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| Home > Questions and Answers > Is Contemporary Christian Music Demonic? | Email this article |
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Question: "Sometimes I hear people say that Christian rock music is demonic. What do you think?" Answer: I believe that the Lord wants me to pray every day for Christian recording artist Rebecca St. James 
and her family and her ministry and her future husband. Years ago I asked the Lord if there's anything about her music, or any other Christian music that I enjoy, which might somehow be demonic. I believe that His answer was "no." After praying about this issue, and after studying the arguments that people have made, my personal feeling is that there's nothing demonic about modern Christian music in general. Certainly there might be Christian songs which have questionable lyrics, and there might be Christian recording artists who have questionable views or behaviors, and there are various types of music that some people don't enjoy, but I don't think it's valid to make the generalized statement that "contemporary Christian music is demonic."
The problem is that when humans are involved in anything then there will be times when the "flesh" (or even demons) will have an influence. This is true in every area of ministry, whether it's the teaching ministry, the preaching ministry, the healing ministry, the music ministry, and so on, but it doesn't mean that these areas of ministry are demonic. It simply means that people are flawed. Sometimes we make poor decisions, and sometimes we make bad judgment calls. Sometimes it's because of the sin nature which we've inherited from Adam and Eve, and sometimes it's due to the influence of demons, and sometimes it's simply because we still have some maturing and learning to do. But it would be wrong to condemn an entire area of ministry just because we can find some less-than-perfect examples of Christians in that ministry. On that basis, we would need to condemn every area of ministry! My article called Are Instruments Allowed in Church? examines the issue of whether or not musical instruments are allowed in church for worship. When I did a search on the Internet, I found that many of the arguments against instruments in church are quite calm, rational, reasonable, and well-thought-out. On the other hand, if you do an Internet search about Christian music being demonic, then you'll find that many of the arguments against contemporary Christian music are based heavily on emotion and human logic. Consider that if the Bible says that certain forms of music are forbidden (such as "the rock beat"), then we should be able to calmly offer Scriptural reasons why modern Christian music might be demonic. It's unfortunate that this subject brings out so much anger and accusations and stirring up people's emotions against an area of ministry (as you can easily see if you do an Internet search), because this clouds the issue and affects people's discernment. There are some common arguments which are sometimes made against the modern Christian music ministry, and I have found several websites which give balance to this discussion by demonstrating the flaws in many of these arguments. This is not intended to be an endorsement of everything that these websites say, but they offer some good counter-arguments to the critics of contemporary Christian music:
Conclusion
If you scan through the above websites you'll find some good counter-arguments to many of the negative things that are sometimes said about contemporary Christian music. The music ministry, like every ministry, has sincere, committed, mature Christians in it, and it probably also has less-sincere, less-committed, less-mature Christians in it as well, just like every ministry. It has people who are trying to serve the Lord the best they can, and it probably also has people who have more selfish motives, just like every ministry. Some things in the Christian music ministry glorify the Lord, and some things might not glorify the Lord, just like in every ministry. Certainly there might be Christian songs which have questionable lyrics, and there might be Christian recording artists who have questionable views or behaviors, and there are various types of music that some people don't enjoy, but I don't believe it's valid to make the generalized statement that "contemporary Christian music is demonic." All for Your glory, Lord Jesus! |