THE FRUIT OF ROCK MUSIC

May 6, 1998 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, 1701 Harns Rd., Oak Harbor, WA 98277) - The following frightful illustration is from the sermon "The Quiet Judgment of God" by Pastor R.B. Ouellette (The Preacher's Page, October 1997, First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 274, Bridgeport, MI 48722. 517-777-0210)

I had preached at a Christian camp. A young lady who was working there as a counselor asked to speak to me. She told me a very sad tale of how after graduating from a Christian high school, she began to date a young man several years older than her and lost her purity to him. Though she was not aware of it, she was pregnant when she went off to Bible college and had to come home. She told me of her grief, her sorrow and then said, "It all started in the sixth grade when I began listening to rock and roll music." Listening to that first rock song did not make her lose her purity. Listening to that first rock song did not make her completely backslidden and out of fellowship with God. But listening to that first rock song led her to listen to other songs, to harden her heart against the instruction of her parents, the preaching of her pastor and the conviction of the Spirit of God.

CONCLUDING NOTE FROM BROTHER CLOUD: Friends, there is less and less plain preaching against rock music in fundamental Baptist churches with each passing decade, and the fruit can be seen in the worldly attitudes of the young people. Preachers must preach against rock music because rock music is spiritually destructive. Too many pastors have swallowed the wicked ecumenical lie that it is not their business to preach against certain kinds of music, that music is neutral. Music is not neutral. Musical notes and components are neutral, but when those notes are combined in a certain manner to produce a musical composition, the music thus created ceases to be neutral and becomes a force either for good or for evil in our individual lives, homes, and churches. One reason, perhaps, there is so much pulpit silence about rock music is that many pastors are listening to rock music in their own daily lives through the Rush Limbaugh program (or Mike Reagan, etc.) and the sports channels on their radios and televisions. I have also discovered that many pastors are listening to Contemporary Christian Music in their personal lives and homes even though they still maintain traditional music in their services. Is that not gross hypocrisy? Carnal music feeds carnality and robs us of spiritual power and blessing. God's Word warns that "evil communications corrupt good manners" and "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap; for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption."