Youth Suicide Fantasy, Part 2

My student shot himself with a saw off shotgun on the stage. Each person has such great potential that they don't realize that even one life thrown away is a waste. Life's too precious. I'm too good-looking. I'm not going to kill myself. It would be such a, you know, simple way if you could just kill yourself. It's tragedy. It's so sad that somebody would want to take their life for, you know, over stupid stupid reasons that they don't realize they're stupid, but to them it's [Music] I don't think particularly suicide is an answer to people's problem. I believe Jesus Christ is the answer to people's problems because I'm someone who has contemplated that at one area of my life because of a extremely bad family situation and so forth. I thought that life wasn't worth living and so I had a relationship with Jesus Christ and after this experience with uh giving him my life he started to bring a meaning to my life and therefore I really believe that Jesus Christ is a better alternative to life than suicide. We've talked about teen suicide and we've talked about the fantasy world of rock and roll. Now, examine with us secular rock music from a Christian perspective. We think it's important. We think young people need to carefully examine some of the rock and roll stars they listen to every day. Now, you might say to us, "Are you going to talk about my favorite band?" Well, listen. It's not possible to cover four or 500 bands in just a few minutes. If you want, pick up a copy of our book, Why Not Rock? So, you can make better choices. But here's what we'll do. We're going to help you make reason choices in the area of rock and roll music. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 that by a person's actions, we will know them. Steve, with that in mind, let's talk about our rock music question marks. It's important. We're going to talk today about the lyrics of lifestyles, the goals and graphics of many of the rock stars you're listening to, many of the rock groups that you may just casually listen to from time to time. Question number one, Steve, the lifestyles of today's rock musicians. What about the lifestyles? We think they need to be examined. We think you need to look hard because you know Jesus did say that it's important for us to know the kind of people we're hanging around with. Mley crew openly talks about all their sleeping around with so many different girls. They openly brag about these sexual innuendos and opportunities they have after their stage shows. They have even bragged about the gang fights they've gotten into. Uh we find that they need to really be examined. David Lee Roth the night we were on ABC Night Line with him. Of course, he's the famous fellow from Mod, excuse me, from Van Halen. He's the guy who said, quote, "If there's any integrities in rock music, it's that the way that we sing about the way we actually live." Of course, he's been the only person that we know in history ever to purchase paternity insurance. Why has he done that? Well, apparently to protect himself from the sexual escapades on and off stage. Talking about lifestyles, there's been a whole new group of artists that have come into the rock scene in the last several years. We'll call them transvestites or perhaps the bisexuals. Guys like Boy George. You know, Boy George was interviewed by Barbara Walters on TV, Steve, and I was shocked to find out what boy uh the boy's lifestyle was all about. Yeah. Sometimes you wonder, he really says uh he admitted that he was a bisexual. He could have sex with a male, sex with a female. It didn't make any difference to him. In fact, he went a step further and said he had his first uh homosexual experience at age 14 when a homosexual made a pass at him in a gay bar. Steve, tell me about the group, the Mary Jane Girls. Mary Jane Girls were uh originated by a guy named Rick James. Rick James has had some weird and wild songs out, but he came across the Mary Jane. Of course, Rick believes in marijuana, and that's really what they were. And he named them. And of course, just every video these girls have been in that I've seen are totally and completely sexual in nature. It's sort of like Rick Springfield. We came across a quote of even Rick Springfield who said, quote, "I was one of the last guys in my class to get laid and I had to join a band to do it like everyone else." He says, "That's the reason everybody gets into rock and roll music." Dan, what's shocking about that is it isn't necessarily very rare for us to read an interview like that. So many of the guys that are in rock music uh got there because they wanted to get some of the girls. How about a group like AC/DC? A group that's done nothing but get to the top in rock music by promoting raw sexuality, if you will. Dan, I guess it really disgusts us. And even as this album cover is showing, Highway to Hell. We hope these guys aren't on the Highway to Hell. And yet uh even in the news uh uh Night Stalker in California uh paid homage to them that uh one of their songs is the one that was the song Night Prowler. And I'm also thinking about the former member of the band called Bon Scott who died choking on his own vomit. Just a little bit more about the lifestyles of rock musicians. We think you need to keep examining those things. Here's an album entitled Rolling Stones Undercover. If you'll notice on the album, it's a picture of a nude girl and they place stickers in certain places just to kind of let you know where they're coming from. Jagger is the fellow who's openly talked in public about his lifestyle. I mean, he's the fellow who's the father of at least three children, two or three children out of wedlock. In fact, one not too recently uh fairly recently actually by Jerry Hall. As a matter of fact, uh this next slide, we'll just flash it up in front of you here. He's actually holding himself holding his uh genitals. Mick first got known by going out and urinating on stage in front of the music critics. The critics tore him to shreds and made him a millionaire, made him a famous man. Steve, there's also a number of the heavy metal bands like Judas Priest who promote sat masochism. Now, what does that mean? That means pleasure in sex through pain. Guys like Rob Halford of Judas Priest say that not only do they sing about it and wear all the chains, that's actually the way that they experiment and live offstage. We could even go back like we have in many of uh the books we've written and the tapes we've produced and talk to you about even the very roots of rock and roll. Alan Freed coined the term rock and roll music. Uh it was a sexual term called rocking and rolling with your girlfriend in the backseat of your car. It's a term called sex. Alvis seemed to let you know where he was coming from. When he died, there was over 14 different drugs running through his veins. Now, Steve, there's a verse in Colossians chapter 2:8 that says this, and I think it's a great way to deal with young people who say, "Well, my group doesn't promote Satanism. They're not into, you know, gross themes of uh Satanism or immorality or perversion." But notice what Colossians chapter 2 and verse 8 says. Beware lest any man spoil you. Now, notice it says spoil. In other words, you can be robbed of your effectiveness in serving the Lord Jesus just by having bands or people influencing you to follow the traditions of men and not follow after the Lord Jesus Christ. We think you've got to be so careful what you feed into this mind. Steve, I don't know much about computers, but I'm convinced in computers, the way you and I have struggled with them this last year is you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out. Young person, you want to get your life living right for God. Don't feed it full of garbage. Uh, speaking of feeding it full of garbage, many of the rock songs and rock stars promote drugs. John Lennon was picked up many different times uh with drugs. Of course, we know Paul McCartney, many of the main rock stars. How about this one called Johnny Barnett, he's shoving cocaine up his nose. And Steve, even as we can talk about the drug problems, more and more and more it's being uncovered of a number of rockers so heavily into drugs. I'm thinking of guys like Jimmyi Hendris. Jimmyi Hendricks, very talented guitarist. We don't want to short him in his talent at all, but how did he die choking on his own vomit while on a drug trip? I mean, the guy was totally bombed out of his mind. Don't you find it interesting? A man who is looked up to the world as having arrived dies because he's so miserable and ha and unhappy with his own life. The Bible says, and it's important to go back to the scriptures all the time, the Bible says, don't be unequally yolked together with unbelievers because the Bible says there's no fellowship with light with darkness. There's a difference between right and wrong. And it's up to us as individuals to know the difference between right and wrong. Okay, let's get we got to question number one. That was the lifestyles. Question number two are the lyrics. I think a good guy to start with on these lyrics would be that of Prince himself. Let's talk about the lyrics of Prince Rogers Nelson. Boy, some people have asked us, is he really a Christian? Is he living for God? Because he's dedicated some of his albums to the Lord. I mean, if you can't look at his songs, Dan, and find out where he's coming from, I think uh maybe you need to go back and read your scriptures. What about his song called Delirious? He goes through this sexual escapade in this song. Enough to make you want to throw up. And of course, Steve, some time ago on one of his tours, we tried to stop a concert that he held in one city. We were concerned about his influence on young people. What happened in that stage show? We actually went to that concert that night loaded up with prayer, armed with tracks. And who was the opening band or the workup artist if you will? Sheila E. We were shocked and appalled, Dan, as we sat there and watched young people jumping up trying to get on that stage. She called for an individual, a volunteer from the uh audience there. And what did she do? She brings him on stage, sets him down in a chair, and pins his arms behind his back. Yeah. And then she begins to take this guy's clothes off. 20,000 kids are just screaming out of their minds, encouraging, "Take them all off." And then what happens? Well, then she gets down on her hands and knees. She puts her head between his legs and she fains oral sex with this fella in front of all these 20,000 screaming fans. Did Prince tried to stop her? Are you kidding? Prince tried to outdo her when he came on stage. First thing Prince did was to lay this beautiful blonde down on the floor and lay down on top of her and go through all the motions of intercourse in front of all these fans. Twisted Sister maybe didn't do that on stage, but I'll tell you, he does some wild things on stage. couple of his rock videos do nothing more than promote uh rebellion. In fact, uh a camera crew that covered us also covered one of his concerts. On the way out, these young people that they tried to interview were so wild and aggressive that these teenagers began to actually beat up the camera crew. Steve, how about the lyrics of Twisted Sister? Do you remember the one album we talked about lately about burning in hell? One of the songs called Burn in Hell. I guess that's not really what I want to do. Steve, another artist that comes to mind because she was hot on the charts was Sheena Eastston. She had a song called Sugar Walls. It's literally X-rated finally in America. You don't have to be a Christian to become concerned about the lyrics in rock. Many people consider that song to be truly pornographic. What about uh KISS? We need to talk about Kiss. Does their name really stand for nights in service to Satan? I know there's a lot of preachers that have been preaching on that, but it's not true. Dan, we actually asked them, what does their name mean? Yeah. one ch time we got a chance to sit in their dressing room with with them and and Jean Simmons said it stood for knights not knights in service to Satan he just took the name because they wouldn't let them put the fword on the album cover here's his album entitled lick it up if you've seen the video to this song you've probably wanted to throw it up and then Steve's talk about the scorpions another pretty popular band in America and a group that had an album out called Virgin Killer look closely at this particular album cover I trust we won't offend and you you'll see it features this little undeveloped girl with what looks like a bullseye over her vaginal area. The lyrics of this song go, "Try to escape, cry to escape. It's so hard to run away. He's a virgin killer and you're a demon's desire." Steve, I resent pornography being used like that to promote the abuse of little children. In fact, most of the Scorpions album covers many Christians have found to be very objectionable. It says in Matthew 12:34 that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. I know kids say, "Well, I don't hear the lyrics. I don't listen to the lyrics." We believe that is a copout. We really do because you're playing that music and so often when we play it in our seminars, Dan, those kids can repeat every word back to us. Steve, we've got some brand new visuals that you've just taken pictures of, some of the hottest things out. Explain some of them and introduce them to us. Dan, we can't take much time on these because they are just so explicit. This is a skull and crossbones here. This one called Snow White. I wonder if that isn't promoting uh demonology. How about this one called devild child? A woman who's carrying her baby to offer it to Satan to actually ascend up to his throne and offer this baby to Satan. Steve, it seems like there's a number of groups lately. Rolling Stone has even said there's been a proliferation of what they call satanic rock or devil rock. And it seems like there's a great fascination on MTV. In fact, did you know the average young person has been watching something like three or four hours a day of MTV? And an alarming study out of the National Coalition Against Television Violence. They say it's the most violent form of television today. Over 18 violent acts per half hour. And who's the biggest viewing audience of MTV? It's children between the ages of 8 and 11. You know, I heard a man re recently talk, Steve, on the Larry King show and they were asking him, "How can we help our teenagers to get off drugs?" This fellow was not a Christian. He said, "Parents, the first thing you need to do is to call your local cable system operator and tell them I want MTV taken off the channel in my home." He said, "The way it influences drugs and brings this whole satanic thing into the home is just no good for a kid who's trying to walk walk it straight." People say you Peter's brothers over interpret the lyrics so much. You want to know something? You don't even have to guess at the interpretation. You can see it on the videos themselves. How about this next one? Steve, introduce this one for us. This one is just a woman in her lingerie. I mean, just whatever they can do. Sex sells. And they're going to push it on their albums. I'll only flash these next ones up there very quickly. This one's entitled Killer Twos. Killer Two because they know sex sells. Steve, one thing that concerns me is the number of the albums and the videos that are showing the abuse and the bondage of women. We were alarmed to find a while ago in Newsweek magazine how that it actually is showing that the feminist groups in America have become alarmed. They're now fighting rock videos because so much of them so many of them promote the abuse of women and children. Did you know some of the fastest form forms growing forms of pornography today include sex with pregnant women, sex with crippled women, the murder of children, the forced sex of children with animals. And those are the kind of themes that are even getting heavy airplay in our rock videos. How about this next one, Dan? Bondage. This one is by Gravestone. Victim in chains as it it's called. There you can see a portion of a man and woman actually been chained together to get this some sort of arise out of the sexual experience. And Steve, this one by Celtic, which actually showing demons that are wrapped around partially clad women. you know, perhaps even the innuendo of the sexual involvement between demons and actual people. I just can't believe it. How about this one? This is uh by Ronnie James Deal. It's what it is is demons, a demon there who's actually whipping whipping a ple a priest who's trying to get away uh from that chain. We're concerned that so many types of violence come out on the album covers. Even as you'll see the death and the murder that's brought forth on this one with the axe, you know, with the blood just dripping off of it. This one just sickened me when I saw it in a rock store. It's called Impaler. It's a rockar with blood just coming out of his mouth. Do you think that's going to influence you to live for God? And yet, do you know I saw young people in that store? The store was packed grabbing albums off those shelves. The worse it is, it seems like, the better it sells. Steve, in so many of the different seminars we've done in the last year, I find a real hardcore group of Christian kids growing up in Christian homes, junior high age, that are so into heavy metal music. Like the group Wasp. What do you got to say about Wasp? This album cover sickens me also. Just it's called Animal. And I can't use this word on on television or in this v video. It's f u ck. That's the name of it. Animal. F U C K like a a beast and it's a saw cutting him in half uh right in his groin area. Steve, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 29 says something that maybe we better apply right here. We've talked a little bit about the lifestyles with lyrics. Now we're looking at some of the graphics. Let's talk about Matthew chapter 5 and verse 29. The Bible says if your right eye offends you, pluck it out. If your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it away. The Bible says it's so important. It's just if something is near and dear to you that's hindering your spiritual life that causes you to sin to get rid of it. Now Dan, the Bible isn't actually talking to us about cutting off our hand or uh working on, you know, pulling our eye. But what the Bible is saying is if there's something near and dear to you that you need to get rid of, go ahead and get rid of it. But some people say, "Oh, but I love my rock music so much. I just don't want to give it up." Or maybe it's country. Hey, we could spend some time talking about country music today as well. I mean, it isn't really any better than rock music. Steve, I even had a man come up to me lately and he said, "My daughter sat me down and she says, "Dad, if you want me to give up my rock, let's spend one hour listening to my rock radio station and one hour listening to your country station and we'll write down all the themes in the music." And you know, at the end of the hour, this Christian dad said, "Dan, I realized if I was going to preach to my kid about rock, I was going to have to give up my country, too." That's good. It's about time the parents started to uh stand up and find out what's going on in their life. Dan, you should share this a little bit. This is a picture of Eric Anderson who at age 17 was a heavy rock listener. This guy, just a cute little guy, cute young man in high school just shortly before Good Friday, walked into his home one day. He was a little depressed about school. His dad said, "Don't worry about it, son. We're going to get it all together. I'll help you. I'll go to school tomorrow. We'll talk to the counselor." That kid walked by his dad, walked into his bedroom, was there about 15 minutes. The dad walked in. He thought maybe the kid was uh just not hungry and he wanted to invite him to come on out and have something to eat. When he walked into that room, that dad's heart just broke. He saw his son laying there on the floor. He had loaded a rifle. He had watched so many TV shows about how to silence a rifle. He had wrapped his mom's bathrobe all the way around that rifle. He put it to his head and he killed himself. Another another one of the tragic victims. And what did we find as we walked into his bedroom, Steve? Just loaded with posters, loaded with all his favorite heavy metal bands. I said to this mom, "How much did you let Eric listen to rock music?" And you know, it was just like a light bulb went on in her eyes. She said, "Well, you know, some days he listened to it up to 18 hours a day." She'd let him go to bed at night with the headphones on, waking up listening to the same music. We mentioned Steve Buché earlier in this show, and you say, "But Eric and Steve are just a a small part of uh what could be happening." No, no. This is a national thing that's happening. So many rock stars even suggesting suicide in their songs. We think it's about time. You know what's going on. Because the Bible says as a man thinkketh in his heart, so is he. You've got to be so careful what you feed your mind. Maybe you say, "Well, Dan, I've never had a temptation to commit suicide or to do illegal drugs." But you know, young people, many of you have lost your purity. You've lost your virginity. You've let it slip. Part of the way it's happened is through so much of the media that has promoted that to you. It's encouraged you to completely let down your standards. You say, "Well, Dan, it's okay to have sex. I don't have to be married as long as I really like that person." You know, I even had somebody come up to me lately and they, this was a young Christian couple, and they said, "Dan, we're having premarital sex, but it's okay because we always pray before we go to bed together." Listen, I want you not to be deceived. The Bible says premarital sex is wrong. Rock music is going to affect your value systems. There's no ifs about it. It's just a question of how soon it's going to happen. The Bible says we should put on the full armor of God so we can stand against the ws of the devil. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood. We don't want you to go out and kill your favorite rockstar. You need to pray for him. But first of all, you got to start inside. You got to clean up your own life, your own mind, your own act. We believe the things that you continue to pour in your mind, that is what you are going to become. We invite you to take a stand for righteousness. Now, some of you have just allowed these kinds of things to slide. Some of you can take a stand in your community. Some of you young people maybe ought to take a stand. Maybe on your school buses, they're constantly playing rock or they're jamming it down your throat in the study hall. And everywhere you go, it seems like it's bombarding you. The Bible says, and I love this verse out of Isaiah. It says, "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord is going to lift up a standard against it." Do you want to be a part of God's righteous standard? We want to see that happen in your life. We believe Truth About Rock Ministries is an answer to many moms and dad's prayers. We hope that through these visuals, through this message, you can share with your community, with your family, with your children some of the truth about rock music. You know, it only takes one to seemingly clean up a whole area. I challenge you. So, uh, say that there there'd be an opportunity for you to go before the principal and to talk to him in order to just take a good stand. I even had a couple of old ladies come up to me some time ago. They were concerned about all the teenagers that would walk by this particular convenience store on their way home on on their way home from school. These kids would pick through the pornographic magazines. These ladies got on the telephone. They made a couple of phone calls, put pressure on some some store owners. And you know what? Overnight, those stores were cleaned up. It can happen, Steve. It only takes one. You and God are a majority. It doesn't take a massive army to win God's battles. So often in the Old Testament and New Testament, we see how the battles were won by the few, the Gideon's army, so to speak. You and God are a majority. Carry your Bible to school, put on a Christian bumper sticker, play Christian music, talk to people about the Lord, tell them how much you're excited about Jesus Christ. Your life is going to change. We've even written a track entitled I Love the Rock to encourage Christian young people to pass them out. We've been passing them out at Prince concerts. We had a ball about a year ago passing out tracks at Prince concerts encouraging them to find the rock of ages, the rock that doesn't roll. We want you to go from the rock that breaks you to the rock that makes you. And of course, that name of that rock is Jesus Christ. We've talked about the lifestyles of today's rock musicians. I hope we covered yours. We've talked about the lyrics of rock music. We looked briefly at some of the goals. And we've spent a lot of time looking at graphics. And I know some of you are saying, "See mom, see dad, he didn't mention my group." Well, listen. We want to talk to you about probably the two most important things we can today. The two Rs. The first R is relationship. For much more important than which rock group do you listen to is how about your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Young person, that's really where it's at. You know the Bible says in John chapter 3 and:e 16, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Steve, I think we've got to before we close, we've got to give our friends that opportunity to make Jesus their Lord and Savior. It's the most important decision you'll ever make. I know a lot of you maybe watching have at one point committed your lives to Christ, but you're not really living for him today. A lot of your friends don't even know if you're a Christian or not. And I know there's others of you that are watching that you've never taken the time to accept Christ as your personal savior. Now is that time. Jesus is there right with you. You can't escape him. In fact, the Bible says if we ascend into heaven, God is there. If we even go into hell, God is there. You can't escape the love of God. Now, we're not asking you to join a church. We're not asking you to somehow get into some religious binge. But the Bible says in Romans, if you'll confess with your mouth and you'll believe in your heart, you shall be saved. Steve, I think we better pray with them. I believe so, too. Right where you are, would you just take a moment and pray this prayer of commitment with me? It's simple. A young child can understand the way to heaven is easy. It's not hard. All you have to do is call out to Jesus and say, "Jesus, I know I've sinned." Tell him you know you've done wrong. And then say, "Jesus, I want you to come into my life. Why don't you pray with us right now? Dear heavenly father, we thank you so much for each and every one of those who are watching today. God, we would pray that in this very special hour, they would call out to you, Jesus. That they just pray that simple prayer of Jesus, I know I've sinned. I know I've done wrong, but today I want to begin to live my life for you 100%. Lord, I know that no matter what they've done, no matter what they've been into, God, you can and will forgive them. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the many who have even taken the time to pray with me in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Okay, we encourage you to find a good Bible preaching church and and get involved. It's a great way to grow in the Lord Jesus. Okay, I told you there's two Rs. One is relationship with the Lord. The second is rebellion. Maybe some of you say, "Well, boy, I'm safe now. He didn't talk about my favorite rock band." Listen, young person, rock music is not guilty or responsible for all the problems in the world. We think, young person, rock music, and your love of it is just a surface issue. The root problem is rebellion. Some of you are rebels without a cause. You don't know really what you're running from, but you know you're not going to give in. You're going to keep running. Today, we'd like to challenge you, too, to get rid of your music. Get rid of anything that stands between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, we'd like to invite you to join the the hundreds of kids, thousands of kids that have gone home. They've looked at all their materials. They've looked through all their their record albums and their cassettes. They've talked to their parents and they said, "Mom and dad, do any of these things promote a value system you don't believe in and you don't want me to be a part of?" We'd like to encourage you to join those kids that have done that and they've burned, broken, destroyed over $10 million worth of stuff in the last few years. It's been fantastic. And then, Dan, it's important too to remember to go out and replace that music with good Christian music. Why not stop by your local Christian record store so you know exactly uh what's available? Oftentimes, they'll even play you some of the demo tapes and records, but choose some good things that are going to edify you. There's a good contemporary Christian sound out there to be sure. Why don't you find some and pick it up? And most of all, we want you to know that we care. We're concerned about you. That's why we've devoted our life to trying to teach the truth about Rock. You know, life is exciting when you commit your life to Jesus Christ. It's exciting when you're living for him 100%.