The Newsboys is one of the most popular Christian bands ever—most recently reminding fans why with the hit theme song for the movie God’s Not Dead that tackles atheism head on. That’s one more reason why it’s so disturbing that one of its co-founders, George Perdikis, has renounced Christ and embraced a godless worldview.
“I’m now an atheist,” Perdikis wrote in guest post on the “Friendly Atheist’s Patheos blog.
“I always felt uncomfortable with the strict rules imposed by Christianity. All I wanted to do was create and play rock and roll… and yet most of the attention I received was focused on how well I maintained the impossible standards of religion. I wanted my life to be measured by my music, not by my ability to resist temptation.”
Perdikis left The Newsboys in 1990, which is when his heart began to stray from Christianity. In the post, he explains how carved out a life for myself away from church and started his own “voyage of inquiry” into what he believed. He explored cosmology and was fascinated by the works of Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Krauss, Brian Cox and Richard Dawkins.
“By 2007, I renounced Christianity once and for all and declared myself an atheist,” Perdikis says.
“The Christian music scene is populated by many people who act as though they have a direct hotline to a God who supplies them with the answers to the Universe. There seems to be more ego and narcissism amongst Christian musicians than their secular counterparts.”
‘Christian’ Rockers Revolt?
Perdikis is not the first high-profile Christian rocker to reject Christ. Heavy metal Christian rock star Tim Lambesis last June told the world he’s an atheist. Not only that, he told the Alternative Press he figures only 1 in 10 Christian bands he toured with were actually Christians.
“I actually wasn’t the first guy in As I Lay Dying to stop being a Christian,” Lambesis said. “In fact, I think I was the third. The two who remained kind of stopped talking about it, and then I’m pretty sure they dropped it too. We talked about whether to keep taking money from the ‘Christian market.'”
Earlier this month, I wrote an article entitled, “Why Are So Many Christians Turning Into Atheists?” after ex-pastor Ryan Bell decided to share this results of his experience living a year without God. His conclusion: “I don’t think God exists.”
Again I ask, how do you move from accepting a call of God into full-time ministry only to turn your back on Him and decide to exchange a close relationship with God to a “closer relationship with reality”? How do you glorify God with your music only to reject Him—and in Lambesis’ case, hire a hit man to kill your wife—just years later? What is going on? Is the church doing something wrong? Or is the culture wooing once-saved Christians to the godless side? Or both?
Strong Delusion Rising
Deception—and even the strong delusions that will characterize the end times (2 Thess. 2:11)—is rapidly rising in the body of Christ.
Jesus warned us not to be deceived. Paul warned us not to be deceived. Peter warned us not to be deceived. John warned us not to be deceived. James warned us not to be deceived. You can hardly read a chapter in the New Testament that doesn’t issue a warning against deception. And yet deception is rising in the church.
The problem with deception is that you don’t know you are deceived. If you knew you were deceived, you’d walk away from the lie and embrace the truth. Lovers of the truth are less likely to be deceived, but anyone can fall into deception. And if you think you are above the possibility of falling into deception, you are walking in a deception called pride.
So I challenge you, whether you are a Christian, an atheist, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, an agnostic, or however else you classify your belief system, begin to pray for God to break off any deception that has clouded your soul. Beseech Him by His mercy to deliver you from the grip of deception, to shine light on your mind and to give you discernment. I am praying that over my own life too, in the name of Jesus.
Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and author of several books, including The Making of a Prophet and Satan’s Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
