I recall attending worship services where the worship leader and band members spent more time interacting with the crowd and showcasing their vocal range and guitar riffs than pointing us to the true object of Christian worship—Jesus Christ. It’s been a while, but it always had me thinking about how the line between a secular concert and a worship service has become perilously blurred in modern Evangelicalism.

In this glittering arena of contemporary “worship,” I find myself increasingly disheartened by what I see. Smoke machines and light shows eclipse the pulpit making me question the true focus of this industry. Is it genuinely about honoring and glorifying God, or is it more about promoting the artists themselves?

Sadly, it seems that much of what passes for worship today is little more than a platform for self-idolatry, driven by an insatiable desire for fame and fortune. In this industry, commercial success is vitally important, almost always overshadowing genuine devotion to God, let alone theological integrity.

Today’s worship music scene is riddled with examples where the focus shifts from God to the performer. Many so-called worship leaders craft songs that are steeped in emotional manipulation, designed to elicit a response from the audience that is more about the experience than about true worship.

Charity Gayle, an up-and-coming highly popular artist in this genre, exemplifies this trend. Her song “New Name Written Down in Glory” is a prime example, where the repetition of “I,” “me,” and “mine” dominates the lyrics, overshadowing any genuine reference to God. This self-centered approach to worship is not simply a quirk of modern music but a central tenet of it, and more importantly, a profound theological mistake that turns the focus away from God in all His glory and onto the individual and what “God can do for me.”

But what if some of this music is really biblically sound? It’s a hypothetical defense often raised by proponents of contemporary worship music, and it is a matter of fact that much contemporary music produced by such people is solid. However, this question itself demands a more thorough examination—one that brings us to the very heart of the matter:

If Satan himself wrote biblically sound worship music, would you sing it in church?

The short answer to this is, for most people, they probably would. They simply don’t care. But, for the more reasonable Christian, perhaps the one who actually (gasp?) believes the Bible, to answer this, we must first delve into the examples of contemporary worship music that, despite having the appearance of doctrinal soundness, emanate from sources steeped in theological error and heresy.

Let’s take Charity Gayle again, whose association with the United Pentecostal Church (UPC) places her outside the bounds of biblical Christianity. The UPC denies the essential doctrine of the Trinity, a foundational cornerstone of orthodox Christianity, and presents a completely false God who is foreign to His revealed word. Therefore, any music emerging from this source, regardless of its lyrical content, carries the taint of heresy and should be avoided by true believers.

Similarly, Bethel Church in Redding, California, has built its reputation on emotionally charged music that overshadows sound theology. Bethel’s practices, such as “grave soaking,” the promotion of the heretical prosperity gospel, and their denial of various other core Christian doctrines, reveal a deep-seated departure from biblical Christianity. Their music, designed to create an emotional high, seduces the listener into an experience that prioritizes personal feelings over the worship of God.

Hillsong, another giant in the contemporary worship music industry, is equally culpable. Known for its polished productions and emotionally stirring music, Hillsong preaches rank heresy—the prosperity gospel that distorts the gospel into sensuality.

Hillsong’s focus on material success and personal well-being, usually at the expense of sound biblical truth, reveals a fundamental misalignment with God’s word. Hillsong’s music, while sometimes lyrically sound, interestingly serves as a gateway drug to their broader theological errors, leading believers astray.

Even Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, as the Apostle Paul warns in 2 Corinthians 11:14. If the most evil being in existence can deceive with the appearance of goodness, how much more can his followers—these so-called worship leaders—seduce with their seemingly sound music? The snare of emotional highs and the superficial appeal of contemporary worship songs mask the underlying spiritual poison and false teachings of their creators.

The argument that some of the music might have biblically true lyrics is moot. It really doesn’t matter and it is only used as a smokescreen by these aberrant movements to gain credibility while seducing believers into their false doctrines. By singing their songs, we inadvertently endorse their teachings and grant them a foothold in our congregations.

The danger lies not in the lyrics themselves but in the associations and influences that come with them. And the bottom line is that by allowing their music into your churches and your lives, you actually are singing and worshiping to music written by Satan.