For its 100th anniversary, the Hymn Society has published a series of songs that glorify homosexuality under the title “Songs for the Holy Other.” The 46 songs include “A Hymn for Self-Acceptance,” “God Calls You Good,” “God of Queer Transgressive Spaces,” “God of Many Faces,” “The Kingdom of God is the Queerest of Nations,” “Queerly Beloved,” and “Quirky, Queer and Wonderful.” The words to the latter include, “Quirky, queer, and wonderful, distinct, unique, and odd … all of our humanity reveals the face of God.” This is blasphemous, because God is holy whereas homosexuality is “uncleanness,” “vile affections,” “against nature,” “unseemly,” and “not convenient” (Romans 1:24-28). The Hymn Society’s goal with the new songs is “to provide congregations working to dismantle these walls [between homosexuals and ‘straights’] with a toolbox of hymns by and for those who identify as members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, romantic, two-spirit, and other sexual/gender minority (LGBTQIA2S+) community and their allies.” They say that lesbianism, homosexuality, etc., are “God-given gifts, and are, in and of themselves, a gift to the church, as we reflect the rainbow diversity of God’s creation.” The series should be titled “Hymns for Sodom and Gomorrah.” It is full-blown apostasy. It is “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” (Revelation 17:5). The Hymn Society was founded in 1922 “for those people who believe that congregational song is an integral component of worship, believe that the writing and singing of new texts and tunes needs to be promoted, and value learning about the origins of the words and music they sing.” We believe in the importance of congregational singing, but the Bible instructs the churches to sing “spiritual songs,” not filthy songs, and to sing by having “the word of Christ dwell in you,” not the word of modernistic heresy. As the apostasy deepens in these last days, Bible-believing churches must have revival and take the Word of God much more seriously, or they will die, as large numbers have in the last few decades. Most Bible-believing churches need to stop singing by vain, empty-minded tradition and dead ritual and learn how to have living, powerful congregational singing that conforms to God’s Word, that is attractive, interesting, and edifying for the entire body, young and old. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16-17).
(Friday Church News Notes, June 17, 2022, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)