Worship or Entertainment?
Where will your church be five or ten years from now? With the adoption of contemporary worship, many have changed beyond recognition. This is one of the most important issues confronting churches today.
A Musician’s Perspective on Contemporary Christian Music
The music used in contemporary Christianity is a testimony to the decline of reverent worship and intelligent praise in many so-called reformed churches. This article briefly looks at some of the reasons why certain music is inappropriate for the dignified worship of Almighty God. Is it neutral? Can it ever be neutral?
Sacred or Profane Worship? The Third Broken Principle
The third major departure from biblical principles of worship is the modern refusal to accept the great gulf between sacred and profane, so that the entertainment forms of the world are imported into the church for the praise of God. To be profane is to pollute sacred and biblical things with irreverence or disregard.
Rational or Ecstatic Worship? The Second Broken Principle
Ecstatic worship (the opposite to rational worship) takes place when the object of the exercise is to achieve a warm, happy feeling, perhaps great excitement, and even a sense of God’s presence through the earthly, physical aspects of worship such as music and movement.
Spiritual or Aesthetic Worship? The First Broken Principle
Aesthetic worshippers believe that genuine praise needs a ‘physical’ dimension greater than mere unison singing. It assumes that God is an ‘aesthete’ – sitting in the heavens and looking down with appreciation at the skill and beauty that we bring before Him.
The Merger of Calvinism with Worldliness
A new form of Calvinism took the shape of a movement around 2005, but it differed in its acceptance of ‘the world’. ‘New Calvinism’ is not a resurgence of the old but an entirely novel formula which strips the doctrine of holy conduct, and unites it with the world. But the Scriptures say that ‘the friendship of the world is enmity with God.’
The Kind of Praise God Requires (2)
In a further two daytime addresses, Dr Masters reviewed the biblical reason for worship being kept distinctive and apart from worldly-entertainment genres of music (showing the absolute non moral-neutrality of music) and exposed the myths of the modern justification of compromise.
The Surprising Themes of Leviticus
A book of great complexity if approached only for a technical grasp of Mosaic worship, but of ongoing lively application and delight if searched for the spiritual purpose behind each of the ceremonies presented.
An All-Round Ministry
The Scriptures provide comprehensive practical instruction and guidance for the carrying out of all preaching, worship and church activity, and for every instruction there is a divine promise of help and reward. Do we review adequately or often our teaching, or the work of our church?In one evening address Dr Masters presented the ‘departments’ of … Continued
Measuring the Music (3)
There is no doubt that reverence and awe, accompanied by a deep sense of the majesty and holiness of God, are becoming rare in the evangelical world, leading to the demise of convicting power as entertainment genres of music sweep into the churches.
Dr Makujina exposed the many fallacies on which the contemporary worship movement is confidently based, answering the justifications – such as the supposed neutrality of music and harmlessness of rhythmic musical genres – thereby demonstrated the priceless value of generations of godly traditional worship.
Measuring the Music (2)
There is no doubt that reverence and awe, accompanied by a deep sense of the majesty and holiness of God, are becoming rare in the evangelical world, leading to the demise of convicting power as entertainment genres of music sweep into the churches.
Dr Makujina exposed the many fallacies on which the contemporary worship movement is confidently based, answering the justifications – such as the supposed neutrality of music and harmlessness of rhythmic musical genres – thereby demonstrated the priceless value of generations of godly traditional worship.
Measuring the Music (1)
There is no doubt that reverence and awe, accompanied by a deep sense of the majesty and holiness of God, are becoming rare in the evangelical world, leading to the demise of convicting power as entertainment genres of music sweep into the churches.
Dr Makujina exposed the many fallacies on which the contemporary worship movement is confidently based, answering the justifications – such as the supposed neutrality of music and harmlessness of rhythmic musical genres – thereby demonstrated the priceless value of generations of godly traditional worship.
Worship and Witness in the Spirit
The greatest enemy of truth and godliness at the present time is undoubtedly a new syncretism – the capitulation by many evangelicals to sinful worldly culture in worship, witness and personal living.