Robert Johnson the Crossroads Curse the Blues and Rock Music

This story depicts are very common theme amoung secular music stars--Dr. J.

THE DEVIL ALWAYS GETS HIS DUE: ROBERT JOHNSON’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL AND THE CROSSROADS CURSE Story written by Alyne Pustanio http://www.alynepustanio.com The story of Robert Johnson and his infamous crossroads deal with the devil – in which he traded his immortal soul for musical genius – is deeply ingrained in the mythology and legend of the rural South and is one of the best-known tales of American folklore. Young Robert Johnson, a struggling musician trying to make a living and a name for himself in Depression-era Mississippi is said to have journeyed to the crossroads in order to barter with the devil for the fame and fortune he desired. He knew the price would be high – and it was, indeed – but this seemed to matter little for what he got in exchange: Robert Johnson is called the King of the Delta and is considered by many to be the father of the blues. The contribution he made to music in his brief lifetime can never be debated, but Johnson never lived to enjoy his fame: the Devil didn’t wait long to collect on his due.

“I went to the crossroad Fell down on my knees, I went to the crossroad Fell down on my knees; Asked the Lord above, Have mercy now, Save poor Bob, if you please.” -- Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad Blues”

Robert Johnson was born in Hazelhurst, Mississippi on May 8, 1911, the illegitimate son of Julia Dodd and Noah Johnson. But he would never know his father – Noah Johnson quickly disappeared from his infant son’s life. Julia Dodd and her young son moved often as she searched for work in various parts of the south; when she finally took employment in a plantation home near Robinsonville,

Mississippi, Robert, still a young boy, went to work in the nearby cotton fields. Together, he and his mother could barely earn a living to get by and Robert took comfort in music, picking out tunes on a guitar he had found on a trash heap. At seventeen Robert Johnson married his childhood sweetheart, Virginia Travis, but their happiness was doomed to be short lived. Within a year of their marriage, in April 1930, Virginia died in childbirth. Johnson was distraught with grief and from the time he put his Virginia into the ground he was constantly on the move, devoting all his time, thought and energy to music. While traveling throughout the South over the next few years, Johnson never ceased work on developing his skills. He often spoke of how he and his friend, Willie Brown, would get drunk on moonshine and go out to the nearby cemetery where they would sit on the tombstones all night, strumming guitar and composing dark melodies. Johnson was never formally trained to read music but could play almost anything “by ear” and he often imitated the styles of other Delta musicians of the time. It is said that he learned the bottleneck slide guitar technique from watching guitarist Son House play; from this, Johnson developed his own signature style. Over the next several years Johnson often performed in roadhouses and juke joints throughout the South alongside fellow musicians such as Charlie Patton and Sonny Boy Williamson, becoming locally quite well-known. But Johnson had ambition as well as talent and he knew that he could be a lot more than just a “big fish in a little pond.” He set out to make himself famous. Many of what come down as “facts” about the life of Robert Johnson end up being part of a larger legend that seems to have woven itself around the man, giving him a status of almost mythic proportion and a star-crossed life, apparently, to go along with that. Some speculate that other musicians of lesser talent who traveled the circuit with Johnson were jealous of his skills and many point to these naysayers as the source of the entire Johnson myth saying that Johnson suffered from such a lack of talent that he would “gladly sell his soul” just to be able to play poorly. There are others, however, considered friends by Johnson or who were fortunate enough to see him perform, who knew Johnson to be a powerhouse even in his green years on the Delta circuit. If this is so, then why would a man of talent, who could achieve his goals through plain hard work, even consider selling his soul to the Devil?

“Go on, Robert Johnson: Yo is de King of the Delta Blues. Go on home to Rosedale. And when yo gets on up in town, yo get yo a plate of dem hot tamales because yo’s goin’ to be needin’ somethin’ on yo stomach where yo is headed.” -- The Devil to Robert Johnson

Some have said that it wasn’t talent that eluded Robert Johnson, but rather, fame and with it fortune: Johnson wasn’t satisfied unless he could have it all. But, according to many, Johnson was not satisfied with his own musical abilities, despite the encouragement and reassurance of all who heard him play. He felt he needed to be more talented to really achieve the kind of success and fame he so desired. Already disillusioned with faith and angry with God for having taken his wife and unborn child, drinking heavily, full of despair, Johnson remembered one way he might gain everything he wanted in one fell swoop. It is well known in the folklore of the American south, as it is throughout Europe, that the crossing of two roads or the intersection of three at one place was an especially evil place, a place where the fabric of the natural world often broke down allowing the dark denizens of the unseen realms to cross over into the world of men. The belief was long held among Europeans and cultures of the Near East where altars were erected at crossroads to satiate the appetites of the evil spirits that such an in-between place attracted. In latter times these altars were usually marked with some image of the Christian faith, perhaps a crucifix or a statue of the beloved Virgin. In earlier, wilder times, the altars would be drenched in blood and covered with offerings such as the carcasses of black puppies and cats, crow feathers and boiled eggs, favorites of the Witch Goddess Hecate who used crossroads to enter into and harry this world. In more recent history, crossroads became the places of executions with large trees nearby performing the task of a makeshift gallows. Gallows were also erected at crossroads and even into modern times those who had died by suicide or

otherwise “outside the faith” were often buried at crossroads in unmarked graves, their souls committed to the keepers of the realms of the unholy dead. In the rural Delta the crossroads was a bad place where those who practiced voodoo would go to “work” their victims; those in search of the hoodoo man would often be told to meet him at a crossroads, such was the potency of the location in collective folk memory. It was a place of black cats and rabid dogs, of black magic and evil intentions, and in the rural South of the early 20th century, next to hell itself, the crossroads was the best place to meet the Devil.

Beatrice, she got a phonograph and it won't say a lonesome word Beatrice, she got a phonograph and it won't say a lonesome word What evil have I done what evil has the poor girl heard Beatrice I love my phonograph but you have broke my windin chain Beatrice I love my phonogra-ooo honey you have broke my windin chain And you've taken my lovin and give it to your other man Now we played it on the sofa now we played it side the wall My needles have got rusty babe they will not play at all Now we played it on the sofa we played it side the wall My needles have got rusty and it will not play at all Beatrice I go crazy baby I will lose my mind And I go crazeeeee honey I will lose my mind Why dont-ya bring your clothes back home and try me one more time She got a phonograph and it won't say a lonesome word She got a phonograph ooo-won't say a lonesome word What evil have I done

or what evil have the poor girl heard

According to all accounts, on a windy October night Robert Johnson headed down to the crossroads on the south end of Rosedale, Mississippi, where Highway 8 intersects with Highway 1. With nothing but his guitar to keep him company, Johnson sat down on a roadside stone and began to strum; soon he was playing a mournful tune. Within a short time, as clouds began to obscure the yellow light of the full October moon, Johnson became aware of the smell of something burning, like acrid wood smoke or the smell that rises from the tip of a burnt out match head. Johnson played on, now too frightened to do anything else. Suddenly it became clear to him that he wasn’t alone. There reached around from behind him then a burly arm covered in a ratty, brown and yellow plaid suit coat sleeve, with huge red stone cufflinks holding a starched white cuff taut against a huge black hand. “Why, dis ain’t nuthin’ but outta tune, boy,” said a deep, hoarse voice that echoed all around the middle of nowhere. “Lemme tune dat up for yo!” Johnson heard the squeaking of the guitar strings along the frets, sounding as if those big black hands were torturing them. But not once did he look around, and he held his arms in mid-air as if the instrument was still across his knees and he had not stopped playing. Within minutes the guitar reappeared beside his head. Without looking, Johnson reached up and took the instrument; just then, the wind blew up and from out of nowhere a mangy black dog ran past him down the road. “Go ahead,” said the deep voice. “Try it out …” With shaking hands, Johnson settled the guitar in his lap and strummed. The guitar responded in perfect, beautiful tune. But suddenly, to Johnson’s dismay, he felt a face, seething heat and dripping sweat, come close up beside his own. “Yo knows de price, right boy?” said the booming voice, but it was lower now, more threatening. Johnson nodded his head feverishly and felt the presence draw away. “Well, dat’s all right, den!” it said from somewhere above his head, then, with a chuckle, it was gone.

From that moment on Robert Johnson played his instrument with a style and pizzazz that could make grown men cry and women do practically anything he wanted of them. His voice moaned with the heaving sigh of the damned or wailed like a drowning cat, but it was all good. Johnson emerged from his meeting with the Devil a changed man carrying the heart of the Delta blues within him – to all whose paths he crossed, Robert Johnson WAS the blues.

“Yo want to be de King o’ the Delta Blues and have all de whiskey and womens yo wants?” “That’s a lot of whiskey and women, Devil-Man!” By 1936 Johnson’s fortunes were on the upswing. Don Law, a record producer for the American Record Company who was anxious to record the blues maestro for his label, approached him. Law offered Johnson between $10 and $15 for each song he recorded. The first sessions took place late in 1936 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. Johnson played several of his own pieces and also reworked some songs by other bluesmen; in all, seventeen songs were recorded in November of that year. Police arrested Johnson on vagrancy charges and threw him in jail while he was in San Antonio; they beat him up and smashed his guitar. To keep them from beating him further, a very likely scenario, Johnson asked them to contact Law. The producer showed up and provided a reason for Johnson’s presence in town and posted his bail that night. After one more recording session the next day, in which the fateful “Crossroads Blues” track was finally laid, Johnson left San Antonio and resumed his

vagabond life. In June 1937, Johnson returned to Texas to work with Law at the Brunswick Records Building in Dallas. Johnson laid down twelve more songs and worked on a handful of alternate versions of the songs from the previous sessions. As previously, Johnson received small compensation for his work and no royalties were arranged, however, Law was already making plans to call Johnson back into the studio for more sessions. As fate – or something like it – would have it, Johnson wouldn’t make that date. In fact, Don Law never saw Robert Johnson again. And Johnson, it turned out, had a more important date to keep. “My left hand will be forever wrapped around yo soul, and

yo

music gonna possess all who hears it. Dat’s what’s gonna happen! Dat’s what yo better be prepared fo! Dis ain’t just any crossroads, Robert Johnson! I put dis X here for a reason, an I been a’waitin’ on yo!” Just as the life of Robert Johnson had been full of legend and contradiction, so the circumstances of his death are still debated and in many ways remain uncertain. Many sources agree that most probably the King of the Delta Blues met his end by poisoning when, in a fit of jealous rage, the husband of an ex-girlfriend whom Johnson had been romancing sought his revenge. After being run off by his old flame, Johnson apparently caught up with musician Sonny Boy Williamson and the two went drinking at a local juke joint. Williamson, recognizing the spurned husband in the bar, warned Johnson not to drink from an open bottle of whiskey that had been placed on their table. But Johnson was having none of it: he took the bottle and drank the contents down. Within a short time Johnson was vomiting and suffering terrible convulsions, his tongue swelled and blackened – all the hallmarks of strychnine poisoning. Johnson finally died, in horrible pain, on August 16, 1938 at the age of twenty-seven.

Even in death Johnson could find no rest and even now the site of his actual final resting place is still debated among historians and devotees. In Mississippi there are two grave sites bearing his name. Just like the location of Johnson’s crossroads, his final resting place may never be known for certain, although the most likely contender is the grave located in Quitto, near Itta Bena, Mississippi.

“There is no understanding or defining the Delta Blues, but experiencing the blues, feeling the blues…this occurs in Rosedale. And when this occurs in Rosedale, you are riding in a Cadillac, top down, with Robert Johnson at your side. The source of the Delta Blues is [the] Crossroads in Rosedale.”

Without Robert Johnson and the music of the Delta Blues much of the music we know and love so well today would not exist. Certainly soul and R&B owe a tremendous debt to Johnson, but in every sense, rock and roll would not be rock and roll had Johnson never existed or made that sinister deal with the Devil. It may just be that Johnson did make that deal after all and some think that there is evidence existing today that proves it. They call it the Crossroads Curse and there are those who point to this theory to prove that the curse of Johnson’s devilish bargain has had far-reaching and unexpected consequences. It has been said by many that Johnson never particularly liked the song, although he obliged his record producer with at least three known versions. Nevertheless, modern musicians who weren’t even born when Johnson was walking the roads of the Mississippi Delta have since learned to worship at the shrine of his talent and it is this

song – “Crossroad Blues” – in particular that is most associated with modern adaptation as well as modern tragedy. Popular rock musicians who have performed the song include Eric Clapton and Cream, The Allman Brothers Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd; and Led Zeppelin has lifted several of Johnson’s more sexual allusions for use in their lyrics. The Crossroads Curse may have touched even Kurt Cobain, the founder of Nirvana. Each of these bands has been the target of intense professional and personal tragedies that make some wonder whether the Devil isn’t still taking his payment all these long years later… Eric Clapton and Cream recorded “Crossroad Blues” for their “Cream: Wheels of Fire” LP at the height of their fame. Within a few short years, the band was disbanded and Clapton was wallowing in the throes of heroin addiction. Years later, having cleaned up his life and enjoying a profitable solo career, Clapton was tragically struck by the death of his two year old son who fell from an apartment window to death several stories below. The tragedy surrounding The Allman Brothers Band is practically legend in the annals of rock and roll. At the height of their fame, in 1971, Duane Allman, who is said to have loved performing “Crossroad Blues” live, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident at another crossroads near Macon, Georgia where he swerved his motorcycle to avoid hitting a truck. He died later from his injuries. Just over a year later, in 1972, another band member, guitarist Berry Oakley, was killed while riding his motorcycle; he died less than a mile from the spot where Duane Allman had met his death. Though the band soldiered on, Duane’s brother Gregg felt compelled to immortalize his brother’s connection to a crossroads in the song “Melissa”: The popular Alabama band Lynyrd Skynyrd added a cover version of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroad Blues” to their live performances. It’s raw power and driving rhythm were something that every audience looked forward to and the crowds kept coming as the band toured the south throughout 1976 and 1977. Then in October 1977, as the band was flying from Greenville, SC to their next show at the L.S.U. Assembly Center their aging Convair 240 lost an engine in mid-flight. The panicked crew lost control of the plane when they mistakenly dumped all the fuel. Minutes later the plane plunged into a swamp outside Gillsburg, Mississippi and broke into pieces. Both pilots, two of the band’s members, including singer Ronnie Van Zant, and other relatives were killed in the crash. What had been a promising future in rock music lay in pieces in a Mississippi swamp. Led Zeppelin was famous for lapsing into treatments of many of Robert Johnson’s blues songs, including a riveting live version of “Crossroad Blues.” It is from Johnson that singer Robert Plant borrowed the famous lyrics for The Lemon Song, “squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg.” Arguably one of the best and most influential rock bands ever, Led Zeppelin spent the 70’s defying gravity and riding their “lead balloon” to super fame and fortune. Near the end of the 70’s, however, the band fell upon some bad luck, triggered by the untimely death of Plant’s son to septic shock in 1977. Shortly

after this, amid rumors of black magic and sexual sadism, guitarist Jimmy Page was battling his own demons trying to kick a monstrous heroin addiction. In the next several years, Led Zeppelin would lose its drummer, the phenomenal John Bonham, and the manager who had guided them to supergroup status and beyond, the inimitable Peter Grant. Finally, Kurt Cobain, the father of the grunge movement of the 1990’s, was said to have performed his own acoustic version of “Crossroad Blues” while traveling with Nirvana and for family and friends. Cobain considered reworking it for the band to play live and was said to have been toying with recording a new version of the Robert Johnson classic when his life came to a tragic end. In April 1994 Cobain was found on the second floor of his garage at his Washington state dead from a shotgun blast through the head. The circumstances surrounding Cobain’s death are still the subject of hot debate – with rival camps claiming that Cobain committed suicide and others claiming that he was murdered in a conspiracy that centered around his wife, Courtney Love – and it seems that the curse didn’t stop at Cobain’s death. Two people, one former Cobain employee and a Seattle cop widely reviled for having botched the death site investigation, have both followed Cobain to the grave.

“Step back, Devil-Man! I’m goin’ to Rosedale: I AM THE BLUES!” If you’re ever driving through the town of Rosedale, Mississippi, be sure to stop in at a place called Leo’s Market. Besides serving good food and good talk, this is the home of the Crossroads Blues Society, the keepers, if you will, of the Robert Johnson crossroads legend. If you’re lucky, as one recent visitor was, one of the waitresses might show you something. No, not that, but she may show you a curious, wrinkled, old, typewritten transcript of someone’s “spiritual vision” about the truth about Johnson’s barter with the Devil of the crossroads. This vision, you will be told, was revealed to Johnson’s fellow bluesman Henry Goodman as he left Rosedale for Anguila. And there have been

reported sightings of what is believed to be Johnson’s ghost – guitar over his shoulder – walking the river road between Beulah and Rosedale.

Of course, some people thereabouts will tell you that the real crossroads where Robert Johnson gave away his soul is located at the intersection of US 61 and US 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi and this is the location where many blues fans go to pay their respects to the Father of the Delta Blues. Though this seems at variance with the account of the “spiritual vision” that follows, it is worth stating that, where great myths are concerned, exactness is somewhat less than a science. It’s all about the “vision, with a V” as you will learn if you follow the path of Robert Johnson down that lonesome road. Here, in its entirety, as published by the Crossroads Blues Society is the “vision, with a V” of bluesman Henry Goodman: “Meeting with the Devil at the Crossroads"

A ‘vision,’ as told by Henry Goodman Robert Johnson been playing down in Yazoo City and over at Beulah trying to get back up to Helena, ride left him out on a road next to the levee, walking up the highway, guitar in his hand propped up on his shoulder. October cool night, full moon filling up the dark sky, Robert Johnson thinking about Son House preaching to him, ‘Put that guitar down, boy, you drivin' people nuts.’ Robert Johnson needing as always a woman and some whiskey. Big trees all around, dark and lonesome road, a crazed, poisoned dog howling and moaning in a ditch alongside the road sending electrified chills up and down Robert Johnson's spine, coming up on a crossroads just south of Rosedale. Robert Johnson, feeling bad and lonesome, knows people up the highway in Gunnison. Can get a drink of whiskey and more up there.

Man sitting off to the side of the road on a log at the crossroads says, ‘You're late, Robert Johnson.’ Robert Johnson drops to his knees and says, ‘Maybe not.’ The man stands up, tall, barrel-chested, and black as the forever-closed eyes of Robert Johnson's stillborn baby, and walks out to the middle of the crossroads where Robert Johnson kneels. He says, ‘Stand up, Robert Johnson. You want to throw that guitar over there in that ditch with that hairless dog and go on back up to Robinsonville and play the harp with Willie Brown and Son, because you just another guitar player like all the rest, or you want to play that guitar like nobody ever played it before? Make a sound nobody ever heard before? You want to be the King of the Delta Blues and have all the whiskey and women you want?’ ‘That's a lot of whiskey and women, Devil-Man.’ ‘I know you, Robert Johnson,’ says the man. Robert Johnson, feels the moonlight bearing down on his head and the back of his neck as the moon seems to be growing bigger and bigger and brighter and brighter. He feels it like the heat of the noonday sun bearing down, and the howling and moaning of the dog in the ditch penetrates his soul, coming up through his feet and the tips of his fingers through his legs and arms, settling in that big empty place beneath his breastbone causing him to shake and shudder like a man with the palsy. Robert Johnson says, ‘That dog gone mad.’ The man laughs. ‘That hound belong to me. He ain't mad, he's got the Blues. I got his soul in my hand.’ The dog lets out a low, long soulful moan, a howling like never heard before, rhythmic, syncopated grunts, yelps, and barks, seizing Robert Johnson like a Grand Mal, and causing the strings on his guitar to vibrate, hum, and sing with a sound dark and blue, beautiful, soulful chords and notes possessing Robert Johnson, taking him over, spinning him around, losing him inside of his own self, wasting him, lifting him up into the sky. Robert Johnson looks over in the ditch and sees the eyes of the dog reflecting the bright moonlight or, more likely so it seems to Robert Johnson, glowing on their own, a deep violet penetrating glow, and Robert Johnson knows and feels that he is staring into the eyes of a Hellhound as his body shudders from head to toe. The man says, ‘The dog ain't for sale, Robert Johnson, but the sound can be yours. That's the sound of the Delta Blues.’ ‘I got to have that sound, Devil-Man. That sound is mine. Where do I sign?’ The man says, ‘You ain't got a pencil, Robert Johnson. Your word is good enough. All

you got to do is keep walking north. But you better be prepared. There are consequences.’ ‘Prepared for what, Devil-man?’ ‘You know where you are, Robert Johnson? You are standing in the middle of the crossroads. At midnight, that full moon is right over your head. You take one more step, you'll be in Rosedale. You take this road to the east, you'll get back over to Highway 61 in Cleveland, or you can turn around and go back down to Beulah or just go to the west and sit up on the levee and look at the River. But if you take one more step in the direction you're headed, you going to be in Rosedale at midnight under this full October moon, and you are going to have the Blues like never known to this world. My left hand will be forever wrapped around your soul, and your music will possess all who hear it. That's what's going to happen. That's what you better be prepared for. Your soul will belong to me. This is not just any crossroads. I put this X here for a reason, and I been waiting on you.’ Robert Johnson rolls his head around, his eyes upwards in their sockets to stare at the blinding light of the moon which has now completely filled tie pitch-black Delta night, piercing his right eye like a bolt of lightning as the midnight hour hits. He looks the big man squarely in the eyes and says, ‘Step back, Devil-Man, I'm going to Rosedale. I am the Blues.’ The man moves to one side and says, ‘Go on, Robert Johnson. You the King of the Delta Blues. Go on home to Rosedale. And when you get on up in town, you get you a plate of hot tamales because you going to be needing something on your stomach where you're headed.’” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson http://www.mudcat.org/rj-dave.cfm http://www.vagablogging.net/archives/002438.shtml http://www.deltahaze.com

A Devilish Footnote: In the Delta Lilith Wears Red Shoes The Devil isn’t the only one walking the dark country roads of the rural South. If what they say in folktales and legends is true, Lilith, his wife and old partner in crime, has followed him from their old haunts appearing on the roads of America in new shapes and guises. In Mississippi and Alabama it is believed that Lilith, sometimes called Jezebel, wanders the back roads of the countryside stealing untended babies from cradles, making cows’

milk go sour, breaking up marriages and bringing strife wherever she goes. Sometimes she comes to work in unsuspecting households and before long she is up to her devil-woman tricks. Sometimes she will stay with families and plague them until the last of their line either runs off or is buried. Lilith and her guises are familiar in many folk songs of the Old South. DIDN’T LEAVE NOBODY BUT THE BABY Go to sleep little babe, Go to sleep little babe, Your momma's gone away and your daddy's gonna stay didn't leave nobody but the baby, Go to sleep little babe, Go to sleep little babe. Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby, You're a sweet little babe, You're a sweet little babe, Honey in the rock and the sugar don't stop gonna bring a bottle to the baby, Don't you weep pretty babe, Don't you weep pretty babe, She's long gone with her red shoes on gonna need another loving babe, Go to sleep little babe, Go to sleep little babe, You and me and the Devil makes three don't need no other lovin' babe, Go to sleep little babe, Go to sleep little babe,

Come lay bones on the alabaster stones and be my everlovin’ babe! Old tales say that you can always tell the Devil-Woman Lilith even if she tries to hide, because she’s the one wearing those shiny, new red shoes. Just how she got those shoes is a tale in and of itself and to learn about it, follow the link below to one of our favorite sites for American folklore! http://www.themoonlitroad.com/barefootwoman/barefoot_page001.html Robert got "buried" in more places than most blues guys. The location of Robert Johnson's grave is only one item on the list of mysteries surrounding his life and untimely death. Recent evidence points to Little Zion as the real final resting place. A rumor that the original marker placed at Little Zion in August 2001 was removed to make way for this larger monument.D ROBERT JOHNSON AT THE CROSSROADS WALLPAPER BY RICARDO PUSTANIO FROM HAUNTED AMERICAGE SIZE 1024 X The Search for Robert Johnson, 1992 Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life and Music of Robert Johnson, 1997 Hellhounds On My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson (2000). Directed by Robert Mugge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Johnson

Below is an email exchange I had regarding this subject. To follow along properly please read from the bottom up. Dr. Johnson ----- Original Message ----From: Scott Johnson To: A Scott Johnson Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 12:37 AM Subject: Part Three (Response) Christian Rock Blessing or Blasphemy?

Namon: (See Namon's response below mine) Because what better way to infiltrate the already apostate Christian Church than to bring Satanic music into the church, further "leavening the whole lump". Satan's having an absolute field day in the church and most of the church doesn't even see it because they are blind and want there sin more than they want to live holy before God. See the following verses relating to the church age we are living in: Rev 3:14-19: "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Your arguments are based purely on your opinion and not on Scripture. You are letting your heart be your guide, but the Scriptures warn us about this practice in several places. Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 : "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Jeremiah 17:9 : "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Proverbs 28:26: "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool..." It is obvious you have not researched the links I have provided below because you keep bringing up the same points. Proverbs 18:13: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." In regard to all the 'Christian' rock groups and other you have referred to, be careful about following men as we are called to follow the Word of God rather man: Jeremiah 17:5 "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." In reference to your last letter; as far as not judging or marking others you need to rightly divide the Word of truth (II Tim 2:15). When Jesus said 'Judge not, that ye be not judged' he was in reference to hypocritical judgment. Matthew 7:1-5: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Consider the other Scriptures pertaining to judgement. I Cor. 2:15 "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things..." Romans 16: 17&18 (KJV): "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions on offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." II Timothy 4:14 "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:" Titus 3:10 "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;"

All these verses are in the new Testament and all pertain to a Christian judging in a Biblical way. This one of the main problems with the church: There is no

judgment of right and wrong! When there is no righteous judgment, it causes blindness. This is something God hates (see below): Isaiah 59:8-15: "The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are]with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and

the

LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. "But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." Ezekiel 33:6 Jeremiah 7:28: "But thou shalt say unto them, This [is] a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” -- Edmund Burke Scott Johnson ----- Original Message ----From:namon To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2006 9:32 PM Subject: Re: [Preaching_Freedom] Christian Rock Blessing or Blasphemy? OK you're saying Christian rock is evil because the fans of the music worship the singers? When put in the spotlight its hard not to be idolized by someone and that just doesn't include rock music there are as many gospel singers idolized as there are Christian rock bands so does that make Jimmy Fortune bad or the Gaither's what about pastors who pack arenas like Billy Graham I'm sure there's a lot of people who idolized him does that make him evil or his message any less godly. It just doesn't make sense to me

that these bands that clearly have talent would choose to do Christian music when they could easily be making probably triple what they make now if they would sing secular music. If that's all they are interested in secular music would provide a much larger following plus more money. So why then do these bands choose what they and I call Christian music?

Namon: Great question. To get all your questions answered regarding this subject just go to: http://www.av1611.org/cqguide.html These are full guidelines to Biblical music including the "Drums" issue. Scott ----- Original Message ----From: namon To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 11:34 PM Subject: Re: [Preaching_Freedom] Christian Rock Blessing or Blasphemy? I'm not trying to upset anybody but adultery is a sin stripping/coveting is a sin and being a drunkard is a sin but where in the Bible does it say a style of music is a sin? I'm not trying to be rebellious or even be confrontational. So please don't take it that way I'm just curious as to where the evil lies in an electric guitar and drums? Is Christian country music evil? Or what about Christian soul music? Where are we supposed to draw the line? ----- Original Message ----From: namon kouri Subject: Re: [Preaching_Freedom] Christian Rock Blessing or Blasphemy?

As long as it's Christian I don't see what it matters. I had stopped listening to music altogether until I discovered that there are lots of Christian rock groups that have songs with positive Christian meanings. If it brings somebody closer to God how can it be wrong?

Namon: This article (see: http://www.av1611.org/crock.html ) gives you numerous examples of why this very thing is so wrong. Please take the time to read this information first before rendering a decision. Proverbs 18:13: "He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him." The practice of Christian rock was adopted originally from modern day rock music which is totally Satanic in origin. Rock music is of the world and never are we instructed in Scripture to go back to the world or use the world to win people to Christ.

1John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Fallen Angel: The Untold Story of Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin http://www.cuttingedge.org/detail.cfm?ID=525 This book is a startling 648-page expose' of Led Zeppelin's propagation of a Satanic, Magick, and Masonic Order from England called "The Argenteum Astrum"; which means 'Silver Star'. This Masonic-type Black Order was founded by Black Magician, Aleister Crowley -- the "Beast", "Mr. 666" -- who vowed to destroy the Christian faith. Fallen Angel tells the complete story of Crowley and Led Zeppelin's close relationship to Lucifer, aided by 132 photographs amplifying the truth of these men;

CP-110 - Spellbound? Rock Music And Its Power To Persuade http://www.cuttingedge.org/detail.cfm?ID=1115 Join the Crusaders as they meet a man who tells us how Satan is attacking the church, through spells, astrology, occultic jewelry and rock music. "You Christians are in full-scale spiritual warfare, and you don't even know it. You are being attacked by the Powers of Darkness through spells and incantations; you are playing "Church", and because you don't read your Bibles, Satan is going for your jugular vein. Through charms and infiltrating their churches with Rock Music, Satanists believe they can blow the Christian Church off the face of the earth, once the time became "ripe". This scenario is occurring in churches all across this land, with "Praise Bands" and Contemporary Music and "Christian Rock". Is this a description of your church? The foretold "Apostasy" of the church -- falling away from true doctrine -- is now here, and much of it has been cause by Rock Music.

Link to: DOES JESUS GROOVE TO ROCK MUSIC? http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/doesjesus.htm

By David Cloud, Way Of Life Ministry The July issue of Charisma, ... exhorting the readers to "Get in the Groove." The author, J. Lee Grady, mocks traditional Christian music as "dirge-like" and "lilywhite" and something only for "grandmothers." He goes on to make the pretentious claim that worship music in Heaven will feature "a dozen HammondB3 organs and a procession of hip-hop [rap] dancers." Not content with this brazen claim, Grady tells us that Jesus Christ "loves all music--even the funkiest" and that Jesus Christ enjoys dancing with the angels and "grooving to the sound of Christian R&B [rhythm and blues] pumped out of a boom box."

Why I Knock so-called "Christian" Rock (Christian/C-Rock) http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/wknock.htm This is not for C-rockers unless you plan on repenting and following what the Bible teaches! The purpose is to assist Christians that are serious in defending their churches against this wile (C-rock and CCM) of our adversary. Nothing in my walk with my Lord Jesus, for some 20 years now has been more divisive an issue than music, in particular so called "Christian" Rock and CCM music. -- That is why I believe an article such as this one is so badly needed.

To Sin to Reach a Sinner?! – An Ode to C-Rockers and the like

http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/sintosin.htm For C-rockers questioning their rationale since many of them are bent on criticizing this site. A quick and easy answer to their many lies and distortions of God’s Holy Word. Proverbs 14:12, 16:25 : "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Jeremiah 17:9 : "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" II Corinthians 2:11: "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." John 8:31&32: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Galatians 4:16: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” Jeremiah 7:28: "But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." This verse reflects one of the main problems with the church and this country, as they refuse to receive correction and as a result truth is perishing. "But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." Ezekiel 33:6 Scott Johnson