THE LORDS OF LAODICEA
by
Stephen T. Nieman

Chapter 7

At the heart of the debate concerning the use of rock music styles to promote the Gospel message is an acquired practice of utilizing appeals within a culture as a format for the presentation of the Gospel. The premise is that if you can find a known thesis with which to present the confrontational truths of the Scriptures, you can capitalize upon the acceptability of the cultural assumption in your Gospel presentation. If one can find truths which parallel Biblical truth, the premise is workable. Yet the Elitist consistently utilizes cultural norms which are antithetical to Scriptural truth to build a theological postulation. They use fleshly appeals and covetous practices within a culture as a premise for the gospel. It is upon this very structure of syncretism that the architects of CCM attempt to build.

The covert activity of the theological elitist is nowhere surpassed than in applying so-called "Christian" lyrics to the musical genre of rock-and-roll. We have noted that in the secular and separated Christian realm we have corroborative evidence that rock music is a unique style which emphasizes rhythms and beats which have an appeal to the fleshly lust of the hearer. There appears to only be one discernible group which voices a differing opinion--the "lords of relativism." Theological relativism is that seduction of the soul which insists that there is no higher ideal than the fluctuating consensus of the majority. Even the Scriptures, though not in word but rather in deed, are subjected to societal norms.

As with many myths in our culture, the myth of relativism has strong proponents. However, contrary to the tolerance purportedly promoted by relativism, those proponents will not permit free dialogue on the issues. This sort of relativism--the dispelling of so-called prejudices of the past, those absolutes which were at the same time the embodiment and the embryo of all evil prejudices without rational investigation the beliefs of those who would engage in dialogue and point to something as elementary as tradition. The practice of relativism, then, produces the opposite of its preaching.²⁴

It is therefore the impulse of relativism to be intolerant, if not in rhetoric, most certainly in practice, of moral absolutes. These attitudes of relativism are really a product of a world view which accepts the Hegelian view of history and interpolates this view into theology. It is a view which sees truth as a constant synthesis of opposing forces to form a new synthetic truth. In theological practice what is accepted is that God's perfect standard is the thesis and Satan's world system is antithesis. The elitist would attempt to amalgamate the thesis with the antithesis to form a new truth which is workable and acceptable within a society. Do the Scriptures have anything to say about the fluctuating truths of Hegelian dialectism? Indeed!

Jesus, during his earthly ministry here on earth, exposed relativism as incapable of developing a new synthetic truth, but rather relativism is dialectic to the truth.

The "lords of relativity" would posit a supposition entirely foreign to historical musicology, and unknown among current secular musicologists. The elitist, ironically a product of Biblical higher criticism, is symbolically prostrated before himself as he self determines that musical styles are rendered malleable by their lyrical content. Their attempt to create a synthetic truth based upon cultural norms should be recognized as servile to the thesis of evil in that society.