Just another Bethel self worship platform pretending to praise God...

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But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." - John 4:23-24 (ESV)

I understand that we like our worship music and do not often pay the same scrutiny to it that we pay to preaching. In many ways, false worship can be just as damaging because not only is the general message wrong, but we internalize it without question. I will never forget one time visiting a church, walking in late, and shuffling into the pew and putting my hands up in worship, which was already underway. It was the first time I felt the Holy Spirit literally lower my arms, which made me pay closer attention to the lyrics on the screen. The song was called "How He Loves Us" and the lyrics were horrific and heretical. Something about being a tree to God's hurricane, the Lord giving an unforeseen kiss to the world, me being the portion of the Lord, and the general narcissism of telling God how much He loves us. This is how much modern worship has devolved due to the various false theologies that these musical outfits emanate from. Most popular worship comes from Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation, which are three of the worst bastions of false teaching on the planet. Is it any wonder they cannot produce theologically sound music?

Worship music becomes what we believe because it is repeated ad nauseum during service, what musicians refer to as the "hook." A simple example is the horrible song, "Friend of God," written by Israel Houghton, who was the worship leader for Joel Osteen at the time. Oh, and he was also fathering two children out of wedlock at the same time, hardly, friend of God material. The song itself when sung in church is just repeatedly singing to the Lord that I am indeed a friend of God, but the reality is singing that does not actually make you a friend of God - obedience does. Since the onslaught of purpose driven, me centric theology into the apostate church over the past three decades we have gone from How Great Thou Art to How He Loves Me. One song is to and about God and the other is to ourselves and about ourselves. If you ever wondered where the arrogance comes from for folks to stand by absurdly false teaching, look no further than false worship they ingest. We might point out the truth, but they have already convinced themselves that they are a friend of God and oh, how He loves them. Which brings us to today's offering, Champion by Bethel Music. So, buckle up beloved and let's go through this line by line to see why it should never be sung in churches today:

I've tried so hard to see it
Took me so long to believe it
That You'd choose someone like me
To carry Your victory

One of the core teachings of Bethel and the apostate church in general is the sense of specialness. Ironically, Rick Warren starts off the Purpose Driven Life by declaring it is not all about you and then spends the rest of the book teaching that it is all about you. About how God designed you with a special purpose in mind from the foundations of the earth. To move mountains, or possibly serve in the Parking Lot Ministry of your local mega church. The reality is that most Christian lives are probably pretty mundane. The idea is to represent Christ to a dying world, not seek out our own personal greatness. The reason why it may have taken you so long to believe it is because He did not "choose someone like you." Jesus died so that all might be saved. I am afraid where this is going with the carry Your victory line. Continuing:

Perfection could never earn it
You give what we don't deserve and
You take the broken things
And raise them to glory

Ok, I may think this is clumsy, but it is not overall inaccurate. You have to understand something. Not every word in a false worship song is wrong just like a false teacher often says absolutely correct things. I am reminded of the popular Hillsong record, "What a Beautiful Name." Overall, the song is nice until you get to that one part about God not wanting heaven without us so Jesus brought heaven down. If your faith includes the belief that the creator of the universe just couldn't bear the thought of being with you, then it Is not God you are worshipping. The bringing heaven down is straight up false signs and lying wonders theology, such as we see in Bethel and Hillsong.

You are my champion
Giants fall when You stand
Undefeated
Every battle You've won

I am who You say I am
You crown me with confidence
I am seated
In the Heavenly place
Undefeated
With the One who has conquered it all

Now it starts to go really downhill. I am who You say I am? First of all, I find it unseemly to refer to ourselves with the term "I am" but some might think that is hairsplitting. Moving past that, I am wretched. I am a sinner. My heart is the most wickedly deceitful thing ever created. Thank God for the grace and mercy I have received for I deserve none of it! That is who "I am." God does not crown us with confidence, and there is no bible verse that says that. What about being crowned with humility? What about being crowned with obedience? What about being crowned with forgiveness? Never lose sight that this is designed as a worship song to sing to God! Look at me God! I am seated in heavenly places! The way the lyric reads, I am now the undefeated one, with the One who has conquered it all. Yes, He has conquered it all but I have not won anything! Nor can I win anything! Undefeated? Our whole lives was one long defeat after another until the grace and mercy of Christ found us. Imagine singing to the creator of the entire universe about your own confidence, that you are so special as to sit in heavenly places, and that we are undefeated. That is breathtakingly arrogant. Is it scriptural to say we are seated in heavenly places? Sure, as it pertains to eternal life however, not this one. More importantly how is worshipping God to remind Him of that? It is not. This song is worshipping ourselves, and it gets worse.

Now I can finally see it
You're teaching me how to receive it
So let all the striving cease, oh
This is my victory

Whose victory? MY victory. This is becoming as petulant as the Blessing of Abraham, where we shout to God to give us our inheritance! This is HIS victory beloved. We had NOTHING to do with it. I hate to break it to you, but it is not God teaching you how to receive this horrible theology, it is Bethel. Let all the striving cease? No! Do the work of a Berean! Work out your salvation with fear and trembling! We should be striving to become more Christlike until the day He calls us home and when He does - that is not us being victorious.

When I lift my voice and shout
Every wall comes crashing down
I have the authority (yes, I do)
Jesus has given me
When I open up my mouth
Miracles start breaking out
I have the authority
Jesus has given me

No, you don't. This is more of the false authority paradigm that Bethel loves to teach as well as their acceptance of word faith heresy. The lifting your voice and shouting for walls to come down is a reference to Jericho and I hate to break it to you - you were not there. You are not the hero of Jericho. You are not David staring down your giants. You are more like the frightened Israelites cowering fear until the true Champion, God, showed up. So, when we open our mouths, miracles start breaking out? Really? Then go down to the Emergency Room and start saving some lives. The truth is you do not see faith healers in the Emergency Room for the same reason you don't see prophets or psychics wining the lottery. Miracles belong to God, not us. Yes, there is the gift of miracles, but it is God that does the work. Again, keep in mind that we are supposed to be singing this song to God as some form of worship. How is it worship to tell God that we have the authority to tear walls down with a shout and perform mighty miracles? It reminds me of the hell bound folks in Matthew 7 declaring Lord Lord who are dumbfounded and say did we not perform mighty works in Your name! That's just mighty works but according to Bethel music, miracles of God can be directly attributable to us merely by opening our mouths and singing this to God is somehow, "worship." Once again, this song is not worshipping God. It is worshipping ourselves. I lift My voice and shout. I have the authority. When I open MY mouth. So bad and so arrogant.

I am who You say I am
You crown me with confidence
I am seated
In the Heavenly place
Undefeated
By the power of Your name

I am seated in the Heavenly place
Undefeated
With the One who has conquered it all
I know who I am, because I know whose I am, Hallelujah

While the bulk of these are repeating earlier stanzas, the final line has been changed in both. There is power in the name of Jesus but not to boast about ourselves. The problem is Bethel's theology turns Jesus into a partner. Or a co-pilot. Or a wing man (which was an actual sermon once). If Jesus is not your Lord and Savior, then it is not Jesus you are in "relationship" with. This humanizing of Christ is a Bethel specialty of their teaching, so it is no wonder it spilled over into their music. If Jesus is your copilot, then you are sitting in the wrong seat. The other change is cute but if you have believed in a false christ, then that is "whose you are." Mercifully, this narcissistic smorgasbord ends:

There's nothing left to prove
There's nothing left to prove
He freely gave it to us

He freely gave us salvation. He freely gave us mercy. He freely gave us grace. For those things, He is greatly to be praised. He did not however give us authority to shout the walls of Jericho down or speak miracles into existence. Those are powers HE alone has. We should not be found usurping the power or glory of God. We certainly should not be found bragging about doing so directly to God and daring to call it worship. As usual when speaking about worship the key verses is Jesus' teaching about true worship being in spirit and truth. The truth means the word of God and the spirit means by the indwelt Holy Spirit. It is the spirit that leads us into all truth. That means what we say to God in worship better be reflective of His truth and bear witness to His spirit. Like most modern worship, Champion pays lip service to God but only to exalt ourselves. Reading these lyrics, one must conclude that we are the champion, not God. There is a technical word for that, blasphemy.

Reverend Anthony Wade - November 6, 2023

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.