“When Satan afflicted the early church with fierce persecution, the New Testament church met corporately for prayer until the Lord heard their cries and filled them with boldness to continue preaching (Acts 4:24-31). Acts 4:24 says, “They lifted up their voice to God with one accord.” The Greek word used here actually means ‘a concert of voices'” (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 44).

*I started this weekly review in 2012! I have been superlatively tardy. But, alas, it now comes to an end. BTW: This is one of my favorite punk rock records by the band Blaster the Rocket Man.* 

Today’s installment is over Tracks 16, 17, and 18 of Blaster the Rocket Man’s 1999 release, The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Go here for initial comments on album and the linear notes.
Go here for comments on Tracks 1, 2, and 3.
Go here for comments on Tracks 4, 5, and 6.
Go here for comments on Tracks 7, 8, and 9.
Go here for comments on Tracks 10, 11, and 12.
Go here for comments on Tracks 13, 14, and 15.

Track 16 – Venus at St. Anne’s

Surf-rock/rockabilly mashup with gang vocals, “Up! Up! Up! Up!” in concert with hand-claps. The underlined portion of the C. S. Lewis excerpt below are the only lyrics to speak of, both passionately and tersely delivered before a time change slowly paves the way to the song’s conclusion.

Up!

“I deny the charge. Foam-born Venus…golden
Aphrodite . . . Our Lady of Cyprus . . . I never
breathed a word against you. If I object to boys
who steal my nectarines, must I be supposed to 
disapprove of nectarines in general? Or even of
boys in general? It might, you know, be stealing
that I disapprove of.”
– C.S. Lewis

Track 16 – Beehive Behave

Punk rock. Punk rock. Punk rock. The snare drum sounds like a stop-watch on Jolt! Lyrically witty, e.g., “Queen Bee says King me, honey.” Also, time change/bridge accents the allegorical observation: “Those worker bees buzz, buzz, buzz . . . No one knows why – it’s just – because . . .”

This is a tune for punk rock purists. 😉 In true punk rock convention, the song clocks-in at under a minute and fifteen seconds with the concluding imperative — “Beehive Behave!!!”

Queen Bee!
Queen Bee!
Queen Bee says King me, baby (2x)

Her Royal Monstrosity
hovers above me
I suffer the sting
beware!

Beehive behave! (many times over)

Queen Bee!
Queen Bee!
Queen Bee says King me, honey

Hive Mind
is hope for mankind
Flesh begets flesh
begets . . .

Beehive behave! (again and again)

Those worker bees buzz, buzz, buzz…
No one knows why
it’s just 
because . . .

Beehive behave! (to the end)

Track 16 – Baby Unvamp (is Making a Comeback)

This tune is the locus classicus of the Blaster the Rocket Man catalog. Musically: straight-forward punk rock, drum in the pocket. Feels (perhaps) somewhat Ramones-esque. Lyrically: just brilliant, just brilliant, man! The tune ends with repetitive chanting. Also, a couple John Milton quotes are thrown in for good measure. You don’t see that everyday in punk rock.

She’s comin’ back
She’s runnin’ back
But somewhere along the way
she decided to play the whore
in the mud once more
Forgotten what He shed His blood for
For her

She was burnin’ with a passion fire
that soon became a mire of sin
that locked her in
inside her self
“Thou are become (O worst imprisonment!)
The Dungeon of Thyself.”*
The chains chaffed
She bled until she said
Oh God what have I become?

“Myself my sepulcher. A moving grave.”*
I am a slave once more
A whore cryin’ at your feet
So incomplete . . .

Baby unvamp is making a comeback
She’s starting to run back
to the Father and the Son
The only One who loves her
unconditionally
with Grace and Mercy

She clings to the Cross of Death
The Cross of Life
Her only hope
The Cross of Christ

She remembers when she first met Him
She was kickin’ in a pool of her own blood
Coughin’ it up
When He picked her up
She gave self up
and He raised her up

Presented her to the Father
without blame
Made her His bride
Gave her His Name
Erased the shame
She’s not the same!

All we little unvamps
once were sluts, were whores, were tramps
But now we are the Bride
of Jesus Christ

She’s growing
She’s teething
and one day she’ll bite you till you’re dead!
dead!
dead!
Alive!
in Christ!
Forgiven.

* Both quotes from “Samson Agonistes” by John Milton

Well, that’s it. Sorta. Appended to Track 18 are some silly answering machine messages, candid “in the recording studio” dialogue, and a whimsical rendition of “March of the Macrobes.”

“There are two ways of coming down from the top of a ladder; one is to jump down, and the other is to come down by the steps: but both will lead you to the bottom. So also there are two ways of going to hell; one is to walk into it with your eyes wide open–few people do that; the other is to go down by the steps of little sins–and that way, I fear, is only too common. Put up with a few little sins, and you will soon want a few more” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 68).

A week ago Bill Nye (you know, The Science Guy) and Ken Ham (of AIG = Answers in Genesis) held a public debate at the Creation Museum. Kudos to all involved. The cultural pot has been stirred, indeed. There were several hundred-thousand viewers who watched the debate live via YouTube–you can go here to view the entire debate, complements of AIG. Since last week there has been a lot of post-debate fallout: blog posts here, newspaper articles there, post-debate interviews online and TV. For example:

• Articles at Ars Technica
• Nate Anderson’s long-feature survey of the debate.
• Ars’ visual tour of the Creation Museum.
• Eric Bangeman’s initial (short) opinion of the debate.
• At Mashable — a 4 minute recap of the debate.
• At BaylyBlog — Ben Burlingham sketches a Christian approach to witnessing to Scientists.
• At his blog: Dr. Ken Schenck sadly reflects on the debate.
• At his blog: Dr. Albert Mohler, who had a front-row seat at the debate, shares his thoughts.
• At reformation 21: Pastor Rick Phillips provides some excellent post-debate observations.

Happy reading!

From the conclusion to this theological article at Monergism.com.

Perhaps a story from the life of Martin Luther would be instructive here: when some inquisitive theologian asked him what God was doing before he created the world, Luther quipped, “He was busy creating hell for foolish theologians who pry into such questions”. The response is a little tongue-in-cheek, of course, but perhaps there is some wisdom in it, particularly when we are addressing the lapsarian question.

Lengthy excerpt from Andrew Sandlin’s website. If you have the time, follow the hyperlink and read the full article.

Every January many churches in the United States highlight God’s truth as it relates to preborn children, notably in memory of Roe v. Wade, the January 22, 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

Actually the term abortion includes the definition of “the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus by natural causes before it is able to survive independently,” denoting what is today termed miscarriage. This is not what most people mean when they use the word abortion, however. They mean the intentional termination of human pregnancy, abortion’s primary — but not exclusive — definition.

A more suitable term for that intentional act is aborticide, which is a perfectly legitimate English word and enjoys the rhetorical benefit of similarity to homicide, infanticide, suicide, regicide, and other words that denote the willful deprivation of human life. It’s a word that supporters of the act likely deplore for precisely the same reason that opponents would prefer it. Supporters want attention deflected from the (im)moral implications of the act and redirected to the benefits to the pregnant woman (“a woman’s right to her own body,” etc.).

The Christian verdict on aborticide derives from the Bible, which clearly, if not explicitly, condemns it.  All intentional deprivation of judicially innocent human life is murder (Gen. 9:6). Human life begins at conception (Jud. 16:17; Ps. 139:13–18; Jer. 1:5; Lk. 1:15). Therefore, aborticide is murder.

More specifically, biblical law requires compensation for a miscarriage unintentionally precipitated by violent human action (Ex. 21:22). Even if the child is miscarried as a result of violent actions that did not intend that fatal loss, the violent are guilty of what we term these days manslaughter (not fetus-slaughter).

A human fetus is a human, created in God’s image, entitled to full legal protection.

Legalized aborticide, therefore, is nothing short of legalized murder, not materially different from Nazi leglislation legalizing the extermination of Jews or Marxist laws allowing the liquidation of capitalists.

“By salvation I mean, not barely, according to the vulgar notion, deliverance from hell, or going to heaven; but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original purity; a recovery of the divine nature; the renewal of our souls after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy and truth” (The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 8, p. 4, as quoted in George G. Hunter III, To Spread the Power: Church Growth in the Wesleyan Spirit, 40-41).

Evangelicalism: against additions, against subtractions, against dilutions.

“I repeatedly urge in varied company that evangelicalism is Christianity without additions, subtractions, or dilutions — Christianity, that is, in its purest and most authentic form” (J. I. Packer in John Piper & Justin Taylor, eds., A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards, 81-82).

Evangelicalism: for always reforming.

“There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 358).

“The [Lord’s Prayer] teaches us, in all that we do, to hallow the name of God and, in so doing, we discover our true being” (William H. Willimon & Stanley Hauerwas, Lord, Teach Us: The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life, 44).