Tag: Bethel Music

 

 

Bloggers Note:  I found this on a site called Living and Powerful.org.  It’s so brief, blunt and powerful that I didn’t bother tinkering with it.  So here it is in full force.  It turns out Satan looks more like this than you’d like to think.

 

 

The real satanism

Written By 

Keith Kraska

Some of you may know the term satanism, the literal worship or veneration of satan. Satanists are those who self-identify with satan, however they define that.

And that’s the rub: satanism can take on various definitions and iterations. To them, satan can be a person or a philosophy, real or symbolic. There are theistic satanists and atheistic satanists.

What is satanism, then? Well, who better to consult than satan himself? Should he not get to define his own “ism”? What does he preach?

And where better to find the answers than the Bible?

There are two times in Scripture where satan interacts with a human being. In both instances, satan preaches the same message.

In his temptations of Eve and Jesus, satan is a salesman. He offers things. He entices. He pitches things he believes the recipient would want, things most of us would think are good.

To Jesus, he offered relief from hunger, safety from harm, and authority over the kingdoms of the world.

To Eve, he offered life: “You will not surely die.” And he offered equality with God: “You will be like God.”

That’s what satan preached. That, therefore, is satanism.

True satanism teaches not the worship of satan, but the satisfaction and exaltation of self.

True satanism tells us what we should desire, and offers fulfillment of those desires.

True satanism is about pride, ambition and possession. It’s the opposite of the self-denial Jesus calls us to.

There aren’t many self-labeled satanists. But true satanism, that which fits those doctrines, is far more popular. In fact, you will hear it preached in many churches.

  • The teaching that we should have whatever we desire is satanism.
  • The teaching that our words control God is satanism.
  • The teaching that we can have the same power and authority as Christ is satanism.

Prosperity preaching is satanism.

The Word of Faith movement is satanism.

The New Apostolic Reformation is satanism.

Because they preach what he preached.

In Spirit and In Truth

Oh Look A Poisonous Tree – Let’s Eat!

How must God be worshipped?  If we go to the book of John 4:24 we have our answer.  In spirit and in truth. But can we do it with music?  Yes!  May we do it with the way we live?  Yes!  How about how we speak?  Sure thing.  There are only two recognizable parameters and one of them is truth.

When most of us think of worship, we think of songs sung to God.  Yet for most of us, thinking hasn’t had that much to do with it.  The worship team leads the way and off we go.  Why get uptight when everyone is having a good time?   

“Worship with loud guitars.  Praise with thunderous amplification.  Deafen the heathens.  Let the drums rattle the enemy.  Let thy guitar solo be heard over the whole earth”.  1 Opinions 23:7 (Amplified Version) ~  Ken De Vries  

That’s surely good enough for Sunday mornings, but is it what God requires?    If the beat is strong, if the sound is amplified, if the light show is rocking it, do we really need truth?  Tragically, the answer coming from most American churches is “no”.

Music bypasses all of the intellectual barriers.  Don’t think, just sing.  Truth be damned.

“Johnson’s statement undermines one of the most common defenses made by pastors and worship leaders who allow Bethel Music to be used in their churches.  They say they are fine using the music from NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) churches (even though they may disagree with those churches’ theology) as long as the lyrics are sound.  In other words, they believe the source of the music doesn’t matter.  They point out that no church or songwriter has perfect theology (which is true, but there is a big difference between expecting a church to have perfect theology vs. expecting them to not promote harmful and dangerous teachings).  Ironically, those same pastors would probably never allow their churches to use music from a controversial church like Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.  They (rightfully) would not want to look like they are promoting the hateful rhetoric spouted by that church.  So, though they say the source of a song doesn’t matter, it’s doubtful that they truly believe that.”  -Counterfeit Kingdom

Does the source matter?  The Bible says it does.  “You will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ~Matthew 7: 16-18

 

Bethel Church is a tree full of poison but it has great music if you count high emotions and 249 million Spotify downloads as a qualifier of greatness.  I don’t, which doesn’t matter, but neither does God and that should matter a great deal.  I say ‘should’ because it doesn’t, not to the vast majority of churches in America, including mine.

A cookbook written by Jeffrey Dahmer may have 1 good recipe in it, but I wouldn’t know because I wouldn’t read the book after realizing the source. ~Dan Mullin

A tad graphic but I couldn’t resist.  This was a comment on a previous post I made and the point is stark.  Why are we internalizing death-dealing doctrine?

“Music is a means of worship.  Music reinforces beliefs.  And music prepares us for action.  Lyrics, rhythm and beat all contribute to the effect that music has in our lives.  Heartfelt song expresses our outlook on life, the things we believe, our expectations and emotions.  Music inclines us to be receptive or unreceptive to certain messages.  Our experience of God is conditioned by the songs we sing.” -Counterfeit Kingdom

 

I’m begging you, let our worship be worthy of the God we serve.