Songs Not For Singing

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

The Problem of Eroticizing Worship Songs

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry, Pastor Steve Cooley. You are in the studio for the next 24 minutes and 30 seconds. Really? Yeah. You�re not going to throw me out? No. Last Tuesday you did such a good job, I thought about just letting you just take over today, and I would just sit and listen to the podcast.

And we�ll just call it Seizing the Rains.

See? That�s good. What about strategies for No Compromise Radio? What�s your five-year program, your 10-year plan, that kind of thing?

My five-year program, well, I�m going to start expanding my footprint on the show. You know, I�m going to kind of, I�ve talked to the editors, they�re going to add 30 seconds a day to the show on non-Tuesday shows.

It�s actually, they�re going to cut you down to 24 minutes, and the last 30 seconds will just be me. And then, like, after a few months of that, we�ll just keep adding, and gradually I�ll just seize the rains.

I�m going to take over. Steve, I think that�s called NoCo30, but it�s really like LoCo30. Yes, because it will be loco. Steve, I know you are passionate about singing enthusiastically, singing worshipfully.

Si, bueno. Yes, corporately, I�m talking about. Yeah. Yeah. And so there�s a nice little blog post called, �Let�s Stop Singing These 10 Worship Songs written by Corey Mitchell. I don�t know if Corey�s male or female, like, maybe female, what do you think?

Maybe. With the �ie� at the end. Oh, there it is. Yes, excuse me.

Corey Mitchell. Okay. Because I know other Coreys, right?

Yeah, yeah. But it�s usually C-O-R-E-Y. R-K, something like that.

Yes. And anyway, she wrote this article, and it gives us 10 worship songs with a little bit of lyrics, so we can see if you would sing these in the studio. Chicka-mucka-hello. Number one, the song is called �In the Secret.

Have you ever sang that one? No, I haven�t. And she gives a problem lyric, so she gives the name of the song, then the problem lyric, and then kind of like her critique, but we�ll just do our own critique.

And so, problem lyric, �I want to touch you, I want to see your face, I want to know you more. Hmm.

I just think that�s the wrong kind of, it�s emotional, it�s visceral, right? But I think it�s just kind of the wrong response. I don�t think we would see that kind of thing reflected in scripture. Steve.

I wish I could have taken a picture of your face. Steve, this is basically, that would be perfect for an Ann Voskamp retreat or something, don�t you think?

Well, or fake. Ann Voskamp retreat.

Now, that�s a funny Twitter account, by the way. I like to know who some of these, you know, Joel. Not Joel, fake Ann Voskamp, who are these people?

I don�t know, but people obviously without a life, sorry.

Uh-huh. You know, I thought about doing like fake S. Lewis Johnson, but somehow it wouldn�t work.

Because everybody would go, �Fake who Well, you know, not only that, I�m like, I mean, okay, let�s just be honest here for a minute. A lot of times I�m just like Twitter, you know, Twitter schmitter.

I don�t really have that much time in my life that I want to be trying to figure out how to be pithy and 140 characters or whatever. So to have a fake Twitter account, that�s pretty much the height of meh.

I like it on Twitter when people give links to articles. So then I go, �Oh, this article needs to be read. And then I can just kind of click on it.

Yeah, I like that too. Yeah, sometimes I�ll email those things to myself so I can read them later.

Steve, with Voskamp, we�ve got an eroticizing of God�s love. I think it�s more than unfortunate. I think it�s horrific. And that book just keeps selling and selling and selling. Of course, Solomon, Song of Solomon.

You have a language, a romantic language. But what explains, Steve, this kind of romance language where we�re singing this love song to God? And I don�t mean love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength in a way.

I mean this. It�s just, it�s just.

Here, let me give it to you this way. I would say this is the cosmopolitan magazining of the church. You know, in other words, it�s the, well, it�s the, let�s see, how can I turn pornography into a verb?

But that�s what, because so many women, if we look at the church, generally speaking, not BBC, not Grace Community Church, but generally speaking, the evangelical church at large, what we see is mostly women involved.

I mean, some guys, but a lot of men, so-called Christian men, are more involved in the NFL than they are in the local church. Maybe they�ll show up, maybe they won�t, but if there�s a really good game or if there�s really an important game, they have to stay home for that.

So the women are, in a lot of churches, they�re running it or they�re behind the scenes kind of running things. Well, and then they come down to a point where they�re like, you know what, we want songs that reflect how we feel and the emptiness in our own lives because our husbands can�t be bothered with church.

We wish they were more present with us. So how about churches or how about songs that represent Jesus as the fulfillment of what we wish our husbands would be?

See, that�s why Steve Cooley needs his own show. Steve, Corey did say this,. �The vague lyrics could easily suggest a plan to sneak around and make out in the bushes or a desire to encounter Jesus. I mean, it is vague, it is erotic.

�I want to touch you.

Pete� Well, again, I mean, this is, they�re probably, you know, looking at the seat next to them, wishing their husband was there and going, so they just project all these things, you know, to get a little psychological.

They project all these things on Jesus because there is a hole in their life created by their husband and so they�ve got to fulfill these romantic notions somehow.

�Life without Jesus is like a donut, like a donut, like a donut.

Pete That sounds like a guy worship song. Pete I know.

So, let�s look at it from this perspective. I mean, we�re both men, of course, and so is there something wrong with a song when both men and women don�t want to sing it, either or? So, you know, maybe a woman would sing that because their husband is selfish and sinful and not romantic, doesn�t care, doesn�t want to live with his wife in an understanding way, doesn�t think about emotions and feelings and all that stuff.

But then you, like you said, project it to Jesus or you want to have that relationship with Jesus. But what guy could sing this song? Pete. I don�t know.

It�s, it would give me kind of, let�s just put it this way, latency problems. You know, I mean, I�d be like, hmm, I don�t really like that. I�d be standing there going, you know, I can only assume this would be a church that I would be visiting or, you know, maybe preaching.

At going, my hands will be firmly in my pocket. So, I�d be like, oh, man, what have I got myself into?

Pete Well, what if you have some friends, you know, and you say, well, why don�t you come to church with me today and we�re going to go hear a message about King Jesus and it�s in 2 Timothy 2, farming analogies.

You�ve got military analogies, you�ve got athletic analogies, and you�ve got Jesus, you know, erotic love analogies. Jared. Terrible. Pete I hate it. You know, the other day I was looking at someone, and I won�t say this person�s name because I honestly think it�s shameful.

This person said one of her favorite books, this is a wife of a very, very, very well-known evangelical pastor. And she said one of her favorite books that�s influenced her the most is A Thousand Gifts by Voskamp.

And I just thought, my respect for you is now zero, practically. Jared Zipsky. All right, the second song that we should stop singing, according to Corrie, would be Draw Me Close. That�s the name. Pete Draw me close to you.

Jared. And the problem lyric she said is, �Draw me close to you.

Never let me go. Pete. Yeah, I�ve, you know what, here�s the funny thing, because some of the songs that are on this list, I�d seen this list previously, some of the songs that are on this list actually don�t mind when I�m in my car.

However, as part of a worship service, an entirely different atmosphere, they�re just wrong. These are not the kind of songs that should be sung in a worship service. This is wrong.

Jared Steve, but what would that eight track in your truck mean? Debbie Boone, You Lied Up My Life, what would that mean?

Pete I don�t know, but, you know, Draw Me Close to Me, that is a Michael W. Smith song there. Jared It is? Pete Yes. Jared I did not know that. Pete Yeah, it�s on one of his, some album that I have. And I�m like, you know, when I listen to it, I don�t think of it.

But in a church service, I would be cringing thinking about that song.

Jared See, I like Corrie�s style. She�s kind of like the equipping Eve Aaron style, do not be surprised style. And it says here, when I thought it was finally and mercifully over, when it was sung in church, the music leader beamed, �Let�s sing that again, shall we

No, I shouted loudly enough to send heads all around me, spinning.

Pete. See, I, and you know me, because you do know me. And, you know, sometimes you�ll ask a rhetorical question, and I�ll give the answer. And you�ll go, you kind of look at me in front of the church, I�ll go, that was rhetorical, by the way.

And I�ll go, I know it was, but I had to answer it, you know.

Jared See, here�s the thing, what the insiders need to know. That�s usually the second service, and Steve already knows what I�m going to say next.

Pete. Well, hey, you know what, I�m going to just break my arm by patting myself on the back. How many guys could sit there and listen to the same sermon twice in a row, right?

Jared I know, I told Steve he didn�t have to stay for both services, and he does, just in case somebody�s going to rush the stage or something. Pete He takes the punishment every way. Pete Okay, the third song is, �At Your Name, Yahweh, Yahweh.

You know that song? Jared No, I don�t. Pete Okay, I don�t know. Jared It sounds like a U2 song. Pete Yeah. Jared Yahweh. Pete That�s actually a pretty good song. Jared Yeah, it is. Pete Yeah. I thought this was maybe �Modest Yahoo� for a second.

Jared Oh, really? Pete Problem lyric, �Yahweh, Yahweh, we love to shout your name, O Lord. Hmm, okay, why?

Jared. We love to shout your name, well, I guess while we�re marching around the city of, uh, Jericho, seven times.

Pete Well, here, I think we�re going to have to diverge from her opinions because she talks about Yahweh, Jewish people don�t say that or write it and they say, you know, they don�t say Hashem here, but that�s what they would have said.

So, I think we�re going to have to move on to number four. Jared Okay, let�s move on.

Theological Precision in Worship Lyrics

Lord, I lift your name on high. Jared. Lord, I lift your name on high. Pete. Uh-oh.

Problem lyric, �From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky. Huh, okay. She said, �Come on, the idea of heaven being in the sky is just theologically incorrect.

Jared Yeah, I, you know, that�s kind of, you know, that�s, listen, I�ll just give her this, that�s Steve Cooley critical. You know, I mean, that�s kind of, that�s kind of, you know, that�s looking with an editor�s eye and not allowing, I mean, I, again, isn�t my favorite song, though, because it�s not the, it�s not a very intellectually stimulating song, and it�s not a very theologically precise song, but it�s not horrific either.

I mean, it�s licensed, poetic license to say sky instead of heaven.

I think that�s Pete. And when he had said these things, Acts 1, as they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. So, I guess what happened was the cloud went up, it bypassed the, went to the first heaven, bypassed the second heaven, and then went straight into the quadrangle Wesleyan heaven.

Jared. Yeah, missed the whole, yeah. Pete. So, you know what, Corey, so far, two for four.

Jared Yeah, I mean, again, I don�t really prefer that song, Wesley, because I just find it a little vapid.

Pete Okay, number five, �Above All� is the name of the song.

Do you know the song? Jared It�s another Michael W. Smith song. Pete Seriously? Jared Yeah.

Pete. All right. Like a, a problem lyric, �Like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me above all.

Jared. Which is not true. Every time, now I�ve been in churches, and you know the church, I�ve been in churches where they�ve sung this song. And here�s what I say in my mind every time I think about this song, thought of me above all.

No, thought above, or thought about your glory above all, because it�s wrong. Jesus, Jesus did not, was not thinking about me, he came to do the Father�s will, and the Father�s will was about me and all the other sinners he redeemed.

But to think that I was the prime, you know, the apple of God�s eye at that moment of Jesus� eye, that he, you know, all he could do was think about me, well, that�s a, that�s just bad.

Pete Steve, would it be theologically correct to say to oneself or to think in this fashion that salvation primarily had nothing to do with me, but thankfully, secondarily, it did?

That would be 100 right. I mean, if I think, you know, I mean, basically, if I just think it�s all about me, if I had a me-centric theology, I�m missing the whole point. You know, it�s not me-ology, it�s theology, so.

Now, Corey, to her credit, she said, �In that vein, John MacArthur�s Grace Community Church changes the last line to �We�re glorified above all.

Well, that�s good that they changed that. I hadn�t heard that, because that is where I sang it before.

So remember back in the home Bible study days, 6132 Carpenter Avenue in North Hollywood, and we�d have Edwin, he�d change all the lyrics, so they�d just be real nice. Yeah.

Of course, there are a few typos that I�ve never been able to get out of my mind.

Steve, you know, it�s something when you hand someone a hymnal and say, �I want you to turn this into superlapsarianism in every passage. That�s outstanding. You know what?

You just never forget those kind of things. And I mean, trust me, I am super picky when it comes to lyrics. I�ve talked to Charlie about changing a lyric here or two, you know, here or there, because sometimes I just think, well, it�s really not about me here, you know, and it�s really not, or, you know, if I think it should be a singular instead of a plural, all those kind of things.

So, I like this next one because it�s by Blue Oyster Cult. I knew you were going to say that.

So, when I was at the beach a couple summers ago in Santa Cruz, Blue Oyster Cult was playing there for free, and we kind of walked by, and guess what I shouted out? �I�m burning for you No!

More cowbell! Oh. You know, I�m really not a Blue Oyster Cult fan. I am not either. And in fact, I just remember, you know, we had a referee in our church league way back when I was a kid, and when that song was popular, his name was Draper, and we used to sing �Don�t Fear the Draper you know, instead of �Don�t Fear the Reaper.

Well, when we were at the concert, you know, I didn�t really like many of their songs, but this is free, and you�re right there at the beach doing other things. And so, there was a guy that just kept standing up with a cowbell, hitting it, and he just kept yelling, �More cowbell

�I�ve got to have more cowbell

So, when we were driving away down through downtown Santa Cruz and getting close to getting to the freeway to go home, there was the guy in front of us, head out the window with that same cowbell, hitting it, saying, �More cowbell

Still on the way home.

He was loving every minute of it. There are no co-listeners that actually was Will Ferrell doing that. I wish it was. Beating the cowbell.

No, that�s fine. Yeah. He was the guy in the skit. �Burn For You� is the song. Problem lyric, �I�ll go anywhere, I�ll do anything, at any cost for you, my king. I haven�t read why she doesn�t like it.

Any guesses? Well, I don�t know. I just think any song that�s about me, I mean, there are songs in the hymnal that are like this. Any song that�s about me and what I�m going to do and, you know, promises and all that stuff, I�m just like, �No, no, no.

I have a real issue with that. I mean, for me, it�s all about expressing gratitude and love, you know, but making promises and songs, I don�t think that�s good.

Corey is right here, and she talks about these hyperbolic songs, and then she was struck by the question, �Wait, would I? Would I really go to the ends of the earth? And then I feel like I�m making false, outlandish statements to God who knows my heart.

Maybe a more accurate rendering of these lyrics would be something to the effect, �I�ll try to go anywhere or, �I�ll try to do something. And so, I think she�s got the idea.

Yeah. I want to be willing to do anything. �Make me willing.� Yeah.

What about that song? �Make me a servant today. Is that any good?

Is that a good song? It�s better than �Burn for you. I�ll tell you that. �Burn for you. It�s back to Voskamp. I mean, it�s like, �Lord, if you so will it, I�d be willing to be burned at the stake.

Well, I prefer not to, I think.

I tried not to say these words in public. I tried not to type them, tweet them, or anything else, but I guess I�ve got to say them now on No Compromise Radio. Steve, why are some evangelicals so apoplectically against Fifty Shades of Grey, and yet they promote Voskamp�s Thousand Gifts?

What�s the difference? A thousand�s better than fifty? I don�t know. I mean, language of consummation and intercourse and stuff like that, and I�m not talking about Fifty Shades of Grey.

Yeah, I mean, which is worse, nasty, erotica, pornographic images and everything, or blasphemy? I don�t know. Which is worse?

I mean... Steve, you know how I act and think in lots of different areas, and I am very thankful that a husband and wife could enjoy each other in a variety of different ways emotionally, intellectually, physically.

I don�t think I�m a prude at all. But this language used of God in public and in a book is just inappropriate. If you want to talk to your wife in a certain way, in a seductive way, in your own bedroom, then that�s fine.

But you don�t talk to God that way. So do I have to pull it out of the bookstore then? Yes. I�ll burn it for you. How�s that? Oh, excellent. All right. Number seven in Corey�s list of worship songs that we should stop singing, Corey Mitchell.

Number seven, One Thing Remains. You know that song? I do not. Yes. One Thing Remains. I do know that if you have the remains of a cremated body, cremation remains, and you jam that together, it�s called the cremains.

So the remains of a cremated person is cremains.

Well, see, I was looking ahead and I could see the lyrics here. Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me. And I just thought, boy, this sounds like a Rick Astley number. Never going to...

Sounds like, you know, my father left my mother before I was born and ran off, and then they got remarried again and I was born. But that�s kind of like, I�m never going to give you up. Never going to give you up.

Never going to... Okay. What�s wrong with this song? She said, it�s not that every song should spell out the gospel in its entirety, but there�s something irksome about songs that seem intended to make us feel spiritually high.

It�s cheap or fake. Well, I think there are a lot of cheap and fake songs that get kind of shoehorned into church services that have no business being there.

Steve, have you ever thought when you were preaching, what I�m going to do now approaches emotionalism at the point of that I don�t want to do that because it�ll take away from the message, the story or this illustration, it�s too emotional, it�ll draw them in too much, and they�ll forget the message.

Yes. And, you know, sometimes I�ve learned that the hard way, I mean, early on preaching, you know, when people come up to you and they�re like, oh, that illustration, it�s all they can remember is the illustration, and I�m like, hmm, boy, I was really hoping the focus would be on the passage today, you know?

So, too, in songs, if they�re so emotionally driven that we forget the content and we get sidetracked for the emotions, I think that�s going to be problematic for corporate worship. If you want to listen to it in your car or something, okay, fine.

Yeah, yeah, which is how I�ve used some of these songs, but some of these other ones I wouldn�t even listen to. I wouldn�t even listen to some of this junk.

I don�t really know one of these. Let�s skip ahead because we�re running out of time. Number 10, if we have to backtrack, we can. How He Loves. Do you know that song? Oh, How He Loves You and Me? I wish it was that one.

So Heaven Meets Earth Like a Sloppy Wet Kiss.

No, I don�t know that one. You should have seen Steve�s face. No, and, you know, I mean, if that�s talking about, you know, like where the ocean meets the shore or something like that, that�d be about as close as.

I�m sorry, what goes through my mind at this particular point is stupid pet tricks on David Letterman circa 1985 where the guy fills up his mouth with milk and the dog comes along and drinks it out. That�s what I think of with a sloppy wet kiss.

That is patently, I, listen, all of these songs, everyone that we�ve talked about, if they were in a, if they were in a church service, I would be disheartened, maybe even appalled or whatever. But I think it gets back to one thing that the pastors, the elders of a church have a responsibility to make sure that worship songs are reflective of the God of the Bible, you know, reflective of scripture.

If there�s not some kind of scriptural content in a song, why would you want to sing it? It, you know, might be fine to listen to on the road, again, like you were saying, but it doesn�t belong, it detracts from a worship service.

A worship service is supposed to, we�re supposed to reflect back to God what he has done in our hearts through his word, not anything else, not some kind of emotional nonsense.

Corporate Worship Should Reflect Scripture, Not Emotionalism

Steve, you know, I have a love for my Presbyterian brethren, right? Oh, yes. I love the OPC brethren probably a little more than the PCA brethren, but there�s Because it�s the only perfect church. Yeah.

That�s correct. But if I had to sing songs like this at all or every week, I think I would probably turn into an Orthodox Presbyterian, Psalter only, no music. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, because I�d just be like, can I get that junk, and I, with all due respect to the authors, junk out of my life? I want it out of my life. I don�t want to hear it, especially on Sunday morning.

Especially on Sunday morning. I�d be like, you know what? Give me that hymnal. I�ll pick out some songs, you know, just.

Well, Steve, the good news is Christian bookstores, they�re very discriminating when it comes to these kind of lyrics. Survey said! Yeah, they chuck all these and get them out of the way, so it�s just the biblically edifying stuff.

I�m thankful for Charlie Crane because if Charlie ever tried to play any of these songs, you know, it�d be like Shepard�s Crook straight across the, well, across the forehead and then across the neck, but he would never do that.

And to quote Corey, it�d be quite irksome.

Quite irksome. There�s a word that doesn�t get enough play, right? Irksome.

Mike Abenroth, Steve Cooley, No Compromise Radio. Thanks for listening. See you next Tuesday.

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