In our weekly musings about music, Tuesday's Musical Notes has reflected on how the history we see ourselves making is very reminiscent of the history which we made in the 60s and 70s. In essence, History does repeat itself! It seems many of the lessons we should have learned from the facts of those decades have not translated into actions by which we make history today. If we had learned from that history, surely we would not be making the same mistakes we made at that time. Yet, here we are back in the 70s, but I digress. 
Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that we wish to eliminate the facts of history and substitute them with theories by which others think we should live. More on that particular sticky wicket on another Tuesday.
Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that we wish to eliminate the facts of history and substitute them with theories by which others think we should live. More on that particular sticky wicket on another Tuesday.
If we are not careful with the way we handle the history we make, doing these same mistakes over and over again my friend, we surely could find ourselves or our next generations very close to an Eve in which we do not wish to celebrate...
Written in 1964 as a war protest song by P.F. Sloan, the Barry McGuire recording of "Eve of Destruction" was released in August of 1965 and quickly made its way up the Billboard Hot 100. By September, as the album of the same name was peaking at #37 on the Billboard album chart, "Eve of Destruction", the single, was at #1, the only song for McGuire to chart in the #1 spot. It replaced The Beatles HELP! (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "HELP!" (The Beatles)) at the #1 spot and would be the last time for McGuire to appear in the top 40 on Billboard.
Media of the time inadvertently promoted the song by using it as an example of what was wrong with the youth of the day. Some radio stations refused to play "Eve of Destruction" "claiming that it was an aid to the enemy in Vietnam". (John Gilliland's Pop Chronicles: Revolt of the Fat Angel: American musicians respond to the British invaders. [Part 1] Date Unknown; University of North Texas Libraries, crediting UNT Music Library)). Both of these actions caused the demand for the single to increase exponentially, thus accounting for its rocketing up the charts.
"Eve of Destruction" briefly comments on hot-button items of the times, many of which seem to have not gone away in the 56 years since the song's release. "Eve of Destruction" also created the roadmap for several other songs to make a comment on current and historical events. "Life is a Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me), "It's the End of the World As We Know It" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" (R.E.M.)), and "We Didn't Start the Fire" (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "We Didn't Start The Fire" (Billy Joel)) all follow in the footsteps of the McGuire classic.
With this repetition of songs exploring history...it sure seems we haven't learned the lessons from the facts of the past that we should have. Some of these lessons were ones we should have learned from history way before 1965...
For the past several weeks, we have been exploring the lives of Biblical prophets who lived during a time of great tumult, tragedy, and let's face it, their own version of "Eve of Destruction". The message of the prophets has been consistent regardless of whether they were attempting repentance in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, or the Southern Kingdom of Judah. That message? In simple terms, "You have turned your back on the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. You must turn back to God and you must turn away from the idolatry you have embraced."
The message from the prophet Zephaniah was no different. His message was similar to the other prophetical messages of his time (pleas of repentance by Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Joel). However, Zephaniah himself was different than most of the prophets we have encountered thus far in our exploration of the great stories of the Bible.
You see, Zephaniah was related to the very royalty and leadership that he was condemning. That's right! We open his book by seeing who his ancestors were and we quickly find out that Zephaniah was descended from the good King Hezekiah. He also was ministering to Judah during the time of the good King Josiah who would have been a distant cousin, making Zephaniah one of the only prophets of the Bible with a "royal" heritage. Despite the effort at reform by cousin Josiah, the people of the land had succumbed to their selfishness, corruption, and pride. Josiah's attempts at turning the nation back to God were, unfortunately, falling on deaf ears. You see friend, the people of Judah were not really that much different from the people of 1965...or 2021.
God starts out His message through Zephaniah by proclaiming, "I will remove all things from the face of the earth..." Why is God so ominous in His condemnation of the entirety of the earth? Based on what we have read in Kings, Chronicles, and the other prophets of the Bible, the Israelites, both Northern and Southern Kingdoms, were unrepentant of their idolatry, which manifested itself in some specific areas of wrongdoing.
In the Bible, idolatry is defined as ANYTHING that has our worship (time, talent, treasure) other than God. By the time of King Josiah's reign and Zedekiah's ministry, Israel had already been taken captive by the Babylonians (remember they had NO good kings at all), and Judah was on the precipice of being overrun. How had the nation fallen away from the God who called Abraham and His descendants to be His chosen people?
The time frame between Abraham and Zephaniah would have been about 2000 years. That seems like a long period of time for a nation to slide into idolatry and fall away from God, but one must consider the grace and love of God. He continued to be patient and long-suffering and brought His chosen people back to Him time and again. He loved mankind so much that He put up with all of the disobedience of His chosen race to provide the ultimate way of restoration in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
"...Don't you understand what I'm trying to say?
Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today?..."
Can't you feel the fear that I'm feeling today?..."
As you can see by Judah's example, disobedience leads to idolatry and a widening of the relationship gap between us and God, individually and collectively as a nation. Yup, while it took Judah around 2000 years to get to this state of rebellion, it seems that perhaps it has only taken other nations a little more than 200 years to fall away from God. But what are the sources causing the disobedience and idolatry of individuals and nations?
The origins of disobedience and idolatry, like the messages of the prophets, haven't changed since Zephaniah's time. While there are many, we would like to investigate the 3 we find most egregious from the time of Zephaniah, and the other prophets we have encountered, and see if there are any similarities to our own culture.
First, the nation of Israel, before the division of the kingdoms, so desired to be like all of the other nations of the world, that they asked God for a king. This intense desire to be like the "Joneses" got in the way of the love and devotion they were to have for God as the ONLY king they needed. As would happen when imperfect mankind gets involved, these "leaders" became corrupt and power-hungry. They do virtually anything to stay in power. And this power ultimately becomes their God, substituting the most powerful Resource and Ally they could have for an inferior substitute encouraged by the enemy. This insane lust for power drove these "leaders' both governmental and eventually spiritual (See Pharisees in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, The Gospels, "Pharisees" - biblegateway.com word search) to be blind to the things of God and continue to believe the lie from the enemy "...did God really say?" Genesis 3 NASB/AMP/KJV
Secondly, the perversion of the gift of sex had become rampant to the point that the Israelites/Judahites provided temple prostitutes, both male and female, for the temples of the false Gods they now worshipped instead of the one true God, Yahweh. The pleasures gifted to mankind in Genesis that were to be exclusively held between 1 man and 1 woman were manipulated into obsessive desires, lusts, and yes an idol that was the pinnacle of an "everything goes" society. Sex became a business from which to profit or a "do anything, anytime with anything" mantra to be adored rather than the sacred resemblance of the ultimate expression of love and relationship as 2 individuals become 1 to honor and glorify God. Yes, polygamy was not distinctly criticized at this time, yet, again referring to the Genesis account, it was not the design by which God intended. Genesis 2:18-24 NASB/AMP/KJV
Finally, wealth and the accumulation of it were the driving force behind many in the society of the day of the prophets. Remember, resources are a tool to be used for God's glory, but can quickly become the framework for idolatry as one is incited to believe that there is never enough money for one to acquire. Besides, money can buy you idols #1, and #2. This blinding desire for the acquisition of resources destroys everything in its path, including any hope of a restored relationship with God. The Gospel of Jesus according to the tax collector Matthew, chapter 19, verses 16-26 NASB/AMP/KJV The apostle Paul's first letter to Timothy, chapter 6, verses 6-10 NASB/AMP/KJV
As we mentioned, because of these causes of disobedience, God tells Zephaniah that He is about to remove everything from the planet. Zephaniah 1-3:11 NASB/AMP/KJV After God details His discipline for the idolatries perpetrated by His chosen people, He then provides details of His mercy and grace as He paints the picture of hope for a remnant of His people.
God defines what the future looks like for this remnant and it seems to be absolutely beautiful. God describes this remnant as a "humble and lowly people" as they take over the land with joy and celebration as they no longer have to fear being on the eve of destruction. God even goes so far as to promise to be among them. God's presence will manifest Himself in ways that the people of Zephaniah's day will rejoice about and be amazed by.
The lesson from Zephaniah? Idolatry leads to destruction. But there is a great reason to hope for the time when God will dwell among His people.
As a postlude, Barry McGuire become a Christian in 1971 and began using the success of today's feature song in writing and recording Christian music. In fact, he became one of the pioneers of "Jesus Music" and recorded 21 albums of Contemporary Christian and Children's music. He continues to tour and speak based on the strength of "Eve of Destruction" and its several incarnations.
Yes, we have idols. Yes, those idols separate us from God. But have hope, because God has paid the price for you to be restored to Him. His sacrifice for our restoration will be something you will want to tell folks over and over and over again, my friend.
'Til Tuesday,
Loving Him by loving You,
randy
No comments:
Post a Comment