Mixing The Sacred & The Profane: Gospel vs Secular Culture...Music

Music is a BIG deal in the church. It plays a big role in what one preacher calls "Worship Wars". I have heard it taught throughout the years that Lucifer was the musician of Heaven before he fell. But when he fell, G-d never took away his gifts. And therefore, he plays a big part in the atmospheric world of music in general. I've also heard it told that He [satan] is jealous of musicians, which is the reason why there are so many perverted musicians--because he seeks to destroy them and mankind through them. Whatever the case, it's widely believed, in the Christian circle, that music is the biggest gateway for satan to creep into the church.

Evangelist G Craig Lewis, founder of ExMinistries--a radical ministry dedicated to exposing the devil's hidden tactics, spent years researching the roots of New Age music (claiming that he was divinely lead by G-d to do so), including Rock-N-Roll, and especially Hip-Hop. Rap, he points out, is not the same as Hip Hop. Hip Hop is a culture and a religion in and of itself. There is now a movement called "Holy Hip Hop", which is supposed to be a sanctified version of the hip hop genre--portraying the same culture with a different message. Lewis has done a very popular and boldly controversial teaching series called The Truth About Hip Hop, where he exposes his findings on the subject of Hip Hop music and its infiltration into gospel music and the body of Christ as a whole. If I'm not mistaken, I've heard that he has even had services where members of the congregation would come to the altar and burn their hip hop and crossover (gospel/secular) albums. He has several lawsuits against him from different artists and ministers. His sermons are very interesting though, and if you sit through one of his sermons in entirey, whether you agree with him or not, you will come away with something to think about, because it's obvious that he has done some homework. But what do you think about Christian rap and hip hop? And how do you feel about the church using "worldy" music and remixing it into christian music in order to "reach" a certain audience? Do you think it's right or wrong? Good or evil?

Here is a clip of one of the several sermons G Craig has taught on the issue (You can see similar video excerpts in the right-hand bracket) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMGhLjlzI58

Here is another preacher, Bishop Iona Locke, preaching on the same subject in a sermon titled Praise Ye The Lord
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kheI1tWYQA8 clips 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JunNS...eature=related clip 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLgn3...eature=related clip 3