So begins another snippets episode series from The Prodigal Band Trilogy. This series, in at least six parts, shows how each of the prodigal band members carries out examples of their given ‘missions of God,’ given by His angles, the Tooters, and given to them simultaneously during the final singing note at the very end of a performance of a prophetic song at a music festival in their home city of Walltown in northeast England. It is important to note that the Tooters, after telling each of them their given missions, tell them it is God’s Will for them to carry out these missions, for they are, indeed, ‘the prophesied band.’ The given missions, thus, are given to them in the final chapter of the second trilogy novel, The Prophesied Band.
First up is perhaps the mission that would seem to be the easiest to carry out, since it simply involved singing—to have the youth hearing Sound Unltd vocalist Erik’s singing voice to repent of their sinning ways and call upon the name of the Lord, that is, Christ. Only the singer doesn’t fully understand what the angels are saying, because, after all, he is an ‘unrepentant sinner’ and is not ‘religious.’ So, while singer Erik’s mission seems easy since it just involves singing, what the mission also implies is that the singer would have to, first of all, do a ‘mission’ on himself! It’s easy to sing about Christ, but would one really choose to sing about Christ unless one truly believes on Christ? Further, can a person singing about Christ, but not believing in Christ, convince the listener of the song to accept Christ as Lord and Savior? Hmmmm….
Below is the Tooter message to singer Erik as he holds the final song note for nearly a minute, the song note no longer under his control, but the angel’s control. From Chapter Ten of The Prophesied Band, © 1998 Deborah Lagarde:
The Tooters spoke to each of the six individually—simultaneously—while his larynx fired the song’s final note.
Tooter Three spoke softly to Erik. “Believe this when I tell you that we are The Tooters. Your Creator has given you this gift of singing voice so that you can do His Will to call the youth of this world to live by His laws.”
The now-frightened singer continued to hold the note as he thought “What? How am I supposed to do that? I’m not religious and I never will be. You got the wrong guy!”
“Never mind that. We’re not asking you to be religious. We’re asking you to call the youth to His Ways so that His Son will save them. You must tell them to call upon Him in His Name.”
Erik still held the note and thought. “So you want me, an unrepentant sinner, to tell the youth to stop sinning? Like they’re really going to believe me.”
“Right now, you are performing a miracle. You’ve held this note for almost a minute. Surely the youth will believe that you can call them to salvation. We are revealing to your band leader how you will do this.”
He still held the note.
And now below is a snippet that features an example of how singer Erik carried out the mission, during a ‘Rock for Christ’ world tour in July, 2004, in upstate New York. From Chapter Seventeen of The Prodigal Band, © 2018 Deborah Lagarde, this snippet begins with the band members hanging out with other performers at this gig, including members of a group called ‘SalvationSquad,’ a hybrid American-Canadian outfit, backstage, before the performances; the discussion begins with a member, Joe, dissing the notion that Christian groups had to play country music, not rock music.
“Exactly! And I wasn’t gonna do country! So I met Phil, right, and I told Phil, ‘Why can’t Christian groups do rock and roll?’ and Phil said—”
“And I said, ‘The only reason Christians do country is because they think rock music is the devil’s music’.”
To which Joe answered, “So I told Phil, ‘Yeah, but if you sing about Jesus, then how is rock music ‘the devil’s music’?”
And so on.
Then Chi cut in. “When I became a Christian after being abducted and rescued by that ministry, my dad—who, when communism took over, was a minister and then he had to go underground—heck my folks left there like a day or two before they would be rounded up by the Commies. Well, my dad told me before I went to the conference that he had dreamed that I would find my music career at the conference! It was as if he was saying God would put all of us together in SalvationSquad.”
Just as God put together Sound Unltd.
Who would close the series in that location two nights later. But the final song was sung by all the performers accompanying Erik and the rest of the six in a song on their tour album, Hallowed Be Thy Name, the song of the same title, a configuration of the ‘Lord’s Prayer.’
“Our Father, Which art in heaven
Hallowed be, Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done.
On Earth, as it is in Heaven.”
Then the chorus, sung by all the performers—
“Celebrate our Lord, Hallowed be Thy Name!
Celebrate our Lord, Hallowed be Thy Name!”
(Repeated twice)
“Give us, our daily bread,
And forgive us, of our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.”
(Repeat chorus)
“And lead us not, into temptation,
But deliver us from all evil.
For thine is the Kingdom,
The power and the glory.
Forever. Amen.”
(Chorus, repeated twice).
To over a hundred thousand people. Just as with many other gigs on this tour.
Simulcast on various Christian pop radio stations nationwide. Worldwide.
Converting many in new believers on Christ.
Note: In my opinion, as long as the song, regardless of music genre, is about Christ, that is what matters. Still, some Christians still believe ‘Christian rock’ is ‘the devil’s music.’ I have heard wonderful Christian songs of various genres: rock, bluegrass, country, classical, folk, soul, African, Asian…whatever. It’s the message, more than the music, that counts. As for Chi, a SalvationSquad member, the country he escaped is not mentioned, but in the original novel version it is stated that he escaped North Korea, as did a friend of mine that I mention here. By the way, that post was updated as to when she was born.
The next in this series will be in early September and will feature guitarist and band leader Jack.
Use the menu above to read snippet posts of the novels, download the FREE PDF The Prodigal Band as well as the FREE PDF The Murder Rule, and more. Cheers!
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