Jesus Christ

You know at first I thought the same thing... that Eric may have been frustrated with God or Jesus The Christ.

I now look at it like this: Eric seems to sing a lot about the end. The apocalypse. I think in this song he is really saying that he is frustrated with the world. All the violence, lies, pain, feelings of insanity, drugs to heal the cowards, etc. etc. I think he is voicing that he is ready for the end to come, that he's ready for the rapture. That he's ready for the last chance, to choose between good and evil. To be ascended into Heaven or descended into hell.

This is a song about Jesus Christ, as the lyrics say. Very powerfull song.

I like the way the point of view shifts here... (if you compare the verses)

I agree patryxdeth. It's an unusual interpretation of Jesus as I see it. Christian? Anti-christian?

'You are the reason for the wars that plague the land You are the symbol for the cause in which they stand You are the one who sits there watching as they die You are the son of man that listens as they cry'

This sounds like Eric is talking about Jesus being the son of a man (God) who doesn't seem to help by cleaning people of their sins, but do quite the opposite by causing famine and disasters.

'Are you the man who said to turn the other cheek? Are you the one for this appears to be the weak? Are you to lift us from this silent found rebirth? Are you to take us from this stench that fills the earth?'

And that sounds like Eric is patronizing God, saying that he is simply a hypocrite who told US to pray and US to toil about religion, where he should in fact be 'setting an example', I guess you could say, instead of causing all this havoc.

'Bring us love Let us see Set us Free'

That part totally turns the song around though. Unless 'Let us see' means that Jesus or God should prove that he exists and does take us under his wing when we die, so people have reason to believe in him. Eh, confusing. Good old Eric Clayton and his metaphors. Keep enriching our airwaves Saviour Machine \m/

Well, Saviour Machine is very Christian, so I don't see this as Eric criticizing God. Although, he could be speaking AS a non-believer in this song.

While "Bring them to life" is definitely the turning point in the song, I believe that the key point is actually "Without torture over belief".

My interpretation is that the song is about a person that suffers persecution for being a Christian. The arguments used in it are the exact arguments that a atheist or anti-christian person uses to criticize our faith in Jesus, our Saviour. With that said, I believe the person quotes those who make him/her suffer while speaking to Christ, and enraged, asks for vengeance to Him, by leaving them behin, leaving them to die. And by asking it, he/she realizes how wrong he/she is and remembers when Christ said to love his/her neighbour as him/herself, and asks to God to bring them to life.

He then, remembers the Promise that one day, we will be with Him. And where we'll be, there won't be hate, pain, suffering, insanity, death, fire (of hell), lies that feed the liar (the Antichrist), war, games, fear, fame, power, drugs, violence, rape, sickness, plagues, judgement, crimes, hope (we will be with God, there's nothing else to hope), time (for eternity will be ours. Amen!), two or three (for we will be one with Christ. Amen!), and finally, torture over belief, the reason of his/her suffering.

Then, he/she asks to Jesus to bring us love, not only for the ones that persecute him/her, but also for him/herself, as he/she realizes that he/she also needs it. He/she also asks for all of us to see (the light? the way? God himself?) and to set us free (from this world).

That's my interpretation, and I'm sorry if I couldn't make myself clear, English is not my native tongue.

Peace.

Coming back to this song, I think of the Biblical book of Habakkuk, which is about a prophet lamenting over the torturous condition of the world and having a conversation with God over his pain.

Since the theme of the band Saviour Machine is Revelation and the End Times, I feel like the song is a conversation of an individual with Christ over doubts about Christ and perhaps Christ answers simply with "Vengeance is Mine" meaning to be patient and wait for the Rapture, to leave the doubts behind to die. It fits the themes of the earlier songs, which began with mourning over souls on their way to their eternal deaths, the rise of the Anti-Christ, and the hypocrisy of the Church.

I believe the one of the concluding verses for Biblical Book of Revelation is "Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy." This brings further context behind Christ's response of "Vengeance is mine." The persecuted individual who has watched many die for Christ's name may be admitting that through such horrors Christ, who came down in human flesh, may still empathize with the suffering saints "You are the Son of Man who listens as they cry!"

Therefore, the persecuted individual settles to be still and know that He is God through the line calling for an end to the "torture over belief/set us free."

I just see the whole song like a Book of Habakkuk, but for the End Times where the persecuted Christian faces doubts, goes through the ills of the world, then resolutely concludes with a plea for Christ to set the world free which points to the Second Coming.

I love Jesus Christ!!!!1!!!11!!!one!!!!111!!!!eleven!1!!!!one thousand one hundred eleven!!!11!!!!1111!!!1111!111111111!!!!

I\'ve had literal decades to contemplate the meaning of this song and I feel like it is a song has dual meanings. The first is the more face value one about a non-believer rationalizing Christ. At first they are questioning him and doubting him. \n\nBasically saying "How can you claim to be this savior when all I see is religious wars, persecutions and death"? "You have the power to stop it and yet it persists"! \n\n Their viewpoint of Christ is not of the peaceful, loving God that Christ represents in the New Testament, but the vengeful, wrathful God that is present throughout the Old Testament. The "Please leave them behind/to die" line is indicative of this, basically saying "leave people alone because your very presence is causing everyone to suffer". \n\n They then begin to bargain with God via a test "Bring Them To Life". "Reverse all of this pestilence and corruption, famine, hatred and suffering; change their very hearts and maybe you might actually be who you claim to be"! "If you do this we will all know who the true God is and believe in you and be set free"!\n\nI feel like the second meaning is trying to magnify to the church that this is the perspective of those who you are trying to convert and that in order to help them find their way to Christ you have to understand all of the significant, valid perspectives those people have that keep them from understanding why those things are allowed to happen. They don\'t understand why the believers in Christ are willing to fight and die in his name. They need miracles and signs and things they can see and quantify because "faith" is a completely foreign concept to them. That is why we as believers must always be cognizant of our actions because they mean so much to those who are foreign to our beliefs and one wrong step could cost a soul their eternity in heaven!