If you click on the photo of the band, you will go to the World Wide Message Tribe Website. These British musicians have got the real thing.
Back in the days when I was listening to 3 hours of music a day, there were plenty of bands extoling worldliness without ever mentioning hell, but none singing about how great it would be to go there. Which is worse, then or now? Fortunately, we have more than two choices. Groove on bretheren;
1. Visit
The Classical Music Page.
With over 2200 files and over 2000 links, if you can't find it here, it's probably not on the Web.
2. Visit
The Christian Performing Artists Fellowship Page.
The Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship is a classical music and dance ministry dedicated to performing to the glory of God and to spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Begun in Washington, D.C. in 1984, it has grown to include over 700 musicians and dancers in its ranks.
3. Visit
The J.S. Bach Homepage.
Dedicated to the original Hitmeister.
1. Visit
Soul Support
This wonderful acapella men's quintet is the hometown favorite.
2. Visit
The Orange County Supertones.
This ska band is good for parties.
1. Visit
The Gospel Music Directory Page.
2. Visit
The Southern Folklore Collection Page.
3. Visit
The Gospel History Chart Page.
1. Visit
The Decade of Jesus Music 1969-1979.
2. Visit
The Christian Music Comparision Chart Page.
3. Visit
The Welcome to Contemporary Christian Music Online! Page.
This is the Web version of the popular magazine.
4. Visit
The Christian Music Place.
This site is by and for contemporary Christian musicians.
5. Visit
The Amherst Contemporary Christian Music Page.
This one contains radio stations, labels and lots of links.
6. Visit
The Contemporary Christian Music Page.
This site has directories, discussions and other links.
7. Visit
The Lighthouse Christian Music Resources.
It's the extensivist!
8. Visit
The Christian Contemporary Music Hotpage.
It's "almost definitive".
9. Visit
The Ricochet Music Magazine.
This ezine includes reviews of new releases and interviews with contemporary Christian musicians.
10. Visit
The Puddlegum Ezine Page.
11. Visit
The SaLT & LiGHT Page.
This site will have some guitar tabs posted.
1. Visit
The Lutheran Hymnal Page.
This hymnal is from the synodical conference of 1941, and contains the unscored text of hymns in English & German.
2. Visit
The Electronic Hymnal Page.
3. Visit
The Christian Hymnal Page.
4. Visit
The Methodist Hymnal Page.
5. Visit
The Anglican Hymnal Page.
6. Visit
The Cyber Hymnal Page.
1. Visit
The Lutheran Hymnal MIDI Project.
You can download Lutheran Hymns in MIDI format here.
2. Visit
The Christian Freebies MIDIs Page.
3. Visit
The Help Yourself to a MIDI Page.
4. Visit
The Reflection MIDIs & Sheet Music Page.
5. Visit
The Silvis Woodshed Page.
6. Visit
The Classical MIDI Archive Page.
7. Visit
The Gospel MIDI Collection Page.
8. Visit
Arnold's MIDI Player Page
You'll need a MIDI player to hear any MIDI files you download from the above sites. Here is my favorite.
1. Visit
Lutheran Organists Do What?
2. Visit
Jack's Gospel Harmonica Page.
3. Visit
The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra Page.
Christian Music Festivals abound all over the world.
Henderson, NE hosts a wonderful Gospel quartet type of festival the first weekend of every June.
The Alive 2000 festival in Ohio takes place at the end of June and has many types of groups and activities.
Milwaukee hosts the annual Fisherman's Festival in the middle of June.
Grace University maintains a file about Christian music events in Nebraska.
One may also check out some of these indexen for Christian Music Festivals -
Good luck.
There is a controversy regarding Christian rock music, and intellectual honesty compels me to acknowledge it. I'll let the other side speak for itself, however the objections to the genre seem to boil down to two; that the musicians are not good enough Christians to tout themselves as such; and secondly, that the the lyrics are not doctrinally sound.
As to the first argument, every hymn ever written was written by a sinner. That infamous adulterer, King David, authored most of the psalms and psalm 90 is attributed to Moses, the murderer. Contemporary Christian musicians need our prayers and would be glad to get them too!
As to the doctrinal soundness of the lyrics, well, of course most are unsound; most are not Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (you just fill in your own denomination). Doctrine, however is the meat of the Gospel, not the milk. A lot of these kids aren't sure if Adam came before Noah, but when, say for instance, Small Town Poets sings "I'm into everything I hate", are they not merely paraphrasing Romans 7:19 in a form which perhaps later might cause someone to ponder,"Well, no, but shouldn't I hate the sin that I'm into? Is self-destruction really the way to go?" This is why the Holy Spirit moves the musicians to write these lyrics; so that later He will have a foot in the door, so to speak, to work a miracle in the hearer's life. It happens every day.
Then comes doctrine.
By the way, the Bible passage referred to at the top of this page is from the parable of the prodigal son, found in Luke 15.
(This chapter has three parables in it; the hundred sheep, the ten coins and the two sons. The middle parable has always been a bit of a puzzlement to me. I think I know what the lamp represents, but what about the broom?)
The story of the prodigal son is a very succint description of the relationship between us and our God. After the son tells his father that he wishes the father were dead and departs for a life of dissolution, the kingdom of this world turns viciously on him. The son then realizes that his only hope for life is his father's forgiveness, and returns to seek it.
First century Palestine was (and mostly still is) what cultural anthropologists call a "shame based culture" (as opposed to the "guilt based" cultures located further north-west), that is, one's dignity is the most important thing he's got; perhaps the only thing he REALLY possesses. A man, and most especially an elderly man, would NEVER run anywhere, for any reason.
Any other teacher would have had the father in the story see his son approaching and thereupon enter his house, sit down in his easy chair, surround himself with his faithful children, there to await the progigal son's pitiful explanations and apologies to each member of the household.
This is not the way that The Word Made Flesh told the story. Jesus' audience must have been full of gaping jaws and popping eyes as they visualized the old man holding his robe about his waist, running through a muddy field, sandals flying away, a joyful expression on his face as he cried out, "My child!".
Praise God! Now I have to stop typinh.
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