I know this is not the most cheerful of messages, but none the less, one that needs to be sent out...

https://soundcloud.com/user-619066495-714650428/dusty-bibles-vocals

"Dusty Bibles"

(Spoken)
In Second Timothy Three,
The Apostle Paul spoke of signs of the last days.
Now, it doesn't take a wise man, a prophet or a sage
To realize why we are seeing the things of this age

Verse 1
Lovers lovers of self, lovers of riches
Unforgiving with no self control
Wolves leading blind flocks into ditches
Temporary wealth traded for immortal souls
A proud look, and a lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood
Blasphemous sacrifices of our young
Like the days of Noah before the flood

Chorus
All the dusty Bibles just laying there
Waiting for His truth to be read
There is no repentance, there is no prayer
Just the world's ways instead
All the dusty Bibles just laying there
God have mercy on us please...

Verse 2
Take a good look around
At the Sodom and Gomorrah of our day
Can anyone righteous still be found?
Who has not perverted God's ways?
A voice still cries from the wilderness
But I wonder if anyone still can hear
When we call evil good and good evilness
When hearts are stone and consciences are seared

Chorus
All the dusty Bibles just laying there
Waiting for His truth to be read
There is no repentance, there is no prayer
Just the world's ways instead
All those dusty Bibles just laying there
God have mercy on us please...

(Spoken)

In August 1536 William Tyndale was tried, convicted and executed in the Netherlands for the heresy of translating the Bible for the masses.
Numerous others throughout history have suffered death to keep the Word of God alive...
Around the world today, countless Christians are being persecuted and killed.
The adversary now knows his time is short.
For the wrath of God is at hand...
Yet all I see...
Are dusty Bibles...

Style: CANDLES
Bass******2474: Bass, Acoustic, Held Ev
Organ*****3099: Organ, Rhythm, AmericanaSlow 16thMike
Drums*****RealDrums=Soul70sEv16
Guitar 1**3182: Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm GrungeUnpluggedQuinn
Guitar 2**0793: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming ModernCountrySync Ev
Fiddle****0409: Fiddle, Background George
Piano*****1007: Piano, Acoustic, Solo-Accompaniment, PopFlowing Ev

Bawb,

An excellent title to write to! Overall the lyric is a bit to doomsday-ish for my tastes, but it's well written.

The music/melody/BAND work nicely. The vocals are good, especially in the verses. During the first chorus they seem to "come out of the mix" a little bit (volume mostly, I think).

fj

An epic work. The spoken word parts remind me of Johnny Cash's American recording song "The Man Comes Around". The singing parts bring to mind the song "The Eve of Destruction," albeit with a religious twist.

Good vocals, writing, and use of the band.

Nice job.

Yes Bawb,
Too loud in the chorus - the 2nd vocal pushes the limits.
There were a couple of spots where your pitch was a little awry but not particularly bad.
The treatment of your vocal for the spoken parts works well.
The spoken word provides some dynamic variation that is otherwise lacking.

It is all doom and gloom as mentioned.
It's also blinkered. You cherry pick William Tyndale but he was killed by "Christians"... currently religious persecution is happening in many lands and is of moderate folk by fundamentalists, End Times advocates and extremists.

"Conscience is a cognitive process that elicits emotion and rational associations based on an individual's moral philosophy or value system."

Cool tune. Mix of vocal and spoken word was very cool. Well done

I would like to introduce you (rayc from Australia) to what another Ray C from Australia has to say about conscience...

Our Conscience:
Human understanding is “darkened” (Eph. 4:18), but the conscience is the area where God has given light to every man. The word “con-science” means “with knowledge.” The conscience is the headline warning of sin; the Scriptures give the fine print. None of us can say that we don’t know it’s wrong to lie, steal, murder, or commit adultery; that knowledge is written in large print on our heart. However, in the Scriptures we see the true nature of sin: that God requires truth even in the inward parts (see Psalm 51:6). The fine print reveals that lust is adultery of the heart, hatred is murder of the heart, fibs are bearing false witness, etc.

“Conscience is the internal perception of God’s moral Law.” Oswald Chambers

Romans 2:15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.

Ray Comfort's websites:
https://dailyevidence.wordpress.com/2016/08/24/our-conscience/
https://www.livingwaters.com/
https://www.youtube.com/thewayofthemaster

As for the foibles in the song, I do appreciate the constructive criticisms. I will try to do better next time. But I'm sure that a lot of us can agree that we all have a finite amount of time to work on our music (unless we are professional or working musicians). I am neither. My time is EXTREMELY limited to work on music. Herein lies the conundrum:
I have so many songs in my head and nowhere near enough time to get them out. I feel as if I am in this video at times: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3axU2b0dDk
As much as I would LOVE to spend hours on a song, I can't. I'm lucky if I have a 1/2 hour to myself to record (priorities, I guess).

A timely message, no doubt. As I watch the TV evening news, I wonder, what chapter of Revelation are we watching today? It's being played out, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place, and very few, even church going folks understand this or see it. And there's a reason for that which I won't get into here.

Interesting song. It sounded like you were at the top of your vocal range and straining a bit in the chorus.

Cool tune.

On the message, I have a different take, as a spiritual dude myself.

I see a whole lot of positive change coming, and allies in a lot of places people may never have suspected.

When someone like Nicki Minaj (among other social rebels) comes out and says "wake up y'all" and people across all spectrums are saying "Wait a minute...this is crazy...I feel like a boiling frog...these insane power grabs have gone too far.." then I think a lot of Orwellian stuff can and will be stopped. But people will have to say no to a lot of things. And they are starting to do that.

My guess is that MOST people in this country believe in our basic freedoms, and see the evil power grabs for what they are--again, across the spectrum.

It will take a lot of people saying "Wait, we don't live to serve the gov't and give you folks a gov't career, you live to serve US." But, when it happens there will be a huge backlash--to a lot of things, and to a lot of people who have gone too far in a lot of things.

Crazy as it sounds, I think we are looking at a massive course correction and national revival (of all spiritual stripes, not being evangelical here.)

That thin sliver of people who have been causing all the trouble are going to be stopped, I think.

Too many people can now see the puppet show for what it clearly is, and they don't like it.

I think the people are going to do something about this mess, and soon.

"That thin sliver of people who have been causing all the trouble are going to be stopped, I think."

I'm just hoping I don't get tied to a tree and tortured by scorpions for 5 months, when Jesus comes down to settle scores with the "unbelievers". I mean, I try to imagine being tied to a tree and tortured by scorpions until next FEBRUARY and think, whoa, I don't know if I can take that.

As a kid, I always got a kick out of the Revelation to John, but now that End Times are here and I can expect to be on the receiving end of that stuff it seems way less cool.

Yeah, FOX News and 35 million people are a big sliver. Actually the figure is probably bigger as 52% of a certain tribe actually believe that actual theft actually occurred.

Bawb.
I have no religion (but I envy those who do) , so I respond purely as a music lover. Your passion gets to me every time
and this production is excellent. Who knows , with songs as good as this , you may convert me one day.
cheers
Gary.

Bawb,

Boldly stated but unfortunately so true! Truth hurts and some just don't want to hear it!

As for the song, I feel the backtrack matches the subject matter very well. You did an excellent job putting it together! Your vocals a great especially in the chorus...I like the raspy type vocal. Thanks and take care, Torrey

Well, can you blame us? It wears after a while. If this were a jolly marching tune about how any day now Allah is going to come down and kill all Christians, how would you feel about that?

"Yeah, FOX News and 35 million people are a big sliver. Actually the figure is probably bigger as 52% of a certain tribe actually believe that actual theft actually occurred."


That's more people than you have in your entire country.

So you're an expert on American politics as well as the American hospital system, Ray?

No Regards,

Bob

Hey Folks,

I think we can all unify around this:

Most people in most governments around the world have proved themselves to be self-interested, selfish, power-hungry, duplicitous, lying, back-stabbing, hypocritical liars who think that our entire lives exist to support governments, government careers, politicians and bureaucrats so they never have to ever hold a real job or prove themselves to be competent in anything.

Once enough people from all sides of the spectrum, regardless of political affiliation, say, "Oh I get it, we all voted for the wrong people" and then everyone permanently turns off the news, and logs out of social media (except for the BIAB forum) we will all be fine.

Oh, we also have to get rid of all the clowns we have elected, in EVERY party. Every single one.

Then we will all be fine.

They exist to serve us. We do not exist to serve them. Once people latch onto that, and decide to do something with that thought, it will start getting better.

I promise.

Apologies, Bawb, for being diverted from the core discussion.

Bob, thanks for your commentary. You should see that dentist.

David, yes, lots of harmony but a touch of dissonance too though I disagree with your last post on process.

Don't think that.

I'm not eager myself to abolish all government and let anarchy take over, with the assumption that people are just cool and will do smart stuff.

I believed that at Woodstock, though. The stuff about disconnecting from news, too. "Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out"

I don't think we are off topic, actually.

When someone posts a song about the Book of Revelation this specific, people are going to have opinions.

There are a lot of intelligent and well-read people on the forum, and creative types usually like to pipe in.

An interesting book about the Book of Revelation was written by Elaine Pagels and is on my night stand collection.

Basically, the early church was very divided over this book. Advocates thought it was from God, but some thought it was the work of a madman. This debate has not entirely subsided.

Also, many scholars believe 666 was reference to Nero, and so many thought back in the day that THEY were in the final days. Others held that Jesus clearly stated we were right on the cusp as well.

But here we are, in another time zone and still hanging on.

Also of interest, when John was writing his Apocalypse, several hundred others were writing their own. It was the hottest book topic of the day. Books about the apocalypse were the best sellers of the time. They sold like hot cakes. There were almost as many books on the end times back then as there are song posts on the Band in a Book forum.

But John said his was the real deal, and the rest were phony.

In the end, his book got top billing and voila, it was finally chosen for inclusion in the Bible after a pretty big fight.

So, lots of interesting tidbits.

But my guess is that 2,000 years from now, folks are still going to be saying the end times are just around the corner.

I am not saying "no government" but I am saying most of our elected officials at the national level right now seem to be clowns. Not all, but most. I have no idea how this happened, but something has to change.

The level of self-interest in all areas is stupifying.

Also, the news sells outrage and has nearly destroyed our society.

Same with social media.

There is little room for doubt on this.

It is just a fact.

I have a browser extension that will block me from ever saying something like that. =8^)

Ya, thanks. Not quite "Revelation" (until later in the thread) but same themes.

I studied the New Testament in college, from the "redaction criticism" perspective of trying to figure out what texts derive from what other texts, and what lost texts precede everything we have.

We talked about what happens when people expect the world to end and the world doesn't end. The early Christians specifically expected Jesus to return before the last of the first generation died off, and it was a big problem for them at the time, there was much argument about what Jesus meant when he said he'd be back. You can see it playing out in the texts, it's just like social media, there's somewhere that says, "Some say Jesus said he'd be back before they died, but he never said THAT, not exactly."

It has been suggested that the "cognitive dissonance" caused by the failure of the world to end triggered, ironically, a counter-wave of proselytism without which Christianity might simply have fizzled out.

I don't.

And that also is a fact.



Ok, so I'm done.

Great song BAWB. Outta here...

A good message.
Song with passion.

moto

STRONG MESSAGE! I've read The Bible 3 times through (well, I skipped Numbers and Deuteronomy a couple times), and I feel your inspiration. Great passioned vocal and and excellent band and mix.

Bawb:

Always love hearing your vocals, and they really convey the needed emotion for this well-written tune. “All the dusty bibles” . . . sweet line and a nice hook. In terms of production, perhaps a bit of de-essing in spots, but that’s just a nit. Overall, nice work in that regard—band and mix sounds good. Like that spoken part at the end; the fuzzy sound on the vocal, and finishing with those last two lines. Really solid Christian rock tune, notwithstanding the darker message.

My very best to you,

Deej