Contend For The Faith
Dave Andrews • Jul 07, 2021
Nuture the Gospel in your life and in other lives too.
About 2 weeks ago, Matthew West released a tongue in cheek song
called, “Modest Is Hottest,” which encouraged his teenage girls to dress modestly. The video included his wife and two girls dressed in sensible turtlenecks and slacks and the tagline tells his girls “Modest is hottest, the latest fashion trend, is a little more Amish, a little less Kardashian.” I presume the vast majority of viewers took it for what it was...a fictitious, funny, and harmless song about a dad only "slightly" worried that his daughters dress appropriately. But it’s always the negative voices that like to speak loudest...including that of as-of-recent-Christian musician, Audrey Assad.
Assad claimed
that the video was somehow demeaning to men and women, and centered on men and women’s preferences in the way a woman should dress. Even Oklahoma Pastor Jeremy Colman, who reportedly made fun of West on TikTok, no doubt is neglecting to address that the video was directed to West’s own children, whom by the way God gave to West to nurture in their faith. But make no mistake, modesty is Biblical
and he is their dad, which comes with special priviledges and directives.
Unfortunately, Matthew West pulled the music video. I suspect he backtracked here because he was either putting up with the weaknesses of younger people in the faith, or simply didn’t want it to get in the way of his message of hope in Christ. Probably both. And for that I honestly can understand.
To me, the actual sad part is that through it, we learned that Audrey Assad
joined the ranks of several in Christian music, who recently renounced she is no longer a practicing Christian. Actually, she did that quite literally on March 3rd on Twitter. I confess there is a very disturbing trend of loss of faith among Christian musicians. To name a few in the recent past, that includes worship leader Michael Gungor, Jon Steingaurd (frontman for Hawk Nelson), and Kevin Max (DC Talk). To his credit,
John Cooper from Skillet, has been taking these apostasies head on...rightly saying it’s time to value truth over feelings. Another Christian musician taking the progressive trend head on is Christian thinker, Alisa Childers... formerly of Zoe Girl. Truth over feelings is not only important for Christian musicians...it’s important to all Christians. After all, a number of Christian leaders have also recently walked away from the faith; and it occurs often among our young people (even the son of John Piper is now a vocal atheist). Jesus Himself, in the Parable of the Sower, warned us that a number of our ranks would wither.
For the last several weeks, we have been in the book of Hebrews
on the Bible Quiz. And a large part of the first several chapters of Hebrews includes a warning to continue to believe, and soon it will tell us how to foster belief…the Word of God. Just like Coop said...Truth over feelings. Around that same time as we addressed belief on the Bible Quiz, one in my own household had a crisis of faith. We addressed it, gently worked through it, addressed the problems head on through Scripture and testimony. And the outcome was oh so sweet for the whole family!
My question to you is, where are you at? Are you struggling with “believing on” the Lord Jesus Christ? Contend for your own faith. Go to Scripture. Watch Youtube videos
about God working. Get into the Word. Read books
about the miraculous. Pick up the Bible
and read up. Brush up on Creation science. Open the Word. Listen to Christian radio programs. Did I say go to Scripture
yet?
Don’t neglect to contend for your own faith...and also for your friends and family. It’s time to boldly, clearly, and patiently defend the Gospel. Don’t hold back. Be very clear yet also gentle. The risks of apostasy are serious…and quit prevalent. The enemy wants apostasy, and God cautions us against it. Don’t neglect contending for the Gospel of Christ in your own heart, then also in the world.
His Kingdom Come,
-Dave Andrews
KJOL Station Manager
Our annual Spring FriendRaiser is underway for the month of April; and as a part of that, our theme this year is Share The Light. As you share the Gospel and the Light of Christ, KJOL has compiled 30 tips for every day of the month. Here they are:
During KJOL’s April “Friendraiser” month, we want to say THANK YOU to our faithful supporters. And THANK YOU to everyone who makes a first-time donation. And finally THANK YOU to God, the giver of all good gifts in our lives, starting with Jesus Christ! KJOL has a lot of new songs that say THANK YOU. I hope you enjoy them! That Thank You Song! Citizen Way Thank God Stars Go Dim Thank You Life.Church Worship I Thank God Housefires Thanks Giver Crowder Thanks and Praise Lucy Grimble and Vineyard Music A Thousand Thank Yous Sarah Kroger Thankful VERSES Thank You Jesus For The Blood Charity Gayle
In January, we told you about four new artists at the KJOL music blog . This month, we have four more new artists. Jordan Smith “This Is Jesus” Jordan Smith is a 30 year old Kentucky native who grew up singing in the church choir. In 2015, he won NBC’s The Voice. He sang “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and "Mary Did You Know." Natalie Layne “Amen” Natalie Layne is a 24 year old Colorado Springs native, where she was a worship leader at New Life Church. She received a masters degree in piano from Belmont University in Nashville. In 2019, she won Belmont’s Christian Showcase. She continues to serve as a worship leader at her church in Nashville. Terrian “Big God” Terrian (Woods) is a singer/songwriter from Memphis. She is also a member of TobyMac's band Diverse City. And she serves on the staff of AngelStreet in Memphis, which mentors girls as part of an all girls choir. Seph Schleuter “Counting My Blessings” Seph Schlueter ( pronounced “seff shleeter”) spent 7 years as a missionary. In 2020 he formed the worship collective Damascus Worship, in conjunction with the organization “Damascus” which conducts two-year programs to develop leaders who will impact their generation for Christ with the aim of bringing revival to the Catholic Church.
He had noticed we had been off the air on 94.5 FM in Delta…and I related to him it was one of “those” weekends for our poor equipment. Not only did our AM 1400 Delta transmitter go down causing us to make a very expensive replacement only weeks before, but our FM transmitter in Delta went down at the same time as our Montrose 91.9FM transmitter, and only hours after our whole network went down across the Western Slope!
The other day a kindly woman knocked on my door asking for a donation to help build the local swimming pool. I came back with a glass of water. Doesn’t it feel great to give to a good cause??
The English version of the hymn “How Great Thou Art” turns 75 years old in 2024. To mark the anniversary, a new recording has been released, including a brand new verse by Matt Redman. First a little history… Swedish pastor Carl Boberg wrote the original lyrics in 1885. Boberg said that after a strong thunderstorm passed by, he opened his window and heard church bells ringing. He immediately was inspired to write his poem, set to the tune of a Swedish folk melody. It was translated into Russian, where English missionary Stuart Hine heard it while in Ukraine in 1931. He wrote two new verses (3 & 4) and translated it into English in 1949—which is the 75 th anniversary. British missionaries around the world soon began to spread the song. Eventually it reached Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea , who performed it during Graham’s 1957 New York Crusade. The audience liked it so much, they asked Shea to sing it over and over. Graham then used it every week on his Hour Of Decision radio program. Fifteen artists have now collaborated to record the 75th anniversary edition, called “How Great Thou Art (Until That Day)” . When you hear the song on KJOL, the first two voices are from Chris Tomlin and Hillary Scott . The remaining voices include: Kari Jobe and her husband, Cody Carnes Naomi Raine (Maverick City Music) Taya (formerly with Hillsong) Blessing Offor (from Nigeria) Matt Maher (who also plays piano) Matt Redman For the 75 th anniversary, the Stuart Hine Trust commissioned Matt Redman and Mitch Wong to write a new fifth verse: Until that day When heaven bids us welcome, And as we walk this broken warring world, Your kingdom come, Deliver us from evil, And we’ll proclaim our God how great You are! And we’ll proclaim, our God how great You are Redman said they wanted to tie the verse to Stuart Hine’s work in Ukraine, especially in light of the current conflict there. “I wanted the word ‘war’ in there,” said Redman . “It’s kind of a gritty word. But we have to sing about both the everyday and the eternal.” Time will tell if the fifth verse becomes a staple in hymnals. But few will argue that “How Great Thou Art” is one of America’s favorite hymns. And with this new rendition, hopefully it will continue to be loved by future generations.
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