Ten CCM Commandments
A friend of mine put me on to this great site. I wasn't able to read all the way to the end, but found this most helpful for Christians wanting to practice musical discernment.
http://ccmworld.org/tencommandments.htm
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Seven Steps to Spiritual Unity
That great compromiser of the faith, Rick Warren, continues to corrupt the minds of godly ministers everywhere. In a recent Ministry Toolbox issue, he offered six things to do when disunity threatens to divide a church. Before I go any further, let me just point out that everyone knows that according to biblical numerology 6 is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day and the mark of The Beast is an unholy trinity of 666. This is indication enough that Warren’s “wisdom” is man’s wisdom rather than God’s wisdom. Had it been godly wisdom, he would have had seven things since 7 is the number of God’s completeness.
With that in mind, I would like to offer SEVEN things you should do to promote genuine unity, rather than the feel-good, namby-pamby sort of compromising conciliatory concessions Warren offers to preserve pseudo-unity.
1. Create situations that lead to arguments. In the song “Onward Christian Soldiers” (which is pretty much absent from contemporary worship services) the verse instructs us that we are “one in hope and doctrine, one in purity.” Without a good argument every now and then, how do you know that everyone holds to the truth? Arguments are a good way to identify those possessed of a rebellious spirit so they can be publicly rebuked
2. Show troublemakers the door. Warren advocates convincing them to repent. The trouble is, how do you distinguish between sincere repentance and those who repent falsely so that they can later undermine your ministry from within? Simply put, you can’t. The best thing to do is to make sure troublemakers don’t stay. Even those who sincerely repent have a track record of causing trouble and there’s no guarantee that they won’t cause trouble about something else in the future. Best to be rid of them altogether.
3. Convince people not to be so sensitive. The Truth is offensive. The natural man does not receive the spirit of God. People who are offended by comments made for their spiritual edification need to learn to suck it up and take it in the spirit it is intended. After all, we are those who watch out for their souls, not their feelings.
4. Demand conformity and agreement. Amos asks, “how can two walk together except they be agreed?” People who don’t agree with us need to be brought around to our way of thinking through persuasion and church discipline, even if that means getting a little rough from time to time.
5. Rebuke without regard to the consequences. You are the pastor. It is your job to take a stand for the truth. Don’t let the opposition spot weakness or compromise or you will soon find you have no power at all over them.
6. Remove them at the first sign of trouble. Warren advocates a “two strikes, your out” sort of rule. A lot of damage can be caused during those “two strikes.” If we waited through two warnings before ejecting heretics, trouble causers, and malcontents, our churches would be full of these folks. The Bible says that, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11) We need to follow the biblical admonition to execute sentence speedily before we give them any warning.
7. Don’t listen to Rick Warren. His popular book, The Purpose Driven Church, is all about how to grow a big church by whatever means. It has nothing to do with pleasing God. Everyone knows that godly spiritual churches are small because men don’t love The Truth and The Truth is not popular. Warren’s popularity is proof that he is not teaching The Truth.
In a nutshell, the key to unity in God’s church is to make sure no one has the opportunity to dissent. And if someone tries to disrupt the unity of the Body, we are not to offer compromising solutions like Warren does, but to get tough, lay down the law, and never sacrifice Truth on the altar of unscriptural unity.
