Phil Wickham
6 songs checked against the passages they lean on. Each one was graded on its own, against what that song does with the text.
How the 6 checks landed
- ~ FAITHFUL 1
- NOT A QUOTE 5
This is a count, not a verdict. We grade songs, one at a time, against what each one does with the text. A tally of those checks describes a catalogue. It is not a judgment of the people who wrote or sang it, and no number here puts anyone on or off The List. Most drift is craft pressure, not deception. Read the proofs, not the arithmetic.
The songs
NOT A QUOTE
“This Is Our God”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. It is a declaration, not a quotation, and the review that recommends against it still says the song teaches nothing false. Worth knowing first: the title sentence stands in Isaiah 25:9, on a day still ahead.✓ The title sentence has a real home in scripture. Isaiah 25:9 carries those four words, and the rescue it celebrates is the same rescue the song sings about
⚠ The song is not written as a citation, so it does not hand you the verse behind its title
NOT A QUOTE
“House of the Lord”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. Nothing here is quoting, and the joy it names is real. Just know that Psalm 122's house of the Lord was a place with gates at the end of a road; the song sings that gladness of the gathered church.✓ Both verses are built from checkable acts of God: a sea parted (Exodus 14), prison doors opened (Acts 16:26), the cross and the empty tomb, and nothing sung of God here is something the text will not support
⚠ Psalm 122's house is a place: one city, real gates, tribes going up by command. The song's house is the gathered people, and the song does not mark the transfer
NOT A QUOTE
“Hymn of Heaven”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. Nothing here is quoting, and what it borrows from Revelation 21 it keeps straight: God wipes the tears Himself. Just read verses 3 and 5 alongside it, which the song leaves out.✓ Keeps the agent of Revelation 21:4. The tear-wiping stays something God performs, with He as the grammatical subject on both published lyric sheets, rather than a condition that arrives by itself
⚠ The passage leads with presence, not absence. Verse 3 says God's dwelling place is with man and that He will be with them as their God. The song's presence is a face-to-face meeting, a moment rather than a residence
~ FAITHFUL
“This Is Amazing Grace”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. The bridge's first line is Revelation 5:12 as far as it goes, and what the song adds is true from other texts. Know that the verse itself keeps going, into seven things the Lamb is worthy to receive.✓ The bridge's first line carries the acclamation of Revelation 5:12 unaltered as far as it goes, in the wording most modern translations share
⚠ The verse's own ending never appears. Revelation 5:12 gives the Lamb seven things, power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing, and the song keeps none of them
NOT A QUOTE
“Living Hope”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. It quotes nothing, and the phrase it borrows for its title carries the same meaning Peter gives it, hope anchored in the resurrection rather than in how the singer feels.✓ Uses "living hope" in the sense 1 Peter 1:3 gives it, grounded in the resurrection rather than in the singer's feelings
⚠ No reference is given, so a listener may not know the title is a phrase from a specific verse
NOT A QUOTE
“Battle Belongs”
Phil Wickham
Sing it. The line is 2 Chronicles 20:15 in plain English and the singing comes from the same chapter. Just remember the promise there was given for one battle, and Judah still had to show up and stand.✓ The refrain restates 2 Chronicles 20:15 accurately: the battle is God's, not the singer's
⚠ The promise in the chapter is specific: one prophet, one king, one invasion, one day. The song makes it a general posture