False Doctrine In Bethel Worship Music!

Fight For Truth

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

00:05

Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. So Bethel Church is a charismatic megachurch in Redding, California.

00:15

Bethel, along with Elevation and Hillsong, comprise the three bands who make most of the music that you probably sing in church.

00:22

But have we ever stopped and asked ourselves if these people have the discernment necessary to write music that we use in church?

00:29

After all, that's a pretty big responsibility, right? Creating theologically inaccurate worship music is not only dishonoring to God, but it actually causes the entire church who sings that song to be complicit in misrepresenting

00:43

God's Word. You're causing your brothers and sisters to sin. And that is not something that we should take lightly, but I digress.

00:50

One of the biggest complaints I get on this channel is that I ask Christians not to listen to Bethel worship music or use it in church because Bethel is a deceptive and largely unbiblical movement which is leading people astray, and we shouldn't support that kind of thing as Christians.

01:06

Of course, the response I get from many people is, well, Colin, why don't you show me when and where Bethel has ever had false doctrine in their music?

01:14

In my opinion, it should be enough simply to tell a person that Bethel worship is a part of Bethel Church, because Bethel Church has bad false doctrine.

01:22

That should be enough in and of itself. But many people are also looking for an example of bad theology in Bethel's actual music.

01:29

So that's just what I found for you. Today's video is three examples of false doctrine in Bethel worship music.

01:36

Number one, Reckless Love. This is a song written by Bethel worship leader Corey Asbury, and it is regularly sung in Bethel Church.

01:45

The song says, quote, Oh the overwhelming, never -ending, reckless love of God.

01:51

Specifically, I want to draw your attention to that word reckless. You see, the word reckless implies an action that is not well thought out.

01:59

It's immature. It's not done with composure or forethought or wisdom. None of these things are accurate with reference to God, though.

02:07

Proverbs 2, 6 says, quote, For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

02:13

The Bible makes the case that God is very wise. In fact, He's the foundation of wisdom.

02:18

There is no one more wise than Him. The Bible does not say, however, that God is reckless.

02:24

And I will make the case that using the word reckless to describe God is at best theologically inaccurate, and at worst, it's utter blasphemy.

02:33

At the very least, it's not a good thing, and it's certainly not biblically accurate. Now, I know many of you are going to start making excuses for this word, this choice of words, trying to configure different definitions and linguistic concepts that excuse his poor choice of phrase here.

02:48

But before you do the excuse making, let me ask you to do something much easier. Answer this question for me.

02:54

Think of the times you've heard or said the word reckless in your life. When you heard that word or used it yourself, was it used in a negative context or a positive context?

03:04

Because if you have a basic understanding of the English language, you will know that the word reckless, 99 % of the time that it's used in American conversation, is a word used to describe something or someone in a negative light.

03:18

But this is just one example of false doctrine in Bethel music. There are many more. Number two, in Bethel's new album,

03:25

Homecoming, they have a song called I Believe. And in that song, they sing the following, quote, We will see the goodness of the

03:32

Lord. Just prophesy it. We will see the goodness of the Lord. This song encourages everyone who sings it to, quote, prophesy it, to prophesy

03:41

God's goodness. This is an unbiblical thing to ask people to do for at least two reasons.

03:47

One, God's goodness is prophesied perfectly in Scripture, and therefore there is no reason that prophecy would be essential in assuring us of the goodness of God today.

03:57

In 2 Peter 1, 17 through 19, Peter says, quote, For when he received honor and glory from God the

04:03

Father, and the voice was borne to him by the majestic glory, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice from heaven.

04:12

For we were with him, that's Jesus, on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed.

04:19

Here's what Peter just said. He told us that he was an eyewitness of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ.

04:25

He saw him on the mountain in all his glory. This is all described in Matthew chapter 17. But Peter then says a curious statement.

04:33

He says, quote, We have a prophetic word, he's talking about Scripture, that is more fully confirmed than what he saw.

04:40

In other words, Peter is saying that the Bible is more trustworthy than any personal extra -biblical revelation.

04:47

Keep in mind, this is coming from a person who walked with Jesus in the flesh. That is why I say that we have no need for more prophecy today, because we have 66 books of prophecy and revelation which are more fully confirmed than any supposed prophecy coming out of Bethel Church.

05:04

Two, the second reason that this is an unbiblical thing to ask people to do is because even if you are a

05:10

Pentecostal, the Bible still has rules on who is allowed to prophesy and when. Now, I'm not fully convinced that people should be prophesying at all in the modern church because, again, the

05:20

Bible is all the prophecy we need. However, even if you do believe that people should prophesy, you have to practice prophecy according to the regulations that God himself has set up.

05:31

This song from Bethel Church asks everyone who listens to it to prophesy, but 1 Corinthians chapter 12 says, quote, "...to

05:38

each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the

05:43

Spirit the utterance of wisdom, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy."

05:51

It says that some were given specifically the gift of prophecy, but not all. So Paul is explicitly saying that not everyone can prophesy accurately.

06:01

And if that is true, then it is unbiblical to ask everyone wholesale listening to a particular song to speak some sort of prophecy into existence.

06:10

In Deuteronomy 18, God says, the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, in other words, an inaccurate prophecy, that same prophet who offers that prophecy shall die.

06:23

To prophesy falsely in the name of God was a death penalty offense in the Old Testament.

06:29

So asking Christians today to prophesy without having the gift of prophecy is making them guilty of breaking

06:34

God's law. And all of this is happening because of irresponsible worship songs being written by Bethel Church.

06:41

Again, just to be clear, prophecy is a gift that I do not believe is active in the modern church.

06:47

I'm simply making the case that even if the gift was active, then they would still be disobeying the

06:52

Word of God here. There's just no getting around that. The fact is, this line in Bethel's song both undermines the sufficiency and authority of Scripture, and it encourages people who are not prophets to simply make up false prophecy.

07:05

Both of those things are condemned explicitly in Scripture. Number three, Bethel also has a song called

07:12

Standing in Miracles. The song begins by saying, quote, I don't have to struggle to hear you. Your presence is easy to get to, standing in miracles wherever I go.

07:22

So the song says that the writer is standing in miracles everywhere they go. Here's an example of some of those so -called miracles.

07:29

The song says, quote, the baby in a mother's womb, the union of a bride and groom, the kindness of a stranger's smile, the sound of rivers running wild.

07:39

Now this is something that Bethel Church is very obnoxious in perpetuating, the myth that every normal, everyday event that happens to you is somehow a miracle because you're a

07:48

Christian. I mean, according to this song, listening to the sound of a river is a miracle.

07:53

Well, I hate to break it to all the moms out there, but if you're not biologically incapable of having children, you having a child is not a miracle.

08:01

If you're a perfectly healthy, fertile, 25 -year -old woman, having a baby is not a miracle. It's called having a baby.

08:07

It's what your body does pretty naturally. A wedding also is not a miracle. A stranger smiling at you is certainly not a miracle.

08:16

Now, why do I care so much about this? Because calling normal, everyday events miracles is both biblically inaccurate, and it devalues the actual miracles of Jesus Christ and his apostles.

08:28

The Greek word for miracles is dunamis, and it literally means an action that demonstrates divine power in a unique and often seemingly impossible way.

08:38

Examples of real biblical miracles would be Jesus healing a leper, or restoring a man's sight, or calming the ocean using nothing but his voice.

08:46

These are truly miraculous events that demonstrate Christ's divine power. And as much as you might have good intentions, when you say that it's a miracle that you found your favorite lunch meat at the deli, you're not accurately representing what the

09:00

Bible says a miracle is, and comparing a stranger smiling at you to one of Jesus' own miracles is actually belittling and devaluing those miracles.

09:10

I don't mind this as much when people misuse the word miracle in everyday life, because they often do so unknowingly.

09:16

But using the word miracle inaccurately in a worship song that will be sung by thousands of people is a different thing entirely.

09:23

When we use the word miracle in a sermon or in a worship song, we need to maintain consistency with the truth of Scripture.

09:30

That's whole point of writing worship songs in the first place, right? To glorify God truthfully, in accordance with His Word.

09:36

So in conclusion, Bethel Music is guilty of having unbiblical beliefs just by being a part of Bethel Church.

09:42

I don't even need any more evidence than that. Just by being in Bethel Church, they are supporting its false and terrible doctrine.

09:50

But on top of this, the music Bethel produces also has consistently been found to have unbiblical lyrics which are not consistent with the truth of Scripture.

10:00

You may not think that's a big deal, but the Bible certainly does. John 4 .24 says God is

10:06

Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth. Being truthful in our worship is not optional, according to this passage.

10:14

It's a command. This is a big deal. That's why I always say that we should not be using music from churches like Bethel.

10:22

It's only a matter of time before the influence of Bethel and other unbiblical movements begins to damage the doctrine of the entire

10:29

Church at large. Simply through using their worship music, this can take place. So pray for Bethel and for their deceived congregation that they would repent of these unbiblical actions and turn to the truth of Scripture.

10:41

Thank you so much for watching. If you liked that video, please like, comment, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell so that you never miss another one.

10:50

If you didn't like that video for any reason, then I invite you to watch my Frequently Asked Questions video, link in description, where I deal with some common objections and define the purpose and goal of my channel using

11:01

Scripture. This channel is funded by generous donations from my amazing patrons. If you'd like to help us put out more videos fighting for truth, hit the link in the description or go to patreon .com

11:11

slash Colin A. Miller. You can donate to my ministry there and earn tons of rewards just like these.

11:17

And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you and God bless.