(Tim, w/thanks to Kamilla) If you want to begin to understand our day--the switch of the central currency of cultural engagement from the Bible to moving pictures, the use of film clips in Gospel preaching, the building of congregations around virtual images of themselves on the movie screen each Lord's Day employed by men like Mark Driscoll and John Piper, and the gift our head of state and his wife gave the Queen, recently--only two things are necessary: first, read the Second Commandment; and second, read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business.
And while we're talking about the gifts the monarchs exchanged...
can anyone doubt Western culture is wholly given over to idolatry while holding membership in the Church of Jesus Christ? Both the Obamas and Her Majesty publicly confess Jesus Christ, yet look at the music. Not one psalm, hymn, or spiritual song. No oratorio or mass. No bone tossed to the soul. Rent and Chicago and Cats and Les Mis own our souls.
Check out your own Top 25 in iTunes and see if there's any song of Zion.
If not, what do I recommend? Listen to these songs over and over again. Wake up, sleeper!