It Was 40 Years Ago Today... Sgt. Pepper

The canard is the idea that artistry is something to be appreciated in and of itself, regardless of whether it glorifies God or not. When we sing songs about God, we call that praise and worship. When we sing songs about sex and drugs, we just call it music. Is it not still praise and worship?

 

Oh C'mon Rufus, this is beneath you.

Beatles didn't sing it John Lennon did it on his own. Maybe this is not knowing enough about the Beatles to know who did what but that is where people take one thing out of proportion and it grows from there. "The Ballad of John and Yoko" was the most blasphemous song ever performed by the Beatles, now there is a song one can really pick apart.

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was not about LSD although the way the music was performed might lead one think that it was.

The Beatles may have had their superstitions but being involved with the occult is a bit of a strech.

Now that Johhny Cash is dead lets all talk about what such a coke head he was and how he influenced his fan base to snort up. As for myself, I think it would be a totally ludicrous waste of time.

 

Actually,

Eastern Mysticism in the form of Guru training and "Meditation" is the occult under a different cover. It's the same techniques used in many forms of divination. It's amazing how many occult practices have been repackaged and pushed on the main stream as some thing else. Hindu/witchcraft/occult themes are every where.

Witches call it white and black magik......also known as.......
yin and yang..........
karma.........
Star Wars calls it "the force"..........(this is just a movie, but the idea of the force is strait out of hinduism)

Lots of people haven't thought about it I'm sure, but any one who likes to read their horoscope in the Sunday paper just got sucked into entertaining forbidden practices. People who get tied up in the occult often say they started off small, and then just like an addictive drug, they need to do more and more.

Isiah 47:13-14Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

 

Valid point. You are correct it was Lennon on his own.

Well, this would be a half-truth as it was actually just McCartney and Lennon who did this one. However, you are definitely on to something as this really is a song worthy of picking apart as it is quite blasphemous.

This is one that can not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. If you've seen the video to this and understand what and who they were involved with at the time, it is quite probable that this was another one of the drug songs.

It's not a stretch, it is what it is.

I agree. The whole genre was and is a waste of time and is detrimental to the Christian walk. Yet Christians still spend their time and money on the stuff and create threads glorifying and defending these idols.

 

Justsomedude speaks wisely. :thumbs:

 

I've got a quick question.
Wanted to ask this first time I posted on this thread, but....
What on earth is a thread about the Beatles doing in the Politics forum ?

 

At one time in their early years, I liked the Beatles music. As time went on and they changed their type of music from Rock to the Eastern stuff, plus their appearance, it was not nearly as entertaining. As I have gotten older, they seem more and more like some posts describe above. Whether or not they started that way with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" I do not know.

As for the quote above, I really grow weary of people making 100% positive statements about another human beings salvation, when they themselves are sinners and cannot judge someone's heart. Wouldn't it be more prudent to say, Most likely, as far as I can tell, they show no signs of having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Another question I would pose, as bad as the Beatles were, are they as bad as the garbage today? This kind of gets back to the give me the good old days thread.

 

Excellent question. Isn't there a "What are you listening to now" section? Maybe someone thought John Lennon was running for the office of antichrist.

 

Perhaps we're back in the USSR?

 

The Beatles begat the garbage of today.

 

And what begat the Beatles? Surely you dont believe they are the point of origin of all evil and the occult? Then again, there were no black helocopters transporting aliens back then. Also, it was before Kennedy was really not killed, and we really didnt land on the moon.

 

Simple answer. The liberals think too much of a thing is made out of the Beatles' lyrics and music, and the conservatives think the lyrics and music of the Beatles is occultic. There is nothing new under the sun - liberals will usually always think/reason on one end of the political spectrum and conservatives will usually always think/reason on the other end of the political spectrum - this is true no matter what the topic - thus, it was moved to the politics forum so the right vs left debate could continue for longer than 3 pages (news forum limit).

Take any topic, any at all, and you will the see the political ideology and/or worldview come out in the debate. :tonofbricks:

The worldview is interesting. When I took the test a couple of years ago, my answers were more in line with a Biblical worldview. Will see if I can find the test again and post it in another thread.

 

Surely, I do not and surely I have not made this argument. The point of origin of the occult is the devil. Besides their hero Aleister Crowley, the Beatles were influenced by a bunch of Liverpool bands and folks like Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley.

"Seeing Elvis was like seeing the messiah arrive." - George Harrison​

(Source: http://www.liverpoolcityportal.co.uk/beatles/beatles_influences.html)

Some of the things you say, Saturneptune, are out of this world.

 

You think?

 

I grew up listening to the Beatles, and I find a great deal of searching in both their lives and their music. They went through more than just an experimental drug phase, but explored many different religions, honestly, I believe, seeking truth with less concern with false public personas than modern celebrities have. I'd say way too much is made of comments about them "admiring" anyone on the Sgt. Pepper cover. For starters, they didn't design the album cover. I suspect the people chosen were people that contributed to their lives and the culture they lived in, good and bad. It is entirely possible to admire aspects of a person or his work, but not everything about the person. Hitler was a brilliant orator and motivator. I suspect one could find something to admire in Crowley, too. This doesn't mean we are followers of him or agree with what he stood for. Even an evil man may be a hard worker and faithful to his beliefs or have some other virtue.

I've always heard Tomorrow Never Knows was based on the Egyptian book of the dead, a possible connection to Crowley, who was a student of Egyptian magic and mysticism.

Several songs, usually ones written by Paul, refer to Catholicism (Let it Be, Lady Madonna, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, probably more).

I agree that Lennon was a hypocrite, preaching peace and love while holding on to feuds, especially with Paul, for decades, and being very bitter and un-loving toward those who didn't happen to agree with him. Of course, calling anyone a hypocrite is hypocritical itself. And nearly all Christians preach obedience to God and yet daily fall short. It seems he finally settled on atheism in the end, as Imagine indicates. The very negative reaction of American Christians to the initial Beatles hysteria and some of the things they said in interviews helped to drive him away; Christians were very poor examples of Christs love to John.

When he said the Beatles were more popular than Christ, he wasn't bragging and he wasn't saying they deserved to be more popular. He was also probably correct.

The whole incident with Ravi Shankar affected them deeply, and gave them all, to varying degrees, a lasting skepticism of religious figures and, unfortunately, religion and faith of all types. That they were steeped in psychedelic drugs and hedonism at the time probably didn't help. George remained a practicing Hindu after the other Beatles experimented with it and moved on, and his My Sweet Lord is, in my opinion, an overt story of trying Christianity and giving up on it. Very sad, imo. Other songs of his have comments against Christians or Christianity, usually packaged as comments against hypocracy and closed-mindedness.

No one should base their theology on the Beatles lives or music, but one can recognize the searching their music chronicles. And many of their songs have themes lost today, themes like romantic love that is still innocent, political and interpersonal peace, an appreciation of the common man's plight financially and under the thumb of government. Many more...

I believe God used the Beatles. They were a window into the culture of their time and its rapidly changing nature. Many of their songs are hauntingly beautiful expressions of a sadness and longing that is never resolved and can never really find resolution outside of God. I think they are a microcosm of the confusion of their generation, its light and darkness, its pains, pleasures, struggles... They looked for answers, and that search, more than the answers themselves, is the defining quality of their generation.

We can look at their search and learn from it, imo. We can enjoy their music, but, like all music, and indeed, everything we listen to, read, watch, think about, experience... it will have an effect on us.

 

Thank you for a sane and insightful post. Unfortunately, there are too many people around here who don't like that sort of thing and prefer wild conspiracy theories and simplistic answers.

 

I didn't read every post so my thoughts may reflect the thoughts of others who have posted before me on this thread. Also, my thoughts may be opposite of what has been posted on this thread.

I wasn't around when the Beatles were, but it doesn't take a person of great intelligence to see that their music was blessed and their influence is still greatly apparent in today's music and in society in general. They were gifted with musical talents and the ability to write songs with powerful messages that millions adopted as their athemns for life.

That being said, they were blessed by Satan and gifted by demons to play such splendid worldly music.

People don't consider music for what it is and what it is being used for. Music is extremely spiritual and was created for the worship of God. Lucifer played music to glorify God at one time. Satan later used music to unite the known world in worship of a false god (Daniel, Babylon).

Music is a call for worship, who is the focus of the worship in Beatles music?

1. They glorify Crowley a leader in occultic worship.
2. They cursed the name of Jesus Christ, my personal Lord in Savoir. They said things of him that are extremely horrible.

Those two points alone should keep all Christians away from these people. I don't care if you say you are not influenced by their music, you are supporting them by liking and listening to their music. You are supporting their work and the work of those who have come after them. Why not just buy yourself a copy of the satanic bible, all the proceeds are essentially going to the same place, just by different avenues.

It is much easier to say Marilyn Manson is a Satan worshipper because he openly admits it. But his music hasn't had the influence the Beatles music has.

The Beatles are Satan's best "Boy Band".

 

:laugh: Stop it. You're killing me!

It can be. It can also be just for enjoyment.

The only thing I have ever heard was that John Lennon said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, which at the time, that was probably a statement of fact.

Um...two of them are dead. Plus, you don't choose what you like.

:laugh::BangHead:

Are you sure? I thought perhaps it was "The Monkees". And if the Partridge Family wasn't from the lowest pit of hell, I don't know who was!

 

Great post, ShotGunWillie! :thumbs:

 

Aw...... Quit persecuting the poor lad MP, can't you see he has been traumatized badly enough .:laugh: :laugh:

Now listening to "I Will" by the Beatles.
A personal favorite of my wife, we had it played 30 years ago at our wedding or 10 years after "Sgt Pepper". And I always wondered what secret messages were being subliminally put in our heads on that song.