In today’s edition of the Friday Church News Notes, David Cloud implies that Bob Dylan, undoubtedly one of the best songwriters of the past century, made a deal with Satan, the prince of this world, to become a famous rock star.
Cloud cites what Dylan said in an interview: “It goes back to that destiny thing. I made a bargain with it a long time ago, and I’m holding up my end.” When asked what the bargain was, Dylan replied that it was “to get where I am now”; when asked who the bargain was with, Dylan answered, “With the chief commander … on this earth and the world we can’t see.”
While Cloud admits that Dylan could refer to a pact with God, he breaks free of reason and says that the deal must have been with Satan because the style of music Dylan plays would never have been part of a pact with God. To quote Cloud, “The only ‘god’ that will make a man a rock and roll star is the ‘god of this world’ (2 Cor. 4:4), ‘the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience’ (Eph. 2:2).”
As is typical, no Bible verses are given to support the claims that any genre of music is inherently evil, and Cloud seems either oblivious to or willfully ignorant of the fact that Dylan has released three gospel albums, seems to profess Christ as savior, and has even prefaced concerts with sermons.
Like it or not, this makes Dylan part of “our camp,” and as he is in such a position, we should try him, whether he be of God. This requires righteous judgment, not genre-prejudice.
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