Contemporary Christian Music is ecumenical music. In fact, Contemporary Christian Music is one of the most powerful forces of the end-times ecumenical movement. It is the music of the “one-world church.” In his book Making Musical Choices, Richard Peck makes the following important observation about modern church music: “Aside from its commercialism and its increasing resemblance to the world, contemporary Christian music is becoming a religious melting pot. Some in the community admit that they are not believers. And while this is still an exception, CCM IS PROUD OF ITS ECUMENICAL AND CHARISMATIC SPIRIT. THIS ECUMENISM EXTENDS OPEN ARMS TOWARD APOSTATE PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.”
Here are just a few examples of ecumenism in the last thirty years: The contemporary praise anthem “We Are One in the Spirit,” which became the “banner song of the Jesus Movement,” was written by Peter Scholtes, a Roman Catholic priest.
When Pope John Paul II visited the United States in January 1999, well-known contemporary Christian musicians joined hands with hundreds of thousands of Catholics to welcome him. Featured at a Catholic youth rally connected with the Pope’s visit, were dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Rebecca St. James, and Jars of Clay.
Michael W. Smith performed at the Catholic-sponsored World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado, in 1993. Smith also wrote the foreword to Catholic Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel.” In the fall of 2009, Michael W. Smith toured with Catholic Matt Maher (highlighted below) on the “New Hallelujah Tour.”
Sandi Patty moves freely in ecumenical circles. She has entertained audiences as diverse as Billy Graham crusades, Jerry Falwell meetings, Southern Baptist Convention annual conferences, and Pope John Paul II masses (she performed at a papal mass in Los Angeles in September 1987).
Darlene Zschech of Hillsong Music is another example of the radical ecumenism that permeates CCM. One of Zschech’s themes is the importance of unity, which, of course, is the false ecumenical philosophy. For example, she makes the following comment about the album You Shine — “There is a new sound and a new song being proclaimed across the earth. It’s the sound of a unified church, coming together, in one voice to magnify our magnificent Lord” (from the album cover). In a 2004 interview with Christianity Today, Zschech expressed her radical ecumenical philosophy: “I’ve been in the Catholic Church, in the United Church, the Anglican Church, and in many other churches, and when worship is offered in truth, this sound emerges-regardless of the style. It’s the sound of the human heart connecting with its Maker” (quoted by Michael Herman, “Zschech, Please,” christianitytoday.com, June 4, 2004). Additionally, Zschech led worship for Pope Francis at an ecumenical prayer gathering of more than 30,000 people at the Vatican in July of 2015.
Steven Curtis Chapman played a concert in 2003 at St. Mary Seminary sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. Retired Catholic bishop Anthony Pilla celebrated the Mass at the event. Chapman told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that it’s “a good thing” that “the Catholic Church is showing a greater openness to contemporary Christian music” (Plain Dealer, Aug. 7, 2006).
Third Day and TobyMac performed for the Roman Catholic Youth Rally in 2011, which featured Pope Benedict XVI and a Catholic mass.
The above information is from the following article: http://www.wayoflife.org/database/ccm_and_rome.html
Here is some information about Contemporary “Christian” artists who are regularly featured at Hillsong Conferences, Passion Conferences, Joyce Meyer events, and so forth:
Tasha Cobbs
Tasha Cobbs serves as one of the team pastors at dReam Center church in Atlanta according to her website (http://tashacobbs.org/about/). Most of her tenure at dReam Center has entailed leading worship weekly and managing the various entities of the Worship & Arts Department. She has received a Grammy Award, 3 Stellar Awards, and 3 Dove Awards. Cobbs continues to brand herself as a multifaceted game-changer as she blazes her own trail with her music career and ministry efforts. Of particular interest is the fact that in 2012 Cobb recorded the song, “Break Every Chain,” which landed as Billboard’s #1 song for a total of 12 weeks. This video shows her singing this song at TD Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed” event held in Atlanta, Georgia in 2012, which also featured Paula White:
Here are just a few examples of ecumenism in the last thirty years: The contemporary praise anthem “We Are One in the Spirit,” which became the “banner song of the Jesus Movement,” was written by Peter Scholtes, a Roman Catholic priest.
When Pope John Paul II visited the United States in January 1999, well-known contemporary Christian musicians joined hands with hundreds of thousands of Catholics to welcome him. Featured at a Catholic youth rally connected with the Pope’s visit, were dc Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Rebecca St. James, and Jars of Clay.
Michael W. Smith performed at the Catholic-sponsored World Youth Day in Denver, Colorado, in 1993. Smith also wrote the foreword to Catholic Brennan Manning’s “The Ragamuffin Gospel.” In the fall of 2009, Michael W. Smith toured with Catholic Matt Maher (highlighted below) on the “New Hallelujah Tour.”
Sandi Patty moves freely in ecumenical circles. She has entertained audiences as diverse as Billy Graham crusades, Jerry Falwell meetings, Southern Baptist Convention annual conferences, and Pope John Paul II masses (she performed at a papal mass in Los Angeles in September 1987).
Darlene Zschech of Hillsong Music is another example of the radical ecumenism that permeates CCM. One of Zschech’s themes is the importance of unity, which, of course, is the false ecumenical philosophy. For example, she makes the following comment about the album You Shine — “There is a new sound and a new song being proclaimed across the earth. It’s the sound of a unified church, coming together, in one voice to magnify our magnificent Lord” (from the album cover). In a 2004 interview with Christianity Today, Zschech expressed her radical ecumenical philosophy: “I’ve been in the Catholic Church, in the United Church, the Anglican Church, and in many other churches, and when worship is offered in truth, this sound emerges-regardless of the style. It’s the sound of the human heart connecting with its Maker” (quoted by Michael Herman, “Zschech, Please,” christianitytoday.com, June 4, 2004). Additionally, Zschech led worship for Pope Francis at an ecumenical prayer gathering of more than 30,000 people at the Vatican in July of 2015.
Steven Curtis Chapman played a concert in 2003 at St. Mary Seminary sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. Retired Catholic bishop Anthony Pilla celebrated the Mass at the event. Chapman told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that it’s “a good thing” that “the Catholic Church is showing a greater openness to contemporary Christian music” (Plain Dealer, Aug. 7, 2006).
Third Day and TobyMac performed for the Roman Catholic Youth Rally in 2011, which featured Pope Benedict XVI and a Catholic mass.
The above information is from the following article: http://www.wayoflife.org/database/ccm_and_rome.html
Here is some information about Contemporary “Christian” artists who are regularly featured at Hillsong Conferences, Passion Conferences, Joyce Meyer events, and so forth:
Tasha Cobbs
Tasha Cobbs serves as one of the team pastors at dReam Center church in Atlanta according to her website (http://tashacobbs.org/about/). Most of her tenure at dReam Center has entailed leading worship weekly and managing the various entities of the Worship & Arts Department. She has received a Grammy Award, 3 Stellar Awards, and 3 Dove Awards. Cobbs continues to brand herself as a multifaceted game-changer as she blazes her own trail with her music career and ministry efforts. Of particular interest is the fact that in 2012 Cobb recorded the song, “Break Every Chain,” which landed as Billboard’s #1 song for a total of 12 weeks. This video shows her singing this song at TD Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed” event held in Atlanta, Georgia in 2012, which also featured Paula White:
One of the main lines in the song is, “There’s an army rising up…and this is what we came to do…break every chain.” The original lyrics do not include the phrase “and this is what we came to do”, but this is implied even so. Many may not realize it, but this is Dominion Theology phraseology. Additionally, she performed at the ecumenical/dominionist “Worship Night in America” event.
Matt Maher
Matt Maher is a Canadian Contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist, songwriter, and worship leader originally from Newfoundland, Canada, who later relocated to Tempe, Arizona. He is a practicing Catholic. He has written and produced seven solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. Maher was awarded Songwriter of the Year for an artist, at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards. A five-time Grammy nominee, he has garnered multiple radio successes writing and recording songs like “Lord, I Need You,” “Hold Us Together,” “Christ Is Risen,” “All The People Said Amen,” and “Your Grace Is Enough.” Maher has penned songs recorded by Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Third Day, Matt Redman, Hillsong, Passion, and Meredith Andrews, among others. In 2013, Maher performed on stage with Pope Francis in front of 3 million people at the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro:
Matt Maher
Matt Maher is a Canadian Contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist, songwriter, and worship leader originally from Newfoundland, Canada, who later relocated to Tempe, Arizona. He is a practicing Catholic. He has written and produced seven solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. Maher was awarded Songwriter of the Year for an artist, at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards. A five-time Grammy nominee, he has garnered multiple radio successes writing and recording songs like “Lord, I Need You,” “Hold Us Together,” “Christ Is Risen,” “All The People Said Amen,” and “Your Grace Is Enough.” Maher has penned songs recorded by Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Third Day, Matt Redman, Hillsong, Passion, and Meredith Andrews, among others. In 2013, Maher performed on stage with Pope Francis in front of 3 million people at the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro:
Maher continues to perform and speak as a part of global high-profile events, including the World Meeting of Families in 2015, which marked Pope Francis’ first visit to the US. In December of 2015, he spoke and led worship at Mike Bickle’s IHOP OneThing event:
Additionally, he has recently been on tour with Casting Crowns and he performed at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event in July. His most recent ecumenical activity is described here.
Matt Redman
Matt Redman is a British CCM worship leader, singer, songwriter and author now based in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom. He co-wrote the 2005 Dove Award-winning "Blessed Be Your Name" (Worship Song of the Year) and the Grammy Award nominated "Our God". The single of "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)", co-written with Jonas Myrin, reached #1 on the US Billboard Christian Songs chart. Matt Redman and LZ7, a Manchester-based Christian rap and dance group, released "Twenty Seven Million" on February 27, 2012, to raise awareness for the anti-human trafficking movement and in support of the A21 Campaign, founded by Christine Caine.
Additionally, he has recently been on tour with Casting Crowns and he performed at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event in July. His most recent ecumenical activity is described here.
Matt Redman
Matt Redman is a British CCM worship leader, singer, songwriter and author now based in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom. He co-wrote the 2005 Dove Award-winning "Blessed Be Your Name" (Worship Song of the Year) and the Grammy Award nominated "Our God". The single of "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)", co-written with Jonas Myrin, reached #1 on the US Billboard Christian Songs chart. Matt Redman and LZ7, a Manchester-based Christian rap and dance group, released "Twenty Seven Million" on February 27, 2012, to raise awareness for the anti-human trafficking movement and in support of the A21 Campaign, founded by Christine Caine.
This video shows Matt Redman performing at a Hillsong Conference in 2014.
Here (http://268generation.com/passion2017/) we learn he will appear at Louie Giglio’s Passion Conference 2017 with Chris Tomlin, Christine Caine, John Piper, Hillsong United, Levi Lusko, Francis Chan, and Beth Moore.
And, below we see a clip of him performing for Joyce Meyer’s Conference Tour in 2012. Before he begins singing he says, “Breathe in the Father’s perfect love for you.”
Here (http://268generation.com/passion2017/) we learn he will appear at Louie Giglio’s Passion Conference 2017 with Chris Tomlin, Christine Caine, John Piper, Hillsong United, Levi Lusko, Francis Chan, and Beth Moore.
And, below we see a clip of him performing for Joyce Meyer’s Conference Tour in 2012. Before he begins singing he says, “Breathe in the Father’s perfect love for you.”
Kim Walker-Smith
Kim Walker-Smith has quickly become one of the strongest voices in worship music. Walker-Smith is a passionate worship leader with an anointing to bring an entire generation into an encounter with God. Walker-Smith is one of the worship leaders for the Jesus Culture band and serves on the Jesus Culture Senior Leadership Team. She’s been with Jesus Culture since the beginning of the ministry. These statements are part of a bio of Smith at one of Bill Johnson’s Bethel Church’s websites: http://www.bethel.tv/speakers/show/12/kim-walker-smith
Walker-Smith completed the two-year program at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
She gave the following testimony regarding an “encounter” with Jesus:
Beginning at the 27:24 mark, one will hear the following just for starters: “And all of the sudden—and let me just remind you again, okay? This is not a normal thing for me to just have these encounters, but I have one and I just live off of that until the next one (laughs). So, I had this encounter, all the sudden I see Jesus standing in front of me and He’s reaching for me like this (gestures)—like He wants me to come to Him. And, I was terrified. I—I felt like I couldn’t go to where He was. I felt—I felt ashamed, I felt scared, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be close to Him. I couldn’t even look Him in the face. And Jesus (laughs) is completely irresistible. I always say there are three things that are completely irresistible to me. One is, of course, Jesus. Number two is my husband. And number three is chocolate (laughs, audience laughs). Completely irresistible. Anyways, (pause) so, irresistible, I go to Jesus, I fall in His arms. And as I’m laying in His arms, I’m still feeling kind of afraid to really even look at Him. All the sudden this thought comes into my mind, and I know this is not my thought. I would never, ever, ever in a million, trillion years think this; and I think, “I need to ask Him two questions.” I need to ask Him, “How much do You love me; and what were You thinking when You created me?” And as this thought comes into my mind, I’m thinking, “No way! I am not asking those questions.” As is overly obvious, this description of an “encounter” with Jesus has absolutely no Biblical precedent.
Chris Tomlin
Chris Tomlin has produced ten albums including fifteen No. 1 radio singles, netting a GRAMMY® Award and eight additional nominations, three Billboard Music Awards, 21 Dove Awards, a platinum and four gold albums. http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=3564
This video features Chris Tomlin at Louie Giglio’s Passion 2013 conference with featured speakers Beth Moore and Francis Chan. Musical artists included Matt Redman, Lecrae and Jesus Culture. Chan, Lecrae, and Jesus Culture all appeared at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event. Tomlin is performing his song, “God's Great Dance Floor.” This song does not mention Jesus, and only mentions God in the following line which is repeated several times: “I feel alive, I come alive, I am alive on God's great dance floor.”
Chris Tomlin’s song “Good, Good Father” won GMA Song of the Year and he performed it at the “Worship Night in America” event held on Oct. 25, 2016. Here is one stanza:
Oh, I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you’re pleased
And that I’m never alone
This terminology should be considered quite inappropriate. We are not to listen for “tender whispers of love in the dead of night” from God.
Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham is a CCM vocalist/songwriter and guitarist from California. Wickham has released six albums. He is the son of well-known worship leader John Wickham. From this website (http://transparentproductions.com/events/the-journey) we learn that Phil Wickham participated in an event known as “The Journey” on Sept. 18, 2016 along with Matt Maher. This event was held in the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California, formerly owned by Robert Schuller ministries. This property was purchased in 2012 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County, California, to be used as the diocese's new cathedral.
We can also see that Wickham performed at a Joyce Meyer conference on August 26, 2016 by viewing this link (http://www.eventsinusa.net/event-phil-wickham-joyce-meyer-conference-giant-center-in-hershey-pa-hershey-4790171) Joyce Meyer preaches the heretical Word of Faith theology.
Chris Tomlin’s song “Good, Good Father” won GMA Song of the Year and he performed it at the “Worship Night in America” event held on Oct. 25, 2016. Here is one stanza:
Oh, I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you’re pleased
And that I’m never alone
This terminology should be considered quite inappropriate. We are not to listen for “tender whispers of love in the dead of night” from God.
Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham is a CCM vocalist/songwriter and guitarist from California. Wickham has released six albums. He is the son of well-known worship leader John Wickham. From this website (http://transparentproductions.com/events/the-journey) we learn that Phil Wickham participated in an event known as “The Journey” on Sept. 18, 2016 along with Matt Maher. This event was held in the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California, formerly owned by Robert Schuller ministries. This property was purchased in 2012 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County, California, to be used as the diocese's new cathedral.
We can also see that Wickham performed at a Joyce Meyer conference on August 26, 2016 by viewing this link (http://www.eventsinusa.net/event-phil-wickham-joyce-meyer-conference-giant-center-in-hershey-pa-hershey-4790171) Joyce Meyer preaches the heretical Word of Faith theology.