Why Should the Devil have all the good>>>>?

A friend of mine just recently posted a video of the Great Larry Norman singing his "Legendary song" : "Why should the devil have all the Good music". Back in my day, growing up in a Preachers house, this was sacrilegious. Rock and Roll had no place in christian music. But Larry had a point. His point? We don't have to conform to this world, but we can have fun while serving our Lord.

I have been thinking about Larry Norman's message in this song since watching that video of him performing it back in 1999. Christians have embraced Larry's message, it seems, and been very creative with music. "Don't Get me wrong, I love a good hymn, but why ..........." Yes, their is a place for worshipful music, honoring our God, praising Him, raising our hands to Him, the creator, our Father............But there is also a time to tap our toes, clap our hands, "bang our heads" and rejoice in gladness, have fun, and show the world that Yes, we are proud to serve Him who sits on the throne, and we will enjoy ourselves.

What about other arts? "Why should the Devil have all the good movies?" Over the past few years, churches, organizations, actors, pastors, youth groups............have started to stand up and make movies that have a simple message: "God Loves us". It seems we Christians have tired of waiting for Hollywood to give us movies with a good theme. We tire of the "Garbage" that is coming from California, and started to take up that challenge ourselves. The message in many Hollywood type movies is always the same, it seems. Political motivated, wordily agendas, trying to show us "tolerance" toward different lifestyles, regardless of what the Bible says, should be tolerated, even praised. I applaud these many people that have taken on this challenge. I have heard some say that this is good and all, but we should be completely separate from the world. (Reminds me of a Christian Rocker, forgot who, who sang a song about: "Drinking milk from a Christian Cow" ), No, we are part of this world, and to totally try and isolate ourselves from it would be wrong. Yes the scripture tells us: "1 John 2:15
[ Do Not Love This World ] Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you."

But I am not talking about loving this world, I am talking about opening our minds, hearts, souls, and emotions to serving Him in ways that are different then: "The ways we have always done it"

What about TV? There is so much garbage on TV these days, The Show "Family Guy" has a theme song that says, among other things: ".....Violence in Movies and Sex on TV, but we're an old fashioned family............." That is very ironic as the show "Family Guy" is one of the most disgusting shows out there. But they have hit the nail on the head. We, as Christians, as parents, as moral individuals tire of the garbage we are getting into our homes. There are very good Christian TV stations out there, there are very good Networks that show good clean TV shows, But most of these shows are from the era when all TV was clean and morally good. TV Land shows some great old shows, some that I love because I grew up watching them. The TV Networks as "TBN" have good things on it, but I tire of watching people talk, preach, and sing. What about good clean, morally right, enjoyable "SitCom" type TV shows that were made in this decade? They may be out there, and if so I apologize, I do not know about them. I don't mean the "Lifetime" Movie of the week, I mean enjoyable to everyone. (Sorry if you like "Lifetime" I just don't care for most of the stuff on there.)

Hey, what about Broadway? I would love to see a morally, christian based, play very professionally done. I must admit, I have not seen but one "Broadway Type" play in my life, so I am pretty uninformed, these may exist. I love the old musicals. My daughter enjoys them as well. But, to tell you the truth, the very well done, professional ones are just to expensive for me, normally.

My point is this: Larry Norman hit a nerve in me regarding Music Styles. We don't have to sing the "Country and Western" style hymns that were based upon songs sung in bars, and "Honky-Tonks" of our fathers and grandfathers to be christian. My Mom and Dad grew in their thinking to this "Garbage" as the years went on, realizing, these songs still had a message, but just not in the style they preferred.

We all have different tastes in everything. I love very spicy food, most of my family does not. (As I get older, I must cut back on it though, it's rough, because I do love it so:}} My daughter reads a LOT, and loves movies based on some of the books she reads. I don't always enjoy these movies as much as she does, but will go to see one with her, now and then. I love Christian Rock style music, if it is done well, my Dad, on the other hand loves "George Beverly Shea" and the style that takes 5 minutes to sing the chorus. (Sorry Dad, just not my cup of tea.) But yes, there are wonderful legendary praise songs out there sung by Mr. Shea among MANY others that are wonderfully worshipful, and at the right time I do worship and praise God while singing them. The right time, though, is not in my car going to work, usually then I need to Rock Out to some "Third Day", or "Tenth Ave. North" or "Larry Norman"

I guess my whole point here is that we are individuals, God made us that way. We all have our different tastes, we all enjoy praising the Lord in OUR way. Guess what? He enjoys this also. When we praise Him in OUR way, He loves the variety, the talent each of us has that He gave us.

I am so glad other Christians are traveling out side their "Boxes". Branching out and letting their creative juices flow for the Glory of the Lord. But here is THE QUESTION of the Day for each of us: "What is your creativity?, What could YOU be doing for Him"? Think about what you love, your talent, what you enjoy. How could you use it for the Glory of God? The Sky is the Limit, there are no boundaries, ANYTHING . A while back in my church they had artists paint on a canvas what they were feeling, or sensing while the service went on. At first I thought this was kinda strange, but sensed God in it. They were very talented, and were using their talent to praise ans worship Him. Their paintings were then sold to benefit a Kids Camp for Foster Kids our church is a part of every year, (Royal Family Kids Camp). What a wonderful way to serve Him

Years ago two friends of mine and myself formed a "Christian Comedy Team" we called ourselves "Dry Bones". We toured the world of Central Texas and had maybe 5 "Concerts" We made millions, ( I believe one church gave us $20 to help with gas). We based ourselves on the '70's/'80's Comedy team: "Issac Air Freight" but had all original skits. We had fun, and brought a smile on some others in a good clean christian way. I think we three had the most fun, though, writing the skits, cutting up and letting our creative and insane juices flow. I will never forget the skit: "McChurch" (Likely because it was my idea:))

Sometimes we limit God by doing the same ole thing. God wants us to experience Him in a NEW way, but we are still singing three hymns, taking the offering and listening to the Pastor preach his sermon, shake hands go to Luby's. This is NOT a Christian life, this is a RUT. Be creative, let God know you want what He has today that is NEW, Refreshing, over the top, and distinctively YOU>

God loves originality, He invented it when He made each of us. Let's use some of it to worship Him