WQCK - Music & Theology

"Gentlemen, to be very candid and honest with you [please don't misconstrue these statements as facetious or arrogant]; I was unable to decide whether the music

was "Christian" or not! Who are these people singing about? Jesus? His name is rarely mentioned or even alluded to! For all the listener knows, these folks could

be singing about their mother, girlfriend, pet, or mistress! Much of what I heard was merely silly love[?] songs that do violence and disgrace to the transcendent

nature of this marvelous and wonderful covenant! Jesus is pure and Holy. The Spirit of God is the author of peace, order, and righteousness. The rhythms and

spirit of the music which I heard today on your radio station can only be described as Satanic. It was often oppressive, sin-excusing, sensual, and haunting."

The gospel message is the beginning of all sound doctrine. If the foundation is faulty then there will be grave inconsistencies and errors in the system of truth that it supports. The current gospel message preached in many American evangelical churches is a gutted and watered-down counterfeit of the first century fire-bathed message of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that on the day of Pentecost, "they were pricked in their heart" when they heard Peter's message [Acts 2:37]. This meant that the Word pierced the very core of every listener's being. On that monumental day the innermost motives of the heart were revealed under the thundering power of the gospel message! The Spirit of God used Peter's authoritative Pentecostal sermon to bring exposing conviction upon all those that heard. Unfortunately, today's "gospel" rarely scratches deeper than the surface. Love, mercy, and forgiveness are emphasized while repentance and the necessity of the cross are either overlooked or completely excluded. This produces a feel-good and world-pleasing message that fails to bring men to the Biblical Christ. It has been rightly labeled "easy believism." The "gospel" expressed through the music aired on WQCK is a perfect example of this crossless and bloodless false message.

The trouble is the whole 'Accept Christ' attitude is likely to be wrong. It shows Christ applying to us rather than us to Him. It makes Him stand hat-in-hand awaiting our verdict on Him, instead of our kneeling with troubled hearts awaiting His verdict on us. It may even permit us to accept Christ by an impulse of mind or emotions, painlessly, at no loss to our ego and no inconvenience to our usual way of life [1].....We have simplified so Christianity amounts to this: God is love; Jesus died for you; believe, accept, be jolly, have fun and tell others. And away we go- this is the Christianity of our day. I would not give a plug nickel for the whole business of it. Once in a while God has a poor bleeding sheep that manages to live on that kind of thing and we wonder how."[2] A.W. Tozer

It is amazing to parallel the theology conveyed through the lyrics of the music frequently aired on WQCK and that which the Holy Ghost inspired in God's Word. In the Bible - God is exalted and sin is abased by the salvation that is offered through the pure gospel of Jesus Christ. In the Bible - victory over sin through the Word, the blood, and the cross is always promoted [Rev. 12:11]. In the Bible - Jesus is glorified through the testimony of His overcoming saints. On the other hand, after listening to WQCK I was left with the impression that the Christian experience is one of being dominated by sin. This is a Christ-dishonoring lie [Rom. 6:14]. Hour after hour on WQCK I heard music programming which featured songs glorifying the overwhelming struggles and endless faltering of apparent "Christians" in their sins. The picture painted with the brush of the music and the paint of the lyrics is one of an endless cycle of falling and then forgiveness. There was little or no hope of ultimate freedom communicated, only pardon. Victory is hardly ever sung about, but rather, failure. Sinful men, their guilt, and pain have replaced Jesus Christ and His liberating gospel as the centerpiece of the message. This is not surprising for He is seldom ever mentioned and His Word is rarely, if ever quoted. [3]

"They [hypocrites] insist that sin is inexcusable, yet quite as vehemently insist that no Christian lives without sinning; thus they charge God with excusing the inexcusable and the Christian with deliberate dabbling in that which he could avoid." [4] Richard Taylor

To substantiate the above claims I would like to briefly cite two songs that are regularly aired on WQCK: Show You Love, by Jaci Velasquez, and We Fall Down, by Bob Carlisle. We will examine the lyrics of these two songs and thereby expose the false and misleading theology they communicate. However, even though I offer only two examples it is important for us to understand that these songs represent what is commonly expressed in much of Christian music today. The theology presented in the vast balance of Contemporary Christian Music is faulty, if not extremely detrimental to true Biblical Christianity.

Please forgive me If I come on too strong. I get a little anxious When I talk about God's love. Hold me back now, Stop me if I start to preach, 'Cause I don't want to be the one To push you out of reach. The way to give love Is how you

live love; That is what I'll do. You cannot fight it, You can't deny it. Love will get to you.

[Chorus] Don't wanna get up in your face, Don't wanna put the pressure on, Don't wanna make you run away, Just wanna show you love. Don't wanna beg you to believe, Don't wanna take you for a ride, Don't wanna sell you anything, Just wanna show you love, Show you love; Just wanna show you love. Love, love, love.

I won't convince you With anything I say. But maybe you will see His love In how it is portrayed. An act of kindness,

A loving sacrifice; Simple little things that have The pow'r to change your life. There's no surprises, And no

disguises; Just the blessed truth. No obligations, No complications; Just a gift for you.

Don't wanna get up in your face, Don't wanna put the pressure on, Don't wanna make you run away, Just wanna

show you love. Don't wanna beg you to believe, Don't wanna take you for a ride, Don't wanna sell you anything,

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Love's gonna get you. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Love's gonna get you. The way to give love Is how you live love; That is what I'll do.

You cannot fight it, And you can't deny it. Love will get to you. (Get to you)

[Chorus] Don't wanna get up in your face, Don't wanna put the pressure on, Don't wanna make you run away, Just wanna show you love. Don't wanna beg you to believe, Don't wanna take you for a ride, Don't wanna sell you anything, Just wanna show you love, Show you love, Show you love, Show you love, Show you love.

First of all, there are many unscriptural aspects in the lyrics of this song. The artist brazenly states that she is unwilling to PREACH to the listener. Amazingly, she also implies that preaching would be the cause of pushing someone away from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a reoccurring and common theme throughout the CCM camp - the utter HATRED for an authoritative declaration of God's Word. Rock-and-roll is characterized by REBELLION and this generation has desperately sought to bring this music into God's house. Many in the CCM crowd will "sing" but they refuse to preach because preaching often offends. Incidentally, NO WHERE IN THE N.T. IS MUSIC EVER USED TO EVANGELIZE! The Bible clearly states that God has CHOSEN and ORDAINED "preaching" to communicate the gospel.

1 Cor. 1:18, 21 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God...21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to

Throughout the N.T. the Greek words translated preach means to proclaim, to herald, and to publicly cry out. Jesus Christ Himself COMMANDED that we should, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." This statement by Ms. Velasquez is a direct and bold refusal to do as Jesus commanded in the Great Commission.

"Preaching can have no substitute or rivals; to discount or retire it is to discount and retire God."

Later in the song, Ms. Velasquez gives the listener the impression that there are no "obligations" in the gospel message. Indeed, the impression that the entire song communicates is that there are no conditions one must fulfill in order to receive and experience God's love. This is a lie. Jesus said in Luke 13:3, "I tell you nay, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Repentance, or the turning away from of all sin, is a condition for salvation. This is taught throughout the N.T. Again, Jesus encouraged all to count the cost of discipleship before making a commitment to follow Him [Luke 12:28]. He also said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" [Matt 16:24-25]. We cannot have eternal life unless we are willing to submit ourselves to Jesus to be used for His glory. We cannot continue to do as we please and at the same time confess that Jesus is our Lord. WE CANNOT HAVE THE LIFE OF JESUS UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO LAY DOWN OUR OWN! Many such things did Jesus say regarding the duty of man concerning his response to the gospel. To suggest to anyone that man has no "obligation" in the call to follow Jesus Christ is to literally pervert the gospel. This is to promote another gospel and another Jesus!

"The great miracle of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the Divine nature to forgive and remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. When we have been convicted of sin we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary and nothing less; the love of God is spelt on the cross and nowhere else. The only ground on which God can forgive me is through the Cross of my Lord. There His conscience is satisfied. Beware of a kind and pleasant view of the Fatherhood of God - God is kind and loving that He will forgive us. This sentiment has no place whatever in the new Testament. The only ground on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ; to put forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy." Oswald Chambers

However, aside from the humanistic lyrics is the incredibly sensual manner and spirit in which this song is communicated. The quality and tone of the entire song is saturated with suggestive, provocative, and erotic implications. To assume that the Spirit of God has moved upon Ms. Velasquez to communicate "God's love" in such a manner is to reveal an incredible spiritual blindness. The Holy Ghost is pure, holy, and innocent; He would never inspire such carnality. If anyone could dare believe that this song was inspired by God I would wonder if such a person could discern the difference between a Sunday School class and a whore house. To present the love of God as something fleshly, rebellious, and sensual is a misrepresentation of the person of God and the gospel of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. This constitutes blasphemy.

"We fall down we get up [repeat] - the saints are just the sinners who fall down and get up."

Just the title of this song conveys an incredible unbelief in the delivering power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Turn the pages of time back a generation and the church was singing STANDING ON THE PROMISES, today we're singing WE FALL DOWN! Incredible! Such songs epitomize the sin-excusing theology of the false church at large. The Bible clearly teaches that the object of the gospel is to literally deliver men from ALL their sins. We are instructed to trust Christ to deliver us from all disobedience and rebellion and to have faith in the keeping power of God!

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon [believe] ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Thes. 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.

Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy...

This song also promotes an unbiblical concept which is contrary to the very spirit of true repentance. True repentance is to turn from all sin. It is to confess and to forsake all disobedience and to make covenant with God to abstain, by His grace, from all that the Bible calls sin.

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

Repentance is a condition for regeneration [Luke 13:3-5]. Where there is no repentance there can be no regeneration. True repentance forsakes sin, gains the victory, and resists the very thought of returning to iniquity. However, Mr. Carlisle, in his song We Fall Down, promotes exactly the opposite idea - one in which the saint [Christian] never forsakes sin but in reality sins again and again without apparent remedy. After listening to his song one is left with the impression that we should expect to fall in and out of sin. This represents a false repentance that the Bible describes as worldly...

2 Cor. 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

"A person who is continually and repeatedly repenting for the same sins does not differ from those who have never believed, except

that the unbelievers are not aware that they are sinning. And I don't know which of the two is worse. So the frequent asking of

forgiveness for those things in which we continually transgress is not true repentance. It is merely the semblance of repentance."

"When there is no fear, there is no change of conduct. Where there is no change, there is only a vain 'repentance.' For it lacks the fruit

As one would expect, this produces a sin-excusing theology that can only be described as antinomian...

ANTINO'MIAN - One of a sect who maintain, that, under the gospel dispensation, the law is of no use or obligation; or who hold

This faulty and blasphemous spiritual posture perfectly mirrors the current mind-set of multitudes of religious hypocrites who scoff at Christ's message of deliverance from all sin. We live in an age were antinomianism reigns. Just read the bumper stickers of the professing Christians as they drive by at break-neck speeds - "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." Such demon-inspired theology has spawned a generation that lampoons holiness, chafes under God's demand of a pure life, and arrogantly labels obedience as "legalism." "Everybody sins!" they piously, yet ignorantly, cry. They appear to be unfamiliar with what the Bible says...

Romans 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

2 Tim. 2:19 ...The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 3:6, 9-10 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him...9Whosoever is

born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10In this the children

of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

1 John 5:18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

They exalt sin as if it were more powerful and potent than the blood of Jesus Christ. They say, "NO ONE CAN STOP SINNING! WE WILL ALL FALL AS LONG AS WE LIVE!" Again, they err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children...

Incidentally, the second chapter of the second epistle of Peter describes false teachers and their followers. False teachers and their converts always constitute the "false church." This verse tells us that an attribute of the counterfeit church will be their inability to cease from sin! Considering this Scriptural truth we can logically conclude that the true Church of Jesus Christ are those, who through God's grace, live obedient and holy lives.

Any doctrine that makes provision for sin or seeks to redefine a Scriptural truth is a false doctrine. We Fall Down is a song that promotes teaching which does both - it depicts falling in and out of sin as a normal experience for the born-again believer and it seeks to redefine what the Bible teaches regarding the character of a saint. Nowhere in the Bible does the Holy Ghost even remotely define saints as sinners. In fact the Bible says in...

Galatians 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

What does the Bible say about the saint? It certainly doesn't leave one with the impression that the saints are those who moment by moment and day by day fall in and out of sin.

H Saint: {Greek} hag'-ee-os, Sacred, physically pure, morally blameless, consecrated, and most holy. [7]

Psalm 97:10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Ephes. 5:1-6 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given

himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness,

let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient:

but rather giving of thanks. 5For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Rev. 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Rev. 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

It is songs like We Fall Down that breed and strengthen the popular antinomian gospel that is preached in most evangelical/charismatic churches today. This gospel is another gospel. It is spawned by the father of all lies and careful examination will show his finger-prints are all over this fraudulent message [John 8:44]. Why? Because God has never promoted or excused sin; on the other hand, this is the devil's specialty. Unfortunately, while singing songs like this we've produced a generation of professing Christians who hate holiness. For the genuine believer who is burdened to see God the Father exalted through His chosen people this gut-wrenching scenario is grievous indeed.

Psalm 119:136 Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

"John Wesley [the father of Methodism] defines antinomianism as 'the doctrine that makes void the law through faith.'" [8]

The theology that is presented in Bob Carlisle's song, We Fall Down, is false and devilish. In essence, it teaches that the only difference between the unregenerate world and the believer is one of forgiveness alone, rather than complete deliverance. THIS IS A FALSE DOCTRINE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS MAGNITUDE! Again, we ask ourselves, "Is this what the Scriptures teach?" The Bible defines the difference between the Christian and the worldling is not merely forgiveness alone, but something that can be discerned, detected, and clearly seen - THEIR MORAL BEHAVIOR!

Matthew 7:16-20 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt

tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

John 14:23-24 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine,

1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth...

1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

This analysis may seem cold, calculating, and void of mercy but please do not understand it to be so. We are talking about the GOSPEL and how this current generation is communicating the message and person of Jesus Christ. There can be no room for personal taste, entertainment, or fleshly bias. Are we really preaching the same gospel that the Apostles preached? Jesus is searching for pure vessels who will accurately represent Him in the earth.

[1] Michael L. Brown , How Saved Are We? ( p. 16)

[2] Rut, Rot Or Revival, (p. 172)

[3] See Radio Log for documentation of this fact.

[4] A Right Conception of Sin, (p. 122)

[5] The Pilgrim Road, by David Bercot, (p. 64).

[6] Webster's 1828 Dictionary

[7] Strong's Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (Greek #40)

[8] A Right Conception of Sin, (p. 41)