This is a repost from the Wretched Radio website at http://www.wretchedradio.com/ :
First of all, she ain’t no lady.
Second of all, it is a testimony to the depravity of our world that tens of millions of GaGa lovers purchase her filthy songs and watch her dirty videos on YouTube. If indeed the kind of records she sells tells us something about the heathens, is it fair to suggest that the type of records sold to Christians tells us something about ourselves?
This is by no means a scientific poll, but I just clicked on the song sample that Amazon offers so you can hear an album highlight. These are the random highlights from five songs from the top ten Christian downloads; see if you notice a theme.
-I don’t know what makes me so afraid.
-You will be safe in His arms.
-You bring me through.
-How you gonna fix it with nowhere to turn?
-You're crying on the floor cuz you can’t take no more.
If this is any sort of mood barometer, Christians are very scared these days. That really isn’t a shocker; the economy is shaky, unemployment is high and there are people willing to blow up their underpants to kill us. Christians are not immune to these concerns and the contemporary Christian music industry has tapped into this zeitgeist.
What is interesting (and troubling) is how Christian artists are attempting to sing us out of our anxieties. Certainly not all contemporary Christian music (CCM) is guilty of this, but I think it is fair to say that overall, CCM offers no more hope than Chopra (a new age guru from India) or Oprah (a new age guru from Chicago).
Story Time
Imagine you are at the park when a child falls and gashes her knee. You and her father run to rescue her. Right before you reach her, you both stop short and hold out your arms so she can choose who she wants to help her. Dad does not say a word while you beg her, “Let me hold you. I want to hug you. I will help you.”
Who is she going to embrace? Instinctively she will run to the arms of her father because she KNOWS that he will take care of her. She KNOWS this because he has proven himself faithful to her for years. You can plead and beg all you want, but the child will only find comfort in the one who has proven his faithfulness and ability.
That is precisely where most contemporary Christian music and preaching fails. An artist can sweetly sing that God wants to hug you, and that may make you feel better while you listen, but these lyrics are placebos at best. In order to find true comfort and true healing, you need to KNOW that God is in capable of protecting you. You need knowledge of his abilities, power and past performance. In other words, you need theology.
It does not help to be told over and over, “Let God hold you, He wants to protect you, fall into His arms.” What comforts us is when we see God’s strength demonstrated over and over again in the Bible. We don’t need tunes that tell us to let God embrace us, we need theology set to music that proves that God is strong and is in control over every detail of our lives.
Experiment time
Here are three actual CCM lyrics that I discovered when I Googled, “God wants to hold you.”
I was wondering can you hold me now
You are the only one that's patient when I fall.
Father, I want You to hold me
I want to rest in Your arms today
Father, I want You to show me
How much You care for me in every way
All that I ever wanted was this peace as you Hold me now, as you hold me now All that I ever needed was this love as you Hold me now, forever hold me now
Contrast those gems with these theological statements from the Bible.
-God spoke the universe into existence in six 24 hour days.
-God parted a sea so His children would be safe.
-Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.
You don’t even need to be told to not worry when you KNOW that God is the Creator, Controller and Conqueror. Knowledge of who God is and what He has done results in comfort.
While I am terribly tempted to plug Exalted Worship (available at http://mail.atlantadesign.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.wretchedradio.com/), I am not going to. Instead, let me encourage you in these challenging times to not reach for sugar pill music, but to fill yourself with songs about God’s unchanging truths. Don’t listen to pep talk preaching, but gorge yourself on solid sermons filled with truth.
It is OK to need comfort, God is happy to provide it. God will feed you when you flee to His Word. It may not be as catchy as breathy Christian pop tunes, but it is sweeter than honey, more valuable than fine gold and it (and it alone) will comfort you.
View all News »
Monday, January 18, 2010
Who Takes the Blame for Haiti?
This is a repost from the Wretched Radio website, http://www.wretchedradio.com/ :
Rick Warren is wrong when he tweets that God does not judge the world through catastrophes (Romans 1:18).
Pat Robertson is wrong when he claims to know why the Haitian earthquake happened (Deut.29:29).
Perhaps these principles will help us figure out why tragedies happen and who is responsible.
God
God controls everything directly or indirectly by restraining His grace or allowing the devil a little more leash. Either way, God is sovereign over everything and happily accepts responsibility for both good and bad (but not sin).
The devil
The devil does not control the weather or rule the nations.
Humans
There are only two groups of people on the earth: pagans and Christians.
Why?
When God sends/allows disaster to the pagans, He does so for two reasons: as judgment or as a call to repentance. A disaster is not enough wrath for the pagans as it is merely a taste of God’s eternal punishment if they do not repent and trust the Savior.
When God sends/allows disaster to Christians, He does so for two reasons: to prune us or kill us and take us home. A disaster is never too much or too little for the Christian, the Pruner causes/allows just the right amount for our good and His glory.
While God may be sending judgment to an entire nation, each individual (pagan and Christian) should seek to determine why God caused/allowed himself to be hurt.
Christians are not victims of collateral damage. While there may be a primary reason God sends/allows a catastrophe, God orchestrates every detail in every situation.
Catastrophes happen to heathens as an act of God’s judgment, but they happen to Christians as an act of severe mercy.
God sends/causes a disaster for the onlookers to respond with apathy or kindness.
Biblical Support
Jesus gave us the definitive statement on catastrophes in Luke 13:1-5. Please take a moment to read that text and you will never make the mistake of Rick Warren or Pat Robertson.
Trick Question
God is not to blame for the earthquake as it was the exact right thing to do. While God gets the credit for the earthquake, He is never to blame for anything. Charles Wesley wrote a number of hymns thanking God for two earthquakes that rocked England in 1751; we should do the same.
The Bottom Line
While each individual should endeavor to learn the lesson that God has in the storm, there is an ultimate purpose (forty days or otherwise): God is endeavoring to glorify His Son. God sends a taste of His wrath to the heathens that they might look to the cross and be saved. God prunes Christians that we will live in greater gratitude for what Jesus has done to rescue us from eternal destruction.
Catastrophes, like everything, are about the cross.
Learn More »
Rick Warren is wrong when he tweets that God does not judge the world through catastrophes (Romans 1:18).
Pat Robertson is wrong when he claims to know why the Haitian earthquake happened (Deut.29:29).
Perhaps these principles will help us figure out why tragedies happen and who is responsible.
God
God controls everything directly or indirectly by restraining His grace or allowing the devil a little more leash. Either way, God is sovereign over everything and happily accepts responsibility for both good and bad (but not sin).
The devil
The devil does not control the weather or rule the nations.
Humans
There are only two groups of people on the earth: pagans and Christians.
Why?
When God sends/allows disaster to the pagans, He does so for two reasons: as judgment or as a call to repentance. A disaster is not enough wrath for the pagans as it is merely a taste of God’s eternal punishment if they do not repent and trust the Savior.
When God sends/allows disaster to Christians, He does so for two reasons: to prune us or kill us and take us home. A disaster is never too much or too little for the Christian, the Pruner causes/allows just the right amount for our good and His glory.
While God may be sending judgment to an entire nation, each individual (pagan and Christian) should seek to determine why God caused/allowed himself to be hurt.
Christians are not victims of collateral damage. While there may be a primary reason God sends/allows a catastrophe, God orchestrates every detail in every situation.
Catastrophes happen to heathens as an act of God’s judgment, but they happen to Christians as an act of severe mercy.
God sends/causes a disaster for the onlookers to respond with apathy or kindness.
Biblical Support
Jesus gave us the definitive statement on catastrophes in Luke 13:1-5. Please take a moment to read that text and you will never make the mistake of Rick Warren or Pat Robertson.
Trick Question
God is not to blame for the earthquake as it was the exact right thing to do. While God gets the credit for the earthquake, He is never to blame for anything. Charles Wesley wrote a number of hymns thanking God for two earthquakes that rocked England in 1751; we should do the same.
The Bottom Line
While each individual should endeavor to learn the lesson that God has in the storm, there is an ultimate purpose (forty days or otherwise): God is endeavoring to glorify His Son. God sends a taste of His wrath to the heathens that they might look to the cross and be saved. God prunes Christians that we will live in greater gratitude for what Jesus has done to rescue us from eternal destruction.
Catastrophes, like everything, are about the cross.
Learn More »
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
