Upon This Rawk

RSS

Is this really a church? 2.0

One of the best resources for theology on the Internet is a little site called Monergism.com. The web site contains a wealth of reference materials, sermons, audio files, and book reviews. I usually like to visit the new section to see what is the new thing. Today I found a link to the newest broadcast of White Horse Inn. White Horse Inn is a radio teaching ministry hosted by Michael Horton. It centers around the teachings of reformed theology. He usually hosts the broadcast with a panel of guests to discuss a particular subject. The newest broadcast subject was “Joel Osteen: A Case Study in American Religion”. This is quite a popular topic since Joel Osteen’s “church” is the largest one in the United States.

I would encourage anyone reading to go to the audio broadcast and listen to it. I will link to it at the end of this posting. I will just mention a few of the highlights in the broadcast. One of the most agreeable comments made by the panel was that the noun “church” should be removed from his congregation at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. But one of the most memorable comments in the broadcast was made by the host Michael Horton. He described a time when he was questioned by a 60 Minutes interviewer concerning Osteen. The interviewer asked him if he thought the teaching of Osteen was heresy? Horton reflected that he told him that he did not consider his teachings to have enough content to be considered heresy. Ouch! One of the guests in the broadcast points out that this theology is not just far off the gospel teaching that when we sin, or as Osteen calls it “do wrong”, we are sinning against a holy God. But it is not even a social gospel that teaches when we sin we are offending our neighbor. The guest says it is a gospel that teaches when we sin it is a sin against our navel or against ourselves. There is much more insight into the bad theology taught in the American church, in particular by Joel Osteen.

Here is the audio link for the broadcast.

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 25, 2008 in American Christianity, Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, White Horse Inn

Before Abraham was, I am

19 Jan

I am currently reading through the book of John in the bible. Today as I completed chapter eight I came across this verse close to the end, verse 58 to be exact, where Jesus undeniably states that he is God. This takes place right after Jesus had truthfully defended the woman who had been caught in adultry and brought to Him. Throughout this chapter He has been more or less debating with the Jews about who He is. The Jewish leaders seem to believe their “ace in the hole” is the proclamation that their father is Abraham. It is then that Jesus turns up the heat on their pride and sin and proclaims:

Before Abraham was, I am

Now this proclamation not only offended the Jewish leaders but it also flys in the face of a couple of American religions of today. The Mormons claim that Jesus was a man who obtained deity. They believe that He is a created being and the brother of Adam and Lucifer. The Jehovah’s Witness believe much the same way. They also believe that Jesus is a created being and not God. They claim to be declaring the witness of God. But essetially what both of these religions are doing is denying the very witness that God reveals in the New Testament. That Jesus is who He claims to be. In John 10:30 Jesus again states:

I and the Father are one

And again the Jews were incredibly offended as the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses would be today if you were to point that out to them. The New Testament declares throughout:

He is the brightness of the Father. He is the express image of God. He is literally the replica, the duplicate of the invisible God.

So as I read the scripture this morning, I couldn’t help but marvel at this truth revealed to us. The mystery of the invisible God revealed in Jesus Christ. He is who he claims to be. He is God.

For further reading about the Incarnation of Jesus Christ I would recommend the text from a sermon by Dr. John MacArthur called “The Inside Story of the Incarnation“.

Soli Deo Gloria

11 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 19, 2008 in Christianity, Jehovah's Witness, Jesus Christ, John 8:58, Mormons, The Trinity

Professing ignorance?

17 Jan

For those who still wrestle with the sovereignty of God and that He chooses who He will save through His son, I found a very articulate response to this seemingly controversial theology. The posting can be found here. Please read it and use the intellect God gave you. If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ none of it will make sense, but maybe the answer to the following question will. What is the penalty for one sin?

Thanks go to John and the guys at Reformation Theology for posting the response.

Photo credit

6 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 17, 2008 in Christian ignorance, Ephesians 1, God's sovereignty, sovereignty

Music Review Tuesday – Ozzy

16 Jan

I got caught in a bit of a pinch today. I wasn’t totally prepared to do a Music Review Tuesday. But as I was going through my mp3 player I discovered I did have an album on it that I have been meaning to review since it was released earlier this year. Who was the lead singer for seemingly the first heavy metal rock band? Who’s name is synonymous with bats and Satan? Who is the self-proclaimed “Prince of Darkness”? Who has abused themselves on drugs and alcohol so much over the years they are almost unintelligible? Who had their own reality TV show that introduced millions of new fans to his family? That’s right the King of “most everything wrong” with heavy metal music, the artist known as Ozzy Osbourne. Ozzy will be sixty years old this year. After over ten years of singing and writing for Black Sabbath, He became a solo performer in 1980. In doing so he took the heavy metal genre to new heights with the legendary guitarist Randy Rhoads. He has worked with many great musicians over the years including Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)Jake E. Lee, Brad Gillis (Night Ranger), and current guitarist and bandmate Zakk Wylde. But would this new album come close to some of the heavy metal genius we have pummeled our cranium too in the past?

Enter “Black Rain” the new release from Ozzy Osbourne. The album was released on May 22nd, 2007. The band lineup is Zakk Wylde on guitars, Mike Bordin on drums, and Rob Nicholson on bass guitar. The album slams my head with the opening track “Not Going Away”. The combination of Zakk Wylde and Nichols’ bass is so heavy, it reminds me of Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi in their Black Sabbath heyday. Ozzy actually tries his hand, or voice as it were, with some screaming on this track. The next track “I Don’t Wanna Stop” comes screaming out of the gate into a head crushing rhythm that is a killer. There are plenty of patented Zakk pinch harmonics to go ’round on this track. It definitely rawks your face off. Part of the chorus goes:

All fired up, I’m gonna go till I drop
You’re either in or in the way, don’t make me,
I don’t wanna stop

The album title “Black Rain” is the next song on the album. It slow things down a bit. But the same heavy pounding guitar and bass is very evident. The next four tracks are pretty lame for a hard rock album and do not even compare to the given title “King of Heavy Metal”.

Album hightlights are “Not Going Away”, “I Don’t Wanna Stop” hey can someone find my face for me, “Black Rain”, “Countdown’s Begun” with it’s full force guitar driven crunch riff, “Trap Door” starts out with the typical Ozzy filler formula but builds to a very cool rockin’ song.

This Ozzy album as a whole does not compare very well to some of my past favorites. But this sixty year old burn out can still put together some heavy songs. The songs in the middle are downright lame in comparison. I give this album a BarryDean three and a half stars out of five.

Please check out the music video for “I Don’t Wanna Stop”.

4 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 16, 2008 in Black Rain, Music Review, Ozzy Osbourne

New Alter Bridge music video

10 Jan

I love this rock band. They have released a new music video of their song “Ties That Bind”. This song was released in the UK as a single. This band continues to rawk my face off. They just released the second U.S. single from the album “Blackbird”. The song is “Watch Over You”. I will premiere it here when it is released to the public.

1 Comment

Posted by barrydean on January 10, 2008 in Alter Bridge, Blackbird, Music Video, Ties That Bind

Does abortion only affect the woman?

09 Jan

The above is an excellent question. It is not one I came up with or posed somewhere. It comes out of blog posting by Dr. Albert Mohler. He quotes a couple of very powerful real life experiences from men and how they were affected by an abortion. Please link from the picture to read this incredible article.

3 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 9, 2008 in abortion, Dr. Albert Mohler, post-abortion

Music Review Tuesday – The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

09 Jan

Today I am reviewing another new, up and coming, band. I had not heard of this band until I heard them on the local college radio station. The song I heard impressed me so much that I had to seek for more of their music. Of course a serious search was never initiated until a conversation with my youngest daughter, Crysta, about music revealed that she liked this band too. That conversation coupled with Crysta getting me an iTunes gift card for Christmas prompted me to use it to download The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus album. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was formed in 2003 and are based out of the Jacksonville, Florida area. You will have to admit like me that one of first things I wanted to know about the band is how did they come up with the cool band name. According to a couple of web sources the name was derived by placing random words on the wall and a blindfolded band member selecting three words. So we have The “Red” “Jumpsuit” “Apparatus”.

Their debut album “Don’t You Fake It” was released July 18th, 2006 and has sold well over 1 million copies in the U. S. alone. The album begins with a hard rockin’ song which contains the album title in the song’s chorus. The song is called “In Fate’s Hands” and it starts the album with a nice head-banging rhythm with some not-so-subtle screaming vocals stating:

Shake it, break it, get off your feet,
come dance with me and don’t you fake it.

The guitars rock your face off. The next track is “Waiting” and is a simple rock and roll song coupled with the typical young man searching for meaning in life and trying to break from a depressing, monotonous life. The lyrics to the next song “False Pretense” are more sophisticated and speak about being careful what you take seriously, because it just might be built on a false pretense. The next track is the band’s hugely popular song called “Face Down”. The music is a fast paced rhythm with a great guitar sound. It also contains pinch harmonics and pick scrapes. It’s almost old school. The lyrics are very mature. Here is the chorus:

Do you feel like a man
when you push her around?
Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?
Well I’ll tell you my friend, one day this world’s going to end as your lies crumble down, a new life she has found.

Read the rest of this entry »

The new family member

06 Jan

No, it’s not what you think. I just wanted to show off my newest guitar. I purchased it in November of last year from RondoMusic.com. I have been meaning to do a short posting about it but have not had the time to record a video to go with it. Today, with the help of my daughter Crysta, I put together a video and a picture of the guitar. The guitar is an Agile 3000 Les Paul copy. Here are the specs for the guitar. I have been playing it almost exclusively, and it definitely rocks. It gives me so many different sounds even with out any sophisticated guitar gear. I can’t wait to get the recording software in the next few months. I will be able to lay down some pretty awesome guitar tracks and songs.

Rawk On!

4 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 6, 2008 in Agile 3000, guitar, Les Paul

Another Puritan quote

04 Jan

If a wicked man seems to have peace at death, it is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but from the ingnorance of his danger.

Thomas Watson

Isaiah 55:6 states:

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.

When death comes it is too late. The dead, unrepentant, sinner may seem to be at peace but it is only because he is not there. He has gone on to meet his due reward for not trusting in Jesus Christ. The bible calls this the second death, a total separation from God.

Oh sinner, call on the Lord today. Seek Him while He may be found.

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 4, 2008 in Isaiah 55:6, Puritan, quotes, Thomas Watson

Music Review Tuesday

02 Jan

Happy New Year everyone! I want to thank everyone out there in the blogosphere who The Classic Crime - Albatross has read and even commented on my Music Review Tuesday’s. My first review was April 27th of this past year. I don’t think I have missed but two or three Tuesday’s since. Music is one of my loves and I totally enjoy doing these reviews. Today Music Review Tuesday falls on the very first day of the new year so it is only befitting that I review an album and band that I am brand new to. I found them purely by accident. I was looking up feedback for a future MRT in Amazon.com and saw this band in the amazon.com “people who bought this bought these also” section. This is where I found The Classic Crime. This band began in 2004 and are originally from Bellingham, Washington. They are now based out of Seattle; the maternity ward for the grunge music scene in the early nineties that birthed such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. There is a distinct difference in the lyrics and music of The Classic Crime than that of their geographic predecessors. Their music is more optimistic and hopeful. I have read some interviews since finding these guys from the Pacific Northwest and the one constant is they are “very energetic on stage” and they “connect with their audience.”

The debut album from The Classic Crime is “Albatross“. The album came as a result of Matt Macdonald, the bands singer, watching a nature channel and getting fascinated by the bird. He stated in an interview “It just metaphorically embodied what we wanted for our music and for our band as a whole.” “I think the bird magnificence reflected the more hopeful songs on the record.” The album was released May 23rd, 2006 through the Christian label Tooth & Nail Records. The album begins with “The Fight” a very catchy and energetic rock song. The chorus lyrics keep repeating:

I’ll take my heart back and set the people free. I’ll leave the dead to die, and take who’s coming with me.

The last part there rings of the words of Jesus as written in Matthew 8:22 of scripture. The next track “Flight of Kings” is a more melodic song with some mature lyrics such as “Do you know this songs for you?” “My heart goes out to the hurt you feel.” A very hopeful song of compassion to the hurting people in this world. The next song touches me musically the way the light guitar strums along in the verses and then crashes in on the chorus. The song is so salvation oriented in such a subtle way with “I’m drowning but I don’t care, when you’ve got what I’ve got, who needs air.” Christ is the one who sustains us. The next track “Blisters and Coffee” reminds me of one of my favorite Christian rock bands Kutless. I wonder if the song is about writing songs. With blisters and coffee.

Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 2, 2008 in Albatross, Music Review, The Classic Crime