I just thought I would share my experiences at some of these shows. First off, when I was in the world, I was addicted to music. The harder the more I liked it. I had gone to maybe 75 shows in about 4 years. I loved the whole experience. Almost 4 years ago is when God saved me. About a month after I was saved, I burned a little over 1000 cds that i collected over the years. I started looking for music that matched my personal taste, and I found a bit of it.
I started going to christian rock shows and getting into their music. Recently God has been pulling me deeper and showing me a lot of things. I went to two shows this year and was totally sickened by them. It was all entertainment. I know its not scripture, but I couldn't help but think of Ravenhill saying "Entertainment is the devils substitute for joy." I started to think back to all the shows that I had seen in the last couple of years, and could only think of two bands that came out with a message. These two took songs out of their sets to preach the gospel. They didn't just preach for a minute, but 10 to 15.
Since then I have listened to maybe 2 cds. All I want to hear is preaching anymore. I believe God has pulled me away from that scene. Don't get me wrong, There are rock bands that do preach, and are great, but I would say there are only a few. This is a very brief post on from where God has brought me from.
Riding for the King,
Adam

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Adam Moore

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Diane

The sad thing is, from what I have been told, it didnt used to be that way. I got saved after Christian music started selling out to the world, and being owned by secular companies. But people I know who saw older bands like DeGarmo & Key, Petra, Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart tell me that back then it was truly ministry. For instance, a friend of mine told me he saw Mylon LeFevre 5 or 6 times... and he preached longer than the band played. They would play a set of 8 or 9 songs... and then Mylon would preach for 45 minutes.

You dont see that today. You dont even see bands leading the audience in a prayer of salvation anymore. It's all about "look at me!".

I've said it before, I'll say it again... Christian music started going down hill when they allowed the secular entertainment companies to own them. They traded the God of the Bible for the gods of this world, and that is who they serve now.

Krispy

I've been sitting back from this ATF/Christian rock debate. I've mostly been grieved by the harshness. I have to agree with you Krispy. The early days of contemporary Christian music were much different than today.

I thought I'd toss in some DC Talk lyrics from a song that got huge airplay on Christian stations.

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from You
I am the king of excuses
I've got one for every selfish thing I do

What's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behaviour
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Saviour

CHORUS:
I wanna be in the Light
As You are in the Light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the Light
All I want is to be in the Light

The disease of self runs through my blood
It's a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behaviour
[color=990033]This only serves to confirm my suspicions [/color]
[color=990033]That I'm still a man in need of a Saviour[/color]
Honesty becomes me
[There's nothing left to lose]
The secrets that did run me
[In Your presence are defused]
Pride has no position
[And riches have no worth]
The fame that once did cover me
[Has been sentenced to this Earth]
Has been sentenced to this Earth

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?
I despise my own behaviour
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I'm still a man in need of a Saviour

[There's no other place that I want to be]
[No other place that I can see]
[A place to be that's just right]
[Someday I'm gonna be in the Light]
[You are in the Light]
[That's where I need to be]
[That's right where I need to be]


As for me, I've already got a savior...

In Christ,

Doug

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Doug Fussell

Hello everyone again,
Thought I would add a reminder of the excellent video series "Hells Bells, The dangers of Rock n Roll" as well as "Hells Bells 2:The Toll continues." Both produced by Eric Holmberg of the apologeticsgroup.com on the web.
God bless, John

We talk about a remnant existing in the church, and I do believe there is a remnant among Christian music -we must be discerning.

It is the wrong spirit to say that all 'rock music' or 'rap' is wrong, we can clearly point to examples where it was not. We must discern and see where there is fruit.

Ten years ago there was something called 'third wave ska.' It was happy, energetic music... it didn't start with secular bands, it started with Christian bands like The OC Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy and The W's. These bands have a lot of energy, and weren't afraid to spend time telling kids about Jesus.

Actually, Five Iron Frenzy even started it's own record lable called 'Five Minute Walk.' Which encouraged non-christian kids to take a Five Minute Walk with Jesus every day. They weren't owned by a big record company or the porn industry, they started their own record label.

Now these guys love to sing and play music, to them it's their career, not just a talent -they could have easily gotten jobs in the secular music industry as studio performers and kept their faith to themselves, but they chose to include their faith in their music. Certainly there are Christians who are members of secular bands who choose not to, just as there are Christians who are office workers who choose to keep their mouths shut.

Shouldn't we encourage those who are talented musicians, or who are already doing it as a career to use their skills and talents to glorify the Lord?

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Ian Smith

[b]Superpowers[/b]
By Five Iron Frenzy

Bacon bits and jalapeños on my polish hot dog
half a pound of potato chips, and a beef jerky log
I press my face to the window
a wrapper sticks to my shirt
Eight people in a stinky van
a couple more couldn't hurt

Eat some food off the floor
I've developed a taste for bread mold
Ride around in a van
don't take a shower for six weeks and

We've been given superpowers
ask us for an autograph
We sing, we dance, we'll make you laugh
don't you want to be like us?

Everyone in the band can't stand me
just because I fell off the stage
and kind of by accident
I broke the promoter's legs
Sometimes we have a deadline, for writing our songs
Five minutes left to write this one
la, la, la, la, la, la, la la

Sleep in a sleeping bag
Every floor looks the same as last night
You wake up
you drive
you play a show
and then you sleep again

We've been given superpowers
ask us for an autograph
We sing, we dance, we'll make you laugh
don't you want to be like us?

We've been given super powers
Ask about our rock and roll
our hair, our clothes, hobbies, and pets
Does he have a girlfriend yet?
I sometimes feel like I'm Holden Caufield
sometimes Jack Kerouac
I wanted to be famous, now I want to take it back

Don't want to rock the mic
don't want to meet the pope
[b]I just want to share with you
how we got this peace and hope

I once wanted to be famous,
now I want to take it back.[/b]

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Ian Smith

40 lines of nonsense... 2 lines about sharing peace and hope (no mention of Christ), and 2 lines about how bad being famous is.

Makes me wanna praise the Lord, I tell ya.

And I'm not against music! But I am against what passes for "Christian" music. It's more shallow than Madonna ever dreamed of being in most cases.

I would rather listen to someone like John Mellencamp than most Christian artists. At least John Mellencamp is honest about his motives... he wants to make money. I can respect that.

(I used to like Mellencamp, but before everyone jumps my case here... I abandoned the world's music. I was just using him as an example)

Krispy

Well here is one song by Skillet called,

[b]"More Faithful"[/b]

All the things my feet thought to be firm
Are falling with urgency
Tearing back my false sense of security

Some say things change, nothing stays the same
But the sweetness in my ears
Safe in your arms speak the words I love to hear

You have been more faithful than the morning sun
You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come
You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

All things I thought that I used to know
Are falling down again

Our disillusionment is how we grow
Some say things change, nothing stays the same
In a world of inconsistency
When everything's a lie,

What can cause my heart to believe
You have been more faithful than the morning sun
You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come
You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

You have been more faithful than the morning sun
You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come
You have been more faithful than the morning sun
You have been more faithful than knowing the night will come
You have been more faithful than the changing of seasons

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Benjamin Williams