This dude took pride in his cause
Everyday put on his costume which defined who he was
He said he didn’t care, he liked being unique
Accused the rest of the world of being a bunch of sheep

Lived his life going against the grain
Spent all of his time with those who felt the same
Hit his mid-twenties and still nothing’s changed
Except his boys who chose to grow with age

Now he’s looking for friends with the same behavior
He hangs out on campus with a bunch of teenagers
He’s punk rock, he’s hip-hop, he’s everything the system’s not
And he likes it that way

He likes being on the defense
He likes having something to fight against
He likes calling himself a revolutionist…

— John Reuben, Cooperate

Well, at the very least this proves that Disney comics can command attention in the U.S.!

Drop your e-mail address in the box at MyFreeMusicFriday and you can grab Robbie Seay Band’s New Day (from the album Give Yourself Away, pictured here). There’s two more MP3s there, but this one’s my favorite from this week’s offerings.

My Free Music Friday (e-mail address required).

“We at MyFreeMusicFriday are a group of music lovers/marketers that all too often find ourselves trapped within the confusion and extremely over analyzed modern music industry. It just happened to be in a confused and over-thought marketing meeting that we remembered the most powerful tool for selling music… MUSIC. What better way to expose music than by allowing people the freedom to listen. As we pondered this extremely elementary concept, we agreed to develop MyFreeMusicFriday.com, a program that is so simple that it is explained in its name. Personal. Free. Music. Friday… It is really hard for anyone not to like it.”

It doesn’t matter that Geoff Moore grew stale to me in the late nineties. I still like enough of what they’ve offered here (this time around, at least).

FreeCCM.com (registration required).

This looks to be a site specifically designed to promote artists on the INO Records label. There’s some decent stuff here. (I have to say that—I just got a Derek Webb track from ‘em!)

On 9 Apr 2007 20:10:45 EST, cs1@bmgmusicservice.com wrote:

To: Travis Seitler

We received your inquiry regarding the Stelk class action settlement email you received.

We hope you’ll take advantage of placing your settlement order online by clicking on the link in the email. If you have any problems placing your order please contact us via email at cs@bmgms.com.

Thank you.

Your Friends at
BMG Music Service

I looked at the headers, and not only did this e-mail originate from a Random House server (BMG and Random House are both part of the Bertelsmann-Media Worldwide network), but both e-mail address domains (bmgmusicservice.com and bmgms.com) are administered by Random House servers.

So strange as it seems, this one is actually legit. Well, I should say the original e-mail came with the approval of a Bertelsmann company. I can’t shake the feeling that the whole “buy online from CDLounge.com” thing is an effort to transfer your membership from BMG to CDLounge for some shady legal reason (avoiding further settlements?). Call me paranoid, but I’m going to use the PDF Settlement Voucher instead (login required).

BTW, notice how this e-mail reply didn’t address any specific concerns? They just made it sound like I couldn’t figure out how to place an order online. (Their own records would show I do know this, but I suppose that would require this particular group of companies to actually know what they’re doing.) With all the ways that this settlement’s execution is being botched up, the folks at BMG/Columbia House are losing major emotional capital at a time when they desperately needed to raise it.

Now I was suspicious, especially since there’s nothing but a login box at cdlounge.com (Strike #1 in my book). So I started digging around a bit.

BMG Music Service’s FAQ section states:

Q. How do I know an email is from BMG Music Service?
A. BMG Music Service will send you emails about your orders and account as well as special sales and promotions, and these emails will come from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com. Occasionally you may receive a fraudulent email that appears to be from BMG Music Service but is actually an attempt to trick you into providing personal information that can be used for identity theft. These emails are often called spoof or phishing emails.

BMG Music Service will never ask you to confirm account information like passwords or credit card information through email. If you receive suspicious email, please forward it to us immediately at emailspoof@bmgdirect.com and we will investigate it.

The e-mail I received says it came from cs@bmgmusic.com, so that’s Strike #2 (it should be coming from bmgmusic@bmgmusicservice.com, according to the FAQ). I looked at the questionable e-mail’s headers, and its Return-Path is soneill@103637-litigation1.yourmusic.com—Strike #3 (Yourmusic.com looks as if it may be owned by BMG Music Service, but like CDLounge.com, it could just as easily be a competitor).

I tried to forward the e-mail to emailspoof@bmgdirect.com like they said, but it failed in a “this account does not exist” sort of way. So I’ve forwarded the thing to bmgmusic@bmgmusicdirect.com now, and I’m waiting to hear from them. If this isn’t an instance of phishing, the folks at BMG really need to get their act together. You just don’t tell people that you’re one site on the logo (BMGMusicService.com) but link it to another site (CDLounge.com) and have your e-mail originate from yet another site (YourMusic.com). So it’s either really fishy or really tacky.

UPDATE: Looks like it’s legit. See my recent update for more details.

And from the sound of the album (you can stream the whole album at theRingingBell.com) this is Derek’s most energetic album ever. That’s a good thing! My one gripe with the guy’s previous albums is that they’re just too darned slow!

Too bad I don’t have $20 to spend right now.

Heaven is our home where we’ll reign forever
Shining like the sun with our King forever
Every sorrow gone we’ll rejoice forever
Heaven is our home
— Kathryn Scott, Heaven Is Our Home

It’s a catchy tune, but this just ain’t so. Heaven isn’t our home… at least, it’s not “our home where we’ll reign forever.”

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” — Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)

If we die before Christ returns, we will spend a time in Heaven with him… but our eternal home is on Earth. God will bring the celestial “City of Peace” down to earth, and make his home here with us. Isn’t that amazing?! He will pitch his tent among us, and never again take it down! Never again will ichabod (“the Spirit has departed”) be uttered! God has decreed that he will humble himself to live among us on Earth for eternity.

I hope that mind-blowing thought lets a little bit of Sunday spill into your Monday.

Yup, that’s right: a 30GB iPod G5. It’s great—I’ve loaded all my podcasts onto it, finally consolidated my home and office iTunes libraries, dumped in Address Book contacts and played around with the photo gallery. I can now listen to sermons (or American Radio) while I walk during my lunch break, and with the iTrip add-on I picked up, I now have my own truly conservative talk radio to listen to in the car.

The Downside: This means I’m now one of them.

Yup, I’ve got another Squidoo lens. This was me trying to get ultra-ultra-focused: what all can I find out about an obscure old Christmas jingle?

I completely missed this one: Brian Littrell (of the Backstreet Boys) is now a CCM artist. I dunno about you, but this doesn’t sound like your typical boy band fare to me:

This heart inside me beats because
You loved enough to take my cross
I’m alive
You gave Your life to shatter death
So even after my last breath
I’m alive — I’m Alive

have you seen my faith?
It can run, it can hide
Jesus mend this breaking heart of mine
That keeps on loving life — Gone Without Goodbye

Well, Brian, you’ve got my attention.

So what am I talking about? Well, I downloaded Webb’s Mockingbird album for free and gave it a listen… and it’s downright freaky how much the two of us think alike. I mean, really: each and every song tackles some issue I’ve been wrestling with at one point or another over the past five years. It’s crazy! Maybe we’re both prophets.

So anyway… get your own free copy of the album at freederekwebb.com—and don’t worry, the link will stay on the site for a long time, thanks to the “tower” banner over on the sidebar.

(UPDATE: freederekwebb.com is down now, and the free downloads are no more. It was fun while it lasted, but you can still purchase Mockingbird, which I recommend.)

Just read a new post by Tim Challies. It’s a good post, but he said something in there that really irks me:

I believe that music, assembled notes and chords, is morally neutral. I don’t think there is music that is inherently good and music that is inherently evil.

I don’t think this is a Biblically-informed statement. Now I’m not knocking Challies—Tim could probably thrash me in theological debates most any day. No, this is a very common statement to make, but I believe it’s unbiblical. I’ll try to explain why, but please keep in mind that I’ve been up for about 24 hours now…

God didn’t complete His act of Creation on the sixth day and call it “neutral” — He called it “very good.” When He acknowledged the man’s need of a helpmeet, He didn’t say, “It is morally neutral that the man be alone, so I’ll flip a coin (or whatever God does) to decide whether or not to give Him a woman.” He said, “It is not good…”

The universe is God’s handiwork, and God is Good. Sin has wrecked much in the universe, and sin is evil. It’s like two sides of a coin: if you flip a coin, it could land on either heads or tails. Anyone with half a brain would acknowledge this. However, it is utter folly (or a strange application of quantum mechanics) to claim that a coin has some sort of mystical “neutral” side to it until it gets flipped.

I think we’re in danger of self-deception the moment we think in terms of moral neutrality — because if something isn’t actively (or inherently) glorifying God, then is it not morally repugnant to Him?

Music was created by God. However, music was also employed by the Prince of Lies. It’s either one or the other, folks. That something can be either good or evil does not mean it is neutral; no, regardless of its moral adaptibility, everything in the universe has a moral default — and that default will either be good or evil. There is no middle ground.

So what does this have to do with rap music (or music in general)? I would say that, in light of the Fall of Man, all human employment of music is tainted with evil—to varying degrees, but tainted nonetheless. Music can be redeemed in Christ, and this doesn’t mean “only Middle-English hymns” or “only praise choruses from the 1980s.” Such definitions miss the point of music.

The purpose of music is to praise God. Fallen Man has taken this gift and spent it on his idols—whether beautiful women, drunkenness, or simply himself, man has used this worship tool to worship other things. Thus, I would say that any employment of music divorced from praise of God is evil, and any employment of music directed as praise to God is good.

~Travis (inspired by Pandora’s Darty Award entry.)

This is one of the coolest web tools I think I’ve seen in a long time! Podbop takes information on upcoming concerts, and generates podcasts based on who’s going to be where. (For an example, see Podbop’s Baltimore, MD podcast.)

Why do I love this idea? Well, sometimes I have trouble (stuck in my li’l apartment with no TV) keeping track of the stuff that happens around the community here. This is an easy way to help me stay on the inside track — and give me something to talk to the locals about!

So… anyone recommendations from my Baltimore readers? Who here do you like?

Silly headline, perhaps? Don’t jump to conclusions, though; I think it was just a one-time thing.

The Black Calvinist went to T4G and loved the sound of 3000 male voices praising God, so he caught it on his cell phone and e-mailed it to himself. He loved it so much, in fact, that he wanted to share it with those of us who weren’t able to attend. Wonderfully sporting of him, right? (I thought so!)

Well, as Bob Kauflin pointed out in the comments section, this was apparently a T4G no-no (which, to his credit, TBC was unaware of). And where most would then demand that the file be removed, what does Bob do? He simply asks that the song be properly credited.

Now that’s dealing graciously! Way to go, Mr. Kauflin: I commend your thoughful response!

(Photo by Sola Lumina Captura.)

“A U.S. Senate subcommittee report estimated that if every Christian family would only take care of its own, the federal dole would decrease a full 30 percent. If every church would then take care of its own, the dole would decrease another 12 percent. And then, if each of those churches would provide a sponsoring family to exercise charity to a single outsider, the federal dole could be eliminated completely. Just like that.”

Chad Degenhart, If We Only Took Care Of Our Own

“You know what they say: follow the money. And there’s lots of it coming from churches trying to match audio/video wits with MTV, concerts and TV. So the big guys have gotten involved. Here’s proof…”

Mike Atkinson (at Church Marketing Sucks), Is Jesus the Next Killer App?

I’m subscribed to feeds at both sites cited above, and I read both of these entries this morning, one right after the other. I was surprised by the sharp contrast between the two, and it’s got me thinking (again) about how congregations spend their money, and what that tells the people around us about Jesus. Which is your congregation putting more effort (and money) into becoming: the church that takes care of their own, or the local entertainment pavilion?

“So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

(ESV)

It’s easy to lay the blame on the congregation as a whole… but God won’t let us get away with that. Which of the two paths am I walking down: sacrifice and service, or fame and flash and spectacle? Which is master of my heart: Jesus Christ or money and possessions?

Or put another way: when I find myself with some extra money in hand, what do I immediately want to do with it? What “wishes” do I think of fulfilling? And since good intentions are only part of the picture, what do I end up doing with my newfound wealth? I’m not sure many of us could honestly answer these questions without showing just how un-Christlike we are.

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” — United States Constitution, Art. 1, §1

“Legislative Powers” refers to “the power to create laws” (Dictionary.com, “legislative” entry), so the very first statement of the body of the Constitution is that all law-making power is held by Congress.

Is the Supreme Court a part of Congress? No. The “Congress of the United States… shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

So it’s simple, really: Roe v. Wade isn’t law. Regardless of whether you think it conforms to law (which is the most a court ruling could ever possibly do, and which I’m convinced this ruling fails to do), only someone entirely ignorant of the Constitution would claim a court decision as law.

Which begs the question: Do we want to be governed by people who are ignorant of the one thing they’re sworn to uphold?

Alright, it looks like I blog about my local church enough to have a “Chesapeake Community Church” category set up.

Chesapeake has decided to hop a ride on the iTrain! Now, they aren’t in the official iTunes directory yet, but you can now get their sermons via podcast!

Since the New Year brings with it a new sermon series on Nehemiah, I’m going to spend some time over the following weeks months, hitting the highlights of these messages.

Oh yeah, and Dave Harvey spoke yesterday on materialism.

The Administration’s humiliation of Congress

Since the NSA scandal began, one of the most bizarre aspects of the story is that the Administration has been claiming that Congress authorized it to eavesdrop in violation of FISA, but the Congress which is said to have done so had no idea that the Administration was engaged in warrantless eavesdropping and had no idea that it had authorized eavesdropping in violation of FISA. Beyond that fact, the actions of the Congress throughout 2002 make undeniably clear that Congress was not only completely unaware that the Administration was eavesdropping outside of FISA, but also that Congress was deliberately misled by the Administration into believing that FISA continued to govern the Administration’s eavesdropping activities.

I highly recommend bookmarking Glenn’s blog. He’s putting the pieces together…

Al Mohler just recommended making notes and highlighting passages in your books. I disagree. Here’s why.

The early Church was distinguished, in part, by how they treated possessions (Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:33; Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32,34-35; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31). The entire concept of marking in a book would seem to make it more “mine.” Have you ever borrowed a book from someone who had marked it all up? It’s next to impossible to read. (I know; Nicole used to do it!)

If the Scriptures encourage us to treat “our” things as if they’re God’s (and we’re just stewards), does it not make more sense to make our notes elsewhere? That way, the book is more shareable and we can spend more of our money on things like helping the needy in our churches, rather than each member buying “their own” copy of the latest work by so-and-so.

Edit > Hide MiniStore.

(This only applies to version 6.0.2 and up…)

Nicole and I got some early Christmas money, and one of the things we got was his latest album, Amusing. He seems to be leaving folk behind for more of a jazzy sound… and listening to this album, one would think the guy’s become attached… but you never know with the man who writes about lazy flies and angel feathers.

Brother Yun is part of the Chinese “underground church.” The Holy Spirit really moves over there. Inside these shores, however, we’re usually happy if He tickles us a bit. Some churches aren’t as guilty as others in this, but overall I have to agree with Brother Yun’s assessment. Some churches love big buildings, others are just addicted to Starbucks… but the far-too-common thread is a love of the things of this world.

I think the church needs more guys who’ll give us a prophetic knock-upside-the-head when we need it, like Steve Taylor in his song Easy Listening:

We’re King’s Kids, dang it, and we used to know what a housekeeper was for / Tickle my ear and I’ll pay for your show / Sing about stuff that I already know / Whisper sweet nothings, pour a nightcap / Gimme that old-time easy listening

Can I share something with you? Hymns are meant to draw us to understand and worship God, not the singer. How many times has someone gone operatic on In the Garden, without meaning it at all when they sing, “He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing”? Do you not hear the sheer in-loveness in those words? This is someone who is utterly captivated with the Risen Lord. This is not someone who’s trying to sell albums or impress their friends.

Albert Mohler recently posted in his blog about Oh, to see the dawn (The Power of the Cross), a song that appears on the album,
New Irish Hymns 4. The recording has a bit of that Sandi Patty 80s feel to it, but I’m looking forward to singing this in a congregation. (Knowing my church, that won’t be long.)

Death is crushed to death
Life is mine to live
Won through Your selfless love

This the power of the cross
Son of God slain for us
What a love! What a cost
We stand forgiven at the cross

This are the folks through whom In Christ Alone came. God bless ‘em; we’re certainly being blessed by their work.

Another album to put on your must-listen list is Sovereign Grace’s Worship God Live. (If you listen closely, you might hear Nicole and me in that crowd. In fact, I may be that top-left guy in the “live worshipers” pic on the album’s page.) While not entirely an album of hymns, they form the majority of the songs here. Among the tracks in this album, my highest recommendations are for: Endless Praises; Count it All Joy; His Forever; Jesus, Thank You; God Moves (in a Mysterious Way); and Receive the Glory — lyrically, my absolute favorite song of the whole year:

All that we’ve accomplished you have done for us
And any fruit we harvest is a gift from your hand
We are only jars of clay that hold a priceless treasure
And we exist to bring you pleasure, O God

Not to us, but to your name alone
Be all the glory, the glory forever
For your faithfulness and steadfast love
Receive the glory, the glory belongs to you.

Amen and amen!

Left his seamless robe behind
Woke up in a stable crying
Lived and died and rose again
Saviour for a guilty land

It’s a story like a children’s tune
And it’s grown familiar as the moon
So now I ride my camel high
And I’m aiming for the needle’s eye

I chased the wind, but I chased in vain
I chased the earth, but it would not sustain

There’s only one who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There’s only one who sets loose the gale
And ties the trees down tight
When all around my soul gives way
He is all my hope and stay
There’s only one, only one Holy One

Lord, You are my Prince of Peace
But this war brings me to my knees
See there’s a table You’ve prepared
And all my enemies are there
But where my Shepherd leads
Where else can I go?
Who else fills my cup till it overflows?

There’s only one who never fails
To beckon the morning light
There’s only one who sets loose the gales
And ties the trees down tight
To the Solid Rock I fly
Though He bids come and die
There’s only one, only one Holy One

Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

(full lyrics
| midi)