November 6, 2006 (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) -

Way of Life has four powerful multimedia VHS or DVD presentations on the subject of contemporary Christian music, and we are convinced that these are more needful for fundamentalist and independent Baptist churches than ever. Each week we receive news about the inroads that is being made by contemporary music.

The video presentations are professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and video and audio clips are included to illustrate the message.

These presentations are for churches, Bible Colleges, and Home Schools that want to prepare their people to avoid the contemporary music and its underlying New Evangelical philosophy.

SOUND CHRISTIAN MUSIC VS. CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC (120 minutes) (DVD)

This presentation deals with the errors and philosophies that permeate contemporary Christian music and demonstrates the dangers of borrowing the world’s music. The presentation examines the overt worldliness in lifestyle, appearance, and methods of the Contemporary Christian Music industry. Further, it shows the association between the charismatic movement, the Roman Catholic Church, and sound, Bible-believing churches which adopt the music and philosophies of CCM.

The presentation answers questions such as the following: Is music neutral? Should Christians rock? Isn’t CCM a good way to draw the world into the church? Where should we draw the line in Christian music? How does worldly music enter Bible-believing churches? What are the dangers of this new music? Isn’t it legalistic to have specific standards for music? For Bible answers to these and many other important questions on the issue of music, we highly recommend this video.

Many who have viewed the presentation have said that it is the best that they have seen on the dangers of Contemporary Christian Music.

DANGERS OF CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSIC (120 minutes) (DVD)

Much research has gone into this presentation. I have read 40 books on the subject of contemporary praise and analyzed roughly 100 of the popular contemporary praise albums. I have studied contemporary praise at large influential ecumenical conferences that I have attended with press credentials, such as New Orleans ’87, Indianapolis ’90, and St. Louis 2000. I have attended services at congregations that are influential in the CCW movement, including Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in California, Bill Hybels’ Willowcreek Community Church near Chicago, the Anaheim Vineyard Church formerly pastored by John Wimber, Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida (where Michael W. Smith recorded his largest-selling worship album), and other congregations that are influential in this movement.

This presentation contains seven extensively-documented warnings about CCM: 1. Contemporary Christian Worship is built upon the false philosophy that music is neutral. 2. Contemporary Christian Worship is largely a rock & roll feeling-fest. The rock music itself has the potential to create the powerful emotional experiences that contemporary worshipers are seeking. 3. Contemporary Christian Worship is not separated from the world. We document the worldliness that permeates this music and the lives of its performers. 4. Contemporary Christian Worship is intimately entangled with the Charismatic movement. We document the fact that most of the influential CCM musicians are Charismatics, and we explain why the Charismatic movement is so dangerous. 5. Contemporary Christian Worship is one of the glues of the ecumenical movement. Even the Pope acknowledges this. 6. Contemporary Christian Worship goes hand in hand with a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards. We give extensively documentation of how this is happening in various fundamentalist churches. 7. Contemporary Christian Worship is confused about true biblical worship.

IS SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC SAFE? (120 minutes) (DVD)

We believe it is important to speak out on this subject for two reasons. First, Southern Gospel is big business today and is very influential in Bible-believing churches, not only in the South, but also throughout the country and even in Canada and elsewhere. Second, following the lead of Bill Gaither and other prominent names, Southern Gospel groups are rapidly adopting the “music is neutral” philosophy of the Contemporary Christian Music world. In fact, any walls that once existed to separate Southern Gospel from the Christian rock world are rapidly being torn down. Commercial Southern gospel today is one of the branches of the larger CCM world.

In this presentation we give the history of Southern Gospel quartets in the early 1900s and describe the evolution of the music toward commercialism and entertainment, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s. We show how Southern Gospel quartets adopted the sexy dance music of the early 1900s, borrowing rhythms from ragtime, jazz, western swing, honky tonk, boogie woogie, and the blues.

We show that there have been two streams of Southern Gospel since the mid-1900s, a conservative one and a contemporary one. The conservative Southern gospel people have used music solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints. They have refused to jazz up the music with worldly rhythms and sounds. The singers and musicians who represent this category have lived godly, Christ-honoring lives. The contemporary side has used music for entertainment and enrichment. They have sought to jazz up Christian music with the world’s rhythms in order to make it more popular. The singers and musicians in this category have often lived spiritually careless, worldly lives, and the contemporary stream has grown ever worldlier in recent decades.

We reveal the close connection between Southern Gospel and the formation of rock music in the 1950s. We show that Elvis Presley and other fathers of rock and roll loved the jazzed up, entertainment-style Southern Gospel performed by groups such as the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, and the Stamps, and that Southern Gospel singers performed with Elvis in Las Vegas and even appeared as backups on his rock hits, such as “Hound Dog” and “Heartbreak Hotel.” Those same singers have been praised and awarded in recent years by the Southern Gospel industry.

We describe the vast influence that Bill Gaither has wielded on the Southern Gospel field since the 1980s. The Gaithers represent the very heart and soul of Southern gospel music today. In recent years his “homecoming” specials have brought together most of the well known Southern gospel groups. These include members of the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, the Cathedrals, the Goodman’s, the Stamps, the Speer Family, the Florida Boys, the Gatlin Brothers, and many others. We document Gaither’s rapid transition into the contemporary pop sounds. We also expose his ecumenical philosophy and document how that this unscriptural philosophy is permeating Southern Gospel.

A lot of research has gone into these messages. I have built a large library of books and articles on Southern Gospel. In 1999 I attended the National Quartet Convention with press credentials, and I have toured the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame in Tennessee, as well as the Gaither headquarters in Anderson, Indiana. I have also discussed this issue with many different people, those who support it as well as those who reject it.

In this presentation we do not take the position that all Southern Gospel is wrong. In our estimation (though not everyone might personally enjoy the country-folk style), there is Southern Gospel music that is sacred and seeks not to entertain the flesh but to edify the spirit. We praise the Lord for all Christian music, Southern or otherwise, which rejects sexy dance rhythms, which has scriptural lyrics, which seeks solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints, and which is produced by godly Christian people.

Sadly, though, much of the Southern Gospel Music incorporates worldly pop, country, boogie, and rock rhythms, and is oriented toward entertainment. It is the latter that is closely akin to Contemporary Christian Music. As a matter of fact, commercial Southern gospel today is one of the branches of the larger CCM world.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SACRED AND CONTEMPORARY STYLES OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC (90 minutes) (DVD)

The goal of this very practical presentation is to give the believer some simple tools that he can use to discern the difference between sensual and sacred music. This video builds on three former presentations on music: Sound Christian Music vs. CCM, Is Southern Gospel Music Safe, and Dangers of Contemporary Praise Music. In these we deal more with the lyrics and the musicians and the associations of the music (i.e., worldliness, ecumenism, charismaticism). In “Distinguishing between Styles” we deal with the music itself, learning how to analyze it. We use 55 clips of music to illustrate the points. We spent many weeks preparing this message, and all of the music clips are ones we have created or have gathered ourselves.

We use 55 clips of music to illustrate the points. We spent many weeks preparing this message, and all of the music clips are ones we have created or have gathered ourselves.

I am very excited about this new production, because it is gets to the heart of what is wrong with the new worship music and gives the child of God some practical tools for discerning between music styles.

The speaker is a musician who lived the rock & roll lifestyle before he was saved and who has studied this issue for more than three decades.

Price per VHS or DVD

$19.95

 

Postage & Handling

$4.00 per single VHS or DVD (Canada $6) or 15% for more than one

Foreign -- To be calculated at time of sale

Way of Life Literature

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