# 1 Reason to Avoid Bethel, Hillsong & Elevation Music

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. Just one more podcast to wrap up the week and to wrap up this topic. We're going to talk about the most important reason why churches should not sing Bethel Hill song and Elevation music.

I'm also going to address a question someone asked about the hymn, Oh Holy Night. Apparently, it was written by an atheist, so they said, why is it okay to sing that, but it's not okay to sing this other stuff.

But before I get into it, let me just play this clip from Hill song for those listening on Spotify. You might want to check out the YouTube video because I'm going to show a clip from a Hill song women's conference where during the praise music, they actually had the naked cowboy come out on stage.

Yeah, this really happened.

Watch.

Okay.

So thankfully he was covered up by his guitar, but let that sink in. Hill song actually brought out the naked cowboy to perform on stage at a Christian women's conference.

Yikes.

And that's not the only example I could give. Hill song also did a burlesque version of silent night. And this is all, it's all been reported. It's nothing new. This information has been out there for a long time.

So naked cowboy burlesque version of silent night. I saw another performance online where during one of the songs, they had a bunch of women come out on stage wearing nothing but a towel. Like they just got out of the shower.

Like why would they do that? Well, this is what Hill song does. I mean, try doing that your local, you know, hometown church. I mean, you would never get away with it. People wouldn't stand for it. But what Hill song does that somehow people still defend Hill song.

So let's get into it. Let's sum it up. What is the main reason why I do not believe churches should promote Bethel Hill song and elevation? Is this just my opinion? No, it's the viewpoint of thousands of pastors all across the country.

And you say, well, the main reason is because the Bible says to mark and avoid these groups. We talked about those scriptures, Romans 16, second John nine through 11, but really sum.

It all up.

This is the main danger. The music is what leads people into listening to their teachings. It's an established fact that the Hill song church, the Hill song church is world famous because of Hill song music, take away Hill song music.

And all of a sudden no one has ever heard of Hill song church. So this is the danger. Just as the Jehovah's witnesses recruit people through door knocking Bethel Hill song and elevation, they recruit people through their praise music.

Now that leads us to the question someone posed. Someone left this comment on one of my YouTube videos and they said, based on your argument, okay, pastor, based on your argument, you should not sing the hymn.

Oh Holy night. Because you're saying, okay, this stuff was written by, you know, heretics, Bethel Hill song. Well, Oh Holy night. Those lyrics were written by an atheist.

Okay.

So let's deal with that. First of all, I don't think you should justify bad behavior by pointing to other bad behavior. So if a church chose not to sing, Oh Holy night, you know, I find it really hard to hit those high notes anyways.

So, you know, here's the thing. We can have that conversation and whether or not we want to sing a song written by an.

Atheist.

I mean, do those Mark and avoid passages apply to an atheist who lived 200 years ago? I'm not sure about that, but here's the thing. There's pretty much, this is, this is really what it comes down to.

I think there's pretty much a 0 chance that a person is going to be led into atheism by singing Oh Holy night. I mean that that's just not going to happen. People are led into this hyper charismatic movement through the music.

But if you sing, Oh Holy night, is that really going to lead someone into atheism? That's just not going to happen. So I think most pastors, even if they knew that about the song, they wouldn't see it as a danger.

Bethel Hill song and elevation, however, thousands of people are getting drawn into these groups every single year. That is a real danger right now. So I think that's the biggest difference. Now what about pastors?

This was another question. Someone reached out to me, a couple people actually. What about pastors and elders who defend Bethel Hill song and elevation? What if, you know, at my church, this is going on.

Someone who watched one of my videos, they called the church yesterday and I talked to them and they told me about how they attended a church in the past that played this music and they wanted to talk to the elders and express their concern.

But they said that the church leadership like totally refused to even talk to them. They wouldn't even discuss this. So what if your pastor does that? What if they don't see the issue? I did a video on Jack Hibbs a couple of days ago, how he was defending Bethel Hill song and elevation.

And Jack Hibbs, I think sort of represents that typical, you know, sort of moderate mainstream evangelical, you know, charismatic or open to the charismatic movement. Well, listen, I want to be clear.

I would not leave a church.

Okay.

I would not leave a church because they played a song or two from Bethel or Hill song. I mean, most people are not even aware of this. So if a song gets played here or there, I personally wouldn't make a big deal about.

It.

But if you notice and you want to talk to your pastor, here's where, in my opinion, it becomes a problem. I don't think people should be quick to leave their church. I do not advocate for that. Now if this is sort of the final straw that broke the camel's back, sure.

But if your pastor, here's where it becomes a problem. If your pastor refuses to even talk about it, or if he actually defends a heretical church, that's when it becomes a problem. So if you hear a Bethel song played, if it's just one song, you could probably let it go.

Or maybe you can't let it go, but then have a respectful conversation. And most of the time, people can work these things out. Proverbs 27 verse 17 says, iron sharpens iron. So have that respectful conversation.

I'm sure you can probably work it out. But if your pastor is defending a heretical movement, that's different, right? Now in the situation with Jack Hibbs, okay, he's not only okay with the music, he publicly chose to defend the music.

And a guy like Jack Hibbs is affiliated with Daystar. He praises up hyper-charismatics like Joanie Lamb, and he went on her program and said he was honored and all the rest. If I attended Jack Hibbs' church, I personally could not go along with that, especially knowing how they give money to Daystar and these groups.

So to me, that's where it would become a real problem. It's not just, oh hey, they played that song that one time or something like that. When this becomes standard practice in a church, to play this music, especially on a regular basis, here's the thing, 9 times out of 10, the pastor and or the leadership, it's usually a package deal.

They tend to be, most of the time, if this is what's happening, then the leadership tends to be okay with the music because they are okay with the movement that it's coming out.

Of.

In other words, they don't really see a big issue with the hyper-charismatic movement, Daystar, Joanie Lamb, Bethel, etc. Oh sure, they may or may not express some disagreement with the prosperity gospel.

I mean, even Benny Hinn came out and said he was repenting of the prosperity gospel and that lasted for like two weeks. So most people will say, okay, prosperity gospel is not good, but they're okay with the movement.

So in conclusion, this is what I would look out for. So if a church plays a song by Bethel or Hillsong Elevation, maybe it's a one-off. I personally, again, I wouldn't make a big deal about that. Again, most people don't even know, but here's what I would look at with that church or your church if you're in a church that does this.

I would ask, I would look at, does the pastor preach against false teachers? He doesn't have to do it every week, but does he do it at all? It's a pretty consistent theme throughout the Bible, especially the New Testament epistles.

I think every book of the New Testament brings up the subject of false teachers or false teaching every book, every epistle, except for Philemon. So it's a pretty consistent theme. If your pastor never brings it up, he almost never brings it up or he never brings it up.

That's a problem. Or if your pastor, if he's not willing to name names, like he never names names because the apostles did, I could show you a list of verses. So that's what I would look at. Does your pastor preach against false teaching, at least on occasion?

Does he name names at times when it's necessary? Does the pastor practice biblical separation or does he call that legalism? That's what I would look at because biblical separation is taught in 2 Corinthians 6.

So does your pastor see the importance of ecclesiastical separation? Or is he super ecumenical? So that's what I would look at if you ever experienced this in your church. If those subjects never come up or hardly ever, then it's no wonder the pastor is okay with Bethel Hillsong in Elevation because it sounds like he is already bought in or he's starting to buy in to the zeitgeist, you know, the ecumenical spirit of the age that just wants to bring everybody together, Charismatics, Baptists, Catholics, maybe even.

The Mormons.

Well, how would you do that? You do it through the music. Or I would say Satan does it through the music. One last comment. I shared this before. My favorite hymn is Come Thou Fount. So there is this one time I looked up Come Thou Fount on YouTube, and I found a video by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and they really did a great rendition.

Now, I shouldn't have clicked on it, but I did, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir really did a great rendition of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And I remember listening to it, and in the middle of the hymn, the thought came into my mind, this music, it's just so good.

It's so amazing. It sounds so honoring to God. How can these people not be Christians? So when that thought popped into my mind, I was like, whoa, like I know better than.

That.

So just because someone can sing well and they repeat these lyrics, it's like, wow, I really understood in that moment how seductive music can be. I did a whole video about how Lucifer may have been heaven's choir director and how Lucifer the devil uses music.

Check out that video. But in conclusion, we need to be careful. We need to be discerning. Make sure you keep testing the spirits. Test all things. Hold fast to that which is good. So I'll close with this exhortation found in 1 John 4, verse 1.

The Apostle John writes, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Some pastors, they don't test the spirits.

They don't want to test the spirits. And what's worse, a lot of these guys will actually get upset with you if you are the one testing the spirits. You're actually the one following the Bible. But because you bring it up, they then view you as the troublemaker.

And if that's the type of church you're in, you're better off just leaving. So find a good local Bible-believing church that plays music, that honors God, and more importantly, where the leadership sees the importance of sound doctrine and biblical separation.

Amen?

Amen.

Thanks for watching, or thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you, and have a great day.