When Secular MTV was more tolerant of Christians then televangelists.
Oddly enough Christians should embrace science more. For example computers excavated a mountain and found an ark, matching the exact details in the story of Noah, exactly where the Bible said it would be. They found the remains of Sodom and Gamora, and determined they were destroyed in a fire not of this world. Jesus has been confirmed as a historical figure, and it is scientifically possible all cats and dogs came from two. Massive gravesites of dinosuars have been found across America, with the cause of death being drowning, with signs of flooding. Also worth noting is that the Bible gave the first accounts of washing hands, quarentine and food safety. Those practices would lead to many modern medical achievements. With flaws being found all over the big band theory and evolution, many scientific minded people lean more towards Christianity. Also worth noting is not obe transitional fossil has been found, meaning no evidence of evolution has been found. Lastly, carbon dating has been found to be flawed and dinosuar d.n.a. has been found. That challenges the theory of "65 million years of extinction" as conplete decomposition takes at most, one million years.
Many successful bands are labeled or tied in with the Christian metal label. This can be whether the band is Christian, uses Christian imagery, or has several members of that faith and/or mentions God on the cover. The most noteable bands in this category are Linkin Park, and Evanescence. Others include Skillet, P.O.D., and arguably Creed. All five bands have easily sold over 12 million records and been at least nominated for two Grammy Awards. But where did it start?
In 1986 the songs "Free" and "Honestly" made Stryper the first band in history to have 2 MTV top 10 music videos in history. Both songs peaked at number one, while "Calling on You" reached number two, making the album "To Hell with the Devil" a staple of hair metal. The album would reach multi-platinum status and bring Stryper into mainstream sucess. For the first time, Christian metal had crossed over with secular audiences and nonbelievers were listening to a metal band praise Jesus. That year the most watched band on MTV was not Europe, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, but a bunch of California Christians. With Michael Sweets screams, his guitar work with the highly underrated Oz Fox. Also worth mentioning was Robert Sweet becomging the first drummer to "beat the hell" out of his drums, along with great base work by Timothy Gaines. Combining hair metal with power metal and pop, they managed to make a sound of their own. It was a sound that had millions of atheists singing along to love songs to Jesus, or about how God gave us free will. The biggest hit however, was "Honestly." It was a song about true love with your best friend. Despite their success the American Church was against them for the most part. Many parents banned their children from listening to the supposed evil fakers. Some televangalists called them blasphemous, ignoring Bible verses encouraging loud and passionate music. Also ignored were the verses about not judging based on appearance. Gospel tracks were played in protest and people hounded their tour bus, blaring bull horns at them.
Two years later, they would release "In God we Trust" which nearly went platinum in its original release. Many people believe it is now platinum. The title song has a special place in South Korean culture, to where on youtube you can find many great covers. Some great ones are by Bubble Dia, Rockid, and James Lee.
Stryper would never again come close to their previous success. Many radio stations refused to play them, and they were too "hardcore" for many Christian stations. Also televangelists such as Jimmy Swaggert had potentially millions of people boycott them, and literally go after them with bull horns proclaiming them to be frauds. This boiled over in "Against the Law" an album with Christian messages and undertones. Deemed a secular album, the Christians that did support them now largely turned away. It would be their last original full length album for 15 years. While they sound better than ever, and are still relevant, their original run was far too short lived. If they had the suppirt of radio, and the church, they could have been huge. As it stands, they have 2 platinum albums and over 10 million in record sales, along with 4 number 1 MTV music videos. The fact that a group of Chrisians ruled a secular network for a year can only be described as a miracle. Only God could do something like that.
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