January 7, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is excerpted from the book CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC: SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED AND SOME WARNINGS GIVEN. This book begins with the author’s own experience of living the rock & roll lifestyle before he was saved and of how the Lord dealt with him about music in the early months of his Christian life. The next section of the book expounds on four REASONS WHY WE ARE OPPOSED TO CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC and the contemporary praise music. The third section answers 27 QUESTIONS THAT ARE COMMONLY ASKED ON THIS SUBJECT. These include the following: Isn’t music neutral? Isn’t the sincerity of the musicians the important thing? Isn’t some of the contemporary Christian music acceptable? Didn’t Luther and the Wesleys use tavern music? Isn’t the issue of music just a matter of taste? Doesn’t the Bible encourage us to use cymbals and stringed and loud sounding instruments? Since God looks on the heart, why are you concerned about appearance? The final sections contain TIPS FOR KEEPING CONTEMPORARY MUSIC OUT OF THE CHURCHES and SUGGESTED RESOURCES FOR SACRED MUSIC. 177 pages. $5.95. Available from Way of Life Literature, 866-295-4143, www.wayoflife.org

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SINCE YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY AREN’T LISTENING TO TRADITIONAL CHRISTIAN MUSIC, SHOULDN'T WE USE ROCK TO REACH THEM?

Our answer to this challenge is as follows:

First, the lost are reached not through music but through the preaching of the Gospel. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see music used for evangelism. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). 

Second, obedience to God does not allow us to use the world’s music or methods. Romans 12:2 forbids us to be conformed to the world. God is never pleased with disobedience to His Word. The Bible says that the Christian race must be run according to the divine rule or there is no reward from God. “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully” (2 Tim. 2:5). As we have seen in Question #4 of these studies (“Isn’t the Sincerity of the Musicians the Important Thing”), even sincere disobedience is displeasing to God. When Uzzah steadied the cart holding the ark, God struck him dead (1 Sam. 6:6-7). It appears from the record that Uzzah was sincerely trying to assist in the service of God, but God did not accept it because it was not done according to His Word.

Third, the apostles did not use the entertainment of the world to reach the world. Nowhere do we see Paul attracting people to his preaching through worldly means or through any sort of entertainment. The Word of God calls people to holiness, and it is foolish and deceitful to use unholy things to draw people to a holy Christ.

Fourth, what you win people with, you win them to. If people are won through worldly things, how could they ever be expected to separate from the world as the Word of God demands? Those who are reached through New Evangelicalism, usually become New Evangelical. Those who are reached through a tainted gospel and unscriptural doctrine usually cleave to those things.