Phillips, Craig, and Dean is a praise and worship group formed by three pastors in 1991. Over the last decade, they have written and/or popularized some of the most widely used praise choruses in evangelical Christianity. Their lyrics are often rich, poetic, devotional, and God-focused. The theme of a humble servant's heart is clear in their music. However, I believe their listeners should be aware of some disturbing elements of their faith that may place it outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity.
I rarely feel it necessary to look into the specific beliefs of Christian musicians. Quite honestly, most are hard to pin down, but they fall within the general boundaries of evangelicalism. The only real concerns are the occasional moral failings which are, I suppose, no more common than among pastors and only come to light because of media scrutiny. But Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig, and Dan Dean have departed from the Bible on three of the defining elements of the Christian faith: the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, and the doctrine of spiritual rebirth.
The Trinity is one of the most recognizable convictions of Christianity, and rejection of this doctrine is one of the main criteria separating "cults" such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses from other denominations. Trinitarian Christianity holds that while there is only one God, He exists as three eternally distinct Persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. These three are in intimate relationship with one another but carry out their own tasks and roles. (See this article for more on the Trinity.)
Phillips, Craig, and Dean use the words Triune and Three-in-One, but their view of God is variously known as Oneness, modalism, Sabellianism, or Monarchianism. It is a teaching that was declared heretical all the way back in 225, during the first of the great Christological controversies. What PCD believe is that God is a single Person who merely manifests Himself as Father, Son, or Spirit depending on His role and desire at the time. Jesus is the name of God in all His forms. So when Jesus created the world, He did so as Father. During Jesus' ministry, it was God (the Father) taking on human form. When Jesus is among His people, He is the Holy Spirit.
In this view, PCD will not use the word Persons to describe Father, Son, and Spirit, but only dimensions or manifestations. Again, they resist any accusation that they don't believe in the Trinity. However, Randy Phillips' doctrinal book The Enquirer's Handbook derides and rejects the orthodox view, calling it "the Catholic doctrine of three gods." Similar characterizations of God appear in Shawn Craig's devotional Between Sundays and on the web site of Christ Temple, Dan Dean's church. The web site for Phillips' church, Promiseland, was once quite clear in expressing its Oneness views.
Listeners should know that when PCD sing about the Father as the bread of life or ask Jesus to fill them, they are not confusing their Bible verses. They believe simply that the Father is the Son, who is the Holy Spirit, without any clear distinction. Listeners should also be aware that when a PCD song mentions "Three in One" or a similar description, the writers do not mean the Trinity as we understand it.
The biblical view that the Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct Persons is clear, for one thing, in how they interact. Jesus often prayed to His Father, whom He would say was in heaven (e.g., Matt. 14:23; 26:36-42; Mark 1:35). Several times, the Father spoke from heaven while the Son was on earth, saying not "That's Me," but "That's My Son" (Matt. 3:17). Jesus spoke often of appealing to His Father (Matt. 26:53), being commanded by His Father (John 10:18), and going to the Father (John 14:12). Jesus also distinguishes Himself from the Spirit when He calls the Spirit "another Comforter" who could not come until Jesus went away (John 16:7). Jesus would ask the Father to send the Spirit (John 14:16). In John 8:16-18, Jesus cites the Father's testimony about Him as a second testimony in addition to what He claimed about Himself. Finally, PCD have claimed that the unity of God is impossible if there are distinct Persons in the Trinity. Yet in John 17:11, Jesus prayed that His followers "may be one even as We are." Surely, then, unity can be understood to encompass more than one Person.
PCD's view of Jesus Christ is problematic by consequence of their rejection of the Trinity. With the Trinity, we can say that Jesus Christ existed as the Son of God eternally alongside the Father, as John 1:1-2 indicates. However, according to PCD, there was no Son of God before Bethlehem. The Enquirer's Handbook explains that "The Son was begotten, which eliminates any possibility of His having existed in heaven beforehand." Phillips further states that the term Son of God refers only to "the flesh of God." Jesus was Son of God only with regard to His human body. In reality, He was the Spirit (=God) veiled in flesh. All of God was present in Jesus. Before the Incarnation, Jesus as we understand Him existed only as "the Word," an idea or plan in the mind of God.
Historic Christian teaching is that Jesus is eternally one Person with one will, from eternity sharing one divine nature with the Father and the Spirit. When He was conceived in Mary, Jesus took on a human nature when He was made from Mary's substance, yet the divine nature also remained. In heaven, Jesus retains His human nature, as well as His now-glorified human body. While technically He was not named Jesus until Joseph gave Him that name (Matt. 1:25), Christ is, always was, and always will be the Son of God.
The importance of a correct understanding of Christ and the Trinity is important for many reasons. One of the most crucial is our perception of Jesus' sacrifice. The cross was a plan to which the Father and the Son had both agreed from eternity. It was the Father who gave the Son authority to lay down His life and take it up again (John 10:18). At the cross, the Father turned away from His Son (Matt. 27:46) and punished Him for our sins. (Isa. 53:5-10; 2 Cor. 5:18-19). If God in totality was on the cross, who remained to pour out wrath on Christ, or to forsake Him? And how could Jesus pray, "Not my will but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42) if there was only one Person involved?
When Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:7), He made it clear that rebirth was absolutely necessary for salvation. PCD make that fact a major emphasis in their ministry. This is commendable, except that their concept of rebirth is very different from the traditional teaching. They focus on Jesus' statement that "unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). We know from Titus 3:5 and other verses that Jesus is speaking of the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit in washing away our sins and giving us a new conscience and a new heart. But PCD teach that "water" refers to baptism, and that "the Spirit" refers to the filling of the Holy Spirit, manifesting itself through speaking in tongues. Again quoting The Enquirer's Handbook, "The only scriptural way to be born again is to be properly baptized in water, and to be baptized (filled) with the Holy Spirit."
PCD believe that baptism washes away our sins, a work effected only when the name of Jesus (not Father, Son, and Spirit) is spoken over the one being baptized. "Even if you have been baptized another way, you need to be baptized again in the name of Jesus." Trinitarian baptism is not enough to make one born again. Similarly, PCD teach that speaking in tongues is the evidence of baptism of the Spirit, which makes one part of the body of Christ. The upshot of the teaching is that the only true Christians are those who have been baptized in the name of Jesus only, and who have spoken in tongues.
Phillips, Craig, and Dean accept and work with Trinitarians and non-charismatics as fellow believers, just not "scripturally born again." But this understanding of rebirth has enormous implications. If rebirth is necessary to salvation, and if rebirth requires Jesus-only baptism and speaking in tongues, then PCD have ruled out Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, Alexander Campbell, Charles Finney, Charles Spurgeon, D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, Josh McDowell, Jack Hayford, and nearly every other major Christian minister past and present. The view also does not stand up biblically. The Bible nowhere commands people to speak in tongues, nor is baptism of the Spirit (more precisely, being baptized by Jesus with the Spirit) anywhere connected with speaking in tongues. Moreover, salvation, forgiveness, cleansing, and the Holy Spirit come through faith, when we repent and believe the gospel. Baptism naturally follows as an act of obedience, but at no time does the Bible even hint that unbaptized believers are not born again or that baptism makes one born again. (Rather, as Romans 6 indicates, we are baptized because we have been born again.)
There is much good that can be said about the music of Phillips, Craig, and Dean. The problem is the teaching behind their music. If they were new to the faith, or unschooled in the Bible (as too many Christian artists are), these errors would be understandable. The Trinity, Incarnation, and regeneration are not easy to grasp when first encountered. But these men are pastors who have studied the historic Christian views and soundly rejected them. The problem is only worse when, as they have, PCD reverse themselves under pressure to claim that what they believe is not really all that different.
Secondly, Phillips, Craig, and Dean have a right to believe according to their conscience, and to sing and teach as they see fit. If their churches have no problem with their doctrine, the Bible provides no other avenue for discipline against them. However, having their music bought, listened to, or selected in church is not a "right." If the worship music industry provides a way to gain fame and money by praising God, it also provides believers with a way to express their support or rejection of the messages of the artists.
Next, it is true that we can differ theologically from musicians and still sing their hymns and choruses to the Lord, so long as the lyrics themselves express our own heartfelt beliefs. However, what if the departure is so great that the artists are no longer within the bounds of Christianity? If you believe that PCD have crossed that line, your conscience may prevent you from worshiping to their music in spirit and in truth.
Keep in mind that PCD do not write all the music they record. Some of the songs themselves may come from genuinely orthodox sources (e.g., choruses such as "Now Is the Time to Worship" and "The Heart of Worship" are not written by PCD.)
One additional consideration is that praise and worship music is not merely for entertainment or personal devotion. The music on today's Christian radio is often prepared for use in church worship services. Ministers should be especially careful what artists (and teachings) they are commending to their congregation by the music they choose.
Finally, be aware that Phillips, Craig, and Dean are not alone in rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity and other essentials. Their tradition of "Oneness Pentecostalism" includes other popular ministers such as T. D. Jakes and Tommy Tenney. The Oneness denominations United Pentecostal Church International and Pentecostal Assemblies of the World have over two million members in the United States, more than Episcopalian, Greek Orthodox, or United Church of Christ. As the movement grows, and as more gain prominence in the worship music industry, we will need to be on our toes to ensure we are not sending mixed messages to new or newly discipled Christians about the most crucial doctrines of the faith.
For more on Phillips, Craig, and Dean and other apologetics issues, see James R. White's Alpha Omega Ministries site.
