Rich Men North of Richmond and the Gospel of Jesus Christ

by Pastor Andrew Isker

Over the last week, a genuine viral phenomenon took place with Oliver Anthony’s Rich Men North of Richmond. A video of him singing the tune was shot by a local country station, and the unknown singer was instantly propelled into national fame. His song is a lament of the political and cultural conditions foisted upon middle America by the aforementioned ruling class located a few hours to his north. It is a working-class anthem, with coarse language commonly used among the kind of men who work long hours while witnessing their country destroyed at the hands of wicked men.

Predictably, it has been thrust into the center of the cultural battles that rage. The apologists for those rich men north of Richmond immediately began to decry it. National Review, never missing an opportunity to show how much they detest actual Americans was quick to join the chorus of those denouncing the song. Worse than this, however, were the evangelical pastors who have signaled their opposition to it.

Some criticized the song’s admittedly foul language. Others, seeing that the song has galvanized millions in the American heartland with a clear message about just how bad things really are, began to “Jesus juke”—a rhetorical device where political, cultural, and social concerns are dismissed as distractions from “the gospel.” When Anthony mentions the long hours for [low] pay and being taxed into poverty while watching the lifestyles of those who refuse to work get subsidized it deeply resonates with millions of Americans who have experienced the exact same thing. Rather than sympathize with people who cry out over the injustice of it all, the go-to move of many is to bypass these concerns and reduce such problems to the spiritual level. “These people just need Jesus,” the overly pious evangelical leader says.

Such a reaction demonstrates an almost gnostic understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So often evangelical leaders will communicate the gospel as if it is an entirely otherworldly thing. You believe in Jesus, your inner-life is transformed by the Holy Spirit, and you are a new man. All true, to be sure, but so often we just stop there. The Bible doesn’t however. The New Testament does not stop with merely inward transformation. We are remade in Christ to walk in good works (Eph. 2:10). Jesus does not care about only the internal content of our hearts. What we are internally will make its way out of us. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt. 12:34). So a person submitting to their reign and rule of Jesus Christ and being received into His Kingdom means they will live on this earth according to His will as befits a member of that Kingdom. It isn’t merely internal change that leaves a person indiscernible from the way they were before. It is real repentance and transformation of the entire person. This transformation makes its way out into the world, our world, and has an effect on everything they touch.

And this effect is not just seen in individuals but in groups of people who accept Christ. Families are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ—neighborhoods, cities, and entire nations are as well. The gospel has an effect on our world—this world. When Jesus’s mother Mary announces her pregnancy to her cousin Elizabeth, she sang a song about what His arrival means:

“And His mercy is on those who fear Him

From generation to generation.

He has shown strength with His arm;

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich He has sent away empty”

Luke 1:50-53

What are some of the implications of the gospel? Well according to Mary it is the mighty being put down from their thrones and the lowly being exalted. When Oliver Anthony sings about the rich men north of Richmond destroying the lives of poor, hard-working people, it sounds awfully similar to the Magnificat. The wicked men who live in five of the ten richest counties in America (that all surround DC) will be cast down from their thrones, that is an implication of the gospel.

Click here to watch Oliver read from the Psalms

So when pious-sounding Christian leaders dismiss the things Oliver Anthony and people like him care about by saying “they don’t need political change and stable, well-ordered societies with good-paying jobs, they need the gospel” what they don’t understand is that this is precisely the kind of thing the gospel will produce among a people. Not coincidentally, Anthony recently held a concert in North Carolina after going viral. Before he began singing, he took a moment to read a portion of the 37th Psalm. It is a song very much like the Magnificat in Luke 1. Psalm 37 is what is called an “imprecatory psalm.” A Psalm that exalts in or calls upon God’s judgment of the wicked and salvation of the righteous. For the kind of people who have watched their country destroyed before their eyes, the message of Psalm 37 or the Magnificat is good news.

That is the gospel these men need to hear. That there is hope for them. That the king of the universe who now reigns over the earth at His Father’s right hand cares about them and the problems they face. How many of these overly-pious Christian leaders could not care less about these dirty MAGA voters? You aren’t going to build a megachurch in Appalachia or the rural Rust Belt. The tithe checks are not going to be very big. So many of these places are totally devoid of hope, and the “gospel” they have for them is “accept Christ. Be a good boy from now on. And just sit quietly while the most evil men on the planet ransack your home and the country that you love.”

But what if Christian leaders began to preach to men in a similar fashion as Oliver Anthony sings things?
Things like: Jesus cares about your communities being overrun by fentanyl and opiates. He cares that powerful men have actively destroyed your ability to provide for your families. He cares that you are ruled by very evil men who do the most heinous, unimaginable things in dark places. In fact, Jesus hates all of it. He will not put up with it forever. What is done in secret will come to light. The mighty will be cast down from their thrones and the lowly exalted. His Word talks about such things again and again and again. What you must do is become part of His Kingdom. Commit yourself to Him. Commit yourself to living as a follower of Jesus Christ and to being part of a Kingdom that stands against these great evils.

What would happen if that was the gospel that was preached to those ground up and spit out by the rich men north of Richmond? Judging by the crowd’s enthusiastic cheers during Anthony’s reading of Psalm 37—the kind of cheers you only ever hear when a game-winning touchdown is caught—something would happen to these places. If Christians begin to preach the victory of Christ’s kingdom in these places, that there is a King who cares about what is being done to them and is going to make things right, think of the millions who would want to be part of that. And that is what we need to preach. That Jesus Christ is King. That the wicked doing this great evil are not going to get away with it. That you need to trust in Christ and He will transform your life and only He will fix the problems you see around you.

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