Good Tuesday to ya friend!!! I hope this finds the sun shining brightly or the rain falling gently in your corner of the world! Welcome to Tuesday and Tuesday's Musical Notes, the place where music melds with The Message, tunes combine with The timeless story, and songs commingle with The Scriptures! What better place to find yourself on a Tuesday! Welcome! Welcome!! Welcome!!!
Let's face it. If you have been on earth for any length of time, you have been told a lie. A variety of circumstances contributed to someone feeling like they could not come forward with truthful information so they defaulted to telling you a falsehood. The fallout from the deceit also varies based on the severity of the lie. The question arises, is there a "degree" of lying? Are there levels of dishonesty that are ok as long as no one gets hurt? Do we listen to the flattery that comes from others about ourselves even when we know what they are saying is not the truth? Would we rather be told a falsehood than having our feelings hurt when we can't handle the truth? (insert Jack Nicholson tirade from a Few Good Men) Regardless of who is the perpetrator and who is the recipient, the truth always comes out...it's something you can't disguise...
Lead singers in a popular music group usually wind up being the "face" of the group. Such is the case for many of the bands that were a part of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. But singers come and go. Do you know the name of the vocalist that replaced Steve Perry in Journey? How about the guy who replaced Dennis DeYoung in Styx? Peter Cetera in Chicago? What these bands have in common is that most folks don't know who the current lead vocalist is in any of these great rock groups, all of which continue to tour (Arnel Pineda is Journey's lead vocalist. Lawrence Gowan is the replacement for DeYoung in Styx. Jason Scheff replaced Peter Cetera and was then replaced by Jeff Cofey in Chicago). We don't even want to start the discussion on David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar in Van Halen...
Fleetwood Mac (named from founding members Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) was founded in the late '60s. They had some moderate success in their formative years until the early 70's when they changed their lead vocalists. In 1974, Lindsay Buckingham and his girlfriend Stevie Nicks, joined Fleetwood and Mr. and Mrs. McVie (Christine McVie, John's wife of the time, joined the band in 1970). Fleetwood Mac continues to tour, is a staple of Rock-n-Roll radio and has sold over 100 million records worldwide. The interaction between band members has been fodder for tabloids and inspired much of the writing that would eventually become Rumours, the band's breakout album. Rumours stayed at #1 for 31 weeks and has sold over 40 million copies.
Since 1974 when they came into their current lineup, the band has managed to have 3 principle lead vocalists and maintain their identity as a group. Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, and Lindsay Buckingham have all provided the leads on Fleetwood Mac's hits as well as being the principle songwriters. "Little Lies" was written by McVie (Tuesday's Musical Notes favorite of the 3) and she provides the lead vocals. It was the last top 10 hit from Fleetwood Mac, peaking at #4. It continues where Rumours left off in telling the story of the band's relationships. While their partnerships have been lucrative, the bands personal interactions have at times been incredibly unstable. "No more broken hearts, better off apart, let's give it a try..."
Deceit, fraud, chicanery, trickery, duplicity, and outright falsehoods have been a part of the Biblical narrative since the creation story. In fact, deceit plays a huge role in the fall of mankind. Please do not misunderstand, mankind made the decision to disobey. While the enemy played a role in this downfall, he never MADE Adam or Eve defy God's mandate. Hiding from God prolonged the inevitable fact of what the truth was. The fall began a scale of lying, if there is such a thing, that went from Abram's fraud regarding his relationship with Sarai (Genesis 12 New King James Version of the Bible/The Message paraphrase of the Bible parallel, Genesis 20 NKJV/The Message, just stretching the truth) to Jacob deceiving Issac for Esau's birthright (Genesis 27 NKJV/The Message a pretty big whopper) to Joseph's brother's untruthful account about Joseph's welfare (Genesis 37 NKJV/The Message out and out lying) to the ultimate treachery of Peter's denials and Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Jesus (The Gospel of Jesus according to Dr. Luke chapter 22 NKJV/The Message). So where does this leave us? Is there any hope of truthfulness?
We live in a world of deceit. From the lie that a baby is something other than a human being from conception, to the lie of the false religion of evolution and a billion year earth creation, to the lie that there is no God, we are surrounded by falsehoods and a meandering of just enough truth to make these "stories" seem palpable. Navigating the sea of information can sometimes take time and energy to find the truth at the heart of the matter.
It is easy to decry "fake" news or the inconsistencies in the internet, but what about when the mirror is turned to face us? Do we justify lying in the event that someone might get hurt by our telling of the truth? Do we wait with "itching ears" ( The 2nd Letter to Timothy from the Apostle Paul chapter 4:1-4 NKJV/The Message) to hear what we want to hear whether it is factual or not? Do we propagate deception when we repeat something that we haven't investigated fully or seen with our own eyes? Oh, no, no you can't disguise...
The Word of God provides the standard: In the Old Testament - Do Not Lie against your neighbor - Exodus 20:1-17 NKJV/The Message and in the New Testament - Be of God - The Gospel of Jesus according to the Disciple John chapter 8:42-47 When it comes to the truth, their is no room for debate. This is black and white, absolutely no gray. No other way of interpreting these passages of Scripture. You are either a child of God, or a child of the enemy. Children of God will make mistakes. They will lie. They will break many if not all of the other commandments just like children of the enemy. But because of their believing that Jesus was who He said He was, they also have been forgiven. The first Letter from the Disciple John chapter 1 NKJV/The Message
Friend, you CAN turn the page, and you CAN rearrange the rest of your life, not just a day or two. But you can't do either of these if you believe the lies, the sweet little lies...
'Til Tuesday,
Serving HIM by serving you,
Randy
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