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John Leo is a columnist that I enjoy very much. He writes for U.S. News and World Report. In the Oct. 12, 1998 issue he comments on the relationship today between rules, Madison Avenue and society. He titles his column “The Selling of Rebellion.” He writes:
Consider the recent ad for the Isuzu Rodeo. A grotesque giant in a business suit stomps into a beautiful field, startling a deer and jamming skyscrapers, factories and signs into the ground. One of the giant’s signs says “Obey,” but the narrator says, “The world has boundaries. Ignore them.” Trying to trample the Rodeo, the hapless giant trips over his own fence. The Isuzu zips past him and toppling a huge sign that says, “Rules.”
But the central message here is very serious and strongly antisocial: We should all rebel against authority, social order, propriety, and rules of any kind. “Obey” and “Rules” are bad. Breaking rules, with or without your Isuzu, is good.
A great many advertisers now routinely appeal to the so-called postmodern sensibility…Burger King’s “Sometimes, you gotta break the rules.” Outback steakhouses (“No rules. Just right”), Don Q Rum (“Break all the rules”), Neiman Marcus (“No rules here), Columbia House Music Club (“We broke the rules”), Comedy Central (“See comedy that breaks the rules”), Red Kamel cigarettes (“This baby don’t play by the rules”), and even Woolite now says, “All the rules have changed.”
“No rules” also turns up as the name of a book and a CD and a tag line for an NFL video game (“no refs, no rules, no mercy”). The message is everywhere—“the rules are for breaking,” says a Spice Girls lyric.
Jim Kane
One of my favorite songs is by the legendary Contemporary Christian Artist Larry Norman. Norman is one of a handful of pioneers of contemporary Christian music that paved the way for the ministry (and industry) that it is today.
I have played the song before and it is entitled, ‘The Outlaw.’ It is a song that recites the various views, over the years and even centuries, of Jesus Christ.
In that song, Norman sings of Jesus being called ‘an outlaw,’ ‘a sorcerer,’ and ‘a politician.’ He concludes with a personal statement and belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. - Jim Kane
The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.
Eden Ahbez (1909–1995), U.S. songwriter. “Nature Boy,” Crestview Music Corp. (1948).
THE BEST ESCAPE
Escapism is usually thought of as a bad thing, because it is a running away from reality. But we need to see there is much reality that we need to escape from. The stress and tension all around us is real, but we have no obligation to be in a state of constant reaction to it.
If we can escape and be at peace in the midst of it, let us praise God for this kind of escapism. Sleep is escapism God has built into our life, and it saves our life everyday. Building a house to retreat from the weather is escapism. Taking a vacation is escapism. Carrying an umbrella is escapism. Life is full of perfectly valid escapism.
And so is the escapism of the Christian who learns to retreat into the presence of God and bathe in His peace...
Christians are to be good news before they share the good news. The music of the gospel must precede the words of the gospel and prepare the context in which there will be a hunger for those words. What is the music of the gospel? It is the beauty of the indwelling Christ in the everyday relationships of life.
"Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever."
Love is a friendship set to music.
My heart was touched this week by some breaking news from the musical world of heavy metal. The headline reads: Korn guitarist leaving to follow Jesus.
"Popular heavy metal band, Korn, has parted ways with guitarist and founding member, Brian, "Head" Welch who has chosen Jesus Christ as his savior and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end. Welch detailed a long list of reasons for leaving the band, including increased moral objections to Korn’s music and videos. Korn is an MTV favorite by the way. They’re very popular. In particular, Welch was really upset by how he was portrayed in a music video when his face was superimposed on the body of dog that patrolled a strip club.
The heavy metal world is dark place, the band Korn is widely known as an anti-christian group. They’re not only resistant to God, they hate God.
Sunday February 27th which is today, Welch plans to address the congregation that is responsible for his conversion. Welch will speak to the congregation at Valley Bible Fellowship in Bakersfield, CA. He plans to leave for a tour of the Holy Land the next day. Welch said, "a lot of people think I’m crazy for leaving the band, I real...
K. Edward "Ed" Skidmore
"Sometimes it concerns me, the number of people who can quote my songs… but they can't quote the scriptures ... I mean, if entertainment is what you want, I suggest Christian entertainment … because I think it is good. But if what you want is spiritual nourishment, I suggest you go to church or read your Bible. The Christian music industry is a capitalistic endeavor, period. And if anyone is interested in spiritual vitality they need to invest themselves in a church --- not in an industry."
(Source: Rich Mullins "A message to the Media" Creation Festival Radio Special, Mt. Union, PA. June 27, 1996)
Jack Mooring (from the Christian band Leeland): "What changed us wasn’t just going to church. It wasn’t going to youth group. It was being in the altar and experiencing the anointing and the presence of God. We want to bring that to Christian music in a new way and have kids experience the Holy Spirit and not just experience songs or worship moments." (Todays’s Pentecostal Evangel 4/19/09 p. 12)
