Sunday, December 04, 2022
Christian Cash.
Johnny Cash's Christian faith was 'everything', says son.
Singer Johnny Cash and evangelist Billy Graham recorded the song, 'The Preacher Said, Jesus Said.'(PHOTO: BGEA)Johnny Cash is one of the most influential country artists of all time, known globally for his musical ingenuity, lyrical depth and cross-genre popularity. But it was the country icon's deep Christian faith, spiritual boldness and hard-earned understanding of God's forgiveness and grace that defined his life.
That's according to his son, John Carter-Cash, who in an interview with The Christian Post reflected on his father's complicated life and dramatic conversion, shown in-depth for the first time in the documentary "Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon." The film is set for a three-day release in theaters on Dec. 5, 6 and 7.
"His faith was what was important to him, and it's the truth," Carter-Cash told CP during a sit-down interview.
The documentary, which was authorized by the Johnny Cash Estate and narrated by Marty Stuart, features previously unreleased footage and recordings of the "Ring of Fire" singer, starting with his humble beginnings in rural Arkansas to his reign as the Father of Country Music. It's based on the book of the same name by California Pastor Greg Laurie, who is also featured in the film.
Carter-Cash acknowledged that though his father's life and career have been exhaustively covered in literature, film and media, most publicly in the award-winning film "Walk the Line," none of them have examined the singer's faith quite like "The Redemption of an American Icon."
"I think some other filmmakers may feel like it distracts from the story or, or turns people off, but my dad was never one to let that stop him from professing what he believed in," he said.
It's been part of his mission, Carter-Cash added, to highlight what was important to his father: his relationship with his wife, June Carter, his music and his personal salvation. He sees the documentary as a "continuance of this mission."
"If it hadn't been for his faith, there was a number of times that I know he would have died," Carter-Cash said, adding that it was his father's faith that carried him throughout various tragedies in his life, from the death of his 14-year-old brother to the loss, many decades later, of his "great love," June Carter Cash.
"Throughout my early years, my parents were very close. And everything was wonderful," Carter-Cash said. "Their marriage almost fell apart in the late 1970s, early 1980s — his addiction was just as bad as it ever had been. But I watched him change his life again, I watched him go through recovery. My mother also forgave my father, and they turned their relationship back around. They were incredibly close until the end of their lives."
"It was the love that endured," he added. "It wasn't happily ever after all the time, but they were together, through it all, to the end."
Numerous artists are featured in the documentary, including Sheryl Crow, Tim McGraw, Wynonna Judd, Jimmie Allen and Alice Cooper. All reflect on the impact Cash had on their own careers and how his character inspired them.
"My dad had fans in every walk of life, from a punk rock fan in the streets of Germany to little old lady in Branson, Missouri, with a Johnny Cash record collection," Carter-Cash said. "He touched people all around the world with the magic of music and the magic of the spirit. He was unique; he wasn't like anyone else."
And as the documentary shows, Cash's life was anything but ordinary.
He left home to join the Air Force and start a family, later finding success in country music. At the height of his fame and amid a devastating amphetamine addiction, the songwriter found God in Nickajack Cave in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the fall of 1967.
Following his conversion, Cash, who died in 2003, dedicated his time and resources to furthering the Gospel, touring with famed evangelist Billy Graham in the '70s and releasing gospel albums. His boldness came with a cost: ABC took issue with his references to his faith and cancelled his weekly TV show in 1971.
"He didn't care if he got cancelled; he stood up for what he believed. It was his nature," Carter-Cash said. "And, I mean, what did he have to lose? He'd already hit rock bottom. He knew he had a lot to give back."
The difficult parts of Cash's life — his struggles with substance abuse, marital indiscretions, including his divorce from his first wife, Vivian Distin, and battle with depression — are not glossed over in the documentary. He's presented as a complicated figure who battled demons throughout his life.
But it was his own struggles that gave him the ability to minister to others and truly understand grace. Cash performed in prisons across the country — even famously recording an album at Folsom State Prison — and publicly advocated for prison reform.
Cash saw himself in those prisoners, says his son. He wore black, earning him the monicker "The Man in Black," "for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because he's a victim of the times."
"Having struggled and having such addiction problems and all these different issues that he had in his life, it helped him to realize that he was the same as everyone else," Carter-Cash said. "Through his hardship and letting his hardships be known, he could help other people. He had a great understanding of forgiveness and great compassion. He spoke for those who didn't have a voice."
"Dad had a lot to give in many different ways, but it was very frustrating for him, and sometimes for those around him, when he continued to fall short. But he kept getting back up and he kept finding grace, and he kept bringing people back together again."
In one recording featured in the film, Cash says that despite the difficulties he faced in his life, he never felt anger or bitterness toward God. According to his son, he also believed in living a life free of regret, instead choosing to focus on God's faithfulness throughout his life.
"He said he never had regrets. And I think there's a difference between looking back on your life and saying, 'If I could go back, I would make this choice instead,' and looking back and saying, 'I have great regrets for what I did,'" Carter-Cash said.
"I know he would change the fact that he wasn't there for my sisters during the 1960s when he was splitting up with their mother. But, at the same time, the path that he took led him to my mother, it led him to where he was supposed to be. And I'm very grateful for that."
Carter-Cash said he hopes that through the documentary, viewers gain a better understanding of who his father was: a gentle-natured artist whose faith meant everything to him.
Carter-Cash is the first to acknowledge that his father wasn't perfect; he was a sinner saved by the grace of God — and he lived with a deep awareness of that truth. That, he said, is what gives his father's life and legacy its enduring power.
"At the end of his life when he was when he was in such pain and physical pain and infirmity, he carried on and he persisted, and then he kept up his creativity," he said.
"That itself gives me sort of a creed for the way that I hope to live. He taught me to forgive and never hold a grudge. I hope my children learn from my mistakes, and that they also can live a life better than I have. And I think my father would say the same thing. He fell short every day, we all fall short every day, but he had the personal awareness of what he could do better next time."
"Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon" hits US theatres Dec. 5.
© The Christian Post
Saturday, December 03, 2022
The Last Half Decent Democrat POTUS?
'I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it's so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.' Jimmy Carter.
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Thallus.
'Jesus didn't exist?' But Roman non-believer Thallus reported
'The Darkness' At His Crucifixion.
"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean
world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost
and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar
who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221. In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land
during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus
that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world #
there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the
rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other
districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'
2012 - How Many Migrants and Illegals Since Then?
'Migrants have forced tens of thousands of Britons out of the workplace, a landmark report warned yesterday.
An independent panel of advisers found that, between 2005 and 2010, 160,000 people had been ‘displaced’, or left jobless, by a huge influx of foreign workers.
For every four migrant workers who come to the country from outside the EU, one British job is lost, the experts said.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084667/UK-unemployment-23-fewer-Britons-jobs-100-migrants.html#ixzz1j89O7VyF
An independent panel of advisers found that, between 2005 and 2010, 160,000 people had been ‘displaced’, or left jobless, by a huge influx of foreign workers.
For every four migrant workers who come to the country from outside the EU, one British job is lost, the experts said.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084667/UK-unemployment-23-fewer-Britons-jobs-100-migrants.html#ixzz1j89O7VyF
Child Poverty Is Often Deliberately Misunderstood By Leftists.
Somebody I know rather well recently spent a month or so living in one of the worst estates in the North of England. All the children had a roof over their head; all had access to education; all were clothed; all could access healthcare; all had televisions in their homes and the majority had a large number of products which would be deemed 'luxury items'. (On his way to Wigan Pier, Orwell would have been pleasantly surprised by the conditions - if rather less by the morality.)
Were they well fed? - Yes, but not particularly healthily.Were they brought up to achieve educational success? - Not often.
Were they socially minded? - No.
The standards of parenting were appalling - swearing in front of - and even at the children was the norm. Dishonesty was also the norm - fuelled pretty much equally by lager, cigarettes and cannabis.
You might argue that 'unemployment is the driving force' behind this - and to an extent one would have to agree. But we must ask why the rampant poverty - real poverty - in which my parents, one step above starvation levels were brought up did not have even a fraction of these negative outcomes.Lack of a Christian base is far more likely to be the the root cause of the problem than the unemployment - which must be admitted - rather suits quite a proportion of these parents.
Don't you just know that for them 'more taxpayers' money poured into these estates' is the solution!
Let us always remember that as long as we use 'relative poverty' as our marker - poverty is guaranteed to exist. That is the essential nature of the word 'relative'.
Friday, December 02, 2022
Super Ann.
Ann Widdecombe
Laws against religious discrimination do not protect Christians, says ANN WIDDECOMBE
David Campanale is the candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Sutton and Cheam. In the last general election he stood against Kwasi Kwarteng and trebled the Lib Dem vote. Before that he worked for the BBC. Now he is facing de-selection because he is a practising Christian with strong pro-life beliefs.
The Trial of Jesus.
Pastor Rick Bartosic outlines several 'minor irregularities' in The Trial Of Jesus before The Sanhedrin:1. There was to be no arrest accomplished by a bribe.
2. All criminal cases had to be tried in the daytime.
3. There could be no secret trials, only public.
4. Sanhedrin trials could only take place in the Hall of Judgement in the temple compound. No decision was valid which did not take place there.
5. All evidence had to be guaranteed by two or three witnesses whose testimony had to agree in every detail or the prisoner was discharged immediately.
6. The witnesses were the accusers who had seen the crime, arranged for the arrest and presented the accusation before the judges.
7. A false witness was put to death.
8. Before a trial could begin there must be a presentation of the accusation by the witnesses (indictment) then arrest and trial.
9. At the trial the defense had to come first.
10. The judges were never to seek to condemn the accused. They were to take his side and seek every means for his acquittal.
11. The accused person never to be allowed to testify against himself.
12. A person could never be condemned on the basis of his
own words alone.
13. In cases of capital punishment, the trial and the guilty
verdict cannot occur at the same time but must be separated by 24 hours.
14. The verdict must be announced in the daytime.
15. After hearing the testimony of the witnesses, they must vote individually beginning with the youngest so they would not be influenced by the elders.
16. A unanimous decision for guilt shows innocence since it is impossible for 23 to 71 men to agree without plotting.
17. The judges were to be humane and kind.
18. The condemned person was not to be beaten or scourged beforehand.
"The law was broken so many times in the trial of Jesus that it is hard to see how a trial could have been more illegally run or the laws of Israel more thoroughly flouted." James Boice.
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A Super Saying Which Demonstrates A Depth of Understanding.
"I believe the best social program (sic) is a job." Ronald Reagan.
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What Is Our World Coming To?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Author warns about 'epidemic of self-censorship'.
The writer said some people want "to create a vengeful atmosphere that deters others from speaking"
Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said she worries society is suffering from an "epidemic of self-censorship".
In a BBC lecture on freedom of speech, the writer said young people were growing up "afraid to ask questions for fear of asking the wrong questions".
Such a climate could lead to "the death of curiosity, the death of learning and the death of creativity", the award-winning Nigerian author warned.
"No human endeavour requires freedom as much as creativity does," she added.
Adichie, known for novels including Half Of A Yellow Sun and Americanah, was speaking in the first of the four annual Reith Lectures for Radio 4, all this year on themes of freedom.
She argued that Sir Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses would "probably not" be published today - something he himself said in 2012.
Earlier this year, Sir Salman was attacked on stage at a literary event. He suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and lost sight in an eye.
The novelist was forced into hiding for nearly 10 years after his 1988 book was published
The Satanic Verses, Sir Salman's fourth novel, led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s. Some Muslims regard the book as blasphemous.
"Would Rushdie's novel be published today? Probably not," Adichie said. "Would it even be written? Possibly not."
She said literature was increasingly viewed "through ideological rather than artistic lenses".
She continued: "Nothing demonstrates this better than the recent phenomenon of 'sensitivity readers' in the world of publishing, people whose job it is to cleanse unpublished manuscripts of potentially offensive words.
"This, in my mind, negates the very idea of literature."
If any of the books that had "formed and inspired and consoled" her had been censored, "I would perhaps today be lost", she said.
The 45-year-old also expressed concern that some people don't speak up for fear of vicious criticism or becoming the latest target of cancel culture.
"We are all familiar with stories of people who have said or written something and then faced a terrible online backlash," she said.
"There is a difference between valid criticism, which should be part of free expression, and this kind of backlash, ugly personal insults, putting addresses of homes and children's schools online, trying to make people lose their jobs.
"To anyone who thinks, well, some people who have said terrible things deserve it - no. Nobody deserves it. It is unconscionable barbarism. It is a virtual vigilante action whose aim is not just to silence the person who has spoken, but to create a vengeful atmosphere that deters others from speaking."
BBC Newsnight: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks to Kirsty Wark
In 2020, Adichie's 2006 novel Half Of A Yellow Sun was voted the best book to have won the Women's Prize for Fiction in its 25-year history.
In the other Reith Lectures, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Rowan Williams will explore freedom of worship; Dr Fiona Hill, former White House adviser to the President on Russia, will talk about freedom from fear; and author and musician Darren McGarvey will discuss freedom from want.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Reith Lecture is on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on Wednesday
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