Don't Blame Jesus

Here is our entry

Rich — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:42:03 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPGMvgZ2ir8

Ken and I entered the Theocracy “30 Pieces Of Silver” contest on youtube. We don’t know how we placed yet, but we hope that you enjoy it

Happy Easter from Don’t Blame Jesus

Ken — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:40:11 +0000

I was watching a European soccer match featuring Manchester United and the head announcer says something like, “and they won’t be playing next weekend because the skipper wants to get his Easter eggs.” Eggs?! I guess some people really don’t pay attention to what Easter is all about. I am certain that it is our mission at DontBlameJesus.com to help explain what is so different about Christianity and why we make a big fuss about Easter in the first place… it is Jesus. It was the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah that has saved us from sin and Hell and has reopened our fellowship with God.

Our friends over at GodStuffExplained have made a great video explaining the basic message of Easter and why it really is ‘Good News.’ Happy Easter!

Podcast 41 – The Huntress, In The Night

Rich — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:49:21 +0000

This week we try out some new recording hardware. It is our hope that this new gear will make it easier for us to podcast and thus increase our frequency. Please forgive the rustling paper on the table top, we didn’t have any monitors so we didn’t know about it till after we were done.

Anyway, on with the show. This week…Rich introduces us to The Huntress by The Echoing Green and In The Night by 4-4-1. Then we look at Proverbs and the wise words of Solomon that inspired the lyrics. (Both songs are available on iTunes)

We talk about what the lyrics and verses mean, especially right here and now.

Hope that it encourages and challenges you.

Favorite New “Praise” Song

Rich — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:59:11 +0000

Maybe it is just me, a lot of “praise” music reminds me too much of elevator music, and lyrically is not all that sharp and rather repetitive. Kinda the opposite of what praise music should be like.

Found one that I love, the speaks to me everytime that I listen to it, and it is musically and lyrical gold.

You’ve have to buy the album “As The World Bleeds” by Theocracy to hear it, because it isn’t on youtube.

But check out the words.

I Am by Theocracy

I am the light upon your path when you have lost your way
I am the footprints in the sand the ocean’s tide can’t wash away
I am the shelter from the storm that rages on and on
The incorruptible foundation that the wise man builds upon
I am the bread that feeds a starving man upon the street
I am the bounty on the table in the palace at the feast
I am the rain upon the earth after a scorching drought
I am the the quenching of the thirst you never thought you’d be without

I am the melody that weaves it’s way inside your soul
I am the symphony, the masterpiece, the actor’s greatest role
I am the poetry that speaks to you with every rhyme
I am the songwriter who seems to write your life in every line
I am the simple truths that shaped your world from your birth
I am the vast volumes of knowledge spanning all across the earth
I am the whisper of the wind you feel but cannot see
I am the alpha and omega, first and last, eternity

I AM (you cannot see me)
I AM (the resurrection and the life, the doorway and the vine, I AM)
I AM (you cannot touch me)
I AM (the bread of life, light of the world, long before Abraham, I AM)

I am the trusting child whose simple faith is ever sure
I am the parent’s love, unchanging, unconditional and pure
I am the loyal friend whose heart will never let you down
I am the hand that pulls you back into the boat before you drown
I am the thunder and the glory and the blinding light
I am the still, small voice that tells you what is wrong and what is right
I am the sacrificial lamb a guilty world reviled
I am the father ever waiting for his lost and wayward child

I AM (you cannot see me)
I AM (the resurrection and the life, the doorway and the vine, I AM)
I AM (you cannot touch me)
I AM (the bread of life, light of the world, long before Abraham, I AM)

I am the heart of the righteous desire and the forth man you see in the midst of the fire
I am the giver of life and the promise of Israel
I am the the hope of the lonely and lost in the blood running down to the foot of the cross
I am the breaking of chains and the tolling of freedom’s bell
I am the notes that eternally ring in the music too holy for angels to sing
I am the fire on the altar consuming the sacrifice
I am the three and yet I am the one in the grace of the Father and the death of the Son
I am the one who redeemed you by paying the highest price

I am grace and mercy, I am sacrifice
I am endless glory, I am light and life
I am long-awaited hope of Israel
I am longing sated, prophecy fulfilled

I am from the beginning of time, an I am sustain the system of life
I am symmetry, reason and rhyme, and I am conviction that cuts like a knife

I am the author of order and flow
I am the Father of Lights; watch me put on a show!
I am the seeker of all gone astray
I am the keeper of souls ’til the end of all days

I am power, I am glory, I am love’s unending story
I am justice, I am honor, I am hope and living water
I am righteous, I am holy, I am free and one and only
I am sovereign, I am faithful, everlasting, I AM that I AM

I am humility, the one who laid it all aside
Traded a crown of kings for a crown of thorns, betrayed by human pride
I am humanity, took on your curse and all your pain
I am divinity, eternity, forever I remain

I am your guilty scars, as Roman soldiers tear my back
I am the crimson stain that washes all the souls faded to black
I am the one who bled in silence and endured it all
I am the Word who spoke no word, with a thousand angels waiting for my call

I am the covenant – your hero in the bloodstained pages
I am your guilt, your sin, you debt fulfilled for all the ages
I step into your shoes, your substitute
Your sacrifice
Your raison d’être (looked it up, (reason for existence))
Your second chance
Your breath of life
I AM

I am the joy of angels dancing in the streets of heaven
I am the sinner’s prayer for mercy and a past forgiven
I am the lamb upon the alter dying willingly
All hope that was
All hope that is
All hope to be
I AM

More Theocracy

Rich — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:40:48 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Huy7Fonv4

Nailed

I’ve been working for my whole life to get to the other side
And try to achieve true righteousness
All the scourges and whips I cracked
The flesh I ripped off my back
It only led me to emptiness

Here I am, a broken man who’s done all that a man could do
And found that it’s only filthy rags
Monasteries, religious schools, indulgences, laws and rules
It all added up to nothing and darkness and death
Vanity, Heartache, and emptiness
Efforts all fading away
The flesh and defeat that it brings
‘Till You guide me and show me things
That my eyes have never seen before
As I burst forth from the belly of the beast
Never fight it anymore
For the burden on my life has been released
Nail it to the door

Solo: Val

Nailed these ninety-five things I’ve learned
They’ll say that I must be burned
For God has no place for heretics
All the things that they try to sell
It’s trickery straight from Hell
To turn it into a den of thieves

See these madmen peddling the wares of dead men’s souls
Collecting on a debt already paid so long ago
There’s fire in my spirit, and fire in their eyes
For now they’ll want to burn me alive
Yet freedom rings
Unworthiness is all I bring
The blood of Christ is all I claim
This grace revealed everything
That my eyes have never seen before
As I burst forth from the belly of the beast
Never fight it anymore
For the burden on my life has been released
Nail it to the door

This is from their latest album “As The World Bleeds.” The album is epic. Please click and listen. There is such driving and angst in the first verse dealing with our inability to make ourselves righteous or even right. Then it opens up beautifully on the chorus, such elation, when we realize that it is grace from faith in Christ that delivers it all for us.

Podcast 40 – Marriage; Why Robertson gets it wrong

Rich — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:16:38 +0000

Pat Robertson is just a man. People sometimes get things completely wrong. Pat Robertson is completely wrong in the comments he recently about marriage.

Even ABC grabbed his words and deals with the issue even better than he did.

We wanted to speak of marriage because it is much more than hormones, it is about commitment and the action of love. Love is far more than a feeling, it is a choice to do and to be. Join us as we work through these surprising comments from Pat Robertson.

Podcast 39 – To Ojo Taylor, with love.

Ken — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 01:22:13 +0000

Over the course of the last two podcasts we have talked about the music that inspired us as young believers. Bands such as Undercover, the Seventy Sevens, Petra, Andy McCarroll & Moral Support, One Bad Pig and Altar Boys were pivotal in the development of our faith and our world view. But as all things in life, change is inevitable. Times change, people change, circumstances change… only God stays the same.
We discuss the revelation that one of our heroes, Ojo Taylor, founding member of our favorite band Undercover, has renounced his faith. Honestly, I halfway wish this was a video podcast so you could have seen what I saw as we recorded and discussed. The hurt and disappointment on Rich’s face was apparent, but even more so his sincere love for Ojo. Ojo Taylor and Undercover were like spiritual big brothers to both Rich and I, an anchor through our turbulent Junior High School years. Now we are faced with the horrible realization that, for Ojo at least, that anchor didn’t hold. We don’t despair completely, for no one is truly beyond the reach of our loving Savior.

Podcast 38 – More Music of Our Lives

Ken — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:49:17 +0000

We had such a good time last podcast that we just had to do another music show. Plus Steven really wanted us to. So Steven, here is our Christian Punk episode. And the good news is that there are actually 7 tracks instead of the 6 we thought we had done. Time flies when you are having fun and this episode went by so quickly for us that we miscounted.

1. Andy McCarroll & Moral Support – Sin
2. Andy McCarroll & Moral Support – I Am Human
3. Andy McCarroll & Moral Support – King Man
4. One Bad Pig – I’m Not Getting Any Older
5. One Bad Pig – Isaiah 6
6. Altar Boys – Where’s The New World
7. Altar Boys – World Burning

And the Don’t Blame Jesus Official Ringtone™ is also available for download. You’ll probably have to right click on the link and choose Save Linked File As” or your platform version of that. If you need us to text it to you just send us an email containing your cell number and a request to show at dont blame jesus dot com, no spaces using the appropriate punctuation.

LInks

One Bad Pig on Amazon —

Andy McCarroll and Moral Support ranked 33rd —

Altar Boys — Against the Grain (Where’s the New World?)

Podcast 37 – The music of our lives

Ken — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:29:11 +0000

This week we talk all about the music that shaped and influenced our time as young believers. We play and discuss 11 songs during the podcast with one bonus track after the close.

Seventy Sevens – Do It For Love
Seventy Sevens – I Can’t Get Over It
Seventy Sevens – Another Nail
Seventy Sevens – Renaissance Man
Petra – Chameleon
Petra – Clean
Petra – It Is Finished
Petra – Disciple
Undercover – I Love God
Undercover – I’m Just A Man
Undercover – Darkest Hour

Here is a photo of the turntable that we mention in the podcast. Now of course it is clad with a super awesome Squire slip mat Rich brought me from Scotland, but other than that it is totally original.

Then after the podcast we play
Undercover – God Rules
God Rules is just a bit longer than 1 minute but was very powerful. I still remember seeing them live at the old Calvary Chapel on Indiana. That concert was pivotal for me.

This is where I am at the moment — My song for right now

Rich — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:50:41 +0000

Recently I was going through some old Supertones songs, as I wanted to share some of them with one of my co-workers, I looked at these lyrics again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6uZ5SC5TQw

Lyrics

Perseverance of the Saints — Orange County Supertones

Let me drown in an ocean of devotion
Let my joy be in service and love my emotion
Let me be closer than your right hand
Tighter than your left hand and let me be a godly man
Till the day I die, till the fire’s just smoke
I will go for broke till my last word’s spoke
If I limp then I will run with a limp
I’ll win some and lose some, but I’ll make my attempt
Last breath before the candle flickers out
I will speak the name of Jesus
I will keep fighting to the knockout, even if I’m knocked out
Hitting hard, I’m hittin’ for the belt
My soul will keep going till my body buckles
I will drop my bloody knuckles
Carry us to heaven by the truckfulls
I will be as stubborn as a pitbull,
Neutral as a nazi, resolute like Ghandi
I will keep preaching till I’m took out,
Till I’m heaven en route
No sell out

I am especially feeling the part about “If I limp, I will run with a limp, win some lose some, but I will make my attempt.” Limping seems to be about as good as I can do at the moment. But I do want to at least limp at full force.

We recently had a sermon at church about Jacob. He wrestles with God one night, and for the rest of his life he has a limp, as a reminder of that time with God. (Genesis 32) And God also blesses Jacob there and changes his name from Jacob to Israel.

As I am limping and calling out to God for help, I am spending time with Him. As I move forward with His help, there is a blessing in it for me.

Rich