Updated June 18, 2000 (first published November 14, 1998) (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - I am convinced that Contemporary Christian Music is one of the most dangerous things facing fundamental Baptist and other Bible-believing churches. It is one of the most effective Trojan horses of the ecumenical movement. Consider the following statement which was made almost 20 years ago by a discerning preacher:

"Now there is a new form that modernism and apostasy has taken to creep surreptitiously into our churches and destroy their Scriptural testimony. THIS TIME IT DOES NOT COME IN THE FORM OF PREACHING OR TEACHING, BUT RATHER IN THE CARNAL PRODUCTION OF THE MUSICAL PROGRAM FROM MANY CHURCH PLATFORMS. Much of the singing heard today by choirs and specials on the average church platform is what is known as contemporary or as soft rock and is often backed with the sound of canned music that could be produced by the average dance or disco band at the corner honky-tonk. The sad truth is that most of this new contemporary, soft rock, offbeat style of music was conceived in hell, hatched among the charismatic crowd, and printed in their publishing houses. Good fundamental Baptists and others that refuse the teachings of the charismatic crowd concerning tongues, signs, miracles, and so forth are now singing their music in our churches and preparing our people for the world, the flesh and the Devil. It is THE NEW TROJAN HORSE MOVE OF MODERNISM TO DEADEN OUR CHURCHES TO SPIRITUAL TRUTH" (Victor Sears, Baptist Bible Tribune, 1981).

Consider a similar warning from another Baptist leader:

"PERHAPS NOTHING PRECIPITATES A SLIDE TOWARD NEW EVANGELICALISM MORE THAN THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC. Pastors of large churches inform us that we cannot hope to attract the masses with the old, outdated church music. We must change our style so as to catch the attention of the godless. Services are often created to minimize discomfort for the unbeliever so that he or she begins to accept Christianity as an affirming influence. People ought to leave church feeling good about themselves, it is said, instead of being called to self-examination, sincere repentance, and faith toward God. One of the chief ways of making a church more 'contemporary' is to introduce contemporary music, of which there is a great abundance available. THIS INEVITABLY LEADS TOWARD A GRADUAL SLIDE IN OTHER AREAS AS WELL UNTIL THE ENTIRE CHURCH IS INFILTRATED BY IDEAS AND PROGRAMS ALIEN TO THE ORIGINAL POSITION OF THE CHURCH" (Ernest Pickering, The Tragedy of Compromise: The Origin and Impact of the New Evangelicalism, Bob Jones University Press, 1994).

Churches which neglect the subject of music do so to their spiritual detriment. Note four of the ways this new music is entering Bible-believing congregations:

1. THROUGH DESENSITIZATION. The average church member today is inundated with rock music and has been inundated all or most of his or her life. Since the 1950s, rock has permeated Western society. Rock music is incorporated into practically every radio and television broadcast and every Hollywood movie. It blares from loudspeakers at businesses as diverse as clothing stores and filling stations. Rock music is in the malls and the restaurants. Rock music is an integral part of practically every professional sporting event. People become so desensitized to rock that they don't even recognize that the "Christian" music they are listening to is rock music.

2. THROUGH PRIVATE LISTENING. Contemporary Christian Music is pervasive in Christian circles today, and even in churches which do not support CCM, many of the members listen to this music in their daily lives. I have found that it is not uncommon for members of fundamental Bible-believing churches to listen to Petra, Carman, the Gaithers, Keith Green, Steven Curtis Chapman, John Michael Talbot, Michael Card, and many other CCM groups. Most Christian book stores simply do not carry spiritual music, and it is not easy for church members to obtain good music. Unless a church continually educates and warns its people and sets the right example in the lives of its leaders and workers and makes good music available, CCM will make steady inroads into the congregation. As more and more people listen to Contemporary Christian Music in their private lives, there is increasing pressure to bring the jazzy music right into the services.

3. THROUGH THE SPECIALS. Contemporary Christian Music is entering into fundamental Baptist and other fundamentalist Bible-believing churches through the specials. First, this happens when there is a poor choice of music on the part of those performing the special. It is not uncommon to find church members singing popular CCM songs as specials in churches which otherwise stand against CCM. I have witnessed this on several occasions as I have traveled on preaching trips. At one church a lady sang "Standing on Holy Ground," which was written by a Jesus-Only Pentecostal who denies the Trinity. At another church the song "Majesty" was featured. This was written by Four Square Pentecostal pastor Jack Hayford and is about the unscriptural doctrine of Pentecostal kingdom authority. CCM is also entering the churches through background tapes used during the specials. These tapes frequently use snare drums and an electric bass guitar to produce a rock background. It is not uncommon that the music on the tapes is performed by professional musicians who are not even professing Christians or by the same ecumenical-charismatic crowd which produces the popular Contemporary Christian Music.

4. THROUGH SOUTHERN GOSPEL. Another way Contemporary Christian Music is entering into Bible-believing churches is through Southern Gospel, with its boogie woogie piano and entertainment-oriented quartets. Consider the following warning:

"I am a musician who has studied his Bible for the sake of personal purification for years. I do not speak out of ignorance. We must recognize the fact that the style can be the same, even if the instruments are different. Just because a church may not employ strumming guitars, a trap set, and a thumping bass, doesn't mean that our let's-get-with-it-Suzie 'Stepping on the Clouds, We'll See Jesus,' tear up the piano, boogie woogie Gospel is any better" (Ron Spencer).

Southern Gospel has always been too akin to boogie woogie. The late Bruce Lackey, who was the Dean of Tennessee Temple Bible School in the early 1970s, played the piano professionally in bars before he was saved. He often warned that much of the Southern Gospel music would be at home in these wicked environments because the rhythm is the same. Boogie woogie is boogie woogie, regardless of the words which accompany it. It is sensual dance music, and it is not fitting for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Music which fits the bar scene is not fit to glorify a holy God. Further, Southern Gospel has deteriorated rapidly in recent decades and has become increasingly akin to secular rock music. The beat has gotten heavier. The popular Southern Gospel groups have gotten more worldly. The Gaithers and The Imperials are prime examples. They have adopted the music and the fashions of the world. Some of the men in these groups have grown their hair long like a woman's and they have frequently used hard rock music. They have also grown increasingly ecumenical.

Many church members who would never listen to Petra or dc Talk or Audio Adrenaline, do listen to the Gaithers and The Imperials.

5. CCM IS ENTERING THE HOMES AND CHURCHES THROUGH THE CHILDREN'S MUSIC. The vast majority of Christian music for children is syncopated and jazzy. Even some of the newer Patch the Pirate tapes are troublesome in this regard. (See the article "Be Careful about the Newer Patch the Pirate Tapes" under the Music section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life Literature web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/.) The following warning is very timely and important: "If you raise your child on seemingly innocent but worldly jingle sounding music they will have a definite thirst for the CCM sound when they become a teenager. You won't be able to say, Oh, now that you're older let me teach you what good music is all about. It will be too late. You need to give them a standard of excellence and spirituality from their earliest years" (David G. Parker, Music in Our Contemporary Culture, 1997).