10-31-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was planning to write a message about Reformation Day, but this has been a week with many distracting events, some sad; and thoughts about reforming the church, confronting corruption, does not need an anniversary-day to assert its relevance. Next week.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the sad events of this week was the death of Jerry Lee Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Somewhat anticipated, even the subject of false rumors, Jerry had a stroke a couple of years ago and, with the lifestyle he led \u2013 often on death\u2019s door; in some ways tempting death many times through the years \u2013 he was, in the words of one of his recent nicknames, the Last Man Standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That reference is to the class of talented Southern boys who burst on the American musical scene in the mid-1950s. They were all unique, with utterly distinct styles, yet their common roots and similar stories was a most astonishing coincidence. Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison\u2026 and others: all born in the mid-1930s; all dirt-poor Southerners; all of Pentecostal or Fundamentalist faiths; all attracted to, and amalgamating in their music, the traditions of country music, Gospel, white and black blues; all separately showing up on the doorstep of a small recording studio in Memphis, hoping to find an audience. Remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I was a kid and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll was young too, it was Jerry Lee Lewis who caught my ear, so to speak, and I never looked back. Through the years I interviewed him maybe a dozen times; traveled over half the continent to attend concerts and see him backstage; and eventually met, and became friends with, some of his relatives \u2013 cousin Mickey Gilley; sister Linda Gail Lewis; other cousins like Rev David Beatty; band members like Ken Lovelace; associates like Jack Clement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his hometown of Ferriday, Louisiana, I worshiped in the Assembly of God Church where the cousins grew up; and spent time with Jerry and Linda\u2019s colorful other sister Frankie Jean. I became a follower of Jimmy Swaggart, I suppose first hooked by the \u201cbait\u201d of the music, and have worshiped and interviewed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, too. Closing the circle, I interviewed Mickey and other Gilleys, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am in the process of putting all those meetings and interviews to work, and to share with the world a book that will profile them, principally Jimmy Lee and Jerry Lee \u2013 why I am putting aside thoughts on Martin Luther\u2019s Reformation five-hundred years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a sense, however, there is a connection. The rediscovery of Bible-based belief and worship that Luther promoted has its current manifestation in Fundamentalist and Pentecostal churches. Of course many people will think this is unlikely \u2013 an affinity between nascent Protestantism of the 1500s, and the subsequent majesty of the Baroque master Bach; and the perfervid preaching in white-frame rural churches and the back-beat, three-chord exuberant music of Southern Gospel. But, Amen \u2013 so be it. The scarlet thread of redemption is actually a ribbon of many threads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My book has found a theme beyond the blood relations (a gene pool the size of a teardrop) and family tree (more like a tangled vine!), and it can be found in the title: \u201cCousins \u2013 The Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings of a Remarkable American Family.\u201d For, besides the abnormal, almost miraculous, musical talent and astonishing piano stylings that the Cousins possess, there is the common element of Pentecostalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Music and Christian salvation rescued and redeemed the branches of that family and many similar families in that region and that time. Of course the Pentecostal experience is as old as the Days of the Apostles, but has only reasserted itself in the past century. Now it is a worldwide phenomenon \u2013 to choose one proof, the number of Pentecostals in Brazil today is more than the Catholic population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Jerry Lee\u2019s case, the preaching and music were part of his life. He attended Bible College in Texas until he was invited to leave because he would not (or could not, he told me) stop \u201cjuking\u201d traditional Gospel songs like \u201cMy God Is Real.\u201d Pastor Charles Wigley was a fellow student, playing sax in a little pickup band, and he told me that Jerry occasionally snuck out at night to listen to music at clubs in Dallas\u2019s Deep Elem neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry Lee\u2019s virtually instant stardom when Sun Records heard his demos propelled him to what the public has known since then \u2013 TV appearances; multiple wives including one to his 13-year-old cousin; ups and downs; scandals; problems with drink, drugs, and taxes; movies and worldwide tours; and so forth. His cousins had somewhat similar experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet all of the family, from the most casual church-goer to the world-famous evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, never rejected the \u201cSunday morning\u201d component, no matter how many \u201cSaturday nights\u201d there were. You will understand the symbology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world might scorn (sometimes correctly) the repeated confessions of some folks; repentance, pleas for forgiveness, embracing the cross. Again and maybe again. But, we are all sinners. Some of us sin more loudly, or more colorfully, even more persistently, than others. But woe be to those who judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many who sin never do desire to repent. Or never \u2013 God help them \u2013 feel the need for forgiveness; never really are conscious of their sin. Never knew, in the first place, a God who sees them and loves them and judges but has already provided a means of redemption in the cross \u2013 the shed blood of His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Putting aside the massive talent and compelling music of Jerry Lee Lewis, his life on earth, now ended, can be seen as one hewing to the Gospel nevertheless, wracked with sin-consciousness when he strayed, having hundreds of conversations about his guilt; reforming, pledging, backsliding, interrupting some concerts to switch to Gospel music \u2013 working out his inner conflicts in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he was training to be a preacher, he told me, a favorite theme was \u201cthe devil\u2019s tail sticking out of houses\u201d \u2013 when people had television antennas on their roofs. Ironic that his cousin Jimmy Lee Swaggart based a major portion of his ministry on televangelism. Ironic, too \u2013 or appropriate \u2013 that at the end of his life Jerry (once again… but clearly sincere) gave his heart to Jesus. Cousin Mickey Gilley did so, too, before his recent death. “Made things right with the Lord,” they each said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jerry Lee Lewis\u2019s last recording project was a duet album with Jimmy Swaggart \u2013 long discussed over the years, but never produced. Traditional hymns and Gospel songs, it was released<\/a> only months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world already is realizing that Jerry Lee was far greater than memorable hits and scandals and tabloid rumors. Even last month, before his death but after decades of snubs, the Country Music Hall of Fame finally elected him to its list of honorees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now he will be transformed from a popular personality to the true, exceptional icon he always was despite himself. His real story, as with many great figures in history, has come a full circle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pray that we can all have personal counterparts in our \u201cwalks,\u201d and I don\u2019t mean music or a particular lifestyle. Jerry Lee Lewis was taught the Truth of the Bible by his mother Mamie and Aunt Rene and in the First Assembly of God Church. He \u201chid the Word in his heart.\u201d When he strayed he listened to the Holy Spirit, was troubled, and sought forgiveness. He shared his struggle with the world. In the end, it was not his new plaque in the Hall of Fame, but the old pew where he once sat, learning about Jesus and singing the songs of amazing grace, that was his real home. And where he was fulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHis\u201d versions of those Gospel songs have prevailed after all. Whether there is a little more shaking going on in Heaven, we’ll understand it all by and by…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click Video Clip: In the Garden<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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