Christian Composer Makes Good

Staring at a metronome, wondering if and when his name would ever appear in lights, Christian composer Wolfgang Sivori almost gave up trying to make it in the Christian music industry. After composing countless songs and albums, and with over twenty years of experience in creating enchanting Christian melodies, Sivori was just about to give up.

He wasn’t happy with the way his career was going. This gifted composer/conductor/songwriter/singer/trombone player had seen what he felt was only mediocre sales and impact from his work. But on bended knee, he went to the Lord in prayer and asked for guidance. Upon standing again, he realized that he had at least one more song left in him.

“The Lord promised me that if I would just let go and speak his word in my last song, that it would be a hit and many people would be led to the truth of Jesus Christ. I had faith, and the prayer was answered.” Sivori said. That song is now a Christian classic, which also proved to be Mr. Sivori’s last work before succumbing to pneumonia complications in his Baton Rouge apartment and dying last Thursday evening. The song was called Water From a Jawbone, based on the life of Samson.

With permission from Saving Mythology Records, the lyrics of this short-but-powerful Christian hymn are reprinted below…

Between Zorah and Eshteal was a strong man, a strong man.
Between Zorah and Eshteal was a man given to lust and whores, lust and whores.

Oh, sun man Samson!
Oh, sun man Samson!

He killed many men and bragged about it, slew them without thinking about it.

Oh, sun man!
Oh, mighty sun man!

Just like Hercules, a product of mythologies.

Oh, sun man Samson!
Oh, sun man Samson!

He slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, and then God gave him water to last.

Oh, oh, oh, water from a jawbone!
There was water from a jawbone!

When he was alone, there was water from a bone!
There was water from a jawbone, saving water from a jawbone!

Amennnnnnnnnnnn!

The song was a huge success. Many Christians praised it. It went triple platinum within the first month of its release. But while the majority of the Christian world praised the work, there were some disgruntled voices that could be heard in their midst.

The first criticism was that Sivori was dishonoring God by associating the story of Samson with paganism. Sivori defended the song thusly: “God is an inclusive God. His grace works among the pagans as well as us. This is why there were a number of virgin-born savior-god-men, like Hercules and Perseus, well before Christ’s time. Church father Justin Martyr even admits this in his work Apologia I. The name ‘Samson’ actually means ‘sun man’, meaning his character was brought over from paganism. He was a sun god made into a man, but God wanted the story in the Bible to show how inclusive he can be. Besides, the Bible is a book that is 95 percent mythology. The very first book of the Bible has angels getting boners for earth girls (Genesis 6:1-4). With such silly heathen myths found all throughout our holy book, how can we but be diligent in using these occurrences to demonstrate to the pagans that Jesus Christ died for their sins?”

And what of the charge that his song denigrates God and puts him on the level of a violent thug? Mr. Sivori says: “There’s really not much I can say about that. All one has to do is pick up the Bible and open it to absolutely any page and they can see for themselves somewhere on that page just how vicious, vindictive, and openly violent God is. God was happy having Samson carry out his divine will by slaughtering a thousand men and then bragging about it (Judges 15:15-17). One has to be pretty stupid to miss the fact that the most righteous men in the Bible are unequivocally the bloodiest. Take David, for example; he was God’s favorite Old Testament saint, but even he had so much blood on his hands that Father God decided that he couldn’t build his house for him” (I Chronicles 22:8).

Mr. Sivori went on to say…

“The lesson is, instead of finding fault with God and trying to change him, as I had tried to do in my earlier songs, we need to accept his character and who he really is. Jesus Christ is the most merciful side of God there can be, but the savior with outstretched arms himself is more than willing to cast us into a lake of fire where there ‘shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 13:50). For years, I gave it my all, like so many Christians do, to make God look more presentable, to make him look nicer. But that was wrong of me. God is not nice. Nobody needs to hear about John 3:16 and lovey-dovey passages that falsely portray God as some gentleman with a beard and a timepiece. No, God is a mauling warrior, with sinews for bootlaces and skulls for beverage containers, and he must be portrayed as such (Exodus 15:3).

Having left us a rich musical treasure chest of angelic tunes, Mr. Sivori is now resting in the sweet bosom of Jesus. His music mentor was another great composer, that sweet singer of Israel, King David, who was arguably God’s first big-time music maker...

“Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.” (Psalm 59:13)

(JH)

2 comments:

Insanezenmistress said...

This reminds me of my Christian days. I have always been *good hearted* believing in forgiveness and understanding as characteristics of myself and my god. When i had "reconverted" and started taking the kids to church and trying to study up on the bible with them, i had this idea, a remeberence of how i enjoyed the Psalms once upon a time.

I started to read them to the Kids. See I had a little book with the psalms and proverbs measured out over a 30 day period. So i began.

Before the 5th Psalm I could not in good conscious instruct my children this way. I hated the sound of my voice ipso facto praying for god to kill, destroy, and otherwise give the bad guys heck but spare myself mercifully.

Those prayers of David go against everything decent i tried to teach my kids when i show them how to be considerate, and wise and rulers over their anger and hate.

Sometimes, while i ponder theses things, i realize, the character depicted in those scripture is the very picture of what we would otherwise call a devil.

I think a Bible verse.... "Does a stream pour out both sweet water and bitter water?"

Unlike the thoughts of the composer, i cannot say 'it is ok, this god is not nice he is sometimes less than love, but ill hold on to him anyway'.

I choose instead to find him counter intuitive, and keep looking for truth and love that work.

zilch said...

I have no argument with God being a thug. That way He has all bases covered: if love won't get you, then reason. If reason won't get you, then force. As the late George Carlin said:

The Primate brain says, "Give peace a chance". The Mammalian Brain says, "Give peace a chance, but first, let's kill this motherfucker". The Reptilian brain says, "Kill the motherfucker, go to the peace rally and get laid."