When God Shows Up In The Least Likely Of Places
May 27, 2010 by Matthew Gillogly
Have you ever listened to Eddie Van Halen play guitar? I mean really listen to him. The man is a 20th century Mozart. A guitar virtuoso who can make a guitar do things most men (or women) have never thought conceivable.
He pushes the boundries of the guitar to places never tread upon before, and in some cases never again.
For years, I loved listening to Eddie Van Halen. Didn’t matter which version (David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar) in it all was the guitar of Eddie, the drums of his brother and the lyrics.
Then when I gave my life to Christ, I started deleting all these kinds of music from my Ipod and music collection. Thinking that God could never be in that stuff. My gosh, they smoke dope, drink hard liquor, sleep with multiple women and have a lifestyle that is unbecoming.
I turned to listening to only ‘Christian music’. Only songs about God his faithfulness, his love and goodness.
Until a few months ago.
I was in my office and my daughter was playing music from the web on her laptop. Taylor Swift and others. Then on came a great song… ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ by Guns N Roses.
That is a great friggin tune. The guitar is amazing, the lyrics out of control.
A journey down memory lane of the music that I love so much started happening. I found I could listen to the music without feeling like I was being disrespectful of God.
Then last week, I downloaded a bunch of Van Halen. All I can say is WOW!
This morning, I’m going into the office, listening to Van Halen and I kept replaying a few songs. Dreams, When It’s Love and Best Of Both Worlds.
As I listened to the lyrics and the guitar immediately I thought to myself… “How can God NOT be in this music.”
God created Eddie Van Halen. He created him to play guitar, to write songs. As he has matured in his music, so have his lyrics. Just take a gander at the lyrics of ‘When It’s Love’.
Everybody’s lookin’ for somethin’
Somethin’ to fill in the holes
We think a lot but don’t talk much about it
‘Till things get out of control, oh!
How do I know when it’s love?
I can’t tell you but it lasts forever
Oh! How does it feel when it’s love?
It’s just somethin’ you feel together
When it’s love
You look at every face in a crowd
Some shine and some keep you guessin’
Waiting for someone to come into focus
Teach you your final love lesson
Ooh!
How do I know when it’s love?
I can’t tell you but it lasts forever
Oh! How does it feel when it’s love?
It’s just something you feel together
(Oh oh oh oh) Oh, when it’s love
(Oh oh oh oh) You can feel it, yeah!
(Oh oh oh oh) Nothin’s missin’, yeah!
Just look at the first lines. Everybody’s looking for something, something to fill in the holes.
Let’s say Michael W. Smith wrote those lyrics. What would you think then? They’d be amazing. Right?
Here’s my point to all of this and it connects with something Bob wrote about the lyrics of Pete Townsend.
God is in it all. Period.
He created Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Pete Townsend… he created em all. Each one is perfectly made in his image. Think about that for a moment. You want to tell me that God can’t speak to you in a song written by Eddie Van Halen? Shoot, the lyrics of Dreams sound like something you’d hear from Joel Osteens’ church.
So baby dry your eyes
Save all the tears you’ve cried
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
Oh baby, we belong in a world that must be strong
Oh, that’s what dreams are made of
Here is my final point. We as Christians miss so much in life. We miss how God speaks to us through others. Believers and non-believers. Plus we dismiss someones ‘word of knowledge’ to us, because we don’t think they’re a believer.
My prayer for you and all of you is this. Open up your eyes and hearts. Listen and look and feel the world around you. We miss so much that is touching our lives as we run to Bible Study, Church or the wherever.
God is in it all…. even the music and lyrics of Eddie Van Halen.
Popularity: 22%
Amen. Plus I often sense a hunger and passion, even if it’s misplaced, that is seldom in “Christian” music or art, as if it’s sinful to be passionate about something.
WOW ! If God created music then WHY NOT Van Halen…. just trust God in what
you can listen to… now I wish I didn’t give away my rock collection when Jesus came into my life
Hey Matthew, I have almost the exact same testimony as you. I dreamed of playing the guitar like Eddie since I was 15. (I am 46 now) I started taking some online lessons and I am having a blast. I am a Christian and a Protestant pastor.
Just a friendly word, yes God created Eddie and others, He also created Satan. We wouldn’t say everything Satan says is good because it’s relevant and he was created by God. Just be careful. I listened to some Van Halen today, but I know what I can and cannot listen to. We are told to be alert and awake to the devils ways.
Something I found really cool. With the free download of Audacity (if you don’t know is a free recording soft wear from the internet) has the ability to remove vocals but leave the instruments. That way we can listen to Eddie play Running With the Devil, Dirty Movies, Sinners Swing and other songs with his sweet sounding guitar licks without the words that are contrary to our Faith. Of course not all Van Halen songs require this and are fine on their own.
Blessings, Rich
God created Marylin Manson too. He created Aleister Crowley, Albert Pike, Anton La Vey and many others. I’m not saying that God can’t use songs that aren’t “Christian,” and I can name a handful that He has personally spoken to me through. However, that doesn’t give me a green light to go out and buy a particular band’s music and fill my mind and spirit with it. A good song here and there maybe, but we have to remember, if they are not for God then they are against Him – there is no middle ground – and so unless they are living their lives for Him and He is inspiring the music and lyrics, then Satan is the one giving the inspiration.
To Rich:
I agree with some of what you’re saying and yes, that’s pretty cool about the site that take out the lyrics. But, there are plenty of bands and artist which are fully instrumental that are certainly not Christian and even compose such music for rituals and to conjur spirits (evil ones, obviously). The “evil” is not just based in the lyrics, it is the spirit behind it and if it’s not the Holy Spirit, it’s not one we should allow into our lives.
So something to pray about.
Matthew – Hey, I’ve been playing guitar for 29 years now and I’ve played in some popular regional acts (the most popular was an AC/DC tribute band called “100% Angus” and a Van Halen tribute band called “On Fire”). We played from Bloomington, Indiana all the way down to Ol’ Miss and everywhere in between. I’ve been a Christian since I was 9, but fell away from the Lord in my teens/20′s. A couple years ago I rededicated my life to Christ and I quit playing in the bands. I’ve been asked to join a praise band at my church, but I just can’t bring myself to get into that music. So… I’ve only picked up my guitar a hand full of times in the past year. It’s really hard for me to pick it up because the only thing I want to play is AC/DC or Van Halen.
I really miss playing out, but I know that I can’t do it… A lot of people have told me that I wasn’t doing anything wrong… But, I know in my soul that I wasn’t leading people to Christ playing in the bars and college frat party’s. If a person had never met or seen me play, they would never guess that I was a Christian. It’s like what someone said in an earlier post… If your not glorifying God, your glorifying satan.. There’s no middle ground. I know that I walked a thin line for a very long time. The Lord convicted me and told me to get out of that scene. I knew that if I didn’t I was going to be even more miserable than what I already was.
I would say, be careful what you listen to… If you wouldn’t want your mom or you kid listening to the same music… It’s probably not really good for you to listen to it either.
Dios Te Bendiga (God bless you)