A HOLLYWOOD STAR FOR CCM MUSICIAN (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Amy Grant is scheduled to receive a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 19. This is further evidence of the worldly nature of Contemporary Christian Music. The world didn’t reward Jesus Christ and the apostles. In fact, Christ warned: “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). Amy was one of the first cross-over artists who found success by selling Christian music to the world. She did this with vague lyrics, worldly rhythms, and a sensual presentation. Amy and her second husband, Vince Gill, admit that they purposefully avoid direct messages, preferring to “be a little bit sneaky with the lyrics.” Gill says, “We don’t want to shove anything down anybody’s throat. When you start getting churchy, they start running’” (“The Gospel of Grant,” Weekend Post, Houston, Texas, Nov. 10, 1985). The Lord’s apostles didn’t fear getting “a little churchy”! Paul plainly preached the judgment of God and the resurrection of Christ to the idolaters at Athens (Acts 17). Most mocked and rejected his message, but this did not stop Paul from preaching a plain Gospel to the world because he knew that apart from the plain preaching of the Gospel there is no salvation. In 1984 Grant said: “I’m a singer, not a preacher. I’m not looking to convert anybody. I feel people come to hear my music, not to hear me talk” (St. Petersburg Times, April 7, 1984, p. 4). She also said: “That’s one reason I started writing songs, because I DIDN’T WANT TO IMPOSE MY RELIGION ON ANYONE. This way the audience can sit back and draw its own conclusions. … My art and the feeling I am trying to communicate through the songs, it would be silly for me to say, this is who God is; I don’t have any answers” (Amy Grant, interview, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 21, 1984). This sounds pious to the unsaved world and to an ecumenical generation, but Amy’s philosophy is strictly contrary to the Bible. The early Christians did not seek to “impose their religion” on others, but they did preach the Word of God boldly to a lost world. “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). We are to hold forth the Word of life to this wicked generation (Philippians 2:15-16). The Christian is supposed to have the answers people need, because we have God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15). 

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSICIANS AND THE BEATLES (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - As noted in the previous report, one of the reasons we are opposed to Contemporary Christian Music is its worldliness. For example, Contemporary Christian musicians make no attempt to hide the fact that they love secular rock & roll and they have no shame for doing so. When asked in interviews about their musical influences and their favorite music, invariably they list a number of raunchy secular rock musicians, and one of the rock groups that CCM musicians love is the Beatles. Phil Keaggy paid “homage to the Beatles” on his Crimson and Blue album. Caedmon’s Call often performs Beatles music. DC Talk opened its “Jesus Freak” concerts with the Beatles’ song “Help,” and performed “Hello Good-bye” during their “Supernatural Experience” tour. The lead guitarist for Jars of Clay is said to be a “Beatles fanatic” (Christian News, Dec. 8, 1997). During the Feb. 18, 2002, premier show for Michael W. Smith’s Come Together Tour, Third Day took the stage to the strains of the New Age Beatles song “Come Together.” In his musings on Contemporary Christian Music of October 2, 2002, Russ Breimeier (co-director of Christianity Today.com) exalts the Beatles and describes his recent attendance at a Paul McCartney concert as a fulfillment of a lifelong dream. It is absolutely unconscionable for Christian musicians to encourage an appetite for Beatles’ music in young people. No rock group has had a more spiritually destructive influence than the Beatles. They were certainly controlled by demons as they captured the affection of an entire generation with their “magical mystery” music and carried millions of young people along on their journey to eastern religion, atheism, drug abuse, and rebellion against established order. In his song “God,” Lennon sang: “I don’t believe in Bible. I don’t believe in Jesus. I just believe in me, Yoko and me, that’s reality.” Lennon’s extremely popular song “Imagine” (1971) promotes atheism. The lyrics say: “Imagine there’s no heaven … No hell below us, above us only sky.” How many millions of people throughout the world have followed the Beatles in their delusive dreams? The Beatles have done more to further the Devil’s program in this generation than any other music group. It is unconscionable for a Christian to pay homage to these people and to their demonically-inspired music, thereby encouraging Christian young people to think that rock & roll in general and the Beatles in particular are harmless. “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).

RICK WARREN ATTENDS BROTHER CLOUD’S MEETINGS (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - I just returned to our home in South Asia from an excellent preaching trip to Australia and Fiji, and I am happy to report that Rick Warren attended one of the Bible Conferences. He was there for every service and said he thoroughly enjoyed the preaching. No, I am not referring to the Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Church fame. This particular Rick Warren is a member of Grace Baptist Church, Malanda, Queensland, where our friend Buddy Smith is the pastor. Brother Warren used to be in New Evangelical churches but has come out of that and is a staunch Fundamentalist today. May the Lord give that “other” Rick Warren the same wisdom. On this trip I preached 27 sermons in nine churches in seven cities and taught for sixteen hours in two Bible Colleges. I also had a good salt water fishing trip and caught some nice fish.

PRESIDENT OF IRAN LOOKING FOR THE ISLAMIC MESSIAH (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is an excerpt from the London Telegraph, Jan. 14, 2006: “As Iran rushes towards confrontation with the world over its nuclear programme, the question uppermost in the mind of western leaders is ‘What is moving its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?’ ... The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad’s piety is his devotion to the Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president’s belief that his government must prepare the country for his return. One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad’s government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to the Hidden Imam into a holy well. All streams of Islam believe in a divine saviour, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumour--denied by the government but widely believed--is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a ‘contract’ pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran. Iran’s dominant ‘Twelver’ sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. He is said to have gone into ‘occlusion’ in the ninth century, at the age of five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace. This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, the Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus. Mr Ahmadinejad appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable. The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance? Western officials [suspect] that Iran’s president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and--who knows--speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.”

EUROPE’S MORAL INSANITY (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from the AFA Journal, August 2006: “As the culture war in North America grows ever more intense, it might give pause to those in that part of the western hemisphere to note what sort of inanities are occurring on the continent of Europe, where secularists have already won. In the Netherlands Pedophiles are in the process of registering their own political party in order to more efficiently push their agenda there. According to WorldNetDaily, that agenda includes legalized child porn, bestiality and, initially at least, lowering the legal age of consent from 16 to 12. Later, say leaders of the group, they want to remove age-of-consent laws altogether. ... In Spain The ruling socialist faction has proposed a law which would give fundamental legal right to ‘great apes.’ The socialists got the idea from the Great Ape Project, which demands ‘the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans.’ What would those rights entail? The website defines them as: the right not to be killed unless an ape threatens someone’s life; the right not to be tortured or used in medical tests; and the right ‘not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty.’ The latter ‘right’ means that apes cannot be kept in zoos, unless moving those currently dwelling there might cause more harm than good. ... For apes who are incarcerated, they ‘have the right to appeal’ through a human legal advocate. ... In Germany women who are unemployed must be willing to work as a prostitute or risk losing unemployment benefits. Prostitution is legal in German and, according to the Catholic news outlet Zenit, brothel owners have access to official databases of those who have registered for unemployment benefits. ‘Germany’s welfare laws oblige women under 55 who have been out of work for more than a year to take an available job--including the sex industry--or lose benefits,’ Zenit said. ‘The government had considered making brothels an exception, but eventually ruled this out.’”

THE DANGER OF WORLDLINESS AND PRAGMATISM (Friday Church News Notes, September 15, 2006, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from Evangelicalism Divided by Iain Murray, 2000: “Christians are not to be sheep in wolves’ clothing. The Christian faith is rather at its strongest when its antagonism to unbelief is most definite, when its spirit is other-worldly, and when its whole trust is not ‘in the wisdom of men but in the power of God’ (1 Cor. 2:5). ... Apostasy generally arises in the church just because this danger ceases to be observed [the danger of resisting fleshliness and worldliness]. The consequence is that spiritual warfare gives way to spiritual pacifism, and, in the same spirit, the church devises ways to present the gospel which will neutralize any offence. The antithesis between regenerate and unregenerate is passed over and it is supposed that the interests and ambitions of the unconverted can somehow be harnessed to win their approval for Christ. Then when this approach achieves ‘results’ -- as it will -- no more justification is thought to be needed. The rule of Scripture is given place to pragmatism. The apostolic statement, ‘For if I still pleased men, I would not be the servant of Christ’ (Gal. 1:10), has lost its meaning. ... The idea that Christianity stands chiefly in danger from the forces of materialism, or from secular philosophy, or from pagan religions, is not the teaching of the New Testament. The greatest danger comes rather from temptations within and from those who using the name of Christ, are instruments of Satan to lead men to believe a lie and to worship what in reality belongs to the demonic (2 Thess. 2:3-9; Rev. 13:11).”

CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this. It is God’s will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you living for Christ day by day? “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:11-14).