We Fall Down. Your Grace is Enough. Here I am to Worship.
These are all songs that Chris Tomlin has written and/or performed. Some of them are very, very good songs. Tomlin is the Texas-based Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) star who was once a staff member at Austin Stone Community Church and is currently the worship leader at Louie Giglio’s Passion City Church in Atlanta. He is, by all accounts, a wonderful performer.
However, Tomlin is headlining a “worship night” sponsored by KLOVE and AiR1, and is partnering in the process with several cultists and non-Christians. His website says the point of the the night is to “bring unity to the church” and is actually part of a larger tour in April and May. Performers include a number of CCM stars. However, several of those CCM stars fail at the middle “C” and do not represent the Biblical church, which Tomlin ostensibly seeks to unify.
Troublesome performers include Matt Maher (a Roman Catholic idolater) and Kim Walker Smith (of Jesus Culture, the musical group belonging to the hyper-charismatic cult of perdition that is Bethel Church in Redding, California).
In our post, Matt Maher is Not Saved; Stop Singing His Music in Church, we explain what the problem is with a Papist leading worship for evangelicals…
It doesn’t matter if Matt Maher says he’s a Christian or makes a “Christian-sounding” profession of faith. He is still a Roman Catholic, who practices idolatry, and is not repentant of it. It doesn’t matter if some of his music sounds okay. It doesn’t matter if he says he believes in Jesus. If he is unrepentant of his sin, he has not been regenerated.
But let’s go out on a limb here, and say that perhaps he is saved, and just hasn’t come to realize yet through sanctification that he’s caught up in a false religion. Sanctification is both immediate and progressive, therefore, it is possible for a Roman Catholic to be saved, and still (temporarily) be in the Roman Catholic Church. It still doesn’t matter. He’s still practicing sin, should be called to repentance, and by no means should he, or his worship music be played in a Bible-believing church. We wouldn’t do that for other unrepentant sinners. Why do we make exceptions for Roman Catholics?
Concerning the dangers of Jesus Culture, this blog writes…
Jesus Culture began in 1999 as a conference, called the Jesus Culture Conference, led by Banning Liebscher, the youth pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. The music at these conferences were led by Kim Walker-Smith and the others who would become known as the Jesus Culture band. While many are aware only of their music, Jesus Culture is more than a band; it “is a movement with the purpose to ignite revival in the nations of the earth!” While Jesus Culture is more than a band, it is their music that has grown in popularity. They even performed at the Louie Giglio’s Passion Conference in January of 2013 at which John Piper was a speaker. Many young Christians are familiar with the music of Jesus Culture, and many churches, Bible camps, and other ministries sing their songs in worship. However, Jesus Culture is not just a band; it is a movement that promotes false teaching and teachers, is built not on the Bible but on the supposed visions and prophecies of its leaders, teaches a false view of physical healing and prosperity, and has a tragically low view of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you are unaware of Bethel Church, here’s a clip of some “gold dust” put through the air vents to convince people God was throwing gold around.
If that’s not enough chicanery for you, here’s another clip – this time of New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle, Heidi Baker, doing her ungodly voodoo at Bethel.
Here’s Justin Peter’s explaining that Bill Johnson, the pastor at Bethel Redding, teaching that Jesus had to be born again (this is a common teaching of Word-Faith heresy):
God hates the worship of the wicked. Jesus commands us to worship in Spirit and Truth (John 4:24). Jesus Culture and Matt Maher are capable of neither, and God despises their worship. Why – other than musical talent – is Chris Tomlin partnering with them in this blasphemy?
