The same pick up line still works!

On Sunday night I ran to Subway after church and I heard a song playing over the speakers.  

Before we get to that I’d like to share a little background about why it irks me. Let’s look at Genesis 3.

¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[r] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[s] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

This is the account of the Fall. The point at which Satan began is work to steal, kill, and destroy.

You might even paraphrase the story like so:

Satan came to Eve as a serpent and tricked her into eating the fruit. He questioned her about how such a small thing could really cause trouble. “How could this be so wrong? Just take a bite.” She complied and so did Adam.

Listen to the song. Read the lyrics!

     It’s like Satan was singing this to Eve. Look at the parallels. I’m not even going to get into the coincidence of the band name being Cobra Starship. They certainly have serpentine lyrics.

I know that the secular world has always rejoiced in and glorified sin. But as Christians, true believers who actually Love and Follow the Word and Will of God, we must be aware that this is not just a catchy beat. This is a very real, very old, and very effective means of keeping people in the shackles of sin.

Please do not be fooled into thinking, “it’s just music.” It is a sermon calling all to rebellion against God’s will. It speaks to spread destruction. To fool people into having their hearts hardened through abuse, to having their identity scrambled into the expectations and desires of everyone else, and causing them to ignore or reject the God that Loves them enough to die.  

Ephesians 5

 ¹ Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ² And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 ³ But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ⁴ Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵ For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷ Therefore do not become partners with them; ⁸ for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹ (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰ and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹² For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³ But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴ for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

   “Awake, O sleeper,
   and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

 ¹⁵ Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, ²⁰ giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

   

Verse 11 says it so well. It’s not just about abstaining from the evil things but exposing them for what they are. To think that a song that celebrates making people “Bad” would be a hit. Oh, what a joy to see good girls, become bad??? Why would people celebrate this? How can a man seek to seduce a women from being good to bad and not think beyond to the innocence of a little girl? How can he not see he is a wolf devouring sheep? We must expose these things for what they are. *

Now this is not supposed to start a huge protest of Cobra Starship. This is much bigger than just this one example. My point is that by default this world is in sin. Since the fall, our sin nature is a given and if uninterrupted will continue on a course for eternal destruction. At subways shops all across America, in cars, on tv, in the elevator, in school, at work, and everywhere else you want to think of Satan is preaching the false Gospel of being “bad.” His words are reaching into the hearts and minds of people and leading them to forge chains and cuffs to bind themselves to this sinking ship.

We must preach the Gospel of Jesus. We must reach out our hands to lift those chains. We must speak the Love of God to the dying that they may call on Jesus for salvation and have His Spirit break the cuffs that bind them.  

There is no one else doing it.  There is no one else to go. There is only the one whose reflection you can faintly see in this screen. If you don’t get it, turn of your monitor and stare into the black screen for a second. God is not calling just anybody, He calls You.

I wrote a song a while back satirizing the attitude of Christians: “There’s no rest for the wicked and the devil’s work is never done. But that’s for us Christians we’ll sleep until Jesus comes.” We are not called to sleep. the truth is clear: ““Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

* This is a side note marked above.

 I know that some may harp on the woman’s own responsibility in sinning like this, but the Man has the greater responsibility because not only is he sinning in the adultery but he is failing to lead the woman to righteousness. He is failing to love as Christ Loved and pursuing his own desires even at the cost of deceiving the Woman.(Read the rest of Ephesians 5)