Contents:
Introduction
The Bible and the 1689 on Worship
Examples of Bad Worship
Examples of Ugly Worship
Examples of Good Worship
Verse 1 vs. Verse 1
Verse 2 vs. Verse 2
Verse 3 vs. Verse 3
Verse 4 vs. Verse 4
More on Structure and Conclusion
Citations
Contemporary Christian music and its consequences have been a disaster for the Christian race (cf. 1 Peter 2:9). They have greatly increased the excitement of worship for those of us who attend "Biblical" churches, but they have destabilized worship, have made praise unfulfilling, have subjected brothers and sisters in Christ to irreverence, have led to widespread spiritual suffering (in the Charismatic Movement to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the Christian world. The continued development of cookie-cutter spiritual songs will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater iniquities and inflict greater damage on the Christian world, it will probably lead to greater church disruption and spiritual suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in non-Charismatic churches.
A primary example of this is "Messiah / You're Beautiful" by Phil Wickham. However, Wickham, in writing this, takes things a step further; not only is he writing an anthropocentric worship song, he is ripping off the classic hymn "How Great Thou Art." This paper will show how Wickham is doing so, as well as how irreverent and badly done the ripoff is. Many versions of "How Great Thou Art" only feature the first, third, and fourth verses. However, the version by Chris Rice will be used for two reasons:
A) Rice's rendition of the song provides the second verse, which is crucial to the comparison between the hymn and Wickham's song.
B) Both are approximately 4:53 in length, and this paper will show that only one uses all 4:53 to honour God and give Him the glory.
All scripture cited will be from the NASB95 translation, unless otherwise noted.
The Bible clearly lays out how worship ought to be conducted. While many across denominations disagree on what is permissible in worship, those same people, particularly those in non-Charismatic and non-lukewarm churches, tend to agree on what is truly prohibited, and actively seek to avoid such practices.
Chapter 22.5, 1689 London Baptist Confession
The reading of the Scriptures, preaching, and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord; as also the administration of baptism, and the Lord's supper, are all parts of religious worship of God, to be performed in obedience to him, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation, with fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in a holy and religious manner.
(Ex. 15:1-19, Est. 4:16, Joel 2:12, Matt. 28:19-20, Luke 8:18, 1 Cor. 11:26, Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16, 1 Tim. 4:13, 2 Tim. 4:2)
Questions 59 through 62 of Keach's Catechism (which is to the 1689 Confession as the Westminster Shorter Catechism is to the Westminster Confession) highlight how God's name is not meant to be misused or abused by irreverence. Now the most obvious example of misusing or abusing God's name is uttering the phrase "Oh my God" when reacting to LITERALLY anything surprising or shocking that happens, but this is far from the only example.
Other examples include:
1 - Using the name of God to commit various acts of hatred, such as the NIFBs hurling insults and sowing division against other Christians that have disagreements with their (oftentimes false) doctrines (cf. Titus 3:10, 1 John 3:10-16).
2 - Using the name of God to sow other kinds of division, not necessarily over doctrine, but sometimes rather over personal choices (cf. Rom. 14:10-17, 1 John 3:10-16).
3 - Using the name of God to justify and condone all kinds of major sins, which progressive Christians tend to do, especially concerning LGBT-related sins (cf. Lev. 18:22, 20:13, Rom. 1:18-32, 1 Cor. 6:9-11) as well as letting women preach (cf. 1 Tim. 2:11-3:13).
However, there is a more subtle variant of irreverence that many Christians, despite exercising discernment over the most obvious Bible violations, tend to miss: A low view of God when it comes to worship. Instead of looking at God as a sinless, thrice-holy God, they view Him as a squishy, lover-type God. Instead of singing about God being a fount of providence, He is reduced to a fount of carnal love. Before I get into the example I would like to get into, let us look at a few other worship songs.
Chris Tomlin, "Sing, Sing, Sing"
Sing, sing, sing || And make music with the heavens || We will sing, sing, sing || Grateful that You hear us || When we shout your praise || Lift high the name of Jesus
Okay, this one is not THAT bad, but first of all, the song as a whole is too focused on getting the crowd riled up, and second of all, there is little mention of WHY we praise Jesus – no mention of His death and resurrection whatsoever, and a flippant mention of His love for His people at best. That, and it has a mild significant other mentality attached to Him.
Bethel Music, "King of My Heart"
You are good || You're good, oh-oh || You are good || You're good, oh-oh || You're never gonna let, You're never gonna let me down || And You're never gonna let, You're never gonna let me down
A lot of vain repetition in the quoted verses, which Matthew 6:7 warns against. The first two verses of the whole song are certainly better than a lot of the stuff Bethel usually puts out, but then again those first two verses serve as a Trojan horse anyways.
"Matt, these are not that bad!" Yes they are. "Certainly there has to be songs that are worse than this though!" There definitely are worse songs than this. Let us just skip the blatant vain repetition in songs such as "The Blessing" or "Surrounded (Fight My Battles)" or "I've been tempted many times, O God You're so good, O God You're so great, O God You're so good, O God isn't it great" (cf. Spencer Smith's "Witchcraft in the Church"), and go to some even worse examples.
Hillsong Young & Free, "Real Love"
Staring into Your eyes || Makes my heart come alive || Suddenly brought to life || When I met You || Reaching beyond the skies || Running deep, stretching wide || Perfect love realized || Here with You
"Oh yeah baby I've fallen in love with you"-type beat. Without the mention of "Jesus" in the chorus, I would not be able to tell this apart from a secular love song. To be honest, the mention of "Jesus" does not help all that much.
Cory Asbury, "Reckless Love"
O, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
God's love cannot be "reckless," because God's love is too perfect, just, and holy.
O, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found,
"Hey Calvinist guys look we're talking about irresistible grace!" No, you make God sound like a creepy stalker.
leaves the ninety-nine || I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
"No seriously Calvinist guys look, we're doing unconditional election!" Please stop, you effeminate freak.
Hillsong Young & Free, "Wake"
You will never fade away, Your love is here to stay || By my side, in my life, shining through me everyday || You wake within me, wake within me || You're in my heart forever
I am a bit disappointed in myself for not seeing through this one, because this is quite obvious - no direct mention of Jesus, no direct mention of God and His holiness - and even more disappointed in myself for playing this with my worship band as a teenager. And yes, I was in a Charismatic worship band at my church for a short period of time. Go ahead, bring out the chopping block. Burn me like one of your Foxe martyrs. "But Matt, there MUST be better worship than this!" Luckily for you, there is.
Frederick H. Hedge, "A Mighty Fortress" (originally Martin Luther, "Ein Feste Burg")
Let goods and kindred go || This mortal life also || The body they may kill || God's truth abideth still || His kingdom is forever
First of all, this hymn is literally based off of Psalm 46. Second of all, the hymn has a "whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it" (Luke 9:24) tone to it. Read Luke 9:23-27 – the whole passage – and you will see what I try to get at here.
Matt Boswell, "God Omniscient, God All Knowing"
God omnipotent and mighty, inexhaustible his strength || Governments and fleeting powers, melt before his majesty || How unsearchable his greatness, how inscrutable his ways || Sing his greatness and preeminence over all created things
Basically "don't mess with God, He is Lord, He is sovereign, and He is holy, holy, holy." Matt Boswell knows bloody well that God is NOT his lover, but rather his maker, and his Lord. Boswell does the right thing telling his listeners to sing along with him in reverent praise.
Good worship still exists. Good worship understands that Jesus is Lord and not a lover. God is the creator of all things and not some squishy pansy. Also, the Holy Spirit will not give you body shakes, nor will He make you speak in gibberish, but He dwells in you so you can walk by Him (Gal. 5:16).
Now, go back to ugly worship for a moment: We see blatant "God = lover/significant other" lyrical content across the board. We see little reverence for who God is. This is misguided at best, and evil at worst, and we know one thing about evil: It cannot create anything good, but can only create evil and corrupt good into evil.
Now some of these people may be the former – misguided and lacking in knowledge when it comes to worship, but as I go into this, I am convinced that Wickham is the latter. Not a 100% guarantee that he is; he might be a part of the former, but the chances of that are slim. Now, let us view "How Great Thou Art" and "Messiah" side by side.
How Great Thou Art
Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder || Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made || I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder || Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Messiah / You're Beautiful
I see Your face in every sunrise || The colors of the morning are inside Your eyes || The world awakens in the light of the day || I look up to the sky and say You're beautiful
Chris Rice here is merely repeating what the original author intended, but, as I previously stated, since both his version and Wickham's song are 4:53 in length, and since Rice's version has gained some popularity across the Internet, his version will be the go-to for this comparison. Plus, his version contains the second verse of the hymn; many versions leave it out.
It takes Rice a mere 13 seconds to start singing the first verse, while it takes Wickham 26 seconds – twice as long. This is how Charismatic worship works; they want to get "muh feelings and emotions" going via the instrumentation before they hammer you with irreverent words.
Rice finishes at ~0:42, singing true praise to a true God for almost 30 seconds straight. Meanwhile, Wickham goes to ~0:49 – only a mere 23 seconds. Already, we see that Rice takes more time to say much more reverent things about our God in each verse.
The left column talks about the beauty of creation and how it ultimately connects to the Creator, AKA God. All that the person on the left can do is sing about how great God, as a Creator, is. The right column is a cheap imitation of that; Wickham excessively anthropomorphizes creation and looks at God as "beautiful" – forgetting that creation is the thing that is beautiful, and God, while certainly not lacking in (a reverent theocentric kind of) beauty, is holy, sovereign, and GREAT above that.
How Great Thou Art
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander || And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees || When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur || And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze
Messiah / You're Beautiful
I see Your power in the moonlit night || Where planets are in motion and galaxies are bright || We are amazed in the light of the stars || It's all proclaiming who You are, You're beautiful
More of the same; the left column still focuses on creation and God's greatness in it all, while the right column still tries to reduce it to God, rather than His creation, being beautiful. I do notice that "How Great Thou Art" talks about creation on a grander scale in the first verse and on a smaller scale in the second, while "Messiah" inverts it...
Wickham was probably making a poor attempt at concealing how badly he ripped this song off. And it clearly failed – quite miserably to boot, otherwise this paper would not exist.
Also, Rice starts the second verse at 1:17 (after singing the chorus within a 35 second span) and ends at 1:46 (29 seconds). After 23 seconds of "o-o-o-o-oh," Wickham starts at 1:12 and ends at 1:35 – 23 seconds. I will avoid lengthy commentary on the verse lengths going forth; expect 23 second verses for Wickham's ripoff and 29 second verses PLUS a chorus between verses for the original masterpiece.
How Great Thou Art
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing || Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in || That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing || He bled and died to take away my sin
Messiah / You're Beautiful
I see You there hanging on a tree || You bled and then you died and then you rose again for me || Now You are sitting on Your heavenly throne || Soon we will be coming home || You're beautiful
Look past the false emotionalism of Wickham's song for a moment, and observe.
Both songs are indeed saying "Jesus Christ died," but only "How Great Thou Art" highlights what Jesus Christ died FOR – your sin. Your iniquity. Only "How Great Thou Art" is in awe of Jesus' death on the cross. Looking past Wickham's false emotionalism, it is clear "Messiah" pays no attention to sin.
This is dangerous. Without sin, Christ's death is not necessary, and without the acknowledgment of sin, and the fact that you need the only Christ who "bled and died to take away [your] sin" TO take away your sin, become sin on your behalf (2 Cor. 5:21), and save you from the wages of sin (Rom. 6:23), how can you be saved?
Oh, right, by bringing this reproach upon first the Father and now the Son, Wickham clearly does not care as much as he should about that. Rice, and more-so the original writer of "How Great Thou Art," however, does care, and rightfully so.
How Great Thou Art
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation || And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart || Then I shall bow in humble adoration || And then proclaim, "My God, how great Thou art"
Messiah / You're Beautiful
When we arrive at eternity's shore || Where death is just a memory and tears are no more || We'll enter in as the wedding bells ring || Your bride will come together and we'll sing || You're beautiful
Remember when I was talking about God being a significant other to irreverent worship writers and performers? It cannot be more obvious here, AND it twists the doctrines surrounding the bride of Christ. Yet again, Wickham makes no mention of sin.
"But Matt, there's no mention of sin in the left column!" Did you forget about the last verse?
Exactly.
Keep in mind we will not even come close to reaching eternity's shore unless Christ takes us there – something Wickham downplays in this verse.
Whatever your eschatological beliefs are, when the end finally comes and the New Heaven and New Earth come to be, we will not be singing "I see Your face, You're beautiful" over and over again, without also mentioning His holiness, sovereignty, greatness, and matchlessness as well; not to mention we will sing about beauty in a theocentric rather than an anthropocentric way. We will INDEED proclaim "My God, how great Thou art" in true joy and humility.
"Messiah" finishes at 4:53, but Wickham is done making his cheaply ripped off points at 3:08. That leaves Wickham 1:45 to keep his audience listening. Therefore, he will be singing "I see Your face, You're beautiful" over and over again, without also mentioning His holiness, sovereignty, greatness, and matchlessness of course – which now veers into vain repetition (Matt. 6:7).
Meanwhile, "How Great Thou Art" finishes its fourth verse at 3:52, leaving itself one minute to sing the chorus and wrap up. Wrapping up the chorus at 4:36 and playing that last piano note at 4:46, Rice can safely conclude at 4:53 without cutting the piano off or bringing reproach upon the triune God.
Wickham's "Messiah" is a ripoff of "How Great Thou Art," but it goes above and beyond a simple ripoff; it, for all intents and purposes, is essentially "How Great Thou Art" turned on its head. The song appeals to false, trance-like emotionalism, vain repetition, irreverent lyrics, and is just more proof that modern worship has gone down the drain over the past couple of decades.
Keep in mind, Wickham made this song in 2007 – 15 years ago. Since then, he has collaborated with Bethel artists on multiple songs. Will he do something like this in the future? Probably. Has he done something like this already? Probably, but I WILL NOT sift through his entire discography to find another ripoff like this one.
Stay away from his music. Stick with the old hymns. And if you want something fresh instead, go listen to "How Great You Are" by Sovereign Grace Music.
Asbury, Cory. “Reckless Love.” Genius, https://genius.com/Cory-asbury-reckless-love-lyrics.
Bethel Music. “King of My Heart.” Genius, https://genius.com/Bethel-music-king-of-my-heart- live-lyrics.
Boswell, Matt. “God Omniscient, God All Knowing.” Genius, https://genius.com/Matt-boswell- god-omniscient-god-all-knowing-lyrics.
Hillsong Young & Free. “Wake.” Genius, https://genius.com/Hillsong-young-and-free-wake-live- lyrics.
Hillsong Young & Free. “Real Love.” Genius, https://genius.com/Hillsong-young-and-free-real- love-live-lyrics.
“How Great You Are.” Sovereign Grace Music, Apr. 2012, https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/how-great-you-are.
Luther, Martin, and Frederick H. Hedge. “A Mighty Fortress.” Hymnary.org, https://hymnary.org/text/a_mighty_fortress_is_our_god_a_bulwark.
New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition. Lockman Foundation, 1995.
Rice, Chris. “How Great Thou Art.” Genius, https://genius.com/Chris-rice-how-great-thou-art- lyrics.
Rice, Chris. “How Great Thou Art.” YouTube, 5 Nov. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=m4_LMlLa9KI.
Smith, Spencer. “Witchcraft in the Church.” YouTube, 7 Sept. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2bXw5qAVd8.
Toastpilled. “1689 And Keach.” Telegram, https://t.me/toastpilled/1580.
Tomlin, Chris. “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Genius, https://genius.com/Chris-tomlin-sing-sing-sing-lyrics.
Wickham, Phil. “Messiah / You're Beautiful.” Genius, https://genius.com/Phil-wickham-messiah- youre-beautiful-lyrics.
Wickham, Phil. “Messiah / You're Beautiful.” YouTube, 28 Feb. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nLw4W0sLM8.