Spirit in the Sky

I love the beat of this song. When I need a perk up, I listen to this.

I asked my friend Lanny Townsend what she thought of the song and she did an amazing job in analyzing it. I asked for her permission to print it.

Very interesting topic. I looked at the lyrics and then did some research because the first thing I noticed was that it was written by a Jew, but makes reference to Jesus.

If there had been no reference to Jesus is the song, I would have dismissed it as totally misleading, in regards to the afterlife. After all, there is no salvation except through Jesus, but the song calls Jesus a friend and refers to Him as an advocate.

I read an article where Norman Greenbaum was interviewed. He was inspired by a song about a preacher to write this one, figuring that, as an artist, he could write about anything he wanted to, even if he had no experience of Christianity in his background.

At first, there was a little bit of flak from other Jews because he put Jesus in the song, but it soon died off. He got much more criticism from Christians, who protested the lyrics about him never having been a sinner. N.G. freely admits that he was mistaken about that. Wow! This song led him to an awareness that he is a sinner. That is the first step to salvation.

The guy is a rock and roller, but I think that he was given something from Heaven. It seems that because he was relaxed and open to writing Jesus into his song, in spite of being a Jew, that God over-ruled the negative things that came out of his soul, such as the heavy drug beat of the music, and inserted some heavenly truth. It was this man's only hit song and it gave him a lot to think about, in spite of being a simple song. It seems to me that God triggered a homing device within NG's soul, to help lead him to Jesus.

Please pray for him that the evil influences around him and within him will be overcome so that NG receives a clear message about his need to repent and receive his Messiah.

Notably, the song was written during the Jesus people movement, which was an era where God reached out to a rock and roll, drug dazed generation. This is a song that would appeal to them and slip some truth into the souls of young people and many in the music industry without them hardly being aware of it.

As for the lyrics about never being a sinner, if you are in Christ Jesus, He has you as if you never sinned, so in that sense, (if one is saved), the lyrics are true.

I like the song because of what my research told me about Norman Greenbaum and how I can see God working in his life to bring him to Jesus.