Hymns, Newspring & The Completely Clueless!!!

I really could care less about what others say or comment about me at other blogs. I never Google myself anymore, dropped Technorcrapi a few weeks back and rarely check my TypePad stats. However, one of my influencers at Compass Point made me aware that my post about hymns has been used in blog comments by several "Watchdog Freaks" to take shots at Newspring Church and Perry Noble. I dropped by the sites this morning...read the comments...and am amazed at how completely Scripturally clueless some "guardians of the Word" really are!!! The way that verses of the Bible have been taken out of context and twisted with zero doctrinal integrity to make a pitiful point was almost...cult like!!! On top of that...they just totally missed the gist of what I was saying in my post. So let me clarify some things...

I love the words of hymns...but musically they suck!!! This is not about me being culturally relevant with today's society...it's just the fact that most 15th and 16th Century music sucks in a 21st Century context. Matin Luther took some kicking lyrics...and then beefed them up with the AC/DC, Flaming Lips and Kayne West of his day. Because he wanted people to actually listen to the message the hymns are freakin' beer drinking bar songs with Christian lyrics....which have become "sacred cows" today! Not to mention Marty banging revolutionary writing on the door of the "establishment" in the middle of the night...just spells rock n' roll and rebellion!!! If he were around today he'd be whipping out a Les Paul with a Marshall stack...blasting out power chords...with fire shooting off the stage (hmmm seems like a church just did that for a buttload of teens...with incredible results). I'm all for the depth of the lyrics of hymns...but the music has got to be upgraded big time!!!

There is deep stuff being written today! My blog is like a diary...not some manual. There are days when I convey my thoughts just so I can go back and look over them down the road. My "hymns" post was one of those days...and people took it to mean that all praise and worship stuff today is fluff. Musically...most of it is. We are in desperate need of some Fanny Crosby words with Metallica face-melting music!!! However, there is some great...deep stuff being written today. Songs like Hillsong's "Mighty To Save" and Billy Foote's "You Are God Alone (Not A God)" are just plain deep and doctrinally sound...and rock in a power ballad kind of way. Think "Sister Christian" and "Amazing Grace" mashed ("when we've been motorin' ten thousand years, what's your price for flight"). :-)

"Arm chair quarterbacks" need to shut up! If you ain't in the game...keep your mouth shut. The same kind of bonehead that would stand on the sidelines and write "the ends don't justify the means" about a youth event that saw 100+ teens come to Jesus...is the same kind of bonehead that would be taking Jesus to task for not turning the water into iced tea...instead of alcohol. I'm fairly sure that the same God that put a pillar of fire in the sky got a kick out of a pillar of fire on stage. I'm fairly sure that the one and only God that creates deafening thunder in rain clouds gets a kick out of a thunderous hard rock instrumental. I'm almost certain that a mighty God that created music...only to watch it be stolen by Satan for the glory of evil...got a kick out of a church stealing it back to reach young people for His glory!!! While the "watchdogs" are ripping the method...Heaven is rejoicing in the victory!!! Perry and company are in the game reaching people for Christ...bench warmers need not comment.

I am not on "your side". Look...I had a pleasant exchange of emails with Ingrid and Ken. That doesn't mean we are going to take long walks in the rain together or hold hands singing hymns by a campfire...there is still much I disagree with. Let me make this perfectly clear to "Slice Saints", "Leaven Lovers" and "Apprising Peeps"...never assume that we are working toward the same goals. While I respect a few of your spokespeople...I am totally repulsed by your methods. I will speak for myself...stop speaking for me!!!

Rant over...have a nice day and drive carefully!!!