Scripture and faith are as relevant to the daily as they are to the everyday. The instructions of faith on how we are to live life apply just as much to our approach to pop culture as they do to our walk with Christ. With this in mind, the new Cephas Hour episode touches on, without playing, “Try That In a Small Town” by Jason Aldean alongside more spiritually-minded matters. The better we can and do relate Biblical truths to what presently attracts public attention, the more effectively we can witness.

Artists in this episode are Bob Bennett, Bringing Home,Chagall Guevara, Daniel Amos, Phil Keaggy, Rachel Wilhelm, Terry Scott Taylor, and The Choir. The show is available on demand at its website (https://cephashour.com/2023/07/19/cephas-hour-episode-104-release-date-july-19-2023/). It is also available via the following podcast services:

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• radio.net
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Have you ever noticed that when we are at our most worn down and worn out, God is most likely to tap us on the shoulder and ask us to do something out of the ordinary?

Refer back to when Elijah stared down the priests of Baal, following which Jezebel ordered him killed. An exhausted Elijah ran even after the spiritual heights he had just been part of. God tended to his needs anyway. Finally, God listened to Elijah’s complaint and in response, neither apologized nor chastised him. Instead, God gave Elijah a list of instructions which he carried out.

It’s God’s version of work therapy. Remember, God thought so much of Elijah that he and Moses appeared with Jesus at his transfiguration. When we are at our most desperate and disrespected, God is most capable of using us, even though we don’t feel like it.

There is quite the kerfuffle over a song recently released by country singer Jason Aldean, said song titled “Try That In a Small Town.” It bears mentioning I am indifferent to Aldean, as why should I listen to his take on country-rock when I can enjoy Richie Furay’s far superior talent and open embrace of Jesus as Savior and Lord? Also, the song itself lacks completion musically, most noticeably in the chorus. But to each their own. A couple of my writing colleagues at RedState have addressed the matter, so I direct you to their work for further discussion.

Aldean recorded the song’s accompanying video in front of a Tennessee small-town courthouse. A writer for Variety has breathlessly intoned, “Don’t you know there was a lynching behind that courthouse in 1927?” No, and do you know looking at that attractive woman the wrong way the other day makes you, in God’s eyes, an adulterer worthy of nothing but eternity in hell as just punishment for your sin, spared from the same solely by the blood of Christ shed on the cross? Things work both ways.

God doesn’t need our help judging the living or the dead. What happened at that courthouse 96 years ago has long been handled by a merciful yet just God. He doesn’t need our help dealing with the past. He does ask us to deal with our present.

God has no need to apologize regarding whom He drops the hammer on or whom He spares. We all deserve the hammer. Perhaps if we spend time meditating and acting upon that, we’ll be less inclined to embrace the utter sinfulness of self-righteousness, attempting to deflect from our sinfulness by raging about the sinfulness of others.

As you may or may not have noticed, there is presently a strike in Hollywood. It started with the writers and now includes the actors. A few wags have sarcastically cried out, “Oh, how shall we live without the eighty-seventh remake or sequel this year appearing at a movie theater or on a television screen near you?” It’s a good thing originality isn’t a prerequisite for entertainment industry employment, or it would employ very few people, as not many are needed to churn out the same ten movies and shows yearly. But I digress.

There is a small bit of Biblical justification for the sequel. In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he calls them out for accepting into fellowship a man who was having an affair with his stepmother. In Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, he urges them to bring back into fellowship the man after he repented and turned away from his sin.

It’s comforting to know God allows the second part of the story.