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BEHIND THE SONG WITH KEVIN DAVIS
#761 - "Haters" by Beacon Light
Beacon Light talks about the counter-intuitive response to haters that comes from following Christ.
 


BEHIND THE SONG WITH KEVIN DAVIS, #761 -
Posted: October 04, 2016 | By: KevinDavis_NRT
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Over the summer if you were at any Christian music festivals featuring The Millennial Tour with the artists Abigail Duhon ("I'm Not Ashamed"), LoveCollide ("Resonate") and Spencer Kane ("New Level"), you also heard the new faith-based hip-hop artist Beacon Light performing his song "Jesus Loves Me." You can also check out his appearance on "The Change" by Bread of Stone.

Something I enjoyed about The Millennial Tour was how those artists were all unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their upbeat sets featuring songs from their new albums. The tour's theme Bible verse is 1 Peter 3:15: "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." Featuring that type of unapologetic truth, Beacon Light's new album Lit released in September with  several standout new tracks. I had the chance to speak with Brandon Clahassey ("Beacon Light") about "Haters."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

"Haters" spawned out of the rejection I was receiving from the music industry. Certain individuals said I didn't have what it took. One guy said the music was powerful, but I didn't fit the image and wasn't urban enough. That conversation was happening as my friend was making this beat. The result was this song. 

I was struggling with wanting to not love this person, and yet knowing that as a Christian my call is to love someone even when I don't like what they are saying about me. I want to love the way Jesus loved, but that isn't always easy. The aggression and intense tone in this song is the result of a man wrestling with the choice to love when his flesh doesn't want to. I love the haters. I will choose to love the haters. Even when it's the hard choice. Love is not necessarily a flowery thing. It can be, but sometimes it is gritty and hard.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Luke 23:34 (NIV): "Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."

1 Peter 3:15 (NIV): "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

Proverbs 13:10 (NKJV): "By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom."

Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV): Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
 
1 John 4:21 (NIV): "And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister."

Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message): "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

What is the takeaway message?

This is one of the first songs I wrote for the album. There are also songs about being yourself regardless of what people say about you. Everybody has haters. At some point in your life someone will offend you, hurt you, steal from you, or talk bad about you. It is the world we live in. One of the last things Jesus said was "Father forgive them, they do not know what they do." That is something that is not always easy to do. I may not feel like forgiving, I may not feel like loving, but I'm going to choose to do those things because Jesus told me to. 

Jesus told us to love those who hate us and persecute us. My haters may not always push me to greatness, but my God will push me to greatness when I rely on Him to love my enemies. I love the haters. I love them. There's no one quite like you or like me, and God made you in His image. You have intrinsic value because of that. 

I hope that people will enjoy the album and that it will encourage them to be themselves and be broken about sin and want to run away from it and towards God. I chose the name Beacon Light because my name is Brandon, and my parents gave me a card with the definition of my name and it means "beacon light." When I chose to do music, I thought it was cool that my name stood for a biblical thing to walk as a Christian and shine God's light.

Lyrics:
Haters, I love 'em
Haters, I love 'em

Haters gon hate
Lovers gon hate too
I don't know about you though
But I'm looking for a breakthrough
What you gon do?
Who you gon be?
I gotta train for the fight of my life
If my flesh is Frazier I'm Muhammad Ali
Thriller in Manila I'm militant like Attila
I'm a vanilla gorilla who living just for feeling of killing the flesh
I put it to death, put two in the chest like nipples on pecs
This ripple effect will leave you in checkmate
End game, I'm a kid the way my pen play
In my lane my name Dikembe
Innocent of sin the best way
So I'm breaking whatever I'm facing
That's leaving me lost and tossed
When they all scoff and their hating
Toss sin off 'til it's all gone and I face Him
Only by His grace I can take this
Shake this, I ain't Barry sanders
But I'm surrounded by the lions
And they're trying to stop my records, ahh,
They missed a block like tetris, ahh
But my God gon' catch em, ahh

Haters gon' hate
Lovers gon' hate too
I don't know about you though
But I'm looking for a breakthrough
What you gon' do?
Who you gon' be?
You can hate all you want but as for me
I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love em

They're diabolical, pathological, volatile
Mocking the every follicle of people that they're jealous of
They'd drive mile or two to tell you that you bound to lose
And gotta lot of tools to keep you doubting when the road is rough
And when they come with that right hook
You know I gotta verse for 'em
Throw their move in reverse on 'em
Hit em with 3:16s for their search warrant
When I unload the Canon, 66 shots to your mind, dadadada
You know I'm still standing, haters I ain't got the time, byebyebyebye
Yo mama don't panic, your baby boys gonna be fine, mamamama
My God is my banner, I bless all my haters and rise

They told me to stop I don't get it
I'll never flop yo I'm winning
Hope in my God man He risen
Shout out to all of my critics
Running this race 'til I finish
Turn me up
Go ahead turn it louder
They wanna bring that fire like Bowser
But if they pull that heat I'm a be like steam
That heat only makes me rise
I love the haters

I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love the haters
ladadada
I love em


Beacon Light is offering a great example of how you can write and sing lyrics that are unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and reach the lost with transparent confessions of faith. Many Christians feel that they should avoid the world. It is true that we should be in the world but not of the world, and that we should "not conform to the patterns of this world" (Romans 12:2). However, you can't reconcile that to mean avoiding people altogether. Jesus also commands us to "preach the Gospel to every living creature" in the Great Commission.
 
Connected to the name Beacon Light and the album Lit, Matthew 5 tells us "You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept." Sometimes Christians know facts about the Bible but don't live out the Truth that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us. Jesus said in Luke 12:49 (NKJV): "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" Jesus warns of having a lukewarm faith, and tells us "if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first" (John 15:18-NIV). 
 
One of God's main messages for us is that He hates our pride. Pride is an ingredient in every argument. It creates conflict and divides us from each other and God. As believers, we need to live with God as our King and remember that our pride will tear us apart from Him. God gave us free will to make decisions, but there are consequences to our decisions. It's not our responsibility to question God, but instead to live by faith and not by sight. "Haters" is a song, a prayer, and a call for revival in our hearts. Believers can all sing "Hope in my God, man He risen, shout out to all of my critics, running this race 'til I finish." Amen to that!
 
Watch the music video below.
 


 

NRT Lead Contributor Kevin Davis is a longtime fan of Christian music, an avid music collector and credits the message of Christian music for leading him to Christ. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three daughters.

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