This is our first installment in our new category of music/concert reviews. We will also look at interviews from various artists from time to time as well. Our topic today: 

1. Is P.O.D a Christian band and/or music ministry serving Jesus Christ?

     We'll take up that question. Below is the total interview chat transcript of P.O.D. interviewed on the road with OZZFEST by ArtistDirect on Aug. 24th 2000. After this chat transcript, I will analyze the contents of their  interview in light of what the Bible says and we'll draw our conclusion together in light of the Word of God. So let's read the transcript:

P.O.D.
Ozzfest August 24, 2000

ArtistDirect: All right everybody settle in! We're here with the guys from P.O.D live and direct from Ozzfest. If everyone's ready, we'll kick it.

Tra: I would like to put out to all the Warriors my deepest thanks, and appreciation for supporting us, and being there for us. For supporting P.O.D. and for fighting the good fight.

zabet62-guest: Being a Christian band, why would you play a concert like Ozzfest? Do you think the association with the other bands on this tour weakens the testimony your music has in the Christian music industry and with its audience? I've been a big fan of yours, and being a Christian, I would like to see your band in concert, but I wouldn't pay to see any of the other bands on this tour.

Tra: My answer to that is that when P.O.D. first got the gig we didn't want to limit ourselves to any one particular audience. We write music for everybody, and for P.O.D. our message is the message of love, and the message of love needs to go out to everybody, and not just one particular group of people. For us, it is more important to be an example to the world and to Christians too. A lot of our very dear and close friends that we love and cherish are not Christians, and P.O.D. doesn't write or play just for the body. P.O.D. loves and writes for everybody. We're just a band that loves God, and we love to play and do positive music for everybody. That's what we're about.

wickedOOK-guest: Do you guys know when you will start working on the new album?

Tra: We are busy with a lot of stuff right now. Hopefully we'll start working on the album this spring, but right now it's not certain. We are doing some movie soundtracks and some other stuff I can't disclose now, but we will be working on the album hopefully in the spring. Hopefully we'll have something out by summer of next year.

staticx-guest: Is it uncomfortable for you guys to compete with negative bands like Marilyn Manson and Cradle of Filth?

Tra: Absolutely not! Beauty is what beauty does, and we are not intimidated, nor are we even swayed or anything, by any other band's agenda. We have an agenda as a band, and that is to be positive, and to give back something to the world that's positive and not negative. For us as a band, the things that these other bands do are not a surprise to us; we have seen it or been there before as individuals. P.O.D. doesn't come from a sheltered lifestyle. P.O.D. is from the city, and in San Diego, you see everything. We are close to the border, and there is lots of drugs and crime and stuff. Those bands do their thing, and P.O.D. does our thing. Music is about expression.

loosehead-guest: What band do you think is really going to make it big after Ozzfest???

Tra: Oh wow! That's a hard one! There are, musically, a lot of very talented bands on Ozzfest. One of the bands that I think would probably be good right now is Incubus. Musically, these guys are probably one of the most talented bands on Ozzfest.

azbeauty85-guest: What is the craziest thing you guys have done after a show??

Tra: I would have to say the craziest thing we have done after the show is set up a gym outside the bus and lift weights in 105 degree weather!

calska-guest: Would you do Ozzfest next year?

Tra: If we were asked to do it next year, yeah, we would do it. This is an opportunity for us to express our positive message and beliefs as individuals to people who wouldn't ordinarily get a positive message. So yeah, absolutely.

dannyerinmorgan-guest: How are you guys staying strong in your walks with God? Do you have a road pastor, daily times of prayer, read your Bibles every day? We are praying for you!

Tra: Yeah, P.O.D. has been together for 8 years, going on 9 years now. And we've had our road pastor come out with us before. It's important for us to have individual time in the morning, and then there is time together that we spend. We always hold each other accountable. Being that we are all married and we all have wives and families, it is important for us to be a good example to our families, as well as people around us. And also, having a personal loving relationship with God, we keep everything pretty tight. And thanks for the prayers!

wookiej22-guest: My dream is to make music and be on a tour like Ozzfest. I just want to know if being on the Ozzfest tour has changed you in any way?

Tra: Yes. It has changed me in a lot of ways. One of the biggest changes I think is that it's brought our fans closer together. It's also shown me patience and a love and respect for other people, whether they are Christians or not Christians. We are like friends with everybody on Ozzfest. We all have different lifestyles, and good and bad habits; but when it gets down to it, people are just people.

candlemaker-guest: Do you feel that your record company has supported you on this album? Do you ever wish you would have gone with an independent instead of a major?

Tra: P.O.D.'s been independent for the past six years before we got signed with Atlantic Records, so we've been that route before. But it was time to take our message to the next level, and Atlantic has been very supportive of P.O.D. and what P.O.D. is all about. Although we have had some skepticism from some of the label people, things have always worked out for the best in the end. The things that they were skeptical about they wind up not being skeptical about when they see the amazing things that happen with us.

saly-guest: What is the most important thing that has happened to you this year professionally and spiritually?

Tra: I would say professionally, my love for music has been broadened to different styles of music. And, spiritually, I would have to say my love and appreciation for my family on a major, major scale, and the sacrifices we make for me to be out here and away from them.

babatunda-guest: What was it like doing the Howard Stern show?

Tra: The Howard Stern show was an experience. We expected him to come at us a lot harder than he actually did. I think before P.O.D. came on the show, he didn't know we were Christians, so I think he made up in his mind that he liked P.O.D. And Howard Stern is the kind of guy that never goes back on his word--if he likes something, he wouldn't change it just because we were Christians. He found out like 20 minutes before we went on air that we were Christians, but he was fine with it. He was skeptical like most people, but he had already decided that he liked us. So when we met him, he realized that we were just real, and not afraid to say what we were saying. We wouldn't back down just because we were on the air, to make people happy. P.O.D. is who P.O.D. is, whether people like it or not.

kiki-guest: What really went on during the Rock and Jock Bowling tournament on MTV?

Tra: We WON! We played another team, we whupped their butts, and we had a good time meeting the people from MTV, and just doing some bowling.

tablature-guest: When you are off tour, are all of you still residing in San Diego?

Tra: Yes, we do. Three guys live really far down south, and one of the guys lives kind of in between, but yes, in San Diego.

aloha-guest: What are your upcoming plans for the future, tour and new LP wise?

Tra: Actually, when we get off of Ozzfest, we are doing a Calvin Klein tour for Calvin Klein, and it's mostly college dates. We have a lot of fly in radio dates, and we are trying to put something together in November for a tour. As far as recording, it looks like we are possibly going to be recording in the spring, and hopefully having a new album out by next summer.

guest-cinamin: Hello P.O.D. How long has this band been together?

Tra: P.O.D. has been together since 1992.

Leuchtturm: What does you name mean???

Tra: Payable On Death. That's a LONG one. Payable on Death is a banking term that means when you die, the beneficiary inherits your money. The way that we use it means God died for our sins, and in place of that, we receive eternal life, a gift. With His death, our debts were paid, so Payable On Death (P.O.D.).

ReconMan: So what has been your favorite part of being with the Ozzfest?

Tra: Being able to meet other bands and become friends with these people, and share a mutual respect. Just a human respect for each other, and being able to be an example on a scale this large.

OzzFanSupreme-guest: How did you get started in this industry? What was it that made the big break for you as a band?

Tra: P.O.D. has been together since 1992. I think people are getting tired of the negative vibe that everyone is putting out, and P.O.D. has always kept it real. We have always maintained the truth to what we were about without compromise. What has helped us, along with this music becoming popular now, is that we've just been real and passionate about what we believe in our faith. Which is different than what everybody else is doing, but it's real.

VENIOMGERM: Who are your mentors?

Tra: Oh wow! There are so many, and I don't want to leave anybody out. I would say my mentor would have to be my mom. She's always had an unconditional and amazing love for me, no matter what I did, and always inspired me to think for myself. A musical mentor I would have to say would be probably Sting from The Police. As a bass player, he is one of the best as far as writing melodies, and having no boundaries.

I dunno-guest: Have you done MTV before, or will this Saturday be your first time?

Tra: We've been on MTV at least one time before. We were on 120 Minutes, and we did the MTV TRL prior to the one that's coming on this Saturday. So we've been on MTV twice prior to this Saturday.

Futurist-guest: Where do you see yourselves as a group five years from now?

Tra: That's hard to say. Hopefully we'll be--I don't know--maybe playing music, maybe changing lives. And just being a positive influence to youth, and to people in general. Maybe doing some jazz and reggae! I don't know!

Lil1: What has been the hardest part of being with Ozzfest?

Tra: Being away from our families for such a long period of time! And also being on the main stage, we are not able to have a closeness and intimacy with the crowd, because there are normally chairs right up to the stage. No standing room, just chairs.

Vampiro5000: OK this question is for Tra--who has inspired you into music?

Tra: I have a couple of people that inspired me musically. Sting was one of them, especially during his Police days, and Les Claypoole of Primus. Anything goes on bass--he showed me that early on, and I learned that from him early on.

InquiringMind-guest: How do you settle artistic "differences" when working on an album?

Tra: Luckily, we don't have any artistic differences. If we do, they are minor because we are pretty much alike musically. Even though we come from different backgrounds, we all agree on music that is passionate, powerful, and true. And because of that common belief in the music, we don't fight a lot about different styles and stuff. It always comes together. Here comes Marcos! Keep those questions coming in!!

LaidBack-guest: What are your favorite bands to work with?

Marcos: You know what, I don't really have a favorite because I'm a lover of all different styles of music. I love to play with anybody. In the studio, that's a different story; but on the road, I'll play with anybody, because there are no boundaries on the road, I don't have a favorite.

Gracie: How do you all maintain a personal life when on the road?

Marcos: You know, basically, I just try to keep level-headed by pretty much remembering that I can either be at home working a 9 to 5 job, or I could be playing music and getting paid for what I love. I bring my wife with me because we don't have any kids, so it's a little less strenuous, and she is able to come out for a very long time. I just don't get to go home and spend time with her at the house. If I could, I would. Family is first with me--it is not about being a rock star. We know that we're considered rock stars, but we are not like your average rock stars cliché. We don't literally care about what other people or bands care about. We just like to play and have a good time and give a good vibe to a world that needs it.

stakehedd: I just wanna say that you guys make me proud to be from Diego and I love y'all!!! Keep on representin'!!

Marcos: Basically, yeah, that's cool! I want to tell everybody "What's Up!"

Sigmundo: Who out there inspires you now?

Marcos: I would have to say my mom, and my family, my wife. My wife has such a huge heart for people, and she's very sweet-hearted and very considerate. A lot of times I'm not like that as a person, so I learn from her. Maybe I'm a jerk, maybe I should be a lot nicer. She's so sweet, but she can be walked on, and then I have to step in. But she has a good heart, and it inspires me in life. My bandmates all have good hearts. I'm not trying to say I'm like some bad guy, but it's pretty inspiring just to know that we came from the same area, and we all pretty much have the same vibe, and are the same spiritually. I always fall short of being a good guy--I have good intentions, but I fall short. So when I look at my wife or my bandmates and they all have such good hearts I really learn a lot from all of them.

TheRock-Sezz: Who's your fav hip-hop band?

Marcos: I would have to say one of my favorites is A Tribe Called Quest. I have been listening to Dilated Peoples, but my all time favorite is A Tribe Called Quest.

Christine-guest: What is your fave type of music?

Marcos: My favorite type of music? I love all styles of music. If you were to see my CD collection, I have everything from old Santana to new Santana to Lauryn Hill to Pennywise to NoFX to Iron Maiden to reggae and Bob Marley. The only thing I don't really care for is country music. I'm not really feeling it, so maybe it's something I have to learn. I'm not into Garth Brooks or anyone like that.

pappapumpII: So how do you like the tour so far?

Marcos: It's cool! It was a dream come true. Earlier we had been touring in a van and we were saying we would love to be on a tour like this one day. And here we are! We have our opportunity, and we are having a great time. It is tiring though, like any work would be, but we love doing it. There is only one P.O.D., and right now we are popular, so sometimes we have to fly from coast to coast to play two different shows. It gets tiring and hectic in that aspect.

ShavoisHot-guest: What do you guys think about groupies?

Marcos: I don't. I don't. I'm a married man. It kind of saddens me a little bit that that's somebody's daughter and somebody's wife and somebody's sister. Basically girls are looking for love in the wrong places.

ShavoisHot-guest: What was the weirdest job you guys have had before P.O.D.?

Marcos: You know, I've done everything from construction work to Taco Bell to an old folk's home, waiting on old people like a waiter does, and washing dishes.

Kidcomputer-guest: What's the coolest thing about being a rock star, besides the fact you get to send a really good message to kids and play up on stage every night?

Marcos: The coolest thing is actually people being appreciative of the music that you write. And being able to show something for all the work that I've put in since I was a kid, like 13 years old. My mom can see stuff happening, and I make my mom and my dad proud. That's a cool thing, because they know that this has been a dream for a while.

Recoin: What's your favorite thing to do on the road to fill up spare time?

Marcos: Spare time? I play a lot of Playstation, and I have a mobile recording 8 channel studio thing that I write songs on. If I'm not doing that, I'm either sleeping or on the phone with my wife. I'll take anybody anywhere on Tekken 3.

mosher allen: Hey guys, I just wanted to know when is your next single coming out and what is it?

Marcos: Actually, the way things look as of right now, we are going to be writing songs for this new Adam Sandler movie coming out in November of 2000, and it's called "Little Nicky." We are supposed to be getting one of the key promotion tracks on the album. We are writing a lot of different songs, but this will be a brand new song to promote the soundtrack, and to let people know that P.O.D. does more than just what they have on their album. Basically, I think the next track may be "Set Your Eyes To Zion", after the Adam Sandler track is released.

Fantasy43: How wild is it behind the stage?

Marcos: It's a lot more hype than people think. Everyone just keeps back, real normal. I'm sitting right now in catering--it's cool, sitting at a table, and watching everybody eat at the other tables. It's not like the 80's, it's not like strippers and cocaine all over the place. Everybody just wants to hang out and kick back, and barbecue.

Edgecrusher331: Do you all get treated differently or specially on Ozzfest since you are a Christian act??

Marcos: It depends on the person. There are people that call us Christian, there are people that call us non-Christian. Everyone's going to have their opinion and viewpoint on where they think P.O.D. is supposed to be, but we always did what we wanted since we started. That's what got us here, and we have faith. People can say what they want, but we are going to do what we want to do. There are Christians who believe that we shouldn't be on this tour, and then there's non-Christians who are saying what are we doing on this tour, it's a metal tour. So we are caught in the middle, but we just do what we like.

pistonangry: Are you guys still doing Cornerstone and gigs like that? What do you think of the current popular Christian bands out there?

Marcos: I think it's cool. We've done the Cornerstone already. Our time is so limited that we can only do so many gigs in a year, so we are doing a lot more diverse things than we have done in the past.

Lindsay Roberts-guest: You all have been an inspiration to me for a long time. You guys have completely just been a witness to me and shown me how to love. How does it make you feel to have impacted so many people's lives like that??

Marcos: Oh, it feels good, it feels great. We are not special--we are a band that loves to play positive music. It's not really us doing it; it's our faith in God which inspires people. It's not necessarily us.

Marty: Thanks P.O.D. This has been a great hour! Any final thoughts?

Marcos: Keep your head up. This world will get you down, so keep your head up and always look up to the sky. "Set Your Eyes To Zion." God Bless. Don't believe the hype, don't believe the rumors. We are going to do what we have been doing, so don't believe the rumors or the trash talking. And if you are doing the trash talking, you have to stop. The more popularity, the more people want to bring you down.

ArtistDirect: All right everybody, that's all the time we have today. Thanks for all your questions and thanks to P.O.D for hanging out with us today. This concludes the 8-week Ozzfest chat series brought to you by ARTISTdirect.com. This has been a presentation of Artistdirect.com and Talk City, Inc. Copyright 2000. All rights reserved.

---END of Transcript---

     Now it is time to analyze P.O.D. not on what we personally think, but on what they said and what the Bible says about it.

     First of all, P.O.D. does claim to be a Christian band (see transcript above) and as such we have a right to put them to the test to see if they are bearing true Christian fruits. Of course, Marcos, in the interview tries to be ambiguous about what the band really is even though they do claim to be Christians (see Marcos' answer to Edgecrusher331's question) .For any of you who say we do not have a right to judge other Christians, let me show you a few examples from God's Word that say we can indeed judge other professing Christians:

 Mt. 7:15-20 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

 I Cor. 5:12-13 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you" (We have the right to judge the actions and lifestyles of those who claim to be in the Body of Christ, i.e., "the church.")

     Now that we have established that P.O.D. claims to be a Christian band and that we can look at another Christian's lifestyle and see if it measures up to God's standard, lets consider the venue that P.O.D. was playing: OZZFEST. For those of you who may not know, OZZFEST is an annual tour of some of the most vulgar, obscene and Satanic Heavy Metal groups on the planet. Groups like Godsmack, Pantera, Incubus Methods of Mayhem, Static-X, Kittie, and Ozzy Osborne (former Black Sabbath lead singer and tour founder) are just some of the groups who were on the 2000 tour with P.O.D. It is interesting to note that in this hour long chat interview, the name of "JESUS CHRIST" was not mentioned even one time.

     Early in the above transcript, a person asked P.O.D. why a "Christian" a band would play OZZFEST. To that P.O.D. said it didn't want to limit itself to one particular audience, that its message and example needed to go out to everyone and that many of their friends who they love and cherish were not Christians. This, in itself, is a noble statement if it were being carried out as God would have it to be. But one thing needs to be said about the atmosphere at OZZFEST. Here is an observation from an OZZFEST attendee who went to the Aug 18th, 2000 show in Dallas, TX:

"So there you have the music, let's talk about the scene. The heavy metal checklist:

Loud and abusive tunes - check
Lange quantities of profanity from stage - check
Marijuana smoke - multiple checks
Nudity - check
Tattoos and piercings - checks all about
Alcohol - check, but secondary to the pot

In fact, most bands were encouraging pot smoking from the stage, including the guy introducing the bands. The guy in question also had some reasonably raunchy things to say about boy bands, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and what he expected from the crowd. Overall, this was not a function I would bring my impressionable daughter to."

     I commend the efforts of Christians to bring the Gospel to the world. That is, after all, our mission. But you have to be very careful to set Christ's example while you are doing it. When P.O.D. signed on to the OZZFEST Tour, they entered into a partnership with some very un-Godly people. It was not like they just went out and headlined their own shows in venues around the country. They became part of an entourage. They are hanging out with these other bands and whether P.O.D. is actually participating in any un-Godly acts or not, they are exposing themselves to vulgar lyrics, profanity, drug use, nudity and excessive drinking. Also, their presence there attempts to lend credibility to such a festival. Lets see what God's Word tells us in these situations:

**Regarding partnership with non-believers in spiritual matters, the Word says:

II Cor 6:14-18  Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

**Regarding the disobedient and partnering with them, we are told:

Eph 5:6-15 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

**Regarding what we should expose ourselves to, The Bible instructs us to:

Proverbs 4:23-27  Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

     I also found it troubling that when the questioner asked P.O.D. about competing with bands like Marilyn Manson and Cradle of Filth, that they did not use it as an occasion to speak out against the evil and demented agendas of these perverse bands. Rather, Tra of P.O.D. states "Those bands do their thing, and P.O.D. does our thing. Music is about expression." To Tra, music is simply expression no matter what the agenda or subject matter. God's Word says:

Proverbs 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Ephesians 5:11-12 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

     P.O.D. said that they would play OZZFEST if asked again. One of the reasons they gave is because "This is an opportunity for us to express our positive message and beliefs as individuals to people who wouldn't ordinarily get a positive message." This, again, seems noble when just taken for face value. The only problem is when you get near the end of the interview, a questioner asks what P.O.D. thinks of other Christian bands and whether they would play Cornerstone (A Christian Music Festival) again. P.O.D. didn't even address what they thought of other Christian bands but were quick to say they have already done the Cornerstone thing before and seemed to rule it out in the future, because, according to Marcos of P.O.D. "We've done the Cornerstone already. Our time is so limited that we can only do so many gigs in a year, so we are doing a lot more diverse things than we have done in the past." From this statement, we must assume that P.O.D. is just too busy to play at any "Christian " venues. That is sad considering Christians bring many unsaved friends to events such as Cornerstone and Creation Festival and this atmosphere is much more "conversion friendly" than a purely secular and anti-Christian event like OZZFEST where concert goers are under the influence of filthy lyrics, drugs, alcohol, nudity and a host of other evil vices. Let's consult God's Word:

Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers

I Peter 2:16-17 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

     When asked how P.O.D. stays strong in their walks with God ( road pastor, daily times of prayer, daily Bible reading), Tra simply said that they have had a road pastor come out with them "before." Certainly if a Christian group ever needed the services of a "road pastor", it would certainly be at an un-Godly venue like OZZFEST. They said they held each other accountable but didn't elaborate. Daily prayer, Bible reading and witnessing were not even mentioned, just simply that they have a "...personal loving relationship with God..."

 A very troubling part of the interview comes when a person asks if the Ozzfest tour has changed P.O.D. in any way. Tra says it changed him in lots of ways. He said it brought their "fans closer together." I don't see how that is the case as even most Christian P.O.D. fans will not even attend OZZFEST. They attend the Christian Festivals and Christian headline tours. There are very few Christian music enthusiasts that would buy tickets to see any of the groups on the OZZFEST roster. 

     Tra also says that the tour has shown him patience, love and respect for people "whether they are Christians or not Christians." He says, further, that P.O.D. are "like friends with everybody on OZZFEST" and have a "mutual respect" and a "human respect" for them. We should love all people as Christians, but we should NOT respect lifestyles that contradict Christianity and we are not to take non believers as friends. We are to love people and witness to them but we are not to be partakers with them in areas of friendship. Tra says "people are people." GOD says otherwise. Throughout the Bible, Jesus, the apostles and the prophets tell us there are two belief systems: Good and evil, heaven and hell, light and darkness:

In addition to the material that we have already covered, P.O.D. has appeared on the Howard Stern radio show. Howard Stern is known as the king of shock radio and features very vulgar programming content. Regarding their appearance, Tra said that "Howard Stern is the kind of guy that never goes back on his word--if he likes something, he wouldn't change it just because we were Christians." Again, one must ask is this the kind of show Christians would want to be on? Definitely not. 

     It is interesting to note some of the other company that P.O.D. keeps as well. We've already explored their associations with OZZFEST and Howard Stern. At the time of the above quoted interview, P.O.D. was starting to hang out with MTV as well. Participating in its Rock and Jock Bowling tournament, 120 Minutes and  TRL (Total Request Live). Now, a year after the interview, P.O.D. is pretty much a regular fixture on MTV. Their newest song "Alive" from their just released Satellite CD has received a huge rotation and been # 1 on MTV's TRL  for several days. P.O.D. also participated in the Calvin Klein tour on which they played a lot of college dates. Calvin Klein, the clothing and fragrance company, has long been known for explicit advertising campaigns that push the envelope of immorality to new levels and has set the standard for most of the sexually immoral advertising seen in magazines and TV today. A majority of this advertising is aimed at young teens. P.O.D. has also featured a song of the soundtrack for "Little Nicky." This movie was a comedy about Satan's son and was not presented from a Christian worldview.

When asked What was the hardest part of being with Ozzfest, what did Tra say? You'd expect even if a committed Christian was on such a tour with motives of spreading the message of Jesus, he'd say that the immorality, drug use, nudity, filthy language, alcohol abuse, etc bothered him. That the Christless atmosphere bothered them greatly and that they wanted to try to change these people and point them to Jesus. Instead, this is what Tra of P.O.D. answered to this question:

"Being away from our families for such a long period of time! And also being on the main stage, we are not able to have a closeness and intimacy with the crowd, because there are normally chairs right up to the stage. No standing room, just chairs."

     Wow! One must draw the conclusion that all the immoral filth really didn't bother them too much, if any at all. P.O.D. wouldn't need to miss their families so much if they brought them on the road with them. Many Christian bands bring their families with them on tour. Their kids can be home schooled and their wives can help. But certainly, OZZFEST isn't the kind of place one would want their families exposed to. Of course, Marcos does bring his wife along. Being a married man I wouldn't want to expose myself or my wife to that kind of moral filth. That alone should send P.O.D. a wake up call that they, themselves, shouldn't be in such an environment.

     Speaking of Marcos, there are several troubling areas regarding his portion of the interview. He praises his wife as being an inspiration to him yet says she's an easy person to walk on and then he has to step in. Well, husbands should never talk about their wives like that in a public interview. Even more of a problem is Marcos' preference of Hip Hop bands. When asked who his favorite Hip Hop band was, he said "A Tribe Called Quest" and "Dilated Peoples." Since this is a Christian website with language filters and all, I cannot go into great detail about the lyrical content. Needless to say, there is plenty of profanity, sexual themes, pro-Islamic and other moral filth in the "songs" of  A Tribe Called Quest and Dilated Peoples. I'll provide some links at the end of this expose where you can study these lyrics for yourself if you chose to do so. It is very troubling that a professing Christian would name among his favorite bands, ones who promote such anti-Christian values and pro-Satanic themes. The other singers and groups Marcos named as his favorites are also troublesome. For space sake, I will not analyze them (Santana, Lauryn Hill, Pennywise, Iron Maiden, NoFX and Bob Marley) except to say that they exhibit pure moral filth and something that a Christian should not be exposed to in the least.

     Let's not forget about Tra's musical influences. Along with Sting of the Police, he also speaks affectionately of the bassist in the Heavy Metal group Primus. Primus' songs are full of profanity, Anti-Christian themes (including taking the Lord's Name in vain), sexual immorality, Violence, anti-Americanism, and drunkenness. I'll also provide links to Primus lyrics for verification purposes. 

     Finally, at the conclusion of the interview, Marcos says "Don't believe the hype, don't believe the rumors. We are going to do what we have been doing, so don't believe the rumors or the trash talking. And if you are doing the trash talking, you have to stop. The more popularity, the more people want to bring you down."

     Based on the evidence: the interview (P.O.D.'s own words and views), God's Word and basic reason, we have to conclude that P.O.D. is Not a Christian band bringing glory to Jesus Christ and setting a genuine Christian example that can only be secured through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a Christian's life. P.O.D. are a cheaply crafted counterfeit product operating under generic slogans such as "faith," "positive message," "positive vibe', etc.... Their very words and actions deny their genuineness. If these guys really believe that they are the real deal, they need to get on their knees and rather than "doing what they want to do" they need to do what God wants everyone to do: Worship Him in SPIRIT and TRUTH and not according to the book of one's own ideas about what God wants.

In Jesus,

Paul Separk, Jr.

References

A Tribe Called Quest Lyrics

Dilated Peoples Lyrics

Primus Lyrics

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