In October of last year, Reformation Charlotte reported that popular Christian Contemporary artist, TobyMac’s son had passed away in his home. At the time, the cause was unknown. Truett Foster McKeehan, who was 21-years-old at the time of his passing, was an aspiring rapper who released songs and videos online as Truett Foster, truDog, TRU, and Shiloh.
People Magazine now reports that the cause of McKeehan’s death was due to an accidental overdose of illicit drugs — amphetamines.
A representative for the Christian rapper confirms to PEOPLE that McKeehan died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl and amphetamines.
Illicit drugs are not an epidemic primarily reserved for Hollywood and the secular entertainment industry. It is also widespread in the so-called Christian entertainment industry as well and particularly in the mainstream contemporary music industry. As Reformation Charlotte has written before, the problem with the Contemporary Christian Music industry isn’t necessarily the lyrics or the music itself, but the fact that the industry takes the glory away from God by placing man in the spotlight.
We hear about the artist. We hear about what the artist is doing, how many followers on social media they have, what kind of good deeds they’ve been up to. Rarely, is the fruit of modern Christian pop culture God’s glory. This places an enormous burden on people that we are not designed to bear — and this, very often, leads one to turn to alternative coping methods ranging from drug use to even in some cases, suicide.
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The commercialized Christian music industry not only enables this idolatry but promotes it to the degree that God’s glory is robbed from Him at many levels, including in churches. The vast majority of Christian contemporary music is produced by celebrity artists who’ve compromised on biblical truths in order to serve their own selfish desires.
The world wants to hear what these people say. The world likes it because what they say dismantles the biblical truths set forth by God in the revelation of His son Jesus Christ. The Biblical truths that we’ve held for so long–truths such as human depravity, the exclusivity of Christ, and God’s hatred of sin–are whitewashed with affirming antics and nuanced language that effectively stains the image of God from his perfect glory.
We should — and will — continue to pray for TobyMac and his family’s tragic loss and that ultimately, God will be glorified in this horrific incident.
