These are the issues concerning the music that is coming out of Bethel church, IHOP, Passion, and many other contemporary groups of young people today:
Is the music soulish, and it is it 100% doctrinally correct? You do not have to even be very discerning to answer these questions. But I would like to pose a couple other questions to the ones that are critical of these young people that are participating in this music. Are they truly saved? Are they following Jesus? Do they believe the teachings of the bible? Are they being used by God to spread the fire to other young people? From my personal experience with many of these young people, having been in church services with them, prayed with them, and had fellowship with them, I would dare to say that most of them have a greater love passion, and committment to Jesus than most of their critics.
I would urge you to do some research on what took place in the "Jesus Movement" which occured in the late 60's and 70's in which I was a part of, and which was a true move of God, in which multitudes of young people that were in the "Woodstock Generation" gave up their drugs and immoral living and were radically saved, and many of them are preachers and ministers in churches today. The one thing that didn't change to a great degree was their music, only the words changed.
"There has been a long legacy of Christian music connected to the Jesus movement. Jesus music, also known as gospel beat music in the UK, primarily began when some hippie and street musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s converted to Christianity. They continued to play the same style of music they had played previously but began to write lyrics with a Christian message."
I would encourage you to read the article in Wikepedia concerning the "Jesus Movement". Here is a quote from it.
"Jesus music primarily began in population centers of the United States where the Jesus movement was gaining momentum—Southern California (especially Costa Mesa and Hollywood), San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago—around 1969–70. Large numbers of hippies and street musicians began converting to born-again Christianity. A number of these conversions, especially in southern California, was due largely to the outreach of Lonnie Frisbee and Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. In the aftermath of such conversions, these musicians continued playing the same styles of music that they had been playing prior to their conversion, though they now infused their lyrics with a Christian message. Most of these early bands gigged whenever asked, usually for whatever money could be collected at the passing of a hat or basket. This was known as a love offering. Few, if any, made a living from playing in the years 1970–73, nor did they expect to. Most viewed their music as a means of sharing their newfound faith and encouraging listeners to commit their lives to Jesus, no matter the sacrifice.[citation needed] Of the many bands and artists that came out of this time-period, some became leaders within the Jesus movement. Most notably among them Larry Norman, Barry McGuire, Love Song, Second Chapter of Acts, Randy Stonehill, Randy Matthews, and during the mid-1970s, Keith Green."What a Day" by Phil Keaggy.
Much of the music[3] was a blend of folk music and folk rock (Children of the Day, Paul Clark, John Fischer, Nancy Honeytree, Mark Heard, Noel Paul Stookey), soft rock (Chuck Girard, Tom Howard, Phil Keaggy, Mustard Seed Faith, Salvation Air Force, Pat Terry), R&B (Andraé Crouch (and the Disciples)), soul music/jazz fusion (Sweet Comfort Band), country rock (Bethlehem, Daniel Amos, Gentle Faith, The Talbot Brothers - John Michael and Terry Talbot, The Way), and hard rock (Agape, All Saved Freak Band, Petra, Resurrection Band, Servant).
Initially, the music tended to be relatively simple, as it drew largely on guitar-based folk and folk-rock influences. The message also seemed to be relatively simple, as the songwriters attempted to present the value of a Christ-centered spiritual experience without evoking the vocabulary or other trappings of ecclesiastical religion. Rather than quoting religious cliches or King James Bible verses, they used storytelling, allegory, imagery, and complex metaphors, often with a colloquial language that flustered conservatives.
In addition to the basic message of salvation, the lyrics often reflected the expectation of the imminent Second Coming of Christ prominent in evangelical circles at the time, reflected and heightened by the publication of The Late, Great Planet Earth. Larry Norman voiced this in his song "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," singing "There's no time to change your mind/The Son has come and you've been left behind."
Despite the message, the music was described by many as worldly at best or as "the Devil's music" in the worst case. This latter position was held by conservatives such as Bill Gothard as taught in his Basic Youth Conflicts Seminars. These were some of the main factors that caused many U.S. churches to largely reject the movement and these artists at the time. This suited many artists as they wanted to bring Jesus to non-Christians, not only to church youth. Larry Norman addressed this culture clash in his 1972 song, "Why Should The Devil Have All the Good Music?
So once again we are confronted with music that is being played and listened to mostly by the younger generation that the modern day church has not been able to reach. Many of these young people have come out of denominational Christianity, and they know who the true Christians are, and they can discern anyone that has a relgious, critical spirit, and if you come at them from this mindset, then you will loose them.
I would venture to say this, that the majority of these young people do have a love for the truth, and when they know that you have acknowledged that God is in their life, and speak the truth in love to them, they will gladly embrace what you are telling them and will reject that which is false.
So I would say this to those of you that would criticize "Jesus Culture" and IHOP and other groups of young Christians that are involved in music that you would consider soulish or even not 100% biblically correct, please don't be a wet blaket to them and put out the true fire that they have. Thank God that they are not doing drugs anymore, and are no longer living in immorality. They need the older more mature Christians to walk along side of them, encourage them, and to disciple them.
Mike
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Mike
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