Modern Christian Music Is DECEIVING You!

Christian Commentary on the Contemporary Christian Music Industry

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight For Truth, the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter. In today's video, we're going to be talking about the contemporary Christian music industry.

Now believe it or not, most professing Christians have a very, let's say, unrealistic and candy-coated idea of what the Christian music industry really is. Most people think that the industry is filled to the brim with writers, producers, and artists that have nothing but the best of intentions all the time.

All they want to do is worship God to the best of their abilities, and there is no ulterior motive here at all. And anyone who thinks otherwise is labeled as a Pharisee, a hypocrite, or an annoying religious zealot.

How dare you question our contemporary Christian music artists? That's so mean and so negative. But in this video, my intention is to offer the other side of the story. To offer some real evidence on why we should at least be cautious about this industry.

First off, why do we just assume that the Christian music industry only has the best interests of the Church at heart? Especially when we know that we will all experience temptation in this life, and we all have sinned Romans 3 .23.

Virtually none of us have exclusively good intentions about almost anything in life. And then think about the fact that the music recording industry has reached an all-time high of $15 .9 billion of value.

And the music touring industry has amassed a staggering $6 .28 billion as well. Christian musicians are definitely making less, but do you honestly think that they're making nothing? That they aren't getting a cut of that huge number?

Of course they are. Just for perspective, the writer of the song Lion and the Lamb is Leland Moring, who is of course part of the band Leland. To this day, that song is a top 30 Christian song in the charts, and I can guarantee that if anyone has been in the Church for longer than 5 minutes, they've probably heard this before.

Just a portion of the rights and royalties to that song were sold for a whopping $900 ,000 at an auction. And the investor who bought it projects a 15 return on that investment. In other words, this is not a ragtag group of idealistic teenagers playing Christian songs in their backyard.

It's a massive, multi-million dollar industry that makes truckloads of money from Bible-themed music marketed towards Christians. And we know from Scripture that the desire and the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6 .10. Now, am I saying that every Christian artist mentioned in this video and in general is a money-hungry deceiver? No. What I'm trying to show you is that these Christian music megastars have, at the very least, a lot of temptation to sweep things under the rug for huge financial gain.

And of course, add into the equation here that we're not just talking about money. We're also talking about worldwide fame and extraordinary influence as well. And if they say something controversial that is off-putting to the audience, they could lose all of that influence.

So these are powerful forces that could corrupt even the most good-natured person you could think of. So it's not absurd to suggest that some of this may be happening in the Christian music industry for various reasons.

Shane and Shane, Bethel Church, and the Problem of Compromise

So let me show you a few examples of concerns that I have with contemporary Christian music. First off, we have the recent example of Shane and Shane. This group is comprised of two individuals who have long been considered very theologically sound, a very solid group.

Instead of the usual hyper-emotional, shallow songs about Jesus being your high school boyfriend and increasing your self-esteem and all that nonsense, Shane and Shane have become well-known for singing strong, robust hymns that have stood the test of time, in addition to some modern stuff as well.

But recently, Shane and Shane have decided to partner up with artists such as Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, and Brian and Jen Johnson. The latter two are deeply involved with Bethel Church in Reading, California.

They are, in fact, relatives of Bethel's founder Bill Johnson and the leaders of Bethel Music. Why does this matter? Well, because you would be hard-pressed to find a church that is more concerning, more dangerous than Bethel.

This is not an organization that you want to be a part of as a Christian. Let me give you a few examples. For starters, let's recognize that I'm not the only one saying this. There's a lot of people who agree.

In fact, some of the top comments on Shane and Shane's Instagram post are expressing serious concern about their partnership with Bethel. Here's one comment, quote, Brothers, don't do this. I know you may be well-meaning and desire to bring your worship music to lost souls, but partnering with a false church isn't the way to do it.

I beg you to reconsider this. I am sincerely praying for you. End quote. Here's another comment, quote, Please do reconsider. I used to suggest y 'all as a sound theological group to listen to, but if you're associating with these groups whose doctrines and teachings are damning, I, and many others, cannot in good conscience support your music.

Please, please reconsider. This is heartbreaking to see, but it's not too late to disassociate with the groups that are leading people astray. End quote. Case in point, there are many people who think that this is dangerous, and we're going to show you why.

Media Bias, Ground News, and the Culture War

There are so many opinions out there about virtually every controversial topic, as you can see from those comments, and that's why I use Ground News to help sort everything out. Ground News is a website and app that shows you all the media outlets reporting on breaking news and their political bias.

Check out this story about a drag queen suing the state of Montana over a ban on drag reading events targeted towards children. You can see that the story has a 61 left-leaning bias and only a 13 right-leaning bias in reporting.

Meanwhile, this story about almost half of millennials believing that misgendering should be a crime is almost entirely being covered by only right-leaning outlets. You can really see where the priorities are here.

This just shows you the kind of worldview being promoted by the mainstream media. You can even follow specific topics by creating a custom feed with topics like Christianity, the LGBT movement, and the pro-choice movement, so that you can stay updated on stories that you're actually interested in, which makes reading the news far more enjoyable.

And it allows you to make informed decisions about what actually matters to you. Right now, there is a full frontal assault on Christian values, no matter where you live. You need to know how the culture war is going and how it's going to affect you and your family as a Christian.

So go to ground .news .com to stay informed on breaking news and avoid media bias. Click the link in the description, comment section, or top right corner of your screen. And subscribe before August 15th for 30 off unlimited access to Ground News.

Bethel Church’s Unbiblical Baptisms, Female Pastors, and New Age Practices

So let's get into some shocking things being done at Bethel Church. For one thing, Bethel Church have been publicly administering bizarre and unbiblical baptisms. Here's an actual video of that happening at an official Bethel Church gathering.

Watch this.

Friend, why don't you come over, tell us your name, and tell us why you're being baptized tonight. Hi, I'm Crystal.

I just know that God is calling me to be a warrior for His animal kingdom, and that I'm to lead an army of angels to protect animals across the world, and I just know I can't do it without God.

Come on, give Crystal a round of applause, that's amazing.

So according to the Bible, baptism is a symbol of the burial and resurrection of Christ and the washing away of our sins through His sacrifice. But according to Bethel Church and this young lady, a person gets baptized because they want to be, quote, a warrior for God's animal kingdom.

This is shockingly unbiblical. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Bethel also promotes female pastors, contrary to Scripture. The Bible clearly says that pastorship and eldership are male-only offices in the Church.

See 1 Timothy 2 .12, Titus 1, and 1 Timothy 3. To disobey this clear pattern of Scripture in favor of modern feminism is a perfect example of following the world's standard rather than God's. Bethel also supports a whole host of New Age practices associated with the occult.

And of course, unsurprisingly, Bethel has outright supported the Passion Translation, which is a terrible paraphrase of the Bible that corrupts and distorts the true Word of God. In fact, this distortion was so bad that it was removed from the popular online Bible resource, Bible Gateway.

The links to further evidence for these things will be placed in the description below. And this will also include references to actual biblical scholars absolutely dismantling the Passion Translation.

Again, if you are a Christian, Bethel is not the Church that you want to partner up with. And yet Shane and Shane apparently have no issue going on tour with Brian and Jen Johnson. But speaking of the Passion Translation, did you know that another huge Christian artist recently came out in support of it as well?

Michael W. Smith’s Praise of the Passion Translation

Michael W. Smith has been a mainstay in the contemporary Christian music industry for decades now. And no doubt he's made tons of money doing this. Smith calls the translation, quote, a gift to Bible readers.

He even calls it, quote, a beautiful marriage of powerful accuracy and readable, natural language. Again, what he is praising here is a so-called version of the Bible that virtually every serious Bible scholar has exposed as a fraud and a dangerous corruption of the text.

Let that sink in. How about we talk about another contemporary Christian music megastar, Lauren Daigle, who went absolutely viral with the song You Say, a song that spent 60 weeks at number one, beating a record previously set by Carrie Underwood.

Lauren Daigle’s Refusal to Call Homosexuality Sin

So Lauren Daigle is a massive influence in Christian music, and really just in the world in general, with an equally massive platform. But what did Lauren say when she was asked to defend biblical values to the worldly culture?

Well, in an interview with a popular radio station, Lauren was asked if she thought LGBT was a sin.

Here's what she actually said. Watch this. Do you feel that homosexuality is a sin?

You know, I can't honestly answer on that. I have too many people that I love that they are homosexual. I don't know. I can't say one way or the other.

I'm not God. So she doesn't know if the LGBT lifestyle is unbiblical because she has too many gay friends and she is not God. Interestingly, Daigle also appeared on The Ellen Show that very year, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, one of the most popular LGBT celebrities in the world at the time.

And she's also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. But has she ever used any of these huge opportunities to stand up for the truth of Christian values in the face of a culture that hates them?

Well, not really. She offers almost nothing but vague, milk-toast answers that could just as easily be given by an artist that has nothing to do with Christianity at all. And combine all of this with the fact that a huge portion of popular Christian music songs have nothing to do with the holiness or glory of God, and instead they are most frequently about our subjective feelings and personal self-esteem.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the state of modern Christian music. And yet there are still people who would say that anyone who's concerned about this is blowing everything out of proportion and fear-mongering.

Stop all the negativity, they say. Nobody's perfect. Well, yes, none of us are perfect, and we all fail to follow Scripture. True. But that doesn't remove the very real concerns that we should all have here.

If the Christian music industry can be generally trusted, why are the most popular artists virtually all coming out of compromised, unbiblical churches? Why is it that so many of the biggest Christian music stars are submitting to the culture time and time again, or at least being unclear about what we believe as Christians?

Every real piece of evidence here shows us that the Christian music industry is full of views and associations that are, at the very least, deeply concerning. At worst, they're playing a direct part in the anti-Christian worldview that is swallowing up our modern culture.

And in light of this, the Christian music industry should definitely be looked at with a fair amount of caution. We shouldn't ignore these things in the name of positivity. We need to talk about them.

And that is the truth about the Christian music industry. I pray this has been a blessing to you. And please know this video isn't meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a Biblical critique. Pray for this channel, and for anyone mentioned in the video.

Please check out the teaching ministries and church networks linked in the description. And by God's grace, let's move forward joyfully, holding to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching.

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