When the Church Becomes More Like a Nightclub than a Sanctuary

On June 13, 2026, the Mamre Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brooklyn, New York, held a musical concert that bore a troubling resemblance to the very kind of worship styles Ellen G. White warned against. The driving music, rhythmic dancing, bodily excitement, amplified noise, and entertainment-like atmosphere turn the sanctuary into something radically different from the reverent worship of a holy God. [1]

Ellen White warned that a time would come when there would be “shouting, with drums, music, and dancing,” and declared that such methods could produce a “bedlam of noise” that confuses the senses. Her warning was whenever rhythm, noise, excitement, and physical demonstrations become the prevailing emphasis in our worship experience.

“The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time” (Selected Messages, Vol. 2, p. 36).

There is a legitimate question every Seventh-day Adventist should ask: If you removed the religious lyrics, the pulpit, and the church sign, what would distinguish this atmosphere from the entertainment found in a nightclub, concert hall, party, or bar? Sacred words do not automatically sanctify a worldly style of presentation. Putting Christian lyrics over entertainment-driven music does not transform it or sanctify it into worship.

The purpose of worship is not to excite the nerves, stimulate the body, or reproduce the atmosphere of secular entertainment. Worship should elevate the mind, awaken conviction, direct attention to Christ, and impress eternal truth upon the heart. The Seventh-day Adventist Church was raised up to proclaim the solemn Three Angels’ Messages to a dying world. At this hour, our churches should be places of reverence, where heaven draws near because our worship honors God and meets with His approval. We should never have to wonder whether we have entered a sanctuary—or a religious version of a nightclub.

Sources

[1] https://www.youtube.com/live/nzyTg-Pl4Gg?is=frIQN7Z905tFJUrf