Hymns of Grace, published by John MacArthur’s The Master’s Seminary, is committed to contemporary worship. The latest edition has 74 titles by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. While the Getty-Townend lyrics are more theologically serious than many of the contemporary worship songs, Getty-Townend are an attractive bridge to rock & roll and every theological heresy in the “broader church.” While their printed music is fairly conservative in style, the Gettys rock out in their concerts. There are no musical boundaries. The Gettys are representative of evangelicalism today. At the heart of modern evangelicalism is “a renunciation of separatism,” as Harold Ockenga stated it in the 1940s. They follow the example of Billy Graham who was called “Mr. Facing Two Ways.” The Gettys say they love sound doctrine, but they don’t separate from heresy. They don’t draw clear lines as the Bible requires. They don’t speak out against error as the Bible demands. They keep everything on a positive note. Consider the Gettys’ close association with Stuart Townend. Their music company is GTM (Getty Townend Music). Townend is charismatic in theology. He leads worship at the Church of Christ the King, a New Frontiers church in Brighton, England. New Frontiers is a network of charismatic churches that believes in modern apostles and prophets. Townend believes worshipers can hear a “full blown thus saith the Lord prophecy” during worship times. The Gettys’ close association with Townend proves that they accept these things at some level. “How can two walk together except they be agreed”? (Amos 3:3). In July 2012, the Gettys and Townend joined Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewSongCafe to promote ecumenical unity. They played and discussed the Getty/Townend song “The Power of the Cross.” Yet Rome has destroyed the power of the cross with its sacramentalism! Maher calls himself a “musical missionary” to unite Protestants and Catholics (Christianity Today, Oct. 27, 2009). He believes the consecrated wafer of the mass is Jesus. He prays to Mary and believes that she assists in salvation. His church, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Tempe, Arizona, is named in honor of the Catholic Mary who is the supposed Queen of Heaven. The Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is alleged to guarantee Mary’s help in salvation, which is a gross heresy. “Mary” supposedly appeared to Simon Stock in the 14th century and promised that those who die wearing the Brown Scapular will be saved. Maher’s church has a sign saying, “Mary, Mother of Life, Pray for Us.” Maher’s wife is Methodist and they are raising their son in both “churches.” This is the one-world church! Maher sings “Lord, I Need You,” but what Lord? Keith Getty also collaborated with Roman Catholic Margaret Becker in the song “Jesus Draw Me Ever Nearer.” This is the ecumenical world of the Gettys. They are fairly conservative in their own theology (Reformed) and lives, but they have no boundaries. Therefore, any bridge that Bible-believing churches build to the Gettys is a bridge to heretics such as C.S. Lewis and Bono, to the Roman Catholic Church, to the charismatic movement, and to the filthy world of secular rock. Pastors who are allowing bridges to be built from their churches to these people will answer to God for the souls that cross such bridges to a most dangerous spiritual world.
(Friday Church News Notes, December 10, 2021, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)