Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

• Acts 1:7-8

“Announce and proclaim among the nations,
    lift up a banner and proclaim it;
    keep nothing back, but say,
‘Babylon will be captured;
    Bel will be put to shame,
    Marduk filled with terror.
Her images will be put to shame
    and her idols filled with terror.’

• Jeremiah 50:2

On the day before my wife died, she asked what I was working on.  I told her that I had already started the Bible Study for Isaiah 43-45.  Last week I offered an apology for not having it finished, and today, the time slot came and went without me saying anything.  I am almost ready, but not quite.

She wasn’t really interested in that anyway.  She knew that I would work hard to get that one finished, but she asked me what else.

I told her that I was thinking that with all the world trying to silence anyone who talks about God, Country / Western seems to talk about God with no apology.  If you don’t like it, then change the channel.

She asked what examples I had.  I could have started with Josh Turner and Me and God, but I mentioned Thank God, a love story between a husband and wife who thank God for giving them to each other.

It’s a song by Kane Brown with Katelyn Brown.  One line in the song says volumes:  “And thank God , You loved me when you didn’t have to, But you did and you do and, He knew, Thank God for giving me you.” 

She rolled her eyes and asked if I had another example.  I told her about Tyler Hubbard’s Five Foot Nine.  The chorus ends with “Jack makes good whiskey, but God makes the good stuff.”

She rolled her eyes again.  Both the songs were about love stories and I think she did not wish to hear about that when she knew, deep down, that she had little time left.

And Kane Brown also recorded One Mississippi and the moral implications of the song are more like the Country / Western songs of my youth: Drinking, doing your woman wrong, and then crying over the fact that your dog no longer likes you.

But then the standard Country /Western song was mocked so eloquently by David Allen Coe, that maybe they had to change the “formula.”  What was his song?  You Never Even Called Me by my Name.  Or You Don’t Have to Call Me Darlin’, Darlin’.  He even speaks of having his name in God’s Book of Life.  This became one of my favorite Country / Western songs when it came out in 1975.  Otherwise, there were few that I really liked, mostly due to the subject matter that is mocked in the last, supposedly added verse.

So, are these songs trying to market Christianity within the listeners who tend to be people of conservative values?  The first two of these songs were high on the Country charts recently.  If that was their goal, it seems to have worked.

But one thing that I have noticed is that they offer these songs with no apology.  Whether they are genuine in mentioning God in their lyrics or not, the songs are heard by people that have not found the right answers anywhere else.

But one who seems to be quite genuine is Josh Turner.  I have heard his testimony, and he speaks of his relationship with God quite often.  He says it so simply in his song, Me and God.

We should never apologize.  Even when someone hears our love of Jesus and hates it, we are doing as God commanded us to do.  We can be polite.  We can excuse ourselves, and then go to those who want to hear the message that will change their lives and bring them into God’s presence forever.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.