David Wilkerson....many of you may remember this powerful pentecostal preacher....the author of the classic book....The Cross And The Switchblade.....and the founder of Teen Challenge....and the former pastor of Times Square Church on Broadway. Here is the story that I heard him tell....maybe thirty years ago. He went to the concert of the most popular Christian singer of the day. The singer's husband was playing his guitar while holding a rose between his teeth. I knew immediately who Wilkerson was referring to because I had been to the same Christian singer's concert....and at that concert also the husband clenched a rose between his teeth. It was Amy Grant. As David Wilkerson tells it....he could see demons on the stage.....and he rushed up and down the aisle shouting....Ichabod....Ichabod.....which means....the glory has departed.
All of the wall hangings in our dining room were chosen because they have a personal meaning. My mother painted the one oil. We met a couple on vacation....the wife is a professional painter of water-colors....and later we purchased one of her paintings. I had a long conversation with another artist in Bermuda before purchasing a painting of hers. A person in our town painted a local landscape and it was given to us as a present. And there is something else very personal to me. Our son and his wife were going to Vietnam. They traveled south to north on their own....even staying in homes with no indoor plumbing. I gave a request to them....knowing that they would bring home a souvenir...I wanted something from the south of the country....painted or made by someone about my age. It is a drawing....made with a marker....of a woman wearing a conical hat....and balancing two baskets on a bamboo pole as she walks. A man sketched it as they watched and waited. Perfect!
Recently I had a rather odd idea for an addition to this wall. I would pick the one vinyl LP.....33 rpm record.....that meant the most to me in my life.....(and there were a lot albums early in my life).....and I would frame it like recording artists do their gold records. So I did that....and it hangs there today....the album that I chose.....Amy Grant's....Age To Age....for as a new Christian in 1982....this album welcomed me into a new world.
Amy Grant is hosting a wedding in her home of a family member who is lesbian. John MacArthur mentioned this in the sermon that I posted on a little below this....a sermon much about the collapse of Christianity in America....not mentioning her by name....for I did the research to see who this Christian singer might be. You can look this up for yourselves....for there is a lot of comment on it.
I can't remember the name of the most popular Christian music singer of the day. I wouldn't remember it if you told me....for I don't think that I know any names today. This was a few years ago. This singer was in the news for comments she had made about her.....Christian Faith. Long and short of it....there was no knowledge of the Christian Faith there at all.
I don't know if David Wilkerson saw those demons on the stage or not....but he was correct in shouting.....Ichabod....for the glory surely has departed. The framed Age To Age will remain on my wall....for the changes in much of contemporary Christian music came later....and when people come over for dinner....I'll be able to tell this whole story again....and hopefully generate some much needed serious conversation....in this age dominated by light banter....political talking points....and grab & go theological snacks.
