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In June we introduced you to Brian “Head” Welch who was the founding member, songwriter and guitarist for the mainstream rock band Korn. He left the band, became a Christian, quit drugs, dedicated his life to his faith and his young daughter, Jennea all of this was when Korn was at the top of their game. Now, it looks like his new music video for the single “Flush” from his new project “Save Me From Myself” has made a few people upset. He sent us an e-mail to clear up the controversy. Before you go read his e-mail I pray that we’re not headed down another P.O.D road from years past. The Church decided that they (like Brian) were to extreme in their ministry to help so they closed the Church doors. Look where their ministry and music has taken them without the blessings of the Church.
I believe God takes all of us through different trials in our lives. It’s in these moments we have a choice to continue down the road of destruction or make a change. Once we decide to change and over come them we’re called by God to share our experience and how His grace & love pulled us through it.
I’m stepping off my soap box now so Brian can encourage those that are struggling with a drug addiction today.
I have received a handful of messages from some conservative people complaining about the sex and drug references in my new music video for FLUSH; and, I have recently learned that some select retailers are pulling my CD from their shelves because of my music video’s content. So, I wanted to give an explanation of what the video means to me; and to address those select retailers that are pulling the CD from their shelves:
The video for FLUSH is about Crystal Meth addiction and the crazy things anyone addicted to Meth will do while they’re high or to get their fix. Everything the models were doing in the video is what I was wrapped up in while I was addicted to Meth. The video is a very realistic look at the addiction and where it will lead you if you get hooked. I understand the images of the models may be too much for some people, but honestly, I was just trying to be real with what happened in my life and show where I was, as well as where I am at now.
I was totally imprisoned by Meth (Straight Jacket).
I would do anything to get my Meth (Models being obsessed with Pink Substance).
I was totally kinky and freaky while I was on Meth (Models touching each other and licking Pink Substance off of each other).
I got emotionally, spiritually and physically sick while I was on Meth (Models puking up black tar all over their faces and everywhere else).
I believe I would be dead right now if I continued using Meth, but instead, I chose to surrender my life to Christ and die to myself so He could share His resurrection with me (Models lying down lifeless, getting zipped up in body bags, coming back to life and ripping through the body bags to catch their new BREATH OF LIFE). Significantly, the images also go along with what the kids (not actors) at the beginning of the video were honestly saying about their addictions.
To be clear, I’m not going to apologize for my video! But, I did want to clear up any confusion about what the video actually meant and hopefully put some minds at ease.
I have also been informed that my CD is being pulled from a handful of retailers’ shelves because of my music video’s content. I totally understand that the video may be a bit too much for some conservative people and I respect everyone’s choice. But to me, taking my CDs off the shelves because of a music video (that isn’t being sold with the CD) is a bit too extreme! There is a huge message of hope on my CD and I believe those retailers that are pulling the CD from their shelves are robbing someone spiritually by taking it off of the shelves. But, thank GOD for iTunes!
I’m not called to be a Sunday School teacher obviously….I mean, just look at me….(Smile)…..I’m called to speak to people that understand my language and I’m gonna be as REAL as possible. The CHEESE has to disappear from the Christian media. I challenge the conservative Christians to start thinking “outside the box,” and get real with how they try and connect with the masses!!
As for me–I’m going to do everything I can do to KILL RELIGIOUS MINDSETS THAT CONTINUE TO BE PIGEON-HOLED IN THEIR THINKING!! DIE!!! RELIGION!!! DIE!!!!!!!!!!
Oh yeah….one more very important thing….I love you all….Even you conservative nit pickers!!!
HEAD
Now that you know his heart and the facts to this video let the images and lyrics move your soul closer to those that are lost and hurting today.
OK, so I read Brian description, and the “pulling the CD from the shelf” thing seemed a little harsh after reading the play-by-play meaning behind video. Makes sense on paper.
Then I watched it and saw the other side’s point. It is a good deal over the top. Warning to everyone before watching it is very disturbing and regardless of the intent, very sexual.
I’ve met Brian and know he is a genuine, kind guy with a huge heart and fervor for God, but I can’t help but wish someone with a few more years along in their journey had stepped in and said, “Brian, I love your heart, man, and get your intent, but let’s think through this a bit. There might be some elements that may be too much or could be stumbling blocks for others.”
No artist likes to have his work critiqued, but as a “creative” myself, I have learned the value (often the hard way) of setting aside my artist freedom in Christ for the good of others. I think this video could have still had an incredible impact, without quite so much sexual imagery.
Do you all agree?
Praise God for you — and for Brian! I’m so glad you (a) know the Lord, (b) know Brian, and (c) can see both sides of this. Your coming alongside will minister to Brian, helping him in his walk with the Lord.
From my perspective, well, I actually don’t have one because I can’t watch stuff like this (I’ve a very sensitive spirit, and experienced much abuse before saying “yes” to the Lord and receiving healing). But I can express my opinion, right? And my opinion is, so what if it’s too much for me? It’s not about me! I know what I can and cannot handle and I’ll not cheapen another believer’s witness with criticism just because of my sensitivities. Yes, we’re to protect those in our flock (or sphere of influence, if you will). That said, a testimony is usually not for us, the Body. We’re to reach a lost and dying world. Perhaps Brian’s message will reach those who wouldn’t listen to someone like me because of his experiences and understanding.
As a bit of encouragement, all my life I’ve found my moods and feelings aptly described through powerful lyrics and various instrumental stylings. Phrased differently, music has always been a wonderful comfort for me. With that as background, and if I’m allowed to offer a “plug” for a favorite song, I hope you someday have opportunity to hear Shades of Blues’ cover of “I Believe in You”, Bob Dylan’s statement of faith.
all of Heaven’s best,
Margret Boyd
Scribe of Heaven
(Matthew 13:51,52)
First off, Margret could never watch that video, and should not. I, on the other hand, spent 15 years doing drugs of all sorts, including Meth. To me, the video made perfect sense. But for someone who has not spent time in that kind of Hell would see it as violent, shocking, and pornographic. Anyone living there will understand it, and perhaps begin to seek for “The Way” out.
I believe that this video/album/CD simply is not meant to feed the bloating, overfed, Sadducees, and Pharisees of today’s “church.”
Jesus came to heal the sick, violent, offensive, and pornographic. And He will use those He pulls from the wreckage to help those people that are still hurting.
Jesus died for the folks raised in church; He also died for the cranked out whores and pimps of the world.
The drug-ravaged world needs this very unique and talented man right now,even if you don’t understand or, like Margret, can’t handle the video, there are people that need his ministry. Thank God for Brian Head!
Wow what a graphic video. I used to be addicted to porn so the models in this video were hard to digest but I do agree that people do need to stop and think about things (and Pray) before making judgments about Brian. And like he said some are called to different areas of ministry. So although this video is not for me to watch (models) I really hope that the unsaved will lokk at this and be helped.
People need the good news (gospel), not this obscene godless video. Wake up sleeping Christians.
Galatians chapter 1 verse 6-10 God’s word is sufficient for meth addicts, period. beware of impostors, you will know them by their fruit.
BOOK OF JUDE
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved [3] a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, [4] serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs [5] at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
A Call to Persevere
17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They [6] said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment [7] stained by the flesh.
Jay, I’m not really sure what you’re trying to say here… random quotes from the bible aren’t getting the message through to me.
Help a brother out…
this should help Scott
WHEN NOT TO BELIEVE AN ANGEL -John Piper
(Galatians 1:6-10)
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel — not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
The truth that underlies this passage is that there is only one gospel. Growing up out of this truth are three statements which are very crucial for us to hear and believe, because nothing has happened to change them between Paul’s day and ours. The first is that it is astonishing when a person hears and believes the gospel but afterward turns away from it (1:6-7). The second is that if a person rejects the gospel he stands under God’s curse, whether he is an angel or an apostle (1:8,9). The third statement is that the servant of the gospel seeks to please God alone, not men.
The text does not define the gospel. The rest of the book does. So our focus today will not be on the content of the gospel but on its cruciality. First of all, the underlying truth of the passage: There is only one gospel. In verse 6 Paul says that the Galatians are starting to turn away to a “different gospel.” Then in verse 7 he corrects a false impression. He did not mean to say that there are several possible gospels and that they have simply chosen another of several options. In verse 7 he carefully says, “Not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel.” This verse is very clear: There is no other gospel than the one he preached to them and which they received. To be sure, as verses 6 and 7 make plain, there are people presenting their ideas as gospel, but these are perversions.
The implications of this text for our day are very important. The text is a radical and forthright denial of a pluralism which says that we are all on different roads to heaven but our destination is the same. There are popular forms of this universalism and there are technical, scholarly forms of it, but there is no Biblical universalism — that is, no Biblical teaching that a person can go on rejecting the gospel of Christ and still be saved. There are other religions besides Christianity and there are other leaders besides Jesus Christ, but there is no other gospel, no other good news of salvation.
.And what makes that underlying truth in the text so powerful is that the “different gospel” in the churches of Galatia was not a religion from a foreign land. It was a close counterfeit to the real thing. The people in verse 7 who were perverting the gospel were professing Christians. They probably belonged to the church in Jerusalem and knew its leaders (2:12). This “different gospel” was not on the order of Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam. It was an in-house distortion. It was promoted by men who called themselves Christian “brothers” (2:4).
So another implication of verses 6 and 7 for us is that doctrinal maturity is not a luxury at Bethlehem. It is a necessity. If a “different gospel,” which is no gospel but only a perversion, can spring up inside the church, then surely we must make it our aim to become rigorous and discriminating in our doctrinal knowledge. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:20, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil but in thinking be mature.” Galatians is one of the best books in the Bible for helping us refine and clarify what the heart of the gospel is which can’t be replaced or altered. There is a tragic pattern in churches and in history, I think. Renewal breaks forth on a church or on an age through a fresh encounter with the gospel and the Spirit. Hearts are filled with the love of Christ and mouths are filled with praise, the concern for evangelism and justice rises. But in all the glorious stirrings of heart there begins to be an impatience with doctrinal refinements. Clear doctrine requires thought, and thought is seen to be the enemy of feeling, so it is resisted. There is the widespread sense that the Holy Spirit will guard the church from all error and so rigorous study and thought about the gospel are felt to be not only a threat to joy but a failure of faith. The result over a generation is the emergence of a people whose understanding of Biblical teaching is so hazy and imprecise that they are sitting ducks for the Galatians heresy. It arises right in their midst. Paul said to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:30, “From among your own selves will arise men speaking distorted things to draw away the disciples after them” He says in verse 27 that he has done his part to prepare them by “declaring the whole counsel of God.” I hope to be able to say the same thing some day about Bethlehem: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”
So the underlying truth of the passage (Gal. 1:6-10) is that there is no other gospel. And the two implications we need to hear from that are that universalism is wrong (there are not many roads to heaven, but only one) and that rigorous attention to doctrinal clarity and faithfulness is crucial in the long run of church life.
The first of three statements now that grow up out of this underlying truth is that it is astonishing when a person first believes the true gospel and then turns away from it. In verse 6 Paul says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel.” In this verse there are two reasons implied why turning to a different gospel is so astonishing.
First, it is a turning from a calling God. “You are deserting him who called you.” They are not just turning from a doctrine, or an idea. Don’t fall prey to the notion that a concern for doctrine is impersonal. The gospel is the very personal good news of God’s call to you. If you turn to a different gospel, you turn away from God and that is astonishing. The second reason turning to a different gospel is astonishing is that it is a turning away from grace. In Galatians 5:4 Paul describes what is happening like this: ‘You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” Paul is simply stunned that so soon after his beautiful portrayal of Christ crucified for their sin they would begin to turn to another gospel. He says in 3:1, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” You can picture Paul back in Antioch listening in stunned silence to the reports that the churches of Galatia are turning away from God and away from the grace of Christ. And he puts his head in his hands and wonders if his work was in vain. It was astonishing then and it is astonishing today that anyone hearing the best news in all the world (God offers you full and free forgiveness and hope) would turn to a different gospel, which is no gospel at all.
The second statement that grows out of the underlying truth that there is no other gospel is that rejection of that gospel leaves a person under God’s curse. Verses 8 and 9: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you the gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.” The word repeated here is anathema (accursed). When a person is anathema he is cut off from Christ (Rom. 9:3) and doomed to eternal punishment. In 2 Thess. 1:9 Paul said that those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus “shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” When a person rejects the gospel, the free, gracious gift of God’s forgiveness and kingship, then he remains under the divine curse for his sin — a terrifying prospect because of its torment and unending length. The reason I say this curse abides on anyone who rejects the gospel and not just on the false teachers in these verses is that Paul uses the same word in 1 Cor. 16:22, “If anyone does not love the Lord let him be accursed.”
Paul does not have a cotton candy concern for the gospel. He does not offer sugary smiles in controversy and say, “To each his own.” For Paul the gospel of Christ is the point at which the awesome life of God touches the life of this foul world of sin. And when that offer of eternal grace to utterly unworthy creatures like us is rejected or perverted to satisfy our pride somewhere someone must rage at the heinousness of the crime. O, how we need to meditate on the horror of rejecting the gospel. Satan does his best with television and radio to create in us a mind that is so trivial and banal and petty and earthly that we find ourselves incapable of feeling what terrifying truth is in this word anathema. O, how we need to guard ourselves from the barrage of eternity-denying entertainment. We need to cultivate a pure and childlike imagination that hears a word like anathema the way a child hears his first peal of thunder, or feels his first earthquake, or suffers his first storm at sea. The Bible does not reveal to us the eternal curse of God that we may yawn and turn the page. The wrath of God is revealed to shake unbelievers out of their stupor and to take the swagger out of the Christian’s walk and the cocky twang out of his voice. Don’t skim over verses 8 and 9 quickly. There is much humbling and sobering and sanctifying to be had here. Ponder these things in quietness.
Finally, the third statement that grows out of the underlying truth of only one gospel is that the servant of the gospel seeks to please God alone and not men. Verse 10: “Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.” In verses 8 and 9 Paul had just said something that will not win him many friends. It doesn’t please most people to hear someone pronounce the sentence of eternal damnation. And so what Paul does in verse 10 is give an account of why he is willing to talk this way. He is willing to talk this way because pleasing people is much lower on his list of priorities than serving Christ. Two things are at stake when the gospel is perverted: One is the glory of Christ; the other is the salvation of sinners. If the gospel is twisted, the all-sufficiency of Christ’s work is dishonored and the way to salvation for sinners is blocked. Therefore, in order to serve Christ — to advance his glory and achieve his saving purpose — Paul must oppose the perversion of the gospel with all his might, whether it please people or not. For the glory of Christ (6:14) and for the good of those who may yet believe the gospel (2:5) Paul is willing to speak unpleasant truth.
The lesson to learn from verse 10 is not that the more people you can displease the more spiritual you are. It was never Paul’s aim to alienate people. On the contrary, in 1 Cor. 10:31f. he says, “Do all to the glory of God. Give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage but that of many that they may be saved.” And in Romans 15:2f he says, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to edify him; for Christ did not please himself, but as it is written. ‘The reproaches of those who reproached thee fell on me.”‘ In other words, it is good to please people provided that pleasing them is a means to their salvation and their edification and to God’s glory. This calls for a heart of deep spiritual wisdom to know when to be angry and say, “Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees!” and when to weep and say, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you like a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not.” “Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone” (Col. 4:6).
The most thrilling implication of verse 10 for me personally is this: The absoluteness of Christ’s Lordship is gloriously liberating. It frees me from having to worry about pleasing one person here and another person there. It brings unity and integrity to my life. When you live to please only one person, everything you do is integrated because it relates to that one person. Shall I go to this movie? Read this book? Make this purchase? Take this job? Go out on this date? Marry this person? What a freeing thing it is to know that there is one person who is to be pleased in every decision of life — Jesus. Sometimes pleasing him will please others. Sometimes it won’t, and that will hurt. But the deep joy of a single-minded life is worth it all.
In summary: The underlying truth of this passage is that there is one and only one gospel. It is therefore astonishing to turn away from it — away from God who calls and away from grace in Christ. It is not only astonishing, it is tragic, because the person who rejects the gospel is anathema, accursed and cut off from God. But on the other hand, if you embrace the one true gospel, not only are all your sins forgiven by God, but a thrilling unity and integrity and liberty come into your life because there is only one person to please, Jesus Christ, and he only wills what is best for you.
Sorry, Jay.
I don’t have all day to read that. If you’re trying to make a point, you’re losing me. Especially since, on the surface, what you’re quoting doesn’t actually have much to do with Head’s comments about his video.
First off I am a recovering coke head who also battled sexual addictions and used just about every drug out there. God rescued me sitting on the roof of a crack house 8 years ago. I loved Korn and I love Brian Head Welch even more. I read what he said about his video and finaly found it to watch it. (thanks youtube!) Anyhow, I watched the video with my husband who is in recovery from sexual addictions and i was SHOCKED! I felt it was over the top but then started to talk to my husband about it. He loved it, says it was right on target, and to tell you the truth it is. I have shared my testimony many times and it is not a pretty picture, it is ugly and harsh and all together discusting, all but the end. In the end I find Christ, just like these models who take that breath! Isnt that what we should be focused on? Everything before that breath makes no difference what so ever.
the religion of my grandfather is Hinduism and he says that it is a great religion.~`:
Why is it we cannot stretch ourselves to see how God uses those whom He saves. Graphic as it may be I was in tears hearing the heart of Brian who was literally pulled from the garbage this world is suffocating in and was brought to life. At a recent evangelistic event 50 believers came to Christ in Oregon through the “fruits” of this man. God is doing a great work through him and like it or not this world isn’t going to sensor its message and make it clean, God is in the cleansing business He meets the dirty where they are at and this will reach souls who are blind to the world they could live in should they find Christ. Quote scripture all you want but Jesus loved to challenge the status quoe so if you really are going to pull his music from the shelf do it with a biblical mindset in that many prophets were condemned for them speaking into a world blinded. I think what you will find is this world needs individuals who open up like Brian to find those hiding in the shadows of loneliness and self destruction and it is Christ who does the saving and not our petty attempts at screening the music/videos others watch. I am deeply moved to see someone step up to the battle lines as much as Brian is right now so soon after he left the old self behind. God truly is using him.