Written by:	Dane Train
Published:	07.07.2009

A friend once told me that when you are a Christian and a fan of Heavy Metal music you live in two worlds and both despise you. While that statement is not entirely accurate there is a great deal of truth to it. Ever since the birth of Heavy Metal music in the mid 1960's the Christian Church by in large has been opposed to the music and culture which in turn only helped to fuel anti-Christian mentality throughout the scene. The relationship between Metal and Christianity seems to be on a constant downward spiral.

As a lifelong Heavy Metal enthusiast (known as a Metalhead) and a follower of Jesus Christ I felt very upset with the way Christians have reacted to Metal. For too long I would hear pastors and missionaries talk about all the work they were doing around the world in the name of Christ, which is definitely a great thing, but not once did I ever hear someone in church say anything about ministering to the guy in the Iron Maiden shirt down the street. Here is a culture that is almost entirely comprised of social outcasts and broken people and lay emphasis upon that notion and Christians were ignoring them. What was worst than just ignoring the problems faced was the way Christians treated the Metalheads with protests, album burnings and even banning bands from playing in certain cities (or even nations!) all the time preaching a message of "love and peace."

It was exactly those sorts of folks that Jesus got pissed off at. The self righteous, religious and egocentric folks that we have today are really no different than those who executed Jesus 2,000 years ago. I can totally sympathies with my non-Christian brethren in the Metal scene; televangelists, street preachers and the ilk drive me mad!

On another note, as a Christian I became very disillusioned with worship. Tradition hymns were not moving my spirit and contemporary praise music turned me off. I honestly felt like there was something wrong with me when I would see others around me in a worshipful mood and I felt nothing. Then one night when I was at a Metal concert I had a huge spiritual awakening which showed me that just as some people can worship with choirs and organs I could praise God with distorted guitars, thundering drums and powerhouse vocals. If I felt connected to God this way surely others out there could too.

So I did something about it: I started a new ministry.

The Flame Within is a Christian ministry designed with the purpose of providing an alternative way of worshiping God: with Metal! For those who do not enjoy typical worship music and realize that there are other sources for praising God, The Flame Within feature Christian Metal bands that have a positive message that can be applied to the Christian walk. Services also feature inspiring and thoughtful sermons and discussions as well as prayer and counseling.
Some of you may have questions. Questions like: WHAT? Why would you do something this, frankly, weird?
Let me start by telling you why we are not here. We are not here because we feel sorry for you. We are not here to look down on people and say things like: "Those poor Metalheads, I bet if we talk to them real nice, they'll straighten right up and become good little clones."

We are not here because we think you are an under-marketed-to demographic that has been neglected and who needs to hear our advertisement for our new product: Christianity, NOW WITH METAL!
We are here because at different points in our lives and for different reasons this culture has influenced who we are and how we think, and informed our Christian faith. Let me give you an example.

People in the Metal culture have a real advantage in confronting the Christian message. I believe most people in the Metal culture are here because we live in a terribly shallow, silly, weak willed culture and Metal says there is something terribly, terribly, wrong with this culture. Metal people understand that the world is not a warm fuzzy happy place full of sweetness and light where we can hold hands and sing 'kum by ya' and?you get the idea.

People in the Metal scene know there is something deeply wrong with the world. And Metal often expresses our outrage. Instead of pretending everything is OK or anesthetizing ourselves with consumerism, self pity, or poison, Metalheads tend to confront things head on. This is unbelievably important because it is the hardest part of the Christian message for most people to grasp and Metalheads understand it from the get-go. Metalheads know something is really, really wrong.

The thing that is wrong with the world is called sin.

I'd bet most of you have been in a church or somewhere and had someone tell you about Jesus sometime or other. For most people in American churches the story went like this: There is this magic hippie in the sky and if you have a really good nervous breakdown at the front of the church you'll be saved (but we don't have time to explain what that means) then you can join the youth group and something about some great new friends and a t-shirt?..sound familiar? I was afraid of that.

It turns out the Metalheads were right. The world is broken. We know this because our Master told us. Christians have a technical term for this broken-ness. It's called original sin: the tendency in the human heart towards evil. It is this we need to be saved from, this is the cycle we break by confronting our own nature. Facing it and walking through it and away from it. Christians look at the horror, pain and suffering of this world and our own part in it and our own desire for it and say: "No."

The real message of Christ is not the moral teachings, which are beautiful, or the miracles which show his ability to care for people. The REAL story is that they killed Him stone dead and He walked out of the grave. The ancient creed says "He descended into Hell." Then He walked out the other side. This is why we call Him Lord. Look up the word: A Lord is someone you owe allegiance to because of his power. His power is such that we call Him Lord, God of God, Light of Light, and true God of true God. It is by believing in this resurrection and in its power that we become saved from the death and decay He conquered.

I've gotta tell you: I hate those silly self righteous alter calls you see in most churches. I don't care how much sweating and cryin' you do tonight. I care very much that you understand we are here because the person and the power of a man who was God has fundamentally altered who and what we are. It turned our heads around so much there is nothing we can do but tell people about it. So I'm not going to do one of those alter call deals. I'm just gong to ask you: Have you had enough? Are you tired? Are you ready to find in Christ the only antidote to the truly awesome disaster that is this life?

The horror of this world has no power over Him. It has no power over His people. A lot of Christians try to make the case that when you accept Christ you have this fun, happy, exciting and carefree life with no worries, kind of like the end of the Wizard of OZ. Jesus never said those things. He promised that our lives would be transformed, that we would not be creatures of this earth anymore. The evil of this world has no authority over us anymore. We are still here, but we are not afraid. We are not afraid.

Blessings,

Pastor D. Train