P.O.D. article

Found this just today while I was searching another Christian band...I had to write something on it! It's pure...well...I'm not sure it's pure anything...it's muddy stuff. But read it for yourself. The italicized words are the original article's and the plain are mine.

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Psalm 68:4-Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.

(Please notice that this is King James Version. No “per-versions” here. I don't want this verse to look like a part of the article. The article carefully ignored this verse....)

“The Rasta god is “Jah”. P.O.D.’s album, “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown” does not contain the wonderful name of Jesus Christ, but the Rasta god “Jah” occurs 10 times. Spin magazine says of P.O.D., “…the band [has] structured their lives around a spiritual belief system that cross-fades Christianity, Rastarianism and Judaism.” (Spin, October 2001, p. 88) Guitar World writes, “A lot of the spirituality you guys project seems more akin to Rasta than mainstream Christianity”. (Guitar World, Nov. 2001, p. 104)”

As demonstrated by the topmost verse, Psalm 68:4, it is perfectly biblical to call God by an unusual name, if it is ordered in the Bible that you sing praises to that name. The Rasta connotation is purely coincidental. Do you think there’s a reason the magazine Spin is named Spin? Everyone knows that half-truths and extraneous words are known as “spin”. The words of the magazine were probably an editorial, a fact that the anti-P.O.D. site did not take into account. You’ll notice that the excerpt from Guitar World is phrased exactly as a question. The site that is using those words probably took them out of context, completely ignoring the band member’s response to the question, which may have completely disproved the question’s validity.

“…the only issue that P.O.D. viciously attacks is Bible Believing Christians! Sonny of P.O.D. says, “We don’t fit in with the conservative values of Christian America.” He goes on to say, “I don’t even like saying I’m a Christian sometimes because it leaves such a bad taste in people’s mouths.” (Spin Mag, October 2001, p. 88) Marcos of P.O.D. blatantly says, “To tell the truth, though, I don’t even like the term Christian...” (GuitarWorld, No. 37, p.28)"

The site offers no proof of P.O.D’s touring with the likes of Howard Stern and does not detail what “filthy rockers” they tour with. Also, it takes the words of the rockers out of context when it states that they “don’t like the term Christian”. The site does not take into account that such “Christians” as Pat Robertson and Benny Hinn are casting an extremely unfortunate light on Christians today. Perhaps it is better not to be associated with the likes of those two men. I see no attacks on Bible-believing Christians. I do not read the words “We hate the Bible and Christianity” anywhere. In fact, I don’t even see that implication. I would have to say that if they are a hard-rock/reggae band, then they most certainly do not fit in with the regular conservative Christian values. They told the truth. And there's a problem with that? Who says that conservative Christianity is the only way to go? I was of the opinion that Christianity is Christianity if it believes that Jesus Christ is the crucified, buried, and risen again Son of God and that all that's required for salvation is belief in Him. The first thing you look for in any religion is who is Jesus to them? To the band (not a religion) P.O.D., He is the risen Son of God, to be revered and worshipped.

P.O.D.'s albums are gushing with occult symbols. One of P.O.D.'s logos is the 'triqueta'. The triqueta is Latin for "three cornered" and signifies the power of three. The triqueta is very popular in witchcraft, representing the threefold nature of the Witchcraft Goddess as virgin, mother and crone. As Christianity was polluted with many pagan symbols, the triqueta was falsely adopted by some Christians as symbolizing the Trinity.

The site does not detail that the “triqueta,” as they call it, could hypothetically be used to symbolize the Trinity. Nor does it detail what would be wrong with that-why it would be "false" to do that. Their argument that it’s an occult sign does not stand because the band is composed of professing Christians who want to use this sign in a Christian way, doing away with its former image.
They even state that the triqueta is “…commonly used in Catholic liturgical iconography.” So P.O.D’s use of this symbol (I don’t believe it is a triqueta when not used in an occult setting or for an occultic purpose) is not new.

OVERALL: You may notice that the article I’m using quotes only two sources: Guitar World and Spin magazines, neither of which have been proven credible sources. So if these folks would like to attack P.O.D., I would suggest several things. This may sound harsh, so hold on.

1. Get your facts straight. Until I read this article, I was convinced that taking words out of context and twisting facts were secular tricks. Not so, as I can see. Whoever wrote this article needs some lessons in putting the truth forth in a clear, honest manner, concealing nothing, and leaving the decisions to their readers.
2. Keep a fair point of view. The band P.O.D. is not evil, despite the somewhat goth art on their album Payable on Death. In fact, conservative Christian organization has this to say about their work.
Satellite: http://pluggedinonline.com/music/music/a0000945.cfm
Payable on Death: http://pluggedinonline.com/music/music/a0001598.cfm
Testify: http://pluggedinonline.com/music/music/a0002564.cfm
3. Use more credible sources. Guitar World and Spin aren’t accountable news organizations. They sound more to me like tabloids…but that’s just me. Point is, they aren’t the AP.

I think that’s all. There is so much more stuff against P.O.D. and the like that I don’t even have time to cover all of it. But this stuff is pure bias. They want to make your mind up for you. They don't want you to have a balanced point of view. Otherwise, you might see that P.O.D. has taken on a particularly hard, dark part of music and is slowly turning it around. How can you fault that? P.O.D. is composed of humans. Of course they sin, of course they make mistakes. But they are no more sinful than the author of this article. It looks like the author of this and similar articles simply don't like the sound of P.O.D. Either that or they're bored. Both ways, you should avoid their garbage as much as possible.
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Like I said, there is a TON of this stuff out there. I'll have to keep writing about it. It is most interesting.