MyJesusRocks Blog

Paulster’s “J”-hit Hotbox

we’re gonna close out this triple play Christmas hotbox by serving up a 3rd plate of tasty goodness from the alternative rock band, kutless. their name comes from Romans 6:23 which says, “for the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” and because of this, the band says, “He took our cuts for us… leaving us ‘kutless’.” the Christian vibe resonates deep from within this band, and being the Jesus hit lover that you are, thats gotta strike a sweet chord for ya. know what a divine appointment is? one example is how kutless got their start. they were living in portland, oregon, where most of the band members were going to college, while guitarist james mead was working at a skate shop. ya see, james would wear a wwjd bracelet…for those of u that dont know, that stands for “what would Jesus do” and u would wear that around your wrist, so in any situation that calls for some good judgment, the bracelet would remind u to ask yourself that incredibly all-encompassing question. my friend talked trash about me, should i forgive him? wwjd. that dude’s totally mad-dogging me, should i say whatchoo lookin at punk? wwjd. a hot chick just walked by, should i turn and stare at her with my lust-goggles on? wwjd. ok that was wwjd 101 class. God is faithful, and He used that bracelet-form of obedient faith wrapped around james’ wrist to bless them and to call them. see, this dude walks into the shop, sees the wwjd bracelet on james, asks him if hes a Christian, they both are, they start wrappin about their churches, and james brings up their band that plays at their church…this dude happened to have been the brother of the founder of tooth and nail records, a huge Christian artists label, and the dude is their talent scout. nice. the dude manages to go over to their house one day to listen to them, they get signed, and the rest is history. God is so killer awesome like that, huh? only a true Christian would understand, and if youre not a Christian, u are so missin out, time to jumpstart your eternity.

aight, so kutless signed with bec recordings, one of the multiple sublabels of tooth & nail, and in 2004 they released their first full-length album self-entitled, kutless. did this divine appointment disappoint? well, kutless became the fastest selling debut album in tooth and nail history, with the track “run” holding the record for the longest charting song in the history of the r&r top 40 charts. no, God isnt short on cool-factor. their meteoric rise garnered them a slated performance in the 2004 summer olympics in greece (but couldnt make it due to an airline flight cancellation, probably a divine intervention of some sort), multiple #1 songs on various charts, a video placed on an exclusive microsoft/wal-mart dvd xbox giveaway that reached 350,000 gamers and played on nationwide in-store target tv, suzuki motor corporation to be their sole sponsor for their heart of the innocent tour, to provide downloadable content for the mega-hit rockband 2 video game, and featured spots in tv and film, including the smash-hit nbc tv show “scrubs,” where a significant portion of the song “all of the words” was featured during the final scene which hit an eleven week ratings high. the praiseful chorus to that song goes, “all of the words in all of my life, that could never explain and never describe, all of my love which is nothing to hide, so i lift up my hands and i worship, i worship You.” that my friends is tasty fine. this was the power of the calling of God’s divine appointment, and in their own words, “…but we just felt our calling is to be as accessible as possible, reach mainstream audiences, and be bold with our lyrics. that is our fulfilling of the Great Commission.”

kutless produced a worship album entitled strong tower in 2005 (and re-released a deluxe edition in 2007) which included some original tracks, but mostly contained renditions of church worship favorites, which was met with harsh criticism and very low review ratings for being a “worship album” by certain websites and magazines that have “Jesus” or “Christianity” in their names. this is where i would normally unload a massive atom bomb all over the place, but im gonna try not to cuz ya know, its Christmas. dudes, u reviewers so do not get it. u do not get it. youre totally forgetting the Jesus and Christianity in your names. its all about Jesus, not your artistic snobbery. how can christianitytoday give it one star? one star!! are u absolutely out of your minds?? ok paulster u got peace like a river, peace surpassing all understanding…caaaalm. im just gonna let the people speak by shaming the foolish cuz we all ate up their worship album, and im just gonna let kutless speak for themselves…when asked to explain why they would release a worship album in the face of very harsh criticism, they replied, “but after praying about it, we decided to do it. we started out as a worship band, and hopefully, everything we do is glorifying to God and therefore worship.” thats keepin it real fellas. respect, mad props. their Christian vibe is legit, so legit they could marry barlowgirl (pray for it lol).

their good vibes take us to our 3rd Christmas J-hit, and its their cover for the classic mark lowry song “mary did you know,” produced for the 2008 compilation cd x Christmas. its totally clear that the Holy Spirit breathed inspiration into these lyrics, they are seriously heart-rockin, as they transport your spirit back to the manger with mary, joseph, and the wise men beholding the baby Jesus, and if u could just whisper into mary’s ear, this song is what you would say to her about her baby boy. the final verses go, “mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation? mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations? did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? this child that you delivered…did you know that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb? this sleeping child you’re holding is the great I AM [name of God]!” thats an awesomely legit Jesus hit, and it completes our triple play jhits Christmas hotbox, and we serve it up just for u on this glorious Christmas Eve! God bless all of u, may we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with the joy of our salvation in our hearts, and present to Him offerings of love, praise, and worship. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

mary did you know — kutless | Listen

- paulster