Articles

The gospel can be seen as a great mystery, which man has difficulty comprehending.  Speaking of it in plain terms sometimes confuses a person more than telling the gospel by using symbols and allegory.  It seems strange to some of us, but if we are to see the gospel fleshed out in our daily lives, we must understand this and not give up on understanding more difficult or veiled truths. This is one reason, I believe, that Christ’s teachings were peppered with parables and His instructions veiled with the heavy use of symbolism.  … Continued →

So the O.C. Supertones are back together.  And Five Iron Frenzy just wowed the world by showing that they have more supportive fans than anyone else.  And I think somewhere, the Insyderz are doing something ska-related. What the heck? I considered ska my favorite music in early high school (1999-2002) and for most of that time, the Supertones were my favorite band.  Anyone who missed out on the pure magic of looking at the booklet for Supertones Strike Back has missed something fundamental to ska music.  … Continued →

I feel I should pull this post out every few years so people can get to know me and my vision for IVM. I wrote this in February of 2009 but much of it is still true and relevant to my life today.

Since the aim of this column is to explore that area where music and faith intersect, I figure it’s important to look at Scripture and see what Scripture says about music, both descriptively and prescriptively.  The Bible is replete with mentions of music, both in the Old Testament and New Testament.  A couple weeks ago we discussed King David’s rad harp playing (so brutal it exorcised a demon from Saul!) and some of the hymns of the early church in Acts.  Let’s go a little further, shall we?… Continued →

Music is a reflection of the character of God.  It shows us the various emotions that God has and the various attributes of God’s character.  When you listen to a Chopin etude, you can be amazed at the complexity of the human mind, which was fashioned in the image of God’s mind.  When you listen to the aggressive sounds of Demon Hunter, you can be reminded of God’s vengeance against sin or His jealousy for our praise.  When you listen to the soothing sounds of a Starflyer 59 song (perhaps No New Kinda Story), you can be reminded of God’s eternal peace and that nothing takes Him by surprise.… Continued →

Everyone reading this article that’s older than 8 years old will remember the zenith of cinema history that was Space Jam.  Regardless of your interest in sports, Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny and Bill Murray shook your very soul with this impeccable piece of movie-making.  One of the best aspects of the movie was the ultra-90s soundtrack, featuring Seal (covering Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” in awesome fashion), R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” (which I still hear on the radio), Coolio and tons of other awesome 90s music stars with a decidedly different skin color than me.… Continued →

Last week, we looked at music on the mission field.  Now let’s look at the use of music in worship services everywhere. Music is used in every church service everywhere on earth.  I actually can’t recall a single church service I’ve been to (which numbers in the thousands) where songs weren’t utilized and meant to be sung together.  Isn’t that amazing?  In fact, music and the singing of songs seems like a fundamental necessity to corporate worship.  Why can’t churches worship our Father another way?  Why haven’t churches formed another way of communicating praise to their Creator?… Continued →

I’ve felt the call to be a missionary since I was a little kid.  Some might say that as a member of Becoming The Archetype, I am a type of missionary.  Those people wouldn’t necessarily be wrong, but that’s not the sort of missionary I’ve been called to ultimately be.  A great blessing has been that God has also called my wife and brother to the mission field, so we’ve begun discussing possibilities for all going together.  Right now I’m in sort of a waiting game as my brother just started getting his Master’s of Divinity and my wife is getting her medical degree. … Continued →

“Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays” If you haven’t heard that phrase before, stop reading this and go watch Office Space.  If you have heard it, I hope your day so far isn’t nearly as dreadful as any of the characters’ in the movie.  So here’s your Metaphysical Monday to cheer you up! As we discussed and seemed to all agree last week, music has a profound spiritual significance.  That significance can be difficult to explain, but it’s not difficult to experience.  Why does music weigh so heavily on our souls? … Continued →

Hi, I'm Seth Hecox and I'm a new writer here at IVM. Some of you are familiar with me from Becoming The Archetype as well as Anchors.

No, myspace.com has not disappeared (yet) but I have in fact decided to close our Indie Vision Music page on the social network. It was a spam mess and I hardly ever visited the site. A lot of people use Facebook, Twitter, and visit us here at our official .com site so I figured it was pointless to keep the myspace page. Shed a tear for the IVM Myspace page and let it finally R.I.P. You can still find us on Facebook, Twitter, LastFM, or on the web here.… Continued →