What is "Christian?" Simply, it is Christlike, as they were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26). But what is meant by "Christian Rock?"
First, you need to understand "rock and roll." I took a course on understanding music history last semester, and I learned a few things. "Rock and Roll" is a term that was first used by disc jockey Alan Freed in 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio.
He began using this term in 1951 to describe fornication in the backseat of a car while pop music was being played, because he thought the action was “exciting and inciting.” The term caught on, and the music mixture of country, jazz, blues, and rhythm that Freed aired became known as “Rock and Roll” music, or “Rock” music. This music has the natural overtone of sensuality and fornication, and is filled with rebellion and indecency. The music teaches all manner of immorality and is described in the vilest of terms.
To explain further why this music is from the pit of hell is to explain why Mt. Everest is tall.
As I sat in class last Tuesday, my teacher, who grew up in a Southern Baptist Church, left God and is an atheist and evolutionist, made the following statement:
“Back when I was a kid in the Baptist church, rock music was evil. It would damn your soul, because it was the devils music. Now, we have churches that embrace ‘Christian’ rock, having evolved their standards to fit in with the modern trends. I asked some kids the other day who went to this type of church why they went. They told me the reason they go to church is for the music! I was sure that they would tell me that they wanted to get closer to God, but no, they went for the music. Doesn’t that seem counter-productive? To compromise to the point that you lose what you started out trying to achieve?”
This comes from an evolutionary atheist, and yet there are claiming “Christians” who defend Christian Rock music!
If Christian means Christlike, and Rock and Roll means backseat fornication, does “Christian Rock” mean Christlike fornication? Do you see the hypocrisy of any saved person who listens to this trash?
Christian Rock and the CCM movement attempts to converge the meaning of the gospel songs with the music styles of the world. This is not possible, because the music that perpetuates betrays the words that are being sung, and the carnal overrides the spiritual.
To be honest, I don’t have a lot of time for people that like to slur the lines between Christian Rock and CCM and pure gospel music using subtlety and borderline music.
Who needs Jars of Clay or Jars of Mud, or whatever they’re called? And why would groups like the Gaither Vocal Band, Steve Green, and others in the southern gospel world slant their music to try to take a middle ground, to jump back and forth over the fence of right and wrong in their music? Whether we believe it or not, these musicians are about money for the most part, and the money is in the modern music, so there you have it! The problem is, the worlds music does not accentuate a Godly spirit, but a carnal one.
What all Christians need to realize is that when the music betrays the message, the sanctity of Godly music is lost, and the flesh will dominate the environment, every time!!
I say we produce a music that lives up to the holiness of the book we preach, the righteousness of the God we serve, and the true worship that our Lord deserves and desires. Then, and only then, will music accomplish its purpose: lifting up and glorifying our God!
