Country legend John Rich has made headlines this year for his hit song “Revelation,” which addresses the final book of the Bible. In writing the song, Rich felt compelled to warn listeners about the spiritual realities of the world around us and how one must repent before it is too late.
According to Rich, the world has been continually moving in the wrong direction with spiritual wickedness running rampant. “I think we’ve all been thinking about that, but I really didn’t set out to write a specific song about it,” the artist said. “It just kind of came out of nowhere. It was kind of downloaded to me.”
However, Rich explained that the song’s lyrical content is virtually all scripture-based, directly inspired from the book of Revelation written by John. “I tell people it’s really not lyrics; it’s really Scripture that I just made rhyme,” he said. “Like, I took what it says, and I figured out how to build that into what would be a song, and then I didn’t really know what to do with it.”
As the Bible teaches, the true battle humans fight in this life is spiritual in nature, not flesh and blood. “It became more and more apparent to me that the things that song was talking about — which is spiritual warfare — that there is a much bigger situation going on than Democrat, Republican, left, right,” he said. “Much, much, much bigger, which we’re told in Scripture.” Rich emphasized, “That’s actually the truth of it — ‘We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers.’”
Speaking about the trajectory of his career, Rich noted he wanted to step away from the constraints of the music industry so he could embrace what he truly values. “They want you to look like they want you to look, sing like they want you to sing, how they want you to sing, and present yourself how they see fit,” Rich said. “And, at one point, several years back, I just said, ‘Yeah, that’s just not going to work anymore, because I’m literally sacrificing not only my freedom of speech, but, I felt [my] integrity.”
The famous singer echoed observations that many Christians have made regarding Western Civilization, where wickedness seems ever pervasive. “Because of that, you see this wave of confusion, delusion, nonsense, foolishness, wickedness — all of that is just tidal waving over our country right now,” Rich said. “So, the point of songs like this is to get people to think, tell them the real truth, and give them an opportunity to turn around.”
Ultimately, Rich strives for listeners to read the word of God. “Pick up the Bible and read it — that’s what I hope they do,” Rich stated. “[In the Bible, it] says, ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the end.’ You got to think about, so what did Noah go through? Well, Noah was living on a planet that was completely corrupt, had been completely gone, completely wicked to the point where God even said, ‘I’m sorry I made [them] in the first place.’”
Featured image credit: Featured image credit: 050527-N-1854W-080 Virginia Beach, Va. (May 29th,2005) John Rich from Big and Rich preforms on stage at the Patrotic Festival. The Patrotic Festival was sponsored by the USO of Hampton roads to celebrate Memoral Day.
US Navy Photo by Photographer’s mate 2nd class Jason C. Winn
(RELEASED)