Month: May 2007

Why I Hate the Recording Industry

As I approach the issue of why I have a gripe about the Recording Industry, let me say that I do agree to the concept of intellectual property and copyrights. The Good Book says a laborer is worth his hire; in other words, you should get paid for your hard work. However, the current system does not do that for most recording artists.

Most recording artists (groups, bands or whatever they call themselves) would sign with a label. Between the booking agency and the recording label, they would handle recording, production, marketing, distribution and publicity. This would free-up the musicians and performers to do what they do best and let others with more resources handle the business end of things. Everybody got a share of the success of the group. Sometimes the label would make lots of money and often they would not. In exchange for the risk involved the recording companies ended up owning the rights to the intellectual property of the artists that they represented.

My complaint is not with this initial arrangement but what happens in subsequent years. Because the recording companies own the songs, only they can control what is released and what is withheld from the public. In my case, I have many recordings on vinyl that were never released on compact disk. You can no longer buy them. Not in a brick and mortar store and not on the Internet. Even the recording companies don’t offer them for sale. I know they exist but nothing is happening with them. It is as if they never existed. If you are really lucky, a few tracks might end-up on a “best of” CD.

This system is stupid. Recording companies are sitting on literally millions of songs that they have no intention of ever releasing again. They won’t ever do anything with them. To me this is criminal.

The intent of copy protection enjoyed by the recording companies should not give them an automatic moratorium on all recorded works for 99 years or even longer. The recordings were intended to be enjoyed by the public and also to earn money for the recording artist. Neither of these interests is served by the current system.

I think that the recording companies should be required to release the complete works of any artist that they own every fifteen years. No not a “best of” but everything originally done on the LP or CD. If they fail to do this, then all rights revert to the artist or their estate. Should they fail to release the material at some regular interval then the recording becomes public domain.

The bottom line is that the recordings be made available and the copyright is only in force as long as the recording is making income for the recording company and/or the artist.

The availability of the recording should also be in a format that is technologically relevant. I have an example that I wish to offer on this point.

One of my favorite groups is DeGarmo and Key Band. They did a double album of a live concert during the era when vinyl was being replaced by CDs. The album was later released on a double CD set. So far, so good. However, it was discovered many years later that millions of CDs released during that period were defective. The film in the CDs was known to decay in just a matter of years. My disk two is so bad that it will not play.

About two years ago, I found the recording on a download site owned by Sony. I thought to myself, this is great; a large corporation bought the music company and is making all their stuff available for download on the Internet. What a visionary and enlightened view of corporate management. I signed-up for their service and gleefully downloaded a digital version of the album. Finally I could replace my defective disk 2 of the set. I pressed play and was shocked. They had simply ripped the CD and put it for sale online. No remastering or ripping from a master. Their CDs were defective also! There were gaps in the recording and the quality in some spots was terrible. It was better than my defective disk but it was still wrong. I sent them an email to complain and instead of fixing the problem, they gave me a credit for another download. I just want a clean copy of what they were selling. I went back to the site about a year later and the download is no longer offered. They too have slipped into digital oblivion.

There needs to be changes in the current system. It is broken. The recording companies are hurting. They need a 21st Century business model instead of one from the 1960s.

Need a Primer on Mormonism?

With all the publicity about the Mitt Romney candidacy, you might be wondering what are the differences between historic Christianity and the LDS church. Does it matter?  Hear one of the best experts on the subject. Walter Martin’s classic lectures on the Maze of Mormonism Part 1 & Maze of Mormonism Part 2 are now on the web.

Many of Walter Martin’s lectures and other material are available at Walter Martin’s Religious InfoNet This site is run by one of his daughters and her husband. Many of his teachings can be found in the Listening Library in RealAudio format. All are from cassette tapes that were converted to digital. The audio quality is not the best but it is worth a listen. Additional teachings can be found at the page for Kingdom of the Cults page The audio teachings on this page are not the same as the book but go along with some material presented in the book.

Vote for Romney a Vote for Satan?

Bill Keller has posted a scathing attack on Mormons and Mitt Romney. I do not know Mr. Keller but I was intrigued by this situation following as it does on the recent comments by Al Sharpton.

I read about this article on WorldNetDaily. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55642

If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for satan!

Was my vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger v Phil Angelides for California Governor a vote for Satan? Arnold cannot be a “good” Roman Catholic if he is for abortion and Phil is worse on the life issue. I believe abortion is murder but I also believe that God gave me the right to vote. Did Jesus say to support Caesar was to support Satan? No. The Bible teaches us that God appoints leaders and is the ruler of all nations; even those without a vote. I believe our job as Christians is to pick the best guy we can get. Character matters. Like I have said before, as Republicans we have a choice of a “good” Mormon and a lapsed Catholic. We are not electing a pastor but a president.

This message today is not about Mitt Romney. Romney is an unashamed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago.

I missed the part where Joseph Smith killed anyone. Was Joseph a pedophile? He might have married women under the age of 18, but in his day that was common. I think he had 35 wives. (see http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/ )

The teachings of the Mormon cult are doctrinally and theologically in complete opposition to the Absolute Truth of God’s Word. There is no common ground. If Mormonism is true, then the Christian faith is a complete lie.

Joseph Smith makes this same claim.

There has never been any question from the moment Smith’s cult began that it was a work of satan and those who follow their false teachings will die and spend eternity in hell. This message is about the top Christian leaders in our nation who are supporting this cult members quest to become the next President of the United States.

I have watched in horror over the past weeks as one evangelical Christian leader after another has either endorsed, supported, or just as bad, refused to denounce Romney’s run for the White House and those Christian leaders who support him. Last weekend Pat Robertson, founder of CBN and Regents University, had Romney deliver the keynote address to the graduates of Regents. Regents is one of the great Christian colleges in this nation and Robertson allowed this cult member to deliver the commencement address. Is he out of his mind?

Would Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox New Channel be better? He is in hot water from some about pornography. http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/05/purpose_driven.html

Do you think there would ever be a true Gospel preacher giving the commencement address at Brigham Young?

No

I have been warning you for years now about this cult born out of the pits of hell and responsible for sending millions of souls to eternal damnation.

 

People are in hell for rejecting Jesus Christ. False religion, homosexuality, drugs, gangs, sex and rock ’n roll are just things that people do to try and fill the spiritual vacuum in their lives.

For the nearly 200 years this cult has been in existence they have strived for mainstream acceptance. They are the most devious of all the cults since they have always tried to portray themselves as “just another Christian group” when in fact, they are no more Christian than a Muslim is! Their deception starts with their name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sounds like a Christian church doesn’t it? Some Mormons have recently changed their name to simply Community of Christ (Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) to disguise even better who they are in an attempt to lure people in.

Many cults try to wrap themselves in biblical and Christian terminology. Define what Mormons believe and you will find a rejection of virtually every core doctrine. They are polytheistic, deny that Christ paid for our sins by his death and their version of the Virgin Birth (Adam having sex with Mary) are just a few whoppers that they tell.

The Mormon cult talks of God and Jesus, but again, don’t be deceived since the god and jesus of Mormon theology are NOT the one true God and Jesus of the Bible.

They teach God the Father has a physical body and that Adam, from the Garden of Eden, is “our father and our god and the only god with whom we have to do.” Thanks Brigham Young! Each planet has their own god. Also to them Jesus and Lucifer are brothers!

This cult also uses the Bible, but like in all cults it is NOT their final authority. The Bible is superceded by the writings of Smith in the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Mormons teach that the Bible is correct “in so far as it is translated correctly.” Any contradiction with the Bible is the fault of man, only they have the restored gospel.

These books form the perverted teachings of Mormonism and is what their false theology is based on. There are many great ministries who work to bring those lost in the Mormon cult out of that deception to true faith in the Jesus of the Bible. You can visit any Christian bookstore and find many books that will detail in great depth the bizarre theology of Mormonism which is not based on anything but the imagination of Smith.

Classic Texts to Read. Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?, Kingdom of the Cults, Maze of Mormonism.

I am not even going to deal with the tons of documentation that exists on the Mormons strategy to gain mainstream acceptance in the American culture. Obviously a big part of this strategy is to wield political power, with the Presidency being the ultimate political prize.

When I last checked, fifteen percent of the military is Mormon. This is because military service is an acceptable alternative to riding bicycles around your neighborhood and knocking on doors.

There are reportedly 12 million Mormons worldwide, half of those in the United States. The worldwide holdings of the Mormon cult are in the tens of billions of dollars. Mitt Romney is the first member of this cult who has had the legitimate opportunity to help them achieve their goal of mainstream acceptance while holding the most powerful office in the world. Romney will have the full resources of this cult behind him in his bid for the White House.

Ok so how can Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch and Mitt Romney all be on the same team? That is like saying Ted Kennedy and Laura Ingram are political soulmates. Mormons are PEOPLE not some monolithic enemy out to destroy us.

As I have told you often, despite what some polls say, the better percentage of two full generations living right now have never even been to church.

Or at least a church where the Bible is taken seriously.

Everyone has a spiritual side to their life, and the cults and false religions, the new Age movements, have been having a field day attracting people to their false beliefs because of the overwhelming number of people who have no faith coupled with the fact Christians have quit evangelizing and virtually removed themselves from the culture leaving these lost souls to satan.

Perhaps because the Church and our country are under the judgment of God for our rejection of Him. We have forgotten where our blessing have come from.

It is against this backdrop that I tell you without any hesitation or equivocation that to support and vote for Mitt Romney is to support and vote for satan!

We are back to this again. Mr. Keller we need revival in the Church first. Salvation is not at the ballot box. God is in charge. Maybe Mr. Romney and his fellow Mormons needs our prayers.

If Romney gets elected as the next President of the United States, the Mormon cult will finally have the mainstream acceptance they have been striving for these past 200 years.

Mormons are a uniquely American phenomenon. I think their acceptance will happen without a Romney victory. We are slowing moving toward the Roman view of religious pluralism where you can have any god as long as Caesar is supreme. Christians are being marginalized and even persecuted in our country. If the church continues its apostasy then the situation for us will continue to deteriorate. The religion of Environmentalism and its neo-pagan ideals is more of a danger than the folks in salt Lake City.

Romney winning the White House will lead millions of people into the Mormon cult.

Did JFK’s victory lead millions into the Roman Church?

Those who follow the false teachings of this cult, believe in the false jesus of the Mormon cult and reject faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, will die and spend eternity in hell.

True. We need to work harder and pray for them.

*ROMNEY GETTING ELECTED PRESIDENT WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD MILLIONS OF SOULS TO THE ETERNAL FLAMES OF HELL!!!

Isn’t that just a little harsh?

Knowing all we do about this satanic cult leading people’s souls to hell, knowing that a Romney presidency would give mainstream acceptance to this cult, why are most of the top evangelical leaders of our day falling over themselves to support this man?

Find me a better candidate and I’m there! Hey Fred where are you?

How can any Christian in good conscience have anything to do with Romney?

Do we just stay home and let the country go to hell? Oh, wait we are anyway.

I submit to you there are only 2 possible reasons, money and power.

Let me first discredit immediately the reason many are publicly giving for supporting Romney, and that is his stand on family issues and life. Romney has distinguished himself as the leading Republican candidate to be pro life. It is important to note this has only happened recently since Romney used to support women killing their babies. His wife even donated money to the leading baby killing organization in he world, Planned Parenthood. But even giving Romney the benefit of the doubt that he will take a stand for life, the chances of him being responsible for moving that issue are minimal even if he went on record that his number one objective of his presidency is to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which of course he has not done and never will do. Supporting and voting for Romney because of his position on life is NOT a reason to elect a man who will ultimately be used to lead millions of souls to hell.

Would Hillary or Rudy be better for the Life issue than Romney? Would their judicial appointments be better?

No my friend, as sad as it is, this is about what most things in life boil down to, money and power. Is it any wonder why the Christian faith is so weak and ineffective, has such little influence in our culture when those who are recognized as leaders aren’t really interested in God’s Truth or in seeing souls saved, only in money and power.

Are the politicians responsible for my soul? Did the early Church convert the Roman Empire by living their lives for Jesus or seeking political office?

It was just a few decades ago that another cult member bought the evangelical leadership of this nation. His name was Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification cult. To gain mainstream acceptance for his cult, he set up a myriad of conservative organizations and through them funneled literally millions of dollars to people like Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Robert Schuller, Paul Crouch, James Dobson, Jay Sekulow. D. James Kennedy, and many others.

Ok. How many of these folks converted to the Unification Church? Where is the Unification Church anyway. It has disappeared from the public eye for decades. Rev Moon is living the high life in Korea and I doubt his group will live much beyond him.

Fast forward to the year 2007 and you now have many of these same names involved in Romney’s bid to become the next President. Romney had a very clear gameplan to court the evangelical leaders of this nation to support him. There is nobody who will dispute that it was the Christian vote which was responsible for President Bush being elected twice.

Without the evangelicals no Republican can win the primary. Only John McCain is trying. If Romney is so good at this strategy then why is he so far down in the polls? I think the rank and file Evangelicals are not comfortable with him. Unfortunately, attacks like this one will have Christians defending Romney while disagreeing with his religion.

Knowing the satanic nature of the Mormon cult and the fact they have worldwide resources in the tens of billions, literally thousands of non profit and for profit corporations they control, it would be pocket change for them to funnel money and/or services to those Christian leaders who support Romney for President.

Romney has lots of friend in the business world but he hasn’t passed Hillary in fundraising. If what you claim (or fear) is true then she should be far behind in the money hunt.

Having been embarrassed when their ties to Moon’s cult became public, I have no doubt that those who are in bed with Romney have been very careful to insure that however they are being rewarded for their support, it will be virtually impossible to discover.

Now you sound like a moonbat. I think the evangelicals are hedging their support for Romney and Fred Thompson could easily strip much from Romney if he gets in the race soon.

Of course, the other component to those who are supporting Romney is power. Sadly, many evangelical leaders are also smitten with being “near the throne.” Many of these men and women are willing to compromise the Truth in exchange for political power. They are willing to ignore the fact this hideous cult is leading millions to hell in order to be part of Romney’s team. These leaders are nor driven by the Gospel but by political power!

What did Billy Graham get from hanging-out with Richard Nixon?

FOX News, that likes to portray itself as being friendly to the Christian faith, might as well be renamed the Mitt Romney for President network.

Fox is not hostile to Christians. There is a difference.

Sean Hannity, who wears his Romney cheerleading dress to the program every night, has stated numerous times that those who dare question Romney’s faith are hate mongers. It is clear that Hannity could care less about the spiritual implications of a Romney presidency, only that he will be on the inside as one of Romney’s biggest advocates. Of course there is radio and TV host Glenn Beck who rarely lets people know he is a Mormon, often stating he is “born again.”

Hannity is Roman Catholic and sees this in terms of the JFK campaign. All Mormons claim to be “born again” but like other terms they have a different definition to Mormons.

Beck is either like most Mormons and hasn’t got a clue what his cult really believes, or he is simply trying to reinforce the lie from hell that a Mormon is a Christian.

This is an outgrowth of their belief that we are all wrong and they are the only true church.

I love you and care about you so much. Keller is referring to his readers not the LDS members. It is no wonder why the church is so weak and ineffective when you have those in leadership willing to compromise the Gospel for a few shekels and some political clout. I remember last year being excited about a wonderful deal we had put together with Larry Jones’ Feed the Children organization that would have meant millions of dollars a year to Liveprayer and been a big part of the answer to giving us all the resources we needed to do what God has called us to do in reaching the lost through secular television. I’ll never forget getting the phone call that Jones was bought and used by the Mormon cult as part of their overall strategy to appear as “just another Christian church.” I had no choice but to sever the ties we had established with Jones. All the money and power in the world is not worth selling out Jesus!

Please take some time today and pray for Mitt Romney and all those who have been deceived by the lies of the Mormon cult. The fact is that unless they renounce those lies and turn to faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, they will die and spend eternity in hell. Pray also for these Christian leaders who have for whatever reason, foolishly aligned themselves with Romney. Pray the Holy Spirit will convict them and that they will renounce Romney and find a candidate to support who will hold to Biblical values. There is no excuse, no justification for supporting and voting for a man who will be used by satan to lead the souls of millions into the eternal flames of hell!

Does he want us to holdout for Fred or just holdout? Who is God’s Anointed in this race?

I refuse to sit back and be silent while those who people look up to, who lead them in spiritual matters, are selling out the faith for whatever money and power they might be able to get in return. I challenge any of them to come on my TV program, or I’ll appear on theirs, and answer one simple question, “Knowing that Mormonism is a cult and those who follow this cult will die and go to hell, what possible justification can you give for supporting Romney?”

We need to win the election to keep millions from dying at the hands of Islamists and going to hell. Many of these are your fellow Christians that you are asking to pray for the Mormons. I’m glad you finally got to that part of the discussion.

Having Romney as President is no different than having a Muslim or Scientologist as President.

What about Deists and Catholics?

Please, don’t tell me that Mitt Romney is the best option. I’ll stay home and not vote before I will vote for satan, since if you vote for Romney you are voting for satan!

So there you have it. Stay home and vote for Hillary. Isn’t she Satan’s handmaiden? Damned if you do …

 

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller

Lileks & Limbaugh Highlight MSM Stupidity

Today seems like stupidity in journalism day. First I read that the Minneapolis Star Tribune has dumped the James Lileks as a regular columnist. Lileks is probably the only thing worth reading in that paper. Listening to him each week on Hugh Hewitt is consistently one of the best segments on his program. Lileks is always laugh-out-loud funny.

Next I turn on Rush Limbaugh, and find out the television station that I watch each evening is all up in arms about the Rush Limbaugh parody “Barack the Magic Negro.” First, this parody is two months old. Second, Barack has been asked about the parody and did not take offense. Third the reporters never bothered to get the context about the song. They act like Limbaugh made the whole song up just so he could say “negro” on the air and bash Obama.

Any regular listener to Limbaugh knows that Rush took a series of articles written by Liberals who were dumping on Obama because of his race and strung them altogether to point out that these allegedly enlightened Liberals are just a bunch of racists who look at skin color and not qualifications. For Liberals it’s all about categories, groups and quotas. Dr. King wanted folks evaluated by “the content of their character” but his alleged successors are exactly the opposite. This is the classic definition of hypocrisy and low hanging fruit for Limbaugh to use to bash them as they so richly deserve.

Walter Martin often stated “a text without a context is a pretext, usually for error.” Local television station KOVR has proved once again the truth of that axiom.

Next

Yet another movie based on a story by Phillip K. Dick. Nicolas Cage stars as a man that can see into the future. The catch, he can only see up to two minutes ahead. The movie is fast paced and action filled. Cage’s character, Cris Johnson, is sought by the FBI to assist them finding a nuclear bomb in southern California. This is a chase movie. If you liked the Fugitive then this movie is worth a look.

The movie is rated PG-13. I think it could have qualified for an R with a little less editing. Because Johnson (Cage) can see into the future, there are lots of “what if” scenes. Many of these are explosions and people getting shot. ** Spoiler alert ** One scene involves his love interest being strapped into a wheelchair wearing a bomb that is exploded by terrorists. This scene is very disturbing. My wife cried. Much of the movie is devoted to preventing this possible future.

Cage is better in this film than in Ghost Rider. He is likable and the opening scenes in the movie create believability in his power that makes the whole premise work. Unlike the television show Heroes, the directors are not trying to misdirect you as each possible future is explored. They simply show you the possible choices and consequences of each. While you are waiting for the lines to Spiderman to get shorter, consider this film to be your Next.

Gene Robinson Marriage Assaulted

Gene Robinson, the homosexual Episcopal minister whose elevation to Bishop has been the fulcrum of the irreconcilable split in the worldwide Anglican Communion, has found yet another way to throw more fuel on the ecclesiastical pyre of the American church.  Robinson is the bishop of New Hampshire. New Hampshire is in the final stages of enacting a civil union law and Robinson wants to be first in line.

What I find curious is the quotes used from Robinson in the news stories about this issue. Robinson equates this civil union law with state recognition of gay marriage. He views this as a step toward forcing the federal government into recognizing gay marriage.

I think this is a huge leap forward, but it is not full equality until we have equality. The biggest piece missing, of course, is federal recognition. I don’t think it will happen until we get several more states. It doesn’t have to be a majority, but it has to be a significant number embracing full marriage rights until we can expect that at the federal level. We are only arguing over a timetable.

According to my understanding of this issue—and a cursory review of the issue on the Internet seems to confirm —civil unions and domestic partnership laws are two roughly equivalent ways used by states to create a legal means of granting the same rights to homosexuals that married couples enjoy. This is done on a state-by-state basis without federal recognition.  The above quote from Robinson seems to support this interpretation.

My question then is this; if civil unions and domestic partner recognition grant the same rights that states confer on married couples why is there such a push here in California to allow homosexuals to call themselves “married”? Marriage is defined in state law as the union of one man and one woman. This has been the definition of the term for the last two thousand years here in the West. Why must it be redefined now?

Marriage is one of three institutions created by God. The three are: government, church and family (marriage). The first miracle of Jesus was at a marriage. The relationship of Christ to the church is explained as the relationship of a groom to his bride. I submit that the assault on marriage by the state and some in the church is nothing short of an attack on God. It is a form of open rebellion by sinful men. No one can harm God so they take out their hatred of him by harming those that bear his image. Murder, abortion, homosexuality are all examples of this evil.

Anything that diminishes marriage undermines those institutions established by God for our benefit. The fact that a leader charged with defending Christ’s Church is a leading advocate for the destruction of both the institution of marriage and the Church charged with protecting it just heaps greater judgment upon him.