So He fashioned me -- Misty Edwards
I wanna be an extravagant lover
An offering, a sacrifice for thee
I find in you my passion and pleasure
Til I am consumed with the spirit of burning
A laid down lover, that's what I wanna be -- Nikki Mathis
Misty Edwards is the Worship Leader for the International House of Prayer (IHOP), led by the wildly heretical Mike Bickle. This is not to be confused with the pancake franchise, which has far better waffles and theology. At Bickle's IHOP, they teach impressionable youth the sexually charged Bridal Paradigm, which is a gross distortion of the Bible. Youth are led to believe they are the Bride of Christ instead of the collective church. Even more problematic is they all appear to be really looking forward to the honeymoon. God is reduced down to carnal and lustful terms. Instead of the Almighty, He is just a lover looking for a lover. The notions of Him "wooing me" and Him "wanting me" are akin to the narcissistic self-worship we have been discussing. He is only relevant in light of His desire for us. Once again, how great I am because look at how much He loves me! Likewise, Nikki Mathis is an up and coming worship star who sees her god only through the lustful lens of the world. Finding this bedroom god within her passion and pleasure and wanting to be consumed with a spirit of burning? She just wants to be a laid down lover? Pass the disinfectant.
I say this as a backdrop of some recent stories that are quite disturbing to my Spirit. Stories involving the church itself and what they are allowing and incorporating into worship. We saw last month that mega-heretic Andy Stanley has now turned over his worship set to the world. One week he had a sexually charged boy band song because his seeker friendly theme that week was the 1990s. The following week he had his worship band do a Beatles set to celebrate the 1960s. It was only fitting that this would soon be followed by a sermon where Stanley argued that Christianity no longer needs the Bible. What the heck right? If you are not going to follow it anyway, may as well. Let us remember the previous year in which we saw the following all done during what was supposed to be church worship:
Hillsong London performed the club hit, "I like to Move It, Move It."
Hillsong Australia performed a burlesque version of Silent Night.
