You Call This Worship?
One particularly poignant episode of South Park mocked the Christian music industry. In that episode the crass little creeps from South Park started a "Christian Band" by changing the lyrics to popular love songs. Every time the word 'baby' appeared in a song they replaced it with the word 'Jesus' and viola, the song was 'Christianized'.
Well, it appears that the makers of South Park knew what they were mocking. Here is video of what is passing for worship now a days. The "worship" leader is Rick Pino and the "praise song" being sung is a popular song from the 80's called You Spin Me Right Round and only one word was changed in order to Christianize it. (Ironically, the word 'baby' was changed to 'Jesus')
I'm a progressive worship leader and I'm speechless. This is embarrassing on a musical and spiritual level. The "take off your shoes" thing before doing THIS song makes me nauseous. Doesn't this guy have a pastor over him who can slap him upside the head???
A good general rule for worship songs - if you can substitute Jesus with "baby" and it work as a love song for a chick, you are singing a totally gay, Jesus-is-my-girlfriend worship song. Believe that.
Posted by: Jeff T. | July 26, 2008 at 12:09 AM
I just showed it to my wife and realized only the 2nd time what the worst thing is about this... he got them to take off their shoes under the guise of revering the Lord, when in reality, it was only a way to get them to take their socks off to wave them around! Seriously - that's so wrong.
Posted by: Jeff T. | July 26, 2008 at 12:17 AM
I only got 2 minutes in to the almost 10 minutes. Nauseating. And I'm right there with Jeff - I hate "Jesus is my girlfriend" songs. GIVE ME THEOLOGY! (P. S. I'm 26, so for all intents and purposes, I should like this stuff. Only problem is, I'm actually a Christian!)
Posted by: Corinne | July 26, 2008 at 01:12 AM
Unbelievable.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Don't they any idea WHO wrote this song?
We have replaced songs by Issac Watt, man of God with songs by Peter Burns, proud explicitly sexual homosexual.
Great.
...
I'll be outside waiting for the rapture.
(except I'm not pre-trib, but you get my point)
Posted by: Logan | July 26, 2008 at 05:37 AM
Thank God for Hymnody and Liturgy so this kind of nonsense can be avoided.
Posted by: PHW | July 26, 2008 at 08:08 AM
To be some-what fair, this isn't 'typical' for Rick Pino. He has several amazing worship cds and most videos I've seen of him are him playing those songs. For what it is worth, this is at a teen and youth music venue, not a church servce. I personally don't like this video, but I definitely wouldn't lump Pino in with the group that only changes lyrics. Most of his songs are original.
Posted by: Brandon | July 26, 2008 at 08:09 AM
I think not singing any of the verses counts as changing more than one word.
Posted by: Josh S | July 26, 2008 at 08:17 AM
And here you have in one little video a complete explanation of why I gave up playing in worship bands and Christian rock bands for good a year ago, and have never looked back.
Posted by: Robert Talbert | July 26, 2008 at 01:07 PM
Brandon- I agree with you. This is not typical of Rick Pino. I don't like this video either. All it takes is one bad decision in life to be lumped in the heretic,false prophets,doctine of demon category. This site is only for the perfect people who make no mistakes or bad decisions. And every word uttered from this site is 100% accurate, because if they aren't they would fall into the same category as described above. I just wish we could find the good in our christian brothers and sisters instead of all the negative we can find. The Bible tells us to test things, this is true. It DOESN"T say to test all things and expose that error to as many people as possible. I believe the testing command is to test things ourselves to protect ourselves and our families. Not to be the worlds critics finding as much negative in everything possible and exploiting that negative to every person under the moon. If the curator of this site does anything wrong or make any wrong decision, he should be the next entry on this site...He will be judged by the standard that he judges. <'}}}><
Posted by: chadm | July 26, 2008 at 02:16 PM
Dear Brandon and Chadm:
So what you're saying is that Rick Pino made an error in judgment with the this song?
OK, then what's your spin regarding this senseless, juvenile, annoyingly repetitious, trance-inducing, devoid-of-any-sound-doctrine, "worship" song Mr. Pino performs in this video:
http://defendingcontending.com/2008/07/25/strange-fire-and-cains-offering/
- The Pilgrim
Posted by: Defending. Contending. | July 26, 2008 at 04:13 PM
This is appalling. Can you imagine Moses swinging his socks around in worship to the Lord? (not sure Moses wore socks, but you get my meaning)
When Jesus said that those who worship the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), I don't think He thought a thing about swinging socks and jumping around.
Posted by: Regina | July 26, 2008 at 10:59 PM
chadm,
We've seen the same rant on your posts for a long time. For the life of me, I just can't figure you out. Why do you even look at this blog? I think you want to yank eveyone's chain and see what they say so you can have a chance at a scathing rebuttal. It's called baiting. Wasn't it you who admitted somewhere on this site that you re-posted something because you didn't get a response the first time?
Also, where in the Bible does it say to test things for ourselves and our families ONLY? Give a verse.
Instead of judging others (which you seem to despise), be an example of what you want to see on this site. Show us your own compassion that you say others lack. Maybe we can learn to love our Christian brothers and sisters the way you think we should by YOUR example (which is yet to be seen from you). Are you going to answer me in Christian love or with a snappy, angry comeback?
Posted by: cy | July 27, 2008 at 12:48 AM
Are those kids in the audience floggin'their noggin? What are they twirling around their heads? I saw flip flops at one point. Red ones.
Posted by: Denise | July 27, 2008 at 02:23 AM
I think I just pulled my embarrassment muscle.
But seriously folks, the thing that's so disturbing about this isn't the fact that it's a secular song changed to be Christian one, it's the sheer laziness in it's conversion to a worship song to Jesus. Many hymns that we sing today were written to the tune of what was otherwise a 'sinners' song of their day. The difference was that the lyrics were often carefully re-written to communicate and express biblical truth from the heart of the believer. I'm not God, but I have a feeling that's not what's going on here...
Posted by: Joel | July 27, 2008 at 01:53 PM
cy- For the life of me I can't figure out why you christians slander every other believer who does something different than you. You guys try and put Rick Pino in a category of a sinner who is going to hell because he is doing something that YOU disagree with. How can YOU determine his salvation? If you go back to the post where I said I reposted to get a response, you will see that the response came from the Curator, who admitted that he was in err and agreed with my post. Shocker, I know, but my respect level grew for such a man to have as many disagreements with me yet still see the truth in a point I made and changed his posting. Where in the Bible does it say to find every possible fault in every christian and slander that brother publicly for the world to see? Give a verse..The pharisees sat back and looked for as much fault in everything and everyone that was different from what THEY believed. Jesus didn't have any problem with judging their hypocrisy. If Rick Pino is wrong on anything, he is exposed as a flake or a heathen. What if there is a belief or something that you are viewing is wrong? Are you a sinner, heathen heading for hell? My point I try to make here is this site finds someone elses flaws and exploits them to the world. We crucify our own. If you say that Rick Pino or others are not our brothers, you are judging their salvation. How can you do that? We can judge fruit but if there is fruit in our lives that is not Christlike, are we not saved any more? Heres some scripture for you. 1 John 4 tells to test the spirits. vs 2 says every spirit that acknwledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. I have witnessed Rick proclaim Jesus as God in the flesh. Phil 4:8 tells us what we should be focussing on. Luke 9:49-50 someone was doing something that the disciples didn't AGREE with and Jesus said what?...... DON"T STOP HIM for whoever is not against you is for you. Jesus was saying don't spend you time critiqing your fellow brothers when we are all on the same team. If someone is proclaiming JESUS CHRIST AND RECOGNIZES HIM AS GOD IN THE FLESH CRUCIFIED FOR OUR SINS ,he is our brother in Christ. Lets stop slandering our brothers 1 peter2:1 says rid yourselves of slander of everykind. Also what you accuse me of (baiting), is what you are guilty of. Don't justify your snappy,angry comeback by your view of mine......<'}}}><
Posted by: chadm | July 27, 2008 at 02:09 PM
Also, Curator what are doing watching South Park? South Park is not very Christlike... Be careful because you may end up being exposed on a website called alittleleaven.com :) <'}}}><
Posted by: chadm | July 27, 2008 at 02:22 PM
Thank you, chadm. Other Christians are not our enemies. Other Christians may be more (or less) foolish than we are. Other Christians may be more (or less) irreverent than we are. Other Christians may be more (or less) doctrinally correct than we are. But no Christian is less (or more) saved or justified than you and I. Even the sock flappers.
Oh, and if I took a song that was originally sung by a woman about a man and replaced the lovey-dovey stuff with Christian terms, would that be more acceptable to you all? Since I'm a woman and Jesus is a MAN (even though he hasn't been in human form in two thousand years and spirits don't have gender) and so it would be nice and heterosexual, right?
Posted by: Barb | July 27, 2008 at 06:35 PM
The word we're all searching for is "tools." As in, "man, what a bunch of freakin' tools!"
Which is exactly what just about any unsaved person would have to say if they were at this concert.
Posted by: Matt F | July 27, 2008 at 09:41 PM
To answer the original question of "you call this worship?" . . . my response would be that celebrating Jesus Christ through song is only one miniscule act of worship.
Christians should be worshipping God with everything they do, words they say, and the Bible even goes so far to imply every thought we think (which is almost scary in light of the reality of most people's thought lives).
Somewhere along the line the idea of worshiping God with our entire lives got tossed out, and people got the impression that they could make up for it just by singing songs to God in church. Which is why, I'm guessing, church music is such a huge controversy among Christians today . . . with arguments that some styles are too irreverent and wordly.
When viewed from the bigger picture of worship, and seeing that most Christian's lives are many times much too irreverent and worldly 6 days of the week, the music issue, to me, just doesn't even seem all that important anymore.
If Christians' acts of worship were more evenly distributed throughout their lives, I wonder how much complaining would be going on about worship songs?
Posted by: merry | July 27, 2008 at 10:55 PM
Chadm,
You are incorrect in inferring that I watched South Park. I've never watched that show. I was informed about this particular episode from a couple of listeners to my radio program.
Posted by: Chris Rosebrough | July 28, 2008 at 09:59 AM
This is beyond awful. And what really irritates me is that, IF they are honest, they are going to have to pay Dead or Alive (and the transgender (sic) lead singer Pete Burns) royalties to perform this song...in church.
I found the South Park episode funny because it was true. Most contemporary Christian bands couldn't write a melody and hook if their life depended on it. A few exceptions, certainly. But very very few.
Posted by: Ken | July 28, 2008 at 12:54 PM
Barb,
Jesus is still in His human form, and will be forever. Judging from this and other posts, you should really understand theology before posting. I say this not to be mean but so that you know the truth, God bless.
Posted by: EricB | July 28, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Amazing that people will justify ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that is done under the banner of "Christianity".
We have an entire generation of self-professing Christians who wouldn't know false teachings if it came and slapped them upside the head.
Political correctness has more than taken over some of our church circles - they have taken it to new levels where anything, even the most heretical things, are given a place as a "move of God".
We have the Bible, God's Word - that is the litmus test to see what is of God, what is suspect, what is not.
Posted by: earthless | July 28, 2008 at 06:43 PM
Please show me where in the Bible it says that Jesus is still in his human form. And if Jesus is still in a physical human body, where exactly is that human body located? Mars? Pluto? The twilight zone with all the socks that get lost in the dryer? Floating around in space? Some other dimension? Believe what you must, but beg to differ that it's an essential point of theology that Jesus is still in human form. (By the way, by "human form" I meant "a physical human body." If you interpreted it some other way, I apologize for the confusion, but I don't think the language I used was particularly obscure and I refuse to take responsibility for other folks' often deliberately outrageous interpretations.)
Posted by: Barb | July 28, 2008 at 09:34 PM
I was actually present during this particular worship session (the place pictured is my old school) and I can honestly say that I don't think Pino meant any harm by the whole thing. As far as "laziness" in rewriting goes...it was clearly a spontaneous thing. Because I was present for the entire hour and a half before this point, I do at least have an in-context view of the events that the video sadly doesn't show. I'm not defending the song or its use, I'm simply saying it was a spontaneous thing and that I doubt Pino was really thinking through who wrote the song.
And...not that this makes much of a difference, but I'm kind of surprised this was just found now. This service happened over a year ago...probably close to two years ago.
Posted by: Chelsea | July 29, 2008 at 01:04 AM
Actually, upon viewing the video more closely, I realize this is NOT at my school...apparently, this isn't as "spontaneous" as I had thought. Pino had done this bit, minus the sock thing, at my school, but this isn't a video of that. My apologies.
Posted by: Chelsea | July 29, 2008 at 01:07 AM
Oh my goodness! I am simply appalled!
Posted by: HadassahS | July 29, 2008 at 06:42 AM
This looked like nothing more than a bunch of kids at a club in NYC. No reverence for the Lord in worship and no holiness about it either. The prayer of the "worship leader" sounded nice, but it reminded me of Matthew 15:8-9 as I watched the beginning of the video, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
Posted by: Kurt Michaelson | July 29, 2008 at 07:07 AM
Chris- Sorry, my bad. The entry above the video left the impression that you watched it first hand. <'}}}><
Posted by: chadm | July 29, 2008 at 09:19 AM
I'd be spinning my kids "right-round" outta there!
Posted by: Dale Gehris | July 29, 2008 at 04:35 PM
Oh, my word - that's the worst vocal work I've heard for a long, long time. (I don't know the original song at all - was the original vocalist so off key?)
Posted by: Elephantschild | July 30, 2008 at 12:18 PM
I knew it. chadm didn't exactly write back with Christian love did he? I've been on a trip and just came back to read his response. Did exactly what I thought he would.
chadm, you never gave me the verse. You didn't write back in Christian love. But I love you as a Christian even when you write angry things.
Posted by: cy | July 30, 2008 at 07:05 PM
And there was NOTHING at all self-righteous about that last post, cy. Nothing at all. Oh, the love's just so thick around here I can't stand it. "You didn't write back in Christian love, Chadm, but I love you as a Christian even when you write angry things. . . thanks to God who made me so rational and loving and self-controlled, unlike those angry hate-spewing SINNERS who happen to disagree with me." Ooh, ooh, I wonder if chadm works for the Internal Revenue Service, which would make him a modern-day American tax collector. Now that would REALLY get God's goat.
Posted by: Barb | July 30, 2008 at 08:29 PM
Barb,
I'm sorry if I angered you so much.
Posted by: cy | July 30, 2008 at 10:45 PM
You didn't anger me at all, cy. Mostly, you amused me, though you did annoy me a tad and aggrieve me just a little.
Posted by: Barb | July 31, 2008 at 03:23 AM
cy- If you go back and read my previous post I said I BELIEVE that we are to test all things to protect ourselves and our families. Not to be the worlds critics finding as much negative in everything possible and exploiting that negative to every person under the moon. NO WHERE did I say that I had scripture and verse to back that. Its funny how one comment is twisted and camped out on where every other comment I said is ignored. Also the second post I wrote, you had nothing but sarcasm in response. Respond to substance that was presented not haha I told you so crap. Do me a favor and keep your christian love brother. With a christian friend like you who needs enemies.
Posted by: chadm | July 31, 2008 at 03:06 PM
What?! So wrong!! Just imagine all the prophets in the old-testament waving their socks in reverance worshipping the Lord? This is not how John the baptist proclaimed Jesus. This is Absurd!!
Posted by: flyingSnow | July 31, 2008 at 07:15 PM
That was prety rough, chadm.
Posted by: cy | August 01, 2008 at 12:54 AM
No, the prophets of old engaged in highly reverent practices such as lighting dead animals on fire, spending months at a time lying on one side and then rolling over and spending a few more months lying on the other, making very sure not to wear garments woven together of two different fabrics, subsisting on a rather poor and insubstantial diet of locusts and wild honey, and my personal favorite, bashing out babies' heads on rocks. The fact is, worship is a heart condition and an act of circumstance and culture. What constitutes an appropriate act of worship, even what is acceptable in the sight of God, varies from place to place, time to time, and individual to individual. I'm not saying "anything goes" by any means, but I believe that if God is pleased with what's going on in the worshiper's heart during an act of worship, the outer trappings can't possibly matter all that much.
Posted by: Barb | August 01, 2008 at 12:57 AM
Better rough honesty than self-righteous "Christian love" any day, cy.
Posted by: Barb | August 01, 2008 at 05:14 PM
That was just plain mean-spirited, Barb. I can be patient but I'm not a doormat. Ask Jesus Christ to soften your heart, Barb. I did, and it helps.
Posted by: cy | August 02, 2008 at 12:33 AM
I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, cy. I don't mean to be mean-spirited, but I do agree with chadm and I don't apologize for that. What do you say we make a deal. I'll ask Jesus to soften my heart if you ask him to make you humble.
Posted by: Barb | August 02, 2008 at 02:31 AM
OK Barb, truce. But I honestly can tell you I didn't mean anything I said to sound self-righteous. It just grieves me so to read chadm's criticism of the curator and the posts of this site when I know Chris has spent so much time and effort to get his message out. This post especially hits home with me because my family has been treated so badly by the purpose driven movement.
Posted by: cy | August 02, 2008 at 03:04 PM
cy- Rick Pino has nothing to do with the purpose driven movement. I don't know where you get that from. Rick Pino is not Rick Warren. It grieves me so to know how much time and effort Chris spends to get HIS message out. I'm sorry if you get your feelings hurt easily. I don't mean to hurt anyone. Its just that when sarcasm and self righteousness is spewed without any second thought as to where those words will land, its very annoying. Many on this this site end up being guilty of the same things they are tring to expose.
Posted by: chadm | August 02, 2008 at 03:50 PM
I appreciate that keeping up this blog must be hard work, but as has been pointed out many times, much of the stuff Chris posts here doesn't even really belong, such as the "Jesus junk" that wasn't made by Christian companies, isn't being marketed to Christians, and therefore represents the activity of worldly mockers, not any true example of Christian apostasy or even tastelessness. It also bothers me that Chris feels so very called to spend so much time exposing the perhaps somewhat misguided activities of other Christians (many of his quibbles seem to be more about style or minutiae rather than critical points of doctrine), instead of giving brothers and sisters in the faith the benefit of the doubt, or admonishing them quietly and gently, then spending most of his time on the real problems facing the church and the world. I'm not saying there isn't false teaching in the church - I'm saying that for every true example of heresy or apostasy on this site, there are usually two or three of Chris's pet peeves.
Posted by: Barb | August 02, 2008 at 06:51 PM
"I'm saying for every true example of heresy or apostasy on this site, there are usually two or three of Chris's pet peeves."
Does Chris discuss his pet peeves with you? How do you know what he's thinking? If you don't like it, get your own blog and express your views on it instead of complaining about what Chris posts. He posts what he wants because this is HIS BLOG.
By the way, are you chadm's mother?
Posted by: Rick | August 03, 2008 at 07:47 PM
No, Chris doesn't discuss his pet peeves with me. He posts them here for all the world to see. I know what he's thinking because he blogs about it. I should think that would be obvious.
And no, I'm not chadm's mother, just his sister in Christ and yours.
Posted by: Barb | August 03, 2008 at 09:48 PM
Rick- The people that Chris critiques have their own blogs and websites. They have their right to post what they want to. The differance between Chris and people like Barb and I is, we speak TO the people we disagree with not ABOUT them.
Posted by: chadm | August 03, 2008 at 10:28 PM
chadm-- I'll write the same thing on this post, too.
You just wrote ABOUT Chris and not TO him. Practice what you preach.
So it's OK to slice people up, just so that you write it to them personally?
Barb--Just admit it, you don't like what's posted here. We get it. Do you have to repeat it on every post?
Posted by: Rick | August 04, 2008 at 01:20 AM
Chadm,
The bible tells us to test ALL things.
1 Thessalonians 5:14-22
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. [b]Test all things;[/b] hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
Posted by: Jude | August 04, 2008 at 08:11 AM