Tuesday, November 13, 2012

REALLY?!! TOURING WITH QUEEN?

Marc Martel is the son of a Canadian choir director and the powerfully gifted lead singer of the Christian group DOWNHERE. These talented singers, who all met at Briar Cliff College in Saskatchewan, Canada, are concert favorites all over the U.S. - from church halls to outdoor music events like the three day outdoor Agape Festival at Greenville, Illinois.

Recently, DOWNWHERE (click here for their songs) disbanded for a variety of personal reasons - most of them good. Except one - Martel is off to join the 1980's rock band on tour QUEEN for a three month tour. His voice sounds eerily like that of Queen's late singer Freddie Mercury, who died from AIDS a long time ago. Now Queen's music is everywhere - from Hockey games to college football and even the London Symphony (Bohemian Rapsody, We Will Rock You, We are the Champions etc). That is good for them.


But can a man take fire into his bosom and not be burned (Proverbs 6:27)? After reading the interview with Marc Martel and the complete lack of discernment of both him and his wife about this Queen thing and all the promotional secular hoopla surrounding it, a couple things struck me. One is this- it is no wonder the church has lost its salt in flavoring the world. We have brought the secular, corrupt and fleshly world culture into the Body of Christ and think nothing of it. All the big music million dollar hits aside, have this couple even researched the background of QUEEN to see how they lived and how they got where they did? What next, Michael W. Smith sings Lady Gaga?!! By the way, Smitty would never do that.

Two, I reject the notion put forth by some that you have to engage the culture, and be like them, to change it. Yes, you engage those who walk in the world - but you do so in love WITHOUT compromising the Gospel of Christ- that is, the Gospel of Truth, Holiness, Repentance and Righteousness. The reason this move by the DOWNHERE lead singer is so important AND troubling is this - nowhere in his talks and especially this principal interview with the Christian Post does he even mention God, reaching another audience for Christ or using this as a tool for reaching the lost and dying who follow these groups. He is not alone in this so-called young evangelical world, where now over 57% of them believe there is another way to heaven than Jesus Christ!

In the final analysis, while Mr. Martel is probably going to come out of this three month stint with QUEEN with his career intact, by doing this he has cheapened the Cross and the exclusivity of the Gospel and what it means to be a true follower of Christ. By appearing on some of the TV shows and platforms he will have to, in order to promote and make this worldly adventure successful, he will be showing the culture that there is no clear line between then and Christ....and this is what is so sad, because his young fans in the Christian music world will now be more willing to walk in doublemindedness than ever.

By the way, in advance and anticipation of being now classified as a "fuddy-duddy" and a "wet blanket" and an old dude who can't see the value of this - I accept those names gladly, in order to have just a closer walk with Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, who dined with sinners, prostitutes and tax collectors - to show them a more excellent way - then moved on to save the world, amen.

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