The Truth Behind the Music......

How can you see into my eyes
Like open doors?
Leading you down into my core,
Where I've become so numb.

Without a soul,
My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold,
Until you find it there and lead it back home.

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breath into me and make me real.
Bring me to life.

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life.

Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

(All of this sight,
I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark
but you were there in front of me)
I've been sleeping a 1000 years it seems.
I've got to open my eyes to everything.
(Without a thought
Without a voice
Without a soul
Don't let me die here.
There must be something more).
Bring me to life.

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie. There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life

Did you catch it? Did you see the truth behind the music? Sounds pretty Christian, save me from the nothing I've become. Wake me up inside and save me. What about the third verse?
Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

Ahhh yes, I've felt frozen inside, quite literally actually. I felt that I couldn't move because of how deep into sin I had become. But wait... What's that word? Darling? Wait a minute. People don't call God their darling do they? No... indeed, this happens to be a “Gothic rock/pop band”. Sounds Christian enough until that part doesn't it? The first time I heard this song, I didn't know that it was Wake Me Up Inside by Evanescence. Had I known that, and had I heard that one little word “darling” put in there I would have thought it to be a Christian-based song. I listened to it and though, “Wow, what amazing lyrics! Wake me up inside, save me from the nothing I've become.” BUT, what is it truly saying? Let's see...

How can you see into my eyes
Like open doors?
Leading you down into my core,
Where I've become so numb.
It's a question I've asked God. How can God see the true me? How can He get so deep into m soul without me “allowing Him to”? What is the singer saying though? Something more along the lines of, how can this boyfriend of mine, my “lover” see so deeply into me, why do I open up to him so easily. She's a foolish women with no Christian intent. First let me clear something up, I think the song's pretty cool, and no, I'm not trying to dis it, what I want to make clear in this post is how dangerous some pop music can be, and how Christian pop music has gone so far to the extreme that one can't tell the difference between the two.

Without a soul,
My spirit's sleeping somewhere cold,
Until you find it there and lead it back home.

Had this been a Christian song that home would have been God, heaven, something having to do with Jesus leading us back to the cross. But now what is it? Simply a person living in darkness, and wanting to get even deeper into darkness, not out of it. She's looking the wrong way for help.

(Wake me up)
Wake me up inside.
(I can’t wake up)
Wake me up inside.
(Save me)
Call my name and save me from the dark.
(Wake me up)
Bid my blood to run.
(I can’t wake up)
Before I come undone.
(Save me)
Save me from the nothing I've become.

Christian meaning: I need my soul to be saved. I can't wake up from this utter darkness, this despair that I'm in, I'm completely lost. Jesus, call my name, please, come and save me. Save me before I'm completely lost.
Secular meaning: He(boyfriend) needs to come save me. Show me some love that will supposedly “help” her to get away from her darkness.

Now that I know what I'm without,
You can't just leave me.
Breath into me and make me real.
Bring me to life.

There is this ideology in the Christian community that God will allow a person to be “reborn” it's the idea of being “born again”. This line, “Breath into me and make me real. Bring me to life.” It seems to flow right along with that idea doesn't it? What would this mean than if this song is a secular one? (Which it is.) As it says, “Now that I know what I'm without, you can't just leave me.” Meaning, she knows what dumb stuff she's done, and because you know too you can't leave me. The guy can't just ditch this girl now. Sadly, it tends to happen.

Bring me to life.
(I've been living a lie.
There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life.

Here, once again, it seems to evoke Christian ideology. “I've been living a lie, there's nothing inside.” Some people (myself included) would equate spiritual death with having nothing left inside. Not only this but as I was not to long ago I was living a lie. The same words I've used many time. And once again that thought of, “Bring me to life.” At the same time, this has nothing to do with God! How sad is that? She wants a man, I would go so far as to say a fool, to bring her back to life. What can a foolish man do other than harm to her?

Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

What happens when you replace that one word? Try it, replace darling, with, say, Jesus.
Frozen inside without Your touch,
Without Your love, Jesus.
Only You are the life among the dead.
See how real that is? See how truthful that is? God truly is the only Being that can save us. Yet, this young woman is asking something other than God to bring her back. Something other than God to love her as allow her to have life among the dead. Just to show how shockingly close to Christian pop music this song is let's look at lines from another song.
Set Me Free by Casting Crowns has this line -
Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
Same use of dead people. People who are not truly dead of course, but rather spiritually dead, or dying. People who have no hope, no faith, no trust. They are truly dead in their hearts. Wake Me Up Inside however does not mean this. I would say, that if this young lady is as deep in sin as she is singing about then what she really means is that there aren't those fleshly desires that she longs for. Her “savior” is really the devil himself.

(All of this sight,
I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark
but you were there in front of me)
I've been sleeping a 1000 years it seems.
I've got to open my eyes to everything.
(Without a thought
Without a voice
Without a soul
Don't let me die here.
There must be something more).
Bring me to life.

“I can't believe I couldn't see.” Have any of you been so deep into your own desires that you couldn't see the truth? Or, you believed that your sin was fine, and you were so lost that you couldn't see how evil it really was? Had this been a Christian song these words would truly be powerful. “Don't let me die here.” It would seem she meant, don't let me die in sin. But no... This isn't what she means. There is most likely more to the meaning of this song than I even want to step in. As the only saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss...”

All I want to point out with what I have said today is that we, as young Christians need to be careful. We must examine what we listen to, and not mistake things for what they aren't. I believe that the devil himself can use music just as easily as God can. Just with a different purpose in mind. We can't be controlled by the evil one through listening to the wrong type of music, or, by truly believing what that music has to offer. I understand liberty garden issues, and I'm not trying to persuade any of you to listen to one type of music, all I want is to caution you, that you make sure you know what you're listening to. If you're in a hard situation, and you are laying in bed crying over something that has happened to you. Please, don't listen to this type of music, the type that says true life can come from fleshly desires, rather, listen to hymns, praise music, bands like Casting Crowns and Tim Hughes. Don't allow your self to get lost in your sadness but rather allow God to be in you and with you through your hard times.

Would love any ideas that you have! And thanks for reading.
-JK