A Tennessee worship leader and Christian recording artist Mackenzie Morgan took to Facebook this week to explain why she will no longer be supporting popular worship bands Hillsong Worship, Elevation Worship or Bethel Music, among others. Morgan called attention to the band's church's teachings, calling them "heretical."
Amid widespread divisions in worldviews and morality, it is important to remember that honoring, respecting and loving those with whom we disagree is so important for any meaningful communication to take place. We must remember that even those we disagree with are made in the image of God.
Early Christians had no courts or governments to which they could appeal for the protection of their religious liberties. In fact, they had no such liberties. And yet they “turned the world upside down” and were used by God to spark the most transformative spiritual movement in human history. If we wish to make the impact they made, we must do what they did.
According to the Scriptures, there are five spiritual principles that often spark a spiritual awakening and keep it going. Prayer and fasting ignite the fire, but the following scriptural truths fan the flames:
In a culture where so many are convinced that “their” truth is “the” truth, it takes genuine courage to speak truth that others don’t want to hear. But such courage is part of what it means to follow Jesus in a fallen world.
How can we best navigate the anxieties and stresses of these days? Habakkuk’s testimony is one of my favorite paragraphs in Scripture. It begins by describing dire circumstances: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls” (Habakkuk 3:17). In his day, this would mean the loss of every means of sustenance. But the prophet responded: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (v. 18).
Is it possible to not endorse or agree with Bethel church but still listen to their worship in a corporate setting? I'm not endorsing and promoting Bethel. I have concerns too. I understand that playing a church's music (in a sense) is viewed as promoting them. I get that, but there is a huge difference between direct promotion and indirect promotion because we have to legally acknowledge the source of the songs for licensing reasons.
A new Gallup poll showed a massive 20-year drop in church attendance in America. While some believers are worried about these findings, others see them not as the demise of true faith, but of “cultural Christianity.” And, they add, good riddance to it.
While many evangelicals have been living as though the world would always be what it has been, those advocating for LGBTQ advancement and other progressive agendas have been working systematically and strategically to bring about the changes we are witnessing today. It is time for Christians to respond in kind.
Like Jesus, who confronted the wilderness temptations of Satan by reciting biblical truth (Matthew 4:1-11), we should know God’s word and use its wisdom to defeat our enemy and glorify our Father.
