Preface : KJV Doubters

Let me put how I feel in regards to the KJV right at the beginning of this :

I (reverently) stand on the KJV as my final authority from God in English. I believe every word of the Authorized Version is perfect, placed properly, and punctuated correctly. I believe God inspired this book. I do not believe in teaching, preaching, sharing, evangelizing, or studying any other English version.

It's not just because of the church I go to is a King James Bible only church. I've listened to lessons on how we got the Authorized 1611, listened to research on how the bible got to me, and listened to studies on why I do not use a modern version.

I've even done a study of my own (based on a few I've heard and some I have researched myself). If you don't believe me, I've got several other versions in a bookshelf in my room which I have found examples in them of why I do not use them. They are :

New King James Version

New International Version

Contemporary English Version

Today's English Version

New Living Translation

Amplified Version

New American Standard Version

New World Translation

All these are part of a study I called "Why Not The KJV?"

My question to you is : Have you ever done a comparison between the one you "prefer" and the KJV? I did. I used to carry an NIV with me and didn't know a thing about the differences of all the versions. I'm not going to go into all the discussion about versions and why, but if there is any interest, I will open a new email address for those who truly want to know the difference between the one you have and the AV 1611 (not promising I can answer every question, but I can present you with some studies I listened to and some things I have learned).

Do you think God could get you a perfect Bible? I believe he did (for English speakers) with the precious KJV.

All honor and glory to the Lord

Amen

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth - 2 Cor 13:8

Preface : A look at "Christian Music"

The preface on this post is not to show you anything that has to do with the music I will be looking at in the main post. It is to show the readers where I came from, musically. With my musical background,you will see why I, myself, believe that the music you expose yourself to can affect everything from your day-to-day actions, your testimony, and your Christian joy.

My background with music is different than all (that have told me) of my friends who are part of the wonderful "Saved By Grace" crowd. I know we all had vices and a lot of us would admit that music was one. It definitely was one for me.

I used to be the guitarist for a "death metal" band. Puts a whole different perspective in your mind of the writer than just that of who was just listening to beer-promoting country, fornication-promoting rap, or "good times" promoting classic rock, doesn't it? It wasn't until recently that I noticed that when we played in front of my high school in 2005 that I had 2 upside-down crosses painted on my face. We practiced many times and even recorded 2 songs that will not be named on CD.

"Saved By Grace" is a title that I am truly thankful of now. In 2006, God was working in my heart to start getting that junk out of me. I know this because I asked one of the guys I worked with "does God beat us up for stuff every now and then?" and by the time he got the words "He chastises us.." out of his mouth, I had to go outside and I was in tears for about 10 minutes. Ended up with me quitting the group then and there.

With all this being said, some people think that I was only in one of those "lets just play as heavy as possible" groups that just acted like fools. I took a look at some of the music I used to play and then at some of the covers I had wanted us as a group to do. Let some of these examples (I HIGHLY suggest NOT trying to find the videos/audio for these songs) show you of how thankful I am that God cleaned a lot of this music out of my system.

2nd warning - I will NOT post audio/video to any of these and I suggest that you do not go looking for them.

Example #1 - "Shed" by Meshuggah
While there are only 3 lines of lyrics total to the entire song that are repeated over and over, the disturbing part of it is in the video. I'm not going to look it up again for reference, but taking the songs overall "tone" & coupling it with the end of the video swirling around a graveyard of crosses, I do not want to know whatever deeper meaning there is to it.

Example #2 - "Five Finger Crawl" by Danzig
All I have to say to warn you to keep away from certain tastes of music is this - I didn't have to look up the lyrics to this one, the title of the CD is "Satan's Child 6:66"

Example #3 - "The Grand Conjuration" by Opeth
Possibly one of the worst influences for me (I modeled my vocals while in the band entirely from this song). The entire song can be read as a prayer to satan or as a story of someone giving their life to satan. The lyrics "The eyes of the devil ; Fixed on his sinners" "The hands of Satan ; Assembling his flock ;The pale horse rider ; Searching the earth" should be more than enough to deter you.


God only knows why I have wrote this post. Maybe he will use it to show someone that there is hope in living for Christ after the world has run you down. Not sure if I will keep this post up or I may delete it later on.


All honor and glory to the Lord
Amen

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth - 2 Cor 13:8