It is not always easy to detect feel-good religious bromides masquerading as Christianity. The words sound right, but you may wonder about the rest of the story.
Robert Ritchie (Kid Rock) made news during this year’s Super Bowl halftime show. It was about his new lyrics for the song, “Til You Can’t.” He paused singing and began speaking, “There’s a book a’sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off. There’s a man who died for all our sins a’hanging from the cross.” He then began singing in crescendo, “You can give your life to Jesus and He’ll give you a second chance.” The song’s theme is whatever needs doing, don’t put it off until it is too late.
When I hear “second chance” I think “born again” and “new creation,” both Biblical terms for renewal and redemption. Read your Bible and embrace Jesus are wonderful appeals. But some of Ritchie’s earlier comments about Jesus on Joe Rogan’s podcast (2024) are cringworthy. Then again, we are all a work in progress, right?
Jason DeFord (Jelly Roll) made the news cycle, too. DeFord carries an underdog persona as a neglected child, substance abuser, and convicted felon. While receiving his Grammy award, he told his peers, “There was a time in my life, y’all, that I was broken. I was a horrible human. There was a moment in my life that all I had was a Bible and a radio … I believed that God had the power to change my life. I want to tell y’all right now, Jesus is for everybody… and anybody can have a relationship with Him. I love you, Lord!”
These are dramatic words, especially in that secular context. They align with his resolute lyrics, “I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah!” He comes across as a man on a mission to cast aside his own brokenness and invite others to meet the Jesus who helped him do so.
Paul did the same. “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures,” he wrote. “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:3-5).
There actually is a way to tell the difference between performative religion and the Christian faith. Look at Jesus. Even people who do not believe it know the Christian gospel. Jesus is the unique Son of God who sacrificed His life on a cross to procure forgiveness and eternal life for you. That is a gift you receive by grace through faith. You cannot know if Jelly Roll or Kid Rock have received that grace because that is between them and God. But you know if you have.