FLYLEAF:: AGAIN from Adamson.TV on Vimeo.

LECRAE:: GO HARD from Adamson.TV on Vimeo.

I was a big fan of Tim Keller’s first 2 books, The Reason for God, and The Prodigal God. Speaking largely as an apologist in the former and a pastor in the latter, Keller demonstrated his immense intellect and knack for offering keen observations of culture as it relates to the gospel of Jesus Christ. These strengths are applied directly to his latest work, Counterfeit Gods. This is Tim Keller at his finest as he subtly, yet powerfully, points out the things people, and particularly Americans, tend to turn into idols that take the place of God in our lives.

Taking on various arenas of life, Keller explains how even good things become bad things when they turn into God things. His working definition of an idol is simply anything that ascends to the place that only God should occupy in our lives, and he shows how career, money, sex, and even family can become idols in our lives, taking the place of God but lacking the ability to live up to the positions where we place them.

For example, when a parent places their kids in the place of God and wraps their entire identity in a child, an enormous amount of pressure is placed on the child, a pressure they will inevitably fail to live up to. This causes disappointment for the parent and disillusionment for the child. This is because the child isn’t God. He or she isn’t ever-faithful, ever-loving, all-powerful, and perfect. Only God is. It’s unfair to children and damaging to the parents when these situations occur.

This idolatry can show up anywhere. I especially found Keller’s chapter on power particularly helpful. When power is made into a God, it manifests itself in many places such as careers, parenting, and relationships; today, it mostly shows up in the political arena. People turn political parties, politicians, and ideologies into gods; subsequently, when their party loses, they are devastated. Their god has let them down, and now they do the only thing they can think of…they mock, ridicule, and blame the false political god that arose in its place. They lament the end of everything or complain about the status quo. The problem, of course, is that neither conservativism nor liberalism live up to god-status. Neither is perfect, but many convince themselves otherwise, believing that everything would be perfect if they could just elect the right person who embodies their values.

Keller has chapter after chapter that points out these idols in our culture, applying his Paul-like style of reasoning. All of this would be for naught, however, if people are not pointed to the true God. It’s not enough to remove idols. People have to be pointed to God as fully-revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Keller does not back down from this one bit. He continually pulls our idol-fashioned foundations from underneath us, but he quickly replaces it with the true foundation, the Rock, Jesus Christ.

This book should be required reading for all western Christians. Other cultures have their idols, but we in the West have truly made it an art form. The roots of this idolatry cannot be removed overnight, but this book is a powerful tool for attacking those roots and unashamedly and repeatedly reminding us what needs to exist in its place.

- Recommended.

*This book was provided for review by Dutton Books.

Rating: 5/5

Admittedly, I’m a little late to this party. Well, actually, I’m just a little late to comment on the party. Ever since it came out back in September of 2008, House of Heroes’ little masterpiece of modern rock, The End Is Not The End, has garnered significant playing time on my iPod and in my car. It’s one of those rare collections that never seems to get old to me. As such, not having a review of it on this site was a problem.

Here’s my remedy.

It’s a little difficult to review an album that achieved so much hype this far after the release. There’s been sufficient time for people to discover the band, hype them beyond what any album could actually live up to, and then have others who didn’t understand what was so great about the band because they’d been overhyped. Typical backlash to some reviews that seemingly overly-gushed about the band. Their expectations were simply unrealistic.

So where’s the reality? Truly, it’s closer to the gushing than the reactionary critiques. This really is an amazing album. It just is. A year later, I’m still saying that. I’m quite certain I’ll still be saying that a year from now. Stylistically, it’s a timeless form of rock that can certainly last. Honestly, I think this album deserves the vast majority of the praise it received, and it’s settled easily into my all-time Top 5.

“Epic” is a word thrown around far too often to describe music, but this 16-track beast (including only 1 short instrumental intro) fits the bill. Borrowing musically from the Beatles, Queen, and many others, the band captures amazing energy in each song, from the quirky “If” to the powerful riffs of “Lose Control.” “In The Valley of The Dying Sun” conjures a Bohemian Rhapsody-like feel, as the song traverses multiple musical styles effortlessly. Other fantastic standouts include “Code Name: Raven,” “By Your Side,” “Baby’s A Red,” and “Field Of Daggers.” No two songs sound the same; quite a feat for an album boasting 15 songs.

While the musicality of the album is incredible, the lyrics are of equal appeal. Set against the backdrop of WWII, the band explores themes of war, love, loyalty, destiny, and forgiveness, among others. This is intelligent writing, toeing the line of contentious issues perfectly, dropping bombs on each side of an argument, not shying away from complexity. The album has you rocking out one minute and pondering the justifications (or lack thereof) for war the next.

If you haven’t yet heard this album yet and are a fan of rock music, it truly is a must-have. (Seriously, go buy it on Amazon.com for only $5.99!) I don’t like to give out 5’s in reviews, but if any album deserved the rating, it’s this one. Now that it’s been out long enough, we’ve moved past the hype stage and I believe the album still sounds as fresh and poignant today as when I first heard it. It’s only getting better with age.

Here’s a taste – the cast performing the opening scene at the 2008 Tony Awards.

“The Circle of Life”

Recently, to coincide with the Texas/Oklahoma football game, they produced some videos of Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, the quarterbacks of the 2 teams, who are not only 2 of the best players in the nation, but also happen to be good friends and both Christians.

Here’s the promo for the Bradford/McCoy videos from IAmSecond.com. You can watch the full video here.

HT: Zach Nielsen

Jennifer Knapp – “Whole Again (Live)”

Check out the video. Do you agree with Aaron? How can we approach a relationship with a non-believer without an “agenda,” if that’s what we should do? How do you balance your desire for them to know Christ with loving them even if they don’t?

Christians Trying to Convert Non-Christians from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

Rating: 3/5

What do you want out of a Christmas album? Do you want something to conjure up images of snow-covered houses, fires in the fireplace, gifts around the tree, and other “merry” things? Or do you like your Christmas music to point whole-heartedly, single-mindedly to Christ, the meaning and purpose of the season?

If you’re looking for the former, you might be a little disappointed with Chris Tomlin’s new, live performance Christmas album, Glory In The Highest. There are traditional hymns (“O, Come All Ye Faithful,” “Angels We Have Heard On High,” “Hark The Herald Angels Sing,” “Joy To The World,” and “O Holy Night”), but for the most part, the album sounds like a straightforward, live worship album that happens to focus on the incarnation and Christmas.

This approach had somewhat mixed results for me.

I appreciate Tomlin’s attempt to bring out the worshipful element in traditional carols, and the original songs he performs are what you’d expect from Tomlin. I have to say, though, that there’s very little musically that makes this really a Christmas album. I’m not saying every song needs to have sleigh bells or anything, but there are certain elements that simply are associated with Christmas, and I just would have liked to hear a little more of this.

That criticism aside, however, fans of Tomlin will find lots to enjoy here. He’s a worship leader, and he’s in his element here, leading a live crowd in Nashville through song after song of worship to God. There’s a power in hearing a congregation sing the beautiful “O, Come All Ye Faithful” in unison. Many of these older songs have lost the worship element as they’ve been sung so many times over the years. Tomlin succeeds in re-capturing the awe in the lyrics of the classics he chose here.

I’m not a huge Tomlin fan in general, but this album is a nice addition to the Christmas album selections, and one that admirably attempts (and succeeds, for the most part) at keeping the focus of Christmas on Jesus Christ. There’s nothing overly creative musically, here. In fact, some of the songs gain power by their stripped-down, congregationally-sung feel. But you feel Tomlin’s heart for worship, and that’s a great reminder to have during the upcoming Christmas season.

*This album was provided for review by Sparrow/sixsteprecords.

Rating: 4.5/5

Christmas albums are tricky, especially when they come out at the beginning of October. Admittedly, I wasn’t quite ready to dig into Downhere’s new one, How Many Kings, this early. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas music, but I tend to wait until after Thanksgiving to really break it out in full force. Since Christmas music relies heavily on connecting with the feelings/emotions of the holiday season, it takes really good music to entertain outside of that season.

That’s what this album is – really good music.

The title track kicks things off, asking rhetorical questions about the number of kings and lords that have been willing to leave their positions of honor. Christ is exalted for his humility in the incarnation. Solid opener.

A couple traditional tunes follow, as the band livens up “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (excellent treatment) and slows things down with “Angels From the Realms of Glory.” Other traditional songs include “Silent Night,” a fantastic acoustic version of “What Child Is This” and a quirky version of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.” These songs are familiar, but the guys are able to make them feel fresh with their creative musicianship.

By far my favorite song on the album, however, was “Good King Wenceslas,” a familiar song that’s never included on Christmas collections. The piano riff used here is perfect, transforming an old hymn into a modern rock tune. The contrast of the instrumentation and vocal style with the antiquated language of the song is amazing and almost makes this album worth purchasing by itself in my opinion. I haven’t enjoyed the musicality of a Christmas song that much in a while.

“Glory to God” and “Gift Carol,” two original tunes, were also solid. The only song I really didn’t enjoy was “Christmas In Our Hearts,” which leans on clichés a little much and doesn’t really fit the feel of the rest of the album, although I didn’t hate it.

Overall, this is a very welcomed change of pace with the glut of Christmas albums that have come out in recent years. Many tend to just do the same old songs in the same old ways. Downhere succeeds in taking traditional songs and making them their own, while also contributing some solid originals.

*This album was provided for review by Centricity Music.

Driscoll says,

“If you worship alcohol you become an alcoholic. If you worship food, you become a glutton. If you worship pleasure you become a sex addict,” Driscoll warned. “All the modern vernacular is really not dealing with the root issue of idolatry: Something or someone is preeminent other than God.

…It destroys them. Because they invariably disappoint. People can’t do what God does.”

You can watch and read the story at abc.com.

Rating: 3.5/5

Like most people who know who he is, I was introduced to Todd Agnew when I heard his huge hit, “Grace Like Rain” way back in 2003. Agnew then released my favorite of his albums, Reflection of Something, in 2005, which featured great musical diversity and challenging messages. Then, I kind of forgot about Agnew, not picking up his Christmas album in 2006 or Better Questions in 2007. So I was very curious about what I would encounter with his new release, Need, which hits stores tomorrow.

There are two things I’ve always appreciated about Agnew: his honesty and his focus on Jesus (not in that order). He’s never afraid to challenge pre-conceived notions and doesn’t sugar-coat convicting truth, but it’s always about Jesus. That doesn’t change on Need, where all of the songs center around the theme of complete dependence on Christ. Songs like the poignant “I Need No Other” and the southern-flavored, hymn-like “Give Me Jesus” focus solely on Christ. “Tell Me The Story” basically walks through a summary of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And “The Love of God” beautifully paints a grand picture of God’s love and explores the implications of that characteristic.

Other favorites include “Higher Ground,” which alternates between driving rock song and gospel hymn, and the rocker “Breakable,” where Agnew essentially puts Philippians 2 to music with a chorus that states, “You are glorious, infinite and wise. You are mighty, holy. There is none beside You. But to save me from my brokenness, You became breakable.” Great stuff.

My favorite song, though, would have to be “Did You Mean Me?” Here, the lyrics deal with the struggle to accept grace and the truths of the gospel. Agnew sings, “You said all things could be forgiven, but did you mean me?” The gospel’s truth is amazing and we might affirm it, but many of us struggle to accept personally the implications of it. This is powerful songwriting.

Musically, the album is very diverse, including elements of rock, acoustic, gospel, and even some blues. Agnew’s trademark baritone sounds as good as ever, and the song writing is pretty sharp. I have to say, though, that I don’t think Need reaches to level of Reflection of Something for me. Maybe that’s more a reflection of changes in me in the past few years, I’m not sure. The songs are solid, and there are a few standouts, but there’s just something missing.

Agnew’s fans will likely not be disappointed by this album, and the lyrics are outstanding as usual (hence the pretty good rating), but I still can’t help feeling that he’s capable of a little more musically. As I said, the album is very diverse and the different styles are performed well, but it’s also a little un-focused for my tastes. I enjoyed the album, but I don’t really see it having a whole lot of lasting appeal for me.