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This week's show is my last. It's time to do something else. I didn't want it to turn into an obligation, rather than a ministry. I say it on the last show, but I'll say it here as well. Thank you, Tom. I appreciate you allowing me to be a part of Dead To Self. It truly means a lot. On another note, I did play a brand new heavy Lordchain song on the last show. I think the new album is going to be our best yet. I haven't talked with Bill from Roxx, but I'm hoping they will pick it up and renew our deal for another 2 years. Thank you again, brother.

Kelly Matthews

Hey all, can you all do me a favor... Go to your top 10 favorite albums and rate them for me. I want to at least have one rating for every album eventually. Also, if you want to write a review for the album, that would be AWESOME! Thank you.

Just want to say merry Christmas to all my dead family, love you all and may God bless you all!

With Christmas time upon us, I just wanted to share what's on my heart. Regardless of how one celebrates or thinks of Christmas, I think of it as a time to reflect on what Christmas is or should be all about... the Gift! I am talking about the Greatest gift ever given. Now, I know that I am not surprising anyone or adding any suspense to anyone's thinking here. We all know what, no, Who that gift is. It's Christ. I do often wonder though, do we really truly understand the enormity of that blessed event? The birth of Christ. It's so amazing that it was foretold hundreds, maybe even thousands of years before that eventful day took place. This gift was from God! It was His only begotten Son and He gave Him to the whole world.
I am so humbled and in awe when I think about how God cared for His creation so much that He provided the way for us, who were lost, dead in our sins, enemies, strangers, etc., to be reconciled back to Himself. He loves us so much that instead of giving us what we deserve, He is rich in mercy toward us. And by His own grace, He has given us everything that we could never earn nor deserve... His own righteousness, adoption, salvation, eternal life, and so much more... all through His beloved son, Jesus Christ!
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ and has predestined us for adoption to Himself and has qualified us to share in the inheritance in the saints. We have a blessed, eternal hope laid up in heaven for us and it's all through Christ Jesus! If that is not the greatest gift ever, then I do not know what is.

I just want to get this started by sharing a little about myself... 
First off, just a bit of a warning, I have ADHD/OCDD. I may go off track on some of these posts and then I will go in and edit them occasionally. Just wanted to let you know so that you won't think I am just a total brainwreck LOL.
I grew up with ADHD/OCD, but back in the 70s and 80s it didn't seem to be much of a thing, I was just considered a misbehaved child. I really struggled to pay attention or concentrate and was often very disruptive and inattentive pretty much everywhere I was at; home, school and church. I was a pretty smart kid if you could keep my attention for more than ten seconds but that was a difficult task at best. I did not even know I had ADHD until well into my 40s, I just thought that was how everybody was, I thought that was normal.
I did get officially "Diagnosed" a few years ago. My doctor had me try a few medications but after not much change, except one that made me a zombie, I just decided to deal with it just like I have my entire life.
Now that we got that out of the way, here we go.

Alright, so I was raised in a Christian home where both of my parents were believers. Have you ever heard Bryan Duncan's song "Mr. Bailey's Daughter"? There is a part in there that goes; "I was born on Saturday and in church on Sunday"... well, that was me. My mother's side of the family were Pentecostal/Charismatics and they were very faithful and loyal church goers. My dad was not from a Christian family. He had a crazy upbringing but that is for another post... I pretty much went to church as far back as I can remember.

We went to a few different churches in my childhood but they were all of the Pentecostal/Charismatics denomination so that is all I knew. I can still remember hearing the speaking in "tongues" and all of the "Thus sayeth the Lords...". I remember seeing people being "slain" in the Spirit and people convulsing. I also remember hearing "Jesus can come at any time so you better be ready!" every time there was an earthquake or some kind of global catastrophe. To be honest, my childhood was sort of terrifying.

Now, my mother was the spiritual one in the family. My dad worked full-time and we didn't see him much after he got home. He would wash up, eat dinner and then disappear into his basement, which was his workshop, until bedtime. He was one of the smartest people I have ever personally known but he was impatient and a little abusive, both verbally and physically.

I can still remember hearing my mom praying with one of her close friends on the phone. In fact, I still remember when they would be praying and my mom would bring up my name and it always got my attention. She would also tell us how we need to be right with God and how important it was to be in church, even after I got married and moved out. When I was in my late teens, I didn't want to go to church anymore and my mom told me that it was my choice and that I didn't have to go but, it was followed by a load of guilt. However, the only thing I heard was "you don't have to go." I stopped going most of the time but my close friend, at the time, would call and talk me into going so he wouldn't be so bored... lol In fact, it was through him that I met my wife, they are cousins. I met her when I was 16. She and her family lived about six or so hours away so we never really hooked up until 1983 when they moved to our town and then I moved in on her like a vulture on a carcass. Shhh, don't tell her I said that haha. We started dating in high school and then less than a year after graduation, we got married. No, we didn't have any kids on the way, just young and dumb.

For the first few years of our marriage, we would occasionally attend church but not very faithfully. We realized the need to attend church but it wouldn't last more than a couple Sundays. We had two kids by then and we both worked. We were having marriage problems and by the grace of God, we held on but not without a lot of damage. We were both very selfish and we fought a lot. I truly thank our God and father that He not only brought us together, He kept us together!

Anyway, I knew who God was but I didn't know Him. I knew that I needed to go to church but it was easier to not go, it was a huge struggle for me. I had this yo-yo type faith I guess. I would seek God when things were going bad or when I felt down but never really gave Him my life. Just wanted Him to take my problems. I went through this for years!

Then, in my mid twenties, I was at work and I really don't remember what lead up to it, if anything, but I felt a calling or yearning for God. I drove a front-end loader for a veneer mill where I worked so I wasn't around anyone and I just broke down and wept. Not sure why. I have always been a man's man. I had a lot of pride and well, men do not cry... they just don't. Later I called my wife on my break and told her, we need to start going back to church. She was all for it. So we went back to the same church we attended when I was a teenager. My parents were no longer attending there but my younger brother was and had been faithfully since before I quit going. He was the assistant pastor and even preached once in a while. It was a really small church and had a different pastor than when I went before. He was an Indian and his wife sang at our wedding. We obviously knew them but not as pastors. Well, he had no theological or Biblical education or training as far as that goes. I am not sure how he ended up as pastor but he was. The church was part of the CEA (Cristian Evangelical Association) and I am not sure what their criteria was.

We began attending faithfully and I was so hungry to know God. Even though I was ADHD and I struggled with reading, I would read my Bible and I read it a lot. I think I read it twice in one year! However, I would get discouraged because I couldn't remember much. Every time I read it, I felt like I was reading it for the first time... it was disheartening. I also read a few Christian books. I would read up to twenty chapters or so in the Bible in a single day. I really wanted to know God!

Then somehow, our pastor met an evangelist from Idaho, I think, and he, his family and some others came to our church and they would hold a "Revival". They came and preached at our church occasionally and sometimes would bring different people with them with different "ministries". One Sunday an associate of that evangelist preached, or taught at our service. He was a teacher and he brought out some pretty deep stuff. Back then, I couldn't tell you if it was true or what but I remember thinking "I want to know God like that". Then, something weird happened. As I was listening to him teach, I started thinking, "how do I know what this guy is teaching is true?" I didn't understand some of it and I wanted to know how he got some of this out of what he was reading from Scripture. It sounded good but was it truth. At that point I started to shut out all preachers, teachers, etc... I wanted to know God but not through others. I wanted to truly know the true God and I was determined. I quit listening to preachers/teachers on the radio or TV. I wanted to know how to study my Bible.

I searched for some books or something to help me study the Bible. Now, I know without a doubt, fully convinced that this was God... I went to the Christian book store and found Kay Arthur's Precept Ministries "How to Study Your Bible Inductively" and it would change my life forever. It didn't tell you what to believe, it taught you how to find out for yourself. It was a course on how to study the Bible and was developed using a college course for Journalism. It's amazing! As I began to study my Bible, I found myself questioning a lot of what I was taught growing up and what was being taught in our church. I went through a major faith crisis and we ended up leaving this church.

We began looking for a new church to attend. We went to another Pentecostal church as I wasn't quite sure what I truly believed yet. We went there for a while and I even started playing drums for the worship team. I was continuously studying my Bible and finding more and more that what I was taught and what I was being taught, was not Biblical. We ended up leaving. I was struggling and started feeling overwhelmed. I no longer knew what I believed. I felt like everything I ever believed was pulled out from under me and I didn't know what to do. I ended up falling away from God. I stopped going to church, stopped reading my Bible, stopped praying. I struggled with sin, cussed like a logger, was bitter, angry, critical, complained, I was lost.

Then, after about fifteen years I began to yearn for God again. I never stopped believing in Him, I just wasn't living for Him. It was the Spring of 2020 and we were in the middle of the Covid pandemic. There was a lot of chaos going on in the world and I just started realizing that Jesus is coming back and we could be near the end. I now realize that we should be thinking that way every day, but I started seeking after God, only this time was different. I didn't trust anyone and I wasn't even sure where to start going to church. I just remember praying and asking God to help us find a church. I knew that if we didn't, we would just fall away again and I was really feeling down. Well, our God is faithful! He led us to a church and I am convinced, this is where He wants us! God has been revealing Himself to me in His Word and my life has changed tremendously. For the first time, I have ASSURANCE! I no longer feel like a yo-yo, I feel strong in my faith and I actually know what faith is and Who it's in! God is Awesomazing!

To Be Continued...

Saw Saint Asonia, Theory of a Deadman and Skillet last night.
Saint Asonia were pretty good, featured the vocalist of Three Days Grace. They had a great sound and were very professional. Theory of a Deadman were very talented and entertaining but not a big fan of the vulgar lyrics. Skillet were great. I am not a huge Skillet fan but they put on a great show.
Overall, it was a good show but definitely not Styper or Demon Hunter lol.

I have been adding album info for a while now. I want to have some good info for each album including anything that tells us what it's about, what went in to recording it, etc... I also try and include all who were involved in playing on the album. So, we have nearly 2,500 albums... I have around maybe 700 left to go. So, please check the albums out. If they do not have the info yet... don't worry, I will get it lol. Also, a lot of the albums have very little info. Anyway, I think this is going to keep me busy until the end of the year and then I hope to get the song info and lyrics added back and add more. I have a few other projects I want to do as well. Yeah... OCD being used here.

So there was a major upgrade to the software I use to adjust the sound settings for the station. It had massively improved it by miles so I played with it a little tonight and found it to be way easier to use so I did some adjusting on the sound quality and all and I think it sounds even better than before... what do you think?

So, if you have noticed... I have been adding more music to the station. I am on a mission to go through the previous D2S songlist and have pretty much added everything I missed when rebuilding. Also, I have removed a few bands/albums/songs. I know that I am not going to catch all of the bad stuff and will remove as I become aware. I am not just keeping stuff with a certain amount of JPW (Jesus per word) lyrics... I play a lot of bands that have Christian members in them who write the lyrics but may not be evangelical. If the lyrics and the image of the band do not promote heretical or worldly teaching or values, I will consider keeping/adding them. Many of the bands that I have excluded promote very heretical teachings and values as well as mixing in worldly views/values to their so called Christianity, ie: P.O.D., Bride, Neal Morse.. etc., etc..
Anyway, hope you are still enjoying the music.
I am currently adding more album info and hope to have that done by the end of the year. Then I will start adding back the lyrics/song info.
Thanks again so much for all of your love and support. You truly are the DEADest!!!
          

If you look on our Music page, My Plot and other pages... you will notice that we have a new partner!!! We are now partnered with Answers In Genesis. So, if you click on the AiG image, you will go to their bookstore. Any purchases you make going through the us will give us a percentage of what you spend and will help support this station, plus... you will receive some amazing resources to encourage and build you up in your faith... Anyway, check them out.

So I knocked off a big project here. I wanted to go through the playlist of the station prior to when we shut down. I have added over 1,000 songs. I am not working on adding album info for the albums now. I have a little under half left to add. Then I plan on adding back all of the lyrics and song info.
I finished adding the labels and have worked on the Searches and Lists on our Music Search page.
I will keep you posted but please, check them out. They are not done so lots of stuff missing but still a lot there.

So, I have been going through my music again to see if there are more albums/artists/songs that I can add to our already huge song list. I am trying to loosen up a bit on what I am adding, not meaning on truth of the message. If I find that bands or albums oppose the message, I will remove them. I have removed several bands since starting the station back up, due to their views that oppose the truth of God's Word. Also, not all of the albums or bands I am adding are blatant Christian bands. I do not have a problem adding albums/bands that have Christians in them and their message or lyrics are not evangelical. As long as they do not oppose truth or promote ungodly living or thinking. Please give me your thoughts on this. I have been thinking about it for some time now. I know that music is not going to save us. It may encourage us, lift us up or just entertain us. I do not want to promote any band or album that promotes heresy, false teaching or flat out deception. I hope you enjoy the additions and if you hear or know of any of the bands or albums we play promoting any heresy or ungodly living, please reach out to me. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Christ Jesus.

So I have added a bunch of death metal to the station for our Friday night show "Wake The DEAD". It is an extreme music show and it ROCKS! It is not in regular rotation... I am also going through my music and adding a bunch more. Anyway, will keep you posted on the process.

We just found out that a high school friend of my wife's and I has stage four cancer. Please pray that she and her family call on the Lord. She has talked about God but I am not sure where she is, if at all, in her faith.

Hey all, I was just wondering if anyone here has used our Music Search page and tried some of our suggested music searches. I just updated all of our Compilation album info and fixed a few other things. You can search by genre, year and country. You can search for a specific song, album or artist. You can check out our Lists too. If you get a chance, try it out and let me know what you think. Just click Music at the top and Music Search in the dropdown.

So I participated in the crowd funding campaign for Jamie Rowe's (Guardian) new project Kalamity Kills. I just received a link to a song that will be on the album and I am blown away. Nothing like Guardian but hard and heavy. I cannot wait till this comes out and I can add the rest of the album to the station.

I have been studying the book of Colossians and in my reading, I noticed that it and Ephesians are very similar. Each book expounds on things that help you understand more of what Paul said in each... give it a glance.

I gotta say, Roxx Records has to be my favorite label/Distro... They are not only putting out some of the best reissues like Mercy Rule, Chosen Stranger, Minier, and more... but they are putting out some amazing new stuff like the new Applehead, Preterist, Dynasty, Deny The Fallen, etc...etc...etc... I cannot wait to see what they put out next.

My wife and I are going to see Stryper and special guest, Les Carlsen in concert in Seattle at the end of May. We got the meet and greet pass so I am pretty excited to finally get to meet the boys in yellow and black. I will post some pictures...

Recording guitar solos for a brand new Sacred Warrior song today. I've already completed recording all my other tracks for the song. The song is sounding great! Everyone in the band has really done a great job on this one. This is the first new song written by the "classic" lineup since the Obsessions album and has truly been a group creation. Looks very likely that much more new music from SW is coming. I can't wait to get started on the next track. It's a banger too!

~Jonathan Johnson - Guitarist