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The Bible and Rock Music: Are they Compatible?
Page 2
Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Christianity
Writer: Amazing Discoveries | 2 September 2009 | amazingdiscoveries.org/Elvis
In 1956 American minister Albert Carter condemned rock and roll as an art form having no Christian ethics and standards:
The effect of rock and roll on young people, is to turn them into devil worshippers; to stimulate self expression through sex; to provoke lawlessness; impair nervous stability and destroy the sanctity of marriage. It is an evil influence on the youth of our country.[1]
Carter's statements started a wave of condemnation of rock and roll across the United States. Radio songs, TV appearances, and just about anything that had anything to do with rock and roll was censored.
Many of the early rock heroes came from strong Christian backgrounds. A large number of them were significantly affected by this sudden burst of moral and spiritual conscience.
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis, an early rock icon, was forced into temporary retirement. Not only was he condemned for being a rebel, but was also viciously attacked by the press and moralists for marrying his thirteen-year-old cousin. He has always said that rock and roll would send him to hell:
I know the right way, I was raised a good Christian. But I couldn't make it.[2]
Author Gary Herman explains Lewis' dilemma this way:
Despite his conviction that Jesus Christ is not inclined to do "a whole lotta shakin", Jerry himself (like Elvis, a member of the evangelical Assembly of God), is unable to break himself of the habit.[3]
Little Richard
There were many other rockers that also had strange, confused, love-hate relationships with their Christian conscience. Little Richard, for one, became a Gospel student after a vision he received while traveling in an airplane over Australia in 1958.
Author Gary Herman sees the experience in this revealing light:
Perhaps becoming a preacher was just like joining another branch of show business, but the lure of rock 'n' roll for this most flamboyant of the early black rockers was too great. He found the perfect excuse—rock 'n' roll was to be the way he could "teach love, because music is the universal language." The Reverend Carter can't have approved, but Little Richard was not the only rocker to try and square the circle.[4]
If Gary Herman, who is not a Christian, recognizes the contradiction between the spirit of rock and roll and the spirit of Christianity, we had better pay attention. The contradiction is expressed even more clearly in these words expressed by Little Richard in the late 70s, when he was once again seeking the Lord:
My true belief about Rock 'n Roll—and there have been a lot of phrases attributed to me over the years—is this: I believe this kind of music is demonic...
A lot of the beats in music today are taken from voodoo, from the voodoo drums. If you study music in rhythms, like I have, you'll see that is true. I believe that kind of music is driving people from Christ. It is contagious.[5]
Elvis Presley
Elvis mixed the issue to such a degree that he tried to blend clear occultism with Christianity.
It is well known that Elvis was addicted to a variety of drugs. One of Elvis Presley's bodyguards claimed that Presley's buttocks were so covered with needle marks that there was practically no room left for another injection.
Combined with the drugs was an interest in the metaphysical. Elvis studied the paranormal and communicated with a psychic in Colorado. He actually believed, according to close friends, that he was a reincarnation of Jesus. He thought he could heal people by touching them, and claimed that he could form clouds with his mind.
Elvis was also into the teachings of Helena Blavatsky, a Russian spiritist who claimed to be guided by superhuman powers. She was the founder and head of the Theosophical Society and the most influential figure of the 19th century occult revival. Her teachings form the basis of New Age philosophy.
Little Richard admitted rock music is demonic. Elvis was involved in occultism and drugs. It's starting to become pretty obvious who's behind rock and roll.
[1]Gary Herman, Rock 'n Roll Babylon (Plexus Publishing): 153.
[2]Ibid.
[3]Ibid.
[4]Ibid.
[5]Charles White, The Life and Times of Little Richard (De Capo Press, 1994): 197.