Pastor Rob Patterson 653 A Street Galt, California 209-745-4665
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listen
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Proverbs 26:4-5
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be
like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in
his own eyes.
This particular verse reminds me of Alice
Cooper's thoughts on
Marilyn Manson.
PressTimeExtra:
I put guitar chords above today's devotional verses;
I decided to put the work-in-progress online (I hope I'll remember the melodic
line): Click Here
I think Alice Cooper is
an interesting study
from the world of pop-culture personalities
who have discovered the blessing of a relationship with Jesus. He is still
an entertainer.
In pursuit of personal integrity, I am curious about what God has been doing
in the lives of entertainers who had entertained me in my early years. I
remember when Randy Nolin first shared the mysterious story of a guy
named Alice. I was in the tenth grade at Coldwater High School.
A couple years later, I saw his live show.
awat.
We will read more
about Alice Cooper later.
Invest a few minutes for future blessings: read Proverbs
26 . . .
1
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.
2 Like a
fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not
come to rest.
3 A whip
for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of
fools!
4-5 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will
be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
6 Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence is the sending
of a message by the hand of a fool.
7 Like a lame man's legs that hang limp is a proverb in the mouth
of a fool.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling is the
giving of honor to a fool.
9 Like a thornbush
in a drunkard's hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
10
Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any
passer-by.
11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
12 Do you
see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for
him.
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion
roaming the streets!"
14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to
bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer
discreetly.
17 Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who
meddles in a quarrel not his own.
18-19 Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows
is a man who
deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!"
20 Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies
down.
21 As
charcoal to embers and as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for
kindling strife.
22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to
a man's inmost parts.
23 Like a coating of glaze1
over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart.
24-26 A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his
heart he harbors deceit.
Though his speech is charming, do not
believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.
His malice may be concealed by
deception, but his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.
27 If a man digs a pit, he will fall into it; if a man rolls a
stone, it will roll back on him.
28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth
works ruin.
Footnotes: 1verse
23: With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text of
silver dross
The
Gospel according to Alice . . .
Cooper
As fathers of two teenagers and long-time residents of Arizona,
Alice Cooper
and Chuck Savale
understand firsthand how desperately communities must address the needs of
teenagers.
The two friends
envisioned a Christian non-profit organization
solely dedicated to helping teenagers & children.
In November 1995, through prayer and planning,
Solid Rock Foundation began with the help of several other
men and women in the community.
Solid Rock Foundation publishes their
primary goal: to honor Christ by helping to meet
the Spiritual, Economical, Physical and Social Needs of teenagers and children within
their community and ultimately throughout the country.
The Executive and Advisory Boards
are made up of Christian men and women dedicated to providing help to teenagers & children.
Alice Cooper is the President.
On the Foundation's website, they have photographs of their annual Christmas time fundraiser called
Christmas Pudding.
It's a night of Comedy and Music. A really interesting
mix of folks have shown up over the years.
Well, how would you like to
have Alice Cooper show up for your Sunday School class? Deacon Tom told me
that he's looking forward to that day. Hey, it'd be great if
Weird Al and
Billy Bob showed up on
the same day (again) at the Epicenter (hey, like Bob Duvall says something
like this:
If you thought of it, it could have happened somewhere).
Hey,
check it out
for yourself www.srfrock.org (make sure to push the 'back' button
to travel back to this VirtualMoment.
Look up Alice
Cooper's official website and you'll see that he looks basically like the
Alice Cooper of the 70's.
However, Deacon Tom located the following interview
with Alice (at a site called JesusJournal.com):
Cooper said divine intervention is what broke his drinking habit in the
mid-1980s. "I honestly think I was simply and completely healed," he said.
"I
guess you can call it a miracle. It's the only way I can explain it. It
was absolutely eliminated from my life."
Cooper has often been called the model for today's shock-rockers, including
Marilyn Manson. While he doesn't criticize Manson for his on-stage theatrics,
Cooper takes issue with Manson's anti-Christian stance.
"He's very vocal about it," Cooper told KNAC.COM. "I believe [the Manson album]
AntiChrist Superstar was pointed right directly at me. I didn't volley the first
shots in this whole thing. His whole anti-Christian thing, and I'm like
'Hey, I'm Christian, and I'm not going to denounce what I believe.' I can be a
rock 'n' roll star, a Christian and Alice Cooper."
Cooper continued, "I think Marilyn had a really bad Christian experience when he
was younger. My guess is he got involved with some
less-than-Christian-Christians and that really, forgive the expression, nailed
him. You know, he's one of the greatest button pushers I've ever met. And I know
that game because I invented that game...Manson clicked because he found
a whole new set of buttons to push, he even pushed my buttons, which is pretty
impressive since I was pushing buttons before he was born."
Cooper's embrace of Christianity was more a return to faith than a coming to
faith. "I was pretty much convinced all my life that there was just one God and
there was Jesus Christ and there was the Devil," he said.
"You couldn't believe in God without believing in the Devil. I always tell bands
that the most dangerous thing you can do is to believe in the concept of the
Devil or the concept of God, because you're not giving them full credit.
When you believe in God, you've got to believe in the all-powerful God.
He's not just God, He's the all-powerful God and He has total control over
everyone's life. The Devil, on the other hand, is a real character that's trying
his hardest to tear your life apart. If you believe that this is just mythology,
you're a prime target because you know that's exactly what Satan wants: To be a
myth. But he's not a myth, of this I'm totally convinced. More than anything in
the world, I'm convinced of that."
Cooper continued, "We have to make a choice. And everybody, at some
point in their lives, has to make that choice. When people say, 'How do
you believe this? Why do you believe this?' I just say nothing else
speaks to my heart. This doesn't speak to my intellect, it doesn't speak to my
logic - it speaks right to my heart and right to my soul, deeper than
anything I've ever thought of. And I totally believe it. That being said, I'm
not a very good Christian. I mean, none of us are ever 'good' Christians. That's
not the point. When you're a Christian, it doesn't mean you're gonna be good, it
means you've got a harder road to pull."
Though some have questioned combining his faith in God with his rock-and-roll
background, Cooper doesn't see a conflict. "I'm the first one to rock as loud as
I can, but when it comes to what I believe, I'm the first one to defend it too,"
he said. "It has also gotten me in trouble with the staunch Christians who
believe that in order to be a Christian you have to be on your knees 24 hours a
day in a closet somewhere. Hey, maybe some people can live like that, but I
don't think that's the way God expected us to live. When Christ came
back, He hung out with the whores, the drunks and miscreants because they were
people that needed Him. Christ never spent His time with the
Pharisees."
But while Cooper may still speak to some of his old themes, he has a new message
today.
"I used to celebrate moral decay, the decadence of it," he admitted. "I can look
back on what I did then and what I'm doing now and they're two different things.
But at the time I was the poster boy for moral decay, you know. So yeah, I've
got a lot to be forgiven for...out of ignorance, I thought I was doing the right
thing. I was totally in agreement that every guy should sleep with every girl
and drink as much as they can. I don't believe that now. I don't believe in it,
because I see how destructive it is."
Spiritual awakening is happening around the world, Cooper believes.
"It's obvious humanity is craving for answers directly born of awareness,"
he said. "That's the healthiest thing I've seen in a long time because there is
something better and everybody's gotta find it in their own way. People
aren't feeling fulfilled by how many cars they own or the size of their stock
portfolio.
Even the addicts are saying, 'It doesn't matter how many drugs I take, I'm not
fulfilled. This isn't satisfying.' There's a spiritual hunger going on.
Everybody feels it. If you don't feel it now, you will. Trust me. You will."
-Alice Cooper (interview at JesusJournal.com)
Comments? Write me:
pastorob@gmail.com
Weird Al
and Billy Bob Thornton
Look at the photo over there from
Christmas Pudding. It looks like these two guys are within
Alice Cooper's sphere-of-influence. I have a personal connection with both of
them as well. You see, I took my whole family to see
Weird Al in concert at the State Fair a few years back. How do I know
Billy Bob? Well, I've watched his performance in Robert Duvall's
film: The Apostle several times. He was the guy who was gonna bulldoze
the church and gets saved on the air.
Bob speaks highly of Billy
Bob's performance in that pivotal scene. How do I know what Bob
Duvall thinks? Ask me.
(C, D) G D Em
Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
C D G (Em)
or you will be like him yourself.
G D Em
C D
Answer a fool according to his folly, or he
will be wise
C D Am Bm
Em
in his own eyes. Answer the fool in the
mirror . . .
This particular verse reminds me of
Alice Cooper's thoughts on
Marilyn Manson.
listen
to:
pastorob's music
at
www.pastorob.com/audiodwnload.htm
return
to:
pastorob
at
www.pastorob.com/rob’sblog.htm
Pastor Rob Patterson 653 A Street Galt, California 209-745-4665