Michael: A Witness in Music  

The Conspiracy against God is about "The Word", and the profaning of His Holy Name within us. Adam fell in the garden, breaking the direct connection to God. Jesus, the "last Adam" was a quickening Spirit, the Word made Flesh, and the only one with whom we can re-establish our relationship with God. Michael\'s story is still unfolding. He is the one who is, is not. But Jesus is the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Many are trying to rewrite HIStory. We were given a help to instruct us. Learn more "here".

I am very lucky. I feel blessed to have somehow been placed in a position where I got to know Michael as a person before I really got to know his music. I missed a lot but his stardom never really had a chance to jade my opinion of him.

After June of last year, I was moved to find out what happened to him. To this day is still baffles me. Why? Other celebrities died that year, Farrah Fawcett the same week! When I started this blog, I told this story.

Before June of last year, I knew enough about Michael Jackson to know that he did not deserve what the press had done to him over the years. Between June 2009 and January of 2010, I studied him. I watched every interview, speech, awards show, home movie, documentary and news clip where Michael was talking about Michael. I learned that he was this wounded child who kept going and going and going, despite being emotionally dismembered by having the very love he spoke about in the Bible twisted back on him by vicious people.

Watching those interviews in chronological order was like watching a man slowly dying in front of my eyes. His eyes were more tortured with each progressive interview. The 2003 “60 Minutes interview was the worst. Michael seemed unable to comprehend just how evil people could be.

If you want to get to know an artist, you read their art. I spent my childhood escaping into the three gifts that God had given me. I did not understand the power and protection this afforded me until I began to study Michael’s art. To my surprise, this was not limited to his music and dancing. Michael was a creature of creation. I found pictures of drawings (above) that Michael drew: Caricatures, realism, portraits, fantasy, and even a little engineering (He and another gentlemen created and held the patent on those “gravity shoes” featured in “Smooth Criminal” video).

Michael wrote most of his own song lyrics and even though he did not read music (this shocked me), would create the music for his songs by singing each instrumental part including the harmony, to each band member. He wrote poetry, he wrote prose and stories. He knew his way around just about every type of camera, he loved directing and wanted to move into film when he got too old to dance.

Working with what he had created already, I was interested in his songs, especially those after 1993, since that is when I lost track of his career. Michael knew what was going on in the world. Many of his songs were prayers, some were warnings, others were the only retaliation he exhibited against those that tried to destroy him.

Some of my favorites, click on the names of the songs to hear or see the video:

Man in the Mirror - "It is my philosophy, too: "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change". People don’t look at themselves honestly. They don’t look at themselves and point the finger, it’s always the other guy’s fault. You should change yourself. Look at yourself, make better of yourself....I’m never totally satisfied, I always wish the world could be a better place. No, not at all!...Hopefully, that’s what I do with my music, and bring happiness to people...and to bring joy and some peace in their lives." - 1987 Ebony/JET TV interview (Michael did not write this song, but you can certainly feel him performing it).

Heal the World - “It all begins with forgiveness, because to heal the world, we first have to heal ourselves. And to heal the kids, we first have to heal the child within, each and every one of us.” - Michael Jackson Oxford Speech.

Speechless - Michael Jackson wrote “Speechless” in 1998. One of his most beautiful songs, God, hallowed ground and pray are throughout the lyrics Michael was asked about his inspiration for writing “Speechless” - “I was with these kids in Germany, and we had a big water-balloon fight - I\'m serious - and I was so happy after the fight that I ran upstairs in their house and wrote "Speechless". Fun inspires me. I hate to say that, because it\'s such a romantic song. But it was the fight that did it. I was happy, and I wrote it in it\'s entirety right there. I felt it would be good enough for the album. Out of the bliss comes magic, wonderment, and creativity. – Michael Jackson, Vibe Magazine

We’ve Had Enough – About the violence in the city and the war in Iraq. Michael wrote this song with wrote this with songwriter Carol Bayer Sager. Powerful vocals in this song, Michael exercises his athletic vibrato. Powerful phrase “Did God say that you could decide, who would live and who would die” took the air from my lungs.

Earth Song - One of my favorite songs. I couldn’t understand the lyrics until I saw the video and read the lyrics at the same time (strong instrumentals drown him out at the end of the song). I love the ending of the video and the way he interpreted God renewing everything. It reminded me of another quote of his regarding man’s ability to change things and that it couldn’t be done without God.

I will try to interpret and post some more songs in another blog update. I want to include a section on Michael’s auto-biographical songs. It is first hand testimony from Michael himself, on what he’s been through.

Many of Michael’s songs incorporated parts of Bible verses, prayers and praise. This is a good link to a web site which lists some of Michael’s more popular, faith-inspired songs. Nashville Gospel

Michael Jackson Poems, if you would like to read them:

Michael wrote many of his songs in the tree pictured at the top of this blog entry. Children, God, and Creation were what most inspired his song and prose.

I once had someone tell me, “I saw no evidence that Michael Jackson was a Christian.” This of course, from someone who never bothered to look for any. If you are looking to condemn a man, what effort will you make to see any good in him? (That\'s my quote).

You don’t have to dig very deep to find the man of faith behind the name. Someone very close to Michael once told me that Michael could not foresee the consequences of his own actions. Maybe that is because Michael had the enviable ability to see things through clean windows, while most of us could only see through a dirty lens. Sometimes you just have to look with better eyes. The one’s that God originally gave us.

Instead of quoting some of Michael’s quotes, I would like you to read what this woman collected on her web site. There is a lot of truth and a lot of pain from him. I refer often to Debbie’s web site because she has one of the largest collections of “Michael-isms” This particular page not only lists quotes on his faith but also on his reactions to the lies the press has constantly put out about him. Reflectionsonthedance.com.

"People saw a grown man on the outside and were stunned by his inability to process his own behavior as seen through the lens of a jaded society." - Micheline

“Michael, because of the life he was forced to live from a very young age, and from the abuse he suffered, both physical and psychological was disabled in this way - yet BRILLIANTLY genius in another. This caused people to misunderstand his innocence and to misunderstand HIM - and he was abused for it - abused AGAIN because the first round of abuse he suffered as a child rendered him forever a child in some ways. NO ONE understood that.

Michael\'s behavior - ALL of it, makes PERFECT sense if you consider that in a big way he was still a child inside - it was a child\'s behavior. An INNOCENT child - it\'s where Michael stopped developing in the logistical/adult/decision-making part of his head - when he was around 8-10 years old. He had NO children his own age to interact with and was thrust into an adult world he was bound to succeed in - as a child. And he was, IMO emotionally and even possibly physically damaged by this and by the abuse.

Creatively however, which is another, different part of the brain, Michael flourished - he was a genius. People - adults - had trouble reconciling that when they looked at this powerful performer on stage who set the stage and the World on fire with is art.

How could be then NOT understand how his behavior looks \'funny\' to adults in a jaded and cynical society? Easy. Because in another part of his mind he was still a child! As a child his behavior made perfect sense and it was innocent! He didn\'t have the capacity to understand why his own behavior puzzled less innocent minds. He just didn\'t.

He was only human. I SO wish more people tried to understand that about him. My God! What other human could go through what Michael did and maintain any semblance of sanity - remain good and innocent, and giving and beautiful, without ending up jaded, bitter, angry? I know of no one.

I hope he is in the heavenliest of Heavens - the most beautiful, blissful place in the Universe. He deserves that. Michael the creative genius deserves it. Michael the beautiful man deserves it. And that child, MOST of all, deserves it.” – Seven Bowie

A recent quote in a letter I wrote about him:

“You were the first person in my whole life that made me aware that I wanted to accept and take on someone else’s pain . . . yours. For no other reason than I loved you. I asked you to give me your pain because I loved you. It was that moment I realized what Christ did for us, and it was that moment I realized what love was. You showed me that. Maybe that is why God sent me to you?”

There are times that we are going to see things we do not understand. We have to step back and look through the same eyes that we had as children, before the world changed us, sullied us and jaded us. It is these burdens that we are supposed to leave at the cross. It is with a child’s heart that Jesus wants us to love and trust him. If Michael could do it through everything he suffered, then why can\'t we?

Labels: faith, God, Jesus, Michael Jackson, music, prayer, witness

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We are living in Biblically significant Times. Ironically it was the most persecuted man in modern history that lead me to dig deeper into the Bible and taught me more about God than any other human being on the planet. And that man is Michael Jackson. I started a blog to defend him. I ended up researching him and learned just why they were after him. They did everything they could to shut him down. In the song "Cry" he said "take over for me", so that is what I am doing. God bless that man and his faith and strength

"Like the Bible says. A child should be leader of them all, and to be led by that kind of innocence. Didn\'t Jesus say \'bring on the children?\' Be like the children. Not childish, but child-like. That kind of innocence."

"Children show me in their playful smiles the divine in everyone. This simple goodness shines straight from their hearts and only asks to be lived." Michael Jackson Oprah Winfrey Interview

"I avoid using the term \'religion\', because many people say \'my religion\' this and \'my religion\' that. Why should it be \'my\' religion? I just believe what’s in the Bible with regard to which religion is involved. I simply believe.... I believe in it and I get down on my knees every night and thank God and ask Him to lead the way."