WHAT KIND OF MUSIC SHOULD WE SING IN CHURCH?
Music for this episode was provided by “The Passion HiFi” https://soundcloud.com/freehiphopbeatsforyou
Have you ever heard Bethel Music? Maybe you have heard the song "Reckless Love." The likelihood is real high that you have at least heard some songs from Bethel. In this episode author Richard P. Moore talks about what kind of music we should and should NOT sing. He specifically deals with Bethel Music and Bethel Church in Redding, CA that spreads problematic theology.
Richard mentioned His Book "DIVERGENT THEOLOGY" You can find it on Amazon Here https://amzn.to/2JkzcbE
Richard also mentioned the book by Ché Ahn “Modern Day Apostles: Operating in Your Apostolic Office and Anointing” https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Day-Apostles-Operating-Apostolic-Anointing-ebook/dp/B07HTLXTF6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=modern+day+apostles&qid=1572466883&sr=8-1
Ché Ahn, is the leader of and self proclaimed Apostle of Harvest International and leader of Wagner University the school founded by C. Peter Wagner the founder of the New Apostolic Reformation. In this book, it is clear that Ahn believes in the “office" of apostle, and mentions Bill Johnson as an influential leader in the New Apostolic Reformation and even names him a “General in the movement.
Richard mentioned the “New Age book wrapped in Christian Theology” called “The Physics of Heaven” he wrote a book review of it here
http://richardpmoore.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-physics-of-heaven-book-review.html
The reasons we should not sing Bethel music are…
If we would not commend the books of a given group, we should not sing the songs of that group. It supports directly or indirectly the ministry and global impact and growth of Bethel and its teaching I wouldn’t recommend the Mormon Bible or Mormon teaching, or Jehovah’s witnesses or the Watchtower magazine or the JW translation of the Bible. I would neither recommend Mormon music or JW music for Christian worship. The Music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is excellent, but I would not recommend it for Christian worship, because it is not Christian. Just like I cannot recommend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for Christian worship because the Mormon Church stands behind it, so also I cannot recommend Bethel Music because Bethel Church and its teaching, leadership and Apostle and Prophet Bill Johnson stand behind it.
There is some good and some bad, and why should we make Worship leaders decide what is theologically good and what is theologically bad? For instance “Reckless Love” is a terrible description of God’s love, but there are other seemingly good songs from Bethel. So which ones should we choose? And can we make worship leaders (Usually not theologically trained) to make those difficult decisions?
We shouldn’t sing Bethel Music because it could affect its hearers to engage with the teaching and the message that Bethel is communicating to thge world, namely the teaching of the New Apostolic Reformation (“What's the will of God? On earth as it is in heaven. If it exists there, it's supposed to exists here.” -Bill Johnson-)
It financially supports Bethel: royalties, record sales, creating interest where others go and buy the music, and helping with overall popularity
Bethel music is a branch and ministry of Bethel Church in Redding, CA. Their music is wildly popular with Christians and sung often in churches worldwide. To give you a scope of the reach of Bethel music. One of their newer songs called “Reckless Love” is apparently the #1 used song with Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI). If anyone wants to display the words to any Christian song or sing it publicly they must have a CCLI license number and pay for that license yearly. Royalties are then paid to each artist according to the number of uses per year. That means that “Reckless Love” is the most sung, used, copied, or lyrically displayed song in Christian music right now. Conclusion, churches sing the song “Reckless Love” worldwide more than any other song. It also means that Bethel music and Cory Asbury (the writer of the song) are easily making millions.
Author of “Divergent Theology,” Richard P. Moore wrote a blog about this song, because it is deeply disturbing to characterize God as “Reckless” in any way. Below is the link to the article. http://richardpmoore.blogspot.com/2018/06/is-gods-love-reckless.html
Furthermore, 6 of the 12 songs on this CCLI list are associated with Bethel music, worship leaders, or artists, etc. Bethel is making big money on the royalties alone from CCLI and churches that buy licenses. Does the money that churches pay into CCLI support and benable the dubious and aberrant teachings, practices, and theology of Bethel Church and its leaders
Arius used songs and short tunes to spread his heretical Theology about the nature of Christ- here is an article on how Arius manipulated Doxology to try to manipulate and change Orthodoxy. https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/06/poisonous-songs-of-arius.html Below are a sample of the songs of Arius, which have been extracted from the writings of St. Athanasius: "And so God Himself, as he really is, is inexpressible to all. He alone has no equal, no one similar ('homoios'), and no one of the same glory. We call Him unbegotten, in contrast to him who by nature is begotten. We praise Him as without beginning, in contrast to him who has a beginning. We worship Him as timeless, in contrast to him who in time has come to exist. He who is without beginning made the Son a beginning of created things. He produced him as a son for Himself, by begetting him. He [the Son] has none of the distinct characteristics of God's own being ('kat' hypostasis') For he is not equal to, nor is he of the same being ('homoousios') as Him." Also Arius wrote a small song that went something like this…“There was a time when He (Jesus) was not.”
Because orthodoxy is affected by doxology and doxology is affected by orthodoxy
Because you are overlooking hundreds of other artists and the creativity of your own church creatives in saying we are going to use other music outside our church
Christian Artists that Richard recommends…
Worship artists: Matt Papa, Matt Boswell, Shane and Shane, Keith and Kristyn Getty, David Crowder Band, Seeker Servant The Silver pages, Celtic Worship, Keith Green, Aaron Shust, All Sons and Daughters, The Citizens, The Digital Age, Seed Family Worship, Young Oceans, Ascend the Hill, I Am They, Kenosis, Kings Kaleidoscope, The Modern Post, My Epic, One Sonic Society, Page Cxvi, Rend Collective, Rich Mullins, Rivers and Robots, Robbie Seay Band, Ross King, Sovereign Grace Music, Jon Foremen, Ascend The Hill, Bellarive, Indelible Grace Music, Loud Harp,
Hip- Hop Artists: Trip Lee, Timothy Brindle, Tedashii, Stephen the Levite, Alert 312, Beautiful Eulogy, Braille, Odd Thomas, Sho Baraka, S.O., JSON, Hazakim, Andy Mineo, KB, Lecrae