I was riding with a friend of mine yesterday, and on his truck CD player was a new CD by country singer Brad Paisley. I wasn’t paying much attention to it until a song called “Bigger Fish To Fry” came on. It features several other country singers, including Vince Gill… who is Amy Grants current husband. Interestingly, Mr. Gill cusses during the introduction of the song.

Anyway, the song is meant to be a funny song, but wow… Satan must be pleased with it. Satan would love nothing more than for people to think that “hey, there are plenty of people who sin worse than me! I’m ok, I’m going to heaven. I havent murdered anyone.” Forgetting that the scripture tells us that there are none who are righteous… “no, not one”. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If we break one aspect of the Law, we are guilty of all.

I like some of the songs Brad Paisley has put out. But this one shocked me. But then, this is how unregenerate sinners view themselves. They accuse us of being “holier than thou”, when most believers in fact understand completely that we are nothing! Meanwhile, unsaved people say “Well, I’m not as bad as this guy! God will let me in!” And they call us hypocrites?

Oh, and by the way… guess what song follows immediately after this one on the CD! The beatiful hymn “When We All Get To Heaven”. I’m not kidding.

Believe it or not, Brad Paisley claims to be a Christian.

Check out these lyrics and tell me if this isnt the greatest lie of all.

Krispy

[b]Bigger Fish To Fry[/b]
By Brad Paisley

[i]I said a bad word when I was a kid
mama said that I’d be sorry for the sin that I did
my daddy whooped me and the preacher said shame
and I tried like hell to change

and I cuss and I smoke
and I laugh at dirty jokes
minor vices man I know ‘em well
I’ve closed down bars
and I’ve lusted in my heart
my exes think I oughta burn in hell
but the devil, he won’t notice when I die,
don’t you figure
he’s got bigger fish to fry oh yeah

Politicians taking and bribes
crooked CEO’s are getting off with no time
christmas eve burglars stealin’ good childrens toys
(…can’t say chirstmas!)
holiday burglars stealin’ good children’s toys

and I cuss and I smoke
I laugh at dirty jokes
the minor vices, man I know ‘em well
I’ve closed down bars I’ve lusted in my heart
my ex thinks that I oughta burn in hell.
But The devil wont even notice when I die
ya don’t you figure
hes got bigger fish to fry

Theres gonna be a bonfire burnin,
an everlastin bar-b-que
but with all the bad stuff goin on
there ain’t gonna be room for me and you

cuz we cuss and we smoke
and we laugh at taylor’s jokes
(tell one Jim, you know youre old when your wife says ‘honey lets run upstairs and make love’ and your answer is I cannot do both)
some minor vices, man we know ‘em well
we’ve closed down bars and we’ve lusted in our hearts
our exes think we oughta burn in hell
but the devil, he wont notice when we die,
don’t you figure he’s got bigger fish to fry
ya don’t you figgure
he’s got bigger fish to fry
(pass the tarter sauce)[/i]

I have to agree. I get really irritated the few times when I hear secular music and they talk about God and Jesus, heaven and hell. The bad theology really makes me want to vomit. The really sad thing is people listen to these singers and their music and believe that what they say is Truth. Deception is everywhere. And with all the easy believism going on today, these people probably do believe they are saved. I mean really, all you have to do is repeat this little prayer and you are on your way to heaven...

:-?

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Melissa

Here in the buckle of the Bible belt... everyone is saved.

Cuss all week, live like Jerry Springer rejects, get drunk on Satuday night down at the honky tonk, and show up for church on Sunday morning. I've seen it all my life, which was a huge reason why I purposely rejected Christ until I was 27.

All the while saying "Me and God, we got it all worked out. I havent killed anyone, I havent stolen from anyone. Hell is for people like Hitler... and people I dont like."

A lot of folks, especially here in the South, do have a certain respect for the "Good Book", and for Christian values... but they dont have a relationship with Christ. They think simply tipping your hat to the Lord is enough.

It's always baffled me how someone like Hank Williams could live the life he did, write the most lost and regenerate lyrics of anyone in his generation... and still write a song like "I Saw The Light". But I know so many people like that.

Interesting story I read once... Hank Williams was riding in a car around Nashville with Minnie Pearl and someone else, and they were all singing "I Saw The Light". Minnie Pearl noticed that Hank had stopped singing, and she noticed big tears rolling down his cheeks. She asked what was wrong, and Hank said "Cant you see?? There aint no light! It's all darkness!"

He died a few months later from heart failure do to alcohol and drug overdose... at the ripe old age of 27.

And the sins of the father are visited on the generations to come. Hank Williams Jr has been a substance abuser and alcoholic his entire life. He's married 5 or 6 times, has no idea how many children he has.

Hank Williams III is a foul mouthed substance abuser as well. His latest album is called "Straight to Hell".

If ever there was a family that needs prayer, this is one of them. We should all pray for them.

But this is a way of life down here for most folks. Live like hell all week, go to church and throw a five in the plate... do God a favor.

It really is the worst kind of deception because folks really think they are saved! They said a prayer at Vacation Bible School 30 years ago... zip zap, thats it. But instead of "go and sin no more" it's more like "go and sin some more"... come back on Sunday, get cleaned up... and then go get dirty again. It's ok, Sunday is wash day.

It's very difficult to witness to southerners because of this type of deception.

Krispy

I believe country music has done far more damage to Christianity than Rock ever thought about doing. Ozzy and his cronies never claimed to be a Christians.

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TJ

Good stuff [actually bad, but you get my point] krispy. This is the sad mindset of many "good people"... and it gets all the more dangerous when they start going to church and mix in a little Jesus with their good person mentality.

In Christ - Jim

Actually, Ozzy does claim to be a Christian, but at this point in his life I'm surprised he even knows his own name.

Country has always had that element of church in it. I'm not sure why there is this deception engrained in the south. I blame the preachers. Music is a reflection of the culture. The damage was already done... country music has just spread the damage.

Obviously there is some really good, positive Country music. There are a few artists who really are living for the Lord. Paul Overstreet is one of them. Randy Travis is another. He was the number one country singer during the 80's and into the 90's until Garth Brooks came along. In the late 90's Randy Travis truly got saved, and he is really making a difference for the Lord.

It's a strange thing to me tho, when scripture is so clear on the subject of sin and salvation... yet people continue to define it any ol' way they want.

I saw a thing on 20/20 last week about hell. It was a really bad show about hell, obviously. But they had one segment about a preacher in Tulsa who was one of the rising stars in the Charismatic movement. He's been to ORU, been on the PTL Club way back when, and was a regular on TBN... (thats my first clue he wasnt right!)

He had a huge church in Tulsa... until he started preaching that there is no hell. Everyone goes to heaven. Even Hitler.

I sat there thinking "How do you come up with that when scripture is clear?"

The preacher said "I one day realized that the Bible was written by mere men. They were not as enlightened as we are today, so they wrote about their myths and legends... they gave their own interpretations of what Christ was teaching."

Thats it... in order to come up with "no hell", or to have your own definition of sin and salvation you must first reject the Bible as God's Word. You have to do that first. Once you do that, you are able to come up with your own "truth"... and whatever is your truth may or may not be truth for someone else.

People think that modern Bible versions are no big deal, yet I think that this preacher in Tulsa is a great example of where this attack on God's Word is leading us. If someone is completely honest, they have to admit that if you think modern versions are ok, and the KJV is ok, then we have to say that we dont really know where the true Word of God is today. In other words, our Final Authority has been lost.

So, even tho folks in the Bible belt do tip a hat to God... they have done nothing short of a wholesale rejection of God's Word... and ultimately called God a liar.

Krispy

_________________
TJ

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TJ