“God Is Dead, To Hell With God”
I received an email yesterday asking if I can supply a quantity of custom printed flags to promote a certain death metal band. They were a new one on me (not that I know of many), so I did a bit of research. It turns out they are part of the “God Is Dead – To Hell With God” tour which starts next week in North America.
The tour has been organised by the band Deicide, who are apparently one of the founders of this lovely genre.
With a relentlessly brutal sound and uncompromisingly blasphemous lyrics, Deicide helped set the standards (sic) for Death Metal well over a decade ago and have maintained those standards ever since.
In 1992, Deicide followed up their debut with “Legion”. “Legion” was an instant success, further establishing Deicide’s furious musical intensity and vengeful anti-Christian stance, and securing Deicide’s place at the forefront of the American Death Metal scene.
Meanwhile, Deicide was rapidly earning a reputation for controversy. The band’s appearance and live antics matched the extremity of its music and lyrics. With an inverted cross branded into his forehead, Benton cast himself as the incarnation of pure evil. At shows, he was known to pull such stunts as dousing the crowds with bags full of real animal organs. Deicide quickly found themselves banned from clubs, boycotted by magazines, and blacklisted by Christian groups and animal-rights activists. Anti-establishment to the core, Deicide embodied the worst fears of the conservative masses, and loved it. Rather than shy away from controversy, Deicide provoked it and willingly engaged in it.
I remember seeing a programme years ago (the early 80s, I would think) where Pastor Jack Glass went to talk to young people who were standing in a queue waiting to get into the SECC (I think) in Glasgow to hear a Satanic band. I was hoping it had been posted online, but I haven’t been able to find it, but I’ll never forget how demon-possessed some of the youngsters appeared. They were absolutely raging at having the Gospel delivered to them. If you can imagine a group of Muslim protestors going off their heads, raging with hatred for Israel or Danish cartoonists, then you have the picture.
Deicide’s next studio album came in 1995 in the form of “Once Upon The Cross”. As if to prove they had no intention of settling down, the band proposed an image of a disemboweled Christ for the album cover. This cover was ultimately censored but not before garnering massive publicity.
In 1997, Deicide released “Serpents of the Light”, followed by a live album, “When Satan Lives”, in 1998. Throughout the 90’s, Deicide progressively honed their vicious musical attack, reaching new levels of brutality and precision.
Deicide soldiered on, never once quitting or reforming, using adversity to fuel their misanthropic, creative fire. Deicide defined and redefined the rebellious spirit of Death Metal, and joined that very small and elite group of metal acts to sell over a million records in the process.
This is where I have to cringe on behalf of fans of these rebellious and anti-establishment bands. They are not either. Not really. Not these days. The Church of England was once part of the Establishment. Now it seems to be as loathed by the political classes as Christianity is to the death metal hordes. That part of the First Amendment to the US Constitution which is commonly known as the separation of church and state has been so taken out of context that self-defined “atheists” have tried to ban displays of the Ten Commandments from courthouses and schools.
The Ten Commandments were removed from a historical exhibit at the Grayson County Kentucky Courthouse because the American Civil Liberties Union and two residents of the county filed a lawsuit seeking to have them removed.
This is interesting from an Orwellian point of view. This is one way to rewrite history – make out that the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional and therefore un-American and so people will start to believe that a Judeo-Christian worldview was never a part of America’s history and success and has no right being now and in the future.
The Commandments have gone back on display because a federal appeals court ruled that there’s no evidence the county planned a religious display.
Last month the Giles County school board in Virginia unanimously decided to rehang copies of the Ten Commandments at each of the county’s schools following an outpouring of community support.
The religious texts were removed during December following a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation. An attorney for the foundation asked Dec. 8 for the district to remove the texts. Superintendent Terry Arbogast II said in a Dec. 17 reply that the district would comply.
But at today’s school board meeting, hundreds of parents showed up to express their displeasure.
Eric Gentry, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, said the county would support the school board in court.
Arbogast said he removed the 4-by-3-foot frames, which were hanging in the county’s five schools plus the technology center beside a copy of the U.S. Constitution, after consulting with the county attorney.
“It wasn’t a decision we took lightly,” Arbogast said this afternoon. “It wasn’t a decision based on our personal beliefs.”
No, it was a decision based on not understanding your own Constitution, and being afraid of “offending” the Secularists.
We see the same kind of thing happening in the UK, naturally, only here the agenda is even more obvious, as minority beliefs get favoured status and the faith which grounds our society is told to go to Hell.
Back to Deicide:
Following the immense popularity of their recorded material, Deicide picked up their instruments and were launched into a frenzy of global touring and exploitation, playing shows alongside the likes of Clutch in North America. However, these dates were short-lived as the band pulled out of the last few dates of the schedule and began their own headlining tour in September with Goatwhore, Cattle Decapitation and Jungle Riot.
Originally founded in 1996, Cattle Decapitation’s songs protest the mistreatment and consumption of animals as well as the abuse of the environment. Lyrics may also focus on subjects such as misanthropy and genocide of the human race. Much of their music is based on putting humans in the situations that animals are subjected to (animal testing, slaughter, etc). All current members of the group are vegetarians, except for Dave McGraw.
If this band’s plane ever makes a crash landing in the Andes, you know it will be Dave who gets eaten first. Faced with starvation, the others will soon abandon their vegetarianism and feast on the lesser being among them. He who contributed to that mistreatment and consumption of animals will pay with his life. But that’s the message of modern environmentalism: humans are second rate compared to the planet and all animal and plant life. It is not surprising that even this insane part of the controlled music industry is preaching the Green gospel.
Cattle Decapitation is apparently considered part of the deathgrind genre. Here is a list of notable deathgrind bands (warning: very unpleasant – and I don’t recommend searching Google Images for deathgrind as the results are sick beyond belief).
Cattle Decapitation is one of the more pleasant-sounding names! Others, not so nice, include Aborted, Circle of Dead Children, Defecation, Dying Fetus, Gore Beyond Necropsy, Hate Eternal, Napalm Death and Prostitute Disfigurement.
It may be difficult sometimes to distinguish between mental illness and evil. What does this obsession with Satan, violence, blood, dead children and general hatred of mankind mean? Is it merely a crude marketing gimmick to extract the pocket-money from teenagers who want to be revolutionary, but lack direction?
If not that, then this level of obsession would appear to be caused by mental illness.
But I think there is much more to it than that. Christ cast out demons from people who appeared to be mentally ill, and after the demons had left the person, he was made whole again. Those young people in the queue in Glasgow – were they mentally ill to react in such au unreasonable way? I think the demons in them made them so uncomfortable with the Gospel that they went mental.
Same with those Muslims going berserk.
Of course, this is no longer a mainstream belief. These band members are Satanists. Not atheists. We’re not talking Hallowe’en here. Even if the band members are mainly doing it for the money and the thrill, some of the poor saps who fall for this stuff take it very seriously. It is their religion.
And Big Pharma can’t make money out of exorcisms, but they make billions out of allegedly treating “mental illness,” while often ignoring the root cause.
However, being in the spotlight for their phenomenal musical appearances didn’t last for long, as the band were surrounded by controversy throughout the world due to the effect of the deeply satanic content of their songs. At an infamous concert in Chile, local Church officials attempted to withhold the band’s appearance, however this was to no avail. At a second concert in Chile later on in the year they were finally condemned and their raucous show was cancelled due to the images used on promotion posters. The wrath of the local Church had been viciously stirred by local promoters who erected Deicide posters that portrayed the image of Jesus with a bullet hole in his forehead, drawing attention to Benton’s own branding of an upside down cross in the center of his forehead.
My main hero is the Christ. He encourages me to do good things. Fill a soul with demons and you get this:
The controversy appeared endless, with the cancellation of a performance at Hellfest in France after fans vandalized tombstones in Brittany with the Deicide song title ‘When Satan Rules His World’. The connection with death was something that Benton and his band were unable to escape from, with the dark nature of their lyrical content constantly leading them to be blamed for various controversial happenings. The BBC highlighted the perceived threat of death metal music, and the link to Deicide, and Benton in particularly via the 2005 programme ‘Death Metal Murders’. The programme featured an interview with Benton who was labeled as a core influence in the death of young Italian death metal fanatic.
In March 2008 Deicide faced yet more controversy when a magazine revealed a leaked playlist of music that has been used to torture detainees, number one being the band’s ‘F*** Your God’. Steve Asheim was quoted as saying that he was glad they could do their part for the troops and was glad Deicide were able to contribute.
I presume the band’s name Deicide is meant to be a joke. If they think they can kill God, why don’t they just do it instead of being so tediously angry? Christ defeated death and Hell, so disciples of Satan can only ever be angry and sick.
The truth is that Satan was cast out of Heaven and his angels are now prowling the earth gathering souls to share eternal misery with while they still can.
While “civil liberty” and anti-religion groups are trying to get any relic of Christianity removed, their children are exposed to the Satanic religion, and not just via these bands, in many other ways too – this is just one of the most obvious.
God is alive! Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Christians know it – and so do Satanists.
I don’t often preach the Gospel here much as it is essentially a political blog, but the choice is one or the other. He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.
It would be foolish to believe the modern ideas about Hell, like it’s one eternal guilt-free, drug-fuelled orgy and Heaven is full of people tapping their fingers on a table out of boredom wishing they were in Hell. Time is running out. Jerusalem is again at the centre of world politics. The spirit of anti-Christ is rife in what was, until recently, known as Christendom. Right has become wrong and evil has become wholesome. Read the signs of the times and repent and call on the Saviour before it’s too late.
Sermon over, but this is one case where I don’t want to say “I told you so,” when it is too late. It will be for many.
This is one way to rewrite history – make out that the Ten Commandments is unconstitutional and therefore un-American and so people will start to believe that a Judeo-Christian worldview was never a part of America’s history and success and has no right being now and in the future.
Where in our Constitution is the Ten Commandments… Christ… Christianity… or the Judeo-Christian god mentioned?
No, it was a decision based on not understanding your own Constitution, and being afraid of “offending” the Secularists.
Really??????!? even read our Constitution?
Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
By all means, worship whatever deity you wish in our glorious land of the free… but dude, one religion does not trump the rights of any other (or those with none, hence equality) – and our government cannot give precedence to one religion over another… which is why the ten commandments in the county’s schools is unconstitutional. The members of that community may wish to have it their way, but it is still unconstitutional.
Some of the first colonists of this glorious nation for which the Constitution was written had been seeking to escape religious persecution, yeah? hence the clear and concise wording of 1791 – “no law respecting an establishment of religion” – so avoiding further religious persecution for anyone coming here…
Jeez, it’s right there in black & white dude…
http://www.usconstitution.net/xconst.html
http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/billofrights.html
And for the record… my main hero is my father, a WWII vet, who served his country proudly with those of all denominations, and those of none… and did not discriminate, nor pass judgment…
Satan is heading for the Lake of fire which was created for him and his fallen angels.Satan who hates God and has done all he can to destroy God`s creation is going to (as his last act of defiance and rage) take as many humans as he can with him.
Satan will get one human addicted to (drugs ,alcohol, sex etc)use him(or her) to corrupt and destroy others and when he/she is of no further use will destroy them also.
How often have we/do we, see this happening in the music industry?.
In these last days the demonic realm is becoming increasingly active through the doorways opened by those in the Media and Music who seem almost obsessed with the occult.
HammerheadDawg,
I am aware of what the First Amendment says, but I think it has been hijacked by secularists/humanists these days and they have changed the original intent.
As Ronnie Reagan said,
And, I might add, tyranny from the professionally offended such as we have on both sides of the Pond these days.
I repeat – the people I was referring to don’t understand the Constitution, or if they do, twist it to further their own agenda.
It is interesting that you don’t mention the Satanists at all, just like I wrote in the post.
I agree totally, Len.
I repeat – the people I was referring to don’t understand the Constitution, or if they do, twist it to further their own agenda.
dude, ain’t got the time to spoon-feed you American History 101, go do some reading before making a fool of yourself… their “agenda” was upholding the constitution…
The First Amendment, right there in black and white – “no law respecting an establishment of religion”, ergo it is unconstitutional to promote any one religion over another, this includes Judeo-Christian ten commandments in schools…
You quote Reagan without even understanding his words…
It is interesting that you don’t mention exactly where in the Constitution the Ten Commandments… Christ… Christianity… or the Judeo-Christian god are even mentioned…
Or did you skip that bit due to convenience on your part?
HammerheadDawg
Establishing a religion and promoting it are two different things.
It’s interesting that you don’t seem so keen on the writings of men, whom you have never met and who died before you were born, on the issues of morality i.e. The Bible, but you do vociferously defend the writings of men, whom you have never met and who died before you were born, on the issues of morality i.e. The US Constitution.
You’re as religious as I am. You just have a different god.
HammerheadDawg,
To my knowledge those words aren’t written in the Constitution. That God exists was a generally accepted thing. Even Thomas Jefferson – probably a deist, but not Christian per se – described his “The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth,”
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was drafted by Jefferson in 1777 and begins,
With this in mind, I don’t think I used Reagan’s quote out of context.
“To my knowledge those words aren’t written in the Constitution.”
Stewart, you are quite correct dude, they do not appear in our Constitution – which is why using them, or the teachings of Mohammad (pbuh), or Hindu texts… or even Jedi Knights… do not belong in county schools or federal courts. Such acts are by definition unconstitutional.
The Founding Fathers all had their own individual thoughts on religion, but they constructed the Constitution/Bill of Rights to ensure no one (state) religion took precedence in order to avoid religious persecution…
Asking for the Ten Commandments to be removed from county schools is the Constitutional right of every American, whatever color, creed, race… so the First Amendment certainly ain’t been “hijacked by secularists/humanists these days and they have changed the original intent” – the intent is quite clear, you don’t seem to understand it dude!!
God is dead?
On the contrary the human in his fallen condition is by God`s estimation already dead.What does a dead man need, a burial?…………. or LIFE.
Only God can give life to the dead.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving The Lord your God, obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which The Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:1-20 RSV)
The same offer from God is there for all today,
It is incomprehensible to me why someone would choose death!
HammerheadDawg,
I do understand. It was a given thing that our laws derive from our Judeo-Christian heritage. I’m sure there must be many given things not written in the Constitution. I think the whole point was that there shouldn’t be an established church as there is in England, not that Christianity should be dispensed with.
Did you notice that the parents protested en masse to get the Ten Commandments put back? Are you suggesting that they are un-American? Or that you understand the Constitution and they don’t?
Do you agree with Thomas Jefferson that Christ’s teachings constitute “the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man?” He himself admits that everything else comes from “fallible and uninspired men”. Why would you want a society based on their ideas of morality?
I presume your “PBUH” was a joke, or are you like the moaners are in the UK that anything is fine as long as it isn’t Christianity?
Any comment on Deicide at all? Are they better for kids than Christianity?
Len,
People are dead to the truth.
Yet they do.
Even so, every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord.
“Did you notice that the parents protested en masse to get the Ten Commandments put back? Are you suggesting that they are un-American? Or that you understand the Constitution and they don’t?”
Dude, even if all 312,038,000 Americans wanted the Ten Commandments in schools/courts, it would still be unconstitutional… duh!
fresh powder on the slopes… later dudes…
No, it wouldn’t be unconstitutional. The Ten Commandments isn’t giving preference to any religion. I understand you are probably really concerned about the Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in our multicultural nirvanas, but they weren’t a factor in 18th Century USA.
(You can use “blockquote” and corresponding closing tag to quote. I promise it’s not unconstitutional!)
“blockquote” test “blockquote”
Where did the Ten Commandments allegedly come from? Which god do they purport to honor? Whose holy book are they contained within? What religious denomination wish for them to be present in county schools/federal courts?
It ain’t Jainism, dude! Jeeez.
Can my neighbor… a Muslim, have Friday prayers in his son’s middle-school for the entire class – it ain’t “giving preference to any religion”, honest… LOL!!!
Thanks for the tip, excuse the multiple test posts, my bad…
HammerheadDawg,
Their is a difference between religions; one is correct, all others are wrong, to one degree or another.
I make no excuse for wanting moral truth emblazoned in as many public places as possible.
Note to self: Where The Bible and The Constitution conflict, The Constitution is wrong.
There…not their.
I would just like to pass comment on the fact that one of the members of this group has an inverted cross branded into his forehead. I grew up under the auspices of the Orthodox Christian Church under the juristiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow and one of the many things that was imparted to me is that the Cross is the way of Christ, it is His victory over death, his eternal gift to mankind and that it cannot be subdued or subjugated by occultists, the Cross is the path to redemption and wearing it upside down in no way changes its significance or its glory, let alone turning it into an anti-Christ symbol. I have been told by several much more knowlegable people than myself that St. Peter, who was chosen By Jesus Christ to be the founder of the Church, felt so tormented by his betrayal of Christ that when he was crucified by the Romans, he chose to be Crucified upside down as he did not consider himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Does Mr. Benton understand this and what would his reaction be, I wonder.
John Leon,
I think the significance of the branded forehead lies not in the actual mark, rather in the heart that lies behind it.
He will one day regret this mark.
I pray it is in this life.
E.V., I agree, however I asked the question in a rhetorical manner, in that would he re-act as if filled with demons in need of exorsising, or would he just laugh and dismiss the truth? I have to say thay I had never heard of this group before this article, but whilst perusing you tube earlier noticed they have done a cover of a track by an all time favourite group of mine, who vocalist in his older age is becoming, to my limited powers of recognition, spiritually aware. The fact that they have covered the song is in my opinion no form of flattery and just means I have to skip the awful imagery that appears with their name.
Indeed he will regret this mark and all the evil that he and his other colleagues have so mercilessly used to victimise others, whether they were aware or not, however, I rather suspect he will not be able to answer for his wasted life in this life, nor in the age of the Kingdom yet to come, because if his heart is so broken to God, how even through the prayers of others, will he be able to repent?
John Leon,
God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or even think. Ephesians 3 v 20.
If you had seen me, and my group of friends, before I was saved, and you were to ask the question ‘One will be saved; which one?’ … I guarantee you would not have picked me.
Paul said a similar thing, when he described himself as ‘…the chief amongst sinners’.
You never know.
E.V., although I was brought up in the Christian faith, I to my great shame, rebelled and became aquainted with some very despicable people, I sincerely believe God does not let go of any of us and always calls to us to be with himand so yes, you are absolutely correct, we can never know what God will do, as he pulled me back from the wilderness. I believe that God wishes for all of us to be saved, however I also remember listening to Metropolitan Anthony Bloom speaking of the age of Judgement and the fundamental question Christ will be asking is were we Human or Sub-Human, in devine terms, with Christ being perfect and Human, how many of us can truly claim to be truly Human and in Gods likeness?
John Leon,
Romans 8 v 29.
…’conformed to the image of His son’…
His Son was (and is) truly God.
If you wish to be like him, just say so. Romans 10 v 9.
@John Leon
Glen Benton is on facebook so you could ask him your question yourself. For the record I am a big fan.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Glen-Benton/64985556272
Rob,
Thanks for the link, I have posted a link to this post.