65 thoughts on “GOH: I’m Rapture Ready”

  5. Anyone know what a mac book would be doing on the keyboard/piano? That confused me a bit.

    1. I’m going to guess that the “canned” music you’re hearing is coming from the laptop and was pre-recorded at this guy’s house on MIDI keyboard or some such.

    2. It’s a step up from giving the sound guy a cassette tape (which might get eaten) or a CD (which might be scratched) and hoping he plays the right track. Also, when you bungle the words, you can start it over yourself with a lot less awkwardness, as he did.

      I liked their harmonies, and I could still grin at this song.

      1. Bungling words on your own songs… been there and done that. It’s easy to do when the song is new. At least when you are playing a live instrument it’s easier to get back in place without having to start over again. And you hope the rest of the band is awake and goes with you. Sometimes, though, you just have to stop and run at it again. I have to admit I didn’t pay much attention to the words in this, just enjoyed the song and felt for the guy forgetting the words. I like their sound.

  6. The guy singing each verse from behind the Mac/potted plant was awkward.

    “Pay no attention to the man behind the palm fronds!”

    Also the kid on the right has got to tuck in his shirt.

    1. Seems like a song that should have been on the sound-track of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

    2. Well, except for the fact that the opening bars made me think of “What’s a Guy Got to Do to Get a Girl in This Town?” by Toby Keith.

        1. Haha. Actually that song has a special significance for me because I once sang along to a few bars when I was at a restaurant with my fundy family without even thinking about it and then looked up at their horror-stricken faces and quickly realized what a bad idea that had been.

  10. I’ve heard of talking heads, but that’s the first time I’ve ever seen a singing head. Note to videographer: move the pulpit out of the way next time, or use a different angle.

  11. At first I didn’t want to ruin my testimony by watching a video with handheld mics but then I thought maybe the imac/palm frond guy was like the white piano fiasco of 2011; fortunately when I started the video there he was.

  12. Well, gotta hand it to them, at least they haven’t taken the cross down and replaced it with a “AV 1611” plaque yet.

    (Missed you guys! Been dealing with my own personal fundy hell for the last few weeks – my fundy sister is getting married – oh joy.)

    1. DS – Good to see you around again. You will have to fill us in on the escapades if you are able.

      1. Maybe sometime. It’s been all the fundy I could handle lately! Suffice it to say she is the “good child” who never disappointed my godly parents like I did so this is a wedding that they can actually be happy about and celebrate. At least that’s what they told me and my wife. 🙄

        1. They actually told you this?

          Wow, parents.
          You gotta love them.
          Because it’s illegal to strangle them.

        2. I’m sorry they can’t be grateful and focus on what is good in your life and celebrate that.

          I am glad that the Bible says when our mother and father forsake us, then the Lord will take us up. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

        3. DS – Good to have you back, my friend. I would say that “I cannot believe that your parents would say something like that” but fundies are a different breed. To get back at them and have a little bit of fun, may I suggest that you wear a tulip in your lapel for the wedding…I did that at my old fundy church for a silent protest. Bro Bluto

  13. At the risk of losing my reputation for saying mean things about music and musicians, I admit I like this group’s performance.

    The tune is fun, and well sung.

    I can’t even say snarky things about their clothes, except that, yes, the kid on the right needs to tuck in his shirttail.

    But, as Darrell says, the theology is truly abysmal here.

    “… eschatology is one of those things that everybody gets right eventually…”

    Does “eventually” here mean “when the world ends”?

      1. I took it to mean whenever it happens – whether “it” is a rapture or not and whether “it” ends up being pre-, mid-, or post-trib, etc. “It” will come eventually and then we’ll all know what “it” actually was.

  14. Um…I had a flashback. It’s not the worst I’ve heard but, it still makes me twitch.

    FYI…had a crazy fundy experience yesterday kind of accidentally on purpose. 😮

    I had to quickly get to church afterward to get the fundy off of me. I felt much better after a nice, reasonable Episcopal Rite II. 😛

  15. I’m so torn about making kids sing in church. If they really WANT to, that’s good. Getting up in front of a crowd and being vulnerable is healthy. But when families MAKE their kids do it I get a bit angry. They carried the tune anyway.

    1. Yeah, I have to give those kids mad props. It’s so hard to hear the other parts when you’re spread out like that & they did great!

      1. Standing that far spread out is highly suggestive of some major psychological issues in that family.

        1. I’m guessing if they’re a traveling singing family dependent on offerings that they want to give everyone a good view of at least someone so they spread themselves out across the stage.

        2. Meh, “family problems” is a pretty specious conclusion to jump to. The way they’re standing takes advantage of a wide stage; it seems a step above an awkward clustering around the pulpit. If anything, they look more confident this way.

  16. Loved the harmony. The lyrics were a little grating at times: “only a blood-bought, born-again child o’ God will surely make it through.” Sometimes I like alliteration; sometimes it just comes across as trite and cheesy.

  17. Maybe never. I can’t stand some people’s obsession over the rapture. As a UM pastor once said, ” some Christians don’t like what Jesus said with his first advent – feed the hungry, care for the poor, love your neighbor – that they hope for the second advent so they don’t have to worry about what Jesus told them to do.”

  18. “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left til the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Chirst will rise firet. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words” 1 Thesssalonianws 4:13-18

    I’m glad the brother is encouaging us with these words! (song) I see no “bad” theology!

    1. Greg, did you notice the part where Paul says all that will happen while the people he is writing to (in the First Century) are still alive?

        1. It’s in the verse you quoted:

          “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left til the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.”

          That statement probably refers to Christ’s words in Matthew 24:34:

          “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

          Revelation (see chapter 22, for example) also states repeatedly that the prophecies in Revelation will be fulfilled “soon,” with the implication that it will be in current generation’s lifetime (that is, the late First Century or perhaps the early Second Century).

        2. I’m confused! You contend the rapture has already occurred?

          I don’t take Paul’s statement “we who are still alive” to mean himself and his generation. (I could see how some might think that) Also Jesus’ statement “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away..” I clearly see that statement as futuristic!

          But this is not a topic I argue about, like certain “other” topics that are very clear. The Scriptures, at least to me, aren’t clear on this topic as some seem to think! But that could also be due to my lack of understanding!

  19. Well… I must confess that I’ve never written any songs, so they are better than I am.

    As far as the sound goes, I have heard much, much, much worse featured on SFL… they seemed to harmonize well.

    As for theology, it wasn’t clear what Darrell disagreed with; possibly the pre-trib rapture idea. He has a right to disagree, but I’m fine with their stand.

    Criticism:
    I found the head weaving back and forth behind the pulpit to be very distracting. Just seeing a head wouldn’t have bothered me, but the swaying was odd.

    I didn’t care for the style of music; it didn’t sit well with me… Calling it “worldly” would just be too simple and merely a convenient label. Anyway, this is highly subjective; let me just let it stop at I didn’t care for the style.

    1. “I found the head weaving back and forth behind the pulpit to be very distracting. Just seeing a head wouldn’t have bothered me, but the swaying was odd.”

      Maybe they shouldn’t have scheduled that ping-pong tournament for the same time as the hymn-sing.

  20. When I was a young Christian, our little church was having one of many waves of excitement about Bible Prophesy being “fulfilled” before our eyes. There were ten nations in the European Union, and fundamentalism in general was predicting the rise of the Beast.

    A missionary by the name of Cornelius Vanderbreggan was visiting our chapel, and he took me aside. He explained that the Lord could come at any moment. Or it could be 40 more years, or it could be 2000. The apostles all expected the end times to happen to them, because Jesus told them so (Matthew 24). Paul expected the Rapture in his day, “we who are alive and remain”.

    And Paul has been dead for well over 1900 years. John the Revelator, has been dead that long, too, even though the Revelation at the end has, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.” (22:20)

    I took his words to heart. It has spared me a lot of anguish. I have see people unnecessarily troubled by world events they tried to interpret, but couldn’t. I have seen prophetic “reputations” shredded, only to be replaced by new people claiming special insight.

    Vanderbreggan’s words to me were more than 35 years ago. I no longer “believe” the modern doctrines of “Bible prophesy” since, with good study, I can see how very easy it is to string a group of verses along outside of their contexts, or to misunderstand the meaning of a passage, and especially to not understand the world-view and mindset of the writers.

    Jesus has promised to come back. If and when He does, well and good. I hope to be ready to stand before Him. If he doesn’t, I choose not to be disappointed. I still have work here on earth to do.

    I tend to object to the mindset so many fundies have that they will get to go to heaven, and everyone who didn’t believe them will get the suffering that is coming to them! Honestly, so many fundies salivate over the idea of people going to hell and burning forever, almost as if they were steaks on a barbeque! Somehow the attitude with which the doctrine of the Second Coming has been infused by fundamentalism makes it severely unpalatable.

    I, for one, do not want to see anyone burning. Well, …, maybe Dick Cheney …, but no, not really.

    So, am I “Rapture Ready?” I honestly don’t know. I know that Christ is faithful, even when I am not. If He comes that way, then I hope to be received.

    But I am betting that there is no “Rapture” of the sort envisioned by fundamentalists. Fortunately, believing that is not a requirement for salvation.

    1. A lot of fundies and evangelicals can’t separate the idea of the Rapture from the doctrine of the Second Coming. When I tell people that I don’t believe in the Rapture, they look at me incredulously and say, “You don’t believe in the Second Coming!!?? 😯 ”

      It annoys me that the two have become conflated. “He ascended into heaven; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead” — that’s classical Christianity. The Rapture? That’s Dispensationalism. Not all orthodox Christians are Dispensationalists, and it shouldn’t be assumed that (to quote Sinatra) “you can’t have one without the other.”

  21. Frank Garlock doesn’t like singers scooping up to a pitch. Fundies, go sort that out amongst yourselves. I didn’t mind it, except it got to be too routine after a while. Otherwise, a fine song, for the Southern Gospel genre anyway.

  22. It’s in the verse you quoted:

    “According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left til the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.”

    That statement probably refers to Christ’s words in Matthew 24:34:

    “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

    Revelation (see chapter 22, for example) also states repeatedly that the prophecies in Revelation will be fulfilled “soon,” with the implication that it will be in current generation’s lifetime (that is, the First Century or perhaps the early Second Century).

    1. Sorry, this posted in the wrong place. It was a reply to Greg’s request for “chapter and verse.” 😳

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