Well now, ain’t that a controversial title?

Some of you might be asking, “Phil, did you just publish a post on Give Your Story called Five Finger Death Punch – Where You and Others Share Their Hope and TRUTH?” And the TRUTH is, Jesus is really my primary topic here. I really want you to find Jesus! If you already have Him, then we need to work together to help others find Him. And while we are doing that, we need to work at being more like Him!

Before I get to Five Finger Death Punch, let me tell you how I arrived at this answer!

If you haven’t noticed, I am still working in the realms of my more recent themes in the ROCK and heavy metal music genre. And I think I wanna hang out here!

This past week, I had a crazy BLAST of a weekend trip with my oldest son. As I write, I am in Sin City – Vegas. Further, I have my earbuds in and I am rockin’ out to heavy metal as I write. And add to this – I am sitting in a casino typing to people about HOPE, TRUTH, and JESUS.

In February of this year, a Facebook ad came across my feed. The Scorpions were celebrating over 60 years as a band, and they were going to be doing a residency in Vegas at Planet Hollywood.

Eleven years ago, the Scorpions were in Charlotte, NC. We were less than a year into just moving to North Carolina. At that time, seeing the Scorpions was not on my radar. We had a new home, in a new state, with new jobs, and the kids were the focus. I figured the Scorpions would come back.

They have not.

It’s always been somewhere California or Vegas. I just had to go see them. Sixty freakin’ years is a long time. Their lead singer, Klaus Meine, is 78 years old!

So here I sit in Vegas.

Except the story took a turn.

The Scorpions canceled their show. Go figure. Medical reasons involving one of the older members is the word on the street.

After attempting to transfer the plane tickets so we could hang out with our vacation buddies instead, my wife and I determined that it would be better to take our money and flush it down the toilet than to pay the airlines the ridiculous fees they wanted to make the changes.

So, we decided my son and I would just go anyway.

Here I sit.

Writing about Five Finger Death Punch.

My son and I were talking out options for alternative plans, and he called me with the idea to go see Five Finger Death Punch instead.

I recalled when they made their initial public scene back in 2007. Their Bad Company cover in heavy metal format was the song that took their first album mainstream. While I have really never followed that band all these years, I have enjoyed some of their music and agreed to the idea.

Five Finger Death Punch Concert Review

The opening song was “Welcome to the Circus.”
In short order, F-bombs were flying.
Not that I didn’t expect it. I just did not realize the level at which these words would be flying.
Unfortunately for me, F-bombs and my mouth are an area that I struggle with. (This does not make it right!)
I immediately went into self-consciousness and self-examination mode.
Self: “You write about Hope and Jesus. Should I really be here?”
And then?
Honestly, I went into judgment mode.
This point is important for later.
Hey! Don’t get me wrong. The music, tones, and overall sound were amazing. The skull and dark-theme focus – not my cup of tea. F-bombs in music have never really been attractive to me.
Knowing a little of the band’s history and their BATtles in their early days, I decided to watch for change.

CHAINSAW

Right out of the gate, their lead singer, Ivan, was interested in the crowd. The way he engaged with the crowd was unique. He had a conversation with us.
Besides his engagement with the front row, he addressed each area of the arena — okay, not an uncommon thing.
Things were flying from the stage to the crowd.
First, your standard guitar picks. Then water and the empty bottle he was drinking from. All things I have seen before.
Then?
He threw his hat.
Then his drum-major mace went into the crowd.
On his hip were many strips of cloth prepared to make dew rags.
The show continued with the crowd engaged.
In his order-of-business conversation with us, he thanked the opening acts and asked us to thank them as well.
Then?
He started talking about GROWTH.
Growth of their fan base. It was also a reference to personal growth. Growth for him and his band over the last 20 years and the hope that we, too, had grown.
Things were still flying off the stage, and the band was having a great time.
@FUN!
The undertone of love was present in the band’s presentation. Love for each other, love for their crowd, and hope for love for their fans.
Then?
This engagement was great.
With a loving undertone, Ivan asked us to pick a neighbor sitting next to us, reach out, shake hands with them, and introduce ourselves.
With some colorful adjectives, he then asked, “Wasn’t that great?”
This was the kicker.
With more colorful words, “Now,” he said, “Congratulations. You may have just shook hands with someone that, on a daily basis, YOU 100% DISAGREE with.”
The crowd erupted in laughter.
As the band removed themselves from politics with that topic, they exploded into the song that took them mainstream in 2007 — Bad Company (heavy metal cover).
The show continued with more things flying off the stage, more water from the bottle Ivan was drinking from, drumsticks, his hockey shirt, and the dew rags.
As Ivan was throwing things to specific fans, he would ask them politely, “Be nice to each other.”
He would give praying hands after pointing to the fan he intended the item for as he threw it to them.
He even would ask, “Please give that to a kid.”
As the fun continued, the band flicked guitar picks at each other and showed affection for each other.
Twelve-Step recovery themes were creeping off the stage as well.
Then it got personal.
First, thanking the military members who were given space in front of the front row.
His friends and kids who were present were also a primary focus.
Then?
Two people special in his heart – the people who got him into recovery to get sober from alcohol.
He thanked them.
After he found them in the crowd and pointed them out by name, he then identified his most special.
“MY MOM!”
As the band broke out into their song, “Mother May I.”
It was now time for the encore, and that’s when it got really crazy.
Ivan came onto the stage with a baseball bat.
T-shirts from cannons were flying. Guitar picks. Drumsticks. There goes another shirt off Ivan, his necklaces, bracelets, another hat.
He told us he usually gave the bat to a person new in recovery.
Get it?
BATtle?
This night, he would give the bat to a kid instead.
Gratitude for the fans was also flying off the stage.
You could tell he wanted to give all he had.
He even took his shoes off and threw them!
My son thinks he threw his in-ears as well. It has been documented that Ivan has even thrown microphones into the crowd.
After they closed out, more guitar picks and waves, rock signs, and thank-yous came from the band.
They even hung around afterward to chat with fans up front.
We didn’t have the closest of seats, but our view was in the good range.
As we went to leave, we hung on the stairwell, and as still more guitar picks were flyin’ off the stage, the bassist flicked one our way.
It landed short in front of us in the handicapped section where no one remained.
As I scanned the area, I got it in my view and pointed, saying, “There!”
To which my son jumped the rail and grabbed it as my older body took a little time to catch up to him – LOL.
I was ready to go, but my son wanted more.
I was not onboard, as I felt we had gotten more than we had already planned.
I was thinking, “Have some gratitude, eh?”
However, my argument was short-lived as I found myself scanning the seats closer to the stage.
After about the third or fourth row of scanning, security caught up to me and made me head out.
My son was nowhere to be found.
As I waited at the top of the section, he arrived a few minutes later with a big smile on his face.
He had done just as I had taught him.
He saw a path to get to the band and took it.
Andy, the lead guitarist, was signing autographs.
He signed the guitar pick.

Why It Matters

First, let’s talk about my struggle.
My mouth does not always match the “be like Jesus” message I deliver. It’s an area I need to clean up.
My inner self-consciousness became quite aware of this as I watched a show that was outstanding.
Did you notice what I noticed?
Including some 4 letter laced words, The band’s show, led by their singer, Ivan Moody, delivered messages of growth, principles, love, joy, gratitude, and giving.
All these concepts describe personal development, moral foundations, deep connection, and inner happiness.
All these virtues are important.
But there is something missing.
None of these virtues, by themselves, get us to Jesus. They don’t guarantee our reward in heaven.
There is a key element missing.
Jesus.
You see, it was obvious that Ivan wanted to give back to the fans. He was directly thankful and exuded gratitude. He demonstrated his gratitude through his actions.
He was leading by example.
The example he learned in recovery.
Possibly even through a 12-Step program.
So how does Five Finger Death Punch and Jesus go together?
Well, they don’t necessarily.
But there can be common ground.
The purpose of the concert is entertainment.
Joy.
For the band, it is their full-time job. For the fans, it is an opportunity to experience joy in person, through music that brings them meaning, connection, and excitement.
Part of the band’s message that night was about principles and virtues like personal growth, love, gratitude, giving, and being kind to one another.
Those virtues align with the message of Jesus.
The band also wanted to give.
Yet another value that aligns with being like Jesus.
Now, I am not suggesting that Five Finger Death Punch was intentionally trying to deliver the message of Jesus.
I don’t think they were.
Their script may have had zero intention of delivering the message of Jesus.
And yet, in some ways, they were demonstrating pieces of His message anyway.
Why?
Because Jesus is not limited to the places we expect to find Him.
Jesus is for everyone.

Even Five Finger Death Punch Fans.

Even people who don’t know they are looking for Him.
Even people who are still struggling.
Even people whose mouths don’t always match the message they are trying to deliver.
And this is where obedience comes in.
I believe Jesus will show Himself to us even when we are sinning. Jesus will reveal Himself. Jesus will give us glimpses of Himself.
But if we are not paying attention, we can miss it.
If we are not obeying, we may see Him for a moment and then promptly forget it.
If we are not following Him, we can take the wrong road.
We can see the glimpse but miss the direction.
You see, obedience doesn’t earn us Jesus.
Obedience unblinds us, Obedience helps us follow Jesus.
And when we follow Him, faith grows.
And when faith grows, good works begin to produce fruit.
Not because we are earning Jesus.
Because Jesus is changing us.
And then we begin to give.
We begin to love.
We begin to serve.
We begin to tell others.
We begin to become more like Him.
That is what I saw that night.
Ivan Moody was telling thousands of people that he had not always obeyed and now he was trying to live differently.
He was leading by example.
That doesn’t make him Jesus.
It doesn’t make Five Finger Death Punch a Christian band.
But it does give us something to think about.
Maybe this is what finding Jesus can look like.
Not necessarily finding Him where we expect.
But finding glimpses of Him in places we never thought to look.
And that brings me to the woobie.
You know what a woobie is?
A security blanket.
Thank you, Vicky @ Frontier CLT.
When we engage in something we grew up with that gave us familiarity and comfort, even if it sucked, even if it wasn’t quite right, we often gravitate back to it.
It’s like muscle memory.
As adults, we can still gravitate toward our security blanket.
The hope is that your security blanket didn’t suck.
The hope is that somewhere inside your woobie is a safe space that leads you toward maturity.
And if it wasn’t a safe space – if it did suck – maybe there is still hope.
Maybe you can modify your security blanket for the good.
For me, hard rock and heavy metal music is my woobie.
Some of that music had parts that were not good or influential in a healthy way. Back then, I received the message and bought into the idea that it was okay because famous people were doing it.
Therefore, it must be okay.
But thirty years later, I can see something different.
Many of those bands and their members have taken a turn for the better.
Their message is different than it was thirty years ago.
And maybe that’s part of my story too.
Maybe God can take something from our past that wasn’t always good and use it for something good.
Maybe He can meet us inside our woobie.
Maybe He can use the things we already understand to help us understand Him.
Maybe He can use a Five Finger Death Punch concert to make us stop and think about HOPE, TRUTH, GRATITUDE, GROWTH, LOVE, and JESUS.
Because Jesus is for everyone.

Even Five Finger Death Punch Fans.