Music Glorifying God | Rapp Report Weekly 0038 | Striving for Eternity

Things of other topics I wanted to get into with you. Some stuff with social justice and and the gospel and stuff like that. Okay, I tell you what, I'll sum that up real quick. This is the gospel is the solution.

By me saying it doesn't mean just preach the gospel. What it means is is to go out preach the gospel teach people to observe all that Jesus Christ has taught you and Love you God with all your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Because when you're doing those things Guess what? You don't have these issues with Social issues and so forth and a granite, you know because we live in a sinful world. We're going to have sinful people who do simple things like practice stuff like racism and so forth and the only answer to Situation like racism.

It's not another March. It's not more laws because if that stuff would have worked and we wouldn't have racism the solution to those things. It's the very solution to sin because that's exactly what it is.

So you preach the gospel and you love your neighbor and you pray for your enemies just like Christ taught us to do.

Welcome to the rap report with Andrew rep report. We provide biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity and a Christian podcast community. For more content or to request a speaker for your church go to striving for eternity org.

Music, Rap, and the Purpose of the B.A.R.S. Podcast

All right, this is the rap report. I am Andrew rap for your host and This may be the first time that we're actually going to talk about what many thought this podcast was about. For folks who don't know when we first started this the name before we just called it rap report.

And I got emails from people that were upset with me because they said this has nothing to do with rap music. They thought that's what this show is about. You didn't get the pun on my last name. But we are gonna have someone here who well He knows a thing or two about rap music more than me and a whole lot of other styles of music.

Which again more than me, but we we got T Barlow. Some of you may know of him if you listen to the bar podcast now some of you may say be saying the bar podcast. I never listened to them. Let me ask this very simply what is wrong with you.

Um the bar podcast stands for biblical and Reformed and I think that I've been excited because actually T Barlow is the last of the shows on the bar Podcast that I haven't either been on their show or they've been on mine.

So I've been like super excited because it's like the one guy I haven't had a chance to really sit down and talk with so.

So welcome to you. How are you? I'm great. Some peace man. God is good. I'm so Grateful to be here. I'm doing well. Thank you for having me on your show.

Now you do you do and and we talked about this privately and I talked with Dwayne Ackerson about this. Yours is the only show on the whole bar podcast network I think that I don't listen to and I and I've said that oh not because there hasn't there's not good content there.

It's just I'm clueless when it comes to some of the spinners and and the the talk on the music that I'm clueless about. But I also have the one other problem is that I listen at triple speed and you have the music going in the background and It throws me completely off.

Yeah, and which by the way, that was the Wayne's idea, you know I just always thought that it would be good to have something like, you know. Just a filler and he just especially it would like me doing like a music show.

A music interview having music in a background was just seems like a natural thing for an interview. With an artist and so forth and I've heard that for some folks a couple say, you know, like the music kind of distracting.

But yeah at the same time, you know in all honesty, like I never I got record a show I never go back and listen to me. I Hate the sound of my voice. It was just weird, you know. But yeah, man, you know and and here's another thing, you know.

Can you talk about how like you don't know a lot about me? That's that's one of the reasons why we actually started doing Bars, which my particular shows called bars biblical and reformed spitters and It was a way to kind of make people aware of certain artists that you wouldn't know.

Especially the ones that you wouldn't normally see. The ones who don't get to make it to like the BET Gospel Awards and so forth, you know, like the ones just some of the unknown artists who genuinely love God.

Genuinely have a heart for for praising him through their art and talent. It was a way to to get us kind of like bringing them on getting them to talk about it and then even like like over the course of time like way ended up happening is we ended up getting some of the more bigger names in underground Christian rap or Christian hip-hop people like Timothy Brendle for example or Stephen the lead by these guys who have been doing it for years who have kind of made they mark again, like if you are aware of.

If you're aware of Christian rap over the past, let's say like 10 -15 years. Those are two of the names that that you will be familiar with if you've been listening to sound solid Reformed rappers you would know guys like that and you know, and I mean, it's just it's just been a blessing man.

It's been fun I've had an opportunity to talk with folks who I've been listening to for years and whose music I love and actually learned a lot From and and even like as you sit down and you're talking about their music.

You're getting some good biblical content. You're hearing their testimonies about how God saved them. Is you know, it's a well-rounded of show I believe. Based upon the fact that it's not really just about rap even though that sometimes they'd be like our main Conversation is but it's just you know, you actually get this opportunity to to hear how the gospel has affected their lives.

Meeting Christian Artists and Not Getting Starstruck

Now I want to I mean I want to get into a lot with the show and Some of that but I I want to ask about your background, but you mentioned having some folks on your show. So have you gotten folks on your show.

Have you been starstruck. Have you gotten people on there like wow.

I can't believe you're on my show. So all right. I'm not really the type to get starstruck. However, I am the type to name-drop and now not with other folks but more so with my children. Because we listen to we listen to this music like all the time.

And so I would go and I'd be like, hey guess who I'm talking to maybe like whoever like Steve in the Levi you know and You know and or I'd be like the time I had like Ivy Connelly on there I think I guess guess what about to have an interview with who Ivy Connelly?

So it's like I look I look all important to my kids not you know.

I you know, so you you want to make sure your kids are looking up to dad and being like dad's the coolest.

Yeah, yeah, you know. Like so nobody could tell him. Otherwise, you can't tell me anything about my dad. He talked with Timothy Brindle. So, you know, you don't have several seats, you know. Yeah, but like me myself, yeah, I'm not really the starstruck type.

I mean people of people, you know. I get. I do get excited when I feel but it's not like like falling out tearing up my hero, you know.

I got my I got starstruck once and It was really funny because it's someone that most people wouldn't like I've I mean I've I've met guys. You know Ray Comfort Kirk Cameron, you know Todd Friel. Like I've got to meet folks like that speak at conferences folks like that yeah, you people would think like if you're gonna get starstruck it'd be like with a Phil Johnson or Todd Friel or Ray Comfort someone like That you know, I guess struck with someone that anyone that doesn't know anything about Mormonism doesn't even know the name.

But it's Sandra Tanner and anyone who know really anything about Mormonism knows who she is but when I started studying Mormonism, I mean like her and her husband Gerald like with the the You know apologists against Mormonism and I'd read so much of their stuff.

I was doing an apologetics cruise. Myself and that's like where they were the keynotes and she was gonna be there and it was it was like I said to my Wife like I'm super nervous about meeting her. She actually added me on Facebook.

I remember that I called a friend of mine and I'm like, I actually thought it was a fake account. Like why is she adding me and I actually contact her said like, you know, it's a real account. Like why are you adding me and she was like, oh, I follow your stuff and I was like Oh Sandra Tanner just added me on Facebook.

Like it was it was the stupidest thing. But I met her and my wife thought it was the funniest thing that she's like you've never been this way with anybody. It was just the you know something about getting to meet her.

Like I mean we had someone that was actually staying in the room with her that worked for a street. And she didn't know who Sandra was but she was like man listening to you talk about her. I feel like this is like the coolest privilege to be sharing a room with her.

Yeah, I mean, you know and it's a thing like it's really cool because like one of the things like you think about the heroes of The faith over years, you know over the years like imagine like being able to to be able to have had a interaction of like Augustine or or with Whitfield, you know saying that somebody like that that nature or even like back in the day.

Having been able to have interaction with Peter and I obviously of course Jesus but like I mean like when you think about like how years from now people are going to know their names like their names are going to come up in like a course and you actually had a chance to sit and be a part of Church history by that type of interaction so to speak and so I think I totally dig that man I'd like to be able 10 years 20 years from now when people talk about who are the greatest to do the Christian rap thing I could be like well.

You know, I actually had a conversation and it's recorded and it's out there. It's in the cloud. Like, you know, you can go back you can go back revisit. It's not I think that's a cool thing man.

I definitely definitely don't worry about time by the time your kids are old enough like your age. There's not gonna be a thing called a cloud. So. No, but you know a great thing about the the fatherhood aspect because I'll tell you son it you know, my kids grew up knowing that you know.

Yeah, I travel and speak and I go to these different places. I get you know, my my kids have gotten to meet some some well-known people and. But they just grew up with that. They didn't really have like an appreciation for it until like my I remember my daughter she went away to college and it was just funny because it was like There's people that are speaking at her Chapel that know who I am and they're like like excited to meet her because like wow, you're Andrew Rapport's daughter and she's like like like but the biggest Change was when I think Really a big change in her whole Relationship was when I was invited to speak at her university and all of a sudden it wasn't you know, this is my dad I'm being dragged along with him to go speak.

She was having her dad speak and she was the person so I was like I actually said to students I'm like you ever have that pressure like, you know, you're just you're with mom and dad and you know. Someone's like oh, you're so-and-so son or daughter and you feel that immediate pressure.

You have to perform. Well, you have to behave well because it reflects back a mom and dad I just see I hear this like groan throughout the entire audience of thousands of students and I went that's how I feel right now.

I'm Shannon. Let's talk about your background first because I want our folks that listen to our podcasts know a little bit about you how you got saved and You know just where the Lord's led you to where you are today.

Testimony, Church Upbringing, and Backsliding

All right, so well, you know, we I grew up in Omaha born in Chicago, but grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and You know, I was kind of the I grew up in the church. At the age of at the age of six not give or take I think about six years old.

I remember talking with the pastor's son of the church. We were in which is back. We're in Chicago and Telling me about Christianity at least at least like what he knew to explain because he was he himself was like 10 years old at the time and The kind of convinced me.

It's like I knew I said, you know what? I want to be a Christian, you know, and so forth or went told my dad who was a deacon at the time and You know long story short. I ended up getting baptized in that church.

So I grew up, you know in the Baptist tradition and so back in those days. We did things like, you know, like our family. It's our family did first the foremost. I mean, let me put some background to my family real quick.

My mom and dad got married at a Bible study. Okay, so so there's there's that. You know and so we.

That you can't just drop that and be like let's move on.

Yeah, you know cuz like, you know like they they met each other. I mean, you know like they met each other through. One of my older cousins one of my dad's cousins introduced them to you know. And that they courted for a couple of years my mom stuck by his side my dad came in and and was like showed himself to be in love with both her and her children who basically were my older brother and sister and whatnot.

And so they. When they decided to do it when one March one day in March during a Bible study They got married and all the witnesses for the people of that Bible class.

Was this was this planned before the Bible study that they were gonna do this or it's just they surprised everyone at the Bible study.

Oh, no, it was planned. You can tell cuz when you look at the pictures you can see that they kind of set it up. But it's like a we're gonna have Bible study and a wedding, you know. Which is how I went down and they look really nice, you know.

You're surprised. You're at the Bible study like. Right, you know and I was baptized by the very same preacher who? Who officiated that that wedding and so forth and so our Sundays were you're gonna wake up.

We went to Sunday school and then at the Sunday school, of course. We had morning service and then at the morning service we had what's called BTU. Which is which stands for Baptist Training Union and whatnot.

So that was like actually that was like a it was like a second Sunday school. After the service and then at the BTU most likely there was an evening service. We sometimes would not get home until 10 o 'clock Sunday night.

Wow, I haven't spent having spent all day in service. So that's that's how that's how we came up. And then when we moved to Omaha, it was a little different. But it was still Sunday school and it'll still morning service.

And then if there was an afternoon service, we will go to that and then mama Will do premium Bible study by on Wednesdays and then of course whatever throughout the week if I you know I kind of saying I came up singing in the choir and so forth and then about ninth grade I started playing the drums for the choir.

So I was like and then I'll not only was I playing the drums for the choir. But I also started playing quartet Gospel quartet music. I was a drummer for a quartet group and so forth. So it's like, you know, I was always involved but here's the kicker though I can't say Definitively that I was always saying.

You know, like I knew certain things I was you know, I you know, like I understood certain stuff. I mean it's but it's just there if anything I had a long period of backsliding especially once I got to high school.

You know, I just things that Christians shouldn't do. I partook, you know I just did a lot. I just did a lot of sinful a lot of sinful things and. But you kind of get back really also to the to the upbringing of the child.

What am I I want to I want to tell you that was a pastor. I pastor here in Omaha Reverend Ali Kendrick he Always he's told me that he said I've always saw something different about you and whatnot. And so everything I ever asked him if I could do he would allow me to do.

And as a kid sometimes as I mean as a high school student. Like I would like teach classes and what he did was just kind of start me. He brought me into his office and I would teach the Sunday school lesson to him and a couple of deacons.

You know and it was there it was this way of kind of training me on how to teach. And the one day one day I mean it was just a special day. He said hey, you know, it's you Sunday We're gonna have him teach the class.

And so I stood up and I thought Sunday school to the adult class, you know. That that that was kind of just one of those things that He kind of I don't know. I don't know where it came from. I got I loved teaching right but at the same time also during that time, I got loved sin.

You know, and so I got involved in quite a few different things between you know like your regular teenage mischief smoking pot and and and Stealing cars at times joyriding and stuff like that. And I mean, it's just In school, I really wasn't a thug.

I was a class clown. So I was just always just into something very hyperactive, you know. And as an adult and it was really really in heavily getting it, you know into it's just to to smoking, you know to getting high.

Getting drunk chasing girls and doing this Monday through Friday. Excuse me Monday through Saturday and then waking up on Sunday morning and going to church participating in the choir. Whatever the case may be, you know, like that was my that was my life.

That was my Christian living and what my quote-unquote Christian living. But I think the turnaround was when I went to a service one night to hear this man speak by the name of G Craig Lewis. G Craig Lewis was.

He has this ministry called ex ministries and at the time the message that he delivered was the exact message that I needed to hear and What he was doing was is he was preaching against like the it was preaching that he was actually he's preaching against hip-hop and the sin that it promoted and so.

Way, he's preaching against that. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and I'm gonna straighten this up. So he because he believed his his teacher was hip-hop was a demonic religion that has no place in the church, right? Now at that time and hearing that message and what he does is he goes through a lot of different artists lyrics and stuff and He's playing certain stuff in the same LA and basically his argument is just like, oh, how can a Christian listen to this?

Right. And so at that point I remember like that night, you know saying like I just I went I like I got rid of all my CDs and so forth and throw them all in the trash and and I went on like a purge of Anything that had to do with entertainment for like a few years, you know.

Like I got me like and and then I started going on witch hunt after this like I was seeing demonism and everything, you know. Yeah, I mean just everything I got really really really legalistic from all of this.

Thinking that at this point, you know sound like that I you know I took up a new calling and a new mantle as the watchman on the tower and I got a war in these people of Demonism this than the other than I mind you as I'm doing all of this at no point I'm a really really like sharing a gospel, you know but like I was all into like studying about secret societies and Satanism and Luciferianism and all this jazz well check this out.

They were doing all of that and I'm still finding myself more often than not sliding into sinful relationships and sinful activity. At some point at one point um I kind of slowed down and really started like just reading this study in a word and started having like discussions with people About salvation.

I tried to try to come to a point to I was understanding whatever about my salvation. Um, I don't have like a date or a special like moment where I mean that there's one time I could really say where I just kind of just started fasting and praying and I just knew.

Like I just knew I was just convicted of a lot of things in my life that I was just out of place and out of order and Just wrong, you know and and I kind of I remember that moment and maybe that's the moment that I can actually say that I know for sure if I didn't know any time before that that I would say if I could pinpoint a moment I don't have the date I don't have I just remember where I was I remember the room and I remember being as low as I ever been in my Life and I remember also like just making the decision from that point on said Shake so God like I I repent like I quit like I'm done with all of that, you know for you I live for you.

I'll die and at that point It's I ain't saying that I've been perfect and been like floating in holiness. But what I'm saying is is that I'm nothing like from that moment on I was nothing like what I was before that you know and and and I began to I Began to uh, start taking up the calling seriously because mind you I'm gonna tell you this I started preaching in 2010 and even in 2010, you know.

It's preaching, you know like there was still some areas of my life like where like if again like if I can go back and do it out of either not Preached or I don't really cut them off like right away. Like I was just wrong.

But but I wasn't like ordained as a preacher until 2013 and that came and that came like after the repentance, you know after the repentance came The the catechism and the ordaining and like I said after that point man it's just been like I kind of been like on a straight street and and and and I've been on this mission to To preach the gospel that saved me to people who need salvation or even to people who have salvation.

I've been on this mission to get people Back to the Word of God because one of the things that I was noticing for example from like and here's what I say like I think on so many levels God used G Craig Lewis and.

But on another level, you know, I began to see that like this man isn't really preaching the word now He'll quote some scriptures, but he'll ripple wildly out of context to fit his agenda to fit his preferences to fit his message.

You know.

Not way to interpret scripture, I mean, that's what everyone does on the radio and TV.

Rightly Dividing Scripture and Rejecting Emotionalism

Yeah, I feel like if the Bible says that we should study to show ourselves to prove and to where we you know to rightly Divide the scripture that means to me like there's a wrong way. You know. And you know, and that's that's what happened there.

I mean, you know, and it's amazing to me. You know, like how how easy it is to take a scripture to throw it out there and folks will just snatch it up and Eat it, you know. Yeah, when it's when especially when it's not thrown out there right when especially when it's not preached rightly.

Hey, so they'll take that and they'll just run with this and it's like whoa slow down, you know a couple weeks ago I guess priest at a church and every time I guess preach at a church I I set the stage for what type of preacher I am because you know as a black man growing up in a black church.

That's a certain thing that they expect from black preachers that I just refuse to give them. I don't who and I don't and I don't holler. Um, I don't I'm not cuz I'm like, I'm not here to entertain you I'm not here to get you emotionally riled up.

I'm not here to you know, says Get you all happy. I'm here to preach the Word of God. Let's explain like what this means and so a couple of weeks ago when I was preaching at this church, you know I was explaining to them how how it's very important to deal with the context of a scripture and so could give them to prove my point.

I quote a scripture and the scripture says all these things I'll give to you if you just fall down and worship me and I was Like on the surface listening to that scripture that doesn't sound bad until you realize that that's Satan talking to Jesus.

You know, yeah, right, you know. So when I hear people like G Craig, which by the way again mind you I definitely believe that he brought me to that that God used him to at least put me in a realization of.

Like where I was spiritually in a sense, you know, I said, so I like like I bet yeah I glad yeah, why am I still in my heart and mind with these things, you know? Why am I you know, so why you don't say like like how can I?

Approve of somebody who blatantly blasphemes God. Yeah, that's that's a horrific thing. And that's a G Craig hit the nail on the head with that right there I believe um, however problem is this like this, you know, well not everything.

I think one of the things you're trying to say is that look all of us are. This is the thing about the thing a lot people don't Remember or think about with other people as much as we do with ourselves that we're still growing.

The Lord's not just the author but the finisher of the work he does in us and. Yeah, think about how much more God's doing in us. But a lot of times we forget as if like everyone else has arrived and not still growing.

And so yeah, I mean, there's a lot of people even in my life that I could think of. Who? At early in the time that I knew them there's a lot of things that I thought I mean look I thought growing up in a Jewish home and.

The first Christian I really found as a teacher was Harold camping and I know people are cringing, right? Yeah, I found him on the radio and the guy spoke so authoritatively. I knew nothing about Christianity other than what I was reading in a Bible.

I didn't have church. I didn't have other Christians. I wasn't gonna go talk to the rabbis about Jesus. And so I was alone and when I got when I was 17, I learned found him on the radio, man I thought he was the bomb.

I thought I knew his stuff and then when I got into college and started learning the Bible I went this guy's nuts.

And it's like you try not to be because I understand that like you're gonna different things with folks sometime I mean like they just happen. They're not necessarily mean that they're heretics and so forth.

But you know, I'm inside the person now these days when somebody starts saying God told me, you know. And they don't have a scripture or verse to quote what God told him, you know. I'm at that point. I began to think that you're on the fringes of your the fringes are crazy right now, you know.

I was joking with Justin Peters one day and I can never do this, but I told him I was so tempted to do this I wanted to like put a post out like on Facebook and on like a Monday and say The the Lord has spoken to me.

I've got I got a word from the Lord. I will reveal it on Friday and like every day post that right. And then on Friday just read a scripture of judgment to people that people that are looking for. How many people are gonna tune you out as a heretic long before Friday comes I said.

Now that I've said it's like if I ever try it everyone's gonna be like, yep, we know what this is about.

Yeah, yeah, you're your listeners will you know? Hopefully. If you ever do that, I hope they share the post.

You know, but you were talking earlier. I mean it's interesting because you're saying when you go in your guest speaker and you don't do the hooping and hollering and for some Folks, they don't know what that's about.

And I know I have a friend of mine cliff who he grew up in the the african-american church all the hooping and hollering and He was talking about it. And he said he's like, you know people don't even listen for what it is.

You're saying It's just the emotional The the emotion it brings and the the cadence to bring you to where it's a trained response. He's like I can preaching a nursery rhyme and people would amen it and I'm like Woody like how would you do that?

And we were in in the lobby of a missionary center and he literally starts talking the little miss Muffett. He's like He's like doing this whole this whole thing and no joke this woman is walking through a lobby and she goes amen brother.

He was right it was like He was talking about little miss Muffett sitting on her puppet heard of it and he's like I was like you've got to be Kidding me. Yeah.

Is that is that bad like as a matter of fact man? Like you like I Spit and I listen when I cuz I'm the guy listening to these guys like when I'm like when I go and mind you some Of these preachers man.

It's also on so many levels. Well certain levels, but I have I have a profound respect for. You know, but like I listen to some of these guys preach Literally would love to come to your church to spend two days in that moment.

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And I've seen guys get ridiculous man. I've seen people step out of the pulpit and start walking on pews stepping over pews and stuff and it's just like Anderson. Doesn't he do that?

The Theology of Christian Rap and Memorizing Truth in Song

Okay, let's let's talk about the music because so you got a you got a show that talks about music and deals with musicians. I have listened to a couple. I listened to the one with Ivy and Brindle and Yeah, you know part of the thing is I'm not I Just I didn't grow up with music.

I just it's not I don't listen to music. There's no music I remember when I was on the bar podcast and and I listened to enough of the bar podcast that I knew what was coming and Dwayne's like so what music's on your pot on your phone and I'm like actually none.

I mean, there's nothing there's not a single tune I have nothing in my music other, you know, it's like I listen to podcasts. I listen to sermons. I just but you know, I did grow up in the Fundamentals Baptist Church when I say grew up I mean as a Christian, I mean I was I was in my 20s by the time I first walked into a church really you remember but you know in that it was the Fundamentals Baptist so they would have the same view of Rap music as they would rock music everything.

It was all of the devil and So that was my inclination I remember listening and I can't tell you the artist's name, but I remember listening to for the first time listening to someone doing a Rap song and what impressed me the most was the amount of theology that I heard.

I mean it was Packed and I sat there going, you know this. It's it's like a really this is how I describe it. It is rap music to me seems to be a very for guys to do it for Christian guys to do it and do it.

Well, it seems like it is a fast-paced Rhyming sermon. Yeah.

Rap allows you to pack a lot of content into a song and here's a perfect example. So after you know after the whole few years after listening to G Craig, right? I came across accidentally or actually by happenstance by to a mutual friend.

Yeah I Can't buy the providence of God. I came across Shilin and he has a song called the greatest story ever told right and When I listen to this in three verses this man summarized the entirety of Scripture and he I mean he rapped about the fall of man and then he repped about The prophets in there and the coming revelation, you know.

It's in the revelation of Jesus Christ basically the prophecies of Jesus Christ and then in the third verse He actually raps about Jesus Christ coming and settling everything that that that went wrong in his first verse.

You know me it and when I heard that I was and mind you I did what I did. One of the things I failed to mention is is that I actually used to To make like secular. Well, I don't know cyclists right there.

I used to make music that wasn't so God glorifying. You know, I wrote songs. I recorded songs I mean nothing that anybody has heard that has made any significant mark in the culture or anything like that.

But I was I was a poet. I started writing poetry in high school as a drummer. I naturally I took the writing like to the to the beats and so forth. And so I was writing songs. I was very I was just very fun-loving.

I love cadences and we're playing rhythms and stuff like that when I heard G Craig Lewis I was like, oh I have to stop this. This is of the devil, right? That's kind of how I was As big and then when when I providentially heard the greatest story ever told I like what I was like Oh, you mean I can glorify God with this like but I could do this and it's like listening to it.