In an age of aggressive atheism , I’ll start by saying I make no apologies for my beliefs . I am a born-again Christian. I’m FAR from perfect . Paul the Apostle said ” Christ came to save sinners , of which I am chief “. Christ Himself said ” I have come to save that which was lost ” .I’ve been a bad lad and experimented with sex , drugs , and rock n roll , but at the end of the day , like the rolling stones , I found myself thinking ” I can’t get no satisfaction ” and i felt restless , craving for something else . I always had a nagging itch that I couldn’t scratch . Jesus Christ didn’t come to save perfect holy people , so that’s cool with me.
I don’t wanna sound all preachy , but i’d like to explain a few things that are fundamental to who I am and what I do as a musician. Bear with me………….I’ll get there =)
The whole point of salvation is that God loves us so much , that He physically came , lived a perfect life among us , and ultimately died for us . He paid the price for our collective failure , Himself , because we were the problem and were completely unable to fix ourselves. . When I became a christian , my spirit was reborn. My body didn’t start having a ready-brek glow all round it , nor did my soul ( emotions , personality ) change , cos i was still irritated , angry , jealous etc…..the next day …but , my spirit was awakened to God , and I now trust in Christ for my ongoing salvation , and not my own actions , not even the good things i might do , cos they don’t sway God.
You may ask me how I can be so sure about all this. Well…….it’s not hard for me to believe when I look at the universe , or when I look at our world hanging there in thin air. Voyager just left our solar system after something like 30 years. Travelling at that speed , it would take Voyager 100,000 years to reach the NEAREST star. Consider then that there are hundreds of millions of stars and you will see my point. How can man , with his puny brain , even begin to understand the majesty , immensity or the complexity of the universe when we haven’t even been to the bottom of some of our oceans yet , and no matter how self-developed we like to think we are as a species , war and corruption still permeates our history like a cancer , and we value a person by how much money ( simple paper from a tree ) they have , or what credit score they have , or other superficial things . How could we ever think we could understand the complexities of a super-intelligent omnipotent God ??
” There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio , than are dreamt of in your philosophy “
A simple study in how many unsustainable things we are doing to our planet should be proof enough to show this world is finite , whether its the dwindling honeybee population , the economy , the poisoning of our atmosphere with fumes and toxins , the obvious rise in natural disasters , or the ever-increasing population and the steps we are needing to resort to in order to feed them , like GM farming. Mankind is not as clever as they would like to think.
As a Christian, I seek to glorify God who put his breath in my lungs , because He is Top Dog and knows a lot more about this ” life ” thing than I do. I believe God is a good God. I don’t have all the answers , but “faith” is proof enough on it’s own , and I’m not required to know everything. That’s His job , not mine.
I seek peace. I believe we are all trying to get to the same place , and we all want the same things at the end of the day , regardless of what colour we are , where we live , or any other differentiating factors.
I make music because I love it , and I believe it to be a spiritual thing. Just look at Band Aid for instance , and how the world was unified by it , or how it’s used in therapy , weddings , funerals , or even battle . Even a brief study of The Golden ratio , or Fibonacci numbers will show evidence of a grand design and a master Creator at work behind the scenes , hidden in plain sight.
For me , most of the time , my music is used as a kind of prayer , an unspoken vocabulary , almost a searching for something…………and the line from ” Hallelujah ” by Leonard Cohen , puts it very succinctly…….
” They say there was a secret chord , that David played and it pleased the Lord “
That’s pretty close to the idea of what I’m trying to do. The human condition is one of trying to connect with the source , whether we are conscious of this or not . I’m searching for that perfect combination of notes / chords / beats that will make the hairs stand on the back of your neck………….the goosebump moment. Some people are so broken in life that music may be the only thing they have , and if they happen to stumble upon my page , then i’d like my music to release some beauty , curiosity and hope into their life , and maybe make someones’ day a little easier.
I believe some truths in this world are fundamental , and they will happen , and are not conditional upon whether we believe them or not. I realise there are people who pour scorn on Christian beliefs , and I remember someone once said
” what will you gain , if you get to the end of your life , and the whole christian thing was a load of nonsense ? “
The reply was
” If i’m wrong , i’ve lost nothing , because I will have enjoyed the challenge anyway , but if YOU are wrong , you will have lost EVERYthing “
Imagine , how much you would need to love someone to do this……..
” Even before His crucifiction , the son of God ( Jesus Christ ) was stripped naked , beaten until almost unrecognizable , whipped , scorned and mocked , spat on , , crowned with thorns , abused and riciculed by heartless men and treated worse than an animal. Then , nearly unconscious from blood loss , he was forced to drag a cross of solid wood up a hill , was nailed to it , and left to die the slowest , most excruciating death while hecklers stood by and shouted insults. “
Jesus could have saved himself , but then he could not have saved YOU.
Jesus gave up everything so you could have everything.
The “gospel” , is that God loves you.
” God so loved the world ( YOU ), that He gave His only begotten Son , that whoever believes in Him , should not perish , but should have eternal life ” ( John 3:16 )
something to think about.
