic philosophy desires. Paul would have found it very hard to believe in such teaching in the midst of his impoverishments, imprisonments and shipwrecks! Yet the Church wants to be like the world, luxuriating in a form of self-indulgent religion.

“To the law and to the testimony” cries Isaiah 8:20. What does the word of God say of this? “Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God” (Prov 30:8-9). The Scripture explains clearly the wisdom which underlies the teaching of Jesus that we are to ask simply for our 'daily bread'.

How Has the World Gained Access?

What has made possible this wholesale invasion of the Church by the thinking and the ways of the world? Most of those who have introduced these ways are men who originally started well as ministers of the word. What has ensnared us?

The largest factor leading us to embrace the world and its methods is exactly that which led Abraham into the trap of his liaison with Hagar: the operation of the uncrucified flesh, the inherent drive towards self-gratification rather than to what is pleasing to God. The permanent conflict within us between spirit and flesh, so plainly spelt out in Romans 8 and Galatians 5, always poses one stark question: whose will is going to be carried out, that of God or that of self?

The attributes of the self-centred, self-gratifying flesh will always drive us away from the Lord and into the embrace of the world. As with Abraham and Sarah, the flesh causes us to think that we know best and can manage God's business quite well for him. This pride, however, for that is what it is, opens the way to the desire for wealth, for fame and for the praises of men; and to the urge to exercise within the Church not godly authority, but worldly domination and control over the lives of others.

The attributes of the self-centred, self-gratifying flesh will always drive us away from the Lord and into the embrace of the world.

As a result, leaders unwittingly usurp the place of Jesus as Head of the Body, just as Jezebel usurped the authority of her husband King Ahab. Instead of gifted leaders being used by the Holy Spirit in his primary purpose of building up the Body of Christ, they often became the agents of causing the people of God to become crushed and ineffective under a religious tyranny, unable to grow and mature as the Lord would desire.

A further effect of overbearing leadership, and one which is potentially of immense and far-reaching danger, is that all discernment of the source of spiritual activity becomes the prerogative of leaders and the rest of the people have often no alternative but to stifle the witness of the Holy Spirit within them. We shall return to this topic later.

Doctrinal Error

Pride, and its accompanying desire for power and dominion, all too easily opens the door to false doctrine. Taken together with the vital ingredient of the deep root of anti-Semitism (the largely unadmitted and un-repented sin of the Gentile Church through so many generations), pride has opened the way for the doctrines of Dominion theology and for the false concepts of Restorationism and Reconstructionism.

The rejection of the clear and unambiguous teaching of Scripture concerning the continuing part which the nation of Israel has to play in the purposes of God throws away a vital key to a biblical understanding of the significance of the times in which we live. It leads to error and confusion in eschatology; to deny that God will fulfil all his word concerning Israel in the closing days of this age is to throwaway, as it were, the hub of the eschatological wheel into which all ancillary doctrine fits like spokes.

Discard Israel from the equation and there is no clear understanding of how the rest can fit together. We cannot understand how or when the coming Day of the Lord will affect the Church or the world unless we first understand how that event will affect Judah and Jerusalem.

The concepts of Restorationist thinking can only be sustained alongside a theology which maintains that God has replaced Israel with the Church; and to hold that theological position involves the assertion that God has broken his word of assurance to the Hebrew nation, particularly with regard to their restoration to the land given as an everlasting covenant to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ps 105:8-11).

The God whom we know as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not, however, one who breaks his word of covenant, for to do so would be to deny his very character. He will undoubtedly fulfil to the uttermost all his word concerning the descendants of Jacob.

Restorationist teaching and the accompanying 'Dominion' or 'Kingdom Now' theology depends, however, upon an interpretation of Scripture which denies that God will fulfil his word concerning Israel. Such an interpretation is utterly false.

To deny that God will fulfil all his word concerning Israel in the closing days of this age is to throwaway the hub of the eschatological wheel into which all ancillary doctrine fits like spokes.

The basic concept of Restorationism stems from an erroneous understanding of Acts 3:21. This verse is interpreted to mean that God will restore the Church to a glorious condition in the world before the return of Christ. However, the same verse goes on to define this restoration as being that which God has promised to do through the Hebrew prophets. Of what, then, did they predict the restoration?

They prophesied concerning the restoration of the Davidic kingdom (Amos 9:11-15) and all that accompanies it, which will be restored by the action of the Messiah at his return. No 'restoration of all things' prior to the Second Advent is predicted by the prophets of Israel.

Why should this error of understanding matter so greatly? Clearly it must matter for the fundamental reason that any distortion or error in interpretation falsifies the word of truth and misleads those who are wrongly taught. In the times into which we have now entered, however, it has an additional peril for those who have been misled by it. False doctrine gives rise to false prophecy, and false prophecy leads to confusion and disillusionment because of the failure of its expected fulfilment.

In that part - and it is a very considerable part - of the charismatically-renewed Church which has espoused Restorationist thinking and Dominion theology, there has been a consistent strain of prophecy predicting glory and dominion, power and rulership for the Church before the return of Christ. Triumphalism has been a dominant feature. It is very appealing; it appealed strongly to me when I was first hearing it more than 20 years ago but its appeal, unfortunately, is to the flesh in us. Who would not prefer to be the head, rather than the tail?

The problem, however, is that neither the basic doctrine nor this prophetic theme are true; they are both deceptive, for neither accords with the revelation of the word of God concerning the last days in which we are now living. These are days, not of increasing light, but of increasingly great spiritual darkness on the nations of the earth (Isa 60:2), which will intensify until he who is the Light of the World returns. Along with this darkness will come the false light of the increasing power and extent of New Age religion, leading ultimately to the worship of Lucifer.

The Dangers of Deception

The greatest peril to the Church, and one which will increase in danger as time progresses, will be that of deception. This is the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament. Satan will assume increasingly his two principal roles (Rev 12:9) of both dragon and serpent, persecutor and deceiver, and he will employ both means in causing many to fall away (Matt 24:9-13).

Any error in doctrine falsifies the word and misleads those who are wrongly taught – it also gives rise to false prophecy, which leads to confusion and disillusionment.

Deception, however, is his preferred method, for by it he can cause men unwittingly to serve his purposes. We are warned in 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 that Satan masquerades as an angel of light, and his ministers as ministers of righteousness.

If the Church is not alert and discerning, we will surely be deceived, for he will prove too subtle for us unless we have open ears to hear and to heed the warnings which the Holy Spirit gives against deception whenever it arises, as more and more frequently it will surely do.

Counterfeit Spiritual Manifestations

Although deception is no new weapon against the Church (much of the writing in the New Testament epistles had the exposure of deception as its purpose) nevertheless of all the signs of the imminence of the Second Coming and the end of the present age, the increase of deception is the sign of which we are given the most consistent warning.

When the disciples asked this very question of Jesus concerning the signs of the end of the age, he began his reply with the words: “Watch out that no-one deceives you” (Matt 24:4). He immediately warns them of the emergence of false Christs (v5) who “will deceive many”, and in verse 11 of false prophets who “will appear and deceive many people”.

There is further warning in verses 23 and 24 concerning the appearance of false Christs and false prophets who “will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible.”
Jesus is warning of false men who will seek to validate their deceptive claims by performing great signs and wonders. They will manifest great spiritual power and bring about amazing activity yet nevertheless, they are not sent by God.

Satan is a master of counterfeit spiritual phenomena, as he had demonstrated when Pharaoh's magicians by their occult powers duplicated Moses' action in turning his staff into a snake, and then also duplicated the phenomena of the first two plagues which Moses pronounced upon Egypt (Exod 7:6-8:15). The source of their power was entirely different, but the results appeared identical. It was not until the third plague, of gnats, that God did not permit the magicians to succeed, at which point they recognised and declared to Pharaoh that the plague must be from God; their own source of power was no longer operating.

What a warning we should draw from such an account in Scripture. The outward evidence was identical, but the origin of their power was occult. If we look simply at outward appearances, impressive as they may be, we are candidates for deception. It is for this reason that the New Testament gives us so much clear warning concerning counterfeit spiritual activity.

Our need is not to reject spiritual manifestations, but to become increasingly alert and practised in distinguishing the source of the power behind them (Heb 5:14).

This is not so that we should become afraid of the genuine and reject all spiritual phenomena out of hand; rather the reverse, for the more the deceptions come against us, the more we shall need the genuine powerful activity of the Holy Spirit in order that we may discern and counter it. Our need is not to reject spiritual manifestations, but to become increasingly alert and practised in distinguishing the source of the power behind them (Heb 5:14).

Paul gives clear warning in 2 Thessalonians 2 concerning the coming of the Day of the Lord and the return of Jesus. He declares that first, a figure known as the man of lawlessness (or man of sin, the personification of the spirit of satan, sometimes called the anti-Christ) will appear. This person will be overthrown and destroyed at the return of the Lord Jesus; but before that, warns Paul in verses 9-11, he will display by the activity and power of satan “all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders” and “every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie…”.

How awesome and terrible that last statement is: but for the believer it should be encouragement to hold firmly to the truth of what is revealed to us in the word of God.

A further major warning concerning counterfeit spiritual activity is found in Revelation 13:11-18, describing the second beast of John's vision. The first beast of that chapter corresponds to the man of sin, while the second is the 'false prophet', who is encountered again in Revelation 19:20. His function is to perform miraculous signs by power which counterfeits that of God, so as to deceive the people on earth into worshipping the man of sin. They will be fooled into thinking that he is the true Christ, but he will be the anti- or pseudo-Christ.

Next week: David turns to the issue of false doctrine, which joins counterfeit spiritual manifestations to make up the two major forms of deception.

Contemporary Christian music and the spirit of the age.

Previous instalments of this series have looked at the spiritual power of music and its biblical significance, and have argued that popular trends in music always reflect the spirit of the age.

But should this be the case for music used inside the Church? Shouldn’t this be reflecting a different Spirit altogether?

Music at the Centre

Music has always been a strong feature of Judeo-Christian worship and culture. One only has to read the Psalms of Ascent (Ps 120-134) to see how important a role it has played in Jewish communal worship, as pilgrims sang on their way up to Jerusalem for festivals.¹ Since Jesus’ time, generations of Christians have learned of the Lord through song, and rightly so, for biblical songs are vital to the health of the Church (Eph 5:19; 1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16).

It is good for believers to strengthen their theology through music; it is one of the wonderful gifts the Lord has given to bind the Church together through the ages, encourage her and keep her on a sound footing.
However, there is something different about this current generation. It is perhaps more concerned with musical worship than any previous generation – but it is also less concerned with Scripture.

For modern Christians, our musical intake includes both worship music used in church services and what has become known as ‘Contemporary Christian Music’ (CCM), an umbrella term for songs of any modern style that are intentionally Christian in their lyrics.² As long as songs are biblical, God-glorifying, and written in the right spirit, both of these musical avenues can be great for encouragement and edification.

This current generation is perhaps more concerned with musical worship than any previous generation – but it is also less concerned with Scripture.

But some problems have started to creep in in recent years as songs have become, for many, a substitute for scriptural learning. As biblical knowledge has generally been in decline, the way has been opened for modern Christian music to be permeated not by the Holy Spirit, but by the ‘spirit of the age’.

In this article I will outline four such ways this is occurring, focusing particularly on music popular in evangelical and charismatic circles. What follows is a largely critical remark – but please bear with me as next week’s conclusion to this short series will be much more positively focused on the hallmarks of good, solid, biblical music. For those interested in my own musical background and the position from which I am offering these comments, please see the Author Bio at the end of this page.

Four ways in which modern Christian music can channel the spirit of the age

1. Entertainment

Hillsong meeting in Sydney, Australia. See Photo Credits.According to secular theorists, Western culture has developed an obsession with entertainment. Key features of this culture include preferences of illusion over truth, appearance over reality and distraction over meaningful pursuit.³ When this comes to religion, it also means a preference for an appearance of spirituality without concern to live this out fully (i.e. 2 Tim 3:5).

Christian worship meetings that look and feel more like pop concerts have long been the chagrin of folk who prefer more traditional formats. Whatever your personal taste, there is no doubt that both Christian worship music and CCM have imbibed something of the contemporary spirit of ‘entertain me’: all the buzz of a spectacle and the enjoyment of (usually) an attractive set of faces, and all the sense of participating in something that ‘feels’ spiritual, but with very little personal challenge or follow-through.

The blending of Christian music with the secular world of entertainment – whether we are talking about borrowed styles and genres, or borrowed formats of mass gigs and music festivals - “changes it subtly, for the musical and emotional [is] exploited while the spiritual [is] denied or perverted.”⁴ It is obviously possible for God to work powerfully through such forms and events, but too often it’s equally possible for nominal Christians and unbelievers to partake, enjoy, adulate the performer and leave feeling good, but otherwise unchanged.

The blending of Christian music with the secular world of entertainment is not something to be taken lightly.

Meanwhile, Christian bands and artists face enormous commercial pressure to put out best-selling albums every year and to gig their way around the globe, winning Grammy awards as they go.⁵ Part of this pressure comes from record labels, which these days include secular conglomerates like Sony and EMI, who want songs that sell. This means that trends in music are more likely to be defined by what is popular and award-winning than by theological accuracy.

Edifying, doctrinally-sound songs still ‘make it big’ today. And many Christian artists take very seriously their opportunity to give the Gospel to a mass audience. However, the taking of inspiration from the secular realm is not something that should be done lightly, and has often also popularised a Christianity ‘lite’ based on thin doctrine and transient commitment.

2. Celebrity

Western culture’s obsession with entertainment goes hand-in-hand with a fascination with celebrity which has, sadly, also infiltrated the Church. The Gospel Coalition’s Mike Cosper notes that “Celebrity culture turns pastors and worship leaders into icons. Celebrity culture turns worship gatherings into rock concerts. Celebrity culture confuses flash and hype for substance.”⁶

Gigs, popular charts and social media all naturally draw the eye not to Jesus but to the artists, with more pressure on them to demonstrate charisma than a fear of the Lord. Being in the public eye obviously affords performers great opportunity to point people to Jesus but an obvious risk here, nonetheless, is idolatry and its attendant problems.

High-profile Christian musicians also wield huge influence, especially over young people. This can be a force for good, but it can also be used to promote heresy. Consider the following examples:

Pro-LGBT

Example: song-writer and worship leader Vicky Beeching, who came out as a lesbian in 2014 and now works to further the LGBT agenda in the British Church.

Universalism/Multi-faith

With universalism and multi-faith agendas gaining currency in mainstream evangelical and charismatic circles as well as in the ‘emerging church’, several Christian musicians are endorsing this, directly or indirectly. Examples include:

• Well-known Christian artists contributing to the soundtrack of the universalist film The Shack.
  
• Hillsong’s worship pastor Carl Lentz downplaying Jesus as the only way to God when interviewed by Oprah.⁷
  

Edifying, doctrinally-sound songs still ‘make it big’ today – but so do songs promoting a Christianity ‘lite’ based on thin doctrine and transient commitment.

Contemplative Prayer

Various Christian song-writers are allying themselves with the contemplative prayer movement, which utilises prayer methods advocated by the so-called ‘desert fathers’. This movement is drawing extensive criticism for often amounting to a new age counterfeit of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Examples: David Crowder, Michael W Smith, Michael Card.⁸

Dominionism

One of the main ways in which the highly influential ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ group of teachers and ministries in the USA has managed to export and mainstream Latter Rain/dominionist teachings⁹ worldwide is through music.

Example: Bethel Church in Redding has an extensive music scene, producing songs that promote its own brand of theology and exporting them worldwide via groups such as Jesus Culture and Bethel Music. These songs are being given further credence by endorsements from big names such as Chris Tomlin and Michael W Smith, and from major conferences such as Passion in the USA (click here for a critical review).

3. Emotionalism

An important feature of postmodern Western culture is the triumph of heart over head. These days, reason and hard facts matter less than feelings. This also means an over-emphasis on experience (or, in Christian jargon, ‘encounter’).

Such a culture within the Church developed initially as a reaction against lifeless Christianity, and arguably has encouraged an honesty in music about lived, felt aspects of the Christian walk. However, it has often gone too far, with doctrine giving way to emotion. The way has therefore been opened for other spirits to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit, while true faith is side-lined.

Two extreme but nonetheless influential examples in Christian worship and CCM are hyper-charismatic music associated with the NAR group in America, and music used in the contemplative prayer movement (both mentioned previously). Both of these rely on repetitive rhythms and phrases, atmospheric mood music (referred to as music for ‘soaking’ or ‘meditation’, respectively) and intentionally vague lyrics.

High-profile Christian musicians wield huge influence, which can be a force for good, but can also be used to promote heresy.

The net result, in both camps, is music which draws the listener to switch off their mind to prepare the way for a spiritual encounter,¹⁰ rather than biblical music which should involve our minds as well as our spirits (1 Cor 14:15).

A brief excursion into the Bethel Music website provides some example lyrics:

• “Face to face, falling in / I surrender all again / I fall back into Your arms / I feel Your heart beating against me / Face to face, there’s no space between us”¹¹
  
• “I’m standing on the edge again / I feel Your breath coming on the wind… / It only gets stronger / It only goes deeper / My head’s underwater / but somehow I can finally breathe… / My heart is on fire / and this love is setting me free”¹²
  
• “It all starts with breathing You in / breathing You in / deeply / I’ve been drowning under my skin / no one but You can save me”¹³
  
• “Let the Holy Ghost come so close our hearts explode with your love / Let healing power come like fire and burn in the marrow of my bones… / Open the sky / Come and ride on the songs we sing…”¹⁴
  
• “The waves of your affection keep washing over me… / All those angels / they are swimming in this ocean and they still can find no shore / Day and night / night and day / They keep seeing new sides of your face”¹⁵
  

These are potted examples from one (albeit influential) source, but they show how songs utilising experiential, emotive language and lacking in clear doctrine could (at a push!) be interpreted in the light of Scripture, but could also be interpreted in all sorts of other ways.¹⁶

4. Self

The previous three points are united by a recurring focus on self. While time spent worshipping God undoubtedly leads to great personal blessing, there is a danger that this becomes imbalanced and fleshly, such that times of worship are approached primarily because of what I might receive from God. Contemporary worship music and CCM have, sadly, both imbibed this inward-looking focus on personal blessing and gratification.

Let me illustrate this briefly. The annual worship compilation albums ‘WOW’ collect together each year’s most popular contemporary Christian music. On their 2017 album of 39 tracks, just 7 songs mention the name of Jesus, 5 mention the cross and only 4 mention sin. This same pattern is repeated historically - in fact, the WOW 2015 album, also 39 songs long, boasts just 4 songs that include the name of Jesus, 5 that mention the cross and only one that includes the word ‘sin’.

While time spent worshipping God undoubtedly leads to great personal blessing, there is a danger that this becomes imbalanced and ‘me-orientated’.

Of course, not every Christian song needs to mention the name of Jesus in order to be acceptable (the original lyrics of ‘Amazing Grace’ do not mention any of the above three words either!). But there’s a broader point here: the majority of contemporary Christian music, with its positive messages of personal victory, blessing, revival and overcoming, is in danger of obscuring vital parts of the Gospel. One could easily ingest the majority of modern Christian tunes and conclude that the Good News is simply a matter of accepting that God loves you.

Christian music should rightly make space for songs about the personal and individual. But great discernment is needed to stop this going too far – especially when Western culture is infamous for its inward focus on ‘me, myself and I’.

Conclusion

In writing this study, I have not wanted to ride roughshod over the many good, solid worship songs that are being written today, nor toss away the very idea of CCM. Personally, I think there’s a place for both – and next week I hope to unpack features of good quality Christian music.

But sadly, we live in a culture that is resorting to spectacle in order to distract itself from its own deep spiritual crisis – a culture that has turned inwards to personal feelings and experiences in order to avoid confronting the One True God. Is CCM and even Christian worship music unwittingly aligning itself with this?

I am left with a number of questions, which I will list here as prompts for further discussion:

1. Has the Christian worship and CCM industry imbibed too much of the ‘spirit of the age’ to be redeemable? Should we be looking to other sources of musical inspiration for our worship (e.g. Messianic congregations in Israel)?
   
2. Is there a place for the public testing of Christian songs and/or the public holding of the Christian music industry to account? How might this look?
   
3. How can we be wise with our own consumption of contemporary Christian music, personally and corporately?
   

Next Week: We will finish up the series by looking at what makes for good, biblical Christian music.

Author Bio

Frances is 28 years old and was introduced to both piano and clarinet from early ages. She was classically trained but has dabbled in (and loves) jazz, and sings folk and gospel music regularly with friends. She teaches music privately and has been leading worship in her home church for the past eight years, having played in worship bands since the age of 10. She has a love of music of many different genres and a passion to see the church of God led well in worship.

References

1 See also comments on the biblical role of music made in the first part of this series.

2 These genres overlap, but both stand relatively distinct from the liturgical music of established denominations. The CCM industry grew out of the Jesus Movement in the late 1960s/1970s and has since become a highly commercialised, near-billion-dollar industry that in the USA has outstripped the classical and jazz market combined. It has moved to overlap with ‘worship’ music (i.e. used in church services) much more since the millennium, after suffering something of a decline. Read a brief history here.

3 Read more here.

4 Wilson-Dickson, A, 1992. The Story of Christian Music. Oxford: Lion, p203.

5 Grammys for Best Contemporary Christian Music Song and Album were introduced in 2012.

6 Kill Your (Celebrity Culture) Worship. The Gospel Coalition, 29 January 2016.

7 See coverage here.

8 See here.

9 For more information, please see our ‘Blessing the Church?’ series.

10 I will not go into detail here, but there is considerable research elsewhere about how these two streams represent a deviation into the occult rather than biblical worship. One resource is the Lighthouse Trails Research website.

11 First Love by Jonathan David Helser, 2016.

12 It Only Gets Stronger by Jeremy Riddle and Ran Jackson, 2017.

13 Save Me by Steffany Gretzinger, Amanda Cook and John David Gravitt, 2017.

14 Wrecking Ball by Jonathan David Helser, 2010.

15 Endless Ocean by Jonathan David Helser, 2009.

16 Bethel’s Brian Johnson has gone on record saying that “I honestly think that people freak out too much about whether [worship music] is biblical or not.” Do you agree?