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[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 7, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. This material cannot be stored on BBS or Internet sites without permission from the author. Any articles which are redistributed by e-mail or print must be left intact and nothing must be removed or changed, including these informational headers. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. The Way of Life web site is located at http://www.wayoflife.org/]
In a previous issue of The Fundamentalist Digest (P.O. Box 2322, Elkton, MD 21922-2322), the editor wrote an article that dealt with the surging compromise in some professing fundamentalist churches via the concerts/appearances of religious entertainers; entertainers who appear at charismatic, new-evangelical and pro-ecumenical places before they "perform" (my terminology to describe their activity) at the supposedly fundamental church, and then "perform" at similar locations after their appearance at the "fundamentalist" church.
Cited below is further evidence of this appalling breakdown in biblical separation that is occurring in well known ministries. The fall 1993 Calendar magazine reveals that on September 23, 1993, Margaret Becker was scheduled to appear at one of the largest Baptist Bible Fellowship (BBF) churches in the northeast, the Riverdale Baptist Church of Riverdale, Maryland, in a "Margaret Becker Youth Fest." The same magazine indicates that just four days prior to her scheduled appearance there, she was on the docket for an appearance on September 21, at the First Assembly of God in Warrenton, Virginia.
The News Journal, a daily newspaper in Wilmington, Delaware, in a Saturday issue recently featured an article on Becker's musical career. ... Not only is Becker a "contemporary singer and songwriter," but following the Amy Grant pattern, according to her own words, she has "taken very deliberate steps to present ourselves at the next level," which includes "hip danceable tunes about relationships, mostly with God."
"Having performed Christian rock, pop, contemporary and even gospel selections" in her "gritty alto" voice, "it seems that Becker has nowhere to go but to secular charts, a la Amy Grant" according to the article.
Reciting a religious history of her life, soon after her supposed new-birth conversion, Becker began "mixing faith with her music and gained a greater appreciation for her own faith, Catholicism."
If words are to be taken at their face value, then this means that when Becker appeared at the large BBF Riverdale Baptist Church, she was still a Roman Catholic! In the article, Becker indicated she would now be ACTIVELY PARTICIPATING in a religious system in which she ardently believes, for she stated, "Now, I'm taking that knowledge with me back to the church of my youth." Becker declared, "The familiar prayers and practices are very rich and touch me in a different, more intimate way." (Becker was also scheduled to appear at a Church of Christ in Converse, Indiana, on March 13, 1994.)
Becker's appearance at this large influential BBF church does not appear simply to be a one-time mistake on the part of the responsible ministry there, however, since on March 26, Susan Ashton, another well-known religious contemporary Christian music (CCM) entertainer, was slated at the same church. In checking Ashton's schedule, her itinerary includes a variety of appearances at charismatic churches/ festivals such as "JoyJam 94" in Louisville, Kentucky, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Cambridge, Ontario, on March 13, and the annual notorious charismatic "Creation 94" June 27-July 2 in Mt. Union, Pennsylvania (The Fundamentalist Digest, May-June 1994, P.O. Box 2322, Elkton, MD 21922-2322).