Feb. 29, Vol. 3, No.4

Is Ronnie James Dio a Christian?

Written by

Christopher Mentzer

 

            It’s been some time since I spoke with my “friend” Ryan Hoover.  Since becoming baptized, he’s started studying with a member of the congregation there.  He does send me pictures of himself and the family and shares the occasional article he found on the brethren websites.  However, recently he took up listening to one of my favorite music groups, Dio, and he drew an interesting conclusion.

 

RYAN:  I started listening to Dio as you had recommended and they are a great group.  Not like these groups today who scream in a microphone, Ronnie actually weaves stories in his songs.  However, I seem to notice a trend in his song titles and I’m pretty sure he’s a brother in Christ.  Here are some song titles and possible scripture connections:

            Holy Diver                         (Heb. 1: 1)

            Lock up the Wolves           (Matt. 7: 15)

            Last in Line                        (Mk 10: 31)

            Hungry for Heaven            (Matt. 5: 6)

            Killing the Dragon             (Rev. 20: 2, 10)

            Mystery                             (Eph. 3: 3-4)

            Rainbow in the Dark          (Gen. 9: 8-17)

            Strange Highways              (Matt. 7: 13-14)

            Eviloution                           (Gen. 3: 1)

 

Having read Ryan’s list and looking at the scripture reference I can easily see the connection.  But I wasn’t convinced.  And I made this reply:

 

CHRIS:  Ryan, I admire your research into these songs and the theory, in general, is fairly good.  However, you can’t base his religion or his belief by a few song titles or lyrics.  Here are a couple examples for you:

 

Song number 1

“It was a holy garden
That's right where Adam fell
It's where the bite was taken
It's where we chose to sin
It's where we first were naked
This is where our death begins”

 

Song number 2

Breakin’ out, I’m on a mission,
Been caught between heaven and hell.
My guitar is my ammunition,
Raise the flag, sound the mission bell.

Here’s his response:

 

RYAN:  Okay, I know the second song is from that Bill and Ted movie, and I’m sure you’ll tell me the first one is from some denominational hymn book.  Am I right?

 

CHRIS: You’re right on the second one, as you said, but rock singer, Alice Cooper, wrote the first one.  So you see even lyrics can sometime be deceiving when separated from the music or even the musician.  Here’s another example in terms of a writer.  Billy Graham has written a book entitled “How To Be Born Again”.  Sounds useful so he must be a Christian right?  Wrong!  If you read this book, you will notice that not once does he mention the passages, Acts 2:38 or Mark 16:16.  These two passages are very important as they support the need for baptism.  You and I both know this and yet people out there will aimlessly follow whatever sounds good.  You see Ryan, the word Christian only appears in the scriptures three times:

  1. Acts 11:26, “and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught much people, and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

 

  1. Acts 26:28, “And Agrippa `said' unto Paul, ‘With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian’.”

 

  1. 1 Peter 4:16, “but if `a man suffer' as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.”

 

With that in mind we can see that being a Christian should be a very cherished thing.  And we do so by obeying His commandments (John 14: 15).