BEWARE OF CHRISTIAN ROCK
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March 20, 2001 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - Christian rock music is getting weirder and worldlier with each passing year. We were reminded of this recently while reading an interview with the group P.O.D. This is a rap/hardcore band from San Diego, California. The name stands for Payable On Death. The members of P.O.D. wear tattoos and earrings and otherwise look like the world, and P.O.D. even tours with vile rock bands such as Korn. The band claims they play concerts with secular groups and record on a secular label “to be heard by the lost people.” Note the following statement by Sonny Samilpa of P.O.D.
“A secular label will help us be heard by the lost people. · if they hear the music first, people will not be as quick to judge the Gospel being preached through the lyrics. That way, they can hear that not all Christian music is cheesy” (Sonny Samilpa, POD, HM magazine, May-June 1998, p. 48).
In the minds of these musicians, traditional Christian music is “cheesy.” Thus they flippantly dismiss God’s command to use “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” They think that the world can be drawn to Christ by a strange, clandestine message disguised by sensual music. In fact, P.O.D. doesn’t have to worry about people judging the gospel preached through their songs, because it isn’t there. Note the following two examples of their lyrics:
“I see you people babble on and on and on graven/ Images, golden idols and false icons I’m seeking/ Wisdom like Solomon but my antennae keeps on/ Picking up evil transmissions at headquarters I/ Receive my mission blow up the ruler of the air (Eph 2:2)/ Like nuclear fission so I analyze my weapons laser/ Guided rifles that shoot spiritual wisdom I think I see/ Enemy warriors fragile heathens tryin’ to run stuff/ Like mayors so with brotha’s that snuff punks I set up/ Time bombs to destroy the strongholds of babylon” (P.O.D., “Breathe Babylon”).“What’s the problem son? You said you wanted some/ But when I started rocking POD got the job done/ My Lord said hard, hard is how you hit ‘em/ One blow with the mic and the quickness is how I get ‘em/ Alternative thrash can you deal with it?/ Funk and groove with a hip hop feel to it/ Giving you a style with a different kind of sound/ So keep on rockin even when we bring it down/ Bring it down, bring it down, bring it down ya’ll/ Bring it down, bring it down, bring it down/ Bring it down, bring it down, bring it down ya’ll/ But don’t change the funky funky sound” (P.O.D., “Can You Feel It?”).I challenge anyone to find the biblical gospel in those lyrics, and they are representative of all of their songs. The main message in “Can You Feel It” is that you can keep on rocking no matter what and that God Himself loves rock music. The message to “Breathe Babylon” is so obscure that it is meaningless. It is obvious that it is the hard rock music itself that really matters to P.O.D. and their followers.In a 2001 interview with Theresa McKeon of Shoutweb titled “P.O.D. The Fundamental Elements of God Rock,” the members of P.O.D. (Sonny, Traa, and Marcos) cussed and otherwise demonstrated their worldliness even while claiming to love the Lord. (Many young people who write to me to defend Christian rock music curse at me.) Sonny blasphemously said “Jesus was the first rebel. He was the first punk rocker going against all the rest of it.” Though the Lord Jesus Christ did stand against false religion, He was not a rebel in any sense whatsoever. When Shoutweb observed that P.O.D. is “making it cool for kids to be who they are” and “it’s not like every kid has to choose to be good or evil,” Sonny made the following amazing statement: “It’s not even that they’re evil. I mean, I think Slayer. I like Manson. I like this music and this dark imagery. They are people that are saying, ‘Yeah dude, I’m Catholic. I believe in God.’ But it’s cooler to be into the dark stuff. · We’re not trying to be the ‘white stuff’ and they’re the dark stuff.” P.O.D. is not trying to make a difference between good and evil, light and darkness, but the Bible does. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
Sonny went on to admit that he not only listens to vile secular rock music, but he watches R-rated movies. He justified that sort of thing, claiming that he has liberty in Christ make such choices, and that Christianity is not “putting on shackles.” He is confusing liberty with license. “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).
Sonny criticized kids “who want to segregate themselves from the rest of the world,” but the Bible warns, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
___________________________CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT (D.W. CLOUD). [ISBN 1-58318-057-5] To our knowledge, this 450-page book is the most extensive examination of Contemporary Christian Music in print. It features: A definition of Contemporary Christian Music. The spiteful anti-fundamentalist attitude which permeates CCM. The intimate connection between end-time apostasy and CCM. Southern gospel yesterday and today. The love affair between CCM musicians and secular rock music. The ecumenism of Contemporary Christian Music. The close association of CCM with Roman Catholicism. The intimate connection between CCM and the Charismatic Movement. An encyclopedia of 200 CCM musicians, containing profiles of their lives and ministries, church affiliations, philosophies, ecumenical associations, music, etc. Documentation proving that CCM is owned largely by secular corporations. Lyrics to CCM songs illustrating the vagueness and heresy of their message. Twenty-three key CCM arguments answered (we must use rock music to win young people, music is neutral, people are getting saved, God doesn't look on the outward appearance, Luther used tavern music, God created all music, Christians are not to judge, etc.). Careful documentation of every fact presented. How to keep Contemporary Christian Music out of churches. Where Christians should draw the line with music. The book contains a list of Suggested Resources on Music, listing sources for sound Christian music, hymnals, resources for song leading, and materials for further reading on the topic of Contemporary Christian Music. There is also an extensive bibliography on the subject of Christian music. 450 pages, 7X8, perfect bound. $19.95 + $10% S/H.
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