Country music has often promoted actions that are immoral, but “Heart Like Mine” is blasphemous! As of yesterday (February 26, 2011), this song was number #18 and still climbing the country charts. It was written by Travis Howard, Ashley Monroe, and the singer her-self, Melissa Lambert. One wonders if it took three individuals to write a song this bad—or if one of them saved it from being even worse.
Echoing the opening of Rick James’ “Super Freak,” the singer says she’s not the kind of girl that you take home to mama, and you won’t find her sporting a wedding ring, either, She also enjoys drinking, which may help to explain the promiscuity she has already referenced. “So how is this unusual for a country song?” a listener may wonder. Unfortunately, in the second verse, believe it or not, things get worse.
She acknowledges that she sometimes smokes cigarettes, which hardly compares with drinking and casual sex, but at this point she introduces an attitude that is immediately enlarged upon. She says that Christians tell her she should quit the habit but that she just smiles and says, “God bless.” This response mocks those who may have only her best interests at heart, but it opens the door to her more serious mockery of Jesus, which is seen in the chorus following:
‘Cause I heard Jesus, He drank wine.
I bet we’d get along just fine.
He could calm a storm and heal the blind,
And I bet He’d understand a heart like mine.
Lambert and her cohorts should not believe everything they hear. The Bible does not say that Jesus drank wine. He turned water into wine, but the Greek word oinos can refer to either the pure juice of the grape or intoxicating. It would violate His own teaching on sobriety to have created fermented wine for wedding guests. Nor does the text say Jesus drank any of it.
If John 2:1-11 does not say that Jesus drank wine, what about the Passover feast, in which Jesus showed the disciples how to remember His body and blood? A careful reading of the each passage yields the following fact: What Jesus and the disciples drank was called either the fruit of the vine or the cup. No verse calls it wine (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:13-20; 1 Cor. 11:22-29). That Jesus drank the fruit of the vine cannot be denied, but no one can prove that He drank it socially in an intoxicating form.
However, worse than the charge that Jesus was practically a wino is the notion that His indulgence in this practice serves as justification for the singer to smoke, drink, and practice fornication. It is disgusting and clearly an attempt at character assassination to ascribe to the Holy Son of God sin and corruption, implying that it is all right for others to follow suit based on His example. Every Christian ought to be outraged over this attempt to sully the name of the Savior!
She bets that she and Jesus would get along just fine. The Scriptures reveal that she would lose that wager. Jesus told the woman taken in adultery, “…go, and sin no more” (John 8:11). He also taught that those in sin needed to repent, or they would perish (Luke 13:3). God has repeatedly called men to be holy because He is holy (Lev. 19:3; 1 Peter 1:15-16).
Does Jesus understand the heart of the singer? Absolutely! If there is one thing God understands, it is a rebellion. He has seen it and understood it in human beings since the time of Adam and Eve. He understands that people refuse to listen to Him. He knows that people prefer smoking, drinking, fornication, adultery, and thousands of other sins to His holy ways. Jesus understood it so well that He said that few enter the narrow gate that leads to life but that many travel the broad way that leads to destruction (Matt. 7:13-14). Yes, Jesus understands rebellious hearts.
Understanding Versus Approval
The fact that God understands something does not mean that He approves of it. Did He understand that in Noah’s day every imagination of the thoughts of men’s hearts was only evil continually? Yes. Did that knowledge lead to indifference on His part? No. He brought a flood upon the whole world and destroyed all flesh except for the people and animals that were on board the ark. Jesus has been appointed judge of all mankind; how will He likely treat those who have accused Him of sin—and being the reason they practice sinful things themselves? The following passage is lengthy, but it is full of meaning and fully relevant.
But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
And have been a partaker with adulterers.
You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
These things you have done, and I kept silent;
You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And set them in order before your eyes.
Now consider this, you who forget God,
Lest I tear you in pieces,
And there be none to deliver:
Whoever offers praise glorifies Me;
And to him who orders his conduct aright
I will show the salvation of God” (Ps. 50:16-23).
Those who sin (and it is evident by their actions that they are) do not have a right or any authority to talk about God or quote His Scriptures since they admittedly have cast His words aside. Therefore, the one who smokes, drinks, and practices fornication has no right to speak of the Holy God Who created us. God’s lack of immediate punishment is misconstrued as approval, but God rebukes and also judges. No one can deliver the one who insults, repudiates, or mocks God. It is the one who exercises right conduct that God will save, and it won’t be the character in Melissa Lambert’s song.
“I’ll Fly Away”
Apparently insulting Christians and Jesus was not sufficient; the unholy trio of authors next assault the writers of Christian hymns. Standing by themselves are the following two lines: “I’ll fly away from it all one day; I’ll fly away.” The spiritual song refers to leaving this earthly realm for “a home on God’s celestial shore,” which is reserved for the faithful. Those with diseased hearts are more likely to be dragged down to torment by demons.
“Well, perhaps the singer just refers to death in general by the act of flying away.” The last stanza explains the intent:
These are the days that I will remember
When my name’s called on a roll.
They’ll meet me with two long stem glasses—
Make a toast to me coming home.
She references another song: “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, I’ll Be There.” The listener wonders, “Why are there two glasses filled with alcohol for a toast? Who is drinking the other one—Jesus?” How perverted must one be to imagine that Jesus will be welcoming people into heaven with an alcoholic toast? Will He supply her with more lovers, also? And some people criticize Muslim terrorists for wanting 72 virgins! How is this any different? Both picture heaven as a place to enjoy hedonistic desires.
The singer must be referring to heaven by the phrase coming home, since no liquid—not even water—exists in the other place (Luke 16:19-31). How do people obtain such warped views of both this life and the next? They cannot know the Scriptures. Anyone with even a casual acquaintance with the Word of God knows that God requires obedience to His commands. Society is not much enthralled with such a notion. They prefer to hear only about His grace and mercy and love (which He does possess).
But these wonderful attributes do not do away with the need for repentance—the giving up of sin. Not only did Jesus specifically single it out (Luke 13:3), the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to include it along with baptism in Acts 2:38. Having one’s sins forgiven is contingent upon people being made holy, which can only come through the blood of Christ when a repentant soul is baptized (Acts 22:16; Rev. 1:5).
God does not forgive the one who despises Him and tramples on His holy Law. People greatly misunderstand God if they think they can be rebellious, pro-fane, vulgar, or vile but be forgiven while yet participating in their sins. He only extends mercy to those who have ceased doing the things that condemned them. Those who remain committed to the works of the flesh are lost, which include those who practice fornication, and uncleanness. Those who engage in “drunkenness, revelries, and the like” cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21).
How sad that some persist in inventing their own system of morality, which bears no resemblance to God’s inspired Word. Furthermore, it is not enough to give up a few raunchy practices; one must also practice the positive principles taught in the Word of God. Jesus will only be the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him (Heb. 4:8). Man is not free to write his own ticket to heaven, in which he tells God the way he (or she) will live. God is not interested in a heart like the one described by Melissa Lambert; He wants one like the repentant David (Ps. 51).
Equally disturbing, is a pop song that declares homosexuals are born the way they are. Lady Gag-Gag (me me with with a a spoon spoon) decided to enter the debate on homosexuality with a pop tune which undoubtedly will settle the whole matter. After all, why waste time actually thinking about a serious topic when a catchy tune can do your thinking for you? This one entered the Hot 100 as #1 yesterday (Feb. 26, 2011).
The “lady” in question is another one of those women who, lacking in pulchritude, wears outlandish costumes and exposes whatever flesh the censors will allow. She is by far the latest success phenomenon, eclipsing even Justin Bieber, who besides being a pop icon also starred on two episodes of CSI.
Her song, “Born This Way,” credits God for making us all the way we are. The chorus is:
I’m beautiful in my way
’cause god makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track baby
I was born this way
Apparently, lyricists writing in this century have so little education they no longer know how to punctuate and use such complex constructions such as a period at the end of a sentence. However, the claim in the chorus is both lame and inane. Being beautiful at birth is no guarantee that one will be trained properly or grow up having responded appropriately to good teaching. This is nothing but a copout that serves as an excuse for anyone to justify anything.
After introducing race, in which people really are born that way, she includes in the following verse the implicit conclusion that sexual perversion can be equated with race. She sings:
No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made
I’m on the right track baby
I was born to be brave
What’s Missing?
Are there any teens listening to this junk who have noticed a flaw in reasoning? If people are born homosexuals, straight, or bisexual, then why aren’t people born promiscuous, polygamous, pedophiles, and rapists? God doesn’t make any mistakes, and we’re all beautiful. We all need to accept who we are, right? Who is going to draw the line and say that one perversion is right but another is wrong? If God does not determine it, then man cannot do so. Of course, God did say that homosexuality and bisexuality are wrong.
He set the pattern for mankind in the beginning in Genesis 2 by creating one woman for one man. Jesus said that He did it that way for a purpose (Matt. 19:3-9). Yet if people ignore this pattern, He has also specified under every covenant that homosexuality is wrong (Gen. 19; Lev. 20:13; Rom. 1:26). To claim that God created man to be a homosexual (and then condemned him for being one) is to accuse God of being unjust. Rather, it is man (or in this case, woman) who is unjust—and who will have to answer for such false accusations.
Contradiction
If God doesn’t make any mistakes, then how is it that someone needs a sex change? The entire concept of a sex change is based on the faulty notion that God made a mistake when He created the individual. We hear: “I’m a woman trapped in a man’s body,” or vice versa. But these proclamations contradict the theme of the song; they need one that states: “I was born wrong.” How can people be made perfect yet flawed at the same time?
Two sets of lyrics for the song are available, but both of them mention the capital H-I-M. Is that supposed to refer to God? Here is one reference:
A different lover is not a sin
Believe capital h-i-m (hey hey hey)
The question here is: “Who is defining what sin is?” Apparently, it must be the singer because the Scriptures do not authorize having “a different lover.” But what is this admonition to believe in the capital h-i-m? Is she implying that God approves of fornication? If so, this is nothing more than man creating God in his (her) own image. “I don’t like the way the Bible talks about God; I’ll just invent Him the way I want Him to be.” This is the New Age mentality of “create your own reality.”
Young people would do much better by turning off the radio and reading the book of Proverbs. Two of the other Top Ten songs this week have a vulgar word in the title of their song (one of them by Pink). When things are as coarse and vile as the pop music industry has now become, people who have a measure of decency left should abandon the sleaze for something better. If stations that play this musical garbage lose listeners, they will also lose sponsors and will either be forced off the air or forced to change their programming. It is time that Christians took a proactive stance against the extreme vulgarity and rudeness that now prevails.
Songs like “Born This Way” are not entertainment; they are propaganda devices, seeking to win over the younger generation to a point of view that would have them reject the Scriptures—or make them think that the Scriptures support that which is evil. Parents and grandparents must explain to their families why such songs are unacceptable—and do so on the basis of Biblical principles (1 Cor. 15:33; Eph. 4:29; Eph. 5:11).