My thoughts from the Festival of Life Nov. 26th 2004

Jerry picked me up at 12:30 and after picking Nic W. up from his home we hit the motorway. Everything going well. Our spirits were high and we were chatting about different stuff both film and non-film related. Then we hit the traffic jam. 4 hours later we exited the traffic jam, by now horrendously late, the situation forcing Jerry to make last minute frantic switches. We were meant to be filming the main event, but we switched to cover the youth event. No problem. More than a few prayers were said on that journey but we did get there in the end and set up in time for the start of the youth meeting, around 22:30.

With Jerry flitting between the two studios like a manic-depressant yo-yo the 4 of us ‘youth’ crew were left to get on filming the youth event. Things went well. We all got turns to vision-mix and film the action. The music, well - they had a full gospel choir, need I say more? Throughout the night various artists showed their gifting through many mediums from dance to rap to solo singing (Joyful, Joyful - yes, it did feel like a flash back to Sister Act 2)

A passionate altar call midway through the night sent hundreds of young Nigerians forwards and on to their knees. It could have been a Billy Graham meeting. The “altar caller” (hmm) cut straight to the bone and said (and I paraphrase) “I’m not mucking around. You’ve got to get your life straight. You can front to your friends but you can’t front to God. Get to the front (the front of the stage this time) and sort your life out. You can clap in church and sing songs but it doesn’t mean anything. Sort your life out. That includes anyone in the choir too. Don’t take me lightly. This is serious. Get to the front and sort it out between you and God.” The majority of the audience followed the bold move made by two girls to get on their knees before God and repent. Alarmingly (for the choir master) so did a fair few of the choir. These guys were honest with themselves in the face of reality, in the face of God. It was awesome to see.

Later on, or was it before? It was a long night! Anyway, I was filming on Camera 1when a young man got up to give, what I assume to be, the main ‘message of the night’. What a message. With all the talk we’ve had on holiness at church recently this guy really spoke to me. His talk was based around the music people listen too, the music black youth (fittingly) listen to. As he worked his way through his well-rehearsed notes the impact of his message really began to hit the audience, and I include myself in that collective group. He dived in to the depths of modern music, hip-hop in particular but touching on other genres too. The thrust of his talk was - “Music, the lyrics and the thoughts behind the tunes, means stuff - most of it wrong stuff.” The level at which Satan has worked his way in to the modern music industry is alarming, this area alone should be enough to prompt Christians to do something. Instead, it seems, we just accept it and shrug of the lyrics. Woe to the man who shrugs music off lightly, would by the preachers response. Artists, such as DMX, The Notorious B.I.G., the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Madonna, even Lauren Hill send at the least mixed signals and at the worst open acknowledgement of their involvment with Satanism. Breaking down the lyrics, the symbols in the album’s artwork and the collaborations between artists was illuminating. Satanic rituals performed on stage in front of thousands (Madonna, Brittany and Pink at the MTV Europe awards for example). Marilyn Manson and DMX - dude, those lyrics were heavy. How can we say it’s good music? My generation is gripped by music, and music at this moment is gripped by Satan. We have to do something. No more should we stand for this. I mean it. I would challenge my friends to think long and hard about the music in their collection. Is there any justification in the argument, “The music is good, it’s just a shame about the lyrics but I can ignore them?” Really? Are you trying to justify it to yourself because to face up to the reality and the way Jesus calls us to live is too hard? Come on guys.... Holiness is abondment. We must abandon our worldly ways.

What I need to do is get hold of the edited video, when completed, and make it available to those of you who want to watch it. I can’t do justice to the man’s message, he was using a God given talent and it would be an injustice for me to try and reproduce any more of his talk. Those of you intereset, let me know and I’ll make the arrangements.