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Did He Really Say That? Critical Theomusicology in Hip Hop

Did He Really Say That? Critical Theomusicology in Hip Hop

Last updated on: October 26, 2026 at 4:33 am by Alan Lechusza Aquallo

Did He Really Say That? Critical Theomusicology in Hip Hop 2026-10-26T04:33:28-07:00 Alan Lechusza Aquallo

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“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Romans 8: 1-6 NKJV).

Words. The organization of letters generates peace and war. The meaning and intentionality behind the words can be overlooked, missing the point and intent.

Words. The foundations of a point of view, a perspective, a theme, motive, and identity. When coupled with the expressive agents of music and Scripture, words form an identity, a living corpus. Still, within this active embodiment, words have a way of splicing doctrine and ideology for particular purposes. The applied expressive philosophical apologetic of theomusicology engages words at their core dynamic. Embracing the intersectionality of culture, socio-religious norms, and biblical knowledge/truth, theomusicology formalizes a vernacular, an expressive narrativity to help define how theology is recognized, shared, and founded as an apologetic, an industry market commodity, or a vehicle of community activism.

Photo | Jesus Preachers Womens March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Photo | Jesus Preachers Women’s March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Narrativity in Theomusicology

Contemporary theomusicology maintains three narrative styles used by different artists for various purposes, reasons, and rationales. The three theomusicological Narrative styles are Pious, Simulation, and Collective. These narrative styles have been written extensively elsewhere.

The formation of each theomusicological narrative style culminates in the Pious narrative style, a point of view centered heavily on an orthodox, legalistic understanding and expression of Christian music. The Simulation narrative style takes active control of pop cultural signifiers, transposes these through a Christian reference, and returns these to a Christian audience as an authentic musical expression.

Both the Pious and the Simulation narrative styles build upon the understanding of authenticity, authority, and ownership of Christian musical expression; each believes they are the pinnacle of how and what Christian music should represent. Though these two narrative styles may embody the core elements of theomusicology (personal testimony, evangelism, discipleship, biblical-scripture text, community, and activism), it is the representation each projects of how and what is Christian music to either a closed faith-based audience or the larger non-faith-based global audience that becomes the issue.

The third theomusicological narrative style is the Collective narrative style. This theomusicological narrative style begins at the center of a context, the community, the environment in which the musical expression is originally presented. The Collective narrative style embraces the surrounding context and explores how biblical knowledge/truth can be shared and expressed to a particular community, within a particular community, and for a particular community. The core elements of theomusicology are managed as expressions of biblical knowledge/truth that speak through the inclusion of a community’s identity.

Of all the theomusicological narrative styles, the Collective narrative style is the most far-reaching, open-ended, and dynamic narrative style, whereas the Pious and Simulation narrative styles are closed systems of exchange and expression.

These theomusicological narrative styles do not operate as a continuum from one to another, though a Christian artist can move from one narrative style to another throughout the arc of their career. The three theomusicological narrative styles work independently for an artist based on their internal relationship to biblical knowledge/truth and their external relationship to social and socio-religious norms and the market industrial complex. From these three theomusicological narrative styles, audiences, albeit non-faith-based or faith-based, relate to and understand a Christian artist’s work, objectives, and theology.

Living Internally, Externally, or Laterally

How these three theomusicological narrative styles articulate a compound theological viewpoint internally (read: personal), externally (read: social, local, and global), and laterally (read: devotional discipline to God) demonstrates how their works will be ascertained. If a work is limited to an internal viewpoint, the lateral will reflect this autonomy (i.e., a Pious narrative style). If a viewpoint is focused on the external, the lateral relationship will be minimized due to the overarching self-referential agenda (i.e., Simulation narrative style). Looking first laterally to examine how the internal and external relate to a larger viewpoint, the work will continue to seek growth, recognizing the lateral is perpetually out of reach (i.e., Collective narrative style).

This analysis may not be first and foremost in the minds of one hearing a work by a Christian artist, yet these mechanics are engaged either visibly or invisibly. Their presence is present and speaks to, from, and about culture, socio-religious norms, and applied theology.

Using Christian Hip Hop as an example, two unsuspecting artists provide a case study on the application of theomusicological narrative styles and how Scripture can be visibly invested or unsuspectingly fortified.

No Mercy, but God Blessed Me

The tracks “No Mercy” by Monster Tarver and “God Blessed Me” by the Grouch and Eligh take different paths toward framing a contemporary theomusicology. Both works are recent in their publication; “No Mercy” was released on September 6, 2026, and “God Blessed Me” was released on October 14, 2026. Both execute the core elements of theomusicology (personal testimony, evangelism, discipleship, biblical/scripture text, community, and activism) in creative manners.

Involving personal testimony, speaking evangelically to both a non-faith-based and faith-based audience with the example of discipleship evidence in spiritual devotion and discipline, the inclusion of biblical/scripture is not readily apparent, but referenced in the thread of the lyrics, which are viewed in a local community environment, activating these core elements expressively. Monster Tarver, along with the Grouch and Eligh, follow this process as each views it applicable to their style, intent, and objective.

Given that each artist promotes their work under the lens of a lateral viewpoint, externally magnified, and contextualizes the internal as a broadcast agent, these works are both situated in a Collective narrative style.

Working With No Mercy

Monster Tarver, “No Mercy,” September 2026.

Monster Tarver’s “No Mercy” strives to be a “new” Christian Hip Hop. Though a stretch in understanding, the central lyrics argue for the relevance of the work, challenge assumptions of commercialized Christian Hip Hop, while underscoring an apologetic.

“I know the odds are against me/ when you think of my music it’s not convincing/ I’m commercial enough you can private with me but you cannont deny that my God is with me/ say I’m too old and then I’m too lyrical/ I guess they avoiding the part of spiritual/ these new Christian rappers are just copycats of the ones who are making the slop that’s killing you/ I’m not the Christian version of your favorite rapper/ understand when I drop it’s unique/ I was on wrestle mania, the main event/ and now I’m giving the Gospel on beats/ I had to watch when everything I had was stripped away/ until I got back on my feet/ I had to rap my way up out of being homeless till I’m back/ now I show up my teeth because cause I’m the Monster” (1:23, emphasis added).

The fascinating part of this middle text is the weaving of each core element of theomusicology in a single verse. Monster Tarver uses the hook phrases “it’s personal” and “gonna get this work today” as foundational to articulating his faith-based devotion and discipline. Monster Tarver positions the theme of the track, “No Mercy,” as the metaphorical objective of seeking biblical knowledge/truth by way of giving no mercy to the self (read: fleshy desires) but in full submission and gratitude to God for his, Monster Tarver’s salvation.

The complete 3:13 track is without question a Christian Hip Hop work that may not be top on any playlist, but the exposure of applied theomusicological agents outlining a Collective narrative style is noteworthy.

Blessed In So Many Words

The Grouch and Eligh, “God Blessed Me,” October 2026.

The Grouch and Eligh recorded a track, “God Blessed Me.” The opening panel of the video displays the title of the track, “God Blessed Me.” Yet, within the first seven seconds of the track, the Grouch uses profanity to unfold his testimony. Throughout the first full minute of the work, another example of profanity comes side by side with the Grouch’s sociolinguistic testimony.

The hook of the track is, “God Blessed Me with this Verse.” Eligh introduces the hook with,

“First things, first, God Blessed Me with this Verse” (1:35).

Following is the rhapshodic testimony of Eligh. Sliding and rhyming sociolinguistic slang as double entendre for biblical knowledge, the work does not include any profanity after these two minor points. Eligh codes daily biblical study

“I wake up for another round/ I like the way it sounds now”; I sit in mental stillness/ to revive my mental feelin’/ when the lead is in the pencil script”, “I write it so to demonstrate it”

his dedication to God through the use of “He,”

“You help me see my way/ as a gracious introduction to accepting my decay” (emphasis added)

including the fragility of mankind

“human beings are delicate/ an immaculate display of grey matter”

which he pivots toward the love of God for all he, Eligh, has accomplished

“an indestructible love/ loving You is loving humingbirds/ You bless me on the daily/ in the garden between the margins”

and follows with his recognition of daily blessings as a form of renewal

“it’s the act of making something new/ I live for discovering/ it’s a combination of the three/ the past, the present, the future me/ I know I’m right exactly where I’m supposed to be/ God blessed me with this verse”

A dramatic, understated example of Gospel knowledge coded in sociolinguistic slang, Hip Hop discourse. Unless one knew the title, this work by the Grouch and Eligh would not be considered a Christian Hip Hop work. Rather, the work would be, at best, an independent Hip Hop track.

The track “God Blessed Me” etches out another level of the Collective Narrative of theomusicology. Being the most wide-ranging of the three narrative styles, the Collective Narrative circumnavigates around the accumulation of the environment to express biblical knowledge/truth. This track fits perfectly in that description with a varied methodology of communicating biblical knowledge/truth.

“God Blessed Me” focuses on personal testimony as a fulcrum for the remaining core elements of theomusicology to be expressed. Outside of the two uses of profanity, this track pushes against the sociolinguistic use of slang to communicate biblical knoweledge/truth to the larger global non-faith-based community, with a subtextual understanding that the coded biblical references, mainly articulated through personal testimony, would be recognized by a faith-based community. Those who would not see this potential would fall back on the two points of profanity to discredit the work.

This brings forth a contemporary question often not discussed in Christian Hip Hop discourse: “Can a track from a Christian artist include profanity and still be a Christian work?”

Photo | Jesus Preachers Womens March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Photo | Jesus Preachers Women’s March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Speaking of Intentionality

A prime example of a Christian Hip Hop artist who addresses this issue is Sevin and his Hog Mob Ministry. In an interview with “Somethin’ Ain’t Right” (February 17, 2025), Sevin states that his use of “questionable language” in his works is based on the target community whom he sees as his calling to reach (18:02).

It is this focused “intent” that Sevin sees the need to at times use language from the community to speak and share the Gospel to the community, without losing the “intent” of Gospel truth. Rather, it is this process that Sevin sees as a tool, not as an ongoing style, to reach his community, one which he comes from specifically.

This intentional sensitivity to the use of “questionable language” as a sociolinguistic agent to share Gospel truth unpacks the question of how profanity can be used in a Christian Hip Hop work, by a Christian artist, and still retain the modifier of being a Christian Hip Hop track.

Somethin’ Ain’t Right. Sevin Breaks His Silence: The N-Word Controversy, 7-Year Hiatus, & Battling Temptation. Season 1: episode 4, February 17, 2025. Full episode link.

A Pious and Simulation Narrative style would read the inclusion of profanity as an automatic discredit to the inclusion of a work as an expression of Christian artistry. This reading says more about the Pious and Simulation Narrative styles than it does about the work which includes the profanity.

The point is not to promote the inclusion of profanity in a Christian work; the directive is to understand why this may be an option for a Christian artist in a specific work. Can this process be included without discrediting the work in totality? A Pious and Simulation Narrative style analysis would exclude a work based on this linguistic use, regardless of the depth or intent of the artist.

A Collective Narrative style, in comparison, would question the necessity of the use of profanity and seek to understand why this was the more direct, apt, and elected choice of language. A Collective Narrative style explores the use of the work’s language, whereas Pious and Simulation Narrative styles focus on the language exclusively to discredit the work and elevate their points of view as dominating the narrative vernacular of Christian artistic expression.

A Pious Narrative style and a Simulation Narrative style are determined to authenticate Christian artistic expressions not as a collective style, but through a closed authenticating authority of Christian artistic expressions. A Pious Narrative style is fixed on a singular, biased biblical knowledge/truth point of view. A Simulation Narrative style engages pop cultural signifiers, symbols, and icons transposed through a Christian commercial market process for a self-defining closed authenticating authority, biased point of view of Christian artistic expressions. A Collective Narrative style accumulates any/all available methods, elements, and signifiers to be read through a biblical knowledge/truth perspective, dismissing any point of view for the importance of articulating Scripture and Gospel truth.

The Pious Narrative is a closed system; this narrative style is fixated on a single authoritative identity. The Pious Narrative speaks to a limited community with a legalistic authority vernacular.

The Simulation Narrative is a closed system; this narrative style is focused on the replication and transposition of pop culture signifiers through Christian symbols. The Simulation Narrative speaks to a community from the voice of a singular authority.

The Collective Narrative is an open system; this narrative style employs the dynamics of Christian and pop culture, binding together the core elements of Hip Hop and theomusicology. The Collective Narrative speaks with a community as an active participant in the community.

These definitions shed a critical theomusicological light on each narrative style, illustrating how biblical knowledge/truth is recognized, used, shared, and expressed. Returning to the question at hand, “Can profanity be used by a Christian artist in a specific work and remain recognized as a Christian work?”, these narrative styles and the core elements of theomusicology (personal testimony, discipleship, evangelism, community, and activism) aid in addressing the question without sacrificing either critical discourse or biblical discipline.

Intentional Perspective

Are the two instances of profanity in the work by the Grouch and Eligh, “God Blessed Me,” another angle to communicate a Collective Narrative to pop culture? If this is the case, then the work by Monster Tarver works in a closed system for a Christian Hip Hop audience, not as a Simulation Narrative, but as a closed Collective Narrative.

If the profanity of the Grouch and Eligh is contextualized as a sociolinguistic tool for pop culture vernacular, then the Collective Narrative is recognized as a broad, wide-ranging narrative style. Following the logic stated by Sevin regarding the “intent” of the language used, reading the track “God Blessed Me” under a critical theomusicological analysis, the two statements that come under the first minute of the track, and no further profane language is used; rather, the balance of the track explores personal testimony, devotion, and gratitude to God, articulated sociolinguistically in double entendre and slang, it is reasonable to deduce the intent of the Grouch and Eligh operating within a theomusicological Collective Narrative style.

The necessity to use minor profanity can be recognized as a connective validation for a larger non-faith-based community while speaking simultaneously to a faith-based community. What the Grouch and Eligh present is a method to address the question of why a Christian artist would elect to use profanity in a Christian work without sacrificing biblical knowledge/truth or succumbing to a Simulation Narrative style.

The ease of Christian representation in the work “No Mercy” by Monster Tarver is counterbalanced by the work “God Blessed Me” from the Grouch and Eligh, yet both reside well within the boundaries of a Collective Narrative style. It is because of their similarity and differences that the Collective Narrative style functions at a higher level than the Pious and Simulation Narrative style; a Collective Narrative style engages multiplicities of expressive voices for the purposes and intent of confirming biblical knowledge/truth.

What Happens When We Judge?

Grouch and Eligh, “God Blessed Me,” draw an interesting point: what happens when we judge a work? Without considering the context in which profanity is used, a judgment is made based on a Pious or a Simulation Narrative. A Pious Narrative makes a judgment (read: an action) from the isolated, selfish point of view, which returns the judgment as a reflection of the Pious Narrative, a closed system authenticating itself.

“As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:16 NIV).

A Simulation Narrative judges a Christian Hip Hop work that includes profanity, without understanding the necessity of the language for context, as a signifier of pop culture to reinforce its own selfish narrative. The judgment is made to subjugate the Christian Hip Hop work in question as a simulation, a mirror of pop culture, rejecting the Christian Hip Hop work as an example of Christian expressive culture, to firm its own selfish reflection of pop culture as an authentic Christian Hip Hop work.

Put simply, this is a hypocritical reading and application. The Simulation Narrative manages this point of view to establish dominance and control over a simulated Christian example of artistic expression. Along the same lines as the Pious Narrative, the Simulation Narrative, which reads a Christian Hip Hop work that includes profanity, confirms a closed narrative system for self-reification and authentication, which is hypocritical in perspective and reference.

As an example from Scripture, Matthew 23: 27- 28 recalls the time when Jesus condemns religious leaders who “appear righteous to the outside but inside are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity” (Matthew 23:27–28 NLT).

A Collective Narrative approach does not make the judgment, but rather asks the reason why profanity is used to understand the context. What a Collective Narrative does is examine the Christian Hip Hop work in question to see if the use of profanity is a staple in the work of the artist or if an example of profanity use is for context negotiation, a mechanism to open the conversation to gain cultural credit for the purposes of expressing biblical knowledge/truth.

“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth,” (Colossians 3:8 NKJV).

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers,” (Ephesians 4:29 NKJV).

Practice Intent Scripturally

Is the use of profanity for a specific cultural vernacular context, or is it a practice from the artist? If the necessity to use profanity is employed for a specific vernacular context and not a practiced standard, then the use of profanity may be understood as being apt for that particular space, place, and time.

Pastor Allen Jackson reminds us that there are no “perfect” Christians; contemporary Christians are sinners and make mistakes. This does not excuse the inclusion of profanity from a Christian musician, least of all a Christian Hip Hop artist, taking note of the severity of profanity in the majority of global Hip Hop discourse. Rather, when a Christian Hip Hop artist finds it necessary to include profanity, it should be recognized if this process was for an isolated, specific cultural context, a sociolinguistic tool to force an introduction to share biblical knowledge/truth.

This is not a contradiction, but a strategic operation for the purposes of gaining cultural contextual credibility and segueing into sharing biblical knowledge/truth nearly in the same breath. Not being a standard practice in the arc of a Christian artist’s work, the use of profanity may be the right tool, the most apt language for a particular community, and/or cultural context.

A Collective Narrative does not overlook any inclusion of profanity from a Christian artist, least of all in Hip Hop, which has a disturbing history and present tense relationship with profanity, as a default staple in the oeuvre of an artist. Rather, a Collective Narrative questions the use of profanity to understand the use of profanity, giving a critical analysis of how often profanity is used by an artist, to recognize if this is an ongoing practice or a context-specific use.

Following this progression, a Christian Hip Hop artist who may find it necessary, for whatever reason or purpose, to use profanity in a work, not as a practiced discipline, but as a socio-religious tool, opening a space to place biblical knowledge/truth at a specific time and for a specific community. A Collective Narrative is not a closed system; a Collective Narrative speaks to a broad faith-based and non-faith-based audience.

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 NKJV).

“After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9 NKJV).

This approach from a Collective Narrative gives reference to this narrative style as being the most flexible without losing an opportunity to invest biblical knowledge/truth. A Collective Narrative voice takes advantage of conversational opportunities. When no conversational opportunity appears present, a Collective Narrative, as witnessed in this example, creates an alternative space to include biblical knowledge/truth. A Collective Narrative remains a collecting narrative that does not make judgments, but seeks to answer questions contextually and with the understanding that there is a use for a particular process to share Gospel truth.

“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11 NIV).

Not self-authenticating, not hypocritical, a Collective Narrative falls back on biblical knoweldge/truth for the benefit of a community to learn and ascertain Scripture. It is the authority, the inerrancy of Scripture that remains central to the overarching reality, intent, and truth of the bible.

“The doctrine of the authority and inerrancy of Scripture is rooted in the doctrine of God; as God is true and trustworthy, so is his word recorded in the original autographs of Scripture. This means that all things that the Scriptures assert are wholly true, both in the Old Testament, the Scriptures of Jesus and the apostles, and in the New Testament, the writings of the apostles. So far as the original autographs have been faithfully copied, translated, and passed down, Scripture is inerrant in its copies. This inerrancy means that all things that the Scriptures assert function with the authority of God’s own Word for Christians” (The Gospel Coalition, n.d.).

The Collective Narrative style codifies itself on the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, expressing this through theomusicology. Absent this methodology, musical works that engage Christian images/symbols do so as a marketing counterfeit. Upholding this discipline, recognizing and sharing the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, the theomusicological Collective Narrative style maintains the fundamental discipline that Scripture validates Scripture.

The inclusion of biblical knowledge/truth, then, in this expansive narrative style is even more critical than the Pious or Simulation Narrative styles, which rely on self-reference as a closed expressive system. To cast a wide-angle lens on expressive agents, the Collective Narrative style must ensure that what is being collected and shared is founded on biblical knowledge/truth. The Pious and Simulation Narrative styles start with a biased point of view, then include Scripture but to the extent and reading where biblical knowledge/truth confirms its agenda; an extractivist approach to Scripture, which includes what is necessary for self-reference.

Scripture is a vehicle for self-referential authority in both the Pious and Simulation Narrative styles. Contrasted to these narrative styles, the Collective Narrative style objects to self-reference and relies squarely on biblical knowledge/truth. A higher qualification, but one consistent with sharing Gospel truth as the divine Word of God. Of all the narrative styles, the Collective Narrative style follows a Berean approach with artistic agency.

“They [the Bereans] are most notably mentioned in the New Testament book of Acts, where they are commended for their noble character and diligent study of the Scriptures. The Bereans serve as an exemplary model for Christians in their approach to understanding and verifying the truth of God’s Word” (Bible Hub, n.d.).

Illustrating a contemporary theomusicological discipline, the Collective Narrative style is the more Berean in approach, searching to see how the core elements of theomusicology (personal testimony, evangelism, discipleship, biblical/scripture text, community, and activism) are employed to validate, support, and express biblical knowledge/truth.

As a fundamental discipline, a Collective Narrative theomusicological approach tests, checks, and balances itself with Scripture to validate Scripture, in keeping with how the Word of God is to be shared, ascertained, and expressed.

Photo | Jesus Preachers Womens March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Photo | Jesus Preachers Women’s March, Washington D.C., January 21, 2017 | courtesy of Elvert Barnes, Wikimedia Creative Commons

Two Methods, One Intentional Directive

“As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17 NIV).

Proverbs 27:17 recalls the value of strengthening iron with the burden, violent interaction of another sharp iron to build each other better over a tenure of stressful time. An attractive palindrome that reminds us of the basic principle of becoming stronger through stress and violent clashing.

Gentle rubbing of iron against another piece of iron does not accomplish the same level of growth, strength, and ultimate power as stressed, violent, and harsh, forced interaction. A large assumption in this metaphor of Christian faith building through critical engagement with other Christians is proximity; for iron to sharpen iron, both pieces of iron need to be in the same space, place, and time. Both pieces of iron, to get stronger overall, are stressed and put under extreme pressure to ultimately gain a razor-sharp edge, not for one, but for both pieces of iron.

Proximity and context are foundational, yet they are often overlooked in the proverb and/or in a shared hermeneutic of the proverb. The pressures from the external context, the larger non-faith-based global environment, are the violent expressions, where the strength comes through the consistent interaction of both pieces of iron, enduring the stress, in support of each other, and the result of two pieces of iron (read: two individuals who act with a single focus on biblical knowledge and truth), in the same proximity, become sharper, more durable, and knowledgeable of the necessity to involve another piece of iron to become stronger, and gift the stressed time and painful engagement with the other piece of iron.

Iron sharpens iron is not limited to a time-honored hermeneutic of two individuals who stop each other to rub against their scripture knowledge, repent, forgive, and go on with a “new life.” It is the necessity of the spatial interaction, the consistent contact between both pieces of iron, that supplies the growth for both pieces of iron.

As scripture verifies scripture, so does the powerful filling of space between two pieces of iron, which demonstrates the cutting strength of iron. Biblical truth validates truth in and from the bible; one piece of iron validates the power of another piece of iron through consistent and persistent violent engagement. In both examples, strength is realized in the housed context of one actor brought forth from another actor for the betterment not of one but of both.

Biblical truth is invested in scripture, which, when engaged consistently and persistently, results in a solidified, foundational truth found in the spaces of the bible (ex: the Gospel, the teachings of Christ, etc.), and when shared, illustrates the truth in and from the bible. The transformational agent, the opportune space, radical paradigm-shattering shift are articulated by the Spirit.

It is through the power of the Spirit that the Word of Scripture, the biblical knowledge/truth, is expressed, filling the vacancy in one’s life, which then is shared with another, for the confirmation of biblical knowledge/truth, the power of the Spirit, and the reconciliation through Christ for the salvation of one to be amplified with others.

“Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;
an outsider, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2 NIV).

A Guiding Initiative

The two works presented and contrasted illustrate not only the depth and breadth of a theomusicological narrative style, but also how iron can sharpen iron; expressive agency can be amplified, even under the pressure of the larger non-faith-based social context. Led through the active engagement of the Spirit, one need not boast or perform their relationship with the Word.

It is the community which will recognize how the Spirit moves through actions, thoughts, words, and attitude, to amplify these elements for the improvement of the community as a whole.

The works by Monster Traver and the Grouch and Eligh illustrate two different approaches to expressing the core elements of theomusicology through a Collective narrative style. Examining how one sees their perspective (internal, external, lateral) follows the intentionality of the language used to express biblical knowledge/truth.

A disciplined practice founded on Scripture dictates the trajectory of the work from a Christian artist. Constant examination of the doctrine of the authority and inerrancy of Scripture refocuses a work from a Christian artist to remain committed to the larger calling of sharing Gospel truth to all tribes, nations, and people in their language.

This juncture is where iron sharpens iron, through the transformational power of the Spirit, to fill an otherwise vacant space with Gospel truth, to bless every word or verse without compromise but with God’s mercy and grace.

To read more from Alan Lechusza Aquallo’s “The Sweatpant Sessions,” please consider subscribing for free and check out others on Patheos.

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About Alan Lechusza Aquallo

Dr. Alan Lechusza is a scholar whose name has become synonymous with critical thought and cultural discourse. He is a thinker and writer who explores popular culture with a critical eye. He holds a PhD and uses his deep, resource-rich understanding to question and redefine how we see art, power, and knowledge. His research covers various topics that aim to break down and rebuild our ideas about culture, artistry, and socio-political authority. Dr. Lechusza closely examines everyday cultural expressions in ways that challenge conventional thinking. His writings make people think and view culture in new ways. Dr. Alan Lechusza wants to create conversations to inspire change and challenge our understanding of how we experience the world. You can read more about the author here.

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