"...All you need is love...all you need is love..."
Posted on 10/19/2008 9:58:37 AM PDT by marshmallow
The Bible has become banal and rock songs are often more effective in expressing Christianity, a leading bishop has claimed.
The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Croydon, has urged churches to use hits by bands such as U2 and the Beatles in their services.
In a book backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, he argues that pop music writers can convey deep theological concepts in a way that is more accessible to the younger generation.
Hundreds of evangelical churches have already turned to guitar-based songs instead of traditional hymns, but the bishop suggests that clergy still need to be more creative in appealing to non-churchgoers.
Artists highlighted for exploring Christian themes in their music include Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, who famously claimed the Beatles were bigger than Jesus.
"For many people the language of the Bible has become inaccessible and yet pop song writers can make a connection with people because their language is fresh," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Is it any wonder why the Puritans rebelled against the Anglicans and beheaded their king?
LOL!
European Christianity is worse than heretical.. it is BORING..
Far cry from Leviticus, if you ask me.
(Mebbe it was supposed to be the eighth seal...but turned out to be a walrus instead.)
Nope, I'm not buying it. There is a point where 'mind expansion' becomes mere dissemination, and I think the yellow submarine crossed that threshhold.
U2, yeah. There’s enough of a Christian background to a lot of their songs that it makes sense. Dylan? He had a couple of albums with gospel stuff, late Seventies, early Eighties. That might make sense.
The rest of those guys?
:-D )))
Certainly a church in love with the world.
"...All you need is love...all you need is love..."
As for Bob Dylan’s writing when writing on Christian themes he attempts and succeeds in keeping them Biblically correct.
In 1995 Bob Dylan said in an interview with Bill Flanagan:
“..if you are talking on a scriptural type of things, there is no way I could write anything that would be scripturally incorrect. I mean, I am not going to put forth ideas that aren’t scripturally true. I might reverse them, or make them come out a different way, but I am not going to say anything that’s just totally wrong, there’s not a law for it.”
And I listen to his new release Tell Tale Signs - I believe he has kept that attitude throughout his work.
FYI: An example of reversing a biblical theme would be the song Silvo. Got a lot of truth in that song.
The euro-bishop hasn’t seen the Beattles approved-Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas where 2 KKK clad dancers nail a clown to an incandescent cross. Nothing Biblical or Christian about that.
See post 9
Dylan has not ceased from including scripturally themes in his work since the 1979-1981 albums.
Jokerman
I & I
Neighborhood Bully (Defense of the Nation of Israel based on Scripture)
Man of Peace
Foot of Pride
Lord, Protect My Child
When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky (2nd Coming)
I’ll Remember You (injects “Lord” in concerts)
Death is not the End
Ring Them Bells
Man in the Long Black Coat
What Good Am I?
Shooting Star
Under the Red Sky
Handy Dandy
God Knows
Cat’s In The Well
Love Sick (injects “Lord” in concert)
Not Dark Yet (injects “Lord” in concert)
Summer Days
Floater
Each above contains lyrics that are biblically based and I just named a few.
What a great list of Bob Dylan songs. Jokerman has an almost magical quality about it. There is no denying who Dylan is referring to:
“You’re a man of the mountain, you can walk on the clouds
Manipulator of crowds, you’re a dream twister
You’re going to Sodom and Gomorrah
But what do you care ? Ain’t nobody there would want marry your sister
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name.”
Who Is Jokerman?
Jokerman is a reference to Jesus Christ as the world views Him since His Incarnation and up to the nano-second before His Second Coming. Clearly, the opening verse alludes to His birth and the last verse points to a final conflict brewing, but it is in the chorus that Dylan grasps this entire dispensation or age. Each and every person who lives in this age starts out as an infidel. No one is born with saving faith.
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
Bird fly high by the light of the moon
Oh Jokerman
In the Jokerman video, when the chorus is sung the visual is of a hauntingly dark night with bare tree branches and nightingales flying back and forth. Occasionally, one will fly toward the light from the full moon. Despite the moon’s fullness, it is the darkness that fills the picture. To bring the nightingales to safety, Jokerman takes on a familiarity to those He wishes to save. He enters their world, not in power but to show the way in truth and light. It is up to the birds to respond to the light that would guide them.
(Another very beautiful and dramatic means to visualize this is to imagine the triune nature of God (God, His Word/Son & Spirit) in the form of a triangle descending to reach out to meet the triune nature of man (body, soul & spirit) as his triangle reaches upward. When the two triangles meet and intersect you have before you the Shield of David, the six-pointed star, the Maagen David.)
Since Jesus’ public ministry in the 1st century, there has been an invitation to everyone to examine His claims; His promises and the Authority that He said rested with Him. Many dismiss Him altogether, some mock Him, some are indifferent and some oppose Him. But a day is coming, where the bible says that every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. On that day, many will be on their knees but not in willful submission.
To illustrate what this will be like, recall the Robin Hood movie starring Errol Flynn. The final scene had Richard the Lion-Heart returning to his throne and kingdom. Before him knelt his brother Prince John. Prince John exercised evil rule over Richard’s kingdom before his return. Even now in defeat, Prince John was on his knees only because his defeat demanded it. This posture proclaimed that the rightful king had returned and the kingdom was again united under his rule and authority. So is it, when The Lord returns, that every knee shall bow and no one will dare dismiss Him as they easily have done in this age. There will be a time coming when He will no longer just stand at the door and knock, waiting for man, like the nightingales to the moonlight, to willingly respond to His beckoning.
Interestingly, in the deck of cards, it is the joker that has no set value until it is given its worth by the player. That person may look at his hand (life) and a “six” may be all he/she needs to win at this game or they may be content enough to discard the Joker entirely or they may give it the value of a King. Again, in this age, it is our own free will that determines what value we will give to Jokerman.
Now let’s look at the actual verses in Jokerman and see how they describe Jesus.
Standing on the waters casting your bread
In demonstrating dominion over His creation Jesus walked upon the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). When Jesus was being tempted by Satan to turn stones into bread to quench His hunger, He replied that man does not live by bread alone but by the Word of God. In the gospel of John, we learn that Jesus was the Incarnation of the Word of God and that He is the Bread of Life to all that come to Him.
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
In the book of Daniel, the Jewish sage interpreted the dreams of the Babylonian king to paint a picture of the great kingdoms that were to come and dominate the world. Daniel described four kingdoms. The fourth kingdom that would be as strong as iron was the Roman Empire which dominated the world at the time of Christ’s life on Earth. Daniel goes on to describe the arrival of Roman power over a century before Christ’s birth in the ships of Kittim in chapter 11.
You were born with a snake in both of your fists
while a hurricane was blowing
In the book of Genesis, God promises that a seed of a woman will be born that will battle with the serpent. It is for this purpose that the Incarnation occurs. The hurricane may depict how far from the order and tranquility originally planned for it that the world has come.
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with truth so far off, what good will it do?
Jesus’ time in this dimension was very short. He would experience freedom when He returned to Heaven to be with the Father. But.... He had to go to the cross to be the substitutionary death that would reconcile God & man. There was no getting around this. Even if all of Israel had believed in Jesus and made Him King, He still would have been crucified on a Roman cross. Because the “truth” is that man cannot redeem himself apart from the sacrifice of God’s Son.
So swiftly the sun sets in the sky
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Before anyone knew it the “Light of the world” was gone. In the track following Jokerman on the Infidels album, Dylan writes that “the boss he gone north for a while...he sure left here in style”. He ascended to the Father and though this was witnessed by hundreds of people, it pales mightily to what we are to expect “When He Returns”. That will be known worldwide because of its splendor.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
Both of their futures so full of dread, you don’t show one
Again, many in this age will not take seriously the warnings and prophecies of the future that awaits this world, man & mankind.
Think back to the “fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan” from Slow Train Coming. Turn on your TV and you can find someone casting out demons. However, biblically we see how even the archangels tread cautiously when battling with Satan and his demons. In Matthew 7:22-23 Christ says: “Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out denoms, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” When the Foot of Pride comes down there will truly be no going back.
Shedding off one more layer of skin
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within
Oftentimes biblical revelation has been explained as peeling away the layers of skin of an onion: subtle changes that bring into focus God’s plan. For example the entire concept of a Messiah who was to become a substitutionary sacrifice was not revealed until hundreds of years after Moses wrote the Torah. Within the Books of Moses we read only veiled writings that in looking back establish the prophecies contained in the Haneviim & Ketuviim which are the Prophets and The Writings (Psalms, Proverbs etc).
Beforel the time of Isaiah, we were told that the seed of a woman would do battle with the serpent and that though the serpent would inflict injury on the seed it would be defeated and we know that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.It was not until Isaiah six hundred years later, do we have the scriptures foretelling the death of the suffering messiah oftentimes referred to by the Rabbis as Messiah, the son of Joseph. Jesus during His public life systematically fulfilled the scriptures that dealt with affirming His Messiahship, performing the miracles that only the truly “Anointed One/Messiah” could perform, fulfilling the Law of Moses and illuminating the scriptures, never contradicting them. Those who were in authority to examine His claims became His persecutors instead.
But there was another persecutor that was able to get closer to Jesus to harm him during His earthly life than he could at any previous time. In the Book of Job, we learn that Satan has access to Heaven. When he is in the presence of God the Father he can not sin. Why is he there? To accuse the brethren. He must speak truthfully when presenting his case whether it be about Job or us.
However, when Jesus humbled himself and took on mortality, Satan had a new, albeit temporary, opportunity. He could try to kill Jesus in a way that would not provide the atonement. He attempted this with the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem, when he induced mobs to try to cast Jesus off a cliff and most evident on the night in Gethsamane. Satan afflicted Jesus to the point that He sweated blood. The assault was to make Him die before His trials, beatings and crucifixion as the Lamb of God the next morning at the same time that the Passover Offering for sin was being slaughtered by the priest in the Temple. Jesus cried out to the Father for His will to be done and Satan lost another chance to foil the fulfillment of prophecies and the one act in history that sealed his fate.
You’re a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds
Manipulator of crowds, you’re a dream twister
Jesus was transfigured on Mount Hermon, He ascended from the Mount of Olives and indeed, His city, Jerusalem, is Mount Zion also known as Mount Moriah. Walking on the clouds can bring to mind the Ascension or the awaited appearance of The Lord. Under the cruel Roman occupation, the children of Abraham awaited (dreamed of) the arrival of the Messiah who would deliver them from their enemies and establish again the glory of the Kingdom of Israel even greater than the days of King David and King Solomon.
The crowds wanted to make Him King after he simply fed five thousand of them. In that action their dreams were satisfied, but that was not the hunger or need that He came for. There were many who had their dreams shattered by the Rabbi from Galilee. The zealots who wanted to destroy their Roman oppressors, the rich young ruler who believed that he had kept the “spirit” of the Law of Moses, the Samaritan woman at the well who sought after life with men or Nicodemus, the chief teacher of Jerusalem, who learns from the young teacher that in Judaism there is a seventh way for a man to be “born again”.
You’re going to Sodom & Gomorrah, But what do you care?
Ain’t nobody there would want to marry your sister
You just have got to love Dylan’s imagery! In Genesis, Chapter 19, Abraham’s nephew Lot offers his two daughters to a male mob of Sodom that seek to rape his two male houseguests. Whether this was because of the custom of protecting your guests or whether the mob’s intentions, Lot perceived as being a more grievous offense to God is uncertain. However, Sodom & Gomorrah were uninhabitable in Christ’s day and remain so to this day.
So, did Jokerman actually try to change someone’s lifestyle? Sure did! All of ours. He came into this world, seeking that which was lost and knowing that He would be rejected and despised by it. Rather than focusing on one particular sin, Dylan captures the bewilderment of why would He go after people who want nothing to do with Him. Not even if he offered them an enticement, they would still reject Him and choose their sinful state.
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame
At the stoning of the first Christian martyr Stephen, the executioners were incensed at the comfort that the condemned man received by a heavenly vision of Jesus at the right hand of the Father. Also, in the Book of Daniel, three would-be martyr’s lives were spared after they were joined in a fiery furnace by a fourth person who appeared to be a “son of the gods” to the pagan Babylonian king. The woman of shame about to be stoned to death for being caught in the act of adultery by an angry ”righteous” mob obtained physical redemption when Jesus upheld the “spirit” of the Law of Moses. Had the mob truly intended to purge the sin from within the nation of Israel then the male partner should have also been produced. The mob used the woman to entrap Jesus into violating the Law of Moses. Under that Law, it was necessary to have corroborating witnesses who were not guilty of the same offense. Which is why when Jesus stated, “He who is without (this) sin among you, let him cast the first stone”, the accusers left no longer in the position to cast judgement on the woman. (A personal observation here is that not until 1998 A.D. have we had another case where an act of adultery occurred and there was only one guilty party.)
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus tells the account of a certain rich man who dies and goes to the section of Hades where he is in torment. Also in the story are Father Abraham and a beggar named Lazarus who are in comfort in another section of Sheol. The rich man is never personally identified in the story, however Abraham uses a term of endearment to address him that meant child/son. Abraham says: “Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things: but now he is in comfort here and you are in agony.”
Similarly, Dylan in the song Under the Red Sky speaks of a little boy & little girl who live in an alley and witness for a time the visit of the man from the moon. The little girl is promised treasures in the future. The little boy and little girl are baked in a pie. The little girl will live again to see the “someday” when everything will be new. The little boy is not even mentioned again. No promises need to be delivered. Did the little girl accept God’s grace and the little boy who shared the same illumination/revelation of God’s plan, not accept it?
Well, the Book of Leviticus & Deuteronomy
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
Jesus came into this world as a man and more specifically as a Jewish man. The Torah, which contains the books of Deuteronomy & Leviticus, was the teacher to how Jewish men should live righteous lives. Also, it should be pointed out that Deuteronomy is the book of the Law and Leviticus is the book of sacrifice. In order to satisfy the Law, Jesus came to be the final sacrifice for atonement. Though He demonstrated His power over nature, He entered this world that is governed by natural forces.
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk white steed
Michelangelo indeed could have carved out your features
Resting in the fields far from the turbulent space
Half asleep ‘neath the stars with a small dog lickin’ your face
Indeed of all the scenes Michaelangelo could capture, they could be as diverse as the magnificence foretold in Revelation, Chapter 19, verse 11: “And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” Or the humility found at the manger scene in Bethlehem that was repeated often during Jesus’s ministry as He slept oftentimes in the Judean wilderness among his creatures where “’cept for the sky there are no fences facin’.”
Well, Rifleman’s stalking the sick & the lame
Preacherman seeks the same, who’ll get there first is uncertain
Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas padlocks,
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain
Sadly, this verse so well describes the condition of this world and mankind’s abuse of his fellow man. The weaker are targets in this world for any aggressor. In this verse, Dylan brings in the concept that amid all of this brutality is the realm of spiritual warfare. In other songs such as: Trouble In Mind, Man of Peace and Dead Man,Dead Man; Dylan does not hesitate to point to Satan as the chief architect of evil in this world regardless of what form it exists.
False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin
Only a matter of time till night comes stepping in
Before Israel had its first king in Saul, it was the judges that were the rulers in Israel. Under Roman rule, the body of the Sanhedrin ruled in matters of Jewish life. It was this tribunal that Jesus was brought before. In acting in the manner that they did, they not only violated the Law of Moses but also, more than two dozens rules of conduct that the Sanhedrin instituted for themselves, as documented by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, a Jewish Christian bible scholar. In betraying Him in their unbelief, the Sanhedrin caused the promise of the Messianic Kingdom to be withdrawn to a future generation. Judgement fell upon that generation as a direct result of the failure of the Jewish leaders of that day. This verse also, speaks to those who are leaders today. Certainly, night, or the “slow train” is coming.
It’s a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
He’ll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot
This verse describes the fulfillment of prophecy that will bring tribulation upon the Earth. It speaks of the arrival on the scene of the anti-christ. Dylan provides us with more information about this character in the song, “Man of Peace”. The anti-christ will be a counterfeit that the world will see when they are “trying to catch a glimpse of the sun (Son)”. Satan through the anti-christ and his prophet will counterfeit the Holy Trinity down to the virgin birth and as Dylan offers, even to the star that announced the Lord’s birth. This anti-christ will put the world religions under his control. One of the more known passages about the anti-christ is that he will be known by the number 666 and will force many to be branded with it as a sign of his authority over them. Therefore, it is the anti-christ who puts the blade to the heat for this purpose. He will take every man, woman & child who has not been “bonded” to God’s true love and seal them to the never satisfying attachment of a harlot.
There is a bootleg of cuts from the Infidels album known as Rough Cuts. These show the lyrical thought progression of Dylan during the recording sessions. I was given these tapes after the preceding commentary was written. The lyrics that are heard on this “new” recording are supportive of what has been laid out in this essay. For example:
No store bought shirt for you on your back
One of the women must sit in the shack
And sew one
This lyric appeared in the beginning verse of the song which dealt with Christ’s ministry on Earth. He came here with none of the wealth or glory that should accompany his person and stature. He came as Isaiah described Him as the Servant. In Luke 8:3, we learn of the women that followed Jesus and supported Him from out of their means. Might not one of these women had woven the seamless garment that was torn from Jesus’s body by the Romans that was later gambled for. Is this maybe the scene that inspired the still seeking Dylan to write the lyrics “In a little hilltop village, they bargained for my clothes, I bargained for salvation an’ they gave me a lethal dose, I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn”. (From Shelter From The Storm)
Scratching the world with a fine tooth comb
You’re a King among nations
You’re a stranger at home
In the great commission, Jesus sends those who are His disciples to the uttermost parts of the Earth to bring home the elect. In Matthew 18:12-14, he tells of the shepherd who will leave 99 sheep to go out and search for the lost one, so that none should perish. It was foretold that He would be rejected by His own people and accepted by people (gentiles) who were not called by His name. Certainly, this has proved true. Jesus is considered the gentiles God/King and rarely thought of as the Jewish Messiah/King. In I & I Dylan uses the term stranger to descibe the person who made him understand God’s righteousness.
No crystal ball do you need on your shelf
Michaelangelo himself could have carved out your features
So drunk, standing in the middle of the street
Directing traffic with a small dog at your feet
Jokerman of course knows what the future holds. The words “so drunk”, could they be used by Dylan to describe his Lord as He is conducting the affairs of this age? Yes, when one knows the following biblical application. In Ephesians 5:18 it reads:
And be not drunken with wine
Wherein is riot
But be filled with the Spirit.
To be “filled” by the Holy Spirit means that you are controlled by the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 contrasts this with drunkeness. When one is filled with alcohol he is controlled by it. In contrast to being filled with wine, Paul said to be filled with the Holy Spirit. In its fullest terms it means to be totally under the Holy Spirit’s control. That someone would only be able to carry out the perfect will of God. This does describe Jesus & His ministry.
Well, preacherman talking about the deaf & the dumb
& a world to come that’s already been predetermined
Night sticks, water cannons, tear gas, padlocks, molotov cocktails
and rocks can’t drown out his sermon
You let the wicked walk right into a trap
You give away all the good things that fall in Your lap
The great commission to spread the Gospel has continued since 30 AD. Satan will ultimately fail and face eternal damnation. Jokerman does not amass fortune or wealth, He continues on as a humble servant, for now.
It’s a shadowy world, skies are slippery grey
A woman just gave birth to a prince today
And she is dressed in scarlet
He’ll put priests in the pit that’ll make old men bark
Take a woman that could have been Joan of Arc
And turn her into a harlot
The false religion that assists the anti-christ in achieving his power is described as a harlot dressed in scarlet in Revelation. She has perverted true faith with false doctrine. Because she has done this, many people have been led down the broad path that leads to destruction.
And finally the haunting lines that end both studio draft and final cut of this song:
Oh, Jokerman you know what he wants
Oh, Jokerman you don’t show any response
Of course, Jokerman knows the intentions of Satan, the anti-christ and his prophet. He inspired Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Paul, Matthew, John to write about it! The world stage is set for the anti-christ. The Jewish people who were dispersed in 132 A.D.have their descendants now living in the modern nation of Israel that was born in 1948. Jerusalem is once again under Jewish control as of 1967. It is foretold that the conflicts in the Middle East will continue and a prince will arrive on the scene seemingly to bring peace to the region.
But it is a false peace. He will break the treaty with Israel and gather armies together in the Jezreel Valley also known as Armaggedon to destroy the Jewish people. The leaders of Israel will finally realize why this tribulation has come against them. They will acknowledge their national sin of having rejected Jesus as the Messiah. However, Christ will not return until the Jewish authorities & people cry out for Him.
In Matthew 23:37-39 Christ says to the leadership that rejected His Messiahship:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her. How ofter I would have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is let to you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord/Baruch Haba BaShem Adonai”.
These are the words that, once uttered, will announce the King Messiah, the son of David, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the Alpha & the Omega and the Savior of the World. He is Jokerman no longer. Every knee shall bow & tongue confess that Jesus is Lord when He does show the response that Dylan pleads for in the last verse.
King Charles wasn’t an Anglican, he was a Catholic with a Protestant coat.
I remember that many Christians lamented when “Infidels” was released in 1983 because it was regarded as a secular album. But Dylan didn’t change direction, the message was just a little bit below the surface for most people. Its not easy to walk away from a true conversion experience, and a true believer would be loathed to do so and would find his way back. That’s a great analysis of Jokerman.
Western Anglican leadership is heretical. It’s that simple.
The great picture of Dylan placing a stone on the Mount of Olives is very telling. The picture was taken by Sara Dylan near sunset. Earlier that day - she & Bob attended Bob’s son Jesse’s Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall orchrestrated by Bob’s Mom Beatty. Afterward Bob takes his family to the site of Jesus’ Ascension and honors the Man who “rose up and said goodbye to nobody”
The story behind the photo in the album sleeve.
Wow! They explain global warming though their superior understanding of science. They endorse the superior political candidates by virtue of their keen grasp of government, economics and history. Now they will explain theology to us.
Is there anything "Pop Stars" can't do?
SARC/
Bookmarked.
“The Bible has become banal and rock songs are often more effective in expressing Christianity, a leading bishop has claimed.”
Charles Manson believes the same thing.
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