July 29, 2016 Show with Jason Truby, Christian Guitarist Extraordinaire

Iron Sharpens Iron

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:01

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

00:07

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

00:15

Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

00:23

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

00:31

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

00:45

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

00:56

Now here's our host Chris Arntzen. Good afternoon

01:05

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming.

01:13

This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron, wishing you all a happy Friday and this is an absolutely broiling hot day today, a hot

01:25

July day here in Carlisle, Pennsylvania on the 29th day of July and we are thanking

01:34

God that we're in an air -conditioned studio right now to conduct an interview with somebody that I have been urged to interview and when

01:44

I listened to his music, I couldn't agree with that recommendation more.

01:50

His name is Jason Truby. He is former lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice, a former member of POD and a performer with Phil Keggy.

02:01

He's got a new CD out that we're going to be talking about and he actually is the guitar instructor to the son of a very close friend of mine.

02:12

For those of you who listen to Iron Sharpens Iron regularly, you know that one of my dearest friends on the planet earth is

02:17

Dr. James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. His son Joshua is being trained in the guitar by our guest

02:24

Jason Truby and Joshua is quite a remarkable young man in his own right having a high -level belt, perhaps even a black belt by now, in the

02:36

Israeli martial arts but it's my honor and privilege to welcome you for the very first time to Iron Sharpens Iron, Jason Truby.

02:46

Hey Chris, thanks for having me man. I love the intro to the show and really look forward to talking with you.

02:53

And let me right off the bat let our listeners know of our email address here if they'd like to listen to the program.

03:00

I mean if they'd like to participate in the program with a question of their own for Jason, the email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

03:11

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Those of you who tuned in at four o 'clock, you recognized that there was something else playing for about 11 or 12 minutes.

03:20

That's because we had once again experienced overseas technical difficulties with our server and I'm not even sure what that means.

03:30

I don't know if a waiter in Bangladesh was having a problem, a foreign server. I'm not really sure what that's all about but I'm just glad that the

03:40

Lord has us working again, has the technical problems resolved at least for now. And I am just delighted to have you on brother.

03:48

I've been listening to your music and been very blessed by it. In fact, this proves the fact that James White loves your music.

03:58

It proves that he has far more sophisticated taste in music than he does in food.

04:05

I don't know if you know James but he basically doesn't get much far beyond taco time and McDonald's as far as his taste buds go.

04:21

Maybe it'll kind of shock wave into the food world a little bit and it's food, good music, good relationships.

04:30

I think you're living a good life. Well, before I even start with our interview,

04:37

I want our listeners to have their appetites wedded by hearing at least one of your songs to start with.

04:48

And this is acoustic guitar that Jason is basically a master in.

04:59

I know that he may be embarrassed by me saying that but I just want to give our listeners a little taste of what

05:08

Jason is doing and hopefully that will even get you more sales as regard to your songs.

05:22

Thank you. But here we go and Be Thou My Vision. Hey man, that was

08:40

Be Thou My Vision performed by Jason Truby. If you've just tuned us in,

08:46

Jason Truby is former lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice, former member of POD, and performer with Phil Keggy and he has a new

08:55

CD out called Hymns. And before we play more of his music, I would like to have

09:02

Jason give us your testimony, the upbringing you had, the religious background you were raised in and that kind of thing.

09:10

Yeah, I'd love to. Real quick, I don't know if you knew this, but that song was written in the 8th century.

09:15

I don't know about that. No, I did not, but I always thought that it had a minstrel flavor to it.

09:22

Yeah, it was written in the 8th century and I'm not sure of the author and then it was translated by Eleanor Hall probably maybe a couple hundred years ago.

09:34

But the lyrics particularly to that tune, you know,

09:39

Thou my great father and thy true son, that's why I played four stanzas through it anyway.

09:47

But neat little nugget about that song. Just one of my favorites. Well, anyway, we were talking a little bit earlier off the air.

09:56

I'll kind of pick up there, but I was born in Arkansas and was kind of an artistic kid and did painting and sculpting real quiet in school.

10:08

I was raised Catholic originally and my parents left the

10:14

Catholic church when I was about 9 or 10 years old and that led us kind of through a pretty interesting little journey for me personally.

10:26

But I have to mention a little bit that music was involved in the process because I got my first guitar not much after leaving the

10:36

Catholic church. I was probably about 12. But in the transition time, you know, you kind of go as a kid and you go through what you're taught and your way of life is established and you're kind of taught to defend your way of life.

10:50

My parents took us to a concert, which was not the norm back then, and it was

10:58

Dallas Holmes. I don't know if you remember. Oh yeah, I remember Dallas Holmes in the 80s when I became a born -again believer in Christ.

11:06

He was one of the brethren that I used to listen to and I think I may have even seen him perform live at the

11:14

Smithtown Tabernacle. Yeah, well, we happened to, like, and here we are at the show and all

11:20

I remember is, you know, he was a piano player and then he played this song about Jesus and it was something about, you know,

11:28

I'll rise again, there ain't no power on earth can keep me down, something like that many, many, many years ago.

11:34

And then he had an invitation at the end of this concert, which was a little bit foreign to me, but me and my older brother, you know, stood up and said, of course, who would want to know, you know, this guy,

11:50

Jesus. At first I felt sorry for him, just from the story, just to be honest with you. Then as a kid, it was like, hey, this is, he did this so you could know

11:58

God and if you want to know him, you can come and invite him into your life. And so that first step, although I really did not understand the magnitude of it, but I know that going down at that moment is when the

12:11

Lord snatched me and marched me and I truly believe that.

12:17

Now there was a long, riddled, um, struggle journey after that, but that started it and there was music for me, kind of in the center of it.

12:27

And so then getting into, uh, getting into the musical journey and then going through, you know,

12:32

I ended up at a Christian academy after the Catholic school. And then I ended up at a Baptist school and then left my senior year because my first band,

12:42

Living Sacrifice, got signed when I was in high school still. So I went to a public school. Yeah, no.

12:48

And so I had to go, they wouldn't let me leave, which was frustrating to record it in Nashville. And so, um,

12:54

I went to a public school my senior year and kind of got the secular curriculum, which was interesting compared to what

13:00

I had been through. And, you know, my journey at that point, um, you know, my parents had went to kind of a, um, maybe some of the movements that were happening through the eighties and, and kind of the non -denominational label stuff.

13:16

But the search was real and, and it just brought me to a lot of philosophical, personal debates and questions about the validity of things.

13:23

And, but I was always seeking, I think at the core, like artists were like that. Like I'm looking, anything that I did, uh, even on the negative side of things was not just for a good time.

13:34

I was seeking an encounter or an experience. And, um, so I think, uh, just knowing that, like,

13:44

I, I knew the truth and I believed the truth of Jesus. Um, but I just felt like maybe

13:51

I hadn't fully walked through the door or that I was missing something. And I just felt like there was a, something not there.

13:58

And I began to study music on my own and train in music. And I'd write down the patterns and, and the modes of music.

14:05

And then, uh, through a very dear friend, who's an artist and he's still a very close friend of mine, uh, he'd say, you know what,

14:11

I think I'll read this and go into Genesis and read about the day of the creation. And then he'd go look at the modes of music and then, and then go read this in Daniel and look what he's talking about.

14:19

And then go read. And, and through that process, um, and it wasn't a specific moment, but there was like a true moment, uh, you know, over that period of time where I began to concede to there is a really big order here that is bigger than me and beyond me.

14:36

And I really do think that Jesus is the way for me to connect to this and, and that what he did will allow the

14:44

Holy Spirit to come in my life. And, and, and then that, that's kind of, I know that's kind of a broad stroke there, but that started to happen as continued to unfold over time.

14:56

And, um, I haven't Amen. Let me backtrack a little bit about when you first picked up an instrument and how quickly did you discover that you really had some kind of an innate talent, uh, for the instrument and perhaps it wasn't even the guitar that you first picked up.

15:15

I don't know, but tell us about that. Well, it was a guitar. I mean, it was always had an affinity for, for, for music because I felt, excuse me, because I felt like that it was capturing something that I felt inside of me that, that language couldn't.

15:32

And, um, and I felt the same thing about art, but, um, when, you know, my, my, uh, dad worked really hard to get, to get us, um, private school education and in some areas, other areas we just had to do without.

15:47

And so I was not able to get any training. And so to be honest with you, Chris, I don't know, other than the

15:54

Lord, and I don't say that loosely, I don't know how I learned how to tune it. Like I just had the guitar and I would go in and I put in cassettes and I would listen to the radio and I started to see the patterns on the fretboard and then

16:07

I would imitate it. And within the first three or four months I had, I had picked out and I just understood how courts looked.

16:15

I didn't know the names. And so I came up with my own name system because I was only, you know, 12, 13, 14 years old.

16:22

And then I knew like all of a sudden I, I fear classical music and I thought, I mean, I can pick that out. And so note by note, and it might take me eight hours in a day.

16:30

And I'd pick out like a Brie and E minor. And then I had, um, some of Phil Keggy's music and some other guitar players music and some jazz.

16:39

And so for hours and hours, and I was just kind of obsessed probably, um, was just compelled to, to go after this.

16:48

And, and I would detune it incorrectly to do the things I wanted to do because I didn't have a teacher to tell me that you're not supposed to do that.

16:55

And, um, anyway, I think really quick to answer your question, I think within, within the first three months,

17:01

I knew this was something that, uh, I wanted to come through me. And, and then as a teenager,

17:08

I still had to deal with all of the things that happened. Like when I, when I did see great players,

17:14

I remember seeing Phil Keggy when I was 14 or 15. And I, I coveted the way he played.

17:20

And he's missing at least one finger, isn't he? Yeah. He's missing. Yeah. He's missing a finger on his right hand.

17:26

Um, and, and, but I still felt that like being a little bit of a deeper thinker as a kid,

17:33

I just thought, well, why do I want that? And so some of my motives were wrong.

17:38

And it's working that out that, Hey, this is not to be worshiped, but it's to serve. And, and the whole perspective begin to change.

17:48

And, you know, that maturity process takes time, but here's this institution. And I knew that, okay, now

17:54

I'm not going to try to play the fastest, most intricate thing, much like this album that you're playing today.

18:01

Um, it's not a show off album at all and intend for it to be, but to let, you know, uh, excellence come out in a simple way and touch people.

18:12

And so there, I do have some albums that I do a lot of crazy stuff and some people pay me to do that stuff live, but I still think

18:20

I'm doing it like to celebrate the Lord. There's a time when I did it to celebrate myself.

18:26

And, and so, but just dealing with that whole thing, that's, that's kind of, that's where it is, but probably three or four months into it.

18:32

And, uh, how did living sacrifice come about in your participation in it?

18:38

Well, it's kind of a funny story. We were, um, I was in this little band trying to do stuff, um, you know, 14, 15 and a youth leader, um, gave me a number.

18:51

He said, Hey, here's these, these are some guys I know they got long hair and that you ought to invite them to come see your little band.

18:59

And, and so I cold called one of the guys, um, and he was still half asleep. And, uh,

19:05

Bruce answered the phone. I was like, Hey, my name's Jason. And you don't know me, but I've got a little band and I heard you guys might like some, some of the heavier rock music.

19:15

And that's what we're trying to do. And we're Christians and we're kids. And when they came, I was surprised that they showed up.

19:21

And, and so we did our little show and, um, they came up afterwards and said, well, you know, y 'all's band was terrible, but we like you.

19:34

I know. And, and anyway, so I, we, we just kind of hit it off and I said, well, we're just kind of playing around.

19:40

We're no, no one's serious here. So, um, I've got some, some songs. Let me come hear you guys.

19:45

And so I went by their, um, uh, jam room at, at, uh, Lance's house at his parents' house in the garage.

19:53

And so we started playing some music and that was in September of 89. And, uh, they said, well, why don't you join our band?

20:01

And so we did and, um, put three little tunes together and scraped up a hundred bucks and made a little demo.

20:09

And, um, the singer in the band at that time was really good with PR. Like I'm not really good at that, but he was great.

20:16

And anyway, sent it out and a band that was on this independent label out of Nashville called

20:22

REX, um, heard it, liked it. And then next thing you know, like I said, walk into the jam room and 17, they said,

20:31

Hey, we got signed. I don't even know what that meant. And, uh, so that's how

20:36

I got introduced to those guys. And, um, we're still buddies. Well, praise

20:42

God. And where were you again, uh, mentally and spiritually in regard to the Lord were you mainly a nominal believer, would you say that was interested, but not yet perhaps born again or where were you in your life?

20:56

Do you think? I think, I think we were really like, I think initially when we got together, we were all very, um, zealous about our faith and, but we were also, uh, you know, honest about the difficulties and the things that we didn't understand.

21:15

So a lot of times in the very beginning, we got together and played because we didn't want to go to the rest of the parties that everybody else was doing.

21:22

So I was like, well, maybe if we get together and like jam, and it wasn't like we were hiding, but you remember we were teenagers.

21:28

And so I was like, well, can we play? And we did like, wait, you know, skateboarding and stuff. And so I was like, well, can we play, you know, this heavy music and make it about our faith and really be adamant about it?

21:40

And so even at that point, I think we were, we were really specific about, you know, not being what we had seen

21:49

Christian music be and all due respect to Christian music, but there was kind of a template for that.

21:55

We didn't, we didn't fit that template. And so we just kind of threw all that out and said, you know what, maybe we just go do our music and we're believers.

22:04

And if not in a church, then okay. So I think we were, you know, as far as like studying, we probably did read more than most 16 or 17 year olds would do reading scripture.

22:18

But, you know, there's always the struggles at those age that, and then the doubts, because, you know, a lot of times we're taught to run away from doubt.

22:28

I really think we should run into it, hit it head on. And so, yeah, it's a tough one to pin down,

22:35

Chris, on how I know that I prayed a lot and I wrestled with things.

22:43

And I think the fact that I was wrestling with it aggressively, I just knew that the

22:49

Lord was still pulling me closer to Him and removing, you know, some of the things you're taught, some of the ideologies that you think, you know, more of the way of life stuff or,

23:02

I think it just was after the relationship and that wrestling kind of brings it about. Like, why do I still want to do the things that I shouldn't do?

23:11

And I'd go to the Lord with that. Well, why am I still interested in what the world has to offer?

23:17

And He would gently meet me there, you know? Yeah. One of the reasons I even asked the question was years ago,

23:24

I had an interesting phone conversation with Pete Orta. I don't know if you know

23:29

Pete, but he is a guitarist and singer and was with Petra, one of the premier

23:38

Christian rock bands. And Pete told me years later, obviously, after not being with Petra anymore, he told me that he is certain that he was not a born -again

23:53

Christian during those years. And he said that he even was not a

23:59

Christian personally. I'm not talking about the rest of the band. And he doesn't even believe he was a

24:04

Christian or a born -again Christian when he came out with a solo album called

24:10

Born Again. Wow. But he had some interesting things to say about his disappointments in the

24:18

Christian music industry and the things he witnessed and so on. And perhaps one day,

24:23

God willing, we'll have Pete on as well. But I want to go to another one of your songs from the

24:30

CD. This is All Creatures of Our God and King. Another good one.

24:36

And we hope that you enjoy this, ladies and gentlemen. That was the shortest version of that.

25:02

Let's see if we get, let's see if it works right this time, because I'm not sure how, why it started. So this is

28:40

All Creatures of Our God and King performed by Jason Truby on his new CD, Hymns. And we're going to be going to a station break right now.

28:48

And we do have several people already anxiously waiting to have their questions answered by our guests.

28:54

So we thank you for your patience. We'll get to your questions as soon as we can after the station break.

29:01

But if you'd like to join them as well on the air with a question, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

29:12

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. And please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the

29:25

USA. And we look forward to hearing from you whether you're a

29:31

Christian, whether you are Jewish, whether you are Muslim, whether you are agnostic, whether you're atheist, whether you're

29:37

Swedenborgianist. We hope that anybody listening with a question for Jason sends us an email.

29:46

And I have a quiz. I'm going to give Jason a quiz and he can answer my question possibly when we come back from the break.

29:57

But my question is, what famous, he's not really that famous, but he's a very well, highly respected rock guitar player from the 70s, 80s, perhaps even spilling into the 90s, who is no longer with us.

30:21

But he, when I was a teenager, was one of my favorite rock and roll guitarists.

30:27

And his guitar is actually in the background of this ad that I'm about to play from one of our sponsors,

30:35

World Magazine. So I want to see if Jason can pick up who this is. I'm just dying to find out.

30:41

Perhaps Jason has never even heard of this guitarist, but I think that he probably has, but we'll find out in a little bit after we return.

30:49

But here's a word from our sponsors, World Magazine. Hi, I'm Chris Arnsen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, here to tell you about an exciting offer from World Magazine, my trusted source for news from a

31:06

Christian perspective. Try World at no charge for 90 days and get a free copy of R .C.

31:12

Sproul's book, Relationship Between Church and State. I rely on World because I trust the reporting.

31:18

I gain insight from the analysis, and World provides clarity to the news stories that really matter.

31:25

I believe you'll also find World to be an invaluable resource to better understand critical topics with a depth that's simply not found in other media outlets.

31:33

Armed with this coverage, World can help you to be a voice of wisdom in your family and your community. This trial includes biweekly issues of World Magazine, on -scene reporting from World Radio, and the fully shareable content of World Digital.

31:48

Simply visit wmg .org forward slash Iron Sharpens to get your

31:55

World trial and Dr. Sproul's book all free, no obligation with no credit card required.

32:02

Visit World News Group at wmg .org forward slash

32:08

Iron Sharpens today. Thriving Financial is not your typical financial services provider.

32:17

As a membership organization, we help Christians be wise with money and live generously every day.

32:23

And for the fourth year in a row, we were named one of the world's most ethical companies by the

32:28

Ethisphere Institute, a leading international think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement, and sharing of best practices in business ethics.

32:37

Contact me, Mike Gallagher, financial consultant at 717 -254 -6433.

32:44

Again, 717 -254 -6433 to learn more about the

32:50

Thriving Difference. We know we were made for so much more than ordinary life.

32:58

Lending faith, finances, and generosity. That's the Thriving Story. We were made to thrive.

33:16

I'm James White of Alpha Omega Ministries. The New American Standard Bible is perfect for daily reading or in -depth study.

33:22

Used by pastors, scholars, and everyday readers, the NASB is widely embraced and trusted as a literal and readable

33:28

Bible translation. The NASB offers clarity and readability while maintaining high accuracy to the original languages which the

33:34

NASB is known for. The NASB is available in many editions, like a topical reference Bible. Researched and prepared by biblical scholars devoted to accuracy, the new topical reference

33:44

Bible includes contemporary topics relevant to today's issues. From compact to giant print

33:49

Bibles, find an NASB that fits your needs very affordably at nasbible .com.

33:55

Trust, discover, and enjoy the NASB for yourself today. Go to nasbible .com.

34:00

That's nasbible .com. Tired of box store Christianity, of doing church in a warehouse with all the trappings of a rock concert?

34:09

Do you long for a more traditional and reverent style of worship? And how about preaching? Perhaps you've begun to think that in -depth biblical exposition has vanished from Long Island.

34:20

Well, there's good news. Wedding River Baptist Church exists to provide believers with a meaningful and reverent worship experience, featuring the systematic exposition of God's Word.

34:30

And this loving congregation looks forward to meeting you. Call them at 631 -929 -3512 for service times.

34:38

631 -929 -3512. Or check out their website at wrbc .us.

34:46

That's wrbc .us. Welcome back.

34:53

This is Chris Zarnes, and if you just tuned in to Iron Trap and Zion Radio, our guest today is Jason Truby, former lead guitarist for Living Sacrifice, former member of POD, and performer with Phil Keggy.

35:06

And if you'd like to join us on the air, we are accepting questions via email at chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

35:13

C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. And we do have several of you waiting, whom

35:18

I will get to momentarily. But do you have an answer to my question? I don't know if how clearly you heard the background guitar.

35:26

It was hard to, yeah, Chris, it was hard to hear. Can you give me a band name? Well, that would give it away.

35:32

Okay, yeah, I couldn't hear. It was because of the phone. It was static -y. Okay. If I have, I don't, yeah, you're going to have to tell me, man.

35:40

And I'll have to send you a CD if you haven't heard this. But that was Ronnie Montrose.

35:46

Oh, yeah, okay. The late Monty Montrose. He passed in 2012.

35:54

Yeah, well, he was a good one, man. Yeah, he was one of my favorites as a teenager, that's for sure.

36:01

But anyway, let me go to a couple of our listeners who have been waiting patiently, or as my frequent co -host

36:09

Reverend Buzz Taylor says, how do you know they're waiting patiently? You can't see them. But we have a listener from Kinross, Kinross, Scotland.

36:22

And perhaps Dr. James White can let me know if I'm mispronouncing that city.

36:28

Kinross, it's just spelt phonetically, K -I -N -R -O -S -S. But he says, with regard to use of musical instruments, is there ever a dividing line between worship and entertainment?

36:42

And if so, where would we find it? That's a poignant question.

36:49

And I'll do my best to attempt to answer my opinion of that. I do have a connection with Scotland.

36:55

My brother was a missionary in Sterling for about eight years. I got to spend some time there.

37:01

There is some great music. You know, a quick answer for that, personally,

37:07

I believe the truest form of worship is obedient. And if we're obedient, then

37:18

I don't think we have anything to worry about. As far as instrumentation is concerned, you know,

37:23

I've had it come up before where if you use distortion on an amp, is that distorting the regular sound?

37:30

Is that not worshipped anymore, or if it's lead rock guitar, or it can drum beat, you know, or the particular churches that don't use instruments, only voices.

37:44

This is a pretty powerful question. But I think if you're in obedience in your heart, and you are playing unto the

37:54

Lord, and I know the particular day and time when I said everything I'm going to do from here on out,

37:59

I'm going to play for the Lord. Even if I'm writing a song, and the music is letting my wife know how much

38:06

I love her, I'm still playing for the Lord. And so I think it comes down to, have

38:13

I been compelled in the moment to do something, or am I doing something to be noticed? That being said, and I didn't get this young man's name.

38:23

Murray. His name is Murray. That's a first name from... Murray? Yes. Ken Russell. We don't know if he's young.

38:30

He could be 90. We go assuming again. What's wrong with me? Murray, I think it's really difficult to judge anyone else's.

38:42

So I think in my case, I can go for what I do in my situations. And there are times when people pay me to entertain them musically, and I might be slapping harmonics and running arpeggio scales.

38:53

The Lord still made that format, and I'm still playing it for him, even though it might razzle and dazzle the audience.

39:02

Other than that, I think it's a question of your personal heart in the moment. And I will say this, because you probably are a musician.

39:09

You learn the language so well, so that in the moment, you can speak freely.

39:15

And that's why we study the music. I used to study it because of the desire to worship it. And then once I got corrected, now it's that I can worship freely through it.

39:24

And it might be in a jazz moment with a friend, and I'm just playing around. But it's still, I know the language enough that in the moment, if the

39:31

Holy Spirit pushes me a direction to phrase something in a particular way, I think that's worship.

39:38

And in some cases, it's because I decided I want to phrase it that way, and I think he still utilizes that as well.

39:44

But as far as where that line is, I'm not sure any of us can truly pinpoint that.

39:49

Hope that helps. And we do have Tyler in Mastic Beach, Long Island, and he is using some pretty strong language here.

39:58

I'm not sure, I don't mean by that vulgarity or profanity, but he is asking, why do you think so many

40:07

Christians use heretical worship music, such as Jesus Culture, which is rooted in the damnable

40:13

New Apostolic Reformation Theology? I've heard that phrase, but I don't know much about New Apostolic Reformation Theology.

40:21

But I have heard about it from some people who I respect who are very, very concerned about it.

40:27

But anyway, do you have any comments on that? Ah, you know, wow, that's got a lot of gravity to it there,

40:34

Tyler. I think

40:39

I approach those things with caution, Tyler, because there are some fires that I can't put out and that I didn't start.

40:49

And I have a tendency to lean on what I need to be responsible for and what

40:54

I've been compelled to do by the Holy Spirit, and then what other institutions or other musicians or other people attempt to do, right or wrong.

41:03

If they want to talk to me about it, I will, but I don't think that that's something that I could particularly tackle appropriately.

41:12

In my case, I'm going to follow where the wind blows in front of me and do my best to be obedient in the moment, not bound by any particular genre or any dogma or otherwise.

41:27

But I also don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. That's all I'll say. And you moved on from living sacrifice eventually to become a member of P .O

41:39

.D. What does P .O .D. stand for? Payable on death, which is actually a banking term.

41:47

But the guys picked that out, basically, another way to say you're going to reap what you sow in this life.

41:55

And we got something waiting on the other side. And I can't take credit for that name because I wasn't in the band yet, but that's what it means.

42:03

Well, it's a heavy name. And tell us about your experiences there.

42:09

And I understand from our conversation earlier, that's when you became acquainted with the son of my dear friend,

42:19

Dr. James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries, his son Joshua, who is a deadly instrument now, deadly weapon, a living deadly weapon, having become a martial arts expert.

42:36

I don't know what the Krav Maga equivalent to a black belt is, or perhaps that is the same thing.

42:41

Maybe it's a black belt. Do you know the Krav Maga? I do not. I know that it's lethal.

42:49

That's what I'll go with, lethal. And I think the CIA and some of our

42:55

American military are trained in this Israeli form of the martial arts. But I know that that's where Joshua became familiar with who you were.

43:03

But if you could tell us about POD and your meeting Joshua. Yeah. Well, we were touring in the early days with the first band.

43:12

And when we were out in the West Coast, POD would come on the road with us before I was in the band.

43:18

And we had U -Hauls and bands and toured across the country. And you make good relationships when you miss meals with people.

43:29

And anyway, I made a kind of a musical impact on them. And then after I had left Living Sacrifice, which I was very compelled to do at the time that I did,

43:39

I came back to Little Rock, started teaching music and really wasn't sure if I was going to be doing band or live music anymore.

43:49

But after about a two and a half year, maybe three year little hiatus, I got the proverbial phone call out of the blue.

43:58

And they had the opportunity as a band to write the title track to the Matrix Reloaded movie.

44:04

And their primary writer had left. So they were kind of in a spot and they asked if I wanted to write that song.

44:11

And so I said, sure. Hope everything's going well. I haven't seen you in a while.

44:17

We caught up. And so I quickly put a tune together. I rented that first Matrix movie, which was The Trip, and watched it and was like,

44:23

OK. And so wrote a song, sent it out. Long story short, it got accepted and made the title track.

44:30

And they said, we want you to be in the band. And so I had to kind of assimilate to a band that already existed stylistically, but then also kind of bring my own character and musical diversity to it.

44:43

And so that was very challenging and rewarding, but very difficult. And then they were very successful at the time.

44:50

And so I was getting into something that I don't think you can truly be prepared for. But I, you know, kind of went in with high hopes and you kind of figure things out.

45:03

But anyway, we started touring off that first album. And I think we were going through Arizona and I met

45:10

Josh for the first time. And I cannot remember the club or venue, but in one of the meet and greets.

45:16

And fast forward, I left the band in 2006 after several world tours and a couple of albums.

45:26

I just knew I needed to come back home and connect with family and my wife.

45:34

And that my season and time there was complete. And anyway, then when

45:40

I started teaching, I do some type of session. Josh reached out to me and then we made this like, oh yeah,

45:47

I remember meeting you. And one thing led to another. And he said his dad had liked my instrumental albums, which I started doing in about 2004.

45:55

And we've been in sessions ever. And I use his martial arts to teach. I'm like the same concept, discipline and movement.

46:03

And he's doing really good. I'm proud of him. Well, praise God for that.

46:09

Let's play another one of your songs from the Hymns album. This is certainly no stranger to the vast majority of people,

46:20

I think, living on the planet earth, even those that are not Christian. Here is

46:25

Amazing Grace. So hallelujah.

48:49

That is beautiful. Thank you. That's a great little tune. Oh, yeah. Amazing Grace as performed by our guest today,

48:57

Jason Truby. And that's from his new CD, Hymns. How many

49:03

CDs do you actually have? Because I saw that you had some things that you actually cooperated with Phil Keggian and other things.

49:11

Yeah. Let's see. I think that the Hymns album is my eighth album of my own after P .O

49:20

.D. Let's see. Probably, let's see, one, two, three, four instrumental albums, all of different variations.

49:32

The last one before Hymns was an album called Passages. And I took passages of scripture and really meditated on them, thought about them, and then would construct pieces to capture what that was about, at least through my interpretation.

49:49

And it's not all super happy, because there's a song called Lost on that, which kind of deals with grief.

49:58

And then there's some beautiful ones about being a new creation, you know, 2 Corinthians 517.

50:04

Capturing that musically was a real neat project. And a lot of people enjoyed that to listen to while they're reading.

50:12

And then some of them are just instrumental albums where I'm doing fingerstyle guitar work. And Phil did a track with me on the

50:20

Passages album, and then he did a track with me on a vocal album called Our Time Here, what

50:26

I did in 2013. So probably about, yeah, seven or eight albums since P .O

50:31

.D. days. Well, great. And one thing I want to make as a part of my regular prayer life is

50:42

I want, God willing, for you to meet and do a little jam with my older brother,

50:50

Andy. My brother, Andy, who is 69, is sitting right now in a nursing home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, nearby where I live.

50:59

He had a stroke a number of months ago, which left him paralyzed on his left side completely.

51:07

And unfortunately, there's no noticeable improvement in that regard.

51:13

But Andy was the most phenomenal and gifted guitar player that I had ever heard.

51:19

He was in a band for probably most of the first half of his life and left that scene when he realized that drugs and other things were consuming his life, and the music itself performing in all parts of the country was taking him away from his wife and children and destroying his marriage.

51:44

So he gave it up professionally, but had the gift until he had the stroke.

51:53

And I just hope that one day that he has the opportunity to pick up a guitar and sit down next to you and just do a little playing in his living room or wherever he may be at the time.

52:07

Chris, we should talk about figuring out a way to make that happen. I would love that.

52:13

Yeah, maybe some listener wants to help facilitate that, or maybe someone on our end.

52:22

I love doing things like that, and I hate to hear that he had the stroke and has lost part of the use of his body.

52:32

But I know those years work, and that's all you need for a good jam. He also tragically had to, when he fell into serious financial hardship, sold every single one of his guitars, even before he had the stroke.

52:46

And he had a really beautiful collection of guitars. Oh, that's too bad. I'm sure there were guitars.

52:52

See, I don't know anything about musical instruments because I'm not a musician at all, but there were definitely guitars

53:00

I think that you would have recognized and probably would have drooled over if you saw them. Well, I'm sure he used them well while he had the opportunity to, and maybe something will come along in the future, even if it's just one good one that he can have.

53:19

But yeah, man, be praying about that, and if we're able to make that happen, I would be happy to.

53:25

Now, I don't know if you're feeling better to stick around for the second hour because you were claiming earlier.

53:33

When I say claiming, I don't mean you were making it up. You were saying that you weren't feeling well before.

53:38

I had a strategy, Chris. You informed me before the show that you didn't feel well enough to do two hours because of the sickness you're going through.

53:48

I don't know if that's... I've got a little chest cold, but I've got...

53:55

I think I can try to stick around a little bit longer if you would like. I've got one little thing I can reschedule.

54:02

For some reason, I thought it was an hour, but you know what? If you're okay with me hanging around, even if I had to sneak out a little early, let me see if I can do the whole thing.

54:13

Oh, that's great. That's fine with me. And let me now...

54:18

Well, first of all, let me also repeat our email address if anybody would like to join us on the air.

54:26

That is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

54:32

And please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside of the

54:44

USA. And we would love to hear from you, even if you are not a

54:52

Christian, whatever your walk in life happens to be right now, whether you're a musician or not.

54:58

But I want to play another excerpt from your CD, Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past.

55:07

And we hope that you sit back, those of you listening, and enjoy the music.

55:13

If you're driving, please don't close your eyes and drift off into another realm. But here we go with Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past.

55:33

Chris, I think that one's starting at the end as well.

55:42

Yeah, I can kind of tell that. That's interesting, brother. Well, I don't know why that happened again. James White is laughing right now if he's listening because he knows how atechnical

55:53

I am. So hopefully this is going to play from the beginning and now

55:59

I have it at zero. So there you go. Here we go with that.

58:42

Well, for some reason, let's see if we can get it to start again. For some reason it stopped, brother. But what we heard...

58:48

Oh, there we go. Well, I don't know what's the matter with the MP3. I'm not sure what's happening with the MP3. But what we heard was absolutely gorgeous.

58:56

And we assure you, those of you listening, that on the CD that's not going to happen.

59:02

It won't stop. And I am going to give a shout out now that I dedicated that song to Jeremy Volo.

59:16

Jeremy Volo, who used to be a professional soccer player with the San Antonio Scorpions, who's been a guest on my program, is now a pastor in Laredo, Texas.

59:29

And he had me record recently the opening announcements for a new radio program that he hosts.

59:37

And his favorite hymn is, Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past.

59:44

And that was the theme music that we played. Not yours, because I wasn't even aware of your existence at the time, but we did use an instrumental version of that hymn because that is

59:55

Jeremy's favorite hymn. It's a beautiful hymn by Isaac Watts. Wrote that in 1779.

01:00:02

Been around for a while. Now, have you done a lot of study on the lives of the hymn writers of the songs that you play, of the hymns that you play?

01:00:14

Well, not before this. I was aware of some of the details. And I'd like to give you a little background, if it's okay, on this album.

01:00:25

The original idea, excuse me, I'll do some of these fingerstyle covers live.

01:00:34

I'll use a looper and make a bunch of little counter melodies. It's real symphonic.

01:00:41

And then I'll have these tunes. But my wife mentioned one day that, what if he did a full album of nothing but hymns, but did it more as a therapy for people that are sick?

01:00:54

And I thought, that's actually a really good idea. And so a dear friend of ours who wants to remain anonymous had a connection at a cancer treatment center here in Arkansas.

01:01:05

And she said, well, we'd love to be a part of it. And we want to make it available to people to listen to while they're getting treatment at the cancer center.

01:01:12

And they want to make it available to their staff. And so in talking to her, I thought, she said, we can make it really, really peaceful and make it for healing.

01:01:21

And I said, well, you know, I can do my best. And then one of the secondary reasons for being instrumental is that it's a chance for, if there's people that aren't believers, or they're of a different religion, or no religion, that we're not segregating them from this, but at the same time, maybe opening their eyes to it a little bit, the lyrics are in the

01:01:43

CD. And so the first thousand units are being distributed quietly at a cancer treatment center here in Little Rock.

01:01:53

Wow. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, praise God for that. So anyway, in that process,

01:02:00

I thought, well, I'm going to pick, I've got to narrow it down to 10 hymns, because there's a lot of hymns. And in that research, one, the format in a style that I could view for acoustic guitar appropriately, but the stories are pretty profound.

01:02:18

And it wasn't necessarily, I mean, I had my favorite, some that I've played a lot, but then some that I just felt were really melodically peaceful, but then the lyrical content was really poignant.

01:02:31

Like Come Back Found by Robert Robinson, that's also in 1775. And just that idea that, man, these people are sick, they need that.

01:02:41

And that reminders that, you know, holy, holy, holy, that that's who he is. And then the story behind that, that's

01:02:48

Reginald Heber in 1861. And then even St. Francis, you know, he wrote All Creatures of Our God and King in 1225.

01:02:56

And, you know, the lyrics to all of these are really what drew me to them. And then melodically.

01:03:04

And then as simple as like doxology. But yeah, looking at the stories, a lot of it came through grief.

01:03:10

Some people lost loved ones. And then out of the moment, they find out that they've lost their wife and child.

01:03:17

They write that everything's well with their soul. I mean, it's phenomenal. So the stories, and then it helps me with complacency, because we're on the shoulders of giants, in my opinion, who didn't have all the creature comforts that we have.

01:03:36

And, you know, I think they had a clear channel lyrically. Not that there's,

01:03:42

I mean, there's great worship songs right now. So I don't mean anything negative by this statement. But there just seemed to be a clear channel with the marriage of melody and lyric.

01:03:55

And the passion behind that about their relationship with God is very much like Psalms.

01:04:02

They're honest about the pain that they're dealing with, and how they feel about it, and then putting their faith.

01:04:08

And then I know God's going to get me through this, and He's my sustainer. That's kind of why I picked them.

01:04:14

You know, that's the best I can tell you is how I picked them. And praise God. We do have a listener,

01:04:21

Harrison in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, which providentially, that is actually a town where James White spent a lot of his childhood and was baptized in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

01:04:37

But Harrison asks, do you think that anyone can learn an instrument, or do you think that it is a

01:04:46

God -given gift that you have especially? Yes.

01:04:55

Well, I guess anybody could learn it, but could you learn it very, very well? I mean, just like, you know, people can learn the basics of a sport or something.

01:05:04

Sure, yeah. Well, you just hit my analogy right on the head. As a teacher, and I've got quite a few students,

01:05:10

I think helping people understand their capacity for music and to be able to reach their potential in it.

01:05:20

And that's relative to each person. I do think that it is for everybody, and I think we find that out through children.

01:05:27

My kids will bang around on their little pianos, and it makes no sense whatsoever, but they begin to eliminate the things a little bit at a time, and where it's like painting or sculpting.

01:05:38

But there is a language to it. There is a discipline to it that takes an investment.

01:05:46

Why all the wiring in me was designed to see that, but I do think a lot of it was innate, and it was

01:05:54

God -given, but at the same time, you have to work that and cultivate it through trial and error, and it's just like faith.

01:06:01

And I don't think we ever arrive, so I think that's pretty important. I think if I figured it all out,

01:06:08

I'd probably stop playing. And if all of a sudden, I have full enlightenment of what everything is,

01:06:14

I don't know if I'd keep speaking it. Maybe I would. I don't know. I guess I shouldn't say that. But as far as instruments,

01:06:20

I say, if you pick it up and you're passionate about language of the soul, and Bach put it best, that the sole purpose of music is to glorify

01:06:30

God and edify the soul. And then you begin to work on the structure that man has harnessed the instrument for, but God made the language.

01:06:42

The language is there before we did the instrument. And so thinking in that viewpoint,

01:06:48

I think that everybody would have the capacity, but if I wanted to be a linebacker in the

01:06:53

NFL, I could practice football all day long, but I'm 5 '9", 145 pounds,

01:06:58

I'd get killed. I could have the passion for it all day long, and work and work and work.

01:07:04

But if somebody coached me into my potential, then I could be really good for whatever the feeling of my potential is.

01:07:15

So yeah, so I think Harrison, I think you go for it, man, and you pick up the instrument and you play and you study.

01:07:21

And if you just feel like the freedom is not there, then maybe it's a different institution you're supposed to worship with.

01:07:28

Well, perhaps Harrison was trying to persuade his ungifted child not to be playing so he wouldn't have to waste money on the instrument.

01:07:38

I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking, Jason, give me a better answer. Well, I'm going to play,

01:07:45

I hope it plays all the way through, and I'm not sure why we were having difficulty before, but a song that has become my favorite hymn that I'm not sure when it was written if it had this melody, but I love the melody as well.

01:08:05

But a number of years ago in New York City, I was at a Bible conference and they sang,

01:08:11

Before the Throne of God Above, and I had never before heard it.

01:08:16

For some reason, it's not in the Trinity Hymnal that many Reformed churches have, and I had never seen it in any of the hymnals of my previous churches before we had the

01:08:30

Trinity, and I have just fallen in love with this hymn. When I first heard it,

01:08:37

I began uncontrollably weeping. That's great. Well, you know it was written by a woman.

01:08:46

Yes. Charity Lees Bancroft. Yeah, and I'm with you on this one.

01:08:54

The original title was called The Advocate. No, I didn't know that.

01:09:00

Yeah, when it was written in 1863. Yeah, I really, really like this tune. It's a good one.

01:09:06

Well, let's hope that this plays all the way through. Yeah, me too. So Praise God, that was a beautiful version of that hymn, which is my favorite hymn,

01:12:42

Before the Throne of God, Above, by our guest Jason Truby on his

01:12:48

CD, Hymns. Just out of curiosity, Jason, was that last part intentionally sounding

01:12:56

Asian? Because it did have an A. Yeah. Okay. Very good, actually. Good ear. I actually, like over my travels and touring, and I told you earlier that the

01:13:08

Lord brought our children to us through adoption, but I kind of find instruments that I like along the way, and there's two instruments

01:13:17

I used on that. One is a koto, which is a Japanese plucked stringed instrument. I had it for lunch, actually.

01:13:23

Oh, nice. It goes good with teriyaki sauce. And then it's a hard one.

01:13:30

It's a shakuhachi, is how you say it, but it's a wood flute, and I used that wood flute at the end of that song because I just thought it's neat from time to time to incorporate cultural influence, and I just felt compelled to on that one.

01:13:44

Well, if you don't mind, I just want to, as quickly as I can, read the lyrics to that hymn so that our listeners know why this was such a profound hymn to me.

01:13:55

In fact, I discovered it providentially after leaving alcohol rehab.

01:14:01

I went to a Christian alcohol rehab in Boone, North Carolina. I had been sober for 18 years after becoming a born -again

01:14:11

Christian, and after that 18 -year period, I tragically slotted back into alcohol abuse and signed into that ministry and have not touched a drop of alcohol since leaving there.

01:14:26

Congratulations. And I understand that many of my brethren have the liberty to moderately partake in wine and so forth, but I know

01:14:37

I can't. But anyway, when I left that place and providentially was at a

01:14:42

Bible conference in Manhattan when I heard that hymn, God uncorked a river that just started flowing down my face and onto my chest, and the lyrics go like this.

01:14:54

Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me.

01:15:05

My name is graven on his hands. My name is written on his heart.

01:15:12

I know that while in heaven he stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart.

01:15:18

When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward

01:15:23

I look and see him there, who made an end to all my sin. Because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.

01:15:42

Behold him there, the risen lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable

01:15:49

I am, the king of glory and of grace, one with himself, I cannot die.

01:15:56

My soul is purchased by his blood. My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my savior and my

01:16:05

God. If you can hear that hymn sung by gifted singers, even if it's a crowd of folks in a church that have never been trained, and you are not moved by that hymn,

01:16:22

I don't know, there must be something really, really wrong with you. No, hey man, you hit it.

01:16:28

It is powerful, poignant, and I know the first time I heard that song, and just for the record, it's 10 years that I haven't had any alcohol.

01:16:40

In similar circumstances as you, and just those of us that that's poison for us, and if it's not poison to someone else, fine.

01:16:50

It's like a diabetic that can't have sugar, so be it. But I know that through that process for me, and I did hear this song at an

01:17:00

Anglican church for the first time in helping out with a recovery program.

01:17:05

It's funny that you would mention that, but you know, it just gets back to the desire and appetite that we're seeking something that is not here, and then this song deals with that, and that it's taken care of, and that's as good as it gets.

01:17:23

And then, you know, it's great, Chris, and all of a sudden it sounds a little preachy, but we can live a life of gratitude in serving the

01:17:30

Lord instead of a life of obligation. That changed the way I approached all of that, and it's liberating, and that's what

01:17:39

Jesus came to do. But anyway, that's one of my favorites on there, and then, you know, having connections to Southeast Asia, I just felt like putting a little twist on it.

01:17:48

Well, that was wonderful. In fact, in the remaining half hour after the break,

01:17:53

I would like you to talk about adoption, which is a subject that's very near and dear to your heart. And before we take the final break of the show,

01:18:02

I just want to go into a hymn,

01:18:08

Come, Thy Fount of Every Blessing, that will go right into our break, and then we will return with Jason to discuss why adoption is such a powerful thing in his heart and mind today.

01:18:24

Don't go away. That was

01:21:47

Come, Thy Fount of Every Blessing by Jason Truby, another one of the beautiful hymns on his new

01:21:53

CD, simply titled Hymns. We'll be right back with our final station break, so don't go away, and email us if you'd like with a question for Jason Truby.

01:22:13

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio is sponsored by Harvey Cedars, a year -round Bible conference and retreat center nestled on the

01:22:20

Jersey Shore. Harvey Cedars offers a wide range of accommodations to suit groups up to 400.

01:22:26

For generations, Christians have enjoyed gathering and growing at Harvey Cedars. Each year, thousands of high school and college students come and learn more about God's Word.

01:22:37

An additional 9 ,000 come annually to Harvey Cedars as families, couples, singles, men, women, pastors, seniors, and missionaries.

01:22:49

Ninety miles from New York City, 70 miles from Philly, and 95 miles from Wilmington, and easily accessible, scores of notable

01:22:58

Christian groups frequently plan conferences at Harvey Cedars, like the Navigators, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade, and the

01:23:07

Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Find Harvey Cedars on Facebook or at hcbible .org.

01:23:16

hcbible .org. Call 609 -494 -5689.

01:23:23

609 -494 -5689. Harvey Cedars, where Christ finds people and changes lives.

01:23:44

Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read.

01:23:52

He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own.

01:24:00

You need to read. Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

01:24:06

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

01:24:19

Since its beginning in 2001, Solid Ground has been committed to publish God -centered,

01:24:24

Christ -exalting books for all ages. We invite you to go treasure hunting at Solid -Ground -Books .com.

01:24:32

That's Solid -Ground -Books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from Solid Ground.

01:24:41

Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Lynbrook Baptist Church on 225

01:24:50

Earl Avenue in Lynbrook, Long Island, is teaching God's timeless truths in the 21st century. Our church is far more than a

01:24:56

Sunday worship service. It's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant.

01:25:02

It's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement. It's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people in healing.

01:25:10

We're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our Lord Jesus Christ in fellowship, play, and together.

01:25:16

Hi, I'm Pastor Bob Walderman, and I invite you to come and join us here at Lynbrook Baptist Church and see all that a church can be.

01:25:23

Call Lynbrook Baptist at 516 -599 -9402. That's 516 -599 -9402.

01:25:30

Or visit lynbrookbaptist .org. That's lynbrookbaptist .org. Attention coin collectors and investors.

01:25:42

Long Island Galleries of Wading River, New York, has brilliant uncirculated 19th century

01:25:47

Morgan silver dollars for only $54 per coin, with free shipping and handling for a limited time.

01:25:55

There's a 40 coin limit, so order now while supplies last. Call 888 -260 -8111, 888 -260 -8111.

01:26:06

Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express welcome. Prices subject to change, so call now at 888 -260 -8111, 888 -260 -8111.

01:26:19

If you prefer ordering your brilliant uncirculated 19th century Morgan silver dollars by check, mail it today to Long Island Galleries, 9

01:26:28

Susan Drive, Wading River, New York, 11792. That's Long Island Galleries, 9

01:26:35

Susan Drive, Wading River, New York, 11792. Remember, they're only $54 per coin with free shipping and handling and a 40 coin limit.

01:26:45

New York State residents must add sales tax. Long Island Galleries is honored to sponsor Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

01:26:52

See the Long Island Galleries display ad at ironsharpensironradio .com.

01:26:59

Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours, thanks be to God, since we were only planning on one due to our guest feeling under the weather, but thankfully we are able to press forward till the end,

01:27:15

God willing, with Jason Truby, who is a Christian guitarist extraordinaire, and we are discussing his new

01:27:24

CD, Hymns. We've been playing some excerpts of it, and we've been hearing more about him, his testimony of Christian faith, and we're going to be moving on in a minute to a discussion on why adoption is such an important part of his life right now.

01:27:41

But before we do that, I have a question to ask about the last hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, towards the end.

01:27:49

I was reminded of one of the most beautiful versions of Amazing Grace, second only to Jason Truby's version.

01:28:01

But have you ever heard, I'm not even sure Hubert Laws was a

01:28:06

Christian, or is a Christian, because he may still be alive, but Hubert Laws came out, he's a flautist, and he came out with an album in the 1970s,

01:28:20

I believe, called Morning Star, and he has a version of Amazing Grace on that.

01:28:26

If you have not heard it, you've got to hear Hubert Laws' Amazing Grace played with the flute, and perhaps some other wind instruments in there, and it's from the album

01:28:40

Morning Star. Just my very strong recommendation, which, by the way, I discovered through my older brother,

01:28:46

Andrew Arnzen, that I mentioned earlier. Mm -hmm. And he, many years ago, introduced that version of Amazing Grace to me, so I just thought

01:28:56

I'd ask you if you - I just wrote that down, Chris, because that's actually a

01:29:02

Native American wood flute that I used on the end of it. I haven't heard his, but there's something about woodwinds and single melodies like that that are just really powerful.

01:29:13

Yeah, you definitely, when you hear Hubert Laws doing it, you definitely get the aura, the sound, as if a

01:29:22

Native American Christian is out in the woods playing it. Yeah, well, there's something peaceful, and it's deeply peaceful about that, and so I didn't want the album to be too one -dimensional, even though the central thread is guitar work, but playing the wood flutes is kind of fun.

01:29:44

Praise God. Well, we had already announced that we were going to discuss why adoption is such an important part of your life right now.

01:29:52

Why don't you tell us about that? Well, it came through necessity at first, and sometimes that's how, as we walk through this life, the

01:30:05

Lord can get our attention. Anyway, me and my wife got married really young.

01:30:11

She was 19, I was 21, and we're going on tour with the first band together, and then as time to start our family, we had some pretty bad complications, and so then all of our friends are getting pregnant and having kids, and it was just a really trying time for us, and especially for her, this desire to have biological children, and so we found out that that was not going to be a possibility, and that she may have to get some surgery, and just kind of a double whammy, and you know, in those moments, you don't know what to say.

01:30:49

There's all the colloquialisms and the Christian verses, and I don't belittle it, because God gave us that, but there's moments where you just need to cry or you need to grieve with someone, and you know,

01:31:01

I didn't know what to do, but literally three days after that grieving moment,

01:31:11

I had been talking with a friend about the fact that when Abraham was taking Isaac up the mountain, there was a ram going up the other side that he wasn't aware of, and I just knew that God had to have something for us.

01:31:25

I didn't know what it was, but a friend met me for lunch, and he said, you know,

01:31:31

I don't know why I'm telling you this, but there's some friends of ours we ran into, and there's a little girl we've come in contact with, and are y 'all interested in adoption?

01:31:40

And I just, you know, didn't even cross my mind, and so I called my wife, and literally a week later, that child was placed with us, and we went through this crash course home study, had no idea what we were doing, and we were thrust into the world of adoption, and at that time, it took every cent that I had.

01:32:04

There was no big album sales. There was no hit singles. There was nothing, and so, and I had already left the other band, and so I had started a little company.

01:32:12

I was teaching, but when we got through that process, and we went through the court stuff, and we went through all the home studies, and then here's this child, and now this was my daughter, then me and my wife just prayed at the time, if this is what you want us to do, then give us the means to do it, because we'll build our family this way, and I'll be an advocate for it every step of the way, because I really see how

01:32:36

God adopted us makes sense to me, and then the band called, and then the funds became available, and so we knew, well, we're going to adopt our second, and so Elijah came along, and we had the financing, went through the process, and next thing you know, we were able to be there at birth for Elijah, which was wonderful for us, and then our heart was led to go overseas, and since my wife is half

01:33:07

Thai, and our mom's from Thailand, we thought, well, maybe that's where we should go, and so we went through a very tedious process, and a huge dossier, years worth of work to get that, and then in comes our second son, and our third child, and we knew that's what we needed to do, and so anyway, along the way, there were some agencies that came along that we got connected with, and sometimes

01:33:35

I would do music for them, and in 2012, we did an album called

01:33:42

Grafted. We had a lot of special artists come in and do some music for that that helped a local agency that's involved with foster care called

01:33:51

Project B -Row, and then got hooked up with an organization called Hope for Orphans, and did some touring with them, and they really help out in facilitating, uh, helping the people that have to stay in those countries and raise the orphans, as well as help those that want to adopt and deal with the issues that all of these young people have, and like we talked about earlier, you know, it may not be the only unreached people group, but I think one of the last unreached people group is going to be the orphan, because there's no one in their life that's telling them about the

01:34:27

Lord, or they're scooped up into, um, you know, militia groups, or they're scooped, like they're targeted, like, and, and, you know, the enemy hates them, because he reminds, like, reminds him that there was a little baby that upset his plan, and after him, and so I know, like,

01:34:46

I can't adopt them all, but that's how the Lord had us build our, and then the last one, our, you know, we adopted three years ago at birth, and, um, so we have four kids now, and they're beautiful, and wonderful, multicultural, and all of them have a fair level of their relationship with the

01:35:03

Lord, and so in some ways, it's like you're doing a lot of different things at once that are way beyond me.

01:35:09

I'm just trying to be a dad, but the, the gospel getting into people that might have never even left that part of the world, and they're influenced, and now here are my boys saying, you know, maybe

01:35:21

I need to go back to Chiang Mai, or, or Bangkok, and tell people about Jesus. I mean, that's, it's got a ripple effect far beyond me, um, and so a need got met, and Chris, I'm sorry

01:35:32

I'm being long -winded, but a need got met for our family structure, and all the things that the

01:35:37

Lord had for us, and so now there's sons and daughters that I didn't think I would have, and then young humans in the kingdom that may or may not have been, that are going to go influence another part of the world, because we love their heritage, and want them to keep their heritage, and so it's just neat watching how

01:35:55

God took something really broken in our life that was painful, and frustrating, and full of grief, and decided to use it in a different way, and it wasn't necessarily the answer to the prayer that I was asking, but it was, you know, it was an answer, and profound, and so we help out a lot of agencies that are wanting to put the right couple with the right child, and adoption, by the way, is not for everyone as far as the literal action of it, being connected to it, or maybe financially supporting it, or spiritually, or praying for couples, or helping couples that, if you have a child that's got reactive attachment disorder, or it has these abandonment scars and issues that are deeply seated inside of them spiritually, and they weren't prepared properly, and they don't know what they're doing, and their child's out of control, you can rally around and create groups to make it all possible for that to be successful.

01:36:54

Praise God. Well, if the Lord opens up that door for you to come out to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and jam with my brother

01:37:03

Andy, the stroke patient that I was telling you about, and, well, there's got to be somebody else who joins in the jam, that's my friend

01:37:15

Brian Richardson, and he may be listening, Brian and his wife

01:37:21

Robin adopted two children from Haiti, and during Brian's trips to Haiti with his wife, his wife was already a

01:37:33

Christian, Brian was not, in fact, he was very hostile against Christianity, but loved his wife, and he would go on these trips, missions -related trips to Haiti involving doing work at orphanages and so on, and they fell in love with a biological brother and sister who they adopted, and those are two beautiful, precious kids, and Brian is also a guitar player, so it would be nice for you and Brian and my brother to jam together if God opens up the door.

01:38:06

That would be great, that would be wonderful, and you know what's so cool is, well,

01:38:12

I say cool, that's a loose -slang term, I'm from Little Rock, Arkansas, and then having a completely biracial family where I live, and with all the things happening in our culture, it has an effect, and then sometimes we have to deal with things, it's just part of it, but you know, the

01:38:36

Lord's vision for what he wants to do with his church, and what he wants to do on, you know, it's on earth as it is in heaven, and we don't have it perfect at all, and so I don't mean it like that, but it is really, it's really great to see that, you know, the

01:38:51

Lord would take some, and believe it or not, very introverted little Caucasian boy who had some affinity for music, and now

01:38:59

I've got Hispanic, Thai, biracial children and a half -Thai wife in the middle of the

01:39:06

South, and then I still get to share music, it's just, you know, I couldn't have planned it, there's no way

01:39:12

I could have scripted any of this, and then the same thing with Brian, and here's these two children from Haiti that he has, you know, grafted into his family, and they're his, and there's no question about the love, or like, it doesn't, like, the color disappears, and I just think that brings around change when people watch, because it's not an act, or you can't pretend that, you know, you can't love on kids like a dad, and you can't pretend that, and they see that it's not the same hair color, or skin color, or eye tone, and they know, and then they just have to wonder, well, why in the world would you do this, you know, why wouldn't you just get a lake house, you know, instead of spending all the money it takes to do, and because, you know what, this is kingdom stuff, if you have a lake house, great, but for us, we were compelled to do that for a particular reason, and anyway,

01:40:12

I would love to and Jan was with both of those guys, that would be awesome. We do have a listener in Augusta, Maine, John, who says, have you ever studied the therapeutic effects of music on those who have learning disabilities, and other types of challenges in life?

01:40:35

I have been amazed by documentaries I've seen about them. You know,

01:40:41

I had someone recently ask me about healing frequencies, and I think it's called the

01:40:47

Foligio Tune, something like that, I may be pronouncing it wrong, Sophria Joe Tongue, but I do believe that there is some validity to that.

01:40:58

I don't know how much of it, you know, it might be stumped with people effect, but. Well, even the mechanic, even the mechanics of singing and so on, for instance,

01:41:09

I know that through like documentaries and things that I've seen, that the part of the brain that controls singing is different than the part that controls speaking.

01:41:23

That's why you have people who are stutterers when they speak, who do not stutter when they sing, and I've heard that children with autism and other things have learned how to speak more properly and understandably by singing phrases and things like that, and it is like strengthens a certain ability in the brain to communicate and so on.

01:41:48

Yeah, absolutely, that's one facet of it that is solid. The other side, I think

01:41:53

I was thinking more, a little more ethereal, but there is calming qualities to particular tones, and it gets back to the thing we talked about earlier.

01:42:02

One of the things that haunted me in trying to figure out God was answered because a minor chord was sad.

01:42:11

It was vibrations put together that made every human feel sad, no matter how old, no matter what, and that was an absolute that just bugged me, and that if you moved one note in it, it made everybody feel high.

01:42:24

It lifted the atmosphere. It was magical, and then something had to create that, and that led me, but that's true, so it doesn't mean that rock and roll and all that stuff is really bad, but it does create some anxiety or anger or frustration or rally or zest, and then there's like the fourth flute and long, drawn -out, peaceful melodies can soothe a child who has sensory overload issues, and you play busy

01:42:52

Bach music for a person like me, and my brain gets really, really active, but for autism, in which my daughter has, we need to go for long, drawn -out, things that are going to soothe the brain, and then, yes, getting the other stuff to help the speech impediments, and absolutely.

01:43:13

You know why, though, Chris? Because God made them. All we're doing is harnessing what he originally designed it to do, and so I don't really think we can take a lot of credit for it, which is kind of cool.

01:43:25

It takes the weight off. Well, I guess that 18th century English poet who said, music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,

01:43:35

I guess that's actually true. I think it is, and all they were doing was taking note of something that they saw happen.

01:43:44

They harnessed something that did this in people, and that's why music theory is difficult to teach.

01:43:51

It's not because music theory is vague. It's because human language is vague in capturing what music does, and I think in some cases, faith is a very similar institution.

01:44:01

And by the way, John in Augusta, Maine, since you're a first -time questioner, we're going to send you out a free

01:44:11

New American Standard Bible, compliments of the publishers of the New American Standard Bible, so you need to give us your full mailing address, and we'll get that out to you as soon as possible.

01:44:21

Thanks to our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, CVBBS .com. That's CVBBS .com,

01:44:29

who ship out all of our winner's books at no expense to Iron Sharpens Iron, and we thank

01:44:35

Todd and Patty Jennings for being faithful supporters of Iron Sharpens Iron, and we also, as I said, thank the publishers of the

01:44:43

New American Standard Bible for sponsoring this program. Ever since 2006, when we first went on the air, their website is

01:44:50

NASBible .com. NASBible .com, in fact, providentially, you heard earlier on, a mutual friend of my guest and mine,

01:45:01

Dr. James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries did the voice for their ad, so. But John, you might also want to know that the

01:45:09

Fellowship Conference New England in Portland, Maine is coming up.

01:45:15

They sponsor our program as well, Fellowship Conference New England. That's August 4th through the 6th at the

01:45:21

Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine, and my friend, Pastor Mack Tomlinson, who is the pastor of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, is one of the speakers.

01:45:33

There's at least four speakers there, and I promise you that you will have a wonderful time of worshiping and hearing the

01:45:41

Word preached and taught and fellowshipping with some dear brethren in Christ, if you're able to go to that.

01:45:48

That's August 4th through the 6th at the Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine.

01:45:53

I don't know how close that is to Augusta, but the website is FellowshipConferenceNewEngland .com,

01:46:01

FellowshipConferenceNewEngland .com. I want to play one more of your songs from the CD, Jason, Holy, Holy, Holy, another one of my favorites, and I hope that those of you listening just sit back and worship the

01:46:16

Lord as you hear our very gifted brother in Christ, Jason Truby, perform this beautiful, cherished hymn on the acoustic guitar.

01:53:35

Hallelujah, that is absolutely beautiful. That was Holy, Holy, Holy by our guest

01:53:41

Jason Truby from his new CD, Hymns, and we have been interviewing

01:53:47

Jason Truby for the last, nearly the last two hours. We're drawing quickly to the conclusion of those two hours, and we just are so delighted that the

01:53:57

Lord enabled him to stick in there with the extra hour that we weren't anticipating because of his health today.

01:54:05

But I love that hymn, sounds so nice, they sang it thrice,

01:54:11

Holy, Holy, Holy, and that sounded like to me, unless I'm just completely off base with my genius switch today, that sounded like there was a lot of influence from the

01:54:26

African continent. Yes, I'm actually using a Rosewood percussive instrument that has this really, really deep, warm tone, and yeah, you got that one right, and there's little hints of culture in each tune.

01:54:45

I'll just kind of throw that out there. Sure. Sometimes I don't even really mention that, but if you have ears to hear it, yeah, this one just kind of spaced that song out, and there's some neat things happened at the end of that track.

01:54:59

I really liked that one. Oh, yeah. Well, I loved every single thing that I've heard by you, brother, and I just want to, before we run out of time,

01:55:06

I want to make sure our listeners have your website URL. It's jasontruby .com,

01:55:12

and Truby is spelled T -R -U -B as in boy. Why? That's jasontruby .com.

01:55:20

That's T as in Thomas, R -U -B as in boy. Why? And that's an interesting name.

01:55:25

What ethnic origin is that? Well, we are, you know, a cornucopia of basically a mutt, but that originated probably

01:55:39

French and English primarily, but then we have, you know, Irish.

01:55:45

My dad has some OKC background, so other than that,

01:55:50

I don't have a lot of heritage about Truby. There's not a lot of us, but I will say this. The ones that I have come across were in Pennsylvania.

01:55:58

Really? Yeah, and two or three contacted me over the last couple of years, just wondering if we had any family connections, and they were from Pennsylvania, so I'm thinking that maybe we came down south from Pennsylvania originally.

01:56:14

Well, I'm going to adopt your last name into my own use of slang.

01:56:20

I'm going to adopt a new usage for it. Instead of being a wannabe

01:56:28

Christian, be a Truby. A Truby or not

01:56:34

Truby, right? It's always better to be a

01:56:39

Truby than a wannabe. There you go, yeah. A true B and just put like a

01:56:44

B flat or something on it. That's wonderful, man. Well, I would like you in the three minutes we have left to really leave our listeners with what you most want etched in their hearts and minds before they leave the program today.

01:57:01

Well, besides the hymns album and all the things that the Lord has us do as followers of Christ, for me, understanding that that experiential, personal doorway of Jesus to get to the throne room of God is for everybody, and it doesn't segregate, and the encounter that we seek through everything else in this life, that doorway presents and starts at the beginning start and salvation in all the ways that we put this into our own human language.

01:57:38

For me, it was the ability for the Holy Spirit to take residence inside of my life, even though I'm baffled by the fact that it would want to.

01:57:49

And then everything else that I am gets in its right place, and every time I get off track, it reminds me and gently loves me through grace into who

01:57:59

I am. I do believe that my image is hidden in the maker, and he reveals a little bit more of it every day, and I have not arrived.

01:58:08

I don't have all the answers, apologetically or otherwise, but I do know that I've experienced the truth, and that's unarguable, and I love those that haven't, and I would encourage everyone to be honest about where they really are.

01:58:24

The young people that have come through my life, there's a lot that have felt the need to pretend that they've had the encounter because they're inside of a particular environment where they're expected to have already had that experience, and they raise their hands in church, and they read their

01:58:39

Bible, but they haven't had it. And I think being honest with the Lord about that and honest with other people allows for that encounter to happen.

01:58:46

And when the Holy Spirit does show up and give you the, hey, take it or leave it, then the ball's in your court.

01:58:53

But I do know that He loves us. He's summoning us. He's pursuing us. I know in my case,

01:58:59

He haunted and romanced me at the same time, and He deeply loves every person, every person, regardless of the ism that they're connected to, whether they're

01:59:08

Reformed or not Reformed. No matter what their belief system is, He's pursuing us. And I encourage everyone to surrender to that in a personal way, and I hope that they have a similar awakening and rebirth that I know

01:59:25

I experienced. And I love everybody regardless. And the music is for everybody. This album is for everyone. If you're not a believer,

01:59:33

I'm not offended by that. You can listen to this album, and I hope you enjoy just the music. Well, praise

01:59:39

God, brother. We are out of time, and I know that your website, again, is jasontruby .com,

01:59:45

jasontruby .com. I hope to have you come back soon, and I want everybody to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater

01:59:53

Savior than you are a sinner. I hope you have a safe and Christ -centered weekend. God bless.