Beware of Michael W. Smith
By Bro. David Cloud
Friday Church News Notes, February 17, 2006 - Fundamental Baptist Information Service - David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143. Send e-mail: fbns@wayoflife.org
Michael W. Smith's Ecumenical, Judge Not Philosophy
In a recent appearance on Larry King Live, Michael W. Smith described his ecumenical, judge not philosophy. He said, I was raised in the Baptist church, but now I'm interdenominational. I'm not a big fan of denominations because I think denominations divide us. I think probably every denomination has a piece of it right. I just wish we could kind of go, let's just kind of unify (Larry King Live, Feb. 10, 2006, transcript). When Larry King asked Smith, What did you make of Kanye West's cover of Rolling Stone wearing the Christ-like crown of thorns? Smith replied: I would say that's stepping over the line. And I don't know him, so I'm not going to make a judgment call. But obviously I would be extremely careful because that's a dangerous place to go. I think it was way out of line. But that's just my opinion. What a pathetic statement. It is blasphemous to identify oneself with the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is God. That type of thing needs to be condemned in no uncertain terms, but CCM artists can't plainly, unconditionally condemn even this because of their judge not philosophy. Michael W. Smith is one of the biggest names in Contemporary Christian Music, and the unscriptural philosophy that he expressed on Larry King Live is the one that permeates this field. CCM is not just music; it is a philosophy of Christianity, and that is why it brings such radical changes to individual lives and churches.
December 31, 2001 - David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143Send e-mail: fbns@wayoflife.org
Michael W. Smith Produced His Worship Album In Laughing Revival Church
Michael W. Smith's Worship album, which was released on September 11, has sold over 500,000 copies to reach gold status. The album was recorded live at the Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida. This is the Pentecostal church where the weird and dangerous laughing revival was born during extended meetings conducted by Rodney Howard-Browne in 1993.
Lakeland is my hometown, and I have known of this church since I was a boy. Formerly named the First Assembly of God, the church purchased the retirement center in the 1980s and built a massive 10,000-seat auditorium. It is on the shores of one of Lakeland's many picturesque lakes. My maternal grandfather was a retired carpenter and he died at the old Carpenter's Home. By the time I was saved in 1973, the center was closed and the buildings were vacant. When I was a new Christian, I moved back home for a year before going off to Bible school. During that year, I often drove to the old Carpenter's Home grounds and had my daily devotions. It was a joy to walk among the lovely oak trees and down by the lake and pray. Sometimes I would sit on an old dock that was still there at that time. This was about 10 years before the Assemblies of God established themselves on the property. When Howard-Browne blew in to Lakeland in 1993, people started falling on the floor and laughing hysterically and staggering around like drunks. (This is why Howard-Browne calls himself the "Holy Ghost Bartender.) A pastor who drove over to the meetings from nearby Tampa fell on the floor laughing when he tried to give a testimony and was still lying there hours later. Within the following year, Howard-Browne was invited back to Lakeland three more times.
In light of the New Testament's continual warnings, this is absolute nonsense. The Bible commands us to "prove all things" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Proverbs 14:15 tells us it is the foolish person who believes every word, whereas the prudent man is very careful. When the Lord Jesus prophesied of conditions prior to His return, three times He warned that extreme caution would be required for protection from spiritual deception (Matthew 24:4,5,11,23,24). Eight times in the New Testament the Christian is solemnly warned to "be sober." This means to be in control of one's self, to be spiritually alert, to be on guard against deception. Why? Because there are great spiritual dangers. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). This one verse alone would keep me away from the Laughing Revival, which demands that I do just the opposite of what the Word of God instructs me to do. The Laughing Revival tells people to stop analyzing, to let go of our minds and mouths, to be open to strange experiences even if they cannot be supported by the Bible, to be incautious about fleshly and demonic deceptions.
IT IS INSTRUCTIVE THAT THE MICHAEL W. SMITH WORSHIP ALBUM WAS RECORDED AT THE MOTHER CHURCH FOR ALL OF THIS UNSCRIPTURAL NONSENSE. The CCW (Contemporary Christian Worship or Contemporary Charismatic Worship) music is sweeping through all denominations of churches, including fundamental Baptist. Yet there is something inherently wrong with a music that is at home in the midst of the most wretched kind of heresy and apostasy and confusion. And that is exactly where Contemporary Christian Worship is at home. That is where it was birthed. It was birthed in the midst of Pentecostal confusion and error. It is content in the midst of the most radical kinds of ecumenical disobedience, such as the yoking together of Roman Catholics and Lutherans and Methodists and Baptists at conventions like New Orleans 1987 and Indianapolis 1990 and St. Louis 2000. I have been an eyewitness to many such conferences in order to report on them for O Timothy magazine, and such meetings represent gross disobedience to the Word of God. At some of those meetings Roman Catholic priests have glorified Mary as the Queen of Heaven and have said that no one can go to heaven except through purgatory. Yet CCW smiles broadly at everything and is comfortable there. CCW is perfectly at home at Laughing Revival meetings where people stagger around like drunks. CCW is completely at ease at the loudest, strangest, worldliest Christian rock concert.
Lord, please give Thy people wisdom in these evil last hours that they might discern truth from error and that they might not judge music by their fleshly appetites and feelings but by the blessed and holy Scriptures. I pray that the eyes of Michael W. Smith will be opened before it is too late and that he will publicly disavow Contemporary Christian Music and warn his followers to flee from ecumenism and charismaticism.
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