"Amazing Grace" Exposed!
 Note: What follows is called parody.  I do not actually believe the things I am saying here.  I am simply using this to show the problems with John's Critique of "Mind's Eye".

If you have trouble with this concept, you probably shouldn't read this.  A good way to judge is if you think Steve Taylor is a horrible man whose lyrics prove how much of a pagan he is.  If that is the case, you'd probably be better off not reading this.

For two centuries the Church has been singing John Newton's "Amazing Grace."  This hymn is considered a classic of the faith by Christians the world over.  But no longer!  This song is really a bunch of New Age propaganda that just about any religion could accept.  Finding this hard to believe?  Read on.
"Amazing grace how sweet the sound/that saved a wretch like me/I once was lost but now am found/ was blind but now I see."
Sounds pretty good, hmmm?  But let's think about this.  From what was this person saved?   He never says.  It could be his sins, but it just as well could be from a low self-esteem, the ultimate horror to New Age thought.  He also says he was found, but never makes it clear by whom.  He could very well have been talking about a New Ager's "spirit guide" which is actually a demon!  And what is it that this person now sees?  The truth of God's Word, or a pluralistic, it's-all-good philosophy?  He never says and we don't know either!

Now you're starting to see the truth about this "hymn" aren't you?  Let's go on to the next verse, and see what it says.
"Through many dangers, toils and snares/I have already come/'twas grace that brought me safe thus far./and grace will lead me home."
Now John is attempting to tell us his life story, but what is it?  "Through many dangers, toils and snares?"  You now see him using guided imagery, a purely New Age way of thought!  What were these dangers anyway?  Probably one of them was finding out the truth about himself as a sinner.  I bet he's glad he avoided that!  Then he says he's being led home by Grace.  Here the truth comes out!  He's following a spirit guide calling himself "Grace!"  What blasphemy!  Where is this home that he speaks of?  At first, you might say heaven, but he never actually says that.  It could as well be the Buddhist's Nirvana or anything else, but in fact it would be Hell!

This "hymn of the faith" must be kept out of today's church's.  It is full of lies and corruption.  We haven't even seen the worst part yet!  Let's examine the third verse.

"'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear/and grace my fears relieved./How precious did that grace appear/the hour I first believed."
So, "Grace" taught him to fear.  But the Bible says God didn't give us a spirit of fear.  If his "spirit guide" is teaching him fear, then we know where he must come from, Hell!  Then he says "Grace" relieved his fears this is a clear contradiction and just one more example of New Age thought.  The New Ager's want to believe that everything is true and that even if two things contradict each other, they can both be true.  This "Grace" cannot have both caused him to fear and taken his fears away.  That's a contradiction!  He also talks about when he first believed but he still never tells us what he believed.  It could very well be "I'm okay.  You're okay" that he actually believes.   Newton's intentional vagueness allows him to pass this trash off as a godly, Christian hymn.

"When we've been there ten thousand years/bright shining as the sun,/we've no less days to sing God's praise/than when we'd first begun."
Finally he mentions God!  One referance to God through this whole thing, and six to his spirit guide "Grace."  I think it's clear who John is really following.  Also interesting is that he doesn't say "Jesus", just "God."  If he actually believes in Jesus, then why doesn't he come out and say so?  No, he just uses the generic term "god."  How many religions have a god?  Virtually all of them do.  This term wouldn't be objectionable to a Muslim, to a Baal-worshiper or to any other of a dozen pagan religions.

The truth is out!  This song isn't Christian, it's New Age, or whatever else you want to make it!  If your church sings this song, you need to talk to your pastor and/or music director about getting it removed.  If they won't listen, you'd better leave that church and go find one where such trash isn't tolerated.  May God show the truth about this song to the world.

Okay, the funs over, I'm back to reality.  That was almost scary to write, because I almost had to believe it, just temporarily, to be able to write it.  Now, let's talk about John's critique.

First of all, he condemns dc Talk for not mentioning God in this song.  The entire book of Esther doesn't mention God once.  The closest it gets is talking about prayer and fasting.  I guess John had better take that book out of his Bible.  Also, this is one song out of an entire album.  The word "Jesus" is used seven times on the album; the word "God" nine; "Lord" is used six times.   And that's not even counting the less direct referances to God, or the repetition of the choruses.  So, if you want to do word counting, I'd say they don't do too badly.

He also says they use "guided imagery" in their songs.  This is indeed a New Age technique of meditation, but trying to apply it to this song is ridiculous and unfair.  The lesson is, if you try to help people understand God by helping them picture it, it's New Age.  There goes just about every object lesson in the book.  And while you're at it, you'd better scrap C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia too.

John, next time you call dc Talk, or any other Christian rock band New Age, have some evidence, please.
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