The Darkness of LifeLight: A Report on the Largest "Christian" Rock Festival in the World

The Darkness of LifeLight: A Report on the Largest "Christian"  Rock  Festival in the World, by Pastor Ralph Ovadal

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Recommended reading (and listening), my post:

More Thoughts on True Worship

Is There Such a Thing as a "Christian" Heavy Metal Band?

'Christian Singer in Grammy-Nominated Heavy Metal Band Accused of Trying to Hire a Hit Man to Murder Estranged Wife - The Blaze

Excerpt from this article:

"The lead singer of Grammy-nominated heavy metal band “As I Lay Dying” was arrested Tuesday in California after he tried to hire an undercover detective to kill his estranged wife, authorities say."
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When it comes to Christian music, I think what God is most interested in is what is in our hearts. I'm sure there will be a lot of people who sang nothing but "Amazing Grace" and "The Old Rugged Cross" who will go to hell, while many who sang more modern music (but with a pure heart!) will go to heaven. 

Personally, I like the old hymns best (although I do like the song by Superchick, Cross That Line!; see their You Tube Video on background of that song: Superchicks Talk About 'Cross That Line')

Recommended reading & Listening (my post):

Franklin Graham's Rock the River Abomination, by Pastor Ralph Ovadal
More Thoughts on True Worship

More Thoughts on True Worship

The Bible says: "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." - Colossians 3:16

I like to think of these three categories of Christian songs in this way:

Psalms are paraphrases of the Psalms set to music:

 Psalm 48,  Psalm 103,  Psalm 72, Psalm 51, Psalm 148, Psalm 32, Psalm 27, Psalm 125, Psalm 9, Psalm 90, and Psalm 1, Psalm 145.

Hymns are, generally speaking, what you find in a hymn book of say 100 years ago:

  There's Power in the Blood (Medley), Be Thou My Vision, O Perfect Love,  His Name is Wonderful,  Great is Thy Faithfulness, Immortal, Invisible, Holy, Holy, Holy, Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross, At The Cross, At The Cross (Medley),My Jesus I Love Thee, Standing on the Promises, Day of Judgment, Day of Wonders, Just As I Am, Crown Him with Many Crowns, The Church is One Foundation, Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, I Know Not Why God's Wondrous Grace, Little Drummer Boy, How Deep The Father's Love For Us, Jesus Shall Reign, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, What A Friend We Have in Jesus, Battle Hymn of the Republic (English) (Korean?)   How Great Thou Art, For All the Saints, Silent Night (English), Silent Night (German), Tell Me the Old Old Story,  He Arose (sung in English and, I think, Japanese!), The Great Judgment Morning, This Is My Father's World, Joy to the World, I Love to Tell the Story, It Is Well With My Soul, I Must Tell Jesus, Savior Again, To Thy Dear Name We Raise, Like a  River Glorious, Tell Me The Story of Jesus, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say,  By The Sea of Crystal, He Leadeth Me, Have Thine Own Way, Lord, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing (sung in Lakota, a Native American language), Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart, O  Holy Night (Sung in Navajo, a Native American Language).

And Spiritual songs refer to much of what we call today, Contemporary Christian Music:

Please Search the Book Again,  Because He Lives, My God and I,  Meeting in the Air, There'll Be Joy in the Morning On That Day,  There is Coming a Day, Awesome God, Above All Powers, He's Alive, Mary Did You Know?, Are You Washed in the Blood of The Lamb & I'll Fly Away, They Baptized Jesse Taylor, Plenty of Room in the Family, If That Isn't Love, El Shaddai, He Giveth More Grace, It Is No Secret, This Old House, There is a Redeemer, This World is Not My Home, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Days of Elijah, And the Gift Goes On, Alabare A Mi Senor (Spanish), Please Don't Send Me to Africa, My God Is Real,  I Saw the Light, and Jesus Take the Wheel (See my post Why Jesus Didn't Take the Wheel!).

I don't know what the Apostle Paul would think of the way I categorized Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual songs, but I have a feeling he would say "That's close enough!" I'd like to recommend to you one of the best books I've read on Worship and Christian music:

A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God - Centered Worship, by Dr. Michael Horton

Also recommended reading (my posts)

Some Thoughts on True Worship
The Foreign Spirit of Contemporary Worship Music, by David Cload
Franklin Graham's Rock the River Abomination, by Pastor Ralph Ovadal
Is There Such A Thing as A 'Christian Heavy Metal Band?'

Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns

Why don't you take a few minutes - 29 minutes to be exact - and listen to this thought provoking message by Pastor Kevin Swanson:

Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns

And after you listen to that, you may want to check out my post:

Some Thoughts on True Worship

Ann Coulter defends 'retard' tweet: Says 'Screw them' to the word police

Coulter defends 'retard' tweet: 'Screw them' to word police | The Daily Caller:

'via Blog this'

The Brave New World of Contemporary Christian Musicians

Oops! She did it again! Contemporary Christian musician Carrie Underwood has made the news again. The last time her name appeared in the news (at least in conservative Christian news sources), it was because she endorsed same sex marriage (Carrie Underwood Endorses Gay Marriage) Now she is all over the Internet for kissing a 12 year old boy on the lips (Carrie Underwood kisses 12-year-old fan at Kentucky concert).


Apparently, the boy was at one of her concerts recently, held up a sign that asked her to be his first kiss. She obliged.  While many view this as cute (what 12 year old boy would not want to kiss a 29 year old female rock star on the lips?) Pastor Trevor Hammack makes a good point that if this had been a 29 year old male giving a 12 year old girl 'her first kiss,' it probably wouldn't have been seen as 'cute.' (see  29 Year Old Kisses 12 Year Old Boy, by Pastor Trevor Hammack).

I worked with at the hospital with a respiratory therapist years ago. He took a picture of himself kissing their babysitter on the lips (I think she was around 12 years old as well). The picture showed their tongues touching. I think the babysitter's mother saw the picture, called the police, and he was eventually convicted of a sex crime based on that one photo alone - no other accusations were made against him.

He lost his job at the hospital. He lost his licence to practice respiratory therapy. His wife divorced him. He was forced to undergo sex offender treatment. And he has to register as a sex offender - for basically doing what Carrie Underwood did to her 12 year old fan. A double standard? Probably.

Recommended Listening & Reading

Carrie Underwood Endorses Gay Marriage - Which Jesus Endorses Homosexuality? by Pastor Kevin Swanson
Why Jesus Didn't Take the Wheel
Carrie Underwood Endorses Gay Marriage

Finally, if you are a Christian and you are looking for an alternative to Contemporary Christian Music, check out Dr. Michael Horton's book, A Better Way - Rediscovering the Drama of God Centered Worship

Why Jesus Didn't Take the Wheel

Recently I heard Carrie Underwood's song, Jesus Take The Wheel for the first time.  I instantly fell in love with it.  I told a Christian brother about my new find, and he was baffled.  "You have never heard 'Jesus Take the Wheel before?'" he asked.  

He went on to tell me about the song and how popular it was in Christian circles.  While he didn't openly say it, the tone of his voice seamed to say, How could you be a Christian and not have heard 'Jesus take the wheel?' 

In the days following that interaction I listened to Carrie's song many more times.  I still like the song, but I started look past the nice tune to the message that this song was conveying.

In a nutshell, for those sheltered souls like me, who have not heard this song, it is about a young lady who is driving a long way to her parent's house. She has her infant child in the back seat.  She is driving 'way too fast', and she has 'a lot on her mind' and is not paying attention to the road.  Then she hits a patch of black ice and looses control of the vehicle.

At this point she sees both her life and her babies' life flash before her eyes and she cries out, "Jesus take the wheel."  Fortunately, the story - the song - has a happy ending. Jesus does take the wheel.  She arrives safely at the side of the road and her baby in the back seat was not even awakened from her sleep.

But I started to think, What if Jesus had not taken the wheel?  What if he let her car go smashing into another car or a guard rail?  What if Jesus let her become paralyzed? What if her baby had been killed? What if, because she was 'going way to fast' and not paying attention to her driving, she was charged with vehicular homicide or manslaughter and sent to prison for many years?  What if because of her actions none of her family wanted to have anything to do with her anymore?  What if Jesus had not taken the Wheel?

This past week a very similar thing happened to a another young lady.  She was apparently distracted while driving her car, and ran into another car, which in turn slammed into and killed a small child. The initial news reports say there was no evidence that she tried to stop.  Unfortunately for this young lady, and for the toddler and the toddlers' family, she never had time to ask Jesus to take the Wheel. Or if she did, Jesus said 'No!'

We will never know this side of the grave, why Jesus chooses to take the wheel in one instance, and then stands back, seemingly with arms folded, in the next.  It's almost like, if Jesus likes you, he will keep you from suffering, and if he doesn't like you, well, then you're on your own.

In the book of Job we are given a very rare peek into what goes on in the spiritual realm.  We are told about Job, a righteous man that is living a life pleasing to God.  And then the Devil appears before God in heaven and tells God that Job is only living a righteous life because God has blessed him with much family and material possessions.

We are then told that God gives the devil permission to inflict great suffering upon Job, to see whether or not is only serving God for personal gain.  And so the devil inflicts tragedy upon tragedy upon tragedy on Job. And chapter one ends with Job saying these words:

"The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And the Bible says, In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (Job 1:21,22).

God has a reason for allowing bad things to happen to people.   For one person it may be punishment or discipline for unrepented sin.  The Bible says, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." -Galatians 6:7

For another person God may be preparing them so they will be able to comfort others who are suffering.  Again, the Bible tells us, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble." It's not about you and it's not about me.  There is a whole world of hurting people out there and God needs comforters.

I still like Carrie Underwood's song, Jesus Take The Wheel.  And if you love our Lord Jesus and put your trust in him to save you, then he has a firm hold on the wheel of your life. And if he chooses to steer you through some rough roads, just believe that he knows what he is doing. And we have his promise that "All things work together for good to them that love God." (Romans 8:28)

Recommended reading:

Footprints in the Sand, by Mary Stevenson