Contemporary “Worship” Songs

Too many songs pass into worship services which should have been looked at with discernment first.  I have previously examined some of these songs, but because the assembly where I worship chose to include some of these songs today, I think the need is there for an alert.

The songs which were part of our service today were:
Only You Satisfy, by Jami Smith
Close to Thee, by Fanny Crosby
Our Great God, by Fernando Ortega
Revelation Song, by Kari Jobe
All Who Are Thirsty, by Kutless

Let’s look at the lyrics of the first one, which get repeated over and over ad nauseam:

Living water, bread of life
Satisfy us, satisfy us
Living water, bread of life
Satisfy us, satisfy us
(repeat)

Jesus, open up my heart
Jesus, open up my mind
Jesus, open up my life, Jesus
Because only you satisfy

You are the Christ
You are the blood
You are the Holy Spirit living in us
You are the truth
You are the life
You are the bread
Only you satisfy

Aside from the annoying repetition while singing this, do you notice theological problems?  

Is Christ the blood?  Um, no.  He is not the fluid that ran in His veins, nor is He the fluid that runs in our veins. Even in communion we say the wine (or grape juice) represents His blood.

Okay, even worse is the stanza saying that Jesus is “the Holy Spirit living in us.”  Um, no He isn’t.  The Holy Spirit is a separate person, who does indeed indwell us.  If you say Jesus IS the Holy Spirit, then you have the heresy of modalism.

Okay, let’s look at the second song, Close to Thee

Thou my everlasting portion,
More than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Refrain 1:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee;
All along my pilgrim journey,
Savior, let me walk with Thee.

Not for ease or worldly pleasure,
Nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.

Refrain 2:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Gladly will I toil and suffer,
Only let me walk with Thee.

Lead me through the vale of shadows,
Bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.

Refrain 3:
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Then the gate of life eternal
May I enter, Lord, with Thee.

This is an excellent song, and I have yet to find one by Fanny Crosby which has questionable theology.  But, these songs are considered boring to the new generation, so we seem to drop them from our service very often nowadays so as to sing tripe like Only You Satisfy.

Next up is another contemporary song, Our Great God

Eternal God, unchanging
Mysterious and unknown
Your boundless love unfailing
In grace and mercy shown
Bright seraphim in ceaseless flight
Around your glorious throne
Their voices raised both day and night
In praise to you alone

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

Lord, we are weak and frail,
Helpless in the storm
Surround us with your angels
Hold us in your arms
Our cold and ruthless enemy
His pleasure is our harm 

Rise up, oh Lord, and he will flee
Before our Sovereign God

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

Let every creature in the sea
And every flying bird
Let all the mountains, all the fields
And valleys of the earth
Let all the moons and all the stars
Throughout the universe
Sing praises to the Living God
Who rules them by His word

Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God
Hallelujah!
Glory be to our great God!

See, this is a contemporary song by an author who gets it - he understands that what we sing must be consistent with God’s Word.  Keith Getty and Stuart Townend have developed some outstanding hymns and praise songs (some of which I’ve posted) because they also “get it.”

Okay, moving on now to Revelation Song, which also has a lot of repetition while singing it:

Worthy is the, Lamb who was slain
Holy, Holy, is He
Sing a new song, to him who sits on
Heaven's mercy seat
[2X]

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Clothed in rainbows, of living color
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honor, strength and glory and power be
to You the only wise King

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You

Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder
At the mention of your name
Jesus your name is power
Breath, and living water
Such a marvelous mystery
Yeah...

Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was, and is, and is to come, yeah
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of Kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You
[3X]

Is God really “clothed in rainbows, of living color”?  Where do we find that in Scripture?!?  I’m not even sure I understand the context of “Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder” - should there not be some sort of explanation as to what that means?  Then there is “Filled with wonder, awestruck wonder” - who is?  What is?  This is one of the problems with so many of these new songs - they lack a cohesive grammatical structure so that one is left to wonder what they are talking about!  Oh, and since the church assembled is not performing, do we really need to have “yeah” as part of the lyrics?!?

The last one from our list above is All Who Are Thirsty.   The fact that this is from the Vineyard should alert anyone to possible problems, and singing such songs only gives tacit approval of Vineyard to the congregation.  (And if you aren’t familiar with the Vineyard movement, just e-mail me and I’ll fill you in).

All who are thirsty
All who are weak
Come to the fountain
Dip your heart in the stream of life
Let the pain and the sorrow
Be washed away
In the waves of his mercy
As deep cries out to deep (we sing)

Come Lord Jesus come
[repeat 3 times]

Holy Spirit come
[repeat 3 times]

As deep cries out to deep
[repeat 2 times]

This is another one of those songs with lots of repetition so as to work up emotions and get the congregation swinging to and fro before they start speaking in “tongues” or other such emotional nonsense.

So, just how does one “dip” their “heart in the stream of life”?  What is the “stream of life”?  Is this supposed to be Jesus?  And just what does it mean for “deep” to cry out to “deep”?  Why are we asking for the Holy Spirit to “come” when He dwells inside each believer? I can answer that one - all one has to do is look at the false revivals as they yell for the Holy Spirit to come and bring more “fire.”  

Let’s use some discernment in the songs we select for corporate worship!  Ensure the theology is correct first and foremost.  And make sure they are understandable.