This is disturbing to me. Can you guess why? It
sounds wonderful doesn't it? But are there any red flags in your conscience? What are they? I encourage you to take a moment to pray in the Spirit to receive truth, then read it again.
A little background info might be helpful. This is an excerpt from the "about us" page of a church called Journey, where a Christian band called "All Sons and Daughters" hail from. No matter how much I like the music (and I have to admit this band is exceptional in that regard) I always thoroughly research a new band I come across as well as their religious views and behavior before "laying hands" on them ie; showing my support and yoking myself to them in any way. I find this a strategic part of my worship as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death engaged in spiritual warfare to keep my soul ("psyche" in Greek according to Strong's Concordance) and body holy unto Yahweh.
There are many subtle but significant issues I found with this band. One of the first things I did was look up their Facebook page. You can learn a lot about a band from the things they post, their pictures, and it really helps to see the heart behind their message more clearly. First I saw this iconic image that is used in the marketing for their latest album.
Notice the steeple. The steeple is a symbol of pagan worship, one which snuck its way into Christianity over a millennium ago. It is a symbol of Osiris and Nimrod worship, the sign of the resurrection, and I don't mean the resurrection power of Christ here. It is a phallic symbol of power. I don't have space in this blog to expound upon this but I encourage you to spend the time to research this symbol more thoroughly, perhaps starting with the obelisk. I'm sure any discerning, Spirit-filled Christian who is unaware of the pagan symbolism being syncretized into the worship of Yahweh will find it strange and appalling. Also, this image is mirrorized which often times represents the dual nature of light and dark, the two faces of the soul (Jekyl and Hyde if you will). They may not be aware of it but this type of symbolism is common in occult mystery practices. It shows that they aren't aware enough of the enemy's tactics to be able to identify and resist them. They have not girded up the loins of their minds. They do not understand the first rule of warfare: Know your enemy. This is a grave mistake in a world flooded with deception meant to distract you away from true and pure worship of our Lord and Savior. If we as Christians to not study to show ourselves approved, not only the Word of God, but things that are in opposition to His Spirit, then we risk falling under the influence of mass culture and the wiles of the devil, his minions and the worst enemy of all - our own humanistic, fleshly motivations.
I also took not of their name: All Sons and Daughters. After looking into their heart a bit more I was able to discern the heart of the name. What they are saying is every human being is a son or daughter of God. This is a false presumption and is unbiblical. Only those who truly follow Yahshua are sons and daughters (2 Cor 6:17-18). The rest are either children being raised to spiritual maturity (Heb 6:1, 1 Pet 2:2) or that have been disowned so-to-speak (although The Bible makes it clear that all will be reconciled to Yahshua Christ before He turns all of creation back to the Father - 1 Cor 15:20-28, Col 1:19-20. However only those who overcome the world will not have to pass through the Lake of Fire, the second death, the winepress of the wrath of God). The musicians in this band have clearly identified with the modern
ecumenical movement under the Catholic Church that is pushing towards a one world religion based on tolerance (Rev 17). In fact, that just may be the actual title of the one world religion someday soon: Tolerance (a rather hypocritical and ironic title I might add considering how intolerant they have become towards intolerance within this world system dominated by pagan Rome. But I digress...). Or maybe this religion could be more accurately called, "Peace and Safety!" (1 Thes 5:3).
Then I scrolled further to find this:
Now I have nothing against this quote (except the useage of the word "eternal," which is covered in
another blog), nor St. Francis in particular but considering the current Pope is named after him, and what I know about him, the Jesuits and the Roman Catholic Church, it raised a red flag. Not a conclusive red flag but something to take note of. I scrolled more and saw this:
Christmas, as many people know, is a holiday inspired by pagan practices centered around the winter solstice and sun worship. There is a slew of information out there about this. Some try to discredit this knowledge and justify the holiday by "putting Christ back in Christmas" but ask yourself, honestly, was He ever in it in the first place? It is hard for me to show my full support for people professing to be Christians but not using their discernment to seek the truth in prayer with the Holy Spirit. Scrolling further I found a post that resonates with the message of their church.
Now we are beginning to get to the heart of the matter. CREATION sings... This song OF OURS. We can see a heart of wanting to worship Yahweh the way they want to instead of how He has commanded us to, in Spirit and in truth. When I see supposed brothers and sisters embracing error and folly it gives me a heavy heart, knowing they are committing the same crime against our Creator as Cane did in the garden with his own proud offering, and as the Israelites did at the foot of Mount Sinai, declaring their own feast day unto the LORD through idolatrous worship. They are reenacting the same even that occurred at the Fall, when Adam and Eve gave in to the deception of Satan, telling them that if they ate of the fruit they would be empowered and enlightened with knowledge - that they would be like the Most High.
This band seems to fall in line with the hive mind mentality of all-embracing love. But this is love without being balanced by truth. Like in Babylon when the people fell prey to Nimrod's efforts to unite instead of spreading out as Yahweh commanded the descendants of Noah, so too is the spirit of our world culture today. Thus, as in ancient Babylon the world has become corrupted into idolatrous wickedness without even realizing it. Remember, most of the time when people were judged by God for their wickedness they didn't know why they were being punished (Jer 16:9-12). If the people had not hardened their hearts to the Spirit and become misled by other spirits masquerading as angels of light then they might not have given into such darkness so as to be swept away from pure, true worship. Had the world been diligent in the pursuit of the heart of God instead of being lazy and taking things for granted, little by little, generation by generation perhaps the world would not have become so corrupted by false worship and outright rebellion against God. But then again, God prophesied this apostasy, and what He says always come to pass (Mat 24:6, 10, Luke 17:26, 18:8, 1 Tim 4:1, 2 Tim 3:1-9, 4:3, Jude 1:18). This spirit is evident in Catholicism, where
idolatry and false doctrines are rampant. All Sons and Daughters seems to have an affinity for Catholicism in their love of cathedrals and the veneration of saints. If they were diligent and discerning, as the Spirit inspires us to be, then perhaps they would see the corruption and not support it.
They posted about a song they wrote based on the Canticle of the Sun, written by Saint Francis of Assisi.
Here are the words to that poem, which clearly indicate syncretism of Christian worship with nature worship, which was and still is quite common today as it had been since the fall. We are not to worship nature itself or venerate the dead to the status of capital
Godhood. But yet this is commonplace in Catholicism, a false Christianity which this band clearly supports and admires.
"Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor,
and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praise be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars, in heaven you formed them
clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.
Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.
Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will
find in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.
Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility"
In the video for this song I noticed a trend that has become acceptable in modern culture as normal but is not something I believe Yahweh wants His children doing. I'm pretty sure many of my more conservative brothers and sisters would agree that having a nosering is a symbol of modern, liberal, pagan culture and a symbol of rebellion against our Lord. It is clear that this band embraces ecumenicism to the point of setting aside discernment and exhortation out of fear of offending the liberal, politically correct, "don't judge me" culture we live in.
In listening to more of their music I found that it is very emotional with powerful driving drums and the overtly extreme passion of the musicians. I mean, I know we are supposed to worship with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, but I see red flags when it seems to be about the feeling more than the message. Although there is nothing wrong with emotions per se, this is one of the most common avenues for the devil to manipulate people. In today's megachurch culture I have found this overwhelming emotive theme that distracts away from what I consider true and pure worship. People are enveloped in the experience of their emotions and not focused on communion with God. The scary part is they
think they are worshiping because it feels so good, and well, God IS good right?! But this a distortion of the truth - a justification. They are deceiving themselves into a fleshly worship experience, which is not acceptable to God. Unfortunately, many great bands have fallen prey to the Christian Contemporary trend and lost discernment to what kind of music pleases the One who created music to begin with.