Don’t Bash the Man They Called CASH – Part 3

The last two days I have spent sometime talking about Johnny Cash, Gospel-Centered living and what we can learn from both of them. You can read both of them, Part-1 and Part-2 by clicking on the links.

The posts have several intentions in them:

1. That you can take the good of a person and leave the bad after Jesus Christ has clothed them in righteousness.

2. That we can learn how to practice Gospel-Centered living from dealing with those that have had hardships in their lives.

3. That Johnny Cash was a believer!

4. That we can see God’s great saving Grace saves many different people, from different backgrounds, dealing with different sins, and saving them out of different circumstances.

5. That I personally take Johnny Cash life story to heart (as you can see) because not in everyway, but many similar struggles and examples in which the Gospel saved him, it saved me.

Johnny Cash lived a crazy life style until the Lord found him that dark night in the cave. Cash was only known for his rebel, fast speed life that was young, wild and free-caring in spirit. With a new kind of country/rock sound he got on tour with Elvis and Jerry Lewis and partied, sang, partied, sang, drugs, women, partied and sung some more. He was different, something knew and along with the fame came the culture of the world at his time and drug him in with it.

Cash’s earlier life struggled much with the temptations that this world has to offer a person. Living a Gospel-Centered life in today’s world is no easier, so it is important to feed the life of a believer with passages like James 1:12-18, it reads;

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully-grown brings forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from he Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.

And then focusing on the one who gave Johnny Cash victory over sin and us over sin, Jesus Christ example in Hebrews 4:14-16.

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

One song I remember hearing about three years ago by Johnny Cash was a song titled, God’s Gonna Cut You Down.

The title seems harsh enough, and then even more after hearing the lyrics, Mr. Cash’s view on the sinner that continues in his path seemed black and white to him. Cash’s view of God was no joke, and in Cash’s later years he saw the seriousness of the Lord and that God did not and will not allow sinners to continually walk along this earth in doing what they want. Sooner or later every believer and man will face God and if you had lived for yourself, fulfilling fleshly wants and desires you can run for only so long before God cuts them off. As Johnny Cash says, “But as sure as God made black and white, What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light.”

And so should be the message that Gospel-Centered people bring to this world and the cultures in it. When preaching, teaching and telling to the unsaved people about the Gospel we cannot simply give a message that says, “pray this prayer with me” and then allow them to continue to live however they want and do whatever they feel. We preach Christ crucified, meaning we tell that Jesus died, but also why he died! Because of sin, sinners need not only to come by faith (Eph. 2:8-9) but in repentance (Is. 6) for their sin before God cuts them off from this world.

God’s Gonna Cut You Down

You can run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.

Go tell that long tongue liar, Go and tell that midnight rider, Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down.

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news, My head’s been wet with the midnight dew, I’ve been down on bended knee talkin’ to the man from Galilee, He spoke to me in the voice so sweet, I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel’s feet, He called my name and my heart stood still, When he said, “John go do My will!”

Go tell that long tongue liar, Go and tell that midnight rider, Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut ’em down.

You can run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.

Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand, Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man, But as sure as God made black and white, What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light

You can run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Run on for a long time, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down, Sooner or later God’ll cut you down.

Go tell that long tongue liar, Go and tell that midnight rider, Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down, Tell ’em that God’s gonna cut you down.

The video is even more harsh if you actually understand it. 

What can we take from this?

1. That no matter what level of sin one is in, the Gospel is always the remedy to sins sickness.

2. That we are to preach a full Gospel. Believing on Jesus Christ as Lord, AND repentance for our sins that we have done in which have offended a Holy God.

3. If you are a believer of the Gospel, praise him now that you will never be cut off from Him and His promises.

4. That Jesus Christ is our example in defeating sin, as the writer of Hebrews says so clearly, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

5. Pray that God continues to keep us from sin, and to help us when in temptation throughout the day in living for Him and not for ourselves.

Don’t Bash on the Man They called CASH – Part 2

Yesterday I wrote the first of a four part series that I am doing this week. It was the beginning of my views on many things in Conservative Evangelicalism that have often gotten under my skin in Gospel-Centered living that traditionalist and legalistic thinking easily corrupts. However the post and the post to come are to be more directed to the man Johnny Cash. Yesterday I started by saying “I frankly get sick-n-tired of hearing Christians bash the man they called, Johnny Cash!” And what I meant by that was at times, Christians can hear one thing about a fellow brother, or his past life in and of sin and easily condemn the individual and go as far as in having nothing to do with him.

One of the problems that happen in conservative evangelical circles is that his temptations, trails and struggles in life are not talked about much. Which make stories of temptation hard to find for the layman to relate to his pastor or preacher. The real man in the pew has hardship in his work environment, struggles in his family, abuse of drugs, lust, and can easily feel alone in his battle for holiness to live like Christ. If the conservative pastor, professor, elder, or deacon struggles with an area in his life, or goes through hardship, it is often not talked about or pushed down deep so that he never has to deal with it again. What happens then is our pastors, elders or professors then are never looked at as a real man, but someone who doesn’t struggle with anything and doesn’t realize the issues that the layman goes through in life.

Now I do believe that the pastor and elder, etc. are to be blameless and high above the layman in his calling as a pastor. But what happens all so often is that because of this pushing down of hardship and temptations, is he is lifted so high, that it becomes hard for the layman to relate with his elder, pastor or professor. Sometimes even, he is then lifted and seen so highly above all the rest, that he has no family problems, no struggles in real life, and no trails that we laymen can relate to. The layman easily then doesn’t think that the pastor can relate to him nor does the layman feel that he has a pastor that know what he is talking about. The pastor at times doesn’t talk about reality, real life situations in his own life and can often draw himself out and even away from those he is pastoring over.

The reason I direct these post to Johnny Cash is for these very reasons. Johnny Cash was a man that grew up listening to gospel songs on the radio, going to church every Sunday, having a family that read the Scriptures and even had brother named Jack who had wanted to be a pastor. Mr. Cash found it hard to relate to them because temptations, struggles and hard times were never talked about, but pushed down into the barrel so that no one could find them. Because of Cash’s struggles when young he left home early. His view of this is best shown in a later song he wrote in 1996, I Never Picked Cotton. It reads:

“I never picked cotton But my mother did And my brother did And my sister did And my daddy died young Workin’ in the coal mine.

When I was just a baby Too little for a cotton sack I played in the dirt While the others worked ‘Til they couldn’t straighten up their backs I made myself a promise When I was big enough to run That I’d never stay a single day In that Oklahoma sun.

Folks said I grew up early And that the farm couldn’t hold me then so I stole ten bucks and a pickup truck And I never went back again Then it was fast cars and whiskey Long haired girls and fun I had everything that money could bring And I took it all with a gun.

It was Saturday night in Memphis When a redneck grabbed my shirt When he said go back to your cotton sack I left him dying in the dirt They’ll take me in the morning To the gallos just outside And in the time I got There ain’t a hell of a lot That I can look back on with pride”

Cash wanted nothing to do with his early life, no one understood him, no one wanted the things he did in life, so he left town and never looked back doing whatever he could to continue to make it in the big light. Even though this is the Johnny Cash we so often think about or have heard of, during the same time in 1996, Cash wrote a number of songs about his conversation and the change in which took place in his heart, the Gospel. Something in Cash’s life changed when exactly that was some guess that it was his “Cave” experience, when he crawled into a cave and tried to take his own life, being alone completely in the dark realizing that there in that cave he was the furthest from God that he had ever been in his life. There in the cave in all loneliness Cash said, “I felt something very powerful start to happen to me.” There in that cave he came to the knowledge that God was in control of his life and when he came out of that cave he knew that then he was going to get off drugs and come back to God which he had known when he was a little boy. From that day the Gospel forever changed Johnny Cash’s life.

Some of his greatest words in how the Gospel changed his life are in his later writings and songs in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. Songs like:

Redemption (1994)

From the hands it came down, From the side it came down, From the feet it came down, And ran to the ground, Between heaven and hell, A teardrop fell In the deep crimson dew The tree of life grew 

And the blood gave life, To the branches of the tree, And the blood was the price, That set the captives free, And the numbers that came, Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree, And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light, That started the fight ‘Round the tree grew a vine, On whose fruit I could dine, My old friend Lucifer came, Fought to keep me in chains, But I saw through the tricks, Of six-sixty-six

And the blood gave life, To the branches of the tree, And the blood was the price, That set the captives free, And the numbers that came, Through the fire and the flood Clung to the tree, And were redeemed by the blood

From his hands it came down, From his side it came down, from his feet it came down, And ran to the ground, And a small inner voice Said “You do have a choice.” The vine engrafted me, And I clung to the tree

Unchained (1996)

Oh I am weak. Oh I know I am vain. Take this weight from me, Let my spirit be unchained. Old man swearin’ at the sidewalk, I’m overcome. Seems that we’ve both forgotten, forgotten to go home. Oh have I seen an angel, or have I seen a ghost? Where’s that Rock of Ages when I need it most?

Meet Me in Heaven (1996)

We saw houses falling from the sky Where the mountains lean down to the sand We saw blackbirds circling ’round an old castle keep And I stood on the cliff and held your hand

We walked troubles brooding wind swept hills And we loved and we laughed the pain away At the end of the journey, when our last song is sung Will you meet me in Heaven someday

Can’t be sure of how’s it’s going to be When we walk into the light across the bar But I’ll know you and you’ll know me Out there beyond the stars

We’ve seen the secret things revealed by God And we heard what the angels had to say Should you go first, or if you follow me Will you meet me in Heaven someday

Living in a mansion on the streets of gold At the corner of Grace and Rapture Way In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll Will you meet me in Heaven someday

In sweet ecstasy while the ages roll Will you meet in Heaven someday

My personal favorite, Spiritual (1996)

Jesus I don’t wanna die alone Jesus oh Jesus I don’t wanna die alone, My love wasn’t true Now all I have is you, Jesus oh Jesus I don’t wanna die alone, Jesus If you hear my last breath, Don’t leave me here Left to die a lonely death I know I have sinned but Lord I’m suffering.

Jesus Oh Jesus If you hear my last breath, Jesus I don’t wanna die alone Jesus oh Jesus I don’t wanna die alone, My love wasn’t true Now all I have is you, Jesus Oh Jesus I don’t wanna die alone, Jesus Jesus All my troubles All My pain Will leave me Once again.

All my troubles All my pain Will leave me once again, All my troubles All my pain Will leave me once again Once again.

The song that shows Cash’s view of his pasted wasted life. Why Me Lord? (1994)

Why me Lord, what have I ever done To deserve even one, of the pleasures I’ve known. Tell me Lord, what did I ever do, That was worth love FROM you, Or the kindness you’ve shown.

Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it so, Help me Jesus, I know what I am. Now that I know, that I’ve need you so, Help me Jesus, my soul’s in your hand.

Try me Lord, if you think there’s a way, That I can repay, all I’ve taken from you. Maybe Lord, I can show someone else, What I’ve been through myself, on my way back to you.

Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it so, Help me Jesus I know what I am. Now that I know that I’ve need you so, Help me Jesus, my soul’s in your hand.

Back to what the post was at the beginning. Pastors, elders, and professors of the Gospel-ministry that God has aloud you to so kindly work for, remember the following.

1. God saved you like he saved Johnny Cash. No matter how much more sin someone else may have committed, nor how much longer one continually lived in sin, once saved by faith and grace alone, he is no different in the eyes of the Lord then you.

2. No sinner is ever to far from God’s great grace.

3. Be sure that we never place ourselves to high above the rest, that we cannot relate with the average man in the pew of our churches.

4. No matter how many degrees, titles to our name and prestige that can come along with our work, we should never allow ourselves to look better then the one in need of the Gospel, and two, not allow out heads to puff up and place ourselves high above the rest in the pew of Christ’ church.

5. Try to relate to those in your church, classroom or work. No, I don’t mean to sin on purpose, but I mean hang out with your people, get to know them on a personal level. Pastors and professors if you don’t know your flock and students outside your church and seminary, how well you ever be an effective tool for the gospel-ministry?

I mean yes, you can teach and preach until your blue in the face, but until you put time, effort, tenderness, love and caring practice of what you so boldly speaking of, it may never sink-in the heart of the layman.

6. Laymen need to see real people, real hearts and real life situations. If all they see is a preacher and professor, they’ll never know correct Gospel-Centered living. Did not Christ teach AND WALK with his disciples?

You can Read Part-1 HERE.

Don’t Bash on the Man They called CASH – Part 1

I frankly get sick-n-tired of hearing Christians bash the man they called, Johnny Cash!

I was recently talking to a guy that felt the need to confront me on listening to Johnny Cash, and began the conversation asking me, “was he a Christian?” I guess his purpose was something like this:

All unsaved people are against God in what they do.
All saved people should be for God in what they do.
All saved people should be against all unsaved people in what they do and produce.

Which is known as the antithesis view on culture and unregenerate people. While I theologically tend to agree with the antithesis view that men unsaved are against God (total depravity), one must be carful in how this is played out in everyday living in culture and in practice. Many that are against him, do not know they are against God. So if the believer bashes this in their face, does their Gospel-Centered view help or hurt the unsaved person? His argument went something like this:

Johnny Cash is unsaved (so he thinks)
Johnny Cash then is against God
So saved people should be against Johnny Cash

He then later felt the need to email me a document that stated a number of thoughts for believers against secular music (which was very thoughtful of him and thought provoking as well). It stated a number of thoughts but the two statements below are what really got me fired up.

“All unregenerate persons hate God and thus all unregenerate musical artists hate God.”

Further in the document it stated,

“A person who enjoys secular music has no right to any assurance of being regenerate or of a good hope for eternity.”

*** By secular music he meant– “By “secular music” I mean to refer to that contemporary music which radio stations make available to the general public and that does not claim to be Christian nor is it written by artists who make a credible profession of Christianity; e.g. rock, pop, rap, alternative, country, oldies, etc.”

To which then I felt then the need to write this blog post. Now I am NOT going to deal with the above statements at all. Nor do I want to, if you agree with them, fine with me and if you don’t, good for you.

But what I am going to deal with is the fact that conservative evangelicals, the traditionalist, and those that tend to be legalistic can often times be so consuming that the secular culture does not come to the Gospel because of the Christians’ stupidity that lies in how they are treated. Now I know that many of you automatically may think, “Dewalt you are making generalizations in your groupings above.” To which I may, but there are the number of Christians that may believe theologically in Gospel-Centeredness, but they do not practice it when it comes to dealing with those that are lost. Nor do they practice it to those that were lost and have came to the Gospel later in life and have a reckless history of sin which had stained their name for their rest of their own lives. Men like myself, and men like Johnny Cash. 

It seems to me that there are a good many of conservative evangelicals that enjoy separating themselves from he world (which is a good thing), but even more enjoy finding their piety from whom they separate from (which is a bad thing).

Examples of this:

1. I don’t watch TV or I don’t own a TV so because of that, I am separate from the world and that makes me more spiritual or holy then those that do.

2. I separate myself from listening to secular music or men like Johnny Cash because it makes me more “holy” then those that do.

3. I don’t wear jeans to church, so therefore I respect the Lord more then those that do.

4. I do not dance, the world does, so therefore I am more holy then those that do.

5. I do not drink any alcoholic beverage, so therefore I am more holy then those that do. 

6. I do not play video games because they are a waste of time, so therefore I spend my time more wisely, I have better standing with God.

Now the believer that separates him self from watching NBA, News, or listening to country music, not drinking a beer, or not playing a video game may not say with his lips, “I’m doing this for more piety” but in practice can easily do so. This is important to everyday living as a believer to not think in our minds that we are better then Sam, or Sue, or Pam because I do not partake in watching the evening news on a TV.

If one has personal conviction about having a TV, then that is fine, do not have one. But when one finds his righteousness in not having a TV, we have a problem. Then when one binds that belief onto another believer that he or she should not have a TV, we have a larger problem, called legalism. See it is easy to be Gospel-Centered in believing that our righteousness is in Christ, but it can be hard when living that truth out and reminding ourselves about Gospel-Centered living that out.

Conservative Reformed Evangelicals when hearing about the man called, “CASH” easily hear of all the hell-rising, drug-abusing, alcoholic days, running around on his wife stories that the secular culture places to the front of Johnny Cash’s life. And from reading much about the man, there are a number of events and areas that I’m sure Johnny Cash regretted in his life.

Two Thoughts:
1. If you are a believer and reading this, it was by God’s great grace that you did not fall into the world like that of Johnny Cash and fall deep into the sins of this world.

2. If you are a believer and reading this, your before state of salvation was no different of that in which Johnny Cash’s was either.

I’m going to add to this to this post a video that Resurgence Ministries has done on the Rebel, Johnny Cash. For the rest of this week, I’ll continue my thoughts on Johnny Cash and add some of the material that he produced in his later life.