Day: June 24, 2018

The Power of Music: JESUS CULTURE Knows That Power and Uses It For Evil

On By Geri UngureanIn Power of Music24 Comments

I remember the first time I listened to music from Jesus Culture. I had no idea who these people were.  I did know that the feeling which overcame me was not uplifting and I felt sure that God was not being glorified.

In a word – it was creepy.

Anointed music has the opposite effect on those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. We know when we hear pleasing music to our God.

Here is a song that I think is so Anointed. Whenever I hear it, I feel so close to the Lord.  And I believe that He receives this as true worship:

From handlingthewordoftruth.org

A Closer Look at a Modern Day Trojan Horse:  Jesus Culture

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” -2 Corinthians 11:13-15

I wrote yesterday on the New Apostolic Reformation and its explosive growth over the past twenty or so years. Today I want to take a closer look at one of the main reasons why their movement has become so influential. The NAR’s success and rapid expansion can be largely attributed to a group by the name of Jesus Culture. Jesus Culture is a Christian revivalist outreach ministry initially formed out of the youth group at Bethel Church in Redding, Ca. in 1999. The group was formed under the direct leadership of a man by the name of Banning Liebscher, and was led by the band’s front woman Kim Walker-Smith who is still with the band today.

Since their debut in 1999, the band has moved to Sacramento to plant a church, become one of the most well known and most listened to Christian artists in the world, they sell out concerts quickly at venues with tens of thousands of seats, they have a massive social media following, the videos that they produce go viral, and they are believed to have somewhere in the ballpark of 25 different projects on their record label. The point being is that Jesus Culture is not just a small non-influential band peddling a few gospel CD’s. This group has dominated the music industry, competing on billboard charts with artists as big as Taylor Swift. This is important to note because this group is not only in the game just for the love of music, or a sincere desire to worship, but also to promote a theological standpoint.

The band exists to share their message and to spread worship, by their own definition. An exert from their own website describes their mission as this:

“Jesus Culture is a global movement, awakening hearts to worship and demonstrate the love and power of God wherever we go. We are passionate to see campuses, cities and nations transformed and we have a mandate: to raise, equip, and mobilize those who were coming to fulfill the call of God on their lives. We do this through the ministry of conferences, events, worship, campus ministries, curriculum’s, resources and now a local church. Jesus Culture is continuing to grow in bringing young people into encounters with Jesus and equipping them to minister His heart to a broken world.”

I have had people tell me before that its not a big deal to use their music in church, there is nothing wrong with some of their songs, as long as my heart is sincere it doesn’t matter if the lyrics are completely accurate or not. For one, that is a shallow view of God, and a superficial understanding of what worship truly is. Secondly, the issue isn’t only whether some of the songs are passable in church without raising eyebrows. The issue is what are you bringing before a holy God in worship first and foremost, and also what kind of teaching are you exposing your congregation to?

Jesus Culture is very much intent on teaching their theology though the music they produce as well as through the preaching they do at concerts and events. So what message are they spreading exactly? This is a clip of Kim Walker-Smith, the band’s front woman, preaching about her alleged face to face encounter with God at a Jesus Culture concert in 2011.

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”  -John 1:18

Let me put it bluntly, she’s lying. If she had truly seen God she would be dead. Her complete lack of reverence for God is abundantly clear throughout the entirety of her rambling. We wonder why the youth in this nation, and honestly many of the adults who should be able to discern and evaluate what is being taught, have an overwhelming attitude of complacency when it comes to having respect, a deep reverence, and a strong devotion to our God and Father and His written word of truth. According to Kim Walker-Smith, God revolves around us and how we feel. We have an issue in much of the Church today because we are allowing ourselves and our congregations be indoctrinated with this filth and we are doing nothing to confront it. We actually encourage it by bringing this into our churches. Much of the professing Church is going right along with this and saying bless God I am a Christian because I am just like everyone else in our culture who call themselves Christians. Carnal, emotions driven, and unconcerned with Biblical truth.

To keep things in perspective as to just how off the rails Jesus Culture is, this is a poster for an upcoming conference in September. Jesus Culture will be sharing the stage with Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Lou Engle, and Todd White to name a few. These are some of the most blatantly heretical false teachers alive right now.

In response to a question during a Q & A panel of whether or not a parent should be concerned with their child listening to Jesus Culture, John MacArthur gave this response:

“Absolutely you should be concerned. It’s the old clock that doesn’t run is right twice a day. If they never do anything that is acceptable then you aren’t going to buy into what isn’t. That has nothing to do with Christianity [Their music in concert], that has nothing to do with God. In fact I’d be afraid to put my mind in neutral and start yelling out loud with that kind of sensual music fill me up, fill me up, fill me up, [referencing a specific song played in concert by Jesus Culture] among a group of non believers who would go from normal non believers living in the kingdom of darkness to being demon possessed. I think your inviting a spirit for sure, but it isn’t the Spirit of God.

It has nothing to do with Christianity, again, this is paganism. This is the Kundalini cult that you can look on YouTube and see. This is paganism, this is what the Hindu’s do. The mindlessness of it. I think if you accept any of it, if you say well there is some good in it, you literally have left your young people open to I think, demon powers. I would run from this so fast.”… “I would even say that evangelical non-charismatic churches are using music that is unacceptable to draw people in.

They are using the music of the world to suck people in as if somehow people would get saved because the music of the world is attracting them. There is a big jump between being attracted to the music of the world and being regenerated by the Holy Spirit and the two have no connection. So this is so close to what is in a normal evangelical environment, this is so close to what people see in non-charismatic quote on quote evangelical churches, that it is a very small step to getting sucked in because the style is the same. But the theology present in it is un-biblical.”

Jesus Culture is good at what they do which is why they are able to come into the Church unnoticed and unchecked bringing songs with New Apostolic Theology woven into them. No one bothers to stay alert and be on guard against false doctrine, we have been wooed into a state of complacency and have a lack of concern for evaluating what we hear against what Scripture teaches. The American Church as a whole has become so worldly that we no longer stand out in contrast to our culture. We have completely disregarded Scripture’s command in 1 John 2:15 not love the world or the things in the world, and we have placed emotional experience, entertainment, and social prestige on a higher level than the theological accuracy of worship. – source

When we had a sound church to attend, I sang with the choir and also did many solos.  I loved to sing the music of Twila Paris. I always felt that her songs were uplifting to the body of Christ, and were so worshipful.  I felt that God received those songs as a fragrant aroma – much as He receives the prayers of the saints.

What music are you listening to?  Do you find yourself caught up in music that is secular, because it brings back memories?  I am not condemning all music that is not about our Lord.  I am just telling the reader that it can become a slippery slope – you will be drawn to listen to the secular music more than music to our Lord Jesus.

This is probably why I have always loved the old Hymns.  Most of them are so grounded in the Word of God. And most of them could be used to write a sermon; have you ever noticed that?

Brethren, be careful which music you listen to.  It IS important.

Jesus Culture just takes the NAR churches false doctrines and sets them to music. Also, the repetitious Jesus Culture songs reminds me of the chants of Hinduism – over and over and over again.

Did you know that Lucifer was the leader of the choir of heaven?  He had instruments built into him.  Is it any wonder that music has such a dramatic effect on us?

Shalom b’Yeshua

MARANATHA!

 

ENFORCING IMMORALITY: Canadian Christian Law School Denied Accreditation Because of Belief in Traditional Marriage

On By Geri UngureanIn Sodom & Gomorrah Syndrome5 Comments

I call this the Sodom and Gomorrah Syndrome.

We know that we are in the end of the end days.  But take heart, brethren. As I’ve heard many Bible Prophecy teachers and watchers say:

Things are not falling apart – they are falling into place.

If the Democrats do well in the midterms (they’ve had a lot of time to rig the ballot boxes and add deceased people to voting registrars) and if (God forbid it) they get back into the White House, then what we are seeing happening in Trudeau’s Canada – will undoubtedly happen here.

I read recently that there are at least 3.5 million more names registered to vote than there are people over the age of 18. The National Review calls these people GHOST VOTERS  –source

From thenewamerican.com

The Supreme Court in Canada has ruled that a Canadian evangelical Christian university can be denied accreditation for its law school simply because it supports traditional marriage, CBC reports.

In two separate 7-2 rulings, the Supreme Court found that the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario can indeed deny accreditation to Trinity Western University because of the university’s community covenant that included a code of conduct that champions abstinence and heterosexual marriage. The court claimed that the covenant creates a barrier that prohibits LGBT students from attending the school.

The school’s mandatory covenant agreement upholds the values and beliefs of the Christian faith, which one would expect from an evangelical Christian school. It reads:

In keeping with biblical and TWU ideals, community members voluntarily abstain from the following actions: communication that is destructive to TWU community life and inter–personal relationships, including gossip, slander, vulgar/obscene language, and prejudice; harassment or any form of verbal or physical intimidation, including hazing; lying, cheating, or other forms of dishonesty including plagiarism; stealing, misusing or destroying property belonging to others; sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman; the use of materials that are degrading, dehumanizing, exploitive, hateful, or gratuitously violent, including, but not limited to pornography; drunkenness, under-age consumption of alcohol, the use or possession of illegal drugs, and the misuse or abuse of substances including prescribed drugs; the use or possession of alcohol on campus, or at any TWU sponsored event, and the use of tobacco on campus or at any TWU sponsored event.

But the Supreme Court found that the law societies were acting well within their powers to decide against accrediting Trinity Western University’s law school and that the public interest of the legal profession has given them the right to promote equality and equal access within the bar to prevent alleged harm to LGBT students, despite the fact that doing so violates religious freedoms.

Law Society of B.C. President Miriam Kresivo agrees with the court’s determination that law societies have a responsibility to “uphold the rights of all persons and to protect the public interest.”

“The court recognized that the Law Society has an overarching interest in protecting equality and human rights,” he claims, “as well as … removing inequitable barriers to the legal profession, in carrying out our duties and ensuing public confidence.”

But others view the decisions as dangerous infringements on religious freedoms.

Andrew Bennett, director of the religious freedom institute at the Christian-based think-tank Cardus, said the rulings could affect other so-called public-interest professions, including medicine, and could be broadened to include other religious schools.

He said the Supreme Court affirmed the notion of an “imagined conflict” between sexual and religious identities. “This is not a question of religious identity, it’s not a question of sexual identity. It’s a question of fundamental freedoms, and also about the freedom to live your faith publicly,” he said.

According to Gerald D. Chipeur, Q.C. of Miller Thomson LLP, the court’s rulings create “significant limitation[s] on the rights of all Canadians to freedom of religion.”

Furthermore, he opined that the rulings have created a system in which “anyone who is making decisions regarding the rights of others” can now “violate the religious freedoms of Canadians.”

Cheryl Milne, executive director of the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights at the University of Toronto, also expressed concerns that the court’s rulings have created a precedent in which quasi-judicial bodies can now make controversial decisions.

“Everything from residential tenancies are impacted,” she said. “People’s lives can be significantly impacted by the decisions made by administrators, whether that’s tribunals that have hearings, or individuals that are reviewing applications for things, or ruling on complaints.”

There are plenty of other law schools that LGBT students could attend that do not subscribe to religious philosophies that may frown upon their lifestyles, but rather than show tolerance to all viewpoints, including those of Christians, the state once again sees it fit to control private institutions and punish them for failing to adhere to the state’s moral standards.

Critics of the court’s rulings note that it underscores Canada’s growing intolerance for diversity. Janet Epp Buckingham, a TWU professor who helped develop the law school proposal, observed, “We feel that this is a loss for diversity in Canada. Canada has traditionally upheld values of diversity for a broad array of religious views. So we’re very disappointed in the way the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled today.” – source

Justin Trudeau is the darling of the Marxist/Leftist Liberals.  He is Canada’s Obama.  His predecessor, Stephen Harper, was a firm Conservative and a true friend to Israel.  I am quite certain that the grimy finger prints of George Soros would most assuredly be found if one peeled back the layers leading up to Trudeau’s election.

But let’s not go there.  My stomach is churning enough as I write this piece.

Brethren, the enemy of our souls is bringing his minions against us from every front.  But we must not fear or become discouraged!

We must continue to pray for those in authority and above all else, we must always remember that God is truly in control.  Even when things look darkest – our God is never surprised.  He is omniscient – all knowing – and that means that He knows every event which will unfold in the coming years.

He has us in His hand.

“Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand”  (Isaiah 41:10).

How Can I Be Saved?

Shalom b’Yeshua

MARANATHA!