Jonathan David & Melissa Helser are a husband and wife duo of Christian musicians, who also collaborate with Bethel Music. A noteworthy song of theirs is No Longer Slaves. Another song that I like from Jonathan David is the song Abba.lyrics
And here‘s the remarkable story about the family he grew up in, and how he ended up writing songs and playing instruments.
Note of warning
The YouTube video “Jonathan David Helser – Abba” is a beautiful rendition of the song Abba, written and performed by Jonathan David, but it has an intro in which he mentions his influence from Brennan Manning, e.g. to inhale the word “Abba” and exhale “I belong to you” with the rhythm of your breathing, but also the laying of too much emphasis on the fact that Jesus used the word “Father” to address God – even calling that a revolution.
A dear friend of mine directed my attention to the fact that this intro reeks of mysticism akin to eastern religions, making the pure gospel of Jesus Christ more vague and ‘open to everybody,’ including the ones that do not even believe in His resurrection or His dying on the cross for their sins, or in Him being the only way to God the Father.
Here are some explanatory lines my friend wrote about the subject:
In the Bible, the word “meditate” means to focus on the meaning of a passage of Scripture, etc. To chew on it like a cow chews the cud. That is the polar opposite of techniques for emptying out your mind, and going blank, in order to get impressions. Brennan Manning uses Christian sounding words like “Abba” in order to do that, whereas the Hindus use the names of their “gods” and the Buddhists use things from their religion. But the end result is the same — a passive, blanked out mind that is ripe for getting impressions from the dark side.
When God spoke to people in the Bible, they were going about their business — not using some technique in order to try to “hear” something.
For the record, I love Jonathan David (Helser) and his wife Melissa and their heart for the Lord, and I’m sure my friend does too. And I love this simple but beautiful song. But I hope and pray—as does my friend—that Jonathan David will come to see the destructive power of mysticism, even more so when it is being mixed with the pure message of salvation obtained through the sacred and atoning blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Of course, the video was published in 2010, when Jonathan David was about 30 years old. So, it could be that he would express things differently today. I sincerely hope so, and wish him and his wife many blessings, and a solid road with God.
This article might shed some more light on mysticism, and why it is confusing at best.
This book on Catholicism (freely available pdf) also addresses the issue, e.g. in chapter 2 “Mixing Catholicism with Non-Christian Religions” (pages 35-42, especially 38).
Hidden Thoughts 