WWJT-What would Jesus Tweet?

What would Jesus Tweet?

Would Jesus Tweet the Sermon on the Mount? The Beatitudes?
@Judas.."What you are about to do, do it quickly" ? Or more like...
@Disciples.."Let the little Children come and do not hinder them, for such is the kingdom of God" ?

 If Our Lord were on the earth today walking around with his iphone, (or would He have a much more modest device like a used Blackberry or Droid?) would He even Tweet? And if He did what would those Tweets look like?

@President Obama.. That stuff about making my schools and hospitals that are called by my name purchase insurance that pays for the death of my precious little ones...We have to talk."

Or would it look more like this? @RushLimbaugh..."I understand what you're doing, and I know why you're doing it, but you have left your first love. Repent therefore and return."

Or maybe Christ would stick purely with the Word of God? His word.
@America..."You cannot serve two masters, either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

I wonder If Jesus would try to be diplomatic and conciliatory...sort of like a lot of Christians today want all of us to be.
@ELCA..."Go ahead and ordain Gay Pastors, I never said one way or the other so it's totally fine with me, Peace and Love."

Or, would He be more straightforward and direct like @ModernPharisees..."Woe to you theological professors at major Universities, you hypocrites! you clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence."

Perhaps @Jesus on Twitter would be a lot softer and just stick to the easy, pleasing to hear tweets like @Religious leaders..."It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. But go and learn what this means, I desire mercy not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Maybe if Jesus were here today he would be a technophobe, rejecting corporate technology? but I kinda doubt that seeing as He spoke to crowds of thousands 2,000 years ago and obviously had no problem with the social media of the day. (Speaking really, really loud)

I wonder if Jesus would Tweet about his miracles?  "I fed 5,000 people today with just five loaves of bread and a few fish...they didn't think I could do it! LOL"

Or, @Mary "I healed a Leper today..the Pharisees were watching  "

I'm not a theologian, but I think Jesus wouldn't leave out anything or try to be too diplomatic...seeing as how He's God and all and wants what's best for us...

Don't shoot me, I'm just the Sax Player..

THE NEW IMPROVED PROGRESSIVE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

THE NEW IMPROVED PROGRESSIVE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE...

I pledge my Taxes, to the Government,
Of the Divided States of Amerikka,
And to the Republikk, For which it Stands not,
5 Nations, Easily Divisible,
With Tyranny but Equality for some.

 Don't shoot me I'm just the Sax Player... Blog Posted By Dave Thrush April 23, 2012

Blue Like Jazz The Movie- Hypocrisy, Sin, Forgiveness, Redemption

About 7 years ago I was Browsing through the grocery store book table and came upon a really catchy title, "Blue Like Jazz" (Non Religious thoughts on Christian Spirituality) By Donald Miller.
I watched the finished Film project based on the NYT best selling book at a preview showing last night by Director Steve Taylor at a Mall Cineplex, and I have to tell you I was blown away. There are some stellar acting performances by Marshall Allman (True Blood, Mad Men) as Don Miller, Claire Holt (Vampire Diaries) as Penny, but I particularly liked Justin Welborn's gritty and very realistic performance as the "Agnostic Pope."
This is not Your father's Christian movie by any stretch as the book so beloved by millions is not either. Don, a 19 year old College student in Texas decides he has to get away from the hypocrisy of his own family and church and at the prompting of his hard drinking, jazz loving father bolts unexpectedly for Reed College known for Genius IQs and heathen beer drinking festivals.
Befriended by an attractive lesbian (Tanya Raymonde,TV show Lost) and a Campus appointed "Pope", Don begins to explore a world he has never known or even knew existed.
As Don tries to escape his upbringing by a single mom who simultaneously sits in the pews of the Church of his childhood while having an affair with the Youth Pastor, he finds that running from God is a tricky proposition and not easily accomplished.
The beautiful Penny (Claire Holt) catches Don's eye and he begins the machinations of trying to catch and hold her attention. Unfortunately for Don, the campus Pope drags him into a prank on a local Church that just happens to be his new lady friend's house of worship.
Thankfully, Don realizes the error of his ways and begs his new love interest's forgiveness, he begins to find out that even in the midst of his rebellion and rejection of his upbringing on "The most Godless Campus in America" there's no running or hiding from God.
There may be a few that might not like this film because of it's graphic and realistic talk about sex, hypocrisy in the Church, and a scene at the Renaissance Fair with depictions of College partying, but, having attended a large state university myself I can tell you these depictions are very realistic. In fact, the films Director speaking to us after our screening said that they have already been criticized by other Christian Film makers. The irony is that most of these critics of the book and the film haven't even seen the movie or read the book and have taken statements by the author completely out of context, and are probably the very people that should sit down and watch it all the way through.
Once again, director (and former Christian rock music star) Steve Taylor has produced something quite edgy. But, as a former Band mate of Mr. Taylor's, I can guarantee you this...you will definitely walk away from the theater thinking more deeply about your faith and how it should work out in your own life, even if it makes you uncomfortable in the process...And that's a good thing.

Blue Like Jazz is rated PG 13 and earns that rating. I wouldn't recommend taking someone under 14 unless they are very mature.

Remember,Don't shoot me...I'm just the Sax Player

"The first one through the wall usually gets bloody"

I heard this quote in the Movie "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt not long ago. "Moneyball" is a very good movie, one of the best I've shelled out 10 bucks for recently (which does not happen often these days) but I recommend this movie particularly for Baseball fans.

The above quote has stuck with me for a few weeks now and since I can't get it out of my head I decided to blog about it and see if that works.
"The first one through the wall usually gets bloody" is a truism, it's accurate in real life and many of some famous over used quotes aren't necessarily true in real life.
I say it's true in real life because I've seen it at work in people close to me, people I've worked with or performed in music groups with over the years.

Folks that have vision and the drive to make that vision happen I've watched personally get bloodied some. Not just by criticism from others that can't understand (or don't want to) the vision of the visionary, but, literally bloodied in a real sense.
If you think this is just nonsense by a nutty musician, I'll give a few examples of what I speak of.
The obvious examples of this are talked about a lot so I won't dwell on them...names like Martin Luther King, Dietrich Boenhoffer, Martin Luther, Ghandi, and The Lord Jesus Christ.
But, some other lesser known examples of people that broke through the glass wall first and got severely cut up in the process you may or may not have heard of like "Tank Man" in Tianenmen Square in 1989. No one knows what happened to Tank Man who boldly and bravely stood in front of a Chinese Tank in 1989 when the democracy protests in Beijing broke out. He just disappeared, but, many have a strong feeling he was hidden away in a Chinese Gulag most likely never to be seen again. I was in China in 2009 myself, and "Tank man" today would have not gotten any TV coverage whatsoever. Any Videos of his bravery would have never been seen by the Chinese people because there's no YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook in China...it's all banned.

Another example I like to bring up is my friend Steve Taylor, who I played in a Band with for 7 years, specifically a Christian Rock Band. Many of my musician friends back in the day (1980's) would look at me with a puzzled look when I said "I play in a Christian Rock Band." Some of my friends would even go so far as to say there's no such thing as a Christian Rock Band, because Rock and Roll is by it's nature rebellious. On that point my friends were right, (sort of) but they were less visionary than the guy that started the Christian Rock Band whom I drank coffee with in the 70s.

You see, Christian Rock was born from a response to a lot of rock bands in he 70's and 80's that took the rebellious nature of rock music to an extreme, bands that trashed hotels just for fun, or bragged about their heroin and LSD use. Many of the originators of Christian Rock were themselves members of the counterculture of the 1960's. People that once embraced drugs, sex, and Rock and Roll, much like their heroes Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin (both whom we know died from their excesses of Drugs, and alcohol.)
These musicians suddenly, and radically turned to God and his son Jesus to become "Jesus Freaks." They rejected the Hedonistic and Nihilistic philosophies of Timothy Leary for a relationship with God, and many of these Jesus Freaks were super gifted Musicians like Larry Norman, Glenn Kaiser, Keith Green, and Phil Keaggy. These new "Jesus Freak" Musicians began writing and performing songs about their radically changed lifestyles from drugs and sex to living a clean and drug and alcohol free path for the Lord.

I was in a Band at the tail end of the "Jesus Freak" music scene with a former H.S. classmate Steve Taylor, that became quite well known in the 80's as "Steve Taylor and Some Band" and we did several TV shows, large Christian Music Festivals, and several European, American, and Australian tours. A video STASB made for the Christian Label "Sparrow" was one of the first featured Videos by A Christian Rock Band on MTV, which was unheard of at that time. That was back when MTV actually played Videos. STASB had broken through the wall at a time when it was very hard to do so.

I put my friend in the "First through the wall" category because as a close associate I saw first hand how in the secular mainstream media like Newsweek and the L.A. times, Steve was perceived as a Christian Rocker with an attitude, who had a penchant for writing and performing songs from a Right Wing, Conservative viewpoint. Few Artists had gotten national attention from Newsweek, Time, or Television that wrote songs from a conservative Christian perspective until STASB. They also criticized him as being too Christian and "Preachy." But that wasn't the only criticism Steve got, because some of the harshest and most bitter attacks came from the Church, or at least well known TV preachers like Jimmy Swaggart. This criticism was strange (I thought) because here's a Christian guy that writes songs from a Christian perspective and is getting blistered and attacked publicly by well known TV preachers.
With time and the truth eventually coming to light, some of Steve Taylor's critics ironically ended up having affairs, or were raiding the temple money just like the Pharisees in Jesus' day so, Steve was exonerated because what he was saying in the songs was true and accurate.

I feel strongly that some of today's modern "Wall Breakers" are people like Dr. Thomas Sowell,Dr. Alveida King (Niece of MLK),and Mychal Massie, all African American Conservatives that go against the grain of most of Black sociologists, theologists, and Politicians to define a new Paradigm of what it means to be Black in America. They are extremely misunderstood and villified (even by their own race) for thinking and acting outside of the box on issues like Abortion,Black Liberation Theology, and Economic theory. Like MLK, many of these paradigm changers I'm sure have taken much heat, a lot of it from their own race, but something drives them to see things clearly, to speak and write the truth, and forge the new way of thinking that changes people's minds, societies, and nations even if it costs some blood of their own.

That's my view and I'm the Sax Player...

Jesus was a socialist? Oh really...

I've been seeing this a lot lately...

"Jesus was a socialist"

Excuse my ancient education in Public schools (When they still taught history from a pro western, pro Christian and Democratic viewpoint) But, Socialism is based on a Godless, anti Democratic, man made philosophy that is not compatible with Christianity. Those who espouse it as a Christian form of Government and wrongly say that Jesus was a socialist first of all misunderstand the scriptures they quote.
Some of my well intentioned Socialist Christian friends favorite Bible passages are "Give to Caesar what is Caesars, and give to God what is Gods" Matt 22:21 and "All the believers were of one heart and mind,no one claimed any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they own." Acts 4:32

Socialist Christians recently are trying to force feed these (and other) scriptures in the Twittersphere to fit their wealth redistribution philosophies and agendas.
These scriptures are referring to the CHURCH firstly and not a socialist/redistribution form of government. Jesus' statement that we are to give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is Gods is telling us to pay our taxes to the government and give to the Church, the house of God, so that the needy do not suffer in the body of Christ, and so that we are good representatives of Christ to the government and society. Acts 4:32 is telling the CHURCH to take care of it's own so that the poor and needy do not have to go outside of the CHURCH for charity, but instead rely on the body of believers to do that.

The Socialist Gospel twists and misuses these verses into an unrecognizable notion that we are to give (by coercion) taxes on an ever increasing basis to support brilliant works of art like "Piss Christ" (who can forget that), or pay the salaries of oh so hip teachers like Former C.U. Professor Ward Churchill who said the Victims of 9/11 are "Little Eichmanns", and more recently and my personal favorite...giving billions of dollars of bailout TARP money to Banks that now are foreclosing on taxpayers homes that gave them the bailout tax money in the first place!

These unfortunate socialist ideas support thousands of other nonsense programs that end up hurting the poor and needy rather than helping them. How? Heres a fine example...how about Rent control for one. The two major U.S. cities with the strongest government rent controls are New York, and San Francisco. Rent controls are supposed to help lower income renters right? But the jokes on the renters because guess where the highest rent prices are by far in the Country? that's right, New York, and San Francisco!
Socialist Christians claim to be more noble and charitable than Christians who believe that free market principles are better for everyone including the poor by misusing and twisting bible passages like the ones above to force feed a godless philosophy on men and women with free minds and free ideas.

You cannot begin with a godless man made philosophy like socialism and even begin to think that what you will end up with is an equitable and fair system. It doesn't work that way.
Jesus never intended his words to be associated with a social philosophy that always in the end oppresses the poor, strips the middle class of their freedom and prosperity, and forcibly makes people pay more and more taxes to a form of government more known for producing mass murderers in the mold of Mao Ze Dong,Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong Il, and Fidel Castro.

I'm the Sax Player...

For 20 Years I didn't drink, not a drop of alcohol.Then my marriage fell apart...

The Title is correct,

I didn't drink any alcohol from 1989 to 2009, except for 2 beers about 10 years ago when a gig fell through and I was the only musician that showed up to play.

Other than that, I was dry, completely dry, for 20 years until 2009 when I realized my marriage was falling apart.

There were several reasons for my abstinence...I drank heavily from the time I was 13 years old through high school weekend parties and on into College where I would finish classes on Thursday afternoon at Colo. St. University, then my musician friend and I would go buy a couple six packs and start the weekend early.

The drinking continued after college when I began playing in local bands playing 6 nights a week (when such gigs were available.) I would start the nights gig with a beer and by the end of the night I would have put away probably 6 beers and 2-3 shots. Afterwards the musicians and I would go to an after hours club or someones house and have a few more beers and shots.

I thought I had to have a drink in my hand to "fit in" and be one of the crew and also to hide a social nervousness around people even though I was on stage.

This went on for years and I was burning out quickly.

I 1982 I joined a Christian Rock Band called Steve Taylor and Some Band and we were signed to a national label touring the country at first in a Dodge van, then in tour buses and airplanes.

I continued drinking even on the road in this band but the Leader (Steve) put strict rules on us musicians that drank alcohol in the band that we could not drink in public at our hotels, in the Hotel bars, or Hotel lobby but had to drink in our rooms or go away from the hotel we were staying at to bars or clubs. ( I want to point out here that Steve Taylor did not drink alcohol at all.)

These were strange people (I thought) these Conservative Christians that didn't join us in imbibing after shows.

In fact at one point one of our crew threw all the beer out of our tour bus some of us had procured.

I Laugh at stuff like that now, but, in looking back, it probably saved my life at the time being in a Christian Rock band and being a non conservative/non Christian in that group amongst these very different band mates that didn't drink at all...

When I actually became a Christian and started following the Lord Jesus Christ I began getting convicted in my heart about drinking too much. I was on stage in front of a lot of mostly young people and still drinking alcohol quite a lot and so, after I was married I just stopped... quit drinking completely. I believe God gave me the strength to just quit cold turkey like that.

I was playing in bars still in California (where I had moved to and was married), and playing the occassional national tour but was completely alcohol free, just drinking coffee or cokes on gigs and raising my new family with the recent addition of my first wonderful little boy.

I didn't want my new boy, who I knew was a gift from God, growing up in a house where he saw his dad drinking...

I think the musician/artist/actor psychology lends itself to addictions quite easily. We like to think outside of the box, artists tend to see things differently than a lot of people and we become very emotional and engaged over the senselessness and heartbreak of the world. We anguish over the inequity we see, the hypocrisy of the powerful that many times use the poor and working class to their advantage, and also the hypocrisy of politicians, and those around us in positions of power. It's part of our psychological make up, and it's also why we do what we do...

But having said that, I think musicians/artists/actors also use this as an excuse to drink too much and use illicit drugs as well. It's a nice cop out.

As the Title says...my marriage of 20 years started falling apart and came completely apart after I returned home from a playing trip to Beijing, China in 2009. My wife left, took my children with her and filed legal seperation.

I won't go into details but I had been suffering from clinical depression and insomnia for two years which was turning me into a vegetable of a human being. I remember being able to relate to Michael Jackson's stories of insomnia. Not being able to sleep for days weeks or months is horrible. Depression is treatable and I finally found the right doctor (Christian Nurse actually) that prescribed the depression drug Cymbalta and another, Seraquel which is a non narcotic depression/Insomnia medication after two long years of no answers. I have to say that Depression caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain is completely treatable with the right medications and I have found the one's that work well for me.

Unfortunately, a massive amount of damage had already been done to my marriage. I won't say it was all my fault nor all my ex wife's fault, it was both our faults that the marriage fell apart. We also had a tremendous amount of pressure trying to raise two boys with very different special needs.

I started enjoying my new found "Freedom" sitting in with bands, and hitting the liquor store for a six pack or two. I was looking for a way to numb the incredible pain of a lost family...

For three months I was drinking heavily and thought I was "Free" to do so until I rolled my car on a lonely road after going to a bar to sit in with a band and got in an argument with a complete stranger who was just looking for a fight. I thank God I was out on a country road miles from traffic and another car was not involved.

The next thing I remember was being able to grab my cell phone somehow within arms reach, dialing 911, and being pulled out of the car window by paramedics.

Needless to say I lost my license for a year with a reduced sentence of DWAI, had to complete many hours of Community service, a week of work release (which was sort of like being in a college dormitory) and a M.A.D.D. class, group class, as well as paid several thousand dollars in fines and lost work.

I almost lost my life in that wreck and I still suffer from the eight cracked ribs...and I think it was God's intervention that it happened.

So...after seeing the effects drinking was having on my two boys and the incredible mess I had created... I promised my older son I wouldn't drink again, and I've been able to do that (With God's help) for almost 2 years now. I don't even crave the stuff at all.... I've held to my promise to my older son.

Things have been turning around although slowly, I've written a small part of a new book out called "Reflect, 52 stories from worshipers" by my friend Stan Endicott (Beacon Hill Press), and I have more music work coming in all the time. My oldest son is attending Colo. Christian University on three scholarships (thanks to the Lord and his good grades.) And I see God working around me all the time...even in the really difficult, hard times.

He is alive and well and still sitting on the throne, looking for those that He can use for His glory, even the very broken one's like myself.

And I want to be in that Number, When the Saints Go Marching In. How 'bout you?

Don't Shoot me, I'm just the Sax Player...

Anders Breivik and the dance of the sugar plum fairies

It was, of course, very predictable,

Anders Breivik, the insane Norwegian that tragically and horrifically murdered at least 70 young bright people on an Island retreat...

Gets favorably compared and associated with "Fundamentalist right wing Christians" by the New York Times.

That was, of course, before the New York Times read Breivik's manifesto in which he states, "It is enough that you are a Christian Agnostic, or a Christian Atheist."

Maybe it's just me, but saying you can be a Christian Atheist is akin to saying the Dalai Lama is a Communist because he likes Chinese food.

I was in the Beautiful Country of Norway on a couple occasions in the mid eighties with a Christian Rock band that was known for sarcastic songs, and I can assure you that none of us in the band thought, or believed, anything resembling this whack jobs notion of what a Christian is.

And so the automatic associations of the NYT and many of it's readers that all Conservative Christians are just like Anders Breivik, the six foot tall, blue eyed, crazed killer, are a figment of George Soros' imagination.

Why, of course, if you believe in Jesus you must be exactly like Anders Breivik!

Or if you prefer his anglicized name Andrew Berwick, which is how he signed his genius manifesto that completely destroys any nonsensical notion that he was a Christian of any kind whatsoever.

Harry Potter is more of a Christian than Breivik because at least HP uses his Warlock spells against the bad guys rather than innocent 15 year olds. This analogy is quite a stretch for me, but since we're stretching...

Alas, convincing the NYT and it's loyal readers that a freak of nature that insists Christian atheists are the same as Christian Christians is lunacy can be hard work indeed.

It makes me wonder whats next? if the "Grey Lady" can associate conservative Christians with an insane mass murderer that quotes the "Grey Lady" regularly, can it be far off when the headline reads..."Mass killer reads Mein Kampf, the Communist manifesto, and the Bible...Conservative Christians to blame?"

Are these people for real?

Don't shoot me...I'm just the Sax Player...