While reading the Crossroads blog, I came across a very interesting link to Eric Smiths article entitled Former Newsboys Lead Singer Testifies that linked to an article entitled John James: The Newsboys Ex-lead Singer Speaks About His Fall And Restoration.

This article aroused my curiosity because I, like Eric, had met John James many years ago. Where Eric met John “years ago”, I briefly met John, Peter Furler, and the others when the band, and their manager Wes (he’s a tall one), when they had just left Australia and emigrated to the US as an unknown obscure Christian band to tour for the “Read All About It” CD and the band performed in my hometown (in fact, I still have that CD). Throughout the years, I had followed their rise to “Christian stardom” and saw the levels of greatness they obtained within the contemporary Christian music scene.

I remembered in 1997 when the Newsboys announced that John James, their lead singer, was leaving the band

“to return to Australia to be involved in local church ministry.”

But it turns out, per this crossrhythms article, that the statement above was a cover up for the alcoholism, drug, and marital problems (infidelity included) that John James had fallen to which lead to a brief seperation from his family and depression. On page two of the crossrhythms article, it states:

Fans will remember that when it was announced that John had left the Newsboys a statement was issued saying he was returning to Australia to start a preaching ministry. Nothing could have been further from the truth. “You’ve got to understand; love covers a multitude of sins, you know? Possibly protecting me? Possibly protecting themselves? What would have been better? To say ‘John’s an alcoholic and a drug addict and he’s been unfaithful in his marriage. He’s been sleeping around. His wife’s left.’ How would that have helped me? I think the best thing for me was probably to protect me. My wife and I were dealing with enough rubbish with the pressures and everything. So I think they really covered for me and maybe a bit of that too was to protect the Newsboys’ best interests.”

I read that entire paragraph and wondered

Is lying actually love? Or is it cover our heineys to keep the machine running? (best way of saying that well known “A” word).

I am beginning to think the second statement is the real truth. What would have happened if the truth was told at that time in 1997. Yes, Christians would have burnt their CDs. The record company would probably have dumped them or encouraged the change and marketed the change. The Christian radio stations probably would have pulled their CDs out of rotation….. There probably would not have been anymore Newsboys…..

In fact, let us look at that famous verse 1 Peter 4:8

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Let us do an grammar lesson here. In proper grammar, what does love cover?

not the sins, but the multitude. The word “sins” is within the preposition phrase. Therefore, if you look at it

love = subject
covers = verb
multitude = direct object

If you apply your old grade-school rule of creating a newspaper headline, the headline would read

Love Covers Multitude

Love only covers over the actual number of sins committed. It does not cover the sin itself. Only the blood of Jesus can wash away the sin. Love covers the numerical amount to the point where John 3:16 and Romans 8:31-35 a reality. It does not matter how many sins you have committed, the love and grace of God is still there.

Shall I keep sinning… (Romans 6:1)… GOD FORBID!!!

If you think about the way many pentecostals and charismatics teach the verse (especially in realms of confessed moral turpitudes involving the removal / ouster of a leader), it is usually taught that it is love itself that covers the sin and you are supposed to go on as if nothing happened. It is implied that to ask for the leader of questionable moral turpitude to step down is hatred of such leader and that allowing him to stay is love and grace. A big difference between this teaching and what the Bible actually states of love covering only the number of sins and not the sins itself.

But there is a greatful ending to the John James story, in pages 2 and three of the crossrhythms article, the author goes into detail about how John and his wife eventually reconciled and sought years of Biblical counseling and repentance to save / restore their marriage, family, and their lives. John appears to be working on a church plant and appears to have been fully restored to the faith.

In the end, I believe John eventually learned that the love could never cover up what he had done. It only covered up how many times he did “it”. It still took asking for forgiveness, repentance, and cleansing by the blood of Jesus in order to experience full restoration, forgiveness, and repentance.

Lying is never love. It is still lying and deception. James lied and covered up his lifestyle until he could no longer bear the conviction of his sin. It appears that the band lied and covered up the revelation in order to continue their well-oiled machine and their well-adjusted lifestyle to also avoid another ‘Christian music’ scandal (in reference to Sandi Patti 1992) that would have cause the Christian music buying public to really question the true integrity of the industry.

Years later, the real truth did finally come out of what happened to this man and the circumstances that brought it to a end and the testimony that documents the turning around and restoration of the man. The real truth eventually does come out. However, we tend to be more like the people in those old Fram oil filter commercials who have to decide if they want to…

“pay a little now, or pay a lot later”

It appears that we chose to pay later hoping that we would eventually never have to pay at all. Then again, most pentecostal mindsets work off the “free” so much that pentecostals / charismatics actually believe that not only should they not have to pay for anything of proper market value, but should not have to pay for their sins and shortcomings and that everything should be business as usual. However, like those people in those Fram oil filter commercials, like John James, and like you and me if we let some unconfessed area of sin fester and fester….

We end up paying the “lot” a whole “lot later”…

The price we are paying right now is so great that we probably could have never accounted for the total cost and the toil and distress that everyone went through. If we chose to have paid earlier, maybe we would have a better and cheaper idea what it would have totally costed us. People complain of why an entire Christian media is so corrupt right now. Because corruption was never dealt with early enough because we truly believed that greasy grace and love did cover the actual sin instead of the truth that love only covered the numerical amount of sins committed.

It’s time to deal with everything now!