A trailer for The Jesus Music has just dropped; a Lionsgate documentary that delves into the roots and origins of Contemporary Christian Music.
Released by the Erwin Breothers, who directed movies such as “I Can Only Imagine’, ‘I still Believe’, and ‘Woodland’, “This documentary reveals Jesus Music’s untold story – from its humble beginnings at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California through its transformation into the multi-billion-dollar industry of Christian Contemporary Music today.”
The film features interviews with a host of Christian musicians, including Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Kevin Max, Trey Pearson, TobyMac, Kirk Franklin, Lauren Daigle, Lecrae, For King & Country, Bill Reeves, Chris Tomlin, Bill Gaither, and others.
While we can’t speak for everyone to determine the extent of their beliefs, about a third of the artists featured have either come out in support of homosexuality and same-sex marriage or are deeply compromised and confused on the issue, offering a glimpse into the direction things are headed.
Lauren Daigle. In 2018 when Ellen asked Daigle if she believed homosexuality was a sin, she replied
“I can’t say one way or the other, I’m not God. When people ask questions like that, I just say, ‘Read the Bible and find out for yourself. And when you find out let me know because I’m learning too.”
Trey Pearson. Pearson came out as a homosexual in 2016, telling fans in a letter:
“To make an extremely long story short, I have come to be able to admit to myself, and to my family, that I am gay.”
Amy Grant. Grant has had a very loud and vocal LGBTQ fanbase for years. A few days ago she shared her affirmation with Proud Radio host Hunter Kelly, who himself is gay, telling him she affirmed him as he was, much to the joy of gay twitter, who celebrated the words. She said:
“Who loves us more than the one who made us? None of us are a surprise to God. Nothing about who we are or what we’ve done. That’s why, to me, it’s so important to set a welcome table. Because I was invited to a table where someone said ‘don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ …Gay. Straight. It does not matter. It doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired. We’re all our best selves when we believe to our core, ‘I’m loved.’ And then our creativity flourishes. We’re like, ‘I’m gonna arrange flowers on your table and my table.’ When we’re loved, we’re brave enough to say yes to every good impulse that comes to us.”:
Kevin Max. Max wrote on his Twitter feed a few months ago that he was “Pro-Love, Pro-LGBTQIA”
Kirk Franklin. Franklin has apologized multiple times for people expressing ‘homophobia’ when explaining what the bible says, saying:
“The Bible is not a book that’s an attack on gay people. It’s not a book written to attack gay people. It is horrible that we have made it where the Bible is a homophobic manual. That’s not what the Bible is. I mean you want to talk about things that God gets at…pride and jealousy and envy and arrogance.’
And then in 2018 and 2021with the Breakfast Club:
“All Scripture is God-breathed … but what we have to understand also is that the Canon of Scripture still is coming from a place of a loving God. God is not built to hate gay people. The Bible is not a manual on how to hate gay people.”
…It’s that you have some LGBTQIA+ people that make decisions- like I have some close gay friends who make decisions based on their interpretation of the Bible, and they live out their lives based on whether celibacy, or whatever they choose to do, and they should have the right to do that… A lot of people that maybe profess Christianity, they have views that are not even bibliocentric. It’s their personal views that they do not understand, sometimes maybe the biology of homosexuality, and so they want to find a scripture to try to justify their own homophobic views.”
Lecrae:. In a 2020 interview with DJ Vlad, the host pressed Lecrae on his opinion of Chick-Fil-A President Dan Cathy making statements that are pro-family and against homosexuality, wanting to know if he agrees with them.
Lecrae, clearly not wanting to discuss any of this, put on some comically clueless facial expressions and awkwardly asking Vlad “Does he still stand by that today?” Vlad confirms he has and asks what Lecrae would do if his son came out as gay, and he replied, looking uncomfortable as all get out:
“My thing is like this, I don’t… like… my brother’s gay..you know what I’m saying? And I don’t…I don’t condemn him. I don’t look down on him for him being attracted to [the same sex]. I don’t condemn him, you know what I’m saying? Like, if anything we will dialogue so that I can have a better understanding. Cuz’ I don’t profess to be like ‘I got this all figured out, and I know the way this should be.’ Like, I’m trying to read the bible, I’m trying to have conversations with people, and I’m trying to understand, you know the perspective, you know what I’m saying?
And I feel like anybody who wants to come at a person negatively, like, if you were a Christian and you came at me negatively, then it’s like you’re not giving me the grace and the space to be a learner. You know what I mean? Help me, you know, give me the grace and space to learn, and that’s how we move forward…
You can point something out to me and say ‘hey, this is what it says, Lecrae. You should know better, you should know this.’ Well, you know, give me the grace and the space to take my time and to understand the perspective on it and to understand why these people think this way and like, that’s the perspective I have. I’m more of a learner and I give people the grace and the space as I’m processing and as I’m learning and just walk with people through that, you know what I mean? Just be a life-long learner, man.
A sign of the times, we’re sure.
