Is "If Something Is True" the Only Criteria for Using Hillsong and Bethel Music? Critique of a John MacArthur Answer

Like many others, I have a cell phone and when I pull up youtube, it feeds me what I might want to see and it showed me the above video, so I watched (by the way, three days after I published this, the original video was taken down, so I put this up in its place, because it is still at youtube).  I must comment.  To deal with it in a proper manner, here is a transcript, so you can look at it for reference.  I shared the video so you'll see that it happened and can also hear the intonation in the question and answer.

DARRIUS:  Hello, my name is Darrius, and my question is, “Should we listen to songs that have like good Christian lyrics but are ran by false Christians, maybe such as Hillsong or Bethel or those kinds of stuff?”

JOHN: I mean, the bottom line would be that if something is true, then it’s true. You can appreciate the truth of a song if it’s true. There are a lot of songs written by real Christians that are bad theology, really bad theology. There are some songs written by non-Christians that are good theology. But I do think it’s important not to get sucked into those movements. Hillsong is an aberrant movement with really aberrant theology. Bethel is the same, or worse. But it doesn’t mean that there isn’t now and then something they produce that is true and you can sing it as true. So just be discerning. But they are powerful movements, both of them – Bethel because of the Jesus culture music group, Hillsong because of Hillsong music. If they didn’t have that music, they wouldn’t have a movement, either of them probably. But the theology of both, particularly Bethel, is taking the Holy Spirit’s name in vain constantly, constantly. So you don’t want to be a part of that movement. But again, a clock that doesn’t run is right twice a day. So every once in a while people will come across the truth. Okay?

John MacArthur most often gives good answers to questions.  I remember in recent days in answer to a question MacArthur criticized Drew Brees, the quarterback of the New Orleans Saints, because he didn't have a spine or wouldn't "man-up" in apologizing for his national anthem stand.  MacArthur himself is weak in answer to these types of questions.  I wish he would "man-up" and give a strong answer to this question.  He equivocates and vacillates on something that is very important, related to the worship of God.

The right answer would be this:

No, Darrius, Hillsong and Bethel are false worship, and no one should listen to what they produce.  They not only do not please God, but they offend God.  It's not right to offend God.  No one should listen to what offends God or give any support to it.  He should separate from it.  Even if you were to find a few true statements in their songs, they are a counterfeit, attempting to look like the real thing, when they are false.  They are strange fire and we should separate from strange fire.  God isn't pleased.  They require separation not only to please God, but also for the sake of others.  The association, like associating with the idol worship in Corinth, has much more severe ramifications for yourself, but also for others.  We need to take a public stand against them, but we also can easily be deceived ourselves.

Furthermore, Darrius, we don't just judge the music by the words or the lyrics.  The medium itself is corrupt.  It's like worshiping the true God in the high places.  The form is wrong.  It changes the meaning.  It corrupts the meaning.  We understand God not just by what is true, but also what is good and beautiful.  We worship God in the beauty of his holiness.  Their music is sensual, fleshly, carnal, and worldly.  Paul commanded in Romans 13 not to make provision for the flesh.  Their music attracts or allures so many because of its fleshliness.  God isn't worshiped by fleshliness.  1 Peter 2 commands, abstain from fleshly lust.  Titus 2 says deny worldly lust.  You can't obey those verses, obey God, and listen to Hillsong and Bethel.

I've said before Darrius, that the Hillsong and Bethel movements wouldn't have anyone without the music.  What do you think that means?  It's not because they have true lyrics, but because the music itself is deceiving.  It is like the allure of the apostate teachers of 2 Peter 2.  They use the music to lure you in and it makes merchandise of its hearers.  The music is the vomit that the dog returns to.  God does not receive worship that accords with the spirit of this age.  That is not acceptable unto Him, and it also gives people a false imagination about God, an idol in the mind.  There may be true words, but the meaning of those words is shaped according to the lust.  This is how apostasy takes places and scripture says, come out from among them and be separate.  That's what we need to do Darrius.

If the Hillsong and Bethel music is strange fire, which is what MacArthur has said, why doesn't he say something like what I wrote?  Why?  MacArthur is wrong in his answer.  It is a dangerous answer, much like when MacArthur answered on another occasion that it was fine for a saved person to date an unsaved person, not marry, but to date that person.  He is compromising.  He is being pragmatic.  He doesn't want to offend those young people, lose them.  As a result of what he said, they'll still be listening to Hillsong and Bethel.  These young people will not have the same God in their imagination as the God of the Bible, even if they listen to only the "true" lyrics of the songs.

The bottom line really isn't, are the lyrics true?  The bottom line is, is the apparent worship pleasing to God?  Is God pleased by the music, both lyrics and music?  The music is not meaningless.  The music is not amoral.  MacArthur knows this, but he has not stood on this through the years, because he takes a reckless position in his application of scripture.  He will comment on cultural issues, even though they are not given clear or plain statements in scripture.  We must acknowledge that we can understand truth in the real world.  We know what a corrupt word is.  We know what the attire of a harlot is.  We know that it is wrong to gamble, to smoke crack pipes, to hip thrust in our worship, and to abort babies in the womb, because we apply a second term, a minor premise, in our application.  God expects this.  This comes out of the truth of natural law or self-evident truth.  We know if our children are giving us a rebellious look.  It doesn't have to be defined by a verse.  We know when a woman is flirting with a man, even if the Bible doesn't explain this.

MacArthur says things that are true, but he does not explain them, perhaps to try to scare the young man away from Bethel and Hillsong without giving a real answer.  He says, these movements are "powerful."  Really?  How?  What is the power?  It's not the power of the lyrics, except that they are so simple and so emotional that they are attractive to non-thinking people.  The power is in the music, the meewwwzic, Dr. MacArthur.  The music sucks people in because it is addictive, it is drug-like, it titillates the flesh.  Say that.  But no, can't say that because it would empty out a big chunk of the group.  What about the casual, ratty clothes, the stage, the lights, the dancing, the waving arms?  Can we not judge this?  Nope, not in MacArthur's world.

He also says that Hillsong and Bethel "blaspheme the Holy Spirit."  That's a strong statement.  How do they blaspheme the Holy Spirit?  How?  Isn't it because the Holy Spirit is Holy?  The music isn't Holy.  It brings down the Holy Spirit to something common and profane.  It isn't sacred.  Is anything sacred anymore?  Almost nothing is to evangelicals.  They have scorched the earth so that nothing is holy.  We as leaders are required to differentiate between the holy and profane.  Do that.  Please.  I beg you.

MacArthur's vacillation on these sorts of issues will result in the apostasy of his church and others very quickly after he is gone.  He has left his people with nothing to equip them to deal with what Satan and the world system are doing in the world.  He talks about being discerning.  In other words, sort through Bethel and Hillsong and pull out what is good.  Nothing is good there.  He's not being discerning himself.  He's not applying scripture himself.

Grace Community supporters should take seriously what I'm writing.  Don't set up straw man arguments, like you often do to these types of criticisms.  Don't approach this issue with, Brandenburg is a flame thrower, he's not with the doctrines of grace, or he is KJV only.  Those are red herrings.  They are also not giving an accurate representation of me.  Doing that will not stop the slide that will occur with you and your people in the future, because you will not stand for pure worship of God and give biblical instruction on these cultural issues.