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2000 Soap Box Archives Christian Music I just received another e mail from someone who came to a concert and was disappointed because I didn’t play all Christian music. They said that I should give up playing any kind of music except Christian. When I first started recording Christian music I was asked by the media and others, ”How do you think your fans are going to feel about you recording gospel music?” To which I replied, “I don’t believe they’ll think much about it at all since I've included gospel music in my show for years. And besides that, regardless of what anybody thinks I'm going to do it anyway. I had waited a long time for an opportunity to do a Christian album and I believed that it was something I should do.” I have done two Christian albums, The Door and Steel Witness and have plans for doing another one later on this year. I have received some of the most heartwarming mail I have ever received concerning these albums and our fans, who have been with us for many years have never criticized us for doing them. The only people who have been critical have been, believe it or not, Christians. Admittedly, not most Christians, they have been very complimentary about the whole thing. But once in a while I'll hear from somebody who thinks that I should stop playing secular music all together. I simply cannot understand this way of thinking. Why should Christians just completely give all the secular music to Satan? He has enough of it now. I do a family show, a show you can bring anybody in your family to and they will not be embarrassed or offended. I know that being in the public eye as I am that I leave myself open to criticism, I expect it but does it, have to come from people who are supposed to be my brothers and sisters. Are they saying that because I play music other than Christian music I don’t have a right to be a Christian? Are they saying that I can’t serve the Lord and be an entertainer? Whatever happened to love and understanding and not judging others? How can they judge me when all they see is the tip of the iceberg, how can they know the kind of person I am, how can they see what is in my heart? I wonder how many baby Christians have left the faith because they could not live up to the expectations of some self righteous pharisee who criticizes someone for having a glass of wine and then sees someone in need and does nothing about it? I wonder how many people have made a decision to follow Jesus only to be chastised by some pompous, stiff necked person so weighted down by the law that the light of Jesus is completely covered up. Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim to be the most sanctimonious person in the world and I am not holding myself up as a role model for anyone. I am just a sinner saved by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. I have done nothing to earn that salvation nor can I ever do anything to repay the gift of the tiniest drop of Jesus’ blood. Until the day that God makes it clear that he doesn’t want me doing what I'm doing I will be out there playing music for the folks, doing my best to bring some decent family entertainment into a world with way too much of the other stuff. What do you think? God
Bless America
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