Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums
59,805
as of June 3, 2023

<< Back to the fan club


Search Past News:

Sort by Relevance Date

Yesterday's News:

05.29.23This Week's News Bulletin
05.29.23New Single: '77 x 2
05.29.23Get Multiple Downloads for One Donation
05.29.23USB Thumb Drives Include Latest CD and Singles
05.29.23How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
05.29.23Get Over 1570 Tracks for $100
05.26.2370-Year-Old ApX Fan Shares Supernatural Testimony
05.26.23New CD BOGO Ends Soon: Buy 1, Get 1 of 37 Free
05.26.23Next Article
05.26.23Influential Albums 1108-1114
05.26.23This Week's Bible-Reading
05.25.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
05.22.23This Week's News Bulletin
05.19.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
05.19.23Influential Albums 1101-1107
05.19.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
05.15.23This Week's News Bulletin
05.15.23New Single: '70 & '74
05.12.23Kudos from Canada for New CD
05.11.23How to Donate Online or by Mail
05.11.23Clues for 2023 Single #10
05.11.23What's On Our New CD, Eclectic?
05.11.23Influential Albums 1094-1100
05.11.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
05.07.23This Week's News Bulletin
05.04.23The Story Behind Our Upcoming CD
05.04.23Next CD Available for Order This Sunday Night
05.04.23Influential Albums 1087-93
05.04.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
05.03.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
05.01.23This Week's News Bulletin
05.01.23New Single: '72 & '75
04.28.23Influential Albums 1080-86
04.28.23Clues for 2023 Single #9
04.28.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
04.24.23Fan Will Match All Donations Up to $7700
04.23.23New CD Coming Soon
04.23.2330th Anniversary Challenge Coins Back in Stock
04.21.23ApX Fan Overcoming Alcoholism Through Christ
04.21.23Influential Albums 1073-79
04.21.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
04.20.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
04.16.23New Single: 2 Top 10s from '78
04.15.23Fan Will Match $40 Donations from Fans
04.14.23Clues for 2023 Single #8
04.14.23Influential Albums 1066-72
04.14.23YouTuber Allocates All of April to ApX Albums
04.11.23Meet Two ApologetiX Fans Who Are Authors
04.08.23New Video Playlist for You: ApologetiX Interviews
04.08.23Influential Albums 1059-65
04.08.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
04.07.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
04.05.23ApX Easter Week Playlist
04.04.23This Week's News Bulletin
04.04.23New Single: '86 & '92
03.31.23Clues for 2023 Single #7
03.31.23New Full-Length Concert Video: ApX Live in NY 2005
03.31.23Influential Albums 1052-58
03.31.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
03.24.23New Video Playlist for You: ApologetiX Covers by Fans
03.24.23Influential Albums 1045-1051
03.24.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
03.24.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
03.20.23New Single: '76 & '85
03.20.23This Week's News Bulletin
03.18.23ApX on Hour-Long Live Webcast Next Tuesday
03.18.23ApologetiX Radio Show Celebrates Five Years
03.17.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
03.17.23New ApX Apparel Designs + Mugs, Stickers & More
03.17.23Influential Albums: 1038-1044
03.15.23Clues for 2023 Single #6
03.11.23ApX Alum Drummer Becomes a First-Time Grandpa
03.10.23A Letter from J. About the Letter J
03.10.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
03.10.23Influential Albums: 1031-1037
03.09.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
03.06.23This Week's News Bulletin
03.06.23New Single: '68 & '70
03.04.23New ApX Songbook (1992-2022) is Here
03.04.23Influential Albums: 1024-1030
03.03.23Fan Follows Up on Last Week's Big Music Article
03.03.23Nice Notes from Bible-Readers
03.03.23Over 400 ApX Live Videos Together in One Place
03.03.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
02.25.23Music: The Sacred, the Secular, and the Subjective
02.24.23ApologetiX in Places You Wouldn't Expect
02.23.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
02.23.23Influential Albums: 1017-1023
02.21.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.20.23This Week's News Bulletin
02.20.23New Single:'65 & '88
02.17.23Serious Prayer Request from Wichita KS
02.17.23Influential Albums: 1010-1016
02.16.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
02.11.23How Did J. Meet His Wife?
02.11.23Fan Follows Up on "Ask God" With His Own Story
02.11.23The Numbers Behind the Songs on This Single
02.11.23Influential Albums: 1003-1009
02.10.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.10.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week

The Stories Behind the Songs on Our New Single
Thu., Oct. 22. 2020 1:42pm EDT

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here's some more behind-the-scenes info about the two songs on our new single:

LONESOME LEPER

The lead song on our new single is about a man with leprosy who was healed by Christ. We've done three previous songs about lepers — "The Boulevard of Both Extremes" (2006), "Bad Case of Leprosy" (2014), and "Mr. Uzziah" (2020) — but none are about the same person.

"Boulevard" was about one of 10 lepers Jesus healed all at once (and the only one who returned to give Him thanks) in Luke 17. "Bad Case of Leprosy" was about Naaman, a Syrian commander with leprosy whom Elijah healed in 2 Kings 5. Mr. Uzziah was about a Jewish king named Uzziah (a.k.a. Azariah) who was stricken with leprosy in 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26.

"Lonesome Leper" is about a solitary leper Jesus healed in in Matthew 8, Mark 1, and Luke 5. I find Mark's account of the events to be especially touching: "Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing; be cleansed'" (Mark 1:41).

Something else Jesus said in Matthew 11:5 and Luke 7:22 seems to suggest He may have healed other lepers we didn't specifically hear about. And He also gave his disciples the command and the power to heal leprosy (Matthew 10:8).

Back in the day, I owned the Little River Band album "Lonesome Loser" came from, First Under the Wire. This track features me on lead vocals and Rich Mannion and Tom Milnes on harmonies. Usually, we record our parts separately, but Tom suggested that we all sing around the mic together simultaneously on the choruses. So that's what we did in the studio on October 15. Tom also played guitars on this song, and Rich played the keyboards.


IF YOU DON'T LOOK AT NUMBERS

The title of the Bible's fourth book is a bit misleading. Actually, the Book of Numbers is about Israel's desert or wilderness years before they finally entered the Promised Land. The original Hebrew title was a word that meant "in the wilderness."

Unfortunately, when the Bible was translated into Greek (the Septuagint or LXX version) in the second and third centuries B.C., all of the books were given Greek names, and this book was called "Arithmoi" ("Numbers"), because it begins with the LORD telling Moses to take a census of Israel in chapter 1. He also tells Moses and Eleazar to take another census almost 40 years later, in chapter 26.

But there are so many interesting and action-packed stories elsewhere in the book! If you don't check it out, you'll really miss out. In fact, there was so much ground to cover, I didn't have enough room to do it in the original verses and choruses, which is why I added a rap section during the lead. I hope people will think it's a good rap, because the Book of Numbers has gotten a bad rap for far too long.

I got the idea for "If You Don't Look at Numbers" while sitting in church — I think it was either 2016 or sometime in 2017. This parody is also an allegory: By the time you make it through the second half of Exodus and all of Leviticus and into Numbers, you may feel like you're in the desert. But if you press on like Joshua, Caleb, and the second generation of Israelites did, you will get a great reward.