Every Saint Has A Past And Every Sinner Has A Future

Alice Cooper, American rock singer. Taken at t...

Alice Cooper, American rock singer. Taken at the 2007 Scream Awards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All of us have some tendency to judge a person based on what we think we know about them and predict their future based on that judgement. However, every now and then something comes along that shows us how limited and incorrect our judgement can be.

Yesterday an article was posted at The Daily Wire that convinces me that sometimes God laughs at all of our conclusions about other people.

The article reports:

In an interview with the New York Daily NewsConfidential published Sunday, legendary rocker Alice Cooper said his personal relationship with Jesus Christ saved him from going the way of Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.

Cooper gave the interview a week ahead of the debut of NBC’s live version of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” starring John Legend and featuring Cooper as King Herod, the role he played back in 1996 when he recorded what writer Andrew Lloyd Webber called the “definitive” version of “Herod’s Song.”

 While Cooper did talk some with Confidential about the new production, what earned the headline was his account of his journey out of a self-destructive rock and roll lifestyle 37 years ago, for which the now 70-year-old rocker credits Christianity.

“Everything that could go wrong was shutting down inside of me,” he said. “I was drinking with Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and trying to keep up with Keith Moon and they all died at 27.”

Thirty-seven years ago, one of his binges landed him in a hospital, where a doctor diagnosed him as a “classic alcoholic.” Cooper told Confidential his desire to drink ended that day as he faced the reality that he must put the bottle down or die. His return to his Christian roots is what prevented him from falling back into his unsustainable lifestyle.

“My father was a pastor, my grandfather was an evangelist. I grew up in the church, went as far away as I could from it — almost died — and then came back to the church,” he said.

“There’s nothing in Christianity that says I can’t be a rock star,” he said. “People have a very warped view of Christianity. They think it’s all very precise and we never do wrong and we’re praying all day and we’re right-wing. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with a one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ.”

 Part of the reason he was able to keep himself on the straight and narrow was his wife, whom he married in 1976 and who is also a Christian, and the couple’s commitment to reading the Bible and staying connected in their church. Cooper told the outlet that he has never been unfaithful to his wife, performs a daily Bible study, and regularly attends church on Sunday.

Wow. Just wow.

 

The Sad End Of Whitney Houston

I heard about the death of Whitney Houston late Saturday.  I haven’t written about it because it seemed very tragic and I didn’t know what I could say. I have been listening to Bill Bennett this morning and listening to his comments and the comments of people calling in. I still don’t know what to say, but I have a few observations.

Whitney Houston had a beautiful voice. Evidently in recent years, her drug use had taken a toll on that voice and she no longer had the range and clarity that she once had. (Getting older also affects your voice, so I suspect that might have been part of it). That must have been difficult to deal with.

It is tragic that she died so young. She was 48. We don’t know yet if drugs played a part in her death, although the speculation is that drug use (legal or illegal) was part of the problem.

My condolences go the her family. This is a tragedy. I hope everyone who uses drugs and thinks it is cool will take a long look at this and reconsider. There are many very talented performers who consider drug use one of the perks of the business. We have lost too many gifted people too soon over the years–Elvis, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Heath Ledger, etc. Let’s hang on to the performers in this generation–let them be examples of living without drugs. Even though I don’t always appreciate the music of this generation, I would love to see those who produce and perform the music choose to be role models against drug use. If nothing else, that would give them longer careers!

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