Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums
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03.25.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.25.24New CD Mailed to Fans, BOGO Ends Soon
03.22.24Fans Making Plans to Attend Our Big Show September 1
03.22.24Easter Season Playlist 2024
03.22.24How to Donate Online or by Mail
03.22.24How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
03.22.24Get Multiple Downloads for One Donation
03.22.24Influential Albums: 1409-1415
03.22.24This Week's Bible-Reading
03.22.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
03.20.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.20.24New Single: Top-Five Hits by Four-Man Bands
03.20.24Over 1650 Tracks for $100
03.18.24USBs Include New Single & Next CD
03.16.24Influential Albums: 1402-1408
03.16.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
03.12.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.09.24Influential Albums: 1395-1401
03.09.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
03.09.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
03.05.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.03.24New Single: '74 Solo Smashes
03.01.24A Serious Problem We're Trying to Address
02.29.24All About Our Next CD
02.29.24Influential Albums: 1388-1394
02.29.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.29.24Clues for 2024 Single #5
02.25.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.22.24Get Ready for Our Next CD
02.22.24Influential Albums: 1381-1387
02.22.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.22.24Wayne Is Retiring, What's Next for Him and Us?
02.22.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.19.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.19.24New Single: Billy & The Beach
02.16.24Influential Albums: 1374-1380
02.16.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.16.24Remembering ApX Friend Paul "Doc" Nigh (1956-2024)
02.16.24Clues for 2024 Single #4
02.10.24Influential Albums: 1367-1373
02.10.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.10.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.06.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.06.24New Single: '74 & '83
02.03.24ApX Lead Singer/Lyricist Shares His Testimony 36 Years Later
02.03.24Influential Albums: 1360-1366
02.03.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.03.24Latest CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
02.02.24Clues for 2024 Single #3
01.29.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.26.24Influential Albums: 1353-1359
01.26.24How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
01.26.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
01.26.24Flashback: J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2014
01.26.24J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2024
01.26.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
01.24.24Checking in With ApX Alum Drummer Fred Behanna
01.22.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.22.24New Single: '70s #1 Hits That Remade '60s Top 10 Hits
01.19.24Influential Albums: 1346-1352
01.19.24Encouraging Message from Longtime Fan in Oklahoma
01.19.24This Week's Bible-Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
01.15.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.12.24Influential Albums: 1339-1346
01.12.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
01.12.24Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
01.12.24New Testament Reading Started Wednesday
01.11.24New Worship Songs Available from ApX Alum Bill Rieger
01.08.24New Single: '81 & '83
01.08.24New CD BOGO Ends Sunday
01.08.24New USB Thumb Drives on the Way
01.05.24Clues for 2024 Single #1
01.05.24Influential Albums: 1332-1338
01.05.24Have You Heard About the Other Music City Miracle?
01.05.24This Week's Bible Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
12.29.23Influential Albums: 1325-1331
12.29.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.28.232023: A Record-Breaking Record-Making Year
12.28.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.26.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.26.23New Single: 1974 & 2008
12.23.23Influential Albums: 1318-1324
12.23.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.23.23ApologetiX Updated Christmas Playlist
12.18.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.18.23New Samson CD Mailed to Fans, New Orders Sent as They Come In
12.16.23Influential Albums: 1311-1317
12.16.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.16.23New Story
12.16.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.11.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.11.23New Single: '83 & '84
12.11.23ApX Apparel: Order by Tuesday with Express Shipping
12.07.23New ApX Apparel and More: Order Soon for Christmas
12.07.23Influential Albums: 1304-1310
12.07.23Just Reword CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
12.07.23Clues for 2023 Single #25
12.04.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.02.23Influential Albums: 1297-1303
12.02.23This Week's Bible Reading & Rock Thru the Bible

The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
Fri., Feb. 10. 2023 8:13pm EST

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

Here are the stories behind the songs on our third single of 2023:

ASK GOD

I started this parody on January 4, 2023, planning to call it "Just Go" and make it about biblical heroes who were initially reluctant to heed God's call ... like Moses, Jeremiah, and Gideon. Then it dawned on me that the most important repeating line in the original I needed to rhyme with was actually "I like the nightlife, baby," because that's the real hook.

Around the same time, for some reason, I decided to listen again to "The Real Need," a parody we put out in May 2022. I'm usually too focused on new stuff to spend much time listening to old ApX releases, but I was so delighted with how God had enabled me to share a previously unsung portion of my testimony in that song.

Meanwhile, on January 3, 2023, a fan named Zach W. had sent me a Facebook message about the things he was looking for in a wife. What he wrote had nothing to do with outward appearance — just the inner beauty of a godly woman who followed the Lord. I replied and told him God gave me a woman like that in 2000 (although my wife, Lisa, is very beautiful on the outside, too) and that I hoped he'd get what he was praying for.

Anyway, all those factors helped inspire me on January 13 to do a song about how the Lord brought Lisa and me together. That story is quite amazing, but I don't have the space to write it here. I finished the lyrics on January 17, the night before Lisa's birthday, and we released "Ask God" about a week before Valentine's Day.

If you'd like to know more about how Lisa and I met, I wrote a full-length account you can read at http://apologetix.com/news/news-details.php?news_id=4676

RIDERS FROM THE LORD

Growing up, I was fascinated by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I didn't know much about them, but I bought a poster with a scary painting of them as a gift for a neighborhood friend when I was in my upper teens. I also recall ordering a back issue of Giant-Size Fantastic Four #3 from 1974 that supposedly featured The Four Horsemen. It proved to be a bit of a disappointment.

The real ones are found in the Book of Revelation. There's not an exact parallel to them in the Old Testament ... the closest thing is in the similarly apocalyptic Book of Zechariah, where there are four chariots, each with distinctively colored horses, representing "four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world." Interestingly, they're in Zechariah 6:1-8 and the Four Horsemen are in Revelation 6:1-8.

I wrote my first version of this parody in 1996 or '97. It was about the same topic but was called "Riders Numbered Four." I was never totally happy with that title, but I loved the way the music matched the tone of the Bible passage. After we finally put "Riders" into production in January 2023, I realized the words needed some work.

By the time I was done with revisions, only eight of the 28 lines in the four verses remained from my '90s version. I was bummed that I wasn't able to put the horsemen in the exact order in which they appear in the Bible, but I did do that in one of our previous parodies, "Life in the Last Days" in 1994 and 2009.