Rock Music is one of the most destructive forces to hit our nation in the last fifty years. It has demoralized our culture and seduced and corrupted at least two generations of our youth. The lyrics have become more and more disgusting, and the beat is sensual. All of this is calculated to appeal to the basest side of human emotions. The Devil is using Rock to desensitize, demoralize, debase and destroy. It has taken our culture down a dead-end road, which furnishes no way to return.
We are reproducing for evidence the cover of Newsweek for July 16, 2001. The headlines scream, "Jesus Rocks." Rock is a deadly weapon outside of religion, but its deadliest form has moved into many Churches. There is no such thing as "Christian Rock," because, if it is Rock, it cannot be Christian. The scantily dressed youth pictured on the cover were improperly dressed, and their pose for the picture is disgraceful. The cover then reads, "Christian Entertainment Makes a Joyful Noise." Once again they misrepresent the truth by calling this travesty "Christian Entertainment," because there is no such thing.
Then this issue of Newsweek devotes ten full pages of colored pictures and text promoting this mockery of Jesus Christ. The editors of this magazine should be ashamed of themselves. The whole thing is calculated to disguise that which is sinful and wrong, and try to mix it with Christianity.
More and more churches are slowly laying the groundwork, in order to introduce this form of music. Once sound churches are now bringing in the music of the Charismatics. The meaningless choruses so popular in many churches, creeps into the services often being projected on a screen. The Contemporary Music, inspired by the worldly influence of secular Rock, becomes a popular tool to stir up excitement in the services. Many churches institute two Sunday Morning services. One service will be contemporary with the kind of worship, music, and preaching that will appeal to the brainwashed Rock influenced youth. Then there will be a traditional service with the older hymns and more subdued service, so as to not upset the older set. (After all, the older group is the one that pays the bills.)
Rock music does not come in all of a sudden, but it is introduced slowly in order to not upset the congregation. The influence of background tapes, used by singers has had a strong influence in getting this type of music into churches. Slow change will work, if there is not too many old fashioned Bible believing people who will boldly protest. A lot of this flows into the church through the youth ministry, and sometimes even good people without much discernment are deceived into thinking it is a good thing.
Billy and Franklin Graham have helped to introduce the music of the world into the religious life of America. There was a time when the Graham Crusades featured some of the finest Christian music, but those days are gone. Instead they have brought the Night Club and Bar Room singers to make their crusades a success. Johnny Cash, Ricky Skaggs and a host of others have been imported from the world long enough to entertain for Christ. Then they go back to their same old practices. The world doesn't mind a religion that has all the flavor of the world.
The artists and performers are people that have been greatly influenced by the secular Rock music industry. The sensual beat, the platform posture, and the way of presenting the music all came out of the deadly secular Rock movement.
It is sad, but Christians are following a brand of performance that is modeled after such people as Elvis Presley, Jimmie Hendrix, and Marilyn Manson. Drugs, and alcohol, along with illicit sex, have left a shattered junk yard of human lives destroyed by the rock music industry and its performers. There is no way to bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one" (Job 14:4).
Marilyn Manson is a weird looking, weird acting singer and entertainer. He is among the shock troops of the rock music industry. He insists on wearing a woman's name, but he is out to debauch the youth. The following news item lets you know where he stands.
Manson Curses Bible and Christians. At the Ozzfest rock concert in Denver, June 21, satanist Marilyn Manson cursed the Bible and Christians and claimed that God is a bad influence. Manson held up a Bible and cursed it and led the crowd of 23,000 young people in cursing the Christians who had tried to stop his appearance at the concert. Manson read from the book of Psalms and then asked the crowd, "Now I ask you, who is the worse influence, God or Marilyn Manson?" The rock crowd screamed out, "God!" Friday Church News Notes, July 6, 2001 Many rock stars died young from drugs, alcohol, and tragic accidents. Many of their avid followers have met similar fates, but the damage is so great that it can never be measured.
It is not our purpose to answer all the garbage found in this issue of Newsweek, but read the following quote.
"Are You Ready to Rip the Face off this Place?" Screams the lead singer of Pillar. A hyped-up crowd of teens-6,000 strong-goes nuts. The aggressive rap-rock band launches into a pummeling kick off number, the surly singer pounding the stage with his steel-toed boot, sweating right through his baggy Army fatigues and black bandanna. He gestures like a member of some vicious street gang as he screams and roars into the mike, his arm swinging low as if on the way to the requisite crotch grab. This crude move is as integral to rap-rock as the blown kiss is to a lounge act, and is usually accompanied by a testosteroid explosion of expletives. The singer's hand slaps down hard on his thigh-and stays there. Gripping his pants leg with conviction, he screams, "Jesus Christ!" Pause. "Is he in your heart?"
It's time to wreak havoc and give praise at Festival Con Dios, the first Christian alternative-rock tour. This is the sanctified answer to hedonistic summer blowouts like Lollapalooza and Ozzfest, an extravaganza where amped-up rock and roll meets tamped-down self-control. On the tour, which will span more than 30 U.S. cities throughout the summer and early fall, the ska band the OC Supertones dedicates its music to God while goofing around the stage in giant Afro wigs. Thuggish rapper T-Bone busts gangsta-style rhymes about the Lord. Newsboys, the festival creators and platinum-selling Christian-rock veterans, warn of judgment Day in an upbeat song as their drummer defies gravity on a vertical, rotating riser. And it's all in the name of Jesus. (Newsweek, page 40)
Of course you will not find this example in the church where Rock is being introduced, but this is where it is coming from, and this is where it is going. Rock is all about rebellion, and it is the same in its religious form. Note the following quote comes from page 42, under a picture called Jammin' to Beat the Devil. "Rebellion and Christianity go together ," says lead singer Mark Stuart. "The most rebellious rock-and-roll person you can be is a Christian-rock front man ...." In their own words they reveal that Christian Rock is about rebellion. We had better listen to what God says about rebellion. "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (I Sam. 15:23).
We close this article by taking a quote from The Voice in The Wilderness, (Sept. 2001), as they write about the same article.
Do these kids come on their own? The article points out that most of them come on church buses, and their churches buy tickets in blocks. Maybe before we say too much about the direction our youth are going we need to take a look at the parents and churches and see where the kids are coming from.
Is there any Gospel message there? Maybe this will give you a clue as to what goes on while some sugar-coated message might be going on- "Fans can hear a 10 piece band play, hear an inspirational sermon by a youth pastor and watch motorcycle and bicycle stunts performed off the side of the stage." It would be little, if anything, anybody would get out of a sermon while trying to see all the other stuff going on at the same time I would think.
The article names the OC Supertones and says, "They dedicate their music to God while goofing around the stage in giant Afro wigs." Thuggish rapper T-Bone busts gangsta-style rhymes about the Lord. Newsboys, the festival's creators and platinum-selling Christian-rock veterans, warn of judgment day in an upbeat song as their drummer defies gravity on a vertical, rotating riser, and it's all in the name of Jesus.
There will be 30 of these festivals throughout the big cities of the U.S. this summer. Preachers, parents, I do not glory in printing anything like this but as a minister, a watchman set on a wall to warn about any and all dangers that threaten men's eternal souls, I must be faithful. Do you not see the tremendous challenge we face as we seek to guide our young people in the ways of righteousness? As Newsweek pointed out more than once in this article, the people who sponsor such festivals have one thing in mind, not the salvation of our youth but the filling of the producer's coffers with the almighty dollars. What will they say when they stand before the Great White Throne Judgment of God? What will the preachers and church members say that failed to speak out?
Such festivals are nothing more than the rock concerts of the wicked, Woodstock and others. The only difference is one has no stamp of decency, the other has a religious tone. God help us.
By E. L. Bynum