CCM Edition.

September 12, 2017. Today we’ll be taking a look at “The Comeback” by Danny Gokey which currently sits at #7 on 20TheCountdownMagazine.

Today’s song lands in the “Disapprove” category simply because there is nothing of Scripture being taught, supported, intimated in its lyric. It’s a purely earthly motivational song.

Official Lyric Video

Lyrics (via KLove)

After a season of nightfalls and pushbacks
After the heartache of wrong turns and sidetracks
Just when they think they’ve got you game, set, match
Here comes the comeback

Just cause you laid low, got up slow, unsteady
Don’t mean you blacked out or bought out you’re ready
Just when they think there’s nothing left running on empty
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

You feel the lightning, the thunder, your soul shakes
Under the roar of the heaven, the tide breaks
And from the ashes you will take your place
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

There is no mountain you can’t face
There is no giant you can’t take
All of your tears were not a waste
You’re one step away

Just when they think they’ve got you game, set, match
Here comes the comeback

(chorus)
This is your time, your moment
The fire, the fight, you’re golden
You’ve come so far keep going
Here comes the comeback, comeback

Publishing: © 2016 BMG Platinum Songs/Creative Heart Publishing, Admin. by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC. (BMI); Red Red Pop/Capitol CMG Amplifier, Admin. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com (SESAC); Hello Darling Music (BMI). Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Writer(s): Danny Gokey, Josh Silverberg, and Cameron James

Discussion

Well, this song is purely a motivational piece. A pep talk for everyday life. The video shows athletes, and I suppose it could apply to folks in the business realm, but that’s it. The lyric doesn’t present any Christian theological truths. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised that we will have a “comeback” in our vocations or everyday, temporal life. This song is no more theological than Rachel Platten’s Fight Song.

So what do we do with this one? Let’s have a chat about the purpose of this DiM work a bit. This work isn’t about determining “what a Christian is allowed to listen to and remain Christian”. A Christian who is exercising proper discernment can listen to “secular” music and remain Christian. Most Christians do a decent job of recognizing bad theology or carnal thinking in so-called secular music as long as they’ve taken the time to consider the lyrics. They can listen to music for its artistry or maybe a raw description of life in a fallen world, or an opportunity to vent some emotional frustration. Whatever the reason for listening, most Christians aren’t tuning into Imagine Dragons looking for some Biblical truth. If you are doing that… stop it.

The problem with songs like today’s song by Danny Gokey, is that when they get played on a Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) radio station, they are given an artificial blessing of being “biblically sound”. The industry isn’t being run by theologians, pastors, or seminarians. They are business executives pushing a product. The artists themselves are rarely seminary trained, much less pastors (there are a few). This CCM industry isn’t about teaching the faith, it’s about promoting the next album/concert/single just like every other musical genre within the industry. The best thing that can be said of this song lyrically is that it’s “clean”. It’s a song about how great “I” am, or going to be soon. There are times when I’d like to have my own “theme song guy” or “hype man” in everyday life. Just please, whatever you do, do not try to draw some Christian meaning from it, because it’s focus is all wrong for that. The Scriptures point to Christ, not you. The Scriptures preach Christ and Him Crucified for our sin, buried and rose again on the third day, ascended into Heaven and returning once more for His Church and to judge both the living and the dead. That is the central focus and theme of Scripture. The Promise of Scripture is that Christ will come back one day, the Last Day.

1 Peter 1:3-13 (ESV) | Born Again to a Living Hope

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Today’s song earns a “Disapproved” rating, because it falls outside of what we are looking for in these songs. There’s nothing of Scripture being taught in this song. Now, if you find the song entertaining or are specifically looking for a “pump me up” kind of song to motivate you to “try, try, again”, by all means enjoy the song for that purpose. Just don’t go baptizing it, okay?

Hebrews 13:20-21 (ESV) Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In Christ Jesus,
Jorge