There Is Nothing Wrong With CCM If…
(8/25/2005)

Many people (especially those in the CCM industry) appear to be bewildered with my call for repentance within Contemporary Christian Music. They see my writings as rants born of a mean-spirited and judgmental heart instead of pleadings born of painful introspection and seeking after God through His Word and on my knees.

Many honestly don’t understand what could be wrong with a bunch of people trying to sing about Jesus to non-Christians in ways that appeal to them and won’t offend them. If it gets them to thinking about spiritual things and lets them know that Christians are people with feelings just like them then that’s a good thing, right? After all, some people are even making decisions for Christ at the concerts and many write later telling how the music has changed their lives. And surely God wouldn’t allow such phenomenal success in His name if it wasn’t something that He approved of, would He?

Well, maybe they’re right. Maybe there IS nothing wrong with CCM if…

  • If Jesus sought to entertain in order to bring more people to Himself
  • If entertainment is the same thing as ministry
  • If what’s good for your musical career is good to God
  • If God’s approval is directly proportional to the number of CDs you’ve sold and / or the number of people who have made “decisions for Christ” at your concerts
  • If promoting ourselves and seeking the applause of the world is the same thing as bringing glory to God
  • If promoting love, tolerance, and other “Christian values” is the same thing as building the Kingdom of God
  • If becoming part of religious Christian culture is the same thing as becoming a disciple of Christ
  • If only a few people are called to preach the Gospel
  • If talking about ourselves and our feelings is sharing the Gospel
  • If the Gospel consists of only God’s love and forgiveness
  • If an understanding of God’s view of sin, His impending judgment, the requirement of repentance for forgiveness of sins, and denial of self aren’t essential elements of the Gospel
  • If any “decision for Christ” results in being born again regardless of what they actually decided
  • If people can be “saved” without repenting of their sins
  • If partnering with unbelievers to “promote the Gospel” who are simultaneously promoting sin is well pleasing to God
  • If unbelievers can love the “ministers of the Gospel” without loving the Gospel
  • If we’re children playing in God’s garden instead of soldiers in a war
  • If God has not called us to holiness
  • If Christ is not a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”
The whole mindset of CCM is due to the “dumbing down” and selective editing of the Gospel which has occurred over the past few decades. We have eliminated anything from our presentation of the Gospel which might be interpreted as negative or offensive (such as God’s view of sin, His impending judgment, the requirement of repentance for forgiveness of sins, and denial of self). We have applied the same mass-marketing concepts to the Gospel that we subject ourselves to through our daily consumption of television commercials. Focus on the positive, find a catchy phrase, generate excitement about “the product,” don’t be critical, close the deal! The result is a whole culture which calls itself Christian and sees absolutely nothing wrong with what’s going on within CCM today. Why should they? It certainly fits the “gospel” that they’ve been brought up on! The only problem is that it bears very little resemblance to the Gospel as it is described in the Bible.

Do you remember what the greatest commandment is (Matthew 22:36-38)? We are to love God above everyone and everything else. That includes our own comfort and the approval and comfort of our fellow man. Once you understand what the Gospel actually consists of, then you find yourself faced with a dilemma. If you start talking about God’s view of sin, His judgment, repentance, and denial of self as well as talking about God’s love and forgiveness then you’re going to start offending people…starting with most of your fellow Christians who will tell you that you’re driving people away from God. Then many unbelievers don’t take kindly to the idea that they’re not good people in God’s eyes and, in fact, if they don’t repent then they will be spending eternity in hell. Not only that, but you will have to deal with your own discomfort because you’ve never considered yourself to be “that” type of person. But if you recall the greatest commandment, then you’ll love God more than your own comfort and more than your concept of what type of person you are. You’ll be more concerned with the integrity of God’s Gospel than with the results you get from the crowd.

I exhort you to consider yourselves and your actions in painful self-honesty under the light of God’s Word. Prayerfully ask Him to allow you to see yourself and your plans for your musical career through His eyes. Hide nothing from yourself and be willing to make whatever changes He may reveal to you. And trust in His grace and mercy to give you the power to obey.

Psalm 139:23,24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

2 Timothy 3:1,2 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant… conceited…

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires…

2 Corinthians 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Galatians 1:6-10 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:1,2 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.