Blasphemous Homecoming

By Rev Robert K McEvoy - Posted at The Salty Scrivener:

Blasphemous Homecoming

One never expects doctrinal accuracy or biblical faithfulness from the musical wing of the Evangelical Industrial Complex, the America-based caucus designed to extract money from gullible Christians. After all, what does sound theology matter when you’re churning out sappy songs and emotion laden lyrics that tug at the heart strings and open the wallets of the evangelical mass market.

But to include a blatant blasphemy in a supposedly ‘Christian’ album must reach a new low, even by contemporary music standards.

Recently while searching for the words of a song to use as an illustration for a talk. I came across the Gaither’s ‘Israel Homecoming’ on iTunes. One of the tracks on the album is ‘Rivers of Babylon’ a song made widely popular by Bony M in the 1970’s. Here’s the lyrics, as Boney M sang them:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah we wept, when we remembered zion
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
Yeah we wept, when we remembered zion 

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord’s song in a strange land
Let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart
Be acceptable in thy sight here tonight.

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