Idols Shout to the Lord

Last night’s “American Idol Gives Back” ended with the finalists all singing Shout to the Lord (YouTube video). They did a nice job on one of my favorite praise songs.

Does it irk me that they removed the name of Jesus? Absolutely. Does it surprise me? Not a bit.

As another song says, “there’s just something about that name” – and in the US today, it’s a good way to start a fight. As someone else has observed, you can talk about God all you want, but when you bring up the name of Jesus, people get defensive. So they omitted it.

Who, then, were they singing to? “God,” of course. The generic American God who bears only a superficial resemblance to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The God of American popular religion helps those who help themselves; the God of Abraham helps the helpless.

The God of America weighs your good deeds and bad deeds; the God of the Bible calls your good deeds filthy rags.

The God of America just wants to be loved; the God of Moses wants to be honored and obeyed.

Most importantly the God of America will let you find your own way to him; the God and Father of the Lord Jesus expects you to take the way He made for you.

We no longer build our idols out of gold and stone, but idols today are just as fake and just as dangerous as they were in the days of David and Elijah and Isaiah. We have to keep our eye on who we’re worshipping because “there is no other name under heaven… by which we must be saved.”

So what do we do about this appropriating Shout to the Lord? It’s still a pretty song, and people will talk about it. Let’s make sure people know who the song’s really about and what it really means and what this “promise” is we have in Jesus.