Down With The Mainstream

I used, I got high, I got drunk, I got laid but I didn’t get saved. Miss Aaronson makes it sound like its some metaphysical enlightenment. What she fails to mention are the substance’s abused in these circles. Hallucinogens, ecstasy, and pills of all sorts. Rave, funk, techno. Followers like to take you on a trip. This lady is on a trip. She must have had some encounters while on some semi-decent shrooms. She uses a common belief amongst the hallucinogenic crowd (p.109) “This kind of music modifies the consciousness we have of ourselves and according this world.” Its “funky stuff” is an often quoted phrase in that subculture. She says “We enter a funky dimension of perception.” (p.109)

Also on p.109 she “raves” about how "they generate wild corporeal expressions initiated by rhythm and the sound of light effects they skillfully manipulate." These venues are known for their light shows. It is a very popular feature. The light shows are synchronized by participants of these shows. The combined effect of the techno and rave sound, while “trippin’, can create quite a sensation. These sensations she further describes on (p.113).are that of disorientation caused by the technology used for these shows. The combined effect leaves one disoriented? That is the same thing as confused! Then she says when you have sensory overload you can go into a trance where you can escape political and social classification.(p.114) What kind of trance is that? A dead trance? I do not suggest that going to one of these events and ingesting hallucinogenics can solve ANY of your problems! Taking drugs and dancing like crazy at a light show is not the answer. I used, I got high, I got drunk, I got laid but I didn’t get saved.

Now I would like to further this discussion by talking about the social and political aspects that Aaronson claims to escape. A prevalent ideology acknowledged and embraced by the techno, funk/rave crowd is not to be involved politically or socially. That “fusional media has no concerns with social power.” (p. 112 Music and Culture) Show me someone high on drugs that does. These genres embrace rebellion. Rock n' roll, rap, rave, punk and the others.
Whatever it is, it is going against the so- called mainstream. For once I would like them to identify exactly what this mainstream looks like. Not abusing drugs is that mainstream? Not having abortions and indulging in immoral sex practices, is that mainstream? Not being a dead beat dad, is that too mainstream? It seems to me they do what they want to do, anyway. It is not the product but the producers under question and scrutiny. Lets answer a So What? Who cares? question.

Does it matter that thousands of teenagers a day are contracting “social” diseases and we kill thousands of babies a day for our "social" well-being?
Who cares? I do!

Suicide amongst the youth is at an all time high and our families have fallen apart.
So what you say?

You should care!

This aggressive sexual agenda being pushed in our faces has wrought nothing but destruction. Exactly what does your mainstream look like? Are you applauding Lady Gaga as some social elite and Charlie Sheen? If you attended The Monologues was it really all that enlightening?What about being pro-life or pro abortion? Do our elderly even have any rights? What is a proper age for sexual consent? I don’t think it is ten. Are you supporting death, disease and child molestation by indulging in pornography just because you get a tickle in your britches? Give me a break! What does your mainstream look like?

It is time for you to see and recognize the truth. The only rebellion is against God. God does not support such practices and neither should you. To satisfy the lust of our flesh we have to kill babies?! That lust also includes our lust for money and violence. Is not abortion an act of violence on another human being? Wake up people!

I hope that you start challenging the real mainstream. It is filthy and full of destruction. The answers are with God. Seek Him for He alone has the solutions we need. And help we do need!

Gettin' High

Writing about substance abuse is no fun. Having lost family members to drug abuse I can personally say that it is vile. Tomorrow, March 25, 2011, in Lancaster, Ca., friends of our family will be burying their beloved daughter because of a drug overdose. She has left two small children behind. My brother in-law is dead because of drugs and left behind his children and my cousin has recently survived an overdose and coma. She is very fortunate to be alive. We love her and her children need her here and need her to be better here. Thankfully, she was baptized two Sundays ago and we pray she is healed.

No matter what a persons reason for indulging in drug use is, it is a destructive lie. It is apart of that scene though. Sex, drugs, and music. It doesn’t matter what the genre is. I have told addicts of limited means that it was a good thing that they had no money because they would be dead if they had an unlimited supply. We know that drugs and alcohol completely distort your ability to discern. We know that people will do things when they are high or drunk that they would never do when they are sober. When musicians are using drugs and making music they are known as functional users. They are actually working, even though addicted, and making money. It's hard to comprehend that description isn’t it? A functioning addict? But the fact is they are not functioning. We see the devastating effects of that lifestyle and those choices. Many musicians have died because of drug overdoses. If people who recover from drug and alcohol abuse have a better quality of life and their job performance is also better as a result of sobriety, why wouldn’t that also pertain to a musician?

The real tragedy is that they are famous and very influential and our young people want to be just like them. They do not need these substances to make music. Those are gifts, talents, and abilities given to them by God. Drugs are destructive not constructive. What an unnecessary question. We can call a thing exactly what it is and still be politically correct. If being politically correct means we have to lie then we need to shut our mouths. Truth never goes out of style or season. It is the one prevailing force that people will always need. There are many destructive “habits” and lifestyles that we are accepting as correct today. If you don’t agree, don’t feel like you have to. You are still entitled to your own opinion. We push tolerance yet we don’t want to tolerate anyone who disagrees with the so called free love and lifestyles of society today. It is still that so called free love people but love has nothing to do with it. Does it look like the sexual revolution is over even though it has wrought mass destruction? I would have to say no. In 1971 we wanted abortion on demand because we wanted to have sex not babies. Nothing has changed, thousands of babies die everyday. We embrace pornography and the music videos are filled with it. What else would you call it? The drugs and sex aren’t enhancing anything but death and there is nothing sexy, glamorous, or appealing about that. Is your perception of right and wrong distorted because a twisted culture is dictating to you? The answers are not in the mass media, more sex, drugs, or politics. The answers we need are with God. How can the obvious destruction by you be ignored? You be sober and vigilant and go with God. Choose life not death and get high on the Most High.

　

　

　

　

Standing Room Only

Will the responsible party please stand up? Everyone can stand up. Where do we get the idea that responsibility is an isolated or one sided obligation? Oh thank you very much for the parent advisory warning but if the material is being sold to my minor anyway what difference does it make? Its just like alcohol. Where do these minors get all that alcohol? Someone older is purchasing it for them and sometimes it is sold directly to them. With music it is always sold directly to them. I never had anyone stop me when I was a teenager from purchasing anything because of a warning label. "Oh no you may not purcahse that CD there is a warning label on it!" Oh please they want your money. They do not feel obligated to regulate the stuff because they're not the one's producing it.
Okay, I know you're thinking alcohol and music cannot even be compared but the concept is the same. So what is the point of their labels? To shut the complaing parents up? To keep quiet those who do not like what is being produced? Basically. Noone sees it making a difference, its a joke. For the few parents out there that are involved, because our homes are very broken and missing vital components called parents, how effective are those labels anyway? We keep repeating the same questions here but we know that every has a responsibility in their own family and we have a social responsibilty as well. We are to act on an individual basis in regards to our homes and communities. Everyone taking responsibiltiy for their parts is what we are talking about and that will bring us full circle back to one question. What do you consider to be right or wrong.? Obviously we are not in agreement. We have mass confusion today because everyone is wanting to redefine everything to suit their own preferences.
Do you have a core belief system or does anything go? Embracing tolerance means we must chuck a moral absolute. So what is right or wrong? With no moral standard how do you measure behavior as being acceptable or unacceptable, right or wrong? If indeed tolerance is the great religion of the day and you disagree with all the illicit sex, violence, and drugs are you to be considered intolerant? Having a standard does not make you intolerant and because you do not openly embrace the practices of today, that are becoming the norm, doesn't make you intolerant. The evidence is in folks all we have do is look around and see. With no standard or moral absolute we are destroying are our selves. There is a right from wrong. I base that on clear facts that we all are surrounded by. To know right from wrong and continue to do the wrong that is harming us is insanity. I vote for a moral absolute. I vote for God's idea of how man should conduct business on planet earth. Those 10 Do's and Don'ts are full of wisdom and pretty infalliable. We may think we know it all and redefine it all, according to what we think we know, but that has never worked. It's not working now and will never turn itself around. We have to start making the right choices to turn it around. Would everyone please stand up because everyone is accountable. God Bless.

OPEN YOUR EARS SO YOU CAN SEE

"Somebody's Knockin' Should I Let Them In"

Mr. and Mrs. Karma came knocking at my door.
"Pay up" they say, "and no excuses we've heard them all before."
"But wait!" I say, "I thought I had more time." And they say "No no, now thats a lie." And Karma  punched me right in the eye!
So then they start to collect everything you thought was yours. They stripped me bare right to my drawers!
They said I had no shame and I gave no love. Wow, that Karma is tough.
They knocked me around with their finger in my face. Slapped me a couple of times to put me in my place!
But now I'm still not humbled they just got me upset. Am I really that bad to deserve all this?
"We know you been lying, cheatin', stealin', and a massive whore too. You'll be lucky to be alive when we get through with you!"
Can anyone help me to get out of this? I'm crying and begging but it don't help. They say, "Shut up you're going to Hell!"
Then I remember what my grandma use to say that I got to call on Jesus when it gets to be crazy days.
I almost hesitated cuz I know I don't deserve anything good from the Lord.
But I yelled with all my my might, "JESUS HELP ME! Karmas kicking my butt and I'm losing the fight! You know I really do believe. I repent right now from my evil ways and I truly am sorry from the straight and narrow I ever strayed."
Well right then and there Karma backed off and said,"Well we think you've had enough."
All I could do was breathe a sigh of relief cuz that old couple Karma was after me.

Negative influences. I encounter those everyday and so does our youth and so do you. The question is what is considered negative by me or you. You can obviously sort through some of the muck and mire but how much of it do you accept without question? What is acccepted by you and is by you a common practice? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to look around and see all the destruction that bad choices cause.
Illicit sex, drugs and violence are produced and aired aggressively everyday for our listening and viewing pleasure. We are indulging in harmful practices that have no good end result. These cycles are continued when we perpetrate them. What is seen and heard is learned. We then put into practice what it is we have been taught. If this negativity is constant it will effect our thinking thus affecting our behaviors. If we sow destruction, destruction we will reap. In a developed country with access to mass media at our finger tips, every waking moment we are receiving instruction. Parents need to teach their children not to conform or indulge in these bad behaviors. But are we calling good evil and evil good?
Once you reap what you sow and are hurting maybe then your eye's will be opened. I don't need an eye opener. All I have to do is look around and see all the hurting people, young and old, that I'm surrounded by. The media doesn't have the answers you need. They will not be there to comfort you or cure a disease. They will support their agenda of death and profit off of you as long as they can. We are sowing negative therefore reaping negative. This we can clearly see. I hope you stop these negative cycle's and call upon Jesus with me.
He will save as He promises. He can change all those negatives to positives. He has the answers we seek.

Pass It On...the passion

Passion. What a driving force. It would seem like these teenagers have lost their minds but what about the rest of us? When anything is new it is sensational. A sensational craze. Finding oneself at the beginning of life wondering who you are and identifying with what makes you tick. Exploring a new world and finding ourselves we do in music. It would seem the opposite that one loses themselves but we are talking about identity and what we identify ourselves with.
Music is one of our main reference points that gives us some clear definition in the middle of the confusion. Which makes me smirk to think that some people think the music itself is utter confusion. How could you find anything in all that noise? But we do. I may not know much but I know what I like. And I can't be completely alien, although I feel like it sometimes, because I toatally get this and so do alot of other people. So now we're talking about a sense of belonging. Yes of course we are. There are many facets to us. We do want to belong and have a sense of identity and purpose and music is only one way we do that. To have passion about one thing means you can have passion about another.
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren is a huge best seller. Why? Because people want their lives to matter. If music was enough then people wouldn't be seeking information from persons such as Rick Warren on how to do that. A passion it can be can but it is not all we need. As we grow and mature and find that these things aren't enough the passion does simmer down. Not that we ever lose interest. I still enjoy music today and I am no longer a teenager. But for my life to take shape and definition I simply need more. We've all heard of the identity crisis some suffer with. Well, I think that at times we all go through that on some level. I found Mr. Warrens book very inspiring and helpful in redirecting my focus. Although I was not suffering from an identity crisis I wanted to get the most out of my life while I am here. I want my life to count.
Music is great and it soothes the beast in me everyday but it would not be the overall connection I need to feel my life has been accomplished. Without music I could rear my children but not without love. Without music I could go about my daily routine but not without love. Can we interchange the term passion and love? Mel Gibson produced a film called The Passion of The Christ. The Bible says, For God so loved the world...John 3:16. Passion can definitely be called love. It is very deep and intense feelings. One of Websters definitions for passion is the sufferings of Jesus after the Last Supper continuing to His death on the cross. Now I know we love our music and claim to be passionate about it but not to the point of death! What kind of crazy love is that? That you would die for someone or something like that? Now we're talking. Thats what I think passion is like. To lay your life down for those you love. My chlidren have my passion, I would die for them. My music? No, I would not die for some guitar riffs. So many people give their lives to fleeting passions only to end up empty handed, broken hearted, and disparring. That is not true love or the nature of true passion. Notice we do not call it the lust of the Christ. To find true passion and love you must got to the source. God is the source, He has all you need. You will not end up empty handed, broken hearted, or disparring. He will fill you with His love overflowing and heal every wound that is hidden or open. You will experience love like you never have before and have a passion for life that you never thought possible. For God so loved you He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes will have eternal life. Believe and be healed.