Are the Contemporary Hymn Writers "Safe"?

As we have documented in The Directory of Christian Worship Musicians, Stuart Townend is an out-and-out Christian rocker, a radical charismatic, and a rabid ecumenist who associates with Rome and promotes the Alpha program and is therefore building the one-world church. By their intimate and non-critical association with Townend, the Gettys have demonstrated that they are one in spirit. The people who are writing the “contemporary hymns” are not separated from the wider field of CCM. They are ALL holding hands. They ALL have the same spirit. NONE of them are friends of a fundamentalist position. ALL of them are avowed enemies of biblical separation. ALL of them have an ecumenical, charismatic mystical agenda. This is not opinion. We have studied these things “from the horse’s mouth” for nearly 50 years and have carefully documented our warnings. God’s Word forbids us to associate with end-time apostasy. We are to touch not the unclean thing. To be careful about associations is the very heart and soul of biblical separatism. The use of CCM is definitely a “slippery slope” toward compromise and error, and those who are playing with it are playing with fire. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). This warning has nothing to do with “politics.” I can’t speak for others, but I know that my motive in warning against the slippery slope of CCM is a passion for the truth that I found in Christ. CCM is the sound-track of end-time apostasy. It is a bridge to the “broader church” with all of its ancient and end-time heresies. The aforementioned thinking is dangerous and ill-informed, but it probably represents the majority position today. THE CORNER HAS BEEN TURNED IN REGARD TO FUNDAMENTAL BAPTISTS AND CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC. Twenty years ago, the vast majority of influential IFB preachers condemned it in no uncertain terms. The trumpet was giving a clear sound. Today, the majority of influential IFB preachers are justifying its use and questioning the motives of those who still reprove it. Since so many fundamental Baptist preachers are crowd-followers and man-respecters, it is not surprising that the philosophy of justifying the “adaptation” of contemporary worship music has spread so rapidly. This is further evidence of the collapse of separatism. (See the free eBooks “The Collapse of Separatism among Fundamental Baptists,” “The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians,” “The Treacherous Waters of the SBC and Evangelicalism,” and “Why Most Independent Baptist Will Be Emerging,” which are available at the Way of Life web site.)

(Friday Church News Notes, September 14, 2018, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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