Sunday, April 25, 2010

Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Grahams, And President Obama

I love music, and have a large collection of compact discs, spanning centuries worth of sound. Recently, I was listening to one of my favorite artists, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and the song "Resurrection" came on. One of their best, and catchiest apart from their cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded By The Light," the song "Resurrection," from their 1979 album Angel Station (probably their second to last great album), has some great lyrics that are both simple and thought-provoking.  The song essentially discusses the hypocrisy found by televangelists and evangelicals who preach the word of god but live an opulent life style, hence the references to Billy Graham, and considering the time this album was released, the lyrics are were also quite prophetic considering the emergence of the religious right as a political powerhouse and piggy bank for the GOP.  While the future implications of religion and politics might not have been considered at the time this song was authored, I still find it relative to the political climate of today and is a perfect example of why religion, in its modern incarnation, is a contradiction of the values and lesson claimed to be taught.

Here are the lyrics:
Jesus Christ you've come out of hiding
Just sign here on the dotted line
I'll see you're OK
I'll say to you expenses are high
Seeing you've made it before
I'll take 20% and no more (Gross)
Oh, tell me Lord did you happen to bring with you
A saleable piece of the cross
Crown of thorns
A disciple or two
We'll sell them Jesus hats
Jesus socks
Jesus coats
We'll sue the Pope
Jesus shoes
Jesus dirty books too
I wonder what will Billy Graham do
Let me say how much I respect your wish
To feed the multitude with 5 loaves and a fish
But I'm sure you'll see by going on the road with me
Will make the needy pay
There's more money that way
We'll sell them Jesus hats
Jesus socks
Jesus coats
We'll sue the Pope
Jesus shoes
Jesus dirty books too
I wonder what will Billy Graham do
I think these lyrics can relate to the bastardization of religion for political gain as well and shows the corrupting force power brings.

What makes this song all the more interesting to me, when considering current events, is that President Obama met the 91 year old Graham at his home in South Carolina today to discuss various things and pray.  This news comes after Graham's son, Franklin, has been in the media for being banned from the performing at the National Day of Prayer event at the Pentagon on May 6th for his comments against Islam (resembling those of conservative activist and fundamentalist Christian John Smithson), calling the religion "very evil and wicked."

Richard Cohen wrote the following sarcastic article found on The Washington Post:
Graham’s upcoming visit was revealed and denounced by the indomitable Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force officer who naively accepts the Constitution at face value and believes in the separation of church and state. His organization, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is protesting the Graham visit, apparently not realizing the invitation to speak is part of yet another plan to drive our enemies crazy. It follows, in fact, the clever operation at Abu Ghraib – weren’t those pictures wonderful? And the inadvertent use of the word “crusade” by former President Bush to describe what the U.S. was attempting to do in the Muslim world. Some Muslims apparently felt that the several crusades back in the Middle Ages were more than enough. They had a point, and Bush, to his credit, apologized.
I don't know what was discussed on the mountaintop, but I hope Obama had brought this question up to the elder Graham, but I doubt he did.  This seems more like a PR visit - one obligatory for sitting U.S. presidents.  As a side note, I wonder what those conspiracy theorists, who believe Obama to be a Muslim, are saying about this meeting...

1 comment:

  1. MIKEY WEINSTEIN, JESUS-BASHER


    What kind of wine has Mikey Weinstein been drinking?
    As an anti-Christian Jewish supremacist and as the president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, he's doing all he can to create an anti-Jewish backlash and help bring about the predicted endtime Holocaust of Jews that'll be worse than Hitler's.
    Neither Falwell, Hagee nor any other Christian initiated this prediction. But Weinstein's ancient Hebrew prophets did.
    In the 13th and 14th chapters of his Old Testament book, Zechariah predicted that after Israel's rebirth ALL nations will eventually be against Israel and that TWO-THIRDS of all Jews will be killed!
    Malachi revealed the reasons: "Judah hath dealt treacherously" and "the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this."
    Haven't evangelicals generally been the best friends of Israel and persons perceived to be Jewish? Then please explain the hate-filled back-stabbing by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard, Kathy Griffin, Bill Maher etc.) against followers of Jesus such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.
    Weinstein wouldn't dare assert that citizens on government property don't have freedom of speech or press freedom or freedom to assemble or to petition the government.
    But God-hater Weinstein maliciously wants to eliminate from government property the "free exercise" of religion - especially by evangelicals - a freedom found in the same First Amendment. Significantly, this freedom was purposely listed FIRST by America's founders!
    And Weinstein wouldn't try to foist "separation of church and state" on strongly-Jewish Israel, but he does try to foist this non-Constitution-mentioned phrase on strongly-Christian America.
    In light of Weinstein's Jewish protectionism and violently anti-Christian obsession, Christians in these endtimes should be reminded of Jesus' warning in Mark 13:9 (see also Luke 21:12) that "in the synagogues ye shall be beaten."
    Maybe it's time for some modern Paul Reveres to saddle up and shout "The Yiddish are Coming!"

    PS - Some, like Weinstein, are so treacherously anti-Christian they will even join hands at times with enemies, including Muslims, in order to silence evangelicals. It was Weinstein, BTW, who put pressure on the Pentagon to dis-invite Franklin Graham from speaking there on the National Day of Prayer!
    PPS - Weinstein is an echo of the anti-Christian, anti-American Hollywood which for a century has dangled every known vice before young people. We seriously wonder how soon the lethal worldwide "flood of filth" (global harming!) that Hollywood has created will engulf and destroy itself and help to bring to power the endtime Antichrist (a.k.a. the Man of Sin and the Wicked One)!

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