The Degeneration of Modern Worship Music

What is happening to worship music in the last 1o years?

Many modern worship songs are no longer about bringing praise and glory to God.

Many modern worship songs are no longer about theological truth taken off the pages of Scripture.

Unfortunately, much of modern worship music is a copy-cat of the tunes and cliché phrases in current pop music.  Thanks to Gabe Bogdan, check out the worship song below:

“I can feel your presence here with me

Suddenly I’m lost within your beauty

Caught up in the wonder of your touch

Here in this moment, I surrender to your love”

That is a far cry from theologically correct worship as in the song “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” from just 25 years ago:

“You came from heaven to earth 
To show the way 
From the earth to the cross 
My debt to pay 
From the cross to the grave 
From the grave to the sky 
Lord, I lift Your name on high”

Even without hearing the “lost within your beauty” song, it reads much like a teen pop song, the kind that rolls at 140 bpm and sets the stage for lust…

Speaking of lust… Let us define lust…Webster’s dictionary defines lust as “intense or unbridled sexual desire.” Then what would be the purpose of the following lyrics in Jesus Culture’s “I am in love with you” song?

“Everyday my heart is in lust for You, So I will abandon myself to You”

Such songs do not describe the “Holy, Holy, Holy” God of Isaiah 6, but a god of lust, a god of personal relationships, and a god of emotions.  That is not my God.

The Triune God of the Bible will not receive the worship of “strange fire” brought about by compromising the message of praise and worship with lyrical content from the world.

Instead we will continue to delight in songs such as this one:

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

image credit: metrolyrics.com

Treatise on the Trinity with a 6-Year-Old

6-year-old Michael: Daddy, are Jesus and God the same person or two different persons?

Daddy: Yes and Yes.

Michael: How is that possible?

Daddy: There is only one God.  The Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons, but they are One.  And there is only One God.

Michael: I really don’t get it.

Daddy: Me neither. But we do not have to understand it.  We just have to believe it!

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Shining Like the Sun in Front of Planned Parenthood

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Sunday morning 8:30 am. On the way to church.

We pass by Planned Parenthood on Beach Blvd. every Sunday…

It is a dark, unmarked building with large, dusty and tinted windows. I cannot but feel repulsed when I see their logo in the front parking lot.

But there was something different there this Sunday.

There were about 50 people gathered in front of the clinic with large signs reading “Choose Life.”

It reminded me of a song by a 90’s Christian band that said “choose life, that you may live…”

The most striking thing was these folks were all wearing white t-shirts. It was uplifting and amazing to see that sight! They were shining so bright in the morning sun!

What a contrast between that dark, dusty building and these people of light!

The spiritual reality was even more polarized. A group of righteous believers next to a place of darkness and death. It is hard to contemplate a more stark contrast between two entities.

Apostle John illustrates so beautifully the contrast between light and darkness, life and death:

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

And also Jesus said:

“…if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” Luke 11:36

These protesters were shining the light of Jesus in a dark place, and they inspired me.

How Progressive Christians Support Gay Marriage

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Delight in Truth follower Mr. Propeller-head (here) brings to our attention how badly the Word of God is twisted by the progressives who try to find biblical support for gay marriage.

In an article on Patheos (here), a large forum on faith discussion, the Rev. Eric Smith out of Vanderbilt Divinity School, an ordained minister serving in the church and a PhD candidate in Biblical Interpretation wrote an article in support of gay marriage.

I will paste here his first point to show how pathetic the argument is:

There is no normative Biblical marriage. The Bible contains marriages between one man and one woman. But it also contains lots of other kinds of marriages—between soldiers and captives, a woman and her dead husband’s brother (seriously), between rape victims and their rapists, and, of course polygamy. In fact, if there is one major Biblical normative type of marriage, it is polygamy. Because of this, any claims that God’s plan is for marriage to be between one man and one woman will run into serious problems—namely, that it is not supported by the Biblical evidence.”

This is a PhD in Biblical Interpretation!

Here are a few of the comments:

…the bible says that with God *ALL* things are possible…so if *ALL* things are possible, why is it wrong for two people to love each other and want to be in a monogamous, committed relationship…even if they’re the same sex? Surely not EVERYONE was meant to populate the earth…otherwise, we’d be so overcrowded that we’d have all been done in long ago with not enough resources to support us all.”

“…like Eric says, “the Bible needs interpreting.” The moral-ceremonial distinction is an interpretive lens through which you read Scripture; it does not come from Scripture itself.”

“One of the best articles I’ve seen written yet. Thank you!”

You are not alone if you feel a holy anger under the category “be angry and do not sin” when you read such scriptural deformity.

The progressives will have us believe that God didn’t really mean what He said when He said that “man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Gen 2:24

Do you remember who was the first to say “did God really say…?” Today the Rev. Smith is telling us “did God really mean…” for marriage to be only between a man an a woman?

Eerie in likeness to Satan’s approach.

The progressives of His day also challenged Jesus to allow them to break up the family unit in Matthew 19 and Jesus clearly tells them that God did not intend for that to happen, because in the beginning it was not so.

Be shocked how today’s so-called Christian progressives are reinterpreting Scriptures toward their own destruction.

2 Peter 2:1 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.”

On the Day of Silence, Speak the Gospel!

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April 19th. Day of Silence.

Today is a day of activism in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community, when students who subscribe to this lifestyle and their allies will refrain from speaking the entire day at school.

It’s an act to show they are being suppressed, discriminated, bullied and hated for what they label as their natural orientation.

How should a Christian handle the silent treatment from your fellow students?

It is important to realize hate is a sin, so we are forbidden from hating, bullying or discriminating against anyone.

The most logical response for a Christian filled with the Holy Spirit is to speak the Gospel.

Tell them that Jesus loves them and that God put a natural law in their heart that convicts them of their life style. The inner struggle they have is precisely a result of this law.

I believe the reason so many GLBT folks are trying so hard to win the approval of the Church for this lifestyle is because deep, deep down they are struggling with the morality of their lifestyle. They are trying to somehow win support from the ultimate moral authority, God, so they appeal their case to the closest surrogates, us, the Christians.

God may use us to respectfully convey some moral conviction for an unnatural alternative lifestyle.

When they call you a bigot, a backwards idiot, and other names, respond in love and in truth. Shine the light on the Word of God as the reason you hold to your beliefs and reject any anti-gay label.

The truth is out there.

The truth is in every man’s heart according Paul in Romans 1.

The suppression of truth must end for salvation to arrive.

To Be or not to Be… Born of God

That is the question…

More than a question asked by Hamlet about the meaning of life, for the Christian this is a question about the status of the soul.

This is a test of faith.

In this case the test of faith rests on what apostle John writes when he fights Gnosticism and heresy in the early church.  One of the pearls of John’s first letter is found in 1 John 3:9

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

A clear line can be drawn between those who live in sin continuously (make a practice of sinning), and those who do not persist in their sin but repent of it.   That line is a division between those who are born of God and those who are of the devil (1 John 3:8).

This is a radical concept.  Could it be that there is no in-between?  Is there no such thing as a lukewarm position of transition between these two polar opposites?

The answer is no.  One is either saved or unsaved.

Being born of God does not mean and we are completely free of sin in this life.  But we are not slaves to it.  We do not live in a pattern of continual sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts us and leads us to repentance when we do sin, and He points us to the cross where we find forgiveness.

The presence of this work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is what sets believers apart from non-believers.

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A New Passion: The Taylor 414ce

This beautiful new guitar is my new passion. I will experiment using it during worship at church as I try to make a transition from playing keys to playing guitar.

I have been playing keyboards and piano since I was a kid, but I have been secretly loving the idea of leading the church in worship using the guitar.

So I took a big step and purchased this instrument from Sweetwater after bargaining for a good price.

It is made of spruce wood in the front giving the sound a bright tone, while the ovankol wood found in the back and sides provides for deep bass. And my favorite part, it is fitted with the Taylor Expression System Electronics which make it ready for playing in a church setting using amplification.  The sound is absolutely full-bodied and overall amazing.  My finger tips are already calloused 🙂

Psalm 150

1 Praise the LORD!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens!
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his excellent greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD!

The Gospel in One Minute

Reformed (and slightly charismatic?) ministry Desiring God led by John Piper put this video on their front page under the heading “The Gospel In One Minute.” I think the message is theologically correct overall but a bit skewed.  While there is an overemphasis on God’s love… repentance, obedience and sanctification are notably absent.  To Lecrae’s defense, this may have been a spontaneous recital. 🙂

What do Delight in Truth readers think?  Does rap have a place in spreading the gospel?

Ray Lewis, When Will You Tell the TRUTH?

Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis will forever be haunted by a double murder in Atlanta in January 2000.

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Ray Lewis claims to be a changed man, a born-again Christian, but it is this claim that brings shame to the Christian faith. Lewis, the heart and soul of the Superbowl contender Baltimore Ravens has been on a joy ride of fame and glory, but also a ride of depravity and deception.

Ray Lewis, when will you tell the truth about the altercation and the double murder you were involved in following the Superbowl in 2000?

What happened to the white suit you wore at 4 AM in that night club in Atlanta, the suit that investigators could not find and you did not help them find?

The prosecutors were only able to obtain a lesser charge of obstruction of justice against him as all of a sudden witnesses changed their stories and Lewis blamed his friends.  All this despite the fact that the blood of the victims was found in Lewis’s limo.  When he could not be convicted of murder, he settled out of court for millions of dollars with the families of the victims to avoid civil law suits.

If you came clean before God after that event and you changed your life, why do you continue to father children out-of-wedlock with multiple women?

Instead of flamboyance and attention seeking behavior why don’t you practice Christian qualities like meekness, humbleness and the most important of them all, repentance?

But we are getting ahead of ourselves and dwelling on spiritual subjects which clearly do not have much meaning for Ray Lewis. He fathered 6 children ranging in age between 11 and 17 years old with 4 different women, a pattern that continued after the club murders 13 years ago. This is evidence of a life lived in sin for a man who wears his “Christian” faith on his sleeve.

The most important and visible aspect of someone’s conversion is their repentance and the regret they have for the crimes and sins of their past life. This is where Lewis fails, and he gets a pass on it by the sports media and the sponsors.

His actions on the field do are not in sync with his professed faith.  He singles himself out after every play and every win.  It’s all about him.  Victory shouts, dances, in-your-face-rub-it-in attitude that polarizes everyone who sees it.  This is not the way a Christian is supposed to act.

Despite the repertoire of sin, crime and depravity, apparently Rev. Ray preaches in some churches.  Instead of reciting Bible verses and instructing others in the way of the Lord, Lewis needs to first repent and truly repent, and then show the world evidence of his repentance.  And no, donating money to charity is not evidence of repentance.

Repentance must be evident in your everyday actions, in the way you carry yourself, in the way your life undertakes a 180 degree change from before, and in the way you tell the truth.

Ray Lewis is the same loud, flamboyant, arrogant man he always was.

And the TRUTH about the murders is still out there.

Ray Lewis, when will you finally tell the TRUTH?

Delight in Truth: Most Viewed Posts and Pages

These have been the most read articles on Delight in Truth through January 22, 2013:

Rick Warren on Homosexuality: “not everything natural is good…”

What Would it Be Like to Hold Baby Jesus?

Truth

Perspective on Halloween

Theology 101: What is Double Predestination?

Mark Driscoll’s “Puff or Pass?” on Recreational Marijuana

Come, and you will enjoy… great “worship!”