Why we Reject CCM – Part 2 – Romans 16:17-18

Having surveyed the history of rock and roll and CCM, we now consider biblical reasons why every Christian should reject CCM.

In our last lesson we considered some biblical reasons why every Christian should reject CCM.

In this message we will briefly review what we covered last time and then continue with some further reasons to reject CCM.

CCM is Modelled after the World

What God’s Word says about the World

The Bible is crystal clear on where the Christian is to stand in relation to this sinful world. The Bible speaks very plainly on this issue!

1. Don’t Fall in Love with It (1 John 2:15-17).
2. Don’t Commit Spiritual Adultery with It (James 4:4).
3. Don’t Partner with It (2 Cor. 6:14-18; Eph. 5:11).
4. Don’t be Stained by It (James 1:27)
5. Don’t be Conformed to It (Rom. 12:1-2).

How CCM Conforms to the World

CCM is “conformed” to this wicked world in a number of areas:

1. CCM mimics the world’s attitudes and philosophies
   1. Amy Grant, who has been called the “Queen of Christian Pop” recently came out with words of support for the Sodomite community in an interview with Proud Radio. She said, “Who loves us more than the one who made us?” Grant asked Kelly in the July 12 interview. “None of us are a surprise to God. Nothing about who we are or what we’ve done. That’s why, to me, it’s so important to set a welcome table. Because I was invited to a table where someone said ‘Don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ …Gay. Straight. It does not matter.”
   2. “It doesn’t matter how we behave,” Grant continued. “It doesn’t matter how we’re wired. We’re all our best selves when we believe to our core, ‘I’m loved.’ And then our creativity flourishes. We’re like, ‘I’m gonna arrange flowers on your table and my table.’ When we’re loved, we’re brave enough to say yes to every good impulse that comes to us.”¹
   3. CCM mimics the world’s appearances (1 Thess. 5:22)
   4. CCM mimics the world’s music styles (Eph. 5:18-19; Col. 3:16; Ps. 40:3).
   5. CCM mimics the world’s vocal styles.

CCM Promotes Compromise with Error

CCM is a dangerous bridge to…

The World of Secular Rock Music

1. Many CCM artists openly endorse and praise secular rockers, even claiming their inspiration comes from that world. In doing so, they open the door wide for their Christian fans to delve into the dirty world of rock and roll. And as we saw earlier in the series, the world of rock and roll is one that is filled with spiritual dangers for the believer with its promotion of every sinful lust the depraved heart of man can generate.
2. The overwhelming majority of contemporary praise is modelled after the world as we considered in the previous message. We hear no clear warnings against the world and the pop culture coming out of the CCM movement. That’s because in a very real sense, CCM is a subgroup of the pop culture.
3. Illustration: My experience at a Christian school was that with rare exception the youth listened to the world’s rock and roll, not even CCM.
4. So enamored is the CCM scene with the world’s music that there are now even examples of where they are playing rock songs in “worship” services. If music is neutral and your inspiration as a Christian musician comes from the world, then why not? This is the end of the slippery slope that is CCM. Consider three examples of this:
   1. Church by the Glades, Miramar, Florida: “Worshipping” to secular rock A.N.T. Farm “Calling all Monsters”.
   2. Newspring Church, Anderson, South Carolina: “Worshipping” to secular rock Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath) and AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell”
   3. North Point Church, Springfield, Missouri: “Worshipping” to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” song and the Rolling Stones hit “Sympathy for the Devil.”
   4. Some might gasp at this but in reality, there is so little difference nowadays between CCM and the world of filthy rock, we shouldn’t be surprised. We have even pastors who claim to be Independent Baptist recommending people prepare their hearts for the Lord’s Table with songs like “Flawless” of Mercyme.
   5. To open the door to the world of secular rock is to open the door to a world of spiritual dangers and pitfalls for the Christian. The world of secular rock is all about the indulgence of every sinful passion and to bring that into your life is to invite spiritual catastrophe.

The World of Charismaticism

1. CCM could really be called Charismatic Christian Music. CCM has its roots fairly and squarely in the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement.
2. CCM is a dangerous bridge to the error and confusion of the charismatic movement with errors such as:
   1. Gibberish tongues speaking and interpretations.
   2. Spirit slaying.
   3. Holy Laughter and “Spirit Drunkenness”.
   4. Erroneous Signs and wonders (e.g., the latter rain movement).
   5. Bizarre and blasphemous heresies.
3. CCM is an integral part of this world of error. Without the high powered, emotionally charged, hypnotic music, many of these so called “miracles” would never happen.

The World of Ecumenism

1. CCM is one of the main engines driving the formation of the apostate one-world church of the last days. It is the glue that binds together Catholics, protestants, evangelicals and out and out heretics by shifting the basis of unity away from objective truth to subjective experience.
2. CCM preaches the false doctrine of unity outside of doctrine. It shifts the basis of unity from objective truth to subjective experience.
3. CCM is at home at the ecumenical gatherings and conferences.

Conclusion

Testimony: Rewell and Hannah Dangoy

My wife and I were born and grew up in the Philippines. I personally was raised in a Christian home ever since I was born. Hannah’s father was the first one saved in her family which created the opportunity for the whole family to hear the Gospel and get saved too.

Growing up, it never occurred to us that there are certain types of music that we can listen to and should not listen to. We’ve always thought that music is harmless. We were taught that we should not listen to worldly music but the explanation was very vague and it wasn’t hardly implemented even in the homes. Television was also normal growing up which contained content that isn’t supposed to be listened to and watched. We grew up blasting music in the radio, in the car during long drives, and even on the headphones while commuting.

When CCM started seeping through the churches, we were very naive about it and sadly the church that we used to go to in the Philippines has allowed it and even sung it during special numbers. We did not even know about it until hearing the different CCM singers from Pastors preaching.

There was not much education about it, not enough preaching about Godly music and how evil CCM is and that led to churches being deceived by its enticing lyrics but empty meaning. Studying in the same Christian School, we remember singing old Christian hymns, but the influence of Hollywood music and television was around us. It was normal to talk about different bands and different movies at school. Even when we went home from school. We were just revolving around the world.

Around 6-7 years ago while my wife and I were in Singapore working, we started wanting to migrate to a different country that would allow us to have a better work life balance as we both were very stressed with work. I was also working on weekends which made it very hard for me to be able to go to Church on Sundays.

I came across different countries that we could apply including Adelaide. For some reason our prayer was, Lord if you’ll approve us to go to this place called Adelaide (which we have never heard of before, only Sydney and Melbourne), please lead us to a Church that is serious with you and a Church that we can serve. Please deny our visa application if there

won’t be a Church for us to be part of and grow with You. This was always mentioned in our daily prayers together. After 7-8 months, we got our visa approved. I remember being very happy. We called our parents and we all cried because we could not believe it. After that, we started to prepare and as promised in our prayers to the Lord, I started looking for a Church in Adelaide. I looked through different Churches and for some reason felt like NBC was the Church to go to. 4 years and 4 months after, we are still here praise the Lord! This is the one and only Church we have attended in Adelaide and thank the Lord for preserving and protecting us.

When we started attending the church in NBC back in 2017, Pastor Simeon taught a series about Christian Homes. He quoted that “Godly music is an important teaching medium”

“Godly music is a medium for instruction”

He also taught a separate preaching about Contemporary Christian Music and it was an eye opener. It just hit us hard and we were convicted to stop listening to these types of music.

When we drove back home that night, we just realized that we have been listening to rubbish music! We still have struggles at times when you here songs played in the shopping centres etc. However, by the grace of God, we are distancing from it. We used to listen to an app called KLove which plays CCM songs and decided to delete it and all the downloaded songs from our phones.

Pastor also quoted in the same series that:

“Our home should be an environment where the Word of God is central, and our home must be constantly tuned to one channel “- which is God.

We truly believe that God has prepared us and made sure that we are aware of these things so we can try to build a godly home for Olivia even in this wicked world. It is very clear from the Word of God in Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

We thank the Lord for the conviction from His Word and for using this Church to enlighten our minds and views about CCM and worldly music.

Some more verses we wanted to quote:

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Ephesians 5:19

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord

References

1. https://churchleaders.com/news/401277-did-amy-grant-confirm-the-lgbtq-lifestyle-on-apple-musics-proud- radio.html Viewed 20/8/21