An Avowed Christian Now Says He's an Avowed Atheist

Avowed Christian to Avowed Atheist?

Tim Lambesis [LAMB-es-sis], age 32, has been best-known as the singer/frontman of the Grammy-nominated Christian metalcore band As I Lay Dying. Unfortunately, for the past year, he has been better known as an attempted murderer.

After confessing his marital infidelity to his wife Meggan, and declaring via e-mail his intention to file for divorce, Lambesis decided that was not his best option. Because his wife refused to allow their three adopted children to accompany Tim on tour, and because he was certain at least 60-percent of his income would go to his wife in the divorce, Lambesis approached more than one person with the intent to hire someone to kill her.

When an undercover police officer confirmed beyond any doubt the singer's intent, Tim was arrested and charged with solicitation of murder, in May 2013. Tim pleaded not guilty, claiming his addiction to body-building steroids had clouded his judgment.

Immediately following his arrest, the band's website proclaimed that the other members of AILD were shocked and completely unaware of what was truly going on, and asked for understanding from their fans, as well as prayers for them, for Tim, and for his family. They canceled upcoming tour dates.

In June 2014, Lambesis changed his plea, pleading guilty in Vista Superior Court, San Diego. Having given $1,000 cash to the undercover agent, his wife's address and gate code, photos of her and specific dates on which he would have an alibi, Tim had also said, “Just to clarify, just so you know, I do want her dead.” Lambesis has not said publicly if the recorded conversation played a factor in changing his plea.

In the past, Lambesis has repeatedly and openly declared he is a Christian. During an August 2010 radio interview, he said, “I can only really write about what I'm passionate about in life, so naturally my faith, my belief in the teachings of Jesus and His resurrection come across in our lyrics.”

Now, however, Lambesis has changed his tune about that, as well.

Lambesis now declares he is an atheist, who faked faith in order to continue to sell albums to loyal Christian fans.

Sentenced to six years in prison, minus 48 days already served, the singer is no longer hiding behind the lie he maintained for years.

When his side project, Pyrithion, was questioned as being 'satanic', Lambesis posted a YouTube video defending his project – just an attempt to keep from losing money, he now says. “I was trying to put out a fire,” he said. “I was afraid it would affect [our album] sales, which would affect my overall income. I was … saying the easiest thing – 'I'm not a satanist'”.

“Truthfully,” he continued, “I was an atheist. The strategy I had at the time was cowardly. Two of the songs on that record were about coming to grips with the idea that life had no purpose, no meaning.”

Lambesis said all but two of the other As I Lay Dying members had also abandoned Christianity, though not what they considered morality. He claims many other Christian rock bands have done the same thing. “We toured with more 'Christian bands' who aren't actually Christian than bands that are,” he claims. “In 12 years of touring with As I Lay Dying, I would say maybe one in 10 Christian bands we toured with were actually Christian ...”

Members of the band had debated whether to come clean about their lack of Christian faith, and “whether to keep taking money from the Christian market. We had this bizarrely noble thing like, well, we're not passing along any bad ideas. We're just singing about real life stuff. Those kids need to hear about real life ...”

In an Alternative Press interview, Lambesis talked about not praying for fans but allowing them to pray as he bowed his head with them. He felt it was awkward to keep up appearances, but didn't want to let them down.

Lambesis also accused his former bandmates of abandoning him in his hour of need. They turned their backs on him, he claims, with only two of them even speaking to him, and then only very briefly.

Former AILD guitarist Nick Hipa responded to Tim's accusations through his Facebook account. Though Lambesis admits Hipa was one of the two people who made an effort to speak to him, he also claimed Nick was rude to him and refused to support him in any way.

In his response, Hipa said he had gone to Lambesis' hearing to support his friend whom he had known and worked with closely for nearly 10 years. Hipa wrote, in part, “... the intention of my attendance was to publicly acknowledge the deep care and compassion I hold for this individual.” The next line reveals his friend was not Tim, but Meggan.

“I watched as she searched for the strength to behold her transgressor for the first time in over a year since learning of his plot to have her murdered,” he wrote. Meggan talked about how she had deeply loved Tim, and how he had abandoned her and their children, blaming his betrayal on “a lost sense of morality” and “drug abuse [that] had clouded his judgement [sic]”.
Nick argued that the defense's case of mental instability did not line up with Tim's “plot indicative of careful premeditation”. The judge noted that many abusers of steroids did not “plot to murder innocent women”, and that someone who pursued such an action “reveals something twisted within their character”.

Nick said as he watched and listened in the courtroom to details of people he knew well, he felt that everything shared “was as I knew it to be.” Referencing the AltPress interview, Hipa continued, “Behind the facade of a penitent man with renewed outlook, restored faith, and apparent remorse is a fairly appalling agenda to further damage the lives the reputations of his non-supporters. … There is no contrition in his pseudo-philosophical jargon, and the verbalized assessment of his relationship with [me] and former bandmates is absolute slander.”

Hipa, who maintains that he is a born-again believer and not an atheist playing at pleasing anyone, said he had spoken directly with Lambesis at length, telling his former friend, “100% of my heart, love, and loyalty [is] being directed in support towards his victims … whom I pray will find healing from his deep abuse.”

Hipa says Lambesis completely disregarded what he knew to be truth, choosing instead to lie about the motives of his former bandmates concerning him. “The intent of his defamation is to create an air of sympathy and support under … false pretense”.

Just prior to concluding his statement by proclaiming that he and former members of As I Lay Dying would carry on knowing they had “behaved honorably, lovingly, and loyally to the individuals who truly needed it”, Hipa wrote two sentences that reveal heart-heavy proclamation of truth. “The prosecution of this case profiled [Tim] as a sociopathic narcissist in definite need of rehabilitation,” wrote the guitarist. “For those of us who truly know the man for who he is, it's shameful that in spite of all, he is still as he ever was and just as they say.”

To have a new start, the former members of As I Lay Dying have begun a new project – not a Christian band, but peopled by at least one believer – called Wovenwar. Their first album will be released this fall.

When I first heard of all this in May 2013, I became concerned for a few reasons: (1) I hate to hear about anything like this happening; (2) surely there was some mistake, and Lambesis had been set up or grossly misunderstood; (3) maybe Lambesis had experienced a tremendous amount of stress, turned to alcohol or drugs to try to cope, and lost his grip on reality; and (4) one of my sons was a fan of As I Lay Dying – I didn't know how he'd respond to the news.

I attempted to keep abreast of this story over the past 13 months, and everything I read seemed to come to the same conclusion – Lambesis was guilty, not a Christian, and was angry that he'd been found out. The rest of the band seemed truly shocked, blind-sided, and wanted in no way to be wrongly linked with a man who would even consider such a path of action.

The typical reaction of church members to revelations such as Lambesis' is not shrouded in grace. It is, instead, something that involves, “There they go again”, or “What do you expect from people with long hair who play that kind of music?”

Seriously. Seriously?

Not to get tied up in the historical fact that the majority of hymns in any church hymnal are set to tunes that were pub songs, but were redeemed because of their purpose and use, but we have to remember that Christ Jesus can redeem and use anyTHING and anyONE.

Don't think so? Ask Saul of Tarsus. Ask Peter, the fisherman of Caesarea. Ask yourself, if you're born again. If God can redeem YOU, He can redeem anyone. God can change anything He wishes.

I have absolutely no doubt that Nick Hipa is a man who has surrendered his life to Christ. His words and actions demonstrate this as fact.

I have absolutely no doubt that Tim Lambesis is a man who never knew Christ. His words and actions demonstrate this as fact, as well.

Did Hipa agree to manipulate fans in order to continue to sell records? He has not answered this question publicly, that I can find, and Lambesis only claimed that the band's non-Christian members perpetuated this ruse. No word is given as to whether Hipa was duped as to their beliefs, as well. Certainly, Lambesis duped all of his bandmates with his feigned loyalty to his wife and children.

Instead of things like this making us angry and guarded, sad events like this should break our hearts!

Things like this should make those of us who are truly born again much more aware of our need to live in such a way that Christ's love is displayed clearly through us.

Grace, my friend, is the key to love, the key to living.

Wolves in the skins of sheep may make the Shepherd appear to be something He is not.

Only true sheep can show the Shepherd for who He really is.

Is the Shepherd showing through your wool? Or is there the hint of a howl coming through?

As I Lay Dying [Singer Tim Lambesis, center; Guitarist Nick Hipa, far right]