Pastor Ivor Myers, former hip hop artist, and his wife Atonte have a program on 3ABN.

Tuesday 10:00pm Central time Check your schedule for other times.

This is a summery of this eveing's program. I am not making commentary.

Rock, hip hop and rap is a fad and God's music is not to be a fad. The urgency of the gosp[el cannot be a fad.

Christian hip hop and rock music promote pride and not humility. Fans of this music look for pride in the artists. This is contrary to Jesus' meekness.

Christian rock and hip hop is made in the immage of secular music - much like the image made in Danial 3.

"And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." Rev. 18:23

Rock and rap music is a form of sorcery. Black magic is that which openly is not Christian. White music appears to be Christian.

This type of music is not family-orientated. It causes division. It causes rebellion. The culture of rock and rap comes with the music. The music cannot be seperated fro them culture.

One example is having a contempory service and a traditional service. Thus the music has caused division in the church.

More and more people are letting the music take the place of Bible study. Thus more Christians are becoming Bible illiterate. Music makes a person base their faith on feelings.

With all due respect to Pastor Myers, I disagree on this issue.

Using a means to spread the gospel that may be a fad, IMO, is not an insult to the gospel or take away from it. A certain type of shirt or hat may be a fad but does that mean it is wrong to have "Jesus Loves You" printed on them? ipods could be a fad but does that make it wrong to have downloadable sermons on the Internet? The Internet itself could be a fad so does than mean it shouldn't be used to carry the gospel?

While some Christian rock or rap artists may have struggles with pride, so do soe Christian doctors, factory workers and farmers. Pride is not something unique to only Christian artists. Furthermore, many Christian artists are quite humble and give all the glory to God. Casting Crowns' lead singer, Mark Hall, is one of the most humble people I have ever heard and Casting Crowns is one of the most popular Christian rock groups today.

White magic may be sorcery diguised as something Christian but I see no evidence that Christian rock and rap are leading anyone into a false gospel. I see no evidence to conclude that it is a type of white magic. Catholism is a much better example of a false gospel disguised as being Christian.

Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns and Mark Schultz as well as others have songs that focus on the importance of family and church fellowship. While some churches do have two services, a contemporary and a traditional, many of the members attend both or some weeks attend one and other weeks attend another. Those that attend only one do so out of taste or preference and do not think less of the members attending the others.

Most Christian music is listened to while driving a car which would not be time spent in Bible study - although with the Bible on CD it could be. Most Christian rock is listened to in lieu of secular music and not in lieu of Bible study.

Pastor Myers comes from a worldly background. By his own admission he came from a drug-abusing secular past. It appears to me, that he is judging other Christian artists by his own experience. However many of these other artists have never smoked, used drugs or abused alcohol. many of them grew up in evangelical homes, faithfully attended church as teenagers and went into mission programs as adults - in many cases through their denomination's seminary. They do not come from a typical "sex, drugs and rock and roll" background. The culture of their music is much different from their secular counterparts.

Just my opinion, but I believe that the religious canonizing or demonizing of a form of music, based on cultural preference, is preposterous. Christ gave no foundation whatsoever to that practice.

I view the practice of making one's own cultural preferences the will of God, a form of idol worship, and a wild goose chase that leads people away from true Christianity. In short, a work of the devil.

Exactly.

If you have traveled in other countries, and cultures, you probably know that these, and many more, issues are cultural. The music that is a vital part of Christian life in one country is rejected in another.

And hip-hop is not the worst of it! You should listen to some of the stuff I have to sift through when purchasing music for the store- heavy metal and lyrics that don't have anything to do with the gospel by any stretch of the imagination

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As for "white music" "appearing" to be Christian, that just left me scratching my head in confusion.

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That was a typo on my part. It should have read "white magic" not "white music". The pastor was trying to say that Christian rock and rap is white magic inthat it appears to be Christian but actually draws a person away from Christ and not closer to Him. I disagree with that but that is my understanding of what he was teaching.

Again, I think he is using his own experience to judge other Christian artists. When he was making Christian rap music he was just a baby Christian. He was not spiritually mature. That is not true for many Christian artists. Many are humble and dedicated Christians.

I agree with you Shane. And I think music and its effects on the individual -- unless we are talking something deliberately meant to be Satanic in nature or glorifying a negative lifestyle (gangsters, drugs, whatever) -- is primarily in the eye of the beholder.

I have had times where, when I'm listening to some of the most inspiring Christian music (and yes, this can even happen with hymns!), I have "tripped" over the expressions of praise, worship, adoration, desire, submission, etc. and have had to literally, consciously REMIND myself that the song is meant as directed to Jesus Christ and not Satan. This is because I came from a background and history where worship, adoration, desire, submission, etc. were all, for me, associated with Satan instead. I even still have times where this happens to me, though it is less and less frequent an occurrence than it was, say, a year or two ago.

Conversely, I have had times where, in walking in good close fellowship with the Lord, I am reminded of Him and my heart is lifted to Him while listening to completely "secular" music which would have no religious or spiritual meaning to anyone else hearing it, but MY mind makes that association because of the concepts on which it is dwelling.

So it is very much in the eye of the beholder.

This program is quite consitant with 3ABN's policy of not airing Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). I don't have such a problem with them not airing CCM so as to appeal to a certain type of audience or even if they believe by not doing so they are setting a more reverant tone.

I agree that traditional hymns do help to create a more reverant tone. But that is not to say CCM is sinful just because traditional hymns may be more reverant. To make the point more vividly one could compare praying and playing catch. Praying is obviously a more reverant activity than playing catch but that doesn't mean that playing catch is sinful.

Yet this program takes the position that CCM is "white magic" and thus it is dangerous, sinful and to be avoided. If they are going to make arguements to support such a position, I think they need to be stronger than the ones they have made.