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Pop-Idiom Music
In Worship and Evangelism
by Dr Peter Masters
Dr Peter Masters is minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London,
England (C.H. Spurgeon's church) and has kindly granted us permission
to reproduce "Pop-Idiom Music" here. If you have any questions
or queries about this article, please feel free to write to Dr Masters
at the address given below, or
contact us at Freedom Ministries.
Section 4
Worldly Methods Produce Worldly Results.
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The Bible teaches that even truly
converted ministers of Christ - who
will themselves enter Heaven in the
last day - may spend their lives proclaiming
the Gospel in the wrong way,
and consequently reap a harvest of
false 'converts'.
Speaking about men who are sound
on foundational or fundamental doctrines,
and who set out to spread the
Gospel Paul says -
Now if any man build upon this
foundation gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every
man's work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it... and the
fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is ... If any man's work shall
be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he
himself shall be saved (1 Corinthians
3.12-15).
The tragedy of building churches
with wood, hay and stubble only to
have one's work come to nothing at the
last day is a serious possibility for all
Christian workers. So the apostle
warns - let every man take heed how
he build.
From the Creation the principle has
been laid down that creatures beget
after their own kind (Genesis 1.24-5),
and it is an evident and disturbing fact
that worldly evangelism has tended to
produce 'pop Christian' converts who
rarely forsake the world. While there
will doubtless be exceptions to this
observation, the operation of a Gospel-pop
style of outreach in a church
usually gives rise to an unintegrated
clique of young people, most of whom
never find a place in the regular worship,
ministry and service of the local
church.
The Lord says - Either make the
tree good, and his fruit good,. or else
make the tree corrupt, and his fruit
corrupt (Matthew 12.33).
Apart from the risk of false converts
or badly scarred true converts, there is
another terrible source of harm which
comes into churches when worldly
methods are adopted. The confidence
tricksters and crooks appear in great
numbers. The atmosphere of the world
always attracts such people, as Bunyan
shows in his picture of Vanity Fair:
Therefore at this fair are all such
merchandise sold as houses, lands,
trades, places, honours, preferments,
titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts,
pleasures; and delights... And moreover
at this fair there is at all times to
be seen jugglings, cheats, games,
plays, fools, apes, knaves and rogues,
and that oral sorts.
Since evangelicals have admitted
carnal Christianity wholesale there has
been a great increase in the number of
opportunists and false pretenders.
Vast numbers of people who parade on
church platforms or make Gospel-pop
records have no credible testimony at
all. One only has to listen to their
'spiritual' conversations to discover
how shallow their statements are.
A few years ago an evangelical
magazine carried the testimony of a
'converted' rock performer. How had
he become a Christian? One day he
was performing on the stage, feeling
lonely, dejected and depressed, when, turning
round, he 'saw' Christ on the
stage behind him, also playing a guitar
and helping him by putting in the
chords which the young man missed!
That was his conversion. From that
moment he was certain that Jesus
would help him in everything he did,
but there was no element of conviction
of sin or repentance in his experience
at all, and his worldly lifestyle went on
unchanged.
Perhaps this young man was just
sadly deluded, but many in his
position are deliberate tricksters. They
make trade out of facile conversion
experiences and get a good living from
Gospel pop. It is all rather obvious that
they are very worldly people in tastes
and behaviour, yet their records are
played constantly on evangelical
broadcasts and in church youth groups
and they are personally present at
numerous evangelical special services
and crusade meetings.
Many Gospel-pop enthusiasts
advance the old argument that we
should identify with and use the current
fashions and interests of society in
order to reach the people. They ask,
'Did not Paul say that he would
become all things to all men in order
that he might save some? [1 Corinthians 9.22].
Surely this means that we
must fit in with what people like to hear
in order to get a hearing for the
Gospel?'
But when Paul wrote these words he
was talking about preaching (as he
says very clearly in the preceding
verses). He said that in his preaching
and witnessing he always tailored his
message to suit the level of understanding
of his hearers. He always
spoke appropriately.
The apostle's words are wrenched
completely out of context when they
are used to justify worldly methods of
evangelism.
The solemn lesson of the last twenty
years is that worldly methods yield
worldly results, and we may be sure
that our enemy, the devil, will give
every encouragement to methods
which will ruin the rising generation in
our churches. Gospel pop enthusiasts
will therefore have no resistance from
Satan.
What is claimed as 'blessing' by
advocates of entertainment-style evangelism
mostly turns out to be short-lived and spurious.
Where there are
true conversions it is due to the mercy
of God, and is but a token of what
would be possible if carnal methods
had not caused God to withhold His
hand.
These articles remain
© Copyright Dr Peter Masters 1983
The Metropolitan Tabernacle
Elephant and Castle
London SE1 6SD
England, UK
who should be consulted before any further copying, storing or distribution, either
in whole or in part is made by any means.
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