Faith in the Real World
FULL TRANSCRIPT
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He's just a regular guy with a cool job that God loves for some reason. Welcome to The Steve Marston Show, a daily journey in learning how to live more like Jesus, conversations with those that God is working through, and dad jokes. It's the most unique show you'll hear today. Now, here's Steve. Okay, thank you. Welcome in. The Steve Marston Show is underway. It is a thrill and a delight to be with you.
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got a big program coming up for you. We are scheduled to be joined by Steve Shwetz. He is the voice and host of Through the Bible with Dr. J. Verdin McGee. You hear that on our radio stations that carry our program. Both of them carry that one. AM 630, The Word in San Antonio, and 99.5, The Word in Little Rock. And we're looking forward to catching up with Steve. He's been on the program a couple of different times.
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And we're just going to find out what's going on there with Through the Bible. They do some amazing work, and we'll just catch up with him coming up in just a little bit. We're also going to have our Sunday morning takeaways, where we look back to the sermon last Sunday, and we hear from you about what stood out. What was the sermon, and then how did it kind of affect you? It's such a neat little feature because...
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It gives you a chance to brag on Jesus, but it also encourages us as people that are listening to your little testimony and helps us see that, God's really working. God's really moving in the lives of others. No matter what the denomination, no matter what the location, God is at work. So it's a really cool little feature. We'll be getting to that as well. And since it's Monday, we're also going to be doing a brand new Bible verse.
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A little bit later on, Faith Between Your Ears, we're going to memorize a verse all this week. So we'll be getting to that soon as well. Now, one of the things about this radio show that I love is the fact that it is instant. It is in the moment. When you're listening in San Antonio or in Little Rock, or really in this day and age, you're listening anywhere through the live stream, you have to be here 3 to 4 p.m. to find out what's going on.
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If you missed it, you missed it. Well, now with the advent of podcasts, that's not the case anymore. You can go back and listen on your own time. And I know a lot of people do that on their own schedule, which means they don't necessarily listen to things in chronological order. And that's cool. They find a topic or maybe an interview with someone that they find interesting. And it could be from months ago or years ago. And they pull it up and they...
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consume the content. We all do that. And case in point was someone over the weekend went back and listened to a podcast episode that we had called Answering the Call with the Ingolds, Ryan Ingold and his wife Andrea. Ryan is a pastor. Andrea works in the foster care slash adoptive industry where she helps recruit and train up folks to
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be foster care parents and to maybe at one point become an adoptive parent. And of course, both of them have adopted kids and fostering a lot of kids on their own. And so it was a really interesting episode just to get their perspective from not only working in the industry, but also just in the real life nitty gritty of it. And well, I don't want to say the person's name because they didn't give me permission to.
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use their name, but I will say we got a comment on that episode and this is what the comment said, It is prohibited to force religion on foster kids. Foster kids have the right to practice their own religion or not to practice religion at all, and not to be forced to listen to garbage about religion from foster parents.
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Foster kids can ask and frequently do to be removed from homes with religious nutcases. I was so relieved to go to a group home and stop having what I can and can't do dictated to me by imaginary sky friends. And then again, I'm not going to name the person because they didn't give me permission to do so. But I understand.
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where that person's coming from. In fact, here's what I wrote back. I said, you're absolutely right. Every person does have the right to practice or not practice religion. And I would hope that foster kids would ask to be removed from quote unquote, religious nutcase homes that would try to force anything on them.
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And then I went on to say that I bet you don't agree with this, but I don't see exposure to Jesus, the Gospel, the Bible, and church as being forced. And then I went on to say that Jesus himself never forced himself on anyone. And the overwhelming majority of foster parents that I know, which there are a lot of them, they don't force anything either.
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I don't know this person's background and history with it. I don't know what they were exposed to and what they were forced to try to do. I hope it wasn't anything harmful, maybe sounding like from that comment, it was. But here's the thing. I know so many outsiders will see all of these Netflix specials and everything about these whacked out.
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religious people doing all kinds of crazy things and manipulating people and holding people under their thumb and making sure that they are in control and they can't have a life without permission of someone else. If you don't understand this by now, let me just reassure you that's not true Christianity. Christianity does not say that whatsoever.
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In fact, one of the classic examples in Scripture of Jesus absolutely not forcing Himself on anyone is the story of the rich young ruler. You remember that, don't you? Where this guy who was searching for the meaning of life, what can I do to inherit eternal life was his question. And Jesus said, well, you need to follow the commandments. And he listed off two or three of them. And the man said, well,
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I've been doing that since I was a kid. And then Jesus went to the quote unquote spiritual jugular vein. He really pointed out what was keeping the man from eternal life and really keeping him from following Jesus and being everything that God would want him to be. Jesus told him, take all your possessions and sell them and give them to the poor. And man walked away sad because he had a lot of possessions.
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He valued his stuff so much more than he valued his relationship with God, because it was obvious if he didn't, he would have just immediately said, okay, I'm good. Let me go sell it right now and I'll come start following you, Jesus. But instead, he walked away sad. And the point being that Jesus could have twisted his arm. He could have manipulated him. He could have pulled the God card, because
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Look, after all, Jesus is the Son of God. He is God incarnate. He could have said, look, you're to follow me. That's what you were made for. So stop all your excuses and follow me. But he didn't do it. And we see that over and over in Scripture. And again, I don't know what this person has gone through, and I don't know what maybe you as a listener have gone through in situations like this. But I can tell you,
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that Jesus doesn't want anybody forced into anything. And why is that? Because forced love isn't love at all. I mean, if you are forced to do something, you're doing it because of the bad consequences that would follow. Jesus doesn't want any of that. That's why He is so willing to let people walk away, just like that rich young ruler guy in Scripture. He just...
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simply walked away. He had it all right there. The invitation was there. Everything that he ever would need was given to him right there on a silver platter. And he said, no, thank you and turned and rocked away. And that's what we have as freedom ourselves. And I think that freedom should extend to foster kids. I don't want foster kids forced into doing anything. But like I told,
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The commenter on the video, I don't see exposing them to church, exposing them to Sunday school, exposing them to just talk of God in the everyday goings on of life is forcing them at all. Just present it. Let them make their own mind up.
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Steve Marston Show continues. Great to be with you as always. It's where faith and fun are both taken seriously. And on Mondays, we like to do Sunday morning takeaways. This is where we kind of look back in time and we get interactive with you. We go back to yesterday's sermon that you heard and what stood out to you. I really enjoy this segment because it is so encouraging for me to read.
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your Sunday morning takeaways, knowing what God is doing in your life. And again, it's so cool because this spreads over denominations, it spreads over cities and states, and it's just pretty amazing to see how God is working. And I always kick things off with my takeaway. And mine didn't come from the actual sermon itself, but from our small group that we had yesterday. I get a chance to lead.
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a group of young married couples. I guess, I mean, we really have kind of a hodgepodge. It's not necessarily everyone in our class is married, but anyway, we have a chance to discuss Scripture and most of the literature that we have is based on how do you take the Scripture and work it into everyday life, the application part. So that's great, but I also like to try to put in the context of what's going on and why
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things are happening in the Scripture itself, you know, kind of breaking it down as well. So we get both the yin and the yang of it, both parts of it. And everybody seems to kind of like what we do. So yesterday we were talking about this section in Scripture where Jesus is, you know, just like the rock star. Everybody is pressing in on Him and He can't hardly, you know, go
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anywhere without just a massive crowd pressing in against him and really just wanting to touch him to know who he is and him being a healer and all of this. And so this is the scene we have here in the book of Luke and he has just come from the Sea of Galilee, a trip that he had across the sea back to where his home base was there around Capernaum.
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And it's the famous scene where the synagogue leader comes out and says, my daughter is dying. Can you please come and heal her? And at the same time, while Jesus is talking to this guy and he's making his way towards the home and he's being thronged by everyone, the lady with the issue of blood touches the hem of his garment. She's healed and he has the interaction with her. And then he goes to the house.
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the synagogue leader even though some People from the house came and said hey look don't bother the master anymore The daughter is dead. Let's just let him go back along his Daily routine or whatever he was gonna be doing and Jesus said no, let's go to the house and Jesus used the term that she's not dead. She's just asleep and all of these people
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started mocking Jesus, knowing full well the girl had died. They just thought he was a lunatic and out of his mind and they started like whispering behind his back and saying all kinds of mean nasty things about him for thinking that, well, she's just asleep and not actually passed away.
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And the question came up in our group, what does that exactly mean? Why did Jesus use that term? Because you see it over and over when the deacon Stephen is stoned to death. He fell asleep. The Apostle Paul uses that as well, that people have gone on before, some now sleep, but others are still alive. And you see that over and over. Why does the New Testament use that?
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Well, I did some research because I didn't know. basically, it's kind of a softer way of saying that someone has died. It's no more complicated than that. I mean, I used the term just a minute ago, passed away. We like to say that because that softens someone died, someone passed away. That makes it a little bit easier to talk about, a little bit easier to handle as a recipient.
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And it's kind of in the same vein from everything I've learned about this topic. So nothing really more complicated than that, but we had a good time talking about it, and we had a good time of exploring what that could mean and what it does not mean, because obviously it doesn't mean that there's some kind of soul sleep or anything like that. I know a lot of maybe good-hearted people look at that and try to see something there that's not, but that's not at all what it teaches. just, as Jesus looks at it,
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Someone being dead is just like someone being asleep for us. I as easy it is for us to wake someone up from asleep, just, you know, I kind of touch them and they'll wake up. Jesus can do the same thing for dead people. He can just kind of touch them and they'll wake up. Unbelievable. Love it. Okay, let's get to some of your Sunday morning takeaways before we run out of time here. Let's see, let's start with Richard. Richard checked in and said,
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My big takeaway comes from a class I was in. We were discussing the biblical history of 1st 2nd Timothy and Titus, and part of the discussion stemmed from dealing with conflict and disagreement. And he said, this thought hit me. When we allow anger and hatred to develop in our dealings with non-Christians, they become templates in dealing with other Christians when their conflict is among us. That's good stuff. This is a part of the reason why he says,
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it's important for us to love our enemies. Oh yeah, I couldn't agree more. That's really powerful. Let's see, Donnie said, I heard two great messages today, but what got my attention was tonight's message. Are you bearing fruit in your life that can be seen by others? Yeah, that's a question we gotta deal with, I think, on the daily. I mean, that's part of that self-examination to make sure that we're where we need to be.
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Let's see, Dana says, don't get complacent after a victory. Don't confuse a victory and a finish line. Ooh, that's good too. When you hear the rumble strip, get back in your lane, recognize when you're veering off the direct path. Over time, a slight veering from the path can cause us to end up in a completely different location. Yeah. She says, we don't have to make the same mistakes as others. We can learn.
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from the mistakes of others without making those same mistakes. She said, that's called wisdom, which I would totally agree with. And then she quotes 2 Chronicles 15, 7, but says, but as for you be strong and do not give up for your work will be rewarded. Yeah, that's good stuff. Thank you, Dana. Really appreciate you. I think we got time for one more. Rogers checks in and says,
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The my Lord delights in me no matter my circumstances, no matter how I feel. My Lord delights in me. Psalm 23. I love that. Thank you, Roger. Thank you, everybody. More on the Steve Marsden Show in a minute.
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Hey, welcome back to Steve Marston Show continues. This Christian radio show and podcast that matters because of the content that we have. And I'm so pleased to welcome in a friend. It's been a while since he's been on the program. His name is Steve Schwetz. He's the voice that you hear on Through the Bible with Dr. Jay Vernon McGee. Steve, welcome back to the Steve Marston Show. Steve, thank you so much. I always love the opportunity to talk with you. Well, it is so much fun because we get to talk about all the great things
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through the Bible is doing. And I know in our previous conversations, we've talked about how if Dr. McGee could be around right now, he would be just amazed and blown away at the scope and the reach that TTB has in 2026. Yeah, it really is incredible. I've said this before that if you put a bunch of smart
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you know, radio media people in a room, nobody's designing through the Bible teaching through the Bible in five years with Dr. McGee's unique voice, almost 1300 programs and having the founder now being gone, coming up on gosh, 40 years of Dr. McGee being in the presence of the Lord. And the ministry is, is not just continuing to survive, but thrive with new listeners coming onto the Bible bus, more languages going out.
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more fruit coming in by evidence of the testimonies that we get from people all over the world, as well as in the US. And I mean, we're still aired on over 1600 stations in the US and Canada alone, and on many of those multiple times a day. it's really, defies what all the smart people would say you should build to build a ministry that's going to last certainly beyond the life of the founder. It certainly is a God thing.
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No doubt about it. Anyway, you kind of slice it up like just what you were saying. It's so amazing to think about. But the thing that makes it that way is because Dr. McGee taught the Word, and the Word is timeless. So whether it's in, you know, 1986, 2006, or 2026, it's still the Word of God. Absolutely. And it's unchangeable, and it has...
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uh... both eternal significance and uh... it does not change and yet has tremendous practical application for our lives today and i think that's probably one of the things that people appreciate so much about Dr. McGee's teaching is yes he explains the Bible he brings it into into uh... the context of all the historical background and all that but he applies it he applies it to our own lives today even even i was listening to Dr. McGee today in Exodus
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2023 right in that area. just to hear him explain the giving of the law and talking about its impact on us, but then also how it applies to us in our daily lives. Yeah, and the wonderful thing too about Dr. McGee that I just thought was visionary for him, because just about everybody and their brother has a pulpit ministry. And again, nothing wrong with that at all. But the fact that he was just there with his little
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cassette recorder at this, again, shows you how long ago it was, little cassette recorder and his Bible opened and a microphone and he's speaking directly to people as a one-on-one just like we're all taught to do in radio. We're not broadcasting to the masses. We're supposed to just make a connection with one people and he was fantastic at doing that. Yeah, he really was. And Steve, I want to correct you just on one point. You jumped ahead a little bit in technology saying that he was with a cassette recorder.
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He actually was on reel to reel sitting with a lapel mic around his neck because cassette recorders, I don't even know if they were, they were certainly just coming out, but that's how he recorded. The audio quality was better for us, which was a good thing. But yeah, he, he just continued. And that is, you know, the fact that almost every other preacher, if you will, that you hear on, on radio, and there are so many good ones out there that are solid are a byproduct of their preaching, their pulpit ministry.
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And Dr. McGee, it was different. He sat down at a, you know, often at his desk in his study, kicked his shoes off and lapel mic on, Bible open, and just talk to one person. And so I think that's the part of the connection that people have is they love the fact that, gosh, I feel like he's my grandpa talking to me on the porch. That's a lot of people reference. And of course we've talked, we've talked about this other times when you've joined us, you know, when people are listening.
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in other markets and other cities. I'm sure it does take them a little while to kind of get used to Dr. McGee's voice, but here in Arkansas and those listening in South Central Texas, man, that sounds just like our uncle, you know? That sounds like every third preacher in Arkansas. It's great. Steve Schwetz is our guest here on the Steve Marston show, and again, he is the voice of Through the Bible with Dr. Jay Vernon McGee. Now, I remember the last time you were here, it's been a little bit, but we talked about
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How excited you guys were about the launch of the TTB app? And I know that thing has kind of blossomed and grown a lot for you guys. Yeah, it really has. And we're really trying to use it as a resource for people. We certainly want people to listen on the radio, but listening is an option there as well. also, you know, a lot of people, Dr. McGee talked about this within the last month where he talked about when he used to speak at a lot of conferences and camps.
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And he went to a camp somewhere back East, I can't remember where, and asked the audience, how many of you have heard of or listened to through the Bible on a regular basis? And, and he was surprised. He was always surprised at this, but a majority of the people raised their hands. And then he asked the following question, how many of you have ever written a letter? And a fraction of those hands went, went up. And back in the day, that was how you contacted. There was no 800 number. There was no, um, you know, texting or social media or anything.
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And now one of the ways that we have that you can tell us your story is what we ask people to do is you can call in on our listener testimony line. It's our standard number 1-800-65-BIBLE. And instead of talking to an operator for resources, you can choose to leave a message of how through the Bible has impacted your life. And if there are maybe people that have been listening before you'll hear sometimes we're all handed off to a prerecorded testimony of a fellow listener that you probably
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We'll never meet in person until we're in glory together, giving their testimony of how through the Bible has impacted their life, what they've learned about scripture. And that's our hope is that people would engage in that way through the toll free number. And then also there's a way to do that on the app. You can just go down and in the feedback section, share your testimony. I'm, I'm, I'm a big, I'm not good with my thumbs in texting necessarily, but I can certainly hit that little microphone.
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And now both iPhone and Android have gotten pretty good at doing that voice translation into an easy to read transcript. So now you have no excuse in terms of listening and not giving your testimony. And we would encourage you to do that because it's a blessing for us to receive it and hopefully others as well. Well, it is. And it's not only just a blessing for you guys to know that, hey, things are being impacted, people are being impacted, but also to know just that encouragement.
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hey, what we're doing, we know it matters, but are we reaching people? So I would encourage you, just to piggyback on what Steve said, whether it's through the app or calling 865-Bible, to leave a message, whether it's just saying, I really appreciate you guys, or if you've got a story about how Dr. McGee teaching has really impacted your life, whatever it is, leave that message, because it will definitely keep Steve and the team there.
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making sure that they're continuing to do what they're doing so that they impact the greatest number of people. And one of the other things that besides the app that you guys have is so critical, I think, is the World Prayer Team. I just love this ministry because I have so many people talk to me on different times saying, I have a hard time praying. I have a hard time staying focused. I have a hard time...
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knowing what to pray for outside of my little list of needs and wants, right? How do I expand it? And this is such a wonderful idea because, well, I'll let you explain it, but the World Prayer Team will give you all the material you need to pray for. Absolutely. there's so much on that. I just taught a Sunday school class this morning, or yesterday, on Sunday on
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prayer and praying in the afternoon of life. How do we as believers in their fifties and sixties live in a productive way? And this was a focus on prayer. And this, this is a segue into that whole topic in that, you know, the tendency that we have when we do pray, uh, I know for a lot of us is to simply ask for God to be doing stuff for us. And that could be healing our friend's cancer, a prodigal son coming back from, you know, being in a far country, so to speak, all of those things.
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but there's a whole other area of, of adoration and, and praising God for what he's doing and making requests beyond our immediate center of focus and that which we come in contact with that we should have a missions mindset as you well. And you can do that. mean, I would say the first place you should be looking for is if your church has a missions program, take the time to read the, the update letters that are coming in and the impact that you're, you're doing on a local basis.
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But if you're running out of content or you want to expand your horizon a little bit, join the world prayer team. And you do that by going to Ttb.org and then just say, join our email list or the world prayer team. And what that does, we don't sell you information. We're not going to start hanging you with a bunch of other requests, but Monday through Friday, you will get an email that will, guarantee you, if you take the time to pray through it, will change the way you go through your inbox. And that is in that you will get every day.
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We, the world prayer team, about 20,000 of us pray around the world, figuratively speaking on our knees. So for instance, we'll focus on Africa. We'll have testimonies from different countries in Africa and actual listeners that have written in and corresponded, or we've gotten a testimony from, and you will read about that testimony and then a couple of prayer points for that particular country, or even just praying for that individual. You know, you hear heartbreaking stories or such encouraging stories and it gives you
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the opportunity to praise the Lord for what He's doing, and He is doing so much in this world, as well as to ask and put requests before the Lord that are, again, outside of your immediate circle. And that's what the Lord wants us to do, is to go out, make disciples, and spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. And you can be a part of that by being on the World Prayer Team. Yeah. And I know that that is such a... I can just hear it in your voice, how fired up you get about that and how passionate you are.
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about the World Prayer Team. It is such a wonderful and unique ministry. And the cool thing about it is, like you say, most of these stories, come from actual TTB listeners from all around the world, because you guys have taken Dr. McGee's teaching and have translated it literally into hundreds of languages, reaching people groups that people didn't even know existed a few years ago. You know? I don't even know these languages. I have a hard time saying them, but they're these small sub-languages.
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And sub being, oh, gee, only 2 million people speak this language. a ministry that, you the effort to put 1300 programs into that relatively small language, you think, why? They probably already speak either English or if it's India, they speak Hindi or Swahili if it's in Africa. And it's like, no, just think about if you've never spoke, if you only speak one language or you're in a country where they're all speaking another language, maybe you understand it, maybe you don't. And then...
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somebody speaking your mother tongue, that first language that you learned, you immediately gravitate towards it. You may not even have a desire to understand the things of scripture, but you've never heard any content in your mother tongue. And that's the success that we found is that when we do put it into these smaller languages, we're the only content that they've got, not just from a religious or Christianity standpoint, but anything. That's amazing. Hollywood's not interested in translating.
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you know, the latest action movie into this minor language. And yet we found tremendous success in doing that. Wow. I didn't, I didn't even realize that that is really amazing. And you're right. Cause again, that's one of those things where the world would look at it and say, yeah, better resources could be spent on something else. Cause 2 million people, but that's 2 million souls, you know, what kind of price tag can you put on that? know, Steve Shwetz is our guest here on the Steve Marston show. And we're talking a lot about
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the ministry he's heavily involved in. That's TTB Through the Bible with Dr. Jay Verdin McGee. Steve is the voice that you hear every day here on 99.5 The Word in Little Rock and on AM 630 The Word in San Antonio. In just a couple of minutes that we have left here together, talk about some of the, I know you and some of the other team members, Greg in particular, talk a lot about going on mission trips yourselves and being, experiencing
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the cultures that TTB is trying to reach. Where's the latest that you guys have been to, and what's one of the latest stories? Yeah, for us, gosh, I haven't done anything since January this year, but in January we went to a place where we haven't spent a lot of time, which is Western Europe. Those of you that know about Western Europe in terms of its relationship with Christianity, it's basically not doing a whole lot.
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And we, a while ago, this is probably a longer story than we had time for, but we took a look at what it was costing us to do traditional radio in Western Europe. And it was very expensive and we were getting very little response. And Dr. McGee talks about this. If we're not seeing the fruit, if we're not getting responses that match what we're spending, we're going to look for other delivery methods or other places where the Lord's money is better invested. And so we made a decision about, gosh, a decade ago to drop off of
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secular and Christian religious radio in Western Europe. And what we found is when we went to Norway, Sweden and Finland, they, even though we didn't know it, continued to air the program and continued to be getting responses. And I was particularly struck when I met with the chairman of the board of the ministry there in Sweden. And she almost with tears in her eyes said, through the Bible is the only thing that has worked and sustained us during this period.
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you know, of time and we didn't even know that. So anyway, we're re-engaging as a result of that. And one of the things that we're doing with Western Europe, you know, some countries are not really able to support the ministry. And what we found is the translation has been faithful through the Bible, but they're not doing basically like the role that I play in the ministry. They're not coming onto the program and talking about the fruit and the impact of the ministry, both in that country.
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as well as around the world. And so we're actually re-engaging with those partners and helping them learn how to put what I'm referring to as really the secret sauce of the ministry to help them to get more support from those Western listeners who have the financial means to do that, to even think about supporting the ministry in Finland and in Sweden in particular. So as a prayer point, you can be praying for...
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as I'm working with our team and engaging with those partners, that they would be able to adopt and start reading letters and testimonies and asking people to join the World Prayer Team and asking people to faithfully support the ministry, even bringing in the analogy of the Bible bus. That's something that other countries, not all of them do that. And so we're trying to look at ways that we can help them be more self-sufficient as well. That is amazing. And again, I think sometimes, at least in my little brain,
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You almost write off Europe, just think, well, they're a lost cause, you know, sometimes. And I'm thankful that you guys, and that they didn't, they're in those countries. That's tremendous. Steve Mann, it is always a pleasure to be able to talk to you. One more time, give the contact information for Through the Bible before we get out of here. can. Tkb.org is the best place to go. 1-800-65-BIBLE. If you need any help, you can ask for resources. We can point you in the right direction if you prefer.
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a voice-to-voice phone call, we're happy to do that too. Amazing. Always good stuff. Steve Schwetz, thanks so much. Thanks, Steve.
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The Steve Marsto Show continues. Discipleship has never been more fun. I am grateful for your company. Let's get to some stories that you may have missed. This one really kind of caught me off guard because I remember in the 90s a band called Smashing Pumpkins. I remember, I think the first time I really ever heard of them was, I think a Saturday Night Live appearance. Maybe it was...
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Friday night videos or something. I really don't remember. I just remember hearing the loudness and the anger seem like coming from the speakers and I'm like, oh, okay, this is not my cup of tea. Even as a kid that was, you know, probably their demographic desk didn't appeal to me at all. But their front man, Billy Corrigan, opened up about his faith in Christ during a conversation with striper's Michael Sweet.
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Again, you may not be old enough to remember Striper, but they were the first ever Christian metal band to really gain a lot of popularity. They were played on MTV. They had a lot of songs cross over and be played on mainstream radio stations. And the whole kind of gimmick was is they were yellow and black, just big neon hair band kind of sound and glam band kind of stuff.
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know, typical 80s stuff, but they were singing about Christian topics. And I remember To Hell with the Devil was, I think, the name of one of their albums. Anyway, Michael Sweet was the lead singer and kind of front man for the band. And on Billy Corgan's podcast called The Magnificent Others, Sweet reflected on the tensions between faith and family and the demands it put on his decades.
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long rock career, including a painful period when he left the band in the early 90s and what it means to be a Christian rock band. And then this is where Corrigan kind of did a 180 on me. He said, I'm a Christian as well. At some point, I made my own personal decision that I was going to be willing to talk about God in a way that I know most people in my generation do not talk about God in music.
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And then they kept talking about different things and Sweet recounted several past conflicts with Striper bandmates and even his own brother. the conversation turned to challenges expressing Christian music or Christian faith in rock music. And then Corrigan recalled telling Rolling Stone magazine that God is the third rail of rock and roll when it comes to your careers in the music business. He said,
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If you talk about God, you may as well throw your career down a hole. And I made the decision that I was going to talk about God honestly, at least God in my life, or believing in Jesus as my Lord and Savior. And if it was going to hurt me, I didn't care because you don't really understand me. If I can't be willing to be honest with who I am, well, why am I asking a fan to believe in me? Sweet agreed, and they shared an experience from early...
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in the career of striper when the band was connected to Calvary Chapel movement and they took a more direct approach. And then both performers expressed concern about the broader cultural shift toward a form of godlessness without Jesus' and authority as its foundation. And, I'm sorry, there's a form of godliness without Jesus' power and authority as its foundation. And Corrigan said,
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As our common culture moves to a more secular, non-spiritual, rooted collective consciousness, we're not getting a lot of good in return. Again, I had no idea Billy Corrigan was a believer and that's great. I'm glad to hear it. Not only is he, you know, smashing pumpkins, but he's a wealthy businessman as well with his podcast and several other business ventures. Just like I say, just wasn't aware.
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Speaking of Christian musicians, Natalie Grant, she's one of my favorites. She can sing like nobody's business. If you've never seen her perform the national anthem at the college football playoff, you've got to go find it on YouTube. I mean, it's Whitney Houston worthy national anthem. Remember everybody said of Whitney Houston back in the late 80s of her national anthem being the standard at the Super Bowl.
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I would challenge that. would say Natalie Grant did just as good a job at the college football playoff finals one year. Go check that out on YouTube. Anyway, Natalie was talking about the things we need to be careful with as far as AI goes. She says it's a beautiful tool used in the right responsible way. It can really help, but it can be incredibly dangerous when all you have to do is just punch in a couple of prompts.
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and it's spitting out something that's helping to shape someone's spirituality, shape their experience with Jesus, we still need for us to do that. The King of the World singer said during a recent appearance on the Kent Engel show, which is a podcast, she also went on to say, I think where I see it's going, talking about AI, is we're going to have to be really careful that we're stewarding a movement.
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that is not allowing AI to direct where the church is going, but instead we are directing how AI is using and assisting us to where the church is going. It's really good stuff. Kent Engel is the Southeastern University president and she was talking again with, or he was talking again with Natalie Grant. Natalie has worked with Tennessee governor to enact the state's Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security Act known as
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the Elvis Act, which I love, was signed in March 2024. The law bars the unauthorized use of a person's voice, name, photograph, or likeness, including AI-generated imitations, and violators can face civil and criminal charges. And then Natalie wrapped up by saying, you know, the thing that I keep holding onto is because in actuality,
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It's really easy to become fearful when you know, especially for people like my husband or producers, songwriters, engineers, mix engineers that have been spending like 20 or 30 years as their career and their jobs are about to get replaced. She said, but the thing I hold onto is that this is actually going to continue to create desire and an urgency for live performance. I think she's right on that. I think that's true. AI can do a lot of stuff, but the live performance I think is still going to be
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Key and let's get one more story that you may have missed the CS Lewis family is reported to be very upset about Meryl Streep as Asland and The new workup of the Chronicles of Narnia Magicians nephew some of CS Lewis's family members say that the problem is and quite often happens that You shouldn't be doing things against the author's original
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judgment. And then it says the magician's nephew was intended to be the Genesis of Narnia and that fatherhood of God creating the world is a crucial part of the story. They say you have to let God be God the father. You can't have God being voiced by a woman. It's not theologically correct. We'll see how it all turns out. More coming up!
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Here at the Steve Marston show, we're serious about faith, but we love a good dad joke too. The dad joke of the day comes to us from the home office in Converse, Texas. A man walked into a library and said, I'd like to have a number one large sized with a Coke, please. Librarian looking around behind the desk goes, sir, this is a library. He said, oh, I'm terribly sorry.
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I'd like to have a number one large size with a coat, please.
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Well, I think the moral of that story is you always have to know your surroundings. Steve Marston Show continues. So happy that you're here and we are celebrating or at least we're going to celebrate when we hit 250 subscribers on our YouTube page. We've talked about this over the last several days and I hope that you will go to youtube.com Steve Marston Show and be a part of this because we're going to give away a John MacArthur study Bible. It's in calfskin. It's
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beautiful volume and it's got all of John MacArthur's study notes from Genesis to Revelation in it and it is just a beautiful, beautiful volume. And we're going to celebrate 250 subscribers when we get to that point. And I know that again, sounds like such a small number in the grand scheme of things, but when you think about how we just kind of restarted everything back in August and where we are now, it has really been night and day here on the program. And we...
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included our YouTube page in that. So go to youtube.com. I know you're gonna be there at some point in the next day or so. So check it out if you would be so kind. On Mondays, we debut a new Bible verse for us to learn and to memorize throughout the week. We call it Faith Between Your Ears because I'm convinced that if we want to grow our faith, if we really want to go a layer or two deeper in our walk with Christ, this is the best way to do it.
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And I know the first thing that jumps into your head is, I'm too busy, I'm too old, I'm too this, I'm too that to memorize. The answer to all of those is no, you are not. It's just a matter of discipline. Maybe it might take you a little bit longer now than it may have, say, 10 years ago, 20 years ago. Okay, fine. So you can still do it. And I encourage you to do it because this is, again, I think the best way.
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to deepen our walk. And this week we're going to learn Jeremiah 9.24. This is a new one for me to try to learn, so I'm going to be riding the same boat with you. And this is such a good verse. This is first time I've really came across this, I think, in at least a long time. It says, But let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, talking about the Lord, because I am the Lord who practices steadfast love
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justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." So you want to boast in something the Bible is saying? Boast in the fact that you know and understand God and that the God of our faith practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness. That's what he's all about. Those are the things he delights in. Love it. Alright, have a great rest of your day.
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Here's your next step as a call to action today. Pray for someone around the world. It'll help your prayer life, just like what we talked about with Steve Schwetz earlier from Through the Bible. Back on the radio at 3 o'clock tomorrow. Everywhere else, SteveMarstonShow.com. I'll be hanging out there. Adios.
