I’m going to make some of you mad here. But then if I didn’t want to make people mad, I should never have become a columnist. I am not a fan of Contemporary Christian Music. Now, before you start throwing guitar picks and capos at me, hear me out. I admit that I harbor a love of liturgy and the “smells, bells, and yells.” So when it comes to sacred music, I lean toward Gregorian/Eastern Orthodox chants. But I also understand that for some, CCM provides an important element to church, so you do you. It’s all good.
There were several nails in the coffin when it came to CCM for me. Although during my time as an evangelical, I really tried to get on board with the genre. One was a young woman who called K-LOVE to thank the station for its playlist that “saved” her husband. Pardon my skepticism, but if your husband was saved, madam, it was by Jesus. Not the jocks at K-LOVE. Another came when I visited a mega church in Texas and the worship band was so loud that it gave me a brief bout of tinnitus. The church members found that hilarious. Still another was hammered in when I worked at a Christian radio station. The GM told me that the station did not play CCM since the music was groomed and tuned to mimic whatever the popular sound was at the moment. And that the whole thing was a money grab. For reference, find that episode of “South Park” where the boys realize that they can become a Christian band by taking popular songs and replacing the word “baby” with “Jesus.”
But really, the moment that I began to doubt came when I was at my original church. The earnest young worship leader stood up with his guitar to lead the congregation in a song that I believe was called, “Your Love is Marvelous.” One of the lines went something to the effect of wanting to “smell God in the secret place.” I know what the songwriter was trying to convey. But the truth is, wanting to smell someone “in the secret place” just sounds creepy. I don’t want to smell anybody “in the secret place.” God included.
Sorry if I offend anyone, but CCM could probably use an overhaul.
So with all of that in mind, it should come as no surprise that a drag queen is currently topping the charts in iTunes’ Christian Music. According to the online magazine Them, a drag queen who goes by the name Flamy Grant recorded a song called “Boys Will Be Girls” by Derek Webb. The song is about LGBTQ+ people who have been rejected by their churches. In the video, Grant performs the song in full drag, complete with a blue wig. Here is a sample of the lyrics provided by Them:
I heard Jesus loved and spent his life with those who / were abandoned by proud and fearful men / So if a church won’t celebrate and love you / they’re believing lies that can’t save you or them / ’cause you’re so beautiful by any name.
Grant, who is a former worship leader, is enjoying the ride to the top thanks in part to a feud with Sean Feucht. Feucht’s website refers to him as “a missionary, musician, activist, author, and speaker. He married his high school sweetheart Kate, and together with their four children Keturah, Malachi, Ezra, and Zion, Sean travels the world sharing the life-changing power of the Gospel.”
Feucht took issue with the song and Grant fired back:
End goal? Baby, we’re just getting started. 😘
— Flamy Grant (@FlamyGrant) July 26, 2023
That speaks volumes about Grant. But Feucht reportedly served as a worship leader at Bethel Church in Redding, Calif. Bethel has had its own issues with theology over the years.
Be that as it may, there is a spiritual problem with the trans movement that makes it incompatible with Christianity. Yes, there is the sexual component, but that is not what I am referring to. The trans/Pride movement is predicated on drawing attention, accolades, and affirmation for oneself. Not only is there a demand to be accepted, but a demand to be celebrated and a concerted effort to convert others to the lifestyle while condemning anyone who disagrees or who is just not interested. And in Christian terms, the movement wants to remake the church and God in its own image. It wants to dictate the nature of God and force God to become what it wishes Him to be. Aside from self-obsession, this is idolatry in its purest form. As such, it is the worship of the self and not the Divine.
Anyone who has sat through sermons by recent bible school grads has heard dissertations on the woman at the well and the woman condemned to be stoned for adultery. Usually, the focus of the sermon is that Jesus accepted the person in question. While that is true, Jesus did not leave those women as he found them. He left them changed, renewed, and aware of something greater than themselves. The people who followed Jesus allowed themselves to be changed by him, and those that refused were left to go their way.
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Nobody Likes Lukewarm Water
Sin can certainly be sexual. And as a child of a man whose mother tried to trans him, sexual sin can reverberate in ways of which one cannot conceive. But in this case, the sin is indeed pride. The pride that says that the world and God Almighty must bend themselves to one’s own whims and wills. One then chooses to succumb to one’s sins rather than wrestle with them. After all, succumbing to sin can make one happy, at least in the short term. And isn’t that what God wants for us? Well, no. God would prefer that we be holy rather than satiated. And that is admittedly not an easy task for anyone.
And in that respect, Grant is no more guilty than many other Christians. In churches across the nation, people seek to create God in their own image. I was still at my old church when “Duck Dynasty” became a hit. Overnight, people began to see the Louisiana Duck hunting family as the epitome of what it meant to be good Christians. People started wearing camo and at one point, the preacher told the congregation that “Jesus was a redneck.” The problem was that “Duck Dynasty” was a popular show. The Robertsons are vocal Christians. And because of that, millions of Christians began to chase the world. The Robertsons were famous, and so they became who to follow. All of a sudden, the world was dictating what it meant to be Christian. I would hope the Robertsons would be the first to admonish such people. I briefly worked in a Christian bookstore as a side gig, right when the “Duck Dynasty” fad was starting to wane. But the t-shirts, decorations, and books kept rolling in. At times it was next to impossible to find space on the shelves for it all. The world is fickle. God is not.
It does not matter if Grant’s single was propelled to fame by the trans community or by Christians chasing the world and the popularity it promises. In both cases, people are thumbing their noses at God and favoring themselves. Rather than rebuking the Pharisees, they are indulging in Original Sin.
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