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The following is excerpted from THE DIRECTORY OF CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSICIANS, which is available as a free eBook from the Way of Life web site.
The fact that “another spirit” controls the contemporary praise music movement is nowhere more evident than in the ministry of Kevin Prosch, whose praise songs include “Harp in My Heart,” “Show Your Power,” and “Love Is All You Need.” Some of Prosch’s music is published by Integrity.
Prosch is said to have “influenced more worship artists than any other leader in this decade,” including Martin Smith of Delirious, Matt Redman, and Darrell Evans.”
He lives in Amarillo, Texas, owns a recording studio, is associate senior pastor at More Church, and pursues hobbies that include “fishing, lots of camping, and a good glass of Lagavulin” (Scotch whiskey).
Prosch breaks down the walls between the holy and unholy in a shocking way. His former band the Black Peppercorns is described as “a group that played in pubs and bars and sang songs that blurred the lines between sacred and secular and saw folks in those bars have genuine encounters with the Spirit” (“Kevin Prosch, the Black Peppercorns, and Emergent Charismatics,” jonathanstegall.com).
To blur the line between the sacred and secular is to follow “another spirit” (2 Cor. 11:4). Israel’s priests were reproved when they “put no difference between the holy and profane” and showed no “difference between the unclean and the clean” (Ezek. 22:26). There are many clear lines that are to be drawn in the Christian life, but the CCM crowd wants to erase lines. We are to choose the spirit over the flesh (Gal. 5:16-17). We are to “abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Rom. 12:9). We are to love God and not love the world (1 John 2:15-17).
Prosch definitely blurs the line between the sacred and secular. He and fellow “worship leader” Leonard Jones love to take immoral and New Age rock songs and perform them in the context of a “worship” service. Prosch sings the Wailers’ very sensual “Stir It Up” as if the Lord is singing it to His people. They sing the Beatles’ songs “I want to Hold Your Hand” and “Come Together” in the same foolish way. Prosch’s band plays Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” in the context of “worship.” The words are about a man and a “brown eyed girl” who seek out places to be alone to play “a new game” with their hearts “a-thumping.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. True, it’s pretty “innocent” for rock and roll, but it is blasphemy to mix sensual songs like this with the worship of a holy God. Christian rockers are so crazy drunken on backbeat music and their intimate association with the world that they have everything mixed up. To play such a song to believers even apart from the context of worship is foolish. Are those the thoughts that we want young people to meditate upon? To follow Van Morrison’s suggestion is a sure fire way of shipwrecking a young person’s moral life.
In 2002, Prosch was “restored to public ministry three years after admitting to a string of affairs” (Charisma News Service, April 18, 2002). Prosch lived an adulterous lie for years. He sinned grievously against his wife and destroyed his marriage and has multiplied his adultery even farther by remarrying (Matthew 19:9). Apparently, the songs “Stir It Up” and “Brown Eyed Girl” are the man’s personal biography.
Prosch’s spiritual roots go back to the Vineyard movement where he was nurtured for his career as a contemporary musician. (See “John Wimber and the Vineyard” in this directory.)
Prosch’s charismatic error goes far beyond nonsense gibberish, spirit slaying, “holy laughter,” and “spiritual drunkenness.” He is the worship leader for Rick Joyner of Morningstar ministries, who claims to be an end-time prophet. Joyner promotes the Latter Rain Manifest Sons of God heresy, which anticipates a revival of miracles whereby “anointed” believers will usher in the return of Christ. It is also called Joel’s Army, Dominionism, the New Breed, and Kingdom Now. In his books The Harvest and Mobilizing the Army of God, Joyner claims that a great company of prophets and apostles will be raised up with the spirit of Phineas to take rule; the appearances of angels will be common and the Lord Himself will appear to councils of apostles; miracles will exceed the most spectacular ones recorded in Scripture, with the “anointed ones” not only walking on water but also “walking on air.” All of this will supposedly occur before the return of Christ and the Millennium. (See the report “Rick Joyner” at the Way of Life web site.)
Joyner believes that contemporary charismatic praise music is at the heart and soul of the end-time miracle revival. He says, “... a mighty army of Christian musicians will capture the attention of a generation” to usher in the end-time revival” (“The Prophetic Power of Music,” Charisma, August 1992).
Prosch is right in the middle of this dangerous heresy with his sensual contemporary praise music. His song “Signs and Wonders” says, “Signs and wonders, healings, deliverance is coming. ... The kingdom of God is here.”
Since the music is the product of such a heretical environment, a Bible believer will discern immediately that the spirit that empowers this “praise” is “another spirit” (2 Cor. 11:3-4) and is not the Spirit of the Lord, who is always the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 4:6).
Another supposed prophet musician pursuing the end-time miracle revival is ROBERT GAY, worship leader for “prophet” Bill Hamon’s Christian International in Santa Rosa Beach, California. Gay’s Prophetic Praises Series was published by Integrity Music and Gay was a worship leader for Integrity. He says,
“God is raising up anointed prophetic songwriters to bring forth THE WAR SONGS OF ZION IN ORDER THAT THE CHURCH MAY BECOME THE FIGHTING ARMY THAT HE HAS CALLED IT TO BE” (“Silencing The Enemy,” Charisma, October 1992).
Gay’s album Roar, Oh Lion of Judah features a “prophecy” by Bill Hamon.
Hamon, one of the alleged latter rain “apostles,” often mentions contemporary praise in his books. He believes that God speaks new revelations and empowers the end-time miracle “revival” through the sensual atmosphere of the music. He says that contemporary praise music “can bring in the prophetic mantle” (Hamon, Prophets, Pitfalls and Principles, p. 19). He considers contemporary worship as an element of “spiritual warfare” used by “God’s prophetic marines” in bringing the kingdom of God to earth (Apostles, Prophets, and the Coming Move of God, p. 114). He says that through the “manifest presence of God” created by contemporary praise music God speaks revelation (The Day of the Saints: Equipping Believers for Their Revolutionary Role, p. 343).
Hamon, who was 77 years old in 2011, experienced the beginning of the latter rain Manifest Sons of God movement in the 1950s. He says the wild, backbeat Pentecostal music played an intimate part in that movement from its inception.
“I was personally present at the Crescent Beach Bible Conference in 1954 in British Columbia, when this type of worship was birthed in the Latter Rain Movement. … The congregation of about eight hundred people had been worshipping God for quite some time. As the worship lowered to a melodious murmur, suddenly A SISTER BEGAN TO PROPHESY, ‘The King is coming, the King is coming--go ye out to meet Him with dances and rejoicing.’ She started taking ferns out of the flower basket and waving them in the air and laying some of them as if before the Lord as she praised the Lord in the dance across the auditorium in front of the platform. THE HEAD OF THE CONFERENCE STARTED TO STOP HER BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT TOLD HIM NOT TO, FOR IT WAS OF GOD. Within a few minutes most of THE AUDIENCE WAS PRAISING GOD WITH LEGS SWINGING AND BODIES MOVING IN RHYTHMIC PRAISE TO GOD” (Hamon, Prophets and the Prophetic Movement, Vol. 2, 1990, pp. 117, 118).
Word-Faith heretic Kenneth Copeland also says that contemporary praise is part of the “great restoration,” referring to the alleged latter rain miracle revival.
“And in these last days, that praise and worship will come as a great restoration to the church. IT WILL, IN FACT, GO OUT EVEN FURTHER THAN A RESTORED TRUTH INTO THE REALM OF TRUTH THAT HAS NOT YET BEEN REVEALED. For there is a depth of praise and worship that the Church doesn't even know and has not walked in yet” (Copeland, “The Power of Praise,” Voice of Victory, Summer 1989).
The fact that contemporary praise music is at the heart and soul of the charismatic movement and all of its heresies should be a loud warning to Bible-believers who are tempted to mess around with it and “adapt” it for their churches. This Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians documents the fact that nearly ALL of the influential CCM musicians are committed to the charismatic ecumenical heresies that are building the one-world church.
Rick Joyner’s worship services are sometimes reminiscent of an African tribal dance or a voodoo ceremony, with multiple drums pounding, people wailing and stuttering and moaning, jumping and shaking. It is said of voodoo that “the drummer is the life and soul of every ceremony” and the drummers play their music “with a fierce passion which is occasionally frenzied.” That is exactly what we see in Prosch-led “worship” services.
The false spirit of the latter rain praise music was evident in the 1996 Heart of David Conference on Worship & Warfare, sponsored by Rick Joyner’s Morning Star ministries. It concluded with the praise team singing the sensual Beatles song “I Want to Hold Your Hand” as if God were singing to believers. Joining Kevin Prosch as worship leaders were Leonard Jones and Suzy Wills. They claim that when they sang the Beatles song, God signified His pleasure with miraculous signs. Here is Prosch’s description:
“Then, on a ‘Holy Ghost whim,’ I asked Leonard Jones to lead an old Beatles’ song, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand,’ in which he had changed some of the words to make it like a message from the Lord. As soon as he started, it seemed like the roof would come off of the building. When he finished, ‘the sound of many waters’ again filled the hall, but it was even louder than before. A holy fear began to fill the place. There was a presence of the Lord like I had never felt in a meeting before. I looked at Christine Potter and Susy Wills, who were dancing near the center of the stage, and I have never seen such a look of terror on the faces of anyone. An intense burning, like a nuclear fire that burns from the inside out, seemed to be on the stage. Christine started pulling at her clothes as if she were on fire, and Susy dove behind the drums. Then a cloud appeared in the center of the stage, visible to everyone, and a sweet smell like flowers filled the arena. When the cloud had moved away (it seemed to move to the rear of the stage as it disappeared), some of the children who had been dancing at the front began to pull up tiles from the floor to see if there was a fire under it. Some asked if we had a smoke machine. We did not, and we did not do anything to cause that cloud of smoke. As Ray Hughes explained later, when the Lord received an offering He would often consume it with fire, and then it would go up in smoke. We believe that this was just a token of encouragement from the Lord that the offering of worship had been received. ... I confess that I love the kind of supernatural manifestations that we have been having. I often pray that we will see His glory visibly manifested in our meetings. ... We must go higher. Until we look like Jesus and do the works He did, we still have not arrived. ... At all of our conferences now MANY ARE STARTING TO SEE ANGELS, AND DREAMS AND VISIONS AND PROPHECY ARE BEING RELEASED to people. This is all wonderful, and we are asking for more of it. We expect to see more and greater miracles” (Kevin Prosch, “The Heart of David: Worship & Warfare,” April 1996, Conference Report).
I can say on the authority of God’s Word that the “holy fear” they experienced was of the devil and not of God. This type of thing is the spirit of this world, and the fact that contemporary praise music is right in the middle of it is a loud warning to those who have ears to hear.
Jesus rebuked those who lusted after “signs,” saying, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” (Matthew 12:39). This is a giant divine rebuke to the entire charismatic movement, and those who tremble at God’s Words will take heed!
The repetition of the praise music is a major part of the charismatic mysticism and the emotionalism that is mistaken for a “tangible experience” with God. In Prosch’s song “Signs and Wonders,” the words “signs and wonders, healings, deliverance” are repeated at least 20 times and the words “the kingdom of God is here” are repeated at least 25 times. At the Heart of David conference, they sang Prosch’s “Praise the Lord, Oh My Soul” for 20 minutes and they sang one song for over three hours! That must be the epitome of contemporary praise repetition!
Web reports of Prosch’s concerts in promotion of the Reckless Mercy album are enlightening. One lady who attended a concert with her husband said that the percussion section summoned the crowd with the call, “Let’s rock!” At least she is honest. Rocking is what this stuff is all about. Take away the rock music, and the crowds would thin down quickly. This lady observed that Prosch’s band emulated sounds “suggestive of Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and others” and “have the power to move ya!” The announcer who came on before the band said that they were “just trying to express their religious beliefs through the style of music that they enjoy.” This sounds like 2 Timothy 4:3-4, which warns of those who worship God “after their own lusts.”
Prosch’s music is powerfully mystical and can have a deep emotional effect on listeners. In response to the YouTube video of “Praise the Lord, Oh My Soul” from 1996, one listener said:
“When I first heard his music, IT SWITCHED SOMETHING ON. It affirmed that GOD ISN’T CONFINED TO ... THEOLOGIES or traditions ... nor is God dull, or sterile, or conservative. But WILD, abundant, creative, loving, merciful and BEYOND WORDS” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWIaFpJSnpo&feature=related).
Observe that the effect of Prosch’s praise music is “beyond words” and not confined to “theologies.” This means that it isn’t doctrinal. What this contemporary worshiper is describing is the mysticism of contemporary worship that seeks an experience with “the wild” God beyond the Bible. It is the charismatic heretical theme song of “Let’s not put God in a box,” meaning that God isn’t restrained by Scripture.
Prosch’s music, like much of the contemporary praise music, goes beyond theologies by means of its mystical vagueness.
Consider Prosch’s “Love Is All You Need” --
“I went to the place where dead men pray/ Love forsaken, I was so afraid/ When suddenly the leaves were around/ She said where is hope? What is truth? And do you know peace? As we walked through the graveyard of needles on the street/ Lord they wouldn’t need this if only they could see/ Tell them love, love, love is, love is the key, baby/ Love is all you need/ All you need is love/ Love is all you need/ All you need is love. ... I met a man who walked alone/ He wept upon those public roads/ He placed his eyes upon my heart/ Saw that I had missed the stirring of the water/ He looked into my childhood scars/ Like a candle on a written page/ And from your guilt he said I could be free/ Maybe my love is all you need...”
What does that mean? Anything and nothing. It is a vague “spirituality.” It is meaningless emotional mysticism. The important questions aren’t answered. What love? Whose love? What hope? What peace? What man? What type of guilt? Free in what way?
If you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can insert the gospel into these words, but if you are a westernized Hindu or Buddhist, you can insert your fanciful New Age beliefs into the same words. Further, the song contains the pop psychology mumbo jumbo of healing of “childhood scars.”
It appears that Prosch is singing about the same love that the Beatles sang about in their 1967 hit “All You Need is Love.” He uses the same phrases (“love is all you need” and “all you need is love”), but he even out does the Beatles in vain, hypnotic repetition. The Beatles repeated this phrase 15 times whereas Prosch repeats it 32 times.
This is the type of music that is building the one-world church with all of its ancient and end-times heresies.
The powerful and very sensual music--with its endless variety of addictive dance syncopations, its unresolving chords, its repetition, its electronic modulation, and its sensual vocal stylings--creates a mystical atmosphere in which people are carried along by their emotions, ungrounded and untested by Scripture. It is a recipe for spiritual delusion (2 Cor. 11:4, 14-15; 1 Pet. 5:8), and we believe it is one of the devil’s most effect tools in building the end-time one world church. (See “Transformative Power of Contemporary Praise Music” under the Articles Database at the Way of Life web site -- wayoflife.org.)
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This report is excerpted from the DIRECTORY OF CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSICIANS, which is available as a free eBook from the Way of Life web site -- www.wayoflife.org
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