Herod the Great is one of my favorite characters to use as an illustration of what happened to the Roman Republic-turned-Empire. His grandfather, Antipater, had connived his way into becoming a power broker in Judea. His father, Antipater II/Antipas, had supported Pompey and Caesar (which is apparently what led to his assassination the year after Caesar's). Herod himself had become friends with Caesar's protege, Octavian, who defeated Caesar's enemies and later appointed Herod "King of the Jews" in 40 BC. I think it's safe to say that Octavian (who would go on to become Augustus Caesar) was using Herod as much as he was rewarding him (else how do we explain pardoning the fact that Herod actually backed Mark Antony during that fuss?). He needed someone who could keep the traditionally unstable region of Judea under control and be a buffer against the Parthians so he could focus on more pressing enemies closer to home. In fact, he didn't particularly even like Herod, once saying that "it's safer to be one of Herod's pigs than one of his sons." But he couldn't argue with Herod's success. Because he was both a megalomaniac and paranoid, Herod used his long leash from Rome to rule Judea by terror, murdering any supposed threat and putting down any opposition to his reign. He managed to keep just enough favor with all parties by completing a number of massive building projects that employed lots of Jews, gave much pride to the region, and flattered their namesakes in Rome. If that's how things were in a true backwater of the Roman Empire, how much more dysfunctional must things have been closer to Rome? But that's not the point here. I want to tap into a fascinating exchange in Matthew 2. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” There are lots of unanswered questions in here. Where exactly did these "wise men" come from? What did they see in the sky? Why didn't a single Jew from Jerusalem go to investigate this hubbub for himself? Where did we come up with the name Melchior, anyway? There are plenty of commentaries that try to answer them, and I just want to use this entry to make an application. Beware of a Secular Interest in JesusThe application is actually really simple, yet Christians have repeatedly failed to learn the lesson throughout history, let alone modern America. Looking back, we know that Herod lied to the wise men. God Himself warned the wise men not to go back to Herod, which gave Joseph enough time to escape with his family to Egypt, sustained by the value of the gifts just given them. But put yourself in the shoes of the wise men. Let's say that they are distantly related to the magi of Daniel's day; that would make them polytheist-Zoroastrian-syncretists, benevolent men guided by a moralist philosophy but seeking truth in all religions (hmm, sounds familiar). They would think themselves above petty politics, which is probably how they justified walking into a madman's palace. But consider what happened there. They ask a rather poignant question. My guess is that they expected the new king to be somewhere in the palace, quickly realizing there is no baby boy anywhere around! But, Herod gets an answer to their question in a timely manner and sends them on their way with an expression of his own interest in their quest. And that brings me to CCM, Contemporary Christian Music. I could have picked on any number of Christian "industries" (and I probably still will), but this is the easiest illustration of my point. Let's recast the matter of the wise men in vaguer terms: some Christ-seekers have encountered a secular authority who has expressed interest in their mission. It's that simple. Imagine their possible responses: "wonderful, we can share our new-found knowledge with this fellow seeker!" or "hey, this leader can help us spread the word about what we have found" or "I wonder if this influential man can help us return home safely now that we've invested all of our resources in this Jesus." Those are things *I* would have thought, at least (thank God that God warned them off! can you imagine what might have happened had they gone back to Herod?). Sadly, Christians have not been so mindful of God's warnings since. The money, "security," and exposure envisioned under the secular umbrella has often proven too enticing to pass up. That was certainly the case for CCM, which is why it is where it is today. When I Googled "what happened to ccm?" on 12/17/15, I got this list:Everybody has their theories and conspiracies, but there is a common thread behind them all (well, make that 2 - the second being that the people who propelled CCM in the 90s have all grown up): secularization. I'm not necessarily talking about the music itself, but the ecosystem. We can attempt to measure the secularization of music by analyzing lyrics and studying the mini-messages given at CCM concerts and written in CCM album covers. That's relatively easy to do. Analyzing the business model - the industry itself - is much harder to do. Part of the reason for that (as I've addressed elsewhere) is that Christians compartmentalize their discipleship. For example, "I'm a follower of Jesus in what I do with 10% of my money, but not the other 90%, and certainly not in how I make it." The book Every Good Endeavor, written by Tim Keller, tries hard to give Americans a Christian view of work. He makes the point that we are not your employee who happens to be a Christian but a Christian who happens to be your employee. The mindset is very different (much more coherent). When you read CCM band bios, you'll hear the right things: "We're followers of Jesus Christ who use music as our platform." What you won't read is the affect their ecosystem has on them.
To be sure, we do see truly independent Christian labels. For that matter, more and more Christian bands are staying independent (not even signing with a label). The direct access afforded by social media makes this possible, but it also makes it incredibly difficult to create a niche and pay the bills. The independents are able to maintain their creative uniqueness, but at the cost of exposure. You sign with a label/distributor to gain access to their resources - promotions, tours, store shelves - at the cost of their input into your brand. And that should only make sense. If you want this company to promote you, they have to get something in exchange.
And that's where the fact that the "big three" in the music industry (Warner, Sony, and Universal) are secular comes into play. The way it's been explained to me is that Sony's (for example) influence over say Fair Trade and Essential is very indirect. They're constantly observing consumer behaviors; when they see something pop, they want bands under their labels to fit that mold. They're also observing profit margins for each label; when someone isn't making money, they are pressured to change or be cut. In those cases, they will be pressured to change to what somebody else is doing that is making money. Secular companies aren't worried about Christian integrity; they're worried about market share. And they force the labels under them to worry about that, as well. {Note: let me reiterate the value of the independent. They are keeping control over their creativity - betting on themselves, so to speak - but at the cost of the time and energy of selling themselves in a very crowded marketplace. The trade-off is real; the value of having someone promote you is real.} How did we get here in the first place? The success of CCM in the 90s. There was money to be made, so secular companies bought Christian/independent labels. How did that happen? The labels received an offer they couldn't refuse. "We're really good at what we do. We'll apply our successful business model to you guys, give you access to our vast resources, and you won't have to change your message. And you get money. It's a win-win." Sounds very much like, "Go and search carefully for the child, and when you have found Him report back to me so I can also go and worship Him." It's a very, very reasonable offer, and it's not until much later that you find out the true cost. I realize that I'm vastly oversimplifying a very complex equation, and I don't blame anybody for wanting to make a living. I just want to make a very simple point: beware secular interest in Jesus. I'm working on a separate article about how Christian radio has become extremely sterilized - this article has taught me that I need to take a band's relationships into account. Some bands are under more pressure than others to control their message. I think we could say very similar things about Christian movies, Christian t-shirts, Christian art, and Christian fiction. It's a matter of which publishers/producers have accepted Herod's offer and which have gone home by another route. As I hope I've established, that's a difficult decision if you don't know that's what's happening, but we have the advantage of seeing things from this side of the New Testament: are we in it for Jesus, or the money?
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