A Seventh-day Adventist Church Hosted a Sabbath Rap, Pop, and Dynamic Christian Music Concert with Songs by Janet Jackson and Naughty by Nature

“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” Job 14:4.

On Sabbath, May 27, 2023, starting at 5:00 p.m., the Beacon Light Tabernacle Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wappingers Falls, NY, hosted the 27th Anniversary celebration of God’s Hands, a Seventh-day Adventist music and dance ministry. The concert included a variety of dance performances as well as secular songs by artists like Janet Jackson, such as “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” and the rap group Naughty by Nature’s “You Down with OPP.” The rap lyrics were changed from “You Down with OPP?” to “You Down with G-O-D?” and Janet Jackson’s song was change to “What Have you done for Him Lately?”

One of the concert’s organizers, who also performed, said at its conclusion that we shouldn’t “demonize” things to which we are not accustomed, such as loud music. Instead, we should embrace the new dance and singing styles, appreciate them, and see “the God” in them because these forms of contemporary worship might just be what keeps our children attending church. Ubadire Ogbuehi, the pastor of Beacon Light SDA Tabernacle, offered the closing prayer and thanked God for His “tremendous” blessings throughout the concert.

When we play worldly rap beats and have young people imitating rappers in church, who are we worshiping? Our holy Creator? When we use Janet Jackson’s music and dance to it in church, who is glorified? God? Which God? When the same songs that are played in dance clubs are played on the same platforms where pastors preach the word of God, that isn’t worship; it’s an abomination masquerading as worship. We are witnessing how worship is being modified to fit our depraved, fallen human natures. Rap and pop music are being incorporated into the gospel ministry as our churches become indistinguishable from the houses of pleasure in this world.

“Never bring the truth down to a low level in order to obtain converts, but seek to bring the sinful and corrupted up to the high standard of the law of God” (Evangelism, p. 137).

Unfortunately, there are countless churches that promote a comfortable, stylish, and modern version of the faith to better suit the entertainment needs of unconverted people. Rap and pop music are reshaping churches and turning them into worldly dance clubs that are devoid of God’s Holy Spirit, and it doesn’t matter how much they pray for God’s presence; God is not in those dance hall displays. This is precisely how the Omega of Apostasy would appear, as we were warned.

Seventh-day Adventists are embracing the rap culture and merging these worldly elements with Adventism, creating a new amalgamation and calling it evangelism. You cannot mix the sacred with the secular. You cannot mix Christianity with the common. That is called religious syncretism—the blending of two opposed belief systems into one. A new perverted gospel is created, and a new emerging culture is born. This results in the creation of a mutant gospel that’s been morphed with the elements of rap and dance music. This is not something that God is calling us to do. God’s word tells us to put all the old things of this world behind us:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

When we come to Christ, the old cultures are passed away, and we become new creatures with new desires, new feelings, new attitudes, and new purposes in a new heavenly culture that’s based on purity and holiness. All things become new while all the old things pass away. We don’t mix the old with the new.

The problem with the hip-hop culture, the rap culture, the rock culture, the pop culture, the heavy metal culture, the jazz culture, and all the other cultures of this world is that they are all sinful and corrupt. The entire rap culture came straight out of the streets and ghettos. It was originally associated with break-dancing, DJs, beat-boxing, rapping, graffiti, gold chains, and fancy jumpsuits. Sadly, today it has become synonymous with pimps, prostitution, thugs, gangsters, murder, drugs, greed, violence, and objectifying and belittling women. This is the new reality when defining rap culture.

There is no such thing as holy hip-hop, just as there is no such thing as a ghetto gospel, Crips for Christ, blessed Bloods, theology thugs, pious pimps, God’s gangsters, righteous rappers, divine DJs, or hallowed homeboys. And tragically, rap music does in fact have a bad reputation for evoking vulgar images, negative distractions, and other toxic feelings. If you don’t believe me, consider the reason why so many rappers are dying at such a young age.

Many churches, in their efforts to reach young people, have brought in rap, rock, and pop music. Instead of preaching about the sinful temptations of music, they tempt the youth with worldly musical entertainment. Many of these churches have become biblically illiterate and largely devoid of the true gospel, and they do this purposefully in an effort to appear relevant for the younger generation. This is exactly how the purity that should exist among God’s people becomes compromised and corrupted. If this apostasy that is sweeping Adventism is ignored, it will only multiply in the church and spin out of control.

“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.” 2 Peter 2:20.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” 1 Timothy 1:4.

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-8.