The Almighty makes it brilliantly clear that one must know, believe and obey His Holy Bible in order to qualify to receive eternal life. That message being the primary theme of this ministry, He often places me in a specific place at a specific time in order to show me something that invariably turns into a message or a series of messages. What happened a few days ago is no exception.

Being a people watcher since childhood, I repeatedly see cross-wearing, church-going, Scripture-quoting people using the church as a backdrop while spending their entire lives trying to accumulate the things of the world. These pursuits are not sinful in and of themselves. A spiritual problem arises when they replace study of and obedience to God’s Word as one’s primary agenda to which everything else must take a back seat. How one spends his free time and what one thinks about during that time reveals where one’s heart is. WE MAKE TIME FOR AND THINK ABOUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO US. As the Lord reminds us in the book of Proverbs, “As a man thinks in his heart (mind), so he is.” Just as “We are what we eat” physically, we are what we think about spiritually. One of the things on which millions of people spend much time and thought is music. Music in and of itself is a good thing. Its value is determined by its lyrics. What I recently witnessed spoke volumes about the place country music’s lyrics play in the hearts of millions of Americans who claim that the Biblical Lord holds the #1 place in their hearts. What I saw proved that to be a lie. I am rarely shocked. But what I saw shocked me and explained why those in America’s so-called “Bible belt” have grown so far away from the Lord, the same Lord Whose Word they claim to believe, Whose name they repeatedly drop, Whose commandments they openly and brazenly defy, having been replaced by the sin-glorifying lyrics of country music.

Having grown up surrounded by country music and those who loved it, I became interested when I learned that PBS would be airing a series on the history of the world-renowned musical art form. Being intimately familiar with the subject as well as a student of history, I awaited the series with much anticipation. I had grown up in an era when radio and country music were in their hay-day. Each evening for several nights I turned on PBS and was allowed to mentally return to the time of my youth. Though no longer a country music fan, I did enjoy the mental journey.  But it did not take long for my eyes to be opened to a truth that, as I said, shocked me. I became aware of the all-consuming part country music and those who sing it play in the lives of multiplied millions of worshipful fans. Let me be frank: the word “worshipful” is not an overstatement.

I have said on several occasions that country music singers must be the most miserable people on earth. Country music has been defined as “three chords and the truth.” If what is voiced in those songs is in fact “truth” for literally millions of people, I understand why the South is, as they say, “going to hell in a handbasket.” And the music form has also become popular in the North, as well as in many foreign countries. American country music performers pack out auditoriums and sports stadiums in Europe just as they do in this country.

I was struck by the number of people who identify with the lyrics of the songs. Multiplied millions of people, predominantly church people by their own admission, can recite the words of dozens of sad, mournful songs. They admitted that the lyrics reflect their own inner feelings. It is as if the singer is telling their life’s story, and they are willing to spend billions of dollars to hear and watch them tell it.

I was amazed to learn that the typical visitor to The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee travels 600 miles to get there–ONE WAY. That’s 1200 miles to hear someone remind them of how miserable they are. My question is, how many of those self-professing Christians would travel 1200 miles to hear those same performers sing about the wonder of Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, his love and His hope for their future? My answer is, none. Why listen to Christ being glorified when they can hear about someone killing someone else in a drunken brawl over a prostitute? The topper came when one song writer said that God actually told him what to write, and the others agreed with him. That handbasket must be enormous. L.J.