..was under the covers in my bed late at night on an AM/FM radio with an ear plug. That’s right, earplug singular. In ye olden days we had only one earplug. Headphones existed, but they were too expensive.
It was one of those FM stations that played new stuff, rather than just the top 40. I heard a unique voice. Like nothing I’d ever heard before. And the song itself—nothing has ever compared to it before or since. On that much I think the world agrees.
Mr. Porter and I saw the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” last week. Rami Malek, who plays Elliot on Mr. Robot, played the part of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer and front man for the band Queen. The movie tells of the history of the band, and also of Freddie’s homosexual life style. I was familiar with most of the story. Freddie had a terrible overbite which was the source of almost constant bullying. But that overbite enabled him to sing in almost four octaves.
Freddie almost married a woman named Mary, but he got enticed by the underground world of homosexuality. As time went on, Freddie had many partners and eventually contracted AIDS. His compromised immune system was not able to fight off the pneumonia which eventually took his life.
While the songs from the movie continued to play in my head during the week, I thought more about the lyrics, and what were they actually saying? I watched some YouTube videos this week about Freddie’s life, some concert footage of Queen, and some interviews with Freddie.
Sadly, I learned from videos that Freddie did not want to go to Heaven, but wanted to go to Hell, as he was wrongly convinced that there were better people there, and that it would be more fun.
Skip to 2:00 minutes in this video:
In the song Bohemian Rhapsody in particular, the lyric , “Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me” is not a lyric a Christian should be singing. Why would you want to confess that over your life? That’s opening the door to the demonic realm.
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God sometimes will give me a scripture verse, or a picture which points to a Theme of the Day. This morning’s theme was “Ready yourselves”. Ready yourself to go deeper with God, ready yourself to do what God has planned for your destiny here on earth. I got an email with that “Ready yourself” theme. I opened my Bible to the book of Ruth, and the page next to it has notes from Pat Chen, on how to Prepare Ourselves to seek God more closely:
Wash yourself with the Water of the Word of God
Anoint yourself by spending time in God’s Presence
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ- His righteousness
Let God sift out anything from you that does not belong
Stay in God’s Timing
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I thought of how Freddie Mercury seduced a crowd at the concerts. I thought, what if instead of keeping the focus on him, he pointed to Jesus?
So of course, this Casting Crowns song came to mind:
Until the Whole World hears. Mark Hall points to Jesus. They sing Whoa oh oh to Jesus.
The song asks Jesus to help us be the people of God.
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Here is a YouTube video by a former Atheist:
Hell is a real place, but it’s not fun; it’s a place of deep regret and eternal torment.
Hell was not created for mankind. It was created for Satan and the fallen angels. Just as God promised in Genesis 3:15, A Messiah would save the people from their sins.
Believing and trusting in Jesus ( His Hebrew name is Yeshua) and turning away from our sin and asking for God to forgive us is what makes it possible to go to Heaven and escape the flames of Hell.
SueAnn Porter 