Steve Taylor

"In an issue of my newsletter, Flashpoint, we discussed the satanic foundations of New Age music. We also briefly showed how the New Age and the occult have made inroads into so-called "Christian" rock music. A graphic example given was Steve Taylor's newest album, I PREDICT 1990, the cover of which unmistakably resembles an occultic Tarot card, the type used by some Gypsy fortune tellers and others for divination. Recently, Mr. Taylor phoned me and violently objected. He insisted that his album cover is not of a Tarot card design. Instead, he claimed that he got the idea for his album cover while on a trip to Europe. There, in a museum, he came across an old, turn-of-the-century Viennese art poster. The cover for I PREDICT 1990, says Steve, is based on this old Viennese art poster.

From our telephone conversation, Steve Taylor seemed to me to be a sincere but deceived person. I can even believe him when he says he did not know that his album cover resembles an occultic Tarot card. Moreover, I cannot and will not judge his salvation. That is God's business and I hope and pray that Steve Taylor knows or will come to know the Lord as his personal Savior.

"I related to Mr. Taylor that I had searched the lyrics of every song in his album and that, regrettably, I could find no reference to Jesus and the Cross.

"Why do you not confess Jesus in your music?" I implored. "Why do you not witness to our youth that Jesus loved them so much He suffered on the cross for them?" His response was, unfortunately, lacking. Taylor responded hotly, "Is it necessary to tell young people about Jesus in every album?"

My immediate answer was "Yes! In every album. Indeed, in every song!

"I then asked Mr. Taylor why he had used the cover of the album to ridicule and make fun of a noted evangelist and prophecy teacher. Lester Summerall Steve Taylor's answer was that he didn't believe in a book that this evangelist had written a few years ago on Bible prophecy. Did you read the book? I asked. "Well, no," Taylor admitted, he had never read the book.

The attitude of Taylor is familiar in "Christian" rock circles. Christian rock stars frequently attack, mock and ridicule such conservative teachers and evangelists as Dave Wilkerson, Bill Gothard, and Bob Jones. In one magazine interview, Steve Taylor even suggested that Christians who believed like Wilkerson were so intolerant and rigid their minds weren't "subject to being opened."

Evangelist Dave Wilkerson (author of THE CROSS AND THE SWITCHBLADE) has done much work for the Lord, and I simply can not understand why Taylor and his friends in "Christian" rock and "Christian" contemporary music so despise him. The only reason I can think of is the fact that Brother Wilkerson has preached on the perversions of rock music.

But the Bible does tell us we can judge fruits. And it tells us to make righteous judgments and not to cast our pearls before swine (see Matthew 7). We can know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, acts. First, I would remind Mr. Taylor that many young people look to him and his music for Christian example.

I think there are some valid points above.

• It points again to the need for Christian artists to be discerning in selecting cover artwork.
• Steve Taylor should have read the book before criticizing it. Although reading a summary and being familiar with the content may suffice if it is really off the track scripturally.
• At the risk of "mocking" the conservative leaders listed - I can truthfully say that they are merely servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, not perfect.
  • I have documented inappropriate action taken by Dave Wilkerson elsewhere in these essays.
  • Bob Jones University has come under criticism for racism, and had to make adjustments to their policies.
  • Bill Gothard tends to be rather dogmatic on several issues on which the Bible is either silent or open to different interpretations.

  Does any of that invalidate these men's ministries? Of course not! God uses imperfect people for His purposes, or nobody would be ministering to anybody anywhere. These are great men of God, worthy of respect - not ridicule. But they are not above criticism when they make mistakes. Neither is Steve Taylor, who is just as imperfect as any of us, including his critics. But his ministry, too, is just as valid - calling the church to Biblical authenticity.

Why are you attacking this song? I would think you would be in total agreement with a song that CRITICIZES the conversion of a church into an entertainment disco! THE GUY IS AGREEING WITH YOU! Hello???? Is there somebody there?

This Disco (Used to be a Cute Cathedral)

sunday needs a pick-me-up?
here's your chance
do you get tired of the same old square dance?
allemande right now
all join hands
do-see-do to the promised boogieland
got no need for alter calls
sold the alter for the mirror balls
do you shuffle? do you twist?
cause with a hot hits playlist, now we say

this disco used to be a cute cathedral
where the chosen cha-cha every day of the year
this disco used to be a cute cathedral
where we only play the stuff you're wanting to hear

mickey does the two-step
one, two, swing
all the little church mice doing their thing
boppin in the belltower
rhumba to the right
knock, knock
who's there?
get me outta this limelight
so, you wanna defect?
officer, what did you expect?
got no rhythm, got no dough
he said, "listen, bozo, don't you know"

this disco used to be a cute cathedral
where the chosen cha-cha every day of the week
this disco used to be a cute cathedral
but we got no room if you ain't gonna be chic

sell your holy habitats
that ship's been deserted by sinking rats
the exclusive place to go
where the pious pogo
don't you know

Christians who want to live a separated, sancified life? You have to be kidding! How can you possibly get THAT description from the words of the song?:

I Want to Be a Clone

i'd gone through so much other stuff
that walking down the aisle was tough
but now i know its not enough
i want to be a clone
i asked the Lord into my heart
that said that was the way to start
but now you've got to play the part
i want to be a clone

chorus
be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight
clonlieness is next to Godliness, right?
i'm grateful that they show the way
cause i could never know the way
to serve Him on my own
i want to be a clone

they told me that i'd fall away
unless i followed what they say
who needs the Bible anyway?
i want to be a clone
their language was new to me
but Christianese got through to me
now i can speak it fluently
i want to be a clone

chorus

send in the clones
ah, i kinda wanted to tell my friends about it, ya know...
WHAT?
you're still a babe
you have to grow
give it twenty years or so
cause if you want to be one of His
got to act like one of us

chorus

so now i see the whole design
my church is an assembly line
that parts are there
i'm feeling fine
i want to be a clone
i've learned enough to stay afloat
but not so much i'd rock the boat
i'm glad they shoved it down my throat
i want to be a clone

everybody must get cloned

"One of Taylor's songs is amazingly titled "Jesus Is For Losers". What a BLATANT and WICKED contradiction to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ! In John 10:10 the lovely Lord Jesus says, ". . . I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I don't know which Jesus Mr. Taylor is talking about, but it's not the Jesus I met July 30, 1975! And it's certainly not the Lord Jesus Christ of the Bible whom the Apostle Paul writes of in 1 Cor. 15:57, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ."

How different from the songwriters who wrote Christ-uplifting songs like "Victory in Jesus" than the MOCKERY and PERVERSION of "Jesus is for Losers". Isn't it amazing how NON-Christian these so-called Christian rock stars are? I wonder if God-hater and blasphemer Ted Turner had been listening to Steve Taylor when Turner told the press, "Christianity is for LOSERS"? (The Cornerstone Challenge, Feb. 1990) Taylor and Turner certainly have the same opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Let's get something straight, Taylor!

Jesus is NOT for losers Jesus is for SINNERS! No one would think multi-billionare Bill Gates is a LOSER, but he certainly is a SINNER! Romans 3:23 "For ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the glory of God;

Why do Christians tolerate such mockery of the Lord Jesus Christ? What has happened to this generation of Christians, who claim they know the One who shed His precious blood for their sins, and yet they defend this wicked PERVERSION of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Twenty years ago such BLASPHEMY would be "run out of town"!

You criticized Steve Taylor for not reading a prophecy book - now the shoe is on the other foot! You obviously did not look at the lyrics to "Jesus is for Losers":

Jesus Is For Losers

if i was driven
driven ahead by some noble ideal
who took the wheel?
if i was given
given a glimpse of some glorious road
when was it sold?
so caught up in the chase
i keep forgetting my place

just as i am
i am stiff-necked and proud
Jesus is for losers
why do i still play to the crowd?
just as i am
pass the compass, please
Jesus is for losers
i'm off about a hundred degrees

if i was groping
groping around for some ladder to fame
i am ashamed
if i was hoping
hoping respect would make a sturdy footstool
i am a fool
bone weary every climb
blindsided every time

just as i am
i am needy and dry
Jesus is for losers
the self-made need not apply
just as i am
in a desert crawl
Jesus is for losers
Lord, i'm so thirsty
take me to the waterfall

and if you're certain
certain your life is some cosmic mistake
why do you shake?
and if you're certain
certain that faith is some know-nothing mask
why do you still ask?
they don't grade here on the curve
we both know what we deserve

just as you are
just a wretch like me
Jesus is for losers
grace from the blood of a tree
just as we are
at a total loss
Jesus is for losers
broken at the foot of the Cross

just as i am
pass the compass, please
Jesus is for losers
i'm off about a hundred degrees
just as i am
in a desert crawl
Lord, i'm so thirsty
take me to the waterfall