78 thoughts on “GOH: Keep On The Firing Line”

    1. I’ve sung this before. Don’t remember if I did the base or baritone part. Whatever it was, there were only about two notes to the whole thing.

      2. Ha, yep I’ve sung that before too…bass part…on a traveling college singing team to boot. A good old fundy favorite. You’re right about the lack of variation though, very easy to memorize.

        I loved this song then probably because my Dad was a barbershop fan when i was young, and because this was one of the few songs we had that actually had…wait for it…syncopation in it!!! 😀

  4. I have never heard this song before in my life, and I think I know why.

    What a load of meaningless drivel. I was curious how they were ever going to make a firing line relevant to anything a church would be doing. Turns out they didn’t even try.

    1. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
      Nor thieves, nor covetous, “nor drunkards,” nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1Co.6:9-10)

      Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour. (Proberbs 14:9)

      1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

      Shall I go on, or have I made my point?

        2. I think this idea is ideal. We should start redirecting our moronic troll commenters onto other blogs where they can practice their troll comments and maybe get a little better at them before they try them in the big leagues here and embarrass themselves. You’re commenting like a rule 5 draft pick, sucker!

  6. Ummm…am I sinking back into the abyss??? Help, I kinda enjoyed that! No spiritual merit to it whatsoever, but I liked the harmony…ohmygosh…I’m sinking! 😳 I need therapy, obviously.

    1. Nah, I kind of enjoyed it too on a strictly “toe tapping” level. These songs are the chewing gum of music: nothing of substance but it passes the time.

      1. well said…alot of music qualifies…well said-never heard it put that way before.

  7. My 19-month-old son and I just danced to this song together (including a few “shake your bottom” moments). Be thankful we were not caught on video.

    On a serious note, I’ve heard this song before but never noticed just how bad the lyrics are! Awful theology.

      1. Okay, I’ll bite…how so?

        The song may have been sappy and toe tappy but…what doctrianl deviance is there?

        The imagery of soldierhood and war is rife in the New Testament.

        Maybe I missed it.

        2. I posted this further down, but these are just a few of the problems:

          “Cowards in the service will not find a place.” I guess that rules out Moses and Gideon, not to mention all of the disciples at Jesus’ death.

          “Never run, nor even lag behind.” I guess Jonah couldn’t be used by God either since he did both.

          “Life is but to labor for the Master dear.” Last I checked, the orthodox statement is that the point of life is to glorify God and ENJOY HIM forever.

          “Help to banish evil.” Um, no. That’s God’s business. I can’t do that.

          And the chorus? “If you would win for God . . .” Like God needs my help? I have the privilege of being on the Lord’s side and He is my helper, not the other way around. I could go on . . .

    1. Yes! I can actually hear PZ, SE, GH and PJ singing this song right now.

  9. That was the first song my society choir worked up every year (for the new singers) because the first church we always went to always demanded that song before we could leave. I’m willing to bet I could get up and sing that song (at least the first tenor line) without too much effort, even today.

    1. I remember singing that song on Z-Choir. It was my favorite, mostly ’cause we never bothered to get it “checked” before we sang it.

  10. And the argument against praise & worship is the repetition and shallowness. 🙄

    1. Yup! I’ve also heard the argument that the praise and worship music is too simplistic; all you’ve got to do is listen to the first line of this song to find a simple melody line!

  12. I like the song. It may not be deep theology, however it does make the point we are in a spiritual battle against Satan. And cowards do not have a place in an earthly army, so it is also in the the Lord’s service. It takes great courage and strength to stand up and face the evil of Satan. With the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Ghost, we are enabled to do battle.

    1. There are better songs that talk about spiritual battles. This one is terrible.

      “Cowards in the service will not find a place.” I guess that rules out Moses and Gideon, not to mention all of the disciples at Jesus’ death.

      “Never run, nor even lag behind.” I guess Jonah couldn’t be used by God either since he did both.

      “Life is but to labor for the Master dear.” Last I checked, the orthodox statement is that the point of life is to glorify God and ENJOY HIM forever.

      “Help to banish evil.” Um, no. That’s God’s business. I can’t do that.

      And the chorus? “If you would win for God . . .” Like God needs my help? I have the privilege of being on the Lord’s side and He is my helper, not the other way around. I could go on . . .

    2. I am not sure if you read the comments in the previous post. But just so you know, while cowards may have no place, those who run from gossip will always have the full support and sympathy of the officers in the Lord’s Army.

  13. I always liked this song even though it’s a bunch of fluff. It was a big hit at my former fundy church but my version was much less, ahem, peppy than this version! This one is quite the toe tapper! 😈

  14. I’m not even listening to that song, because I hate it with a passion. 😛

  15. Heard the song a lot in the past; didn’t really engage my mind in thinking about the lyrics, but they do seem to be pretty shallow, encouraging people just go, go, go instead of grow, grow, grow.

    Heh.

  17. Well as a youngster I always loved this type of singing. I felt that you needed something to energize yourself. Perhaps because of my Pentecostal upbringing. I always felt that you needed to work up your faith. How happy I am that I have left that all behind now. I love litergical worship!!

  18. I could never stand this song. I need to go listen to John Mark McMillan for my fill of spiritual substance.

    1. YES!!! Oh my word…That’s it exactly! (whisper voice) “jazzzz…handsssss…” 😎

  21. I remember Ron Comfort and his family singing this, even had it on tape.

  22. Haha, this is my Pastor’s fave song. It’s a big hit during camp at breakfast… we always echo sang the “Fight!” (FIGHT!) “Be brave!” (BE BRAVE!) part.
    Personally I’d take Amazing Grace over it anyday.

      1. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ehesians 4:29-32)

        1. “So Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.” –2 Chronicles 20:31.

          See, I can do that trick too!

  23. Having never been a fundie, the lyrics just make me think of fighting injustice!

    I bet the Wobblies had a version of it.

  25. Little known fun fact…***I believe*** this is the quartet ( Happened about 3 years ago) that got in trouble with Schaap for singing at a conference by allowing a backtrack to accompany them when they sang ( It had a “beat” and it embarrassed Schaap in front of his peers.)
    They got a blasting.
    Lol.
    So technically…these guys are a bunch of liberal! :mrgreen:

    1. Excellent detail! I love how much inside knowledge you have! It brings me many many smiles!

  26. You people are amazing. I always find myself memerized by the spiritual prowess of people who claim to be what the other crowd isn’t. You call fundamentalist Pharisees while looking down your nose at a song that isn’t your praticular style or flavor. Is this all you people have to do is pick apart a song that is trying to encourge someone to stay in the fight and not quit. I’m embarrsed for some of you and the comments that you made about this song. If you don’t like it then fine no one forced you to listen to it. No one forced you to learn it and to sing it with your family, or even to dance with your son. The problem here is not the song the problem here is carnanlity and not on the part of these young men singing the song but on those that would choose to rip it apart for beign shallow, peppy, and even the resident Theologian, KimG, referencing Moses and Jonah. Not sure on the Moses thing of running from God’s fight because Moses was guilty of running ahead of God which caused him to spend 40 years on the backside of the dessert, but as for Jonah the last time I read my Bible Johnah landed in the belly of a great fish because he ran from God’s will before he ultimately did what God wanted him to do. The harsh truth is that Jonah never had to spend one night in the belly of the great fish if he does what God wanted him to do in the beginning. Maybe some of us can learn from that truth. However, after 20 years of ministry I find that its easier to be negative than it is to be positive thats why so many of you see the mote and not the beam. :mrgreen:

    1. I don’t know if you realize it, but you’re helping to perpetuate every negative stereotype about fundamentalists that I have explored on this site.

      I would point you to Fundy Rule #10: “There is no situation that a good dose of ministerial yelling can’t fix.”

      1. You do know this is a cathedral song. we can’t blame the theology of the song on fundamentalists, right. It’s a song; if you don’t like its theology, blame the COG and SBC who wrote it.

    2. Eh, whatever. Here is the great part of my life: your little rant does not “convict” or anger me or make me feel guilty. It amuses me.

      And Darrell, inquiring minds want to know: how are you going to handle the nomenclature of your next rule. You can either skip a number or make it a doozey. Which is it going to be?

      1. I think I’ll just ignore it and pretend it has no significance at all. 😀

        1. Good move! When I was about 25, I worked at a chain optical shop in which you were given an employee number based on the order in which you were hired. I was hired about 15 minutes after the 68th person, so I was stuck with a horrible number. The guys in the optical lab found it hysterical, and I was fresh from fundy-land so I was easily flustered. I actually quit and got rehired, only to find out that your employee number follows you! Holy cow, I will do anything to avoid my real work, won’t I?

        2. Tee hee hee! I used to love those jokes back in high school! They still make me chuckle, but not as funny as they used to be.

    5. The largest amount of scorn was heaped upon lyrics, not music. For an hymn, that’s not really a style question as much as a content one. Reading the lyrics, I can see their point. Comparing this with Eph 6, I see a reversal from maintaining and defending to attack, along with some really questionable statements (cowards can’t be used by God? Peter, head home.). I’d think a song encouraging those who have failed to resume would be more to the point. I’m certainly not impressed. To answer one of your points, I’m certainly not insulting the singers, and neither did most of the commenters. And you’ve completely mischaracterised Moses – he ran not AHEAD of God but AWAY from his sin. 40 years later he gave God every argument he could to avoid service, a clear sign of cold feet to me.
      Informational question, Darren: is this song really regarded as a Grand Old Hymn by fundies? AFAICT, it was written ca. 1925. It’s still in it spiritual rompers!

    1. Man, I was a proofreader and I missed that gem! I did enjoy the part about being memerized, though.

  28. Actually, that ‘kind’ of music was pushed upon me because it was the only type of music that was acceptable by a man who was percieved to be the spokesman of God. If I listened to anything else it was considered worldly and I was on my way to hell.

    1. C’mon, Mrs X, don’t you realize that barbershop quartet is the most biblical form of music there is? It’s right there in the gospel of….the epistle of….Psalm…okay lemme get back to you on the reference… 😕

  29. This song has a backbeat, and makes me want to dance… I’m confused… 😯

    1. There are different classes of Fundies.
      There are the “high brow” fundies who are programmed in the castles of higher learning and have a “high brow” approach to the way church and music are done.
      Then there are the “low brow” fundies. Mostly these are the self anointed, self apointed types found in the smaller church bunkers scattered around. Especially here in the south these are found in over abundance, and around here “Southern Gospel” music is the end-all-be-all of gosdpel music. The back beat is over looked and you can tap your feet and clap along so long as you don’t actually get up and dance. This music primes the pump for a good ol’ toe stompin sermon and successful altar call.
      Hope that helps clear things up 😯 🙄 😀

      1. And both types of fundies scorn the other. The high-brow ones think the others are uncultured and inferior. The low-brow fundies think the others are snooty and superficial. While all the time Jesus tries to tell them to love one another.

  30. The “firing line”? All I think of is how so many Fundies are one step away from being actual militants in the name of Jesus.

  31. There are two songs the IFB burned into my memory. The first is “Onward Christian Soldiers”, and the second is “Just As I Am”. The Baptists always played about 10 verses of the latter trying to get someone to answer the altar call, but the masters of this art were the Assembly of God folks. They’d play like 37 verses and then say, “We’ll sing one more verse, and if no one comes we’ll close”, but there was always another verse, as if the Holy Spirit had dozed off and had forgotten to motivate some needy sinner or backslider.

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