J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our ninth single of 2025:
I WANT YOU TO WASH ME
I'd been sitting on the title and part of the chorus for this one since the early 2000s — before our other Cheap Trick parodies — but I wrote the rest in 2025. You can find the inspiration for the first two lines of the chorus in the Psalms, where David prays, "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:2) and "See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:24).
However, the emphatic spoken line at the beginning of the recording, "I want You to wash me," reminds me of Matthew 3:14, where John the Baptist tells Jesus, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
I also think of Simon Peter when Jesus came to wash His feet at the Last Supper (John 13:6-10): “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
The section of the song that starts with, "Tried on my own without You" and finishes with "Then You say that You love me" is both autobiographical and an allusion to the Prodigal Son (there's also a nod to him early in the first chorus, when it says, "I'm beggin' you to take me"). Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," but I decided to describe my experience as "leanin' on my own misunderstanding," since that's usually what it ended up being.
"I Want You to Wash Me" features J. Jackson on lead vocals, Tom Tincha on guitars, Keith Haynie on bass, Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
CULTIST VERSED IN FALLACY
Sometimes people come to your door and try to share a different Gospel/Jesus (Galatians 1:6-7, 2 Corinthians 11:4). Many are wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15), but others actually may be lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14). This parody is from the perspective of one of the latter.
John warned "the elect lady" not to receive false teachers into her home (2 John 1:8-10), but Jude urged us to "contend for the faith" (Jude 3), and Paul said, "Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).
I like this advice from gotquestions.com: "It is not wrong to share the truth with them or to relate our testimony. We are called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). However, we must be careful not to do anything that would give the appearance that we approve of their message …
"We are to be always ready with an answer for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15), but we must do so in the Holy Spirit’s power, following His lead. When cultists or false teachers knock at the door, it could be an opportunity to relate the truth about Jesus to them, or it could be an opportunity to 'leave them; they are blind guides' (Matthew 15:14). In any case, we must rely on the Lord’s wisdom (James 1:5) and be cautious not to cast our pearls before pigs (Matthew 7:6).”
"Cultist Versed in Fallacy" features J. Jackson on lead and backing vocals, Wayne Bartley on guitars, George Elliott on bass, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
